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Goal Line: Cardinals, Commanders, and Hip Drops
6 Plays10 months ago
The boys discuss some big trades and rule changes before giving their outlook for the 2024 Cardinals and Commanders
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Overview
00:00:15
Speaker
What is up goal line listeners? We are back for your second edition of the goal line off season. Uh, Jordan,
Balancing Offseason and Personal Life
00:00:23
Speaker
what's going on, man? Ain't no off season here. Like I'm in full on, uh, running my kid around season and working my ass off season. So yeah, not much to change since last time. It's just been busy, but, um, yeah, I'm ready to talk some football.
00:00:39
Speaker
Yeah, me and Jordan were kind of commiserating for about 15 minutes before we actually hit record on this about how busy we both are between work and family, man. Sometimes I feel bad because I wish we could get on and pod a little bit more between this, the Chick-Fully show and Pod Warriors. But then sometimes I'm thinking like, well, man, it's kind of crazy that we make enough time that we do to even get out here and do this.
00:01:02
Speaker
Enough about that. Let's talk some football.
Football Highlights: Commanders and Cardinals
00:01:05
Speaker
Tonight, we're going to be discussing the big stories from the last couple of weeks, and we will be doing previews of the commanders and the Cardinals. You ready to get into it? Let's do it.
Bears Trade Justin Fields: Strategy Discussion
00:01:23
Speaker
All right, let's start with the big news since the last time we were a quarter, which was two weeks ago. The Bears finally dealt Justin Fields. Now, not to toot my own horn here, but I think it was like right around week nine when it was inevitable the Panthers were getting the first pick. I said to you on this show, I said, there is zero chance the Bears are gonna have the number one pick back to back years and not draft a quarterback. And you were like, I don't know, man, Fields is showing improvement.
00:01:51
Speaker
Prophecy came true. Justin Fields traded to the Steelers for a sixth round draft pick. Dude, I just, bears were in a really bad spot at this point. I mean, I know a lot of the fans and some of the players wanted fields back, but dude, there's just no way you can bring him back with having the number one pick two years in a row. I just, you have to draft a quarterback. Now, whether it works or not is to be determined, but you just, you have to do it.
00:02:20
Speaker
Yeah, I'm with you, man. You know me, I was pro Justin Fields. And I totally understand why the fans there in Chicago like him also. Because he's a captivating player to watch, right? He's a gamer. He's very, very popular. You're always excited to see what happens when you see the Bears pop up for an update on NFL Red Zone.
00:02:41
Speaker
I defer to the judgment of these guys that do this stuff for a living 24 seven 365 and you know, the Bears had him there in the building and all the rest of the NFL GMs, you know around the league, nobody was beating down the Bears door to get this guy, man. So I think the kind of that really tells you all you need to know about exactly where Justin Fields falls out at as far as his, you know, potential is NFL quarterback. Now maybe it can click, you know, he could totally have a breakout and everything could fall into place. But I think
00:03:09
Speaker
the lack of trade market that went around him, I think that kind of just further solidifies the bear's choice to go ahead and trade this. I will say the Steelers have put themselves in a hell of a position with their quarterback room
Steelers' Quarterback Room Analysis
00:03:20
Speaker
right now. It's got to be one of the most low risk, high rewards situations we've seen at the QB position in a long time. Because they're paying Russell Wilson basically league minimum money. And then they got Justin Fields who's
00:03:32
Speaker
still a promising prospect, right? Like for the flaws that it's been on display so far in his career, still shows a lot of promise and he's definitely flashed. Either one of those guys could have a really strong season this year and the Steelers quietly, they've been a playoff team in the last couple of years, man. It's been on spectacular, but they've been in the playoffs. So I'm really interested to see what they do there in the AFC North this season.
00:03:53
Speaker
Yeah, I feel bad for Justin Field dude. Like the Bears never set him up for any type of success either. I will say that. I still don't think he, his strong suit is, um, reading an NFL defense or I just, I don't think he's good enough to adapt to the speed of the NFL. But I mean, dude, he's going to one of the best organizations in the NFL. So if he's going to turn it around, that's going to be the place to do it.
00:04:19
Speaker
Um, yeah, you're right, dude, having Russell Wilson and Justin Fields there, that it's completely low risk. The one thing I'll say is running Arthur Smith's offense.
00:04:31
Speaker
He didn't want Justin Fields. I mean, it came out three years ago that he didn't want Justin Fields because he thought he was way too much like a running back more than a quarterback. So I'm interested to see how that shakes out because yeah, Arthur Smith was the one that completely shut down them drafting Justin Fields three years ago. So it'd be interesting to see how it works out.
