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It's Football Sunday and start your day with The Pivot! Our friends at Seat Geek are waking you up with the top football storylines around the league and giving you access to the best of the best!
Heading into Week 9 of the NFL season, it's about that time to see what rosters have the talent and depth to finish the season strong and Ryan, Channing and Fred are breaking it down for you. With one of the most active trade deadlines we've seen, the league's top teams didn't stray away from making moves to keep them in contention for the big game come February.
Channing is big on Miami and the team's roster moves and feels strongly about Tua's performance that he is not only one of the top talents playing the position but could have been a MVP candidate if he didn't miss two games. Comparing his comeback after injury to Dak Prescott's return in Dallas, Channign says Tua is the better quarterback while Ryan feels that the two will be measured differently as Tua is more on his individual success while it's either Dallas goest o the Super Bowl or Dak and big D is considered a major let down.
Getting into Dallas' running back situation and the explosive play of Tony Pollard, Ryan asks Fred to share insight on Pollard vs Zeke Elliott and if there is room for both to share the load or is this a passing of the torch situation. Fred reflects on his time in Jacksonville in similar scenarios and how he sees it playing out.
With so many young quarterbacks stepping up with strong numbers and winning ways, the guys talk about if this is the end of an era of greats such as Tom Brady and Arron Rodgers as we see some of these younger more mobile quarterbacks top the league. As the discussion plays out, Ryan also shares a message about criticism he has received recently when speaking about Tom Brady and makes it very clear how he feels about #12 and the success he has had along with his contributions to the sport are unmatched but doesn't take away from his performance this season.
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Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:01 Speaker 00 Every game day, you show up for your team. Now, it's your time.
0:11 Speaker 00 Ask your prescriber about Wegovy. Semaglutide injection, 2.4mg a GLP-1. Call 1-8334-WEGOVIE or visit wegovie.com to view the medication guide and to learn more about Wegovy. Why wait?
0:30 Channing Crowder? I got me a fire outfit. Okay.
0:35 Fred Taylor? That went silent. She ain't ready to look. We'll wait on it. Show me.
1:06 Ryan Clark? Welcome back. Welcome to the Pivot, man. We are super excited. You know, my boys left me for a little bit. I was left to fend for myself. It almost seemed like it was one of those old show weeks. You know what I mean? Where if you wasn't on the old show, you had to stay at your house. But if you were on the old show, you had some type of residual money, which I know they don't get from the show. Some residual money that they could go.
1:26 Fred Taylor? Trying like the old, old show?
1:28 Ryan Clark? The old, old show.
1:30 Fred Taylor? Boy, you really hitting below the belt, bro.
1:33 Ryan Clark? We still vanning Freddie?
1:35 Fred Taylor? I went to work. I went to work.
1:37 Ryan Clark? I'm salty.
1:38 Fred Taylor? I went to London on Jacksonville's dime. And I was grinding, man. So I wasn't just running. Him, on the other hand, he went to Barcelona. He got his new seasonings and all of that coming. I think he went to connect with the seasoning doctor or something.
1:52 Channing Crowder? Hey, man, you know, what is it? Self-love. Sometimes you need to appreciate life. Me and the wife went over. Y'all do it out there. Y'all need to do this by ourselves. And we got after it. Went around Barcelona.
2:04 Ryan Clark? Why do you always gotta get after it? Or mention that you got after it?
2:07 Channing Crowder? Because that's the fun of life. That's the fruits of life. Why do I have these pieces if I can't use them?
2:13 Ryan Clark? No, that's where you, that's where you bear fruit. It is not the fruit of life. But I'll tell you what, before we start, I want to get a shout out to SeatGeek for sponsoring this episode. We're super excited to bring you another Pivot Football Sunday. And listen, SeatGeek's the number one rated ticketing app in the entire world. And it can get you into football, basketball, concerts, whatever you want to do. SeatGeek is the place for you to get your ticket. Use the promo code PIVOT and you get $20 off of your first purchase.
2:44 Fred Taylor? RC, don't forget about the three dots. The three red dots, three green dots. Stay away from the red dots. Go to the three green dots. That's where you get your value. You find the best tickets. Easy, it's simple.
2:55 Channing Crowder? And that's what I love about it. Like you brought it up, RC. Everything. You think about sports. I know we talking football. Football, basketball, baseball, they have some great fights coming up right now. Go on the SeatGeek app, use that promo code PIVOT, get your discounts. But I love it. As we move around, I always know I have a place I can go. If I want to see any event, I go to SeatGeek. That's where I get all my tickets.
3:17 Ryan Clark? See, it's so crazy, you see, right? They gotta use SeatGeek because they take trips. I just stay at work. And when you do the work that I do and you're constantly grinding, I just been waiting to shoot another show for the Pivot. So we excited to have y'all.
3:29 Channing Crowder? You know what a mare is?
3:31 Ryan Clark? A mare?
