Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - Brady rises, Belichick falls

Episode Date: October 27, 2020

The Browns might be on the market for a new wide receiver, stats say that the Bucs are the best team in football, and after all these years the great Bill Belichick and the Patriots reign may finally be over. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It's Tuesday, October 27th. Brady and the Bucs are the best. The Browns might be buyers. And J.J. Watt to Seattle. I'm Jeff Schwartz alongside Gabe Goodwin. This is Jeff Schwartz this morning. Gabe is back in the States, got a fresh haircut. He's wearing a beat-up Mets hat.

I don't know why he's supporting that baseball team when the local team, the Dodgers, is about to lose two straight to the Rays and lose the World Series. That's what this podcast is rooting for. I'm not sure Gabe is. But nonetheless, Gabe, glad to have you back. And we had an incredible weekend of football. I think by far the best weekend of pro football so far.

I would have to agree with that. I picked the right weekend to upgrade my red zone package. When I returned from London, I realized that I didn't have exactly what I needed. I signed up for the red zone package when I returned from London. I realized that I didn't have exactly what I needed. I signed up for the red zone and then I got to witness the end of those one o'clocks and I was ready for the four o'clocks. Yeah, that was a crazy end, like three games with amazing finishes. Obviously the late game went well. Yeah, hell of a week. How are you doing it at the Schwartz farm? How's things going with the chicken coop? Well, we have an egg. We have one egg produced.

So all the money we put into this project has given us one egg. We got these silky chickens there. They don't produce a ton of eggs. They're more like just they look cute. They go with kids and they're fun. We also got a chicken that's quote unquote like a reject chicken that when we showed up, the lady said to us like she hit her partner was like hey tell me about those other chickens there were these two chickens in a separate pen that aren't show chickens they're they're fine they're otherwise fine but like they're they have one

less talon or in this case the beak's a little like not the beak doesn't line up quite exactly yeah so we got we got three show chicken-ish. We got a black one, a white one, and this gray-looking one. Our blue-ish, basically. We got a fourth bird. We call her Betty Beak because her beak's a little bit screwed up. She's fine, though. She's totally normal.

And so we have four silky chickens. We got our first egg. I saw the egg. You shared a picture. It looked like a little peanut M&M in your hand. I wasn't sure if that was because it was tiny or your hand was massive i mean it's it's tiny it's a small egg i mean the birds the bird that laid it's only four months old so yeah i got plenty of room to get a little bit bigger i'm a little worried about the fact that you bought your chickens at like the tj maxx of of chicken sellers it seems like the TJ Maxx of chicken sellers. It seems like the reject chickens.

I don't know about that. No, we went to like a reputable place. We had, like I said, she's just like, hey, you want this other chicken? So we were like, all right, sure. So we got ourselves, we might have to get some Rhode Island Reds eventually if we can't get these ones to give us eggs. But if they produce a hundred eggs a year,

which is on the short end for silk is the bottom end. I mean, that's 400 eggs. I don't, we don they produce 100 eggs a year which is on the the short end for silk is the bottom end i mean that's 400 eggs i don't we don't eat 400 eggs a year so we'll be we'll be fine yeah i didn't realize that the goal here was to to not have to buy eggs anymore i thought it was i don't know i don't know what the goal is gabe because the the money we we never get the money back that we spend into this no i mean i guess it's better than like a dog or a cat where you get zero in return. Here, you could theoretically make some omelets every now and then. Are you ever going to get a, what would you call it? A cock?

What do you, are you going to get one? A rooster? No. A rooster. A rooster, no. So the roosters, the roosters are obviously loud, first of all. And we don't want that in our neighborhood. And, you know, they're, they're aggressive. And they like violently, you know, get after the old hens. And we're not we're

not doing that in that house. Okay. All right. Well, listen, we're not fertilized. We don't we're not fertilizing the eggs to raise chickens. We just want them for foods. You don't need a rooster for that. Right? I mean, someday Jeff Schwartz will make us smarter on, you know, biology and animal kingdom. Today we're talking football. So I want to tell you, Jeff, next Tuesday is the biggest day of the year in Ohio. And not because it's election day, but because of the trade deadline. Stay with me here.

The Browns should be buyers as the deadline approaches. They're five and two. We saw the end of that crazy finish against the Bengals yesterday. Baker looked like an MVP, at least for three quarters of the game but but they lost OBJ for the season we know they're already playing without Nick Chubb they could be a playoff team for the first time since almost 20 years ago but they got to go out and get some players now that they lost Odell maybe they need a defensive player as well the The defense, eh. Now's the time. Browns have a chance. Five and two.

Playoff team if they go by someone. What do you think? Okay. They're a playoff team, I think, anyways. I think that's our projections today. ESPN, 78% around there. They'll make the playoffs. You look at their, I mean, they're five and two, right?

I mean, they've won the games that they had to win. They've lost to the better teams. That's kind of what Baker Mayfield is, right? You take the personality of your team, right? And Baker Mayfield's a quarterback who plays really, really well against poor opponents, essentially. And against the Bengals, he's had a career. He's played great against the Bengals his entire life.

