Broadcast Booth Power Rankings & The Brady Rules with Andrew Marchand

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is accepting free samples of the Troy Aikman America beer.

Drink up, America.

Welcome to Heed the Call with Dan Hansis and Mark Sessler.

It is the Wednesday midweek show, and it's going to be a great one coming up later.

Andrew Marchand of The Athletic and AndrewMarchand.com, one of the great media men covering the sport.

And Mark Sessler,

beyond that, we're going to talk some announcer power rankings.

We've got a TNF preview to hit.

We have an announcement to make.

Programming announcements, S Dog.

Yes, I love, you know, dating back to my.

I mean, of course, the horn plays like two words into my statement.

Just make the, I love radio announcements dating back to my childhood, but that doesn't matter.

Nobody cares about my childhood.

An exclusive.

Mark, just move out of the way a second.

An exclusive only on Patreon, the followers of the Heed the Call Patreon.

Trade deadline live stream spectacular Tuesday, November 5th.

Yes, the deadline is coming up.

It was pushed back one week this year.

We will be live as the deadline crosses over.

And, you know, either market's going to be an incredible deadline with a bunch of stuff to talk about or nothing to talk about.

In which case, we're going to be live streaming with the fans and listeners of the show with us, and we'll have a good time either way.

I hope the league,

this is often not the case, but cooperates with us by giving our program and our programming time slot

a bomb, like a news bomb that we can really dig our teeth into.

And, you know, I know everything now, it's like league deadline happens, but everything that you needed to know happened like in the 48, 72 hours before.

Give us a nice big juicy news shocker.

Yeah, give us one.

And even if we don't, we're just going to hang out with the listeners of Heed the Call and we'll have a good time.

So make make sure you sign up to have access to it, patreon.com slash heed the call.

All sorts of goodies over there.

The throwback podcast with me and Bob Castrone coming up this week.

We have the

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Our Friday morning drafts of the games for Sunday every week.

And yes, the trade deadline live stream spectacular.

Hit us up, patreon.com slash heed the call and join the movement all right without further ado our regular wednesday buddy

hit it justin

connor or

knows his game

from hallmark

to the hall of fame

when he's here it's like christmas every day.

As he unwraps the mysteries of the unexplained, it's Connor Orr.

Connor Orr.

Hey, bud.

What an intro.

I didn't even have my mic on.

All right.

I was in the zone.

I was taking it in.

What's up, bud?

How are you?

I'm great.

How are you guys?

Good.

Excellent.

Very good.

Well, we don't have our own theme songs.

You do.

So your life is just inherently better.

Mark?

Cast system.

Hey, before we end credit there,

as we always give credit to our highly, highly talented

musicians that contribute the Connor Orr music and all music contributed to this show, that one was from Sam Stringfield.

So thank you, Sam.

On that.

All right.

By the way, before we get to Andrew Marchon, we welcome him in.

I feel like as we chug towards week eight, Conman,

let's stay positive.

Sometimes it's easier to just go cynical and bury teams and move on and dwell on the negative because if it bleeds, it leads, right?

Journo?

However, let's go the other way and let's talk before we get into anything.

Teams, we are not ready to give up on.

So, Connor, I want you to take a team that's downtrodden on some level right now and make the case why they still are relevant, why they still matter, why they could be making noise in January.

So, I'm probably going to have the biggest outlier out of anyone now.

But I want you to hear me out on this, okay?

All right.

The Raiders, okay?

And

we're starting off hot.

Okay, so this is going to sound completely and wholly ridiculous.

And I understand that.

But think about some of the, we'll think about some of the top-level stuff before we get into the stats, right?

Top-level stuff, Tom Brady just became a minority owner of the franchise, Richard Seymour.

This is like when like McKinsey shows up at your corporate job, you're just like, oh, my ass is totally smoked.

You know, like they start asking you about like, do you believe in vertical integration?

And you don't know what the f that is.

And you're just like, you know, if you're Antonio Pierce, you're just like, okay, it's time to get out of here.

But I think that there's something empowering in that, and it might motivate him to stop kicking from the 10-yard line and just go all out and

just play.

Because the Raiders are oddly spicy.

And if you remove...

So this is like a fun thing you can do with expected points added and a couple of the other advanced metrics.

If you remove turnover plays from the equation, they're like a top six defense over the last three weeks.

They are getting better on offense, but not like nowhere near like the top 15.

But we just have this team full of nobodies playing with reckless abandon.

I think I said it on the Sunday show.

Their five wide receivers had a combined 10 starts to the point where like every team playing them, it's like playing a service academy.

You don't know what's going to happen when you play the Raiders at this point.

There's reckless abandon.

There's Antonio Pierce trying to hold on to this job for dear life.

And I think he's just going to get he's going to get wild with it.

And how beautiful would it be, guys, if Antonio Pierce, part of the Giants organization that twice thwarted Tom Brady in the Super Bowl, ends up giving him the middle finger and making him unfireable once again down the stretch this season?

I love the whole enchilada.

So there's two keys that need to unlock here without even looking at their upcoming schedule in terms of, because on the surface, I can't take this seriously at all.

But because I respect you and your football acumen, I'm going to pop the hood.

I need to know who the quarterback is.

I need to know who's leading this offense.

I know they have certain limitations, inherent limitations, when it's Gardner Minshew or

Desmond Ritter potentially and maybe Aiden O'Connell down the line.

They need to get proficient play at that position.

Who's going to emerge to help Brock Bowers on offense?

Is it Alexander Madison, their lead running back?

One of these no-name wide receivers?

I don't know about that.

Do they shock everybody and make a trade before the deadline?

Maybe on Tuesday when Mark and I are live on the live stream?

Maybe.

These are the questions I have.

And then I guess the last part is Antonio Pierce, he seems like a proud man.

He seems like a man that's very set in his ways.

Can he go full riverboat Ron and change and save his season?

Because he has at different points in the season when his back was against the wall.

He's done this before.

But I would argue that it's Gardner Minshew because we've only gotten cold Gardner Minshew.

So I remember, well, you're a Yankees fan that you rode the Joey Gallo experience at one point or another, where it's like it's a strikeout or it's like a 900-foot home run, right?

That's kind of strikeout, yeah.

Mostly strikeout, yeah.

So, that's what you get with Gardner Minshew.

We have not gotten the hot streak yet, we have not gotten hot Gardner to this point on the field at least.

And I think this is one of those situations where you're riding the statistical outliers.

I mean, he was awful last week, and what's to say that he can't put on a heater?

So let's take the Chiefs coming up here out of the equation.

Yeah, I mean, I think the schedule is a big problem here.

But I don't know if it is because you have down the stretch, you have Miami, and we don't know what they look like yet.

We don't know how Tua looks after this.

You have Denver, which is still a winnable game.

Let's not build the Broncos up into anything that they're not.

Tampa Bay still may be without their top receivers.

