Hello, and welcome back to the week Side Podcast. I am Jenny Rernis, as always here with Connor. Or and Connor you wrote the topics this week. There are a lot of good old football topics. The NFL continues to barrel forward, and while there's a lot of uncertainty in the college ranks. We have the Anniversity of Connecticut saying they won't play a football season this year. Other college football teams are in quarantine or um players are issuing requests demands to help them feel more safe. But the NFL is is full steam ahead. So we've got a lot of football news this week to break down. You know what it reminded me of And we were just talking about this before the show. So I don't know what the name? What did the storm that we just had here in the northeast did that have a name? Isaias Isaias okay um? So Isaias got us pretty good here in western New Jersey. A lot of like down power lines and fences and all that kind of stuff. And so yesterday I was I was on a jog and I saw the caution tape that was up and the first thing that went through in mind was it be kind of neat to jog through this because there was like these trees that were down and it would make the run like a little more adventurous and scenic. And uh, you know, I was halfway through this, like I was like looping around this tree that fell down, and this guy just pops up out of nowhere and goes, get out of here. You're about to get electrocuted. And so at that moment, you know, I was like looking around and I was like, you know what, I'm the NFL. I am there's danger everywhere, there's warning signs everywhere, and I'm just like, huh, you know, why don't we just plow on through here and uh and keep thinking about just what I want to do and what's interesting to me and so um, that's why we've got a football centric show. I mean, we're at the point now where it's so ridiculous. I don't know if any of our listeners saw them clip of the Broncos walking out into their practice field yesterday, essentially under beneath a mist of sanitary spray. Like, just the levels of stupidity that we're encountering right now to try to make this work is just ridiculous. But it leads me to believe that, you know, hell or high water, we're going to get on the football field. So I guess we gotta start talking about football. Jenny. Yeah, I was very skeptical about how this actually was working. I mean, it would contact you know, maybe fifty of the surface area in a person's body, but it wasn't like being you know, rubbed in, or it wasn't like, you know, how much are you actually you know, how much of the disinfectant is actually getting onto your skin and being rubbed around? And I don't know. It was a strange visual to see. Lots of strange visuals this year. And the photo you sent me of the spot that you happened upon with the tree resting on a power line and then another live wire dangling in the forefront of the photo made me extraordinarily anxious just looking at so I feel it was one of those weird um you know, we have a bunch of our house is just surrounded by a bunch of these really old trees, and you know, any day now, you know it's going to happen, and then you look around and everybody else just got destroyed. And then you walk out of your house and you're like, why why did all these trees stand up for me and not for this other person? And it's like one of those weird days, um that that happened. You know, it's maybe it's dumb luck sometimes you know, you just kind of step right out in front of the car and it misses you or whatever it is. But hopefully anybody else that was impacted by isaiahs is safe and and uh and snug at home and has a little WiFi to listen to the weak Side podcast because we got some good stuff this week. Yeah, one benefit of living in an apartment building is you know, in cases like this where there is some kind of storm debris or anything like that, I live in a big building with twenty floors, so they're just like on everything. So I walked downstairs this morning and there was like this cord and off area with caution tape. And I looked up and there was a small branch that had been slightly broken and with dangling and probably wouldn't hurt anyone if it fell, but like the whole area was roped off, and like by nine am people were there to come remove the branch. So I guess it's like you know, there are pros and cons right of homeownership versus apartment living, but I guess one pro is that someone is you know, there's a lot of people there to help and make sure that everything is set doesn't fall to me to handle. So we had the police. You know, the police came you know to a couple of places in our neighborhood yesterday to help um, which was very much appreciated, to help people get you know, there there's some really really big branches that fell, and just to get them off the streets so that people could get through. We still can't. We're on this kind of little loop so we can only get through one way. The other way is still blocked off. But now it's led my two year old to tell everybody that the police were at our house, and you know, so it's one of those things that she likes to the police were at our house, and everyone kind of looks at us like, well, why is the why the police at your house? So you know, we have to you know, add some detail as we go along to