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Bucs Win, Interview with Jessie Rodgers, A Look Into Week 5 · Not So Fast

0:01
Speaker 1: Welcome to Not So Fast with Andrew Perloff and Paul Patz,
0:05
Speaker 1: where two longtime friends challenge each other on the biggest
0:08
Speaker 1: sports stories of the day. Here's Andrew Perloff and Paul Patz.
0:13
Speaker 1: Not so fast, my friends.
0:19
Speaker 2: Welcome to Not So Fast, I'm Andrew Perloff, he's Paul Paps.
0:22
Speaker 2: We got football, we got baseball, basketball, hockey, Paul, it's
0:25
Speaker 2: all happening.
0:26
Speaker 3: Yeah, is the White Sox dream over? They got one
0:28
Speaker 3: more game on Saturday versus the Guardians. College football, big weekend,
0:31
Speaker 3: little bit of weather down south, we'll keep an eye
0:33
Speaker 3: on that, but last night's the lead.
0:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, we said on this very show, we do not
0:38
Speaker 2: see how Dallas Cowboys can lose to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
0:41
Speaker 4: Well, we found out.
0:42
Speaker 3: I think I asked you right before we got done
0:43
Speaker 3: last night, finish this statement. If the Cowboys lose on
0:46
Speaker 3: national TV, blank. And you said Armageddon.
0:49
Speaker 4: Oh, absolutely.
0:50
Speaker 2: It felt like everybody who picked the Cowboys to be
0:53
Speaker 2: good is immediately off the bandwagon. You know, they may
0:57
Speaker 2: make the playoffs because they win the NFC East, but
0:59
Speaker 2: I think it wasn't just one loss. It was one
1:00
Speaker 2: of those losses that feels like this is going to
1:02
Speaker 2: define the rest of their season.
1:03
Speaker 3: So I'm watching that game, and it gets to halftime,
1:05
Speaker 3: and it's a nice battle. And the Cowboys, as you
1:07
Speaker 3: can see there, weren't running the ball at all. Fumbles, turnovers.
1:11
Speaker 3: But Bucky Irving's running great. That missed pass at the end.
1:15
Speaker 3: At halftime, though, I thought it was going to be
1:16
Speaker 3: like the game last week against Houston where they were
1:19
Speaker 3: a buzzsaw in the second half. They never got it together.
1:22
Speaker 3: And while Tampa didn't play great, they played great enough.
1:24
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I think the whole game came down
1:26
Speaker 4: that first drive by Tampa Bay.
1:29
Speaker 2: Dallas comes out. They come out and look great. 7-0 Cowboys.
1:32
Speaker 2: Then Tampa Bay holds the ball for 10-58. And it
1:35
Speaker 2: was the penalties on the Cowboys cornerbacks. That's the story
1:38
Speaker 2: of this season. Not only is our defense bad, they
1:40
Speaker 2: make terrible penalties. So you know the best way to
1:42
Speaker 2: slow down Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens?
1:45
Speaker 2: Keep them on the bench, and that's what Tampa Bay did.
1:48
Speaker 2: It set the tone.
1:48
Speaker 3: And you're watching that game. They're not stopping the run
1:50
Speaker 3: with Bucky Irving. They're not stopping the pass. There was
1:52
Speaker 3: plays where they looked confused, and that's on the defensive coordinator.
1:56
Speaker 3: But you get to the second half, and there's a
1:57
Speaker 3: play where I think Tampa's up 14-0. They're at the
2:01
Speaker 3: goal line, long drive. And for some reason, Todd Bowles
2:04
Speaker 3: decides to go for it and punch it in and
2:06
Speaker 3: put the hammer down, and they get shut down here.
2:09
Speaker 3: And I couldn't believe it. You and I are texting
2:11
Speaker 3: each other. The Dan Patrick Show guys are texting each other.
2:13
Speaker 3: We're like, Why not kick the field goal, go up
2:15
Speaker 3: three and call it a day? Go up 17 and
2:17
Speaker 3: call it a day, three scores.
2:19
Speaker 2: I think Todd Bowles got caught up in the moment
2:21
Speaker 2: or something. And Todd Bowles is famously not.
2:23
Speaker 4: Aggressive in these situations. I have no idea what he
2:26
Speaker 4: was thinking.
2:26
Speaker 2: Maybe I did hear a theory that Brandon Aubrey is
2:28
Speaker 2: the Cowboys kicker. So all he has to do is
2:31
Speaker 2: get to midfield and it's a given.
2:33
Speaker 3: But then right on cue, the Cowboys go on a
2:35
Speaker 3: 99-yard drive. They score. They go for two, which is
2:39
Speaker 3: not a good decision. Deron Bland, if he could hold
2:42
Speaker 3: on to a football, he was going to have a
2:43
Speaker 3: pick six off Jalen Daniels on that third down play.
2:46
Speaker 3: That was a pick six, walking pick six, and that
2:49
Speaker 3: was down. Look at this one. I mean, dude, you
2:51
Speaker 3: forgot something back there. They walk in, they would still
2:54
Speaker 3: need the two-point conversion, but there's four minutes left in
2:56
Speaker 3: the game at this juncture.
2:57
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, this has been a long season for
2:59
Speaker 4: Deron Bland. He's got a big paycheck, but that's about
3:02
Speaker 4: all he has.
3:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, there were a lot of problems, too.
3:05
Speaker 2: Dallas's inability to run the ball. I had to walk away, too.
3:08
Speaker 2: You mentioned the halftime. I don't know if guys still
3:11
Speaker 2: do hype-up speeches, but Brian Schottenheimer did the opposite.
3:14
Speaker 4: You would have thought after the first.
3:16
Speaker 2: Half they would have came out of house on fire,
3:17
Speaker 2: and then boom, two big plays by the Bucs, and
3:20
Speaker 2: the game is basically over.
3:21
Speaker 3: I'm not accepting a hype-up speech from a guy wearing
3:23
Speaker 3: a visor at an indoor stadium. Only visors if you're
3:25
Speaker 3: playing outdoors and in the SEC. Bigger picture, the level
3:29
Speaker 3: of loss for Dallas. It's national TV. We overreact. But
3:33
Speaker 3: if you look at this team, especially defensively, Do you
3:36
Speaker 3: kind of like say, well, this is not a contender,
3:37
Speaker 3: this is a decent team?
3:38
Speaker 4: Oh, definitely. Why would you even say they're a decent team?
3:42
Speaker 3: Well, I guess decent team because you have an offense
3:44
Speaker 3: that generally... could put up a ton of points, and
3:47
Speaker 3: the defense that they invested money in and new players in.
3:50
Speaker 3: So on paper, it looks good.
3:51
Speaker 4: Forget Super Bowl. Now we're talking about are they going
3:54
Speaker 4: to be 9-8 and win the NFC East, and that's
3:56
Speaker 4: a big question mark because their defense ranks last in everything.
4:00
Speaker 4: They gave up 419 yards to an 0-4 Bucs team
4:03
Speaker 4: with a rookie undrafted quarterback, Paul. So that's not decent.
4:07
Speaker 4: That's bad. They might be bad.
4:09
Speaker 3: Okay, but then you look at the schedule coming up.
4:11
Speaker 3: They could write their own ship. at Green Bay, at
4:14
Speaker 3: the Eagles.
4:15
Speaker 4: Two beat-up teams that could easily beat the Cowboys.
4:17
Speaker 3: Right, you can't say those are gimmies.
4:18
Speaker 4: Yeah, you just lost at home to the Bucs.
4:21
Speaker 3: So if you wanted to have some false hope for
4:23
Speaker 3: the Cowboys, is it because the rest of the division
4:26
Speaker 3: is not too tough?
4:27
Speaker 4: Oh, 100%. I mean, who's a favorite now? I don't
4:31
Speaker 4: even know what the Vegas odds. Are the Giants at 3-1?
4:33
Speaker 3: The Giants have been the most consistent team.
4:35
Speaker 4: No, they haven't. They beat the Titans 12-7 because Cam
4:38
Speaker 4: Ward threw a pick at the two-yard line. They beat
4:40
Speaker 4: a terrible Cardinals team. There's nothing consistent about that.
4:42
Speaker 3: But they're consistently winning games that they should win even
4:45
Speaker 3: without their starter quarterback.
4:47
Speaker 2: I will not accept that. They were talking about that
4:49
Speaker 2: on the Dan Patrick show. No, they beat the worst
4:52
Speaker 2: teams in the league. It doesn't mean what you think
4:54
Speaker 2: it does. And the Cowboys just lost to one of
4:56
Speaker 2: the worst teams in the league.
4:57
Speaker 3: Okay, before we get to Tampa, if you had to
4:59
Speaker 3: bet on the Dallas Cowboys or the Eagles to go
5:02
Speaker 3: further this season.
5:03
Speaker 4: Where would you be now?
5:04
Speaker 5: Today.
5:04
Speaker 4: Further means losing in the wildcard round. It does. Let's
5:06
Speaker 4: be clear about what further means.
5:08
Speaker 3: Further in comparison to each other.
5:09
Speaker 4: Okay.
5:10
Speaker 2: I will stick with the Cowboys, but begrudgingly, I think
5:14
Speaker 2: it might be an NFC South situation.
5:16
Speaker 4: Eight and nine gets you in.
5:17
Speaker 3: That's your problem.
5:18
Speaker 4: And the Giants are right there.
5:19
Speaker 2: Remember last year the NFC South had a three-way tie
5:22
Speaker 2: at eight and nine with the Falcons, the Panthers, and
5:24
Speaker 2: the Bucs?
5:25
Speaker 4: That's what we're looking at in the NFC East. By
5:28
Speaker 4: the way, let's talk about Dak Prescott.
5:30
Speaker 2: I know you probably saw the video now. If you didn't,
5:33
Speaker 2: we have it ready to go.
5:35
Speaker 4: Dak Prescott was walking out of the stadium, and a
5:38
Speaker 4: stadium worker or somebody said something. Let's check it out.
5:53
Speaker 3: That was a long look that Dak gave him. That
5:55
Speaker 3: was a long look.
5:56
Speaker 2: That's a bad moment for Dak Prescott, who tries to
5:58
Speaker 2: keep his cool. He knows there's cameras everywhere.
