Hi, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the mm QB Week in Review podcast. I'm Mitch Goldich, joined by Jenny Vrentis and Albert Brier. We've often joked about how earlier in the summer this podcast was not every week, but most weeks and sometimes infrequently. Well, we're back after a little bit of a break. It's been a couple of weeks since we did this. There was one week we took off. There was one week I interviewed Kaylin Kaylor about her story on KGB at the MMQB. But we're back. We've got most of the gang, no Connor or, but three of us are here. Jenny, Albert, how you guys doing. Welcome back to the podcast. Hey, Mits, Mitch. It's nice. We have like a little reunion here. It's like we say what time we're gonna start the podcast, and then we hang out and talk and catch up for fifteen minutes while our producers Shelby just patiently waits for us to get going with the program here. But good to see you guys in the zoom screen. So for those of you who are new to this podcast, uh this we call it our week in Review and it basically starts as an opportunity to just talk about some of our stories that are up at the MMQB this week, some of the things we've been writing. And then, because the summer has been so weird in this country, it's turned into a thing where we talked about what we've been up to. And it started as books and movies and TV shows and things to fill our time, and then it turned into activities and arts and crafts and all kinds of things. But we always enjoy just going around the horn and talking about things we've been doing since we were last all together. So, Jenny, why don't you go first? Why don't you give us a little slice of your week so far? Well, I went home to visit my parents last week. That was my big venture. So I tried to self isolate for about two weeks ahead of time, didn't go to the grocery store for ten days or so, and then made the trip home to Pennsylvania. Um, and you know, tried to wear a mask when I went on walks with my dad and tried to stay as distant as I could. It's hard in the house, I mean, better than a New York apartment, I suppose, But Uh, but yeah, it was good to see my parents, and you know, it's just weird these days. I didn't hug them. Um. When I came back, I was panicked for five days, if you know, I potentially brought something home to them. Um. But you know, it was nice to get that time. This first time I'd seen them since the pandemic came to the US, So it was it was much needed visits. So that was my my highlight of the week. What was What was it like there? Because obviously it's way different than where you live, you know, like way more sparsely populated and everything else. Like how different was it for you to get out of the city and go to a place like that. Yeah, I mean so I didn't see much, right, I kind of went to their house and I stayed there. But yeah, they live in State College, Pennsylvania. So it's going to be interesting, I think when the students come back, which I believe is still the latest plan is for the students to come back when the school year begins. So I did kind of want to go now because I think that there's going to be bombs in a lot of college towns where there's not a lot of outside traffic. The case numbers have been really low in Center County because it's kind of an isolated place. Um. But yeah, when the students convene from all over the state, all over the country, all over the world. Um, I'm interested to see what happens and if they still go forward with that plan. Um. But you know, I went for walks with my dad. It's everyone's kind of spread apart. Like in New York, if you go for a walk, you have to wear a mask because you passed so many other people. You're in your building. Stay college people were just kind of like on their own. You don't really get close to anyone. So no one was really wearing masks on their walks. But but I was because I was next to my dad and I was still nervous. But um, so yeah, it was just like a more spread out, spaced out situation. And um, you know, my my our neighbor brought over fresh grown lettuce from his garden. His garden is really flourished during the pandemic, so he brings over lettuce and tomatoes to my parents once or twice a week. So that was nice too. I've got a lot of people their gardens are flourishing. That's a great stay at home activity when you can't go anywhere else. Um, And that's good. You brought your New York attitude out to State College. Wearing the mask a good role model. We need that we don't travel too far. But if you are going to travel, it's nice if that just kind of rubs off on people because we're in a mask is important and we all feel that way. Yes, Albert, how about you? What have you been up to? Yeah, so you guys know, I was on vacation for the last few weeks and I this is my first full week back. Um, but I had Yeah, I like I would the one thing I will say, like, and you're going to we go to Nantucket every year for a couple of weeks. Um. The people there took it very, very very seriously. And I think a huge part of it is there's like a I think the community there like it's a there an island. So if if if it gets if somebody gets it, like it would be really really like if there's an outbreak, it'd be really bad. And then the second part of it is so much of their you know, commerces over this summer and you know the restaurants and all of that, and so, you know, I think that, like it was really interesting to see how when you walked into town there right, like and so there's like a town and then it's like more sparsely populated once you get out of town. But in town there are signs everywhere that's say masks zone. And this isn't inside stores, right, so what I'm used to living in my suburb here outside of Boston. Like you it's like Jenny said, like you wear your mask, like everyone's wearing masks, and the stores, everybody's wearing masks. When you go grocery shopping, when you're inside anywhere, like when you're inside any public area, you wear a mask. But you know, because you're in the suburbs, if you go for a walk, you might not be wearing one. And that's not the way. It wasn't Nantucket at all. Like in the in town in Nantucket, like there were signs everywhere that said masks zone, and everyone followed it. And I thought that that was really interesting because it's sort of I think it was an acknowledgement that that community would really be devastated if there was an outbreak over the summer. There and you sort of like it's sort of like kind of like crystallizes the impact. This hasn't every buddy. You know that there was the newspaper there in town was reading a story and there had been like a small outbreak because the people coming in from different parts of the country and everything else, there's been a small outbreak in one of the restaurants and in this newspaper. But the restaurant closed right and had to close for I think fourteen days, and um, the restaurant like you know, like the they didn't name the restaurant in the story because they didn't want to damage the restaurant's business. And then they had quotes from other restaurants in the area, and um, you know, like a lot of these managers were saying, if we have to go take out again, like half of us are going to go out of business. It was just so interesting to see, you know, like a place where you know, we've all, you know, I think we've all tried to do our part in helping you know, the small businesses and everything in our areas. And I think we all know like that restaurants are really in a critical spot right now. It's