Latest / 3 and Out with John Middlekauff / Thursday Night Football Reaction, NFL Sunday 4-Box, Best Week 8 Matchups & Weekend Predictions

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Thursday Night Football Reaction, NFL Sunday 4-Box, Best Week 8 Matchups & Weekend Predictions · 3 and Out with John Middlekauff

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: The volume what is going on my friends how are
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: we doing just watched a extremely entertaining thursday night game
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: chicago bears we will dive into that thing caleb williams
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Battling this hamstring. Look, I would say 80, 85% throwing dots.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Drake May and the Patriots. They wouldn't quit. I'll give
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: them that. The end of the first half. We'll dive
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: into the game. We will also dive into a bunch
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: of games for this weekend. We got, you know, I
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: would say better than last week for sure. Still not great.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: But that's what happens when, you know, we get bye
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: weeks and Thursday night games are really good. I mean,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: even next week we've got a good Thursday night game.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: So we'll do a couple mailbag questions at the end
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: as well. At John Middlecoff. At John Middlecoff is the Instagram.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Fire in those DMs. We had a little dad diary
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: moment here with Jack tonight at about halftime. We'll get
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: into next week. I'll save that. All-timer, though. All-timer. Other
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: than that, you guys know the drill. Subscribe. Three and
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Out Podcast. If you listen on Colin's feed, you can
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: check us out on Netflix. Never miss an episode. Appreciate it.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Hit the alert button, and let's just dive into the game.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: And I said it yesterday. My philosophy never changes. If
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: the teams are semi-evenly matched, and tonight, I mean, these
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: are two playoff teams. The Bears are definitely, as long
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: as Caleb's healthy, going to go to the playoffs. Well,
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: you know, New England... should if Drake's gonna keep playing
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: like he's playing they should be you know a wild
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: card team for sure but like you have such a
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: huge advantage being the home team on these short weeks
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: and I thought it was pretty evident you know I
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: mean the Bears should have been up at one point
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: in time 27 to 7 but obviously the end of
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: the first half you know you know you blitz and
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: I don't know what 21 was doing, and it was
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: a nightmare, right? So you ended up 27-14, and that
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: was just, you couldn't even make that up, right? I
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: guess it was 20-14 at half after they scored. But
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: then the Bears got the ball back, and boom, drove
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: right down the field and scored a touchdown. And I
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: thought big picture tonight, a couple things stand out. One,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: I would say in my lifetime, like I don't truly
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: remember in their prime, besides going to YouTube, like Marino
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: and Elway, but it was Favre. You know, I would
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: say Favre had a slightly better arm than Rodgers. Again,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: we're talking like Randy Johnson and, you know, Pedro Marti.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: We're talking guys that throw gas. But to me, Caleb
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: easily throws the tightest, hardest spiral in the NFL. And
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: I think sometimes, like, how'd you drop that ball, right? Well,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: I mean, sometimes it's getting on you, and this used
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: to happen to Favre, at warp speed. I mean, there
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: was one tonight with Kalief Raymond on, like, an out route.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: I think it was third down. And, you know, he
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: was a little late to turn his head. It had
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: to sound like a bullet flying by his ear hole. And, well,
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: the crazy part is I think Rome, because I thought
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: one of Caleb's best plays tonight might have been his
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: best play. It was like third and 11 or third
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: and 12, late in the game, pinned up against his
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: own end zone. It wasn't too late in the game.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: It was probably like nine, ten minutes left. And he
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: avoids a blitz and throws an absolute dart to Rome.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: He obviously hit Rome on another one that was kind
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: of behind him. He hit Loveland on a fourth and two.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: And Loveland had some drops. You know, Rome had a
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: drop on actually like an easier ball. I think sometimes
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: with Caleb, and this gets back to Favre than I
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: would imagine when it was playing with Elway and Marino
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: in their prime. When that ball is coming to you,
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: you have to be ultra-focused because it cannot come any harder.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: It cannot come with any more velocity. On the flip side,
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: Drake May is clearly an extremely talented player who's got
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: his confidence back and is playing well. He has a
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: strong arm, but to me, he's much more of a
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: touch thrower. And when he's on tonight, his touch throws
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: are pretty money. He throws an extremely catchable ball. Caleb
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: does too. It's just coming at warp speed. And I
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: think it's pretty clear too is, and this is where I,
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: you know, defended Caleb when he went down, he was
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: carted off. You know, this is a guy that's been
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: pretty durable, hasn't been injured. So before he got injured,
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't compare him to like Lamar Jackson, but based
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: on the speed in which he had been recorded running,
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: he was running like 21 miles an hour. And you
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: could tell the Knight, sometimes he's hesitant. Even on a
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: play that ended up just short and Vrabel ends up
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: going off sides on purpose, which was the right play.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: It does feel like he's a little bit slower right now.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: Because I think he's thinking about it in the back
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: of his mind, which I totally understand. And there were
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: some plays behind the line of scrimmage in the pocket.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: that I would say typically he gets around you know
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: a blitzing linebacker he's able to stop and start change
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: the direction keep a play alive tonight a couple plays
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: just kind of died because he's not quite there I
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: think you know I was talking to a buddy today
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: at the gym who's a diehard Bears fan And he
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: was like, one thing that stuck out last week is like,
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: you could tell, wasn't close to 100% movement-wise. He's definitely
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: improved from last week, but I would say, I don't
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: know what percentage it is, but it's probably closer to
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: 80 than it is 100 in terms of just flying
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: with his legs. And that is a huge, huge element
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: to this offense, especially with Menungai out. Like, they were
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: pretty dependent on Swift. He was running his ass off, but...
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: 22 carries for 78 yards. The Patriots are a stout defense.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: You know, that's, you know, Vrabel, they do a really
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: good job. Beside Barmore, Christian Gonzalez, they're obviously missing some
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: pieces with some injuries in the secondary. But they play hard.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: They're physical. Like, that's a tough team. Like, that's a
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: buckle your chin strap type game. You can feel that
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: they miss Mnungi. And that's what was impressive about this offense.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: Short week, scored 30 points. You're missing it with a
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: guy that you would have ridden in the second half
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: late in that game up, handed him the ball, and
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: Caleb's legs because they were pretty bad tonight on third down.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: They were 4 of 12. And.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: Part of the reason that they just felt a little
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: off for still relative to their standards. Because they hit
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: that big play at the end of the first half
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: when they run kind of that fake screen to the left,
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: screen it to Luther, and he walks right in. That
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: was just a great play call, great play by him.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: Just a well-rounded operation, but... Loveland had some drops. It
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: looks like Komet, you know, who was pretty solid tonight,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: not a great injury, gave a thumbs up on his
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: way out. Who knows what that's going to be. They're
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: going to need the rookie tight end from Stanford to
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: come through. You know, Rome's a bizarre player because you
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: can throw him a ball that a small percentage of
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: humans on this planet could catch going 500 miles an
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: hour out of Caleb's hands. And he can make a beautiful, like, God,
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: what a catch. But then he can also, and he
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: did this early in the season when he dropped the
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: ball in the back of the end zone. He did
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: this tonight that wasn't offensive pass interference, but where he
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: dropped it, it was right in his hands. Loveland, to me,
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: extremely talented, a lot of hype behind him. Little underwhelming
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: right now. They're going to need... If they want to
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: go where they're going to go, because let's face it,
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: their defense is going to have some issues. Like Jalen
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: Johnson just... has some speed limitations. Can't run with anybody.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: You know, I would never say he was like Darrell
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: Revis or Deion Sanders in his prime, but he clearly
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: moved a lot better before the injury. He's never quite
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: been the same since he's come back. You kind of
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: felt Gordon's presence early in this game, flying around, being
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: just pretty physical, right? And in a perfect world, they
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: signed Kobe Bryant to go with him. That's a lot
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: of secondary pieces to use. Now, the corner position is
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: going to be a work in progress. Stevenson had the
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: nice play at the end of the game. I'd also say,
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: and this is the thing with the Bears, I do
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: feel like their guys really compete. Their skill guys play really,
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: really hard, which is clearly demanded by the head coach.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: I've always been an A.J. Brown fan. But if I'm
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: going to trade a future first-round pick for you, and
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: you're making all this money, and you make this big deal,
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: I want to come. Obviously, you get injured in the
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: first game, pass, whatever. Last week, okay, come back, bunch
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: of drops. Tonight, you just have these... like stretches in
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: the game, like what's he, where is he? And then
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: when he throws a ball that's a 50-50 ball, you
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: are going up against Stevenson, who I would imagine most
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: Bears fans say, yeah, pretty replaceable player. You are a
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: former All-Pro, a guy making huge coin, a physical freak.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: Shouldn't you be like, well, this is a 50-50 ball,
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: but in my world, this is like a 90-10 ball,
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: and I'm going to fucking high point it, or at
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: least fight you for it. And he just kind of looked, laissez-faire,
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: didn't do anything, easy PBU. It's like, that's the type
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: of stuff with Chicago and Ben that is not, doesn't fly. Like, listen,
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: you might not catch the ball, but you got to
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: compete for it. And Ben does a good job. Like,
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: Loveland had a drop. They went right back to him.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: The slow motion on the fourth and two right through
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: the defensive lineman's hands was a pretty badass camera view.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: But the offensive ceiling with the Bears is extremely high.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: And I do think the defense has felt a little
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: bit better. Because if you remove the one It was
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: a pretty embarrassing play. I mean, I think I saw
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: a slow motion with the X's and the O's on Twitter.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: You know, it's like, this is what happens when you
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: blitz on this play. So they bring extra rushers. So
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: there's less defenders. There were still enough defenders to tackle
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: the guy. Like three of the guys ran right with him.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: 21 kind of gave up. It's one of those all-time
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: embarrassing moments for a defense. But if you remove that play,
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: I do think they're playing pretty hard. And, you know,
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: both teams, I haven't seen the numbers. I felt like
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: they were bringing pressure a lot on these two quarterbacks.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: And with Caleb, because of the hamstring, I would say
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: that is not something I would recommend. But right now,
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: he's not a sitting duck, but he didn't make him
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: pay as much as he would have fully healthy. Where
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: Drake May a couple times really made him play. Like,