6:00
Speaker 3: You know, I want to be fair to him. If
6:02
Speaker 3: I just got done getting bounced around for four quarters,
6:05
Speaker 3: and some guy that's a worker and who's supposed to
6:08
Speaker 3: be objective in doing his job says embarrassing to me,
6:12
Speaker 3: I'd be like, whoa, dude, calm down. Now, do you
6:16
Speaker 3: know there's cameras around? If you're the Cowboys quarterback, there's
6:18
Speaker 3: always a camera around. You almost wish both. The jerk
6:21
Speaker 3: employee would mind his business and do his job And
6:24
Speaker 3: Dak would have just said, let it go, let it go,
6:26
Speaker 3: because I know how people are going to overreact to this.
6:28
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, let's hear it. Dak talked about it after
6:30
Speaker 4: the game.
6:31
Speaker 6: I know when he said it, I just happened to
6:33
Speaker 6: look at him. And at that point, you know, he
6:36
Speaker 6: looked away, didn't look. And then when I turned my
6:38
Speaker 6: head back, he said something else. And so that's the
6:41
Speaker 6: part that, you know, just as a man or as
6:43
Speaker 6: just a person, feel free to speak your mind.
6:45
Speaker 3: Just speak it.
6:46
Speaker 6: Don't cower it away from the reaction that you're going
6:49
Speaker 6: to get. And so, yeah, I mean. If you're saying
6:53
Speaker 6: it's embarrassing, say it's embarrassing. If you're saying it to me,
6:55
Speaker 6: then say it to me.
6:55
Speaker 5: You know what I mean?
6:56
Speaker 6: Go back on it. So that's all that was. Hate
6:59
Speaker 6: it that it's even being talked about, to be honest
7:01
Speaker 6: with you.
7:02
Speaker 4: You know, Dak got a lot of flack after this game. Obviously,
7:04
Speaker 4: because they lost. I don't think Dak Prescott played well.
7:06
Speaker 4: He was not on the field.
7:08
Speaker 2: It was the defense did not give him a chance,
7:10
Speaker 2: and then CeeDee Lamb got hurt at the end. He
7:11
Speaker 2: still had a great drive, as you mentioned, in the
7:13
Speaker 2: fourth quarter.
7:14
Speaker 3: You know, Pickens had a nice game. He had four
7:16
Speaker 3: drops with his other receivers. But when you take CeeDee
7:18
Speaker 3: Lamb out, it's like going uphill. Now you're going uphill.
7:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, Jake Ferguson, disappointing, by the way. That pick is
7:23
Speaker 2: on him. Went through his hands. Tight end was supposed
7:25
Speaker 2: to be a star this year.
7:26
Speaker 4: Not happening.
7:26
Speaker 3: Classic RCI, receiver-caused interception.
7:29
Speaker 4: Yeah.
7:29
Speaker 3: Real quick on Dak there, I do agree with his point.
7:33
Speaker 3: Don't say embarrassing to me when you don't do what
7:35
Speaker 3: I do for him. And so that's challenging my manhood.
7:38
Speaker 3: I went and did my best. I know it wasn't pretty.
7:40
Speaker 3: Don't say embarrassing.
7:41
Speaker 2: Are you sure he wasn't talking about something else? This
7:43
Speaker 2: guy in the tunnel. We don't even know who it was.
7:46
Speaker 2: Dak said it could be a driver.
7:47
Speaker 3: Embarrassing the chicken fingers tonight in the suite?
7:49
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't know. Maybe he had the wrong outfit
7:51
Speaker 4: on in the suite. I have no idea. That was
7:54
Speaker 4: a tough look.
7:55
Speaker 3: You want to give out some helmet stickers for this game?
7:57
Speaker 3: I'll go first. Bucs, DB, Jacob Parrish, four passes defended.
8:01
Speaker 3: I almost gave a tie with Zion McCollum because he
8:03
Speaker 3: had a good game. But those Bucs defensive backs, they
8:06
Speaker 3: put up a good fight last night. I know CeeDee
8:09
Speaker 3: Lamb's out for a big part of the game, but
8:11
Speaker 3: they may have found a couple guys there that could
8:13
Speaker 3: keep them in games.
8:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, they were glued to the Cowboys receivers, even when
8:16
Speaker 2: the Cowboys didn't make a catch.
8:17
Speaker 4: Not literally.
8:18
Speaker 2: No, there was some glue involved, I think, possibly. I'm
8:21
Speaker 2: going to go a little obvious. I went with Bucky Irving,
8:24
Speaker 2: who had a huge game, I think 160-something yards. And
8:27
Speaker 2: we didn't go Jalen Daniels.
8:29
Speaker 4: Jalen Daniels, I thought was too obvious, so I wouldn't
8:31
Speaker 4: go with it. But the kid gets his first win.
8:33
Speaker 4: That was amazing.
8:34
Speaker 3: Are we complimenting him by not giving him a helmet
8:36
Speaker 3: sticker saying we have faith in him when no one
8:37
Speaker 3: else did?
8:38
Speaker 2: We expected him. You know, there are a couple Jalen
8:41
Speaker 2: Daniels apologists. He went undrafted. Greg Cosell, the.
8:44
Speaker 4: NFL Films famous tape guy, has been saying this is
8:47
Speaker 4: an NFL quarterback for a while. But it's funny because
8:49
Speaker 4: he doesn't look like an NFL quarterback. He's short and undrafted.
8:51
Speaker 3: Yeah, but, you know, we're over the short guy era.
8:54
Speaker 3: If you look at this guy... He tried to stay
8:56
Speaker 3: in the pocket last night. That's what I thought was impressive,
8:58
Speaker 3: because he's known as a runner at Kansas. But he
9:01
Speaker 3: was like, you know, I'm going to stay back here
9:02
Speaker 3: and run when I have to. But he was trying
9:03
Speaker 3: to keep plays alive.
9:04
Speaker 4: Well, he was keeping plays alive behind the line of scrimmage.
9:06
Speaker 3: Scrambling, not running.
9:08
Speaker 4: Yeah, he was hard to bring down by Dallas. I
9:10
Speaker 4: did say yesterday that Dallas has kryptonite. They do not
9:12
Speaker 4: like running quarterbacks.
9:13
Speaker 3: No, you said it yesterday.
9:15
Speaker 2: All right, Paul, sad news today. We learned last hour
9:19
Speaker 2: that Bears legend Mike Ditka passed away.
9:22
Speaker 4: And, Paul, if you watch.
9:23
Speaker 2: Not So Fast, you know you're a diehard Chicago sports fan,
9:26
Speaker 2: especially the Bears.
9:27
Speaker 3: Yeah, Mike Ditka has been in poor health for a while,
9:30
Speaker 3: so this may not have been a shock for Chicago people.
9:32
Speaker 3: But it's a shock from, like, if you grew up
9:34
Speaker 3: on Mike Ditka. Mike Ditka has been around Chicago for
9:37
Speaker 3: his entire life, for all our entire lives. He was
9:39
Speaker 3: a player. And then in 1982, George Hallis, the owner,
9:42
Speaker 3: brought him in to write a franchise that was spinning
9:45
Speaker 3: its wheels. They had Walter Payton and nothing else. Ditka
9:48
Speaker 3: came in, brought in Jim McMahon. brought in a defense,
9:51
Speaker 3: and Buddy Ryan. And he is a legend in the
9:53
Speaker 3: truest sense of the word legend. It's thrown around too much.
9:57
Speaker 3: When kids, adults, go to Halloween, they dress as Mike Dix.
10:00
Speaker 3: still today, people who weren't born yet. He gave us
10:03
Speaker 3: and gave Bears fans and that city the 85 Super Bowl.
10:05
Speaker 3: And every year they don't win a Super Bowl, Mike
10:08
Speaker 3: Ditka's legacy gets bigger. He's nationally known, locally known, beloved,
10:12
Speaker 3: and he was one of those people that if you
10:14
Speaker 3: saw him in Chicago, like let's say you're going somewhere,
10:17
Speaker 3: and you saw him, you're like, There's the coach. You
10:19
Speaker 3: didn't say there's Mike Ditka. You said there's the coach.
10:22
Speaker 3: He is always the Bears coach, no matter who is
10:24
Speaker 3: coaching the Bears.
10:24
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, last year they did an ad campaign
10:26
Speaker 4: where Matthew McConaughey pretended he was dressing up as Mike Ditka.
10:30
Speaker 3: And if you think about it, someone like you who
10:32
Speaker 3: grew up in Philadelphia knows football. You knew Ditka because
10:35
Speaker 3: of how he did against the Eagles, the Buddy Ryan.
10:38
Speaker 3: And then maybe what else?
10:39
Speaker 4: Saturday Night Live.
10:40
Speaker 3: Saturday Night Live.
10:40
Speaker 2: The Ditka sketch. I mean, who wins the Indy 500?
10:44
Speaker 2: Ditka driving a school bus or the race car drivers?
10:46
Speaker 2: took it to the next level.
10:48
Speaker 4: I mean, we're talking about Icon, totally different than every
10:50
Speaker 4: other athlete because they're famous bears. Obviously your guy, Walter Payton,
10:54
Speaker 4: and obviously Derek Butkus, but Dicka was something completely different. Yeah.
10:58
Speaker 3: He delivered a team that was just doing nothing for
11:00
Speaker 3: a long, long time, a Superbowl. Could they have gotten more? Sure.
11:03
Speaker 3: But he, he walked on water in that town. He
11:06
Speaker 3: always will.
11:07
Speaker 4: I remember too, people don't know as a player, I
11:09
Speaker 4: saw there was a video, great early tight ends when
11:11
Speaker 4: I was working at NFL Films. DeGang was explosive. He
11:14
Speaker 4: was one of the best tight ends.
11:16
Speaker 2: He retired as second all-time among tight ends, I assume
11:19
Speaker 2: to John Mackey, in receptions.
11:21
Speaker 4: He was a Hall of Fame player with no doubt.
11:22
Speaker 3: Those are great points because sometimes when you're so good
11:25
Speaker 3: at one thing, you forget about the other. Like John
11:27
Speaker 3: Madden was a great coach. People think, oh, he was
11:29
Speaker 3: a broadcaster and a video game guy. Mike Ditka got
11:32
Speaker 3: so much notoriety from his Bears run, his career gets
11:36
Speaker 3: kind of washed away a little bit.
11:37
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely. Well, that's sad news. Sorry, Paul. Bears mean
11:41
Speaker 4: a ton to you.
11:42
Speaker 3: Thank you, buddy.
11:42
Speaker 2: All right, coming up next, we have warm takes. Time
11:46
Speaker 2: to talk about LeBron. It's been a while, but the
11:48
Speaker 2: LeBron James era arrived last night. I'll explain why I'm
11:51
Speaker 2: not so fast. Paps and Perloff here, NBC Sports. Now,
11:55
Speaker 2: every week during the football season, we do Pub and Grub.
