Latest / Know Your Personnel Pod / KYP - Ep#8 - Eagles in Trouble, The NFC East, MLB's ABS, NBA Expansion, & March Madness

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KYP - Ep#8 - Eagles in Trouble, The NFC East, MLB's ABS, NBA Expansion, & March Madness · Know Your Personnel Pod

• Nathan Hawthorne: Ooh, wee, here we are. Hey, Jared, you remember that time when you birdied? Remember that time you birdied the first hole at Chambers Bay? Jarod McInroy: ⁓ my god. And we're back. Nathan Hawthorne: You remember that? Remember that sucker? Man, it was epic. How beautiful was it out there? Jarod McInroy: I remember it like it was yesterday. Ugh, you can't beat it man, you honestly can. It's one of the best venues in golf but doesn't get the love that it deserves. Nathan Hawthorne: No, certainly not. It got the one playthrough for the US Open a number of years ago. if anybody here listening has a chance, go ahead and make sure you hit a little tee time out of Chambers Bay. I promise you will not regret it. But here we are. Welcome to episode eight of KYP, aka the Know Your Personnel podcast. I'm Nathan Hawthorne. This is my co-host, Jared McEnroy, here to break down all of the latest, greatest, and best news in sports. So Jared, break it down. What are we going to talk about today? Jarod McInroy: Yeah, it took a little week off, you know, there's some, it was slow, you know, we had some stuff going on, ⁓ no, not really anything, and honestly, ⁓ Nathan Hawthorne: What in the damn thing going on? Jarod McInroy: some of the stuff in the news these days. It's just a shame. It's a shame. We'll get into a little bit of that today. But ⁓ yeah, I mean, we're going to talk a little golf, football, basketball, just like we usually do. We're going to break down another division today in the NFL. I think we'll get into the NFC East we decided on. ⁓ We're going to talk about Gary Woodland's victory in Houston. Playoffs for the NBA are about to kick off. Last year they were great. ⁓ Maybe we'll get another exciting postseason and then we'll also talk a little bit about the expansion that they just dropped on us. So one thing I wanna with though, I'm wearing Yankee hat, ⁓ opening day this week ⁓ or last rather ⁓ and ⁓ baseball, mean, it's ⁓ only been seven days and it's been electric already. ⁓ Nathan Hawthorne: Big day for baseballers. Jarod McInroy: Shout out to the Yankees going 3-0, sweeping the Giants. We did lose to the Ams last night, but we'll get it back. ⁓ I want to talk about the ABS challenge system that they got in the MLB right now. This is one of the most electric and greatest things that they have added to the game, and it's only a small sample size. I'm, again, not going to go into it too crazy, but the calls that the announcers are even getting into that... Nathan Hawthorne: Hehehe. Jarod McInroy: The structure of it, the no-nonsense, it's two seconds. You have one quick second to tap your head or it's over. You don't get the challenge. So you're not going to the dugout. This isn't some time-consuming, we're checking the tape before. It's quick and it's making the game better. And this is exactly what they needed to implement to fix what was going on at the World Baseball Classic. However... They had the ABS challenge system. They're working on it. They have to implement a guaranteed one challenge in the ninth inning. think, I mean, in the NBA, have like a, you have the, you know, refs can stop the clock within two minutes. Same with the NFL. They step in and do it. You should be, no umpire is going to step in and say, ⁓ I'm wrong about something. Let me, let's check on that. It's four feet in the dirt. Let me, let me check if that's a strike. Yeah, no. So Nathan Hawthorne: You know what? Let me double check. I'm gonna double check my work. Jarod McInroy: I think it's use it sparingly, they have the rule for extras right now, where every extra inning you get one challenge per, and they need to do it in the ninth inning. And I think that this new addition will have perfected what is the ABS challenge system. And they already, you know, they did the pitch clock. They're changing. The game's changing. It's getting more exciting. It's becoming more watchable. ⁓ I love it. Absolutely love it. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, that's a dub for baseball fans, absolutely. What does ABS stand for? Is that automatic balls and strikes? Or what does that system stand for? Jarod McInroy: stoked on opening day. You know, you could have fooled me. That sounds right. That sounds great to me. Nathan Hawthorne: Ladies and gentlemen, ABS stands for Automatic Balls and Strikes. We will not hear it any other way on this channel. ⁓ Yeah, what I love about it is, like you said, it's not a long process. That's the one thing I hate about the NFL, right? Before the coach is reaching for the challenge flag, he's got eight guys in his headset and he's saying, like, all right, we're going to challenge this. You're trying to look at the replay, see what your advantage is. it just takes too long. That split second, like, hey, are you challenging this or not? Jarod McInroy: Yeah. Okay. Nathan Hawthorne: And I think that's awesome. Also, it was just impressive that, I mean, obviously when you're over the ball and you're consistently bad and like, you know, your strike zone, but these guys like, yeah, but you're talking about guys or like a ball being thrown. I think we were just watching that clip being outside by 1.1 inches. And you're telling me guys like, nah, I'm not swinging at that. And that's obviously outside like that. It's it's so subjective, but then the result is not subjective. It's objected. And I just think it's crazy that these guys have this Jarod McInroy: for the most part. Yeah. Nathan Hawthorne: You know, like their strike zone is dialed in. You know, they've hit so many balls and seen so many pitches that they're just ready for it. Jarod McInroy: Yeah, millions? millions of dollars are on the line and especially when we get into the postseason like One bad strike call can change a whole game. Like we've all seen it. It can kill a rally it can ⁓ It can determine a game that there's so much so like to sit there and have I mean an umpire I love again. This is getting into the traditionalist part of me of baseball Calling balls and strikes doing your thing. I love it You got to have a guy behind the dish doing the work and it's great. But at the same time Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah. Jarod McInroy: there needs to be something that's foolproof that they can lean on to help determine these games down the line or at least fall back on if they think that they might have just gotten hosed. So ⁓ dude, it's awesome. I'm loving it. ⁓ Nathan Hawthorne: Now I got so many questions. I know we didn't want to spend this much time on it, but we're going to. We ain't got nowhere to be. How many challenges are they getting per game? It's two, okay. Jarod McInroy: Yeah, let's go. What do we got? It's two, it's two, but if you get it right, you keep it and you can have unlimited if you keep getting them right. So yeah, you can keep it rocking. ⁓ Yeah, like I said, you get two seconds to use it. So it's, you can't look to your dog and say, review it. Tell me, should I challenge not? It's like, if, also if the umpire thinks that you're getting outside help, like somebody just signaled to you to challenge it, then they can