Panic Time for Rams, Marc Has a Chargers Thing & QUARTERBACK Review

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And this is pretty crazy.

We get voicemails.

Maybe we you know this, maybe you don't, but Jara had called in very late and left voicemails a couple weeks ago for our show.

And as I understand it, it happened again.

Hey!

Midweek show, he didn't that call.

Dan Hansis,

Mark Sessler,

Connor Orr, Gravy on the ones and twos.

Oh, Con Man's back.

Feels like it's been a long time.

Did I mention Mark Sessler?

Oh, Marky, baby.

What's up, bud?

You did mention me.

So now you've done it twice.

That's very generous of you.

Segment idea, Mark, because I know you're feeling under the weather.

So, and when you're under the weather, maybe you're a little more annoyed with the old Zeuser and my behavior

But new segment idea speak your mi IND with mearc

I hate it

it is a disastrous idea pinned to

a an approach that you take with me that I find flat out disrespectful and I know that it catches on with a segment of the audience a more idiotic section of the audience and I don't appreciate them either so that's me speaking my mind to you on this morning.

Okay.

It does.

I think there is something.

You know what?

Justin is no help

in this world either.

And he's of no help in this world.

I think it's part of what

makes it sing with you and I, Mark, is

when you say things to me like before a show, I'm not feeling so hot.

You're like,

I'm going to go after that and chase that.

I'm going to chase that feeling.

Well, I hope you're okay, Mark.

I hope you can make it through this next hour because we're going to need you because we've got a lot to get into today.

I will.

I think it's like anyone who's on, when you have to do, we have to do all these Zoom calls.

And like, there's one, it's like, you've got to keep your camera on.

It's like, here's the thing.

When your nose is running and your

throat and coughs and this stuff are happening, being on...

Well, I know you don't care, but being on screen is not the number one choice of a human.

It's funny because I grew up in a coal town, Mark.

And

if you had the sniffles,

the idea of, oh, I might have to be on camera for 41 minutes, it doesn't quite measure up to the guy that went down to the mine.

And then when he kissed his wife goodbye, it might have been the last time they ever kissed.

So, like, but yeah, you could also look at it as a similar setup in terms of your struggles.

I get what you're doing.

You've never been in a mine.

Let's start there, and it will end there.

Connor, how the hell are you?

Oh,

it's good to see you guys again.

It's like I was listening to the E with Aaron Schatz, and

it's kind of like when your girlfriend hangs out with a super hot firefighter.

You know, he's very smart, and he knows a lot about football, and you're just kind of checking up on it to make sure, you know, is she into him?

You know, how's everything going?

It does feel like

when you're sharing a podcast screen with Aaron Schatz, it's like probably how, you know,

what is it, Andy McDowell's

daughter from

Margaret Qualey.

Margaret Qualy, Margaret Qualy's, the car scene with Brad Pitt and Once Upon a Time.

It's like one of those things where it's like, you're a little bit in awe of the situation, but you just got to stay professional.

And we did our best.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No, he was he was awesome and shares my affinity for Kyle Shannon.

He did a good job too of like just artfully kind of, you know, criticizing the Eagles, which we can do in a healthy way.

So I really appreciate that.

I do wonder,

did Connor listen to this episode?

Because in good faith, I believe that he is a completist in Wood, but you put him on blast a little bit the last time he appeared to ask if he had listened to a previous one, and he said it's on my list.

Did this raise the urgency for Connor to be listening to shows that he...

Well, yes, I'm speaking to you because that was when you pointed your bow and arrow at Connor and he took a...

Took one right back.

No, I believe what you're referencing, and we're a little bit in the weeds here, but Mark's under the weather, so it's okay.

Connor had stated a point that I had made in the previous episode that so we were on the same page, so it was more just tying things together, not not a not a test.

But yeah, if you want to look at it that way, Connor, being plugged into the product, it means we have a more plugged-in colleague, and that's that's always a good thing.

Synergy, bro.

Vertical integration.

I agree.

A lot to get into.

It's finally happening later today.

We review Netflix's quarterback series.

It's happening.

And maybe also Happy Gilmore 2.

Maybe happening.

We have lost the trust of the listener at this point.

We'll have to see how that goes.

We're also going to take a little peek, a look ahead at a preseason, which is launching in earnest this weekend.

But before that, let's do some news.

So you guys have been part of like three early videos out there that got our way around everywhere.

They really do get together.

How about that?

The last episode before our summer sabbatical, Connor, you and I did the WFAN call-in show, and we played that full clip, the famous clip.

I think it was Dan and Warwick

in a seemingly serious manner questioning whether the San Francisco Giants and New York Giants get together and hang out when they're in the same city.

It became the stuff of radio legend.

We talked about it at length last month.

And then, you know, is there a connection here that the Giants social media team then puts together a very funny and well-done riff off that with Francesa, the big man himself, interrupting a gathering of the two giants, including Eli Manning and Logan Webb?

Pretty good stuff.

And maybe us tastemakers shining through again.

Sean O'Hara coming through in a big comedic spot, too, blowing the kazoo.

Shoni.

Shoni up.

That was a good move for him.

Yeah.

Former colleague at NFL Network.

We'll get to NFL Network later today.

Yeah, and O'Hara was one of the players, because it's not true of every player.

They live in a different universe, who I thought

got our show and understood us.

We'll get into that.

I will say one thing.

Mike Francesa, he's aging well.

I think he looks like,

I want to say regal almost, but and Dan, you've got nice hair, and this will happen to you as well.

But like, he's got this like glowing, flowing hair scenario, and he's kind of thinned down.

He just looks a little, he's got his act together for his age.

I don't enjoy a man.

He gets hotter.

He looks healthier.

And

keeping your hair

helps as well.

And that's what he's done.

Not always healthy.

Not always the case.

There's other roads to being attractive.

I had a long conversation at the park the other day with several dads about this.

The fact that I have three friends in my circle, and we all did bald before bald got us.

And that's like a talking point that we try to get across that we didn't let it happen to us.

And so I think if you scrub it up right, if you buff it up right, it's actually the best hairstyle of all the hairstyles.

Good answer.

I like that.

All right, let's get into it.

We'll start with, you know, what was it?

What was it that

Jordan Rodrigue told me last week?

We talked about it on the show.

Don't worry about Matthew Stafford until you get to the joint practices with the Dallas Cowboys.

And if he's not on the field for that, then it's time to worry.

Well, we have reached that

moment.

And guess what?

Matthew Stafford is still not practicing.

And now we have a little bit more insight.

NFL Networks Ian Rapperport reports that Stafford is dealing with an aggravated disc in his back.

Rapperport added that Stafford, who's been sidelined for weeks now dealing with this issue, he received an epidural.

I never like hearing that.

That's no joke.

Is he for the twins?

What's going on?

Exactly.

For the discomfort of the injury.

Stafford, according to Rapsheet, plans to suit up for week one against the Texans.

McVay said on Tuesday, Sean McVay, coach of the Rams, that Stafford, quote, has been able to kind of increase some things behind the scenes.

That's an

interesting quote as well.

So it appears ominous, and I'm going to go, Mark, with what Jordan said.

Now it is officially time to start worrying about the status of the starting quarterback of a Super Bowl contender in the NFC.

Yeah, as in when will he be ready?

They've got the Texans on September 7th.

And will he continue to be ready?

Like, and I don't, I, you know, I don't know know how an aggravated disc suddenly goes away or isn't aggravated multiple times, depending on the kind of activity you're doing.

It always concerns me.

There's a lot bubbling up in the last 48 hours where it's like it's messaging coming from somewhere.

The Rams really like Jimmy Garoppolo.

They really like Garoppolo, and they see him as a full-fledged starting-level quarterback.

When I hear that, it's the big time tail.

Right.

Big time tell.

When you're pumping up the backup quarterback right now,

you are sending the flyer out there that be ready because he might actually be QB1.

