Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - Christmas Games Recap Week 17 Best Bets

Episode Date: January 11, 2026

Geoff Schwartz and Matt Ford discuss NFL and college football headlines. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use code GEOFF to get $200 in free bonus bets when you bet just $5. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to Jeff Schwartz, Smiring New. Jeff Schwartz, presented by Drafking's, Drafking's, The Crown is yours. Jeff Schwartz, Matt Ford, day after Christmas,

hope everyone had a great Christmas, a great holiday season. New Year's coming up next week as well, and we're in the midst of a lot of work. I'm in the midst of a lot of work, so energy, I don't know. I am ready, Matt, for the NFL season to be done

from a gambling perspective. We'll talk about all of that. How was your holiday, sir? It was nice. I'll tell you, man, You've, you've kids and all of a sudden Christmas becomes like one of the longest stretches of the year. And I did not know that.

And it gets, and I'm like, it's, I have to work. And it. What the hell is going on? It's, I'm, I'm in like a total haze. The thing is, you get so used to your kid being in daycare and a regular routine that when they're not and they're at home for two weeks straight, you, you just like don't know what to do. Because you get so used to like September through December, you put them a day. daycare, you're working, your wife's working, then all of a sudden your work doesn't quit,

but the daycare goes away for two weeks. Yeah. And it's like, it's been fun. It's been, we've spent so much time together. It's been fun. But then like as it goes, the less you feel like your job's even real. You're like, what of like, who is this Hank Groberg sending me emails? Like, get out of here.

I'm being a dad now. But that's not how it works. So it's shout out to all the working parents out there juggling, Jeff, you among them. is the is go ahead i'm saying we're about to start today the show and we're going to go over the games yesterday uh the games on saturday the game sunday yeah and you opened up a jury summons and i wish you had done this on camera um i think that's illegal but yes i kind of wish i did do i guess i don't know so i i don't know if we have jury duty in north carolina i've never gone a summons for like i don't know like how they choose like in north carolina but i've got

no summons. I didn't get anyone I lived in in in in uh Los Angeles but you are now summons to the courtroom later this month or next month I should say no this month the or yes right a month actually a month from today which is insane but I think I was talking to uh to my mom the other day and she's she's never been summoned she's 70 she's never been summoned and I was like how is that possible and then the next day I get summons and I should just give it to her like she's she's got the time she's retired she's thankful thank God she's watching my son right now that's an amazing use of her time like people like her can do it like I can't do it I like what responsibility am I supposed to shirk which gives

gives me a bit of an idea I think jury duty should be reimagined and it should be like fogo to chow where if you have time in your life you just stick your little little green flag up and you go like, hey, like, I have a dark week on my show at work. Like, plenty of people in L.A. right now are like, I have some extra time. Like my show, my movie doesn't start. Green flag. It's like, nope, sorry, can't do it. I can't have any more Brazilian steak.

I'm putting up the red flag. I like, it's the week before the Super Bowl. Like, I can't be in some courtroom listening to somebody talking about their traffic ticket. Like, what am I doing? Can you delay it? I have no idea. I've never had it in L.A. I had it in New York.

And you can, you can go and you can. and you can push it back in New York pretty easily. I mean, you can go and say obviously like, you know, when you get, when you get summons, if you get summons, you might not get summons to the courtroom even. Like, you can, you can obviously say, I have a work thing or this is an excuse. Just be, just say like I hate police officers or I hate just, I despise murderers and you just get off just immediately. Just be biased in one direction. I love murderers. Yeah, no, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know how it works here, but, uh, I hope they, that's the Larry David move. That's the famous. move.

Which is what? Like say something insane and then get dismissed. It's, I think he made that strategy popular. Like, I feel like now that's just a move. It certainly would be a move. I think, Matt,

it might be a move for me to just stop wagering the NFL altogether. That might be the move for me. Is that the move? So, yesterday we had three Christmas games. My favorite bet of Christmas was the Chiefs under 10.

And a half points. Somehow that got steamed 12 and half, okay? The Chief scored their 13th point. Yeah. With eight minutes left in the fourth quarter. Yep. How many yards do the Chiefs have an offense when they went over the team total yesterday?

79. 95. 95, yeah. Okay. They had 79 and think until that drive. Yeah. I was, I couldn't believe it.

I don't know. Like, I literally can't handicap a game any differently. Yeah. Like, this is exactly how it went. They had 150 yards on offense and went over their team total. And 60 of them were on the last drive. Like, and they look terrible.

Like, it just, like, it blows my mind. I took Denver minus 12. I mean, that's ended up being a bad bet. Devereil gained it by 250 yards. Like, I don't think it was the worst bet to make. I thought Vikings would win outright. So I got that one at least. And I put that in a parlay that ended up doing.

That they made me some money yesterday. But we've had seven holiday games this year. Three Thanksgiving. one Black Friday and three on Christmas. The Underdog has covered all seven of those games, Matt. And yesterday was a wild day where Cowboys Commanders was entertaining. I mean, sorry, your squad lost, but at this point, it's probably better to just lose as best as you can.

The Vikings for six turnovers, they had negative team passing yards. So when you get sacked in the NFL, it goes on to just like team passing. And sacked in college football goes on quarterback rushing yards. just never made sense to me. So they had negative seven, I think, passing yards as a team to the final drive where he completed a 10-yard pass to make it three passing yards for the Vikings.

