Transcript of Hour 2: Trae Young Loved Highly Questionable (feat. Mina Kimes)

Now is a good time to remember where tequila's story truly began. In 1795, Cuervo invented tequila. Cuervo. What are you doing here? Cuervo.

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Well, I do know that to be true, but even during an ad, reads like... Cuervo. I think he could lay out, especially for one of our great partners.

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As if Pablo Torres investigating and journalism wasn't crazy enough. The Clipper's story is so crazy that the episode before the one that dropped at 5: 00 AM this morning, he reported that China is stealing Yannick Sinner's brain waves. He reported that, and no one noticed because of the Clipper stuff.

To possibly train the soldiers of tomorrow.

Think about that for a second.

Which is great news if China ever declares war on Alcaraz.

The stealing of brain waves is not journalism that other people are doing. China stealing the number one tennis player in the world's brain waves.

Spain is well positioned here, I must say.

And no one's noticing because it's just like, Cheating over here, kawaii. The details on the kawaii thing, the idea that you wouldn't get him to plant a tree, that you wouldn't get him to do anything at all. Just take a photo, dude.

One Instagram post. You're good.

Yeah, right. That photo would live forever. Can you imagine him standing next to a freshly planted tree? With a shovel in his hand. I'd buy that poster.

That Steve Balmer would pay and have all the money in the world and still not be able to get this person to play. They should have just kept Shea Gildias, Alexander. None of this would have happened.

They might be champions.

Zazlo in-Oh-oh.

Dan, we have breaking football news. As we talked about earlier when Chris Weddingham was joining us, there was a lot of positive momentum for Leo Messi to extend. Within our Miami, Michelle Kaufman is now officially reporting for the Miami Hérald that Leo Messi has agreed to a multi-year deal that she says in the article will be his final contract.

Look at that. So Miami will get the punctuation on that right. I wonder what the money. I'd love to know what the dollars are with something like that because you can't pay too much for it, right? It's something that you want as a part of your product to build a stadium near the airport so that you can have soccer down here in South Florida as opposed to in Broward, and you've got the best player in the world, and the best player ever? We It's either him or Pele, right? Those are your choices.

I never saw Pele, really. So the best player I've ever seen is Leo Messi, and he's done the things that people asked him to do to get to that level.

That stadium is going to be pretty awesome, right?

It's going to be pretty awesome. Terms are presently undisclosed. However, I believe through my own sourcing, Dan, that we have given him Opalaka.

Is that all? It's not bad.

He has Opalaka. Just Opalaka. Parts of West Kendall were still negotiating with Baptist. That's not bad.

I would assume that he would take all of Key West and just keep asking for stuff.

Atopata? Presently in the hands of others. But Middlekeys. Had Sadi come to the Well, correct. Maybe Ila Morada. Lower Matacumbi, perhaps. Upper Matacumbi.

With the arrogance only Zaz could display, he just blew a bunch of lunch breath in my face. Man. And He loves lunch. And just said, big surprise, Darren Waller ruled out tonight.

Yeah, I don't know if you're aware. They're not going to have his services this evening. They're a big game in Buffalo, but he's not available.

That is true. We're going to get to pitch clock. That's going to be before the end of the show. And Mina Kimes is going to join us as well. But we've got a Patrick Beverly and Trey Young beef to get to. Do you want to give any context next year before we play some of the sound here? Why do Patrick Beverly and Trey Young have beef?

I don't know, but it's so good because I love it because that's sport the NBA. The players, they all love to hug and kiss before every game. I don't like that garbage. I like when players hate each other. Take me back to the '80s and '90s, where if you play it for another team, screw you, man. And so we got a little bit of this here. I like it. So Pat Beverly, he's got a podcast. Everyone's got a podcast, Dan. If you don't have a podcast, you're a huge loser. And Pat Beverly, he's got podcast. Essentially, he's talking about Trey Young here because he's talking about how he was asked a question by fans. They're reading like mail. And it's, why don't players play hard in the All-Star game. Let's hear.