make sure if that makes sense to everybody. So it's kind of like when my dad used to run in Chicago on Lake Shore Drive and he would just casually tell people that he takes LSD every morning before work. May be some additional context allways helps. So that's such a good, good science humor, very good humor. UM. On that note, why don't wed I've right into our topics. Um, I'll start number one. Derek Carr told reporters this week that he is quote unquote tired of being disrespected. While this is a nebulous trope often shared by professional athletes, Carr could specifically trace some of his grapes back to his own team, which flirted with the idea of signing Tom Brady this offseason. While that will probably never be aired out publicly, to what end do you feel he has a legitimate grape? I am uh slowly starting to realize that I'm among of very small camp of Derek Carr believers. Um. You know, at first two thousand sixteen, it was a happening party. You know, I would look around and everybody was there, and it's one of those things where you turn around and uh, wow, it's it's just me and maybe two or three other people. Now and not including Mike Mayock and John Gruten. I mean, they signed Marcus Mariotta this offseason, which I think was certainly a wake up call um as uh as we know. I mean, you know, the Raiders entertained Kyler Murray before the draft last year. They were certainly, um Adaman at the combine that they were looking to upgrade the position. Um. I think that, you know, just based on reading the tea leaves this offseason, there probably was a time in the car camp that um, he was prepared to go somewhere else, you know, or it was at least feeling like that was maybe starting to become an inevitability, especially when they were thinking about signing Tom Brady. So you know, I don't know, I mean, I don't know what to make of it. I think he's an okay quarterback, Like I think you could win enough games, um to keep him there. But you know, I think John Gruden specifically is all kind of one of those guys that is always going to shove the blame off on somebody else. And I think now we're starting to see that car is the one that's bearing a lot of the burden for this, Like, oh okay, the reason that this isn't working is because the quarterback isn't working. And you, as part of this giant, nebulous, timeless rebuild. You also have to give me time to get a new quarterback as well. Yeah, I mean I think I would agree with you, Connor. I mean, he had his best completion percentage last year. He was over sevent for the first time in his career, and so I think people are knocking him for saying that he thought he played better than he did in sten when they were you know, I guess when he hurt himself at the end of the year. But he won twelve games as the starter that season. Um so, I but I think that some of the doubts or the disrespect he feels. You know, it's easy to say, oh, it's coming from the outside or the media or whatever, but I think you're exactly right. I mean, I do think there is a sense from is it coming from within the team. I mean, who can forget what happened in last year's draft when they had that work out with Kyler Murray and they gave him the Oakland A's hat and they had this hole to do and Tim Brown was there and it became kind of like a thing. And then he like posted that social media post that indicated he had his eyes on it. So like if you see that and then you know, you hear that now while they didn't go through with pursuing Tom Brady, that there was some interest there. Um. Yeah, I think your radars up a little bit. Um, So, I guess, you know, I think it'll be interesting to see. I mean, when he the news last summer that he bought a house in Vegas was a big headline because it like, is he sure that he's going to be there when the team moved to Vegas? Was was the conversation, and he here he is, and he's he's you know, I don't know. I think he's in a uh, you know. I just think he's in a position that a lot of people thought they might have already moved on from him that by now, and they haven't. So good for Derek Carr. We'll see what happens next. I guess I think that, Um, if you go back and you look at Gruden's history with veteran quarterbacks, I think that he does respect a little bit of pushback. You know. That was one thing that I talked to Jeff Garcia about when Um Gruden was openly pursuing Brett Farve, is you know, He's saying to John, like, you've got to realize what you're doing here. You know, you've got to realize the damage that you're causing. And the fact that I'm good enough to run this offense. I got you to the playoffs, or I got you within a near shot of the playoffs, and so did Brad Johnson. And so I think that it's interesting because Raiders fans right now are saying, well, look what we could have had in Kyler Murray. Look what we could have had if we moved on and we drafted a B, C or D. But the reality is you wouldn't have had the Kyler Murray that is the ascending star right now because Kyler Murray is playing in an offense it's perfectly tailored to his skill set. And John Gruden would not have run that offense, and any of the quarterbacks that you had taken over the last three years instead of Derek Carr would not be running the offenses that are successful to them right now. They'd