really hard for them. It's just interesting, is going to a place where so much of the commerce in a small area is based on things like that, how low the margins are, and how if everybody doesn't do their part, the restaurant can do everything responsible, but if everybody else doesn't do their part, it could literally put some of these people out of business. So, I mean, I think it's sort of like one of my big takeaways I think from that vacation in general, and like, when I look back on it is going to be like how it really did feel like that entire community is pulled together and everybody is trying to be as responsible as they possibly can, and not only responsible but for yourself, but responsible for everyone else as well. Yeah, it's been really devastating reading some of these articles, you know, and I live in New York now too, but the New York Times is that all kinds of articles. It's about just these restaurants and small businesses that have been open for thirty, fifty eighty years and they're just not going to survive the coronavirus and just hearing that is so sad, and seeing not just individual businesses but the larger like character of the city and just how much things are going to change in certain neighborhoods and areas, and it's just awful. I'm you know, there's so much bad news every day about things we're going through now, and the lasting effects of this time are going to go on for forever, you know what. Like it's just sort of like it kind of brought to life to like what the NFL is facing. I mean, if we want to bring this to what what we cover here, I mean, it's you can do everything. And I think the NFL has done like a pretty good I got the protocols are pretty good, I think, you know, but if you're not gonna be in a bubble um, then you know you And look like number one is like all these guys being responsible and not doing dumb dumb stuff, you know what I mean, Like like, but there's another part of it you just can't control, you know, Like in that um, some of these guys players and coaches are gonna have kids going back to school, and some of these players and coaches are gonna have spouses that are going back to work, and so there's a lot of this that's just sort of out of everybody's control, you know. And so that's why it's like and it's again like just seeing this like kind of way that everybody was trying to do their part when I was on vacation, it's like, like, you know, it's just everybody, Like I just think that that like when you see that, it's just I think it's a good sign of the strength of a community when people are just trying to do everything they can to minimize the chance that something out of everybody's control hats And you're totally no. I was gonna say, you're totally right. So many people when they think about possible issues with NFL players, they think about the twenty three year olds who are millionaires for the first time and have waited their whole lives to go out and spend money and party in whatever. And You're totally right. There's so many of these guys who they have kids at schools and and spouses with jobs and all kinds of things, and you know, it's not just a matter of certain like a small number of players being responsible, like some of them are in situations where they literally that you know, they can't do anything that you know they have Uh, you know, if if schools are open and kids have to go to school. That's you know, that's one thing, and it's it's not like just the the issue of the players possibly acting irresponsibly. It's about their families and some of them live with older relatives, and it's just, you know, there's so many issues that so many of these people And maybe I'm just jaded by idiots on Twitter, uh spouting off about things, but like there are so many issues that a lot of people just aren't thinking about that they have to deal with as just normal human beings like the rest of us. Yeah, I think Sean Payton distilled it down pretty well. I Mean, you can put plexi glass between lockers, you can distance in the cafeteria, but for two and a half hours you're going to be in close proximity on the football field. So I think all of the protocols that they have in the facility are great, but you know, there's a point where you know, you can't maintain that same kind of distance. So I kinda I kind of looked at the plexiglass thing for instance. You know, I think the Lions put that out and like, okay, that's a great physical barrier in place, But then when these guys are out on the practice field, it kind of goes out the window. So yeah, and it's gonna be interesting too because I think, like we looked at the Marline situation, and I guess we're gonna get into that with you with because Mitch was sort of like I guess Mitch inadvertently was like sort of in the teeth of that, right, Um, But yeah, like the Marlin situation, Like I that's why I've said, like a few times in a few different places this week, like I I don't think it's the NFL learned so much about go what like went into it because and like it sounds like there was a little like Jackassari and fell there too, like stuff that they shouldn't have been not doing. But I think the NFL, probably in all sports leagues, probably learned more coming out of it, Like how quickly can the Marlins contain this? How quickly can the Marlins get back on the field, what sort of having does this rekon freak on the schedule? Like I think that that's probably the better learning tool for all these sports leagues, is not like how it happened with the Marlins, Because to some degree, some of this stuff is going to happen. I think it's more like, okay, like now it happened, how do you come out of it? Yeah, so I guess we can move right in. Uh, we're gonna talk about what I've been up to. Actually, I went to a live sporting event a week ago today, last Friday, which is something that I maybe at one point thought I would not do at all the rest of the year. But yeah, I went to the Phillies home open or against the Marlins on Friday night, and then they played two more games, and those are the only three games either of those teams have played as they've paused their seasons because the Marlins had an outbreak and then the Phillies have had people test positive as well. So the Phillies future series got uh not canceled, postponed because there it's possible they're gonna make them up with double headers, but I mean, who knows. They have so many issues with scheduling, um, But yeah, it was it was a very interesting experience. So I grew up outside Philly. You know, we talked about the Eagles all the time, but you know, and I've been a Phillies season ticket holder, so I've been to a bunch of Phillies home openers in that ballpark, and so I thought it would be interesting to go and just see what it was like a game in a totally empty stadium and drawn some of my experiences from past traditions the Phillies have had an opening day and uh, you know times have been in that park and just wrote about it, and you know, it was it was very weird, uh, being an empty ballpark. And I'm not alone, you know, a million people have now written that story from various parks across the country. But it was it was just very interesting to see it. And I'm sure baseball and football are different and so the experience of seeing a game with no fans will be different. But it was definitely very weird just being in an empty, uh ballpark and watching a game there, and uh, you know, I'm glad I had that experience and got to see it. You know, we were basically confined to the