That is very true.

This whole situation reminds me of last offseason when a very prominent star player was not really participating in trading camp because he was dealing with something and everyone was like, oh, it'll be fine.

He'll be ready for week one.

Don't you worry.

And then everyone went and drafted him first overall in their fantasy drafts because they weren't worried.

And Christian McCaffrey didn't suit up for like seven weeks.

And they were talking about how happy they were with the rookie, Isaac Garendo, just like they're doing now.

It wasn't more than 10 or 11 weeks.

Whatever it was.

This, I mean, look, if I was a Rams fan, I would probably be hitting the panic button right about now.

I mean, we still have weeks, we still have like three or four weeks before this really becomes a major thing, but it is, this is scary for me.

It's also, it's a back, it's a 37-year-old quarterback,

and you just don't know how he's going to react to it.

And the other thing in conversation with Jordan about this, like it does have whiffs of the 2022 lost Stafford season where they tried to manage an injury through the summer and it was clear he was never quite right.

Houston knows how to get after a quarterback in week one.

You have to start thinking about these things.

Like, does this even make sense, Connor, to try to push him for football, which is back, by the way, in like a month now?

It's a difficult situation for the Rams.

This situation also emerged really.

It feels like a long time ago, but it isn't really.

This situation emerged like three or four weeks after Aaron Rodgers signed his Steelers contract, which I think is significant because that's where he wanted to go.

If it wasn't Minnesota, it was LA.

And we were talking about Matthew Stafford possibly leaving in free agency and Aaron Rodgers being option one for Sean McVay, them having Devontae Adams there.

I do wonder what's going through his mind right now because it looks like his ideal locale is now opening up.

In other Los Angeles football news, do we

count the Chargers as Los Angeles football?

I don't know.

I guess we do.

65% or so.

Their facility is literally in my town that I live in.

I have kicked around the idea of

taking my boys there either this week or next as I'm

just trying to chew through these summer days until I can get these kids back in school.

Christ.

Well, you could maybe drop them off there and then you go have some time, just have the Chargers take care of them for a little bit.

Right.

They're boys, Mark.

We can't do that.

But I will say this um

what is it is it japan that does year-round schooling

is that that sounds right sounds like something japan would do right um i vouch for that now as a work-from-home individual let's follow uh let's head to the orient and let's follow their path in education

to the far east we go

in terms of philosophies

yeah those kids all seem super happy and well adjusted

tokyo's cool though um all right

the chargers they're back in business you know they trend i don't know if anybody's noticed a little bit of a trend here with the chargers um they tried the reunion with mike williams and they said you know what mike williams he was pretty cool like tokyo um always hurt but like justin herbert seemed to like throwing bombs to him and

oh so great what a catch radius

He really attacked that ball at the point of catch.

Remember the Mike Williams stuff?

That was cool.

Anyway, they brought him back after a lost season in New York and Pittsburgh, and then he retired abruptly.

They're going back to this well.

They have signed Keenan Allen, who was formerly with the Chargers, was a star on the Chargers, went to the Bears and looked like a guy showing some serious age

at now 33 years old.

He returns on a one-year, $8.5 million contract.

That's not bad.

Connor, you tell me.

That seems like pretty good money for a guy that's out of work in August August and ends up going back to the team he started with at 33 years old.

Anyway,

he lands there, and now we see where he figures in.

Now, Connor, he was productive on some level with the Bears, 70 for 744 and 7 touchdowns.

But there was a lot of vibes and energy of him being a bit of a progress stopper on that offense.

And at this point, with his skill set and showing signs of slowing down, he kind of he's locked into one spot and

that slot.

And I wonder what, you know, Lad McConkey is one of the rising stars at wide receiver in the AFC.

He's one of the rising stars, but moves around and can play X, he can play Y, he can really play anywhere in that offense.

Who I'm worried about, and I think this is sort of a death knell for, is Quentin Johnston, the 2023 first-rounder, where you have Trey Harris, who you drafted in the second round of the 25 draft, and then you have McConkey.

And what I think the Chargers are looking for here is my guess is they probably tried to see how Johnson was going on through camp or what the vibe was.

And then you have Keenan Allen here anyway.

And you say, hey, we'll bring you in if we need you.

He was probably waiting for this call.

But I think it's just about Keenan Allen running those kind of routes that just direct a defense away from the younger playmakers.

And I think this is all Harbaugh is looking for at this point.

Can you take a defender?

Can you just move a safety just a hair so I can get my two young guys the ball and get some yards after the catch?

He does work with Justin Herbert, we know that.

But it is interesting that I think that this team, Lad McConkey, was a complete home run pick, but Quentin Johnston to me feels like he's a little bit on life support because he's been such a frustrating performer in general, and he's had a hot and cold camp.

So, you know, we're a year into this, and I don't love their wide receiver room, Deion McConkey, much more than I did a year ago.

Let me check this out.

Check out this

Our Lads depth chart.

Los Angeles Superchargers.

Jalen Rieger's on there, baby.

Yeah, they've got about 14 wide receivers right now.

You know what they say?

When you have 14 wide receivers, you don't have any.

Or one, I guess.

Yeah, their depth chart is looking a little

shisty.

Trey Harris, Keondre Lambert Smith,

fifth-round pick, Jalen Rager, Des Fitzpatrick, Jaquay Jackson, Keenan Allen, Quentin Johnston, Brendan Rice,

Dale Vaughan Campbell.

Okay.

Okay.

Is it just me or does this maybe not feel like the

this is the year?

Justin Herbert throws for 5,000 yards and 50 touchdowns.

Ooga.

This Keondre Lambert Smith fella has been generating a lot of buzz, and they found a wide receiver

outside the first round last year in Lad McConkey.

Granted, this guy's a fifth rounder, but he's been getting a lot of buzz.

Just going to say that.

I have to correct a quick misspeak, by the way.

I said that Lad McConkey can play the X or the Y.

I meant the X or the Z.

The Y is the tight end.

So forgive me for saying that.

I don't know that he can't.

They've not tried it.

I mean, he might have to at this point, but we'll find out.

All right, let's head to Jarroworld, where

Jerry Jones, owner, Grand Pubah of the Cowboys, said that he is not confident that Mika Parsons, Micah Parsons will be, Michael Parsons, will be available for the season opener against the Eagles.

In fact, he said, no, absolutely not in terms of his confidence.

Michael Parson.

Let's listen to a little bit of Jara because we love to do that.

Okay, any confidence that he will be on the field against Philadelphia?

Again, no, absolutely not.

That has to be a big part of that is his decision.

How would I know that?

I'm just saying.

No, but I'm urgent.

You're urgent.

And this is pretty crazy.

We get voicemails.

And like, I don't know if maybe

you know this, maybe you don't, but Jara had called in very late.

Like, we're talking middle of the night and left voicemails a couple weeks ago for our show.

And as I understand it, it happened again, Justin?

That's right.

We got another voicemail from Cowboys owner Jerry Jones late, late last night or early this morning.

Yeah, what time are we talking?

We're talking like 2:30 in the morning, something like that.

Yeah, 2:30 Central.

So, not too late for you guys, but about 2:30 here, my time in Dallas.

Do we want to hear this?

I think, yeah, I mean, it's all right.

Let's check it out.

See what Jar has to say.

Well, now, here we are.

We gotta get old Michael Parsons asking for a trade.

Okay, you understand what that means.

That's just not some simple trade.

I ain't in the schoolyard trading baseball cards.

I'm trading one of the top players

in the NFL.

Now, what am I going to do?

Am I going to call up Denver Broncos and ask, hey, Denver Broncos?

I won't give you Michael Parsons.

Only thing I'm going to take is your Empire State Building.

No, how about your Leaning Tower of Pizza?

No?

How about the Great Pyramid over there?

Denver, you got one of those, don't you?

Because that's how much a Michael Parsons is worth to me.

