Cowboys offense stomps injury-plagued Eagles 38-21

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2:34Robert Mays: Welcome to The Athletic Football Show, brought to you by the U.S. Bank Smartly Visa Signature Card. I'm Robert Mays. Week 7, Monday Night Football in the books. The Dallas Cowboys offense finally shows up. Huge performance from the run game. They threw the ball down the field. It was actually really nice to see. We dug into all of it with me, Dave Hellman, and Derek Klassen. Let's get to it right now.

3:03Robert Mays: Is it wrong that seeing that version of the Dallas Cowboys offense mostly just makes me mad?

3:09Dave Helman: Because you haven't seen enough of it over the last six weeks? Is that it?

3:13Robert Mays: Yes.

3:13Dave Helman: I think that's fair.

3:15Robert Mays: It's one of my first reactions to that game. him is just like, why didn't you look like this all the time? And so it is nice to see them actually put together a performance like that, considering some of the lingering and mounting frustration that we had discussed on the preview show.

3:31Derrik Klassen: I suppose that's fair. Is it, am I being a hater if I'm just frustrated by so many of the little things in that game? And really, of course, of course we can talk about the Dallas defense, but Brian Schottenheimer pissed me off like four different times in this game. Like the third and eight give up run possessions and points are overrated. The third and eight give up run before half that actually didn't bite them at all. But then the timeout mismanagement at the end of the half, and then let's give the ball to Hunter Lipke on third down late in the game up seven points and just kick a field goal and assume that it's going to be okay and of course it was because this philly team was completely outgunned but i don't know man brian schottenheimer said this week that he's an elite play caller in this league and yeah like they won comfortably they put up a bunch of yards they ran the ball like like a son of a but my god this whole this whole thing was just really frustrating and i think that's probably that's probably like some leftover from just everything that's happened this year with the Cowboys.

4:42Derrik Klassen: But I just I found myself really frustrated with the Cowboys during a 17 point win tonight. That's just where I was.

4:50Robert Mays: Those few moments were tough. I mean, the tight end, the timeout moment was tough. The give up run. I completely understand handing the ball off and just not choosing to try to score a touchdown in that final drive. It's like, ah, 10 points will be enough. It's like, I don't know, man, your, your, your defense has not been nearly good enough. And with the way your offense is playing and the way your defense is playing, I would like to try to score a touchdown there.

5:14Derrik Klassen: It reminded me very much of Jason Garrett's time as the Cowboys head coach. And again, like I'm in, I'm not jump scare. I am not an impartial observer. I have a lot of lived experience with this team. I was going to say there's, there's so much below the surface as you're, as you're talking about this stuff, but like, I appreciate it so much. It reminded me of Jason Garrett in the sense that Brian Schottenheimer seems to make decisions about like what the logical thing would be for just a run, like for any football team. Like if you just had the median football team, you're like, yeah, well, let's just call this run and we'll do this and it'll be okay.

5:51Derrik Klassen: We'll make, we'll punt and get the ball back. You got to make decisions for the team that you have. And the team that you have has the worst defense in the NFL and looked like the worst defense in the NFL for most of the night. And you should call plays and make decisions according with that. Like you should, you should get goofy with it. Honestly, for what the Dallas defense has given you to this point in the season, you should be thinking outside the box and going off script and not playing it by the book. And week after week, Brian Schottenheimer's like, well, this is what a team with the 14th best defense would do, but you don't have that.

6:28Derrik Klassen: And so it's just, uh, it's kind of mystifying. Obviously Philly, Philly did not have the horses to make them pay for any of that tonight, but they did their damnedest. I mean, after that field goal, Tanner McKee was driving them downfield before DeMarvian Overshown made a great play. The nine minute drive at the beginning of the second half. I mean, you had to be feeling a little uneasy on that Dallas sideline as they just converted third down after third down after third down and so again they got a comfortable win on the road against the division rival good for them but it left me wanting man I think for

7:05Dave Helman: me I'm like I don't care about anything that happened other than the fact that I finally saw this team run the ball for 200 yards like that that specifically is all I wanted from this team because we've seen flashes of Tyler Guyton has looked really nice this year Tyler Smith obviously in and out of the lineup, but when he's healthy, we know that he's one of the best in the game. Obviously, I think center over is a little bit more up and down, but I think can still have some good levels of play. There were times in this game where specifically that left side, though, was just absolutely moving people out of the way.