I don't know. I don't think he's in a position to speak. I don't think he's one enough to even speak to me like that or tweet me like that. He's been to the playoffs three times. I've been to the playoffs nine.

Nine is more than three.

He's been in the NBA seven years. My first seven years, I didn't miss the playoffs at all.

Interesting.

In the Western Conference. Interesting. His rebuttal is probably going to be, Yeah, you want the main player in the team. You're absolutely right. Well, this is why it's a team. I talk to people who play in Atlanta. They don't want to play there. Why? They don't think he's a good leader. They don't think he's a good teammate. This is not coming from me. This is coming from Joe Blow over here. Trey, you can score all the points you want. You can make all the money you want. You can have all the leading assists you want. You can do all that. If you don't win, that shit won't matter. If you don't win when you're retired, they're going to forget your name. Fast, too. I don't even think he has the wiggle room to talk about, Are you not playing hard for an All-Star game? You're not like you're playing in the playoffs.

So what do you think his point is?

I don't know.

He's just trying to put himself above you?

I think so.

Put it on the poll, please, Juju, @Lebitard Show, BiggerLoser, a person who doesn't have a podcast or person who walks into the rain with their own umbrella. Let's hear Trey Young's response to that.

But wait, we got some more facts for you. And this has nothing to do with any of the guys' legacies and players that I'm about to name, because to be honest, I didn't really want to mention anybody's name in this because this is between me and you. You play with some big-time players, my guy. You talk about winning and impact winning and all these things. You've been on some teams with some big-time players. How about I go through a list of these guys? Lebron, Giannis, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Ant-Man, Cat. We're not even going to talk about how we celebrate play-in wins. I win play-in games on the road, and I'm ready to get to the playoffs. You win play-in games at home, and you standing on the scores table acting like it's a championship. We celebrate wins different, too.

It's a good response by Trey Young.

It is, and it should be noted, they've gone equally both as far in the playoffs as one another. However, Trey Young has been the man on his conference runner-up team, where Pat Beverly, as Trey Young outlined, has played with a lot of great players. That being said, Pat Beverly does have the tenure in the NBA to be able to opine about what people think about Trey Young, and he's espousing things that people have said about Trey Young for a long time.

Can we just acknowledge, though, that when Pat Beverly says, I've been in a playoff this many times, you've been in a playoff this many times, that there's a little bit of a difference between Trey Young being the main dude on a team and Pat Beverly being the seventh or eighth guy on a different team every year because For whatever reason, however high Pat Beverly thinks of himself, no one wants to sign him to a multi-year deal.

Patrick Beverly thinks very highly of himself. There are very few players in the history of the league who have made themselves more famous while actually doing less in the way of production. Patrick Beverly has a name as an irritant, at least in part because he irritates everybody.

He should think highly of himself, too. He wasn't born with the gifts that Trey Young was born with. He wasn't that type of prospect. In fact, he was on the roster when the big three was formed, and the Miami Heat said, You're not good enough to be on this team. And he took that and he made something of himself. And he listed all the times that he's been in the playoffs. He's been in the playoffs because he's been in the league longer and he had no right to be. He had to fight for his spot. So I think he's certainly entitled to his opinion. I would concede as someone that echoed that very same point. Trey Young has been the man there. But Pat Beverly, this is a shot for shot duel, and they each made good points.

I like it. I like when the players hate each other.

That's what the world needs, more hate these days. I think we can all agree on that.

There's not- In sports, possibly.

There's quite enough hate. Trey Young's hair looked better there than it's ever looked. Also, that video, heavily edited. Took a lot of takes on Trey Young. It seemed like that was not one take.

No, it's not a lot of that. They want pacing, right? So they're just cutting out- So it's just edited poorly. No, it's edited the way that people... You're not a young person. You don't understand. Young people on the internet, it's just choppy. We want this to be You want it to be as quick as possible. There are no spaces in between where you're hemming and hawing. It's chop, chop, chop, chop, chop. We're getting to it.