But against better teams, he's not as good. And that's okay, right? I mean, that's okay. But that's what he is. So you take the personality of your team. And they're led by their offensive line of rushing game, which looked good against the Bengals. Defensively, a little bit off.

But Baker was better when Odell left. I don't know if that shows that they target Odell too much or just a coincidence. But it was kind of odd that we saw them play better without Odell. I don't know if they're going to be better without him. It's hard to tell. But, you know, there's interesting. There's this meme going around about Baker. It's interesting.

The Baker Mayfield cycle. Some Browns fans sent this to me. It goes, play like shit. Then a circle. It goes in a circle. Criticized by media. Underdog mentality. We saw that this week, right?

Play bad against the Steelers. Criticized by everyone. I'm an underdog.. We saw that this week, right? Play bad against the Steelers, criticized by everyone. I'm an underdog. Being a failure opponent, Bengals. Call out doubters, as we're at right now, and then play like shit again. So that's kind of what Baker is. Again, you're going to make the playoffs, Browns.

You're going to do it. Congratulations. You're going to make the playoffs because there's an extra playoff team this year, right? But you're not going to go anywhere with Baker as your quarterback. And that's a concern, Gabe, right? It's like, if you are a Browns fan, you're excited about making the playoffs and being good. But realistically, is he your guy? You watched Joe Burrow play this weekend. Would you rather have Joe Burrow or Baker Mayfield? Who's more dynamic? I'll go Joe

Burrow, please. And I've been a doubter, but I would take him over Baker right now. but I would take him over Baker right now. Right. And look, it's interesting. I'm a fan of obviously sports, right? I'm a Lakers fan. I'm a Giants fan. We suck right now in baseball. In football, I'm a Chiefs fan.

But my brother didn't play this weekend. I wasn't as committed to watching the Chiefs and cheering them on. I watched the game, but not as closely as I normally would. But for some reason, I'm a realistic fan when it comes to my teams. I don't know why. Maybe because I played sports, so I kind of get the ebb and flow of things. And I understand it's very difficult to look at your team being 5-2 and say to yourself, we have no chance to win the title, right?

Because you look at 5-2, you're like, wow, we must be doing a great job. And for the most part, the Browns are beating teams they should, right? But you have to like, that's why you come here, I think, to listen to me talk. It would tell you how it actually is, which is that Baker Mayfield, at the best, is average. And some games he plays, excels above that through the course of a game. But Gabe, they're not winning a Super Bowl with Baker Mayfield.

The goal is always winning a Super Bowl. Always win a Super Bowl. So the Browns can be buyers of the deadline, and they might be, but I'm not sure that it will matter if Mayfield is your quarterback. Man, okay. You're supposed to make us smarter, not make us depressed. I mean, that's not a lot for Browns fans to feel good about.

Here you are actually saying they're pretty good, and you can't even give them a chance? What if they go, I'll throw some names at you, what if they go to Houston and shop for Stills or Fuller? What if they go get AJ Green from the team they just beat? There's a few guys that could make them better.

Right, but I'm not sure a wide receiver is the difference in their team. I feel like it's a consistent Baker Mayfield who against the two teams they played so far that are bona fide playoff teams,

Ravens and Steelers, he has looked very bad. And the formula for winning hasn't been consistent against those teams. Yeah, I mean, it's hard for me to defend how he's played against the better teams. He was outrageous for most of the day yesterday, or Sunday, excuse me.

After his slow start, by the way, which by the way, he threw an interception when Odell was open. Odell hurt himself on that play out for the season, ACL. Yeah, yeah, it was a real bummer to watch that. But 22-23 after that, a catch for five touchdowns. All right. But here's the thing, Gabe.

We have to be honest with this. Like, the Bengals are 31st in defense. Like, he's supposed to be good against them, right? Like, that's what you want your Francis quarterback to be, good against the Bengals. Question becomes, will he be good when they play the Ravens or Steelers again? I mean, like that's the question. Fair enough.

I think I'm not going to be the guy who's going to claim they're going to win the Super Bowl with or without Baker Mayfield because everything you just said sounds right to me. I guess what I really want to know though is, you know, coming from a fan base where we also never have a chance to win a Super Bowl. Here we look at a Browns team competing in that division, looking like a playoff team in that conference with a chance to be buyers when they never are.

They just never are. Shouldn't they just do that just to boost everyone up? Like, sure sure i'd be on look i am for the browns going for it i think they should right you look the thing about the nfl is i talk about all the time the idea of hope in the nfl right game is that the nfl is better hope than anyone else you just have to get into the dance and where things can happen right look at the chiefs last year they entered week 17 as the three seed right they would have had to play a super hot titans team then in theory go to new england and go to baltimore right that's a hard road for anyone to

go instead they got the two seed tennessee beat new england beat baltimore and then they got to play the sixth seed right so just getting in the dance is the first start and where things can happen. And the Browns, I'm telling you, they're going to be in the dance. They're able, their system of play offensively, good offensive line, good run game, good weapons. And when things are going well,

Baker can play very well, okay? When things are going well. You get in the playoffs, you force some turnovers, you run in the playoffs for some turnovers, you run the ball, eat clock up, pick up a play action passes and boom, you win a playoff game.