Jacksonville, New Orleans, Los Angeles, the Chargers.

I mean, these are all games that you can't, with any degree of certainty, say, like, okay, yeah, this team of fired-up nobodies playing guerrilla-style football can't beat us.

I mean, the Raiders beat the Chargers last year or the Chiefs last year.

So, yeah, I think the one thing is, so in the next two weeks, to not be executed, you've got to beat one of either Kansas City or Cincinnati.

And I don't really buy the concept that we're going to get a lot of Raiders news on our trade deadline special.

You just traded away like your best offensive player.

Right, that would be.

Yeah, that would like it would fly in the face of selling and then buying.

Sometimes a freeing element when

don't you think like you've made your sell

like whenever you're with

whenever you're with people at a party and the first guy would be like, Were you having fun yet?

You know, like that was Devontae Adams.

He's gone now.

And now everyone can just celebrate the love of football.

Like Robert Spillane, like, have you watched that guy play this year?

He's incredible.

I don't know.

Let's go.

I don't know if I saw a lot of guys loving football against the Rams.

You got Chiefs at Bengals at Dolphins.

You got to win two of those three to make this interesting.

It's not the easiest schedule, but okay.

All right, the Raiders.

That's bold, though.

I like that.

That's where we start.

Sestog, how about you?

Well, I'm going to go with the team that just beat Connor's candidate here, the Rams.

And now this is complex.

And part of it is we have to be pitching a somewhat faulty product.

We get that.

That's the conceit here.

There is a little bit of a lipstick on the piggy in this situation.

But here's my paradigm with the Rams.

They are a playoff team from a year ago with a lot of the same pieces.

They've added some pieces.

They went to overtime with the Detroit Lions in the opener, and then everyone gets injured.

They lost essentially all their players that really, really matter.

Their offensive line was shattered.

You're looking at a team, and I realize there's some nuance here to Cooper Cup, and we'll get into that later, but you're getting Cooper Cup back.

He's practicing.

Puka Nakua down the road.

It looks like you're going to at some point in November get Steve Avillier, starting left guard back.

You're down to your fourth center, so that's a problem.

But you get Jonah Jackson back at some point in the season, hopefully.

You've got Sean McVay.

You've got Matthew Stafford.

You've got Karen Williams.

You've got a young defense that is really, I think, starting to come together right now.

There is a veteran or two on there.

There's the Darius Williams.

There's Kobe Durant, who's been really good at corner.

Jared Verse leads all rookies in pressures.

And the second rookie leader in pressures is Braden Fisk.

So I think they're a little bit different than what we've thought about the Rams in the past, where it's like Stafford Cup and Sean McVay lead an innovative, changing, evolving offense.

I think this defense is a difference maker.

And

here's the thing, because I think schedule really matters, because I think for all these teams, one or two more losses and you are cooked.

If you look at what is coming up for the Rams, there is the Vikings.

That is a tough ask, ask, but you know what?

We'll get into that Vikings game.

I think this is a potential trap game situation.

You've got two shots at the Seahawks.

I think that's a positive for you, or one shot at the Seahawks.

That's a positive for you in your own division.

You've got the Dolphins, the Patriots, the Saints, the Jets, and the Cardinals left on the schedule.

There is room if you get healthy and you get back to what you were.

And again, they were a playoff.

You mentioned the Eagles there?

The Eagles are on there.

Well,

what I'm doing is I'm mentioning the easier teams so that it makes my argument stronger.

But no, I think there's a winnable games.

And it's like, so it really comes down to the health of the Rams.

I think their offense is pretty lost right now.

And can you refocus, find yourself, and go on a stretch run?

Like, I believe in the Rams as a team that could win like six games in a row or five games in a row.

Okay.

I mean, they're not as deep at a hole as the Raiders are, for instance.

They're two and four.

But I would put them in the same category if we're going to take this team seriously.

Yeah, home Vikings at Seattle, home Dolphins.

Got to win two of those.

Get yourself to four and five.

And then you got a trip to New England with a chance to level up to 500.

And if you get back to treading water like that, Connor,

it's within the realm of possibility.

Now,

this is a fairly bold organization that might be thinking differently, and we're going to see ahead of the trade deadline.

They might opt out of trying to go 9-8 and squeeze in the playoffs.

But if they keep the personnel and they get healthy, this one I'm buying.

I am too.

And I think part of it too is you not only have to keep the team engaged, I think you have to keep your head coach engaged.

I mean, say what you will about Sean.

I mean, I think he's committed all the way, but every single year we talk about the potential for, you know, what happens when he decides that he wants to take his Gruden time, you know, and step away.

And so give him some pieces for the future, be aggressive again at the trade deadline, find him an answer to, you know, prolong the life of Matt Stafford, all this kind of stuff.

I mean, you know, let's figure out a way to get all that done.

But I agree with Mark's point.

This defense is young, it's fantastic, and you build in an ascension there.

And we're talking about that's that's the gasoline that powers this comeback, I think.

And it's funny as I move to my choice because we all pick teams that are going to be playing each other or have played each other.

I'm going to go, and this is going to sound like a potential reverse jinx

scenario for the fans of this team because I typically I'm at some level of warfare with the Miami Dolphins as a New York Jets fan.

First of all, the fact that I'm not picking the star-studded New York Jets just shows once again that I have taken a step back and I wish them the best.

Everyone.

Also, just your nobility.

Everyone there in Florim Park

and the people that are fans of the Jets, maybe it does happen, but I don't see it.

I do see the Dolphins, though, as a team that with Tua Tunga Vailoa now returning to the lineup in week eight against the Cardinals, they have a chance, I think, to hit the ground running and get back right on track.

Now, what's working against my Dolphins pick here?

Well, for starters, it's that time and the real estate where the Dolphins have historically done their most damage in September and October.

We're now edging into late October where the temperature drops and Miami's functionality on offense has tended to drag.

So, I'm taking the risk there, but I look at their upcoming schedule, and they are 2-4 like the Rams.

We have,

like I said, home Cardinals winnable at Buffalo, Tuffy, at Rams.

That could be kind of a loser-goes-home scenario, Mark, for our picks there.

But again, what version of the Rams shows up?

Same case.

You got to win two of those three games.

And then if you can get back

to within one game of 500, you got home against the Raiders, home against the Patriots,

two games against the Jets.

And when I look at

the

AFC East, it is obviously now coming to focus that the Jets, who are one Aaron Rodgers false step away now, and that guy is barely making it through every game to an injury that takes him off the field.

The Jets, I think, it's way more likely the Jets lose eight of their last 10 games rather than win eight of their last 10.

They could be one of the worst teams in the league down the stretch.

That's how that season trajectory is going.

The Patriots also absolutely in the running for the number one overall pick.

So you have those teams in your division.

You have three matchups against those teams.

I see it.

I see it, and I see the pathway for the Dolphins.

This is not at all a reverse Jinx.

If two is healthy, this team can come back to life.

