Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - Brian Flores Sues the NFL, The Commanders Join the League and Tom Brady Walks Away

Episode Date: February 3, 2022

Geoff is joined by Matt to discuss the story surrounding Brian Flores and the Rooney Rule. They then discuss the reveal of the Washington Commanders, Tom Brady's retirement, and the future of USC football before diving into some strong analysis on Tupac's best songs.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It's Thursday, February 3rd. I'm Jeff Schwartz alongside Matt Ford. This is Jeff Schwartz of Smart U, powered by the Varsity Podcast Network. This is typically our wagering episode, but guess what, guys? We're not wagering the Pro Bowl, so there's not much to wager on this week. So we'll get back to the wagering next week. Luckily, or unlucky for the NFL, there's still a lot to talk about, and we will talk about Brian Flores suing the NFL.

We will talk about the happenings in the coaching circle. circle, talk about a little Tom Brady, I'd imagine. The show, again, the format's going to be different than usual, but I'm excited because Matt Ford, for the first time, is in the studio in Los Angeles, and he looks wonderful, and I'm glad he has made the move to California. Welcome, Matt. Thank you, Jeff. glad he has made the move to california welcome matt thank you jeff uh i enjoyed legal gambling for a month and then i had to move uh right as that coincided so uh mixed blessing but nice to be here nice to have like a nice camera setup instead of that windowless room in my apartment that we've seen quite a bit so good to see you buddy and so far no construction so far we don't know so far there's no construction noises.

So far. That seems to haunt you. All right, let's get into the number one story around all of the NFL right now. The Washington Commanders. Yes. The new football team name. But no, let's start with Brian Flores first, please. Well, I mean, we're getting into a serious topic, but it is kind of remarkable how much is going on in the NFL before Super Bowl week.

This is usually a dead week. We've got the Flores thing. We've got the Commanders. We've got the best player of all time just retired. We've got Jimmy Garoppolo maybe getting traded. What the hell is going on? So why don't we start with the serious topic first? By now, if you're listening to this, you've heard that Brian Flores is suing the NFL for discrimination and that there's lots of things that he alleged.

There's so much to unpack here. Can we maybe just trade some things that stood out to us? What was the thing of the court documents that stood out to you? Okay. There's many things that stood out to me. We'll kind of maybe go in order of the way the news sort of broke on what happened. So for those who missed it, very brief summary. Brian Flores was fired as the Dolphins head

coach. He was then looking for a new head coaching job. And then we all agreed, fired prematurely in Miami. He was on the path, it felt like, to building a really good roster and winning. He was fired after two years. He went to get another job with the Giants. Bill Belichick, out of all people, sent a wrong text

message sent a text message to brian dable who did get the head job instead of instead of flores and the text message the summary of it was essentially like hey buddy heard you're up for the job it looks like you might get it you know congratulations yeah um heard you landed right yeah heard you heard you landed congrats um okay and then unfortunately brian flores said you know this is brian flores and he said oops i'm sorry i messed up and then and went on okay um there the nfl has a problem with hiring minority coaches that is not any hyperbo, that's not anything that we don't know. The NFL has a rule that you even have to interview minority coaches

just to, because they know they have a problem, right? Obviously it has not made a difference this coaching cycle. There's one black head coach right now in the NFL and there's 70% of the league is black. And there are serious issues with hiring and firing and what appears to be a

different set of standards for wins and losses for coaches uh that are not white okay um those are all valid and brian flores is um should be commended for his bravery in doing this because this might end his coaching career right suing theing the Giants, the Broncos, and the NFL for discrimination. There's also the uncomfortable part about, well, is he actually going to win the lawsuit, right, Matt? Like, what does he have to prove the Giants actively discriminate against him because of his race? And I don't have a great answer for that.

I would say that that's unlikely to win in court. the giants interviewed brian dable and i think informally uh by john mara and the the indications that i have from people i've talked to say that the giants seriously considered him the messed up part and this is 100 the messed up part is after they had basically decided they wanted brian dable they made him go through an extensive interview. That's the part that needs to change. And he's rightfully upset about it. It wasn't like, you know, there was an informal discussion with him and John Mara. I'm not sure that counts as an interview, but then they hired a new general manager and Brian Flores was then interviewed after Brian Dable, after the second time Brian Dable got interviewed, was interviewed for, what was this, six hours, I think it was, with no hours i think it was with no shot of getting

the job no shot of getting the job that's the part that has to change right because the rooney rule requires two interviews of minority candidates not on your not on your coaching staff so pratik graham who's on the coaching staff who interviewed for the minnesota job ironically was interviewed for the giants job um and he doesn't count so they they interviewed Leslie Frazier and they interviewed Brian Forrest. Essentially, his first official interview was that big long one, even though the timeline was he did talk to John Mara, the owner of the Giants at some point in kind of the informal discussions of whether or not he'd be a head coach.

