Diana Rossini (2:49)

Like, he can do anyone.

James Palmer (2:50)

He'll always go. The other day, I was in the car and we called Peter and it was like, hey, Peter. And he does, like. Then he does Peter King to Peter King. Have you ever been in the car with Silver when he does Peter King to Peter. To Peter.

Diana Rossini (3:02)

I have not.

James Palmer (3:02)

Yes, Michael. It's a Wednesday. Scoop City. Presented by ebay. James Palmer with you. We have a big quarterback change in New York. What's next for Jackson Dart and Russell Wilson? Don't forget to like and subscribe. Please. Like and subscribe for Diana's sake. For my sake, that is. Diana Rossini, senior NFL insider for the Athletic. How are you, friend?

Diana Rossini (3:28)

I'm so good. I can't believe we're already at the end of September here. Or at least getting close to it. I've got my wedding anniversary on Friday, so been trying to think of something nice to. To do. The big five.

James Palmer (3:44)

Big five.

Diana Rossini (3:45)

Big five.

James Palmer (3:46)

This is a video.

Diana Rossini (3:47)

13:14. What are you at?

James Palmer (3:49)

I don't even want to say it.

Diana Rossini (3:51)

Is it more than that?

James Palmer (3:52)

We're at 16, Diane. We're at 16. I got married at 11. Yeah.

Diana Rossini (3:57)

Oh, my God. I was gonna say, like, is that legal? What do you guys do out there in Colorado?

James Palmer (4:03)

I don't know. I don't know. We had a lot of fun.

Diana Rossini (4:06)

What do you give for five? Is it like paper?

James Palmer (4:09)

Yeah. You're supposed to follow those rules.

Diana Rossini (4:11)

No.

James Palmer (4:12)

I wonder what 5 is. Any of them. I didn't do anything. I'm happy if I get a card. I know I got a Phillies cake when we got married, and that was everything to me. That was just. It came out a little Phillies hat. All my boys sang High Hopes. It was.

Diana Rossini (4:26)

Thank you for the idea. There we go. Done. See, this is why this relationship works so well, because it's essentially, I'm married to you. I'm married to Kevin. It's all the same thing. You like the same things.

James Palmer (4:37)

We do like the same things. Let's get some tickets to the bank and see these boys play in the.

Diana Rossini (4:42)

Post season right now going, yes, yes, yes.

James Palmer (4:46)

Let's go. It's the best place in postseason baseball. I love it. Listen, coming up on the show, we have Ravens and Chiefs Somebody coming out of that game is going to start the season. Diana. One and three that is. But Rutled Jackson Dart. We're going to break him down top to bottom. What we're going to expect with him going against the Chargers and also jaden Daniels, Terry McLaurin, what have we got going on with some injuries in Washington, that's a big deal. All right. So Diana, what are we hearing? What are we hearing right now? You been working the phones right up to the start of this show about what's happening with Jackson Dart. On Monday we saw Brian Dabel come out very non committal actually comments almost identical to when he. When he benched Daniel Jones a year ago. So everybody's going, I think this is coming. And then he pulls the trigger. It is now Jackson Dart. How did we get here?

Diana Rossini (5:33)

Well, first of all, I want to say that we nailed the headline. Remember when we did this we said what is the headline going to be? Lights, camera, Jackson. I think we actually said that and it was in the Post. So shout out to the New York Post listening to us and stealing our headline ideas. Look, I think we knew this was coming. I don't think anyone is considered to be some expert at football. If they called this.

James Palmer (5:59)

Chase has been saying that though. He's been kind of talking like he's an expert at.

Diana Rossini (6:03)

You're actually right. It's. It pains me to give that man any of his flowers but. But he is so good at calling this stuff out. He did it all of last season. He's doing it now. Once again it. This is why teams have asked Chase to be a coach on, on staffs because he just. He can see it. He gets it. He knows when the quarterbacks have it. He lives in the same neighborhood as Russell Wilson and had said they need to bench the guy. He sees them at pickup and his wife and he still did not care. He was like they need to play Jackson Dart. So the Jackson Dart era begins. And I do think it's a little wonky because Brian Dable wasn't as clear as I think a lot of people expected him to be in his press conference. Not as energetic about making the switch. It didn't sound the way an organization sounds when they think they're making the right move. That doesn't mean he doesn't believe it. Let's listen. Tell me what you hear.

James Palmer (7:03)

I want to see it. I met both with Russ yesterday and.

Dan Pompeii (7:08)

Jackson privately and Russ was nothing but.

James Palmer (7:12)

A pro, which I would expect him to be. It's my decision. Going with Jackson, we're going to get him ready to play this week and the remainder of the season. He's going to do everything he can. Russ will be the backup. The conversations that I've had with these young men will be private. The details will be private. All I can tell you is we're going with Jackson and we're getting ready to play. So I'm not going to add too much to it. Those are private conversations. It's my decision, and we're going with Jackson.

Diana Rossini (7:42)

You think Brian drove into work on 208 Route 17 and practiced that in the mirror of, like, how am I going to reveal this? Because I'm gonna get asked. I've always thought that, like, they had to go through that in their head.

James Palmer (7:54)

Yeah.

Diana Rossini (7:54)

Especially in New York when, I mean, there were. I saw a picture of the press surrounding him. I mean, there had to be 15 to 20 cameras on him because it's such a big story. Everyone's been waiting for this. But how did he sound to you?

James Palmer (8:09)

I don't know what to say, really. It's interesting because also the conversation that ends up happening. And Diana, you and I know this is. The PR head of PR comes up, and we'll talk to you in the morning. All right. How do we. I think we should go about it like this. I think we need to be, you know, very transparent or we need to come out of the gate hot or whatever way the public relations department wants to kind of present it. My opinion, honestly, would be like, I would want to come out of the gate firing. It's time. It's time for a new era. Jackson Dart has checked every single box that we have put in front of him. He's exceeded our expectations, and it's now time. It's time for Jackson Dart. And say it with some gusto. Like, I don't know if this is just reading his face. And again, this is me speculating. Is. Is he. He said he made the decision. Right. Himself. Is he worried that maybe Jackson's not ready? Did he not want to make this call this quickly? He was with Josh Allen. Where was it? Tyrod's injury allowed him to hit the field maybe sooner than they wanted him to. And he knew some of the things that him and Josh Allen went through there. I don't know. It just. I was looking for a little more excitement, and I know Chase probably was, too.

Diana Rossini (9:23)

Yeah. I think you can also make an argument that you don't want to set these expectations, and you also don't want to be disrespectful to Russell. Right. He. He's been in the NFL for a long time. I do think a lot of his presence, even with the Giants organization, has been nothing but positive, despite the fact that we saw some awful play and some bad decision making. Yes, but they've. They've enjoyed their time with Russell and they've liked him and appreciated him.