But, but that, I don't know if you're, if you are honest with yourself as a Browns fan, that you think Baker's the guy. Now the team itself, they think that of course, right? So get,

go for it, Gabe, go get yourself a wide receiver. Go get yourself JJ Watt, whoever else is on the guy. Now, the team itself, they think that, of course, right? So go for it, Gabe. Go get yourself a wide receiver. Go get yourself J.J. Watt, whoever else is on the market, and we'll get to him in a little bit. Go get yourself anyone you can get to make your team better. Just like the Chiefs got Le'Veon Bell, and he made no difference

to the game on Sunday, right? That you can never have enough weapons, and we'll get to it, and then, oddly enough, next segment we'll get to this as well, is just go get him. go get anyone you can get. All right. So, so final takeaway on this point, because I think this is probably too much Brown's talk to start the show. You're saying go be buyers, go be aggressive,

go hope you get into the dance and make something happen, but better to focus on defense than offense. They don't need a replacement for Odell, which might be Twitter's first reaction. They actually need some guys who can tackle and hold a team under 30 every now and then. Yes? Yes. I mean, I'm okay with them trying to find a replacement for Odell,

but I'm not sure the offense was Odell-centric, right? I mean, they kind of split time around. Yes, he made some great plays. They have players on their roster already. I would try to target high-impact positions before you get to one receiver. All right. Well, they got a good pass rusher and Garrett, maybe they'll find somebody else. Listen, this next topic is something I don't like to admit. Tom Brady is leading in the Brady

Belichick bowl. It's obvious. Pat's 27 point home loss, their worst under Belichick ever, if I have my stats right. Meanwhile, Tampa and the Bucs are five and two. They had an easy win over the Raiders on Sunday. Brady looked awesome. Four touchdowns in the air. He ran another one in. Gronk probably his best game yet. Godwin had nine catches. Some Edelman lookalike who they call Scooter.

You know, of course they do. He had 100 yards. And yet, for some crazy ass reason, they're going to add Antonio Brown in a week. They went and signed that guy. He's going to ruin what's working for them in Tampa Bay. Why are they doing this? Okay, let's talk about one thing first and second thing.

Tampa Bay right now is the best team in the NFL. Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. The best team in the NFL? Listen to what I'm saying. It does not mean that if the Chiefs and the Bucs played, and they do play November 29th, that when the Chiefs play their best game, I would take the Chiefs and the Bucs played, and they do play November 29th, that when the Chiefs play their best game, I would take the Chiefs to beat anyone.

But right now, Tampa Bay is number one in DVOA, which we talk about a lot. If you look at other things, Gabe, like their efficiency numbers, their defense is by far the best in the NFL. Their offense continues to improve each and every week. Their offensive line, my buddy Brandon Thorne, who covers offensively, watched more offensive line film than anyone, had three of them, three of the offensive linemen

in his first quarter, all pro, first team all pro. Brady's continuing to get better. And I know you hate Tom Brady. I know people listening hate Tom Brady. Tampa Bay is playing the best

in the NFL right now. It's okay to admit it. It doesn't make the Chiefs any less or Steelers any less. Tampa's playing the best in the NFL. Numbers back up that they're playing that well.

Okay. The question about Antonio Brown. It's a good question. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. What?

There's no argument to be made. The best team. First of all, they got two losses. So. Okay. Chiefs have one loss. Like, what is that? It doesn't matter.

Whatever. Okay. They lost two games. Okay. DVOA is something you're citing here. This comes up. We joke about what does DVOA really, really mean after seven games? Like what are we supposed to actually learn from that statistic? Because I looked at your DVOA rankings and right now it seems like

the Indianapolis Colts are a better team than the Saints and the Packers. I mean, come on. How much stock do I have to put in DVOA? I think it's pretty important forers. I mean, come on. How much stock do I have to put in DVOA? I think it's pretty important for efficiency. I mean, we've talked about it all the time, right? It lets you know how teams are playing depending on the situation, the position, the opponent. And so it's, I mean, look here, here's the best DVOAs after seven games. The 2007 Patriots, right? They went 18-0 before losing the Giants. 91 Washington football team. They won the Super Bowl that year, in my opinion, I believe, right?

Now, the 19 Patriots, last season's Patriots, obviously crumbled, right? They were, through seven weeks, the third best team of all time. The 96 Packers, did they win the title that year? I don't know if they won the title that year. 95 or 96 was the Favre win. It's when Favre's at his peak. Well, one of those two so that's that's through seven weeks there okay the 85 bears are fifth all time through seven weeks they were pretty good team they won the super bowl

um the 07 colts i don't uh obviously patriot made super bowl that year 94 cowboys is next guess what they won the super bowl that year uh the 14 denver broncos I believe they won the Super Bowl that year as well. No, they won 15, right? Broncos won 15. Niners last season, 2019 Niners went to the Super Bowl. So it's a 2006 Bears. They went to the Super Bowl that year as well, right? So it's a pretty good stat for telling you how a team is through seven weeks. Okay, I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to fold that one to you.

