Transcript of The Biggest NFL Game Played Yesterday Was...? | Local Hour New

I'm at a bit of a loss on how and whether to talk about the Miami Dolphins as, as I have been through the first 4 weeks of the season, because they're the only team in the sport that hasn't had a lead. And their season is over. They are a field goal team. And I saw that Tim Reynolds had the stat. The 3 most recent NFL teams to score 14 or fewer points in their first 4 games, uh, the 2026 Dolphins, the 2019 Dolphins, and the 2020 Dolphins. Dolphins to 2004 Dolphins. You can make the argument that nobody has had worse football this century than the Miami Dolphins. You really could assemble that argument. You might have a Cleveland Browns team here and there, but I don't know what to do, Zazz, honestly, with their inability to have any big plays because they don't have any big playmakers. So the one play that they have this season— I guess Ollie Gordon counts because he got a 50-yard run— but Chris Bell has one play and can't stay in bounds even though nobody touches him. and has a penalty because he ran out of bounds and then was the first player to touch the football.

I'm kind of disappointed with Malik Willis. I got to be honest with you. Like, I, I'm— I took an optimistic point of view going into the season. I'm, I'm fully willing to give him a chance. I think he could wind up being the guy. And through 4 games so far, it's very— it's only 4 games, but it's very difficult to say that he's played well. I thought he's been pretty poor the last couple of games.

That defense makes a lot of people look bad.

Yep, that's true.

But he had 85 yards. Passing yards. And yes, they, they get to the quarterback a lot, but dude was throwing off his back foot when it was completely unnecessary. Even though the pass was on the money, you have to be scared by that last throw targeting Chris Bell over the middle where he just does a fadeaway for no reason whatsoever. I think the only way to talk about this team is highlighting the bright spots. I think you got a linebacker for like the next dozen years. He is awesome. Jacob Rodriguez pops when you watch this game. He had 18 tackles.

I suppose, but somebody out there has to be doing something in an NFL game where you're paying a bunch of millionaires to play professional football.

True, that's the bottom line. But Dan, at that position, you will— I'm sure you watch some of the Broncos-Niners games and it just pops like Greenlaw and Warner. They're playing that position differently. It is tough in today's NFL to stick out at that position. Rodriguez is a frickin' dude.

The reason the 49ers are as good as they are on defense is they allow fewer explosive plays than a team that we've seen in a long time. But when you ask why Malik Willis is doing that, it's twofold. It's the Vikings have done that to every quarterback they've seen this year, and he knows he doesn't have enough help. Like, you'd be on your back foot too. Every quarterback would be on their back foot if that was the defense they were playing against all game. And you know that you don't have people who can separate from that defense at the wide receiver position. The Vikings are the least impressive 4-0 team you will ever see. They do nothing but kick field goals. Kyler Murray has had 23 drives this season and it's 1 touchdown in 8 field goal attempts. They're a better field goal team than the Dolphins, but they're also a field goal team.

They became the first team since 1934 to start 4-0 while failing to score an offensive touchdown in 2 of those games. They're just the 4th team ever.

Justin Jefferson's a Hall of Famer. He was out. Kyler Murray, I thought, was okay considering. And it seemed like both defenses were flying around pretty good.

Dolphins defense was good yesterday. Their kicker, by the way, for Minnesota, he's made like 32 kicks in a row.

Yeah, it's the longest streak in the sport.

He's awesome.

Uh, he's—

You should trade for him.

Uh, he's pretty good. And, uh, the reason that the Dolphins defense looks that good is because the Minnesota offense stinks. It's a bad— it's an objectively bad offense. And you say Kyler Murray looked okay. Kyler Murray shouldn't be a field goal quarterback. And they're a field goal football team, and I don't believe in them in any way. At this point, all we have from the Dolphins is moral victories on keeping it close. But they haven't had a lead all season. They've played a month of football without a lead.

I don't want to sit here and try to spin this. You're right. This is bad. This team is bad. But the positive is, is that this new regime, all the rookies in this group, like, point— like, name one. They seem to be like— it seems like these guys that we brought in have a decent eye for talent. That's all you can say right now.