James Palmer (9:49)

Can't you do both these things at the same time? Can't you do both these things at the same time?

Diana Rossini (9:54)

When you're up there, be excited about Jackson, but be respectful to Russell. Yeah, I'm sure you can. Look, I'm sure behind the closed doors, Brian is gassing up Jackson Dart. And they're both fiery personalities. They have a good. They both have the same sense of humor from what I can gather. Like, they can kind of play around with each other. Dable's a big face. Timer could see that. Poor guy. Promised to wake up to Brian Dable's face on his phone in the mornings, getting him ready for this start.

James Palmer (10:25)

Wake up.

Diana Rossini (10:26)

Like, I don't know if I'm going. Like, like, I'm keeping this as level as possible. I'm keeping him as level as possible and just preparing him for the most simple type of offense that we could possibly put together. Knowing that this is. We're on a journey together here. And it's going to be a long season. The schedule's not great. The Chargers defense is going to probably confuse you a lot. They move around a lot. They show you a lot of different things, and they're gonna. They're gonna feast on a rookie quarterback. I just think that that's how that is gonna go.

James Palmer (10:59)

Okay. I'm gonna get into my Brian Dable here and be Dave's. And I'm gonna say, more or less, this isn't the preseason. These defenses, this isn't the preseason, bro. Like, you might have had some success in the preseason. This is Jesse Minter. You need to. Before the snap, every play. Where is Derwin James? You need to find that man. You need have. You need to have some other checks. You need to trust that Andrew Thomas is going to protect your backside. And I'm glad he's there because we're going to design everything to the right and we're going to run RPOs and we're going to run rate options. Don't be afraid to use your athleticism. We have been dreadful on third down in the red zone. We need to focus and thrive there. But again, we're not going to overcomplicate it. And we're going to try to set you up. Best to succeed. But you are going to live at this facility this week. That's what I would say if I was Brian Dable.

Diana Rossini (12:00)

And you're going to, you're going to drive around. When you do have to drive with Malik Neighbors, like, you're literally just going to breathe the same air as him.

James Palmer (12:07)

Shotgun, bro. We're going for slushies. Yeah.

Diana Rossini (12:11)

Because I do wonder how much this changes the dynamic of the locker room. Malik neighbors said two reporters after their loss to Kansas City. We can't win is very much Adrian Balboa, Rocky iv yelling from the top of the stairs. You can't win. You know, it had that same like, oh, boy. Like, yeah. If you're saying that in week three, you don't believe in your quarterback, you don't believe in maybe even your head coach. And maybe this had something to do with the change as well. Can Jackson dart give this offense some juice, some hope, some belief? Because what we've seen so far in September is not working. Now, the second part of this, and it's a long season. I have a feeling we're to go back to this conversation. How is Russell Wilson going to be as a backup? James. Right. He's done it before. Are you writing a post it so I don't forget to bring this up, like first week in November.

James Palmer (13:15)

Yeah. I'm putting a post.

Diana Rossini (13:16)

When we see Jameis Winston all of a sudden is the backup.

James Palmer (13:19)

Yeah.

Diana Rossini (13:19)

Like, and this isn't a knock on Russ. It's just he's been a starter his whole life. He's the guy. What is he going to be like? And everything up until now has been fantastic from what I hear. But I do think it, it changes when you're, when you're not that guy. What does he bring to the organization? What does he bring to that room if, if it's going to be the Jackson show?

James Palmer (13:40)

That's something to monitor. Because my understanding has always been you brought in, and remember Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston before you knew you were going to get Jackson Dart in the draft. You could have been head over heels with him, Diana. You could have wanted him more than anything in the world. You don't know if you're going to get that player in the draft. You just don't know. Right. So you, you, you needed to prepare yourself with, I don't know, warm bodies in the quarterback room when you didn't get Stafford and you didn't get Aaron Rodgers. So you. I find it interesting with the contract structure and where it's at, I fully expect Jameis to be the backup in 2026 to Jackson Dart. And I think there's certain qualities that you need to have to be a backup quarterback. I think that's why some guys get this second career and later in their careers as a backup and some don't. I think we had a long conversation with Jordan Rodriguez on this show about backup quarterbacks and the mentality you have to have and the way you have to go about your business. We'll see if that can be Russia.

Diana Rossini (14:36)

And Jameis gets it. James gets it more than any of them from the last few seasons especially. And just even how he carries himself and how he guesses you up so well. But look, I've had. I've had other teams make this point to me. And look, I think Shane Bowen is trying his best there, but this defense is not good for. For the talent that they have. This is the moment where they step up. Right. Like, you know how many DCs would be drooling over what this front looks like from a talent side. Right. And we don't know all the minutia. We don't know all the things that are going inside. It just hasn't looked great the way it should have, the way it should be. So I'm interested to see if maybe the Jackson stuff on the offensive side of the ball gets the other side of the ball stepping up and we see a different version of the Giants.

James Palmer (15:26)

Yeah.

Diana Rossini (15:27)

Like I. This is just the space right now. It's just like a bunch of a bottle of hope. And it's a lot to ask on a 22 year old.

James Palmer (15:34)

Yeah. Well, so oftentimes you get that spark and it's sustaining it for the rest of the season. Is the thing that's a little more difficult than that initial spark sometimes you.

Diana Rossini (15:43)

Get with the monster putting your fantastic brain that has good recall. Although I will say Mike Silver probably has a better one slightly. His recall's wild.

James Palmer (15:52)

I was in.

Diana Rossini (15:56)

It's really good. Can you just tell one quick. Just give me one line. One Mike Silver line. Go.

James Palmer (16:02)

So me and Peter are with Al Davis, right? We're with Al and it's the three of us.

Diana Rossini (16:12)

It's so good. The part I love about this is he is the best impersonator of anyone in my life. And he just leaves me audio messages.

James Palmer (16:22)

He's the best.

Diana Rossini (16:23)

Like, he can do anyone.

James Palmer (16:24)

He'll always go. The other day I was in the car and we called Peter and it was like hey, Peter. And he does like that. He does Peter King. To Peter King. Have you ever been in the car with Silver when he does Peter King To Peter. To Peter.