But my hope is that this brings more light and forces the NFL to change how they hire Matt. Yeah, I think it will. I mean, he talked about, I don't know if Brian Flores, Brian Flores will win this lawsuit.

I don't necessarily think that's his goal. I thought the, the revelation of these text messages that came out yesterday was really shocking. Like to see this sort of like, I think the thing that is really going to rattle fans is seeing this like other world happens sort of behind the scenes. That's,

that's the thing that's going to piss fans like me off is seeing this like boys club and this like sort of other world that's, that's not visible to even us in the media or to the fans of people sort of communicating and having these agendas and excluding people. That's not a great look. I think that this is going to cause some real change. And a great example, you mentioned Graham, whose name I keep forgetting, Patrick Graham, the Giants defensive coordinator who we've had some laughs about on this show. defensive coordinator who i've you know we've we've had some some laughs about on this show he had a reportedly a nine-hour interview with the vikings yesterday and then or maybe or yeah we're recording this wednesday so i guess tuesday and then all these reports came out that jim

harbaugh's flying up there and that the job's his and here we go it's like here we go again we're gonna put this guy through a nine-hour interview when you already know you want Harbaugh. Not only is that unfair to Graham, it's just – it's horrible. Like you're going to put him through that whole process and then you're going to hire Harbaugh for potentially years. It gets him nothing. It's just – it's such a waste of time. And it could affect something in real time, Jeff. Like I think that this might have an impact immediately.

It might. The Belichick Texas is interesting because there's a question of whether or not it was speculation or whether he was told by someone they were hiring, Brian Dable, right? Because when Joeane got the job we all said he was gonna hire brian dable or leslie frazier sure right and so i mean like if he hired frazier or dable makes sense he's with the bills dable and frazier have been with the bills okay done so the question is in that specific text is whether or not it was me and you like if i heard you might get a job and i text you about it is it because i was told by the bosses that you were getting the job or because

i just thought you were getting a job because i read the tea leaves that's that's a very important question has to be answered right because that changes what this is right either it's and again it could have been a sham interview anyways but it makes it even more of a sham interview if the giants told belichick which would be odd, told him, hey, we are hiring Brian Dable. Or whether it was speculation that he just kind of read the tea leaves about. Because he said, I heard from, I think in the text, I heard from Buffalo and New York and it seems like you're their guy. That's different than just being told by either one of those sides that he's going to be their guy, right? Do you agree there's a little bit of difference there?

And that's very important in determining specifically whether or not the Giants, whether or not the Giants kind of unfairly allowed Brian Flores to go through this whole interview process without him actually being a serious candidate. I think you're right. I think even if it sort of works out in a way that is maybe the most or the least unflattering to the Giants, like the problem is still systemic. And 100 percent. Yeah. So it's I guess I'm agreeing with you. I guess like I don't know. I mean, there's there's so much I want to have fun with with the belichick texts like it was i i uh brian flores

at the end just saying thanks bill yeah i was like i oh boy you know what's interesting about if belichick just doesn't answer the the brian table he would that could have meant nothing right could have been like he actually like imagine if he didn't answer that text message does that change the whole story right well i thought his like hey i i effed up like i thought that was pretty contrite you know like that was people i mean i felt bad about it the classic i made a joke about this on twitter yesterday everyone was like classic belichick like always a step ahead like can we stop giving this guy so much credit for everything? That was a complete mess up. Brian Tabor and Brian Flores were – He confused them. He's an old man who's bad at phones.

Like, he's not the first. Look, I think that in this part of the lawsuit, what this does, again, it's – to the point you made earlier and I made, it's not a – probably a winning, quote-unquote, winning lawsuit, right? Like, if you're going to court a law, are you going to win? But what it does do is it makes all of us talk about it. It makes us all have to acknowledge that there's a problem. And it makes the NFL, who knows what the NFL is going to do, change, I guess.

I mean, they paid Colin Kaepernick. They're going to have to pay Brian Flores. Do they want to keep paying these players or do they want to just admit they have a problem and figure out a way to fix it? I know. Well, for anyone who – I mean there's a lot of people. There's a lot of different people talking about this conversation about coaches and representation and opportunity in the NFL. I just sort of think about it this way. I would want to pick out Todd Bowles and

Raheem Morris, two former head coaches. Leslie Frazier could be another. I just am not quite as prepared on him. Former coaches that have not gotten that other chance. And you look at the list of coaches around the NFL head coaches, and so many of them are sort of these like, the term used to be like retreads. Like I think of like North Turner and like Wade Phillips and these coaches that would just keep getting jobs. But it's crazy to me that Raheem Morris has just never had another head coaching job, right? He got that head coaching job in his early 30s, I think. He was on a weird team with Josh Freeman and like the Bucks were were kind of a frisky team. And then he's just bounced around from coordinator to coordinator job.