I thought DVOA was my ace card. That backfired. That's a pretty good stat. Okay, fine. So DVA is good or DVOA is good for them. You were about to talk about Antonio Brown though, because I'm not willing to give Tom Brady a ring if he's bringing that guy in. I'm not, I'm not calling him a lunatic or any of the things I've heard, but man, he's trouble. He's real trouble. So this is the, so this is, this is a good discussion to have because there's many things to consider here, right? Let's go back to, he left Pittsburgh unceremoniously, right? He left Oakland in the same way.

Now he went to New England last year, okay? And they liked him in New England. He was fine in New England. He was not released because of on the field activities or being bad in the locker room. He was released for off the field activities. And we can get in a whole discussion of whether or not the nfl should allow players back his legal status is still pending right there's still uh he's going i believe he's going to court still later in the year so i i don't know what the right thing the nfl should

do here right i'm for second chances but do you give a terrible person a second chance i don't know the question becomes, how does this help Tampa Bay on the field, right? And my answer is a couple of things. One is that you can never add too many talented pieces. We talk about this all the time, right? We talk about Le'Veon Bell. We talk about just the Browns a second ago.

You cannot add too many talented pieces. The question is, Gabe, the number one question is, and I know this question you have, everyone else does, is chemistry, right? How does he fit on the team? How does he fit on the team chemistry-wise? So here's my answer to this. Is winning is the number one factor to chemistry. So he joins a winning team, right?

Think about Antonio Brown right now. Antonio Brown has to rehabilitate his image. He knows that if he does not do well in Tampa with Tom Brady, with Bruce Arians, with Byron Lefkowitz as the OC, he's never getting a chance again. This is his last opportunity in the NFL. So he's on a winning team

with a winning culture with a quarterback that believes in him and a system that will especially if you live with Tom Brady like he did New England they'll try to reel in his personality he's only there for three months at the most right the last eight weeks of the season plus the playoffs so all things considered I think it worked for for three or four Remember, you don't have to like all your co-workers. Just like you don't like all your co-workers at work, I don't like all my co-workers in the locker room. But all I have to do is make sure the guy next to me that I do not like wants to win on Sundays.

Antonio Brown's going to want to win on Sundays. They will make it work. Now, if they start losing, Gabe, it could be a problem. But I think they're a pretty good football team. So there is a risk in bringing Antonio Brown in. He could blow up everything that's happening right now, but it's just another piece of the puzzle. And I'm fine with them adding another talented football player.

I'm just not sure why you think that he's rational enough to learn the lesson that this is his last shot. I feel like we've talked about it being his last shot a couple of times and he blew that up too, you know, and he played for a winning team in pittsburgh and he complained his way out of there so but but i think that but i think it's a but okay but let's focus i know we talked about pittsburgh he complains about out of there he didn't like it there he didn't really complain his way he complains way out of oakland

but like not it through the team right the helmet and the foot thing let's not focus on the patriots right he went to new England, and he was, I don't know if liked is the right word. I don't know. He was fine, right? He was there for three or four weeks. He did not sabotage himself out of New England. He sabotaged himself out of New England

for off-the-field issues, right? He wasn't like the Pittsburgh or Oakland when he got out of there because he was being a jackass. I think that's a small distinction, but I think it's important, right, is that we're talking about on the field and in the locker room, whether or not he will behave and get along with his teammates enough to help them win or not and make sure they lose.

Now, if more text messages come out, if he is found guilty in the legal system and he's suspended, all those things could change the way I feel about this. But as of right now, I think for the three or four months he's there, he will behave and it will work out. Okay. I mean, look, I was always careful not to make fun of him the last couple of years of talking about him because it was evident to me that there was something else going on. I have no idea. Of course, mental health issues, drug issues. I don't know, but I was, I was sure it wasn't just, he was was a diva receiver i was sure something else was going on

that's fair right and then these so these off-field problems that you're citing i don't put them in their own column i see the guy's life having been a mess for the last two years and unless tom brady thinks by moving him into his house in tampa he's gonna like babysit him the whole time and fix this i'm wondering if the guy is ready to be a professional, if football can and should be his priority in life, because he's clearly got other stuff going on. And that's definitely a fair question to ask. I don't think you can dismiss that question because there's,

there's baggage there, right? There's baggage. It was, I thought it was interesting that did I hear that right? Tom Brady had, had Tony Robbins speak to him? Was that – I saw that tweet probably.

I mean, I didn't see that. That sounds as dumb as it needs to be for this stuff. I don't know if that – yeah, I don't know if that is the right way to go here. But nonetheless, I think Tampa Bay did their background on Antonio Brown, right? Their GM, their head coach. Like, I just think that they did their homework on him and they thought he was stable enough to come in and play. It could backfire in two weeks.

I'm just saying I don't think it will. All right, fair enough. Then I guess I just have X and O perspective. Let's pretend he wasn't even a question mark away from the football team. Let's just only talk football. How are there enough footballs to go around? I mean, seriously.

