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The Season with Peter Schrager: NBC's Playoff (and Election) Guru Steve Kornacki · Best of the NFL Podcast Network

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: The Season with Peter Scheger is a production of the
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio. What's up, Everybody, This is
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Peter Schreger. This is the Season with Peter Schreeger. As
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: we head into the regular season finale, Week eighteen, so
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: many storylines, so many things going on. I'm joined here
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: by Aaron wan Kaufman, my great friend and producer. Aaron,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: we're back here to New Year, and yet week eighteen,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: your Buffalo Bills are suddenly in one of the most
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: precarious sit you. I don't think I've ever seen this
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: in an NFL playoff scenario. We're going to get into
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: it with our guests. But the Buffalo Bills, if they
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: beat the Dolphins, can be the number two seed, the
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: AFC East champion not only host a wildcard round, but
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: host Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in a divisional round.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: And if they lose, there's a very good chance they
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: missed the playoffs altogether. As you head into Week eighteen,
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: Buffalo Bills a team that we have talked about all
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: season long because you ride and die with them, how
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: are you feeling headed to Miami to play an injured
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: ego bruised Dolphins team coming off one of the worst
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: losses any team has suffered this season against the Ravens.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: I mean this is indicative of the entire Bills season.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: There have been these high highs. The Cowboys game, everyone
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: was like, the James Cook and this run game are
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: the best thing the Bills offense has had in the
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: past five years. And then their games where we're like,
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: wait a minute. I mean the first play of the
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: Pats game this week and I'm watching it and my
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: dad just texts me, Oh my god, and it's like, wow,
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: how And we almost lost to the Chargers right after
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: the Cowboys. I mean the fact that we've had so
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: many ups and downs, it is a perfect setup right
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: now for us to either get the second seed or
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: just totally miss out on the playoffs.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: I said this on the Good Morning Fols Show, and
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: I'm not calling him out, but I think there's this.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: If you don't watch the Bills the last few weeks,
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: you would look at them winning all these games and say, oh,
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: they're the hot team. They're the team you don't want
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: to face. And Jason Garrett on Sunday Night they did
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: that typical trope on every pregame show, what's the wildcard team?
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: You don't want to see? Jason Garrett's like, I don't
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: want to see the Bills. They've got their swagger back,
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: and like, hell no, they don't their swagger back. They
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: almost lost a Gift Smith and the Chargers and they
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: got lucky in that game. And then if the Patriots
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: don't throw four interceptions and miskicks and have just every
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: potential you know, turnover possible, they almost lost that game.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they they seem to play up or down to
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: their opponent and the moment more than anyone other than
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: like maybe sometimes the Cowboys. But regardless of that, the
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: Dolphins game, I mean, the Dolphins are beat up, like,
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: you know, they peaked so early in the season and
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: they've just kept losing players on defense and they're gonna
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: have no pass rush, it feels like and waddles out.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: Let mean he'll be out until the playoffs. Yeah, I
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: mean it's gonna be I mean, I still am terrified
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: of a chan a chan and so that will be
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: terrifying the entire time. But uh, yeah, they could also
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: just come out and tyree Kel could have two touchdowns
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: in the first quarter and yeah, it'll be wild, all right.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: So that's that's what we look forward to. That's Sunday night.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: We're recording this on Tuesday, January second. We're about seventy
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: two hours removed from one of the craziest finishes and
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: controversial finishes we've had, certainly this season, maybe the last few.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: We've had a chance to talk to a lot of
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: people about it. And here's where we end up on
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: Detroit Dallas. You listen to the season because you want
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: to know stuff beyond the headlines, beyond the hot takes,
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: and here's where we're at. So the play happens. Obviously
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: there's a flag and they call a legal man downfielder,
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: legal touching of the ball from sixty eight Taylor Decker.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: You've seen the replace Taylor Decker running right up to
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: the official. But the official, Brad Allen, he did say
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: seventy is the eligible lineman and he is stuck by
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: his word. And in the pool report afterwards said I
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: was told seventy was eligible and I declared seventy was eligible,
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: which was Dan Skipper does the pool report. So the
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: pool report is basically this one was Calvin Watkins, I
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: think did the poor report. It's a reporter for me,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: either the home team or the away team, and their
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: job after the game is to speak to the ref.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: The ref will give them probably five minutes and you
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: get to have questions. And that is all the public
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: statements you're going to get from the league or from
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: the ref on the call. And in that pool report,
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: Brad Allen said seventy declared himself. I declared seventy over
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: the loud speaker based on that absolutely sixty eight decker.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: That's a penalty. Lions fans are saying no. Sixty eight
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: declared the Lions after the game, in so many words,
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: said no sixty eight declared. They also said that someone
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: Dan Campbell himself necessarily in the pregame went through it
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: with the officiating staff. The play in that sixty eight
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: would be be the guy that's going to be declared.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: Now here's where it gets a little interesting. That's a
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: difference of he said. He said right. There also has
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: been this push from not the league and not the officials,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: but from others who have no dog in the fight, saying,
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: you want to get cute, you want to get too
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: close to the sun, you might get burned. And in
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: that case, the Lions sent three different offensive linemen, including
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: Piney Sewell, who had nothing to do with it, Skipper seventy,
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: and sixty eight Decker, who was the supposed eligible receiver
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: of the lineman downfield. All came running at brat Allen
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: in real time. Brad Allen sitting there, he says, seventy
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: declares whether or not it was sixty eight or seventy.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: He said seventy. The Lions have no more timeouts remaining.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: They go to the line of scrimmage. They run the play.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: Now Golf is in the middle of a huddle talking
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: to his guys. Did he hear seventy announced? Did anyone
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: hear seventy announced? Because of seventy's announced, that's the record,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: and whether he heard it or not, and whether sixty
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: eight said he was the guy seventy is the one
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: who is announced. They throw the past. The sixty eight
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: flag is thrown. They get pushed back five yards. It's outraged.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: Great Campbell decides to go forward again. Parsons off sides.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: They go up again and they throw this past to
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: James Mitchell, who's not a number one guy. He's not
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: samuela Porta incomplete. They lose. Now, so what I trust
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: greatly had a good question to me. If there was
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: a holding on that play and it was a two
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: point conversion from the seventeen yard line, was Campbell going
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: for it? And was Campbell so hell bent on going
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: for it that he was going for it no matter what?
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: Because I have never seen on a play chart a
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: two point conversion play from the seven. Now, they got lucky,
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: there was off sides, they got the extra yards, they
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: went back up there. But Campbell was so help bent
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: on ending that game. And now maybe that's and I
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: haven't spoken to Dan about it, and maybe I'll get
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: him on the season with Peter Scheger in the post postseason,
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: or maybe we'll get him on after the season. Was
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: it because they had already clinched and they didn't want
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: to risk any injuries and overtime. Was it just this
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: mentality of that's who the f we are, where the
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: where the Lions is what we do. We just go
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: for it. We're gonna, you know, break your neck in
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: regular you know duration of the regular time. We're not
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: going to overtime. We want to do it now here
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: and there. That might have been hubris. That might have
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: been just arrogance. That might have been just you know.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: I someone compared it to the golfer on tin Cup,
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: but I said it was like a poker player, like
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: on full tilt, like just like screw it. There's a
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: great meme that went around with with you know, two
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: kings dealt to a guy at the poker at that
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: blackjack table and Dan Campbell looking at it and saying
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: hit me. I mean, there's so many ways to look
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: at it. The look. The league stands behind their official.
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: Brad Allen's been doing it ten years. He hasn't spoken
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: on it since the Pool report. He said that seventy declared,
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: we don't have the official audio. We don't know what
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: went into the pregame conversations. We can't blame him after
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: calling a sixty minute game to not recall exactly that
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: sixty eight was going to be there. On the Lion's
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: side of it, they have every right to feel upset.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: Their fans have every right to feel outraged if they
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: ran this play and sixty eight went up to the
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: official and sixty eight said, I am declaring as eligible,
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: and there is eye contact and the whole thing, and
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: they didn't hear Brad Allen say seventy, or even if
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: he did say seventy, if they said sixty eight and
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: they ran that play to perfection and they did the
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: three guys running to the ref because that deception is
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: part of football, the same as a play action pass
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: or an end a round. And it's look, if the
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: Cowboys saw sixty eight going and only sixty eight, well
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: then they're covering sixty eight. But if they say three guys,
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: they might think that it's going to be seventy because
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: he's got in before as the eligible guy. All of
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: it's in the weeds. But it's a kind of a
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: eye of the beholder. If you're a Lions fan, did
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: you get screwed? If you're a Cowboys fan, is it hey?
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: You want to start playing like that and having four
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: guys run at the official or three guys running the official.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: Of course he might mess it up. There's a chance
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: he might mess that up. And if he didn't mess
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: it up, maybe you guys mess it up. Maybe Skippercock confused.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: Maybe he's the one who declared the end of the day.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: The Lions can claim what they claim, The league can
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: stand behind their official, which they are, and they're gonna
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: likely have to bounce back from this and not only
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: win a playoff game the Lions against what seems to
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: be the Rams, who might be bigger rivals in this
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: thing than anyone because of the Stafford situation and the
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: way McVeigh ended things with golf. The storylines are so
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: frost and so good, but they might beat the Rams
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: and then have to go back to Dallas. I thought
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: it was really really interesting how Dan Campbell would respond Monday,
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: two days afterwards, and here is his quote from his
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: press conference, which has me ready to run through a wall.