And it just sort of seems like people have just sort of said, well, he had a coaching job. It didn't work out. We're done. It's like imagine if someone said that about Bill Belichick or Andy Reid or Pete Carroll or Bruce Arians. There's been lots of Mike McCarthy. There's all these white coaches who have gotten a second chance in the benefit of the doubt. And it feels like there's this sort of barrier for some of these coaches like Morris, like Bowles, who won a Super Bowl last year,

leading a historically good run defense. That to me is really something I just keep thinking about. Yeah, Eric Bien-Ami, right? Four straight years, the offensive coordinator of the Chiefs. No, you're absolutely right. And the NFL is going to have to confront these issues whether they want to, whether they want to do it in court. I don't think they do.

But now, again, we're all talking about this. And because it's the week before the Super Bowl, there's nothing else to talk about right now. And this is going to be talked about. Now, I don't have a solution, Matt. I don't know what the solution should be. I don't um you know should you be forced to hire candidates you don't feel are ready for the job no but you also can't treat them like david coley right and i know he signed on that job probably knowing that he was just there for one year but still i mean he

coaches butt off is that team what four, in four games, five games? That ugly Houston-Texas team? We bet on them every week. I know. Oh, geez. And Brian Flores mentioned the loss. I have some regrets on that front. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. Brian Flores mentioned in the lawsuit too, like Steve Wilks in Arizona, right? Had one year, was a bad year, fired him. And then Kingsbury, who was not qualified at all to have that job, ended up taking the job. So there's issues there. I commend Flores again. I mean, he's probably giving up his career for this. And he still, I think, had been on interview, went on a couple interviews.

He's still interviewing, I believe. So maybe he doesn't. But he went on Get Up This Morning and CBS Morning News. I mean, this could be a career ender. But if it brings change, then obviously it's very worth it. Again, I commend Brian Flores. He's young, too, so to give this up like this is pretty tough to do. Of course, I mean,

I think he'd find a job in college football, maybe as a coordinator in the NFL, but a head coach, I hope he didn't throw away his opportunity for this, but it's a very important cause. All right, the other part of this allegations that I think is might cause the most immediate change in the NFL. this uh but it's very important cause all right the other part of this uh uh allegations i think is might cause the most immediate change in the nfl he alleged that the dolphins owner steven ross

offered him a hundred thousand dollars per game he lost to tank for joe burrow um matt that's immediate immediate, immediate sale of the team and you're out of there as NFL owner. I mean, we talk a lot about gambling. Oh, yeah. We talk a lot about gambling proliferating itself through sports, which we love. We gamble on everything, right?

I mean, we were texting before the Chiefs game about what to do. I'm sure we lost all our money because none of our bets ever hit in that game. But, you know, you're offering a coach. We talk about tanking too, right? The tanking happens. But you're offering a coach money to lose a game.

To throw a game. You're asking him to essentially throw a game for $100,000. I'm glad Brian Flores didn't do it. They won a bunch of games 2019 and 2020.

They were the fifth pick overall though. It wasn't like they, you know, they, oh no, it was the year afterwards. It wasn't the two-year, right? It was the year, it would have been, no, same year, yeah. Bur pick overall, though. It wasn't like they, you know, they, oh, no, it was the year afterwards. It wasn't the two-year, right? It was the year, it would have been, no, same year, yeah, Burrow two. It was, yeah.

It was. They tried to get Burrow, obviously. Could have had Burrow. I think if this was proven to be correct, Stephen Ross has to sell his team. There's no way around it. Wow. So it also broke today that this Hugh Jackson corroborated this story, too, in said that they – he was offered some money potentially to throw some of those games too. So maybe this is like –

The Browns owner is doing that? But look, it was – I mean all the jokes are there, right? Like that he's a billionaire if he took that offer from the Browns. if he took that offer from the Browns. But if these are proven to be true, the owners that have offered to pay their coaches to lose are no longer going to be NFL owners. It's that simple. Talk about integrity of the game, all that.

I mean, dude, you're paying teams. I'm fine with tanking, but you tank. I've told this many times, right? You tank Monday through Saturday by your roster decisions, by personal decisions. You don't take on game day. Everyone plays hard on game day, except obviously the second half of that Eagles game two years ago.

Everyone was all pissed about it. But nonetheless. Go Commanders. You're offering money to purpose. And then let's say that they went 2-14. Are you firing Brian Flores for that record? Are you keeping him? Maybe.

Yeah. I mean, to sort of couple with that, I mean, Flores alleged that the reason that he was called difficult was because he wouldn't go illegally tamper with who we all think now is Tom Brady, who Ross invited onto his yacht. Like coincidentally, at the same time, he was like becoming a free agent potentially and flores would be there it's just a mess and i think that like you know we kind of all joke about it as fans and like i think as fans and even media people we kind of know there's like way more to what's going on behind the scenes than the nfl would want us to know but you know how does belichick know from the giants that they're gonna hire dable he even says like i heard from the giants and and the bills and then ross is saying come tamper it's just so it's so insane to me that all this is happening so okay so back to the bill thing very

quickly so to the giants did don mara callick? Like, who told Belichick? Yeah. And he says it's from the teams. And it's like, is he talking to the Bills? Like, the Bills are his rival. Like, how does he know it from them? Like, that's just so strange. That's why, again, that's very important to discern if he was just speculating or whether he was told.

