Transcript of Hour 2: I Really Can't Stay

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This is the Dan Levator Show with the Stugats Podcast.

All right, everybody. Thursday, Thundertime. As I adjust my cowboy hat. We've got a big one for you tonight.

It is by comparison over the last few weeks, this does actually feel like a big game. Yeah. Two seven and.

Seven teams fighting for the last little playoff spot. Graham's been playing good. We're going to take two anytime touchdowns from this game. Wow. Yep. Do you think we're going to have two touchdowns?

We're going to have more than two touchdowns.

But we're going to definitely have two from these gentlemen right here. Number one, anytime Tuddy goes to Kyron Williams, who's excellent, by the way. He's awesome. We haven't talked about him at all. He runs very hard. He's really good.

I think does he still lead the league in yards after contact? He's proven that he's a lot better than the rest of the running backs that they have on the roster because when he's missing, you notice.

He missed like six weeks with an ankle sprain, too. Second anytime tuddy goes to the one and only Alvin Camara. We've got two running backs, two anytime tuddies between two teams on Prime Time Thursday Night Football, brought to you by Amazon. Then we're not going to go against history here. The Detroit Pistons have lost, by my count, 24 games in a row. They started two and one, Daniel. Do you know that?

Put it on the pole, please, JuJu. Did you know the Detroit Pistons started two and one?

They started two and one and now have lost 24 consecutive games. We are going with the Utah Jazz on the back to back, second half of back to back, Utah Jazz is going to take them minus one. This is.

The spot for the.

Pistons to win. No, we're going to roll it back one more time. Pistons lose again in a heartbreaker. We're taking Utah Jazz minus one and two anytime tuddies, Kyron Williams, Alvin Camar.

Congratulations, Detroit Pistons fans, on your first win in the last 25 games. As a.

Reminder, Thursday Thunders brought to you by DraftKings Sportsbook. You can follow our parlay on the DraftKings.

Sportsbook app. I am embarrassed to say that while Tony was talking, I was enjoying a better show on television in here than the one we're doing. Dan Arlofsky dressed as some Elf glasses wearing person in a burgundy suit.

That's.

Just his suit. A better burgundy suit than the one Mike Ryan is wearing. I did Dan's A-list top five Christmas likes, where he just ranked the things that he likes best about Christmas. He is a famously bland human being. His flavors on food are famously bland in a way that's fairly disgusting. But Arlofsky and Christmas likes. His number one is the same as my number one. This time of year, I'm on channel 79, Holly, my favorite Christmas like is Christmas music. I enjoy Christmas music this time of year. I'm embarrassed to say it.

What's your favorite, Little Diddy?

Well, Little Drummer Boy is my favorite of the Christmas songs.

That's a great one.

Very traditional. That's a bit of an upset here. Yes. But would you like to hear Dan Arlofsky's top five Christmas likes, or should I create a top five better- You can create Dan O's Christmas likes.

Christmas likes.

I'm just happy we're saying Christmas again.

I need to gather myself.

In.

Order to do.

This in order to do this correctly. So maybe we will do that next segment, shall we?

By the way, this is a response to yesterday, Mad Dog had his things he hates most about Christmas. The dislikes. Yeah, the dislikes about Christmas.

I bet that was a.

Good list.

Number five was Momsville Farm.

Yeah, he hates it.

He always burns it.

Orlowski said his number three Christmas likes is people are nicer.

Is that true?

No. I think so. Dan Orlowski has someone shop for him very clearly.

People are in the holiday spirit. I think there's a lot more eye contact. I'm someone who really likes a little eye contact and a wave at a stranger, just like a little acknowledgment that you exist, you're another human being on the planet. That doesn't happen in the other 11 months of the year down here in South Florida. But occasionally, I can see someone and just.

Hey, how are you? You should move out of a blue city.

Can you guys take any guesses on what Orlowski's top five looks like? What are some of your favorite Christmas likes? Also, JuJu at Levitard show, put her on the poll, please. Are people indeed nicer during the holidays? I have not experienced that. Lucy, you've generally found Miami to be rude, right? I don't know anyone who comes here from any other part of the country who doesn't think that this area is unfriendly.