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: you know, I thought Drake May, I thought he was excellent.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: Beside the one play which was horrendous. Like you throw
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: a red zone pick literally right to a defender, which
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: then leads to seven points. Pretty big kick in the dick.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: Because at the time when he throws the pick, it's 13-7.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: They're driving. You're thinking like, he throws a touchdown right here.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: It's going to be, Patriots are going to have the lead.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: It's like, I felt like they were getting their ass
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: kicked and they're going to be in the lead. And
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: then he throws the pick, they drive the field and
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden it's 20-7. And then obviously the
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: Stevenson play happens. But I thought overall, and this is
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: where the Patriots deserve a lot of credit. His confidence,
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: his calm demeanor as a quarterback, he feels very under control.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: I would say both quarterbacks clearly do. But we hold Caleb,
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: especially before he got injured, to a much higher, I
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: would say, status earlier this season because we're like, Drake
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: Mays falling apart. And whatever they did to calm him down,
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: to just get him back on track, it has worked.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: Because he's playing really, really well. Like, you leave that
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: game tonight, like, I was going to say it's not
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: his fault. I mean, that pick was pretty bad. But
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: if you're going to make a devastating mistake, he did
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: do it in the first half, right? This wasn't a
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: fourth-quarter interception like Sam Darnold or like he's done, you know,
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: in the first game. But I thought 24-31, 320 yards.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: Look who he's throwing to. Like, Hunter Henry. Hunter Henry.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: Eli Roldan, who actually is pretty good. You know, the
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: Notre Dame tight end. 6'6, 250 pounds, runs a 4'6.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: Had that seam route where he just smoked Devin Bush.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: I mean, that guy's a fucking monster. Again, A.J. Brown.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: Six targets, three catches. It just feels... I don't know
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: if it's Josh. I don't know if it's A.J. 's
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: body language. He does play... like a guy that the
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: Belichick-Brady dynasty run would have hated. I don't know what
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: happened to him since last year in Philly, but there's
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: something just the way he carries himself that is like, bro,
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: what's going on here? Okay, I'll give you a pass
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: last week. You have all these drops. You're playing the Jets. Okay,
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: coming back from injury. But tonight's a night. You're playing
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: a team that has some major corner question marks. You're
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: a premium player. You should be walking into this thing like,
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: I'm going to smoke these guys. Get open. Feed me
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: the rock. This should be like a 12-target game. But
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: this goes back to that, you know, the last target
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: of the game to him, where he just kind of looks.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: Stevenson bats it. He's like, oh, whatever. Back to the huddle.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: We'll kick a field goal. Get out of here. Like, what?
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: Is this what we're getting for this amount of money?
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: This is one of those where, Mike, you're the one
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: pounding the table for this acquisition. You're going to need
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: a little more out of him. I assumed he was
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: going to have a huge year, be reinvigorated, gets away
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: from the Philly situation, gets back with his boy, Mike. Drake,
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: beautiful deep ball thrower. And it's just, it's just off.
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: I mean, way off. I mean, seems like he's kind
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: of non-existent throughout the game. You know, you feel like
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: the Bears receivers. You know, hell, I feel like he,
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: like they go to Pop Douglas and this little dude
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: from Eastern Washington in bigger spots than A.J. Brown. So
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: that to me, now that you'll go on this mini
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: bye week, is something you have to figure out. And, um,
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: Big picture for the Bears, you're 5-2. Obviously, this weekend,
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: you're rooting for the Colts to beat Minnesota. I don't
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: think that's going to happen. But you get this mini
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: bye week. You don't play again until next Monday night
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: against Seattle, who you're going to have a massive, massive
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: rest advantage here. You just play at home. You get
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: several days to chill. You get Caleb, you know, an
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: extra set of days to get this hamstring even closer.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: Seattle is going to play an absolute war zone game
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: Sunday night against the Chiefs, which, let's face it, is
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: kind of a must-win for them. And then you get
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: the Buccaneers the following week on Sunday night, who could
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: be completely reeling by then, to go into your bye week.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: So I would say 6-3 feels borderline a lock, and
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: 7-2 would be on the table But part of it
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: is losing that game to Minnesota. You know, someone's got
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: to win the game between the Packers and the Lions.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: You just got to hold serve and keep winning these games.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: And on the flip side with the Patriots, I was
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: looking at their schedule. It's like, geez, Louise here. You
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: get the Dolphins coming up. Okay, you're five and three.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: Then you go on a stretch here where you're getting... Now,
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: they're in Foxborough. New England and Detroit back-to-back weeks. Then
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: a week off... chargers but it's in la so it's
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: a long flight and then you play the bills and
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: the vikings and the chiefs so basically you have a
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: stretch post this dolphins game of playoff team playoff team
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: playoff team i mean the vikings they're a couple wins
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: away from just they're gonna go to the playoffs playoff
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: team and then the chiefs playoff team now i i
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: think they're pretty good like you could tell like the
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: bears have more higher end ceiling because of the explosion
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: they have on offense right The Patriots are much more
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: just like, they're not a knockout puncher. They're hitting you
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: with jabs. They're hitting you in, you know, the side.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: They're hitting you, you know, just fucking body blows. And
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: they're good at that. And that's kind of been Vrabel's deal,
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: I would say, his career as a head coach. But
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: when you play like that, you're going to play some
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: of these teams that can score some serious points. I mean,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Green Bay gets Jacobs back. The Lions are one of
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: the best offense in the league. Obviously, the Bills, who...
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: You know, you beat earlier this year, so there's going
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: to be a lot of juice for them trying to
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: win that game. And then the Chiefs, the Monday night
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: football game late in December. I mean, that's just a
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: tough run of games. But listen, we all talk crap
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: about this Thursday night game for a long time. And
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: because of Amazon's cash, these games are dramatically better. I mean,
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: we're not that far removed from this game being like
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: the Cardinals against the Jags. You know, the Browns against
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: like the Indianapolis Colts. It felt like it was just
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: these awful games on repeat. The Dolphins against the Jets.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: Now we're getting a team that was just in the
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: Super Bowl against a team that was in the second
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: round of the playoffs. I mean, it's just, this is fun.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: I mean, this is, Thursday night has become truly a
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: marquee event for the NFL. And it has for a
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: while because football's so big and the NFL's so big.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: But it was like, yeah, millions of people are watching
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: because of the NFL, but it's not great. Now, I mean,
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: this is back-to-back weeks of just Seattle at Denver. Obviously tonight,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: I look, next week is Carolina at Green Bay. I mean,
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: these are good games. These are games that if you
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: put them on Sunday would be some of the best
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: games of the weekend. And given, like last week, that
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: would have been the best game of the week, just
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: on paper. So thank you to the NFL. You might
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: be screwing us a little with these early morning kickoffs
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: on Sunday morning. You're making up for it with the
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: inventory on Thursday. I need to tell you about this
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: new sports trading app called Polymarket. It's the best way
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: to trade in sports. In the past, if you wanted
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: some action on the game, you'd put some money in.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: And if your team was doing well and you wanted
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: to cash out, They'd lock the trade and take a
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: huge fee. But Polymarket is a prediction market. It's a
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: stock exchange for sports. Buying in and selling out on
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: your terms. When your team goes down to 20%, you
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: can buy in and sell it off at 40% when
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: they come back, double your money. I've tried them all.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: Polymarket is simply the best. We're talking DraftKings, FanDuel, Couchy,
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: you name it. PolyMarket's better. They're so confident you'll never
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: go back to the other guys. They're giving you a
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: free $ 50 on your first trade when you deposit just $ 10.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: And now they've launched a new feature, Squads, a group
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: chat where you can see what everyone is trading on.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: So download the PolyMarket app today and you the code
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: 3OUT when you sign up. That's code the number 3-O-U-T
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: to get $ 50 free after you trade just $ 10. 18 plus.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: Only restrictions and eligibility requirements apply. Not available in all jurisdictions.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: Trading is risky. 100% loss can occur. See polymarket.com slash
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: TOS for more information. The Polymarket US app serves as
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: an independent software provider and affiliate of Polymarket US and
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: Polymarket Clearing, the CFTC regulated exchange and clearing organization. Okay,
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: let's dive into Sunday and might as well just start
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: with the game in France. I think we can all
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: agree that this feels a little nuts. You know, I
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: was listening to Albert Breer was on with Dan Patrick.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: It came in my algorithm. And he mentioned that, you know,
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: the league has had a lot of traction clearly in London.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: Like that's been successful. Germany, Spain, like they feel really
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: good about. Roger Goodell from the owner's meetings. was thrilled
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: with the Australia experience. I mean, they got 100,000 people
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: at 10.30 in the morning on a Friday. I promise
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: you they're doing that thing again. My guess is Australia
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: becomes a yearly thing unless, like, Tokyo gets involved, which
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: I think would have to be in that similar spot.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: But I would be stunned if we don't get Australia
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: week one every year. I said that after the game,
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: and I feel pretty confident about that. Now, I think
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: this France thing, and I– was in the car, and
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: I was listening to something that potential, you know, some
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: chaos planned for Saturday in France. But I would imagine, like,
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: both these teams don't want to be there. The Saints
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: have been there all week, I think, on the outskirts.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: They left from New York after beating the Giants. The
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: Steelers are taking some red-eye on Thursday night. I don't know, man.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: I would lean the Steelers here. I would like the
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: Saints more if this was just a normal home game,
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: but I don't know. This is just one of those
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: that it feels like I'm prepared for anything. I have
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: no strong takes. Obviously, Aaron Rodgers played really well this year.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: There is no disputing that. Aaron Rodgers has looked good.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: Him and McCarthy, button heads in the one game against
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: the Browns, and that going viral, did not faze them. Like,
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: old married couples can get in arguments that would cripple
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: a young relationship. That couple's unfazed. You know, once you've
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: been through the ringer with your significant other, some things
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: that look crazy are not crazy to them. So I
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: did believe when both guys came out after the fact, like, yeah,
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: we're fine. Like, I believe it. And Aaron's into this.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: I give him a lot of credit for, at this
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: point in time in his career, battling his ass off.
