Russell Wilson’s Benching, Jaire Alexander’s Coin Flip Mishap & Week 17 Slate Preview | GM Shuffle

On the GM Shuffle, hosts Michael Lombardi and Femi Abebefe talk about the Broncos benching Russell Wilson for the rest of the season plus his likely departure from the team after this season. Plus, Michael reacts to Jaire Alexander’s coin flip incident before the start of OT against the Panthers last Sunday. The guys also preview the NFL Week 17 slate.

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You’re listening to the GM Shuffle with Michael Lombardi presented by DraftKings and V sin here is FY AA welcome to another edition of the GM Shuffle with Michael Lombardi presented by DraftKings and V I’m your host feia be as always make sure to subscribe rate and review wherever you get your podcast

Our producer Andre Perry ESO filling in for our guy ell Bowman on the ones and twos this morning Elliot will be back on Monday as we recap everything for week 17 spending some time back home there for the holidays here but uh Michael we had a lot that one happen like it’s a

Quick turnaround for us we did a pot on Tuesday since then we’ve seen Russell Wilson get benched we’ve seen Jer Alexander gets suspended uh what’s going on this week here in the NFL Lots going on here obviously we’ll start with what happened in Denver with Russell Wilson

Well I mean look the the the Russell Wilson one I mean I I I love the the outrage that people are having I I I love this I mean I think this is comical like the outrage that oh he’s been disrespected how can they do this you

Know like Shawn really wants to eat $50 million like when he went in there I mean I think he was it was pretty clear he was trying to make this thing work right he was trying to see if he could make it work but it it couldn’t work and

If you just if you’re objective and you don’t take the players point of view on everything like most of these guys do that report on it then you could see that it it was really you know it was a situation where he had no return I mean

Where’s he going to go you know they’ve managed him to the best of their ability that’s all that’s what they’ve done and he can’t really win the game for them he’s no longer the same player that he was in 13 14 15 and he’s just not and so

You’re paying him 50 million you’re paying him all this money and he’s got future year guarantees you you got going to continue down a bad road with this I I give Shawn credit because he tried to make it work I think he was going in there trying to do the things manage the

Game Run the football put the ball but it you know you can look at the numbers and say he’s having a good year no he’s not he doesn’t make the plays that he has to make when to win the game you know and and people are putting him in

The Hall of Fame already like are you kidding me like I think Russell Wilson’s a really good player I think he’s had Hall of Fame Seasons but I don’t look at Russell Wilson and say man he’s a first-time out you know I don’t see him if Lamar Jackson continues on this train

I see that as oh there’s Hall of Fame talent but I the Hall of fame’s a messy messy thing as as I wrote about in football done right but the reality of it is is like the all of a sudden Russell who’s never been really endeared to his teammates who’s never really been

A team guy now because he’s getting he’s getting mistreated I mean it’s just remarkable I’m shocked it took this long actually and this is something that we talked about before the season even started I remember when we did a show on the Lombardi line and I forget the

Person from the Denver Market that we had on and we asked him and said hey like could they potentially bench Russell Wilson if things don’t go well to start the season and it didn’t go well to start the season they went one and five and they tried to make this

Thing work tried to cater the offense around what Russell did well and they were able to kind of turn it around at the mid-season point but over the last 3 four weeks it’s kind of Fallen apart here to where Russell Wilson now who is guaranteed $39 Million by the way in

2024 that’s the kind of mistreatment I’m looking for to be quite honest $39 million but then he also had the additional 37 million if he could not pass the physical in March that’s why the Broncos are doing this now sort of similar to what we saw last year with

The Raiders as well with Derek Carr just so happens that Jared SDM happens to be the backup quarterback in both instances being the starter of their final two weeks here but like this was all a financial decision right I mean there was obviously some football as well but

Big part of this was a financial decision don’t you agree no question I mean that it’s all about the fin ances and that really lends itself to the broader question right you know all we talk about is we got to get in position a draft a

Quarterback we got to get in position to draft a quarterback and it’s great you know the Jaguar’s draft uh Trevor Lawrence and it’s a wonderful thing and everybody’s a static about it right the problem isn’t getting a position to draft a quarterback the problem is finding quarterbacks that you want to

Pay 50 million to that’s the problem you know so when he got this contract you know any team that acquires him is going to inherit a 2-year deal at 76 million do you think that’s really really going to happen now if that’s if they if they trade them before the options exercise

Then it’s 54 million guaranteed okay now I think Russell has value in the marketplace and certainly he’s not a wash he’s he’s not Tommy DeVito but what’s happening in this market is these contracts have gotten to be so rich that they don’t match the talent you have to think of player contracts like

You’re a banker okay so you go to the bank and you say I want a loan I’m buying a house and they go out and praise the house and your house is worth a million dollars and they give you 80% of that loan at 800,000 and then the

Market crashes and now your house is worth 200,000 okay so you’re the bank’s 600,000 in the hole they that that note’s no longer valuable that’s exactly what’s happening to these quarterbacks the note the value of the quarterback isn’t no longer matches the contract like he can get Jared STM at 5

Million to do what Wilson’s doing maybe maybe not quite as good but certainly not 50 million worse and so this is the problem that goes in this we’re not even on the cusp of the problem yet like this is really the issue if you’re in the National

Football League today it isn’t we got to find a quarterback we have to keep finding quarterbacks because who wants to pay all the money to the deal do you want to pay Daniel Jones well you can’t pay Daniel Jones because you say to yourself well we don’t have anybody else