But nonetheless, I mean, Gabe is – this would be an episode for Gabe, too. Because Gabe is like – Gabe thinks the NFL is a cabal, right? So he's all – it proves everything and it might. But Brian Foy is not – it was Tom Brady, by the way. They confirmed it. That was Tom Brady. But, you know, Brian Foy didn't go along with it. And it now makes me question whether or not all these stories about him being difficult

are because he refused to go along with tampering and game fixing. Or whether he's just, you know, kind of the Belichick guy that we find is kind of sentient to all be assholes. But that to me, look, obviously the Rooney rule and the minority hiring is a huge part of this, right? And it might take years for that to change. And I don't even know if the NFL is going to try to change it. And I don't know who could push them to do it, honestly. Who's making them change? But I'll tell you what, if Congress gets involved with with ownership paying you know offering of course i

mean no is it a crime to offer someone drugs if they don't buy it i guess i don't i don't know is it like if i offered you but you didn't buy any from it do i get in trouble for that i don't know um but dude this is a this is a big deal it's huge i mean and he's he would have to there's no doubt that steven arnst have to sell his team if this is proven to be true jimmy haslam and all sell their teams 100 well i think there's a few hires when you sort of look back like you mentioned david cully already david cully was there to blow this season they it's it's so obvious like when you look at it in context and you're like, okay, they hire this guy who has no head coaching buzz, who no one's going to get attached to because he's not some media guy. The team's going to suck.

They're going to fire him after one season. We already said they played hard. They were a fun team to bet on. Davis Mills really grew this season. I think you could argue that team was headed in the right direction on the field not roster wise and it's clear that he just went there to take a fall and there's others who you know who just like have never been put in the right spot and i think that that there's something sinister there about like what trying to win actually means and how people think

about their hires like this story is going to be gigantic we don't know what the impact is going to be i think that there are going to be owners who are in real trouble i think that there are gonna be lots of stories about you know how people tried to tank and i think we're just gonna like find little things in the last couple years we're like huh that's why that happened um this is going to be a big big problem for the nfl it's not good that it broke right before the super bowl now again again like i i do wonder whether or not there's proof of all this stuff right because you have you know you have to nfl i i assume we'll investigate matt i'm not I'm not certain on that, unfortunately. But again, I have to imagine that if there's proof of any of this,

those owners are gone right away. And the Giants, obviously, there's proof that they told Belichick beforehand they were hiring Brian D'Abel. That's tampering. Why would they be talking to the coach of the Patriots? It's so strange. It doesn't make much sense from that angle. I'm with you there. There's no reason for them to talk to Bill Belichick,

which again, I don't – again, I'm so confused on like why – why would Belichick know about this stuff? Why would you tell Belichick? His direct quote from his text, I hear from Buffalo and New York Giants that you are their guy. Hope it works out if you wanted to so it could just be like hey you know we like this guy he's at the top of our list what do you think and that's still probably like not cool based on what tampering is but i mean i guess it's possible they could have called him in exploratory fashion like hey man you uh you coach with dable what do you think about him i mean i guess that's possible it's possible but why would they ask the coach of another team who they

are either division rivals or in the super bowl it's just so strange yeah but i'm i'm i'd imagine that there's that there's talk you know that they call right they reference other coaches when they hire people yeah i guess i'm sure sean mcdermott was called you know sean mcdermott was asked about about uh references yeah i mean i mean joe's joe shane already knows who he is i don't know that's the best example but i i'm i guess in that perspective i wouldn't be surprised if that's what happened but again is it are they telling him like hey man we're hiring him or he's our favorite or whatnot because i get being a favorite favorite. I get if he's their favorite. But then bringing Brian Flores in for a six-hour interview

after you've already basically decided to hire someone, it's a bunch of BS. Just to meet a quota, right? That's all it was. Just to meet a quota. And that tells you right there, there's problems in the NFL with how they hire minority coaches. And it seems like Hugh Jackson, as we're talking,

is saying that he can corroborate Flores, and there's going to be more to that story. Man, I guess we should leave it there for now, and maybe should we move on to the greatest football player of all time retiring, or should we hit the Commanders, one of the biggest stories in the league in the last few years um let's uh let's let's uh wrap up the the tom brady story that we talked a little bit about on on tuesday's show yeah so he's uh via a hundred part instagram story is officially

retiring he had an interesting uh snub of Patriots fans at first. He's sort of come around on that. I'm just curious if you're reading anything in the tea leaves of how he retired and if this is truly the end. I think it truly is the end. I think that he didn't match the Patriots. He retired from the Buccaneers, not the Patriots. He's already thanked the Patriots. Yeah, and the Patriots said goodbye to him,

and he was clearly still very good. There's that. So who cares? Patriots fans, dude, are sensitive about this. It's like, he didn't mention you. All right. Move it along, Patriots fans. I talked about this Tuesday, and I think that reading –

I cannot read all eight of those slots on Instagram, but reading most of it was, you know, I think he retired as I mentioned on the show at just kind of

the top of his game. Not a lot of us get to do that and he gets to walk off the field healthy and happy and fulfilled

instead of walking off the field in a cart or in a sling on his arm. I think that's very important to him. And I think that it makes sense for him to do it now. He's accomplished everything. He went to Tampa and won a Super Bowl in two years. Really, the first year, obviously, but one in two years.

