Bills-Dolphins Preview + Things That Keep Us Up At Night

There's a reason Chevy trucks are known for their dependability because they show up no matter the weather, push forward no matter the terrain, and deliver.

That's why Chevrolet has earned more dependability awards for trucks than any other brand in 2025, according to JD Power.

Because in every Chevy truck, like every Chevy driver, dependability comes standard.

Visit Chevy.com to learn more.

Chevrolet received the highest total number of awards among all the trucks in the JD Power 2025 U.S.

Vehicle Dependability Study.

Awards based on 2022 models, newer models may be shown.

Visit jdpower.com/slash awards for more details.

Chevrolet, together, let's drive.

Pattiday presents in the red corner the undisputed, undefeated weed whacker guy,

champion of hurling grass and pollen everywhere.

And in the blue corner, the challenger, Extra Strength, Pattiday.

Eye drops that work all day to prevent the release of histamines that cause itchy, allergy eyes.

And the winner by knockout is Pattiday.

Pattiday, bring it on.

Heed the Call with Dan Hanses and Mark Sessler is on Underdog.

So, why not start playing Underdog today?

It's easy.

Just you versus the projections.

Simply choose higher or lower, and you could win up to 100 times your entry.

Download and play on the Underdog app, sign up with the code HTC, and receive up to $1,000 in bonus cash for our U.S.

audience only.

The Heed the Call Podcast.

There ain't no way anybody can be a better GM than me.

Hello and welcome.

It is the Wednesday edition of Heed the Call with Dan Hansis and Mark Sessler as we prepare for week two.

And that means

our Thursday night preview of Bills vs.

Dolphins is coming up.

We'll also catch up on some news and have a little fun with one of our favorite people in the world.

But first, Mark, just want to say hello to you, buddy, after our Tuesday off day turned into a HTC media blitz.

How about that?

Yeah, it was a blitz.

The blitz began appearing on the Rich Eisen show.

And, you know, we've done that once before.

This felt to me about as enjoyable as a hangout.

It was easy.

It was smooth.

I felt we were passionate about our subjects.

But thank you to Rich for having us on.

He didn't have to do that.

And I thought that we had a great time with him.

You know, it was early in the morning.

I had to fight insane traffic, and I was pretty sure I was going to be late when I'm typically about 48 minutes early to anything.

And so I was panicking on the way down.

But you helped me get into my correct mental state before we went on stage.

I feel like that's a big part of what I do.

I mean, there are jobs that are clear for a Zuzzer, tugboat, Daddy Rich, and then jobs that are the invisible.

There's this invisible string, you know, that not everyone sees.

So thank you for illuminating that for the audience that otherwise would be blind to it, Mark.

That's what I do.

I like to lift you up.

I believe in your honor and your skill set, which is, you know, shining and clear to most who are listening.

I think you're good too.

Yes, Justin.

That's a minute 48 in on the jump in from the grave there.

What's up, bud?

I think you guys are both great.

I just wanted to point out, Dan, I think it's kind of funny.

You introduced this pod by saying, heed the call Wednesday edition.

When did you drop the episode number?

And is that how you know you're in a group?

Is there like an arbitrary line or a defined line where you stop saying it's episode number 17 or whatever?

You know what?

That was organic, and I'm going to give it some thought after the show, whether if that was the time, the moment of transition.

Good call.

By the way, Mark, your media blitz began on the set of the Rich Eisen Show in El Segundo.

Mine started a little bit earlier because I did an appearance on the Music City Audible, that fantastic Titans podcast with the two Justins, where we chopped up Jets Titans coming up in week two.

So check that out.

And Gravedigger, thanks for having us on.

We also, after the Eisen show, did Ricky's Ram Jam, Erica Tamposi, our beloved former producer.

So check all that out.

Those were the plugs.

Let's now bring in a man that needs no introduction, but we made a bunch of songs for him anyway.

Knows all about football, from coaches to the cap.

Lives in New Jersey, but foot mind not on the map.

Core Hall.

No, he ain't kidding.

He's a pigskin and a hallmark dinosaur.

It's gonna roll.

It's gonna roll.

It's gonna roll.

Wow, what a touch at the end of that.

That's awesome.

Got backup singers.

That's next level.

Now, I did say, Connor, and how are you, buddy?

How How could you be bad after something like that?

Fantastic.

I did instruct the audience that we were looking for something in the jam band vein to connect with Connor's love of bands like The Grateful Dead and Fish.

However, a little bit of Frankie Valley, if we're talking about a Jersey guy or here, a little Frankie Valley

cooing vocals there in tandem with each other in a harmonious way.

We're not going to turn that down either.

No, this is beautiful, like pre-murder Phil Specter stuff.

You know,

definitely pre-homicide.

Gravedegger, who had that one?

Who performed that one?

That was Jake Smith.

Shout out, Jake Smith.

Excellent job, and thank you.

Excellent.

Excellent.

Connor, we're going to

get right into,

we have some things to catch up on.

We always have to catch up on things with Connor.

Of course, last time you heard from Connor, he does our Sunday night flagship program with us, and that will be coming up again, obviously, in just a few days and every week through the season.

But why don't we start today's conversation about Thursday night football?

Let's get into it.

It's the Buffalo Bills and the Miami Dolphins, AFC East showdown, obviously here,

Connor.

And,

you know, I watched the Dolphins Jaguars game this morning.

They're very fortunate about Travis Atien's fumble.

But you know what?

You also make your own luck.

And they peanuts Hillman that thing out, recovered in the end zone.

Tyreek Hill, 80 yards the next play, and then they find a way to win it at the gun in overtime.

And the Bills, they're coming off.

Obviously, a game where they started slow, but finished piping hot.

And now you get a matchup between two teams that could be fighting for the division come January.

What are you thinking about this one?

I think this is a big Sean McDermott game.

And the reason why I say that is, if you go back to last year, Sean McDermott was the first coach to do this really cool thing where, you know, the Dolphins would just zip these guys in motion back and forth.

And then when he played the Dolphins last year, he just stuck a man defender on either Tyreek Hill or Devin A.

Han and then would man them out of the backfield and then everybody else would be in zone.

And you could watch Tua and like he's looking for the motion guy, but he's covered.

And then he turns back around and then everybody else is covered.

And it was the first time that we really started talking about taking that first read away from him and not being allowed to give him that easy completion.

And it really did take some time for him to re-evolve, which I do think he did towards the end of the season.

But, I mean, credit to Sean.

Not only did he do that, he was the first guy to not blitz Patrick Mahomes a single time.

And he has, despite being in battle, come up with some pretty neat stuff.

So I do, I'm really looking forward to this as being kind of like a matchup of brains.

I think it's a...

Really interesting spot for the Dolphins.

They've lost four straight to Buffalo, 11 of their last 12.

They, you know, against Jacksonville, I read that they use 12 different types of screen passes.

And to your point, like heavy, heavy motion.

And so for me, the matchup is this offensive line against a Bills front that with Gregory Rousseau playing out of his mind right now, Von Miller looks better than he did last season.

Ed Oliver, Daquan Jones.

Like, how do you get heat on Tua?

Like, I think it's important.