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: I'm good. I woke up yesterday. I'm ready, man, I've
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: got controlled fury and I'm ready to go. I am
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: I'm absolutely ready to go. I don't go the other
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: way so and the team won't either. We're on a
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: mission and we're not going to We're I can feel
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: sorry for ourselves and Walder and everything. We had plays
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: to make, we didn't make them. And it's a tight game,
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: a good opponent, playoff type atmosphere, and you got to
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: make that one extra play that we didn't, and so
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: we will use this as fuel. I got pure octane
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: right now. I woke up. I'm ready. So we're moving forward.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: Pure octane right now. Oh man, that's a good quote.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: I'm curious to see how they respond. They play the
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Vikings this weekend. It's it's not inconsequential because there's a
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: way the Vikings can still get in the playoffs, but
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: I believe Detroit is locked into number three. They'll either
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: play six seed Rams or a sixth seed. I think
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: there's a chance the Packers can be the sixth seed
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: if the Ram losing the Packers win, because the Packers
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: beat him when Brett Rippon was a quarterback, So there
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: is a way that they avoid playing that. And then
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: if that's the case, they're playing the freaking Green Bay Packers,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: their arch rivals who have beaten up on them the
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: last thirty years, and that's pretty good too. But you
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: might get Detroit Dallas again. And if I'm a betting man,
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: that's a Saturday night games. That's one of those on
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: Divisional round weekend where we're all watching and it's Tariko
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: on the call, and he's a Michigan guy who lives
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: in ann Arbor and he's calling it. It's NBC and
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: it's the whole thing. So I think the only option
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: the Lions have is to just lick your wounds and
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: keep going. But it was Harry there for forty eight hours,
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: and you know, as the news cycle goes, we're here
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: on Tuesday, it's kind of a dead story. Like the
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: Lions didn't show rage against the machine, against the league.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: They didn't you know, file and official protest. They didn't
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: kick and scream. It was kind of like, yeah, in
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: the locker room it sucked, and at the first game
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: press conference it sucked. But they're moving forward, and as
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: Dan Campbell says, he won't go the other way, and
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: the team won't either. They're on a mission and they're
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: not gonna feel sorry for themselves or wallow in everything.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: So why should the Lions fans do that either? I'd
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: say move on and let's see if you face those
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: guys again. Another topic that's interesting as we head towards
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: Week eighteen is obviously the Baltimore Ravens and what they're
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: doing to the league. I don't remember a two week
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: span in recent memory where a team puts such a
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: statement on their season, basically declaring that not only are
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: we number one, we are the best team in the
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: NFL by a wide margin, which leads to this weekend
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: for the Ravens. You come off these two huge wins,
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: but they're all banged up. Also, they've got guys who
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: are injured. They play Week eighteen in what is seemingly
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: an inconsequential, insignificant Saturday game against the Steelers, and yet
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: it's the Steelers. Like I know, Harball, I know the
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: Ravens are they gonna lay down and let the Steelers
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: have a shot to make the playoffs because the Steelers'
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: playoff path is not hard. The Steelers beat the Ravens,
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: and then if the Dolphins beat the Bills, the Steelers
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: go to the playoffs. Steelers are in. If that's the case,
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: the Ravens created a scenario where the Steelers can then
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: not only make the playoffs, but could somehow get hot
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: and face them, and that would mean that the Steelers
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: had swept the Ravens in the regular season and then, gosh,
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: it's a long shot, but who knows whether it's in
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: the divisional round. It would probably be in the divisional
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: round if they want. It's a six or seven seed.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: The Steelers would come to Baltimore, where they'd already beaten
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: them twice. And then suddenly it's Tomlin harblow and you
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: throw out the record books and Mason Rudolph's hot and
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: all this stuff. So the Ravens have an opportunity here
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: to truly eliminate the Steelers. They can win this game.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: Now here's the question. Because of the way that the
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: active rosters work. You can't just rest everybody. Guys have
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: to play. So here's my guest, and here's how I
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: would approach it if I'm the Ravens, if I'm telling them,
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: you can still win this game. You could still ruin
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: the Steelers. See you wrest Lamar Jackson, you rest Kyle Hamilton.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: You don't dress Roquan or Queen. You don't dress Stanley
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: who's up and down injured the whole last two years.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: You don't dress Stevens who missed last game. You don't
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: dress Marlon Humphrey. And then you play everybody else and
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: you hope for the best, and you hope that Tyler
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: Huntley can still beat the Steelers on a standalone window
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: game on Saturday on NBC where the Steelers go in
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: there and it's like Steelers have everything to fight for.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: Ravens then can say, you know what, Let's empty the playbook.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: Let's get weird. Let's put pressure on the Steelers. Let's
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: go forward on fourth down on every possession. Let's do
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: fake punts, Let's do random on side kicks. Let's throw
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: a bunch of wild stuff at the wall and try
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: to still mess up the Steelers season. While Tyler Huntley,
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: who has played in playoff game and has played in
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: big games before, has done it.
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: Pro Bowl quarterback Tyler Pro Bowl.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: Quarterback from last year at gosh, is that amazing. I
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: think that team's interesting. I also think the forty nine
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: Ers are interesting. They're not gonna play Rock Purdy. They're
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: gonna play Sam Darnold. The Rams probably are not gonna
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: play their guy. They're gonna go with Carson Wentz. I
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: want to see what these two teams put together, because
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: for all the eighteen game season and all the suspense
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: we want to build up, those guys can sit back
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: and smoke cigars and chill for two weeks while the
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: rest of the world just bangs their head against each
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: other and it's a collision course for their conferences. Gosh,
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: what a luxury it is this year, and what a
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: luxury for both those teams. To lock it up in
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: week seventeen and not Week eighteen. They have nothing to
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: play for, and yet pride does seep in. Not as
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: much for the forty nine ers. The Rams are in already.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: But to tell a Baltimore Raven fan that you're not
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: gonna try and you're gonna let the Steelers into the playoffs,
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: that's a tough pill to swallow. We have a really
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: cool guest today. We had them on last year, the
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: same exact. He's going to break two things down for us.
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: He's going to break not only all the different playoff
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: scenarios and ways for teams to get in, which I
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: think is cool. He's also going to talk draft with us,
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: because there are multiple ways for other teams to get
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: the number two pick now that Chicago has already locked
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: up to number one pick. Steve Kornaki, the NBC and
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: MSNBC Odds and Election and Playoff Wizard, the Man in
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: the khaki pants, joins us after this.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: Well.
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: As I mentioned in the monologue, we are in the
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: final week of the regular season, and this is going
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: to be an annual tradition. We did it last year
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: in the final week of the regular season. And he's
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: one of my favorite people on sports TV. Also, you
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: can see him throughout the next I would say the
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: next eight months and to ten months. He will be
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: very busy as we lead up to the election in
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty four. He is our friend from NBC MSNBC,
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: NBC Sports Now, mister Steve Kornaki a sir, pete.
• 17:07
  Speaker 4: I'm doing great. It's an interesting time of year. We've
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: got the playoffs coming to a head, and we got
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: the political season coming to ahead. So it's fun for me.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: They sure do for the listeners who might be new
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: to what Steve does outside of the football world. And
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: I guess Steve is probably listening to this, like are
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: you serious? Yes, I'm serious. Some people know you from
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: just Sunday Night Football. My friend, all the election stuff.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: We're talking Maricopa County, all that stuff where you get
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: to the board and you say who's winning what local
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: election and how it leads to the final results. Kornaky's
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: the top of the game, and Steve's been doing that
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: for years, and then NBC in recent years has brought
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: him into kind of break down the playoff stuff based
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: on his great work on all those local district elections
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: and how that leads to it real quick? You got
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: Iowa in two weeks. Are you on the road? Are
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: you stuck in a lab? Where are you going? Iowa
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: breaks down?
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: Yeah, first book. I'm flattered if they only know me
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: from the NFL or I do horse racing for NBC too.
• 18:01
  Speaker 4: I always I get a kick out of if people
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: just if they recognize me from there instead of politics.
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: It's this is the fun part of the job for me,
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: so I love getting to do it. The good news
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: for me with the political stuff is what I do
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: is with this big giant board basically what you see
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: on football night in America too. Does not travel well,
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: so can't take it out to Iowa, can't take it
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: to New Hampshire. Got to stay in the studio, so
• 18:23
  Speaker 4: not a ton of travel. It's really just for me.
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: It's you know, I always got ninety nine counties. They're
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: all basically squares, so it's every four years I get
• 18:31
  Speaker 4: the old flash cards out and start going through and
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: make sure I know what's where. And you know, New
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: Hampshire's fun too because they do it by city in town,
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: so you've got a couple hundred cities in town. But
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: I grew up like near there, so that gives me
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: a little bit of home court advantage.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: But yeah, does this feel like the regular season? And
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: then when we get to November, it's like, all right,
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: that's a super Bowl and this is kind of like,
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: you know, you got to hone your chops a little bit,
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: you got you might be a little rusty after the
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: last two years, and now we're back in it. Like,
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: is that how it feels right now as we head
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: towards obviously Iowa too.
