PMS 2.0 1401 - NFL KICKOFF THURSDAY, Cowboys vs. Eagles Preview, Adam Schefter, Peter Schrager, Mike McCarthy, & AJ Hawk

Hello beautiful people and welcome to our humble abode, the Thunderdome.

On this NFL kickoff Thursday, September 4th, 2025, this program begins now.

Football is happening tonight for the NFL.

It has been 207 days since the Super Bowl, where we saw the Philadelphia Eagles become world champions in a dominating fashion over the Kansas City Chiefs.

Now tonight, they will have their banner celebration as they host the Dallas Cowboys in an eight and a half point spread kickoff to an NFL season that is going to be the greatest in the history of the National Football League.

Dak Prescott and the boys head into the city of brotherly love to take on Jalen Hurts, an offensive line that has been touted as the greatest of all time, and Saquon Barkley with Coach Siriani locked in for the future.

Are the Philadelphia Eagles in the middle of building a dynasty?

We shall see if they kick off in a great way tonight.

So many storylines, so many things to talk about, so many things to be excited about because tomorrow, Chiefs and Chargers down in Brazil, we get Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert, Travis Kelsey, Taylor Swiss, future husband.

That's right.

And Jim Harbaugh all on television for something that matters.

And then Saturday is going to be a packed day of college football greatness.

And then Sunday we have a full slate and we have Scott Hanson with the red zone channel all the way back.

Now, we made some news yesterday.

We had Scott Hanson on the show.

Got a chance to see the setup that he has behind the scenes, the green screen, the podium that he stands at.

Turns out there was no bottle or catheter in there.

That's right.

Looked like there was a tube down at the bottom.

Something weird that he maybe peed into, but he promised that it was just for electrical purposes to keep maybe a light on the podium or whatever.

But he confirmed that there would no longer be seven hours of commercial-free football starts now.

It'll actually be seven hours of red zone football starts now.

Obviously, that became a firestorm across a football viewers world on the internet.

A lot of people are saying they're pissed off about that.

I responded to Scott Hanson with saying we don't care.

Now when I said we, I did think that I was speaking for a large portion of people but when I said we don't care what I meant was we're still going to watch.

We're still going to watch.

And the only reason why I say that is because they started rolling in advertisements in the Red Zone channel last year.

Started with L Raps.

They had Christian McCaffrey out there looking cool.

And as soon as I saw the Christian McCaffrey L rap on there, which every once in a while we'll do here on this commercial-free Pat McAfee show that happens every single day whenever we're live, Monday through Friday, hour-long commercial-free.

But if you look right around us here,

that would be considered an advertisement.

That's right.

So I think what had happened was whenever the Red Zone channel started running this, which is run by the NFL, by the way.

I was called an ESPN and a Disney show for saying we don't care about the commercials being added.

What I don't think I said properly was, obviously, it's not as good if we're adding commercials.

Whenever it was just pure with no commercials, and we had paid for an upgrade of a product so we don't have to see commercials, that was better.

But as soon as they started seeing a little bit of money from those L raps, I think all of us that have seen or been around the NFL for a long time just assumed that the commercials would be on the way.

I was calling ESPN and a Disney show for saying that.

Look at this tweet.

I mean, look at this tweet.

They say, I miss you.

I miss when you weren't paid by ESPN to live.

He says Kenny with a middle finger to me, okay?

With a middle finger.

There was thousands of those calling me and ESPN.

ESPN and Disney don't even have Red Zone Channel next year.

I think it's two years they might not even have it.

So ESPN and Disney aren't even involved with the Red Zone Channel at this exact moment with this commercial being added.

It would actually, I think, be Google and YouTube TV.

So unless Disney called Google and YouTube TV and said, hey, can you guys add some commercials so that when we get it in a couple of years, when our show...

This show right here might not even be with ESPN and Disney whenever the time comes for Red Zone to be with ESPN and Disney.

So that would be like Google would be the one making that decision if you thought it was the advertise or the networks that were making the decision.

The red zone is an NFL operated thing.

The NFL was the one deciding who's doing it.

They were just licensing the content that's coming through.

So I was attacked a lot of different ways.

I'm out of touch, okay, because I say I don't care about it.

It's like, what I meant to say is we'll still watch because we will.

Don't get it twisted.

The red zone, now they're saying it's going to be a playthrough method where they're going to run a commercial while you're still going to be able to see everything happening on the right side.

Golf started doing this a lot.

A lot of the playthrough stuff.

Brian Rolat, former head of the the media of NFL, now actually the president of the PGA or the chairman, I forget his title, whatever, he has moved over to the PGA, big golf fan.

So maybe there is a playthrough type situation that's happening.

So I'd like to apologize for saying we don't care and pseudo representing a lot of people.

What I meant was we're going to watch.

And if you had a brain, you knew the NFL was going to do this.

And me shilling for ESPN or Disney, that's interesting.

Just listening to the show

every single day.

The talks and tables here at Boston Connor and at Ty Schmidt.

One half of of the hammer.

God.

Cowboys AP Tone is here.

Connor, I'm going to start with you, buddy.

You've been floating as you've been rolling around this Thunderdome.

You woke up this morning just singing a different tune.

You were flapping your wings pretty damn good.

What an exciting day.

207 days since last time we got to say there's an actual NFL football game.

That one was the Super Bowl.

This one, kicking off the greatest season of all time.

It's a beautiful day, Con man.

Yeah, it's the best.

And really nothing can bring me down today.

You know, I drove into work this morning and I was feeling great.

I had the windows down.

I thanked a a soldier for his service.

He told me basically, shut up because the way I look, which if you could picture in the morning, I also had purple sunglasses on.

So I was really feeling myself.

And I got all the happy dogs on because it just feels like this is what today is all about.

The more I thought about football coming back, it's just the more you think about the emotion of the game.

You know, it sucks when your team is terrible.

You know, it sucks when your team you think should be better.

And it's great when your team is amazing.

And it feels as though everyone on this stage everyone in the back everyone in this building everyone in the world thinks that their team can be good this year right now hopefully the athletic actually put out a optimism uh meter and they pulled a bunch of uh NFL fans from around the league and asked them you know if they're optimistic or pessimistic up there Broncos fans 99% optimistic now once again these are people that signed up to do this survey sure probably very active on the internet if I had to guess and also very active fans online.

Broncos, most optimistic.

Philadelphia Eagles, 98%.

We'll see if that continues.

Yeah.

We like the way the Philadelphia Eagles fans kind of easy come, easy go.

What have you done for me in the last 10 minutes type fan base?

Remember the last time they had a banner night in Philadelphia?

Team was getting booed into halftime.

That's right.

Won Super Bowl last year.

What have you done for me this first half?

Nothing.

That could happen again.

Nick Siriani is saying he didn't even know it was Banner Night because he doesn't want any of the distractions.

Love that their fans are at 98%.

Riding the high of the Super Bowl World Championship, you should do that.

Buccaneers, they love Baker down there.

Ravens, good.

Lions, good.

Bills, good.

Rams, they were like, hey, everybody's talking about how great the Philadelphia Eagles were.

How about us last year in the playoffs?

We're one possession away from beating the Philadelphia Eagles and ruining that entire story.

Chiefs fans, I feel like, always going to be optimistic with Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, and them.

Texans fans back up there.

We had a bad year last year.

That's not going to happen again.

Vikings, Bears fans, okay.

Outside of Chicago, I don't know if there's as much optimism.

Inside Chicago, love that there is optimism.

Seahawks fans, never talk about Seattle.

We appreciate that you guys are jacked up.

Patriots fans, we see that.

The 19%, I think, are just naturally always going to be a 19% around the city of Boston in the New England area.

Yeah, that's what I was going to say.

There's always going to be a 20% group of people that are like, nah, shit ain't good.

Like that's going to happen, I think.

Then you just start rolling through the rest of the list.

Who's down there at the bottom?

Oh, no.

Oh, shoot.

93% pessimistic.

What?

Indianapolis Colts fans.

I will say the people that are taking these surveys, I think, are probably big-time believers.

Okay.

Okay.

Because we ran into a lot of these people not from Indianapolis.

They picked up the Colts as their team, I think, because Anthony Richardson came here and how exciting Anthony Richardson was going to be.

Young group of Colts fans.

I don't think they know a lot about anything that has happened before or didn't experience it before, but they were very passionate.

And we respected and appreciated that.

And then when it goes the way it goes with AR and everything kind of happens, they get very pissed off at everybody else but AR.

Sure.

So they're mad at obviously Chris Ballard.

They're mad at Coach Steichen for not developing him.

They're mad at ownership of the building.

So obviously, I think they are very upset with the Indianapolis Colts as a whole.

And hey, I don't think the Colts have done a lot over the past, I don't know how many years that should say you should be that optimistic.

But I think there is certainly a group of fans that would definitely take an online survey that would say this Colts team is the dumbest franchise in history because they potentially believe that A.R.

was going to be the greatest quarterback of all time.

And you can put me down as a believer at the beginning and at the end.

In the middle, when I was hearing things the way it was going, I wasn't necessarily all in.

Still young, still has a chance.

But Colts fans that jumped on board because of him, they certainly think that everything's downhill.

Danny Dimes knows the 93% spent against him.

Exactly.

Same with the Forrest Buckner and the boys.

But what we're saying is all these teams, no matter how optimistic your fans are, all have a chance to go win a Super Bowl.

One half of the hammer.

Cowboys AP Tone is here.

Your Pittsburgh Steelers have a chance this year, it feels like.

Got to beat the Jets.

Oh, yeah.

Got to beat the Jets.

Justin Fields and the Jets got to beat the Jets week one.

Aaron Rodgers is locked in.

He's giving interviews talking about just the next game.

It's the first game.

Let's keep it moving.

Let's talk about tonight's game.

Eight and a half point spread.

That's big.

That feels very big for an opening night, especially a banner night.

Something that could play a little cagey.

What are the people on right now and why do you think it's so big?

Yeah, so it opened the summer at seven, which is a classic, you know, Super Bowl hosting a team that didn't make the playoffs.

Seven felt good.

A lot of people early were on the Eagles.

They got bet up to eight and a half.

It's kind of settled in there now.

62% of the people are on the Eagles.

It was as high as 80% at one point.

So there has been some Cowboys money coming in as of late.

I think it's just, I mean, we looked at the graph right there.

And like, yes, that's the fan base, but that's also the total NFL fan base.

I feel like right now, just because of what's everything that's happened over the offseason, everyone is still very, very high on the Eagles and very, very down on the Cowboys because of everything that's happened with Michael Parsons, everything like that.

So yeah, everyone, majorities on the Eagles tonight, eight and a half.

That's a hefty line.

It's a hefty line for sure.

Yeah, opening night eight and a half is crazy.

A lot of people would say, why would you pick the Cowboys to be the Eagles' opponent on opening night if it's going to be more than a one-score spread in the sports book's eyes?

And Jerry Jones would say, because.

Because

you do put the Cowboys on opening night if you can.

If you haven't been seeing the documentary, yeah, if there's a division game that's going to be a kickoff opening of the NFL season, the Cowboys are going to be in it.

You're welcome.

And the sports book saying, well, that's good, but it's not going to be a one-score game.

Eight and a half point spread is how it's going to look.

And I know that the Philadelphia Eagles are obviously the best team on paper and in the NFL right now.

So I don't want to say they're North Carolina.

But everybody at that game was talking about North Carolina, North Carolina, North Carolina, North Carolina.

TCU had a lot to pull from.

Sonny Dykes had a lot to pull from.

That entire team had a lot of chips on their shoulder, and they just steamrolled UNC.

Is there a chance that this Dallas Cowboys team, who's been viewed as the dumbest team in the NFL, Kenny Clark has been brought in there?

Who cares?

What does that even mean?

Mike is the only player that matters to this team is how Shodi could spell this.

That is how he could spin this to his team.

It's like eight and a half is a lot of points for any NFL game, let alone an opener with a division rival.

Now, Shoddy's first time doing Thursday night football, first time as a head coach, obviously kicking off the entire season.

Sirianni is three and one on Thursday nights, I believe 4-0 in openers.

Jalen Hurts is 4-0.

Jalen Hurts is 4-0 in openers.

So there's a lot of stats saying that the Philadelphia Eagles should be good.

Now, being an opening Thursday night, I don't think it's the same as like a middle of the season Thursday night because you only have four days to prepare.

This one, he had 207 days.

Okay.

That is literally how long he had to prepare for this particular game.

So it's tough to look at what stat matters the most.

But like this Philadelphia Eagles team loaded.

And the Dallas Cowboys have been told that.

And they've also been told that they don't matter because number 11's out of the building and he's in Green Bay.

A lot of motivation potentially from the Cowboys tie.

Yeah, I mean, talking about it in terms of like the parallel with North Carolina, I think is good because that's like a bunch of college kids who we don't, we have no idea, like, and have never seen them play.

The Cowboys have a lot of good players on their team still.

So it is interesting that it's like you lose Micah Parsons and it's like, hey, it's the worst team in the NFL.

These guys are going to get killed.

Like they have Dak, they have CD, they have George Pickens, Kenny Clark, you mentioned him.

They still have a lot of good players.

So yeah, we don't see this in an NFL game very often, at least going into it.

Like you mentioned, everyone understands how good the Eagles are, but like a lot of people thought the Cowboys before the, you know, the trade of Micah, a lot of people were picking them to win the division and go deep in the playoffs.

So it's like, let's not sleep on the Cowboys.

They're obviously still very talented.

Yeah, their fans are sleeping on them because if you go by the athletic, I think Cowboys had the third lowest optimism rate from their fans, which could also just be people on the internet saying they're Cowboys fans.

Yeah.

Saying this team's ass.

This team's ass.

You know, you never know what's real and what isn't whenever you have anonymous surveys.

But I think it is pretty telling on how people feel about the team as a total.

And Dallas Cowboys, everybody's out on it.

I mean, we turned on TV and we were included.

Jerry Jones, this guy's the dumbest guy of all time.

No doubt.

Two first rounders and Kenny Clark.

And people are saying to Kenny Clark, Kenny Clark.

Long in the two.

Yeah, exactly.

Two first rounders?

What?

Yeah, right.

You got a dumb guy running a team.

You got no talent on a team and you got a head coach that has no idea what he's doing that is literally what has been said about the cowboys now if the eagles come out then just smack the cowboys around yeah which is certainly possible

eagles have done that two teams in the past and what they can do with their front four the Philadelphia Eagles defense, they can make any team look stupid.

You could have the best pass game in the entire league.

If their front four are just destroying your offensive line, it doesn't matter.

You might have a great run game, but if those two, Jalen Carter and the boys in the middle, just two gap and hold that thing up, you have no run game.

It's like if those front four want to demolish and destroy your offense, they can do that.

And they have proven that time and time again.

Will tonight be a night that they can?

We shall see.

And then whenever you think about the offense, it's like that offensive line is still the Philadelphia Eagles' offensive line, right?

Oh, yeah.

And Landon Dickerson was full participant in practice, right?

We'll talk to Schefter here in about a minute or two to see what the update is on him.

But if that offensive line's back that's been around, and if Saquon Barkley's back happy because he got paid, right?

They paid him two years early.

And Jalen Hurts is now Super Bowl champion.

It's like they could be very confident bunch walking onto that field.

It's like Philadelphia Eagles could just smack the Dallas Cowboys around.

And then tomorrow morning, Jerry's the dumbest of all.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, my God.

Scotty, it is going to be

incredibly loud.

That's why this is a perfect kickoff to the NFL season, in my eyes.

Yeah, so juiced.

But you brought up the Cowboys defense.

Like, Iberflues being there, I would assume, helps definitely to start.

But without Micah, they still have have Diggs and Bland at corner.

That's got to be one of the better cornerback duos in the NFL.

Kenny Clark, people saying he's long in the tooth.

He's got to be the most angry guy in America because he essentially got the Anthony Davis treatment during the Luca trade, except even more so because the team that he's going to is so stupid for doing what they did and he's the guy that is getting traded for.

Like that adds into it too.

It just feels like the college thought as well.

Like if this was a college college spread and it was eight and a half points, you could kind of see it.

But the NFL spreads being that much anytime,

or not anytime, because sometimes those 14-point spreads, the Lions will beat, you know, some dog shit team by 50.

But these big spreads and these big games in a divisional game, it just never feels like they get covered.

It's the big.

Sorry.

Sorry.

Yeah, it's all right.

I had to crack open a can, so you don't want to hear.

It is the biggest spread of the weekend.

It is the biggest spread of the weekend.

week one normally kg affairs yeah normally people trying to feel it out early but will the philadelphia eagles try to feel it out or will they go for it there's a clip coming out of nfl films uh uh america's game 2024 so i forget what they call it uh there's a clip coming out though of jalen hurts and nick siriani uh on basically the dagger of the game the play call was dagger and uh

Philadelphia, tell me if this sounds familiar.