Diana Rossini (16:36)

I have, yes, Michael. I have been in some heated conversations in my home with my husband and I will have a voicemail. Excuse me. An audio message from Silver sitting there. And you know when you, like, you have to, like, read the situation because I'm like, all right, we're fighting, Kevin. I are fighting right now. He doesn't want to hear a voice message from Silver telling me there is nothing that can diffuse a fight in my house than a Mike Silver Peter King impression. Like, the second it plays, we start laughing. It actually is helping my marriage. Just do a Peter King. So listen, for those listening, we'll get him on the show to do it and you'll do it as Peter King. Oh, yeah, yeah. And you'll go, oh, my God, this is so good. So look, I think to just put a bow on the Giants story with Jackson d'. Or. We've had these conversations about organizations a million times in September and October, and they never end well. And they never end well in New York. I hope it does for their sake. I hope Jackson darts the future. I just think this is always going to go back to what we saw in the off season when John Mayer had to make that decision and that there was a very good chance that they were going to move on from Brian Dable and Joe Shane and they decided to stick with them. And they, they are now living with that. And so we'll see who will come out out of this.

James Palmer (17:59)

Yep. But the minute you make the right pick at the quarterback spot, all is for given. And the opinions on this, on this quarterback are all over the map. They were in the draft process and they were, as you know, for Bo Nicks and they were for other quarterbacks. We'll see what ended up happening with Jackson Dart. All right, speaking of young quarterbacks, Jaden Daniels, are we going to see him, Diana, or is he going to miss two weeks? Where are we at? I know it's Wednesday, it's the middle of the week, but also we're going to get to Terry McCo because that is a, a scary Terry situation right now with the quad.

Diana Rossini (18:29)

Yeah, this isn't great to be talking about Washington at the end of September here. And we're talking about Gene and Daniels on the field today in a limited capacity. Dan Quinn saying he's. He's doing everything he can. We talked about the knee situation a week ago when he missed practice last week and it was a little bit of buildup. Right. We thought maybe he'd be out there Friday. There was some competitiveness there. I think you and I both knew that the, the chances were very, very slim. And, and of course they were. And he didn't play. And the good news coming out of that was that it wasn't an mcl. So that means that he's able to move left and right. Like it was explained to me that that's the ligament that, that you move horizontally. So that that's good. But, and again, but this is great news that it's not something where he's going to need surgery or even something microscopic. The fact that he is not playing though here on a Wednesday is not a good sign to me. Now look, they're playing the Atlanta Falcons. Marcus Mariota, if he were to get the start, obviously he spent some time there in Atlanta. He did a great job last week against his former college coach Chip Kelly and a decent readers defense. I know they have a firm belief that Marcus can do this. So look, it's going to come down to weighing the option of look, if he's not, if he's not 100%, they may just put him on ice here for one more week.

James Palmer (19:53)

I get it. Who says this sentence very often, Diana? That Atlanta pass rush is no joke. Said nobody over the last 20 years. But they've been revamped and I get it a little bit. I also think we've seen them run the ball a little bit better when they haven't had to rely on him. This young backfield. I think they've got a little high hopes for it. I think Deebo's kind of increased his role, it seems like. So I think there's some things you're looking at and all of that and with the skill guys around him. That's why we bring up Terry McClaurin as well. You hate to see these type of things specifically when you miss that much time of training camp. But I always look at when you got a lot of opinions, you're trying to get what are you trying to solve or you're trying to get the right person to tell you what you want to hear. What's happening with his quad?

Diana Rossini (20:38)

It's so true. It's like it may not even be the right diagnosis. But just tell me the quad is okay.

James Palmer (20:45)

Yeah, tell me what I want to hear.

Diana Rossini (20:46)

Look, he hasn't missed a game since Week 16 of the 2020 season. And going back to those negotiations, one of their Points.

James Palmer (20:54)

Great point.

Diana Rossini (20:55)

Right. Was he's healthy and he has started 17 of the last games. Excuse me. 72 of the last games. 7. Two of the last games as a Washington commander. Right. So he has a clean bill of health usually. So the. The quad thing definitely is a red flag here because this just doesn't happen. And of course, this is what the commanders were worried about. When you're on the other side of 30 of them, how do you keep your health? And. And look, you're right. You make a good point of when you're getting multiple opinions is because you just want to figure out if maybe it. It isn't as serious as maybe one person has described it.

James Palmer (21:33)

Yeah.

Diana Rossini (21:34)

Right. So we'll keep an eye on this. This may be another scenario, though, where they play it safe against the Atlanta Falcons and think that maybe they can squeeze by this without Terry. Obviously, Marcus Mariota wants him out there, but if he's not 100%, it's. It's. It's not worth making that push.

James Palmer (21:50)

I get it. He is a. Did not participate on Wednesday, so we'll see what ends up. What ends up happening with scary Terry. All right. What also is scary is when you're a Super bowl contender, Diana, and you start the season one and two, and then you're facing another super bowl contender in week four who's also one and two. So one of these two teams in the AFC that has legitimate super bowl aspirations, the Ravens and the Chiefs, will start the season at 1 3. Only one team since 1990, out of 252 teams that has started 1 and 3, has won the Super Bowl. Our good buddy Jeremy will tell you it's the Patriots, and he's very excited about that. But it's rare air. Who are you more concerned about, the Ravens or the Chiefs heading into this game?

Diana Rossini (22:36)

So this goes against what I normally say on this show, but I was thinking about it a little bit more. It is the Chiefs.

James Palmer (22:43)

Okay, first of all, hold on. Let me put. Let me just call Jason and just make sure he can hear everything you're saying right now.

Diana Rossini (22:48)

Oh, I'm sure he will call.

James Palmer (22:50)

Go ahead.

Diana Rossini (22:51)

Do you know, sometimes Chase just calls me, goes. So what are you hearing? What do you got? What do you got? I'm like, I. I'm not your personal insider. Like, I'm not here to just give you all the scoop, dude. What do you got?

James Palmer (23:02)

Yeah, what do you got, bro? You got. It's give and take, by the way. It's not a take take.

Diana Rossini (23:05)

He actually does Always have a lot of stuff. I'll give him that. I'll give it a chase. Shout out, chase. We love you.

James Palmer (23:10)

He's not gonna like this segment. Go ahead.

Diana Rossini (23:12)

Ravens. Look, they, they lost to two really good teams in Buffalo and Detroit. The Chiefs, they lost the super bowl champs, Eagles and the red hot Chargers, who were definitely going to see in the postseason and look completely different from a charger team that we saw just a few years ago that weren't very scary. Now they're rolling. Then you look at their schedules for October, right? Jags, lines, readers, commanders. For the Ravens, the Chiefs got the Texans, the Rams, the Bears, the dol. Kind of equal schedules there. Like me, it gets better for them, right? So that's good. But for me, it's the Chiefs only because we keep putting everything on Rashi Rice and Xavier Worthy coming back. Everyone there keeps saying the same thing. Just chill. Our September is an extension of our preseason. We do not panic. We all, we know what we look like when everyone's healthy and when everyone's done with their suspensions. Not laughing at it. Just, that's just the reality when they get their guys back. But I just think that's putting a lot of a lot on them, right where when we've already seen them put a lot on Patrick. And I think it's been pretty decided that when you're a one man show in the NFL, you don't win, you can't do it. We've seen Patrick be will call it magical.