be running Jon Gruden's offense. And so I think at some point, um, it's gonna come down to who do people trust more. Do they trust John Gruden to create something that's going to work, or do they look at Derek Carr and say, hey, this guy was pretty good before this other guy got here, and maybe we should get the coach out of here, and and wonder why things aren't succeeding now. I don't think it's nearly to that point yet. I think this thing is not even at a simmer. But um, now that the Raiders have drafted more wide receiving talent, they've really stacked the deck. Um. I think they're doing what the Bills are doing with Josh Allen. They're putting a lot of pressure on them and saying, this is the time now for you to show us that you're good enough, because now you have the weapons. Yeah. I mean I sometimes I think, Okay, X, Y and Z, we don't have these weapons. Is often used as an excuse. But I do think in the case of last year's Raiders, you know, they had this Antonio Brown to Bockle that they really didn't expect, and that was taking place when the team was kind of trying to put its offense together and trying to put the pieces together, and so it kind of catches them off guard right before the season starts, and so I think they did a really good job despite that last season. Um, so I am curious to see how they fare with more weapons around car this year. And you know, I think they could be pretty decent this year. And you know, it's always a difficult balance to walk between coddling the quarterback and challenging the quarterback, right, I think that teams struggle to find the right balance, it seems, you know, if you're interested in other quarterbacks, does that make your quarterback feel slighted? And how does that to his performance? So it's you know, I think it's a difficult kind of um tight rope to walk between, you know, wanting to show someone that you believe in them, but also making sure that they don't like settle in and think that, you know, get complacent in the role that they have. And so I don't know, if there's some hiccups along the way, maybe that's to be expected. Can I share my one Derek Carr conspiracy theory though that I wrote about last year during Hard Knocks? Yes, So I am, Yeah, I am fully in the Derek Carr camp. So and and so when when this inevitably gets back to him, Derek, just know that I've I'm in support. I think that you were the quarterback of the future for the Raiders. However, I do need a little bit of proof. Last year on Hard Knocks, you were accused of baby oiling your arms. Do you remember this. One of the players was like, your arms are super, super shiny. You're putting baby oil on them for the camera? Um, And he said, no, it's sunscreen. And then later on I think it was like maybe the next day or like another episode, and there was like clear like peeling and sunburn in the area where the where the screen sunscreen was in the arms. I think that would be something that would happen with baby oil, but not with sunscreen, you know what I'm saying. So that would be my only thing, you know. But otherwise, you know, and if that is the worst crime that your quarterback is committing, wanting to look good, wanting to look a little oiled up for the camera, I think that's You know, coaches can contort themselves and think that anything is a positive. But if I'm a football coach, I'm thinking that that screams football to me. He's ready for prime time. He wants to be oiled up and ready to go. Listen. Reality TV changes people in ways you can't predict, Connor. So it's so true. I mean, look at us posting vegan tacos online. You know, did anybody think it would come to that? I mean, I thought it was a really good marketing play delicious yet to be launched restaurant. Um, all right, what do we have for topic to Connor? Ben Roethlisberg revealed this week that he tore three flexor tendons off the bone in his elbow, which, according to Ben Roethlisberger, is a surgery that no quarterback has ever come back from. A Do you buy that? And you know, what do you think about this whole Ben Roethlisberger redemption campaign which is in full force? And let me tell you what I mean, It was never going to take much for that guy to be able to get back into the good graces of that market, I think in particular. And but at the same time, it's like, holy smokes, do we remember five years ago, ten years ago? Like this is we're treating him now like this returned White Knight hero like all of a sudden you know, yeah, I mean I I struggle with that a lot. And um, you know, I think this image rehabilitation campaign that he has done has seemed to work on some third image rehabilitation without act really like making it clear like what work has been done to get to a more thoughtful and better place. But Um, as far as the elbow, I thought it was sort of strange. And I don't know the reasoning behind him mentioning that no quarterback has ever come back from that first of all, Like you said, Connor, I I don't know. I mean, that's a fact that we can't verify. I don't know off the top of our heads. Certainly. Um is he saying that the elbow um was like bad before and like because he mentioned he had lingering elbow pain right and then obviously last year it went to a new level. And is he trying to explain that the damage in