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: And Jalen Warren's been awesome. Kamara's banged up, so their
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: running game could be an issue. You know, Shuck, who
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: made some plays in that game, but he's got a
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: banged up hand. I'll lean the Steelers here. Okay, let's
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: go four bucks, which again, there's a lot of Cleveland
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: at Titans, Dolphins at the Jets. I mean, the Giants
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: are a massive underdog with J.J. McCarthy going to Houston,
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: which I think is kind of an interesting game. Not
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: making my four bucks, but Houston's defense has looked pretty bad.
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: They've also played pretty good quarterbacks. Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, okay,
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: Daniel Jones, somewhat of an outlier, and Dak Prescott. Like,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: they got lit up by three guys making $ 55, $ 60 million.
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: I mean, I do wonder, and then even last week
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: against the Jags, like Trevor Lawrence has completely resurrected his
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: career over the last year and a half under Trevor Lawrence.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: I would say J.J. McCarthy's a little bit different animal.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: if you want to go counter, you'd be like, hey,
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: I'll take the points. A little risky. He hasn't even
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: been there that long. Think about his struggles in 2000,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: what would it have been, 2025. He started 10 games
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: for the Vikings. He had been there the entire time.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: I know he was banged up and missed the season,
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: but he was in meetings. He knew the offense. How
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: long has he been with the Giants? Has it even
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: been a month? So it's like the understanding of the offense,
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: the rapport with the offensive players. I mean, this is
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: his first week truly repping with these guys. He could
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: go on to look better as the season goes on,
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: and this game could be a disaster. So that's not
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: going to make my four bucks. The four games are
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: going to go as follows. The Niners at Atlanta, which
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: I do believe is a really tough spot for the 49ers.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: You know, anytime you're going west to east, off a
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: short week, they played Monday night. The defense was on
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: the field a ton. Mike Evans, who, you know, everyone's like,
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: Purdy's the MVP. And then Mike Evans leaves like, maybe
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: Mike Evans and Purdy should share the MVP. Mike Evans
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: is pretty important. Now, as I'm recording this, you know,
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: status is up in the air. To me, this is
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: pretty black and white. You're 6-0. Like, how about you
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: got the bye next week? How about you just take
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: a deep breath? How about you say, hey, Mike, we're
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: holding you back from yourself. You're taking the week off.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: This is one of those games when the dust settles
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: and you look back. If you win 12 or 13 games,
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: it's okay to lose this game. Now, that's not how
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: football teams approach it. That's definitely not how Purdy and
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: Kyle and any of those guys look at it. And
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: definitely not how Mike Evans looks at it. Like I
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: would have said, hey, Mike, you're not feeling great. Take
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: the commander game off. But clearly he didn't feel that way.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: He couldn't practice. And then all of a sudden he's
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: limping to the locker room before halftime. So it would
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: not shock me at all if he attempts to play.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: The connection of being in this division, playing this opponent,
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: might mean something to him. Also a big game for
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: Raheem Morris. I don't care who you are. Life's going
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: pretty good for Raheem Morris. Hell, life's been good for
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: Raheem Morris. Football, he's made a ton of money. He's
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: had a lot of success as an assistant coach. Clearly
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: the head coaching situation in Atlanta was a disaster. And
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: they made a horrendous quarterback decision in the Cousins thing
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: off the injury and then the Pennix draft pick at eight.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: And it blew up in his face and it cost
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: him his job. And life's good right now in San Francisco,
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: but you don't think he wants to win this game?
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: Imagine sitting in an office and having people tell you,
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: you're not good enough, pack your shit and get out.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: And I know they probably said it in nicer words
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: than that. But if you're a competitor, I mean, if
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: you're a prideful human, I've been fired. I've looked across
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: that desk with the HR person and the boss that said, yeah,
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: you're not welcome here anymore. Even if you think those
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: people are idiots, even if you think those people are incompetent,
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: you never forget that moment. And that drives you. And
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: whenever you need a little ounce of motivation in life,
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: I'm not even talking football. Anyone who has been laid off,
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: fired or whatever, you never forget that moment. And every
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: once in a while, you just kind of think about
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: it to get a little extra juice. I can't imagine
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: in a profession like football where you get to just
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: straight up play them. Now, Matt Ryan, Stefanski, obviously they
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: have no connection, but a lot of these players were there.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: He should have a very, very good understanding of the
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: strengths and weaknesses of the entire offense. I mean, their
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: whole core unit is the same, and specifically Penix. Because
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: one thing's pretty clear, if you can get into Penix's feet,
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: he's done. Get around his feet, he's completely thrown out.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: If he has time to throw, he can look really good.
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: As he just did against the Bears in a bunch
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: of hollow yards down 31-7. Playing a bunch of prevent defense.
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: I don't even count some of those numbers. And the
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: Bears fumbled to give him the ball to make the
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: score closer than it actually was. But we have seen
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: when you can get around him, he completely unravels. unlike
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: some of the other guys in that draft, that can
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: move around. I mean, you see Caleb and Drake and
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: even Jaden on Monday night. If he just kind of
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: can scramble to keep a ball alive, Pennix cannot do that. Now,
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: the key against Atlanta is you've got to slow down
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: Bijan Robinson that might be, I would say, right up
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: there as the most purely talented player in the NFL.
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: So when he gets going, and I talked to an
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: assistant earlier this year, who played him is like, you
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: can have great defensive calls and it doesn't even matter,
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: which is what happens with a great running back. You
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: can have the perfect call and he can cut it back.
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: He can make a guy miss. He can run a
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: guy over. He can just beat a guy to the corner.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: So to me, you slow him down and then just
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: start setting the house at Pennix. Drake London's become an
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: excellent player, but You know, if Mike Evans is out,
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: it'll be interesting how this offense looks. You know, Debo's out,
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: Evans is out. I mean, basically all their offensive weapons
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: are out in terms of the receiver unit, right? Stribling,
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: their first draft pick is on IR, right? And he's
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: still in a boot as of like last week. Debo Evans,
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's your top three wide receivers. So you're
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: Brandon Cooks and Jacob Cowing and Jordan Watkins. I mean,
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: you're pretty dependent on some random guy. So it basically
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: just becomes a kiddo McCaffrey game, which is fine. I mean,
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: those guys are elite players, but it's asking them to
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: do a lot. And the one thing McCaffrey hasn't really
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: had feels like in a while, it's just like, hey,
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: can you get us like 150 yards? You know, and
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: maybe it's a little bit more committee, right? Him and
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: Kalon Black of just like, hey, can the two of
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: you guys, 30 carries, 140, 150 yards, slow this game down?
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: But I think the sexy pick is Atlanta here plus
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: the points, but tough spot for the 49ers. The travel,
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: the Monday night game, Atlanta just played at home. But
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: who knows? Is Atlanta the team that looked really good
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: for a couple weeks, or were they the team that
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: just laid an all-time egg against the Chicago Bears, who
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: don't have as good of a defense as the 49ers? Indy, Minnesota.
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: I was thinking about this this morning. I think Indianapolis
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: is on quit watch. This is an incredible spot for
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: the Vikings. Coming off a bye, at home against a team.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: Every clip I saw over the last 24 hours for
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: a Colts player was discussed about getting traded. Do you
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: expect to get traded? Their defensive linemen, Quinn Nelson, any
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: wide receiver with a pulse, Jonathan Taylor. That now that
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: Chris Ballard has been fired, could all you guys get fired? Slash,
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: not fired, traded, excuse me. Ballard got fired. Shane Steichen
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: feels like he's destined to get fired. But you can't
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: tell me internally in this locker room, like I've seen,
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: you know, the natural, it happens a lot with the
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: interim coach bump, right? Their record historically is pretty good.
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: That first week and then it kind of levels off.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: To me, the GM is not the same. But what
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: the GM is, especially in a place like Indy, like
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: he was in charge, all those players there, especially the
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: guys drafted, the guys traded for, it's like they were
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: handpicked by him. And now he's gone. Is there going
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: to be some pressure from above to like, hey, let's
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: detonate this thing. These are human beings. So I love
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: Minnesota this week. And, you know, it's great. the numbers
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: approaching a touchdown, but you can't convince me that after
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: that loss to the Titans, and now they've spent all week, like,
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: do you expect to be here in a couple weeks?
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: And they're all thinking like, yeah, I'll do whatever. I'm
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: just living where my feet are, just saying all the
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: cliche bullshit. What do you think they're all thinking to themselves,
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: telling their wives, telling their buddies? Like, I'm probably going
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: to get traded. And as they should. I would trade
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: every single player of value because this job, one, it's
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: not that desirable. And two, like you don't have picks
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: because of the sauce gardener trade. Think how crazy looking
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: back that trade is. You know, sometimes when you just
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: make a trade because you think it's a good deal,
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: that's where it's powerful. When you make a trade because
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: you're as desperate as the Colts were to trade for
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: sauce gardener, It's like, geez, Luis. And I know they
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: had a good record at the time of doing it,
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: but then they get him, he immediately gets hurt, and
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: then Daniel Jones goes down. And then it's just been
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: a disaster ever since. And now Chris Ballard's at home
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: just hanging out because of it. So this is less
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: to me about the Vikings, who, one, I would like
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: them in this situation at home, Indy, in normal circumstances.
