Will the NFL go to 18-game schedule? (3/31 Hour 1)

Coming up today on PFT live, we've got the latest news is the league meetings wrap in Arizona including several rule changes Also are the Ravens concerned about fallout from the failed Max Crosby trade and will the Cowboys handle contract negotiations with George Pickens? Better than they did with Michael Parsons PFT live starts after this Tuesday edition of PFT live from Arizona final day the league meetings I remember a time when these things trickled into Wednesday. I thought so you know I agree with you There was a time I wasn't a part of it at that time But I do remember my dad used to come to this event of course when he was on the top broadcasting team for CBS And always thought it was more than just kind of a two-day event, but you got more history here than me one year It was Quick Monday Tuesday and everybody left. Yeah, and I think they realized then we don't need to be here for the third day Right, right. We've come we've had our party. We've talked enough business so we can write it off Let's just get back to our lives and it became a Sunday to Tuesday thing It used to be like people would trickle in Sunday I don't think they did a lot of business on Sunday afternoon now they they make more out of Sunday and by Tuesday They're done and I remember we've been in spots in the past where you see all the limos lined up. Yeah, I'm over being here last Time yeah, it was like that. All the private jets are lined up ready to take off one after another and then they get the hell out of here So well, it's a stressful time too. I mean for the coaches, especially in the GM's. I mean it is a Big work time as you know, they just got done with free agency So it's a little bit like whoa and the draft being a little early Roadies are happening. So I do think that you know the the coaches in the GM There is a little angst and anxiousness of like hey, this is great being here It's an honor and all that but man we got work to do and you know I got that sense certainly yesterday talking to coaches and last night at the at the party that yeah It's of course at the forefront of their mind there. They come here for a few days They relax a little bit. They're less guarded than they usually are at least some of them And then they get back to work and the draft is three weeks and it's it's crazy days away Yeah, it's coming and then the offseason programs are coming and you start installing your offense and your defense for the teams with new head coaches There's even more work to be done and so yeah, this is a tiny little break a Very short respite and it's back to reality if reality even ends for this We suspend reality and all disbelief for the annual coaches photo. Oh, yeah, yeah, it wasn't out yesterday Well, it's a lot now. It is I saw I did see one yesterday. I don't know where I saw it But but regardless I thought it was pretty funny with the fact that I we find out from less need That you know you've been doing this for 15 years McVay's been doing it all these years and it was yesterday happened to be the first day that both of them missed it And they didn't even point it but big day is not going to be in this picture It sounds like it was a little loose with the timing this year and there's a few people missing in this one Well, there are a few people missing and when you look at it and this is one of those things where and other shows We'll leave it to them to break it down person by person. We do have the double sets of brothers Dead center in the front. The hard balls and the floors. Yeah, that's ready to go to the pool and do the old chicken fights Chicken fights Yeah, get on top of someone's shoulders. Well, we're probably always on the bottom I was always on the bottom. I was always waking up the next day going man. My neck feels like it's broken. What's wrong with me? Yeah, they could have done that yesterday, but yeah, there are little floors as Gary notes Robert Sala and Liam Cohen are as far away from each other as they could possibly be Exactly given there. They got a little you got there little shana hand Andy Reed shana hand Sala Dan Quinn there on the end Andy Reed usually sitting down. I'm surprised to see him standing Right. He's usually kind of the guy in the middle right? I noticed something Godfather notice something now look Ben Johnson and Matt LaFleur are only only a buffer of free between them with Michael LaFleur in between Johnson Nick Sirianni's a little jack either jacked or he's been eaten now No, he's a little jacked I think he is him and Joe Brady kind of showed up like they were like bosses over there You see Joe Brady and sitting in between Stefansky and Michael LaFleur there, but you're right I mean, well, you know, maybe Sirianni's been hitting the weights with big Dom and they're getting after it there in Philadelphia I wouldn't be shocked but you know on top of this. It's just it's a great honor for these guys to be here It is really cool. It's one of the few times all year They they all get to kind of bond and talk and hang out to it with each other I was got to be you know honored yesterday really to kind of hang out around the pool here when we got done and they have their little annual Hey, coaches all kind of hang out by the pool. Let's talk have a drink whatever else and you know Just being in that environment to you realize that the coaches really enjoy it. It's a cool thing for them There's so many of them even though it's such a small world you'd be shocked at head coaches Hey, I've never really talked to him or I've never talked to this head coach We've said hello before we said congratulations after the game But never really had like a meaningful conversation and to be here just owners GM's and head coaches And then yeah, I think for the coaches and the GM's especially the ones early on in their careers It is a pretty big moment to be like wow. I'm here. I'm the head coach at the owners meetings It's finally happened like that's a that is I think a landmark moment for a lot of these guys Yeah, cuz no one else comes exactly it's a coordinator's aren't exactly it's it's it's an elite party It's Jill had met my wife Jill had met Brian Daybone talked to him for a while last year My wife has a superpower of learning as much as possible about