Hello, week Side listeners. I'm Jenny Brentis here with Connor Or. We are back for another week of the week Side Podcast. Today we are going to start with everybody's favorite topic, which is how coronavirus is affecting the potential start of the NFL season. But with good reason. We are recording this on Monday afternoon, and there has have already been several troubling developments across the sports world that are being discussed in NFL headquarters, at the NFL League Office, and by reporters like us UH. One of the most notable is that there has been an outbreak among the Marlins team, at least fourteen players reportedly testing positive. Other college football teams are um having cases or shutting things down. The Rutgers football team was the latest to announce that it would quarantine its entire team. We also have news that Vikings head athletic trainer Eric Sugarman, who's in charge of maintaining and running the team's infectious these protocols, has been diagnosed with COVID nineteen as well. So one common thread is that all of these leagues and sports are attempting to move forward outside of the bubble. We have seen pretty good results inside bubbles. We saw that with the NWSL, which concluded its tournament approach with the champion over the weekend. We've seen pretty good results with the n b A. But baseball, college football, football are proceeding outside of a bubble. And I think this is where we're really seeing the challenges start to kick in. UM trying to move forward at a time where there are far more cases in the country than anyone projected at this point in time. I think when the idea of football resuming in August was discussed, the hope was that there would be a far lower amount of cases in the United States, and that is not the case. And so we are seeing the issues you have. You can have protocols in place, you can attempt to move forward, but operating outside of a bubble is just going to come with the challenges that we've all feared for months. Yeah, And the problem is even operating inside the bubble we've seen has had its own issues. UM the NBA with Lemon Pepper wing gate. Right, we had the player from the Clippers who decided to stop by his favorite gentleman's club on the way home to the bubble to get some chicken wings and was caught kind of on on Instagram, which you know, the Graham just doesn't line. You can't get away with this anymore. But UM, it's so fascinating because I was I was just talking to um an agent earlier today who represents a couple of players, and he echoed the same sentiment that I've heard from a couple of people in this past week, and that nobody seems to think like they think that, yes, the quality of the product is going to be bad, but there's going to be a full, um, unabridged NFL season. And I just I'm shocked that the distance between the people who are kind of inside the league and who are connected with this all the time, and then just all of us on the outside just observing this with our hands in the air, like, Okay, what's going on here? I mean, baseball is an abject disaster right now, um, and you know, basketball and hockey. While the testing numbers have been positive, I don't know how we could move forward with any amount of certainty here. I think that we're going to see a big spike once training camp starts, unless, um, we figure out a better way to do this. But this is Uh. I don't know. I I think that, uh, we're getting a little bit ahead of ourselves. I wish they might be maybe would have gone forward with the plan to delay this season a little bit and give us a little bit more of a runway. But I mean players are reporting like this is this is happening right now. Yeah, And you know there's been some discussion on Twitter. NFL network host had tweeted that there were people actively running against the season, and I think maybe people I Connor and I would be lumped into this category. But just to be clear, no one is actively rooting against the season. I think we're It's just our job as reporters to point out some of the concerns for public health and safety and the fact that we're barreling ahead with sports when so many things aren't figured out in the rest of our country. You know, there's been the lay times of ten days fourteen days for people trying to get test results. Meanwhile, testing companies are prioritizing tests for athletes, the same testing companies that are being used in some cases for the general public. We don't have a plan for schools as as the school year approaches, so it just feels like there's so many pressing societal concerns that haven't been figured out, and Connor, I'm with you. I think a delay makes sense. You know. I think this second surge is catching some people off guard, right and I think hopefully it's some kind of wake up call where people can adjust activities, behaviors, protocols. Um. But I think we needed a little bit more time to get that under control before we forged ahead with the season. And I think it's a different conversation for pro athletes versus college Obviously, we're here on the week Side podcast talking about the NFL and players can make decisions to opt in or opt out. Um. You know, they're in a sport where they're earning salaries and they are you know, they have a players union that represents them should they choose to opt out, Whereas college athletes are totally in Noman's land, right. You know, people want college football and college athletes are just kind of being caught in in the process right there. Just everyone wants college athletes to go out there and play for their own entertainment, and they don't really have much of a say or an ability to push for their own rights in that process. So I think we're talking about a very different conversation versus with college versus the NFL. Yeah, and um, you know, I think that that NFL network host, I mean that was sort of a flashpoint of the conversation on Monday. We're taping on in the middle of one day afternoon, and um, you know, I'll be quite honest. I mean, you know, Jenny and I do this for a living. We count on having football, you know, for our livelihood. So to say that we're rooting against it, I think is ridiculous. I think that just from a very basic level. I mean, I think everybody has seen the impact that you know, the media industry, uh, technology has had in the media industry as a whole, what kind of shape the media industry is in as a business. We would love football, Um, you know, football is great. It's the thing that keeps us, you know, fed and clothed and housed. But at the same time, it's not worth the massive risk. I mean, you know, I think you and I were talking before the show about like, hey, like let's figure out school first, Like let's do the most basic things and then let's work our way up to sports. And instead we're starting at this place that is just not a necessity um societally, you know, And I feel bad saying that. I know a lot of us depend on that as a relief, um, as a way to wind down. And this has been a long however many days it's been. I mean, it's hard to account now that we've been the same routine essentially since the beginning of March. But that doesn't mean that, you know, we should we should be going gung ho and full speed ahead on this when there's so many other things that we just haven't had the time, the scientific manpower, the money, they