7:35Dave Helman: The huge Javante run at the end there, Tyler Guyton takes Arnold Ebiketti and moves him four gaps inside and just says, get out of the way and they were just doing stuff like that all night and so I think this was like nice to see from this year given that you know Smith has missed time all that but you saw flashes of this last year where it was like man when those guys are on the field together they kick ass and to see them and we can talk about the Philly side of this because I think that their front and defense is having issues all over but for them to finally assert your will with 200 yards 200 yards is hard even against not so great run defenses.

8:14Dave Helman: For them to do that, I was like, you know what? We can quibble with all the other coaching stuff. We'll get there. But that is what the team is supposed to be.

8:22Robert Mays: That was why I started the show the way that I did because the fact that that's what the team is supposed to be and they ran the ball 38 times in this game. 38 times.

8:31Dave Helman: And they came in with the highest pass rate in the NFL.

8:34Robert Mays: Yes, they ran the ball 28 times combined in the past two games. Even if you can't run the ball like that, you owe it to yourself to at least try to run the football. Like we talked about it on the preview show. This team came into the game into week seven with the lowest run action rate in the NFL. So a combination of runs and play action. Why? Like you have all these resources tied up in the offensive line. Javante Williams is a solid back. Zach, your offense looked so much better last year when you were just doing a requisite amount of that stuff and all the things that can come off it. And so it was just kind of a stupefying approach over the last two weeks that I never really understood.

9:19Robert Mays: And the defense will get to and we can talk about that. Even if I personally had some optimism about it coming in, I understand how you arrive here for the offense to look the way that it did over the last couple of weeks. Like this was not the, this was not what I was promised about the Dallas Cowboys heading into this season. And so to see them play like this, where we're getting under center, we're running the ball. We're going to push the ball down the field with one of the most dynamic receiving cores in the NFL. We talked about that on Thursday. They had more, they were averaging, averaging fewer area hearts per target or fewer throws to the sticks over the last two weeks that any team except the Steelers and the Broncos.

9:59Robert Mays: that can't happen like you have these two guys out there and so to see them hit some double moves because they're trying to clamp down on some of that stuff it just overall was such a comforting performance to see that they still have this to them considering how the past couple weeks went

10:16Derrik Klassen: and I will I will give them the credit too of saying for the most part this Philly defense is intact. Like they're not missing the horses that the, that the Philly offense is missing. And typically like the football cliche is, Oh, well, what are you supposed to do in the second half when your offense isn't moving the ball and the backup quarterback isn't giving you a shot? Philly's offense moved the ball and gave them breaks during the course of this game. Like it had a very normal game flow where the defense should have been in a situation to be more successful than it was. And so, I mean, Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter were out there.

10:55Derrik Klassen: I know Mauro Jomo got dinged up late, but he was out there as well. Zach Bond was out there. Like they bludgeoned the full strength Philly defense or close to it that we thought had a chance to be the best in the NFL this year. And even if I don't have a drastically different opinion of the Cowboys after this game, then I did going in that does count for something with me. Like this, this was supposed to be a pretty good defense and they beat the hell out of them. And I think it's worth having a similar conversation about the Eagles defense as we've had about the Cowboys. That sounds a little bit weird, but just in terms of the expectations, like again, this was short list best in the league.

11:35Derrik Klassen: They were below average coming into the game and they got blown off the field. They said at the end of the broadcast that Philly didn't register a TFL in this game. That's insane. And so, I mean, that's got to be going to be some uncomfortable conversations on that side of the ball in Philadelphia because they don't have nearly the same level of excuses as the offense does.