I'm with you.

Don't tell me to name one. You name one.

The white safety, Proctor, looks good. Jacob Rodriguez. Both receivers, I think, are going to be pros like Caleb. I'm not saying they're going to be number ones, but Caleb Douglas and Chris Bell, I think, will be players.

I'm really bullish on them. In fact, when doing the eval on Willis, he doesn't have enough help. I'm not, I'm not sure the receivers have enough help.

And let me repeat, white safety. He looks good.

That's not the white guy in the sport that everyone is talking about. The white guy whose first name sounds like you're saying effin'. The, the Bills were beaten by Effin' Chisholm III. And you saw the sound. Let's get this sound, please, because it is rare that after a loss— let's go out to Gardner Johnson. So he can tell you how rare it is for the Patriots to feel like they saved their whole season on a 3rd-and-5 play because Effing Chisholm III makes a one-handed catch to reverse all of Drake Maye's fortunes.

They ain't do nothing crazy. It was what, 3 or something from 3rd down? Y'all seen this. Listen, we're not gonna get into no bulletin board material. An elevated guy made a hell of a catch. Probably won't hear from him again. Respectfully, and I say that with a lot of confidence because it's like, you need to put his confidence in his best player. If that's what he threw it, he'd have threw it to Dobbs or somebody, but they won the game, whatever. They ain't do shit better than us. We gotta play better. And they can mark that. We'll be back to see them again end of the year. So they better have that same energy. And they put up what, 20-something points? They barely scored. They struggled all game. So— And a practice squad player made a hell of a play. That's all I'm gonna tell you. You do it again, you probably won't make it again.

What's he talking about?

Not providing bulletin board material. They also play— they're division rivals, so they'll play again this season.

Uh, CJ Gardner-Johnson doing that while putting on multiple chains after losing to the Patriots. And the Patriots, we have to acknowledge, right, this century, no one's better at the tiny white receiver. than the Patriots. He is going to be loved so much in New England. He's going to be associated with this catch, says— this is something, even if he doesn't make another one, this is the kind of catch that you remember to go into Buffalo.

Oh, stop. People— I mean, if he never does anything again, this catch will be forgotten very quickly.

It's Week 4, man.

I still, I still remember certain things. You, you still know the name Greg Camarillo? What do you know it for? Why do you know the name Greg Camarillo? You think I'm kidding? That was 20 years ago, and he saved a 1-15 season.

Right, exactly. Not Week 4.

Really?

Remember that because it was the saving of the undefeated season. It's not because Greg Camarillo did it.

Defeated season.

Defeated season.

Oh, yeah, sorry.

You think that that's not a catch that people will remember when they're worried about Drake Maye and they go into Buffalo and they keep the division something close when they could have been 3 games down? It was a 3rd-and-5 play. And I remind you guys, that's the best Keon Coleman has looked in a Bills uniform. And that last throw Josh Allen made before he got beat by that throw was a laser beam, and they gave the ball back to Josh Allen with 2 minutes left, time to win the game, and he could not win the game late. What are you shrugging your shoulders for?

I forgot about it. It was only yesterday, to be honest with you.

Okay, but you don't care about the Patriots. That's, that's the reason that you're going to forget about it. But there are certain players and certain catches and certain things that are remembered just because they— what are you shaking your head about?

I just told you what I'm shaking my head about. It was yesterday. I don't even remember.

That was the biggest game That was the most interesting game.

You were on your Troy Aikman game this morning.

That was the—

man, I was really into Broncos-Niners.

You were?

I'm so impressed with what the Niners are doing. Chiefs-Raiders, Dan.

Hello?

Chiefs-Raiders was great. How about the Panthers and the Lions?

Cowboys-Raiders.

Yeah, the Texans are done. Kenneth Walker looks like Bo Jackson.

The Chargers.

Herschel Walker last time, McMillan.

170 yards a game. Is he the last game Dan's ever watched?