Guess who called the play, basically?

Go ahead, run it, Foxy.

I go to Coach Siriani on a thursday practice and i pretty much just give him this list and i'm like hey i'm just letting you know

you know

like you call these something good is gonna happen and um

the dagger was on that

i go into the coach's office at halftime And I get an opportunity to talk with him one-on-one, Coach Siriani.

And I say, hey, don't forget about,

you know, the dagger don't forget about it

you come up with these plays together you talk through things for hours for a five second play it is cool just to think about all the preparation that went into getting that call at the right time we support us

yeah i don't just just always just call it

i see the video him saying just call it and it you know that excites me

the confidence to call it the execution being able to put the dagger in the game and end it.

The Eagles get it back.

Looking to run some clock, or maybe it's throw the dagger.

Hurts going deep for it all.

Devontae Smith!

He has got it!

Touchdown!

Almost gets close on right here.

Watch this.

From the call to the protection,

from the pass to the catch,

the dagger was how you win pretty.

Great quote.

How about that?

Listening to the offensive lineman talking to Jalen in the Super Bowl, by the way.

I assume all that is carried over.

Joining us now, senior insider for the NFL at ESPN, ladies and gentlemen, Adam Schefter.

Shefty, I just got like chills watching that back yet again because, you know, an entire season leads to that moment.

And then you hear about the finer details.

You can't help but love the sport of football in the NFL.

Tonight, Landon Dickerson, I guess is big question there for that offensive line that obviously is a pivotal piece of the Philadelphia Eagles offense.

Full participant yesterday, I do believe, a couple weeks ago, he was drinking beers with the Cleveland Browns offensive lineman.

Thought that was an indicator that he's going to be back.

Where do we stand with him?

And what about the health around the Eagles as a whole?

Well, he's off the injury report.

He's going to be out there tonight.

I don't think there's any questions out there tonight.

It's amazing because we go back to the night he was hurt.

He was hurt in a practice at the link.

It was a late night practice,

and everybody went down.

And I remember Eagles fans being despondent that they may have just lost this behemoth of an offensive lineman, maybe the best guard in all of football to a season-ending knee injury.

That was the fear at the time.

He went, he had knee surgery, arthroscopic surgery, got it cleaned up, and a month later or so, he's going to be out there tonight.

Is he going to be at full strength?

I would guess not, but he's going to be out there there playing just as he played in the playoffs last year when he wasn't healthy, just as a lot of these offensive linemen do when they're not fully healthy.

And Landon Dickerson will be out there trying to open holes for Saquon Barkley against a Cowboys defense that has struggled against the run in the past and has made a move that we've heard a little bit about in the last week to try to upgrade that with the addition of Kenny Clark.

That's literally all Jerry kept saying is how I know we're going to run the ball.

Playing against the Green Bay Packers, we're going to try to get the lead.

We're going to run the ball.

Okay, that's what we're going to try to do.

Jerry Jones has been very adamant about not being able to stop the run and saying, hey, that's what we have to do.

Eberflues, first year back.

How's the defense responding to him behind the scenes?

And what should we expect from Kenny Clark, who's probably highly motivated to make a great first impression here with how much he's kind of been cast aside?

Yeah, well, I think that's where the Cowboys' hope is, right?

That Matt Eberflus has done a really good job in the past with defenses, and he can come in and implement his scheme and his system.

And you hope for the type of improvement that Dallas has been seeking.

And again, when Jerry sat down after the Micah trade to explain his thinking on it, that was really one of the big takeaways is that they felt like they really had to do something with their run defense.

And it was interesting because they didn't really draft anybody in that area until I believe the seventh round.

So if it was such a priority now, it should have probably been in April as well.

And they didn't address it the way they wanted to or needed to in the draft.

So by trading for Kenny Clark, They feel like they got a run stopper.

And, you know, of course, I think Matt Eberflues knows Nick Siriani well.

You guys would know this probably better than me i'm guessing this off the top of my head weren't they both coordinators in indianapolis at the same time together yeah frank reich

yeah siriani and iberflues they they know the way that each other thinks pretty well and ibrafluis will be up to uh in implementing his system and it's up to him to make sure that this dallas defense which was really poor last year is much better and look they've been worried about the run defense we'll find out tonight because they're going up against a team that runs the football about as well as any in the league.

Yeah, better than anybody in the history of the NFL.

Most rush yards for an offense

after Super Bowl, obviously, you got to count the playoffs and everything like that in the history of the NFL for Saquon Barkley.

And also, if you were to just account for Saquon Barkley's yards before contact last year, he would have been a top-five rusher in the NFL.

So saying that they got to stop the run is not just because they feel like that's a weakness for the team.

That is also the strength of the team in their division who is currently the Super Bowl champion.

I remember stories from back in the day.

Houston Texans took Mario Williams over Reggie Bush and the GM,

Charlie Casterly, he got fired and he said the reason why he got fired is because he drafted Mario over Reggie Bush.

But he said, Reggie Bush isn't tackling Peyton Mannet.

I'm trying to beat the Indianapolis Colts.

I'm not trying to do anything else.

I'm trying to win the division to get into the dance.

So I got Mario instead of Reggie.

And the fans didn't really care.

They didn't want to hear that.

But that is really how a lot of these people who are putting teams together think is if we win our division, we're in the dance.

We get in the dance, we're good.

Who's at the top of our division?

Oh, the best in the world.

And they run the rock all over the place.

I can respect Jerry Jones saying that.

I think he could have got another one.

I think he could have, I think he could have leaned.

Yeah, I think he could have got a little lean on him at the very end.

Hey, you give me one more one.

This deal's done.

But

you say that.

It's funny.

I had somebody call me yesterday.

They're like, you're going to tell me that Jerry Jones at the last moment had said to Green Bay, okay, you're giving us two ones at Kenny Clark.

You know, to close this out, we need another three.

We need another three.

Another one.

Green Bay would have.

Oh, at that point.

They would have thrown it in.

Yes, definitely.

That's, I actually said the exact words this morning as I was in here.

It was like, Jerry, maybe has lost his fastball.

Because at the very end, everybody's happy.

We're almost close to a deal getting done.

Bada.

And then it's like, second gets this thing done right now.

Actually, another one gets his deal done right now.

We're going to throw this away.

Over a one.

You guys got a deal done with Micah.

You already got that figured out.

We already got the other assets figured out.

One more one, three years from now.

That ain't gonna be.

Well, I don't know if they would have gotten three ones, Pat, but I think at that moment you make a request for one more pick.

The way that somebody explained it to me was I would have asked for a third.

And I think that that's plausible.

You want to ask for something, but not a ridiculous amount.

You have the trade in play.

Hey, guys, to close it, I need another three.

I'm talking about my people.

Just throw in another three, and we'll close it down.

Micah's yours.

Okay, so there was also a report that another team was involved.

I think that was, was that you that reported that?

I'm not 100% sure.

And it was the Eagles.

Howie calls in and goes,

hey, heard you have a problem over there?

Didn't know if you wanted to trade him in a division.

Is that real?

That's real.

And yeah, I recorded this morning.

Basically, the way I understand this is that the Eagles definitely were

in on Micah.

Now, again, I want to be very clear.

I don't think the Dallas Cowboys ever were going to trade him.

But that was not for a lack of effort from the Philadelphia Eagles.

And there are a few things that I find really interesting about it.

Number one, there are a lot of teams out there that say, look, we'd love Micah.

We just can't afford it.

We can't make it happen.

Well, here's the Philadelphia Eagles who have paid Jalen Hurts, who have paid Saquon Barkley, who have paid A.J.

Brown, who have paid Devontae Smith, who have paid people on their defense like Zach Vaughn.

And they're saying, you know what?

I know we can't pay, but it's Micah Parsons, and we're going to find a way.

to pay.

And I don't know what they would have done, but I think it's common sense to think we're just talking about what the Green Bay Packers wound up giving up to the Dallas Cowboys, two ones and Kenny Clark.

I don't know the Eagles' specific offer, but I would bet anything it was a richer, more lucrative offer than what the Green Bay Packers offer because it had to be.

Because if the Eagles were even going to get the Cowboys to think about trading him in the division, which I don't think they would have done for the record, it was going to be an offer that the Cowboys couldn't say no to.

And even then, they would have said no, probably.

So yes, the Eagles tried.

The Eagles tried on Micah, but they were told no.

Jerry, I got to tax you.

I mean, in the division, no way.

We got to go double everything if you do that in the division, especially with the rivalry.

You know, the Eagles, Cowboys, rivalry over the years.

Cowboys fans would, I mean, it was loud to begin with going to the Packers, you know.

Yeah.

If that, if Micah would have ended up with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Oh, man.

They would have aimed.

I love that how he's just snooping around, though.

Hey, how's everything?

What do you got going on down there, Jerry?

Everything okay?

I don't know what hotel you're staying in whenever you come up for opening night.

I got a new place to open up.

I think it would be great.

Also,

Micah, what do we, you guys moving on from?

Jerry going, I can't.

I know.

No way.

Can I?

Well, what if we.

Can you imagine Micah back in Pennsylvania where he grew up playing with Saquon Barkley?

I mean, they'd ride

on that D-line with that D-line already.

I mean, it would be.

They would go to Devon.

This is Kevin Durant heading to Golden State.

You know, that is a

because he would just be able to do whatever he wants on that defense.

Keep him and Jalen Carter?

Hey, we'll take care of everything else.

He's not good against the run.

Okay.

Yeah, don't even.

That's not why you're here.

He's got to go.

Go do whatever you need to do.

It is a,

that would have been insane if that would happen in the division.

Obviously, didn't the Green Bay Packers now have Micah Parsons.

How would that work out?

We shall see.

We'll talk to Coach Mike McCarthy in the second hour.

Can't wait to catch up with him on his thoughts on everything.

Tone has a question for you, Chef D.

Yeah, Chef D, another pass rusher got paid this morning.

Nick Bonito got a four-year extension, $120 million, $70 million guaranteed.

We were talking a little earlier before the show that $70 million guaranteed, $120 total is quite the discrepancy.

Do we know anything about the situation there as far as incentives or anything like that?

And then also, do you know any other team besides the Denver Broncos that everyone is so high on coming into the season?

Well, they certainly are one of these picks that's a little bit trendy and a little bit hot right now.

And I think part of the reason they're hot and trendy is because they have done such a great job of keeping their own players.

They give Bonito that deal.

It comes out to be the highest paid non-quarterback in Broncos franchise history.

They went and paid Cortland Sutton this offseason, this summer.

They went and paid Zach Allen.

So they've kept their core guys that have been important to this team.

Again,

there are some people that are picking them.

And when you're in a division with the Chiefs, everybody is usually an underdog.

So, you know,

here's where you can pick a great team, and you say, okay, well, they're an underdog to Kansas City.

They're in division with Jim Harbaugh and the Chargers, Harbaugh, five

games.

I mean, that division is loaded.

And the other team is coached by Pete Carroll, who will become the oldest coach in NFL history on Sunday when he goes up against the Patriots.

So it's a great division.

And the Broncos have done all the things they want.

And again, I don't know the

specific incentives, Tone, but I would just say this.

That's a lot.

Yeah, it's 70 million guaranteed.

So, you know, read into that whatever you want.

Like, I'm sure maybe the deal isn't exactly, but it's going to be a damn strong deal.

And these owners in Denver, Greg and Carrie Penner,

they are going to make their mark and they are going to be around a long time.

And they are going to be amongst the best owners in not only in just football, but in all of sports.

And the pockets that they have that enable these deals to happen,

they're building their own training facility.

They're going to get a stadium built there in Denver.

These people are big time, big time, and they're going to mean a lot to that city and that franchise.

Walmart, pretty good little business.

Yeah, not bad.

Yeah, it ended up being okay, didn't it?

Yep.

He's slashing prices.

The Walton family, that is the daughter, I do believe, who you just referred to, who is acting owner of the Denver Broncos.

I'm happy they're investing in football.

I like that.

I appreciate the fact that they're investing in the NFL.

We also saw there was maybe $106 million in total from Spotrack, but he had a year left on his contract.

That's still a lot of incentive-based money.

I'm excited to see that.

There's a lot of ways you could look at this.

And I know Tone asked that question, and I saw it last night.

We reported that the Niners sweetened Jawan Jennings' deal.

And I want to bring that up for Tone on purpose because I think it's a situation like that.

And there's the deal.

Basically, Jawan Jennings wanted a new deal.

He's going into the last year.

Ford Niners offered a multi-year deal.

He opted to take this particular arrangement, which is $3 million more of incentives this year, which could boost his salary to about $10.5 million, which is still for a number one receiver.

A great deal for the Niners.

But if he balls out this year, he's going to crush it on the free agent market and have a chance to really get paid.

But I bring up this deal for tone because I wonder, I wonder if the people in Pittsburgh

are paying attention.

Yeah, well, people in Pittsburgh are looking for a wide receiver any way they can get it.

But whenever you talk about that Jawan Jennings deal, that's $3 million in incentives.

That's a lot.

$3 million is a lot in incentives based each year.

$5 million, a lot.

Over $10 million in incentives each year is crazy.

That is a crazy number.

Like I, I'm, what is cure, cure cancer?

Like, what is the cure COVID?

35 sacks.

Like, 10 million is a lot of money in, because he kept saying up to, up to, up to.

I think that was AJ's first reaction whenever he raised the thing up to.

Like, that's a lot of money.

$50 million that's that's being reported is a lot of money that's almost 100% I mean what is that 80% of what said

but no but you know no defensive player gets his full deal guaranteed so um

up to 120 70 guaranteed I mean I 70 is good 70 is good I just didn't know if we knew the incentives you got to win a Super Bowl you got to have three touchdowns

details the devil will be in the details but

be a strong deal need a pick six in the Super Bowl to pick up two and a half million you need like that 10 million is a lot of money Nick Benito is certainly a game game record, and I don't love that.

This was the first highlight.

Sure.

I mean, I just got a run every single time.

That's a good read.

Okay, rookie here in nowhere.

He was looking at a guy pumped up out of nowhere.

He's like is that Troy Paul Moller Ed Reed out there?

Who the hell is this guy?

Why would you do that?

No, it's Nick Benito out of Oklahoma, and he's a dog, and he just got paid $70 million.

Guaranteed.

Schefter, with some of these players, did they have to tell them last year, like, hey, we're so strapped for cash because of the dead cap?

Like, you need to wait till next year and we'll take care of you.

Well, which players are you talking about?

Broncos.

Broncos.

Yeah, Broncos.

Like Cortland Sutton, Zach Allen, like all these guys, they paid a lot of them, you know, vet leaders.

Is that why they?

This is the choice that I think all teams make, right?

Like you try to figure out when is the best time to sign your guys.

And the price, if you wait and the guy performs and he stays healthy, usually goes up.

And look, by the way, let's look at it at the flip side, too, right?

Sometimes it goes the other way.

Elijah Vera Tucker is going to be a free agent here.

And he tears his triceps and practices on Tuesday.

It's not ideal.

So now, you know, when you're Elijah Vera Tucker next year in the free agent market, you're probably have to sign a deal, a one-year deal, and get back to that point and then try to hit the free agent market again in 27.

So sometimes it makes sense for players to wait.

Sometimes it makes sense for players to sign an extension.

Everybody's different.

You have to factor in the player, their history, what the offer is.

There's a lot of different factors at play.

There's no simple answer to any of that.

There's also, what, $60 million in dead cap for the Broncos last year or whatever.

Yeah, because of the fact that

by the way, that's probably a big part of why they had to wait to pay these guys because Russell Wilson was getting his lion's share of that.

And by the way, I think there's still money left over now, this year, on Russell Wilson.

32.

32 million.

Good question, though, Conman.

Yeah, I'm just going to the bottom of the ball.

Excellent insight from Pat bringing up.

That was very good, Pat.

Oh, thank you.

Yeah, we try to do a little bit of that around here.

You know, try to do a little bit of something.

People don't believe it, but we try to do it.

We're just a Disney show for something that isn't on espn for two years when we might not be on espn at the time that that is even happening for a red zone channel what are your thoughts on the red zone news the commercial i accidentally said we don't care without context of like we're still going to watch whenever they put the playthrough red zone uh commercials in there l-rap and playthrough commercials is what they're saying obviously we'd be better without any of that sure give me the give me the give me the shit yes give me the full shit but we you've been around the nfl how long now

uh this is my 35th or 36 year covering the league since 1990.

Okay, so you've been around the league for 36 years.

I grew up in Pittsburgh, which is NFL town.

I had a very lucky opportunity to be a part of it.

I feel like my brain operates in like a little bit more of a business fashion than some people.

So as soon as I saw the NFL get a little bit of cash from those LRAs on that Red Zone channel last year, I was like, oh, they are starting to,

oh, that is starting to.

It was

definitely going to put something in there, is what my thoughts were.