This is like the early days of highly questionable. You guys did the same thing.

Oh, yeah. That lasted less than a week. They took the feedback, and Eric Ridehome, the producer, changed that. We were doing a max headroom thing that was heavily, heavily... He was way ahead of the curve. Yeah, ahead of the curve on that, clearly. That's how young people wanted it, but it was too early. They didn't want it that way. We were super-edited for two days, super-edited, and then they immediately bailed on the entire concept.

Do you think when Trey Young recorded that yesterday, that he said to the guys, I wanted to look like highly questionable first week?

His hair does look great there. We're in agreement, right? His hair looks terrible when he's playing, but here his hair looks impeccable. It was weird to me to see that hair walk into Madison Square Garden and slay Madison Square Garden and enjoy the slaying of Madison Square Garden. Trey Young might be the worst defensive player in the league if it's not Tyler Hero. What happened? I heard your feelings. What was that sound? What was that sound? What? They're bad defensive players. You guys are going to dispute that?

No.

Who's disputing that?

No one. I'll ask Amine who the worst defensive player in the league is.

I think Tyler Hero is better than Luca.

Okay. Isn't that who Tyler Hero compared himself to? He's like, I view myself on the lines of Luca and Trey Young. And John Marant. He's on my podcast. Now, with Altitude on it, clearly, he meant just bad defending.

Mina Kimes is going to join us in a moment. As I mentioned, pitch clock is going to be here at the end of the show. I know none of you care, but Blake Snell continues to be unhittable. I believe he's in his last 13 innings. It's no runs and 23 strikeouts. Last night, the Dodgers are talking about Shoheya Ohtani coming out of the bullpen.

Man, Dave Roberts definitely did not pull him from that game early.

That was funny yesterday where Dave Roberts goes to the mound in the seventh ending, and Blake Snell's up, I think, three-nothing at the time. He's got two runners off, and Blake Snell is like, Get here. Just get out of here. I don't want you here. And then Dave Roberts scampered back to the duck out.

It's fun when managers actually listen to the pitcher on that. I remember a few years ago, Sandy Alcantara in his Cy Young season, Mattingly walks out and he just starts shaking his head no. And this is in Bush Stadium, and he goes, All right. Walks right back to the dugout after talking to him. It was incredible.

I have a response from Amin about the worst defensive player in the NBA.

That was quick.

I said, Who's the worst defensive player in the NBA? His response? Probably Joe Ingles.

Oh, that's good. You know what? He's got me. But he doesn't play. He doesn't play anymore. Okay, ask him for the second worst then.

Your dad calls him Joe Ingles.

That's the way it should be pronounced in Spanish or in English. Joe Inglés is exactly what it should be. When you guys think about what's happening with Tom braided, I know Mike's got a lot of objections to things I've said around here recently, and I want to ask Mina about this when she gets here. Tom braided in the press box or in the coaches box with a headset, to me, that wasn't as offensive as him with a headset and a suit. That did not look right to me. Well, it's wrong. It's fundamentally wrong to have the guy who's doing the coordinator work in a headset be wearing a tie, be wearing a suit. There was something off- They have to wear a collared shirt with the team emblem on the- It can't be a suit.

He just looked awkward, pulling. He was like, I want both ears covered.

He knew it, too. He was looking around like, I don't fit.

It would have been- He's like, How are you guys sitting? As odd if he had been in a tux, in a full tuxeto. It would have struck me as- Like step brothers when they were getting interviewed.