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: But to me, if they can find a way to
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: get an early lead, and obviously, you know, Flores bringing
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: the heat, fucking with DJ, who's kind of imploding. If
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: they find themselves down in like the first half, 10-0, 13-3,
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: it does feel like one of those things that could
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: completely crack and the dam could open and we could
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: be looking at quit watch, which there are two types
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: of quitters. Like one, people that just quit, right? We
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: all know those humans that just tap out. And then
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: there's a situation where, so weird so bizarre so fractured
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: like i don't even blame these guys for thinking like
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: it's almost like when you have you're working somewhere but
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: you have accepted another job and you're just playing out
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: the string they're probably not getting your best effort because
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: your mind's somewhere else how could that not be true
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: for these guys And I'm not saying these guys, like
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: the one thing the Colts would have, I would agree
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: with like Ballard and the people, you probably Shane Sykes.
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: It's like you do have some pretty high level guys
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: like DeForest Buckner, Quentin Nelson, Jonathan Taylor. I don't view
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: these guys as like quitters, but. I would understand if
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: it was just a complete implosion. And that's what I expect.
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: As long as the Vikings get an early lead, this
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: thing could get ugly. For the Vikings. They're probably not
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: a team that's blowing you out 40-3. But could this
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: just be like a 23-6, just strangle them out? That
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: would be my expectation. Tampa at Carolina. All signs look
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: like Baker Mayfield is going to play. He's going to
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: wear this glove. Still not 100%. I think I love
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: Carolina in this spot. I mean, that was a pretty
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: devastating loss for Tampa because they played so well. The
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: defense was throttling the Steelers and it just looked like, God.
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: They're going to win like 19-6, complete domination of a
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: game that turned into a Steeler home game with an
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: undrafted free agent, like kind of a cool moment. It
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: felt like it was just going to be like, hey,
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: Todd's rattling off a couple wins, short period of time,
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: Thursday the Cowboys, then the Steelers. Like, listen, he's still
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: maybe very much on the hot seat, but that's a
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: pretty good little stretch. Your owner's pretty happy if you
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: back-to-back wins against the Cowboys and the Steelers. And then
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: the quarterback just completely melted down. I mean, there's no
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: other way to put it. The quarterback melted down, which
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: is understandable. He's an undrafted free agent. So I would
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: say Baker clearly is a better player. But one, he
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: wasn't playing that well to begin with. And two, I
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: was reading some quotes today. It's like, does he have
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: full range of motion in the thumb and gripping the ball?
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: He's wearing this glove. Makes me a little nervous. I
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: don't like the Panthers. I love the Panthers. And honestly,
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: the 25-14 game last week does not reflect what we witnessed.
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: That wasn't ass-kicking. Bryce has been exceptional this year. Chuba
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: Hubbard gashed the Eagles. I just think this is a
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: spot that Carolina at home, like if you're real, like
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: if you're going to be a real playoff team, which
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: I went from last year like, okay, they kind of
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: got gifted 8-9, whatever, to like, Could this team win
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: like 10, 11 games and be a team that, you know,
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: in that first round is the three seed or the
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: two seed or the four seed, wherever, probably not going
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: to be the one seed, but be a team that
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: you're like, yeah, they can win a game. I mean, hell,
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: they almost did it last year. You have a huge
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: advantage just having the home game in the wildcard round.
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: But I think there's a potential by the time the
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: playoffs come, they're a team that in the first round,
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: depending on the matchup, it's like, yeah, they could beat
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: the Lions. They could beat the Packers in that 3-6 game.
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: They could beat the Bears or whoever, the Seattle, whoever
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: they're matched up against. So I'm really high on Carolina
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: this week. I'm actually kind of excited to watch this game,
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: partly because the bar is low. But the best game of,
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: you could argue, the day, but definitely of the morning
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: would be the Ravens hosting the Bengals. Now, I'm assuming
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: that Lamar is going to play. Because if he doesn't,
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: that sucks and this game becomes, one, it immediately becomes
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: a must-win for the Bengals. If you do get Tyler Huntley,
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: you know, yesterday he wasn't spotted at practice. Today, you know,
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: the media during the year is only allowed out for
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: a short period of time. So they get booted, and
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: then once you start running your game plan stuff, no
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: one's out there. And he was out of practice. Based
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: on the point spread, I do believe if Tyler Huntley
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: was playing in this game, the Bengals would be favored. Burrow,
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: historically against the Ravens, is 4-7. So, obviously, that's against
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson. I would imagine all of them. Definitely in
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: most of them. But this is a team that, now,
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: a couple years ago when they went 9-8, they went
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: 0-2 against the Ravens, and he threw nine touchdowns in
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: the two games. So it by no means was his fault.
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: But I was someone who was really, really high on
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: this team coming in. This is a big spot for them.
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: And even if you get Lamar Jackson, right, how good
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: he looked before he got hurt in that Titans game.
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: Same thing with Baker Mayfield. It's hard to just miss
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: several games with an ankle if you're Lamar Jackson or
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: a hand gripping the football if you're Baker Mayfield and
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: just hit the ground running against another good opponent. Right now,
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: I think the argument would be Caleb did it. Caleb
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: came back and looked pretty good. But I was talking
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: to a buddy at the gym today who's a big
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: Bears fan. He's like, well, he was throwing the ball exceptional,
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: but you could tell movement wise this was not the
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: explosive runner. Right. It wasn't the same. He was just
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: slicing and dicing with his throwing the ball like 26
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: to 26 when he wasn't pressured. But he wasn't gashing
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: him like it was Carolina week one, which is understandable
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: coming off the injury. So a huge part of Lamar Jackson,
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: you know, who's obviously a much more high-end pocket passer
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: at this point in time in his career than the
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: scrambling version early on when he hit the scene. But
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: his game is still pretty predicated on moving around, keeping
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: plays alive. And if an ankle injury is going to
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: keep you out multiple weeks and still limit you at practice,
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: like it does make me nervous. So this feels like
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: almost too good to be true. Like if it's Huntley
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: auto bangles, even if it's Lamar, like there's still some
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: pressure on Cincinnati. You're getting a guy that probably isn't
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: a hundred percent. You're getting a team that the injury
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: report as of, uh, as of Thursday afternoon, uh, was
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: 15 guys from the Ravens on the report, one guy
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: on the Bengals. So from a health standpoint, the Bengals
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: coming off the bye are way, way healthier, which has
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: to factor in. Both of them have, you know, the
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: Bengals lost to the Steelers and obviously the Ravens lost
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: to the Browns. So they're 0-1 in the division. You
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: never want to fall to 0-2 because then you basically,
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: I mean, got to play really well just to split
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: and go 3-3, right? This is a big game. This
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: is a massive game. To me, the Lamar Jackson thing,
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: if he doesn't go, that'd be a disaster. If he
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: does go and you lose, it does feel like all
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: this early momentum after you look pretty good, like what
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: the hell has happened? And you have these first-time coaches,
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: first-time head coach, first-time offensive coordinator that I think are good.
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: But you just start finding yourself a little bit behind
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: the eight ball. The pressure starts mounting. Same thing with Cincinnati,
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: but Zach Taylor and Golden, those guys have been there before.
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: They understand what's at stake. It's pretty intense. I think
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: I'm leaning Cincinnati here, but historically it makes you a
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: little nervous going into Baltimore. I mean, this is a
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: game that Baltimore just normally wins. At home, against the Bengals, like...
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: say what you want about John Harbaugh. I have no
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: issue with them firing him. It was time. John Harbaugh's
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: feeling good about his spot in the league now, but man,
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: I think this would be crazy. If you just tell
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: me all of a sudden, the Ravens now are fighting
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: an uphill battle because at one point in time, a
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: couple of games in, it's like, oh, Lamar was humming.
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: They're playing the Titans, blowing them out. You're like, God,
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: this team looks like 12 or 13 win team. And
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: then all of a sudden you miss your quarterback for
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: a couple of weeks. I mean, they're, They're pretty fortunate
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: to have made a comeback in the Atlanta Falcons game.
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: But I do think the injuries play a huge, huge role.
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: So my four box would be Niners, Falcons, Indy, Minnesota, Tampa, Carolina,
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: and Cincinnati Bengals. Can I tell you about my new
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• 42:01
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• 42:05
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• 42:10
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• 42:13
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  Speaker 1: for a limited time. Terms and conditions apply. The afternoon window, Denver, Arizona.
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's just, even Rams at Vegas, that's a
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: way more interesting game because there's heavy money on the
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: Raiders in this spot. the Rams are in shambles. There's
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: no way to get around it. I mean, you talk
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: about the Ravens injuries. I mean, half their team's now
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: on injury reserve. You just lost the guy that led
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: the league in touchdowns last year. I mean, part of
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: having Devontae and Puka out there is it just takes
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: a little pressure off both guys. Devontae's so good in
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: the red zone. Puka opens so much up, you know,
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: the 20s of the 20s. You can just feed him
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: the rock. You know, I would treat it if I'm
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: the Raiders. And listen, their defensive backfield is not great.
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: What Indiana did to Jeremiah Smith, somewhat similar game plan
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: to Puka Nakua. I'm throwing several guys at his way.
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: And let's face it, the Rams have a lot of
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: just weird juju going on. They just do. I mean,
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: the pressure coming into the season after making all the moves,
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: starting two and four, special teams is a joke. Now
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: you factor in the injuries, the quarterback, every statistical category
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: is like kind of close to the middle. I mean,
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: it's hard to argue that Stafford's been pretty average at best.
