Mailbag: Biggest Offseason Tropes, Bold Predictions & Having Fun with Bad Teams

Hey, welcome to Heed the Call and NFL podcast. Dan Hanses here with Mark Sessler, Connor Orr, Justin Graver on the ones and two second show of the week. How the hell you feeling, everybody? Give me, Ark. well I don't you've changed how I feel by introducing me that way but I'll accept it I don't know it's like this is normally the week where we're breaking down like 18 games it's a definite mental shift to come into this part of the year but this is when we I believe we shine in the off season in a way that very few shows could claim to I agree with that I do have to say we're recording a little bit earlier than usual today to help out our producer, Justin Graver, who, you know, and we touched on this a few weeks back, but Justin's getting married in a couple months. We're all looking forward to it. We're already planning some North Texas shenanigans ahead of that wedding. It's going to be great. But also we learned that Justin had opted to forego a traditional bachelor party in favor of something called a batch, which is a combined bachelor and bachelorette party, which is, I mean, a total disgrace. I think we all agree with that. Catastrophe idea theater. I mean, just like this is like the NFL equivalent of deciding you've fixed your NFL franchise because you just hired RC Cola LaFleur and Nathaniel Hackett as your offensive coordinator. Like that's the batch party. So as we get this party going, Justin, the party being the show, knowing we're clearing the decks for your batch, it doesn't totally sit right with me because I stand against this with every fiber of my being. Would it make you feel better if you just imagined that my bachelor party, I was leaving for my bachelor party and that's why we're taping it early and just forget that a batch is even a thing or no? I mean, to the point of why did you ever tell us you were doing it this way because you knew where it was going to go? I don't think he did. I think when he told us initially about the batch party, he thought it was cool. And, you know, like I've seen movies, Connor, we've all seen movies where there is this element in the plot where there's a bachelor party and a bachelorette party. It's the same weekend And it's like then they all end up in the same place by a confluence of events and then, you know, cut to the maid of honor and the and the best man banging and they fall in love and everybody's having a great time. How about a movie, Connor, where a batch is planned and then everybody says, this is a terrible idea. Let's do a traditional separate party. How about that as a film? So, Justin, and I think this is totally in line with his personality and the way that he secretly operates, has become a bit of a folk hero in the ore house because I explained the batch and how outraged I was on the home front. And then I was like, God, could you imagine if my bachelor party was with and then I listed some of the people that would have been at my bachelor party if we had done a joint batch. batch. But then the counter to that was, I think this is really a nice thing that Justin's doing, and your friends are idiots. And remember all the dumb stuff you did on your bachelor party, and that became an indictment of who I am. And then this precious little Justin who does the, you know, with his hands in his pockets, and he's just like staring at his shoes like, oh, I'm not doing anything wrong. He just keeps rising up the rising up the rankings, public approval rating rising. And it's just frustrating to me that no one can see it the way that we see it it's a toxic situation it really is specifically yeah yeah yeah i'm sure that will be the entire comment section oh justin's just so progressive and these dinosaurs don't understand well is that would be my question like justin like is this this wasn't even a thing when i had a bachelor party and not that many years ago right like is it the thing that everyone's doing now um i don't know honestly i mean i have never been to one and i've cooked it up on your own yeah i've been to a few bachelor parties i have another theory the idea was like you know our wedding party because jessica's from switzerland and most of her friends she made in la and i have some la friends but a lot of friends from back home and they're all in the wedding party we want the wedding day to be the best possible day and obviously in the lead up to that the wedding party spends a lot of time together and there's like the friday night rehearsal dinner with the wedding party and all that stuff so we wanted all these people to know each other well And this weekend serves as a great way for them to have a shared experience, bonding moments. We have a whole great weekend planned with a murder mystery night and a quintathlon competition. It's a lot of work. It's going to be awesome. Gotcha. We got it. We got it. This is the work of Jessica. Okay. I got it now. I figured it out. Okay. The wife to be decided. Yeah. That's what happened here. Maybe we can get some confirmation later in the show. let's just stick a pin in this one all right i think i figured this one out all right whatever evidence you produce justin it the the case is already closed in the mind of uh one dan hansis so no i just sometimes you could just minority report something and just like zoom zoom oh zoom zoom you know what i mean yeah there it is All right, let's open up the mailbag as we prompts. And I want to say this about the mailbag. We always appreciate questions, Mark, right? From our audience, because that's them connecting with us in a direct way. But I also don't want to, I want to be real. The questions have to be up to snuff. Connor, you sent us that clip of the UCLA coach. we're not we're not we're not above you know taking it to the listeners if they fail us you want to play that clip justin i would i would like to give you a uh kudos for the worst question i've ever been asked i would like to give you a kudos for the worst question i've ever been asked who is this gentleman's name again let's get i want to give uh mick cronin uh actually play the whole clip justin because this is again in the mailbag situation this is we're entering into a a sacred bond not dissimilar to justin and yessica and trust has to be there give us good questions we'll give you good responses here's this whole back and forth what was your thoughts in the student section chanting booker's name i could give a rat's ass about the other team's student section i would like to give you a uh kudos for the worst question of the kudos did you like the preparation of the do you really think i care about the other no i don't i don't think you care about the other you're raising your voice at me come on dude no reason come on yes you were everybody's standing here listening to you everybody this is on camera they can hear you i answered the question i could give a rat's ass That's about the other team's student section. I coach UCLA. I don't care about Michigan State students. I mean, who cares? Connor. Are you raising your voice to me? It's so good. Incredible. This is bringing back like just Vietnam-like flashbacks to Cub reporter Dan Hanses for the Journal News asking Rockies manager Clint Hurdle, why Preston Wilson, the former Met, wasn't playing in the day game after the night game in the middle of September with the Rockies out like 20 games in the standings and him just like turning to me and being like, is it all right if I give my guy a day off? Is that okay with you? If