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Transcript of The Patriots Are Pathetic, Detroit Crushes Minnesota, Plus Wild-Card Guess the Lines With Cousin Sal

The Bill Simmons Podcast
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Transcription of The Patriots Are Pathetic, Detroit Crushes Minnesota, Plus Wild-Card Guess the Lines With Cousin Sal from The Bill Simmons Podcast Podcast
00:00:00

Coming up, a whole lot of week 18 NFL stuff happened, and the Patriots blew it. And I'm really upset, and I almost didn't wanna host the podcast. That's next. We're also brought to you by The Ringer Podcast Network. We'll have new rewatchables coming for you on Monday night.

00:00:16

It's a movie we've already done. That's the only hint I will give you, but it's coming on Monday night. You'll be able to listen to it on any podcast platform. You'll be able to watch it on the Ringer movies YouTube channel, where you can also find on YouTube the Bill Simmons channel, which has all the videos and clips from this podcast. It's where we go live every Sunday night.

00:00:35

Cousin Sal is gonna join me in 1 second. Thank God I'm in a better mood than I was 5 hours ago, but we're gonna get this rolling. 1st, our friends from Pearl Jam. Alright. Well, it's a bad sign, Sal, that we're starting a podcast before Sunday Night game ends.

00:01:14

I had so so high hopes for Lions, Vikings. I

00:01:19

I I I I don't know what happened. I don't know what happened, Mike. Oh, Bill. I you know, this game, these 2 teams saved the NFL because it was a shitty beyond shit slate for us in week 18, and then 1 team forgot to show up. It's football's funny.

00:01:37

So many things to get to. Yeah. I guess Hey. We won, man.

00:01:41

We're winners. That's the big thing. We had the lions, 1 seed. It's great.

00:01:45

1 seed. Well, and then hedged it hedged at least some of it with the Vikings piece that didn't work out too great. Yeah. Always. So big takeaway from this game.

00:01:55

Do you wanna go, we shouldn't have been sleeping on the lines this whole time, or do we wanna go, are we ready to write off the Vikings after that game as a real contender? Because I am not. I actually think they just had a bad game where a bunch of shit went wrong, and I'm not ready to be, like, nope. That's who they are. Like, I just think it was 1 of those games.

00:02:16

And I and if anything, I wanna buy in on them in the playoffs now because now I think I think everybody's off now. It's like, oh, Sam Darnold. There he is. Oh, the Lions kicked their ass. Oh, you just have to rush them, and

00:02:29

Mhmm.

00:02:29

And I've watched them all year. That was a really good team. I just think they sucked tonight.

00:02:34

I'm with you, but, you know, it was a really good team, that Detroit defense. Like, that was fucking phenomenal. That is the wild card. You didn't expect that to show up. Right?

00:02:43

Like, nothing alright. So they you you you can go both ways. Right? Like, Donald missed a lot of throws in the first half, open guys. I know you thought they should have run the ball down low instead of turning it over to

00:02:53

a touchdown. 7 straight pass plays?

00:02:56

Yeah. Yeah. So in a in a way, that was the difference. But, man, that lion's defense and Anzalone being in there and just stuff in that middle, I mean, that was just a great physical game on. Every 3rd and 3 call was met with, like, hard hits and lots of good coaching decisions, like high level QB play mixed in with some curious throws, but that makes me think both these teams are gonna be good in the playoffs, but especially the Lions, obviously.

00:03:18

Well, we didn't know even this morning, I don't think officially that Anzalone was coming back. Right. And he had a big impact. Some of the play calls had a big impact. Darnold just reverted into, pre Minnesota Darnold, which I think the Lions' defense had a lot to do with.

00:03:33

But that that the thing I love we talked about this last week. The thing I liked about the Vikings and the Bengals was their ability to play pitch and catch with their receivers when they really needed to. Where was that tonight? They couldn't do it at all. Where was that on 3rd and 7?

00:03:46

Where was that around the end zone? Even Jefferson had someone characteristic drops. They never got, like, the 30 yard pass interference. They never got the Addison just busting loose for 40 yard play. Acres was the only 1 that had, like, the monster play, but, I'm torn because, you know, 1 of my best friends, Jeff Gallo, huge Vikings fan, he's texted me in the Q2.

00:04:07

He's like, this is classic. Here we go. This is the Vikings that I've had in my life for 50 years. You know, turn it over on downs inside the 5. They're gonna play all the hits, and and he was right.

00:04:18

It was when they kicked it out of bounds right before the end of the first half, it's like, here we go. Classic Vikings. This is what we do.

00:04:25

That was bad.

00:04:26

But the thing is, I I didn't feel like this was a classic Vikings. This is what we do team. They were the opposite of that. So I'm still I'm not ready to sell on them yet. I think they just suck tonight.

00:04:36

I'm not gonna either. Let's I I think both of us thought that the Lions needed this more. Right? Like, I felt like the Lions' defense wasn't gonna be able to travel on the road. I don't even know about that first game.

00:04:47

We'll we'll get to that when we guess the Lions and stuff. But I thought they had to be a 1 seed. Right? So they needed it more. They went in there and they bullied him.

00:04:56

And Campbell really bullied KOC, I thought, too. Like, he had some great like, really, like, mischievous shit going on. Like, 4th and 2, definitely should've kicked the field goal to go up 3 scores, went to draw them off sides, and you kind of have to bite because he actually could go. He's like the 1 guy who could go on 4th and 2. So, I think they were kind of bullied on all in all facets, and that crowd was great and everything else.

00:05:19

But I'm not gonna I I I look. We were 2 in on Sam Donald. Well, we're gonna look like hypocrites. We gotta I still think he's a big contract guy. I don't think it's the pumpkin Cinderella thing, whatever they wanna say there, but, I I think they are alright with Sam Donald, Minnesota fans.

00:05:34

Yeah. And the Minnesota fans for 3, 4 hours are just gonna be in, funk and all the PTSD is gonna come back. Eventually, they're gonna look at this game and be like, probably was an intentional grounding in the end zone on Goff.

00:05:46

Mhmm.

00:05:46

We dropped the pick 6. You know, we dropped multiple plays that would have either extended drives or Jefferson. Uncharacteristically, it seemed like he should add a touchdown. He dropped that. You just go through, and it's like, ah, actually, we were right there with those guys, and Goff was putting the ball up for grabs just as many times as Donald did in this game.

00:06:04

Yeah. Givs was the

00:06:06

best guy in the field. Not shitting on anybody, but, I I do I I feel like both these teams could do pretty well, and they could meet in 2 weeks. So we could see a totally different game.

00:06:15

At halftime, there was no scenario in my head that was somebody was winning by 20 plus.

00:06:20

I know. I felt like why.

00:06:22

And that's what I was telling my buddy. I was like, you're gonna have the lead in the Q3. It's fine. Then they start drive. Acres says that big run.

00:06:27

They're down 4.

00:06:28

Still your buddy? Have you checked?

00:06:29

They He's fine. He can't make

00:06:30

these like that.

00:06:31

Doing this with him for 40 years. He's Acres has got that it seems like he's just gonna score. They catch him, and then they have to, you know, it just they never got the lead. It felt like as soon as they got the lead, I wanted to see what that Lions team. The other thing that the I mean, to the positive stuff of the Lions, defense looked way better.

00:06:50

The home field advantage there is just you know, they were talking about it before the game, how Tony Dungy I think he says this every year no matter where they are on location. He's like, guys, I've never heard a place louder than this in my entire career. I think he just does it every year wherever they are, but that place was super loud. Now you have to go through there to win. Their defense is getting better.

00:07:10

Maybe they get Hutchinson back by round 3. The thing that I was the most surprised by was without Montgomery, I was worried, could they hold leads? Could they keep leads? You know, would they be able to get these 3rd and 3? Would they be able to just keep drives going?

00:07:26

And, didn't feel like they'd missed them that much.

00:07:28

He's so quick, Gibbs. Right? They also look he was on everybody too. So, once he turns a corner, it's, he's in no man's land. You're just not gonna catch him.

00:07:37

Are you comfortable with them being the Super Bowl favorite

00:07:39

right now? 3 to 1 odds? Is that what it is? I was gonna actually look that up. So they're Yeah.

00:07:43

They're the favorites?

00:07:45

They're the favorites. Chiefs plus 350, Ravens and Bills, 6 to 1, and then the Eagles, 7 to 1, and the Vikings bounce all the way down to 14 to 1. So if you want your value, 14 to 1, it's right there, except they have to win 4 games now. So I guess that could make sense. You

00:08:01

know, them and the Ravens, same situation, right, where we this season's so long. We have all these advanced metrics we can look at, and you just kinda talk yourself out of anybody's defense being able to do a turnaround, and both of those defenses are playing better. That's probably who I would pick at this point. As much as, I hate going against KC, I'd I'd I'd think that Baltimore, Detroit would be the life on the line pick, but the wise pick would be KC Detroit, which was I think what our Super Bowl was that oh, that was the 1 we bet on. Right?

00:08:33

Or you bet on the seeds. I bet on the 1 seeds. On the seeds.

00:08:36

God bless. I collected 26 to 1 odds on the 1 season, but my league bowl was Buffalo. I know. I know. I I

00:08:42

can't our futures draft. You won the futures draft single handedly with

00:08:45

just 26 to 1. Yeah. Yeah. But how about you? 20 and then we'll stop jerking each other off here.

00:08:51

But what were you, 27 and 5 with the

00:08:53

with the preseason picks? Yo, Brenda. 20 Houston and Arizona both hit today. So 27 and 5, and all 5 were, like, giant losses. That's ridiculous.

00:09:02

It was like I I didn't come remotely close to the 5. It was, like, Jacksonville, Minnesota. It was all, like, but everything else I hit.

00:09:09

Yeah. You should probably get minus 6 for the Jets, betting the Jets over, but, no, 20 7 and 5. It all counts.

00:09:15

The crazy thing is I really almost took Buffalo. I it was a seesaw for me that whole summer, and and I just We have to see if there'd be with the Rogers.

00:09:25

Figure out why we want why we wanna bounce Buffalo from the AFC East spot every August. Top spot. Because we do. We look forward, and it's just never there.

00:09:35

Alright. So here's what we got for playoffs. Well, first of all, we do this every year, and 1 of the things is I was trying to figure out the league before the year, and I was trying to figure out, well, we have to have 6 new playoff teams. That's just the rule. And I couldn't get there, and I think I only picked 4 or 5.

00:09:50

Well, there's 6? No. There was there's 4 new playoff teams. Yeah. Okay.

00:09:55

So we lost Cleveland. We lost Miami. We lost San Francisco, and we lost Dallas. Oh, shit. We gained Denver, the chargers, Washington, and Minnesota.

00:10:08

And that's it. So usually it's 6, sometimes 7. There might be the occasion where there's 5. 4 is like a crazy non turnover year.

00:10:20

4 is fine. Yeah. It's like let's get the cowboys back in, but then we'll stick to 4, the rest of the way.

00:10:26

Well, there was there was some, you know, like, the the fact that Pittsburgh made it back in and stuff like that. Like, some of the weaker teams somehow ran it back. But, anyway, we have,

00:10:38

they can't be flexed out, Pittsburgh. Right? We checked on that. They they just after their performances last

00:10:43

month 500 plus yards against Cincinnati to not being able to get a first down 4 weeks later with all the same guys on your team. They and all the same guys on sit stand. I didn't get that.