11:58Robert Mays: What do you make of that, Derek? Like, what do you make of what the Philly defense currently looks like, considering that most of the guys who were supposed to make up a unit that I think everybody was excited to see in year three, year three in the system, year three of this personnel. I mean, I remember being there in training camp and for as much conversation as was happening about the offense and Sean Mannion and what that would look like. I think with the defense, it was like this is the year where we can really take it to a whole nother level. And so to see them just look so mortal this year, what do you make of why it's potentially looked like this?

12:31Dave Helman: I think it's a couple of things. I think one, the pass rush is just it's bad. Like it's it's it's a lot of like standard four man rush and like some simulated pressures. That's obviously what Vic Fangio does, but they had, and I checked this at the very end of the game, there's a chance it like slightly changed, but at around 3.2%, they have the lowest sack rate in the NFL. They have the sixth lowest pressure rate at about 30%, according to True Media, and they have the sixth lowest blitz rate at about 22%, according to True Media. So they're not even really trying to generate pressure, and then when they just do their four-man stuff, they're not really getting it either.

13:02Dave Helman: and I think you really feel that from the edges obviously the d tackles need to play better than they did in this game but the edge play I think all year has just been pretty brutal for them both run and pass and then the other thing that I would add on top of that I think we knew that that might be a problem for them this year right like this was they were betting on a lot of just like guys who were probably good number twos and threes and maybe they can play a little bit leveled up if we're just giving them like air and you know kind of having a rotation the thing that has been more shocking to me is that Cooper Dejean does not look like a very good NFL player anymore.

13:34Dave Helman: There was moments last year, the last couple of years where he was the third or fourth best nickel in the league. I just don't think that he is anywhere close to that level right now, especially when they do some of their match and man coverage stuff. I think he's really struggling. I would also say too, I think part of my optimism going into this season was baked in that like Jihad Campbell will take a step. I think he's gotten worse. Like he's not even as good as he was a season ago when he was obviously on and off the field with nicobe dean and so i would say two spine players getting worse and then absolutely zero pass rushes kind of how you arrive at this space when you're a team that does play a lot of soft zones so if you're not getting home and guys are getting beat like you're just gonna have all these terrible plays

14:14Robert Mays: arnold abichetti got had 46 snaps on in this game combined jay links hunt and jonathan granard had 50 uh some doing the math right 51 that's just not what we thought this group that group would look like heading into the season no no no one smith and so i think that the lack of physicality on the edges against the run combined with the lack of pass rush it starts to build on itself and so that that part of it makes sense to me but man just i mean to for this group to again be mostly intact and for dallas to be able to do this to them i think there's part of it and i all that is, I think those are correct, like practical reasons.

14:57Robert Mays: I'm sure there's also a little bit of this team at a certain point that the light's going to go out, you know, like when you're dealing with the backup quarterback and how injured you are on offense, I think even if most of the players are there on defense, it's hard to maintain a certain level of buy-in throughout the season. When you know that you're going into these games without much of a real shot.

15:17Derrik Klassen: I think there's validity to that, but we're like two weeks into this whole thing. Like, can, can you give me a couple weeks of like valiant dying on your shield effort before we get to that point?

15:32Robert Mays: I mean, they did it against Jacksonville and then having two more games after that. That's tough, man. I mean, that that's, that's a tough thing. I just, at a certain point, I do think that the time, the hourglass on the backup quarterback turns over and there's not a lot of sand in that thing.

15:48Derrik Klassen: Jalen played against Jacksonville. He, I mean, maybe he shouldn't have, but Jalen hurts played in that game. Like we were two games into the Tanner McKee thing. And I, I do get it. Like, I know it's hard to win in this league without your starting quarterback, but a lot of highly paid, really talented football players on that side of the ball. And of course I expected them to lose this game, but I don't know. That was, that was not the level of performance I've associated with the Vic Fangio Eagles defenses. And I, there had to have been, it had to have been possible to acquit yourself better than, than what we saw here, or at least I would hope so considering that for the most part, there is healthy as you could hope to be in week seven of a season.