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: Yeah, a little bit. I mean I think when I
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: was looking at this a year ago we started playing this,
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: I was thinking a year ago, this Republican primary, you know,
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: would be like January to June. Every week there's a
• 19:13
  Speaker 4: you know, a primary that's you know, could go either way.
• 19:16
  Speaker 4: I thought it was gonna be a wide open race,
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: and it's at least right now, it's not looking that way. Obviously,
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: we'll see when the voters start voting in two weeks
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: if it changes, But yeah, it could be. It could
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: be a much shorter primary season and a much more
• 19:29
  Speaker 4: emphatic one than I was expecting. And in that case, yeah,
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: then it's nine months of build up to the to
• 19:35
  Speaker 4: the big one in November.
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: Buckle Up sat on the show Today. We were like,
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: welcome in, Happy New Year, and I'm like, yes, it'd
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: be very interesting twenty twenty four. We shall see how
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: it goes real quick. Before we get into the football stuff,
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: which everyone is listening to it right, there's a little
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: news nugget that like hit my timeline that made me
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: love you even more than I love you already. This
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: is in the midst of like the Taylor Swift Travis
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: Kelcey like phenomenon really breaking out. And someone on the
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: Today Show came out and was like, I don't, I don't.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: I think Steve knows exactly who Taylor Swift is. And
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: they came out I think your partner even came out
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: and said, like, does this not a pop culture guy
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: he's involved in that? Is it true that you didn't
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: know exactly who Taylor Swift was? Steve?
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: And I do know what I have learned? Is it
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: her fans are very intense, and I don't want to
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: be on the wrong side of her fans. So I
• 20:26
  Speaker 4: mean they said, no disrespect whatsoever. I knew the name.
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: I knew there was a figure in our popular culture
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: who was you know, famous and beloved and everything who
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: was named Taylor Swift. I couldn't have told you if
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: it was an actress, saying I knew it was somewhere
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: in that realm. I don't know. Music passed about nineteen
• 20:45
  Speaker 4: eighty five. I stopped seeing the movies. They're all, you know,
• 20:50
  Speaker 4: action hero, you know, superhero stuff. I don't like that stuff.
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: You know, give me like Jev Chase and funny farm
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: or something.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: Again, funny funny what Cramer vs. Kramer Actual, I'm not
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: getting that anymore here.
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: So yeah, I had no offense. I know she is now,
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: I know all about her. Well. I really couldn't take
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: many of her songs.
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: I know.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: She's just say, you think I love this so much
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: because we all live in our phones, we all live
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: in our bubbles, and you're like, I think the quote
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: from the Today Show host it might have been Chanelle Jones.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: She said, like, if you check Steve's Instagram, it's lakes,
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: oceans and mountains. You're not posting memes.
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: No, No, it's it's my respite from you know, it's
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: things that call me, things that give me a sense
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: of peace.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: Perfect speaking of things that calm and give peace. Let's
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: talk playoffs scenarios when people are on the edge of
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: their sea right now, I hope we can dive right
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: in here as we have it. We've got our seven
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: teams on the AFC, You're seven teams on the NFC,
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: and there's not as much fluidity with the playoff pictures
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: as recent years. I feel like I feel like with
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: our one seeds locked up, we kind of have some
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: stability there, and in most cases the three seeds, I
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: think the Chiefs and Lions are pretty much locked up,
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: and then from there the five seeds look pretty stabled.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: We know the Browns sure of the five seed, the
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: Buccaneers if they beat the Carolina Panthers, they're the five seed.
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: But there is some ways to teams can wiggle in.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: There's some teams that teams can fall out. I think
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: the most interesting scenario, if we can get right into it,
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: can you take us through the Buffalo Bills scenario and
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: what is that stake on Sunday night and what could
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: happen on Saturday and Sunday that can lead that game
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: to having even greater stakes than just winning the AFC
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: East time.
• 22:31
  Speaker 4: Yeah, totally right there. That is the I think that's
• 22:35
  Speaker 4: the most interesting and the most dramatic, because look, you know,
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: a month ago, obviously Buffalo was buried, not just the
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: AFC race, but I mean it looked like they were
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: I think in the ten spot.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: You know, they're in the eleventh spot, fourteen chance, I
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: think around things.
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: Remember, So it's interesting you look at it. The same
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: week you had Buffalo pull out the win against Kansas City,
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: you had the controversial penalty, They get the win, and
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: they've done nothing but win since. Then that same week,
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: Miami on Monday night blows the fourteen point lead against
• 23:03
  Speaker 4: Tennessee with three minutes left. I think that was what
• 23:06
  Speaker 4: the first time in forty five years or something that
• 23:08
  Speaker 4: it happens. So that happens the same week, and all
• 23:11
  Speaker 4: of a sudden, you watch the odds, you track them
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: week by week, the probabilities for that division they've collided
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: at essentially fifty to fifty. Now they were they were
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: like ninety five to five with three minutes to go
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: in that Miami game. And so the scenario for Buffalo is, look,
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: they had to win earlier against Miami. See win this game,
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: both teams will be eleven and six. Buffalo gets the tiebreaker.
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: Buffalo gets the division. That's gonna mean the two seed.
• 23:34
  Speaker 4: That's gonna mean you know, at least if you keep
• 23:37
  Speaker 4: winning at least two home playoff games. You know, Buffalo's
• 23:40
  Speaker 4: really you know, come from nowhere to being you know,
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: in a great spot heading into the playoffs. Now, if
• 23:45
  Speaker 4: Buffalo loses, they definitely could fall into the wild card,
• 23:50
  Speaker 4: but they're gonna need help to stay in that wildcard mix.
• 23:53
  Speaker 4: So what Buffalo would then need is either Tennessee would
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: have to knock off Jacksonville or they would need boll likely, yeah,
• 24:01
  Speaker 4: you would say, unlike. I mean, we've seen some you know,
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: some cheered Week eighteen outcomes before the other one is
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: you know, they would need to Baltimore to beat to
• 24:11
  Speaker 4: beat Pittsburgh, which, okay, on paper is certainly say is likely.
• 24:15
  Speaker 4: But then there's the question of who's playing, who's motivated more,
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: and all of that. So Buffalo's you know, it's a
• 24:23
  Speaker 4: tailor two cities.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: That's all that happened, That's all the needs to happen.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: So the Jaguars, playing for everything, have to beat a
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: Titans team playing for nothing, and the Steelers playing for
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: everything have to play have to beat a Baltimore team
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: that is gonna have probably eight ter nine. Starter is
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: not even dressed. So if those two things happen, it's
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: win and a two seed lose, an out of the
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: playoffs for Buffalo.
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: Yeah, fascinating, that's what I say. It's the crazy. Now
• 24:47
  Speaker 4: Miami obviously is locked up. Now they wouldn't get They
• 24:51
  Speaker 4: would fall if they lost, they would fall, not to
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: the five to the six. You say five is locked
• 24:55
  Speaker 4: up for Cleveland, so six would be Miami, and three,
• 24:58
  Speaker 4: as you say, is locked up in the AFC for
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: Kansas City, So Miami. It's not quite as dramatic, but
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: it's two seed home game at LEAs one home game.
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: These two home games if you keep winning, or trip
• 25:10
  Speaker 4: to Arrowhead playing Mahomes on the road in the first round.
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: So you know, it's not quite a stark, but it's
• 25:15
  Speaker 4: stark either way.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: The next team I want to talk about is the
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings, because they lost that terrible game Sunday with
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: a lot on the line, they go tumbling in the standings,
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: and yet I wake up this morning and I see
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: there is still a path for the Vikings to get in,
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: especially if the Chicago Bears continue to play like they've
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: been playing.
• 25:35
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm gonna look here, we partner with PFF Pro
• 25:39
  Speaker 4: Football Focus and seeing what their current odds are for
• 25:42
  Speaker 4: Minnesota to actually get in. They have met three percent
• 25:45
  Speaker 4: right now, one point three. It's three. They are of
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: all the teams that are still alive in some way
• 25:53
  Speaker 4: for the playoffs, Minnesota is the longest shot of any
• 25:56
  Speaker 4: team currently alive. So yeah, beat Detroit now. First of all,
• 26:00
  Speaker 4: the way Minnesota is playing, you got your doubts. Detroit's
• 26:05
  Speaker 4: probably going to be angry. I'm not sure there are
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: motivation level in terms of seating, but I'm thinking they're
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: gonna be a little angry company Campbell.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: He used the quote controlled Ferris. That's how they feel, right,
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: that's a.
• 26:17
  Speaker 4: Good face, controlled fury. H. Then you're gonna need green
• 26:20
  Speaker 4: Bay to lose to Chicago. Like you say, Chicago's playing
• 26:24
  Speaker 4: real well right now, but green Bay, you know, must
• 26:27
  Speaker 4: win game and look good. Certainly on Sunday. You're gonna
• 26:30
  Speaker 4: need Seattle to lose to Arizona. And I think that's
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: where it starts to really Now, look, Arizona's pulled off
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: a big way and Seattle's a Seattle can be a
• 26:41
  Speaker 4: weird team. So you would need that, and then you
• 26:43
  Speaker 4: would also need Tampa Bay or New Orleans to lose.
