Inside Access with Jason LaCanfora and Ken Weinman
Aditi Kinkhabwala: George Pickens is very much feast or famine
This season Instacart has your back to school. As in, they've got your back to school lunch favorites, like snack packs and fresh fruit. And they've got your back to school supplies, like backpacks, binders and pencils. And they've got your back. When your kid casually tells you they have a huge school project due tomorrow. Let's face it, we were all that kid. So first, call your parents to say "I'm sorry." And then download the Instacart app to get delivery in as fast as 30 minutes all school year long. Get a $0 delivery fee for your first three orders while supplies last. Minimum $10 per order additional terms apply. We all belong outside. We're drawn to nature. Whether it's the recorded sounds of the ocean we doze off to, or the succulents that adorn our homes. Nature makes all of our lives, well, better. Despite all this, we often go about our busy lives removed from it. But the outdoors is closer than we realize. With all trails, you can discover trails nearby and explore confidently. With offline maps and on-trail navigation. Download the free app today and make the most of your summer with all trails. Nothing is more important than getting a good night's sleep. And when you don't get the rest you need, your whole day is thrown off. That's why it's so important to choose the right mattress. Sleeping on a purple mattress is truly a unique experience. Because purple mattresses are made with a gel flex grid. The gel flex grid is an innovative material that moves with your body to relieve pressure in areas like knees and hips. And support in others like your back. It feels soft where you want it and supports where you need it. Purple mattresses instantly adapt when you move. You don't sink in and get stuck like with memory foam. And thanks to over 1,400 air chambers in the gel flex grid, you will sleep cooler on a purple mattress. Purple has a wide variety of mattresses from the original purple mattress to the Restore Hybrid Collection. It combines gel flex grid with coils and the Rejuvenate Lux collection, the height of luxury. With over 112,000 to 5 star reviews to prove it, visit purple.com to find the perfect purple for you and enter code podcast 10 to get 10% off. Ravens open their preseason schedule tomorrow night hosting the Philadelphia Eagles. It's a perfect time to talk to our friend from CBS, a Didi Kinkobwala, who knows the AFC North as well as anybody in a Didi. Thank you as always for joining us. Football season is here. So let's start with an easy one. If you had the bed, who's going to win the quarterback job in Pittsburgh? Well, my time was already said that the job is Russell Wilson. Oh, but did you buy it? I mean, you said it to Russell Wilson's camp and signing Russell Wilson. He said it did. He's maintained that. Look, he said that Russell Wilson would be in pole position. He, despite the fact that Justin Fields having had every opportunity at camp, because obviously Russell Wilson had that calf injury to open things up. He's still saying that Russell Wilson is his QB one. So I don't know how really hugely true of a competition this is right now. Don't be surprised though. Look, don't be surprised if there is indeed a package for Justin Fields. He has shown some very dynamic athleticism. I think that he still needs to, not I think from what I am being told. He still needs to be a little cleaner in terms of reading the field. So here's some opportunity to develop. How much better could they be with a brand in IUC, especially considering they're not, you know, they're not trading. They're starting left tackle form or anything like that, assuming it's a primarily draft pick compensation package. I mean, they don't have it. They're not going to send a first and a third and maybe another third in the future. That's just not it. Guys, let's talk about this. The offense is going to be what the offense is, meaning that the Steelers are never my Tomlin. The Steelers under my Tomlin are never suddenly going to start swinging the ball around and being unbelievably innovative in the way that they use their personnel. That's not been an Arthur Smith offense and that's not been the type of offense that either owner or owner Art Rooney or head coach Mike Tomlin has run or wants to run. They are very, very specific and public in saying the way that they want to play offensive football. So that's number one. Number two, who thinks that it's sort of like dumbfiance me, this idea that Brandon IU wants to be nowhere but Pittsburgh. Okay, so you've got a defensive minded head coach who isn't particularly innovative offensively, who isn't really all about swinging the ball around. And you've got some serious questions about who's actually delivering the ball from the quarterback position. So there are enough questions that Brandon IU is not the one player that makes this enormous difference in who the Pittsburgh Steelers are. Well, D, let's get to the Ravens and a lot to feel good about what this team is. I convinced you because