Anything Better? - Greg Olsen | Week 15 NFL Preview & Picks

Episode Date: December 10, 2025

Bill and Paul are joined by former NFL Tight End and commentator Greg Olsen.  Greg sets the fellas straight when it comes to game time emotions and going for the two point conversion. *First Bet Offer $1500*1. Download the BetMGM Sportsbook app on iOS or Android, or visit betmgm.com.  Use the promo code BURR2. Sign up and deposit at least ten dollars ($10.00) into your BetMGM Sportsbook account.3. Place your first wager and receive up to $1,500 back in Bonus Bets if the bet loses.4. If the bet does lose, your Bonus Bets will be available once your initial wager is settled. *First Touchdown*Place a pre-game, straight First Touchdown Scorer bet in any NFL game.If your player scores the first touchdown in the game, win your wager as normal. If your player scores the second touchdown in the game, you’ll get your stake back in cash. (Only straight bets apply to Second Chance. Any wager using a bonus bet, bonus or other reward token is ineligible for the campaign.) Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (Available in the US). Call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY). Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP (AZ), 1-800-327-5050 (MA), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-981-0023 (PR). First Bet Offer for new customers only. Subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in 7 days. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. See BetMGM.com for Terms. 21+ only. US promotional offers not available in New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico.

What's up, everybody, and welcome back to the Anything Better podcast with your host, me, Paul Berzi, over here in New York. We got Bill Burr over there out west. And today we have an incredible guest, somebody that we're very excited to have, an amazing football player, an amazing analyst. Greg Olson is here. Thank you so much for being on the show, bud. Yeah, I appreciate you guys having me. It's great fun. Yeah, you're the first legit, like, beyond legit guest we've ever had.

We went from knucklehead gamblers to a professional football player analyst. I got to tell you, I love the way you call a game. I do, you know, and I really do believe that former players, you know, because you played the game, your knowledge of the game, and then you can go beyond, like, someone who mayo has a broadcaster background, as you understand, beyond the, like, analytics cannot, like, measure, like, emotions. in the game, like when to go for something, when not to, when to, I don't know. I don't know.

It's just something that I've noticed when I listen to you called the game. So I just wanted to say that before we started. Yeah, absolutely. Yes, I echo those sentiments because you, yeah, it's just something about like a player that, like, I kind of like when guys know what's going to happen. Like, I like watching the game where they're like, oh, this play looks like this. I know some people don't like that, but I kind of like that. to be like, oh, this guy knows what he's talking about, you know?

No, and there's no offense to, like, I like guys like Mike Torrico on them, but like I also like when they're like, you know, this is going to happen. Yeah, but it's weird when it's a former player and they didn't have a good career and then they seem to know everything that was going on. It's just like, where the hell was this when you want on the field? Well, so in the booth, two different roles, right? So the play-by-play guy, he's setting everything up. He's painting the picture.

He's talking down a distance and score and remainders, and he's driving the ship in an out of commercial breaks, he's doing ad reads, he's pitching Bill Burr's new comedy special on Fox. You know, he's managing all of those things. And then obviously as the color commentator, as the quote-unquote analyst, I believe our job is to not necessarily tell you what you're seeing. In today's day and age, cameras instant replay, slow-mo, I mean, it's pretty clear what's happening. There's not a shot that these guys miss. Our job is to fill in all the blanks of like, why are you seeing this? Why is this the right decision?

What is the coach considering? When are they going to use their timeouts? How is their run defense? Why do they struggle? Like, paint the picture for the audience and the viewer, the why. Fill in the gaps because I think it's very easy to say, nice throw, nice catch, you know, really good run. Sequin Barclay's awesome.

Those are very generic things. I think a lot of people can sit home. But filling in the gaps, painting the picture behind the curtain, of the why. I think that's what viewers are really interested in now, the interest in the passion of football is at its all-time highest. And I think people are very, are much more educated than we used to give them credit for, and we need to speak to them accordingly. Yeah, well, we all have our fantasy teams now, so we all think that we're GMs. True. I'll tell you, fantasy football is a dangerous game, man. When I was a player, I'd have a game where we won, and I'm feeling good. I

I only had three or four catches, and you're in the grocery store checkout line, and a woman behind you is like, hey, good win, but you killed, I lost my fantasy because of you, and you're like, so like, it's, that shit's real now. Like, that's what you have to say. You have to say, this isn't real. In fans minds, it is all that matters. My kids who have like 100 fantasy leagues with their friends, outside of the Panthers, who they watch as like the hometown team,

they only watch the game if someone from their fantasy team is in it. That's why I never played because I didn't like that it went from I want this team to win to lose to now I'm just rooting for a guy to have nine catches or whatever the hell it is. I, you know, I got to feel like a lot of non-athlet people were like really into that type of thing, you know, and it rewards, I don't know, nerds are running the world right now, Greg. I don't know what to tell you. The Tesla guy, the Amazon guy, the Facebook guy. analytics. That's another thing that I hate is when used to make a bad choice, a decision as a

coach, you had to sit there and take it. Now they can just be like, well, you know, the analytics told me to do that. It's like, well, then couldn't I have just done that? If I just have a book that has, you know, the answers. I'm an analytics guy now, Bill. I'm an analytics guy. I'm not blanket across the board, like just putting your eyes and just go down the book. But it is the wave of the future for NFL football, and that's not going to change. Can you expound on that? When you say you're an analytics guy, it's just like, so all of this information of every game that's ever played, I guess, is crammed into a computer. It does the math. This is how they picked the spreads now, Paul. This is why we're getting our asses picked. And it spits out, like,

what's the difference between you, pro football player, played it all your life, and me, jackass. looking at analytics like does your pro football background give you a better if it's just an answer am I looking at it too simplistically I think there's two I think it's a great it's a great conversation that I love to have and we can go as deep as you want to here there's two elements to this right so analytics you know data acquisition data based decision making is happening for me as I prepare to call a broadcast I get reams of information from all different data sites and The days of how many yards does Philly throw for, how many touchdown passes does Jalen Hertz have, how many touchdown runs does Saquan have?

