Okay, I'm just gonna come clean. I didn't vote for Bill Belichick to get a gold jacket. Mostly because I don't have a vote, but I want to make sure tough guys like Jimmy Johnson don't call me a coward. Yes, if you missed it, Jimmy Johnson, coach, husband, spokesman for Wiener Growth Pill extends, and now empath is mad.
Big mad. Bill Belichick didn't get into the Hall of Fame. Fine, sure, we need an investigation of what happened here in an overhaul of the process. But can everybody settle down a little bit?
I get a right-wing pundit slash hot taker who doesn't watch football, Stephen A and others think this is a disgrace. And yes, somebody who loves the yardstick history provides. I'm of course interested in the haul. Self-serious and pious as it is.
And as I've said a million times, you're either a Hall of Fame or you aren't. We don't need a 15-year lag to reassess the situation. Excess inventory at one position or because some senior players' windows expiring shouldn't be factors. I'll tell you what, from here on out, I'm just gonna make a list and we'll go off of that.
Or we can just stick with this biased and vindictive process. T.O. is a top-three or so receiver of the Super Bowl era, and he had to wait because he did sit-ups and some other Huey and Apple sauce. You gotta understand, Ken loves the little bit of nuance.
The Hall of Fame plus standard of not just getting in but doing it on the first ballot. Ooh, you're extra great now. Or famous? Yes, even in the Hall of Fame.
There are clicks and yes, it's varied though. Same goes for the Baseball Hall of Fame, not having the home runner hit King. Voters are being petty with the weight of some authority that has no transferable power outside this one little environment. They're lunch ladies.
All that said, I do love Bob Kraft and Tom Brady leading the course for Bella Check the Marter. Who's done more to diminish him than those two? Krabs has Bella Check's the best coach of all time. Then why'd you fire him?
You fired the best coach ever. Do I have that right? And Brady says if Bella Check's not a first ballot Hall of Famer, there's really no coach that should ever be a first ballot Hall of Famer. Okay, but again, Tom, this kind of suggests you think Bella Check is the greatest coach of all time, which you actively disprove when you showed him up by moving to Tampa and winning a title nine minutes later.
Obviously, the coach has won more than parties than anyone, including Lombardi needs to be in the Hall, and I'm quite sure he will be soon. But Brady's time in Tampa plus Bella Check's Cleveland years, plus whatever's going on with him and Jordan at UNC, all say the same thing. The Emperor's got no clothes. No wait, it's worse than that.
He's not nude. He's got that ratty sweatshirt on, which by the by is a good metaphor for what his head coaching run is. Staying permanently sure, but iconic. Without Brady, though, that sweatshirt is just something that's been around a long time with lots of holes in it.
And now, as people in Chapel Hill can attest, that sweatshirt barely even counts as clothes. Can somebody please put a gold jacket on that man and end this mellow drama? And whatever materials left sent over to Jimmy Johnson to dry his tears. Sheesh.
Let's start the show. Yes. Hi, hello, my fellow football Americans and welcome to football America. We're presented as ever by our pals over at DraftKings.
DraftKings, the crown is yours. And we are now maybe 11 seconds closer to Super Bowl 60. Then we were when that intro music played. In the meantime, this is episode 47, the football player who wore that number best in pro football history.
Mel Blunt, obviously, of the Pittsburgh Steelers also shout out to John Lynch, who has a gold jacket himself. Also, if you're an old man like me, you may remember Glen Blackwood. He played for the Miami Dolphins alongside his brother Kyle back in the 80s. I mean, how many guys are like that now in the NFL?
I guess there are a few instances of brothers, but on the same team and in the same position. They were the two safeties for the killer bees back then for Don Chula. And then Andre Keiroleco, AKA AK-47 from the Utah Jazz. Any of them forgetting their fellas?
Geno and Mike and Geno Fuentes? Keiko Alonso comes to memory. I didn't tell you Keiko Alonso before we started if you just come in and swoop him away. It's the only guy I had.
You know, perfect for the Miami Dolphins. Keiko Alonso. Half Cuban half Colombian guys somehow ended up at Oregon and now Geno just comes in and swoop it. So you know, you're funny.
You talk about brothers being good teammates. Not happening right now, Dave. No indeed. No indeed.
Powerful, powerful message poignant. Mel Blunt speaking of old man stuff. In case you don't know, I talk about the biggest inflection points of the Super Bowl era. Maybe the biggest this side of free agency is in 1978.
The Mel Blunt rule is put in because Mel Blunt, six foot four of them and all of that was too physical for NFL passcatchers. They couldn't get around him. So they had to make a rule that you could only handle the passcatchers so much and that freed up that liberated the receivers and the passing game really opened up. And as a side note, as a Steelers fan, I should point out people thought, well, that's the end of this would be Steelers dynasty because they're a ground and pound team that leans on its defense and then Terry Bradshaw and somebody goes out and wins the MVP sling in the ball all over the place to stall worth in swan and all the rest of them.
There you have it. Hey, subscribe would you? We appreciate you doing so on YouTube. The football America page is thriving.
Make it thrive a little bit more with your participation. We love the comments that you put in there. I like to bounce off of my fellow football Americans answer their questions and so on and also do so wherever you find your audio podcasts right now. We have some other stuff to talk about.