anything to tackle. And so I don't know this. I'm I'm continuing to wave the red flag. You can. You can get as mad at us as you want. You can, you know, leave more commons saying you're not gonna listen to the show anymore. But it's just true, like this is not going away. And uh, I think we're all gonna be in for a big surprise either at the beginning of training camp when we have these little micro outbreaks, or be when the first game of the season is seventy two to fifty eight and you're unhappy about the quality of play in that aspect of it, and you know, no, no new players and all these undrafted free agents that didn't get a chance to crack the foster and all this kind of stuff. I mean, it's just not what we're going This isn't the kind of football that you're gonna want. Anyway, I would say it's odd, you know, watching the baseball games over the weekend. You know, hey, it was great to turn on sports. You know, it's great to turn on the NWSL the last couple of weeks. It was great to turn on the Cubs this weekend. My dad enjoyed watching the Cubs this weekend. But then, you know, you see players in masks and it's kind of a sobering reminder. And then Monday morning you hear that the Marlins decided via group text message to go ahead with playing after there were some positive tests, and you're reminded, like, of course players want to play, this is their livelihoods, this is the game that they're playing. But then you think about the fact that these decisions are just kind of being made on the fly, Like that was pretty jarring to Reeve Connor that you know, a group text chain determined if the if the Marlins Phillies game would would go ahead as planned. Um, and also some of the rules that you know, the NFL and NFL Players Association, Like, I think they did a lot of work together to get to a place where they were comfortable. Players and the league, you know, agreed on protocols, they agreed on the economics, and there was a lot of progress made over the last week. But reading over some of the rules about like the restrictions, is just a reminder of how hard it is to control things outside the bubble, right, Like I think Mike Floria Pro Football Talk reported, you know, players can't go to indoor nightclubs, indoor bars except to pick up food, indoor house parties with fifteen or more people, But like, is a house party with ten people okay? And what if some of those other people are not players and they've been going and living their daily lives or taking kids to school, or maybe their teachers or essential workers and other realms. So it's just so many factors that are hard to control outside the bubble, or if you don't have a bubble. And um, I think that you know, they're obviously trying to do everything they can, but today Monday has really been a sobering reminder of of the hurdles to having sports during a pandemic. Yeah, and I hate to downplay this. I think that some people have made good the similar points over the stretch of time. But I just wish, you know, and I wish that we could have done this from the beginning, just done this hard sort of uh step back and warn the masks and done the social distancing and allowed the science to take um, to take its course. Because here's the part b of it. We don't know what this is going to do to anybody long term. You know. We don't know if this is something that sticks with you, that causes permanent damage that yet Okay, you know, I had coronavirus for two weeks and uh and now I'm fine. But we don't know anything about any of this yet. We don't know about long term brain damage. We've read it. You know, there's been some MINIAU miniature studies done on long term effects on brain damage, lung tissue damage, um, you know all this kind of stuff, And it's like, I don't know, why are we pushing ahead with this right now when you know it just makes so much more sense to just take a step back and and allow the leagues to get creative, to give us some form of entertainment that's safe, um and socially responsible, and just come back and attack this at a later time. I mean, I think we're gonna look back on maybe this Monday in particular, and as training camp is starting for NFL teams, as a particularly sort of sad middle to low point in in this um, just because I think it just demonstrates our lack of collective patients. You know, I think that we're all, you know, we're all struggling with this. I mean, Jenny, how sick of you are seeing me three times a week on Zoom and you know, and I get so bored that I make Jenny watch my favorite reality TV shows and I text her incessantly from it, which I'm sure Jenny would rather be doing anything else, going out in Manhattan and having a nice glass of rose or something like that. But like we're we're all we're all struggling here, you know. But the the point is that, h you know, we need to let this pass, and we need to let this happen naturally. We need to attack this in a smart way. This is a pandemic and bottling up all these players and sending them to training camp scares the hell out of me. Connor, I'm woefully behind on watching Married at First Sight. It was that was a subtle nudge, Connor. The group chat was was popping last weekend. I had not caught up on the episode, So I am I am behind on that. I'm not fulfilling my friend to duties by joining in the group watch of Married at First Sight. But yes, I wonder if this Monday will kind of become one of these markers where we all remember that Wednesday in March when one positive test in the NBA shut down all of sports, and now we have fourteen tests on one team, multiple tests on on college teams, and we're still trying to say, okay, it's it's okay to move forward if if this is isolated, and this is isolated, and I think we just don't really know what we're in for. You know, it's possible the season starts and it becomes infeasible and maybe the NFL has just come to trying at this point. But I think there's just so many unknowns at this as juncture, and you know, it's pretty scary, you know, like you said, Connor, there aren't binary outcomes. You know, we hear are ports of neurological impacts, of impacts on the hearts, of symptoms that could persist for a long period of time. You know, you have to just kind of wonder what price we're paying to try to force a forge ahead with sports. Yea. The one thing we do know, though, is very exciting is that we're going to read some mail this week, Jenny. We are going to read some mail because we had some people right in they had heard our calls at the inbox was somewhat lean, and we had some good messages from people who had written in. And also want to give a shout to Anthony, who's who was the one who suggested that players wear names in the back of their jerseys of black men and women who have been killed through police violence. And we slipped on his name the other week. And Anthony also revealed to me via message Connor that he is a Jaguars fan. And then immediately I was like, oh no, because I'm always I'm constantly like banging on the Jaguars. So I just wanted to say that we'll just try to you know, I'll keep that in mind moving forward as I assessed my Jaguars takes. By the way, um I posted on Instagram just a selfie of us getting ready for the show, and UM, I just figured i'd let you know this now over the air that I've offered anybody who gives us sends us the best NFL take