Hello, and welcome back to the week Side Podcast. I'm Jenny Brentis, of course here with Connor Or today. Things are continuing to move forward in the NFL. We have a bunch of padded practices around the league. So it's as good a day as any to discuss a topic that Connor wrote a little bit about last week, the twelve teams that could win this year's Super Bowl. So basically the idea of being there's really only in any given year a dozen or so teams that really could be contenders, which I think is an accurate premise. I think sometimes there's a team that we miss out on and we don't realize that they're going to be as good as they end up being. But I think your list is pretty good, Connor, and it will make for some lively conversation the first go ahead. Yes, just a lot of off to jump, a lot of very upset Buccaneers fans, new new Buccaneers fans who I haven't heard from since they acquired Tom Brady. I do not put them on the list, right, Okay, So I mean there were some notable exclusions the Buccaneers. You said you also considered the Falcons. They did not make the list. Um, some tough decisions to be made in the NFC South and also around the league. So where should we start, Connor, Um, I don't know. Um. I think like everyone was like, this is a numbered list, and I was like, only in the way that like it's numbered, like here are the twelve, Um, you know, but we can start. Um. You know, I will brush through the most obvious one, which is the Kansas City Chiefs because they won the Super Bowl last year, and I think, please break down why the Chiefs could win the Super Bowl. Connor for those of us who may be unfamiliar. Um, but I did want to get your take on this because I was sort of just, um doing a little bit of you know what I do, which is staring at my own belly button and writing about, um, what's on my mind? But um, you know, do you think that this year the pool expands of teams who are good enough to win the Super Bowl because of the craziness of the off season, or does it contract because you know, does it expand because some coaches likely to hit pay dirt on some wild strategy that they came up with for how to get their players ready that nobody else was thinking of, you know, or is it like no, uh, the teams that are already elite are thinking in an elite way, and the and it's going to be a fewer amount of teams that are going to be able to do this. That's a good question. My gut instinct would be to say that it would contract because we aren't going to see on a micro level, I think it will be harder to see individual players take that leap that ultimately results in surprise teams or teams getting a lot better from one year to the next. I think that is going to be harder this year. Not to say that's it's impossible, but I think it will be harder without offseason practices, without a preseason. And then I also think, you know, getting a rookie that can like change the course of a team, you know, start a new era, fill a critical need, whether that's a quarterback or another player like a Nick Bosa for instance. So I think that's a more difficult thing too. So because of those two factors, I do think it'll be um a year in which maybe there aren't as many surprise teams or there isn't as much turbulence. What do you think yeah, I think it could go either way. I think it could be one of those things where like if you, for example, where a team like the Ravens last year, who came up with something that was fundamentally difficult for other teams to stop, and you don't have an offseason to rehearse tackling fundamentals or you know, alignment alignment, assignment technique as they always say, you know, like all that stuff. If you have less time to drill that into everybody's head, you know, maybe a team like that runs away with it because there's just not the infrastructure and the timing and everything like that built in to study these people as deeply and too you know, I don't know, and to and to prepare for that. And maybe there's a team you know, like that, and one of them that I kind of had on my mind in this list. Um that that could come into surprise some people offensively. I don't know, but um, yeah, so let's let's go. You know, number two on the list is the Patriots. And I got a lot of flak for this one, Jenny, But how can you make a list of teams that are gonna win the Super Bowl and not include the New England Patriots. I agree that is the default. I think the criticism here was that you put them a number two. Now you're saying it wasn't so much a ranking as just a list, But if it wasn't so much a ranking, you would have done it alphabetically probably, probably, probably, So there was some inherent ranking here. I'm gonna blame Mitch Goldish, our editor, who's currently on vacation and hopefully isn't listening to the podcast. Um, you know, he probably put the numbers next to these things, um numbers threats again. I mean, you know, if while you and I are both pretty adamant that it's twice as hard for the loser to get back to that game because there's that emotional hill that you have to get over. I think the weirdness of this season, um, the fact that they had, um, they got a lot of help in the draft. Um, they're pretty aligned as an organization. I think that you know, they may be are uniquely equipped to handle this. Possibly. Um so the forty Niners at three in the Saints at four, I think those take care of the teams that everybody is assuming he's going to get there, right. I mean, the Saints. Uh, I have said time and time again probably have the most whole complete roster um in the NFL, which makes you wonder why they haven't won the last four sables. Really well, I will say that putting the Patriots like in the top four, that's a bold move. Connor you think so, I mean I I I tend to see where you're coming from, because it's always been a safer pick to pick the Patriots than not. But there is more uncertain t um, certainly with the quarterback change, also with you know, a lot of high profile players opting out um, So you know, I think there's more more questions than we've seen in two decades. Of course, that is not an overstatement. But I also don't fault you for putting them there. I mean, it's hard to bet against them, and as we've said all along with me, I think we've continuously picked them to be the a f c's favorites despite everything else this offseason. So I don't hate it, but I acknowledge it's controversial. That's a good way to