Very special guest Andy Benoit joins Gary to break down the NFC West. Among the topics: What makes the Niners' run game go, what Seattle's defense will look like with Jamal Adams, the Rams' star-studded but troublingly thin roster, and trying to find an identity for the Cardinals. Plus, "projections" for standings and awards, and meandering trivia.
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Hello, and welcome to the mm QB Monday Morning NFL podcast. I'm your host, Gary Gramling. I'll be joined by a special guest in just a moment. Now, the special guests last week, which is Andy annoy You. You might remember he had made a solemn promise that we would do the a f C South this week. But there's a change in plans. It's gonna be the NFC West instead with our special guests. So let me introduce that special guest right now, and again he is both special and a guest, and it is Andy Annoyit And what kind of a host? Let's the guests dictate the entire outline of the show like that? It was it was your demands. Yeah, well, Gary had emailed me about doing the a f C South. I just mentioned. I've been reading my NFC West notes all week, my film notes from last year, so it's a little fresher on the mind and you know, adjustments. I read your email in a very threatening tone. Um was it threatened? Yeah? Thank you? Can we do NFC West? I wrote, I've been reading my film notes on these teams the last few days. Ellipses, do you want to do that division today? And Gary passive aggressively said I was prepping a FC South based on your outrageous demand last week. He tried to take this thing off by adding some humor in the parentheses by outrageous demand last week. But we can switch gears if you'd prefer an FC West, And I said, let's switch gears to the West unless you think that is a major pain in the assid And you were just offering that to be polite. And I never heard back from me until I got the West outline, so I assume everything's fine. Yeah, brutal as you can see. It better be a good show because it'll fall on me if it's not. And he's diva behavior that ellipsus really, Uh boy? Was that uncalled for? Puts those at the end of every single text that he sends. He puts those to the end of every tex. Yeah, I ever use the ellipses too, so um, I understand. But it's it's a threatening punctuation. And that's how we landed on NFC West this week. And maybe at some point we'll promise a division next week, but you don't know what it's going to be, because again, there are just imaginations that are beyond our control that that sort of set these things. But um, as always, we are going to run through order of last year standings. These are not our projections. However, we will make projections at the end of the show. As far as who we think is going to the playoffs, Uh, we usually loosely order these things, so but we are we are starting with the defending NFC champion forty Niners. Uh. Andy, I mean, look at plenty of talk about Garoppolo and as Garopolo the guy, etcetera, etcetera. We we've talked about that on a couple of shows. You can touch on it if you want, but I just wanted to sort of, uh put the focus back on the run game real quick. Obviously, they they piled up big rushing totals last year because they were often leading in games, but they were also extreme and the effective on a snap to snap basis. And I mean we saw them in a playoff game against the Packers where, um, you know, it looked like an overmatch high school team. Uh. They were just gonna run for twenty yards every time they ran it. So my question is, because you look at the personnel they've added Trent Williams, but even with Trent Willion that there's there's no this isn't like the Cowboys offensive line, and they don't have you know, Barry Sanders in the backfield here. It's a fairly ordinary looking collection of talent. So my question is why is this rushing game so effective. It's extremely well schemed. I mean it's it's the best schemed rushing game in the NFL. And I think even though Baltimore set all the records this year and probably had the most feared rushing attack in large part because of the Lamar Jackson factor, I think there are even people on the Ravens who would admit that the Nineers had the best scheme rushing attack in the NFL. It's Kyle Shanahan does a tremendous job there. He grew up around it, obviously with his dad. It was the outside zone blocking philosophy of Alex Gibbs and the Denver Broncos. But the Niners are so much more than just an outside zone running team. It's a lot more than that. They were very diverse run game. What they understand extremely well as the value of adding gaps after the snap, So pulling blockers were anytime you pull a guy, or you have a lead blockers two gaps that come with them, the gap to the left of the blocker and the gap to the right of the blockers. So if you're moving your pieces around and creating and adding gaps, the gap assignments are what dictates how the defense plays. You have to play your gap as a defense. You're not gonna leave a gap on cover because that's how you get increased for a big run. So the Niners understand defensive rules and what happens when we add gaps and how do we manipulate in what we do if we use pre snap motion, which I think they were best in the league on creating. Uh, they were more successful on pre snap motion run plays than anyone else that I want to say. Um, that only adds layers to it. And they'll do the jet motion as well, so their add gaps and take some away or put gaps theraput gaps there. It's they it's just extremely well designed and then it's well coached because and it's not just Shanny and Mike McDaniel is their run game coordinator and people outside of the NFL don't really mention him, and I don't know if they even if many of them know who he is. He's he's a small guy, a very very bright guy. You'd never guess in a million years that that's the guy designing the best rushing attack in the NFL. But within the league people talk in awe about him. And then their offensive line coach John Benton's a long time veteran and he has at zone blocking background, so he does have the foundation down really well. But it takes good teachers to implement this stuff, and that's what the Niners have. We see a lot of players Lake and Tomlinson is a good example or left guard who have been average players and other places and they become very effective in this Niners scheme with the coaches. Yeah, I should mention Mike Mike McDaniel. Uh So, Greg bishop Our, our senior writer at sports did a did a piece on the old Washington staff that had Kyle Shanahan and McVeigh and you know it was an all star staff. Uh, Matt Lafleur was was on that. Mike lafloor to Uh, Mike McDaniel was on it. And you know we asked photo our photo department, can you find some pictures of Mike McDaniel to run in this story, and they sent him in and I was like, I think you sent like a mislabeled like, you know, waterboy. Uh, you know, one of the one of the assistants on Siline PR guy. Maybe I did that that. It just he doesn't look like you'd expect to uh a a, you know, especially like when it comes to the the run game. Coordinats your offensive line guys. Uh, he doesn't look like that. Yeah, no, he does not look the part. But he he's one of those beautiful mind type of guys. And uh, what these coaches do, McDaniel, A lot of them they view the game from the defensive side first. They don't think about running the ball from the offensive side. They view what are the defensive rules? I bet you I don't know this for sure. I would bet you they spend more time on the defensive side during the offseason studying that side of the ball, being in those meetings than they do on their own side of the ball in some respects, because these young coaches understand it's all about rules. The defense has rules. That's how they defend you. That's how they get everybody to be on the same page. Okay, let's make them Let's do two things. Let's one find out where we can exploit their rules or make them have to break their rules. But even better, let's if we can make them play their rules correctly and be wrong for doing that. Which now we're getting into the play action game that