HOUR 2 - Should the Texans Pay Stroud Now? + Acknowledge Me + Florio Going HOA Again

Summary

Payne & Pendergast (Audacy) — Hour 2 Summary Episode Date: June 29, 2026
Main Topics: Texans and CJ Stroud’s contract, Texans skill position ranking, "Acknowledge Me" weekend sports recap, Diana Russini cop FaceTime sleuthering, and Florio’s bribery outrage

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Episode Overview

This hour centers on the Houston Texans' looming decision regarding C.J. Stroud’s contract extension, examining whether the time is right to pay him. Sean and Seth debate quarterback market trends, Stroud’s leverage, and the team's approach. The segment segues into Bill Barnwell’s surprisingly low ranking of Texans skill players, before moving into their “Acknowledge Me” segment—highlighting recent Houston sports performances and personalities. The final act is classic Payne & Pendergast banter: Florio's over-the-top "investigation" into whether Diana Russini and an NFL coach committed bribery by FaceTime to get her out of a traffic ticket.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Should the Texans Pay CJ Stroud Now?

(01:16–14:19)

• Contract Status & League Context

  • ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reports talks between Stroud and the Texans are on pause, paralleling Trevor Lawrence's recent third-year extension with the Jaguars ([01:16]).
  • The QB market has plateaued at $53–$55 million/year for three years (excluding unique situations like Mahomes, Dak Prescott).
  • Texans have a reputation for paying early (see: Derek Stingley), but the conversation is about whether Stroud has shown enough after his concussion and if waiting makes sense.

• Agent/Player Perspective

  • “If everybody is kind of talking about $55 million like this is the going rate...all the people that weigh in on this act like, oh, of course, if there’s a contract, it’ll be for $55 million a year.” (Sean, [03:36])
  • There’s anticipation a new “glass ceiling” will be broken next year by one of the rising young QBs.

• Team's Leverage & Strategy

  • Texans’ edge: They can negotiate before other teams with young QBs, getting ahead of a possible rising tide.
  • “The trend of just paying quarterbacks after their third year...was done when quarterback salaries were escalating incredibly fast...That doesn’t mean the Texans have to do anything with it.” (Sean, [07:40])

• Bucky Brooks’ Argument for Paying Stroud

  • “There’s no reason for you to take a below market deal... you could argue that you are [a] more accomplished player [than Trevor Lawrence].” (Bucky Brooks, [06:47])
  • Brooks recommends Texans pay $55M now rather than risk $60M if market rises, pointing to franchise tag trajectory ([11:56]).
  • Hosts caution that market escalation isn’t what it used to be since the salary cap and contracts have outpaced actual new deals.

• Stroud’s Professionalism

  • “I’ve been really impressed with how CJ’s handled this...he’s not made a stink about anything.” (Sean Kelley, [14:19])
  • Both sides appear to want a deal but are comfortable waiting—a “cordial impasse."

Notable Quotes

• “If C.J. comes out and has a great year, I don’t cry into my Cheerios about the fact that they have to pay him more.” — Sean Pendergast ([05:05])
• “You are best to go ahead and pay C.J. Stroud what you think the market is worth. Rather than wait, he becomes a $60 million quarterback.” — Bucky Brooks ([11:56])

Key Timestamps

• [01:16] — Setting up the segment with latest ESPN reporting
• [04:26] — The crowd of QBs about to hit the market
• [06:41] — Bucky Brooks on Stroud’s leverage
• [11:56] — Brooks: “Let’s open up the wallet”
• [14:19] — CJ Stroud’s maturity and handling

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Texans Skill Players Ranked 24th by Bill Barnwell

(16:31–22:19)

• Surprise at Low Ranking

  • Bill Barnwell (ESPN) ranks Texans’ offensive skill group 24th out of 32. Both hosts expected more, given Nico Collins, Schultz, and new RB David Montgomery.
  • Discussions about Nico Collins’ injury and concussion history, with Seth—himself an ex-player—saying the nature of the concussion matters.

• Skill Player Room Analysis

  • Nico Collins: On-field performance is top tier when healthy, but durability questioned.
  • Dalton Schultz: Plenty of yards but invisible in the red zone last year; hosts note this could change with an improved run game.
  • Depth/Youth: Higgins, Noel seen as promising but unproven; optimism on their “year 2” development with better running game support.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “If the Texans just have an average rushing attack…all of those skill players become that much more powerful.” — Seth Payne ([21:24])

Key Timestamps

• [17:06] — Initial surprise and rundown of main offensive players
• [18:19] — Concussion concerns for Nico
• [19:49] — Dalton Schultz’s red-zone performance
• [20:08] — Impact of better running game

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"Acknowledge Me": Weekend Standouts

(24:05–39:23)

• Josh Hader’s Dominance ([24:05–26:58])
  • Saved 7 games, 0.58 WHIP. Astros closer described as “cockiest person on earth when he walks out to the mound” (Sean Pendergast [25:44]), but hosts worry about heavy workloads.
• Jey Uso & WWE SummerSlam plug (quick aside).
• Cabo Verde’s World Cup Run ([27:16])
  • Heartwarming fan moment: “The players were literally huddled around an iPhone down on the field… the Cabo Verdeans go crazy.” (Sean Kelley [28:21])
• Other Acknowledgments
  • Aziz Al-Shaair: 92nd in NFL’s Top 100, only 2nd Texans LB ever ([30:25])
  • Linda Cohn retires after 5,500 SportsCenter episodes (played audio: her secret is acting like someone’s watching for the first time, [31:57])
  • DJ Khaled’s approach to personal finances: pays all bills himself, warns against relying on accountants (“I don’t believe in no accountant…that’s your business.” — DJ Khaled, [33:41])
  • Nick Wright shouts out Seth on FS1: Tom Brady’s mind is like Randy Moss’ physical tools—not easily replicable ([36:01])
  • Pendergast marks 10,000 songs played on TouchTunes jukeboxes.

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Diana Russini’s Cop FaceTime — Florio’s "Bribery" Meltdown

(42:36–50:44)

• The Story ([43:44])

  • Old audio emerges of Russini FaceTiming an NFL head coach to get out of a texting-while-driving ticket. Head coach played along, officer let her go.
  • “Who does that? I was desperate. I don’t want to get a ticket, my husband’s gonna kill me.” — Diana Russini ([44:43])

• Florio’s Take ([45:54–49:26])

  • Mike Florio (Pro Football Talk) posits this could constitute bribery under New Jersey law, since the cop got a “non-monetary benefit” akin to a celebrity cameo.
  • Hosts mock the premise: “You really want this cop to get fired for potentially, you know, accepting a quote, unquote bribe in the form of a phone call? What the hell’s wrong with you, man?” — Sean ([50:01])
  • Investigation attempted to narrow down which coach it was; ultimately deemed a slow-news July story.

