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Granger, for the ones who get it done. This episode is brought to you by Progressive. Most of you aren't just listening right now, you're multitasking. But what if you could also be saving money by switching to Progressive? Drivers you save by switching save nearly $750 on average, and auto customers qualify for an average of 7 discounts. So, multitask right now. Get your quote now at Progressive.com. Progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates, national average 12 months savings of $744 by new customers surveyed, who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations. I feel like they've been playing really well. You, you know, have done a nice job in protection. I'd like to cut down on some of the complaining in the hotel. If I could, you got to remember, like this is, it's like in the ASAP fable. Like, you know, we need to be the tortoise. You know, it's low and steady when's a race. Sometimes you get a little antsy out there, you want the ball, you complain and you're, you know, in my, in my ear the old time. We just got to understand it comes, comes in the, in the flow. [MUSIC] Free saw showing up at Aaron Rodgers' midweek press conference. No co-host showing up today. As far as I know, who knows how the next two hours will unfold. Although here is the rough idea. It's just me for the first block. Then we'll have Serene Williams to get us ready for Cowboys Giants, Thursday night game, first short week road game in Cowboys history. Because they always do the Thursday Thanksgiving game at home. We'll have Charles Robinson of Yahoo after Serene to talk about some league wide things. I have some thoughts on our most trafficked story of the day yesterday. I want to talk to Charles about that. Then Hall of Fame head coach, Tony Dungy, later in the program, final half hour to get you ready for week four, generally. They want me to call it "hopery PFT" and I won't. So Pete, you can put that word back in normal font. I noticed it. I'll acknowledge you if that makes you feel better. I'm not going to call it that. I don't want to wear the ribbon. By the way, I'm trying to be nice, Aaron Rodgers. I'm in a fairly good mood for no particular reason today. But I've heard references throughout the entire course of 59 years and six, almost seven months of living to the tortoise in the hair. The concept, slow and steady wins the race. We're all aware of that. I can't think of a single time that whoever was making that reference felt compelled to remind me that it was from a fable. Not just any fable. Aesop's fable. Just in case you were forgetting that Aaron Rodgers is a football player, a gentleman, and a scholar. He will remind you from time to time. And you know, I suggested yesterday that by next week, we could have props in the form of a variety pack of cereal boxes. If I happen to find any no official updates yet, you got to tune in next Wednesday when Michael Holly is back to see if I've managed to find a variety pack of cereal boxes. However, I do have props and it fits well because, look, Aaron, if you're trying to expand your horizons and it's funny. I do radio throughout the country and I make pitches for my side projects, such as Father of Mine and The Sequel out very recently, Son of Mine. So Aaron, a little something for your next road trip by week. Maybe you could reference it gratuitously during a press conference. I mentioned these because number one, if you don't promote your own shit, no one else will. And number two, they're both good. Despite the fact that I wrote them, they're both very good. Many are saying that they are very good. And for our friends in the UK and Ireland, they're in English, right? If you understand what I'm saying, you understand what I've written. So, oh, and newsflash, I started the third one in the series the other night. I just, I was sitting around on one of those rare quiet moments you have on a Friday night. That's when the world slows down for me during football season Friday night. Wife was on the road and I just started going. Pulled the thread and I'm about four chapters in and I'm just going to keep going. So one of these days I'll be able to hold up three of them if I can hold up three at once. But check out, seriously, Father of Mine and Son of Mine, get them at Amazon. $3.99 for the Father of Mine ebook. That is dirt cheap, folks. $4.99 for the Son of Mine ebook. Also, dirt cheap. You get them both. I've done the math already for $8.98. I wasn't sure $8.98 was correct. I double checked it with a calculator. $8.98 for both. Or you can get the print editions for $14.99 each. But seriously, seriously, if you like to read, you'll love the books. And if you don't like to read, what's wrong with you? It's an escape from the day to day, whatever it is that's dragging you down. You go into a different world and it carries you through and you're curious about the characters and your mind activates because you try to picture what the characters look like. I'm not big on describing characters all the way down to the last detail. That's for you as the reader to do. You imagine a new world. It's just a nice break from whatever it is you're doing. All right. It's trying to bait me. It's not going to work today. Pete, get behind me, Satan. We're moving on. There's plenty to talk about in the National Football League as we get ready for week four. Week four is here, as mentioned. Cowboys at Giants tonight. A lot of great games coming up over the course of Sunday and Monday. Another overlapping double header on Monday night. Don't don't get me started. Not that I've stopped about that. We'll do the picks podcast later today. I'll get my second dose of the week with Chris Sims. We'll do the one hour picks for all games straight up against the spread. Yadda yadda yadda. Last week wasn't good. We'll try to do better this week. One of the reasons last week wasn't good is Chris and I both had misplaced trust in the Los Angeles Chargers. We both believe that the Chargers would head into Pittsburgh and pull an upset victory over the unbeaten Steelers. One of the reasons that it didn't work out for the Chargers. They didn't have their starting quarterback for the entire game, who was bagged up with an ankle injury more on him for a second. But this weekend, as the Chargers prepared a host, the Kansas City Chiefs, it's now official that they won't have safety. Derwin James Jr., who was suspended on