Fantasy Football Daily - Episode 42 | Take Talk

Episode Date: February 9, 2023

Hosts Brett Whitefield (@BGWhitefield) and Steven ORourke (@callmesteveo7) are reunited to give their Super Bowl LVII predictions, as well as debate about who would win in a fight: a human or a lion. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's time to the Fantasy Points podcast brought to you by FantasyPoint.com. Top level fantasy football and NFL betting analysis from every perspective and angle, from numbers to the film room with a single goal to help you score more fantasy points. Hello everyone and welcome into the Take Talk podcast. I'm Steve Noorak and as always I'm with my co-host Brett Whitefield. Brett, it's good to be back. How's it going? if senior bowl week was a heck of a time for you.

Yeah, it's awesome. Like, Steve, I'm so, I've been so inundated with draft stuff because, you know, not only am I doing the senior bowl, but I'm going to be producing most of content for our draft guide this year, it seems. Some other, we'll have some other draft content on the site. I'll be writing as well. So I forgot there was a Super Bowl yet to be played, Steve. Yeah.

So we have to preview that. We still have, like, the whole reason. we had the NFL season. I know. And there were, this like two week period, you just kind of get, like, I did at times

forget that football season was still, like, we're still here, you know, because now you're getting, I mean, the whole LeBron James thing happened, and basketball's heating up.

Oh, yeah. He's heating up. I'm starting to see XFL commercials. Like, the sports world is starting to move on. And then I got lost in it, too, and almost started moving on, too. so I get it.

But Brett, we're both foodies. And we, yeah, I feel like we've hit every major food benchmark on the calendar. And the Super Bowl is another one. Super Bowl is another one. The parties, the food comes out. People, you know, people start making all the greasy, awesome tasting stuff that you never would make almost any other occasion. And I can't, I'm excited for it. I'm almost more excited for the food Sunday than for the actual game.

That's not true, but it's close. It's up there. Like, I'm excited to talk about this. I love food. And I'm making a spread, and I have got a couple of guests coming. They're bringing extras to add to the spread. Nice. And I'm keeping it simple this year.

We went straight appetizer platter kind of vibe. Smart. You can ever be on the protein. Yeah, so I'm doing. So I'm doing five things for my guests And the guests are bringing their own things But the five things I'm doing So I'm having

Do it about five pounds of wings So we'll get those in the smoker We'll finish them on the air fryer To you know Kind of re-reheat as people are You know Getting hungry Right

I'm doing barbecue meatballs Slow cooked barbecue meatballs Homemade meatballs by the way Not not these really tough pre-packaged ones Good You know doing the homemade meatballs I'm doing homemade pizza rolls, which I sent you in Chris pictures of these pizza rolls I do. Yeah.

And they are very good, like ridiculously good. And it's the only carb I'll have this day or like simple carb, breaded type thing. Then I'm doing a shrimp cocktail with a homemade cocktail sauce that's super spicy the way I like it. Yes. Yeah. Like make you like you black out for a second and lose eyesight for like that quick second. That's the best. And then I'm doing mini pokey bowls.

Wow. That's a new one. Yeah, it's going to be a spread, bro. Lots of protein, pretty good healthy snacks, but tons of flavor still. So. And you're hitting, I'm excited. You're hitting a variety of, like, food nationality categories. Yes.

You got a little Asian flare. You got the American. You got a little Italian. The Italian. That's, that's a good thread. I have, I have. I have chorizo stuffed smoked jalapenos coming from my in-laws. So that you're dipping into some more of the Texas South Mexican feel.

Yep. And then I have a big charcutory board coming from my dad. Which you can't go wrong with a sharkoutary board. Can't go wrong with a charcutory. There's going to be a ton of meat and protein eat at this thing. Meats and cheeses. Yes. It's just going to be awesome.

So that's our spread. We went strictly just appetizers, but it's going to be so protein heavy that I think everyone will get plenty to eat. Oh, yeah. And it's going to be delicious, man. I'm super stoked. You should be. That's awesome. What about you?

We are, we're going to a party where we're bringing a dish to pass. I think we're going to bring two. I'm pushing for wings as well. I want to bring wings because I got to make sure wings are there. Because I feel like that's the Super Bowl. I don't know what. it is. It's mandatory.

It's mandatory. It's mandatory. And I think like, I've done wings the last six years on my own. Right. And before I did my own wings, I was ordering takeout just because I had to have wings on the Super Bowl. Exactly. Same here.