18-10, McMillan.

Chase Briscoe wins at Vegas.

That's a catch I remember.

Steve Martin was there.

We will remember that receiver forever.

Bills-Patriots. This was the best game played yesterday, was the most important game played yesterday, was the only game that had a quarterback that the entire country was wringing their hands about, saying they did not recognize Drake Maye. What are you shaking your head no about, Tony? What was the other quarterback being questioned in all of the other games that you guys are mentioning?

Jalen Hurts has been questioned a lot. They were up and they were— then they were down very quickly. The size of the Raiders.

I mean, Justin Herbert, everyone's questioning him.

He could be buns.

There's a lot of QBs that are being questioned now that I think about it.

Bo Nix, also buns.

Let's go back to this Eagles game for a second because I do want to talk about how it is that the Eagles lost that game. Keep in mind, this is hard to do what I'm about to say to you. The Eagles were up 10 with 8 minutes left in the game and had 3rd and goal at the 2 with the ball. And lost the football game because they were terrible on 3rd down. The reason this is happening is because they're missing 9 starters. Like, they're not actually the Eagles.

Is that also affecting Jalen Hurts' accuracy? Because he cannot be trusted in a passing situation anymore. What's happening there? This is not a new thing either. This stretches back where you're watching this guy and the game gets tight and you're like, he's not going to make the throw.

No, they were missing too many players, Mike.

To be fair, they have no receivers except for DB Cooper.

Guys, Eagles—

I'm talking about something since he won a Super Bowl MVP. He gets in an obvious passing situation. I, I understand that passing numbers go down when you're in an obvious passing situation, but he's had plenty of help over the years.

Let me stop you guys though.

He'll go entire halves without completing passes sometimes.

He's always terrible when Lane Johnson doesn't play. That's not a statistical anomaly.

Well, that's a good quarterback.

When Lane Johnson doesn't play.

Zero completions in the second half, that's good.

Jalen Hurts is terrible. And you just mentioned having Darius Cooper. Darius Cooper has 3 touchdowns this season and all of 4 catches. Like, that's not, that's not a real receiver. That's a guy who looks the part.

Touchdown catcher, Dan.

He's got 3 touchdowns.

I'd like a guy who's 75% of his catches.

You like that, Zazz?

Throw this guy the ball, he's gonna catch a touchdown.

I'm not gonna do this. I'm not gonna cherry-pick the most recent game against an LA Rams team that everyone has in the Super Bowl and say Man, that's really unfair to Jalen Hurts. The Eagles over the course of the last few seasons have had overwhelming skill help and an overwhelming offensive line for Jalen Hurts.

The reason the Patriots game is impressive is because they didn't have Hernandez or AJ Brown and they did it on the road. The Eagles are missing 9 starters.

Stephon Gonzalez.

Those are 6. Those are 6. Thank you. That's real bad.

You were thinking of Carlos Hernandez from Week 4.

I was trying to get that one wrong.

You said Hernandez.

You were thinking of Carlos Hernandez from Week 4.

I don't think that's the Hernandez.

No, he was locked in on Wake Forest.

I can't get Gonzalez and Hernandez mixed up.

Rank them, by the way.

That's not fair.

D-ends of mass destruction.

So you got 6 Pro Bowl appearances that you're missing, 9 starters that you're missing, and I'm sure that Eagles fans are gonna be totally normal about this.

Coach doesn't kick a field goal. Bad coaching again. Sirianni blew the game again for the, for the unsmallest times.

We could have been up 1 point, up 2 points.

Nick Sirianni.

Nick—

I'm sorry, Nick Sirianni gotta go.

Nick ain't it! Nick ain't it! Nick is cute. He's angry. He can scream, but he doesn't— he doesn't make the team come out of halftime and be the team. What's happening at halftime? Are we eating meatball subs?

Stugatz.

They are all hammered, all of those fans. Uh, the Patriots also bailed out Vrabel. He— Vrabel gets an unsportsmanlike conduct when he would have had the Bills in 4th and 16, and he gifted them a first down. When do you When do you ever see that, Zazz?