press box, which was open air and socially distant. They had us everyone in assigned seats two seats away from the next person over, and they had exes of tape on the table so you don't get too close, and everyone had their masks on for most of the game, unless you know, take it off to take a quick sip of water or whatever. Um. And then no, we didn't come anywhere close like people were asking because the Marlins tested positive. You know, were you talking like? No, I wasn't in any clubhouse or anything. And I didn't see any player or staff or whatever. They had postgame availability over zoom, everyone in the press box pulling up zoom to do the interviews. So you know, I feel safe if I did. I got tested after the game. I haven't gotten my results back yet, which is a whole other story. Um. But you know, I felt like it was safe to go, or else I wouldn't have gone. And I did think they did a good job. You know, I got a temperature scan on my way in and sat basically, you know, socially distanced away from people watching the game in front of me. Um. But you know, just it's it's a it's a very weird experience, um, being in an empty stadium and watching a baseball game. What was the weirdest thing about it? Um, I mean the the well, the weirdest thing was the JumboTron putting up make some noise graphics and that was the lead of myself like like, why did you like, why did they do that? I don't know. I mean it was the seventh bitting and they didn't do that the whole game, But I saw that. That was the moment that it hit me like what the hell are we doing? You're like, who is that for? And so that you know, you're sitting there and you guys know this feeling sitting there and you've you've got observations and anecdotes, and you're like, well, what's like my story? And I saw that and I was like, that's the first sentence of my story. It just has to be. So that was the weirdest thing. But I mean, it was just obvious how low energy it was. You know, usually the home team is down by two runs in the eighth inning and the tying run comes up to the plate, and opening day it's a sellout and you've got rally towels, and it was just, you know, it's just quiet and empty. And so I actually I wrote a little bit about how everyone's calling the sixty game season a sprint, and it is, but I wrote about how for the players it's still going to be a grind and it's still sixty games in sixty six days, and there's no crowd energy to feed off of, and it's still you know, for being empathetic for these players, it's gonna be long and uh, kind of a grueling experience for them. They're still traveling and getting tested and worrying about all kinds of things. So that was one of the things that I wrote about, and how the grind of the season could be even tougher when you're just playing night after night in an empty ballpark, recording Friday morning Brewers Cardinals game has been postponed as well because of a positive test. So yeah, I I uh, I was sort of wondering about that too much because I like sort of like thought like, what can I compare us to write? And I remember covering like high school sports, and so I was like, is this like high school baseball? But at least when you like we're coming a high school baseball game, you're like right there, so you at least get the energy of like the players talking to each other, and you know, like there's like it's not like the energy of being in a ballpark, but like there was at least that energy. So it's just like like I've sort of like like, where is there anything coming? Like it's just like from a reporting standpoint, at least, it would seem like it would be like almost completely sterile, like, which is really weird. Yeah, and well, the Marlins dugout actually did bring it, like and we were people were talking about it in the press box Friday night. The Marlins were loud and they were cheering their teammates and hollering and everything, and the Phillies were more quiet. And then the stories came out on Sunday that the Phillies were concerned watching this knowing that the Marlins had positive tests, and you know, it's impossible to totally socially distance, but there were supposed to be protocols to be away from each other in dugouts, and they have temporary seating in the stands for people and and staffs was to have masks on. And apparently the Phillies were looking out at the Marlins like, hey, shouldn't they be doing a better job of this? So on Friday, the handful of people I was nearing the press box, we're watching it, like, oh, that's pretty cool. They're into the game. This does feel like, you know, college College World Series or whatever, cheering on teammates and then looking back, it's like, you know, it's a little bit, you know, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth, knowing like, well, maybe they should have been farther apart and uh, you know, not screaming and everything. And I don't know the whole thing is, it's just complicated. There's so many layers to everything. I will say that the one thing we've talked about, Albert, I know you've said NFL teams want to push the schedule back. It is interesting to see how Baseball they're now canceling games, having to reschedule, and maybe there is a big benefit to starting the season on time in case you have to, you know, reschedule games later and then you can extend the season and make it longer. I know the NFL it's a much trickier puzzle with teams and rematches and and uh common opponents and things like that, but it does show you that there's benefit to if you know, if the goal is to play as many games as you can, just play games win you can, and then you might have to fill in more games later. So I thought that was interesting, Like so like Oklahoma. I think it's been and I think Lincoln Riley and Oklahoma have been very very responsible right way, so way more so than the other school in their state. And um, you know, like I so, they had a hundred I think it was a hundred and thirty whatever it was hundred thirty eight COVID tests zero positives in their football program the other day, and um, the one thing that they did that I thought was interesting because you saw the SEC is pushing the start of their schedule back right like to the end of September. Oklahoma actually took its opener and moved it up a week because they want the extra week to like kind of move around potentially, which I thought was an interesting move where it's like it's like, I think what you're talking about their mitch, which is like, we want the extra dates. We want to stretch our season out over a longer period of time so we have more time to work with, which theoretically, I guess the NFL would have because they could move the Super Bowl to any of those Sundays in February. Yeah. Just the trouble is it's hard to start early because they're already talking about ramping up in their phil No, no, they can't move up. But I'm I'm just saying, even in general, people are concerned about week one, and I mean we're also we're seeing a rash of picture injuries in baseball and so many guys because they had the layoff, and I know people are concerned that football is gonna have the same thing. So the the argument to push back week one, a lot of that is for player health and safety, even not related to COVID. And you know, if the argument is COVID is a good reason to keep it at week one, there are other reasons to push it back, and it's just you know, you're between a rock and a hard place. All right, Albert, why don't we talk about one of your stories from this week? You're a few good