Behind them there’s the problem there is the problem you become indebted to bad players and so now you’re paying 50 million to a guy that you know isn’t worth it because if we don’t sign them we’re screwed right the Raiders made this mistake the Raiders did what what

Everybody what what the owner was trying to get everybody going back to Gruden to do which was move on from car okay move on from car for a lot of different reasons all right and they did the problem the Raiders the mistake the Raiders made is they had STM sitting

There and they don’t sign them they quab over a half a million dollars or a million dollars and they don’t bring them back and now they got to go get roolo and now their team’s kind of discombobulated when you get rid of the guy you got to have an

Answer or you got to develop an answer and what’s happening in this quarterback Market is there’s no development there’s no okay there’s no willingness to part with the guy if we lose him we you can’t win with them you can’t win a Super Bowl with them so what are we worried about

We have to build a team around them and once we pay them once the Jaguars pay Trevor Lawrence are they still going to be able to do what they do build a team around them I think it’s going to be really hard think about this FEI the Cleveland Browns take Joe flacko

Off the street they’ve get 65 million for the next three years for Deshawn Watson guaranteed they can’t get out of it okay Watson averages 28.5 passes per game when he played Flaco has come in and he averages 42.5 passes he’s three and one they’re not he’s not throwing it more

Because he’s behind he’s throwing it more because the coach believes he can throw it now if you’re the front office of the Browns you’re sitting there saying wait a minute we’re screwed we’re screwed we got to bring Flack go back what do we do with Watson we’ve just paid him all this

Money this is the problem with the league and can you even have like a quarterback competition with that like I don’t even know if that would work out like financially with Watson making all that money it’s like what do you do with him and you’re on the hook for that for

Fully guaranteed here for Russell Wilson for the Broncos side of it like if they are to release him maybe they make it a post June 1 type of cut there I mean we’re talking about a dead money of $85 million in dead money and they probably

Spread that over the 2 years like are they like can they be able to to kind of weather this storm financially here like I mean obviously they’ll try to have to do it but I mean man that puts them in a world of hurt to where yeah like Shawn

Peyton inherited this problem but man that this still is a problem going forward even if he’s not on the team well they have to they have no choice the Eagles went through the same situation and credit their front office for finding hurts in the second round or

Else they would have been in deep they would have been in really trouble cuz the Wentz contract that they gave gave him even though it wasn’t as bad they kind of have you know they were able to get away from it they were able

To get away from it look Wilson has a no trade clause in his contract so he has every right to say I’m not going somewhere same thing that Carr had so he can basically say look I’m not doing anything and I’m just going to I’m I’m not I’m not getting traded you’re just

Going to have to eat the money he has that Authority but they also have the authority to not want to continue to guarantee money I mean he’s is 20 six contract is $40 million he’s got 4 million of that injury guaranteed right now so if they cut him at the end of the

Year that 4 million goes away he’s got 9 million injury guarantee if he’s on the roster on the fifth day of the league year he’s got and then all of it becomes guaranteed if he’s on the roster of the fifth day of that season okay so he’s

Got all these triggers built in to guarantee money and all of them are guaranteed by by injury and so I don’t know what I don’t know what some of these people that are commenting on how he’s been disrespected and been treated poorly they’re trying to work with him to rearrange the

Contract the value of his play doesn’t match the value of the contract it’s as simple as that and and and if you don’t believe the Broncos then see how many people line up to trade for that contract isn’t that the litus test isn’t that what really is

Going to show whether this is a good contract or a B you cut a player and he goes to the market and he makes less than what you cut him from that shows you you overpaid him that shows you that contract’s not valid yeah and like you always say it’s

Like you talk about how like the people just see players but you have to see player plus contract like and that’s the problem with Russell Wilson is like the contract is like the big issue here to where yeah if he’s making $2 million maybe they work with this but he’s not

He’s making $50 million I mean if he were making 20 million I think they would work with with it I think they would say okay look the last three years of Wilson’s deers have been horrible they have not been good I mean he hasn’t won games hasn’t come from behind I mean

There he is the other night I mean if there’s ever a time let Russ Cook right the greatest comeback player of all time right he can lead you back you know what what were we all saying in the betting Market five years ago you don’t want to

Play against Russell when he has a three-point if he’s down three you’re going to lose right but that ended that ended 3 years ago in Washington remember that game in Washington where he went back there and they have a chance to win the game with Seattle and he can’t throw

The ball the guy’s wide open in the end zone he doesn’t see him like that ended that moment I said to myself there’s no you don’t don’t be fearful of betting against Russell Wilson anymore and last week against the Patriots it’s the same situation right he he’s got a chance to

Lead him to a victory they go three and out and they take like 20 seconds off the clock New England able to go ahead and kick the game-winning field goal As Time expired there uh last Saturday night or Sunday night I should say here do you think that this is the end of

Russell Wilson as a starting quarterback in the NFL or maybe one of these teams that perhaps strikes that we can carry the conversation on to the other side as well yeah let’s talk about it on the break after the break yeah because I I think that that’s what’s interesting

Here it’s like cuz Derek car we saw him able to find the Home in New Orleans can Russell Wilson find the home we know a lot of teams have be looking for quarterbacks throughout this offseason here the draft has a bunch of guys that people are excited about Caleb Williams

Drake May Jaden Daniels Michael penck Jr the list goes on and on and then of course maybe the free agency pull for some of these guys but that’s a little shallower what we are expected to see this spring in the draft but we’ll answer that question and other