11:58
Speaker 2: And this week we're going down to Tuscaloosa, Alabama school.
12:02
Speaker 4: You actually got in, Paul.
12:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, C's get degrees. Almost went to Alabama. They let
12:06
Speaker 3: me in. Can't believe they did. They must have not
12:07
Speaker 3: looked at my transcript. Big game this weekend. If you
12:09
Speaker 3: can't get in the game, there's places to go. I've
12:11
Speaker 3: been to two of the three places. We put it
12:13
Speaker 3: out on Twitter. A lot of response. Dreamland Barbecue, a
12:16
Speaker 3: local legend in the Tuscaloosa community. Gotten bigger over the years.
12:20
Speaker 3: Vinegar-based sauce pull-off with a little bit of kick. You're
12:22
Speaker 3: going to love that. The pulled pork sandwich. Here's the thing.
12:25
Speaker 3: If you ever go to a barbecue place, especially down south,
12:27
Speaker 3: and they automatically put white bread on the side of
12:29
Speaker 3: your tray, it's good to go, and it's a great thing.
12:32
Speaker 3: That's how you know you're at a good barbecue place.
12:34
Speaker 4: Galette's.
12:35
Speaker 3: Galette's is old school. Big spot, huge beer garden. Start
12:39
Speaker 3: with a yellow hammer. It's kind of a citrus drink.
12:41
Speaker 3: Be careful. Don't go too heavy too early. You'll miss
12:43
Speaker 3: the rest of the tailgate. And lastly, the Gray Lady.
12:46
Speaker 3: They don't serve food. You can bring your own food in,
12:48
Speaker 3: but the Gray Lady is supposed to be a great place.
12:50
Speaker 3: Huge beer garden, of course, down south.
12:51
Speaker 4: Great place. Yeah, I mean, you've got to maybe be
12:54
Speaker 4: indoors for this game, too. Oh, yeah. I mean, this
12:56
Speaker 4: is one situation where if you want to stay in
12:59
Speaker 4: the bar a little extra and miss some of the rain,
13:01
Speaker 4: then that's not such a bad thing.
13:02
Speaker 3: Wear a slicker, eat some barbecue, enjoy Tuscaloosa. This is
13:04
Speaker 3: the public.
13:07
Speaker 4: Realm.
13:10
Speaker 3: Okay, Pearl, time for the midday pick-me-up. A cup of
13:12
Speaker 3: joe for you, buddy. I know you're up late watching
13:14
Speaker 3: the games.
13:15
Speaker 7: Little.
13:18
Speaker 3: So close. That opened up a big ending for the Guardians.
13:22
Speaker 3: You catch that, you're out of it. But a six-run
13:24
Speaker 3: six for the Guardians, and they never look back. White
13:27
Speaker 3: Sox lose.
13:27
Speaker 2: This is right as the Cowboys are crumbling. This was
13:30
Speaker 2: going on. I was going back and forth, Paul. And
13:33
Speaker 2: then it turned out neither was really close at the end.
13:35
Speaker 3: No, that was a tough one for the White Sox.
13:37
Speaker 3: Not a lot of fireworks last night.
13:39
Speaker 4: They lose.
13:39
Speaker 3: They play Saturday Night Pearl. Saturday night, White Sox-Guardians, final
13:43
Speaker 3: game of the series.
13:44
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I think we, if you're a neutral fan,
13:47
Speaker 4: you want to get it back to Chicago so we
13:48
Speaker 4: can see if the Pope comes. Yeah. That's really all
13:51
Speaker 4: we got.
13:51
Speaker 3: It'd be great to have the Pope there. He's a Southsider.
13:53
Speaker 3: All right, it's time for warm takes here.
13:54
Speaker 4: It's what we do.
13:55
Speaker 3: Let's go. Let's get one. I'll go first. Pearl, here
13:57
Speaker 3: we go. What a weird year for White Sox fans.
14:00
Speaker 3: You come into the season, three straight 100 lost seasons,
14:03
Speaker 3: and then you start the season, and you're above 500. Hey,
14:06
Speaker 3: you're a nice story. It's April. It's May.
14:08
Speaker 4: It's cute.
14:09
Speaker 3: It'll go away. The White Sox are having a little,
14:11
Speaker 3: little Not so much. And then you keep winning. And
14:14
Speaker 3: then somehow you squeak into the playoffs. And then you
14:17
Speaker 3: cruise to the wild card. You cruise to the first
14:19
Speaker 3: two games against the Guardians. And now you have something
14:22
Speaker 3: new that you haven't had on the south side in
14:23
Speaker 3: a long time. Expectations. Hope. Then a new thing hits you. Despair.
14:31
Speaker 3: You lose two straight to the Guardians. And when you're
14:33
Speaker 3: thinking about the ALCS, now you start thinking about going home.
14:36
Speaker 3: Game five on Saturday. Either your squad advances to the
14:39
Speaker 3: ALCS or paint. Sports pain. Sports pain, I call this. Now,
14:45
Speaker 3: the White Sox had three straight seasons with 100-plus losses,
14:48
Speaker 3: and there's no pain with that. There's nothing. It's nothingness.
14:51
Speaker 3: You're not threatening. You're actually embarrassing. You got more coverage
14:54
Speaker 3: from losing 121 games than you did this year for
14:57
Speaker 3: winning games and making the playoffs. But I'll take it.
15:00
Speaker 3: And White Sox fans and all sports fans, losing the
15:03
Speaker 3: playoff hurts. Losing and being awful and irrelevant, that doesn't
15:07
Speaker 3: feel like anything. It feels like absolutely nothing. So embrace
15:09
Speaker 3: the pain. Even if you lose in the playoffs... It's
15:12
Speaker 3: a lot better to be there and lose. Not in
15:13
Speaker 3: the moment, but maybe a couple days later. Take the pain.
15:16
Speaker 4: One thing, baseball pain is the worst kind of pain
15:18
Speaker 4: because it's slower pain. Yes. It's torture. Football, it's over
15:21
Speaker 4: like that.
15:21
Speaker 2: And baseball, you have to sit and you keep thinking, ah,
15:24
Speaker 2: there's only two outs.
15:25
Speaker 4: There's still a chance. And then it's just over.
15:27
Speaker 3: And the smaller market you are, the bigger the pain
15:30
Speaker 3: is because you're like, oh, when will we get back?
15:32
Speaker 4: Yeah, I know.
15:33
Speaker 2: Yankees fans are just constantly mad here in New York.
15:36
Speaker 2: And I'm a Phillies fan. Trust me, the pain is everywhere.
15:38
Speaker 4: All right. Speaking of Philadelphia.
15:40
Speaker 2: We haven't talked a lot about this man, but it's
15:42
Speaker 2: about time we get him into warm takes.
15:44
Speaker 4: LeBron James.
15:45
Speaker 1: Nice.
15:45
Speaker 4: The era has begun.
15:47
Speaker 2: Last night he was at Barclays playing for the Sixers.
15:50
Speaker 4: He was dropping dimes, Paul.
15:52
Speaker 3: As the kids say.
15:52
Speaker 4: Yes. Look at that. No look. Now, here's the thing
15:55
Speaker 4: about LeBron.
15:56
Speaker 2: I'm still not 100% sure why he chose Philadelphia. It's
15:59
Speaker 2: such an odd ending to this incredible career. But I
16:03
Speaker 2: think he has one accomplishment that he can do here
16:06
Speaker 2: that will make this season noteworthy, even if they don't
16:08
Speaker 2: win a title. I think LeBron is going to go
16:11
Speaker 2: for the assist lead in the NBA.
16:13
Speaker 4: All right.
16:13
Speaker 2: Now, you can't even make a bet on my sportsbook
16:16
Speaker 2: of him being the assist lead if his odds are
16:18
Speaker 2: so low. But he has great players around him. He's
16:21
Speaker 2: got Jalen Brown. He's got Vijay Edgecombe. He's got Tyrese Maxey.
16:24
Speaker 2: He's got Joel Embiid. Now, I don't think LeBron wants
16:26
Speaker 2: to score. He only had one field goal last night
16:28
Speaker 2: and 10 points mostly from the line. I think LeBron
16:31
Speaker 2: wants to dish it. And as you remember, Paul, because
16:33
Speaker 2: you're old enough like me, when LeBron came into the league,
16:37
Speaker 2: he was a passer first. He was compared to Magic.
16:40
Speaker 2: There was a Nike commercial where he was at a
16:41
Speaker 2: church passing the ball all over. He is like a
16:44
Speaker 2: human being. We come in as babies, then we die
16:47
Speaker 2: like babies. Benjamin Button.
16:49
Speaker 4: Deep cut, Pearl.
16:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, LeBron is coming out of the league exactly
16:53
Speaker 2: how he came into it, a pass-first guy. LeBron had
16:56
Speaker 2: to learn to be a shooting guy.
16:58
Speaker 4: He really wanted to pass the ball.
16:59
Speaker 2: That's his natural inclination, and he's going to embrace it
17:02
Speaker 2: so much in Philadelphia.
17:03
Speaker 4: It's going to be amazing. Point forward, he's going to
17:05
Speaker 4: be Draymond Green, but better.
17:07
Speaker 3: Wow, I think this is a great take and great
17:08
Speaker 3: awareness of what he is in his career. If you
17:11
Speaker 3: looked at the last two seasons in L.A., he was
17:13
Speaker 3: directing traffic. He'd get the ball, and he looked like
17:16
Speaker 3: a water polo guy directing traffic. And he right now,
17:19
Speaker 3: by the way, is fourth all-time in NBA history in assists.
17:23
Speaker 3: He could easily pass Jason Kidd and Chris Paul this season.
17:27
Speaker 3: He would finish second all-time assist, number one, of course,
17:30
Speaker 3: in scoring. And the other thing is, his teammates will
17:32
Speaker 3: love it. If he averages like... 20 and 12, that's
17:36
Speaker 3: the perfect season for him.
17:38
Speaker 2: Jalen Brown is not a natural passer. Tyrese Maxey, you'd
17:41
Speaker 2: think he's a point guard.
17:42
Speaker 4: He wants to pass. He's not a passer. He likes
17:43
Speaker 4: to score.
17:45
Speaker 2: I think this is a perfect fit. Listen, I don't
17:48
Speaker 2: know if it wins for the Sixers. Do you know
17:50
Speaker 2: who led the league in assists last year?
17:52
Speaker 4: I did not. I had to look it up.
17:53
Speaker 3: I don't know.
17:54
Speaker 4: Joker at 10.7. So you don't have to be a
17:57
Speaker 4: point guard. The days of the point guard are long gone.