James Palmer (24:29)

Oh yeah.

Diana Rossini (24:30)

But usually Travis Kelsey's part of that, right? And Travis is not the same that he, it's not the same juice he usually brings. So my concern is these two receivers returning better be able to step up to help for also an offensive line like Trey Smith who hasn't been that great like it needs to improve. So my bigger concern is there. I am a little worried about the, the, about the Ravens defense. But I'll let you take them if that's what you think you're concerned about.

James Palmer (24:59)

Well, I, I agree with you. I think there is more concern if you lose this game if you're the Chiefs.

Diana Rossini (25:05)

Okay.

James Palmer (25:06)

Because of a couple things. The first one that jumps out at me is exactly what you mentioned about with the Chargers. I think the divisions are very different now. It used to be the cakewalk for the Chiefs in the Patrick Mahomes era. Now you have the Chargers at 3. 0 in the Division 3. 0 overall. You have the Broncos who have lost on a last second field goal now twice. So we know they're a very good team and they always play the Chiefs very tough and the Raiders are no pushover either. That's the division the Chiefs have. The Ravens have a Joe Burrow less Cincinnati Bengals team. They have a quarterback ish less team in the Browns in their division. I don't want to be mean. I love Joe Flacco, but by the way, that's a good team but doesn't really have a quarterback like the Browns are like. But I just look at the quarterbacks that I'm facing in my division and then you look at a Steelers team who were still kind of curious what Aaron Rodgers is going to be like for the season with the Steelers defense. That has not been historically what we've seen dating back to the end of last season into this year. So I just think of like in a division we always talk about being so difficult. I think there's an easier path to win their division for the Ravens than there is for the Chiefs starting one and three. I also think the Ravens are having no problem scoring points. They're number one in the NFL in scoring. Like you're right. The problem is they've given up more points than anybody else in football. But look at the offenses that they gave up those points to. Is that going to continue? They haven't stopped the run. I'm not sure the Chiefs run the ball that well. So like I just think the Ravens are in probably a better spot. I think the Chiefs, when they get fully healthy are going to be a different team. They don't have an identity as an offense tie in. I think their identity is Rashi Rice and I think, I think they're waiting for that and it's like, how can we hold on to this as long as possible? Can Patrick get us something and figured this out. I wanted to throw this out to you though. My, my Twitter or my, my ex has been exploding over the last 24 hours with people resurfacing these old Frank Clark interviews I used to do. Do you remember me and Frank Clark, like after afc?

Diana Rossini (27:13)

Do you remember those interviews?

James Palmer (27:14)

Going like bananas. Millions of view. They're crazy.

Diana Rossini (27:17)

I don't know what you say to him, but I remember seeing those like, what?

James Palmer (27:21)

They were so awesome. I know he loved me for some reason. I love that he liked me so much. But he always found me on the field with my NFL Network microphone and he would go bananas in front of me. But the reason I brought this up is like these old videos from when he played there in these championship games are getting retweeted like crazy. And you know what all the comments are?

Diana Rossini (27:42)

What?

James Palmer (27:42)

We need players like this back on our team. We need dogs like this back on our team. We need guys that will do anything to win back on our team. One of them said, now we're, look at this. This is when I love the Chiefs. Now we're a bunch Swifties. Like, these are the comments that are coming on old videos that are three, four years old. Like Chiefs fans, it's fascinating that they think this team is, like, soft. It seems like that's the consensus on these, on these retweets. What do you think?

Diana Rossini (28:09)

I think it's because so much of the Chiefs that we discuss has nothing to do with football right now because they have their tight end getting married to the biggest star on the planet. And, you know, a quarterback whose life outside of football is, Gets a lot of attention on social media. And they did have a very quiet camp. Right. They went, they went down there, they did their thing, and it just, I don't know, we just didn't talk about them like we normally do. They're not, you know, we know that they're coming off the super bowl loss, but it was just like, well, they didn't look very good in the Super Bowl. They're probably not going to be that great, but they do have Patrick, and everyone's just kind of like, nah on that. And, and I get why fans feel that way, but I don't necessarily believe that's reflective of what this team is really like. You've spent tons of time around these guys. I have to. They're monsters and they're competitive.

James Palmer (29:04)

The defense is playing fine. Essentially.

Diana Rossini (29:07)

Patrick, Travis and Chris Jones are part of that team. It's never going to let its foot off the gas. Like they, that's just not their makeup. They're, they're, they're too committed to winning, and they, they want it too badly. Despite what maybe you think is a distraction. And, and distractions even. Not even. That's probably not in the right word. I just think for the Ravens, they lost that bite on the inside. You know, James, you know what I was thinking, too? Remember last year, Dean Pease came in as, like, that advisor.

James Palmer (29:34)

Yeah.

Diana Rossini (29:34)

To the Ravens defense. And then they got good. And then this year they have Chuck Pagano, and I, I, I'm curious if maybe there's some conversations going on there. I'm not saying Dean Peas is the reason, but look, it's James Pace.

James Palmer (29:48)

Like, they lost some girth in the middle of that defensive line. I Mean, yeah, they, you know, they're just. They're trying to find their way. You can run on them. I think they're built to play specific teams a little bit.

Diana Rossini (29:58)

And do you notice Lamar's mouthpiece? Have you noticed that he wears the color of the team he's playing?

James Palmer (30:04)

Yeah. And it's like spun and it's weird. I don't know. But look at you. Color game of colors. Real quick before we. We're gonna take a break and we're gonna have Dan Pompeii on us. With us on the show here. Did you see Caleb Williams getting four touchdown passes and free hot dogs galore in downtown Chicago? Did you see this? Show me like, oh, just hot dogs galore downtown. This is the wiener circle right here. The line at the wiener circle is very long thanks to one.

Diana Rossini (30:36)

So they just gave out free hot dogs for every touch. Like, how does that.

James Palmer (30:39)

Free hot dogs, I think as they threw four touchdowns, so they got free dogs out there. How do you like your hot dog?

Diana Rossini (30:47)

Little sauerkraut, little mustard. Okay, that's it. You.

James Palmer (30:51)

Oh, I like a Chicago dog, by.

Diana Rossini (30:54)

The way, which is.

James Palmer (30:55)

It's got the pickles on it, it's got the pepper on it, it's got the tomatoes on it. It's quite hot. Down with that. But also I'll take some caramelized onions and mustard. We'll dance with that too. I'm down. That always works.