I think you're helped also.

The pre-like supposition was that the AFC would have like nine teams vying for playoff spots, and you've got a record-challenged Bengals team.

The Jets are the Jets right now.

The Browns have fallen off a cliff.

And so there is runway for the Dolphins to sneak in as a wild card.

Because if it was like, you've got to try to win the division, I'd hate that.

But we've got half these teams make the playoffs at this point.

If they're the old Dolphins, when Tua comes back, you've got a case.

If whatever's been going on continues or they're 40% less for some reason, you don't have a case.

And two, I mean, this team has been a track-style team and has historically worn down over the winter months.

But with this truncated break that they've taken, it's almost like you're not resting or doing load management, but you were forced into some degree of load management with some of your better players.

So maybe, you know, you reverse what has happened down the stretch over the last few years.

I'm going to say this team is going to be seven and seven

heading into the final three weeks, and then we'll see, because you have home against the Niners, obviously going to be a challenge.

But the schedule makers have a sense of humor.

You've got to go to Cleveland and to North Jersey the last two weeks where it will not be pleasant.

I know global warming is a factor here, and Mark's going to give us a, speaking at the Patreon, a global warming 45-minute dissertation next month.

But

it could also be nasty and cold, and that will be a challenge as well.

But I think they're going to be relevant in January or at least December.

We shall see.

So, yeah, it's hope.

Hope is a good thing.

Maybe the best thing.

Connor, you know that more than anyone.

I mean, apple picking in the orchard as the sun shines down, just thinking to yourself,

life on balance, it ain't bad.

That's the Connor Orr I know.

They had a slingshot there.

So the rotten apples, you get to put in a slingshot, but it was for ages eight and under.

But, you know, I looked around and made sure no one was there.

And

I cranked that thing back like 15, 20 feet, and I nearly took the head off of

like a wooden moose that you, like the kids fire the apple at, target practice.

and the sound of that apple smacking that wood moose was just like you're just like god damn it what a great day to be alive you know i want to i want to tell you one quick thing i know we're moving on here but in high school the thing that i look back on sometimes in the middle of the night and i really regret it wait you look back on high school no i i've never seen your instagram page

it does happen it does happen um but in the lunchroom uh and i was situated at the deep corner of the lunchroom i had an apple and i whipped it i was like i'm going to see if i can hit hit the opposite wall.

And I whipped it across the lunchroom with, like, you know, it was kind of a show-off move in front of your guy friends.

And it nailed this girl named Darcy clean in the head, and she went down.

And like, the school nurse came in, and then they're like, who did it?

And I was like, do I have to own up to this?

And I don't recall if I did or not.

I'm sure I did.

You were not in the book depository.

That's, you know.

Like in the Christmas story, when they wondered who was behind Flick sticking his tongue to the flagpole, And the teacher says, Who is responsible for what happened to Flick?

Who's Flick?

You just, you got to look the other way.

Yeah.

Every man for himself in the school.

All right, let's take a break.

And when we come back, the great Andrew Marchand, let's talk some power rankings in the booth.

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audience only.

In Los Angeles, Tom Brady is in Santa Clara getting ready to call that game through the Matska television.

Boom.

There he is.

Joining us right now.

That is cool.

I like that, man.

Wow.

Hey, Tom, you've been on the receiving end of a lot of interviews.

Now you're conducting them.

You're a real TV guy.

Did you like that?

Hey, first time ever literally sitting on the other side in the other chair.

Oh, man.

I mean, they should just do that with Bradshaw at this point.

That was the Fox coverage this Sunday where a hologram of Tom Brady showed up during a part of their studio show.

And here is a lead.

And I mean, it's a lead, L-E-D-E.

During Fox's NFL pregame show, a Tom Brady hologram was superimposed in the studio.

So Brady appeared as if he were talking directly to Michael Strahan, Terry Bradshaw, and the rest of the gang.

If only there could actually be two Brady's, the 375 million number one NFL game analyst broadcasting life would be much less complicated.

Bang, nailed it.

That's Andrew Marchand,

the senior writer covering all things sports media for the athletic.

Also, the man has his own thing going on at andrewmarchand.com and his podcast over there.

Check it out.

Welcome back.

Well, welcome for the first time to Heed the Call.

Andrew.

Yeah, I like the new digs.

Thank you for beaming me in

and having me on.

Appreciate it.

Absolutely.

So let's get into it a little bit.

So it does strike me and strikes many people, odd, the Brady rules, I believe, as you refer to them, all these restrictions.

And you made a good point in the article.

It's like, well, Brady was able to meet with Patrick Mahomes at the team hotel.

Like, how, so, like, what's the difference?

How does this, to you,

feel in terms of a workable situation?

And does it actually,

in your opinion, does it really set back the telecast, him not being able to have the access that other top analysts do?

Yeah, I think he can do the job under these restrictions.

You know, number one, he's Tom Brady.

You're going to tell me that if he calls up Andy Reid or Aaron Rodgers or anybody else in the NFL, they're not going to call him back.

They're definitely going to call him back.

I would say the fact that he can't go to these meetings, I think players and coaches are going to be more disappointed than he is to not be able to talk to Tom Brady.

So, and his expertise is more of what he sees.

I'm sure we'll get into how he's been, but

what we really want from Tom Brady is to see a play and tell us what happened in real time.

Obviously, he has to simplify it for us normal people, but

that's what you really want.

And so, yeah, is it helpful for him not to be able to do the normal broadcaster things, go to facilities, meet with the team, like and with the rest of the crew, Kevin Burkhart and everyone else?

Yeah, that's not ideal, but I do think he can work around it.

I was just going to ask you, I thought in this article,

well, I'm always curious, like, how you watch games and how you kind of find little moments that stand out to you when you're kind of assessing the Tom Brady growth.

I think you've sort of intoned that you think he's gotten better.

I think so, too.

But there was a moment where Patrick Mahomes got whacked in that Chiefs game, and Burkhart had to try to, and, you know, Tom Brady went on a spiel about Noah Gray, the tight end, and Burckhardt had to kind of bring Brady back to say, like, but look at Mahomes.

He's throwing while he's basically, you know, knocked off of gravity's earth.

And Brady then commented and said, yeah, he's a stud, but you made a really good point that Brady is still learning to give the viewer what they want.

I thought that was a really interesting assessment of what you're watching with Tom Brady at this point.

Yeah, the point I would make about Tom Brady is, and I don't know Tom Brady, but I presume he grew up wanting to play in the Super Bowl, not wanting to call the Super Bowl.

And so

he hasn't watched games the way we watch games, right?

We are always evaluating Tony Romo or Chris Collinsworth like fans do.

That's what we do.

You know, there's a pretty good chance that over his 20-plus year career, you know, he put the sound off a lot.

He wasn't listening to to the broadcast, you know, let me see how John Madden calls a game early in my career.

