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Does Strength of Schedule Really Matter? · The MMQB NFL Podcast

0:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Hello!
0:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to the QB&M podcast, I'm Conor Mac, from BigKation in New Jersey.
0:12
[SPEAKER_01]: There's Albert Brean, Massachusetts, and I told Albert, when I was gone, I said, hey, if you're going to do a show without me, just make sure that I'm not WallyPipped and
0:22
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, you just don't go out and get some super hot former NFL and college star player to fill in for me.
0:29
[SPEAKER_01]: And then I turn around on social media and I see up tagged in this post and says, Oh, Brady Quinn sat in for Conorors.
0:36
[SPEAKER_01]: My wife and I are out to eat.
0:38
[SPEAKER_01]: We're out in vacation in Texas.
0:40
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm like, Bye.
0:41
[SPEAKER_01]: What the hell?
0:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, and she's like, what do you still work up about?
0:44
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, he literally placed me with like the hottest guy on planet Earth.
0:49
[SPEAKER_01]: And then she's like, she's like, no, she's like, who's Brady Quinn?
0:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Show me like a picture.
0:53
[SPEAKER_01]: And then she looked it up.
0:54
[SPEAKER_01]: And she's like, okay, I get it.
0:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
0:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, you know.
0:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, like this is, well, this is not what you want, you know, but I'm back for now.
1:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, to be fair, Brady is a good buddy of mine and and he did, he did say that he'd be happy to come on with the two of us because okay, I got I did tell him like how big an Notre Dame guy you are and he did he didn't agree to come on with the two of us.
1:19
[SPEAKER_00]: So all right.
1:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Good.
1:21
[SPEAKER_01]: I will wear so Brady Quinn.
1:25
[SPEAKER_01]: I got like so he was like,
1:27
[SPEAKER_01]: It was like nine people removed, right?
1:30
[SPEAKER_01]: But when I was peak Notre Dame fandom in high schools when Brady Quim was quarterback.
1:34
[SPEAKER_01]: And so it was like, this guy knew this guy, we can get the jersey to him, right?
1:40
[SPEAKER_01]: So I got the jersey for Christmas, the number 10 jersey.
1:42
[SPEAKER_01]: We can get it to him and he can sign it for you.
1:45
[SPEAKER_01]: And then I remember like the anticipation building and building and building and then it came back to me and it said to Matt,
1:51
[SPEAKER_01]: uh... uh... you're uh... like your friend break win and i was like it's still hanging in my so i might wear and i'd be like you know i met uh... you know for all intents and purposes i'm at uh... we're gonna mass you or i'd just i would rather change my middle name to fit the jersey uh... because i just think that makes more sense at this point but uh... we're talking to everybody thought you'll kind of or it's actually see mat or
2:17
[SPEAKER_01]: see maps you or when I get a job at the New Yorker that's going to be my byline.
2:23
[SPEAKER_01]: we are back and we're talking about this is my favorite show of the year maybe it's the schedule release preview preview we're previewing the schedule release preview and the the games have started kind of leaking out in drips and drabs as we knew that they would you know what like first of like stop calling them schedule leaks when they're announcing them on my today show
2:49
[SPEAKER_01]: When Al Roker tells you before the weather, it's not a schedule leak.
2:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, nothing leaked out.
2:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Like that was a coordinated effort to get being to make this entire week there.
3:00
[SPEAKER_01]: You mean like Matt Lauer was in grinding and texting NFL employees to try to get around the NDA to release the schedule?
3:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
3:09
[SPEAKER_00]: I think if he was, he'd be in the NFL's, he wouldn't be in the NFL's good graces anymore.
3:15
[SPEAKER_00]: I think if he was doing that, I think I know how these things go.
3:19
[SPEAKER_00]: It may have repercussions on NBC actually I'm doing this ABC may not be getting the cowboys For audio listeners.
3:28
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm doing the line across the throat, you know execution symbol Yeah, you're not it's funny like the NFL schedule used to be like
3:39
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, what's another worst kept secret in the world like it just used to be able to just like walk up and basically like just grab it, you know, week before it came out and then, you know, you just back out of the, you know, this game here, this game here now it's like this protected KGB style state secret and only the NFL is allowed to leave the game.
4:00
[SPEAKER_01]: It's it's really funny.
4:02
[SPEAKER_00]: I still, I mean, I'll tell, you know, my favorite schedule story that you've probably heard a half dozen times now, but
4:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you know, there's my Chicago story, right?
4:11
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
4:13
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, so we've been together for so long.
4:17
[SPEAKER_00]: When I was in NFL Network, I think it was like right at the front end of them making a big deal out of the schedule release, right?
4:25
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think it was like a week before the draft, because they were doing it in April back then.
4:28
[SPEAKER_00]: And so they sent us all out to these different places.
4:35
[SPEAKER_00]: for various reasons, I got sent to Chicago.
4:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Somebody else got sent in the New England, which was really weird scenario, but anyway.
4:44
[SPEAKER_00]: So I got sent to Chicago and so the whole idea, they were trying to kind of turn it into an event.
4:54
[SPEAKER_00]: And so they sent all of us out to sports bars, right?
4:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I'm like, hey, get reaction from people as the schedule is being released, you know?
5:05
[SPEAKER_00]: And so, you know, they sent me, and I'm sure there was, again, a reason why, but like I'm going to a sports bar and like the suburb is by like a hair instead of going to one in downtown Chicago, not that that would have been a difference in this scenario.
5:21
[SPEAKER_00]: But I didn't realize until I walked into the sports bar, which is empty when I got there, that there was a bull's playoff game that night, and a black pot, playoff game that night.
5:34
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is one of the black hocks for like flying with like, you know, Patrick Kane, like they were winning cops all that, you know?
5:40
[SPEAKER_00]: And so as we get closer to going on the air,
5:47
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like looking around, all I see is like the pre-game show for the balls and the pre-game show for all those different stuff on the TV's and then the game start.
5:55
[SPEAKER_00]: And like the NFL schedule release is not on any of the TVs.
5:59
[SPEAKER_00]: It's all bowls of blackhawks which it should be in that scenario, you know, right.
6:03
[SPEAKER_00]: So we actually had to ask the bartender to put the schedule release on one TV that was like behind me.
6:14
[SPEAKER_00]: And it was like, I feel like I was like on the front end of them trying to make a big deal out of this and it wasn't yet, but they were trying to like kind of like generate like it was just I mean and now everybody makes a big deal out of it and everything else and we have all the videos and all that different stuff, but I think what they were hoping was that this was going to be a big night for people to go to like.
6:37
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, go out to the bar and see their teams playing like I don't know that was ever what it was going to be there are a lot of people who are locked in on their computer sitting at home, but you know, this isn't like I don't know that like this is something that people are going to high five strangers at a sports bar over.
6:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, and we're going to get into a second, like it legitimately matters.
7:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
7:01
[SPEAKER_01]: What does, and we know what opponents these teams are playing, but the order in which they're placed and the times at which they're placed absolutely matter.
7:10
[SPEAKER_01]: And we're going to get to that in a couple minutes.