So the concern with Antonio Brown is not kind of the locker room stuff. It's this. It's that he doesn't get the ball and he gets diva about it. That's right. Because right now, Tom Brady and Mike Evans

are not connecting very well right now, right? They're not connecting well. Mike Evans seems frustrated during games. So what happens when you add it in? Plus, you mentioned Scooter. Scooter. Miller. Miller and Brady hooked up for a nice touchdown the other day.

It was maybe Brady's best pass of the year. He showed a little arm strength on that pass. Is do these connections get tougher to make with other players because Antonio Brown's there and Brady's forcing the ball to Antonio Brown? But look at the health of these wide receivers, though. Godwin's been hurt this year with a concussion. Mike Evans had a couple games where he's left early. So having Antonio Brown there as kind of insurance for anyone who gets hurt

is a huge bonus in my opinion. But Antonio Brown has got to come in and understand that he's not going to be the focal point of the offense. And if he's okay with that, it will work. I do not know if he's okay with that. I can't tell you that he will be. But that's my concern. It's not really like the locker room stuff.

It's him being a diva with not getting like the, again, the locker room stuff. It's him being a diva with not getting the ball as much as he thinks he should. Okay. I think if you think they're the best team in football, which I question, and you think that they can manage him, even though their whole team has been hodgepodge together, and you think that they'll remain the best team or maybe get better i will just take the other side of all of that action i'll i'll just come back to this in a few weeks we'll see i mean please this show is premised on you being smarter than me and most fans uh how this stuff works so i'm i think you're probably on to something but i'm just going to take the

other side everyone's taking the other side i i think it's going to work out fine okay um well can we briefly talk about belichick and his collapse? Because this whole topic is set up by the fact that without Brady, he suddenly looks terrible. And Cam, by the way, I hate to see it. Cam looks bad. He's gotten worse every week. Are they done?

Oh, they're way done. Yeah, I know that makes you happy. Are you a Patriots hater or a Tom Brady hater? I'm a Patriots hater first, but they're the same thing for most of my life. Yeah, so they're bad. You know, it's kind of interesting. So Cam Noon and Zeke Elliott, two players, high-profile players that had COVID at some point this year, right,

just haven't been the same, right? I mean, Zeke never kind of started the year out a little slow. Cam Noon, since he got his diagnosis, has not been the same. Now, there's other players that have come back and played. I don't, but they're not as high profile as those guys, right? When you see them on the field playing. So I don't want to speculate, but it's just kind of interesting to think about

as we move forward, as players do test positive and come back eventually in those positions that are counted on a lot of offensive production, right? So, but Cam has not looked good since he's been back. I mean, that guy we saw against Seattle has not been there. I feel bad for Cam because I was rooting for him to play really well this year.

And he still has got time to do so, but they just, Gabe, they don't have weapons. Their offensive line is not good right now. They're working through pieces. They've had guys injured. They've had guys come back. And he's got no weapons, no tight ends. It's really tough to get this thing going when

you don't have those guys to help you yeah and i think you just mentioned the thing that i think everyone's afraid to talk about because they don't want to be labeled as talking about politics as absurd as what i'm about to say is but i don't know why more time hasn't been spent talking about the fact that two weeks ago the quarterback of the patriots had a deadly virus that the effects of which we don't even understand to this day and the fact that we can't mention that or acknowledge that that might have something to do with why he isn't playing so well is bizarre it's just really strange i mentioned that i well i think but you just did i think part of it is right it's just it's pure speculation right, I couldn't go on ESPN today, on NFL Live, and say that.

That's not the form for that, right? I mean, the form is a podcast, it's a radio program. The form is not to speculate about COVID on NFL Live or on NFL Network. But we can talk about it here. And, again, I don't know if it's any correlation whatsoever. There could be zero, right? It'd be just none whatsoever. But it's interesting that the two players on offense this season,

who we expected to play well and who had played well, Camden had played well until he got COVID. And Zeke Elliott has been a shell himself. You can blame the offensive line. It's definitely possible to do that there. They've been a disaster. And it, you know, it's, again, it's possible that it's nothing,

but I mean, it's worth, it's worth mentioning. By the way, the Cowboys, man. Oh boy. Yeah, we'll get to that. They're completely lifeless. Heavily featured in the over under segment we're going to get to shortly.

Let me, let me move you to another topic here that you sort of just gave it away with telling me you think the bucks are the best team in football, um, which is still, I'm just going to say nuts, but fine. Uh, I'm going to base my takes on my eyeballs. My eyeballs tell me that the Pittsburgh Steelers are the best team in football right now beat the Titans who had been undefeated. Um, they can do it on both sides of the ball. I like their offense as much as anyone's. I like their defense a little bit better than beat the Titans who had been undefeated. They can do it on both sides of the ball. I like their offense as much as anyone's.

