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Goal Line: College Football ‘25, Schedule Notes, plus Vikings & Raiders
4 Plays8 months ago
The boys talk about their excitement around the reveal trailer for EA Sports College Football ‘25, highlight some big games and their travel plans from the NFL schedule release, and preview the 2024 Vikings & Raiders
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Transcript
Special Recording for Gold Line Podcast
00:00:15
Speaker
What is up, Gold Line listeners? We are back with a special afternoon recording of the Gold Line. Me and Jordan, there's a lot of busy, crazy stuff happening in life. And so we're not doing our normal Monday time slot. It's the middle of the day. You may hear my two little savages in the background, but it's going to be a fun show talking about the Vikings and Raiders and everything else happening in the world of football. But before we get to that, Jordan, what's going on with you, man?
Insurance Agent Challenges in Storm Season
00:00:38
Speaker
Oh man, it's a rough time to be an insurance agent in the Midwest. Let me say that it's a storm season and it's been a brutal one so far. So just trying to weather the workload per se. And then yeah, but I'm always ready to talk some football. So this will get me out of my work doldrums.
00:00:58
Speaker
Is this the is this the worst time of year for you guys like this? Like the transition from spring to summer and all the crazy ass weather you tend to get with that Yeah, but I mean usually it's not this bad like this has been This has been way worse than a normal spring storm season. So but yeah, this is by far the worst time
00:01:16
Speaker
That sucks, man. Yeah, so unfortunately, a little bit of a rushed recording this week, so we didn't get any listener mail. We'll make sure to get back on it for the next episode. We're going to be talking NFL schedule, and we're going to take a look at the Vikings and the Raiders for our prognostications for
NBA Finals Predictions Gone Wrong
00:01:34
Speaker
this season. So you ready to get into it? Let's do it.
00:01:43
Speaker
Hey, before we get into the football stuff, I think we both got a little egg on our face from Dublin down on our nuggets finals picks after the, uh, the last episode, man, that kind of blew up in our face. Yeah. The, the wolves just, I'm now such a good series. The T-wolves are just such a fast team and just leak out so quickly on offense.
00:02:04
Speaker
on every defensive rebound. So yeah, I mean, I still I don't think it was a bad pick to pick those two teams. The Celtics are probably going to make the finals. So at least we got one of them right. I would like to see the Wolves win at this point, though.
00:02:19
Speaker
Yeah, same. I mean, really, dude, the Mavericks won in 2011, Celtics won in 2008, and the Timberwolves and Pacers both looking for their first championship. So we got some fresh blood in there.
Rise of New NBA Champions
00:02:30
Speaker
And I think this is going to make the sixth straight year that we've had a new champion. And dude, if you really think about it, man, for
00:02:37
Speaker
like mining yours entire sports watching lives. That's never been the case in basketball, dude. It's always, there's always been like a reigning dynasty, man. Like, you know, it went from the Lakers and Celtics to the Bulls. And even the two years MJ took off, the Rockets won both championships. And then after that, it was, you know, the Lakers again. And then you had the Spurs, you had a couple of one-offs with the heat grabbing one, the Pistons grabbing one, but it was kind of Spurs Lakers again for the next five or six years. And then we had,
00:03:03
Speaker
the, the Warriors reign in Supreme, man. So it's, it's just totally different things. We actually have like a little bit of parody in the NBA for a change. It's fun, man. It makes watching the game that much better and it's good for the game. This has kind of been Seth said the other night, the death of the super team. I mean, these teams are just drafting young guys and they're drafting well with their top picks. And this is what you come up with.
00:03:27
Speaker
I still think the thunder are going to end up being the best team in the league within the next two years. Like shit. They still got like 12 first round picks out of that Paul George trade and all the other guys they traded. So yeah, it's
Oklahoma City Thunder's Future
00:03:39
Speaker
an exciting time. We see a, do you think we see them flip some of those assets for a big name to try to put them over the top this off season?
00:03:46
Speaker
It's tough because they definitely need a vet. They need one of their star players to be a vet. And we're not having one of those guys is kind of hurting them now. But on the other hand, they get these guys on rookie contracts for four years. And that's really helped them build their roster the way they have.
00:04:04
Speaker
I don't know, man, it's tough. Like I think the Thunder are building it the right way. But it's tough not to have a vet that can kind of steady the course, because I mean, in this series against the Mavs, like they just they kind of just fell apart. Like you just tell they were a young team and they didn't have a lot of experience. So I
Kevin Durant's Career Decisions
00:04:23
Speaker
don't know. Hear hear me out, man. Hear me out. So they got all these assets, young team just right on the cusp.
00:04:29
Speaker
There's this dude, plays out in Arizona, man, total malcontent. His legacy is kind of going sideways right now, man. Imagine Kevin Durant comes back home to Oklahoma City to get what that young squad they have right now and get the championship he couldn't win the first time around.