3:32 Channing Crowder? Yeah.
3:32 Ryan Clark? That's the female horse.
3:33 Channing Crowder? No, that's the male horse when they cut their nuts off and all they do is work. I still got mine.
3:42 Ryan Clark? Well, here's what happened. You took your work with you and just did it at midnight. Bro, like y'all talked about like traveling and moving around. We had the most active trade deadline day that we've had in a very long time, maybe history, with 10 moves on Tuesday. When you think about Bradley Chubb making the move.
4:02 Fred Taylor? He ain't using SeatGeek.
4:04 Ryan Clark? Why?
4:05 Fred Taylor? 120 mil?
4:07 Ryan Clark? He can still use SeatGeek.
4:08 Fred Taylor? He might, he might, he might. I would.
4:11 Channing Crowder? Miami went in. I was happy. Being a Miami dude, I was happy that they, they went in. They trusted in Tua. They already, Brian Flores didn't really forward to it like that. So now this new regime, this new coach, this GM, and for you to be 5-3 and then go out and add a Bradley Beal and then give him that 5-for-119.
4:31 Fred Taylor? Bradley Chubb, he's a gator. Come on, bro.
4:34 Channing Crowder? But to add Bradley Chubb, give him the 5-for-119 extension, to go on the other side of Jalen Phillips, both in their 20s, that's showing that you're moving forward. The window's closed in this league. We all know the window's closed, and Miami's trying to maximize their window right now. Adding, adding the running back, Jeff Wilson as well.
4:51 Ryan Clark? Right. Another San Francisco guy who understands the scheme from a run game standpoint.
4:56 Channing Crowder? And McDaniel brought him in and knows him and knows what he can do. I love that. So when you trust your team, add pieces. Take advantage of the window you're in.
5:03 Fred Taylor? They already have an amazing secondary, so to get a little bit more pressure from the guys up front, Miami can be dangerous.
5:10 Ryan Clark? My question to you, Freddie T., was going to be, when you see a move like that made with Bradley Chubb, what does that say about the GM Greer's confidence in what Tua Tungvaloa and this team can be right now? Because it's one of those moves where you're trying to do it while your quarterback's on a rookie deal to maximize the rest of the roster.
5:32 Fred Taylor? Right. I mean, for me, Ryan, what I've seen is they're aggressive. You know, they've been aggressive. They had other picks that they got from draft compensation over the years. They've used those picks. They went out and got Tyreek. They drafted well, you know, and offensively, they're set. They got the most dynamic explosive offense in the league, so now they're saying, let us focus on our defense. Their defense has already been good. We want to be better. How do we get after Buffalo? In order to beat Buffalo and win that division, or come close to winning that division, you got to get after Josh Allen. So this is their opportunity to say, we got to put the money to go after the team that's the best team in this division. How do we get after him? Bradley Chubb, he's a piece of that.
6:17 Channing Crowder? And, and Mahomes, you look at the whole AFC. You need to get to the quarterback nowadays. And like you're saying, you can't blitz them all. The Dolphins do blitz a lot. They're one of them, that cover zero defense. But you can't do that all game, especially when you're going against the elite guys like that. So the Josh Allen trying to win the AFC East, which I would say the Dolphins are gonna get a wild card spot.
6:37 Ryan Clark? Yeah.
6:37 Channing Crowder? Because the Bills gonna win it, Bills can play. But if you just go into the top AFC teams, they all got quarterbacks and you can make any quarterback uncomfortable when you have edge rushers that can get there without blitzing.
6:47 Ryan Clark? And I think that's the huge thing for me. When this deal happened, I said, this shows the ultimate belief in Tua Tagovailoa. Right? Because you think about before this season, we were trying to see, could he be that guy? Right? He's got the highest QBR in the entire NFL. This is a dude, you go down to Detroit last week, you're down 21-7, it's a comeback all led by Tua's arm and what he does to the skilled players outside. Same thing happens in Baltimore in the fourth quarter. So I think he's continued to earn the respect and also the confidence of the entire team. And so now it's like, let's go win it. And it's not like, let's win it next year or let's win it three years from now. They're trying to win it right now. And I think it shows how far he's come in what his perception is.
7:32 Ryan Clark? And then also the reality of who he is on that team in that locker room. Another team that makes a big move, and I hate that my team didn't make a move. All we did was give away Chase Claypool because I think we're giving up in Pittsburgh. But the Jacksonville Jaguars, Freddie T, I believe had the most intriguing and also could be the biggest move of the entire day in acquiring Calvin Ridley. One, they stole him off the clearance rack.
7:59 Fred Taylor? Pre-order.
8:00 Ryan Clark? Pre-order, right? They stole him off the clearance rack. But the other piece of this that makes this interesting is, as many people know, Calvin Ridley was suspended for gambling on football, football bets on his own team. And it was one of those things, it was a very little amount of money, but it was about the shield, to protect the shield.
