Transcript of Does Greg Cote Know Anybody In The Office? | Hour 2

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Texas was a team that was going to be absolutely out of this picture. But then you saw the big money come in, the establishment saw Texas as an opportunity, and they said, "Okay, let's invest in Texas." And so we've seen a swing. That's come back up. Okay, we're on program now. We're talking about Texas. We're checking in on Texas, and we see that the big money was willing to invest in the state of Texas to get Texas to rise in those rankings, to shift, you could say, within what we normally see from them. Normally you see a team with a loss to an unranked Oklahoma, you say, "No, they're not going to be in this."

Against the Spread. Against the Spread. Against the Spread is presented by DraftKings Sports. DraftKings, the crown of joys. Tony.

Thursday night football. We got the Jacksonville Jaguars against the Baltimore Ravens. Joey Funano, your starting quarterback, even though he's been wearing a boot for the last two days in practice, not something that I'd like to see from my starting quarterback. I don't think 10 is enough for this spread. Jacksonville is going to absolutely obliterate the Baltimore Ravens. I'm going to take the Jacksonville Jaguars minus 10. I would even stretch and say, like, probably a two-touchdown favorite is more what they should be. I'm going to take the Jags. Those pesky Jags, Dan. Look at it go 5-0 in November with some great stuff.

Greg, go ahead.

The Jags, minus 10.

The best team in the NFL right now might be the Chicago Bears. Caleb Williams is a sneaky MVP candidate. Jeffrey Simmons' trade greatly enhances that defense. Chicago at home having to cover only six points. What a bargain. Bears minus 6 over Bucks.

That's weird. That's a trap game. Show public over here.

Trap, schmap.

Look at it. Show public over here.

Trap, schmap.

Can you guys get for me the sound of Funano, Joey Funano, telling you how it is that his name is pronounced, please, because he is helping everybody who isn't interested in the rest of the Baltimore season. There is no reason to watch the rest of the Baltimore season. Let's see. How many teams so far have used their third-string quarterback already? Not halfway through the season? Atlanta, Washington, Baltimore. Are there any others that are on their third-string quarterback? Baltimore during the game was talking about a position player playing quarterback because they—was it Justin Hill?

Justice Hill.

Justice Hill. Thank you. They don't have any more quarterbacks on their roster. Let's hear Funano tell us how to pronounce his name.

Tiano. Next.

See, because you look at the way it's spelled.

Yeah.

And then you see, like, where the hiccup would be.

Funano.

How do you get that?

Well, it is confusing because it's not just that the G is silent. He's putting an Ñ over the N.

Yeah, there's no Ñ. So it's like, how do you get the Ñ sound?

No, but there's an N.

Tiano.

It's two.

No. Have you ever seen the word gnarly and blow your mind?

Tiano.

So that is Baltimore's starting quarterback. But speaking of names, I want to play some sound here for you of Deion Sanders. I believe he's in trouble. I believe he's got a number of different problems at Colorado that aren't going to make it worth it for him to continue doing that job because he's not going to get out of this mess. But here's Deion Sanders on his team.

Hey, coach. I have a couple of recruiting questions for you. But first of all, I want to ask, how's Julian doing?

Doing well.

Okay. Let's see how his health is.

Yeah. I spoke to his dad today.

This time of year is kind of—why?

Nothing.

Okay. This time of year is kind of like the.

I don't get it. Like, why is that? What is he laughing about there? I don't understand.

Really just a strange sound. He gets asked about his quarterback who's in the hospital, and then he just, like, answers it, then giggles and.

You guys were theorizing that he doesn't know his players' names. That's what you guys—you guys were theorizing that he does not know the names of all of his players. Do you guys believe that he should know the names of all of his players?

The quarterback? Hell yeah.

Well, I got a pretty good idea that Mario Crystalball knows the names of all the players on his team. I think it's kind of crazy.

And their parents.

Yeah.

And the next three recruiting classes.

Yeah. And I would say most college coaches know all of the players' names on their teams. Deion didn't seem to know his running backs' names when he was asked about them earlier this week.

Let's hop in a time machine three years ago. If I told you the FSU job would be open and that the only people talking about Deion at FSU are just wayward egg accounts, you'd be like, "What? What? That doesn't seem to make sense. This guy is on a rocket ship trajectory."