I have Philly this week, so they're like top of mind. Those days are over. Like you are not studying box scores, yards, touchdowns are completely irrelevant if you're really trying to understand what makes a team good or bad, struggling, you know, whatever. There are so many more deep layers to it that comes from a lot of this data that's collected. Now, like anything, the data is only as good as your ability to interpret it. right so as you as you start studying some of these charts and these graphs that are really getting into the weeds we're not going to say it on the broadcast we're not going to say that EPA per play and the yards per drop back and we're not going to get into the real nerdy ins and outs of analytics on the broadcast but it does shape storylines

if you want to start talking about the struggles of the philadelphia eagles instead of just saying they stink they can't score fire everybody well let's really dive into why is this team different well you start looking at their average first out yardage well what does first down struggles do put you in the second and pass are they a good downfield passing team and you start layering in elements and you say okay maybe this is why the formula is broken let's have that conversation on air and how do they fix it that's a lot more interesting of a conversation than just saying hey they're they're scoring seven less points a game well why so that's part of it the in-game decision making that's the stuff that everyone is really hot on you know andy read the other night on sunday night. He goes for it on fourth and one in a 10-10 game on his own 30-yard line fails.

Houston scores a touchdown. Those are the hot-button topics that generate a ton of conversation. Fourth down tries, two-point conversions. That's really where the bulk of the quote-unquote analytics pushback comes from. And the notion that it's just a book that's a blanket, it's the same for me as it would be for you, as you. All the context that people argue is not taken into consideration is being taken into consideration. Again, each team has access to all the same data points for 25 years of tracking over general times. But then their team of analysts, their team in-house, boils that down with how is my offensive line? How is my defense?

How is my quarterback? Is my running back hurt? And then you tailor make those decisions to you. Then when you get into the game, they're non-emotional decisions, right? I don't sometimes hit 16 and sometimes. stay, I hit it and I hit it and I bust and I bust, but I still hit it. It's the same idea, right? It's the idea of taking a motion out of very critical moments in the game and let's say this doesn't guarantee it's the right end result, but it is the right formula of decision making

that over long periods of time does tilt the game in my favor, even if it didn't tilt the game in my favor in this moment. That's really interesting. So if you, if you, so it thought you still have to have, like, football knowledge to then dissect and analyze the analytics. I would look at that as far as, like, being a stand-up comedian. Some big story happens in the news, and the general, you know, middle-of-the-packed comedians all kind of have the same angle, but, like, the great ones that, you know, I'm a fan of, they can do a topic. Like, I always feel like a great comedian can do a topic everyone's mulched and not only have a whole new angle but like it's like fresh so it seems like it's like that like yeah you could give me your stand you said you have a show tonight you could

you could print me right now your stand-up routine and i'll fly to california and i could stand-up on the stage and verbatim say the exact same words you say it's not nearly as funny without your delivery without your tone without your mannerisms without your timing right there's an art to it it's no different than football, right? Like, there isn't art behind all of this. There is an expertise. There is a instinct, but it is not a gut in the moment emotional reaction that everyone wants it to be, right? Like, momentum and all the things. It's all bullshit. Momentum is bullshit. The question that I have, though, is like, Dan Campbell is somebody I have a... We'll come back to that. We'll come back to that. Yeah, Dan Campbell, somebody I have a problem with. Because

I think that whether you have the game plan and the blueprint of the game or not, in my opinion, what he did in San Francisco cost him going to the Super Bowl, in my opinion. I called that game. Oh, okay, yeah. Like that to me, and then to see him do it the other night five times and go O for five and still go. I mean, I'm sitting here going like, I mean, listen, I'm a stand-a-com comedian. I don't know shit. I can't coach like that guy can coach.

But I'm going to take the points when I need to take the points and stay ahead, either two possessions or three possessions, which he could have done in San Francisco. And then I don't like the idea of, well, that's what we did the regular season. And that's what got us here. But it's like, yeah, but it's, and maybe I'm nuts, but it's like it's not the regular season. This is to go to the Super Bowl and go get those points to also another thing that analytics does not take into consideration is how momentum with the crowd. Everybody knows that when a defense gets a fourth down stop at home, people are going crazy.

People are losing their shit going, yeah, we stop them. And then that's going to make the next unit come out gassed up. So I feel like guys like Dan Campbell, I don't know if he can't help himself, but I think if that doesn't change, the lions are in trouble. All right, so a lot to unpack there. And I love these conversations. Let's just talk last week's Thursday night game because it was Detroit versus Dallas. Yep.

Neither team could stop anybody. It was fireworks, right? The offenses were awesome. At the end of that, towards the end of the fourth quarter, I don't know off the top of my head how much time was left. but the back half of the fourth quarter, Dallas had the ball inside the 10-yard line. It was like 4th and 3, and they were down 10 points. And they kicked a field goal to go down 7.

So they made it, right, this notion that it's a one-score game. We're so excited that it's a one-score game. We're so motivated. The momentum is in my favor. I don't know if you guys watch the game, but do you know what happened? the next possession that Detroit got the ball. So Dallas makes it 10 to 7. It goes from a 10 point to a 7 point. They come off the field saying, great job. We're only down one score. Kick off. Detroit comes on offense. So Dallas, it has all the momentum. The game is solely there for the

taking. You know what Detroit did on the next drive? Scored? They went the entire length of the field and went up 14. So my point of saying all this, and there's a million. examples of all of this, right? Like, I'm not suggesting that guys don't feel momentum. Emotion is still a huge element of sports, and it's a huge element of football, right? There's an energy. You're, I'm not saying guys don't feel it. I felt it. There were games where you could throw the ball behind my head and like, you just, you're in the flow, right? There's, I would argue it's confidence, it's a mindset, right? That's real for athletic. There's days where I'm sure you guys, stand up on stage and man it just comes out exactly the way you imagine and I'm sure

there's other days where like your timings off and it didn't land the way and you just felt you feel uncomfortable but in a game like football those feelings are real I'm not discounting how guys on the sideline in their brain imagine all I'm saying is it doesn't impact the game you feeling moment right like how many times have we heard on a broadcast this team has all the momentum and then they go three and out or this team just got all the momentum and they fumble right i feel like it doesn't i feel like all of a sudden the wheels fall off and everybody but then they get them back on but then they get them back on the game the way you do yeah i mean i i again the game that spurred a lot of conversation from a couple weeks ago was philly versus um chicago and it was the whole thing about

going for two and they were down 15 and i'm not going to get into all of that but but But that game, Philly, at the end of the game, when Seriani went for two to try to make it, to cut the lead, they were down 15, he tried to make it seven. He went for two and failed. It stayed at nine. They just went on an 85-yard touchdown drive. Who has all the momentum? Well, if you missed the two-point conversion, the other team does. But you just scored the touchdown.