put it. Um Number five, Are you still all in on uh Seahawks for a team of the Pod last year? Before the season? Very high on the Seahawks. Are you are you continuing that high on the Seahawks? I am. So you have the Seahawks at five and the Ravens at six, and I think that either of those could have been in your floor like definite contenders group. That's what I would say. They could a subbed in for, you know, someone. And how how do you feel about them being let's assume that I did rank these and I'm just embarrassed about it. Um, how do you feel about them being ahead of the Ravens? Yeah? I think this is interesting because I think the Ravens, I'm not sure what's going to happen this year. You know, obviously we saw this fantastic season they had last year. Um, that Ravens did something that hasn't been done in the NFL in terms of building this spectacular offense. Um. But they've had those two depressing playoff wins, right, I mean to deflating or excuse me, playoff losses, to deflating playoff losses. And you know, I think that they are a team that, with their coach and with their quarterback, that I could very easily see it not bothering them at all. But that is kind of a wild card, like you don't know how that factors into the calculation. Yeah, I think the Seahawks, I think are going to be closer to the defense that they were. I mean, the Legion of Boom really kind of ceased to exist as we know it, probably in like two thousand, fifteen sixteen, But you get that tail wind and everybody for the next four years. Football fans who are kind of vaguely paying attention still think they're the best defense in the league because that's what happens. But I think they will more closely resemble that defense. I think the additions that they made, the veteran additions that they made, were very smart. They share up positions of need in the secondary, and guys like um, you know guys that they have I think are developing as star cornerbacks. I mean, you know, I think that we all just assume that, like everybody arrived for the Legion of Boom and this thing was created overnight. But I think that, you know, it does take time for these guys to develop, and so I think they are developing a good secondary like what they have, and it's hard to count out. I mean, Russell Wilson in a short offseason like this, I mean, any of the any of the which quarterback relationships that are really kind of streamlined like they have in Seattle, say with you will about Brian Schottenheimer. But at least they're starting from a little bit further ahead than a lot of other teams. Yeah, and I think that factors into kind of how we started the pod with the question that you asked. And I think any team with a stable coach quarterback relationship does have a leg up this year. Fascinating by the way that everybody is saying, we need Russell Wilson to cook more, we need Russell Wilson to play more, pass more. But Seattle Seahawks, I think the last two years have ranked either number one or number two in UH efficiency so yards per play attempted UM. So they're highly efficient offense. But you know how much of that is Russell Wilson. How much better could it be if they let Russell Wilson throw more or is it perfect way it is? I don't know that is a good counter stat connor interesting. Just something to think about, you know, put in your back pocket. Number seven. UM. We the Chargers have in many years been a team of the pot in the past, got a ton of flak for this one. I like the Chargers and I like Tyrod Taylor. I like him starting the whole season. I like him, uh playing like he did in two thousand fifteen, where if you go back um he had two fifteen sixteen seventeen. Is a full time starter in Buffalo, so his d v o A rankings, which take into account opponent defensive strength, situations during games, all that stuff. He started his eighth UM in two thousand fifteen, his first season as a full time starter. That was better than Matt Stafford, Alex Smith, Derek Carr, Matt Ryan, Teddy Bridgewater, Eli Manning, and Aaron Rodgers. And then he was nineteen and two. Uh. Josh Allen was twenty eight last year and the Bill still got to the playoffs with him. And I would argue that I liked the Chargers defense just a little bit more than that. And I think Tyrod Taylor is a better quarterback than Josh Allen is right now. Yeah, I'm with you on all of this, Connor. I think that the Tyrod Taylor move was kind of underplayed because everyone was anticipating what quarterback the Chargers were going to draft in the first round, and I think they made a good selection with Justin Herbert. You saw on Hard Knocks last week how his teammates were responding to him, um, and I think that he will be a good pick for the long term. But I think Tyrod Taylor is the perfect bridge quarterback. It could very easily start all season, and I think he positions them well. You know, I think if they had made that switch at some point last year when Rivers was struggling behind the beat beat up, banged up offensive line, you know, I think they probably could have won a few more games last year. And I agree, I think what they've done to the defense has been really strong. You know, they added Chris Harris, they drafted Kenneth Murray in the first round. I think those are really strong additions, kind of just studying in place around you know, players they have like Joey Bosa and Derwin James. So and I also think this comment came from my mother who watched law Twook's episode of Hard Knocks Now she had similar anxiety as I did. Yes, dr V one of three doctor vs in my family, I am the only one that does not have a PhD. But um so, my mother got a doctor from the School of Hard Knocks, right there, you go. Um but my mom, I've had the similar anxiety to like, oh my gosh, our teams following the protocols. But because of that, she said to me, I really think I like the way the Chargers are handling it. And you know, they were saying, I might not have the answers to everything, but let's do it this way because it's safer, you know, like the coach that had everyone sit four rows back, and it just seemed overall, you know, in the message from Anthony Lynn like this is part of our season essentially, like you have to be as good at following the protocols, like that is key to success. Framing it that way, I think was smart. Um So, I think that's a factor to you know, this is going to be a weird season, as he presented, and if you're going to have