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: And statistically, you could make the argument that Cousins has
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: been much better in the eye test for sure. Now,
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: the Raiders have limitations. One, the running back just, you
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: can tell me he's got this lingering foot issue from
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: the end of the preseason training camp, right when he
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: got hurt right before week one, whatever, but they have
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: no rushing attack. And they don't really have wide receivers.
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: I saw Cousins this week's like Tucker can roll. So
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: he's like, I play with Deshaun Jackson. I play with four,
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: two guys. This guy can roll. Sometimes you just got
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: to let it rip. And that's true. But the overall
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: snap to snap wide receiver unit relative to most of
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: the league is bottom tier. Right. But their tight ends
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: are elite. I mean, Bowers is the best pass catching
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: tight end in the league. And Mayer's an unreal number two.
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: In theory, it's a lot like Loveland and Komet. That's
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: just an unreal unit. And Cousins throws to him all
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: the time. And he has to because they can't run
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: the ball and their wide receivers aren't exactly getting open.
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: So the key to Cousins is you've got to get
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: after him. Well, it's like, well, who's rushing the passer?
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: You just lost multiple defensive linemen. Miles Garrett is already injured.
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: You're just going to be dependent on Aaron Donald turning
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: back the clock. Braden Fisk better fucking turn into Aaron
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: Donald 2.0. So, I mean, I like the Raiders in
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: this spot. And at night, I guess I skipped over
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: Green Bay and Detroit. This feels like a pretty good
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: spot for Green Bay. I feel these two teams have
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: a lot in common. I mean, the offenses are elite.
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: And for Green Bay, it's like this goes back to
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: the Rodgers era. They were tailor-made for a dome because
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: their passing game is so good. And I was watching
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: Dan Campbell's press conference on Wednesday. He's like, those two
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: wide receivers are ballers. And he's right. Watson and Golden,
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: and I understand they've had some drops, but especially Golden.
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: But I got him on my fantasy team, and he
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: produces every single week. Because that fucking guy, you talk
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: about rolling. That guy's a player. They gave Watson whatever,
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: $ 80 million or whatever this offseason. So he's one of
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: the fastest guys in the league with the ball in
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: his hands. Everyone knew that. The only question with him
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: was can his hamstrings not get pulled? Because if his
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: hamstrings don't get pulled, he's a high-end NFL player. I
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: do think there were some question marks on Golden. They
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: got rid of a bunch of wide receivers. It's like,
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: we're going all in on this guy. And he has
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: answered the bell. And now Jacobs, even though everyone basically
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: admitted something happened, no one cares because the NFL is back.
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: And that's a huge addition. And the reason that they
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: didn't look past it all is because they are in
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: desperate need for him. They need him. And so when
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: you look at the Lions, it's like they have a
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: sweet tight end who's pissed off they haven't paid him. Well,
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: it's like, hey, They've already paid everyone else, and they're
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: going to need some defensive players. They're probably never going
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: to pay you. And luckily for you, hitting free agency
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: might end up making you more money on the open market.
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: It sucks, but that's kind of the way a salary
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: cap league goes. Green Bay's defense, now I get it.
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: A couple weeks ago, they were playing Tyson Bajent, and
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: they're picking them off left and right. But obviously, even
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: last week, they have just looked. So I would say
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: the last two weeks, they have, if you look at
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: the Cowboy game, they picked him off twice. And then
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: the Bajent game, they picked him off. They had three
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: picks in that game because Bajent threw two and Keenum
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: threw one. Now, if I remember correctly, Keenum threw one
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: on like fourth down in the red zone. But regardless,
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: they have five interceptions the last two weeks. So from
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: a defensive standpoint, they're just making some plays. And the
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: offensive line just should look better if you have Josh Jacobs. Why?
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: Because there have been holes early in the season in
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: their running backs. I mean, Lloyd, to me, looks like
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: a UFL player. I mean, their running back unit has
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: looked really, really slow. Marshawn Lloyd, I don't quite understand that.
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: And I get it. They drafted him in the third round.
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: He looks like a practice squatter. And Jacobs is just
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: a high-end player. I mean, the gap between those two
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: players is extraordinary. wide. I mean, the addition of him
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: is huge. Now, you know, if you're looking at Detroit,
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: playing at home, coming off a bye, it's a pretty
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: big spot. This is a massive game. I mean, this
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: is a massive game. And I think you've got to
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: be careful about overreacting, you know, because just a couple
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: weeks ago we were all burying Matt LaFleur and the Packers.
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: Rightfully so. Their offensive line looked horrendous. And then they
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: play Tyson Bajent, and they play the Cowboys who are
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: just in shambles. Little different animal here. I mean, this
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: offense is much, much better. But the Lions' defense is atrocious.
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: And what do they do? They play a lot of
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: man-to-man defense. They put their corners out on islands. Well,
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: I know this. I like Watson and Golden against a
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: defense that can't cover a soul. So Aiden Hutchinson better have, like,
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: to me, for the Lions to compete on defenses, he's
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: going to have to be an unstoppable force. Be like
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: one of those where he has, like, seven, eight pressures,
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: three sacks, and he's just all over Jordan Love. Because
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: Jordan Love the last couple weeks, I mean, they're just
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: throwing bombs. Well, why wouldn't you throw bombs against these guys?
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: In a dome, DBs they can't cover. Like, it's tailor-made
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: to you. So, kind of like the Packers on the
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: road in this spot. Last but not least, the night game.
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: This borderline must win for Seattle. As crazy as that sounds, right?
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: Kansas City's already... There's not another undefeated team in the AFC, right? So,
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: you have, like, the Ravens and Cincy, whoever ends up
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: winning that game, we'll see in the Lamar situation. Both
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: those two teams already have two losses. You're already kind
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: of playing a little bit with house money. The other
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: thing with Seattle is they have not allowed a 100-yard
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: rusher since James Cook week eight, 2024. I mean, it
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: has been a long time. And you would also imagine
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: they're pretty geared up to play Kenneth Walker, their guy,
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: for this spot. A huge part of the Chiefs' success
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: is just the running back has been unstoppable. I mean,
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: I think we would all agree he should be in
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: the MVP discussion. He's a true MVP candidate, deserves it,
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: earned it, and has been, to me, some, it's not
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: exactly apples to apples, but there are some parallels to
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: when the Eagles signed Saquon Barkley, and their offense just
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: went to another level, and that's what this feels like. Now,
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: they had more juice on the outside with A.J. and
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: Devontae Smith that year, but just in terms of impact
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: on the ground, it's probably not going to happen. And,
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: you know, the Chiefs felt kind of like the anti-Eagles.
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: They placed Josh Simmons, their first-round left tackle from a
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: couple years ago, on injury reserve today. There's been a
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: lot of question marks with his back. They just threw
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: Rick Burkholder out there, the trainer, and he just described
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: the situation. He's like, it's because of this, this, we
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: did this, and he tried this, and... It's just not
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: kind of working. We've plateaued. It was like, yeah, kind
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: of a, it felt like a strategic move. And you know,
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: this is again, you never ever forget when someone fires you,
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: no matter how good life has gone. And I would
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: say for the Chiefs and Andy, couldn't have gotten any better.
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: He's won Super Bowls. He's in fucking commercials. He's got
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. His team's undefeated.
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: But I don't think they just randomly threw him out
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: where they could have just released a statement he's gone
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: on IR, deal with the back. Now, they have done
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: that before. But the timing, you know, when the Eagles
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: are taking a lot of shrapnel, just something to keep
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: an eye on. If the 49ers were to win in
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: the morning and the Seattle were to lose at home
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: to Kansas City, they would be four games behind the 49ers.
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: And all of a sudden the 49ers would be undefeated
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: with the Rams in Seattle. And I'll even give the
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: Rams the win at the Raiders would both be four
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: games behind them. That's pretty nuts. We're not even to
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: Halloween yet, but it's even separate from the 49ers. Like
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: you're not going to win at home against clearly a
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: tough matchup. One of the best teams in the NFL,
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: but also like their main weapon is a guy that
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: you should know, like the back of your hand. And,
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: you neutralize run games as well as any team in
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: the league. Like no one runs on you, especially no individual, right? Again,
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: week eight, 2024, it's, or week seven, 2026. That's almost
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: two full years ago. One player ran for over a
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: hundred yards and James Cook didn't run for 180. I
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: think it was 110. So, I mean, they are not
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: getting gashed. Now there is some, here's the thing. Hey, Sam,
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: We got to make some better decisions with the football.
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: And he talked about this after the Thursday night game.
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: It's on me. I can't keep turning the ball over.
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: You just, the ball just can't go in some of
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: these spots. I mean, you can't be late on some
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: of these passes with DBs, either safeties coming over that
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: pick the ball with ease to a crossing route where
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: the DB has in his hip pocket. I mean, those
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: two interceptions were really bad. There's just no way around it.
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: But Sam Darnold's always turned the ball over a lot.
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: If he turns the ball over against the Chiefs, like
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: multiple turnovers, I do think it'll be a difficult game
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: for Seattle to win. Now, Charbonnet is getting activated. You know,
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: is Seattle a team that sniffs around on Jonathan Taylor? Like,
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: are they a team that, hey, would you give your
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: second-round pick, get Jonathan Taylor, get him with Jadarian Price,
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: he's under contract, you get... kind of a double-headed monster
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: with Sam Darnold. I, I think you would have to
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: heavily contemplate that, uh, depending on like what the value is,
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: like what they're asking for, who you're bidding against. But I,
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: I would guess they, they are definitely sniffing around on
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: the running back position. We'll see if they look better
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: this week, but, um, I guess I just lean Seattle
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: just because I do think it's must win. And then
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: before we do a couple of mailbag questions, uh, Let's
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: do some quick predictions brought to you by my friends
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: at Polymarket. Like I said, I love Minnesota in this spot. Simply,
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: my logic, quit watch Indianapolis. Quit watch. 1-2-3 Cancun. 1-2-3,
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: I just got traded. $ 100 on Minnesota to cover 6.5
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: points pays $ 197. Promise you this, I'm going to put
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: more than $ 100 on that one. The other one, not
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: as confident. These divisional games, they clearly get weird. You know,
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: Todd Bull is going to blitz a lot. You hit
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: Bryce Young. But I think Carolina all of a sudden
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: kind of gets on a little roll here. Carolina to
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: cover two and a half, $ 100 pays $ 184. And then
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: last but not least, like, until proven otherwise, I'm kind
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: of short on the ramps. I don't necessarily think they
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: lose this game. Like, eventually they're going to win. But, like,
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: the Raiders just proved, like, against the Chiefs just last week, like,
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: against the Bills, like, one, they could score late touchdowns.