It's very unfriendly. Really? What? Yeah, people aren't nice to me. I ask them how they're doing. They don't respond. I smile. They don't smile back.

But that's weirdo behavior. Who asks people how they're feeling? Me. Am I a therapist?

You want.

Something from me? I'm not like going up to someone walking down the street and being like, Hey, how are you doing? But if I'm at a restaurant, my server comes up to the table. I'll say, Hey, how are you? And they usually just ignore it. That really hurts my feelings.

Oh, come let us adore him. Come let us adore him. Keep it going. Oh, come let us adore him. Christ the Lord. Oh, are you offended?

Billy actually is right when he asks the question. It is possible in Miami that the people serving you don't speak English and don't understand what it is you're saying.

But a smile? No. Come on.

Asking.

Too much. Exactly. Inot a friendly face. Just smile back. Just be kind. It'll ruin my day if you don't. I'm very sensitive.

Are people nice elsewhere? Yeah. I just assume this is a human thing.

No, people are nice elsewhere. Why? I don't know. It's to make me feel better. They're so nice. I grew up in North Carolina, Southern, very friendly. Iowa, also a very friendly place. Until you start making jokes about the offense and they get really mad, they start tweeting things at your dad, so don't do that.

But in L. A, they were even to me out there, too.

But here I just can't get people to be nice to me. It really hurts my feelings. Because if I ask you how you're doing, I genuinely want to know.

I really can't stay. Mulky, it's cold outside. I've got to go away. Mulky, it's cold outside. But this evening has been hoping that you'd drop in. So very nice.

The smell of Christmas is on Arlofsky's list at number five. The smell of Christmas. Christmas trees? The Christmas tree has... Well, that's the only smell I associate with. Do you associate it with a food of any kind? All I do is I do like the smell of pine. I think the first thing that ever hung from a rear view mirror of mine was the old-fashioned Christmas tree that made the car smell like pine.

That sounds like an olden time.

Oh, my God.

It's a beautiful time. -it's a turn-up truck. -yeah, turn-up truck.

Absolutely. Put it on the pole, please, Jude. You did, Dan, have a Christmas tree deodorant hanging from the rearview mirror of his turn-up truck.

The only other smell I could think of, and this is someone in South Florida where we don't actually have fireplaces, would be a fireplace candle or something like a log cabin candle where you can get some of those other smells or cinnamon, sugar, cookies or something like that. But all candles. Candy cane works.

Peppermint is perfect.

No, it's lechon is what it.

Smells like. That is true. It's got hajina, it's lechon.

It's got boon. We do the Seven Fishes in my house, so I just think of fried smells.

I ought to say no, sir. Mind if I move in closer. Yeah. At least I'm going to say that I tried. What's the sense in, Wait, how old are you? I really can't say.

The Lights of New York. Number four for Orlowski. The Lights of New York.

Yeah, good lights.

Please present two valid forms of ID.

Why just New York, though? You like Christmas decorations, right?

There's a lot of big giant trees there. I think that's what he's doing. Lots of decorations everywhere this time of year there.

Manufacturing civil unrest, so everyone votes by mail.

That's what.

They're up to.

I like Christmas decorated neighborhoods. I like neighbors competing to have the better.

Dude like your mayor.

Solid guy.

My mom is Redneck, and we keep our Christmas lights up the entire year, and we turn them on all the time. Really? Yeah. It's very easy when people come over because you're like, Oh, my house is the one with the Christmas lights on. Yeah, whole year we had our Christmas lights up.

Are they the colorful lights or are.

They the white lights? No, they're white lights. Oh, that's okay. So, classy. But in July, yes, Christmas lights are up.

I love that. That's like the Christmas themed bars all year long. That's my favorite type of dive bar. It's going to one that has Christmas lights up all year long. I would love to go to a.

Lot of those? Does a lot.

Of those exist? They exist. Yeah, there are a lot of those.

Come on, those exist. I've never seen one in Miami ever.

Well.