Parameters as well on the other side this is the GM Shuffle here on the DraftKings De you’re listening to the GM Shuffle with Michael Lombardi presented by DraftKings and V sin here is f AA so Michael as we were heading to break in the last segment there I was asking you where do you think Wilson could land and will he land as a starting quarterback uh in 2024 because uh there’s a lot of teams out there quarterback needy but there’s a lot of

Cheaper options in the draft we’ll see what happens with that here but is it to one of these teams that maybe strikes out in the first round and not being able to get one of these prospects like is this or is this the last that we’ve seen of Wilson as a starting quarterback

In a for an NFL team at least to start the year I mean I find it hard to believe that he can’t go somewhere and operate but the day of him cooking and him being the guy and I think a lot of it’s going to come down to the the the

Fit within the team right because if he comes in thinking that he’s still the guy that he has to be let him cook I I I think it’s going to be hard I think Shawn tried to manage the game as much as he possibly could around them and it

Wasn’t effective you know they couldn’t win enough games you know and it’s not his fault they lost 70 to 20 but the fact is is at 20 million is is he still a good value for you I think you have to answer I think a lot of it’s going to

Come down to fit and the team around him you know and where he is you know where is he in life in terms of willing to accept the role and the plight of where his career has gone cuz the last three years of his career has been a disaster

And so I think to me that that’s got to be the fundamental question I think this is more than just watch the tape I think it’s you don’t walk into the if you’re the general manager of the Washington team or say the Falcons let’s say you’re the Atlanta Falcons yeah and you you

Know you you’re looking for a quarterback and you’re Arthur Smith and okay how does he fit within this group how does he lead within this group you know we we know for all the the the love that he’s receiving today because of the mistreatment and the disrespect that

He’s receiving taking the $50 million check home with him I mean Jesus God uh I I think you got to feel like how he fits the other interesting thing in this whole thing is George pton that the the general manager who made the trade right you know up until last year he was

Defending the contract I mean he was defending the contract and you know and he didn’t see it he thought it would be fixable and I think the lot of it was that that they convinced Shawn to give it a year and I think Shawn gave it a

Year CU it really doesn’t do Shawn any good to walk in there and say I got to get rid of this he’s gone get him out of here because he’s got so much money tied up into him he’s got to like try to make this work and once it

Reaches the point of not working then you got to make then you got to have to start eating you know you got to do it but what what’s fascinating about this Russell deal is when he made the trade for him when George made the trade for

Him and look we’ve all made bad trads right we’ve all made bad trads he gave up a you know he ended up the the Broncos John Schneider and Pete Carol made a great deal they end up with Charlie cross they end up with Mafi they end up with Weatherspoon Derek car

They got fan and they got a backup quarterback and and lock right so they they they got a lot of pieces I’m not saying it was good but what’s fascinating about the deal was like he did not have to redo the contract he had two more years at 50 million like this

Would not have been such a colossal mistake if he didn’t redo the contract right when La took in Matthew Stafford they did a a full year they didn’t do the contract they waited a full year until they redid the deal did Detroit’s never done anything with Goff in 3 years since his

Acquisition right so they didn’t have to touch it but but George went ahead and readed not only did he compound the mistake like he could have easily said to Russell’s people look I want to see how this thing goes we gave a lot up for

You you know we got a coach here who going to coach it and then watch it but he went ahead and rewarded him and you know you you’ve read all the Articles from there about you know how prideful they were about the hacken hire and how diligent they were I mean this

Has really been a a colossal colossal err of judgments on his part and I think to me I I don’t know how he walks around the bu I would be embarrassed I would I literally would be I feel badly for him but you know he’s getting paid for it

But you know this these were really bad mistakes and they compounded the mistake we all make mistakes and trades but then he compounded it with the money I mean I don’t even how I don’t know how Shawn pton says to him hey George what do you

Think like how do you say that to him now he’ll get another job immediately in the National Football League immediately there’ll be no problem he’ll get another job in the league he’s well-liked you know and you know he gets along with the media that’s why you don’t hear anything

That’s why I’m the only one probably talking about how is he still in the building yeah I mean is this uh the end of him being in the building though like this Russell Wilson like debacle like this probably is like it’s over right I

I got to think it’s over I I got to think if Shawn could ever get I don’t know if he can I mean I think if sea could get Jeff Ireland in there he certainly would do it but you know when you make a disaster like this I don’t

The Walton family have paid this money I mean the one there’s many things I’ve learned from Al Davis but reacting too quickly is probably the greatest thing he wouldn’t do now I used to say he didn’t really want to make a decision but the Brilliance of the man was he

Wanted to see things clearer he wanted to keep going you know and I think that’s wisdom from age I think you get that from age you know let’s just see how this plays out let’s not assume it’s just going to go to plan and you know

George jumps right in and gives him this record contract like who was he negotiating against who was he negotiating against like John Schneider sitting there you know and every oh they get trade they got to let Russ how many years were we leading were we listening to let Russ

Cook how many years were we we had to hear that you know I mean the 2020 the strike year or the co year he was 12 and4 I mean Russ was and you you and I both know you were up there like he’s not like loved by his

Teammates I mean that’s well documented at this point everything that’s come out ever since he left Seattle and all that stuff and the the let Russ Cook stuff like I mean there can obviously be revision his history but we all remember like the fan base was saying that Pete

Carroll was holding him back like we don’t need to get into all of that stuff like it had been going strong since like 2015 all the way until he left the whole let Rus cook movement here but I mean this like this organization with the Broncos and what they tried to do