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: Tampa play in Carolina, and then New Orleans has that
• 26:50
  Speaker 4: game against Atlanta, so one of those two would have
• 26:53
  Speaker 4: to lose. If all of that happens, then Minnesota could
• 26:57
  Speaker 4: still get in with that last wildcard spot.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: Okay, how about Seattle? Do you have that handy? What
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: does the Seahawks need to get back into it? A
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: heartbreaking loss to the Steelers on.
• 27:06
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, so it's basically they need now they
• 27:09
  Speaker 4: need green Bay to turn around and lose. They need
• 27:12
  Speaker 4: to win obviously, and then they need green Bay to
• 27:14
  Speaker 4: turn around and lose and they can get into that,
• 27:17
  Speaker 4: you know, into that seventh spot. So they're cheering.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: And last year green Bay on your network on NBC,
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: green Bay had everything to play for a playoff spot
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: and the Lions were already eliminated because the Seahawks had
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: beaten the Rams. And what do you know, Jared Goff,
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: the Lions they come into Lambo. Can justin fields do
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: that and now give Seattle hope because I would think
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: Seattle beats Arizona and if they're winning, they're they're watching
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: that clock closely. Can that's not that crazy, I thought.
• 27:47
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it's just yes, we saw it. We
• 27:49
  Speaker 4: saw it, uh last year and you know, I don't know,
• 27:53
  Speaker 4: between the Philadelphia and Tennessee games, you know, you see
• 27:57
  Speaker 4: uh uh Seattle put themselves in the same spot. They
• 28:00
  Speaker 4: needed the last minute long drive they got into two
• 28:03
  Speaker 4: straight games to get back into playoff mix. Maybe two
• 28:05
  Speaker 4: straight years they could get the kind of unexpected assist
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: from the team, you know, out of the playoff picture.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: All right, do you want to go through the AFC
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: South situation a little bit because it is a little complicated.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: We know there's a winning in game on Saturday night
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: between the Colts and the Texans, but it's not for
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: the division. It could be for the division. Explain it.
• 28:24
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's interesting because in some ways right now, it's
• 28:28
  Speaker 4: the three way tie there at the in the AFC South,
• 28:31
  Speaker 4: and Jacksonville has all the tie breakers over both Indie
• 28:34
  Speaker 4: and Houston. But the winner of that Indie Houston game
• 28:38
  Speaker 4: is going to come into Sunday in better shape than
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: than the Jacks at ten and seven, either one of them.
• 28:42
  Speaker 4: All they have to do is get to ten and
• 28:45
  Speaker 4: seven and they clinch a playoff berth whether it's a
• 28:48
  Speaker 4: wild card or the division title is then going to
• 28:50
  Speaker 4: be settled Sunday in the Jacksonville Tennessee game. If Jacksonville
• 28:54
  Speaker 4: drops that game to Tennessee, then the winner of Indie
• 28:57
  Speaker 4: Houston wins the division gets the four seat because they'll
• 29:01
  Speaker 4: have leaped. You know, Jacksonville be nine to eight and
• 29:04
  Speaker 4: then you know ten and seven will get them in. So, uh,
• 29:10
  Speaker 4: the scenario there obviously be those teams just you want
• 29:12
  Speaker 4: to win and you would hope Jacksonville loses. But even
• 29:14
  Speaker 4: if Jacksonville doesn't lose, you are in the playoffs. Now Jacksonville,
• 29:17
  Speaker 4: if they lose, they could they could fall down. They're
• 29:21
  Speaker 4: nine to eight and they could fall into that wild
• 29:23
  Speaker 4: card pool and they would need uh, two things to happen.
• 29:28
  Speaker 4: They need Baltimore to beat Pittsburg because Pittsburgh's hanging around
• 29:31
  Speaker 4: that wild card race. And then they would this was weird,
• 29:34
  Speaker 4: but they would need Vegas to beat Denver, two teams
• 29:39
  Speaker 4: that are out of the playoff picture right now interconference records. Well, yeah,
• 29:43
  Speaker 4: what would happen is if Denver were to win, you
• 29:46
  Speaker 4: know he gets nine and eight. Denver's not making the
• 29:47
  Speaker 4: playoffs no matter what. But Denver would enter into it
• 29:51
  Speaker 4: nine and eight, a very complex tiebreaker. We already know
• 29:55
  Speaker 4: Denver would lose the tiebreaker.
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: But they'd all be nine and eight, so they're still in.
• 29:59
  Speaker 4: The time presence in the tiebreaker would screw it up
• 30:04
  Speaker 4: for Jacksonville. So so it Yeah, so Jacksonville is gonna
• 30:07
  Speaker 4: be cheering for if they can't get it done against Tennessee,
• 30:10
  Speaker 4: which is obviously the easiest path. They're cheering for the Raiders,
• 30:12
  Speaker 4: and they're cheering for the Ravens. They're gonna need both
• 30:14
  Speaker 4: of those to happen.
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: Not to put you on the spot here, but if
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: the Colts or Texans lose on Saturday night, are they
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: mathematically eliminated or can they still somehow find a wild
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: card spot? If Jacksonville gets what they need to be,
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: it doesn't get what they need. This is in the week. Yeah,
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: let's let's just is there. I just don't know if
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: I'm a.
• 30:36
  Speaker 4: Winner in I'm pulling out. I think this is a
• 30:39
  Speaker 4: I'm going through like one hundred pages right here, but
• 30:41
  Speaker 4: I got I got a fun love for you here. Yeah. Basically, uh,
• 30:47
  Speaker 4: there is the ogive the odds. So again, this is
• 30:49
  Speaker 4: from our friends at pff. This might be a good
• 30:52
  Speaker 4: way of looking at it. The best path the playoffs,
• 30:55
  Speaker 4: obviously for Indy and Houston is to get that division win,
• 30:59
  Speaker 4: but they each have and give them to you here, Houston.
• 31:02
  Speaker 4: Right now, the odds are getting a wild card. They
• 31:04
  Speaker 4: have a twelve percent shot at picking up the six seed.
• 31:07
  Speaker 4: They have a fourteen percent shot of picking up the
• 31:09
  Speaker 4: seven seed. Indianapolis a thirteen percent shot at the sixth seed,
• 31:13
  Speaker 4: and a fourteen and a half percent shot at the
• 31:15
  Speaker 4: seventh seed. So you know, they do they do essentially
• 31:19
  Speaker 4: if you add those two together, the division and the
• 31:21
  Speaker 4: wild card possibility, they're each floating around fifty to fifty
• 31:24
  Speaker 4: to make the to get in the playoffs here.
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: Okay, okay, so it's not so crazy, all right, Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: It's kind of a simpler path. They're gonna need a
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: little help. But how do they get in as they're
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: on the outside looking in right now?
• 31:38
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so Pittsburgh and call this one up two here. Look,
• 31:43
  Speaker 4: we talked about the scenario with the Ravens, the question
• 31:47
  Speaker 4: of motivation. You just got to you gotta get that
• 31:49
  Speaker 4: win to get you to ten and seven. You then
• 31:54
  Speaker 4: need Buffalo to lose. So that's because they would get
• 31:58
  Speaker 4: that tie breaker. So then they're in, Yeah, get get
• 32:01
  Speaker 4: a loss there, you know your ten and said, well
• 32:02
  Speaker 4: you need Buffalo to lose or the other place they
• 32:05
  Speaker 4: could get into trouble here. Uh that's with a loss. Yeah,
• 32:10
  Speaker 4: with a win at ten, I think it's a win
• 32:11
  Speaker 4: at ten and seven, Yes, because then Buffalo falls and
• 32:15
  Speaker 4: you get that winter and you're you know.
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: The longest shot is the Vikings. What's the fun the
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: most fun and complicated scenario you've got there that you've
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: had to go through or that maybe you could present through.
• 32:28
  Speaker 4: I think, well, I think it is the Vikings because
• 32:30
  Speaker 4: there we have three percent. I mean, just looking at
• 32:32
  Speaker 4: the odds we give to every team here, there's nobody
• 32:34
  Speaker 4: else who's in the mix, who's who's less than about
• 32:37
  Speaker 4: a quarter. I think the uh, the NFC South is
• 32:40
  Speaker 4: interesting just because you know, Tampa had the chance. Yeah,
• 32:42
  Speaker 4: Tampa had the chance to lock it up. And now
• 32:45
  Speaker 4: you've got eight Nate Tampa, eight Nate New Orleans seven
• 32:48
  Speaker 4: to nine Falcons, and the Falcons playing the Saints you
• 32:52
  Speaker 4: know in week eighteen. So Tampa, look again, this is
• 32:55
  Speaker 4: one of those on paper, they're playing Carolina. Just beat
• 32:58
  Speaker 4: Carolina win the division. But if they slipped up, then
• 33:04
  Speaker 4: New Orleans, uh, well, then the winner that New Orleans
• 33:06
  Speaker 4: Atlanta game gets the division. Obviously New Orleans would get it.
• 33:09
  Speaker 4: If they were they'd be nine and eight. They'd be
• 33:10
  Speaker 4: the only nine win team in the division.