But I'm just telling you, the NFL makes the decision to charge for the coronavirus or to put in the coronavirus.

It's not ESPN.

It's the NFL.

It's not on ESPN for two years.

This happened last year, too.

Yeah, it was happening last year as well.

So it's like the amount of things that I had said to me that were very, very rude.

I would like to let everybody're very rude, but I'm built for it.

I'm supposed to take these things, I guess, because I

guess because I signed up for this.

I'm supposed to just be told things that aren't true and terrible about myself on a regular basis.

But it's like, I did say we don't care.

We do care.

We would much rather it not be in existence, but we're still going to watch.

I guess people are saying they're not going to watch.

It's like, okay.

Prove it.

Okay.

Red zone has become a necessity, basically, which is why it's the most ingenious concept that the NFL or any sports has really come up with.

And I do think that people are such big fans of it, like we are, are like, don't ruin it.

You're going to ruin it.

You're going to ruin it.

You're going to ruin it.

Well, if somebody ruins it, it's the NFL.

Because it's their product and it's a genius product.

And I think we all knew they were going to try to profit a little bit more off of it, which is not great, I'm saying, but I'm just saying I'm still going to watch.

Yeah.

And you can also say that and and we'll see what you're doing when that first sunday comes along when you know your local affiliate isn't carrying a game at 1 p.m so you got nothing but like news on and then guess what the 4 p.m time slot oh no that game sucks it's

you know who you got

Seven hours of red zone football with Scott Hanson.

Yeah, they got us.

They know they got us.

They were definitely going to try to profit more off of that.

So I,

when I said we don't care, I missed it.

I should have said we would rather it didn't.

It's not the end of the world.

But we we are going to watch.

Yes.

And they know we're going to do it.

We're part of the problem, but we are definitely going to watch.

And people who watch the grum know what you were saying.

Like, when you, if you don't follow the program, then it would be hard to understand that.

But the way you said it wasn't like, well, nobody cares.

There's commercials.

Everyone is okay with that.

Like, that's not what you were saying.

And people who took it like that, I'm not going to say the word, but it's a word they use in England and Australia, and I'd like to use it.

But those people suck.

Okay.

Okay.

That's growth, baby.

It rhymes with...

Yeah, don't think it is.

Yeah, I think so.

In other countries, very normal.

Ain't not good descriptor of these particular situations.

But here, we will never do that.

Okay, let's talk about tomorrow.

Chief Chargers.

I heard this bad practice field down there.

These boys are trying to do a walkthrough down in Brazil, and they can't do it because the field shit.

It is absolute shite.

Now, whenever we went and played in England, we were staying at a hotel slash golf course.

We did our practice and walkthrough on like a field that was kind of in the back.

It was obviously not a desirable football field, but it was kind of like a park situation.

And we weren't really going hard.

I mean, it was just like kind of test out the legs a little bit.

Let's move around.

They're probably doing walkthroughs out here.

Still have to get work done.

What is the conversation around?

That guy's locked in, by the way.

That guy is not.

Don't even think about it.

Don't even look at the grass actually with that guy.

They're lucky they're filming with that guy on patrol, to be honest.

What is the conversation about Brazil?

How does everybody feel about how the game's gonna go because obviously the track last year a little slick during the game as well well it's a repeat of last year is what it looks like and i i would think that it should be and would be better this year i have not gotten any firm reports about the field condition being an issue but if there are early complaints as you're saying that's not an encouraging sign that doesn't look great right there but i i think you i think you understand that when you step outside of our country into one of these games you just don't know what you're going to get and the elements are different all the time.

Remember the teams there last year.

This year, they're told to just stay in the hotel.

They don't want them leaving.

They don't want any security concerns.

They don't want any security risks.

It's a strange thing.

And I think week one is such an

unpredictable, challenging week for so many people.

And when you introduce a game like this, it becomes that much more challenging and difficult to navigate.

But here you have two great teams where they have excelled and shined in spots like this.

Andy Reed has been superior when he's given extensive time to prepare for an opponent the way he is in an opener with the Chargers and Jim Harbos 5-0 in opening day games in the NFL.

He's done a great job getting his teams ready.

So two AFC West juggernauts going at it in probably a little bit less than ideal conditions, but the league wants to continue to grow the sport all over the world.

They were very pleased with the experiment in Brazil last year.

They're backs again this year, and I would imagine they'll keep going back there and keep growing the sport.

I remember we were doing some business with DeZone and they talked about countries that love the NFL that they have the international rights for.

Brazil was always one of those countries that they were like, hey, they love the NFL down in Brazil.

Last year, you know, it had a green team involved.

That was a big conversation.

This year they said we're not doing that again.

Smart.

Send a blue team down there, send a red team down there.

Let's go ahead and get this all cleared up.

We appreciate the fact that our game is being spread throughout the world.

And shout out to the boys.

They seem jovial over there.

Here's Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelsey in their opening press conference from Brazil.

We've had a plan for this all all summer long and now we're just ready to play football again.

Travis, what was last night like at the airport?

Oh man, it was crazy.

It was a lot of fun seeing all the fans there.

He had that one coming for telling everybody I didn't know where Brazil was on the map.

It was a geography conversation between Pat and Travis.

Sounds like they're

jovial, and I think they get it too.

Like, hey, we are the current, we are the team.

Like,

the NFL is going to want to shop us.

Yeah, the world's team in the kingdom.

They are going to want to shop us around.

They're going to to want us to be on opening night.

And if we're not on opening night because we didn't win, okay, we're going to create a Friday night game and you're going to be playing down in Brazil, showcasing it to the world.

I think they appreciate that honor and opportunity.

Justin Herbert, Derwin James, Harbaugh and the boys out there.

I'm excited to see if this is the year they all piece it together.

That should be a fun Friday night.

You bring up all these football stars, and they are football stars and football standouts.

But when you take a step back and look at it, is there any bigger celebrity in in the NFL right now than Travis Kelsey?

In all honesty, nobody.

Like, I think his worldwide popularity right now exceeds Patrick Mahomes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, I would say so.

Yeah.

Which is crazy to think about because I think the reason why he was perfect for Taylor is because he was in Patrick Mahomes' shadow for so long.

Like

tight ends don't care about being the star.

Tight ends are literally offensive linemen.

They're never going to be the one that is being promoted, which is why I thought he was perfect for Taylor.

It's like he's not going to be scared that his lady is a lot more popular and powerful and influential and liked way more than he is because he's a tight end.

Like that's how that goes.

So I thought that was all good.

But now that you mention it, yeah, I do think he's probably more well-known.

Yes.

Well, especially if he's out on a date night anywhere in the world.

Yeah,

they're going to be tracking him.

Congrats to just give from Cleveland.

Yeah.

Kim from Cleveland.

I hope Mahomes doesn't mind.

Oh, you think Patrick Mahomes Mahomes is going to be a little sour?

I think there might be more worldwide interest in Travis Kelsey than any NFL player.

He has more Instagram.

Travis has more Instagram followers.

I don't know if that's more.

Oh, but then if we start doing that, then we start getting into all the soccer players, and then nobody really matters.

Dwayne Johnson, Dwayne Johnson.

That cricket player?

Jwayne Johnson.

Yeah, super famous.

We're talking about those two.

Yeah, but as they grow the game, there was a thought maybe Australia, as somebody that did that trip, I think Australia would be great for the NFL.

I think they would love our sport.

I think it's a combination of both their sports that they like with a little bit more padding and everything like that.

And a lot of Aussies have been doing American football because of the similarities to Aussie Rules football with punt and how good it is to get into our sport.

So definitely going to grow in popularity in Australia.

How would that work?

It's so far.

It is so far.

That's 16 hours from L.A., you know, to...

The one thing that I've learned with the NFL, like I went to Australia back in the late 90s when the Broncos were playing an exhibition game there against.

Oh, this has happened before, before, you're saying.

Okay, got it.

Yeah, no, no, they've done it.

It was in the preseason.

I went to Australia with the Broncos when I covered them back in the early 90s.

They played a preseason game there.

So look, here's the deal.

If the league feels like it's worth its while and it's going to make enough money to go play a regular season game in Australia, it's going to go play a regular season game in Australia.

And I would think that it's only a matter of time.

The time difference, they'll figure it out.

Maybe there's a buy on the back end.

Maybe there's a Thursday night game the following week.

Or like they'll make it work so that it's doable if it's attractive enough and produces enough revenue.

I would say nowhere, nowhere's off limits, Pat.

Nowhere.

I understand worldwide.

They'll fake on the moon if they.

Yeah, and they're going to try.

They're going to try.

I think we're going to get Elon's trying to get them up there to do a game, you know, at least to Mars in its entirety.

If we could do more with Australia, I think that'd be good.

Australia is a beautiful country.

It is just so far.

So far.

It is so far.

And the time zones are completely backwards.

I mean, they're winter right now going into spring.

Okay.

We're obviously summer going into fall here.

Just everything completely backwards.

I was a day ahead of everybody.

I was letting them know what tomorrow looked like when I was talking to people back here in Indiana.

So it's like figuring the logistics out would be crazy, but I think that country would be a great football fans.

Now let's talk about the NFL a little bit with some more injury information.

Go ahead, Con Man.

Yeah, Shefty, CJ GJ got hurt during training camp, and I think we all assumed that he was going to be out for the year.

It was reported as a very serious knee injury.

And then you reported this week, I forget if it was yesterday or earlier in the week, that he's actually going to be playing on Sunday against the Rams.

Is this another Wolverine blood situation when it comes to healing quickly?

Or did CJ GJ not have as serious of an injury?

And is the rehab facilities at the Texans just better than everybody else?

Well, first of all, kind of, I love that CJ GJ.

Like, that is an awesome thing.

It kind of flows off your tongue.

Yeah, I just invented it, brother.

Put on a t-shirt and patent it.

You should patent that right now.

Okay.

But when he went down with a knee injury in training camp, I believe it was Thursday, August 8th, off the top of my head.

And there were some reports that he had torn his ACL.

The team was concerned.

He tore his ACL, but that was never the injury.

The injury was such that it just wasn't as bad as some people thought it was.

And they always felt like there was a chance that he was going to be back in the opening game.

And obviously, a credit to CJ GJ that he made it back this quickly.

But he's going to be out there for the first game of the season for the Texans.

He'll be playing safety.

I'm sure he's going to be starting, and he's going to be looking to make some plays against the Tough Rams team.

Chefie, I don't know how big the rock is that you live under so that you can do the job that you do, but I do appreciate it.

Don't we?

Oh, yeah.

Always.

You're never hearing CJ GJ just means you're so locked in that you don't even got time.

I don't even got time in this entire thing.

He's a tone setter though oh yeah he is a guy that when you bring him in you know exactly what he's bringing when he's absent i assume not only can he feel it on the football field locker room sideline everything what a boost he brings to everybody and the other team hates him yeah immediately by the way and and and conversely if we're going to tie it all together the texas have cj gj on sunday and the philadelphia eagles

are like without cj g j oh we caught the tail end you froze there in the middle but we still got the punchline That's good news.

I will like to see Vic Fangio's Philadelphia Eagles defense without CJ GJ.

He was a beast.

I'm pumped for tonight.

What is your,

we have another question, but like, just as we're talking about the Eagles here, what is your feel for tonight?

I think this can go both ways.

I think this can be a very close game.

Dallas Cowboys can pull a lot of motivation from being, hey, this is the dumbest America's team has ever looked and yada, yada, yada.

They haven't won.

And I think the Eagles could maybe blow them up.

Like, I have no idea how it's going to go, which I think is a good thing.

Sportsbook's saying eight and a half.

That's the the biggest spread of the weekend.

That being opening night is Jerry Jones saying,

doesn't matter.

I am on opening night, the biggest numbers.

You need me.

What are your thoughts from talking around the league on how people see this all going?

I think that opening weekend is always very difficult to predict.

If we go back a year ago, I remember my father, I'll give him a little shout out, Jeff Scheffer, telling me, oh, are you kidding?

I got my survivor figured out.

The Cincinnati Bengals are a lock.

And lo and behold, the New England Patriots go in and beat Cincinnati in Cincinnati.

So the one thing about opening week is really these teams, there are some results that always come out and shock people.

Now, maybe it's Dallas going into Philly tonight.

I think Super Bowl champions since 2004 have a 15-5 record in this game.

Dak Prescott has played very well against the Philadelphia Eagles.

He didn't play in either game.

against the Eagles last year.

And so Dak, when he's played against the Eagles, has been at his best.

I think Dallas is going to play with him tonight.

And I can tell you that some people within the Eagles organization are uneasy because you just don't know how this is going to go.

It's the opening game.

Everybody's going to be fired up.

You know, is Dallas going to be fired up to prove a point without Micah or is the defense going to suffer without him?

But they have obviously Kenny Clark.

So it's just a lot of changes, a lot of unpredictable predictability, a lot of uncertainty as we go into the opening.

Look, Philadelphia is at home.

There should be a ton of emotion and energy.

They should find a way to win the game.

But I don't see it being a blowout at all.

Eight and a half is a lot of points, especially for an opening week.

But what if they all come out fired up, the Eagles, and their offensive line just picks up the Dallas Cowboys D-line and just walks them down the field?

And Saquon Barkley is doing his shit from night one.

There's a chance.

There's a chance that that's going to happen.

I mean, that can certainly take place.

Kenny Clark, though, can say I don't think so.

Excited for tonight.

It's going to be beautiful.

Last question here.

Let's stay in the NFC East.

Go ahead, Ty.

Yeah, Chef D.

It was reported that the Cook Coke family

is buying 10% of the Giants for a billion dollars.

We've seen this happen a couple times now, you know, with a few teams.

Why isn't every team currently doing this?

And are you surprised that the Giants are now, what, the second most valuable team in the NFL, if this is to be correct?

Well, I am surprised that not every team is doing this.

Like, some teams have done it.

Jeffrey Lurry with the Eagles did it and made it such that whatever he paid he got back more and still retained 90 percent uh oh by the way back to before i just got a text that the the the league announced super bowl week that they're gonna play multiple games in melbourne australia beginning in 2026 okay yeah that's what we're saying so how would that

uh never mind so but uh yesterday

rams are the designated team but back to the giants yes i'm surprised that there aren't more teams

like every team is not selling 10 of their team getting back a billion dollars or whatever it is, putting that money in your pocket.

There are some teams that could absolutely use that cash.

A number of them have done it.

It seems like the sharper teams have done it, and they still control 90% of the team.

So it's a no-brainer with some of these private equity deals and these companies that are now allowed to buy into the NFL.

I don't know why more people aren't doing it.

Yeah, as soon as they pass the rule that, yeah, you can take VC money.

Right.

Up to 15%.

If you want, that was them voting.

Hey, we're allowed to just snag a few hundred million, maybe a billion dollars, right?

Yep.

Okay, deal.

We all say yes.

Yes.

I thought it was just going to be everybody kind of doing it.

Now, the Cook, is it Cook Brothers or Coke Brothers?

How do you spell that?

How do you say that?

I mean,

I don't know how to pronounce it.

I think it's Cook.

I've heard both.

I've heard Coke.

So we had a Cook, John, that spelled it that way at our high school.

Sure, yeah.

K-O-C-H.

Could shoot the three-ball.

He was a beast.

He was a beast on a soccer field, too.

I mean, he was way too big to be a soccer player.

Yeah, he was, John Cook, was older than me.

He looked out for me as a freshman soccer player.

I appreciate Mr.

John Cook a lot.

I think he's just outdoors me right now.

He's probably in the woods trying to kill something as we speak.

He's probably got, I would assume, top and maybe sin across the top and Coke across the bottom if I had to guess with him.

But he said Cook, K-O-C-H.

You ever really know.

They're saying it's Coke, though, in the back.

Yeah,

I thought I heard Cook.

It's Kutch.

Could be Kutch.

It's not Coch.

Yeah, it's not those coke industries.

And like that, people would like E.

Cola.

Yeah, exactly.

And that was the confusion.

No, is it?

No,

no, I'm serious.

Whatever.

Welcome to the NFL.

We have no idea who you are, but way to go.

Way to go.

We're happy for you.

And congrats to the Giants.

Mara might not be able to sleep, but his team is now valued up over $10 billion in actual valuation because what he was able to sell it, as opposed to just, you know, pontificating on what the value is.

Congrats to him.

Congrats to us.

We made it to the NFL season.

We appreciate the hell out of you, Shefty.

Guys, have a great week.

Enjoy the first game of 272 tonight.

Should be awesome.

When you say it like that, it's going to go so quick.

No, don't put another 271 starting tomorrow morning.

Jesus releases.

The countdown to the Super Bowl begins.

That's the way it works.

But you know what?

Then there'll be more next year.

So that's 272 regular season, Pat.

Then we get the playoff games, too.

So there's even more, so don't worry about it.

Okay, okay, good.

