TNF Recap: Buccaneers-Falcons

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Speaker 3 Aaron Judge grounded into a double play.

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Speaker 5 I don't even know, man. Uh,

Speaker 5 God is real. God is good.
I pray for this.

Speaker 5 I can't even.

Speaker 5 I don't even know what to say right now, bro.

Speaker 5 It's so surreal.

Speaker 5 God is real. That's all I can say.
I pray for this. I pray for this every week.

Speaker 5 Just give my op and take advantage of the op. And that's what I did, man.
I really just don't know what to say.

Speaker 5 I'm still soaking it in right now.

Speaker 3 Oh,

Speaker 2 a dog fight. You know, when I grew up, a dog fight meant a space battle.
You know, darkroom cinema of the East.

Speaker 2 Space battles between power cruisers and solo-piloted ships aiming to take down something darker beyond their scope. In this league, our league.

Speaker 2 They can say it's our league. We can say it's our league.
A dogfight takes place between two junkyard dogs who know each other too well. They hate each other.

Speaker 2 Wish to bite each other in the flesh, in the buttocks. Young Waku wanted to bite someone in the buttocks, kicking the Atlanta Falcons into overtime with a 52-yard field goal.

Speaker 2 Kurt Cousins wants to bite you in the butt.

Speaker 2 In a big old duel of the South, he warmed up this evening a Falcons franchise record, 509 yards on the night and played out his version of Kate Chopin's disturbing novel, The Awakening, turning Drake London and Darnell Mooney into twin 100-yard receivers.

Speaker 2 You felt it in your lower parts as Cousins hit day player, actor, Cardero Hodge for 45 yards to end the game in overtime. You just heard him.
He had no idea what happened.

Speaker 2 He couldn't believe it happened to him as a human. Kirk Cousins is a human Jesus this evening.
Whatever you did today that you regret, Kirk Cousins has absolved you.

Speaker 2 And poor Baker Mayfield, sitting in silence alone at the end, Someone must be left by the side of the road.

Speaker 2 He's not unlike when you drove through a dangerous part of the city alone, finding out online that your ex-girlfriend is suddenly dating a hefty sailor. You're all alone.
These teams were vibrant.

Speaker 2 They were juicy in the best Thursday night football game of the year. This evening, my dear friend Dan Hansis is with Keith, Dan's dad.
That's his dad.

Speaker 2 I am joined by my father, Underdogs Wonderful, James Palmer. James,

Speaker 2 thank you for coming on tonight.

Speaker 2 Give me your thoughts on this evening. What did we just witness?

Speaker 3 I thought, Mark, I wasn't going to talk. I thought I was brought on here to listen to that.
And I thought that was going to be the show. That's what I was excited for.

Speaker 3 That's how you start. First things first, just a personal note.
You started this whole thing out with a dog fight, junkyard dogs.

Speaker 3 My dad's youngest brother lives in Atlanta. And for a long time at the Georgia Dome, he was known as the guy who barked.
behind the goalposts at the Falcons Games. Whoa.
Like for the longest time.

Speaker 3 He would, I don't know why he barked because they're Falcons, but he was like well known as the guy who barked at the Falcons games. And he doesn't go to the games anymore.

Speaker 3 He's been upset with the team, but he's probably happy with them tonight. What a game.
I mean, just unbelievable.

Speaker 3 Look at the first half alone. I mean, we'll get to the finish.
We'll get to where it went. It was just drive after drive in the first half.
We have Mike Evans once again.

Speaker 3 taking a record-setting football and heaving it into the stands. At least this guy was wearing a creamsicle jersey, which was beautiful.
And it was a great throw, but another ball goes to the stands.

Speaker 3 Mike Evans, unstoppable, once again, as usual.

Speaker 3 I thought this game really, I didn't know how the second half was going to live up to the fun I had in the first half. And then we finished strong.

Speaker 3 And to me, to have a game mark, and I want your thoughts on this, it was the 28-yard line. The Bucs have the football with 144 to go.
And they never saw the ball again after that play.

Speaker 3 Unbelievable.

Speaker 3 That's almost hard to do, actually.

Speaker 2 It is hard hard to do. And I was watching that at that same time thinking, like, wow, this is pretty

Speaker 2 this is a pretty outrageous scenario. And I, like,

Speaker 2 their season has been so intriguing and off script. And Baker Mayfield has been wonderful.
And to not give him another chance in this, I think for me, the story was that we've watched this frustrated,

Speaker 2 like, stingy Falcons offense that's like popped up late in in games to turn around and tonight to really explode the way they did.

