First Things First - Chiefs' ‘guaranteed win’ vs. Raiders, Matt Leinart & Mark Ingram join, Upset Alert & Nick’s Picks

Episode Date: October 17, 2025

(0:00) Bengals beat Steelers, Will the Chiefs beat the Raiders? (25:28) Eagles vs. Vikings, How important is Cowboys vs. Commanders?  (38:43) Broncos giving Giants bulletin board material? (44:46) Upset Alert & Nick’s Picks (01:05:36) Vinnie Pasquantino’s ALCS & NLCS predictions  (01:16:09) Matt Leinart and Mark Ingram discuss USC vs. Notre Dame (01:25:03) Monday Morning Headlines Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

First hour of Chris and company. Today, pretty flacco outdules Aaron Rogers, one-off fun game, or can the Bengals actually make a run? Meanwhile, Aaron Rogers out-duled by Joe Flack. But does his performance make you think the Steelers are still in the driver's seat? And finally, well, it's the hottest segment in all of sports. It's upset alert. Indeed.

Including a special edition of Nick's pick fresh off a two. Hey, Nick is hot. And let me tell you something. Yeah, and got the Bengals last night. We almost should have Vinny be a part of Nick's picks. I didn't prep this, so I guess he can't be. Because he has been two for two on exact specific baseball playoff predictions and game scores. He's been, yeah.

Surprise, surprise. He knows race. Great, great. First hour, first things first. We're starting with Flacco and the Resurgent Bales. How good was the 40-year-old veteran? There was a sign in the stands that read Joe 2.0, not better than Burrow. Just different.

A game-winning drive with a kick to win it. Here's Joe and Jamar post-game. I love doing this. I've been doing for such a long time. When you're out there with the guys and you're doing what you want to do and you're having success and you can look at each other's eyes and just like you get that feeling of you know of you know bonding with somebody else and just it's a lot of fun and it's a lot more fun when that clock gets zero and you've gotten the job done we know we're as close last week we felt like we just figured it out about how we're going to go about the flacko and just the offense period I think today showed what we're really capable of love and you know show how prolific it this office really will be he's like yeah uh he's Here's Flaggo this season. With the Browns, one in three, 200 yards,

and he goes over to the Bengals. He's one in one. It's 280 yards. Five touchdowns, no turnovers, pass a rating of 100. I saw that you were retweeting a graphic that said that you picked the Bengals correctly. I retweeted our show.

KW, you do not get any credit for you. I picked the Bengals. KW, you did the first 90 minutes of the show. You were talking about how you literally said this. Classic 2 for you. you, the Achilles is a two-year injury. Why, did Aaron Rogers not play well? You did a whole thing.

You told the producers before the show you were going Steelers. And then in the last moment, you kind of switched just so you could say you were right. No. No, again. We both got it. So what's the question other than you wanting to dis, one, brew, he just can't handle you. I got it right. He just can't.

You did not get that. You did not. You did not. You did not. Why did the graphics say Steelers? The graphic was wrong. No, okay. All right.

Go ahead. What's the question? Do you agree with me that the Bengals didn't win the AFC North? The Bengals can win the AFC North. Yes. They can, absolutely. Again, I'm not appealing to Vegas here, but I just to give the, what a neutral observer would say. The Bengals are 425 plus 425, so brew that basically saying they have a little less than a 20.

20% chance is a way to read it. The Ravens are plus 1.35 and the Steelers are plus 125. So the Ravens are still second. Second but barely. Right now, Vegas projects the Bengals to win seven, the Ravens to win eight, and the Steelers to win nine, which is to say it's very tight. And I do feel like we have something of proof of concept over a decent sample that the Bengals can play 500 football without.

Joe Burrow. The numbers they put up that year, two years ago, I mean, they're four and three. Do I think Flacco can play around the level that Jake Browning did when Joe Burrow was out in 2023?

Sure. Yeah. And so now that they're three and four, and now that I think you saw some of my concerns for the Steelers defense come to life a bit, and I don't, I'm not going to buy this.

The Steelers were not unlucky last night. They've had games this year against Justin Fields and 40-year-old Joe Flacco where the other, where you, that defense allowed more than 30 points.

You're supposed to lose at least one of those. So those two performances being one-on-one is right. And so I do think the Bengals are live in a very weird division in a very weird conference right now. Absolutely positively not.

There is no way the Bengals are not winning this division. All last night showed is that as we all said, everybody except Danny said the Steelers aren't for real. That's all last night proved. Well, Wilde kind of thought they were for real. Achilles is two-year-in-jury. Well, you thought they were for real, but they were going to lose. You know.

Okay. Yes. I'm starting to believe more in Mike Tomlin. When you put up some graphics that were like, this team is getting a lot. You said if they win, they're going to the Super Bowl. They got a six and seven. That's right. They are not very good.

And here's the thing with Flacco. I don't think any of us are surprised what he did last night. We didn't pick it. I think Nick, you may have picked him to do that last night. He has this in him. And he's got a good four or five games stretch. But that might be all they need, Drew. I don't think so.

And he's already two games into his stretch because he had two touchdowns and no picks. But he wasn't good in that game. But he had his two, look, back two years ago in Cleveland, five games, 13 touchdowns, eight picks. That's not awesome. But it was enough of a run to get them in the playoffs. Playoffs come, I thought they'd beat Houston. I think it was Houston they lost two. He throws two picks.

He turns back into a pump. Then just last year with Indy, his first two games, he had like five touchdowns, no picks. And then goes on this interception spree and ends up not even finishing the season with them. So he has about four or five games. And he's, like I said, he's already started it now. So I don't think they can win the division. And that leaves my Ravens because Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh blown opportunity.

I'll get to that when we talk Rogers. But the Steelers aren't looking great. The Bengals, I'm sorry, that defense is still bad. The Ravens are just an ideal right now. Well, I'm assuming Lamar will be back next day. Now, I will say, and I've been saying this for weeks, they got to be Chicago. If they lose to Chicago, well, if they beat Chicago,

I will feel like, okay, they're back, and then I'll expect them to win a lot of games. If they lose to Chicago, they're just pretty much done this year. Okay. So that's the key game. But, yeah, it's right there for my Ravens. I'm going to take it a step further. Okay.

I'm ready to write off the entire AFC North. Well, somebody's got to make the playoffs. No, but he needs as a container. But like, it's a lot. Okay. Okay. But the idea that the AFC North is this powerhouse slug fest, you don't want to play him.

I'm like, well, I'll play him. I would sign up to play any of these teams. So here are the defenses. and it's jarring because it's usually, all right, three great defenses in the Bengals. Steelers are 28th in yards. The Bengals are 31st. The Ravens are 29th. The Browns are third.

Great, but the Browns can't score. Right. The Browns are the worst quarter of. It's just, and everyone's scoring on the rate. It is just a shocking level of a switch of an identity. Correct. For a whole conference. Division.

Sorry, for a whole division. Here's the other thing. I got one more graphic. You still, though, honestly, you still don't necessarily want to play those teams. I would play those teams. Well, certainly you'd be okay playing the Steelers in the playoffs. The Brown's defense is just, I mean, they beat the Packers. Oh, no, the Brown's defense.

It makes it rough. The Bengals because of the offense. And the Steelers, they beat your Patriots. Barely, and we turn the baller five times. No, but hold on, just before you get the other graphic, to add to Bruce's point, I, I agree, not the Brown's. It's not a good division right now. I give you that. The Ravens win Lamar's back.

The Bengals with Flacco for the time being, and the Steelers because of, I do think they have proof of concept in this. They are all dangerous on any given weekend. But to your point, it seems impossible that any of them are going to play three consecutive excellent playoff games and make a Super Bowl, which is I think your point.

So when the Ravens get rolling, don't try to do. jump on the bandwagon. I'm just letting you know. Everybody knows that. What is it? What's your other graphic? What your what?

A Lamar guy? Remember here? You even know I'm a Lamar guy. You were writing off the rain. I've always loved them since then. I would like him previous. I'm going to save this graph. I've got a graphic in the chamber.

I just want to say. Okay. Well, that's good because I have something I need to do. Right now? Yeah. Right now. Just real quick. Here we go.

Because I agree. No, nothing's coming out. We're always just nervous. But I, no. I did something. I did something. I did something. I don't want the committee to be mad at me.

Uh-oh. And I, you'll notice, you guys will see how valuable Marshall is when you see the names of tears. Oh, I can see that. But just, because I do think your larger point and maybe yours as well is the AFC right now is really weird. The seemingly, and I know people don't want to hear it from me, but I think everyone right now kind of agrees with it. The best team and the scariest team is three and three. The teams that going into the year we really believed in, Cincinnati and Baltimore have horrific defenses,

and both of their quarterbacks are currently hurt, even if one, you know, different injuries. So I just kind of threw this together, and this to me is kind of about the Ravens, and then it segues well to the Steelers. Chiefs of the favorites, I think the bills are clearly second best. And then you have three teams in the Patriots, Cults, and Chargers that are solid, good teams.

but I don't think are like scary to face. And then a Ravens and Bengals team that are not as good as those teams, but are oddly, like if the Bengals were to make the playoffs, in theory, Joe Burrow has come back. You know what? At the end of the year and the Ravens, obviously. And then this group of teams that can beat you any given weekend, but they're just too flawed to have any real championship hopes,

and there's bad teams. So it's just a weird conference right now where it, the bills, I think, have real issues. And they're clearly a top two team in the conference. I'm not sure. I disagree. I know we're not going to turn this on a bill segment, but I'm not 100% sure the bills are clearly the second best team.