Because I know our guy Jordan Schultz over at Bleacher Report the NFL Insider he talked about how like this was like in it was working out over the weeks like they tried to go to him earlier this season and say hey man like we need to restructure this thing or like take

Away these injury guarantees otherwise we’re going to have to Ben you like they were able not able to kind of come up with something to negotiate it to where now of ultimately Shawn Payton and those guys kind of just said all right enough is enough so this feels like these two

Sides have kind of been working towards this like it doesn’t feel like Russ is being blindsided I guess is what I’m trying to say here like the whole like mistreatment and all this stuff like he knew that this was eventually coming down the line just didn’t know when it was going to happen

Essentially exactly and you know and he you know he obviously played hard ball so you know and he’s you know he look he signed the contract he has every right to play hard ball put it back on them you know and so but the taking away the with taking away the injury

Guarantees really are you know it it it does hurt him and the sense that if he does get injured you know it does become a real issue and so it’s kind of hard to get a player to take away the injury guarantees especially in a sport where

Injuries happen at at a high level you know it’s a hard thing you’re going to have I’m sure there was some form of compensation some form of redirection to try to get that out of there I don’t think they were just trying to line on him and scratch

Him out but I get why he wouldn’t want to do it I get why that he’s an older player he’s 35 years old I mean look right now he’s the fifth oldest starting quarterback in the NFL behind Roger Stafford tanah Hill and cousins so you

Know I mean I I I think the fair question is what’s next but through all this conversation about Russell I think it really comes back to team building I think it really comes back to somebody in your organization better have a plan and and you can laugh at the Packers

Okay you can laugh at them for what they did when they drafted Jordan love and all that but to me I think that’s the plan I think you have to you got to get a quarterback you got to have an offensive system that can adapt to the

Quarterback I’m not saying he’s got to be the first pick overall in the draft because that sometimes doesn’t work and that fifth year contract is not going to get picked up think about it when Trevor Lawrence I mean he’s going to get his fifth year picked up Jacksonville is

Going to be in deep when they have to pay him the 50 million right but all the other quarterbacks in that draft are not going to get their fifth year picked up nor are they going to make 50 million two of them don’t even start Lance and

Jones so you know and and Zack Wilson I mean well he starts but he doesn’t really so you know all these people that say well we’re going to get our quarterback in the draft hold on hold on you might not so for me I think it’s about we got

To build a system of offense that we can bring a player in that that we know for lack of a better word is similar to Brock pie who’s going to be enhanced by the system and can operate the system I’m not dismissing Brock py whatsoever cuz I think Brock PR’s really good but

But then when it comes time to pay him we’re going to have to have somebody behind them because if if we do what Dallas did with Dak and say if we don’t pay Dak we’re screwed now you eat all your cap up now you’re really in trouble now you’re really in

Trouble 100% And then I’m curious to see if there’s a franchise that’s going to do that going forward and it’s not necessarily like recycling through quarterbacks like every four years but just at least having a plan to say if if a guy wants to play hard ball all right

Well go out and test the open market we’re confident that we can go ahead and replace you next year with a guy that we’ve been developing in our system over the last couple of years like you don’t want it to be the O moment right and that’s what everybody

Pushes themselves into it’s like okay you know Ram wolf was draft in quarterbacks every single year in in Green Bay you know he Mark Brunell you know Matt hasselbach the system was quarterback friendly so he was putting them in Plug and Play he’s getting value out of them he wasn’t drafting them to

Replace Favre he was drafting them to get more value out of him knowing that his system enhanced it Walsh did the same thing trade for Steve Young no one wants them we’ll modify him maybe we’ll get more value for him or maybe he’ll take over because Joe’s back is bad see

There’s got to be more long range planning the Giants sit there with they just they fall in love with with with Daniel Jones and now they’re stuck with him now they’re stuck with them when last year if they would have drafted a quarterback I’m not saying who whatever

But if they would have kept drafting quarterbacks and develop them maybe they hit maybe they find somebody that looks like look look I I think Jake Browning has looked as good as any of these quarterb he’s looked as good as Trevor Lawrence has he’s more accurate with the

Football now Lawrence to me makes way too many mistakes with the ball he he he’s obviously he’s very talented but that Talent hasn’t resonated to where you want to pay that and I’m not picking on Trevor Lawrence everybody just assumes well he’s got Doug Dougs fixed

Them no he has and Doug hasn’t fixed him he’s a little bit better than he was with Daryl Beville and and Urban Meyer but not a lot he’s no longer a franchise player generational was the word that was used when he was coming out of Clemson I thought he was I’m saying that

I thought he was I thought he was as good as any player I’ve seen but that’s not but he hasn’t that there’s something missing in his game whether it’s the ability to process whether it’s intelligent well I don’t know what it is but it does and his and his fundamentals

And techniques from one week to the next go bad B to bad back to bad back to good no consistency in anything he does it’s almost like it’s a microcosm of that Jaguars team like one week it could look good the next week it looks pretty bad

As they sit there at 8 and seven uh you mentioned those Green Bay Packers Michael we’ll discuss what’s going on with them this week here with G Alexander coming up next I want I know you have Big Daddy’s thoughts as well we’ll be right Back you’re listening to the GM Shuffle with Michael Lombardi presented by DraftKings and V sin here is FY AA what in the world is going on with the Green Bay Packers cornerback Jer Alexander the Packers suspended him for one game conduct detrimental to the team this goes back to him just I guess gate crashing the coin toss last Sunday in their game against the Carolina Panthers