Notable Quotes

• “Florio’s…going too far on this” — Sean Pendergast ([49:40])
• “Is that any different than her being like, oops, did a couple hundred dollars fall out of my pocket?” — Seth Payne ([49:05])

Key Timestamps

• [43:44] — Russini recounts FaceTime story
• [45:54] — Florio’s “bribery” angle
• [49:00] — Cameo value as “consideration”
• [50:01] — Pushback on Florio’s outrage

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Memorable Quotes

• “You don’t want to get typecast as...you want to be kind of geographically agnostic.” — Sean Kelley on broadcasters’ accents ([32:53])
• “I just need him [Hader] to get three outs and that’s it.” — Sean Pendergast ([26:25])
• “You get the Good Guy award from the media after your rookie year.” — Sean Kelley on Stroud’s media savvy ([16:22])

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Tone & Style

True to the Payne & Pendergast brand, the episode featured equal parts sharp football analysis, tongue-in-cheek ribbing (especially at Florio’s expense), and local flavor. There’s a sense of both professional inside knowledge and accessible fan enthusiasm, with digressions into music, WWE, and personal finance all keeping the chat relatable and fast-paced.

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Conclusion

Hour 2 offers a definitive snapshot of Houston sports radio at its best: insightful debate on the most important Texans storyline (Stroud’s contract), honest takes on skill talent, fan-centric shoutouts, and an entertaining skewering of the NFL media ecosystem. The Russini/FaceTime story, and Florio’s hyperbolic response, is given the perfect amount of comic scrutiny. All in all, an essential hour for Houston fans — and those following the ever-evolving quarterback market.

Transcript

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[Sean Kelley]

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[Seth Payne]

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[Sean Kelley]

the 7 o' clock hour we go here on a Monday. Payne and Pendergast, good to be with you. Appreciate you getting up with us and we are with you till 10am this is Jeremy Fowler on ESPN over the weekend giving what I guess this is what the latest that he's hearing on the C.J. stroud contract situation. Houston's going to have to change that because right now there's not a lot of momentum on a deal. Talks are essentially on pause as of now. Now, Houston has been aggressive paying players. They've been paying defensive players like Daniel Hunter, Will Anderson, Aziz, Al Shayer. But if they want to take care of Stroud, they're going to have to make some progress this summer. Otherwise, there are some people around the league who very much believe he will play out the fourth year of his deal, try to get his value up. This is similar to the Trevor Lawrence situation a couple of years ago.

[Sean Pendergast]

You have a top pick who showed some good, some bad.

[Sean Kelley]

You got to decide. Do you pay him early or do you wait? Okay, I'm glad he brought up Lawrence there, Seth, because we're about to listen to Bucky Brooks, who covers Trevor Lawrence. Yeah. And has watched Trevor Lawrence. You know, that was Jeremy Fowler of espn. He brings up Trevor Lawrence very similar to that situation. Yeah, he. He got his deal. He got paid.

[Sean Pendergast]

He got his deal. He got paid. It's been interesting. Like the quarterback market for three years now has been just stagnant at 53 to $55 million. Like, that's what quarterbacks are getting paid, other than Pat Mahomes and Dak Prescott. And those are kind of two special circumstances because Dak Prescott was about to play on the franchise tag, so he had a lot more leverage. And then Pat Mahomes is Pat Mahomes, and, you know, the Chiefs are just treating him differently. I think that, that everybody's been kind of stuck at 55 million for three years now. And Trevor Lawrence, when he signed his deal to a tongue of Iloa as well, these teams were looking at it, thinking, oh, my gosh, the quarterback, I don't know. The market just keeps going up and up and up. We got to sign him right now. Because otherwise, who knows how much we're going to have to pay. And then it's stuck there. It's been stuck there for two years. Nobody signed other than, again, you know, Pat Mahomes, which doesn't really. It's not relevant to the conversation with CJ or anything. Everybody, including, including Josh Allen last year, they. In Matt Stafford, you know, they're. They're signed over 55 million.

[Sean Kelley]

They got 55. The, the, the last two MVPs of the league.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, right.

[Sean Kelley]

Or Allen might have been a few. Two former MVPs.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sean Kelley]

Both got 55 million.

[Sean Pendergast]

Now, the difference with Josh Allen is he got 230 million guaranteed at signing, whereas, you know, a guy like Trevor Lawrence got 130 or something like that. But I think that that's where I do think it's a cordial impasse right now between the Texans and C.J. stroud and David Mulligetta in that if I'm C.J. stroud, I'm a thinking, yeah, I haven't put together the performance that I would like to. But also be. If everybody is kind of talking about $55 million, like this is the going rate. I mean, it is, Sean. It's. It's universal. All of the people that weigh in on this act like, oh, of course, if there's a contract, It'll be for $55 million a year. I think that a lot of agents and players are thinking, well, that's probably going to get tested next year. That's, you've got Caleb Williams, you've got Jaden Daniels, you got Bo Nix, you've got Bryce young, you've got C.J.

[Sean Kelley]

stroud, Drake May.

[Sean Pendergast]

Drake May. Yeah, Drake May.

[Sean Kelley]

He actually beat it to a Super bowl.

[Sean Pendergast]

Between those six or seven guys, somebody is going to end up breaking through that glass ceiling. And I think that's where it kind of works out in for both parties in that I think the Texans want to see one more year. I think the Texans want to be sure that he wasn't somehow permanently damaged by that concussion, either psychologically or physically or physiologically. And I think that's where if C.J. comes out and has a great year, I don't, I don't cry into my Cheerios about the fact that they have to pay him more.

[Sean Kelley]

God, no.

[Sean Pendergast]

You know, it's like, okay, oh, they may, they won a Super Bowl. Oh dear. Oh no. What are we going to do?

[Sean Kelley]

Nobody drafts a quarterback with the second overall pick hoping that you can move on to another quarterback four years later. You know that the hope is you pay. The hope is he's worthy of a top of market contract extension.

[Sean Pendergast]

And you made the great point Sean too, is that what the Texans have done in the past is they're very aggressive, they're very willing to make Derek Stingley the highest paid cornerback knowing that we within a year he's going to be the fifth or sixth highest paid cornerback. And I think because the Texans have the ability to negotiate with CJ before any of those other young quarterbacks behind him, you know, they could start talking to him in February about a new deal and sign one whenever they want where everybody else has to wait until the league year begins. If CJ has a really impressive year next year, they might just go ahead and say, well look, we know that the numbers are going to increase. We're going to go ahead and make CJ the highest paid right now. But by the end of this offseason, he might be the sixth highest quarterback.

[Sean Kelley]

Yeah. And just for those who don't know the reason why, those other teams all have to wait the Caleb Williams, Drake May, Bo Nicks, Jaden Daniels teams, you, they're in those, those guys are only heading into their third year. CJ's heading into his fourth. You can't even offer a guy a contract until the league year begins after your third season. So the Texans do have a little bit of a window there between the super bowl and the start of the league year where they can they can sign a deal with CJ if they want to. All right. Bucky Brooks. What did Bucky Brooks have to say about all this, Seth, about cj? Oh yeah,

[Sean Pendergast]

he said that he's got an argument to exceed Lawrence Love into a.

[Bucky Brooks]

We have seen these quarterback deals. They only go up, they never go down. But more Importantly, when you're C.J. stroud, there's no reason for you to take a below market deal. When you look to your division rival, the Jacksonville Jaguars and you look at Trevor Lawrence and Trevor Lawrence has a 5 year, 55 year, 275 million dollar contract and you could argue that you are more accomplished player than he has been. You also can look at Brock Purdy, you can look at Jordan Love and you have reasonable arguments that your pay should exceed what they make or should at least be in range with what those guys make.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, I guess this is the part where yes, you have an argument for that. But I think the other thing is that, but you also like the Texans have an argument which is cool. We don't think we wouldn't have done those deals. You know, we wouldn't have done the two of Tungavailo deal. We wouldn't have done the Trevor Lawrence deal and we don't have to do this deal.