this week on Instagram, they will get you and I doing their outgoing voicemail message. So the best take wins a weak Side Pod custom outgoing voicemail message. So that is great, Connor, I hope people right into weak Side Pot at gmail dot com. Okay, so let's start with a note from Alan, who's subject line of the EMAI L was since the inboxes apparently but sparse these days, thank you for listening, Allen. This is more of a suggestion, but this was pretty good. How great will it be if Goodel justin form Snyder that the team would henceforth be known as the Washington Recalcitrants, And then he writes, I know too many syllables for the fight song, but we really like the creativity. Last week we discussed the Swamp City FC. This was sent before that, and um, I wish we had read this at the time, because we could have incorporated that into our name discussion. But Washington Recalcitrants pretty clever Connor, very clever. See, that's what we're looking for, you know. UM, I would suggest for myriad reasons for Dan Snyder to listen to the show every week. But if only for the branding you know, I mean for the free branding advice. You know, you could pay all these consultants and ath leisure companies millions of dollars to figure out what they think. Or you can get on the ground level and h and learn from the people. And the people want Swamp City FC and the recalc trance. That's what they want. It's pretty good, pretty creative. UM. We love all of these suggestions. Either way, speaking of UM, going to give myself and you a little oracle pad on the back here, we did predict what was going to happen, right that they went with Washington Football Club for the foreseeable future. UM, while they figured out a name. Our hope you and I was that they would take this time to UM to come up with something meaningful and to do the research and to pay it forward to UM the native communities that does not seem like it's going to happen. I think that was more of a pie in the sky um idealistic approach. But Jenny and I did, we did predict um that it was going to be the Washington football team for the foreseeable future. So I give us a little bit of props for that win. One for the oracle. That's right, all right, Connor? How about our next one? All right, let's uh, let's pop this up here. Um we next here from Nick Pride, who writes, Hi, Connor and Jenny, I have a potential solution to the on side kickoff conundrum, which to me seems pretty obvious, but I haven't heard anyone suggest it or debunk it. Wondering what you guys thought. Here we go. On side kicks aren't working since the new players safety rules were brought in, But those rules are to protect players running the length to the field, whereas an onside kick is a relatively safe play from an injury point of view. So why not allow the kicking team to nominate that they intend to kick an on sidekick, similar to how they nominate a one or two point conversion. Then they can line up however they want. But would not be allowed to kick the ball more than, for example, thirty yards. This way we can keep the new rule change but still have an effective onside kick option. Does that make sense? If so, is there anything that I've missed? Would love to know your thoughts if you have any airtime to fill, Nick, We're in the middle of a pandemic. We have plenty of airtime to fill, so don't ever be shy about don't ever be shy about writing it. I'm a UK NFL fan since nineteen eight six and loved the podcast Go Giants. I love UM by the way, and I think I've said this on the air before, and sure it's naked pandering and that's totally fine, but I love the r UK fan base. It is phenomenal and I do mean that from the bottom of my heart. I do think that I've said this before on the show, that the United Kingdom has some of the best NFL fans on the planet and the most knowledgeable, most curious, most thoughtful. UM it is a It is a hotbed for wonderful for wonderful fans. So thank you again, Nick for a great letter. I'm wondering if, since he's a fan since the eighties. I'm wondering if he might be a Dolphins fan because I feel like a lot of UK fans who became fans in the eighties our Dolphins fans because of Marino. And I think the Dolphins played a game over there in the eighties, if I'm not mistaken. So he signed his letter go Giants all right, Sorry missed that. Okay, Well would be a good year to be a Giants fan. Year to be a Giants fan. And you are right that um. Henry Hodgson, whom was is big into the NFL international scene over at NFL UH, the NFL and NFL network. Um was got his start in football UM for NFL Europe. But it's a huge lifelong Dolphins fan. That is a big thing over there is that the Dolphins have a very special connection, much like I do believe that the Jaguars are building, um, a little bit of a connection over there now. UM with their outreach and and everything that they have going on there, so so very cool. So this is an interesting idea. I think the one thing that comes to mind is part of the uh excitement or part of the appeal of on side kicks can sometimes be the surprise on sidekick, but there are times when the other team knows you're going to do it. So my my first thought would be if you declare you're going to do an on side kick, that would eliminate the element of surprise. But to your point, Nick, these have a low success rates with the new rules in place anyway, so perhaps that you know that doesn't necessarily matter as much. I still love the fourth and fifteen proposal like you, and I have been totally on board with that, and it's such a bummer that we're going into this season without it. I got um, you know when reports emerged before the last owners meetings, when in the Competition Committee and everyone was involved, that this was actually under consideration, um, and then we saw that it kind of got obliterated a little bit UM once it was brought to a vote. That stung because I thought that there was a step in the right direction and it was acknowledging everything that was going on. It was acknowledging the importance of player safety, but also acknowledge that there is a safe and effective way to tweak the rules a little bit make the game more interesting. But the NFL just continues to feel like um, a country club. You know what I mean in so many ways, like nothing changes. We're gonna play the same sports we've always played. We're gonna play them the same way we've always played UM, and our goal is to not stand out, not to look ridiculous quote unquote, I'm doing air air quotes around ridiculous UM. And I think that any sort of proposal on and on sidekick, I think would be such a good step forward in recognizing sort of a little bit of a broken loop in in the NFL rules right now. And the interesting thing is like the league looks for suggestions every single year. I mean, they have the First and Future competitions where they bring in data engineers from Facebook and Lockheed Martin and all these big technological companies and these people, and they pay you know, prize, legitimate prize money and Super Bowl tickets. I think they get to solve these problems, and they have a mountain of good data, you know, on on what they could be able to do with this UM. And you know, I talked to one UM, one of the guys who won the Future First and Future competition a couple of years ago. UM for his tweaks on the punt UM and to try