Speaker 2 Do you think that Kirk Cousins in this offense, this passing offense, especially two twin 100 like yard receivers tonight, do you think it's here to stay or was this a, because the Bucs defense has been pretty good and pretty good secondary.

Speaker 2 Like, do you think this is here to stay or is this a just a one-night weird situation between the NFC South?

Speaker 3 No, I think they're on their way. I mean, this is a new offense for Kirk.
This is a lot of new weapons. He's big on chemistry.

Speaker 3 I'll get to that in a second because I've talked to a lot of people throughout training camp in Atlanta, and I've talked to a lot of them during the season and about how this has progressed and how this has gone.

Speaker 3 I will say, you mentioned this Bucs defense. They are night and day with and without Antoine Winfield Jr.
at the safety spot.

Speaker 3 It's just a different group in almost every single metric, if you look at it. I think he might be this best safety in football.

Speaker 3 Everything he does from blitzing, from breaking up passes, forcing fumbles. I mean, he should be back, by the way, next week for Tampa Bay, to my understanding.
So that's a big deal.

Speaker 3 But you can see the way Kirk is building this and the way he builds with certain receivers. I was hearing during training camp, keep an eye out for Darnell Mooney.

Speaker 3 Like there is a chemistry there and Kirk is in love with him. And what did we see in really key situations? A whole lot of trust.

Speaker 3 in Darnell Mooney. Obviously, the big drop.
I mean, that was massive.

Speaker 3 But the touchdown, right, Mark, into like triple coverage, essentially, you don't throw that ball if you don't trust that receiver the way you're seeing Kirk now start to trust Darnell Mooney.

Speaker 3 And obviously, we know the talent Drake London has. I'm surprised by Kyle Pitts, honestly, the performance that he had.
Hopefully that's a step in the right direction for him.

Speaker 3 There's just too much talent

Speaker 3 around Kirk for this not to work.

Speaker 3 And when I started hearing that stuff about something like Mooney, that builds, you know, between those two, it only opens things up for Drake, who's getting a lot of attention.

Speaker 3 And if Pitts can provide things, I don't know if tonight's a consistent thing. And then you still have Bijan, they think the world of Tyler Algier, like there's just a lot of parts around him.

Speaker 3 And with a lot of parts, it takes time. It takes a minute, right?

Speaker 2 Yeah. And like, you know, so you get Pitts tonight, who has seven catches for 88 yards.
That's the kind of...

Speaker 2 box score you would have thought he'd have like in week three of his rookie year and we've waited so long for this to be um the reality and so here it is tonight um and it is a surprise and it's not a good story that it's a surprise because that's sort of what his NFL journey has been.

Speaker 2 But you are absolutely right about Mooney.

Speaker 2 I mentioned this earlier

Speaker 2 in the week on the show that there was a great piece in the athletic about Mooney that Cousins just beamed about him. That like Mooney is this, and

Speaker 2 we would not have thought about, like your average fan would not know about Darnell Mooney this way. It's like that he is this.

Speaker 2 incredibly intelligent receiver who is obsessed with the little tiny things and that he'll come up to Kirk Cousins and kind of quiz him and punch him and like trigger him about little tiny moments in the game.

Speaker 2 And like that Mooney is someone that he just has grown to trust. And you saw it tonight.
And

Speaker 2 like the combination of him and London really, really worked. And you get pits tonight.
And look at like everyone thinks that this offense essentially should run through Bijan Robinson.

Speaker 2 And look, it's 61 yards tonight. They really only had, I think they had 77 yards rushing.
So this was a massive outpouring through the air game. And Tampa, again, Tampa's defense is good.

Speaker 2 This isn't like a bit of a, like I said,

Speaker 2 it's an awakening for the Falcons offense to be able to do this through the air. And I just wonder if

Speaker 2 you can carry it over. They're both three and two now.
But I think, Kirk Cousins, it makes sense that you come in after a summer where you were essentially not on the field. Your body is recovering.

Speaker 2 And here you are in week five. It's about now when you think, like, let's find out who this team really is.