They win that game. And the night game, the Broncos outplayed the Chiefs, but kicked field goals and had a dumb turnover that was really no one's fault. It was a tip pass, and they win that game by seven. But the story yesterday, Matt, before I get into our wagers for tomorrow and Sunday, was we would have been 0-2 probably if we had a show earlier in the week. on the Cowboys and the Chiefs. But the Lions are done.

They're out of the playoffs. The field is set in the NFC as far as we know the eight teams. There are seven teams that make it. We know eight of them because the NFC South is between the Panthers and the bucks at this point. So the field is set. It is three NFC West teams. It is two North teams, one South team and one team from the east. Any thoughts on the Lions demise this year?

it's uh i mean what would the parlay of raven's chiefs and lions to miss the playoffs have paid like i think it was 10 to 1 um lions window closed really quick man like last year it felt like they could i i mean as i watched my team just absolutely obliterate them and put up 50 on them in their building in the playoffs then watching yesterday where it's like wow like neither of these teams it feels like they're just a mile away from ever playing a meaningful football game. I don't know, man. The Lions thing, it's kind of predictable, but it's still kind of surprising all the same. The Ben Johnson factor, obviously, I think Campbell without Ben Johnson is under a 500 coach.

And with him, he's like 20 games over 500. I think I have something close to that right. But I mean, to me, it's like the offensive line just falling apart, I think is the big thing. Like the defense played the defense played great yesterday. But I think just it went from the offensive line out and they just, I don't know. Do you think that they're like a tweak away or do you think windows closed and like time to rethink this thing? I think windows closed. Windows are that short in the NFL, right?

Now you can make the argument that you put things, you put some pieces back together and you've an opportunity to get back in this thing. But I just think to look to the division is better. right. Caleb Williams is going to have the bears in a good place, right? Moving forward, they're going to get better. The Packers are going to be the Packers every year, right? Now, maybe you have a third place schedule next season, and that ends up helping you out a little bit. But it does feel like golf's one year older now. And I just think it's sort of closed. Yeah, it closes really, it closes really quick when you don't have that kind of quarterback.

Because if you've got, I don't think off as the kind of guy who elevates that group. He's, he's good enough. But it happens really quickly, man. Like we, we've seen this happen plenty of other times where it's like, oh, wow. Like all of a sudden your team is just not in the mix anymore. And it's a disappointing run just for that team with all that talent and all the all the height 15 and two last year. Like just. Well, look, we lost both coordinators, right, obviously, which is a big deal.

And Dan Campbell just clearly is not set out to be the OC. Like set out to be the head coach, a CEO type, great at that. But offensive coordinator-wise, they need to make a change. We talked about this before. Their defense to me just has never been as good as they keep claiming it is, even though injuries do play role in that. They have to found a way not to get hurt. Jimmy, we had on, I was on the radio yesterday with,

we had on Dan Miller, the play-by-play guy for the Lions. And he mentioned like eight times the interview, how much Frank Ragnow being out this season really did a number on that offense. And so again, you've got to find a center. It feels like there's a Frank Ragnow type center. So a lot to work on from that perspective. All right. You want to get into the games, obviously three down from this week.

And two big games tomorrow that are going to matter a lot. Yeah, I want to say one thing. I think you may have sent this to me about my team. They played eight standalone games this year and lost all eight of them. them. Yeah. God, what a nightmare.

So probably a team that everyone will be down on going into next season and who can blame them. But maybe a betting edge. Tomorrow, Saturday, the 27th, we have two games, both with some playoff implications.

The Texans are at the Chargers at 430 Eastern. Chargers are laying a point in a half. And I went back and forth on this one 50 times. Where are you? So to me, the play in this game is the under. I just think that teams aren't going to score, right? You look at the offensive lines for each team and the concerns you have with their offensive lines. Texans have two D-Ns that, you know, they have over 10 sacks each.

Will Anderson, I think it's like a half-sack away from hitting our over that we bet on this year, Matt. I think that the market is like the best market to be in the sack. We're going to go 3 and 0 in the sack market this season for our props. And on the other side, look, people are really high in the Texans, but their offensive line is not good. And that's a big problem in the postseason. Like it's good that they're playing better football. Their offense line is just not good.

I think I lean Houston ever so slightly here, Matt, in this game with a Chargers offensive line situation, Houston might be slightly better just as a. team overall. I don't trust either team in this game. I feel like this is a good number for this game. It's probably, you know, it's a pickum essentially on a neutral field, which feels about right for this game. Chargers have to win to keep the AFC West hopes alive.

They played the Broncos next week. Actually, I kind of like, just for rooting purposes, that would be kind of fun. Like, I think that having Chargers, Broncos next week for a division is an exciting matchup in football. Like, I think that's a fun matchup for football. So I'm kind of rooting for the Chargers to win just so we can have that fun matchup next week. So yeah, because they'll be 12 and 4.

The Broncos will be 13 and 3. Charger already beat the Broncos. So they beat them again. They'd be 13 and 4 each. They'd have the tiebreaker. They have the one seat. I mean, the Charger can have the one seat essentially if doing one fumbles here down the stretch as well.

So I think just as a fan, I hope the Chargers win, but I don't think I have a play on this one. Yeah, with all of those things that could go right, it feels like this is the kind of game, the Chargers do something very strange and lose in. They're still doing that though.