I give like literally 23 and pissing my pants. You're suddenly like three foot four. You ever get really dressed down, Connor, like truly dressed down where you felt like you were going to just be a puddle? Oh yeah. I mean, Sean Payton's a great example. It's happened a hundred times in the NFL. My favorite one, though, was similar to baseball, because you had to parachute in as a young reporter, and you would do it when the baseball writers needed a day off. And this was when the Yankees were essentially phasing out Jorge Posada. And this was so dramatic, right? And he was being dropped in the batting order, and he was being removed from catcher, daily catcher. He was like an every other day person. And it's this weird code in baseball, writing where if you don't ask a question you're taking basically like intellectual property for from everyone else and you're kind of like a leech right but if you do ask a question and you f*** it up for everybody else you know then you're you're an asshole and so with jorge anxiety building yeah uh so with jorge like you know everything kind of comes to me there's like 30 people packed around his locker and i was just like you know is there anything you like about being a DH and I just have this like dumb smile on my face and he shakes his head and gets up and just leaves the locker room and so everybody's just looking at me like you dumbass yeah it should be I don't know it should be known that Jorge Posada was one of the core four of those Yankee championship teams and a very intense fiery competitor yeah uh yeah wow that's that one up yeah hip hip Jorge all right let's open up the mailbag there are no bad questions there are bad questions but we phased out most of them so uh justin is going to fire him up and then we are going to respond go ahead justin all right first question comes from adam what will be the biggest trope alert of the offseason is there a team or topic you've you're already dreading talking about for the next seven months connor you're nodding your head what jumps out to you immediately oh It's like a whole web that stems from the same idea, right? And it's that this team is going for it because guess what? John Harbaugh just got f***ing fired. Everybody's going for it because these coaches know that if they don't win right away, they're going to get fired. And so what happens is these teams will sign Tyreek Hill. And then what else we're going to end up having are like those so stupid like Ari and Dove tweets that then tweet the lineup. And it's like Drake May plus Tyreek Hill plus Stefan Diggs. Who's going to stop them? And it's like, well, probably like seven teams this year are going to stop them. Right. You just you just named a young quarterback with two like 34 year old wide receivers coming off major knee injuries. Right. We could probably poke some holes in that. Right. So that all kind of bundles into the worst trope, which is that this team is going for it without recognizing the fact that like every NFL ownership structure is a toxic cesspool. that forces teams to sign poor performing or past prime veterans, and then it regenerates the hype cycle, and just I don't need it. I'm not here for it. I am already – I don't care how this plays out. I am J.J. McCarthy'd out. Ooh. Like I feel like whatever interesting direction or non-interesting direction this takes, and it's going to start with Kevin O'Connell being pegged with a billion questions at the combine and go through the entire offseason. Because we may not know if J.J. McCarthy is like even the week one starter until days before. It's going to be a long offseason of discussing this underperforming quarterback and whoever they add to compete with him. I think that's a good one. And the way I see that as a specific storyline of the league right now playing out and what makes it frustrating as a trope for me is not just that that's going to be a continued focal point around that team. It's that we're probably going to know exactly what the Vikings are doing, but then we have to go through the charade of training camp in the preseason of them pretending they didn't already decide that the guy that they bring in in the next two months is J.J. McCarthy's replacement. But we have to protect J.J. McCarthy and our investment. So we're going to go through the whole summer pretending as if we still see J.J. McCarthy as the future and he has an equal chance to win this job. when it's actually quite clear that they've probably already moved on from them. They just fired the GM, by the way. But we can't really do that. We need to hear all the quotes coming out of camp about J.J. McCarthy making the leap and how the game's slowing down for him. And last year was a good learning issue. And actually, I was never truly healthy when the truth is it's going to be Kirk Cousins or Aaron Rodgers or Daniel Jones or someone else as the quarterback of that team next year. We are just baked into a dog and pony show. and there's nothing we can do about it verbally. Real quick, I'll just say, again, I want the Titans to be better this year, but this trope of coach who has already failed, but it seems like a cool hire, so we're going to forget about what happened in the past. So in this case, Robert Sala and then Cam Ward. It's almost like the Falcons now have been transferred to the Titans. So it's Raheem Morris, like, wait, I remember Raheem Morris. He's not good at head coaching. No, everybody likes Raheem Morris. They actually think he's a good coach. It's now getting a chance to be successful. Now that's Robert Sala. As I said, Cam Ward replaces Michael Penix. And there's just going to be a ton of hype. There's going to be so many people that are going to predict Justin's Titans to make the playoffs. And you almost don't you don't want that to happen, Justin. Right. You almost rather them be at a minute, like a medium level of growing optimism, not be everybody's like darling pick as the surprise playoff team. I think that's what's going to happen. Yeah, because usually it doesn't. When everyone gets behind something like that, it goes haywire. You want it to find that middle ground. Maybe this helps where the Titans in general are kind of obviously lower in the pecking order in terms of national discourse. Maybe that will help depress it, Justin, but we don't want them to become the new Falcons or the new Giants last offseason, something like that. yeah I'm totally with you and I'm also fearful that like the NFL is gonna want to I don't know if they'll do this they never do this are they gonna put the Titans on prime time like four times next year because it's like let's catch Cam Ward's breakout season just in case he breaks out but then the the you know the backfire version of that is the Titans are still terrible and boring to watch so I don't think they will they're not they're not like they're not set up to go suddenly get way too many prime time yeah I agree like two maybe do you know what I think it will be similar to as Wes used to call it the Bermuda Triangle, which of coverage, which the Titans existed in that Bermuda coverage. They actually are going to need to make the leap and be an exciting team and a playoff team this year. And then they'll get a couple of games. They'll get some pop if Ward is an exciting ascendant star. Anyway. All right. What else we got? Dish it up. Dish it up. All right. Next one comes from Glenn Hammond. what is your bold onion hanger NFL related offseason prediction? Bold onion hanger. I've got something comes to mind. Got to be