Latest / The Ian Furness Show / Best of Ian Furness 9/24

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Best of Ian Furness 9/24 · The Ian Furness Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It's time for Ian's Daily Dose of NFL Football with
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Ross Tucker, host of the Ross Tucker Football Podcast and
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: NFL color analyst for both CBS and Westwood One, who
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: you can follow on social media at Ross Tucker NFL.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Brought to you by Northwest Handling Systems. From forklifts to
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  Speaker 1: at nwhs.com or give them a call at 425-255-0500.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Now, here's Ian with Ross Tucker. They'll be on the
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: call for CBS with Pittsburgh and Cincinnati on Sunday. He
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: joins us right now on the Beacon Plumbing Hotline. Big
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: thanks to Northwest Handling Systems. Hello, Ross Tucker.
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: How are you? I am doing fantastic, Ian. It is glorious, glorious.
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  Speaker 3: here in Pennsylvania. I got to enjoy it because we're
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  Speaker 3: about a month away from it not being glorious.
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  Speaker 2: You know what? We out here in Seattle know that.
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  Speaker 2: The difference in the not glorious is we don't see
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  Speaker 2: as much of that white stuff called snow, but we'll
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: see a little bit of rain here starting all too
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  Speaker 2: soon in the Pacific Northwest. By the way, just for
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  Speaker 2: our listeners, we are monitoring the news conference with the Seahawks. Ross,
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  Speaker 2: they bring out on Thursdays, for as long as I
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  Speaker 2: can remember, on Thursdays, it's a defensive player or two,
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  Speaker 2: and then the starting quarterback. And so we're waiting to see,
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  Speaker 2: is it Drew Locke or Sam Darnold they're bringing out?
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  Speaker 2: And it sounds like Sam Darnold's going to be speaking
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  Speaker 2: here in a couple minutes, which would lead us to
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  Speaker 2: believe that he may start this week. So we'll kind
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: of keep an eye on that. Before we get back
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: to the Seahawks game, let me just go back a
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  Speaker 2: week ago today. We were talking about going to Buffalo
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  Speaker 2: and watching that you were there. Former Bill in the
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  Speaker 2: brand new stadium. I mean, they look dominant over the
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  Speaker 2: the Lions who tried to battle back but couldn't stop them.
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  Speaker 2: What was the experience like in Buffalo last week? It
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  Speaker 2: looked sensational.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it really is an incredible visual. I think I
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  Speaker 3: posted a video when the Bills ran out on my
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  Speaker 3: social media, at Ross Tucker NFL, and I know this much.
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  Speaker 3: They have quite the pyrotechnics fireworks budget because– the fireworks
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  Speaker 3: kept going. I don't know what they give the fans
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  Speaker 3: such that all the fans had like lights, you know?
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  Speaker 4: Oh, nice. Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: It's almost like a, like a Taylor Swift concert or
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  Speaker 3: something where, you know, they could keep changing the lights
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  Speaker 3: wherever they wanted to throughout the stadium. So it was
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  Speaker 3: visually very appealing. And certainly when the final score is
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  Speaker 3: like 41, 31, I guess there were fireworks everywhere. on
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  Speaker 3: and off the field. So it was, it was, it
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  Speaker 3: was a lot of fun. It was cool to be
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  Speaker 3: there for the opening of it for sure. You know,
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  Speaker 3: I still miss the old stadium that I played in,
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  Speaker 3: but you know, this is part of life.
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  Speaker 2: The circle of life and the circle of stadiums is
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  Speaker 2: at some point they, uh, they, they go away. I
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  Speaker 2: love talking about the other teams around the league. We'll
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  Speaker 2: get to our team here in a second, but I, I,
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  Speaker 2: the NFC specifically for us, what's your read on Detroit,
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  Speaker 2: which has had a hell of a time stopping people
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  Speaker 2: this season.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's just that. I think that their
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  Speaker 3: offense is elite and going to keep them in every game,
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  Speaker 3: even with the offensive line injuries they've had. But unfortunately,
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  Speaker 3: their defense is just in a bad way. They're basically
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  Speaker 3: down three safeties now. I know we'll see Brian Branch
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  Speaker 3: at some point, but you hear some of these reports
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  Speaker 3: about Kirby Joseph and I mean, he sounds like a
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  Speaker 3: guy that might not play again. So that would be
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  Speaker 3: a big, big loss for them because he was a
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  Speaker 3: turnover machine a couple years ago. So I think they're
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  Speaker 3: struggling on the back end. They're more or less below
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  Speaker 3: average at every position back there, which obviously is something
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  Speaker 3: you guys wouldn't know anything about.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: For sure. Ross Tucker from the Ross Tucker Football Podcast.
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  Speaker 2: He's also with CBS Westwood One. Again, he'll be on
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  Speaker 2: the call this weekend for Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. You can
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: follow him on at Ross Tucker NFL, at Ross Tucker
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  Speaker 2: NFL on social media as well. Joining us in the
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  Speaker 2: Beacon Plumbing Hotline. The early returns two games in are
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  Speaker 2: interesting around the league. And just if I stay in
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  Speaker 2: the NFC for a second. Tampa Bay at 0-2. How
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  Speaker 2: surprised are you with that and with what's going on there?
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  Speaker 2: Baker Mayfield, that big contract and sitting there at 0-2
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  Speaker 2: so far and losing to Cleveland of all teams. Things
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  Speaker 2: can't be going well down there at Raymond James Stadium.
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  Speaker 3: Well, it was a big missed opportunity in week one
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  Speaker 3: because you could argue they outplayed the Bengals, but they
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  Speaker 3: fumbled four times, including a couple times Baker Mayfield. One
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  Speaker 3: was down near the goal line going in. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: that would have been a really nice opening victory for
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  Speaker 3: them that they unfortunately were not able to get. And
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  Speaker 3: I don't know. You know, everybody prepares the same and
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  Speaker 3: You should be as ready as always, but I wonder
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  Speaker 3: if they watched that Browns tape against the Jaguars and
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  Speaker 3: the Browns looked so bad in that game and the
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  Speaker 3: Jaguars beat them so easily. I wonder if they were
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  Speaker 3: maybe a little bit overconfident going into that one because
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  Speaker 3: they didn't play very well. They just seemed out of
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  Speaker 3: sync on offense. You know, a new coordinator... They don't
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  Speaker 3: have Mike Evans anymore. There's just changes there that they're
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  Speaker 3: working through.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: Ross Tucker joining us. I'm going to lean on your
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  Speaker 2: expertise as a former player with two things Seahawks related.
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  Speaker 2: We believe now since he's talking, he hasn't said anything
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  Speaker 2: definitive yet, that Sam Donald's going to play this weekend.
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  Speaker 2: against the Washington Commanders. There was talk, and there's always talk,
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  Speaker 2: and it's good sports radio fodder, good podcast fodder, Ross,
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  Speaker 2: as you can imagine, about what to do. Boy, is
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  Speaker 2: he 100%? Do you maybe sit him out one more
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  Speaker 2: week because you're going against a team and the Commanders
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  Speaker 2: are struggling? They lost Jaden Daniels and all that. You're
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  Speaker 2: sitting in that locker room, and you've got a competent
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  Speaker 2: coach maybe even more than competent backup quarterback in Drew Locke.
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  Speaker 2: What goes through players' minds in that regard? I don't
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  Speaker 2: think teams ever think about, hey, let's sit him one
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  Speaker 2: more week because the NFL season is so short and
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  Speaker 2: such a sprint. But what's going on in the minds
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  Speaker 2: of the players in the locker room in terms of
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  Speaker 2: those decisions being made?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, the truth is when you're actually a
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  Speaker 3: player on the team, you just know that there's nothing
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  Speaker 3: you can do about it. You don't control it, and
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  Speaker 3: you're just so focused on on your job, you know,
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  Speaker 3: what you need to do, right. No matter who the
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  Speaker 3: quarterback is, but from our perspective, talking about it or
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  Speaker 3: a conversation, the coaching staff, and maybe along with John
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  Speaker 3: Snyder has is, is he truly a hundred percent, right? Because,
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  Speaker 3: and what would one more week sitting out, you know,
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  Speaker 3: what would that look like? Because drew lock has played
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  Speaker 3: well and they have been able to win the games.
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  Speaker 3: And I think, you know, they probably rightfully believe that
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  Speaker 3: they can win this game as opposed to Sam Darnold.
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  Speaker 3: So if he spoke today and if he plays Sunday,
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  Speaker 3: they must feel really good about where he is because
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  Speaker 3: it would seem to me to not really make any
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  Speaker 3: sense to have him go out there anything less than 100.
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  Speaker 2: And that and by the way as you're saying that
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  Speaker 2: it kind of goes to what you just said he
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  Speaker 2: wasn't definitive he's not committing that he is uh so
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  Speaker 2: there he said he's striving to play this weekend which
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  Speaker 2: goes back to what you said it probably is more
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  Speaker 2: of a decision you've talked to enough gms and coaches
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  Speaker 2: and been around this game forever it probably if i'm
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  Speaker 2: reading you right here ross from what you would probably
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  Speaker 2: think is going through the minds of john schneider and
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  Speaker 2: and and Mike McDonald and the training staff, it doesn't
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  Speaker 2: have as much to do with the opponent in a
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  Speaker 2: week three game as much as are you ready to go?
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  Speaker 2: Are you physically 100%? Although, God, I mean, are you
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  Speaker 2: guys in the NFL ever 100% after the first week
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  Speaker 2: or two?
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  Speaker 3: They're starting to get to that point where the answer
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  Speaker 3: is no. They're starting to get to the point where
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  Speaker 3: it's like, if you are a hundred percent, what have
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  Speaker 3: you been doing? You know, you were inactive doing this
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  Speaker 3: whole time.
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  Speaker 2: You're inactive for two weeks.
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  Speaker 4: I really, I do think it's funny.
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  Speaker 3: Because I think for coaches at times, it is as
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  Speaker 3: black and white cut and dry as this guy's available
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  Speaker 3: or he's not available. And the doctors tell us he's available.
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  Speaker 3: So he's playing. If he's not available, then he's not playing.
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  Speaker 3: But I do think, that's where there's sort of a
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  Speaker 3: marriage between the front office and the coaching staff and saying, okay, yes,
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  Speaker 3: he's available, but that doesn't.
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  Speaker 4: Mean you have to use him.