Diana Rossini (31:06)

Hot dog, underrated snack. We eat them on the beach a lot.

James Palmer (31:11)

Oh, really?

Diana Rossini (31:12)

Good beach snack. Yeah. There's down the shore in Jersey. There's a lot of hot dog stands at the top of the beaches. Smart, right?

James Palmer (31:19)

There's not a lot of us around the country that know what down the shore means. We got Dan Pompeii Coming up next on scoop city, presented by ebay. A couple east coasters right here. You saw that play when your quarterback dropped back, looked off the safety and threw a dime deep for the go ahead touchdown. Well, that's not just hall worthy, that's wall worthy. And you can own a piece of it when you shop. The unrivaled selection of trading cards and memorabilia on ebay. The home of collectibles since 1995. Huddle up with the 132 million users around the world to find that rookie autograph you can't find anywhere else. Premium trading cards, singles and sealed boxes. Unreal. Live card card breaks. Truly unique game use memorabilia. All the epic finds you need are right here on ebay. Plus, with the ebay authenticity guarantee for trading cards. You know, what you buy is the real deal. Collect with confidence by downloading the ebay app on the app store or by going straight to eBay.com TheAthletic that's right, your collection journey kicks off right here, right now at ebay. Come through and collect with us today. AI is transforming customer service. It's real and it works. And with fin, we've built the number one AI agent for customer service. We're seeing lots of cases where it's solving up to 90% of real queries for real businesses. This includes the real world. Complex stuff like issuing a refund or canceling an order. And we also see it when fin goes up against competitors. It's top of all the performance benchmarks, top of the G2 leaderboard. And if you're not happy, we'll refund you up to a million dollars, which I think says it all. Check it out for yourself at fin.

Diana Rossini (33:03)

AI hi, it's Matt here from P1.

James Palmer (33:05)

With Matt and Tommy, and this episode is sponsored by ebay.

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Diana Rossini (34:03)

So there are some writers that I've been following for a really long time. And it's kind of like when you have a favorite show and the next episode's coming up and, you know, you, you know, you look forward to it all day. That's how I feel about Dan's articles. When I see, see on the app, like Dan wrote something, it's like, yes, get a hot cup of coffee and I'm going to sit on my couch and I'm going to rip through some of the great stuff that Dan does with all the incredible access you get, Dan. So I'm so excited for you to join Scoop City here today.

Dan Pompeii (34:29)

Very kind of You, Dan. I'm a big admirer of yours and James and I'm really happy to be talking with you.

James Palmer (34:36)

This is great mutual admiration society. I like this. We want to start off, Dan, with this article that we got a chance to read before it comes out on the Athletic tomorrow. I believe it will be about John Abraham, one of the best pass rushers this league's ever seen. And I think you and I were talking before this a little bit. Oftentimes we don't get a chance to glean into the, the personal lives and the humans and the people that we're cheering for on Sundays. And this has been, this is an unbelievable piece that you've written about John's life and the time that you've spent with him. Just kind of tell everybody kind of how you, how did you come up with wanting to tell a story about John and getting a chance to spend some time with him? And if there's one aspect of that conversation and what you're got out of the piece is what?

Dan Pompeii (35:19)

Well, you know, it started I had a conversation with Charles Tillman. We were at the funeral for Virginia McCaskey and he does a podcast and he was telling me about his podcast and some of the different people he's interviewed. And I said, well, who's been some of the most interesting people you've talked to? And he said, john Abraham. And I said, really? What's so interesting about John Abraham? And he started to tell me about his life and what happened to him, especially after football. Now he was heck of a football player. I think he kind of gets lost a little bit because he never played on really great teams. He changed teams going from the jets to the Falcons to the Cardinals at the end and really wasn't, you know, in a high profile stream like a lot of pass rushers are, but ended up 13th all time in sacks. I think he's third all time in forced fumble. So had a hell of a career. I think was five time Pro bowl player. So had a heck of a career. And then after his career he ended up with a lot of issues, a lot of them from concussions, some from alcohol. And he really was in a bad way, you know, was suicidal, mental health. And he's finally started to find himself after bottoming out. And it's an incredible journey that he's been on and is still on. And I think people will really enjoy learning about everything he's been through.

Diana Rossini (36:48)

You do a lot of stories on people and you're able to get them to open up to you so well. And I'm always learning something new about whether it's an athlete, a coach, a general manager, anyone that you spend time with. For some reason, you always find something that no one else knows. What is it that you've learned through this process? When you're meeting with these people that have shared a lot of their lives, but then you're able to tap in. What's. What skill set do you think you have that's getting them so comfortable?

Dan Pompeii (37:18)

Well, I don't know if I have anything special, but I appreciate you saying that. I think it's just basically curiosity and doggedness and being able to really spend time with someone and understand them and listen. I think a lot of times, myself included, listening is hard.

James Palmer (37:40)

Right.

Dan Pompeii (37:40)

Because when someone starts talking or maybe they're going into a direction that we aren't interested in, we might talk over them or interrupt them. And I find that, you know, if you just keep listening sometimes, or maybe if you gently direct or guide the conversation, you end up with something that you had no idea was there. And, you know, it's. I think. I think it's about investing time, both before a meeting with someone during and then after. You just have to be completely invested.

James Palmer (38:17)

This is like a journalism class for us. Diana. I'm writing things down.

Diana Rossini (38:23)

Talking. Diana.

James Palmer (38:27)

We're all always trying to get better and always trying to grow. And I think before we move on. That was one of my favorite parts personally, of this piece, is what John has done of late with therapy and helping his mental health and the different avenues he's taken to try to better himself now. And I think we so often write people off and the effort is still there from John, what he's trying to do. And I thought that was a really. That kind of touched me in that part of what he's trying to do. Everybody go read the piece. It's outstanding. But we do have to talk some football as well, and some guys that are still playing, and that's the Chicago Bears and you still have a play place there in Chicago. It's a big part of your heart. It's a big part of you. What did you see from Caleb Williams in this offense against. Against Dallas that now makes you interested to see what against the Raiders this week?