Speaker 2 And if this is a shard or like an idea or a concept of what the Falcons can be, they're a very interesting and spicy team in a division that's quite spicier than we would have expected.

Speaker 3 Big time. I mean, they need to get a pass rush.
I mean, that's obviously, that's evident. That's clear.

Speaker 3 Another little note on Mooney. You know, who else was really interested in Mooney and Mike tell you kind of an idea of him as a receiver?

Speaker 3 Kansas City was very interested in when they were trying to make a decision on who to add, ended up adding Hollywood Brown.

Speaker 3 But they had some interest in Mooney as well, just because certain teams know that value that you're talking about in that piece, Mark.

Speaker 3 And so, yeah, I think what also transpired here is they have three wins. How did all three of those wins occur this year? Because of Kirk Cousins, late in the game with a late drive.

Speaker 3 And I think what this team needs is the last couple years, it's been, look at these draft picks, look at this talent we're starting to put together.

Speaker 3 Who's going to man this? Like, who's going to captain the ship? And who's going to get this group of people and players together to believe that late in games we are a winning football team?

Speaker 3 That hasn't been the case in Atlanta for some time.

Speaker 3 And now that you have that happen three times where you pull out these three type of wins in the beginning of the season, you don't want all these games to go this way, obviously.

Speaker 3 Especially if you're a Falcons fan.

Speaker 3 If you're my uncle, he's not barking. He's like, you know, heart attack city for everybody down there.
And so,

Speaker 3 but it does give you an understanding of where you are as an organization and why you paid that money for Kirk Cousins for moments like tonight and what's happened in their other wins, like what happened in Philadelphia on a Monday night.

Speaker 3 Prime time, drive the team down the field, drive the team the length of the field, and get game-winning drives. That hasn't been something we've seen in Atlanta for a while.

Speaker 3 I just think the manner in which they've won early as they piece this together is maybe equally as important as being three and two right now.

Speaker 2 I think, yeah, it's like if you like think about all the football teams you've followed

Speaker 2 since being a child, that these teams that are kind of like forged in the late stages of games that have to figure their way out of trouble.

Speaker 2 I love those teams the most because it's like the, I can think of even like the Saints when they were 2-0 this season in the same division where it's like they're just blowing people out and they weren't really like tested on third down.

Speaker 2 Then here comes week three and suddenly it's like, well, we haven't really gone through this. But like the Falcons have...

Speaker 2 each of these games have come down to the final minutes and you're just you kind of build a confidence that this can happen.

Speaker 2 You know, I also thought one thing they did a good job of is because their defense especially had been really fried by slot receivers specifically in the earlier part of this season.

Speaker 2 And Godwin, like, who has been a lot of essentially the production for the slot out of the Bucs, only 64 yards tonight. Baker Mayfield, only 180 yards on the evening.

Speaker 2 He played really well, I thought.

Speaker 2 And Baker Mayfield is a revelation. He's right up there with Sam Darnold for me.
But I just thought that tonight, you're right. They didn't get the ball back.

Speaker 2 They didn't get a chance for another possession. That's the way it works.

Speaker 2 It went

Speaker 2 in the favor of the Falcons. And, man, this division is going to go right down to the last week.
I don't know. Do you have a team that you, is it the Falcons?

Speaker 2 Is there a team that you believe in the most in this division?

Speaker 3 I'll tell my buddies

Speaker 3 that I'm on the radio with in Atlanta every week. I always tell them that the Falcons are my team.
Well, that's smart.

Speaker 3 Yeah, pandering to the crowd.

Speaker 3 I used to live in Atlanta, but that has nothing to do with it. I've liked the makeup of the team.
I've liked the way that they've built things.

Speaker 3 I'm a massive fan, honestly, on a personal level, for Justin Simmons to just play in a playoff game.

Speaker 3 Just being here in Denver, spending so much time with Justin, working with his cherry, doing all these different things with him, just a great human being to have more interceptions than anybody else in football since he came into the NFL.

Speaker 3 Comes to the Broncos a year after Peyton Manning and the Broncos win the Super Bowl. Manning retires.
He plays eight years here and doesn't even get close to the postseason.

Speaker 3 Now he joins Jesse Bates, which I think might be the highest football IQ safety tandem in all of football. Bates is also the one that punches the ball out, really changes the course of the game.

Speaker 3 We thought,

Speaker 3 in a sense, late.