00:04:52
Speaker
I'm, you know, hopefully they get cooking, dig deep in the playbook, man. The Steelers under Mike Tomlin, they've never been shy about throwing some trick plays out there, man. So you got a lot of options for some neat gadget plays with Justin Fields in there as a weapon. Yeah,
Offensive Strategies with New Quarterbacks
00:05:06
Speaker
for sure. I mean, they can do some things. I still don't know how much juice Russ has left in the tank. I would imagine Fields is starting at some point this year. I don't know when it is. I mean, you, you know, for sure, the first sign of struggle, the Bears are going to put it in Justin Fields because
00:05:22
Speaker
I mean, it ain't like they're paying Russell Wilson $50 million, paying him a million dollars. So yeah, it's good for them. They got two quarterbacks, but sometimes having to, uh, we'll just say average quarterbacks at this point. Um, sometimes that doesn't help either. Cause then you're stuck between a rock and a hard place when neither one of them performs. So it'll be interesting.
00:05:43
Speaker
I think Russ is the big loser in this situation, man. Because he went from having kind of low pressure on him, rolling into Pittsburgh, taking over for Kenny Pickett, playing on a defense first team is kind of suit where he's at in his career right now. But now you have this dude who is arguably the most exciting player in the league. He's right up there with Tyreek Hill and maybe Christian McCaffrey for most exciting player in the league on the field on Sunday.
00:06:09
Speaker
Dude, the first time we'll start struggling, you know those Steelers fans are going to be wanting fields in there, man. Like you can't help it. The backup quarterback is always one of the most popular players on the team. So I think this definitely cranks up the heat on Russell Wilson just a little bit.
00:06:22
Speaker
Um, the other thing we have to note is we talked about this last time, but that 2021 quarterback class, Zach Wilson got permission to seek a trade yesterday. Um, so what if, and when he gets traded, that means Trevor Lawrence is the only person left on their original team from that QB class, like absolutely insane. That was three years ago.
00:06:44
Speaker
It's just, it's, it's horrible. Wild how fast the NFL changes. And, um, I feel bad for Kenny pick it too. I know he wasn't in that draft class. He was a year later. I felt like they put him in a no win situation as well. Like dude, following Ben Roethlisberger, I mean, dude, he literally followed a first ballot hall of fame or like, that's a no win situation as a quarterback. And they threw him right into the fire out of the gates because they had nobody else.
00:07:10
Speaker
Tough for him. I agree. His stats do pan out, as he's one of the most historically unproductive quarterbacks of the modern era, man. He's down there in the David Carr rungs, as far as not. He doesn't go out there and throw a ton of interceptions. He's not flame out bad. Nathan Peterman, that guy that tossed five picks for the Chargers all those years ago.
00:07:35
Speaker
just, there's just no juice, man. Like almost no big plays. I think he has like, he's got the least touchdown passes for guys that have, you know, the minimal qualified attempts on our last couple of years. It just, it was just a big nutty burger his whole time at quarterback there when he was really set up to kind of, you know, come in and be the hero being the hometown kid there. Yeah.
Chiefs Trade and Titans' Defensive Strategy
00:07:52
Speaker
Um, the other big trade news was Legeria Sneed was traded from the chiefs to the Titans for a third round pick, right? Um, God, what a come up for the Titans. Like,
00:08:06
Speaker
Yeah, very nice. Like I said, man, I thought he'd be able to get, you know, a second round or maybe even like a late first round pick. Dude played very, very, you know, he was the best player in the secondary for a very, very tough Chiefs defense last year. And if he's not, his name's not super known amongst like the casual NFL fans, but just watch him play. This guy is physical as hell. Like he'll straight up knock a receiver on his ass, checking him at the line of scrimmage when he's in press coverage. Just a very, very physical, you know,
00:08:32
Speaker
tough cornerback, man. I think he's a perfect addition to the Titans. I think the bigger picture is like, dude, where were all these moves when Mike Vrabel was there as coach, man? I don't know if Vrabel was blocking this stuff and just trying to be loyal to the guys already in the building or if they were trying to undermine him from the front office because it's been so bare in the last couple of years on going out and acquiring talent.
00:08:54
Speaker
Um, and, and now, you know, you're bringing in these freaking, you know, just a lot of big names this off season, man. Like I'm, uh, I'm excited to see what they do, man. I think they're definitely going to be in the mix. They're trying to catch the Texans in the AFC South this off season. I think you're forgetting one major
Titans' Financial Moves and Team Improvement
00:09:09
Speaker
point though. Like for the last three years, they've had $60 million a year locked up in Derek Henry and Ryan Tannehill.