7:12
[SPEAKER_01]: I think we have some,
7:14
[SPEAKER_01]: pretty definitive evidence on that front, but you just remind me of something when you said the schedule release videos, every team's got the cute little social media videos, but last year, right, the colds had to take those down because of a trademark infringement, if I remember correctly, right?
7:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, there's something else though, too.
7:33
[SPEAKER_00]: And then there was, I was trying to be like the furthest anybody went with this to the chargers go,
7:41
[SPEAKER_00]: The Chargers did something with the Browns, where they said, like, our lawyer told us not to, like, it was like, it was a kind of like a blank screen.
7:49
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, our lawyers, like, our lawyers asked us not to show this, just show this part of our schedule, or will he's video or something, right?
7:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh yeah, and then the cult, the cult, put, um, a tyree kill getting arrested by the coast.
8:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, that's what it was, yeah.
8:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
8:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, but then they said it wasn't because of that.
8:10
[SPEAKER_00]: They said it was because of copyright infringement on something else.
8:13
[SPEAKER_01]: Wasn't that what it was?
8:14
[SPEAKER_01]: That's because it was a Minecraft schedule.
8:16
[SPEAKER_01]: And then that they didn't get permission from Microsoft.
8:18
[SPEAKER_01]: And then they just pulled the plug on the whole thing.
8:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
8:21
[SPEAKER_01]: And then I think the colds bolt raised the dolphins anyway.
8:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
8:24
[SPEAKER_01]: So it didn't really matter.
8:26
[SPEAKER_01]: But, you know, at the time, it was the line for these, though.
8:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Because this came up a lot for me.
8:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, this, my problem is everything I say on the Patriot's situation.
8:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, it turns into a headlines, so please don't turn this into a headline, but... Shelby.
8:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I clicked this.
8:46
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it came up a couple weeks ago, and I was just talking on a TV show, and, you know, is the, with the NBC guys that I do a show with every week.
8:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, they were like, well, when does this end, I'm like, well, you know, like, I think there's going to be like opportunities for teams to poke at the Patriots here over this.
9:08
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, and so, like, will teams poke at the Patriots this week?
9:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Because, like, with the schedule release, you know, and it was part of a bigger discussion where I was like,
9:21
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, pre-season games, regular season games, like if they hit, like it's just going to kind of they're going to be like points in the calendar when it comes up again.
9:30
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I sort of wonder about that, too, is like whether or not this is over the line out, these social media teams do a really good job of being creative and referencing things without flat out saying them, you know.
9:45
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, we'll always look at it though.
9:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I have a little bit of a boomer take on this and that is that like, and I think that you and I are a lock step on this where the social media teams for these NFL for these NFL clubs are basically writing checks that the players asses have to cash, you know, and so it's like someone like me or you.
10:08
[SPEAKER_01]: sitting in a cubicle, me like, like, you know, uh, that, you know, this quarterback got arrested and I'm going to write about it.
10:14
[SPEAKER_01]: And then that quarterback stores that in his memory bank and then comes out and hangs 45 on you in October.
10:22
[SPEAKER_01]: And then you're the one dragging your butt up and down the field trying to stop them like that sucks, you know, like, yeah.
10:28
[SPEAKER_01]: And if I was going to just be like, hey, you know, and where is line though, like that's the thing.
10:34
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's a really interesting conversation like I don't know where the line is and I think that you bring up a fascinating point I mean we have an NFL coach in Mike variable that is embroiled in and again like I think this was a quiet off season See if to measure it against the kind of lack of noise that's happening you know like we had
10:56
[SPEAKER_01]: you know, Henry Rugs, we had like, we had big things taking place, you know, off seasons and years prior that felt different.
11:03
[SPEAKER_01]: But with this variable situation, because of the quiet, and then kind of the tabloidy nature of it, and the fact that it's drawing in fans from all over, you know, I'm just a wedding this last weekend.
11:14
[SPEAKER_01]: That's all anybody wanted to talk to me about when they found out what I did for a living, right?
11:19
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's insane what me like, I was on a
11:26
[SPEAKER_00]: this weekend and we were we were at like the bar in the ferry or whatever and I Like I sat down and there's like you know six or seven other dads that I've done that I know and I'm friendly with and everything else that we're up in the bar with me
11:42
[SPEAKER_00]: And one of them brought it up like six or seven minutes in and like, I'm like, it only, like, I'm actually like, I'm actually pretty impressed that you guys held off for six minutes.
11:58
[SPEAKER_00]: We're asking about that because it feels like it's like the first thing anyone asked me about.
12:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
12:04
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
12:05
[SPEAKER_01]: It's true.
12:05
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's in and there will be an opportunity.
12:10
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, what, what is it going to be like 13 or what 12 teams have the New England Patriots on their schedule and especially if you're the jets right where you're going to be 14 wouldn't it 14.
12:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, because only three teams play them twice.
12:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Only three.
12:27
[SPEAKER_01]: That's right.
12:27
[SPEAKER_01]: That's right.
12:28
[SPEAKER_01]: That's right.
12:28
[SPEAKER_01]: So 14 teams have them on their schedule.
12:30
[SPEAKER_01]: So if you're the jets, for example, a variable interviewed for that job.
12:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
12:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, do you what do you do in that situation.
12:48
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, I mean, like, are you trying to be cute about it?
12:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Or are you trying to create a couple of olden eye ability with it?
12:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, so, I mean, like, but that stuff, I mean, it's just, I, I don't think it's.
13:07
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think it's like more out of bounds than referencing to Sean Watson, you know, right.
13:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Like where the the the the the chargers reference to Sean Watson, right now.
13:18
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't get more out of bounds than Tyre Kill, you know what I mean?
13:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Like what I mean?
13:24
[SPEAKER_00]: It's, yeah, it's, there's this gray area that they're all going to live.
13:28
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, like I think that there's so much of it that's like subtly, and that's been like kind of the brilliance that chargers, right?
13:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Like is that a lot of it hasn't been like dead on like hit them between the eyes.
13:39
[SPEAKER_00]: You almost have to look for it sometimes.
13:41
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?
13:43
[SPEAKER_01]: I wonder, and I bet like I think we all know how this goes, right, like that, and especially with NFL stuff where you and I, you especially were kind of in that first wave of NFL.com where I think that there was a lot of people there interested in doing good content and making it kind of a legitimately covered operation.
14:07
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is not, I'm not saying that like,
14:09
[SPEAKER_01]: people who are at NFL.com now or state media, they're still incredible reporters there.
14:15
[SPEAKER_01]: But wave one was, we're purposely going to be a little avant-garde.
14:19
[SPEAKER_01]: We're purposely going to be a little bit different.
14:21
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to try to cover the league aggressively and not make it just seem like NFL sponsored content.
14:30
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think like as we all went through different iterations of men,
14:34
[SPEAKER_01]: management there.
14:35
[SPEAKER_01]: It was like, okay, well, that's got to get looked at before it goes up.
14:37
[SPEAKER_01]: That's got to get looked up before it goes up.
14:40
[SPEAKER_01]: I wonder if this year for schedule release videos, it's like, okay, that definitely has to get looked at before it goes up.
