Michael Lombardi Reacts to the Robert Saleh/Woody Johnson "Fight" | The Lombardi Line - 3/28/2024

happy opening day the sweet 16 tipping off later on this evening PR plus NFL pro days Galore we've got a jam-packed hour ahead here on the Lombardi line if you missed any of hour one remember you can always download the show in its entirety in podcast form wherever you get your podcast also by the way new edition of the GM Shuffle pod available for all subscribers right now grades for the 2024 class you're talking new kickoff rules the dynasty dock I have a feeling that you and femi got pretty heated today about that dynasty. convo if it is anything like what we talked about yesterday well I mean it it's so overt that it's so over-the-top slanted that even the people that don't want a side with Coach belich C can't deny it right and so there's really no debate about it it's not a a documentary it's an infomercial it's and it was intended to get arert craft into the Hall of Fame which as I've said many times stormmy many times he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame for selecting a coach that nobody thought could win and he won six Super Bowls and went to eight with them that alone gets you in the Hall of Fame you don't need documentaries to get you in the Hall of Fame now you want to take credit for the winning okay you can't have it both ways you can't call yourself a fan and then take credit for the winning so it's a little bit you know there's really no debate about it it's pretty clear and I haven't watched one minute of it nor will I watch a minute of it but the reality of it is is it's it's so having been in the building it's so not what happens in the building that it's becomes it becomes an infomercial yeah I I did love all the players and Julian Edelman and Slater and all these guys coming forward saying okay there's a lot more to Bill than what's being shown in this thing there are two sides to him and so I I know you guys will get into that make sure again you check out the GM Shuffle wherever you get your podcast we'll talk plenty of NFL throughout the course of this hour coming up in 30 minutes Vis Zone Mike VP of operations here at Circle Resort and Casino he'll join us in studio as well because they had a pretty special ceremonial first pitch for opening day out here that had a couple of Hall of Famers Greg Maddox and Frank Thomas on display so we'll talk through that with Mike games being bet today as well as the sweet 16 and what the splits and handle are for the four games ahead today and tomorrow I obviously as a San Diego State Alum and fan am uh in like a comos state I feel like about watching that game later on today against Yukon but there are a few games that I'm excited about Michael as far as today goes which game do you have the most interest in well you know today I would say probably when when I look over the games I I probably say the Illinois IA State game because I I have an Alabama because I have them in my final four with North Carolina because I think North Carolina's playing real well but having Tate Frasier on and him talking about how good Illinois is and how they're the sleeper I'm excited to see that one now it starts at 10:03 so wish me luck okay stormy you know or 10:9 it's the tip off so wish me luck to stay awake for that one how is this how is the game that Arizona's playing in Los Angeles the first game to tip how is that possible I know some of some of the stuff they did is I mean they made those poor kids play at 11 o' like remember the last time Arizona was the first team to tip too you know and so like I don't understand this we have to get will Hill I mean like I don't know what he's doing he's too busy obviously we've got to straighten some of this out but you know look and then I I and I know I I know you're going to cringe but I'm looking forward I like watching great teams play I like watching teams that have competitive stamina and I like watching coaches who coach hard and I'm excited to watch Connecticut play to see how they handle it and how they're chasing a standard not chasing a team yeah I agree with you I I love watching this Yukon Huskies team play as well I just wish that they didn't have to play San Diego State my my hope is just that the Aztecs don't get embarrassed in this spot like last year in the national championship game when they played Yukon they brought it close within five late in the game still ended up losing by 17 but you felt in that situation that it was yukon's game to win Yukon is winning games at crazy margin and again I just hope that San Diego State it's great for the program that they're making another sweet 16 that they're winning a couple games in the tournament kind of holding the flag for the Mountain West Conference I just don't want them to get embarrassed by the huskys today so we'll see how it plays out again here's what I would say to that stormmy here's what I would say to that you're in the sweet 16 there's no embarrassment right you've earned your right you know you play hard and it may not go your way you may lose you may win who knows but you can't be embarrassed you're one of the 16 teams that got here tell that's a cou years ago well look the Purdue had different aspirations right so I think to me it's just you you got to keep things in perspective clearly all right all right uh somebody who's trying to keep things in perspective may as his pro day is going on today in Raleigh North Carolina we talked about him earlier in hour one how he's been of this class where we talk