16:36All right,

16:36Robert Mays: before we move on, let's take our first quick break. The NBA season is here. When you turn on the games, turn on the athletic live on YouTube, Become part of the show in the interactive chat along with host Zach Harper, Kofi Oboa, and the Athletic Slam Dunk NBA staff. The Athletic Live is presented by Google Gemini. Check it out now and subscribe on YouTube. Football season has arrived, and with the U.S. Bank Smartly Visa Signature Card, you earn an unlimited 2 % cash back on every purchase, including at the stadium or at home watching on a brand new TV. Score big with unlimited 2 % cash back on every purchase.

17:08Robert Mays: Visit usbank.com slash smartlycard to learn more. The creditor and issuer of this card is U.S. Bank National Association, pursuant to a license from Visa USA, Inc. Some restrictions may apply.

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18:58Dave Helman: He's the reason I love linebackers the way I do. Some of those Panthers teams just held a really special part in my heart, even as someone who is not a Panthers fan. so to see him obviously commemorated in the Hall of Fame was really special and I thought why don't for some of the NFL players that I've truly loved who have been special players to me over the years whether that was when I was a kid growing up and doing this for a living whatever it's been why not kind of commemorate those guys myself and get some of my favorite players who have been in the Hall of Fame who have obviously earned that sort of honor maybe let's go pick up some cards and see if I can kind of create my own Hall of Fame with guys like that.

19:35Dave Helman: So thanks to Whatnot, I was able to go find some Luke Kuechly cards, some really good ones. And obviously he's been, again, like I said, a player that I've held in high esteem for a long time. So whether it's rookie cards, whether it's cards later in his career when he's got a million accolades and defensive player of the years and all pros racked up, it didn't really matter to me. I was able to find all of the stuff I wanted in that realm. The best thing about doing this on Whatnot is that I can see it before I buy it. This is not just clicking a listing and hoping that it's going to be there.

20:05Dave Helman: No, these sellers are showing me that they've got this card. And on top of that, these guys know their stuff. These are people who value these cards. They value the collectibles. They value what they are trying to give to the customer and they know whether or not this is something that is really worth its value. And so being able to have the comfort of both of those two things as I'm going in to try to start this new venture, I think has been really, really nice for me and now you can start buying on whatnot you can get$20 off your first purchase right now just search whatnot w-h-a-t-n-o-t in the app store download sign up and start shopping today terms apply let's talk about the other side of the ball i i'm with you in that the defense just the dallas

20:53Robert Mays: defense just it needs to be better than this like there like there's really just no way around it Like it needs to be better than this. And now I get how they're just spinning the wheel to try to find answers. But now we're in a spot where Overshown comes back. And I understand the appeal of playing him. You saw it in this game. He had multiple splash plays in this game. He's an explosive player. He has the PBU on a blitz. He ends up getting the interception. But he also looks lost in coverage like three different times. They couldn't defend a crossing route for a good majority of the game as they were trying to pass stuff off.

21:28Robert Mays: and by marginalizing Barham the way that they did in this game, he was your best run defender. He had been your best run defender consistently, and so now you're sacrificing whatever potentially explosive plays you get with more overshown by making your run defense consciously worse, and so they're just playing whack-a-mole. When one problem pops up, they hit it, and then another one pops up, and that's just what it's felt like the entire season, and it's getting a little bit exhausting.

21:55Dave Helman: I don't know what the answer is supposed to be either because again like I get that you hope that two or three really cool overshown plays is going to flip you some games and like it obviously helps them in this one but like you're not going to play a Tanner McKee every week where he can just do some stuff like that and so I like it's when you start to play more serious defenses you're probably going to get run on a little bit more and like maybe now that they have some of the like the linebacker room that they want they can do a little bit more of maybe moving around Barham and doing some interesting stuff again but I don't know, man.