You understand?

So this deal ain't going to be one that's easy to kind of put together because I happen to

value that plural.

You understand?

Whoa.

It looks like he's going to drive a hard bargain

if you're in the market for a standout pass rusher,

I like that.

Johnson, keep combing through the voicemails, by the way.

We might have one at 4 a.m.

Just keep looking through it, okay?

I like that he unabashedly does not try to hide the fact that he's got a massive cocktail in his right hand with the ice clinging back and forth.

He's being overt.

All right.

What Jara...

Could use or could have used hours later when he got up for Cowboys camp is smelling salts, potentially.

The NFL is banning the use of smelling salts during games, saying the products aren't proven to be safe and also could mask signs of a concussion.

According to a memo the league sent to teams on Tuesday, the ban comes as a result of a FDA warning that was issued in 2024.

NFL Network was at Niners camp and all-pro tight end George Kittle was annoyed enough by this.

Kittle seems like a guy that would enjoy a smelling salt or seven.

He was annoyed enough by this memo sent by the league that he crashed an interview with Fred Warner to talk all about it.

Let's check that out.

George, hello, friend.

How are you?

I honestly just came up here to air a grievance.

Oh.

Our team had a memo today that smelling salts and ammonia packets were made illegal in the NFL.

Wow.

And I've been distraught all day.

Illegal?

Yeah, he even said he's not practicing anymore.

I considered retirement.

Yeah.

So they think that's a good idea.

Wow, that's right for George Kittle.

Yeah, so we got to figure out middle ground here, guys.

Somebody help me out.

Somebody come up with a good idea.

Fred, it's on you.

Airing of grievances.

Yeah, that's all I had to get out there.

I'll get that off.

Is it every before every drive is a drive?

I'm in every drive.

I'm sorry,

every drive.

In between every play, he's

too much.

It feels like the energy's still out here, though.

No, no, definitely, definitely, but I missed those already.

Well, they have them out a lot of practice.

No, no, we don't have them out.

Okay, sorry, just checking.

That's all right.

That was my only grievance.

But besides that, you guys look fabulous.

Fred, it's all yours.

Thank you.

Free drive.

Man, Kittle looks awesome.

Dude looks like a professional wrestler.

Connor, do you have any takes on this?

Is this something that you think is the right move by the league?

Awesome is a weird way to go with Kittle.

And if a guy is vocally complaining about a lack of smelling salts and looking like that, I think that more is just a series of red flags for me.

But

I think that it's a double-edged sword, right?

It does mask the symptoms of a concussion.

Yeah, that checks out.

It does get in the way of the neurological exam process.

And so in a lot of ways, you have to get it out.

Now, is this in any way, shape, or form enforceable?

This is one of the easiest things for a player to be able to walk back into the tunnel and just blast one of these things and then walk back out on the field.

So I don't think it's that big of a deal.

I think George Kittle will still be able to huff ammonia before every drive.

But

yeah, so I, you know.

You know what I'm thinking is going to happen?

You know, the blue tent, which pops up almost every drive, all of a sudden you're going to see a big uptick in 25 of concerned teammates checking in on a guy getting his knee examined, put it that way.

It's just like the bathroom in college.

Everybody's just like,

it's not a banned substance.

So it's like,

this feels to me.

And, you know, when we worked for the NFL, at one point there was like a couched, hidden away section of the website that simply documented efforts and nuggets in the concussion prevention world.

I don't know if this got even a real human reader, but there was actually an editor of it, and it was simply a paper trail to say, Wait, we're concerned and we care.

Like,

this is not a banned substance.

Like, this does mass concussions.

Like, you're telling me these won't be, if you look at the medicine cabinets in NFL locker rooms and

generally in their complexes, like, there's some wild stuff going on in there.

I don't think this really means anything in terms of accessibility.

And you are also, you're my one friend that owns every VHS copy of Headhunters and

jacked up.

Like you had your own jacked up VHS tape.

You would tape it every Monday night.

So like, you're like anything with these wusses that makes the game less awesome.

Like, I'm out.

That's how I seem to be to you?

Yeah.

Oh, the new Headhunters came out.

Ronnie Lott killed a guy.

Okay.

I did have one of the couple of those tapes back in the day.

Hey, look, Ronnie Lott's finger flew off as he literally killed a man with a spear shot.

Cool app.

Great app of headhunters this week.

Steve Atwater paralyzed the man.

That was awesome.

That guy's got a family.

Who gives a shit?

Can't control or care about everything.

Hey, Connor.

Are we going to do a little research, pod-based research, column-based research?

What do you got going on here?

So, the last two days, kind of been a mad scramble for me on this front, contacting various friends in the medical field.

So, Connor.

So, Connor.

Various friends in the medical field.

And I've secured a box of smelling salts, which are going to be delivered to my mailbox at roughly 7.30 p.m.

tonight.

Hell yeah.

I could, so the earliest Amazon delivery, which like, so the Amazon smelling salts have like an angry-looking elephant on it.

And I was like, like I don't think I want to take those

Because I don't know what's in them but the ones that I'm getting are hospital grade from an actual medical practitioner and we

I'm getting them tonight, so I'm very excited to see what everybody else is missing out on wait.

Can we is it possible that you can do it live on the show on Thursday?

I think I think that's the only way to make this.

Have you ever

taken them before?

Like, do you know what it will do to you on a live show?

No, but when I used to bust tables, this guy that I work with, Jack, used to huff gasoline from his quad before shift.

That's cool.

And I imagine it's probably like that.

Yeah.

Headhunters.

Let's bring up some gas in the offseason.

I should check on him.

Off-season headhunters.

Sounds like a show idea.

That's the next Patreon

original program.

All right.

In other news.

Is every wide receiver insane?

I don't know.

I'll just tee it up that way.

Jamar Chase was on the Kay Adams program, Up and Adams.

And he was talking about Joe Burrow and referencing another star quarterback and just felt like a comet that maybe got away from him or maybe not.

He might be nuts.

All right, here we go.

When you turn on Joe's tape, it's different from Josh Allen's tape, completely different.

You know what I'm saying?

So,

I don't know.

People game playing against Josh Allen, not against Joe Burrow.

They play against his game weapons.

You know what I'm saying?

So that's the difference.

I'm actually surprised that this isn't a bigger story because it's pretty, I don't know.

So I'm going to use an example, a very similar situation that happened in around the early 2000s,

where A-Rod, Alex Rodriguez, was the star shortstop of, I guess, the Texas Rangers, Justin's Rangers at the time.

And he gave an interview to Connor Sports Illustrated where they were talking about the Yankees and then the great young crop of shortstops at the time, because that's when there was A-Rod and there was Noma in Boston.

And then there was, of course, Jeter winning all the titles with the Yankees.

And the A-Rod-Jeter friendship fizzled out forever because in this interview with S.I., A-Rod said, when you play the Yankees, you don't game plan, how are you going to stop Derek Jeter from beating you?

Like, you worry about player X, Y, and Z, but not Derek Jeter.

Like, am I crazy, or is that basically what

Jamar Chase just said about his own quarterback?

And I would imagine Joe Burrow, and we're going to talk about quarterbacks in a minute,

would not take highly into that, that he's not necessarily a system quarterback per se, but a guy that is the product on some level of his weapons.

I could be reading him to the wrong way, but that would just seem like a very strange quote to give to the media.

Before he

ushered that pull quote,

I watched another version where he laundry listed high qualities about Burrow and then went into that.

But to me, it strikes me as like it kind of nullifies anything else he said.

Like the idea, how is that going to sound to everyone that Josh Allen has some sort of special unicorn ability?

that Joe Burrow simply doesn't.

I also just disagree with the idea that Burrow's just there throwing to stars.

Like Burrow might be the best quarterback in the league, depending on what happens during the course of a season.

Yeah, I think what A-rod said about Jeter is totally accurate, but

I think what Jamar is saying about Joe Burrow is completely inaccurate.