Mike Geno, soup Campbell and me have to figure out here in advance of our trip up to Santa Clara, California. I'll be there to start next week. Super Bowl 60 week, San Francisco, Santa Clara, all the rest of it. But first, let's get into the Super Bowl a little bit, shall we?
If you haven't heard, it's the Seahawks and the Patriots and one of the great voices on pro football analytically and otherwise it's our pal Greg Rosenthal. Let's talk to him right now, shall we? All right. Let's get to it.
It's the main event. I'm thrilled to be yapping with this fellow because he's been one of the more prominent Patriots fans in my life for what 15 years or so he's the host of NFL Daily also back 40s and free agents with our other pal Daniel Jeremiah. It's the boss Greg Rosenthal. Look at him glowing.
He had to wait three or four years from Brady to Drake May. How are you fella? What was it? It was eight years, right?
Seven years. But that day I tried to be a gutless Patriots fan and almost dropped them. It's never going to get any better than Bell check and Brady, you know, when he left, but when Drake May was drafted, I believe I was actually surprised how long it took a lot of people covering the Patriots to realize Drake May was the truth. I knew it last year with Dr.
Mayo. Even Dr. Mayo can put the stink on him. Twenty twenty high site now that this is not that you in the moment felt good about that.
I always liked that as philosophically, you know, when it was a Peyton or Ryan Leaf and all of that. I always have said I'd like to be have the second pick because now this avails you of any sort of blame or finger point like what did you want me to do? The only guy who was left was that one. That's what the Patriots basically fell into with Drake May, right?
I love Drake May as a prospect. Nate, I think was the first one talking about saying, well, actually I kind of think Drake may going into his last year at UNC was one A and Caleb was one B and I'm like, oh, who's this guy? So I started watching him. He's with Josh down there at UNC.
I'm like, this is my guy. I'm going to root for this guy. And the Patriots and Bill Belichick, John Payton, Russell Wilson, I believe in the Broncos on Christmas Eve to drop themselves from the two to the three pick. I thought we lost them.
Because at that point, it was expected he would be one too, then they get him at number three. And I was convinced and I think he was much better as a rookie than people realize. Like he was already like obviously going to be one of the guys, I think, as a rookie. Just the team was terrible.
All right. You know, we could dive into MVP talking all of that, but and maybe we'll have time for that. By the way, that draft class already, if Drake May wins enters itself collectively into the conversation of best QB class of all time, right? I mean, you have to stack it up year over year.
But yes, I mean, you're in good shape. It made them up. It's the best start any draft class has ever had. I know Marina was ridiculous the first couple of years, but to have Caleb one game away from the conference championship to have Bowniks haven't made it and maybe would be in the Super Bowl if he had stayed healthy and then what Jane Daniels did.
Yeah, nothing. Nothing tops that right. Jane Daniels is an afterthought already, which is which is weird. Okay.
We both care about our history and we both like playing what if that's a great what if you just you just floated there. What would the Patriots look like if they had Jane Daniels from the from the jump starting in 2024? All right. Last things first.
We've already gapped for too many minutes for this to be the first thing we talk about, but still final score Super Bowl 60. We got to get you on the record. Oh, this is the first time I've got to do this. I'll go 2726 or a Dallas with a field goal at the buzzer, the Miami product.
Yeah. Let me tell you this. You look you look positively dapper swell in that in that nanny sweater that you're wearing there. I got to tell you this from a fashion standpoint, a uniform it frowns on Super Bowl 60 if the Patriots are going to really end up wearing that white get up that they were in Denver and prior.
It's a very unattractive. And then I think the Seahawks are going to go all Navy. This is the biggest distance between a uniform matchup of what the reality is going to be versus what's available in the clock. If you would have gone Seahawks throwbacks against Pat Patriot, that might stand as I don't want to get hyperbolic the best uniform match up in Super Bowl history.
I totally agree largely because I think the Seahawks throwbacks are my number one pick. I would take those over literally any. I think the Patriots wearing those whites are the best that they can do. I've never liked the flying Elvis.
In general, I've never loved their uniforms. I think that's the best they can do. So I support them. All right.
I want to talk about this that and the other with you, but but just a little X and O analysis from somebody who's really good at doing it. What scares you about the Seahawks as they match up against the Patriots? Where can they expose or take advantage of something with New England? Well, I think they're the best team in the NFL.
I thought them in the Rams were the two best team all season. And so in general, I just think that they're a better team, but upfront, especially if you think you're at a starting point when the Patriots have the ball that there's almost no scenario where the Patriots offensive line is going to match up well. Like the Seahawks, as good as they are getting pressured, they're even better at like short yard situations, stopping them like Leonard Williams, Byron Murphy, those two kind of create possibilities for everyone on the outside. And I've been worried about Will Campbell all season and Jared Wilson.
And the offensive line and the fact that we're coming into the Super Bowl with Drake May playing his worst football of the year. I'm happy it'll be better weather, but like that could just be a mismatch upfront. And then does he get a little skittish, which he's been in the playoffs. I will say this.
And it's almost third rail kind of stuff when people go like he's got surprising athleticism. And we know that that's code for he's white when people do that stuff, but sort of the inverse of Lamar Jackson, like, okay, he could run, but let's see him throw the ball. The opposite is true of Drake May, in my opinion. In fact, he puts the game away with his legs.
Why are we not celebrating that? That counts as a good quarterback play. I absolutely did in the moment. And I think you're right.