success this year, you have to be mindful of that that that is a factor in a team when as much as anything else. Um So, yeah, like the Chargers pick Connor, Yeah, I think too. It's just you know, it's one of those things where they remind me a little bit of the forty Niners and the fact that they were building this great defense and they kept building it and building and building it, and everyone's like, Wow, they're throwing a lot of picks at this thing and it's not really working out. And then all of a sudden one year you're like, holy sh it, this thing. This thing just boiled over and they're the best defense in the league. And I think that that could happen with the Chargers, where all of a sudden we look back and we're like, oh my god, you know this team is really really good. Um, and all the talent is there. I mean, they have the pass rushers, they have, um, you know, they've gotten better at linebacker. You know, They've done all the things that they need to do. I think their secondary is fantastic. They might have the best player in the secondary um in the NFL right now. And so it's it's one of those things where it's like, Okay, how does this all does it finally kind of build up to a peak and then start snowballing downhill and they start crushing people, And I don't know, I think that might happen. Well, your next to are just just some NFC East teams because there's always an FC East team that's kind of on the friend So you have the Eagles followed by the Cowboys. Really don't want to count either of them out, essentially because of their quarterbacks, right in both cases exactly. Yeah, Um, I was encouraged to leave one of them off the list to make it spicier, um by some shadowy forces within Sports Illustrated, you know, but that's not what we do here at the week Side Podcast. This isn't clickbait. You know, we're gonna we're gonna give a t a straight and uh, you know, I think that there's a possibility that I mean, I just like the Eagles because I think that they have a good foundation. You know, they have good foundational players. You always make the point about the strength of that locker room and how good that, how good of a veteran presence that they built in there. Um, and those pillars I think means something in a weird season like this. I think Carson Wentz finally had his moment last year when Nick Foles had really defined this era of Eagles football, and then Carson Wentz is able to back them into the playoffs with no talent on offense and everybody's hurt and he's throwing the ball to Boston Scott and then they somehow come from behind and win that division. I think he's going to be a better player coming into this season. Um, and the Cowboys is just, you know, the roster is so good. I mean, it's just there's so much talent. There's so many blue chip players there, and it's like, Okay, I mean, I'm not nothing that Mike McCarthy has done has made me thrilled. I mean, you know, he doesn't seem thrilled about, you know, learning him having to learn a new offense to call, you know, and how heavy handed is he going to be in that process? I don't know, But I don't know. There's just something about the vibe there that takes away a little bit of confidence. But it's hard to not put a team that talented, at least in in in the equation. Yeah, and they obviously today lost Gerald McCoy to a season ending knee injury, so you know, but that's just, uh, that's interesting in the sense of we were wondering about what these training camp injuries would look like after the lack of a in person off season program, and so McCoy was really the first one that we've seen big name be lost to an injury for the season. Um. Okay, so we've got at number ten, you've got the Packers coming off of an NFC Championship game appearance. Uh, Connor, I noticed that you write Aaron Rodgers has top five players at wide receiver and running back and a mostly excellent offensive line. It sounds like you're building a case that he has a decent supporting cast. What do you know? You know, um, you know, I think that counter to you know, the argument from camp Rogers, and I'm not disagreeing that he should have felt a little slighted by the pick. The quarterback thing was weird. I think we agreed that. I mean, you know, we agreed that the timing probably wasn't there unless they're totally in love with this guy, um that they picked to replace him air quotes around love. Um. Um. But I mean, if you look at all the other things that they did spend resources on, you know, and time and money building, like he's got one of the best offensive lines in football that matters. Um. Davante Adams is one of the five best receivers in football that matters. Um, if you're going by PF grades, he's got one of the five best running backs in football. That is a big deal. You know, a lot of that stuff is huge, and they've done all these little things to kind of get them him, little pieces, you know, the tight end here on the on the veteran free agent market. But like, I just think you know, it would be, it would be. You have to counter it with that argument, right, because you can't just let Aaron Rodgers say you didn't get me what I wanted and therefore we're not going to be a successful team. Yeah, no, I think that's fair. I we stand by our early reaction to the decision to draft a lob, which was a chili pepper spice emoji. But um, but I think, yeah, you make a good point that, like it would be hard for a late round rookie to contribute to meet itly anyway, and um, you know obviously they had a high opinion of love. Um, so yeah, I'm I'm interested to see what happens with the team this year with the rest of the receivers though, Like, especially when you have a quarterback like Aaron Rodgers who likes everything so particular, you know, and and needs everything in a certain way. Wouldn't you rather spend your time trying to elevate the receivers who are already around him and know how he likes to operate versus throwing something into the mix and X and you know, and then right away you're putting pressure on this player to develop quickly, and you know, oh, everybody's just gonna expect that this is Aaron Rodgers is guy now and his target and everything like that. And maybe maybe some of the receivers that were there they didn't like the way that they fit. I don't know. I mean, we don't know. We don't see these evaluation cards. Aaron Rodgers has said that they liked some of these receivers that they