Are they still doing that with I feel like that's not happening with Harbaugh as much? It's not happening with Harbaugh quite as much. But yeah, I mean, in general, you know, Herbert not great against good teams. Since 2020, he is 4 and 17 against teams over 500 straight up. But I feel like all of those wins have come exactly when I've harped on a stat like that. Three and one this year. Yeah, I mean, these two teams, I feel like they always. play each other at a weird time where like one of them is streaking up and one of them

streaking down yeah I think I'm Houston but like not not strongly like I just I feel like the offensive line matchup is a real problem more so for for the chargers than the Texans and like the Texans last week they weren't they like they were what 14 point favorites or something and then they barely they barely won so I think people are kind of down on them but I don't really feel like there's a good edge here I don't think there is either it might be edge in the next game though because I mean it's like 90% people are better at the Packers but I mean I don't know how we don't yeah it's this is an interesting one I'm excited to talk about it the Packers are now laying four and a half points to Baltimore

at draft Kings that's plus a hundred so that's a bit on the Packers so you can probably fiddle with that line a little bit Lamar Jackson doubtful and that we still don't really know the quarterback status for the Packers unless there was an update like well that Lovin and Willis both practiced yeah they both practice. Yeah, still questionable officially. I mean, what's really weird is love and Lamar,

of course, or in like, I mean, at least at some point this season, we're both in the MVP conversation. And now I'm sort of like, are both backups better? Like, does it even matter who's starting?

Like, I think the Ravens, I think I'd like the Ravens more with Huntley, which is an insane thing to say. Well, I don't. I think you're insane. more importantly to the broader discussion just quickly on this.

What do you make of the Lamar Jackson story? It's funny because Gabe and I talked about this on our show Monday. And then all of a sudden, Nick Wright had the same take I did. 24 hours later. I don't know if that was a coincidence or not, considering we hauled the same producers. I'm sure he didn't have the same take I did for that reason. But, and now, I mean, I'm watching right now.

Willie Colon just went on FS1 this morning and was like, If Lamar's a dude, he's going to play this weekend. And that's what this comes down to, right? Is that the reason why the story is out there about Lamar, it's from the Ravens, very clearly. Like, people are like, watch the story out there. Because the Ravens want it out there. Like, who do you think put the story out there?

How do they know he's playing video games up late at night? If he's been there record like eight seasons, they know if he's playing video games at night. Like, come on, guys. Like, why are we this obtuse? You might not like that this story is out there. And you might disagree with the premise of the story. Lamar's not taking his job seriously.

Those are fair criticisms to have, but the story is real, Matt. These are things where Ravens are telling the reporter. They want it out there because they want to basically absolve themselves of any issues with Lamar moving forward, right? Because there's a breakup happening here. Either Harbaugh's gone or Lamar's gone or both are gone. Someone's gone this year. I think it's John Harbaugh, but we have all obviously to talk about that. But I'll tell you this, though, dude, like, he's a back contusion.

It's a bruise. contusions hurt, okay? A thigh contusion could knock you out of a week. You can't even walk with a thigh contusion. We don't know how bad his back is. No idea how bad it is. I've had weeks, this is 10, 2010. I was playing mat.

I used to have this problem before my hips got fixed, where my hips would just, like, go out of line. Well, you could feel like they would pop, like, one would go up, one would go up, and they get off kilter, and my back would, like, seize up completely. Like, I couldn't even stand. Like, I come in the, like, I'd be walking, like, crooked. And I had that happen to me in a game.

I finished the game. The next day couldn't even walk. Couldn't stand. It took me all week to get ready to play. So acknowledging that could be happening with a contusion of some sort. Guess who would play this weekend? Josh Allen would play. Holmes would play.

Herbert was playing with a broken hand. All these guys would play. They all say, F this. I don't care how bad I am. You have to drag me off the field not playing this game. And that's the problem. That's the problem. And that's how the Ravens put the story out there.

They think he can play this weekend. And again, look, I've had arguments with teams too about how healthy I am. I get it, okay? I get it. But man, a bunch of former players are telling you he's got to play this weekend, guys. Like, we're just not making it up. We're not just making up how we feel about Lamar. I don't care about.

Lamar seems like a great guy. I have no clue. I did actually, do you ever watch Sunday conversations with Caleb? I've seen them. Yeah. Okay. So I saw one he did with Sophie Cunningham. I was watching it.

And my wife was like, what's happening here? And I was like, this guy does like these like kind of, how do you would describe them? Saterical sit down interviews? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So we watched someone else. And then we were scrolling.

I saw one with Lamar and I put it on. And Caleb Presley just showed Lamar pictures that he posted on the internet years ago, him at gas stations. Like hanging out at gas stations. It was very funny. Well, Mark seems like a great dude. That's my point. Like he took it, took it in stride, laughing, hilarious. Everything sounds like he's a great dude.

But in the end, that doesn't matter. You got to play football when it counts, right, Matt? And I feel like him not playing this game is a problem. And it's, this is why there's a breakup. I don't know who they're going to choose. I think they're going to choose Lamar, as my guess. Keep Lamar, bring a new coach, some new blood, new ideas, all those things. That being said, I,

the Packers wouldn't cover this game. I just think the Ravens are completely dead right now. I don't know what about them makes you think that they're going to be any different than played the last seven weeks. The Packers defense is good. Now the problem is Michael Parsons not great. And 90% of the tickets are on the Packers. Like this is to me feels like we just can't do it.