And the reason is Josh Allen, yes, is mobile in a way that Joe Burrow is not, and he will leave the pocket in a way that Joe Burrow won't.

But Joe Burrow will move in the pocket in a way that Josh Allen cannot.

that doesn't necessitate him having to run and then also get skies open.

Like he more is reminiscent of like a Roethlisberger in that way, where he's got excellent footwork and he can buy time on plays without having to leave the pocket.

So I think that to me, it represents almost like a lack of understanding on Chase's part, where it's like you, both of these guys are doing kind of the same thing, but they're just doing them in different ways.

ways.

They're also like best friends.

Like imagine if out in the media airwaves, like I casually just said you know when you plan a show you don't really need dan there um you know like if he's there it's great but like what you need of the stars around it's like totally inaccurate and also why what what what why what's next that's that's yeah and that's why i drew that parallel because it's it's less about whether a rod was right about jeter but what it what it did in that case Jeter, one of the greatest players of all time.

Let's save it for a different show, Connor.

Is that like it kind of nullified him a little bit within the discourse and then fractured their relationship.

And then ironically, they became teammates three years later, and it was a major issue because these guys now didn't like each other because Jidra had a big ego and A-Rod had a big ego.

And I just wonder if Burrow, and we're not making, we're not doing the talking head thing, we're not making a big deal out of this.

I'm just simply curious when you come out and make a comment like that as the wide receiver, one,

if Burrow is going to have words at some point or he has with Jamar.

Like, hey, what the f was that?

Like,

hey, hey, bud, like, I know they played together forever, they're buddies, they're parents, surprising, close friends, just surprising, yeah, and unnecessary, but maybe he just misspoke.

I'm sure he'll be asked to clear it up.

I was just doing a little like Google search: like, is this a big story?

Like, is this being talked about everywhere?

Um, I don't know, it doesn't seem like it's really blown up, so

let's make sure it blows up.

I'm a talker.

Uh, finally, this was, I thought, speaking of disrespectful, a little disrespectful in the rundown uh mark i'll tee you up on it because it's this is just how justin put it in mark had this chargers thing uh thank you thank you i was not gonna make a big deal out of this but like

mark had

this chargers thing yesterday i am and just to be clear let me just set it up a little bit more the previous headlines in our rundown jamar chase throws joe burrow under the bus on kay adams the nfl is banning the use of smalling smelling salts during games.

Cowboys Jerry Jones not competent, confident, not confident, not confident.

Micah Parsons plays week one.

Keenan Allen returning to Chargers on one year, $8.5 million contract.

And then at the bottom of the rundown, in bold, Mark had this Chargers thing.

You know what?

It came off the heels of me yesterday when I had a little downtime looking for good content for the show.

And I went out of my way to send this tweet, which has a little bit of sound.

And it's like, listen, guys, this might be good for the show.

It'd also be good for our Friday Fun show.

But, you know, there's no response to that.

Then it's just this, when I saw this, Mark had this charger thing.

It's like,

it is just vastly dismissive.

Allow me to respond briefly.

One more second.

Let me add to the rundown here and maybe grab a little screenshot for the show, Justin.

I see that Mark went into the dock and then open parenthetical, it's Joe Ault and Justin Herbert arguing about food.

And then to make a point, Mark double dashes it, MS, close parenthetical, as if to say, I put this in because it was so unprofessionally handled.

Yes.

So welcome to the inner workings of a highly dysfunctional product.

I need to read it.

I started reading the rundown.

That's how the sausage gets made, baby.

No, I just have a point of contention with Mark's little tirade there about no one responding to him.

I text a tirade.

I did text back in the group chat.

I said, oh, I'll throw it in the rundown.

And if we're running long, we can always bump it to Friday Fun Show.

So there was a response.

I did text.

I think I caught a little stray there because I think Mark wanted me to be like, great one, Mark.

But I was probably busy at the time.

And I throw stuff all the time into the various chats.

I don't expect a reply, like, you know, saying how great it was.

Well, okay, now you're jumping on board here, but you're the one who correctly pointed out that the way this was framed by Justin.

It was.

Let's not lose the point.

Let's not lose the thread that Justin disrespected, the co-host.

Justin, I'll throw it to you.

Well, the rest of the items leading to this one were news items that had like a pretty easy headline to write for myself to put in the rundown.

This one, what...

What was I?

What's the news?

Is this news?

What's the news?

It's just a news.

It's a slice of life.

It's a slice of life.

And you know what?

Like, maybe I will ban it from the show and no one will ever get to see it.

Listen,

this is

the The peacemaker is at it again.

I'm doing my best to smooth this over, but right now I feel like we're not close to a resolution.

I think maybe we play this a different time if we can, even though calmer nerves can prevail here.

I don't feel thrilled about, now I'm going to play it.

But now you're creating it.

You're in a very self-conscious place.

Well, no, because it's like it's not going to perform up to the way that the other three people, even if one of them doesn't enjoy it, I'm going to hear about it.

And this has been an Ishtar level flop of an idea generation.

So.

All right, let's check it out.

This is Mark's Idea for Content for today's show.

Joe Ault and Justin Herbert in an argument about food.

Let's check it out.

Did you know there's parts of the country that don't do tomato soup with grilled cheese?

That's probably true, but a lot of places.

We're just weird and have some crazy combos.

I feel like grilled cheese and tomato soup is a lead to it.

Well, like, don't they not like, they don't put cheese on pizzas in Italy, right?

Isn't it just a sauce?

We're talking about our country.

Yeah, in the in the United States, though, I'm not talking about other countries.

No, no, I understand that.

But then why'd you bring up Italy?

Because I'm saying we put cheese on our pizza.

They don't.

I'm pretty sure you give the cheese pizza on the argument.

But the argument was parts of our country do different things, and then all of a sudden you bring up Italy.

Oh, you're saying inside of our own country?

That's what we're saying.

Or at least I feel like I've seen that on Internet.

Well, then what are they eating grilled cheese with?

It'd be crazy if you're just eating a grilled cheese.

Imagine just eating a grilled cheese.

That's what they do, I guess.

I don't know.

Charisma Factory and El Segunda.

I mean, yeah,

let's call an end to the Mensa meeting there.

I just think, here's why I caught my eye.

All this time I've been thinking to myself, why can't I get excited about the Chargers?

And then that clip came along, and now I'm all in on the bolts.

Joe Alt's job is not to be a cuisine expert.

It's to maul people and to prevent them from mauling.

But I just like the idea that practices happening, like camp battles, like this young rookie stood out in a fifth round or every bunch of nerds, and these guys are just arguing about cheese on pizza and grilled cheese and tomato soup in various parts of our country.

It's just regular people.

Connor, put a bow on it.

I, well, I hate, I hate grilled cheese.

And

tomato soup would just never come across my radar.

But so I don't know if I'm appropriate to Wayne here, but what led him to believe that they don't put cheese on pizza in Italy?

What was the

process there?

I think does he not think mozzarella is cheese?

I think in the traditional sense, sense, what the traditional like New York slices, if you want to call it that,

it's not the same.

Like they kind of do like more, I don't know.

I've never been to the microphone.

Like a mozzarella.

I like to go.

It's like kind of like, yeah, the Mutz is maybe a little bit more scattered on the pie rather than it being

the shredded Mutz mozzarella that then gives you the classic American pie look.

I think that's what he was trying to say, but there is cheese, yes.

Right.

Yeah.

I mean, I've lost all faith in the Chargers at this point.

I'm going 5 and 12 now.

Mark, good content.

See, none of that would ever happen without you.

Good job, Mark.

See you, Justin.

Good job, Mark.

Great addition there.

I just texted Jessica to find out if they do indeed put cheese on pizza in Italy because she grew up, you know, 30 miles north of the Italian border.

I think it's just a pizza.

Well,

I've literally had pizza with cheese in Italy.