A bunch of counts for the money.

You don't want to be thinking about it.

Yeah, yeah.

What the hell?

Yeah, all right.

We appreciate you, ladies and gentlemen.

We'll see you on Monday, Adam Sheffield.

Yeah, Chefty.

Love Chefty, the man.

I love Chefty a lot.

You know what else I like?

What's that?

We don't take commercial bricks, but there are a couple advertisements.

Yeah, that's right.

Only for companies that we really like.

Sell out.

Certainly.

Somebody's got to pay for this fucking set.

Yeah.

Exactly.

Ram truck.

Let me tell you what.

The V8 is bad.

What?

What?

And it's not just a V8.

No, what?

Say hemi V8.

No, no.

Fired up and

get in on it.

Motor Trend has chosen the Ram 1500 as its truck of the year for 2025.

Wow, let's go.

Motor Trend's handout awards.

These awards matter.

That's a big deal.

Motor Trend says, hey, who's the greatest?

Boom.

Ram Trucks 1500.

It's like the Oscars of trucks.

Yeah, and those...

Those meet, those matter.

Oh, big time.

Legacy definers.

The people that are voting on it know.

They do.

If they would have asked us, though, we would have said Ram 1500 truck.

That thing is like you're riding on clouds.

It's got all the technology you need, but still can haul anything you want.

That 1500, whenever I hit that gas pedal, sounds like a Rams.

But it's not obnoxious, you see.

I still want to be able to go down Main Street, stop at a little cafe.

Now, I want to be able to hop back in there and go to the farm.

I want to be able to pull some hay.

I want to be able to pull a truck.

And I want to be able to live large and ride high.

That's Ram Trucks to a T.

That's 1500 Hemi VH

Ram truck available now.

Ram trucks are also also back on the track and returning to NASCAR, Craftsman Truck Series for 2026.

Hell yeah.

Good luck to all the other trucks in the Craftsman Truck Series.

Might as well not even show up.

You're screwed.

I wonder if your truck's going to quit once it hears the

That's the best truck down the line.

Ain't that the truth?

That's Ram trucks.

All right.

Some things we did not talk about.

Damon Payne, who currently plays for Michigan defensive lineman, it's not good for Kalen DeBoer.

He was allegedly in a conversation and said, yeah, man, I i feel better this year because we actually work out at michigan that's basically what he said alejandro zuni

ja i i don't know i don't know how to say the name it's 100 on me michigan d-line coach on alabama transfer damon payne we talked this week because we're playing oklahoma they played him last year when he was at alabama and there's a couple clips of him on tape and i said man you look different on an alabama team versus us and he goes coach we run a lot more here we work out differently i feel way better

man uh oh the hits keep coming for kalen

this is michigan oklahoma that's kalen demoer's in his office down there very clean

just the whole world is spinning around him boosters are reaching out to on three we're about tired of this guy he's just sitting in there trying to figure out how to win a game gets all the way through the week and he's like all right i got everything alabama related out of the way we got to have a big one this weekend i get it but at least Last week's done.

And then bang from Michigan, Oklahoma game.

Wow.

Alabama doesn't work hard down there, questioning their entire culture out there.

This is just one hit after another for Kalen DeBoer.

And whenever you lose, especially at one of these high-profile schools, they're going to be looking and seeing everything.

This is a story, though, because Alabama fans are going to see this and go, oh, we do.

Michigan, they don't work.

They don't work hard under Kalen DeBoer.

And then they immediately go, you think Sabin's boys ever said we're not working hard around here?

No way.

Saban's in that building still.

You know, that's because he's so addicted to ball, still addicted to his routine.

I don't think he wants to have all of the responsibility of being a head coach anymore.

He's 70.

He's feeling like he's given enough to the game.

He's already won enough.

He wants to help.

He wants to be around.

But Kalen Boer walks down that hallway and just sees his office and goes, that's the ghost I'm hunting right now.

Yeah, yeah.

He just walks on his way.

And he comes back.

How'd you do it?

How'd you do it?

How am I supposed to do it?

And then just puts his old visor on

then just walks away.

All right, coach.

And Nick Saban's like, all right, you got to fucking at least work it out.

Yeah, work hard.

You got to at least have him working out out there.

This guy's got to be in shape.

I just look, they've had the same strength coach since 2020.

So it's not like the board brought a new guy, but did he tell the old guy, hey, hey, let's not work these boys as hard as Saban did.

Well, with that being said, I think we have the same strength coach from when Neil Brown was there now with Rich Rod.

And I do believe there's been a little bit different direction to the strength.

Yeah.

Hey,

you know, C.J.

Donaldson had had to lose 20 pounds when he got to Ohio State.

Let's not have that happen.

Sounds like that's close to what happened with Payne here from Bama to Michigan.

Kaylin, we're fans.

We're sorry you're taking shrapnel, but also tighten up.

Yeah, and no, you know, no pressure.

You lose another game, it's over.

There's a lot of pressure.

We'll be back on the other side.

That's Alabama football, baby.

Yeah, amen.

Roll tide.

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Football!

It's majestic, and we're so incredibly lucky that tonight we have an NFL game.

The Philadelphia Eagles host the Dallas Cowboys to kick off the greatest season in NFL history.

An eight and a half point spread for the home team.

Will they be able to cover and be dominant like they were in the Super Bowl 207 days ago?

Or will this scrappy Dallas Cowboys team, who's been counted out all offseason without Michael Parsons, go into the city of brotherly love and keep this thing close?

That's what we're all trying to predict as we lay down our wagers on this NFL kickoff Thursday.

The talks at tables here at Boston Connor and at Ty Schmidt.

It's glorious day, Ty.

It is Glorious Day.

You know, listen, the last several weeks, I've been trying to kind of keep my mind occupied and saying, hey, listen, I still got the Yankees.

I'm excited about that.

I got Iowa football.

This is great.

I woke up this morning and I felt alive.

I really did.

And listen, the Packers aren't even playing tonight.

We have NFL football back.

I mean, you hate to say it because a lot of what you do in your life matters, clearly.

But it feels almost like nothing really matters until you wake up this morning and you understand that the NFL.

Because we've been waiting on

Thursday night.

Is that debuting tonight?

New Sunday Night Football song?

That's hopefully.

Because Sunday night football is on this evening.

It is.

We love the offseason.

We love sports.

We appreciate sports.

Derby was fun.

Derby was.

Home run Derby was elected.

Thank you to the MLB for allowing us to be a part of that.

NFL season just feels special.

Let's go to one half of the hammer.

Cowboys, AP Tone.

Happy NFL Football Day to you.

And to you.

Thank you.

What are your thoughts on tonight's spread?

Tonight's spread, I think it's,

I was going to say, I think it's a little high, but as we've talked about it, what's your chat, GP Tone, saying?

It's funny you say that.

The NFL one started processing this morning.

It's not done yet.

Chat GP tone.

Late to the dance.

I'm confused.

A little late to the dance.

You're right.

You know, caught up in college football.

I will, if it finishes by the time the show is over, whatever.

It's still, you know, percolating in there.

I will let you know.

What?

What's that?

Are they shoveling coal at the Chat GP Tance?

Oh, I'm sorry.

Somebody doing the math.

Oh, boy.

You are, They're not going to like you.

Yeah, you should watch what you're saying about these things.

These things listen, and these things like the gospel.

I talk to mine every day, and we're on a great relationship.

I'll tell you what, mine wasn't bad.

I asked it how many days it was since the Super Bowl popped up, 207.

Then I immediately don't.

believe it.

So then I go search it somewhere else.

So I feel like I have trust issues with my potential AI.

I operate with Grok.

I haven't gone to the GP tone yet, but I do appreciate that you're over there trying to get the books for us.

If I had to take a guess, I would assume it would have the spread be more than seven just because right now it's using stats from last year and last year dak didn't play okay they didn't have a running game their defense was terrible but all i mean but this is new cowboys team okay when you have cd and gp and ferguson and javante williams comes over the broncos and you got dak back i think the offense is i i'm actually that's not who i normally am I might take over.

Whoa.

Whoa, really?

We're going to score some points, even though normally opening game, a little bit of a gauging affair on the offensive side as everybody tries to feel it out.

Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who has the most tackles in the history of the Green Bay Packers.

Michael Parsons is going to be chasing him.

Yes, he will.

He's a college football national champion, a Super Bowl champion, and a Ryder Cup winner.

Ladies and gentlemen, A.J.

Hawk is here.

Yeah,

happy NFL football day to you, A.J.

Yeah, it's a beautiful day for everybody.

But is anybody going to pick the Cowboys tonight?

And to you.

For what?

For spread or straight up?

Straight up.

Is anyone going to pick?

You know, when we see the things, the pregame shows, is it going to be all Eagles?

Over the past two days, I have not seen a single star pop up on any of the predictions.

It's not just this game, though.

There's a lot of games where everybody feels the exact same way.

And I think that goes back to what Schefter was talking about.

And we all agree with him.

Early in the season, we have no idea.

That's like why Coach Lee Corso going perfect.

College football week one is insane because nobody has a clue who's going to show up except for Coach Corso.

But nobody has a idea of what team's going to be what.

Of course, you assume the Philadelphia Eagles are just going to pick up where they left off last year at the Super Bowl.

Of course, you're going to think that the Philadelphia Eagles learned who exactly they were during that playoff run when they were very dominant, and they're just going to carry that into the season.

There's still a bunch of new pieces.

There's new operations.

There's a new feel.

It's a new time of year.

There's so many different new things that you have to have a question mark around all the things that we assume to be true.

And then for the Dallas Cowboys, it's like they can be very motivated.

Yeah.

And motivation is a big deal in football, especially with how physical it is, especially on opening night where things can be a little bit ugly, maybe not put together.

It's like Shoddy getting his opportunity to lead the Cowboys.

It's like, you're welcome for the amount of shit that you could just pull from and motivate the boys.

I have no idea what's going to happen tonight, genuinely, but I think the safe thing and the easy thing to do is just the Eagles are going to win.

And that's what everybody has done on these game shows or on these shows that are picking, AJ.

Yeah, I mean, I know the Eagles, believe me, they are absolutely stacked and loaded when it comes to talent and where everybody is.

But the Cowboys, this is like a win-win situation.

They could have a moral victory if they keep it close and look pretty good so i think for the cowboys like they have great day hey guys nobody's giving us a chance here we go we can make we can shock the world here week one but what if they lose by 20 yeah yeah yep that's when

it'll be loud it'll be loud exactly and i think that's a possibility like i think there's so many possibilities for this game like unc tcu i actually said during my pick this could go

very different directions.

Yep.

You know, like, could Bill Belichick figure out how to out-fundamental and out-scheme TCU?

Maybe.

There's a chance.

That first drive,

here it is.

It's happening.

We knew TCU's offense was going to score, so were they just going to battle possibly?

But then for TCU to blow him out, I was like, that was always a possibility.

Nobody had a clue who was on this North Carolina team.

It feels like for this game, anything's possible.

This Dallas team has won, right, on a regular basis in the regular season.

Like,

that is what it is.

This is a regular season game.

Getting eight and a half points in of itself disrespectful.

The entire world calling your team dumb for letting one guy leave the building.

And I haven't heard a lot of people coming out saying we miss him.

No, no,

nobody has.

I haven't heard that.

Now, nobody's been asked.

Maybe they've been told not to say anything.

I think Dak was like, nothing needed to be said and like just kind of move along.

We didn't want to cause any more drama.

There's already been enough drama.

There's a chance that that is very real.

But it feels like both sides happy.

with the trade, team included.

So if you're shoddy, you're sitting in a good spot for things that you can put up on the bulletin board to let the boys know about.

Yeah, like aside from the broken heart tweets from from a couple of them, there really hasn't been the glowing, like, hey, without Micah, we're going to miss him so much.

He meant so much to this team.

There hasn't been any of those.

But even just looking at the Cowboys' offense as a whole, it could be Dak's best offense he's ever had.

You know, we've never seen Shoddy as a play caller, but just when you're thinking skill, George Pickens, C.D.

Lamb, both, I mean, you could argue CD,

CD definitely already in his prime.

George, you could argue kind of getting there, maybe.

This will probably be the best quarterback he's ever played with, George Pickens.

Ferguson just got paid a bunch of money.

We always talk about that year one to year two jump for rookies.

Their rookie old lineman Booker from Alabama.

He's supposed to be their dude this year up front.

So who knows?

Eight points is a lot.

Eight points is a lot.

Connor's heavy on the Dallas Cowboys, as you can hear through him talking through the first hour and eight minutes of this show.

Once again, we are commercial free for this second out.

What?

Terrible guy.

Coward, sellout.

Commercial free.

Now, it doesn't mean we're advertising free, but we are commercial free.

It's almost as if that is what we would prefer, you know, in most things, as if we stood on a table for that to be a thing and we do it every single day.

With that being said, the ESPN Bet is taking bets now.

For anything that you would potentially want to wager on this evening's NFL kickoff, ESPN Bet is there for you.

Bet 10 bucks, get $100 in bonus bets.

That's what it says.

You should look into it entirely to see how you get that $100 in bonus bets.

That is just smart.

And use promo code, GIT100.

Yeah.

Definitely look at the asterisks though to see how you can get that.

Without a doubt.

And whenever you're betting on that, know that this first week, it's going to be tough to predict anything.

It's very.

A lot of heart betting here in the first couple of weeks.

And that's not where you want to be if you're trying to really be cerebral in your sports gambling world.

But right now, it's all in your heart what you think.

Do you believe in Nick Siriani and the boys?

Yes.

Do you believe Shoddy will have the boys be able to keep this a fight?

Connor says yes.

Does everybody else?

We shall see.

Well, that's the thing.

You just said it right there you know you bet him with your heart early on this isn't this isn't hard this isn't like hey cowboys have so much to pull through from this isn't eagles you know fall off super bowl this is strictly like eight and a half points in an nfl game like we we talk about all the time

when it's week 12 and one of the teams is two and you know ten and the other is 12 and two and it's a 14 point spread okay but it's week one like we know we have no idea so saying like oh yeah definitely this year's eagles team is the you know the eight points better than this year's Cowboys team.

It just feels like with the Micah stuff, with the Jerry stuff, also with how good the Eagles have been, it's easy to do that.

The year we were 2-14, I think it was nine games that were one-score games.

So if we end up winning those ones that we lost, like we have 11 wins right there, you know, and it's like if the ball bounces a different way, happens to bounce up into D, I don't think Debo was on the team.

No, he wasn't on the team.

He came afterwards.

Happens to bounce up into Gerard Powers' hands, and he scores a touchdown late.

We win.

It's like it's very difficult to blow people out in the NFL because everybody's professional football players.

But boy,

you listen to the internet a little bit, it feels like Dallas Cowboys are going to get absolutely murdered.

Go ahead, Ton.

Yeah, and this stat that I'm going to give you is not 100%.

It is 60%.

Since 2010, when teams are underdogs of six points or more, they have covered 60% of the time.

Now, 60%, not 100%.

Okay.

It's not 100% stat.

But gambling, we like to live in the margins.

This feels like the the fourth-down graphic on the screen saying 6%

go for it.

We like to live in the margins.

53% will get you home and get you a winner for the season.

Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who has a prediction special airing at 3 o'clock on ESPN, friend of the program, former guest host, Emmy Award winner, ladies and gentlemen, Peter Schrager.

Schrags, Shrags, good to see you.

Happy NFL kickoff day.

It feels so good.

It feels like a holiday.

I am in Bristol, Connecticut, where Pat, AJ, you'd be happy to know.

I already got a corner office with a view and everything.

Is that Foss's office you're in?

It is.

It's Mr.

Foss's office.

We're here with the big boss's office, and I'm using it as my studio here for the Pat McAfee show.

Yeah, well, we appreciate Foss lending that corner office for you.

He does have a good view.

I believe right outside that, if you look to your left right there, there's a wall of windows, and then there's a bunch of people out there.

Those people,

huge fans of ours.

Tell them we said hello.

All those people.

I'd rather not, yeah.

Hey, good to see you guys.

Foss,

Foss.

Good to see you, Foss.

Foss, don't make any noise out there, Foss.

Foss is the man.

Everybody behind Foss,

fans of ours.

Yeah, it's good up there.

Come on.

Happy family.

We want Tom here.

This is it.

Everyone's been very nice.

Yeah, to you.

Sure.

So let's talk about tonight's game and let's talk about the prediction special that you have at three o'clock.

Is it predicting tonight's game or what exactly does the prediction special with Peter Schrager at 3 p.m.

on ESPN entail?

So every year when I was on Good Morning Football, I would bring out this Super Bowl prediction with great pomp and circumstance.

And I have been very accurate.

I had the Rams winning the Super Bowl.

I had the Bucs going.

I had the Chiefs all these years.

And I came to ESPN.

I said, I kind of liked the flavor of that.

Can we put a group together and we do a special around actual official predictions?