whoever she's talking to in the shortest possible time Right five minutes. Yeah, and she will know your life story And it'll just be one question after another and she remembers it all and she asked is he gonna be here? It's like well, no, he's not coaching more. What was he working? Yeah, he's the offensive coordinator in Tennessee They don't come they don't come now. No, this is just the coaches This is a different thing here Can we put the picture back up Gary because I do want to make one observation here actually want to make a request after the Photograph that is going to eventually if I talk long enough be put back up on the screen. There it is I would like us to print that off I would like us to laminate it and I would like it to be sent in an overnight envelope FedEx or UPS Neither one is a sponsor, so I don't care directly to James Oothmire the attorney general of the state of Florida Please send that to him. Uh, okay, I was waiting for you to join the party with me yesterday You didn't quite join it. Well, I'm all in you're all in now and I was saying yesterday Why don't they just stand up and say to this guy? Bring it on and I wrote something last night. I believe I don't think it was this morning It's all one big blur Ian Cunningham the Falcons GM. Yeah had some comments yesterday about how much work needs to be done Yeah, and That's when it just crystallized like why are they running scared? Why is the NFL tiptoeing through the minefield you either believe in diversity equity and inclusion or You're among the folks now who view that three-letter acronym is a four-letter word Yeah, you got to pick a side on this. Yeah, you can't walk down the The what am I thinking of the railing you can't tiptoe on the balance being yeah You got to be on one side of the other and if you're not on one you're on the other Yeah, and the people on the other are gonna say if you're not with us you're over there You got to pick a side you got to pick a side and they got to do what's right and Look the right thing isn't always easy to do. It's gonna be bad for business to do the right thing The true test of an organization's character is Whether or not to do the right thing when it's bad for business. Yeah. Yeah, and so far the NFL's failed I mean, I don't disagree with you there. I think it's a tough spot. I do think it's a tough spot It's not all they have to come out and say no hey James Oothmire Here's the photo roll it up and shove it up your ass sideways Well, I hear that but we know we know in this environment right now. That's that's a that's a dicey thing to do Becomes, you know a national thing it becomes a political stage It becomes a race bait issue and everything goes on like that and then and then of course listen We got to be if you want to be real about it. We we have a president That's taking people off TV if they don't like what you say or stopping interviews So yeah the NFL and all corporations are a little scared right now This is the way it is and I talked about this before and I want to make sure I'm clear about this if people understand the context when Colin Kaepernick had been blackballed by the NFL and there was a collusion suit filed by Kaepernick against the league part of the Evidence that came out during that process was that the NFL had looked into basically How people were reacting and you had 30% of the fan base that hated Kaepernick and 30% of the fan base that zealously supported him and wanted him back in the league and the league made the business decision to cater to the 30 That hates Kaepernick. Yeah, that was the argument I'm not saying the league did that right the argument based on the evidence was you all know you got just like the country We got 30 here We got 30 here and we got 40 in the middle these 30 hated him these 30 liked him we're gonna as the argument went Cater to those Who would be the loudest the most problematic the most likely to follow through on the hollow threat to not watch the games? And I feel like they're kind of caught in that same thing now Don't want that same 30% although I would like to think that 30% shrinking. I don't know Yeah, I get the feeling it is yeah because I see some of that 30 now saying things that suggest that they're no longer in that camp right and and Regardless, you're right. They're in a delicate spot. Yeah, but there shouldn't be a delicate spot when it comes to what's right No, you're right. There's no delicacy there. No, you just have to have the courage to stand up and say sometimes I'm popular yeah bring it on. Yeah, that's what I want them to say bring it on. I hope the commissioner today says Bring it on. Oh, and they can they can send two things. Yeah, we can send two We can send one by FedEx and one by UPS so we can even it out the GM photo exhibit be okay exhibit be for your your counselor. So tell me more counselor And shove it where the sun Duff not shine. Yeah James. Off Meyer. Yeah, hey, you wanted free name recognition You're getting it. We may be pronouncing your name, but hey buddy, you got no jurisdiction over me You're not power over me. No, man. This is it all it's it's a lot of pills Has a runny roll. This is why the NFL has been struggling for 20 plus years to get the owners to be more deliberate To be more careful to be more inclusive in the procedures that result in the hiring of the biggest jobs in the NFL Is anyone going to ever admit that they have a bias? No, I handled cases like this when I practiced law Yeah, somebody got fired and the theory was there was some factor That is prohibited by law that was being considered whether it was race gender Sure, religion or national origin, whatever it may be up. They're never gonna sit on a witness stand and say you got me That's why I did it. Yeah, you're goddamn right. I did did you order the code right? No, they're gonna do that. Yeah, you have to show that the reason they've given is bullshit. Yeah, sorry London and That's that's the reality here So it's not an easy thing for the NFL to solve they've been trying and their reward for trying is they have bozos like James Yeah, who try to make you exactly no, it's all performative. He's not gonna do anything That's why they should say bring it on. That's why you're right. That's why I said what I said yesterday It seemed like it was just