to make the punt safer. Um and you know, he eliminated one rule and a couple other guys gave um yardage bonuses and stuff like that. But the NFL is sitting on mounds and mounds and mounds of data that they barely had to pay any money for and it's just collecting dust. And I wonder why that continues to be the case. I mean, grant, they have a lot bigger problems on their plate right now, but when the dust settles, it would be great to see them go back to all of this, you know, all this work, all of this stuff, these problems that they've had solved for them, and and actually try to put them to use. Yeah, I think that's really interesting. Connor and Yeah, I mean we really loved the fourth and fifteen idea because and it seemed like there was some growing support before where ultimately it was not adopted, but I think the there was a sense Okay, maybe now this is when the NFL gets creative and really leans into pushing the boundaries a little bit. But again our hopes were dashed. Wamp wampamp wamp. What do we got for number three? Number three? I love because it is spicy. This is exactly what I'm talking about, the heat that we're that we need in this inbox. All right from Chase, Hi, Jenny, and Connor. I don't really have a question for this week's show, but more of a prediction, or you can even call it an oracle whoa love it here? It is Josh Allen will leave and finish this year's NFL season in passing yards, touchdowns, throne and touchdowns run for by a quarterback. Complete hot take. But is it possible? For context, Chase signs his email that he is from Buffalo. Well, I would hope so, or else I would I would be a little bit worried. Chase. I would say, is it possible? The answer is no, um, And I mean I mean, okay, possible, like in in the realm of everything. Yes, it is possible. Um, But is it going to happen? Chase? No? I have been banging the table, uh for the fact that, for you know, I would suggest any Bills fan to do a rewatch of last season, a totally neutral rewatch, and to go to next gen stats, which are free, and to look at Josh Allen's raw numbers kind of mirror them over his performance in this season and then ask yourself, like, how much of this was somebody coordinating the hell out of that offense to make it work as efficiently as it was. I mean, the work that went into making this a functional offense last year I think was incredible. And we did see Brian Dable will get an interview for head coaching job in Cleveland, although not as many I think job Man reviews as I expected there. But um, yeah, I think that that was the heaviest lifting right there. From a schematic point of view, I don't think Josh Allen is going to have a bad year, but I don't think he's emerging as you know, maybe this young Ben Roethlisberger type that I think a lot of Bills fans are hoping for because the numbers are similar. Ben Roethlisberger had a bad first couple of years. They really did keep him um from trying to do too much and relying on the defense in the running game and all that kind of stuff. But I don't know if I see exactly the same kind of player um that I did in Big Ben Um as I do with Josh Allen. Yeah, I feel the same way. I think there are two groups of people. One that's kind of met on Allen and doesn't think that he's going to take a huge step forward, and those people include both of us. And then I think there's another group that's just really excited about this season and the fact that he has a better supporting cast around him and project a big leap forward. I don't think it's impossible, Chase, like, I'm not going to go that far. I guess I would say to be first in both touchdowns thrown and touchdowns run would be mean that they are the most prolific offense, right I think so, I mean it would be beyond Cam Newton's. I mean, I guess you could have like a running back that's scoring a lot of touchdowns too. But if your quarterback leads the NFL and touchdowns thrown and touchdowns run, you would be most likely the most prolific offense, right you Yeah, and you would be a shoeing for the m v P and your team would undoubtedly be in first place. Right But yeah, I mean you would you would think that that would equate um, But you know, this could be a weird season. A lot of things could happen. We have no idea as we talked about at the top of the show, how if the season will be played to completion. So perhaps it's just a shortened season, But we know where Chase stands and he's confident in Allan and that's good. I mean that presents that that Buffalo was excited for the season. And I think certainly the optimism that some people have around Buffalo that combined with Tom Brady's departure, UM have led to you know, this kind of um, this oracle. I'm sure, this wonderful podcast oracle, but we really appreciate Chase leaning into the Oracle branding that we have pushed for several months on this show. Can I do my best effort now to get back into the good graces of Bills fans quickly before we end this episode? Okay? Yes, because you you were popular in Buffalo recently, right for a brief period of time. Yes, Um, so I would say that, Um, I'm going to weigh in on your your governor, Governor Andrew Cuomo, star of the Star of the Media, Star of the pandemic, um was banging bars for serving chicken wings and calling that a dine in service, you know, basically is an excuse to be able to funnel out the alcohol. He said, chicken wings are not sustainable. Um, a sustainable food stuff. You know, you need to expand your menu if you're going to have, you know, legitimate outdoor dining. I would say that it is not true. Um. I would say, had the second best meal of my life in Buffalo. Um during a training camp stop last year at Bar bill Um had two different kinds of chicken wings. There's some waffle fries and a big ditch brewing. I p a. It was just heavenly. Um. It was. It was so good. Um, And that was sustainable. I don't think I ate again for like another twenty four hours. So I would I would say that Buffalo Ians, I love your food. I'm just not sold on the quarterback. Can we meet halfway there? I think all right, I think that's fair. I think that's that's totally fair. Yeah. But uh, other than that, you know, we're just hanging out. I mean we've got uh we're in the center of the Jamal Adams trade, you know. But other than that, not a whole lot of exciting stuff going on. Jenny. Yeah, the Jamal Adams trade was definitely an interesting one. Um. Yeah, lots more to break down later this week on the weeks Side podcast, Connor and perhaps we'll have new developments in the sporting world's return to play. There's really no telling what the next day we'll bring. These these days, it is strange to just be riding this wave, but again, no other person I'd rather be riding it with. So likewise, Connor and thanks again for are all who joined us this week. We will be back later this week. For now, the mm QB week Side Podcast is Me, Jenny Rerentis and Connor Or. We are produced by Shelby Royston as as Executive producer of podcasts is Scott Brody, Ben Eagles, Director of Editorial Projects and product Mark Mravik is Emeritus Executive Director of the mm QB. Keep up with our entire line up of podcasts five days a week by subscribing to the mm QB NFL Podcasts 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, s i dot com, and or ever else you listen to podcasts.