Greg, give this a listen here. This was Deion. I think it was yesterday, actually.

Hey, coach. I have a couple of recruiting questions for you. But first of all, I want to ask, how's Julian doing?

Guys, that's the same sound.

Okay. Let's see how his health is.

Yeah. I spoke to his dad today.

This time of year is kind of—why?

Nothing.

Okay. This time of year is kind of like the.

All right. That's not the clip. But he calls—he's asked about the running backs on his team, and he calls them Moe, Larry, and Curly. He clearly can't remember the names. And then he says, "I'm sorry. I'm bad with names." It's like.

Oh my God. Yeah. That makes me worry about Deion a little bit, if I'm being honest. I don't think every college coach can name everybody on his team who has played a down. I think if you're.

You don't think so?

I think if you're the fourth-string left guard who's played one snap all year.

Maybe some of the walk-ons. Maybe some of the walk-ons who don't know all their names. I suppose it is possible. But Greg, we've done this with you before. What percentage of people working here do you think that you can get us their names?

Well, I'm not going to take a quiz, but if you're asking me, you mean in the entire floor?

I'm saying that if we were to go out into the other room there and just go person to person and ask you, "What is this person's name?" Which I would love to do, by the way.

Yeah. I'm not going to take a quiz.

I know. But as an exercise, I would really love to do that. Like, I think that would.

Maybe 4.2%.

I think that that would make for riveting audio and television to have you wander around out there and try and get the names right of all of these people that you see weekly, twice a week.

Can we just grab someone and parade them in here?

I'm not going to take that quiz. Okay? Tony, Mike.

Yeah. We know that you know.

Christopher.

Yeah. We know that you know the.

Boy.

Yeah. We know that you know the people in here, but I don't think.

Chris, grab anyone. Okay. No matter who you bring in.

Yeah. He's not bringing anyone.

I'm not bringing anyone's name.

I'm not bringing anyone.

You understand that? No matter who you bring in, I am not going to say the name.

I feel like you will if you know their name.

No, I won't.

Okay. All right. Well, he's going to sit it out, and we're not going to get the payoff.

It's exciting. Chris, who are you bringing?

All right, Greg Cody. Who is this?

I just told you. I am not going to take anyone.

He's not going to do it.

I don't care who it is.

You don't know who this is?

You could bring my wife in right now, and I would not say her name.

Right. Who is this?

Tiano. I'm not going to say it. I'm not going to say anything.

Fulano.

Everyone knows that's Bradford.

That's a quarterback name.

Let me get to some other stuff here that I want to get to with you guys because I do believe that there's a whole bunch of interesting stuff. But let me first promote Greg Cody's podcast. He's got the great Peter King on it. As soon as Peter King came on here and said that Greg Cody was the man, I knew Greg Cody was going to parlay that into Peter King being a guest on The Greg Cody Show featuring Greg Cody.

All right, Greg. Who is this?

I'm not going to.

Who is this?

Like I said, my wife could be under the table right now. Not that I would wish that upon her. And I wouldn't play that.

You don't know who this is?

I'm not going to say. I don't care.

I don't care.

You don't care.

I'm not going to say.

You could raise Barack.

I think the.

You could raise Barack Obama right now, and I would not say the name.

I think the problem is that you don't care.

Yeah. You never know.

You are the man.

You can't be so critical of Deion Sanders and worry about him, about not knowing the names of his players. When out here, we have about 30 people. Deion Sanders has about four times that many on his team.

You have about 120 guys on a roster between everybody. So it's a lot of people to know, Greg. To your point, to Deion's point, it's like it's a lot of people out there. You meet a lot of people. You've gone through some health issues in the past. You've been in and out of coaching. There's one guy that I am amazed at his genius of social awareness and being able to know everybody's name. Have you guys seen LaMelo Ball go through the bowels of the arena, knowing every security guard, every staffer for the Wolves, knowing he has handshakes with the staffers?

First 30-point performance here in the Wolves jersey. How you feeling?

Like me. Appreciate you, brother Matthew.

Yes, sir. And how about that energy in the Target Center tonight?

Amazing. Great fans. Great stadium, great people, great everything.

Handshake with everybody? How do you remember? That was a staffer. Like, who is that guy? I like that he knows all their names.

It's right here.

Pat, how you doing, brother? Pat, how you doing, man? And then he gets into the locker room. He gave you. What do you mean, how many handshakes that he knows here?