14:48
[SPEAKER_01]: And we see a couple more rungs of management and lawyers and armbuttsman that take a look at this thing before it goes live.
14:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
14:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I just think it's from beginning.
15:00
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to send you something
15:04
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, page six picked this up four years ago, where the Chargers had a, in their video, had a guy with a charger head sitting at a bar.
15:18
[SPEAKER_00]: And it was a reference to, oh, we're been mire.
15:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
15:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
15:23
[SPEAKER_00]: So like that is like you can see it there.
15:27
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?
15:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Like the picture?
15:28
[SPEAKER_00]: So anyway, it's just sort of, I mean, but that's a, that would be kind of like a sim.
15:35
[SPEAKER_00]: And then like, there's a become, and then like I said this before, but does this become a story if, if you don't reference, if no one references it?
15:44
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?
15:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Does it become a story?
15:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, like, was there an anecdote on this?
15:48
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?
15:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Just so everyone knows, like, if you're not in the NFL schedule release culture like the chargers are the kind of the gold standard of schedule release videos and have kind of been on the forefront of this, do you know who is on the chargers schedule as a home opponent in 2026 Albert.
16:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, the New England Patriots.
16:11
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, let's move on and let's see what's going on here But the reason we're talking schedule so we got the Sunday night opener which is Chicago which is New York the Giants and the Cowboys
16:22
[SPEAKER_01]: In the past, I've argued that this is not a prime time game anymore.
16:26
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it used to cover the giants.
16:28
[SPEAKER_01]: This was, I think during that period of time, we're really fell out of fashion and eventually got regulated.
16:34
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think it relegated.
16:35
[SPEAKER_01]: I think last year was the first time that we did some deep dive on this in the pod last year.
16:40
[SPEAKER_01]: So first time that neither of the games were in prime time, I think they're both just like one o'clock after noon games, giants, the Cowboys.
16:46
[SPEAKER_01]: I think maybe one was like a four o'clock.
16:48
[SPEAKER_01]: It, in fact, yeah.
16:49
[SPEAKER_01]: No, no, I think the Russell Wilson one was a one o'clock game.
16:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Because it went it over time and then it spilled over into the four clock games.
16:55
[SPEAKER_01]: I remember.
16:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
16:57
[SPEAKER_01]: But now we have giants and cowboys back at this premium spot and it's like two teams with losing records, but you brought this up before we started taping that.
17:08
[SPEAKER_01]: If you do something like the Giants did, would you go out and you get John Harbaugh and you spend in free agency?
17:14
[SPEAKER_01]: You can spend your way right back into that spot.
17:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, whether or not you stay there is kind of up to you, but it is interesting that the NFL is viewing the Giants as a very real property, at least for the beginning portion of the season.
17:28
[SPEAKER_01]: And Dallas, which, like,
17:31
[SPEAKER_01]: And we'll get into kind of the analytics of Dallas's season last year, but I'll just say this, Dallas was like one of two teams that were in the top 10 easiest schedules last year that didn't make the playoffs.
17:42
[SPEAKER_01]: And they didn't really do much this off season to generally improve.
17:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Like you said Albert, it's not like they went out and they got Max Carozbier, they went out and they didn't any of this stuff.
17:52
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, they kind of just brought back everybody and then they drafted Caleb Downs.
17:55
[SPEAKER_00]: And now all of a sudden they're back in prime time and they're just like this no doubt prime time we're going to say I don't know I mean I I'm very curious what you make of how the NFL's already kind of stack in the cards here well so all right so we can start with the Dallas conversation right which You know I I look this and it's amazing to me like you said like they didn't have a particularly difficult schedule last year they still only one seven games
18:23
[SPEAKER_00]: and they're on the marquee again, right?
18:27
[SPEAKER_00]: So I looked this up this morning.
18:29
[SPEAKER_00]: They've only opened the season at one PM Eastern time once in the last 25 years.
18:36
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a quarter century.
18:38
[SPEAKER_00]: They're either in the game of the week, window, on Fox,
18:44
[SPEAKER_00]: or they're in on NBC, which they've been on NBC now in 12 of the last 17 years to open the season, which means either Sunday night football or the kickoff game.
18:58
[SPEAKER_00]: And none of those games were the Monday night game either.
19:00
[SPEAKER_00]: So they've been on the Big Markey almost every year on some sort of Big Markey to open the season.
19:06
[SPEAKER_00]: And a lot of people get upset about this.
19:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
19:12
[SPEAKER_00]: The NFL is not doing this to force the Cowboys on you.
19:18
[SPEAKER_00]: They're doing this because this is what the Cowboys are.
19:20
[SPEAKER_00]: The Cowboys are their biggest brand.
19:23
[SPEAKER_00]: The Cowboys are the Lakers.
19:24
[SPEAKER_00]: The Cowboys are the Yankees.
19:26
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what the Cowboys are.
19:27
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, I pulled up this Bill Parselle's quote from when he took the Cowboys job.
19:33
[SPEAKER_00]: And he said, there are accidental lounge and then there are acts in the big room where Elvis and the big names play.
19:38
[SPEAKER_00]: The Cowboys are the big room and I view this as an opportunity to play it.
19:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, it just is what it is, you know?
19:45
[SPEAKER_00]: That's why the whole argument over America's team is so freaking stupid.
19:51
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?
19:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Like people who argue, the cowboys aren't America's team.
19:54
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, this isn't like a title that gets passed around.
19:58
[SPEAKER_00]: This isn't like a championship belt, you know what I mean?
20:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, this is a moniker for a franchise that is impervious to losing.
20:07
[SPEAKER_00]: And I honestly feel like there have been teams
20:12
[SPEAKER_00]: over the last 20, 30, 40 years, the Niners, the Patriots, and what those teams figure out is they aren't the Cowboys because when they are very good, they sink right back into the pile with everybody else.
20:27
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?
20:28
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is the one, even the Giants, right?
20:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Like the Giants
20:39
[SPEAKER_00]: The giants got moved down on the Cowboys mark he last year.
20:43
[SPEAKER_00]: And so the games wrote one a call.
20:46
[SPEAKER_00]: That wasn't because of the Cowboys.
20:48
[SPEAKER_00]: That wasn't because the Cowboys couldn't couldn't carry the television's ratings weight, because the giants weren't as big a draw.
20:55
[SPEAKER_00]: So, right, I'm not saying that I'm not even telling anybody that this means anything grand about the
21:05
[SPEAKER_00]: The job that they've done building that organ is they just are the biggest brand like they that that's the legacy and this is getting the cowboys on the that that is what the networks care about you know like the networks want cowboys games.
21:22
[SPEAKER_01]: And again, it's not so they can force the cowboys on you, it's because of what you have told them over the course of the last half century right when a watch right I mean the fact that like the idea that and I think that Jerry Jones has been much to my frustration so good at capitalizing on
21:43
[SPEAKER_01]: the even the mediocre years by just wearing the villain hat and just being like, yeah, I'm the crazy person who
21:53
[SPEAKER_01]: fired Mike McCarty to get Brian shot in Heimer.
21:55
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I'm the crazy person.
21:57
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's all part of this, you know, and I hate to give somebody credit for like 3D chess, but it is.