I think my frustration on the Tom braided conversation is we should have been having this weeks ago when it was announced that he would now be allowed in these meetings, in these production meetings with players and coaches. And that is a huge red flag because he'd be meeting, presumably, with teams that are on the Raiders schedule. And he'd be asking about schematics, about insights on the team and team dynamics that would undoubtedly be helpful to the Raiders. And you can have plausible deniability and say, Well, he's not as involved with the Raiders. What? Have you been paying attention to the entire summer? Pete Carroll is calling him his boss. He very much, even though he only owns 5%, wants to be perceived as a very involved minority owner in the Las Vegas Raiders. And as evidence, he was in the box. And I find it hilarious that the most obvious thing in the world happened, and it just took him being shown on camera for the whole thing to be undone. Immediately, the league says he's not allowed in those production meetings anymore. Duh. This was there. What? There's a reason why you did this last year.

And everybody, including your partner, was complaining he's not good on the podcast, which, by the way, maybe that ship has sailed because that was the one hope. Well, he's not in these production meetings. Certainly, he'll be improved second you're doing it. And then they announced this whole plan that was dumb from the jump and completely undone with a finger snap. Did people need to see it to know that this was a problem? I guess so.

I got a response from Rameen. I wrote second worst, and he wrote, There's a lot of shitty defenders that I don't know it lines up nice and neat as a clear number two. So he gave me three names with question marks as his nominees for the second worst. Trey Young, question mark. George Niang, question mark. Michael Porter Jr, question mark.

See, there's already four guys. I'm not Tyler Hero. I'm not Tyler Hero. Take it back. You know what? It sounds like Tyler Hero might be a good defender.

George Niang.

I knew that would be the name. It's funny. How many Big 12 basketball games we have action on George Neang there, pal.

I can't dispute You're George Neang. You got me there. We started earlier in the show, we didn't know what P's and Q's were. Do any of you know when Mike says, huge red flag, do you know why there's a huge red flag? What is a red flag? I know what the expression means, but I don't know the starting point of why it is there would be a red flag.

Can I venture a guess? As a child of Windows 97, I assumed, because of the game Minesweeper on Windows 97, that they would plant red flags wherever there a mine. So that's what I've told myself is the origin of it. Jeremy, can you look this up?

That's pretty good. That's a pretty good guess.

I'm sure it's a signal for distress. People use flags all the time. I know the hurricane warning flag is in red in part, so red usually means a warning.

Those are two good colonies. I, for some reason, thought it was piratey. I thought that the red flag had something to do with pirate ships and warning on pirate ships.

There are several different reasons. Now, they'll sometimes put one at an outdoor shooting range, but seemingly, originally, this is because a red flag is frequently flown by armed forces to warn the public of live fire exercises in progress. Okay.

Thank you. Mina Kimes, next.

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Don Levatard.

John, can you rate my Al Pacino from that billiard scene in Carlito's way if I do it for you? I think it's pretty good. Yeah. Okay.

Stugats.

You think you're big Tom?

Or you're going to die. Big Tom.

That is on my infamous scale of 1-10.

That's a 7. 6.

Solid.

Good job, Dan. Good job, Dan.

That's a Sui nominate right there. That's really good. This is the Dan Levatard show with the Stugats.

Mina Kimes is here, and we will bounce around the league with her. But let's talk about tonight's game. I was saying earlier in the show, Mina, that I thought the biggest mismatch in the entire league is Bill's offense against Dolphins defense. I defy you. I defy you to find a mismatch. Give me a mismatch that you would say in the hypothetical, not even one that's actually happening, but just a mismatch I can put on the field that would feel anything Anything like that.

Maybe when the Ravens offense goes up against the bangles defense, but early on, Dolphins defense looks worse. The thing about the Dolphins defense that's so dispirating is We knew that the secondary was going to be bad, right? The pass rush was supposed to be good. They got everybody healthy. They got Chubb Robinson, they got Jalen Phillips, they got Bradley Chubb, and they're not getting pressure, and they're not able to compensate for what's going on in the back-end. It could be very ugly tonight.

What do make of the fact that I don't have the numbers right in front of me, but I think over the last, I don't know, I'm going to say two years that Patrick Mahomes has three 320-yard games, and so does Jake Browning.