Speaker 3 So I just, I kind of want Justin to get to a playoff game. I think Kirk is kind of the one that pieces all this together.
I really do. And I like the way they're built.
And

Speaker 3 yeah, they're kind of my team in this division. But you're right.
I think it's going down to the wire because there's a lot to love about Baker and the Bucs. I mean,

Speaker 3 there's a lot to like there. And then I've loved what Klein Kubiak has done

Speaker 3 in, or Clint Kubiak. Klint Kubiak? Yeah.

Speaker 2 Clint. Clint, yeah.

Speaker 3 Clint Kubiak has done, I covered his pro day at Colorado State. How about that when he was in college, playing safety?

Speaker 3 And so that offense.

Speaker 2 So we're both old, essentially, on some level.

Speaker 3 Yeah, very much so. He didn't even participate, I think, in the pro day.
He's just kind of like walking around.

Speaker 3 And so

Speaker 3 the way he's designed that offense is a lot of fun. I think it plays a lot to Derek Carr's strengths.

Speaker 3 I think these three teams are going to battle it out.

Speaker 3 It's going to be a lot of fun because I think tonight's an example of the type of games these teams can play as opposed to AFC South games or NFC South games we've watched

Speaker 3 in recent memory over the last several years.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it's interesting. Like, so if you're the Falcons, you've got Carolina next week, then Seattle, then you go back to Tampa.
So they play each other again really soon.

Speaker 2 And that kind of feels how the NFC South is to me. It's like they seem to always be wrestling with each other early, mid, late season.
I would ask you a question.

Speaker 2 If you had to, you know, you have a night out on the town. It's you, you get away from, you, I know you have a wonderful wife.
I met her. She's a wonderful lady.
You've got children.

Speaker 2 Like, let's say you could go out on town and have like a string of beers, a number of beers with either Kirk Cousins or Baker Mayfield.

Speaker 2 What's your choice? Where do you go there?

Speaker 3 I'm sorry, it's Baker. Like 100% Baker.
Did you see that bit they did with the disguise and everything, Mark?

Speaker 3 I did. I did.

Speaker 2 I mean, I think, yeah, I think like you're right. I think like he'd seem like the better beer drinker.

Speaker 2 He's a new father, too, though. Probably not getting a lot of sleep.

Speaker 3 Baker's fun. And, you know, it's funny.
Steve Smith and I talked about it on our show a bunch.

Speaker 3 Steve had a lot of interesting takes on the Tom Brady, Baker, Mayfield, kind of, you know, back and forth that's going on. Fitz took another little jab at him in the pregame show at Brady.

Speaker 3 I had a conversation, a long one, with Jason Light, their general manager this offseason. And,

Speaker 3 you know, to put it into perspective, he was like, we wanted Baker to come in and be himself, which is we kind of like had heard Baker say.

Speaker 3 But what he told me was like, we took on his identity like that. Like the entire team took on Baker's competitiveness and identity and vibe.

Speaker 3 And we didn't think it would happen that quickly, the way they all kind of gravitated towards him. So like, I don't really understand the comments.

Speaker 3 Like, it didn't sound like a Disneyland type thing the way Jason Light described it to me. Baker has an unbelievable amount of competitiveness to him.

Speaker 3 He just has a lot of fun while he does it, which is why he's he's my beer drinking selection. What type of beer do you think Baker drinks? Is he like an IPA?

Speaker 3 Like a, like a, oh, this one has skull and crossbones on it. You know what I mean? Like, normally,

Speaker 2 like, I think he'd like, he'd definitely be like, you know, the guy that like likes to chat up the bartender and like get the bartender

Speaker 2 to select one for him. Then he'll select something different to make the bartender, to not to take the bartender down a notch.

Speaker 2 Do you ever, do you ever feel like that?

Speaker 3 Like, yeah, I totally do.

Speaker 3 I thought you were first saying that Baker's one of those guys that'll be like, you know, he's traveling and give me something I can't get while I'm at home type of vibe.

Speaker 3 You know, those guys love to get those, those microbes type of deal. Yeah, I can see that.

Speaker 2 I just got a text from Justin,

Speaker 2 our producer here. Like, I would ask you this question.
Would you rather have a beer with Justin, our producer, or a cat?

Speaker 2 Like, whether a cat that can't speak and can't drink beer, if you had to pick between the two items,

Speaker 2 Justin's on an item and Nora's a cat, but the two choices.