Monday. Appeal denied on Tuesday for his latest violation of the NFL's playing rules aimed at making the game safer. So yesterday, Jim Harbaugh, weekly press conference, will study his demeanor very carefully. He was asked the question of whether he agrees with the NFL's decision to suspend James for this week's game against the Chiefs. I did not. I thought there was mitigating circumstances to it. That was my opinion. That there was not a defensive player that changed his course. And I thought Derwin's helmet was stiff-armed. The stiff arm of a Mr. Fariar move, I thought causes his head to make the contact. And I thought the contact was first with the forearm, then the shoulder, then that. He genuinely does not want to hurt any other player. And the film is exhibit A. The tape watches his tackles. Close to 20, give or take. They've been, in my opinion, as I look at the tape exactly, what you would want somebody, what the league is trying to get to, which is take the head out of the game. But you can't never really take the head out of the game, because it's in between the two shoulders. It goes trying to tackle with the shoulder. The head, the helmet, is in between the two of those shoulders. There's a certain brilliance in the simplicity that we have demonstrated from Jim Harbaugh from time to time. He's right. And that's been one of the constant frustrations for many coaches and players since the NFL. And it happened October 17, 2010, when there were bang, bang, bang, three of the incidents of helmet to helmet collisions with defensive receivers that caused the NFL to take this all much more seriously, to enforce the rule much more aggressively. And one of the things Rodney Harrison said that night on football night in America, the only way to truly enforce it is to suspend the players that certain players like Rodney himself, while playing, would set money aside, budgeting for the inevitable fines for violating the NFL's safety rules. It's only when you remove the player from the locker room, take him from his team, keep his team from having his services, force him to let his teammates down as the message get through. And this isn't a one game suspension for a fluke hit. This is the NFL system of progressive discipline. Like we see in many workplaces and educational institutions, you do something you shouldn't do. You get one level of punishment. If you keep doing it, same thing, not anything worse. Just the same thing. You get a higher level of punishment. You keep doing the same thing. It keeps going. This isn't one shot. Oh, no, this is you have failed to comply with what we expect. And it's as simple as how you go into the tackle. And you know it when you see it, we've got the video of the hit from Derwin James on Pat Freim with the Steelers tight end from Sunday's game. You know it when you see it and we've seen these hits over and over again. We know instinctively from watching football the past 14 years that that is a hit that you don't want to see. And I don't want to get this cobbled up with defenseless player because remember, it was in 2018, the NFL implemented the rule that is a violation to lower the helmet and make forcible contact with an opponent anywhere in their helmet and their shoulder pad and their stomach and their leg in their foot. That's what he did. It's that old look from the 80s and 90s of using the helmet as a weapon. He didn't go in with his shoulder. Jim Harbaugh's points make a lot of sense, but do not let him gaslight you folks. Derwin James went in with his helmet. And it's on the defensive player, the player who would dip that helmet. Just keep your helmet up. When you dip that helmet and you go forward, it doesn't matter where you hit the player. You make forcible contact with the opponent after you have lowered your helmet to do so. That is a violation and it's the latest violation. Five unnecessary roughness penalties in 18 games, most in the NFL by a defender period. So you've got to comply. And if you don't, you suffer the consequences. Who was it last year? Kareem Jackson suspended multiple times. If you can't comply with what the rules require, you will continue to be suspended. And if you can't or won't comply, it's time to get on with what Chuck Knoll would refer to as your life's work because football is not for you because you're incapable of playing it within the confines of the NFL's expectations. It's no different than being too short, too skinny, too slow, too weak. If you're too aggressive, if you're too willing to put that helmet straight into an opponent, you're going to face the consequences. And that's just the way it is. I'm not agreeing with it. And look, the more the NFL obsesses over player safety, the more the NFL invites a competitor that would come in and dial the rule book back to 1980. And I'm still surprised that hasn't happened yet. With all the money that's out there, private equity, this and Saudi public investment fund that, no one's going to be able to compete with the NFL on its own turf in the fall. Unless somebody says we're throwing out all these rules, we're going to go back and play football the way it used to be played. And maybe that's where Derwin James should be playing. Because if you can't comply with the expectations of the NFL's rule book, you will be penalized and you will eventually be suspended. And we're seeing the various hits that got Derwin James flagged and or find that resulted in. And there it is. Now that one, see, he lowered the helmet. I don't know how forcible the contact was, but the one that happened on Sunday, the one that was the tip of the iceberg or the straw that broke the camo's back or insert reference from ASOP's fable to fit the circumstances or fables as the case may be. Now that's a hit on defensive player. It doesn't matter that it wasn't with the helmet. It's to the helmet. That's the thing to remember. For a defenseless receiver, you can't hit him with your helmet or in the helmet or basically had neck area. But at no time on the field, since 2018, can you dip the helmet and make forcible contact with that helmet on an opponent? Now that's a rule that it doesn't get flagged as much as it should in real time, but you get fined for it. And if you get fined enough, you eventually will be suspended by the National Football League. And when Derwin James returns in week five, if he does it again, he'll be suspended again. And the next time, it'll be two games. And then it may be four