That's on you.

I've learned so much about Lucy today. Like in the pre-show meeting in the show. It's pretty incredible.

Well, what did you learn in the preshow meeting? Because I'm learning all of this for the first time. What did her dad do other than she was worried about what she was going to get her dad for Christmas? Her dad is a bit of a star. People are noticing him, and he's defending his daughter against the crazy in Iowa.

Did you know the first Christmas was in March?

I can't believe that Lucy still had Christmas lights in June and July. That doesn't make any sense to me. It sounds lazy.

It's Redneck. It's Redneck as hell.

It's when JC was born.

Put it on the pole, did you at Levitard show, Christmas lights still on your house in July. Lazy or Redneck?

Also, the Earth is only 6,000 years old.

Finally, somebody says it.

I was telling Billy this morning about how when we were younger, my dad loved to lie to us to an insane extent because we were talking about the New Year's Ferry, and it reminded me of this time where they built a McDonald's next to my dad's house, right down the street. My dad typed up an official letter from McDonald's Corporation, had his coworker sign it, sent it to our house to my little sister that said, If you go to this McDonald's, you will be arrested and suffer the same fate as the hamburger. He thought it was the funniest thing in the world. She's like six years old, or she was probably eight terrified because she just wants to go to McDonald's. She feels like she's going to get arrested if we do. Months later, my dad's like, I'm not going to cook. We're going to go to this McDonald's. My sister starts having a panic attack in the drive-through line, and we're like, What's going on? She's like, I can't be here. The cops are going to show up. I'm going to get arrested. He would just do stuff like that for fun all the time.

But is the hamburger still around or did we end that character? Because I could see where the hamburger would be scary to a child if a parent is saying the hamburger is going to come and arrest you. There's going to be an.

Arrest situation. He wasn't going to arrest my sister. She was going to suffer the same fate as the hamburger and be in jail with him. Yes.

Same cell and everything.

Isn't the hamburger scary to kids? Wouldn't he be a little bit scary?

I think she was more scared of just going to jail. Yeah, jail. She was eight years old. She believed it. And he had the letterhead and everything. You would have believed it was a real letter from McDonald's. He typed up the whole thing.

Has McDonald's discontinued the hamburger, or is the hamburger still a character for McDonald's? Number two on Orlowski's list, by the way.

Perum pump, pump, pump of.

Christmas likes. Christmas movies.

Diehard.

Sound of freedom.

I don't like Christmas movies. Does that make me?

You have something against Kirk Cameron.

Being a real Grinch, Dan.

Does that make me shitty that I don't like Christmas movies? When I'm telling you I'm driving around, I'm enjoying the holiday spirit in my car. I'm listening to Holly, channel 79. It's not that I don't want the Christmas spirit. It's just I don't need Christmas movies.

Have the Christmas movies on, but the sound down listening to Christmas music.

I'm the asshole here.

Always.

Dan Leetard. Are you back on the caffeine? Are you back on the Red Bull?

Something's.

Wrong. Yeah.

He.

Are. Something's wrong. I mean, it's unbelievable how manic he is, and he's just... He keeps chewing on his bottom teeth in a way that's scaring me a little bit.

Two guys. I've been up since 5:30 AM producing content. In terms of being able to be on, my body needs a little boost. That's why I turn to cocaine.

This is the Dan Levator Show with the Stugats. I want.

Nina's best information, most informed insight on Brock purdy in a second. But I want to, before we get to Mena Times, bring up before her a subject that Lucy is claiming In and out is overrated as a hamburger franchise. And there was an eight-hour line recently. Where was this, Lucy? That there was an eight-hour line for In and Out.

They opened up the first In and Out in, I believe, somewhere in Idaho. Eight-hour wait in the drive-through for In and Out. I remember when I first went to L. A, when I moved there for the first time, I was like, I'm going to try In and Out. This is going to change my life. It's fine. It's fine. The fries taste like cardboard. The burgers are good. Worth eight hours? Absolutely not.

No way. Nina, do you have a verdict you want to make here as someone who is now a defender of all things West Coast?