00:10:53

Yeah.

00:10:53

So our 1 seeds are KC in Detroit. We have Denver at Buffalo in the 27, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, 36, chargers at Houston, 45, the shakies game. This was on Twitter. This is the 8th time Houston has been in the shakies game since 2,011. Is that playoff purgatory?

00:11:12

They're 8

00:11:13

for 8 in those, in

00:11:14

those We just call it the Schaub classic now. Right? The shaky Shaub classic?

00:11:18

Yeah. Shaky Shaub. I like it.

00:11:19

Yeah. Shaky Shaub. And then Green Bay at Philly, Washington, and Tampa, Minnesota at the Rams is the 45, and that's gonna be is that the that's the Sunday niner or a Monday Monday night.

00:11:31

Minnie at the Rams. We sent each other what we thought the schedules would be. You you you made an amateur mistake. The it it had the Monday has to be a 4:5 because they have to know before then where they're sending that the winner of that game. So, yeah, Minnesota at the Rams, it's 05 is Monday.

00:11:47

Well, Amazon is the big winner because they get Pittsburgh Baltimore on Saturday night, which is a great game. The 2 best games are Green Bay, Philly, and Pittsburgh, Baltimore.

00:11:58

That NBC didn't get Green Bay at Philly Sunday night? That was, like, my big I was like, wow. They're they're going with Tampa Bay and Washington? It's interesting.

00:12:07

I think Fox big boyed it.

00:12:09

They must have. They must have.

00:12:10

I think they protect it. I think CBS and Fox each get to protect 1 of them. Right? So if you're although it is interesting that CBS probably would've wanted Pittsburgh, Baltimore. Right?

00:12:24

I can't I guess, Buffalo is the most public around 1 team because of Josh Allen and the fans. If you get to go there, and people are jumping through tables. So maybe maybe they wanted that. I don't know.

00:12:34

Yeah. It hurts less to jump through tables on the morning game, you know, than it would at night, I guess.

00:12:39

So the biggest surprises for me, just big picture today, other than that, I really thought Minnesota was at least gonna show up. I thought that was gonna be a come down to the last 5 minutes game. Detroit was great. The keeps was awesome. The biggest surprise for me today was that the Rams didn't care if they were the 3 seat or the 4 seat.

00:12:59

And it was explained to me multiple ways. I get it. They haven't had a bye week since week 6. They they need wanted a rest. They didn't really care where they played.

00:13:11

They're gonna play everyone anyway. Right. I I I just I don't know. I just would much rather be the 3 seed that now they have to play Minnesota next week versus playing Washington. It's no contest.

00:13:27

I would much rather play Minnesota than Washington. So I don't know. Was it worth it? Get it.

00:13:32

Isn't it so weird, like, the different philosophies, like, McVeigh is, like, you know what? We we we're injured. I've seen what this team looks like injured. We wanna make sure we're in good shape next week, whoever we play. And Dan Campbell's like, screw it.

00:13:44

This game means nothing. We're starting everyone against the 40 niners. I don't care if we have 20 guys on IR. It is so bizarre that everybody is so different, and you can't, like, go too crazy about 1 1, you know, philosophy over another. But even with that, they almost won that game, the Rams.

00:14:01

Like, they

00:14:01

were winning.

00:14:03

Jimmy g wasn't bad. No. He wasn't. They sent guys after him, and then eventually, it caught up, but they were right there in that game.

00:14:11

Yeah. I thought if they had won, he would've looked like a genius, and he was really involved in the sidelines. So

00:14:17

he's been

00:14:17

McVay is, like, the number 1 does the I'm doing a fist pump for people listening.

00:14:22

The other

00:14:23

guy the he just he's doing around. He's got the 1 move, and he just goes to his place. He's like he's like a fist Yeah. With, like, a, like, a overbite face.

00:14:32

Right.

00:14:33

It's like the guy what movie is that where the guy's like, the 1 guy in the dance floor has 1 move is to roll on the dice when he's on the dance floor, and all he could do is the dice move. Oh, no. It's gonna be the dice move. That's McVeigh's fist.

00:14:46

Oh, he was really into it. Supposed to hold him back. Didn't he have a get back guy for so many years? Yeah.

00:14:51

They need he got married. He didn't need the get back guy anymore. Right. So yeah. So they're now they're playing Minnesota in the 45, which I think is just brutal because you could make a case that that that game we just knocked up, Ceruti says.

00:15:03

That's the dice move.

00:15:04

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Right.

00:15:05

Yes. You could make the case the game that we just watched. Those were the 2 best teams in the league. Yeah. I don't know if you'd make it after watching Donald for 4 quarters, but that especially the first hour of that game, the hitting, how people flying around.

00:15:19

I was like, Jesus, we've been watching shit football all day. And these guys are like, it looks like they're on the all Madden level watching this.

00:15:26

Yeah. You know? And then you got Tomlin who was thinking like you were thinking, like, oh, maybe we don't wanna play the Ravens. It's much easier to go against the Texans in the shaky game. Yeah.

00:15:35

And they just couldn't get it done. But, now, a 177 yards offense before that last drive. But We're bouncing around, obviously.

00:15:43

I had that coming later, but I'm happy to talk about it now. I I really felt like there was a fields play in that game That just to shake it up, try something different, just to throw the game out of whack a little considering that Wilson wasn't doing much anyway. And Pickens, I don't know what happened to that dude the last month, but it felt like, hey, just bring fields in for 1 series and just, like, show them this. Let's see what it looks like. And Yeah.

00:16:12

I don't know. They've just seems like they've completely punted on fields, and it's like, Russ, this is it. But I felt like they really could've run the ball in Cincinnati, and they just couldn't. They just chose not to.

00:16:22

Yeah. Hustle and bustle taking bad sacks and everything in the year. Right? They did drop a lot of balls. I think Pickens was, like, at 900, a 100 yards away from a 1000 yard season and ended up with 899.

00:16:33

Like, it was ridiculous what kind of day he put forward. He was dropping everything that's thrown to him. But I don't know, man. I go back and forth with Tom 1. I'm like, this guy I don't know.

00:16:42

You know? Alright. He's just gonna be around 9 wins every year, 10 wins, 1 round and out in the playoffs, and then I'm like, holy shit. I haven't liked his quarterback in a decade. We rang Big Ben's last few years.

00:16:54

How is he even doing this? Getting it going? But you're right. Yeah. Why can't we see fields on a gadget play somewhere in there?

00:17:00

Probably, it felt like the first half of the season, they were way more experimental with that stuff. And then Mhmm. As the season went along now. Yeah. Tomlin, you sometimes you wonder, like, if he just he's like the guy at work who, once he hits his bonus, he just say, yeah.

00:17:15

I'm not gonna go in today. Mhmm. I got my bonus. Like, Tom would say, I got the 10 wins. Goodness.

00:17:20

Yeah. What's the playoffs now?

00:17:22

Yeah. It's an arrogant organization too. Let's face it. Like, they they bragged about spending less than $3,000,000 on these 2 quarterbacks. Right?

00:17:29

Denver still played paid most of Russ' salary, and it's like, no. Eventually, you gotta do it. I think, like, they looked at their division. Like, we can go out and sign a Lamar or try to get, like, someone like Lamar or look at Joe Burrow, but they were terrified of what happened with Watson. So they looked they took the bad example in their division and ran away from it and

00:17:47

eventually catches up to you. I don't mind that. I'd love to know what happened to Pickens because he was such a key part of everything that was working for them and to just lose him completely in your offense. It's pretty easy to stop.

00:17:59

What a cover. That was 1 of the cut ridiculous covers of the year too. The Steelers getting 2 and a half.

00:18:05

I loved it. The, the other big thing that happened today was this NFC South Battle, which I'm proud to say I had no dollars on. It just seemed like a complete stay away. And I was I was just living vicariously through the text of you and some others who, had fallen into the the the friendly fire of those 2 games. And, it ends up with the with the Bucks squeezing it out.

00:18:33

There was, like, 14 points during both games where you thought the other team was gonna win or something bad was gonna happen. It was, the best moment of Bryce Young's NFL career. He was super fun to watch, and, it really seemed like New Orleans was gonna beat Tampa Bay. And then Baker, who Sal, I gotta say, I think he's number 3 for me for MVP behind really, Josh and Lamar. I'd put him over Burrows.

00:18:57

His team won 10 games. He threw 41 touchdowns. He he, over and over again, made plays with his legs. There was a whole month where he just had no weapons at all. Mhmm.

00:19:07

He had a rookie running back. I don't really love his coaching staff.

00:19:11

Got it.

00:19:11

I just felt like he dragged that team to 10 wins and over and over again came through for them. So he was amazing, and he did it again.

00:19:18

Definitely top 3 fun to watch. And our friend hench points out, like, when does a guy get legs in the 7th season? If you look at his rushing yards this year Yeah. Compared to the first 6, whatever it was, just spectacular. But I wasn't able to enjoy it.

00:19:31

But I had so much money on Tampa Bay to win the division and all sorts of money line parlays with Tampa Bay on them. I really felt like Pesci being led to the basement. Like, halfway through the Q2 when the Saints were up 2 scores, I looked down to see if the floor was covered in plastic, and I was like, oh, no. Okay. But Baker fought for me.

00:19:47

It was beautiful.

00:19:48

Really beautiful. And then the game's over, and they're like, wait. We we gotta get Mike Evans this bonus. It's like, what are you guys doing? It's not like it was week 14.

00:19:58

It's like you're trying to get to the playoffs. I'm all I like Mike Evans. I like records, but that was, and and it really seemed like they're clearly throwing it to him. Yeah. I don't know why New Orleans like, the moment the ball wasn't snapped, why aren't you just running a straight line?

00:20:10

Why don't you have 2 guys on Mike Evans? Like, you actually have a chance to get the ball back.

00:20:14

How about 8 guys? That's the only reason they're snapping the ball, not taking a knee, is to throw it to Evans. Put come on, Klogger. The crowd's cheering.

00:20:21

They're chanting for my Kevin.

00:20:23

It's like it's like my fucking nanny. Touching a screen. Of course it is. So Yeah. Those things I

00:20:28

played Madden with, with Ben this weekend, and he was Miami, and he just kept trying to throw to Tyreek Hill. So, eventually, I just brought another guy over, and I was just I I I was like, I know you're throwing to Tyreek Hill, but now I'm gonna put this guy here. The Saints should've had 4 of those guys just trying to, you know, maybe give him a tip or something. So they win. And at the same time, Atlanta's about to go on overtime Mhmm.

00:20:54

With Carolina, but then realizes that the dream is dead. And Carolina wins an OT, but, it was a roller coaster ride. You know who didn't deserve to be in the playoffs, though? Atlanta. Yeah.

00:21:04

You're right. Some of these teams that worked out. Like, Miami didn't make the playoffs. You know who should've made the playoffs? Miami.

00:21:10

You know who deserved to make the playoffs? Cincinnati. So I feel like we landed in the right place with I think you're right. Who's the worst playoff team for you?