deny your challenge. So it's supposed to be like a quick. Nathan Hawthorne: ⁓ man, okay. Jarod McInroy: Like you said, if you think you're dialed in on your calls in your strike zone, ⁓ call me out on it and let's get this thing resolved in five seconds or less. Nathan Hawthorne: That's gonna be the first controversy, I think, is what Umpire says, no, no, no, you received outside help and the guy didn't. And we're talking, like, that's crazy. Jarod McInroy: Mm-hmm. Well the the the big controversy also on top of that is They need to understand in other sports when you challenge a call you play the the play as it stands and as called on the field where we're having difficulty is people are challenging quick and they're like Oh strike out so then they play out the play as if it's a ball or a strike or whatever and then they're like Oh, I would have scored if it wasn't this or I would have done this I wouldn't have stole so there's a lot of they need to be very definitive of, hey, however I call it, you play out the play, and if you call for challenge, I'll stop it when the play is done. So if you're taking your bass as a walk, you get thrown out and then they change it to a strike out, tag out, whatever the weird situation is, if I called it a ball four, the guy on first going to second is safe no matter what. That's, it's as simple as that. Nathan Hawthorne: Mm-hmm. Jarod McInroy: Play it how it is called on the field and that goes for any challenge in baseball I think they're having an issue with that and it's really cut and dry. It's not that difficult to resolve I think they're just the the replay system is new to them and new to the sport in general. So They'll get it Nathan Hawthorne: I'll get it. Can't wait to see over under pitch corrections on DraftKings. Jarod McInroy: ⁓ I can't do yeah, no, that's it. That's a good one, Take the Yankees over. We're undefeated right now Nathan Hawthorne: I guarantee they're already working on that prop bed if they don't have it already. Ooh, wee. Love that for the Yankees, love that for baseball. What else? Want to get into some golf? Jarod McInroy: Yeah, let's talk golf. Let's just get the big news over with the whole tiger situation ⁓ What a shame what an absolute shame and Just and I don't want to like speak selfishly here like it's it sucks for him. But The us Ryder Cup team. I mean it all signs were pointing to him taking over as the captain and it is My god, we can't catch a break Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah. Yeah, it's crazy because you live your own life, you do your own thing. Fortunately, nobody got hurt. But you just feel disappointed. And it's crazy because he, like my life and what I think has absolutely no bearing on what Tiger Woods is feeling, right? But you're just like, come on, man. How many times are we going to do this? And yeah, it's really unfortunate. ⁓ I would go so far to say as not just this year's Ryder Cup captain. I feel like maybe he's lost the privilege for future Ryder Cup captaincies. And I know that you can possibly get 20 years down the line, Tiger in his 60s, maybe even 70s at that point. Did he, he cracked 50 I think last year. Jarod McInroy: He's got to be getting close, but that's crazy to think that he's still even that young still, but... Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, because I think he was eligible for a Champions League. Yeah, so you think about him, you know, maybe a better timeline. It's like 10 years down the road when people have kind of forgotten perhaps the incidences. I just I would I would have a hard time OKing the privilege that it is to be the Ryder Cup captain. This is certainly getting into my golf old head. You already know how I feel about the game of golf. I just I would not I wouldn't feel great about it. I would feel great about it. Would I still root for the for Team USA? Absolutely. Am I still gonna buy Sunday Red? Yeah, absolutely. But I just feel like you gotta draw the line somewhere. And if you don't draw it for Tiger Woods, who are you gonna draw it for? You know? Jarod McInroy: Yeah, it this is where we get in sticky situations when ⁓ When players in any sport football basketball when they cross the line whether it's they say something that's messed up or they do something that's messed up whatever it is actions words anything and then there's some repercussions that come with it, but at the same time, ⁓ this isn't one of those At least I don't feel it's one of those like gray area pieces. This is like a pretty cut and dry. He messed up. He did something bad. He's lucky no one got hurt. And ⁓ this isn't his first offense in that case as well. So yeah, I mean, look, dude, you had a great career. You had your thing. ⁓ Playing is pretty much off the table for you. think we've all decided. I know obviously there's Champions Tour and other things to be done, but like your legacy cemented. Get your mental health right. Take care of yourself. Take care of your family. enjoy the life after golf, get that right and then maybe you can, I mean, like you said, it's probably done at this point, but maybe you can, you can find a way to reenter the golf world in some capacity. Yeah. Nathan Hawthorne: Yep. But tell you what, I would love to see either Webb Simpson be the captain. Guy's got US Open, you know, winning pedigree. He's a guy who's been around the tour. He's extremely well liked. He'd be a, he'd be one of those kind of, to me, like a Luke Donald type guy. Were really good more recently, but still not quite like a Fred Couples. And that Fred Couples could be another option too. He's kind of on the older side and it doesn't really seem like he, he's happy being like a vice captain. Jarod McInroy: Mm-hmm. Nathan Hawthorne: and just hanging around as an advisor. He doesn't strike me as, I want to go captain this. Web Simpson, I think, would be fun to see as a Ryder Cup captain. Jarod McInroy: Yeah, he also is like in I guess he's he's more into the more modern day game as well. ⁓ He knows a lot of the guys I get a little taken aback by how much he's friends with a lot of these guys and I feel like that was kind of the case a few years back with Zach Johnson that we had issue with was he was picking all of his friends and I don't want that to and, I feel like that's, that's what made Keegan pick the way he did was he was, I'm going to do the exact opposite and make sure they can't pinpoint anything on me. Cause I fell victim to getting cut from a Ryder. He could, he should have been on that Ryder Cup team in, in, in Italy. So, I don't, I have a hard time with Keegan. I didn't mind him as a captain, but he did so unbelievably bad at setting up the course. Nathan Hawthorne: He should have been playing. Jarod McInroy: and all of the things that it takes to be a home captain, I wouldn't mind giving him one more chance as an away captain, because I think he understands what it means to lead the team. think he's, again, he's one of the people he's playing with, these people. He's ⁓ very close to the game and close to what's going on right now. in the golf world ⁓ and honestly he's no nonsense, he knows what he's doing ⁓ but he needs to not let outside forces tell him how he should pick his lineup because I felt like that was another piece of the pairings he was putting out he was letting Scotty have a hand in it he was having a lot of like ride the hot hand let's you know see with the golfers that auto qualified it's like dude Nathan Hawthorne: That was the big piece. Jarod McInroy: Sometimes the auto qualified picks are the worst people on the team and that was certainly the case last year. Like you're picking your squad for a reason. So sometimes it's leaning on who's hot in that given moment. Again, like I said, not letting ⁓ the team have too much influence and really just solidifying yourself as I'm the one running the ship, trust that I'm going to make the right decisions and go play the best golf and get behind what I'm putting out there. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, and to me, don't mind giving, I would not mind giving Keegan another shot. It wouldn't be my first pick. Like I said, I would certainly go elsewhere. To me, it was doubling down on the pairings that weren't working. Basically like rinsing, repeating the same thing, like nah, nah, we got it. No, this is gonna work. And I don't fault him for the core setup. There was that bunch of rain that came in earlier in the week and made it really, really hard to get things firm and fast. I do agree with the pairings issues that he was having. And part of it is some of these guys, because it's such a long qualification process, if you have a couple of wins, you're going to be on the team, but your stroke may be gone by that time of the year. If you win a couple of events that maybe aren't like the Houston open, for example, and we'll get into Gary Woodland here in a second, like that field's not very strong. But if you've got that win, is that the same kind of golf that you're going to take to match play in the writer cup? I don't know. Now Gary Woodland I think is a dog. And shout out Gary Woodland. That's how you come back from an injury. I loved seeing him play. The way he hits that stinger cut. Ooh. Jarod McInroy: And not even an injury, just... Nathan Hawthorne: OOOOH Jarod McInroy: He's got he's got a good action, man. He's got a good action and Yeah, not even it's not even your typical injury either. Like it was was literally a tumor in his brain ⁓ Like the craziest story man. He'd like he's fully depressed has like mental issues He just feels like something's wrong. It's like I have every no reason in the world. I'm playing golf I have them a beautiful family and I have no reason to be upset or depressed or anything goes in for a scan turns out there's a tumor on the part of his brain that makes you sad and depressed like the craziest thing you wouldn't even imagine gets brain surgery which is not an easy thing to come back from by any stretch of the imagination and then now he's just winning on tour like that's that's crazy and I know you kind of touched on it's not the most competitive field but in today's game dude like I mean he had to go 22 under to win it so like Nathan Hawthorne: No. He did. He clearly dominated and he also has won a US Open. He's got the pedigree and it almost seemed like kind of at his peak is when things started to go sideways for him. So I was extremely happy for for Gary Woodland, extremely happy for Cobra and their new Optum driver. It was working out there. I was looking at the setup. He's got that front loaded or got that ⁓ that weight kind of in the back. I'm going to give it a shot. That's all I'm saying. Jarod McInroy: That's a tournament. Nathan Hawthorne: I'm gonna call up Cobra and I'm say, whatever you got for Gary, go ahead and send that sucker my way. Send it my way. Jarod McInroy: ⁓ God, here we go. Send it my way, huh? Okay. But yeah, it was a fun tournament. Again, it's kind of tough with these when they're blowouts. You really want to see like competitive golf down the stretch on Sunday. But ⁓ when it's a guy that's easy to root for, like Gary Woodland, that's kind of leading the pack. You kind of just wash your hands of the weekend, enjoy his win and move on. ⁓ But yeah, now we got the, what is it, Valero this week? the one that the pre-masters. Okay, so yeah, we'll see what if Morikawa plays to try and get a little extra work in. see. Nathan Hawthorne: Yes, I believe the Valero Tech is open. Well his back, his back looks broken. Jarod McInroy: Yeah, yeah, I know that's why I'm saying like we'll see if maybe he'll uh, give it a give it a go and see how he does but um, it's gonna be a lot of a lot of prep a lot of prep and then we get master's week next week, man. I'm excited I'm excited Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, make sure you tune in for next week's episode too. We're going to give you guys the inside scoop on all the Masters picks. We're going to have it all. It's going to be awesome. All you want that? Let's talk a little NFL, shall we? The real meat sandwich. The NFC East, division that's changing, but also not changing. You've got a little bit of new, a little bit of old. You've still got your typical head coaches in there. You've got Nick Sirianni, who's not my favorite. Jarod McInroy: Yeah. Let's do it. NFC East. ⁓ god. Nathan Hawthorne: Harbaugh's new to the crew, you got Dan Quinn, and then you've got Schottenheimer in his second year. It feels like there's a clear division winner, but I just don't have faith that they can actually win the division. Obviously, Philadelphia, because that roster is so talented. But I'm just concerned that whether that's new offensive coordinator with Sean Mannion getting a quarterback like Jalen Hurts who couldn't have two more opposite styles. What kind of offense are we calling here? How are we going to keep Saquon Barkley activated? Jarod McInroy: Who's the Clear Division winner to you? ⁓ I'm surprised that's who you said, to be honest with you. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Nathan Hawthorne: You lost your strong offensive line coach. can't remember his name, but he's out the door. The only positive thing I'm seeing is that they retained Vic Fangio because I think he believes there's still enough talent on the roster, especially on that defensive side to make another Super Bowl run. then we already know AJ Brown. I don't know. We thought AJ Brown might be on the move. There's still a chance that he ends up on the move. I just I don't I don't trust the Eagles and it's because I don't trust Nick Siriani Jarod McInroy: I'm right there with you. I'm actually coming down more toward where you've been. I'm surprised you even said that they're the clear division winner because I think they're going to have a clear regression this year. again, they're not adding pieces that are making them better. And their offense looked just terrible last year. And when they needed points, needed, ⁓ you know, even when their defense was playing well. And they had games that they could go on when they just weren't doing it or they were doing it by the smallest of margins ⁓ Yeah, they just look like an uninspired offense they're not doing anything exciting I know you said they're they just hired manion, but I mean ⁓ Yeah, I and then I don't want to be the guy to even talk injuries but like Saquon Barkley's had some you know Nathan Hawthorne: Right, so like, what's that gonna do? That's why I just don't know. Jarod McInroy: couple good years and he's also had a very high usage and that can kind of catch up to you. So if he goes down, it's, it's over. Like I don't know where that offense goes beyond that. And yeah, I, ⁓ if you're planning on getting rid of AJ Brown and you're not bringing anyone else in, I don't, I don't understand