Am I? I'm not a defender of In and Out. I agree with Lucy. It's fine. I think the burger is good. The fries are not great. I feel like it's all about what alternatives you have. Like, if you live in a city where you don't have really good fast food or really good burgers, I can see why you'd be excited. But out here, there's plenty of better places, too.

Los Angeles does food well, but In and Out has an exceptional reputation throughout America. You are saying something fairly shocking when you say that In and Out is overrated.

Am I?

It's just.

Like the hype of it. I remember I had never been to California. I grew up in the south, so In and Out was just like this thing you would see in TV shows and movies. So you're like, It's got to be great. And the drive-through line is always so long and it moves so slow. So you're like, This is going to be phenomenal, and it's just fine. And also there's all these weird little tricks you need to know that you can order something animal style or extra crispy. It's just too complicated of a system, and it's not worth an eight hour wait or even an hour wait.

I don't know the exact. There's like two things you can order.

I didn't know I'm ahead of time. Too difficult. I'm just.

A girl of a man. I'm a Chick-fil-A Stan. If I'm in the airport, I will go to a different term. Guilty as charged.

Who doesn't love.

Polynesian sauce?

We like KFC around these parts.

Kfc, jeez. Don't do that.

Whoa. I don't know about that.

Mena, real quick before we get to the party stuff, I wanted to bring you in on something Pete Carroll related. Pete Carroll, I saw Mike Lombardi. I thought you'd be good because on this subject, the Seattle Seahawks, you love that team. And Pete Carroll's style that Mike Lombardi described as spreading love, the word love, not just positivity, but the loving of players. Can you please tell me how common that is in that sport? Can you tell me about the idea of Pete Carroll somehow leading through love?

I don't think it's common to the degree that he espouses it, or acts upon it, or the way his players talk about him, especially you see a lot of former players who come back, whether it's rejoining the team, being around the team. I've talked to a lot of former players about Pete, and almost to a man, the way they speak about him, I would say, is unique. Having talked to other players about other coaches, they absolutely adore him. He is the definition of a player's coach. They talk about how he believes in them. I think was fantastic on that interview earlier this year about how Pete almost made him believe in himself and quiet the critical inner voice, which I thought, wow, that's not coaching. I don't know what is. And I know I sound probably like a homer, and I'm not like Pete has his flaws, including trying to get a time out the other night. But in terms of the way players feel about him, I do think it is unique.

People are making fun of me here because I don't know what that does for an environment to have love in an environment, especially that environment that's just all military feel all over it. But they were making fun of me because I was actually moved. Not because Seattle beat Philadelphia the other night, but because of how happy Gino Smith genuinely seemed on the sideline for Drew Lock and their friendship being something that could feel like that, even where I could see the emotion on Gino Smith, even though I couldn't physically see his face because he was just happy for his guy. I was moved by that, and I was surprised that I was moved by that.

How could you not be moved by it? It was cool to see Drew in his interview with Lisa Salter's clearly holding back emotion, talking about how at times he had lost belief in himself, which is so integral to playing in the quarterback position, and his voice caught a little bit. I was emotional watching that. But then when you saw the clip of Gino Smith, the context, the history, the awareness that we all have that Gino Smith, more than maybe any starting quarterback in the NFL right now, understands what it is like to come out as a starter. Drewlock, you remember, was a starter earlier in his career to lose a job to be seen as a backup, to question your own bonifides and abilities, and then to come back and do what Gino did last year was amazing. He gets the big contract, generational money. That's fantastic. But who understands what Drewlock was going through in that moment more than Gino Smith? And we know that. We see that. And then you see the connection between two of them. That shared experience is beautiful.

Can you explain to Mike Ryan and the rest of us with your best of analytics, what we're presently witnessing from Brock Purdy? I'm confused, Mena, when I see that Mostart isn't valued with money at a disposable position, but he has as many touchdowns as Christian McAfrey. When all of these teams have to find value, cheap players who over-perform contracts, what is Brock Purdy? What's the best assessment of Brock Purdy?