bold. On the other side of the NFL draft, a major name at the general manager position will be fired. I like that. It's happened before. It's happened before. We did have a coaching cycle, a very active coaching, firing hire cycle that had a somewhat unusual amount of GMs that retain their jobs, even though the coach was fired. So what about like a Joe Shane whose role has already been somewhat reduced Yeah With the emergence of Donna Ponte who had like 42 jobs in South Carolina Don Aponte yeah And maybe yeah I think that a good potential call because they don't want to blow up their staff and this close now to the draft. Yeah, I could see that happening. I could see that. How about you, Connor? I think that after the combine, we're going to hear that the Steelers have made a call on C.J. Stroud. See if C.J. Stroud's available. That's a good one. You like that? Yeah, I do. I think that's certainly something that makes sense. CJ Stroud's value has never been lower, obviously. I'll go with Kyler Murray doesn't go anywhere. Kyler Murray stays in Arizona. I don't know if that's that bold, but I think that one, when you do kind of like break down and mention LeFleur and he looks at his other options, it might not be too appetizing, the alternative, and then on top of it you're making a major financial, you know, eat shit situation with Kyler. That would be my bold onion hanger. I think they could get a call on him too from someone. But if you're positioned to be in a good place in next year's draft with a young quarterback, it kind of makes sense to keep Kyler for one year and just see what happens. Maybe. Unless you want to tank. Because as much as he's been a disappointment in recent years. He'll win you seven games. Yeah, if he's healthy, which is also a big if. yeah he will keep you kind of from being truly wretchedly bad but maybe that's giving him too much credit he's really fallen off like he's him and Stroud both in different lanes but also from where they were even a couple years ago to now Tua also just amazing how quickly the stock how how things can change so quickly where you can go from getting a contract like Tua got to being a team desperately looking to get rid of you it happens quickly it's going to be interesting to see if LaFleur falls for the same premise that Jonathan Gannon did. But in a lot of ways, they're both right, right? I mean, like you're going to get fired after two years if you're not good at this. And so do you want to burn one of those two years and burn all of that equity with, you know, Clayton Toon at quarterback because you're going to get a better option in 2027? It's like, no, I need Kyler Murray to win seven games and make it look like I'm legitimizing my place here. That really is the only option. That is. I mean, it's a great point, too. I mentioned it about Halfley on our last show. It's like you put these first-year coaches in very difficult spots where it almost benefits the organization to go 3-14, but that's what leads to impatient owners firing head coaches. So it's like it's not lined up properly. And they have a responsibility to their staff as well. The coach side of the whole tank thing is convoluted. All right. What's next, Justin? All right. Next one comes from In the Footsteps of Giants podcast, which sounds a lot like Walking with Giants podcast. Footsteps, Walking. Would Denver have won the Super Bowl? Should we be litigious about this? Yeah. That seems a little too close to our intellectual property, Mark Sessler. Yeah, I don't know if we want to drag Christopher Walken into a legal issue at this point. It's thorny. Yeah, we try to keep him sidelined on it, you know. Yeah. Well, I don't know the power of this podcast, this Footsteps of Giants podcast. I'd like to assess more before I take them on in the corporate war field. Very heady thinking by Mark Sessler. A great legal mind. All right, what do we got? Yes. Would Denver have won the Super Bowl if Bo Nix hadn't got injured? I want to use this question more to tee up another question, which I personally, let me know if you disagree, but I don't think anybody here was as big of a fan of the Broncos as I was. I think the Seattle Seahawks proved themselves as the best team. They were in the better conference. The Rams were the second best team. I think the Broncos would have put up a better fight than the Patriots, who were clearly inferior to Denver, but benefited from immense fortuity with the injury of Bo Nix. But I think the Broncos lose in the Super Bowl. My question to you guys is, what in your fandom qualifies as that biggest, ah, shit? like what if sliding doors moment because Broncos fans are going to live with that forever and I could talk to my intense Broncos fan friend here in town but if you ask many Broncos fans out there I bet this season will now zoom to the top of the list of like the great what ifs of all time right like oh we would have we would have beaten the hell out of Sam Darnold with our defense like we would have things would have been different but you never get to find out sports could be cruel like that? What's one that jumps out to you? For me, a team, it would be the Rams because you were the closest outside. No, no, no. I mean, in your personal experience, like sliding doors, like, oh, if this just would have been different, like as a football fan. I'm not going to go down the weathered road of the drive or the fumble because I think Cleveland would have lost all those Super Bowls that where they fell in the AFC title game. I really do. For me, there is an incredible oral history out there of the Butch Davis era Browns. Do it. Who took Ben Roethlisberger out in a driving rain to have him throw the college boy from Miami of Ohio before the draft, and they do not select him. Instead, they take Kellen Winslow Jr., who in the same offseason that Ben Roethlisberger got into a motorcycle accident or broke his leg or something, or he wound up being fine. And Kellen Winslow is out for the year with a broken leg. And Ben goes on to dominate the Cleveland Browns for a thousand eons. So that is an annoying sliding doors for me. How about you, Connor? Mine's probably like a three-way tie just very quickly. If Manti Teo didn't have a fake girlfriend, how does he play against Alabama in the national championship game? If the zero blitz gets home against Ohio State in last year's national championship, Do we come back and pull off the most stunning comeback and win a national championship for Marcus Freeman? And then the dipshit Yankees fan, who I'm sure Dan just loves, that ripped the ball away. Who, Jeffrey Mayer? Yeah, that f***ing asshole. He was entitled to that ball. Eat it, Tony Tarasco. Right. Yeah, okay. So I think it's just that that's a three-way tie for him. Richie Garcia down the right field line had a great angle on it, and there's nothing you could do about it. Yeah, I mean, and then all the Yankees fans walked to school like little special boys like they got to do every day from 1996 to 2000. So that, you know, that was the that was the tuck rule moment of that dynasty. That was that kickstarted their first win with Jeter as a rookie. So, yeah, I can understand why that wouldn't sit well with you, Connor. I'm sorry. I think for me, yeah, the Rogers Achilles and the Greek tragedy of it all on Monday night with the American flag, obviously. But I think the same Achilles injury, but Vinny Testaverde week one, 99, actually sits with the Jets fans who truly know that team was much better set up for a Super Bowl in 99 before that happened. But