But I mean, the Patriots are hard to say the Colts. I know. The Colts are about to start playing some pretty good teams. Yeah. And so we'll see. They're not a reputation. Like, it's just so like the Colts have the best offense and the best record. And nobody believes in them.

Except for Greg Jennings. It's a really weird conference at the moment. All right, let's flip to the other side. I'm going to debut this graphic that everyone's been on pins and needles. Oh, okay. Steelers still in first place. Aaron Rogers had four touchdowns, proved he could still throw it. The Hail Mary was the longest throw since 2017.

Not his, anybody's. Oh, really? Yeah, he threw a 70. I mean, that one's impressive. But the defense did allow 470 yards. Here's Aaron Rogers. Listen, we want to win every game. There needs to be an expectation of winning, but this is a short week, division opponent, anything can happen.

We're four and two. Still first in the division. Got a couple, you know, home games coming up back to back, another Sunday night opportunity against my former team. So I'm not going to ride the roller coaster, and I know Mike isn't, and hopefully you guys follow suit. I'm not going to. I'm going to strap in. Most touchdowns, 10 or more air yards. Is this the graphic we're always?

This is not the graphic. I got another one. Everyone's just waiting for it. It's Aaron Bake Show and Sam Darnold. How should Aaron feel after last night? A little deja vu. A little like, ooh, the idea was I could still be a solid quarterback, and I'm on this team with an excellent defense,

and we get off to a good start, and then it gets going. and that was the story with the Jets. Now, they weren't four and one. They were two and one, though. And then the coach was fired by two and three. And not just also deja vu on awesome moment, sideline interaction with teammate or coach that then turns oddly sour.

Like, whether it's Bob Sala trying to hug him or Broderick Jones trying to get a piggyback ride. Either way, like there's a few. And Aaron, listen, Aaron played really well yesterday. I know it says he has two picks. One of them was a bad throw. The other one was just an unbelievable play. Also may not have been a catch.

I mean, I think it was, but regardless, it certainly was not Aaron's fault. That was a pinpoint pass that was taken away. But it's about to get really hard. And they, the other reason that I am more open to Cincinnati having a shot than you is because if Baltimore is just bad. And it is going to come down to these. two teams.

Yeah, then the thing is this, Cincinnati has the Jets next, then the Bears, then a buy. And then they get Pittsburgh again. Pittsburgh in the meantime has the Packers, the Colts, the Chargers. They've already had their buy. So if we just assume Cincinnati can beat the Jets and say they lose to the Bears, they're four and five coming off a by playing this team again. Yeah.

That is going through their toughest stretch of football. And what I saw from the Steelers defense yesterday, did not shock me. And that was the point I was trying to make on the show. Really? Yes, because if we put up their numbers, the Steelers' defense has been making their living in a way that I did not think was sustainable.

And I said that if they're not going to get five sacks a game, if they're not going to force multiple turnovers, teams are moving the ball on them. Very easy. And that's what we saw. And then on the flip side, they finally themselves did turn it over a bit. and that's the difference in the game.

And so that I'd be worried if I were Aaron. Even though credit words do, he was excellent. And that pass he threw to Friermuth on the move. That was a great pass. Right. I mean, he was a mobility all night was good. And extending plays, all that was really good. Look, he can definitely, excuse me,

rightly so feel that the defense let him down. but the defense saved him against the Patriots. Yes, definitely. So it's evened out. And also, and I agree, he played very well last night. The interception, the one wasn't obviously all his fault. But those two interceptions did lead to 10 points for Cincinnati. So instead of, they went in to half Pittsburgh down, what, 1710, they could have been up 10, 7.

And who knows, maybe they would have scored had they not thrown the interception. So he did have some part, even though I thought he played really well. But he should just look at this as a blown opportunity. And Nick pointed out, like they could have went up four games on Baltimore, not to mention Cincinnati. They would have had an advantage over them. And now you mentioned the next three games, which are huge.

Then after that, they've got Cincinnati, which obviously could beat them. Chicago, which obviously isn't a layup. Buffalo and Baltimore. And that's not even going into, you know, you still got Detroit. Baltimore at the end of the year. So this was, we talked about it early in the year. Danny mentioned it yesterday. We all said, man, if they could be five and one, like that's doable,

then they get to the meat of their schedule and, you know, we'll see where they can go. They didn't do it. They went four and two, which is fine, but it just feels like a missed opportunity. No question. We kicked around one of my buddies We have a You kicked around one of your buddies?

No, I kicked around a joke about Wilt's 100 point game where you come around You come to the huddle and you're just like Who's got Wilt? Who's got Wilt? If I was Aaron Rogers and Dusty you put on Jemar Chase's

Target graphic. Is this the graphic? This is the graphic. Who? Who's got Jamar Chase? Yeah, nobody. Who's got him? Most targets in the last 15 years.

Flacco threw the ball to him 23 times. That's funny. The last time it happened was Aaron to Gary Wilson. So it's odd to me and give credit to Aaron Rogers because I would have a moment of like, look, I know I'm on the other side of the ball, but like it feels like they're feeding Jamar a lot. And the fact that Flacco really felt until he hit T in the end

was kind of a one-note song, feed Jamar, feed Jamar, feed Jamar, and there's nothing they could do to stop it. It made me feel even worse. So this is a... I get plenty of stuff wrong. I had the Raiders second place in the AFC West. One thing that I will pat myself on the back for

from this offseason was not buying into the hype of old corners that change teams that people, like, that we're going to make a difference. I think in Baltimore, Jair has been MIA. And in Pittsburgh, When they traded Minka for Jalen, I said, I think they got worse. And Jalen last night was getting cooked. He's a future Hall of Famer in my book.

I think he's a great player. I just don't think they have the horses on the back end, man. And I think that it has been covered up by the great pass rush. Herbig is a better player that he should be on the field more than he is. TJ's obviously great. Cam Hayward is seemingly ageless. They have a good front, but they got run on last night. And that's what that passing game opens up the room.

Correct. And Jamar was, that was a day when Jamar reminds everyone, even as yesterday I'm talking about, like, why isn't Puka the best receiver in football? And the answer is probably because there is just a level Jamar and Justin Jefferson can get to that nobody else quite can. Well, that's what Bruce sees himself. Yeah, exactly. Oh, that's right. I forgot. He's, Marce.

Hey, he's just, I'm going to extra rest for Rogers who's hosting the Packers. It's going to be a huge storyline next week. Raiders rivalry game against Mahomes. Vegas has Vegas as 11.5. 0.00 dogs in Arrowhead. Rishie Rice making his debut.

Sunday's game will be the first time Riceworthy and Hollywood Brown will have ever played together. I know you said that earlier this week. It's still shocking. Yeah. So the whole idea of last off season was to have this three-person group

be their receiving corps, and they played zero. snap this together. Here's KC's OC on Rice's return. The word is just exciting for the optimistic. The kid has done so much on and off the field to better himself, both as a person and a player. And I think you feel that and see that with the love and the friendship that these guys have internally. You see that. You feel it. So, you know, I have to get goosebumps just thinking about when he goes out there and what he does to this offense. Any chance of the Raiders upset the Chiefs? Zero percent.

So a couple things here. One is, so we haven't talked about on the show. Josh Simmons is still away from the team. And it's very kind of ominous and mum about why he's gone, but it's a personal family matter back in California. That would, so you worry for him personally, his family. As far as on the field, I will give Brett Veach and the Chiefs a lot of credit, because, remember,

Josh Simmons was never supposed to be the starting left tackle. Jalen Moore, who they signed from San Francisco, was supposed to be, and then Josh felled him in the draft, they got him. So I am not as concerned about missing your starting left tackle because they missed him against Detroit, and they had no idea that was coming. That happened day of.

So I think they'll be fine there. I also think people have to recognize that Rishi Rice in his last dozen games, basically after his first eight, nine games, as a rookie through the end of that year, into the playoff game, the first three games of last season, was a seven-catch 90-yard-a-game player. He was over a big sample, and so now he hasn't played in more than a year, maybe a little rusty, but I think he will instantly draw attention. And then there are two graphics that make the Chiefs losing, to me, somewhat

impossible. One is, of course, Patrick and his career against the Raiders, and we all know this, obviously that is all pre-tackled to turn the tie. 14 games. And well, and how about this? Patrick in his career when he's at least a touchdown favorite, they're 45 and 3. He has 110 touchdowns and 25 turnovers. Now, one of those losses did come to the Raiders in 2020.