an attention grab. It was a bunch of BS now Yeah, there's things that we got to be fixed like we talked about it's got to be fixed The bias is baked into the system and that's why the Rooney rule and things like that have been indoctrinated into the NFL is just because yes, it's hard It's in coaching front office has been rooted in long histories of Relationships of people who have been around the league forever and just like with any business and we talk about it all the time Yeah, you're you're gonna go with people. Hey, I knew his dad. I knew this guy I've known him before we have a connection and that makes people feel warm and cozy when they hire somebody and that's where the bias is Like baked in it's not about always like oh I You know, I just want a white guy to be the GM period. It's not it's just in this world here The the options and the connections are more white than black or people of color of anything like that And that's where the bias kind of gets baked in and that's what we were trying to do with the Rooney rule of just being like Hey, let's just you know, let's put some other people in here a little bit just to start the conversation You can meet some of these people and hopefully their tentacles can start to spread through the league to where one day They can get a job and unfortunately we've kind of hit a stalemate here. There's a network. There's a system exactly Yes, just it for decades and they haven't been able to crack exactly exactly I mean and you know, you can people might say nepotism. It's not nepotism. It's not that it's more about You know, just yeah, like you're talking about family roots Sean McVeigh. Yeah, his his grandfather was in the NFL They know Shanahan we know hat, right? There's there is connections there like you're saying that are deep rooted and Of course, you know, that's gonna lend itself to the hiring cycles We say one of the key issues and we've talked about this before it's one of the reasons that nepotism does occur on coaching staff There's a trust factor. Hey, who can I trust this person is trustworthy? I don't have to worry about him being a spy Yeah, I don't have to worry about him having a lot of glory or to tell a story Yeah, we know who this person is we trust this person and so when that system started in the 50s and It just continues to churn and it's never forced to include a broader base of individuals Exactly people from the same tree people from the same family. Yes from the same Backgrounds people from the same Upringing and the next thing you know you get into modern days and there's a clear and obvious as the photos demonstrate Disconnect between the composition of the coaching ranks GM ranks and the rosters and they're trying to fix it And while they're trying to fix it, and I don't know that they're trying to fix it I think with the current administration in place They're trying to say all the right things while doing nothing and they had found a balance there until the guy from Florida Yeah, screwed it all up, and it would be hilarious and appropriate if California or New York or one of the blue states decides We're gonna launch. Yeah an enforcement action based upon your failure. Yeah, so they're gonna have on both ends. Yeah, all right No, but you're saying all the right things and and yeah, that's the way business works We know that and the comfort factor of hey, I knew his dad. I knew his grandfather I know what to expect of them. That's where we are and I do think that the league wants to fix this I will say that I do I think that they're very aware that they want to but it's a hard thing to enforce and I think the owners want to fix it too But when it comes for them making their own decisions for their own football team It kind of falls back always to what we're talking about. Well, yeah I want more African-American head coaches and GM, but I have an opening and ooh I really like this guy and think he's qualified and I've known him for a long time or I knew an uncle or a brother or whatever else and For my team I want him but I do want this situation fixed and that's kind of the problem. We're stuck in There's a wanting to get it fixed but also a wait I I want to do what's best for my team or the people I trust or know and that's where it's hard to kind of break through The ice here, you know, it's funny and I'll go ahead and be completely transparent about this We were talking about it before the show. I didn't go to the cocktail party last night There are many reasons what I was tired. I didn't feel great. Yeah, my crones I'm going to the doctor May 7 and I got to figure out where things are because I wasn't feeling great yesterday But you know, I want to be able to Say what I believe on all these issues Without pausing to wonder how someone's gonna react. I understand that and I don't want to be schmoozed Yeah, I don't want their food. I don't want their booze. I don't want to feel obligated and That was one of the factors it wasn't the deciding factor Yeah, one of the factors I want to be able to talk about The fact that they're playing Russian roulette with the integrity of the game with this apparent intent to lock the officials out Mm-hmm and use the Juco and high school. Yeah glorified amateurs. I want to be able to talk about Their failures traditionally as it relates to the Rooney rule I want to be able to talk about anything and everything that may make them uncomfortable That could then make me uncomfortable and I've had those moments at that thing. Yeah, of course I had dirt cutter lying in wait for me So he could have cost me about a question. I'd asked him two months earlier a dick move to end all dick moves He never should have done it that way that happened ten years ago. Yeah at one of these So, you know what? I don't I don't need that. Yeah, I don't need that I need this and the audience needs us and it's good that you're willing to do it Because you're you were there. Yeah, but we need to be able to to speak the truth And if you want to go The channels are on the dial you can find the folks who will shake the pom-poms and Raw raw everything's great. Everything's awesome or you know, you can get a real conversation about the way the sport We love can be made better. Yeah, do you hate you hate the NFL? Oh, yeah, we'll be here. Oh, why