Shanahan does. That's the best of all worlds. That's that's where eventually then you get Richard Sherman yelling on the sideline at people in the Falcons game with Shanahan motions out and in Seattle plays the coverage correctly and they got beat because of that. You know, that's that's what you really want. You want to make defense is wrong for being right. Uh, let's talk about the defensive side of the ball real quick. We obviously they added we know they added a lot of talent last year. They ended up really turning around in the takeaway department. Uh. Robert Sala caught a little bit of heat for uh calling what some considered a too predictable game in the Super Bowl. I mean, do they do they need to tweak what they do? I mean it seems I mean, look, my opinion on the Super Bowl is, uh, they ended up giving the ball back to Patrick Mahomes a few too many times, you know who, Chiefs had that ball for a for a lot more than they usually do in typical games. And that's what happens when you play an offense like that, is they're eventually gonna score some points. But I mean, do they need to change up what they do defensively at all? No? Because what game was it that they were in that solid? Maybe didn't call the game be ware, You've people on TV watching on TV want him to call it, which well that this was the game, the super Bowl, the super Bowl. Yeah, so I would imagine what they're doing is working more than not working, because the teams that don't blow to the Super Bowl are the ones that don't even get there. It's if and here's the other part of that. If the Niners had changed it up and Mahomes came back on the end and everybody be saying, well they change why would you get away from what you do? Why you do what got you there? So I put zero stock in any critique of how Robert Sala called the Super Bowl. I'm sure there's some places you'd like to have back that. Every coach has those in games, and probably the one player that everyone's really talking about when they have this conversation is the forty four yard completion on third and long to Tyreek Hill where the Niners got caught in the Cover three and the Chiefs had a great Cover three beater on that. Cover three was not played properly by a Manuel Moseley on the play, but that's because the offense is designed really leveraged Mosley, so that was that was really just great offense. A pass rush even got home on the homes on that play. He just made an unbelievable throw to the fastest player in the league, and and the offensive design was outstanding, and that's what happened. So the Niners have nothing to change defensively. In fact, of all the Cover three teams, I think in a lot of respects, they become the most fine tuned because they played a lot more split safety last year, meaning Cover two or Cover four and anymore the way cover three. What what the Niners scheme does that's different is the free safety cheeks to the strong side where all the receivers are. So if it's an unbalanced formation, the free safety cheeks to the strong receiver side and the strong safety plays back a little bit deeper. And that's why Cam Chancellor for Seattle was so good for all those years, because Chancellor could play back and really it didn't cost him much because he was so good at getting back downhill. I was so fast. So when the strong safety plays back deeper in the free safety cheats, you can't really tell if it's Cover three or Cover four. And the Niners have really maximized that and taken full advantage of that to the point where I bet there are teams that have played the Niners this year that don't know what coverages they saw even after the game was played. That's how that's how nuanced San Francisco has become. In their foundation, They're not just a line up and play Cover three team. They have a lot of little wrinkles throughout and they're only gonna add more because they're guys have been together now they're bringing everybody back this year. Andy, I apologize, I really butcher Gear your Super Bowl one liner. Yeah, I appreciate that you recognize that was all your fault back there. It was. I mean, look, you're your special guest. We uh we we haven't done a show in like seven days now, so it happens. It happens sometimes. Let's go on to Seattle. I've been I've been looking forward to discussing this, uh, for the past couple of weeks here. So I mean, look, defensively, G Dave and Klin needs out, Jamal Adams is in, and they make the big move and bring in Adams. Uh. This is and and anyone who's listened to me on these podcasts over the last i don't know, nine months or so, I mean, this is a team that had thirty two takeaways this year despite really the complete lack of a pass rush. Uh. If this is gonna be a classic Seattle defense, does I guess my questions what sense does Jamal Adams make in this defense? Obviously he's a great player, And I don't want to make this a kind of thing where you say, like, like the forty Niners added Julio Jones, but they run the ball a lot, so that does nothing for them, Like, of course Jamal Adams makes them better. Uh? Can you can you sort of make the case that adams blitzing ability helps make up for a kind of weak pass rush. I'm just I'm trying to convince myself that this, uh, this is sort of a game change jing acquisition for the Seahawks because it's it's just it's tough to do because they really do need a pass rush here, and you know, if L. J. Collier takes off or something like that. Okay, that's their solution, but I'm not sure I see a solution. All Right, it's a great discussion. Let's and let's I love that we're going at it from the Adams angle. Let's walk that back and just kind of view the whole the whole setup for for one, let's put aside, but they traded for him and whether they got flee and they did not get fleeced. But let's put not even debate the trade. Let's just say that's what they have now is Adams. What will they be the easy reactions to see what he's He's your camp Chancellor now. But Adams is a very different style of player than Camp Chancellor. But we just talked about Chancellor a second ago. He lines up deeper, he covers a lot of ground. Adams can certainly do that. He Adams is probably the fastest safety in the NFL in terms of playing speed, but he's not as big as Chancellor and Chancellor's value is that he could really fill when he came downhill. He was basically an extra linebacker, so they that gave him a lot of comfort in their run defense, and therefore they were able to be a little bit more aggressive and past defense. Adams is a quality run defender, but he's more of an agility tackler than a thumper like Chancellor, so he's not gonna take on blockers the way Chancellor didn't necessarily. So that doesn't mean Adams is not a great place still a tremendous play, it's just a different style of player. What I think will happen Gary, the Sears became more diverse schematically last season. They did a lot of especially early in the year. As the year went on, they actually got back to their Cover three foundation more and more. But early on we saw a lot of Cover two. The Skies kind of covered two stuff or at least blurry looks pre snapped with safety rotations, and they played a lot of man demand and very often, not always, but very often when they play man there's one safety back deep instead of two. So they've done more than just play Cover three recently, and I think that that's on the table. Now for what you just said, a out Adams as a blitzer, do they want to add to some of their blitzes because fire zone blitz is they've done a lot more as well. Where it's cover three, but instead of four guys underneath, you have three underneath. Usually plays out like man to man um. I think they could do that if they want, and then probably be a good use of Adams. The whole point of this thing to understand is that their best players are all in the secondary. Their pass rush is a concern. I think their linebackers are better than fine. I I kJ Wright and Bobby Wagner are longer in the tooth now, but that's still an elite linebacker tandem. What you have in the secondary is is Griffin and elite. I'd say he's elite at this point in elite outside physical Richard Sherman