Speaker 3 What type of cat?

Speaker 2 Well, I'd say you could pick the color of cat.

Speaker 2 That could be your, in your imagination.

Speaker 6 That matters. I'm so hurt.
Wow.

Speaker 3 Well,

Speaker 3 Justin, what hurt more? The paws or the

Speaker 3 what type of cat? Like, were you like, oh, that pause really kind of, that's kind of the pause was definitely. I think the Jane's right there.

Speaker 6 Yeah, the paws definitely hurt a little. And then it follow-up was like, I'm considering the actual, like, I'm considering the cat, but I need to know what kind of cat that was.

Speaker 6 And then you also twisting the knife.

Speaker 3 Then you also, then you also put into fact, I've had drinks with James. So apparently, maybe that didn't go so well.
That's because

Speaker 3 I've had drinks before.

Speaker 6 I was laser focused on Colt McCoy that night, so you're obsessed with

Speaker 3 a stalker.

Speaker 3 We went in depth. I'm here with the Colt McCoy Fan Club in a sense.

Speaker 3 No, I. As I wear a Texas hoodie.

Speaker 3 Oh, you love it. I love it.
And do you see, like, I think, Mark, the other part out of this game, I mentioned it really quickly in the beginning about Mike Evans and throwing the

Speaker 3 100th touchdown ball into the stands.

Speaker 3 Do you get the sense that, I mean, we're early into this year, but I don't know, is this year 10 for Mike Evans? Something like that? Maybe 11? I don't know what it is.

Speaker 3 This is the year, like, this is the one where he finally gets the credit, where everybody around the league finally understands that he's like a first ballot Hall of Famer.

Speaker 3 Well, I feel like we're getting that sense.

Speaker 3 We've been dancing with it for a little bit, and I feel like now's this year, for some reason, I keep hearing, like, you know, Mike Evans is one of the best receivers in this game. And I'm like,

Speaker 3 is this the year we're finally acknowledging that?

Speaker 2 I think it really helps that he's post-Tom Brady. Because it's like, oh, Tom Brady makes everyone, you know, the best they can be.
And it's like, well, he's still doing it. He did it before Tom Brady.

Speaker 2 He did it with Tom Brady. He's doing it post-Tom Brady.
I think he's also a really good fit with Baker Mayfield.

Speaker 2 And one of the things about the Baker Mayfield's comments about how the players are, they kind of love him and all this stuff right now, is that...

Speaker 2 There was that season, the post-Super Bowl season with Tom Brady where everything felt so frustrating on offense. And there were a lot of red zone problems and games came down to the end.

Speaker 2 And it was just like a tough watch. And it was weird, but Tom Brady and Mike Evans specifically were not on the same page.
And so it was like, well, is it a Mike Evans issue?

Speaker 2 Because we're not going to blame, you know, we're not going to blame Tom Brady, but it's like, we're back here where like Mike Evans is one of the best receivers in the league. He still is.

Speaker 2 And I think, yeah, I think it's, I already feel like in the last month, there's been a lot of post-Mike Evans commentary where we kind of get it. We see who he is now.

Speaker 2 And so, yes, to answer your question, I think

Speaker 2 he's getting proper, he's getting at least praised the way that he should have been for a long time at this point.

Speaker 3 Great point. That's exactly right.

Speaker 3 So the follow-up to that is, is this, where do him and Chris Godwin, because I also feel like that this is kind of just, and maybe a lot of times market size plays a factor in this, fan base size plays a factor in this,

Speaker 3 wins and losses, obviously.

Speaker 3 Then those two as a duo. And Chris Godwin and Mike Evans, where do they rank as a receiver one, receiver two duo in the NFL?

Speaker 2 Man, I'd say, you know, I'd have to go, like, the way I do it is I'd sit down and like look at every single team and kind of like slot them, but I'm like fifth or something, fourth or fifth, like third, fourth or fifth.

Speaker 2 Like, because Godwin, you know, there was the game a couple weeks ago where Baker's first seven completions were to Chris Godwin for like 100 and something yards and a touchdown.

Speaker 2 And it's like, part of it is like... The duo's value works on how well they're meshing with their quarterback.
And I think they work really well with Baker.

Speaker 2 And that's why, you know, like we were saying, like, I think the Tampa Bay is right in this till the end of the year. They beaten Detroit.
They beat Philadelphia. They destroyed Philadelphia.