00:09:16
Speaker
Not a whole lot of room for moves when you got two guys getting paid that much and they had a couple offensive linemen that were in the top 20 paid guys a couple years ago.
00:09:27
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, they needed to do a full reset anyway. I like what the Titans are doing. I mean, whether or not it works is to be determined, but I like what they're doing there. They're going to have a physical defense and, um, their offense is going to be way better. And they got the best offensive line coaching football. So yeah, man, they're gonna, they're gonna do some things. I'm not necessarily sure if they're going to win more than seven or eight games, but I mean, that'll still put them in the mix, but I think the Texans are going to be really good this year, man.
00:09:56
Speaker
The the other big thing for the Titans is they are already selling season tickets for their new stadium. You know, the big shiny new stadium opening up 2027 is maybe ready for 2026 football season. But the but they're already pushing season tickets to that. So I think that they're really motivated to put on a winning and not winning and at least exciting brand of football.
00:10:19
Speaker
on the field over these next couple years to try to drive tickets cuz that stadium it's a, you know, as with all of the stadiums nowadays is coming with a pretty high price tag that they're gonna want to pay off. Yeah, you got to put some masses in seats. So I don't blame them in. But like I said, I like what they're doing in everybody that gets caught up on my teams having to overpay.
00:10:38
Speaker
Dude, when you're a, when you're not a great team, you have to overpay. Like you, you have to make sure you get your guys locked up that you want. Um, same thing everybody was saying about the Falcons with, uh, cousins and Darnell Mooney and stuff. I'm like, dude, the Falcons are not a historically good franchise. They have to overpay to get guys to come there. So, I mean, it's just, it's part of the territory when you're not a Super Bowl contender at the time, it's just price. You gotta pay.
00:11:05
Speaker
And it's Nashville. It's a great place to live, but it's not a super attractive place for world-class athletes in their young 20s to go to. It's not Miami. It's not LA. It's not New York. It's nothing like that. But yeah, man. The other thing, dude, about the contracts, I'm like, who cares, man? Dude, it's funny money, man. You know what I mean? If they overpay, they overpay. But the salary cap's just not nearly as big. We talked about this a few episodes ago. It's not nearly as big a deal as it used to be.
00:11:34
Speaker
Like you said, dude, it's just the cost of doing business, man, to get these guys in the door now. Same thing with Kirk Cousins deal, man. The Falcons had to spend that money. If they didn't spend it, somebody else was going to spend it, you know?
00:11:45
Speaker
I love when fans get been out of shape like, Oh man, like Falcons fans were freaking out when it came out. He was getting paid $160 million. I'm like, are you paying that? Like, dude, who gives a shit? Like, are there blanks worth like $80 billion? I'm pretty sure he's gonna be just fine. The team's gonna be just fine. Like, they're not gonna fold the franchise because they paid a quarterback $160 million.
00:12:07
Speaker
Um, last big news came out today. So they have banned the hip drop tackle in the NFL. Um,
NFL's New Hip-Drop Tackle Rule
00:12:16
Speaker
we had some ink links. This was going to happen with the amount of injuries there were last year, dude. I am not excited about this at all. Like I get the player safety form of it, but I just got a feeling it's going to be a flag fest every fucking game now.
00:12:30
Speaker
That's what I'm thinking dude, I think I agree man like in dude I feel like this it's kind of hard to like you really got to watch some YouTube videos in slow motion understand exactly what this tackle is basically where you wrap a guy up at the waist and you know I know when I was playing football they kind of teach you if to if you're hitting somebody head-on you know you kind of just wrap up and run through them
00:12:50
Speaker
When we would, you know, run people down from behind from the side, you kind of just wrap on and kind of sling them to the ground is how we were always taught. But it's something that they started doing. I guess it's become really popular last couple of years. I don't know if it's something players just started doing or if it's actually being coached because, you know, I just coach breast of a flag football team. So I'm not up on the latest tackling techniques. But basically, you wrap a player up at the waist and then you basically just drop, right? You just drop all your weight down and it pulls down, makes their legs buckle.
00:13:19
Speaker
But I'm with you, man. I just think, I agree it's probably a good thing to ban it.