But it would be the Packers to me unless we have nothing. We went out a ton of games to choose from this weekend. Yeah. That's so interesting. So you think, you think my guess was that this was the, this story was sort of coming from the side of maybe people trying to protect the coaching staff, right? Like that was my understanding, but it sounds,

your insight as a former player is that like you think that former, that the players are potentially a little bit rattles. No, no, no, no. I think it's coming from the, from the side of the team. But I'm saying like other players are talking about this and they're sort of siding with the team, right? Like they're sort of siding with like,

Lamar's got to play this weekend. Like people, here's the thing, right? When players are hurt, the number one thing a lot of fans do is defend them, right? Like, and I think players are telling you like, got to play, bro. Like, you have to play this weekend. And look, here's the thing. You can play video games all you want if you show up on Sundays. Yep.

This is the third year he'll end the season hurt in the last four, I think. Yeah. And it's always, there seems to always sort of be something lingering. And he hasn't looked right this whole year. Nick Wright's take about the illness is kind of interesting because every year he does get like a flu. Yeah, he does. In like November. You're like, why do you have a flu every year?

Why is that? I had not thought about that until Nick said that. It does like, it is true though. He has a flu every year. Yeah. I mean, we see a lot of snoopuntly. And I remember the year, the COVID year, he got COVID like twice or three times like before most people got it once. And it was just like, how is this?

happening like it just felt kind of odd but yeah i think there's there's definitely just some sort of like something's off with that team and it's just been a little bit strange like the way that the derrick henry thing was handled last week like just just weird vibes coming out of there um but i yeah i don't know i mean this this line has moved up i think it opened it three three and a half and now it's up to four and a half um no i think it was below three earlier this week yeah the l margian practice news Yeah, I mean, this should be the, this should be the game where you're like, okay, we're giving Derek Henry the ball 40 times. Like that's, that should be what happens regardless of who your quarterback is, which may or may not work. But I don't know, man, this is a, this is a tricky one to play.

But I think I'd rather pass on this just because like the Ravens entire season being on the line is a bit scary. But if Lamar's not playing, then this is going to look kind of silly. And it's the line's going to keep moving. I agree. We can come back to revisit this. So let's get to, uh, do you want to take, here? How about this? Let's take our first break here, Matt. We've been going on for a while now. We'll take a quick break. Be back and talk Sunday afternoon games. All right. We're back. I was waiting for the graphic map, but it's just, just, just didn't get here. Let's talk about the games on Sunday, starting with, I imagine the one in Carolina between the Seahawks and Panthers.

Yeah, why don't we start there? Uh, that's, game starting the 10 o'clock one o'clock window. Panthers are fighting for their lives and they're catching seven points at home. This was at seven and a half. Is it insane to like the Seahawks here? No, I like the Seahawks. Okay, great. Nice.

Okay. So a few things here. If you tell me what Panthers team is going to show up, I'll tell you which team I want to bet on because here's a deal. You ready? The last nine games. Beat the Jets, got blown up by the bills, the Packers, lose the Saints,

beat the Falcons, lose the Niners, beat the Rams, lose the Saints, beat the Bucks. Okay. I mean, sure. When they're on, they're on. When they're bad, they're bad. And Seattle this year is pretty much handled business against a team like Carolina.

And this game matters, but not really, because next week, the Panthers of Bucks play again for the NFC South, which potentially could be our Sunday night football game on Sunday night, which is crazy. Um, no, if Carolina wins and then Tampa Bay loses, then Carolina wins division this week. But Tampa Bay goes and plays Miami. But so I just think Seattle's aside here, Matt, I'd be okay with the seven here for the Seahawks. Good number compared to what we have so far this week.

Yeah. Panthers this season have won eight games as underdogs straight up. That's the most ever. It's tied for the most ever. If they win again, that would break the record. and they'll probably be underdogs next week unless they win this one. I just look,

this Panthers team, negative point differential, very strange season. The win over the bucks, I think a lot of people watched it and feel like they, you know, turn the corner or whatever,

but this is a different breed Seattle defense with a little bit of rest, a little bit of extra rest, rather. The other thing with like Sam, this two trends for the Seahawks. Thanks to our friend Evan Abrams. Sam Darnold 12 and O as a big favorite straight up.

So he's been a favorite of six or more points 12 times. And he's won all of them and covered nine of them. That's the most of any quarterback since they've been tracking this stuff. And the Seahawks are great when they go west east. Under Mike McDonald, 10, 4 and 1 on the road against the spread, 6, 2, and 1 on the East Coast. So they're not going to have a hard time getting up for this game. The one seed is still in the balance here. So plenty to play for and

plenty of good reasons to pull away if this game was kind of close in the fourth. So I just think these two teams are nowhere close in talent and the trends are on our side here. So I think this one is a nice play. And you mentioned the number. I am in for that. So let's do that. The next game I like a lot, man. Really?

Okay. This is, if we're talking about the same game here, is it Patriots Jets? No, I'm just looking at the draftings. No. So not Patriots, just no, no chance. Mine's in a different order. I'm looking at, no chance whatsoever.

Yeah, Patriots by 13 and a half. And I do not think we would ever lay that with the Patriots, certainly not back the Jets. No. Time saver there. Is it Steelers Browns? It is. Steeler's Browns. Okay.

Steelers Browns. The Steelers are three point favorites in Cleveland. Go ahead. I took the Browns plus four this week. Yeah. I'll take them plus three right now. A couple of things. This is the time of catch of Steelers, man.

This is the time. This is the Tomlin special, baby. 100%. It's the Tomlin special right now. 100%. We've lost a lot of money on the series this year. We're going to make it all back on the prouds this week, 10 plus 3. But this is the Tomlin special, right?

9 and 6, we did it again, Matt. We're over 500. And now you're on the road to play lowly Cleveland. And you lose by two points because you lose 12 to 10. Also, if the rest, Havens lose Saturday night. This game is irrelevant because Pittsburgh will have clinched the division. Yep, true.

