Damian: Created page with "{{EpisodeInfobox | number = 608 | title = Unknown | hosts = Arif Hasan, James Pogatshnik | guests = None | type = Preseason }} '''Norse Code Episode 608''' was a preseason episode recorded with James sick, resulting in an abbreviated mailbag. The episode covered the 2026 Pro Football Hall of Fame class, Kyler Murray being named QB1, a full review of the Giants preseason game on both sides of the ball, joint practices with the Baltimore Raven..."

2026-08-27T13:59:19Z

Created page with "{{EpisodeInfobox | number = 608 | title = Unknown | hosts = Arif Hasan, James Pogatshnik | guests = None | type = Preseason }} '''Norse Code Episode 608''' was a preseason episode recorded with James sick, resulting in an abbreviated mailbag. The episode covered the 2026 Pro Football Hall of Fame class, Kyler Murray being named QB1, a full review of the Giants preseason game on both sides of the ball, joint practices with the Baltimore Raven..."

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{{EpisodeInfobox
| number = 608
| title = Unknown
| hosts = Arif Hasan, James Pogatshnik
| guests = None
| type = Preseason
}}

'''Norse Code Episode 608''' was a preseason episode recorded with James sick, resulting in an abbreviated mailbag. The episode covered the 2026 Pro Football Hall of Fame class, Kyler Murray being named QB1, a full review of the Giants preseason game on both sides of the ball, joint practices with the Baltimore Ravens, and a shortened but eventful mailbag that ended with an extended digression into grave robbing, Ninja Turtles, and a bootleg VHS seller on Whatnot.

== Overview ==
James opened by flagging he was sick, promising a shorter episode. It was not shorter. The episode's cold open centred on the 2026 Hall of Fame class, with James demanding Arif confirm, on air, that Adam Vinatieri is a Hall of Famer — a callback to years of arguments on the subject. Arif confirmed it, noted it was wrong, and moved on. The bulk of the episode was a detailed preseason breakdown, including Jamal Adams' season-ending injury, JJ McCarthy's historically long time-to-throw, and Myles Price's outstanding performance. The mailbag, though shortened, included Arif consulting DeepSeek on grave robbing and a fully mapped Ninja Turtles/Spice Girls pairing exercise.

== Segments ==

=== Cold Open: Hall of Fame Class 2026 ===
The 2026 Pro Football Hall of Fame class: Luke Kuechly, Larry Fitzgerald, Adam Vinatieri, Drew Brees, Roger Craig, and Eli Manning. James spent the cold open demanding Arif say the words "Adam Vinatieri is a Hall of Famer" out loud, having argued for years on the show that Vinatieri deserved enshrinement while Arif maintained he did not. Arif complied, immediately reiterated that Vinatieri shouldn't be in, and noted that David Akers was a better kicker. James flagged that Julian Edelman's eventual Hall of Fame candidacy may require a special episode.

=== Kyler Murray Named QB1 ===
Kyler Murray was officially named the Vikings' starting quarterback heading into the regular season, ending the training camp competition. Arif noted Murray had three throws in the preseason — two good, one fine — and looked in command under centre, which had been a legitimate question given how dramatically the coaching staff had shifted away from that approach when Murray was benched the previous year. Arif also noted the "competition" was never real, speculating that Kevin O'Connell may have privately been telling Carson Wentz he was in it too, in a backwards-chair youth-pastor way.

=== Giants Preseason Game: Offence ===
'''JJ McCarthy''' was the dominant topic. McCarthy's time-to-throw was recorded at approximately 3.63 seconds — historically long by any standard. Arif walked through the debate triggered by a Twitter account arguing McCarthy's struggles were entirely explained by pressure, countering that a 3.63-second time-to-throw is indefensible regardless of play-action volume or route depth. The Los Angeles Rams — the NFL's deepest-route offence — do not approach this number. He described it as the kind of outlier that, like Zach Wilson's EPA charts, breaks the scale of any normal visualisation. Additional issues included:

* Footwork arriving at the top of his drop before receivers had broken into their routes, creating bad protection angles and coverage confusion
* A busted jet sweep to Deshawn Jones on the first play, attributable to snap-timing issues
* A Ty Felton drop that Arif partially attributed to a badly placed ball, crediting Felton for getting to it at all
* Caleb Tiernan's false start attributed in part to McCarthy's irregular snap count
* A CBS Sports piece and a Tyler Dunne/Go Long TD piece publishing the same day on McCarthy's reliability concerns among coaches and players

Carson Wentz entered after Max Brosmer was injured early and outperformed McCarthy, which Arif noted was not good news. Arif observed that Wentz, while not accurate in any absolute sense, was at least on time — something McCarthy was not even when he was nominally on time.