I think this is really a battle of these two lines.

But there's one, there's a couple injuries here that I think are very important because Devon Achen and Raheem Mostert are both banged up, and it's unclear what's going to happen to them or how much they can be used.

Mostert's out.

They've been ruled out, yeah.

And Achen, who they use all over the place, like, I think that absolutely changes their offense if he's not able to get in there.

But for the Bills, like Teron Johnson, who is essentially heading to IR, like that is a big loss for anytime you're going to lose a key veteran guy in the secondary against this type of offense.

I think it's just like it's a short week.

You know how these Thursdays are.

It's like you do a walkthrough on Monday, a walkthrough on Tuesday, then you get on an airplane to Miami, basically, and you got to be dealing with these two wide receivers on Thursday night in a very hot, rough environment.

So to me, it's just like the Bills' defense has got to keep a lid on it.

But historically, they have.

I mean, they've done a good job against this Dolphins defense.

So you are right about McDermott.

I think he knows how to scheme for these guys.

And I think that's the key right here is like not letting the Dolphins kind of do what they did to Jacksonville down the stretch last week.

I want to see if mike mcdaniel and his staff have any answers for josh allen because allen absolutely decimated the dolphins a season ago in the regular season allen completed 81 percent of his passes averaged 340 passing yards 42 rushing yards per game seven total touchdowns i mean that is the highest of elite and speaking of injury updates josh allen will play um on thursday despite suffering that hand injury in the week one win over the cardinals we'll see if that affects his aggressiveness and how he goes about his business in this game.

Something tells me no, though, because I think Josh Allen is just one of those dudes that's always going to ball out.

You had Miami's ability to put heat on Allen would help here.

Jalen Phillips, he obviously, the Achilles injury ruined his last season.

He played 64% of the snaps in the opener.

You had a sack of Trevor Lawrence.

He's an important guy.

You don't have Bradley Chubb yet.

He's on the pup list here.

So can you create pressure?

On the other side, in terms of we were talking about the Tua pressure, Gregory Rousseau had a big week one for the Bills.

And let's see if that was a sign of a big breakout season to come, Connor, or if that is more of a fluke because week one does tend to lie.

It tends to lie, and I think it illustrates kind of the difference between the two quarterbacks, whereas Kyler Murray is a little bit more of a wanderer.

You know, I think that the Dolphins definitely don't want to, you know, the guardrails are still on to the point where they want the ball out of his hands as quickly as possible.

And they want the, and rightfully so, right?

If you have Tyreek Hill, if you have Jalen Waddle, you want the ball in their hands as quick as possible.

So, you know, does that Rousseau thing carry over?

Or are you really hoping what you're going to try to do is kind of hope that they're not going to gash you with the run since the run game is

not necessarily at its healthiest and really just flood the secondary and hope that you know he you know forced to a two-run, which I think would be kind of one of the best case scenarios for the bills.

Yeah, I think like if on the reverse side, side, I'm a little concerned about what Jacksonville did on the ground against Miami a week ago.

Yes, you punched out the ETN fumble, but they were about to go up 24 to 7 if that didn't happen.

And Tank Bigsby looked like one of the best running backs of the week a week ago.

And it's like Buffalo wants to run the ball.

I mean, they had 30-plus rushes as a team last week.

And I think that, you know, you've got it, you're looking at a group of pass catchers where there isn't a clear number one dude.

I think Keon Coleman had the most targets last week, but they're spreading the ball around to a a bunch of different dudes.

They're using a lot of heavy tight end stuff.

They've got this guy Alec Anderson who's an offensive lineman who they've been bringing in as a third tight end.

So I think it's a scenario too where it's like, let's try to beat up.

Miami's defensive line again on a really hot.

I love how it's like, oh, it's hot for the Bills, but not for Miami.

It's like, these are human beings.

Like, it's hot for everyone.

And it's wear them down.

I mean, we've seen teams, I think these teams that don't play a lot in the preseason, we saw with the Rams on Sunday night.

They were gassed by the end.

It's like, how do you wear out the opponent with your big bodies and your might?

And I think a lot of heavy type stuff would work for the Bills, and I think they're going to want to run the ball and establish that early.

It will help that the game will be played for the most part,

you know, without the sun up, but still, I'm sure it'll be humid as hell

down there.

And speaking of down there, Tyreek Hill, two things about Hill.

First of all, the story around his detainment

from that game continues to

pieces continue to come out, including the body cam footage

of the moment where he was, according to Miami-Dade police, driving 60 in a 40.

That's why he was pulled over.

But anyone who watches the video sees how the force used by the police officers there was excessive, and you didn't get the sense that Hill was doing anything to warrant that.

So obviously,

Hill, his agent, have spoken about this.

Mike McDaniel had some comments about it that were very strong.

Claus Campbell's involvement made it even more surreal.

And the Dolphins themselves released a statement calling for the termination of employment for some of the officers that were involved with the incident.

Now, that as the backdrop,

it kind of speaks to Hill's greatness, where that could take a lot of people out of a game.

But he was excellent again.

And it just, it's a reminder, even as he starts to creep up and age a little bit, he's as good as ever.

He had a massive game, including the huge 80-yard touchdown, which surprised me.

It was the longest touchdown of his career.

I thought he would have had like a 93 in there at some point, but no, 80-yard career-long.

And the way, even on that play, it was just a reminder is this guy hasn't lost anything yet.

The way he caught that ball after the offensive line for the Dolphins did a great job giving Tua a little more time.

It wasn't even the first read.

It was supposed to be a throwout into the flat.

And Tyreek works his way across the entire field.

Tua puts it on the money.

And then even though the corner and the the safety especially have an angle on Tyreek, didn't matter.

He takes it down the sideline for a touchdown.

So he is so one-of-one

that you can't wait to watch him.

And it just, it makes them such a dangerous team because even when they're not right, they're always one-hill play from flipping the game as we saw against the Jags.

I've always been curious, especially now, right, where you are in this position where some of your guys are out and

he's such an integral part of everything that you do that.

So last year, I took a bunch of videos of what he did pre-snap and I sent them to this guy who used to coach,

coach running at Nike, right?

So sprinting in like short distance to middle distance.

And, you know, I was basically like, what if you did, had your runners do this over and over and over and over and over again?

And you're doing it 17 times a year and you're doing it 15 times a game.

And it's like, he's like, how do you not get injured?

Right.

And it's not a, you know, it's not a slight against Mike McDaniels.

It's kind of what you need to do in order to get him open and to get him in different places.

But

how can we maximize those opportunities without compounding the potential injury issues?

And I've always been fascinated by that.

Like, now they're in this position where they're a little bit banged up.

They got that win.

Like, do you ease off on that a little bit?

Do you make them play more of a traditional game plan?

Do you put him in different positions?

And I've wondered, because he has kind of not broken down towards the end of seasons, but you know, has struggled maybe down the stretch.

So I don't know what happens this week, you know, on a short week.

The Dolphins are favored by two and a half points in this game.

That is notable because it's the first time Miami has been favored against Buffalo since way back in January of 2021.

So even though Buffalo closed strong against the Cardinals, there's still a combination, a little bit of doubt around that team.