do you you must hate the inflight? No, I love the NFL I want the NFL to be better. Yeah, and I'm not content to say everything's great when it's not. Yeah, so anyway I get I get you there all the way. Oh, I bet the food was good last night. I bet the booze was I was gonna say, you know, their booze on their dime. I do enjoy That show pan vodka just seemed like it was like oh yummy yummy. It is good. It's on the owners. I like this It was a good night and but but to your point It is the difficult thing about our life because of course I can be critical of coaches and GM's and decisions They make and I got to see them too. And yeah, there's times where I'm like, oh, man I know this guy has heard what I've said and he doesn't like me But it is part of the the the aftrix of this whole thing You're gonna have some that like you some that don't like you and you kind of just got to deal with it a little bit In this in this job. All right One of the things that came out yesterday Super Bowl 63 speaking of booze They got they must have got Jay Glazier took his little video Jay Glazier video with the coaches and Chris is in it. Well, well, this is what I was talking about yesterday by the pool Right, this has always kind of been a thing and I've always had a few friends go Hey, come to the coaches have a drink by the pool and I'm always like I don't want to infringe I never but yesterday at a few and I was kind of right by the pool and I was like, okay Few of my friends were like, come on just come over stop being a chicken So I went over and here it is and you could see me there with the the whole crew It's Jay Glazier minus Mike Tomlin who was really the one that kind of spearheaded this effort for years But we had probably I'm gonna say 17 18 head coaches there at that time With a few across the pool you see McVeigh in the background, but it was fun. It really was and like I said I think it's a great opportunity not only for somebody like me, but hey Todd Munkin He's I am a first-time head coach I get to see here and meet some of these guys and talk and you see Sean Paton's holding court and telling awesome stories So yeah, it was an awesome thing to be a part of and first time I actually showed up because sat next to Maddie ice heard him and Shanahan talking and Jay Glazier is always cool and entertaining to Be around as you know question. Yeah, is it a smoke no smoking zone? Hey, it wasn't no smoking. I did see I did see some people with like a cigar I don't think it was no smoking and I saw some people smoking like you know the pens or whatever else smoking on time But it wasn't that it was so many kids around those too many kids I wasn't gonna break that out. Okay. Yeah, I wasn't I wasn't even in drink mode Carry it with you or do you have some I usually carry it? Yeah, I use I mean none of my pockets But I'm usually locked and loaded. Yes, so you got some in your bag. So when you go in to use the bathroom Exactly right All right and again speaking of booze and We eat and gambling and other vices Vegas is going back to Vegas That's no surprise and they don't have an official rotation But I'll be stunned if it doesn't land in Las Vegas every five years I think I think Vegas might have become if you just asked me like okay I've been around people football NFL if you took a poll my feeling is that Vegas was everybody's favorite place for the Super Bowl I think we had a fun time there. It's great that everybody's in such a condensed area It's just a perfect spot to host it And I know a lot of my friends whether they're in the league or just fans and people that showed up that week Everybody was like, you know when when's Vegas happening again? When's Vegas happening again? I think it's going to be you're right kind of one of the crown jewel host spots where you know You're gonna just get a little more of a uptick. I think of celebrity people when it's in Vegas And that's what I think we saw the last time. I mean there are the private jets everywhere I mean it was a more of a celebrity superstar crowd than I feel like you see at most Super Bowls and During the week it felt like the city was ready to burst it It's exactly right as the game got closer Yeah The crowd subsided because it's the smallest stadium that hosts the Super Bowl at Allegiant Stadium I could go and look they're gonna go to LA every five years. Yeah, because they love so if I stayed in I'm amazing in California, but They don't ask me about those things. So it'll be so fine. It'll be Las Vegas. I think New Orleans should be in it more often It is I think New Orleans is awesome. I love New Orleans Miami. Yes, those are the four I'd be fine with those four and then a wild card every five years. Yeah, and I know that Arizona has gotten multiple. Yeah It's okay. Yeah, it just feels a little spread out and everywhere It's not it's not what you want for that Super Bowl Houston's okay Houston's okay. Atlanta's okay, right Miami when they embraced like we're gonna make it more about South Beach Even though the stadiums up here I feel like that change and you were like whoa Miami's a cool spot, but yeah, I'm with you But I think we're gonna have a lot sprinkled in and especially with all these new stadiums on the horizon I mean Nashville I would think is going to be a national kind of destination Right because it has what we're talking about cities pretty condensed It's not overly big like New York where it could swallow the Super Bowl and yet They're gonna have this state-of-the-art stadium and you're gonna be able to walk to the stadium downtown do all that So that's what I'm looking forward to but yeah, it feels like a lot of these new stadiums We had Kevin Warren on here yesterday the Bears their new stadium. They want to host the Super Bowl of Chicago So that's gonna maybe upset our you know every four year to Vegas type of formula there Have you and I talked about the fact that they're making noise about a new stadium for the Giants and the Jets already We talked a little bit of last week, right number. I kind of brought I think I brought it up to you out of air Yeah, off air. Yeah, because I've been hearing more and more about that because that was some If you put the dump stadiums in the cold weather cities, they're more likely exactly and they always get one Minnesota build