I like their defense a little bit better than Kansas City Chiefs. So I don't really know what DVOA says about the Steelers right now, but I'm just going to go ahead and claim. I think they're third. They're the best team in football. So great question about the Steelers. As you know, this has been a podcast heavy with Steelers love right I I told you guys to bet them yeah to win the Super Bowl this year um I believed heavily in the Steelers and I still believe

heavily in them uh their defense is outstanding we know that uh T.J. Watt is living up to the name he's been fantastic Stephon Tuitt, Cam Hayward all been great right they lost Devin Bush a young kid comes in uh plays the last two weeks now he got knocked out I think a shoulder injury when he hit Derrick Henry blasted Derrick Henry. And the Steelers held on to win that game. A couple of things about the Steelers that worry me, and they're mostly offensively, is they go through a lot of lulls with their offense

where they just don't score for a lot of periods of time. And they're not an explosive offense. You can sit back in zone and take away kind of deep shots. Like Ben's not chucking the ball downfield very well. He's had some deep balls to Claypool this year, but they've been more just like isolation route, like just one-on-one go in, right? There's not a lot of deep layered routes

and complex things happening 15, 20 yards downfield. That's my concern with them, is that they're just offensively not the firepower there. But I will say, again, they're the only AFC team that can beat the Chiefs. I said that from the beginning, the way they pressure the quarterback, they came out yesterday and had an eight-minute drive

to score out, you know, score, start the game. Then in the fourth quarter, they had a seven-minute drive up by three, driving down to go kick a field goal at least, but score a touchdown to win the game and bend through a terrible interception. So they have the ability to eat up the clock, get first downs, and keep the ball away from Pat Mahomes.

Right? Ryan Tannehill did not have the ball very much yesterday. So I like the Steelers a lot. They're third in my opinion. It's Tampa 1A, Kansas City 1B, Pittsburgh 2. Those are my top three right now. I've been high on Pittsburgh the entire year. They proved me right.

Thank you, Steelers. But they have the Ravens this weekend. And I wouldn't be surprised if I look at the research and I pick up the Ravens to win this weekend. Off a bye, we'll get to that podcast on Thursday. So I think Steelers are a really good game, but I think Tampa and Kansas City are just a smidge above them. All right.

Do we forget that Mike Tomlin might, might be the best coach of the last 20 years and has obviously, you know, Andy reads in the conversation, of course, Bill Belichick, but Mike Tomlin surprisingly is right there. I feel like he has an undefeated start every few years. I feel like they're in the playoffs almost every year of the last 20. They've gotten to the Superbowl. Like, why don't we spend more time complimenting Mike Tomlin? I think a couple of reasons. One is that, you know, there's times when the team has looked really bad as road favorites.

I mean, they'll go like to Oakland a couple of years ago as like a 10-point favorite and lose a game like that, right? Like they just have these inexplicable losses. And they do play down to opponents, even this year, right? They played down to Jeff Driscoll and the Broncos. They just have those moments where they play down. If you look at the best coach in the NFL, that doesn't happen very often.

And I also think that people feel like he squandered an opportunity to win more Super Bowls with Big Ben in his prime. But I think the number one reason why is just he never really beat New England. New England kicked their ass all the time. And that's why he's not looked at on the same level as Bill Belichick.

But he's an outstanding coach. He's a Hall of Fame coach, in my opinion. He's never had one season under.500 in his career. Look what he did last year, right? He went 8-8 last year with Mason Rudolph and Duck Hodgins as quarterbacks. I mean, the Cowboys right now have a backup quarterback and they can't move the ball, right?

I mean, it's incredible what he's been able to do with this team. So I think he deserves all the praise and probably more to your point, but I think that's why kind of we look at Bill Belichick and maybe Angie Reid as like one and two, and Shanahan is pretty – people consider Shanahan up in that kind of range, elite range, and Tomlin like one tier below him, even though it's probably not fair to tomlin no it's probably not and i will add also because these names have come up already in the podcast

he also managed to keep the train on the tracks when we we since have learned he had a couple real crazy dudes in antonio brown and levian bell on that offense so segue levian bell shows up with your chiefs i know the team's beat up including your brother i was sorry to see him not out there i know that playing every week is so important to him but levy and bell i don't really did he do anything did it matter well will he see anything more from him next i told you i told you it didn't matter that he was there i mean he had i think he had the chiefs didn't have many plays like 50 plays ish and he had 17 reps i think so i mean this is what that's

what he's gonna be just be a dude okay he's just gonna be a dude and you think he'll be okay with just be he'll just be the running best he's just backup running back right that's what he is that's fine okay and and maybe they throw him the ball every now and then because edwards hillar dropped the ball what could have been a touchdown i don't know bell also bell also got my twitter at jeff schwartz he also missed a hot when he would have scored a touchdown if he turned his head around. So he also had some mistakes. Okay.

Well, he's learned. Mitch, not being out there, I know everyone blows you up on Twitter about that. Anything more to add on him and what it was like for him not to be out there? No. I mean, most of the people that have been blocked, I don't know what anyone else was saying this weekend. So no idea.

Hilarious. People, man, people take social media very seriously. Yeah. Yeah, well, I think it's an outlet right now. People are stuck inside and they're just tweeting their faces off. Should we move the line? Let's do it, buddy. Boom.