8:18 Fred Taylor? 1,500.
8:19 Ryan Clark? 1,500, integrity, integrity of the game. But you think about going out, getting Christian Kirk, Travis Etienne becoming a feature back.
8:27 Fred Taylor? Right.
8:27 Ryan Clark? Having Evan Ingram and using him in the ways you're supposed to. You have a Super Bowl head coach. There was a head coach during... Calvin Ridley's third year, they said they thought he could be the best wide receiver in the entire league. When you add him to the Jacksonville Jaguars, what's your first thought?
8:45 Fred Taylor? I believe it was Atlanta versus Jacksonville is the game that kind of jammed him up. Or at least that's what I was hearing, you know, in terms of gambling. But I like the move. You know, he's a guy, regardless of the age, he's a young player. But to have a year off, you know, train, get his mind right, you know, and really put his priorities together, I thought is a great move. You know, they won't get immediate impact, but they've been building. You know, they want to continue to build around Trevor Lawrence. And I think it'll marry up perfectly when Trevor hits year three, which is that window that most quarterbacks, if you're gonna ascend in this league, it's year three, talking about Josh Allen.
9:26 Ryan Clark? Yeah.
9:26 Fred Taylor? You know, his weapons, year three, he took off after getting digs. Talk about Tua. You know, all these other guys, they put, you mentioned another quarterback.
9:35 Ryan Clark? Oh, Jalen Hurts, Tua Tagovailoa, Josh Allen.
9:37 Fred Taylor? Right. So putting players around these guys in that, that third year, when you expect them to turn the corner, I think this is a good move for them because he's a proven receiver. He's, he's always been one of the most dynamic, explosive, deep threats, short catch and run receivers.
9:53 Ryan Clark? Great route runners.
9:54 Fred Taylor? Great route runners. And he will instantly become that leader. Marry that with Christian Kirk, you know, Zay Jones.
10:00 Ryan Clark? Yeah.
10:00 Fred Taylor? You'll still have a veteran guy who catches everything in Marvin Jones. So they'll have a complete receivers room around Trevor Lawrence. And then there will not be any excuses for Trevor.
10:11 Ryan Clark? You know, you talk about not being any excuses. We all know, Chan, that Trevor Lawrence was seen as the golden child from the time he walked onto Clemson's campus. I met him in high school and everybody was already saying he was going to be the next one, the highest, the highest rated guy coming into the draft since Andrew Luck. There were all of these things heaped on Trevor Lawrence and who he was going to be. And the year started and it was like, oh, we're about to see it.
10:37 Fred Taylor? Right.
10:37 Ryan Clark? And now we've seen that take a step back. You've seen the bad turnovers, you've seen the bad decision making.
10:44 Fred Taylor? He's still in his rookie year almost. I want to toss out his rookie year. Can we get a do-over?
10:49 Ryan Clark? Because of Urban Meyer?
10:51 Fred Taylor? Yeah.
10:51 Ryan Clark? The policy tweet said Urban Meyer was amazing.
10:54 Fred Taylor? But that's their, that's their opinion. They, they, they snap balls, you know. This is a guy who has to manage the entire game, and we know about that position. When you talk about distractions, everybody else can manage distractions for the quarterback position. You get distractions from inside as well as the outside, then you couple that with the media, and you're a young guy. How do you manage that? It's almost impossible.
11:19 Channing Crowder? But you look at the greatest quarters. Peyton Manning was not good his rookie year.
11:23 Fred Taylor? That's true.
11:23 Channing Crowder? Peyton wasn't good. Brady wasn't even playing. Remember Drew had to get knocked out by Mo Lewis for Brady to get in. Drew Brees in San Diego, he wasn't balling like that. They got rid of him for, for, um,
11:32 Ryan Clark? Philip Rivers.
11:33 Channing Crowder? Philip Rivers, you know what I'm saying? So that's the thing that, I, I can throw it out with. I, I give Freddie that. I know you're a Jaguar. I give Freddie that. Throw it out. Urban wasn't made for the league, but adding pieces around you. Y'all bring up Josh and Stefan Diggs. Tua, getting Tyreek Hill, bro, Tyreek Hill has more receiving yards than six NFL teams, entire receiving corps. How does that help a quarterback?
11:55 Ryan Clark? Right.
11:56 Channing Crowder? Tyreek's that way. I'm gonna throw it up over there. That's what these teams doing, and that's what I love. NFL history, the most moves made in the trade deadline. I love teams now approaching it in that manner. We have talent, we have guys on rookie deals, let's put pieces around them that can make them better. Not do Green Bay. Well, what going on with Aaron Rodgers right now? This man has no weapons. He is a Hall of Famer with no weapons and can't win games. Tampa, he's struggling. Now, Tom got his own off-the-field stuff, but you can have a great, you have a great quarterback without pieces around him, and they're not great anymore. And I think NFL teams are starting to figure it out, especially with the young guys.