I'm so annoyed that the Patriots are not 1-3. They're supposed to be 1-3. There's no reason for them to win that game in Buffalo.

I'm on to you guys now. That's why you're downgrading the Patriots game, because it annoys you that the Patriots are back in the mix in the AFC East.

That's a big— that's a big game for Drake Maye. It was finally a bad defense he was playing. So maybe the narrative was right. It was— it was getting a little dicey over there.

Did you enjoy, though, C.J. Gardner-Johnson? I want to play that sound again for people so that you can hear.

This Flyers fan.

That Flyers fan put on— I want to see the stat line from that tailgate.

Obviously, the drunk audio of this is good, but the visual audience, pay attention. On the first clip, there's a guy with his arms folded.

Big-time hype man.

Agreeing with everything the drunk guy's saying. And then there's a hype— the Flyers fans, a hype man for this guy. I love the hype guys behind.

All right, so fine. Play the Eagles fans again, but cue up the C.J. Gardner-Johnson so I could turn back around and grab that as well.

Coach doesn't kick a field goal. Bad coaching again. Sirianni blew the game again for the, for the unsmallest times.

We could have been up 1 point, up 2 points.

Nick Sirianni. Nick, I'm sorry, Nick Sirianni gotta go.

Nick ain't it. Nick ain't it. Nick is cute. He's angry. He can scream, but he doesn't, he doesn't make the team come out of halftime and be the team. What's happening at halftime? Are we eating meatball subs?

Yes, maybe they are.

That guy is so hammered.

Dan Le Batard.

Put a finger in there, but if you tell anyone, I'll deny it.

Mike Ryan.

Don't just stare at it, eat it. This is the Dan Le Batard Show. Says, you rarely see this said about NFL players from other NFL players. This is a spectacular amount of disrespect for a guy, Efton Chisholm III, who had a 3rd and 5 catch that saved Rabel, saved the Patriots, saved Drake Maye.

They ain't do nothing crazy. It was what, 3 or something from 3rd down? Y'all seen this stuff. Listen, we're not gonna get into no bulletin board material. An elevated guy made a hell of a catch. Probably won't hear from him again, respectfully. And I say that with a lot of confidence because it's like He didn't put his confidence in his best player. If that's what he threw it to, he would have threw it to Dobbs or somebody. But they won the game, whatever. They ain't do shit better than us. We got to play better. And they can mark that. We'll be back to see them again at the end of the year. So they better have that same energy. And they put up what, 20-something points? They barely scored. They struggled all game. So a practice squad player made a hell of a play. That's all I'm gonna tell you. You do it again, you probably won't make it again.

Okay, simple. This is funny for a couple of reasons, right? I don't want to give them bulletin board material is one, but he also says we won't hear from him again. Respectfully. Respectfully.

It's a good point though.

Respectfully.

You can't get mad if you say respectfully.

The, uh, you're mad at the Patriots?

Yeah, because yeah, I am mad at the Patriots. Patriots should be 1-3 and we should talk about how the Patriots season's over. This is what it boils down to now, Dan. This year the Dolphins ain't They're not gonna be shit this year. So it boils down to me being a hater, and I want the Patriots to lose all their games. And now they're back in it because they're 2-2, and they have a home game later in the year against Buffalo, and they already have the one-game advantage. So it's a huge win.

There are 2 things from football yesterday that I found most interesting that aren't the micro of either or any of the games, okay? One is the sheer number of injuries now we have a month into the season, where Washington's on their 3rd-string quarterback and Jason Kelce is doing the announcing announcing on the game and he's just calling him young man again and again because he doesn't even want to try his, his last name once Mariota goes down. But it's, uh, Saquon Barkley's out, it's Lamar Jackson is out. Uh, that Jacksonville defense, incidentally, is not merely good, it's unbelievably violent. Made Deshaun Watson look incompetent, made Drake Maye look incompetent, and yesterday hurts both— hurts Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins because they will injure you. It's an unbelievably violent defense.

