WR Trade Frenzy + TNF Preview & Fly On The Wall

1h 8m
This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/HTC.

Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler & Conor Orr are turning the page to Week 7! First up, we react to the breaking news that the Raiders have traded Davante Adams to the Jets (2:48) and the Browns have traded Amari Cooper to the Bills (10:57). Then, we preview the Thursday Night Football matchup between the Denver Broncos and New Orleans Saints (24:13). Finally, we take you deep inside the headquarters of the Saints, Steelers, and Cowboys for the HTC debut of Fly On The Wall (39:31).

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Transcript

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The Heat the Call Podcast

wants to fly with TV Cooper.

Oh,

absolutely.

The freedom of just disappearing off the face of the earth where no one could ever, ever bother you ever again.

I'm on a break.

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

Another big week in the NFL.

Another big morning in the NFL.

Mark Sessler,

two big trades involving teams that needed help that now get it, and we'll see what effect effect it has coming up today.

Yeah, and one of them is a team that you've verbally suggested that you're taking a break from and so in natural Jets fashion

they turn around and I think they try to tempt you back into the into the world of the Jets.

Where are you with that?

I'd love to know.

Well, since like 12 hours ago, I am in the exact same spot.

And I would say this would be the equivalent of, you know, being on the break and then that partner that you've disconnected from texts you, hey, by the way, I actually started seeing that therapist that you mentioned.

Or, hey,

remember we drove past that yoga studio and I said it was silly that you would recommend trying it?

I actually walked in there today and I signed up.

Like that type of thing where it's like, I like seeing that you're trying, but I'm not ready to

go running back in the door just because I see that you're trying.

Do you know what I mean?

Does that make sense?

Well, no, that's a it's not a ploy necessarily by the ex or the other partner, but it's effective.

It's getting into the mind.

It's making you think.

Suddenly, you're thinking a little differently about where we were 24 hours ago.

So, just as you have often told me when I took a break from my team, like, well, this can't be real forever.

I just, I'm monitoring this situation for you.

You should.

You should.

And I'm happy.

I'm happy for them, and I hope the best for them.

Let's welcome in another person I'm happy for because he is actually in his childhood bedroom.

I see, what was,

is that a Cal Ripken Jr.

poster behind you, Connor Orr?

Yeah, with the dictionary definition of the word perseverance on it.

Yes.

What was that store in the mall in the 90s?

It was like

sensations or something that had all the

motivational sayings with the guy hanging off the cliff and everything.

I don't think he'd be hanging off the cliff.

Ours was field goal sports, and I think that's where this came from, as did my, speaking of teams that we've long abandoned, my 1999 Browns draft day hat, which

I'm sure they nailed that one.

And we'll get to the Browns, too.

In fact, let's get to it, guys, because wouldn't you know it?

It is the Jets and the Browns in the center of the news storm.

Once again,

first, we'll start with Devontae Adams, as we said.

He was traded on Tuesday from the Las Vegas Raiders to the New York Jets.

See, like we talked about on Sunday, don't let that whole cottage industry of insiders spreading misinformation just to make everybody look good and everybody's getting their little pats on the head.

This was always going to happen.

Adams was going to get moved.

It was just a matter of what trade the terms were going to be where everyone looked like they could save face at the end of the day.

And that move was Devontae Adams to the Jets for a conditional third-round pick that can become a second-round pick if I believe if Adams is either first or second team all-pro this year, which is obviously a long shot, or the Jets go to the AFC title game, I believe, which is an even longer of a long shot.

Anyway, the Jets pick up the salary, but they also, Rapsheet reported on Tuesday that they have restructured Adams' contract to free up some money cap-wise and perhaps open a pathway for Adams stay to be with the Jets beyond this season.

We shall see a lot of factors come into play there.

And the Raiders have dead cap hits coming off this for the next two seasons that are beefy, but they get rid of a player who did not want to be there anywhere more, Mark Sessler.

Well, and I hope he wants to be in New York.

And there's certainly reasons to think that to even watch the clip from the McAfee show today where Devontae shows up behind Aaron Rodgers.

Rodgers looks pleased.

And I think if we know anything, that now you've got a...

Now you've got a wide receiver to move Alan Lazard, Devontae Adams, Garrett Wilson, and probably a soon-to-be dispatched Mike Williams.

But we know that Aaron Rodgers and Devontae Adams work together well.

I mean, they've got pretty incredible career numbers together.

It's another move towards someone, a wide receiver who knows the playbook.

Because I think it's like one of the bigger things to come out of the Monday night loss for the Jets was the overt displeasure of Aaron Rodgers toward Mike Williams on the failed route that caused problems for the Jets.

And it's like, this is one of those guys that needs his wide receivers to be on the same page.

So from that angle, it's like the Jets are going for it.

You're two and four.

You've got a, you're in a tough situation.

I think the Jets probably need to go about nine and two down the stretch to make the playoffs.

That would just be my guess to get to 11 wins in a pretty rugged AFC.

I mean, you don't need 11.

I mean, 10 will probably do it, but still, your point stands.

They have to get nuclear hot and have a game.

Sure, and then 10 and 3.

Or then 8 and 3.

But to be 8 and 3, you need to be a different team than we've seen.

And is Devontae Adams enough to make all that happen?

Because I don't like the idea of him having to come in and save the whole thing.

There's a lot to fix here.

And he alone won't fix it.

We know that a wide receiver does not fix an offense, just typically.

So I think it's a big TBD.

I think, Connor, one thing that has become clear to me in these six weeks, and Packers fans will tell you this, and they knew it as well as anyone, that One thing that I've learned from Rodgers, because I think that Aaron Rodgers has really had

on balance a pretty good season.

He had a bad game in London, but overall, every game I see him make throws that I haven't seen a Jets quarterback make ever.

It's kind of there, but he is kind of like a Ferrari in the sense that

if you maintain it right and you take care of it and you know what it needs, it will run beautifully.

But if you don't have everything

around it handled well, if you don't have the, if you don't know what you're doing around him, and that is personnel, that's the chemistry of the personnel with the quarterback that's obviously the coaching uh things can go sideways pretty quickly and i think that's what we've seen with some of the struggles of the offense so adams is obviously an elixir to that in terms of here's a proven star former teammate friend that knows they have a mind meld so the trade makes sense whether or not it's it's already too late for this jets team that's a very fair question but it makes sense within the structure of what they're trying to do which is get this offense to be in a more functional place right i mean i compared it to wedding crashers a little bit, where it's like, if you're in this deep, it does make sense to steal a waiter's uniform and try to crash someone's engagement, right?

It like it makes sense.

All the other decisions that you've made to this point have made this decision a sensible one.

But my concern is twofold, Dan.