to have you back. By the way, I know a lot of people have been joking about the whole pandemic and how they don't know what day of the week it is because every day is the same. And I've been saying I haven't really had that problem because I edit your columns on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and it helps keep me anchored. And I don't know why I'm telling the story out loud, but I did say this to my and at some point in the middle of your vacation, I was like, man, I've become one of those people who doesn't know what day of the week it is. I need Albert to come back to help keep me balance, et cetera. Because there was a day I was like, I I don't know if it's Wednesday or Thursday, because you know, and normally I would edit a mail bag or a game plan. So anyway, good to have you back. Today is Friday. Um, I think you want to talk about your game plan story where you talk to Marquis Goodwin, who we've seen a lot of players, I think more players than many people may may have expected, who have already made the decision to opt out of the season, and you talked to Markie's Goodwin about it. And what was interesting to me is that actually we've talked about how, oh, it's such a tough decision for these guys, and it sounded like it wasn't that tough of a decision for him. So why don't you tell us a little bit about that that interview? Yeah, So, I like, I just sort of like, like earlier in the week, you know, you you see the names come out, and I just I figured there'd be I wanted to get somebody who was the name that that people knew, But I also wanted somebody who had a story that was sort of I think, like illustrate what what what some of these guys are facing and the decisions that they're making. And UM, you know, Marquise was a good one just because of he and his wife have been through a lot and so, UM you know they you know, he I think he's taken COVID pretty seriously all the way through. And they have to because um, he and his wife, and his wife was an elite athlete too, was Um I think like and this is this, this is what this is what only happens in a sport like track. A nine time All American at the University of Texas UM and tracks she was, so she was an incredible like athlete as well. Obviously, I think most people know Marquis is actually an Olympian too in the long jump and so, UM, so you know that they they're very healthy people, you know, and but they've had a lot of issues, um over the last few years. Um they've lost three babies, and um, you know, and uh, a son in two thousand and seventeen, and then UM and then twins in UM in two thousand and eighteen, and so um they have a five month old now. And I think just sort of the story was that over the course of the off season, it you know, the idea of just rolling through COVID was sort of a non starter for him, But in March and April it was sort of still seemed to them. He and his wife like this far off thing, and I think, you know, his attitude, his his feeling on it was probably reflective a lot of the country, like this is really terrible now, but we're gonna get through it once football season gets here, We're gonna be ready to go. And so March April they're monitoring what goes on, what's going on, but he's getting ready to play his first season with the Eagles. He'd just been traded there from San Francisco, and um, you know, as as April became May and May became June. Now all of a sudden, you're starting he starts to look at it and says, okay, well what do we do? And he and his wife got to the point where they were talking about it pretty much daily. And you know, I think before they really had an idea, like like gotten from the union what their options would be, UM, they had sort of made the decision it just isn't gonna work for us, because we've already lost so much, and we have a baby, and we have a little daughter at home, and it's just not worth it to us to put her at any sort of risk, or put any of our family members at any sort of risk. UM. And so before the APPTJE actual opt out was offered, UM, they had sort of made the decision like, we can't take that risk. And you know then, you know, I I know Marquis was on UM all the nflp A calls over the last few weeks, and and by the time I got to the end of it, Um, you know, it was, like you said, Miniche, just the decision was academic. It was we're gonna take the opt out. Um. And he loves football, he still wants to play football, but to him, which just wasn't worth it. And I think you'll find with a lot of the guys who opted out, UM, you know, there are there are there there. There There may be a newborn involved, There may be an underlying condition involved, but with a lot of them, these are very serious decisions and I and I think some of the reaction that that Marquis got on Twitter from some fans was a little disheartening. But um, you know, I think one thing, that one thing a lot of people don't realize about. I think a lot when the one thing when people like look at like player extra player, why opting out? They just look at it and they say to themselves, well, like this guy, this guy's letting his teammates down. He's letting the fans down, Like they don't understand like how hard these decisions are and how hard it is to walk away from football for these guys. This isn't just a game for them. Like most of these guys have put on put in fifteen twenty years of work to get in a position that they're in, and so walking away is something they take very very seriously. It's almost by definition, there has to be something very serious going on in their lives for them to take the measure of walking away from something that's a dream for so many of them. And so I thought it was you know, I'm really appreciative that he was willing to share his story because um, it is a very very personal one. I think it's reflective of what we've seen with some of the other stories. You saw Marcus Cannon. Of course in New England, he's a cancer survivor um nate soldier. Everybody knows the story about his his son and what his family has been through in New York and so um, I just thought it was important that these you know, I thought it was it's great that he was willing to tell his story to us, and you know, I think it's reflective of what you know, a lot of players have wrestled with the last few weeks, is as some of these guys have tried to make decisions on whether they want to opt out or not, you know, along those lines about people saying you're letting your teammates down. I liked how Marquise told us about his conversations with Howie Roseman and Doug Peterson and just hearing about how supportive they were, and also that it's not like he's just quitting on him and they're never gonna hear from him, Like he's still his contract tolls to next season, and he still has the Eagles playbook, and I forget if he's going to sit in one all You're like, I don't if he's gonna be like every week in the game, but but he's like part of the team, and he's gonna be on the roster, expects to be on the roster next year. He's not like they all understood the decision and that he's still part of the franchise. And I thought it was really to me, it was like it was good to hear that how he didn't try to talk him out of it, you know, and met you're an Eagles fancy, you know this like like the whole idea of having like a speed receiver was a big deal for the Eagles this offseason, right, Like, so they had a roll carved out for him, they trade for him, um, and so this was like a point of epans is they drafted one too, and Jalen Reagor, and so I it