18:00
Speaker 2: And 10.7 is attainable for LeBron. He had 7.2 last year,
18:04
Speaker 2: 8.2 the year before. So that'll be something.
18:07
Speaker 4: Again, I don't exactly know why he chose Philadelphia ball,
18:10
Speaker 4: but hey, let's make something out of this.
18:12
Speaker 3: He looks good in the uniforms. He looks like he's
18:13
Speaker 3: taking care of himself. All right, my next warm take
18:15
Speaker 3: is this. Thursday night football, the Cowboys will soak up 90%
18:19
Speaker 3: of the coverage, but how about the Buccaneers? Baker Mayfield signs,
18:23
Speaker 3: big contract, then gets hurt. Jalen Daniels out of Kansas,
18:26
Speaker 3: 23 years old. He had a very nice game. And
18:29
Speaker 3: maybe it's just that. Maybe it's just a nice Thursday
18:31
Speaker 3: night game and he becomes a career backup. What if
18:34
Speaker 3: it goes the other way? What if he becomes a
18:36
Speaker 3: really good NFL quarterback someday or sooner than we thought?
18:40
Speaker 3: It does happen. If you look at Dak Prescott, Dak
18:42
Speaker 3: Prescott wasn't a number one overall draft choice. He was
18:45
Speaker 3: behind Romo. Romo gets hurt. Dak plays well. Very good
18:49
Speaker 3: offensive line. A lot of good things around him. He
18:50
Speaker 3: never gave the job up. This happens. The Seahawks signed
18:53
Speaker 3: Matt Flynn from the Packers to be their next quarterback.
18:56
Speaker 3: He never got a start. They gave it right to
18:58
Speaker 3: Russell Wilson. Trent Green gets hurt for the Rams, and
19:00
Speaker 3: they give it to Kurt Warner. And, you know, you
19:03
Speaker 3: can even say, like, Trey Lance for the 49ers. They
19:05
Speaker 3: draft him high. They trade up for him. It doesn't
19:07
Speaker 3: work out. There's Brock Purdy. I'm not saying Jalen Daniels
19:11
Speaker 3: is going to beat any of these guys, but it's possible.
19:13
Speaker 3: And even with the money, I could see you looking.
19:15
Speaker 4: At your job. Yeah, it's possible that I could become
19:17
Speaker 4: the next great quarterback.
19:17
Speaker 3: But what I'm saying is, if that's another reason why
19:20
Speaker 3: you shouldn't give Baker Mayfield $ 150 million, because now you're
19:23
Speaker 3: stuck with him, but if somehow you could become that thing,
19:26
Speaker 3: or if you have a couple games, you become a thing,
19:28
Speaker 3: maybe another team gets you, like a Malik Willis. Just
19:31
Speaker 3: because you went to Kansas and you weren't a draft
19:33
Speaker 3: pick doesn't mean you can't be under the Brock Purdy.
19:35
Speaker 4: No, you're right.
19:36
Speaker 2: I mean, listen, there aren't a lot of Kansas quarterbacks,
19:38
Speaker 2: as I recall. Did you see Baker Mayfield on the
19:40
Speaker 2: sideline yesterday?
19:41
Speaker 4: I thought he was OC'd. Yeah, he was calling plays.
19:44
Speaker 2: They did just pay Baker Mayfield, but you're absolutely right.
19:47
Speaker 2: I mean, Philadelphia, Carson Wentz, they draft Jalen Hurst behind.
19:50
Speaker 4: Him. The fact that he was undrafted, that doesn't mean anything.
19:53
Speaker 4: Kurt Warner was undrafted. No, I totally agree. I was
19:55
Speaker 4: kind of playing devil's advocate. All right.
19:57
Speaker 2: For my next warm take, I'm going to turn to
19:59
Speaker 2: the NFC West. The San Francisco 49ers are on fire.
20:03
Speaker 4: Literally. I think it's the electrical substation. Something caught, Paul.
20:06
Speaker 2: But they are second in points per game in the NFL,
20:09
Speaker 2: first in yards per play, first in third down rate,
20:12
Speaker 2: which is a huge stat for me, and first in
20:14
Speaker 2: red zone. TD conversion rate. They are unstoppable. Guess who's
20:19
Speaker 2: going to stop them? This week's opponent, the Seattle Seahawks.
20:23
Speaker 4: Seattle, of course, we know about their defense and just
20:25
Speaker 4: won a Super Bowl.
20:26
Speaker 2: Last year, San Francisco entered their final week showdown with
20:30
Speaker 2: the Seahawks after a 48-27 win over Indy and a
20:34
Speaker 2: 42-38 win over the Bears. What did the Niners do?
20:38
Speaker 2: They lost 13-3 to Seattle. Then it was even worse,
20:41
Speaker 2: 41-6 in the playoffs to Seattle. I hate to say it,
20:45
Speaker 2: Mike McDonald, the Seahawks coach, has Kyle Shanahan's number. Now,
20:49
Speaker 2: even when he was in Baltimore, McDonald in one game
20:52
Speaker 2: had four interceptions for the Ravens over Brock Purdy, Purdy interceptions.
20:58
Speaker 2: It's just one of those coaching matchups where I think
21:00
Speaker 2: that McDonald has the edge, and I think that San Francisco's.
21:04
Speaker 4: Electric offense is going to slow down this week. It's
21:07
Speaker 4: only a three-point spread, but wait, Paul, the total is 45.5.
21:11
Speaker 4: What does that tell you?
21:12
Speaker 2: They are averaging almost that by themselves, 30.5, and the
21:15
Speaker 2: total is 45.5. Vegas knows it's coming back down.
21:19
Speaker 3: Okay, you're calling this a come-back-to-earth game. I'm going to
21:21
Speaker 3: not so fast you in saying I would agree with
21:23
Speaker 3: this if the 49ers weren't still healthy. At this juncture
21:28
Speaker 3: in the season, I think they could continue on their run.
21:30
Speaker 3: I may tease that for later in the show, but
21:33
Speaker 3: I think that the offense for the Seahawks is the
21:36
Speaker 3: one that's a little bit in trouble. They're not running
21:38
Speaker 3: the ball. The Kenneth Walker thing you talked about the
21:40
Speaker 3: other day, I think that's going to hurt them and
21:42
Speaker 3: keep the Seahawks from dominating defensively for the next few weeks.
21:46
Speaker 4: We'll see. I mean, their defense is okay.
21:48
Speaker 2: Leonard Williams might be out. Nick Bosa's out. Mike Evans
21:51
Speaker 2: has been dealing with some stuff. You say they're healthy.
21:54
Speaker 2: Kyle Juszczyk is a big part of that. They love
21:56
Speaker 2: to run around him. He's out for a couple weeks.
21:57
Speaker 2: And even if they're healthy now, wait until the third quarter.
21:59
Speaker 4: This is Seattle, Paul. This is where they get unhealthy.
22:02
Speaker 4: They've been beating up some.
22:03
Speaker 2: Bad— I know they won in Australia, but the Rams were jet-lagged.
22:06
Speaker 2: Now they face a real team. I'm calling this a
22:09
Speaker 2: narrative bust. I'm busting up a narrative.
22:11
Speaker 3: Narrative bust only on Not So Fast. All right, stick around.
22:14
Speaker 3: We'll get back to some baseball. Jesse Rogers, ESPN 1000
22:17
Speaker 3: and ESPN Baseball Insider joins the show. That's next. Stick around.
22:21
Speaker 3: Not so fast.
22:23
Speaker 4: Love busting up a narrative.
22:24
Speaker 3: Oh, you've been busting up narratives for decades, man.
22:26
Speaker 4: I'm a narrative buster.
22:27
Speaker 3: That was your nickname in college.
22:29
Speaker 4: Yeah.
22:30
Speaker 3: There comes a narrative buster.
22:31
Speaker 4: Not a slump buster, a narrative buster. Welcome back to
22:34
Speaker 4: Not So Fast. Andrew Perloff, Paul Paps, NBC Sports Now,
22:38
Speaker 4: and Peacock. Paul, I think we thought we might be
22:41
Speaker 4: celebrating the White Sox advancing for the first time at
22:44
Speaker 4: home in over a century, but it didn't happen.
22:46
Speaker 3: The White Sox were cruising through the playoffs and then
22:48
Speaker 3: not so fast, a couple losses.
22:50
Speaker 4: All right. Join us now, ESPN.com, MLB Insider, Jesse Rogers. Jesse,
22:55
Speaker 4: how's morale on the south side?
22:58
Speaker 8: A little nervous, a little nervous. Man, these fans were juiced.
23:02
Speaker 8: You guys mentioned it, 120 years since clinching a home series.
23:07
Speaker 8: No truth to me covering the last time they did that.
23:11
Speaker 8: And now they'll have to do it on the road,
23:12
Speaker 8: and who knows what they'll do against the Rays if
23:14
Speaker 8: they advance. So they may not clinch a home series
23:17
Speaker 8: at home for a long, long time. It's just disappointing.
23:22
Speaker 8: Game three may be a little bit understandable now, But
23:25
Speaker 8: game four, man, they activated their A-plus relievers, and they,
23:29
Speaker 8: you know what, the bet. I mean, four of the
23:31
Speaker 8: top guys, including the best of the group, Grant Taylor,
23:34
Speaker 8: just could not get any outs. Taylor got zero outs,
23:38
Speaker 8: in fact, and gave up four runs. Really disappointing. Kind
23:43
Speaker 8: of a disappointing show at the plate, but really at
23:45
Speaker 8: times in the last two days. But most of it
23:47
Speaker 8: was problematic on the mound. That's where most Sox fans
23:52
Speaker 8: are disappointed in.
23:53
Speaker 3: Jesse, you cover baseball in Chicago very well, by the way, day-to-day, year-to-year.
23:57
Speaker 3: If I would have told you and Sox fans nine
24:00
Speaker 3: months ago, you'd be upset because you might not be
24:03
Speaker 3: going to the ALCS, you would have said what?
24:07
Speaker 8: I would have said, yeah, well, we lost 100 games.
24:11
Speaker 8: Why would we be upset? The idea that they're even
24:15
Speaker 8: playing for it is crazy. It's a reminder why we
24:17
Speaker 8: love sports, right? And we love turnaround stories. I mean,
24:21
Speaker 8: It was hell in this town around that team for
24:25
Speaker 8: three years, losing 100-plus games. And the 121 was just,
24:29
Speaker 8: two years ago, insane. I mean, they just were the
24:31
Speaker 8: most disappointing team you could imagine, unlikable. And it showed
24:37
Speaker 8: up in the standings. And then to turn it around
24:39
Speaker 8: like this after three straight 100-loss seasons is quite amazing.