12:31 Fred Taylor? Well, I do want to get back to Tua, but just a honorable mention notice, Christian McCaffrey. I love what San Fran did in bringing in Christian.
12:41 Ryan Clark? Yeah, that was before the trade deadline.
12:42 Fred Taylor? Before the trade deadline.
12:43 Ryan Clark? People forgetting that, yeah.
12:44 Fred Taylor? But just having him in, more, more firepower on offense. I think a week ago, he had his best game as, as a Niner.
12:50 Ryan Clark? He had, uh, threw, threw for a touchdown, rushed for a touchdown, had a touchdown receiving. First player to do that since LaDainian Thomas in 2005.
12:58 Fred Taylor? Just an amazing talent. We all know he was capable. But going back to Tua, right? Two-game grade since his concussion, post concussion. What do you think his two-game grade versus Dak Prescott who returned and his two-game grade? Could you speak to both of those guys and how they've been since they returned?
13:19 Ryan Clark? Well, I think the difference is, you know, one of those dudes has Tyreek Hill. Also, the other piece of it is like one of those dudes played the Detroit Lions who have maybe like historically the worst defense, you know, we've seen in a very long time. I think the first part of assessing this is what the injuries were, right? There were more concerns about Tua Tagovailoa and his health than it was Dak Prescott. Dak Prescott is, can you squeeze a ball? Tua Tagovailoa is, can you stand up and walk back to the line of scrimmage? And so I think you have to look at that and grade that on a curve. You go back to Pittsburgh, Tua was okay. Started out hot, you know, this is the team playing in Pittsburgh still, they don't score over 20 points.
14:02 Ryan Clark? And then obviously plays extremely well against Detroit where Dak had the slow start, week one against Detroit, the same team. And so now you compare those and you're like, well, hell, look what Tua Tagovailoa is. Well, look who Tua Tagovailoa is throwing to. Different teams. Then Dak played better against the Chicago Bears. I think the thing about those two individuals though, is Tua Tagovailoa is not going to be graded on how much, at least in my opinion, how much the Miami Dolphins win. He's going to be graded on how well he plays. Dak Prescott is going to be solely graded on how far this Dallas Cowboys team goes in the playoffs, how much noise they make.
14:42 Ryan Clark? And so even in looking at the two-game grade, I think it's unfair to Dak because that's not what we're going to talk about at the end of the season. If this team goes home again in the wild card round, it's going to be another one of those built up to letdowns. And you mentioned...
15:01 Ryan Clark? People getting wide receivers, they were after Brandon Cooks. They wanted Brandon Cooks, but it was the 18 million he was guaranteed next year that they didn't want to take on the books because you just got rid of Amari, who's gonna make 20. And so I think that's one team who did things for their quarterback and another that didn't. And Dak Prescott's gonna be judged accordingly.
15:20 Channing Crowder? No, between them two now, I just want to make it clear to y'all. If Tua didn't miss three games, he would be in the MVP race right now.
15:27 Ryan Clark? Yes.
15:27 Channing Crowder? Y'all don't diminish what Tua's doing now.
15:29 Fred Taylor? We aren't, no one is.
15:30 Channing Crowder? And the numbers he's putting up, the 400, three touchdowns a game, no, that Dallas, if you look at the Detroit Lions, was stupid. But let's go back before that, when they were beating the Buffalo Bills. The AFC favorite to win the Super Bowl, now Tua led them to a victory over them as well. So speaking of him and Dak, if you want to compare them, Freddie, Tua's a better quarterback right now. I'm not being a homer now, look at it, Tua's a better quarterback than Dak right now.
15:54 Ryan Clark? So what you talking about? I need you to say that in a sentence, not better than him. Tua Tonga Va'Loa is a better quarterback than Dak Prescott.
16:04 Fred Taylor? Are you saying right now?
16:06 Channing Crowder? As we sit here.
16:07 Fred Taylor? No, I want to-
16:08 Channing Crowder? In the fucking world, Fred, he is a better-
16:10 Fred Taylor? That's what I want you to say it. I want you to say it, that's it.
16:14 Channing Crowder? That's what he is, Fred.
16:15 Fred Taylor? Is it because he has more weapons?
16:17 Channing Crowder? But even the RC gonna talk about, well, he's graded on his numbers and not the win. No, he's a better quarterback, fellas. Why are y'all arguing about this?
16:24 Ryan Clark? I didn't argue, and also I don't talk like that.
16:26 Fred Taylor? Let's go back, go back, because we've talked about-
16:28 Channing Crowder? You gotta go, you gotta go to the numbers first to win.