He gave out, like, 12 handshakes to staffers walking into that locker room.

That felt as close to the scene in Goodfellas of Ray Liotta walking through the back of the restaurant and just sort of knowing everybody before they gave him the best table, as you will find in sports. LaMelo Ball seems like a really good immature time. We have shown his apartment in Charlotte. It looked exactly as you imagined that his apartment would look. And LaMelo Ball seems fun. I just wouldn't trust that, nice as it is, to the staff as the centerpiece on my basketball team.

It's doing pretty well right now, so.

Yeah. But Minnesota can't do anything without Anthony Edwards. They cannot do anything.

Hold the fort down. It's all you got to do.

Meaningful. I don't know that he's going to hold the fort down. I don't believe that the fort is going to be.

Fort's getting held down.

Held.

Ticonderoga.

All right. We'll find out together whether the fort is going to be held down or not.

Dan Le Batard.

Can't wait for 39. Yeah. I can't either. 40 comes first.

Do you know what 40 is yet?

Not yet.

See, what are we doing here?

Greg, did you just laugh? Did you just laugh out loud at something Lewis said in your ear?

Greg Cody.

Yes. I couldn't help it. It was funny.

Yeah, but.

Thanks, Lewis.

Yeah.

Gagging the goose.

Of course.

Choking the frog. I mean, there's a million of them.

Of course.

Half of them would sound dirty if we keep doing it.

This is The Dan Le Batard Show.

I was shocked by a couple of things that emerged from the Nick Wright conversation. One is Nick Wright not knowing what a pencil fight was and making me wonder whether pencil fights are indeed a regional thing. I would not have assumed that a pencil fight is a regional thing.

I would have assumed Nick Wright is a pencil fight champion. I mean, you look at that guy, you tell me that guy wasn't involved in some battles?

It was big in LA.

Very surprising.

I have to admit, I didn't know what a pencil fight was.

That's not surprising.

My version of a pencil fight is.

Is what?

We used to take pencils.

Pill quill pen.

You remember all the ceilings used to have that material that a pencil would stick into?

I know exactly where you're going with this.

Yeah. You know what I'm saying?

You're talking about, like, the not foam, but the ceilings that you could throw a pencil into.

Yes.

And you could just throw pencils and find them stuck in the ceiling.

Yes.

I don't know what that material would be called either. Let's just call it foam for the purposes of keeping the conversation moving. But do you believe that pencil fighting is a regional thing? Did I ask the poll question already of, "Do you know what pencil fighting is?" Because I don't know if I asked the question as a poll question before.

I don't think you did.

I assume that the audience would know what I'm talking about there. But when you guys mentioned it, you literally conjured two memories from 50 years ago that are childhood memories that I had not thought about. One of them was pencil fighting, and the other one is paper football.

Really?

Where you just sort of kick a paper football or you flick a paper football.

Yeah. It was a championship.

Through your friend's fingers from across from you that are goalposts, and you hope you don't get a doink. You hope you don't get a loud, echoing doink because you are a good which one did you play more of at Le Batard Show? Which did you do more of in your childhood, pencil fighting or paper football?

These results can change. And the thing that is a bit confounding here is why do we see in the early feedback here within these early votes that number 21, South Carolina, seems to be booing both Alabama and Kentucky when a win over a 23, Oregon, doesn't do much for a UCLA that has no losses. While these are quality losses, close within the margins, those are the things that you want to see when you're in the Southeast, is close margins even in defeat that shows an overall shift in the thinking.

Chris, did you find any more information on your father's allegations that there is a pencil hotel? Greg, where did you say this pencil hotel was that you stayed at?

I believe it was in Europe. My wife got back to me. She doesn't remember it exactly, but she thought it was Paris.

Yeah. I see in Paris there's the Tour Perdu, which is commonly known as the Le Crayon. Which obviously means the pencil. It's a 165-meter skyscraper that houses the Radisson Blu Hotel.

Yeah. That wasn't it.

Okay.

What are the details that you remember about this pencil hotel? Because it sounds as a feature, like it's not much of a feature to entice much of anyone to stay there based on the information you've provided us.

No. It was great. It was a wonderful hotel. And you know how 99% of hotel rooms have pens that you end up stealing without regret because you're allowed to steal a pen? This had pencils. And then I think the bar at the hotel also had.