I think that wide receiver's matter would be my take. Jake Browning, because I've been revisiting this, obviously, since we're going to be watching him for a while, was actually pretty decent in the second half of 2023 he played. This was an L for me because I'm a Washington Huskies fan. I did not think he would be good in the NFL at all. And he really impressed me that year. I'm not saying he's above average NFL starting quarterback by any means, but I thought the offense was pretty good. Jamar Chase was excellent in those games. And Patrick Mahomes has been... I mean, that offense is failing for a number of reasons, but right now he's playing with probably the worst receiver group in football. And it turns out the quarterback, while the most important player, maybe in Any sport can only do so much.

Joe Burrow plays a bit of a reckless style. He has been hit a lot more than Andrew luck was hit during the time frame that made Andrew luck retire. What do you make of Joe Burrow perpetually getting injured because of the way that he plays?

It's sometimes hard to know how to assign blame when we talk about quarterback injuries. But I think your point about Burrow versus luck is notable because I think with luck, it was so obviously a route of circumstances. And I think with Burrow, it's a little bit more of a mixed picture. Obviously, the offensive line hasn't been good, and he compensates for it in a lot of ways. And when he throws the ball very quickly. This offense is great. But I would say earlier in his career, in particular, he took way too many sacs, and some of them were on him. So when we look at the number of hits he's taken over the years, he is not entirely blameless through some of that. But he's not the biggest factor by any means. It's still the offensive line.

Mina, what have you made of the discourse surrounding Mike McDaniel lately?

I think it's weird. And I think there's a personal tone to some of it that is a little bit I don't love, if I'm being honest. And I say that as someone who thinks McDaniel is not above blame. I think the run game stalling out the way it did last year, in particular, he deserves a lot of criticism for that. However, this is an offense that is limited because of personnel decisions and a defense that is just bad, mostly also because of personnel decisions. In I'm not... I don't know, people are going to say, Oh, the nerds defending the nerds. This is not me saying that Mike McDaniel deserves to keep his job or that he's done a great job. But to my eye, Chris Greer, the GM of the Dolphins, is so clearly the biggest problem in Miami. I don't know what the discourse is like around him, but I feel like he should be at the top of people's tongues more than the coach who is, I think, trying to coach around the limitations of the players that they have.

What in the league is the second team you would point to where you would say it is super strange that Chris Greer still has a job given that he's the longest tenured GM to not have a payoff victory. How distant is second in place there in terms of confusing that the pressure isn't on the general manager there when a lot of people say it's the architecture?

It's not that distant. I would say Mickey Loomis with the New Orleans Saints is right there with him as a guy who I think deserves a lot of criticism for how that team is. The approach that he took, he's taken a team building now for several years and the state of the Saints roster, he should... I mean, it's crazy to me that He flies under the radar for all of the bad decisions, bad draughts. He had a couple of really banger draughts like 10 years ago, more than 10 years ago, I think. No, not more than 10 years ago. Actually, it was less than that. But anyways, he has made some really brutal decisions in New Orleans. Those are the two names that come to mind when I look at those teams and I think, wow, these GMs have their fingerprints all over these teams and have made some really debilitating errors.

When you think of it being personal with the Mike McDaniel criticism, because I do feel like some of this is cavemen who are threatened by computers. But let's look here or hear some sound from McDaniel. He doesn't help himself here.

To win games, you have to win the game, not lose the game. I mean, you could take that quote from any coach. I've never felt like his press conferences have never really- So annoying.

Yeah, I've never...

Even when they were winning. It's funny, though, winning and covers everything up. I've never felt like- Oh, I loved it when we were winning.

It was charming.

I think football culture does not like perceived outsiders. And when you don't look or sound like a traditional football person, second that you fail, there are people who will turn on you quicker than they would if he was just ex, a former player who looks and sounds like a traditional head coach. But the other thing I would say is it's not like he's an analytics guy. He is a former college player, and I think of an architect of a pretty interesting offense that's definitely run stale, but a lot of it has to do with the players as well. In any case, I actually think the way he looks and sounds is inflecting a lot of this.