I think for me, yeah, it's got to be Belichick. Belichick resigning as HZ, the NYJ, to go to the Patriots. And like, what happens if that doesn't happen? That's a tough one. That was probably the top five most embarrassing team interaction with head coach I can even think of. I mean, the Jets never really recovered from that. No, it was a toughie. Tough sitch, classic tough sitch. Do you honestly think, though, that he would still, like, in your heart of hearts, do you think that he would have made it four years? Like, if he went into it with all the intentions. I think at that time, I think he is an enormously successful, brilliant head coach in his heyday. I think they would have the Patriots certainly wouldn't become a dynasty. Who knows if Tom Brady is even on the Patriots in this scenario, if Belichick isn't there. It's just like you never know. You never know. And the chicken and the egg of Brady and Belichick will be discussed till the end of time. Maybe Belichick needed Brady to to ever win a chip. But yeah, just the fact that though, what that did for the trajectories of both those organizations is something. It's why I'm an asshole, like playing that Scott Zolak stuff. Like it all, this, that's ground zero of the, you know, Belichick and his decision and how that changed football history. They hurt you when you were young and vulnerable when it hurt the most. And they never stopped doing that to you. Right. And to be clear, not the Patriots, the Jets. Yes. and I'll say Luka Doncic's being traded does Kyrie still tear his ACL do the Mavs still get Cooper Flagg who knows I mean the fact that you ended up with Cooper Flagg like a generational rookie kind of takes the sting out of this one a little bit though it does but it has my fandom has been totally dismissing Justin well the guy is already on his way to the superstar club he's like this charismatic young dude that you know the people of north dallas are really i imagine into and uh a great young talent it's not like you got something justin you can't feel totally at least it's it's true but something about the trade has permanently it feels permanently affected my fandom like i've watched like five cooper flag games i've watched five mavs games this whole season like i have i didn't watch the nba all-star game for the first time in like 25 years like i my i don't even care about the nba anymore. And that, and I watched every single Mavs game that Luka Doncic played every single one. And here I am a year later, like, I don't care about this team at all. So even with Cooper flag, it like, it's just, it's different. Upside is the, the, the, the Dallas Mavericks won't be interrupting or derailing your batch gathering. That's true. With your interest at this low point. Yeah, way off the grid. Cooper flag way off the grid this weekend. All right, let's take a break and we can continue on with the mailbag. Becoming a parent has a way of shifting everything. You stop living just in the moment and start picturing the future. First days of school, big dreams, and all the little moments in between. For me, taking care of my family also meant preparing for the what-ifs. Even the ones no one really wants to think about. That's why I chose life insurance through Ethos. Absolutely. What impressed me right away was how easy it was. 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From which hill you were willing to die on before or during the season, you now have to do the walk of shame back down. And who do you owe an apology? I'll go first on this one. Is that second one sports-related or just in your life? My dad. This is an opportunity to take that wherever you want, Mark. Okay. Oh, sure. I guess I would say I definitely downplayed the importance of Mike Vrabel in resurrecting the Patriots. And I thought he was a really good hire, but not a guy that could get them to the Super Bowl in year one. And we'll find out if that team truly was that good or it was just like a blessed year. But at the same time, I definitely owe Vrabel and Robert Kraft a bit of an apology because that was a masterstroke in getting out of a bad decision and into a far superior situation. And I did not think that Vrabel had that level of juice going into this year. i believe that i owe an apology to the fan bases of multiple teams that i jumped on far too quickly and i can just i'll just pick one out of a hat um because it felt real to me like my fascination with the tampa bay buccaneers um which looked good early but my inability to understand what was really happening there as it was slowly tumbling like a pack of sheep off a cliffside, like not to see that this was going in the wrong direction. And to almost stubbornly, or not almost, to stubbornly stick with the concept of the Bucks months after it was stale cheese to bring up as a topic. And so I apologize to anyone listening to this. You know what I picture? that that meme or that clip that's all over the internet of the mountain lion on the steep terrain going to jump on the the goat and then the goat does his little spring escape move and then you just see the lion like falling into his death in slow motion that's mark trying to jump on a bandwagon of a team and then that team being nah and then mark doesn't it's how i picture it it's how it feels yeah how about you connor um i would say uh to answer the first question uh nothing to answer the second question, f***ing no one. And to add a third, f*** you. I mean, like, honestly, like, this isn't like I'm right all the time. But this is like asking, you know, someone like, why did you write that song? You know, when the and then it like, why did Nelly write hot in here? And then like a bunch of girls got in trouble for like, grinding on someone at the school dance. It's like, I don't know, he was feeling it in the moment. He said it, he went to the studio, and he laid that shit down. Like, that's what I do every day, come down here, and I lay that shit down. And if you don't like it, you, you know, I'm working with the information I have. Like, I don't feel like I have to apologize to anybody. I think we got the lead for our show there. Yeah. The lady doth protest too much. I'm just saying, like, you know, I'm supposed to apologize to like, when I keep this up, you're going to be with like Dan Orlovsky in the A block on, uh, get up. Good for you, Connor. Thank you. You do not back down. All right. Next. Okie dokie. Next one comes from Colton. His answer is Russell Wilson, the New York Giants. But yeah, go on. I want someone in this room to look that guy in the eyes like I had to and tell him he wasn't going to be successful. No, you were the right man for the job. The moment in the park. Was that in the park during the catch? Yeah. Yeah. this guy's got the pelts on the wall. So you want to come after Connor, you best be ready. Better bring everything you got. And it still might not be enough. Yeah, Matt Reisman. Reisman. Rise this. Next question comes from Colton. How bad of a move from one to 10 was it for the Raiders to promote Rob Leonard to DC just to appease Max Crosby? Is this a solid choice or an ill-timed feeding of the crocodile? Ooh, old Robbie Leonard catching a stray from Colton Kidder in the biggest of all spots. Not quite, but he is questioning perhaps the Raiders trying to put a Band-Aid on a wound with Crosby. I think the issue, I would say this, Mark. This is all I'll say on this topic. The Raiders are desperately trying to establish a culture and move forward as an organization and get their feet on solid ground And maybe