his elbow was so bad and now he's going to be a lot better because of not just last year's injury, but whatever damage may have been there before. Um, is that what he's trying to say, or is he trying to say that, Um, he's unusual and being able to come back from this. I'm not quite sure what to make of that. I think this is a fork with many prongs, you know, And uh, and it is one that he can wield in whichever way he sees fit, which is wise. You know, the in veterans specifically, and I will give I will hand this to Eli Manning and that now. Now ever, many times he was hurt, we never heard the strategic injury replacement, injury replacement in the sense like casual injury placement in the sentence thing. You know. And this is not to say that these aren't serious things. I mean, what athletes are dealing with, especially in football, is beyond my pain level of comprehension, and it affects them for the rest of their lives. And I think that they should be open to talking about it if it helps them. Um. But you know, there is that veteran sense that you know, you just pepper this in a little bit sometimes and it it serves a dual purpose. Like you said, it either excuses something that happened in the past, excuses something that might happen in the future, or bolsters your your your legend or whatever it is. You know, I think that there is sort of a reason this stuff gets out there, you know, Okay, right, No, I I agree with that, and I guess I'm not sure what to make of him for this season. You know, he did mention he's in better shape and weighs less than he has in several years. Um, and I guess there's a possibility of coming back refreshed. I just think if you're a quarterback and you're coming back from a surgery where three tendons tore off the bone in your elbow, I would say there would be cause for concern. He did say he he gave he gave up the beer. I did hear that. He did say that this offseason me too bad. Yeah, we're both, we both we both made that lifestyle change. So like, my elbow feels pretty good. Yeah, you think you could make it through a or you know who has the ultimate upper hand in this now that this flexor tendant stuff is out there, is Kevin Colbert to say, Okay, then stop yelling at me for drafting Mason Rudolph because it was the right decision. If this was that serious and you're lingering elbow paying was that bad, then I should have been drafting quarterbacks every year, you know. Yeah, you had every right to do that. Yeah, absolutely, And the Steelers also didn't bring in any veteran backup right, They're they're sticking with Mason Rudolph as the backup, so they probably have some level of confidence and that Ben will be able to return from this elbow injury. And he says he has several moral lombardis to win, So it seems like they're all in on that for now. Definitely, all right, what do we got for a topic? Number three? Amari Cooper said he expects the Dallas Cowboys to have three one thousand yard receivers in which is the perfect thing to say in the preseason during a pandemic when you're not counting on things being remembered. Always good with the topics, Conner Still, expectations are high for this Cowboys team. Are you buying into the height? Uh No, I'm not, um, because it seems like they don't have their house in order. Their quarterback is still on the franchise tag, which I think is absolutely ridiculous. Um, And and we don't know. I mean, it's the same offense, yes, that they ran last year, but um, it's Mike McCarthy, um who's theoretically calling the plays or you know, has a heavy hand in this. And here's what I want to know before we get too deep into this. Um McCarthy told our former boss Peter king Um while he was Peter was kind of inside Mike McCarthy's um offseason restructuring his head coach. And one of the things that he said was he wanted to be the most analytically forward coach in the NFL. He was gonna bring in a department of mathematics and build out his analytics and uh, you know, have the biggest staff in football bat blah blah blah blah, and how this was gonna help his offense and his quarterback. Has any of that been done? Do we know, like, do they have any of this stuff in place? Or was that just you know, he admitted in his opening press conference just saying yeah, you know, I said that I watched every play of every game last year. But that's what you say during an interview. Is this just some stuff that we're talking about? And is Mike McCarthy really any different than he was in Green Bay? And I think you and I both agree that he was a good coach, uh and he was I think the winning is coach in the NFC at the time that he uh that he was let go, So it's not like it's a bad thing in Dallas. But um, I I think I was when I was high on the Cowboys this offseason. I was high on super Analytics rebranded. I learned something, McCarthy and not like, no, I was right all along and now I'm just going to get another job. McCarthy. Yeah. I mean I think there's a level of excitement because it's like, Okay, new coach, he'll do something different than Jason Garritt. And they got Ceedee Lamb, which was kind of a coup in the draft, and so I think there's a lot of buzz. But I agree exactly what you said, Connor. It does worry me whenever there's underlying issues. And maybe you can say, Okay, Dak