brought in, but you know, does it fit what they're going to do in the long term? I don't know. I mean, I think that we're definitely going to see a much different Packers offense three years from now if Mott Lafleur stays there, than what we've seen already right now. Yeah, And receiver is notoriously one of the hardest positions to adjust to in the NFL, especially the gap between some of the college systems now when you might have just a handful of routes you have to know versus all of the things that come into playing it in the NFL and all of the nuances and being able to read and adjust to what your quarterback wants in any given situation. That is a very challenging transition. So, yes, it's it would have been difficult, I think for it will be difficult for receivers to adjust this year and be able to make big contributions for sure. And it's like you said, I mean this is during this is during a pandemic too, And we already knew that the draft happened during a pandemic, right, And so if you're Green Bay, what's your calculus there? It's like, are we going to take time to draft a guy that is going to be ten times harder to integrate into the lineup right away without an off season or do you just kind of punt on that idea this year and make the long term investment. It's like, you know, it kind of makes sense, right if you're thinking about it in that way. You know, Aaron Rodgers probably has two or three more years left. It's like, Okay, we can do that next year and we have the time, we're probably gonna be picking back here again. Anyway, there's going to be the same kind of guy here. Why not just like punt on that and and I don't know, you take the long term investment and you see if it pays off. I don't know. Yeah, maybe there wasn't anyone that they loved. Their man really backed my way into another pun. I meant, I just was legitimately trying to say, maybe there wasn't a receiver they loved. I mean, I think the bigger issue is clearly that they traded up. But that's probably what he's trying to get past, which he's pointed out a few different times, which I get it. I think we could all understand being slighted. But definitely an interesting team for Okay, the Steelers at number eleven. Steelers the owners of the provincial second ugliest accent in America according to the Associated Press. Oh is that right? Do you know who's number one? Chicago, Oh, Boston, number number one in America? Same state, same state, Oh, Scranton, Oh, Philly, Granton. Okay, we we we we we want we finally won something. Okay, this is confusing to me. Is the Scranton accent like that distinct from like other parts of pennsylvani. I mean, I know Philly and Pittsburgh are distinct, but I like, I don't know that I can pay what Scranton is specifically. So I had a long discussion about this over the weekend. Actually, so I'm glad that you asked this question. And I'll start with a story. UM, I was, UM, my family and I, UM were we just got away for the weekend. We're down at the beach, and we're down to the beach near Philadelphia, right, And so the overspill from the Philadelphia area into New Jersey and then you've got sort of northern migration from Delaware County creates this sort of nuclear accent that um, you know, people choose to have, you know, yes, like maybe that's how your grandparents talked um, you know, but for it to still exist now is a choice, right you You want to say words that way because it makes you, you know, feel better that that's my take on this. And so you know, I I heard a lot of people saying COVID, you know, we're afraid of COVID. Bro. You know, a lot of that going on down there, and I was warring against my own Scranton accent, which I think, um again is a choice. And I think that the more the more hate that an accent gets, the more people want to dig in and accentuate its most ridiculous aspects. Right, So, Philadelphia people love to say baggle. They don't say bagel, you know, they say bagel or water or any of that stuff, and they say it and every time now since they know that the accident is under attack, they go harder and harder and harder. And so I think that was really Scranton like embracing the ugliest parts of the accent um, you know, and then really just sort of ringing it out and making it as powerful as possible. Okay, Yeah, I'm surprised to learn that two Pennsylvania accents were one two in the ranking, and I would argue that I don't know how I didn't get that deep into it, but I would guess Philly is pretty darn close to I'm sure Philly's high and Boston have to be high, but there's accents in all parts of the country that are pretty strong, I would say. Plus, the ugliest accent is like it's kind of an unfortunate poll. I mean, we discussed accents on the show a couple of months ago, and we said we didn't realize I had one, which was probably, yeah, a stupid statement, because I'm sure I go anywhere else in the world, as our reader pointed out, and I would have some kind of form of an ugly American accent. I'm sure. Um. I guess our thought was like it didn't specifically identify to a certain region or like stand out as like being obviously from this area was what we had in mind. But like, yeah, like ugliest accident. I mean, I don't know, that's kind of a mean pole. I don't really like it. I think it's mean. I think though it is for a very specific group of people, a much needed wake up call, you know what I mean, you know, because it's just like you're teaching kids that, and then the kids are you know, they go to school, and you know, maybe I'm projecting a little bit here, but like, you know, they're weird things that people in Scranton call certain things. And then you go to college and you try to order eggs a certain way and everybody laughs at you. You know what I mean, Like you just said when you said college there that was a little bit of the Scranton coming through, Like yeah, and you can't as much as you try to beat it down, you know, it's just like you know, I don't know, I'm not saying we all need to sound the same, yeah, because it's it's and it's hard kind of you know. My parents were, um, both of my parents were their grand excuse me, both of my grandparents were immigrants, so I both my parents were children of immigrants, and so they spoke another language at home as well. Um, And so in my mom's case, it was Polish, and she has a hard time saying like is because there isn't a t h sounded Polish. So she grew up speaking