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: How would Atlanta get it? They would sweep No.
• 33:14
  Speaker 4: Orleanta. Then Atlanta would be eight and nine. New Orleans
• 33:17
  Speaker 4: would be eight and nine with that loss, and Tampa
• 33:19
  Speaker 4: would be eight and nine. And if they all finish
• 33:20
  Speaker 4: at eight and nine, Atlanta is actually going to win
• 33:22
  Speaker 4: that tiebreaker on the division record, right, I see, I
• 33:25
  Speaker 4: think it's the No, it's not the division record, it's
• 33:27
  Speaker 4: the combined record of three teams when they've played each other.
• 33:31
  Speaker 4: So Atlanta at eight and nine would get that. And
• 33:33
  Speaker 4: the other kind of interesting, you know, kind of long
• 33:36
  Speaker 4: shot scenario there is New Orleans. If Tampa wins in
• 33:39
  Speaker 4: New Orleans beats Atlanta, New Orleans at nine and eight,
• 33:43
  Speaker 4: they'd like they're like third in the pecking order. But
• 33:46
  Speaker 4: could they move into the wild cards? Could they get
• 33:48
  Speaker 4: a Green Bay loss? Could they get a Seattle loss?
• 33:51
  Speaker 4: And at nine to eight, could New Orleans suddenly be
• 33:54
  Speaker 4: alive to make it not as the division champ, but
• 33:57
  Speaker 4: to make it as a wildcard. And could that NFC
• 33:59
  Speaker 4: South that we've kind of penciled in all years a
• 34:01
  Speaker 4: one bid division, could they produce two teams?
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: So you're basically saying the Vikings need three things to happen.
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: The Saints need two. Like whatever it is, the Saints
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: need one less thing. The Saints are above the Vikings
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: as long as they win and they get the same thing.
• 34:15
  Speaker 4: The Peggy order is basically green Bay right now, it's
• 34:16
  Speaker 4: green Bays to lose. If green Bay loses it, it's
• 34:19
  Speaker 4: Seattle's to lose. If Seattle loses it, in New Orleans
• 34:21
  Speaker 4: enters the picture. If they lose it, then you're looking
• 34:24
  Speaker 4: at maybe it could default to the Vikings.
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: And if you're a Falcons fan, all you need to
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: do is worry about winning and somehow Carolina pulling the
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: upset and then you're in the playoffs as a division.
• 34:34
  Speaker 4: Cam you get a home game. It's a home playoffs nine. Yeah.
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: Great, all right, So that's one side of football fandom,
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: and everyone's doing that. There's another side watching the draft order.
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: This isn't your This isn't your expertise. Usually they don't
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: bring you on NBC to talk draft order, but it
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: got really interesting this year because of the quarterbacks that
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: are involved. And if you know how the last few
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: seasons have ended on Week eighteen, the draft order has
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: shuffled tenfold based on crazy results and what we think
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: are meaning last Week eighteen games. But then it kind
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: of shapes the future of the NFL base on where
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: these quarterbacks go. Let's look at this draft order right now,
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: as number one is locked up with the Carolina Panthers,
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: Number two is the Washington Commanders. That you would think
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: with the Cowboys having to win this game and win
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: the NFC East and the Commanders having nothing to play
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: for except pride, that the Cowboys would win. However, if
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: the Commanders lose, that set if the Commanders win, Let's
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: go through the motions here and see. If the Commanders
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: win and they do not have the number two pick,
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: who can get the number two pick because it's either
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: Caleb Williams or Drake May and those guys are going
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: to be outstanding NFL quarterbacks.
• 35:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so this is fun. I got I got my
• 35:53
  Speaker 4: spreadsheet up right now, you got it? Currently for the
• 35:55
  Speaker 4: two spot you got a three way ties, you say Washington,
• 35:58
  Speaker 4: who right now controls that tie breaker? Can we explain
• 36:02
  Speaker 4: what the different like this is the weird time so
• 36:04
  Speaker 4: they not head to head, could end up being head
• 36:07
  Speaker 4: to head, but it starts out at strength of schedule.
• 36:10
  Speaker 4: It's just the number one time breaker is what's the
• 36:13
  Speaker 4: record of your opponents? And the worse the record of
• 36:16
  Speaker 4: your combined record of all the opponents you've played this
• 36:18
  Speaker 4: year is the better you get draft position, So you want.
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: That seems backwards, yes, but that is how it goes.
• 36:25
  Speaker 4: So if you look right now the Washington, it's basically
• 36:30
  Speaker 4: it's by one game. If you add up the wins
• 36:33
  Speaker 4: and losses of all of the Commander's opponents this year,
• 36:36
  Speaker 4: the Commander's opponents are one hundred and forty and one
• 36:38
  Speaker 4: hundred and thirty two, and they're four and twelve right now.
• 36:42
  Speaker 4: The Pats are four and twelve right now, and the
• 36:44
  Speaker 4: combined record of all their opponents this year is one
• 36:46
  Speaker 4: hundred and forty one and one hundred and thirty one,
• 36:50
  Speaker 4: So this is a now and then also the Cardinals
• 36:53
  Speaker 4: are tied at four and twelve, but there it's there.
• 36:56
  Speaker 4: What's the number here? They have a much stronger They're
• 36:59
  Speaker 4: now opponents are much better than say, yeah, any tie
• 37:02
  Speaker 4: with the with the The only way the Cardinals get
• 37:05
  Speaker 4: the top pick here is if they lose next week
• 37:07
  Speaker 4: and both Washington and New England win, they have to
• 37:09
  Speaker 4: be alone four and thirteen because they're not winning any
• 37:12
  Speaker 4: type of Their schedule is too strong. It's a weird.
• 37:15
  Speaker 4: It's a weird. But that Washington New Eeland one is
• 37:17
  Speaker 4: interesting because the one game between them, so you look
• 37:21
  Speaker 4: at now, is New England going to lose to the Jets?
• 37:23
  Speaker 4: If it's Belichick's you know, final game in New England.
• 37:25
  Speaker 4: You know his history, that is he gonna really want
• 37:28
  Speaker 4: to you know. Okay, but let's say they do. Let's
• 37:30
  Speaker 4: say that That's lose it. Let's say Washington loses it.
• 37:33
  Speaker 4: So you got two at four and thirteen. How is
• 37:35
  Speaker 4: that common? How is that?
• 37:39
  Speaker 3: Uh?
• 37:39
  Speaker 4: A straight? The schedule going to change? The big swing
• 37:42
  Speaker 4: game to watch. There's a couple that come in, but
• 37:45
  Speaker 4: the biggest one to keep an eye on by far
• 37:47
  Speaker 4: is Atlanta New Orleans. Okay, love, New England played New
• 37:52
  Speaker 4: Orleans this year, right, and Washington played game and Washington
• 37:57
  Speaker 4: played Atlanta. So it's it's a key swing. If New
• 38:03
  Speaker 4: Orleans wins the game, the Patriots, in their strength of schedule,
• 38:07
  Speaker 4: get what they don't want. They get another win for
• 38:10
  Speaker 4: their opponents, and meanwhile, for Washington, they get another loss
• 38:14
  Speaker 4: for their opponents, because that's that's Atlanta losing. So the
• 38:17
  Speaker 4: Pats really want if they're playing the draft game, the
• 38:21
  Speaker 4: Pats really want Atlanta to beat New Orleans, and Washington
• 38:26
  Speaker 4: really wants New Orleans to beat Atlanta. They want the
• 38:29
  Speaker 4: team they played to take another loss. And the interesting
• 38:32
  Speaker 4: thing is, there's a couple others that play out, but
• 38:34
  Speaker 4: let's just stay with that one because if that, if
• 38:36
  Speaker 4: the Pats get what they want there, and let's say
• 38:39
  Speaker 4: everything else kind of works out evenly it wouldn't have to,
• 38:41
  Speaker 4: but let's just say it does, and that would mean
• 38:42
  Speaker 4: that Pats would move into a tie in strength of
• 38:45
  Speaker 4: schedule with Washington. And if it ended up tied strength
• 38:49
  Speaker 4: to schedule, that is, pardon me, is when head to
• 38:52
  Speaker 4: head comes in. And this is the opposite of every
• 38:54
  Speaker 4: head to head you've ever wanted, because this is where
• 38:57
  Speaker 4: the loser of the head to head doesn't get to
• 38:59
  Speaker 4: pick the loser of the head to it doesn't get
• 39:01
  Speaker 4: to the loser gets to pick. The winner doesn't. So
• 39:05
  Speaker 4: Pats played Washinghington, Pat's lost to Washington, and it comes
• 39:09
  Speaker 4: back to bite Washington because it gives the Pats the
• 39:13
  Speaker 4: number two seats.
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: So there's a real shot that the Patriots get the
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: number two overall pick. Even if Washington loses and New
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: England loses.
• 39:21
  Speaker 4: Well, that that it's not automatic with that, Atlanta, New Orleans,
• 39:26
  Speaker 4: A couple others come into play, but that's a huge
• 39:28
  Speaker 4: one if that happens. If New Orleans loses, excuse me,
• 39:31
  Speaker 4: beats Atlanta and both the Patriots and Washington a four
• 39:35
  Speaker 4: and thirteen at that point, there's a real chance, and
• 39:38
  Speaker 4: I mean some of the other games to keep an
• 39:40
  Speaker 4: eye on. Let me say I wrote him down here.
