Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - Did We Just Watch the Best Weekend of Football All Year?

Episode Date: December 20, 2022

Geoff and Gabe are back, and they have a ton to get through. There were so many football (and futbol) headlines that came out of Saturday and Sunday, including the biggest comeback ever, a battle between AFC contenders in the snow, the greatest play of all time (if you're a Patriots hater like Gabe), and sketchy officiating swinging a wild card spot on Sunday night. Buckle up, this one moves quick.Plus, on Moving the Line, where is the right place to draft Bijan Robinson? What does Geoff think of Oregon losing recruits? Should you always accept airdrops on airplanes?If you enjoyed this episode, leave a rating and a comment, or. tweet @geoffschwartz to tell the big guy directly. Thanks for tuning in!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

it's tuesday december 20th i'm jeff schwartz alongside gabe goodwin this jeff schwartz is smart on you powered by the varsity podcast network an amazing weekend of football and football game we had multiple teams with multiple comebacks we almost had an incredible comeback in the world cup you know big soccer podcast here everybody gabe how was your weekend sir it was good to see you guys last week it was great seeing you in person. I enjoyed eating lunch with you when you ordered lunch and then a side of lunch. That was great. The soup was a big bowl, but it was just a large bowl. Jeff.

You ordered like a platter of food. And I was like, oh, cool. Jeff's a big guy. He's going to eat a whole bunch of food at lunch. And then you ordered a tortilla soup as a whole side. The i ordered two tacos and a tortilla soup okay well either way uh it was great it was great seeing you yes it was great and uh and yeah what what a weekend dude and you and matt hung out on sunday i was jealous of that we were yeah i mean you were you have kids i had no kids uh matt has no kids um you went to a

basketball game on on sunday or saturday i hope you had fun with your kids there but um yeah dude the weekend of football was incredible and normally you know you get like a little bit not less football but without college football you don't get like the the wackiness typically of an nfl weekend and that was not the case this weekend. We had the Vikings come back. We had the games yesterday, the ending in Vegas. It was a weekend unlike any other I can remember since I've been watching it. Yeah, and before everyone goes and calls Twitter dead, if you like watching sports with Twitter open on your phone,

that was as good as it gets, man. This weekend, that was peak sports, Twitter happening from literally like the beginning of the day, Saturday till I don't know, way past bedtime Sunday night. Yeah, it was. Are, are you, before we get into, into American football, are you a fan of ending a world cup on penalty kicks? Ah, you know, I'm conflicted on penalty kicks uh you know the thing i have the most problem with of course is ties in soccer but that was never going to happen in a world cup final here's my suggestion for penalty kicks which i i don't hate like some people in america do make them progressively further away first guy you get like a gimme

next guy back it up by the end we should be kicking it from like half field i think the best way to do it is play golden goal and every five minutes you remove one player from the field oh i like that yeah or every 10 minutes because wouldn't it be great for messy to have a walk-off at the end there right if they score in overtime early in overtime extra time i don't know and then you just like that's it like messy has a walk-off win to cement his legacy and the game's over. Like it felt anticlimactic to have a shootout, especially when the shootout was going in one direction very soon.

Like Argentina needed one more goal in their last two shots and they made it. And that was it. The best part, by the way, by the way was the uh the broadcast the spanish language broadcast i do not know if that was on telemundo or radio but uh the announcer is uh argentina and dude and call you just see like the it was oh god it was the best i love like it wasn't homer radio but obviously you know you know there was i just love like home radio i love it dude the emotions of those i shared that video and said objectivity is overrated and i

i think i'm getting at the same point you are what why do we care like i don't care if joe buck has a rooting interest he's not going to change the outcome of the game you know he's a pro he'll call the game the way he sees a pro he'll call the game the way he sees it but he can root for a team why does it why do we care so much about this like i think that if joe buck is calling a st louis cardinals world series game and there's a walk-off win he's allowed to be a little bit excited about it just like in this game andres i think it's andres cantor right he was he was he all game professional, right? Like his normal self. And then the very end when his country wins the world cup, guess what, buddy?

You can say whatever you want. I didn't know what he was saying. He's emotional. He's hugging his partner, like crying, just spittle everywhere. Like he just was so excited. Just great. But like, you know, during the game, of course, very professional, but like you're allowed to, I think to have like a big, like F yes game, of course, very professional. But like, you're allowed to, I think, to have like a big like F.

Yes, let's go. Go team. But this is also why we chose sports journalism as opposed to covering politics and news. Like, you don't need to try to nail the objective middle at all times. It's we're all watching because we're fans and it's passionate. Be passionate. And we'll get to the game later. But the ending of the Raiders Patriots game,

I forget who was on the call on Fox. I think it was Fox, right? CBS, whoever it was. They were not objective. Like they were making, I think it was Jonathan Vilma was the color guy. He was like making noises. Like it was happening.