[Seth Payne]

Right.

[Sean Pendergast]

And they wouldn't put it that bluntly or not. But the whole, the whole trend of just paying quarterbacks after their third year just because that was done when quarterback salaries were escalating incredibly fast. And I don't think that, yeah, I agree with, I agree with Bucky that C.J. could make those arguments. And yet that doesn't mean that the Texans have to do anything with it. It's just like there's, that's the cold hard reality is that no matter what the argument is, unless all of a sudden C.J. is going to walk, you know, one week before the season begins, he doesn't have a whole lot of leverage right now. I.

[Sean Kelley]

It's funny when you lay it out, you know, especially to and Trevor Lawrence they were when they signed their extensions. Trevor Lawrence is the better example, the better analogy because Tua signed after his fourth year. Trevor Lawrence signed after his third year. That's where we are with CJ Right now. That was not a good Jacksonville team that's resigned Trevor Lawrence.

[Sean Pendergast]

Right. It.

[Sean Kelley]

I wonder if in a weird way that the Texans defense being as good as it is kind of gives the Texans the, gives the Texans sort of the license to handle this the way that they are. I wonder if they weren't as good of a football team. If C.J. were the exact same quarterback.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Sean Kelley]

Especially if C.J. were the exact same quarterback and it weren't on a playoff team, then he wouldn't have had that game against New England where he threw four interceptions.

[Sean Pendergast]

Right.

[Sean Kelley]

I wonder if, you know, I wonder if the Texans would feel a little bit more desperate if they weren't as good a football team. It's a weird way to think about it, but Jacksonville was a bad football team when they signed Trevor.

[Sean Pendergast]

All their hopes.

[Sean Kelley]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

They'd be pinning all their hopes and dreams that hopefully CJ Becomes the guy like Jacksonville did. Yeah. And meanwhile, even just in the last couple of years, I think, you know, the Sam Darnold super bowl victory has kind of thrown a little bit more cold water on the notion that you absolutely have to have the, you know, one of the premier guys in the league. Now, I. You and I both agree on this. There's just. You got to be careful in thinking like that. The Seahawks experience last year has become the new standard way to win a Super Bowl. Still, by and large, your best chances are if you. If you have a good team but also have a really good quarterback. You know, like, people aren't. People aren't gushing about the Rams right now because they traded Matt Stafford for Sam Darnold or something. Yep. Sam. Matt Stafford is one of the things that makes that whole thing go.

[Sean Kelley]

Bucky Brooks says CJ STR. As a top 10 quarterback, what I

[Bucky Brooks]

would tell everybody is calm down. I would also tell the Houston Texans to calm down. You have a quarterback that is a proven winner, a quarterback that has certainly transformed the franchise, a quarterback that is worthy of being regarded as a top 10 quarterback when he's good, top five when he's really on his game. And so when you have a young quarterback like that, you're best to pay him before the market continues to escalate.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. So a top 10 quarterback when he's good, which I guess that's. That's dicey, too, because. All right, like, I'm a. You know, I'm a. I'm a top. I'm a top 10 lover once, you know, one out of every 100 experiences or so, it doesn't mean that you're actually good all the time at it. The.

[Seth Payne]

But.

[Sean Pendergast]

But really, the part about the quarterback market just keeps escalating. Just keeps escalating. It's. We're not operating in that world anymore. I think there's been a. There's been a sobriety injection into that Whole market somewh. And this, this feeling of desperation teams had for, you got to pay your quarterback, you got to pay your quarterback. It's just, it's stabilized somewhat and I think it's going to increase this year. But you still, since Trevor Lawrence signed his deal, the salary cap has gone up 18%, you know, and 55 million was already kind of the cap out for where the prices were before that. So since 2023, it's gone up probably 27% or so.

[Sean Kelley]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Like, and quarterback salaries really haven't risen other than the Prescott and Pat Mahomes, which are kind of outliers. So I don't, I think that I wouldn't be overly worried that all of a sudden the next top paid quarterback is going to be making $90 million a year or something. No.

[Sean Kelley]

Oh God.

[Sean Pendergast]

So I just, I'm cool saying, all right, you know, what if we get one more year out of CJ and we actually feel better about him and feel really good and secure, then sure, we'll pay a little bit extra. We're not, we're not worried about that. That's natural inflation.

[Sean Kelley]

Here's what Bucky Brooks thinks the Texans should do.

[Bucky Brooks]

To me, this is one where the Houston Texans would be wise to come up off of it, open up the wallet, break them off a deal that's probably about 55 million annually. Because when we continue to look at the franchise tag and the way that it's going, the franchise tag is going to be at 50 million. And even though you have them on option next year that'll put them at $25.9 million. You are best to go ahead and pay CJ Stroud what you think the market is worth. Rather than wait, he becomes a 60 million dollar quarterback. So quick clutching your pearls. Houston Texans write the check. CJ Stroud deserves to be paid. Not on his last postseason performance, but on the work that he's done the previous time before those outings. He certainly deserves to get paid.

[Sean Kelley]

Yeah, I think you nailed it earlier, Seth, when you said you called it a cordial impasse between the two where it's there'. If I had to guess, there's a disconnect between what CJ Thinks he's worth and what the Texans think he's worth right now. And, but I think both sides want to be in a long term relationship with each other.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. And I don't like, I don't even know if C.J. i, I, I, I wouldn't say that C.J. necessarily doesn't see where the Texans are coming from.

[Sean Kelley]

Right.

[Sean Pendergast]

You know, and that's why, when it's a cordial impasse, I think, look, you can look at it from the quarterback's perspective, not just C.J. banana, the quarterback, and might say, all right, look, the quarterback, the market's been stagnant for a while. If the going rate is 55 million, even if I had just, you know, had a really good season and maybe we, maybe we made it to the AFC championship, whatever have you, and if they came to me and said, hey, we're going to give you 57 million, I might think, you know what? No, I think the market's actually headed higher than that. So cj, where he sits right now, if he has a better, he might be thinking, look, maybe I could get 55 million right now. But if I have a good year this year, and there's seven quarterbacks that are potentially going to get new deals next offseason, I'm not going to sign for, with a going rate right now when next year it might be 65 million or so. And that's where, like, no matter how either side feels about it, the Texans, the Texans being perfectly willing to pay a little bit extra premium if he has a great year, because that's a nice carrot on a stick. Oh, yeah. You know, like, let's not forget the motivational part of all of this. And C.J. saying, yeah, I'd like to, I'd like to go for that. Then, then there you have it.

[Sean Kelley]

I think, I think CJ's handled this whole thing really, really well. I've been impressed with how he's handled it because he's, he's not made a stink about anything. He's, he's, it seems like he's tweaked some things with his off season routine. You know, I think he's, he's acknowledged that it didn't end really well last year. You know, I think now what will get interesting is, and what's happening with this story is exactly what I thought would, which is, you know, heading in the off season, I said C.J. stroud is the most intriguing player in the NFL heading into training camp because of his contract situation and because of what the history has been with quarterbacks and contracts. This is unfolding differently than guys over the last few years. Now, this is before, you know, Brandon Iuk became a complete psycho on Instagram. And this is before Brendan Sorsby became the face of degenerate gambling and should he be in the NFL? Those are both very intriguing stories too. I've been really impressed with how CJ's handled this. I think it's going to get very interesting in training camp because the only time he's been asked about it is one time at the very end of his minicamp or OTA availability, and that was it. The Texans are going to be one of those teams that have a lot of the national people coming here to training camp, and they're going to be asking to sit down with CJ Stroud.