• 39:44
  Speaker 4: I mean, for instance, they could affect this because a
• 39:45
  Speaker 4: lot of it there's a lot of common games between
• 39:47
  Speaker 4: these teams. There's not many that really matter on the schedule.
• 39:49
  Speaker 4: But like Denver in Las Vegas, right, Okay, So Washington's
• 39:54
  Speaker 4: played Denver and played Vegas. Pats have played in both.
• 39:57
  Speaker 4: So Patriots would want Denver to beat Las Vegas because
• 40:02
  Speaker 4: that'd be another win in Washington's column instead of a loss.
• 40:05
  Speaker 4: So that's an important one. Another important one in Chicago
• 40:09
  Speaker 4: Green Bay because Washington's played Chicago. New England hasn't played
• 40:12
  Speaker 4: either one of them. But you know, obviously Washington is
• 40:16
  Speaker 4: a Green Bay fan because that would get them and
• 40:18
  Speaker 4: a loss in their column. Indy Houston is an important one.
• 40:21
  Speaker 4: Pat's played the Colts, so Pats are cheering for Houston again.
• 40:25
  Speaker 4: They're doing the draft thing. Pats are chanting for Houston
• 40:27
  Speaker 4: to beat the Colts because that could give them another
• 40:29
  Speaker 4: loss in the lost column. And I think I had
• 40:34
  Speaker 4: one more here, Oh, Baltimore Pittsburgh. Yeah, so the Pats
• 40:38
  Speaker 4: having played Pittsburgh, Pats are cheering for Baltimore to knock
• 40:41
  Speaker 4: out Pittsburgh.
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 40:41
  Speaker 4: So there's there's basically five games that have some that
• 40:45
  Speaker 4: could affect the strength to schedule between Washington and New England.
• 40:50
  Speaker 4: There's only one that involves a team that both teams
• 40:53
  Speaker 4: have played this year. That's at Lanta, New Orleans.
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: Really quick. Two more teams that I'm gonna let you go.
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: Is there a chance the Giants can get the number
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: two overall?
• 41:01
  Speaker 4: Pick a chance? But it's it's it's fractional. So it
• 41:07
  Speaker 4: involves First of all, you gotta remember that you know
• 41:09
  Speaker 4: Arizona is sitting there, you know, playing a desperate Seattle team,
• 41:14
  Speaker 4: and even if Washington wins, and even if New England wins,
• 41:17
  Speaker 4: you're still, if you're a Giants fan, you're gonna need
• 41:20
  Speaker 4: Arizona to win as well. You're gonna need all three
• 41:22
  Speaker 4: of those teams to win. Now, if they do, Washington
• 41:26
  Speaker 4: does the Giants, excuse me, do enter into that strength
• 41:30
  Speaker 4: to schedule mix Right now? Their opponents are combined one
• 41:35
  Speaker 4: hundred and thirty nine and one hundred and thirty three,
• 41:39
  Speaker 4: so they're actually, you know, it's a game weaker, but
• 41:43
  Speaker 4: in this context, the game better than Washington right now
• 41:47
  Speaker 4: when it comes to that, when it comes to getting
• 41:49
  Speaker 4: the two seeds. So now that again there's some common
• 41:52
  Speaker 4: games there that could change, so there would be. But yes,
• 41:57
  Speaker 4: if if Washington loses to Dallas, if New England loses,
• 42:00
  Speaker 4: excuse me, if Washington beats Downs, if New England beats
• 42:05
  Speaker 4: the Jets, and if Arizona beats Seattle and the Giants lose,
• 42:10
  Speaker 4: then the Giants enter into a tie with those teams,
• 42:14
  Speaker 4: and their strength of schedule would give them a shot.
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: Unbelievable. Last one, the La Chargers, they have gone from
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: being a super Bowl favorite for the season, could they
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: end up with the number two.
• 42:25
  Speaker 4: So it's a similar scenario here, but the strength is
• 42:30
  Speaker 4: so right now, the Chargers combined opponent record is one
• 42:34
  Speaker 4: forty three and one twenty nine, so you could see
• 42:37
  Speaker 4: it would they need They'd probably want the Giants to win.
• 42:44
  Speaker 4: You know, they wouldn't want to be in a tiebreaker
• 42:47
  Speaker 4: with the Giants, and they're gonna they would beat if
• 42:49
  Speaker 4: they could get into a tiebreaker with Arizona, their strength
• 42:53
  Speaker 4: of a schedule would would break in their favor with Arizona.
• 42:57
  Speaker 4: To catch New England would be tough. You know, there
• 43:00
  Speaker 4: are two games up there. To catch Washington would be
• 43:03
  Speaker 4: So there is a scenario for them, but you know,
• 43:08
  Speaker 4: again it involves they're gonna need some breaks on common games,
• 43:12
  Speaker 4: on a unique games, i should say, in the strengthen schedule,
• 43:17
  Speaker 4: and they're going to need Arizona to win.
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: My big takeaway from this is a revelation that the Patriots,
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: despite thinking all their fans thinking, they ruined any chance
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: that Drake may when they beat the Steelers, they ruined
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: any chance when they went on Christmas even beat the
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: Broncos that hey, you could just take care of business lose.
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: See Washington lose, that's okay. And if they need New
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: Orleans and they they need Atlanta.
• 43:44
  Speaker 4: Because they played New Orleans, so they want New Orleans
• 43:46
  Speaker 4: to take a loss, and Washington played Atlanta, so they
• 43:50
  Speaker 4: want that to be credited as a win in Washington's column.
• 43:53
  Speaker 4: How much do this? How much are the Patriots? How
• 43:55
  Speaker 4: much is Bill Belichick willing to lose to the Jets?
• 43:58
  Speaker 4: They getting it first is the first question there. But yeah,
• 44:00
  Speaker 4: it's possible, and.
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: I don't think They've got fifteen straight wins, and Belichick
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: hates the Jets and they're so prideful as a franchise.
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: I don't see them losing unless the Jets just somehow
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: put it together. But based on what they've done Thursday
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: night against Cleveland, I don't see that either. Hey, real quick,
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: before we go, I want ninety seconds to a minute.
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: Tell me about Humboldt County and how it's looking out
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: in Iowa right now.
• 44:24
  Speaker 4: I don't have go to work, Cord, Now, do you
• 44:26
  Speaker 4: live this way? I don't have county to county polls
• 44:29
  Speaker 4: in Iowa, but our last pool of Iowa, which we
• 44:32
  Speaker 4: do with the devoid register, I'll give a plug to them.
• 44:34
  Speaker 4: They have the best by far pool in Iowa had
• 44:36
  Speaker 4: Trump head by forty points. So I imagine he's ahead. Okay,
• 44:40
  Speaker 4: I imagine he's up at all ninety nine counties in
• 44:42
  Speaker 4: Iowa right now. But yeah, we are.
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: Is there a debate before that is gonna get on
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: that announced?
• 44:48
  Speaker 4: It looks like he's not. So it looks like you're
• 44:51
  Speaker 4: going to have a Nikky Haley ron to see it.
• 44:53
  Speaker 4: This debate seat. They haven't seemed to matter. Christ not
• 44:57
  Speaker 4: meeting the threshold, not meeting the threshold. So and no
• 45:01
  Speaker 4: Trump there and uh, here's here's the plug. The Sunday
• 45:06
  Speaker 4: mo before the Caucasus. It's gonna be a Sunday morning
• 45:08
  Speaker 4: of January fourteenth. NBC News has a partnership with the
• 45:12
  Speaker 4: des Moines Register, biggest newspaper in Iowa. They have their poll.
• 45:15
  Speaker 4: This goes back decades. They have the best poll of
• 45:18
  Speaker 4: that state. Everybody looks for the day before the Caucasus.
• 45:21
  Speaker 4: It's historically been very accurate. We're gonna release it with
• 45:24
  Speaker 4: them the Des Moines Register that Sunday morning before the Caucasus.
• 45:27
  Speaker 4: So look for that poll is a big clue heading
• 45:29
  Speaker 4: at the caucas day in two weeks.
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: All right, I need a time because I got wild
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: card weekend. That weekend, I'm gonna be sucked. I'm gonna
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: have what time is this, I'll meet the frost when
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: we have six am, we get out.
• 45:41
  Speaker 4: I believe that's what we're looking at.
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, our updated Paul, Steve Karanaki, you are the man.
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: Good luck. Not only this weekend on Sunday, We're gonna
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: work Saturday too, probably right.
• 45:51
  Speaker 4: Yeah, this is this is pretty much going around the
• 45:53
  Speaker 4: clock these days. Yeah.
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so Saturday night you'll be doing the football, Sunday
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: doing the football, and then he'll be doing Iowa and
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: of course all the election stuff. Steve, it means so
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: much when you join the show, and I just really
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: appreciate the friendship that we've begun just based on this stuff.
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: I love it. I'm a numbers wonk and I love
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: hearing you talking.
• 46:09
  Speaker 4: I love talking to Seed. In the second pick in
• 46:12
  Speaker 4: the draft, there's completely what else, all the terminologies reversed.