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  Speaker 3: So I'm sure they've talked through it. You know, what
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  Speaker 3: you don't want to do, the other thing would be, okay,
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  Speaker 3: so Drew Locke's played pretty well so far, but you
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  Speaker 3: don't want to lose a game to the that you
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  Speaker 3: would win if you had a healthy Donald out there. Yes.
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  Speaker 3: But you don't put him out there because you're trying
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  Speaker 3: to save him. They don't like that either. So that's
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  Speaker 3: what they're trying to figure out. And, you know, maybe
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  Speaker 3: Sam's talking because there's a chance he'll start. And so
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  Speaker 3: they want, you know, he's getting the reps and they'll
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  Speaker 3: see how he feels. I mean, it's a good sign
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  Speaker 3: that he's talking today because that must mean he felt
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  Speaker 3: pretty good Today after practicing yesterday.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and by the way, for our listeners, we'll play
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  Speaker 2: his comments coming up at 1 o'clock today here on
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  Speaker 2: the radio station. Ross Tucker joining us. All right, leaning
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  Speaker 2: again on your expertise as a former lineman, Anthony Bradford,
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  Speaker 2: the right guard, is going to be out for the
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  Speaker 2: next four games at least. He's on the injury reserve list.
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  Speaker 2: He's got a couple little things, a knee and a hip,
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  Speaker 2: bothering him. So they've got, last week against the Cardinals,
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  Speaker 2: they rotated two guys, Christian Haynes, who is a fourth-year
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  Speaker 2: player from UConn, never really has established himself, and they've
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  Speaker 2: given him a lot of opportunities. But he played, as
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  Speaker 2: did Bo Stevens, their fifth-round pick from Iowa this year.
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  Speaker 2: And they rotated those guys, Ross, every couple of series.
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  Speaker 2: Everything I've ever been told about playing offensive line is
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  Speaker 2: that it just doesn't seem like it's optimal because so
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: much work together, so much chemistry together, and if you're
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: in and out of the lineup, even in a particular game,
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  Speaker 2: I just wonder what that does to your right tackle,
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: to your center, maybe the rest of the offensive line.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: And it sounds like they may go with that plan
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  Speaker 2: again this week where they're both going to get opportunities
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  Speaker 2: to play. How challenging is that for the rest of
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  Speaker 2: the offensive line?
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  Speaker 3: Well, it's not ideal for the center and right tackle
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  Speaker 3: for sure. And it's not ideal for those two guys.
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  Speaker 3: I actually did that my sophomore year in college where
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  Speaker 3: we rotate every series. And then I did that. For
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  Speaker 3: a couple games, maybe my fourth year in the NFL
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  Speaker 3: with the Buffalo Bills. And I don't know, I think
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  Speaker 3: as much as anything, they try to do that when
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  Speaker 3: it really hasn't declared itself yet.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: And they want to give the guys the chance to
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  Speaker 3: make it very clear who deserves what, you know, who
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  Speaker 3: deserves to be. in what spot. And so I don't
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  Speaker 3: think they'll do it for all four games, but maybe
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  Speaker 3: it wasn't evident enough in, you know, the game last
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  Speaker 3: week against Arizona. I will say it really is valuable
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: for Haynes and Stevens to get these reps and it
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  Speaker 3: is a long season. So, you know, theoretically something could
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: happen as able or whatever. And Who knows? They're a
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: play away from both those guys being out there, and
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  Speaker 3: so maybe they want them both to get some playing time.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I can see that. Ross Tucker, host of the
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: Ross Tucker Football Podcast, color analyst for both CBS and
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: Westwood One. Follow him on social media at RossTuckerNFL. Boy,
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  Speaker 2: it feels like it's a tough year to be a quarterback, Ross.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: Maybe this is just the norm, but you look through
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: the first two weeks, all the injuries throughout the league,
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: whatever's going on with Caleb Williams, obviously the situation in Minnesota,
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  Speaker 2: although it looks like Kyler's back this week. Jay Daniels
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: out again for Dan Quinn's Washington team and go through
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: the list of guys. Is it normal? It feels like
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: these guys are going down a little bit. Darnold, I
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: didn't even mention our guy, Sam Darnold. Tough year for
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  Speaker 2: quarterbacks already.
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  Speaker 4: It is. It's unfortunate.
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  Speaker 3: Darnold and Dart, it was contact injuries. They got hit
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  Speaker 3: and Darnold was trying to avoid something. you know, the,
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  Speaker 3: the one with Daniels that just felt fluky and unfortunately
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: a by-product of him having had that injury before. And,
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: you know, for Caleb Williams, just a hamstring non-contact. So
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: it really, it, it just shines a light in on
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  Speaker 3: why they try so hard to to protect those guys
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: because picture you're a Giants fan.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I was just going to ask.
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  Speaker 3: You about that. You're just like, yeah, you had so
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: much enthusiasm coming in the year and excitement. And then,
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: you know, dark played so well in the opener and
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: you beat the Cowboys and this year is different. And
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: we've got these young skill guys. And then it's just
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: like all hope and excitement for the season is just gone.
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: And it's, It's nobody's fault. It's just unfortunate. Now, you know,
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: maybe dark shirt throwing the ball away earlier. What, you know,
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: we can make those discussions and not taking the hit
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: that he did, but quarterback take hits in pockets a lot.
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: It's not like he was being reckless, you know, trying
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: to run somebody over down the field or whatever. So it's,
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  Speaker 3: it stinks. It's not good for business, not good for
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: the giants business of winning or people in the stands
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: or people watching the game. The same for the commanders.
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: You know, it's kind of like they had so much
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: excitement two years ago when Daniels was a rookie and
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: they went to the NFC championship game. And now it's
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: like a here we go again situation. It's just it's
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: the thing that is the worst thing for the sport.
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: And it's a big reason why the NFL tries to
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: protect those guys. But they can only do so much.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: Ross, I'm not sure what's worse, to have your quarterback
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: who you believe is your franchise quarterback go down early
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: in the season, as you said. I mean, honestly, for
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: the fan bases. It's just like you do. How do
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: you still have hope if you're a Washington fan at
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: 0-2 and now he's hurt, or if you're a Giants fan,
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: Harbaugh comes in, Scataboo's healthy, getting that D-line going, you're
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: excited about that, boom, that happens. I don't know if
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: that's worse, or if you're a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, you're there,
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: you got the game this week. Boy, Aaron Rodgers... And now, Ross,
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: I'm going to say this, just so you know the
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: context we have here in Seattle. There is still some
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: bitterness from the Super Bowl in Detroit all those years
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: ago towards the Steelers from Seahawks fans here. So everyone
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: enjoys seeing the Steelers struggle here. But watching Aaron Rodgers
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: try to play quarterback at his age, that's a hard watch, Ross.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: That is a really hard watch right now.
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: Well, the Steelers' offense is a hard watch.
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: And so, I mean, they've got a really bad combination
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: right now. where they can't run the ball at all,
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: and the O-line's not really holding up in pass pro.
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: They got guys coming free at Rodgers way too often,
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: and then the receiving quarters isn't very good. I don't
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: know how much, you know, the folks out there in
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: Seattle have been.
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  Speaker 4: You know, following it, but, I.
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: Mean, they can't, you know, DK Metcalf has probably been
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: the most inefficient, ineffective receiver receiver in the league so far.
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's been really, really bad. And so you're
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: dealing with that, which obviously isn't good. And then the
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: other receivers, you know, Michael Pittman didn't even play last week.
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: The other receivers aren't really very good. So it's just,
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: it's all around bad. I will say it's only two
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: games and we always want to make proclamations and this
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: team is that, and that team is this, you know,
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: There were four teams that lost by over 20 points
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: in week one that won in week two. So, you know,
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: right when you think you have it all figured out
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: or you know what's going on, most of the time
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: the NFL will show you that you don't. So I'm
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: personally expecting a better performance from the Steelers offense on Sunday.
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: Ross, Aaron Donald played 33 snaps in his first game
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: back after his two-year retirement. What did you think of
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: his game and how he looked?
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: Oh, he looked pretty darn good.
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: Damn it. I didn't want you to say that. Nobody
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: wanted you to say that out here, Ross. We were
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: not wanting you to say that. I was hoping for
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: a different answer.
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I don't know. I don't know that
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: I'm ready to say he looked like the old.
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  Speaker 4: It's funny.
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: He can either look like The old Aaron Donald or
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: he can just look like.
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: Old Aaron Donald. Like old Aaron Rodgers.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I got you.
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: I thought he looked closer to the old Aaron Donald
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: than old Aaron Donald. You know, he wasn't defensive player
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: of the year caliber out there, but certainly gave them
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: a boost and they looked a lot better, a lot
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: better on that side of the ball.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you've got to pay attention to him now, and
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: that makes everybody else around him, whether he's old Aaron
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: Donald or the old Aaron Donald, it doesn't matter. You've
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: got to pay attention to him. Quick final thought from
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: you on your game. I mentioned the Steelers, Bengals 2-0. Joe,
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: we just talked about quarterbacks. That's a weird team, right?
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: If Joe Burrell's healthy, they feel like they're a pretty
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: good football team. That's strange. Good quarterback, good team.
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: Well, and the big story for them is actually their defense.
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: I mean, they were one of the worst defenses in
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: the NFL last year. bottom five in most categories. And,
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: you know, I have been saying in the preseason, if
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: they were just okay on defense, if they were just
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: not bottom five, well, so far it's only two games,
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: but they're top 10 defense. And so that really gives
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: them a chance to do something special this year. If
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: they can continue to get that type of production from
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: the defensive side of the ball, you know, the guy
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: that leads the NFL defense, And quarterback pressures right now
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: is 11. Is your guy Boye Amafe?
• 19:07
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: He's got 11 pressures already in just two games.
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: That's amazing.
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: I mean, and they, you know, Seattle made that decision
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: to let him walk and commit to Derek Hall. It's
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: early in the process. And Derek's looked fine as well. But, yeah,
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: good to see. Boye's a good dude, man. I'm hoping
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: he has success back there for those guys. All right.
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: Tell us about what you got going on. Of course,
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: there's the Ross Tucker Football Podcast and so much more.
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: You can follow him at RossTuckerNFL. What else you got
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: going on?
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the social is cool. I appreciate those
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: of you that... I forget, is sports betting legal out there?