The fact that he got through this game and I think did what he was coached to do watching that game back though. There were some open receivers where I- Sure, sure. He was not pulling the trigger, which was not a trick made that I saw all year who was playing really fast and loose. And it just reminds me a little bit of how he started his career where you could almost see that he was maybe a little tight in these spots.
So I just want him to be the free, freakish athlete that he is and kind of trust what he sees. And hopefully, McDaniel can scheme some guys open because on the outside, like when they have the ball, it looks like a mismatch against this secondary. But McDaniel's got two weeks. He's been in this spot before and I think they should be able to figure something out.
By the way, just before we got going here, I asked you, you said something about, well, I thought that may deserve more MVP consideration or something to that effect. I think he should be the MVP and maybe Stafford gets it. But as a reminder, I don't care what their two schedules are, their NFL teams. They weren't playing big West teams at any point during the NFL season.
When did it stop mattering that you're in first place versus what Matthew Stafford was, which was third place and the conversation. Their stats are approximate. So that's that. That's what I've been holding onto is that the history of quarterbacks winning MVP is non-existent if they're not like a top three C in their conference.
And the stats are not close. If you get into the really the dorky stuff, the success rate, the EPA per play, the stock under pressure like, oh yeah, just like the Hall of Fame voters are deep diving who they're giving their votes to for a gold jacket. Yes, I'm just applying the standard that's available to the one that those guys are applying here. We're not, we don't need the advanced metrics because the voters are not applying them.
That's fair. And to me, the biggest difference, not just that they're the record and the seating was the legs. I mean, that's like, if everything else is close, you have one of the most valuable rusters in the league at quarterback in success rate, like in terms of his scramble. He literally scrambled more than every quarterback in the NFL this year.
He maybe doesn't want to do that his entire career, but it was incredibly important for their team this year. And like, that's, you have none of that with Stafford. And so that that's the biggest difference. One more thing side by side comparison.
One guy was throwing the ball to Puke and the Koo and the Vante Adams. The other guy was throwing it to old Stefan Diggs and Hunter Henry. I mean, what were we talking about? Those aren't comparable either.
All right, listen, I touched on the Hall of Fame that the scandal of our times. This is what everybody is so empathetic about is poor Bill Belichick. Question for you. Is Bill Belichick rooting for the Patriots to win this Super Bowl or lose?
Oh, I see he's running against him. And why craft and Brady both stepped up and vouched and always the greatest head coach of all time. Of course, we got to give him a gold jacket. Well, because one of the reasons Bill Belichick didn't make the Hall of Fame in his mind could be that Robert Kraft isn't helping him out.
And I wouldn't. You're G.D. Right. Of course that's the case.
My Bob Kraft's having it both the ways I love that they're the ones stepping up to talk about this. You fired him. If he's the greatest coach of all time, how do you make sense of that? Well, firing was fine.
I think it was more producing a documentary extremely slanted to try to make your Hall of Fame case look better and make Bill Belichick look worse. And look, I think the immaturity of their relationship and how they can't share the glory reflects poorly on both of them. Like you would like to think if you're Robert Kraft's age or Bill Belichick's age, you would have learned something like through your life about like what really matters and like they haven't learned that. They're just petty and wanting all the credit for themselves, which bothers me as a Patriots fan, but it always bothered me when people would talk about like craft, Belichick and Brady and it's like, oh, the three guys that really brought them the Super Bowl and who deserves the most crap.
I think why is Kraft in this conversation? He contributed, but he's nowhere near the other two guys. And the fact that he, I assume is going to get in this year ahead of Belichick will bother me, but it would be delicious and interesting if neither one of them got in. Well, I mean, I have belly ate about the residents of Mount Pius who control who gets into these Hall of Fame.
And of course, they're petty themselves just like Kraft and Belichick are they, you know, they did this to T.O. They do it to Barry Bonds. They do it to Roger Clemens. They did it to Pete Rose.
And the thing that is vexing one of the things is, is the idea of inventory, a surplus of inventory at a certain position or an age group. Like, well, LC Greenwood, we got like, is he a Hall of Famer? Now what happened between his retirement 25 years ago? And now it really is Babster Isan territory.
Like, well, things so simple that all has time rewritten every line. The evidence hasn't changed. You've changed somehow. What I think you've shaved off the rough edges of reality and now kissed him, these some of these guys into the Hall of Fame, whether or not they deserve it.
It's weird. We're going to move on in the conversation without recognizing the pipes that you just displayed with those pipes of a song. I don't even know. I have to admit, maybe that's our way.
We were the way we were. We were. That's pretty good. Thank you.
Thank you, Greg. So that means Tom Brady's reading for the Patriots. Probably not. I'd like to say you'll say different.
I mean, yeah, he'll say different. It just won't feel as, you know, like I'm the only one who's ever gotten the Patriots a Super Bowl special for him deep in his heart. But I hope that's not the case. I hope you can embrace Drake May in a way that former Patriots quarterback, Greg Cam Newton, has really not done during this year.
I thought that was that shameful. By the way, Cam Newton just buried Drake May all season long after Drake May said his hero. But Brady, yeah, I think I think I'll be rooting for the Seahawks. Of course, of course.
That's got to be the case, no matter what he says publicly. And by the way, what was the Super Bowl in Houston? Whatever year that was, I had an early morning interview scheduled with the quarterback of that team at the time. And he showed up and we were yapping about this.