I think there's two things. We're not seeing something with Brock Purdy that we haven't seen. We're seeing something with this offense, and that is not a detriment to Brock Purdy or any individual players. What they are doing as an... Right now, Dan, they're on pace to break a lot of records as an offense. I think they're fourth in the NFL history and yards per player or something, but they're clearly the best offense in the NFL. They bring first in just about every category. They're phenomenal. And there's a lot of reasons for that. The players, the coaching, the scheme, all of it. What we're seeing from Purdy is a quarterback who has improved, who I think is executing the offense at a really high level, who is executing it better than other quarterbacks have in the system. Him and deserves a ton of credit for that. But when we talk about what this offense is, which is an absolute buzz saw and nightmare, it's not because of the quarterback. It's because of the offense. You mentioned Mostar, who's fantastic. But Christian McAfrey, when you watch this offense on tape, is so clearly to me, the straw that stirs the drink.

Because what he can do on a football field, there's no one else in the NFL right now who can do it. It's why I object to... When people point to running back contracts and they say, Well, look at Krishnan. Well, no, Krishnan McAfrey is a unicorn, and he's also paired, by the way, with a coach who has optimized him in a way, a coach who already was a better best player in the NFL and has optimized him in a way we haven't seen. His ability to run, he's like an incredible pure runner, run routes, catch passes, and block at a high level makes him the queen on the chessboard in this offense, and it makes him almost impossible to defend.

Correct me where I'm wrong in this oversimplified analysis, but Brock Purdy couldn't do much of anything when McAfrey, Debo, and Trent Williams were all limping around or hurt. That's where they lost their games, and that's where people started questioning Brock Purdy again.

Yeah, well, Williams and Debo were out for both of those games in completion. And I think it's tricky because on one hand, you can say, well, any quarterback, if you took out two of their best players, would be worse. However, if you took away, I don't know, Kelsey or Diggs, those quarterbacks would have no one. Whereas in San Francisco, you still had Kiddle and they're the Monsars, so it's not really comparable. But I think it doesn't mean Brock Purdy isn't a good quarterback or that he's not a great fit for this offense. It, to me, highlights the fact that the offense is the way they all fit together that makes it so deadly. It's not a case. And we've seen this, by the way, with quarterbacks. Sometimes when you watch, I don't know, Lamar Jackson over the years is the one that comes to mind. Josh Allen appoints in his career, and you watch them and you put them on you say that quarterback is putting this team on his back. Oh, my God. Everything is running through him. That's not the case in San Francisco, and that's fine. I don't know why. Even to say that out loud has been positioned as hate or bias or anti-purity.

It's just reality. It's acknowledging the context that he's playing in. And if you're a Nias fan, you should be thrilled. Your offense is a machine that is not entirely dependent, by the way, on one player the way other offenses are.

How much better is San Francisco healthy than the second best team in the league?

I think it's a pretty significant gap, to be honest. I think Baltimore probably matches up with them better than any team in the NFL, so we will see that, which is the test of Christmas, of course. But they're so balanced, the defenses, though they have some struggles against the run, a top five defense as well. And then offensively, I just think it's such a nightmare to defend this offense. I think the NFC, there's a pretty significant gap between them and everyone else. The AFC, the top four teams would make it a little bit more interesting, the Homes. I think the Dolphins would be an interesting matchup as well. The Bills, the way they're playing right now in the Ravens, but they are clearly the best team in the NFL to me.

Who is the second best team in the NFC? Because a couple of weeks ago, clearly it would have been Philadelphia. I'm really confused by what I'm watching. Yeah, their schedule has gotten tougher, but that game on Monday night was certainly a winnable game, and they seemingly went out of their way to keep Seattle in it.

I don't think it's Philly. I still think it's Dallas, which I know they got stomped by San Francisco and they just got stomped, so that feels off. But the reality is Dallas can play a lot better than what we saw. Some of that had to do with GameScript, too. Whereas Philly, I think the offense can be better and that they've been the more disappointing unit, but that defense is not good. And it's not good in a way that's fixable. It's not a coaching problem, which is why I thought it was strange that they made the coaching change going to Matt, Patricia, because watching them all season, they have personnel problems. There are holes all over that defense, injuries as well, talent, age, that thing. That's not getting better. Whereas I think with Dallas, there are things that can be fixed.