Speaker 2 They lost in a real tight game tonight. I don't have a big problem with that.
Like, this is working.

Speaker 3 Beat Detroit.

Speaker 3 Right.

Speaker 2 This is working. So, yeah.
So, I think I put them in

Speaker 2 the top five. And I think the thing is, like, about because it's a small market and because it's, because it's post-Super Bowl Tom Brady, it's like we dismissed the Bucs entirely a year ago.

Speaker 2 And wait, but they're still hanging around. Like, you know, Vita Vea is still a dominating force.

Speaker 3 You've You've got a lot of folks still put together.

Speaker 2 Yeah, absolutely. The roster is like really strong.

Speaker 2 And so, you know, for the Falcons to do what they did tonight, they're a team with a new coaching staff, a new quarterback, a quarterback that didn't play in training camp, didn't play in the preseason, got waxed by the Steelers in week one.

Speaker 2 And I know that Kirk Cousins is like essentially stuck in the pocket nonstop. But if you can get stuck in the pocket and throw for 509 yards, I don't think too many people have a problem with that.

Speaker 3 Not at all. You know when he did move pretty well? Because we need to talk about this.

Speaker 3 When they had 12 seconds on the clock and they threw an in-breaking route and were able to still spike the football with one second to go. I mean, that was unbelievable.

Speaker 3 That might have been the most insane play of this entire game, honestly, was getting back to the line of scrimmage and spiking the football with one second left.

Speaker 3 You heard on the broadcast, fellow Buc guy,

Speaker 3 you know, Kirk Herbstreak, just go, once the ball was caught by Drake London and he runs like another five yards and gets tackled, he just goes, oh.

Speaker 3 Like he was like, there's no way that they're going to be able to

Speaker 3 pull this off. That was,

Speaker 3 I think, with everything you just said, makes that play, now that you listed it to me, Mark, even more impressive. New coaching staff.

Speaker 3 Kirk Cousins not participating all that much during training camp in the offseason. I mean, he starts to get on the field during camp, but you get my point.
All of this newness,

Speaker 3 that's a play that usually is only pulled off by units and coaching staffs that have been together for some time. Yep.
That made it even more impressive.

Speaker 2 Yep. And that's why you know this division is going to go right down to the end.
And we're near the end of the show here.

Speaker 2 Let's take a quick break and we'll come back with one other little scenario I have for the crew.

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Speaker 2 All right, we're back. One more thing before we check out.
on this Thursday evening. We're going to do one little exercise and we're going to include Gravedigger, the glorious Gravedigger in this.

Speaker 2 I just thought, like, why not pick, can we think about this exercise? Like, a player, like, we've been watching football for a long time.

Speaker 2 And, like, you know, you go through the grind of these seasons, and football is on every night of the week. I think it's on for like 58 straight days starting tomorrow, College and Pro.

Speaker 2 Who is a player?

Speaker 2 And I'll start with you, James. Like, a player that makes you, that harkens back to your youth, that makes you kind of

Speaker 2 reminds you why you got into football to begin with, makes you feel young.

Speaker 3 Okay.

Speaker 3 I look huge right now on this, right? I mean, I look like a big guy.

Speaker 3 I wasn't a big guy when I was a kid. So I did not love when I played the ultra physicality of football.

Speaker 3 It did not play to my strengths.

Speaker 3 I liked when I saw somebody that was faster than everybody else. I liked when I saw somebody that made everybody else look foolish.

Speaker 3 And so I'm going to go with Tyree Kill. And these are the reasons why.

Speaker 3 It reminds me of youth football.

Speaker 3 Like when we would play like certain teams and there was just one kid that was just so much faster and better than everybody else to where it looked like we're all running in slow motion and that kid's running full speed.

Speaker 3 With the best athletes on the planet, that shouldn't look the case with any of these players. And it still looks like that with Tyree Kill.

Speaker 3 And it reminds me of, I might take this as slightly skewed from your question, but it reminds me of like playing youth football where like the kid's running and all of us are like,

Speaker 3 none of us are going to catch him. Like there's zero chance.
And he's not even going to get his jersey dirty. Like, this isn't even coming close.

Speaker 3 And, and to have that, and I remember Vic Fangio telling me once, like, he's like, I've been coaching in this league forever.