And that and I said, you don't want your alma mater's current QB. He won the National Championship a month ago, but you don't want him to win a second one now, right? And the guy who I was talking to his name was DeShawn Watson. He's like, why would I, why would I want Trevor Lawrence to win another one?
I said, well, that makes Trevor Lawrence the greatest quarterback in Clemson history, right? And you know, that's, you know, you have an ego, right? And he kind of chuckled and we continued to converse. An hour later, I was informed by our bosses that DeShawn had called in to complain that that was an out of bounds question.
That was really cool. Wow, which shows you did get on something, right? Because if you actually were cool about Trevor Lawrence getting that second title, you would take it as a fun joke. You know what I mean?
You wouldn't call back an hour later. I think different people are wired differently. You may be painting with a broad brush. I think there are Tom Brady spots or DeShawn Watson spot who would be rooting for that team in the next guy.
But I don't, the sense I get is Tom Brady is not that guy. Hi, hello, my fellow football, American, Drew old pal Dave here talking about living over just surviving. I talk about it a great deal. But of course, when you have a kid or four, I think is what I'm up to now for kids, something like that, you start to live not so much for yourself, but for other people.
You want to take care of the little ones in their future. The last thing you want to be worried about is what's going to happen if you aren't still living or surviving. Would they be financially prepared with life insurance from ethos? Your family is going to be protected.
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I may stumble through some of my language because as you can tell I'm a goon, but here my words ethos is the way to go for you and for your family's future. People like Maurice Jones drew, oh, I can't just put this on him. The lamest thing is when guys say, oh, I think the drink is Trevian Henderson or something like that. And they're like, you know I got to stand up for my running backs.
Why? Why do you have to do that? Jeff Schwartz on the show all the time. You know I got to stand up for my old lineman.
Why do you have to? You don't have to. Now we get it. That's some weird fraternity you think you're a part of anyhow.
We'll see if we have time for anything else, but I do have to get you on the record on this because I know you and Daniel Jeremiah are investigating this on the show that you do in this window in the never ending NFL calendar, which QB or QBs are plausible options. Do you think for Mike McCarthy's Pittsburgh Steelers in 2026? I know Aaron Rodgers name has been floated and Mike McCarthy says who won one him back? Well Dave wouldn't want him back.
It makes no sense to bring a 43 year old man whose presence announces we have no intention of making a Super Bowl run this year. That's a weird announcement to make in springtime. How say you? I think he's coming back as long as he wants a job.
Maybe once the job. I don't know if he wants it though. I think I think he wants it. Why wouldn't he want it?
I was convinced all season. I was like everyone was talking about him possibly or something. Why would he retire? I think he's going to have a job available for him.
You think he's just going to walk away as long as it doesn't go horribly wrong, which the playoff game did. I think he'll want to go back. And the fact that they're like, hey, we're going to be tough guys this year. We need an answer within a month.
We can't wait longer. It just shows you like they're going to do it as long as he wants to come back. And I don't think that's a good idea. But I also don't really have a lot of faith that they would do much better in free agency.
Okay. Well, I want an answer to that question. But of course, at least Aaron Rodgers surely understands. He has a memory that dates back a month ago that will remind him that when big guys are chasing him, he doesn't like it.
And he really stinks. And he could walk away now, maybe not into the sunset that you see in movies, but he kind of restored who he is in the NFL. Why would you why would you push it at this point? The 43?
I don't think it well, anyway, your thoughts on who the other options, if not Rogers would make some sense that are plausible. Malik Willis is the prize, which is a wild place to be. But if they wanted to, I think that would be an attractive spot for him. I actually think, you know, maybe that could rejuvenate Mike McCarthy a little like I could see that.
Um, Kyler Murray is going to be available potentially in a low cost trade. I don't know if I see like the fit there, but you could do worse. I think that's better than, than Aaron Rogers. Then you get into the morass where it's like, Oh, would you want to trade for Eagles backup Tanner McKee?
He's kind of interesting. Like there's, there's not a lot of like top shelf options Kirk doesn't is going to be out there. Daniel Jones, I assume is going back to Indianapolis. So then you're looking at the current is you think it's done.
They don't hold him to have a little competition and springtime to establish you the fact that he could go back there, but the way the fans he sounded at the first press conference and then they restructured his contract to make it easy for them to cut him. I think they're probably cutting or trading Kirk doesn't see it. Not, I mean, that makes sense to me. But okay, for all of, you know, everybody has to lead with their dim cynicism and we've been over where Mike McCarthy is concerned that this is a retread.
Obviously he's a QB coach. My common was the opposite of that. What's the reality as far as you can tell about Mike McCarthy in the year, the Lord 2026 as a as a capable, if nothing else, developer of QBs because you say Tana McKee is a throw away joke and I don't think that's the answer. No, I got a light Santa McKee.
Well, you know, the jokes that you've heard are like, well, yeah, Aaron Rogers, and he worked with Brett far, you know, like a good quarterback and Dak is a good quarterback. He did get some of the best out of each of those guys, but more importantly, where the Steelers who don't really have a QB at this point are concerned. He's done some real good work. He's some Ham and Agers have at minimum delivered the best version of themselves with Mike McCarthy.
How say you? That's true. And I think his attention to detail and like the professionalism of the offense, like he brings all that. And a lot of his strengths are similar to Mike Tomlin's strengths, which is like organization and everyone, you know, on the same page in the building, like he can run a team.