22:04
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like, it's world wrestling entertainment.
22:07
[SPEAKER_01]: And he got that long before anybody else got that.
22:10
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that's why we get this kind of season, uh, we'll open it where it's the giants and cowboys.
22:15
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, still in my mind, like two of the most grossly over exposed teams in the NFL.
22:20
[SPEAKER_01]: But, you know, it's an earned
22:22
[SPEAKER_01]: disposition and the giants I think upgrading with hardball kind of buy themselves right back into that, but I want to talk about a few things here because everyone's like, I'll schedule release, okay, who cares?
22:34
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, we have the Twitter situation or whatever the team's releasing the videos, and that's fine, no big deal.
22:41
[SPEAKER_01]: But I would argue that, you know, so here's an interesting thing from last year.
22:47
[SPEAKER_01]: You pull up the strength of schedule from the 20-25 season, okay?
22:54
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you had to take a guess, Albert, out of the top 10 easiest schedules in the NFL last year, how many of those teams missed the playoffs?
23:08
[SPEAKER_01]: two, two.
23:10
[SPEAKER_01]: The Miami Dolphins.
23:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
23:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
23:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
23:16
[SPEAKER_01]: And the Dallas Cowboys.
23:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
23:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
23:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Here are the rest of the top 10.
23:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Number one, by one of the largest margins in history, the New England Patriots.
23:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Number two, the Broncos.
23:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Number four, the Bears.
23:28
[SPEAKER_01]: Five, the Chargers.
23:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Six,
23:38
[SPEAKER_01]: situations like this where, so we have the chiefs in 2025 being the first team in NFL history to have five prime time games over the first eight weeks of the season.
23:54
[SPEAKER_01]: What happened to that team?
23:55
[SPEAKER_01]: They got gasped, they got beat up, and their quarterback tore their ace, tore his ACL, and missed the rest of the season.
24:02
[SPEAKER_01]: the Vikings had, I think, five standalone games in their first seven games.
24:07
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I like the trip.
24:08
[SPEAKER_01]: They doubled up in Europe.
24:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Double international.
24:11
[SPEAKER_01]: What happened?
24:12
[SPEAKER_01]: They're rookie quarterback freaked out.
24:14
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, and I'm not saying this in a mean way, but I think the stage got way too big for him way too fast.
24:21
[SPEAKER_01]: And then you ended up relying on Carson Wentz for a majority of the season.
24:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Right?
24:26
[SPEAKER_01]: And so,
24:27
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think it's a secret that this stuff matters in a very, very right way.
24:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I have like an epiphany on it too, like last year, because like being here obviously, you know, and talking about knowing a lot on TV and radio, I got into a couple arguments with Mike Felger, who's kind of like the biggest personality up here, you know, over this.
24:54
[SPEAKER_00]: And he was right.
24:56
[SPEAKER_00]: He, because I said, well, you know, I kept looking at where they were.
25:00
[SPEAKER_00]: And Mike variable in that group did such a great job of building the roster up and getting them to level ground at so many different positions where they didn't have gaping holes.
25:09
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, so I got to remember saying, like, well, there's a cap on how far this team can go.
25:16
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like because the the the roster just isn't quite there yet.
25:21
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?
25:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Like isn't it isn't right where you need it to be.
25:24
[SPEAKER_00]: So I was like, okay, could I see them being like the commanders like, yeah, I could see that, but it's tough to even see them getting to a conference title game because the year before the commanders had a soft schedule and the NFC was pretty soft.
25:39
[SPEAKER_00]: So right, like they they they they that that that path the type to the conference title game.
25:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Whereas like with New England, I just looked at and said, well, the AFCs to deep.
25:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Then they started playing the games.
25:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Then they kept winning.
25:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Then the other teams got beat up.
25:57
[SPEAKER_00]: then they got home field in the playoffs.
26:00
[SPEAKER_00]: And then it just took like a breaker to, you know, it's a well, and then bonus.
26:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
26:17
[SPEAKER_00]: in the divisional round CJ Stroud had like six turnovers.
26:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
26:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
26:22
[SPEAKER_00]: And then, and that's not taking any away from them, but because the schedule had allowed them to get to 14 wins, now they're playing these games at home.
26:31
[SPEAKER_00]: They're playing warm weather teams in New England and January.
26:35
[SPEAKER_00]: And then they're really one break away from going to the sewer, which they got that
26:43
[SPEAKER_01]: And the Patriots are interesting too, Albert, because, I mean, you brought up, you know, variable possibly being made fun of during the time.
26:50
[SPEAKER_00]: I was wrong about that.
26:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I was like, well, that'll get them to 9 or 10 wins, but, and it got them to 14.
26:58
[SPEAKER_00]: It helped get them to 14 wins, which is a huge threat to them.
27:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Sure.
27:02
[SPEAKER_00]: I sort of view it the same as the commanders the year before, where, like,
27:06
[SPEAKER_00]: a bunch of things came together for them at once, and these things can happen.
27:11
[SPEAKER_00]: It can't just be the schedule.
27:15
[SPEAKER_00]: The schedule can be a big time like aid in helping you level up in a way that maybe you thought you would be able to.
27:24
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's, you know, bringing up the Patriots in particular and then I have another quiz question for you.
27:31
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, let's just imagine that the Patriots had the hardest schedule in the NFL last year, and they finished seven and nine.
27:39
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, kind of where everybody thought they were going to finish before, you know, if you were doing your preseason record projections, I'm not saying that variables on the hot seat right now, but like how differently are the Patriots and viewing
27:52
[SPEAKER_00]: The totality of this situation where it looks like, well, I mean, let's be easy thing to do and this is going to come up if they start one and five, you know what I mean, like, I mean like
28:03
[SPEAKER_00]: 100% is like, does the coach have his crap together?
28:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Right, right.
28:07
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, like, you know, and that would be the question.
28:09
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's going to come.
28:11
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's sort of part of it.
28:12
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?
28:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Like that's fair or not.
28:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Like that's what's going to come up.
28:16
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's that's the way that story is going to follow them.
28:19
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, that is like, OK, like, if you win, then.
28:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, like it'll it'll it'll it'll be in the past and maybe you'll have to see some, you know, signs that fans make it games and stuff and you know, like there's that sort of thing that that's going to happen to fall, but you'll be okay.
28:35
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're not winning, then, you know, what is that what does that look like on October 15th, you know.
28:42
[SPEAKER_00]: What people will be talking about in that scenario is how tight is this operation?
28:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Is this tied up the way that it needed to be and how much did it cost them and the spring to be dealing with all of this when they're starting to put their team together all those questions like I think we'll come up and like and like you said like a lot of that stuff
29:08
[SPEAKER_00]: isn't coming up as much now because they did do such a good job last year in the schedule was was a part of helping them get where they were where they wound up getting to.
29:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Exactly.
29:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, so out of the top 10 teams Albert, only two of them have to play off out of the bottom 10 teams.
29:25
[SPEAKER_01]: How many of them made the playoffs?
29:30
[SPEAKER_00]: How many made it?
29:32
[SPEAKER_00]: So, all right, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on
29:56
[SPEAKER_01]: So out of the 10 pages, I'll go to.