00:13:24
Speaker
These guys, again, world-class athletes moving at insane speeds. I just don't know how you legislate it because it's really a cut hair difference in real time. It's like a very, very small difference between a hip drop tackle and just a regular legal tackle from an awkward angle. Unless they have somebody watching these things from headquarters in New York and buzzing the refs on slow-mo, I don't know how you're going to legislate this.
00:13:50
Speaker
That's going to be the problem too, is I feel like any tackle that looks even remotely suspect they're going to throw a flag on. So I do not like it. I just think it's going to be inconsistent, dude. I think there'll be times where you see it thrown on a tackle that's not it. And then there'll be times where there's one that's clearly a hip drop tackle and the ref just misses it, right? Because again, dude, it could be kind of without seeing it in slo-mo, it's kind of hard to know.
00:14:13
Speaker
Yeah, I would for stuff like the like the illegal like, you know, targeting and the hip drops, I would rather have somebody permanently watch it, whether they're at league headquarters or they're up in the booth at the stadium. That's immediately got access to the slow mo replays on this stuff and can throw the flag. So there's been so many times where it's just a hard, clean hit. And it feels like the refs just reflexively throw the flag out this time and are on those hits nowadays.
00:14:38
Speaker
So yeah, dude, I'm not looking forward to it either. You just know this is going to end up like, you know, putting somebody in field goal range to win a game off of one of these penalties some point early in the season next year. And it's all we're going to fucking hear about for weeks. Yeah, I agree. New York is already watching every turnover, everything like that. Like, dude, just put this in there. And if you throw a flag, you'd say it's a hip drop, drop tackle. They should be able to review it right away and just be like, hey, this was not one of those tackles. Yeah.
00:15:04
Speaker
They're gonna have to do that dude. Otherwise, they're literally is gonna be 20 flags a game on this exact thing because it's so close dude You put in the refs in a bad spot. I don't know if I'm the ref There's no way you're gonna be able to tell man like from at real time every single time one of these happens, you know
00:15:19
Speaker
Yeah. Cause dude, I feel like half the time it's a head on collision and the other half the time it's a chase down tackle. Like, I don't know how you're going to get this in real time. So I'm interested to see what the, how they do this, but I do not like it at all. It's just, I get the player safety aspect, but dude, we are getting so close to two hand touch. Like it's
00:15:41
Speaker
The other thing is like there could be times where it just kind of ends up looking like that where that's like not the defenders intention at all You know what I mean? Like you just you chase them you wrap up and you just you lose your footing man I feel you know, we haven't seen the exact like word for word You know detailing on how they're gonna call this to you like maybe they're maybe they're gonna instruct the refs like if it's blatantly obvious though the flag on it, you know, cuz I
00:16:07
Speaker
you can tell when it's really clear man when it's done what it looks like but there's a ton of stuff that's like i said in that gray area where if you're a ref you're just not going to know what to do when you see that happen and i the fear is that they're going to err on the side of throwing the flag yeah i'm i'm extremely worried about it too so we'll see though i mean you never know i just
00:16:27
Speaker
I already feel like there's too many flags thrown in a game or in the case of the playoffs, not enough because there's holding on every play. So I guess we'll just kind of play it by ear and see what happens. Um, that's it for NFL news.
March Madness and Creighton's Journey
00:16:40
Speaker
I did want to hit real quick on, um, I'm sure you didn't watch a ton of it, but March madness was this past weekend. Uh, my hometown team Creighton has made it into the sweet 16 again. So
00:16:51
Speaker
I'm very excited for that. And I love March Madness. This is like my favorite weekend of the year. The first weekend of March Madness. Did you watch any of it? I did not watch one dribble of it. Go ahead for our listeners that are college basketball inclined. Give them your picks for the final 40. We should have done this last. Well, it wasn't out yet. I'm going to go Yukon. It's going to be pretty chalky. I'm going to go Yukon.
00:17:17
Speaker
Uh, Marquette. Okay. UNC. And just for shits and giggles, I'm gonna go Creighton for the Final Four. Alright, man. Where's the Final Four at this year? It's in Phoenix. If Creighton makes it, are you heading out to the desert? Well, I looked at ticket prices the other day and probably not because I don't think I have five grand for a weekend of tickets.
00:17:39
Speaker
Geez, dude, what kind of seed is that for five grand? It was a decent seed because dude, you got to remember this is an NFL stadium and it's a basketball court of the 50 yard line. So I'm not sitting over. I'm familiar with the final four, dude. I know. I know it's okay, whatever.