[Sean Pendergast]

They're going to ask him every time.

[Sean Kelley]

Every time they're going to ask him. Yeah. And I. So I think that's where, you know, that's. I, you know, I don't know that it's necessarily difficult. You just keep giving that answer you gave in that press conference, young man.

[Sean Pendergast]

You know, just keep, keep leave out the part about holding up your end of the bar, because that was just confusing and like, it allowed people to run with something that I don't think C.J. intended.

[Sean Kelley]

No, no. Yeah. At least be better. Yeah. At least be more clear about what you mean by that.

[Sean Pendergast]

CJ has gotten better at that. By the way. Remember, remember when C.J. was a rookie? We're like, man, it's awesome that he talks so much, but he might be better served if he just cuts himself off a little early sometimes. He's got. He has. As he's grown and matured, he's got better at, like, okay, just. I don't need to, I don't need to get. If I continue talking at this point, I'm only giving more fire for people to read into how you get the

[Sean Kelley]

Good Guy award from the media after your rookie year.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sean Kelley]

Talk.

[Sean Pendergast]

No, Be boring some more. No, that's a be.

[Sean Kelley]

Embrace the cliches and be boring is cj. We'll do acknowledge me here in a few minutes. We'll acknowledge the big performances from over the weekend. Is CJ Stroud set up for success this year with this group of skill guys that he has. Bill Barnwell of ESPN did his rankings 1 through 32 of all 32 Team Seth when it comes to running backs, wide receivers and tight ends. And the Houston Texans finished 24th out of 32. 24th out of 32.

[Sean Pendergast]

I was honestly a little bit surprised when I saw that. I thought they'd be maybe middle of the road.

[Sean Kelley]

I was expecting middle of the pack

[Sean Pendergast]

just because of between Nico Collins and then just, you know, David Montgomery as a guy that in terms of his impact, I mean, much better than what the Texans have had. Well, obviously Not. Not better than Joe Mixon, but better than a lot of the guys they've had to deal with over the last three years. Yeah, that. I. The. I was surprised that in ranking the Texans 24th, Barnwell had Nico's injury history as. As big a factor as it seemingly was, because it's. How many games. Ten games in three seasons, which does look. You're three and a third games per season. It's a big deal. And yet, by and large, if you're looking at. Okay, what's the impact going to be over the season, he's still a top 10 guy in terms of, like, his overall impact. No question. He's missed a couple of years.

[Sean Kelley]

No. When he's on the field, he's. He's amazing. I. We bring up CJ's concussions quite a bit. I don't know. Are we worried that Nico had two last season? That, that.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's a good point. You know, like, you. Yeah. And you brought that up before. And then I kind of casually, you know, I myself, having had a bunch of concussions, I'm able to forget things pretty easy. Yeah.

[Sean Kelley]

I'm just asking the question. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

No, I don't. Yeah. I think that I, It.

[Sean Kelley]

It doesn't get brought up at all that I don't. The last two were concussions with him.

[Sean Pendergast]

Right, Right. And lots of people have had two concussions. I think the, the fact that the last one was a pretty obvious, like, okay, he whacked his head against the turf.

[Sean Kelley]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

I don't. And I know we're not supposed to read into all that stuff too much, but I can't help it. I feel like sometimes when. When a guy gets a concussion with something that looks like okay, most people would probably get a concussion from that. I'm like, okay, that's probably not a big deal. I start worrying about guys that start getting concussions off of just minimal contact.

[Sean Kelley]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

So with both Nico and cj, it made sense.

[Sean Kelley]

Yep.

[Sean Pendergast]

I would prefer that both of them wear a guardian cap, and I know neither of them will, but still. Yeah. Just a fellow can dream. Okay.

[Sean Kelley]

Absolutely.

[Sean Pendergast]

I thought that Jalen Petrie was going to popularize the guardian cap, but everybody's just too scared.

[Sean Kelley]

He still got a shot. It could still happen. The other points Barnwell brought up, because I'm with you, I was surprised. 24th felt low. And just for some context, the other teams in the division, none of them were great. The best one was Indianapolis, I'm guessing carried quite a bit by Jonathan Taylor there, but Indianapolis 14th Jacksonville 18th, Tennessee, Tennessee 25th. You're one spot ahead of the Tennessee Titans. The other factors Barnwell brought up. Seth, you tell me if these are, these are valid factors to have the Texans in the bottom quartile of teams in or close to it of teams skill positions. Dalton Schultz had a lot of yards last year but was a non factor with explosive plays and a non factor. He had five catches in the red zone all year. Not touchdowns, just catches in the red zone.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, I think, I think that's fair in terms of just. He's not somebody like say the opposite, different position. But Devonte Adams in the red zone for the Rams is like okay man, he's just making that stuff.

[Sean Kelley]

Oh, he's a machine.

[Sean Pendergast]

Red zone factor. I think Schultz is a guy that to be a factor in the red zone has to have other people that are the big time threats in the red zone.

[Sean Kelley]

He brings up question marks at wide receiver.

[Sean Pendergast]

The other thing though, real quick, Salt and Schultz. That might change if the Texans actually have any kind of ability to run the ball because that's when you get like when, when teams don't have to respect your run game down in the red zone. You miss out on all of those wide open tight end sections.

[Sean Kelley]

Yes. Schultz might get three or four of those where nobody's standing within ten feet of him.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, that's where. When teams, when you're on the three yard line and teams know that oh crap, if you. These guys run it, we really got to be, we. We got to be aggressive as hell. That's when you, that's when the tight ends are sprung scot free. So I would say because I do believe the run game will be better this year and I think just by virtue of having David Montgomery back there in short yardage situations, aside from any offensive line improvements, I think Dalton Schultz would be more of a factor in the red zone simply because of that. I like that. The power of the play.

[Sean Kelley]

It's a really good point. Question marks at wide receiver behind Nico Barnwell brings that up. The inexperience of Higgins and Noel I guess to go along with the fact that in terms of production last year they weren't great. Brent does bring up Higgins had six touchdowns. We'll see from what we've seen at both of them so far, I'm. I'm very enthusiastic just based on some of the things that we've seen out at OTAs and minicamp that we're going to get that year to jump from both of these guys.

[Sean Pendergast]

It really is. And it's so much fun to be able to talk about this again without. Now that the stat nerds understand that the run game is actually way more important than than they ever wanted to concede before. Every single one of those guys we talked about, and just including the way we talked about Dalton Schultz, if the Texans just have an average rushing attack, an average red zone attack, all of those things, all of those skill players become that much more powerful or potent. You know, it really, it's just been the big, huge missing ingredient is a complete absence of a steady rushing attack that's made them so incapable of operating and really utilizing their skill position players. So I think if that part of it works out, then yeah, you're going to see a really improved version of Jaden Higgins in his second year. You're going to see a better version of Dalton Schultz, the passing game in general, all of these skill position players will be better.

[Seth Payne]

Yep.