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Results vary. Non-endorsement. All right, this is our little over-under segment. These are not real at all anymore. I've since given up on that. So I want to know, NFC West playoff teams over-under 3.5. We saw the game late last night. It's going to be a close race

in that division. How many teams are getting in? So we have the North is going to have Green Bay for sure. Question is, does Chicago obviously make it, right? Right.

The South is going to have Tampa and New Orleans. I would just say under because I think there's not just not enough. I mean, New Orleans is probably going just say under because I think there's just not enough. I mean, New Orleans is probably going to be in. So is Tampa. Chicago has to collapse big time to knock in the playoffs.

I'd say under here. The NFC West is wild, man. I mean, we record this before my night of football. I mean, the Rams could have a big win against the Bears. They're favored by six. It feels like a lot of points. Too many. Right?

Too many points, right? So I'm excited to see that game tonight. They're just good. I do not know if Arizona is good yet. I mean, they're 5-2, but I don't know if they're good. Seattle's defense is atrocious, and they made some bad coaching decisions last night.

Niners are quietly coming along. Got some guys back healthy. Beat the Rams. Kicked the shit out of New England. They're not 3-0 out there, right? They beat the rams kick the shit out of new england they're not three and oh out there right they beat the giants jets and the patriots um uh in in audi so um i think i go under just because i think new orleans and tampa and um uh the packers and in the line you know the the bears all right let's move along to the cowboys we've been itching to talk about these guys i want to know Cowboys points next week over under three and a half.

Oh, they're going to score zero points. Eagles, Eagles, Sun and I football, they might actually score some, but I'm going to go under here. So let's talk about a couple things with the Cowboys. First of all, Mike McCarthy is not making it to 2021, right? This team is lifeless. They're dead. There's no energy.

There's nothing about them, right? They're bickering in the media about not being prepared. The coach is taking passive aggressive shots back at them. But I want to address one thing that happened this weekend. The hit on Andy Dalton was horrific. John Bostick should be suspended. He was not, and the NFL erred

in not suspending him. But I'll talk about the team reaction to Andy Dalton being hit. And when people said that at the time of the offensive line not coming over and fighting Boston. So worth pointing out that they had four backups plus a left guard. Now one of the backups is Cam Irving, who played

in the NFL for a long time. And Connor Williams, the starting left guard. Those two are the guys I look for as kind of being the more enforcer types in the offensive line. But for the most part, backup offensive linemen are not enforcers. They're not going to come on the field and start fighting people. When you see these fights happen, it's starting offensive linemen.

But to the point other people have made, it's not a good look for Zeke Elliott and Amari Cooper and the other players on the field to not say anything to Boston, not even go up and talk to him, right? There was almost no reaction whatsoever to him hitting Dalton. It's another sign this team is just completely lifeless right now. And he ain't making it, right? And one more thing, too.

We saw, I went back and looked at a bunch of fights in the field today where quarterbacks got hit. Cam Newton a couple years ago for the Panthers slid, got hit by a Falcon safety. There was an ensuing fight. But Ron Rivera was passionately on the field, arguing about the play and defending his player. And I didn't see that from,

from McCarthy either, right? We didn't see McCarthy on the field and passionately defend him. So, um, yes, there's problems in Dallas. Um,

and they're on a third string quarterback with a bum offensive line. Not good. All right. So the Cowboys are done. Let's move. Uh, let's move to a team that's heading the other direction. I to know when is jeff gonna finally accept that aaron rogers and the packers are a very very good team over under third quarter of the super bowl when are you gonna figure this

out jeff well i mean they need to beat some good teams first they need to to really beat them we've seen now routinely they get punched in the face Gabe. They don't bounce back very well. Aaron Rodgers, your boy Colin Coward brought this stat up, right? Aaron Rodgers, when he's losing a football game at any point during the game is under 500 in his career. That's not good. When they get punched in the

mouth, they don't respond. They play the Niners soon. Let's see how they do against the Niners. So far, they've had one team punch him in the mouth. Haven't been able to counter. That was Tampa. That's the problem. I need to see them be able to do that frequently,

and I'll be able to come back and see that Packers are ready for big-time action. Okay, so the stat is that he doesn't have enough comeback wins? No, no, no. Come on. Obviously, teams start... No, no, no. No, no, no. The stat was, at any point of the game, he's losing.

So let's say he's down three, nothing in the first quarter. Okay. He's under 50% in those games. If he's losing by one point at any point in the game. So you call an Aaron Rogers, a front runner. You're saying if he can jump out to a lead and hold his lead, he's a pretty good player. Otherwise that feels, it feels like the stats are backed that up.

Yes. Okay. I know that you're not stats driven. Well well i'll mention a stat since we're bringing up stats i'm just gonna say that aaron rogers has 17 touchdown passes so far this year that's tied for the most he's ever had through six games ever uh it's probably the mvp good for him yeah the year he did it before was 2011 he threw 45 that year and was the mvp now they didn't win the super bowl that year but they were pretty damn good team i just think you're not really giving them enough credit right now and i think they're going to sneak up on you that's all well i mean if they do they don't have to apologize like i did to tennessee titans fans if that happens one day it happens one day but i

don't think they're gonna win the super bowl all right one team we know is not going to win the super bowl even though they might sort of do it. Shut up, man. We're going to get along so well today. We're going to bond over the Dodgers. We both can't stand them. And you're throwing Jets shade at me. Here we go. Todd Gurley. I want to know chances.