24:43
Speaker 8: It's a testament to the new people they brought in.
24:45
Speaker 8: Chris Getz, the GM. The manager, Will Venable, I think
24:47
Speaker 8: is going to be a really good one. I mean,
24:49
Speaker 8: it's his second year, and people are just getting to
24:50
Speaker 8: know him. I think he's going to be one of
24:52
Speaker 8: the better ones. So, yeah, kind of shocking. Obviously, the
24:56
Speaker 8: division and the league allowed this to happen. It's not
25:00
Speaker 8: a very good division to start with, and it was
25:03
Speaker 8: really bad this year. And same with the American League
25:05
Speaker 8: in general.
25:05
Speaker 4: And then, of course.
25:06
Speaker 8: They landed on the right side of the bracket as
25:08
Speaker 8: well because they didn't have to play Boston, New York,
25:11
Speaker 8: or Tampa yet. So it all lined up for them. But, yeah,
25:14
Speaker 8: I think Sox fans, if they lose, will end up
25:18
Speaker 8: in a week or so being happy about this season.
25:22
Speaker 8: But it's tough to swallow once you're up 2-0 and
25:24
Speaker 8: you've won the first two games on the road.
25:26
Speaker 4: Yeah.
25:26
Speaker 2: Jesse, earlier this week on Not So Fast, I talked
25:29
Speaker 2: about a conversation you had with Buster Olney on his
25:32
Speaker 2: podcast about staffs building around their bullpen and maybe the
25:37
Speaker 2: end of the starter as we know it down the road.
25:40
Speaker 4: Is the last two games of the White Sox put
25:42
Speaker 4: that theory into question?
25:43
Speaker 2: Or is this really a trend where we're going to
25:45
Speaker 2: see teams like the White Sox who are going to
25:47
Speaker 2: rethink the rotation and not really have traditional starters?
25:51
Speaker 8: I don't think it's a trend. First of all, if
25:54
Speaker 8: you're just talking about the postseason and you're a wildcard team,
25:56
Speaker 8: you can't win four rounds like this. The clock is
26:00
Speaker 8: definitely ticking fast. And next round, if they get that far,
26:03
Speaker 8: it's a 2-3-2 scenario. They had days off and three
26:07
Speaker 8: days off in a five-game series. They could do all this.
26:10
Speaker 8: And even then, it looks like they're tiring a little bit.
26:13
Speaker 8: So I don't think it's the formula. Maybe it is
26:17
Speaker 8: for the back end of a series, but you're talking
26:21
Speaker 8: about bullpenning from day one, right? They don't have any
26:24
Speaker 8: starters going deep. Even with an opener, they're going short,
26:29
Speaker 8: although Sean Burke did throw five and a third That
26:32
Speaker 8: felt like a complete game. He threw five and a
26:34
Speaker 8: third and it felt like a complete game. I don't
26:36
Speaker 8: think it's the trend. I will say this. I think
26:38
Speaker 8: I said it to Buster. I did talk to a
26:40
Speaker 8: pitcher like two years ago, and I thought maybe this
26:43
Speaker 8: would be something that teams start to do, and that
26:46
Speaker 8: is train everybody to pitch two to three innings.
26:49
Speaker 1: Everybody.
26:50
Speaker 8: So in a perfect game, you'd go– Three pitchers, three
26:54
Speaker 8: innings each. That sounds possible in theory over the long
26:58
Speaker 8: haul even, but in reality, what happens if that first
27:01
Speaker 8: pitcher craps the bed after an inning and a third?
27:04
Speaker 8: Now the whole plan's out of whack because those three
27:07
Speaker 8: pitchers would need two days off after pitching three innings.
27:12
Speaker 8: Long story short, I don't think it's a trend anymore.
27:16
Speaker 8: I do think it's kind of a one-off, and even
27:18
Speaker 8: then the clock is ticking on the White Sox potentially here.
27:21
Speaker 8: So I think training your starters to go six or
27:24
Speaker 8: seven is still the better way to go.
27:25
Speaker 3: All right, Jesse, we've got a couple minutes left with you.
27:27
Speaker 3: First of all, your backdrop is very organized and soothing.
27:30
Speaker 3: I like it. I wish my house was that tidy. Okay,
27:32
Speaker 3: MLB released this proposal, and I don't know if it's
27:35
Speaker 3: a negotiating play or not. You know better than I do,
27:38
Speaker 3: of a 154-game regular season and expanded division playoffs. I
27:42
Speaker 3: think fans enjoyed it when they saw it yesterday. Why
27:45
Speaker 3: did they release this now during the playoffs, and is
27:47
Speaker 3: this real or a CBA negotiating ploy?
27:51
Speaker 8: I don't think it's a CBA negotiating ploy, and I
27:53
Speaker 8: don't think it's all that bad in terms of what
27:56
Speaker 8: the union and the players think, because normally the union
28:00
Speaker 8: responds spit and fire, and they didn't do that here.
28:04
Speaker 8: They said we'll take it under advisement and then criticize
28:07
Speaker 8: the idea that it's only part of a salary cap world.
28:10
Speaker 8: Every proposal the league is giving out now is... under
28:13
Speaker 8: the guise that this is going to happen if we
28:16
Speaker 8: have a salary cap. I think everybody loves it, starting
28:19
Speaker 8: with the players who will get paid the same for
28:22
Speaker 8: 154 games rather than 162. That was, to me, the
28:25
Speaker 8: most surprising part of the proposal. And so a day
28:30
Speaker 8: off every week, a national televised game, best of seven
28:34
Speaker 8: in the division series. There's nothing players don't like about that.
28:37
Speaker 8: I can't tell you exactly why the timing now. they
28:41
Speaker 8: did react to the brackets, the way the AL has
28:43
Speaker 8: been set up here. They're not receding, so this is
28:47
Speaker 8: a chance for people to say, oh, okay, you get
28:49
Speaker 8: to choose your opponent. That's better than what we're seeing
28:51
Speaker 8: now with the Yankees, Red Sox, and Rays on the
28:54
Speaker 8: same side of the bracket. So I don't know about
28:56
Speaker 8: the timing, but I do think it's something most people
28:58
Speaker 8: are going to get their arms around.
28:59
Speaker 3: All right, Jesse, you cover all sports in Chicago. About
29:02
Speaker 3: an hour ago, we found out Bears Hall of Fame
29:04
Speaker 3: player and coach Mike Thicke passed away. And while it
29:07
Speaker 3: may not have been unexpected, it's still the shock of
29:09
Speaker 3: him no longer being there. Can you quantify for a
29:12
Speaker 3: national audience what a gigantic presence Mike Ditka was the
29:16
Speaker 3: past 50 years in Chicago?
29:17
Speaker 8: Yeah, it's as simple as this. Chicago, from a sports perspective,
29:22
Speaker 8: at least from the people in it, in Chicago, the
29:26
Speaker 8: city was synonymous with two people in the last half century,
29:30
Speaker 8: as you mentioned, Michael Jordan and Mike Ditka. And they
29:34
Speaker 8: are probably equal on the Mount Rushmore of Chicago sports icons.
29:40
Speaker 8: He meant everything. And there's that attitude about him that
29:45
Speaker 8: really resonated with Chicago people. And the best way is
29:49
Speaker 8: the blue collar thing. You guys know it. I mean,
29:51
Speaker 8: SNL spoofed it for all those years. Everybody knows what
29:54
Speaker 8: I'm talking about. He personified it. from the moment he
29:58
Speaker 8: got to Chicago as a player and then a coach
30:01
Speaker 8: to the moment he passed away today. So it is
30:04
Speaker 8: an absolute day of mourning in Chicago. That's how much
30:07
Speaker 8: he's revered, even though he obviously hasn't coached here in decades.
30:11
Speaker 8: But he's remembered the same way Michael Jordan will be remembered.
30:14
Speaker 3: Well said.
30:15
Speaker 4: Jesse, thank you so much for your time. Are we
30:17
Speaker 4: going to see another home White Sox game in the
30:18
Speaker 4: next round? You got a prediction? Game five?
30:22
Speaker 8: I don't have a prediction. These teams now are so
30:24
Speaker 8: familiar with each other. Both teams' bullpens are gassed. Like,
30:29
Speaker 8: I do think there'll be a lot of runs again
30:30
Speaker 8: in game five. And I think it's a toss-up. You know,
30:34
Speaker 8: obviously Cleveland has the momentum and has the home field,
30:37
Speaker 8: so they're going to be favored. But it's anyone's guess
30:40
Speaker 8: at this point.
30:41
Speaker 4: All right. Thanks, Jesse. We'll talk to you soon.
30:43
Speaker 8: You got it, guys.
30:43
Speaker 1: Be well.
30:44
Speaker 8: Wow.
30:45
Speaker 4: I can't imagine Chicago right now.
30:46
Speaker 3: It's so fascinating. What a bittersweet week for Chicago sports.
30:49
Speaker 3: You lose Mike Ditka while he was older and was ill.
30:52
Speaker 3: It's still a shock. But then you have the White Sox,
30:54
Speaker 3: who you never expected to be here, one game away
30:57
Speaker 3: from either a disappointing season, which you can't really say,
31:00
Speaker 3: or keeping this streak alive.
31:02
Speaker 4: I mean, and you guys kind of said it, like
31:04
Speaker 4: who would have predicted that the White Sox would be
31:06
Speaker 4: upset about losing the ALDS?
31:08
Speaker 3: Can White Sox ownership call the Vatican, get a jet,
31:11
Speaker 3: get Pope Leo out there? Because they need everything they
31:12
Speaker 3: can get for Saturday night. They've got a buffer day.
31:15
Speaker 4: All right. It's been a big week, obviously, for us.
31:17
Speaker 4: Not so fast on NBC Sports.
31:19
Speaker 2: We're streaming live every weekday on NBC Sports Now, along
31:22
Speaker 2: with PFT Live. the Dan Levitard Show, and Chris Simms Unbuttoned.
31:26
Speaker 2: Watch the channel for free on most streaming platforms. All right,
31:30
Speaker 2: coming up next, Smoltzy was on the Dan Patrick Show. And,
31:33
Speaker 2: you know, John always brings it, but he brought up
31:35
Speaker 2: something that is very sensitive for you, Paul, and that's
31:38
Speaker 2: what would Tony Gwynn look like in today's game?
31:40
Speaker 4: We'll dive into it next, not so fast.