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: They play their ass off. This is a team, like,
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: you remove that Patriot game, they got rolled, right? But
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: that was one of those where they just lose a
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: crazy game to the Chiefs. They fly out east and
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: get their ass kicked. But two of the last three
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: games against Kansas City and Buffalo, they– Kind of went
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: toe-to-toe with him. I mean, hell, Josh, one of his touchdowns,
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: one of the most miraculous plays you're ever going to see,
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: that scramble kind of pitch play. So I'm taking the
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: Rams to not cover the three-and-a-half. You're getting the Raiders
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: at home, catching over a field goal. $ 100 pays $ 199.
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: A couple quick mailbag questions. I did see that Joel
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: Klatt said today that– When the 2014 playoff is formalized,
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: there will also be an agreement between the SEC and
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: the Big Ten to have every year they'll play each other.
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: Probably some rotating, you know, they do in basketball a lot, right?
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: The Big Ten, SEC showdown, ACC Pac-12 showdown. Basketball is
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: easier because you have more games. I do believe we've
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: got to find a way to get closer to, like,
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: can't we do this like a four-way? with the Big
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: 12 and the ACC. The problem is, like, is the
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: ACC going to be around in 10 years? I'm reading
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: an article about Miami already talking about, like, going independent
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: or trying to jump to the Big 10. Their AD is,
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: you know, former, like, private sector, I think, KPMG. So
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: he ain't feeling the ACC. They don't even get a vote.
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: The 2014 playoff was basically the Big 10 and the SEC.
• 58:27
  Speaker 1: Long time listener, first time questioner. I was listening to
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: a recent episode and you talked about Arch Manning and
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: how he's now a day three pick. If you were
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: Arch's agent or maybe an NFL scout, what would your
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: recommendation be for him to improve his draft stock for
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: the next year or two? I personally was thinking about
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: it and thought he should transfer out of Texas and
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: go somewhere and start new. It might sound crazy, but what, uh,
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: Might sound crazy, but what if he went to a
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: place like Tulane or JMU, like that type school, an
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: elite G5 program with playoff aspirations? I was considering maybe
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: you give Lincoln a call at USC, considering he's had
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: a lot of success with quarterbacks, Baker Hurts, Maiava, etc.
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: I have a hard time seeing him go to like
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: Tulane though he's I think he's from didn't he grow
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: up in New Orleans Tulane's not as good this year
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: after losing Summerall even though they just did I watched
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: some of that game on Friday they beat Memphis but
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: they were I think two and four going into that
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: game two and three They're not as dominant of a team. Now, granted,
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: these non-Power 4 schools, year to year, it's like you
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: lose a coach, JMU's kind of an outlier, Boise's an outlier.
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: To me, Tulane's a little more fickle. I just think
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: the draft talk, we can do it with Jeremiah Smith,
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: we've been talking about his draft stock since his freshman year.
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: In basketball, we were talking about Darren Peterson or A.J.
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: DeBonsa or Carlos Boozer when they're in high school. I
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: think with quarterbacks, we've got to be very careful. We've
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: learned our lesson. Carson Beck is like, this guy's undraftable.
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: Then he goes to Miami. He's like, not going well.
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: Then by the end of the season, he's like, God,
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 1: he's a third-round pick. Drew Aller can be the number
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: one overall pick. Then he gets injured. Disaster. Goes in
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 1: the third round. We have no clue. I do think
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: you've got to be very careful in the Arch Manning.
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 1: I definitely think it's on the table this week. They're
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: playing Ole Miss. And the best quarterback in the country, Trinidad, who,
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: you know, Ole Miss can be a little fickle too, right?
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 1: I mean, some weeks they look incredible. They beat the
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: shit out of Missouri last week. They also aren't that
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: far removed from getting curb stomped against Florida. So I'm
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: not as confident week to week what this team is
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: going to look like. But if they play well, Ole
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 1: Miss is going to win that game. Especially now that
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: you don't have Colin Simmons, who's a top 10 pick,
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: to chase Trinidad. And listen, they have a ton of
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: talent on their roster. What if this thing gets really weird?
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: What if Ole Miss is up like 24-6 at halftime?
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: I mean, clearly people are going to be booing the
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: games at Texas. Does he make a switch? I do
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: think the problem is, and you saw this with Underwood
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: and Carr, once you make the switch, there is no
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: going back. Once you bench Arch, I just think it's over.
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: Like Bryce Underwood's career for Michigan is over. And I
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: commend him. He was like chest bumping car. I almost
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: said CJ. It's not CJ. It's whatever. It's CJ's brother.
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: I do think it would be a weird spot. But
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: it's on the table. I think it's 100% on the table.
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: What time is that game? Texas Ole Miss is 430 ABC.
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: So I would guess it's. It's Herb Street and I
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: don't want to say Reese Davis, but who the hell
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 1: does Herb Street call that game with? Why can't I
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: think of his name? Oh, Chris Fowler. Michigan, I'm trying
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: to get, what's Carr's name? Tommy. Tommy. 7 of 9.
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: 70 yards. Touchdown. He actually made some nice throws. And
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: just some easy throws that just Underwood missed. But Michigan
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 1: kind of sexy pick there. I just think we need
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: to pump the brakes on the he's going to the NFL.
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 1: Like it just as of right now he's not. A
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 1: lot of people shit on Herbert for how unproductive the
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: offense looks or how he can't win in big spots.
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: But I've watched a plethora of Chargers games over the years,
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: and I really think he had systems in place like
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 1: Mahomes or Josh Allen that he wouldn't catch as much heat.
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: He's been through numerous coordinators and three different head coaches.
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: Do you think he'd be considered an elite quarterback if
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: he had a stable foundation? If you put Justin Herbert
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: with a Andy Reid or Kyle Shanahan or Sean McVay, yes,
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: he probably wouldn't be in this situation. But, you know,
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 1: there were some question marks about him coming out. He's
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 1: not playing that well right now. Jim Harbaugh does have
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: a history of doing well. I do think this mesh
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 1: with Mike McDaniel has blown up in their face. But, yeah,
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: he's just going to take a lot of shit. He
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 1: already was pretty polarizing. I think the playoff games only
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: added fuel to the fire because they were such a disaster.
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: This year could get even worse. Like, I mean, there's
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: a pretty good chance they win two or three games
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 1: this year. Mahomes had an all-time disastrous season last year.
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: They went 6-11, but he didn't lose all those games.
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: I think he won all– what was Mahomes? If you
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: look at Patrick Mahomes, my guess is he was like
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: 6-8 last year because they went to the other quarterbacks
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 1: and they went really bad. Mahomes last year went 6-8,
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 1: so I was right. Which if he doesn't get hurt
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: and he plays the last three games, in a weird way,
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: it was probably good he got injured. Clearly because he's
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 1: okay now, but like they lost all their other games
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 1: and they got a high pick and it landed them
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: two high picks in the first and second round, which
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 1: are clearly helping. Why do some injured NFL players stay
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 1: on the sidelines with their teams while others do not?
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 1: For example, Deebo stood on the sidelines, Micah Parsons supports
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: his team from the sidelines, yet Miles Garrett was seen
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 1: in a luxury box. I think certain teams have rules.
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: I think it's also based on your injury, right? If
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 1: you're on crutches, it's not going to be safe. Debo
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 1: has a tight hamstring, so it's probably up to him
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 1: if the movement ability, but you've got to be able
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 1: to move if guys are coming to the sideline. I
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 1: just think it's kind of dependent on the injury. I
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: think certain teams have certain protocols that But I think
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 1: if you physically can stand and move around, if you
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 1: have a sling, if you have Baker Mayfield, the thumb,
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 1: standing on the sideline, quarterbacks typically are helping out. I
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: would say most players, unless it's a devastating, like if
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: you rip up your knee and you're in a fucking wheelchair, yeah.
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: But most guys, if they can move around, come back
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: to the sideline, if they're in street clothes, as veteran players.
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 1: But I don't think there's a hard, fast rule from
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 1: the NFL. It's kind of team by team. One year,
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 1: the 49ers had so many injuries. They were playing in Arizona,
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 1: and they had a box. And the box was like Bosa, Sherman, Kittle,
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 1: Jimmy Garoppolo, Trent Williams. It was crazy. It was like
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 1: $ 200 million worth of players, just all in the box.
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: You recently mentioned that you don't really care who's calling games.
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: I mainly agree. My one exception is Nance and Romo.
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 1: My take on those two guys, especially Tony, definitely feels
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: like an outlier. And frankly, I'm willing to admit that
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: I have a major bias as a Bills fan. But
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 1: something about their chemistry really clicked with me. I think
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 1: I'll always look back on the most recent three to
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: five year period as a Bills fan with some serious nostalgia.
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: And the unscripted at time off the rails banter between
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 1: them will be a big piece of that. What are
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: your thoughts? Well, I would just say that during your guys'
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 1: run of Josh Allen, Tony Romo and Jim Nance feels
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: like called the majority of your big games, right? All
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 1: the big games against the Chiefs, they were calling. All
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 1: your big games over the last couple years with the Patriots,
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 1: I guess the Patriots have been bad, but the Ravens, whoever, right?