And it's not just a Super Bowl prediction, Pat.

You got to tell us your seven teams in the AFC and your seven teams in the NFC.

Seed them out and let's go.

And guess what?

When you do that, there's going to be a lot of fan bases that say, hey, wait, you said all offseason we were going to be good.

Why didn't you pick us?

It's easy just to say every team's going to be great.

Now you put your money where your mouth is and your name where your heart is.

And I have got my seven teams in both conferences and I have my Super Bowl pick, which I will unveil at 3 p.m.

Okay, I can't wait to see that.

Who all is doing this with you?

Just you?

Who's signing up to get their shins bashed?

By

exactly what it is.

It's like, it's not pleasant.

Like, I was going to ask you guys, I'm like, there's no win to doing this.

But here's the group.

We got Jason McCordy, who's been through this wreckage before.

He worked with me on Good Morning Football.

God Orlofsky, he said he's going to do it.

He doesn't know any better.

Born in the dark.

Born in the dark.

I've loved it.

Let me piss off how many people?

Yes, I'm in.

That's it.

And then Field Yates is smart.

I'm like, let's go with him.

He'll say no.

He didn't say no.

He's like, yes, let's do it.

So Field, who is maybe the nicest guy on the universe, is going to do it and is going to find some hate online after he doesn't pick everyone's team to make the playoffs.

His hair, though, is going to be tough for people to hate on him with how he looks right now.

He is truly phenomenal.

Cannot wait to watch that, see all the predictions from everybody and see who they pissed off or omit.

Let's talk about tonight's game, Shreigs.

How do you see this evening going?

Obviously, you talk to a lot of people.

We know that whenever things get close to actually happening, that's when you have the most information.

Okay.

Go ahead.

Go on.

No, no, I was going to say, I was going to give you credit and flowers for draft night and everything.

About a week before draft night, you might not have all the answers.

Draft day, you have all the answers.

Before kickoff day, maybe don't have all the answers, how everybody feels.

Kickoff day feels like you have it all.

Feels like you don't try to rush your shit.

You just say hey when i get it i'll have it what are you hearing about tonight what are your thoughts on nfl season kicking off as a whole i so appreciate that it's why i don't do a mock draft in december it's why i don't make my sewer prediction until about three hours before kickoff because i like to see everything and i like to know i will say this yeah as much as this network and every other network has been destroying jerry jones over the last two weeks for this trade and maybe rightfully so the cowboys don't feel like their defense is going to be 32nd in the league in fact the Cowboys feel pretty darn good with their defense, even without Micah Parsons.

Now, there might be egg all over that face of theirs, but I have heard a lot of people in that building tell me, you know, you guys are underestimating what Dante Fowler can bring, what Sam Williams can bring.

We drafted a kid in the second round out of Boston college who can rush the passer.

There are several different voices who feel like this Cowboys defense might be okay without Micah Parsons, and this isn't going to be the worst trade in the history of the NFL.

There's a lot to pull from if you're shoddy.

And Eberflus, obviously, his first year back with Dallas.

And obviously, they got stars on their team still, but they've been disrespected heavily.

And the point spread, eight and a half, is certainly just the latest of the disrespect that the Dallas Cowboys can try to spur some motivation from.

Go ahead, AJ.

Yeah, Shriggs, when you're looking at this Cowboys offense, I feel like Dak is kind of flown under the radar throughout this offseason.

And I think he might be poised to have a big year.

What do you expect in this offense tonight?

And ultimately, can this offensive line hold up?

Because I feel like they have so many weapons on the perimeter that they could do some great things.

That's going to be the big question.

They've got such a young offensive line with all those first-round picks that are going to be playing, whether it be Guyton or Smith, and of course, Booker now.

Like you've got youth all over that offensive line.

If they can hold up, this is going to be an explosive offense.

They have continuity with Brian Schottheimer now as the head coach.

He was the obvious play caller last year when he was doing it with McCarthy.

And then now you look at this and you add George Pickens, who has a carrot at the end of the season.

of you can get a monster contract like you just saw Terry McLaurin get or you just saw DK Metcalf get if you have a good season.

George Pickens is in the final year of a contract.

They did not renegotiate his deal.

The rap on him is that he is a bad vibes for the locker room guy.

So far in Dallas, he's been great in the locker room.

He goes out there and he takes some of the pressure off CeeDee Lamb.

There is a great reward for him, a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

And Dak was second in the MVP voting two years ago.

So AJ, I'm with you.

Like, I don't know where this thought of Micah Parsons was the entire Cowboys' identity.

I know that thing was ugly and it got weird.

And when they traded him, it was like, well, the Cowboys aren't doing anything.

They don't feel that way.

And that's all I can say as far as the vibes coming out of Dallas right now.

And Jerry said, we got four first-round picks over the next two drafts.

Don't think I won't just do something right now.

Stay tuned.

Stay tuned.

We'll see how it looks on Thursday night.

Say we need another pass rusher.

Maybe I go hunting.

We got four first-round picks.

Did you watch the doc, the cherry cherry dock

i've seen i've seen portions of it i have not gone all the way through it darius is watching it for a second time everybody in here is telling me peter berg peter berg said it's the greatest sports dock that he's ever seen up there i mean really yeah there is

there's a lot of people that really really love it that have been telling me i need to watch it and i'm like all right i'm gonna try i'm gonna try i'm gonna try uh but i want to really commit to it before sunday you know because i think yeah now that the season is starting yeah i have to get into it yeah so i'm gonna try i think a lot of a lot of what you're seeing the last two months with this micah thing is explained in this documentary with how this man lives his life, how he goes about his business, and how when the haters and the those who dismiss get louder and louder, it makes him want to zag even more.

It's not stubbornness all the time.

Sometimes it is ingenuity, but sometimes it is stubbornness and sometimes it is.

I'm going to do it my way.

through hell or high water.

And it worked early on.

Question is at 82 years old.

Is this trade going to be their undoing or not?

They don't think it is.

He was 50 million in debt and he was still trying to get more money.

Terry Jones is going to sit in the pocket.

I think that is a trait that he certainly has from the parts that I've seen.

But yeah, I think it's all been on display.

And even on the red carpet of

the documentary out there at Netflix, he goes, if they're not talking about something, I'll give them something to talk about.

You know, it's always nice to have the Cowboys in the conversation, which then leads to Cowboys fans saying, Jare, maybe at one point when you were trying to build the business, that was good.

Now we are an established business.

Let's try to win the Super Bowl.

Well, their fans voted allegedly on the athletic.

Connor has a question for you.

Yeah, Shraigs,

we have a Hopo-Meter article, and this was taken, a survey basically from people who do surveys online.

And it's basically just optimism for the season and then pessimistic

season.

The good teams, I assume, are great, but is there anything for the bad teams that you got here?

Not the Colts, because we know, hey, the Colts are obviously, you know, they're going to figure it out.

They're just upset with the believe-ars.

But what about these teams down there?

I think you see the Cowboys.

The Cowboys are third lowest.

Go ahead.

That's ridiculous.

Cowboys are a good team.

They're going to compete this year.

I see two other teams that I'm very high on that are awfully low on this thing.

Yeah, the Finns, your Finns are up there.

That's what you said last time.

My Finns are 82% in the tank.

I mean, come on.

The Miami Dolphins bring back just about everyone on offense.

They have a healthy team for the first time.

They had 100% participation in their offseason program.

And they get their two great veteran defensive players, Bradley Chubb and Phillips, back from injuries who didn't play last year, in addition to Chop Robinson.

I don't know why everyone's so down on the Dolphins.

I like the Dolphins.

I'm high on the Dolphins.

The other team, a couple notches above them, why would people be down on the Bengals?

They did everything you asked them to do and they finished it and they got it done before the start of the season.

And they're finally healthy.

So Dolphins and Bengals, I'm very high on, despite what this athletic confidence oh meter.

People are up there.

Now, I do have to add in, because one of the only classes I went to was a sociology class with Professor Nancy Feather, and I appreciate the hell out of her.

Nancy.

Yeah.

That's a great name.

She was great.

She was awesome.

She was gee.

Massive class or like small 20-person lecture.

What are we talking about?

Pretty big class.

Pretty big class.

I'm sitting like left hall there.

Professor Feather.

Professor Feather.

It's so cool.

You should raise the hand or passive?

Me, I'm not in the room.

Yeah, I'm hands down like this, and I'm just, I'm learning.

I'm learning.

I'm learning.

You know what I mean?

I'm learning.

I'm trying to learn.

It's not my world.

I should not be speaking in here.

You know, I would like to understand what's going on here.

I don't go to a lot of classes.

I've heard this one's interesting.

I would like to hear you speak.

She was.

She was very interesting.

I appreciated sociology as a whole.

I think it's helped me out as I've kind of moved on.

But one of her first classes was about polls being absolute bullshit, basically.

She was like, you just need to understand that polls are absolute bullshit.

If you were to go and survey 100 people here in Morgantown versus 100 people in Pittsburgh, and then you just said you surveyed 100 people, don't you think both those people would have complete opposite answers?

So you always have to think about who were the people that were filling out the poll.

Like who was going to the athletic, reading the athletic, and then deciding to vote on this.

You know, like you have to do, you have to categorize the human.

who is the poll and then realize that's how these humans feel about the poll.

But I don't think you can just dismiss it it completely.

I don't think you could just say like, nah, those people don't represent the rest of the fan base.

I do think this was a pretty good take on how

basically

the vibes of the team.

Yes.

I do think it was very like, so my natural reaction is normally polls are bullshit.

That is normally my reaction.

But whenever I looked at this, it was like, feels like you could certainly find a significant group of every fan base that does feel this way.

So I think it's good.

Feather cholerary.

What is it called?

The cholerary?

Ty Schmidt smarter than me.

What is it?

What do you call it?

Like

corollary.

I'm going to go with the feather corollary here.

And I'm going to say this is all BS.

It's all before the season.

And every year, Pat, we get turnover of four to five different playoff teams.

And we never go back and revisit what the August vibes on ESPN Talking Head shows were, right?

Like to me, I look at the rosters.

I look at the continuity between the Bengals and the Dolphins.

I would also add in that conversation, the Cowboys, that with the exception of Micah Parsons and Zach Martin, you know, they pretty much brought all their stars back and they're healthy.

So I would feel better about those teams.

And as for the Broncos.

Look, Sean Payton's one of my closest sources.

Sorry, gave it away.

One of my favorite people.

Sean Payton's been

doing a victory parade all offseason about how good they are.

And it seems like everyone just went with that.

And it's like, well, if Sean Payton says to the local media that we feel pretty good about Bo Knicks, he must be going to the Hall of Fame.

So I'm going to put the pause signal up there just for now and say, let's see it before we go all in and say they're 100% optimistic.

They're going going to dethrone the Chiefs this year.

AFC West obviously loaded.

Broncos, everybody likes.

I think your interview with him in the Schraeger hour didn't hurt anything.

I think it went over pretty positively.

Congratulations on the Schraeger hour being announced and happening.

New podcast.

2025, new podcast is the right time.

That is the right time to do it.

I felt like there weren't enough out there.

Like, it's just this kind of little niche thing, the podcast, where the marketplace hasn't fully been.

So I figured that's what people need, another football podcast.

And that's what I'm going to do.

Well, Shriker, anything you do, we're happy about it.

We're watching and listening.

And I think a lot of people feel that way.

But I do appreciate that, like, there was a big announcement for another podcast.

Look at the photo.

For another podcast.

Yeah.

It's like,

yeah, I appreciate it.

Shrikes, anything you do, you're going to be great at.

We want you to know that.

But you interviewed Sean Payton.

It was good.

And I think it was super positive.

But that AFC West is crazy.

Chiefs charges Friday night.

What are your thoughts going into that?

Obviously, Harbaugh is looking to institute his full culture.

Andy Reid and the boys are trying to get back on track after after getting blown out in the Super Bowl in the biggest stage.

They're still the AFC champions.

You know, they're still the best in the AFC.

They have been, will be.

Everybody has a sour taste in their mouth because of the Super Bowl.

Is that what you're thinking whenever it comes to the Chiefs?

And

how do you feel about Friday night?

I think people forget that

Patrick Mahomes last year for the majority of the season was throwing catch with Sky Moore and Justin Watson and you know, a beleaguered offensive skill set positions that he usually had loaded rosters with and that's nothing against those guys but deandre hopkins being acquired midway through the season and you know kareem hunt being taken off the scrap heap in week three and being asked to start and play big roles that's not ideal i think this year you come in you got a fresh and and oh

can you hear me yeah you're still on you're still clear you're still very clear

I got a, we've got a fresh, you know, a fresh Hollywood Brown, a rejuvenated Isaiah Pacheco who's coming off the the injury and is apparently looking great.

Like, I think they feel very good about their team.

And just because they lost to the Super Bowl, to the Eagles and lost that way doesn't mean that they're suddenly off a cliff.

They still won the AFC.

That said, this thing is a wild card.

The fact that it's being played in Brazil and we don't know the playing surface and we don't know the travel situation and we don't know it's the ultimate neutralizer when you go to a field in a stadium in a country that's 12 hours away.

Like the NFL is promoting this international stuff big.

They want this to work and it's great.

This is not arrowhead or sofi.

There is a giant variable and whatever team adjusts quicker and can make a couple plays early on and get their footing, I think is going to make a big impact in this one.

You would think back-to-back years for the Chiefs probably helps them out a little bit, right?

Having to go on a roadplay to something like that.

You would think it would help them.

They seem to be pretty jovial.

They understand that they are representing the NFL everywhere they go.

And I appreciated the fans last year.

Place was packed.

So let's see if it happens.

Yeah, let's see if it happens again.

All right, last question here from a team you're also very close with out there in Los Angeles.

Go ahead, Tone.

Yes, you are, Shregs, and it was reported this week that Matthew Stafford is fully healthy and ready to go.

What do you think the sigh of relief is with that Rams team, especially with now they have Puka and Devontae and that offensive line running everything that that team has?

What's your vibe coming out of Los Angeles from that staff?

If Matthew stays healthy, they've got a shot to win the whole thing.

And that's the huge if.

And as much as he's healthy week one, we don't know if he's going to be healthy week four, week 10, week 15.

This is a long season.

And people know now that there is a guy who's got back stuff going on underneath under center.

So that is going to be the topic of the day for them every time they go and take the field.

Can Matthew make it through the week?

Truth of the matter is, Jimmy G was out there all summer while Matthew wasn't and was lighting up defenses too.

They did the intercamp practice with the Cowboys.

I told you guys, Jimmy G looked incredible during those few days, and they feel like they've got a really capable backup.

But to your point, Puka, Devontae, Williams, you got 22 as your speed guy.

They feel like the rookie at Oregon at tight end, Ferguson's going to be a star.

Like they feel very good about this team and this offense.

And the defense exceeded expectations.

So it's, it's really to me just who's standing at the end of the season.

And if Stafford's under center, I wouldn't want to face him.

All right.

You want to give us a couple

little sneak peeks at some predictions from the prediction show at 3 p.m.

AJ, don't you think we should maybe get a couple little predictions?

Yeah, maybe one or two, I think, Shreggs.

Yeah, let's go, Shreggs.

aj uh a couple predictions number one i don't have the detroit lions making the playoff season wow all right shreigs

what happened whoa

whoa whoa

they're the number one seed in the nfc wow number one had a hundred injuries to have you there why do you hate i was playing defense i don't hate him i don't hate him i love him i think that nfc north is loaded And I think the loss of two coordinators is not being discussed enough.

Those two men are absolute Gs at what they do.

And that's Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn, arguably the two best coordinators in all of football last year.

And I think we look at a healthy Aiden Hutchinson, we look at a healthy

couple players, we say, okay, well, they're back.

I think there's going to be

a steep drop-off without those two men calling plays on offensive names.

He's down on Detroit.

Wow.

I'd see that come going.

But this is why we do the prediction show because it's easy to say, here's my Super Bowl teams.

I like the Bills and I like the Rams.

Yeah, number one seed in the NFC.

And take big swing.

You're welcome to ESPN.

Shregs.

I hope you don't see them off CDC.

Welcome to ESPN, Shregs.

Yeah, take the hat off.

Let them see you in your eyes.

Let him see your eyes.

All right, do you have another team you want to piss off or a team that you want to make happy or anything like that?

I'll make, you want another piss-off one?

I'll do another piss-off one.

Jeez.

Yes.

Love it.

Oh, my God, Shregs.

You just told Detroit that they're the same old lies.

He's wrong.

Not the brand new

lies.

They were the number one seed in the NFC last year.

Okay, they're not going to make the playoffs.

15-2.

15-2.

That's Peter Schrager.

That's Peter Schrager's prediction to show that he can win the three.

It's so easy to go on any network and just pick the chalk.

It is bold and it is fun to take a risk.

And I'm going to take the heat from the Lions fans.