both Polish and English. Um, but in English she has a harder time with the thh is because that wasn't a sound that was in Polish. So I mean you could see why, Like there's some ways to get tripped up on on different words. But um, but yeah, okay, interesting granted number one wow distinction. They're just just to be clear because you make a good point, and I don't want to seem like am making fun of of people who grew up with parents who were first generation, you know, in the United States, which is how a lot of these things developed. It's more like like Real Housewives, right, or like Jersey Shore. And you're taking the most extreme version of something that started a certain way, and you're, um, you're bastardizing it for attention. Basically, I understand. I know where you're coming from. Connor. I just want to, you know, make make it, make it clear. I'm not totally understand, all right, So back to Pittsburgh. Um, alright, so a lot of this depends on the health of Ben Roethlisberger's elbow, which people in Pittsburgh seems to be bullish about. It's it's it's a bowl market for Ben Roethlisberger in Pittsburgh, Right, bull means good? I think so bullish because the horns are up and then a bear of pausewipes down right right, right, I think, so we're really I mean, let's just be clear that this is not a finance pod for sure, anyone had any confusion about that. Um, But yeah, I mean, you know, the Ben Roethlisberger hype train is has left the station. It is it is on amtrack. It's going two fifty miles an hour. Across the United States with nothing. It seemed to slow it down. But that's one of those teams too. I think that has a good infrastructure, you know, and the defense is quietly excellent. Like this is not just a good defense. I think this is a top three, like great, potentially really really good defense, you know. And so I think that that's gonna matter this year because defense is going We know this, I mean, we've seen this. Defense is always bad at the beginning of the season, but I think in this case will be much worse. I mean, there's no preseason. Uh, there's probably a less of an incentive to do any live tackling of any kind, you know. I think there's gonna be a lot of rust there, you know. And Uh, Pittsburgh has a lot of veteran players who are just very good across the board, and I think they're just hard to dismiss um as a team that could work its way into that conversation. Well, the tackling issue is interesting. I guess I've been continually saying that, like, defenses are always ahead of offenses because you have to have all eleven players in unison, whereas on defense you can have one person make a really good play. It saves the whole thing. But the tackling is a very good counterpoint. Connor, there's less practice for that this year, and there has been for the last whatever since the last New CB a sign you know, wisely so, but I think that your preseason games, so yeah, and not that four preseason games is going to change anything, but I think that I think it's legitimate to believe that, you know, it's going to take people a little bit longer to get used to game speed this year, um, and less time to solidify what they've learned in practice during the week, right, So yeah, you know, I don't know. So that's why I would just say I like the Steelers. I think that it's a good roster again, another great offensive line and that can go a long way towards helping. So I don't know, all right. And the last team is the Buffalo Bills, which will please some of our Buffalo based listeners. Yeah, we gotta you know here at the week side pot, I mean, we're scrapp for we're scrapping for everything. We found a comfortable niche in the Buffalo market, and uh we plan on playing that up and in a very pandering way. So congratulations Buffalo, we think you can win Super Bowl. But this is this is the same thing I think if is it ridiculous to think that you could get Josh Allen to low end Jimmy Garoppolo level this year? Like is that is that crazy to wonder that? Right? That is the question. But do you also have you know, I don't know, do you have all of the forces that have to make that work? Do you know what I mean? Like, like getting the quarterback to low end Jimmy Garoppolo level is one thing, but then everything around that player has to be working. UM and I think the Bills have the pieces for that to happen. But it does take you know, it does take things kind of going a certain way when you don't necessarily if that's level he's playing at right, then you don't necessarily have the quarterback elevating things. So it takes a lot more pieces and that have to go right. I guess, Yeah, this one was definitely your hundred to one uh wing in a prayer bet. But like we've said before, I mean this is a big offseason for coaches who have been around UM. Sean McDermott just got that extension you know, I think that he's got a good by the way. Ever since we started talking about the scrant accident, I've noticed every time I say, you know, on the pot, that's a big component of that is you know, and that's one of the things that I don't think I'll ever be able to eliminate. For mem Oh see, interesting, I think we both have a you know problem. So maybe I live close enough to Scranton that it kind of it's sort of like up filling over its Sorry about that, Jenny, Wow, I never consider that all right, Um, but yeah, I think that Sean McDermott the infrastructure there, you know, Stephen she said, just did it again, Stephan Diggs. Is it efficient? Not something that I'm you know, completely wild about. But it all, they've gotten better than they were last year. They're a better team than they were last year, and they made the playoffs, and they played tough in a playoff game, and they've got a great, great, great defense. So I don't know, I just think it's hard to it's hard to count them out like a couple of other teams. Like, I'm just hedging my bets by putting them on here because I think it's just difficult to count them out. But I will ask you, I mean, is there one team that you did not see on this list that you thought was particularly jarring or like, I can't believe he left these guys off the Los Angeles ramsh okay, yep, yeah, uh, I don't know. It's just it was one of those things where I just didn't feel it and I had no good It was the same thing for the Buccaneers, where it's hard to write something like this when you're just saying my gut tells me no, because