00:21:19

Well, right, probably the way they're playing.

00:21:20

It's Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh? Yeah.

00:21:22

Just the way they're playing. But I know that's gonna be that's gonna be a close game probably in the 4th. Oh, yeah. Houston, I don't trust too much either. 1 of those AFC teams, I think.

00:21:31

Yeah. Atlanta. Roger Goodell must hate Atlanta because we didn't realize it, I don't think, because we did the podcast right after that Atlanta, Washington game. They fucked up 4 games this week. There would have been 4 games that what meant something, including the Rams game

00:21:45

Right.

00:21:45

Including their game, you know, Carolina, and, what a and the Washington game would have mattered too against Dallas. Like, Goodell must have Raheem Morris voodoo doll. No one's happier that Atlanta's not in than Roger Goodell.

00:21:56

Well, I don't understand how they picked the games yesterday. I don't understand how Baltimore or Cleveland was 1 of the games. Baltimore ended up, but they were, like, a 21 point favorite. Yeah. Right.

00:22:08

There was no world where I'm like, my stupid team that we'll talk about later. There was no world in Cleveland is ever threatening to ever win that game for 1 second. So you have you have these 2 Saturday games and the first game is just abysmal. You know, it's like, Bailey's happy. What has he got going?

00:22:26

And I don't know. I would have put I think I would have put Pittsburgh Cincinnati and Miami Jets as the 2 Saturday games. And then both of those teams are still alive, technically, and then you go into Sunday, and then Denver has to take care of business either way.

00:22:42

But I I think that was

00:22:43

the way

00:22:44

they do it. Sometimes maybe I think they screw with the fans and, like, let's see. This is a meaningless spread. It's gonna be the biggest of the year. Let's see how many eyeballs we get on this game.

00:22:53

Oh, good. Football still works. Everybody watched.

00:22:55

ZACH, it's like AR. It's like a test tube situation? Or, like, Goodell's just mad at who had the game yesterday? It was ESPN? Yeah.

00:23:03

Well, good. He's like, you're putting Orlovsky and Riddick in this game? Oh my god. I'm giving you Baltimore

00:23:08

Cleveland. Right. We're gonna serve, 3 day old meatloaf at the school lunch. See see if people still buy. Oh, wow.

00:23:14

They're hungry at around noon? Interesting. Alright.

00:23:17

That was nuts. Well, anyway, today, it seemed like the early games were gonna be the least amount of fun possible. And then all of a sudden complete chaos. And, unfortunately, my team,

00:23:31

1 of

00:23:31

the most devastating days in the history of the franchise.

00:23:36

Come on. Come on. Alright.

00:23:38

Maybe it wasn't. No. But it was when I think of, like, the dark, dumb days in the history of the team since I became a Patriots fan with Jim Plunkett and Mac Herron and everybody when I was, like, 4 years old, this has to be in the top 8 or 9. It's just a complete organizational collapse disgrace. It made no sense made no sense since it was happening.

00:24:00

Every other team the fucking Chiefs knew how to tank. Right? The Chiefs are like, here's here's Carson Wentz just handing the ball off, and then we're gonna bring her in our 3rd string quarterback. The the

00:24:13

I I don't know what to tell you.

00:24:14

So I don't know what I don't I I we had the first pick, and now we have the 4th pick. We moved back 3 spots every single round. Right. And 1 of my friends texted me. It was, like, we traded the first pick for the 4th pick and got nothing in the trade.

00:24:33

Right. And we moved back 3 spots every round. It was 1 and we gave up all these potential assets that came with the pick. And the thing that kills me is they fire the coach right after the game. They knew they were gonna be there for at least a week.

00:24:47

So you're letting this guy make the basically, he's trying to win, and the offensive coordinator, they're trying to win because they don't know if they're gonna be there. They're trying to coach for their jobs. You gotta get rid of those guys if you know you're gonna get rid of them after the game. Why not get rid of them before the game? Why not put this decision in the hands of people who care about the big, long term picture of the franchise instead of trying to win the game?

00:25:11

Alright. I mean, I'll give you that. Maybe they should've fired him before the game, but I I just I know people who root for bad teams, and then they just never end up rooting for their team. They just end up rooting for draft picks year after year, and they just never get to root for their

00:25:24

team to win. Hours. It's 3 hours of my life that I never have to think about this game again. The whole

00:25:29

last month, you were thinking

00:25:30

about it. Yeah. Well, what what was the year Lovie Smith did this? What was it? 2 years ago?

00:25:35

Yeah. I think

00:25:35

it was 2 years. Was just like, yeah. Fuck it. And he ends up And he was gone. Yeah.

00:25:39

And he yeah.

00:25:40

And he was gone, and that he left the team with a nice shining turd on the sidelines. Well, I

00:25:44

mean, let's put a pen in this already. Like, tanking kinda just doesn't exist in the NFL because, like, first of all, 3 teams were in line for the number 1 pick in the last 3 weeks. Yeah.

00:25:53

They all did. The Rams,

00:25:55

the Giants, and the Patriots. No. But in the last 3 weeks, all those teams

00:25:58

have won. Tennessee knew the job today. Cleveland knew the job yesterday. It's 3 hours.

00:26:03

I think that's Milton looked

00:26:04

good for a quarter? It's like, alright. You gotta go. Joe Milton is

00:26:07

a guy. How many quarterbacks do you think you have? Joe Milton's your best quarterback. Kyle or

00:26:12

Jordan, Joe Milton was fantastic. I would have started both rookie receivers, the guys who have had no catches all year. Drake May, they at least figured that out, but that took 5 days for them to figure out. But he here's how I would explain it to somebody who didn't know anything about this. If you owned a company and you had, I don't know, hundreds of people that work for the company, and you had the single biggest decision of the year for that company that had the most financial and business implications possible Mhmm.

00:26:42

And you gave it to, I don't know. Let's say your friend Harry is the president, and you're like, I know I'm firing Harry next week. Good. Good. Yeah.

00:26:49

I know I'm gonna fire him on Sunday night, and this decision is gonna be Sunday morning. Should I just let Harry make this decision for the company right before I fire him, or should I try to figure out with other people who are gonna be here next year what the best decision is? You know what? I'll let Harry do it, and then I'll fire him right after. It makes no sense.

00:27:10

No normal business operates this way. You don't turn over the biggest decision normal business.

00:27:14

It's not

00:27:15

This is normal. You just have to

00:27:17

lose the game. Hired Harry in the first place is what I would tell you. But it's like and you got people paying to watch this business on a given day. Rid

00:27:25

of them to lose.

00:27:26

I don't know. I don't know. Not Kyle. He's got the Joe Milton jersey.

00:27:29

Kyle is devastated. Kyle was the most upset of anyone I was texting with during the game other than my dad.

00:27:36

To trade Drake May. Of course, he's devastated. No. Yeah.

00:27:39

They had I don't know. They were in the cap bird seat. They already have a franchise QB. They're gonna have the number 1 pick. But, like, by within 2 hours, we're like, wow.

00:27:47

The 2 QBs, though nobody even likes them that much in this draft. Maybe we couldn't have gotten that much for them anyway. It's just Right. It just speaks to what this whole season was like, which was owners who don't know what they're doing, a front office that don't know what they're doing, and a coach who had no idea what he was doing and contradicted himself over and over again starting in August when he was like, it's gonna be a competition for this job, then starts percent even though May was better. And then 4 weeks in, he's like, well, May was playing better, so he's gotta start.

00:28:14

It's like, well, wait. You you actually said that wasn't what we're but now we're and it was just contradictions left and right, and he deserved to be fired. Listen.

00:28:22

That's fine. But now you have 3 coaches in the last 3 years. You're like the Panthers with the 1 and dones. Congrats. You root for the the New England Panthers.

00:28:30

And now it's like you can't talk about Patriot lore and, well, we have we have grit, and we're gonna go. We have the staying power and all that.

00:28:38

You're like, that's who it is. Unfortunately. I know. We're like everybody else, but we had a chance to have a franchise QB and then I'm gonna pick in the draft. Mhmm.

00:28:46

You got

00:28:46

you got to pay 3 hours out of your life. Like, we do this all the time in basketball. It's like, oh, these 2 weeks are gonna suck, but it's all gonna be worth it because we'll be in this spot after it's done. This was 3 hours.

00:28:56

I think it's very difficult to get tanking to work in the NFL. Did it? You have to have the coaching staff, the players, and the front office on the same page. Maybe the Giants did it today.

00:29:06

They didn't do it.

00:29:07

They didn't do it in the last 2 weeks. In the NBA, it's as easy as, checking in at the scorer's table. This is it's just different. It just is in the NFL.

00:29:14

You just you just laid out exactly what the problem was. You need to have the players, the coaching staff, and the front well, you the players are gonna do whatever. They're trying They're

00:29:22

always gonna play out. They're not gonna do well. They're always gonna try.

00:29:25

Yeah. You need the coach, the front office, and the owners all to be on the same page. And when they're not on the same page, dumb shit like today happens because you have coaches who have different motivations for what's best for those 3 hours than the front office and the owners. And my so some people were like, do you think he fired Mayo because they were supposed to lose that game and they didn't? I think they knew they were firing him the whole week.

00:29:51

They had, like, this long statement ready, you know, an hour and a half after the game. But this is just this is what the whole really, the whole year has been like. Dating back to the Apple doc, dating back to this process of hiring a coach that was never a coordinator before, not really hiring a GM, not spending money, and this was the worst team in the league that somehow doesn't have the worst pick.

00:30:12

But take me through it. We'll figure that out. In losing today. Like, the Bills play Josh Allen 1 play, right, or 1 series, whatever.

00:30:18

So the Bills play Trubisky Trubisky is, like, actually pretty good, and they're like, alright. Gotta get. The Bills wanted us to win. They bring in Mike White, and they're just spinning the ball up over the middle so they could give the ball back to us.

00:30:30

So it's a staring contest. So, like, maybe I don't know. You you you know, it wasn't like you started everybody. You were throwing bombs every play. It's just a weird weird game with both

00:30:39

teams for a try. Great. And by the way, kudos to Joe Milton. He was awesome. This was his 1 chance to shine.

00:30:44

Yeah. He's your guy.

00:30:45

And he was really good, but this is really why you need a 4th quarterback. This is where you need a Bailey zappy.

00:30:53

You need a You guys are gonna take a knee. You could take a knee every play, but whatever.

00:30:57

Well, but this is when the offensive coordinator is not on the same page, and it's like just can you just keep painting the ball off and have guys run at the middle line? Can we just keep doing that for a while?

00:31:06

We think sucks. Let's just say that. We could just agree to that.

00:31:10

And every year, I'm like, I'm never betting on this again, and then I bet on it. I had Buffalo. I also had Houston because I loved Houston. You you lost your wise wager.

00:31:19

Yeah. I sat my starters. I bet Tennessee. They're, like, they're 214 against the spread, and that's why I gotta warm up for the playoffs. So I'm not starting anyone good.

00:31:26

But I felt like today was, like, a little bit of an outer body experience. We're used to the 1 PM slate being kinda shit. Right? But we saw so many backups today. It reminded me, like, of a high school reunion where you're, like, in the corner of the room, like, you're sipping cheap wine and staring at name tags.