00:17:54
Speaker
Well, I'm not sitting in the upper bowl. So this was like, uh, two levels down from that. It wasn't exactly lower bowl. Either. It was almost, it was close to club level. It was like the mezzanine or something like that. Got you. So yeah, it was, I mean, it's expensive grand for three games. Yeah, it's a lot. Yeah. That's steep, dude.
00:18:14
Speaker
All right. What if they make to the national championship game? Would you try to go to just that one game or no? You're going to enjoy it from home. That would be so torn. The only problem is I have really bad luck going to big game. So I mean, if it's a player kind of the angel of death, going to playoff games and stuff like that is not. Although I did go to two Cubs playoff games the year they won the World Series and they won both of those. So maybe my luck has changed. I have not been to a playoff game since then. So maybe my luck's changed since then.
00:18:44
Speaker
Yeah. Alright, you ready to get into our team previews? Let's go.
Commanders' Season Recap and Future Outlook
00:19:01
Speaker
All right, this week we're continuing our bottom up review of the NFL teams from last season. We have the commanders and the Cardinals. We will start with Washington. First off, there's been some rumblings this offseason that, you know, with the new ownership, they may actually change the name again and do another rebrand. What's your thoughts on that, man? Do you think commanders should stick? Do you think they should move on to something else? Go back to Washington football team. I love that, honestly, dude. I thought it was awesome.
00:19:33
Speaker
I was always, hopefully we don't end up getting canceled on this. I was always a fan of the Redskins name, dude. I thought the Redskins was cool, dude. The only people I ever really saw complaining about it were like other white people, man. I thought it was bad ass, dude. I love the logo, man. I thought it looked tough. I didn't think it was demeaning at all. It wasn't like a Cleveland Indians type situation. I thought it was honoring Native Americans.
00:19:56
Speaker
Yeah, but you know, we're not getting that back. Like, let's let's calm it down a little. Right. Well, let's do something. I mean, do something that honors that. Go back to like the Red Braves or the Warriors. I thought Washington Warriors sounded pretty tough. I guess they didn't want to want to, you know, infringe on the Golden State since they've become such a more prominent team over the last, you know, 15 years. But I don't know. I think I don't like football team. I want to go back to some something with red. I know there was like I think Red Wolves was in the
00:20:23
Speaker
was in the mix. Also, I think kind of just take it back to the roots a little bit more. Yeah, I think the commanders does. Yeah, commanders does seem just it seems like something if they was like a generic create a team on Madden, like that's one of the names that would pop up for it. Yeah, that's definitely your your team name when you move your your favorite franchise to your hometown when you relocate. Yeah.
00:20:46
Speaker
Definitely. It's always like the commanders and like the Knights. It seems like that's like the first two teams that pop up on there when they did when teams move in franchise. All right, so they were four and 13 last year started off, you know, playing some pretty tough football, but they lost their last seven games ended up with Ron Rivera getting the ax after
00:21:04
Speaker
You know for semi productive years there They were 26th in offense 31st in defense so one of the absolute worst defensive teams in the league and you guys know I'm big on point differential these guys were 32nd in point differential a lot of that was really down to That last you know the last month and a half of the season they were just getting boat raced every time out like they were getting absolutely wrecked so that I think the numbers may point to this team being slightly worse than
00:21:33
Speaker
than they actually were, but it was an ugly finish down the stretch for sure that really drove these stats down. They were four and six in one score games, which if you do in the math at home means that they did not win any games last season by more than one score. All four of their games that they won were by the skin of their teeth.
00:21:50
Speaker
Most likely draft going to be drafting a quarterback this year. They got Marcus Mariota in there right now. He's probably the de facto starter as of now. Do you think Mariota actually starts week one, Jordan? Or will we see him or will we see a rookie in that starter spot opening the season for them? I mean, dude.
00:22:08
Speaker
You just said all the things about the commanders that are bad. Like if you're going to draft a quarterback in the top three with a new head coach, I feel like you have to start the rookie quarterback. Like you've got to drum up some enthusiasm and excitement. I don't think Marcus Mariota is putting an ass in a seat anymore. Like
00:22:26
Speaker
No. He's just, we've seen what Marcus Mariota is at this point. He is not a pocket passer. He's not even really a good quarterback. He's not a scrambler either. Yeah. He's just not good. He's a good dude. He's a good dude. That's about it. Yeah. I see no way if they draft a quarterback in the top three that they're not starting a rookie week one.
00:22:48
Speaker
I was kind of surprised to see them trade Sam Howe, man. I thought Sam Howe played pretty good for him. Not that you wouldn't take one of these top line prospects coming out and immediately inserting a starter, but I thought Sam Howe was good enough to not just shit can out to Seattle, man. I mean, I could see him end up starting for Seattle if Gino falls off a little bit this season.