There uh he was not one of the team captains but he decided to go out there since he’s from the Charlotte area and uh Michael your thoughts here on Jer Alexander who has had a a tumultuous season to say the least here in 2023 well I listened to his comments

After the game the reporters came over to him and you know he acted like it was pretty good like he acted like okay yeah man you know I came from Charlotte my my teammates got my back I went out there like are we kidding ourselves like I’ve

Never even heard of this before but but let’s start with the head coach right like you’re sitting there I’m assuming he was looking at his play sheet or combing his hair after the fresh haircut as Big Daddy would like to say but I mean at what point do you look out there

And you see Alexander out there on the coin toss and and you don’t say what what the f is he doing out there like get him out of there put him out of here and then when he’s out there you let him play in the game like you let him play

In the game like he just disrespected you and he didn’t think there was anything wrong with it and then he almost made the wrong call right he he do doesn’t even realize he made the wrong call did you did you see the interview I I did when the writer when

The reporter asked him and said you almost made the wrong call well you know I did I I want the ball no you no no like it that is everything right there what’s wrong with an organization that’s everything what’s wrong there’s absence of leadership there’s no accountability

Guy does whatever the hell he wants to do and then you’re the head coach on the Seline like somebody didn’t see his ass out there and say hey get get him out of there put him back over here see everybody is scared to death today in this world everybody is scared to death

To hold people accountable it’s like Michael Irving got mad at Shawn Payton because he yelled at Russell Wilson can’t yell at him like that like when did this change in this world like when did this stop I mean you know you don’t think when Lombardi had players come off

The field he wasn’t yelling at them or telling them you or motivating him or trying to get him to play better holding them accountable like when is the absence of accountability happened in our sport like the only teams that can win are the teams that have accountability that have everybody doing

What their jobs are nobody acting outside meanwhile the head coach is stand there watching it and he doesn’t say a word and it takes the GM fires him on Wednesday now I think the reason it took so long to make that decision is I’m sure that gut had to go and and make

Sure that he had all his Ducks lined up so that when the player files the grievance to get his game check back that they’ve got proof that he violated what he did so they can sit there and say look the guy was being the guy didn’t he was out there for the coin

Toss he wasn’t supposed to be his conduct detrimental to the team I mean this to me is the guy’s played six games Big Daddy’s been complaining about him all year he’s been saying to me I think something’s going on with him I think he’s pissed off at

The team I think you know he’s been telling me this is This is Gospel truth and I’m saying not Big Daddy I think he’s just got a bad shoulder you know he’s been I don’t know if he’s been milking the shoulder but he hasn’t been doubtful he’s been questionable for like

A month right and he hasn’t been able to play and then he went out there and he hasn’t play worth a darn like the guy’s played one year in the last three and then he then he shows you this like you can’t win with that guy like you can’t

Win with him yeah like just like you can’t win with Jack Jones like you can’t win with him what he did you just can’t win with that like you just can’t that that is the that is the essence of why you can’t win and it’s a joke and and if

I were the if I were goo I’d be like all over the floor like you didn’t see this like what’s he doing out there like who’s going to hold him accountability you wonder why Joe Barry still has a job cuz nobody’s holding him accountable if you don’t hold Alexander

Accountable how you going to hold Joe Joe Barry account well he’s my buddy I love Joe Joe and I are friends I I get we’re friends I like that it’s wonderful we’re all friends but we have to do the job to maintain the friendship you have to do the job you

Know you don’t want to fire them because you don’t want confrontation see this is the problem when you hire play callers play callers I’ve learned this through my experience in the league these guys that are really good play callers they know offense or they’ll know defense but they don’t have

Enough belief in knowing the other side of the ball or the kicking game to walk into the room and say here’s what I want to do or here’s what I think we should do they get backed down they get backed down because they really don’t know the

Whole game and if you’re a head coach you got to know the whole game you got to sit there and say Joe we’re not good enough in run defense here’s why our run fit sucks here’s what we need to work on here’s what we need to do here are the

Things that are going to help us I I I I just find this hard to believe and I would be so pissed off you know if I were anybody in that building because this is just it sums up why we can’t win close why we can’t win hard

Games yeah I mean it’s it’s a big middle finger to the to the organization that he went out and did that honestly and like the the what he said in the post game when asked by the reporters did anybody talk talk to you once you got to

The sideline he said no nobody talked to me like that is a just a red flag beyond belief that is such a massive red flag if you’re a Green Bay Packer fan or somebody who follows that team like how does nobody say anything to him all right you could say what would bob

Knight have done he would have okay just ask yourself what would Dean Smith have done you know like you know you don’t have to be a yeller and a screamer but accountability is the number one part of the game everybody has to one of the thingss that are killing Kansas City is the

Quarterback isn’t be I thought Dante Hall had a great statement where he talked about really This falls on Mahomes because he’s not running the offense he’s not willing to take the profits that’s right that’s exactly right he doesn’t want to run the offense he wants big plays so he holding the

Ball longer they can’t make big plays so you got to hold him accountable that’s what happened in Denver he was holding Russell Wilson accountable that’s why he was yelling at at him that’s why he was trying look he’s got to be held accountable like I

Don’t get it like why do we think in a in a team sport that we think we could not hold players accountable you want to know why nobody wants to hold players accountable because they won’t get a head coaching job if they do because Devonte Adams will get mad at Josh

McDaniels and get him fired right you know and so you know or they’ll turn on you know now you won’t get a job and and because the media is sympathetic to it and because the media doesn’t understand it like we see these clowns over at the worldwide leader defending