00:04:47
Speaker
I mean, it would be really cool, but the only problem is I think he's almost too old for that squad now, like the way they run their offense. And he has been struggling to stay on the court anyway. Like the way they run offense, man, if he played 50 games on that team, I'd be shocked, honestly.
00:05:04
Speaker
And dude, the thing about it is, man, again, you know, we're not in the locker room. All we can see is just, you know, what we see on TV and the glimpses through social media. It seems like the joy is just gone from Kevin Durant's game, man. Am I tripping on that dude? Or it just seems like he just seems miserable every time I see him. He made some bad decisions, man. I don't think him leaving OKC was a bad decision, but leaving the Warriors was
00:05:29
Speaker
Not a good decision at all. And now he just wants to keep teaming up with his friends. It's like, dude, who the hell is in this dude's corner that's not telling him, hey, man, stop going to where your friends go. The Kyrie thing didn't work. You went and play with your friends in Phoenix. This isn't working. Like, dude, just go to a fucking team and be part of the team. Like, you don't need to have a bunch of friends on the team. Yeah, I feel like.
00:05:53
Speaker
Yeah, well it's gonna be interesting to see what the the final few chapters of his career looks like for for OKC to me man
00:05:59
Speaker
If I'm, if I'm in that, you know, the, the head shed, the brain trust there, I'm definitely feeling the scars from, you know, the, the Katie James Harden, uh, Russell Westbrook years, man. Cause you know, they were, they were in this same spot before where you're the young team, but you feel like you're on the verge of maybe even being like a dynasty. That's the kind of talent you've amassed. And it just went sideways. You know, I feel like they've been so fortunate to, you know, as far as NBA goes relatively quickly, build it back up to, to something like that.
00:06:29
Speaker
I just felt like you got to take advantage, man, and try to get that ring for OKC. Yeah, I can see the similarities. The only thing is, on this team, as of right now, they only have one guy that I think is going to be a superstar. And that's SGA. He's arguably already a superstar. But I don't know, man. They just built this team.
00:06:54
Speaker
watching them against Dallas kind of showed like they have a ton of really good young role players but they don't have a lot of like Luca and Kyrie just took over that series like they just they just decided they weren't losing and that's all there was to it and the Thunder only have one of those guys that can just take over a game single-handedly like Chet is gonna be really good it's just I don't know if he's superstar good I think he's gonna be like all star good but not necessarily a superstar if that makes sense
00:07:24
Speaker
Got you. So I don't know, man, they, they got an interesting decision to make this off season. Cause there's a lot of star players that are rumored to be on the block or I mean, at least teams are open to trading them.
Excitement for NFL 2024 Schedule
00:07:36
Speaker
So, um, all right, let's, uh, let's talk some NFL schedule since that's the big news since the last time we talked. Um,
00:07:46
Speaker
So I'm just going to go through what ESPN says are the notable games of 2024. Cause we're not going to do a full schedule reveal. Like we don't need this to be a four hour episode. We're not going to predict every single game for the entire season right now. I don't think so. Damn it, dude. I stayed up all night preparing to do that. I bet you didn't.
00:08:05
Speaker
Um, all right. So we'll start with, uh, opening game of the season, Ravens at chiefs. I mean, this was kind of a no brainer for opening the season. Like the Ravens came into the playoffs, just steamrolling last year and lost to the chiefs at home. So I felt like this was kind of a no brainer for opening night. What'd you think?
00:08:24
Speaker
I wouldn't be surprised to see the Ravens going and win. We saw that last year. The Lions went in there and beat the Chiefs over the week. I feel like the Chiefs, they're only turning it up to like seven during the regular season, man. They're saving all their energy for the playoffs. So yeah, it's definitely going to be interesting. I'm excited to see what Derek Henry looks like in a
00:08:45
Speaker
in a, in a Ravens Jersey. Uh, and yeah, I'll go ahead and got an early prediction, man. I think the, uh, I think the Ravens going to go in there and get the win. Yeah. They're going to be tough this season. They finally addressed exactly what we've all been talking about for the last five years with Lamar. Like, dude, why are you not pairing a star running back with this guy? Like running the read option with the star running back would be unstoppable. Well, now we're going to get to see how unstoppable it actually is.
00:09:12
Speaker
Yeah, on paper it makes all the sense in the world. It's peanut butter and jelly. We'll see what it actually looks like. You know, what's the whistle blows for sure. All right, the second game of note they put on here Rams at Lions. I mean, that one kind of writes itself like Stafford going back to Detroit again, not in the playoffs, but I think that'll be a great game.