[Sean Pendergast]

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[Bucky Brooks]

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[Sean Kelley]

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[Sean Pendergast]

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[Sean Kelley]

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[Seth Payne]

Okay, I have a business question for you. Where did you get your domain on wix? It was really easy. Was it actually easy or are you exaggerating? No, really, it took like 90 seconds. I even built a full website. What do you mean I just used wix Harmony just told it what I wanted and it built a fully functional website for me in minutes. It also comes with hosting security, privacy protection, everything. Oh, cool. Yeah. Check it [e-mail] domains.

[Sean Kelley]

All right, let's get to acknowledge me. Let's acknowledge some big performances from over the weekend, noteworthy things. We will say names and when I say the name, Ben Garry will hit the Sounder. We will acknowledge the performances. Seth. Josh Hader. Now, I had put this one in the rundown on Saturday. As I'm watching him unravel a little bit yesterday, I'm like, oh, am I going to have to adjust the rundown? No, I'll keep it in there. Because he kept it clean in the ninth inning. Not, not totally clean walk. Three guys loaded the bases, but no runs. That was sort of an out. It was very much an outlier for Josh Hater. Even with that performance yesterday, his numbers have been outstanding. Since he's come back. He's pitched in 12 games. 12 games, 12 innings. He's only pitching one inning every time out. But he is starting to pitch on back to back days again. Two and O record, seven saves, an ERA under one, a WHIP of 0.583.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Sean Kelley]

Which is crazy good. 19 strikeouts, five walks. He won't make the All Star game. He's just missed too much of the season to make the All Star team. But I there, I have a hard time imagining a closer that's been more consistent over the last three weeks than Josh Hater since he came back.

[Sean Pendergast]

It's no. And now even. Boy, that that inning yesterday was just so. It was so tense and yet like he was so aggressive to finish it off. Yep. And ended up getting a strikeout. And just the that part of it, even though my confidence had wavered. Not because my confidence in him is wavered. It was just a really dicey situation. Yeah, yeah. I've gotten. I'm the cockiest person on earth when he walks out to the mountain.

[Sean Kelley]

I am too. I didn't like seeing like the pitch count get to 25 to 30 there. That's where I, you know, the feeling I got watching his pitch count get up like that is the feeling that the, you know, when Jordan slides or Debian clowney would go down back in the day and be like, get up, get up. I said 25 pitches. I'm like, oh, please don't let his arm.

[Sean Pendergast]

Well, I don't like think, I don't like seeing it just because you start to wonder like okay, how this. How's this going to affect his availability in the coming days? Yeah, because they've started to use them more. Like the first time. Last weekend was the first time he went. He ended up starting on Sunday. He ended up going three games in four days. So, like, that was a big step forward.

[Sean Kelley]

Huge.

[Sean Pendergast]

And, you know, I don't think. I don't need to see him go two innings.

[Sean Kelley]

No.

[Sean Pendergast]

Ever this year.

[Sean Kelley]

No.

[Sean Pendergast]

I don't need to see him go one in a third innings. Right. I just need him to do. I need him to get three outs and that's it. And let's call it a day, because that's not going to be. Look, he's likely not going to be the reason that because one game or two, you decide to keep him in for an extra inning, that. That's going to be the difference between life or death for this baseball team, where him getting injured again somehow, that could be the death knell.

[Sean Kelley]

Huge. Yeah. Yeah. Because they got. They. They don't really have a solution outside of him right now to pitch those ninth innings.

[Sean Pendergast]

Jay Los Santos has had a rough.

[Sean Kelley]

He's off.

[Seth Payne]

He.

[Sean Pendergast]

Dude, his ERA, he gave up, like, half the runs.

[Sean Kelley]

His ERA. I looked it up. His last eight appearances, his ERA is over 12. Yeah, he's been horrible.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's what it was. Five. Five of the eight earned runs allowed by the bullpen during this road trip were.

[Sean Kelley]

Yeah, he's been awful. Cabo Verde clinched a spot in the knockout round of the World Cup, a scoreless draw versus Saudi Arabia on Friday. I said this earlier in the show, Seth. I'll say it again, and I know Cabo Verde is your adopted honorary team.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Sean Kelley]

The people are delightful.

[Sean Pendergast]

I know. Yeah. You had a good time over, I think, this tiny island, well, archipelago nation off the west coast of Africa, that's just beautif. Beautiful if you Google it. But, no, they canceled my visa. I'm not allowed back.

[Sean Kelley]

You're not allowed back in.

[Sean Pendergast]

They were like. They could tell the fact. I just could. I couldn't go to the game on Friday, and they accused me of fake hustle, however you say that in Spanish or Portuguese, and that was that.

[Sean Kelley]

Yeah, it was fun, man. It was. It was definitely, for me, a top 10 sporting experience. Not. The game was fun. I mean, these were. I've been to two of them, the World cup games. They've been great. They're. The energy in the building is amazing, but celebrating with the people in my section as they were waiting to see if they had clinched a spot in the knockout round, the players were literally huddled around an iPhone down on the field.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Sean Kelley]

And when the game. The Spain. Whoever. Spain. I forget who Spain was playing on on Friday, but whoever. Whoever it was they were playing, they win the game, and the. The Cabo Verdeans go crazy down on the field, and then they go crazy in the stands, and they were celebrating and singing. It was really, really cool. So acknowledge them. Cabo Verde. I'm going to acknowledge Freddie as well, the German super fan. Turns out that Freddie, who I had thrown a little bit of shade at here along his journey here of getting free stuff everywhere he went.

[Sean Pendergast]

You're just in for the worst reasons. You were just. You were jealous.

[Sean Kelley]

Yeah, I was jealous. I was jealous. I'm jealous of this. But. But I. I've had a chance to do some of this. He. He turns out he's a huge wrestling fan, which means he's one of my people. He got to go to Slammiversary, tna, which is a company that competes with wwe. He got to go backstage at Slammiversary, their big pay per view. And he met the Hardys. He met Jeff and Matt Hardy, who he's big fans of, and he took pictures with them and did the thing where he puts the, you know, emoji on top of the. Nobody knows what the guy looks like because he's still putting emojis on top of his face. Yeah, Freddy is, but I've done a 180 on Freddy. Seth. I really like the guy.

[Sean Pendergast]

Now you're saying, like, the way you now. Because this is a wwe, maybe this is the way I envision it, envisioned it. Does he actually have, like a. An emoji, like, stuffy thing that he puts over his head? You made it look like he was like, he had, like, a big.

[Sean Kelley]

Okay, yeah, I was just framing it

[Sean Pendergast]

like a styrofoam emoji or something. You should do that. That's a lot less time in the. You know, having to edit it on your phone.

[Sean Kelley]

It'd be a good gimmick for sure.

[Sean Pendergast]

The Hardys are. The hardies are the ones who are actual wrestlers first.

[Sean Kelley]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Hardy. Yeah, They're.

[Sean Pendergast]

They're NCAA champions. Yeah.

[Sean Kelley]

Oh, no, no, no, they're not.

[Sean Pendergast]

They're not. Oh, okay.

[Sean Kelley]

Yeah, yeah, no, they're not. I don't know who it is you're thinking of, but no, it's not. The Hardys are. They grew up, like, they've been wrestling since they were, like, 16 years old.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, yeah.