Russell you know it’s like okay like like the absence of the 50 million then then you’re going to get it like no no no we are in an accountability sport we’re all accountable and if we don’t are if we don’t have accountability what do we have we’re not going to win

Anybody we’re not going to beat anybody you think the Washington commanders have any accountability on their team at all I can promise you if I walked in that building tomorrow and I started asking people every player if I asked jacobe brasset who’s a great kid who understands leadership who understands

How to do things the right way he may not be the most talented player but he gets everything that you have to get he would be the perfect son-in-law you could ever have okay he gets it tough we’ll do it I’ll bet you if I had a five-minute conversation with jacobe

Brassett everything I tell him would be completely true there’s no accountability you see it there’s no accountability at the Chargers and then when there is accountability in some places and the players don’t want it they go to the owner and then all of a sudden there’s no accountability you’ve talked about

Accountability and like coaches talking up to quarterbacks and all that I I just in my head I see the bill Parcels chewing out Phil Sims I think the game was in Indianapolis and I want to say it was and they were just like in like a

Shouting match and like Sims has giv it back to him as well but like parcel is like go sit down and da d d d da like you know we’re not playing well or I mean there’s the George sea for benching Steve Young in the season that they won

The Super Bowl when they lost to Philadelphia got blown out had a bad game Steve Young wasn’t playing well and he would he wanted to go back out there and stord said no time to go sit down like like this has happened to so many quarterbacks along the way and that was

The way of the past in in today’s day and age I guess you can’t really do it as much anymore but uh it it’s it’s been I don’t know why I why who said you can’t people don’t do it you’re going to have to the team that wins I mean I

Think the ra I think the Ravens can I think they’re holding them accountable I think you could see it I mean just listen to what you know if if you read if you read what or listen to what they said after the game you know when they

Said that I mean I think I don’t think I think it was Rohan or something he said uh you know we play a brand of foot oh no it’s Patrick Queen he said we play a brand of football that people don’t want to play everybody wants to be out here

Cute playing basketball grass and we’re not that you can do all that stuff but you’re going to have to hit somebody in the mouth and play honestly we could care less about the pretty stuff we don’t do the gimmick stuff we line up and play football that’s our

Mindset you’re not having that mindset if you don’t have accountability applaud them applaud them because I think it’s going the other way I think if you have accountability and you have toughness and you build a team that way you’re going to beat everybody else because there’s an absence of it like do you

Think Jacksonville’s tough do you think Kansas City’s a tough team right now they’re a hard watch no no I mean from a physical toughness of course they don’t and the Raiders kick their ass up front watch that tape so like to me this trend of being oh everybody’s going to be sing kumaya

Let’s go to Dairy Queen like hey that ain’t leadership that a that ain’t how you win in the world I’m not saying you got to be an all I’m saying is you have to be accountable you’ve got to call you got to try to make players

Better and the only way you make players better is by holding them accountable like they can bring Aaron Aaron Rogers back all they want next year they can do whatever the hell they want there’s no accountability in that building they’ll be 6 and 11 next year just write it down

They’re they’re going to go to camp this summer they’re going to have mild practices they’re not going to have physicality they’re going to tell us how great they are salah’s going to go work on his golf game in the off season everything’s going to be wonderful and they’re going to

Suck yeah that’s uh that’s probably what have happened this year to be quite honest with the offensive line that they’re putting out there at one Jets drive there uh real quick on the you mentioned the commanders here uh Rivera went with jacobe brassette there to

Start week 17 Sam how has been gone to the bench here is that the right move here for the commanders is I mean brasset clearly has been the better guy I don’t know what’s happened to Howell over the course of the Season maybe the sacks have gotten to him or what’s going

On but yet please explain what do you mean the sack the the guy’s gotten the kicked out how long have I been saying on this podcast if I was his father I’d be bitching to them there’s no regard for the protection of the player they don’t even try to run the

Ball they just keep calling passes look if they wanted to make Eric benmy the head coach if that’s what they wanted to do they would have made him the head coach already like for anybody to think that after the season benm is going to be the head coach of Washington I think

It’s a it’s a poor judgment because I think that building doesn’t want that or if the building wanted that it would have happened already cuz Rivera knows he’s a lame duck yeah Rivera will likely be uh gone at the end of the season here for the Washington commanders well now they get

To play the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday hosting them I’m sure that game will go well they’re right now a 12 and a half Point underdog uh against the Niners who are coming off of a loss here on the other side we’ll get to Thursday Night Football Jets Browns Browns have a

Chance to clinch a playoff spot tonight of course Saturday night’s game should be a lot of fun the lions at the Cowboys that’s a very interesting game in my opinion then we’ll get into the other Marquee matchups as well in week 17 the penultimate week of the regular season

In the National Football League will break it all down coming up on the other side this is the GM Shuffle with Michael Lombard You’re listening to the GM Shuffle with Michael Lombardi presented by DraftKings and V sin here is f a uh Michael before we get to the games wanted to clear up a note that we talked about it on the Pod uh on Tuesday and then you brought the Raiders thing again

Here today but the the Jack Jones Arrowhead Stadium incident apparently I don’t know if you saw on Twitter he tweeted out uh defending himself saying that like it I wasn’t taking it away from the kid the football he said that there was a guy behind the kid who tried

To step in and intercept the the recipient of the football so I guess that’s why he pulled the ball away is uh you see it that way he that’s what he tweeted um so I mean I didn’t see that I I got maybe we go back to the Zer tape