I don't think I've gone like now that I think about it, I'm like, I don't think I've consciously gone a year without having wings since I've been purchasing food for myself for the Super Bowl. Yeah. But yeah, we're going to do a similar idea. We're going to a place. Everybody brings a dish to pass. I want to do.

wings with like an Asian zing type sauce on top. And then we'll probably throw together this jalapeno corn and cheese dip that we make. You've told me about this. Yeah, with the bacon. We made it for Thanksgiving. I haven't had it since then, but I think about it regularly. Is this an Alyssa concoction? It's actually an Instagram influencer that she follows and I think has like her cookbook.

but all right it's so good i trust her culinary decisions because she's in the dessert she made yeah she gets it she's yeah she likes food she likes food she loves to cook food she's a strong independent woman but she likes to cook food and that's okay and that's okay but um yeah she loves to play with that stuff and so i'm just going to be like all right we need to bring a couple dishes to pass i'd like wings yeah like this and then she'll probably say well i want this and she'll make that too. And I'm excited because I know a lot of the people that were like going over with, they're all pretty culinary, culinarily talented, talented in the culinary arts, however you want to word that. But I'm probably,

you know, hopefully make it through the game. But I plan on just eating the whole time. How many people are going to be at this event of yours? I want to say it's going to be about 20. 20 to 20. Okay. So this is another topic of discussion I wanted to get into. I've been wanting to talk about this. Oh,

I'm interested. Chris and I have talked about this off, off air, of course, but are you at a point in your career now where it's hard to watch football with other non-football people? Yes, 100%.

This sounds really egotistical, by the way, but it's, there's a point to this. But yeah, so it is hard for you. 100,000. Do you feel like you just get asked literally a million questions? that and I feel like when I'm like watching and I think again this sounds so pompous and I really really don't mean for it to come off that way but like I'll start bitching about something that I see and then they have no clue that you're like yeah they're like what are you basing about and then I explain it and it's like deer in the headlights but the good thing is I do have my friend there who played football collegiate level you know was

Okay, cool. Starting right tackle. So, like, I can have that. You can be a safe place for you. He's my safe haven. Him and I, we can have those conversations and he gets it. We can bitch. And it's like, all right, we're on the same level here.

But I know, like, it feels like sometimes when I'm, like, watching a game with, like, other people, I'll, like, I'll start to complain or say something. And in my head, I'm like, that's not worth it. Because then it's either a long explanation that I don't want to do or it's just, like, stay. staring at me and then it's really awkward. Yeah, so I have, like, most of my friends, they like football, even my brothers, they like football, but they're not, they're not at a, I would say even like a, they're slightly above average football IQ guys. So what ends up happening?

And it's endearing in a lot of ways, but they ask me millions of questions when I'm watching the game. And it's like, I lose focus on the game and I'm spending time breaking down scheme. and concepts and they just want to get into my brain and like see the game the way we see the game which is cool like i said it's endearing but i'd rather do like a private you know face time call with you on a on a sunday morning going over some stuff before you know before the game's actually not it would be a better use of my time so um i do have one friend like you who uh you he played at wain state was a starting offensive tackle there for no way my friend went to way

state and started on offensive tackle. They probably know each other. He played. Yeah, either way. My friend Will, he, he's a good person to have because he likes to learn about the data analytics, but he also understands

scheme and concept very well. So he's not asking me a lot of those, you know, elementary questions, which is cool. But I'm just having my dad, his wife over, and then my wife's parents over. And it should be pretty low key. My dad is obviously

been around me a ton and he doesn't really you know pick my brain too much anymore and he's pretty high level himself actually so he doesn't he's not so super concerned with what I have to say which is good and then my in-laws they're just very loose football fans they don't care enough to even ask me

things that are going on so yeah which is great so it's gonna be a great loki time I'll be able to like zone out for four hours and just watch the game and right not be bothered but I stopped going to friendly Super Bowl functions a while ago because it's i just i enjoy watching the game so much it's just hard when there's 25 people around they're all yelling and screaming and it's yeah just not my just not my vibe at this point my

i mean that does sound pompous but um i work hard all year and i want to enjoy this freaking game man and that's fair and this is i would say this is in a way a litmus test because i was on the fence of like yeah i was going back and forth of i'm like okay do i do what we do what we want to go anywhere and do something or should like or do i just want to stay here i'm like i could win i could have it either way and i was like i'd i'll go be social because i feel like i haven't really been that social lately but it's going to be a litmus test and we'll see how it goes because i'm on the fence of like i could never go to a super bowl party ever again and i'd be totally fine so if it if it's like one of those where i'm like eh it was okay

If it's not at least like a six or a seven out of ten, I might scrap. This might be my last one. Going into my 30s, we might turn a new leaf, and it might just be Super Bowl at our house, similar to yours. Yeah. Oh, man, I'm prepared to get DMs this week about this, calling me pompous and a jerk and whatever. But it's okay.

It's okay. I'm prepared. By the way, that's a good announcement. I'm temporarily back on Twitter, at least for draft season. I'll be on a little bit. It is not a, it will not go back on my phone, but I do, I do, I'm logged in on my laptop. So I occasionally pop in there, promote, promote stuff going on at fantasy points and talk, draft with y'all.

So, um, yes. He has returned. That's a thing. He has returned. The dark night has returned. All right. See, well, we should talk about the Super Bowl probably. Yeah, probably.