So maybe

every place does, but it's...

Just getting confirmation, you know, we don't want to.

I think this might be he trusts his fiancé's input on this more than yours mark and this is the peacemaker just trying to like move the show out of this quagmire we're in but it's it's it keeps getting deeper and deeper i had pizza wix with rex ryan in italy he bought like

slices of pizza i i think i'll be backing i'll be second sourcing she can be your first source justin but i'll be second sourcing what i believe she will tell you the typing bubble is up she's about to let us know how much pizza did rex put down in one sitting was Was this skinny Rexera or

he looks great?

He remembered Connor, by the way.

But

when we first got to Italy, he went up to

an open stand and just bought pizza for like eight people.

So I think he just had one piece.

It was a very alpha Rex move, and it won everyone over quickly.

Very cool.

Very cool.

Jessica responded.

Yes, they put cheese on authentic Italian pizza, but it's only and always fresh mozzarella.

No other cheeses like grated parmesan.

There you go.

Okay.

It's granular.

I like that answer.

Got it.

Very nice.

All right, let's take a break.

And I think we're going to talk quarterback.

I think.

And maybe Happy Gilmore, too.

Stay right there.

If you're a hedonist who needs more than what the big show can give you three times a week, head on over to patreon.com slash heed the call, where you can get an entire world of HTC content every week.

There's of course the flagship program, the Friday fun show, which you get every single week, but there's more.

This week, especially a big one, it came from the subreddit, a study of what the show is about, both in front of the camera and behind the scenes.

We get into all the latest happenings and all the speculation that's been going on around the Heed the Call universe.

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In addition to all the other content you get every week, silver horses the Sessler newsletter rolling thunder the throwback podcast movie live watches everything and more new stuff coming every single month patreon.com slash heed the call viva la revolución he did us

my old peppy used to have a saying okay

he'd say to me you know in these times of turmoil he'd say

there ain't ain't no way to wake up a hand less than you got a cock.

Well, Michael Parsons is my cock.

That's right.

And my cock is about to wake up all them hands.

There ain't no way in tarnation I'm gonna be getting rid of me of my cock.

My cock is gonna kooka, dooka, do

all over them hands.

The entire NFL is about to wake up.

Kuka, Dooka, do.

That's the cowboy way.

Wow.

What time was that one sent?

4.20.

4.20.

Coincidence?

I don't know.

4.19, but basically 4.20.

And we do.

I should make it just clear that we don't have

confirmation.

journalistically, Connor, that that is Jerry Jones, but that certainly sounds like Jerry Jones.

It does.

And it tracks to the comments and the news around Cowboys camp at the moment.

Possibly also an effort for him to get us blacklisted from YouTube with some of the language.

But good for him maybe doing that.

I have more confidence

in the Cowboys now after hearing these.

This is a middle-of-the-night word spinner.

By the way,

can we just...

Can we just say that the Cowboys are,

and we'll move on, but the Cowboys are opening the season on Sunday night football.

I mean,

I'll do 11 smelling salts at once if this deal is not done by the time.

Like, I'm not trying to, like, this, he, he, this is just, this is just

for the opener.

Yeah, he's going to do it that day.

Exactly.

Like you did.

You know what's even more annoying?

Because it's going to be, yeah, playing out.

We're going to have to be talking about it periodically for the next four or five weeks.

And then he is going to play.

And then, guess what?

The only thing we're going to be hearing during like the pregame show or leading up to the Sunday night football game is like,

well, Parsons will be playing, but we'll see.

He might be on a snap count, and then he'll have no impact on the game because he has not been training and hopefully stays healthy.

And in general, it's all going to feel like a giant waste of our time.

Yep.

So please get the deal done this week and not on September 5th.

Please, for all of our sake.

I mean, this is a man who enjoys soliloquies, so the idea of stretching this out feels very Jerry Jones on brand.

So if that is Jarrah leaving us these voicemails, I would imagine he's listening to the show.

He must be a fan, which is great.

Thank you, Jarrah.

And maybe he'll heed our advice on Heed the Call.

I don't know.

Speaking of Jarrah, he is one of the 32 owners,

and they were the controlling...

and financial engine of NFL media and NFL network, at least until this week, when officially it went down.

ESBN acquired NFL Network and Red Zone and other properties

in exchange for the NFL getting a 10% equity stake in the All Sports Network.

It was officially announced on Tuesday night.

ESBN will also acquire the NFL's fantasy product and merge it into the existing platform, making ESPN's fantasy football the official game of the NFL.

In a separate deal, the NFL also agreed to license ESPN, other NFL content, and IP that will appear on NFL network and other assets.

Crazy.

And you know, this for longtime listeners, this is a kind of a thing that we've been tracking very closely.

We worked, all of us worked at NFL Media in various capacities.

Mark and I were there for 14 years.

And, Mark, it's

the end of an era there.

It's still unclear.

And I've been reaching out to certain people there that we've been in contact with.

It's like, what's the vibe there?

Like, what does it mean for various areas of the operation?

And from what we're hearing, there's still a lot of murkiness behind the scenes there in terms of everything from who they answer to to whether they're even going to have a job.

So I feel for all those people.

But yeah, it's the end of an era because ESPN has taken over the NFL network.

When we got there

way back when,

NFL.com, for instance, NFL network was, I wouldn't call it its infancy, but very early years.

And NFL.com was littered with like CBS sports bought content and the Associated Press.

And then they grew the news desk.

They grew the operation to at one point, I would say they had, you know, 50 content contributors.

And Connor and Dan and Justin and I all contributed in various ways to everything they did over there.

And

it's now in such a different place.

And you could see it.

We heard about rumors of this deal for a long time, as did others.

And there was Amazon packed in there at one point.

And you just could tell this is where the owners wanted to go.

But you're right.

I think it creates the year ahead, depending on if you're there or not still, is going to be I think a mystery in terms of what this looks like for other people with ESPN a year from now.

And that's just not easy in this industry in general to not sure where you're going to be months from now.

And we have a lot of genuine good friends there.

You can't help but think about where they'll be and what they're doing.

I've never been at a place more where there's a ratio of incredibly talented people to that feeling of when you walk around and you're just like, oh, fk, I made a giant mistake coming here.

You know what I mean?

Like, like everybody was awesome and like obsessed with with their craft, like you guys, and Mike Garifolo and Colleen and like all these really talented people.

But then you'd leave those meetings and those conversations with those people and you'd walk out the hallway and you're just like, Jesus, what's going on here?

And so I'm glad that they do have some clarity in some way, shape, or form.

But I do hope that they keep and invest in the talent that is there.

Yeah, there was a moment in time.

Like I'll, I'll rough a ballpark it around 2013.

This is when around the NFL launched, uh, till let's say around the pandemic, where

I thought that NFL media felt like something of a quiet miracle.

Um,

the news arm had backbone and wasn't afraid to push back against the teams.

Um, creatively, you felt like you could take some chances and push boundaries, and uh, whether it's as a writer or as a podcaster, and people had your back.

And this is like you're working for the NFL, it was crazy, and there was just so much talent there.

Like, pull up that photo, Justin.

It was posted last year

in the old bullpen at Culver City.

You see, look at that.

Wes, Mark, Shek,

myself, there's Jeremiah, Ceciliano.

I think Greg's desk is right behind my spot there.

Obviously, Connor came through and joined the news team.

And, you know, Colleen and

Eisen is the face.

And then, you know, our producers like Ricky Hollywood, La Cid, Kevin Patra,

and

all these people.

And then there was like the behind the scenes people, you know, like Hands Hank and Tom Brady, the other Tom Brady, Justin Hathaway, John Marvel,

Dave Ely on the desk, the Panthers fan, our buddy, Birch, Ali, Fenelon,

Brooks or Strasimo, yeah, Brooks or Sasimo.

Like, like, there was so much talent there, and it wasn't, it couldn't, nothing lasts forever.