22:25Dave Helman: I think the front continues to look, outside of Quinton Williams, like still pretty up and down. And then also too, in this game, like Caleb Downs was like getting banged up a handful of different times. And if like, if that's going to start to be an issue for them, obviously that's going to be huge. I guess at least you saw a couple of nice moments from like Joey Porter Jr. especially early in the game. But like, other than that, this still very much feels like what we've seen a lot of from the Dallas defense.

22:49Derrik Klassen: I don't even know how much I believe this, but you get a couple of splash plays from Porter in this game. You get an injection of speed and overshone. Even if I think his overall aptitude gets overstated a little bit, at least like in Cowboys circles, in my opinion. Um, and then if, if Jalen Thompson and Kobe Durant and PJ lock can get back and shore that thing up a little bit more, maybe you're, maybe you're competent. I, I don't know. I don't even believe it as I say it, but I can imagine Jerry Jones telling people that story. He might be doing it right now. He loves to talk after games. He might be telling reporters that story right now.

23:31Derrik Klassen: Like, oh, we're just going to keep getting healthier here over the next three weeks, I guess, but I just, I don't know. I get less optimistic that that's true with each passing week.

23:43Robert Mays: If you want to try to spin yourself a yarn, allow me to, it's a lot of guys that just got back they're playing for the first time in a while or for the first time all season hopefully they get a little bit more comfortable as you get deeper into the season and you do at least have better players right you have better players that you're going to be able to have out there even the very fact that it was just shamar james and damarion overshone for the most part is a signal that like we need to do something different at linebacker and even if there were still issues you at least got a couple splash plays from those guys the fact that kobe duran is now back.

24:15Robert Mays: They're getting healthier. And so you would hope that as these guys who have been out for a majority of the season and that their heads are still spinning a little bit, does that settle down a bit? My biggest issue still, the communication stuff on the back end is frustrating. The front is just so lifeless so often. And I just don't understand that. I want to feel those guys so much more than I do over the course of a game. And I think you felt that a little bit with Quinn and Williams over the course of this thing, but that's been one of the most – that's been one of the strangest parts of this whole thing all season.

24:50Robert Mays: I get how the Rashawn Gary trade potentially was misguided, but Donovan has a rock who had a sack in this game, but I think that he's just been so up and down. The fact that there are just so many stretches where the front is completely nonexistent or their impact is completely nonexistent, that's the part where I just still don't really understand it. Like the players, even considering Gary might be done, is are better than what you were getting from them right now. And you just do not feel their impact on the game for such long stretches that I just don't really get it.

25:22Dave Helman: Yeah. I mean, second round pick for Azaraku, first round pick on Lawrence, like what you spent on Quentin Williams and Quentin Williams, like I will acquit. I think he's playing pretty well still. Obviously, Kenny Clark acquired in the trade. Like it's a lot of bodies that they've spent to make this thing better. And I do think with some of them, like, the defense is kind of probably just a weird fit for them. Like, I would say Malachi Lawrence specifically. That is not a player to me that, like, fits the Fangio-ish style of defense. That, to me, is a, like, go get him, buddy sort of player. Like, if he was doing what Romello Hite was asked to do right now in San Francisco, he'd probably look pretty good.

25:56Dave Helman: Like, he's just that style of player to me. And so I think that they're having a little bit of that issue on that side of the ball. I do before we completely like move on from the, the, this part of the ball and the Eagles offense and stuff, I want to spend one bit of optimism for the Eagles. This was the first time a Kyle lemon all year has looked like really good. He's had like a moment. He's had like a couple, you know, a couple of catches here and there and some other games, but this was the first game where you were like, okay. Yeah. The underneath like catching traffic yards after catch stuff.

26:23Dave Helman: He's pretty good at that. And he was outside of a couple of Dallas Goddard plays and like one or two which Saquon Barkley runs early was kind of all they had in this game.