So give me Cleveland plus three here. A good spot, I think, to fade the Steelers off an impressive win against the Lions. How about the end of that game? Dude, the officiating, man, Amaran St. Brown was pushed back seven yards. Why does this forward progress continue to go, Matt? I don't understand any of the officiating this year. It has made no sense to me.

But Brown's plus three. Sign me up for a little Shuduris Sanders action here. Dude, I can't believe we're doing. it, but we absolutely have to. This is such a brown spot and such a Steelers spot. Two insane streaks. The Browns have lost 22 straight regular season games in Pittsburgh, but they've won five of their last six home games against Pittsburgh, which is just an insane discrepancy there.

This is, you know, the total in this game, let me see where it's at now at draft games. The total is 34 and a half. So that tells you a lot about what the books are expected. expecting this game to look like. It's going to be a mess. No DK Metcalf means we're going to see a lot of like Kenny Gainwell for three yards. So we don't think that the Steelers are going to pull away in this one. It's going to be a mess of a game throughout.

So I'm with you. I love the chance to fade Pittsburgh here. And I didn't even really consider the divisional angle here. This game could mean absolutely nothing except to the Scherder Sanders lead Browns. So give us the Browns. What could go wrong? We're taking Scher against the pitch. Pittsburgh defense in December.

What could go wrong? I think you hit the mute button there, bud. That was an accident. I don't know why I did that. I didn't do it on purpose. A moment of silence for betting the Browns, perhaps. We are in, buddy. We are in.

All right. I love that. All right. Moving on to another playoff implication game in the AFC South, Jacksonville at Indianapolis. Jacksonville, oh, this has moved down. They're laying five and a half points now. Um, ooh, that's kind of tasty.

This was at six, six and a half all week. I didn't think we'd get a five and a half. What happened here? Uh, I don't know, but it does feel like this has to be the, the Jaguars, right? Yeah, I feel like we're just getting a really nice number here. Oh, interesting. Jaguars Colts. Yeah, I mean, these two teams have just like a really strange history here.

The Colts at home, two seven and one against the spread against Jackson. Since 2015, they have a winning against a spread record against every other team. This is just like a strange, a strange matchup between these two sides. I just think I think Jacksonville's flying under the radar a bit, man. Like I think this could bite me this week, but they're just, they're, they're, they're explosive and good. Like, I don't think people are paying attention. I think the question is like at some point Philip Rove is going to have like a 12 for 27 game for 90s. yards and get sacked four times. This is the game. Yeah. Of course, it definitely is. In Jacksonville,

great run defense averaging 87 rushing yards a game by far the best in the NFL. So if they take away the run and they're going to make Philip Rivers beat them and they can put up a bunch of points against this banged up Colts defense. Like, why not? So I'm, I'm in on Jacksonville here. Wow. Mine is five and a half here for the Jags. Jags five and a half. Rating it down. Cleveland plus three. Mattel, minus seven. All right. We're more than halfway home here.

And now we're getting to some other strange games. Oh, boy. Really strange pocket of games to round out the one o'clock hour. Cardinals Bengals. Bengals like seven and a half outside in a cold weather spot. The point total in this one is 53.5, Jeff. So do you follow it all the Circus Survivor contest? Yeah.

So there were 10 entries this week left. and you have to play, there's two week 17s. So 17A and B. A is the Thanksgiving games. You have to save a team for Thanksgiving. So five entries had the Cowboys. They played the Cowboys. Four inches played the Vikings.

They played the Vikings. And then one entry played the commanders, but I think hedged are pretty heavily. So they walked away with like 300 grand. because these implied values for the teams right now, these entries are like $4 million, whatever it is, or some insane number. So a lot of people are going to play the Bengals this weekend in Survivor

that have the Bengals available. This feels like I would hate to have the Bengals this weekend in Survivor, put it like that. Really? You just think they just fall apart here? I just think they're like just sort of dead right now. Now, I know they beat the Dolphins, but the Dolphins have a lot of problems.

So I just don't believe in the, the bangles right now. Did you want to take a side in this game? It'd probably be Arizona just because they've kept a lot of these games really close. That would probably be the side, but I have no interest in just like a totally meaningless game where Joe Burrow for whatever reason, like he can just get crazy hot and just, you know, put up 50 points against a really bad defense, especially at home. So I think this is just a smart stay away, save our bullets.

want to move on to the South Florida game here sure Tampa Bay at the Dolphins Tampa Bay is playing for their season potentially they are five and a half point road favorites at Quinn Ewers Dolphys when we started the show yeah I did I don't trust the bucks enough here it would be it would be the six for the dolphins are past right

oh man Tampa Tampa hasn't covered seven straight Yeah, they've been very bad. I don't know. Yeah, both of these teams are kind of dead to me. I think I would be on the on the bucks. So yeah, that's definitely a pass then. And then the last game, God,

like, what are we going to do it at the one o'clock hour? I might just put one screen on. Last game is Saints Titans. Saints two and a half point favorites at Tennessee. And like, I got to be honest, the Saints are kind of frisky, buddy. I kind of went back to the same. here. I know. Same. What is wrong with us?

Tyler Shuck is a road favorite. What could go wrong? They're DVOA on defense the last like five weeks. It's like third. It's been very good. It's been very good. He's five and two against the spread. I just know I'm going to go onto the app and see Chris Raybon on the Tennessee Titans though. No.