He's the face of the franchise. So I think you take over from Tomlin. I don't think they're in a rebuilding situation and you're probably not going to be losing much, but you're probably ending back up in the same spot. It worried me a little bit, Dave, about how surprised he seemed to be there in that it was a it was kind of like, I can't believe this is happening.
And the main thing the Steelers say was like, we can't believe he was available. Someone with this resume. It's like, well, he was available for the other 10 teams. No one else is considering him.
And the fact that like last time when you learned when you took a year off, he's like, well, you know, I got my PFF ultimate account and I studied all around the league and I did all this different stuff. And then this time he's like, well, I watched a lot of volleyball. My kids and Aaron Rogers in 2025. I don't know.
Pretty good to me. He was he did have a like, he got a little emotional saying that it was too short the time that he spent with his family. And I was just thinking, I don't know, third time around to me coaching is a young man's job a little bit. There's a reason I think.
Okay. But he's 62. Yeah, he's not an 87 year old man. I mean, he's and the thing that people work around.
I've seen just covering it. I can't imagine that 62. I have the same juice that I have. But the restorative quality is that it's in Pittsburgh and the people who want to work their way around that, you know, they are provincial, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
It's a great story. I'm a reminder again, I keep saying it, but I'm going to say it one more time at least. Maybe I'll say three times on this show and then next week I'll carry it over again and I'll tell everybody up and saying a clear the same thing. But as a reminder, they went to Art Rooney, Pete Rosel did and said, Hey, America's team, you know, the Cowboys have a certain shine and the Steelers do too.
And we're considering, you know, maybe the Steelers make sense as America's team and Art Rooney said, no, no, we don't want any of that crap. We're Pittsburgh's team and that's good enough for us. I mean, yes, this is great news. This is fun.
And it's not the idea that it is not a change at all. Obviously in football terms, he's a quarterback coach. And that's the difference, but maintaining the importance or making a statement that we get at Pittsburgh by putting in a Pittsburgher is great stuff. And you're not going to hear me bad mouth at now.
Last thing before you go, very quickly, win play show. The thing that I guess gets under my skin about the Belichick conversation is the assertion repeatedly that is that we're insinuation at minimum that ballot check is the greatest coach of all time. I mean, what about did we forget about the Cleveland years? Did we forget about Tom Brady leaving and immediately winning a Super Bowl without him?
What else do we have? What is the experience? Who are? Oh, come on.
Don't know, come on, mate. Now, more importantly, go ahead. You can put a number one if you want to win play show at the three best quarter, three best head coaches of the Super Bowl era. Go the Super Bowl era.
Yes. Okay. Cause then you don't count like Paul Brown. Who knows?
He always says it's the best stuff that's been around about Paul Brown. Well, I think it's, I do think it's bell check one. Okay. I think it's Andy Reid too.
Wow, it's probably. It's probably Shula three. Sorry. Shula.
Oh, I'm telling our pal handsome Hank you said that even he knows that Don Chula is the reason Dan Reno never won a Super Bowl. Yeah, but here's the thing. This is why I don't hold anything that happened post Brady against Belchik. You only have so long of a prime.
I mean, 25 years and then he started his prime as maybe the best defensive coordinator of all time with the Giants. Like one of them, one of the best defensive. That was 40 years ago. So like the prime ends, I think it was why I'm a little worried about McCarthy.
So I'm counting Bell checks prime as you know, through, through 18 and Don Chula had a hell of a prime when he was in his prime. Okay. But he's not even the best coach of the 70s. Obviously it's the Emperor Chasnall four rings.
That's that he built the team. What are we talking about? Obviously wins the 70s over Landry and Todd Schul and John Madden and people like that. Andy Reed is a great shout.
I do have to say a couple more names for you to consider before you go. One is Joe Gibbs, the only guy of all the people who we talk about. He's the only cat people who didn't who succeeded without Hall of Fame without a Hall of Fame quarterback. Joe Gibbs, that's who three times over.
Mark Rippon, Joe Thuysman and Doug Williams. That's who he who steered his teams three times. Tell them. The thing with here's the thing with Belchik that I always get to be when people bring up, you know, that he never did without Brady.
He had a ball. Super Bowls. He had a quarterback that like eventually became a Hall of Fame quarterback, but was, you know, for the first one, maybe the 20th to 20th best quarterback in the league and his defense won that Super Bowl. Like period.
And then for oh, three oh four was not a top five quarterback during those seasons. Peking late, I would say, you know, four was kind of when he started to really become Brady. So to me, he won those Super Bowls without like a Hall of Fame quarter, not to mention what he did with the Giants. His greatest move.
It was among his greatest calls were when Drew Bledsoe gets him past the steel than Brady did in that title game was everybody was saying, so it's so right. And Bellacheco. No, no, we're going with Tom Brady also, Willie McGinnis. There's, I'll tell you, it's true.
Tom Brady's the answer to that to that question, but it does bring us full circle and a reset button back to a new Patriots area here because Tom Brady was in fact the real deal. He was the real deal on his rookie deal, just like Drake May. So this little window that is now open for the Patriots should stay open for at least the next three or five years. Thanks for the time.
Either way, 40s and free agents NFL daily, all the rest of it. The great Greg Rosenthal, everybody. Thank you, Dave. You're the best.