26:33Robert Mays: Yeah, which makes the Dallas defensive performance for so much of it that much more concerning. The fact that it was Makai Lemon. I mean, when Hollywood Brown is piling up multiple explosive catches on you in 2026 catching the ball from Tanner McKee, it's not a place you want to be. So obviously the defense is still very much a work in progress. I guess the last point I would put on this is that the offense looking the way that it did in this game, even if the Eagles defense is a little bit confusing right now. I still think you could make a pretty easy argument that it is either the best unit in the division or the unit with the highest potential upside for an extended period of time in the division.

27:15Robert Mays: So as you sit here at three and four, maybe you're not the best version of the team you were hoping to be coming into the season, but you got enough of a glimpse of it with the offense here where I think you can tell yourself a story about by the end of the season, being a team that can win this version of the NFC East and feeling okay about it.

27:33Derrik Klassen: Do you potentially tell yourself a story about doing something a little bold here over the next two weeks to increase your chances? Put your money where you're at.

27:43Dave Helman: Jerry would like that.

27:44Robert Mays: I have two thoughts about that. One. I don't think this team is good enough to justify that level of aggression to, I still want them to do it and kind of think they will.

27:56Derrik Klassen: it's not my draft why wouldn't they I'm glad you landed there and so to go back to the beginning of the show you said you were frustrated to see the Dallas offense or you were yeah like it was frustrating to watch them succeed because you've wanted to see it over the last few weeks it was frustrating for me also to just think literally throughout the game I was like oh incredible another sick deck throw and George Pickens makes a one in a million play to snag that double move in the back corner. What does it mean? What does it mean if this defense looks like this and like, what are we even doing?

28:31Derrik Klassen: We're just spinning our wheels or is it going to lead to Jerry Jones talking himself into using a day to pick to put this thing over the top? And is that actually smart? I mean, it would be fun and it would be good for content, but is that what the Dallas Cowboys should do or should you just buckle down and try to win a bad division with what you have I don't know but Jerry Jones seems so determined over the last 15 months to prove that it was smart to trade Micah Parsons and I I can't let go of that I really can't and I yeah I'm kind of with you I think I expect them to at least examine all avenues here heading up to the trade deadline because I don't think they want to admit that this team's not good enough Jordan Brooks time finally it's been Jordan Brooks time since May it was Jordan Brooks time on

29:29Dave Helman: Father's Day and honestly if you're Miami with as good as Jacob Rodriguez has looked aren't you a little bit more willing to be like yeah maybe it's time God God help me that would get me pretty

29:40Robert Mays: excited i'm gonna be i'm gonna be honest with you guys it's 10 50 p.m it's week seven i can spend no more emotional energy on the dallas cowboys i can't welcome i can't do it anymore i've been waiting for you i just i it's gonna be what it is i will i will watch their games with a passing interest in the rafters for the cowboys it's gonna be what it is i just i even like the the push and pull of watching the defense in this game and just being like, Oh God, I just, I I'm emotionally exhausted from being, from being at least from being even moderately invested in this team. I I'm, I'm emotionally exhausted.

30:23And so the idea that, you know, Oh man, what if they,

30:28Robert Mays: will they make a move? What will they do? It's just like, eh, I don't know, man. I can, I can work up the energy for 30 of the other teams though. One other exception, but with this one right now, I'm kind of like, I don't know, man, whatever, whatever they wake me up when they make the move. Maybe I'll respond to it then.

30:47Derrik Klassen: Actually, this is really perfect. Cause I hopped on with our friends at the athletic live at the end of the first quarter and Charles McDonald was asking me for my impressions of like living in Chicago and what the perception of the bears is compared to Dallas. And what you just said is proof positive of what I told them, which is that for what the bears have put people in Chicago through over the last 30 years, their belief and willing to buy in is so impressive compared to Dallas and Cowboys fans where like, it's just, it's just been beaten out of you over the last 30 years where you're just like, I don't know, man, wake, wake me up when they do something, wake me up when we get to the playoffs.