[Sean Kelley]

Jeff Hardy's known for the bumps that he takes. He's not afraid to jump off the top of like a 40 foot cage or anything like that. Kind of a Daredevil. Aziz Al Shire, 92nd in the NFL's top 100. That news came down on Friday. Only the second linebacker in Texans history to make the NFL's top 100, Brian Cushing, made it one year back in 2012. Other than that, the Texans have now, they've only been doing this since 2011, so.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, the only Texans linebacker. Wait, wait. The only linebacker in NFL history. No, no.

[Sean Kelley]

Did I, Did I say NFL?

[Sean Pendergast]

No, no, no, no. I heard it wrong for sure.

[Sean Kelley]

Yeah, yeah. Second linebacker in Texans history to make the list, Brian Cushing being the other one. D' Amico probably would have made it back in the day, but it didn't exist back then. D' Amico's old, you know.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Sean Kelley]

So.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, so did they start it? They must have.

[Sean Kelley]

2011.

[Sean Pendergast]

Okay.

[Sean Kelley]

2011. Yep.

[Sean Pendergast]

So that was. D' Amico was there in 2011, but he wasn't.

[Sean Kelley]

He was coming off an Achilles like he was. Yeah, he was. He was not a. He is not what he was earlier on. So congrats to Aziz for that. Linda Cone. She retired from ESPN over the weekend after 34 years and over 5,500 sports center episodes. Seth. She is the all time record holder in Sports center episodes, anchored for espn. That's noteworthy. Big pioneer in women's broadcasting, Linda Cohn.

[Sean Pendergast]

How many, how many broadcasts she.

[Sean Kelley]

Over 5,500 episodes of SportsCenter.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, wow.

[Sean Kelley]

She's done through the years. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Here was Linda Cohn on the key to longevity.

[Sean Pendergast]

Probably the key, and this is what

[Seth Payne]

I tell a lot of people, is the fact that even though I was

[Sean Kelley]

on SportsCenter for 34 years, I make

[Sean Pendergast]

believe somebody is watching me for the

[Seth Payne]

very first time and I have to prove to them that I belong and

[Sean Pendergast]

that I earned a seat in this chair.

[Sean Kelley]

She's a really nice lady. We met her at the Super Bowl, I think. The one in New York.

[Sean Pendergast]

It was the one in New York.

[Sean Kelley]

Yeah, yeah, she was. It was interesting because I met her with Rich Lord and Rich is from that part of the country. And Rich noted how her accent was so different just talking in person off air.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, really?

[Sean Kelley]

Than on air.

[Sean Pendergast]

I didn't notice that.

[Sean Kelley]

She's got a heavy, heavy New York accent.

[Sean Pendergast]

And she does. She turns it on and off.

[Sean Kelley]

She turns it on and off. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because that happens in broadcasting. You know, you don't want to be typecast as.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, definitely not with a thick New York accent.

[Sean Kelley]

No, you don't want to. Yeah, you don't. Yeah, you don't want to. You want to be kind of geographically agnostic is what they.

[Sean Pendergast]

I don't. Well, I don't know. A little bit like people, like people appreciate a little bit of a Southern either like a Texas twang or a Southern draw a little bit depending on what format you're in though. Vince McMahon. Not like, not in the news. News. But in sports, I think they like it maybe.

[Sean Kelley]

So acknowledge her.

[Sean Pendergast]

She's not. If you're sitting at a desk, you're right. You got to have that bland kind of neutral, whatever American accent it is.

[Sean Kelley]

Yep. This was DJ Khaled. This he was on with Shannon Sharp. I've been getting, as I've mentioned Seth, I've been getting a lot of these financial videos pushed to me of players and entertainers talking about their finances. And most of them are.

[Seth Payne]

Are.

[Sean Kelley]

Most of them are basketball players telling me how little $100 million is. I like this from, from DJ Khaled.

[Sean Pendergast]

You pay the electric bill, the gas, you. You personally, you don't have. You don't pass that off to nobody. Kelly, I don't believe in no accountant. I don't believe in. What's the thing called money manager. Yeah, all that. That's your business. Khaled have all his. I pay the grass, the car wash man, the guy that's cut my hair, the electric bill, the car note, the mortgage. I have a rule where my bank got to tell me. Even if I tell them I approve it. Don't listen to me.

[Sean Kelley]

No, no, I'm not making. I want you to.

[Sean Pendergast]

I'll give you my banker's number and ask him. I said do not listen to me. And because I get on the email and text, I approve.

[Bucky Brooks]

I do that.

[Sean Pendergast]

But they have to get a verbal. Yeah, yeah, you got to call. You taught me time. Yeah.

[Sean Kelley]

Because it's AIs out there.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. Okay. You got to see me. I don't make nothing up.

[Sean Kelley]

Okay. I like that. AI is the reason why he needs like triple proof that.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. No, he knows he's paranoid. No, especially for I. Athletes are one thing, but for entertainers especially, I mean those guys just get. They. They're in an industry where they. But you got a bunch of right brained individuals who necessarily like you know, are artsy types that man, they are easy prey for people that want to manage their money and make everything easier for them. So like Khaled understands that and Knows that people look at him as easy prey. So he's just like, no, I'm going to know about every dollar that's leaving my bank account.

[Sean Kelley]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

If you don't do that, if you have, like, okay, even if you have somebody that demanded. That pays the bills for you and everything, if you're not keeping track of it every day, somebody will steal from you at some point. It's just, it's a. It's a. It's a slam dunk guarantee that the less pay the. The less attention you pay to it. Somebody's going to steal from you, or at the very least, somebody's gonna screw up and you're gonna lose some money.

[Sean Kelley]

I just can't imagine letting somebody else pay my bills for me. I'd be worried they wouldn't pay them.

[Sean Pendergast]

Like, actually pay the bill at some point, depending on how big you're like, everything you got going on is, I guess, you know. Yeah. Well, because he is at college probably. He's a producer too, right?

[Sean Kelley]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

There's something on the business side, I'm sure, where he's got.

[Sean Kelley]

Oh, yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Working for him.

[Sean Kelley]

Yeah. I guess I should be clear. Like my household bills. Like. Yeah. Like the mortgage and, you know, the lawn guy and all the things. He's talking about Seth Payne. Seth, did you hear that you got acknowledged on First Things first by Nick Wright over the weekend?

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, I saw that.

[Sean Kelley]

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Here is. Here's Nick Wright bringing up Seth Payne on a nationally televised FS1 show. Take number one is courtesy of one of my old radio colleagues in Houston and longtime NFL defensive tackle Seth Payne. You probably coached against Seth Payne a little bit. What do you mean? I think the 2000 aughts is when he was playing. But regardless, it was. He said Tom Brady's mind is Randy Moss's former 40 time and vertical leap.

[Bucky Brooks]

But because we can't see it, people

[Sean Kelley]

are constantly assuming other guys can do it. Yeah, that's a good take right there by you, Seth.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, he's. He's referenced that a couple of times. And I appreciate that he does that because he actually tells. He actually. He went on to explain it a little bit more in a better way than I did when I first said that to him. But it is. It's like it's.

[Sean Kelley]

He cleaned it up.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, well, because, like, what Nick would say, and I think I did. I think what I had said originally was great take. It's easy to see Randy Moss and come up with the reasons why other people can't Be Randy Moss. You know, you're like, all right. If we start with just the physical parameters alone, there's literally a stopwatch that does. With Tom Brady, it's a lot harder for coaches to realize, oh, I can't actually teach quarterbacks to be as smart as Tom Brady because you can't see it.