00:31:42

Like, oh, there's Marcus Mariota and, oh, Trey Lance. Oh, wow. Jimmy g. What's he up to?

00:31:48

Jimmy g. I'm gonna go over

00:31:50

and talk to him. Yeah. Jimmy. But how's Jimmy g? He's still he's still living in Los Angeles?

00:31:54

Yeah. What's what's up with the divorce? And then, like, Davis Mills corners you and spends, like, 20 minutes showing you pictures of this vintage Chevy. And you're like, alright. I'm good.

00:32:02

I'm good. Let's let's get to the playoffs ready. This sucks.

00:32:06

Who is the head? Bailey Zappy? Yeah. Yeah. Zappy.

00:32:09

The whole DTR. This is great. Schefter's reported there's a trade. The Pats have traded down from the first to the 4th pick, and they've dropped 3 spots in every round after that in return for jack shit. Got nothing.

00:32:27

Got 0

00:32:29

to do that. I haven't seen the specs on Jack Schitt. I'll have is he a linebacker from the courtier strip?

00:32:34

He's a quarterback. Undersized, scrappy. There's your full quarterback. Kyle Schitt, get you a Jack Schitt jersey because that's who we traded the first pick for.

00:32:45

Oh, man.

00:32:46

1 thing I was thinking I mean, at least they realized that they don't have the coach, and they got rid of, poor Mayo who, you know, was put in an impossible spot. He didn't know how to be a head coach. Mhmm. But I was looking at the coaches who made the playoffs. Andy Reid, Kevin O'Connell, Tomlin, both Harbaugh, Peyton, McDermott, Dan Campbell, Matt LaFleur, D'Amico Ryans, and then Dan Quinn, Todd Bowles, and Sirianni as the last 3.

00:33:15

Those are probably the shakiest 3 out of all the playoff coaches. Right.

00:33:18

It's

00:33:18

pretty good batch.

00:33:20

Not bad.

00:33:20

Makes me think, like, coaches and QBs. What? You if you could just figure out those 2 things, you're probably good.

00:33:25

Yeah. That's a good that's a good starting point. I'm hoping love is a 100%. I'm hoping Hurts is a 100% so we don't waste a couple games in there. But, yeah, it seems like all the quarterbacks, most of them will be solid.

00:33:36

Got the rubber in there. Yeah. I think Vrabel is probably the favorite because he was patriots hall of famer, and Mhmm. I think he wants a job, and he has a relationship with Kraft. And he's a fucking awesome coach.

00:33:47

And I can't believe nobody I can't believe he's available. I don't know why somebody hasn't already hired him. But You

00:33:53

think he used the jets to nudge the patriots

00:33:56

to get the

00:33:57

jets firing the today? No question. Well, that's probably the bigger reason they fired Mayo then today.

00:34:01

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because he's 5 teams are gonna want him. Flores would be interesting too because he has Patriots' DNA.

00:34:08

He was with the team. Really good coach. Coached somewhere else, so would it be his first job? Those would be my top 2. But Vrabel, I always thought I just always thought Vrabel was a top 7, top 8 coach.

00:34:21

He'll be in good shape if you get him. Jack Schitt's, high school coach is,

00:34:25

his name is in the hat.

00:34:26

Well, that's the thing. Once you have Jack Schitt, do you do you have Jack Schitt's College coach?

00:34:30

It doesn't matter who coaches. Yeah.

00:34:32

Bring him on. So Denver edged out Miami and Cincinnati. That was another thing. Thanks partly to the Chiefs who wanted to make it clear from the first minute where you have no interest in competing in this game. I actually kinda like the Chiefs plus 11a half.

00:34:46

I think I put them in a tease.

00:34:49

Once I went north of 10, I'm like, oh, the the books know more than we do here. They they know more because it becomes more about more than Carson Wentz wants to try out for his next team. It's like, Carson Wentz with is with the 3rd string everything. You know? Carson Wentz isn't throwing, you know, all these, all all the studs, so it doesn't matter.

00:35:08

He's throwing away receivers. Right. Steelers, Bengals the day before, and we all got to get excited about the Bengals 1 last time. I realized the Bengals just existed for content, and that's about it. Fun to talk about.

00:35:23

Yeah. You get a burrow MVP conversation out of it. Talk about Tee Higgins. Is he gonna be back? Could replay the montage of all the games they almost won.

00:35:32

You'd be like, you don't wanna see them in the playoffs, but, ultimately, they had no chance because Yeah. The Chiefs had no real reason to compete in that, Denver game. So we just got free content for a week for nothing.

00:35:43

Right. You talk to your kids about the fantasy studs and everything. But, you know, although I will think, you know, as Burrow, as great as he is, I was looking at their 8 losses. I think Mahomes and Allen win a couple of those. I I think that's kind of the difference between

00:35:57

those losses. Lost the 1 yes, Saturday. Yeah. Yeah.

00:36:00

It would have been a perfect Bengals game and a perfect Steelers game, if not for the end.

00:36:04

Well, he definitely seemed like he got concussed during that Steelers game. They they get really loosey goosey about some of these. Mhmm. When a guy lands face down, there's a giant thing of turf. He stays down for a while, and then they show him on the sidelines after the commercial, and it looks like he thinks he's in, like, Antarctica.

00:36:22

Yeah. I'm pretty sure something made the something happened that maybe the blue tint didn't accurately capture.

00:36:28

Yeah. Cadell has fired the director who took the shot him on the sideline. And, like, let's not that's 1 too many. We don't need to show this

00:36:36

guy's lingering on him like that.

00:36:37

Eyes are rolling in the back of his head. Show some terrible towels, people chewing

00:36:41

on terrible towels enough. Yeah. So big picture with the Bengals, you know, they're gonna be in the same spot some of these other teams are in. If they bring back Tee Higgins, you're paying 40% of your salary cap for a QB and 2 receivers. We just watched Miami do this.

00:36:58

I don't think it works. I don't think it's sustainable. Miami completely fell off a cliff this week. Now they started to realize during that Jets game, I think, that that ship had sailed for them. The Tyreek Hill stuff was super weird after the game and has been kinda weird all season.

00:37:17

He's a little bit of the NFL's Jimmy Butler in some ways where it never seems like he's happy for more than 2 months, and there's weird press conferences. And sometimes all of a sudden, he's not playing. Mhmm. But then after the game, he just seems like he's out of there. So Seems like he's a big

00:37:36

no 1 goes off like he did. Right? Like, I I want I want out of didn't he say I want out of this place? Like, this is, yeah, he had a weird year. It would have been nice.

00:37:45

But how about Miami? I know they knew their season was over. How about winning game in cold weather so people could shut up about it for a second? Yeah. It wasn't just Tua.

00:37:53

Like, it's a whole team, like, just melts ironically. But oh, I'm saying that Schefter said the Pats traded a second round pick for Mike McDaniel. Well, that's pretty good. So that's not bad. That's not bad.

00:38:07

Now you torture me. I gotcha. I don't understand how upset all the past fans are.

00:38:12

A little bit.

00:38:12

I thought is Mike McDaniel, has he coached Jack Schitt or no? Yeah. The Tyreke thing's weird because they gave him that extension, which makes him harder to trade. He's in his thirties now. I don't know if he's the easiest guy year to year, and I don't know what his market would be.

00:38:28

And we've watched receivers over and over again. They hit this stage of their career and it's like, woah, Tyreek Hill's available, but it's like, okay, What does that mean? It's like, oh, Davante Adams is available. Okay. Cool.

00:38:40

Yeah. I nothing against Tyreek Hill. 1 of the best there's been in the last 5 years, whatever.

00:38:45

1 of

00:38:45

the best

00:38:45

of the last 10 years.

00:38:46

You watch college football, you're like, wow. There's studs all over the place that anyone could grab in the 3rd round. And look at the backlog for hall of fame. Like, there's a ton of, like, really good wide receivers who aren't gonna get in the hall of fame. So Yeah.

00:38:59

That might not be the position to, you know, stage a prognosis.

00:39:03

With him was, we left last year, and I think he was the guy at receiver. Mhmm. And we had really for the last for probably the last 2 or 3 years. Like, Lombardi always just calm the tilt the field guy. He was, like, the number 1 tilt the field guy.

00:39:19

I think that's gone now. And it's partly not his fault because of what happened with 2 and the QBs, but, it feels like Chase kinda took that spot this year. And Chase's stats, I was looking at some of the league leader stuff. Chase was over 1700 yards. It's 17 TDs.

00:39:36

Yeah. And you just felt him in every game, you know, and that that's where Tyreke was. The league leader stopped positioning. Nobody threw for 5,000 yards, even though we had 17 game seasons, burrow came the closest 4918. Saquon was the only 2,000 yard rusher.

00:39:52

Henry and Cook both had 16 rushing TDs. Chase had 17 passing. And then interceptions, we had a tie. What happens for with the bets with this?

00:40:02

It's a dead heat. I think you just split the you split the load. Like, half your bet wins and half of it loses. So

00:40:07

So Cousins at Mayfield, ironically, my number 3 MVP, 16 interceptions for him. Boswell had 41 field goals.

00:40:16

Wow.

00:40:16

40 plus field goals is good. That's that's nuts. It's like 2 and a half a game. And then, Hendrickson led the league in sacks with 17 and a half. My my Hutchinson bet died.

00:40:28

Hendrickson

00:40:28

leads in sacks triple crown for for, Chase at receiver, and Burrow has the most yards. Terrific.

00:40:36

Yeah.

00:40:36

And Chase Brown got hurt otherwise, you know, whatever. I'm looking at your, Tyreek Hill in terms of you you figure, like, he always had a long of 45, at least if not every game, every other game. He had an 80 yard catch in September 8th, game 1. After that, his long was 30. Really?

00:40:54

And he did it twice. Yep. I'm looking at these. Wow. I wonder valuable.

00:40:59

Do you think defenses started to figure him out a little bit better?

00:41:03

It must be. I don't know. I mean, it's not like he got a lot of pass interference calls for him. Yeah. That's a

00:41:08

that's a weird, like, ear for him. Well, speaking of Tyreke, it's time for today's player bundle segment presented by our friends at State Farm. Though it's tough to crown the best play in football history, no 1 can deny the magic when the right 2 players work together to pull off the unexpected, like the play that led to you becoming a a bit a crazy cowboys fan. Right?

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Oh, the right Stahlback and Drew Pearson? Yeah. Alright. I'm gonna go and do that.

00:41:37

That 1? I did.

00:41:38

Like, were you watching last? Yeah. And I've seen it. I feel like, there there's a lot of crap there. I I don't think he pushed off.

00:41:45

You think there was a push off? Watch it again.

00:41:47

I don't know. I think everyone was assaulting each other back then. Alright.

00:41:50

So it's

00:41:50

so hard to say. Pretty physical. I remember it was definitely 1 of the first ones I saw. I'm trying to think the the synergy with the 2 players that Root played for my team's Moss and Brady that 1 year. I've never seen anything like that.

00:42:06

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He's a good guy. Barbecue.

00:43:04

End of the year stuff. Only 5 teams were within a half game of their actual over under. Usually, I always feel like Vegas has, like, half of them nailed exactly. That wasn't that case this year. Yeah.