00:23:06
Speaker
I think that was the telling point for me that they're going to draft a rookie quarterback and start a rookie quarterback. You don't trade away Sam Howell, who has actually proven to be a decent quarterback in the NFL. He was good last year. Yeah. I thought the numbers looked pretty good. And like the times I would see them play, like he looked like he was tough, man. I thought he was a good football player, dude. I, uh, maybe you just want to clear him out to that way. There's no kind of awkward quarterback situation or anything there. Yeah. I think that's a new head coach.
00:23:33
Speaker
a guy we're both familiar with, the old DQ, Dan Quinn, man. What do you think about him getting a second chance on the big stage? Old fucking choker, Quinn. I mean, he had to get another shot. He was a good coach, man. His last days as Dallas Cowboy defensive coordinator were not exactly as strong.
00:23:50
Speaker
point, uh, like coming into the off season before the Cowboys played their playoff game, it was like kind of implied that Dan Quinn was one of the higher candidates. And then they had that playoff game and it's like, I think the three teams interviewed him. It's like, Oh boy, you're, you really fell off.
00:24:08
Speaker
Staring into a buzz saw though, dude, I think they would they had a bad game and the Packers were just red hot towards the end of the season man I mean Packers damn near made it to the conference championship. I like Dan Quinn get another shot dude great culture builder man I think he's a solid defensive coach as well. I mean he gave the Falcons
00:24:24
Speaker
it possibly the two best teams they ever had in team history, man. That 2017 team does not get enough credit. They were very, very close to beating the Philadelphia Eagles who went on to win the Super Bowl that season. Honestly, they were a couple of fluky bounces away from beating the Eagles. They probably should have won that game in Philly in the second round of the playoffs.
00:24:43
Speaker
Yeah, I'm glad to see him get another shot. I always feel bad for Dan Quinn, man. Just think about what your lowest point in your life has been, right? The biggest thing that you fucked up, the thing that you messed up the most out of anything you've ever done in your life, and imagine that it was broadcast for hundreds of millions of people around the world to see, and then was documented forever afterwards. That's kind of the life situation that Dan Quinn's in after Super Bowl 51.
00:25:12
Speaker
It was like right around, the worst thing I ever done in the biggest fuckup I ever had was right around 1990 when I became my Atlanta Falcons fan.
00:25:22
Speaker
Yeah, so just think of that moment when you just think of that moment when you selected the Falcons to be your team if you know that got broadcast worldwide for everybody to relive over and over and over so Yeah, I don't know. I'm I'm I think it's a good move for the commanders I don't know if we're gonna see him hoist in the Lombardi Trophy in DC, but I think he'll be an improvement over Riverboat Ron Let's go with the outlook
Expectations for Commanders with New Leadership
00:25:44
Speaker
man. What do what do you see the the commanders doing this season?
00:25:47
Speaker
Dan Quinn will definitely improve them defensively. They have some players on defense. It's just, I think riverboat. Ron was just weighing over his head last couple of years. Um, you're going to start a rookie quarterback. I think it's going to be a lot of the same. Um, I think they'll improve slightly. I'll give them six wins at best. I think especially exactly what I was thinking, man, that's my head too. Yeah. Just, I think in that division, like it's just, that's a tough division to win football games in.
00:26:17
Speaker
Yeah, I think if you're being realistic, six wins, you confirm that you made the right pick at quarterback and you show some improvement across the board everywhere else. And then next year, 2025, you really make a run at getting back in the playoff mix.
00:26:34
Speaker
All right, let's go out to the desert in
Cardinals' Defensive Performance Review
00:26:36
Speaker
Arizona. We got the Cardinals who are actually 21st in offensive DVOA. You got to put an asterisk by their offensive numbers because they didn't have their starting quarterback until the second half of the season. 32nd in defense, though. This was the worst defense in the league last year by the combined metric DVOA. 28th in point differential. They were 2-5 in one score games. Jordan, do you want to know a fun fact that the Cardinals and commanders have in common from last season? They both beat the Falcons. Thank you.
00:27:04
Speaker
They both beat the Atlanta Falcons, stayed in one square. How does that make you feel, man, that these two were teams in the league and they both got wins over the Falcons? Just think of the Falcons would have won these two games. They would have made the playoffs. Well, if you notice, the Falcons shipped out their quarterback and they fired their coach. So that should tell you all you need to know. It may be for the best, because just think, dude, if they won those two games against the Cardinals and the commanders, I'm pretty confident in saying that Arthur Smith and Desmond Ritter would both still be there. Well, yeah, they would have made the playoffs if they would have won those two games.