Prescott's motivated this season to have a great year, but they didn't work out the contract. That that effects working relationships. I think you know, that affects feelings among the team. Um, And so I think that can create chaos. Um. Now, the NFC East is really wide open. So maybe it is successful and maybe they win the NFC East and they do so with you know, nine or ten wins. I mean, I don't know. Um, I'm not I'm not saying that it won't happen. I just think that we don't have a lot of concrete reasons other than like, oh, coaching change, oh, exciting new player. The Cowboys are as likely to have three one thousand yard wide receivers as I am to what would how would you fill in the blank? Oh? Okay, Um, this is a good question. Well, um, by lightning, struck fire lightning, or maybe maybe struck by live wire that has dropped in your neighborhood. But the probably it's a pretty high probability, higher than lightning. Okay, so you're going with the struck by lightning, so you think it's really low. It's cowboys. Um, Cowboys having three wide receivers that reach a thousand yards this year is as likely as uh me being the third wide receiver that logs a thousand yards Cowboys this year. I mean, I have to I tend to agree with you here. I just was struggling to come up with a good analogy. But um, the the odds of a Cowboys, three Cowboys receivers having a thousand plus yards it are the same, if not worse, than someone going back to state college and breaking Jenny's youth swim record, which we know is unbeatable. It's been held, it's been, it's been, it's been around for twenty two years. It's not going to be taken down now. Uh so we know that. So that that's a good one, right, that's a that's another. That's a good one. Yeah. I I came up with one, but it was gonna ding you a little bit. And since you just said something nice, I think it's best we just move on to the next topic. And we missed the connpting for the days? All right, what do we got? Odell Beckham told the Wall Street Journal that he does not feel like football should come back this season. What's with all these media people reading against the sport pier, He told the newspaper, We're not ready for a season, so why push forward. Beckham is not among the high profile opt outs yet, but it sounds like the kind of Domino effects celebrity who might be mulling it over. It's all it's gonna take. And this is not to belittle anybody who has opted out so far, but you know, I mean some really good players. I mean Dante Hi Tower, Michael Pierce, Patrick Young, I mean, these are these are big names, you know, but what if Odell Beckham ops Now, you know, I mean, a guy who clearly does not need the money, has a ton of projects he's involved in that could occupy his time. You know, he's got the social justice T shirts thing he's working on. I think he's got some sort of upliment company. What athlete does not have a supplement company? By the way, I think you know everybody's kind. Yeah, these supplements are getting a little out of hand. Yeah, um, but uh, you know, it's what happens then, you know. That's what fascinates me. It's like, you know, and and again not to belittle anybody's reasons, but a non medical opt out of that caliber I think would be significant. Yeah, yeah, I agree. So the deadline for NFL players to opt out of season is Thursday at four pm. So our podcast is running on Thursday. So, um, if you're listening before this deadline, I think that will be interesting. In the hours leading up, are there more players who are still mulling it and might decide one way or the other? Um? But yes, I agree Connor, that would be the really high profile star that could change a lot of minds. Um. By the way, how ridiculous is it that the money is a salary advance? Right? It's just like I was thinking about that, and you know, so if you're Odell Beckham, it doesn't matter, right, So you take the hundred and fifty and then the hundred and fifty thousand gets taken back out next year, assuming that you're on the roster. Some of these other guys, the undrafted free agents. It's basically just like a line of credit that you have to repay if you don't make the roster the next year, and so ridiculous. You know, I think that if I were a high profile player opting out, like maybe you get something together where a couple of these guys can chip in and cover some of these people that need to opt out so they don't have to basically get into the league getting debt to the league. I mean, these guys just got out of college. They don't need that kind of uh, you know, ridiculous whatever it is, you know, yeah, I mean it helps. It's an option, but it's definitely not perfect. Um. You know, I guess it's better than not having any funds available to get through the year, but I agree, it's definitely comes with differing as we've talked about this whole time. You know, there's just different categories for players, and everyone's decision is kind of compliment complicated by different factors. You know. I was thinking to today Connor, like the pressure that is on quarterbacks to play, you know, if you feel like, because the team is built around you, team planning for, there's so much pressure on the quarterbacks to play, um, and so I feel like they don't really have much of a choice in the