It's an incredible run he had. There's no reason to prolong it if you don't want to play anymore. If you can't give 100%, be done with it. It's very clear that this was leaked out via whoever was producing his Man in the Arena show because they delayed that last episode. And I think 1,000%, Matt, whoever filmed that told Jarrington or told Schefter,

this is what was on that video and that's how this came out. That's an interesting take. I didn't realize that show was still on. Yeah, there's... Or man, it was one more... Whatever still on. Yeah, there's one more. Whatever show he's doing, there's one more episode left that they delayed putting out. And everyone assumes that's where this story came from.

It seemed like people who knew things knew that this was going to be the end. And it just sort of, it happens really suddenly. I think he should have left last year. If he knew that this was going to be his final year like a lot can go wrong it's really hard to repeat i think if he left on the high note of winning a super bowl that um it probably would have been better for his overall you know legacy like you know leaving on a loss to the rams is probably not exactly how he drew it up but um yeah i don't think there's any like wiggle room.

I don't think it's like, oh, he's going to come back. He didn't say he was retiring in his thing. Like he's done. It's time. But yeah, I don't know. End of an era. It is end of an era. And it felt a good spot.

And it felt a good spot. It is. All right. Let's quickly hit the commanders. Your name on the unnamed video client that we're using to speak to each other, your name is Hail to the Commies. I don't know, Jeff. What do you think of this name?

The worst part is the uniforms. But that black uniform, John Allen looks so upset with himself. He's like, he just looks so upset with himself he's like he just looks so miserable oh looks miserable what do you think you're the washington football fan i am um i it the only hope i had for this i had two hopes one that it would just end like that for talking about the name for this long it's the name of a team have you ever thought about the name for this long, it's the name of a team. Have you ever thought about the name Seahawks? Have you ever thought about the name Texans? The name just doesn't matter.

So I just wanted this to end. I'm glad that today, the second one we're taping this, it's over. Great. The only other thing that I hoped for was not for a calamity, like a disaster, a train wreck of an unveiling. And that's exactly what happened. Joe Theismann like accidentally said it. A news helicopter flew over the stadium last night and showed a picture of the new commander's logo. It's this team is just such, they're such amateurs, man. Like they can't get anything right. Like this is a thing where they should win the day or at least generate some conversation. Obviously, big week in the nfl but i'm just like they just can't get anything right and the fact

that they can't even get their name announcement right does not bode well for the on-field product i'll tell you that i mean they announced us the week tom brady retired and brian flores laid down like the most one of the most influential lawsuits in like the history of sports. And then of course the helicopter got the Commander's logo last night because they just didn't black out the team store I guess, whatever that was. Man, it's just – there were much better choices than Commander's. I mean football team was a great – it's just not the football team. Well, it's funny now how in our office today people were like, I of like the football team it's like people people get used to stuff like in two years like we won't be thinking about this stupid name again but the the problem is this organization

is just so incompetent top to bottom i think the only thing that they really screwed up here is like like the you've got to have a lot of the history you have to like straddle the line of honoring the history of the team, but sort of like acknowledging that you had this mistake with the name and the big change. Like what the fight song of this team is like the thing that all of the fans really love. The hail to what used to be hail to the Redskins. Yes. What do you do now? Hail to the commanders? Like it doesn't work.

Like what are we doing? Hail to the commanders? Like, that doesn't work. Like, what are we doing? Hail to the commanders. Oh, man. Yeah, that was like one of the first songs I learned, Jeff, back in the day. Now I don't know how that's going to work. You're poor. Well, at least your kid will grow up rooting for the commanders, I guess, the commies. Yeah, or maybe the Rams.

We'll see. I know. Oh, are you going gonna jump on games bandwagon la teams in in total just you're you become the biggest usc fan all of a sudden going to uh to read an actual text from uh my wife that i got uh when she woke up today a little after i did because we had an early taping. She said, commanders? And then I didn't respond for a while, and she wrote, we are Rams fans now, FYI. You're already – you've been in town. Two days.