So who had the momentum? After the 82-yard touchdown drive, who had the momentum? The Eagles did until they went for the stupid two-point conversion, and then they missed it, and then the other fans get excited. It's just, it's irrelevant. All I'm saying is, it feels like math class. No, it's not math. It's the argument of, the argument is the game takes ebbs and flows naturally, regardless of how you feel.

Greg, I feel like you could be, honestly, I feel like you could be and should be an NFL head coach. because you just have that demeanor. But I got to ask you a question real quick, and I know fans are going to want to talk about Dan Campbell, though. Go ahead. The one thing I wanted to ask you, though, when you're calling a game and you see a call that is just so egregiously wrong, are they, like, are you guys kind of told like, hey, you could mention it, but don't go so hard with it? Or do you have free reign to be like, that's the worst thing I've ever seen? I've never gotten a call from Fox in five years ever telling me to tone down my,

evaluation, my assessment, good, bad referees, coaches. Now, I will say, my personality, and just who I am, I am not like a shit on people guy. Quarterback's having a bad day. I got to say, hey, that's a throw you got to make. He's late with his eyes, his feet, whatever. You have to be honest or else you lose the trust of the audience that you can have perspective, right? sure coaches decisions you can i'm always if i always say like you could be critical of decisions you don't like the decision great everyone has their opinion you don't like you know he's late with his footwork he drops a ball bad whatever it is those are totally fair criticisms as long as you don't get personal right like that's my one rule is like there's no personal

attacks right you're not lazy you're not a dog you're not bet these guys are high level professional athletes and they deserve to be spoken about in a certain sense. Same thing with the referees. Because they make, there's bad calls made all the time. I don't envy the position of NFL referees. I think NFL officiating is actually better than it's ever been. I think as a viewer, we have insight and access to views and pictures and replays and angles that didn't exist 10 years ago, let alone 20 years ago.

So this idea that more calls are missed, I would already. the game has gotten so complicated, so fast, so just the notion that these guys can get anything right, I feel like is pretty impressive. And I think the calls are no different. We just didn't know if the guy false started by half of a millisecond because the camera didn't pick it up 10 years ago. We didn't know if that guy's face mask grabbed his jersey collar or his pinky grabbed the face mask because now we have like 9D zoom in extra. It's just a different for the viewer right now, and we have more information than ever before. All right, I got one for you real quick. Before you do, Dan Campbell, my opinion on the two-point

conversion that drives me nuts is the team goes, you know, is first in gold, don't get it, second and gold, don't get it, third and gold, don't get it. Go for it on fourth down, score a touchdown, and then everybody goes, go for two. It's like, because it's only two points, people aren't looking like, dude, you have to score another touchdown to only get two. And it just took you four downs. They stopped you three times. It took you four times to get that ball across the goal line. Now you're looking at because it's only a two-point conversion. You're now going to, you have to score back-to-back touchdowns is what a two-point conversion is, but you only get six points for the touchdown, two points. So people look at it like it's, they equate the

amount of points to the difficulty of it. And I feel like in the first quarter, why are you going for two points? Just get the extra point. And the amount of times that they missed two-point conversions and then hit the third one, it's like you could have just kicked three extra points or you could have just kicked two extra points. You end up where you would have been. I think the two-point conversion is overrated. Well, two-point conversions have really become a end-of-game strategy possessions,

trying to chip back typically for teams either trying to extend leads to two-score games or cut into a deficit, right? We don't see a ton of teams in the early first three quarters of the game. There was a time years ago where guys were toying with it. Pittsburgh started doing it. Everyone for the most part now is kicking extra points. The only time you'll see an early two-point try is we actually had it in our Buffalo Bengals game. Josh Allen threw a fourth-down touchdown pass. He got roughed. Like they caught it. He got personal. they elected to have the penalty enforced on the point after try, which now instead of going for two from the two, you go from two from the one yard line.

Nine out of ten times every NFL coach is going to say, from the one yard line, I'll take my odds of getting one yard to get two points as opposed to kicking a chip shot field goal. Outside of that, typically two-point conversions are coming at the end of the game like it did in the Bears Philly game where you're down 15, you're down 14, and the idea is to try to win the game and regulation, maximize your possessions. That's a longer conversation. But that's typically, right now the NFL average on two-point conversions is about 45%.

It ranges any given year, 43, maybe to 48. It is less than a coin flip to get a two-point try. Because remember, if it was 52%, I mean, you guys are gamblers and we all, like, you play the odds over long periods of time. If people could figure out how to make a two-point try over 50%, they would do it every time. You know what I learned? I think I just watched the game emotionally because I feel like everybody's going for two points in the third quarter. And I'm calling him up going, what the fuck are they doing?

Kick the goddamn John Madden, take the points. I must be, wait a minute. I think it's my usual problem, Paul. I'm too emotional. Bill, you emotional? No. Remember emotion drives all of this and it's real I don't just I'm emotional like when I'm coaching a game or playing in a game I am highly emotional I am a very intense competitive emotional person whether I'm coaching my daughter's basketball team or I'm playing in the Super Bowl like that's just my personality so I don't shit on people being emotional I believe people that don't have a fire and don't have that I don't relate I can't process how

those people operate and everyone to each their own that's not me personally so this whole embracing this non-emotional decision-making is me taking a step back and saying okay if i was an NFL head coach knowing how i would be on an NFL sideline which is highly intense high feedback frequency a lot of energy a lot of emotion do i want to make critical decisions in that mindset us all sitting here nice and calm we'd say of course you don't want to Interesting. You don't want to make your, you don't, Dan Campbell is a very emotional person. He's a very, he's a very heart on his sleeve.

He, that's why the guys love him because he's so real, right? He doesn't hide behind this like fake bullshit facade. Right. So he's saying to myself, do I want to make these rash emotional decisions based on how I feel? No, that's not in the team's best interest. He has made a clear moment from the time he took that job. they are going to play a very clear brand of football. He was an early adopter of this mentality.