You know, so I think those instincts are,

you can learn them, and it probably did help him that he studied it for a year, but he does feel like someone who has a lot of knowledge, who studied how you're supposed to do it.

And it's not like, I just say what I think.

And I think if you look like Romo, for example, when he first came off the field and did so well, he was very free and easy.

He just seemed like very relaxed in the booth, did it it his way.

And Brady has gotten a little bit better with that.

It's just, it's hard to know fully, does he have that full personality?

Because you also have to think about it.

Tom Brady hasn't lived like a normal person for 20 plus years, right?

Once he started winning Super Bowls, how many times do you think he's been on a regular plane

as opposed to private, right?

Like, again, and that's not, he seems like a great guy.

And everyone I've talked to at Fox all love him.

And he does seem like he lives up to who he's supposed to be.

So I'm not like trying to degrade him, but it's just he's not like you and he can't be like you and me, right?

He's considered the greatest player of all time.

So I think that relatability,

you know, is something that I haven't totally seen yet.

I go back to the Bucks game, Andrew, and it's like, you know, you're playing with Chris Godwin and Mike Evans, and I was waiting for that moment where he could have given us that insight into, well, this is how Mike Evans likes the ball, or this is what, and I, and you can answer this better than me.

A, do fans care about that nugget that might only be interesting to me because I cover the NFL and I want to learn something new?

And B, do you sense a reticence, like almost like a gamesmanship where he doesn't want to hurt Mike Evans or Chris Godwin by revealing secrets?

And

does that kind of play into it as well?

Yeah, I do think he's holding back.

I mean, most of these guys do, especially if you're Tom Brady.

Like anything he says that's all at all critical is going to be headlines everywhere because he's Tom Brady.

uh and so i do think i i think the one thing that you're hitting on that i i think is correct is i i watch the game um and when i'm doing a review like i you asked me this i get nerd out about how i do reviews and all that stuff but but anyways like i i kind of when i'm reviewing a game specifically i'm very intensely watching got the air pods in and a lot of in different three screens going and the but the A lot of times you're watching, you're like, oh, this is going to be a good point he can make.

Like, this is leading into something like the Mahomes, you know, play where you want him to talk about Patrick Mahomes making an amazing play.

Yes, it's a regular Patrick Mahomes amazing play, but I want to hear Tom Brady talk about it.

Not he was going on about the tight end.

And that's sort of like you kind of studied for the test, but you just weren't anticipating that question.

And so it's like seemed obvious.

Like, look, it's as a, you know, you guys probably do this too.

You know,

back in the day, I used to cover the Yankees with the great Wally Matthews, and sometimes he'd be on the road and I'd be home.

I'd even watch the the game and he'd call me up.

What should I write today?

And I'd say, A-Rod.

And he'd say, well, A-Rod didn't play.

I go, just talk to A-Rod, write A-Rod.

You know,

you're right about the stars.

And so, like, you know, Tom Brady needs to talk about, and he did, he did somewhat, but like, there are circumstances where it seems obvious that, and he, he needs, it can't just be, he has to see it and then say it, not Burkhart says it, he hears it in his ear, and then you're spawn.

Like, yeah, you can do some of that, but at some point, it has to become instinctual.

And you see that with someone like the guy he replaced, Greg Olson.

He feels like he has a good feel for what he should be talking about, what the situation calls for.

And Brady's gotten better over these seven weeks.

Still just not totally there yet.

Last question before we unveil our Heed the Call announcer booth power rankings, which pinch yourself, Andrew, that you're here to mention round floor when it happens.

I've been anticipating this all week.

Yeah, so my last question is just because the Brady Fox deal went down, what, a couple of years ago, 18 months ago, something like that, right?

And he took the year to prepare and all that.

And then this Raiders ownership thing goes down officially.

Was Fox always aware that this was going to happen when they gave him $375 million?

And

if they weren't, privately, do you imagine they're a little annoyed now that they're not getting the full Brady or in terms of the prep?

Or is this something that was kind of pretty upfront that there were going to be limitations?

And does it even matter?

I guess is the other part of it with as long as they have Tom Brady in the marquee, they don't really care if it's a lesser version of Tom Brady because it's Tom Brady on Fox.

I think it's the last one.

I think they wanted Tom Brady, and

I don't know if I tend to doubt this was brought up because at that point, I don't think

that the fact that he could be an owner of the Raiders,

he was with Tampa at the time.

Remember, the deal went down.

He retired, then he unretired, then the deal was consummated with Fox, and then he played a year, took a year off, and now here he is.

So we're talking, I guess, two and a half years ago, I think,

that the deal actually went down.

And so,

look,

is it perfect?

No, but if you're, again,

the interesting thing about when you talk about the money, right, Tom Brady's not being paid $375 million because they think he's a broadcaster that's worth $375 million.

He's being paid that because he's Tom Brady.

And that's what it costs to get Tom Brady in the booth, right?

You're just not,

he said he did an interview with Jason Gay of the Wall Street Journal years ago, and he was asked specifically, do you want to be a broadcaster, you know, do games?

He said, no.

And so, and again, you could change your mind, but he changed his mind because the money kept getting higher and higher.

Now, Dave Fox did do videos and all this stuff.

They made him comfortable.

And I've kind of

not argued, but had discussions with some of those people.

I'm like, it's the money, guys.

I mean, we can talk about videos and comfortable, but if you don't offer him $10 million a year, I don't think you've been like, oh, what a great video.

Let me take $10 million, which you or I might have taken.

So

I think they did a good job in making him want to do it.

But at the end of the day, and I can't blame him for that.

It's a lot of money.

It is.

It is.

All right.

Now,

let's see where he came down.

Brady and Burkhart.

And by the way, this is, I have a feeling when Justin reveals this, we haven't seen this.

We all put our rankings and then Justin put them together to come up with our power rankings.

I'm going to guess that Burkhard and Brady are going to come in low.

And that's not going to be a shot on Kevin Burkhardt because I think he's excellent.

Let's see the rankings, Gravedigger.

By the way, a large profile piece on Justin Graver, Andrew, something that I think would attract a lot of eyeballs.

Just a fast word.

Yeah, I mean, it's been discussed.

We have meetings every week, and, you know, it's been discussed.

And so

we're discussing how many people are going to work on it.

Okay.

So it could be three or or four writers on it.

Sometimes it's because we do these A1 stories and they said, you know, that's what they feel like the Graver deserves.

Gravy, are you comfortable with that type of microscope on your personal life?

It's going to be mostly about your private life and your endless engagement to your significant other.

I mean, I'm perfectly comfortable with that.

I have no problems at all.

I do wonder if Jessica will be comfortable with that.

So we should, I'll have to check with her.

Okay.

I don't know if I'm comfortable with the fact that Graver took like a massive edible before this show, and it's, you know, we had to, we have guests on.

Like, it's just, it's on, it's uncomfortable.

How would I go back to my editor after this?

And I'm just like, I got this story.

You guys got to hear it.