00:09:34
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, they're placking. They have, it's really good too. The Rams gave the lions everything they wanted in that playoff game. So yeah, that would definitely be exciting as long as Matthew Stafford stays healthy. I think he's, I think he's week to week from now until he retires. Luckily that's week one. These are, these are all the one, um, next game on here is Steelers at Falcons. Obviously Kirk cousins debut and Arthur Smith coming back to Atlanta. I mean,
00:09:59
Speaker
And Russell Wilson's debut at Steelers. Yeah. It's going to be an intriguing one. That's going to be a good one. Titans at bears is on here. Obviously Caleb Williams debut, the new look Titans. That's going to be interesting game too. I already see, I already see that the hype's going to be out of control when Caleb Williams goes and drops like 300 yards and three touchdowns against the Titans. Yeah. It's, it's going to be nauseating listening to it for a week. Jets at 49ers on Monday night football. I mean,
00:10:29
Speaker
Can Aaron Rodgers last longer than four plays? I mean, dude, against that defense, that's not exactly setting them up for success. Yeah, that's, that's a physical defense with just, you know, they don't get necessarily a ton of sacks, but I feel like they do a good job of generating consistent pressure on the QB man. And like, it just, it seems like QBs are never really super relaxed dropping back against that Niners defense. I mean, even Patrick Mahomes, for the most part, they kept him bottled up.
00:10:54
Speaker
until they were just wore out in overtime at the Super Bowl, man. So yeah, that's, that's, that's not the way you definitely not easing back onto the field. If you're in Rogers in that one. Yeah, for sure. Next one is the second Thursday night game. It's bills at dolphins. I mean, again, like this is going to be a rivalry as long as those two quarterbacks are the quarterbacks of their team. I feel like this one's always going to be a good game.
00:11:22
Speaker
I feel like the Dolphins really need to win that one, man. The Bills, I think, lost a pretty considerable amount of talent this offseason, man. And if the Dolphins truly want to take their place in the hierarchy there in the AFC East, they need to go in and handle their business in that early season matchup. For sure. Bucks at Lions. I don't really understand what's the hype around this one.
00:11:43
Speaker
This rematch from the playoffs, you know, they had a pretty good little playoff game. Bears at Texans. This is the over-hyped bowl of all over-hyped bowls. We'll see which team is more over-hyped. Eagles at Bucks. Obviously rematched playoffs last year. Chiefs at Niners. What week is that? It's October 20th. It doesn't give me what week it is, but I mean, they'll both be ready to go. Both have played six or seven games by then, so.
00:12:14
Speaker
Bears at commanders The old override machine is just rolling all over ESPN. I guess Like how is that who's excited for that? I feel like the commanders are gonna suck again. I don't understand that Chief so bad for Jay Dan was even getting drafted there man. Yeah Chiefs at Bills. I mean obviously By the best modern rivalry we got in the NFL 49ers at Packers
00:12:41
Speaker
Obviously, pretty much that's gonna be a good day. Yeah, that's a traditional rivalry as well. All right, and then we got the three Thanksgiving Day games bears that lions should be a banger. Yeah, Giants at Cowboys. Why do they keep putting the Giants on primetime games? Jesus, they're one of the most popular teams, dude. I know of us, man. But you could still put somebody else against the Cowboys like do we deserve three really good Thanksgiving games? I fucking hate it.
00:13:08
Speaker
Yeah, that's where they put it one of the NFC East games on there man I feel like you might as well just put like some throwaway game. That's maybe not quite as meaningful Because like I said everybody everybody's watching those games no matter what it does they could throw on the Panthers against you know The freaking Raiders dude, and it's still gonna draw ratings on Thanksgiving Yeah, and then the night game which usually the night game on Thanksgiving is usually a rivalry game So this one was kind of confusing to me dolphins at Packers and
00:13:38
Speaker
That, that one just doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Yeah. I mean, it'll be a good game I'm sure, but the dolphins play like shit when it's cold outside. So it could be a horrible game. Yeah. It's not a, not a traditional matchup at all. Um, then we've got the two Christmas day games reminder, Christmas is on a Wednesday this year. And these are on Netflix. I feel bad for these four teams, man. These guys, I think they're both playing, they're all four playing on Saturday, the week before.
00:14:04
Speaker
So they're at least getting three days, but dude, a Wednesday NFL game seems absolutely wild to me. And then they're off until a week and a half off. Yeah, they're getting an extra bye basically. Okay. You got Chiefs at Steelers in the early game, then you got Ravens at Texans in the late afternoon game.
00:14:26
Speaker
Okay, is the NFL just trying to end the NBA? Is that is that what's happening? Because forever corner they post up on their take it out. I'm waiting for the Super Bowl to be the same day as the All Star game. You know, I mean, like, just announce it, hey, whatever, whatever All Star Sunday is going to be, that's when we're doing the Super Bowl. Just nuke, you know that that's what he wants. Roger Goodell said he wants it to be the Sunday.