I loved it. It was great. Like, oh, oh i loved it it was great great great like awesome because it was that type of play we'll get to that in just a second if we could have had bill simmons calling the as the color guy watching the most embarrassing moment in pat's history it would have been incredible television can you imagine hearing him cry and moan about that for the final seconds of that game i uh i heard him on his podcast this morning crying about it so it was uh we'll get to that in a second or do you want to start there and work backwards i don't know how you want to do well you know this whole rundown is chaos because i every story that happened in the last 72 hours could arguably be the biggest story of the week. Let's not forget what happened on Saturday.

By the way, first time anyone in NFL Network ever saw snow. Holy crap. Could they have been more obsessed with snow? So I missed almost all the games Saturday. I was in L.A. My hotel didn't have NFL Network. I watched a little bit on my phone. I was at a bat mitzvah.

I went back and watched the Bills and Dolphins dolphins game sunday morning essentially before i went on the radio so i missed all that i didn't hear i didn't hear the announcers i watched the vikings colts come back on my phone in the shower i had to like get ready to like go this bar mitzvah like i missed most of it live yeah so saturday was the best best NFL day of the whole season. And then came Sunday, which started, of course, with soccer. So let's let's work backwards from the most recent thing that we saw. We're recording on Monday before the Monday night game with Baker's chance at a repeat. So we'll have to talk about Baker again soon. But for now, let's talk about what happened with the commanders.

Still feel weird calling him that, but whatever. Hank wants me to make this about, you know, Kayvido your boy from oregon and his breakout game that's not the story the story is the refs blowing this game twice for the commanders something that all of us would continue to freak out about all week long if it weren't for the fact that we don't like your stupid team and your stupid owners so we don't feel bad in this case. That's the reason this isn't a bigger story. Right, Jeff? Yeah, probably. And it's two teams that I just don't think are like, you know,

they're just not winning anything in the playoffs. I think people aren't as up in arms about the way the game ended. So, yes, Kayvon Thibodeau was great. It was the best game as a pro. I thought he would get better. I never understood this idea of this character stuff I talked about. But yeah, that's some side story to the end of the game. So the Giants beat the Commanders 20-12.

Washington beat Atlanta on 11-27, right? November 27th. They have thought about the Giants since then. They went Giants by Giants and tied and lost at home. Bad stretch for Washington. The Giants, dude, I don't know how, they're going to be a playoff team and

they have no talent. Like, they stink. Brian D'Abel has done an incredible job. Look, outside of like Saquon Barkley, man, like, they don't have. Well, that's kind of a pretty big player to just throw in the bucket of no talent. I mean.

Sure, sure. But they scored 20 points. I mean, you're not going to win many games scoring 20 points. Like, that's been their problem lately. They had a beat up offensive line, no real wide receivers that are impactful. And Saquon, by the way, had his best game he's had in a month. And, you know, defensively, they have some dudes that, you know, like I said, Kayvon's coming on.

So nonetheless, there's no reason that they should be in the spot except coaching. They don't make mistakes. They're so well coached. Hat to Brian Dable. Dexter Lawrence is good on defense. Correct. Sorry, Hank.

You're correct. That's one guy. Okay. The referees. So I've said this for a while. Their job is very difficult, right? The game is played very fast. It's played by highly skilled players.

And calls are going to be missed, and that's just part of the game. But the one with Terry McLaurin is the one that has me most worried about the game. The pass interference, yes. It was pass interference. Like, okay, they didn't call it. Sorry, Commander fans, like that happens, right? Whatever. So the one before that, though, Washington scores on a one-yard run,

balls on the one-yard line. The wide receiver, Terry McCorn for Commanders, he needs to be on the ball to make the formation legal, okay? And people have said, well, why does it matter in this spot? Well, at the snap of the ball when the infraction is called it matters because that makes that offensive tackle eligible now and there's more things the offense can do and he also didn't report his eligible like there's there's the defense sort of needs to know like that's their they oh he's off okay

he's eligible now there's reasons the rules are in place now you can retroactively say oh well we'll pick the fuck up it didn't matter but that's not the way the game works right that's be structured in the game and so Terry McLaurin and this is what what happens with wide receivers they get to the line of scrimmage if they're on or off they look at the official they pointed him and the official like gives him a thumbs up tells him he's good with a hand signal says you're good okay in this instance Terry McLaurinick was off the ball pretty far. He looks at the referee. The referee tells him to move up.

He barely moves up. And then he said the referee told him he was good. The referee immediately threw his flag. Did not hesitate at all. So there's a miscommunication there, Gabe. Either he never said I'm good or you're good. He just like, he kind of pointed again and maybe he pointed to tell him,

hey, move up the ball more. You need to move up more. Or he said you're good and it was a complete jackass and flagged him anyways. I know that defending refs is not fun, but Gabe, I just don't think the ref would do that. Like, why would you? I played, of course, I played many games think the ref would do that. Like, why would you? I played, of course, I played many games.