that's not the business that we're in, right. We need to back things up. I mean, Jenny is a scientist, you know, she needs, you know, hard data here, and I can't give you any hard data on why I don't feel it, but I just not feeling it. Connor was it Sean McVeigh talking about shipping too much on the first episode of Hard Knocks, Because if that turned you off, it would be understandable. I think you know that did have something to do with it. Yeah, that might have had something to do with it. Another factor might be the gradient numbers. Hard to see that in the Super Bowl. Yeah, but you liked the gradient numbers I did like it was just the right amount of gradients. Okay, that's right, I'm remembering here that that was my take, not a unich so um okay um. Thinking of other other factors, there's one thing that's interesting to about me to the Rams, about the Rams to me, let's do that. Let's let's take that in English. Um. So, I think that what they what we saw from them last year very heavily resembled what we saw from them during their Super Bowl year, right, And when they lost the Super Bowl, everybody was like, well, Sean McVeigh is the radical offensive brain child. He's going to come up with something different. But we didn't see a whole lot of different, right, And then we saw a bunch of teams playing that six by one whatever the Patriots defense against them, and it was effective. And So until I see something new that falls under this umbrella of a great Sean McVeigh idea, which I'm sure exists, Like I'm not saying it doesn't exist. I'm sure it will, um, But until I see it, it's hard for me to say, Okay, uh, all systems go here, and I'm totally back back brought it on this team. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of new pieces here. They have new coordinators, there's a lot of you know, and maybe that will that could go one of two ways, right, It could infuse some new ideas, you know, maybe make some of the adjustments we wanted them to make last year, you know, or it could be a difficult adjustment. So um, you know, I guess it's hard to know for sure which direction anything will go this season, I think. And we're also having a little bit less of visibility into that because we're not having the preseason games as meaningless as those might be. You know, practices, um, practice viewing is more restricted, so I think it's harder to get a sense of things like that's another thing to Connor like putting together any of these lists this year feels like we have less information than ever. Yeah, and I said before, I mean I can't say I can't gauge complacency. And it's hard enough to gauge complacency when you're covering a team on a day to day basis, but with a team like the Chiefs or the forty niners, if you're not there and then you're just seeing a polished version of everything on zoom it's like you're not really getting a full picture of what's going on, you know. Yeah, did you see? Also, like I noticed that on one of the practice viewing days for the Jets, they were indoors because it was a very rainy and cold Sunday in New York and um, so they had the beat writers in the press room watching on closed circuit TV because they were in the field house and there was no indoor viewing. And I thought, well, that's interesting because you're just getting like one camera angle and like it's difficult to see all the different things. So that's just one example of like how much harder it is to get a feel for the way things are going this year. Kudos to teams though that are at least going that extra mile, you know what I mean to close you know, because we're in the wild West, and I do think that you know, I hate to say this about two fans, but like, you guys are gonna lose out this year because a lot of teams are using this as an advantage to close off access that they've wanted to close off for years anyway, you know. Yeah, but no, I agree, and that's that's a good point. I did not mean in any way that I mean, I think that was a good step by the Jets, and obviously safety is the most important things, so if there is reduced practice view of I mean, heck, we're still skeptical about this whole plan in general. Though as far as training camp goes, it has gone well so far. UM. I think training camp is of course more of an isolated environment than perhaps other parts of the season. UM. But so far things have been on a good track for the NFL. UM, So any extra precautions are a good thing. But but yeah, it's definitely a difficult year to make predictions, predictions and projections for sure. But one thing I do know is that we've got a very special treat for our readers here at the end of this podcast. We've got some fan mail, and boy, did you guys step it up. I mean, holy smokes, the pot pourri that we've gotten in our inbox is absolutely delightful, and I'm very excited that we're gonna be able to read this to you guys right now. Yes, we got some really good fan mail. My favorite part was the fact that people wrote in with recipes. People are really getting behind our idea for a vegetarian to Akaria. And we're hopeful to have worldwide guests because one of the people who wrote in, Paul from Australia sent some really good recipes Mexican candily being salad with lime uh being case ideas with corn salsa, chickpea tika masala recipe for meat free Monday. I mean that might be a good you know, change up, like different fusion tacos, you know, cuisines coming together, same with kim chi udon with scallions. You know, you could really do confusion tacos here connor if we wanted to our side dishes. So a lot of directions we can go. But Paul also had an interesting premise. So for the mail bag, says Paul, I have always wondered a why a team wouldn't continuously move up the draft board by trading future picks. Every year they get more so they are a renewable resource, right, It is not like a bank that would come to collect. You could just continuously mortgage the following year's assets and then do the same next year. Let me know what you think. So I think this is a really interesting premise, Paul, especially because the present is what matters the most. You know, if you're a coach whose job is on the line general manager, the present is what is always. You're judged by what you're doing now, and you might not have future years. UM. So I think it's smart from that perspective. One thing I would say is future picks are not valued as highly as current picks, perhaps