31:30Derrik Klassen: I don't know how to feel. It's, it's very energizing being in a city where people can still talk themselves into believing in the local team. I mean,

31:39Robert Mays: we don't have to spend any time talking about the Chicago bears on the show, but I can very quickly explain to you why that is. The Dallas Cowboys have had a top 10 quarterback for the last 20 years. My team has never had one. You're right. Like it's, it's, it's a very easy. We finally did it. Yes. It's like, how could you not be energized? Like, the Cowboys are beaten down because they went from a decade of Tony Romo to a decade of Dak Prescott. When you have, like, the ninth best quarterback in the league every single year and it ceases to matter. If I had lived that Groundhog Day every day and every season for the last 20 years, I would be beaten down, too.

32:21Robert Mays: We're in the exact opposite scenario where there is only light at the end of the tunnel. It is sunshine and rainbows all the time.

32:29Derrik Klassen: Sometimes that light is a train, brother. Just I don't know if that's what's going to happen to the Bears, but that's how it feels caring about the Dallas Cowboys. All right.

32:39Robert Mays: We found out during the game that Jay-Z is playing the halftime show. How do you guys feel about this?

32:44Dave Helman: Stupid. Like, it's just one of those things where Jay-Z said it's Jay-Z time. Like, I'm not that interested in it at this point.

32:53Derrik Klassen: I love Jay-Z. I love, I love most of his catalog. It just feels more and more like so much of our society these days is like, you guys love this, right? This makes, this makes you feel like you're 19 again. Let's go, let's go back. Let's do the reboots. Let's do the shit that was cool in 2008.

33:13Robert Mays: I don't, it's, I don't know about all that. I mean, like we're in a spot now where how many, the model culture no longer exists. How many Super Bowl caliber acts are there even? I'm fine with Jay-Z being one of those acts. It's only going to be legacy acts for the most part that are playing the Super Bowl. I suppose that's fair. When you think about the reach necessary to justify it. I guess Bad Bunny is an example of that, but that was a very pointed choice that you understand the motivation behind it. It was a very good choice, but that was different than most of what you get every single year when people are picking the Super Bowl.

33:45Robert Mays: Like we're, we're mining the same nostalgia with Jay-Z that we are with Rihanna for like the millennials that are watching the Superbowl had a million Superbowl

33:55Dave Helman: worthy bangers. She's in a totally different category. I mean, Jay-Z does not.

34:00Derrik Klassen: Okay. Derek, that's crazy. Jay-Z has bangers.

34:03Dave Helman: I'm not saying he doesn't. This is a man in his late twenties. I'm very familiar with Jay-Z for a Superbowl performance. That does not get me up nearly as much as Rihanna. Rihanna is like an all timer.

34:15Derrik Klassen: like beyonce will definitely be part of this well i guess that's a good point this is like

34:20Robert Mays: no like half her show beyonce will be part of it you can have 10 guests on that's the benefit of

34:24Derrik Klassen: having jay-z he's like he'll probably do a reunion with nas or something like it'll it'll be now i'm interested it'll be cool but i'm just i don't know like you know we're gonna watch another batman movie right after this and then we're gonna reboot whatever sitcom was popular when i was in college like can we do a new office yet are you guys ready for more of the office i don't know i'll

34:48Dave Helman: be honest i think they basically are doing that already so you're awesome right yeah it's been a

34:52Robert Mays: long enough stretch since i was listening to a lot of jay-z consistently than when i was going back when they announced it and i was reading and it was going just listening to a bunch of jay-z songs during halftime and in the second half yeah i was happy to hear all of them like i i'm happy to go back and listen to like public service announcement and lucifer and devils and dead presidents too and just like I enjoy a lot of Jay-Z songs. I will be excited to hear them at the Super Bowl. I just think the funniest part of it is you got – this is a very weird reference, but for some reason the moment sticks in my mind in moments like this.

35:24Robert Mays: In Major League Two when Roger Dorn becomes the GM of the Cleveland baseball team and he walks in one morning and he pulls off his jacket and the uniform is on and he goes, at 10.15 this morning I activated myself. that is Jay-Z choosing to make himself the halftime show it's like Jay who do you Sean who do you think should be the halftime performer this year and he's just like you know what I've thought a lot about it and I think it should be me

35:50Dave Helman: and that's what I'm saying like that's why it doesn't feel inspired to me I'm like the guy who's gonna do it is the one who made the choice like it doesn't interest me

35:59Derrik Klassen: Derek I don't expect you to have seen Major League 2 but have you seen but have you seen Major League 1?

36:06Dave Helman: I'm the original unlikely.

36:08Derrik Klassen: You need to watch the original. That's disappointing. You got to watch it. Disappointing. It's it's an incredible sports movie. It's an incredible baseball movie. But anyway.

36:17Dave Helman: OK, I don't know that. Is that disappointing in so far as you expected me to have seen it?

36:22Derrik Klassen: No, no, no. I mean, like, I know you well enough by now to assume you haven't seen it. But like it's on. I think it's on the Mount Rushmore of baseball movies.

36:30Robert Mays: So Katie is in the chat right now suggesting names. And she said Justin Bieber, Harry Styles. Bieber would be fine I mean I saw part of Bieber's set at Coachella and like you know all the Bieber songs and I do think that there would be enough where that would be justifiable Harry Styles is obviously massive like do you guys know how Harry Styles operates where he's just like playing residencies at all of these stadiums and just like playing there for a month he has like 15 like Madison Square Garden shows in a row that are all sold out it sounds like an incredible life he was playing in Amsterdam when I was there like obviously Harry Styles is a massive massive musical artist i wonder if the generational bridging happens with harry styles where anyone under

37:10Derrik Klassen: the age of 35 cares that harry styles is playing yeah i don't know if he's broken through to enough like other generations to to do the super bowl halftime show yet although but like again we just did like we do stuff like that though like bad bunny clearly i mean i love bad bunny for the record but he clearly wasn't like ubiquitously popular when they chose him i don't know he

37:34Robert Mays: he's not ubiquitously popular in this country then the numbers on bad buddies like streaming i mean it's insane but yes i guess harry styles would be a similar conversation exactly like he harry

37:42Derrik Klassen: styles is enormously popular but like not from top down of like all the generations that watch the super bowl yeah the more i think about this the more jay-z was probably like a safe

37:55Robert Mays: good entertaining choice i'm i'm i'm fine with that choice being made i'll be excited to hear

38:00Derrik Klassen: the JC songs in Los Angeles real quick before you get us out of here I know we've gone long because we just did the halftime show but the Eagles are two and five now and look kind of like a disaster like the Howie the Howie fire sales coming right oh I think so yeah I think so I'm

38:16Robert Mays: gonna get run into that yeah again I don't know how many guys I don't think it's gonna be players that you want there over a multi-year period like the young guys I I wouldn't touch those guys because why would you there are a lot of building block players on the eagles but the reek woolens of the world like saquon's just not healthy like i think so that'll it'll complicate that conversation but all the guys that are not part of their 2027 or later plans for sure i think i would make a call about them if i were a team that needed pieces reek just makes

38:47Derrik Klassen: all the sense in the world do you think they'd be willing to deal oh jomo knowing that they've

38:52Robert Mays: paid two D tackles and yes yes I mean I think I think he counts for exactly what we're saying I don't know if he's in their 2027 plans how could you possibly I mean he's gonna justify like 25 million dollars a year on the free agent market or at least 20 you can't pay three defensive tackles 20 plus million dollars a year how would you even do that so yeah he would absolutely be someone else that they're out there all right all righty that is all we've got for today the hangover will be available. It is available in your podcast feed, no matter when you're listening to this, it will be available on the YouTube channel at noon on Tuesday.

39:27Robert Mays: So please check that out. If you're watching this on YouTube, please like subscribe to all that fun stuff. Sincerely appreciate everyone watching. We'll talk to you later. Thanks for tuning in. Make sure to hit that subscribe or follow button. So you never miss an episode. If you enjoyed what you heard, please like comment and leave a rating. We'll see you next time.

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