matter. Yeah. No, it's totally weird, right, and you know they everyone would say you're letting us down. You know, um, you know, you're doing whatever whatever, And it's crazy to think that. Like offensive lineman and defensive lineman I think are certainly at the most risk just based on their proximity, body size, all that proximity to right in the trenches. Yea yeah, bapnia as as a exacerbating factor, Yeah sure, yeah yeah, um, but quarterbacks are not, you know, I mean, you have to have an omnim presence in the facility, you have to be constantly around people, and you know, um, I think it was Yahoo Sports who reported that, like there are a lot of teams behind closed doors that aren't taking this seriously, you know, Um, and when the cameras are off, and so you know, who is at the highest risk there. Besides the players who are smashing into each other on every play, it's probably the guys that are inten different twelve different offices a day, The guys who have to meet with a million different people, the guys who are staying late to play catch with people and touching the football and everything's coming back and forth. I mean, you know, quarterbacks are you know, I don't know. I agree with you. I think that there's an awful lot of pressure on them to to make sure that they're out there, which is is crazy. Yeah. You know, we saw Matthew Stafford's wife Kelly posted a message about his apparent false positive test, and you know, that's kind of what got me thinking on like the stigma around a positive COVID test, especially if you're a quarterback, on the pressure to play. I will say, the overall tone of her her posts surprised me a little bit. Um, false positives can happen in a lot of testing situations, and that's unfortunate, But you know, I think it's better to be, you know, have a protocol in place. Where if there is a false positive, you have to act like it's a positive until you know otherwise. Um. And you know, uh, I feel like there are some uncomfortable parts of this process, but you need rigid protocols in place to have the best chance of keeping safety up. So, um, that was definitely lucky. Is your husband to have an immediate result COVID tests. He got what he's had four COVID tests Like that would take the average New Yorker six months to get back for COVID test results, right, you know, it was kind of interesting. I mean she said they already knew that it was a false positive when she was like out with her kids like twenty four hours later. Um, but I don't know. I mean you can imagine that that doesn't people are kind of wondering, like, okay in New York, if I get a COVID test to take more than fourteen days and then like, how do you know it's a false positive? Like um? So um, I don't know. I felt like, on the one hand, I could really I thought that what she described of the pressure on a family and the concern over a positive test and the public pressure would be difficult. And I thought about that, But then I also thought we shouldn't be speaking out against rigid protocols. We should be speaking out when protocols are not rigid enough. Totally. Yeah, I totally agree. Um, but you know, as I said, it's not gonna matter. I'm still of the opinion that we're not gonna have a football The week Side podcast is gonna be banging in October when we're just going over what kind of Halloween candy we're going to give out socially distant Halloween candy? We can't even do that. I don't even know if trigger treating will be a thing this year. No, right, probably not. Probably what you would do is you'd leave the ball out, leave the ball, right, But people feel comfortable with that. I mean, I guess, so, I don't know, like a new sanitizing your bag of candy. Don't know, that's a good question. I wonder if it'll be like Halloween walks through the neighborhood where people like set up displays in their yard, you know what I mean? More so that than like, actually we're a big display, uh family. We have the we have the graves, and then some of the graves have ghosts that come out of it. I would not do well. I just get very I get startled very easily. It's not evening scared. I just like react to things. And it's like a very bad traits because like I'll just you know, someone will come into an elevator and I'll be like oh, and it's just not it makes it very uncomfortable for all parties involved. I think that would mean that years ago, like, um, the Rentists clan was definitely in some type of leadership position then, right, because that is in innate form of like alertness that was required for like you know, the tribes, you know, and you're fending off attackers at night and stuff like that. So you know that was that was a very valuable commodity some point in time. All right, fair enough, Um, all right, what do we have for five? Topic five? Davante Adams through his hat into the Bang the GM ring this week, telling reporters we were all expecting to have a receiver drafted but that wasn't the case, and he said that won't affect Aaron Rodgers. But you have to wonder, is this issue dead or now that we're just starting to talk to all the Packers players, is it just beginning to surface, like, what the hell is this guy doing here? We need another wide receiver. I don't think it's dead. And I think this was probably the receiver kind of