for that reason, so you may ultimately lose out in the absolute value of what you're getting. And I think Connor, you have some done some reading in this vein. Yeah, I get to talk for a story that I did last year to Richard Taylor, who, if anybody is interested, UM is a good follow on Twitter. He's a Nobel Prize winner, and he and um Cade Massey from the University of Pennsylvania, who teaches behavioral decision making. They wrote that seminal paper in two thousand thirteen on UM on draft picks and why teams should never trade up UM and where why the actual most value comes in the later rounds and and at the time, I mean, it really did blow away a lot of people's understanding about maybe not Bill Belichick, UM, but a lot of other people's understanding about it. He famously UM delivered his findings to UM Daniel Snyder, and then Daniel Snyder traded traded everything to go get Robert Griffin the third, which you know again you know, shows you how well that worked. But um, in their study, UM, it was interesting that Richard Daylor said, you know, some of their guys did get placed into teams after this. You know, some of their workers did get into stuff. And one of them that was working in a team's draft department said, it is like taking candy from a baby. And people do not realize that A you should always be accumulating next year's picks because it's half price. You know, there's the premium on the now. Um, there's the premium on I need to get better immediately. There's the premium on we need to win this year's draft. And so you're paying double to move up and you're getting twice as much to move back, basically as how it works. And so you know there are UM, I forget the analogy when he told me it was like a financial analogy, and then I laughed and said, yeah, totally, but I didn't understand it. It It was like, yeah, it was like you know, being like a bear market. Yeah, he's like, yeah, it's like, you know, if you're a mortgage broker and you're trading U corn futures, And I was like, yeah, absolutely, you know, like that's the totally it's a joke that I understand. So um but yeah, so that that would be the um the motivation behind that. However, uh, Paul, if you're playing Matt all syste that's are off you always trade next year's picks for the current year's picks because you know, there's no behavioral economics and Madden. So that would be my advice, but a very thought provoking premise. I really did like that question. Yeah, I thought that was a really good question, and I would not like I think there was probably some of that this year with the uncertainty during the pandemic. If there's something if you're a team that is just starting your assent or your build, I think that there's a component of that that goes into it versus um. You know, if you're Seattle, you're a team that always is like, we'll screw up, we're picking thirty so it doesn't matter anyway, or you know some of these other teams that have a different calculus. But if you're a team like maybe the forty niners were two years ago, where you just gave your coach a six year contract. You might view that longer runway and behave accordingly like something like that. Yeah, I think there are definitely different circumstances depending on your situation, but definitely a thought provoking premise. So we appreciate that and the recipes. Paul Um. All right, onto the second note we received. Should I go ahead? Connor, do you have it up? I have I have it? Yeah? This is from caden right, yes, all right, caden Um. Okay, it's from Buenos Aires. Oh wow, all right, let me tell you about charred alliums. And sorry about the pronunciation if that's not how you pronounce it. Um, they're delicious. You take a bunch of scallions, maybe some ramps a leak, hell yeah, a leak, but cut it into two quarters lengthwise. Throw these scallions into a bowl, and dig around and your cupboard for some of that quality of olive oil, the stuff your brother in law got you, the ostensibly fancy olive oil that you're not sure what to do with. Give your alliums a nice glug of that good, good olive oil. Tost them around, you know, oil them up, Take the alliums and toss them on the grill at medium heat. Go back inside and grab a beer. You know what, better yet, have your beer available and a cooler outside. Relax a little bit. Returned to the girl sometime later, and baby, you've got alliums. Sprinkle them with some of that fancy salt with an accent mark in the name, and eat them with your hands or this is advanced stuff year. Uh, blitz those babies in a food processor, and you've got charred alley of sauce which is delicious on tacos, your skirt, steak or anything else. Wow. I mean, I think that this chart allium is a revelation, but I think the sauce particularly will be excellent for our talk area called roots. I feel like that could really set us apart. And I think we're gonna have Cayden to thank for this. Hayden, you are an all star. Uh. That is is great, um, and so onto the football question says anyway, Hello from Buenos Seria's big fans of both of you. I've been reading work since you cover the Jets. Thank you, Cayden. Uh, that's very appreciative. Uh, the weak side pot is great and I really love that you two are the rare type of NFLO reporters that are able to conceive of the players as human beings pretty quite crazy. Thank you. That was That's very nice to hear that. That was very nice feedback. And the reading recommendation, Yeah, as requested in one of the last pods I have been reading, I have a reading recommendation in Veins of Latin America by EDWARDO. Galliano. It tells the story of colonial extraction of Latin America from the hundreds until the seventies. Is written absolutely beautifully and does a great job telling a history that's often left aside. In the State's Best, Caden, amazing email, like, holy fantastic three paragraphs. We would call this a media email, as our former editor would say, which is high praise, Like the media was the highest praise. Like there was just chock full of information that was insightful and just lots of great nuggets. So we appreciate this, Caden. I wish I could write like Caden. By the way, just like the recipe, he's like funny, Uh, he's he's he hits all the notes. You know. It was really building the suspense for the Alam sauce, like really like setting that up for the big reveal at the end that you could actually make this into a sauce as well. That would be good for