00:43:19

The biggest the biggest under unders were Cleveland and San Francisco are both 5 and a half wins under their under. Mhmm. Jets at Jacksonville are 4a half, and the bears were 3a half. So whatever Vegas thought, 3a half worse. For the overs, Minnesota was ended up 6a half wins over.

00:43:39

Yeah. Washington 5a half, Denver 4a half, and Casey and Philly 3a half.

00:43:45

And so what about the biggest outlier game of the year? It has to be the Raiders beating the Ravens?

00:43:52

Yeah. Or the Pats beating the Bengals in in, week 1.

00:43:55

But neither 1. Some

00:43:56

of the some of the September ones. Yeah. I think we have to make a mental note next year. Just 1st 2 weeks, just put a giant salt shaker on your shoulder. Yeah.

00:44:05

Don't don't, overthink it too much.

00:44:07

How could you say salt shaker on your shoulder so easily? And Collinsworth still can't say pass rush. And I can't say Collinsworth. Yeah. How is that possible?

00:44:16

Shaw Shaw he's salt shake yeah. Salt shaker's up.

00:44:19

Saltshakers on his shoulder.

00:44:23

I have a I made end of the year rock bottom rankings for you. Rock franchises rock bottom. Who's the deepest rock bottom right now? I think it's the Browns' number 1. They, 314, they lost their last 5.

00:44:37

They lost 8 more games than they lost last year.

00:44:40

Right.

00:44:42

Their last 3 games, they scored 16 points. They have 2 more years at Deshaun Watson. Mhmm. And they have a top 2 pick, which they kinda stumbled into and didn't seem conceivable. But now they have the the 2nd pick in this draft that everybody's already like, I don't know about these quarterbacks.

00:45:03

And yet they're gonna have to take 1. Right? Or you think you're gonna have to trade it. Yeah. They have to Just keep trading picks.

00:45:09

They have to say, sorry, fans. We fucked up. We're gonna be bad for the next 3 years. It's our fault. It's not yours.

00:45:15

You'll still have to pay top dollar to get into these games, but we're gonna have to do some maneuvering to to get these draft picks back, to get some capital back. I I really feel that's the way to do it.

00:45:24

They're not a quarterback away from winning, and then they're already paying a ton to keep the terrible 1. So how many teams would actually trade into this draft? And do you like, some of the stuff I was reading the last week as I was trying to figure out what the pass could get for number 1 before we traded down to take jack shit. The like, Diana Rossini had a thing about the quarterback saying how Yeah. If Sanders and Cam Ward were in last year's draft, they would kinda have been in that panics Drake may range.

00:45:58

So if that's the case, that makes me think they're probably not going 1 and 2. Because usually, we see teams reach for QBs, but not if people, not if the grade for them is, like, mid 1st round or early 2nd round. I'm so glad we have Todd McShea this year, plus our ringer draft guys. I'm sure this is gonna be a huge topic. But I I just we we rarely see teams reach like that for quarterbacks that people aren't even positive are gonna be above average starters.

00:46:26

I don't think there's gonna I don't think the buzz is gonna grow for Shador Sanders. In fact, there are some experts who think he's, like, mid second round at this point. But I think, like, whatever personal momentum he has in his carry, that's it it's gonna plateau. And so by that regard, I don't know if that's you know, Travis Hunter's a nice player. Cam Ward, again, a little bit shaky, but as far if you're gonna go for a quarterback, but I don't know who I'm looking like Kelvin Banks.

00:46:52

They talk about the patriots taking an offensive lineman. Nobody's climbing these guys. Yeah. It's like it's fine. I'm sure these guys are good players and everything, but it's not like it's been in in years past.

00:47:03

Like like, when the Cowboys started winning, and I was like, alright. I don't know what the difference between 1017 is at this point. Still gotta get lost.

00:47:11

Sometimes there's this draft where you get the number 1 pick. Like, we had it the year. We took Ken Sims. It's, like, 4 the 1981 draft. We sucked the whole year, and it it just turned out to be a year where Ken Sims was the number 1 pick.

00:47:23

Needless to say,

00:47:24

not a

00:47:25

lot of Ken Sims jerseys still around. Then you end up with another year, like, last year, where he goes Daniels in May and Caleb Williams in the top 3, and it's like, holy shit.

00:47:36

Mhmm.

00:47:37

You know? And then you go through that I mean, that's gonna end up being an iconic draft.

00:47:40

Sure. The

00:47:40

you think the first round of that draft, there's, like, 15 potential all pros in it. Yeah. You know? It could be a lull.

00:47:46

This could be the year.

00:47:47

Could be a

00:47:48

low draft. Jack shit'll go high. I hope Jack shit is

00:47:50

Jack shit could go higher.

00:47:51

His girlfriend. And, like, if she's looking at her cell phone when he's drafted, like, he's not gonna elbow her unnecessarily.

00:47:57

So we both think Browns are 1. I was thinking for rock for true rock bottom, not having a coach or a quarterback, I think is that that's when you're really rock bottom y. So Tennessee, I think, has to be second. Yeah. 3 and 14.

00:48:15

I don't know what they saw from their coach this year, which makes me think he's the coach. Levis is so bad that they started him because they knew he would give them their best chance to lose. I wish we had had Levis today. Joe Milton's, like, a 100 times better than Levis. So they're 2, but at least they have the 1st pick in the draft.

00:48:31

But as we said, it's a down draft. Giants, I would have 3. They're in the same boat, except they're bringing back Day Ball. Yep. And Shane.

00:48:42

Yep. Would you would you put New England, Jacksonville, Indianapolis, and the Jets? Who would you put next?

00:48:48

I think the Jets have to show me something before I

00:48:51

A coach or a quarterback?

00:48:52

About yeah. Until then, they're they're

00:48:55

a joke of the franchise that everybody claims they are. And the win today over Miami is not showing me something. Sorry. It's just not there. Yeah.

00:49:04

So then I mean, I I honestly think Indianapolis would probably be 5th, and then you would have Jacksonville, New England right after that. Because Indianapolis, I don't think they have a quarterback, and I don't think they have a coach. But the season, would they finish, like, 8, 9 or 7 8, 9, I think? 7 and 10? They're somewhere in there.

00:49:22

7 or 8 wins, which fools you into thinking, oh, maybe we're not not that far away, but I actually think they are far away.

00:49:28

Well, I mean, far away from what I mean, that's the division you wanna be in if you need to grow. Right? Yeah. Indianapolis was 89. So they ended up, like, 2 games behind the division winner.

00:49:37

Yeah.

00:49:37

But, you and I, I think, are both a little hesitant on backing that quarterback.

00:49:42

Is there anybody you would throw anybody else you would throw in that, for rock bottom? Because, like, the Bears have Caleb Williams. The Pats have Drake May. Like, there's at least things you can grab onto.

00:49:54

The only reason I put the Bears in there is because I think the Packers, Vikes, and Lions are gonna be good for a little while here. Don't you? Like, you kinda have to look where they reside. And, I don't know.

00:50:05

They decided they murdered our exact order pick.

00:50:08

I know. We should've just gone under 8a half and, and to not make the playoffs. That was Plus

00:50:13

1.50.

00:50:15

Yeah. Shit. So stupid.

00:50:17

Couple of my friends were asking because we were talking about how we did so well in the over under. It's like, was there juice on those when, when we picked them? For the most part, they were always, like, minus 150 minus 120. If there was crazy juice, we probably mentioned on the podcast. Like Right.

00:50:34

I remember Pittsburgh under had a lot of juice. The Bears under had a lot of juice. It's the Cowboys under had a lot of juice going the other way because they didn't want you to bet it. So there's probably like 10, but for

00:50:44

the most part, they were around even. We didn't cherry pick the minus 1 eighties. I don't think

00:50:48

that were that many. I don't think there was yeah. And if and there was some cases where we probably went the other way. Speaking of the rock bottom rankings, fantasy who's been on fire all year of this jets tweets. He tweeted, during the jets win today and unlikable jets team winning a pointless final game of the season, weakening draft position before a vast regime change while an arch rival prepares to hire the coveted coach they never had a chance at.

00:51:12

A tale as old as time. They might be bottom 5.

00:51:18

I'm telling you. You'll have Giant and Jet fans. You could have, like, a 3 hour podcast of Giant and Jet fans just arguing

00:51:25

who's in the worst worst spot. Who's who's angry about their situation?

00:51:30

Where's the point of pride?

00:51:31

Well, that was the worst possible ending for Jets fans where they're they're basically dancing on Miami's grave. Miami checks out. Mhmm. And Rodgers, all of a sudden, is, like, firing touchdowns and moving around and, you know, he's back. But against this team that had checked out, and, I guess that's the highlight tape he would send this this spring.

00:51:53

He's trying to get hired. Hey. Did you see my week 18 game?

00:51:56

Right. Right.

00:51:57

4 touchdowns.

00:51:58

Yeah. Let's add an episode of Enigma.

00:52:00

That's going great. We we we we beat Miami. They're trying to make the playoffs. I threw 4 touchdowns on

00:52:07

him. The Well, he does think that. He does think like that. I might throw the Raiders. Did you mention the Raiders?

00:52:12

Oh, did I not have the Raiders in there? Oh, my apologies.

00:52:16

Oh, the

00:52:16

Raiders are definitely top 4.

00:52:17

Yeah. They have to be. I mean I thought

00:52:19

I had the Raiders. I must have copy pasted them and accidentally taken them out. They have to be

00:52:23

top 4. 3 double digit win teams in their division. And, you know, I don't know. I mean, I know Tyreek Hill went nuts after the game. I feel like Brock Bowers is about to waste a bunch of years

00:52:33

in that offense. Yeah. What if Brock Bowers' friends and family tell him? Can he hold out now? Has anyone ever held out after year 1?

00:52:41

That'd be great.

00:52:42

Alright. So final rock bottom. Browns, 1. Tennessee, 2. Giants, 3.

00:52:49

Raiders, 4.

00:52:52

That's fine. As long as Jeff Brown's number 1. I don't care where anything else is. Yeah.

00:52:57

Alright. That's enough foreplay. Guess the lines. Round 1. Saturday.

00:53:06

What's the records, by the way? You're are we tied? Oh, no way. Right?

00:53:11

981, you're up. 9 wait 9 weeks for you, 8 weeks for me, 1 week tied.

00:53:20

The Shakeys Shaw game, Saturday, only 2 games on Saturday. The chargers are traveling to Houston to play the Texans. I feel like there's probably some AFL version of this game when oh, it's Houston. The titans?

00:53:42

The Oilers?

00:53:43

And what do you mean? No. Somebody was the titans of the Oilers.

00:53:46

Jets were the titans. Right?

00:53:47

Oh, the jets were the titans. Was he yeah. So Houston Oilers. And what were the the char I guess they were the San Diego chargers? Yeah.

00:53:55

Yeah. They must've had some sort of AFL playoff game in the sixties, but that was some iconic game that is as it were born.

00:54:02

And shake was shakey's around there?

00:54:04

That's not on. Pizza.

00:54:05

It was

00:54:05

probably a piece of pizza that tastes now as, like, it came from 19 sixties. Right. I guess the chargers minus 2a half in Houston.

00:54:16

We both did, and it's 3.