I mean, I was on the ground covering the 2010-11 Jets.

We remember when this team got hot and they procured, I went down the list of the veterans that they got, was pure insanity.

I mean, Plexico Burris, Derek Mason.

Oh my gosh.

Like there were Leganian Tomlinson.

Keep going.

I mean, you know, there's, there was like nine or ten of these guys.

And

Braylon Edwards, Santonio Holmes.

And what happened eventually was that chemistry just completely boiled over.

And I think it's stunning to me that Woody Johnson lived through this like 10 years ago and now is doing almost the exact same thing and hoping that after Aaron Rodgers has sort of like publicly just threw Mike Williams in front of a bus on Monday, is now hoping that like he doesn't do that again for the rest of the season and that everyone can maintain this chemistry.

And then you're putting all of that onto the shoulders of a guy who became a head coach six days ago.

So that's a lot.

But I mean, is it going to end well?

Probably not.

But at the same time, this is not just some all-star collected

and they've never played together.

Like, I think that's that's an important distinction that this isn't Derek Mason all over again with Mark Sanchez.

This is the attempt to bring back the magic of a receiver who's going to be 32 years old, and we'll see if he still could play the guitar at the same level.

So, I think the trade makes sense.

I just think the timing of it, it's such a big, especially coming off yet another deflating primetime loss.

It's just like, all right.

And maybe this is more, Mark, where I'm now so disconnected emotionally from the product.

Like, I'm not excited about it, but I also,

but I also think it makes a lot of sense for the team, and we'll see if it makes a difference because they have the Steelers.

I mean, the primetime games, like, we knew this going into the year.

This is absurd as you go through it.

We've already, they've been on primetime almost every week.

They're on primetime again on Sunday in Pittsburgh, and then they get,

they play on a Sunday the following week, and then on Halloween night, Thursday night football, they're on primetime again.

And it's just like, I'm not making any excuses for that team, but like, it's got to be pretty tough to get into any type of routine and flow when, in addition to the fact that you're firing the coach and all the drama around that, you don't play on any goddamn Sunday afternoons.

It's an absurd schedule.

And again, you know, a lot of it was about making money for the league, and the Jets probably welcomed it when they made the schedule, but I feel like it's been a little bit of a backfire for them.

Well, it has, but it's also understandable.

It's kind of perfect to have the Jets on prime time.

Like, I don't mind, like, I can get more jazzed up for them against the Bills yesterday than other matchups just because they're intriguing, good or bad.

I would say this.

This Steelers game is as important as any game that's occurred under the Rodgers reign.

Like, you cannot go two and five.

You simply cannot.

Like, you've got to carve out multiple wins in a row.

And so, that is requiring A, Devontae Adams to move across the country, get into gear with the rest of this offense right away.

Offensive line needs to be in sync.

Every coach that's had their job markedly changed over the last 48 hours needs to get up to snuff right away to go into Pittsburgh to face TJ Watt, who destroys quarterbacks and turns offenses into a blender.

That also happened very capably and right away.

And I mean, the Steelers are going through some changes too, but I don't know.

Each week I'm like, are the Jets up to this week's task?

Are they up to this week's task?

And the answer too often is no.

In other wide receiver.

news and this happened shortly after a couple hours after we learned about the adams trade and we wondered, you know, you had heard Adams was connected to his two old buddies, Derek Carr and Aaron Rodgers.

You know, there's no connection to Josh Allen, but obviously the Bills had a very big need at wide receiver.

So after the Adams Jets move is done,

was it a pivot by the Bills?

Were they in on Adams?

Maybe we'll find out down the line.

But Amari Cooper ends up being the wide receiver veteran that they grab.

They acquire Cooper and a 2025 sixth-round pick from the Browns in exchange for a 2025 third-round pick and a 2026 seventh-round pick.

Two things here, Mark.

One

makes a lot of sense for the Bills, just like the Adams move in a vacuum makes a lot of sense for the Jets.

This makes a lot of sense for the Bills who post-Stefon Diggs did not have a true number one.

Khalil Shakir

really profiles to me as more like a number two.

So Cooper immediately slides into that role, and we'll see how their chemistry is.

And two, and maybe we'll pause on this one because we'll start with the Bills, but it feels like a little bit of a punting by the Cleveland Browns on their offense entirely.

Let's start with the Bills, though.

This is really good for the Bills.

I think, like, A, number one, you're in a division that is

in turmoil.

I mean, you could say the Jets have been through a lot of turmoil.

The Dolphins are in a really weird place.

So it's a very winnable division.

That's the number one goal.

This is like a trade not really made about winning the AFC East.

It's about actually getting out of the AFC.

I feel like this is a move made to take them to the next step as a contender.

I think so, absolutely.

I mean, I think it's interesting because they tried to sell us an off-season plan where we're going to go into the year without a very clear number one guy at wide receiver and use a lot of different parts and have come to the conclusion that's not enough, and I think that's the right conclusion.

And Cooper makes, I think if you're Khalil Shakira, if you're Dalton Kincaid, like Cooper, it's not great for them for fantasy people, and I don't really care about that, but it is great for the team to really slot in a lead guy.

Because the one thing about Cooper, he went through a lot in Cleveland, but I go back to where he was with Joe Flacco a year ago.

He looked fantastic at times.

He can still do it.

He can still be a number one.

And I think he'll mesh quickly with the Bills.

It's a dangerous addition.

He can still play.

He's out of stentia in Cleveland.

And the Bills have gone and done what they need to do.

I like a team that can shift and say, whatever we told you our plan was, you know, roster building-wise on offense.

Like, we're actually going to make a change right here now and improve.

And it makes the Bills a completely different team to me on offense.

Yeah, I mean, I agree.

I think that Amari Cooper,

538 did this really cool receiver project a couple of years ago where they tried to quantify receivers based on two or three tangible things that you could measure.

And Amari Cooper's hands are still far and away some of the best in the NFL.

And if you talk to receiver coaches around the NFL, still one of the best technical route runners in the league.

So maybe not a pure alpha like Justin Jefferson, maybe not a pure alpha like Jamar Chase or Malik Neighbors, but he's a guy that is going to be exactly where you tell him to be when you tell him to be there and he's going to catch the ball.

And while I don't know exactly how that's going to profile with a receiver or with a quarterback like Josh Allen, who does improvise a little bit, I think it's one of those situations where you had to do something, the price was right, and Cooper is going to be a net positive in terms of a locker room guy fits what they're trying to do there in Buffalo too.

Yeah, and now it's just a matter of how long it takes

that quarterback and that wide receiver to be on the same page because you can't assume those things.

But, God, it does.

You saw it, I think, the previous week.

They had three catches total out of the wide receiver position.

We didn't see a lot of big plays coming on Monday night against the Jets either from the wide receiver group.