29:58
[SPEAKER_01]: You're right.
29:59
[SPEAKER_01]: So the two teams with the hardest schedule out of that whole group, the Texans and the Rams made the playoffs.
30:09
[SPEAKER_01]: The Cardinals won three games, the Titans won three games, the Raiders won two games, the Jets won three games.
30:16
[SPEAKER_01]: The Colts fell apart down the stretch, the Buccaneers fell apart down the stretch, the Vikings,
30:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and the Vikings.
30:24
[SPEAKER_01]: So, yeah.
30:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, that.
30:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, that's in the range, right?
30:28
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
30:29
[SPEAKER_00]: So, I'll just hit the Texans.
30:32
[SPEAKER_01]: How incredible in hindsight is there?
30:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
30:35
[SPEAKER_00]: So, this is interesting, though.
30:37
[SPEAKER_00]: The Texans, they're last six games were on Sundays.
30:47
[SPEAKER_00]: So, they're last midweek game was that Thursday game
30:51
[SPEAKER_00]: They got the bills, which was an important game coming off of a game at Tennessee.
30:59
[SPEAKER_00]: So, like, and then they had a Monday night game in week seven that was coming off of a buy.
31:08
[SPEAKER_00]: So, like, there were things that sort of set them up now.
31:13
[SPEAKER_00]: It was kind of a tougher look for them like coming back off the buy you're playing the Niners, which is a tough game, they wound up winning that one actually, they lost the Theox in the Monday night, but that set up like so even that like that's a they had a very difficult schedule, but they were able to get rolling late in the year and they didn't have like some of the turnaround that you talked about the chiefs having, right?
31:37
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
31:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, then the ram's hold on.
31:41
[SPEAKER_00]: See, this is interesting.
31:42
[SPEAKER_00]: So this is actually kind of like drilling into it, right?
31:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
31:45
[SPEAKER_00]: But the ram's, the 2025 ram's had, all right.
31:54
[SPEAKER_00]: So the ram's, you give them credit, because the ram's did kind of go through
31:58
[SPEAKER_00]: like a wonky end where they played seven Sundays in a row coming off of their buy.
32:07
[SPEAKER_00]: But before their buy they only had one midweek of Thursday game, then they played seven Sundays in a row and then they're last three weeks where Thursday Mondays Sunday.
32:17
[SPEAKER_00]: So you give them credit from looking through that but they lost two of those three games.
32:26
[SPEAKER_00]: cost them home field.
32:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
32:30
[SPEAKER_00]: So like they win those games.
32:33
[SPEAKER_00]: The NFC championship game is now in Engelwood, not Seattle.
32:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
32:41
[SPEAKER_00]: And maybe the Rams are the ones opening the season on Wednesday night.
32:46
[SPEAKER_01]: in God knows where.
32:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
32:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, now they're opening the reason.
32:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Now instead they're opening the season in Australia.
32:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
32:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
32:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Although that game they would already agreed to go to Australia.
32:59
[SPEAKER_00]: So maybe they would maybe they would maybe that maybe the kickoff game would have been an I don't know.
33:03
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
33:04
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
33:05
[SPEAKER_00]: So that would have been tricky, right?
33:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I didn't even think about that.
33:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Like because what would you have done then if you were the NFL, the Rams on the Super Bowl?
33:13
[SPEAKER_01]: you would, I mean, yeah, are you really shipping the Super Bowl champions out to melt first game would be an Australia, right?
33:22
[SPEAKER_01]: And then just kind of lighting.
33:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Is it already agreed?
33:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Like the Rams are designated the team.
33:26
[SPEAKER_00]: I think way ahead of time weren't there.
33:27
[SPEAKER_01]: I think so.
33:28
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
33:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
33:29
[SPEAKER_01]: They had already had like a delegation out there.
33:31
[SPEAKER_01]: I think check everything out to look into it.
33:34
[SPEAKER_01]: So let's spend this ahead Albert then to 2026 where now again, I think it's faulty because teams do improve and they get better.
33:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
33:44
[SPEAKER_00]: But the guys just just so we're clear the strength of schedule numbers that you're going off of right now are based on the 25 she's not the 24 season right.
33:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Correct.
33:54
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you're doing this exercise this time last year like it probably the list that you just gave me would look different.
34:01
[SPEAKER_01]: a little bit, but here's interesting.
34:04
[SPEAKER_01]: So if we took the 2025 schedule using the 2024 strength of schedule, the Patriots still had the second easiest schedule, the 49ers, the saints, the falcon, and the buffalo bills, the saints in the falcons because of the division that they're playing in.
34:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, but the saints still had that turnaround, the falcons had their best wind total in
34:30
[SPEAKER_01]: a long time, right?
34:32
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it was like years.
34:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I think it's Dan Quim was there, right?
34:36
[SPEAKER_01]: So they finished eight and nine.
34:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Cause when you look at 2026, the easiest, the number one easiest schedule based on 2025, okay, wind percentage, is fascinating to me, because it's the Detroit Lions.
34:52
[SPEAKER_01]: And the Detroit Lions went into the season before that, okay.
34:59
[SPEAKER_01]: they went into the season before that as the third hardest schedule behind the giants and the browns.
35:07
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think that there's a world where we can legitimize the fact that the lion's schedule was really hard last year.
35:15
[SPEAKER_01]: They still barely missed the playoffs.
35:18
[SPEAKER_01]: And now they have based on 2025 strength of schedule the easiest schedule going into this one.
35:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Now again,
35:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Here's where it all matters because it matters how the NFL stacks it and the reason why I think Detroit is in a really cool spot.
35:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Is because they didn't make that marquee upgrade like didn't go out and sign you know AJ Brown the soft season right they didn't go out and get some part of that's because they drafted so well there are so many guys right but they didn't put themselves in the prime time crosshairs so I think what they have is the benefit of.
35:56
[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't, I can't remember if they have an international game or not, but they go to Munich.
36:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so they go to Munich.
36:01
[SPEAKER_01]: So they have that speed bump, but they got to deal with that.
36:04
[SPEAKER_01]: But other than that, if you have the easiest schedule in the NFL, plus a little bit of under the radar after your crash last year, I think that's exactly where you want to be.
36:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Right?
36:15
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you really kind of have to love where the lines are at right now.
36:20
[SPEAKER_01]: I hope the league
36:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Right, like so like and and like part of like the part of the whole deal here is you want to get the divisions that you see is soft right like what are the soft visions because each team gets paired one with with one division other than their own in their conference and outside their conference and so for the lines this year that's the NFC south.
36:46
[SPEAKER_00]: which means Carolina, New Orleans, Atlanta, and Tampa, right?
36:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that means the AFC East.
36:55
[SPEAKER_00]: So yes, they have to play Buffalo, and they have to play New England, but they also get to play the Jets on a Dolphins, right?
37:03
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's a part of the whole equation here too.
37:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Their game actor, which just announced is gonna be in November and Munich.
37:11
[SPEAKER_00]: So November 15th, they play in Munich.
37:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
37:15
[SPEAKER_00]: which is a little later in the calendar, but I might also give you the opportunity to take a later by.