you agree that this is sort of a silly circuitous conversation or because I think it could happen. I think there's just been so much smoke. There's just been so much smoke around the fact that the Steelers could bring in a receiver and outside at George Pickens. What do they have? I mean, but do they even have George Pickens? Like, let's be honest, how many hundred yard games does he have in this game? Oh, I'm with you. Is this a guy that is regularly shown that he is consistent, reliable, dependable, his numbers. I was just going over his numbers with somebody and it's jarring. I should have had this pulled up for you so I could have told you, but he's very much a feast or famine. Yeah, he has some 100 yard games because he has a lot of games where he has less than five catches and less than 50 yards. I'm with you, 100% of Dee Dee and I think that that's why it kind of necessitates a move and there's been so much smoke around the trade rumors. Kyle Shanahan runs the hell out of the ball to a Dee Dee. Like this guy's right. He's already been in a situation where he's the third or fourth option, right? Like it's run. It's McCaffrey. It's Debo. It's it's chiddle. You know what I mean? And it's you're playing for a guy. You're playing for a guy who wants to put up points. He's constantly thinking of how to put up point. He's constantly innovating the way that he plays off. And yeah, I mean, the sealers right now do not have the compensation that are is enough to make San Francisco pull the trigger. Yeah, we shall see and make a move. So me personally, I wouldn't want to play with either of those quarterbacks and Pittsburgh, but that's just me. You're signing a five year deal. You're going to outlast them. But it's a pretty good organization. Like they've had quarterbacks, like they've been a lot of games where they lost the coach and the quarterback. Their starting over with a bunch of dudes who never done it before. It's Mike F and Tomlin. I know. Um, dudes want to play for Mike F and Tomlin, Mike, Mike Tomlin inherited Ben Rolfis burger and has not had any success at choosing his next quarterback. There was a time when people thought that not thought that, you know, the Steelers had a first run grade on Mason Rolf that Mike Tomlin loved my Mason Rolf. That didn't work out. Obviously, Kenny Pickett, that didn't work out. Now here we have Russell Wilson, who's. He's Russell Wilson. Sean Payton. Yeah. Once I'm trying to think about how to be diplomatic about all this. Maybe we should move on. How about those Ravens? I was just, I was just talking to a friend of mine who had been on the football side of things for a long, long time with multiple organizations as a Super Bowl winner and now has somewhat recently moved to TV and he's been on a training camp tour and we were sort of joking about how fans get so riled up about training camp stats or what somebody's completion percentage in shorts and what can you really see and who's really that impressive and he's bit to, let's say roughly eight or nine different places and we were kind of talking about questions everywhere, this, that and the other, and I said, well, is there anyone you've seen that's impressive? Is there anyone that you feel like, yeah, this team's good and he said the Ravens? And I trust this guy, I trust him a lot considering his background that the fact that he was so easy and quick for him to kind of flow the role and everybody else, but to unequivocally say, yeah, the Ravens are already humming a bit. That meant something to me. This season Instacart has your back to school. As in, they've got your back to school lunch favorites like snack packs and fresh fruit and they've got your back to school supplies like backpacks, binders and pencils and they've got your back when your kid casually tells you they have a huge school project due tomorrow. Let's face it, we were all that kid. So first, call your parents to say I'm sorry and then download the Instacart app to get delivery in as fast as 30 minutes all school year long. Get a $0 delivery fee for your first three orders while supplies last, minimum $10 per order additional terms apply. We all belong outside, we're drawn to nature, whether it's the recorded sounds of the ocean we doze off to or the succulents that adorn our homes. Nature makes all of our lives, well, better. Despite all this, we often go about our busy lives removed from it, but the outdoors is closer than we realize. With all trails, you can discover trails nearby and explore confidently. With offline maps and on trail navigation, download the free app today and make the most of your summer. With all trails. Nothing is more important than getting a good night's sleep and when you don't get the rest you need, your whole day is thrown off. That's why it's so important to choose the right mattress. Sleeping on a purple mattress is truly a unique experience because purple mattresses are made with a gel flex grid. The gel flex grid is an innovative material that moves with your body to relieve pressure in areas like knees and hips and support in others like your