They have won as many, if not more games than virtually the entire league, maybe with the exception of Kansas City and Philly, over the last couple of years. It has been a highly productive mentality. It bit him in the ass in the playoffs that year. I called that game. I was in the booth talking over those fourth down failures. He stood up at the podium virtually in tears, and he ate it.

and he stood up there with a, and emotion is why people don't do it. Because I don't want to stand up on the post-game podium and say, you're the reason Greg Olson, we lost. It's easier for me as the coach to say, we should have made the kick, we need to play better defense, we didn't execute, it wasn't our day. All this bullshit, instead of I'm the head coach and that decision, yeah, it didn't work. But I would do it again. That is very hard.

to do, but I commend the guys that do it. I get that, but if, and this is football-wise, forget emotion. If he kicks that field, if he kicks the field goal to go up 17, instead of go for it there and keep it a 14-point game, and then San Francisco came down and then made it a seven-point game, if he still keeps it a three-point thing, a three-possession thing, isn't that just mathematically their chances of winning that game better? You also just made the assumption that they're automatically going to make the kick. I mean, it was like, you know, I'm not saying.

One was from like the 28, wasn't it? Or the 30? I'd have to go back and pull up what the... I know there was three of them. There was three critical fourth downs. Two were dropped. And I don't remember the other one. Off the top of my head, I couldn't tell you what the downed...

What the yard line was or what the score was. I wish I could. I just can't... I don't know exactly. But of course, I remember the moments of the game really well. But the notion that I'm going to play one style of football and then I'm going to just arbitrarily I always think the best that people can relate it to

is everybody has sat at a blackjack table right like and I know this is probably oversimplifying it because football is not just a deck of cards already predetermined so like there is some nuance to football and I'm not suggesting otherwise but just from an emotional standpoint we've all had 10 up on the dealer

face card and in your mind you know it's 20 and you got fucking 16 and it takes every ounce of commitment and consistency to keep taking that card and then he flips over and he had a five and he flipped it right and now you just become now you're just guessing right so you all of a sudden now just put everything to luck and listen we've all sat at the table where the asshole stays on 16 and he wins does it mean it was the right decision we all know it's not i've always been intimidated to go to a blackjack table because I don't know the rules and it's just like you feel everybody you're taking

my cards what are you doing and blah blah blah and all of this none none of any of it watching makes sense like I'm not taking your cards they're not yours you don't know no we don't know what card is coming you should have said then I would have got that card all of that but why do we say it but bill why do we feel we feel that it's right we feel that emotion we feel like the deck is flipped we feel like you screwed me because you didn't split your eights or whatever but you're arguing it's not you're arguing it's bullshit and i'm saying i agree with you no no i i know i'm saying i am i like how do you learn how to play blackjack you sit down and there's like four degenerates next to you just popping and puffing about everything you're doing it's just like didn't didn't you ever

not know what you were doing so i i i you know we're anyway i stay away from that shit I always play the craps. I like crap table. The reality is, in today's modern NFL, this is the last point I'll make about it. We can talk about whatever you guys want. Yeah, then we've got to get into you all day. You sports thing.

I can talk about this all day. The reality, more often than not, again, there's always outliers to everything. There is a game where I could kick five field goals and beat you 15 to 10 and me taking the points, which that phrase drives me insane, taking the points, it worked out for me. Right?

You could say it about the other night's, game, the Monday night game, the Charger scored one touchdown on the opening possession of the game. They scored a touchdown against Philly. And they proceeded to kick nothing but field goals the entire rest of the game. And they won an overtime. So they took the points and they won. They won because that Jaylon Hertz through four interceptions. So when you make these decisions you have to make these decisions based off what I call like neutral possession games I cannot game plan that I'm going to return a punt for a touchdown I cannot game plan and say I'm going to get a strip sack fumble return for a touch you can't prepare the game strategy

like all these one-offs are going to happen if they do great and I will adjust accordingly as the game unfolds that's the job of a great head coach is to evaluate the moments of the game happen. But I can't plan that Jalen Hertz is going to throw four picks. He threw three picks over 12 games. That's the difference between coaching and gambling. Correct. That's what we do. He's going to throw a pick. So like that's, special teams touchdown here, Paul. What about I got a feeling? I got a feeling. So that's where all these. So the general rule of thumb is field goals are going to get you beat. Now, does that mean it's always going to get you beat? Of course not. There's no certainties in any of this. If people,

People had certainties, no one would ever lose. I would love to hear what Adam Venetary thinks about field goals are going to lose you. The guy's got four rings. He's got four rings. Nope. Here's where field goals matter. End of game, end of half, fourth and long, and 45 yards plus. See, I agree with that 100%.

But, and listen, I'm all four going for fourth and one or fourth and one and a half. But when these guys are going fourth and four and it's a 40-yarder, that's what I'm saying, too. I'm looking at, like, more yardage. So what do you consider, like, if you see a coach, Greg, if you see a coach go for it on fourth and five, and it would be a 47-yarder? Do you think that that's a silly move if it's not those situations you just mentioned? Again, how much time, there's so many factors, right? How much time's remaining? Am I winning or losing?

Does this make it a, now, if I'm up eight and there's three and a half minutes to go, of course I'm going to kick the field goal. I'm going to go up 11, and with two and a half minutes, barring you recovering an onset. kick, you're not going to have enough possessions to beat me, right? So there's a math in all of this where it comes down to how many times most likely will you possess the ball? And in those possessions, do you have enough to catch me? If I don't think you have two possessions left, being up two possessions is great. Going up two possessions with nine and a half minutes to go is much different than going up two possessions with two minutes to go. Because you just virtually don't have the amount of time. So there's a lot of elements to this. If I was goal-to-go situation, unless it was

end-of-half game winner, fourth and goal, am I kicking a field goal? Because now, again, I have fourth and goal from the five-yard line, right? And I don't get it. You now possess the ball on your five-yard line. If I have the ball on the five-yard line, I'm trying to get a touchdown. That's ultimately the greatest part of all of this. But let's say I have a kick a field goal. I got three points and you now get the ball at the 35 yard line. So for me getting three points, I gave you 30 yards from the five to, that's called the 35 with the new kickoff rule. You got 30 yards for doing nothing. Yeah. I hate how wrong I was about all of this. Again, it's not wrong. It's not right or wrong. Remember, this new kickoff rule is brand new.

Remember, the kickoff rule is brand new. Teams are still trying to figure. out how to kick it, where to kick it, how to cover it. They won't kick it out of the end zone now. Everybody does like a little, little pooch kick. Well, because you kick it into the end zone, you get the, you give your opponent to ball at the 35 yard line. You get one and a half. Why is it the 35?