Listen, this, this is what I want to do.

Justin Graver, okay, yeah.

Done.

Do it.

Done.

Say no more.

All right, here we go.

Justin has been an asset to us, man.

Should I go one to nine or nine to one, Mark?

What's the best way to do this?

I think you want to lead up to the

lead up to the coming in nine, and this hurts, and uh,

and I don't agree with it on any level.

Al Michaels and Kirk Herb Street, Prime Video, and this is limited to nine.

It's the top three teams for CBS and Fox, and then the prime time

booths.

All right, so Al Michaels and Kirk come in ninth

with an

average of 7.3.

It's terrible.

Burkhardt and Brady is exactly where I thought they would be at 8.

In fact, that's where I had them at 8.

Sese and Connor had them a little bit higher.

7, Kevin Harlan and Trent Green

coming in at seven for CBS.

Then six, Tarico and Collinsworth.

Oh, come on.

All right, let's stop right here.

Andrew,

I still, I know Collinsworth and the folksy wisdom and the guffawing and all that stuff wears on people.

But when I hear Mike Tarico and Collinsworth, that's a big football game to me.

So I had them all the way up at number two.

Connor, conversely, had him at eight, market seven.

Where do you think?

That feels low for that team.

Yeah, it feels low to me.

I think I'd move Torico and Collins.

I think that's a strong booth.

I get it.

Collinsworth is a little too much with, like, he just gets stuck on something and is just like, you know, Mahomes, this, Mahomes, that, which we all know Mahomes is great.

I think Tarico's a pros pro.

You know,

is on top of everything.

So that's a little low for me.

I'm looking at the

other groupings of who I put.

Come on, eight.

Did you hear him talk on Sunday Night Football?

He started a story about shopping for beanie babies at the airport and then just completely dropped it and just went on.

He's like, oh, because Beanie had the two picks for Pittsburgh.

He's just like, oh, man, when I'm at the airport looking for these things, beanie babies, and then just stops and then immediately just makes a hard right turn into the game.

That was like stopping.

No, you're saying that should make him go higher, right?

That's what you're saying.

It seems compelling to me.

Yes, that's why it's interesting.

One thing that I do get one thing that's really tough about this exercise, because

I could be an outlawer, but Chris Collinsworth, I think he's a nice person.

It's not personal.

But at that time of the day on Sunday, after I've been watching football for 14 hours, something about him just I don't vibe with.

But in general with this exercise, Kevin Harlan to me is

the team, I don't love the combination of the team, but guys, sometimes it's the play-by-play guy I adore.

I love Kevin Harlan.

But the team, you can't pitch for.

So I don't know.

I feel like it's a Jekyll and Hyde scenario with this whole thing.

Yeah, it's the play-by-play man

sometimes gets a short end, but we all love Harlan, Marshawn, and he's always done great work.

So I feel a little bad with him being low in this list as well.

I mean, it's a tough list.

It's a strong list.

I don't know.

Harlan Green, I like Kevin Harlan.

I don't love him as much as you guys.

I think he's very good, don't get me wrong, but he doesn't give you a lot of storytelling.

It's very, he's got the great voice.

He gets excited, but he doesn't give you a lot of, and he gives you a lot of like, watch this week, see if I'm right.

But if you watch, what are we, week eight, he'll give you a lot of preseason stories in week eight, where I like if you pick up the story where we're at, right?

Preseason stories are great just because you haven't called the team.

All right, we're in week eight.

You might have been still looking, you know, doing your research.

He does a little too much of that for me.

Before we go to the top,

people riveted here.

I want to give Al Michael

some love because he's drunk.

Yeah, calm down, Justin.

Al,

I understand the criticism of Al.

I understand that he's older at this point.

Um, it broke my heart, although good scoopage by Andrew when Andrew broke the news to Al Michaels that he was benched in the playoffs last year, I believe.

Like, that the way that the arc of the end of his career, I don't think, is befitting the man in terms of legendary status.

But again, what I like, again, is I like to hear the voices of big games, and nothing is bigger than Al Michaels if you're somebody that is in our age brackets.

And I'll just say that I see Al, Andrew, at this point, as like as a Yankee fan, John Sterling.

John Sterling is not like objectively kind of bad at his job at this point.

I mean, when they made the final, you know, put out of the American League Championship Series, Sterling is talking about the

Yankees are celebrating like it's the finale of the Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Juan Soto makes the catch, ball game over, American League Championship Series over, and the Yankees are going nuts on the field.

I mean,

it's a group hug.

It's like the end of the Mary Tyler Moore show.

His show went off the air 50 years ago.

John, like, not now, not now.

I'm sure Susie liked it, but the point is, like, I love John Sterling because that voice is comfort food to me.

So Al's comfort food is still a thing to me, and that's why I hate seeing him at nine here.

Yeah, I mean, that's funny they say about Sterling because I saw a lot of people on TikTok making that same reference about the Yankee celebration with Mary Tyler Moore.

And so, no, look, Al's Al, to answer your question on the football part of it, and you're right, the voice is there.

I personally, look, this is what happened.

You said it's not befitting of Al Michaels.

I would say Al's decided to stay around.

So, he could have had the Super Bowl.

He could have had the perfect ending if he could have gone out in L.A., his hometown, calling the Super Bowl.

And he had a great call on that last, what was it, the Rams Super Bowl.

He gone out that way.

He wanted, which is his prerogative.

He's getting paid a boatload of money and he flies in private to do these Thursday night games.

He's not the same he once was.

I personally think he should do it as long as he wants, but I do think it's better to get ahead of these things than kind of be told to go.

And I think he's not, I think he wants to keep going.

So I don't think he's,

I think he'll be back probably next year unless something unforeseen happens.

All right, let's go to the top five now.

So this is interesting.

So Nance and Romo,

the number one team for CBS, Dan, Mark Connor, all had him at five.

So, we all kind of see them as a middle-of-the-road team, which obviously five years ago, they would have been much higher in this exercise.

But I think the backlash, Andrew, against the Nance Romo team, maybe has peaked.

And like maybe a year ago, this exercise, they would have been lower.

But now, maybe it's settling in a little bit where they really are, where it's not like, wow, Tony Romo's this magician

or seer that is the Nostradamus of football, but he's also not the worst guy to be in a booth.

Like, this seems fair.

What do you think?

It does.

He had a terrible Super Bowl.

Like, he, they, it was clear.

Like, I had this column written, you know, they turned the gunslinger into a game manager.

That's what they wanted for the Super Bowl.

They didn't want him to over

to go crazy and be kind of Romo.

And then at the end, he just like blew it on the last call and just talked for nonsense after, and Nance wasn't able to finish his call.

But this year, I will say Romo, so far, he's been pretty, he's been good, but they've, again, they've kind of de-romoed Romo.

So he's not like you're, he hasn't been as like crazy with making noises and stuff.

Gotcha.

Yeah, my impersonation was not good.