00:14:49
Speaker
the day before President's Day, which is always the all-star game. That's what he wants it to be. I would totally be in favor of that, dude. Yeah, because you get the baked in day off. Yeah. Yeah, they need to do that. And then the last game of that they highlighted on here was Lions at 49ers, which I'm guessing that's either that's week 17. So yeah, so that could end up being, you know, NFC that the by and the NFC can end up being being on the line and that would have both those teams do what we think they're going to.
00:15:18
Speaker
Yep. So I figured now we can talk about, um, like what our plans are for the season. If we're planning on going to any games or anything like that, I just, I kind of feel like that'd be a kind of a fun thing to do is let everyone know what we're going to do this season.
00:15:33
Speaker
Yeah, so you can go ahead and pencil me in. I'll be in Nashville for week three, the Titans and Packers. Me and my dad are both Titans fans. My dad's a diehard man. And then my brother is a big time Packers fan. So I think we're all going to get together and go to that one. That should be a good time noon game on Nashville. So maybe we'll think about probably going and staying in Nashville Saturday night and then going to the game Sunday. So I think
00:15:56
Speaker
That'll be it for me. Unless on the off chance, the Titans do make a, make a run to the playoffs and they got a big game into the season, uh, with, you know, some stakes on the line or anything to play in a playoff game in Nashville, might try to get in the house for that. Nice. Um, so I'm going week three to Atlanta. The chiefs come to town on Sunday night football. Um, one of the roofers, well, the main roofer I work with is a huge donor. The company's a huge chiefs fan.
00:16:22
Speaker
And he texted me on schedule release nine. He's like, yeah, we're going to this game. So we're going to go to that one. And then I'm also going to go to Vegas week 15 for the Raiders game on Monday night football week before Christmas. Perfect time to get out of town.
00:16:39
Speaker
Yeah, definitely man. So all right. And then what if they, uh, if they make the playoffs, you know, try to see if you can make it happen. It's been, we're going on, you know, seven years since we've seen a Atlanta Falcons playoff game. Yeah, I would probably try to make it happen. Um, depending on cost and where it's at, like if they're on a road game, um, probably not just cause dude going to a playoff road game is putting, uh, taking your life into your own hands, like, uh, depending on who they're playing. I mean,
00:17:07
Speaker
No, probably not. But yeah, if they play at home, I would consider going to it.
Critique of Super Bowl Venue Choices
00:17:12
Speaker
What? Where's the Super Bowl at this year? That's a good question. Let me look it up real quick. Super Bowl 2025. It is, God, New Orleans again. Gross. Absolutely disgusting that they keep using that cesspool.
00:17:36
Speaker
Yeah, outside of the amazing food. I'm not a huge fan of the city of New Orleans. So you got the next the next three are New Orleans, Santa Clara, the Niner Stadium, and then Inglewood at the Rams and Charger Stadium. I can't believe they're already running a Super Bowl back in LA like they were just there.
00:17:56
Speaker
I don't know, man. I don't like this rotation that they're on. Like I get it. There's only certain teams that can host a Super Bowl, but it's like, dude, we don't need to have it at the same four locations every single year. Like how is Vegas not already back in the ring? Apparently that was like one of the most successful Super Bowls last year in Vegas.
00:18:15
Speaker
I've always been a fan of dude just for the chaos of it I think whichever team was the Super Bowl the Super Bowl should be at their stadium the next year man Just give you that just on the off chance you make it all the way back. You got a little bit of baked-in advantage, dude That would be absolutely insane
00:18:30
Speaker
Wouldn't that be sweet though, dude? Just so you know, like, hey, if we make it back, it's going to be in our house, dude. And it's just like a nice little bonus reward for the fan base and stuff, man. I think that'd be kind of cool, dude. And we should have the Super Bowl everywhere. I don't like it always being perfect weather for the Super Bowl, man. I know sometimes it could suck when the weather's bad enough that it straight up changes the game. But that's football, man. I wouldn't mind. Dude, a Super Bowl in Lambo would be awesome, man. I know Green Bay's super tiny.
00:18:56
Speaker
it would put a real strain on all the logistics there, man. But I just think that would freaking rock. Dude, they are just, they're making the NFL. So it's so soft now. Like, dude, just like think about when we were kids, I don't ever remember even any game being postponed because of snow. And now it seems like it's an every year thing, dude. Like I get it, like the logistics of it and the NFL is only in business to make money. I understand it, but
00:19:24
Speaker
I don't know, man. There's just something weird about like Buffalo having to postpone an NFL game. Like that's part of their advantage is that's what they plan. And by postponing it and making it so it's not snowing during the game, like, dude, it's taking away the home field advantage portion of it. Yeah, I agree, man. Snow games rock, dude.
00:19:46
Speaker
Yeah, I'm with you. To me, that was the one thing about football. You know, unless there was lightning, the game was going to happen. Yeah, now it's like, oh, well, there's eight inches of snow. Are they playing tomorrow? I don't know, man, that kind of sucks.