a stadium. Yeah get one. Yeah Detroit build your stadium get one The Indianapolis build a new stadium get another in Minnesota's had to why because they've had two dome stadiums Detroit's had to two dome stadiums Indianapolis had one for Lucas oil stadium whenever they build a new one there They'll get another one now Indianapolis was a great experience And I remember the buzz after that was hey, they need to come back here. There's never been any talk of it There's never any talk going back to Dallas. Isn't that amazing? Yeah, it is amazing That amazing. Well, that's what happens when you sell more tickets and you have seats and you create a litigations Years with the ice storm. Yeah, over the whole city. They haven't even tried. Yeah, you right That's a very that would be a major point of pride then again Maybe he just assumed not have yeah, like if he thought the cowboys would make it Maybe he'd be in favor of it. This puts more of a spotlight. Yes. We're never in this game. I don't know if I want to do this I'm not sure about that You're right, but it is cool to see where this is gonna go and I am pumped about Vegas I really am yesterday to Peter O'Reilly who's one of the NFL's executive VPs was asked about the fact that the Super Bowl in Atlanta Doesn't have a date yet. Yeah, I've been saying for weeks now The reason it doesn't have a date is because they're holding out the possibility for the 18 game season as soon as 20 27 Yes, and when he was asked about it, he downplayed it, but then he said it's important for flexibility For future scheduling changes. Well, look, we know the current formula you start the weekend after Labor Day 17 games with one buy All you have to do is pull up your calendar app on your phone another industry that the iPhone has destroyed Nobody needs to buy a paper calendar anymore. It's all on your phone and I did it I did the math I found the weekend after Labor Day and I did it twice to make sure it didn't screw it up Yeah, one two three four all the way up wildcard divisional conference championship week off boom That's the date. It's it's Sunday February 13th. Yeah, that's the date That's the date so why wouldn't you do it and he said the possibility of schedule change? Well, what would change? What would change? You know what changed an 18th game? So there it is. Yeah, they've admitted it. Yeah without admitting it Yeah, said it say it out loud. They didn't have to we know it now So he also suggested that it's extremely rare for the date to not be locked in by the start of the season before the year that has Super I think it's rare if not unprecedented or not know less than two months in it two years in advance Yeah, it's just impossible to research that and find out when they've announced the dates But they're they're going to go to work on the the nfl pa soon There's too much talk about 18 games too much talk and they're ready to go with games Yeah, and why wait every year they wait is another year with 16 fewer regular season games They can be televised in all sorts of different major primetime windows. They want to get to 18 games as a Fp. Yeah. Yeah, I I know that we know that's coming. I mean it's it's not, you know When or who it might it's going to happen and I feel like we're starting to hear Owners start to say it more and little clues like that. I mean, yes, he's saying it without saying it He's trying not to disrupt the talks between the nfl pa and the nfl and putting the cart in front of the horse But we all know it's going this way Uh, and we've noticed really going this way for a long time I mean come on people who really follow the league like you and me who are just like in it and we talked about this I believe last week. I mean my dad was saying this what eight nine years ago And got roasted by some players at the you know, why he was doing it like well 18 games That's crazy and no I mean my dad was saying that because he's talking to owners and had a big job at cbs and they were going, you know Hey felt one day we'd like to have 18 games and so we made the stepping stone to go 17 We break the ice a little bit now we sell. Hey one more. What's the big deal? We'll figure out maybe another bye week We can do it on president's weekend that we've always talked about and really kind of making it almost on a national holiday weekend You know america weekend our president's super bowl the best sport in our country the best sport in the world and celebrate that That's what they want and that's what they're trying to formulate here. You know this year it will be on president's day I know I know by the way it falls like once every eight nine years It's gonna happen under the current system But if they go to 18 and two they will have to start labor day weekend Yeah, they will have to in order to make the plain land on president's day weekend And then they will have those rare years where I don't know do they start the week before labor day weekend? I don't know but if they want it to be president's day every year They're gonna have to have some flexibility and as one source explained it to me over the weekend there is Now it wasn't said this way the key word i'll share with you in a moment, but I sense there's frustration Given everything that's gone on with the nfl pa that they haven't been able to do anything And obviously since last year when loyde howell resigned david white took over as the interim executive director Nothing could really be done. It was all about stabilizing The organization and trying to undo some of the damage that howell's disastrous tenure had done But the key word that the source used The league's business has been constipated. Yeah for two or three years now And they're ready. They're ready to take adult deluxe you get this thing moving. Yeah, thank you for that Great great. Great. Yeah, that's amazing. But yeah, yeah, I mean did you have some gravy with breakfast? No, thank you But I I'm like I'm not I mean, yeah, that's what they want. You know, I know I've lost my train of thought They wanted they just they wanted to 18 they've been way too long They wanted it in 2010 chris when roger goodell first talked about it. He didn't talk about 17 He talked about 18 they backed off because they realized wait We're dealing with this player health and safety crisis. We've