they could finally do it now with Kubiak and Brady handpicking perhaps Fernando Mendoza with the first pick and having a solid for once draft and a smart and sensible free agency. And the final piece, I would think, in the minds of the front offices, is Max Crosby is exactly the type of dude we need in this building to get these young guys to understand what it's all about. And he's also, he was born to wear the silver and black. So we are willing to take a chance here with perhaps an untested or unproven DC, because that's how important it is to keep Max Crosby in this building. Your thoughts? Yeah, I'd agree. I think that if you look at their cap situation, their draft artillery, Like you're not put into a position where you need to move Max Crosby the same. The way I might feel about a Miles Garrett, if it were more tenable to do that, like Crosby, the more you hear about him as like he's the he's the light at the center of that locker room. And he galvanizes that whole group. My concern a little bit would be that this defensive coordinator is a first time play caller. He's very young. Clint Kubiak is doing this for the first time as a head coach, but grew up in it. And I totally like that. So I'm willing to roll it. I don't think it's a mistake. The one name out there, though, was Jim Schwartz being floated with a link to the Raiders. Now you put Jim Schwartz with Max Crosby and you're telling Max Crosby, here's a guy that could maximize everything you've ever done sack wise and numbers wise. You could have one of your biggest seasons. There are whispers that Schwartz could still join the team in a different capacity, but that feels like it's floating away when you've named a new DC. Why would he do that? You cut Leonard off at the knees. I guess it's like the way that even Mike Rabel did it with the Browns. If you have no job and you want to – I don't – it's work. So Rob Leonard was the Raiders effectively their plan C last year, and here's how that went because they wanted Robert Sala, and they were going to pay Robert Sala like $6 million a year to be the defensive coordinator and then hopefully take over for Pete Carroll in a year. Once Robert Sala went to San Francisco, Patrick Graham, if you remember at the time, was a finalist for the Jaguars coaching job and was a potential bundle with Liam Cohen in Jacksonville. So the Raiders were waiting that out. And at the same time, they were interviewing Rob Leonard for the defensive coordinator job. They really liked him. They thought he was an upcoming candidate. And so I think that's one where, you know, with Clint Kubiak, I don't know if it's unproven in a sense because I think that he had a lot to do with the way that they called the defense last year. You're basically just kind of keeping things on an even keel, which is fine. I mean, you know, and I think that Rob to me represents like, hey, this might be a better option because we haven't we don't have a dossier on this guy yet. Whereas if we bring in, you know, whatever, hardened old DCX, it's like we kind of know what we're getting a little bit. All right. What is next? okay next one up comes from albert godleski sky albert godless key godless key perhaps godless key good one mark big al how do you guys still have fun with the football season when your teams are pits of despair signed a cardinals fan and we compare this with the next question as well which comes from Adam. Am I destined for eternal sorrow as a Dolphins fan? Can a poorly run team ever find long-lasting or even midterm success? Hmm. Well, we'll start with the first question. Having fun means, you know, disconnecting from the fan side of things and just following the league as it is and the soap opera that it is and all the fun storylines. And if you really love football, you'll still get a lot out of the league. But I'd also be lying to say that football is not as fun for me as it used to be because you lose your team, in my case, for 15 straight years without a playoff appearance. It fundamentally changed my football fandom. And I imagine I wouldn't be following the league as closely if I didn't end up working for the NFL and doing this for a living. At a certain point, it probably would have turned into like my Knicks fandom, which elapsed in the first 20 years of this century before they finally came back. So it's hard and you just got to, I guess, try to keep the faith. But the point made by the second person here, Mark, is a good one, which is like you're trying to feel hope, but you don't trust the organization's way of getting out of it. Like, is there any way that could ever happen? It's tricky. It's tricky rooting for one of these teams. It's there's connective tissue between all these bad teams that seem to never escape the swamp they're in. I mean, I go back to the like the for me, it's like, can I reconnect to the passion I felt as a young person for the Cleveland Browns? Right. Like it's there. It's there historically in a certain mood. I can. I mean, I lived nomadically in like five different cities in my 20s and early 30s before I came to L.A. And the first thing I do in every town was find in New York City, their Browns bar, like 150 Browns fans there every Sunday. Denver, a raucous Browns bar where fights would occur and like people would be carted out, thrown into cabs like Phoenix, L.A. as well. There's multiple ones in L.A. And when the Browns would lose, it would take me till Wednesday or Thursday to kind of reconnect with football. football and the sport and the sting of it all and working in it because we all have different functions and we've had different functions like you really can't let that happen I think that's my larger point is that like I'm I have to almost guard myself or have in the years of doing this from falling too deep into the well of like this one team's result because there's so much else happening during the week and so my passion comes from this show from broadcasting from talking from at times writing and I can't let the Browns shake that or I can't follow. I've got to be this. I can't do this with the Cleveland Browns. I 100% agree. And we're definitely, we've both lived this during our time covering the NFL now. In a weird way, it's sad, but also secretly helpful. It makes the job easier because when the teams are so hopeless, you can disconnect easier. I don't know. It would be very difficult to do this job if the Jets were relevant year after year. and my fandom, people complain that I talk about the Jets too much, as it is, and they haven't made the playoffs in 15 years. So maybe this is exactly how it has to stay for the rest of time, or as long as we do the show. If they became a surging power, the three of us are cooked. Yeah, I don't know. We know that. I have no idea what would happen. I guess, well, we'll never know. So that's another way to look at it. All right, what's next? Okie dokie, next one comes from Tom. Do you guys ever watch the daily NFL slash sports talk shows like First Things First or First Take? What sort of future do those shows have? Do you think CBS would ever start one with Tony Romo? What? What's going on here? I don't know. Yeah. Yeah, I don't really. Connor, you take this one. Go ahead. This team is DTF, Jim. I guess quickly, no. I don't watch any of the daily NFL sports talk shows. And that's not I think that there is an art to them. And I think that the people who do them are talented in that specific medium. But I don't I don't like to be tricked for a living or, you know, kind of blanketed in false outrage. So