00:00Mike Florio, ProFootballTalk.com here on 105.3 The Fan.
00:03Mike, are you starting to think that Mike Vrabel could actually resign?
00:09I think there's a set of facts that could play out
00:12that would make it unsustainable for him to be the head coach of the Patriots.
00:16When the season starts, and I'll be more specific,
00:20when training camp starts, you embark on seven months
00:22where you are all about your job,
00:26and it's the centerpiece of the family's existence.
00:29And it is, I think, impossible for a head coach in the NFL
00:33to have a significant personal issue in his life
00:37and also have a job that consumes his life.
00:40And we've never seen this before,
00:42where a coach has been involved in a controversy
00:44that has transcended the sport,
00:46that has made him fodder for paparazzi.
00:48He can't walk through the Salt Lake City Airport
00:50without being photographed and questioned.
00:52His wife is being photographed in the Salt Lake City Airport.
00:56And the reality is, there's no clear ending point.
01:01You know, I've made the example earlier today on our show
01:04that I grew up in a floodplain,
01:06and, you know, when it would flood,
01:08the water would go down and you'd go clean up.
01:11And it was a pain in the ass.
01:12But you knew that the water went down and the coast was clear.
01:15They got water coming in, like, oh, it's going down.
01:20Now it's going up again.
01:21Oh, wait, it's gone.
01:21Oh, wait, there's another development.
01:23And I think the ultimate development,
01:25something that Diana Rossini completely controls
01:28when she tells her story, how she tells her story,
01:32where she tells her story, and what she ultimately says.
01:37That's the thing that they have no idea when she's going to do it.
01:42I would guess that multiple news outlets are trying to get her to do it.
01:46What if she decides to do it right before the start of the season?
01:49How about that?
01:50And what if her version of the event
01:53would be something that becomes problematic for him?
01:57Even if she does it now,
01:58it could be enough that it would be the final domino
02:01to get him to step aside.
02:03We just don't know.
02:03So that's just one way that another development can happen.
02:08There have been developments after developments after developments.
02:10So I think it's possible.
02:11I'm not saying it will, but I think it's possible,
02:13and we're in territory we've never seen before.
02:16Mike, do you think if you asked the Patriots, Vrabel, Rossini, and the Athletic,
02:23like, hey, we're going to give you a do-over
02:24for when the post first breaks this story,
02:28do you think any of them are handling it significantly differently,
02:31or do you think they just were operating under the assumption
02:34they had the time, which was it was this one story
02:36and it wasn't going to be these other dominoes that would fall?
02:38Well, but the people who were in the photos
02:43that everyone downplayed, they know the truth.
02:48And to look at how strongly this coordinated response happened,
02:52and it was reportedly coordinated by Ben Strauss of ESPN,
02:55and it was obviously coordinated.
02:56In the initial story, you know, the post sent the photos to everybody involved.
03:00They did the responsible journalism thing.
03:02People want to look down their nose at page six.
03:04They did the responsible thing.
03:06They went to the people involved.
03:07They gave them a chance to respond,
03:09and they gave a coordinated story that has been undermined,
03:12if not flat-out contradicted, by further developments
03:16based on the photos that came from the bar in New York City, March 11, 2020.
03:23So I think that they would absolutely do it differently,
03:28and the last thing they would do is do what they did.
03:30I think you either say nothing at all
03:32and hope that a feeding frenzy doesn't emerge,
03:36or you just tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,
03:39and you take the steam out of it.
03:40But when you essentially dare the media to catch you,
03:44they're going to try.
03:45And when you know that there's something there,
03:48it's just a matter of time before they do.
03:51Hypothetical.
03:51In August, Diana Rossini reaches out to you and says,
03:54Mike, I want to work for ProFootballTalk.com.
03:57You say what?
04:00Well, I would say that it's impossible for anyone to hire her
04:05to be a reporter at this point
04:07because our two most important assets are our objectivity
04:11and our credibility.
04:13And now the New York Times has possibly higher standards
04:17than other outlets when it comes to avoiding
04:20even the appearance of a conflict of interest,
04:23but I think that the credibility, the integrity,
04:27the believability of reporting has been undermined
04:31to the point where when she returns to the media,
04:33if she returns to the media,
04:35she's either going to have to do it on her own
04:36or she's going to have to try to be a podcast host
04:39or something like that
04:40because I think it's very difficult
04:42to sell her credibility as a reporter
04:46after the way this was handled
04:49with the initial denial
04:51and then when she resigned,
04:52doubling down and blaming the media.
04:55Blaming the media for turning this into something
04:57that it wasn't
04:58when she knew all along what the truth was.
05:01Mike Florian, ProFootballTalk here on Sean and RJ.
05:03I saw you write about this yesterday
05:05and I was like,
05:05all right, it's perfect time.
05:06I got to have him on
05:07because I did not like how you stopped Chris Sims
05:11during the Rossini segment
05:13and the internet then...
05:16Well, sorry, sorry, hey, hey, hey,
05:17sorry I didn't want to get sued potentially.
05:20I said that.
05:20I had no idea what that big doofus was going to say.
05:24I love him.
05:26That's what Bobby thought
05:27and I was like...
05:29And RJ, I mean, RJ and Bobby were actually defending you
05:32and I was like,
05:33Mike Florian has...
05:34He's swam in the mud before.
05:35He'll talk about any story.
05:37He'll get in it
05:38and then for you to put up the drawbridge,
05:41I was not happy about it.
05:44Dude, dude, I've been talking about the story
05:46more than anybody in the mainstream media
05:48so don't give me that crap.