00:54:21

It's pretty fair, I guess. A compelling start.

00:54:24

It's down to 2a half, so we got it we got it exact.

00:54:26

Oh, we got it exactly. Yeah. Wonderful. Yep. So I'm trying to figure out who's the fuck job game out of these 6 games where everybody's just on 1 side.

00:54:38

Chargers are a candidate. Definitely. Who was the game last year? What was the the Cleveland Houston game last year?

00:54:45

It might have

00:54:45

been the

00:54:46

Cleveland Houston. Cleveland. Might have been the very same 1, but we loved Shroud then. We're a little down on that offense right now. Right?

00:54:53

Yeah. And maybe a little, oh, Harbaugh is gonna wanna win and, you know, get keep it going and go they'll go to Kansas City. Well, it depends what the other teams do, but we might fall in love too much with Harbaugh over the week and forget about that detection to the home team and how they screwed us last year.

00:55:11

I'm trying to think how how much of a home field advantage Houston would be. That's a crowd. That's probably getting nervous pretty immediately. Yeah. No Tankdell.

00:55:22

No Stefon Diggs. I guess they could try to run on them. I like the chargers team, though. I think they're pretty talented.

00:55:29

When did the Texan when was that last game? Like, you're like, oh, wow. Alright. This team's got it.

00:55:33

It's been since, like, September. Right?

00:55:36

It's a ton.

00:55:36

Right? Yeah. The 9th time I'm

00:55:39

gonna count. They beat the dolphins 20 to 12, the jaguars. Oh, they beat the cowboys 3410. That was it. That's how you know they're good.

00:55:48

We didn't talk about the Cowboys. Jerry Jones had a cameo in land man in episode 9, the newest episode.

00:55:54

I'm not kidding. Yeah.

00:55:56

He pops in, and it's, like, 1 of the better 3, 4 minute cameos I can ever remember from a sports person on a TV movie thing. You can't

00:56:07

Are you being serious? You're being serious?

00:56:09

A 100% dead serious.

00:56:11

I didn't know that.

00:56:12

Yeah. I I texted you about it last night, and I was like

00:56:15

I thought you were fucking around.

00:56:17

He was not fucking around. He's really good. He gives a whole speech to, 1 of the characters, and it's fucking good. It's, like, shockingly good. I couldn't believe it.

00:56:27

Oh, I gotta catch up now.

00:56:28

No. It's it's great. Like, you're kinda like, woah. Are you an actual actor? No.

00:56:33

You're There was some editing trick.

00:56:34

Actor in sports if you add it all up. Right?

00:56:37

The attitude he's at least as good of an actor as, like, Pesci, De Niro, and those guys. Like, he's he easily could've been the Irishman. Man.

00:56:44

He actually could teams could could win a Super Bowl in the in his lifetime.

00:56:48

I swear he gets choked up during it for real as he's given the speech. Really? Yeah. It's crazy. He's really good.

00:56:54

To watch. Yeah. Sunday, 3 games. First 1, Buffalo. Yes.

00:56:59

Saturday night. Oh, I'm sorry. We didn't do Saturday night. Saturday night, Amazon. You knew they'd get a good 1.

00:57:05

Ravens, Steelers in Baltimore. 3rd time we've had this game. Mhmm. I I sent you my guess, and I think it's too low, but I'll stick with it just out of honor system. I I had, Ravens minus 6a half.

00:57:22

Good for you. You're an honorable man and a loser in this case. I said 7.

00:57:26

Yeah. And

00:57:27

it's 9 and a half. Oh, Jesus.

00:57:29

I was gonna I would've changed it to 7 and a half. I don't know why I went low, but alright.

00:57:33

I feel like I'm gonna get smoked on this game. Like, I'm gonna be so mad at myself a minute in.

00:57:42

So 7 point teaser takes the chargers to plus 4 and a half. The Ravens under 3, and then we just need a third team and we're good to go. Yeah. Sure. I mean, but I I

00:57:56

don't look. You think this is gonna be I mean, every time they play, it's 18 16, but you don't see it?

00:58:03

I listen. Can we so you'd you'd so you'd want a 10 point teaser. You're a money parlay.

00:58:09

I might be going the other way. And you know how bad I've been in the playoffs, but the stillers could stay in this maybe. Maybe we'd buy low on the Steelers.

00:58:20

It feels like their defense has, like, a good hour in it where they look like the Steelers from the 1st 2 months, but it doesn't seem like they can sustain it anymore. And I'm not really entirely sure what happened.

00:58:31

I know they killed the the Browns. They covered a 20 point spread, which is admirable in 20.4. The Ravens did. But there was a whiff of, oh, shit. The the calendar turned to January, and, Henry early on wasn't break busting out for 15 yards, and it still gonna has to be Lamar on 3rd and 7 trying to scramble for a first down.

00:58:54

I've been lied.

00:58:55

I don't know. I mean, we have been in this situation with Lamar as a big favorite. Yeah. And then about 40 minutes into the game, be like, oh, no. I feel like I've bet on this game before.

00:59:09

Why is

00:59:09

the 1312? Yeah. Unless the Steelers have just been playing possum for a month. Mhmm. That's the only thing I can think of that would make me think that they could hang in this game.

00:59:20

Because it it just doesn't seem like they can score more than 20 points anymore. So what you laid out with 18/16, that would have to be the game. Mhmm. It has to be 1816, 1613, 1716. That's it.

00:59:35

So I think it's Lamar.

00:59:36

Ravens team that averages 30 points but can't score more than 17 against the Steelers. It's all it's kinda always that. Right?

00:59:43

Yeah. Or it's the other way where they blow them out 3810. Because and I gotta go through the playoff manifesto again and go through all the rules and try to figure out what might apply, but this this has all the makings of Ravens blowout round 1. Alright. It's finally it.

00:59:58

They've got it. And then round 2, they square 13 points.

01:00:00

Right. Listen, we're gonna we'll have them on a money line partly. I'm sure. I'm I'm not that stupid yet.

01:00:06

I'll tell you this. If Lamar loses this game, he now enters Marty Schottenheimer territory for I don't know if I can trust you any more laying points in the playoff game.

01:00:18

Was he a bad quarterback, Marty Schottenheimer?

01:00:20

The Marty Schottenheimer teams. Remember how many time how many teases and parlays his teams blew over the years?

01:00:26

Yeah. You're probably right. They probably have this win in them, and then it's the following week. What are they now? 3 seed?

01:00:33

So it's Buffalo. Yeah.

01:00:35

For the Steelers, it just feels like fryer move over the middle for 12. Mhmm. Pickens no longer makes any plays for whatever reason. Right. Nagi Harris breaking 7 tackles and getting 12 yards.

01:00:48

Mhmm. Maybe Austin over the middle 1 time for, like, 22 yards, but I didn't the explosive plays are just gone. So they might have to go back to the Flacco PI offense. Just try to get past interference. This could be the other way to do it.

01:01:01

Turn Lamar over a couple times too. That would have to be in the equation.

01:01:07

Yeah. The move might be to stay away. I have a nice nest egg still for a $1,000,000 picks, and I don't I'm just so afraid of Lamar in the playoffs. He's really gotta gotta win me back.

01:01:16

Well, it's fake money just so you don't have to worry. Oh, it is. You're right. Yeah. Don't be so afraid.

01:01:21

Money too. Sunday, 3 games. Bills, Broncos is the first game. And these guys have got here early, and

01:01:29

they're going they're jumping through the.

01:01:35

Broncos, good, bad team for you or somebody that's a little lively for this game?

01:01:40

I don't know. I think their defense is just good enough that maybe they couldn't couldn't they force a game like the Patriots played, not today, but a couple weeks ago?

01:01:51

Yeah. Their game. Like, take the lead early, couple long drives.

01:01:55

That was a nice

01:01:56

game plan. Nothing.

01:01:58

I'm sure your manifesto doesn't say great things about rookie quarterbacks on the road in the playoffs in game 1.

01:02:04

Yeah. No. Yeah. So Or rookie quarterback against the MVP of the league. Also, probably not a scenario I would love.

01:02:09

Right. I guess bills by 10a half over the Broncos.

01:02:14

Alright. I swear I hit this exactly. 8a half. 8a half? I think it's slow.

01:02:22

Yeah. Only because they're I mean, that's like an easy tease. I'm gonna tease that tonight.

01:02:29

That And they're no brainer. Pretty good. Like, the Bills, I'd be surprised if they scored 40 on them. So if they score 30, then Denver has to get to 22.

01:02:39

Just feels like anytime they need to play, they get to play Yeah. With the Bills. Probably. We've only they had that week 4 game. They got their asses kicked against Baltimore.

01:02:48

Mhmm. They've had some shaky hour long stretches. But for the most part, I I like their offense at home in the playoffs. I just trust it. You trust their offense at home or the Ravens' offense at home?

01:03:00

Yeah. Let's see that game. Right? Don't we wanna see Baltimore, Buffalo? How about neither of

01:03:04

you guys screw up? Don't mess this up. Get past these junk teams. Sorry, Denver.

01:03:09

And, see you in a divisional round.

01:03:11

Well, that's the thing. If we get if we can just kinda push everybody to round 2, we could potentially have Great week. Casey against the chargers, Buffalo, Baltimore, Detroit, Minnesota rematch, and then Philly or versus Washington or Tampa, 2 teams that love playing Philly.

01:03:35

It's too good to be true.

01:03:36

Tampa beat them. Those are 4 great games. I like all of those games.

01:03:40

Let's do it.

01:03:43

Okay. Next game in Philadelphia, Eagles, Packers. And I can't imagine the Packers are psyched that it played out this way when they could've potentially not played the Eagles.

01:04:02

They almost pulled the boner of the decade with the love getting hurt today coming out. And then it's like chapter's like, he's questionable to return. I'm like, questionable? Why would he ever return? Like, if his grandmother's on fire at mid field, he shouldn't return.

01:04:17

Like, this is nuts. Why would what what's the point? So the Bears win. Who cares?

01:04:22

Well, we forgot to talk about this at the top, which is my fault, but the it seemed like Washington was just ready to lose that game 17 times.

01:04:31

Mhmm.

01:04:31

And once again, they have a cardiac kids win, but but now they now they get to play at Tampa. Anyway Speaking of Jerry, I

01:04:40

thought that was gonna backfire. The the the talk is that Cooper Rush was about to hit his incentive at 55% of the snaps. He was at 52. Yeah. And that's why they put Trey Lance in.

01:04:51

I'm like, watch this them effort throw for 4 touchdowns, and then Jerry's gonna have to pay him $60,000,000 next year. This is That did not happen. Nope. Not even close. So we're He had

01:05:01

a couple plays when he runs around and creates time where you can see it, and then he throws the ball and it's just 2 yards short of a guy or it's sailing over somebody's head. He's just not accurate. Perfect. That's it.

01:05:12

Pre preseason week 3 quarterback. We'll keep them there.

01:05:15

It's crazy how many picks and stuff the niners gave up for him when Yeah. I guess just on pure potential and how he looked in a couple really nuts. I did they almost seems like they don't take enough shit for that, and they stumble into Purdy with the 7th round pick. But Right. Wow.

01:05:33

Eagles, I have minus 4 over the packers.