We'll see what this means for Dalton Kincaid, obviously.

But, you know, I think both these moves just made a lot of sense.

And I would imagine there are other teams that needed wide receivers that were kicking themselves because I don't see, in terms of the price tag, okay, third-round pick,

that's worth it to me.

For the upside that Cooper can bring, just like the upside that Adams can bring, I think this is a no-brainer for Buffalo.

And let's see if it makes a big difference.

It'll be good, you know, as somebody that enjoys watching Josh Allen play, having a, you know, some proper villains, to quote Ocean's 11, is a nice development for him.

When you consider the economics of it, too, Dan, it makes a lot of sense because, I mean, we'll get to the Browns in a second.

But one thing that I thought that they were always kind of smart on was acquiring veteran wide receivers ahead of their contracts.

I mean, they did it with Jerry Judy, they did it with Amari Cooper, and they were getting guys before they had to be paid 30 to 35 million.

And once that position jumped to that $35 million threshold, you kind of do need to moneyball that a little bit if you're going to pay your quarterback, if you're going to pay other people on your team.

And so, for the Bills, this, again, to me, is one of those things where you can probably get

top 15 receiver production out of Amari Cooper down the stretch here and pay him not commensurate with the position, which is ultimately what you're trying to do.

Spicy.

Spicy.

If you're the Bills.

Meanwhile,

on the Brown side, it is something we all kind of already knew this season has played out like a train wreck that they're punting a little bit here.

And, you know, one of the conspiracy theories out there, Mark, is maybe the Browns are major leaguing the situation and they want to go 2-15 and they want to get a quarterback with the first overall pick and taking away his ostensibly his number one wide receiver.

That should help if that is indeed the plan.

Not saying it is, but it's an interesting theory.

Well, I think it's become the plan.

It's become a very feasible plan.

I don't think that was what they thought going into the year.

There was hope that this could grow into something more.

But to Connor's point, you know, Amari Cooper was agitated with the Browns for not wanting to pay him months ago.

And I think that they're, if you're Andrew Berry, you're in a position where you have to moneyball this.

You've got to work around one of the largest evolving, you know, volcanoes league-wise, cap-wise.

And so how do you do it?

You don't go pay Amari Cooper at the latter stages of his career.

And so I get the move.

I would say this.

I think it is very plausible that Cleveland wins one more game this season, two tops.

You're in a very good position at that point to take another quarterback.

And if you don't do that, if that isn't the plan at that point,

we've lost complete faith that this business, they're a business, number one, that they know how to function at all.

This is a complete disaster.

The only way out of it is a new quarterback, new hope through the draft, and you need a quarterback contract at the rookie level.

You cannot, there's no one else to sign.

You can't do anything else.

People forget this is a team.

You know, a colleague of mine and I did an investigation on this a couple of years ago where we got the documents from the Hugh Jackson arbitration case where he claimed that the Browns had given them cash incentives to lose games.

I pulled it up.

And like for someone to say, oh, this is beyond the Browns' scope of

ability.

Oh, well, actually, in 2016,

he signed a document that gave him cash if he made at least 11 picks the next year and five in the first three rounds.

So, how do you do that, guys?

You'll lose games, right?

Or like any of this other stuff, you know, like spend the least amount in free agency in the league.

How do you do that?

You know, what happens if you don't do that, right?

And so, I think that

we could ever imagine that this team's not cute enough or not smart enough to do this.

I mean, I don't know.

What does Don DeLillo say?

All plots move deathward.

Like, this is happening, baby.

Like, I don't doubt it for a second.

So at a certain point, yeah.

If you're a Cleveland fan, you embrace the suck, and

that's the path forward.

But it's also like, I think one thing that because Watson, the Watson of it all has been so overwhelming, and that's the story around the Browns and has been now for three years, that it is lost a little bit.

Just in general, like, this was a team that was a good football team last year.

And it really is stunning to me that on October 15th, we're talking about them perhaps having the number one overall pick and having just traded their wide receiver one.

It's almost like

we haven't talked about enough

the absolute freefall organizationally beyond just Watson, but Watson

obviously at the front of the table

that he could have this much of a devastating effect.

But it hasn't been just him.

It's been a full meltdown this season for that team.

Well, I'd also say that it's another lesson to me that when your offensive line vanishes on you entirely, like a lot goes south.

Like that is a big part of what's happening.

But in general, like these are human beings and they're young human beings and there's a locker room.

And I think that we're looking at a locker room that completely has lost hope and faith in the- How do you think they feel after hearing this news?

Well, I think this is because this, I mean, and you know, and Connor, you're in locker rooms all the time, but it's like when you go and do this to a team, some of these moves that are made for political reasons or future reasons, well, it's not my future.

It's like,

I'm looking to produce now to get my next contract if I'm a player.

We want to win now.

And it's like, this is an advertisement that says, we're jumping ship.

We already were terrible.

We were sinking, but now we're jumping off it and you're not coming with us.

I'm Kate Winslet.

You're Leo DiCaprio.

Check you later.

We can both fit on the door, guys.

The door was big enough.

But let's wrap it up.

I don't know if you

obviously remember this, Mark, but like the free fall that came with, what was it, Mitchell Schwartz, Alex Mack, that version of that Browns team that just gutted talent.

And people saying, How could they do this to guys like Joe Thomas?

It doesn't matter.

Like, once you decide that you're moving in this direction,

it is an unstoppable choo-choo trade.

All right, that's where we're at with Blockbuster Trades.

Let's take a quick break and come back and hit the TNF preview and then a little fly on the wall.

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All right, we're back.

Let's pivot real quick and talk a little TNF, the beginning of week seven

as the Denver Broncos travel to the Superdome to face the Saints.

Saints two and four coming off just a humiliating home game in which they allowed the Bucs to score 51 points on them.

Spencer Rattler has some moments as the QB with Derek Carr injured, but gets stymied in the second half by Todd Bowles and his blitzing scheme.

And now here comes the Denver Broncos.

And Connor, with the Broncos,

the offense has obviously been very touch-and-go, and that's being kind.

It was miserable for most of the week six

game.

And now we're going to see the next step for Bonix playing a game in primetime and see how he looks in this game.

But I do feel feel confident about this defense and their ability to stop the Saints if it, again, is Rattler and company on the field.

Bo nix, when he's scripted, like if you look at some of the opening drives, I think that was true the second or third week of the season and has been true a couple of times, is lights out.

It's playing really well.

And interestingly enough, I think his EPA per drop back was actually better.

this past week than it was the week ago, I guess we'll call it the Ferris Bueller game against the Raiders.

So I do think there are things that he's doing well.

I think that, I mean, what, you were the fourth or the fifth quarterback taken, and there's a reason for that, right?