And also, yes, we all understand how hard it is to beat the Dolphins

in September down there in South Beach.

All right, let's hit some news.

You sound like the kid who sent the letter to Belichick right now.

That's what you sound like.

I was that kid.

I know you were.

Yeah.

I'm not sure.

I'm not a bill now.

He's a colleague.

So maybe we can get that right away on Heat the Call.

How old were you when you sent a letter to Belichick?

Well, I was actually,

it's a weird story, but I went to Mimeview, Ohio and took a class

football coach.

I mean, what on earth?

What a warm

round of laughter there to the bit there from the Amara.

That was a very generous studio audience that

we faced yesterday, no doubt about that.

That was Mark Sessler and Dan Hansis on the Rich Eisen show, Connor Orr.

And

I did notice, Mark, you took the power chair closest to Rich.

Oh, I totally regret it.

And

I looked at it later.

I'll tell you why, because from a side, from the side view, number one, it's like maybe start working out again, Mark.

That was one takeaway I had when just looking at the way the shirt was folding around my midsection.

But

secondly, the way the camera is from the side, you're a larger figure than me.

And you were in...

like the closer to the camera.

I look like I am your child.

It's like what would happen in our previous studio if you were sitting in the wrong chair.

You look like you're a third the size of the person sitting next to you.

So last time we did this, I believe I sat where you were, and it looked more equitable

in the videos that surfaced.

And so in this case, this was my first, I wasn't even thinking about what was coming out of my mouth.

I'm like, you look absurd.

You need to start working on the overall presentation, the clothing.

Oh, no.

This is my takeaway.

It's self-scouting, self-scouting.

I would say it's, you know, it's like how Eric Bangini looked at the end of his first Brown season.

It's like, you know.

No, it's certainly not.

This isn't Rex Ryan in the 2009 AFC Championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium.

But, you know, I think it's a little jarring for you and I to all of a sudden be in a situation where a high-def camera is giving a full body shot.

And that's a little jarring for us.

And yes, maybe that's the motivation we need to take things to the next level.

That's all.

That's all.

Use it.

But I mean, we had a great time.

Like, I mean,

Rich kind of makes, you kind of got a full close-up picture of how easy it is just to talk about football when you've got Richard.

I thought you were going to talk about your midsection again.

No, no, but Rich is like, like, asking the questions a certain way that I kind of forgot we were even on television, which is, I guess that's what's supposed to happen, you know?

He's the ultimate pro, Rich.

He really is tremendous as a host and

conversator.

Is that a word?

I don't know.

Let's get into it.

The news, the news, the news.

Russell Wilson, he remains

out of play for the Steelers ahead of week two.

Connor, the quarterback who came down with a calf issue this summer, and then it kind of came back a little bit.

So

he sat out week one.

Justin Fields played

okay

in a win that the Pittsburgh defense dominated against Atlanta.

But now Fields gets a second start.

Connor feels to me like this sets the table for Fields to hold on to this job.

If they can get out to a 2-0 start and he plays well, I mean, come on, right?

This is, I mean, this is to me, this is the moment that you pull ahead from the pack.

And if you're, if you're Pittsburgh, you know,

we don't know.

There's a lot of unknowns, right?

What does the coaching staff really want?

Like, if you're Arthur Smith, do you want a veteran quarterback?

Do you feel like you can work with Justin Fields?

And I think it'll be telling to see how the game plan plays out, where if this is something that's super tailored to Fields, if it's really inspired, if you remember what Art did kind of early in the Marcus Mariota era, like some of that stuff was wild, like really fun to watch, not necessarily successful, but over the long term.

But if we see something like that with Fields, you maybe get the idea that like, okay, there's a tailwind behind this.

Like everybody wants this guy to succeed.

Everybody wants to win with this guy.

And, you know, at some point we can just kind of move on from Russell.

Yeah, my one thought would be that if you want to come out of this year having a really clear picture of which of these two quarterbacks might stick around, it would be Justin Fields.

I mean, I just think that Russell Wilson, to me, is a rental.

I mean, he's a veteran, and if you're a coach, you might like that part of him.

But if you're the Steelers and you're Mike Tomlin, and you know you've got to get to these nine wins to protect his record, like you like this matchup because you've got TJ Watt against Bo Nix and Garrett Bowles, their left tackle has essentially an ankle contusion.

We'll see what happens there.

But it's like the way that they affected the Falcons a week ago with their defense and their kicker and kind of without stellar quarterback play, you could see that happening again versus Denver.

Although it would have been a little spicy to see Russell Wilson versus the Broncos.

Not Seahawks level spicy, but

yeah.

And one thing I took out of that Falcons Steelers game was Fields wasn't great.

I mean, he's just not a great passer, but when things broke down, he did have some gains where obviously the athleticism is next level.

Russell Wilson doesn't have next level athleticism, especially at this stage of his career.

So I don't know.

Is Mike Tomlin going to be able to study that tape if Russell Wilson starts and be like, all right, so we lose that scramble ability that we had with Fields, but he also doesn't see the field very well and holds the ball too long.

Like, I don't know.

We'll see what happens.

It's a big, big week two for Justin Fields, who needs to seize the opportunity.

Finally, in the news, Deshaun Watson, the Browns quarterback offered up his initial response to the lawsuit that accused him of sexual assault filed in Houston earlier this week, an incident, alleged incident that dates back to 2020.

His attorney, Rusty Hardin,

released the statement in which Deshaun strongly denies the allegations in the Jane Doe lawsuit filed on Monday.

Watson himself then followed up this morning and said, I'm focused on football.

Connor, I know you and your role with Sports Illustrated,

you have been doing some digging and reporting on this.

What are you hearing about this, the situation, and how it connects to Watson, who has over $90 million in guaranteed money tied in with the Browns over the next three years?

So, yeah, I mean, I think that there are naturally going to be questions that pop up when this happens.

And it shouldn't be, right?

It should be, let's adjudicate this.

Let's let the NFL investigate this.

But, you know, there are these large outcries for like, well, you know, can we get rid of this guy?

You know, like the fan base seems to have completely turned.

So we got ourselves a copy of the contract.

And there are some interesting sort of provisions that can force a default on the contract if a few things happen.

So yesterday the NFL started their investigation and they said it's under the personal conduct policy.

If Deshaun were to be suspended by the NFL under the personal conduct policy and it's an incident that he did not previously inform the Browns about,

then they can start the proceedings basically to put him in default of the contract.

So the kind of the easy read of this contract is when they signed him, they were like, okay, what did you do or did not do?

They have this information somewhere and they're like, are you sure this is it?

And he said yes.

And then now I think if anything happens in addition to that, they can now kind of find him and default to the contract.

So

is that something they want to do?

We have no idea.

Is there going to be as loud of a cry from the fan base to get rid of him when they have a really easy schedule coming up and they could very well be four and one?

I know it shouldn't be that way.

And I'm not trying to conflate it that way, but you don't know.

I mean, you know, but right now at this moment, you know, we were just asked a lot about, you know, could they get out of this contract?

And I think under certain circumstances, they could.

I want to ask you a quick question, Connor.