16:33 Fred Taylor? No, but seriously, Teddy, seriously. Tua has definitely stepped his game up, right? But he also has gotten tremendous weapons. Tyreek, what he's doing is lights out. You know, he instantly changed the outlook of the Dolphins offense. And on the other side, Dak has only lost weapons. C.D., he's not playing up to par, in my opinion, you know, and-
16:58 Fred Taylor? Losing Amari a year ago, who was their number one guy. I think that has allowed Dallas offense to take a step back. And even Zeke, Zeke was Dak's running mate. You know, remember Zeke, 15, 1600, Dak threw him for a couple, 4,000 yards. And Dallas offense was just hitting on all, firing on all cylinders. But now they have two really good running backs in Dallas. But Zeke isn't the person that he once was. I mean, he's not even leading their team in rushing right now. Tony Pollard is.
17:27 Ryan Clark? Tony Pollard is better than Zeke. I mean, we just had Dak too, talking about Lawrence better than Dak.
17:31 Fred Taylor? I'm not gonna say that because I've experienced this. There, I've been in that same position with MJD. You know, what they're doing is, I think Dallas is also protecting themselves. When they drafted Tony in 2019, they said, alright, we're gonna hedge this, this pick, fourth round pick, guy out of Memphis, who we know is capable. Zeke, he's getting a ton of carries. And what do you do to combat against a guy who's carrying the ball, touching the ball all the time? You gotta bring somebody else in to help and take some pressure off him. So bringing in Tony, what Dallas decided to say was, okay, we have a guy who, if Zeke gets expensive, this guy is right on his heels, we can deal Zeke. And now Tony, we won't have much falloff. And that's what you're seeing. Tony has 500 yards rushing, Zeke is around 440.
18:17 Fred Taylor? Next year, I'm sure Zeke wants, wants new money, right? Tony, Tony's a young guy. He's gonna be able to go in here and say, give me, I can get, I'm gonna get top running back money, but I'll be able to get money that's good enough to keep being productive in this league and keep pushing this offense. They know I'm capable and they can deal Zeke. So I'm not being messy, I'm just being real. That's the business side of it.
18:41 Ryan Clark? How was it, how was it in the running backs room with you and MJD? Because I don't think there was, there was never a question if MJD was better than you though.
18:50 Fred Taylor? So Zeke is 27. If we go back to, Zeke was 24 when they brought Tony in. I was 30 when they brought MJD in, in my ninth year. I think Zeke was only in like year four, or a year three at the time, or whatever. So that, that's a big difference. So come Coming in with my injury history, you know, my age being 30, when they say running backs fall off, that's the major difference. So I embraced MJD. I knew I couldn't go and play every snap. But you expect a 27-year-old Zeke Elliott to be able to be the guy he was when he was 21. There shouldn't be no falloff. That's the biggest difference. But it was still all love in the room. I see Zeke embracing these guys. Zeke, he's banged up, he's been out with the headset, running around,
19:35 Fred Taylor? you know, being a leader, right? Great work, being a leader. So that's what you're supposed to do when you're not able to do what you've always done.
19:46 Channing Crowder? It's a couple of positions in football. Like, you played with Troy. You love playing with another top safety. Like, damn, this is a Hall of Fame safety.
19:53 Fred Taylor? Right.
19:53 Channing Crowder? Me playing with Junior and Jason and Zach and them boys, like, I love to be around them. At the running back position, you don't really want another dog next to you, do you, Fred?
20:02 Fred Taylor? That's not true. That's not true. Well, for me...
20:05 Channing Crowder? They gonna take carries, they gonna take production.
20:07 Fred Taylor? That's true. But in hindsight, I tell myself, damn, I got 66 rushing touchdowns in my career.
20:15 Speaker 00 Every game day, you show up for your team. Now, it's your time.
20:25 Speaker 00 Ask your prescriber about Wegovy. Semaglutide injection, 2.4 milligrams a GLP-1. Call 1-833-4-WEGOVIE or visit wegovie.com to view the medication guide and to learn more about Wegovy. Why wait?
20:44 Fred Taylor? That could have been 96. You know what I'm saying? In hindsight. But while we were playing, I just wanted to win. We were bad enough where I said, if you can get it done, I'm gonna teach you. So, because I can't play every snap. I can play a lot of them, but when I'm out... I don't want the offense to have any falloff. So if you can talk to any one of my teammates that I've ever played with, all of the running backs that they drafted throughout my 11 years in Jacksonville, I embraced those young guys, brought them in, I taught them everything I knew, taught them my cheats, all the little nuggets. I embraced that. Some guys are threatened by, I want to compete. Because I'm gonna teach you, then I'm gonna bust your ass, and I'm gonna keep my starting job. That's what makes everybody better.
21:25 Channing Crowder? You teaching them to take your job is a lot, I guess insecure.
21:28 Fred Taylor? That's when you're insecure, and that's when you don't trust in your ability.
21:31 Ryan Clark? But also too, the other piece of that is, I think the point that you hit on Freddie, that's important, is different times in your career.
21:38 Fred Taylor? For sure.
21:39 Ryan Clark? Right, like there's an understanding that you get, you 30, man, like you the OG at that point, especially in our game.