I mean, look at you. You missed – your luck is – you missed an entire snowstorm, and you're in LA, and it's got to be 70 today, right? Yes. I caught the snowstorm actually my last day in New York. I fell on some ice and landed on my elbow and we had just been talking about like we haven't gotten like a proper goodbye to New York. And I was like, actually, this is a proper goodbye. Like almost break my elbow falling on some ice and no one even like looks up and is like are you okay dude like no one gives a shit it's you just you just keep moving i have a protuberance on my elbow is that my bone is sticking out of my arm are we good yeah yeah um

uh you know like you you can walk out the studio now and i think you'd smell the smell the the ocean i think you're close aren't you close enough to smell the ocean there? I can definitely smell the oil refinery here in El Segundo, but the ocean is not far. Hopefully, we'll get you in here so you can tape with us. I've been there. No, I've been there. Yeah. I mean, if you drive down the 405 South, there's a bunch of refineries. Yes.

People don't realize that. Right next to the beach. Yeah. Very weird. Yeah. Right next to the beach. Very weird. Yeah, next to the beach. So, yeah. So we have a commander's team. We have – it's just – it's Washington.

Hail to the commanders. Yeah. So are you going to go buy yourself a commander's shirt? I will not buy any more gear while Dan Snyder owns the team. But maybe he hired Jim Zorn so that he could tank because that would be the only ostensible reason that that hire ever happened. Maybe he'll have to sell the team. Or maybe the other active investigation into the Washington team that's going to Congress tomorrow will have some impact. We'll see. I like that shirt I sent you for PFT, though, with the football holding the football.

I think you have to buy that one. I just hope that we don't all have to go commando to support this team. That would be a disaster. Why don't we talk about the team, the opposite of the commanders, which is two good teams that are in the Super Bowl. It's a little bit too early to start making some predictions or anything like that. But there's been some line movement that we should discuss. I want to sort of feel you out here. It opened at Rams three and a half, which I found pretty interesting.

Felt a little bit low considering that they're playing at home. Went up to four and a half because a lot of money came in quickly on the Rams. Then people bought it back uh to the bangles now it's just at four um we've got 48 and a half is the total the latest total anything stand out to you i i don't want to spoil any of our picks but i'm just curious what you make of that number and first impressions i'm not surprised the under is getting hammered um you look at both these offenses um i'll just say this. I keep going back to this, Matt, is I don't know how the Bengals did this.

There's not a great reason. And the Rams are better. It's just the Bengals keep winning these games, Matt. And you bet against kind of the way they're playing the vibe with the Bengals, which is we're in every game. We're not scared. We're going to come back.

We'll find ways to get it done at the end. Or do you bet on the better team, which is the Rams? And simply in the Bengals, which is we're in every game. We're not scared. We're going to come back. We'll find ways to get it done at the end. Or do you bet on the better team, which is the Rams? And simply in the Super Bowl, teams have won and covered, right? At least the last couple of years, right? They've won and covered. The Rams are better almost everywhere. Guys, Matt Stafford has played better than Joe Burrow in the playoffs. That's not even a debatable fact.

I'm not saying Joe Burrow, of course, couldn't play better in this game. The Bengals have played one defense in the top 10 all season. They played one defense and finished 11th, which is the Browns. They went 0-3. Now, one of those games, obviously, the Stars didn't play. But, okay, 0-2, averaged 19 points a game in those ones. That's the way I look at this. A couple of props i saw very

very early i actually like joe burrow over passing and mix and under passing can i and i'll explain why do you know how many yards burrow had passing against tennessee it wasn't very many no it was actually the opposite oh it was a ton 340 huh i believe i'm gonna make sure i have that right but you know nine sacks that's pretty insane well okay so do you know do you know why he had so many yards passing uh because the titans suck and we should never have bet on them because they were bound to murder us the first second we believed in them is that why 348 yards passing here's. Because the sacks push you back, and then that yard is not negative on Burrow. It's on team passing.

So if it's first and 10, and let's say you get five yards, second and five. You have a 10-yard sack and get a first down, that's 20 yards. 20 yards of passing, and we're literally 10 yards really of moving of the ball, right? I mean, obviously, you get what I'm saying, right? Like when you start the down, you think you're getting 10 yards.

You actually get 20. That's why I think. And I think the same is going to happen this game. He'll be sacked a bunch, but he'll make it back up in his passing numbers. That's a unique way to look at it. I think that's – and I think Joe Mixon under is a way to go on the Bengals side, at least very early right now. I mean, that's a nice way to look at it i think that's and i think joe mixon under is a way to go on the bengal side at least very early right now i mean that's a nice way to play it i'm i'm interested in uh in first quarter first half stuff i think the rams i in in the many mysteries of of why the bengals are in the super bowl like i have never been a huge zach taylor fan uh i don't

think that he's got a great coaching edge or elite coaching staff by any means. Sean McVay is going to come out firing. I think especially after coming out so cold in his previous Super Bowl, he's going to be great on scripted plays in the beginning. I think the Rams are not going to be afraid

of this moment at all and come out probably and take the lead. I think the Bengles are going to be playing from behind pretty quickly and that could get ugly um i i agree my first instinct was i like the rams at three and a half um i liked you know i like the rams team obviously better because i don't think that it's really i think it's a little underrated how surprisingly it is that the Bengals are here. They do, Joe Burrow's amazing. They have one elite connection on offense with Burrow to chase, and then they have Hendrickson. And then it's like, you look at these guys making plays for

them and it's Samaje Piran who got cut by Washington. You got Eli Apple who couldn't find a home in the league for, I mean, how long? Like eight years? And he's stopping Tyreek Hill at the goal line. It's like, this makes no sense. And at some point, it's going to backfire. Like at some point, they're going to get overmatched. But it just hasn't happened yet. So I don't, I mean, you have to, it's like, do you defy reason one more time and take the Bengals?