tacos um. All right, we will end on our final question, which is true to us pandering to our Buffalo audience. We have Chase repeat, uh, corresponder, what's the right word? Connor under the pod? A friend of the pod. Chase is a friend of the pod, Chases from the Buffalo area. So he has a question about the Bills. With the Bills getting a lot of attention surrounding their defense, and much of the attention surrounding their offense is focused on their receiving core, why do you think there isn't much talk about their running back core? It seems to be their best kept secret almost. I think that's a great question, Chase, and I would say that the reason why we haven't heard a lot about their running back core, um, especially since everyone's very enthused with with what they did in the drafts in that regard to is that it's a difficult time. So if you follow the channel of hype, right, this is how hype works in the preseason, at least according to me, it's that we're at practice and we will see a lot of what is drawn your attention is drawn to. In practice at this time are one on one drills between receivers and defensive backs, so there's a lot of eye grabbing plays made. Um. There is one on one drills between offensive lineman and defensive lineman. And then there are those um uh like those lightly uh three quarters speed walk throughs where somebody is that we don't understand the three quarter speed, and some defensive lineman is like pulling a rudy and ripping through everybody and getting to the quarterback every time because he wants to be on the roster really badly. That happened one year with the Giants, Like I can't remember that guy's name. Um, But so that's where the hype starts. I think it's hard to get excited about a running back because we're not seeing a lot of between the tackles running. We're not seeing a lot of breaking of tackles, a lot of you know, some open field agility, um, but not as much as say like if he if he's not returning kicks or anything like that. So it's hard. I think to to kind of create the ground swell of organic hype because what they do best is not what is showcased at this point of the year. I would say, yeah, I think that's a smart analysis. But as far as the duo, I think they're one that has a lot of potential this year. I mean, the first thing about the running back tandem they have is they're both third round picks. So that was smart roster building by the Bills getting guys in the third round. And Singletary had a great season last year and I think expectations are are pretty high for him this year. And then they add Zack Moss in the third round this year, and so I think that's a pretty good tandem. Um, So I think there's you know, definitely that that could be a really you know, I feel like they're one of the duos in the league that has the most potential, But I think that's still somewhat unknown how it will work out, right. I think every time you're expecting players to make a big leap, there's some amount of projection there. But uh, but I agree. I mean, I think that's an important part of their roster, and I think it's a good thing to highlight. You're right, I mean it is less talked about because I think all the focus really is on both the defense because that's McDermott's thing. And then also does Josh Allen take this step forward this year also Chase has added a suggestion about a good sparkling water called Sparkling Ice. They have an excellent watermelons strawberry. Oh you do. I've never seen it before. This is rare. I feel like I'm well versed on the sparkling water varieties, but this is a brand that I'm not familiar with. Sparkling Ice, I'm not mistaken. Um is in like those very tall like the taller thinner bottles. Oh, interesting, very good um refreshing ice, cold beverage. You know, all right, I'll have to keep an eye out for it. Seltzer is definitely my thing. I picked up some high Hibiscus lacroix over the weekend and that was a big, big weekend for me. You've got some dragon fruit from Wegmans. Oh, I've had that one. Those are really good. It's it's like a little sweet, but like in a way that didn't bother me. It wasn't cloying. It was not no UM, So that's been sort of a drink of the summer for us along with UM. I will give our listeners one. So I'm I'm sort of like, I'm like not drinking right now. UM. And uh, you know, Athletic Brewing Company is a craft brewery that makes craft brewery quality beer without alcohol in it. And it's unbelievable, like you cannot tell the difference. And uh, you know, you can have one in the afternoon if it's getting a little you know rough, you know, and you're just having a tough go at it and you're not hammered and you can still you know, do whatever you want to do later, you know. So that's a good refreshing, non alcoholic beverage I would recommend to anybody want to try. You know. Another one that I had is Trader Joe Sparkling Watermelon Juice. Now I actually have to convince I got it last year and was sitting um in my stack of saltzer and things. But it's still good, so I don't know if they currently still sell it, but also a good thing that makes it up, like in addition to the watermelon saltzer, this was like sparkling watermelon juice, which was also good and I imagine it'd be good in cocktails if you're into cocktails. Yeah. Well, this was a diverse show, covered a lot of topics covered hopefully got everyone through a drive home. You know, I hope, so, I hope so um Well, good stuff, Connor as always, and I mean from you, not me. I didn't mean that, and like I did well today, I meant good stuff with your article gave us some good topic of conversation today. I just wanted to clear that up. It's the week side, definitely not the strong side, so I have to make sure to we maintain humility here. So we will see everybody later this week. The m MQUB week Side podcast is Me, Jenny Rerentis and Connor Or. We are produced by Shelby Royson Sizes. Executive producer of podcasts is Scott Brody, Ben Eagles, Director of Editorial Projects and product Mark Murray because emeritus Executive Director of the mm QB. Keep up with our entire lineup of podcasts five days a week by subscribing to the m m QB NFL Podcasts for free on Apple Podcasts. And while you're there, please do us a favorite, leave a rating and review. It really does help other people find a show, which is also available on Spotify, Radio dot Com, Stitcher, s i dot com, and wherever else to listen to podcasts,