I'm not good at impersonations, which is good for the world because I love impersonations.

I'd be intolerable if I could do impersonations.

But Romo's been better.

Look, the chemistry is not.

great

because Nance is sort of like his older uncle and you know you got this like kid that he's bringing to the game.

And it's like he's making jokes.

And like, Nance is like, well, did you see Mary Tyler Moore?

You know, I mean, that's what kind of the dynamic is.

And so I think that somewhat like Romo to me is like an Al Maguire, which is another good,

you know, reference that people who are under 50 will not understand.

But Al Maguire was the legendary basketball coach and announcer.

And he kind of just like, he winged it.

And I think that's where Romo is probably at his best, but he needs the right play-by-player to really make it work fully.

And so, with Nant, it's not bad, but I do think it's improved somewhat so far this year.

But you get judged in the playoffs if you're a number one team, in my opinion.

That's fair.

All right.

And now, the top four.

So, yeah, Adam Amin and Mark Sanchez of Fox.

And there was some discrepancy here.

I had them down at seven.

Mark had him at three.

Connor at one.

And I, you know, or

one?

Connor, I love you, Connor.

I mean, you are, you are, I like that you're an iconoclast.

You're a man who thinks, you think on your own, but absurd that Joe Buck and Troy Aikman should absolutely be number one on this list because Dan has him at one, Mark has him at one, and yet you put him at nine, which is a big like show-me move by Connor Orr.

I did not.

I did not.

Yeah, so before we go to Andrew, Connor, why are Joe Buck and Troy Aikman the worst announcing team of this list?

Here I go, making myself unhireable for the rest of my life.

So

I feel like there is this,

like, we're in the club and we're kind of explaining it to you in a way that you're not in the club and let me tell you how it is kind of vibe that I get from them.

And I don't know what it is.

It's hard to explain.

And I'm not going to, like, it's not a smarminess, but because they're both very good and they're very smart.

And the way that they can bring in the rules analysts, all that stuff, but it's just, it's a vibe thing.

It's how it hits my ears.

It's like the people that I avoided in high school, like two of them, calling a game together and explaining to me why I'm not allowed to go out for the football team.

And maybe there's something deep and psychological that's embedded in there, but

I did not do this to be an asshole like I used to do when we worked together at nfl.com and I'd put like, you know, the Jaguars number one in the power rankings.

It's similar, though.

As soon as I saw it, I was like, oh, shit, they're going to think I'm doing this on purpose.

But I really, I I feel that way, and I'm sorry.

Andrew, thoughts?

Yeah, I mean, well, first off, you know, sorry whatever happened to you in high school.

Number one.

Number two.

Number two.

Yeah, look, I think Joe and Troy are excellent.

I feel like they've even gotten better the last few years.

You talk about the big game feel.

I think you got that big game feel.

I think Buck going to ESPN has been good for him in terms of, you know, when he was doing the World Series and he was doing the number one NFL game and he did golf for a while.

He was on too much and too big of spots in terms of for the public.

Like I feel like now he's sort of semi-retired and just does these 20 games on ESPN.

So I think that's better in terms of his appeal.

It's kind of the Al Michaels, like what he's done for the last 25 years of his career where he didn't do baseball and, you know, he didn't really do basketball, maybe 20 years of his career.

And so, yeah, I think they're very good.

Like, I just think it's a very comfortable listen.

And I think the thing that they have when we're talking about Brady is like, they're always kind of talking about the right thing,

which I think is kind of very important.

They're not, they just, they're on it.

And

so, yeah, I think you're wrong.

I mean, nine, I mean, that's tough.

Nine's tough.

That's like you rather, you turn on that game.

That's a little bit of a show-me ranking.

Like, look at me.

Yeah, there's a lot of crews.

You turn on that game.

You rather have that.

That's interesting to me.

Okay, so just for reference, like my favorite color commentator of all time, and I'm sure this is going to just completely, like, Andrew's just going to take out his earpods and walk out,

was Mike Mayock doing Notre Dame games.

I thought he was unbelievable.

I grew up a Notre Dame fan.

That's what I'm attracted to is like, talk to me like I'm in the room with you standing there with the whiteboard and you got the dry erase marker.

And Mark Sanchez does that.

And I really, I appreciate that.

And that's what I like.

Don't pretend that I don't understand.

And I don't know.

I've always just gotten that vibe.

And I'm

really, I feel bad that I've ruined this exercise, but I'm standing tall on my soapbox.

Ruined the strong.

It's objective.

That's the end of the day.

That's what's beauty of it.

And I'll just say one thing about that team before we hit the last two, and then we got to get out of here.

But

I think that it matters that Buck and Aikman clearly like each other and they enjoy doing it together.

You could sense that, that these guys are buddies drinking Troy Aikman's America beer.

And also, I think one thing that Aikman has really gotten better at is being critical.

And I think that's what Tom Brady will also have to learn to do.

Not be, I don't even know if Tom Brady's allowed to be critical, but Aikman, I felt like the last two years, the light went on and he started, he stopped giving a shit and was like, this is how I'm going to be.

This is how I'm going to call it.

And I think it made him a better analyst.

Number two, Ion Eagle and Charles Davis.

I have no issues with that.

I had him at four.

Mark had him at four.

Connor had him at two.

They are rock solid for CBS.

A great tandem.

And then, number number one, shout out to Greg Olson, who got demoted, but still makes a lot of money and is number one on our rankings with Joe Davis, who also does excellent work for the baseball coverage for Fox.

So Davis and Olson, number one.

Is that fair, Andrew?

Do you have any issues with that?

I mean, look, that's a Greg Olson plug there, obviously.

I mean, I think Joe Davis does a pretty good job, but

yeah, I mean,

it's a fine list.

It's a fine list.

I think.

Connor ruined it, didn't he?

I mean,

Buck and Aikman probably would be ⁇ I'd probably have them one.

I'd say that the two best play-by-players are Ion Eagle and Buck.

And then Analyst.

I do like Sanchez, though.

I do think he's a riser.

I do think that's one that

I find him interesting when he does games.

And Olson's excellent as well.

So

it's a good list.

Thank you for cleaning that up just a little bit so Dan won't fire me immediately after this.

No, listen, you make people think.

What was your earlier in the show?

You had the Raiders going to the playoffs.

Like, you're that guy.

Turning it around.

I have them turning it around.

Oh, that's right.

Well, let's hope they turn it around and make it the Super Bowl, and then we can figure out if Fox would let Brady fall the Super Bowl.

That would be amazing.

That would be perfect.

That would be amazing.

Andrew Marchand, thank you so much for joining us again.

Check out Andrew, everything you as a senior writer covering sports media for the athletic.

Go over to AndrewMarchand.com for his podcast.

What podcast you got over there, Andrew?

So you got two podcasts.

You have one every Tuesday morning.

We talk about the biggest issues in sports media.

So we talked a lot about Brady this week on Tuesday.