Entertain in a minute or less for us, Stugatz's hypothetical from yesterday. Bill Belichick is hypothetically available. How many teams are firing their present coach for that availability?

Maybe half.

Are you surprised that we are headed toward a space where Belichick is available? And it can look like the younger minds are the minds that you'd prefer to have. The younger styles of Pete Carroll's, and he's not younger, but the younger style of a Pete Carroll, which connects with players. You know.

Yes and no. He's the best coach in his own history, so of course it's surprising that he's not going out on his own terms. If you say it's not surprising, you're lying. The fact that we've gotten to this point. But I think what makes it not surprising and what makes it likely to happen is his failures as a GM. And the problem is that those things have gotten so intertwined. The ideal outcome, in my mind, for New England would be to fire Belichick to GM and keep Belchick the coach, who's still very good at coaching defensive football situationally. I think the failures of this team are because of the roster, which he built, so he deserves blame. I think what likely has happened in New England, I'm sure we'll get a 8,000-word Seth, Wickerson piece in time to actually tell us what really happened, is Belchick, they couldn't split it. They couldn't say to him, Okay, it was too humiliating or not something he wanted to give up, would be my guess as to why this is coming to an end.

To be clear, that is something that I just did. I just pointed out the young style of Pete Carroll, who is the oldest coach in the NFL.

Don Lebertard. I heard the hotel industry is moving away from providing shampoo and soap.

Don't get me started on them. Do not get me started on hotels and the stuff.

That they do.

What they take from me, I feel like I'm.

Entitled to take something from them. Thank you, Billy. They're going to.

Throw away the shampoo. They're going to throw away the soap. I'm not even talking about that. I'm talking about the sheets, and I'm talking about the towels. Stugats. Oh, we really care about the environment, so please hang up your towels and get out of here. You just don't want to wash these towels because it's going to cost you money to wash these towels. This whole thing about you're saving the whales or you're saving the turtles or whatever because I put my towel on a hanger, it is so full of it. You just don't want to give me fresh towels every day. Just call it what it is. Tell me you don't want to give me fresh towels. I'm still going to throw it on the floor. I feel like water is a renewable resource, and you're not really saving the ocean by using water to clean my towel. Are you? Am I missing something? What am I missing? A nail right on the head. Am I missing something? The end of the story. This is the Dan Levator Show with the Stugats. I will.

Pose to Mena Kymes the question that Chris Long asked me. The Dolphins lose in the wildcard round. They have a chance here at the end of the season to either be the one seat if they can beat the Ravens or fall out of the playoffs under certain circumstances. And it seems a likely scenario that they'll have to face Buffalo two weeks in a row, the last week of the season and then first week of the playoffs that can happen. Do you pay to a what do you pay? I knew.

You're going to ask that.

I knew it. What do you pay to a? How do you handle the finances of this?

Have you seen that TikTok video of the guy with the pony tail who keeps saying, I reject the question and saying both. I don't know if Dan is online enough to have seen that. It's excellent. I saw that. I related to it because I feel like I am that guy, or at least I try to be that guy, every time I come on the show and, Dan, you ask me a difficult question, especially one about the niners or Dolphins, I feel like, because my answer is never going to be a definitive yes or no because I am a snake. My answer is it depends on how Toa plays in those games. If Toa really struggles, struggles with pressure, he can't extend, God forbid he gets hurt, whatever, then I think you have to ask serious questions. But if he plays well and they lose, yeah, you still pay him. I think down the stretch, it really just comes down to actually what it looks like on the field for me.

But the reason I want to press you on this is because I would think that you can make your evaluation already. Why do I need two extra games? Why do I need one game? You're telling me one game. I'm making a decision about five years of franchise, and you're telling me I've got one game to make it and how he plays in that one game. I'm like, don't you already know what he is if you're evaluating from the inside, don't you already know what his value is.