00:20:02
Speaker
I agree, man. Any more NFL news? No, that was really it. The schedule was the big thing. I mean, that's kind of what we were all waiting on. So, yeah, I'm very this gets you like you have the draft, then you get the schedule and it's like, oh, shit, NFL is almost here. Like we it is upon us now.
00:20:20
Speaker
Yeah, we got maybe about 15 more Sundays, dude, and we'll be back in business with some football, man.
Return of NCAA Football Video Game
00:20:28
Speaker
I think the biggest thing that happened in the world of football this week, though, was the NCAA, or excuse me, the college football 25 by EA Sports, the trailer finally dropping, dude. How beautiful was that? Absolutely perfect. I cannot wait for this game to come out. I mean, 11 years since the last one, it's just we needed this so bad.
00:20:50
Speaker
Indeed it was such a hard kill when it went down last time it seems so hopeless like the president EA Sports was like straight up It's not coming back man like in his mind. There was no path to To get it back and obviously the whole landscape in college sports has changed so much in that time frame that you know I think I agreed with him at the time when he was kind of laying out all the facts on
00:21:13
Speaker
on why the game had to go away it made sense you know you're like shit yeah we really aren't getting this back to the point where NCAA 14 on PlayStation 3 or on Xbox 360 that game was selling for north of a hundred bucks dude it was averaging about 130 bucks sold for a while it was such a hot commodity to have that game and there's still been
00:21:32
Speaker
an active community online in the freaking decades since then, that has kept that game alive by modding it and creating roster files and stuff. So you could keep up to date with all the latest players in college football. Like, dude, just seeing the names on the back of the jerseys, man.
00:21:51
Speaker
It's so cool. I mean, dude, people don't remember like we used to have like, dude, I still play NCAA football 2004 on PS2. It's, you know, it's it's QB seven, man. That's that's like Marcus Vick on Virginia Tech, man. And, you know, it's RB 21 is freaking Frank Gore on the Hurricanes. Like you used to have to go in and manually type in all these names for the players when you wanted to name them. It was, uh, yeah, kids, these days, I think I'd be spoiled. But like that moment on the trailer when it was playing welcome to the jungle and then it kind of like seamlessly switched to the marching band playing it, which straight up goosebumps.
00:22:21
Speaker
Yeah, it's, uh, it's incredible to see how far it's come in 11 years, but yeah, I'm getting a day one. I'm going to have the early access and everything like that. Cause yeah, this is about as excited as I've ever been for a video game, to be completely honest with you.
00:22:38
Speaker
Yeah, the easily the most anticipated sports game of all time in the mix for most anticipated game of all time because dude, it's hard to understand because it's been gone so long, people used to get more hype for NCAA football than Madden dude like there was typically NCAA would be the better game, because they would be get a little bit more experimental on NCAA you'd see like new features.
00:22:59
Speaker
the year before they were in Madden, they'd be an NCAA testing them out and getting them just right. So just a huge deal. And I'm just glad it's actually coming out, man. And it looks like it's going to be really, really good.
00:23:12
Speaker
You know what? I'm going to take this even a step further. If this game is actually good, I will probably never buy another Madden game in my life to be completely honest. Like dude, because the way the stuff I've been reading on like news and message boards and stuff is there will be a way to import the new roster every year that they get new players and players graduate and stuff.
00:23:34
Speaker
I mean it sounds like you can buy this NCA game. I mean eventually it'll probably lose online support but it sounds like for at least four years if you buy this game you're good for the next four years because you can import rosters and stuff.
00:23:47
Speaker
That's cool, man. So I'm excited. I mean, the other good thing is, dude, if you, uh, you know, if you're like me and you get going deep into dynasty mode, all your players going to be gone in four or five years anyway, and it's going to be all fictional characters. Either way, dude, because dynasty man is just, it's the best. I love dynasty on NCAA, man. It's, it's so much freaking fun, dude. I remember I got the, uh, I built the Vanderbilt Commodores up on one, like nine seasons deep on NCAA 2004 made them just dominate in the sec. Yeah. And you can do an online dynasty with up to 32 people, which is pretty cool.
00:24:16
Speaker
Yeah, that'd be fun, man. So yeah, I'm excited, man. Good call on that. I kind of forgotten about that. It's just been, like I said, it's been a long couple of weeks. Yeah, I feel you. Well, I knew he was going to talk about it. I just want to save the best for last. You ready to get into our 2024 previews? Yeah, let's do it.
00:24:48
Speaker
One of these episodes, maybe we get into August timeframe, a little bit closer to the season. Once we know they're all revealed, we need to do another roundup of all the New Jersey's for 2024 and do our, our fashion police like we did last season. Okay. Since you just brought that up, we have to talk about one, the fucking Giants atrocity that they revealed last week. What on God's green earth was that?