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: Against Joe Burrow, they were on the mic. So yeah,
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: I completely understand. It was announced today that J.J. Watt
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: is going to keep that job. Which, he's fine. I
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 1: think the one thing that Romo had that he kind
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 1: of lost is once everyone just essentially called him lazy
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 1: playing too much golf, he couldn't call the plays out early.
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 1: It felt like it was just all that fucking around.
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: And the thing is, like, Madden and Al Michaels, Al's
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 1: super old now, right? In Al's prime, he was a
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 1: born bullshitter. And I think sometimes that's what Madden, that's
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 1: what Gruden, they could just bullshit about sports, bullshit about football.
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 1: And that's not really Nance's deal. But Romo was so
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 1: just off the cuff and excited, but that's all it
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 1: kind of turned into. But for you, like, listen, what
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: was the bill stretch when they finally made the playoffs,
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 1: Sean McDermott's first year? Wasn't it like 15, 20 years
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: of not making the playoffs? So to go from that
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: and being a bad franchise to getting Josh and being
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 1: this good, I don't blame you at all. But, God,
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 1: they pivoted quick. My one thing with J.J. is he's fine.
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 1: You do need to kind of find a lane. You've
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 1: got to find a spot, right? Chris Collinsworth just nuts
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 1: his pants over quarterbacks. right? Obviously, John Madden and Gruden,
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: they were clear what they brought to the table, and
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 1: just their kind of fun-loving football nerds. Madden embraced, like, food, eating,
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 1: big guys hitting, gunslingers. Gruden had the guys that he loved.
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 1: Romo could predict plays early on. Aikman's kind of a dick,
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 1: which I enjoy. Like, JJ's got a You almost got
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: to just embrace being like this big in the trenches guy.
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 1: And it's okay you're not a quarterback. John Madden wasn't
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 1: a quarterback. John Madden at his core was an offensive lineman.
• 1:08:50
  Speaker 1: Gruden was a coach. I just think you got to
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 1: be comfortable with who you are. You're not like those guys,
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 1: which is fine. So I hope that... I don't know,
• 1:09:02
  Speaker 1: he's doing a fine job, but you've just got to
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 1: embrace some fucking around a little, which can be hard
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 1: with Nance. It's not an easy spot. I commend JJ
• 1:09:13
  Speaker 1: for being as smooth as it's been with Jim. who
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 1: is very old school, pretty serious. Ramos didn't give a shit.
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 1: JJ does, which I respect. Okay, a couple more quick ones.
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 1: Thoughts on the potential trade deadline and teams you could
• 1:09:31
  Speaker 1: see as buyers or sellers. Do you believe that buying
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 1: at the trade deadline is a sign of a good GM?
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 1: Thinking of Ballard specifically was sauce, but I can't remember
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 1: a big time deadline acquisition that made a large impact
• 1:09:43
  Speaker 1: for a playoff team down the stretch other than CMC.
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 1: I think you've got to be very careful because chemistry matters.
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 1: You know, usually these guys are expensive. Personally, I'll take
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 1: the L on this. I thought the Niners were nuts.
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 1: You're going to give your second, your third, your fourth
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 1: round pick for Christian McCaffrey, and it clearly is one
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 1: of the best trades in franchise history. But I'm more
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 1: of a fan of those in the offseason, like the
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 1: 49ers did it for Trent Williams, right? The Eagles for A.J. Brown,
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 1: like doing– Those type big moves in the offseason with
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 1: a guy that you feel comfortable with. The Rams have
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 1: done a lot. Some work, some don't. They traded for
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 1: Jalen Ramsey in season. Like Quentin Nelson, who's still a
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 1: high-end guard. You trade for a guy like that, it's
• 1:10:33
  Speaker 1: clearly an upgrade, but is that changing your trajectory as
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 1: a Super Bowl team and how much you've got to
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 1: give up? The sauce thing, when you make a move
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 1: like that, you just need him to be immediately Darrell
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 1: Rivas or Deion Sanders. He's got to be a dominant
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 1: all-pro player. And one, I thought it was risky because
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 1: he was trending. They kept calling PIs on him. He
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 1: couldn't play the way he did his first couple years.
• 1:10:56
  Speaker 1: And then two, he's been banged up. He's solid, but
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 1: clearly if they could have a do-over. Honestly, at the time,
• 1:11:04
  Speaker 1: it felt nuts. It's like, are you sure you're doing this?
• 1:11:08
  Speaker 1: Mika Fitzpatrick, remember the Steelers traded first-round pick for Mika Fitzpatrick?
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 1: Thought that was pretty crazy, and it kind of worked out.
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 1: I'm trying to think of any big, big deadline ones.
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 1: I've seen Vaughn Miller traded to the Rams. He was older, though.
• 1:11:23
  Speaker 1: You just don't see, because GMs value their draft picks. So, yeah,
• 1:11:30
  Speaker 1: I'll trade a random fourth-round pick for a guy, but
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 1: good players... If I got a package like definitely ones,
• 1:11:38
  Speaker 1: I'm losing sleep over that. But like second and thirds
• 1:11:41
  Speaker 1: for players, that can be difficult to do. And it
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 1: can be difficult to convince a GM to say yes.
• 1:11:47
  Speaker 1: This was a question basically the inevitability of the 18th game.
• 1:11:50
  Speaker 1: Do you think the NFL would ever consider the concept
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 1: of rivalry week? Every year teams would play the same
• 1:11:56
  Speaker 1: team each year rotating home and away. Such Giants, Jets, Eagles, Steelers, Commanders, Ravens,
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 1: so on and so on. Panthers, Jags, Bucks, Finns, Niners, Raiders, Rams, Chargers.
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 1: I think the problem with that is, I've been asked
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 1: this question before, is that you rotate divisions. So like
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 1: the Niners play in the Raiders this year. Every four
• 1:12:19
  Speaker 1: years you rotate playing the AFC division. AFC West, AFC North,
• 1:12:24
  Speaker 1: AFC South, AFC East. And it's just a four-year rotation.
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 1: So there would be given years with, I don't hate
• 1:12:31
  Speaker 1: the idea, but what happens on like this year? The
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 1: Niners play the Raiders, right? The Rams play the Chargers.
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 1: The Seahawks played the Broncos. So like the regional, like
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 1: those teams are playing each other. You play them twice.
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 1: That's where I think why it probably never happens. Because
• 1:12:51
  Speaker 1: you naturally are playing them every four years. Or do
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 1: you just embrace it? You're playing them every year and
• 1:12:55
  Speaker 1: that game would count toward it. I don't know exactly
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 1: what you would do. But my guess is that's not
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 1: what they do. Even though that would be cool. I
• 1:13:04
  Speaker 1: wouldn't be against it. Big Bears fan, but notice your J.J.
• 1:13:22
  Speaker 1: McCarthy slander. Darnold is now seen as a good after
• 1:13:25
  Speaker 1: being a tire fire for five years. You know McCarthy
• 1:13:28
  Speaker 1: led the Vikings to a winning record last year, and
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 1: that was his only full season playing quarterback. What are
• 1:13:33
  Speaker 1: your thoughts on who should start for the Giants this week? Well,
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 1: I think he sent this before they named J.J. You
• 1:13:41
  Speaker 1: know that his record last year, he played 10 games
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 1: because he was soft benched in the middle of that.
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 1: He threw 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. and was well
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 1: under 60% completion percentage. So he had a winning record,
• 1:13:54
  Speaker 1: but I wouldn't say he was winning because of him. Also,
• 1:13:58
  Speaker 1: I've just reacted. He couldn't win the backup quarterback job
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 1: over Carson Wentz. That's no slander from me. That's what
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 1: the Vikings did. Kevin O'Connell, a GM that did not
• 1:14:11
  Speaker 1: draft him, came from Seattle, agreed clearly, and then traded him. Again,
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 1: zero slander from your boy here. I'm just reacting to
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 1: what they did. We all watched. Didn't look good. Then
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 1: his own team who drafted him in the top 10 said,
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 1: you can't be our backup and we're going to trade
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 1: you for a fucking fifth round pick. Think about that.
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 1: There is no slander. Like, slandering would be like, you know,
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 1: LeBron James, man, kind of overrated. You'd be like, what?
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 1: You know, Mahomes, like, some of these wins. No. No.
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 1: There's no slander when a guy doesn't play well, his
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 1: own team, after drafting him high, doesn't make him the
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 1: backup quarterback, and then trades him before year three. I'm
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 1: just reacting to other people's actions that agree with my eyes.
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 1: He hasn't been very good. And I expect him to
• 1:15:03
  Speaker 1: not play well this week. Even though I do think
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 1: he could play better, I think there's going to be
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 1: a little Rayola situation. Rayola, thrown into the USC game,
• 1:15:13
  Speaker 1: did awesome. Had to start the following week. Disaster. Okay,
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 1: two more questions. As a Browns fan, pleasantly surprised with
• 1:15:23
  Speaker 1: Todd Munkin. I still think we finish near. 500, but
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 1: Barry has been crushing the drafts. Here's a fun hypothetical question.
• 1:15:31
  Speaker 1: What route do we do to figure out the quarterback?
• 1:15:34
  Speaker 1: Option one, go all in for Herbert. Package the two ones,
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 1: ours and the Rams, and see if he thrives in
• 1:15:40
  Speaker 1: a new system. Option two, go for a flyer on
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 1: a young quarterback on a rookie contract, like a Cam
• 1:15:47
  Speaker 1: Ward type. Throw a mid-round pick and see if Munkin
• 1:15:51
  Speaker 1: can develop him on a rookie deal. Option three, package
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 1: the two ones and move up in the draft. I
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 1: don't think Herbert's going to be available. I think they
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 1: could go winless, and I do not think the Chargers
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 1: are trading Justin Herbert. I think Justin Herbert is, you
• 1:16:05
  Speaker 1: would say like locks, like Mahomes, Josh Allen, locks to
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 1: be on the team next year. Burrow, you never know.