The bus driving game? The bus driving game. the only reason that team is the defending Super Bowl champs didn't go undefeated. Well, it was an early season Raiders game, but they're not going to have Brock Bowers. The Chiefs are rolling. I know they've won three or four. They haven't, you know, they're not on a winning streak, but the offense is rolling. Oh, since tackle the turn of the tie, they've been great.

They did lose one game. They did lose one game. They did lose one in the two games. They played since they tackled it in time. And no, no, the, no, that's not. They've lost one of three. since then. And so I just don't think the Raiders can beat them.

I'm not guaranteeing a Chiefs blowout, even though I think that's happening. I'm guaranteeing a Chiefs victory. Two years ago, the Raiders beat the Chiefs. That was when Antonio Pierce figured him out. That was Christmas. He discovered the blueprint to beat the Chiefs. And, you know, he carried that on. But no, they're not beating the Chiefs because obviously it's a division game.

Mahomes even talked to the rivalry, which a lot of people would laugh at just because of the fortunes recently of the squads. But it is a division game. So it is a rivalry. And the Chiefs are energized. As well as they've started to play, it's like they're getting back a top player. This is what they've been waiting all year for.

And even if Rishie Rice doesn't have a great individual game, some of those receivers will. Whether it might be him, it might be Kelsey or, or Xavier, somebody, because of Rice's presence, is going to have a great game. And they're only three and three.

So it's not like they have no room for error. The division is tough, obviously, with Denver and the Chargers. So they know they have no room for error. They can't let up, take a team lightly. And so, yeah, the Chiefs are going to put it on them.

Do you think Gino's going to play this bad this whole year? You'll get better. I'm waiting for a Gino kind of get right game. where he doesn't turn the ball over, he's back to being accurate, and he plays just a solid game. I think that will happen. I would be surprised if he's able to not turn the ball over here. Because one of the things I respect about Gino is, his fearlessness,

and he turns that up in spots when they need it, meaning like we're trailing. He's not going to go quietly. And so that's one of the reasons he can have these three turnover games is because if it throws a pick and because of that they're trailing, And now he's like, oh, I have to make a big play. And that can, so I do think Gino will play better. I don't know if this is the weekend.

I don't like this line. It's too much. 11 and a half is huge. It's a heck of a line. It's a huge. I agree. 350 total yards against the Raiders is the most for Mahomes against any opponent. Yeah.

It's nuts. Would we right off the Cowboys with a loss that's next on FS1 and the Fox Sports Channel on Sirius XM. It's a great channel. Welcome back to first things first. Coach Manjini is here. He's got a flight out. out tonight. Coach, I don't know if you

have a movie on deck or perhaps a book, but I've got an idea for some entertainment. Subscribe to the First thing's first podcast. It's great. I've already subscribed. I've listened with every single day. Twice. Wow. That was nice. Like watching film. How do you get better? I'm like Drew. I listen the whole thing.

By the Foxxas, NFL Challenge. Download the app. You get a free shot to win your share of $10,000 in cash prizes. Welcome back to the show. Commander's favored in Dallas Sunday at 4 on Fox, DAC versus his old DC Dan Quinn. CD Lamb expected to return.

Here's Dak. A lot of excitement, obviously, and then just the last two days of practice, he looks good, he's ready to go. I mean, obviously I saw him last week during the rehab and probably could have went then, right, being careful, but he's ready to go. Looks great.

It's going to be fun. Nick, are you going to write off the loser of this game? Oh, yeah, I am. Really? And I was, I mean, the reason I paused is I've already kind of written off the Cowboys. Is right off from playoffs? From making the playoffs. That's what I mean.

I think either these teams. He wrote the Cowboys off when Schottenheimer got hired. Yeah. And by the way, I was wrong about being pessimistic of Schottenheimer. I was dead right that without Michael Parsons, they'd have the worst defense in football. And so the Cowboys, to me, yet they have been written off because I don't think you can compete for the postseason with that level of defense, and I think we're seeing it week in, week out.

The commanders are in a different boat, which is I still think they're a dangerous team, but you simply cannot lose to Chicago and Dallas in back-to-back weeks, two teams that in theory are competing for the same wildcard spots or, I guess, for Dallas the division spot, as you, when you're going to take. Arrowhead the next weekend. You just can. And the NFC standings are really weird because unlike the AFC where there are five legitimately bad teams, there's only one team in the NFC that kind of feels like where our season's done. And that's the Saints. Now, I would say the Cardinals maybe should feel that way as well going from 2 and 0 to 2 and 4. But the Giants feel like they're alive.

And then it's the two teams playing. I mentioned every team that the commencement. commanders and cowboys are at of. So if you lose this game, I just think it's too much of a log jam barring, a collapse the likes of which from Philly that I do not think is possible, given their level of talent and health right now, that yeah, if the commanders lose this game,

I just think they're done. Look, I'm with you, and that I've pretty much written off the Cowboys too. I called them a tomato can on Monday, and so they're pretty much done. If they lose this, it's just, you know, back-to-back loss.

is, you know, they have, they've beaten the Giants with Russell Wilson and the Jets. So the Giants were 0 and 3 with Russ. So technically the teams they've beaten are 0 and 9. Yeah. I mean, not technically, but technically they got two wins. Spiritually, they beat in 0 and 9 teams. Yeah. And so if you lose.

They tied the Green Bay. They tied Green Bay. Yeah. Somehow the Green Bay slept walk through that game. But Washington. What gives me pause is what you kind of alluded. You just said they got Kansas City coming up. And then the next two after that.

Seattle, Detroit, Philly after that. I don't know if Philly's right. No, Philly's not right after. But they go Kansas City, Seattle, Detroit, and then still two left against Philly is the point. Yeah. And so that, I mean, if you lose this game to the Cowboys, potentially you could lose,

you could go on a five-game losing street, counting the Bears loss. But I'm going to go against that and say, because they have some help on the way, unlike Dallas. Like Dorrance Armstrong, you know, is out right now. Terry McLoran is out. But when's Terry going to be back?

I'm assuming they'll get back, you know, at some point soon. And Jaden, I think, is played well. And look, I know he had the two turnovers this last game, but I think he's looked good. So I would keep them alive, although that murderer's row coming up on the schedule does bother me. Yes, yeah, I see it differently. depending on what happens with Philadelphia.

So let's say Philly goes to Minnesota and they lose their third straight and things continue to implode there. And then even the loser of this game at that point is only a game behind the division. And when you look at it, last night we saw Cincinnati and they get life with the new quarterback. And I think people are now thinking maybe they got a shot to make a little bit of noise just by infusing a quarterback. Well, Dallas has a really good quarterback.

Washington has a really good quarterback. We don't know what's, you know, Jackson Dart, the jury's still out, but it looks like it's trending in that direction. And then Philadelphia, even when things are going well, things aren't going well. So to say that the loser this game is out, this division to me is wide open, not because every team is so good that they're just knocking each other off and, you know, they're continuing to climb up the ladder. It's just everybody has different problems. I'm really concerned about Washington's age. I said that before the season, because as the season goes on, older teams tend to. to get hurt even more.

And that's problematic. Philly is such a wild card. Do they dig their way out? Or does that continue to go south? And now those two Philly games late could be a great thing for Washington. Right. Like which Philly team are we getting? Are we getting the Super Bowl team?

Are we getting the Supernatural fun? Listen, that's totally fair. And it's weird for me to be the one kind of in this role. But as like the Philly optimist, I guess, I just look at Philly as that team, especially given the fact that they're not dealing with, you know, catastrophic injury across the board has a floor of 10 wins. And I mean, they literally have had that even the supernatural funk year. They won 11.

So to me, even if Philly, it's as bad as it looks, I still think they find a way to win 10 games. And my point is I just don't, if Washington loses this game, if you lose to a lot of, the bears in a game you need and then you lose to the cowboys coming off that, then you also might not be very good. So the year after we won the first Super Bowl, we ended up going nine and seven that next year and tying with the Jets, but we lost the tiebreaker and didn't go to the playoffs. And the season is a little bit like Phillies where we started out great, then we hit some bumps, and then kind of it was up and down all season, and the whole division was clumped together and the Jets won the tiebreaker. It kind of, it feels a little bit linked.

like that to me where this road isn't going to be smooth for Philly even when it gets going just because they're dealing with success, they're dealing with pressure, they're dealing with all the things that come with being the champs. DAC has won seven of his last eight against the commanders. Eagles are favored in Minnesota, just by a little. Carson Wentz is going to play. There was some idea that JJ was going to play. Jaylon Hertz is two and O against the Vikings in his career. Philly trying to break their two-game sort of natural funk in hopes that it doesn't become supernatural at three. That's the line of demarcation there, bro?

Is three supernatural? Is that like? You think with three kicking it, kick it off? It starts to get fun. Maybe, yeah. Are you expecting, is anyone expecting a huge game from Jalen Hertz? I'm expecting a Philadelphia win. I like it.