I don't think you're going to explode as quickly as Caleb Williams and or Jaden Daniels, but this is on Sean Payton, and he's said this multiple times, right?

The defense is doing his part, and the offense has got to get going.

And I think if you're the Broncos and you're the Penner family and you're looking down here, it's like, okay, where is the guy that we hired who won games with Taysom Hillett quarterback?

And can we see a little bit of that as we get into Bonix's rookie season?

Well, and you've got Sean Payton who takes things personally.

He is competitive.

He is going to be going into New Orleans.

And I think it's a good setup for the Broncos.

Their defense is completely legit.

You've got Derek Carr not practicing, Chris Olave not practicing.

Your center guard, Lucas Patrick.

They're down to the third center, Cesar Ruiz, Eric McCoy out.

Rashid Shaheed, who's been their deep deep threat and kind of was like the secret sauce to that early offensive explosion that's gone away.

Pete Werner, I think their best defensive player in terms of the front seven.

Probably none of them in the lineup on a short week.

And so this is a good setup for Denver's offense to play a solid game and the defense to take over a Saints offense that is down to, I think, like three projected starters from week one at this point.

Yeah, that seems problematic.

And Chris Olave, did you mention Olave coming off the concussion.

And

if you take him out of the mix, that's just going to make it all the more difficult for this team.

And on the Broncos side, speaking of concussions, Patrick Sertan,

who's had a fantastic season, he suffered a concussion and left the week six game early.

So

these teams, these are it's a war of attrition as the NFL season grinds on.

But when you get to these Thursday games when the teams are beat up, it's like

you, I don't know how you could could pick this game with confidence knowing the state of these rosters.

But at the same time, if I had to just base on what I've seen with both these teams and based on what I imagine the film watching will be

for the Denver Broncos, I would think Rattler is going to be under fire again in this game.

And I think that's going to end up to me being the key is does he learn?

Does he process?

How does he handle being under the lights in prime time?

That heat coming his way.

And that's kind of where the Saints are.

They're going to have to make a decision eventually because I think it's a week-to-week type injury for Derek Carr, this oblique issue.

And I think it's fair to say, Connor, that if Rattler can show progress, there's a pretty decent chance that the Saints are going to want to roll forward with the young kid.

But this would be a great opportunity for him to really open some eyes organizationally toward that goal.

I'm glad that we're talking about this because it's one of those times where you had heard a nugget of information like two years ago and you're like, this is going to be completely useless.

But lo and behold, Spencer Rattler, when he went to South Carolina, like the entire offensive line graduated.

And so that was one of the big things that was tough for scouts and everybody to evaluate when he got there.

It's like, is this kid frantic?

Is he, you know, is he the guy that got benched for Caleb Williams?

Is he still good or not?

And I think one of the strengths, if you talk to some of the coaches who were there alongside his development college, was the fact that that he really had to learn the position over again in front of an offensive line of freshmen, of guys that we had just gotten through the transfer portal, of a lot of guys who probably aren't NFL caliber draft picks.

And so this has kind of been his billing when we talk about him going to the NFL.

It's like, hey, guys, I can already do this.

I know how to do the difficult stuff.

You know, what's interesting is that in that on Sunday, he had to throw on the run or chose to almost 33% of the time, which was the highest by any quarterback in a game this season.

And I think it speaks a little bit to just, you know, being out there for the first time, but also an offensive line that's all over the place.

And so you're right, if that's in his DNA, that's helpful.

But I just don't, I don't love like a second starting quarterback, second game starting quarterback on a short week.

I think on these short weeks, you don't get to practice.

You're basically like, you've got two days to kind of go through the motions, and then suddenly, you know, it's happening and a bunch of guys around you aren't on the field.

So it's going to be a challenge.

I think the Broncos defense is, I'd say, top three in the league, top two right now.

And I think this is their opportunity to kind of seize the season.

And again, I think the Sean Payton factor, they're going to talk about that a ton, like to go back into New Orleans.

Like, yeah, he wants this.

Need CB1 on the field, though.

That's a big part of their entire

attack on defense.

Let's see.

The HTC power rankings, by the way, which are up, and

we'll post that every week on our social media handles at Heed the Call pod on Twitter, Heed the Call Pod on Instagram.

And let's see, the Broncos coming at number 20 and the Saints coming at 25.

So not, you know, the most Mark Heath TNF matchup, but kind of like a throwback TNF this week.

But Dan, you had the Broncos a week ago at 13, which was much higher than us.

And then we refiled ours

individually this morning, covertly.

Have they stayed at 13?

Have they risen?

Have they dropped?

Well,

this is evidence that, yes, they dropped for me because the offense pooped its pants again

on Sunday.

And that wasn't attractive to you.

Yeah, and when that happens, when you need to put on a diaper because you can't run the offense functionally for three and a half quarters, I tend to back off my thought.

Because number 13, as I've said, is the Twilight Zone.

It's like, I don't really know what to make of you, so show me something a little bit more.

And in this case, they showed me a little bit less.

So now they have dropped in my estimation.

But a lot of football left.

By the way, speaking of the Broncos, the last two weeks, the Ferris Bueller game, which they're wearing the throwback uniforms, and then last week's loss, where they're wearing the quote-unquote modern uniforms.

I tweeted about this.

I mean, listen, man.

Objectively, a superior uniform, the old school uni, but they're like the Patriots in that, and there are, I saw some comments, somebody mentioned the Seahawks is another example of this,

where you're as a, organizationally, you're in a bit of a conundrum because when all of your success, in this case, three Super Bowl titles for the Broncos, two with Elway before he retired, and then the title with Manning and Von Miller, are in the

kind of ghastly futuristic Bronco uniform.

But the Elway uniform slash retro uniform, throwback uniform, is just a beautiful thing, the Orange Crush Broncos.

So what do you do?

Do you leave the championship look behind?

Or do you just go with what makes us look better on the field?

And I lean towards the latter.

I don't know where you guys come down on that.

Well, I would, like, one thing about uniforms has it's crept into, it's become an annoyance to me.

First of all, they did win the drive and the fumble games in those old uniforms.

And

they went on to lose three Super Bowls in them, too.

I get that.

But don't we do this?

Because when they switched.

We're talking about chips, bro.

We're talking about chips.

Well, all right, but I would say this about when it comes to clothing and fashion, like when they switched to the new ones, a bunch of people liked it.

They were ready for it.

And when the Patriots switched away from, like, you know, Pat the Patriot to their new ones, a lot of people liked it.

But all we do with fashion is we just come, we circle back around, and we're like now longing for what we once rejected about 20 years ago.

I'm not saying that you did that, Dan, specifically from a fashion angle, but like in general, we're like, oh, those old Giants I think of the old Giants' uniforms, the way the Jets looked like on Monday night.