And things slowly started to change.

And, and that was what led to the end of our, our run there in so many ways is that it, it went from that period where, like, it felt like you were

you felt like you were part of something creative and exciting, and there was a lot of resources being put into it, and you're being sent on these trips to all the different league events and to London.

And it was just like

there is belief

in what we're doing.

And then then as this deal got closer and closer, you saw how the NFL and the media group and the new management, which was different management than the management that supported us and had backbone and creativity, how that management, they started playing scared, I thought, in the last few years of our time there.

And they stripped back the network programming and cut back on the dot-com side of things.

And certain editorial guardrails shifted as it was all a big, obviously a business pivot that they were making to get to this point.

So,

to your point, guys, like I totally agree that

I hope what's left now,

I hope there's some restoration of like the ability to be creative and feel like it's a real news operation.

And because it didn't feel the same way once you started hearing about this merger or this acquisition.

So, it's

crazy.

That's largely ESPN's decision, and people have strong feelings about ESPN.

I mean, I think also we watch just the industry change because if you, that photo right there, which is a vibrant old-school newsroom, like one of the things that stand out for me is that whenever Damashek, who in person is just like he could spin stories for two hours straight, and he's a total joy, and he'd come up to our cubicles and start talking, that our editors and people that were waiting for us to write would start to melt because they knew that if Dave came over, it's going to be another 50 minutes before we're even looking at our screens.

There were so many personalities there.

And

when it was good, they made our dreams come true in terms of what you wanted to do since you were a kid.

I wouldn't trade any of it.

No.

I wouldn't either.

And like, it's, I, I kind of, at this point, it's like, you look back on any place you leave and it's like, how much

anger or agitation do I want to invest in this?

It's like, I really do at this point remember so much more of the incredible doorways we walked through and the people that we got to work with and it's like it was a special time that they're not going to recapture that they won't whatever they get whatever they accomplish they can't recapture that and i sound old saying that but the industry has just changed newsrooms have changed yep i'm glad we were a part of it it was um a special place to be um and i think also Just one last thing that I had thought about, like part of the reason that it did thrive the way it did during that time period was,

and now sometimes I get a little romantic about California and Los Angeles, like that separation, the coast-to-coast separation of the NFL home office on Park Avenue and then what was going on here in Culver City, like that distance was both physical, but also like in terms of ideals and like vision for what this is supposed to represent.

So there was always tension between the league office and the people that ran NFL media because I think the league office wanted something more traditional in terms of what our media arm is putting out there.

But we had some really kind of fun,

exciting, charismatic people behind the scenes making hires and allowing us to do things that you wouldn't typically find on that type of platform.

So it's kind of a little bit of a California love story, too, when I think about the good times as well.

And that softball team, the Shield.

We went to three title games, two chips.

I got the two trophies in my attic.

Maybe I should put it right here.

Am I still seen as the GM of that team because I didn't actually play on the field?

I think you were that.

I would say you still see yourself as the GM.

I think that's probably closer.

All right, it's time.

Without further ado,

quarterback, Netflix.

Let's check out, in case you haven't seen it, and you should watch it.

Let me start here.

NFL Films, which is not involved, by the way, with the ESPN deal,

still, like, when they are in a groove and they're in their pocket, it's great.

If you're a football fan, if you love football, I loved this season of quarterbacks.

Here's a little trailer just to get you up to date on what it was exactly and what you could still check out on Netflix.

You know, you only have so many of these seasons.

New week, new week.

Let's go.

Let's go.

Get used to it.

This is what it feels like to truly be wanted.

That's my quarterback.

Let's go, baby!

And we found there's an opportunity that would be a longer commitment.

This one is over.

Tap it up.

Are we surprised when the NFL drafts happen?

This was a hard-earned Roy Rodgers.

There it is.

So Netflix quarterbacks.

And let's just focus on the quarterbacks one at a time here.

Starting with Jared Goff.

And I asked Justin to pull a clip for each of these quarterbacks.

And I thought the Goff thing, Goff, by the way, is

if

part of my issues with hard knocks, which by the way, debuted also on Tuesday, a little bit sleepy start for Hard Knocks.

Yeah, a little bit the Buffalo Bills, a lot of good vibes.

Seems like a lot of good dudes, like a lot of good dudes on the Bills and nice guys on the Bills.

But I didn't see in episode one a ton of charisma slash

energy

slash drama.

Like a good hard knock season has to have some drama and some stakes and some different types of personalities.

There's like a bunch of like nice dudes out in Rochester.

Not to

lose the thread here, but yeah, Mark.

Well, just real quick, because I think what

we can get into why quarterback, I think, was special and fun to watch.

It had a little bit of that information that Hard Knocks used used to, which I think you talked about what happened to NFL Media.

Like, Hard Knocks feels a little bit on the same trajectory where it's like, we can't do creative, dangerous things on this show anymore.

And it just felt like it was for a child.

Yep.

A little sanitized.

Now, Jared Goff specifically, the reason I thought of that is because Goff curses like a sailor.

He dropped so many F-bombs in quarterbacks that I was watching it when I was on my parents' anniversary trip in Florida.

I was watching it in this house that we were staying in, and I had to like turn it off because there were too many kids around.

I was like, that's because of Jared Goff.

I was like, surprised.

But anyway, Goff is an affable fellow.

He would fit in on the Buffalo Bills, but he's got a little bit of piss and vinegar to him.

I'm going to play one clip here, Connor.

I'll tee you up on it.

Where he talks, and I don't know if he'd gotten into this in the past, perhaps he had, but you know, the Rams' relationship is long gone at this point, but how it kind of fueled him and

how disappointed he was how the Los Angeles Rams ended their relationship despite big time years and a trip to the Super Bowl.

Let's check that out.

You feel like you've been betrayed or like you're not wanted.

And I think for me, ultimately, it was the fact that there wasn't a conversation had and that there wasn't like a,

hey, we're thinking about moving on type of thing.

There was nothing.

You know, you wish that it wasn't such a blind side and you wish that there was some sort of

maturity, I guess, to have that conversation and to be able to let me know what's going on and how things went down and why this is happening.

It was my first real taste of true adversity, and your career is kind of at a fork in the road.

I could relate to some of that in my own career.

But

Connor,

Sean McVay and Lesney, that surprised me.

I feel like they're not the type of dudes that would pull that move, but I guess it's business, and sometimes that's the way it goes.

I think that Sean himself would probably say that he has evolved as a person over time.

And I know that he was incredibly sensitive during the Super Bowl in just maybe the way that some of the, whether it was the story about Matthew Stafford and Cabo San Lucas and how that all came together and just the narrative around that.

And I think that, I think part of that was probably a little bit of a regret of how things ended with Jared.

But I think to McVay's credit, he's done a lot of work and Jordan's done a great job of illuminating all this, a lot of self-work on his personality and his self-awareness.

And he didn't kind of go in one way, which we've seen some coaches do when you get hit with that offensive genius peg and you just turn into a crazy Machiavellian asshole.

Or you can try to, not naming any names here, but or you could go over to the McVay side where I think he's he's coming to realize that my guess is if he had another shot at it, he probably would have done it differently.

My takeaway with Goff,

I've always kind of viewed him as like a bowl of vanilla ice cream.

Like this isn't Joe Namath we're talking about here.

But he struck me as having also matured and grown.

Like I thought that he was one of the more impressive aspects to this where it's like you're not bowling me away with your verbal skills or your take on life, but you have a good grasp of who you are.

You seem comfortable in your own skin.

You're a good leader.

And like, you know, I don't need need my quarterback to be a flamboyant um you know steal the show off the field type person and he's not he seems pretty pretty grounded and balanced and i thought he came across as like compared to the jared goff that didn't know that the sun rose in the east on that yesteryear hard knocks like he's a different guy and i i can see why the why the lions have been won over by him from the person standpoint and had such a good rapport you see it in the mic'd up sideline with Ben Johnson and they were on the same page and we'll see if John Morton and Goff have the similar ability and I will hear nothing and I mean nothing critical

about Kristen Harper Goff.