That's all I'm expecting. After that, I don't know. I don't know how you could know what Hertz is going to do. Here's the graphic for Hertz this year. in the wins, he's throwing for 150 yards a game. In the two losses, he's throwing for 281. But coach, here's the thing, Coach. Those aren't, though, just because, and I know you're not saying this,

but those aren't like the 281 yards aren't because, oh, they were down and they had to start hurling it because they were up 17 to 3 on Denver because of the past game. I will say this, because the run game is so poor right now, it's hard to fathom them winning without Jalen playing well but it might be with his legs he might have two running touchdowns

and that you know it'll be a good game from him but only throw for 160 yards or something like that so I don't know what it'll do in the air but he does have to have a good game some way so the last two games 33 attempts 38 attempts and 17 points

so that and his overall quarterback rating wasn't bad by any stretch but they scored 17 points. And the other issue is there's nine sacks in those two games. And then the other game that he's had 30 plus attempts, which is against the Rams, he was sacked four times.

So it comes with those problems as well. And if they're going to pivot to it being Jalen Hertz-centric, like they did after they gave him the big contract, how did that go? It went with 15 interceptions and five fumbles. And he was, I think, third in the league in turnovers overall. I don't know what a big game looks like for Jalen Hertz. I'm with you, Brew.

To me, a big game is an Eagles victory however they get to it. But I don't think that's going to quell the problems that are continuing to bubble up. They're having meetings with the coaches and the players and working on things. It's not going to quiet things down if they go back to the old formula and find a win. Just isn't. I have an insane graphic. Don't show it yet, please. Because I was looking at this question literally, like a huge game.

So I was thinking 300 yards and at least a touchdown, which is not like an outrageous ask for a great quarterback. Not total yards. 300, not air yards. 300 passing yards and at least a touchdown. But the touchdown can be through the lane running or because I know you like total touchdown. So I tried to. Thank you.

But 300 passing yards. I'm surprised it's so low, though. What? Just one touch. Just, so here's why I'm saying that. No. Fit the graphic. No, it's insane because I tried to make it as low a threshold as possible that was a huge game but fair and not cook the books.

Would you believe that Jalen Hertz has gone 28 games, including the playoffs without doing that? And that is the longest streak of any starting quarterback in the league. Here are the, I think the general consensus, 10 best quarterbacks in the league. And again, we could quibble or whatever, but I just tried to do it as fairly as possible. Lamar has a crazy long one as well, but that's all the last year. And he doesn't throw it. And that's true for her to, but they don't throw it as well. Correct. But that's, we're Allen.

That is somewhat stunning. And the fact that it's the longest, it's not just of the 10 good to great quarterbacks, but of any quarterback in the league. So my point is this, if they need that from him, it's, you. can expect it. He hasn't done it since Christmas of 23. And so it includes the playoffs. Include like the. What did he have against the Steelers? I felt like the Steelers. Yeah, I know. We all were like it was a crazy game. It was 280 yards. And maybe two, I thought it was 260, but it was not 300. Yeah. The Super Bowl that you he had 220 pass

he didn't play the whole game. Sure. Um, and the NFC championship game. They scored 55. He at 240. Yeah. Like the, and so it's just not a gear he's been able to activate. It's not, but the point I'm kind of clumsily getting to is I think they need it because they don't have the running game they,

but they used to have. They just don't, man. They have to try it. So do you want to just pop up real quick. I promise I won't hurt our commercial break dust. The Vikings defense. You can't throw on them and you can't run on them basically. Well, so you got to do something.

Well, so their second. in passing yards and third there are only five passing touchdowns but you can run. Oh, I'm sorry you said that. You can't pass but you can't run. You can't pass but you can't run. Oh, okay. I thought you're saying you couldn't do it. So this should be a Seekwan

game. Narratively, we want it to be a Jalen Hertz game. A.J. Brown wants it to be a Jalen Hertz game on the ground. Yeah, but it really should be a Seekwon game. That's how guys have been, you know, scoring on the Vikings. Yeah, but Seekwon Seekwon might not be Seekwuan. this year. He has to be. A mix of Sequine and A.J. Dillon. He's got to be closer to Sequan last year than the

Seacquan we have now. Maybe he's not going to be all the way back, but he can't be two and a half yards less than near average. I agree. Eagles outgained by all six. What are those other fancy things? I got all sorts. I got the Vikings defense. You know who had the most yards against the Vikings defense? Caleb, 210, and he was not good that

game. Week one. Confident Giant Squad, fresh off of being the Eagles, headed to Mile High Sunday at 4. Broncos linebacker Jonathan Cooper. may have had enough of Jackson Darts aura. Take a listen. He's a young guy. He's, you know, feeling himself a little bit.

He's out there running around. He's got the chain on. He's dancing. You know, it's like everybody needs something. So, you know. But we went against QBs who have ran around in the pocket and, you know, try to do stuff with their legs. So ain't nothing we haven't seen.

Abdul Carter response. a lot of back and forth. This is the one that ended up surviving. Put your 3D glasses on it. It's going to be a movie. That's going to be exciting. Yeah, yeah. Brue your reaction to this whole Well, first of all, was it Cooper? He, he

that was not the question. The question wasn't about darts, you know, extracurricular, yeah, activity. So he said that about a strategic question. So he wanted to get that out there. Coach, I know this is your squad. Brew, how do you know that

Well, I watched the whole thing. That's just a gift. It's understood. No. Okay. Coach, what are they chirping about? Who's they in this? The Giants.

How are they chirping? The tweets? I mean, Abdul Carter or Lawrence Taylor, one of the two, we call him. He's got a half a sack this year. He hasn't had a sack in the last, what, five games? Okay. Kvon, Tibado, since he got there, they're 20, 36, and 1. We're blaming Tibido.

I'm just saying, because Tibido, they both tweeting. What are you chirping about? Can I ask you a question? What is, how's going to the Broncos? I mean, right now they're sitting atop the rugged AFC West. I mean, they've done more than the Giants. And look, this is going to sound crazy. No.

I actually think the Giants have a shot. That doesn't say. Right. I thought about considering it for my upset alert, but I don't know why they're chirping because they haven't done anything yet. And they're talking like they've done something. Yeah, and I get why Cooper's talking. So they're first in red zone defense, first and third down defense, second yard per game,

second and points allowed, third and past defense yard per game, six in rush defense yards per game, fifth in points differential, lead the league and sack. so I get why he read that like it was a diss and was all compliment. No, no, I, I, I, you know, that defense has played extremely well. And Cooper strikes me as being someone that's fairly serious, and he probably doesn't like the way that Jackson Dart is treating this. And I, at the end of the day, I actually feel the most sorry for the two offensive lines, because it's all defensive guys talking back and forth. And the offensive line is going to have to deal with the repercussions of that. where Brian Burns is second in sacks and Benito is first in sacks so they've got that problem

and Denver's offensive line has a bunch of issues with injuries but but here's what I'll say about dart and scataboo and what they bring to the table this is a team that when I went to visom camp there's a lot of optimism there was a lot of potential there and then they go out and they've got Mr. Unlimited and it's just sort of like like acts limited like kind of an ambient to the whole environment environment, they insert dart and there's a new energy. And one of the benefits of having young guys is they don't know what they don't know. And they're not jaded by what happened last year to the Giants. They weren't here for that. So that energy has been infused into the organization. And it's it's it's not only transferred to the offensive side. I mean, it's the people covering the games are getting excited. It's been contagious and it's carried over to the defensive side as well. So as much as I don't. typically love John back and forth. I think for the giants, this infusion of youth and energy has been exactly what they desperately needed.

Okay. Also, I would like to for a moment, I guess, defend Jackson Dart from this, as Brew pointed out, out of nowhere attack from Cooper, Jackson Dart did not, did absolutely nothing wrong. Jackson Dart is not... He gave a high five to the rest. No, but Jackson DART has said nothing about it. It's not like he took any shots of the Broncos.

What Cooper is basically saying is the guy had too much fun in that last game they played. Correct. Which they won and he played well. Like it seems like he's mad for a reason. He's feeling himself. That's 100% accurate. No, it's 100% accurate. But none of it was to me.

I don't know why the Broncos would be mad about that. It'd be one thing if this were who they just beat the Eagles. This comment would make a ton of sense from an Eagles player before their next matchup. You know what I mean? Like, oh, we saw Jackson, you know, dancing and then doing all that stuff. We've got something for him. The hell is Cooper mad about that this guy had fun on Thursday night football? Like that first weird.

You're right. It might be a little. They might not think he's that good. That's fair. Or a little doth protest too much. They wish their quarterback had a little bit of what Jackson Dart had. Because they do have the best defense. in football and they're beating teams 1311 in London

because that's what they're getting from their quarterback. So it might be a little projection. I think Denver's defense going to put it on the Giants. Now, I give the Giants a shot because Denver's offense, to your point, isn't that good either, and the Giants have a good defense. Yeah, Dustin Fields had no fun last week. No, he did.