Like, from your angle, just

what you've dug into a lot of situations that are not this situation, but the league looking at how things are working out with certain teams.

Like, this experience

has gotten to the point where it's so poisonous that it's kind of hard for Browns fans to buckle up and root for the team.

I've never really heard that stadium in an opening game boo the way they did last Sunday.

I mean, it was like lustily uh coming down from everywhere in the stands and just deflating and i wonder like how you'd think like yes let's say there is something here that opens a doorway for this to happen like where do you think the coaching staff would be on this and where would the nfl itself be on like how do we clean up this PR disaster?

Because it's not just a Browns situation.

It's like a sports situation and a human situation.

And like, it's just, we're not at the point, I feel like when he takes the field that you can feel even vaguely good about anything that he does as a football player.

Yeah, it's a good point, right?

And I think, I mean, again, this is miles down a road that we haven't taken a step down, but let's go all the way to the end of that road.

Would the NFL

be eager and willing to help the Browns out after everybody was like, dear Lord, don't do this.

And you went ahead and did it anyway, you know?

And not just the, you know, first and foremost, the reprehensible nature of the signing, you know, a week after, you know, you're, you know, a grand jury in Houston returns the no-bills and, you know, they decline to prosecute criminally, like a week later, you know, doing that, right?

And there's that element to it.

Sadly, I think ownership is probably more upset about the fact that it was a fully guaranteed contract, you know?

And so you have all these elements of this story.

And so is it one of these things where the NFL is like, no, sorry, dudes, sitting at 31 other owners want you to just deal with this until the very end, like, and we're not going to come and save you.

Or is it, does it get to the point where it's like, you know, this might keep coming out?

There might be stuff that just keeps arising.

Do we just want to move on with the product?

And, you know, the Browns would have to sit with like almost $100 million in dead cap.

I think I would have to verify that.

But, you know,

is that the play here?

Again, I mean, this is way at the end of the line here.

This case hasn't, you know, been tried civilly yet.

There's a lot going on.

The NFL hasn't really even started its investigation, but those are things to think about, certainly, miles down the road.

And let me button this up for now with this.

According to Kevin Cole with unexpected points,

the total expected points added adjustments, they put that out for week one.

The very bottom of the list is Deshaun Watson, and he was, you know, well clear of the next closest player, Bryce Young.

And this is poor play from Watson that's gone on really since the moment he got to Cleveland.

If they ever did get out of the contract,

he's not only is he toxic, he's also a poor quarterback.

We might not ever see this guy play again.

And I'm wondering if, in the NFL anyway, I'm wondering if the NFL is like, man, if we do help them out with this,

we want this guy off the headline stack.

We want this guy out of the connection to the NFL as a starter, and that might just do it.

If the Browns shake out of the contract, I don't know who would go near him given the upside now as a player, in addition to all the toxicity connected to him as a person.

All right, let's take a break.

By the way, before we do, and we're going to come back with a segment

about some things that happen in the middle of the night, but I just want to remind everyone that we're not the only podcast on the Underdog Network.

You have 89 with James Palmer and Steve Smith.

They just put out an episode.

I did watch.

That didn't happen in the middle of the night.

No,

I sought out the thumbnail for the episode.

There's a nice picture of Steve.

There's a player

connected to the analysis.

I'm blanking who it is right now.

There's a big 89.

Naturally, still no JP in the thumbnail or in the name of the show.

So something to work on.

And also Clean Pocket with Colt McCoy and Jake Rudin and A.Q.

Shipley and Justin Pugh.

Check out those programs

in addition to this fine one.

All right, let's take a break and we'll be right back.

Sprinklers, a cool breeze.

Talk about refreshing.

You know what else is refreshing this summer?

A brand new phone with Verizon.

Yep, get a new phone on any plan with Select Phone Trade In MyPlan.

And lock down a low price for three years on any plan with MyPlan.

This is a deal for everyone, whether you're a new or existing customer.

Swing by Verizon today for our best phone deals.

Three-year price guarantee applies to then-current base monthly rate only.

Additional terms and conditions apply for all offers.

Heed the call with Dan Hansis and Mark Sessler is on Underdog, so why not start playing on Underdog today?

A CD Lamb free pick dropped on Wednesday.

Don't miss that one.

All he needs is half a yard.

Come on.

So download and play on the Underdog app, sign up with the code HTC, that's us, and receive up to $1,000 in bonus cash for our U.S.

audience only.

Oh my goodness.

Sessler does not sleep.

But that doesn't mean that the hours of the night disappear.

He still has to be alone with his thoughts.

So we've been thinking about that a lot on this show lately, Connor, that Mark doesn't sleep.

I mean, we've been thinking about it for years.

And he contends that he does find little times for cat naps.

Don't necessarily believe that either.

But I do know

in the still of the night,

if you don't sleep, we've all been there at times, your mind begins to wander,

which takes us to today's segment, things that keep us up at night with a little bit of an NFL tilt to it.

So, what are you thinking about?

Connor, we'll start with you, buddy, and we'll get the gravedigger involved on this one as well.

What are you thinking about?

Late at night, cannot, can I?

Counting sheep is not working because this is what you're thinking about, and you wish you weren't, but you are.

I would say, outside of a pair of recurring dreams that I have,

one related to high school football, where it's the first game of the season and I show up to the bus and the coach is like,

you weren't there all summer to practice.

You don't have pads.

And also, like, you know, so you can't play on the team.

And then I have to just like look at my dad from the sidelines the whole time, like in

the field.

And the other one I'm just going to let go live because

wait, is your dad just shaking his head at discomfort?

Like, what were you doing all summer?

Classic Tuffy.

And

smoking cigarettes at the gas station.

And

the other one, like, because the high school football dream is fairly common, but the other one I just wanted to just put out there in the world to see if anyone else had it because I just, I've never met anybody else who's had this.

But I have this dream where me and my family go home, like, to where, you know, I was born and raised and stuff like that.

And, you know, we're just walking around and we run into like one of my girlfriends from high school and she's under the impression that we never broke up like she's just been waiting there for 20 years and she's like oh you're back like i've been i've been waiting like i forgot to break up with the person basically and you know and then i'm like well these are my children um

And I don't live here anymore.

And it's very, but it's, it happens like, you know, probably like a once a month or if I'm being honest.

Is the girlfriend like a like a

rotating

version that's been underground for 20 years like I'm trying to steven king this in my mind that's how I'm almost picturing it like it's a dead version of your ex-girlfriend even if she's still alive no it's like she's she's aged totally normally like along with life and you know she's patiently waited for you like like yeah like

to hang out with at or something like that and it's like oh good like you're you're back and

isn't this how most like don't most hallmark movies take a certain similar plotline to this where the guy goes back to the hometown and falls in love with the

brain Connor?

You may have just connected that mark.

Uh-oh.

Whoops.

Just a thought, you know?

It's warped your mind.

Your mind?

No, it's never like, okay, yeah, let's trade.

Like in one dream.

Has it ever been in like one, maybe you got in a fight with your wife the previous night, and in this dream, your subconscious goes, like, yeah, let's roll.

Yeah, you know what, ghost that's been following me around for 20 years, let's see how this works.