• 46:15
  Speaker 4: I probably confused it one hundred times, but this was fun.
• 46:17
  Speaker 4: Thanks a lot, Thank you, Steve.
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: Real quick before we sign off, like the little recap
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: of the guest uh Kardaki in the playoff odds, it's
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: not that crazy this year. So I thought the draft
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: stuff was fascinating.
• 46:35
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, I love the playoff stuff too, but
• 46:37
  Speaker 2: the draft was. I couldn't believe how close those strengths
• 46:41
  Speaker 2: of schedule were with one thirty ninety one combined wins.
• 46:45
  Speaker 2: I love that the head to head actually could come
• 46:49
  Speaker 2: into play. I mean the draft thing like.
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: But the the odds and the way the way the
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: tie breakers work are completely reversed.
• 46:57
  Speaker 2: So right until you get to head the head and
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: then it's and then the way you want it. I mean,
• 47:03
  Speaker 2: this feels like something you need to be looking at visually. Yes,
• 47:07
  Speaker 2: because algorithm. Even me trying to explain it to myself,
• 47:10
  Speaker 2: having just listened and understanding it, I still can't explain.
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: A segment I should do for Good Morning Football explaining
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: it because I feel like, as a viewer, I'm a
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: huge draft fan. I just assumed Washington has a tiebreaker
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: and that's forever over the Patriots because they've had the
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: second pick this whole time and the Cardinals loss, so
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: that but the Patriots still could possibly get it if
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: the Falcons win and then other things have happened.
• 47:37
  Speaker 2: All right, and that number two pick is really between
• 47:40
  Speaker 2: New England, Arizona, New York, Washington, Washington, and potentially the Chargers.
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: I mean, the Jets are out of it because they
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: have one more win, but.
• 47:50
  Speaker 2: That's four out of those five teams you could argue
• 47:54
  Speaker 2: really really want a quarterback. That two is a really
• 47:58
  Speaker 2: important spot.
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: And there's a chance that the Bears do something funky,
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: don't take a quarterback or trade out the pick.
• 48:06
  Speaker 2: To someone else, so many things.
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: One of these teams, I got it. I don't want
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: to call bs, but like, how do you not know
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: who Taylor Swift is?
• 48:18
  Speaker 2: I mean, I'm sure he could have seen.
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: Like if Doua Lipa walked right in right now, I
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: don't know if I would know who that is. And
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: I've heard her music, I know her face, and I
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: know her, I know her songs, but I don't know
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: if I would know her in like a crowd. I'll
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: give you another one. If Meghan the Stallion walked in,
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: I would tell you her songs, I know, but I
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: don't know if I would one hundred percent know her.
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: If you gave me a crowd of Taylor Swift, I
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: think like Beyonce, I know, yeah, I'm I'm as diehard
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: football an one Taylor Swift, I know, right.
• 48:50
  Speaker 2: I think the fact that you are saying maybe you
• 48:52
  Speaker 2: wouldn't know Megan the Stallion just from look is enough
• 48:55
  Speaker 2: to say you're a lot more tied in. And so
• 48:59
  Speaker 2: it's understandable that cornet.
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: You know a movie he referenced. He referenced Funny for Google,
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: Funny for It came out in like nineteen ninety. I
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: want to say, Chevy Chase eats a what's you eat?
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: Like dog tested?
• 49:12
  Speaker 4: What's it?
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: Do you remember that scene? What is it? Nineteen eighty eight?
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: What testicles does he eat in the movie?
• 49:17
  Speaker 2: That's what.
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: He eats, like animal testicles and he's like, oh, your tasty.
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: That's the big scene that was in the trailer. It's
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: basically a city slicker lamb testicles and he eats and
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: he's like, oh, these are chewy, and it turns out
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: their lamb testicles. And that's the trailer. And that's all
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: I remember from nineteen eighty eight. I was six years old. Dude.
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: Karnaki referenced Funny Form as like his pop culture touch point.
• 49:41
  Speaker 2: It was not even like a recent Chevy Chase thing too,
• 49:44
  Speaker 2: or like eighty eight.
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and not did not reference Fletch.
• 49:49
  Speaker 2: Right right, or Caddy Shack, National Lampoons or anything.
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, funny farm.
• 49:56
  Speaker 2: I'm currently rewatching community with which has Chevy Chase.
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: And is it worth the rewatch?
• 50:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's I think it's the beginning. The
• 50:04
  Speaker 2: first couple of seasons are great.
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: Chevy leaves after how many seasons.
• 50:08
  Speaker 2: Forget, like four or five? He's in it. Maybe notoriously
• 50:12
  Speaker 2: yet yep, yep, yep, yep.
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: That's not what they say about KERNACKI they say, right, yeah,
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: he wants the harm. He said, I don't want to
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: get the ire of Taylor Swift, right.
• 50:22
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 50:22
  Speaker 2: I don't think any of them would be upset with him.
• 50:25
  Speaker 2: It's not like he was like, oh, I don't know
• 50:26
  Speaker 2: her because she's bad. I know. There was a big
• 50:28
  Speaker 2: news story. This is we don't even talk about this.
• 50:31
  Speaker 2: There's a big news story. This weekend. Some country music
• 50:33
  Speaker 2: guy was like he was playing some festival and he
• 50:36
  Speaker 2: was like, Taylor Swift has had the most success for
• 50:39
  Speaker 2: someone with no talent, and it was like, oh my god, man,
• 50:42
  Speaker 2: you're I don't.
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: Know well no, I mean it was the cap from
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: Barstool is great on this stuff. He just checks him up.
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: He says that the Chiefs are losing because of Taylor Swift.
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: But he's all doing as a troll job and he's
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: doing it when he's in on the joke. What's this one?
• 50:58
  Speaker 4: Wow?
• 50:58
  Speaker 2: I can't you know how small the story this is.
• 51:01
  Speaker 2: I just searched Taylor Swift in news and it's not
• 51:04
  Speaker 2: coming up at all. Everything is about the outfit that
• 51:07
  Speaker 2: she wore to New year Z.
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: Let me ask you this one. I work with Erdoll,
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: Jamie Erdol Swifty. She's in Taylor is in Japan, Tokyo.
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: The day of the Super Bowl. I said she would
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: cancel the show. She will be at the Super Bowl.
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: She's not missing, She's not going to games against the
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: Denver Broncos on Christmas and traveling out there to see
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: her play the play play the Jake Browning Bengals. And
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: Erdoll's like, I don't know. And then Kyle Brant, who
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: is plugged into all this stuff, is like, it's a
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: really really really big deal to cancer cancel a concert date.
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: Like the amount of money, the amount of people, the
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: amount of things evolved to cancel a concert date is like,
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: And I said, well, what if they had two weeks
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: heads up and they knew they were going to the
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: super Bowl, And like the night they win the AFC
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: Championship game, Taylor Swift announces that particular concert is going
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: to be another day. Everyone's fully refunded. It just is
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: what it is. I'm not missing Aaron. You're in the
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: arts and you're into concert. Now. Look, I know that
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: you're not Taylor Swift, but from a different viewpoint someone
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: who knows the music world. Is it so crazy for
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: me to think that she would cancel a night in
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: Tokyo and go to the super Bowl.
• 52:25
  Speaker 2: I mean that's wild, I think so. I mean, we
• 52:29
  Speaker 2: the three of us, talk about theater a lot. I'm thinking,
• 52:31
  Speaker 2: what if you went to go see if what if
• 52:33
  Speaker 2: you went to see most of Atherage do her one
• 52:36
  Speaker 2: woman show and that night like, oh, she's sick, there's
• 52:40
  Speaker 2: a stand in. I mean, I don't know if she
• 52:42
  Speaker 2: even had an understudy. Fashions right, but it's it's not.
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: I know someone who went to see Funny Girl Liah
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: Michelle wasn't there and they were not happy.
• 52:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, it's in it right, Yeah, but fans get
• 52:59
  Speaker 2: really upset when a concert, especially an international concert, is
• 53:03
  Speaker 2: canceled for whatever reason. Uh. Pretty famously, a couple of
• 53:07
  Speaker 2: weeks ago, Daniel Caesar, this R and B singer had
• 53:09
  Speaker 2: to shut down all of his concerts internationally or just
• 53:13
  Speaker 2: in South America. I think because of some like label disagreements.
• 53:18
  Speaker 2: I don't know the whole story, but people were furious,
• 53:21
  Speaker 2: and I think, okay. If Taylor Swift was like, I'm
• 53:24
  Speaker 2: can't I'm rescheduling this, Lison.
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: Shews it like January twenty sixth, the concert's February tenth.
• 53:30
  Speaker 2: And if she said I'm rescheduling and while I'm rescheduling,
• 53:33
  Speaker 2: I'm adding a second date.
• 53:35
  Speaker 4: Ooh.
• 53:35
  Speaker 2: I think people would be okay with it.
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: If she's doing it for.
• 53:38
  Speaker 2: Love, if it meant she had she would have to
• 53:41
  Speaker 2: give something everything.
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: This is her supporting her. She's flying one night in
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: from Asia to see her husband play in a Super Bowl.