their approach. I don't know where they're at. ⁓ I don't know. I don't know what to make of the Eagles. I don't even know that they're going to finish second in the division. Nathan Hawthorne: Who's finishing third? Is it the Eagles finishing third? Okay, better question. Who's finishing in the dumpster in this division? Jarod McInroy: Damn. That's what I thought. It's the Giants. I have a hard time and it's like I love the roster and I love a lot of the players so I'm trying to put my bias aside. It's going to be just like a growing pains year, ho hum, probably five win season is what I see it as. mean, any time you get a new head coach and he comes into a team that was like a below 500. honestly kind of a dumpster fire the last few years. ⁓ You have to figure out what your identity is and you have to build out what the team's gonna look like and you have to build out a winning football system within the roster that you have. So that takes time. It's gonna take at least a year before I really believe in them. And also I think it's gonna take two drafts for John to kind of fill out his roster the way he wants to. ⁓ So, I think they're probably taking last. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, I hope that they can be a little bit more, they'll be less, but they'll be more competitive by way of not being dysfunctional. So they're still gonna lose games, but I don't think it's gonna lose games looking as everyone flabbergasted on the sidelines, fans wearing bags on the head, throwing stuff on the field. I think it's gonna be a little bit more ⁓ of a buttoned up losing year. Jarod McInroy: ⁓ yeah. Yeah, no. Nathan Hawthorne: where you feel like the train's moving in the right direction, but you just need a little bit more coal in the engine to really get things going. Can you get another weapon for Jackson Dart primarily at the running back position? Like I like Tyrone Tracy. I don't think he's gonna, I don't think he's your forever running back. I don't think you're gonna marry the guy. You've got neighbors, but obviously he's got the big injury. So what does your weaponry look like on that offensive side of the football? That front seven, more so your front four, great pass rushers. can't stop the run to save their lives. So like you said, it's going to take a couple of drafts. It's going to take some free agency, but the mentality of how Harbaugh wants to play straight downhill, hard nose football, physical defense, game managed offense. I think we're going to start to see that come through. Jarod McInroy: Yeah, a hundred percent. like you said, I think they'll, they'll certainly be, they were even competitive last year in a lot of games. Like they were no easy win for any team. So, ⁓ yeah, we'll see there. ⁓ the commanders are a team that I, I think they're going to make a jump back up and I see them as the clear cut number two in the division. and Nathan Hawthorne: Clear cut, okay. Jarod McInroy: I do, I do. think, I mean, we saw what they were a couple of years ago. I, um, of course, all of this is reliant on Jane Daniels coming back healthy and staying healthy for the season, which is a big if. Um, so this, this could not age well, but let's assume he does stay healthy for the full year. Um, a lot of additions on both sides of the football. Um, I am interested to see what they do in the draft. think they have room to, um, fill some big pieces with some day one starters and I don't know man I just they were electric a couple years ago when they were just when they were rolling they were you know they still got scary Terry who'd they just get at running back ⁓ Nathan Hawthorne: They have Joukroski merit, but they signed Rashad White. Jarod McInroy: Yes. Yeah. So they just got Rashad white. So I'm sure they'll probably go and get one more young guy for their backfield. And, ⁓ yeah, I just, I don't know. I, and when I say clear cut number two, I mean like a 10 and seven record is what I could envision. And then like them kind of competing for a wild card spot. So I don't want to say like, they're going to go run away with it or anything, but like, ⁓ Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah. Jarod McInroy: 10 and 7, 9 and 8 is kind of where I see him sitting. And with that being said, I have the Eagles more in the like 7 win column with a couple really harsh losses. Nathan Hawthorne: Okay, okay, that's interesting commanders I'm not as convinced as you are. I actually had them finishing third So I'll I'll just tell you where I went. I Eagles number one Cowboys number two commanders number three and then I had obviously the Giants at number four and two and three I think could go back and forth depending on a couple of things and then one and two could also come back so one through three Jarod McInroy: Okay. Nathan Hawthorne: Really no, no clear direction. But the big thing for the commanders, I'm still weirded out by scary. Terry, does he even want to be there up next? Your best wide receiver is Luke McCaffrey. So we're going to need to find another weapon for Jayden Danos to throw the football. You got there's a lot wrong with that. Don't get it. Don't get me started. I ain't got the time today. And another issue you have is new offensive coordinator, and maybe it's not an issue, but David Blough, he's a former ⁓ quarterback in the league. Jarod McInroy: Yeah. Yeah. what's wrong with that Nathan Hawthorne: Apparently a lot of the guys around the team like him. just again, it's another situation where you're bringing in a rookie play caller, but somebody who has been a quarterback in the past again looking at the Eagles who just went with Sean Mania. You're hoping that they can kind of lead the offense in a new direction. I don't know what that direction is and for Jaden Daniels, it's not just the health. It's okay. What do you look like outside of a college system? because Cliff Kingsbury very much ran an offensive system. And let me go on a side tangent real quick about Cliff Kingsbury. You want to know what he did? He took the assistant head coach job with the Los Angeles Rams. And so you know what he's doing? He said, let me go get a little bit of that Sean McVay smell on me, that I'm an elite play caller smell on me. So that next year I'm either going to take a really high paying OC job, Jarod McInroy: Okay, let's hear it. Nathan Hawthorne: and move on or I'm going to take another head coach job and maybe it's two years away. But that to me is just the funniest move I have ever seen and I respect it. But Kingsbury, I see what you're doing. see what you're doing. You ain't going to get me. You ain't going to get me. I know what your offense is and it and it never has answers in the second half of the season. Maybe that's what you're seeking is answers. Jarod McInroy: You gotta respect it. ⁓ We've talked about it before, We've talked about it before. If you attach your name to the Shanahan or McVay tree in this stage of the NFL, dude, those two really are going to look back at this era of football and realize that they've had a hand in pretty much like, I would say over two thirds of the league. Like they, it's very impressive. ⁓ I think your, your concerns with Washington are valid. My only reason putting them above The Eagles is cause I just feel like I have more reason to be concerned about a team where your head coach is not only on the hot seat and we've, we've talked about this many times before