I hope I'm wrong.

Of course.

Sure.

Now,

another prediction.

Another prediction.

Here we go.

From the office of Peter Schrager via Mike Foss.

The Cincinnati Bengals are going to the playoffs, and Joe Burrow will be your league MVP.

Let him go.

That's a big prediction.

Made a lot of money to play.

Come on, hold on.

Boom!

Crazy

boy, dog.

Maybe a little bit more of a build-up on that one.

There you go.

There you go.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

You got it.

Okay.

Do you see that John Harks jersey behind me?

One of the great American soccer players of all time.

He played with courage.

He played with pride.

That's what I'm going to do at three o'clock Eastern on ESPN on the World Wide Leader.

Good luck, Shrags.

We're pulling for you.

Where's the Shin guards?

Ladies and gentlemen, beer stragglers.

Wow.

Geez.

Wow.

I mean, that's just a classic new school dude pick.

He doesn't care about grit at all.

He doesn't care about trenches

at all.

All right.

The Bengals are not tough.

Probably the least tough team in the league.

And then he says the Lions, the most tough team in the league, aren't going to make the playoffs.

That makes no sense.

St.

Cinnati is eating actual rubble for lunch at work.

Who's on there all the time?

Trigger's doing this to Foxy right now.

He's just playing him like a puppet.

He's got a big time.

Shrikes, that's what you're doing to him, Shanks.

You got Foxy just like this.

He's got him.

Look at that.

He's playing you like an absolute puppet over there, Foxy.

And you know what?

MCDC's just going to show that to the team and say, look at this asshole on ESPN.

He doesn't believe in you guys.

Let's go beat Greenback.

All right, Trekks.

We appreciate that, Shreks.

I love you guys.

I love you guys.

Lit last one.

Love him.

Same old line.

Yep.

Joe Burrow winning the MVP.

That'd be a big deal.

I mean, if their defense was pretty good, he would have won it last year.

And is that why they're going to give it to him this year if they make the playoffs?

He earned it last year, actually.

It was a two-year thing.

Age, I want to let you know a lot of chatter from the boys before we started this commercial free hour yeah a lot of chatter from the boys about your hair about it you sticking with it and how proud we are yeah i'm infirmly in the camp of hey keep going brother fight the good fight man don't give up

nothing to do either way i'm just growing my sides out yeah well it's gonna be weird for a long time the other yeah a long time yeah but what we're saying is there's gonna be a lot of mornings you're gonna go and look at that mirror you're gonna go jesus this hair is just not doing anything that that it should do.

That's every day.

Just take a compliment.

It's not, I don't know if it was exactly a compliment.

I don't know if you guys can tell.

I'm a bit sweaty.

This room is 82 degrees.

We're waiting on a few pieces for our furnace, so there's no window to crack.

Yesterday, it was going.

I got a little thermometer over there.

I see that that sucker hit 82, so I'm trying not to sweat profusely on here.

Well, I don't, if you were to start sweating profusely, we would respect it.

Just want to let you know that.

82 degrees, no window to crack.

Furnace has a couple issues.

What's the issue?

It won't turn off?

Is that kind of the issue?

You know, I'm up in the attic and it won't blow cold air, so the dude came out and had to shut it all the way down now to get the new part tomorrow.

Okay, so you're just kind of sitting up where all the hot air rises to?

Yeah, there's nowhere.

Yeah, there's no, if you could crack a window, it'd probably be all right, but you know, I don't, who knows where the closest window is.

Well, probably right behind that book shelf.

Behind the shelf.

This is the shelf up in the attic, so there's no, you know, there's no windows around me.

It's probably, I'd be terrible, actually, room for a tornado.

It's at the very top of the house.

You wouldn't be able to see it coming, though.

Wouldn't be able to see it coming, which is certainly an added advantage.

I appreciate you being as gritty as you are today, showcasing that toughness, wearing long, thick sleeves

that you can inside 82 degrees.

Game on.

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A former coach of yours is going to be incredibly proud of you, five to guess.

There's a Yenser that has represented the city in football so damn well as a head coach for 17 seasons in the NFL.

Most recently with the Dallas Cowboys, obviously, you all came to love this man as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers.

He's a Super Bowl champion.

He's a Yenser legend.

Ladies and gentlemen, joining us every single week on Thursdays.

Oh, whoa.

Coach Michael Carson.

Yay!

You look awesome.

Wow.

This is, yeah.

Thank you.

No, it's great to be on, Pat.

I missed you guys.

Thank you.

Good.

You look, did you know this is how he was going to look?

I am so sorry.

I'm so jacked up.

I had no idea you were going to look this cool.

The backdrop, awesome, beautiful.

Super Bowl championship.

The hat, the button down, kind of the loose casual

with the night photo in the back.

Coach, you look

awesome.

We want to let you know that, and we appreciate the hell out of you.

Okay, I mean, I don't even know know what to say.

What the hell would you expect me to look like, AJ?

You got a great camera setup.

I think your production value is very high.

You look great, coaches.

You look amazing.

Thank you.

Well, I got a lot.

Yeah, a lot of people give credit to Derek.

Obviously, my wife, Jessica, took care of me behind me.

So I'm going to go dance.

Great artist.

Great artist.

We've been in there before.

An incredible artist.

We appreciate you joining us.

Today's a great day to have you on, obviously.

Dallas Cowboys opening up the NFL season tonight, taking on the Philadelphia Eagles.

You obviously understand that rivalry.

You understand that NFC East better than anybody that would be talking into a microphone at this point.

What are the emotions of this evening and how much do you think Shoddy and the Dallas Cowboys are drawing on how much everybody has kind of counted them out since the Micah Parsons trade?

Oh, I think they're enjoying it clearly.

I think just like anything, this is a huge division game.

It's a rival game.

I guarantee you, everybody in that locker room is expected to go out there and win tonight.

So I'm looking for a super competitive game.

I know they're excited about it.

You know, obviously last year, you know, the way the two games went,

the outcome of last year's two games.

But yeah, this is going to be a hell of a football game.

I'm excited to watch it.

If you're shoddy, are you thankful for everything that has happened during your short tenure thus far?

Obviously, Trading Away Micah has created a lot of noise around the team.

A lot of people saying it's the dumbest franchise.

A lot of people saying they have no chance.

A lot of people kind of burying them.

If you're shoddy, do you like that as a coach that you can draw from it?

Or what are your thoughts on having that be the start of your coaching career in Dallas with all the chaos that kind of took place outside?

You know, I think the thing for Brian is he understands it.

I mean, there's always two components that you learn when you work there.

And the pure football part of it's excellent.

I mean, there's so much to love about this Dallas Cowboy football team.

And I know he realizes that.

So, and when you just keep it about football,

like I said, this is a very good football team, a very young football team.

And, you know, and this is always a great game, you know, Philadelphia and Dallas.

So I think you just got to keep it more about that.

Now, all the other stuff that goes on,

that's part of the environment there.

You know, that's part of the content-driven business that Jerry's the master of.

And you just got to learn to separate that.

And, you know, personally, it took me a couple of years.

And frankly,

it was a conversation that I had with Jerry.

I think it was after the 20, it was about 2022, where just everything we talk about right here, that's what counts.

And all the other stuff is business.

And I think

when you realize that, and I think the players there now realize that too, the current players, because this is a hell of a locker room.

I'm really high on these guys.

I know we've talked about these guys during the draft, you know, the draft visit, but I think this is a young, ascending football team.

I like the additions that they've made.

So I look for a super competitive game tonight.

Okay, go ahead, AJ.

Coach, anytime we've been around you, you're very high on Dak Prescott and everything that he does as a quarterback and as a leader of that team.

I guess, what do you expect from him not only tonight, but the rest of this season?

Number one, stay healthy.

He stays healthy.

He'll reach every goal that he has set out for his team and himself.

I do believe that in heart of hearts.

I think Dak is clearly what I would call a full operational quarterback.

When you get into

the postseason, you start building your offense for the upcoming year, the concepts you're looking to build off of, the variations that you want to change.

He's full operational.

There's nothing that you really get out of him.

You know, now he obviously ran more in his younger days.

And frankly, once he received a bigger contract, we tried to be more selective with that.

I'm not sure what direction they're going here in the future here, but he's full operational.

I thought, you know, we increased the three-step emphasis.

I thought he was excellent at that.

So the play action, the keeps and all that.

So I really like him in the situations.

Everybody talks about his leadership and his hard working, but this man's a hell of a football player.

I just love the way he stands in there and makes those throws and doesn't blink.

Okay, so let's talk about him standing in there and making those throws.

You've obviously had to game plan against Vic Fangio's defense, this defense that is currently with the Philadelphia Eagles.

What do you think Shoddy, Dak, and that offense are going to try to do tonight to this Philadelphia Eagles defense?

How do you have success against them?

Well, the biggest thing, too, it always starts up front, doesn't matter

who you play in.

It definitely starts up front when you play against this Philadelphia Eagle defense.

You know, when I view defensive lines,

this is a group that can apply pressure inside and out.

So with that, you just got to be very aware when you're talking about time clocks and expectations.

And personally, I prefer to throw the ball on them up in Philadelphia on the grass than inside because I did really, I can remember a safety that Fletcher Cox had on the earlier games in 21, I think it was, where, you know, when you have that combination of inside and outside, you got to be smart with the way you throw the ball you know uh and i'm talking now particularly to your your pass sets you know you have to you have to make sure you short set these guys more than you probably would think um so i mean i i think that's something that will definitely be the starting point i know that's what i'll be watching i'll be watching the up front i'll be watching the fits i'll be watching the chipping you know the edges if uh you know if they're making dak throw off his back foot and so forth but you know this will start in the trenches and it'll start with running the football and having having the opportunity to take advantage of that that run game on first and second down.

But when it comes down to the situational stuff, you know, you got to block them.

And this is a hell of a defensive front.

You said something in there that was kind of just a throwaway comment for you, but I think it's very interesting.

You said you'd prefer to play them on grass, that D-line, up in Philadelphia, as opposed to maybe turf.

Is that what you were trying to get at there?

Because maybe the footing's a little bit more loose now.

It's obviously opening night.

Philadelphia Eagles and everything like that.

Grass is going to be, I mean, it's going to be immaculate.

It's going to be immaculate tonight.

But it is, it does have the possibility to be a little bit more slick than like turf or maybe in a dome or something like that.

Is that what you were getting at there with playing against this Philadelphia?

Yeah, I'm not even talking about slickness.

I just think it's the reality of playing on grass versus turf, you know, and compliments to the Philadelphia ground screw.

They do a great job up here.

I mean, the grass is great up here in November, December when we've been up there.

So, but I just think it's more about we're at that level of a defensive front.

You know, when defensive fronts have the ability to apply pressure inside and outside, you got to make sure you really change up the pass sets and those types of things.

You know, it's not like, oh, I prefer to play them.

I mean, I prefer to throw the ball in Philly and not at Dallas.

And that's not what I'm saying.

I'm saying you just got to be conscientious in the game plan and more particularly in-game to make those adjustments.

Because, you know, I think you saw them in the Super Bowl.

You know,

that game was on turf.

And

those guys, I mean, they were applying pressure from the first quarter all the way through.

So I just have a lot of respect for their defense, a lot of respect for for Vic,

but it starts up front, always does.

DC Fangio goes from Miami, where he was told it was Fanji over, basically.

Can't relate to the modern players.

Then he goes up Philadelphia, wins the Super Bowl.

Then he's got everybody back, and they got the Dallas Cowboys on opening night.

Are you guys going to be able to repeat the success you had last year?

We shall see.

Connor has a question for you, Coach.

Yeah, coach, another new OC for Jalen Hurts and the Eagles.

Obviously, when they have a lot of success, those OCs are going to go and be head coaches.

Kellen Moore, you know, being the most recent one who you were with for some time.

But what do you expect for Jalen to kind of struggle and go through early on in the game, if he struggles at all with the new offense?

And do you see them just continuing to kind of lean on Saquon in the O-line and no point to change what they have done, you know, the past two years?

Yeah, I'd be very surprised if there's any struggle.

from a systematic approach.

I mean, the first OC is still there.

Nick, I think Nick's done a great job, you know, not only the overall football team, but keeping the formula for success intact.

I mean, they definitely play to their strengths.

I mean, ground and pound and control that clock, and they got a dynamic offensive perimeter group that can play with anybody.

So I think that, you know, the operational part of it will be seamless.

You know, the biggest thing.

in my experience is September football.

The things I'll be watching for is, you know, just the fundamentals, the, you know, the time clocks, the timing, the combination blocks, you know, the pad level and footwork and those types of things.

And that's, that's for both teams.

But I would think Jalen would just, you know, I'll be surprised if they don't kind of pick up where they left off.

And, you know, hopefully they've had a good camp.

But yeah, I don't think the OC change is going to be huge, in my opinion.

As we wrap up for tonight's game and move on to other NFL stories, we'd be remiss if we didn't ask you about the entire Micah situation.

Obviously, we assume you have a different view or perspective on this as somebody that was literally in the building in a very prominent role and have a relationship with Jerry Jones.

As you're watching this from outside in and kind of all unfold, what are your thoughts, especially with the release of the documentary where a lot of people are learning that Jerry is the constant businessman and promoter and kind of learning his ways while all this is taking place in the news?

What were your thoughts on it as former coach there?

Well, I mean, honestly, personally, I tried to get as far away from football as I possibly could since, you know, my time ended there in Dallas and

was able to accomplish that for the most part.

It's for as much as people would allow me.

And just the quality time that I've had with my family is something I've never had before.

But I will say this, I did have an opportunity to meet with Jerry in June before we moved back, the family moved back to Green Bay.

And

one of the first things we talked about, just

the off-season program, how excited he was about the draft class.

And he talked about Micah.

I mean, he was excited that he felt that him and Micah they had a deal and in his future.

And he's earned that.

And I think we all recognized the impact and the performance from a performance perspective.

Micah Parsons earned this contract.

I mean, there's no question about that.

So, I mean, that was my position on, I'm going to say early June.

So I just, and obviously being there, I mean, this is a contract.

you know, from a cap management standpoint, you're talking about the last two years.

I mean, then, you know, you got DAC, you got CD, now you got Micah.

So, I mean, these contracts obviously affect your approach or outlook on other contracts.

So So I always anticipated it would get done as far as that meeting in June.

But the one thing I've learned and the old saying in business, time kills deals.

And

as training camp got going and people were asking me and what was going on as I was trying to get some boat time up here in Door County,

I just always felt, hey, no, they're going to get it done.

They're going to get it done.

Jerry's, you know, this is the business, man.

Jerry, you know, keeping the, you know, the cowboys at the front of the news cycle and just really didn't pay much mind to it.

But

as this thing went on longer and longer,

I think anytime

business transactions

are held up, the decision makers, there's more emotion that comes into play here.

Opinions are heard more and more.

And I mean, this is what can happen.

So this is just my opinion.

I'm not acting like I have any inside information, but I just felt

this was a deal that took too long.

And then, and frankly, I think both sides will benefit.

I think Greenbale benefited here in the short term.

And I think

I like what Dallas is doing.

I love that Deron Blaine got a contract, Hunter.

As I'm looking here at AJ, he's a perfect example of it.

The draft and develop process is built on second contracts.

How many second contracts are done on your draft class?

And I think Dallas is now in that,

you know, on that.

on that on that path.

And so, you know, where in the past, you lose a guy or two because you are projecting these big contracts.

So I think these are two good young football teams.

I clearly see it, you know, Micah making a huge impact because

regardless of what you think about him, when he gets off the bus, he's getting double teamed.

He's getting chipped.

He's being identified.

He's making the whole front, you know, the whole front seven is better because of the opportunity that he is creating.

for them.

And that's just the facts.

I mean, there's no ifs and buts about it.

So Green Bay now has that.

So, now what does Dallas have?

I mean, Dallas has five real pass rushers.

You know, I'm excited about those guys.

You know, Sam Williams, it's his time.

I mean, Sam was ready last year.

You know, he had that big knee injury in training camp.

So, I mean, we were excited to see Sam and Micah, you know, line up last year, and it didn't happen.

So, you know, these teams got depth, both Green Bay and Dallas.

I'm talking.

So

it'll be exciting to see the course of the season.

But I'm telling you,

the emotion that was surrounding the Cowboys right right now,

I'd never, you know, put too much into that.

I think when you just look at the brass, you know, the brass facts of football, I think Dallas Cowboys got a good, really good football team.

Cowboys plus eight and a half tonight.

Oh, I'm taking Cowboys all day long.

Come on, COVID.

All right.

All right, let's move off tonight.

We appreciate you addressing Micah.

And also, you saying that in June when you talked to Jerry, Jerry was like, hey, Micah's going to be a cowboy and be a deal.

And then you saying time kills all deals.

It feels like there was a lot of things that happened in that time, and then a lot of avoiding each other, it felt like.