And on Thursday, it's the main event where we have big wigs from the business talking about the future of sports media and how they got to where they are.

So twice a week, and then every once in a while we pop in with a Martian minute, which is more than a minute, which like when the news can't wait and you just need my take.

And so

it's a good endeavor.

I've been doing it for a couple of months.

So appreciate anybody checking it out.

Awesome, everybody.

Check that out.

And I imagine main event is where we'll slot in Graver in terms of the audio portion of the coverage.

Yes.

Yeah.

Graver could be how he puts the show together,

how he figures out when the drops should come in, the whole thing.

And, of course, the marriage.

Yeah, with this.

The only way I need the fiancé on, too.

I need both.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

She'll be available.

Jessica will be available, I imagine.

And would you qualify this as an incoming hit piece or is it going to be a fair and true look at our producer?

No, it'll be a hit piece.

Okay.

If it bleeds, it leads.

Andrew Marchon, thank you very much, buddy.

Thanks, guys.

There he goes, Andrew Marchon.

Let's take a break and then we'll hit the TNF preview.

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Charlie Sheen is an icon of decadence.

I lit the fuse and my life turns into everything it wasn't supposed to be.

He's going the distance.

He was the highest paid TV star of all time.

When it started to change, it was quick.

He kept saying, no, no, no, I'm in the hospital now, but next week I'll be ready for the show.

Now?

Charlie's sober.

He's going to tell you the truth.

How do I present this with any class?

I think we're past that, Charlie.

We're past that, yeah.

Somebody call action.

Yeah.

AKA Charlie Sheen, only on Netflix, September 10th.

All right.

We are back.

We are back, boys.

Good, good chat there with Andrew Marchand,

who is as plugged in as anybody.

Connor, I think you shook the foundations of the power ranking system, but it came from the heart and a real place.

And I just want you to know that we admire you for that.

That takes guts to do something like that.

I was, to quote my daughter, I had that dad, are you mad energy the whole time?

Like, I was like, am I in trouble for the, did I blow the big interview with Andrew Marchand?

But no,

it's honestly how I feel.

When I did it at the NFL network, it was purely to annoy certain people.

But this time, it was very serious.

I sent a text to Sessler actually in the middle of that, oh my God, Connor blew the big interview with Andrew Marchand.

And I responded, just, Dan, let's give him a chance to talk this out.

It is like super subjective.

It's super subjective.

And so it's like, I completely think it's valid for you to, like, my Collinsworth one, I have been, he's been annoying me for a very, very long time, and I can't find anyone that agrees for the most part.

Like, I'm sure, it's not like, like, Joe Buck has been great about, like, here, I'm going to try to walk this back about 30%,

but no, I'm kidding.

Joe Buck's been great about, like, embracing the hate, and everybody hates Joe Buck, whatever.

It's not that.

It's just, it's a sound, it's like a tone, and it's like something that's very tribal and genetic that's like baked into my body, and I just don't hear it.

It's like sonic youth.

It doesn't make sense to me, but some people depend on it.

They love it.

So it is what it is.

Respect, respect.

And by the way, a little bit of a, because Andrew kind of backed up my theory there, a little bit of a la ravio magnifico for the entire industry when it's like, we're going to give the most famous football player alive all the money in the world and we don't care if he sucks at his job because we just get to have that guy under our marquee.

That, I mean, that tells you a little something.

It's not really, yeah, it's not really about

the fan experience and whether you get, as the football fan, the best product.

It's that they have Tom Brady in the fold and that that's above everything else, which is just a harsh reminder of the business, I guess.

Well, the flip side is like what happened to Greg Olson, who clearly, to our ears, is one of the greater color analysts we've ever been around.

And the move is just demotem.

I think he's all right, though.

Somebody told me me what he actually is making, Greg Olson, which is still outrageous.

And if he continues to kick ass, he's going to end up right back where he belongs, which is a number one guy.

But we saw him at the Super Bowl.

Strange situation.

We saw him at the Super Bowl in Vegas in the casino, and he's like, hey, fellas.

Now, I don't think he had any idea who we were, but it was just Greg was, let's put it this way, he was feeling no pain when we ran into him in that casino, but good for him.

He looked like a Roman god, but a Roman god who had had a number of beers.

A lot of wine.

Dionysus,

was she the goddess of wine?

Did I get that?

Is that Greek or is that Roman?

Who gives a f ⁇ ?

All right, let's get to it.

The

week eight begins on Thursday night right here in our backyard in Inglewood, California, where the Los Angeles Rams,

who should have Cooper Cup back on the field, should have Puka Nakua potentially.

He's been designated to return from IR.

That came down today or on Tuesday.

They will welcome the Minnesota Vikings.

Good matchup here, Conman.

The 5-1 Vikings coming off their first loss of the season.

But you watched that game on Sunday in real time, and you came away impressed, Connor, by the Vikings.

Now they have a chance to get back to their winning ways against the Rams team that obviously is imperfect.

This is the one time a lot.

I won't normally overplay the coordinator knows the other guy matchup, but in the Rams school specifically, they're all trained to think a certain way.

They all espouse different ideas.

And so I would guess that over time, it's, you know, this collaborative offensive process that they have, and I'm sure Jordan can speak to it far more eloquently than I am, but you know how Kevin O'Connell, Sean McVay knows how Kevin O'Connell thinks.

He knows exactly how he thinks, and Kevin O'Connell knows how Sean McVay thinks.

And so This is one of these fun matchups where Sean McVay could have stumbled upon some conversation that they had, you know, know, ever three or four years ago and just completely plug what the Vikings are trying to do offensively and throw this game into a tailspin and, you know, just throw them off their mark.

And I, that's what I love about this game and specifically games between guys in the Shanahan tree and the McVay tree.

They all kind of fluster each other a little bit.

I think that that really matters

in that specific combination of those two people.

The Brian Flores thing has been an element every week.

We've discussed it a lot.

Like he is confounding confounding quarterbacks.

He's confusing them.

I think the Rams offense has been really out of sync.

Thursday night games, to me, are just a different beast.

And it matters if you're the team on a short week that has to travel west.

And there is this weird trend this season that is legitimately like a thing.

Teams coming off a tussle, a tete a tete with the Lions, the very physical Lions.

Here's what's happened to them.

The Rams played the Lions in that first week and got waxed the week after.

The Bucs played the Lions, beat them, and got banged by the Commanders one week later.

The Cardinals played the Lions and gave up 42 points the next week.

Seattle played the Lions and were physically tortured by the Giants of all teams one week later.

So I just think these things on a short week, the Lions seem to beat people up.

And I wonder if there's a bit of, it's sort of like a Detroit Lions hangover effect.

And I just don't love having to travel west.

And I think the Rams, they're banged up.

Get Cooper Cutback.

Is it a potential trap game scenario for the Vikings?

Or is this team, because if you're a true Super Bowl contender, none of that matters, and you handle your business against a team that has no business beating you with how many people are out of the lineup?