21:45 Fred Taylor? Right.
21:45 Ryan Clark? Right, you get to that point and you understand that I am at a certain point where this helps me. I am at a certain point where it's time to pay it forward. I have made a certain amount of money, which Zeke's made a ton of money, but we all also understand like the ego involved in this.
22:01 Fred Taylor? Right.
22:01 Ryan Clark? Like this man was at a point in his life, very early, the best running back in the entire world, right? And you're not the best running back, or people are questioning if you're the best running back on your team. And the game, you put the headset on, your replacement, I guess we can call them, or your backup, goes for 130 on 14 carries, 160 overall in the game, total yardage. And like those things, like I've been there, bro, where, and like I've been on some teams, like we were just so close. You always happy when your homeboy makes a play. But I remember like getting a play where somebody else get a pick, and be like, man, I want one too, I gotta go get one. But it's different, because we all out there when it's happening.
22:45 Ryan Clark? When the other running back is shining, you ain't out there.
22:48 Fred Taylor? You're not out there, but you're not, you know, you celebrate those moments. And just to be clear, because I don't want it to seem like the old show, talking about Messi. I said on this show that Zeke looked amazing in the offseason, and that he was gonna have, wait, wait, wait, wait, that he was gonna have a great season. And I also will say that they depend, they are relying on Zeke, because Zeke has gotten the bulk of the carries.
23:15 Ryan Clark? Why you so peaceful all the time?
23:17 Fred Taylor? No, no, no, because I'm not Messi.
23:18 Ryan Clark? But he always feel like he had.
23:19 Fred Taylor? I'm not Messi, I like to clarify.
23:21 Channing Crowder? Like, what you know?
23:23 Fred Taylor? He worried about Zeke gonna find him in the street. No, no, no, Zeke might.
23:27 Ryan Clark? You about to see, bro?
23:29 Fred Taylor? Nah, bruh. So, in clarification, I just want to say that Zeke is still capable of getting the job done.
23:35 Ryan Clark? Very good player. There's a lot of capable people around people who are more capable than they are. I think, speaking of...
23:44 Fred Taylor? There we go, again. You got this sort of way of sliding into shit.
23:47 Ryan Clark? That is my, that is just my opinion. That's the league. That's the league. Professional sports, bro.
23:52 Fred Taylor? That's true.
23:53 Channing Crowder? There's always a little dog, a little puppy right there behind the big dog, and you don't know what that puppy's gonna become.
23:59 Ryan Clark? Yeah, and when he grow up, sometimes you gotta pay the piper. You know what I mean? We all got cut now. Do we all get cut? Career's over.
24:07 Fred Taylor? I didn't get cut. Well, I did get cut.
24:09 Ryan Clark? I didn't finish. I got cut early. You know Fred, Fred's better than us. When you, so, thinking about big dogs. We're thinking about big dogs. Fred brought this up earlier, so I'm gonna do a Freddie T and pivot back to that. He spoke about Aaron Rodgers, and I think you talked about it too, Aaron Rodgers being a Hall of Fame quarterback, but not having the weapons. And then when you watch him, he looks nothing like the Aaron Rodgers we know, that we've seen. Tom Brady as well. These are two teams and two quarterbacks who are synonymous with winning and synonymous with greatness. And we're not seeing that from them individually or their teams. But then you look at the quarterback ratings, you look at the best teams in the league,
24:51 Ryan Clark? the Josh Allens, the Patrick Mahomes's, the Tua Tagovailoa on that side, the Jalen Hurts in Philadelphia, right? Those aren't the names that you go, like Josh and Patrick for sure, but those other names aren't like, man, these two dudes are gonna be all-time greats. And so now we're sitting at, is this the end of an era? Basically, the end of our era of football.
25:13 Fred Taylor? I think it comes with the, one, the rule changes if you go back, right? This is a game played in space now. Remember earlier in our careers, you had big, massive Michael Strahan's at the end. These guys were 6'7", you know, 300 pounds. You know, power rushing, playing the run as well. Not so much these days. Everybody's a tweeners. It's in space. The difference is, those guys you named, the Mahomes, the Hurts, these guys, the Tours, they can move around. You know what I'm saying? Tom and Aaron, they're pressured. These guys are feeling so much pressure.
25:53 Fred Taylor? The Buffalo game, I think they probably hit Aaron at least 10, 12 times, sacked him another four times or so. And the same with Tom down in Tampa. They're just getting after him. These guys aren't mobile enough to get around and they can't necessarily get the ball off. So they're not allowing them to be comfortable, which is what they're used to. And they're not making the plays that they've always made.
26:14 Channing Crowder? I think the statue can still work in the NFL. You talking about them pocket court, the John Elwes that's gonna stand there. I think it can still work in the NFL.
26:21 Ryan Clark? We can't forget what Tom did last year.
26:23 Fred Taylor? Not if you're not getting protection.