If you're allowed to steal it, it's not stealing.

Right. I think so.

I love how he said about the hotel bar, "I think."

Well, because it had a pencil theme, but I don't remember the name of it because it was probably in French.

El Crayon.

Yeah.

Le Crayon.

L?

Le.

He's trying, guys.

I know.

I'm dyslexic.

Your Cuban is what it is.

No. I wish I could recall the name of the hotel because I loved it, and I took pencils home. I may still have something.

The other thing that Nick Wright said is that Lamar Jackson to the Dolphins is what he would bet as the favorite. And he was talking about the idea of trading the first overall pick for Lamar Jackson to the Dolphins. Greg Cody signed off on that immediately. Said, "No problem." Said, "That's not a lot to give up." Jeffrey Simmons just went for two first-round picks. And so I imagine a two-time MVP who's going to be at the beginning of his 30s, injured or not, at the quarterback position, I would assume that could get you a haul.

Well, Simmons goes for two first-round picks that you know are going to be low first-round picks. When if we're talking about trading him to a place like Miami, we're talking about trading for potentially the number one overall pick. So I don't know if you'd have to give up a whole lot more than that. But it's also important to note, acquiring that quarterback, giving up big draft compensation, and paying a ton of money, that's not really the Green Bay Packer way. Like, that's not where John Eric Sullivan is coming from in building a team that way.

Yeah. I think you make an exception for a Lamar Jackson. I just do. I think you retool your whole way of thinking if you have a chance to get LJAQ. And it's pretty much known that Lamar Jackson would like to come home, quote-unquote, and play for the Dolphins. He was born in Pompano Beach. He was raised in South Florida. In the past, he's stirred headlines on social media by appearing in Dolphin Garb and stuff like that. It would not be a surprise if he really wanted to play for the Dolphins.

It would be shocking to me if he fetches a first-round draft pick. He's got zero guaranteed money and a no-trade clause. Presumably, if he's going to go to a team that he's interested in, they're going to have to work out some new deal with him that really limits the teams that you're talking to. And they'll just dare you to cut him. He's got no guaranteed money. So why would I offer you a first-round draft pick for a guy that you're eventually not going to keep on your books?

Oh, but this is not a player that you cut. And furthermore, if he is traded, it will be the single most valuable piece ever traded in that league.

I would say a player with zero guaranteed money is exactly the player you cut.

The two-time MVP is not someone you cut and get nothing for. And if he is traded, it would be unlike anything seen in the history of the league at that age, a two-time MVP that never, ever gets traded in that league.

Why would they cut him? Wasn't Peyton Manning cut? Yeah. But different point in their career. Peyton Manning, we didn't know if he'd ever play again.

Peyton Manning, there were questions about his health. You mean to tell me there aren't questions about the long-term life, but.

No. There are questions if Manning can play again.

Peyton Manning had elite teams as suitors. And they just let him go because of what he did for the franchise. And they did right by him. And they also had a high draft pick. So it was kind of part ways. People, this was just missed by everybody in a way that I'm kind of amazed by. The league patently and illegally colluded against Lamar Jackson, who did not have an agent. And my God, the deal that Lamar Jackson got could not be more favorable to Lamar Jackson, given that he's got the no-trade and he has leverage because the cap hits 80 million next year.

Oh, you think he's going to play for them?

Oh, I don't know. But the fact that they got him back in the building with whatever it is that Drew Rosenhaus did. Like, I remember. Look, Drew Rosenhaus will go to any lengths in order to get a player. I recall when Ricky Williams was living barefoot in a tent in Australia at $9 a day, sleeping outdoors. He was surprised that what washed up on his shores in Australia was Drew Rosenhaus looking to try and get him out of retirement, just flew to Australia and found Ricky Williams in a tent because he was trying to get him to come out of retirement.

And this is an interesting situation because Brandon Ayuk, it's not as much as the San Francisco 49ers calling Drew Rosenhaus saying, "Let's get him back in the building." I think it's the opposite. It's Brandon Ayuk saying, "You can't tell me no, right? You own the rights to what I do here because of the contract. So if I show up at the building, you got to take me." And the issue is, are they going to cut him? Are they going to find a trade partner? Or are they going to play him because they don't have anybody? I think that first ship is burned. There's nothing that they can do. I don't know how much trade value he has.