Like, I yearn for what suddenly we all rejected.

You know, in the mid-90s, for the most part, a lot of these changes came around.

And so we're absurd.

It comes down to us as a people.

We're absurd.

Did you ask Justin to play that the clapping sound?

It wasn't a pronouncement for me, but am I wrong?

Do we not flip, we flip-flop non-stop on this front?

Yeah.

That's how it works, man.

Yeah.

That's how it works.

I'm just saying, I love the way the Orange Crush uniforms with the blue helmet, Connor.

I think it's just a real clean look.

And it goes back to, right?

I mean, there are probably people in that locker room who feel like they look better in that one, but I would guess that there are also people in that locker room who feel like they look better in the more modern one.

It's like a flat-brim baseball cap.

Like, not everybody can do that, right?

And so not everybody can pull off Orange Crush, you know?

And so that's where I would guess that a lot of the turmoil here is coming from.

Absolutely.

You know, give Connor a round of applause, though, because he really distilled everything in a way that...

Well, he's in his childhood bedroom.

I do think I have an orange-browns jersey in there, by the way.

Gerard Warren.

All right, let's take a break.

And when we get back, we will be a fly on the wall.

Stay right there.

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audience only.

You know, Dan, we had a softball team for years, and I touted myself as the manager and it's because I couldn't see anything.

So it's like, who wants to put me at the plate?

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And I walked by Warby Parker here in LA and like got a great pair of glasses.

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I couldn't see anything before.

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Mark, I get it.

And we would have loved to bat you clean up and had you at center field for that softball team.

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All right, we are back.

All right, Mark, how you feeling, buddy?

I'm good.

Something, you know,

in the morning before these shows, we prepare, we look at a lot of stuff.

And something, see, yeah, we really do.

Something got on my radar.

You know, the London, I think the London games are sort of a, for them, obviously, like, it's an overt celebration and they're very excited about about what they're doing.

And I'm happy for them.

But they bring everyone out of the woodwork to be part of it.

We've been there.

Who's they?

I'm sorry, who's they?

Well, the British.

And also, I know that I annoyed some people with my dialogue about the queen of the game.

Did you get any pushback on the flushing out of the queen?

I would say

some tangible pushback from some people that found that to be not the right way to approach that situation verbally.

Well, live and learn, right?

There were a couple that said, you know, yes,

that was exactly how I feel too but that a couple there were many that taking the right lessons out of it find the people that agree with you and then just move forward yeah because i think it's important to ally with um a royal family in general it's not it's not you don't want to be their enemy and i we do have a friend who's done just that take a look at uh this photo that justin's gonna throw you watching on youtube everybody well we'll describe it but okay so

three men um

in the middle our friend henry hodgson who used to handsome hank himself handsome hank walks around the newsroom with us and, you know, loved to go out for a drink or two with him.

And here he is with

Prince William.

Describe the photo, Mark.

Describe some people.

It is the Prince of Wales speaking excitedly with Henry.

His hands are in a gesture of, I'm excited to be here with you.

And Henry looks very handsome.

And by the way, Henry just was hanging out with Prince Harry, like at the Super Bowl.

So we are our friend,

who once was a peer, and I'm not suggesting that he's, you know, he thinks he's more than that, but we just see that he's rising in acclaim.

He is now hanging out actively

with both sons of the king of England.

So

I don't know where to leave it from there other than I am impressed with Henry.

Everyone looks very handsome in the photo.

Yeah, I used to joke with Henry that he's kind of like the Kevin Bacon of the UK, six degrees of separation.

But now we're to like two degrees of separation.

Like, yeah, it's him just chopping it up and

the boy who will be king with his hands expressively outreached toward

Henry, and he's engaged with this man.

So, I guess we're just lucky to have known the man, and we can't wait to see him again when we get out to England, because we'll be back out there soon enough.

Trust us.

You know,

Connor and Henry were very close, too.

So now you're just, it is a Kevin Bacon scenario for you as well, Connor.

I just love the, like, just trying to think of what the prince is saying in that moment.

And it's just like, I would,

would love to meet this Doug Peterson, you know, like, you know, like, what's the, what's the conversation?

Like, what could we have offered them from a football perspective at that point?

That would have been a lot of fun.

Just like even the most.

You just look at the two of those guys talking together.

Just the flawless King's English just flying back and forth.

Two smokeshow males.

I mean, hot dudes.

Are we going to go smoke show for Prince William?

He has.

He has come down a little bit.

I think since I became a bald, I will say that the look is growing on me in other men.

And I do think that he has really gotten his foundation under the hair.

I give him points because he looks noble.

He just looks noble.

I'd say Harry is hotter.

I'm going to get out of the way on this one, Connor, because I've stumbled into

the bald community on this one.

And I see what you're saying, though.

You're coming from a different angle.

And Bald is beautiful.

Thank you.

As is the wallpaper in your bedroom, which obviously has not been changed since 1983.

It's little footballs.

All right.

The yards.

Yeah.

Let's get into it.

Speaking of walls, wouldn't it be nice to be a fly on the wall in some of these facilities?

Because

nobody talks anymore.

You never get anything real, you know?

You never get the real lowdown because these buildings, I was going to say they're iron fortresses,

but

Rich Zamini of ESPN.com put out an article about how the Robert Sala firing went down.

And he's giving a minute-by-minute account to the point where he writes that he learned of the firing two minutes after it happened.

I was like, that place leaks like a sieve.

Holy shit.

But other buildings that are run in a professional manner,

they don't have that problem.

But what we're here to do on today's segment is to

take you inside these buildings and let you know what they're actually talking about.

Mark Sessler, why don't you get us going today?

Okay.

I am a fly filing a report on a part of the country.

Here we go.

Here we go.

I am a fly.

That's how this works.

And from my body, I will lay 500 eggs in batches of 75 to 150 eggs over a three to four day period.

My bodily open will be on fire.

But on this day, before those eggs come out of my office, my orifice, my my orifice, I am sitting inside of a steamy human room.

What large ones like to call an office.

And the human in that room,

or an orifice, the human in that room, he picks up that thing you talk on and he says into it, it's the mouse.

Get your beehind in here.

The mouse is moist above the shoulders.

His head is sweaty.

I am attracted to the idea of buzzing over and absorbing some of his forehead liquid.

It smells of onions and shellfish and purchased love.

And don't judge me.

I'm just a fly.

I live for less than a month.

I enjoy liquids.

That's part of my makeup.

But then another man comes in, quiet and obedient.

He sits down.

He peers up quietly at what I assume is his superior, the man who calls himself the mouse.

Now look, says the mouse, you're going to start that rookie quarterback for the rest of the year.