type cover corner opposite him is Quentin Dunbar, who's in my opinion, the most underrated corner in the NFL and probably a top twenty corner overall. And and then it's safety with Adams is strong safety. Quandre dig can now move from free safety to the slot, which was their biggest problem year, or they didn't have a slot defender at all. They played base four three on every snap. Because of it, Diggs goes to the slot, and maybe Marquis Blair becomes their free safety, and now all of a sudden, you're basically better at three position four positions. You're better at right corner with Dunbar replacing Flowers, You're better at strong safety with Adams Replacey McDougald. You're a lot better in the slot with Diggs replacing whoever they were rotating, And they're changed week the week, And then I think Diggs is probably a better free safety than Blair, but Blair is a potentially more explosive athlete than Diggs. It's a legion of Boom type secondary, different style of secondary, though, I wouldn't be shocked. It's it's a long answer to get around to this. I wouldn't be shocked if they played a lot of man coverage just because of their secondaries being so good. Okay, yeah, I guess uh and and and look, I don't think they're foolish enough to to simply say, well, we're just gonna recreate the legion of Boom and run the same scheme and and do it that way. Uh, But Legion Boom also had Clip Avril and and uh and and Michael Bennett. I mean they were really good upfront. And that's that's why I worry about when I look at this team. I agree with you and and a lot of people around the league felt that Michael Bennett was the most valuable player on those defenses during that heyday in Seattle. So the defensive line is a big deal and they and they do not have a great one. The guy that needs to play a little better than he did a year ago, and I think he's capable he missed six games with the suspension early last season, is Jaren Reid at He moved from one tech to three techniques, so kind of that old Warren Sap type position. I do think that's the best spot for him. But if Jaren Reid can be a little closer to what he was in eighteen, you know, it might be a different looking defensive line. But uh, it's not a great defensive line even then. And if Clowney comes back, maybe it's a different discussion. But they still don't have edge rushers. They don't have any benders on that defensive line. All right, let's let's look at the offensive side of the ball here. Uh, this is the second, third, and fourth discussion everyone wants to have about the Sehawks offense. As far as play selection goes, they were third highest first down rush percentage in the league last year at cent. Obviously leading or trailing plays a little bit into that. But this is not a team that ran away with a lot of games, which uh, maybe we'll talk about that a little bit later in the show. Uh, but this has obviously been a very rush heavy offense, run heavy offense. A lot of people want to see them open it up throw more on early downs. Uh. If you look over the history of Russell Wilson's tenure here, there was moderate success with that when they were kind of the middle of the pack early down throwing team. But most recently, uh, Darryl Bebel's last year, they they really struggled throwing on early downs. Uh. I guess with what they have right now, Tyler Lockett has sort of emerged as a as a borderline star. DK Metcalfe is Uh, figure he'll make an even larger jump in year two. Here are they set up to be more aggressive throwing the ball? Early or do you think it's gonna be more of a The kind of balance of and and balance at this point in the NFL is run heavy attack that we saw last year. Well, that's clearly the way they've committed to playing, and that's the debate everybody has, And the question really gets down to, how do you want to best use Russell Wilson because he is so unique? Yeah, lock, it's vital for them metcalfs of potential superstar maybe so. Yeah, you have great receivers and that means something, but Wilsons so unique that the offense is gonna take on whatever shape he gives it. Anyway, you can draw up all these we saw this in tweeen. You can drop all kinds of great first down passes. But if the quarterback doesn't consistently get the ball out and he's gonna break it down and go sand lot, that becomes your offense and doesn't matter as much quite as much what you're drawing up. To Seattle's credit, they've done a great job of understanding that and drawing up past plays that are conducive to when you go sand lot. But those past plays then naturally are better out of run formations. In my opinion, Um, Wilson's a tremendous down ball thrower. We've talked downfield thrower. We've talked about that, those deep balls. So there's your play action game that he's very good on. Um, when you go play action and it's slower developing plays, you're not gonna have five guys protect and hope that it works. You're gonna keep six and seven guys back there. So you're passing games inherently not very expansive because you only have two or three guys running routes. So that's that's the nature of how they play with Wilson. And then um, you know, and then the other part is if you are a spread offense and the balls out quickly, what happens when the quarterback plays out of rhythm there? What's to do for the rest of the offense And out of rhythm works for Seattle. I've come around on you know, I've I've I think Wilson's a lot better now than he was a few years ago, so it's been easier to come around. But I also think the game has changed and and you expand your thinking a little bit. And I do think Russell Wilson's style of play can work for Seattle, but you have to adjust your offense accordingly for it. It works when you have him in run heavy formations, slower developing plays where the sand lots not as disruptive. It doesn't work in a spread out or a timing and rhythm offense. And when people want more first down passes, what they're really asking for is more timing and rhythm throws, and especially inside between the numbers, like what the Niners do. Niners through between the numbers more than a team in the NFL last year in terms of frequency. So that's not Russell Wilson's style of play. That's not really where he's at his best. He's at his best creating and he's at his best throwing down field, and both of those come out of run formations. No team's gonna line up in a run formation and then only run the ball. They're gonna not gonna line up that way all game and then just run the ball twenty times. That's that's incoherent, that that's incongruent. So you have to commit to the running game to make all of this work. And it's it's a disciplined approach. And I know there are people in the Seahawks organization and it's a healthy debate they have that that don't love the approach. And I think we're putting too much on Wilson at the end of games. We're hoping he bails us out. Why don't we try to build a lead rather than keep the game close. But I don't think the plan is keep the game close. I think that's just a byproduct. The plan is let's keep the offense stabilized, because then it makes Wilson's play making a little more favorable for us. All right, does it sound like bull I mean, does it sound like bull crap? I mean, look, honestly, my overthinking it where it says, hey, he's a great player, let him just let him do whatever he wants. I mean, that's that's kind of the other argument I would be. I would be, I mean, look, I I would side toward opening it up and just see where it goes. At this point, Uh, we've kind of seen what I feel they've been maximized with what they've done in the last two years. I don't know if there's necessarily anything else they can do. And when you look at it, uh, I don't want to. I don't want to spoil all my wonderful stats here, but uh, they were pretty lucky to win the number of games that they won last year. They they had a lot of breaks that they probably can't count on getting for a second straight year. So uh, I think they have to do something a little bit different. You try to balance out the thought because I mean, look, so many highlight plays, big time throws at Wilson