already. ⁓ but also he's lost the locker room. So when you're in that last year of, probably should be out the door. The guys don't even really want to play for me anymore. And honestly, no one even knows what I do for the football team. ⁓ like Big Dom's got a more clear role of what he does for the football team than Nick Sirianni at this point. I'm like, I can't even, but again, so I get it. for me, those two, could see interchangeable, like Eagles just barely missing the playoffs and commanders kind of ho hum. It's going to be interesting how it shakes up, but I think that this is the Cowboys here that they really start to click. Nathan Hawthorne: Okay, I gotta back it up real quick. So for Sirianni though, I get the hot seat situation. He was on the hot seat three years ago when they had that horrible season. I think he was born, that man was born on the hot seat. Three years ago he was on the hot seat. Because they had that disgusting end to the season really fell apart. And then you fast forward to the next year when the Super Bowl. Jarod McInroy: Ha. You've thought he was on the hot seat since he started from his first year Mm-hmm. Nathan Hawthorne: And obviously that comes with some new offensive coordinator hires a new set of coaches in the building with Sirianni to help babysit. And then next year or then the following year you had Vic Fangio still everything went bad on that offensive side of the football because you hired was it Presley from the Jaguars, Doug Peterson tree can't call a football game. Did the offense get, is the offense going to be enough improved to kind of shake off that, you know, that hot seat? Is it going to turn down the heat on the hot seat? Is that what I'm saying? Because if it does, if you start scoring points early in the season, everyone in Philly is going to forget until you stop scoring points. So as long as you score points, I think this team is fine. The defense isn't going to give off points. Offense has to. And then with the commander is the last thing I respect what Dan Quinn did in free agency on the defense, bringing a few guys in. I just, ⁓ I'm really worried about the offense. I know Dan Quinn's going to get the defense smooth and rolling, but yeah, I just worry about that offense and what it's going to look like. Jarod McInroy: It's fine. I hear you. I hear you. I think when you have an electric player at the QB position though, who's ready to take risks and sling the ball and maybe jump into a system that might end up working, the thing is there's a lot of, ⁓ it's all hypotheticals at this point. We've never seen him in that system with this new OC. So ⁓ all we can do is just make guesses based off of potential. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Jarod McInroy: And I think that there's more to go with with Washington over Philadelphia at this point. think Jaylen hurts. mean, everyone looks frustrated on his receiving core dog. Like they, we don't, and we don't really know what he is anymore. Like they they've taken a clear direction. They've stuck with them to your point that the Eagles offense last year has looked the exact same as the prior two years. Like there are no changes. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah. Jarod McInroy: So are we gonna see any changes this year? Probably not. That's where I'm like, what's the, you know, I'm bad with saying, it's a saying about the devil you know versus the devil you don't know, something like that. You know which one I'm talking about? Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah. familiar I get I get what you're saying but I also don't know that one and my bag is pretty deep on those Jarod McInroy: Yeah, yeah, it's something about, yeah, no, it's a good one. It's a good one. ⁓ I swear. But anyways, nonetheless, taking a guess on somebody, a team that we feel like we have a pretty good idea versus a team with a lot of potential. Give me the commanders in the second spot. And now, can we finally talk about the Cowboys? Nathan Hawthorne: I like that. We can. We can, agree. That Marcus Mariota led team certainly has a future in that division. Jarod McInroy: Chill, chill, I like the Cowboys this year. I like the direction they took last year. They made a big step. Their offense has always been fireworks. Like we know Dak can get the ball around. ⁓ If you were judging them just based on the amount of fantasy points that their ⁓ skill positions put up for everybody, like, I mean, dude, Javontae Williams looked awesome. Like George Pickens was awesome. ⁓ wasn't CDs best year, but I mean, dude, I mean, he's CD lamb, like, yeah, exactly. Yeah. Nathan Hawthorne: When he was available, he was great. Jake Ferguson is tied in. ⁓ Brandon Aubrey kicking the shit out of it. No pun intended. He literally averaged 16 points a year or 16 points a game for me last year. I'm drafting him in the third round. He's playing half of his games indoors. Jarod McInroy: Yeah, ⁓ okay. Yeah, that's not offense, but... Didn't he just get a bag too? Like, yeah. So we know what we're going to get with the offense. ⁓ It's just like we've talked about before with finding the defensive identity. Again, I think this is where they're going to do it there. ⁓ I think they're going to go very defensive heavy in the draft, I think. And they have a few picks too. ⁓ So they're going to get the pick of the litter with a ⁓ lot of big names on the board. And yeah, I just, think that if anyone's gonna step up in that division this year, it's gonna be them. And I wanna say they could be a 12, 13 win team, but like realistically, this might be one of the divisions that end up being a lot poorer than they have been in years past. And it could be a 10 win, 11 win division winner. Cause that's where I'm having an issue is how do the Cowboys stack up against the rest of the NFC, not just their division. And I don't know that they're really ⁓ moving the needle for me anyways. ⁓ It's probably going to be whoever wins the division third, fourth seed in the playoffs, but I don't know. do you think? What do you make of the Cowboys? Nathan Hawthorne: Offense didn't really seem like it had answers in the second half of the season, which is why I'm a little bit hesitant to feel confident with that. Cause again, you've got, ⁓ you've got Shottie there having his second year, ⁓ offensive coordinator. ⁓ my goodness. What's his name? He was a former tight ends coach, but just not really a play caller, right? Schottenheimer is your play caller. And I just worry that, you know, these guys have a full year of tape on your offense. What have you done to adapt it? Right? And again, we know Dak Prescott's great. And at times he's not great when you need him to be great, but he's great at times. And I just look at the quality of their wins last year. They beat Vegas. They beat a really lacking Philly team late. ⁓ but they lost to Detroit. lost to Minnesota. They lost to chargers. They lost to New York. They barely beat a struggling Washington, Washington team late in the season. Like they're, they were just so inconsistent. And I'm not sure that I'm not sure that that gets answered with another year of Schottenheim. Jarod McInroy: Yeah. Nathan Hawthorne: I just don't think that they're very complete as a football team. And again, I like the direction they're going. I think we talked about it a couple of weeks ago on defense. They've done a lot to address their defensive