05:49Well, I mean, I'm just giving you the truth of my height
05:51and I don't agree with everything you say.
05:52No, no, no, listen,
05:53next thing you're going to complain about my photo choice
05:55is for my franchise in the next photo.
05:57Wasn't it an Eagles one yesterday, Bobby?
06:00No, it was a Jets one.
06:01It was a Jets one.
06:02But it said Titans.
06:03I should have used the Cowboys.
06:05If I had known I was coming on,
06:06I definitely would have used the Cowboys.
06:07Hey, I'm just...
06:08We only had you because Choppy's on a vacation.
06:10But look, in all seriousness,
06:12the internet's like,
06:13oh my gosh,
06:14because Chris Sims was getting ready to say something,
06:16he got replaced by Mike Tomlin
06:18on Football Night in America.
06:19I know you wrote about it.
06:20Can you just address it?
06:21And then it's so completely asinine.
06:27It is ridiculous how stupid.
06:31And I don't know whether it's
06:32that these aggregator accounts are dumb
06:35or whether they're smart enough
06:38to prey on people who don't understand
06:42and they just want to grab that headline,
06:44get that engagement.
06:45You know, they grabbed our clip
06:49and basically misappropriated.
06:51They profit from that.
06:52I don't know how any of that works.
06:53I don't make any money off of Twitter
06:55and I don't want to.
06:56But the whole thing has been ridiculous.
06:59The idea that I reached through the camera lens
07:04out of Chris's monitor from 400 miles away
07:06and muzzled him
07:08and prevented him
07:10from revealing some massive truth
07:12about the situation
07:14that he was just on the verge of saying.
07:16And I intervened
07:17and physically restrained him from doing it.
07:19I mean, he told me to shut up.
07:21He still said whatever he was going to say.
07:24My point is,
07:25I know that there's a lot of rumor
07:28and chatter
07:29and a lot of stuff that was being said
07:32and there was only a small universe
07:34of reported and vetted and known facts.
07:38And all that was out there
07:40was the photos
07:43from the Sedona Resort
07:46and some reporting around
07:48what people saw or didn't see there.
07:50I didn't want him to delve into something
07:52that hadn't properly been vetted and reported
07:53because that's how you get yourself into a jackpot.
07:57And I don't know
07:58that I would have gotten in any trouble.
07:59I was trying to keep him out of trouble.
08:01I didn't want him to say something.
08:02It was potentially going to get him accused
08:04of defaming anyone
08:05if he was going to throw out some rumor he had heard
08:07and it counts as truth.
08:10So I've tried to be fair about this,
08:12but I've tried to also be fair to the story
08:16and fair to the audience.
08:17And I'm not going to stick my head in the sand,
08:19especially now if it's crossed over
08:20into a football story.
08:21The minute he decides to skip day three of the draft,
08:24to go to counseling in Salt Lake City
08:28after he's shopping at the airport.
08:30I mean, the whole thing is just weird, guys.
08:32It's just weird.
08:34And I've tried to be as responsible as I can
08:37and as informative as I can.
08:38And I was trying to protect my friend.
08:40And if anybody thinks otherwise,
08:42I don't care.
08:44Because that's the truth.
08:46And if I have the power to pull strings
08:48and get people fired,
08:49I don't even understand the logic.
08:51NBC is fighting.
08:52First of all, he's still at NBC.
08:54They've been working for months to pare the show down.
08:58And this is a new strategy.
08:59This is a new approach.
09:00Tony Dungy's gone.
09:02Chris is going to be off the show.
09:04Mike Tomlin's on the show.
09:05The show's going on the show every week now.
09:08So, it's a different show.
09:10And I, you know, look,
09:14I've got to be careful about what I know
09:15and what is it.
09:16But, I mean, this thing was coming for a long time.
09:19It has nothing to do with anything that was said.
09:23Mike Florio from Pro Football Talk and Football Night in America
09:25joining us here on 105 Through the Fan.
09:27All right, Mike.
09:28So, when the Cowboys state publicly and privately,
09:32George Pickens is not going to get a long-term deal this offseason.
09:35He's playing on the tag.
09:36That's our position.
09:36This is the options that you have.
09:39When David Mulugeta and Athletes First huddle with George Pickens,
09:43what are their realistic means to react to that?
09:47And why do you think signing the tag ultimately might have been the right play?
09:51Look, you've got two things you can do at that point.
09:53You can stay away from everything.
09:56You can stay away from training camp.
09:58You can stay away from the preseason.
10:00You can, if you want, show up just before the start of the regular season
10:03and get the full $27.298 million under the franchise tag.
10:06You can skip the first 10 weeks of the season.
10:11You can show up and get partial pay and get credit for this year of the contract
10:17and then do it again next year if they tag him again.
10:21I think they have made the conscious decision they're going to do what Dak did in 2020.
10:26Now, he ultimately broke his leg and he's still got his big contract.
10:29You've just got to show up.
10:30You've got to play.
10:32There's too much of a negative history out there from his time with the Steelers.
10:36He needs to have another great year with the Cowboys.
10:39He needs to view the glass as half full because he's making more money
10:42than we ever thought he was going to make.
10:44We never would have dreamed a year ago he's going to make $27.98 million this year,
10:47$298 million, excuse me.
10:49And I think they've made the decision.
10:50They're in checkmate and they're not going to do the aggressive thing.
10:55They're going to do the smart thing.
10:56Glasses half full and this year the goal is going to be to try to fill it up the rest
11:00of the way.
11:01Thank you, brother.
11:02We appreciate it.
11:03Have a good weekend.
11:05All right.
11:05Thanks, guys.
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