games. So the important point there. Now, look, maybe Jim Harbaugh is saying different things behind the scenes to Derwin James and he's saying publicly. But if you want your player to be available, you better accept what the NFL is telling you. You better understand what the NFL is saying, and you better coach your guy up to comply or you won't have him. It's that simple. So Jim, look, great points, although it was a little gas-lightie. At the same time, when it's time to talk to Derwin James, you better make sure he gets it or you're not going to have it. It's that simple. It's that simple. And I've said, and this dates back to the time before Mike Tomlin had his epiphany that he better get his guys to play the right way. I remember like big hits from Ryan Clark, he'd get fined $40,000 and Clark would say publicly, I was praised in the film room for that. Well, why were you praised in the film room for it? If the NFL finds you for it, the coaches at some point need to be fined if their players are doing it. The organization needs to be fined because at some level, the organization is either prompting it or enabling it. And that's my concern with what Harbaugh said. It enables conduct that violates the rules. And at some level, there needs to be a consequence for the coach and/or the organization that is allowing it. Okay. The other issue for the chargers on the offensive side of the ball, Justin Herbert's availability, he had the high ankle sprain, the aggravation against the Steelers left the game. Taylor Heineke finished things up. Herbert in a walking boot after the game, walking boot reportedly off. Here's Herbert from yesterday talking about the status of his injured ankle. Not any better than where we were last week. I think it's progressing. It was just really painful during the game. It was the built up from the hits and the toll on it. But I think at this point, I've done a good job of rehabbing it, getting treatment on it. And I think we're taking steps forward. Is that a question from the Sunday or is the 4 Sunday? We were talking about last week, so comparing this Tuesday to last Tuesday or this Wednesday to last Wednesday. In that regard, I think we're steps ahead of where we were. I think it's played by go day to day, see how it is, and keep getting better. We felt like I was in a position last week to play, and I felt comfortable and safe going out there, knowing that I could move around and do as much as I could to protect myself. But we got to that point where they thought it was the best decision to take me out, because I couldn't move. I couldn't protect myself. I think as long as we keep getting better from day to day here, we'll see where we end up. It really is amazing that you get yourself injured, and then you work your ass off to put yourself in a position where your existing injury will get aggravated. And then you go back to square one and figure out how we're going to get it back to where it needs to be. And it's this constant process and it's inherent to being a professional football player, Herbert technically limited in practice on Wednesday with that ankle injury. And he better be able to protect himself if he plays on Sunday, because three tackles did not practice yesterday for the Chargers. Rashawn Slater with a peck, DNP, Joe Altney, did not practice. Trey Pipkin's foot did not practice on the defensive side of the ball, both Joey Bosa with a hip and junior Colson with a hamstring, did not practice. So I was a firm believer and still continue to be a believer that the Chargers under Jim Harbaugh can give the Chiefs fits. It's kind of hard to do it without your best players available, or if your best players out there, he's hobbled and he might get even more hobbled and might be removed from the game again, because the offensive line isn't able to fend off the likes of Chris Jones and George Corloptus and the other Chiefs defensive players. Speaking of the Chiefs, let's flip it around. Again, Chiefs at Chargers this weekend, Chiefs, if you haven't heard, undefeated, Chiefs, if you haven't noticed, could be 0 and 3. They haven't blown anybody out. One of the reasons they haven't blown anybody out there, all pro tight end Travis Kelsey's stats have not been great so far this year. Here he is from yesterday talking about a statistical performance that through three games has been somewhat, if not wholly, underwhelming. Whatever it is, it's football baby. I'm not getting caught up in getting the targets and and all that. I just want to have a successful offense and I think Pat's doing a great job of finding the open guy and making the right decisions right now. Can imagine that you're frustrated? I've had a lot of catches in this league, man. I'm not worried about the catches and the yards and all of that. I have the most fun when I get the ball thrown my way. I mean, who does? Executioner has everything to do with execution, just making sure that we're doing whatever we can to win these football games, man. That's always going to be the goal. It's easier to say that when you are winning and one of the things that Chris and I talked about earlier in the week and again, this is where the whole variety pack of cereal came from because I can't remember who I talked to about which topic because it's somebody different every day. But I do recall once or twice this week getting into this question and it's a chicken in the egg type of a thing. There's still doubling Travis Kelsey. At what point do you not double Travis Kelsey and take your chances that he's not going to beat you if you single cover him and reallocate the assets to stopping or at least slowing down rashi rice. Patrick Holmes alluded to that earlier in the week. One of the reasons Rice is doing so well. We had 12 targets for 10 catches over what 100 and something yards and a touchdown on Sunday night against the Falcons. If they shift their focus toward Rice, does it open things up for Kelsey and which defense that the Chiefs face is going to say, you know what, we're just going to take our chances here with Travis Kelsey. We'll experiment. We'll dip a toe in the water with not putting two guys on or near him and we're going to use that extra guy to try to take away rice. And if it doesn't work, we'll adjust on the fly. But we're not going to continue. We got 11 guys. We can use them out where we want, despite Mel Kuiper's wishes that two high safeties be taken away. We're going to do what we need to do to