We know this offense is on thin ice.

Thin ice.

Are you listening, buddy boy?

We're down here in the south, where you better know who your mama is.

Says the obedient guy.

Look, Mickey, we can't do that to the locker room.

Sit the vet, start the kid.

That's suicide.

I'll be fired, and you know it.

I've got kids in high school.

I've got a daughter in ninth grade.

You can't pull her out.

Earth science, best friends, it erects her ego.

The mouse's face grows ruddy.

Hey, Daddy-O.

You ever watch my pet project, The Pelicans, prancing around the b-ball court?

What do the Pelicans do?

They obey.

We're down here in the old world.

Maybe you don't quite see how the South works.

Maybe you're as blind as your daddy was.

You're going to keep that rookie in the lineup.

The other boy, that little Christian boy who will never win a Super Bowl, he's going to sit with a hamstring that comes out of nowhere, out of thin air.

He's going to sit until Jesus returns.

A Jesus who will be too busy posting selfies on Instagram to save anyone this time around.

This ain't the streets of Jerusalem.

This is Louisiana.

Brian Kelly knew to come down here and play ball with a new accent.

Cozy up.

You better know what's right for you.

You better start that rookie until the fat lady starts singing her song from her esophagus.

The mouse cracks a window, and I buzz away to see if anyone dropped four french fries on the steamy hot pavement below.

Flycrest out.

Unbelievable.

What a dispatch from the headquarters of the New Orleans Saints.

Quick Quick translation.

So

the fly witnessed general manager Mickey Loomis in conversation with

help me out here.

Well, Dennis Allen.

Dennis Allen about Spencer Rattler.

Yes.

Like essentially, I controlled, Mickey Loomis has obviously, it seems to me, he's like controlled that organization post Sean Payton in a way that few GMs do in relationship to the coach.

And And he just basically tells Dennis Allen,

you know, you're basically not in control here.

You're going to do what I say.

And it might not make sense what we do because a lot of the things that the Saints do don't seem to make a lot of sense to me.

But Mickey, it makes some sort of sense to Mickey Loomis on a deep brain level.

Makes sense.

I mean, it would seem to me, Connor, that Mickey Loomis, or rather Dennis Allen,

based on the general

trajectory of his head coaching career down there, would not have a ton of leverage or a voice inside the building that would echo at too high a volume.

And no God to help him, according to Mark, which is or at least a distracted return Christ, which is difficult when you're trying to operate.

Jesus Christ.

What phone plan is Jesus on, by the way, if he's doing that stuff?

I guess that would be a major coup d'état for whoever learns that.

That would be a huge advertisement.

Mint mobile.

Is it the Ryan Reynolds one?

Yeah.

Yeah, that makes sense.

He's on Mint Mint Mobile.

All right, very good.

I feel like we've learned more.

So we're, I guess, based on what that fly

conjured up in terms of information, don't expect Derek Carr back in the lineup anytime soon.

Yeah, Derek Carr has at this point morphed into a ploy, just an idea, a concept.

Right.

Not real.

Connor Orr.

Yeah, Fugazi, Fagazi.

It's a Wazzi, it's a Woozy.

It's a

fairy dust.

It doesn't doesn't exist.

It's never landed.

It is no matter.

It's not on the elemental chart.

It's not f ⁇ ing real.

Derek Corr.

Connor Orr, you're up, buddy.

Oh, man.

Talk about a tough act to follow.

So I am a fly in the wall in Pittsburgh, okay?

And I am...

We're working on a conversation here.

We're in offensive coordinator Arthur Smith's office, and there's a knock on the door.

And in comes head coach Mike Tomlin with

a big smile on his face.

And he says,

Hey, Art, I know who's going to be starting a quarterback this week.

Just wanted to see if you wanted to play a fun little guessing game and figure out who it is.

And Art Smith's like,

Yeah, I love

guessing games.

This is going to be a lot of fun.

Okay, let's see.

Is it the younger guy with the higher ceiling?

No, it is not.

And then Art Smith says, okay,

is it a guy who can throw over the middle of the field?

And Mike Tomlin says, oh, God, no,

not even once.

And he says, okay, cool.

Of the guys that we have, is it the more dynamic athlete, like the guy that's going to be able to get out in space and run?

And Mike Tomlin says,

no.

No, it's not.

And he's like, okay, well, is it at least the guy that

everybody really likes and isn't responsible for like the destruction of like a historically talented NFL dynasty, you know, anything like that.

And

like Tomlin said,

yeah, no, it's

it's it's that guy.

And

Arthur Smith is like, oh, fuck.

And then what do you do after that, right?

You just kind of, you unpack your tuna salad on wheat that you made and and you eat it and it doesn't taste like anything because the days are just running together and you feel like you're slamming your your head into the drawer every time that you try to, you know, take a step in your career.

And so, you know, here it is, man.

You know, and as the fly, you just feel bad for the guy.

You know,

you want him to be able to be creative.

Yeah, I

and that's a great dispatch from the fly because I've been wondering what the actual thought process there is.

Is it that is this is there a thing with Russell Wilson where

you know it there's still that the name is beating the game out, and coaches are just getting sucked into it, just like Sean Payton and the Broncos got sucked into it, or not Sean Payton, but the Broncos got sucked into it.

But we have quite a

high amount of evidence now that Russell Wilson is not going to come into Pittsburgh and play the position at a high level, right?

I would have said, and I understand that there are skeptics out there of the Hackett offense.

I'm probably on a podcast with a few of them,

one in particular.

But if you went back to that season and you watched the guys like doing jumping jacks and saying like, please throw me the ball and they weren't getting the ball.

And then you say, okay, well, it was probably the offense that, you know, this guy doesn't know what he's doing, whatever, whatever.

And then Sean Payton comes in and, you know, okay, you had like a 26 touchdown season, which is good for Steelers' standards, right?

And so if you're Mike Tomlin, are you thinking like, okay, if I can get 26 passing touchdowns out of a quarterback, like I'm going to the AFC title game, there's no question in my mind.

And if I can just get that level of play, which was not stellar, was not superior, but it was game manager plus 0.015, you know, then okay, maybe you take it.

And you eliminate the highs and the lows of Justin Fields, which still exist, right?

Very much so.

I don't know.

I mean,

if the record was flipped, I'd get it.

I don't know what, again, that's another of these, like how you have to, I hope the Steelers locker room agrees with this situation because I don't know what Justin Fields, we all knew he was, I think he's a project.

He's looked competent on a team that really isn't built to score a lot of points or be very dynamic, and he gives you a higher ceiling.

So I guess if you're Mike Tomlin, are you, because to your question, Dan, of like, why, why do this at all?

It's like, Mike Tomlin has, you know, been in an NFL league where he's seen Russell Wilson succeed and win Super Bowls and win at a high level.