No, it's always just like, I'm really sorry, but

you seem to be under the impression that how does she look, by the way?

Is she agent well?

Or

it's a different person every time.

And I'm not saying like I had a really robust dating life, but like, you know, there's like, I had like three or four girlfriends and kind of into Connor's dream.

Usually I hate other people's dreams, but this one I like.

All right, Connor, how does this tie into the NFL?

It doesn't.

So here's what

here's what actually, from an NFL perspective, keeps me up at night.

So if you go to

Next Gen Stats has a category of how many times does a running back face a loaded box, eight or more defenders in a loaded box, right?

And these stats are, you know, you have to be careful with them, right?

Because sometimes they're really heavily dependent on game situation.

But the two backs who faced the least amount of loaded boxes in the NFL were Josh Jacobs and David Montgomery of the Lions.

And so if you think about that for a second, and especially you connect what David Montgomery did to the Rams in overtime of that game with the power of their offensive line, what the Packers could look like with Jordan Love when he's back, they're getting basically like Cliff Kingsbury's Cardinals style empty box numbers with all-pro.

beefy running backs and pretty good athletic offensive lines.

Like that is bonkers and highly consequential if other teams just don't know how to play them.

Hmm, makes you think.

I like that.

I mean, it's sort of surprising to me that David Montgomery was also treated that way.

I mean, I know that Rams team was ready to just get back on the airplane after that, but like he just marched down the field at will.

Not unlike what would have happened, you know, had that high school opponent faced you after a summer of not practicing or conditioning yourself.

So this keeps you up at night in the sense that, like, what the possibilities are here?

Certainly, the possibilities.

And also, if I'm a defensive coordinator, you know, it really does kind of illustrate, like, especially for the Lions.

You know, we're talking about Jameson Williams coming around, Amon Ross, St.

Brown being elite, Sam Laporta.

So, how do you play this team?

I mean, it's 49ers-esque, where it's like, if we sell out against the run, we're going to get torched.

And if we play the pass, we just have these two excellent, like incomparable running backs to deal with.

And I think the Packers are kind of in that vein too, where Josh Jacobs can easily rip off like a 200-yard game here at some point pretty soon, if, if and when Jordan Love comes back.

Do you want to hear something crazy?

Because I'll go next.

Yeah.

And I'm not, I swear to God, I'm not making this up.

But last night, we kind of locked in on this idea

yesterday, but then had a text conversation, you know,

around 9 p.m.

Pacific.

This is a dream I had last night, Connor.

Uh, legitimately, one of the strangest ones I remember to the point where, you know, how it's like you forget about your dream unless you write it down.

I wrote it down because it's implausibly it tied into the show today in more ways than I even realized.

So I was at home with my family in this dream.

It was in my home that I live in now.

We're sitting at the dinner table.

We're having like a pleasant, carefree conversation together.

Things are going well.

And then in my house where the kitchen table is or the dining room table is, it's a stray shot and you can see where the front door is.

A former female in my life is at the door, someone I haven't in reality seen in close to 20 years now.

She appears very distraught and she explained, and I'll keep this in more general terms, that there was some type of business thing that had happened that connected Mark to our enterprise.

I don't know what it would have been.

Maybe I'm involved in this.

I hope you kind of, because it was like it was connected to heed the call on some level and i'm not good with business maybe it was like a bear hug um from succession maybe somebody gave up power of attorney the one thing rocky 5 taught me is that you never ever give up power of attorney oh come on what'd you do we gave power power of attorney to our accountant

i just didn't give anything to nobody huh So anyway, our business arrangement, Mark, was in peril in this dream.

Smash cut.

You know what?

Super annoying when the dream does the smash cut?

yeah now i'm an nfl wide receiver i am not making this up i can't remember which one it's like an allen robinson maybe like an alshon jeffrey type i'm now a tall endlessly athletic black man in this dream it's wild right and

uh

you know

but now i'm the one that's emotional and distraught and i'm not sure why It's also like Super Bowl Sunday, I think, and I get so lost in my thoughts that the game is about to start.

I'm I'm outside the stadium, and then somebody kind of like wakes me up, shakes me out, and says, you got to get in there.

You're going to miss the game.

So

I go running into the stadium in full uniform, and I actually run past Roger Goodell.

This is funny, and I'm sure this is loaded with symbolism.

Run past Roger Goodell, who makes like a pithy comment along the lines of, you just made it.

Anyway, I reached the sideline just seconds before kickoff.

I'm guessing my head coach was Mondo pissed, by the way.

But maybe if he actually cared about me as a person, he would have some concern about my emotional health.

Weird, right?

So that was the dream.

Which takes me to Marvin Harrison Jr., another wide receiver.

And a stat that I saw.

Isn't that weird, though, that I'm dreaming about an X?

And it's about a wide receiver.

And then when I'm thinking about something to talk about today, all of a sudden it's a wide receiver that

springs up.

It's the mind.

It is weird.

I would say that like

we are of an age, like we grew up in certain ways through high school sports and stuff that like I've had multiple dreams where like I'm in a huddle and like someone's dishing out like a long play call and I'm in pads and I'm like, I have no fing idea what that means or where I'm supposed to go.

And I'm lucky if I'm even wearing clothes in that type of a dream.

And then, you know, I think the...

I think the fact that like the woman is showing up, it's like, what would be more stressful to a happily married man?

I mean, in both of your cases than some sort of, you know, vixen from the past who has information on you and probably like not great information and like shows up at your door.

That's more of a horror film than a guy with a knife.

Quite literally showing up at our front doors.

Anyway, so Marvin Harrison Jr.

of the Arizona Cardinals, you had asked on the Sunday flagship show,

Gravy, what's up with the stat line for Marvin Harrison?

It was not good.

It was one catch for four yards on three targets.

Seth Walder, who works for ESBN in their analytics department, he's a listener to the show.

You might have even crossed paths, Connor, in the past.

I know you used to cover the Jets.

Love Seth.

We came up together.

Good dude.

And he had this note.

There have been 1,730 games played by individual wide receivers with at least 25 offensive snaps since the beginning of the 2023 season.

If we look at the top speed for each of those player games, so this isn't the average speed, this is, okay, what was the top speed clocked to these players?

Marvin Harrison Jr., 16.7 miles per hour, ranks 1,699th on that list out of 1,730.

And what does that mean?

Okay.

And I'm trying to think, and I actually reached out

to Seth on DM.

I was like, what does it mean?

Because it's like, and it's hard to say.

It's obviously a very small sample size.

That goes without saying.

It's just one game.

But is he playing through an injury?

Is he out of shape?

Was there something within the game script or frustrations that led to him maybe not putting in full effort?

Was he playing tentatively because it was his first game ever?

All these things are potential options.

But what really seems crazy to me, and Gravy, let me bring you in on this because I know this is something that you were plugged in on also.

What's wild to me is just this is set against the backdrop of Marvin Hatterson Jr.

hyped up throughout the draft process and going into week one as the most pro-ready guy, a can't-miss prospect,

son of an all-time great, and he still could be that.

But the way that it starts in week one, that if I'm the Cardinals at least, it's keeping me up at night a little bit.

That was a really bad start to his NFL career.