Hello, week Side listeners. I'm Jenny Brentis here with Connor Or. We are back for another week of the week Side Podcast. Today we are going to start with everybody's favorite topic, which is how coronavirus is affecting the potential start of the NFL season. But with good reason. We are recording this on Monday afternoon, and there has have already been several troubling developments across the sports world that are being discussed in NFL headquarters, at the NFL League Office, and by reporters like us UH. One of the most notable is that there has been an outbreak among the Marlins team, at least fourteen players reportedly testing positive. Other college football teams are um having cases or shutting things down. The Rutgers football team was the latest to announce that it would quarantine its entire team. We also have news that Vikings head athletic trainer Eric Sugarman, who's in charge of maintaining and running the team's infectious these protocols, has been diagnosed with COVID nineteen as well. So one common thread is that all of these leagues and sports are attempting to move forward outside of the bubble. We have seen pretty good results inside bubbles. We saw that with the NWSL, which concluded its tournament approach with the champion over the weekend. We've seen pretty good results with the n b A. But baseball, college football, football are proceeding outside of a bubble. And I think this is where we're really seeing the challenges start to kick in. UM trying to move forward at a time where there are far more cases in the country than anyone projected at this point in time. I think when the idea of football resuming in August was discussed, the hope was that there would be a far lower amount of cases in the United States, and that is not the case. And so we are seeing the issues you have. You can have protocols in place, you can attempt to move forward, but operating outside of a bubble is just going to come with the challenges that we've all feared for months. Yeah, And the problem is even operating inside the bubble we've seen has had its own issues. UM the NBA with Lemon Pepper wing gate. Right, we had the player from the Clippers who decided to stop by his favorite gentleman's club on the way home to the bubble to get some chicken wings and was caught kind of on on Instagram, which you know, the Graham just doesn't line. You can't get away with this anymore. But UM, it's so fascinating because I was I was just talking to um an agent earlier today who represents a couple of players, and he echoed the same sentiment that I've heard from a couple of people in this past week, and that nobody seems to think like they think that, yes, the quality of the product is going to be bad, but there's going to be a full, um, unabridged NFL season. And I just I'm shocked that the distance between the people who are kind of inside the league and who are connected with this all the time, and then just all of us on the outside just observing this with our hands in the air, like, Okay, what's going on here? I mean, baseball is an abject disaster right now, um, and you know, basketball and hockey. While the testing numbers have been positive, I don't know how we could move forward with any amount of certainty here. I think that we're going to see a big spike once training camp starts, unless, um, we figure out a better way to do this. But this is Uh. I don't know. I I think that, uh, we're getting a little bit ahead of ourselves. I wish they might be maybe would have gone forward with the plan to delay this season a little bit and give us a little bit more of a runway. But I mean players are reporting like this is this is happening right now. Yeah, And you know there's been some discussion on Twitter. NFL network host had tweeted that there were people actively running against the season, and I think maybe people I Connor and I would be lumped into this category. But just to be clear, no one is actively rooting against the season. I think we're It's just our job as reporters to point out some of the concerns for public health and safety and the fact that we're barreling ahead with sports when so many things aren't figured out in the rest of our country. You know, there's been the lay times of ten days fourteen days for people trying to get test results. Meanwhile, testing companies are prioritizing tests for athletes, the same testing companies that are being used in some cases for the general public. We don't have a plan for schools as as the school year approaches, so it just feels like there's so many pressing societal concerns that haven't been figured out, and Connor, I'm with you. I think a delay makes sense. You know. I think this second surge is catching some people off guard, right and I think hopefully it's some kind of wake up call where people can adjust activities, behaviors, protocols. Um. But I think we needed a little bit more time to get that under control before we forged ahead with the season. And I think it's a different conversation for pro athletes versus college Obviously, we're here on the week Side podcast talking about the NFL and players can make decisions to opt in or opt out. Um. You know, they're in a sport where they're earning salaries and they are you know, they have a players union that represents them should they choose to opt out, Whereas college athletes are totally in Noman's land, right. You know, people want college football and college athletes are just kind of being caught in in the process right there. Just everyone wants college athletes to go out there and play for their own entertainment, and they don't really have much of a say or an ability to push for their own rights in that process. So I think we're talking about a very different conversation versus with college versus the NFL. Yeah, and um, you know, I think that that NFL network host, I mean that was sort of a flashpoint of the conversation on Monday. We're taping on in the middle of one day afternoon, and um, you know, I'll be quite honest. I mean, you know, Jenny and I do this for a living. We count on having football, you know, for our livelihood. So to say that we're rooting against it, I think is ridiculous. I think that just from a very basic level. I mean, I think everybody has seen the impact that you know, the media industry, uh, technology has had in the media industry as a whole, what kind of shape the media industry is in as a business. We would love football, Um, you know, football is great. It's the thing that keeps us, you know, fed and clothed and housed. But at the same time, it's not worth the massive risk. I mean, you know, I think you and I were talking before the show about like, hey, like let's figure out school first, Like let's do the most basic things and then let's work our way up to sports. And instead we're starting at this place that is just not a necessity um societally, you know, And I feel bad saying that. I know a lot of us depend on that as a relief, um, as a way to wind down. And this has been a long however many days it's been. I mean, it's hard to account now that we've been the same routine essentially since the beginning of March. But that doesn't mean that, you know, we should we should be going gung ho and full speed ahead on this when there's so many other things that we just haven't had the time, the scientific manpower, the money, they anything to tackle. And