Okay?

If I haven't made myself clear already.

Nor should you.

Not a whisper.

Can I can I just lob a compliment?

Yes, permitted.

Kristen compliments permitted.

Okay.

Insults not permitted.

When I'm not a Hallmark guy, I'm strictly like I'm home renovation shows, home decoration shows, lakefront bargain hunt, all that stuff.

And so for me,

the appeal of having to watch this is that you do get some in-home shots.

You get a taste of some of the interior decoration, the outfits, all that stuff.

And I think that the Goffs just have a lovely home.

And I just wanted to put that out there.

I thought it was like very tastefully decorated.

Unless anyone

misunderstand where I'm coming from, I too

am defending Kristen because of her taste in interior decoration.

Yep.

It's part and parcel.

Yes.

Let's move to Joe Burrow.

My niece, Lil, Lillian, is a monster Burrow fan.

She's 13 years old.

I bought her a Burrow t-shirt for Christmas.

And then I got a photo recently that was sent where now she's got a full Burrow jersey and like matching shorts and like wristbands and stuff.

She's all the way in on Burrow.

Okay.

I get it.

I get there's Burrow is, you just mentioned Joe Namath.

Man, I feel like I'm watching a little bit of a Namath type dude in Burrow.

I am all the way in on Burrow.

I think he is, he is a charisma factory to me.

I think the team

views him as almost a Christ-like figure.

Apparently, not Jamar Chase.

Maybe Jamar Chase watched Netflix quarterbacks and he's like, I got to take this guy down a peg.

But his, and then you watch the, it's incredible,

how well that man played football last year and how egregiously the defense let them down week after week and I remember like not that I'm gonna form football analysis judgments based on a Netflix series, but like we were all kind of up in arms collectively like how could Lou Anarumo lose his job?

They gave up 40 points every week for three months that they needed to make changes.

Maybe it wasn't a scheme issue as much as a personnel problem, but you get why perhaps they were like, we got to change something because Burrow's out here putting up four touchdowns and throwing for 350 every week without making a mistake, and we don't even make the playoffs.

But anyway,

that said, yeah.

Because for me, what I learned,

I don't need these shows when they cut to like

NFL Network or ESPN with talking heads filling in moments.

And I don't really need a lot of game highlights.

It's a device they use.

Right.

I think it's a bit of a filler.

You know, there's seven episodes of this thing, I think, but like Burrow was a really interesting person to watch.

I think he's, if you go to Namath, I kind of get it, but he's definitely a more modern day.

He fits the modern day where like he's unabashedly into, like obsessed with fashion.

And his mom was like a fashion designer and development.

And I thought that he, on camera, was very willing to be that version of Joe Burrow, where like he's got a stylist, Kyle Smith, who talked about he's going through a blue moment in his

lineup of clothing.

I watched that episode with Keith Hansis, and my dad's like, I don't know.

I like that.

That's the thing.

I think the old Joe Namath fan doesn't see that connection.

There was a situation.

But you know what I said?

Not to interrupt you, Mark, but you know what I said to my dad?

I said, Dad, it was a different era, but I'm pretty sure Namath probably had something like that too, because he was very fashion conscious.

He wore a full-length mink coat on the sideline at Shea Stadium.

But back then, you would never, you know,

amplify having a personal design, you know, wardrobe stylist or whatever.

That's the thing I think that's a little different.

It seemed like Namath just cooked this up like a magician, his whole aura and appeal and became a movie star.

And like Burrow definitely has handlers.

Like there's a moment where he was wearing like

I had to watch this twice.

He's wearing like a chainmail jacket with nothing under it.

And his entire like nuclear and extended family are just sitting around him and no one's batting an eye.

The only other thing thing I'll mention, because it's like,

he's the way he speaks and his ideas in general, and I think he's obsessive and he wants to win.

And I love the idea of like, if he's your quarterback, you love this guy.

But he does speak to me like a smart 15-year-old.

Like he just, he kind of just, his ideas are like trying to wow you the way that like a.

precocious 15 year old would.

At one point, he's talking to like a ball girl about fossils.

And you can tell he's tried to talk to a lot of people about fossils.

He's got these obsessions.

And he's like, why, you know, when aren't fossils on your mind, on your mind?

They're sick.

And he's telling the place.

And the ball girl is just like, you're Joe Burrow and you're tall and you're hot and you're amazing.

And I don't give a shit.

I can't wait for this conversation to end.

Like, she wasn't swept away by it.

You know, he is right on the, he's on the very beginning of the, where the line breaks from millennial to Zoomer.

Yeah.

And there is Zoomer energy to him, but also he's very comfortable in his skin and isn't afraid to put himself out there.

This, I'm not really taking the piss out of him because it was

probably a very

difficult moment for him.

Not probably, definitely.

He's having this really tough season.

It's late in the year.

It's a Thursday night game.

He balls out, of course.

They win a game they needed to win, and he's in the locker room trying to finally enjoy it after a lot of frustrating losses.

And he gets a text that

his home had been broken into, and

he had, you know, there was a lot of things had been taken from the home.

Some of it subsequently recovered,

a lot of jewelry.

But

one of the things that we learned earlier in the show is that he was going to buy a fully loaded Batmobile.

And then, after this robbery, it made him return.

Sent some like Paramount or Disney or something.

It's like from a studio.

I like the Warner Brothers.

Sorry, Justin.

He was going to buy this Batmobile.

There's an entertaining sideline mic'd-up moment where he's explaining why he wants the Batmobile.

And there's Nary a smile.

It was just very seriously explaining why he needs a Batmobile, which seems like something that a filthy, rich Zoomer quarterback is like, I just want a Batmobile.

Anyway, after this robbery, it makes him reconsider certain things about his public versus private life.

And one of the things he decides is to not get the Batmobile.

I don't know why i don't know why why that connected but um i did

i did find it kind of funny how seriously he talked about not getting the batmobile let's play that and true that that was the impetus to cancel the batmobile

yeah

yeah that was uh

you know that's i didn't end up getting the batmobile because

you know i just had other

other things i wanted to deal with

that point.

That's why he seems like a 15-year-old to me, not in a mean way, but just like you had to cancel the Batmobile.

Had to do it.

Had to reprioritize.

I bumped into him recently somewhere, and he is.

Oh, really?

Really, James Palmer?

Go on.

Did he seek you out and be like, I feel really good about this?

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

No.

No, someone was like, Joe,

this mold growing on the wall was interviewed you once for a story.

And

he was very nice.

But like, even the way that

he can tell that you're about to try to wind up a little bit of yarn to make pleasant conversation and the way that he can just absolutely leave the room and still make you like him without having to listen to it is one of the great traits of his.

What a skill.

Yeah.

Oh, my God.

He was just like, well, I'm going to get going.

But you didn't feel like, oh, my God, I'm getting miffed here.

I blew it.

You're just like, ah, what a cool guy.

That's what the great ones do.

The true guys that and you know man woman whoever like when you are one of those figures that everyone wants a piece of and just like one conversation can be something that stays with that person forever yeah that means people are constantly constantly trying to be in your orbit and you have to learn how to so that's sometimes you got to put up the old the batmobile shield remember you had the bat shield in the first batman yeah that's it by the way that's why and the shield has to come up yes that's how to draw the shield up yeah well no just the whole like um people pulling on the coat strings left and right and having to gracefully you know work through that i mean see you've been doing that for years who's your favorite batman mark

uh keaton

connor although like don't say don't don't go full connor and say clooney please don't no i will say that val kilmer is looking back at now that we that val kilmer is not with us like val kilmer is pretty amazing in anything from that era but except for batman that was a

great by Kilmer.

Yeah, he looks great.