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: It is in the casinos, and our show happens to
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: be sponsored by the Snoqualmie Casino and Sportsbook and Hotel.
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: So yes, there it is. Yes, our listeners are up
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: at Snoqualmie. every weekend.
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: Love it. So if you want NFL betting advice, it's
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: called the Even Money Podcast. If you want college football
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: betting advice, it's called the College Draft Podcast, both of
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: which are available everywhere, including YouTube.com slash Ross Tucker NFL.
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: I probably need to go listen to that myself, being
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: as I've donated quite a bit already to Snoqualmie Casino.
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: But again, they're a great sponsor, so what the hell.
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: That's what works out. Hey, have a great call on
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: Sunday on CBS, and we'll talk to you next week, sir.
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: Sounds great.
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: Thank you, Ian.
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: That is Ross Tucker from the Ross Tucker Football Podcast.
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: Color analyst on both CBS and Westwood One. Follow me
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: at Ross Tucker NFL. And as always, a huge thanks
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: to our friends at Northwest Handling Systems for bringing us
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: Ross Tucker, Northwest Handling Systems. Eric Gordon, man, that dude
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: does so much for our radio station and what they've
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: got going on. And I love everything about them. So
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: big thanks to Northwest Handling Systems. Hey, by the way,
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: They have everything from forklifts to pallet racks, conveyors to
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: loading dock equipment. Sell, rent, and service all your warehousing needs.
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: Request a quote today. NWHS.com. Give them a call.
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: 425-255-0500.
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: More to come, including we'll hear from Sam Darnold. Top
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: of the hour, 93.3 KGRFM.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: It's time for our weekly visit with Eno Saris of
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: The Athletic, the best baseball insight you'll get from a
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: nerd with big league hair. He likes picks of grips, food,
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: and beer, while always dreaming up the next big baseball step.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: Brought to you by Georgetown Brewing. Brewed with Northwest ingredients
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: in Seattle's historic Georgetown neighborhood. Featuring local favorites like Manny's
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: Pale Ale, Bodhi Zappa IPA, and Georgetown Tavern Beer. Available
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: in the taproom seven days a week and throughout the region.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: Look for Georgetown Tavern Beer at T-Mobile Park and ask
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: for yours today. Now with Ian, here's Eno.
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: All right, we're going to connect with Eno in a second.
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: Just a couple little phone things we're dealing with. I'm
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: just looking here at the tap list, the fresh sheet,
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: they call it, down at Georgetown Brewing. I'm looking to
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: see if this is important stuff, Ash. Just relax here.
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: Just relax. You're talking about beer. I find it very important.
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: It's very important.
• 22:03
  Speaker 6: And Georgetown beer, nonetheless.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: Nothing that I see yet says fresh hop.
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: So I've got to text in to find out because
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: Eno Saris joins us right now on the Beacon Plumbing
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: Hotline brought to you by Georgetown Brewing. Hello, sir.
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: How are you? Doing great.
• 22:18
  Speaker 5: I do love the Fresh Hop, so let me know
• 22:20
  Speaker 5: when the Fresh Hop is there, and I'll jump on
• 22:22
  Speaker 5: a plane.
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: I was just going to ask you if you like that.
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: For beer aficionados, Fresh Hop season out of the beautiful
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: Yakima Valley, about three hours east of us, is massive.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: And I had one last night called Little Beast Brewing.
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: It was fantastic.
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: I'm sure Sean won't mind if I mention them. But, yeah,
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: they do the Fresh Hop. Bodhisattva, which has kind of
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: turned into their most successful beer. You know, when that
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: fresh-hopped Bodhisattva comes on, it's on and off, like, within
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: 24 hours. So I'm kind of on point. I'm kind
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: of on point waiting for that. We'll keep you updated.
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: In the meantime, a big thanks to our friends at Georgetown.
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 22:59
  Speaker 4: Yes, yes.
• 23:00
  Speaker 5: It's fun because if some people think that beers are
• 23:04
  Speaker 5: getting a little bit fruity or sweet, Fresh Hop is
• 23:08
  Speaker 5: not that.
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: No, no, no, no, no. It's a little closer to
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: what you would find at Sean Kemp's store down the street, Ashley,
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: if you know what I mean. I do know what's there. Okay.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: Got that little stank to it, as they say, along
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: the way. I've got a score update for everybody. We
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: are in the bottom of the sixth inning. Two out,
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: two on for the home team, Texas Rangers, who now
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: lead the New York Mets 3-1.
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: In that game.
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: And remember, a Rangers win will officially eliminate the Mariners
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: from the postseason. You know, there's still a hope, though.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: If the Mets come back and the Rangers lose out
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: and the Astros lose out and the Mariners win out, hey,
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: they're in, baby. They're in. There's still hope here.
• 23:51
  Speaker 5: That would be extremely– well, I guess not backing in
• 23:55
  Speaker 5: for them, but I guess it would be an AL.
• 23:59
  Speaker 4: West type of ending.
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: I was going to say, would that not just be
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: typical of how the AL West is this year along
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: the way?
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: Yeah, exactly.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: So bad. Hey, let me get to a couple things.
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: You've done a few things on the Rates and Barrels podcast.
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: I don't think you've done one for Seattle yet, like
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: why Pittsburgh missed the playoffs or why these teams missed
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: the playoffs. But I'll just kind of ask you on
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: the surface. Whether it's this game that finishes off today
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: or whether it's later tonight, if the Athletics beat the Astros,
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: the M's lose, the Angels, whatever it ends up being,
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: when it's all said and done, why did the Mariners
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: miss the playoffs this year?
• 24:33
  Speaker 5: Well, we actually did do this. It was called Closing
• 24:34
  Speaker 5: the Tab. And what we found was that no other
• 24:40
  Speaker 5: team in baseball had three players that missed their preseason
• 24:44
  Speaker 5: projections by as large as the trio of Julio Rodriguez,
• 24:50
  Speaker 5: Cal Rowley, and Colt Emerson. Now, Cole Emerson has a
• 24:54
  Speaker 5: whole different story.
• 24:55
  Speaker 4: He's a young guy.
• 24:56
  Speaker 5: You don't believe those projections as tightly, and he had
• 25:00
  Speaker 5: an injury, so that's explained. But the other two, they
• 25:04
  Speaker 5: shoulder this burden. That is a big part of it.
• 25:07
  Speaker 5: On top of that, you've got just a team that
• 25:10
  Speaker 5: underperformed their projections as a whole on offenses. You know,
• 25:14
  Speaker 5: came up short of when you look at how every
• 25:19
  Speaker 5: unique player did, you'd expect them to have scored more runs.
• 25:21
  Speaker 5: So a little bit of luck there. The other part
• 25:25
  Speaker 5: is the ongoing conversation we've had about what's going on
• 25:28
  Speaker 5: with the home road splits on the pitching side and
• 25:31
  Speaker 5: what's going on in particular with like George Kirby.
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: Brian Wu. You know, what what what are we learning
• 25:37
  Speaker 4: from that?
• 25:39
  Speaker 5: About the Mariners coaching, about how much their park has
• 25:43
  Speaker 5: affected our ability to see their staff clearly.
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: So that's something that we talked about.
• 25:50
  Speaker 5: But one of the things that we didn't talk about
• 25:52
  Speaker 5: that we should have talked about that I think is
• 25:54
  Speaker 5: actually the hardest thing.
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: To fix is this.
• 25:58
  Speaker 5: They pushed defense to the side in order to increase
• 26:03
  Speaker 5: the offense. And they were one of the worst defensive
• 26:07
  Speaker 5: teams in the big leagues this year. So I don't
• 26:11
  Speaker 5: know how that gets fixed. I, you know, I think
• 26:15
  Speaker 5: part of it is a healthy Colt Emerson, you know,
• 26:18
  Speaker 5: at shortstop is better than what GP Crawford was giving
• 26:21
  Speaker 5: us defensively.
• 26:21
  Speaker 4: Near the end of his tenure there.
• 26:25
  Speaker 5: And, you know, I think that you have to start
• 26:29
  Speaker 5: talking about maybe moving Julio off of center and, Um,
• 26:33
  Speaker 5: and then you're talking about a bounce back here from Cal.
• 26:36
  Speaker 4: If you do that, at least.
• 26:37
  Speaker 5: You're good up the middle, you know, by pushing Julio
• 26:40
  Speaker 5: to a corner, then you'll actually, he'd be good in
• 26:43
  Speaker 5: a corner. He's just, he's just iffy in the center,
• 26:45
  Speaker 5: I think at least by the metrics. Um, I think
• 26:48
  Speaker 5: there are ways to improve it, but it may cost
• 26:51
  Speaker 5: you D it may cost you some offense because now
• 26:53
  Speaker 5: you're going to put Julio in a corner and you're
• 26:55
  Speaker 5: going to.
• 26:55
  Speaker 4: Put Victor robots in center. Who are you going to
• 26:57
  Speaker 4: put in center?
• 26:58
  Speaker 5: So it's not going to be somebody who has a
• 27:00
  Speaker 5: lot of offense. You're also losing some offense and Randy Rosarito. So,
• 27:04
  Speaker 5: you know, it's a, it's an interesting puzzle to try
• 27:08
  Speaker 5: and put together. And I don't think that anything.
• 27:10
  Speaker 4: Here is like, Oh my God, fire everyone, you know?
• 27:14
  Speaker 4: But I do think that, you know.
• 27:16
  Speaker 5: Figuring out how to retain the offense, maybe even improve
• 27:19
  Speaker 5: the offense while improving the defense and figuring out what's
• 27:23
  Speaker 5: going on with pitching staff.
• 27:25
  Speaker 4: That's a, that's a fair amount of questions to answer
• 27:26
  Speaker 4: in one off season.
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: So one of the things that, and it just, this
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: is what I'm trying to wrap my arms around. Like,
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: like how it makes sense. Your strength of your baseball
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: team should be, and it wasn't necessarily this year, but right.
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: It should be your starting staff, your starting rotation. Yet
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: you're taking one of their, one of your strengths away
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: or hurting that strength a little bit. When you made
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: that decision to trade some offense for a lack of defense, right?
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: Like I just, That part I'm trying to, because it
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: just feels like it's counterproductive. It's like, okay, maybe, and
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: by the way, we all know that the offense was
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: not good this season, and so that didn't work. But
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: the philosophy, explain how the philosophy even makes sense. Like, hey,
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: Logan and George and you guys, I know anybody who
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: wants to pitch to contact, that may not be a
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: good thing because all of a sudden we're deficient defensively.