been forced by congress to take bless you We've been forced by congress to take head injury seriously after all these years How can we push for more games? So they had to let that settle down They had to make the game safer and then baby step to 17 Next step to 18 and I think when they went to 17 and 2021 they thought they'd be at 18 sooner than 20 26 And they want to get there. Yeah, no, it's it's stalled out. And I think you're right probably that nfl pa Relationship and all that is stalled because the nfl pa didn't know who was going to lead the charge So I think that's not but but you can just again you look at the signs you you read the tea leaves a little bit We're they're talking. Yeah, they're they're anxious to Jump start everything. I mean if the nfl had their way, they'd rip everything up right now and tell everybody Hey, the tv rights are up screw you. We want more money. We become bigger. We become better We want more and I get that but yeah, that's that's where they are They're looking to push this thing to to grow and grow the commissioner undoubtedly will be asked about 18 games and his superpower continues to be While at a press conference, who's the one that deflected bullets? Was that wonder woman deflecting the bullets with the gun? Yeah, she does. He's very good at Getting through whatever question he's been asked saying as little as possible and then moving on to the next question But he will talk at some point today in this room right behind us Miss building behind us the rooms in there the podium is ready to go they've had a couple of press conferences in there since yesterday and It'll be interesting to see what he says and how aggressively he's pressed every once in a while There's a topic that prompts follow-up questions usually what happens is and he understands this and again It's his gift He knows I'll get through this topic and then the next person is going to ask me a predetermined question that has nothing to do with what I just talked about and it's rare that it becomes a feeding Friends yeah every once in a while it does like with ray rice It did there've been other topics in the past where he just can't get away from it Yeah, I hope that he gets pressed repeatedly like when do you want 18 games? What is the schedule? But I fully expect that they've got the talking points ready to go and he will stick handle his way through the minefield And he'll say something without saying anything and leave the door open 18 games You know how what's the soonest we could have 18 games? It'd be great if somebody would ask that question Well, yeah, he probably still wouldn't give us direct answer to that either They're tactical thing and we we got here We see some owners yesterday that talked about it where that's kind of their plan attack He'll he'll maybe deflect a little bit and say it's on our radar and slowly but surely we're going to see owners like we heard from mr. Craft a little yesterday and carly ursay gordon who kind of Start to kind of let out the info. Hey, yeah 18 games would be great And I just feel like that's the kind of their plan of attack here get get the public used to it Talk about it get the players hearing it a little bit. So they're ready for it and slowly but surely I believe roger will start to address it, you know more head on and then deflect like you're talking about When robert craft a patron son had talked about it yesterday Remember it was earlier this year that he spoke about 18 regular season games and 16 international games as a given Yeah, it's a given Not a matter of negotiation just a given and the idea is this is the way to make more money Who doesn't want more money? So the way we get more money is we play more games. It's that simple carly ursay gordon of the cults Basically said the same thing more money it results in more revenue ultimately a better product It's reasonable and something we should work towards. She said I think we need to look Also in the way we do our offseason program that'll be part of it Look, it's an opportunity for the players to ask for all sorts of things now I don't know how much they're going to get because I think part of the league's Strategy here will be to make noise about some other stuff the nfl wants like maybe change the salary cap formula The expenses are going up and we pay all the expenses out of our half. They've already been Planning the seeds. Yeah that right of the thing and it could just be That okay fine. We'll leave it the way it is if you give us our 18 games The only way to get to where we're going to be content with what we have and not have to claw back Some of the percentage points you get is to get to 18 games and 16 international So you can feel like you've got something even though you ultimately got nothing so That's all tied up in it, but it's all driven by money and it's a simple argument They used to have 14 regular season games and six preseason games. They moved that that spot to 16 and 4 17 and 3 was next 18 and 2 will be next and I think eventually I won't be here for it. You might not be either. I think we're gonna have 40 teams playing 20 games with no preseason That's the end result at some point this century. Maybe I don't think you're crazy for that I mean populations exploding in america Uh, you look at that and just the popularity of the game. Yeah, I would think it's going to continue to grow that way But yeah, 18 games is the first thing here and then you're just gonna have to figure out Yeah, the bi-week situation And and the players want to do it and you know, what's the deal going to be? That's this is going to be the tough the tough thing here and I can understand the nfl seems very antsy right now about wanting a little bit more of the pie and Wanting to change the formula for the pie altogether and how it's all done and cooked and baked and whatever else and yeah It feels like they want changes here The nfl wants to give the nfl pa and enema Hey, right. Yeah, you're on fire today. I am on fire. I'm ready to go home. Yeah, apparently Apparently because I get home this time and I don't have to go anywhere until football season starts Other than the dog and pony show in may. Oh, yes, the one you'll be if we're invited We'll see. We'll see if we're there all right, uh, so That'll be a hot topic