makes, and you try to remember, like, okay, well those those don't happen constantly. But he look, he is the best downfield thrower in the league. I mean he he hits it at such a high rate so consistently that it's kind of like, all right, well let's let's let's do more of this. Sure, but those downfield throws still come out of those run formations. You're not gonna throw down Mike Mars did it years ago, and it worked because it worked. Not always, but it worked when he had five Hall of Famers on offense and Kurt Warner and those guys. You can throw downfield with only five guys protect team. Bruce Arians tries to do that, but that's not that's not the way to play with Wilson. That's that's now you're asking him to be too much of a pocket passer on that and their offensive line is not good enough to play with just five minute protection you got. If you want Wilson throwing down field, you have to do it out of run formations where there are extra blockers. And that's what I want. One thing that you could wonder about, it's very obvious that they've they've coached Wilson to not keep the ball on read options unless the defense absolutely dictates that he does. If it's even a little bit blurry, can I give it to the back if he's even thinking about it, he's taught to give it to the back. If you wanted to gamble a little bit and be more aggressive, maybe you could adjust that teaching and make him more of a threat in your running game, and then that gives your running game more dimension, which and then if you're really well coached, that will trickle down to your passing game, like what we talked about with the Niners. A little bit expansive running game, forced to d sense to defend it, and then you can exploit them what passes off of that. I mean, you could maybe do that and and add Wilson back to the running game a little more. Wilson, I don't believe he's ever missed a game in the NFL. Has been very healthy for mobile QB. And the discussion is, well, do you want to just keep it that way and not risk it, or do you say, well, he seems to know how to protect himself. He gets down pretty well, let's run him a little more. And I don't I don't know the answer to that. I'm glad I don't have to answer that question. Yeah, yeah, I I don't know. I do wonder what the Adams acquisition if they're kind of saying, you know, will make that next jump based on the defense improving, which is there's logic to that. Uh yeah, that's a great point. Gary. If if the defense at defense was bottom third in the league, you know about every metric last year and including talent it was they looked that way on a film. If that defense were a top ten defense, what we're saying about the offense would probably feel a lot different. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, look, it was a it was a bottom third of the league defense, But like I said, they ended up getting thirty two takeaways, which and and sixteen of those were fumbled recoveries, which it's just it's not something it's not something they can replicate at this point. So it's like they had a bottom third the league defense, but because of those takeaways, it you know, it was probably more middle of the pack at that point. And uh, I mean, look at the takeaways. They dried up at the end of the year. And you know, this is a team that lost four their last six games. Their wins were uh, their wins were over Kyle Allen and the Panthers and Josh McCown and the Eagles. So um. Granted that they went punch for punch with with the Packers and with the forty niners, but uh, you know, I I don't know, I don't know if you can really get that jump from the defense once the takeaways regress, as they probably will, so then you're kind of looking at okay, if we are going to move back into that uh And and I don't want to overstate this, there were two games in the Super Bowl last year. But if you want to realistically get back in to that, we are one of the top three to five teams in the league. Conversation, I think it has to come from doing something differently offensively. That's that's fair. I mean, it's a it's a fair discussion, certainly. I do think that defense has a chance with that secondary to be top top ten, maybe top five. I think it's gonna be a really good secondary. The question is how will they scheme to that though, because they're gonna have to manufacture a pass rush. Yeah, yep. Uh let's go to the Rams here. So Sean mcveigh's first two years of the Rams, heavy eleven personnel, we kind of got used to it, uh, you know, down the stretch. I mean that they went to the super Bowl, So you don't want to overstate the the old you know when they got foiled by Cover four at the end of the twenty eighteen season. But last year we saw a lot more two tight end stuff. I'm more twelve personnel. I think part of that probably was a necessity because of the injuries they had at receiver. But uh, you know, they they've reloaded that receiver here. The offensive line is in better shape than that it has been in a couple of years. Here, can they kind of get back to I I guess what I'd ask you, Andy, do you anticipate them looking more like they did in eighteen or is this a system that's kind of evolved at this point and is gonna be something a little different. Um, it's probably evolved to where in eighteen seventeen it was eleven personnel like almost every snap, that's just how they played. Now there's some benefits to that. One thing is you don't when you're studying a defense, you only have to watch what they did in eleven personnel on film. You don't have to study their film for all the other stuff. So it's less film to study, which gives you more time to identify ways you can tailor your offense to exploit. You get a little bit not a more predictable defense, but less of a menu from the defense to deal with, and that gives you more time to do other things. As a coaching staff and uh in quarterback to your off would be in on that. So it's it's not, you know, there's no one way to do any of this, but just looking at their personnel. Because coaches, ultimately, the smart ones, the good ones, usually just go with whoever their best players are and then taylor from there. They have three wide receivers who are capable, assuming that Van Jefferson is a quality NFL starting receiver, which they expect him to be as a second round pick, maybe four. Josh Reynolds is a solid player, but it's it's a good enough receiving corps. It's not an over the top, super explosive, dynamic receiving corps, but it's it's one that fits the way the Rams play for sure. The guy has come along those Tyler Higby at tight end, and he really emerged last season, and I think the Rams field that was genuine. Sometimes tight ends catch balls and it's because that's just the way the designs shook out or what have you. Higby has really emerged as a good player. And they still have Jerald Everett here as a quas receiving tight end. So they can go eleven, and they can go twelve, and they'll probably what they did last year and just based it on the opponent. Last season when they faced Seattle, they went twelve because Seattle plays based personnel no matter what you play, So if you want to run the ball, why not go with the tight end instead of a third receiver, So they went they went with twelve. But if you play some teams that are particularly good at linebacker, the Dallas Cowboys, for example, the Rams play I think they opened with the Cowboys. Don't say yeah, it sounds right. So if you go with against the Dallas Cowboys, who have had three good linebackers over the years, you might want to go eleven personnel. The Dallas Cows are not as deep a cornerback. It just depends the Rams offense, and eleven is almost the exact same as it isn't twelve. They just it's just a matter of how they lined up. But the designs they're very similar. And that's one thing that that the teams that have had success with the Rams, the Bears, for example, Vic Fangio. Fangio figured that out that hey, they're eleven stuff, just twelve, what's treated like it's twelve and play are regular based down stuff anyway, and it's worked for them. So eleven or twelve, I think they can get overblown, Okay, and