I don't think these Titans have have a whole lot going on here. They beat the lifeless chiefs which is I mean sure that doesn't really count to me as like a great win yeah the Saints leading running back this week maybe Taysam Hill just so you know that that may actually be a thing I don't want to then I'm not betting on them if it's some hill yeah uh yeah let's well we need a we need some maybe so let's I'll put them on

the on a different list here okay plus I put them on the maybe's list not a big homefield crowd in Tennessee here Tyler shock who knew um okay a stand alone 105 game 405 the battle for the number one pick the Raiders and the Giants uh the Giants are road favorites

to Las Vegas Raiders I can't believe this game is happening like what an opportunity like this game is gonna be comedy Can I make a case for the Raiders in this game? Yeah dude you can't actually god no I hate it but I agree the Raiders are dumb enough to try to win this game they're definitely going to try to win this game they're definitely going to to win this game. A thousand percent they're going to try.

A thousand percent. And the giants are not. No, they definitely are not. The Giants, I mean, the Raiders also like found something in their run game last week. Like, Gentie had like the first good game of his career against. I know. I'm in my fantasy championship. I'm in my fantasy championship because of Genti.

Same. Well, not because of him, but congratulations. They're going to give him like, he's going to have like the best game of his, of his life. Like I bet he's going to have like a 40 point fantasy game and the giant. are going to be like, oh, no, like we gave up 200 yards to Gentie. It would be nice to this because I need, I don't need, but I told the group that I'm playing fantasy with that the money that I win from this will just go right to the donation of Draft Kings.

So winning that would be good for me. Yeah, I got Gentie. My quarterback right now is Cam Ward for the week. Oh, boy. Well, the reason why is that I, is that like, my other it's bryce young or cam ward am i thinking bryce young playing the seahawks or cam ward

or do i pick someone else who are you have you have do you have a better option like my other my other one of my number one quarterback tore is ACL so that he's out oh yeah so i mean i can look here let's look let's see what i let's see how we have available riveting content here as we

as we talk about fantasy football what quarterback do we have available uh let's see here for this weekend we can choose it right now okay you ready Yep. Oh, I got Gino. It's not bad. Or Rivers, Rogers. It's got to be Gino, right?

Gino or Ward. Yeah, Gino, right? Probably Gino. Wow, what a nightmare, dude. What an apocalypse. He's projected to have three more points than Cam Ward. Yeah, dude, Cam Ward. I mean, just better, just a worst defense there.

So now I have a Oh wait, no, I have to start my quarterback though That would be bad Oh boy, here we go Let's see what my I had a 53% chance to win Now I have with Gino in the lineup I have a Oh no, it didn't work

Wait, he's not gonna let me do it Who knows, who cares? Let's move on to something else here Because no one cares about my fantasy team Let's take a break here We'll come back with the afternoon games And then the Sunday night game And the Monday night game

Let's do that All right, really nice Slateon in the afternoon, Jeff. We're back. We've got, we've got Buffalo and Philly and, in a game that I just can't, can't believe we're getting in the end of the regular season with all these

trash games. The bills are short favorites, one and a half point home favorites. And I feel like that might be a little bit too low. Do you? You like Buffalo. I think I do. Yeah.

I mean, Lane Johnson being back somehow is the most important thing about the entire Philadelphia Eagles team. But I don't like have has anyone watched Philadelphia in the last month? I think Buffalo's defense is really bad. It's very bad. That's a problem, obviously. It's going to be a run heavy game for for Philly.

But I don't know. I just don't trust Philly in these in these big spots. But we don't have to take this one by any means. Yeah, because I like the Eagles, I think. Okay. Let's pass it then. Yeah. Did you like Buffalo a lot or not?

not a lot but it feels like it to me buffalo just seems like one of these teams that should never be favored by that little at home against the team as suspect as philly but your defense is just i mean every game buffalo wins has to be the exact same way that's just margin of error is just so short when that happens yeah but philly's the same it's gonna be that's we're gonna learn something about these two teams um i just don't buy the buffalo like super bowl contender thing which it's like what people are trying to push right now i just don't i just don't see it i don't buy that who is it like there's no team that i believe in. There's not one. There's the Rams who every time I believe in them they have some ridiculous game. Granted, if Adams is back, I believe in them. But like, who else is there?

It's good point. Like, it could be anybody. It's just one of those years where like the tournaments just open. Yeah. It does feel like, we just feel like it's the like if it buffalo isn't doing now, when are they ever going to do it? Yeah. I've, I got to be honest. I was when I was watching Denver last night. They kind of do have the look. Like, I do think that they're like, I keep telling you, Denver's my, that's my, I'm 10 for weeks now, right?

I'm with you now. I just like, Nick's, Nick's surgical. Like, he makes a couple of dumb plays, but they've got really gone down. And he makes really accurate smart passes. He never like puts them in a bad spot.

RJ Harvey has been, has been like really, really solid for them. and they have like a bunch of runners and that defense is like not even really playing that well and it feels like it still has room to go and they're still probably the best unit in the league. I feel like they could do it. And if everybody has to go to their place and play in that altitude, like they could end up being a Super Bowl team. I can't believe that.