31:42
Speaker 3: Oh, boy, this is going to be interesting. I will say,
31:45
Speaker 3: Mike Ditka, one of his legacies is, and guys wearing
31:48
Speaker 3: Halloween costumes of Mike Ditka for the past 30 years.
31:50
Speaker 4: Absolutely.
31:51
Speaker 3: Plus, everybody wears a Ditka.
31:52
Speaker 4: That always is.
31:56
Speaker 1: Would you rather face Ohtani in his prime or Tony
31:59
Speaker 1: Gwynn in his prime game on the line, ninth inning?
32:03
Speaker 7: I would rather face– that's a great question. I'd rather
32:06
Speaker 7: face Ohtani. Only being is because he's going to have
32:10
Speaker 7: more strikeouts. There's more holes in his game, even though
32:14
Speaker 7: he's the greatest player of our generation, than Tony Gwynn.
32:17
Speaker 4: Tony Gwynn wasn't going to strike out.
32:19
Speaker 7: Now, if you're telling me just facing them with nobody on,
32:23
Speaker 7: then I'd rather face Tony Gwynn. But if you're talking
32:26
Speaker 7: about a man on and the chances to drive in
32:28
Speaker 7: the run, it's a no-brainer.
32:32
Speaker 3: Pabst and Perloff here, not so fast. We're having a
32:34
Speaker 3: great weekend. You're ready for the football weekend. But that
32:36
Speaker 3: was John Smoltz talking some baseball. And, Perl, I would
32:39
Speaker 3: be lying if I didn't say I recommended that question
32:42
Speaker 3: to Dan Pabst to ask John Smoltz.
32:44
Speaker 4: Well, here's the thing. Smoltz said if Tony Guinn was
32:46
Speaker 4: playing today, he would lead the league in walks. What
32:48
Speaker 4: evidence is there of that? Because the game is more
32:51
Speaker 4: oriented around walks than batting average. Let me give you
32:54
Speaker 4: some numbers, Paul. And I do this again. Tony Gwynn
32:56
Speaker 4: is awesome.
32:56
Speaker 3: Are these your anti-Tony Gwynn notes?
32:58
Speaker 4: He hit. 372 one year. That's pretty good, right?
33:01
Speaker 3: Yeah.
33:01
Speaker 4: His on-base percentage was. 409. That means he never walked.
33:07
Speaker 3: I guess we soak up the awesomeness of Tony Gwynn
33:09
Speaker 3: that he was always swinging, not trying to get on base.
33:12
Speaker 3: I know in this analytics era, Tony would have probably
33:14
Speaker 3: adjusted his game. But I love the topic. I love
33:16
Speaker 3: the topic of you can ask John Smoltz because he
33:19
Speaker 3: was both a starter and a closer and really good
33:21
Speaker 3: at it. And he faced Gwynn, and he didn't do
33:24
Speaker 3: well against Gwynn.
33:24
Speaker 4: But he didn't face Otani.
33:26
Speaker 3: He didn't, but he can break down Otani because he's
33:28
Speaker 3: seen hundreds of at-bats. So I love asking a Hall
33:32
Speaker 3: of Famer about facing Hall of Famers because that's the expert.
33:35
Speaker 2: You're right, you're right, but, I mean, Smoltz is a player.
33:38
Speaker 2: I'm the nerd in the front office.
33:40
Speaker 3: Are you saying Smoltz is wrong?
33:41
Speaker 2: I would be running a team before John Smoltz, someone
33:44
Speaker 2: like me with an Ivy League pedigree. Let me give
33:46
Speaker 2: you one more number. Bryce Harper, 386 on-base percentage for
33:49
Speaker 2: his career.
33:51
Speaker 4: Tony Gwynn, 388.
33:51
Speaker 2: They're the same player, except Bryce Harper can get home runs.
33:55
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, analytically, Tony Gwynn's value is diminished, and I
33:58
Speaker 2: will not get off that platform.
34:00
Speaker 3: Tony Gwynn was too busy raking to have walks. He's like,
34:02
Speaker 3: I'm just going to rake it. I don't need to
34:04
Speaker 3: get walks.
34:05
Speaker 4: Oh, I knew that clip was going to cause trouble.
34:07
Speaker 4: I knew it. All right, what's next?
34:08
Speaker 3: All right, RG3, Robert Griffin III was on the show,
34:11
Speaker 3: as he always is, and he was talking about backups
34:14
Speaker 3: in the NFL, and the good, the bad, the ugly.
34:17
Speaker 3: Last night was pretty good, but he said something else
34:19
Speaker 3: that was a little surprising.
34:22
Speaker 1: Yes.
34:24
Speaker 3: So, yeah, I mean, listen, things are percolating there. Let's
34:28
Speaker 3: just put it that way.
34:28
Speaker 8: I'm pretty, pretty content.
34:33
Speaker 4: Very happy. I'm a girl that for got a happy,
34:37
Speaker 4: very happy life.
34:37
Speaker 3: Love my wife. Enjoying life to the fullest. And then
34:40
Speaker 3: all these quarterbacks started going down.
34:43
Speaker 7: So I'm sitting there like, well, I mean, I know
34:45
Speaker 7: I can probably go play better than Cooper Rush and
34:48
Speaker 7: better than this dude over here.
34:51
Speaker 3: You know, I don't know. Who is this guy?
34:53
Speaker 4: Are you better than Deshaun Watson right now?
34:57
Speaker 3: You are really trying to make headlines.
34:59
Speaker 4: I'm not going there, Dan.
35:00
Speaker 3: I'm not falling for the bait.
35:01
Speaker 7: And that's a yes, because if you didn't think that
35:04
Speaker 7: you were better than him, you would have said that.
35:07
Speaker 4: Unbelievable. I got to be honest, I've always wondered why
35:10
Speaker 4: is an RG3 playing? Because he retired so young and
35:14
Speaker 4: he was okay as a backup. There's no problems there.
35:16
Speaker 3: I don't know if it's knee injuries or all the
35:18
Speaker 3: injuries he had and they just kind of went off
35:19
Speaker 3: the NFL radar. But there's certain points when Dan asks
35:22
Speaker 3: a question of an athlete. And I was like, yeah,
35:24
Speaker 3: I could play. I could do this. He named names.
35:26
Speaker 3: He just threw Cooper Rush's name out there. I was like, oh,
35:28
Speaker 3: he went names. I was surprised.
35:30
Speaker 2: And listen, it's an easy target. Cooper Rush has looked
35:33
Speaker 2: good in the past. He didn't look good this year.
35:35
Speaker 2: RG3 should play. And I wonder if off this interview,
35:38
Speaker 2: do you think he'll get a call from a team,
35:40
Speaker 2: say the New York Giants?
35:41
Speaker 3: I don't think he will. And that's one of those
35:42
Speaker 3: careers that's really bothersome how it turned out with the
35:45
Speaker 3: injuries he had because his rookie year, he was a star.
35:48
Speaker 3: He got all the endorsements that Andrew Luck passed on.
35:50
Speaker 3: And if he didn't have those early knee injuries, he
35:53
Speaker 3: kind of got teams bailed on him. They bailed on
35:56
Speaker 3: him as a starter, and they said, you want to
35:57
Speaker 3: be a backup? At some point, he said, no, not really.
36:00
Speaker 4: Well, right. I mean, he was behind Lamar Jackson in Baltimore.
36:02
Speaker 4: That kind of worked. It's interesting.
36:04
Speaker 2: You can blame the Washington then former name for the
36:08
Speaker 2: turf in that playoff game where he tore it up.
36:11
Speaker 2: He probably shouldn't have even been out on the field.
36:13
Speaker 2: That was terrible. But, man, he was so fast when
36:16
Speaker 2: he came out. By the way, Paul, on that note,
36:18
Speaker 2: I was watching the game last night here at the
36:20
Speaker 2: Man Cave with the DP Show crew.
36:22
Speaker 4: How'd that go? It was super fun. One of the
36:24
Speaker 4: debates was, will Russell Wilson play this year? Very similar situation.
36:28
Speaker 2: He's about the same age as RG3, and people were wondering,
36:32
Speaker 2: will he get a call?
36:33
Speaker 4: These quarterbacks are falling all over the place.
36:35
Speaker 3: So that's interesting because if you want to look at
36:36
Speaker 3: this and say, well, Russell Wilson's not going to come back,
36:39
Speaker 3: he doesn't have to come back. He has to come
36:40
Speaker 3: back for four weeks.
36:42
Speaker 4: Yeah.
36:42
Speaker 3: And he won't lose his job at CBS. They would
36:44
Speaker 3: be like, they'll probably get more coverage for CBS's coverage.
36:47
Speaker 3: if Russ went and helped a team out like Phil
36:49
Speaker 3: Rivers did.
36:49
Speaker 2: That's true, but Jay Cutler left the booth after a
36:52
Speaker 2: great preseason for Fox during the Miami Dolphins and never
36:55
Speaker 2: got back.
36:56
Speaker 3: Never went back. That was kind of a bummer because
36:58
Speaker 3: we really wanted to see Jay Cutler in the booth
37:00
Speaker 3: because he's not going to be smoking a cigarette and
37:02
Speaker 3: doing that Jay Cutler thing. I wanted to see him
37:04
Speaker 3: as a commentator.
37:04
Speaker 4: He was really good as a commentator. I'm still not
37:06
Speaker 4: quite sure why he never came back. I think that's
37:08
Speaker 4: probably on him.
37:09
Speaker 3: I could tell you why he went and played for
37:10
Speaker 3: the Dolphins. They offered him $ 10 million for one year.
37:13
Speaker 4: That's a pretty good reason. Ten million good reasons. All right.
37:16
Speaker 2: After the game yesterday in Dallas, Dak Prescott was asked
37:19
Speaker 2: if he would call the loss to the Bucs embarrassing.
37:21
Speaker 4: So what he said.
37:24
Speaker 6: To say embarrassing, I think I'd be discrediting them. And
37:29
Speaker 6: but we're definitely supposed to win this game. This is
37:31
Speaker 6: a game, you know, that was a. Game we're supposed
37:34
Speaker 6: to have on paper or whichever way you want to
37:36
Speaker 6: look at it. And I think Shadi said it best
37:38
Speaker 6: in the locker room. In this league, you've got to
37:39
Speaker 6: win the games you're supposed to win. And when a
37:41
Speaker 6: winless team comes into your home stadium on a Thursday
37:44
Speaker 6: night primetime game, yeah, we're supposed to win that. And
37:46
Speaker 6: so it sucks and right up there close to embarrassing.