Anytime you get that public shit that started coming out, too, that's never a good thing.

But hey, Jerry could have made magic at the end, decided to send him to Green Bay.

And now Packers fans are excited.

And now maybe he stays in your house up there.

Tone has a question for you about another Green Bay legend.

Yeah, coach, I do.

Obviously, you were with Aaron for a long time up in Green Bay, and I wanted to hypothetically put you in Steelers' offensive coordinator Artie Smith's shoes.

They have a young O-line, they have a young running back, they have talented tight ends and obviously DK on the outside.

If you were the offensive coordinator in week one, how would you handle this offense with Aaron and what does he do for a young offensive line in particular?

Oh, I think the biggest thing is, you know, with Aaron, you know, playing with

new members on the offense is just getting the rhythm of it.

I mean, you're talking about a cadence.

It's probably one of the best weapons.

in offensive football that I've been around.

I mean, he regularly used nine cadence variations in our time together.

You know, I just think the fact that you're able to use that.

So, I mean, how much of that are we going to do is where I'm going with this.

So just get into a rhythm, get these guys started, get, you know, get them off on the right foot.

I'm excited about Pittsburgh because, you know,

lifetime Steeler fan.

I can, I can openly root for him this year.

And

I'm excited to see Aaron in the black and gold, too.

And I like their formula.

You know,

I love what Mike Tomlin stands for.

You know, I think, you know, trust your tradition.

You know,

this team has been about defense since the 70s.

So, I mean, I think they've got an outstanding defense.

You know, play to that.

And, you know, you're going to be in every football game.

And I guarantee there's no one that's run more two-minute drills than Aaron Rodgers.

So I think they have a really nice formula to be successful.

Going to be KG Affairs, the Cardiac Steelers, back for another game, another season.

They spent a lot of money on a lot of people, seemingly going all in.

Hopefully Cam Hayward is a part of the entire things.

Also, Chris Boswell, they have have a couple things that have kind of been lingering overhead business-wise.

But if they put that team on the field and everybody's there, very evident that they're trying to make a run this year.

Steelers fans are pumped.

But if it goes south, Coach, you know how Pittsburgh is.

Go ahead, AJ.

Go ahead, AJ.

Yeah, Coach, you mentioned Aaron's cadence and just makes you think like what...

You've been around some great quarterbacks, obviously, in your time.

What does he do that separates himself from other people?

I've seen it firsthand.

I know defenses, it drives them crazy, but like, what is he doing?

How is he using the inflection of his voice?

How is he different than other quarterbacks, maybe?

Well,

great, great as far as the variation, but the self-scout.

I think he, I mean, all the way back to the early years, I mean, obviously, we built that over time, but you know, his ability to

sell scout throughout the season, you know, being totally on top of, you know, Chicago week one, you know, Chicago week 12.

So I think just the, because, you know, obviously since they put the microphones on the center and guards, I mean, there's the audio out there, you know, everybody's aware of it.

But I think just being on, you know, the variations is one thing, but the percentage of the variations and more importantly, you know, the timing, you know,

you know, young defensive ending the game, okay, great time to, you know, go double count, those types of things.

So I just think his experience is,

I mean, top of the line,

been around a lot of great quarterbacks.

I think his application of information at the line of scrimmage is

as good as anybody that's ever played the game.

I mean, his ability to absorb information, You know, there's times, and you've been there, AJ, he's almost on the sideline of the other team because he's over to listen to the defensive

coordinator talk to the, you know, to the players, and he's acting like he's over to BSing.

So, you know, he just, his ability to gain information during the course of the game and apply it, I always thought was very unique.

Yeah, the last second timeout, too, whenever he can't figure it out, that shit's dancing with one

zero.

Yeah, look at you.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, it does get real.

Yeah, I want to go blame for this shit all the time.

I just fuck that up.

Hey, when it gets the three or two, can we make a decision as opposed to

every single time?

It was fantastic.

Hey, Green Bay Packer, owner who lived those rides with you.

Ty, has a question.

Yeah, coach, the last several years, the only thing we've talked about

with the Bengals at the start of the season is like, hey, Zach Taylor doesn't have these guys prepared.

They don't start fast.

And with how good the AFC and the NFC are now, a lot of teams can be shit out of luck if they start 0-4.

Is there any way going into a season you can ensure, like, hey, we're going to start fast this year, and we're not going to put ourselves in a hole where we have to win, you know, six or seven games down the stretch to get into the playoffs?

Blame it on the CBAs.

That's what I would say.

No, I'll tell you, it's tough.

It really is.

I think training camp is the most important time a year as far as training your football team.

It's the only time, really, the offensive line who are at a huge disadvantage in the training, you know, in the training formats that are out there because they really don't get into the real training, into the

fifth practice of a training camp.

So

I think you have to coach September football a little differently.

September football is not the best of the year.

And I think that the fact that you have 17 games, I'm actually thankful for it because you still have opportunities because

you see it every year.

The fundamentals are...

They're just not as good as they...

they were in the early days.

And that's just probably a product of a guy that's been fortunate to be in the league for three decades.

But know i i think some of that i'm not trying to make an excuse for any coach i just think you do have some of that september football and uh as far as being ready um you know there's change that you know uh each team every year you talk about another great division you know i mean that's that that's that's a tough hard-nosed division as as any in football too so yeah i i don't think there's a you know a you know a right way and a wrong way um to go about it because you got to train your football team as hard as you can in training camp but it's it's really you train them to the, you know, to the health of your team too.

So that's the, you know, you got the mechanisms of GPS and all those things that go into it.

But, you know, that's, that's, it's, you know, your, your, your, your time, your timeline of training camp, getting a team ready is, is, is a bit of a challenge for everybody.

That's good self, Scott, especially with all the mechanisms that we're going out there.

Yeah.

Coach, we appreciate you.

This was wonderful.

We know you're on the Cowboys.

We appreciate your takes on that.

And we can't wait to chat with you next week.

You're the man.

We appreciate the the hell out of you.

All right.

Thank you, man.

Look forward to next week.

Have a great week.

Ladies and gentlemen, Super Bowl Champion who looks very cool right now.

Yeah, Coach McCarthy.

Love that.

Did you expect him to pop up in front of a night time

picture?

I think it was a big screen.

Wasn't that a big old screen?

He might change it next week.

It's going to be something else next week.

His wife is an actual artist, like a painter and everything.

We had a chance to see her studio.

She has a massive studio.

And it's like, he's like, yeah, wife did all.

It does look pretty cool, doesn't it?

He didn't even see that.

No.

No.

He sat down there, had no idea.

We good?

We good.

I'm sitting here.

He's the best, man.

He was great with us at the draft.

Yes.

Hanging with us the whole thing.

We're thankful he'll be joining us every Thursday.

He's making selections.

Yeah.

Cowboys plus eight man.

I don't know if he's planning on doing that, but we just got one out of him.

We'll see.

I mean, just

yeah, we'll see how it goes.

Uh, we are one minute into a hard out here on ESPN.

Remember, Peter Schrager has his super duper prediction special coming at three o'clock Eastern on ESPN.

We'll be live tomorrow overreacting to everything.

I'll be live in Oklahoma.

Oh, nice.

Tomorrow, Friday, obviously, we're kicking off another incredible college football weekend.

Oklahoma, Michigan is taking place in just a couple of days.

Obviously, tonight, Philly and Dallas kick off the NFL season.

Tomorrow night, Chiefs and Charges.

Sunday night, Ravens, Bills.

Are you kidding me?

We're in it.

We did it.

AJ, it's a great time to be alive.

We're lucky to be here.

We're absolutely lucky to be here.

I mean, tonight, tomorrow night, everything.

Yes, this is a beautiful time, and we are just at the beginning, just scratching the surface.

So I can't wait.

It is just a tip, isn't it?

Just a tip.

Not even yet.

Not really even.

Almost.

It's about to be, and we're about to feel how great it's all going to be.

We're very thankful for that.

And remember, we don't love that there's commercials, but it was obvious it was coming.

And we're still going to watch.

That's the red zone.

Down it.

Down it.

Down it.

I was getting attacked for that.

ESPN Disney show.

It's like, I don't know, they're not even on Disney.

It's not even on ESPN or Disney.

And also, it's on Google currently with YouTube.

They're not the ones deciding that either.

It's the NFL is deciding that.

And as soon as we saw the L reps, we all knew

what was coming.

People are fucking don't love it.

I don't love it, but we're still going to watch it.

As long as you don't go to, like, even if it's like sometimes when they keep the game going and they split screen, I'm like, just do that.

I don't,

that's what I'm fine with that.

They're doing four of them 15 seconds long, allegedly over the seven-hour period.

That's it?

Come on, now.

Now, I did did see Brandon Perna, Denver Broncos fan and YouTuber.

I guess he came out and said, am I a marketing genius?

I think so.

Bud Light should just say commercial-free football presented by Bud Light.

I think Bud Light would have a lot of people that maybe were still

about Bud Light going, hey,

actually.

You know what?

All right.

Maybe.

You know, there's Tony.

Bud Light likes football.

He loves football.

They don't want me seeing these commercials.

There's a chance that that is a thought.

But if it's not Bud Light, another one of the league sponsors could come in here and really be

a hero here.

Great opportunity there.

Great.

DoorDash coming in and saying, hey.

You're telling me people were mad about one minute over seven hours?

It's bullshit.

That's one more minute I could have had.

I got some terrible things said to me.

I got some very terrible things said to me for this.

I did not expect it.

And as soon as I was like, as soon as I started reading them and they're like, we don't care?

We We do care, you fucking shill.

And I'm like, I obviously would rather not have it.

I mean, my show has none.

The one that I negotiated, the one that people were pushing for for me to have them.

I obviously don't want it.

It's not on ESPN, but we're still going to watch, aren't we?

Are we all still going to, are you going to not watch?

They got us.

They're not cutting away.

They're not cutting away from the, from Hansen will be on screen the whole time, correct?

Yes.

Play through is what they're saying, allegedly.

come on play when it's playthrough I'm all for it yeah we all are but but we'd rather it wasn't though to be clear

how's the world work to be clear

it's also not 1992 like where it goes to a commercial and you're just like fuck I gotta sit here and just watch this commercial now like you can take your phone out exactly go take piss you can go grab a beard go get something to eat like about the other quad bucks if you're yeah exactly oh shit okay I'm just gonna watch the local game or I'm gonna watch this game that I don't know once again we don't we're not happy that it's happening no but we knew it was going to happen just by knowing the nfl nfl is cash cow that's what they are yeah that's why they're the number one league on earth yeah players are getting a lot of money because a lot of these deals it's as soon as the nfl saw that they could sell maybe one game for a holiday to one of these streaming platforms and it was like how how much money is this how many hundreds of millions for this one oh we can certainly cook up a black friday game uh we got a christmas eve game we got four christmas games don't we yep what other days can we make up we make up an nfl day can we make up a wednesday afternoon well so as soon as that's what the the NFL is, that's why the league is headed where it's headed, which is why, you know, we don't love it that they are just capitalizing on absolutely every dollar that they know they can get.

And we're not going to change our watching style.

Like they put those 15-second commercials up there and it's playthrough.

Okay.

We're all going to still watch.

And they knew that.

And they were like, how much more money can we get?

Do we think these NFL fans are going to stop watching because of these?

No.

All right.

So we're leaving money on the table.

We don't do that.

Give us that.

Now, everybody is worried that once the NFL does that, maybe they'll then start doing the break-in commercials.

And they'll be like, gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble, keep going.

Certainly a possibility.

And at that point, we will certainly raise hail by, hey, we can't be doing this because we did a college football red zone and it had a commercial every four minutes.

And it turns out it sucks.

Yeah, it does.

It turns out it sucks.

Miserable.

So

I hope the NFL understands that that is why Red Zone is Red Zone.

That's why people are paying a subscription fee.

But as soon as they started marketing on it, it was like, that was seemingly inevitable for the NFL.

And I'm still going to watch.

I don't love it.

I don't love that I'm that easy and that I'm that committed.

And I don't love that they're doing it.

But it was obvious they were going to do it.

You can have the best of both worlds.

You can still watch.

And then when it goes commercial, you can tweet like, it's fucking bullshit.

Fuck the NFL.

You got to have good service, though, because to get that tweet typed and sent by 15 seconds.

Exactly.

Exactly.

But it's a fun little game.

We should do something.

I don't know who would do this, but whoever's like the people that are super mad about this, if they go to take a piss at all during red zone, someone should come out of their closet, just punch them right in the face.

Say they're missing it?

Yeah.

Yeah, but it's on their time.

Okay.

It's not on Red Zone's time.

And Red Zone, by the way, operated by the NFL.

The NFL is the one making the decision to do this.

We all knew the NFL would do this if they could do this.

Which is why.

people mad about this aren't NFL fans.

I don't think so.

No, they're not.

I mean,

nobody who is actually mad about this will hear this, and nobody who's actually mad about this will watch Red Zone every week.

The people who are mad about this.

You're talking about what I'm saying right now, explaining myself.

They did not hear that.

No, no, all those people on the internet.

Whenever they go to get Red Zone the first week, they're going to go, Disney, these fucking assholes.

And I say, it's not on Disney, actually.

It's on another platform.

Wait,

oh, well, fuck them still.

They thought about it.

Yeah.

Yeah, they would have.

Okay.

Worldly living, God help us all.

Exactly.

We're lucky to be here.

That's right.

We get to be here.

We do.

It's fun reading Walk into Traffic because I said that I'm still going to watch Red Zone.

This fucking guy likes commercials.

Do you believe this shit?

This fucking piece of shit.

Thank you, dude.

Sorry I said it.

This goes in.

They're not going to do any commercials.

Okay.

Boom.

That'd be sick.

High stakes.

I'm trying.

Make up for it.

Exactly.

Big shot.

Big shot.

Little strong.

Look good.

The NFL making money off something.

They're going to do that.

I'm bummed up.

All right.

Let's run through the stories that we have not covered or given enough attention to, and then let's make our picks and let's enjoy the hell out of NFL kickoff day.

Con man, what have we not talked about that we definitely should be talking about?

Yeah, there's one thing we definitely haven't talked about that we need to be talking about, and that's because you studied night and day yesterday to come up with your top five five players of the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys rivalry.

That's a great call, actually.

I was almost going to maybe not do it just because it was so much pressure.

So much pressure.

It is a lot of fun.

How do you pick your top five favorite players that played for the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys?

Just in the history of the teams, your top five favorite players combined.

Combined.

It was not easy.

It's a lot of pressure.

We don't do a lot of lists, but to kick off the season, the greatest season the NFL is ever going to have, I couldn't help but pay tribute to guys that have donned these uniforms, put on these helmets, and built this rivalry and these franchises to what they are today.

Let's start with number five, Jason Kelsey.

Now, listen, Jason Kelsey's the youngest guy that's going to be on this list.

I think it was all retired players.

It's not active players.

He's recently retired.

We love Jason Kelsey.

Guy slams beers.

Obviously, he's representing football in a huge way, not only with his podcast, but with everything he's doing.

And he was a dog on the field.

Undersized, but could outrun you and outgrit you.

He actually would gnaw on your Achilles.

He would gnaw on your Achilles to get a good block.

And then he would talk to the boys and he'd get emotional right in front of them because they're such a damn tight family.

And then he would motherfuck somebody and then he would hop on a ball, score a touchdown.

And then they would create a play called Dush Push that would be right literally his ass being pushed by other men that are being pushed and create something that's unstoppable.

Jason Kelsey, phenomenal Philadelphia Eagle.

And as somebody that is not an Eagle or a Cowboys fan, I would say he's in my top five favorite Cowboys and Eagles.

AJ, do you agree with the pick of Jason Kelsey in the top five?

Absolutely.

He's an absolute legend.

And people, I think, because he is so, you know, he's out there and he's so good in the media, people forget this guy was an absolute monster on the field.

Absolute monster.

All-pro.

One of the greatest centers, if not the greatest center of all time.

That's like Travis Kelsey, one of the, if not the greatest tight end of all time.

Ed Kelsey's got two goats.

Yep.

Three, sounds like.

Yeah.

Hey, oh,

maybe many more.

Who knows?

All right, at number four, top five favorite players, Randall Cunningham.

Oh, hell yeah.

Mason Randall Cunningham, obviously, let's go through the stats here.

He's a college football hall of famer.

He's a four-time all-pro.

Threw for 207 touchdowns.

Had 35 rushing touchdowns.

And oh, yeah, at one point in his career, had a 91-yard punt down there at the meadow lane.

Third longest punt in NFL history.

Backed up, got to get it off.

Randall Cunningham says, don't worry about it.

Let me fucking bomb on Don here.

91-yard punt, AJ, for quarterback Randall Cunningham, who led the Philadelphia Eagles to a Super Bowl, not to win one.