And maybe he thinks like we're kind of set up to help him to do his thing and we can win seven or eight games down the stretch.

But from a quarterback angle, I find it to be a pretty beguiling and confusing move for the Steelers right now.

Well, two thoughts I have there is that one, if Justin Fields played better in this audition, he would have still been the quarterback.

And I think he was too up and down, too hot and cold, and

that gave Wilson this opportunity.

The other part of it is, and Connor, you mentioned on the Sunday show, that initially it was Tomlin that said that Wilson's my number one quarterback.

So that kind of laid the path for this to occur.

And then there's the last part, which is, you know, it's been so long now because, you know, when was the last time like Big Ben was good?

What was that about six years ago now, five years ago?

And then he got old and he was very much a...

run down,

you know, faded version of himself in a game manager type role.

And then we obviously went through the last couple years and, you know, watching Mason Rudolph, oh, my God, in the Steelers offense, in that game manager role.

And I think Russell Wilson is closer to that type of quarterback.

And I think that makes Mike Tomlin feel safe.

And Mike Tomlin's like, I know Dan Hansa specifically cannot stand watching my team, but I don't care because I like to win, you know, 16 to 9, like all the time.

And I think Wilson, with his steady floor,

will help me toward that goal better than Fields, who's going to put me in danger with some reckless decision-making at times.

So I think that's that, it may not be exciting for Steelers fans, but

I think Tomlin's doing this for the most obvious reason, which is he thinks that Wilson will help the Steelers win more games than Fields, whether or not that's true or not.

And by the way, if Wilson sucks, they'll go back to Fields.

We might end up seeing both again.

And there could be a baked-in advantage to that, too, right?

Like if Justin Fields has ingratiated himself with the team, then there is that tailwind that comes almost like the interim coach, right?

Where you go back to the guy that everyone went four and two with and you remember that guy and he laid out for you.

And there's, you know, a lot to like about that too.

But with Fields, he has them in the top 18.

And I know top 18 is not like, you know, spectacular, but when you think about Kenny Pickett or what's come before them, top 18 in almost all major passing categories in terms of efficiency, all the kind of the analytics that you like to look at when it comes to a a quarterback.

How much better is Russell Wilson going to get you when the Steelers are 20th and below in rushing and you're not integrating the rushing game and the passing game together?

I would just like them to be patient and to allow Fields to get into that, you know, get into the meat of a like a 49ers style system here where you can mesh the run and the pass together and it's all cohesive.

I think it's working towards that.

And it is a challenge for Arthur Smith.

It's like suddenly things that you were doing that made sense from the angle of Justin Fields, you're limited in certain areas, and

it's a quarterback that's not played, and I know he's practiced a couple weeks, but you got to change the offense on some level.

And they've already been out of sync with quarterback wide receiver stuff.

So I think it's a little perilous.

I just don't really believe in Russell Wilson at this point.

So I think that's my biggest concern.

What are you doing organizationally?

Is he going to be your quarterback next year?

No, probably not, right?

Definitely not.

So it's like you had a younger guy that you're looking at.

I know you want to win games, but it's like, what's the future here?

It just feels kind of like a bit of a stall.

All right.

Finally, let's head to

the star.

Oh, the star.

Oh, the star.

The impregnable fortress down there in North Texas,

where you are a fly on the wall,

landing just in time for Stephen Jones, Executive Vice President, CEO, and Director of Player Personnel for the Cowboys, to deliver his weekly Zoom meeting to staff both in this conference room and

throughout the premises in and around Cowboys Nation.

And I know there's some crumb cake out there.

I want you to try to control yourself.

Stay on the wall.

There's a sausage patty sitting out there.

Don't worry about it.

Like, this is, you want to be, you want to hear what's going on here.

Oh, he's about to start.

Guys, we're getting sloppy here.

We already have some egg on our face about the Zeke comments that got out last week.

You know, Dad saying that we're keeping Zeke fresh for the end of the season.

Need I remind everyone that we've been feeding Dad Derrick Henry's stats and telling him that they're Zeke's.

Obviously, that's going to create an optics disconnect with the outside world when we let Dad talk like that.

Speaking of the outside world, what the f did I hear on the way to the office this morning?

Charlotte, can you play back for the room what was in my car this morning?

This is not your job.

Your job isn't to let me go over all the reasons that I did something, and I'm sorry that I did it.

That's not your job.

Well, my job is to ask.

That's my job, or I'll get another, I'll get somebody else to ask these questions, man.

Jerry, we're just

we're trying to figure out why the team is.

I'm not kidding you.

I'm not kidding you.

You're not going to figure out

what the team is doing right or wrong.

If you are, or any five or ten like you, you need to come to this meeting I'm going to today.

There are 32 teams here.

You're geniuses.

Jerry,

y'all really think you're going to sit here with a microphone and tell me

all of the things that I've done wrong and without going over the rights.

Guys, what the f?

I mean,

need I remind you that dad is under the impression that we are currently 6-0.

You cannot successfully pull off a Truman show when the main character is sniping back and forth on live fing radio with Dizzy and Cooter in the morning.

Let's go ahead and resume 24-7 surveillance of the phones with the additional scripted radio encounters.

That's right, it's a go on the scripted radio encounters.

Again, other reminders, lump payment 2 of 30 equaling $375 million to Fox for the weekly Tom Brady arrangement.

That's due at the end of the month.

So let's make sure we keep up to date with that payment.

Also, under the category of JCK, of course, that's Jerry Can't Know.

Amari Cooper got traded, not to us.

Christopher Columbus canceled.

Matt Locks, a chick now.

And Mike Zimmer is our defensive coordinator.

Jerry Can't Know.

December look ahead and progress report.

Where are we on Operation Chris Kringle turning the Jerra bus into a flying vehicle?

Peter.

Yeah, boss.

One complication there.

We don't, and by we, I mean the general science community, but also the Dallas Cowboys, we don't have the technology to actually make cars fly yet.

Oh, stupid.

Get out of here.

We're retrofitting Jarrah Bus as a full flight simulator experience.

Flying car, car, you fool.

Need that in advance of the Super Bowl in New Orleans, guys.

Get on that.

We got a lot of work to do, people.

We need to be sharper.

This Truman show has to be a clean operation.

So tighten it up.

All right.

Let's have some pastries.

Wow.

Wow.

So it's exactly how one would imagine it is in Dallas.

I mean, listen,

that's a big story.

And Connor, I know you're going to, that's a scoop that's going to be tough for you not to take back to your editors at SI, but

it's one to think about.

I mean, it's a circle of trust here.

And so I'll be sure to keep it there.

But

when I was listening to, I had not heard the radio clip until

right now.