Go ahead, Connor.

Christian Bale.

Good answer.

Okay.

Different type of Batman movie in general.

I didn't even really see it as a Batman movie.

Justin's dying to jump in with a take here, Gravy.

Ben Affleck.

Just kidding.

I agree with Connor.

Just kidding.

I agree with Connor.

It's Christian Bale.

And you know what?

Just because it's a part of my youth and

it makes it a different answer, Adam West.

Okay.

Oh, please.

What?

I love that show.

I watch that show every day.

I did too, but I okay.

They're all different products.

They're very different products, but sure.

My only knowledge of Adam West as Batman comes from Family Guy.

So sorry.

I understand that.

That was unnecessary.

We could have deduced that just by looking at you.

And then finally, Kirk Cousins.

Kirk Cousins.

Now, I thought, let's talk cousins quickly here.

Cousins, who signed up for the original quarterback season two years ago when he was a Viking, and then agreed again to his maiden voyage with the Falcons, which was obviously as successful as the Titanic launch

in 1912.

But

I believe this series had...

I came out of the first season of quarterbacks really liking Kirk Cousins in a way and appreciating him in a way I didn't.

I came out of this season, like, just completely overwhelmed by the corniness of Kirk Cousins, and I can't do Kirk Cousins anymore.

And I don't think any clip better signifies Kirk Cousins' like

just overwhelming, like smothering

need to let you know how wholesome and focused and good a man he is than when he's with his

generic cadre of white bros that he's been buddies with forever and they sit down in the middle of the season to have some drinks and food.

And Kirk Cousins makes it be known that he's a teetotaler, but not necessarily alcohol, but yes, including alcohol, but even

any carbonated beverage, especially one with a cherry flavor.

Let's check it out.

What do you guys want?

Do you have cherry Coke?

We could, yes, Roy Rogers or Cherry Coke.

With grenadine.

Grenadine.

Please, that's a Roy Rogers.

Absolutely.

three of those okay just want just water for me but if it was the offseason I would definitely join them in having a Roy Rodgers it's my favorite beverage the Roy Rogers it's the best beverage there is we drink it for him yeah okay I mean guys go out and get in some trouble go get laid go to a casino

Christ

oh oh we're gonna we're we're cutting loose oh hold around a Roy Rodgers whoa wait a second just three

let's not get out of control I'm not gonna to get a Roy Rodgers.

Did you say grenadine in my sprite?

No, no, no.

Just the water for me.

Enough, Kirk.

We get it.

You're going to heaven.

You're fine.

Have a fing cherry soda.

All right.

That's all.

I think I just hit my limit with it.

I just hit my limit, and it was that.

The Roy Rogers.

I've hit my limit.

You are.

You're one of the completists that watched this entire series and the first one and that's a lot of kirk cousins um

i i ghosted the first one and so i may be a little less tired with his act um

i get you i think he is who he is and he's not trying to be something other than he is um i have kind of a different note about him i think of the compared to the other quarterbacks like his career knowledge came through in this because

he has these computation notebooks these dense physical written notebooks that he basically learned from Kyle Shanahan how to do.

And I say that only to branch off that he's just been in the league for a long time and they had a tough game against like the Bucks and Todd Bowles.

And he talked about why it's tough to face Todd Bowles on a short week.

And that is what I don't see right now in Hard Knocks and a lot of other stuff where it's like I learned from some of his experience.

The last thing I'll say is that I do think he has a tried and true marriage with his wife, Julie.

And she talked a moment about when Michael Pennex took the job, that Kirk Cousins

literally was like, I'm going to call him up and do the right thing.

And Michael Pennix and just say, like, it's yours.

The job is yours.

And he went to practice the next day as the scout team quarterback for like the first time since he was like a rookie.

And

they basically said, Raheem Morris said it was one of the better practice he's ever seen.

Now, I get all the Kirk stuff you're saying.

I'm just saying, I think as a professional and a guy, like, I couldn't help but be like, this dude's pretty real for what he is.

I get it.

Like, I get it.

But

if you're going to put him into, at this point, what, 13 episodes of this where everyone else has once, I don't know why they double down on him twice.

That's part of what's on my radar.

Like, Kirk already did the,

he didn't need image rehab, but just kind of showing this is what Kirk's really like and then, like, agreeing to come back for more because he was somewhat of a breakout star of the first season of it.

I i would imagine netflix and nfl films must have seen it that way it i don't know it's just a lot for me it was a weird move on netflix's decision to not get a different i know a lot of quarterbacks didn't want to do it it might have been as simple as that like they didn't have overflowing options right

i just kept couldn't think or i just couldn't keep stopping thinking about the waitress who walked away from that table and was like the richest guy at the table isn't going to drink so i can't pop up the bill and then charge the tip off of the inflated alcohol Yeah.

There are layers.

There's layers of dysfunction

to the interaction.

Yes, Justin, final words.

Yes, I just wanted to throw in there, you said you don't think you could have found a better clip.

Like the one that comes to mind for me for how corny and ridiculous Kirk Cousins is is him singing in the drive-thru with his brother a cappella share song and his kid in the back seat pleading with him to stop.

Can you guys stop?

Just no music, just him and his brother harmonizing Cher.

Yeah, Cher's comeback hit in 99, I believe, which was massive.

Great.

And that's fine.

Like, that was a huge song and a pop culture touchstone when he was in high school or whatever.

But a little bit, you know, like he knew all the different vocal parts.

Like,

he was hitting, like, he was harmonizing on it.

And it was like, how many times have these f ⁇ ing guys done this together?

Like, they've probably been singing like that together their whole lives.

What is going on?

His whole attachment to music, I actually found mildly fascinating with the one game that I can't remember which stadium it was in, maybe the Eagles or something, where they play a song in an away stadium that pumps him up to go.

execute the game-winning drive.

And just like every time he was on screen, if it wasn't the Roy Rogers or his friends dressing up in crazy costumes, it was some connection to music.

And it was like just overwhelming this guy and me.

It was Creed, wasn't it?

Wasn't it the Bucks game and the one in Overtime?

Oh, maybe it was the Bucks game, yeah.

I mean, he is, like, I can't disagree with your annoyance with him, but

Cherry Coke?

That's the devil's cocktail.

No, sir.

He calls himself a nerd and like a weird guy.

Like, he's not completely oblivious to probably how people see him, including his younger teammates, but I'll step off the argument there.

We're going to have to kick Happy Gilmore 2 to the Friday Fun Show.

We just ran out of time, but that's okay.

So check that out on Friday.

Anything else in the voicemails before we say goodbye?

Yeah, we actually, I just was scrolling through.

We get so many, so many voicemails.

There is a third.

There was a third.

So let me say goodbye.

We'll say goodbye.

We'll be back.

One of our favorite episodes of the year coming up later this week.

2025 Team Slogans in the NFL with Connor Orr.

And our buddy Arif Hassan is going to join us.

So that's going to be a lot of fun.

So we say goodbye.

We tell you to do what you must.

Heed the call.

Take it away, Jara.

All this Michael Parsons trade nonsense has got me thinking about an old analogy my pepper once told me.

Used to say to me, Jira,

you can't fix a wagon wheel with frog legs.

Now, now I'll say something like that.

That just might fly over your Yankee brain, don't it?

But what does it mean?

It means if you got a broken wagon wheel and you head on over to the general store, you try to buy a hammer, and they say, Well, son, we're fresh out of hammers, but here we got some frog legs.

You gonna take those frog legs back to that broken wagon wheel and try to fix it?

No,

no, you're not.

You need a hammer.

And right now, I don't see a team that has a hammer that'll fix my wagon wheel.

I see nothing but frog legs.

You understand?

Frog legs can fix some things, they can fix impotence.

That's something my grandpa taught me as well.

Frog legs will fix your impotence.

Get this man a Roy Rogers.

Oh, my God.

Funny.

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