• 28:19
  Speaker 5: It's a great point because how well your pitching staff
• 28:22
  Speaker 5: does and your defense are intertwined in such a way
• 28:26
  Speaker 5: that it becomes really hard sometimes to even assign value
• 28:31
  Speaker 5: to the pitcher.
• 28:32
  Speaker 4: Like on a ball and play, that's a team out.
• 28:36
  Speaker 5: Everybody came together and made that out. The pitcher had
• 28:38
  Speaker 5: something to do with it. The defender had something to.
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: Do with it. Two defenders probably. The first baseman had
• 28:42
  Speaker 4: something to do with it.
• 28:44
  Speaker 5: That's what's, that's one of the core difficult questions in
• 28:47
  Speaker 5: analytics is, and it, and it affects a lot of
• 28:50
  Speaker 5: people because you end up talking about fan grass war
• 28:53
  Speaker 5: based mostly on strikeouts and walks and homers, because that's
• 28:56
  Speaker 5: what the pitcher commands. And, you know, people like that
• 28:58
  Speaker 5: doesn't make any sense. You know, pitchers have some control
• 29:01
  Speaker 5: over balls and play and they do, but the.
• 29:03
  Speaker 4: Defense is part of it too.
• 29:05
  Speaker 5: So, yeah, but I would just say that it's really
• 29:08
  Speaker 5: hard to improve your defense and your offense. And they
• 29:13
  Speaker 5: were forced with like, well, we need to have a
• 29:16
  Speaker 5: better offense. So you're like, Dominic Canzone, we love you.
• 29:19
  Speaker 5: Oh my gosh, you're so good. You have all this power.
• 29:22
  Speaker 5: You're great against righties.
• 29:24
  Speaker 4: We need you. Oh, you're not good in the outfield.
• 29:31
  Speaker 5: And it sucks because he's young enough that you think,
• 29:34
  Speaker 5: oh no, just put him in the outfield. That didn't
• 29:37
  Speaker 5: seem to be the case. Cole Young, like you're so
• 29:40
  Speaker 5: happy to have like a league average player at second base,
• 29:43
  Speaker 5: league average offense.
• 29:44
  Speaker 4: Great year, Cole Young. Is he good defensively? You know,
• 29:49
  Speaker 4: open question.
• 29:50
  Speaker 5: I think also the signing of Naylor, everybody loved the
• 29:53
  Speaker 5: signing of Naylor, but, you know, and he's okay among
• 29:57
  Speaker 5: first basemen, but, you know, and then you have Randy
• 30:01
  Speaker 5: whose defense was just declining.
• 30:03
  Speaker 4: So that's the other thing that's so hard.
• 30:05
  Speaker 5: This is the thing. If you want to improve your defense,
• 30:10
  Speaker 5: the only way to really do it is from within.
• 30:12
  Speaker 5: Because when you sign free agents, they're 26 and older,
• 30:16
  Speaker 5: and defense peaks at 26.
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 30:18
  Speaker 4: So you're getting people who are going the wrong direction.
• 30:21
  Speaker 4: Think about how hard it is to sign a shortstop
• 30:24
  Speaker 4: and keep them at shortstop.
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: So.
• 30:28
  Speaker 5: That's why they locked up Cole Emerson. That's why, you know,
• 30:31
  Speaker 5: you'll be happy with Cole Young, you know, with his
• 30:33
  Speaker 5: warts there. That's why I think the plan of sort
• 30:37
  Speaker 5: of moving Julio off and identifying maybe just Robles and
• 30:41
  Speaker 5: a backup type center fielder.
• 30:42
  Speaker 4: Who's like a good defensive guy, maybe.
• 30:45
  Speaker 5: That's a plan instead of spending the money on trying
• 30:49
  Speaker 5: to add offense back in and affecting the defense again.
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: You know, Sarah's joining us courtesy of Georgetown Brewing. You know,
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: the You kind of alluded to at the start there
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: what they may do, and maybe it's not totally on
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: roster construction, but by the time we talk next week
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: and kind of wrap up our conversations this summer and
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: spring and summer and fall, we will probably have some
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: definitive things that have happened. Certainly Dan Wilson's going to
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: be out. How that happens, we're waiting to see. Is
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: it mutual? Is it the old, you know, mutually agreed
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: upon decision for a Mariner Hall of Famer? Is it
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: something else? Is it a firing, what have you? What
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: kind of job in your mind, and when you guys are,
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: you know, kind of doing the podcasts and talking about
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: teams around the league, what kind of job has Jerry
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: and his staff done? Like how much, how culpable are
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: they for not just this year, but just two playoff
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: appearances in 11 years?
• 31:51
  Speaker 5: I think the toughest question is, is T-Mobile a coarse field?
• 31:57
  Speaker 5: And obviously not the exact type. It's obviously not coarse field.
• 32:01
  Speaker 5: It's obviously not increasing offense. But the question is, is T-Mobile,
• 32:07
  Speaker 5: is that park, are the environmental conditions at that park.
• 32:13
  Speaker 4: A detriment to the team? Do they make it harder
• 32:17
  Speaker 4: to win there?
• 32:19
  Speaker 5: And what you see with a lot of the extreme ballparks, Colorado,
• 32:23
  Speaker 5: San Francisco, Seattle, what you see with the extreme ballparks,
• 32:29
  Speaker 5: what you see with a lot of other extreme ballparks
• 32:31
  Speaker 5: is a lot of changes to the ballpark to make
• 32:33
  Speaker 5: it play more fair. San Diego changed all their walls.
• 32:36
  Speaker 5: Baltimore changed all their walls. There's a lot of places
• 32:39
  Speaker 5: that have been more extreme that have tried to become
• 32:42
  Speaker 5: more middle of the pack. to maybe stay out of
• 32:45
  Speaker 5: this range, but we have seen with San Francisco and
• 32:47
  Speaker 5: Colorado and Seattle is maybe the park affects their ability
• 32:52
  Speaker 5: to do certain things. And that's what I see when
• 32:55
  Speaker 5: I look at them trying desperately to add more offense
• 32:58
  Speaker 5: into this lineup every year and eventually having to give
• 33:01
  Speaker 5: up some defense and give up this and give up
• 33:03
  Speaker 5: that and sign, you know, guys to maybe a little
• 33:06
  Speaker 5: bit over what the.
• 33:07
  Speaker 4: Market would assign them to. And you know what I mean? Like, yeah. Yeah.
• 33:11
  Speaker 5: So I personally think he's done a pretty good job
• 33:14
  Speaker 5: and they got, you know, to within an out of
• 33:17
  Speaker 5: the world series.
• 33:18
  Speaker 4: So yeah.
• 33:19
  Speaker 5: You know, I can't give him, I can't give him
• 33:21
  Speaker 5: a D. I don't think I'm giving him a C.
• 33:23
  Speaker 5: I think it's somewhere in the bees, honestly. And I
• 33:26
  Speaker 5: don't know if I'm just, you know, I like him.
• 33:29
  Speaker 5: I'm pretty obsessed. So liking them because they seem to
• 33:32
  Speaker 5: run on a lot of the principles that I like
• 33:34
  Speaker 5: in terms of how I build a team analytically and, um,
• 33:37
  Speaker 5: and that sort of thing.
• 33:38
  Speaker 4: But, um, I think it's a fair question. I think
• 33:41
  Speaker 4: it's a fair question.
• 33:42
  Speaker 5: Maybe, maybe I'll give them a B minus because of
• 33:45
  Speaker 5: this year, but I don't want to overvalue this year
• 33:47
  Speaker 5: too much with a team that seemed to be heading
• 33:50
  Speaker 5: the right direction.
• 33:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: And I, I tend to agree with you too, because I, I,
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: you know, I mean, this is a, and listen, we do,
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: I do this job for a living, sit in a
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: seat that, that a fan would sit in and try
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: to think in terms of how a fan thinks. And,
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: you know, fans want people's heads on a platter. They
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: want that to happen. And two playoff appearances in 11 years,
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: no matter how you get there, just doesn't seem to
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: be good enough, except for it's a franchise that only
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: has six in its history, right? So you're like, okay, well,
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: and how does the roster look? Well, we like Laz Montez, right?
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: We like, we like Kate Anderson. We like these guys in,
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: in what they've, you know, what they've been able to
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: put together. I do worry. We keep going back to it,
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: needing more offense, foregone conclusion. We all believe that Randy
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: Roseray is not back next year. He's been your best
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: offensive player. That's, That's a big hole that you're going
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: to have to replace.
• 34:35
  Speaker 4: Yes, it is. Yes, it is.
• 34:37
  Speaker 5: And how do you replace it while also improving the defense?
• 34:41
  Speaker 4: I mean, that's the core question. And it's not like the.
• 34:46
  Speaker 5: List of free agents is a good one. It's not
• 34:51
  Speaker 5: a very good year for free agents. And they're not
• 34:54
  Speaker 5: going to be one of the ones that– that spends
• 34:59
  Speaker 5: at the top, right?
• 35:00
  Speaker 4: You know, that they're not going to get the top
• 35:02
  Speaker 4: offensive free agent. So, you know, maybe they have a
• 35:06
  Speaker 4: trick up their sleeve along the lines of Randy or
• 35:08
  Speaker 4: the Raina, where they.
• 35:10
  Speaker 5: Give up some of the non Colt Emerson, Cole, young
• 35:14
  Speaker 5: youth for a mid mid career guy somewhere, but they
• 35:19
  Speaker 5: got Randy or the rain at the trade deadline. And
• 35:21
  Speaker 5: what gets harder in the off season is in the
• 35:24
  Speaker 5: off season, everybody, every team is either is pretending that
• 35:28
  Speaker 5: they're going to or is as high on their own supply.
• 35:31
  Speaker 4: And thinks they're going to contend.
• 35:33
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 35:33
  Speaker 5: So there's there's there's no team that wants to rebuild
• 35:37
  Speaker 5: in the offseason.
• 35:38
  Speaker 4: There's no team that wants to.