today with the commissioner and will he be asked? I assume I we talked about it already the florida stuff. He'll be asked about that He'll be asked about the 18 games. You know who'd be asked about all the current Yeah topics of interest in the nfl and where it all stands But I think the nfl pa is ready for the nfl to make their move And to try to get to 18 And get a new cba and you don't have to that's the thing you don't have to do a whole new cba You can just reach an agreement you can reach an agreement anytime you want On on 18 games just yeah any little tweet side letter That's what they call it. You can do a side letter on this on that on whatever So they can do whatever they want and they're still holding out. I'll have to do it by 20 27 So that's what we need to be Ready for the possibility that this is the last 17 game season and next season could have 18 games I'm not saying it will but we need to be ready for the possibility that it could I'd like 18 games I mean, I'd like an even number. I think I just feels better that way. I don't know why I have no like Logical reason other than nine and eight seems weird at the end of the year and records like that But yeah, it's coming and then you know, what was the news? I prefer a winning or losing record to 500 I do. Okay. Yeah, you do. So you like that odd. It's good. You can't beat 500 on the dot. Yeah, all right All right. So wait, what about the other stuff we saw a little bit yesterday? I heard about friday games or friday talk I didn't quite understand that I saw it. I didn't research it But I kind of found that interesting and this is one of the things I was able to get to before I came over today Ben Fisher of sports business journal reported that there's a proposal to take friday games sunday to friday games out of The rule that limits teams to two Short week games per year. They want that to be four days sunday to thursday, right? They don't want friday to count they play on black friday every year now Christmas is on friday this year. I fully expect there'll be three games on christmas day on a friday So they want to be able to let's just say because the cowboys are america's team Cowboys get two short week games. They always have the thanksgiving game. They get another short week game And they could be picked for christmas day. Yeah, I that's so so it's just more flexibility To go to a team that's already had two sunday to thursday turnarounds and say you're also going to have a sunday to friday And that doesn't count in the in the rule that says only two and i'm surprised they limited the two I'm surprised they just don't do well. They want it with the only problem there is at some point It's going to catch up to them the whole player safety conversation the players will go. I think crazy But see they've already decided and they believe their own bullcrap on this issue the injury rate once they once they Honed in on this one very misleading stat. Yeah, they thought it was a silver bullet to do as much short week as they want Once they realized that the injury rate from sunday to sunday is no different When you play sunday to thursday, that's misleading. That's incomplete. It has nothing to do about guys chronic problems Guys who would have been able to play on thursday. What are they? Are they available the next week now because they pushed the limit in a short week and now they're Oh, wow, i've set back because it was a short week. I didn't get a chance to heal now I don't play the next week You know and listen no league they can say all they want about those subjects. They know that that's bs They know it's like the last year with the touch push. Oh people are gonna get injured Show me somebody that's got injured first before you start telling me crystal ball people are gonna get injured in the touch push Nobody's got injured, but yet That was a concern, but yet we added more kickoffs which added more concussions to the game again and that was okay Well, so again, they can talk all they want about all that stuff the league knows they have enough coaches and gms telling them Hey, this is hard on players short week turnarounds And so they're gonna say things to spin it for the public or whatever else there But they got to find a way. This is my only pushback with We want more games. I love standalone football I'm the person that would go if you have monday night football tuesday night football sounds good thursday night football friday night football Let's do it. I want it, but at the same time I want to done in a way where the players aren't exposed and the players Can still be at their best and the games can be at their best We've complained about thursday games because great coaches like a mcvay or shanahan They take three or four days away from game planning. So there's not going to be the same creativity Players that are let's say fred warner. He runs around and runs into the wall and crushes people all the time It's a little harder to do that three to four days after you just did that So those extra days are big. They add to the quality of the game and I think the thing I you've heard me say And I think you agree. I would hope they can find a way here Where yeah, if you play on friday the week before you played on thursday And or or we just find a way to where it's not four and five days of rest for the most physically brutal sport In the in the world And you hit and do all that and then just go hey, you know, you know, man We got tv here get your ass back out there and go crush somebody We got a game in three days and we want you to play it's going to hurt the product and more more importantly That's to me where you can danger the players a little bit and This is an observation that I make from time to time and I know that the person who currently holds the job gets offended Anytime I mentioned it it has nothing to do with the personal integrity of jeff miller It's about the simple fact that no organization should have the same person running pr as runs health and safety And it's been that way for years now and I'm the I'm not looking for a pat on the back. I'm just being realistic I'm the only one that ever says it and more people should be saying it How in the hell in any organization can the person in charge of health and safety Be also be the person who is