that's not the way that I want to spend my day. And this is not like a diss on football. I just put very thick borders between my job and what I do for a living and what I define as personal enjoyment because I feel like beyond football, I need to have a life and a humanity and an existence. And so anything that I do for fun has nothing to do with football unless the only time I'll break on that is if Notre Dame's in the national championship or in the tournament or I really like like division two college football, like the like Montana State, like the championship game, because there's a lot of cool like offensive stuff there. But otherwise, I'm not consuming any football content other than to study for my job, if that makes sense. And I think also for doing shows like this, I intentionally don't watch stuff leading up to when we do our own show. I just don't want to be – infected is not the right word. Just kind of – I want to come up with my own ideas. But if I'm in a hotel, I'll watch some of it. I like seeing them shout at each other once in a while. All right. I don't watch anything. Yeah, I really don't. Unless it's on in a bar or something, in which case – Right, if it's being spoon-fed to you in a public place. Even then, you go find the touch tunes machine and you throw on something a little weird just to see what the reaction is going to be. Yeah, just get people. Yeah, just get people uncomfortable. Get people talking. Yeah. All right, what else we got? And Tony Romo. I mean, listen, Tony Romo is – I think Tony Romo is going to play out this contract and probably just walk away, I would think, and go do something else easier where people aren't just constantly busting his balls. for how fucking terrible he is. He's like, I now have more money than I can ever spend in my life. I've set up generations of Romos to come. I'm just going to do the Joe Montana thing. You're going to see me pop up here and there. I'll do speaking engagements. I'll play a lot of golf. And everyone can go f*** themselves. That would be my... If I was Tony Romo, that would probably be my path at this point. I mean, if you can... You're not robbing a bank or anything, But if you can get out of all this with $38 million and never have to look at Twitter again. Isn't he getting like $20 million a year? What is the Romo contract? Yeah, I think it's $18. No, because the other thing of using Romo now that we're on the Romo wormhole, let's not stay here too long. But once you are the established number one guy, like it happened with Phil Simms too, who Romo replaced. It's going to be tough to then stay in the industry, take a haircut, and then not be a number one guy somewhere else. It's kind of, you know, the arc is a little tricky. It's probably, yes, more likely Fox hires him to replace, you know, whoever on the dais if he wants to do that. But I think we're coming to the final years as Romo as a play-by-player. When you get the sense that Phil Simms maybe financially had a different requirement to stick around longer than he did. Romo does not need to do this for 40 more years if he's been smart with his money. Yeah. So Sims was the number one guy for a long time. I think it was like he completely got erased. But before everything, he's probably annoyed. Phil Simms is like, wait, as soon as I leave, every guy starts getting $20 million a year? What the hell did I do wrong? Connor, I wonder if you've had this experience, like having interviewed Phil Simms for a couple larger features that I did way back when. I'm not categorizing him as a rude person, but I've never had someone come at me with more attitude and just sort of like a grumpiness to each of my questions, which were about broadcasting. You got Clint Hurdled? It kind of left me speechless. And I went back and listened to it a couple of times to see if the tone was what I thought. And he's just coming after me. I don't know if it's just me, but I always get mouthy with NFL legends and handlers of NFL legends because my take on it is, what else do you have going on today? I've got about 11 things to do. I've got to pound out this feature, and it's kind of a good thing for you that people are still thinking of you in a way that's tied to the current game and that the zeitgeist hasn't totally passed you by. But if you want to be an asshole, I'll just tap in two questions and hang up the phone because I got to pick up two people at soccer practice and it's Ash Wednesday and I got shit to do. Sure. We are allowing this to be a therapeutic session for Connor on multiple levels. I mean, it is nice. It really is. All right. Let's take a break, settle down, and come back and finish the mailbag. All right. We are back. Let's dig back into the mailbag. What else you got in there? all right next one comes from mason de braille de braille i don't know what's mark's take on the current state of the star wars franchise well i've probably got about eight seconds here it is a complete disaster in my opinion and i tweeted about yesterday i'm sure you read that dan and voiced my concerns about this the direction of the franchise in general they are they are coming up with a film called starfighter that stars ryan gosley so i think they're trying anything i have not been i've very little if nothing has appealed to me in a decade plus is this like the entirety of star wars fandom now just you guys complaining about how horrible everything is it's a very segmented i don't i don't have a i i don't know exactly but it's a very contentious segmented fan base, like with a lot of stuff where it's like you got the studio head that comes in and kind of screws everything up and irritates old school, old people that watch this stuff in the eighties. But you'll be there. You'll be there opening weekend. I don't. Where? At the movie theater or something. I don't know. For the like Star Wars 47, the hope is continuing to beckon or whatever. No, I will not be there. Like they've, they've, they have these things that when I was, you know, a child or in middle school, most of these things have gone south. Like my favorite film franchise as a child has gone south. My football team is an apocalyptic mess to the eye. Like, you know, you just, you got to let things go. That's what I'm going to choose to do. Google this. easily my favorite part of the uh tuesday show oh boy all right what's next okay next one in the mailbag comes from i love this one i love this for so many reasons that have nothing to do with the actual question okay so the uh this twitter user's name is Thick Fingers with the handle at Mr. Thick Fingers. Uh-oh, boy. And the question is, which is their next team that is going to move and to where? And I just love that Thick Fingers has a typo in his question. It's like perfectly... Do you think that's part of his shtick? He includes a typo stylistically? It better be going forward because it's really... It is good. It's a talker. Can you check some of Thick fingers other tweets to see if we have multiple typos sure because that is a pretty good hook everybody needs a hook connor and mr thick fingers has got his potentially let's also pop into the the visible likes just to make sure we're not promoting something that could be really dark um or disgusting yeah also yeah just that one up let's button that one up yep um as far as the question while justin does the most important things associated with this one uh i feel like it's been pretty quiet on this front now, Connor. I don't know which is the next team that is going to move. I looked up before the