One game, but a weird one.

And the weirdest part about that miles per hour stat is that he was clocked at 22.2 miles per hour last season at Ohio State.

So it's not like he is not fast.

And it just makes you wonder,

is he not understanding the offense to the point where he's overthinking instead of just playing fast?

You hear coaches and players talk about this all the time.

We don't want to think too much.

We just want to play fast.

So maybe that's the issue.

There was a viral clip going around where he was like supposedly wide open running down the end zone.

And there was like, it was so open, there wasn't even a defender near him on screen.

But then you watch the the actual play of that, what happened on that snap.

And Kyler Murray is like evading pressure.

He's rolling out of the pocket.

He's on the opposite side of the field, trying to evade pass multiple pass rushers while trying to convert a third down.

So it's like he's not, there's no way in the world he was ever going to see Harrison on that opposite side of the field wide open.

It's not like he was the read on that play where Kyler Murray missed him.

And Kyler Murray actually said something very interesting on Wednesday, I believe, about

getting the ball to Marvin Harrison Jr.

He said it's not his job to feed him targets.

He said, as a quarterback, obviously you're going through your read.

Sometimes the ball goes to him, but that's not my job.

I have a sense and a feel for guys when they don't get the ball and when they are getting the ball, but I leave that up to Drew Petzing, the offensive coordinator.

So yeah, and that...

Again, not to read too much into it, but you just wonder maybe there's a little bit cooking behind the scenes around Harrison.

And like I said, I connected with Seth, and, you know, what does it mean

because of the sample size market could be chalked up to just randomness, and things will be totally different come this weekend.

But it's something to obviously keep an eye on around a guy that the Cardinals have so much invested in.

Yeah, I think it's just like the lineage too.

We just accepted the idea that he was going to come out and stomp and dominate.

And then you look at like what Malik Neighbors did, and it's like, all right,

there's some pressure around Harrison to come out like sooner than later and make a couple big plays.

I think it's interesting what you mentioned, Graver, about Kyler Murray's comments because he sort of removes himself from

that pressure with that kind of a comment, saying, Look, I'm running the offense the way I need to.

And I don't know, I think one area that week one to week two really does course correct and adjust is some of these players, younger guys too, that are on the hot seat, come out and change the way you think in the next two weeks.

And I didn't, like, I trust he will, but it's it was the opposite of like the story book beginning.

And if he goes eight for 122 and a touchdown, don't get my mentions like dunking on me about it, especially you, Zumwalt.

I'm not saying that I think that he's a bust or anything.

I'm just saying

that's very, very odd.

And I'll just button it up this way.

The NFL draft in 2024 had seven wide receivers taken in the first round, tied for the all-time record for the most.

And I'm looking at, I'm just going to go, I'm going to blow through it here.

We mentioned Harrison's stat line.

You mentioned Malik Neighbors, five for 67 on seven targets in a terrible Giants loss.

It was not his fault, so he was fine.

Romadunze with the Bears, number eight overall, one for 11 on four targets, and now he has an injury.

He's going to be out.

That catch was a deflection.

It was not intended for him.

He just like

jumped and grabbed the ball.

Well, it was a good catch.

But Brian Thomas Jr., okay, he was fine.

Four for 47 and a touchdown on four targets.

Xavier Worthy had only three touches in that opener on Thursday night, but he turned that into 68 yards and two touchdowns.

Ricky Pierce saw, obviously, the shooting.

He is on the injured reserve list right now.

And then Xavier Liggette of the Panthers, the number 32 overall pick, four for 35 on seven targets.

So nobody blew the doors off week one, but Harrison was the one that was picked first, Connor, in a class that was seen as a potential historic wide receiver class.

And people will pay attention to what happens next.

In fairness to Marvin Harrison, wasn't it was like two or three years ago that Daniel Jones was the league leader in miles per hour clocked because he had that that

it was like on that random like zone read play no one knew he could run and then he tripped do you do you know what i'm talking about everyone yes that's that's kind of the daniel jones play for all time no matter what happens but he clocked he clocked in at like 22 miles an hour or something like that on that which was like dk metcalf-esque for like a moment but i do think that sometimes miles per hour correlates with like running long distances in open space and being able to reach that top end speed.

So maybe it was something with the routes too.

Maybe.

Yeah.

But also, there are some, he had a fair number, if you dig in a little deeper, a fair number of like just go routes where it was just like, and it just didn't happen.

So let's pay attention.

Gravedigger, you're next.

All right.

Something that keeping me up at night is what's going on with Joe Burrow.

Because he obviously dealt with a massive injury last year.

was rehabbing, but he was back at training camp this year.

And this is his first time taking the field again in week one.

And he did not have a very good game.

Just raw stats-wise, it was the fourth lowest passing yards he's ever had in a game in which he finished.

His average air yards was minus 1.3.

So he's throwing a lot behind the line of scrimmage.

It was the sixth lowest average intended air yards of all of week one.

And the weirdest part, he had this weird moment where he was trying to pick up a Gatorade bottle on the sideline.

And it looked like he couldn't really grip the bottle.

the way that he needs to and that's with his throwing hand.

So

I did a little more research into like what was his injury and how serious was it and how serious is it going to be.

And

an orthopedic hand surgeon told Dr.

Jesse Morse, who's one of our Twitter doctors, which put however much stock you want to put into the Twitter doctor.

He's there with our.

But he said that.

This is the type of injury that could affect him for the rest of his career and the rest of his life.

It can lead to instability over time and arthritis at an early age.

And you watch Joe Burrow in this game.

He was pressured at the

third lowest rate of his entire career, actually, even though it appeared in the beginning of the game that he was under pressure a lot.

In reality, the stats say it was the third lowest pressure rate of his entire career.

He only averaged 5.6 yards per attempt with no pressure.

Only four of his 29 pass attempts went further than 15 yards down the field.

Only six of 29 went further than 10 yards.

Less than half of his attempts were over five air yards.

It was the second lowest EPA of the week on plays with a coverage mistake per PFF.

So he had open receivers and he wasn't generating expected points on those plays.

I'm not saying Joe Burrows cooked.

It was one game back after a major, major injury.

I'm just saying I'm a little worried.

So

I'm watching the clip here.

And

yeah, he does

the hand.

He has to do an adjustment to bring the Gatorade bottle on the sideline.

But I don't know.

That doesn't look too crazy to me.

But what does look odd is the amount of flexing he's doing and rotating of that wrist.

And is that something that he took a shot in the game?

Or is it just residual carryover?

I think it's very fair.

And absolutely, Mark,

if he's not healed physically, that is curtains for the Cincinnati Bengals and what's supposed to be their big bounce back year.

The more concerning the Gatorade thing, like

I watched that over and over, but the more concerning footage to me to some degree was what you just mentioned, where they cut away a number of times to show him kind of gripping his fists and like looking down at it, like this is an unexpected feeling.

And it kind of reminds me, it's like when you sleep on your arm, speaking of sleeping, and you wake up and like, if someone said, go pick up an object, but you can't feel anything, it's almost like, is he gripping that because of pain or because like, you know, sometimes it's a pins and needles thing when you have a go-through something where like you don't really have control over the movement of your hand.