And my first immediate thought was,

wow, did you hear the guy backtrack when Jerry Jones threatened to fire him?

And then my second thought was, what would you sound like if Jerry Jones threatened to fire you on the air?

And you know that he probably couldn't make that happen very easily with like one phone call?

Yeah, that, I mean, imagine.

Imagine your stomach dropping hearing that on an otherwise mundane workday.

I wonder, what was the line of questioning that got Jarrah so fired up?

Was the guy just coming a little too hard at him?

And

it was like, I pay for you, essentially.

Is that what's happening?

Some of the foundation of it was.

Where was this?

Where was this exactly, Justin?

105.3, right, Justin?

Yes, Sean and R.J.'s show on 105.3 The Fan, a station I used to listen to when I lived in Dallas.

And does that, does, do the Cowboys keep the lights on for that station?

Like, does he actually...

They are the Cowboys radio network, so like the game broadcasts locally are played on that station, yeah.

And he's been coming on that show for, I mean, we used to write stories about this at the old place.

Like you'd kind of always have to write a story about whatever Jerry Jones said, you know, in these, in these Q ⁇ As.

But I think the gist of it was a general question around the idea that there's, you know, people are talking about the Cowboys have spent the least amount of money leading into the season, that there seems to be like, is there something else going on here?

Is it like a shell operation for something other than the Dallas Cowboys?

Because they're not looking like price-wise as competitive as other teams.

And Jerry Jones started, you know, saying, Look, and I can look at some things from the past or now, and you can say I was smarter or an idiot about it.

He used the word idiot at one point, but I think he just started to get more offended.

And I'm always like, Has he had three whiskeys?

Like, is he has have they caught him in this QA where he's you know a little sauced up?

And we, you know,

or

are you an idiot?

Are you coming around?

Done

my theory from a couple days ago.

In the matter of like 48 hours, we've accused him of having both Alzheimer's and then being like a closet alcoholic.

I think that can all be true, but like, yeah.

And being an unwitting participant in a Truman show scenario.

Right, right.

Things are not great.

Things are not great.

Not at all.

Anything else that we want to touch on today before we

say goodbye on this wonderful Tuesday show, getting up a little bit earlier with the breaking news in the NFL.

Always coming down, Mark, down the pike.

Well, we're flexible.

You know, if we need to start 20 minutes earlier to get the news out, to publish the show a bit quicker,

we're nimble.

We're able to do that.

As they would say in the corporate world, we're flexible.

We're nimble.

How's your P.O.

box going, by the way?

You have that P.O.

box, everybody send art to Mark Sessler.

What happened to that thing?

Is that

where's the PO box?

Can I be honest?

Yeah, where's the P.O.

box?

A very incredible person who we used to work with actually painted

something for me, and they sent it to my apartment.

And my apartment downstairs has like 88 packages scattered all around.

Just like the FedEx guys and the people just come in and just drop it in this big area that looks like it's in central India.

And

it got lost.

It got stolen.

It was a painting of Bernie Kozar.

And so then it stopped my progress a little bit.

And then I looked up Window Box.

Wouldn't that expedite your progress when something like that happens?

Yes.

Well, it stopped my, it just made me feel like, you know,

I felt a little ill about the whole thing.

But then I went and looked up P.O.

boxes because I had one way back in the day, and they were like, you know, $12 a month.

You ever like ask a question and then as the person's answering, you wish you didn't ask the question?

Well, you shut up, but it costs like $300 for a P.O.

box.

So that's not worth the audience connecting with you after

you came out and said, I want to make the audience part of my display and it means a lot to me.

But then you found out it was too much money and now you just turn your back on the audience.

Is that what happened here?

Well, I like to lie a lot too.

Well, I'm not shallow.

I guess that's what it comes down to.

It's a work in progress.

I haven't closed down

the project, but it's been a

project because it had gone a little quiet over on the construction site.

You know what I mean?

I'd say that's true.

But I tried to give you a thorough update as to why.

Good.

Connor, anything to add?

How can I?

I don't think I'm.

I'm just thinking about you know, your job is part of this underground ring of package thieves, and you go to like the head mob guy or whatever, and it's like, okay, I got three iPhones,

a Google Chromebook, and a painting of former Browns quarterback, Bernie Cosar.

I know.

Someone's in the clerk.

Somewhere.

It's in someone's

thing.

Like, where is it?

If you stole it, where is it?

You know, it's like when Tony, you know, he had the horse Pyomai, and then the horse was tragically killed and in an insurance scheme.

And then Tony didn't even want to look at the painting anymore, even though he paid all the money for it.

But then Paulie took it out of the dumpster and made some alterations to it and put it up on his wall.

Like, somebody might have that Bernie Kozar poster, like, centered, like, center ice in their living room with one of those lights on it.

You know, that, that's, that's tough.

That's a tough thing.

Well, I think you're, I think that's probably close to what's occurred here.

And it, you know, I'm offended.

We stole Greek letters.

Well, F me.

We stole Greek letters off of a fraternity in college, like the actual big letters that are like on a fraternity.

And you can imagine what kind of a hornet's nest that that would be.

And so we took it and then we thought like, this is it for us.

Like, how cool is this going to be?

Like, we're just going to hang it up in our house and show everybody when we come over.

And then the thought occurred to us, like, once we got these, like, 13-foot-tall, like, letters home and in the front door, that, like, we can't show this to anybody.

No one could know.

And so we, we just put it in the attic.

And, like, if we trusted someone enough, we'd be like, do you want to see something really cool that we can show you upstairs?

And then when we moved out the last day, we just threw it in the middle of the road and just left.

And so that's, that's kind of what, you know, kind of the reverse bony Bernie Cozar situation.

It could it also, yes, it could be in the middle of the road somewhere or in a sewer.

So that's, I mean, which what's what's prefer what's preferable ultimately, Mark?

No, I'd rather be in someone's apartment and it's being, you know, admired.

I thought I filed a trenchant report because I thought that became a, you know, you needed to know what was going on with

dig through those couch cushions for some change and maybe you can get up to that amount of money that would cost to let your

promise to your fans follow through.

That's my next move.

Beautiful.

All right.

Great stuff.

Thank you to everybody.

We'll be back.

When will we be back?

We'll be back on Thursday.

How about that?

With two shows, as we always do.

How about that?

Till then, do what you must.

Heat the call.

Nationwide is so much more than a great insurance company.

They're one of America's largest financial services companies.

Like how I'm more than just Peyton Manning.

I'm also motivating Manning.

When I say insurance, you say financial services.

Insurance.

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Insurance.

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Now when I say nationwide, you say is both.

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For your insurance and financial needs, nationwide is on your side.

Nationwide Investment Services Corporation, Ember Finrick, Columbus, Ohio.

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