was cool to hear like that how he didn't try to talk him out of it, and that Doug Peterson talked about his own you know, beliefs on the like, like his own faith and everything. I just thought, like the fact that there wasn't somebody that tried to talk him out of it, that's good too, you know what I mean, because they let that they they made sure like, hey, listen, dude, don't worry about us, We'll be this is your decision. Yeah, and I will say, as as an Eagles fan, I was I'm I fully support him opting out. I support anyone who wants to be safe. And it was nice to hear that reaction from those guys because you know, so many of these teams have so many issues behind the scenes, and a lot of times, as a fan, you want you want to be rooting for good people, and many of us are not in many sports, or that's the players themselves with people in the front office that and you know, we never know the full story, but like, this was nice to hear, Like I was happy to hear that that the team was supportive and everything, and um, and you know it's fine. Carson Wentz can throw to anybody, as we learned on the stretch last year. But yeah, no, I was happy to see it. And um, you know, it seems like everyone handled it. And I think that's true around the league too, that a lot of these teams seem to be that you know, they totally get it. Um, this is completely unprecedented, but it makes sense, and uh, you know everyone's dealing dealing with it, and you know, everyone's lives have changed the same way we all have, and everyone's watching the news and seeing and um, you know, glad people are being smart. Yeah, it's going to be stressful for those who choose to play, you know, for a lot of different reasons. Among them that like, there could be stops and starts in the season we're seeing with like the Marlins and baseball is going through. There's going to be difficult decisions along the way and changes in schedule, and so there's a whole additional roller coaster ride in you know, along with the health concerns and need additional protocols. So if you if you play this season, you have no idea exactly like what that is going to entail in a lot of ways, I think, yeah, And I think that that probably played into the rash of Patriots that walked away, honestly, Jenny, because I think that there are a bunch of those guys like high Tower and Chung are probably the two best examples of it, but guys who have like one of them has a new born, the other one has a kid in the way they're in their thirties, they've made a ton of money, they've been responsible with their money, and they have rings. Like you can certainly see where a guy would in that position would look at exactly what you're talking about, Jenny, Like, hell is that I don't want to do that, you know what I mean, Like like I'm good, Like I like, I'll come back and give it a try next year, Like I don't. I don't need to go through all of that. And I think that that's probably where, you know, like it's it's like anything else, like people who have financial security, who've reached the level a certain level of accomplishment, have more i think freedom to make decisions, um, you know in situations like this. Yeah, I mean that's always there's going to be that gap, right, and there are some people who feel like they can't opt out. But good for the union for negotiating a way that allows people to have this choice, um and being a pretty good spot if you do, you know. Um, so I think that was a real, real positive way to kind of make sure that players have the choice. But yeah, I mean, if you're at the end of your career or you're a rookie, you don't feel like you have the same options probably, um, but at least you know those who, at least some are extra sizing the option that is available to them. I will say this too, I think it's good that some guys like that were notable names, like like a Good when other players have heard of him, High Tower, other players have heard of him, Nate Solder, other I think it was good that some of these guys made those decisions. And I think Laurent Duveni Tardif above all of them because he's the one who's an actual doctor, right, Um, but I think all of them, like, I think the fact that you had some big names come out early and do this, to me, that was really good because it gave everyone else cover, you know what I mean, Like now that you've had some like Dante high Tower is a freaking captain, you know what I mean. Like he's a captain of a three time super Bowl champion. So if there's some other guy in another place who wasn't completely comfortable with it, Like it's really hard to say, oh, you're letting your teammates down, dude, when there's somebody like high Tower over there who's opting out. So I think that that was one positive here is that some of these guys who are high profile making the decision you quickly at least gave guys cover to think about it if they weren't comfortable with going forward with the season. And also the players, high profile players supporting the guys who are doing it, like Patrick Mahomes coming out and saying that he supports Tardif and then uh, Damian Williams opted out, And like the fact that the high profile guys who are playing are backing up that message and saying, no, they're not letting us down. We're happy for them. Like that's that's just as important because you know they Patton, who's a bigger name of Patrick Mahomes, you know, Tom Brady, Sure, but like Patrick Mahomes coming out and supporting his teammate, that says a lot, and that echoes through thirty two locker rooms saying, hey, we're gonna you know, we're gonna support guys who make these decisions. And it also it squears with the trend we've seen that so many guys are walking away from the game completely and retiring early for all kinds of reasons. So you know, in that respect, it shouldn't be surprising how many guys are willing to take a year off in the middle of their career because we are seeing that it it is becoming more common people who could physically play and would have a spot on the roster to decide. You know, hey, no thanks, I'm good for now. Yeah. Absolutely, so I'm going to take over the role of point guard briefly. Um, while we were on our break from the Weekend Review podcast, Mitch wrote his NFL Octopus Awards and year and review. It was a big year for the octopus, Mitch. Year for the Octopus made it all the way to a prop bet for the Super Bowl on if there would be an octopus in the game, which there was not, But this was a big moment in Super Bowl week when the octopus was featured on TV it was being discussed as a bet for the game. Um, how do you remember when you first saw that or how do you were feeling when you first saw that? Mitch, So, yeah, it was it was a big moment. It was during Super Bowl media night. We were at of all places on earth, we were at Marlins Park. We're talking about the Marlins on this podcast. That sounds like it's like ten years ago now. But we were all at Marlin's Park and I got some tweets and texts and they were like, Mitch, they're talking about the octopus on the Daily Wager on ESPN. I don't think it was on ESPN proper. I think it was on one of their streaming channels or ESPN two or something. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe it was. I'll just tell people it was on ESPN. But people started sending the screenshots and it was like, they are talking about this on TV. And I was like, you know, I'm busy. I'm trying to talk to Harrison Butcker here, like, give me a magna. I can't process all of this. I was tracking down both of the backup quarterbacks. Um No, it was very exciting. I should probably back up and explain what the octopus is. Oh yea up. I just felt like it was, you know, widely known, I like to think, but for the book in in Vegas, I think you're we're good, right, match, Well, I think so well, and we've talked about it on this podcast before, maybe not this one, but during the season, I did the Friday Gambling Show with Gary Grammling and Jimmy Traina and we would talk about the octopus frequently. But so basically, it's when a player scores a touchdown and then the same player scores the two point conversion. And this happened Tori Smith did it in and I noticed it while I was watching the game, and I just tweeted, like, there should be a name for this, like what do we call this? I like it? And then it was one of my friends who suggested the octopus, and I said, yeah, that's perfect, We'll call it the octopus um. And then I wrote an article about it last year, sort of coining the phrase, and I wrote about the history of it and I listed thanks to some help from Pro Football Reference, I got a list of every octopus ever and found out that Todd Gurley and Randy Moss had the career record with three each, and Bryce would our graphics guy made this great graphic of like Todd Gurley reaching an octopus across the pylon, and so I just wrote this thing and then it took off a little bit, and it was very fun because then during the season I was obviously watching for it. It's just become habit now that when the team lines up to go for two. My eyes just and like, okay, where is the guy who scored the touchdown? And like, let's see it happened here. And people were tweeting in the all season whenever it was close or if they saw one, and it was just a lot of fun. And then Caesar's made it a prop bet, like you said, Jenny, and so I thought that was going to be the highlight. I was like, wow, we've made it. What the crazy thing? Talking about a big year? It ended up being really popular. It was the It was Caesar's biggest liability of any prop bet on the board because everybody no one's gonna bet no octopus, and the odds are set up that people were betting yes, so they were they were going to be out of The quote was high six figures. These are other reporters were then rewarding on this and tweeting about it, and if there was an octopus it would have been very bad for them. Um, but as you said, there wasn't. Um, So it was It was a really fun year for me to take this thing that I made up on Twitter and then released into the world in and then watch it grow over the next year. We had to give out had to give out awards. Yeah, it's funny that it came up on media Night too, because that night it was actually asking Chiefs players about this play that Andy Reid had drawn up called doctor Octopus. Um, and it was like all of these routes across the field, which you can imagine when you draw it up, it looks like a lot of legs. And then he was saying it was kind of representative of his time in Kansas City and that it carried meaning to a lot of different people. Um. But anyways, back to the Octopus award. So you picked your favorite octopus. Now you can describe it. My initial um question was if the octopus you picked as the best octopus of the year was influenced at all by the fact that you saw it live. Amazingly, I went to two football games last season. I went to the Super Bowl and I went to the Bills Texans wild card game went to Shaun Watson had the octopus of the year. That influenced it a little bit, But it was also, I mean, this is a great octopus. First off, it's in the playoffs, it's on that stage, and so I have a spreadsheet tracking them where you've got the score of every game, and so some of them it's fun one of teams down by eight and they tie it, or when the team's down by seven and they take the lead on the octopus. This was a classic. The Texans were down sixteen nothing and they cut the lead in half, and they needed two touchdowns and two two point conversions, and they actually got it and sent the game to overtime. It was like a great play where Deshaun Watson runs it in from twenty yards out. I think I embedded the highlight in the story and then the two point conversion he's out running out to the right and diving for the pylon again and uh, you know, the stage, the octopus, the player, all of it. It all contributes. But I thought it was pretty clear that this was the best one we saw and a nice little treat that I happened to be there in person. Yeah, I agree, it was definitely the best one last year, and you happened to be there. I did chicken out. I could have raised my hand in the Deshaun Watson press conference after the game said DeShawn, you know, what do you think Octopus of the year, And then nobody in the room would have had any idea what I was talking about. This was a month before it was the Super Bowl prop that um, you know you Bob Claim and whoever else, the Texans media and all all the folks who were there. It would have been, uh, it would have been. It would have been a bold move for me to step in and ask him about the octopus, as if he knew it. Um. But I you know, I chickened out. I'll until I get the opportunity to talk to a player about an octopus post game. I will regret that. I was gonna say, take it to my grave, but I like to think at some point in my life I'll redeem myself. But it was you should call. You should try to get girly like. You should definitely try. You should try to get girly like, because that's I think he would actually like this. So I I tweeted, and so Todd Gurley. I gave him the bronze medal Octopus of the Year. It was a lifetime achievement. Yeah, he set the career record. He was tied with Randy Moss. He had a fourth one took the lead. So I did mention the very thirsty of me and I don't always do this, but I did tweet with the like the gold medal emoji and I mentioned all three of them, and Shaun Watson did fave the tweet. I don't know if that was him or one of his people. I was like, Sean, you've got a reply or retweet, but we did get the Deshaun Watson fave um, so they're aware of it. I did reach out to the Texans and ask if they but it was such a crazy summer and this was in like March or April. I asked them, and with everything going on, and I was like, that's fine. I don't I don't want to push and be a bother, but yeah, I think at some point I may have to talk to Todd Gurley, who is like, how how many active players are there with multiple then other than girly. Well, there's a handy chart in Mitcha's story there. But this is all time individual octopus leaders, so it's not just active players, right. But we could hang on a second and I'll pull up. But Todd Gurley is the learning all time individual octopus leader with four. He is one better than Randy Moss. So vant is to threats to girly right now, will be Davante Adams with Alvin Kamara has two, He's definitely a threat. I mean Antonio Brown like like we'll see as that's in the original article that I wrote a year ago. I said Antonio Brown was a perfect threat to take over. And then he, you know, has has played one game since. So I guess the only active guy so be Randall Cobb. Nate Burlson's in there. How about that. We gotta get them talking about this on Good Morning Football. We're gonna have to reach out you know what, I I can reach out to Nate for you. We have So there are three right, like so it's well, other than other than Girly, it's Adams, it's Camara and Davante Adams did have his second one on Sunday Night Football during the season that was an honorable