I mean, I'm not trying to be, I'm not on Twitter as a Twitter doctor, so I'm just speculating, but like it was uncomfortable.

It was uncomfortable visual because like it did translate to the fact that he, all this numbers that you mentioned, Justin, like

this is just not like Joe Burrow.

And I know they come out slow, the Bengals, and they've done that a number of years, but something that, you know, something feels really off about that entire performance from him and from the entire team.

Here's the good news.

If you're a Bengals fan, guy's a monster competitor.

He's going to Arrowhead with a lot to prove, and a lot of people doubting him.

Remember, this was Burrowhead for a while there before Travis Kelsey made some comments to the contrary after a Chiefs playoff win.

Let's see what version of Burrow shows up because I have a feeling he balls out.

But if the struggles continue, it could be something else.

I mentioned, by the way, that

the adjusted EPA from Kevin Cole, formerly PFF,

He graded out really well for what it's worth on that.

He's at, I think, in the top seven when you factor in all the other methods beyond just the outcome of the yardage.

So you could pop the hood and squint and see that he wasn't that bad in that game.

But, man, reason for concern.

It would keep me up at night.

Mark, close it out.

You know, I was like thinking about this segment.

And I was like, I don't want to cook up something for me that I'm not actually kept up about because there's a laundry laundry list of things and like football is sometimes it

but I do I did get hooked in the middle of the night you know first of all

the idea that because I have a sleeping issue that I somehow like also sucking people's blood and can't see myself in a mirror doesn't

mean somebody's referring to you as Marcula which I love I just I mean it's just a sleeping issue but I get it um do you think that we're almost making light of what is a an actual malady and if so we apologize and we will see.

Well, you don't need to apologize.

Well, you are playing music on our show, yes.

We probably won't stop either, no.

Yes, I don't know if it's an apology, but it's like there is a wake-up call there that like it is tough to sleep.

But I will say here, I was like, what really has kind of disturbed me,

and more from a human angle than like an on-field scheme type thing, but the experience of Bryce Young and Daniel Jones.

And I'm not going down the road of killing these guys because, I mean, I did that with Jones a couple times on this show, but because I don't, you know, you don't worry about them financially they one of them probably has like a massive house in the outskirts of Charlotte you know Daniel Jones probably lives like in a leafy town in New Jersey none of that is the issue but it's like then Sunday arrives and they are falling apart entirely at the job that brought them this wealth and this renown.

And, you know, for decades, they've been the best athletes in their school, in their town, in their state.

And it just looks to me on the Bryce Young front like I'm watching him and he's hit a wall.

Like it just, it doesn't add up where he is at a quarterback on any level.

And what really depressed me coming out of week one, and I'm not on some, you know, Mount Pious here.

It just literally made me depressed, was the clip of Daniel Jones leaving MetLife where all these, and Giants fans in general, I've always, I grew up around them, and I have a lot of, that would be like my second team.

I kind of have always liked Giants fans.

And, you know, our fathers were Giants fans and our grandfathers.

But you got this like,

Mob lined up that went to go find the exit where the players

stop it.

No, no, listen to me.

This really bothered me that they treated in this way, and it's the look on his face.

I want to just watch and listen to this clip, and it's good on audio, too.

So, is that

Jones exiting, you said?

Yeah,

that is an absolute disgrace.

Yes.

And Giants fans should be ashamed of themselves, the drunks that showed up instead of going home, hopefully with a designated driver to your families who you just bailed on for eight hours to be at that game, to hang for an extra hour or two just so you can get your shots in on that guy.

I mean, that is awful.

I'm glad you agree with me because I think there's another way people could be like, oh, you know, he deserves it.

Like, it's a little, it's next level.

And like, it's just if you go watch the clip, that's the sound of it if you're on audio, but like his body language.

And like, to me, like, honestly, from like the dream angle and the nighttime angle, like, it connects to me to this

kind of deeper feeling that I have.

And it's something vague, like, something dark just like lurks around the corner in our society.

It's like a shapeless menace about how things are.

I'm not trying to be some old person telling you to get off my lawn.

I don't have a lawn.

But like, something feels dark to me.

And it does remind me of this recurring dream that I that I do have that I've had when I've slept.

And like, I have these dreams that are like long narratives, and so I'm not gonna, I'll describe it quickly.

But it's like this one where I'm really free, and I'm driving out to like this cabin in the forest for like a couple days just to be alone.

And like, then, like, to your smash cut thing, like, I'm suddenly on a bicycle driving in the same sort of foresty world.

I'm driving to like a tavern, and then I'm like having these really wonderful, cold, tall beers.

but something feels like in my heart and in my psyche something feels really wrong and then there's it's like I'm going back on the bike to this cabin alone and I you know I have very little interaction with anyone and out of nowhere like I'm abducted or it cuts to me of having been abducted by like a gang of

I would say like teens and innocent looking children.

I knew.

And

that's why I bring this up because it literally was, this is one one of the most disturbing dreams I've ever had in my life because for like over the course of what seems like a 24-hour period, they are like inflicting pain on me in various ways, like child ways where they like, like want to pinch you with like metal things.

It's just terrible.

It's getting more and more menacing.

Like you think it can handle it, but then there's too many of them.

And then it gets more sinister where one like older type girl who's like a leader like tells me that they've wiped out my bank account.

They've basically put threats out on family and friends, they say.

And there's this one computer nerd that is creating like AI generated false videos of me that are very damaging.

And I have no control.

I can't do anything.

I'm just being put out on the internet.

And I think it is the complete lack of care and kindness from like young people.

in the dream that created more dread to me than actually what was happening.

And to me, for something connected to watching this mob of like parents and children and hoodlums screaming at Daniel Jones who is walking in like shame silence.

It's like the dream of becoming a pro football quarterback like starts to become over when this is the reality that you're living through.

And it's like, I don't think he's a good quarterback right now.

We all see that, but like that whole thing that unfolded was just a little too dark for like week one in the NFL.

It just went to a place that bothered me in multiple ways.

And, you know, in hell, now it makes sense why you don't want to go to sleep, Mark.

That's some Friday the 13th stuff.

But

I totally agree.

And I come from that world.

You guys come from that world.

You understand that the New York market and the fans, it's part of what makes it great, can also make it really bad at times.

And you've seen many, many, many players, no matter the sport, melt down from the criticism.

And you do begin to feel for Daniel Jones.

And if it's not going to work out here, maybe he'll be lucky enough, if lucky is maybe not the word, to be like Sam Darnold down the line where he ends up in a spot where he's not facing the same level of criticism and can reboot his career in another way.

One more thing since it ties to it.

Jonathan Grenard of the Vikings,

he was on KFAN in Minneapolis doing an interview, and they asked him about the fact that the Giants fans were going off on Daniel Jones in that offense, really from the second quarter on, I believe.

And here is what Grenard had to say.

Man, it was a great feeling to see it on the first couple drives.

And then obviously, like you said, man, when we heard the booze raining in, we're like, okay, now we're good on our side.

But when they got really loud to where it was as loud as it would be on the third down, should be a winner on defense,

it was kind of bad.