about risers and fallers he's the perceived Faller what's the biggest challenge in evaluating a guy like him and why is he getting talked about the way that he is well because there's so much inconsistency with his play you know he holds the ball he's kind of doesn't move the pocket as well 22 is better than 23 you expect more of them you want them to do different things you want him to see things quicker read it you know there's so much inconsistency in everything that he does you're saying like who am I getting you know this is like false face in Batman you never know who you're dealing with right and so you're constantly asking which one am I going to get and can I fix the problems but the first thing you have to do is you got to identify what the real problems are that's what you have to do you got to identify what the real problems are and then work backwards I mean this is a a kid who was the Rookie of the conference not of the of the you know of the conference he was the player of the year in the ACC as as a true as a red shirt freshman that's you just don't do that that's a good conference it's a good conference and they've got good players so I I think you got to get to why the inconsistencies are happening because if B Nicks would have come out be if he would have been able to transfer to Oregon and play 22 more years or if Michael penck couldn't transfer Washington or if Jaden Daniels couldn't transfer you know with this Co everybody's playing forever I'm shocked Spencer rers in the draft I thought he was going to play another four more years you know Dylan Gabriel's still playing at Oregon can you imagine that I mean Dylan Gabriel might be older than me and so they're still playing but my point is if they didn't have that what would we be doing what would we be doing like we would be critiquing them and wondering whereas because he hasn't transferred because he's got good year bad year the doubt creeps up nobody's doubting Nicks or penx or Daniels even though they had really bad years before they transferred yeah go look at Jaden Daniels two and a half years into his career right like that's Drake May hasn't had the time to develop he hasn't had the experience yet but he's got all of those unbelievable unbelievable physical tools that we've talked about something I wanted to follow up on earlier a point you made about Giants owner John Mara talking about not ruling out a quarterback earlier in the draft if they fall in love with a quarterback and believe it's worth a number six pick or moving up he said he would certainly support that you said JJ McCarthy was a name that came to mind to You Drake May is one that comes to mind to me and I'm curious your thoughts on this a lot of the comps and his body type and his skill set are Josh Allen where did Brian dable have the most success when he was coaching Josh Allen could there be anything there good point no there could be a lot there and I and I think that when you just asked the question it made me Rec recalibrate my answer I think what John Mara did by saying he wouldn't hold them back is he really opened the door because why would he say that if he didn't think they were going to do it you know and so I think why would they be doing all this work if they didn't think they were going to do it they're doing it I think there's no question they're doing it they're not going to they know I said this on a pod a month ago that that Jones's rehab may not go as fast as they think but why would you put all this time into it if you were so in lock step with Daniel Jones and they and and Mara knows that he is the number one number one by a long shot uh president of the Daniel Jones fan club and so if they don't take a quarterback he doesn't want to get blamed for forcing it so he kind of like he planted the seed to let everybody know and they're doing the work they're doing the work but I think you make a great point I think if if you liked Allen coming out you could like some of the things Drake May does now he's not as big as Allen in terms of the B you know the the broad shoulders and all that but he's still a young kid day ball in the Giants contingent in North Carolina today for Drake May's pro day okay Michael every day we've been doing what's on Michael's mind what's been percolating in the brain what's been occupying space in your head over the last 24 hours well the two one thing just happened it just hit me but I'll hit that later that this you know uh Colleen wolf from NFL Network on on their podcast reported that you know there was a scene where Salah Robert Salah the head coach of the Jets and Woody Johnson were in a heated discussion she kind of hedged on it a little bit and for me that was on Monday we find out yesterday that Clowny signed with the with the Panthers to me that conversation was probably and again this is all speculation that Salah wanted to get the offer up on Clowny he wanted Clowney they thought they were getting Clowny to replace Bryce huff and they didn't get it and I think that was the conversation that would just be speculation on my part the second part that's on my head is the Miami Marlins are offering a ticket for $52 all you could eat and watch the baseball game H that's too good to be true storying that's a dream all you can eat anything at a baseball game heck yeah sign me up $52 it gets you in the park and then you can go eat a as many dogs as you want I mean not a bad I mean that's a pretty good gig isn't it don't you think if only alcohol was included that would really push it over the edge but