• 35:40
  Speaker 5: Send you their mid career, good offensive mid lineup guy,
• 35:45
  Speaker 5: you know, in the offseason because they're saying, no, we
• 35:48
  Speaker 5: need that guy. We're going to be good next year,
• 35:50
  Speaker 5: you know. So that's a little bit of a tough
• 35:54
  Speaker 5: thing for them. I do want to throw one name
• 35:56
  Speaker 5: out there for the management position that may help them
• 36:00
  Speaker 5: on some of this. I've seen out there a couple
• 36:04
  Speaker 5: of nibbles on a guy named Kai Correa. And Kai
• 36:09
  Speaker 5: Correa is the bench coach for the Mets right now,
• 36:11
  Speaker 5: and I can't speak on his contractual situation or if
• 36:14
  Speaker 5: he would even be available, but he would be such
• 36:18
  Speaker 5: a great fit if they could get him because he
• 36:22
  Speaker 5: is the preeminent defensive line that I know in baseball.
• 36:26
  Speaker 5: He was basically the creator of the Guardians defensive model,
• 36:32
  Speaker 5: and he took that model to San Francisco, and the
• 36:35
  Speaker 5: year that they won I forget 107 games. It's the
• 36:39
  Speaker 5: most games in San Francisco giants history. Um, that year
• 36:43
  Speaker 5: he took guys like, um, JT Davis and, uh, a
• 36:48
  Speaker 5: bunch of other bad defenders and made that team and
• 36:51
  Speaker 5: above average defensive team full of veterans playing out of position,
• 36:55
  Speaker 5: all that sort of stuff. He is a great defensive line.
• 36:59
  Speaker 5: And I think he relates really well to players. He
• 37:02
  Speaker 5: does have the disadvantage of not having been a high
• 37:05
  Speaker 5: level player himself. Um, but, uh, he is so smart and, uh,
• 37:12
  Speaker 5: I think he could be a really good fit and
• 37:14
  Speaker 5: he could maybe help the defense as, as part of
• 37:17
  Speaker 5: his job. You know, I know, I know that's a
• 37:19
  Speaker 5: weird thing to say about a manager. Cause you think
• 37:21
  Speaker 5: the manager wouldn't like get down into the knee.
• 37:25
  Speaker 4: Of something like defense like that, but yeah.
• 37:27
  Speaker 5: Hey, if I could hire a manager that I think
• 37:29
  Speaker 5: would be a good manager of men but also help
• 37:31
  Speaker 5: my defense with the Mariners, I.
• 37:34
  Speaker 4: Might do it.
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: I'm just looking at this. I do believe there's a
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: local tie for him, too, if this is right.
• 37:41
  Speaker 4: I know he's a Hawaii guy.
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: But he actually played baseball and I think worked at
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: University of Puget Sound, which is a small D3 school
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: down in Tacoma. Yeah, just, I mean, he could. You
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: could actually, from where he played college baseball, you could
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: walk to Cheney Stadium where the Rainiers play, where the
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: AAA team plays. So that's crazy.
• 38:01
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's awesome. I did not know that about guys.
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: Well, we just figured it out, huh? Hey, listen, Jerry,
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: that's what we're here for. Jerry DiPoto, you guys listening?
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: We got Hino Saris on. Things are taken care of.
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: We're all dialed in and set to go. Final thing
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: for you real quick. What's the one compelling, what's the
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: most compelling thing outside of the, of course, the pillow fight,
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: the AL West? What's the most compelling thing? Final thing
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: you're watching this weekend, the final four days of the
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: regular season as we get down the home stretch. Most
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: of the playoff spots have been, not most, but a
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: lot of them have already been procured. What's Eno Saris
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: most curious about?
• 38:34
  Speaker 4: That's a bit of a dud, actually, myself.
• 38:37
  Speaker 5: You know, other than will we get a below 500
• 38:41
  Speaker 5: division winner?
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: Just a sicko thing you're thinking about right now? That's
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: a sicko thing, yeah.
• 38:49
  Speaker 5: I do think there's a little bit of intrigue in
• 38:51
  Speaker 5: the central where the White Sox pitching is not that good.
• 38:56
  Speaker 5: And amazingly, you know, they would be able to.
• 39:00
  Speaker 4: Get a bye if they won their division. And I
• 39:04
  Speaker 4: kind of.
• 39:04
  Speaker 5: Feel like that would be super huge for them because
• 39:07
  Speaker 5: of the white socks go to a wild card series. Um,
• 39:11
  Speaker 5: they're going to have to use up all of their
• 39:13
  Speaker 5: pitching and they don't have that much of it and
• 39:14
  Speaker 5: they'll be tired and they'll have used their bullpen heavily.
• 39:17
  Speaker 5: And they already have used their bullpen more than any
• 39:20
  Speaker 5: other team in baseball. So this will be a tired
• 39:23
  Speaker 5: bullpen in the second round that they make it, but
• 39:26
  Speaker 5: if they get a buy, they get to rest up
• 39:28
  Speaker 5: that bullpen. I'm not saying that they look like a
• 39:31
  Speaker 5: team that could go all the way, but they would
• 39:33
  Speaker 5: be in a much better position. So I think that
• 39:37
  Speaker 5: fight for the AL Central does have a little bit.
• 39:39
  Speaker 3: Of juice to it.
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: The White Sox only a game behind Cleveland right now
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: along the way. Wild card still to be decided perhaps
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: in the NL, although Arizona's the one team left in there.
• 39:51
  Speaker 2: three games or two games back.
• 39:52
  Speaker 4: So a little bit of injury clinch with a win tonight.
• 39:55
  Speaker 4: So yeah, I think, I think that that one's good.
• 39:58
  Speaker 4: I was almost done too.
• 39:59
  Speaker 5: I thought, I thought we had an American league that
• 40:02
  Speaker 5: was so smushed together and it's one of the most
• 40:04
  Speaker 5: smushed together American leagues of all time in terms of
• 40:08
  Speaker 5: the difference between the best teams and the worst teams.
• 40:12
  Speaker 5: And I thought that this would lead to an amazing
• 40:15
  Speaker 5: amount of chaos down the stretch. And somehow the teams
• 40:18
  Speaker 5: just sort of separated themselves early.
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: Rangers, by the way, up 3-1 bottom of the seventh,
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: trying to improve to a whopping 79-80, but also eliminate
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: Seattle in the process.
• 40:28
  Speaker 4: God, so bad.
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: We'll talk playoffs next week and whatever changes the Mariners make,
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: and I appreciate your time. Tell folks about the podcast.
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: It's fantastic. Rates and barrels.
• 40:41
  Speaker 5: Yes, today we shut the door on the Marlins and
• 40:44
  Speaker 5: the Rockies, and we had some pretty interesting discussion about
• 40:47
  Speaker 5: not only the comments that Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
• 40:50
  Speaker 4: Made about how his contract works and being paid for
• 40:54
  Speaker 4: what he did.
• 40:54
  Speaker 5: In the past, but we had some ideas for fixing
• 40:57
  Speaker 5: the Rockies and circled some things that the Marlins are
• 41:01
  Speaker 5: doing differently than the rest.
• 41:03
  Speaker 4: Of the league right now.
• 41:04
  Speaker 5: So, you know, those are some terrible franchises right now,
• 41:08
  Speaker 5: the Marlins and Rockies. that might be sort of pulling
• 41:12
  Speaker 5: themselves out.
• 41:13
  Speaker 3: Of the bottom.
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: Great stuff as always, you know, we'll talk to you
• 41:15
  Speaker 2: next week, my friend. Thank you.
• 41:18
  Speaker 4: Thank you.
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: That is, you know, Sarah's brought to you by Georgetown brewing.
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: We got a little quick, we'll do a quick daily
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: power play here. Ash, we'll come back. We'll update you
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: on the score from Arlington, Texas. God, how about that
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: local guy? Just threw out a name for us, huh?
• 41:31
  Speaker 6: That was great.
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: Might as well send that soundbite to the morning show.
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: I mean, they're probably already handicapping all that stuff. I'm
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: guessing they're... Probably. Chuck's got it figured out. He's got
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: it figured out. UPS guy, though. That's pretty cool. He
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: doesn't work for UPS. He's not driving the brown truck.
• 41:45
  Speaker 6: I mean, if he was, even better, because he knows
• 41:47
  Speaker 6: the neighborhoods.
• 41:48
  Speaker 2: Not driving the brown truck, but he's from Hawaii and
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: played baseball at the University of Puget Sound.
• 41:53
  Speaker 4: The Muddy Lockers. We'll come back.
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: We're up at hour number two. Don't forget, Funston, top
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: of the hour, 93.3 KDRFM. Even though you can't see him,
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: trust us.
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: It's time for Ian's weekly visit with the Athletics' Brandon Funston.
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: Brought to you by Georgetown Brewing Company. Brewing darn tasty
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: beer like Manny's Pale Ale, Bodhisattva, and the new Tavern
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: Beer for over 20 years. Look for it in your
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: favorite local establishment, grocery store, or swing by the tasting
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: room at the brewery in Georgetown.
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: On your home for the NFL. Sports Radio 93.3, AJR-FM.
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: He's got it!
• 42:35
  Speaker 5: Touchdown!
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: Thursdays are Georgetown days. Eno Saris at 120, and.
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: Brandon Funston at 2 o'clock. The unofficial start of the
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: weekend is here. Brought to you by Georgetown Brewing. Brandon,
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: how are you, my friend?
• 42:51
  Speaker 6: I'm doing good. How's Eno doing? It's going to be
• 42:53
  Speaker 6: tough to be calling in about Seattle baseball this time
• 42:56
  Speaker 6: of year.
• 42:56
  Speaker 3: That's right.
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: You know what?
• 42:57
  Speaker 3: I forgot.
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: This is a good story.
• 42:58
  Speaker 3: I forgot.
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: Eno was recommended. from the athletics, Brandon Funston for the athletics,
• 43:04
  Speaker 2: you know, Sarah's. I said, I go fun. It's like
• 43:06
  Speaker 2: two years ago. Who's a baseball guy that we could,
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: it'd be fun to get on. And he's been great.
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: So great job by you producing.
• 43:12
  Speaker 6: He's a good guy. I've known him for a while, but, uh, yeah,
• 43:15
  Speaker 6: hopefully you guys talk about other things besides the Mariners.
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: Well, mostly Mariners day, but normally we do get around
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: some other stuff, but he's a beer guy, which is good.
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: So when I had him on, uh, this is important stuff.