they do. Uh. They open up at home against the Cowboys Sunday night football. That's gonna feel so weird with those brand new state of the art stadiums and nobody there. Yes, I feel bad for the cronkey. I mean, Kronkes, I'm sure have a lot of things going for him, so they don't need all the sympathy in the world. But that's you know, if that's got to be disappointed, all the work that's gone in that stadium, I don't feel too bad for him. Maybe it'll feel like two openings, you know that the debut on TV next year and then the real debut and we can let everybody in. Yeah, yeah, there you go. See now he gets to have two openings. What a lucky guy. The other one I'm wondering about, what stadiums is how the Chiefs will raise the banner for the Super Bowl. Oh yeah, that's gonna be a bummer. That's one worth being bummed out about, because that's like four the fans, those those era HUD fans probably wouldn't care if they saw her anyway on their hands. Yep. Yeah, I'll be interested to see how they do that. Well let's uh, let's get into the Rams defense here. It's it's a it's just thought. I'm sorry, I just thought of something. Yeah, what would it be? What kind of move would it be if the Chiefs didn't raise the banner and then decided next year if everything is going well, we'll be the first team to raise two banners simultaneous. It would. I would respect the confidence definitely. But you know, if if you if you don't and look every year, the field is a better pick than than whoever you think the best team is. I think that the Chiefs are the best team. But uh, yeah, you're you're taking a you're taking a pretty big risk. I would. I would respect it ultimate flex though. If there's no word out for you, and if it didn't just raise last year's banner then and it still feel good, it would, then then you then you just get mocked. Yep, that's that's the risk you take. Patrick Mahomes is your quarterback. That's style of team you are. So yeah, maybe they do it. Uh, Okay, this Rams defense, Uh, Brandon Staley new uh new defensive coordinator. It's just a it's a really uniquely constructed unit. I guess you was a Obviously you have your superstars. You have Aaron Donald up front, you have Jalen Ramsey on the back end. Uh, and then you just kind of have this uh now that Corey Littleton has gone, it's kind of a hole at linebacker here and then they're fairly deep in the defensive backfield. You got some okay depth there, but I don't know if I do hope that that's the case. Uh, I mean, who who? They might have some talent there, but who's where is the experience. David Long is a third round pick a year ago, is probably their third best corner. I was gonna say, I saw David Long's name and I was like, Okay, David Long is a pretty okay third corner, and you're right, Yeah, there's not very much depth well. And and David Long, you know, I guess. I mean, I hope all goes well for him, but we don't know if he's any good either. He has he hasn't been on the field a lot yet. He's a young player. He's a third round pick a year ago, and they didn't they didn't play him a whole lot. So they are thin in the secondary, and they don't have linebackers. But they have Jalen Rampt and they have Aaron Donald that's what we're looking at. And they have so that Vic Fangio scheme that's given McVeigh trouble. They also will have that eventually because McVeigh hired Brandon Staley with the intention of bringing that scheme to the Los Angeles. Now, I don't I'm not so sure Staley can run that scheme this year given the questions at linebackers. Linebacker is a big position for that system, mainly because of the key to it is how blurry you are when you line up, so a lot of subtlety and nuance and disguise and deception. I don't know if you can install that stuff and be effective with it playing third year players who have been special teamers their whole career and they haven't practiced any of this in the off season. So Staley is also an extremely bright Somebody said he was to McVeigh of defense. Um, I can see why someone would say that. He I don't think he is a guy that just knows his system and how to teach that. I think he knows all of football and he's smart enough to understand. Yeah, okay, we got we got some questions here, But what we also have is the best defensive lineman in the NFL and probably the best cornerback. And I bet you there's when when's the last time we saw a team with that with truly the number one guy on the front end in the back end, have we ever seen that? Uh? J J. Watt and Jonathan Joseph. Yeah, yeah, that falls apart when you get past what m Yeah, someone maybe someone will will send us something. I don't know, but you know it's it's a superstar driven defense. So Staley will will cater to that. And how can we maximize that Donald? It's it's easy to maximize by by well, I guess it's It's one of two ways you can do it. You can either be his friend and help him get huge numbers and line up in ways that get him one on one blocks, or you can you can hope he's a team player and maximize all the double and triple teams he gets, and then scheme according to that. And I'm sure coaches find a happy medium because you want you want Donald the head of the best of both worlds. With Ramsey, it's easy. You know, Ramsey, you got that guy. Everybody else don't worry about it. Go over here. So that I would imagine that will be the coverage design to some degree, which is very different than how Fanjiel has played. Fangiel has never had a great corner, so his coverages are all about hiding the corners, which is why they're so blurry and deceptive at linebacker and safety. That's how you do that. You you look like you're helping the corner, and the quarterbacks are not quite sure. He's looking at No quarterback worth his salt will believe that the Rams are giving any kind of help to Ramsey. Ramsey doesn't need it, and the other guys on the Rams do need it. It's a boy. It's such a transition here his defense. I don't know, a huge transition. It's a tall order and what's you know what's unfortunate for Staley probably and he'll get over this, not a big deal. But if it goes well, people are gonna say he's got Aaron Donald, He's got Jalen Ramsey. And I think if it goes well, it will have been a tremendous coaching job because you gotta play with eleven guys on defense, and they've got about four or five that that are probably not NFL starters on a lot of other teams. And that doesn't mean they can't start and be competitive and play well. Um, but these guys are gonna have to prove themselves. Yeah. Uh let's let's go on to the Arizona Cardinals. Um, I mean it is a team that ran a lot of four receiver stuff last year. Uh, you know they obviously they've added DeAndre Hopson. At this point, you have three guys who are gonna be on the field constantly with Hopkins, Fitzgerald and Christian Kirk uh and then, uh, you know you got some Day two who picks from two years ago, second year guys Andy Isabella hicken Butler. I guess Butler was technically a Day three pick. But I mean it kind of looks like they're built to do the four receiver stuff again. Does that make sense? It does it for following the theme of putting your best players on the field, Because I'm not crazy about Arizona's tight ends to be perfectly, I'm not a big Max Williams fan. Darryl Daniels, he's a former Sea I think he's with the Colts for Wildfire recall briefly in seventeen, So I'm mistaken. There's but he's Um, he is a potentially quality receiving guy. But we're insane with Dan Arnold all the Saints. But we're talking about number three career long. We're tight ends here, Yeah, I mean he was he was with excume I'm sorry, he was with the Colts and all of twenti seventeen. He did play that season with him. That's uh. I think I think we all remember the Darryl Daniels era in the in Indianapolish. I mean for for the development of Kyler Murray does it doesn't make sense? How about how about that to run the four receiver stuff? Um? Well, then how in your mind, what's the best way? What do you want Murray to be? But when you stay development, what are we trying to develop him into? I don't know, Um, I'm not yea. So if you wanted to be Russell Wilson. And