See, okay.

Well, if Cup is back, and we're going to get to Cup in a second, but

I don't think this is a pushover team, especially on the road in primetime.

I don't think this is like the Vikings absolutely,

what a farce they are if they don't win.

I don't think this is an easy matchup.

And next week, to the point of trap game, home against the Colts isn't exactly like looking ahead to a showdown against Patrick Mahomes or something.

I don't even know.

Isn't that what a trap game is?

Typically, it's like a game that's against a lesser opponent before you have a big-time showdown.

I know we're getting into like, you know, a great game.

Yeah, I think more like a hangover game from the Lions.

They actually have an awesome schedule coming up, the Vikings.

I mean, look at the schedule.

They have the Rams, who are 2-4 right now.

They have the Colts at home.

Then they're at Jacksonville, at Tennessee,

before they go to Chicago to face the Bears.

We'll see where the Bears are at that point.

But the Vikings have a nice lane here to continue to sack wins.

And while I'm saying that the Rams are not a pushover, yeah, the Rams, I'm guessing the Desert con man has them favored in this game, and they should win this game.

If they continue to play at the level they've been at for the majority of the season, yes, it should be a 6-1 Vikings team.

But Thursday night's weird.

You kind of got to throw a lot out the window.

So I went back and I checked.

And so when the Rams played the Lions in the season opener,

there's a stat called series conversion rate, which is the rate in which a series starting on first down earns a new set of downs.

The Rams, if they started a drive with a pass against the Lions in week one with a full complement of their healthy players, we're converting in an 80% clip against the Lions defense, which was fully healthy with Aiden Hutchinson.

Like this team can move the chains.

And if you can just maintain possession, keep the ball away from the Vikings and play this weird game where you can win 19-13, I really don't put it past the Rams at this point.

Should be a good game.

Puka Nakua, by the way, a little more clarity on that.

So he's been designated to return from injured reserve.

It opens up a 21-day window to return.

And Jay Glazer recently reported that he could be trending more toward an early November return.

So

you're not going to see him in all likelihood this week, but maybe week nine or week 10.

So they're getting back.

They're getting back.

Speaking of Cooper Cup, our great friend and beat reporter for the athletic covering the Los Angeles Rams is Jordan Rodrigue, who will be on the preview show on Thursday.

But I also asked her, and she was kind enough to oblige and wear some really stellar aviator shades while she did it.

A video dispatch on what she's hearing around Cooper Cup, who has been bandied about as a potential trade target with the deadline deadline coming up on November 5th.

Here is what Jordan sent along.

Hey guys,

news today that the Rams have been in trade conversations with a couple of different teams about what a potential Cooper Cup trade might look like.

Now, this is significant, as you guys know, for a variety of reasons.

One, the salary, we have to be thinking about that.

That's a seven and a half million dollar roster bonus in the spring, less so the base salary remaining of the 15 million base this year, because the year is already halfway over.

So that in the future timeline is potentially what could be

being discussed in terms of other teams wondering how if the Rams are able to take on any of that.

You would certainly want that if you're another team asking about this potential trade.

And then you're also, it's significant.

This is a the Rams it's out there that the Rams are considering what the future might look like without their former number one receiver.

And yes, he's been hurt for the last three seasons, but what a crucial part he was to that Super Bowl Bowl team and Triple Crown winner.

So this is a fluid situation.

I want to stress that.

The Rams also today,

what's today?

Tuesday, losing track of space and time.

Tuesday, open Puka Nakua's 21-day practice window.

So I want to reiterate how fluid this situation is.

Yes, the Rams have spoken with other teams about the potential of a world without Cooper Cup and what that would look like to facilitate that from both sides of the equation.

But this is also a team that is starting to get healthy and getting its player who they have now deemed sort of it's their future and the number one receiver on this team, not to take anything away from Cup's contributions in the past.

But Huka Nakua is going to be the player that this offense will start to run through, either in the short term or also in the long term, whether or not Cooper Cup is on the roster, because it already started going that way in 2023 as we saw with Cooper Cup out in the beginning.

All right.

Thank you to Jordan.

Wonderful dispatch.

And

I'm reading the tea leaves or

in my own mind translating what I heard there, Mark, which is Cup and Nakua, they could be part of a playoff run for the Rams.

But if the deadline is on November 5th, they have a Vikings game on Thursday, and then they are at Seattle on November 3rd, you lose both those games, and you're 2-6.

I think there's a very high chance we could see a move of Cup at the deadline.

So this game is even more important, especially for those of you who do not want to see Cooper Cup moved away from the Rams if he's your favorite player or you have a $87 jersey.

A lot riding potentially on the next two weeks, starting with Thursday night.

Yeah, I think the timing of these trades are so interesting because if you're the Bucs, maybe you would have been in the market for like an Amari Cooper.

But, you know, that all happened.

Their wreckage happened days later.

And so you're the Rams.

Like, what do you do?

Do you try to save your season in in the next two weeks, put Cooper Cup out there at

full playing ability, and hope he doesn't get injured?

This is someone that gets injured frequently.

Puka Nakua has his own durability issues.

Like, if you're going to make him your number one and remove Cup out of the issue, you're a very different offense.

So, I don't know if the Rams, it's like if you're serious about this, do you move him and get value now or risk even playing him at all?

Well, I think they're going to want to play him and see if they can get back in the playoff race.

And I agree with that, thinking we'll see.

All right, good stuff.

Connor, any other words on this game before we move on?

I'm just interested, right?

Like Cooper Cup, what would he be in another offense?

I don't know.

He's so integral to the blocking scheme there, and that's what gets him open.

And so you'd have to recreate that somewhere else.

And also, good luck telling that to Matt Stafford.

The two of them watch film together, and that's how Matt preps for a lot of these games during the week.

So,

you know what?

That's why Connor,

so many things.

He might throw one of those cartoon bombs with the

black ball with the fuse on the end into a power rankings, but then he'll bring the human side of the sport into focus in a way that Mark and I, regular Joes, could never do.

That's why I have a theme song.

That's true.

Many, many theme songs.

All right, good stuff.

Thank you again to Andrew Marchand

for lending his expertise in the field of sports media.

We'll be back on Thursday with two episodes.

Of course, the preview of week eight with Jordan and Michael Sean Dugar, and then the TNF recap.

Sess Dog and I will break down the game we just previewed.

And yes, one more time, get on patreon.com slash heedthecall.

A lot of exclusive content, but none more pressing than the trade deadline live stream spectacular.

Hit it, Justin.

Just hit it again.

Tuesday, November 5th, exclusive.

Yes, patreon.com slash heed the call.

Connor, I can't wait to see you again, buddy.

Likewise, it's been a pleasure, fellas.

Oh, it's been fun all season long hanging out with the con man.

See you Friday morning on the Patreon, Connor.

Until next time for everyone else, heed the call.

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