It's a dirty defense. Play on Chase, really dirty play.

Well, it wasn't the face mask that got him concussed, it was the hit after the face mask that got him concussed, because the face mask was called and it was after that. But that, that defense is menacing. I'm wondering whether you guys think— the 2 macro things I was thinking of is in the first quarter of all the 1 o'clock games, first quarter, teams were 9 of 10 going for it on 4th down. That just represents such a seismic shift in how everyone's playing football now. For first quarter, you used to go entire months without somebody going for it on 4th down in the first quarter in that sport. And the other thing is injuries, like, what— do I have this wrong? Because I was thinking about this yesterday. I didn't actually look it up. I was just considering whether or not— Did it not seem like Roethlisberger, if he wasn't suspended, was playing all of the games? That your quarterbacks, if they weren't playing all of the games, they weren't We're going to the 3rd-string quarterback on multiple teams in the first month of the season. They changed all the rules once Tom Brady got hurt because they didn't want that happening anymore.

But do I have it wrong when I say it used to be that you could keep your quarterback healthy for a month?

Yeah, I think defense— I've thought this for a while now— where the defensive players, bigger, stronger, faster, they keep getting better and better and They're always going to be more athletic than the offensive linemen, I feel like. I think it's— it seems like it's too difficult for offensive linemen to keep up with the physical ability of the defensive players.

Well, one of the things that I was amazed by yesterday in all of the football yesterday, when you look at CeeDee Lamb's performance, it's not just that the Texans have a totally overwhelming defensive line. They've got 3 Pro Bowlers in their secondary. How does CeeDee Lamb go for 17 catches without an adjustment when they've got 3 Pro Bowlers in their secondary and that pass rush? How does that even happen? I had a number of different questions.

You remember that scary hit Ben Roethlisberger took where he was stretchered off the field, immobilized? Everyone wondered if we'd ever see him again. Ben Roethlisberger played 16 games that season.

Do you think my eyes are lying to me on that when I wonder if quarterbacks used to be more durable? Because I'm with Zazz's theory on this.

They're hitting harder. They're hitting harder. As someone that has watched a lot of football in person, and my hot take is that the pads need to go back to the '90s bulky style. I mean, we are just projectile missiles right now launching ourselves into dudes, and you can have target zones and you can do whatever, that you want to make the game safer. Right now, there is an edict in the NFL. We are going to be as violent as humanly possible. And all that stuff trickles down to college. I haven't seen defenses be this violent outside of the marquee ones that we know over time in quite some time. It looks so painful.

I'm glad you said a couple of things there. One, that you're going to games in person, and two, that you use the verb look, because we have caught you at the Clemson game in Death Valley. We have caught Mike Ryan is in the stands and he is holding 2 eyes up, or 2 fingers up to his 2 eyes.

Oh, it's so good.

And who is he taunting there? What is happening? He's clearly next to Jeremy Tashay, who weirdly, even though he's a UCF fan, is signaling a touchdown for the University of Miami.

That's Kevin Clark.

Oh, what a compliment.

And you are— who are you taunting there with your—

There's D-Money!

Pointing at both of your eyes with your 2 fingers.

This was the first play of the game. And so there was a guy pregame that was— that's the University of Miami section that we were in. And there was a Clemson guy that was, you know, trying to agitate our group. And I kept trying to tell him to look my way and he wouldn't, but he was talking a bunch of nonsense. So I'm like, all right, stay right there. I was like, stay right there because I'm coming back to you. And first play of the game, I was demanding that he look. He didn't look at me.

You could tell by Mike's fingers there that it's either one of two things. It's either look at me or I'm looking at you? I'm watching you.

It was both.

Okay.

Yeah.

'Cause you go like this, like that.

Yeah.

That means, that means look at me.

I was doing look at me because I'm looking at you.

You know about that move right there? Like that?

Yeah.

You know about that? You know about that?

I was screaming at him, look at me. He definitely heard me, but he didn't look at me.