we saw the Seahawks kind of do the spread quicks rich stuff. Briefly, what was that seen when they when they ran it out in November and and they used to beat the Steelers in that game in Seattle? I think that was I think that was was it that long ago? It was the year Jimmy Graham got her because Graham got hurt in that game. God, you're right, and they stayed with that spread. And we've talked about you and I are like the only guys that left ever seen to remember that. But they stayed in that quick strike spread offense the rest of the season, and Russell Wilson played great in it, and it's yeah, spread offense. It was incredibly quick strike though, and I know people are gonna say, well, hey, what about your earlier conversation with Wilson shown he can do it. They had gone to that super spread quick strike because they had parts of their offensive lend that simply could not compete. So that was damage control and it worked because they introduced it late in the season. It ultimately did not work perfectly moving forward. So anyway, that's anyway, that's the story, but that that was a different ERAa not different era, but that's a different team at different time. Probably. I mean, can you can you can you replicate that with h with better talent here in Arizona. Yeah, it's possible, It's And I do think Russell Wilson is the stylistic comp for Murray in the sense that their mobility is similar, and mobility is gonna be a big part of their game. No matter what your system, you're still gonna ask those guys to be mobile in some way. Neither guy is is they're both obviously fast enough to make their legs work for them. They're not gonna dominate games by just running away and around people, not the way Lamar Jackson does, or even that Deshaun Watson. They're probably not quite as mobile as that. So it's it's a quarterbacking mobility that they have, an out of pocket quarterback mobility. In other words, can you make throws on the run? Can you can? How can how can you be on multiple option plays where maybe you're keeping it yourself as a run or maybe you're throwing a backside slanter or a front side slant, whatever it will be. Is that can that be Murray's game? And I think it can. He's a very good ball handler. He's a good athlete, so he should be an effective on the move passer. That is not, ultimately, though, your foundation still because we just talked about that with Russell Wilson, you still have to have an ideaity to fall back on. Now Seattle does it because of they're going to go with the run heavy stuff because of Wilson's style as a downfield thrower. Murray has not shown that he's that kind of quality of a downfield thrower, yet Wilson's the best in the league, where he's probably below average if we're just to rank the qbs A downfield throwers. So a quick strike might be the best way to play with Murray. The problem is you become a little bit limited when you do that. I think Kingsbury found out out last year. You don't have much of a run game. You don't have a lot of dimension there um balls out quickly, so you're not very intricate with your route designs and combinations. Are you willing to live with a bunch of six and seven yard completions and really just treat those in your mind as your running plays? And then then, and then the next question is, all right, are you good enough though to convert on second and ten and third and nine consistently because you're gonna get a few more of those probably whenever those screen passes fall incomplete. A bad screen passes zero yards usually, or even a loss of a couple, a bad run you have to assume you can always get a TfL. But a bad run you have to assume is one or two yards, and that stuff adds up. Uh, yeah, I I don't know. I don't know what I see. Uh. He's talented, I just don't know what I see UH Kyler developing into UH is stylistically, I think it's tough to to look at a guy and say, be the next Russell Wilson. Uh, I'm not sure what I want them to do with him. I wonder what their plan. I mean, obviously, I'm sure they've had hours and hours of these conversations, especially before they drafted Murray. And it also raises the question, can you draft the guy? Because Murray was a great talent. We saw that, and there are guys that get drafted on their talent all the time. Can you take a quarterback number one overall and then just say, let's just play with them and see what I'm full and the kind of let let it express itself, Let's find out what he does best in the NFL. Because honestly, I got the sense that that's what they did at times last year. They never equiped in their identity was those four receiver sets, but they got away from that. They went to other stuff in the middle of the season. Uh. You know, I I don't know if I quite know exactly what this offense is trying to be at this point, I think Kingsbury wants to go with some of those college designs that he's done. I'm not so sure that's going to work out exceptionally well for them. I think he'll have to expand a little bit. And my guesses, and I do not know this because I don't know Kingsbury at all, My guess is he knows that though. And then it's what are we expanding into? And do we know enough about Murray to have an attention to where we expand? Are we going to one specific place or do we try to expand in every direction and see if Murray takes us in one direction? Can you do that in the NFL? M hmm, Well let's uh, let's let's talk about the defensive side of the ball here and and make Cardinals fans especially sad. Uh they were I I didn't look. I I knew they weren't good, Uh, defending the past laus year, I didn't realize how bad they were they were. I mean they opponents have like a one o nine passer rating against them. I mean they got torched pretty regularly. Last year. Um, what are the issue? I mean, it's it's not especially with Patrick Peterson maybe sliding back a little bit last year. Uh, it's not an overly talented group in the back. Uh. And are they just gonna keep on having the same issues again? They've added is a Simmons obviously, but it is pretty much, uh, pretty much the same group. Granted, you know guys like Byron Murphy and uh and Jalen Thompson. Uh enter year two now, but Uh, I don't know it. It looks like it looks like it's a group that's gonna have some trouble again. Yeah, Murphy Hope takes a step forward. And I thought he was fine as a rookie. He was not the problem per se. He's he's there, slock Yeah, he's there, SLocker. They need another outside corner in their nickel. They really don't have one opposite Peterson. That was a revolving door position a year ago, and it looks like it's set up to be that way again this year. Less Robert Alfred can bounce back. He missed all of last season with an injury. They'll turn thirty two in November, though, And I know that the Falcons felt like he was slowing down. I know that because they told you that by getting rid of them. So, uh, it's yeah, you're right, there's not a lot of talent in the secondary. Having said all this, though, Gary, there's too much talent here for this team to be as bad as it was a year ago. Because Patrick Peterson, who I didn't think was very good last season, and he's still a quality talent, so let's assume he can bounce back. He's a he's an elite cover corner when he's playing well. Byron Murphy second round pick, he looks to part. We'll see how that goes. Buddha Baker's basically another version of Tyrone Matthew. He's not quite to that level yet because Matthew has been around a little longer. But I mean, that's that's high praise and that's a unique specimen you have there. Those are three of their secondary players. By the way. At linebacker, it's it's it's Jordan Hicks, who I think fans have probably fallen a little bit too much in love with, but solid quality NFL linebacker. Upfront. Corey Peters is a very underrated defensive tackle and last year their edge guys Suggs is gone now, but Sugs and Jones are their edge guys Chandler Jones, you should be doing pretty well when they when you have that, I mean, then in some respects Gary, they're not this similar to the Rams, and that they have a top shelf superstar defensive Lineman and Chandler Jones, and