Or do you just assume that at some point it's going to catch them? It's a strange thing so i i mean i guess at some point do i'd say the luck runs out this game like i just can't imagine this this luck continuing but again that's why i lean i lean heavy rams here yeah i actually i think the chiefs in kansas city like how what is this team like maybe we're just wrong I think the Chiefs in Kansas City, like, what is this team? Like, maybe we're just wrong. Yeah, we are. I think the way to make – I mean, I have been wrong about this team, right?

I think one way to play this too, Matt, is like you wait till kickoff and you know there's going to be a lot of money in the bangles, I think, on near kickoff just because this number keeps going up. And you just bet the Rams money line at a better number near kickoff just because this number keeps going up and you just, you just bet the man, the Rams money line at a better number near kickoff. Yeah. Well, if, yeah, I don't know.

I haven't decided yet. I'm curious. I will say though, that the straight up winner usually covers. So if whichever side you like, you know, don't, don't take the,

you know, if you're interested in the bangles to cover they probably will also win i guess right oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah um so that's something to note i haven't really dived deep into the props yet but you know that i am going to next week ask you about the jeff short special the bangles are wearing black uniforms that the uh the the rams will be wearing white and That will play into one of the props that I love to ask Jeff about every year next week. I know. The Bengals, they should have worn – if I were them, I would have worn the whites.

Because you won two straight games in the whites. Just keep it rolling in the white. Yeah. That's a good point. Yeah. Although they will look slick with those black unis, I guess, right? Just go like straight orange. Yeah. Although they will look slick with those black unis, I guess. Right. Just go like straight orange. Yeah.

Just go orange. So, yeah. I don't know. We'll dive deep into the props next week. We'll give you an official pick. There's some last things here I wanted to ask about. I guess, why don't we play a little over under, which is a game I usually don't get to play with you

so why don't we start with this one this really does belong to Gabe here over under 11.5 wins next year for USC and Caleb Williams Jesus Christ we're doing this already

we're doing this guys this Trojans had 4 wins last season We're doing this already. We're doing this. We're doing this, guys. The Trojans had four wins last season. You don't win four games because you're a loaded roster. You win four games because you suck, and you don't develop talent. They have no offensive-defense alignment. Like, yeah, they have a great – if they play a seven-on-seven, they'd win 11 games.

They're going to win eight or nine games next year. They play a week schedule, which helps them. But they go to Utah. They play Notre Dame. They might have a packed-off title game. Arizona's a little feisty right now as well. They're getting a little bit better. I think they win 8 or 9 games. And I think year two is the year you shoot at for a possible playoff berth.

Interesting. I am a possible commander's fit for Drake London. I feel like he might be a nice fit. I'll tell you right now. It is recorded to February 2nd. I will wager on the under win total for USD next season. Oh, I love that. Oh, I really love that. We'll save that one for Gabe, who will probably take the other side of you there hey speaking of uh speaking of top 10 picks I want a prediction now there was a story this week about Kenny Pickett and his hand size and then Joe Burrow's hand size he could that tweet from a few years ago came up where he was like oh maybe I should retire because my little tiny football hands um I want a prediction right now how many quarterbacks taken in the top 10 of this year's draft let's set the

over under at two and a half have you noticed today too that i don't know how much you read the uh the senior bowl tweets but like it is heavy into like kenny pickett has kind of joe burrow feel it's like we're gonna just do every time. Every time there's a quarterback coming off like one great season. I will say under two. Under two and a half. Under two and a half. Okay. Top five over under one and a half.

Unless someone's trading up. I don't know, Matt. I don't know. I would say matt i i don't know i would say i would say i would take the under i take one in the top five i think i i think the jags i think the giants i think they're going to be at least three in the top 10 because this is what happens every single year we never see it coming everyone acts surprised if there's something you can bet on, hammer it. It's going to happen.

The Jags will be best served trading out. We've talked about that already. I don't know. I just think that there just aren't enough players, enough quarterbacks to go around, and it's just going to happen again. We'll find out. A very quick aside before we get to the final one here.