37:50
Speaker 6: But I don't know if I would say that.
37:52
Speaker 3: You know, I liked his answer, but I like the
37:54
Speaker 3: reality of it more. He said he should have won
37:56
Speaker 3: this game. I get the feeling they're going to have
37:58
Speaker 3: nine wins and be looking at the playoffs and not
38:00
Speaker 3: in it because of games like this.
38:02
Speaker 4: Yeah, actually, I don't know who gets the 10 wins
38:04
Speaker 4: in the NFC. Barely. If they get to the playoffs,
38:06
Speaker 4: it's going to be a function of this division suffering.
38:08
Speaker 4: Dak had no answers. He had no answers after the game.
38:11
Speaker 4: He really had no answers for a big chunk of
38:13
Speaker 4: the game. And it's weird because I think he's playing
38:15
Speaker 4: well still. I think he looks good. There just wasn't
38:18
Speaker 4: a lot of easy offense. Part of it is they
38:19
Speaker 4: can't run the ball. Obviously, George Pickens and Jerry Jones
38:22
Speaker 4: both getting mad after the game was not good.
38:24
Speaker 3: You know, it's interesting. You and I have been talking
38:26
Speaker 3: about this. The NFC North, I don't feel like there's
38:28
Speaker 3: a Super Bowl team right now in the NFC North.
38:30
Speaker 3: The NFC West, I don't feel like there's a Super
38:32
Speaker 3: Bowl team.
38:33
Speaker 4: The NFC.
38:34
Speaker 3: NFC East, I'm sorry.
38:34
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, NFC East.
38:35
Speaker 3: NFC East, NFC West has all of them.
38:37
Speaker 4: Yeah, there's no way there's a Super Bowl team in
38:39
Speaker 4: the NFC East. I'm telling you, the Dallas Cowboys defense
38:42
Speaker 4: is historically bad.
38:44
Speaker 2: Eagles are all beat up. The Giants aren't going to
38:46
Speaker 2: do it. And sorry, Commanders.
38:48
Speaker 4: But there are several divisions. The NFC South certainly doesn't
38:51
Speaker 4: have a Super Bowl team.
38:52
Speaker 3: So it's basically NFC West or bust.
38:54
Speaker 4: NFC West.
38:55
Speaker 2: I think there's one NFC North team.
38:57
Speaker 3: Are you teasing? Tease it up.
38:59
Speaker 2: I don't know when I would deliver on this tease,
39:01
Speaker 2: but you don't put the Chicago Bears in the Super
39:02
Speaker 2: Bowl picture?
39:04
Speaker 3: You have to get your quarterback healthy.
39:06
Speaker 4: That's going to happen.
39:07
Speaker 3: Well, it should happen, but what if it doesn't? What
39:09
Speaker 3: if somehow it's a nagging injury that goes away? You
39:11
Speaker 3: take him away, and they're a nice team at best,
39:14
Speaker 3: and they don't have a defense to counteract the loss
39:16
Speaker 3: of Caleb Williams.
39:17
Speaker 4: How many losses do they have since he left the field?
39:20
Speaker 3: Well, yes, there's some nice stories, some Case Catom, some
39:23
Speaker 3: Tyson Bajent.
39:24
Speaker 4: Yeah, but you're going to get it back. Hamstring is
39:26
Speaker 4: not necessarily going to be the whole season and it
39:28
Speaker 4: might keep him in the pocket, which is the best thing.
39:30
Speaker 4: He needs to learn to play in the pocket.
39:31
Speaker 3: That feels like a jinx statement you just threw out there.
39:33
Speaker 4: No, I just think that if you're looking at it,
39:35
Speaker 4: you can't do the South or the East, but it's
39:36
Speaker 4: funny how it's getting late early for the Cowboys.
39:38
Speaker 3: All right, one more thing. Sean Payton, the head coach
39:40
Speaker 3: of the Broncos. This has been brewing for a while now.
39:43
Speaker 3: Davis Webb is his OC. Not a good start. Good
39:46
Speaker 3: in the fourth quarter. He's taking over play-calling duties, which
39:48
Speaker 3: means not good. Here's what he had to say.
39:52
Speaker 9: It was because I honestly felt it was going to
39:53
Speaker 9: help us. Like, I wouldn't have done that. I wouldn't
39:58
Speaker 9: have done it if I didn't think. That's how unique
40:02
Speaker 9: I think he is. And, yeah, it was because I
40:07
Speaker 9: honestly thought standing back as the head coach, it would
40:11
Speaker 9: help us. Like, Davis will visit with you guys tomorrow.
40:13
Speaker 9: He'll be fantastic, and I'm sure you guys will be
40:15
Speaker 9: good as well it's just, I think, the right thing
40:21
Speaker 9: for our club.
40:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, the Broncos didn't hire him to not
40:25
Speaker 2: call the plays, so this makes sense. I don't know
40:28
Speaker 2: if Davis Webb is going to be fantastic, but I've
40:30
Speaker 2: got to tell you one thing, Paul. Sean Payton wasn't
40:32
Speaker 2: exactly electric last year with that Denver offense. If you
40:35
Speaker 2: count the last six minutes of the game, great. The
40:37
Speaker 2: rest of the offense was not New Orleans, so I'm
40:40
Speaker 2: not really sure where this is all going.
40:41
Speaker 3: I feel bad for Davis Webb for losing his play-calling duties,
40:44
Speaker 3: but the fact that he has to go to the
40:45
Speaker 3: podium tomorrow And answer it, because the first question is,
40:48
Speaker 3: are you okay with being stripped of your play-calling duties?
40:50
Speaker 3: How does one answer that when you're not okay with it?
40:53
Speaker 4: What's he going to say? I mean, the results are
40:55
Speaker 4: on paper. You've seen the Broncos' offense. It hasn't looked healthy.
40:58
Speaker 3: But then you're besmirching yourself, if that's the right word.
41:00
Speaker 2: I think Davis Webb, way younger than RG3 and Russell Wilson,
41:03
Speaker 2: by the way.
41:03
Speaker 1: Good name.
41:04
Speaker 3: Davis Webb sounds like a Texas quarterback. All right, it's
41:06
Speaker 3: time for, speaking of Heismans and RG3, time for Getting
41:09
Speaker 3: the Heisman right here on Not So Fast. Every week,
41:11
Speaker 3: we do a Heisman check-in. Look at that gorgeous guy.
41:14
Speaker 3: It is, Perloff, and I think you'll agree with me,
41:16
Speaker 3: it is Keelan Russell's weekend, the Alabama quarterback. It's the
41:20
Speaker 3: perfect weekend for him. You're getting towards mid-October. You're right
41:24
Speaker 3: there in the three spot odds-wise. You have a big
41:27
Speaker 3: game against Georgia, national TV, huge matchup. You light up
41:30
Speaker 3: Georgia in October. It puts you solid in that mix.
41:34
Speaker 3: I mean, he's already solid in that mix. He also has,
41:37
Speaker 3: he's a new quarterback.
41:38
Speaker 4: Yep.
41:38
Speaker 3: He's got highlights. He's got everything, and this is a
41:40
Speaker 3: great statement.
41:41
Speaker 4: Okay, I'm going to say the other side. What about
41:44
Speaker 4: Gunnar Stockton, who sits there in eighth in odds? He
41:47
Speaker 4: has 13 touchdowns and one pick on the whole season.
41:50
Speaker 4: He's basically tied with Arch Manning. He's fourth in the
41:53
Speaker 4: entire country in passer rating. Is it possible, because Georgia
41:57
Speaker 4: might be the best team in the country. There's a
41:59
Speaker 4: very good chance of that. Fair enough.
42:00
Speaker 2: Gutter Stockton with those kind of numbers could pull, I
42:03
Speaker 2: sort of remember, old Miami Hurricanes, like Ken Dorsey would
42:05
Speaker 2: get into the mix.
42:07
Speaker 4: Or, you know, what's the guy who won in Miami?
42:09
Speaker 4: Gino Toretta.
42:09
Speaker 3: Gino Toretta.
42:10
Speaker 4: You don't have to be that talented to win the Heisman,
42:12
Speaker 4: but if you're a quarterback on the best team, you
42:13
Speaker 4: got a shot.
42:14
Speaker 3: So if you don't have highlights and you don't have
42:16
Speaker 3: crazy numbers, you have to have a big game and
42:18
Speaker 3: take down another Heisman Trophy contender in Keelan Russell. So
42:20
Speaker 3: you're right. But Gunnar Stockton's problem is he's not spectacular.
42:24
Speaker 3: He's just really good.
42:25
Speaker 4: Yeah, but if they have the number one team and
42:27
Speaker 4: they go undefeated and he has 35 touchdowns and five picks.
42:31
Speaker 2: By the way, neither of them are going to do
42:32
Speaker 2: anything if it's wet out. I hope that the field
42:34
Speaker 2: is dry so we can see our two highs have
42:36
Speaker 2: been hopeful.
42:36
Speaker 3: By the way, Jeremiah Smith, one of the leaders from
42:38
Speaker 3: Ohio State, the wide receiver, he has Maryland this weekend.
42:42
Speaker 3: He's probably got three catches for two touchdowns already in
42:44
Speaker 3: that game. He is going to wipe the floor with them.
42:46
Speaker 3: He probably won't play in the second half. He's good
42:48
Speaker 3: for eight and two. Eight catches, two touchdowns in the
42:50
Speaker 3: first half. Then you bubble wrap him.
42:52
Speaker 4: Yeah, a couple quarterbacks, too. Darian Mensah and Josh Hoover
42:54
Speaker 4: on fire. You know, it's still a QB award.
42:58
Speaker 3: Long way to go.
42:58
Speaker 4: Let's not hand it to Jeremiah Smith.
43:00
Speaker 3: All right, coming up next, constructive criticism and the feel-good.
43:03
Speaker 3: We'll wrap up the week here on Not So Fast.
43:05
Speaker 3: Get you ready for the football weekend. Stick around.
43:09
Speaker 4: I really want dry weather, Paul. I want to see
43:12
Speaker 4: some football, some even football.
43:13
Speaker 3: We don't like slogging. Slogging's not a good word.
43:16
Speaker 4: No, remember Bears, Vikings? Ugh, slogging.
43:21
Speaker 3: Sunday Night Football heads to Atlanta for a pivotal Week
43:24
Speaker 3: 5 matchup as the Ravens take on the Falcons in
43:26
Speaker 3: prime time. Sunday Night Football is football night on NBC
43:30
Speaker 3: and Peacock. Falcons, Ravens.
43:32
Speaker 8: All right.