so I don't know this. I'm I'm continuing to wave the red flag. You can. You can get as mad at us as you want. You can, you know, leave more commons saying you're not gonna listen to the show anymore. But it's just true, like this is not going away. And uh, I think we're all gonna be in for a big surprise either at the beginning of training camp when we have these little micro outbreaks, or be when the first game of the season is seventy two to fifty eight and you're unhappy about the quality of play in that aspect of it, and you know, no, no new players and all these undrafted free agents that didn't get a chance to crack the foster and all this kind of stuff. I mean, it's just not what we're going This isn't the kind of football that you're gonna want. Anyway, I would say it's odd, you know, watching the baseball games over the weekend. You know, hey, it was great to turn on sports. You know, it's great to turn on the NWSL the last couple of weeks. It was great to turn on the Cubs this weekend. My dad enjoyed watching the Cubs this weekend. But then, you know, you see players in masks and it's kind of a sobering reminder. And then Monday morning you hear that the Marlins decided via group text message to go ahead with playing after there were some positive tests, and you're reminded, like, of course players want to play, this is their livelihoods, this is the game that they're playing. But then you think about the fact that these decisions are just kind of being made on the fly, Like that was pretty jarring to Reeve Connor that you know, a group text chain determined if the if the Marlins Phillies game would would go ahead as planned. Um, and also some of the rules that you know, the NFL and NFL Players Association, Like, I think they did a lot of work together to get to a place where they were comfortable. Players and the league, you know, agreed on protocols, they agreed on the economics, and there was a lot of progress made over the last week. But reading over some of the rules about like the restrictions, is just a reminder of how hard it is to control things outside the bubble, right, Like I think Mike Floria Pro Football Talk reported, you know, players can't go to indoor nightclubs, indoor bars except to pick up food, indoor house parties with fifteen or more people, But like, is a house party with ten people okay? And what if some of those other people are not players and they've been going and living their daily lives or taking kids to school, or maybe their teachers or essential workers and other realms. So it's just so many factors that are hard to control outside the bubble, or if you don't have a bubble. And um, I think that you know, they're obviously trying to do everything they can, but today Monday has really been a sobering reminder of of the hurdles to having sports during a pandemic. Yeah, and I hate to downplay this. I think that some people have made good the similar points over the stretch of time. But I just wish, you know, and I wish that we could have done this from the beginning, just done this hard sort of uh step back and warn the masks and done the social distancing and allowed the science to take um, to take its course. Because here's the part b of it. We don't know what this is going to do to anybody long term. You know. We don't know if this is something that sticks with you, that causes permanent damage that yet Okay, you know, I had coronavirus for two weeks and uh and now I'm fine. But we don't know anything about any of this yet. We don't know about long term brain damage. We've read it. You know, there's been some MINIAU miniature studies done on long term effects on brain damage, lung tissue damage, um, you know all this kind of stuff, And it's like, I don't know, why are we pushing ahead with this right now when you know it just makes so much more sense to just take a step back and and allow the leagues to get creative, to give us some form of entertainment that's safe, um and socially responsible, and just come back and attack this at a later time. I mean, I think we're gonna look back on maybe this Monday in particular, and as training camp is starting for NFL teams, as a particularly sort of sad middle to low point in in this um, just because I think it just demonstrates our lack of collective patients. You know, I think that we're all, you know, we're all struggling with this. I mean, Jenny, how sick of you are seeing me three times a week on Zoom and you know, and I get so bored that I make Jenny watch my favorite reality TV shows and I text her incessantly from it, which I'm sure Jenny would rather be doing anything else, going out in Manhattan and having a nice glass of rose or something like that. But like we're we're all we're all struggling here, you know. But the the point is that, h you know, we need to let this pass, and we need to let this happen naturally. We need to attack this in a smart way. This is a pandemic and bottling up all these players and sending them to training camp scares the hell out of me. Connor, I'm woefully behind on watching Married at First Sight. It was that was a subtle nudge, Connor. The group chat was was popping last weekend. I had not caught up on the episode, So I am I am behind on that. I'm not fulfilling my friend to duties by joining in the group watch of Married at First Sight. But yes, I wonder if this Monday will kind of become one of these markers where we all remember that Wednesday in March when one positive test in the NBA shut down all of sports, and now we have fourteen tests on one team, multiple tests on on college teams, and we're still trying to say, okay, it's it's okay to move forward if if this is isolated, and this is isolated, and I think we just don't really know what we're in for. You know, it's possible the season starts and it becomes infeasible and maybe the NFL has just come to trying at this point. But I think there's just so many unknowns at this as juncture, and you know, it's pretty scary, you know, like you said, Connor, there aren't binary outcomes. You know, we hear are ports of neurological impacts, of impacts on the hearts, of symptoms that could persist for a long period of time. You know, you have to just kind of wonder what price we're paying to try to force a forge ahead with sports. Yea. The one thing we do know, though, is very exciting is that we're going to read some mail this week, Jenny. We are going to read some mail because we had some people right in they had heard our calls at the inbox was somewhat lean, and we had some good messages from people who had written in. And also want to give a shout to Anthony, who's who was the one who suggested that players wear names in the back of their jerseys of black men and women who have been killed through police violence. And we slipped on his name the other week. And Anthony also revealed to me via message Connor that he is a Jaguars fan. And then immediately I was like, oh no, because I'm always I'm constantly like banging on the Jaguars. So I just wanted to say that we'll just try to you know, I'll keep that in mind moving forward as I assessed my Jaguars takes. By the way, um I posted on Instagram just a selfie of us getting ready for the show, and UM, I just figured i'd let you know this now over the air that I've offered anybody who gives us sends us the best NFL take this week on Instagram, they