yeah I'm with you I'm with you that heck of a deal and it really is I mean you know but they're counting on you drinking a couple beers so you slow down the eating that's what they're counting on see everybody looks at it says oh I'm going to eat and you go now wait a minute they're going to you know you drink two of those big beers with two dogs and how could you eat anymore what's your primary ballpark food is it a hot dog is it a pretzel popcorn peanuts what you got oh well I love pretzels yeah soft pretzels are the best but hot dogs I mean how do you resist a hot dog it's hard to resist a hot dog on the corner of of fifth in Park Avenue or wherever they sell them in New York it's like holy hell they're too good you got to go get one salt or no salt on the pretzel another important question oh tons of salt you got to have a lot of salt you're the best uh we're going to hit the break when we come back no way or no doubt continuing to cruise through a lot of the big headlines in the National Football League [Music] this is the Lombardi line with former NFL executive Michael Lombardi now here is your host stormmy baton on VN the sports betting Network only 2 days left to sign up on a visen pro annual subscription with our l latest deal for the first year only $199 compared to the usual $240 price get in there now and use our promo code Lombardi that gets you pro access to everything we do for the entire year which includes our daily Best Bets with a leaderboard to see which Von expert has the hot hand betting splits to show you where the money and bets are moving for every game betting systems premium analysis and 24/7 video access plus access to our March Madness betting Hub with picks for every game and round of the tournament as things Advance remember this offer expir Friday sign up today von.com subscribe promo code Lombardi Von pro access for only 199 bucks do you disagree with these takes no way uh-uh no way or do you approve oh no doubt no doubt no doubt my mind no diggity no doubt it's time to ask Michael lardi no way or no doubt so every year Michael the NFL makes a variety of changes this year more radical change than we are accustomed to when it comes to the new NFL hybrid kickoff also the ban on the hip drop tackle you got a lot of players upset about it saying you're watering down the League what even is a tackle no way or no doubt the NFL is legislating defense and special teams out of the game how do you feel no doubt no doubt they are they're trying to just they want it to be a high scoring affair they don't really want special teams they don't see the need for special teams they don't understand B special teams and they would just rather have the offense have all the rules in their favor and go from there and they don't understand the essence of the true game and so all these rules are making it a and they do it under the disguise of player safety when we're not sure that it's actually the case and football is a three-dimensional game you need to play good defense cuz look I've said this many times the Patriots went eight years without winning a su Bowl after they lost to Denver in a in a divisional game and they they LED the league in scoring three times they never were lower than eighth in the league and scoring during that whole period and yet they couldn't get over the hump they lost two Super Bowls because they couldn't score in the key moments of game so defense matters and then they win three Super Bowls in five years and go to four go to four Super Bowls because they really improve their defensive front and they improve their defense so I think to me you can't take defense out of it and you can't take the kicking game out of it it's the offense's world and we're just living in it it seems like right now speaking of which the quarterback position the most important on the football field and the qb1 in Dallas has some interesting things come up about his contract earlier this week in Rapaport reporting there is no indication the Cowboys will complete an extension with Dak Prescott no way or no doubt Michael Prescott will be the Cowboys quarterback to start the 2025 season no doubt no doubt I mean I think he's not going to hit the free AG pay him no I don't think he will I think Jerry will pay him look he's got him you know what's funny we were talking about this on the podcast we were grading the players in the draft based on the verbiage of the grading system and you know Dak is one of those players who's really good he doesn't carry the team he helps the team right and so but he's paid like a guy who carries the team and God bless him you know he's this version of Kirk Cousins without going through free agency I mean he leaves no money on the table ever ever you know and this is why they're in this Jam I mean there his cap number is $55 million and if they leave him let him go is his acceleration from redoing his deal I mean Dak has made a fortune and hasn't really produced wins in playoff games he's no different than Kurt Cousins Dak Prescott and the Cowboys season win total this year 10 and a half he's on the final year of his deal Mike McCarthy on the final year of his as well speaking of Kurt Cousins his former wide receiver just Jefferson looking to get the bag himself and their head coach Kevin oconnell talked about Jefferson's impact on the QB situation at this week's League meetings in Orlando he said I felt strongly about keeping Jefferson informed he's been in the loop he's been aware he's allowed to articulate things to me via our relationship and that's