But shout out to Randall Cunningham for all he's done for kicking, punting, and quarterbacking.

I'm old enough.

You guys aren't old enough.

I was old enough to remember Randall Cunningham and watch him play in person.

He was ahead of his time, man.

Super athletic and can throw the ball about 7,000 yards.

I don't know if he made it to a Super Bowl.

Is that what we're saying?

Oh,

no.

We were saying that wasn't a 91-yard punt.

Oh, that was not it.

I mean, and that had to be.

Well, if you count from the end zone, if you count the end zone.

Yeah, so basically, if you count what they don't count from the zone.

Oh, so it's an 81-yard punt.

Yeah, well, the guy

turns it.

I don't know if it...

No, it's just gross.

Gross punt.

Well, the ball kept going past 91 yards, then.

Okay, so that ball snapped from the one?

Yeah, and I think it goes all the way down to like the seven.

That's not.

That's yeah, that's

to the the six or six.

So it wasn't.

Yeah.

Oh, well, they did count it to where he returned it.

Six minus one

would be a 95-yard punt.

And then he returned it to like the 13.

I think he has the record then because they counted as a 91, I believe.

Right.

I think it's longer than that.

Unless there is another clip of him hitting another

punt.

It's a preseason.

So that's from the one-yard line.

So if he was to hit it to the end zone, that'd be a 99-yard punt.

It gets stopped six yards from the end zone, right?

Seven yards from the end zone?

Yeah, six yard line.

Big one right in there.

So seven yards.

Seven?

Yeah.

So that's 92 yards, right?

99 minus seven would be a 92 yard punt.

So he got ripped off a yard.

I don't think it would be record.

Yeah, the record we saw was like 98 yards.

But again, they're not including their return.

Like if you punt the ball.

That would be your net punt.

This is gross punt.

Gross punt.

Gross punt, net punt.

Nonetheless, Randall Cunningham, AJ's gone.

Yeah, he's sick of it.

I'm tired of talking about punters.

All right, let's go to the number three overall player whenever it comes to the Eagles and Cowboys, Michael Irvin.

Yep.

Playmaker.

Absolute dog.

Obviously, on the field, there's highlights, galore, all the way back to his draft night where he was told the Green Bay Packers were going to draft him out of Miami.

And he said, I'm not going to.

Just because he didn't want to go up there, told them he'd go back to school and he would not go there, kind of forced his way to the Dallas Cowboys.

Throughout the the documentary of Jerry Jones's business life and the Dallas Cowboys build as a whole, Michael Irvin's really a superstar in there.

Because not only on the field was he tearing it up, off the field he was as well.

The guy was wide open.

He was always himself.

And then whenever he would transfer into television, he'd be one of the most electrifying people on a microphone.

Michael Irvin has to be listed in one of our top five favorite players whenever we're talking Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles.

Had him in number.

three.

I don't mind it.

I like number three overall, and I think people will respect where we put him at.

Yeah, I think it's perfect, especially when you look at the total players in this.

It was very hard just to get down to five, let alone thinking about, you know, the legends that have played in this type of rivalry.

Yeah, because I mean, T.O.

is somebody that we respect and like a lot.

Obviously, he's a big part of the story.

Tony Romo,

obviously a guy that we spend every single Sunday with while watching games.

I mean, there's just numerous amount of superstars that we could have picked from this rivalry.

How about number two?

Who do we got?

Oh, yeah.

The one, the only

Deion Sanders.

Yeah, we're going to pick

Deion Sanders.

Now, he had five punt return touchdowns as a member of the Dallas Cowboys.

He had a couple pick sixes.

He had a fumble recovery for a touchdown, and he had a receiving touchdown whenever he was there.

He was there from 1995 through 1999.

Became an absolute problem.

Massive piece of the documentary, as well, especially with them trying to get back onto the mountaintop, bringing in Deion Sanders and him becoming prime time for Jerry Jones' Dallas Cowboys.

Obviously, he just kicked some ass in the offseason battling an illness back on the sidelines for the Colorado Buffaloes.

How's this season going to go for them?

We don't know, but what we do know is this dude is certified.

We appreciate the hell out of prime.

You look good, you feel good.

You feel good, you play good.

You play good, they pay good.

They pay good, you live good, you live good, you die good.

Shout out to Deion Sanders for what he's done for football and also as a member of the Dallas Cowboys.

It was awesome to watch him on TV every single week.

AJ, I think this list is coming together nicely.

Don't you think so, Powell?

Yeah, you got me eagerly wondering who your number one pick may be.

There's so many to choose from here.

Yeah, there's a lot of people that we really could have kind of gone with.

A lot of people that represent both teams so perfectly.

You know, a couple offensive linemen on both sides could have got picked.

A couple defensive linemen could have got picked.

You know, it's strictly players, so we didn't think about adding, you know, Big Dom could have been selected, but he's not a player.

You know, Nick Siriani, obviously he's active, so we wouldn't have been able to pick him, but we we loved his coaching style.

Andy Reed, not going to get picked.

It's just strictly players only.

And there was only one player that depicted its city and its team better than all of the others.

And we searched and scoured every roster, every player since the beginning of these teams.

Our favorite player in the history of the Cowboys and the Eagles organization, drum roll please.

High thought, Vince Papalli.

Wow, yeah.

That was a bartender.

What?

That was a bartender.

That was a fucking bartender

in Philadelphia.

Worked his ass off.

Went to a tryout.

Made the team.

Not only did he just make the team, the guy became the special teams captain for the Philadelphia Eagles.

You're talking about the city of Philadelphia playing for the Eagles, reincarnated in one Italian man with a sweet name and a sweet flow.

NFL Films is able to give us some footage, maybe footage that you have not seen before, of Vince Papalli calling his own shot, calling his own number on a punt, knew it was going to happen because earlier in training camp, he learned the vital lesson: if the knuckles are red or the knuckles are white, it means they're coming or going.

He saw the knuckles, he breaks free, lets the guy straight at the punter, gets down the field, sees the punt returner, eyes it, times it perfectly.

It's a catch, not a muff.

That means that's a fumble.

Vinny Papali, the city of Philly's going crazy.

That's our guy.

Holy shit, that's our bartender.

Hey, yo, barkeep, they're saying at the moment.

The Paisons are losing their mind.

He scoops it.

No way this fucking guy is going to score a touchdown.

The city of Philadelphia, from barkeep and barback to glory, pay dirt.

Vince Papali is

the Philadelphia Eagles.

Vince Papalli is Philadelphia as a whole.

And Vince Papalli is a touchdown scoring captain of Philadelphia Eagles.

So I think that is really a tough list to put together.

Other people that did not make the list but should have the garbage picking field goal kicking Philadelphia phenomenon.

Great pick.

Barney Gorman.

Yes.

Yeah.

Barney Gorman almost made it.

Should.

Okay.

He was this close.

I'm actually embarrassed I didn't push for him harder pre-show.

This close.

Yeah.

Barney Gorman.

Okay.

Because it was a specialist as well.

What position was Barney?

He's the garbage-picking.

You fucking field goal kicking

Philadelphia phenomenon.

I'm not familiar with Barney.

Oh, Jesus.

He's a field goal kicking.

Barney.

Garbage-picking man from Philadelphia.

Same story as Vince Papali.

Just not a bartender.

Just a guy who happened to wear a boot, a working boot, and boot the shit out of a football for the Philadelphia Eagles.

So Barney Gorman almost got the call in the top five.

Other specialists that could have made it.

David Akers, obviously a dog.

Sav Roka, an absolute beast beast out of Australia.

So a lot of people almost in there, including Barney Gorman, but Vince Papalli takes the cake because of how much he represents what it's all about to be an Eagle, I think.

And then Deion, Michael Irvin, Randall Cunningham, who had got ripped off on a yard, I think, for his punt.

And then Jason Kelsey wraps out the top five, AJ.

And to be clear, I don't think anything's ever been more right.

Yeah, I mean, credit to NFL Films for giving you that footage.

That's amazing footage we got from the field and all those amazing coaches.

And shout out to the Eagles as well.

They were ahead of their time.

Look at this.

They got field turf in like 1978.

See the knuckles?

Pretty amazing.

Yeah.

You got field turf back in the day before it was even invented.

So NFTL Films was doing great.

Nah, it was grass.

What are you talking about?

It's natural grass.

Yeah, open your eyes.

Oh, my bad.

This is before all the seeds with all the shit in it.

Oh, you're right.

That was pretty unfamiliar.

And it's hard to call that in the middle of a punt as well.

I think modern day it's going to be tough to make a check like that.

Are you playing wing?

What position is he?

He was a guy that lined up at wing, and then he lets a guy go right at the punter.

You take the punt.

Just go ahead.

He kind of just threw him at the punter.

I'll tell you what, that'd be a one-way trip out of town

if I was staying back there in charge, which I would not be.

But I like that he made the play, knew that he could kind of rip and toss around, have a clear shot at the returner, and then that ball popping out, that was nothing but the football gods blessing Vince Papali for doing something right.

Yeah, exactly.

And we're thankful it happened.

We're very thankful it happened.

How long did Papow play for?

10, 12 years, something like that.

I don't think that is accurate.

I think it was like three years.

I believe he played in 41 of 44 games for the Eagles.

Oh, is this Vince from the Philadelphia Bell?

No, he played in the Philadelphia Bell before he played for the Philadelphia Bell.

Okay, okay, okay, bro.

He was sharpening his sword

because he had many on shit.

His brain, his...

His hands were...

Yeah.

Damn it.

His feet, his hair.

Lightning.

Tougher than a fucking $2 steak.

Yeah, and then his feet, obviously, like shore bird.

Yeah.

If you need it, but he's going to bring the thunder right here, though.

And he's going to say, Gadazi, the whole time.

Vince Polly, number one overall.

That was an easy decision.

Yeah.

He's a kick.

Barney Gorman, though.

No, no, that was, that's that strong.

I'm surprised Kelsey made it now when I look back on it and think of Barney.

Yeah.

Well, that actually.

I'm not going to get, I'm not going to say anything.

That's my list.

Okay.

Barney Gorman, 5A.

Yeah, I think so.

Donovan McNabb, also in there.

Sure.

Reggie White, nah.

No.

Reggie White, I remember him more as a Packer, but I agree.

He too should be in there.

I love Reggie White.

Should have made the list.

He wasn't a bartender.

Yeah.

And that's Papelle.

Or sanitation worker.

Not over Papelli.

Or Tony Danza.

Tony Danza just edged him out for 5A.

Barney Gorman.

There's multiple 5As.

Tony Dorset, Pittsburgh.

There's a few of those guys.

Yeah, for the Cowboys, I like him.

Yeah.

Terrell Moose Johnston.

Danooch.

Brad Danuch.

Terre Moose.

Cooper.

Cooper Kush.

Cooper Kush, definitely.

Andy Dalton had a run down.

I saw him the other day.

I like him.

Sean Payton.

Yeah.

Sharp.

Sean.

Sean Lee.

No, not Sean Lee.

Fuck.

Jason Garrett.

Excuse me.

Jason Garrett.

You know, great, great quarterback.

Great on TV.

Yeah.

Rabbit out of the head, coming back.

You know, the second time.

Jason Witten, yeah.

Unbelievable.

T.

Martin.

T.

Martin, yeah.

Tennessee.

Albert Hainsworth.

A lot of great players.

Yeah.

So many.

Pac-Man.

So many.

Pac-Man Jones.

Holy fuck.

I remember him as a Bengal.

I should have put him on.

Yeah.

That's on me.

That's on me.

Marion Barber.

He'd be cool with it because you stood up forward.

Yes.

I did.

Especially at the Vince Papalli pick.

Nobody saw Vince Papalli's number one, but then once I explained it, it kind of makes sense.

Yeah.

All right, let's make our picks for tonight.

Peter Schrager's Super Duper Prediction Show coming up in about 42 minutes right here on ESPN.

So bumped for it now.

Detroit Lions not making a playoff.

Sorry.

I love that.

He's just hopping right into fire.

I don't want to put you on the spot, but Sinstrig is doing it.

You're doing Super Bowl picks?

I don't do that.

I live in a moment.

Amen.

With that being said, really like the Eagles.

But the Chiefs is still the Chiefs.

And Danny Dimes, don't let him look at the hopo meter and get too much motivation.

You know, and what is going to happen.

Let's start with the toxic table.

At Ty Schmidt, your pick tonight is the Cowboys are eight and a half point dogs on ESPN bet to kick off the NFL season.

Yeah, I was on the Cowboys all morning, and the more I look at it, I'm just seeing the potential of Saquon rushing for 175 yards.

So I'm going to flip it.

I'm going to go with the Eagles, and I think they cover.

Okay, you like the Eagles covering eight and a half?

I think so.

A little bit too much positivity for the Cowboys on this particular show?

Yeah, I don't know.

It's just weird when so much of the consensus is these guys have done everything wrong for the last several weeks.

These guys fucking suck.

This one player was their entire team.

But then a lot of, I mean, we talked about their offense, their defense.

They still got a lot of good players.

I just, man, I can just see the Eagles really going belt to ass tonight.

Okay, that is certainly a possibility in everybody's eyes.

Boston Conner, you've had one pick all morning.

Feels like all show you've been feeding that narrative.

I don't know if he is kind of flippy-floppy like you potentially had on this particular game.

Conman, who do you like?

No, I'm steadfast eight and a half.

I don't think anybody knows this team better than Mike McCarthy.

He was just there.

So if he feels good about it, I feel good about it.

If you're going to bet an underdog that is greater than seven, though, throw in a touchdown for the other team.

It'll help the algorithm, give you better odds.

So like a Cowboys plus eight and a half Jalen Hurts touchdown will really give you a little juice for tonight.

Okay, Jalen Hurts, we assume, is going to get a tush-push special at some point.

One half of the hammer down.

Cowboys AP Tone.

Don't want to give away too much for Hammer Don.

It's just going to be electrifying today.

But who do you like in the game?

I also waffled a bit.

I didn't know coming in the show, but Big Mike really convinced me to ride with the puppies tonight and the Cowboys plus eight and a half okay tone's on the Cowboys plus eight and a half so is Connor Ty says Eagles blow him out AJ your thoughts I mean, Big Mike does, he does sway whatever you're thinking, I think, when he's so diehard on the Cowboys.

But I was leaning Cowboys.

I'm definitely taking the Cowboys plus eight and a half.

I'm going to take the over as well.

Okay, I will pick the Cowboys plus eight and a half as well.

Okay.

You're going to jump in on that over?

No, no, no.

I mean, yeah, sure.

Why not?

Last year, just so you know, 47 and a half.

I think it was the same last year, and the score was 27-20 when Isaiah likely ended up.

So they're on it when the over-unders early.

Okay, well, I'll go with the over as well.

I enjoy the over.

I like the Cowboys plus eight and a half.

I was Philadelphia Eagles as the show started.

And then the more and more I thought about it, I was like, this is going to be a Cagey affair.

The divisional game doesn't matter.

Like, it's going to be tight, I think.

Can the Philadelphia Eagles blow him out?

Definitely.

We are big fans of Philadelphia Eagles.

Philadelphia Eagles win.

Cowboys keep it tight.

Jalen Hurt scores the touchdown and the overhits.

I mean, that's what it is.

That is how I feel like the game is probably going.

Does that mean that's going to take place?

Absolutely not.

Could be the complete opposite.

We could be in a Boer Fest tonight, or it could be anything.

That's why the NFL is the greatest.

We have some news out of the NFL.

Amari Cooper has announced his retirement from the NFL.

He signed with the Raiders at the end of camp.

It says hopeful for a reunion with the team that drafted him.

Now he is headed home from Las Vegas.

Amari, hell of a career, buddy.

Hell yeah.

Hell of a career.

Quiet, right?

That's what everybody says.

Loves ball.

Super quiet.

Loves ball.

Obviously, he was with Coach Sabin.

We learned about him through him.

He's bounced around a little bit, but he's always a playmaker.

We appreciate him coming to the decision of retirement.

And if it's forever, just know you did great on a football field, pal.

And if you end up coming back, don't feel bad.

You're allowed to do whatever the hell you want, Amari Cooper.

With that being said, all eyes are on tonight.

Let's get excited for tonight.

Hell yeah.

Let's get excited for the time that we are currently alive.

There's a lot taking place over the next few days, and that just kicks off a season of wonder that we are about to have.

I cannot wait from the road from tonight all the way to February.

I cannot wait to see who becomes a superstar, who becomes the villain.

Who gets screwed over and who defies all the odds?

That's football in a nutshell.

We're lucky for it.

Tonight's going to be electrifying.

Thank you to all that are covering it.

Be a friend, tell a friend something nice.

It might change their life.

We're in this thing together.

And we're probably going to watch no matter what they do, the NFL Red Zone.

Sue us.

Don't actually.

Team on me.

Team on three.

One, two, three, team.

Goodbye.

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