• 53:48
  Speaker 2: Well not husband yet? Are they married? Did she just
• 53:50
  Speaker 2: play some special news?
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: Sorr would have made some big news from what does
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: that makes it even more romantic? Her boyfriend.
• 54:00
  Speaker 2: As someone who's not as swifty. I don't know what's
• 54:02
  Speaker 2: more important to them. I do think seeing the show
• 54:04
  Speaker 2: is very very important to them. So but I'm going
• 54:08
  Speaker 2: to turn this question around on you real quick.
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: Would I'm Mary Taylor? No, no, no, my wife America
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: and I love her eleven years due relaxed. No.
• 54:18
  Speaker 2: If so, say the Chiefs get to the you know,
• 54:23
  Speaker 2: the AFC Championship and they lose, They're not going to
• 54:25
  Speaker 2: the super Bowl. Does Kelsey go to Tokyo?
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: Yes, yes, he supports her, just like she supported him.
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: He's on the tour. He came to South America.
• 54:32
  Speaker 2: During the season, right, oh yeah, yeah, bye week Yeah okay,
• 54:35
  Speaker 2: And you don't think I mean, I totally understand.
• 54:38
  Speaker 4: A lot of out of it.
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: They'll have a Waves podcast and he'll be doing Travis
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: Kelsey does Japan, and they'll be doing Man on the
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: Street stuff like he's Anthony bourd Dame. Yeah yeah, he's there, Okay,
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: all right, And you may never see him a football
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: feld again. He might that that might be his second career.
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: He's going to be traveling Travis Kelsey, which.
• 54:55
  Speaker 2: I mean he could be. He and Jason could be
• 54:57
  Speaker 2: singing back up on some songs. You know, they could
• 54:59
  Speaker 2: do a Taylor album. I've got some writing in there.
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: So we net out where you say it would be
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: a acceptable for the diehard swifties as long as she
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: had a nice wrinkle to it and offered a nice
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: carrot at the end, saying, I love Tokyo so much.
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: We're gonna do another night?
• 55:14
  Speaker 2: I think so? Okay, Yeah, I think that that would
• 55:17
  Speaker 2: be a way to win back some good grades.
• 55:21
  Speaker 4: One more.
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: The day they announced Usher It's going to be the
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: halftime show, she made her first appearance at a Chiefs game.
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: I forget who they played, but she was in the
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: crowd and that just blew everyone away, and that was
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: the biggest story. And Usher's super Bowl halftime announcement was
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: kind of buried because Taylor Swift was at an NFL
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: game and she was cheering on her boyfriend Travis kelce
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: which was crazy. Do you think Taylor Swift showing up
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: at the super Bowl to support Travis kelcey undermine the
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: artist Raymond and his big night being the super Bowl
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: halftime show? And would that even come into consideration as
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: she would not want to take any of the glow
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: or glamour away.
• 56:02
  Speaker 2: Woo. I don't know if they have any sort of
• 56:05
  Speaker 2: relationship already, and I think maybe they're so different, like
• 56:08
  Speaker 2: Usher is more an R and B singer than a
• 56:11
  Speaker 2: pop star. Maybe that's entirely wrong, but it'd be something
• 56:15
  Speaker 2: else if, like, right, if Katy Perry was the half,
• 56:19
  Speaker 2: you know, because she's already done. Of course Katy Perry
• 56:22
  Speaker 2: did the halftime show. If Taylor showed up, oh my god,
• 56:25
  Speaker 2: just to be in the crowd, to be in the crowd,
• 56:28
  Speaker 2: that would be that'd be rough.
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: I think interesting. Uh we wrap with that. I also
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: want to mention I didn't know if I was going
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: to share it. I had one of the coolest career
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: experiences Friday night in Los Angeles. My my fight is
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: usually Saturday morning. I flew out Friday night and a
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: mutual friend, the great Carissa Thompson, helped arrange something. I
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: had a long, four hour, amazing dinner with al Michaels
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: and his wife Linda on Friday night in Los Angeles.
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: I have never had a real relationship with al Michaels.
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: We had met before h at one time. I'll just
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: tell you the stories here in Sochi at the Olympics
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: in twenty thirteen, he was there and have a NBC
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: obviously in a much more prominent role than me for Fox,
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: which was not a right soldier, but one time I
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: met him there and we had a great conversation and
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: we talked, you know, his stories, which was cool. Fast
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: forward a couple of years ago, I was in the
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: same hotel as Al when they were doing a Sunday
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: night game and I was there for Fox in Los
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: Angeles and Chris collins Worth and his wife Holly, Al
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: and his wife Linda, and me as a fifth hung
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: at the bar watching like a college football game, which
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: was so cool. And then most recently, it would be
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: this Friday night, I get this text from Carissa who's like,
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: Al Michaels wants to meet you. I know you're a
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: huge fan of his. Let's put this together. It was Carissa,
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: it was myself, it was our mutual friend Spoon Spandune
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: daf Turi, who is the Amazon pregame show producer used
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: to be a Fox pregame producer, and it was Al
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: Michaels and his wife. And the topics went from Al's
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: relationship with Don Rickles, which spanned many years, Al's role
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: in the O. J. Simpson Chase coverage as the Brentwood
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: native and the guy who was a man on the scene.
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: Al's relationship with Howard Stern, who is a hero of
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: mine and his relationship with him. To Al's thoughts on
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: Today's NFL, it was amazing and I hope he becomes
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: a lifelong friend. We had an amazing dinner and it
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: was really cool, and it just, you know, keeps you
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: grateful and grounded that you can have those cool experiences.
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: And Alan Michaels Aaron pretty cool.
• 58:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, did you? I just I assume you workshopped that
• 58:53
  Speaker 2: Taylor Swift canceling the Tokyo show idea with him to
• 58:56
  Speaker 2: bring it up to me.
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, he's got his He's got his what
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: do you call it? Piccadillos, know what they would call it. Like,
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: there's there's the Taylor Swift stuff, which I didn't get
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: into with him. There's the vegetable thing, which I dined with.
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: Oh right, he didn't need a single vegetable he's never
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: had he said, he's never had a vegetable. And then
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: the gambling stuff. But she used to always allude to.
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: Now he's like out in the open, and I was
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: like curious his thoughts and then he's like and he
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: has a great line. He's like I was always a
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: bit of a rascal. But I said, is there any advice.
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: He's like, yeah, be a rascal. I'm like, yeah, I
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: don't have the same leeway and log be a rascal.
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: I like that you have a little bit of a
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: bad boy side thea we have pushed the envelope sometimes.
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: Hopefully we do that here on the season.
• 59:37
  Speaker 2: Maybe a bad boy that still eats vegetable so I.
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: Know, even the rascals. Yeah, all right. Uber Eats is
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: our sponsor. The season with Peter Schrager is delivering results
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: done by Uber Eats. It's time for delivering results. The
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: player I want to shout out is Joe Flacco. It
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: happened on a Thursday night game, so it's already been
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: forgotten because so many things have happened. But he guy
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: threw for two hundred and ninety eight yards and a half,
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: the most he's ever thrown four and a half. And
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: he did it at thirty eight after a week of
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: hype and build up, and just went on and just
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 1: thrashed the Jets. Then it seemed like he fell a
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: sleep on the sideline in the second half and came
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: out and he was like, I wasn't asleep. Yeah, you
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: were probably asleep It's all good, Joe. What Joe Flacco
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 1: is doing is insane. I love seeing it. One of
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 1: the coolest stories of the year. He's your comeback player
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: of the year. I know Hamlin came back from near tragedy.
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: Take a sit in the field. Maybe we just named
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 1: the award that the Mar Hamblin Comeback Player of the Year,
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: and you give the award to Joe Flacco, who has
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: I think, put on such an amazing performance, has galvanized
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: this Cleveland locker room and has given the city a
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: reason for hope. Jason mccordy earlier today on Good Morning Football,
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: we were talking about that Detroit, LA first round matchup,
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: whether that's the most scintillating possible matchup in the playoffs
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: and then includes Super Bowl everything he goes. Could you
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: imagine Las Vegas gets their first Super Bowl and Detroit
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: and Cleveland are the teams, and those two cities descend
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: upon Las Vegas, every fan who has not seen a
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: Super Bowl ever in their lives going there for Super Bowl.
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: It's possible. Both those teams are playing inspired football and
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: Joe Flacco I wouldn't bet against him right now that
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: was delivering results been by Uber Eats where you can
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: get almost almost anything, the official on demand delivery partner
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: of the NFL. Order Now, next week we'll be in
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: the playoffs. We'll have a whole different feeling and tone
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 1: to this thing. But thank you to Steve Kornaki, Thank
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: you to Aaron wan Kaufman, Thank you to Jason English.
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: New Year's to everybody, Happy New Year's, Happy New Years
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: to our official team of the season with Peter Scherger,
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 1: the Arizona Wildcats, who not only won their bowl game,
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 1: but will finish in the top ten in the AP rankings.
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: When we had jedfish on in August coming off I
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: think a one win season from a year ago. So
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: kudos to Jed and kudos to all those Arizona Wildcat
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: bear Down fans who work on this podcast on the
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: West Coast. You guys know who you are. Till next week,
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: Let's go. The Season with Peter Schrager is a production
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: of the NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: get your podcasts.