been through this whole process no way or no doubt Michael Justin Jefferson deserves to have a say in the Vikings next quarterback no way I mean all he he should worry about just playing it and he's going to get paid like like let the coaches and and the Personnel guys handle that he's got enough on his plate being a great player and he's got to trust the player the people around him it's no different than when you're playing in a basketball game and and you see the open man you pass the ball or the open woman you pass the ball and you trust they're going to make the shot they has to trust that the Vikings will do the right thing well there's no argument that Justin Jefferson is an elite wide receiver he deserves to get paid there are some white outs who are getting paid a little more than they probably deserve at this point and new new Eagles excuse me running back saquan Barkley had something to say about that take a listen it's easy to say like what they're doing to the running backs is not fair and I don't believe that there's guys you I'm not taking shots of anybody but like there's receivers and there positions like who have 600 500 receiving yards or this amount of stats and like they getting paid more than running backs and it's like B it really is bogus crazy yeah but like even like like same thing with tight ends is like you you're not just a tight end you know what I'm saying like and you got wide receivers that are probably making a more money than you with less production and yeah and it's not fair and I did love by the way at the end of this this comment coming from the new heights podcast with Travis and Jason Kelce he said running backs want to get paid more like we got to earn it we got to go out there and show why we deserve more but no way or no doubt Michael Elite running backs should be paid more than some of these middle tier wide receivers no doubt and I've been saying that forever you know the analytical Community is has really been the one who hates running backs you know and there is some Merit to the fact that you should you can find backs I don't disagree with that like I said about bejan Robinson I'm all for I think the Falcons should have taken Carter over Robinson however when you get one who's Dynamic at the right price and you're not using a high draft choice to get him and he can impact remember Aaron Jones was a fifth round pick and he can impact the passing game then you've got to pay the guy to the fair market that and he's more valuable than a third receiver me think about this last year the Raiders carried Hunter Renfro on their team at 16 million a year and they struggled to want to pay Josh Jacobs how does that make any sense at all that's like saying jaob have a shorter career crazy yeah yeah yeah you said well Josh Jacobs going to have a shorter really I mean hunter refo has no career anymore so it's like these inside receivers are getting it and I thought what Barkley said about Kelsey and did it really in a in a great way Kelsey's not a tight end he's a wide receiver he has been selfless in taking money he could easily take more money and say look I want to get paid like Christian Kirk who got a huge deal I want to get paid like Calvin Ridley but he kind of settles in the market to help the team but he is an he impacts the game or did I don't know if he continues to but they deserve to get paid and just like these running backs who can impact the passing game they deserve to get paid Chris Ballard has heard all the negative comments about the Colts prioritizing resigning their internal free agents versus going out and getting a big name in free agency he responded and said different is not always better we did spend we just didn't spend on outside names at the end of the day we know who our players are we thought our free agents were good players ESPN Steven holder did report that the Colts offered denil Hunter more than the Texans did but hunter chose Houston no way or no doubt though when it comes to Chris Ballard he should be criticized for not spending money on bigname outside free agents thoughts uh no way on that one I think look you know I think that just because you didn't sign a big name doesn't mean you didn't improve your team and and I think what Chris did was take the money and put it in players he knows as the ones he didn't he tried to sign Hunter obviously that you know that the the the the Tennessee the Texas state Free Tax Market really helped so I I think ultimately you you can't control that but what he needs to do is he needs to fix his team right so if you just bring back your team are you really improved right you got to be able to get some other additions they need secondary help they passed on Sneed because I think they were worried about his overall medical could he was he going to last the length of the contract and then they were going to have to pay a high pick which end up not being true for a guy that they were going to have to then pay a lot of money to so for me I I I think a lot is to be determined how he handles the next couple weeks one of my favorite quotes coming out out of Orlando this week from Steelers reporter Mark Co cabali of the athletic he said on the Pat McAfee show Mike Tomlin loves Russell Wilson loves him like you're looking at your little baby kid at home he absolutely loves him you hear things about potentially could Justin Fields beat him out that's just not going to happen he's going to have to fail catastrophically in season for there to be a move no way or no doubt Russell Wilson will be the