Dan Pompeii (39:14)

Well, I think it was his best game as a pro and his most encouraging game. And the best part of it from his standpoint was he had a command, I think, of the offense. Really the first time we've seen him have a command of the offense. And, you know, that came through, I think at the line of scrimmage, the way, you know, there were no false starts, the plays got in quickly after the snap. He had a command. He knew what he was doing with the ball for the most part, and, you know, really paid off. Obviously, he was voted player of the week. Now, I think he had a lot of things going for him in that game. You know, he had really good play design and play calling from Ben Johnson. He had protection like he's never had in the NFL. He wasn't sacked. He was playing against a compromised defense, you know, that was injured and obviously still probably reeling from the departure of Micah. So, you know, a lot of things defensive, his defense helped him too. I mean, they came up with takeaways. Everything went right. So I think the challenge for Caleb is going to be two things. First, what's he going to do when everything doesn't go right? Because that's what he struggled with in the past and that's what, you know, every great quarterback has to overcome his circumstances. And the other thing is, can he do this consistently? Can he be consistent? I'm not saying necessarily throwing four touchdowns. I'm just saying in his processes, in his command, in his. In his being comfortable with the offense and everything that's being asked of him, you know, that's. Without that, a quarterback doesn't stand a chance.

Diana Rossini (40:54)

Yeah. And I think so much has been made of what this marriage would be between him and the head coach just. Just because we saw so much great offense and play calling from Ben Johnson. The question of can he make that transition, which I think we challenge a lot of head coaches that come from coordinator roles of can you do it? Can you be the CEO of this team? And it's still only a month. But just from your experience and your eye, what do you make of Ben from where he's at now here at the end of September?

Dan Pompeii (41:27)

Well, it's a great question, and I think it's a question we always ask of every coordinator that is promoted. A lot of times I think we see coordinators who are promoted who they kind of peter principle out. That next level is too big for them. And it's really difficult to judge whether or not a coordinator has the capacity to become a head coach because it's a completely different job. They say, you know, the biggest step a coach ever makes is from the front row of the meeting room to being in front of the room. And Ben Johnson, I think, really, I mean, he's been very, very impressive to me. I think beyond my Expectations and I had high expectations for him, knowing a little bit of how he operated, knowing him from his time in Detroit. And I think he really has shown exceptional leadership, command of the whole team. Messaging has been really on point expectations of players and then you go into obviously the things that you kind of knew about the game management and the play calling, play design, all those things. So yeah, he's shown a lot of potential. I think he's going to be a really good head coach.

James Palmer (42:38)

Yeah, I love that you said that, Dan, about the messaging and about what you want to instill in your group. Because to me, when you talk to these guys that have, I don't want to say failed, you get fired for a variety of reasons. But guys that have been a first time head coach and then they end up getting shown the door. You talk to these guys and they tell you like it was hard when I saw some things go bad to stick with what I really wanted to stick with. Right. Certain things like, you know, the motion and all this stuff he wants, he wants Caleb to do. You, you have to have a lot of confidence in yourself to go, no, we're going to stick with it even if it's not bad and not bail on it, stay with it. And I think Ben has those characteristics to stick to what he believes is best and oftentimes that's hard when things aren't going exactly the way you want. Early on. I want to say a small nugget about the Raiders in this because I heard this from somebody yesterday talking to people and I wanted to let you two hear it and maybe have a thought on it. Ashton Genty, obviously everybody's talking about him and what he was done and how, where he's been picked. Not having an outside threat has kind of impacted a little bit, I'm told, of where he's running the football. That offensive line obviously hasn't played extremely well. Nobody's really in in Vegas thinking he's underachieving. But it's an interesting dynamic when I'm told your best receiving aspect of your offense is a tight end who also plays somewhat closer to the hashes in the middle of the field, which kind of clogs everything up when your offensive line is even struggling for your star running back you took at the top of the draft. I thought that was kind of interesting nugget. I wanted to throw it in there. You're sitting in Tampa right now, Dan. Like I like this is a monster one coming up. I mean we got 2, 3 and O teams with the Bucks and the Eagles, are you looking for somebody just to lay down as a speed bump in front of the tush push? Like, what do we. What is our eye on here when these two offenses that are doing it very differently square off on Sunday?

Diana Rossini (44:23)

Philly, so boring, right?

James Palmer (44:24)

They're so boring. Drew Brees hates them.

Diana Rossini (44:27)

It's just washing paint dry, that kind of offense.

James Palmer (44:30)

3 and 2 ever. It's brutal. Winning 19 of 20 is just disgusting, apparently.

Dan Pompeii (44:36)

I think it's going to be really interesting to see how the Bucks can protect Baker and how they can run the ball against that front especially. You know, there's a possibility that Tristan Wurfs returns, but still, they're going to be without at least two starting offensive linemen, maybe three if Worfs isn't ready. And then, you know, how are they going to rearrange their offensive line if. Even if Worfs returns, you know, are they going to put him at left tackle and move Graham Barton back? Are they going to put Worfs maybe back to right tackle, the position you previously played, Leave Barton at left tackle because he's been playing pretty well there. And, you know, they've got a guy, a backup guard or a guard, and Ben Bradison, who's played okay at center. So, you know, do they try to get, like, the weakest link out of the line, or they. Do they just move Worfs back to the position that he's in? Either way, it's going to be a monumental challenge to go against, you know, one of the best defensive fronts in football. And, you know, without that, the Bucks are going to have a hard time.

Diana Rossini (45:43)

The. The Baker Mayfield conversation. I. I think there's so many layers to it, right? You have, like, the big overlaying storyline of the revival of the quarterback that was kind of thrown away. Look at us. Like, we're watching Cleveland now. Like, you know what would be great in Cleveland? Baker.

James Palmer (46:03)

If they would have had a number one pick a bunch of years ago.

Diana Rossini (46:06)

Definitely. And, you know, obviously we're seeing Daniel Jones now, and I just. That story just never gets old to me. I just love watching. I think we all do, right? Just seeing, like, there was talent there and they just needed the right coaches around them. And you're seeing Baker thrive and letting loose and having fun, but I don't know a lot of quarterbacks. And, Dan, I'm curious just from. From your experience of getting to know so many of these guys. Baker's petty in a way. I like. Like, it's not petty where I'm like, annoyed by it. I, I admire it because he, it's like he holds a grudge and doesn't forget. He likes. It's like he has like a. Oh, what was that from Mean Girls? It was like a book of just like all the things, like the meme.

James Palmer (46:48)

You knew. Dan was a big Mean Girls fan.

Diana Rossini (46:51)

Dan led with that. So Dan just. Does Baker remind you of any player that you've covered over the years or do you know, does. Is there anyone that stands out to you that always just had a little bit of chip bottom, like, and maybe that was kind of the secret sauce to making them so good at what they did?