I'm jealous of that photo. Like, if I was Mike, I'd be framing that photo. I would blow it up. It would be, it would be above, above my bed in the master bedroom.

Do you guys go touchdown signal like Kevin Clark is here?

Kevin Clark had his hands up like that the second the pass came out.

Okay, then that makes it a little better. I can't remember if I've ever done that before. I've actually thrown my hands up.

Well, he's in the front row, so maybe he's letting everybody behind him know, hey, this is a touchdown.

You could see it was a great play call because you could see the blocks immediately developing. And so Kevin Clark threw his hands up like before the ball landed in Barkay's hands.

So I want to talk, uh, a couple of things because it is a great picture. Barkay, you could see him holding up a hand to his ear. So basically the University of Miami is demanding that you use all of the senses. Your ears, your eyes. Watch what we're doing to Clemson is what they're telling you. Because a few years ago, Clemson was in a different position, and offensively, Miami had like its worst game in 40 years, and it was Mario Cristobal's first team. And when they got that pick-six, Mike, I thought it was unusual for Mario Cristobal to be that happy. He doesn't do a lot of happy on the sidelines, and that game was long over, and it had to be because he was happy to be dragging Clemson. He was happy to be running up the score on Clemson, but can't be accused of running up the score because it's a defensive touchdown.

That was such a great performance. I think a lot of what you saw there was, man, we are so injured. It's crazy. We've had really bad injury luck this season and we're headed into the bye. And that's exactly how you want to finish off that opponent with— I saw guys leaving the field with tears in their eyes. I'm like, we just lost this guy for the season and they'd be back the next drive. Yeah, we have a tough-ass team. that is built in that mold. And I think Mario Cristobal, when that interception went back, was like, yeah, that's how you perform in the wake of all these injuries. You have every excuse to not crush this team, and we choked them out and dominated at the end.

Yeah, it also— it felt— the whole game felt like a slow death, you know? It's not like they went ahead 27-nothing in the second quarter. Just, it was methodically a slow death and you're gonna eat every second of this. And what an incredible showing from the Canes fans, right? There were so many Canes in there, there was so— you guys stormed the field after the game!

They apparently let you on the field there and I was like, they let opposing fans on the field?

I was stunned!

This is a dumb decision. And apparently it's a tradition. And so we're like, we can, we can just walk down? They're like, yeah. I'm like, we can talk and do selfie videos on your midfield logo?

That's crazy.

Yeah, go, go ahead. I have a piece of grass in my pocket still.

I couldn't believe it.

How, how many players are better in the country than Malachi Tony and how many touchdowns has he had nullified by penalty?

3 TDs. 3 TDs nullified. I will say one of the best players I've seen in person is Hampton, the corner that was on him. He was as good as advertised and that's about as affected by an opposing defender as you'll ever see Malachi Tony. That being said, a dime of a pass and a huge explosive gets taken off the board. BS illegal shift. No, Lofton wasn't sad. It was the right call, but it didn't have anything to do with the end result, but it's a procedural thing that you got to have buttoned up. By the way, Lofton's having a really good year. Guys are freaking blocking the receivers, the tight ends, even Jordan Lyle, who I say is one of the best running backs I've ever seen at Greentree. He's basically just a lead blocker right now. These guys are bought in and I know we lost some top-end talent specifically in the edge rush. Think about Akeem Mesidor. Akeem Mesidor came in. I don't know about his conditioning. I don't know what this guy's deal is. Reuben Bain, not a 5-star, tweener body. What do we do with him? He's often injured. Miami makes people into these.

Wilson's great.

Yeah, they know how to project. Wilson had his best game of the season and he's got a flair for the dramatic. Lightfoot would have had 6 sacks in that game had he not come out injured. I know that people are pointing to the passing yards and saying Clemson did well. Miami dominated that game defensively. It was just a great, proper ass-kicking.