will get you and I doing their outgoing voicemail message. So the best take wins a weak Side Pod custom outgoing voicemail message. So that is great, Connor, I hope people right into weak Side Pot at gmail dot com. Okay, so let's start with a note from Alan, who's subject line of the EMAI L was since the inboxes apparently but sparse these days, thank you for listening, Allen. This is more of a suggestion, but this was pretty good. How great will it be if Goodel justin form Snyder that the team would henceforth be known as the Washington Recalcitrants, And then he writes, I know too many syllables for the fight song, but we really like the creativity. Last week we discussed the Swamp City FC. This was sent before that, and um, I wish we had read this at the time, because we could have incorporated that into our name discussion. But Washington Recalcitrants pretty clever Connor, very clever. See, that's what we're looking for, you know. UM, I would suggest for myriad reasons for Dan Snyder to listen to the show every week. But if only for the branding you know, I mean for the free branding advice. You know, you could pay all these consultants and ath leisure companies millions of dollars to figure out what they think. Or you can get on the ground level and h and learn from the people. And the people want Swamp City FC and the recalc trance. That's what they want. It's pretty good, pretty creative. UM. We love all of these suggestions. Either way, speaking of UM, going to give myself and you a little oracle pad on the back here, we did predict what was going to happen, right that they went with Washington Football Club for the foreseeable future. UM, while they figured out a name. Our hope you and I was that they would take this time to UM to come up with something meaningful and to do the research and to pay it forward to UM the native communities that does not seem like it's going to happen. I think that was more of a pie in the sky um idealistic approach. But Jenny and I did, we did predict um that it was going to be the Washington football team for the foreseeable future. So I give us a little bit of props for that win. One for the oracle. That's right, all right, Connor? How about our next one? All right, let's uh, let's pop this up here. Um we next here from Nick Pride, who writes, Hi, Connor and Jenny, I have a potential solution to the on side kickoff conundrum, which to me seems pretty obvious, but I haven't heard anyone suggest it or debunk it. Wondering what you guys thought. Here we go. On side kicks aren't working since the new players safety rules were brought in, But those rules are to protect players running the length to the field, whereas an onside kick is a relatively safe play from an injury point of view. So why not allow the kicking team to nominate that they intend to kick an on sidekick, similar to how they nominate a one or two point conversion. Then they can line up however they want. But would not be allowed to kick the ball more than, for example, thirty yards. This way we can keep the new rule change but still have an effective onside kick option. Does that make sense? If so, is there anything that I've missed? Would love to know your thoughts if you have any airtime to fill, Nick, We're in the middle of a pandemic. We have plenty of airtime to fill, so don't ever be shy about don't ever be shy about writing it. I'm a UK NFL fan since nineteen eight six and loved the podcast Go Giants. I love UM by the way, and I think I've said this on the air before, and sure it's naked pandering and that's totally fine, but I love the r UK fan base. It is phenomenal and I do mean that from the bottom of my heart. I do think that I've said this before on the show, that the United Kingdom has some of the best NFL fans on the planet and the most knowledgeable, most curious, most thoughtful. UM it is a It is a hotbed for wonderful for wonderful fans. So thank you again, Nick for a great letter. I'm wondering if, since he's a fan since the eighties. I'm wondering if he might be a Dolphins fan because I feel like a lot of UK fans who became fans in the eighties our Dolphins fans because of Marino. And I think the Dolphins played a game over there in the eighties, if I'm not mistaken. So he signed his letter go Giants all right, Sorry missed that. Okay, Well would be a good year to be a Giants fan. Year to be a Giants fan. And you are right that um. Henry Hodgson, whom was is big into the NFL international scene over at NFL UH, the NFL and NFL network. Um was got his start in football UM for NFL Europe. But it's a huge lifelong Dolphins fan. That is a big thing over there is that the Dolphins have a very special connection, much like I do believe that the Jaguars are building, um, a little bit of a connection over there now. UM with their outreach and and everything that they have going on there, so so very cool. So this is an interesting idea. I think the one thing that comes to mind is part of the uh excitement or part of the appeal of on side kicks can sometimes be the surprise on sidekick, but there are times when the other team knows you're going to do it. So my my first thought would be if you declare you're going to do an on side kick, that would eliminate the element of surprise. But to your point, Nick, these have a low success rates with the new rules in place anyway, so perhaps that you know that doesn't necessarily matter as much. I still love the fourth and fifteen proposal like you, and I have been totally on board with that, and it's such a bummer that we're going into this season without it. I got um, you know when reports emerged before the last owners meetings, when in the Competition Committee and everyone was involved, that this was actually under consideration, um, and then we saw that it kind of got obliterated a little bit UM once it was brought to a vote. That stung because I thought that there was a step in the right direction and it was acknowledging everything that was going on. It was acknowledging the importance of player safety, but also acknowledge that there is a safe and effective way to tweak the rules a little bit make the game more interesting. But the NFL just continues to feel like um, a country club. You know what I mean in so many ways, like nothing changes. We're gonna play the same sports we've always played. We're gonna play them the same way we've always played UM, and our goal is to not stand out, not to look ridiculous quote unquote, I'm doing air air quotes around ridiculous UM. And I think that any sort of proposal on and on sidekick, I think would be such a good step forward in recognizing sort of a little bit of a broken loop in in the NFL rules right now. And the interesting thing is like the league looks for suggestions every single year. I mean, they have the First and Future competitions where they bring in data engineers from Facebook and Lockheed Martin and all these big technological companies and these people, and they pay you know, prize, legitimate prize money and Super Bowl tickets. I think they get to solve these problems, and they have a mountain of good data, you know, on on what they could be able to do with this UM. And you know, I talked to one UM, one of the guys who won the Future First and Future competition a couple of years ago. UM for his tweaks on the punt UM and to try to make the punt safer. Um