[Sean Kelley]

It's a good take. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Mangini can go die.

[Sean Kelley]

Mangini did not seem very impressed by the mention of you.

[Sean Pendergast]

No, it is a problem. No, I give Mangin a break. So Mangina. You didn't recognize he was a defensive coach? Like coaching defensive backs back when I, when I was playing? Like, he probably had zero clue who I was. No offense.

[Sean Kelley]

Not a football junkie. Not a football junkie.

[Sean Pendergast]

I wouldn't take offense to it if it was an offensive coach or anything.

[Sean Kelley]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

But. But especially because of Mangini.

[Sean Kelley]

Well, just to balance things out, I'm going to acknowledge myself. I hit my 10,000 song mark on touch tunes last week. Seth.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's a big day. Yeah.

[Sean Kelley]

Ben just fell out of his chair.

[Sean Pendergast]

10,000 songs like the Linda Cohn.

[Sean Kelley]

I am, I am. And I'm not the dj. DJ Khaled would never do this, ever.

[Sean Pendergast]

No.

[Sean Kelley]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Well, you would have been writing checks and they probably don't accept checks.

[Sean Kelley]

They don't? No, they don't. So, yeah, the 10,000 song mark on touchstones. Now, before people get horrified that I've wasted air quotes that much money ensuring that the vibes meet my standards in the bars that I go to, that's over like a six year period.

[Sean Pendergast]

So it's a workout to like a thousand dollars a year.

[Sean Kelley]

Yeah, probably a little. Maybe a little less than that. When you get you factoring all the free credits that you get for, it's

[Sean Pendergast]

a lot less than a country club membership. So there you go. And you spend about the same amount of time in the bar each day as a lot of people spend on the golf course. Probably more. Yeah.

[Sean Kelley]

Yeah. But I just wanted to acknowledge myself. That's how much I care about the vibes.

[Sean Pendergast]

What was the. What was your most played song?

[Sean Kelley]

I thought that's a good question.

[Sean Pendergast]

Doesn't it give you a breakdown of how many times you played each song?

[Sean Kelley]

It does. It gives your favorites. I will open it during the break because we're over. If I had to guess, it would be Great Day to Be Alive by Travis Tritt. Love that song.

[Seth Payne]

Who.

[Sean Kelley]

What else? Don't Stop Believing by Journey. I always got to put that in. You know, it's.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Sean Kelley]

River of Dreams by Billy Joel. The one that's hit lately is Goodbyes by Post Malone. I really like that song.

[Sean Pendergast]

So I got a pretty chubba one by in there.

[Sean Kelley]

It's probably been 10,000 songs. I'm sure it's made an appearance at one time or another. All right, Pain and Pendergast with you here on a Monday. Hope you're having a great day. Hope you had a great weekend. All right, the sleuthing that I am here for, we played that audio of Diana Rossini telling the story of her using a FaceTime with an NFL head coach to get out of a ticket. Florio is sleuthing on this one as to who this could be. We'll go through the names. Rapid Fire, who do we think it Is? And we'll replay the audio so we can reset for those who missed it. We'll do that. Coming up next, Tyler redick here from 2311 Racing. And Bubba Wallace. You know what's the worst part of a race? A rain delay.

[Sean Pendergast]

Sitting around waiting for the track to dry is dull.

[Sean Kelley]

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[Sean Pendergast]

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[Sean Kelley]

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[Sean Pendergast]

No purchase necessary. VGW before prohibited by law.

[Sean Kelley]

21/ Terms and Conditions apply. You're great at protecting your data, but lots of places could still expose you to identity theft.

[Seth Payne]

I thought I was safe.

[Sean Kelley]

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[Seth Payne]

LinkedIn's AI powered job search can help you find the most relevant roles based on your goals and experience. It cannot help you find something to talk about in the elevator. So, ride any dragons this weekend? It can help you find your next job just by describing it in your own words. It cannot stop your co worker from describing their dreams.

[Sean Kelley]

So I was flying, right?

[Seth Payne]

And while we can't help you advance in the Office Foosball tournament, LinkedIn can help you advance in your career. LinkedIn is the network that works for you.

[Sean Pendergast]

Dedication isn't born in the light of day. It's carved in the quiet hours before the world blinks awake. At Boar's Head, we rise with a mission to deliver craftsmanship worthy of your table. A slice of something special folded into every moment. Worth savoring because dedication means delivering only the very best. War's head committed to craft since 1905.

[Seth Payne]

How did you get your website to look like that? Mine's so basic. Thanks. I just used wix Harmony. Sounds fancy. What's that? It's wix's AI website builder. You can just tell it what you want and it builds you a whole site. So it's like vibe coding a website. Exactly, but even better because you can still click and edit anything by hand. You don't have to use prompts for everything. Oh, that's neat. Yeah. Try it for [e-mail] Harmony I have

[Sean Kelley]

pain and Pendergast with you. My favorite text on the text page right now. Listening live today. Pretty cool. I'm guessing that's somebody who's maybe on vacation or something. I don't know.

[Sean Pendergast]

We appreciate somebody who listens a lot on replay.

[Sean Kelley]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

On the app, on the Odyssey app or on YouTube or whatever we love.

[Sean Kelley]

However you're listening, we love you for it. So, yeah, the sleuth thing that I am here for. Okay, so this was Diana Rossini, of course, the former, now former NFL disgraced former writer for the Athletic covering the NFL. We've not really heard much from Rossini publicly other than that long form article in the New York Times where she told the reporter that the text conversation they had should not be part of the story. And it became part of the story. That's all we've heard. But a lot of old Rossini audio and video is coming out. This is. This is audio from an anecdote that was told in that New York Times story. This is from the super bowl back earlier this year where she tells a story about just a couple weeks before this, she got out of a ticket, a traffic ticket, for texting and driving by connecting the cop with his favorite NFL head coach via FaceTime.

[Seth Payne]

I was texting and driving because this coaching cycle is ridiculous and relentless and exhausting and you can't drive two feet to get a cup of coffee without something happening. I'm not going to say the team or the coach, okay? But the police officer pulls up and I said, Listen, Sean McDermott just got fired. I am breaking. I am in the middle of this right now. I know you don't care as a police officer, but I feel like I need to let you know this. And he said well, I'm not a Bills fan. I'm like, oh, you're Jets. So this is good news for you, right? Like, he said, no, and so he names the team. I go, oh, I love that team. I go, do you want to talk to the coach? You should talk to the coach. I facetime the head coach. Head coach is in his office. He's like, what's up? I go, I just got pulled over, and I just wanted to meet my friend Officer Joe. And the head coach played all. All into it, and he's like, how you doing? He's like, you should let her go. She's a good citizen. You know, officer's just like, what is happening right now? Who does that? I. I was desperate. I was. I don't want to get a ticket. My husband's gonna kill me.

[Sean Pendergast]

Right?

[Seth Payne]

Text and draw. I shouldn't be doing that. I know that.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, my God. I am so proud of you.

[Sean Kelley]

Okay, that was on the Stugotz show right there.

[Sean Pendergast]

Can I. Can I just point out. Because I hadn't seen anybody else point this part of it out, like, at the very end there. My husband's gonna kill me. Like, this is like, how many times. How many times can you either just kind of playfully or jokingly say something about your husband, but then when in light of certain other things that you just discover afterwards that just. That sounds way more messed up to me right now. They didn't even. She would even say that when clearly she was the one that was screwing over. Well, allegedly screwing over her husband in this whole. This whole marriage. Trying to paint your husband out. Like, he's like, oh, Diana, what are you doing? Yeah, you're texting in your drive. Cool.