26:26 Ryan Clark? Tom led the league in passing yards. Tom led the league in touchdowns last year. It's just a year removed from him finishing in tops of the MVP voting behind Aaron Rodgers.
26:37 Channing Crowder? Yeah, and that's what I'm saying. So that statue can work. So I'm not with all that.
26:41 Fred Taylor? If you got protection.
26:41 Channing Crowder? Josh Allen.
26:42 Fred Taylor? You have to have protection.
26:44 Channing Crowder? Yeah.
26:44 Fred Taylor? These other guys, that's all I'm saying. They're capable because they're smart and their experience is gonna get them to where they need to be. But if you don't have the time, if they're pushing back the interior portion of your offensive line, which is where you're comfortable at stepping up, letting everything wash around you, and then you find your guy, you slide in your pocket and make the throw, that's what they're used to. They're not getting that comfort now because their O-line isn't protecting for them. That's all I'm saying.
27:14 Channing Crowder? That was the, and I don't know how RC and them prepared for Tom, but that was our thing playing Tom.
27:18 Fred Taylor? Push the pocket.
27:19 Channing Crowder? Push the pocket in the middle. You can have all the DNs flying around edge, he's gonna step up.
27:23 Fred Taylor? Cause he step up and move, slide.
27:25 Channing Crowder? You push that pocket in the middle and now he's uncomfortable. Now he can't step into his throws. Now the windows are closing in the middle and that was the thing. But to answer your question, RC, I think they call it the passing of the torch. We're watching it. Cause Manning, when Manning retired, because when I first got in the league, it was Tom and it was Peyton. Now Peyton retired, Tom is doing crazy stuff with the TB12 now. Whatever he did in his little body is amazing, but it's the passing of the torch, bro.
27:51 Fred Taylor? He said little body?
27:52 Channing Crowder? He's a little body. That boy, that boy, that joker looking thin, looking thin in the face, but it is, bro, weird. We're old, fellas. We 40.
28:02 Fred Taylor? You old, bro.
28:03 Channing Crowder? We're 40.
28:04 Fred Taylor? I'm seasoned.
28:04 Ryan Clark? I'm 43.
28:05 Channing Crowder? You're 43. I'll be 40 this year. You 116.
28:09 Fred Taylor? I'm 46.
28:11 Channing Crowder? Bro, to answer your question, yes. Those stars, those faces and those names that we respected and loved, it's moving, RC.
28:22 Fred Taylor? Snyder and the commanders passing the torch. Sell, you think he's gonna close that deal?
28:27 Ryan Clark? I think he has to. I think he has to in the sense of you look at the black eye this organization continues to give the NFL. The NFL is consistently talking about the shield. You go back to the Clippers in the NBA. You go back to what's happening with the Phoenix basketball organizations, both WNBA, NBA, when owners conduct themselves in a way that demeans or in some way takes away from what these leagues are supposed to be and the humans that are supposed to be blessed enough to be in it.
29:08 Ryan Clark? The Washington commanders and that organization has constantly fell below the line. Like, I can be honest, like, he was a man you didn't look in the eye in the hallways. Not necessarily me, but the people that worked in the buildings. He was a man you couldn't call by his first name, no matter how adult you were. Obviously, when you think back to the emails that were shared from John Gruden, the scandals with cheerleaders and all of these different things, it's one thing after another, which they tried to correct.
29:37 Fred Taylor? There's new financial probe that they have.
29:39 Ryan Clark? Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Right, it's opened up a criminal case now, right? And so, when you look at all of those different things, like, what else can you take? What else can you allow? Can you allow an owner to threaten the NFL and say, "He basically said what Denzel said when they surrounded him." I'm putting cases on all you, you know what I'm saying? And those type of threats. And so, I think that this has to be done. He's, you know, hired Bank of America now to start searching for a buying partner. And this is a great move, I think, for him, one.
30:14 Fred Taylor? Leave your money.
30:15 Ryan Clark? Let it go, get your money. And also for the NFL and for anybody associated with Washington.
30:20 Channing Crowder? And that good old boy system, it's changing now. The billionaires club is changing now. We see it. We see the stuff being released now. We know with social media, we know with all, you know, the media coverage, everything that goes on. That whole good old boy, it's just the boys being boys thing has to change. And I'm not talking about NFL, in the world. Like, that has to change now, and they're seeing it. These old guys, you bring up the Clippers with Donald Sterling. That's not, that was acceptable in the 60s. That's not acceptable now. And what, what Dan Snyder was doing and the things and the reports come out, you can't do that. You shouldn't have been able to do it, but now it's coming to light, and he can't do that. And I love that these dudes, these old misogynistic guys and these dudes that are running teams
31:03 Channing Crowder? and owning organizations, they should not be able to have that much power if that's how their mind works. And I love when they get called out.