Dan Pompeii (47:09)

Well, yeah, I think the competitiveness clearly is a part of who he is and what makes him great. Right. And that's what you're talking about, that, you know, pettiness or whatever. Yeah, there's a lot of players like that. I think sometimes they kind of keep that quiet, that part of them quiet, because they don't want to expose it. But I think, you know, it's part of the mentality you see a lot of times with players who are drafted lately. Amon Ross, St. Brown, for instance, keeps the list of all the receivers who were picked ahead of him. I think I always think about the undrafted free agent mentality of guys. Sometimes you see guys make it all the way to the Pro Football hall of Fame who no one thought was good enough to play in the NFL. Why is that? Well, it might not always be because they were the most talented, you know, center or, or safety or why, you know what it is? It's because they wanted it more. They worked harder. You know, they had this motivation, this like superhuman motivation. Baker has got that. And I think, I think without a doubt he's better because of everything he's been through. He's better because, you know, he failed or whatever you want to say in Cleveland and he got cut in Carolina. You know, I mean, those things were good for him. And now he gets in a situation in Tampa where he's got good coaches and really great wide receivers and he's had a good offensive line when they're healthy. And they should even have a good running game too with Bucky Irving, you know, so he's got everything going for him and he's got everything he learned. He's got experience and, you know, he's, he's just at a level that he's never been at. He is. And the other thing about Baker, and I think this was probably innate with him. He is a high level leader I don't know if there's a better quarterback leader, in my opinion in the NFL than this guy. He just gets guys to follow him and on his bandwagon and you know, that's. I think some of that is, like I said, just who he is, you know, maybe his upbringing, his eq and then some of it is the way he works and the way he treats people. And, you know, that's one of the big reasons why he's having so much success.

James Palmer (49:33)

I love it. Yeah, I remember having that conversation with Jason Light, Dan, when it's like you moved from Brady and now we're going to be embedded with, with Baker and we love what Baker's brought to the locker room. It's like, wow, you really love the change from Tom Brady running the room to Baker. This is fascinating. And they have and they've embraced it and it's. And it's great. I can't wait to watch the end of this one, you two. By the way, which the way the Bucks have been able to close out games has been unbelievable. And Diana, you were bringing up a great point on Monday about how the Eagles have really found a way to just win in any spot, almost find a way to win. So the way this thing ends will be outstanding. Make sure you check out Dan's article on John Abraham. It's outstanding. It's really, really good. Make sure you check it out on the Athletic. Dan, we love that we had you here. Appreciate you joining us so much on Scoop City. This will not be the last time I'm making a declaration right now. All right, producers, listen. Yes, thank you so much. Coming up on Scoop City, presented by ebay, we have Jacob Robinson telling us which 03 team should we be looking into and why. Diana, we'll answer that question next. You saw that play when your quarterback dropped back, looked off the safety and threw a dime deep for the go ahead touchdown. Well, that's not just hall worthy, that's wall worthy and you can own a piece of it. When you shot the unrivaled selection of trading cards and memorabilia on ebay, the home of collectibles since 1995. Huddle up with 132 million users around the world to find that rookie autograph you can't find anywhere else. Premium trading cards, singles and sealed boxes. Unreal Live card breaks. Truly unique game use memorabilia. All the epic finds you need are right here on ebay. Plus with the ebay authenticity guarantee for trading cards, you know what you buy is the real deal. Collect with confidence by downloading the ebay app on the App Store or by going straight to eBay.com TheAthletic that's right, your collection journey kicks off right here, right now@ebay.com theathletic come through and collect with us today.

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James Palmer (52:58)

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Jacob Robinson (53:44)

Hey Diana and James, it's Jacob back from the Scoop City newsletter. I want to talk about the six winless teams. More specifically, one of the six winless teams, the Houston Texans entered the offseason with an obvious need along their offensive line and credit to GM Nick Casario. He traded Laramie Tunsall, their stalework left tackle who had an up and down season to avoid future cap considerations and get a plethora of picks from the Commanders. Smart move it seemed they reshuffled the line. The problem is though, they brought in a group of retread offensive linemen and then added a rookie left tackle in the second round. The rookie left tackle is playing like a rookie left tackle and the rest of their line is playing like the free agents they were last offseason. Can this get better? I'm a little skeptical. You see, Houston's gone from one of the easier schedules in 2024 to one of the more difficult schedules this season. No, only two other teams saw their schedule get more difficult between the past two years and upcoming they've got matchups against the Ravens, the Chiefs, the Bills and Chargers. All difficult games. There's probably only two or three gimme games left on the Texans schedule. Now I want to turn it over to you guys since I think Houston is the best of the own three teams, but I don't expect them to make the playoffs unless we see a season like 2018 when Houston became the first 03 team in years to start winless after three weeks and still make the playoffs finishing 11.

James Palmer (55:09)

5.

Jacob Robinson (55:09)

I think their division, particularly the Colts and Jaguars, are too good to let that happen this year. Now I'm going to turn it to you guys, Diana and James. Which of the own three teams do you think has the worst record at the end of the 2025 season and walks into next year's draft with the first overall pick?

Diana Rossini (55:27)

Those Canadians are tough.

James Palmer (55:29)

I love his black and white photos. I'll just say that the background also artsy.

Diana Rossini (55:35)

Yeah, I know. He always looks so nice and rested and then it's then the camera comes back to us and we're just like but look he, he, he was fair right? And I think if you you heard him lay out his reasoning for Houston, you're shaking your head going he's right. And I think I'll just add to to some of that argument. Let's say I want to give some Houston fans some hope here. I do think there's a lot of new there right? You have a new OC he mentioned all the new players on the offensive side of the ball. Yes. If you're on defense, you're frustrated about what this offense is not doing. They're not doing much for them. But they are the opposite of the Bucks right now. They. They're losing on these final plays of the season while the Bucks are winning. So maybe start things start their way as the season goes on. But. But it's. It's obviously not an easy schedule that they're facing, but I'm not as panicked about Houston as I am about the team that we'll get into here.

James Palmer (56:35)

Okay. I like that. Yeah, I think. I think there are some, Some. Some hiccups going on with Nick Cali and C.J. stroud in that offense a little bit. They have high hopes for him. And I think if you ask around the league, Diana. Right. There are a lot of high hopes for. For Nick as a play caller and this advanced offensive coordinator role for him. And I do think people think he'll be good at it. It's just. It's taken a minute right now, and they can't run the ball. And then when you see them pull a lever like C.J. gardner, Johnson and releasing him, you're going, what is happening in Houston? This isn't what we thought this was going to be. Out of the gate. Like, it's who. Okay, what's your. I want to hear.

Diana Rossini (57:09)

What I do like about that, though, is they're not afraid to make a move. Right.

James Palmer (57:13)

Like, I think Cassera is a really good general manager.

Diana Rossini (57:17)

He doesn't seem to operate with a lot of emotion. And I mean, as a compliment, like, it's just. It's very cut and dry. They're willing to take the hit. You know, we've talked about this on the show before. James of like, especially during trades and signings and so many organizations worry about winning it. I never get that sense in Houston. I don't feel like they're trying to win every trade and every signing. They're just trying to win games.