mention. And it's Randall Cobb. Those are the I think, right, those are the only three. Gregors didn't scroll down far. Yeah, So I mean, I Camara is a threat honestly though. I mean Deshaun Watson who only has one, he could easily get another one, even like you know, guy like Lamar Jackson who doesn't have any money. I'm shocking. I'm with you though, my my, my money would be on Camara because of all like the like you could totally see, you know, it's just the direct snap stuff whatever it is, like the stuff that he like, like the Peyton would do with Chimara. A big part of it is the teams that go for two a lot, like Tomlin had that year a few years ago where he just went crazy and going for to all the time, like first touchdown of the game. What's interesting about Girly he is the only player ever who had two in a single game because it was a game two years ago when Johnny Hecker got hurt and they had their or not Johnny Hecker um who zero line got hurt and so Johnny Hecker kicked a field goal and so they were just going for two on most of their touchdowns instead of kicking the longer extra point with their punter, and so that sort of that inflated his totals a little bit, and a lot of it's just circumstances and who knows what happens, but so much of it comes down to being on the type of team. That's actually why I think Lamar Jackson even though he doesn't have any yet. Could be a sleeper because the Ravens and what they're doing, and I could see them going for two a lot, and and you know, I would I put it on the board that I would expect Jackson to have one next season. Okay, so that would be your like OCTOPI producer to watch. Yeah, the watch list, Oh my gosh, yes, on eight eight, you should do an Octopi watch list match. Oh my god, that this is now asking a lot for me to publish two stories on the Octopus in the off season. We're gonna have to clear this, uh with the editors. No, I think, I think I like that eight eight Octopus watch list. Let's don't forgive me if I've missed this. Is there a quarterback list to like of like guys who have thrown like our this does not count. You got to score all the points. It doesn't count. But it would be interesting to see if like who's they're out there? It's it's a it's a much bigger list though, and the numbers would be bigger. Ye, it's way easier to accomplish and to be the one. Yeah, we're the you have to be the one crossing the goal line, right, the ball's got to score all the points. Okay, that's what made Deshaun Watson's exciting. Aaron Rodgers had one the year before that was fun and a big comeback against the Jets. So anyway, this is uh, this is the only thing I do on Sundays. I just watch I just watched Red Zone waiting for OCTOPI and uh, you're welcome to join me. Um. I Now I get people tweeting at me when they see one in a college game that I'm not watching somebody, because you know, I have a bunch of Eagles fans who follow me. Someone during quarantine at one point was watching an Eagles Cowboys game from like and they texted me like or tweeted at me. Corey Clement just had an octopus in the Eagles Cowboys came that I'm watching. I was like, thanks. We didn't know the term existed at the time, but I'm happy to know about it now retroactively. So this, I guess if you have to be known for something, I'm fine being known for this. I can be the octopus guy. I mean I leaned into it. I have the octopus in my Twitter name, in my display name. Um, So if anyone's ever wondered why, this is the reason. Yeah, let's let's keep an eye on Clyde Clyde Edwards Hilayer to here with the h I think he would be just because, like Jenny mentioned Andy Reid's creativity and he's just like a fun player that I think, And I think like they're really going to go to the lab with how to use this guy both you know, both Andy and Eric the enemy. So I put like, let me just put Clyde Edwards a layer on your on your octopus. Will there be eight players on the watch list? I think there have to be. Think yeah, and like Lamar Jackson wears number eight. I mean he's really just like an octopus waiting to happen. That's gonna be the that's the tweet to tease this episode of the podcast. Lamar Jackson is an octopus. Way it happened? Perfect? Thanks Jenny, great glad I could help. Alright, should we move on to our final segment where we quickly uh we start off with what have we been up to? But we end with one good thing, which was a Jenny idea way back seemingly months ago. I guess it was actually months ago. But do you guys want to share one good thing from this week? I got mine. So I mentioned I visited my parents, but still a lot of good things came out of the visit. But one that's very is that my mother is something of a pack rat. Um She accumulates items in her basement and you know, accumulates items she thinks I might need a few years from now. But the benefit of this despite the fact that general packrat tendencies give me the shakes a little bit because I live in a small New York apartment, so like, you can't really accumulate things here. But anyways, my mother had, before the pandemic accumulated a nice supply of Clorox wipes, so, as you know, very difficult to still buy Clorox wipes. So I went home and I got a nice three pack of Chlorox wipes, which I hadn't seen in months, and so I brought those back with me to New York. So this was a time when it is good to be a stockpiler of household supplies. I feel like that's still but I heard the it's still. That's the one thing that's still, like when you walk into the grocery store, the shelf is still empty, Like most of them, They've done a good job of getting everything else where it needs to be, like even like paper towels. I don't think we have as much of a problem anymore. But those Clorox whites are like like you cannot find them, and like articles are coming out where they say, you know, it's really it's airborne, and surfaces are not the best. But but still so many people and I'm in this category to like I rented a car this weekend and went down to Philly's game and then something else I'm gonna talk about in a minute, but like the car, they're disinfecting the rental cars and I'm still I got it, and I brought Clorox wipes and I'm wiping down the steering wheel and the dashboard and the events and people who are waiting for their cars are looking at me like come on, and I'm like you think I'm the idiot, Like no, like you're not gonna give me that look like I'm wiping down this car like I don't care, Like you can wait in two minutes for me to wipe down Uh, you know everything my hands are going to touch this weekend. Um, and so yeah, I I good for you. I totally get that. That's a nice feeling knowing you've got all the Clorox wife, Thank you, Thank you. Be be judicious with those, Jenny. Um, I'll go I uh like so I'll be I'll be the suburban dad here again. And I uh, you know, childcare is challenging, um right now, and uh you know you're around your kids a lot and you're looking for stuff for them to do. So UM, friends of ours, UM who we've like kind of like got a little like almost like a pot of people that we just we hang out with. It's like two other groups of kids and UM and their parents. And uh, one of one of my wife's best friends here in town, I'll give her shout out here, Peyton Connelly has basically opened her pool to uh to us and uh this other group with this other family and UM, you know, like it's just I feel like, you know, as you struggle to find things for your kids to do, it's like other people doing nice things for you really helps. And you know, giving