We're here. We made it. All the hard work for these teams, for us, for everyone in the, in the, in the, in the, in the, the industry. It all kind of culminates to this. It does. I know, um, Vern Lundquist used to say the granddaddy of them all for the college football national championship, but I always felt like the Super Bowl was a granddaddy of them all. Yeah. I mean, the thing is the NFL doesn't really sleep anymore because we're going to go right from Super Bowl, the talk in free agency, to team building to team needs, to draft. And then you'll be evaluating draft classes all the way up until

mid-June and then you dive head first in a training camp it literally never ends yeah no 100% like do you get that like I've gotten the question where it's like are you excited for it to slow down and in my head I'd just say yes because I'm not going to like I'm not going to burden them with my with like everything in my head I'm like I mean slow down in the sense that like I'm not charting actively every day but I'm still like we're so watching football and but I always say yes when does that happen right right I mean it's a good break for you too. But yeah, this is, I think the two teams outside of the bills at times this year, it feels like the right two teams made it.

Would you agree? I mean, they are the two number one seats. If you were to look at the season as a whole, you know, I think there, obviously there's the people that are going to make the argument for, you know, what happened with San Francisco. and you know i it stinks you know such as life welcome to the NFL things happen but these are like definitively like like you said they're the two number one seeds they were the two teams that we kind of talked about all year as they were as they were as they were getting hot staying hot and i this i think it's a great matchup between the two teams oh yeah i mean

I don't remember exactly who we picked to go to Super Bowl preseason, but I know we had the Chiefs in there as one of the big options. I know we picked the Eagles to win that division, right? Yeah. And then even despite that early on in the season, we recognize the Eagles were about to have a special year. So I do agree that these are the right two teams. They're very well matched.

There's been a lot of talk, especially on Twitter this week, of, you know, oh, people are overstating how much better the Eagles rosters than the Chiefs, and the Chiefs have more than just a quarterback advantage. And when I look at it, I'm like, I don't think that's true. I do think the, the Eagles probably have a better, they're in a better situation, almost at every position except for quarterback and tight end. Yeah. Yeah.

Like, yes. That shouldn't be. Yeah. So it should be a great matchup because of that. Yeah. And I, like, I guess I understand being a little bit defensive, but also. Also, when you say that the Kansas City Chiefs just have a quarterback, that's okay because he's the most talented quarterback ever, probably, in the history of the NFL. And so just having a quarterback is a little bit different than any other situation in the NFL.

And that's okay because, you know, Mahomes by himself. We've talked about it all year. Like he had little to no improvement at his receiving core. He still put up 5,000 yards. He still put up 40 plus touchdowns. still, you know, was top five in the league and pass rating completion percentage over expectation. Name the statistic.

He was up there for it. And that's why, like, it's awesome. And that's, like, this is the matchup you want to see. You want to see this like vaunted Eagles pass rush with the back end that they have. And, you know, the past, I know, they've had games where they've slipped up. But overall, you know, their corners, their safeties have played really well this year. and it offers like a fun stylistic matchup between Mahomes and that secondary and that pass rush. Yeah, the difference from Mahomes to Hertz is enough that it makes up for the rest of the Eagles roster being superior to the Chiefs roster.

We'll find out how much, you know, if the Chiefs end up winning this game or if they win it by a lot, like you'll see how much more valuable Mahomes level player is to a team. But that said, like, let me ask you this, Steve. For each team, like, let's talk about how can the Chiefs beat the Eagles? Where do they exploit them? How do they win? Same for the Eagles. What do the Eagles have to do to get the dub?

I think the Eagles, it's like, just play your game that you've played all year. Don't try to, you know, play to the pace or anything of Kansas City. You don't get caught up in that. like Spagnola is going to play his defense. He's going to get aggressive at times. He's going to try to take his chances at, you know, getting to Jalen Hertz. That's just in his DNA. It doesn't matter who he's going to play.

He's going to send some corner blitzes off the edge. He's going to put his defense in some tight spots to try and make a play. And I think the key is just Philadelphia and Jalen Hertz not trying to press too much. Like you said, they have a more talented. roster. Defendively all around at like wide receiver matching up against Kansas City's Kansas City corners. Their offensive line matching up against the defensive line outside of Chris Jones.

But even then, like the Eagles have an offensive line that can match up and protect against Chris Jones unlike a lot of offensive lines in the NFL. And I think like I said, I think their biggest thing is just play their game. don't try to, you know, don't try to score a ton of points. Don't try to, you know, play at the pace of Mahomes. Just play your game, run the ball when you have the chances and just Jalen hurts. Play smart and, you know, pick off when the blitz has come because he's played well against the blitz this year. Yeah, this seems like a game to me that has to be an A.J. Brown game if the Eagles are going to win.

You know the blitz is going to be coming. You know, you know, the way the Eagles like to play, they like to put those, you know, secondary players in conflict and those linebackers, those slot corners and safeties. Like, if they're going to be blitzing and Hertz is going to be at the ball out quick, we need one of those crazy plays from AJ Brown where he's taking a slant, you know, 70 yards to the house. We need, we definitely need that. Yeah, because it's the strength on strength here is, is truly the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the. the Eagles offensive line who, you know, had, who protected Jalen Hertz. You've seen some of the pockets he's had this year. And statistically, they've lined up pretty well with everyone there up toward the top of the league and, you know,

quarterback pressure rate against and everything like that. But Kansas City comes in and they were second, they have the second best pressure rate in the NFL this year. Yep. At 37.8 percent. So I like, if the Eagles can keep Hertz clean. on a majority of snaps, that throws Kansas City off because they're not meant, they don't play the style of defense to guard for three, or three, four, five seconds. Like, they're planning on getting pressure to you and they want that ball out before three seconds at the

worst. Like, most of the time they want that ball out before about two and a half seconds. And I really do think this, that plays into Philadelphia's favor. Absolutely. So, so AJ Brown and Devante Smith as a duo combined for about a thousand yards and eight, or sorry, seven receiving touchdowns when blitzed. No other duo in the NFL is even remotely freaking close. Individually, they both rank inside the top 10. AJ Brown had over 530 yards receiving.

Only two players had more than him when blitz. He had four touchdowns when they were blitzed. Devante Smith was sitting at 445-ish, which was eighth in the NFL and three touchdowns. So Hertz has been amazing at getting the ball out to these guys when he gets blitzed. I think Spagnolo, if he's going to come in and be belligerent on playing his game, he's kind of playing right into the Eagles hand. The other thing you got to worry about too with those blitzes, Steve, is like if they don't, if they're not fitting gaps appropriately, the Eagles will hit a lot.

long run too like whether it's miles sanders or kenneth game mill or hurts coming out the back door on a read option like they're going to get gashed at some point because that is the risk with blitzing is like you're you're voiding your the second level of of defenders right right so you better have good you know good sound gap assignments and and fit those fit those runs pretty pretty excellently or else you're going to get gashed yeah i and like you said playing into philly string philly has the fifth fastest time to throw this season. Right. There are 2.17 seconds.

So like you said, it plays into their strengths, but Kansas City, it all comes down to their offense putting up points. I think we know, I think we know Philly's going to score points. I'm kind of anticipating, like, at least 28 points from Philly. I am at, like, if Kansas City wins this game, I think it comes down. Do they have to score 35 points or more? which they can do. It's just can't, like, how much do you trust their receivers to win against

Philly's corners and give Mahomes an opportunity? Yeah, I'm not sure on the point scored totals because, like, it's been since the last Eagle Super Bowl, actually. Every Super Bowl has been pretty low scoring. Yeah. I'm trying to think of, like, last year, was kind of underwhelming in that regard, right? There was less than 45 points scored.

Yep. The year before, the Chiefs scored nine points against Tampa Bay. A total of 40 points were scored in that game. I guess Chief 49ers went over 50. Yeah, that was like 51 or something, right? Yeah, and then Patriots Rams, 16 points scored. That was a bummer. So the last offensive banger was Eagles Patriots, 4133.

So, I don't know. I think it does seem like in tight situations like this defenses tend to play better than offenses do it seems that way to me at least true I just think that the eagles I think the eagles are going to put up points yeah like the Kansas City like Kansas City's defense has been pretty boom or bust all year and it is about creating turnovers creating sacks they're not a like grind it out defense. And I just, I just think, I think Philly's going to score points. I think Kansas City is going to have to match. I could be totally wrong, but it just feels like a situation where I look at Philly's offense against Kansas City's defense, and I feel good about them going over,

you know, 21, 28 points. Especially with the, Kansas City secondary is a little banged up. I know they're getting healthy, of course, but it seems like they might have some guys that are playing injured. The question for me is like, can they contain Chris Jones? Like he can wreck a game single-handedly. Yeah. Playoff Frank Clark is different than regular season Frank Clark as well.

True. So it's like, although I mean, he's going to have a pretty tough job with these tackles. But like, you know, how are they going to stop Chris Jones? What's the plan there? So, I mean, Dickerson's banged up, right? He's going to play, but he's banged up. Dickerson's banged up. Lane Johnson's.

He's obviously great, but. Lane Johnson's banged up a little bit, right? Yeah. So, yeah, and I imagine they're going to move Chris Jones around a lot similar to how they did it in the conference championship. That seemed to work well with them. And I think they'll move them around until they find an exploit a matchup, a guy or so, whoever, that he finally wins against. I imagine that's what they'll be looking for. It'll be kind of like pressure testing a wall where you kind of hit it.

he's trying to find the weak spot and then once you find the weak spot, just keep hammering it back like a ton. I have a feeling that's how they'll kind of deploy Chris Jones is early on in the game, passing situations, kind of move him around. And then once you find that guy that he can exploit,

just spam that matchup and see if you can get pressure on hurts. Yeah. It's going to be really interesting because I do think Philadelphia is probably capable of scoring points. My question is, like, are they going to revert to this ultra-conservative approach? A, to try to, you know, get the clock moving continuously. And B, like, they don't seem to want to get into these shootouts. It's been very rare this year where they're trying to do that.

So, like, I could see them really going for ball control. And, like, if Kansas City's not matching them stride for stride offensively, I could see Philadelphia kind of shutting it down and getting really conservative, trying to run the ball, hit those short throws. And I don't want to, like, be overdramatic about it, but it almost seems like a trap to me. Like, that's exactly what you don't want to do against Mahomes, right? Because there's really not a lead that's sacred with him.

I mean, it's, I don't know. That's my big concern. And there's been so many instances this year where Philadelphia gets a big lead and then they just take the foot off the gas. And they haven't necessarily gotten caught or anything, but it's like, this is the team that could catch them. right if that were to happen so yeah i agree i mean like you said the i think we've we we did it with manning in the past we've done it with brady we've now we're doing it with mohomes again it's this

yeah that this idea that like oh the best defense is a good offense and it's like it doesn't matter he can score like he can lead an offense and score touchdown in 45 seconds to a minute like the key you can put up points in 13 seconds like you said the key is just scoring and just keep scoring and never stop scoring. And hopefully, and hopefully you just wear them out or get to a point where they can't catch up to you anymore. If I'm, if I'm Sieriani,

I am calling plays offensively the same way regardless of what the defense is doing. If the defense is having success, I don't care. I'm still, I'm still going for the jugular. Now, granted, maybe you take a little less risks, you know,

maybe you stop chucking the ball downfield or whatever, but you still got to, you still got to keep your offense in position to score. Yes. On the flip side, Steve, so like the Chiefs, I don't know, I can't help feel like the Eagles should be favorite in this game. I agree. I don't, there's been so much talk about how the Chiefs are getting a layup here. And I don't, I don't know.

I just don't, I don't know how the Chiefs score points against this defense. Like, without some type of, I don't know, I don't see where they're going to get the big plays from. And I don't know that they, the Eagles defense is the defense. you want to nickel and dime against. Because they're so sound everywhere. Yeah. From their secondary to their pass rush, like it's not going to be an easy road having to go 15 plays on every drive.

Yeah, there isn't, when you look at their lineup, there isn't that go-to button you can push or play you can run or matchup you can exploit. I mean, Darius Slay against AJ Brown. That's two juggernauts against each other. Bradbury against Devanta Smith, that's, you know, I'd say Devonta Smith has a little bit of an advantage, or not Devontas, I'm doing this backwards. Yeah, you are, but that's.

And like, MVS against Darius Lay or Juju Smith against Darius Lay. Those corners have a big advantage. Nobody stands to him. Bradbury stands over everybody as well. Like there isn't a receiver that has a plus matchup in that. even Kelsey on the combination of probably using Douglas a little bit, using some of the, using their linebackers a little bit, bringing down safeties, like using CJ Gardner Johnson.

Like they have pieces in people they can try against Kelsey. And like even if it's one of those things where you let Kelsey get his 150 yards and that's fine, but you stop all the other receivers. I come away kind of thinking the same thing. I'm obviously not going to just wash away and say that Kansas City is done and their offense can't score, but it's going to be difficult. I think it's going to be difficult because Patrick Mhoun's also going to have to be super disciplined in the pocket because if there's one thing that Philly does, it's disrupt the pocket

and they can even when they have guys who are fast and athletic that could probably they can stick with mahomes a little bit yeah i mean with the amount of zone the eagles play steve like i like i like travis kelsey's going to have to have 20 targets in this game yeah like honestly like i don't know i'm like feeling defeated for the chiefs i guess which which is funny but it's It's true, man. Like, I don't see an easy path to victory for the chiefs at all. And, man, I do, especially the, and this is where it really, like, the chiefs have played money ball with their pass catchers this season.

And it worked. We've noted how it worked, and Mahomes still had a great season. But when you're going up against another juggernaut, I don't see how it works. Yeah, this is. Especially when their secondary is so good. Like it, you know what it reminds me of to use a cross-reference sport here is if the listeners, and I don't know how big of a basketball watcher, you are, Brett, but this reminds me, like this situation reminds me of the Atlanta Hawks back when LeBron was where it was with the

heat. And the Atlanta Hawks had a great lineup. They made it in the conference championship every year. And it was one of these things where it's like they're the no superstar lineup. They don't have any superstars. they just have a bunch of really good players who play really well together awesome starting five and they would get trounced by the heat every year they it's 40 4-1-4-0 like easy it was a cake walk and that's what this feels like where like yeah yeah every other time like the piece work you know every man

for each other work together like nobody's bigger than nobody's bigger than the system itself kind of thing it works on a week to week basis when teams have an entire season to think about but like for what you have Mahomes as a trump card that works against most teams that's that as well but like when it comes to two weeks of prep for one team with everything on the line it's hard to look at it and say and confidently say yeah I think that MVS can win his matchup eight times on Sunday to produce a plus play. Yeah. And then I believe that Juju Smith Schuster or Cadarius Tony can win six times against their guy.

Because that's what it takes. Like if you think about it. I think it's going to take more than that, Steve. Like they're going to need 12 to 15 play drives every time they get the ball. Like, because I just don't see. big plays unless Tony has a play where he breaks five tackles and you know goes for 70 they're they're not working the ball downfield well I just I don't see it man like it's gonna take so much like how many plays does the Holmes have to make in this game even if he makes 10 is that enough

so like he he moves the chains 10 extra times is that enough I don't even think it is it's and that's what it'll take now do you see Philadelphia Philadelphia has been okay against the run this year. I, okay to below average against the run. Do you see Andy Reed kind of trying to build off of a run game here first? I mean, is that, is it crazy to say that like McKinnon and Pacheco potentially get 25 carries combined, like combined, obviously not a piece, but like 25 plus carries combined between the two of them? Is it completely out of the question? No.

It just more plays to my point that this is going to take an insane effort. Right. Yeah, so you're going to try to score running the ball. Cool. You're still having to go 15 plays to drive. At some point, you're going to get stopped. You're going to settle for a field goal. If I'm Nick Sariani and you have the option of, hey, the chiefs are going to try to score by running the ball or they're going to just unleash them a homes.

You're going to pick running the ball. Cool. please be my guest come out with a run heavy game plan i'd love that that plays right into our hand right we want the clock to get run down we we know our run game is superior we know our short passing game is superior our offensive line is better our d line is but yeah cool yeah let's make it a battle of the trenches see how that works out for you kid the city i agree i mean you're right i just i like i don't want to diminish that andy read is a very good game it's very good at game play 100 And, you know, equally, you know, to the point that the Eagles have played well and, you know, know, know, how to scheme things up.

Andy Reed knows how to scheme things up. And I don't want to take that out of them. I do believe that Kansas City pulls out four to five trick plays. Like, this feels like that game. This is, if I had to guess, they understand the situation they have with their skill players. They know, like, and I believe that Andy Reid's one of the. best trick play designers in the NFL. I have a feeling this is a game where he's going to have, like he's going to have to and is going to go into that bag a few times to try to create a

competitive advantage, get a quick score, something, anything to just like flip the table a little bit. Because that's what this, that's what this game feels like where we've been saying it, like, straight up, Eagles, Chiefs, like, I'm picking the Eagles probably like eight, seven, eight times out of ten. Yeah. I mean, the Reed is a better head coach than Siriani. I think Syrian is very good. He's still very young, though.

Yes. But Reed is, he's an X factor. Mahomes is an X factor. Kelsey's an X factor. Yes. Everything else favors the Eagles in this game. Yes. So does that mean that there's no chance of Chiefs win?

No. Like you said, I'd probably pick the Eagles seven out of ten times. and who knows maybe the game that actually gets played Sunday will be the Chiefs, but I'm picking the Eagles to win this game for what it's worth. Yeah, I also...

I'm going to bet accordingly that way as well. Yeah, I like when I saw the lion come out and I think right now the line's at about minus one and a half toward the Eagles, I think, is it? I think it flipped that way. I haven't looked since Sunday, but...

Yeah, it's been a minute since I've checked, but I... I came into this game, you know, I think one of the best things you can do as a, as a football fan and especially someone who's going to gamble is, you know, look at a game beforehand and make, make up what you believe the line would be before you look at the professional Vegas lines and, you know, kind of see how they match up. And I had this at like Eagles three and that, minus three and a half was where I thought the line would land. But, you know, it sat around minus one. I think it's teetered back and forth between the two of them. And I, same as you, I'm betting, I would will and would bet the Eagles accordingly because it's just, it's going to take a Herculane effort from Mahomes and Andy Reed. And yes, are they the two people that I would bet the most money to pull off a Herculane effort in a situation like this?

Absolutely. but that's you know you can't you can't bank on that actually happening every time like they've done it before they did it in 2019 against san francisco they've done it in games here and there like it sometimes just doesn't work out and i it just with the talent deficit that they have this feels like it might be one of those times that's basically where i'm at that's almost exactly a good summary of where i'm at is like i just don't like can mohomes pull it off can read pull it off with some great you know coaching surprises yes do i want to constantly count on them to have to pull off this herculean effort no i don't and i i'm just not count like the eagles roster is just too good to let

it happen i think um i'm not super convicted though but i i am picking eagles it is minus one 1.5 favorite eagles right now yeah i think yeah if if the kansas city chiefs win i think it's we see a big game from MVS or Cadarius Tony. It has to be a massive game. It have to be a massive game, but those are the two guys that have somewhat difference-making skills outside of Travis Kelsey Mahomes, like the two receivers that have a difference-making ability.

Now, Cadarius Tony is a little dinged up. He's had two weeks. He said there's no way he's not playing. And we've seen him, we've seen his talent before. He's a guy that I think they need to test the limits and try and get him the ball because he can make a play. He can, he can turn a three-yard perception into a 50-yard touchdown. And that's the type of plays they're going to need. Completely minor note, they need to probably dress an extra receiver this week.

Like they can't get into a situation like they did against Cincinnati, but they had two receivers left. That would be a death nail. We can't be like, yeah, we can't be relying on like Fordson to be, you know, running double-digit snaps in the second half. That's not, yeah, that's not going to win this game. Yeah. All right. So you're picking the Eagles?

I am. I'm picking Eagles. Yeah. It pains me to pick against my homes, but I just think it's one of those where you have to. I like I like both teams too I like the Eagles a little bit better because they've got some of my favorite players

you know in AJ Brown and Slay and Hertz those are like my dude Jason Kelsey Lane John like I love those as Brainy Graham so I love to see especially like Graham and Kelsey get another ring before their career's over yeah so I do really really like the Eagles team but I love Patrick Mahomes I love Travis Kelsey like I it's it's gonna be a fun one to watch

as a football fan like I just can't wait to sit back and actually enjoy the game but yeah, Steve, I wanted to end the podcast with something funny today. Are you good on Super Bowl talk? Yeah, I'm good. All I was going to say is the last thing I want to say is that if Mahomes wins this, I think that this is like, this is a, like, he's had career defining wins, but this is like one of the moments. Like this is a moment that puts him to like the next tier where, you know, like unquestionable.

Yeah. All of that. like I'm already willing to probably call him top five QB of all time but like this definitely stamps it and at this point he's he's chasing Brady if he wins this. That's exactly what I was going to say if he wins this he is he is one B

and he's chasing hard the guy that just retired and is now putting up you know he's on his own now as far as active players so I agree with that all right I wanted to finish this with something fun because something, I just saw something hilarious that just made me really think, like, why are people the way they are? Oh, these are my favorite questions. Apparently in a poll, 8% of Americans think that they could win a life or death battle against a lion.

Eight percent of people. I got to know who these people are, Steve. It's not me. You don't think you could beat a lion in a hand-to-hand combat, life or death fight? I think I'd last 0.8 seconds. I think I'd get one good punch across the jaw, and then that would make it angrier, and that'd be screwed. 14% of Americans thought they could beat a gorilla. That's absurd.

That's absurd. I think a gorilla is probably scarier than a lion. I agree. A gorilla could open palms slap you and cave your face in. Yeah, and like. And that'd be for fun. Primates are some of the most aggressive creatures on the planet. Like a chimpanzee. I don't even think a human could beat a chimpanzee in a fight.

No, and like, because like a big part of it is that, you know, they're so much leaner muscle than we are. Yes. Like they're so much more sculpted than we are. And also they don't have like, we have. we have the ability to kind of like temper strength a lot better. Like we control our strength. Like, Yeah,

our intelligence gets in our own way. Even when you're like at your blindest, you're seeing red most angry, you still have control over like the strength that you put, you output. They don't have that. If they're seeing red, you're dead.

Yeah, exactly. Here's one that's even fun. So 14% of the Americans thought they could beat a gorilla in hand-to-hand combat and a fight to death. Only 15% of the Americans thought they could beat a kangaroo, which a kangaroo, I think, is an easier win. But like a lot. The fact that people think there's only a 1% difference there is crazy. Yeah.

I've actually seen videos of humans beating kangaroos and fistfights. Yeah, I've watched. I've seen a video of a guy going to get his dog and like slapping a kangaroo across the face and stunning it and walking away. Like, yeah, but there are videos. Like, Australians do that. Like, yeah, all the time. All the time.

Because, well, kangers have such a different temperament. They're not predators. Right. You know, gorils aren't necessarily predators either, but they,

they are very territorial where kangers aren't. So you punch a kangaroo in the face. He's not, he's going to stop fighting you and he's going to run away. He's like, what the hell does happen? That's usually what happened. He's like,

what the, right. This guy's tough, you know? But so the fact, I thought it was just hilarious, Steve, that 15,

set of Americans thought they could beat a kangaroo, but like only one percent less of them thought they could be to gorilla. Yeah. And so follow up question to this, what's the, in your mind, what's like the biggest, the most vicious animal that you think you could take in hand-to-hand combat? This is a good, this is a great question. I think I'd have to say a singular, and I could be wrong. So like if you think I'm way off, let me know.

a singular wolf not a pack of wolves but i think i could fight off one wolf i don't think that i maybe it's three as long as you keep it away from your neck maybe it's me just having the 300 in my head and like yeah yeah 14 year olds did it so like i don't i don't think it's unreasonable i like yes like you said it's it's just the like if you can even like keep a jaw all open or anything in that arena. Like, that's all it's got. Like, it's not, it doesn't have super, super sharp claws or anything like that. Yeah.

I don't know. That's a, I think that's a good one. As long as you keep it off your neck, you're good. Right. Because you can even still take a shoot. Yeah, you can take a bite to the arm, the leg. And even then you could like use that as an opportunity to wail on it. while it's hooked up while it's latched on you.

And again, temperament comes into play. I think a singular wolf, you deliver enough blows, it's going to retreat for self-preservation. Right, right. We're like, I don't think a lion has that switch. Even if you got the first blow on the lion,

I think he's going to basically say F you, bro. He's still going to kill you. Yeah. You know, bro like a wolf. I think if you landed the right strike with like an elbow or a kick, I think you could scare it enough to have it back off. Yeah.

So what about a crocodile? or an alligator. Maybe not like a Nile crocodile. Those things are freaking huge, but like a Florida gator. Like an eight foot gator. Yeah, like a eight foot, yeah, definitely not like one of these monsters, but like an eight foot gator. I mean, if you have the...

You have a chance because all you have to do is get its mouth close. Like they're, because it's a fun fact. They're so strong, though, dude. Yeah, but fun fact about alligators is it like, all it takes is like two fingers. They have the open pot, like the jaw open. power of like it's like so minuscule their closing power is insane but the opening power of their jaw you can like keep them like closed with just like two fingers i think i could be totally please someone

tell me if i've learned this completely wrong because i feel like i've heard that watching like i'm pretty sure like that's the case it's just a matter of yeah keep it on dry land and keep yourself wrapped around its head and you've got i think you've got a chance but But they'll start rolling too. Yeah. So I feel like I'd be very confident if I was able to surprise attack the alligator. But if we had to square off face to face, like an actual fight, would I be able to get behind it before it snapped my head off?

I don't know. Because you definitely have to get behind it to win that fight. And you got to watch out for the tail because that tail can. Oh, true. That tail can come in. True. That thing's a beast of its own. come and flap it around and smoke like if it like if it takes you in the shin if it hits you in the

shin you at least got to regroup you know in the words of like yeah in the words of bill burn one of his comedy like you're going to have to at least take a second and step out and regroup before you can go back into the fight like it might not kill you but it's going to hurt so true oh man what about an eagle yeah i like i feel like you'd have no chance to be honest like if he You'd get one shot, like you'd get one, one or two shots. Like, if you can in the first couple, if the first couple swoops down, if you can, like, time it, time the strike, like a cat almost and bring it to the ground, then you win. But if something's like swooping by and just like, I don't know, like taking a chunk out of your shoulder and your head as it's just like doing you turns on you back and forth. Right.

Plucking your eyes and you're jugging. right right oh and also those things are strong they could probably like lift you off the ground if it wanted to do you think any no way probably not i don't know i see them lift some pretty heavy things that's true that's true um well anyways i thought that was hilarious i couldn't believe that 8% of americans i feel like that's got to be an american thing right like you go anywhere else in the world is 8% of their population say they could they could beat a line in the fight or 14% could beat a gorilla. Yeah. That's insane.

Do you think it is that we just have no exposure to like wildlife here in the United States outside of like going to the zoo and then at that point. No, all we see is enclosures and we're like, I can beat that thing. No exposures and like elevated hubris, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Guys probably like I could put my affliction t-shirt on and go out there and beat the hell out of a gorilla.

You know? Right. Right. Dude, I just got to get out. I know. I watch UFC, man. I know the right stuff to do. I'll just take some pre-work out.

I'll get amped up. I'm going to go. Yeah, exactly. I'd done lifted 500 last week. I could smoke that gorilla. Because I feel like if you asked, like, if you asked Australia, they would just laugh at you. And they'd be like, no, I'm like, yeah, I just know how to not get eaten when I go outside. But I'm terrified of everything that's out there.

Yeah. There's so many places in the world that'd be so crazy to live in just because the threats all around you all the time. Right. Oh, man. And that's what it's like playing the Philadelphia Eagles. Beautiful segue. Or tie-in. That's a tie-in.

There's threats everywhere, and you can't escape them. They'll just keep coming at you. Yes. All right, let's wrap it up, man. I think that's a good spot to stop. Next week, we'll be back. We're going to do probably some, Brett and Steve's all pro teams will review them.

Yep. I think Steve, what we'll do is you and I will build the team before the pod and then we'll kind of unveil the team and then talk about each guy quickly as we get to the team. I like that. Does that work? Yeah, I like that.

Maybe we can even turn this into a piece of content on the site. I don't know. I'll have to talk to the content peeps and the editors about about that, but that might be cool. That would be. I like that. I like that idea. Yeah, well, we've got some fun stuff coming up for the off-season. Yeah. We're not going to leave anybody hanging. We're going to keep, like you said, with the draft content from you on the site,

we're going to keep coming at you with the podcast with draft and free agency and all of that. Yep. The off-season's fun. I love the off-season. The season's great. There's endless amount of things to talk about. It just keeps going. The cycle and the news cycle never stops. It's awesome.

Yep. All right, cool. Make sure you're checking out the content on the site. The draft stuff will be flowing plentiful on there. I know as far as Super Bowl goes, we've got some cool stuff from Hanson on the site. Tom Brawley's done his betting piece, I believe. Tons of, if you're a subscriber, tons of awesome content.

I do know that some of the drafts up coming up, too. If you're not a subscriber, will be not paywalled, which will be pushing you towards subscribing, because you're going to read this and be like, oh, my gosh, I need more of Brett's draft takes, so I'm going to subscribe and get those, plus all the awesome fantasy stuff. We're going to be launching our consumer-facing data product, finally in the next few months here.

That's going to be huge. You're going to want to be subscribed for that. So make sure you're looking out for plans and stuff as that gets unveiled. Anywho, we are out of here. I am your host, Brett Whitefield. This is Stephen O'Rourke, and we are out. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points podcast. Remember to subscribe, rate, and review on your favorite platform,

and come join the roster at FantasyPoint.com.