There we go. Greg Rosenthal. Good stuff. Well, I took a note here and it says, my note is as follows verbatim right here.
I have it written down right here. You can't really see it on old schedule. We have here says, David, how old could the memory? Wait, you have to write it down?
Yeah, I don't want to forget. I know that like we had like, it's always stuck in my whole life. You can't even talk shit to me about that. I agree with this terrible.
Whatever happened just happened three minutes ago. You can't remember it. Yeah, well, okay, go ahead. Dave is just like Dan.
He asked Greg for his top three. Then he doesn't agree with him. Then argues to try to make Greg's choice his. Ultimately, Greg just keys him.
I met him halfway on Andy Reid. What are you talking about? He's like Don Shula, the guy with the most wins in pro football history. What did two super bowls?
No, no, no, no, no. I was going to be this guy. I'm not going to be this guy. I'm not going to be this guy.
I'm not going to be this guy. I wanted to talk about it. I don't have to gen you flak to somebody because they because they happened 30 or 40 years ago. A lot of people do.
What Dave wanted was his top three to be said and then somehow turn Greg into another top three for him. So that way he really gets a top six, but it just appears that it's Greg's top three. Okay, well, I'm not going to bring up Noel and I've done the shoe la thing already. But you know, I'm not the first person to point out Don Shula's drafts around Dan Marino are the top six.
So I'm going to give up my Dan Marino doesn't give up. I mean, we'll take some time, I mean, we'll get back to the top. We'll go back to the top three. He'll take the top three.
One last one, it's a little bit less than I think I'm going to give up my damn arena, never went back to the Super Bowl after his sophomore season. But Bellowchecomi. Am I, am I being too harsh on Bill here? Do you think he's the greatest coach of all time given what we know about the entirety of his career, not just the time he spent with Tom Brady?
Yes, I do think. I mean, I'm not a, I'm not a patriot saying obviously I'm a dolphin fan but the man won eight Super Bowls No, Callie Paul, she was really good on the Yukon Huskies. I think it was their 04 title run. But yeah, I mean, it's not even so much for me about the Cleveland stuff and certainly not the UNC stuff.
They're up on Mount Pius. This is a revelation to anybody that these guys are acting like human beings and exposing their own flaws. You know, same applies for the baseball Hall of Fame. Ultimately, this is cutting your nose to spite your face.
If you want the Hall to thrive, if you're a voter, then not having the hit king in there. You're a dad and your kid likes baseball. And he says, can we go to the Hall of Fame and then you take him to the Hall of Fame? And he says, where's the guy who has the most home runs of all time?
Oh, he's not in here. He didn't make it. Like, what? Okay.
Well, then who the most hits at least, no, he's also not in here. Like, okay, Roger Clemens is in there. What are we doing? What do you go to the Hall of Fame?
What are you there to regard the people who behaved themselves or told a line that the voters wanted you to vote? The Hall of Fame is now lesser because he'll go to the Hall of Fame until he gets in the Hall of Fame. That's right. And same goes for Torello and a lot of those cats.
And also, you know, it's murky. The Jimmy Johnson's and Steven Hayes and Dan Orlowski's and everybody who's really just out of this is the this is the issue of our time. Nothing else to complain about in our society, but Bill Belichick getting the high hat or delayed by one year. Human beings, you know, the same people who say, what's part of the game?
You know, the human air, the players and the referees, which I also laugh at the idea that the referees, we have video evidence. There's no excuse for them not to be 100% correct at this point. But if we're going to say human error with the referees, then human error with the voters, it's an imperfect approach. And I disagree with Bill Belichick not getting in on the first ballot.
I push back on the notion that he's the greatest of all time. And I also am not going to to get histrionic about him being delayed by a year because there's some reasons why you could get up on Mount Pius. I know Bill Coward and a lot of other people say now, oh, the the whole videotaping thing that was completely overblown. There are still some people who are relevant to pro football who say it is an issue and it should have been allowed.
And if this is a penalty for that and the flake gate and whatever else, so be it. It's not the end of the world. Everybody settled down. Bill Belichick and everybody who gets into the Hall of Fame has been genuflected to for the last 25 or 40 years.
Are we sure we definitely need to gild the lily and celebrate these guys some more? There's no one else in society that deserves a backslap. No, the people who've been celebrated and are multi millionaires and have been celebrated as such for the last, like I say, three or four decades. Let's celebrate them a little bit more.
And if we don't get a chance to, I'm going to be mad. It's a little silly in 1999. And he read went five and 11 as the Eagles said 2005, he went six and 10. But 2007, he went eight and eight, nine, six and one in 2008.
Let's see how many of those stinkers. Everybody asked stinkers what I'm getting at. Oh, and then his final year, he went forward 12. It is noteworthy and Gino points it out.
That's absolutely right. That if you do it in different football situations, I think you deserve, you know, I think that adds to the resume in a way that Belichick can't. He can't say, well, look at what I did. I don't want to just New England.
It was also, it was also what? It was also what? Or ever built ourselves? My earl was so successful that I didn't leave.
I don't think that's an argument against anybody. He like, I was doing so well. I didn't just leave. And he really deserves the credit for taking two separate teams in this room.
Even though one of those teams, you know, only one of those teams won. But the same is the case with Don Shullo, who took the Colts to numerous NFL championships or was it a NFL championship, right? No, not numerous. But yeah, I like your team.