• 43:25
  Speaker 2: I know there's people wanting fantasy football questions answered and
• 43:27
  Speaker 2: all that, but this is important stuff. When will the
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: fresh hop be available?
• 43:31
  Speaker 4: Right?
• 43:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: I have an answer.
• 43:34
  Speaker 3: Oh.
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: We should have one of three on tap and growlers tomorrow.
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: So they're doing three fresh hops. The first one should
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: be available at Georgetown Brewing in the tasting room tomorrow.
• 43:48
  Speaker 4: All right?
• 43:49
  Speaker 2: Or tomorrow if you're from Calgary for the games. Or
• 43:51
  Speaker 2: just you. Or it's just me.
• 43:53
  Speaker 4: Tomorrow.
• 43:53
  Speaker 6: Tomorrow.
• 43:54
  Speaker 3: Tomorrow.
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: So, yes, Fresh Hop will be there tomorrow, tomorrow. Brandon,
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: I'm going to guess as I get ready for these
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: phone calls, and we're going to have it. Oh, by
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: the way, not one, but two bullseyes at 12 o'clock today.
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: Two bullseyes at 12 o'clock today. I mean, it's amazing. Like, Ashley,
• 44:12
  Speaker 2: I'm sure you have the text because you'll do the
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: late text up there. We had two bullseyes today, and
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: I can't even count how many ones we had within
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: the first three seconds.
• 44:21
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: You guys are crazy. crazy and nuts and we love
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: you all for doing it it's great thank you so
• 44:26
  Speaker 2: much uh the funston segment is something else okay here
• 44:30
  Speaker 2: we go uh actually i see two people on on
• 44:33
  Speaker 2: on the line already are they on what are we
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: doing here is that me that might be yeah you're
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: you yeah you're gonna go yeah okay you're good mike
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: and edmunds you're first up with brandon hey mike how are.
• 44:42
  Speaker 4: You doing good ian how are you brandon.
• 44:45
  Speaker 2: Oh what's going on what's going on hey mike what
• 44:48
  Speaker 2: do you got mike can you Oh, okay.
• 44:51
  Speaker 6: You guys can hear me okay, right?
• 44:52
  Speaker 2: We got you.
• 44:53
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah.
• 44:54
  Speaker 3: Yep. All right.
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: Easy question and then a trade question.
• 44:59
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 45:00
  Speaker 3: Shug or Prescott?
• 45:04
  Speaker 6: I have Prescott top five this week. That's the highest
• 45:08
  Speaker 6: point total on the board, 52.5 in that game. I
• 45:11
  Speaker 6: expect it to be a shootout. I kind of agree
• 45:13
  Speaker 6: with Vegas on that, so I like Dak Prescott.
• 45:15
  Speaker 3: There you go.
• 45:15
  Speaker 2: And you had a trade question?
• 45:16
  Speaker 3: Okay. Yeah.
• 45:19
  Speaker 4: Trade proposal.
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: Jalen Warren and or well Jalen Warren or Jeremiah Love
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: for a Marion Hampton.
• 45:31
  Speaker 6: I mean if you can trade Jalen Warren for a
• 45:32
  Speaker 6: Marion Hampton I would do that right now I'd stop
• 45:35
  Speaker 6: talking to me and just go make it happen I
• 45:40
  Speaker 6: think Jeremiah Love might actually move ahead of Hampton before
• 45:43
  Speaker 6: the end of the Before the end of the season.
• 45:45
  Speaker 6: It might take them a little while to get there,
• 45:46
  Speaker 6: so that one's a little bit more even. But, like,
• 45:49
  Speaker 6: I love the Jalen Warren one. And I like Jalen Warren, but,
• 45:51
  Speaker 6: you know, Hampton's– I think Hampton just has more of
• 45:54
  Speaker 6: a ceiling.
• 45:55
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 45:56
  Speaker 6: That offense is maybe looking the worst in the league
• 45:58
  Speaker 6: right now, amazingly.
• 46:00
  Speaker 4: Perfect.
• 46:00
  Speaker 6: Great.
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: Mike, thanks. Good way to start things off, as always.
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: And we always go number two down to the 253
• 46:05
  Speaker 2: area code. Ricky in Tacoma. What's up, Ricky?
• 46:10
  Speaker 4: Hey, what's up?
• 46:10
  Speaker 6: How's it going, y'all? We're good, man.
• 46:12
  Speaker 2: What's going on?
• 46:13
  Speaker 3: Good, good.
• 46:14
  Speaker 7: Oh, you know, just basketball and, you know, college football
• 46:18
  Speaker 7: and NFL.
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: It's all there.
• 46:20
  Speaker 4: What do you got? All right, Brian.
• 46:23
  Speaker 7: Okay, I have four guys that I need the best
• 46:26
  Speaker 7: two from my flex spots. Okay, I got Dylan Warren,
• 46:28
  Speaker 7: DK Metcalf, AD Mitchell, and Trey Tucker. Which two should
• 46:33
  Speaker 7: I go with? Really, I think it's PPR or half-point PPR.
• 46:38
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I'm pretty down on DK Metcalf. He's just not.
• 46:41
  Speaker 2: So has everybody.
• 46:41
  Speaker 6: Aaron Rodgers. Yeah, Aaron Rodgers. Aaron Rodgers, DK Metcalf, good chemistry. Yeah,
• 46:47
  Speaker 6: Snyder's been on fire with getting rid of people at
• 46:49
  Speaker 6: the right time. He really has. But I just, you know,
• 46:52
  Speaker 6: watching DK Metcalf, I just can't start him. Adni Mitchell
• 46:56
  Speaker 6: is looking really good. He has a finger issue that
• 46:58
  Speaker 6: popped up today, so I'd watch that. But assuming he plays,
• 47:02
  Speaker 6: I'd probably lean towards, they're going against Detroit. I really
• 47:05
  Speaker 6: like the upside of the Jets passing offense. And then
• 47:07
  Speaker 6: I'd probably go Jalen Warren because it looks like Rico
• 47:09
  Speaker 6: Dowd will might sit. So I like those two the most.
• 47:13
  Speaker 6: If Mitchell, for some reason, that finger injury keeps him out,
• 47:15
  Speaker 6: I guess you're going to have to just begrudgingly go
• 47:17
  Speaker 6: with Metcalf. All right.
• 47:18
  Speaker 2: There we go. Great stuff. Always good to hear your voice.
• 47:20
  Speaker 2: Ricky brightens up our day. That would be the opposite
• 47:23
  Speaker 2: of what this normally means. Next up, we'll check in
• 47:26
  Speaker 2: and see how things are going. We're two weeks in.
• 47:29
  Speaker 2: Rob in Burien.
• 47:34
  Speaker 8: Well, considering the season's already over, I decided to do
• 47:35
  Speaker 8: some day drinking, Ian.
• 47:36
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 47:38
  Speaker 2: Wait, you're day drinking? We've never heard that before. This
• 47:42
  Speaker 2: is breaking news.
• 47:43
  Speaker 8: We've got Crown Royal and Henry going on, dude.
• 47:45
  Speaker 4: Business, business.
• 47:47
  Speaker 2: Oh, my God. Crown Royal and Henry. Did you say Henry's?
• 47:50
  Speaker 2: Like Henry Weinhardt's?
• 47:51
  Speaker 3: Yes, sir.
• 47:52
  Speaker 4: Henry Weinhardt may be the original.
• 47:54
  Speaker 2: Oh, my God, buddy. You are as old school as
• 47:56
  Speaker 2: it gets, man. First of all, we're going to upgrade
• 47:58
  Speaker 2: you all the way around, but go ahead.
• 48:00
  Speaker 6: Get some Georgetown going there.
• 48:01
  Speaker 4: Yeah, get some.
• 48:02
  Speaker 2: Georgetown going, and I'll put you towards my friends at
• 48:05
  Speaker 2: Chambers Bay to steal right down there in UP. But anyway, continue.
• 48:08
  Speaker 2: Are you 0-2, Rob?
• 48:11
  Speaker 4: I am 0-2 and not even close.
• 48:14
  Speaker 8: You realize Puka Nakua didn't catch a ball last week,
• 48:16
  Speaker 8: and I still lost.
• 48:19
  Speaker 2: We do know that. All right, what do you got
• 48:20
  Speaker 2: for Funston? Maybe he can help you out.
• 48:23
  Speaker 8: Okay and three of these five parker washington sam laporta
• 48:29
  Speaker 8: george pickens xavier worthy or luther burden.
• 48:36
  Speaker 6: Yeah i think i go with the first three i'm
• 48:38
  Speaker 6: i mean we might be at case keenum time in
• 48:40
  Speaker 6: chicago with tyson badgen being concussed i think on the
• 48:45
  Speaker 6: last play of the game when he was filling in
• 48:46
  Speaker 6: for caleb williams so Last time Case Keenan played was
• 48:50
  Speaker 6: a couple years ago, and the tight end did really well.
• 48:52
  Speaker 6: So there could be some Colston leveling upside, but not
• 48:55
  Speaker 6: great for the receivers when he played. I like Parker Washington.
• 48:59
  Speaker 6: You just can't sit him right now. And then Pickens
• 49:02
  Speaker 6: in the big shootout game against Baltimore and Laporta also
• 49:05
  Speaker 6: in a high upside game against the Jets. I like
• 49:08
  Speaker 6: those three.
• 49:09
  Speaker 2: Okay, so thank you, Rob.
• 49:11
  Speaker 6: Rob might need to join a guillotine league and just
• 49:13
  Speaker 6: put himself out of his misery early.
• 49:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's probably not a bad idea. It's not a
• 49:17
  Speaker 2: bad idea. All right, Rob, best of luck to you.
• 49:20
  Speaker 2: Rob's also like the one guy that's not a poster.
• 49:21
  Speaker 2: Most of these guys have gone, hey, Brandon, thanks for your.
• 49:23
  Speaker 6: Help, man.
• 49:23
  Speaker 2: I won my league and all this. And then we
• 49:25
  Speaker 2: get Rod every week, and it's just like, my God.
• 49:27
  Speaker 2: Either he's not listening or, well, it's only one.
• 49:28
  Speaker 6: Or the everyman, really.
• 49:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah.
• 49:31
  Speaker 2: By the way, as I was listening, I was talking
• 49:32
  Speaker 2: to Ashley. So you're telling me that Case Keenum is
• 49:35
  Speaker 2: not going to help the Roma Doomsday experience? Is that
• 49:37
  Speaker 2: what you're telling me?