use those 11 guys to slow down an offense. And the Chiefs offense has been slowed down. It hasn't been as efficient and effective even last year when it wasn't that great. Patrick Holmes stats are still down through three games from what we came to expect in 2023. Somebody at some point is going to take their chances with Travis Kelsey and they're just going to dare him to prove that he's still the guy that he always was. He turns 35 in a matter of days. October 5, I believe is his birthday. Happy birthday in advanced Travis. He's had a great career. How much gas is still in the tank? He's not able to show us because defenses are obsessed with taking him away. So we'll find out. We'll see. And again, as long as they're winning, it's easy. And what are you going to do? Complain about your lack of touches for a team that's 3 and 0. It's the concept that we talk about all the time, or at least I do. Receivers, great receivers on teams that aren't winning. And if they're not getting the ball as much as they'd like and no receiver ever gets the ball as much as he's like, I mean, every great receiver wants the ball on every play. Every great receiver believes he's open on every play. But if you're not getting the ball on every play and your team is losing, you convince yourself, if I only would get the ball on every play, we'd be winning. And there's no way to disprove it because you're not giving me the ball on every play. If you would just do that, we'd be winning. And I mentioned that because it was after Monday nights blow out blow out of the Jacksonville Jaguars that Josh Allen, the Bills quarterback made the comment about how after spreading the ball around to 10 guys, how it's great to have a bunch of guys who aren't concerned about stats and they aren't concerned about touchdowns. And when you listened to what Josh Allen said, it was hard to not come to the conclusion. And he was making a reference intentionally or not to a certain former teammate who had a habit of, and this is a word that will impress Aaron Rodgers, just articulating on the sideline. If he had any type of frustration regarding the things that were happening out on the field, because again, Stefan Diggs believed if the Bills were losing and if he wasn't getting the ball thrown his way repeatedly, all we have to do is get me the ball and we will be winning. It all came to a head when they lost 27 to 10 to the Bengals in the divisional playoffs in 2022. It was the thing on the sideline with the gesturing and it laid the foundation for a toxic off season. They should have traded him after July 1 of 2022. They ultimately did trade him before June 1 of 2022. If I misspoke, they did trade him before June 1 of 2024. I got my dates all wrong. Now let me try this again. They should have traded him after June 1 of 23. They did trade him before June 1 of 24. The cap consequences were the same. They should have made that move because remember that weird mandatory mini camp thing that happened after June 1 of 23. That's when they should have moved on. That's when they should have found a suitor for Stefan Diggs. They waited until after the season and here are the Bills 3 and 0. Number one on the PFT power rankings, the always binding statistically efficient, carefully cultivated. PFT power rankings. They jumped the Chiefs, even though the Chiefs won this past weekend, even though the Chiefs are 3 and 0. The Bills, the number one team in the NFL. Here's Allen from yesterday when he was asked how encouraging it is to see his receivers not clamoring for the football. It's very encouraging and I know there's a lot of people talking out there. Again, I'm not trying to pare down anybody. I've loved everybody that I've played with and you don't have to tear other people down to build each other up. We're building each other up right now and that's all we're trying to do. We're trying to stay together as a team and we're really caring about each other and everybody in this building has got that feeling. You know what I mean. You know what I mean. Whether it's former players, yeah. And again, I love I love 14. I still do. But everyone wants to keep making this thing a thing and you know, we're so focused on what's going on inside of our building and that's the only thing that we're caring about right now. You know, when I saw the characterization of Allen's comments at ESPN.com, I think it was presented as Allen being asked to follow up specifically about Diggs. He was he was never asked about Diggs. He brought Diggs up. He knew he knew what impression his comments created on Monday night and he might not have done it intentionally. He still did it. There are times where as we speak, we sometimes aren't as tactful as we'd like to be. You know, a lot of times we're just blunt because we choose to be blunt or passive aggressive because it's part of a deliberate plan to send a message. Sometimes what happens is we just say the words. There isn't a filter that's rearranging our thoughts so they come out in an intended way. We just speak our mind and life would be a lot easier, although probably a lot more chaotic if people just constantly spoke their minds. Josh Allen was speaking his mind on Monday night and not realizing, uh oh, and haven't we all done that? We say something and then we realize after the fact, oh, oh crap. Oh, oh, somebody's not gonna like that. And then you have to do a cleanup on aisle five. And that's what he did. He was simply asked how encouraging is it to see receivers not clamoring for the ball. And he's the one that pivoted into give me a mop and a bucket mode. I better make sure I take this opportunity to let 14 who now wears one with the Texans. No, I wasn't firing a shot at him. What it kind of was. And that's okay. Now, look, maybe Josh Allen wants to have a good relationship with Stefan Diggs. Maybe Josh doesn't want to give digs any extra for their upcoming game, which I believe is next weekend. We've got bills at Ravens on Sunday night football. We'll have bills at Texans at one o'clock Eastern the Sunday of week five. You're too close to that game. It gives Stefan Diggs any extra incentive any extra reason, not that he won't have plenty. Not that it mattered when he went back to Minnesota. I was kind of surprised by the whole storyline of the digs revenge game against the boy. He wanted out. He wanted out the day that they gave Kirk Cousins an extension is the day he tweeted his way out of Minnesota. And I saw someone