Ian Rappaport tweets out, according to Fanatics, since launching the Commander's team name, they're the top-selling jersey overall across all sports on Fanatics. Hmm. Interesting. Terry McLaurin and Chase Young,

burgundy jerseys, are both in the top five ahead of Tom Brady's red Bucks jersey. Huh. Man. I mean, Washington doesn't have a whole lot to cheer about, but McLaurin and chase young

are very nice building yes um what do you want to do you want to do a prop bet or do you want to do jimmy j for our last over under um i mean the prop bet i don't even know who this person is yeah why don't we why don't we do some of that why don't we both google who mickey guyton is i don't know are we are we that old matt mickey guy i wonder my kids know american country music artist um she's 38 incorporates country and r&b uh i legit have no idea i have no clue here she i've never seen i've never seen this person in my entire life before. So the over-under is 145. Everyone always loves to bet the over here like most overs.

Her last two were 123 and 131. That's pretty interesting. Last couple of years, we had Sullivan and Church last year went way over by 18 seconds. Lovato went under. 19, Gladys Knight went over. Pink went under. A little bit of a back and forth here. I'm curious.

Do you think in a big spot where she's introducing herself to us, she's really going to lean into it? Or do you think she's going to get in and get out? Most singers that I've never heard of before are typically young. She's older than us. She's 38. That's right.

She's younger than Gabe, though. I have never... So her song is Better Than You Left Me. I'm on YouTube. I'm seeing which ones have the most views. Better Than You Left Me, Heaven Down Here. Here's a performance from the Grammys, Black Like Me.

There's Love My Hair, All American. Dude, I have no idea. Is this bad? Like, should we know who this is? I mean, are we behind? Are we just old geezers now? I mean, we know who the halftime performers are. We've heard of Mary J. Blige and Snoop Dogg.

That's where we're okay. It's our – yeah, that's going to be the best halftime show ever. I said something the other day that people got very upset about. I don't think you're a fan of hip-hop or R&B. I am West Coast hip-hop. I am actually, but go on. California Love is like the 11th best song on that album, on all eyes on me. And it's like everyone loves that best song on that album, On All Eyes On Me.

And it's like, everyone loves that song. That's generous. It's not even that good. What's this discussion about? It's like the 11th best song on side one. Like it's not even, I skip it over when I listen to the album. I, okay.

Over, under 11 songs better on All Eyes On Me. Let's do a quick draft of these songs and then let's get out of here. I can just list, I can probably list 11 that are better, but go ahead. Okay, so that's right. This is a two-sided album.

Yeah, yeah. Why don't you take the first pick? Oh, my favorite song on that? Yeah. Oh, I mean, I rotate depending on what my attitude at the gym is. I'll go can't see me. Okay, that's fair.

I'm going picture me rolling number one for sure. Okay. Definitely. And then, I mean, look at all eyes on me, obviously. It was like one of my favorites to like warm up to in a football game. Yep. That's a good one. I'm going to take, let's just do one more each.

I will take Ambitions as a ride at number two. I'm a big fan of that. Like my wife, like when Thug's Passion comes on, dude, she's like, the house goes wild. Like, I'm not even looking, I'm not even looking at that. I'm not even looking at the album. It's like that i don't even look at the album it's like got my mind made up like i mean come on like they're all better than california love what are we doing how do you want it like classic banger right there that's i should have picked that one number one i do love picture me rolling though like come on man like what are we what are

we doing with it's not at all california love i completely agree although you're gonna be hearing a lot of that uh during the super bowl i'm sure it's 100 gonna be the oh it's it's the first song probably oh oh you know what i forgot i'm actually um looking at now i like trade and war stories um look at look at like there's the the 11 songs the 10th the 11 songs between 1 and 11 and california love is 12 are all better. Are all better than California Love. It's not even questionable. All About You, great song.

Hearts of Men, underrated song. Only God can judge me. Like, come on, man. Classic. I mean, Two of America's Most Wanted is far better than California Love, in my opinion. Yeah, this album is stacked. What are we doing? is far better than California Love, in my opinion.

Yeah, this album is stacked. What are we doing? Well, I didn't expect that we'd make it into a Tupac draft in the 40th minute of our show, but here we are. I did all those off the top of my head, and now I'm looking at the album list. I even forgot about, like, oh, I'm going to listen to this in the car when I pick my kids up right now.

Yeah, that sounds good. Just, like, as loud as possible. So, come on. Come on, everybodyifornia love will be played though um what song does mary play though i don't know i'm curious what song she's going to play first oh man so many my wife my wife is so excited for this halftime show too so we'll see what it'd be a great halftime show but but mickey guyton i'm gonna go listen to mickey guyton. As soon as we get off to, maybe I know one of her songs. So,

all right, we've got way too much in a music. No one comes to this podcast to hear me wax about all eyes on me or, or Mickey Guyton, but here we are. All right, guys, we'll be back next week with our normal Monday episode.

And then, and then we will do our, our wagering episode. And then that's it. Super Bowl. We'll have a post game. We'll be in studio for probably a couple of those next week as well. And all right, guys.

Have a great weekend. We're powered by the Varsity Podcast Network. Talk to you guys next week.