01:05:36

You're gonna get this 1. I had 3. It's 4a half.

01:05:39

Mhmm. So I'm up 32 with 2 left. It's a nice spot for the Eagles.

01:05:47

Yeah. I guess you know, is is it weird that what what's now it's been a few weeks for Hertz. Right? This is kinda like a fighter that we haven't seen fight, like, a year and a half now.

01:05:58

Right.

01:05:59

I don't know. We're gonna see

01:06:00

all the time. To see. They get to play this Green Bay team that feels like they peaked 4 weeks ago. Mhmm. If they win it, there's a, you know, a really good chance they could get the Bucks in round 2, which is nuts.

01:06:17

A team that we didn't even weren't even sure was gonna make the playoffs at Right. 12:55 PM today. So they could basically, I don't know. They should move it

01:06:27

to Brazil. This is where it all started.

01:06:30

And then go go back. Let's get it. Can we get that grass back? Yeah. Next 1.

01:06:35

Washington against the Bucks. In Tampa. Mhmm. I have Washington. I I it's funny.

01:06:42

I had the Bucks favorite in this for as when I was doing against the Lions, and then I just switched it. I was like, you know what? They're gonna have Washington favorites. So Washington minus 1 and a half. Shouldn't have switched

01:06:51

it. Shouldn't have switched it. I had Tampa minus 1, mostly by default. Tampa by 3a half. Oh my I'm wow.

01:07:01

So how many looking points

01:07:04

are off? That's pretty rare for me for the playoffs. That's makes me wanna bet the Bucks. I think I mean, I'd make sure you wanna bet last time.

01:07:11

Yeah. Right? With the rookie quarterback on the road. Although, they didn't they didn't kill, Knicks as much.

01:07:18

Yeah. But I would argue now I'm gonna look at the Bucks.

01:07:22

It's tough. The Bucks played so poorly for 40 minutes today in a must win. It it hard to like them, but Washington didn't play great either. Let's face it.

01:07:31

So Tampa, they lost to your team. I guess their best win is the chargers.

01:07:38

Is that it? And

01:07:41

No. They're not really Philly in week 4, Detroit in week 2. So their best win since September is the chargers. Those those 2 wins in September, right, mate?

01:07:51

The 1 and 2 seats.

01:07:52

Yeah. Since the by week, they beat the Giants, Carolina, Vegas, the chargers lost to Dallas, beat Carolina, beat the Saints. I don't know.

01:08:04

Think it's a little steep?

01:08:06

You so you would wanna lay points with Tampa?

01:08:09

At this point, they have playoff experience. Right? They're kinda a playoff veteran team. Right? Where Washington, I'm not gonna say they're just happy to be there, but there might be an element of that.

01:08:21

I don't mind taking the points of that.

01:08:22

Biggest over under too. 49a half.

01:08:25

I think being up by 5 points is some sort of sign. If I was seeing it that way, I should probably trust my gut. Monday night, Vikings at the Rams, And I had the Vikings by 1a half in LA.

01:08:37

Alright. You crushed me here. It doesn't matter because I'm gonna beat you overall.

01:08:41

I had 4a half. It's 2a half. Minnesota minus 2a half. You had Minnesota by 4a half?

01:08:49

Yeah. Stupid. So you get it. But I went 43.

01:08:55

Oh, man. So we're tied now.

01:08:58

We are tied. Now what do you think the look ahead line would be for this? Like, I was probably closer if if, like, last night if we would've guessed the line for this. Right?

01:09:09

Which 1? The Minnesota

01:09:10

Yeah. We guessed it 24

01:09:12

hours ago?

01:09:12

Yeah. Because, I mean, there is a chance that Sam Darnold's a little iffy against a tough tough nose defense. You know?

01:09:20

Yeah. I don't know. I well, what do you think it would have been?

01:09:25

There was such a streak on such a streak of scoring 30 plus points. Right? So, I thought it would have been 4 and a half.

01:09:32

I I shouldn't have I should have moved it based on today. FanDuel has odds for the number 1 draft pick. Cam Ward is minus 125. Sanders is plus 105. Hunter is 101, And then everybody else is long shot.

01:09:49

Your guy, Kelvin Banks, right there, 50 to 1. He's not gonna be

01:09:52

the 1st pick, though. Right?

01:09:53

I don't see jack shit. I don't see odds on Jack anywhere.

01:09:57

What about that Abdul Carter at 60 to 1? If somebody just wanted to go

01:10:02

deep I mean, these guys could move around. So what do we see? We see a pro day. We see Wonderlicks. I don't know.

01:10:08

I guess these could move, but some of those guys, I don't think It's

01:10:10

weird that everybody's so heavy. Alright. Anything else you wanna hit? Little NBA?

01:10:15

On this?

01:10:17

Jimmy Butler trades?

01:10:19

Oh, Mike McCarthy to the pats.

01:10:21

Come on.

01:10:22

Shafter. This is interesting.

01:10:23

I do in this news. This is such a dramatic day for me. I'm like a show of myself today. So spend the whole year watching this fucking team, and they somehow they're the worst team in the league, and they don't get the worst pick.

01:10:34

You finally have a great quarterback, and Joe Milton, I'm proud of you. It's good.

01:10:39

You think Joe would you take Joe Milton if like, how many teams would actually take Joe Milton over what they have right now? Where did he get who

01:10:48

who are you drafted?

01:10:49

Him than anyone on Cleveland?

01:10:52

Oh, at this point, I think so. Where did you draft him?

01:10:55

He's, like, a 5th, 6th rounder. What's weird is he sucked in the preseason, I thought. He because he was 1 of those guys who was throwing everything a 140 miles an hour. But he had, like, real touch today. He was good.

01:11:05

He was moving around. He evaded some sacks. You hated it. Well, I was happy for him because he everybody says he's a great guy, but at the same time, it was ripping my intestines out of my butt. I just couldn't believe it.

01:11:17

If you had me

01:11:18

dreaming Look. But you don't even know who you were gonna trade for in this draft. So, you know, like, get it's fine. Get some wins. It's nice.

01:11:25

It's nice for the team.

01:11:26

Well, we already traded it. We got jack shit. The Butler trade's gonna happen this week. I was telling you with the NBA. I was telling you about,

01:11:35

Houston. Right?

01:11:36

Yeah. And then Houston beat the Lakers tonight. Although it was a it was a good game. It was tight. But But I think I said

01:11:41

well, we well, let's wait a few games. Right? I think oh, no. You said their January's, hard.

01:11:46

I said their January was about to get hard. Right. Right. Right.

01:11:49

Yeah.

01:11:49

Because I was looking at, I really think there's a chance San Antonio can make the playoffs and how some I talked about on Thursday. So now they're plus 3.50. So it's right around what what we talked about. They don't have the odds for Houston today, but San Antonio would have to jump either the Lakers or Houston, basically. And the thinking is, Wendy's now a top 7 guy and maybe they make a trade.

01:12:13

And Right. So we were looking at that for

01:12:16

Well, don't we wanna wait a little bit? Like, they have the I think they have, like, tough games coming up. I think we'd get better odds. And I have the they have the Lakers twice. They're at the Bucks.

01:12:26

Yeah. They're at the Bulls. Yeah. We can win. I'm monitoring it.

01:12:30

What do you got for parent corner?

01:12:32

Alright. So my oldest was here. Right? And, big Oregon fan, the Ducks, went to the Rose Bowl, saw his team get destroyed. And, like, people are like, you're going?

01:12:45

Why aren't you going? I'm like, I don't know. It's for the kids. At this point, it's for the kids. I'm not gonna be 1 of these idiot fathers because I paid tuition.

01:12:52

Like, I sent my kid, and so now I'm the big I'll root for them. I'll root for him. And, I was trying to convince him that getting blown out is so much better. He just didn't wanna hear it when he got home. Like, he's very much into this is the big cause he's taken on.

01:13:05

Like, that the big 10 is better than the SEC. He's like, FDFCC, I can't stand it. It's like, and I guess as a parent, this is a little less stressful than if it's cause involved, like, protesting for or against causes in the Middle East. So alright. Yeah.

01:13:18

Good. Hate hate the SEC all you want. But, anyway, he was really bummed. They lost. And he's gone now.

01:13:24

He went back to school, but he went back on Friday. And his mother was furious and despondent. Like, he went back a day early and, like, none of his friends were gonna be there. And it made him feel wanted

01:13:36

to get away from everybody?

01:13:38

I think so. And he just wanted to get back to no 1. And I was like, listen. I I try to put myself in that position. I was like, I think I would've liked this.

01:13:46

Like, right. If you could've gone back to college and had, like, a day to shop or whatever, just lay around and do nothing with no 1 there, like, I think I would've liked that. That's fine. And the other thing I was thinking is, you know, we spent the entire weekend and entire holidays complaining about our parents, like Melissa and I. Like, the gift card, they lost these gift cards, and they're arguing about who got more or less and hospital visits and getting them to and from.

01:14:10

Like, maybe that's not smart. Maybe we have to have a, like, a poker face. Like yep. Because then I think they feed off this.

01:14:17

Right? Like, like,

01:14:18

he doesn't wanna be it's like, oh, alright. It's alright to hate your parents. Good. You gave me the okay, and now I'm gonna do that. Now I'm gonna leave her all the way for school.

01:14:25

So there's not really a story attached to it, but I just think, like I think you have to be careful when you think you're being cool, making fun of your parents. I think it kinda sets a different tone with your kids, potentially. Know what I'm

01:14:38

saying? Well, you made me think of how they talk about, inside the NBA is too critical about the NBA product, this theory. Yeah. Right. And that makes people more critical because they're just following the leaders.

01:14:49

So it's a similar type of thing. Yeah. That's not just everybody is, like, you know, praising everybody at all times on those studio shows.

01:14:59

We're

01:14:59

doing, like, long interviews, but everything's, like, positive and

01:15:02

Yeah.

01:15:03

Pushing pushing up the product.

01:15:04

Less we have to be less Barclay and more black sheep.

01:15:07

Push the pro how would you push the product of your own parents?

01:15:11

I think it's just like, you know what? They raised me well, and I'm glad I'm in a position I I'm in.

01:15:17

So glad they're still healthy.

01:15:18

Things like that, they're still healthy. Yeah. So lucky

01:15:20

to have them around. I would

01:15:22

never leave a day early to to to be away from them. I don't know. Something like that.

01:15:28

I definitely did that in college. I I remember my junior year.

01:15:32

Yeah.

01:15:32

I went back I just went back and stayed in because we had an apartment. I was like, you know what? You know what's great? The apartment. Nobody's gonna be there.

01:15:40

It went back, so I see it. Yeah. Kudos.

01:15:42

What about the about you? Don't you like being, like, in an office, like, getting away from everything for a few hours or something? Yeah. Like, it's nice.

01:15:49

Yeah. Well, Zoe left. She she left today. She went to go, hang out with her boyfriend and then who lives in Florida.

01:15:56

Does she have school tomorrow?

01:15:57

No. She's doesn't have school for another week.

01:16:00

Alright.

01:16:01

Were kinda like, you're leaving now? And she's like, well, I've been here for 2 weeks. It's like Yeah.

01:16:05

Yeah. I don't know. You complain about your parents.