characterize it before the start of the season. Maybe it was in the long GQ article that he wanted out of Minnesota's run heavy offense. What are you talking about run heavy offense? They paid all that money to Kirk Cousins to throw the ball. Diggs wanted out and he tweeted his way out the same day that Kirk Cousins got an extension. He wanted out. It wasn't the digs revenge game. It was the Vikings revenge game. And if you're watched any of it, who boy now? Diggs got his catches. Diggs got his yards. He had more catches than the Texans had points on Sunday 34 to 7 Minneapolis miracle. Not that day. So that is I believe what Josh Allen is trying to avoid. No extra incentive for 14. Nothing to see here Buffalo media. I wasn't referring to anyone in particular when I made this comment spontaneously about how nice it is to have a bunch of receivers who aren't clamoring for stats and touchdowns. You know, it's not a new development. It's not anything to even mention if that's the way it's always been. That's why it was a shot. When you speak of it like some new thing that is fueling this three and oh start when they struggled last year, that's where the rest of us will infer from the comments. It is new. It is different. And what's the difference? 14's not there. So Josh Allen might not have intended it. Look, he's my early season MVP candidate. I've got the bills at number one. I'm not trying to cause trouble here anymore than I just ordinarily am wired to try to cause trouble. Even if he didn't know damn well what he was doing, he should have known and he found out afterward somebody came to him PR or someone and said probably a good idea if you get an opportunity on your midweek press conference to, you know, try to put the toothpaste back in the toothpaste holder. And I use that reference because it was once upon a time that our first guest today, Sherine Williams, blurted out that specific wording of the age old. And I don't think it comes from Aesop's fables toothpaste back in the tube. She did indeed say toothpaste back in the toothpaste holder, something that I will attribute to the fact that she might have happened by her TV one day and was exposed to Chris Sims for more than a few seconds. That would explain it. Let's take a break. We'll get you ready for cowboys giants on the other side with Sherine Williams of PFT. More PFT live coming at you right after this. Vitamin water was born in New York because New Yorkers wanted more flavor to pair with all the amazing food in the city. Vitamin water is so New York, its three favorite cheeses are chopped cheese, big and egg and cheese, and a slice of cheese pizza. Drink vitamin water is from New York. Diet and Watson's been making meats and cheeses the right way since forever. What's that mean? It means never cutting corners ever. It means cooking, not processing. It means our Virginia brand ham that's cooked to perfection, then twice baked to layer the flavors. It takes more time, but you can taste the difference. We come to work every day to do it the right way, even if it's the hard way. Because if it's not right for us, it's not right for you. Diet and Watson, it's a family thing since 1939. This time of year, Saturdays mean one thing and one thing only. 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After he saw me play with like, he was like, yeah, I got to go dumb on Monday. I was like, just don't go. So, I'm rooting for you. Just don't go too hard. He did exactly that. Malik neighbors conceding that former LSU teammate Jayden Daniels is the rookie of the week, but not conceding rookie of the year just yet because they definitely don't have a $10,000 bet on the two of them competing for offensive rookie of the year. That bet has been cancelled. It's definitely off. There will definitely not be a package of bills showing up at Jayden Daniels House or Malik neighbors house if one of them wins it from the other. That will not happen, Shireen under any circumstances. Good morning and welcome back. Thanks for having me. I bet they have some sort of bet going on, whatever that is, but they're both very good players. Obviously, Mike, and it does look like right now a two-man race for that offensive rookie of the year award. It's a long season, but those have been the two best rookies for sure this far. Oh, without question. And we saw Malik neighbors with the two touchdown catches the way he contorted his body in the end zone at Cleveland on Sunday. And then here comes Jayden Daniels with his coming out party on Monday night. And really the big difference before we get to Cowboys Giants tonight. Last year, we didn't get to see. We didn't get to witness CJ Stroud in prime time. He had some great performances. We just didn't see it until week 18 when a game was moved to Saturday night because it was the AFC South championship as a practical matter between Houston and Indianapolis. It was smart by the NFL to put both of the top two rookie quarterbacks in prime time early. Caleb Williams week two Sunday night. Jayden Daniels week three Monday night. So we got to see it. We were watching when he had that great moment when he declared to the world that he's the real deal. So it was great. It was great that it was not tucked into that one o'clock Eastern window on Sunday when we wouldn't have noticed it as prominently sharing. Absolutely. And it's good they got on prime time. It's good. We're going to see Malik neighbors might question I have. And I think this is going to be this is question isn't going to be answered this year. And it may not be answered next year, but he's going to be compared to Malik neighbors. I'm talking about to Pennix to McCarthy to Nix because the Giants could have drafted that quarterback and they didn't and they took Malik neighbors and it looks like they made a fantastic draft pick is best player on the board at that point, but they did pass on three quarterbacks might to get him. So I think the question becomes is was this the right pick? And again, we're not going to know that. I don't think obviously this year because two of the three aren't even playing at least yet for Michael Pennix. But at some point, we're going to figure out whether the Giants passed on a really good quarterback to get Malik neighbors. And you know what this GM and this coach may not be around benefit from Malik neighbors playing with a good quarterback at some point because this could be Daniel Jones last year. But I do think that's an