00:25:12
Speaker
I have not seen him yet, so I'm about to get alive. Oh my god. Right here. Terrible. Oh. They thought that they looked at that and proofed it and everything and sent it through 20 or 30 people and thought, oh yeah, these are the ones. Those are fucking terrible. That looks like when you created a team on like Madden 2003, like that was the kind of, it was like some from NFL Europe, man.
00:25:40
Speaker
they're horrible like I don't even know why they
00:25:44
Speaker
They have great throwbacks already. Go rock the 80s throwbacks, dude. They look cool. They represent a time when the Giants were one of the powerhouses of the NFL. I mean, I get doing something different, but this is a swing and a miss. Dude, they have one of the most iconic, them and the Jets have two of the most iconic jersey combos, jersey helmet combos in the NFL. I don't understand why either one of those teams ever needs to do anything like this.
00:26:10
Speaker
Dude, just run your normal jerseys, your normal throwbacks out there. Everybody loves them. Yeah, those are. I'm glad you got. I'm glad you hadn't seen that and you just got a full reveal right when we were on air because those are God awful. When I saw those last week, I forgot to text it to you, but those are fucking bad. The whole design on him is just ugly, dude.
00:26:31
Speaker
Oh, dude, I hate tan pants to it. I don't know, man. It just it reminds me of that Leatherheads movie. Like that's all I can see when I see someone wear tan pants. Remember the Packers had to throw back what they tried to go for that day where they even had the brown helmets and stuff, too. Yeah, when they did the Acme Packers. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Let's get in with who you would be first, man. Vikings or Raiders? Let's do the Raiders.
00:26:59
Speaker
Alright, so starting off in the AFC Raiders had a crazy season last year they started off with Josh McDaniel possibly, you know, he's right there with Bobby Petrino and Urban Myers like most hated NFL coach of all time, but it got a little bit better once he got replaced with Antonio Pierce so they went eight and nine. Pretty interesting stat right here so they were 27th in offense last year 11th in defense man so the defense actually pulled their weight, but the offense was just absolutely dreadful.
00:27:24
Speaker
Ended up the 15th overall on point differential. So right there middle of the pack and they were four and six and one score game. So a little bit of room for improvement there. Uh, it looks like we're going to have a little bit of a battle between Gardner Minshew and Aidan O'Connell for starting quarterback under new coach Antonio Pierce. Wait, how do you see that, uh, that quarterback battle playing out? The fact that you're going into the season with those two options should say a lot about your franchise. Like
00:27:50
Speaker
I, I don't understand what they're doing, man. Like there was so many opportunities to get a quarterback this off season and they just, they were like, all right, we're just going to get Gardner Minshew and run it back with the same team. They drafted a fucking tight end in the first round. Like I just, I do not understand what these teams are doing, man. Like what Falcons have too many quarterbacks. The Raiders have no quarterbacks. I just, I do not understand what these teams are doing.
00:28:20
Speaker
So let me, let me read you a couple stats. Okay, this is off the last last 50 games. Okay, one, all right. So 49 games for Gardner Minshew. All right, he is thrown, he's got a QB rating of 90, 59 touchdowns, 24 interceptions. Okay. And you know where he's perceived that he's kind of perceived as like good backup, but you're never gonna let this guy actually run the show.
00:28:45
Speaker
Another guy, he has 58 touchdowns, so one less touchdown pass. 39 interceptions, so 15 additional interceptions, and his pass rating is only 85. Now Gardner-Minchuze was 90. Do you know who the second guy I was talking about is?
00:28:59
Speaker
I do not, but I'm sure it's going to be shocking. Trevor Lawrence. Oh, Seth's mid-season MVP, Trevor Lawrence. What do you mean? Keep in mind, the Jags got rid of Gardner Minshew to draft Trevor Lawrence, dude. That's kind of where the comparison comes from, but I mean, dude, like I said, Gardner Minshew is going to be battling just to get on the field with the Raiders. Trevor Lawrence, I'm pretty sure he's going to get
00:29:22
Speaker
a $200 million extension when his contract is up, man. I mean, I know numbers aren't necessarily everything, but that's pretty striking, dude. The dude's been more productive with less interceptions. And like I said, he's got to fight it out just to get on the field in Las Vegas. You know what's crazy too is, dude, Gardner meant you as much as we all make fun of him. He always falls into a good situation. Like no matter what, he's in a good situation. Like last year, he was backing up Anthony Richardson, which
00:29:51
Speaker
I still don't understand why the Colts didn't bring him back, honestly. As much as that team overperformed with him on the field, I guess I don't get it. And the fact that we've never seen Anthony Richardson finish a game. All four games he played he got knocked out of prior to the game ending. It's wild. I would have definitely brought him back if I was them. Now, do I think he's a full 17 game starter? No. But he's good enough to get you through, you know?
