00:00To Jeff, who, you know, I think makes a good point.
00:03Look, I think this argument, and we have it every preseason,
00:07and it's not one of my favorite conversations,
00:11but it is an August 19th conversation before a second preseason game.
00:16And that is this idea of should they play their starters
00:20or shouldn't they play their starters?
00:23When Jeff says without the starting center and without Laramie Tunsil,
00:27you're just asking for trouble.
00:28It's fair.
00:30Now, I think Alec Reddy would be a big part for me in making the decision.
00:35Part of why I'd want to see the starters out there,
00:38the starting offense out there, the starting quarterback out there,
00:42is he does have a brand-new center.
00:44They haven't played in an actual game together.
00:48There's a new offensive coordinator.
00:49There's another new receiver.
00:51There's a new tight end.
00:52I'd like to see it.
00:54You're not convincing me to come off my position,
00:57but I understand the other side.
00:59I also think from your side, Jeff, it'd be fair to point out,
01:04and you didn't do this, but I'll do it for you,
01:06that without the ability to game plan, not that they can't game plan,
01:10but they don't,
01:12you can't take out the serious threats to your quarterback or to your offense in general.
01:20When you're not game planning, you're not identifying who are the players on the other side of the ball
01:26that could really create havoc on any given play.
01:29Let's just take Detroit as an example.
01:32Aiden Hutchinson's a pretty good football player.
01:34I have no idea if he's going to play or not play in the preseason game on Saturday.
01:39But, you know, when you're not game planning and you're not taking out a serious threat like Aiden Hutchinson,
01:47you're actually putting your quarterback and your offense in general even at more risk.
01:53Look, it's an argument that works both ways, I think.
01:58I think, honestly, I still would rather get a new offense, a new coordinator, a new center, new everything, basically.
02:07Both sides of the ball.
02:09I'd rather see it in dress rehearsal form before rolling it out for the first time together on September 13th
02:17on the road against an opponent that's won a lot of games in recent years and is pretty experienced.
02:25Now, they have a new offensive coordinator, but they have a new offensive coordinator every year.
02:31But against Vic Fangio and company in the opener, yeah, I'd just prefer that they get comfortable playing some football
02:39because that's what they do, and there's always a risk, including the risk when they're going out to practice.
02:46And joint practices last week, won next week as well.
02:51Did you see the story from Oxnard, California, site of Cowboys training camp?
03:00Yesterday, the Cowboys and the Saints were holding a joint practice session, and all hell broke loose.
03:08Punches thrown, helmets tossed.
03:10At one point, Saints tight end Brock Reichsteiner?
03:15Is that how you pronounce it?
03:17You're more of a WWE guy than I am.
03:20I was hoping you'd get to this.
03:22Is that how you pronounce it, Reichsteiner?
03:24Yep, that's it.
03:25He's the son of WWE Hall of Famer Scott Steiner.
03:31He grabbed a Cowboys player, lifted him up, and body slammed him to the turf.
03:40I wish it had been somebody like Dak Prescott or C.D. Lamb, but it wasn't.
03:48Yeah, you know, I think I read this to you guys last week.
03:52I think I did.
03:53Aaron Rodgers was asked.
03:55Last week before the Steelers' first preseason game against Green Bay, his former team, whether or not he was going
04:05to play.
04:05And he said, you know, a number of things about preseason and joint practices.
04:11And something he said about joint practices turned out to be pretty prophetic.
04:16But he said, it's preseason.
04:18It's not real football.
04:20If I play, great.
04:21If not, great.
04:23If not, great.
04:23He was asked whether or not there is an advantage to playing in the preseason for somebody like him.
04:30And he just said, I don't think so.
04:32He said, preseason's a lot different.
04:35Teams don't run anything.
04:36They just really don't.
04:38And then he got into joint practices.
04:40And he said, on the subject of joint practices, he said, I think the first year we were doing them,
04:46it was fun.
04:47Because you got to play a team that wasn't going to play how they played in preseason.
04:52They were going to show you a lot of different things that they were working on.
04:55It was like a real day at camp.
04:57But as that got on, it just stopped being like that.
05:01It just turned into fights.
05:03And nobody showed anything.
05:05I think those are a total waste of a day.
05:10Closed quote.
05:14Yeah.
05:15That was pretty spot on with what happened in California yesterday at Cowboys camp.
05:21Both coaches considered, you know, Schottenheimer and the Saints coach, Kellen Moore, considered shutting the whole thing down.
05:33But they let it continue after the big brawl broke out.
05:37I remember the Texans in Richmond.
05:40I was there that day.
05:42The Texans in Richmond for a joint practice with the Skins 2015.
05:47They did it with the Patriots, maybe in 2015, maybe it was 2014 with the Texans.
05:52Is that the infamous D'Angelo Hall incident?
05:54Yeah.
05:55I mean, it was all hell broke loose.
05:57I mean, and it was actually the chippiness of it.
06:01I actually remember saying, this is probably good.
06:05This is getting out of that comfort zone of, you know, in shorts against your own team.
06:14And it's more like a real Sunday afternoon.
06:17This joint practice is a good thing.
06:19But it's certainly, based on what Roger said, there's not a lot of value because teams aren't showing anything.
06:26It's essentially like the preseason game extended in scrimmage form.
06:33So, Washington does have one more joint practice.
06:36And they have two more preseason games.
06:39Look, this is really for them.
06:42You know, this is a them, you know, answer.
06:45The people that are in it, they know whether or not there's really something to be gotten with starting players.
06:53The players that you're going to play in the regular season from these preseason games.
06:58And even, you know, whether or not it makes sense to try stuff that you're going to run in the
07:02regular season, even in joint practices.
07:05We know that they don't do anything in the preseason game.
07:08I mean, did you see how vanilla and how basic the defense was under Durante Jones in the preseason game?
07:17I don't want him showing anything.
07:18Of course not.
07:20These are player evaluation games, period.
07:24And the player evaluation really is for roster spots 40 through 53 or call it 45 through 70 because you've
07:33got the 17 player practice squad.
07:36It's really what it comes down to is that nobody's making a major decision on your starters and your contributors
07:46unless they're, of course, injuries or unless somebody just completely wows you or unless you actually enter camp with a
07:56legitimate competition at a position.
07:59But for the most part, 90% of it is evaluating players that you will eventually select for roster spots
08:1045 through 70.
08:12That's a base.
08:13And, by the way, I'm not minimizing the importance of that.
08:16It is important.
08:18It's very important.
08:21So, but that's what you get.
08:24And Jaden Daniels is not being evaluated for roster spot 45 through 70, nor are Stefan Diggs, Terry McLaurin, Chigakonkwo,
08:34Josh Connerly Jr., Sam Cosme, et cetera.
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