None whatsoever. Oh, no. Did last night's game between Oh, what? Uh-oh. The Steelers and the Bengals, give hope about the Raven. Yeah, one game.

Live from New York, it's a show that has a controversial surprised plan that is going to turn this show on its head. Wow. Coming up in nine minutes. That is exciting. Trust me. Stay tuned for nine minutes, and you're going to see this place fall apart. Second hour.

I don't know what he's talking about. I know. Today, Matt Leinert and Mark Ingram, join us to preview this weekend's college football slate. Well, anniversary of USC Notre Dame and who is eventually going to coach Penn State? We discussed. Meanwhile, the pass watch in the building. He had everything right about the playoffs. Can he keep his prediction streak alive? Breaks down Dodgers and Blue Jays Ws. But right now, we're headed back to Cincinnati for the icy hot bowl. Flacko and Rogers led their offenses to 866 total combined yards. Here are the odds now in the AFC North.

Pittsburgh still first. Then somehow it's Bruce Ravens. Damn near tied in the odds. Yeah. Then the Bengals, then the Browns were way back to one. It's so bad. Browns and Ravens have the same record. Brew, I'm almost afraid to ask, what does last night mean for the entirety of the

AFC North? Coach, I will. I was tempted. Before the show, I went and got the Ravens box. Really? Tried on the Jordans. Do they still fit? They still fit.

They fit like a glove. Perfect. I rubbed the robe up against my cheek. Felt good, didn't it? Like what? Felt like. Yep. Yes, very good.

I actually ate some chips. Oh, well, that's typical. Drank a little soda pop. It's still typical. But I'm going to control. I'm going to control myself. I would hope so. I'm going to control myself.

But the division is there for the day. I don't, and I don't think any of you believe in Pittsburgh. Don't believe in Joe Flackle. Coach, he's got two or three games left at this level. He's already had two pretty good games for the Bengals. He's got two or three left. Obviously, the Browns are done. It's there for the taking.

Heck, even if they lose to Chicago, they're still in a night. Look at that. That will hurt me because I'd be like, man, y'all just not that good coming off a buy, you lose to Chicago. But I think they're going to be Chicago, assuming Lamar's back. The defense, I'm saying they held everybody's All-American with two great receivers. The guy Nick is now saying the best receiver in the world, Puka Nakua, Devante Adams, Kairn Williams to 17 points. That defense looks like this. Like we could.

Well, yeah. For the season, they have looked bad. I'm just saying, I think they found themselves. They haven't looked bad. That's terrible. I agree. I'm just, you're telling me you didn't expect the Rams to put at least 30 on them. I thought they, again, I thought that they.

Well, I thought they played better against the Rams, certainly than they against the Texans, who didn't. Didn't everybody. The Texans also didn't put 30 on them for the record. They put, I think, 44 on them. And the Chiefs put 37 on them through three quarters. Yes. It's been horrible.

Don't get me wrong. If the Rams had put that much on them, I would be less optimistic. But I'm, look, and one of those touchdowns by the Rams coach was because Zay Flowers fumbled at like the Ravens' 20-yard line. Zay Flowers would never have a critical fumble in a big one. He's had, he had some big. And so go ahead. Can I say one thing quickly? Whatever you are.

And Nick knows this well. And I don't want to buy into this. I really don't. They are at a point now, though, because of this one in five start, if they just make the playoffs, it's going to look like, what a season. And I'm saying, no, you're still S-Bob. And maybe if they get on a run, that would be good going into the playoffs for them.

But Raven Flock Nation should not. be like, oh, hey, we came back, won the division, made the playoffs. It was a good year. No, you're still, S. Bob. I will say that. Well, just so you know, both were one in five. If you were one game, you agree with me, though. Don't you agree with me.

I don't know, man. I just enjoy the show. I'm just saying you can't be happy just because we make the play. Go ahead. I was with you until the S. Bob comment, because I, just like you, I think this division is still up for grabs. And I don't totally believe in Pittsburgh. And I know while they're shaking

his head, but they just lost to another defense that didn't have their best player. And a quarterback that's been there for 10 days and they lost that game. And what does Baltimore have? They have the best quarterback in the division by far. And if they

string a couple of wins together, the defense can make improvements. You can do some things to get better. And they've also got a running back that obviously like Sequin isn't having the season that he had a year ago, but he has that ability. So they

could get on a run and there's nobody else in this division that you say, okay, they're going to run away with it. They're chasing people that are inherently catchable. Listen, I agree the Steelers showed you once again that the defense is not what

people thought it was going to be. And I don't think it's been that all year. They have been great at the splash plays. And splash plays are huge. It's the best thing you do is defenses. You know, create a negative play, be it a sack, a TFL or a turnover. They've been great at that. The greatest defenses in NFL history were great at that and great at preventing yards. There's then a lot of kind of mushy middle of defenses that looked really good as far as points allowed, but were carried by those havoc plays that was not sustainable.

And I feel like that's what happened last night. What happened last night was they only got to Flacco twice after sacking five. Right, trying to break the record. Right, for at least five in four straight games. They didn't force any turnovers. And all of a sudden, you're getting 30 hung on you again against Joe Flacco when you started the season having Justin Fields hang 30 on you. So my answer is similar to bruising this.

I don't think the Ravens are dead, dead because I now think it's on the board. Eight and nine wins this division. It wouldn't be my pick, but I think it's on the board. But, Coach, I also watched last night and said, Cincinnati is not dead either. Cincinnati with Flack. They don't need Flacko to play like this ten more games. They need Flacco to play like this three or four more games. You think that's it?

But that's, because he's got three, he might have three or four, not six. But that's my point is, what we saw from Flacco, now you're saying Cincinnati's live, but we've got Lamar Jackson. Right. Lamar Jackson makes Baltimore live because it's so much better than what Cincinnati has with Joe Flacco. And we think they have life. I agree with you,

except there is a big difference between being three and four and being one and five. There's just like Cincinnati already has a cushion. The other thing, too, is like Pittsburgh's schedule is much. tough. Well, right. Then Voltawards. I don't know about Cincinnati. Well, Cincinnati has the Jets next. They have the Jets, the Bears, and then a buy, and then they play Pittsburgh again. So even if we just say they only go one and one against Jets and Bears, then they're four

and five coming out of the buy up against Pittsburgh that will have just gone through this game, then Green Bay, the Colts, and the Chargers. I think Cincinnati's live. I think Pittsburgh's live. and if Baltimore can get the 20th best defense in the league moving forward, then I think they're live as well to get to eight or nine wins, which I think wins the division at this point. It's time now for the hottest segment in all of sports. It's upset alert.

We're going to take a quick look at the standings. Brew, I think you were right that you were the only competitor. Oh, you got one point, Brew? That means I covered. Yeah, that's right. To coach, Greg really. let you down by picking Detroit. You wouldn't have done it.

You would have probably, it was an embarrassing pick, we're being honest. Would you have picked the Giants? What? He couldn't have because it was Thursday night. Wilds went with the Niners. Listen, they were down one late, so they had a shot.

And Brew, I think you went with the Cardinals thinking they were going to have Kyler. They ended up having Jacoby, but Jacoby was pretty good. I thought they had that good. Yeah, they had a real chance. They had that's our Cardinals coverage for the week. Coach, who was this week's upset alert? I told you all the good things about Denver.

I told you how good their defense was. I told you how good they've been at home. They actually had the longest home win streak right now at seven games. But I think the Jackson Dart, Scataboo combination, the new energy that's been infused into that team. And what did the Giants been really good at this? year they've been really good at beating winning teams that not not too good against the losing teams but they beat the Chargers and they beat the Eagles

Denver's coming off a I don't know if you want to call it sloppy lucky all what ugly well however you want to categorize it against the other New York team and now with with this group come in I just want to show you defensively what's happened because like I said with these young guys they can infuse energy in the offense but they can also infuse energy into the defense. So the first three weeks, pre-dart, that's where they were. Okay, points per game, total yards, rush yards per game. Takeaways, now we insert that combination. Now we bump up to 6, 15th, 13th, and 8th. So there's been a transformation

to some degree and it's going to be tested and it's not only going to be tested, but Denver to some degree is calling their shot. But the nice thing about these young guys too, They don't know what they don't know. And then they're going to go in and I think there'll be enough to carry the day. Outright win, correct? Outright win. There are all outright wins. I do have, I love the pick.

I do have a question. I don't understand the bar. What's on high, Dardy? Dardy is like a day party for college. Oh, I forgot about that. Like frat boys, you know, like big frat parties. Oh, so this is a, you're calling Jackson Darden Scataboo frat guys. Yeah.

I didn't know. I never heard of a Dardt. You've never heard of Dardy's a day party? I just called a day party. Come on, Unk. No. You're the youngest person on the show, but you are the oldest. Some of us have to do some youthful editing to do it.

I understand I am spiritually the oldest on the show, but I just always thought it was called a day party. No. Yeah, now they're called Dardy. Dardys. Yeah. Jiana's shaking her head. Yes. Giana went to one before work today.