Because they wanted. Sell the fucking game. This is what drives me nuts. There's no like monsters of the midway anymore. It's like nobody can stop anybody. I remember a few years ago, I'm going to go on a fucking ran here. That fucking Bill's Chiefs game was one of the worst fucking games I've ever seen in my life. It was like 57, 56.

Everybody's up and down the fucking field. There wasn't one tackle in the whole game. It's 13 seconds left. What am I watching? This is like a fucking video game. And my feeling is that they've reached maximum density on the fucking real football fan. The casual fan they got. Taylor Swift, they got to get her to the Super Bowl.

So all the Swifties are watching. Then they call off the dogs and they like, let them play and you get a shit game, right? I mean, I just feel like all of these, like the hockey, they get rid of the red line, the stupid stretch pass. You want to sit behind the goaltender now because you're doing this, like you're at Wimbledon. I don't know.

I just feel like every game now they're trying to like juice up the ball, make the stadium smaller, try to like, you know, I mean, plenty of time. There's plenty of time left. You're like, what the fuck are they talking about? This game is over. and then there's like three more scores. I just feel like it's marketing.

That's what they want. I feel like the prevent defense was invented not by coaches. It was invented in the marketing department of the NFL to make sure no fucking game is over. It drives me insane. It drives me insane. You should get season tickets to the Houston Texans. You would love them. That's what I'm just going to say.

Their defense is nasty. Their defense is unbelievable. The defense is unbelievable. I feel like they're playing Belichick ball. When 1710, 1917, they're playing like that. I love how they're playing. I like to see great offense. I also want to see great defense.

I just, you know, this up and down and up and down, and everybody turns into Joe Montana. You got some scrub coming off the sideline running the two-minute offense like he's fucking John Elway. It's stupid. It's not, there's something, whatever. I don't know. I don't know.

Well, listen. People started doing this, right? Here's the experiment. Everybody turns into a Hall of Fame quarterback with two minutes left. All right, we're going to do an experiment. Bill, I'm going to get you, and you're going to come do a game with me in the booth, and it's going to be 10-7 in the – it's going to be 13-6 in the fourth quarter, and I'm going to be holding you from jumping out of the window if you've got to talk over that for three hours.

There's a lot more – there's a lot more – I'm just talking about from a broadcast perspective. I'm not going to ask you to go any further into that. That is the rain delay of football, 13-7. Well, let's tell Greg the real reason why he's here. Greg, the real reason why he's here is because I need you to coach the Giants. I'm a die-hard Giants fan. Let's get you to New York.

Come on, man. Listen, you have Dart. You'll have a healthy neighbors. You'll have a healthy scataboo. You got a nice defensive line. We'll draft a maybe first round pick your draft. the defensive back. You got a good team there, Greg. You want to hear a great story?

Yes. So a couple of years ago, the hiring cycle where they hired Dable, this was probably like a week or two before they officially announced that they hired Dayball. My wife and I are in New York City and we're having dinner at the polo bar. And we're

sitting in the basement there. It's an awesome spot in New York, and we're with two of our friends and we're having a nice dinner. And there was a couple next to us and you know you're having drinks and we're having fun and you know we're living you know we're having a good good off-season dinner you know what I'm saying and over the course of the dinner we start talking to this couple next to us it turns out it's Tish the owner of the Giants yeah so I've probably had a couple old fashions and we start out just like how's the hiring going and we start like getting like a nice conversation about the process of hiring a head

coach well like an hour and a half goes by I don't know I guess I had a couple more old fashions in me by the end and next thing you know I went on like a 20 minute like job interview that's fucking and I'm like I'm literally sitting three feet from him in this restaurant and I'm and I'm getting like this I'm like getting progressively more like emotional and like excited and I'm like selling this idea that he should hire me because we sat next to each other in the polo bar So long story short, the next morning I wake up, and my wife's like, and I was like, Karen, did I pitch myself to the owner of the Giants? She's like, yeah. I was like, do you think he bought it?

Like, how did I do? So I've, in my mind, I've interviewed for one head coaching job unofficially. I didn't get it. But it was with the Giants. Oh, that's convenient. The next one you do, you'll be sober. You know what I mean? Maybe I'll get it.

Yeah, instead of being half in the back. Hey, Paul, we're going to run out of time here. Let's make sure we, I want to talk to you about something that I'm getting into because my kids are like starting to play organized sports and everything. Yes, please talk about this. And there's a part of me maybe wants to coach a little bit, but I'm like, what do I know? Obviously, I've learned I don't know anything listening to you. But I know like that youth sports is a huge thing for you.

And that was one of the things that you wanted to talk about, the whole you think, if you're wondering why he's wearing the merch and he's got the flag above him. Tell us a little bit about this. Yeah, it's a project that we're really excited about. You know, I've been out there having conversations with people via podcasts and different outlets for the last couple years on our U-Think program and, you know, interviewing coaches and athletes and Olympians and parents, just everyone about, you know, the good, the bad, the in-between of the youth sports landscape.

And really what started was, you know, my dad was my high school football coach. prototypical old school discipline high school football vibe for 30 years in New Jersey coached me and my brothers so I grew up in locker rooms grew up around it and now full circle after making a living I'm raising three kids two boys and a daughter my wife and I would lay in bed at night we'd be at dinner with friends and the entire conversation was about youth sports a great story what team is your kid on are you doing lessons that this guy in the gym what the coach is doing it would dominate everything we did and those

I was like, you know what, if we don't have the answers for any of this shit, who does? I've lived my entire life in this world, and I don't even understand what's going on now. Let's go out and have these conversations. So from there, it's grown into an entire platform, multi-content contributors, all sports, men's women's, high level, just all across the board. There's content, there's information. We're doing like a mini doc of, you know, we got some guys going around. They're like crash in practice at baseball teams, some two really cool social media influence guys. So it's a really cool.

There's a commerce engine behind it for teams to like customize gear and schools and whatnot. So it's a really fun project. But Bill, I'm just going to call it right now. You're going to say you're going to be the calm parent. I'm going to sit by myself and I'm going to clap. You're not going to do it. No. You can't.