and you know, he eliminated one rule and a couple other guys gave um yardage bonuses and stuff like that. But the NFL is sitting on mounds and mounds and mounds of data that they barely had to pay any money for and it's just collecting dust. And I wonder why that continues to be the case. I mean, grant, they have a lot bigger problems on their plate right now, but when the dust settles, it would be great to see them go back to all of this, you know, all this work, all of this stuff, these problems that they've had solved for them, and and actually try to put them to use. Yeah, I think that's really interesting. Connor and Yeah, I mean we really loved the fourth and fifteen idea because and it seemed like there was some growing support before where ultimately it was not adopted, but I think the there was a sense Okay, maybe now this is when the NFL gets creative and really leans into pushing the boundaries a little bit. But again our hopes were dashed. Wamp wampamp wamp. What do we got for number three? Number three? I love because it is spicy. This is exactly what I'm talking about, the heat that we're that we need in this inbox. All right from Chase, Hi, Jenny, and Connor. I don't really have a question for this week's show, but more of a prediction, or you can even call it an oracle whoa love it here? It is Josh Allen will leave and finish this year's NFL season in passing yards, touchdowns, throne and touchdowns run for by a quarterback. Complete hot take. But is it possible? For context, Chase signs his email that he is from Buffalo. Well, I would hope so, or else I would I would be a little bit worried. Chase. I would say, is it possible? The answer is no, um, And I mean I mean, okay, possible, like in in the realm of everything. Yes, it is possible. Um, But is it going to happen? Chase? No? I have been banging the table, uh for the fact that, for you know, I would suggest any Bills fan to do a rewatch of last season, a totally neutral rewatch, and to go to next gen stats, which are free, and to look at Josh Allen's raw numbers kind of mirror them over his performance in this season and then ask yourself, like, how much of this was somebody coordinating the hell out of that offense to make it work as efficiently as it was. I mean, the work that went into making this a functional offense last year I think was incredible. And we did see Brian Dable will get an interview for head coaching job in Cleveland, although not as many I think job Man reviews as I expected there. But um, yeah, I think that that was the heaviest lifting right there. From a schematic point of view, I don't think Josh Allen is going to have a bad year, but I don't think he's emerging as you know, maybe this young Ben Roethlisberger type that I think a lot of Bills fans are hoping for because the numbers are similar. Ben Roethlisberger had a bad first couple of years. They really did keep him um from trying to do too much and relying on the defense in the running game and all that kind of stuff. But I don't know if I see exactly the same kind of player um that I did in Big Ben Um as I do with Josh Allen. Yeah, I feel the same way. I think there are two groups of people. One that's kind of met on Allen and doesn't think that he's going to take a huge step forward, and those people include both of us. And then I think there's another group that's just really excited about this season and the fact that he has a better supporting cast around him and project a big leap forward. I don't think it's impossible, Chase, like, I'm not going to go that far. I guess I would say to be first in both touchdowns thrown and touchdowns run would be mean that they are the most prolific offense, right I think so, I mean it would be beyond Cam Newton's. I mean, I guess you could have like a running back that's scoring a lot of touchdowns too. But if your quarterback leads the NFL and touchdowns thrown and touchdowns run, you would be most likely the most prolific offense, right you Yeah, and you would be a shoeing for the m v P and your team would undoubtedly be in first place. Right But yeah, I mean you would you would think that that would equate um, But you know, this could be a weird season. A lot of things could happen. We have no idea as we talked about at the top of the show, how if the season will be played to completion. So perhaps it's just a shortened season, But we know where Chase stands and he's confident in Allan and that's good. I mean that presents that that Buffalo was excited for the season. And I think certainly the optimism that some people have around Buffalo that combined with Tom Brady's departure, UM have led to you know, this kind of um, this oracle. I'm sure, this wonderful podcast oracle, but we really appreciate Chase leaning into the Oracle branding that we have pushed for several months on this show. Can I do my best effort now to get back into the good graces of Bills fans quickly before we end this episode? Okay? Yes, because you you were popular in Buffalo recently, right for a brief period of time. Yes, Um, so I would say that, Um, I'm going to weigh in on your your governor, Governor Andrew Cuomo, star of the Star of the Media, Star of the pandemic, um was banging bars for serving chicken wings and calling that a dine in service, you know, basically is an excuse to be able to funnel out the alcohol. He said, chicken wings are not sustainable. Um, a sustainable food stuff. You know, you need to expand your menu if you're going to have, you know, legitimate outdoor dining. I would say that it is not true. Um. I would say, had the second best meal of my life in Buffalo. Um during a training camp stop last year at Bar bill Um had two different kinds of chicken wings. There's some waffle fries and a big ditch brewing. I p a. It was just heavenly. Um. It was. It was so good. Um, And that was sustainable. I don't think I ate again for like another twenty four hours. So I would I would say that Buffalo Ians, I love your food. I'm just not sold on the quarterback. Can we meet halfway there? I think all right, I think that's fair. I think that's that's totally fair. Yeah. But uh, other than that, you know, we're just hanging out. I mean we've got uh we're in the center of the Jamal Adams trade, you know. But other than that, not a whole lot of exciting stuff going on. Jenny. Yeah, the Jamal Adams trade was definitely an interesting one. Um. Yeah, lots more to break down later this week on the weeks Side podcast, Connor and perhaps we'll have new developments in the sporting world's return to play. There's really no telling what the next day we'll bring. These these days, it is strange to just be riding this wave, but again, no other person I'd rather be riding it with. So likewise, Connor and thanks again for are all who joined us this week. We will be back later this week. For now, the mm QB week Side Podcast is Me, Jenny Rerentis and Connor Or. We are produced by Shelby Royston as as Executive producer of podcasts is Scott Brody, Ben Eagles, Director of Editorial Projects and product Mark Mravik is Emeritus Executive Director of the mm QB. Keep up with our entire line up of podcasts five days a week by subscribing to the mm QB NFL Podcasts for free on Apple Podcasts, and while you're there, please do us a favor and leave a rating and review. 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