Coach? I'm sorry, Coach. I do like that pig, coach. I do like that pick, coach. I like that one. I'm not mad at that. But I need points. No, Boo, get timeout.

Before you go, can I ask a real question? Because last year, you kind of got off track because you're hunting points rather than what you really felt. And you said this year you weren't going to do that. And now we're at week seven. And it feels like you're back. Interestingly, the one I hit big on, I can't remember which it was kind of a, just a feel. But I feel this strongly, though. Atlanta at San Francisco.

I love this pick. Right? I mean, going against Purdy. Now, this bit me before. Who was it? I was shocked. Houston was the underdog against somebody and they lost. They bit me.

I'm shocked, though, that Atlanta's not favored. Really? You're really going big game hunting with that. I know, it's only two and a half. But like I said, I need points. I need points. Wait a taste the big points. Look, Atlanta, the run, their offense is versatile.

The last three games, Coach, they've averaged almost 30 points. All right. So without Fred Warner and Nick Bosa, how are they stop in Atlanta that can do it in the air and do it on the ground with Bejan? And then on the other side, look, I know he's your boy, Mack Jones. He came back to Earth a little bit. I'm not saying he's going to have a terrible game. But that defense is very good. It's true.

No, it's Mac. Purdy. Purdy hadn't even practiced. It's definitely Matt. And that defense is like arguably the best past defense in the league right now. And so Atlanta's is. So I'm shocked that San Francisco's favorite. I get it.

It is in the Bay Area. But, yeah. That was almost one of Nick's picks, bro. Yeah, that to me is a no-bra. I love that pick. No-brainers. Time now for a real treat. Pucks and Tony Fila football is back.

Why they call you Pucks and I feel of football? Go over for a living log. No. See the future. Wilds Alert. Part one. Part one. That's right.

Saints straight up. over bears. Okay. Few reasons. One, Saints this season, getting close. Yeah, that is true. Just playing with fire. Played the bills pretty close.

Patriots won, but we were taking kneel. That was like, gosh, I hope Spencer Rattler doesn't get the ball back. Against Mac Jones, lost by five. Against the car, Lovner 7. Seahawks put on, but you watch the Saints, like, I don't think you guys are actually this bad. The Bills, it was a two-point game with seven minutes left. They ended up losing by 12, but they were right here. Close.

Yeah. Also, all right, can Alvin Kamar run on the Bears, even if you don't believe in Spencer Rattler, which I do? Bears, dolphins giving up 168 yards, bears, bears given up 156, so you can get the job done on the ground. And then finally, Spencer Rattler. Finally, watched him for a whole game. Sorry, I hadn't watched a ton of whistles to whistle saints game in quite a long time.

But Spencer Rattlers, pretty good. I feel like he's, yeah, we're watching it like, you have a franchise quarterback. You don't need to be thinking about the draft. I forget who it was. Somebody podcast I was listening to last week said, if Spinter Rattler were a first round pick, people would be talking about him as a franchise court. Yes, he looks like a franchise court.

From the, if he were drafted where Bo Nix was, and Bo Nicks were drafted where he was. You know, as like a mid first round. Wild's Upset Alert's Upt alert, part two. What is this? If you can't get a part two. You don't get it, what are you doing? Oh, really?

Yeah. If I can't get a part two. You're going with two upsets? No, you can't. And I'm willing, I am willing if I don't get them both to get nothing. Oh, okay. Hold on. Wait, I'm willing to do that too.

Exactly. How are you changing the rules? Sure I got. Coach, great call. Straight up Giants over the Broncos. Me and coach together, but I'm putting it all on the line. Two upset alerts for the price of, hold on. Then I'm going to take Tamper over Detroit.

Right. You got a second one? Yeah. You want a second one? I want tap over Detroit. Can we see the rule? Is this in a rule? Hold on a second.

This is not in a second. Wait a second. I got two of. Saints over bears and giants over Broncos. Not moving the number. Wait. It's definitely not in the rules. However, Brew, I think we should talk about this just for a second before we get to Nick's picks.

I think it might, it might be in your interest to allow them to do this because what they're saying is it's a parlay. If they do not, they need both of these to come in or they get zero points. So if the Saints beat the bear. but the Giants don't be the Broncos. Wilds gets zero points. Coach, I would... If my two hit, you guys have no chance to rest of the season. But what's your second one?

Detroit. Officially? Yeah, I'll add it. It's got to be on the bar. Tampa over to Detroit. Okay. I'll take it. Well, you'll take what?

I'm staying with my one. Exactly. Exactly, bro. You guys are crazy. You're going double or nothing. Yeah. You got too tough ones too, coach. Okay.

I mean, yeah. By the way, this is a one week thing. We're not doing this. every week. Wild Zid breaking. KW. What times if? Oh, it's time for the hottest segment in all sports part two because we do it twice.

Yes. Knicks. Thank you. Man of integrity, am I not, Brew? You are. On the call, Dust tried to give me a push for the Cowboys game. He thought they were three-point dogs. They lost by three.

I was like no, they're three-point favorites. That's a loss. I'll take my loss like a man. Hey, listen, but much like my next, my, my, my, my, Nick's picks have mirrored the Kansas Chiefs this year identically. Through six weeks, 500. coming off our best week of the year,

and everyone recognizes probably the best in the world doing it, right? The Chiefs flew out the lions and underdogs. Tampa easily covers, Cowboys, not so good. Last week, I did all quarterbacks I trust, and all favorites. This week is where the real money is made. Grimy, ugly games where we're getting real value. Starting with,

The New York Giants plus seven is our first pick. We're all on it. Dave, let me add something you guys didn't mention. Daibel, five and two against the spread with extra rest. Also, a very weird spot where Denver played Sunday in London. The Giants played Thursday at home, and now they're playing this Sunday. So there is that. I don't think the Broncos have the ability to blow out a team right now

because the offense is so meager, I think they can win outright. I don't even win outright. I seem not to get blown out. I'll take the seven. Next one. I swore on my children. I wouldn't bet on the Titans

as long as Brian K. Alain was the coach. He's not the coach. We are back, baby. Brian Callahan. The record will never be broken. Honestly, I guarantee it won't be broken. He finishes his career,

4 and 19 against the spread. worse than any coach in NFL history. Fired coach bump, New England third straight road game. Again, it's seven points for the Titans. I don't need them to win outright, KW. I just need it to be 2117. Titans plus seven. And last but not least, by the way, two of these are in direct conflict with Danny.

One of the ugliest games of the year. It is the Jets plus one and a half. which is very quick, little gambling tail here. This game opened with the Jets as one and a half point favorites. So if you wanted to bet Carolina, the way Danny did, you could have gotten them getting a point and a half. It's now going the other way to where you're laying a point and a half. Everything I know about gambling history tells me,

all the betters that didn't care about that three point line swing are gonna get screwed here because it's somehow going to be a one point game in one direction or another. Also, Bryce Young has played 18 career road games. He's a favorite. Do you know what his, he's a favorite this week, but 18 games in his career? Do you know what his record on the road is?

Not against the spread, just his win-loss record, an 18 career road games. One in 17, and I'm getting points. If the Jets don't win this, they're just simply not going to win all year. Jets plus a point in a half. There it is. Three ugly. I went from going with Dak Baker-Maholmes to Dart, Ford Fields. Don't care. Three dogs, three winners. That's a tough hardfall, three and a week, and direct contradiction with Danny on two of the three. So there's going to be a big swing in the standings. Thank you, Coach.

Those aren't better. I know you don't like the Titans one, but you would be thrilled with a 20 to 14. I just as coach said, it will be an interesting game for the Patriots when they want to win this game for Mike Rable. And I don't think seven will be enough. I think it's going to be. Okay, maybe. Pedal to the medal. Maybe it'll be pedal to the metal, and then maybe they start turning it over, and then they dial it back. Oh, no, no. Coming up next, the Pascuads, joins us to talk all things baseball. Blue Jays Mariners going all the way.

Oh, very exciting. That's next. Otani gets the hit off of another lefty to start the game. He's not feeling good at the play. And he's trying to switch something up. He hadn't done it in, what, two years here? Doesn't sound like that would be an oddity, but Otani takes his batting practice, his drills, in the cage as he dumps that one into right field.

Otani on his way to second base. That one tucked in the corner. Otani thinking about third and he's on his way. Shohei Otani with a triple to start game three for the Dodgers offensively. That's his first. They need Cherzer to go tonight. I think if he throws more than three innings, they win. I've been envisioning him going down and in sliders to rally.

And if he's landing them for swings and misses, like just off the strike zone, A little bit below, a little bit in. If he's able to get those swings and misses, he'll have a good night. Here comes the one, two. Raleigh tries to layoff, but he went around strike three. Max Scherzer's first strike out of the game comes against Cal Raleigh. Oh, ALCS continues today. Game 5, Blue Jays Mariners.