they have a top shelf superstar cornerbacking talent and Patrick Peterson, And yet we've seen a lot of inconsistency from this defense across the board. I know, when I watched their film, I never quite feel like I know exactly what they are. They do a lot of different things, and not in the way where it's like, oh, they could do anything, watch out, you know, he never know if you're gonna get from them. It just feels like they're always looking for some kind of idea. I don't know what they're when when it's going tough and they need their stop, I don't know what it is they want to call in those moments. I don't know what their foundation is. Yeah. Yeah, and and and to your point, look at Jones and Peterson are are probably not as good as Donald Ramsey, but they are, uh, they're probably better everywhere else than the Rams are. If you're just talking about talent on the roster. Yeah, and the Isaiah Simmons edition can maybe change things. And I like that they're gonna start them out at one position. I know that he played all over and you want to ultimately do that with them, but you do need to You need to start somewhere, you need to learn something and work out from there. So I'll be interested to see how they use him. But it's not just necessarily how they use him, it's what scheme is he in? What are they doing in the Arizona. I am all four teams adding and being more multiple, but only if you have a foundation first, usually a name of defense. You can say exactly what there. I guess you'd say this is a zone based defense, but it doesn't feel that way. It's not a good one if that's what they are foundationally. Yeah, alright, Andy, it is time for projections for the season. Uh are you? Uh? I'm picking the forty honors? So in this division? Are you also picking the forty honors to win this division? I think it's fair to project that, especially because of especially because well you know what you're laughing at. I like that you use project especially because this off season has been so unusual and that Niner's team has a high level of consistency from a year. There's a lot of continuity there. Pretty much everybody's back on the roster. They return both sides of the ball, and the whole coaching staff's back. Okay, so I think this is gonna this year. Yes, yeah, no, it it does it, It absolutely does that. They have a ton of continuity here. Uh forty Niners do, uh bills if we could work in a Bill's mentioned here. Uh, they actually have, according to ESPN, the most continuity going year to hear um as far as snaps played last year. But uh, this is the stat I wanted to say, because I think there's a really cool statu your face right now. Yeah, I know this is uh really the only reason I got into podcasting was I wanted to talk about this. Uh uh this Thy Shelter article, A Thais Alter really really bright guy wrote this for five thirty eight. But you know, we get really caught up in one possession wins uh and and say, you know, oh, you know what a record one session games stuff like that, and uh so Ty wrote this this piece for five thirty eight looking at what he calls coin flip games, and those are games where the win probability uh for each team is between forty and six percent in the final five minutes. So in other words, those are true toss up games as opposed to some these one possession games. For instance, like when the Seahawks score on the last play of the game, uh to cut there, they're lost to the Saints. I think it went like thirty three twenty seven or something. And and obviously that game was never in doubt. The Saints were blowing them out for most of the game. The Seahawks scored on literally the last player of the game, and that's what made it in one possession game. So uh, ty highlighted these coin toss games here. Uh, and I want to mention these two teams, the Seahawks and the Rams. Seahawks last year we're five and one. In those games, the Rams were owing four and obviously they they ended up right next to each other. One of those games is actually when when Gregor's our line missed that kick on a Thursday night early in the year and seatt which would have given the Rams that game, and and uh, you know, obviously, uh, you know, it's butterfly effect and all that, But had the Rams gotten that win, they would have gone to the playoffs and the Seahawks would not have. But Jared Goff would be credited that he made an incredible throw at the end of that to set that lay up with Gerald Everett caught that against kJ Wright and that really and he had a couple of throws down the stretch like that with guys in his face. That all that flies in right in the face of the golf narrative that that he's just a system. QB Golf made some big time players in that one. And if that had happened, and that's what people would have talked about coming out of the Thursday game, maybe the narratives different. Also, yes, yeah, that game absolutely affected some narratives going forward here. But basically, you know, so if you split those games up, if you say team should probably go five Hunter, because look, I I do think there is something you said, for Okay, well, we have Russell Wilson, we have a guy who can make plays down the stretch and and do all that. I think that does give the Seahawks a bit of an edge. But realistically, I mean you you know, in some of these games you're talking about who had the ball last type of stuff. Uh So if you roughly say, you know, let's expect teams to split those coin flip games in the end, I mean that, look, that moves the Rams to eleven five, that moves the Seahawks to what a nine and seven season? Um? And again, you know I mentioned the Seahawks and sort of the the likely regression coming for takeaways. So that's my that's my long way of saying, well, I do have some concerns about the Rams defensively, I am picking the Rams ahead of the Seahawks, uh in this division for and I can go with that. I'm fine with that. I love the analysis. Yes, it is good analysis from from someone else that I just cite it. Uh okay, uh m v p here Russell Wilson obviously is is in the conversation any one else in this division? Andy? Um, what would Garoppolo have to do to get it? And I asked that from the standard. This is more of a media question now, And I know I'm every show I say I'll get away from talking about voters mindsets, but I guess I won't because I haven't. What what would it take for Garoppolo to get in that conversation because he is so maligned for a guy that has his winning, his win loss records off the charts. He just went to a super Bowl with a team that had won no games basically without him when he was hurt, and yet everybody thinks he is I don't know, do they think he stinks? Is that too harsh? He's not respected by by people who you think would respect him. I think there are a lot of people who would, uh say generally he stinks, which is that's that's ludicrous. To say that he stinks is luded. I mean, you could say he's got some flaw. You know, we talked about that all the time. He's not perfect. He doesn't stink, But what would you what to do then? To be m v P. What happened was he you know, he won a conference title game in which he attempted eight throws. Uh that's not really They didn't attempt eight throws because he can't throw it. They he attempted eight throws because they uh kept on running for forty yards every time they ran the ball and just completely uh trounced the Packers in that game. Now, he was not sharp in the vikings game. Uh. And and you know, obviously that was a game where he didn't throw it around a lot either. Uh. So there's a narrative with forty Niners that it is, you know, great defense, uh and Kyle Shanahan and the run game and Garoppolos just sort of a cog. I don't think. I mean, look, I don't think we're gonna see the kind of thing where all of a sudden, the forty Niners are are one of the past heaviest teams in the league and and that sort of thing. Uh. It would take a lot of wins like he had in New Orleans that come from behind when they had against the Saints, uh, which was still one of the best offensive performances I can remember last year, especially coming off a uh, you know, a slug fest loss in Baltimore, for