interesting part of this whole Malik neighbors point because he is good. He's very good. He's already shown he's very good. He's going to be one of the best receivers in the NFL. He stays healthy, but they did pass on three quarterbacks to get him. And from watching the offseason hard knocks, which was so entertaining and compelling because the Giants shouldn't have done it. And they should have edited out any of the meetings where they're talking about their strategies because not only do they look incompetent for not keeping Sake on Barkley around, they undermine the confidence of Daniel Jones by openly pining for Jaden Daniels or Drake May. Those were the guys they wanted. There was never any talk about whether or not they were seriously interested in Pennics or JJ McCarthy or Bonix. And yes, that became, I think, a question should they have been, especially after we saw Daniel Jones in the preseason with that Carson Wentz style pick six. But neighbors, they settled on neighbors. If they weren't going to get Jaden Daniels, if they weren't going to get Drake May, let's go with neighbors and it worked out well. There was an effort. I was told at the time, as it was happening, Vikings tried to move up to five with the charges to get neighbors. There were other teams that had neighbors ahead of Marvin Harrison Jr. as the best receiver in this class. But the smartest part about all of this Shireen, as we get ready to see Malik neighbors in prime time tonight against the Cowboys, they're throwing the ball to him. They're utilizing their asset. They haven't had a great receiver since really Odell Beckham Jr. was traded to the Browns in 2019. Was it 19 or 18? My God, it's been so long ago. I can't remember which year. I think it was 19. Use him. Get him the ball. And, you know, defenses, if they haven't adjusted already, they're going to, but he's a guy who go ahead and double him. He's still going to get open. He's still going to go get the ball. And he's still going to find a way to get his feet in bounds, even if it looks like he's defying the laws of physics to do so. Yeah, 37 targets leads the NFL, Mike. And that's the one good thing that Daniel Jones has done is he realizes he got a really good receiver who can go up and make those contested catches, those 50-50 balls. And we saw two of them, as you said, on the one touchdown draw. The touchdown catch was fantastic. And then he played before that when he goes up over the DB and makes the catch. So this guy can catch anything. And he's shown that. And so Daniel Jones is using him as he should. And we saw that with Marvin Harrison, the very first week of the season, they didn't use Marvin Harrison. He didn't get those targets. He's open a few times, and they didn't go to him. And then they figured out the second week, oh, we got to get our best receiver of the football. But the Giants have known that. Daniel Jones has known that from the start. And he's made 23 of those 37 targets. He's caught 23 of those passes. He's been fantastic. He's going to be fun to watch tonight. I was there when Odell Beckham made that catch over Brandon Carr. We all remember one of the greatest catches in the regular season in NFL history. I'm looking for something like that from neighbors tonight in prime time. That was a Sunday night football game in 2014 called by Al Michaels and Chris Collins worth for NBC. Al Michaels will call his 20th Cowboys Giants game tonight. His first Cowboys Giants game screen. And I remember this well. It was Monday night football week one. Herschel Walker's debut with your Dallas Cowboys 31 28, the Cowboys won couple of touchdowns from Herschel. Al Michaels first game on Monday night football. It was his first Cowboys Giants game. He does number 20 tonight and for the first time ever and the Cowboys made the point of publicizing this. Their PR staff put it out there. First time ever that the Cowboys are playing a road game with only three days between games because they always play the back end of a short week at home for Thanksgiving. Last year, the Lions for the first time went on the road on a short week because they always have a home game on Thanksgiving. That's their short week obligation. But now that the NFL is willing to do multiple short weeks for teams, the Cowboys and the Lions now each getting a second short straw short week, Cowboys going on the road. I just thought it was funny. They pointed it out. Every other team has done it at least six times. I mean, how does it not come off as a build an excuse in the event that they end up going to MetLife Stadium and losing to the Giants? Well, I think it probably is Mike. It's a road game with a short rest. When I when I first saw this, I saw Edwarder tweeted it out of the Cowboys team notes. I'm like, no, that can't be right. Like I know we played the travel with the Cowboys, obviously for a really long time. I know there were Thursday games when we traveled. Yes, there were, but the Cowboys do that unique thing and have for a long time where they play back to back Thursdays or have done it most years, but they played back to back Thursday, Thanksgiving and then the next Thursday and a lot of those next Thursday games were on the road. Some of them were at home, but most of them were on the road, but you still have obviously the normal rest between games Thursday to Thursday. So this is the first time and it is unique for the Cowboys, something they haven't ever done. And yes, there is that excuse of, well, we never done this before. We never got on the road and played a road game, but in my mind, this is a must win for the Cowboys. They have, they absolutely have to win this game. If they don't win this game, Mike, I think the wheels fall off of, you know, the whatever bandwagon was left. That Prescott said coming into the locker room after the game, jump off if you want. I don't know if there's a whole lot of people left on that bandwagon. And if they lose this week, there won't be anybody left on the bandwagon. Cowboys have beaten the Giants 13 out of 14 times. They have won six times in a row. Daniel Jones is one in seven against the Cowboys for his career. Dak Prescott is 12 and two against the Giants and the Cowboys are six point favorites. And look, when it's time to do our picks later today, I probably will pick the Cowboys, but the Giants have showed some fight the past couple of weeks. They, they could have slash should have beaten the commanders. If they had a kicker