Well, at first I was thinking more down the stretch and in the postseason than just one game, honestly. I agree with you. It wouldn't be just one game. But I think you know what his ceiling is. I think there are still questions about his ability to routinely hit that ceiling against really good teams, and I'm not calling them frauds and whatever it might be, Daniel, said about the narrative. But if I'm a fan base and I want to feel comfortable with having him as a long-term answer and a quarterback and devoting a great deal of the cap to him, I want to feel comfortable with the idea that he can rise to that occasion in those moments, overcome adversity. He has at points during his career, but I think this is a very crucial postseason for them.

Do you have a think piece answer for me on how football can't keep its quarterbacks healthy because football happens to them?

I don't. I think it can be random, to be honest. The amount of injuries you've seen this year, the last time was actually 2014. I don't think the game has changed in a way that is suddenly leading to more injuries. I think these things just happen in clusters. Obviously, they change the rules a lot to try to stop them from happening with quarterbacks, but it feels to me like this is just a bad luck year for a.

Lot of people. You've said that before, and I'd like to believe that that is so, but it seems weird, Mena, that they've gone out of their way so much to change the rules. It can just be mathematical happenstance, but they've gone so far out of their way to make sure that these players are not hit. The fact that all of them are still getting hurt is super weird to me.

The injuries are all different. Joe Burrow broke his wrist, right? I mean, it wasn't like he took a crazy hit and he broke his leg or anything like that. Dan, it didn't happen last year to this extent. I'm not watching the sport and thinking, Oh, my gosh, they need to protect them even more, or this is a trend. It just feels fluky, to be honest. I really believe that to be the case.

Mena, Trevor Lawrence, Matthew Stafford, Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, Patrick Mohomes, and Josh Allen. All these quarterbacks have one thing in common, and that is they are presently ranked behind Baker Mayfield in passing rating this season. How has Baker turned his career around in Tampa?

I think that he is playing in a scheme and situation that we have seen him have success with in the past. Mike, you have seen him with a front row seating Cleveland have success with. A couple of things jump out. The past protection has been actually pretty good in Tampa. They struggled last year. The offensive line is back on track. That matters a lot for Baker Mayfield, who's always been a quarterback, who plays his best football when he's protected, has struggles at time with pressure. I also think that Dave Canales, who is our offensive coordinator, used to be in Seattle, is really called an offense that leans into his skills. You saw that on display against the Packers, the use of play action, throwing over the middle of the field. When Baker is in the situation. He is a good quarterback. He's active. He's got a strong arm. He has struggled just when that hasn't been the case.

Is he going to turn into a pumpkin? Because it's pretty outrageous. We're this late into the season. He has a better pass rating than Patrick Mohomes. That's pretty impressive for my guy.

Josh-well, he's a good player. He's a good player, too, right? Yeah.

Pass rating is not a good stat.

Okay, well, he's also pretty damn impressive from QBR. You are alleging that Baker Mayfield, for my money, easily the comeback player of the year is going to turn into a pumpkin.

How do we feel about comeback Player of the Year, and this was the case, Gino, last year, being about coming back from being bad or being- That's what it.

Should be. That's what it should be. Tomar, Hamlet has one tackle on the ear.

Where did he come back from? Half a tackle.

Come on.

Might not even be him.

Oh, God. That was a bit of a surprise. That was a thing for a while.

Still a thing, Dan. No. Oh, it's still.

A thing. No, it can't.

Still be a thing. Oh, come on. They're all still there, Dan. We just don't hear about him every day because he's not the President.

No, listen to me. The former NFL player is just not even.

Seeing the field. No. Come on. It's not still a thing. It can't still be a thing.

I want to believe that Baker is for real. I feel that you're trying to let me down easy that he's going to turn into a pumpkin as soon as this week. But I want to believe he's proven that he's going to have a career now in the NFL, where last year it felt like it was in jeopardy.

I think that is a totally fair assessment. I do not think he's better than the quarterbacks he named at the top. But I do think he has demonstrated this season that in the right situation, he can still play. He still deserves to be a starter in this League, which is incredible. It's a crazy accomplishment. I think people are really questioning that about Mayfield.