43:33
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Not So Fast. I'm Andrew Perloff. He
43:35
Speaker 2: is Paul Papps. A lot going on this week. Paul,
43:39
Speaker 2: let's talk about Monday's lead tomorrow. Every week we do
43:42
Speaker 2: Monday's lead. It's a wild weekend.
43:43
Speaker 4: You have so much to choose from. Where are you headed?
43:46
Speaker 3: One thing I like about our show is we don't
43:48
Speaker 3: know each other's answers. And you went against the 49ers.
43:51
Speaker 3: I'm going with the 49ers. The 49ers will be 5-0
43:54
Speaker 3: after beating the Seahawks. And finally, they're going to start
43:56
Speaker 3: to get some national traction because some things in the
43:59
Speaker 3: offseason are not so good. The 49ers the past few years, good,
44:02
Speaker 3: not great injuries. Finally, they're going to get their due.
44:05
Speaker 4: Now, what are you talking about, get their due?
44:07
Speaker 3: They never get enough coverage for overcoming all these injuries.
44:10
Speaker 4: Kyle Shanahan gets as much coverage as any coach in
44:13
Speaker 4: the league.
44:14
Speaker 3: They get coverage for being, oh, they did pretty well
44:17
Speaker 3: considering all those injuries. This is a really threatening team
44:19
Speaker 3: that you don't want to play.
44:20
Speaker 4: They were in overtime in the Super Bowl two years ago.
44:22
Speaker 4: I love that this bothers you. Yeah, no, of course,
44:25
Speaker 4: all 32 teams get plenty of coverage. But, okay, I'm
44:28
Speaker 4: going with Bama and Callan DeBoer.
44:30
Speaker 2: I think if it's a rainy game or it's a
44:33
Speaker 2: slop fest, I take the home team. Callan DeBoer has
44:36
Speaker 2: not been great at Alabama. There's no way around it.
44:37
Speaker 2: But if they beat Georgia, then that will answer a
44:40
Speaker 2: lot of questions. It's interesting because Nick Saban's in the
44:42
Speaker 2: news a lot with his documentary on ESPN. I think
44:45
Speaker 2: this could be the Kalen DeBoer moment. If they come
44:47
Speaker 2: away with a win, I think he'll get the credit.
44:49
Speaker 3: That's a great call. They're in really good shape. They
44:51
Speaker 3: had a good regular season last year, but then in
44:53
Speaker 3: that playoff game against Indiana, Everybody jumped off the Bama bandwagon.
44:57
Speaker 4: Yeah, they were okay. For Alabama, you know, I have
45:01
Speaker 4: the bar so high.
45:01
Speaker 3: All right, let's do a little keep it friendly. Let's
45:03
Speaker 3: make some side bets, Pearl. I'll do two pro games,
45:07
Speaker 3: two college games. I will start. I'm going to Raiders
45:10
Speaker 3: at Patriots. Patriots given three and a half. Who you got?
45:13
Speaker 4: So I know there's rain coming to the northeast on Sunday,
45:17
Speaker 4: but I just checked the weather early on. It should
45:19
Speaker 4: be okay. It doesn't matter. I don't understand why this
45:22
Speaker 4: is one half point spread. It's the Raiders going to
45:23
Speaker 4: the east coast early. It seems like almost a trap.
45:26
Speaker 4: The spread should be bigger. I know New England has
45:28
Speaker 4: struggled at times, but they're a better team.
45:30
Speaker 3: Is it so trappy of a game that you'll pick
45:32
Speaker 3: against it and stick with the Raiders?
45:33
Speaker 4: No, I'm going New England.
45:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, New England looked a lot better last week, but
45:36
Speaker 3: Drake May still had turnovers.
45:38
Speaker 4: I think people overrate the Raiders because of the helmet,
45:40
Speaker 4: the history, the legacy, the popularity.
45:42
Speaker 3: Oh, you're saying they have a better helmet than the
45:43
Speaker 3: Patriots with the guy snapping the ball?
45:45
Speaker 4: No, I'm just saying the Raiders are one of the
45:47
Speaker 4: most iconic teams. They're right there with the Cowboys.
45:50
Speaker 3: Okay, this game has new significance. Bears at Packers. Packers
45:53
Speaker 3: getting one and a half points. Now, Packers week is
45:55
Speaker 3: always very serious in Chicago. And then you have the
45:58
Speaker 3: week that Mike Ditka passes away. For a little background,
46:01
Speaker 3: when Walter Payton passed away in 1999, it was also
46:04
Speaker 3: Packers week. The next week was Packers week. The Packers
46:07
Speaker 3: and Favre were about to beat the Bears. I think
46:09
Speaker 3: Brian Robinson of the Bears blocked an easy short field
46:13
Speaker 3: goal to save it on the couple days after Walter
46:16
Speaker 3: Payton passed away. Don't overlook that mysticalness of this weekend.
46:20
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think the Packers are totally toast as an
46:24
Speaker 4: entire team.
46:25
Speaker 3: They're not good.
46:26
Speaker 4: I mean, if you watch the last game, I know
46:27
Speaker 4: they got the W.
46:28
Speaker 3: But that line is close.
46:30
Speaker 4: Yeah, because we don't know the quarterback situation exactly. Tyson Bajan.
46:35
Speaker 4: Was he good against the Jets? I didn't think so.
46:37
Speaker 3: He would have had four picks if it was for
46:39
Speaker 3: the callbacks. Okay, let's go Georgia, Alabama. You do like Alabama.
46:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, I said home team in a sloppy field. I
46:45
Speaker 2: don't think this could be a well-played game. I do
46:47
Speaker 2: think the weather, even if hopefully it passes, is going
46:50
Speaker 2: to affect it.
46:50
Speaker 4: I take Tide.
46:51
Speaker 3: I like Alabama as well. USC at Penn State. Both
46:55
Speaker 3: seasons for these teams are kind of schlocky. If USC
46:59
Speaker 3: loses at Penn State on national TV, That's horrible. I
47:03
Speaker 3: know it's only a one and a half point line.
47:05
Speaker 3: I know Penn State's not bad. But USC has to
47:07
Speaker 3: win this week because they have Indiana and Ohio State
47:10
Speaker 3: later this month.
47:10
Speaker 4: Why would it be horrible? We've seen USC lose big
47:13
Speaker 4: games on TV again and again and again. It's a whiteout, Paul.
47:16
Speaker 4: Come on. I know Penn State's been disappointing this year.
47:18
Speaker 4: But USC just does another team that doesn't strike me
47:22
Speaker 4: as someone who's going to win in the Northeast. I mean,
47:24
Speaker 4: they should not be playing Penn State anyway. We won't
47:26
Speaker 4: even get into that.
47:28
Speaker 3: It's not a classic Big Ten matchup for you?
47:30
Speaker 4: No.
47:30
Speaker 2: The atmosphere at Happy Valley at night during the whiteout,
47:33
Speaker 2: I go with Penn State.
47:34
Speaker 3: Okay, let's get to some constructive criticism. Your feedback, great
47:36
Speaker 3: week here on Not So Fast by the entire crew.
47:38
Speaker 3: Good job. Let's get to this one, Pearl.
47:40
Speaker 4: Okay.
47:41
Speaker 3: I think I recognize this guy.
47:44
Speaker 4: Oh, no. Okay, I love this one. This is from
47:46
Speaker 4: Kodiak Bradford.
47:47
Speaker 2: If Jeremiah Smith falls to the early mid-second round, the
47:50
Speaker 2: Broncos need to trade up for him. The second round
47:52
Speaker 2: in 25-26 were incredibly mismanaged. Can't have yet another year
47:56
Speaker 2: where your second-round targets Travion, Ferguson, Rodriguez, et cetera, et cetera,
48:01
Speaker 2: fly off the board. This tweet went incredibly viral, Paul,
48:04
Speaker 2: because it is literally the dumbest tweet that's ever been written.
48:07
Speaker 4: Since Twitter started in 2009.
48:09
Speaker 3: First of all, I don't know much about Kodiak Broncos,
48:11
Speaker 3: but if there's another Jeremiah Smith on another team, he's
48:14
Speaker 3: not talking about Ohio State. That's the only way I'm
48:16
Speaker 3: giving you a hall pass. I don't know what you're thinking.
48:18
Speaker 3: If there's a higher than the first round, Jeremiah Smith
48:20
Speaker 3: would go into that.
48:21
Speaker 4: Well, I agree with his logic. If Jeremiah Smith is
48:24
Speaker 4: there in the second round, the Broncos should move heaven
48:26
Speaker 4: and earth to trade for him. I'll give him that.
48:28
Speaker 3: No, I agree with you.
48:29
Speaker 4: That's silly. If he's there at the second pick, it's
48:31
Speaker 4: going to be a surprise, let alone the second round.
48:33
Speaker 4: But he was very serious. A lot of people had
48:36
Speaker 4: fun with him. I'm sorry. We don't mean to pick
48:38
Speaker 4: out anyone. I'm sure.
48:39
Speaker 3: But we did.
48:40
Speaker 4: All right, let's put a bow on this.
48:41
Speaker 3: It's time for the feel-good pearl.
48:43
Speaker 1: Here we go.
48:46
Speaker 5: Six months ago, if you would have told me that
48:48
Speaker 5: my first win would have been on a Thursday night,
48:50
Speaker 5: prime football game, I don't know what I would have
48:53
Speaker 5: told you. So obviously take it all in, like I
48:55
Speaker 5: keep saying, through all the highs, the lows, the bads.
48:58
Speaker 4: The goods.
48:58
Speaker 5: Go through every single emotion because at the end of
48:59
Speaker 5: the day, it makes you better and prepares you for
49:02
Speaker 5: any situation that comes down the line.
49:04
Speaker 3: Good for him. Taking the kneel down, national TV, everyone watching.
49:07
Speaker 4: A lot of attitude there from Dale and Daniel.
49:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, real full of himself.
49:11
Speaker 2: No, I'm just kidding. Last night was a celebration of
49:14
Speaker 2: him and his mom.
49:15
Speaker 4: It was really cool. What's with primetime in these quarters?
49:18
Speaker 4: Remember the Case Keenum night? Then we have the Jalen
49:20
Speaker 4: Daniels first win night.
49:22
Speaker 3: We've got a big weekend of football ahead. Tune in
49:23
Speaker 3: to the Dan Patrick Show Monday right here on NBC Sports.
49:26
Speaker 3: And hang with us on Not So Fast. Enjoy the games.
49:29
Speaker 3: Enjoy some tailgating.
49:30
Speaker 4: Take it easy. Stay safe in the West.