• 49:38
  Speaker 6: I mean, I mean, stranger things have happened, but like,
• 49:40
  Speaker 6: if you just look back at, you know, two years ago,
• 49:44
  Speaker 6: the evidence was that he was a short intermediate, intermediate
• 49:47
  Speaker 6: range guy. And it was all about Dalton Schultz when
• 49:49
  Speaker 6: Keenan was there. And he had a game with Nico
• 49:52
  Speaker 6: Collins where Collins caught like two or three catches for
• 49:55
  Speaker 6: 18 yards or something like that.
• 49:56
  Speaker 4: So, yeah.
• 49:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 49:58
  Speaker 6: I mean, Ben Johnson's a, you know, he's a bit
• 50:01
  Speaker 6: of a wizard, so maybe he can make something happen,
• 50:03
  Speaker 6: but I, you know, I'm not. I'm not banking too
• 50:07
  Speaker 6: much on it.
• 50:07
  Speaker 2: The Roma-Dunes experience to me has been very much an
• 50:10
  Speaker 2: exercise in frustration. I should have known better taking a Husky.
• 50:12
  Speaker 2: But anyway, we move on. Let's go. Oh, here we go.
• 50:16
  Speaker 2: The Salton two-step. We'll start first with Steven and Salton.
• 50:18
  Speaker 2: What's up, Steven?
• 50:21
  Speaker 3: Going there, gaming, wishing my fantasy football season was very
• 50:24
  Speaker 3: over like the Mariners. Oh, no. All right.
• 50:27
  Speaker 2: What do you got?
• 50:28
  Speaker 4: I lost K.O. Williams, Jane Daniels, D.J. Moore, and Puka
• 50:33
  Speaker 4: at the last minute last week. Oh, that's nice. It
• 50:36
  Speaker 4: was rough. I need one, Pittman, Boston, or DJ Moore.
• 50:42
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, I'm definitely going DJ Moore. You're going
• 50:45
  Speaker 6: to have to follow that and make sure he plays.
• 50:47
  Speaker 6: It's kind of iffy. He said he felt great. Yesterday's
• 50:51
  Speaker 6: report that came out was that he's feeling great, so
• 50:54
  Speaker 6: I would be clinging to that and hoping that happens.
• 50:56
  Speaker 6: If he doesn't go, I would go with Denzel Boston.
• 50:59
  Speaker 6: He's been actually doing pretty well, and he's Missed a
• 51:03
  Speaker 6: third touchdown potentially last week that he had in his hand,
• 51:06
  Speaker 6: and a Tampa Bay defender knocked it out right at
• 51:09
  Speaker 6: the last second. But, I mean, he's really close to
• 51:12
  Speaker 6: being like a top 15 receiver right now.
• 51:14
  Speaker 2: Denzel Boston. Okay, I like that.
• 51:16
  Speaker 4: Good to know.
• 51:16
  Speaker 2: See, there's the Husky you do take. All right, perfect.
• 51:18
  Speaker 2: Stay in Salton. Derek in Salton, you're next up.
• 51:22
  Speaker 4: What's up, guys?
• 51:23
  Speaker 2: How we doing, buddy?
• 51:25
  Speaker 4: I'm doing pretty good. I'm doing better.
• 51:27
  Speaker 9: Than day drinking whiskey and Henry Weinhardt, I'll tell you what.
• 51:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, that's just Rob. You know what Rob calls
• 51:33
  Speaker 2: out a day that ends in a Y, so that's
• 51:36
  Speaker 2: just the way it is with Rob.
• 51:38
  Speaker 4: If I was Owen, too, I might be doing that, too.
• 51:40
  Speaker 2: All right, what do you got?
• 51:44
  Speaker 9: All right, well, I'm playing against Josh Allen and Bijan
• 51:47
  Speaker 9: this week, so I probably need a higher upside.
• 51:50
  Speaker 4: Out of these two.
• 51:51
  Speaker 9: Just need one of the two and a full PPR
• 51:53
  Speaker 9: between Sam Laporta or shot in the dark Matthew Golden.
• 51:57
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 51:59
  Speaker 6: Ooh, it's PPR. Man, I kind of like Matthew Golden.
• 52:04
  Speaker 6: That's really close. I think you go Matthew Golden just
• 52:08
  Speaker 6: for the upside because he's, He's got some big play potential.
• 52:12
  Speaker 6: I think Laporta's probably going to maybe end up with
• 52:14
  Speaker 6: more catches, but Golden has a decent chance of breaking
• 52:18
  Speaker 6: a big one. So very close in my mind, but, yeah,
• 52:21
  Speaker 6: Josh Allen and Bijan Robinson are both number one on
• 52:23
  Speaker 6: my list this week at their respective positions. So, hey,
• 52:27
  Speaker 6: shooting for the moon on that one.
• 52:28
  Speaker 4: All right, perfect.
• 52:29
  Speaker 2: Thanks, Derek. We'll get two more calls in, then we'll
• 52:31
  Speaker 2: get to text. Here we go. Kyle and Enumclaw, you're
• 52:33
  Speaker 2: up next.
• 52:35
  Speaker 10: Hey, what's up, Ian?
• 52:36
  Speaker 2: How you doing, buddy?
• 52:38
  Speaker 6: Good, good, good.
• 52:42
  Speaker 10: One of my questions was the DJ Moore thing, but
• 52:45
  Speaker 10: you kind of filled me in on that. What about
• 52:47
  Speaker 10: Shaquan Barkley? And then I have a lineup question, too,
• 52:50
  Speaker 10: when you get done with that.
• 52:52
  Speaker 6: Yeah, Barkley, I think he's been limited in practice this week.
• 52:56
  Speaker 6: He's got the shoulder injury. It's the same one that
• 52:57
  Speaker 6: he left the game with last week and then came
• 52:59
  Speaker 6: back in. So I think he will go. So I
• 53:04
  Speaker 6: think you're going to be able to play him. We'll
• 53:06
  Speaker 6: see if the game gets out of hand for some reason,
• 53:07
  Speaker 6: it's probably one of those guys that's going to be
• 53:09
  Speaker 6: like maybe an early sit, but you know, that's, I
• 53:13
  Speaker 6: would just go ahead and roll with him as long
• 53:14
  Speaker 6: as he's clear. And I think he's going to be
• 53:16
  Speaker 6: all right.
• 53:16
  Speaker 4: Quick question.
• 53:17
  Speaker 2: What do you, what do you got Kyle?
• 53:19
  Speaker 10: And the, and the lineup, the lineup question real quick, Ian. Um,
• 53:23
  Speaker 10: so if I, I got, so Barkley, Cuba, Hubbard, Chris,
• 53:28
  Speaker 10: Sean Jenkins, and, uh, um, The running back for the Rams, I.
• 53:35
  Speaker 4: Can't remember his name. Kyron?
• 53:37
  Speaker 2: Kyron Williams?
• 53:38
  Speaker 10: Yeah, Kyron Williams.
• 53:40
  Speaker 3: I need two.
• 53:42
  Speaker 6: I think you've got to go Kyron Williams. Denver is
• 53:44
  Speaker 6: great against the pass, but they have not been good
• 53:46
  Speaker 6: against the run, and I think the Rams are going
• 53:48
  Speaker 6: to have to run the ball because you've got likely
• 53:51
  Speaker 6: no Nakua. Devontae Adams is a go-to guy, but that's
• 53:53
  Speaker 6: probably going to draw Patrick Sertan, so they may have
• 53:56
  Speaker 6: to explore other options instead of what they did last week,
• 53:59
  Speaker 6: which was just go to Adams all day long, so
• 54:03
  Speaker 6: I think I like your other first running back that
• 54:05
  Speaker 6: you listed. I can't remember who it was, but I remember.
• 54:08
  Speaker 10: It was Quinshawn Jenkins or Chuba.
• 54:12
  Speaker 6: Yeah. Well, I think I'm going to go Barkley and
• 54:16
  Speaker 6: then Chuba and then Jenkins in that order.
• 54:19
  Speaker 4: Perfect.
• 54:20
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 54:20
  Speaker 4: There you go. All right, Kyle.
• 54:21
  Speaker 2: Last one is Chris and beer. And real quick, Chris,
• 54:23
  Speaker 2: we get some texts. What do you got, Chris?
• 54:26
  Speaker 8: Yep.
• 54:27
  Speaker 3: Thank you guys.
• 54:27
  Speaker 4: I need a full point PPR flex.
• 54:31
  Speaker 10: And I am looking at Jalen Waddell, Emmanuel Wilson, Alvin Kamara,
• 54:37
  Speaker 10: or Luther Burden.
• 54:38
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 54:38
  Speaker 2: Fire away.
• 54:39
  Speaker 6: Just one. It's definitely Jalen Waddell. Had a nice rebound
• 54:43
  Speaker 6: game after his debut in week one. Put up over
• 54:45
  Speaker 6: 100 yards last week. And, you know, I expect that
• 54:48
  Speaker 6: they'll just continue to keep looking his way. All right.
• 54:51
  Speaker 2: Ashley, fire away. Give me some music here. And we
• 54:55
  Speaker 2: will get going with the text at 49451. Brandon Funston
• 54:59
  Speaker 2: brought to you by Georgetown Brewing. God, I had to
• 55:02
  Speaker 2: actually refresh. We got so many texts today. I had
• 55:04
  Speaker 2: to go back. Okay, here we go. We had two bullseyes, Funston.
• 55:09
  Speaker 3: Two.
• 55:10
  Speaker 2: Crazy.
• 55:12
  Speaker 4: A.J.
• 55:12
  Speaker 5: Barner.
• 55:13
  Speaker 2: He says, Barner or Ferguson? Now, there's two Fergusons, right?
• 55:17
  Speaker 2: There's Dallas Ferguson and there's Rams Ferguson.
• 55:21
  Speaker 6: This will make it easy. Whatever Ferguson it is, I
• 55:23
  Speaker 6: would go with them over Barner. No disrespect to Barner.
• 55:27
  Speaker 2: Guest on the show yesterday.
• 55:28
  Speaker 6: Yeah, both of the Fergusons are looking pretty good. We
• 55:30
  Speaker 6: saw what Terrence Ferguson did with Nakua out last week.