[Sean Kelley]

Taskmaster.

[Sean Pendergast]

Hey, did you. Did you get yourself out of any speeding tickets and. Or commit adultery while you were driving today?

[Sean Kelley]

Yeah, exactly.

[Sean Pendergast]

So see how. How she got out of other driving tickets?

[Sean Kelley]

So Florida. So Florio. Mike Florio. Pro Football Talk has done the Lord's work here, really, of narrowing it down to 21 head coaches that could have been on the other end of that FaceTime call.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. Which is really important that we know, because, like. Like, let's be clear. I just. Before we go down this road, is there. Is there anything that would.

[Seth Payne]

I.

[Sean Pendergast]

Like, we shouldn't feel like the coach that did that was in the wrong at all. Right. Am I, like, am I way out of bounds here? No, no.

[Sean Kelley]

I just think of how I would have handled it.

[Sean Pendergast]

I, like, think, like, if John Mcclain. I've seen John Mcclain call coaches Before. And. And, you know, they'll pick up the phone and he'll ask him a question or whatever, have him talk to somebody.

[Sean Kelley]

Well, what would you expect? Like, the co. Like, I wouldn't expect any coach. I. If I were the coach. If I were the coach that got that phone call, and I had a relationship with Diana Rossini, and I don't mean a relationship like she has with Frable. Like a professional relationship, professional working relationship.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Sean Kelley]

I would think it's pretty funny. Right?

[Sean Pendergast]

And I would do it.

[Sean Kelley]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

I would do it. I'm not worried about whether this is journalistically ethical or not. Like, if I've got nothing but a completely professional relationship with anybody, male, female, flirty, non flirty, you know, playing flirts with me all the time. I don't let that sway me.

[Sean Kelley]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

And I would do it. I would say.

[Sean Kelley]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Hey, what's up?

[Sean Kelley]

Problem with Florio.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Sean Kelley]

Is that by his standard, you would be a party to a bribe. You would be. I'm quoting Mike Florio. There's another angle to this story which wasn't mentioned by the New York Times, in which I'm. Which I'm reluctant to bring up for fear of being dubbed a narcissist.

[Sean Pendergast]

You drive snitching on that cop.

[Sean Kelley]

New Jersey has a very broad bribery law, which Florio puts a hyperlink to over very broad bribery law. It also has a very strict law regarding texting and driving. And he lists what the fines are and the suspension and so forth. Yeah. Assuming this was a first offense, $200 was riding on whether she could persuade the officer to not ticket her for something she apparently admitted to doing. She admitted to doing it. So the New Jersey bribery law doesn't limit its application to situations where money changes hands, Seth. It uses the term benefit as consideration.

[Sean Pendergast]

So did he. Wait, let me guess here. Did he bring up, like, how much, like, a cameo would cost somebody of that?

[Sean Kelley]

It's funny you should say that.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Sean Kelley]

A Time spokesperson said the FaceTime for the no ticket situation is unacceptable conduct. While the chances of Rossini or the offer officer facing bribery charges are slim, those who are following the story will now be even more curious as to which coach took the call and talked the officer out of exercising his discretion to give her a ticket. Yeah. Somewhere in here, he does mention, like. Oh, yeah, Yeah. A police officer getting a chance to talk to the head coach of his favorite NFL team would qualify as a benefit of consideration in exchange for exercise of discretion. Somewhere in here, he does mention, like, boy, how much would you have to pay to do that?

[Sean Pendergast]

Like a cameo or something.

[Sean Kelley]

Yeah, you're just a regular person or

[Sean Pendergast]

an appearance or something.

[Sean Kelley]

So there is a quantifiable.

[Sean Pendergast]

And I knew I was going to. As I was laughing uncontrollably at learning this was his angle on this, I also was realizing, yeah, he's probably got it. Yeah. Like, he's got a case, I suppose. I don't know. Is that any different than. Is that it? Is that any different than her being like, oops, that said, oh, did a couple hundred dollars fall out of my pocket? I'm not saying anything one way or the other.

[Sean Kelley]

A little different. I'm just like, hey, not in the eyes of Florio. She may as well have done that. So, yeah, he narrowed it down to 21 coaches.

[Sean Pendergast]

Okay, you know what this is, right? This is what I would say. Florio's. This is.

[Sean Kelley]

This is.

[Sean Pendergast]

This is where he's going too far on this.

[Sean Kelley]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Okay, cool. He's thinking over the context of. Okay. As a head coach party to a bribe or something. Screw the head coach. Screw Diana Rossini. Flora. You really want this cop to get fired for potentially, you know, accepting a quote, unquote bribe in the form of a phone call? What the hell's wrong with you, man?

[Sean Kelley]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Hoh. Oh, I forgot. It's late June, early July.

[Sean Kelley]

Slow time of year, man. He needs his co Celebra.

[Sean Pendergast]

This is when he. Remember, he usually starts a feud with somebody. He started a few with J.J. watt a few years back. Time of year in July. He'll also. He and Pablo Torre will sometimes have a huge expose and then demand that you care about it. Like. Like they did last year when they said, well, you guys are going to want to hear this. Turns out the NFL colluded. And you say, oh, really? What was the evidence? A ruling that the NFL did not collude.

[Sean Kelley]

Now care.

[Sean Pendergast]

Okay, but what care. Why should I care? Because, yeah, they were accused of collusion.

[Sean Kelley]

Annoying. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

But what happened again, they were found not to collude. But you're missing the point.

[Sean Kelley]

Right, right, right. Yeah, that felt like a lot of empty calories. All right, so there you go. I got to look at these names and pick one out. I'll do it during the break.

[Sean Pendergast]

All right.

[Sean Kelley]

Painting pender gas with the.

[Sean Pendergast]

Okay. The biggest thing about both him and Tony Farmer, where they screwed up. I couldn't believe they did this and actually wrote this down. This is why he's not allowed to pursue his bribery allegations. He's like, well, three of these coaches were on the west coast who are unlikely to have been the office at 6:20am what the hell are you talking. What? Dude, what on earth are you talking about? Two of them.

[Sean Kelley]

Two of them were playing in the NFC title game the next week.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, you know, like. Yeah, yeah, it was a. Well, but the Rams had just gotten back from a game the night before. Like, yeah, that's exactly when coaches sleep in the office and get two hours

[Sean Kelley]

when they get dropped off at the stadium.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, you lazy. No wonder he couldn't make it as a lawyer. He can't work the hours.

[Sean Kelley]

Yep. All right, Pain and Pendergast with you. Into the 8 o' clock hour we go. Okay, we've not hit on Brandon Iuk yet. Is Brandon Iuk going to get a job in the NFL? And if I'm a Washington Commanders fan or. Or player or coach. How are you feeling about this latest salvo? We will get to that coming up next.

[Sean Pendergast]

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[Seth Payne]

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[Sean Kelley]

Lemonade. Oh no.

[Sean Pendergast]

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[Seth Payne]

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[Sean Kelley]

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[Seth Payne]

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[Sean Kelley]

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[Sean Pendergast]

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[Sean Pendergast]

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[Seth Payne]

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