00:30:20
Speaker
Yeah, it's, uh, yeah, that's not good. That's not good though. Like when, when we're defending Gardner Minshew, because he's got to go into a QB battle against eight and O'Connell boy, things have really went poorly in Vegas.
00:30:35
Speaker
Yeah, and I kind of feel bad for Antonio Pierce. I don't know what the expectations there internally in Vegas, but it can't be great if this is what you're rolling out. How are you expecting to compete in a division where you got Patrick Mahomes and the two-time defending champs? Yeah, it's insane, man.
00:30:55
Speaker
I don't know. The Raiders have been out in the wilderness for a long time now, you know, they had that year Gruden got fired. You know, they had a decent little run that almost beat the bangles in the playoffs, but it's just, it's been weird there for really a couple of, since Rich Gannon left, man, like since Rich Gannon and, and Gruden dipped out of there the first time, dude, it's, it's been weird out in Oakland. Their defense is absolutely stacked though. I mean, they, they have a good defense and I mean, they got my favorite player in the NFL. I love Max Crosby. That dude is just a animal on the field.
00:31:26
Speaker
Yeah. So what do you, where do you see them going? I see them actually taking a step back from the eight and nine finish they had last year. Hmm. Um, I'm just, I don't see, I'm not seeing the improvement, man. Okay. Well, they got six games against the AFC West probably going O and two against chiefs, although they did beat them last year once. Yeah. Uh, chargers should be better. I'll just say they split with everybody. So they get three wins out of the division. I'll say they went nine games.
00:31:55
Speaker
Okay, so you say an improvement. I'm going to go, I'm going to go all the way six and 11, man. I feel like the quarterback position's a mess. There's not enough talent on the rest of the team for me to be like, well, they're going to win in spite of their quarterback, kind of like the Browns did last year. And then it's so, so rare that the interim coach thing ever actually works out, dude, when these teams get
00:32:16
Speaker
They get seduced by that little, you know, the little boost you get from taking over from the, the failing head coach for, you know, half a season or whatever. It's rare that it actually sticks and you keep that, that upward trajectory going. So I see them coming crashing back down to earth at about six and 11. I mean, it's definitely possible. I just think they're going to play hard for him and they actually do have some decent pass catchers now. Like I ripped on him for taking a tight end, but he is a generational tight end. I mean,
00:32:42
Speaker
They got Brock Bowers and Michael Mayer at tight end. Both those guys are really good. And then their top three receivers are Devontae Adams, Jacoby Meyers, and Michael Gallup. You can do a lot worse. Yeah, that is a hell of a group of weapons. But so much so I'll give them the ball, man. Yeah, no doubt.
00:33:00
Speaker
All right, we'll go up north to the Minnesota Vikings. So they went seven and 10 last year, 23rd on offense, 16th on defense. And they were 17th overall in point differential. It's kind of right there in the middle, right there where the Raiders were, six and eight in one score games. So out of their 17 games, they had 14 of them were one score games. These guys are definitely cardiac kids. I know they had a brutal come from behind win against Jordan's, George Falcons.
00:33:27
Speaker
new quarterback, man. A big, big story for them. Same coach keeping Kevin O'Connell, but they sent Kirk cousins pack. And after that torn Achilles and we got JJ McCarthy and man, what, what, you know, you're, this one's close to home for you, man. What do you think of them getting rid of Kirk cousins? I understood it. I got that. They didn't want to pay a quarterback. I said it before the draft. I think JJ McCarthy is going to be an absolute bust in the NFL though. Like
00:33:52
Speaker
I get wanting to draft a young quarterback, but I just don't see it, man. Like if you watch this stuff, he's going to be kind of like those, uh, those Alabama quarterbacks from, you know, six, seven years ago where they look decent, but you realize they're basically playing behind an NFL offensive line in college and they just, you know, they're not facing any real pressure. And yeah, I just, I, I, I'm with you, man. I don't know where all the hype came for him that, uh, that last couple months before the draft.
00:34:18
Speaker
I mean, he's good. He's a good decision making quarterback. The problem is, is Michigan wasn't winning games because JJ McCarthy was absolutely bawling out there winning games because they could run the shit out of the ball and their play action was absolutely deadly. Now, could Minnesota do those things? I mean, they did get Aaron Jones. So they got a good running game, at least you know that. But I don't know, man, that's that division is going to be brutal to do the Packers and Lions and then whatever the Bears do.
00:34:47
Speaker
I do not have a good feeling about Minnesota season this year. Yeah, same. I think it could go South. I think they actually, they overachieved a little bit last year. Cause you know, they actually got a little bit hot there. Um, after Kirk presence went down and they were still winning and then it got bad there towards the end. I think it's going to be a bad season for them and possibly Kevin O'Connell's head rolls off of this one, man. I don't think he should lose his job. They have done a terrible job at roster building this team. Their defense has been bad.