And watch that I mean I’m too busy on this Kennedy thing uh I don’t have time to go back and watch other too busy down this rabbit hole yeah I I I I mean I’m right now I’m on I’m right now I’m at a part on this thing where I’m convinced

There’s two Lee oswalds I bought this book Harvey and Lee from eBay it was the mo it’s the most unbelievable book I’ve ever read in terms of it it’s so detailed uh it’s unbelievable actually I’m so excited I’m going to be on U the guy who does solving JFK Matt crumpton

He asked me to come on his pod I’m jacked to do that going to talk about Oswald yeah so excited about I think I’m doing it next week I got to do but I’m doing a lot of homework man I’ve been on this homework program here I got to like I’m reading

My ass off on these books and it’s fascinating you know we we owe an apology as a nation to Jim Garrison we do we owe an apology to that poor man they ridiculed him they they destroyed him they made him look like a fool and everything he talked about everything he

Said has been true it’s a shame how they can how the narrative you know we see it in our sport too right you know Devonte Adams catches one pass for four yards and nobody complains if that would have been Josh McDaniels the world would have been the world would have been lit up

You get him the football I mean it I mean it would have been the end of the football right I mean one catch four yards The Narrative is that’s okay we won you know meanwhile if Josh did it I’ll fire him he’s a he’s the shittiest offensive coach didn’t have a

Quarterback complete a pass I mean at some point when are they going to bench Aiden oconnell like seriously at some point when are they going to do that he’s the worst he’s on Tommy DeVito level talk about accountability there DeVito said that what he learned throughout the season though is that he

Belongs in the NFL is what he said so good for him man he’s got the confidence to go out there and stick in the league here but uh we’re not going to see him coming up the rest of the season it’s trod Taylor starting now for the New

York Giants but we do have shocker sh I never saw that coming in a minut like did you see the line Go I mean look one thing I’ve learned about the betting Market is it can tell you a lot of things and if you’re in the league you

Should look at it I’m not saying you need to bet I’m not saying that at all but the betting Market is very similar to the stock market there are variables and people are you know what’s what does birkshire hathway do for a living they evaluate companies right and so they set

Prices on companies and they look for Value in different companies it’s the same thing in the betting Market you’re looking at Value that line was 6 and a half it went to six because it’s kind of a game in between games right the Rams the Rams played a big game on Thursday

Night against the Saints and then they come back to Washington they come back to New York now they got to go play the the the 49ers right so it’s kind of like a almost I don’t want to call it a Trap game but it’s kind of a trap game right

But and so the line moved from 6 and2 to 6 and then when they announced Tyrod it went all the way down to four now it’s come back to five because there’s been some resistance because the Rams at five might be the right number but that tells

You all you need to know if you’re Brian deal and you see this right you see wait a minute they moved the line maybe maybe I was wrong on this one here like like you know there is and I’m not saying Tyrod terer can move any line but he can

Move a line more than more than Tommy can yeah just like Aiden oconnell I mean that Colts lines up to three and a half who’s not waiting at the window to bet against Aiden oconnell on the road in a dome on Monday on on Sunday like who’s

Not throwing money at that like the pros and the Joe’s are betting that one that Line’s already at three and a half it’ll get to four before I get to the Russo contest if there’s one thing the betting Market is uh unbiased they don’t care

What team it is who it is they’re just looking for value they’re looking to make some money and that it’s why I I hold it in high regard here because like there’s like you said there’s none of these biases of what people have it’s strictly you go ahead and cover the

Number and the betting mark is telling you that terod Taylor is a clear upgrade over Tommy DeVito um despite what we’ve seen over the last month or so Thursday night football though interesting Jets at the Browns we’ll spend a couple minutes on this usually we don’t do

Thursday night since it comes out the same day as the Pod but uh a chance for Cleveland to go ahead and clinch a playoff spot which is pretty remarkable the job Kevin stefansky has done the job Joe flacko has done uh one thing on an injury note though for Cleveland Amari

Cooper didn’t practice at all this week dealing with the heal injury sounds like they’re going to let him try things out pregame we’ll see if he’s able to play here but uh uh maybe it’s a flacko Revenge game with Gang Green coming into town Northeast

Ohio yeah I mean look Jets on the road this year let me give you a little let me give you some numbers 12 points per game 13.5 first downs they’ve committed 16 turnovers offensively in their six Road games they’ve had 550 yards rushing 234 came in the Denver game they

Averaged 91 overall rushing on the road but in reality they average about 63 they’ve had 9 46 yards passing on the road that’s 157 per game and they average 13 points so 12 points I’m sorry so you know I mean they’re going against the Browns defense that has allowed the fewest passing

Yards in 15 games since the Raiders and the Colts in 2006 you know and they’ve only allowed 105 points at home in eight games 13.1 so I would think the unders in play here I know the line’s at 7 and2 but I don’t know how the Jets block them

And unless flacko throws two pick sixes I think it’s going to be hard for them to cover think about this FEI this is the job that you’re that Robert Salah who deserves to come back because he’s done such a wonderful job okay he deserves it the run it back 188 to 108

At the end of the first half they’re down 13 points on average in every game thanks a good thing that Cleveland’s defense doesn’t play really well at home it’s a good thing that or or or create turnovers because the they have the most fumbles of any team you’re really working on ball security

There at the Jets because they have the most fumbles of any team in the league other than the Jaguars with 28 yikes it’s just amazing I mean as somebody’s paying attention nobody’s paying attention what the am I preaching about I mean I’m as parcel’s once told me quit kicking the dog he’s