37:27
[SPEAKER_00]: which can be good for a team too.
37:29
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, or a team don't want you.
37:31
[SPEAKER_00]: You usually don't want you by early.
37:33
[SPEAKER_00]: So I like where the lines are.
37:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I think Drew Pet Singh is gonna wind up being a good hire for them on offense.
37:40
[SPEAKER_00]: I think bringing in, I think Calvin Shepherd in his second year's gonna be better on defense.
37:44
[SPEAKER_00]: And they've had such tough injury lock for the last couple of years.
37:48
[SPEAKER_00]: I just think that there's like still a ceiling that they haven't hit with that young group of players.
37:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I think a huge part of this is going to come down to what happens if they're offensive line.
37:59
[SPEAKER_00]: That was Penae's tool, settle in a left tackle.
38:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Blake Miller, right tackle is a rookie, he looks like a plug-and-play guy, is that what he is?
38:07
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll see.
38:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Kate Mays coming over to play Center for them from Carolina.
38:15
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, but I, I look at like the tandem of of Drew Patsing and Hank Fraley on offense, you know, and I think that that's going to wind up being an upgrade and get him closer to where they were under Ben Johnson.
38:26
[SPEAKER_00]: And then, you know, you just kind of like look at the players and it's like, on offense, you still have soul.
38:31
[SPEAKER_00]: You still have Jamison Williams.
38:33
[SPEAKER_00]: You still have on Monroe St. Brown, Jamir Gibbs, you know, Jared Goff, and then defensively, if they can just stay healthy, which has been the big problem for them, you know,
38:43
[SPEAKER_00]: And every turn, I mean, you put together, you start to rattle off the names there between eight Hutchinson and a lean McNeil and Jack Campbell and then Brian Branch, and you know, we'll see what happens with Terran Arnold, but like they, it's a really, it's still really good roster, you know, and, and, and, and, and I think this, I mean, look like,
39:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, a lot of this, a lot of this is about, like, how does this set you up for January?
39:11
[SPEAKER_00]: And if this schedule helps you get to 13 or 14 wins, that could be not having to leave Detroit during the playoffs, you know?
39:19
[SPEAKER_01]: There's some other consequential stuff in here too.
39:22
[SPEAKER_01]: So of the five teams with the easiest schedule, lines are number one.
39:27
[SPEAKER_01]: The same through number two at a time when, you know, that division is totally influx.
39:33
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, people liked the way that Tyler Chuck finished last season, you know, maybe he's the answer there.
39:39
[SPEAKER_01]: They had a great off season.
39:41
[SPEAKER_00]: There are another one, dude.
39:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, where I look at them and it's like, either Tyler Chuck's gonna be the guy, or they're gonna be back in the mix for one next spring.
39:54
[SPEAKER_00]: If you look at like what Kelly Moore and Mickey Lumis have put together there, I think they're set up now to get an answer.
40:01
[SPEAKER_00]: If two first-round tackles, until he's phoagua and Kelvin Banks, they got two first-round receivers in Chris O'Lave and Jordan Tyson, and in the backfield, they've got Alvin Camara who, I think a lot of people myself included thought could be gone when Travis Etchon, we have did I pronounce that right?
40:23
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm I'm just going to let you kind of wish it and then I'm going to you know if it ends up being wrong.
40:27
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll just jump on it.
40:28
[SPEAKER_00]: But I think they've like set themselves up in a way where it's like, okay, like we're going to find out like Oscar dealt the tight end they drafted out of Georgia.
40:36
[SPEAKER_00]: I think we're going to find out, you know, like what they what what they have in Tyler shock and the schedule could could help them in that way, too.
40:44
[SPEAKER_01]: 30 ziist.
40:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Cincinnati Bengals and here we go right a be cut and and I do wonder if just in the back of their minds.
40:54
[SPEAKER_01]: They were like okay.
40:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's just look at how this thing shakes out and and and just kind of figure out.
41:03
[SPEAKER_01]: if it's worth trading away all this capital.
41:06
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, so look at this, right?
41:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Home, you have the Ravens and the Browns and the Steelers, obviously.
41:11
[SPEAKER_01]: And you have the Chiefs and the Jaguars, tough.
41:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
41:15
[SPEAKER_01]: But then you also have the Titans, the Saints, and the Bucks.
41:17
[SPEAKER_01]: And you would imagine that there's some degree of regression with the Buccaneers.
41:22
[SPEAKER_01]: And then away, you have the cults who I think are a regression candidate, you have the dolphins, you have the commanders, you have the falcons, and you have the panthers.
41:32
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not
41:34
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not like that Patriot style outlier schedule that you look like my God would a cake walk this turned out to be, but I think there's a lot of regression candidates on that schedule and I think again, I mean, it's all determinative of health with the Bengals, but I think that there's a chance that they run right into this thing and they end up winning 13 games next year.
41:55
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I think we all know the offense has been there, like so we don't, I don't think we have a lot of questions.
42:02
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, so long as the offensive line continues to play at a decent level, I think the the offense is going to be dynamite again.
42:09
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, so so much is going to come down to Dexter Lawrence, the impact he's able to make had as how to smart store looking year two.
42:32
[SPEAKER_00]: I think there's enough there where it's possible like that they are right back in the back.
42:40
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't view them as a team that's that far out from Super Bowl contention, you know.
42:45
[SPEAKER_00]: And the huge part of it's what I think of the quarterback who like I think is still one of the five best players in the entire sport regardless of position.
42:58
[SPEAKER_00]: But the schedule could certainly
43:01
[SPEAKER_01]: The other one here that I want to talk about on the five easiest schedules that I think is like fascinating and again, I'm not a betting person.
43:09
[SPEAKER_01]: So whatever, MGM or whatever, your betting odds of choice, I think like the whatever it is, the consensus of all these places that do it have the browns at six and a half wins, but Cleveland also has the easiest, one of the third or
43:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, and again, I, I'm full transparency.
43:34
[SPEAKER_01]: I unbecame a brown fan because of Deshaum Watson.
43:37
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm not sitting here and putting on like a little fan hat.
43:41
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to see him with Todd Munkin, purely from a football perspective.
43:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, I think that he's going to win that job.
43:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Just my thought on this.
43:51
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't, I don't, I don't know how, if you ask the question in that quarterback room,
44:00
[SPEAKER_00]: who was the best chance to become a top 10 quarterback in the league.
44:04
[SPEAKER_00]: How your answer would not be to Sean Watson.
44:06
[SPEAKER_02]: Right.
44:07
[SPEAKER_00]: He had the talent to go on the top half of the first round.
44:10
[SPEAKER_00]: He's demonstrated that he can play at a top five ish level.
44:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
44:15
[SPEAKER_00]: He's led multiple teams into the playoffs.
44:20
[SPEAKER_00]: And it looked awful since he got to Cleveland.
44:23
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure what you're quoting that.
44:30
[SPEAKER_00]: not believing that that's still in there somewhere.
44:33
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, this guy who was a game changer at Clemson, this guy who came in and was basically rocket fuel for the Houston Texans for a couple of years.
44:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Why why why why isn't even debatable that like while do or spec like a third round pick and Bill and Gabriel or fifth round pick and should or Sanders have a better chance of getting there.
44:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Then to Sean Watson that doesn't make sense to me like and I I don't know what people are basing it on you know what I mean well they're basing it on a like a not insignificant sample size of like one of the worst stretches of quarterback play no, but I'm just going with the other two.
45:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, right.
45:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I'm speaking with the other two, like, what are you basing thinking that those guys have a better chance to be the future of the Browns?
45:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Or even just a very good quarterback this year, then Watson.
45:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Right, what was that based on?
45:27
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think if you look at Kevin Stephansky, he came to Cleveland having worked with a very particular kind of quarterback and having wanted a very particular kind of quarterback.
45:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, Munkin has been all over the board.
45:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, yeah, he's had to work with guys who were legs for, and I'm not saying that to Sean as legs first.
45:52
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not saying that, but he's just worked with literally every, and Lamar is probably the most abstract quarterback in, in, in, in, in recent NFL, his terms of how he processes everything and he's brilliant, right?
46:06
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I think that with that experience,
46:10
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I'm not putting out the putting away the possibility that all of a sudden Watson is like a top 1314 quarterback this year, like I just don't and I'm not going to, you know, I'm not going to be.
46:26
[SPEAKER_01]: there's going to be one of us and not you and me.
46:28
[SPEAKER_01]: I think just in the jet and fell in general, who's going to be like, you know what?
46:31
[SPEAKER_01]: That wasn't so bad of a trade for it.
46:33
[SPEAKER_01]: So it was still the worst trade in the history, but like, you're right, but you're right, though.
46:38
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, like, you look at Todd Munkins history.
46:40
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just going to be able to pull whatever's left out of to Sean Watson.
46:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, this is a guy who's worked with a lot of different types of quarterbacks.
46:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Like you said, like, one of our Jackson's one, right, which is the most obvious one,
46:56
[SPEAKER_00]: But before that, like he wanted two national championships with Stetson Bennett, and it was right at Georgia, right?
47:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Then you go back a year before that, he was with Baker Mayfield in Cleveland.
47:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Then you go back for the three years previous to that, he was with James Winston in Tampa.
47:19
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you wanna go way further back, and this is when he's the receiver's coach,
47:25
[SPEAKER_00]: But David Gerard was more of like your traditional drop back.
47:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
47:30
[SPEAKER_00]: So like I look at like the his like vast range of experiences and the different quarterbacks that he won with.
47:38
[SPEAKER_00]: And I mean, I don't know like I I mean like an Oklahoma state I believe he was with Brandon Weed.
47:48
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean, like when he was the offensive coordinator.
47:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Wow.
47:52
[SPEAKER_00]: So like I'm just looking at his resume and that the year's matchup where he would have had Brad Brandon Weedon at Oklahoma State.
47:57
[SPEAKER_00]: So like I don't know.
48:00
[SPEAKER_00]: I look at all this and I'm like, you know what?
48:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Like if there's somebody who's going to be open-minded to looking and looking in that room and looking at at at at at at at at at at at at
48:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Chador Sanders, Dylan Gabriel to Sean Watson, now talent, green who's an avatar of an athlete, right?
48:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, but just, I mean, I don't know how good a quarterback he is.
48:22
[SPEAKER_00]: So he's the reason he went in the sixth round.
48:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, this is the guy who's going to be able to, I think, like, look at the four guys in the room and make a determination on which one of them
48:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, he can get the most out of and fit his offense to, you know, and so I think that's a part of it that makes it really interesting because I think there's one thing Bill Brian does not get enough credit for
48:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Is Bill O'Brien really retrofitted his offense?
48:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah.
48:50
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, that was the Clemson loss.
48:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Huh?
48:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
48:53
[SPEAKER_00]: It was the Clemson offense to the right.
48:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
48:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
48:56
[SPEAKER_00]: He went and basically made created the Clemson offense for the Sean Watson within the context of what he was doing and what he had built.
49:04
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you look at like who Bill O'Brien had coached over the years, right?
49:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Like it was more traditional.
49:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Tom Brady.
49:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Tom Brady, like early on in Houston, I believe Ryan Malatt was their Brian Hoyer.
49:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah.
49:18
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it was Christian Hackenburg and Matt McLean, I believe, right?
49:23
[SPEAKER_00]: It was great.
49:24
[SPEAKER_00]: It was finest.
49:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Matt McLean.
49:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
49:27
[SPEAKER_00]: McLean.
49:29
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm actually impressed with myself that I was able to pull that name out from under my hat.
49:33
[SPEAKER_00]: But like, that's the thing is, like, I do look at like Cleveland, and I see
49:38
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what, like, I like whether or not Todd Monke was the right hires, head coach, time will tell.
49:44
[SPEAKER_00]: But I do think like in the here in the now, it's gonna allow them to get a pretty clean assessment of where the ceiling is for each quarterback, regardless of what style of play that quarterback employees.
50:00
[SPEAKER_01]: He was on the, bosset.
50:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, he's a, he's a financial advisor now, but he, uh, he almost joined Bill of Brian staff Matt McGloin.
50:12
[SPEAKER_01]: He was the, um, Matt McGloin, that the name sounds like somebody who'd be working at Predential or something.
50:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
50:18
[SPEAKER_01]: He, um, he won Lackle on a county commission or my parents voted for him.
50:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, for, uh, oh, did that.
50:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, but then he resigned to go with Bill of Brian at Boston College and then I think he ended up deciding to come back.
50:31
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, we'll walk on isn't that right, do I have that right?
50:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
50:35
[SPEAKER_01]: And we, the Abbing Tonight's comments picked him three times in our game against him when we were.
50:44
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I did I did not play like by the time I got in.
50:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, Matt McLean was way out of the game right like we were good
50:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, back to, I mean, he was a freshman when he was a freshman.
51:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, like a senior, you know, I was like a senior as you're starting as a sophomore.
51:03
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think I remember we picked him three times in that game, and we won by like 20 points.
51:08
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I got to go in because our team was so comfortably ahead that there's no way I could mess it up one more quick note, and then I'm just going to mention the tips with the with the hardest schedules because I think it's funny.
51:21
[SPEAKER_01]: You talked about Brandon Weedon.
51:23
[SPEAKER_01]: And Brandon Weedon is the oldest first round pick in NFL history.
51:26
[SPEAKER_01]: He was taken by the Browns in 2012 at the age of 28.
51:29
[SPEAKER_01]: And I just didn't think of any walkings for the honor.
51:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I think of it.
51:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
51:36
[SPEAKER_01]: And I just wanted to see a Canadian firefighter.
51:39
[SPEAKER_01]: If you were older, then the oldest first round pick in NFL history and you are.
51:45
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's cool.
51:46
[SPEAKER_01]: You are your older than Brandon Weedon.
51:51
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it was cool for me to look up, but, you know, how far you, you aren't far off though.
51:57
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not far off Brandon Weedon.
51:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, how old is Brandon Weedon now?
52:01
[SPEAKER_00]: 42.
52:02
[SPEAKER_00]: He's 42?
52:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
52:03
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, he was taken in 2012 at the age of 28.
52:07
[SPEAKER_01]: 42 years old.
52:10
[SPEAKER_01]: 42 years old yeah, you're still older than he is just funny.
52:14
[SPEAKER_00]: I still I still remember that that Traff because that was the end of the lecture.
52:19
[SPEAKER_00]: I was lucky at one.
52:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Griffin it to Tana Hill at eight.
52:23
[SPEAKER_00]: I think and then we'd knit like 22 And the Browns had like the Browns had multiple first round picks.
52:32
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, this was like
52:34
[SPEAKER_00]: And like three straight years or something that was one Joe Banner was there and they built up all the draft capital and they were like moving around and it's like, oh, look at the Browns are really, really interesting here and I remember there was like one stretch where it was like hold on so this is like, this is like you're, you know, you're, you're, you're a cautionary tale of like just because you have all those picks like you still got to pick the right players.
52:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so this was.
53:01
[SPEAKER_00]: five picks in a three-year spin, five first round picks in a three-year spin, Trent Richardson, Brandon Weedon, Barcavius, Mingo, Justin Gilbert, and Johnny Ninsel.
53:11
[SPEAKER_02]: Wow.
53:12
[SPEAKER_00]: And those were, those were book ended.
53:18
[SPEAKER_00]: The year before that stretch was Phil Taylor in the first round.
53:22
[SPEAKER_00]: The year after that stretch was Danny Shelton in the first
53:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, and then Corey Coleman after that, and then Miles Garrett first overall.
53:32
[SPEAKER_00]: See, and screw that one up, but...
53:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Blind squirrel, baby.
53:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Actually, that wasn't a bad draft.
53:38
[SPEAKER_00]: That wasn't a bad draft.
53:39
[SPEAKER_00]: That's 17 draft for them.
53:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Miles Garrett, Gibralp Pepper, who's been a good player, and David and Joku with their three first rounders.
53:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Not horrible.
53:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Not horrible.
53:49
[SPEAKER_00]: You've got the gold jacket guy, who, I mean, to be fair, I could have drafted him.
53:54
[SPEAKER_00]: You could have drafted him, I think.
53:59
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh man, before we get out of here, just very funny.
54:04
[SPEAKER_01]: And again, some of this has to do with strength the division, but five hardest schedules in 2026.
54:09
[SPEAKER_01]: And again, it's not that far off when you look at projected wind totals.
54:13
[SPEAKER_01]: Cardinals at number one.
54:15
[SPEAKER_01]: So, good luck with that.
54:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Dolphins at two.
54:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, the dolphins get heavily skewed because of the Patriots, 14 wins a year ago, so you take that with a grain of salt, but still.
54:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Carolina Panthers at three Dallas Cowboys at four and the Rams again at five.
54:31
[SPEAKER_01]: So the Rams have one of the hardest schedules last year.
54:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Rams again have one of the hardest schedules, but he can part of that for projects of the division they play into.
54:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Practically.
54:38
[SPEAKER_01]: So, um, and, and, and you talk about variable in the, in the kind of the,
54:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Ancillary conversations that happen because of a fallout of the schedule Rams the same thing.
54:49
[SPEAKER_01]: You've one of the five hardest schedules in the NFL S here and you did not draft a player with your first round pick to help you with that.
54:56
[SPEAKER_01]: It's good.
54:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I still think I'm not saying it's a good move or a bad move.
54:59
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just saying it's going to be a conversation.
55:01
[SPEAKER_00]: I would just, yeah, I mean, I'd be surprised if they're done.
55:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I think that they're taking a quarter back in the first round freeze them up to do some other things.
55:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, little hint as far as what's coming down the pike.
55:14
[SPEAKER_01]: And what's coming down the pike from us is we're back in business baby.
55:18
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to be talking schedule release when it comes out.
55:23
[SPEAKER_01]: I think we have things in the works for later in the week too.
55:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't we do.
55:27
[SPEAKER_01]: And we'll so stay tuned to our socials.
55:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, SI social account and we'll update you guys on everything that's going on with the schedule release.
55:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, we might be popping off after the schedule comes out.
55:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, in the meantime, all the content at SI.com.
55:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Subscribe to the magazine.
55:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, like us.
55:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Leave us a review.
55:49
[SPEAKER_00]: And you know what's great about this show to Connor.
55:52
[SPEAKER_00]: I will say.
55:53
[SPEAKER_00]: is like it was about the schedule release, but we hit like a lot of teams and a lot of big picture topics.
55:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Like this was kind of like where are we going to go with this, you know what I mean?
56:03
[SPEAKER_00]: But we got a good hour breaking down some teams, maybe we wouldn't have otherwise broken down like the Saints, the Browns, good stuff.
56:09
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it is.
56:10
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a good hosting, uh, uh, let's see you do that for a point.
56:13
[SPEAKER_01]: That was good.
56:14
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the ball.
56:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's see you do that Brady Quinn.
56:16
[SPEAKER_01]: No, I'm just kidding.
56:17
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm looking forward to him.
56:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, we're going to do a show together.
56:20
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm not going to be jealous or fanboy or anything like that.
56:23
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm promise it's going to be totally normal.
56:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, I do like that.
56:26
[SPEAKER_01]: You're your wife, like, uh, like, Brady though.
56:29
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, what what woman looks at him and says that's a terrible looking person.
56:33
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's actually funny because, you know, Emily,
56:37
[SPEAKER_00]: her.
56:39
[SPEAKER_00]: So one of her, one of her best friends is from like a huge Notre Dame family, right?
56:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I think members of the family played football there, whatever.
56:48
[SPEAKER_00]: She's from, she's from Louisville, and like, great people.
56:54
[SPEAKER_00]: And I remember when Emily found out that I got a good friendship with Brady, she had mentioned how her friend, who is from the Big Notre Dame family, had a huge, like decades long crush on him.
57:10
[SPEAKER_00]: So, yeah.
57:11
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that's just how it goes.
57:14
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's what it is.
57:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, it's like, um,
57:18
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, uh, I don't know.
57:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, it's like Brad Pitt, like no one looks at that guy and it's like, oh, yeah, like, what a mediocre looking human.
57:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Like every walk of life can rest.
57:29
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, no, I mean, this is genuinely a good looking person.
57:32
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I'm I'm I'm secure enough of myself to admit it.
57:36
[SPEAKER_00]: One.
57:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
57:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
57:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Another dude that.
57:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Hell yeah.
57:39
[SPEAKER_00]: I was if I was a girl like that would that would that would be when I would look at.
57:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
57:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, 100%.
57:45
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
57:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Hopefully the morning show that I do a Brady doesn't clip that.
57:50
[SPEAKER_00]: And I hope I don't have to pay from just these comments later in the week.
57:53
[SPEAKER_01]: I just sent over our show notes to the social team and all that stuff.
57:57
[SPEAKER_01]: And I did not include that there was about four minutes of talk about how hot Brady Quinn is.
58:02
[SPEAKER_01]: But maybe they'll, maybe they will clip that.
58:04
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
58:06
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll see.
58:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks for listening and we'll see you guys later.