It's, look, the one seed, man, think about this. The one seat, they have to win one home game in their name's championship game. Yeah. Yeah. It all takes. It somehow feels like that only, it happens. there's a lot of upsets in that spot but yeah I think they could do it

they look like the best team they have seen me okay what were we talking about we were talking about the bills now we have Bears Niners now we have Bears Niners both of these teams

make no sense to me the Lion or sorry the Niners are favored by three who do you believe in less like I feel like both of these teams I just I'm waiting for the bottom to fall out okay so

the Bears have won six games now six games where they were trailing under two minutes left. Kind of remarkable. The Niners have a ton of issues on defense. They cannot rush the passer. But this is interesting, Matt, because the schedule here could be a big factor in this game.

The Niners played Monday night on the road, got back Tuesday. The Bears played Saturday at home. They have a two-day rest advantage in week 17. I mentioned this on the internet. People are like, well, teams play on short rest all the time. like, yeah, well, they played another team on short rest. Like, or, or someone puts someone off a buy, but they had a full seven days.

It's not like someone played someone off a buy with five days rest. So I would lean bears here, but I don't feel great about it. I just, I can't imagine needing the bears and they come back down, Earth, and Niners win by 13, you know? I like the Bears too. But do you? Especially because all these coin flip games, things just seem to go their way. and like that just adds up over time like Denver like the the chiefs every year right except for this year Denver this year my team last year where it's like you get these close games and you just kind

of have a feeling at the end of it like that one team is just going to pull it out and like the bears the bears can travel and that's the thing that I liked about them coming into this season and I think they might be like a sneaky playoff team they run the ball super well it's not personnel based. It's not like they need to give Barclay the ball 500 times. Like they just move the ball really easily. And the Niners obviously do too, but they're so dependent on a few guys just like being perfect in every game. And I feel like at some point there's just going to be an inefficiency there. And I don't know. Like the Bears have just been good, man. Like they're 9-5-1 against the spread this year that you mentioned the Niners problems on defense. Like I feel like this is a coin flip game and

we're getting three points on a team that's like pretty damn good. I don't disagree. I like the Bears plus three, too. I just don't know if I want to be on them Sunday night. But I'm with you here as well. One more game before we decide here are five. This went down also. The Rams are seven and a half point favorites in Atlanta.

This was sitting at eight, eight and a half all week. Why is this not a 25 point Rams wind? I don't know. I think the only reason would be if like maybe this offense is just broken without Adams. That could, that's the only reason, but why would this just come down? It went to Seattle and scored 30 points. Yeah, exactly. I like the Rams.

I'd rather, I like the Rams too. Zig Zaggy here. I like to, I mean, look, man, we're, we're, there's one big reason to take this game. And it might be the last time we could ever fade Kirk Cousins in prime time. This might be it, dude. He's four and 11 against his bread all time on Monday night football. You're right. He lost his first nine on Monday night.

football. McVeigh, 28 and 12 straight up in December. Three and O against the spread in 2025. I guess depending what number you got last week. And yeah, we get to fade the Falcons when everybody's thinking the Falcons like actually are kind of decent and the Rams are maybe a little bit suspects. Like this feels like a nice, a nice spot even if it's kind of a bad number. I agree. All right. So Cleveland plus three is in, right? Lock. Okay. I think Seattle. Seattle, yes. Seattle end.

I really like these. There's like the Raiders too, by the way. Oh, the Raiders. All right, we got to put them in the maybe. Right. They're in the maybes. They're plus one and a half at home, right? Yeah.

Okay. So, Rams, Jags, Saints, Raiders, Bears, we need five of those for three spots. I mean Oh boy I don't think we are being responsible By taking the Raiders

I'm gonna be honest If you love it I mean you know it's the right side though Let's Is it? Let me look it up Are we just like being sheep And being like that's like

But I think the Raiders are gonna try to win this game The Giants I don't think are I'm very scared Stuckey's on them I Man We can take Jackson Well Jacksonville I like too

Well the problem is we like all these road favorites Let's take this Can we take the Saints out? Sure Okay let's take the Saints out So you want to do Jags, Rams I like the Rams a lot All right let's put the Rams in

Let's take let's fade Kirk Cousins One last time There's a old time's sake. So now we have to pick two of Jags, Bears, and Raiders. Oh, boy. Which one do you feel? The Jags one is a little suspect, but I do like it. At this point in the season, we're 40%, so like, what does it matter?

I mean, let's take the Raiders, man. Let's take the Raiders and then let's take the Bears. The Bears? Yeah, let's take the Bears. Okay. Wow. I like this five. I like it a lot.

I think the ratings are trying to win this game. I absolutely believe they're going to try to win this game. They definitely are, dude. Pete Carroll is like 100% trying to do that. Matt, last Friday, we bought my son a bearded dragon. He said he wanted a beard of dragon for Hanukkah. You bought him a beard of dragon. Okay.

So when he got the cage and terrarium all set up, And Saturday, my wife and her friend disappeared for a few minutes. They come back with a second beard of dragon. So now I have a second terrarium. So now I have two bearded dragons. Why? A German shepherd. Well, for Hanukkah, we made our kids made as a wrong word.

We asked them to make us PowerPoint presentations for the gifts they wanted for Hanukkah. Okay? Okay. And they did a great job. And my son had a very detailed PowerPoint. I'm bearded dragons. You want to beard of dragon. Okay.

This is like a lizard essentially. Yeah, it's a lizard. But like, I can bring it. It'll like sit on my like chest while I'm working if I wanted it to. If you did that during the show, I think I would leave. I did it. I did it with Gabe the other day. You did?

Yes. But then he ran, but then he ran off of me and ran through my office. And then and then and then and they took a poop on me. Dude, you can't. This is like you can't have lizards running around on your shoulders during a podcast. We're living in a society. Well, I think probably was he heard my voice. He got like when you got to talk too loud, he's like they scurry away from me.