responsible for messaging and spinning and getting the league's Public front facing commentary out there the way it wants there should be tension Between those departments as pr is crafting its play health and safety should be saying whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa We need to care about the issue and to tie it all together in one person I think is bad and it's not a commentary on the person who has the job It is a commentary on the reality of bringing those two jobs together which is how we get to this. Well, well Injury rate is the same between sunday to sunday and sunday to thursday So let's play on thursday all the time. Let's have teams do it two times three times four times How many times we want the injury rates the same and it overlooks the reality of what it means to go out and play Full contact football 17 times a year the more time you have between games the better off you're going to be over the long Yes, I mean I told you I know my career wasn't worth the damn I didn't play all that long, but I had days where I would wake up on a wednesday still and let's say it was a physical Game I got crushed by vince will fork and richard seamor and la lakers day my man junk goes lakers colors at the end I can remember waking up for wednesday practice that week going Holy shit. I'm still Can feel richard seamor's hit from sunday So imagine what linebackers feel and free safeties and strong safeties and that's where You know that that's where yeah, there needs to be a voice that can speak for the players and explain that and hopefully the coaches And the gms can get that through to the the nfl another example of selective use of misleading statistics grass versus turf Yes grass versus turf injury rates the same. Yeah, basically. It's not an issue injury rates the same Okay, okay, but how do you feel the day after exactly you can't get out of bed the day after exactly we've been we've been walking around on it here The past two days hot as hell too. That's the other thing because the heat comes from the bottom No, I that's another thing I will continue to bang the table for and I have banged the table since I've been here with a few coaches Just going you know, it's a bunch of bullcrab that these owners and these stadiums are going to change Change their stadiums in their fields right now for the soccer players Whatever you want and make it grass where the nfl players all want that and yet they're not going to Listen to them, but yet we're going to listen to The soccer players come over and we're going to change it for them and as we've talked about before Most major soccer stars in their contracts have it that they won't they don't have to play on field turf And that's when you see them come over in the summer and they play those little You know friendly games and club games and whatever else you'll see and go wake Wait, why didn't ronaldo play today on met life stadium? What because he doesn't play on field turf? It's in his contract. He's not going to do it And so I hope the nfl can fix that because if they're really serious about player safety, that is one thing I don't everybody complains about practicing on field turf practicing let alone just play Nobody on a team I was ever on was like, oh, yeah, we're on the field turf today Everybody if we had to go on the field turf it was like, oh Man, is it that bad outside that we got to go out? You know in the bubble and go on the field turf the players the big guys hated it And I hope that can get changed too. You know now I know why when I went to fedex field more than 10 years ago to see argentina play I know why lino messi didn't play he must have had a contract clause that said he doesn't have to play in any stadium Where raw sewage rains down on the on the fans That must be why I didn't play that because they do have grass. It's not great grass. They do it may be dirt painted green That would be another thing too. They would they they have a you know, the the field has to Reach certain capabilities for them to play sometimes I think most major soccer stars international soccer stars would go wait You want me to play on the bucks the buccaneers field? Right now in late december after there's been five high school football games and 20 college games on there the last month But you want me to play like we've gotten games in in tampa and you're thinking man, this is the nfl This is professional football and you'd get on the field and go man They spray painted the field green today because it's dirt and look at some of these divots and everything you go through And that to me is just insane with how big the sport is how much money it's making and everything we're talking about the day that Rg3 suffered the acl tear although I still think he toured against the ravens and it just went against the seahawks and the playoffs that year I remember seeing pictures posted on social media people with their dress shoes Turned green walking on that field. Yeah, yeah from the paint that they used exactly that day exactly and Here's the next frontier as it relates to grass versus turf I caught wind of this last week apparently more recent statistics show that the injury rates even greater on grass because The grass fields aren't what they're not they're not in good shape standpoint So it's almost like hey you want more grass? We'll give you grass. We'll give you bad grass and then you're gonna be begging for turf But still we know anybody that's ever done it. I remember when I was a kid and we had access to the old astro turf for the first time And it's so cool. Yeah, let's go play on astro turf. This is fun Well first of all any exposed flesh that hits the ground is torn off And you've got blood in the scab and then the next morning when it's time to get out of bed He's like, I don't remember getting run over by a bulldozer yesterday. Like why can't I move? So that's what happens on the artificial turf. Okay, let's take a break and we'll return with the very real show We will be discussing next Stephen Jones and bryan schottenheimer On the dilemma that the cowboys face with the franchise tag applied to george pickens as the receiver market keeps going up and up That's next. The real show. Was that the fake show? Well, I was trying to make a play on words You're not real man