So you have 3 touchdowns, though, as Jeremiah Smith announces that he's the best player in the country. Says it in his own words. Basically, Sain throws to him even in triple coverage and he mosses people. So you've had 3 Malachi Tony touchdowns called back.

Malachi.

And I believe if he wants to close the gap on whatever is the Heisman race, I think you're going to need some punt returns from him. I think you're going to need some passes—

He's not our Heisman guy, it's Mensah.

Some, some passes thrown by him if you want to get into the race with an Ohio State receiver who is just announcing, I'm the best player in the country. He's saying it in his own words. I also urge you to check out the second installment of Pablo Torre Finds Out. The Tebow episode that was first was very good. The second one was even better.

Whoa.

It ensnares Ohio State in some of this stuff. And Urban Meyer as a snake oil salesman reinventing himself again and again, this time with the Bible, because Urban Meyer is as greasy and awful as anybody that you've ever had as a laughingstock in coaching. And And he's at the center of some of that LifeSurge stuff that sells nonsense to people so that they can, you know, allegedly bilk the most vulnerable among us using their faith against them so that Urban Meyer can put a few dollars in his pocket.

Dan Levitar!

The Packers win or the Bears lose?

Jonathan Sasslow!

Shit, do you want to know how that— what were the kids doing?

This is the Dan Levitar Show! Can we get that video of Urban Meyer just on his boat doing a TV interview as somebody in the mirrors in the background— uh, what is this? Is it a bong? What's in the background? Who—

or is it just—

He's shirtless.

The guy is shirtless. The guy's shirtless and doing a little bit of a dance. You missed that?

I missed it. I'm very excited to look this up.

Urban Meyer?

You, you didn't miss this, Chris. It's like 10 years ago.

It's old. Oh my bad, I thought it was something new. I was like, what?

It was not 10 years ago.

It wasn't that long ago, but Urban Meyer, just that, that entire career is kind of amazing to look at. It's— in terms of complicated legacy, you win championships at Florida, but you have a murderer in your huddle. And something that's interesting about the Tebow and Urban Meyer relationship is all of us in some ways watch football thinking of some of the high school sort of feelings of sis-boom-bah, the coach is like my dad, and the quarterback is a lovable, good guy who everybody can get behind. We all watch football in some ways tying it back to whatever some of the high school clichés are, and the Urban Meyer relationship with Tebow, which is a real relationship— Tebow does some good covering for Urban Meyer. Urban Meyer gets away with some shit in his past because he merely has that guy's halo over his huddle.

In the episode that Pablo does, that second episode, there's a clip of Tebow talking on ESPN about Urban Meyer after the video emerged of him grinding up against that woman, or the woman grinding up against him at his own bar. And like, you can feel like Tebow's like ready to cry, and he's doing the apology on behalf of Urban Meyer. Here's what I told him to do. And it almost makes you feel like, oh, Urban Meyer must be apologetic. Nope, it's just Tim Tebow covering up for him.

I urge you to listen to the episode because I did not realize— this is the most surprising thing about it to I thought that Tebow was a destination. It's just the first thread on follow the money here. This thing is deep and it's ugly, and some people need to start answering some questions because there are plenty around the alleged preying on vulnerable people.

So Tebow's just the hook?

I thought Tebow would be a destination, but it's just the starting point. It's another one of these examples where Pablo's reporting is so airtight That he, uh, that he dribs and drabs it and waits for people to make the mistakes, uh, because Tebow doesn't exactly have plausible deniability here on some stuff, uh, because he's just sort of boxed in by some facts that are, that are pretty incriminating.

Do you think Nick Wright still believes he could do what Pablo's doing?

Yes. As, uh, fun as, uh, that Clemson game was, I, I really needed that because, uh, I was a crestfallen man before I walked into Death Valley.

Yeah. Why is that?

Because Sasha Barkov went down in a heap.

Oh yeah.

Because he walked off under his own power. But we went like 48 hours with mystery. And by the way, there, there is still a great deal of mystery. We know he's going to be out for a while.

At least a month, it seems.