Oh, interesting. But man, yeah. So I have two bearded dragons now and a German shepherd of five hermit crabs. And Hermit crabs. What are you doing down there? I don't know. But what happened was I showed my wife videos of bearded dragons on TikTok. And that sold her on the bearded dragons.

She didn't want one. And then she saw how, like, oh, look how cute they are. It is fun to feed them. They make a lot, it's a very ASMR like, they make a lot of crunchy noises when they eat. I should probably film one for you and send it to you. Oh, nice. What do they eat? Beatles, uh, crickets.

British rock bands? They look at a little roly polies. Um, beetles, crickets, worms. I feed them, uh, collar greens, arugula. Like they have, yeah. You're, you're feeding a lizard. collar greens that's what's happening at your house just like just a leaf like uncooked like an uncooked like uncooked leaf that's probably i'm going to be thinking about that for the rest of the day

and then when they get older and then when they get older they switch to like mostly greens and a little bit of roaches now it's roaches twice a day so like i have it yeah like like these these little roaches are like this big so you have to go buy roaches like are they freeze dried or something They come alive. I just ordered another 200 today. You ordered 200 roaches for a lizard. Where are you putting them? They just hang out in their little carton.

Where? Like in the garage? No, next. The Beatles are right up here in the playroom. They're in the house? Yeah. Oh, no. Oh, I don't like that at all.

I don't like that at all. You have like a habitat happening. You have like a. You have like a borderline ecosystem in your home. So you can go in there and you pick out a live bug and you feed it to a lizard when like when the mood strikes. That's like that's what's happening. No, twice a day. Morning and night.

Wow. I drop like they eat like five beat five little little beetles and a couple worms and a cricket or two and I give them some some greens. Is there like a wholesale place where you're buying these worms? Yeah, I ordered them for the internet From a whole like a A place that sells live insects for For creatures Dude, this is blowing my mind

I sent you a video of them I'm hitting play I can't believe that you're That this is something you're into Well not we had to do it I had to be into because I'm in charge So the other day before These terrarians are massive by the way

Yeah When they get bigger they need double the size of that terrarium That's a 50-gown They need $1.25. They need $1.25. I, when my kids got these, by the way, two days before they went skiing in Whistler. So before they went skiing, I said, Alex, do you know who has to take care of these things and why I was like sort of against getting a second one?

And he's like, I don't know who. And my merit there's two finger points right in me. I was like, yes, I'm in charge of these guys. Me, Jeff Schwartz, in charge of the German Shepherd who's right here. and and Chuck and Arthur those are their names Chuck and Arthur So is that way you're not on the ski trip No I had to work a bunch this weekend

I don't ski I was uh well my wife asked the question that I was going to ask you To end the show which is is the Christmas tree still in the house No December 26th No no no the Christmas tree went down on uh Sunday Sunday Last week

Yeah because my wife went Monday morning to Whistler and she didn't want it. You just dumped it. And she didn't want it to hear when she got back today. And so it actually got picked up on Christmas. It got picked up on Wednesday. It's like gone like the trash picked up on Wednesday. They picked it up on the 24th.

Yeah. What is happening in your house? Friday. So there would have been the 19th. My wife is like, this thing's got to go. I'm tired of this thing and being in the house. Like she was like ready for it to go. Now, mind you, we get our Christmas tree before Thanksgiving.

I have so many questions. And yet it's, but you're Jewish. Yes. And like Christmas isn't that important. Like you spent it apart. My kids got zero Christmas gifts. Yeah. And the tree, but you got to get the tree that early.

And now there's, I don't know, maybe you could get like some worms on the tree and give them to the lizards. We put the honk gifts under the tree. I mean, that's not. I, I did that. I was half, I'm half and half. So that's like, that happened when I was growing up. That doesn't sound. I'm sure the listeners are like, that's insane, but that doesn't sound like me.

I just, I can't explain my wife. I was doing radio this week and my co-host who I've done radio with enough was like, what are you, what are you and your wife have in common? I was like, kids. I don't know. I don't know. A couple lizards. We love each other, but I don't know.

I don't tell you, man. I don't know how to explain her. I just, she just. You're not supposed to have, you're not supposed to be the same person. You're supposed to have like the same values. Well, yeah, I don't, but I wasn't going to get into all that. Correct. We have the same values.

But yes, I just like, I don't know, man. I don't know how to explain her, but she, we had no pets two years ago. And now we have a dog, two bearder dragons, five birds, grabs. Yeah, they just, they don't like, they just sit on you. I'm like, hang out with you. I'm supposed to actually, there's been very social. I'm supposed to take them out probably a little bit more than I do. When my kids come back tonight and they can play with them when when uh when they get back um yeah they just like here look i'll send you a picture they just like he just sits on me like this on my shoulder whatever that's arthur

shout out to Arthur man wow there he is yeah all right crazy enough beard of dragon talk uh are you giving out any uh any bowl game picks here uh there's nothing well i mean gave but i can do that

yeah you can do that on because we will talk after the new year's bowl games on the second if we're still doing the second so yeah um we'll have a recap of those with you and then we'll get to last week of the NFL So we'll do that next week. Hope everyone has a good week. Currently watching the, what bowl game is this? The game above sports bowl on noon on Friday, the 26th in Detroit.

So lots of great action to watch today, tomorrow, or whatnot. We'll just have a great weekend of sports watching. Friends and family. We'll talk to you guys on Tuesday. Care of you. See, buddy.