Let's go ahead and speed Mina up so we can get to as much football as possible because we want a lot of football from her. What is more accurate? C. J. Stroud has regressed or C. J. Stroud suffers from pressure up the middle.

C. J. Stroud suffers from pressure. That's not to say, though, he's blameless for some of that pressure.

Look at how good she's gotten it fast. You guys have noticed? The Tush Push, bad for football. Yes or no?

Yes, even though I'm not saying that it should be banned, but it's not entertaining.

How good is Baker Mayfield? Good.

Good. Not elite, but good.

Name the quarterbacks in the league you trust more than Baker Mayfield on a drive late in the game.

Sure. Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert, Jaden Daniels, Joe Burrow, if he's healthy. Those are the mates. Matthew Stafford. Oh, Jalen Hertz.

What do you do? Oh, Jalen Hertz late as well. You've got Jalen Hertz driving right down the field late. No front runner in him like Lamar Jackson, where they can get far ahead. But I don't think of Lamar Jackson as he's going to do what Aaron Rodgers or Russell Wilson or what those guys... I don't think of him as Patrick Mahomes.

I hate Hating ass hater comments right now from Mina Kimes. Hating ass hater.

Is that what I said?

Jalen Hertz. When? When? Dare I say how?

He's had the two best games of his career in the most high-profile games possible, the Super Bowl. What are you talking about?

And he didn't have to come back in the final minute like Baker Mayfield had, too. Baker Mayfield is the best at this. Baker Mayfield's incredible. He becomes Steve Young in the final minutes.

He also threw the ball on a two-point conversion in, which nobody could acknowledge. It's an insane thing to do, but whatever.

Worst offensive line in football?

This is a tough competition right now. I'm going to go with Houston.

Is that just a bad organization? Because It feels like C. J. Stroud has been in the league now for a couple of seasons, and he's been more overwhelming than he's been awesome. He came out incredible. And the line was an issue last year, remains an issue. I'm starting to look at the top of this organization. I feel like they're either wasting this young man or we were wrong about the young man.

They traded their best offensive lineman. I know he had a bunch of penalties, but whatever. And then they signed two free agents from two of the worst offensive lines by the end of the season. Two of the worst guard free agents available. And then they started them and we were supposed to think, okay, it'll just get better because they changed the offensive coordinator.

Get out of here. I hate watching them.

It's so unpleasant. It's a very unpleasant team to watch.

The defense is so good. It's such a waste.

It drives me crazy.

Dan Levatard.

Did you get lost on the way to Home Depot today, Dan? What's going on with the plats?

Get his ass, Mina. Stugatz.

You look like you're about to ask me to check the oil on my car. Get him. Or come over and look around and point things in my house that need to be fixed.

This is the Dan Levatard show with the Stugats.

Atlanta Falcons, what are they?

Frisky will compete for the NFC South, but I don't view them as a true contender in the NFC.

Mina, what's been the biggest overreaction through the couple of weeks?

I would say that the Chiefs are dead in the water. I don't think that's true at all.

The offense is going to improve. Xavierworthy is coming back. I wasn't impressed by what Xavierworthy did last year as their deep threat, even though he's faster than everyone else on the field. He's going to come back, and what's going to change?

But the second half last season, they figured out how to use him against man coverage, and they stopped using him as a deep threat. It was more like quick outs and of motion. So that's going to help. The really big factor is Rashe Rice turning in week seven because he is a true number one wide receiver.

Impressions of Ben Johnson through two games.

He's got to figure out that run game, man. It's awful. It's a bottom three run game right now. Another, by the way, It's an L decision that didn't make any sense to me, sticking with DeAndre Swift.

What is Caleb Williams?

Work in progress. Let me revise that. Far from the biggest reason why the Chicago Bears are getting their bus kicked right now.

Is Aaron Rodgers closer to what he was in week one or what he was in week two?