They lost it. Don't lose your point down in the weeds there. Exactly. But then he took the dolphins in this room and they want to, you know.
Well, that was the thing with him as a matter of fact is there was getting to be, if you go back and read up in on the era, the thing was that Don Shullo was kind of the Atlanta Braves of the 90s at some point. Like is this guy like, he's real good, but is he ever going to get over the hump? It was a little Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen for a head coach and pro football. Boy, his teams are always great and he always gets them real close.
But are they ever going to win one? Finally, they did 14 to seven things to know. Thanks. I guess the Gary, your premium and that's a six total balls, right?
That's my math. He went to the fiber. Well, he wins. He wins 17 loses 19.
So that's two. Then he wins the two with the dog seven and eight with the dolphin. So that's four. He loses.
Yeah, right. Right. That's right. That's exactly right.
Yes, six. Six loses 24 to three. Yes, go ahead. No, no, no.
I remember me and you had talked about. I was just a crap for being such a bad team. All of this was ancient history. Yeah, yeah.
But he just reminded me when he said that the dolphins and want to Super Bowls, I found out this week that that dolphins Super Bowl team, the 72 perfect season was actually the team that in all of NFL history, their opponents had the lowest winning percentage of all time. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
By a white distance. So another thing that because dolphins fans love to say that all the perfect season, you know, all this stuff, the weightless impressive now that I see that's that at least to me. Well, I'll defend it to some extent. It's an undefeated season.
No one's ever done. It obviously is something to hold up. The I did see Nick right though on Levittard earlier this week saying that the dolphins are merely representative of the of your little corner, your little region of football, America, which is to say soft that the turquoise and the orange and the style of play all adds up to them being recognizable to the residents. I've always laughed at the notion that that that good defense people say like this Steelers defense or this.
So it really suits the blue collar vibes of the fan base and everything else as though dolphins fans wouldn't enjoy a dominant defense. They'd be like, I can't relate to this. This is this makes no sense to me. Get it out of here.
That's silly. But also Nick Wright knows enough history to remember Larry Zanka and that Nick Bonacani and the no name defense was the highlight. It certainly wasn't Bob Greasy. They talk about a ground and pound thing.
They were plenty physical. So I don't exactly get that. But I do agree with your point, Mike, that the dolphins have sort of slipped through the cracks, sort of like the chiefs were until Patrick Mahomes happened. I used to kind of quietly feel a little bit bad about them because they are one of the ten pole franchises the chiefs are and always have been.
But it was weird that people would say, oh, the chiefs aren't one of the embarrassing franchises. They're not one of the teams that would be terrible to root for. But yeah, they would be because you're steeped in important history, but you haven't won a Super Bowl since Super Bowl four. You haven't been to a Super Bowl in 50 years or whatever until they finally got over the hump.
The dolphins are getting close to that now. We always talk about now the Cowboys haven't been to a Super Bowl since 1994, which is pathetic. But the dolphins have been worse for them. And again, a ten pole franchise because of the shoal of years combined with the Amoreenos needs.
I'm trying to figure out like what's going to be, I guess if they finish this year with no quarterback or if they go into with Quinn Ewers because obviously I don't see two of the green eventing himself. So I figure if you start getting a couple of top five picks, that's the thing. They always like to me and to around. They find a way to be nine and eight, eight and nine, seven and ten.
You're right in the middle. They're just bad enough to get a mid-round pick. I mean, just good enough to get a mid-round pick. Just bad enough.
You know, right there. Because that's the worst kind of thing. You're going through a two day with the Pittsburgh Steelers. You never have a top draft pick.
You're always like, oh, let's try to find a gen mid-first round because for some reason we think eight and eight's okay. We're right there. Yeah, but my team makes the playoffs most of the time. Yeah, you got the rounds and you got.
I'm just saying, I got the distinction is that I were in the same spot. I'm agreeing. Josh Allen was in your division. You wouldn't even sniff the playoffs to be blowing you guys out of your ear.
You wouldn't even know. You're right. Yeah. You're right.
Get our division. My division has Lamar Jackson. Not the same. Not the same.
Clearly. But Lamar has more MVPs. You know, you know, by the way, one last thing on one last thing about the 72 dolphins that is a funny little quirk in NFL history. You're right about their overall schedule.
I also submit what if style what the if if the Steelers the rate that if the if the immagulate style reception doesn't happen. The title game, the AFC title game is in Miami. Why was it then in Pittsburgh? The dolphins were undefeated because back then they used to rotate home field advantage among the division winners, which is super weird.
But it was warm in Pittsburgh for the AFC title game. And so that suited the dolphins a little bit, but not too warm had the game been in Miami. It was warm and a fast track, which wouldn't have suited their ground and pound against the high flying Oakland Raiders with snakes, Dave, Lauren, Cliff branch. I submit that the Raiders would have gotten to the Super Bowl against Washington that year and would have ended the undefeated season for the dolphins had the immaculate reception.
Hadn't happened, but that's a weird little quirk in history. Anyway, bring us up to speed on modern times and the coaching carol cell as it now stands Gino Fuentes. Well, I've got sometimes the coaching carol makes you laugh and there are three teams in particular this time around, which are just having which just had some of the funniest storylines you can imagine. Which one of these is the funniest to you guys bills ownership emotionally fires McDermott after a playoff loss and says they need a coaching change.