them to go down to New Orleans and steal that game when they were trailing early. Uh, it's it's it's a steep hill for him to climb though. And probably the same with golf too. Yeah, I mean golf. I guess, even to a bigger extent, if golf has a big year, it's because McVeigh, you know, did these amazing things with him, and if he has a bad year, it's because golf stinks. Yeah, that's that's everybody's mindset. It seems like, even though as great as these coaches are, they'll be the first tell you the other guys still off the gold there and throw the ball because I mean, somebody staw us a quarterback and make these designs actually function out there? Uh, Wilson obviously? Is is it Wilson or the Field? For if you had to bet on who would be m VP of the NFC West, um West, who would most likely get m v P? Yeah? I mean, and and then you're talking, you know, does Kyler could jump for you know, do the Cardinals play a lot of shootout games and it ends up being a fun offense that throws the ball a lot? I guess for that reason, i'd lean Field. That's a bad bet. Now I take Wilson, thank you. Also almost just basically lean Murray there. Yeah, is there a non quarterback in this division who could win m v P? And I don't think we put on defense because I just don't think it goes out way? Um No Aaron Donald Hopkins, Okay, Donald, Yeah, I guess Hopkins maybe Hopkins. Maybe, Um, there's no, there's no. I mean, you know, Todd Gurley a couple of years ago had that monster year. I don't think there's a there's a guy who has like a Todd Gurley workload in this in this division. Yeah, I'm kind of with you on that. All right, So what is this is just Russell Wilson is That's just what we're saying, I think? So all right, Okay, what about with Nick Bosa in this division and and and Jamal Adams and some other guys and Chandler Jones. Uh, how about Aaron Donald versus Field for Defensive Player of the Year. Oh, I would go feel because what happens with these guys that have won it so much as you Michael Jordan's thing, You've they wind up competing against their past selves for the m v P award rather than the guys around them. So Donald would have to basically in order to get m VP or Defensive Player of the Year, he'd probably have to set the sack record this year. Did he have like twenty something and he was off the charts a couple of years ago. Yeah? Yeah, I just don't know if it's feasible looking at exactly how many he had that year where he got defensive player, he had twenty point five sacks TFLs, which I believe includes the sacks yep, whatever. I mean, it's huge numbers one quarterback hits according to stats inc here. Uh So, yeah, last year he was he was terrible. Twelve and a half sacks, twenty TFLs, any four quarterback hits, that's what happens. Yeah, lucky, lucky to have his roster spot right now. But yeah, we uh so, I had to. I had to make the Sports Illustrated Awards predictions this year, and uh I ended up putting Nick Bosa, which just felt dumb. But I felt like we couldn't put Aaron Donald. Probably fair, it's probably fair, mm hmm. Alright. I mean, if if Seattle makes a big jump to Jamal Adams get all the credit, probably yeah, it's hard. When's the last time his safety got it? Polamalo, I believe. I mean, look, we we had a we had a cornerback get it last year, which we don't see very often. And yeah, you wouldn't you wouldn't rule it out at this point, especially if Seattle makes a big jump. Here Charles Woodson the year before in two thousand nine his list as a corner, but I think that was when he was probably when he started playing at hybrid safety roll a lot of the times. Yeah, it was also that was also, I mean that was vous Bio rights should have won it that year, and that was a year that Woodson had I don't know, like seventeen touchdowns or something like that. But remember, do you know who the last safety before Poe Malla was? This is a great trivia question, yep, give me, give me a second. Uh so we'd be going back to the nineties. No, well, okay, you want me to tell you that part, so early two thousands. Then going back to the two thousands, that would be Ed Reid never won it, right, ed reyd did win it one year, really, but he's not the answer. Oh it's not Ed Read that Read won it in two thousand four. But he's still not the answer. So somebody else's safety won it between oh four and and yeah, and it's not Woodson. We're not counting that one. Uh, I'm missing someone out of it. Wouldn't be Rodney Harrison. He was doing TV at that point. Really, I want to say he wasn't. Remember I once wrote that, Uh, when he debuted on NBC, I wrote somewhere like New York Times or something like that. They're like, oh, he's like the he's the best studio analysts out there. Now I was. I was still watching those shows back then. Um, and somebody, a PR director from one of the major networks emailed means like, oh, I wish you'd say one of our guys sometime for that Roney Rodney Harrison's last season was two thousand and eight. Okay, yeah, he could have been him with the Patriots. But no, that's that's not the answer. So it's not him. It wasn't either the Seattle guys. I mean, that's that's too late. Anyway, those guys were in college. Yep. Did you watch football back then? Oh gosh, uh Chuck Cecil, Uh, Mark Kelso, I'm I'm going to team my team now? Uh not? It was it was It wasn't. It wasn't Polar Molly again, No, I would. I wouldn't do that to you like that. Chuck Cecil's wife, by the way, is a PR specialist for a couple of the head coaches in the NFL. Now. Oh yeah, all right, Oh, I think I got it. What do you mean you got did you look it up? Nope? While I'm going team my team, and okay, it's either it's not Brian Dawkins. Is it correct it's not Brian Dawkins. I don't think so. That means by process of elimination. The only safety in NFL history I have not mentioned at this point is, uh, Bob Sanders. It's Bob Sanders Colts. Ah, And there are probably kids like Ryan Taylor, I bet, who's twenty one, have asked Hima. But what he's in college. He probably thinks we're making that name up right now. Bob Sanders. Who's a Bob Sanders two thousand seven. So if you were born in the mid nineties, Ah, that's okay. Ryan Taylor, email us and let us know if you have heard of Bob Sanders. This is incredible. Bob Sanders, this is incredible. His games played, starting his his rookie years two thousand four, his games played or six and then fourteen, then four and two thousand and six. His defensive player year was fifteen games played all seven From there it was six games, two games, one game, two games. That is an unbelievable number of games to miss, and obviously it's it's you know, its careers and what could have been he was so violent as a hitter and such a small guy. I don't know if that's what did there or what it was that's simpilation of his injury, just a list of them, if it was the violent style of player, if it was just horrible lot. I mean, at some point it's not luck. I mean, he missed a lot more games than we ever played. That's uh, that's a tough epilogue here, but this was good. We we should do a segment called meandering trivia. Yeah, well you called thos meander. We could also do the best like what could have been? Kind of team. Bob Sanders is captain of that defensively okay? Is he alright? Not? I mean he was a defensive Player of the year. Yeah, year he missed because of injury. Yeah yeah, I guess he's not Hall of Famer because of the truncated, uh career, but not even close. All right, you gotta go by Andy, thank you for joining us again. This is uh just goodbye for now. All right. The mm QB Monday Morning NFL Podcast is me Gary Grantling's special thanks once again to Andy Benoit for joining me this week. We are produced by Shelby Royson, Sis. Executive producer of podcast is Scott Brody, Ben Eagles, director of editorial Projects and product Mark Ravick is Ameritus editor of the MmpB and Andy Benoit is the founder of m mpb NFL podcast. Keep up with our entire line of podcast five days a week by subscribing to the mqb NFL Podcast for free on Apple Podcasts and Why Are There? Please do us a favor and leave a rating M review. 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