No. No, I was telling him early. It's impossible. No, dude. I was at a practice. No, my daughter's, no, she had a game. And I yelled out, don't be afraid to her. someone oh no dude dude she was playing like she's a little bigger than the other kids so

and then and then i was like i just said that out loud and like i'm going to get i don't sue dude i coached i coached sophia's fifth grade basketball team and in the championship game the ref kid who was a senior in high school his parent his his sister was against us and when they beat us by two i go you guys wanted to fix it huh and i meant it dude i sounded like a lunatic like i sounded like sounded like a lunatic. I go, you can't do that. That's his sister. And my wife was like, let's get out of here. So it's nuts. Yeah, I feel like it's one of those things like in the heat of the moment, like you're not allowed to bring it up the next day. Like what said is? And then we all get to like move on because it does sound crazy. And I'm the first one to raise my hand. Like I feel

like I've gotten better. I still have a lot of room for improvement on like the most honest like self assessor in this world. Like you can't shut it off, man. He can't shut it off. He can't shut I can't like I am a highly competitive again to your point I am a highly emotional competitive I want to see kids play hard I don't even care about the winning and losing like I've walked out of gyms of teams that I've coached or fields that I've coached and we've lost and I'd be like you know what actually they were better than us but I actually thought we played pretty good I'm fine yeah and then I've walked out of gyms and fields where we've won by 30 and I like can't sleep like I am all about develop the kids get them better If the environment is getting them better in middle school and elementary school you should stay on that team and stay with that coach or if you're the coach, you're doing a great job.

That is all that matters. High school, wins and losses matter. Don't get me wrong. Like, we're not doing this shit for a hobby. Like, we're trying to win. But the development piece has gotten so bad that I sit there and I just like jump out of my skin and that's why I end up trying to just volunteer

to coach as a lot of my skin. many teams as they'll let me because I'm like I'm not saying I'm great but I'm going to bust my ass to get your daughter better your son better your daughter whatever it is they will get better when you say the development piece what are you talking about pre high school and getting your fundamentals down and that type of thing everything about the youth sports journey has completely flipped from developing skills both emotional skills physical skills overall just like gross motor skills running jumping big strong fast the individual skills relative to the sport field hockey lacrosse baseball football they all have very different fine motor school fine motor skills that are important to the thing all that skill development emotionally physical is the entire reason everyone should do youth sports for their kids if your kid by a sophomore year in high school is a gifted athlete and your daughter's a great basketball player and your son's a great hockey whatever you'll know it and it's and now we got to get serious and now it's time to like really hunker

in and like we got to go and we're taking blood right like we're playing for blood now and we're ripping when they're in sixth grade like i need to teach my daughter how to play basketball i need to teach my son how to pitch or how to hit or how to field a ground ball like we need to focus on the development and what happens is myself included you get so caught up in the winning and the argument is I could get better players and then the end result will be I'll win more and everyone feels like you're a better coach and the team's gotten better

but what's lost in all of that is if you focus on development, the grind, practice, communication skills, consistent messaging and you do all those things right you will as a byproduct win a lot of games but that is a much more difficult path for a parent, it's a much more difficult path for a coach, but it is the best path for the kid.

That has completely flipped upside down across the spectrum. Travel ball, guest playing, kids flying from all over the... Those travel teams, man. This kid's, you know, my daughter's age, they're on travel teams, and I'm like, you got a road game at eight years old. I mean, this is insane. I've done it. I don't know.

I'm sort of viewing the whole thing is like, you know, they're going to go out there. They're going to have fun. And look, they have my jeans, all right? You know, I'm a stand-up comedian. I don't think I'm going to make an MLB baseball. I mean, you know, if all of a sudden, I don't know, something from way back in the past gets into my kids' DNA and all of a sudden I'm obviously going to support it.

But like, my thing is I played sports. I had fun. It was fun. And I go there now, it's just like, dude, the equipment. Everybody with all the different cleats and all of the shit and the bats and all of this stuff, It was just like, I would have had just like dirty baseballs and like these, these bats that were like 30 years old. Those days are over.

Yeah. Yeah. Like the grip would be worn out on like the aluminum bats from all of these years. And like, if you had two batting blubs, you were a rich kid when I was a kid. Especially if they were the same color. Oh, like, you know, one's red and one's white, you know. Here's the thing. We coach our kids, my two sons.

we coached their middle school football team the last couple years at our school. And no one's ever going to say, oh, they don't care about winning. We do care about winning. We are very honest with our families. Like, we aren't giving up our whole summer. We are not giving up all this time and energy that we're going to pour into these kids to not get the end result that everybody wants. The difference in our approach, and we win a lot.

The difference in our approach is we are going to pour into these kids for six, months every day summer workouts weight training speed and conditioning all summer we're out to talk to the press how to talk to the press don't don't listen yeah but like it's a it is a there is an art though to like teaching these kids the art of work the art of hard the art of grind and if you do that every day as cliche as that sounds all of a sudden wednesday afternoon the whole school sitting in the bleachers watching us play a middle school football game and we rip and we're we throwing touchdowns we're running for touchdowns we're knocking kids helmets off like we're playing real football

everyone's like oh my god this is so fun I'm like yeah but we started doing this four months ago at 8 a.m. while you were at the beach like this shit's hard yeah game is when it wasn't fun I also think the great thing about sports you know for the cliche stuff learning how to lose winning and losing it and how to take a loss I'm a terrible loser but but but like taking responsibility, understanding that, you know, if I want the ball the whole time, that's hurting the team. I hate, like, you know, that's something else that's driven me nuts, like watching sports, how certain sports, like, really, like, people like, just like,

this is my team, you know, I'm not going to get into, but people walking off the courts during losses and shit. You did that when I was a kid. You were a bad teammate, and it wasn't rewarded. And I feel, I don't know. I don't know. I'm a bit of a grumpy old man, but we do have to get on to the picture. I do have something at 11. I was just going to say, but real quick, you think, what is the website? It's something that parents can go on to and get this information. Let's make sure people know where they can go to that. Yeah, it's youth. Inc. and the platform, the commerce, the content engine, it's all there on one, on one simple site. And I appreciate you guys giving me a chance to chat about it. Yeah, and I'm going to get, I'm going to check that out. My daughter is

like crazy into sports as is my son. This is my, this is my proudest moment so far with my son is I was throwing overhand to my daughter and he came up and I underhanded the ball. He didn't swing at it. And he goes, Dad, don't throw it like that. Throw it like this. And he threw it at me, like really hard. So I said, all right. And I threw one overhand and he crushed it. Nice. Of course, in my head, he's no greater feeling. He's already going to the M. He's Aaron Judge. He's Aaron Judge. Exactly. Get him a private coach. Get him a private coach.