available that day, they would have. They took it to the Browns. It was just that week one game against the Vikings. And one of the things I say coming out of week one, if you lose week one, there's a chance you've lost to one of the best teams you'll see all year. And there's a chance based on what we've seen through three weeks. The Vikings are one of the best teams the Giants will see all year long. So maybe they do have something. It's just funny how one week can change everything. Going into week three, I looked ahead to the next Thursday night game and I thought, God, Cowboys, Giants. But then the Giants win the Cowboys lose and this game looks more compelling. Even though the recent history between the two teams makes it a little less compelling, this notion that it's a five alarm fire for the Cowboys right now adds extra juice to it because you're right. And this is the perfect opponent for the Cowboys to get given their recent history, but the Cowboys need this one or the wheels, as you said, will fall off. Yeah. And you talked about that 12 and two. The two losses by back against the Giants were as rookie years. So he's won 12 in a row against them. They own the Giants since that Prescott has been the quarterback of the Cowboys. Last year, Mike, remember those two games they play. They opened the season. The Cowboys won 40 and nothing. Then they came back and they played them here and they won 49-17. Neither game was close. And if this game is close, even if the Cowboys win, I still think there's some angst among Cowboys fans that, oh my gosh, you know, we because they don't think a whole lot of the Giants despite what they've done in the season, despite the win last week, oh my gosh, we really are a bad football team. But the Cowboys needed whatever the score is. They need that win in the win column. And then they'll have time to regroup, get together and see what they can do. But to me, Mike, when you can't run the ball, they're 30th and rushing and you can't stop the run. They're 32nd. I don't know how you win in this league. I don't think you can win in this league. I think you have to be able to do both of those things relatively well to win in this league. So the Giants, neighbors is going to be used, but we're going to see a big dose of runs and running plays and probably design runs for Daniel Jones tonight against Cowboys because that's the one thing they can't do is stop the run. Well, I wonder also if we see from the Cowboys the marquee edition to the practice squad that was made just before the season started, Dalvin Cook. Jerry Jones was asked about Dalvin Cook. His name keeps coming up when we're going to see him when we're going to see him. They need something, especially after getting embarrassed by Derek Henry and they could have had Derek Henry and Jerry doesn't want to talk about that. Although when he talked about it on Tuesday, he eventually did, I think in his own word salad way, concede. Sometimes you make mistakes on players because he brought up Randy Moss and not drafting him in 1998. So sometimes you make your decisions and sometimes they blow up in your face. And one of the reasons the Cowboys need this one so badly tonight, Trina, I peeked ahead to the next two games at the Steelers Sunday night football, week five lions, the lions who are the ones who took the Thursday, Thursday, it was always Cowboys after Thanksgiving, the following Thursday night. Oh, perfect chance to put them on Thursday night football. Now, oh, we would rather have the lions. The lions over the Cowboys on Thursday night football, the week after Thanksgiving, the lions come back to town. They had that great Saturday night game last year. The Cowboys, if they lose this one and a ball to one and three could be one and five at their week seven by, which could literally be by to Mike McCarthy. And I want to go there next. Yeah, because I remember Jerry Jones before he fired Wade Phillips during the 2010 season, we heard over and over again, Jerry's never fired a coach during the season. He never will. And then he did. Is McCarthy in danger of getting fired during the bye week or at any point during this season? You think Jerry would do it again if it looks like the wheels have come off and it looks like they're not going to have a chance to blow it in the postseason like they have the last three years. I've thought about this a lot in recent days. And I would normally say, yes, but I think there's two reasons why it's a no, because the natural guy to take over as head coach, if they do fire Mike McCarthy is Zimmer. And wait, wait, wait, wait, hang on, hang on. My good friend Mike Zimmer. That's how we refer to him on this program. Mine. My good friend, Mike Zimmer. My Gloria's good friend, Mike Zimmer, would be the natural guy to take over because of his head coaching experience. But that defense has not been good. So how do you give it to a guy whose unit is worse than the other guy's unit? I don't know how you do that. First of all, and second of all, McCarthy's a play caller. And I know you could give that to Brian Schottenheimer and they'd probably be okay, but to me, it just creates too many problems. I think Mike McCarthy is going to finish the season as head coach, the Cowboys, no matter what happens. And then they'll address the coaching job. Now, I'll say this, I don't know if they gave Mike McCarthy a real fair shot this year with what they did in the off season. The GM did nothing to address this team there or what we've said this since the off season, they are worse team than they were, less talent than they ended last season with that loss of the Packers in the wild car round of the playoffs at home. They did nothing to approve this roster. They didn't do anything at free A to C. So, you know, Mike McCarthy was a last year of his contract and had a lesser team and expected to do more. That's a tough assignment, Mike. Well, when you act like the off season begins on September 1, that's what you're going to get, right? Yeah, a couple of quick points. They do have another guy on the coaching staff who has interim head coaching experience. Special teams coordinator, John Fossil was interim coach of the Rams after Jeff Fisher was fired. So, at least if Jerry just can't take it anymore, he's got somebody other than my good friend, Mike Zimmer to whom he could turn. So, keep an eye on that. Secondly, and Michael Holly and I were talking about this yesterday, Jerry's comments about how 