Week 2. Week 1 when he plays bad defenses, week 2 when he plays good defenses.

What is Michael Penix?

A quarterback I'd like to see push the ball downfield more because he's got great arm talent, and thus far, they've really been hampering that deep passing game.

Did you just call the Jets a bad defense?

Yeah, they're awful.

What happened?

It's been a multi-year thing, talent erosion, but right now, it's like busted coverage all over. This is the thing with Aaron Glenn that's confusing me much. The defense should be so much better than they are.

Will Tyreek Hill play for the Dolphins tonight and the Chiefs on Sunday?

I don't think so.

Who's a better coach in football? All ranks of football, Pete Carroll or Jim Harbaugh?

Right now, it might be Jim Harbaugh, but I don't know if that's true over the course of their entire careers.

What has Jim Harbaugh done that makes that charger's secondary and defense so stifling?

Hired Jesse Minter.

That's it?

Yeah, dude. He's not coach of the defense.

But I'm just saying that's it. The Chargers defense is the reason they are winning. They are-Well, week one, the offense was awesome.

People love Jim. It's funny because we talked about Mike McDaniel and the vibes. People love Jim Harbaugh so much because he's such a football guy, and I feel like everybody wants to give him credit for every part of that team. I mean, Jesse Mantor is a defensive cred, and he was his coach in Michigan, so he deserves credit for hiring him.

What are the Vikings?

Team that's going to miss the playoffs.

Do you believe in JJ McCarthy?

Not yet.

Yeah, I don't either. Tell me more. Do you believe that O'Neill has a skill? If you had to give me three coaches who have a skill of making quarterbacks, who are those three coaches?

I would say making quarterbacks. Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay.

Shane Steigen, apparently.

Apparently Shane Steigen. Yeah, that's been a crazy story. But O'Neill, you got to see it now.

When should we see Jackson Dart?

Probably week 10.

Who wins, Stealers or Patriots?

I win Stealers in this one, but that's not because I'm high on the Stealers.

What has surprised you most the first two weeks of the season?

Daniel Jones. There's no No other answer. It's Daniel Jones. And I've taken the L on this already. It's not that I think Daniel Jones is going to continue to play the level that he has. I think that some of this is going to come down to Earth, the plan to pressure, the pushing the ball down the field. That's just not who he's been over the course of his career. But the accuracy underneath has enabled this offense to go, and they've got a bunch of incredible weapons. I mean, Tyler Warren has been absolutely a beast for them, and Shane Steigen is pretty damn good at his job.

The second best running back in the league is blank.

Bajon Robinson.

What is Treyk May?

Promising. Played really well this week. It's going to be up and down.

Ashton Genti looks small. Would you agree?

I don't think his size is why he's not having overwhelming success thus far. Also, Bucky Irving is small, and he's shredding it in Tampa.

But Bucky Irving is good in pass protection, it would appear. I mean, Genti is getting rolled. It feels like more size would help him, but it definitely looks a lot different in the pros than it did in Boise, no?

Yeah. Well, that's what happens when you join a team with a bad offensive line. I'm never getting drunk on runningbacks again in the draft. Watching the chargers and the Raiders, I was just like, I knew this was going to be an up and down thing. I knew offensive line mattered. Yeah. I'm mad at myself.

Should the league move the field goal post closer together, Mina?

No.

Kickers are too good. Are they?

I love long field goals. Is that crazy? Is it wrong for me to be in? When Brandon Aubrey lined up, were you guys not entertained as football? Forget the strategy as football fans.

I was. Yeah.

Where would I have to put the ball down for you to say Aubrey can't make it from there?

Great question. I would say anything over 70 is when I start to get a little bit nervous. But anything in the 60s, I think that dude's banging it in.

A little bit nervous.

A little bit. Is he already the best kicker ever?

It's going to have to be longevity to hit that award, but hitting from distance the way he has... I mean, he's going to be in the conversation.