Speaker 3 He's the fastest player, and it's not even close. Like, I don't care about 40 times.
I don't care. It's the most difficult speed to defend.
It's unlike any other speed I've ever seen.

Speaker 3 coaching in this league. And so Tyreek kind of reminds me, because it's just so cool to watch things happen that honestly shouldn't, especially with his size and the way this league is built.

Speaker 3 It makes me love this league and love football because, you know, everybody's built differently. And when that guy can move,

Speaker 3 it's a whole lot of fun.

Speaker 2 I love that answer.

Speaker 2 And because my answer was Skylar Thompson. So,

Speaker 2 but no, it's not. But like, Justin, how about you? Like,

Speaker 6 yeah, so my answer, I don't know if this is kind of boring or whatever because I am a big Titans fan, as everyone knows, but Derek did not know that.

Speaker 6 We were not aware aware of that everyone knows that and if you're watching i will just use a little prop here if you're on the youtube hashtag 48.4 this guy on the cover of this book in my background is eddie george um pretty recognizable we're really full of buck guys here i appreciate that grave digger yeah how about that um when i was a little kid the reason i'm a titans fan i grew up in dallas texas became a titans fan don't know why but my earliest memories of like having fun with football were me running around my house in an eddie george jersey holding the football screaming i'm eddie george I'm Eddie George.

Speaker 6 And I don't actually remember doing this. My dad tells me it happened, so I choose to believe him on that front.

Speaker 6 But the player in the league now, Derrick Henry, who hearkens me back to that, is just, you know, one of the most physical players on the field.

Speaker 6 Kind of the opposite, I guess, of where you went with it, James. But

Speaker 6 like almost always the most physical player on the field, grinding out tough yards, but can explode for those breakaway play.

Speaker 6 He can hit the home run that gets you out of your seat, but he can also win you the game in the fourth quarter by picking up the tough first downs.

Speaker 6 And it just reminds me of when I first started watching football and why I fell in love with the game and the fact that Derrick Henry feels like a running back from a prior age of football.

Speaker 6 Like we don't have running backs like him anymore. Like Eddie who can, like Eddie, like guys that can just carry the ball 30 times in a game and their bodies don't break down.

Speaker 6 Like how many running backs have been stacked up next to Derrick Henry over the last five or six years as like, is this guy the best or is this guy the best?

Speaker 6 And Derrick Henry's still doing like the Jonathan Taylors and all these guys that like injuries caught up to them or whatever it is, like they just never reached the level that they were at their peak.

Speaker 6 And Derrick Henry's peak has just been forever. And it's like he's still leading the league and rushing right now.
At 30 years old, it's crazy. So that's my answer.
Derrick Henry.

Speaker 2 James, do you agree with that? Do you like where Gravedigger went there?

Speaker 3 I liked it because there was a sense. We had growing up in Philadelphia, a big back back in the day, Keith Byers and those guys.
Oh, yeah.

Speaker 3 I liked where he's taking it, right?

Speaker 3 Where it's like, you're going to give it to him again, and you're going to give it to him again, and you're going to wear a defense out and you're going to wear them out in the second half.

Speaker 3 I mean, I've had lucky enough to have a lot of conversations with Eddie over the years just about what that was like

Speaker 3 to just wear a defense out, even though you're done, like you're spent physically, but to just outwill them.

Speaker 3 Essentially, the way he did and the way Derrick Henry did, like, that's a really cool aspect of football. The very opposite of what I said.
The opposite I said is like, don't get touched.

Speaker 3 That one's like, just run people over.

Speaker 6 And I was kind of like you, James, because I was never big. I was like a five-foot-tall ninth grader trying to play high school football.
And

Speaker 6 so to me, I think maybe I identify with the other side because it's like something I could never be, whereas you

Speaker 6 identify with the thing you could have been. I don't know.
That wasn't that fast.

Speaker 2 Justin, I was surprised to learn that you owned a book.

Speaker 6 Yeah, no, I read books.

Speaker 2 Well, no, I'm just saying that was a, that's one of the most surprising elements of the day. This has been a long day.
It's one of the more surprising elements of the day for me.

Speaker 3 I don't know if you've read it. I don't know if that book has words.
Right.

Speaker 6 But it's not.

Speaker 6 Actually, the co-host of my Titans podcast wrote this book, Justin Mellow. So big shout out to Justin Mellow and a big spot.