But it feels like we avoided the worst-case scenario. But they, they still haven't come out and told us exactly what it is, which means they're mulling options, probably surgery. Surgery being one of them.

Right. So he's going to meet with the team doctors today. I guess they had to wait a couple of days to fly him home, probably swollen or whatever. So he's meeting with the team doctors today as the team is still out on the West Coast. But it feels like if they put him on long-term IR, but they still have to meet with more doctors, their doctors, it feels like they're mulling over, okay, we could rehab and miss sometime, or we could have surgery and miss all the time. It kind of feels like that's what we're—

I assumed, and you guys tell me whether you think I have this wrong, I assumed from his reaction, knowing his body, him throwing stuff down as he left, I assumed that he knew that it was really bad.

Yep, of course he did. Yeah, that's what that was. And also a bunch of frustration because he missed last season, and also So, San Jose Sharks, and I know this may sound really funny coming from a Florida Panthers fan, what is reputed to be the dirtiest team in the league, but when Florida is doing that, it's largely in the postseason, right? I know you're amped up, it's your young captain's first game, you want to come out, you want to make an impression, you're making low runs at a guy, and, and he didn't get injured on a low run, but if you watch that entire game, Mm-hmm. those guys were running low, Dirty hits, and look, it's an exciting new chapter for the San Jose Sharks. Celebrating a young captain, I get all of that, but frickin relax.

How crestfallen were you that Barkov left the ice?

Really upset. Really upset. You know, they— if he's gonna miss 2 months, let's say, they'll still be good. You know, they'll be okay.

Better position this year.

Yeah, because they added Brady, you know.

They added Brady.

He's not Barkov, but like, you did add a star. star player to the team, but if they miss him for the whole season, they will not win the Stanley Cup. They will not be a Stanley Cup contender. He is a large part of what makes this team special. And so for that to happen in just the second game of the season— and by the way, I know the Panthers have gotten points in all these road games. They've lost 2 out of 3, all right, so far to start the season. So I'm in a sour mood over that as well.

Also undefeated.

But no, stop saying that. They're not undefeated.

Zero losses.

In regulation. There you go.

No, that's not— no, there we go. Yes, there we go.

A point every game.

Okay, that's accurate.

That's accurate, yes.

Let's not say the other thing that you said.

They haven't lost.

They did though, in overtime.

They lost most of their games, Chris.

In fact, the last 2 times they've taken the ice, they've lost.

I disagree.

So technically they're on a losing streak. Why do you disagree? Like, even in the— if you look at the box, it says OTL, overtime losses.

But that first zero though.

The L stands for This guy thought that the field goal was bad.

Tony, you should have heard him before that. It was embarrassing, Dan.

He was like pausing it.

He was pausing it and then he was like, look! And it was clearly out in the thing he paused.

Out.

The positive though, Dan, is Brad Marchand came back last night. We thought we were gonna be without Marchand for the entire month of October, and a surprise, the Rat King, he made his season debut last night, tied the game, got the Panthers a point. He did. Got the Panthers a point, scored with the extra skater with 90 seconds remaining, so the Panthers escape with 1 point. But Marchand has returned. That's a big positive.

That's my guy.

I love that guy. You've always been behind him.

You embarrass me. You embarrass me, but not as much as Urban Meyer's friend embarrassed him during an ESPN interview.

Let's watch this for the first time.

On the Big Ten Network where Urban Meyer is giving the interview and for some reason there's a shirtless guy in his mirror She seems to be about the right thing.

So, you know, it's not your time as a coach or player to really give an opinion about something as serious as pandemic and medical causation. I'm hearing those words, litigation and, you know, future issues. So you just got to trust that the people care and love you and go about your business and train as hard as you can. If there's a season, there is. If not and you're a senior and get ready for the NFL, you got to do that too. So So, you know, we live under the world of E+ R= O, and that means you can't control the events in your life. You can control how you respond. Respond positively and move forward.

Yeah. So what would be, as a coach, give us a sense of kind of what that next step is. I know you talk a ton about the response. You talk a ton about the psychology.