What is Kam Ward?

Exciting. Putting some really fun throws on tape every week, playing behind terrible pass protection. That's got to improve for me to take this team seriously, but I've enjoyed watching his tape every week.

You didn't have Jordan love late in games when we asked you the Baker Mayfield question.

That's true. I didn't think about him. I think that the offense is so good I would bet on them, but individually, I think love is a little bit inconsistent.

I like him, though, a lot. The packers are the blank best team in the league.

Best.

Whoa. Nice. What just happened there?

They're so good. Are they going to feel this entry, though? Because they've navigated Watts, and they're sneaky deep at wide receiver. But Jaden Reid has been their best wide receiver over the last few seasons. Certainly most consistent and most available. He's out for some time.

Yeah, but they're so close to hitting it with Matthew Golden. Him and Jordan Love are just a little bit far apart.

Yeah, he's got crazy separation stats, right? And it's just the timing's not right.

But that'll get there. And then they got so many other weapons. Tucker Kraft is now making a case for himself to be one of the best tight ends of the league. The run game is good. They haven't even been healthy on the offensive line. And the defense is just... I mean, that's the best defense in football, I think.

You can only have one, one and one only. Micah Parsons or Miles Garrett?

Miles Garrett by the thinnest of hairs. He has quietly been unbelievable this season, but it's the Brown, so no one cares.

Nabors is the blank best receiver in the league.

Oh, gosh. I don't know. He's not in the top eight, so maybe top 10 to 12.

I'd have to really...

I don't know. I mean, maybe he's top... No, he's definitely top 10. He's top 10.

Well, what I saw against Dallas, they seemed to be real. What Diggs did, he was covered. He was covered on both of those touch downs. Diggs is reaching in there and he punches the football, but it doesn't move. Mina, I'm legitimately confused.

Okay, All right, let's do this. Okay, so Chase, Jefferson. Neighbors. A. J. Brown, Amun Ross, St. Brown, Huka Nakuwa. Those are five receivers who are better than Malik Nabors that I just named.

Give me a combination that is better, that has better chemistry, okay? You're not allowed to choose Kelsey and Mahomes in their history, than Saint Brown and Goff.

Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase.

Yeah, it's a good choice. Who's the best LSU receiver ever then?

It's still such a work in progress. That's still... Yeah.

Who's better, Jamar Chase or Justin Jefferson? Let's pin you down here.

Used to be Jefferson by I'm still going to stick with Jefferson, but it's very close, and they bring different things to the table. I think Chase is more QB proof, though.

Have you had an eye towards the NFL draft? It seems like a down year for quarterbacks in college football. Well, is there any quarterback that may stake its claim to number one overall?

I like that kid, Mateer. I'm not saying his name right. But yeah, I think this is one where it's a good reminder to that whole, Oh, next year is going to be the best draft ever. Got to pop the brakes on that every year. But I think some of these guys are going to look better at the end of the season than they do now.

Will the Miami Dolphins have a top three pick?

No.

Grab one of the books on the shelf behind you and give us a one-minute book report.

Okay, let's go with... It's appropriate right now. Billy Lynn's Long Half-Time Walk, one of my favorite books ever about not just the NFL, but the NFL and the NFL Mutilitary Industrial Complex and all of the It's called Patrotism, Surrounding Football. It's about a soldier returning from war. It was to a Dallas Cowboys game. It's an excellent book.

Has she actually read it?

Yeah. I'm telling movies. I actually have read every single book behind me.

Will Darren Waller play tonight?

Marter, my friend wrote this.

No praline.

What are you doing? Darren Waller is out tonight. Zazlo is an asshole. He's got lunch breath, and I want to do a book report with you every week. Okay, let's do that. I love that. Zazlo Clearly ran out of questions. Mina- Good question. I don't know if he's playing. You beat us that time. You beat us because you're getting very good at this game. Thank you for being on with us.

Bye, guys. Everybody, go read Marter.

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