Yeah, it's fun. All right, are you going to, let's do, yeah, we're going to do the picks. Now, here's how this works. So with anything better, Greg, what we do is Bill and I, and our producers, too, and our injury guy, we all do it. But Bill and I do picks. We do four games each against the spread. This is our fifth year.

I beat the book four years in a row, and I am getting the shit kicked out of me this year. Bill is hovering right around 500. I did go three and one this week. Shador Sanders and the Browns were the only game that screwed me. But Bill, it is an odd week. Oh, before we do it, though, we have to shout out to sponsor, guys. It's BetMGM.

You guys know it's the best odds out there. Here's how it works. You download the BetMGM app to your device. You put as little as $10 in your wager. If you lose the wager, you will get $1,500 in bonus bets. Please bet responsibly. And we also have the first touchdown promo. You pick any player in any NFL game to get the first touchdown of that game.

If they do, you win. If they don't, but in fact, get the second touchdown, you'll get your cash back. So there you go, Bill. This is an odd week. So that means you go first on an odd week. And there you go. The floor is yours. All right.

I'm going to wade right into the deep water because I, you know, up until like the last couple weeks, I don't know who was good this year. You know what I mean? So the Patriots have already beaten the bills. There was a shocker when they did. The bills are like reeling. I just can't believe that they're not a good team. I really have a difficult time with thinking that we're going to beat them twice in.

You know, it always feels like when a team is, you know, division rivalries, they're going to get you with one. So we already beat them. Now they're coming. And it's how I look at it, Greg. There's no analytics. There's no knowledge or whatever wrong. But I just feel like this is a pickam game. And I just feel that Mike Brable, where he has this team, you know, we had.

major problems fumbling turning over the ball that knock on wood that has gone away and i just think that this team is getting tighter and tighter and tighter every week everybody's doing their job i know the bills need to win i know this is huge but i'm actually going to take the patriots getting one point at home because i think it's going to come down to the more disciplined team and i just feel the patriots are are everybody's doing their job all right all right well See that, Greg, I can sound like I know what I'm talking about. It's great. No, it's a reasonable argument. Well, I'm going to do something that, look, I think the Miami Dolphins, what they're doing is pretty nuts, considering McDaniel is going to get fired, and they've rattled off these wins.

The Steelers are up and down. I'm not saying the Steelers are going to lose, but it's that half a point. It's the three and a half. So I'm going to take the Dolphins getting three and a half on the road Monday night football against the Steelers. I just feel like they're clicking and I feel like they're going to actually win the game outright, but I like the three and a half points. So I'm going to take Miami on Monday night. I'm actually going the exact opposite.

I'm taking the Steelers because I think the Dolphins have been playing some really shit teams and patting some wins. And everybody's looking at him like all of a sudden they figured something out. I actually, I don't know. I think Aaron Rogers, the level of competitor that he is, I don't think he wants to go out, you know, not winning. And I think they had a big win last week. And I just, I think, I don't know, I like, I like, I think they got a little mojo going there in Pittsburgh. I'm taking the Steelers, Paul.

We're going head to head there. All right. I like it. I am going to take the Denver Broncos at home. I'm going to take the Denver Broncos at home against the Packers getting two and a half. Andrew, that's right. The Denver's getting two and a half. Oh, wait a minute. Bill, how dare us? We forgot to bring in Jake for the injury report. Jake, get in here.

This is how awkward it is every week, Greg. This is a massive, massive chunks. Massive, massive chunks of silence. Hey, how are you doing? Jake to Snake. What do you got to? Hey, well, just before we got on, the chapter tweeted out that Jane Daniels will be out against the Giants. So that's a big boss there. He re-injured his elbow against the Vikings. big defensive injuries. We saw Jalen Carter have shoulder surgery. So he's going to be out again. He's a really big player for the Eagles. And then the Lions lost their best safety, Brian Branch. And then Greg, I had a question for you since we were talking about injuries here. We were talking about this a little bit before we got on. But Daniel Jones, obviously, out for the year with the torn Achilles. So they're going to bring in Philip Rivers, 44-year-old Philip Rivers. And then the other quarterback that's out for the year is Kyler Murray. So they're both three agents this summer. Who do you think is more likely to re-sign with their team?

Where do you think they're both moving on? Yeah, I think you're in the difference between Indianapolis and Arizona is think a couple weeks ago, they trade at the trade deadline, Indianapolis felt obviously very good as they should about Daniel Jones and their season. You're thinking you're going to be a playoff team. There was a time they were the number one seed in the AFC. You're thinking, all right, we went a couple of playoff games. we're trading around, they traded a first round pick for Sauce Gardner,

but at the time, you're thinking you're going to make a deep run and we'll give a first round pick, but it's going to be at the end of the first round not as valuable. Well, now all hell breaks lose, you lose. Daniel Jones, we'll see how the season finishes with Philip Rivers or Riley Leonard or whoever ends up playing quarterback. But if they lose too many games, God forbid, don't make the playoffs. All of a sudden, what they thought was going to be an end of first round,

first round pick now turns into a middle of the first round pick, albeit sauce gardener's a good player if you need a quarterback and the plan is to draft the guy in the top in the draft maybe not a great quarterback draft especially if you're not picking at the top so they're in a little bit of an interesting scenario we'll see how it all works out based on how they do in the playoffs but i love daniel jones i was a daniel jones guy when he was in the giants i thought he got a lot of negative flack for a guy who did a lot of things really well. He's big, he's strong, he's

athletic, he was playing as well as anybody in the league until he broke his leg, showed his toughness by playing on a broken leg, and obviously compensated and unfortunately ruptured his Achilles, which is devastating. I wouldn't be shocked to see, I guess to answer your question

is I think Indianapolis is much more likely to re-sign Daniel Jones. Kyler Murray, I cannot imagine is back in Arizona. Yeah, I agree. All right. Well, listen, that being said, I'm going to take the Broncos at home against the Packers. I just, I watched the Broncos, and I just, I think they're really good, man.