them the activities like my kids getting excited to go to the pool now, and um, you know, like we can't like in our town, like you actually, like the you know, health club that we're part of, you actually have to sign up for an appointment to go to the pool there, and so that that's kind of a non starter when you get little kids. And so you know the fact that like I think, I think in a lot of these towns, you've got like little groups of people that get together and are just helping each other out. And the value of having a pool right now if you have little kids is huge. And so you know, we're very careful about everything, of course, but I just you know, I want to give I want to give the Connolly's a shout out because it's, uh, it's incredible the way that like other people are willing to help you out and and and like make sure that you're giving your kids the best experience as they go through this. That's a nice one. Yeah, I could use a pool. Any neighbors want to hop in their pool for me? A little tougher to find around here. Um, you're right, I mean, everyone focuses on the negatives so much all the time, but there have been so many stories about just people helping other people and being there for each other, and that's been very nice to see. Also, over the last few months, I think Albert, you had a tweet about how COVID has the morons have been exposed the last month. I think nice, nice people have been exposed to That tweet doesn't go. It doesn't spread as far maybe as your tweet about morons. But I think I will say somebody somebody like fired me up about something stupid would happen? That where that that that was? That was not an unprompted tweet. That was I saw a couple of really dumb things that fired me up. And so yeah, I guess it was a little bit of subtweet. Fair enough. We all need a sub tweet every now and then. So I mentioned that I uh, going to a live sporting event felt like something that wouldn't happen. I did another thing this weekend that I didn't think I would do. I actually went to a wedding on Saturday, which was really nice. Um it was a good friend of mine who I've known since we were literally one year old. We've known each other for over thirty years. And you know, so many people have had their wedding dates and you plan it so far in advance, and some people have canceled or postponed for a year until hopefully when things are better, and then you've seen a lot of people instead just do the backyard wedding and have it on zoom and things. And so they were playing around with the date and didn't know what they were gonna do, and then they decided they were going to do just family on the original date. And then because things got better in New York and the wedding was on Long Island, they decided pretty late in the game that the bride and groom would both invite three friends plus their spouses, and it was a social distance wedding. People wore masks, there was no dancing. It was just the ceremony and then sit down outdoors under a tent for a meal and still like speeches and toasts and things, and you know, the bridegroom did their first dance and they had a cake. So it was obviously it was not the wedding they dreamed of having with a huge number of people, but it was actually very nice and well done and everyone felt safe there and so it was just very nice to be able to be there and um a cool moment, there was a group of four of us who we've all known each other for that long, um, and two of the guys I hadn't seen in a long time. And then the groom I'm in touch with a lot more obviously, And uh, it was just very nice to go to a wedding and like, you know, put on I wore pants, like, you know, addressed like a real person. Like it felt nice to be like a human being with a social event. Um. And you know, they did a good job with it obviously. You know, they're like grandparents there, so they weren't gonna do anything risky. This was not gonna be a super spreader eventum. But it was really nice to be able to go to a wedding in the middle of a pandemic, which they were able to do because the State of New York has done a good job and everyone was careful and did it safely. And even they had the chairs set up during the ceremonies six ft away from everyone else and it was outside and people wore masks. I don't want to give people the wrong idea, and like, uh, you know, but it was very safe and careful and it was really nice to be able to go and be there on my friend's big day and be a part of that. That's awesome. That's my one good thing. That's awesome because you hear some I mean, I've had two friends who have who've done what you meant what you mentioned, which is like just gotten married with very very small groups and postponed. And I think a lot of those people are planning on having parties next year or whatever. Um. Actually a friend who was gonna get married in Switzerland this summer and I had to cancel it in May because they had to cancel in May because they weren't allowing US citizens in. So I think a lot of people are like facing these sorts of situations. So it's that's awesome that they could actually do something with more than just family there. Yeah, and they did have the zoom set up, and I know a lot of people did watch their people from farther away or couldn't travel, or just given the limited numbers, we did say we owe him a bachelor party. This is gonna This is my theory that I think you're gonna see just a wave of bachelor and bachelerette parties after the fact. Like I think that's just people are gonna be ready to get out and go on vacation. I think in the next year you're going to see people with upcoming weddings and weddings that have passed phase out this our tradition, or maybe the wedding industry kind of constructs a little bit, which I think is pretty nice. Trust me, Trust me, I paid for a wedding like it is, like it's like college tuition. It's like, I think there's gonna be some things reevaluated after all of this. So I mean, as a bride'smaid, I've spent thousands of dollars on friends weddings. So I hope that the industry constricts a little bit. I think that's more in line with like what wedding should be. It is just like a few people that you really care about, you know. Yeah, it's it's um, it's yeah. Like I said, like, I think a lot of things coming out of this, We're gonna look at the numbers of some of the things and like what we've been spending on, and it's just it's it's crazy, it's absolutely it's yeah. So we don't need to turn this into something that is not right. Right. We're an hour endo the podcast at this point anyone who's still listening to us as a big loyal fan of the show. Alright, well this has been fun. As always, never know exactly what we're gonna end up talking about here on the Weekend Review podcast. Um but Jenny Albert, this was a fun one and hopefully we'll have Connor back when we do this again next week. And so thanks everyone for tuning in listening. Make sure you subscribe to the emmett to the what's it called the mm QB NFL podcast? Is that what it's called? Now I'm having we're doing it in the morning. Usually we do this in the afternoon, and I'm more a learned I don't know, Um, it's not that early in the morning anyway. Subscribe to the podcast. We'll get shows five days a week. You'll get the week Side podcast with Jenny and Connor, you'll get Albert podcast, you get Gary and Andy on Monday mornings. So make sure you check it out, subscribe, rate review all that good stuff and check out everything we're writing at the m m QB. And we'll catch again next week.