Basically a half-hour cover starts right here on FS1. The Pascuatch is back. You know what? He has another nickname now. What? The Punks Satani Phil of Baseball. He's covered in Perkins and a log. No, because he can see the future.

We're going to go back to Max Scherzer, which you called correctly. Fifth inning, didn't want to come out of the game. Told John Schneider, he wasn't coming out, gets out of a jam. Were you impressed with what you saw from Scherzer last night? Very impressed. How could you not be? He was thrown a little harder than I thought he would be yesterday. He was hit 96 a few times.

But he was dialed in. He was a little shaky in the first inning. and then he settled down. And once he got through three, I felt pretty good about the Blue Jays. What is this, like, how many pitchers in baseball are allowed to do what he did that? Well, allowed is a tricky.

We had a guy, Stephen Kolek, who's a rookie, tried to do it to our manager this year. It didn't work. We all laughed at him about that. Every pitcher wants to do that. It's just, it's never, It's not really going to happen unless it's a specific few guys. I just think in the playoffs, though, you have to let the manager go with feel, with guts, with instinct.

Obviously, I understand the analytics and the numbers. I think that's a big part of it. But you also have to, I think when you mix them in the playoffs, that's when it's best. So you're saying allow the, when you say let the manager go with those things, let him leave Scherzer in if from hearing him talk to him. Like, okay, I believe. Don't just say, hey, you hit your pitch limit. You're out.

Like, let it go. Let the field. I think it fires up the team, too. Totally agree. It feels weird that, like, you're leaving. It feels like you're actually, like, lost power, but I think you gained power in the clubhouse. Like, no, I rock with you guys.

Also, if the, now they got to win two more, but they now, you know, as we talked about yesterday, have home field the rest of the, to the Blue Jays. If they get to the World Series, what do you think this start means for Scherzer in the World Series? series. I think it just gives him a ton of confidence. He probably didn't have a ton of confidence going into that game, but after you do that to an offense that's been rolling, you feel really good about it right now. So the next, I can't imagine he'd pitch again in this series, but he'll probably

be lined up for game one or two of the World Series if they make it. We didn't include this prediction in your little predictions rip. Blue Jays down 1-0, man on second for the number nine hitter, Jimenez, gone. You called this that you want the bottom of the order. to kind of carry, carry sort of the Blue Jays to victory. And again, a correct prediction. Yeah, I mean, as I'm watching it, I'm sitting there. Maybe I don't, I don't like it all that much. I loved it, bro.

I loved it. I loved it. I'm just sitting there. I'm just sitting there so happy. I couldn't have been happy to watch it. This is the most fun I've had watching baseball in a long time. Well, it is a unique perspective of all of a sudden. you could like the skin in the game of I really want to be right is like a totally

the dopamine hit of being something right you'll feel it some at some oh you don't think so let's go out to L.A we talked about this too we talked about upstairs that you know Otani wasn't having a great statistical performance but you had some advanced stats that turns out were even too nerdy for Nick that you didn't use but you did predict that he would, you know, play better this game. Are you liking what you're seeing from Otani? Yeah, I mean, not to go too crazy just because I'm in a good mood today, but some are calling it the swing that turned the tide. Oh, wow. Wow. For the, it's my last day here. I got to get some easy. Yeah, the tide was already going in the good direction. For him. For him,

personally. So now, you know, he goes out tonight. He's pitching. Maybe he can get a win for him and finish the series. All right, I have to hand up. I have to admit something. Yesterday you said, just kind of in passing. You're like, yeah, and Otani was hitting on the field for the first time and then kept going. And in my head, I'm like, what is he?

What is that? I was a little like self-conscious, like, hitting on the field? What does it mean? And I'm watching the game. And I realized I didn't know he takes all his BP inside at the batting cage. That's what you were. I don't know if it's a tradition or superstition

or combination. Right. So that's what I was going to ask is, Why? Have you ever been around a player? Like, why would a guy typically do not hit on the field? What do you do BP in a cage inside? Because that's what they were saying is he broke that tradition a game ago or whatever it was.

You referenced it, but I honestly just didn't know what you were talking about. But then now I understand it. Why would guys do that? So a lot of older players, especially, Walt hit on the field a lot. Like Salvador Perez doesn't hit on the field a whole lot because he's seen the visuals.

Most of the time, you're hitting on fields to get the visual of, okay, what's it going to to look like when I'm in the batters box. He's never been a big hit on the field guy. Maybe he tries to hit too many homers. It can mess up his swing a little bit. But also, he's different than everybody, because he pitches too.

So he's doing throwing. He's working on his arm in the meantime. But a lot of guys will not want to hit on the field because they want to lock in their mechanics of their swing. And a lot of times, if you hit on the field early, you might just try to launch homers. And that doesn't always translate to the game. Yeah, if it's so tiny, too, it's like everyone's there.

You guys aren't just ripping takes backstage. You got a... Yeah, I mean, I kind of am at all time. Brewing is doing his own thing. Watching all the interview. I'm FaceTiming Wilds after games. Dodgers are up 3-1. Ground ball to Mookie Betts,

who is all of a sudden playing shortstop now, turning to Derek Jeter with this throw to get Andrew Vaughn. Just a fantastic play for movie. He said he's never practiced that. Really? He said he's never practiced that particular play. Apparently the Dodgers don't practice anything.

They said they didn't practice the wheel blunt, bunt play either. Maybe that's what happens when you have a team full of 10-year veterans. I'm just, I just, that is a Jeter play. That's a phenomenal one, but just an unbelievable player. And the fact that like, we talk a lot obviously about offense, but the fact that he can bounce around the- He's a right field.

But not only was it a right fielder, he won a platinum glove in right field, which is the, not only is it a gold glove, it is the best fielder in the league. I didn't even know platinum glove. existed. And he did it in Boston too. I mean, that's, wow. Ned Bay.

Yeah. So he won the platinum glove in right field, moves the shortstop. I believe metrically, he wasn't a great shortstop the past few years defensively. But this year he's up for the gold glove. Like what he does, incredible. No, he's one of the, we give Wilde's a hard time because he was traded seven years ago and Wilde isn't over it yet. It's still burned. But he is.

I mean, he's a, he's a all time. No, that's what I was going to say. He is legitimately one of the great players of his era. And I understand they are different players, but he is, if I may, in our last few minutes of Vinny here, he is what Bobby Witt can be. You know what I mean? Like career-wise, you know what I mean?

A guy who does everything. It's an excellent fielder, hit for power, hit for speed, and having a guy like that on your team, he's a ball 300. And he's winning. And he's winning championship. I think a sneaky part about him, too, is he's sacrificed a lot on the Dodgers, where he was, it's not easy ego-wise to be the man.

And then Otani comes in. And at first, Muki was hitting leadoff. Otani wasn't hitting great, hitting second, I believe, and then they switched it. And Mookie had always hit lead off. Yeah, you're like multiple, your MVP. Yeah, and it's like, and, you know, one to two, that's not a massive difference, obviously, when you've been doing something your entire career at an MVP level, and then they ask you to change. Quickly, prediction, do you think the Dodgers is going to sweep?

Yeah. Yeah. Unbelievable. How tough is it for Milwaukee, just mentally? That's probably the hardest part of knowing what it's happened once. We were talking about it yesterday a little bit. It's happened once before, coming back from 3-0. Congrats. You've got him on the mound.

You know that if you win this game, you've still got snow. You've got to go through these starters again. You just lost Jackson Trurio. He's your best player. It's going to be tough for them to come back. If they do sweet, obviously, A. LCS is going at least six. Right now, my money would be on it going seven.

Just quickly here, how big of an edge does that give the Dodgers? If they can set, if everything's perfect, set the rotation, all of it, and then other series goes a full seven games. Yeah, I mean, that's the great part about getting time off is you can set your pitching up however you want. But they're going to have a, if they win today, they'll have a week off because the World Series is on Friday next week, no matter what. Any rest versus Russ?

For hitters, yes. For hitters, yes. For pitchers, yes. For pitchers, it's better. You always want the time off because you can set your pitching up. Fantastic job. You were great all week. Great prediction.

So much. Thank you very much. I'm going to get out to a Kansas City Royals game. Seats are. He's just the worst. I would offer you tickets, but you can just buy them. Coming up next. Is there a chance saving?

Could end up in Happy Valley, Penn State. Wow. That's next one. First things first. Awesome job. Yeah, appreciate it, guys. Welcome back to First. Things First, joined by Mark Ingram and Matt Liner, live from Provo,

before Utah, BYU tomorrow night. Also, happy anniversary to Mr. Liner. 20 years since the Reggie Bush Push, USC, Nordame. One of your favorite games we couldn't stop talking about. Yeah, well. He saw that athleticism. A little assistance, you know what I mean? Yeah, those push touchdowns I got no problem with.

It's a lot cooler than the ones in the NFL right now. But I just take us back if we could for a moment. I imagine this is one of those things that you get asked about, I don't know, maybe once a week to this day. For me, it's one of the three iconic college football games of my lifetime. And your team was actually involved in two of them. One of them obviously didn't end the way you had hoped. That one is one of the greatest games I've ever seen. Some anecdote, some story of that stadium, that moment, that environment that still lives with you 20 years later.