00:27:34
Speaker
Yeah, we got Kyler Murray at quarterback man. He's been a little bit polarizing. To me, I think he kind of solidified himself last season, man. I think he looked good after he came back. I think, you know, if they were, they gave, already gave him the big contract, but it seemed like there was still a lot of doubt. You heard his name mentioned in trade rumors last season. If I'm them, I think I'm with Kyler for the long haul at this point.
00:28:00
Speaker
This might be a hot take good. I still think Kyler Murray's the top 12 quarterback in the NFL. Like I think he's done enough. I know, I know they're not like the greatest team on planet earth, but I think Kyler has shown enough, especially when he runs and he looks like a toddler running with scissors. It's like the greatest thing ever. Um, but Kyler is good enough to win you games, man. They just, they've had bad luck with coaching hires and
00:28:25
Speaker
I mean, dude, when your number one target is Hollywood Brown, like, I don't know, man. And that's Trey McBride had a really good season last year too. I think they got some building blocks. They're probably gonna end up drafting Marvin Harrison Jr. So that'll give him a bona fide number one.
Cardinals' Draft Strategy and Building Blocks
00:28:42
Speaker
I think there's stuff there. James Connor is so good. Um, I liked their coach too. Their coach is fiery. He's a, he's a really good coach. So remember they play, they were playing tough too, man. They had a, like I said, they lost five one score games. They gave a lot of really good teams a run for their money, man. They were, they weren't, you know, a real cakewalk for most season. They had a couple of blowouts towards the end of the year, but, uh, but yeah, they were, they were playing tough, playing well above what their talent level should have been.
00:29:08
Speaker
for a large portion of the season, man. So yeah, I'm kind of, I'm with you, man. I'm optimistic on these guys. Where do you actually see them falling out at next season though? Just, you know, I think we're going to bring it down a little bit from all this positive talk we've had on them. Where do you, where do you see them next season?
00:29:22
Speaker
So I still think they're going to be in the, I'd say five win range. I think, I think they're going to have some building blocks, five, six wins tops. Um, the Rams and Niners probably going to beat them twice. Seahawks made as well. So that's six losses right there. I just, they're going to play a last place division and they're going to play a last place schedule, which will help them. But yeah, man, it's just, uh,
00:29:47
Speaker
it seems like a lot of the teams are getting better and they're just kind of stuck right now. Um, that Kyler contract is really going to affect them moving forward though. That's a lot of money to be paying somebody, but yeah, I, I think they'll slightly, what they win this year, five games for four. So yeah, I mean five, six wins. I think that's enough of an improvement and Gannon's good enough head coach. So I think they'll be fine, man.
00:30:13
Speaker
I'll go seven. I'm gonna go just to tick. I mean, I think they get the seven wins. I think it, you know, assuming Kyler Murray can stay healthy all season. I think we see him have his best year yet. And, uh, and we see a little bit of improvement there. It's still, like you said, the Niners are still the big juggernaut in this division and the Rams and Seahawks are no pushovers. So I still see them probably being in last place in the, uh, in the division though, man. I think that's a pretty safe bet there, bud.
00:30:39
Speaker
All right, we got a couple of listener mail questions to get to.
Bears' Trade Motivation Analysis
00:30:43
Speaker
So first off, Brian Vermeer says, what do you think of the reports that the Bears turned down better offers to send Justin Fields to a team he wanted to play for? And if you believe the reports, is that a good look or a bad look for the team? I didn't see those reports there. Did you see anything on that?
00:30:58
Speaker
Yeah, I saw it, but I gotta question it, man. Like, if they seriously got a really good offer for him, I don't care if you want to do right by him or not, dude. The bears have been bad for so long that you have to take the highest offer you get. I don't care where you're shipping him. Where was he supposedly wanting to go? It never said that. It never told us anything. I think Pittsburgh's a perfect landing spot for him if I'm him, dude. I can't.
00:31:25
Speaker
At least football wise, dude, I think that's a great spot for him to go to. Well, yeah, that's what that's what they're saying is that he wanted to go to Pittsburgh. That's why they trained him there for less value.
00:31:35
Speaker
Oh, okay. I thought he was saying that like they didn't want to, that they were somewhere he wanted to go to that they didn't trade. No, no, no. For me, man, on these player team disputes, I'm kind of ambivalent. I don't really see, I always kind of always look at it as a victimless crime on either side. Anytime there's a big dispute between the players and teams, I'll generally side with the players just because it's millionaires versus billionaires. But at the end of the day, we're talking about either A,
00:32:01
Speaker
billionaires who have more money than we could ever actually even think about or be, you know, guys who are making, you know, if they're not millionaires, they're close to and they're getting paid just to play football for a living. So I don't really I don't really really get too passionate or shed too many tears on these, you know, player team disputes.
00:32:19
Speaker
Yeah, me neither. It is what it is. And no matter what, I don't, I don't know how the bears were going to come out looking good out of this. Like it's just, cause like I said, dude, half the fan base wanted them to keep him half of them. Very popular player, dude. Yeah. Polarizing. All
Favorite Football Stadiums Discussion
00:32:34
Speaker
right. And last one, this is from our main man, Zach history. He says, do you have a favorite football stadium pro or college? Doesn't matter.
00:32:44
Speaker
I mean, I'm going to always be pretty biased on this dude. I've got to go to Memorial Stadium to watch Husker games since I was a little kid. And every time someone else goes there, they just talk about how cool it is. So yeah, I'm pretty biased on this. Like I love going to Memorial Stadium on a Saturday to watch a Husker game. They might not be good anymore, but it's just, it's one of those things, man, you grew up on it and you just love going and the fans are passionate, man.
00:33:10
Speaker
They win three games and they're still 85,000 fans there, so you can never hold that over them. I will go with the old Georgia Dome. Rest in peace, man, or rest in pieces. I thought that there was just such a vibe there. Great location right there, downtown Atlanta, you know, from walking distance from the hotels and stuff.
00:33:31
Speaker
And just the home field advantage in there on a big Falcons game, like the energy was insane, man. Like just think about that. It was like the last 60 seconds before kickoff in that industry championship game against the Niners in 2012 that we were at, dude. It was just absolutely electrifying, man. They had such a strong home field advantage in that building and they really haven't had it since, man. I think they lost, they lost a little something big time when they moved to Mercedes Benz. I feel like
00:33:56
Speaker
the dome was a little bit more gritty and I feel like teams would be excited to come play at that new stadium, right? I don't think there's any sort of intimidation factor, man. It's so bright in there and it seems like it's... I haven't been in person, but seeing it on TV, it just looks so much more brighter and so much more spacious where the Georgia Dome was... I mean, it was a big ass place, right? It could hold 65,000 people, but it somehow felt tighter, man, and the roof was lower.
00:34:20
Speaker
and that sound in there just reverberated. So I'm going with the old Georgia Dome. That was just all time experience going to one of the big Falcons games in that building. The only 60 seconds I remember from that game is a 60 seconds you took to text me 30 minutes till New Orleans.
00:34:38
Speaker
It was a fact at the time and then of course, what do they do? They let us down, dude. And then we went and ate at Mellow Mushroom and they couldn't sell alcohol because it was past six o'clock. I just loved every second of that day. Yeah, brutal, dude.
Episode Conclusion and Next Preview
00:34:56
Speaker
All right, that's a wrap for this episode. The goal is a quick one. Like I said, just what we're kind of at the mercy of the the the winds of change in the offseason. This last two weeks, there really wasn't much going on. We thought doing them at the two week intervals, there would be enough meat to sink our teeth into between episodes. So, you know, every once in a while you may get a quicker episode like this, but talked about the Cardinals and the commanders. Give me just one sec. I'll tell I'll go and give you guys a preview which teams will be talking about on the next episode.
00:35:25
Speaker
So we did Washington and Chicago. Next episode will be the Chargers and the Giants. So we talked about the, uh, you know, Jim Harbaugh's new squad. Uh, Jordan hit us with some closing thoughts and we'll get out of here. Yeah, as always, man, we appreciate you guys listening. We'll, uh, we'll try to mix in some more sports here in the next couple of episodes, just to kind of keep these things flowing a little bit better. But, uh, yeah, again, thanks for listening and you guys have a good week.
00:35:52
Speaker
In a little district in a neighborhood People move and sweat like they think they should A word from your mouth, your lights get knocked out A glass to your lips, and later you move and slip And if you have to, don't trip I don't know how they manage But believe me, mister, they do
00:36:22
Speaker
If you ever live there, you just listen and don't be no fool. In a little district, in a neighborhood, people move in swift like they think they should. A word from your mouth, your lights get knocked out. A glass from your lip, later you're moved and tricked.
00:36:52
Speaker
No one asks no question, no one tells no lie. Listen to me.