line, bringing in Rashawn Gary. I think that's a big up. And if they can address the back end in the draft and a little bit more in free agency, perhaps a trade here or there, they could look a lot better. I just don't have faith. Again, I'm big on the coaching. I just don't think they... I don't think that they have the coach to bring the detail and the sharpness for them to be any better than anywhere somewhere around 500. Which yeah, maybe that does get you second in the division, but also maybe it doesn't because you lose a couple more games you shouldn't. Jarod McInroy: Yeah, I disagree. But follow me for a second. If you're convinced that they're a 500 team, right? So, I mean, you can't be 500 at the end of the season now with 17 games. we'll call it nine and eight, right? If the division is as bad as we think they are, and honestly, I think they are the second worst division in the NFC. ⁓ The first being obviously the South. Nathan Hawthorne: You can't be a f- Right. Jarod McInroy: ⁓ when two is about to win the division, there's a problem. anyways, I, that, that means if the, the division winner has 11 games or 11 wins rather, that's only two more wins. That's not far off from where you are and where I am. And I feel like they can make a jump to get to an 11 win season and win their division. I, it. Nathan Hawthorne: ⁓ my gosh. Jarod McInroy: Like you said, all it's going to take is more consistency, showing up when it matters. And all Dak has gotten is more time in big games and he's, he's going to have the best cast he's had since being in the NFL this year. Do you, do you, do you agree or disagree though? Nathan Hawthorne: Don't do that. You know how many times I've heard... No, I agree, but do know how many times I've heard that same thing about Dak? This is his best cast. He's gonna do great. Things are looking better. And listen, I want it for him. There's nothing more than I would love to see a light-skinned brother succeed. I would love it for him. I want him to be great. You know how awesome it would be just from a football perspective? Do you know how awesome it would be to have the Cowboys in the Super Bowl? Jarod McInroy: I know, I know, I know. But it is though, it is, this will be his- No, I feel for the guy. I feel for the guy, He's a good dude. He works hard. Nathan Hawthorne: Just in terms of brand? Just in terms of brand and football? No, I'm... Is that leap a little too big? Jarod McInroy: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. We're not talking Super Bowl winners here. We're talking division winners. Let's take, let's take a beat. Okay. We'll take a beat. That's a whole different conversation. We're talking enough to win the division. That is all we're saying. I think they got the gas. ⁓ give me the, give me the cowboys. Nathan Hawthorne: Okay. Okay, so. Okay, so final, yeah, final for the clip here. Nathan's number one for the NFC East. It's gonna go Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Commanders, Dallas Cowboys, followed up nicely and respectably by the last place New York football giants. Jared McEnroe, what do you got? Jarod McInroy: Yes, I got the Cowboys taking the division this year. ⁓ I have the commanders making a jump back up a little bit. ⁓ not fully they're going to take second. I see the Eagles taking a big step back and kind of enter, ⁓ a whole new era going into next year. Bye bye, Sirianni. They're taking third. And then, yeah, I think the giants just need some time. There's going to be some growing pains. ⁓ it's going to be a hard fought, ⁓ game every time they step out there, but Nathan Hawthorne: Okay. Jarod McInroy: I think they're probably only gonna walk away with like five or six wins at most. Nathan Hawthorne: In the area of common ground, 11 wins is the max here for this division, we think. About 11 wins. Jarod McInroy: Dude, I don't see any more than that. I think it's gonna be, and it could be 10. I don't wanna be rude, but like, it could be 10. Yeah, sweet. Good stuff on the NFL there. We got the draft coming up in three weeks here, man. So we're gonna really, we're gonna fill some time, cause I feel like we're probably not gonna see too many moves made until, I mean, maybe draft week we'll start to see, we might see a move or two. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It could be. Jarod McInroy: some teams that are wanted known where they're picking and put some feelers out there. But I'm excited for the draft. I want it to be tomorrow if it could be. I'm ready for this. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, I can't wait for the draft. A lot of these teams are playing it close to the vest as they should the gamesmanship of it. But as a football fan, you know, it's like that Chargers mean that you have for the covers photo. It's like, do something like I want to see some NFL news. I can only talk about the NBA for so long. And I do love the NBA. The playoffs are about to start heating up. I think a few teams are locked for the play in. When does the play in start? Is that next week? Jarod McInroy: Do something. Yeah. Ugh. Yeah, well here let's kick it off with that let's kick it off with that right away The whole the whole playoffs on both sides playing everything is locked and loaded and we got eight games left Some teams have eight I think there might be a team out there were nine games left and the full everything's locked and loaded so if you want to talk about a Tanking problem in the NBA. Let me throw some numbers out there for you the West right now the 11th seed is 11 and a half games behind the 10th seed, which is the cut line for the play in. The East is 10 and a half games, the 11th seed, 10 and a half games behind the 10th. How are you gonna sit back and tell me, hey, let's add two more teams to this? Not to mention two more teams that at best can pick your ninth best player. Which for the viewers, if we do move into an expansion and they do add a couple teams, how it works is every single team gets eight players that are untouchable. So they get to pick their whatever, whoever they view as their eight untouchable players. And then the two teams will draft back and forth. You know, cherry picking players off of teams from there. If you're unprotected, you're up for grabs. So. Yeah, hey, hey, let's add two teams that consist of the ninth best player on every team in the NBA and they'll be pretty competitive, right? Nathan Hawthorne: No, they will not. That's it's money, right? In markets that are going to work for the use case. think the I think what's interesting is I like Seattle for a market in terms of expansion. You know, formerly had a team used to be a big, big basketball city from a high school and like talent, a you perspective. They still put out a ton of talent. As far as NBA loving fans, I'm not sure if there's any left. Jarod McInroy: What are we doing? Nathan Hawthorne: I feel like Seattle maybe has lost that zeal for NBA basketball because it's been gone for so long. You know, essentially Kevin Durant's entire career. So it's kind of tough for a team to come back. And I think that everyone will be really hot and energetic around it provided everything goes as it should. they actually Seattle actually ends up getting a team, but I don't know. I just, I just think going to a basketball and see basketball game in Seattle is going to cost me $500 for a ticket, 300, 300 for concessions. another 250 for