James Palmer (57:40)

They look to build it. Like, that's. And build it the right way. That's always been their goal. Like, okay, we're going to trade Laramie Tunsil because, yes, he's good, but we're never going to give him this third contract. We know he's talented. It might make a step back for our offensive line, but culturally, and what we want to build up front in front of CJ Long term is more important. Let's get the draft picks and start that process like that's the way Nick thinks. Okay. What is, what is this 03 team that you're, that you want to discuss here?

Diana Rossini (58:03)

Well, it's called coming full circle here on this show. I actually think it's the New York Giants. Okay. And my reason for concern why I think they're going to be the worst team in the why I have a lot of trepidation about their future Here now sitting at 03 is we'll start with the simple fact of what their schedule looks like. Right. They've got the Chargers, the Saints, the Eagles, the Broncos, the Eagles again, the Niners the next six games. Four of their opponents are undefeated right now. Okay. So they're all in the winning category. Let's just start with, with what any person could find on paper. But then the second layer to this is I'm expecting this to be up and down with Jackson Dart like I, I don't think he's going to come out of the gate here and save the New York Giants franchise, save Brian Dable's job that I, I, I think it's a really tall task to ask for a young rookie as talented and as much as he's impressed. So I, I just think the, the hope is there for New York with the change. I just don't know if they can come through on it.

James Palmer (59:09)

Yeah, that's a lot of the young kids shoulders and I'll stick with that theme. Diana, I'm going to the Tennessee Titans and I mentioned levers that you can pull and I think I talked to you about that earlier in the show about Brian Daboll going to his rookie quarterback. Brian Callahan goes this week and announces that he is no longer going to be the play caller, that he's going to hand that over to their quarterback coach Bo Hardigree. So like.

Diana Rossini (59:37)

Why not to the oc.

James Palmer (59:38)

So my understanding is this, that he had experience working with a young quarterback in Aiden O' Connell when he got this, this opportunity when Josh McDaniels got fired back in Vegas and so he went through it with the young quarterback. They liked that, that kind of matchup between the two of them together. I don't know. This is just me putting this together. I don't know. I didn't spoke to anybody about this particular topic but I remember, you know, Dave Zigler, who's now one of the lieutenants for Mike Morganzi in Tennessee was there for all that. So he knows Bo, he probably knows what that situation was. I'm not saying he had a, had a hand in it. But maybe he did.

Diana Rossini (60:13)

I know. But when in doubt, though, James, connect the dots. It's never that hard. And it's always after the fact where you go, oh, like that's why you know.

James Palmer (60:23)

Exactly.

Diana Rossini (60:24)

Because it is such a relationship business. So that does make a lot of sense. And the Titans, look, you just. Let's just take a step back and go, you know, the last few years with them, whether it, you know, starting with the firing of John Robinson after the A.G. brown trade, which I think will go down in history as being the worst trade, one of the worst trades that we will see.

James Palmer (60:45)

John, sorry.

Diana Rossini (60:46)

Right. And they move on from John Robinson after A.J. brown lights them up at the link they get. They move on. Then they decide to bring in Ran Carth on despite the fact that their head coach at the time, Mike Vrabel, didn't win. Think grand was ready. They. They force it on him. And then they decide, we don't want just a CEO type coach. We want an offensive guru because we've got Will Levis. We want to develop and we want to grow. We don't want this, this type of personality in Tennessee anymore. So then they go to Brian Callahan, who didn't necessarily call plays or not necessarily, he did not call, please, in Cincinnati. And so now they take the play calling away from the coach that they hired him for because of what he brought to the offense. So it's just a lot of contradicting because I don't necessarily know if they, they know what they want now. That's the bad. The good is, I hear great things about Mike Brigance there and what they have in place and what their plan is for the future. And I know that's hard to think about if you're a Titans fan because you're like, well, where is it right now? We've got Kim Ward. It doesn't look good on the field. We've got horrendous game management happening, which that's always something too. Like as I'm watching Brian Callahan struggle in some of these situations, take the.

James Palmer (62:05)

Play calling away and hopefully you can.

Diana Rossini (62:07)

Yeah, maybe that challenge.

James Palmer (62:08)

They had a challenge issue with Eric Iron Manor catch. I believe they mismanaged things at the end of the half against Denver.

Diana Rossini (62:14)

They weren't about fit, not fitting, but it's all, it's. It's got to be painful for ownership when they fired the group that was so good at that. And I'm not. That group was not perfect either. But when it came to strength, that, yeah, that was such a, you know, they don't make those mistakes. They're not making them in New England either right now that they need to hold on the ball in the five yard line. But that's another issue. It's just, I think for Tennessee, there's, it's not Cam Ward. Cam Ward is, is the guy. Right. Calvin really needs to make some catches. Their defense is tough, so it's there. I just think they, they're going to need the right leadership and what they do next. If Brian Callahan were to move on after this year, I think is going to be an interesting thing. Is going back to the connectors that James just pointed to. Who does Borgonzi, Noel, who does, you know, Dave, know who, who are the people that they're going to be comfortable with? Matt Nagy was a guy who got an opportunity with the New York jets last year as a potential hedge coach. Right. Because there was a thought that maybe Briganzi would get their job. There's all these little backstories that you listening and watching probably don't care about and, but we'll get there. We got plenty of time to discuss it. But it's, it's, it's, it's all going to be interesting to watch.

James Palmer (63:27)

You're right. Because I, I don't know what if people do know this? When you're a candidate like Mike has been the last several years, you oftentimes try to position yourself with a head coach that you're paired with and talk to other candidates that are potential head coaching candidates on who you would get along. So there's a lot of dialogue that happened over the years for Mike Borgonzi with head coaching candidates where he didn't land a job. So he knows a good plethora. My understanding is, Diana, you're spot on, is that they are evaluating everything there. And I think there's even parts of that roster where Mike Borgonzi and his group were like, we didn't bring these guys in. Are these part of the core? We want to build future around our quarterback. And, and the other part real quick is just, man, you hate to see change for young quarterbacks. I know sometimes it's for the better, but maybe Cam Moore can hit up Caleb Williams if something ends up going sideways and talk to him about handling multiple play callers. All right, that was, I think, a packed show. Diana, we appreciate Dan Pompeii joining us. He was awesome. Make sure you check out his article on the Athletic on John Abraham. This was a wonderful episode, I believe, as I continue to congratulate ourselves Scoop City on a Wednesday presented by Ebay. Dinah, pat yourself on the back. Whoa.

Diana Rossini (64:39)

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James Palmer (65:34)

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Diana Rossini (66:04)

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