He kind of sort of maybe slightly meant to fall into the end zone because scoring touchdowns is nice. He should have managed to stay out of the end zone, but he fell in there and then his team lost the game because they suck at winning. So maybe Todd Gurley meant to go into the end zone but he fell in there and then his team lost the game because they suck at winning so maybe todd girley meant to go into the end zone i think that he meant to go to the end zone for nine of the 10 yards that he was running and then realized the very end that he shouldn't score all right so you would say it's under a 99 chance but he meant to do it you think yes i don't think he meant to do it. You think it was an accident? I don't think he meant to do it, yes. Remember, he did screw a bunch of fantasy owners and gamblers on a situation like this in the past.

I think he learned his lesson. I think he didn't want that heat in his mentions. I think Todd Gurley said, this season's a wash, I'm getting mine. Two touchdown day, big fantasy day. That's payback for the times he screwed us in the past. That is some payback. I don't think he meant to score.

By the way, have you thought about the fact that if that game and then the two other like epically terrible collapses they've had this year, just go the other way, which they should have like 99 times out of a hundred, the Falcons are a winning team. Like we're that close. Yeah.

But they're also going to win like one game this year because they have a toughest schedule on the way out. I'm not saying they're good. And I'm not saying they would be a winning team by the end of the year. I'm saying a few butterfly wings flap differently. And they're a winning team. Fair enough. Close, yeah.

All right. Last one. Go full circle here on everything we've talked about. I want to know Dodgers World Series rings versus chicken eggs laid in the Schwartz backyard by Wednesday morning. Which one's a bigger number? Well, the Rays are going to win the World Series. I tweeted last night,

the Rays are two straight wins away from the World Series. They're very close. So zero Dodgers rings. You think those chickens are laying more eggs than zero? Yes. Here's what's going to happen. The Rays are going to throw Blake Snell. Game six, they're going to win

because the Dodgers are not going to throw Walker Buehler. They're going to save him for game seven. Buehler's going to throw like five innings. He's going to have a no-hitter through five. But Roberts, analytically, is going to pull him out of the game. Throw too many pitches game. Throw too many pitches.

They'll bring in Kershaw. And then they'll bring in Jansen. And we know those two in the postseason. Watch out for them. So that's how the Rays are going to win. He'll pull Walker Bueller too early in game seven because analytics tells him to do so. Hold on, let me get this straight.

You in football, the sport you played and know best, you're pro analytics. In baseball, the other sport you played and know well, you are anti-analytics? No, no. I am pro analytics sometimes for both of those sports. Dave Roberts, though, historically, come on, been terrible at pulling pitchers when he shouldn't have.

He's not been good at that. Okay. Well, I think everyone is overthinking everything in baseball these days. Every frigging batter, it's some elaborate shift and switch. I don't quite understand who is in charge of making decisions on baseball teams anymore. It feels like it's just a bunch of guys with spreadsheets. But can we...

Rodgers has a guy sitting in the dugout who tells him what to do. At least he did. Like the way the NFL guys used to have clock managers. He has like some nerd who tells him where to put his second baseman. Yes. I don't like hearing that. Can I mention something to you that I think we're going to be in agreement on? Yes.

I don't like hearing that. Can I mention something to you that I think we're going to be in agreement on? Yes. The Dodgers, as a team in general, have extremely punchable faces, all of them. Oh, yes. It's a team full of punchable-faced looking guys. I mean, look at what, Seager, Bellinger, Will Smith, that little baby face. Very punchable. Walker Bueller is very punchable.

Except Justin Turner that you can't punch that beautiful no he looks like a good hang and i like mookie betts um you know it's a couple of other role guys i wouldn't call their faces punchable but walker bueller definitely a punchable they just look like lax bros you know like what's his name taylor bellinger oh yeah chris taylor yeah yeah just like max muncie Yeah. Just like Max Muncy. Muncy looks like the guy. He's like a punchable face, but different kind of punch. That's like a like dip will fly out of his face.

Punchable. That's not like country club punchable. I love how there's like no no chewing in baseball anymore. And guys still have like ginormous red man pouches in their lips. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think we can agree that the Dodgers are terrible and we're rooting against them. My daughter's name

is Ray, so I will be rooting for the Rays. I want them to win. I know you are a Niners. I know you are a Giants fan who wants to see the Dodgers win, so we're united on that. I am. And so, go Rays! This is an official

Tampa Bay Rays podcast so go Rays. This is an official just for tomorrow new Tampa Bay Rays podcast. Go Rays. And I think that's it. I think we're done. Have a great couple of days. Thanks for tuning in.

Thank you for rate, review, subscribing. I appreciate it. Numbers continue to grow. We had a great gambling week. We'll be back on Thursday with more of that. Have a great couple of days.

Talk to you guys then.