parking and I'm not going to be able to afford to go to the game. And this that's more so personal beef with. Jarod McInroy: Yeah, I will say I love the two. Yeah. Yeah. That's our, we're a little biased where in Portland, but, ⁓ I love the two markets that they chose. think Seattle in Las Vegas are the two markets that absolutely need teams if they're going to do that. But why are we talking expansion before relocation? If, if you really want to get teams in those cities. Okay. Tell me this. If I buy a fixer upper house, Why would I paint the damn thing before I freaking fix the house? Before I put up all the walls, before I fix and actually renovate the house? What would I paint to start? Painting is the expansion. The fixing the house is fixing the problem of the tanking that we have, the awful product of regular season NBA basketball. And we're still not addressing the gigantic elephant in the room that is you have an 11th seed who is Nathan Hawthorne: before you renovate. Jarod McInroy: one seed away from competing in the playoffs that is 11 and a half games behind because it means more to them to lose games for a pick than it does for them to be that close to it playing in the damn playoffs so i i just i don't get it i don't understand it ⁓ like i i love expansion but if we're expanding it's because we have a ton of talent everywhere and Don't get me wrong. They can create two good teams and then, you know, we'll fill out rosters from there. There's no, I mean, we saw when, ⁓ when they started doing all the 10 day contracts, there's a lot of dudes who can play that are in the G league that are like, we'll fill the rosters. We'll make it good. like, Chauncey Billups just got arrested for freaking losing games on purpose, man. Like, what are we doing? Like, it's obvious. It's out there. It's like the thing that the NBA is trying to gaslight the entire NBA fan base about. Of, ⁓ tanking, there's no problem. We're finding people. It's working. It's not working. What say you? Nathan Hawthorne: No, and you're always, I mean, I agree and you're always just a year away from being really awful. I mean, just ask the Indiana Pacers. They're top of the league last year, riding high, we're gonna run this thing, Halliburton goes down, Siakam goes down, Obie Toppin goes down, McConnell's hurt, Nimhart's hurt. Are they hurt or are they just shutting it down at this point, right? Like, so my point is. Jarod McInroy: Are they hurt though? Exactly. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, I mean that layers into it even more. But again, like you're you're always in the NBA because there's only five guys on the floor and one guy can be so, so impactful. You're really just an injury away from not being great. So now you want to stretch that out again over two more teams across an entire 83 game season. And you're also going to have less matchups between other teams throughout the year. And I don't think that's the biggest thing in the deal or biggest thing in the world. Like you only you're only adding two more teams. the depth and quality of basketball, like Nobody wants to go to a Nets game. Nobody wants to go to a Wizards game. Nobody wants to go to a Pacers game right now. Maybe last year they did. ⁓ It took Oklahoma City not too long, but a long time to really establish themselves in Oklahoma City for fans to even want to show up. And you kind of got blessed with the players you have on the roster that made it engaging and exciting for fans to be there. I think I might have already said Memphis. Nobody wants to see the Pelicans play. Like there's already so many, the Kings, nobody wants to see the Kings play. Like there's just so many teams that. Nobody cares enough to watch forget going in person. Just watch on TV I'd rather watch beat Bobby Flay then sit down and watch it. Okay, then watch it Kings. It is a good show then watch it Kings watch a Kings Grizzlies matchup, know what I mean? like there's just an especially regular season before the all-star break and Again, it's money. It's tax dollars. It's just that and the other ⁓ But I guess the biggest winner here is probably strip clubs in Vegas Jarod McInroy: Hey, that's a good show. No, never. Yeah. Yep. Stocks going up in Vegas for sure. Um, especially if James Harden doesn't get one of those eight spots in Cleveland, he might be the first round pick in Vegas. Um, I want to go on the record. I think that they need to, if they're going to expand, they're going to go to 32 teams. The bottom two teams need to get relegated to a shame schedule where they only play each other for a full year. They don't get a pick in the draft. Nathan Hawthorne: Mmm. Jarod McInroy: And they have to just play each other like the globetrotters and who the globetrotters play. What's their name? The I've heard the generals. Yes So they are just like the the globetrotters and the generals. They're going into each stadium They're at modus center this weekend next weekend. They're at msg ⁓ you know, that's your that's your punishment. You want to lose don't be in the bottom, too Because that's that's what's gonna happen to you. ⁓ no like dude, honestly something they need to do something and I I Nathan Hawthorne: The Generals. Jarod McInroy: I have a hard time figuring out what it is. There's no clear answer. Um, but why not just at this point, if it's that big of an issue, let's just test out a year of everyone has the same odds in the lottery. So your bottom 15 teams, they all have the same odds and then there's a different odds for the next 15. So Nathan Hawthorne: Well then how hard are you tanking to be in that bottom 15? Jarod McInroy: It's not hard to finish in the bottom 15, 16 teams make the playoffs. Nathan Hawthorne: Right, but if you're gonna be the 8 seed or you're the 10 seed in playing, would I even wanna win my playing game as the 10 seed? Or would I rather just take the L knowing I'm gonna get absolutely smacked in round one by Oklahoma City and just keep taking? You know what I'm saying? Jarod McInroy: So. I mean, no, I hear you. hear you. But I mean, like something, something that's that makes it so that competing being in a, being again, in a 15 spot versus being the dead last spot, there's no benefit to that. So it's competing your absolute hardest. And then at worst down the stretch, you tank a couple of games. It's better than taking a full season. That's all I'm saying. It makes it a little more. Nathan Hawthorne: What if, what if number 15 after expansion 16 gets the number one overall pick? Absolutely not. Jarod McInroy: No, or how about this? The bottom 20 teams are your new lottery. So there's five playoff teams that might be able to get the one pick now. Nathan Hawthorne: Or hear me out, in between the NBA final, in between the end of the Eastern Conference and Western Conference finals and the NBA finals, you have the draft finals. And it's the bottom six teams, the teams with the best seeding get a bye, and they play a little mini tournament for the number one seed. Did he actually talk about this? Jarod McInroy: Just something. Yeah, here's the issue with that. I heard Cam Johnson talk about this and he's like, no, he did. This is an actual thing where they talked about playing for the pick and he said there's no NBA player he knows and he knows that he himself wouldn't compete for a franchise that would drop them the next day if it was beneficial to them. So there's you're, basically playing for them to go draft year replacement. It doesn't make sense to them. So they would never get the Nathan Hawthorne: That's fair. Jarod McInroy: And they're also like the players association and the NBA. They're very strong. It's one of the strongest in any major sport. So they're going to defend their players at all costs. And I don't think that. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah. And you want to be in Cabo at that point. You ain't trying to hang around keeping in shape. March? March man, I'll tell you what, my bracket is doggy. Doggy, dog, doggy. It's bad. It's bad. But I do have Arizona winning and that's kind of been my saving grace. And I have them in the matchup with Michigan. Those are legit the only two teams I have left. And they've been the only two teams I've had left for quite some time. Jarod McInroy: Yeah. Let's wrap it up with some March Madness, huh? Mmm! Nathan Hawthorne: So ⁓ it's not been great. you make a bracket? That's brutal. Brutal. Jarod McInroy: I don't have anyone left. Yeah, I don't have anyone left. There's nothing good going on. I didn't watch any of regular season, but I will say these games have been great. It's been solid. And I feel like college basketball is back in the news a little bit. ⁓ I don't know if you saw the Rick Pitino stuff that just dropped today. ⁓ I don't know if it dropped today, but he was just talking a little bit about the transfer portal. Nathan Hawthorne: No. Mm-hmm. Jarod McInroy: And I thought it was interesting, ⁓ cause we think of the transfer portal in football. but we don't think about the impact it has on college basketball. And he was just talking about how he's shaped so many guys when he was at Louisville into NBA players, like, you know, you're Donovan Mitchell's in the world. ⁓ like so many players. Yeah. Hey, big name right there. ⁓ I think he had a stint. Nathan Hawthorne: Your patent see this? Not an NBA guy, but what a guy. Jarod McInroy: He was a Celtic, wasn't he? For like a minute? ⁓ Regardless. ⁓ It is interesting seeing a lot of ⁓ these names. mean, there's always the impact of the one and done. So like you watch these tournaments and you see the guys and you're like, they're just like, damn, we lost, it sucks. they know they're getting, so like the AJ DeBount, so that's who I'm talking about. I can't stand that guy after what he said about Portland. Nathan Hawthorne: Couldn't have been that good. Jarod McInroy: So he's on my shit list. So he's going to be exactly my example of what's wrong with college basketball. But then you go see cam boozer go out, get bloodied up, black eye, just look like he had just been in an all out war, putting it all on the line for his team. And ⁓ that was, that's why his games have been so much more fun to watch. ⁓ So they're still good product in college basketball in March, regardless of how bad the regular season is. They still got it going. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah. Yeah. March is always going to be where the superstars shine. And I think that's the best part. You kind of get to see a look behind the curtain of the future stars and who are going to be the guys that show up in the big moments. And obviously not everybody translates to the NBA, but you just see a lot of guys. You're like, wow, it's awesome that I haven't watched any of his college games at all, whether he's been there for one year or four years, but I happen to sit down and watch this masterpiece and it's pretty tight. And I think that's beauty of March Madness is you fall in love with guys for three weeks. And you're like, is the greatest thing I've ever seen in my life. And you can appreciate it. And then you get the personalities of the consistent coaches, your Tom Izzo's, your would be coach K's, your Dan Hurley's absolute monster. This guy is crazy. Did you see the clip? Not just the headbutt one, I know that one's popular, but the one he's John out of ref and the ref walks away. says, hey, don't turn your back to me. Jarod McInroy: Yeah. Yeah. Nathan Hawthorne: I'm the best coach in the fucking game. It's crazy. he just he he blacks out and his guys love to play for him. yeah, I mean, the transfer portal is always going to be a problem just because I think there's going to continue to be more money in basketball to kind of keep up with football. Guys are going to go where they can get the most money possible and try and play. If you saw one of the graphics of ⁓ it was each team and then it was Jarod McInroy: I didn't see that one, but dude does it surprise me. He's he's a crazy person Nathan Hawthorne: where the players started their career. And they would have one, maybe two guys, except I think Michigan State, I think had four of their guys all starting and then ⁓ somebody else had a few. But yeah, like these guys, you you're just on a, where can I get the most playing time? Where can I get the most money loop? And ⁓ it kind of kills your Adam Morrison's staying for several years, like those kinds of stories. Jarod McInroy: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, to bring it back to the point, I didn't even wrap up the point I was trying to make with the transfer portal stuff, but ⁓ it makes for better basketball because the teams are better. They finally have incentives with the NIL to actually be in college, whereas before people were like, I mean, we're even talking about some of the best players starting to go to the G League, play international. There was really nothing keeping people in ⁓ college basketball anymore, and now there's a reason to. You have the, um, the autonomy to go anywhere you want to go play anywhere year to year. Um, again, make money doing it too. So it's, it's been pretty good. think, I think it's kind of shown this year that it's starting to pay off. Nathan Hawthorne: Okay, so who's your winner? Jarod McInroy: you probably Arizona honestly, they look great. They look they look like ⁓ Don't even know ⁓ ⁓ been wrong. So don't ask me Nathan Hawthorne: If there's I think it's Arizona if there's a team to beat them probably Michigan because Michigan's got a 7-2 guy and then everyone else on the starting rosters like 6-9 and they just play Aggressive defense defense wins championships. So I still think Arizona is gonna pull it out I think Illinois's offense isn't gonna allow Yukon to come back from a game like that Like they honestly Yukon got really lucky that last matchup. So I think we're gonna see Arizona, Illinois Jarod McInroy: Mm-hmm. What a shame. ⁓ What a shot. What a shot, but that was a shame. An absolute shame. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, it was. ⁓ There there you couldn't have drawn up a worse way to lose could not have drawn up a worse way to lose Jarod McInroy: Did you see the video of the coach's ⁓ reaction to it? If not, I'll send it to you. He's like trying to call him out of it. He sees it playing out right before him. And then he just, the sadness in his eyes and the look on his face as his worst nightmare was happening was just awful, Yeah. Nathan Hawthorne: He was just like... I don't feel bad for a Shryer. Did it two Jarod McInroy: All right. ⁓ Let's it up. Nathan Hawthorne: Let's wrap it up. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for tuning into episode eight of the Know Your Personnel podcast, AKA KYP. I'm Nathan Hawthorne. This is my co-host, Jared McEnroy, and we will see you guys next week.