show. I just checked in on the Chargers lease, and that lease runs through 2040, and they're paying $1 a year to be a tenant, and they just built a brand-new facility right here in El Segundo. So I don think the Chargers are going anywhere soon even though I love to see them back in San Diego as many others would Is there a team that Sneaky could be in danger of rattling some cages I don't think so, because we saw Buffalo Cave. I think we're going to eventually see Cleveland get what they want. We're seeing the Bears play that political game of hardball, and maybe they're the team that, okay, they're going to move to, like, Gary, Indiana, which is like 45 minutes from Soldier Field. And that's technically, you know, a move. And so we're talking more like the apocalyptic, like losing your team to another market entirely situation. And so here's my take on this. And this is not an endorsement or anything that I see going, but I think it's not. I don't think it's out of line to say that we're in fragmented political times and that we tend to bounce between extremes on both sides. And I think that the teams that you would look for are the teams that in like two or three years are going to need new stadiums, but are going to be under the political control of people who are, you know, maybe more anti-billionaire, anti-industry, anti-taxing people for the purpose of, you know, so if the political tide shifts majorly, you're looking at blue state teams that who's, you know, the ethos of their governing bodies are not going to be, yeah, let's give a bunch of tax breaks to a billionaire NFL franchise. Right. You know, I think that might make some sense. And like the chargers are the one team that, that I looked at and thought, well, there's not a fan base here, but the lease and all that stuff makes that much more complex. I kind of think it's more likely, although I hope it doesn't happen is when is there talk about expanding? When do we want to add a team in Mexico city? Or I don't know, why Canada gets blanked on every international project we attempt in the NFL? Because they absolutely failed their audition when the Bills went up there for a few years. They couldn't fill the Rogers Center. It just didn't connect. I wonder if they did that same exercise 10 years later, if it would have a different result. But I bet the NFL has regrets about how they rolled that whole thing out. But it's fair. It's fair to mention that. I'll just say when we worked at NFL.com, the first five years, six years, seven years, there, there was just a constant drumbeat about teams potentially being on the move and all this other stuff. And I think the, when that stopped and it was almost like a black and white thing was the moment the, the Rams and the chargers came to town because for years and year decades, in fact, Los Angeles was used as this major, like chessboard piece that owners could say, well, if you don't build me a stadium, I'll move back to LA. They don't have a team there. and um and when that finally and the the league could use la as as a chess pawn as well like it wasn't until la got filled again as a market that a lot of these teams lost that massive leverage piece that they could use to scare constituencies and fans um and i wonder if that there's just not like that obvious move that owners can use no tactic right you're right and one of the one of the moves that happened right alongside that was the last of the terrible old stadiums in Oakland being dispatched for the Raiders going to Vegas. I mean, they were, they, you know, they were always kind of like, that wasn't him. That was a one to watch. I don't, I feel like there's so many teams with shiny new stadiums and deep leases that it just doesn't, it feels like a stable time on this front. And they left, they left the Raiders left California and what they did. I don't love it. That building. Anyway, Not bad. Just no personality. It's the Raiders. Go ahead. Shameful. I scrolled through many, many Thick Fingers tweets. We got a Thick Fingers update? I only found one other typo, so it doesn't seem to be a shtick, but it does happen. Let's work that. Let's get that going. Lean into that. Let's lean into that and make that part of your brand. That's unsolicited advice from the HTC heroes. All right. What else? Okay. Next up comes from Mocha Juniors. And this is a very complex question, but I think we can take it anywhere we want. Best sequel, Godfather Part 2, Paddington 2, Burton and Taylor 2, Use Your Illusion 2, Merino 84, The Benz, Nevermind, Succession Series 2, Season 2. or Donald Trump Jr. And I will go first before I turn it to you guys and say the best sequel ever is Terminator 2. Yeah, the real cinephile. Go ahead. Terminator 2, best sequel ever. No. You're going off list. Argument. Yes, I am. Best sequel. Over Burton and Taylor 2? What is Burton and Taylor? Yes. I guess that's Elizabeth Taylor and the actor Burton getting married a second time. I guess that's what it means. I know Godfather Part 2, you know it? Paddington 2, Yep, Burton and Taylor marriage. Use Your Illusion is Guns N' Roses, double LP from 91. There's a second one of those? They put them both out on the same day. Oh, that's right. Use Your Illusion 1 and 2. Yep. The Benz as a sequel, I guess, to Pablo Honey. But actually, the move there would be OK Computer as a sequel to The Benz, or even Kid A as a sequel to OK Computer. Never mind, I guess, the sequel to Bleach. But really, you should go in utero there for Nevermind. I don't know, man. I don't know. T2 is a good answer. I'll go there. That is a good answer. The greatest action film of the 90s and maybe of all time. Has anyone here actually seen Paddington 2 besides me? I heard they're brilliant, both films, but I just missed it as a dad. Why would you see Paddington 2, Justin? But not Godfather Part 2. Look, Paddington 2 is pretty much a perfect film. I mean, from like an analyst. Justin was the only one who understood that Paddington Bear 2 was amazing. Here we go. It is an extremely well-made film and a well-told story. And Paddington 1 is a good movie, too. You were looking through the lens of a cinephile. Yeah. Any genre is welcome in your home if it will advance your own nature. The little throw in the bouquets here. It's widely seen that Paddington 2 is a great, great film. I don't know anything about it. I think if my sons were born two years later or sooner or whatever, we would have been in the Paddington window and I just missed it. But I hear they're great. I think your sons are now at the age probably where they wouldn't give a shit about it. But in five to ten years, I think it's a movie that anyone can watch. Adults should watch it and would love it. So it's a really good movie. I mean, I saw it in theaters with my kids. I loved it. But I would have been bothered if I was just sitting next to Justin alone. I would have flagged that with security. What's going on with that popcorn on his lap? Jessica and I watched Paddington, and then we watched Paddington 2. After the hype about how good Paddington 2 was hit our awareness, we need to watch. Too much information being unfurled verbally. I mean, so we're coming out of this conversation with somewhat of an agreement that Paddington 2 is the best sequel? No. No, simply that it was a well-made film that was... Okay, I'll comfortably say Godfather 2 just because I think you're kind of struggling to pitch something else. Back to the Future 2. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. You know what, though? Rambo, as the follow-up to First Blood, was amazing. Yeah, that surprises me, Mark. How about Recovering the Satellites by Counting Crows, the follow-up to August and Everything After? I hear you. But nothing will ever be what that first album was for me on the Counting Crows run. I like that they took it in a different direction. Let's save it for the throwback podcast, though. Empire Strikes Back. We won't be on that, but... What's that, Justin? Empire Strikes Back. Come on, we already did this. We already did this. But see, they actually did the impossible. But I didn't want to bring it up because the audience on this show is just a repulsive conversation partner on the Star Wars front. You'd have to just say from a cultural standpoint, that sequel has had more impact on America than any other sequel. Yep, I'd Google it. I'm going to click the off button on this device very soon. Alright, one more. Let's do it. okay last one comes from alex everson standard when will there be new merch question oh yeah season two sassy of htc merch what are we targeting springtime is that what we talked about i think springtime was what we what we discussed we're constantly thinking working i've got a couple of um kind of secret ideas that i'm hooking up to share with um the inner group before we go wide with it. But no, we have the flexibility to come up with stuff on the fly as things are created in real time on the show. So it's a living, breathing, fabric-shaped document. Wait, what? Well, it's a journey. It's constantly moving. That's true. I agree with that. There will be more. You just lost me with a fabric-shaped document, but I get it. Well, living, breathing document, meaning it's a fabric-shaped document. Like it's a fabric. It's made out of the fabric. Yes. Be on the lookout in a couple of months for a drop. And if you haven't gotten your merch yet, our initial drop, there it is. He the call podcast dot com for exclusive merch. More coming on the way. We love our hedonists. All right. So, Justin, we're going to get out of the way. You obviously got to edit the show and get it up and out the door for this batch. stated opinions earlier in the show. I wouldn't mind. Is Jessica available by any chance? Would she be available for comment on this? I was trying to get Jessica, but she is unfortunately tied up in work calls because she's taking the next two days off too. She's got to get everything done today. And the last thing she wants to do is take strays and arrows about her weekend plans that she's probably very involved in. Oh, what a white knight you are, Sessler. No, I want it to happen, but I can understand why she doesn't want it to happen. There's no strays. It was simply I would like to have a conversation about why she made this decision on Justin's behalf. I actually wrote out three questions for Jessica because it did make its way into the rundown, but I'll save those. We'll table those. But I guess, Connor, I mean, but we'll be cool about it. Like, have a great time to Justin, right? Like, enjoy yourself or whatever? yeah it's just like i i think i still i just want you to know that i still think about this every single like at least twice a week okay when i was in when i was in seventh grade okay the big pinnacle of seventh grade was a sleepaway trip both sexes right going off to this camp in the woods and it's where everyone has their formative hand-holding experiences right and my dad poses me the option of you can either go or with everybody else gone you can be the one kid on your little league team that stays and that affirms his commitment to this group maybe you'll get to pitch maybe you'll get to play first base like you wanted classic and so i stayed for like a shitty game where we lost to Doc's Deli like 11 to 2 and got drummed because all we had were the younger kids on the team and meanwhile all my friends are just like flowering as people and seeing things yeah just like tongues and mouths and like you know I'm just saying like not that that's going to be the theme of your bachelor party Justin you know the one that you would have but I'm just saying like some of this stuff does stick with you right for the entirety of your life So I just – I know you're content with your decision, and I just – I hope you are because – That is wise counsel. So you're telling me not to have the weekend away with both sexes mingling and partying together. The weekend away with both sexes is akin to doing the right thing and staying home and playing for your shitty Little League team, whereas going on a regular bachelor party would be like going out into the wild with no supervision. little supervision, little rules, you know. Yeah, and like, let me just say like, what you think, what you're trying to counter here, Justin, is almost like akin to being snipped, Connor, to bring back something from your personal life. Like you're removing all the danger and any elements of true adventure that could come out of this weekend because everyone's going to be on their P's and Q's ultimately. We don't want to do anything to mess up the wedding. Hold on. I feel like at a bachelor party, I would say about 4% of what I would say. if there were like half the people were women. Hold on. Very quickly. Is your anti-vasectomy take based in the fact that you could still create a pregnancy and that's like a spice in your life right now? I told you, I don't comment publicly on vasectomy-related conversation anymore. I'm getting killed on various parts of the internet for my comments yesterday. I'm happy for you and your family. Don't put me in camp batch. Do not put me in camp batch. You batched yourself, bro. This was a medical choice. This was a financial and medical decision. Nothing else. Connor would be a perfect late add to the batch party. Zero threat. Zero threat. No threat at all. I am so anti-batch, and I'm not going to say the thing that you guys hate, which is that two things can be true. But, like, I can be anti-batch, and I can be pro-vasectomy. Don't put me in the other camp. Don't put me in a box. I'm sorry, Connor. Justin, and we're sorry to you. This is natural guys busting chops, right? We want you to have a great time. Well, it's become crystal clear why we were not invited. Well, here's what's going to happen is most people in the comments are going to take up for me and call you guys losers. And so it'll all balance itself out that way. Another win for the producer. And I would like to get it firmly on the record. This was my idea. I pitched it to Jessica. we started talking to our friends about it literally a year and a half ago before I even proposed we were talking about this idea so yeah super excited can't wait is there any brush back from some of the anyone is anyone saying I'd rather you do it this way they're all completely compliant everyone's super excited it's like a bunch of Kirk Cousins' buddies that's what everyone's like it's gonna be great cherry cokes all around yes we did get cherry cokes yes they're in the garage right now. Well, have fun, Justin. Have a great time, buddy. Enjoy yourself. Everybody have a great weekend. We are back with three shows next week. Combine week in our league. So we're going to do as we always do, reacting to the press conferences of the head coaches and the general managers from Indianapolis ahead of the Underwear Olympics. So make sure you're there. When's our next show? Is it Monday? It's Monday, right? Yeah, I'd Google it. All right. Thank you. Monday, HTC returns. Till then, have a great weekend, a safe weekend, a batch-like weekend. Heed the call.