What ship did you burn?

Yeah. Which ship are we burning?

Well, we burned the playing ship.

The other ship.

We burned the trade ship. Both of those are. That was the last ship. You presented the last ship as the first ship.

Okay.

And I just want to know which ship is burning.

Well, we're burning all the boats and not looking back, right? They're going to have to cut him because I don't think he's going to play, and I don't think he has much trade value. But the San Francisco 49ers cannot say no to him stepping into the. The cut ship still floating.

Wait a minute. You guys don't think he has much trade value when we just got done talking to Nick Wright about what the Kansas City Chiefs need at receiver. Look, he wasn't surprised by that stat, but I was surprised by that stat. Even understanding how much Dink and Dunk Patrick Mahomes has done over the last three years, I didn't think that he was the only quarterback. Like, the only one when I'm giving you the stat of one quarterback in the past 20 years. That's a lot of Fenoni's.

So the trade ship.

Fenoni's.

Fenono. The trade ship is captained by Nick Wright. Got it.

Fenono.

One quarterback in the past 20 years has averaged under 5.0 air yards per attempt in three straight games within a season. Mahomes was that two years ago. I didn't realize that this is the first time in the past three games that that has happened in 20 years. Like, if the Chiefs are willing to do that with Justin Tucker, you don't think they're willing to do it with someone like Ayuk? Oh, they're willing to do it with him, but they're not going to trade anything for him. Like.

So the trade ship is down?

Trade ship is down.

Trade ship has been burnt.

Burnt to the ground. I thought Nick Wright told us it was still floating.

Not for Ayuk. For somebody else, yeah. But not for Ayuk.

I still don't understand why the Ravens would cut Lamar Jackson. You're telling me there is not a team like, yes, Lamar Jackson has the no-trade clause, and he can dictate where he goes. He's going to agree to go to whichever team agrees to give him the money that he wants. So you're telling me there aren't going to be teams out there lining up for Lamar Jackson?

I'm not telling you that. Mike seems to be telling you that he thinks that the Ravens will simply cut him. And I don't believe that. We'll find out together, I suppose.

There's dead money, but you can get away without having to pay him. It's just. Well, and you're okay with the dead money if somebody gives you back good compensation. Like, the Dolphins have dead money. They got nothing to do.

Guys, Lamar Jackson has nuked three seasons already with his health. You could very easily argue his best days are behind him. And you're entering a quarterback draft that has at least seven guys that are in that first to second-round draft pick range. What are you smoking?

But it's not Peyton Manning broken. You made that comp. Like, he's not as broken as Peyton was.

Oh, but look.

He's not broken at all.

Just.

Bro, I agree with Mike.

There's concerns with Lamar Jackson.

He couldn't take a snap.

Mike, there is a next to zero percent chance that any of the seven quarterbacks that you're talking about in that draft ever are a one-time MVP, never mind a two-time MVP. Like, you will not get something as good as Lamar Jackson with the next draft here.

Guys, when you're that unprecedented an athlete and you rely so heavily on that world-class athleticism, and it goes just a little, it completely changes you. We've seen it with Cam Newton. We saw it with Michael Vick. Guys that lean on their athleticism, they fall off a cliff.

But this injury that he just suffered has nothing to do with that last two years.

The last two injuries that he suffered this year have not those have been fluke injuries. He got rolled up on an ankle, and he broke his thumb on a hill.

He's running a lot less. Like, he's gotten injured while not playing the same way he was playing before.

I mean, look, he's 30 years old in January. Every reason to believe he's got five-plus years of prime left, of top-tier quarterback prime. Chances are he's not going to get injured again next year. I mean, I like the odds. If I were the Dolphins, I would be very interested in Lamar Jackson. But Dolphins have to realize there's already reports that LJAQ's preference is to re-sign long-term with Baltimore. So.

That's you. They don't have the same type of victory that Tennessee has. Tennessee has that victory over number five Alabama. And it's fascinating when we sit here. We look and we see that Alabama and Kentucky, while the resume here, the better loss is for Kentucky with Alabama, okay? They're sitting at number five with that loss. You have two losses here for Bama. And a head-to-head thing doesn't seem.

Dan Le Batard.

Can't trade Moreno.

Nice hats.

Nice hats as well.

It's what he's most known for. It's like I'm holding onto it.

Greg Cote.