I think they're really good. I mean, listen, nothing. That's a really interesting end of the game last week. What's that? That whole delay a game and let's kick a field goal for no frigging reason. Yeah, yeah. Paul, it's Pete Carroll. It's all about.

board. It's all above board. And then the week before Washington went for two to beat them, did they? Oh, did they? Yeah. And they tip, and they tipped the ball down. That was against Denver, wasn't it? Listen, there was a reason for a long time they did not want to have any professional teams in Las Vegas. This is before professional sports

gambling took over the whole damn league. All right, so Paul, you're going Broncos? I'm going Broncos, getting two and a half at home against Green Bay. All right, I'm taking the chiefs getting four and a half at home. I always feel those games come down. Chiefs games always come down to a couple of points.

They need a win like nobody's business. The charges already beat him this year, division rivalry. Those games are always close. Three and a half I still would have taken the Chiefs. Four and a half. I'll take that extra point. I'm taking the Chiefs, Paul. Not watching the game, not watching the game, though.

All right. Well, I'm going to take my. What's that about somebody? I was just going to ask, because we were talking about Chiefs, what do you think is the biggest problem with the Chiefs so far? Like, what's been the reason they're not in the playoffs is right now? I think fans all last year, there was just too many of us saying that they were getting all the calls and this was manufactured stuff to get Taylor Swift there.

And then they got Taylor Swift to the Super Bowl. And then they called the dogs off and they got exposed. All right. Frank, you don't have to weigh in. Definitely. That's definitely been. But no surprise here. I'm going to take, and I'm, look, I'm going to take.

Hey, Bill, just for the record, Chiefs are giving four and a half. Just want to make that clip. Oh, shit. My fault. Wait. The Chiefs are favored. The Chiefs are favored four and a half. Jesus Christ.

All right, fuck that game. Sorry. All right, I'm going to do a stupid bet here because I'm an old dad. Philip Rivers, got 10 kids, 13 and a half. I'm just sniffing a backdoor cover here, Paul. All right. Seahawks are going to be up by like 19 and then they're going to go try to run out the clock and Philip's going to, you know, a little Grecian formula in the beard.

It's going to go down backdoor cover. Philip River's going to walk out there like John Wayne and get that to make sure that they get those 13 and a half. I love that. All right. I'm going to take my New York football giants. Look, Jackson Darts got a swag to him that I really like. Jade and Daniels not playing for the commanders. And I think the Giants, I just can't see them not getting another win this year.

So I think that this is the win that they're going to get. And it's minus two and a half. They win by a field goal. Who knows who the kicker is going to be? But I'm going to take my Giants against the beat up commanders with the backup quarterback. All right. This is my last one. Why are the Jake?

Why are the Vikings getting six points in Dallas? That is a strange spread. I don't know the answer. It feels like, you know, they always try to juice up the cowboys, try and get people to bet it either way. But, I mean, there's not a ton of injuries either way. All right, I'll be the idiot. I'll be the idiot.

And I'll take the Vikings because I feel like that's what Vegas wants me to do. I'll take the Vikings. Who's favored? The Vikings are getting six points going into Dallas. Oh, the cowboys are favored over the Vikings. Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense to me.

All right. I don't know. You can't comment on this stuff. I don't know. I don't know enough about gambling. I'm having a hard time. I think you know a little bit. Giving and taking. I play more blackjack. All right. For my last pick, I am going to take Dan. Am I staying on 16 with that? No. All right. Go ahead. I'm going to take, I'm going to take Dan Campbell and the Detroit Lions. They are getting five and a half points from the Rams. Again, I could see the Rams pulling that out, but I kind of like the lions getting five and a half. I just think that they're going to fight this week.

I think they need to fight this week. So I like the points with the lion. Didn't Jake say that best safety is out? He is, but yeah, the lions do need to win this game at 85. They got to keep up a little while. Think how much easier it will be for them to cover if they get a bunch of those fourth downs, though. Yeah. Yeah, Dan Fammle does not press a bunch of them.

All I know is here. I'm just going to say this right now. If Dan Campbell goes for a late fourth down, and it's the difference between you winning what you bet you have to come back on next Monday and take back everything bad you said against them. Is that a deal? That's a deal. That's a deal. Mark it. All right. All right. We got the Monday night special now where we all... We don't want a half-ass apology either, Paul. I want a written statement. Yes. Actually, Greg could be part of the Monday night special or at least not his head with something. So what we do on the Monday night special is collectively as a show, we pick three things that are going to happen in the game, whether it's the spread, who's going to catch a touchdown, who's

going to throw one. We do three things. And this week's Monday night football, we have the Miami Dolphins going in to Pittsburgh. Miami is getting three and a half points. I think you got to take a, what do you want to do? Jake, you're usually good. You like the running back getting one? yeah the dolphins have uh devon a chan uh i think he might be questionable but if he plays that's definitely a good pick i think steelers money line might be a good pick if you guys think i like steelers money line and aaron rogers to throw one and then we need one more thing um we can do you don't like that because you took the dolphins this is what's going to be fucking hard no you're to wrap this up gregg has a life i care i care more about my pick than the

than the thing i'm that's fine go ahead i'm i'm i'm I'm fine with it. I'll roll with it. All right. Money line, Aaron Rogers, to throw one, and then we'll do the dolphins. We'll do the dolphins running back to score one. And there you go, whatever those odds are. And here's how you know Greg Olson was a great guest, and he's a gentleman, because he talks to parents and he says, I'm going to make your kid better. You know what I would do if I was you?

When the parent came to me, I go, dude, I'm fucking Greg Olson. Get out. I know what I'm doing. Get out of you. I don't know what I'm doing. That's the best part. I'm figuring it out as I go. Yes, dude, obviously check.

out the website and thank you so much for being on dude you were such a great guest so insightful and you made me really second guess all the times me and bill text each other saying take the points okay that's what we do put me on the group check we'll we'll share thoughts just don't text me while i'm on air uh that's awesome guys enjoy the games this week bet responsibly check me out at the edmond town hall theater this friday night in newtown connecticut uh and we will see you guys yeah we'll see you guys and youth dot ink check that out and gregg youth Greg, Greg does great stuff for people with heart conditions as well. So really unbelievable.

I wanted to shout that out before we go. Appreciate it. He's an all-around great guy. All right, Greg, thank you so much. Appreciate you, guys. This has been anything better. We'll see you next week. Thank you.