Minna, I have a question. If Trevor Lawrence was in a bigger market, would he be getting a lot more heat than what he is now? Because he's a bum.

I don't.

Think.

He's a bum. I think he's at a down year. I think the situation stinks. The Jacksonville Jaguars have one of the worst rushing attacks in football. The offensive line is not good. The wide receivers, I think, have maybe the most drops in the NFL behind the Kansas City Chiefs. So I wouldn't put it all on Trevor's feet. I do think, though, however, you're probably right, if he was the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, he would be inciting a lot more debate. We would be talking a lot more about, Can you trust Trevor Lawrence? Is he letting the nation down? Should he be sent to prison in the way that we talk about Jack Prescott.

Trevor Lawrence's stats, some people were pointing out with a lot of glee, look a lot like Daniel Jones's, at least the counting stats. Your thoughts there are what?

I think you should watch the games and come to an assessment based on the product that you see on the field. I'm a stats person, but quarterback play, in general, simply cannot be captured statistically in a way that I think maybe we lose sight of. It's just so many things go into whether a quarterback is actually playing well. You have to watch the game, you have to see the context around him. You have to see the play call, and you have to see who he's going up against. You have to see the protection, all of that, the decision making. What is he asked to do? And I think to the point about Trevor, I want to be clear. I don't think he's having a great season, certainly not by his standards, but he is not the biggest problem on this Jacksonville team by any stretch, and he is definitely better than Data Jones.

Nina, I'm usually not here on Thursdays, and I feel like we're... I don't want to be too forward and say we're friends, but I feel like we're friends enough to bring something. There's been some chatter around the office, and I'm not here. So it's the first I hear of it, so I wanted to bring it to your attention. The sign behind you that says dogs welcome people tolerated. There's some concern that you may be quickly reaching the territory where you have a bathroom that's themed like a beach, or you have signs in your kitchen that say, live every day like it's taco Tuesday. I just wanted to bring that to your attention in case you were unaware of these rumblings around this office in particular.

I have more of those signs. Do you want to see?

Every one of them. You definitely have one that says it's wine o'clock somewhere, right?

Okay, hold on. Let me find the other one.

One second. Okay, we will wait for you. Cannot wait to see what she... What- But.

First.

Coffee.

What are you accusing her of? Maximum mom-ing? What is the actual accusation?

The way that it was described to me was elder millennial.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. Also known as millennial cringe. I didn't.

Say.

It. That's what you were.

Thinking, Lucy. Oh, no. Lucy. See the good is the sign she's emerged with. You've just been... I don't want to say that you were accused of being millennial cringe, but I was asking them, What are you accusing her of? Maximum mom-ing? I think.

This is basic. I think this is basic, is how we would describe people who have these signs. And they are all gifts from my mom. So you guys are criticizing Sunderman Kimes. You haters, the most loved person on the internet. Why are you so mean? The reason I keep this sign up there is just as a message to her when I'm on TV that I'm thinking about her. Why do you hate my mom, Billy?

What is your... Yeah, guys, why do.

You hate her? I know I legitimately feel terrible. I'm going to carry this with me the rest.

Of the day.

I'm not going to name names, Nina, but they said, We want to ask Nina about this, but we're all afraid, Billy, you do it. I may.

Have said, Okay. No, it sounded like you meant it, and it hurts, honestly. Do you have a call? I might have to ask her. That says, Family, fall, football. I would.

Love to have a call like that. Family. Do you have a sign that says, In this house, we get wild, but only till 9:00 PM?

I have another one that she sent me that says, If my dog's not invited, I'm not coming, which is pretty good.

Pretty good sign. She really took out-.

Do you have a sign that says, protected by FFO.

She took out the heavy artillery on you guys. She not only summon her.

Dog love- Fuck around and find out.

-but also her mother.

She's in.

Her sevens. Nina, thank you. How did she do that?

Elder.

Elder, millennial.

You know what? We'll talk to you later, Nina.

So rude. It wasn't me for the record.