01:16:11

So what do you think they're gonna complain about with us?

01:16:14

Well, that's the scary thing.

01:16:15

15, 20 years from now?

01:16:17

Like, I'm already, you know, there's that commercial where you like, you're training people not to ask people about the weather and stuff. I forget it's a it's I won't say it's another insurance. I know we have our good friends in State Farm. But,

01:16:31

yeah,

01:16:31

I don't know. I'm already writing shit down, like, what to avoid. Like, just Dad.

01:16:36

Dad's going nuts about week 18. Yeah. Right. Playoffs scenarios. What a fucking lunatic.

01:16:41

He's 90 years old.

01:16:43

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, my dad's rooting for the patriots to lose for 35 straight years now. What the hell? Get over it.

01:16:51

Just once he wants the first pick again. My my parent corner so we hooked up my son has a PS 5, and we hooked up a PS 4 Mhmm. On a different TV so I could play Fortnite duos with them Nice. Which led to me making a Madden comeback, and playing some Madden with him and realizing how much worse I am now at video games than I used to be. Right.

01:17:25

Especially Fortnite, which I was okay in Fortnite at the end of the 2000 tens when we when we were playing. And I actually won a couple times, but I was always, like, strategic and trying not to get into too many gunfights. Now when I'm playing these video games, they're coming so fast. It's the number 1 thing I've done that's made me feel old in a lot in probably this whole decade. I I'm, like, I'm doing plays in Madden and the clock's ticking down.

01:17:49

I'm, like, wait, I'm still trying to figure out what point I'm gonna call in single back. There's, like, 7 seconds left. So I realized, like, I need to start playing video games to I I need the speed of it. I wanna get the hang of it. Yeah.

01:18:02

So, I'm gonna play more video games, but I was driving down.

01:18:05

I had a good drive down. Resolution to play more of a thing?

01:18:08

Well, I was I was bonding with my son, who never wants to hang out with me, and I was like, this is I guess this is what it's gonna have to be. I'm gonna have to play some video games, so Right. We'll hang out. But, but my son was like, you know, you're pretty good. You should you should stream some of this.

01:18:23

And I'm like, what do you mean? And he's like, you should stream some of the games, like, so people can see, like, what you're playing. I'm like, I'm definitely not doing that. But it's just his generation now just wants to show everything at all times. I wouldn't do it mostly because I'd be so embarrassed.

01:18:39

But, the reason I'm telling you this because Sam Darnold, when he was running around and he was under pressure the whole time, he was running to the right and chucking it up. That's basically my Madden offense now. And, you know what? I'm not gonna I I feel like I have another run-in me. I think I could come back.

01:18:56

Really? I just need some practice. Yeah. So I'm gonna start I'm gonna play 1 game 1 game at least every night. And, anyway, I told this to my wife, and she was really, really horrified.

01:19:06

Oh, she's

01:19:07

not happy with it. Uh-huh. Not happy at all. Not happy

01:19:09

at all. She's like, what? I thought you were just gonna do that over the break with Ben. I was like, no. I might start playing a little more again.

01:19:15

It's good for my brain. It's good for my reflexes. I'm older, and she and it was kinda 1 of those, oh. And I could tell this is, like, right going into the memo for the divorce for the divorce lawyer. Yeah.

01:19:27

She's talking to her friends about it right now. Retains an attorney. Yeah.

01:19:30

You know, Bill's playing video games. But then I have some people my age. Like, my friend David Nyman plays Fortnite, I think he like, a lot. Like, he plays, like, competitively. Yeah.

01:19:41

So there's some people that just this is how they, like, on 1.

01:19:44

Well well, could you get to a spot where you would actually stream it? Like, if you got good again, would you consider streaming it or no?

01:19:51

I mean, as you know, once upon a time, I was 1 of the great video football game Sure. Players ever. I mean, I know. I don't wanna brag, but that's a lot of what everyone was saying. It's okay.

01:20:02

No. I I wanna get to the point where I could play my buddy, Gus. Because Gus still plays all the time, and then we we were playing in the we're playing in television in the eighties. So I wanna see if I can get my mojo back. But I gotta say, like, so many plays now.

01:20:16

We almost made these games too complicated. Like, do I need a 1200 play playbook?

01:20:22

Yeah. I don't think I I don't know that NFL coaches. I know that most of them would be terrible with the time management at the end, the video games. I just absolutely know it. But as far as yeah.

01:20:32

You're right. I wonder if it is too many plays for them. I wonder if they'd call the same

01:20:36

Maybe that's what it is. Maybe. Formation. I feel like Jerrod Mayo. Well, another reason I brought this up, so I started a franchise season.

01:20:43

Mhmm.

01:20:43

And I had the Patriots, and, I immediately traded for Tee Higgins. Oh. Put him with Drake May. And then it's when you're the owner, it gives you the option to fire your coach. So I'm gonna fire Jerrod Mayo at the end of the year.

01:20:56

I wanna get through the 1st season, and then I'm gonna fire him and try to hire somebody.

01:20:59

That's good. Yeah. You should fire him every game. That's what the that's the Patriots' way now.

01:21:04

This is another thing with Madden. They made they made they they made it, like, way more complicated to be the owner. Like, I've gotta, like, hire and fire scouts.

01:21:12

Yeah. Right.

01:21:13

And, I gotta decide about renovations for the stadium and all this shit. I'm like, can I just play the Bills?

01:21:19

40 minutes before you kick off. Like, you're just going in and out of that stuff. I know.

01:21:24

Oh, you have a chance to upgrade the cover skills of your 5th quarterback. Right. I know. They definitely overthought this. I think video games

01:21:31

were at

01:21:31

the peak was 20 years ago. College game apparently has passed it.

01:21:34

It it's even worse though with that, with, like, with scouting and and recruiting and NIL and shit like that. It's like real it's really you should like, Lombardi is Lombardi would be like, this is too hard. I think

01:21:47

it's too hard. This is harder than actual

01:21:49

real life. I'm gonna go sell

01:21:51

insurance today. With Fortnite hey. Do you know anything about Fortnite?

01:21:54

Not too much. I know the kids play it. Like, I love it.

01:21:57

Build stuff, and the better that people are, you can build, like, little stairs to climb up wherever. You could build a little house around yourself to protect yourself. So the people that got really good at it, they're just maniacs. Like, they're just building stuff, and people like us that go in, they're just we have no chance. Right.

01:22:13

So my son was like, you should play no build Fortnite. I'm like, what's that? He's like, well, nobody it's it's same game, but you can't build anything, so you you can't do any of that stuff. And I was like, so it's kinda like the it's like the g league for Fortnite? He's like, yeah.

01:22:31

I was like, put me in there. Put me in there. Put me in there. Oh, right there.

01:22:37

You're the brawny of Fortnite. That's crazy.

01:22:39

So, anyway, 2025. We'll see how long video games last, but, I hope I hope it gets Do

01:22:45

you have jack shit as your tailback?

01:22:47

Jack I'm gonna create jack shit. Do it. If you're if you're randomly playing me on Madden, so you're running back, that's jack shit. That's me.

01:22:54

That's you.

01:22:54

So we'll see if it brings me and my son closer together.

01:22:57

I love it.

01:22:57

We'll find out. I am taking him to Rotterboro. So we we are

01:23:01

father son bonding a lot. Oh,

01:23:03

you are? Nice. Yeah. Okay.

01:23:05

That'll be good. 1st Raw after 32 years changing networks. Can you play Fortnite on your phone while watching Raw?

01:23:11

No? We'll find out. We'll see what's the matter. Alright. That's it for parent corner.

01:23:15

What do you got to pug? Rob, we'll be hanging out this week a little bit.

01:23:18

We're we're gonna be hanging out. We got the crew coming in. Right? They ring a pregame show. Everybody's flying in.

01:23:23

House from, Washington, JJ from New York, and Raheem has, like, 17 homes. I don't know exactly where his flight's gonna originate. Probably Vegas, but they'll be out here. We'll be watching the games together. And, comes out as winning weekend against the odds through the ringer, all on the Ringer podcast network and FanDuel TV.

01:23:42

Also, I should announce I'm holding a press conference tomorrow to address the rumors that while working at Fox, I had sex with Jason Whitlock. And I did not I did not, in fact, do that. Was I attracted to the men? Of course. Of course, I was.

01:23:58

But what's being alleged is not did not take place.

01:24:01

I promise you that. I'm,

01:24:05

I'm not doing it.

01:24:08

Raheem texted me asking if I had a burner guest room. I didn't know what that meant.

01:24:13

Well, he has 1. There was a lot of talk about when he goes to Vegas if he, you get it. Oh, I see.

01:24:19

I got you. Alright.

01:24:22

It should be great.

01:24:23

I'm sad Miami's not in the playoffs, though. I don't we're not gonna have the JJ Chuck on the playoffs.

01:24:28

I was saying that today. I was like, all our teams suck. How did it how is it that everybody even the bundle was on? I was like, every he's a Colts fan.

01:24:34

House House is the only

01:24:35

1 who

01:24:36

only won.

01:24:36

Now. He was really hoping that he could see a game at SoFi, but, somebody didn't do their job. Well, I guess the Rams didn't do their job. Otherwise, he might have, had a chance.

01:24:46

Do their job. Alright. This was produced by Cerutti and Gaho and Kyle. You can follow everything we do on the bill Simmons YouTube channel. I'll be back on Tuesday with pod.

01:24:57

I've never watched what's coming on Monday, and you can catch Sal at all the places he saw. We will be back next Sunday live. We'll see. We how how much fatter will we be next week?

01:25:08

Oh, yeah. I think, let's go over 4 and a half pounds gained, I would say. That's good. Hey, we do 2 pods next week. Right?

01:25:17

I think we did it last year like that. Well, because there's a Monday game. We can't guess 1 of the lines.

01:25:22

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We do, like, a you do, like, a 25 minute appearance on the Tuesday pod.

01:25:27

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

01:25:27

Right. Right. I think we did it. Yeah.

01:25:29

I you know what? I just liked when it was 3 and 4.

01:25:32

I know. Yeah. They get they get stupid with this, but

01:25:34

I don't understand why they did it that way. Anyway, alright, Sal. Good job, Ale. Good job, Ale. Good job, Ale, buddy.

01:26:03

Must be 21 plus in president select states for Kansas and affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus in president DC. Gambling problem, call 100 gambler or visit rgdashhelp.com. Call 188-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.orgofmaryland. Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 800-327-5050 for 247 support, Massachusetts, or call 18778 Hope NY or text Hope NY in New York.

AI Transcription provided by HappyScribe
Episode description

The Ringer's Bill Simmons is joined by Cousin Sal to discuss the Lions' 31-9 win over the Vikings to end the NFL regular season, the solidified playoff picture, the Rams giving up the 3-seed by losing to the Seahawks, Steelers-Bengals, the Bucs taking the NFC South (01:08), the Patriots surrendering the no. 1 draft pick by beating the Bills, the Dolphins and Bengals missing the playoffs, and some end-of-season observations (23:27), before guessing the lines for Wild-Card Weekend (53:00), and closing the show with Parent Corner (01:12:30).

Host: Bill Simmons
Guest: Cousin Sal
Producers: Kyle Crichton and Chia Hao Tat

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