31:11 Ryan Clark? I think the, the last thing I want to talk about is something that I experienced and we've experienced here on this show as well. When we get, kind of like our first football show was free agency. And we had everything that happened with Russell Wilson. And a huge part of what people had an issue with wasn't necessarily a critique of a human personally, which became an issue. It was the way it was presented by mentioning, you know, family. Last Friday, I said that I don't think Tom Brady is still the greatest quarterback in sports. Not, not, not, I think he's the greatest of all time. I think he's had the greatest career of all time. I don't believe he's the best or greatest force multiplier in sports. I think Josh Allen is better. I think Patrick Mahomes is better. I think they're better teammates.
31:55 Ryan Clark? I think they're more dedicated to their teams and, and all of those things. And a lot of what I got was, you're kicking the man when he's down while he's going through something. And my thing is this, one, what he's dealing with in his marriage is tragic, but it's also not something I'm supposed to speak on. It's, it's not my business. And so, and it not being my business, it also doesn't weigh into my football analysis. I feel like I've had friends get divorced. I've had friends lose parents on game day. Everybody steps onto the field with something. When things like that start to happen off of the field, and they're obviously more public because of who he is,
32:37 Ryan Clark? is this something that you think, or how should we take that into consideration when now analyzing, critiquing, and thinking about who Tom Brady is as a quarterback in 2022?
32:50 Channing Crowder? Should be nothing. It's your job. Go do your job. It's just, you're an NFL quarterback, you're a doctor, you're an attorney, or whatever. You have to compartmentalize life, like you're just saying. We all know, we have stories of crazy stuff. Guys getting their kids taken at night and have to come to practice the next day. And their wife leaving in the middle of the night. Like, I, you, bringing up no names. But as a professional, you have to put that to the side. Was Tom Brady's production affected by what he went through? Was that 10-day hiatus in camp something to do with his, you know, divorce coming up? Probably. Do your job. That's the thing I say all the time to people, and I preach that to kids. Oh, this is going on, that's going on. Okay, go get your schoolwork done.
33:33 Channing Crowder? Go do what you're supposed to do. Do the right thing. Compartmentalize that, and that's the hardest part of being a pro, I would say. I think there's talented people out there that are more talented, but guys that mentally can't do that and put it to the side. And that's what Tom has to do, but a lot of other guys do it. Tom Brady's just Tom Brady, so the spotlight's on him. A lot of guys are going through stuff and still perform.
33:56 Fred Taylor? See, because you said Tom Brady is Tom Brady, and I think that's where a lot of the conversation, it's easy conversation for people like us and people in the media, right? And that's the thing about greatness and expectations. Because if he wasn't Tom Brady, he's a guy who's still in the top 5 in passing in the NFL now. What if that was somebody else? They would say, oh, that, this kid, I don't know, bottom-tier player. If he were top 5 right now in passing. They would say, oh, man, in spite of, you know, everything he's going through, all the distractions in his personal life, etc., he's still a top 5 guy. But when you're as great, or have been as great as Tom was, the expectations are always going to be here.
34:38 Fred Taylor? You have any form of small falloff, you're easily targeted, easily attacked. And I don't like to keep saying that I was a teammate for a few years. Tom is amazing as a person, right? Tom is a great player, and I think he can handle that. I don't think a whole lot of falloff is simply because of those distractions. I think it just merges with everything that's going on.
35:08 Fred Taylor? He's still a top-five quarterback in terms of statistics. Their team is struggling as a whole. So he's gonna get the brunt of everything because of how bad Tampa is doing or how good Tampa's doing. It's gonna all go through Tom.
35:20 Ryan Clark? Yeah, I think the major thing is he's always been applauded for his dedication to the game, his ability to maximize the talent around him, galvanize the troops, and win games. And he's not doing that now. But I guess my thought was this: I'm not going to speak on your personal life. I'm also not going to allow that to affect what I see when I use the clicker and check the film. And I think that's the way we should all do it. I mean, fellas, I enjoyed it. I'm glad that we're back at it. This is fun. Again, go to SeatGeek, the world's number-one-ranked ticketing app of all. Remember, find the green dots, use the promo code PIVOT, and you get $20 off of your first purchase. Y'all check us out. We back on Tuesday.
36:05 Ryan Clark? We got something clean for y'all, too. Maybe SeatGeek could get you a ticket to, I don't know, Madison Square Garden.
36:10 Channing Crowder? I'm going on vacation again.
36:39 Speaker 04 Every game day, you show up for your team. Now, it's your time.
36:49 Speaker 00 Ask your prescriber about Wegovy. Someaglutide injection, 2.4 milligrams a GLP-1. Call 1-833-4-WEGOVIE or visit wegovie.com to view the medication guide and to learn more about Wegovy. Why wait?
Previous SB Champion Martellus Bennett: Arts Over Football & a Mindset that Cost Him $40M Next Israel Adesanya: Talks Joe Rogan & Prepares to Defend His Championship Belt vs Alex Pereira at UFC 281 Page updated October 8, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated
