First Things First - Anthony Davis traded to Wizards, Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, & Charles Woodson join, Nick’s Tiers

Episode Date: February 5, 2026

(0:00) Anthony Davis traded to Wizards, James Harden traded to Cavaliers (28:05) Will the Patriots get blown out? (40:14) Can Shedeur Sanders ‘dominate’ the league? (47:48) Ja’Marr Chase & Tee Higgins join the show (01:00:03) Nick’s Super Bowl LX Position Group Tiers (01:14:04) Charles Woodson joins the show (01:27:43) Packed Stats, Will the Cavaliers win the East?  (01:51:14) Cooper Dejean joins the Show (02:00:54) Expect a MVP performance from Drake Maye? (02:09:25) Danny’s Gambling Rules for Super Bowl LX Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Live from New York. It's a show that got a talking to this morning. Here's the other thing, Brew. I didn't even include this piece of it. Well, I want what's best for the show. And I told him, in all seriousness, I'm not built to be the likable. That's true. But the show's gotta have somebody.

He's like, dude, you can't be unlikable. You can't. Just because I mention it. I'm just, I'm just, don't even mention it. Just because I'm surfacing the idea that Drake May might play okay against the Seattle. That we might get to 20 points. That's not what you're surfaced. I don't know.

Philip Rivers almost did. And that maybe, just maybe the Patriots defense will be able to shut down Sam Darnold, just like the Colts did. That's all I'm saying. Philip Rivers, if people are not giving me that Drake May and Matthew Stafford are on the level. Uh-huh. People don't, even though it makes sense to me, no one's buying it. I say, fine.

I lay my cards now. How about Philip Rivers, not even prime Philip River? Yeah. Right now. The guy almost won the game and beat the Seahawks. Wilds? Boom, I'm back. Nice start.

Headsworth star today. All right. I'm just after brook. It's an audience of one. First hour of first things for today. Speaking of, people who don't believe, this one hurt my feelings. I like this guy. One NFL superstarts, Pat Sertan is predicting that Patriots get absolutely crushed by the Seahawks.

Also, Christian Gonzalez asked him for his jersey. He's like, yeah, I'll get you later. And Christian was like, man, you think you're going to score 30, you're five points on me. Meanwhile, Jumar Chase and T. Higgins, fresh off of him. of a good offensive season in Cincinnati and a great flag football game, join the show, along with Charles Woodson. Separate segment. That's a fantastic show.

And finally, special Super Bowl edition of Tears. This time it's position groups, which I really liked. Yes. Alongside Chris Brasari, Kevin Wilde. Anybody on the bubble of the position groups? No, all position groups that accounted for. But I do have, I don't want to throw the show in disarray, but I do have some breaking news. We are starting with the NBA.

Los Angeles Lakers Center, Jackson Hayes, your guy. Don't do this. I want to miss. Has been suspended one day. Without pay for pushing a mascot. That's true. What mascot? I don't know.

I was at the game last night. I didn't see the net guy get hurt. I don't know. The net's had a mask. I'm just telling you. It's suspended. That's baffling. For pushing a mascot.

Can we research that, Josh, unfortunately? We're starting with the trade deadline. Anthony Davis headed to Washington. Here's some highlights. This is not. These are the highlights. From this season, that's all we got. Not nice.

Show some awesome Anthony Davis highlights. The Mazz trading AD, Jane Hardy, DeAngelo, Russell, and Dante X-M. Headed to Dallas, Chris Middleton, three other players, Marvin Bagley. And five picks, two firsts and three seconds. Brewer, get your reaction. I don't want to ruin the segment.

I don't feel like this Luca thing worked out for Mavis. They were so lucky. In all seriousness, the fact that they were able to get Cooper flag, they are so lucky. Because if it wasn't for that, they might as well fold up the franchise. Yeah, I mean, it was terrible. So look, this is just blah. I mean, I can't advocate a franchise building around or including Anthony Davis in like some serious, like, this. Like this is who we are.

This is we're going to make our run with Trey Young and Anthony Davis. Now, sure, if they would both be healthy, Trey's not even healthy right now. We know Anthony Davis isn't. That's what Dallas was going to do. And Anthony Davis has played 29 games since the Luca Trey. 29. He hasn't played more than 57 games in like the last five or six years.

And so he's a great player. will be in the Hall of Fame, rightfully so. And he's not even that old. He's 32. But he is in his 14th season. And I don't understand why they would do this. He's locked up. Washington.

Okay. I understand. I think Dallas was right to start shopping him, and I guess it's the best they could get. Now, initially I looked at, oh, wow, they got some five draft picks to build around Cooper Flag and all that. But two of them, the first rounders are, this year's O KC, which is obviously going to be low.

And then in 2030, Golden States pick, which I guess could be okay. Hold on. But it's protected. Top 20 protected. Right. It's protected. I didn't even know that one. Top 19, I think I actually protected.

And then you got three second rounder. So I would have kept Anthony Davis and seen if I could get something better than it. Because all the players, the young players are, they don't even play much for Washington. And then you got Chris Middleton who's probably getting bought out. Yeah. And so, KW, you set it on the front end. But now the final, we can do a final evaluation, assets in, assets out from, because Luca was traded just like a year or two days ago.

So they've traded away Luca Donchich and Anthony Davis, along with Maxi Kleba, Mark, Keith Morris, Jaden Hardy, Danzel, or Russell, and Dante Exum. They have gotten back. Max Christy, Chris Middleton, A.J. Johnson, Branham, Bagley, who was taken ahead of Luke in Lucas draft, and three firsts. Those firsts are, as Bruce said, OKC's this year,

the Lakers in 29, which is a Lakers team that will have Luca Donchich on it, so I doubt it will be drafting the top five, and a heavily protected Warriors pick. It is obviously the, The Luca trade was a disaster, but a sub-disaster is getting this little out of one year of Anthony Davis and then Anthony Davis on the trade market. To Bruce's point, the fact that you got no playoff run with Anthony Davis, the fact that by my reading of it, you are trading Anthony Davis when his value is, you got less for Anthony Davis. Nathan Davis markedly less than the Grizzlies got for triple J. Yeah.

And so that's not good business. Like, why would you do it now? I don't. Why the urgency? Why couldn't you do it in a summer? I don't understand the Mabbs, and I think Bruce's point is correct. They have Cooper flag, and they're happy about that. And they got the lottery gods blessed them.

Sure. And I truly, I said it, you know, a year ago, say it again. I really have real sports empathy for Mabbs fans, because I feel. like something was stolen from them, and, you know, they didn't deserve that. For Washington, I think this is a great move. So I disagree with you in this. Yeah, because to me, Brew, it is very little risk with potential very high upside. Like, I don't look at anything they traded away as something they're going to in four years

be like, damn it. Like that, that's our version of trading. away a young SGA and now he's come back to be a league MVP and it's a lot of money you're going to have to pay Anthony Davis. But it's a lot of money but it's you, the wizards

are not known to sign huge free agents and so now they have, I would argue, if you are going to have a team with Trey Young on it, you must have someone like Anthony Davis on it. And someone that can erase some of the defensive

deficiencies. And so for next year it makes the Wizards intriguing and I like the fact that the Wizards are doing something that is not very in vogue for teams where the Wizards have been living the last few years which is what if we try to win some games?

That would be nice. And I think that so I like that. I like it if AD is healthy. Yeah. And I'm sure he'll play at least half the season next year. So they'll look good in those games. Alex Tsar is a good young player. But you guys are ruling out the idea

that he's just there for a quick pit stop and might be headed somewhere else? Here is the, I'm not ruling it out, but that, it would be, if they flip him, I guess here's my point. I can't imagine the Washington Wizards if they are offered the exact equivalent of what they just gave up for Anthony Davis

that they would trade Anthony Davis. If someone's like, hey, here's four guys we don't really play or care that much about, and two mediocre first round pitch, mix for AD. I think they'd be like, that's outrageous. No one would trade Anthony Davis for that.

He doesn't fully fit. I mean, Trey is not a young player. I mean, he's. No, he's. But I don't think he fits the timeline for them. Trey and then Alexar. Alexar is nice. He's 17 points, eight rebounds a game this year,

only a second year, seven footer, two blocks a game. So I don't think AD even fits a timeline with them. Like, Trey should have a long, much long. longer career going forward if he's healthy. You know, it's fine. I mean, they got better for sure. It's just an injury-prone star. I kind of feel, I know how you said you have sports empathy for mass fans.

They're going to be all right. Yeah, they're going to be fine. Cooper flag is true. You just kind of attach yourself to Cooper Flag's journey. I feel bad for AD. You went from a champion to like maybe we'll make a run with LeBron to now I'm trade it. Now I'm in Washington.

Yeah, it's not like he asked out of L.A. So I understand that. He didn't ask out of the Lakers. They traded him for Luca without him knowing it was coming. And to now be, so I understand that. And I don't blame him for the injuries. His body is just not held up. I mean, the last injury, it was like this.

Yeah. And he dislocated her finger. All right. He's almost missed, I think he's missed 29 games so far this year. All right, back to the Super Bowl. Drake May hasn't quite looked like himself. self this post season. Great defenses, bad weather, nerves, injury. Up for debate. Here are how the numbers shake out. Oh, completion percentage, yards, pass, or winning,

all way down. Wins way up. He's undefeated. As this postseason struggle changed how you view Drake May. Not at all. Oh, that's not one iota. Because in the playoffs, it's about winning. Oh, good. You, Nick did his Super Bowl tiers or Mahomes Mountain of quarterback, performances in the Super Bowl. Peyton Manning, John Elway, and Ben Rothersberger didn't even make it. What was it, the top 20? Top 20. So they didn't even make it the top 21.

And those are two of the arguably top five quarterbacks of all time, and all three of them are Hall of Famers. But nobody thinks about that. You just think they won multiple Super Bowls. Nobody holds it against Peyton Manning at all that he wasn't great. Or Elway, that they weren't great in those Super Bowls. So this is about winning. number one. So I'm fine with that because he has one. Secondly, he has faced three top

10 defenses. I mean, very few quarterbacks can say they face that type of murderers role, so to speak, defensively, and it's going to get even tougher in the Super Bowl. And unlike a lot of the guys, Nick, that have been making, that have played poorly in the playoffs, he has at least countered a lot of his poor play. And really, it's just fumbles. I mean, he hasn't been is accurate and all that. But fine. Like I said, you're playing tough defenses. In Denver, at least the weather was a problem.

You've been under major duress from the past rushes. But I think it's mainly been him fumbling the football. But what he's done is he has countered all of those mistakes with great plays. The highlight reel passed to Kashan Booty again in the second round against Houston for the touchdown. Now, the runs against Denver. I mean, he literally won that game for them with his leg. So I get that he hasn't played as well as he did in the playoff or in the regular season. But I think he's shown moxie.

He's shown that I can overcome adversity, that if I start poorly, I'm not going to melt as a young player. So I'm impressed with what he's done. Impressed is too far for me. It hasn't changed how I. view him because while I didn't necessarily expect him to struggle to this degree, him struggling somewhat is what I expected. I think the person on the desk who would probably change to how he viewed him the most is

KW. Yeah. Because KW got very upset with us when we said before his first playoff game he might struggle. He never seen it. I've never seen it. Now I've seen it. And going into his most recent playoff game thought that he was going to light up

the Denver defense. Neither of which happened. But I also think we can be fair to the player without being patronizing. I'm just saying you're being patronizing. And that the level of drop-off is bordering on unprecedented territory. It has not mattered. And if they win Sunday, it won't

matter. But as far as passer rating or completion percentage from the regular season of the playoffs, here's what it looks like, where it's the second biggest drop in passer rating in a postseason in the last 30 years. Now, Peyton won the Super Bowl that year, to your point, so nobody cares. It is. I mean, is it one part of that because you have to have kind of a pretty high passer rating to.

No, of course, right. I mean, that's right, but that's why it's a drop off, right? I'm not saying it's the worst playoff performance of the last 30 years, but as far as a drop off. It is from completion percentage, which again, was one of his. calling cards. It is the biggest drop-off ever. And this is of the last 30 years, the graphics, but it's the biggest drop-off ever.

And again, he had a really high. He had a really high- but his playoff numbers, if they were regular season numbers, this is where they would rank. That's what it is. I don't know why you're like you. Go ahead.

Where do they rank compared to other guys this play? Because he's out, and I get Stidim, who can. He's outplayed all the quarterback's face, and two of them are big name guys. Absolutely. So I don't, I think I don't know where it is on these. Because for those guys, you know, for Herbert and Stroud, whatever it is, I don't, I mean, I don't know. Go ahead, KW.

You had a visceral reaction to this. It's just what the number. Tell me. I don't know what Justin Herbert's completion percentage or passer rating was. It was against. against the Patriots. It was worse than this. That's what I'm, okay, and what C.J. Strauss.

It was worse than this. Yeah, they were worse. That's what I'm saying. It's like, I don't know. That just, I think it's an odd graphic. And remember that was the second weekend of the playoffs. Bo Nix was the best quarterback. So we've seen a lot of bad quarterback performances in this playoffs.

I'm not, I am not arguing. He has been the worst quarterback. in these playoffs, I am saying it is noteworthy that he has a worse completion percentage in these playoffs than any single quarterback had in the NFL all season, that it's worse than Shador's completion percentage. We're about to talk about him. I think it is noteworthy that a player who in 17 regular season games had 11 turnovers in three playoff games has five.

I think it's noteworthy that a player that in 17 regular season, season game games had it was not a super high fumble rate player had eight fumbles in the playoffs has six it doesn't change how I view him but I also think it is that it is not unfair or inaccurate to say a lot of the Patriots success this postseason has been in spite of play from their quarterback now he has had great moments but well I mean I I I feel I feel like they won the Chargers game and the Texans, the Broncos game in spite of Drake May's play. I think that in those two games, do they get that field goal, the game winning field goal without him? No.

No, well, I mean, they don't score any points without him, but I, but I think that they, I think that he was, and I, in the EPA stuff that you guys sometimes like, back that up, that he has been, it's been, it's been. overall he has had a negative impact. It doesn't change how I view him, but I don't know how else to read. It's just hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that he's had a negative impact. Yeah, when you say in spite of that that's like saying he's been killing him, but they've still been able to win. Well, I thought, so I thought the Texans game, he made some grievous errors and some awesome plays that, you know, to offset it, which is why I did not include that.

I thought the Chargers game, he was bad. And I thought the Broncos game, everyone can acknowledge. He had, he completed 40% of his passes and had 40 yards in the first half when the weather was perfect. I did not. I thought he was bad. I thought that the story of this playoff run so far has been brilliant defensive play. Vrable's done great. He's had his moments.

Like, I don't, I don't, you seem stunned by what I'm saying. I don't know what to, I don't know how you view this play. I just think it's a little odd to compare. playoff numbers and regular season numbers. Here's the counter. If he beats the Seattle Seahawks, he will be the only quarterback in the history of the NFL to beat four top five defenses. Right now, he's on this list with John Elway and Troy Aikman. He is one of two quarterbacks, or excuse me, one of three quarterbacks who have beaten three top five defenses. Those L-Way beat two, and then in the Super Bowl is third, same with Aikman and Super Bowl.

So he's trying to beat four. So I know. Those teams, they had the buy, right? So those teams played, they were three for three. Yes, they already were hosted. Once they won their third game, they were holding the trophy. Drake has to beat four. So we talk about like hardest, hardest paths a lot.

He will literally have the hardest path, not as a team necessarily, but for a quarterback going against the best defenses. no one's had a path this hard. So, yeah, I think combined that with the weather, we can throw it away, or we can say it's too big of a deal or not a big enough deal at all. Truth is probably somewhere in the middle. I think that affects it.

So to me, I don't think he's played like an MVP, but I don't think he's been, you know, a negative on the Patriots. So I think you can give them credit for how difficult of a path this would be as far as defenses they've faced, while also saying what I'm saying, which is he's looked like they have played brutal defenses. And I agree with Bruce's point that it doesn't change how I view him. But I don't, I think it is the, it is not an honest reflection of how I feel to sit here and say, I think Drake May, forget, has played an MVP level, has played well these playoffs.

I do not think Drake May has played well these playoffs. I think it is a remarkable testament to the Patriots as a whole that they have won these games and won two of them semi-comfortably, like it was close in the fourth quarter, but then they pulled away, despite the fact that their quarterback has not played well. And I don't think that five touchdowns to five turnovers or 55% completion percentage, if you guys were bothered by the fact that I had where that would rank in the season, we can remove that from the graphic. I think that's self-explanatory to a quarterback that is struggling. And there might be a lot of reasons for it, but I think it's a quarterback that is struggling particularly throwing the football. I think he has been good running the ball when he hasn't fumbled.

Very good running the football. And so that's, I mean, I don't, I mean, that's just how I do it. I just think it's not in a vacuum. I mean, like while I said, he's facing the best defenses in the league. He's literally facing the toughest run defense against defenses of any quarterback. like that we can think of. So he's also in his first playoffs. Tom Brady threw one touchdown, one interception in his first run to the Super Bowl.

Yeah. In the whole playoffs. Yeah. So Elway, in that run, Elway had three total touchdowns in his three games. Yeah, he's got four. He had three against the Texan. So look, yeah, it's not supposed to be easy. If you're going to, you know, you're 23 years old, you're going up against great defenses.

You're not supposed to be putting up Jets type numbers again. All right. back to the NBA. If you want to collect James Hardin jerseys, expensive habit, 36-year-old is now on his sixth team after a two-and-a-half-year stint with the Clippers. The Cavs currently eight games out of first behind the Pistons, Knicks, Celtics, and Raptors. But with this trade, odds shot up, and they are now favored to win the East, and their title odds are pretty good, too.

Did the Cavs get closer to winning a title? Yes. They are better today. than they were yesterday. All right. James Harden is better than Darius Garland. Darius Garland is hurt. He hadn't even been playing.

So they're a better team, but I still think Detroit is the favorite to me in the East. New York is behind them. And then I think there's even a little gap. And then Cleveland, if you want to put them third. Like, I don't, they don't, they're not the favorite to me in the East. Now, they have a shot, but you do. Obviously the elephant, not even the elephant in the room, James Hardens' playoff performances.

And if you want to look at it like, which I guess Cleveland is, okay, Donovan's going to be our guy and he's been good in the playoffs historically. And then Evan Moby's going to be our big, the scoring. We need Harden to be a playmaker. Yes, score some points, but be a playmaker set up Jared Allen. If that's how you want to look at it, fine. I guess that's the smart way to do it. but I cannot, you know, count on, you just can't count on James Harden. And it's really the big deciding games.

It's the elimination games. It's the game sixes and sevens. He'll be great in game one. He'll be great in game four. But when that thing gets down to tipping point, that's when he struggles. And then there's this, Nick. Donovan Mitchell and Hardin are both ball dominant. And so it can.

work because both can play off the ball when they want to, but that's just going to be an adjustment that they have to adjust to, particularly Mitchell, playing with Hardin. And, you know, look, as long as Cleveland did not commit financially to Hardin beyond next year, because I'm assuming that they're guaranteeing him all his $49 million in next season. Like with the Clippers only 13 million was guaranteed. That's all they were willing to do. I assume the calves were like, okay, you'll get your full 49 million next year. If they went beyond that, Nick, then I'm like, because he's 36 already.

He's not a great playoff performer. That's when I think it would be a mistake. But right now, if it's for a year or two, okay, take a shot. Yeah, I'm just stunned they did this. I know I shouldn't have been because we saw it coming. I'm stunned they did it. because I disagree with you, Brew. You can count on them in the playoffs.

You know exactly what you're going to get from James Hardin every postseason. And folks yesterday tried to sample size me. They were like, oh, you're going to, you know, guy plays that many playoff games, you're picking out a handful. You say at 33. All right. So, listen, we have four legendary guys that are old that are currently playing. Harden, LeBron, Steph, and KD.

It's going to get ugly And so here are just here are total playoff games played for those guys Just give you a little context LeBron obviously He's played an insane amount

290 But Steph KD and Hardin are all right around the same Between 155 and 173 Same four How many times in their playoff career Have they had a game

With as many or more turnovers than made baskets Harden 42 times LeBron 17 Step 13 KD 7 Okay Turnovers as

made baskets. As many or more turnovers than made baskets. Forty-two for James Hardin. That's one in four career playoff games. All right. What about how many career playoff games with fewer than five made baskets? 55 for James Hardin. That's one

in three. LeBron's at nine, steps at eight, KD's at four. Again, this graphic is really pro-KD graphic. How about career playoff games with less than four made baskets? Hardin's at the three. 35. So one in five career playoff games for James Hardin, he makes zero, one, or two baskets.

Tabin to LeBron five times ever. Step three times ever, KD, twice ever. And last finale's, what about playoff games with less than three made baskets? 22 for Hardin, two for Bronn, one for Steph, zero for Durant. That we know what we're getting. And to Bruce point, we kind of know when we're getting it in the biggest spots. So good luck. 22 is wild. No, it's, yeah. Good luck.

And the thing is, he can't even be your second guy in the playoffs. No. Because remember when KD and Hardin was hardin was kind of on that bad hamstring against Milwaukee, all they needed was hard to kind of be engaged and somewhat of a threat. Because KD was carrying them. Yep. And he couldn't even. do that. Like he

just kind of disliked. He's had Joe L-A-Bed. He's had quiet. He doesn't even take a lot of right. He has to be the third option at best. I mean, or third option, that's the best chance you have of making it work. So Mowgli, you got to step up too. One NFL superstar it's Pat Sartan is predicting the Patriots

get absolutely crushed. We discuss next on FS1, Fox Sports Radio on Sirius XM. Brew, no news on the jumpsuits, but we will be live from Daytona 500, February 12th and 13th. And then the race, February,

50. 50. It'd be real cool if we had like, we all had jackets like that. I'm just putting it out. NASCAR jackets were a thing for a while. Yeah, maybe you should bring that back. If all three of us wore those on the set. I'll get that M&Ms, Jack, because I also love M&Ms. What if Drew, we could only wear them if we also wore the matching

paint. You want the pants? I would take it. I would take it. Coach, do you want one? Yeah, of course. Last thing I requested the cups in the kitchen got done like that. Yeah, that's true.

Pat Sartan played a great game against the Patriots, but I don't think he was too impressed and does not think New England has got much of a chance this Sunday. Take a listen. You guys more prediction for Super Bowl 60? 357, Seattle. Wow. You know what? Seahawks.

Just saying he's played him He's played against It wasn't good And it wasn't like It felt super flippant either It's like no Let me think about it 3570

He was debating 42 All right On the board The Patriots Get absolutely smoked In this one Yeah It's on the board

I'm not predicting it But it's definitely possible You've got a high-powered offense and a stingy defense I guess you could say that for the Pats too but their quarterback has been playing better than Drake May. Drake, we think, is better, but Darnel's been playing better.

Drake's been sacked 15 times. We have questions about at least parts of the offensive line for New England. Seattle can do it with the run with Kenneth Walker. I mean, even if he doesn't average a ton of yards per carry, he's going to wear a defense down. You got three, two great receivers for Darno. to throw two and then a third one who's dangerous and Shaheed. So yeah,

I mean, I think it's possible. I don't think, I don't see New England blowing Seattle out as really being on the board. I think winning is on the board. But I think for Seattle, a blowout is possible. Yeah, and these games, anything is possible. I didn't think Kansas City was going to

get blown out and it happened. And the way that those games typically go is I could see if New England got down early by a substantial amount and they had to become one, dimensional where it was just a function of Drake May having to carry the team and then having to rely on the offensive line a lot more, not being able to keep as many guys they want to in protection to chip and kind of help out and support it. And those games, usually they're not,

I don't see this being out of hand from the first snap to where Seattle just controls the game. If it got out of hand, to me it would be they're down by two scores. They're trying to catch out and then turn, you know, that type of sort of, sort of series of events. But they've lost by the most, what, seven points this season? Two game by seven, one game by four. Yeah, I didn't look up point differential, but everything, yes. Josh is saying right. We've never given up 30.

Oh, no, 35. Josh scored 35 points. So we've never given up 35. But even that game was a four-point game, wasn't it 35, 31? So is it possible? Yeah. To me, does that prediction seem, a little bit more like sour grapes, maybe.

Yeah, there was a little bit of a little bit of sour. It's a little bit of a poker thing because of the sunglasses. I couldn't tell if he was feelings were hurt if it was real enough. I think it was a little sour grapes. I think it was a way of saying if Bownex doesn't get hurt, we're in this game. I think they feel like we win if Bonnics. Why wouldn't you? Right.

They feel that way the rest of their life. Right. No, it doesn't matter. But that was my read on it as well. All right, so this is how rare blowouts are, because I think we have in our mind the blowouts kind of stick out, but they are pretty rare. The last 25 Super Bowls, only 14 were decided by one score, only six, two scores, five were decided by three scores, and 11 games were decided by four points or fewer, which is one of the reasons why I take some umbrage at the four and a half point spread because that gets up to, I don't know. So wait, but that, just seems like 11. But that means 14 of the last 25 were decided by more than four points.

Yeah, but those were missed me. Look, to be fair, I think if the Patriots getting blown out is on the board, I think it should be on the board that the Patriots blow out the Seahawks. Yeah, I don't see that being the case, too. If they get up early and Darnold has to. That's the thing. It's just like, I don't think Balls is going to get blown out, but you fall down, you make one mistake, and then, and I like this from the Holmes,

not to dig up last year's Super Bowl. Like, there's no difference between losing by one and losing. I'm going to try to win the game. I'm not going to try to, like, save face. The only difference is that then you get made fun of for nine months for stat patting. I have. I mean, that's the difference. The difference is when you keep trying, the people.

At that point, right, once the gator rate starts flowing, it's out of it. But it's just pressure. If, like, Drake's dropping the ball, Will Campbell's, like, letting guys get to him. It's on the board. And if Milton Williams gets to him, like, you got to Mahomes, the other side's on the board. So that's why I'm not picking a blowout, but I, if you tell me, if you tell me this is one of, you know, this is a one point win. I think it's a coin flip on who wins that game. I think Seattle won half of those a three-point win.

I think it's six of those games would go to Seattle, four would go to New England. If you tell me on Monday, we're talking about a 21-point win. I think eight of those go to Seattle and two go. Oh, really? Because there's Super Bowl blowouts used to happen all the time. They don't, to your point, they don't so much anymore. And when they've happened, they have all had one thing in common. An offensive line getting annihilated.

That's the last four Super Bowl blowouts. Both times it happened to the Chiefs. Their offensive line got annihilated. Von Miller had one of the greatest single games any players ever had in NFL history in the Carolina Super Bowl, and he just beat up the poor right tackle for Carolina the entire game. And Seattle, Denver, that first game, that first play of the game's a bad snap over Peyton's head of safety, and that Seattle wasn't just the defense front. It was really the whole, the defense as a whole.

And I just think New England is way more susceptible to Seattle's defensive front wrecking the game than Seattle's offensive line is susceptible to New England's defensive front wrecking the game. And now, Dust, if we can bring back the graphic from the A block that enraged Wilds for one of my favorite first things first traditions, which is if coach agrees with a point that I made, Wilds all of a sudden agrees with it as well. I'll go with the flow. Here is the other reason that I think the Patriots getting boned out's on the board. This is how Drake May is playing this postseason. I went out on a limb. What are those ranks though?

If that was his regular season numbers where they would rank in the league. Yeah, that's what we say. You're on the podcast. Coe just burst his lips and turned it sideways. Bad wine. Here's what I think is unfair about this. you put any quarterback in the league against the three defenses that he just faced and back to back to back games.

I would imagine their numbers would not look very good. Like who's he? Give me some notable guys he's behind that you think is going to go play those three teams and have better numbers, significantly better numbers than Drake. So maybe this is an L for me because you had the same reaction that they did, which is the paying more attention to the right hand column than the left hand column. So that's maybe my mistake. graphically. The point, the larger point that I'm trying to make is, and that I feel strongly

about, and I think you agree with me on, I do not think Drake May has played well this postseason. And I think that of the, that going into the difference between Darnold, who we all, somewhere, some percentage of our brain is worried about Darnold laying an egg, his mindset going into it saying, yeah, I just played the single greatest game. of my life versus Drake May, who's for the first time all season, is had in a stretch of tough results, tough play to the point to where in the fourth quarter on the sideline, he's getting coached up by Josh McDaniels, which might be a great coaching moment, but it showed that Drake May was like down on himself about how he was playing in that game.

I think the quarterback in this game who is more likely to have something snowball on them is the young quarterback who's playing poorly rather than the veteran quarterback who's coming off the best game of his life. That's quite a reputational turn for Darnold if you feel like that. Which defenses did Darnold be? A banged up San Francisco.

San Francisco and the Rams. And what's the common denominator of both those defenses? How many times did he play San Francisco? How many times he play the Rams? So you talk about ultimate familiarity with a defense. So he goes into that and it's game three against both those teams. He hasn't seen this.

This is a radically different thing. Where Drake made, did he play any of those defenses during the regular season? No. All three of those defenses brand new. So they face three totally different schemes where Sam Donald had the benefit. Well, I'm just saying he had the benefit of literally two games leading up to his third game of absolute familiarity. Now he's got to figure out where are these players going to be? What's their pattern?

It's not like he understands. those players in that scheme the same way he does facing a team. To me, that's totally fair and totally accurate. And one of the reasons to believe Darnold is not going to have, and I don't think anybody thinks, Donald's going to have the level of success against the Patriots he had against the Rams. But it's also a reason to think Drake May might have the exact level of whatever success he's had against the Seattle,

because it's a new opponent and it's another great defense. So that's my, like, I think that's the question. Have these three games calloused him to some extent and has Will Campbell gotten healthier and Josh McDaniels figured something out? Or is it just going to be more of the same I struggle against this cover six and all these other things that people have figured out about the Patriots? Well, there is some benefit to having the extra week of preparation. I think that helps from not just a coordinator perspective, but from a player perspective too. because one week, you know, you're familiar with the opponent,

but it's like cramming for a test. Even though that's the pattern during the radio season, you're even trying to get more tape in because it's the playoffs. But now with the second week, there is, it does, I think, help from a preparation standpoint. So I imagine he should be better. And it just depends on how many different things Seattle is going to do or Seattle of the mindset of, we do what we do, can you beat us?

Where New England, to me, is more of the mindset of, we do what we need to do to beat you. So it's a little different. And they've had success against Darnold. Where? Don't try too hard. Okay. Don't try.

Shador sat down with Kay Adams yesterday to reflect on his rookie season. Kay asked him when he feels the most like himself, and talks about when he gets confidence. And he hears what? was a shitter's response. The most thing I appreciate about this year is I proved to myself I'm able to dominate the league. Now, to do it on a consistent basis, that's what the goal is. But for me in this past season, that's what proved to myself that, okay, you, like, no matter what happened,

no matter anything that transpired, you are able to go out there and compete. Pro? You can't say that. particularly when you had seven touchdowns, 10 interceptions, and a 68 pass rating for the season. Now, and that's this type of stuff that makes coaches, I would imagine coach, cringe when you hear that. And you know what type of year he had.

Now, I did, of course, watch a bulk of this to see the context leading up. I will say I think what he was saying, was he talked about flashes. He literally used that word. Yes. And I think he was saying, I showed flashes, which he did, you know, some 60-yard touchdowns and the big game against Tennessee over 300 yards, where that made him believe I can dominate. But he did say, I got to be consistent and get to the point where I can do it consistently.

So I think he meant, I don't think, I think it came off a lot worse than it actually was, but it comes off terribly. And so I think he. is into, I'm just speculate, but I think he's into like positive self-speak, you know, like speaking things. And you can kind of see the ways, right? Like he's

always talking positive. So I think he's, that's how he builds himself up and keeps the belief this season when the team didn't seem to even want him there. So I think that's good, but this just sounds terrible and it puts more pressure on you to go

out there and perform at a high level. When When my kids say something wild, I'm going to call you up and say, hey, Brew, how can you frame this in a way that's going to make me feel okay? I'm the motivated. I'm the motivated. Yeah. It's going to make you feel okay about it. And then they're saying, oh, well, Eric, it was just positive self-spoken. Trying to speak it into existence.

And that's why he did what it. Oh, okay. Well, I feel better about it then. Yeah, I just, I think this is what got him in trouble in the draft process. and it's going to be something that continues to get him trouble. But the flip side of it, somehow he's in the pro bowl. I mean, the Browns had two pro bowlers there, you know, which I guess is why Kevin has a new address.

But, I mean, you talked about what he did this season. You forgot the 56% completion percentage. Barely ahead of Drake in the playoffs. And you forgot about the 9.7% of the time he was sacked. So he was sacked almost 10% of the. the time his three and four record. But I just missed the cutups of the dominant play that he's talking about. There were some things that were really encouraging, and then he should be happy about

the encouraging things he did. But to say that you can dominate the league. I do like that he said I proved in Bruce's favor. I proved to myself. He's talking about how he feels. And here's the deal. Here's where I'm on Shador. and I think he is best understood through this lens

because I do think he means well and he is you guys know I'm a sucker for charming and I do think he's charming and I do think he's a nice guy that's what I'm saying I do think he's a nice guy all these things Fernando Mendoza said this weirdly like no so but here's

so but here's the way to me to view Shador and it makes a lot of a lot of things make a lot more sense he's just a rich kid. He's a rich, famous kid who doesn't quite know how, like, lucky he's been in a lot of ways.

And how, and I feel like this is the type of outlook and almost eternal optimism. We see a lot from rich people's children. And I think that Shador because he's been his own celebrity, you have to just remind yourself, like he grew up Dion Sanders' son

with everything that goes along with it and acts the way... I grew up around a lot of rich kids. My kids go to school around a lot of rich kids. I see a lot of those traits of just kind... What are you about to say? You have rich kids. Well, I guess, yeah, sure.

If your kid brings home, it gets a C-minus on a test, Like, what did this C minus prove to you? Like, I can dominate. Well, I got to answer number three. I got to make it consistent. I'm not trying to, like, make excuses. I'm saying it's not surprising to me.

It is not surprising to me that when he looks at, you know, his pro football reference game log from his rookie season, and he sees the four touchdowns in 375 yards against Tennessee. he's like, that's what I can be. Yeah. And that's what he thinks. And he sees that and he's like, I have proof of concept that I can do that in the NFL. Now the hard, the easy part is doing it every week.

And that's obviously not the easy part. But I just think it comes from a place of well-meaning entitlement. And also, I think all you said, that's smart. It makes sense. But he also has a father who was very confident. And I'm sure that's all he heard, not just Dion being confident about himself, but Dion pouring that into his sons. Like, you can do you're the best.

You can, you know, so that's probably how he grew up thinking. But I will, to your point, if Cam Ward said that, like he was on that show and said that, it would sound crazy. It sounds crazy from him. Why wasn't Cam Ward in the Pro Bowl? Did he reject? He had to be a choice over. should do it.

I'm just wondering how, like, I think what? I can only guess guys just rejected it. No, I think, just to be, they have the three guys that are named, then they have three official alternates, and they don't have a list after that. So then I think they just call, you know. Like whoever answer? Like they put out of a hat. Burrow, good.

They didn't go down a list and get knows from everyone who would have been ahead of shit. They should. They should. I mean, as bad as it is, that wouldn't even be good. But that would make more sense than random. Doesn't he have bragging rights now over his dad? Didn't he make the pro bowl before Deanded earlier in his career? So that's a nice thing to ask.

That's unbelievable. Coming up next. Jamar Chase and T. Higgins joins the show. Will I try to recruit T. Higgins to the Patriots? I'm going to try not to. But there's a lot of post-lop. Any locked up under time? Live from New York, it's exciting to see Chris Paul play for the Raptors.

I just want him back in the league. I'm glad he's back in the league, but I'm not that excited about seeing him in Toronto's the what they five seed right now? They're ahead of Cleveland. They can make a little run. God, I would love to see a Cavs Raptors round one series Chris Paul James Harden, bad blood. I'm in for that.

I am absolutely in for that. It's possible. Yeah, that could be a four or five. It's great. But Chris isn't going to play that much. But Chris at his advanced age nearing buyout status against playoff hard. Oh my. I like it.

He has some time to rest up. Oh, my. Second hour of first things first. Welcome. Today, we're doing a position group version of tiers from special teams to coaching. Did you do coordinators as well? I said coach it. just coaching in general.

Yeah. Okay. Look at Stefan Diggs. He's locked in. He seems like a good lack of him guy. Oh, my. He's fantastic. Yeah, he really does.

Meanwhile, Charles Woodson joins the show. I talked to Greg. Greg gave me a good anecdote. By Greg, I mean, he talked to Hubs because this day's off. It's his day off. I didn't want to bother him. But Hubs talk to him. Okay.

You didn't really need. Thank you for that little behind the scenes. It was great. It was great. People like to know what's going on with Greg Jennings. Got a volleyball tournament. Right it back to Super Bowl. Drake May, what's this deal?

Guys undefeated playing in Super Bowl might be the youngest guy to ever win a Super Bowl, youngest quarterback. Also been dropping the ball on the ground, not completing passes. Yeah, it's been snowy, but gee whiz, come on, man. Here's his numbers, regular season compared to the playoffs. Don't show that. What a disaster. Why?

That's not fair. Whatever we do, don't. show regular season compared to the playoffs. Yes, I can do that. Okay. You're gonna spin it. I gotta hear it. I wanna hear how you're gonna spin it.

All right, so Dusty doesn't wanna show this because you're, because I'm being fresh as you would say, okay. You're gonna spin it though. Yeah, I'm gonna spin it when we have the conversation. Yeah, go ahead. Okay. No, it's gonna be like Nolan Ryan here. All right, do you think his playoff struggles have been overrated or overstated?

I mean, no, and I'll just. I'll fight a three front war, I guess. I think they've been understated. I think Drake, I think Drake May is awesome. I, I, I, Bru thought I was too early two months ago, two months ago, when I said, he's his top five quarterback in the league going to move forward. Somebody else is going to have to move out. I, while I did not think he was MVP, that was because I thought Stafford was exceptional,

was nothing against him. He would have had my vote for the second most valuable player in football this year. And I think he's been mostly mediocre to bad in these playoffs. And I think that if you are the team who won your first Super Bowl by announcing the whole roster, you know, instead of individual players, you should feel great about that, that you have been able to get here, despite the fact that the best player on your team is playing his. worst football of the year.

And I don't necessarily think it means he's going to play poorly in the Super Bowl. But the fact that their defense has been utterly dominant, to me, does not paper over the fact entirely that the quarterback has struggled. He can turn it around, and if they win, it doesn't matter if he turns it around. But I just think that's how I feel having watched these games. I do think you're overstated. And I think you may be skewed by Mahomes in the AFC playoffs. We know he struggled at times in Super Bowls.

But the AFC playoffs, you rarely see him play poorly. But look at everybody else. Josh Allen just had a bad game and we can go back and point to other bad games. Lamar Jackson, obviously Herbert, CJ, Schrolet. Like most quarterbacks, we talked about your Mahomes Mountain yesterday. And Peyton Manning and John Elway struggling in the Super Bowl. also at times in the playoffs. Like, I think this is more the norm for quarterbacks.

Now, Mahomes was different. It's the second biggest passer rating drop in 30 years. Well, part of that, he had, what, the second highest passer rating in the league this year? So, you know, so he had a really high one. But I think he obviously hasn't played as well as a regular season. But I think in the playoffs, he's shown he's a gamer. He's shown poise. He's shown that struggling early is not going to stop him.

show if I can't throw it, I'll use my legs. Like, I actually think he's been fine. All right. Here to cast the deciding vote is Jamar Chase and T. Higgins, live from the Pro Bowl. They are here on behalf of overtime seven. So before we start debating about Drake May, welcome, guys. Thanks for joining us. Can you tell us a little bit about your involvement with overtime seven?

Have you seen overtime seven, bro? No. Yeah, it's amazing. There's no helmets. It's like flag. I don't know if you're wearing flags. Are you wearing flags? No, we're not wearing flags.

You're not wearing flags. No flags. So is it like touch or what? It was flags yesterday, but yeah. Oh, you're not wearing them now? Of course, not. For overtime, seven are you wearing flags? No.

No, no, no. That's just like seven on seven. It's regular seven on seven. Yeah, pretty much too bad touch for a real. Okay. It's pretty great. All right. I'm going to start you guys with a softball.

Who's the best receiver we're talking to? Oh. We're going to see right there. We're going to see. When you guys found out, obviously, you were going to be teammates. How long did it take for one of you to bring up the national championship game? I think that only happened in my week. After my second year, we stopped talking about it for us.

Go ahead, Bruce. Yeah. So you guys are obviously you were in the Pro Bowl yesterday and I've been talking about how to fix the Pro Bowl. Oh, man. And I came up with a lot of different ideas, 40R dash, bench press contest, all that. But one, this one I think was good, dunk contest. So if they had a dunk contest at the Pro Bowl, who wins, not out of YouTube, but in the whole league, who do you think wins the dunk contest?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. What's his name? Garrett. Miles Garrett? Miles Garrett in there? You might have a little battle. I think T. I can't hear T.

We can't hear T, unfortunately, but I think T is voting for himself. Yeah. Jamar is claiming it's going to be a contest between T and Miles and Miles Garrett. I got to admit, I think Garrett is a really good player and Dunker, but

But the guys he plays with on his videos, the competition does not. It don't look like he looks like he plans to get some accountants at lunch and stuff like that. I mean, I don't know. He got to step up the competition. I mean, come on. We are. Did you all see the DK clips? Oh, yeah.

Yeah, DK, yeah. So amongst, so let's do this then. And I don't want to leave T. Higgins out. It's great player, legendary Clemson, career, but we can't hear him. So T, we're just going to have to do your reactions. I'll ask you, Jamar. The questions. Amongst wide receivers in the league, who would win that dunk contest?

And then I have a different question for you. Among our receivers, yeah, 100% see. I got team. Yeah. Easy. All right. I want to ask you a question about Joe Burrow. He's been your teammate forever.

He also seems like you are a bit of a Joe Burrow translator for some in the media. because you, Jamar, you might be the most honest interview in the league. Like, I don't, you don't sit. It seems like when you're at your locker, you're pretty straightforward. And when you do sit in front of the podium, you're as much of an open book as someone can be in your position. I'm wrong on that? No, no, no. I try to be myself as possible.

You know what I'm saying? I try not to pass my limits too much, but I try to be myself as often. Okay. So you have been asked at times to. to, you know, read the tea leaves on Joe Burroughs at times emo nature. Like at times it really things like Joe is introspective. We saw it this year. So how do you feel, how can you tell us how he feels about where his career is right now

and, you know, his own football mortality that he was discussing somewhat openly during the season? Yeah. I feel like he was at that point where he was tired for him today. You know what I'm saying? And we all have that. He probably hit the wall for football, especially as a quarterback. I think he just, you know, I said it both me, and he probably shouldn't have the quarterback of the organization.

Everybody's going to look at him. But, you know, unfortunately, he spoke up on it. It's all been going out of proportion because when he was work, he's the same person every day. You can't tell him. You can't sit there and see the difference after he said that because he's still going to work every day, ready to work. He's always there on time.

You got his iPad all the time. So, like, you know what I've seen? He's been insane. But, like, that comment or regardless of that comment, I think he's still the same person and he still has been with football. Guys, you guys have obviously one of the best offenses in the league. Great quarterback, two great receivers. and you haven't made the playoffs the last few years.

We know that defense is just, your defense hasn't been that good. Is that, how do you, do you guys voice that within the organization talk about how we can improve that side of the ball? Like, how do you do that when your offense is so great and one side of the ball is kind of holding you back from being as good a team as you could be? Yeah, I feel like since I've been in the NFL from compared to my rookie year

Super Bowl to, these past previous years. We had a stack team I said here, and we had a lot of different different weapons at every position. I can honestly say that. That's becoming the situation now from then. And at this point, we have to find

or find someone that wants to step up into that role or find someone that wants to be a part of the organization to help us be a part of a championship. Before we let you go, Jammar, have a Super Bowl prediction who you're rooting for how do you see this game going um yes i got seattle i got seattle by a lot or a little 20 i'm gonna go i'm gonna go 28 17 that's not too bad

t t give that a thumbs up if you have seattle or thumbs down if you have the patriots just so we know we just want to be on the record here he's got everybody's got seattle oh man that hurts. T. There's a lot of Patriots photo shops out there with you. And that hurts my deal. That's a great name. Sorry we couldn't hear you, T.

Thank you, guys. Thank you, guys. We're going to push that dunk contest too. Yeah. We're going to push that on the air. Thank you. No 40, no 40. No 40.

No 40. Get this special Wednesday night, 2026 NASCAR Cup season begins. We're under the lights prime time. The clash at Bowman. gray, let the mayhem begin. Tonight, six o'clock Eastern on Fox. Welcome to the NASCAR season.

Exciting. Last night, let me get you caught up to speed. What's going on with tears now? Last night after the Lakers Netskin, an elite group of analysts, savants, and people who would never mock a mock turtleneck, a cozy ivory-colored mock turtle neck, fought and toiled, burn the midnight oil to deliver the best segment in all

sports. It's an honor and a privilege. It's time for a special position group edition of tears. Why, I can't wait. I can't wait for this. I'm not going to allow you to besmirch anonymous members of the committee. Let me address the mock turlimate. I would never, I would never mock a turlman. So the other day, I walk into work and KW is wearing a really cool street wear-esque little oversized hoodie. And I was like, you know what? If KW is going to dress like me today, I'm going to dress like KW tomorrow.

So I came in in some nice slacks and a nice, ivory mock turtleneck. And all he does make fun of me. Selling espresso in Europe. Have you ever had? Position group tears. Bottom of the tears. The Pat's offensive line and the Pat's special teams.

And it's please be anonymous. So the offensive line, you always want to be anonymous. And the Pat's offensive line has struggled mightily this postseason. I think the biggest defense of Drake May's play is he's just been under assault. I know, and Will Campbell, I went and looked after our discussion yesterday, pro football focus says the AFC championship game was Will Campbell's worst. playoff game, even though he didn't allow a sack. Like, he has really struggled since coming back from the injury.

And so I, they need to just be anonymous. And Patriot Special Teams is tough because they have a great punt returner, which I understand, but I'm scared of rookie kickers in Super Bowl's coach. And especially a rookie kicker who missed two kicks last week, one of which very long, but the other of which was in that 40 to 49 yard range where he missed four kicks in the regular season. Just don't have that be the story. A star in his friends tier, both linebacker groups.

The Seahawks have an awesome linebacker in Ernest Jones and then some guys. The Pats have an awesome linebacker in Robert Spillane and then some guys. They are, again, I don't think, I think these teams are so good, especially defensively. None of their position groups defensively are real weaknesses, but those are the biggest points of each of the teams. maybe a tad disrespected. This is the Patriots skill position guys, running back wide receiver and tight end,

and the Seahawks special team. So going into the year, we talked about Patriots, like do they have a single guy? You're going to draft in fantasy football. Well, the Stefan Diggs, Drake May connection. This is a damn near perfect passer rating, as you'd been talking about. Booty's been excellent all year.

The Pop Douglas caught, in my opinion, the biggest pass of your guy's season, the fourth down against Houston that got that game going when he ran it in for a touchdown. And the Jags or the Seahawks not only have an excellent veteran kicker and Jason Myers, but Rashid Shaheed has been a dynamic returner for them. And when you look at like Shaheed, whether it's MVP odds or whatever it is, seems a little bit overlooked. The matchup that could decide the game, Seahawks quarterback, Seahawks offensive line, Patriots, offensive line. If the Seahawks offensive line plays to the level it played in the first two playoff games, I believe they win the Super Bowl. If Sam Darnold can stand back there

unmolested with time, I do believe the Seahawks are going to be able to score enough points that the Patriots can't keep up. But if Milton Williams, Christian Barmore, the rest of that Patriots D line can get to Darnold, he's a little skittish, maybe you force a turnover or you know, some early sacks. That can flip the game entirely. I think it's the matchup that can decide the game. Proceed with caution. This is for the opposing quarterbacks,

and it's both teams secondaries. Now, the Seahawks have, I would think, I would say a more decorated secondary, but both secondaries have one, undeniable superstar in Christian Gonzalez and Devin Wetherspoon. Both teams also have second and third corners. You really like that.

Marcus Jones, who I said, all pro punt returner. He's also one of the Patriots corners. I think he has two defensive touchdowns this year. Seahawks, Tariq Wollan. He's a big time player a few years ago. He's under Mike McDonald's. He's been excellent again.

I know you're not going to have huge college football-esque wide open windows, but proceed with caution for those two quarterbacks. Young superstars. That is Drake May, the Patriots quarterback, and it's the Seahawks skill position group, but we're really talking about one guy when we say superstar, and that is Jackson, Smith, and Jigma. Listen, I do, I like Kenneth Walker.

I think he's a good player. Cooper Cups, obviously, not young, but he is Super Bowl MVP in the past. But this is about J.S.N. and Drake May, the two best players on these teams this year, the two individual biggest reasons these two teams are where they are. They are the third highest tier. Second to top, second to the top. What got you here? The Seahawks defensive line and the Seahawks coaching.

So I think that is the story of this Seahawks season. is the addition of Tank Lawrence, Leonard Williams being excellent, their D tackles being great, and their ability, even though they don't have one guy coach that has double-digit sacks, all of them eat, and they're a great run defense, number one in yards per carry allowed, I think third and overall rushing yards. And Mike McDonald went straight from winning the defensive triple crown in his final year in Baltimore to not only a top 10 defense, which Pete Carroll hadn't been able to do in more than a half decade in Seattle, but now the number one defense in football this year. But atop the tiers, the experience edge is the Patriots coaching.

Mike Vrable played in a bunch of Super Bowls. Josh McDaniels has coached in a bunch of Super Bowl's. The oddity of Super Bowl week, the travel, the tickets, the long halftime, all of the things that go along with it, that is where the Patriots have the edge. You add to it that the coach has been tremendous for them all year. I think it is the strongest of all the position groups in this Super Bowl, and that is the Super Bowl position group, Tears, Coach. One of my favorite parts of this postseason

has been Mahomes Mountain and the tiers in the way that you have changed them and given different, different, try to be game playing specific coach. It's very fantastic, I really do like it. But I think you're a little bit off on the Patriots defense I don't think you're giving him nearly as much credit. These guys can stop the run.

Milton Williams has been outstanding. Christian Barmore, both those guys are as good as anybody on Seattle, I think, in watching them. That group collectively does a really good job against running game. They've also been pretty effective in terms of pressure. If you bring up the list of things that they've done from a past rush perspective, you're going to see there's been significant amount of quarterback hits, quarterback pressures, and everybody's contributing. Even a guy like Leonard Taylor, who they got from the Jets practice squad, has the biggest play of the game where he blocks a field goal.

So that group, and here's the other part of it is there's the defensive line, the true D-Linman who have that tag, but their outside linebackers play D-line-type positions in sub. So you've got to kind of group them together. And it's a different configuration than Seattle's pure defensive line front because the outside linebackers are. part of that group. So I don't see Seattle's defensive line being, what, do you have three tiers ahead of New England's defensive line? To me, I think that's a little disrespectful to the group New England's bringing the table. The, oh, I wasn't trying to be disrespectful to anyone. Also, there is a little, a little trickiness with the position group tiers, which is, you know,

We asked Marshall to name them. We try to have some storylines. The match-up that could decide the game kind of worked well. But I understand your point. There was some pushback there as well. The mock turtle neck got in the way of it. Go ahead. Coach, great point.

Wilde. Point for the Patriots. We're racking up the points. You're racking up a little today. Shout out to Marshall. To your point, he does do a great job weekend, week out with the titles. And sometimes it's tough because I may agree with the titles, but then I'm like, but I want this up here.

So I am moving darnal, the Seattle quarterback, up one tier because he, well, yeah, it doesn't match the name. But he just outplayed the likely MVP, everybody's all American, Matthew Stafford, in the NFC championship game. He hasn't thrown an interception in his last three games. You said earlier, and you're right. He's coming off. Everything is positive right now for him. He's been overcoming all the naysayers who have said, oh, he's going to shrink.

He's going to see ghosts, games too big. So he's probably feeling tremendous. So I want to move him up. And he's got more 300-yard games than Drake May this year, more four touchdown games than Drake May this year. So I think Donald's been playing well enough where I would move him up a tier or the Seattle quarterback's up a tier. I think that's fair.

And he is, as I said before, coming off what I think is the best game of his career and has to be feeling great. I also think that those, for Seattle at least, their secondary, Jackson Smith and Jigba, their D-Line and their coaching, have been bigger factors in them being the best team in the league, statistically all year, the number one seed all year, than. Darnold. Recently, the NFC championship game was Darnold. Their path there to me was the collective. Are you worried at all brew that when he throws the first one this game, that it's one is going to become four? First pick. I mean, the game, the game, the second game against Seattle showed that he can kind of bounce back. Because he was struggling. I'm sorry, against the ramp. He was struggling early and then came on late, you know. And so I would think he can overcome it. But look, the Super Bowl.

bowl is different. Right. I'm going to move the Patriots special teams up. I don't know where to put them. I just don't think they should be bottom of the barrel. And we've seen could be a star in his friends because Marcus Jones star with the rest of your your kicker and your punter have not been great. So you know, yeah, we can debate the kicking in the snow is is tricky. So we'll start with Mark. No, we'll start with the blocked kick. So I could argue. that this was special teams play that kept, you know, won the game for us. So that's a good play on the line. With a guy off the practice squad.

Well, that was close. That wasn't that far. That wasn't that far away. Then Marcus Jones, this could turn the game, right? Marcus Jones career punt returns is he's the best of all time with the average of 14. Our punter, oddly, hasn't been really booming the ball. And then in the Broncos game, like we actually wanted to keep it out of Mims's hand, which makes me think, like, are they willing to keep it out of, like, almost give Seattle better field position?

That's risky, man. To keep it from Shaheed. Is Shaheed going to, like, break a game? But that's risky because Jason Myers is a good kicker. And, you know, we assume this is going to be a good weather conditions game, good kicking conditions game. If all of a sudden you're giving them field position, they can be a first down away from being in field. I've just, I've seen, you know, I've seen Desmond Howard run one back, Cadarius, Tony. Like, if you look back at it, it's like, oh, like, no, kick it out of balance.

Don't let Cadarius Tony set up and win that Super Bowl. Super Bowl Seattle won. The game ended on the first half, second half kickoff. There's 21-0 Seattle and, you know, Denver's hanging by a thread. And Percy Harvin, 100 yards to the house. And, you know, that game ended. No, we have seen huge kick returns. You mentioned Gaderius, Tony, you know, in this game before.

we've also seen huge muffed punts in this game before. The Super Bowl, you watched with me, Chiefs Niners. The Niners, you guys, people forget this. Big part of that Chief's comeback was the Niners kid, let the punt drop, and it bounced and hit him, and the Chiefs fell on it. I think that's when Nick hit me like six times. Yeah, it was going to press charges.

Yeah. Coming up next, Charles Woodson, Super Bowl champion joins us next on First Things First. Welcome back to First Things First, joining us now, Super Bowl champion Charles Woodson. On behalf of TCL, Charles, thanks for joining us. I want to give you a chance to promote TCL, which I talk to Dusty, who's our gaming guy, and quote, they're great monitors for gaming because, quote, they have a very low input. put lag. I said, thanks, Dusty, but let's have Charles Wilson talk to

us about TCL. Thanks for joining us. I haven't got that far my ambassadorship. But yeah, but TCL, man, I've been working with TCL for probably the past three or four years and, you know, the official television

partner of the NFL and what they've been doing each year is just trying to raise the bar, you know, giving better quality, better brightness, more contrast, and making, you know, people at home, you know, feel like they're at the game, you know. So TCL has done a great job of their partnership with the NFL. And I got TCL televisions all throughout my house.

So I'm happy to be a partner with them. Dusty wants one, he said. He was right. He was like, listen, maybe you gave them the input lag thing. Maybe they'll send us one. All right. So I'm going to read seven names here. Troy Palomalu, Charles Woodson, Peyton Manning, Calvin,

Johnson, Joe Thomas, Dorel, Revis, Julius Peppers. Those seven names are the only first ballot Hall of Famers in the NFL this decade. It's those seven guys, you're one of them. So that's a pretty good list. It would be a pretty good team. I think they do well. The Hall of Fame's in the news, obviously. And the big news is Bill Belichick won't be a first ballot Hall of Famer.

I'm curious to you as a Hall of Famer how important that distinction of first ballot was to you and your thoughts on what has you know the news of the last week regarding the hall of fame yeah i think that with bill bellichick i think it's disappointing uh i think you know sometimes voters you know whether it's uh the hall of fame or you know whatever award it is i think sometimes the voters man they take things personally and allow things to affect them in ways that it shouldn't you know you're a hall of fame voter you should vote on you know you know you're a hall of fame voter you should on, you know, what a guy is doing on the field or what a coach has done. And for Bill Belichick, you know, we're not talking about one championship.

We're not talking about two. We're not talking about three. You know, you're talking about six championships or whatever grab you have about a spy gate or whatever it may be. If he was cheating, then you know what? He's really good at that and making it count during games because there's a lot of people that cheat or try to cheat and they don't win as many games as Belichick as one.

So I think it was, you know, I'm pretty disappointed in the fact that it went that way to whatever voters decided not to vote for him. And if I could just, for you personally, I am, you're a humble guy. Oh, it's the first, the first ballot. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, very important. Yeah, I think, you know, to get into the Hall of Fame, of course, everybody would love to do that. But to be a first ballot Hall of Famer, that puts you in another category. When you talk about trying to be the best at your position, trying to be, you know,

trying to be a part of great teams and trying to get the championships, you got to go out there, man, and you got to make plays, and you got to do it over a long period of time. You know, I played 18 years. You know, I have, you know, in my career statistics that only I have. And, you know, meaningful, I feel like meaningful statistics. So to be a first ballot Hall of Famer to me was only right. So like you said, yeah, I am humble in most cases, but not about football.

You know, first ballot man was definitely something that I felt like, you know what, it should be that way. Charles, you also, of course, played both sides of the football in college in particular, a little NFL. and you saw Travis Hunter this year and obviously got injured. Do you think that's something that can be done full time as he was attempting? Or should he just say, look, I'm going to be a cornerback or I'm going to be a receiver or whatever? Yeah, no, I don't think you can do it full time, you know. And look, I would give him an effort for doing it. But the NFL just, it leans on you a different way than college football does.

and for him to, you know, if he was going to try, you know, to play both ways, I think he would age in dog years, and I don't think his career would be very, very long. I think that, you know, he should concentrate. I feel like he's a tremendous athlete, great with the ball in his hands, very, very athletic, you know, play on the offensive side of the ball, man, be a difference maker on that side. I've said before that, look, if you got a, you know, a package or something on defense where you want to throw him out there for whatever reason, sure. But man, just play offense, be an impact player, you know, for Jacksonville in that capacity.

And let's watch you for years to come. But to play both sides of the ball, man, every play in the NFL, man, it's not going to jive. Charles, a few years ago, I did basically my own almost like doctoral thesis on all the Super Bowl champions. And I started to see a commonality in them. and they were great defenses. And I said, you know what? Defense wins championships, and I trademarked that. At the same time, you see with the coaching hires, offensive-minded coaches,

you see quarterbacks getting paid so much. You see a lot of just the meat, you know, we're guilty of it. We're covering the offense explosions a lot. But when it's all said and done, the Patriots are top four scoring defense. The Broncos were up there. The Texans were up there. the Seattle might have the best defense. Do you feel as a defensive legend that even if defense wins championships, it's still

underrated? Does that make sense at all? Yeah. Yeah, I don't know if I would say underrated because I look at, when you look at the game, and if there's two teams playing, they put up a bunch of points, you know, you're going to need at some point one of the defenses to step up. but for the whole game, they've been running through the defenses. So as soon as a defense makes a play, they're like, oh,

a defense wins championships. So not necessarily underrated, but you're going to need some guys, you know, on your team that can live up to whatever moment that you're in. So if you do need a stop, then, you know, you, you know, for like you look at Seattle right now, you know, bringing over a DeMarcus Lawrence, you know, from the Cowboys, in the way that he's played this year. He's been a guy that's made plays for the Seattle.

Seahawks in moments, you know, when they've needed it. You know, Leonard Williams, of course, all year, you know, he's one of the most dominant defensive players in the game. And when they need plays, when they need a sack, he's a guy that makes a sack, even though during that game a team might have put up 27 points on them. So in moments where you need it most at the end of a game, your defense has to step up. And so I don't necessarily say underrated, but you just need at some point somebody to step up and make a play.

What should the Patriots approach be? with defending JSN. They have a great individual corner in Christian Gonzalez. And, you know, there's one school of thought, which is our best on your best, you know, not to be in a numbers disadvantage elsewhere. The other school of thought is,

use Christian Gonzalez on Cooper Cup, double JSN, you know, with two other guys. How would you, how would you, if you were going up against someone like JSN, how would you want to approach it How do you think the Patriots should? Yeah, I think in this situation, man, I think that you got to use it all. You know, I don't think you play them one way.

You know, you don't have to say, hey, Gonzales, hey, you got to go against J.S.N. The whole entire game. You know, if he's on the outside, you got to go on the outside. If he's in the slot, you got to go in the slot. I think that you mix it up. I think what you just said is at times you're going to have Gonzalez on him, and you're going to say, hey, you got them by yourself. And we'll play whatever defense we have around it.

Sometimes you're going to play and you're going to double. them with Gonzalez. But then at times you're going to put Gonzalez on someone else and then you're going to double them with the other guys. And that's the way, you know, you have to approach the game because you got to, you've got to throw this team, you got to try to put them on their heels. You got to make them try to figure you out as a defense. But if I always know that I have that one guy on JSN, then I can, you know, call my game certain ways on the officer side of the ball. So mix it up, man. You know, don't don't, don't be one dimensional as a person. play caller and make them try to figure you out.

Charles, one of your teams has been really struggling badly lately, and that's the Raiders, of course. So can Clint Kubiak and Fernando Mendoza turn that thing around? Well, here's the thing. You know, I've been saying this all day about Clint Kubiak and, you know, what, you know, has me excited about him is there was a couple of plays last week against the Rams that I thought when you talk about play calling and you talk about. game preparation.

To play with J.S.N. When he was in the backfield, you saw Shaheed run the post. You saw Cooper Cup run a little out and in, occupied the corner, and then you had J.S.N. running out of the backfield to run to the corner route. And the play worked out perfectly, and J.S.N. was wide open. But it was because of the design of the play and knowing what you're going to get from the defense. The other was the play where J.S.N. was lined up on the short side of the field, I believe.

they ran a cornerback a cornerback blitz off of that side, so you got to rotate that way. But what does that do? It took one safety out of the middle of the field and it left the other safety by himself deep in the middle of the field, and they ran a corner post.

I mean, it's the perfect play for the perfect defense, and it was a touchdown. So to bring someone in with that, you know, having that creativity on offense, understanding the situations and the game planning that goes along with it, man, you know, with guys that are on the Raiders, Brock Bowers is he's going to be the best tight end in football.

You got Mark May, Mayor, who's another tight end. You can run two tight-in sets. Genti got a thousand yards with no blocking last year. So I think you bring in Kubiak, a guy who can bring that creativity and put guys in advantageous positions to win. And if you get Mendoza, you know, he's a guy, he's a steady guy. I don't think he comes in and just takes your team to the next level. I think you got to be great around them.

But I think a coach like Kubiak can put him in the best position to win. Your Raiders are back. Charles, you won a Super Bowl. The Raiders are back, man. With our Greg Jennings, since he retired, he's gotten a lot lamer. He won't go out to eat. No. He only eats rice and chicken.

He fancies himself a professional bodybuilder. I'm curious if you could tell us an embarrassing back when Greg Jennings was cool story. The go team. Well, all I remember about Greg is, you know, during our Super Bowl run, they had all these, you know,

little things on the internet. He put the team on his back. Oh, yeah. And Greg. Greg Jennings, you know, he was the man. I tell you, you know, one story when in the Super Bowl, I broke, he broke my collarbone right before halftime.

And I'm in a locker room. And once I saw the x-ray and saw that my collarbone was broke, no, I wasn't going back in the game. I went into the, you know, to the restroom in the stall, shut the door, man. It just was sitting there bawling. And the first person that showed up in that stall, opened the door up, man, was Greg Jennings. He got on the knee, man, prayed with me, man, and then he went back out. So I always appreciate that about Greg, because he found me.

Nobody can know where I was at. He found me in the bathroom. And then they went out there and finished the game and got the Lombardi Troyes. So I always appreciate my man, Greg. That is a great story. Not an embarrassing story. Just another story that makes right Jennings seem awesome. I'm not here to embarrass.

I'm not here to embarrass anybody. No, he's really nice. All right, John, before I let you go, do you have a Super Bowl prediction? I know how this is going to go. Gosh darn it. I could tell when he started talking about the Seahawks. Yeah, I got the Seahawks 30. I got the Patriots 14.

Oh, wow. Wow. Wait, Chris. Check out. That's nice work, bro. Sorry. That's definitely a point. That's definitely a point for this.

Thank you, Charles. My gosh. They're not, they're not the team of destiny, Wiles. That doorstep of destiny going to destroy. That's right. Yeah, the doorstep. Thank you, Charles. Enjoy the game.

All right. Appreciate it. Live from New York, it's first things first overtime. Today, a little trade deadline news. about 24 hours out and we called this one. Not many people like this trade, but we found the one person that does. He doesn't like it. He loves exactly.

He loves exactly. You can do a brew thing. I don't know. I don't like it. I think it makes perfect sense. Meanwhile, a fresh edition of cool stats. Why does Danny Parkins have keys? No one knows.

Is it keys to the game? Nope, there's actual physical keys he's holding, like a janitor. And finally, Cooper de Gene joins the show. That's right. It's been about a year since he had that pick six against Mahomes. I hope you do not bring that up. Don't bring it up. Okay.

Deal. Just talk about Vic Fangio and the defense, right? I'll handle my questions. Wow. Wow. Good call. It's not a new box. I've been told.

Chris. Not a wedding Wiles. Nick Wright, Danny Parkins. I'm excited to hear this hard intake. I just can't wait for it. You basically heard. yesterday, but I'm ready to go. I'm ready.

I'm ready. And cool stats. Stats are going to be cool. Oh, the coolest. A little combo platter of trade deadline news. Anthony Davis is headed to Washington to join the Wizards. Again, this is just video of him. We couldn't see him.

We couldn't get him on the court. No, we have both. We show both. I don't see any basketball. We play the highlights as well. We play the highlights as well. He's averaging 20 and 11 this year. Yeah.

In not many games. Dallas got 20, 20 games. Five picks. And then we talked about yesterday. Hardin, now officially, a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers, and Danny, I thought you went out on a limb there and said,

this makes them the favorites. Well, Vegas agrees with you. How about that? Moved up to win the titles, and all of a sudden, they are the favorites to win the East. So your reaction to one of these trades are both?

Well, listen, the Anthony Davis trade is weird. Like, that's just a weird trade. Like, Dallas is doing it mainly for, like, sunk cost reasons to just move on from the Nico Harrison debacle, start fresh with Cooper Flag, maximum flexibility around Flag, get the worst draft pick possible. Like, that's just a, it's a salary dump for Dallas. Like, it's just, it's not a basketball motivated trade. It's a financial and the future thing for them.

For Washington, it's shocking, but I kind of respect it because they have such a young core of players. and do I think... Trey Young's not that young. Trey Young's in year eight. But he did come out after his freshman year. I mean... Sure, but like their own core group of guys,

SARS in his second year, like Trey Johnson, they have a young group of players that they did not give up. They have a pick that they think could be top five. And then they have Trey Young and Anthony Davis. Like, it's a lot of ifs. Like, if Trey Young is healthy,

if Anthony Davis is healthy, if they hit on a top five pick and a loaded draft, they could talk themselves into being a top four seat in the East next year, given how bad the conference is. Again, that's a ton of ifs. But the conference is so bad, I do respect anybody who goes for it. Yeah, can we say on the Anthony?

Yeah, that's why I did that one first. Yeah. I think there is no, there is no argument as to this for this being bad for the Wizards, in my opinion. I just, because they didn't give up, they gave up Oklahoma City's pick this year. That pick is going to be 26 or worse. And they gave up a Golden State pick in four years that sounds like it could be good

until you find out its top 20 protected. And then so that, and players they don't, you know, that are not part of their current, which is just trying to lose or their future. I mean, the argument is just that Anthony Davis won't play enough games and cost a lot of money. And that's a fair argument. Like, we're going to get into James Hardin, but we've talked about him earlier, obviously. And you've talked about, we know what he is. in the playoffs.

Correct. We know what Anthony Davis is. Future Hall of Famer, yes, all that. But he is injured. He has, we heard this same exact thing. Dallas, Kyrie, Anthony Davis, they're big guys like Gafford. They're going to be a contender in the West.

And he's played 29 games since that trade for Lucas. So he's just not going, I hate to say it. I hope I'm wrong. I just, he's not going to be healthy enough. I understand that that is a totally fair concern, and it's more than a concern to your point. At the big money, you owe him now over, and now he could opt out in a couple years,

but you owe him like $110,000. A million. I'm sorry, million dollars to go. That would be good. $110 million dollars over the next two years. If I'm Washington, I don't mind that. Because who's the last awesome free agent to sign with the Wizards? They don't.

They could get a free agent. Man, especially into here's, I don't know if anybody can get free agency. Well, that, okay. Because like free agents don't, yeah, nobody hits free agency. Players are like, I'd like my extension, then would you trade me? And so you, so this is how Washington can acquire, like, Tray Young is a risk for different reasons. Anthony Davis is a risk.

Might you have rather see him go to, like, if he went to a team that was close. So that's what I was about to. I would have been like, okay, I get it. he might not be there, but if he is, you could actually get over the home. So that's my reaction to this is, I'm surprised there wasn't a

bigger market for AD. And if I'm a Warriors fan, and I see this was the price for Anthony Davis, if 23 hours from now, we have not traded for Janus, I'm livid. Because they could have beaten this.

That's fair. And I would have thought that, again, the health risk is real but Yonis for this season is a real health risk because the calf has been such a problem. Anthony Davis on that Warriors team is really interesting.

And like when I would have thought they didn't have the assets to make that happen. But if this is the cost of Anthony Davis, a lot of teams had the assets. The Lakers could have traded back for him. But I'm sure Dallas wouldn't have done that.

But a lot of teams could have made this, trumped this offer from Washington. But I think that speaks to how low his value is. And it's not because he can't play. It's just, he's just not healthy. And the big money on his. So let's talk about Cleveland. You guys, understandably, are very focused on James Hardin coming up short

in the biggest games in the playoffs in the past. And like I said yesterday, I'm not going to defend his series ending, his playoff exits. not going to defend it. I simply believe that you cannot win with Darius Garland in Cleveland and maybe anywhere going forward. Like Darius Garland is under contract for a couple more years. He's a two-time All-Star. He's 26 years old. He's a 6-1 player who's predicated on speed.

He's already had toe surgery once. Now he has a separate toe injury. Both feet. On both feet. And he is eligible for a three-year 178. million dollar extension on top of the two more years that he's already on it. You don't have to give him that. Nobody has to give him. You don't

have to, but are you committing long term to Darius Garland? Like is Darius Garland? No, I would not have done, no. So he is a depreciating asset. Right? He is getting, and so you got James Hardin to be the third scorer and give you

size and you upgraded your defense with Keon Ellis, not with James Hardin. Like, you changed your team dramatically, you have one year left to sell Donovan Mitchell, that there's a long-term future in Cleveland. So I think that this was a totally reasonable gamble on. We cannot win with Mitchell and Garland. This is the best we could do for Garland. So let's roll the dice out here this way. So that second last point you made is the one that I might take the most issue with. The idea that bringing James Hardin into your team is a

way to sell your superstar on staying with your team. What's the list? Now they had to talk to Mitch. And he might be wrong. And I think a lot of guys think the James Harden experience is going to be awesome. What's the long list

of hey buddy, can we have some references of, you know, stars who have played with you who after a year of it, they're like, man, sign me up for more of it. I don't know it. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. who those guys are.

What do you think happens if Chris Paul doesn't pull his hamstring in that series against Golden State? They lose to the Cavs in the finals, but I think they meet the Warriors. We talk completely differently about Judge Hart. So here's the thing. Maybe we do. I mean, maybe. You can't say. And I, so

I don't know that this will help them entice Donovan Mitchell. That's first point. Second point. Darius Garland needs to be moved from the calves does not mean we have to bring in James Harden. And the third point, which is papering over James Hardin's playoff failures as if it's a few tough elimination games, as opposed to these five horrifying graphics, which is, again,

it's the four veteran players in the league that are superstars, MVPs, and their playoff games play. So level set it. LeBron's played 100 more than anybody. staff, KD, and Hardin have all played about the same amount of games, just for context. Games where they have as many turnovers or more turnovers than made field goals. A quarter of James Hardin's games, 42. And then games with five or fewer made baskets.

That's a third of his playoff games. His bad games are very bad. Games, and they're all the time. It's a lot of them. It's 55 compared to the other guys combined have 21 combined. They're all single. Gary Scarlet has a lot of stinkers, too, man. He's not on the graph.

It is, but it is. And then, I mean, we could do four fewer. It's, it, it's 35. I don't, I, it is, the idea that Donovan Mitchell is going to get a playoff run with James Harden. And that's why he's going to say, I'll sign an extension. I just think is, I'm not saying you won't sign an extension, but I don't think James Hardin being as,

teammate is going to help that. Well, so let's, the extension part, it's for the future. For this year, there's another way to flip that. James Hardin in the postseason has a lot of stinkers. He also, right now, is fourth active in playoff minutes. Yeah. Okay? We can show you.

Okay. And he's fourth in points and third in assists and fourth and three. That's a long, those are longevity numbers. And I'll give you, he has some huge playoff performance. Yeah. In game ones, game fours, things like that. Donovan, but when games six and seven. For Donna Mitchell and Evan Mobile.

Here's what I'll give you. That's what everybody thinks when they sign up. I'm just saying you, but his points assists and threes are in. Longgevity. I mean, let's just keep it real. Right, but they're in line. You would think if he was so terrible in the playoffs, he'd be fourth and minutes and ninth in points.

No, what people are saying, and I believe Nixon, in those big elimination games or sick games. same sixes and sevens. Look, I will give you this. The calves are better today than they were yesterday. There's no, I think Hardin, he's better than Darius Garden, Garland, period. But obviously Garland isn't even playing. So he's healthy.

And I give, I still think Detroit is better. I think the Knicks are better. But the Cavs may have a shot. Boston could be, particularly if they get Tatum, they're better. And they might be better now. But here's the thing, Danny. If the calves did not lock up Hardener, promise him, look, we're going to give you a long-term extension past next season. They probably had to agree, you're getting all your $49 million for next year.

I'm fine with that. But if they went further than that, and he's 36 years old right now, then I think it was a downright mistake. Because I don't think they're winning the East as they are. But I will give you, they are better. It was a trade that made them better right now. When I'm picking them to win the East, and I'm very excited to unveil the new official stakes of first things first overtime, which is the currency of the show.

Well, yeah, but we now have a scoreboard. Wow. Shellfish tower wagers. So the first one on that lower level, I won, obviously. Caleb, Caleb over Shador. Yeah. It was shocking because Shadur was so dominant. Yeah, he's such a dominant player.

And then the second one, the shellfish tower, still to be paid, but Wilds doesn't want to hang out with us for a few more months. Yeah. Right. I owe Wilds for the Wild card round of Patriots Chargers. Yeah. And then at the top, I've got the calves to win the East, shellfish tower. Yeah, that's fine. Against Nick.

Against. Oh, yeah. No, no, no. So you're going to be paying two dinners. No, no, no. He can't. It can only, he doesn't. He says he is taking the cabs.

There's only one way for him to win. He can't lose. It's just a free roll. Oh, Nick is saying, listen, I was willing to put up, let him pick a ting, but he, no, I'm just giving him a free rule. He's so appalled at the idea that the favorites in the East could win. They win the East, he owes me a show. And I'm going to add some to it. And if they don't make it out around one, he owes us at the time.

That's totally fine. I think they will. All right, from the seafood tower to a really cool segment. Thanks, sir. We're counting down to the Super Bowl and the stats just continue to get cooler by the day. It's time for a Super Bowl edition of packed stats, and these are going to be extra cool. Oh, it's a Super Bowl edition while.

These are the coolest stats in the game, and I know you like when I put on my gloves. So here they are. This is his favorite part of the whole thing. But you know what his least favorite part has been? The briefcase. Yeah. He's wanted the briefcase to go away.

I don't like that. So I've added extra security. No brief. No, no, no. There's just extra security. security sure this week for the Super Bowl edition of the stats gentlemen thank you oh man tan cup to tan cup to them there that's what the keys were yeah tremendous security doesn't it make sense now yeah yeah lefty lucy oh no this would be the best if he can't

yes I got it not off it went perfect in rehearsal excellent there were okay someone should come in right now just steal this briefcase not feel the stats it'd be tough getting through those guys know what else is cool What? Security, y'all. We got to the end. Slogans. Defense wins championships, trademark by Wilds. Brew, I'm going to try to help you out here on picking a winner.

This is the 19th time since the merger that the number one ranked scoring defense has made it to the Super Bowl. Seattle's the number one scoring defense. 14 and 4 previous times that the best defense has made it to the Super Bowl. That is a point in the direction of the Seahawks. Sorry, Wilde. Counterpoint though. That's a big point from Wilde's tweet earlier. They did allow, what was it, 16 points to Phillip Rivers?

Well, 16 to Phillip Rivers and they, you know, they, we have seen them get gashed moderately recently for over 500 yards. Now that was balanced out by Max Brosmer's start where he had zero points and it's that zero point. If they could get a few field goals, the Texans would be the number one scoring defense. And that stat would be totally thrown in the garbage. But because they shut out Max Brozmer on his debut, I believe, undrafted quarterback. Good job, Wiles.

Do you consider them the best defense in the NFL? I do not. You do not? No, I consider the Texans defense to be the best with you for a few reasons. One, everybody was saying that they were the best until we lit them up. Two, the Texas defense, the most yards the Texans defense have allowed all year, was 360. The most defense, the, excuse me, the Seahawks have four games over 360.

The Rams, 581. Last week, again, to the Rams, 479. The Bucks, 426. The 49ers, week one, which I'll give you a pass on, 384. But the Texans were never over 360. So I lean towards the Texans, but I understand people. Do you think the Seahawks have a great defense? Yes, definitely.

Okay, that's the, okay, so that's what I want. So you think they have a top three defense? I think they have, yes, I think they have an elite, excellent defense. I think all of that. But I do think it's weird. Okay. That take, I think, is totally reasonable. Yeah, the only thing I push back on, I think there's some friction, is scoring defense.

I think the Patriots are fourth and the Texans are first. No, the Seahawks are first. So I'm sorry, the Seahawks are first. It would be like if you were 6-5 and I was 6-7, and you were 6-7, and you're, and you're, And you were like, man, I work with this really tall guy, Kevin Wilde. And you're like, you know, I'm 6'5, dude. Like, that's all I'm saying. All you were talking about how tall I was in this, it's like, just because I was 6'7.

But Bruce 6'5, but it's like, how. You know what? With that little analogy, I'm erasing your point. It was just too much. Because can I tell you something? Why that analogy works against you? Why? If you worked with someone who was 6 foot 5, you wouldn't tell anyone. about it. But if you worked with someone who was

six foot seven, it would come up. Oh, that's the threshold. Like there is. Yeah, again, I wish you hadn't done it like that, but like, six, six, it is six, five, is like, wow, that's a really tall person. Six, seven. Six, five, and they didn't. And there is any, no,

but if someone is six foot, and I'm just going to say six eight because I don't want to do stupid things. You don't go six eight. But meeting a person is six seven. Right, if you're six eight and you didn't play major college basketball, it's like, you kind of blew it. Just saying everyone found about six.

Five, it's just like, it's tall. Hey guys, you know what else is cool? Sorry, Danny. Yeah, it's okay. I'm not a problem. It's about me here, guys. The light show is cool. Oh, and that is cool.

This, wilds I'm trying to be fair. Yeah. First that was in favor of the Seahawks. Seahawks just allowed on deep passes. The second most yards allowed by any team this year. And it's not going to be a blizzard. It's not going to be terribly cold. Good condition.

So it would be reasonable to assume that Drake May might be able to perform like he did in the regular season. He was the second best passer this year on the deep ball. Hasn't been in the postseason playing against the great defenses. But will we get regular season deep ball Drake May or playoff? Here's the problem. Sorry. Sorry cool stats. This is actually kind of a Josh Troy proxy war because Josh is the regulation stat guy. Troy is the OT stack guy.

And Josh explained to me that Drake May's regular season. deep balls, it actually is a tale of two seasons. September and October, a 157 rating on deep balls, almost perfect. November and December, dead league average on deep balls. So before the playoffs started, something happened to his deep ball accuracy, which was the first two months of the year, 14 of 17, and again, 0.8 away from a perfect passer rating. So I, that, that would, that's one of my concerns for New England.

You think it's trending down consistently? I think it's been, I think the two months prior to the playoffs, he was league average at deep balls, and that has continued in the postseason, as opposed to just being a postseason phenomenon. That would be my concern there. Just takes one. You know, I take more than that if it's a high-scoring game.

It won't be. But I'm saying, I don't know if it's like a, like they took a few shots at Sartan didn't work out, but you know what I mean? It's just one, like, it's just the Bouté catch. That's it. Just one was all we need. So was that a point for the Patriots or not? I'm on my own, dude.

We all we got. I'm on my own. Oh, you're, you've given up on. Tartan's out on me. Charles Woodson's out on me. Every guest we've had today. Everybody at the other network. Hey, you guys.

Not everybody, 48 of 58. 48 of 58 around Seattle? I've got to talk to. Wow, I should have included that stuff. You know what's cool though wow? What? Underdogs. That's Danny's bit.

You guys know, What else is cool? Last one. And this is obvious. Security is cool. Yeah. Yes, absolutely. But in this context, ball security. Did you guys know that Sam Darnold and Drake May are two of three quarterbacks this year to be undefeated when they did not turn it over, when they were turnover free? Sam Darnold, 8 and O, Drake May, 10, and O. The third friend of the show, Josh Allen. So it's an old school, maybe, you know, remedial way to analyze this. But which of these quarterbacks is more? likely to play the clean game. The team that does wins the Super Bowl. Drake May has been fumbling. Sam Donald's been known to throw an interception or two. That's a really good question.

I mean, because both of them, yeah, have had a lot of turnovers. Although Donald, I said yesterday, if you take away the two regular season games against the Rams, where he had six interceptions, he only had eight interceptions in his remaining, you know, six, 17 games, actually. Drake was excellent. taking care of the ball in the regular season. Sam has not turned it over in the postseason. Like that, you know, Drake had in the regular season 11 turnovers in 17 games.

He has five and three playoff games. Darnold led the league in turnovers in the regular season and the playoffs is yet to turn it over. They also, Danny, are the only two teams with winning records when their quarterback has multiple turnovers. The thing about the Seahawks and the Pats, with their both being 14 and three or A lot of the win-loss records. Any way you split, it looks good. Yeah, you sliced it a bunch of ways.

Like, they're really good, really good. They were really good all year. Yeah. Undefeated, though. That's pretty good. They're pretty good stats are cool. Nice. I liked it.

I liked the security, too, even though last time these guys were out here is because it's useful in the Super Bowl. Why did we? Really? I thought they moved from... Mom and Jay had to protect the stats. So you guys didn't take my briefcase. It's kind of sad.

The briefcase just doesn't line up with the aesthetic of the leather jacket. I ride a motorcycle with my stats handcuffed on a motorcycle. A leather satchel. Welcome back to the OT with Coach Manjini and Willie Cologne. He had a pick six in last year's Super Bowl and was just named in his second year to the first team all pro team. Joining us from Radio Row in San Francisco. Remember the Philadelphia Eagles. Cooper DeShine is with us.

Cooper, man, thank you so much for the time. We know you're with us on behalf of optimum nutrition. Tell us a little bit about your partnership there. Yes, great partner of mine, optimum nutrition and their protein. We got a protein shake right here. Wish you guys could try it. But 40 grams of protein, good for on the go. And post-workout recovery, long season.

You've got to take care of the body. So get your protein in you. It's a great partner of mine. Helps me out a lot throughout the season, keeping my body ready to go. So there's so many things that we could talk to you about. and I don't like to take these things particularly seriously. You have the best name of a podcast ever.

For anyone who does not know, it is the exciting mics. My favorite meme on the internet is exciting whites. It makes me laugh every single time I see it. A hundred percent of the time it hits. And so it's you in Reed Blankenship. And I am curious, Cooper, do you see yourself as some sort of inspirational figure to white kids everywhere who would like to grow up and be a cornerback? A lot of kids have said that to me.

A lot of kids have said that to me. So maybe I am. But I just go out and try to play the game the right way. I think that's something that's very respectable. And I hope people enjoy watching. Well, Celebrity Eagles fan Shane Gillis had a bit, had a comedy bit about the white cornerback going extinct. Have you talked with Shane Gillis about that you're bringing it back?

I have not talked to Shane about the white cornerback coming back. But obviously I've been around Shane, talked to him a few times. So I might have to bring that up next time. There's also a clip of Jason Kelsey talking about it, too, on his podcast. So I haven't talked to him about it either. But hopefully one day we can have that conversation. Hey, Kooke, can we talk about Big Dom? We're all trying to figure out this mystical,

cool legend that is on your side line. We see me at the Senior Bowl side line. What does Big Dom do? Anything and everything. Whatever you need done, Big Dom. Big Dom's got a guy for it. If he doesn't have someone, he'll find a way to do it. But he's a great person to be around.

You know, you can go to him and talk about anything you really want. You know, but he's just an awesome person. People person, you know, he's nice to everybody he sees. But he's also great as his job. His job, though, senior advisor to the general manager, chief security officer, game day coaching. That's a long business card. Like, does he get dinner reservations?

Yeah, it's a long title. Honestly, what, like, give me some specifics. What does Big Dom done for you? Oh, yeah, you need, you need cheese steaks around the city. He'll get you right up to the front of the line, dinner reservations. You know, your car gets towed. He'll get it back right away. Wow, that helps.

You need security. You need a driver. You need whatever you need. He's got it. It seems like. So he's awesome to have on our side. Hey, Coop, a long, long time ago in the first year at the Baltimore Ravens, I was with Kirk Ference. I was his offensive line assistant.

One of the nicest men I've ever been around, even keeled. Compare Kirk's style to Nick Seriani's coaching style. It's a lot different. It's a lot different. You know, Coach Siriani, he's, he gets, he gets pretty juiced up, you know, throughout the season. And, you know, I mean, I love, I love the energy that he brings. You see him talking, talking crap on the sideline to opposing teams. And, you know, he tries to bring the energy, you know, each and every week. And, you know, Coach Ferrence is, is more relaxed.

I could probably count on one hand the amount of times in my three years there that I've seen. Coach Ferrence really yell at somebody for doing something wrong. But I love learning from him. He taught me a lot, taught me how to be the football player I am today and the man I am, really. You know, I've learned a lot from him and his staff. Obviously, he's been there 26 years now. But it was always a dream of mind to play for him. You know, it was amazing to be coached by him.

Was it an adjustment going from like an even keeled guy? to someone who will yell at fans on a somewhat regular basis? I think it's easier to go from an even-keel guy to an energetic guy. To go from an energetic guy to a more even-keeled guy, I think that's a little different. So, I mean, it didn't take long for me to understand the passion that Coach Siriani has. And I know everybody in our locker room appreciates it. Speaking, Cooper, of your time at Iowa, have you played Caitlin Clark in 101 yet?

Have you guys played yet? I have not played her one-on-one, no. She keeps ducking from me, but that's all right. Maybe one day we'll get it in. Maybe we'll do it for charity or something. That'd be fun. But, no, she's amazing. I mean, I love watching her play in the WMBA and out of Iowa.

with so. But hopefully we hopefully one day we can get that one-on-one game, man. Cool. Every time you watch the Eagles game, you can see Kevin Hart, you see Gilly and Wallo, you can see Browley Cooper. I mean, who's the biggest Eagles fans to you? I think, I think Gilly's got to be, got to be the biggest Eagles fan. I mean, he was literally crying last year during the parade, I think, and at the Super Bowl. So I'm sure there's a lot of other fans crying too, but how passionate he is.

He's going to shoot it to you straight. That's for sure. But we appreciate it and his energy that he brings to the city. What do you mean shoot it to you straight? Is he going to call you out for a blown coverage? Like is he like diagram in plays? What's going on there? I've seen him say some guys.

Like he's coaching. us, but he's just really really passionate, you know, and you appreciate that. Hey, Kup, you had a great Super Bowl last year, and the day is so different than other games because you've got the elongated pregame warm-up and then you've got the elongated halftime, then you've got the emotions of the day. For all the guys that are going through this the first time, what advice would you give them for managing that day so that they can perform at their highest level? Yeah, I'd say don't make it bigger than it is.

At the end of the day, you know, it's still 120 yards long and 53 and the third yards wide, you know, the field. Still the same football, putting on the same pads and pants you've worn all year. So don't make it bigger than it is. And, you know, throughout the week, try to find a way to get some time to yourself. Because it's a lot of hoopla, you know, going around, you know, with all the media. different things that you have to do throughout throughout Super Bowl week. But just make sure you keep the main thing,

the main thing throughout the week, still get your film study in, go through your routine, and don't make the game bigger than it is. Coup, can I give you a tush push take? Can I run a theory past you? Oh, here we go. Okay.

It's here. You guys are better than this. You should be above it. I saw you, they ran it as kind of a joke in the Pro Bowl yesterday, and that's all well and good. But you have a quarterback who could squat a million pounds. You have a top five offensive line in the sport. You have a top five running back in the sport.

You'd be the best short yardage team without it. Coup, pass along this message. You guys do not need to resort to these rugby gimmicks in order to gain six inches. Yeah, I mean, we don't have to, but it works. And you've seen the things that they can do off of it. too. We've had to get a little creative with it now, running some other plays off of it. So I think it's starting to, you got to keep teams honest a little bit, you know, with the play now and, you know, be able to have some, some different versions of it. My theory, though, is that Jalen doesn't really like it. It's the, how, how could he, how can he possibly enjoy that play?

You don't think so? I mean, I've never really asked him about it, but. Seems physically demanding. likes winning so yeah i i'd disagree i'd imagine he likes getting first downs on a consistent basis to scoring exactly and it's other people's job to stop it right moving the ball down the field yeah exactly that's how it is well cooper thank you very much for joining us on the o t and best of luck going forward man thank you for the time thank you appreciate you guys thank you welcome back to the o t let's talk some super Makes sense. Mike Vrable was on to Sirius XM and he was talking about what it would take to bring home that seventh trophy to New England. Hinting that, you know, it's going to rely on the quarterback, Drake May. Take a listen.

He doesn't get rattled. He's very coachable. You see the moments with him and Josh and, you know, again, we're going to have to, you know, to win this game. You have to have great quarterback play. You have to take care of the ball and play great defense. So, you know, hopefully we can, you know, We can set the table on special teams, but Drake has been at the forefront of our success. Yeah, there's no doubt about that. It's why he's going to be a top two finisher for MVP. So, coach, do you expect an MVP level, MVP-like, regular season-like, however you want to frame it, performance from Drake in this game? I'm not sure what that looks like in this game. Think about as he's gone through this playoff run, the difficult defense of his face,

and he struggled through that time. And one of the issues has been the turnovers. They've been very fortunate that those bounces have typically bounced their way as opposed to their opponents. He has not lost as many fumbles as he could. Yeah, as he could have. So an MVP performance may just be, you know, the starting point of not losing the game, not putting the team in harm's way that way.

And then after that, you know, will, do I expect it to be what it was in the regular season? Probably not because this is another outstanding defense, arguably the best defense. faced. But I'm hoping it's definitely a clean game for him. Yeah, I don't expect him to light it up, but I do expect him to be poised, like Frable saying, I expect him to be a game manager. I expect him to not put the ball in harm's way. I think nevertheless, the issue for him is, you know, how well will this office line play? We talked about the leaky protection. I also think right now when he comes to his ability to fight through adversity, that's the one thing he has shown through the

playoffs that he can have sometimes blunders and come out on the other side even making a good situation a player or coming out the building with a w nevertheless man i think josh mcdanio's going to keep this game playing tight and safe just don't turn over the ball allow your defense to you know get you out of the building and this and it's be efficient and get completions right he won't need to cape in this game just get completion staying on time and uh execute in the red zone which they struggled with doing so this so the see ox have been the number one scoring defense but is this crazy to say that compared to the last two weeks this is actually going to feel easy for Drake May?

Because the Broncos pass rush, you know, almost set the sack record. And then the Texans were the best defense by the advanced numbers and did have a better edge rush duo, obviously, than Seattle. I feel like Seattle has a lot of really talented pieces at all three levels. Their depth is extraordinary. But it's not really overpowering with the Denise. Hunter, Will Anderson, like a superstar type contributions. And also, it's not going to be in a blizzard.

It's going to be, you know, mid-50s, controlled environment, normal Foxborough football weather. So it's a tough defense, but maybe not quite as tough of a pass rush as Denver and Houston provided and in better elements. So even though it's a tougher spot than he faced basically all regular season, I feel like it's the easiest spot he's faced since the wild card round. against the Chargers. And it may feel a lot easier because of the gauntlet that he's had to go through to get here.

That's kind of my point. By comparison, oh, this is only the fourth best defense in the NFL. That's easy. Well, even if it's not by comparison, just the fact that each week they were tested so dramatically, especially by the pass-resh element of those teams. And you're right, Seattle has a lot of guys that get sacks, but they don't really have a 10-sack. They don't have anybody, I think, over seven or eight. They all contribute, but there's not that.

that one dominant, dominant guy. And they've also had the advantage of two weeks to prepare, which I think will really help him and Josh. Yeah, I think it was interesting about Seattle's defense and reference to how to stop Drake May is, you know, listen, Seattle can stop the run with a light box, right? Their front floor can dominate the run game. And one of the things that keeps Drake May on time and on schedule is the run game.

If they neutralize his run game with a light box and he's forced to throw more, then we could see turnovers. We could see bad sacks, and we won't get the MVP type performance. So those are the things we're going to have to pay attention to in this game because Seattle does play those two high safeties. And they say, hey, man, you don't come at us. But we got our front. We got big boys that can neutralize the line of scrimmage.

So that's where you want to see him elevate. But as of late, he hasn't been able to do it. It's weird. Like, I am expecting Drake May to have his best game of the postseason in the Super Bowl. But I'm also expecting it to not be enough. Like I just can I ask what gives you confidence that? Well, I guess part of it's what I was. just in terms of Drake May's side of it.

Part of it's what I've said off the top is that, like, I think the weather will be better than he just faced in the AFC championship game, and the pass rush is good, but not great. Like, their secondary is very good. Again, they have a lot of talent at all three levels, but it's not, I don't think he will be, I don't think Will Campbell is going to get destroyed like he would have against Benito if that game was in normal conditions,

or Will Anderson and Hunter got him. Like, he will struggle, but not get completely destroyed. And so I think the pass rush won't be as bad as it's been. The weather will help. So I expect him to play well. But I just don't know that it's going to be enough. I still think there's a huge talent discrepancy between these two teams. See, I don't see the huge talent discrepancy that you see.

And I really like New England's defensive line. I think that they, you know, you got the two guys inside who are. Barmore and Williamson. It would have been dominant throughout the postseason. And then they've got a collection. They use their defense or their outside. linebackers like defensive linemen so they've got a lot of flexibility there they bring a lot of different looks and and this is one of those groups that has consistently gotten better over the course

this season and not just that but they're doing more things so sam darnald he faced who the 49ers who he already played twice and then he faced the rams who he had already played twice this is a totally this is a totally different package than anything he's seen and he doesn't have anywhere near the level familiarity that he had with the two teams he beat the head. And we know Sam's not a scrambler, right? He's going to sit there and kind of pat the baby and wait for a guy to get open. You know, at least with Drake and May, if things get a little hot in the pocket, he can't scramble.

That's going to be, that I guess, the edge for the Patriots move forward. I also think Sam right now, to coach's point, like, Barmore and Williams and Chasing, these guys have a chip on their shoulder, right? Because there's so much talked about Leonard Williams and his group and what they've been able to do. These guys, for a large part of this, season have been kind of underdogs. They had to fit. And then once they were able to fit, they was able to elevate. Not at the elevate, they're looking like, hey, we're just as good as those guys.

So they're going into this game, a little chipped and pissed off that they're not considered in the same breath as Leonard Williams in that group in Seattle. It's an interesting spot for Drake, too, because in the playoffs, all that matters that you win. It's not really about style points and all that. So he wins this game. Quarterback most likely wins Super Bowl MVP. Maybe we pull his playoff stats into the future, whatever.

But he'd have the ring, he'd have the Super Bowl MVP, and he'd be fine. fine. He loses. He struggles again in the postseason. I do think there's going to be a little bit of a recalibration of, okay, he was an amazing regular season player and they were ahead of schedule. But then when he played really good defenses in the playoffs, he struggled consistent. Look, I don't think if they win and he gets the ring, he's a made man, we're still going to evaluate him every single year like we do all quarterback. Ask Jalen Hertz. Yeah, Jalen Hertz goes from Super Bowl MVP to, now can he play or not play. And that's just the reality of it.

Next year we'll go through the same criteria again. We'll see whether or not he's made progress or whether he's regressed. I think right now when it comes to him being, I guess, effective in this game, I think we're going to have to seem to make more explosive plays than what we've seen. I've talked about other eight balls. He's going to have to be better in that department, especially on the offense for the past. Yeah, the deep ball hasn't been there in the playoffs. But like you said, the running has been.

And I do expect him to run a lot in this. Super Bowl. I don't know if I'll give you a winner, but I'm happy to have you fun. Some gambling coming up on the O.T. Time now for first things last. The Super Bowl is, well, the Super Bowl of American gambling events. No single day attracts more wagers. And as someone who has gambled on this grand spectacle for 22 years and counting, I'm here to lay out some ground rules for a successful day of degeneracy. Now, to be clear, I'm not guaranteeing a winner, though I do like the Seahawks. But what I can guarantee is a good time. The first key to a great gambling day

is making sure you always have bets going. And I mean always. From the length of the national anthem to the first commercial to the color of the gatorade dumped on the winning coach, there should always be action. However, the Super Bowl is a communal event. Some of these bets should not be placed on an app. Is Charlie Puth going to milk his moment or rush through the national anthem? The line is set at a crisp 120.5 seconds. So, know, like all important matters, do your own research, and find a friend who feels the opposite. In the game itself, I like to have my bets tell a story. In gambling parlance, I correlate my bets.

For example, if I think the Seahawks are going to be up big late, they might be running to run out the clock. So that means over 18 and a half rushing attempts for Kenneth Walker is a great bet. And I'd like to dispute a common one that life is too short to bet unders. Nonsense, unders win too. Trevion Henderson has seemingly fallen out of favor in New England with Ramandre Stevenson outrushing him 51 to 24 attempts in the playoffs. So again, if I think the Patriots are going to be trailing, under four and a half carries

for Henderson at plus 116, that's a hammer. Now I'll tell you this. The strategy of heavily correlated bets, it can backfire. Someone I know very well, who looks and sounds a lot like me, went one in 13 in the Chiefs Buck Super Bowl. Yikes. But I believe it was Warren Buffett who said, scared money to don't make money. And last but not least, for the love of God, the most important rule of all

Super Bowl gambling, never, under any circumstance, lay juice on the coin toss. Bet it with a friend. And if all else fails, March Madness is right around the corner. That's all I've got. Thank you so much for hanging out with us on the OT. Thanks again to Cooper DeGine for joining us. We're back tomorrow with more first things first.