Speaker 2 Well, look, I've set you up for more Titans

Speaker 2 propaganda. Like, how did I do that?

Speaker 3 Nice work, Mark.

Speaker 2 Like, I have a weird answer because

Speaker 2 I love where you both went with this.

Speaker 2 And I think this is certainly propped up by the last Ravens game. But when I think about, like, old 80s football, which is when I became kind of incubated into the whole thing, I'm going to go with,

Speaker 2 and this is a weird choice, but like Patrick Ricard.

Speaker 2 And here's the thing, because I like didn't even know what Patrick Ricard looked like as a human. Like, he was always just in his helmet, and he's got his giant shoulder pads and stuff.
But

Speaker 2 they showed him the other night where it's like he, in the end zone, he finally sat on top of that football and like he got the touchdown and like the offensive alignment's annoyed at him.

Speaker 2 But like he's, you finally got to see him.

Speaker 2 And like we talk about someone that you're not like, like he's like a 312 pound, gigantic guy who probably like, I remember when I used to go to, I played Pop Warner and I've Justin knows like you'd go at the end of the season.

Speaker 2 The only reason you'd play Pop Warner after him is like at the end of the season, you have like a giant like banquet with like 18 pizzas that we'd bring in, right? Yeah.

Speaker 2 And like there was this one kid, Rob McCarthy, who like every year would like, he's like, all right, it's my night.

Speaker 2 And like he'd eat like an entire pizza by himself, like with everyone around him, like, cheering him on. Like, this is just boy behavior.

Speaker 2 It's like everyone cheering on Rob McCarthy to eat like a giant pizza by himself. And I was like, that's Patrick Ricard to me.
Like, when I saw him, it's like, that's my dude.

Speaker 2 Like, that, that's the guy that, like, I'm never going to be him. But he's going to be the guy that I love.
And he's going to tell me things about when he's a little bit down in life and stuff.

Speaker 2 But I'll prop him up as a friend.

Speaker 2 But he's going to eat like an entire gigantic pepperoni pizza by himself in front of of everyone and then probably go bar from the bathroom but like that's football to me like kevin mack used to have those big shoulder pads or like the guys with the huge neck rolls like ricard to me feels like the old school player that i don't think there are many of those guys around him his position to start with but everything else that's what i was going to ask you mark is do you feel like when you watch him it's making you feel that and you feel like i don't know field of dreams into the corn those players are disappearing yes that unless that like no you're trying to pull him back they won't let you get into the corn.

Speaker 3 They won't let you out there. Little put James O'Jones out there.
RIP, poor little out. But you want to pull Patrick Ricard out of the corn.
Yes, he's a corner. And you want to keep him on the field.

Speaker 2 And like, I'm a Browns fan, so like, why am I picking a Ravens player? But it's like, here's the thing. It's okay.

Speaker 3 Feelings are feelings. You can't control where they go.

Speaker 2 They're old school, and like they are bringing those players out of the cornfield. You know, we're back.
And Kevin Costner loves him. I love him.
And so I'm very much with you on that analogy. Yes.

Speaker 2 Like I, it's just the first person that came to mind. So I used to I like typically I'm like go with the first thing that comes to mind.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 I like it. He almost needs one of those Brian Cox blocks behind his helmet.
Remember when Brian Cox used to wear that giant block behind his helmet attached to his shoulder pads?

Speaker 2 I like that better than the like the blimps they're putting over the helmets now. I don't like the blimps.

Speaker 3 I'm not a huge behind the blimps.

Speaker 3 You got to be the only one that calls them the blimps.

Speaker 2 Well, whatever it is. Just it looks like an air dirty.

Speaker 3 The guardian cap. Yeah, the guardian cap.
Sorry.

Speaker 2 I'm sorry. Well, wait, you know what? We really should go.
Like, Dan's gonna kill us when he sees how long this episode is. Justin's been telling me this thing's been done.
James, what a pleasure.

Speaker 2 Thanks, thanks for joining us.

Speaker 3 I know.

Speaker 2 I really loved it. We'll do it again, absolutely.
This was a great game. The NFC South is a

Speaker 2 war. It is a war.
Where that war ends, it may not, other divisions may not be too concerned with that, but we will see. Thank you, James.
Thank you, James.

Speaker 2 And one more thing.

Speaker 2 You got to heed the call.

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