They went 9-2. But it's Moreno. And then the next time we saw Moreno, after Greg Cote traded him, he threw for five touchdowns. And he was being the man on the cover of Sports Showstreet. He can't trade Moreno.

Nice hat, asshole.

This is the Dan Le Batard Show.

Dan, we've been talking about Patrick Mahomes and his average passing air yards and how they've been, what, five or so? Pretty damning stat here. Since week one of 2022, Josh Allen's average rushing TD is longer than Patrick Mahomes' average passing touchdown air yards, 5.7 to 5.38.

In our times, right? I was talking earlier this week about the idea that I don't recall, and one of you mentioned Cam Newton, but I don't recall a whole lot of quarterbacks in my history watching football who go into your secondary looking for contact the way that Josh Allen does. Josh Allen obviously has no precedent as a rushing quarterback. The number of rushing touchdowns that he has at the position and the way that you simply can't stop when he sneaks over the left side, it's the new tush push. It's not a stoppable thing.

He's older.

At about Lamar Jackson's age. He hasn't been in the league that long.

So you're older.

Josh Allen, 88 rushing touchdowns in the regular season.

And that's a huge part of why he's held in such esteem because if you look at Josh Allen's passing stats this year, his quarterback ranking, they're not super high. It's the equation of the run and the pass that makes him so great.

But it's not just the equation. When you mention of Lamar Jackson and style of play, whether it's RG3 or Lamar Jackson, do you guys understand the stupidity of this guy has 88 rushing touchdowns and hasn't missed a game since his rookie year?

That part's absurd.

I mean, it's a statistical anomaly that's just asinine when you talk about a guy who will go through your secondary looking for contact and also has 88 rushing touchdowns. Jordan Love gets hit plenty on pressures more than anybody in the league, but no one gets hit more than Josh Allen because no one's running as much in the position as Josh Allen is.

He's always compared to Cam Newton. And I know Cam Newton also had injuries off the field, right? He had that car accident, and he was never really quite the same after that. But he's a physical outlier the way that Derek Henry is. This just doesn't make sense.

He doesn't slide, right?

The hits got to I mean, nobody dishes out the punishment.

No, but he does some. He does, but rarely. He doesn't mind going and looking for contact because he's bigger than most of the corners and defensive backs that he's running around in your secondary on.

Now, his passing numbers would indicate that's starting to be a downward trajectory. How could it not, given his playing style? But the running numbers are up so high. His offensive output is as incredible as ever.

But the thing I'm talking about there that is the rarest of traits for a quarterback is the fact that once he is out in the open field, he's past your defensive linebackers, your defensive linemen, and your linebackers. So he's looking for contact because he knows that the corners and the safeties are not as big as he is. They're not as physical as he is.

There's a legitimate chance that in the next, let's say, three to four years, he's passing Walter Peyton for all-time rushing touchdowns at 110.

It's nuts. It's going to happen very soon. It's not a legitimate chance. The guy is averaging. Give me how many rushing touchdowns he's averaging a season. My guess is there have been very few running backs in the history of the league that have averaged as many rushing touchdowns as Josh Allen averages if he's already at 88. Isn't he already.

Almost 10 a year?

Does he already has he already passed OJ Simpson for the franchise lead in rushing touchdowns?

Yeah, yeah. I think he's their all-purpose touchdown leader. Even if you remove passing touchdowns, I think he's scoring more than anybody in the history of that franchise. They got to win now because none of this makes sense with the amount of punishment he's going to end up taking throughout his career. This is the year.

I don't think that they can win now because no defense that bad has ever won the Super Bowl. The only time I can remember it happening was when the Colts went from the last place defense because they got healthy at the end of the year, and they ended up beating Rex Grossman's Bears in the Super Bowl. I was having this conversation yesterday with Will Bond, actually, and he was thinking because he's really excited about the fact that the Bears are this good, this dynamic, this balanced. And I was saying because he's very excited, I'm like, "Michael, this is the best team you've had in 40 years."

They tried to get DJ Moore, who's been injured a bunch this year, so that hasn't exactly panned out. But they kind of recognize that. They probably have to do a little bit more when you underscore that DJ Moore hasn't really been available.

And Chicago did a great move, Ryan Polz, a master chess player, when you had the Jaguars in the other conference who go down a defensive tackle. You know, all right, they're not going to trade in division. Let me make a call and try to shore up another piece for our Super Bowl run. It's impressive.