back. It feels soft where you want it and supports where you need it. Purple mattresses instantly adapt when you move. You don't sink in and get stuck like with memory foam and thanks to over 1,400 air chambers in the gel flex grid, you will sleep cooler on a purple mattress. Purple has a wide variety of mattresses from the original purple mattress to the Restore Hybrid Collection that combines gel flex grid with coils and the Rejuvenate Lux Collection, the height of luxury. With over 112,000 to 5 star reviews to prove it, visit purple.com to find the perfect purple for you and enter code podcast10 to get 10% off. There's really one, there's a couple question marks, but the big one for me is the offensive line where they're trying to replace three of their five starters from last year. Does that give you pause? I think it always does, just because there's no unit that relies on chemistry, camaraderie, time on task together more than the offensive line and so I like the way things project. I like essentially what I'm hearing. There doesn't seem to be a lot of panic, but I think that that's one of the things that you really need to see it and you need to see it in action. We're talking to a DD Kinkaball that's inside access here on the fam. What about in Cleveland, a DD? Obviously, they made the late run last year with Joe Flacco. Are you the Sean Watson sick of the BS, he is sick of the BS, the BS that just flies from the sky and hits him for him. No comment. No comment. I forget right for the next three weeks, I'm the bear size. I mean, not the bear. So my goodness, I can't even get a brownies in sideline reporter. Are you buying the Browns as a team? As a contender as a team a year ago, I loved the chemistry, the camaraderie, the way that guys genuinely played for the guy next to them. It had been a long time since I'd felt that a defense was as close as that defense was. And that team just kept on taking hits, whether it was Nick Chub. I mean, you go down the line, how many key, key, key important players did they lose last year? And Kevin Stafancy and Andrew Andrew Barrett kept finding someone and Kevin Stafancy kept plugging that someone in. And Joe Flacco being the best example of that. They've retooled a lot. They have a new offensive coordinator. They have a new tight ends coach. They have a new O-line coach. They're obviously tweaking and evolving their offense, which Kevin Stafancy said obviously is the goal every single year. We know that the Ravens have done the same, but they've done it sort of in a very jarring way because they've brought in all these fresh ideas and they're implementing these fresh ideas. And obviously, you're not going to see a lot of that in the preseason and the less that we talk about it, the better it is for my future since Kevin Stafancy has explicitly said let's not talk about certain things. So that's the Cowboys here, Cowboys being their weak one opponent, but you are going to see an augmented passing game that perhaps suits these players a bit more. And there's certainly a lot of excitement from the wide receivers in terms of the freedom that they'll have with the abundance of choice routes and sort of the changes that are coming in. So I guess the question here is now I'll see, I'll get to talk to Deshawn for the first time myself this weekend, but from everyone I'm talking to within the organization and around the organization, he is markedly more comfortable and whether that's comfortable in the operation, comfortable in the organization, comfortable in the locker room, comfortable in the offense, whatever, all of those things, I mean at some point it has to add up to something, right? The expectations are there and we've sort of had a mitigating circumstance or a mitigating factor every year up until now. Didi Kinkabolo will be on the sidelines for the Browns during the preseason and then of course working for CBS once the regular season begins. Didi, always great. Please don't be a stranger. We do love talking to you. Thank you. It's time you call. You know, I say yes. It's always great talking to you guys. Thanks so much, Aditi. Enjoy the Brown. Have an awesome season. Thanks. Bye, guys. See you. Trying to figure out what to eat for dinner yet again with nor sides and bullion as you're not so secret ingredient, you can skip the drive through and do dinner at home nor taste combos provide a menu of delicious, affordable and well-balanced meals that you can prepare in 30 minutes or less. Visit nor.com to get quick and easy recipe ideas for your home cooked weeknight dinners. It's not fast food, but it's so good. Get your laugh on with me, Chris Jericho and the talk is Jericho podcast. We've got Guns N' Roses, Hall of Famer, Duff the Kagan and his joke of the week every Friday plus regular visits from the hilarious Brad Williams and special appearances by everyone from Gabrielle, Fluffly Iglesias, Mark Marin, Dennis Miller, Cheech Marin, Kevin Neeland, if they're funny, they're on Talk is Jericho. So listen to and follow Talk is Jericho now on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.