• 1:16:13
  Speaker 1: Season can get crazy. You get the man trade. Lamar Jackson,
• 1:16:16
  Speaker 1: you know, things can get weird. He doesn't have a
• 1:16:18
  Speaker 1: contract yet. I would say Herbert's a pretty good lock
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 1: based on their ownership. Don't hate option two. Like there
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 1: has to be quarterbacks worth going up there to get
• 1:16:29
  Speaker 1: in the draft. You know, Trinidad is 5'10. That would
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 1: make me a little nervous, and I love the player.
• 1:16:37
  Speaker 1: But it's like, am I going to pack three ones
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 1: to get a guy 5'10? It better fucking go right.
• 1:16:42
  Speaker 1: I don't hate like the, you just use Cam Ward,
• 1:16:47
  Speaker 1: but like something like that. I think until you feel
• 1:16:52
  Speaker 1: confident with the quarterback, you cannot go all in for
• 1:16:56
  Speaker 1: a guy. Especially in the draft. Look, they did it
• 1:16:58
  Speaker 1: with Anthony Richardson with the Colts, and it blew up
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 1: in their face. 49ers did it with Trey Lance. It's
• 1:17:03
  Speaker 1: just the Vikings did it with J.J. McCarthy. The Broncos
• 1:17:06
  Speaker 1: did it with Bo Nix. You're like, yeah, we kind
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: of like them, but then you kind of regret it.
• 1:17:11
  Speaker 1: So to me, keep building the squad, keep loading up
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 1: the team, and be in a position if you can
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 1: find a Sam Darnold, somewhat ironic here, Baker Mayfield type, right,
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 1: with the Bucs. I know he came from you, kind of,
• 1:17:26
  Speaker 1: roundabout way. But, yeah, I would just keep building the
• 1:17:31
  Speaker 1: team unless you're all in on a quarterback in the draft.
• 1:17:35
  Speaker 1: Not necessarily needing to be part of the mailbag, but
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 1: we need to hear more about your experience at the
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 1: Warriors-Cavs 2016 Game 7. It's one of my great regrets.
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 1: Most of my adult life going to games, I didn't drink.
• 1:17:52
  Speaker 1: I was typically working, right? Football games... At Fresno State
• 1:17:57
  Speaker 1: and then the Eagles, I never had one sip alcohol
• 1:18:00
  Speaker 1: at a game. Once I got into radio, I was
• 1:18:03
  Speaker 1: working at the Raider games. If I went to the
• 1:18:06
  Speaker 1: Warriors games or the Giants games, even playoff games, World
• 1:18:09
  Speaker 1: Series games, I was always sober. I mean, I could
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 1: count on, I mean, I don't know the last time
• 1:18:18
  Speaker 1: I drank heavily at a sporting event, pro sporting event.
• 1:18:25
  Speaker 1: This was a game that I got heavily intoxicated. It
• 1:18:28
  Speaker 1: was pre-gaming. I was with a girl. We were kind
• 1:18:31
  Speaker 1: of broken up then. Dating might be a strong way
• 1:18:36
  Speaker 1: to describe it, but we were definitely hanging out. She
• 1:18:39
  Speaker 1: got a couple tickets. She was kind of in the business.
• 1:18:42
  Speaker 1: There were good seats right behind the basket, probably middle
• 1:18:46
  Speaker 1: of the lower bowl. And, you know, I had seen–
• 1:18:49
  Speaker 1: I had been going to Warriors games at the radio
• 1:18:53
  Speaker 1: station constantly. Like I had seen that Steph Curry, Klay
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 1: Thompson team play, I don't know, 30, 40 times over
• 1:19:00
  Speaker 1: the course of those two years, including playoff games. Honestly,
• 1:19:04
  Speaker 1: most of the time I would be leaving by middle
• 1:19:06
  Speaker 1: of the third quarter. Because they were destroying people. I mean,
• 1:19:11
  Speaker 1: I can't vividly remember driving my car home. I lived
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 1: at the time in a condo in Emeryville, which is
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 1: kind of right by the Bay Bridge, and listening to
• 1:19:22
  Speaker 1: the fourth quarter of these games when they were just
• 1:19:25
  Speaker 1: beating the shit out of everybody. I mean, Steph was incredible. Clay,
• 1:19:29
  Speaker 1: they were just barrage of threes. No one had an
• 1:19:33
  Speaker 1: answer for it. And they felt like they made every
• 1:19:35
  Speaker 1: single one. And it just felt, it was getting a
• 1:19:39
  Speaker 1: little weird, but you're like, yeah, they're going to win
• 1:19:40
  Speaker 1: this game. I remember vividly walking into Oracle, walking by
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: Ndamukong Su and Jared Goff. I think Jared Goff had
• 1:19:49
  Speaker 1: just been drafted. I just remember thinking, Ndamukong, I'm like, God,
• 1:19:53
  Speaker 1: this guy's a monster. I just remember having too much
• 1:19:57
  Speaker 1: to drink. Not like puking or anything. It's just one
• 1:20:00
  Speaker 1: of those that if I could do it over again,
• 1:20:02
  Speaker 1: I might have had like a beer. And I probably
• 1:20:04
  Speaker 1: had 10. With a couple pregame cocktails. And then we
• 1:20:09
  Speaker 1: drank more after. I'll never forget, though, watching as the
• 1:20:16
  Speaker 1: Cavs won, we were on their side watching that bench
• 1:20:21
  Speaker 1: and those guys filter onto the court and just thinking,
• 1:20:26
  Speaker 1: oh my God. And you knew it was just a
• 1:20:30
  Speaker 1: lot of history at play, right? The Warriors just shattered
• 1:20:33
  Speaker 1: the record. Steph MVPs, LeBron trying to win it. I mean,
• 1:20:38
  Speaker 1: you just knew you were part of something big. But,
• 1:20:42
  Speaker 1: you know, you kind of get to a point where
• 1:20:44
  Speaker 1: probably how Patriot fans feel, you know, Alabama, Saban. It
• 1:20:49
  Speaker 1: had only been a couple years, but when you went
• 1:20:51
  Speaker 1: to Oracle, once Steve Kerr got there, you just expected
• 1:20:55
  Speaker 1: a win. Honestly, it was crazy the previous round when
• 1:20:58
  Speaker 1: they went to seven games against Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Obviously,
• 1:21:02
  Speaker 1: Clay bailed them out in that game six where you
• 1:21:04
  Speaker 1: just went nuclear from three, saved their season. But then
• 1:21:09
  Speaker 1: they were dominating, and he gets suspended for the nut
• 1:21:12
  Speaker 1: thing with LeBron. But it's just, I'm not a huge,
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 1: I don't really, obviously during NFL games, I never drink
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 1: on Sundays. Now with Jack, I barely even drink on
• 1:21:27
  Speaker 1: Saturdays anymore. I do enjoy just watching the games. You know,
• 1:21:32
  Speaker 1: I enjoy knowing what I'm watching and not like, what
• 1:21:35
  Speaker 1: happened again? And hell, that happened sober. So, I mean,
• 1:21:38
  Speaker 1: you'd start mixing in booze. But that was just too
• 1:21:40
  Speaker 1: big of an event. I just, I regret boozing as
• 1:21:44
  Speaker 1: hard as I did. It's probably one of my biggest
• 1:21:49
  Speaker 1: regrets ever for an event that I have attended. I just...
• 1:21:55
  Speaker 1: I wish I would have soaked that in and just
• 1:21:57
  Speaker 1: been able to remember all the things that happened because
• 1:22:00
  Speaker 1: it was a historical sporting moment. And listen, you know,
• 1:22:05
  Speaker 1: the Warriors went cold. I also remember Draymond just draining threes.
• 1:22:11
  Speaker 1: I mean, if it wasn't for him, the Warriors might
• 1:22:13
  Speaker 1: have lost by like 15, 20 points. I think he
• 1:22:15
  Speaker 1: had like 32 points. It's like the greatest game of
• 1:22:18
  Speaker 1: his career. I looked at his box score last night
• 1:22:20
  Speaker 1: because I went to bed early. Scored two points. Warriors
• 1:22:24
  Speaker 1: stink now. I mean, the Warriors stink. They are terrible.
• 1:22:30
  Speaker 1: Their rookie from Michigan's talking a bunch of shit. It's like, listen,
• 1:22:33
  Speaker 1: I like a good cocky athlete, but you can't just
• 1:22:36
  Speaker 1: get blown out game one of your NBA career and
• 1:22:39
  Speaker 1: be like blasting one of the best players in the
• 1:22:41
  Speaker 1: league who just beat the shit out of you. It's like,
• 1:22:44
  Speaker 1: come on. The 10-year-ago Warriors would have laughed. At whatever
• 1:22:49
  Speaker 1: that was. The Warriors are down bad. This is not good.
• 1:22:53
  Speaker 1: You got the Steph Curry sleeve on his knee. We
• 1:22:55
  Speaker 1: got some tendonitis. You know, the snow time Lakers. They
• 1:23:01
  Speaker 1: look pretty good. I mean, Luka throwing lobs at that
• 1:23:04
  Speaker 1: dude from Utah. They're going to be a problem. If
• 1:23:07
  Speaker 1: you're going to go to a big event, Super Bowl.
• 1:23:10
  Speaker 1: Super Bowl. Man, I got kind of intoxicated there, too.
• 1:23:13
  Speaker 1: But that was fun. It didn't necessarily matter, and I
• 1:23:16
  Speaker 1: was betting on the Broncos. Adios. The volume.