Steelers qb1 no matter what Tomlin loves him I I I believe there's no doubt he'll be the starter because I think what what Mark said is true and I think by the way that the Steelers got this deal done so quickly as I said there had to be some kind of conversation between Tomlin and and Wilson that Wilson liked what he heard and I think he liked what he heard so for me I think there's no question I think that like barring an injury Russell Wilson has to be the qb1 from day one because like I just don't think that being a veteran and getting the Reps that you get in preseason that that he there's just not opportunity for him to lose that job in my brain I don't know I I agree what he said though something would have to go wrong in season for there to be a change yeah there's I I just think to me you know Russell's experience and Arthur is going to want somebody that he can count on I mean remember Arthur's in a little bit of a shell shock World from ritters not protecting the ball he starts to see Fields not protect the ball he's going to have deja vu all over again as Yogi said there you go from day one I I I'm just curious how long the leash will be for Russell Wilson but yes from day one it certainly feels like his job we'll be right back Mike Palm joining us for the final 30 [Music] minutes this is the Lombardy line with former NFL executive Michael Lombardi now here is your host stormy batony on VN the sports betting Network welcome back into the Lombardi line coming to you live from coast to coast Michael out in JY stormmy Bon and Tony here Circa Resort and Casino in downtown Las Vegas alongside in studio now VP of operations here at the property as well as the Golden Gate and the D Mike pal and awesome opening day spectacle at the Sportsbook today you're already decked out in your Cubs gear and we had a couple Hall of Famers down there on the floor Frank Thomas who's selling his his new vodka F35 he was behind mega bar for an hour giving out free samples and of course we had Greg mat throughout the opening pitch again Michael uh I don't know if you could hear my intro I said I met Derek Stevens 12 years ago and you know we've long dreamed of this day where one of our childhood Heroes could come and throw out the first pitch on opening day at what would become circus Sports a pitcher whose control was so precise he walked neara batter a pitcher who took that art form to a whole another level a pitcher though thwarted in his attempts to Vanquish the hated y Yankees just made him more human unfortunately Pedro Martinez was not available today but Greg Greg Maddox is bad I thought you were pulling a George Shay there that's awesome that's that's very fun George Shay was awesome on opening night wasn't he he was so good hello Michael how are you Mike how are you you know what funny I I think I read somewhere where Maddox was like one of the he didn't like rarely ever got to a 3-1 count on any hitter have you ever seen that stat like the his control was just amazing well he went and it's kind of a lost art yeah he went so many what he had 50 some Innings he didn't walk a batter I mean it it's it's and he just did it because he could precisely put the ball wherever he wanted to right Wayne kky who contributes to our Network former Cincinnati Reds GM was here last year but couldn't make it this year sent me a thing about there'd be so much less injuries in baseball if all these young kids sat there and watched how Maddox pitched all this nonsense of Max effort every pitch is you have so many arm injuries this guy got everybody out throwing you know less than 90 M an hour although he could reach back and get 93 if he needed to I mean it it was an art to watch him and the games went fast because he threw strikes and he was the best Fielding pitcher of a generation 18 time Gold Glove winner it's amazing it's just really amazing I mean that go ahead stormy I was just say I want to give him credit too because he came on our show last year because he had done some assisting with the Rangers in pre-training and said hey this team could be pretty awesome and yeah I know that was prior to a pretty significant injury that they ended up having but he was telling people to buy in on that team right away yeah his brother of course the pitching coach and he had gone and worked with him in spring training and this was one of the two in totals I did bet last year now silly me I didn't bet any Futures on them for World Series or playoffs right uh so it's interesting to talk to these former guys who work with different teams now these former great pitchers like oral Hyer who works with it he gives you very blunted opinions on the current pitching staff uh some of which of course is off the Record but it's it's a good que cue to to betting so how on a day like today where you have the sweet 16 tipping off and in Major League Baseball how's the like handle distributed what's the Lowdown from the book Michael I'm going to get to this in the pressing three but I mean this kills us that the first two games are rained out right what what they had to play the Mets in New York when they're playing Milwaukee they couldn't use the dome stadium in Milwaukee they got two Dome teams playing each other Toronto and Houston I mean so now you don't get a first pitch till 3 3:15 eastern time on the opening day of baseball and by the way 3 hours later they're tipping to Sweet 16 um so it that hampers it that hampers it um you know what we've taken a lot of bets on show show hey Futures people betting under thinking there's a shot