We kind of started to feel a little bit bad for him as we're still just completely just taking away everything that he wants to do.

Yeah.

So, you know, when the opposition Connor is noticing the same thing and almost having pity for the opposing quarterback, maybe it's crossed the line where you're supposed to be supported by your home base.

And when it turns into something else, else, it curdles in an unpleasant way.

I'm trying to think of a more,

I don't know, ungrateful and entitled

fan base in professional football.

And this goes back to winning like Super Bowls in 07 and 10, two of the most theatrical, beautiful Super Bowls of all time, full of homegrown talent,

lovable players.

You back into the playoffs heroically.

And then like a year later, trying to fire Tom Coughlin.

I mean, I was there.

I was covering those teams.

I heard it then.

But just this idea, like, all, like, and it happened after Saquon Barkley left too, like, that, that this team was doing something to them.

And, like, on the pain scale, they're so low down to have to act like this.

It's just, you know, I don't know.

And I also think, too, we're just like, you know, that clip going viral, it was just a couple of losers, you know, really.

I mean, and you hope that that's an outlier, societal outlier.

Yeah.

And it should be also a little context helps that

Saquon Barkley was

a fan favorite who walks and then has a monster game with the most hated franchise that the Giants have in terms of a rival, the Eagles.

And it's been largely now connected, whether it's true or not is

not even the point, that the Giants and ownership chose Daniel Jones over Saquon Barkley.

So he's dealing with that as residual heat coming out of a bad week one.

So

yeah,

Mark.

It's, it's, it's tough for the Giants, but certainly not anywhere near what's happening to you in your dreams.

That's, that's my final take.

Well, yeah, like it, I would say it concerns me that the dream repeats.

I thought that, I thought all these years, when you talk about that, the children, the roving gangs of menacing children, was just like a fun, like recurring Sessler bit.

To know that it actually exists within your mind,

that is, is, that's a horror.

That's a horror to me.

It also does exist in our society.

And I think it's a little bit more.

I'm not talking flash mobs, but there's stories out of parts of Europe where

children are just

deciding to surprise people with ultraviolence.

And that's not a great trend.

I don't love the trend.

That's true.

And before we sign off, this seems tangentially related.

Connor, I've seen some pushback on social media.

People, you made a comment about Hill people in Scotland being figures of menace in their own right.

It feels like the Scots, maybe some of them took that the wrong way.

I'm going to give you the floor now.

Yeah.

I don't know any.

I love.

I'm sure I would love Scotland if I had ever seen it.

Let's put some bagpipes under this, Justin.

Go ahead.

As you can tell, I'm catching Connor flat-footed here.

No, this is good, but accountability is so important in our business.

It really is.

I love Scottish Hill people.

I'm sure that they have their own

very fun ball-related games that they're excellent at.

And I was just making the point that if they were, you know, faxed over into an NFL stadium on a Sunday, that it might just look a little sloppy from the beginning.

But in no way did that mean

intend to demean the intelligence of the hill people of Scotland, if there are hills in in Scotland.

I don't know anything about Scotland.

Fair, fair.

All right.

Well said, well said.

All right,

let's hop out of bed because we're not going to sleep anyway.

Before we say goodbye,

as everyone knows,

Connor Orr is the preeminent

purveyor of content and takes on Hallmark Christmas films.

And this is a very special year in this category

of entertainment because the NFL and Hallmark, I believe, have partnered or lifetime, I don't know, have partnered on

a program that ties the NFL directly to this holiday fair.

Let's check out a trailer that recently dropped.

Saturday, November 30th.

Now, for the first time ever, Hallmark and the Kansas City Chiefs whoa leave it

all

on the field.

How about those

holiday touchdowns a Chiefs love story?

All new Saturday, November 30th.

Part of Countdown to Christmas.

Only on Hallmark Channel.

All right.

This feels like

your Super Bowl in a lot of ways, Connor.

Are you feeling optimistic?

I feel like, by the way, the lead actress, which I think you panned her casting,

no, the actor I had a problem with.

Oh, the actor.

The actress I've seen before in one of these films.

Santa Shell.

I had you watch Santa Summit.

She was the star of that one.

Thank you.

Yes.

Yes.

Classic of the genre.

I think she is, I mean,

ever since Candace Cameron Beret has sort of like, you know, stepped into more of your sort of like Great American Network sort of Christmas movies, I think there's been kind of a missing person atop the mantle.

You could certainly say like Lacey Shaber from Mean Girls had that mantle for a little bit too, but I do think that Hunter is probably the next sort of face on that Mount Rushmore.

I think she's going to be, you know, a powerhouse for years to come.

So I was very excited about that.

It was more the it was more the male lead i just need i just need him to make me feel a little bit more christmassy but i i'll follow up with a couple of concerns too um that

there's so many cameos in this movie now right andy reed's going to be in the movie donna kelsey's going to be in the movie two people that i have met spoken to loved think they will be excellent um but do we get to the point where they're worried too much about just throwing nfl stuff in here that we, you know, we screw up considering.

Like, let's make the pancake and not worry about how many chocolate chips are in it.

You know,

I'm worried about that, you know?

It's fair.

Does it keep you up at night?

Is the question?

It does, for sure.

Yeah.

Was that Donna Kelsey, I believe, in there?

She's going to be in there.

Andy Reid's going to be in there.

Mark, pay attention.

He already mentioned that Donna Kelsey.

Oh, sorry.

Sorry.

Here's my question, though, because

that seemed to be like, here's our version of Travis and Taylor, but you've got like, am I wrong?

Then you've got like the real coach, the real mom, but then these two are not the Travis and Taylor actual human beings.

Am I reading that wrong?

It looked like that's, they're presenting us the Chiefs, you know, society like Mary's athlete guy person, pop star athlete, but not them.

It's like knockoffs of them.

I don't know.

It'll be interesting to see how they get into it.

Because I don't want to attack the plot first.

I think that the, I think Hallmark in general.

No, nor should you.

Hallmark in general, I think, does a really good job.

I'm getting way too into the weeds on this.

But if you think about like coming up with all of these ideas and generating like a hundred Christmas movies every year, the fact that like there is like probably like a few general alleyways, but like thousands of different plot lines to the point where like a, you know, a country musician comes home to save a plum jam pie maker's farm, you know, like that takes some sort of mental gymnastics gymnastics and skills.

So I'm not going to pan them on that front yet.

I'm very eager to see how they get into the love story, but I need it to be an actual Christmas movie, and I don't need this to be the NFL stomping over something that I love very dearly.

And do not forget, everybody, as teased previously, December 18th will be the Connor Orr Hall Moore holiday special that will include a review of this very film that

we just spoke about.

So make sure you check that out.

Don't miss that episode.

That is very important.

All right.

That's a good one.

That's a good conversation.

We hope everyone enjoyed today's episode.

Coming up on Thursday, two brand new episodes of Heed the Call.

One, of course, the preview of week two, every game coming up post-Thursday Night Football.

And yes, speaking of Thursday Night Football, a recap of that game Thursday night will drop as well.

So make sure you keep up with the content.

We love you.

And remember what you must do:

run

from the children with the sharp teeth and heed the call.