Oh, but nobody was going to offer more than that for Jeffrey Simmons. That's a haul. Like, you simply don't see that traded for a defensive tackle. You don't see that traded for much of anything. You got this week, you got Bills at Vikings. You don't think the Vikings are going to the last two weeks, the Vikings have had an 87% blitz rate and an 89% blitz rate.

I want to see 100%.

They're not going to do that to Josh Allen. No way, right? No way that they try to blitz Josh Allen like that.

Forcing the throw?

I'm fascinated to see how that game plays out because it seems as though Detroit did a little something in that game that might have cracked the code, which is we're going to run right at you. You're going to have to try to stop this run through the A gap. And they had a lot of success there. And when you look at guys like James Cook and Josh Allen, that might be a formidable way to go up against Sabrine Flawer's defense.

We talked about it on Football America. They used exotic packages as far as getting your tight ends into the backfield and using them as lead blockers in something that Vikings really hadn't seen before to nullify their blitz.

It's also plain that Minnesota's offense just is not that good. And now Kyler Murray is banged up. I think that's a team ready to take a little bit of a fall.

I love an exotic package.

Yeah, what is an exotic? Can you tell me more about that exotic package?

You got the exotic package easy when you're playing 12 or 13 guys on the line. Yeah, but the problem is you got him in the backfield in a full house. Whoa. Side by side.

I think it's a Prince Albert.

There it is.

Are you guys surprised that the Bills are a three-and-a-half-point favorite at Minnesota?

No. Nope. No. That's the faith. That's Josh Allen again.

At a Joe Public situation?

He drives those point spreads, right?

It's a Kyler Murray situation.

I believe that a whole lot of people listening to this will refuse to believe that the Vikings can win the Super Bowl even after the parade in downtown Minneapolis.

Still going to be denying it.

They're still denying it, right. At the parade.

It's in front of them.

The parade will be going on in front of them, and people will not believe that that Vikings team with that offense is capable of anything. But it's funny to me that that happens because you do believe the Bills are capable of something, and they're just as bad at defense as the Vikings are at offense. Like, they're terrible. The Bills are really bad at defense. Second worst in the league, and I don't know how they improve it. Adam Schefter told us there would be a dozen trades before the trade deadline. You guys think they're going to stop at DJ Moore? Because I do believe if you have Josh Allen, you have to be aggressive about trading future pieces for right now this year.

I'm not going to argue that Buffalo's defense is good whatsoever. But they have had a tough schedule, and they've done pretty well despite having that bad defense in these matchups against teams that are built to kind of bother them a little bit. I mean, I think back to week one where Texans were coming off a year where they were top two in the league in defense. I think ultimately, as long as you have Josh Allen back there, you kind of have a game breaker. In a race shirt, if you wheel.

You are right, though, when you say that Detroit successfully neutralized all that Flores blitzing by simply running right at it. However, Detroit scored 20 points. Like, that's an offense that scores 30. The Bills will not win that game with only 20 points. I don't believe. I don't believe that they win at Minnesota with only 20 points. I believe the Bills need to score more than that because their defense is that bad.

I mean, it's going to be hard for the Vikings to get over 20, right?

So you're taking the over.

Got it. I'm just telling.

You're just saying not against that defense.

I'm just saying to you that while you're impressed by you're correct that James Cook running straight up the middle and running right at those blitzes with that offensive line is the way to do it. Like, that's what Detroit just showed you, but it's not like the Detroit offense looked like you're used to seeing the Detroit offense look because they have I believe that what Detroit has at the skill positions is a good deal better than I should say at the wide receiver position is a good deal better than what Buffalo has at the wide receiver position.

What is this show?

They're talking ball.

Yeah, great talking ball with you, coach. Great talking ball with you.

Last two days, ballsesh.

I'm telling you. I was studying film of the offensive and defensive line, the trenches with Landon Tangwal.

Tiano. Hey, pfpi.me crowd, pfji fans, welcome back to the Commissioner's Report for week eight as we approach week nine. What a week for Greg Zlobos. I got to say it. I try to be neutral here, but Greg Zlobos had a best record of the season week at 12 and 2. Remember a few weeks ago when the Lobos were alone in last place out of eight teams? We are now tied for fourth place.