he'll get suspended so it's going to be free money under home runs under all this you know total bases all this sort of thing um I don't know there I mean even if something's true do you suspend the guy that's the face of the game I mean unless he assuming you're getting a lot out of Kershaw you're assuming Walker bu's going to be back and healthy I just don't see it with the way they're currently constructed so I'm not sure if I want I think the Braves are still the best team in baseball and the Market's not saying that because of the love for the Dodgers so I think there's some value there but do I try to fade the Dodgers with the team in the division is it the Diamondbacks I still like their staff young starters getting better um and the Padre's might be sneaky so uh my main focus is in the National League and it's trying to beat the Dodgers the Dodgers also I bet Jesus lazardo uh for sa young is the only bet I made so far to go back real quickly to what you said about Shi like I feel like this is going to take a really long time before we get yeah like before we get any real legitimate answers about what this is so my only question would be is that a distraction for the team in general that it's kind of lingering there in the background well I don't know if it's a distraction they're they're going to be the greatest media Show on Earth wherever they go right and you've got Asian fans Japanese everywhere they go I mean they're going to be a circus traveling around with all the attention so the story is so convoluted and he paints himself into a very thin Corner St I've never bet on any sport which if it's true good for him but that's a very tight corner to paint yourself into the the most damaging story and we've had three right Temple this this kid the center in the NBA with the props porter porter this is the worst Story by far of all that you know you you get a guy who just goes out of games and and automatically decides the bets because he doesn't play he comes in and plays one minute and then mysteriously leavs for no explanation H he reinjured he re-aggravated something undisclosed reason I mean Nick bogdanovich was on with Mitch and Paul right before me this morning bookm longtime bookmaker around town will ran William Hill and now with circus said you know it's very dangerous hanging props on guys that play less than 10 minutes a game on average right there there's something so that's the most damaging thing though um what's coming out from the NCAA and now some legislatures they don't want props on amateur athletes right these college athletes they get harassed uh if they don't make their points prop they don't make their yards propped Derek told me this was coming when we met with the commissioner Gloria rarez of the Mountain West that this was coming they don't want these player props for college kids because it's too too much of a harassment issue for them and what people scream at them they get their phone numbers they get their address they send them hate mail because they didn't go over the assist I mean it's ridiculous yeah I mean where you what do you think of it Mike I mean would you be in favor of that I know it hurts the overall betting Market but would you be in favor of that well here's the problem all it does is shove more money offshore because they're not going to be regulated to not post it right so all it does is transfer more to Illegal bookies are offshore it's not going to solve the problem biggest handle game for the sweet 16 first day today so so far Illinois Iowa State and Illinois is getting the getting the action um inordinately it's our biggest decision right now we will need Iowa State it's a strange or not strange but an interesting round game a very good UAB team and what can you do but the conference was again a very big disappointment yeah and it's it's I'm glad that it's my alma mat that is the team that holds the flag for the league I think that's great that when you separate stats for the conference it's like here are San Diego State's stats in the tournament here is the rest of the group but yeah I just I have no confidence in them today and I know Yukon keeps getting bet up and up who do you who would you have confidence in against Yukon though true well that's I don't have confidence with any team I asked this question to Mike Sage earlier I I'll ask it to you too who do you think is the biggest competitor for them you know as much as I say Purdue you know has had so many tournament failures Ed still presents so many problems and if their guards are knocking down threes they're really tough to beat right so it might be Purdue um I don't think teams that want to get up and down the court are going to do any good against them right I it it so I just think they're once again a superior team they ran through all double digit victories last year as a four seed kind of a little bit under the radar no more under the radar now yeah Yon won every game by 13 or more points to spread today 11 and a half 12 so we'll see if they can do it again L I would lay it I I would lay I said this all week I would lay it before I would take it raap had a great line when they got up like 25 on Northwestern in the first half and Northwestern called timeout he said Houston we have a problem yeah real original no well n is gone somebody has to have Gan phrases we're we're going to hit the break here Mike pal sticking around for Palm's pressing three three critical big picture questions to ask our guy Michael Lombardy we'll be right back [Music] this is the Lombardi line