stumping first quarterback a little bit, because Aaron Rodgers had comments that recently ran on a podcast on The Ringer Um about pouring some tequila on draft tonight and then getting all these calls asking how he was, and he like named all of the receivers that were still available and which ones he thought they liked, and surely we're getting this person or this person. Um. Yeah, So then I think if you're hey, I think it's kind a smart play by Adams. You know, you back your quarterback publicly stump for him a little bit. Um. But yeah, I think we're going to hear some more of this. I mean, I think now it is like when things kind of come to a head, right because you're together and like you're you're in the room together, you analyze all interactions between the coaches and the new quarterback, and you get frustrated when you don't have another target out there. You know where we're at in the timeline right now of the Aaron Rodgers frustration reveal is we are now probably three to four weeks away from the in depth one on one interview where he fully describes his frustration and happiness right like, there's the hinting, there's the winking, there's the maybe I'm upset but I'm okay, and then there's always that little one on one interview that comes out like last year with the Audibles and boom, like it's it just detonates, you know. So we're just we're crawling towards the big Aaron Rodgers reveal. I think at some point when he's gonna let us know exactly how unhappy he is. But by the way, this might be an unpopular point. And I think he's one of the three best players in the NFL right now and still one of the certainly one of the three best quarterbacks in the NFL. But doesn't all this stuff that's happening sort of legitimize Matt la Fleur's reason for wanting another quarterback like your receiver like feels the need to politically cozy up to Rogers to make sure he knows he's on his side, while Rodgers is meanwhile talking about all their draft evaluations of all the other receivers that they liked, Like Lafleur is probably sitting in his office and saying, this is exactly why I want somebody else like you scare the ship out of me to have me on the roster. Have you on the roster. You're like, you're very smart, calculated dude, and I don't need that right now. Yeah, you know, I remember growing up, my dad would always talk about like politics in the workplace. I mean, like, you know, people operators and people like you know, with machinations and all the you know, all the dynamics, and I just never understood, like I didn't understand what this meant. And like, you know, now you grow up and you see how workplaces work, and you're like, oh, this is going on with Packers. You could see what's going on in any workplace, right, Like, there's definitely like different directions, different factions, new boss, you know, So like, yeah, I can kind of relate to like Adam's posing up to his quarterback. But yeah, I agree, I mean some of the some of Rogers comments to that we're distinguishing him from the far of comparisons, right saying that he is. Rogers has publicly stated that he wants to play into his forties, and he hasn't flirted with retirement in the same way that Brett Farve had. So he was really, um, really driving the point home that he doesn't plan to go anywhere and if they have other plans, then um, too bad for them. Essentially, Yeah, it's so weird. I mean, should the Packers have done it? I think we're both well, I don't know. I don't know if we're both in agreement. I think the pick was fine. I think it's one of those things that you're going to do. I think that the whole narrative about him never having enough talent is is a little difficult to stomach. I think they've done a good job drafting around him. Was um, the previous GM a little averse to high profile free agents? Yes? And did did did that maybe hurt maybe? But were they always just one player away? I don't know, you know, I think that's a hard thing to quantify. But I don't know. So things are Things are gonna get interesting in Green Bay. Um, and uh that should be like uh um. A couple of years ago, I wrote the blueprint for a first time head coach, basically how to weasel your way out of getting blamed for anything. Um, but maybe the next insider piece there is the Aaron Rodgers countdown to the reveal, you know, the the I'm upset, Um, So it'll be like the three steps of the Aaron Rodgers I'm angry uh thing there. Maybe we can get that popping. You know, we're gonna need some content you know, yeah, We're gonna need some content that makes for some good, good content. UM. All right, what do we have for this week's oracle connor? Um? You know, nothing uh spectacular, But I do think that, UM, one of the things that I will say, and this is probably the most accurate um prediction that I'm ever going to make on this show, and that is that next week, you guys are gonna want to tune in because we have some bangers to discuss. We have some magazine bangers to discuss. Um. We potentially have a Jenny on the cover situation here UM that we get to discuss, which I'm very excited about. So I don't know, I'm just gonna leave it at that, But my oracle prediction is that next week, UM, and the next magazine and the next week of online football related content is going to be