'''Myles Price''' was the offensive standout: a one-handed end-zone catch, a contested 50-50 ball he won on what should have been a 90-10 throw and converted into a significant gain after the catch, and a clean quick out. Four catches, all different types, all well executed. Arif assessed him as likely a lock for the roster.

'''Other offensive notes:'''
* Jordan Addison looked solid; his save of a low, inside Kyler Murray throw on an out route was highlighted
* Ty Felton performed adequately but has likely not overtaken Price in the depth chart
* Josh Oliver had an excellent block on an Aaron Jones run
* Gavin Bartholomew edged Ben Yurosek in blocking, but Yurosek received the first tight end snap on the official depth chart
* Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason both looked good; Deone Claiborne impressed in pass protection and ran better than anticipated, likely moving ahead of Xavier Gipson

=== Giants Preseason Game: Defence and Special Teams ===
'''Jamal Adams''' suffered a season-ending quad injury on one of his first snaps, having just delivered a tackle for loss against the starting offensive line. Arif had been sceptical about Adams' fit; the injury was deemed genuinely unfortunate. Adams' family has opted to remain in Minnesota, and he will stay active in the locker room with a young roster.

'''Other defensive notes:'''
* Jay Ward delivered a sack so violent the opposing player was briefly knocked out and sent to the concussion protocol tent, expressing puzzlement about why he needed to be there
* Theo Jackson looked significantly better than the previous year
* Charles Dennis showed well at cornerback
* Jacoby Thomas recorded a pick with the ones, described as cool — "go Dukes"
* Eric Wilson had an outstanding game; Blake Cashman looked very good; Jaye Ngata showed well but had a couple of late-reaction reps Arif attributed to playbook-familiarity issues rather than athletic ones
* Elijah Williams recorded a sack; Dallas Turner recorded a sack off a Blake Cashman stunt
* Caleb Banks had a poor game overall; Dominique Orange's PFF grade was described as worse than his actual performance
* Five penalties on returns in special teams — noted briefly, then left alone

=== Joint Practices: Ravens ===
The joint practices with Baltimore were previewed and reviewed. The offence looked disjointed on shifts and pre-snap motion against the Ravens defence, which Arif attributed to a still-developing timing. A brawl involving a Ravens defensive back and a Vikings receiver was identified as negative aura for the Vikings, who came off worse visually. The hosts confirmed Kyler Murray would not play in the second preseason game against the Ravens, meaning McCarthy and others would get extended looks.

== Mailbag ==
James flagged a shortened mailbag due to illness, with remaining questions to be answered on a future episode.

* '''Yannick''' — Would you rather draft a bad quarterback and know by training camp, or draft Bryce Young and spend years wondering if he's actually good? Arif: the former. If a player is ambiguous after two years, the odds of him emerging as a top-five player are low. Better to cut weight early, draft again, and have another shot. He acknowledged Matthew Stafford as a rare exception to the pattern.

* '''Big Ale''' — Snapping is still a problem for Brendel at camp. Do the Vikings need a real centre, or can Juwan Jennings play centre given he can throw forwards and should be able to throw backwards? Arif: yes, they need a real centre. The over-under is approximately one bad snap per game from Brendel over 17 games; he is on track to exceed that. James Daniels was floated as a name.

* '''Mad Max Brosmer''' — What does it tell us that Kyler got benched for JJ McCarthy after only one series, where he failed to complete an easy third-down throw? Arif clarified: Kyler was not benched, that is the normal preseason quarterback rotation. This was followed by James admitting he thought Max Brosmer had been benched for poor play before learning Brosmer was injured.

* '''Ice Delanda Est''' — Why should anyone care about this Vikings season when it feels like a disaster? Arif made the case: the defence could realistically be a top-three unit, a top-10 offence with a top-three defence wins games, and getting emotionally disinvested now means coming back later as a tourist who doesn't know the storylines. Buy the stock low. Also, Vegas had the Vikings as favourites to finish fourth in the division, which creates its own entertainment.

* '''Nolan Kehler''' — As Vikings GM, what should happen if they sign former UND Fighting Hawk Brady Oliveira and he outruns Jadarian Price? Arif looked up Oliveira's pro-day data: 4.7 forty, 6.93 cone at 228 pounds, which he noted was not bad. Arif confirmed Oliveira had appeared in his database for reasons he couldn't remember, and endorsed the signing on the grounds that it would be very funny.

* '''Deez''' — For the money corner: listener finds themselves caring less about sports because of how much athlete salaries have exploded. Is that odd? Arif gave an extended answer on the relationship between financial privilege and emotional identity, arguing that money doesn't remove the specific pain of having your identity as an athlete stripped from you by injury or a cut — and that pointing out someone earns $40 million doesn't resolve that. Referenced LeBron's house being vandalised with racist graffiti as a case study in how class privilege and dehumanisation coexist. Noted Jordan Addison specifically as a harder case for sympathy given his conduct. Closed with: "We are someone else's Jordan Addison, that's always true."