00:35:15
Speaker
give us the stats for the, for the team last year. As I said, they were 23rd on offense, 17th on defense. So they actually numbers wise, they bore out, but they seem like they blew a lot of leads. You know, we talked about that being six and eight. There were a lot of games where they just blew it down the stretch because the defense couldn't get one or two last stops to close it out. Yeah. I just, they definitely overachieved last year. Um, man, dude, if you're Justin Jefferson, do you really sign an extension with that team?
00:35:44
Speaker
That's what I was about to bring up, dude. I mean, to me, in the NFL so often, dude, you're going to see the guys just take the money, right? As soon as it's available to them and the Vikings will be able to resign them to that big deal for anybody else will. So I think if you're Justin Jefferson, you take it because receivers could always get traded anyways. We've seen that too, man.
00:36:02
Speaker
Just because you signed that big deal, you're not necessarily locked in, especially at the receiver position. But I think we're in the Vikings, man. Do you go ahead and resign this guy? Or do you kind of look at your trajectory right now and trade him away for picks, man, or whatever else you can get? I know it'd be extremely painful trading away a guy like Justin Jefferson who's got an extremely strong case to be. If he's not the best receiver in the league, he's like maybe number three at worst, probably is the best pure receiver in the league.
00:36:30
Speaker
I feel like if you're him, you got to take that money regardless of how happy you are about the situation. If I'm the Vikings though, do I go ahead and re-sign this guy or do I try to flip him for, if somebody's offering me three first round draft picks for him, do you take it?
00:36:43
Speaker
I mean, I think you do just because you're not in win now mode right now. Anyway, I, I just do not see how the Vikings would project themselves as being contenders right now. I mean, dude, for everything we rip on Kirk cousins about, he did drag that team a lot of weeks to the finish line. Yeah. Kirk cousins was balling, dude. He was, he, I mean, he's,
00:37:07
Speaker
Is he the top tier quarterback? No, but he's a very, very damn good. Yeah, I just, I don't know, man. I don't think Kevin O'Connell should get fired though, dude. I think they've done him a really bad disservice with the way they've built this team. I think they're going to score some points. I definitely think with Addison and Jefferson and Aaron Jones, they're going to score some points, but
00:37:30
Speaker
like what else though? Like, I mean, their defense ain't going to be able to hold a lead. I don't know, man. I just, I have my doubts about a lot of things about that team, including JJ McCarthy, which that's the biggest position to have a doubt. I'm, I got them going five and 12, man. I think they're five and 12 and I think they're last place in the NFC North. See, that's about what I was going to go to. And honestly,
00:37:56
Speaker
I don't think they're going to win a game in the NFC North dude. I think they're going to go like four and 13 honestly.
00:38:01
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's going to be very bad. And they're going to be, well, the good thing is if JJ McCarthy turns out to be a bus, they'll be picking at the top of the draft next year. Man, picking quarterback in the first round two years in a row. Good God. Who was the last thing we saw? Was the Cardinals the last thing we saw do that with Josh Rosen and Kyler Murray? Was that back to back years or was that two years? Was that two years? I thought it was back to back years before Kyler Murray, but I could be wrong.
00:38:32
Speaker
Let's see here. Josh Rosen NFL draft. I thought he, I thought it was the next year. Cause I know that's why it was there was a little bit of entry. Yeah. He was 10th overall by Arizona in the 2018 draft. And they took Kyler Murray first overall. So there is a precedent, but, uh, not a good one. Yeah. You're basically, you're basically setting that first round draft pick from the year prior on fire. That's funny. Cause I could easily see JJ McCarthy being like Josh Rosen.
00:38:58
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Kind of same kind of cut from the same jib, man. You know, like both like good, not great college quarterbacks and they just, for whatever reason, man, they started climbing up the freaking draft board right before, uh, right before it was time to start making picks. Yeah.
00:39:15
Speaker
All right, so that's a wrap for our product modifications, man. Jordan, do you get any closing thoughts before we wrap up this episode of Golan? Really got nothing, man. School's getting out this week and next week. Summer's starting. We got Memorial Day this weekend. This is an exciting time to be not only a fan of football, but just to be an American. This is an exciting time. Summer's starting. Get the barbecue out. Get in the pool. This is it right here.
00:39:45
Speaker
Get the big yeah tarps off one one season and if you ain't mowing the grass with it without your shirt on who are you doing? Come on, man. I don't care if you're a big dude or not. I'm a big dude Like dude, you don't need to have the tarp on while you're mowing Yeah, it gets connects you with nature dude. Sure Next episode give you guys a little tease. We'll be talking about two of Jordan's favorite things We'll be talking about the Broncos coached by Sean Payton. Oh boy, and the New Orleans Saints. Oh my god. Oh
00:40:15
Speaker
Alright, thanks everybody for tuning in. Until next time, this has been The Goal Line.
00:41:10
Speaker
Something makes me turn around and stay and I