very good, and I think everyone will be very very happy with SI dot com and the SI magazine. That's a good tease, and that is an oracle that you you know, you already know what's in the work. So this is a very safe oracle. Good job, Connor, I like it is. The rent Is consensus about we're recording this on Wednesday five, which means we are seven hours and fifteen minutes away from the Married First Sight group chat um that we're going to get together and talk about our favorite reality show. I got some uh movie theater butter popcorn that I'm I'm getting ready and I think we're gonna do a pizza tonight, so very very excited for that. I'm super excited as well. I'm now very into it despite my early skepticism. Last week when you created the group chat bringing together all of these different people, you wrote that they are the biggest fans you know of Merried at First Sight, And my sister texted me like, I didn't know you were a big fan, Jenny, because you know, I hadn't really watched before, and so I said, yeah, what what time does it start again? Like totally earnestly and she was like, there's my point, eight pm. It starts, she informed me, So I will be there tonight again at eight pm. My rent is consensus is not about that, because I still need to like get to know the characters a little bit before I make any predictions about what's going to happen. But um, I think this is all initiative by the Rams and less Snee. They will start a scouting fellowship for ten female and minority candidates who want to pursue careers in scouting and football ops. And I think this is a great step forward. You know, we've seen um the Bill Walsh Um fellowships with teams. UM. This year, every team will have to have a season long intern um and coaching, and I think opening up to ten interns on the scouting side is a really important step. Basically, all people have been saying is give everybody the same opportunities to network that don't depend on your dad having worked in the business, or don't depend on what school you went to, right, So basically just creating opportunities for people who are talented and have the right skill sets to meet decision makers and to be in rooms where people are getting hired or people are learning, learning how to break into the league. So I think this is a great step. It's really our ten is a big number, and that's a big opportunity for a lot of people to spend some time with a really good team. So I look and look at what happens when you know, you diversify your organization. You know, um, look at um when you bring in people. Um, you know, I think the Ravens are one of these perfect examples. Look what Ozzy Newsome was able to build, you know, and how hard he had to work to get his you know, to climb that ladder and to get to that level. Um. But you know, look at the Steelers, who are the embodiment of the Rooney rule and why you should take your time and you should do this, and so great job by the Rams to facilitate this and to you know, if the pipeline is going to still be as painfully stagnant, just flooded with good candidates and then you know, just keep keep you know, pushing it along, and somewhere along the line, I think the dam will break and and we'll start to get what we're supposed to get, you know, which is you know, smart, diverse, Um, you know, just a bunch of broad perspectives on the league, which I think is only going to be better for of the game that we cover. So yeah, absolutely, And to have women or people of color in high ranking positions and football operations, you really need to fill the pipeline starting at the bottom. You need more scouts who can work their way up and climb the ladder. So I thought that was a pretty good initiative. So that's my apprentice consensus. Also an easy consensus this week. Totally Yeah, I think we you know, this is one of them the producers. Shelby can't come back and bang us with six months from now, so this feels good, you know, but safe on both fronts, so unlike unlike Connor on his uh run during the aftermath of Hurricane Isaiah. Just to bring things full circle, by the way, thanks for all the nice shoutouts on Twitter. We seem to have a niche following of people who listen to us and actually enjoy the show and it means more than you know, so please keep writing in with suggestions feedback. We have the weak Side pot at gmail dot com email address. Um, but we love hearing from people. That is the best part of any given day, um at a time when I think we're all looking for good parts. So we really appreciate the nice notes in that we've received. So all right, well, we'll see everybody back here next week. The mm QB Weekside Podcast is me, Jenny Rerentis and Connor or. We are produced by Shelby Royson Sis. Executive producer of podcast is Scott Brody. Ben Eagle is director of Editorial Projects and product. Mark Mravik is a meritus executive director of the MMQB. He's also a skeptic of the root talk area. Keep up with our entire line of a podcast five days a week by subscribing to the mm QB NFL podcast for free on Apple Podcasts, and while you're there, please do us a favor and leave a rating and review. It really does help other people find the show, which is also available on Spotify Radio dot com, Stitcher, si dot com, and wherever else listen to podcasts.