Already dead like he’s coming back quit kicking it well one last note uh Robert tler earlier this week said uh they have no regrets not signing Joe flacko earlier this season why would you have no regrets and and and and we’ll go ahead and run it back that’s the

Campaign I mean they’re 20 FEI they’re 25.5% on third down that’s that’s an amazing stat through 15 games that’s the third worst third down percentage of any teams going back to the Cardinals in 12 25% on third down I mean you want that back next year you have to have that

Back next year you need that back next year that’s building blocks it’s it’s insane Saturday night uh this seems like it’s going to be a fun game here when you look at the total total is at 53 and a half Between the Lions and the Cowboys right now this the

Line is at 5 and a half here some Detroit money is coming in over the last 24 hours and I kind of agree with it like I don’t know if Dallas can lay this kind of number against a pretty good offense in the Lions how do you see that

Playing out Saturday night at Big D where Jimmy Johnson finally will go into the Ring of Honor deserves it should going in sooner but the least you know one thing as the great Al Davis once said I’m not looking to be consistent I’m looking to be correct at least Jerry

Got to be correct uh I would say you know look the Cowboys the problems the Cowboys have is their offensive line when they go on the road it’s clear as day they have a tough time Prescott’s under too much pressure when they play at home when they play at home they can

Mag they they can manage the rush much better I think it’s a close game I I I don’t think I would play it because I do think the Cowboys can cover at six as long as it’s you know because I think a closing touchdown to end the game and I

Think they’ll put some pressure on they’ll put some pressure on Golf and and I know the I know the lions are still playing for something but once you hand out t-shirts and hats the next game’s the hardest game and it’s a Dallas team that’s coming out back-to-back losses as well

Trying to get uh some momentum going towards the postseason here uh I yeah I I think Dallas wins but I think it’s a kind of hold on to your butt sort of situation it feels like it’s a shootout to me maybe it’s the last team with the

Ball wins the game here uh Miami and Baltimore is a hell of a game here uh one seed in play for both of these teams if Miami wins out they’re the one seed if Baltimore wins they clinch that home field advantage Ravens three-point favorites total

47 yeah I mean look you know I think the one thing about this game that I haven’t heard a lot of people talk about is the game last year where they scored Miami scored 28 points in the fourth they scored 30 they scored 35 in the second

Half on Baltimore I’m sure that’s that’s been talked quite a bit about at at the Ravens facility this week you know and I think they got to figure out how they want to handle this offense of Miami you know I mean they watch what they did against ball the San Francisco you know

The way they attacked San Francisco’s motions the way they overloaded the pressure I thought was really good it was a creative game plan by McDonald they’ve got a rush inside you got to get in front of Tua I haven’t seen the weather yet FEI I think I would be

Really concerned you know weatherwise here so right now it it it looks like you know I haven’t gotten a weather report CLE blakeman’s the official for the game I haven’t gotten the weather so you got CLE bakan going to the game I’ll tell you who you got on let me see who

You got for your Cowboys better not be Novak you got Brad Allen you got Brad Allen now let me see who we got tonight I always like to know who we got tonight yeah we got Alex Kemp tonight Alex konight I don’t know where Novak is

I don’t know where they sent I’ll get Hope’s enjoying the holiday I I think to me you know to me the thing about this game is I I like Miami’s defense you know I just think Miami’s defense is good look I I I thought Dallas would would win last week

I I gave it as a as one of the play I think I had it at like it was 2 and 1/2 and I think the two then it came down to 1 and A2 I still would have taken it at 1 and A2 but I thought I you know when

You lose a game by two points and the opposing team kicked three 50 yard field goals I mean come on yeah right I mean credit to that kid for making those kicks because if he doesn’t make them those are three turnovers the Cowboys are going to win that game by 14 points

Think about it they’re going to take the ball from where that spot is they’re going to go down and score and so I’m sure Vic fangio was sitting in the Press Box when he’s watching those field goals he’s like oh oh oh don’t make it make it make it oh thank God cuz

You know we don’t talk enough about field position but trust me every coach in the league who calls defenses talk about field position you know and he was like okay you get give him this ball like he was like are sure we want to make this kick kid drilled him and

Credit to him he was Nails uh five for five and the game-winning kick as well as time expired real quick here Steelers at the Seahawks it’ll be Mason rudoff who gets the ball once again for Pittsburgh they’re going up to Seattle where the both teams are fighting for their playoff lives

Yeah I mean I I I don’t know what to make I mean Pittsburgh Lou emomo said that said it best he said we just can’t give up these oneplay touchdown drives and he did you know can they duplicate that against Seattle I think you know Seattle if they

Get weather spoon back that certainly will help playing up there in the dome I mean this is a this is one of those where is the Dome is is Seattle’s home field going to come through not the Dome I keep thinking of the Kingdom but if they’re going to come through I think

That’s going to be the key to this one I mean they should be able to neutralize Mason r Rudolph in this game and they should be able to throw against the secondary without Minka Fitzpatrick and and what they did I mean Cincinnati just turned the ball over you got to block

Him if you block him you’re going to throw it on Pittsburgh yeah I like Seattle in that game real quick does Kansas City get right against Cincinnati or is this kind of the beginning of the end of the Chiefs look cincin Kansas City has issues they’re slow on offense

They’re not as good as we think they are on defense and they’re trending in the wrong direction even if they get it right against against Cincinnati whose secondary and defense is bad I’m not sure it’s right for the playoffs all right that does it for this edition of

The GM Shuffle we’ll be back on Monday to recap everything week 17 subscribe rate and review as always and have a good Weekend great