78% of the people who responded to a WFAA poll said he's the one to blame. He said, that's fair. That's fair. And as we talked it through and unpacked it, it dawned on me. Where is Steven in all of this? Do you know? Like, I mean, if if Jerry's lost his fastball, and again, again, we should all be so lucky that we live long enough to lose our fastballs, we should be lucky to have a fastball to lose in the first place. But if Jerry's just kind of getting to the point where he's not making good decisions, he's not really like running the team, maybe the way that he has in the past, although current results don't differ all that much from the last 30 years. Where is Steven in all of this? And is Jerry taking the blame to protect Steven from scrutiny and criticism? I think Jerry's taking the blame because that's what Jerry does. Jerry has the title. Jerry wants the title. Jerry wants the blame. Jerry wants the credit. He wants all of that. He wants to be the face of the Cowboys, and he is the face of the Cowboys. So, I don't think it has anything to do with Steven, but to your point, I do think Steven is to blame. I mean, he's co-owner of the Cowboys, and he's there, and he makes decisions. And as you pointed out, he's the guy that talked Jerry out of drafting Johnny Manziel and into drafting Zach Martin, which obviously proved to be a great draft pick and a great decision that Steven Jones made, but he's got to take some of the blame as well for things that have gone wrong over the last year for some of the things that have happened that they haven't been to the NFC Championship game or won a Super Bowl since 1995. So, he does do that. It was interesting, Mike. I was driving to the game on Sunday, and there's a sign on a fan, and I still need to get a picture of it, but as you approach the stadium, there's a sign on the side of the fence, a huge one, and it's got a picture of Jerry with a big line through, a red line through it, and it says, "I think fire the owner or something along the cell, the team, something along those lines," but I've never seen that before where people have actually put this out there. So, it's out there, and people are living, and people are mad, and they're frustrated, and they're... I have never seen a fan, but you know, I grew up a Cowboys fan, and I've lived here since 1999. I haven't seen a fan base like this. Like, they've always bought into work contenders. We have a chance to win the Super Bowl every single year, whether they do or they don't. It seems like that's what happens here, and I haven't seen that this year. Even after the win over the Browns, I expected the people to be excited about this team, and think, "Oh, we have a chance to win the Super Bowl." It didn't happen. People don't believe in this team. They don't believe in Mike McCarthy. They don't believe in Dak Prescott. They've lost total faith in this team. They still support them, for the most part, but I just haven't seen anything like this where they're so down on the Cowboys, and they are. Well, and the basic reality of being a fan, an ardent fan, short for fanatic of an NFL team, the only way that the Cowboys fans can collectively demonstrate their discontent with Jerry Jones, because frankly, he would just take that as another little wrinkle in the Ultimate Reality Show. It makes it a little more compelling if you got the fans coming after the owner, because now we got another storyline. I was watching the McMahon documentary on Netflix that just dropped yesterday. Sorry, Peacock, but there are other things out there that we do watch from time to time, although we do recommend Peacock every episode of the Office, by the way, exclusively on Peacock. Trying to make sure I get my check this month, but McMahon was a master at... Well documented. Well documented. There were a lot of things wrong with Vince McMahon, but he was a master at seizing whatever came his way and turning it into a story line. Jerry's the same way. Like if they would ever remember when the Lions were just horrible, it wasn't all that long ago, and they were having the the Millen Man March, remember that? They wanted to get rid of Matt Millen. They wanted to get rid of ownership. You can't get rid of ownership. Jerry takes the blame because there's no accountability. It's very easy to take responsibility when there's zero accountability. And I think that Jerry would lean into it because nobody's going to make himself out of team. And no fans are going to collectively deprive themselves of their enjoyment of going to Cowboys games, watching Cowboys games, and affecting the bottom line sufficiently to get Jerry Jones or Stephen Jones to say, we just better sell the team because we can't make any more money off of this team. That'll never happen. No, it's never going to happen like, and that's reality. It's Jerry's team. And after that, it's going to go to the family to Charlotte and Jerry Jr. And Stephen will be in charge of this team. And that's the way it's going to be forever. So Cowboys fans are going to have to live with that. Or they have to find a new team, one or the other, and you're right. They're going to continue to go to the game. I mean, look at the crowd sizes that they have. And a lot of it, frankly, the last two weeks has been there's been a ton of visiting fans at those games the last two weeks, surprisingly, visiting fans there, but they do sell out the stadium. They do make money. People are buying concessions, $75 to park all those things. All that money goes to Jerry. And so they're raking in the money. They're not raking in the wins, but they are raking in the money. You had made the point that a ton of Saints fans were there for the week two game. I'll be curious to see week six, how much of it is going to be Cowboys, blue star, blue, how much Honolulu blue is going to be in that stadium when the like because those Lions fans I saw it last year in Kansas City. Holy crap. Did they travel now Honolulu blue takeover of AT&T Stadium. I predict it's coming up very soon. Let's take a break. Shariene, thank you so much. Enjoy the game tonight. Cowboys Giants, when we return a little Christian McCaffrey update, that has been seeming even more ominous. That's next on PFT Live. With the $5 meal deal at McDonald's, you pick a McDouble or a McChicken, then get a small fry, a small drink, and a four-piece McNuggets. That's a lot of McDonald's for not a lot of money. 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