The owner then throws the coaching staff under the bus in a press conference and promotes his faulty GM to present then turns around goes back to the coaching staff that he just put down at the door to the bus and hires and promotes I should say the highest ranking part of the coaching staff to head coach. So that's number one. That's the bills. Aaron Glenn.
Now, let's say you're just laying these out for us and we have to say we just funniest. Yeah, we just want funniest because that one I thought was hilarious. Then you got Aaron Glenn who finishes the season three and 14. I think it was hey, I only fired one coach during the season.
It was Wilkes, the defense is going to do with three weeks left to go. But then goes and watches film to analyze the season comes back three weeks later appalled decides I'm going to fire eight more coaches, including the entire every position coach on defense and their assistant coaches and then fires the offensive coordinator, the quarterbacks coach. And I believe the us. What am I missing?
There's one more offensive coach. So all of the top two coaches are taking off the market because as we know, the coaching carousel started three weeks ago. So that's, you know, the jets being the jets. And then finally, this one might be the funniest one.
Brown's ownership interviews a number of candidates to be their new head coach after firing Kevin Stafinsky. The one condition to all of these coaches though, they want to keep shorts on as defensive coordinator, which ends up costing them a bunch of head coaches, a bunch of coaches drop out of the running. They then hire Greg Roman to be their new head coach and Jim Schwartz upset that he didn't get promoted ends up saying, I want out. I should have been the head coach.
And so they don't even get to keep Jim Schwartz. Almost perfect Todd Monkey, not Greg Roman, but I'm picking up what you're laying down. I do love that the Browns move is to hire. I mean, I talk about the incest of the AFC North all the time.
I mean, the Ravens are in fact the Cleveland Browns dressed in purple and playing in Charm City. I don't know what that team actually is up in Cleveland, but it ain't the Browns. They moved 25 years ago away from, from you guys. And the Browns after flailing about hired the, not the head coach even the coordinator of the Ravens to be their head coach.
And that chases off Jim Schwartz, who somehow that message didn't break through. Hey, what we want is to keep Jim Schwartz as our DC. While Jim Schwartz says, if you do that, I'm leaving and then they do it. And now they're surprised that Jim Schwartz doesn't leave.
That's what makes it the funniest thing. Just like you constantly hear about old dysfunction in Cleveland. That was a report that came out that monkey was actually shit talking the front office saying what a mess it was when he was the other coaches before the game. Then they hired that guy.
Then the guy says, well, I wasn't going to be here. If you don't maybe head coach, then he ends up leaving. You know, talk, yeah, like send a text. Just talk to each other.
Yeah, get on his zoomer. You know, like somehow how did not know that this is a thing? You could have let him walk and then early hired other guys. They would have brought their guy either way.
You got miles carried. He's doing all the work anyway. You know, it's a difference. Well, it's funny you say that because the thing that strikes me and has with Todd Monkin and I've said it in past conversations, the there are a lot of people who really spent a lot of time on the Xs and O's and they'll tell you that Monkin is doing some clever stuff.
But man, this one has that that stink of boy, the situation was awfully good and awfully hard to screw up in Baltimore. When you start out with Lamar Jackson, Mark Andrews is a real good tight end. I didn't fall off a little bit, but you know, when Monkin arrives three years ago and you have Derek Henry behind him the last couple of years and didn't equal much playoff success. Obviously some nice gaudy numbers in stretches, but not consistently.
Again, even though you had Lamar Jackson, this is the guy you're sure. He has no, there's not a ton of evidence. His stop before that was in college, Monkin. So I mean, like you say, it's the Browns being the Browns.
The Jets are a funny bunch. It seems like they're kind of woody feels like a victim of his own past failures that he can't. He's already, he's aware now that people have turned him into a punch line and Aaron Glenn based on what we saw just one season in should kind of mean that he gets fired, but they're now aware it's bad. It's a bad look.
We just keep cycling through coaches. So we better stick with this guy, but this was the time to get out from under. But then you go fires everyone. Right.
Right. And then the other one, like we talked about the unforced error of Pagula doing this and now unnecessarily making the bills seem a lot less attractive. But what it amounts to is if you just pull back and look at the final result, this is entirely about maybe the guy who they said was sitting in on some of those interviews, Josh Allen, maybe just said to Pagula, like it's over with McDermott. I don't like him.
Cause that is kind of if you look at it, that's what it amounts to, right? There everybody's there. Joe Brady. So it wasn't like, we got to move on from this era.
No, no, we're going to keep the offensive court and just get the guy who's allegedly the defensive whiz who's the head coach and hasn't gotten us to the Super Bowl yet despite having a superhero quarterback, right? That's the math. It has to be because everything else stays the same. Okay.
So bottom line is with all due respect to you, Jets and Bills, the Browns remain our funniest team in pro flick ball. All right. I like talking, everybody talk about the Seahawks and Patriots, all the half and that was good times with Greg Rosenthal to do that. And like I say, we'll be talking plenty of Patriots and Seahawks on the other side of the weekend when I'll be in Santa Clara, California bouncing off the players and coaches to start the weekend.
We'll be on media row and all the rest of it looking forward to doing all of that. And we'll also make sure we keep an eye on the have not teams, the Browns and Jets included and all the other teams that didn't make it to Super Bowl 60 until the other side of the weekend. That first one without football, it hurts, but we're here for you. Thanks so much, my fellow football Americans.
It's been a thin slice of heaven.