* '''A Second Jet Has Hit Drew Bledsoe''' — For the "it will work for us" corner: the Bears have signed Marcus Davenport. Analysis? Arif: better than Austin Booker, probably not as good as Montez Sweat, will likely be described as a "turbo dog shit" former first-round pick by the time he is injured in approximately week two.

* '''A Second Jet Has Hit Drew Bledsoe''' — For the grave-robbing corner: while planning a trip to finish the job on [[Don from Ohio]], a pit stop in Dayton to relocate the Wright Brothers' remains to Greenfield Village, Michigan is proposed. Best approach? Arif consulted DeepSeek, citing concerns that ChatGPT, Claude, and SūmerBrain would require too much wrangling. DeepSeek provided detailed guidance on vault anatomy, bone collection, transport containers, and crossing state lines without paperwork. Arif noted: "This is the Saul Goodman of AI models." James confirmed he has personally transported remains across state lines.

* '''LeVar Bolsharif''' — Division quarterbacks used to be comically evil. Now Jordan Love helps the LGBTQ community and Caleb Williams runs an all-women organisation for at-risk youth. How do you make them more hateable? Arif recommended weaponising extremely-online leftist discourse — specifically, asking whether Love's LGBTQ activism is sufficiently attentive to people of colour, or whether Williams' all-women organisation is trans-inclusive. Referenced the Chili Girl saga as a case study in how people on Blue Sky have cancelled someone for making chili for her neighbours.

* '''Room Temperature''' — Had a panic attack on Monday. Which was more pathetic — thinking about the Mets score, or hoping they hadn't missed the newest Norse Code? Also: advice for dealing with panic attacks. James: the Mets thing. Advice: everyone's panic attacks are different; walking outside helps James; having a comfort YouTuber like Jenny Nicholson is valid; old Norse Code episodes are apparently serving this function, which James acknowledged was a low bar but confirmed they were clearing it. Arif: James sent him the Betty White Community species rap as emotional support earlier that day, which worked.

* '''Room Temperature''' — If each Ninja Turtle married a Spice Girl, who marries who, with no one left single? Arif had researched this specifically for the episode. His mapped pairings:
** Casey Jones + Sporty Spice (mutual love of sports as personality)
** Leonardo + Ginger Spice (leader to leader; Geri Halliwell is apparently regarded as the de facto leader of the Spice Girls)
** Michelangelo + Baby Spice (youngest-coded, most fun-loving, most immature)
** Raphael + Scary Spice (cynical, aggressive, assertive)
** Donatello + Posh Spice (smartest, most removed from action, second in command — matched to Victoria Beckham's removed and above-it-all public persona)

* '''Skimbleshanks''' — James recently discovered a bootleg VHS seller on Whatnot going by Skimbleshanks1VHS, who owns approximately 20 copies of the Cats Pro Shot movie. Skimbleshanks confirmed this was not them. The seller was found watching a VHS bootleg of The Rise of Skywalker at 2 a.m., leading Arif to message Skimbleshanks: "We need to talk." James's recommended approach to defeating the imposter: out-archive him. Specifically: transfer the Cats Pro Shot to polyester-based gelatin film via a Film Out service, which is the Kodak archival gold standard at 500-year durability for black-and-white — far exceeding anything achievable on VHS, which degrades quickly. Follow the 3-2-1 backup rule for remaining copies. In 200 years, Skimbleshanks' progeny will have the definitive archival master. Also: get a Skimbleshanks costume, something the seller has not confirmed ownership of.

== Key Bits & Lore ==
* Adam Vinatieri is confirmed, on the record, to be a Hall of Famer. Arif still thinks he shouldn't be
* [[Jamal Adams]] suffers a season-ending quad injury on one of his first preseason snaps — he will remain in Minnesota and stay active with the team
* [[Don from Ohio]] is still at large; a grave-robbing pit stop in Dayton is now apparently part of the plan
* DeepSeek is introduced as the show's preferred AI for legally dubious research questions that SūmerBrain and Claude won't engage with
* The '''Skimbleshanks1VHS''' imposter saga is introduced — a Whatnot seller with approximately 20 copies of the Cats Pro Shot movie, a 5.0 star rating, 286 reviews, and a bootleg VHS of The Rise of Skywalker playing in the background
* Arif's full Ninja Turtles/Spice Girls pairing is now canon
* James confirmed he has transported human remains across state lines
* The episode was described in advance as abbreviated. It was not abbreviated

[[Category:Episodes]]
[[Category:Season 2026]]

Episode 608 - Revision history