with former NFL executive Michael Lombardi now here is your host stormmy batony on VN the sports betting Network there's never been a better time to have skin in the game with draftking sports book because right now we have Vin exclusive offer for new DK customers you can earn a $500 bonus bet for every 1,000 you wager up to 2500 in bonus bets your first 3 days on DraftKings don't wait download the app now use our code Lombardi when you sign up that's how you earn a $500 bonus for every 1,000 new wager right now pressing yes I say it's pressing nothing this is Palms pressing three my mother told me never to answer a question with a question sir my client has answered every question asked by this committee with the utmost sincerity let's get into it Palm's pressing three okay Michael let's start off with this major I think this is a major rule change with the kickoff now and I have seever several questions about I'm still trying to wrap my head around how this affects the game from a betting perspective I assume that it's going to give better field position because you're between the 40 and the 30 uh and no more fair catch uh from your perspective did you like this rule change how do you think it affects scoring in the game and why didn't they just eliminate the kickoff and you start at the 25 well because I think they wanted to make it an offensive game and I really believe they think this the ball will come out to the 30 35 it'll make it a lot easier for the offense to move the ball everything is done with the idea to hurt the defense every rule they put into play so uh I I don't like it because it takes out that you know the one of the greatest plays of all all time were the onside kick and the Super Bowl that Shawn pyton called right and so I I think when you lose that play you lose that strategy and it affects the overall game how are you going to gain an extra possession on the Chiefs how will you gain an extra possession on the bills or Miami or a team that you're really worried about playing that you feel underman that takes away an advantage you might have so I don't like it if I'm that I think the idea that it's going to stop violent collisions I think is wrong because we know this we see Violent collisions in in short spaces with these guys it's going to be interesting the players they select to play Within this group and how they handle it I think there'll be some deception but I do think field position will change and I think that's the ultimate effect of the rule how do you think they considered or what would you think of with stormies leagues instead of the onside kick you have a fourth and 12 or whatever the Pro Bowl you go fourth and 12 from your own 30 or 35 because this onside kick you know this this 3% is nonsense if you have no element of surprise as you say yeah no I get that and but I love the element of surprise but I think to me why should a team who's built a two-score lead have to defend a fourth and 12 to keep that lead like it's got to be something if you get behind by two scores it should be really hard to come back in the game it should be you have to do something unique to get yourself back in the game and the odds and that's why we have those odds that show up the win percentage not that they're accurate but the win percentage it you know this is going to be a challenging game for you to win you everything has to go right and I don't think you should increase the odds to make everything go right to benefit the the team who fell behind final thought on rules here Michael I I wish they would put the chip in the ball why can't they put the chip in the ball and get the spots accurate the field goals accurate the punts out of bounds accurate why not embrace the technology I agree but Mike can I have a palm pressing three back to you I'm like Judge Judy I don't answer I don't answer question I'm just kidding who who will call more of the illegal tackling my man Scott Novak or your favorite official I think Scott Novak um just because he wants to insert his himself in the game through his crew although you make a good argument um because Brad Allen couldn't get the roughing the passer right I mean he made some horrific he remember like they they they they they just tackled Rogers one time around the waist he called he he screwed up the roughing the passer which is the only thing that that official has to do your referee has to do is the is really is roughing the passer because they call more holding now from from from from the from the from the Umpire uh okay hold on I know you have two more questions but because you brought up the technology the UFL they don't have a chip in the ball for the spotting they'll still do normal official spot but they do have like this visual technology for the first down to where you don't have to bring chains out there so there's not going to be a chain gang that brings it out onto the field to measure they have the visual spatial stuff that says if you got it or not and up top if they can tell a spot is wrong they have the ability to come down and say hey you need to move it here is Mike Pereira doing it is he going to be Mike Pereira and um uh what's the younger guy's name I can't think of his name right now but he's also doing it from Fox herera is horrific on TV by the way and good to hang out with at the bar he's he's a very entertaining guy yes anyhow I like it because of all this you know these guys coming in these 65y old guys and the zigzag one guy's got the ball to 37 the other guy on the opposite side is the I mean just put it in you forward progress is where the chip is right I mean anyhow Deo let's let's Dean blandino yeah the younger the younger good-looking guy there at the fox anyhow all right Michael let's let's get on to something that maybe more in your wheelhouse right there in Philadelphia in your backyard Jake Rosenberg has announced he's leaving the Eagles I didn't know who Jake Rosenberg was but I've been reading these stories he's their salary cap executive who specializes in the salary cap so multiple part question does every team have one of these salary cap Executives and how important is it that they are losing Jake Rosenberg well Jake Rosenberger was best friends with hoe Roseman that's how he got the job Howie Roseman was a salary cap analyst before he became the general manager so how he trained Jake to do that job and certainly Jake brought wisdom and power to it he was he was on Wall Street he came from a financial background he was good with numbers so it plays within it but at some point Mike the the cap guy only can work numbers somebody has to put a dollar sign on the value of the player right somebody has to say this guy's worth X this guy's worth Z this guy's worth is not worth what they're asking for that really comes down to a combination of the the Personnel person and the salary cap guy understanding the market value you go to your cap guy and say okay we think this player is in the top eight at his position based on our grades what should that salary be equated to and then the cap guy comes in and says okay here's the market here's where we think the market could change here's where we're going to go I think Jake wanted to get a GM job he wasn't even getting any interviews so he decided to leave how he gave him a a lovely goodbye but I think their relationship is still good but he's a replaceable player within the framework of what they do okay final question Michael why is the NFL just so much better at marketing their sport than the other big three here we sit Michael it's noon where you're at and it's the opening day of baseball we haven't had a pitch they couldn't play in the dome stadiums they try to run it up against the sweet 16 it's Easter weekend I mean it's a disaster Major League Baseball this is a day they should own on their own can't do it the NBA can't get their players to play fans buy tickets the Stars don't play a third of the game it's ridiculous yet the NFL pivots they say we're not going to play on Christmas next year the ratings are through the roof we're going to have a double header on Christmas who Ray for Survivor right that makes our even T why is the NFL just so so much better well because I think the NFL was run by the owners the owners run their league and they're not afraid to say things that that they need to do to make their league the best it can be they they they vote for the what they use the term the good of the league whereas in the NBA they want it to be for the good of the players because the players are the league which there's no question the the players are the league in the NBA but you got to have a working partnership with the players you've got to have the ability to to get your players to play once again if you pay for a Broadway ticket and you go to the ma okay you might get the stand in but if you go to the saturday night show at 8:00 you expect the star to be there you can expect the star to be there I mean look you go pay tonight Bruce Springsteen's going to pay at at the chase Center in San Francisco it's sold out right is somebody going to play the league guitar in that show no of course not he's going to play you know he's going to play you're paying to see him play I'm paying to go watch players on the 70 but they don't play and so fans get frustrated and they lose they lose their enthusiasm and plus let's face it football's chess on grass it combines strategy with violence and who doesn't love that Michael is that why you get annoyed at I mean just the element of the new off that you feel is gimmicky to an extent because the NFL is already so good at so many things why are you trying to change for the sake of change why you messing with it why are you messing with something that's already good like you don't need to change anything you know and I thought the owners would not but the Commissioners all on the player safety thing you know look Malcolm Gladwell 10 years ago said that the NFL stadiums would be like the Roman Coliseum they would be all empty it's a fact he said that you know football was going to go away and football has got nothing but stronger there were some people Mark cuan included that thought the NBA would take over the NFL Mark Cuban no longer owns the Mavericks he sold them so I think this league is going to stay around a while and it's so popular way do you see what they pay to get the rights to have that c the games on Su on Christmas day that's going to be incredible and it's going to the players too let's not forget that yeah the your comments about Chris the fear for Survivor that you're not going to have games and get a double header yeah you can't just have two games somewhere you got to make get at least three now we can do the two Christmas day with the Thursday the next day uh Mike by the way will be here tomorrow all show as he is every Friday Michael enjoy the next couple of days off if you are watching right now on V Shar money Patrick Maher and Dustin swedelson coming up next if you are on DraftKings Network Pablo T finds out have a great day enjoy opening day and enjoy the sweet [Music] 16