• 55:33
  Speaker 6: So very likely Nakua will be out again. And so
• 55:37
  Speaker 6: I think Terrence Ferguson would get his. And Jake Ferguson,
• 55:40
  Speaker 6: what did he have, a couple touchdowns last week?
• 55:42
  Speaker 4: Yep, yep.
• 55:42
  Speaker 2: All right, need two. A-chan, Skadaboo, Hubbard.
• 55:47
  Speaker 6: A-chan, Skadaboo, and Hubbard. I think I'm going to go
• 55:50
  Speaker 6: A-chan and Hubbard. Yeah, and maybe wait a week on
• 55:54
  Speaker 6: the Jameis Winston-led Giants.
• 55:57
  Speaker 2: And by the way, that is the Miami HN, based
• 56:00
  Speaker 2: on spelling, not how we're pronouncing Travis Atien's name now
• 56:04
  Speaker 2: or whatever it's called. One point PPR, need to bench one.
• 56:08
  Speaker 2: I need to bench one of these guys. George Pickens,
• 56:11
  Speaker 2: Javante Williams, Christian Watson, Bucky Irving. Who do you bench?
• 56:15
  Speaker 4: PPR.
• 56:16
  Speaker 6: Man, I think I'm going to go. I'm down a
• 56:18
  Speaker 6: little bit on Bucky. Minnesota's been tough against the run
• 56:21
  Speaker 6: so far this year.
• 56:21
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 56:22
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 56:23
  Speaker 2: Uh frustrated with kyle pitts him henry or a sleeper
• 56:27
  Speaker 2: tight end out there that's from ryan and scottsdale do
• 56:29
  Speaker 2: you have a better option that might be out there.
• 56:31
  Speaker 6: Um let's see aranda gadson with uh gadston with um
• 56:35
  Speaker 6: david and joku and and charlie toller both on the
• 56:38
  Speaker 6: il for the chargers gadston is going to be the
• 56:41
  Speaker 6: guy so if he's there i like him better than
• 56:43
  Speaker 6: either of those options if not i go kyle pitts
• 56:46
  Speaker 6: just because panics his back gives him a little bit
• 56:49
  Speaker 6: of upside.
• 56:49
  Speaker 2: These are all one second after, by the way.
• 56:51
  Speaker 4: It's insane.
• 56:53
  Speaker 2: If Zay don't play, half-point PPR. Tony Pollard, Travion Henderson,
• 56:57
  Speaker 2: or Marshawn, don't call me Beast Mode Lloyd. Also, how
• 57:00
  Speaker 2: does Dart's injury impact Scataboo?
• 57:04
  Speaker 6: Yeah, you know what? Just to speak on the Dart one,
• 57:08
  Speaker 6: typically a dual-threat quarterback, one that has some threat to
• 57:11
  Speaker 6: throw the ball but also to run the ball, is
• 57:13
  Speaker 6: helpful to a running back because it just kind of
• 57:15
  Speaker 6: loosens things up for him. I think that it's going
• 57:18
  Speaker 6: to hurt Scataboo a little bit. I don't think it's
• 57:20
  Speaker 6: going to hurt the receiving options there, but.
• 57:23
  Speaker 3: I'm sorry.
• 57:24
  Speaker 2: Pollard, Travion Henderson, or Marshawn Lloyd?
• 57:26
  Speaker 6: You know, I think I'm going to go with Pollard
• 57:27
  Speaker 6: because I think he's healthier than TyJay Spears, and TyJay
• 57:30
  Speaker 6: Spears might not end up playing. Travion Henderson had a
• 57:33
  Speaker 6: big run last week, but he averaged 2.5 yards a
• 57:35
  Speaker 6: carry after that, and they don't like to play him
• 57:36
  Speaker 6: on third down, so I don't think there's a changing
• 57:38
  Speaker 6: of the guard there.
• 57:39
  Speaker 2: Still one second after. Standard scoring. Need two of these
• 57:42
  Speaker 2: wide receivers. George Pickens, Jalen Waddell, Brian Thomas Jr., or
• 57:45
  Speaker 2: Denzel Boston. Need two.
• 57:47
  Speaker 6: Let's go with the first two. Pickens and Waddell.
• 57:49
  Speaker 2: Should I start Krosky, Merritt, or Josh Downs for my
• 57:52
  Speaker 2: last flex spot?
• 57:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no.
• 57:54
  Speaker 6: Alec Pierce for Indianapolis. I think Josh Downs is their
• 57:57
  Speaker 6: number one now, so I'm going to go with Josh Downs.
• 58:00
  Speaker 2: Need one full PPR flex. Judkins, Devontae Smith, Parker Washington.
• 58:07
  Speaker 4: Javon.
• 58:07
  Speaker 6: Devontae Smith or Parker Washington?
• 58:10
  Speaker 2: You need two or one?
• 58:12
  Speaker 3: One.
• 58:12
  Speaker 2: Full people.
• 58:13
  Speaker 6: I think you've got to go Devontae Smith against Chicago.
• 58:16
  Speaker 6: That's a good matchup. He's been the alpha with A.J.
• 58:18
  Speaker 6: Brown gone. He's getting a lot of looks.
• 58:22
  Speaker 2: These are the ones that kill me. I never thought
• 58:24
  Speaker 2: this would be a question, but it is. Start Joe
• 58:25
  Speaker 2: Burrow or Tyler Shuck?
• 58:28
  Speaker 6: I'm Down on Burrow. I don't like him on the
• 58:32
  Speaker 6: road in Pittsburgh this week. I'm going with Tyler Shuck.
• 58:35
  Speaker 6: They run the fastest-paced offense in the league, so it's
• 58:38
  Speaker 6: working out for him, and he runs a little bit.
• 58:40
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 58:40
  Speaker 2: Ashley, stand by because I'm here. I'm wrapping up the
• 58:43
  Speaker 2: two seconds now after the hour. Burrow or Stafford? Same
• 58:47
  Speaker 2: kind of question.
• 58:48
  Speaker 6: Let's see. I actually have Burrow ahead of Stafford because
• 58:52
  Speaker 6: Stafford's going into Denver, and they are a very tough pass.
• 58:55
  Speaker 2: Need two.
• 58:56
  Speaker 3: Neighbors?
• 58:58
  Speaker 2: Josh Downs, Ramonde Stevenson.
• 59:00
  Speaker 4: Need two.
• 59:01
  Speaker 6: I think I'm going to go neighbors and I'm going
• 59:06
  Speaker 6: to go ahead and go with Josh Downs. I'm going
• 59:07
  Speaker 6: to play a hunch on that one. It's pretty close
• 59:09
  Speaker 6: between him and Stevenson.
• 59:10
  Speaker 2: Just because I love you guys, I'll get the two
• 59:12
  Speaker 2: that came in three seconds after. Kyler Murray versus Tampa
• 59:17
  Speaker 2: Bay or C.J. Stroud versus Indianapolis?
• 59:21
  Speaker 6: I have Kyler Murray a little bit ahead of C.J. Stroud.
• 59:24
  Speaker 6: He does have the rushing upside. I would like a
• 59:27
  Speaker 6: wait-and-see game, but... I'd like to match up enough that
• 59:31
  Speaker 6: I would go ahead and roll with Murray in the
• 59:32
  Speaker 6: upside with the rushing.
• 59:34
  Speaker 2: Drake May or Daniel Jones?
• 59:37
  Speaker 6: I'm so far down on Drake May. I still have
• 59:40
  Speaker 6: him higher than Daniel Jones. I mean, Houston's defense hasn't
• 59:44
  Speaker 6: been quite what we thought it would be, but I
• 59:46
  Speaker 6: still think they're a pretty good deal.
• 59:47
  Speaker 2: It's a tough matchup for Daniel Jones. Ashley, give me
• 59:50
  Speaker 2: a few of them that came in late. All right,
• 59:51
  Speaker 2: we're going to stick with some quarterbacks. Jalen Hurts or
• 59:53
  Speaker 2: Jared Goff?
• 59:56
  Speaker 5: Jalen Hurts.
• 59:57
  Speaker 6: I have Hertz number four this week. Again, Chicago's defense. Plus,
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 6: I always like the hammer on Monday night when it's
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 6: close between two guys. And this one's pretty close, but
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 6: give me Hertz on Monday night. All right.
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 2: Prescott or Mahomes?
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 6: Prescott. I have two spots higher than Mahomes. Prescott's five.
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 6: Mahomes is seven for me this week. All right.
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 3: So there you go.
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 4: Two good choices.
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 2: Juwan Johnson or Colston Loveland?
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 3: Um.
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 6: I have Jawan Johnson one spot ahead of Loveland, so
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 6: it's a pick-em, but give me Jawan Johnson. And you
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 6: know what? When you have one catch over two weeks,
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 6: you should probably let the guy prove he belongs in
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 6: your lineup before you just go ahead and give him that.
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 4: Spot.
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 2: Last one, more quarterbacks, Bryce Young or Jordan Love?
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 6: Let's go with Jordan Love. Actually, I'm having pretty high
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 6: going against Atlanta. Atlanta's pass defense has not been good.
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 6: I think Jordan Love's going to have a nice game.
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 2: I got a final one for you, Funston. I'll just
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 2: leave it with this. This is from Joel. Full point PPR.
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 3: Need one.
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 4: Ready?
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 2: Tough one tonight or doing you a favor at 54%?
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 6: I can't take tough one tonight anymore. I just can't
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 6: take that. That's two in your face, night in and
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 6: night out.
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 2: So Joel, it's doing you a favor and 54%. It's
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 2: amazing that that one franchise could have that many great
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 2: quotes that we all have every single day. All right,
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 2: for those who didn't get their questions answered, and that
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 2: would just based on the text line and the fact
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 2: we closed out the phones would rank in the hundreds.
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 2: If you did not get your question answered, how can
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 2: they do so, Funston?
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 6: Yeah, please come check out The Athletic. Go to the
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 6: Fantasy Football page. Have a ton of stuff up. Rankings
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 6: up to the minute all the time. A ton of
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 6: injury news updates all the time as well. We have
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 6: a cool start-sit tool you can try out. But a
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 6: lot of stuff there for you to play with and
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 6: get yourself ready for week three in the NFL.
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 2: Love it. Great stuff. My friend, we'll talk to you
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 2: next week.
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 6: Thanks, Brandon.
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 2: Thank you.