Yeah, it's honestly, I get about 50, 50. 50 is Texas beating us, so I get, I have to relive that memory all the time, guys. And also the Bush push. A funny little story about that game briefly, I'll try to make it as short as possible. We come in on Friday, right? Friday's the game, you go straight to the stadium. There's a walk through. You kind of get loose, have a little fun.

We did our pregame stuff and then you get to the hotel. Well, we get to the game or to the stadium, and there was about 2,000 students waiting for us right outside our bus to start heckling and the sign. I'll never forget this. I walk off the bus. I'm actually getting goosebumps. I'm thinking about it. I walk off the bus. Me and Steve Sarkeesian, Sark kind of puts his arm around me and like kind of hey, duck your head, right? Get down because they made a tunnel for us and they were just saying like, by the way, they're going to go to hell for saying some of the stuff they said. Touched on Jesus was, you know what I mean? So they were from the, from the onset, they were fired up. It was a massive game. And then clearly just the ending right there. You know,

We had a big, you know, fourth down conversion earlier that drive to Dwayne Jerry. Duane Jared. And then the Bush Bush, obviously. Great tradition, great game, great memories for me, obviously. In 20 years, man, I can't believe it. That's wild. Wow. I remember watching that game, dog.

I remember watching that. You were a little, you were in France. I was a young punk, dog. You know what I mean? Well, Mark, we had the big news in college football this week, James Franklin out at Penn State. A lot of names being thrown out there. I'm going to throw one that you know. So well, your former coach of Alabama, Nick Sabin, could you envision him maybe being interested in Penn State?

Negative. Negative. I mean, it would surprise me, but I would bet my bottom dollar that Coach Saban ain't coming out of retirement. That man's living a good life. He's golfing. He's with Miss Terry. He's living a great life. But I can't see him coming back and taking that job, man.

You think it's because of all the, you know, the new NIL. portal, all that stuff. Yeah, I mean, I think that's essentially kind of what, you know, made him kind of leave. You know, he, usually you come off of a season. You have ex and meetings. Guys are seeing how they get better. You got guys coming into the meeting. The exit meetings, you know, demanding targets, demanding a certain amount of money.

I think he just wasn't used to that, man. And, you know, he's a great coach. He was like a father figure to me. Help me become a better player, a better man. And I thank him so much for just believing in me. and give me an opportunity to go Alabama and live out my dream. Can you guys, can you guys imagine a time where like these 18, 19 year old kids are coming in after a game

and saying, hey, I need 100 more target or 200,000 more dollars or also I'm leaving? Like that's kind of the stuff that's happening now. It is like, it's like, you know, it's like a professional football league or NBA. So it's wild. Well, just real quick, one more question on this. Obviously, if they had, if, if they knew, hey, we're going to get Nick Saving or someone like, that, then you, I guess, maybe better understand them moving on from James Franklin and paying a $50 million buyout. They obviously don't know who the next coach is going to be, and it doesn't

look like Saban or, you know, Urban Meyer, our colleague, is, you know, a likely candidate. So how surprising is it to you that a team that was the favorites to win the national championship three and a half weeks ago is now looking for a new coach? It is surprising. I don't like the fact that coaches get fired. I know coaches have left and I get all that stuff, but like getting fired five, six games into the season. I just hate that.

I just hate it for the players. I hate it for the team. Just as a former player, like at least wait until after the season. But in this day and age, obviously there's more of a rush to kind of get your team organized, go to all of these things. I just think time was up for him, you know, with all the big games.

And there started to be kind of a disconnect with the family. base and just just everything. It just was wearing him down, I think, obviously, and wearing the program down. And I love James, and he won a lot of games, and it's a really good football coach. But I think you see a guy like Kurt Signetti, obviously he's got paid the bag to stay at Indiana, but taking an Indiana team and winning a big game already, getting to the play. Like, maybe there's another guy out there that they think will fit that job. But I didn't like it five games into the season. And again, there's four or five teams out there that are, that, you know, fired their code. UCLA the same way. I just, I just hate that for the players, though.

you mentioned all the players that ended up coming back for Trump, Franklin. Right. You had a number of guys who were draft eligible who could have forego this senior year and went to the NFL and pursued their career that way. And they come back and, you know, obviously they haven't lived up to expectations. And that's just been the case for Penn State over the last several years. It's not being able to win the game that matters. Now, they made to the college football team semifinal last year, but quite frankly, it just wasn't enough.

You know, the big game expectations, the losing, the loss to Oregon, coming to get beat by UCLA, then losing again, man. three straight, I think it was just time, man, and they were fed up with it. Yeah, we said if not now, when for Penn State. I think that was kind of the mantra we've always talked about. If not now, when, everybody came back and again, just losing to Oregon and then, and then obviously UCLA Northwestern. I think it was just time was up and they're ready to move on in a different direction.

Washington at the Big House tomorrow at 10 or our coverage starts at 10 kick off at noon. What should we keep our eye on in this game? What you got? For me, I think Washington is extremely underrated. They're really underrated. man and Demand Williams Jr. He's an electric quarterback just last week. He had over 400 yards through the air,

over 100 yards on the ground. So he's an electric quarterback, super underrated. Then you got the running back Jonah Coleman. He's one of the best dual threat backs. I don't even know, all around backs, complete backs. I said dual threat. You know, but he could run the ball, he can catch the ball.

Then you got the receiver as well. But their defense, they're a top 10 rush defense, and what does Michigan like to do? They like to run the football. They've shown the inability if they get behind to be able to push the ball down the field and come back from behind. So I think this is a tough matchup right now for Michigan, man.

And they're in trouble. Justice Haynes just banged up a little bit. So Washington right now, man, I think it's a tough spot for Michigan right now. I think that's the biggest thing you saw last week against USC. It's like if you can take away the run, you force Bryce Hunter. Would it have to beat you throwing the football where he is just, he's still young. He's still developing. That's the key.

That's the key to success. USC doesn't have a great defense. Obviously they played great last week. Washington's defense has been outstanding this year. So I think if Washington can play from a lead again, you just got to make. Michigan chase points. I don't think Michigan wants to get in a shootout. They want to make this a low-scoring game. This is a big game for Michigan, though. They need to bounce back because there's, you know, Sharon Moore and the coaching and this style of play. Like this isn't, you know, the expectation

for Michigan football if they lose this game could be a tough one. You talk about stuff spiraling out of control. They lose this one. It could go sideways quickly in Ann Arbor for sure. I just want you guys to know for the second straight week of you guys doing this while you guys are here providing cogent analysis for the show. Rob Stone is behind you doing tick. It's two weeks in a row. He just went off. He just slid off. But what Mark was telling us about

Nick Saven, Stoner's over doing TikToks. He was doing it last time. By the way, he is the social media. He will collab on any post you guys ever want. You can collab with Bob Stone. You could send him anything and he'll collab with you, man.

He's all about the gram. Thank you guys. Have a great couple shows. A few games on the docket tomorrow. Always welcome. We've got Michigan, Washington, of course, at noon. Coverage starts at 10, and then at night's BYU, Utah. Thanks, guys. Have a great weekend.

And a fun one tonight, too. Thanks, guys. You know what else I'm looking forward to? Oh, Monday morning headlines. That's what you're looking forward to. I'm looking forward to Monday morning headlines. Also, Oregon. You like this one.

Oh, good. I hope so. All of you. It's time now for a throwback segment that we haven't done in a while because it's Bruce segment and you don't like how other people. to show. No, that's not true. We used to do it and you vetoed it and it's already not true. Said I don't want to do this. I said Bruce should only do it. Brew is the only one who actually wrote for a newspaper except for you did like a

crime blotter once. A crime blotter. It's right for two local newspapers. We're only covering zoning radio. Okay, yeah. In any event. Well, since you guys are arguing with one another, as I often do, I'm going to bring the harmony. Thank you. All of us are featured on this week's or next week's Monday morning headline. It is about, there it is, Texas Hold'em, commanders royally flushed cowboys, Jaden Aces.

What are you in Wild Stewart? We're bewildered like we were when you went on your whole rant, your rant about poker. That's Nick doing his thing because he never put earlier this week. He did his whole poker thing that didn't really work at all. The commanders are going to win. It was a big fail. Yeah, they royally flushed.

They're royally flushed. And Jane aces the game. Yes. And you and I are looking at Nick like, what? I, what are, bro, speaking of that analogy that I made, while maybe it was a little clumsy, I did notice in our post-show confessional, you saying that I went on for seven minutes with that analogy. I think. It was at least 619.

I might not. Maybe I round it up. 631. All right. We will see you on Monday. Have a great weekend watching the games. We've got a lot of show left. You can't toss yet.

Are you certain you want to go double? Yes. I'm going double. I might go triple. And you understand if they don't, they both have to win outright where you get no point.