I've watched much football. If the ref tells you you're good, he's not going to flag you. Like, why would he flag you? He's not fixed. The game's not fixed. It's not rigged. But what purpose is it if he tells you you're good, thumbs up, to then flag you?

Like, what purpose does that serve? I just don't. And maybe he said, and look, if he did say you? Like, what purpose does that serve? I just don't... And maybe he said... And look, if he did say you're good, then he should be suspended. Like, you can't tell the player you're good and then flag him for being off the ball too much. And by the way, as offensive tackles,

I would often look toward the referee, the line judge, and like point at him too. And he'd give me like a thumbs up or tell me to move up a little bit or he'd just kind of like nod like you're good so like we do this as offensive linemen as well and if he told me like you're good and then flagged me i'd be pretty pissed but that never happened i never i never had to look down there he told me i'm good thumbs up or whatever and then flag me anyways so i would like to know more about this because I just sort of find it unlikely that he said you're good and then also flagged him, Gabe.

And maybe I'm being naive in this spot, but that seems like a really bad way to lose your job, right? Like you're going to get suspended, fined, not get good assignments for that. Like what's the purpose of that? Why would you tell him you're good and then flag him? I don't get the purpose of doing that'm i love conspiracy theories i'm not going to provide you one here i guess isn't this pretty easy to find out aren't all aren't these refs all mic'd can't we just i don't know if the well there might there might for them to talk to each

other i don't know if there might like for i don't think audio is archived at all well they do analyze their own performance in each game each week, and the things that they do and say in huddles with one another are part of how you figure out if they did their job correctly. Aren't they all scored? I would think this is a pretty easy one to go look into and decide that. But also, let's say that it was an honest miscommunication. The referee believes that he sort of said hey

mclaren you're not actually in the right spot who's risk like yeah whose responsibility is it right so it's like your accountant can be like hey man you know you could do this or do that on your tax return but it's still your name on the tax return yeah no i yeah i agree um but again he if he thought he checked and he was upset right away. So it sounds like, again, maybe he did check. The referee is going to be a huge problem with the league if he said you're good and then flagged him anyways. He's not going to get – that's a bat.

It's not good if he did that, obviously. But there were other calls this weekend as well. The Chiefs had a play against the Texans. Oh, boy. Where they ruled forward progress had stopped. And Juju fumbled. That's not reviewable. Forward progress is not reviewable.

They reviewed it anyways and gave the Texans the ball. And he fumbled. Totally did. But, like, we're just making up things. And that's the problem right now. I feel like we're not sort of following the rule set in place and and and we're using a sky judge sometimes sometimes we're not using a sky judge it just seems like it's not consistent and we just want consistency yeah well soccer which we've all paid a lot more

attention to recently everyone was sharing around the pictures of one of the goals in the world cup where you know they had to double check that he was on sides on the pass and like you know we're talking about tiny little inches oh yeah offsides you know they can get right we saw i saw a great clip baseball uh i don't know how old the video was but you know a minor league guy calling tapping his head and calling for a ball uh ball strike review instantly we know i was i was in i was at a triple a game here in charlotte the first time they did that yeah in charlotte it was it was near the end of the season and i tweet out like are we reviewing balls and

strikes now and someone was like yeah first game we've ever done this before and literally he just yeah he tapped his head and 15 seconds later it was on the screen. They moved on. It was super easy. Yeah. So I think it's just clarifying what is and isn't reviewable and how to just take once we go to the computers, let's leave it in their hands. I think that's the point, right? Like human error. Sure. That's where the pass interference call comes in.

That's subjective. That's game flow. There's a lot to think about there. We want a human to make that call and they might get some of them wrong but when it's going to be scientific why do we need a human watching the video can't we just get the answer the way they do in soccer and baseball yeah i mean again if it's on sides or off sides sure um you know put a put a chip in the ball i guess and figure out the book to get it first down or not i mean there's ways to make the game more efficient i feel like and they just don't

do it. You know where we could find some money in the NFL? If the problem is cost, you know where we could find some wasted money? Oh, yes, in coaching contracts. Yeah, what's going on there? I know you wanted to talk about this. It's totally out of left field right now, but go. No, it's good radio segue there. Yeah, I mean, there's

a report that came out in the last five years. There's been $800 million in coaching salaries that have been like had to paid out for coaches that aren't playing aren't coaching anymore something like that like yeah it was 800 million for coaches and executives um we need to get dude we need to get in this coaching game man screw the podcasting game let me we make you make close 800 million on this i i could get fired very easily that's not hard for me to go find a way to get fired but if i'm gonna make 40 million after i'm fired i'm i'm in well you can get fired from your own company no i'm just saying i i know my personality if i could go get the job i could very easily get fired and then i'm getting paid millions

um yeah dude go for it i think it's interesting that that rule is now the example the rule rule is going to be how this is sort of remembered right like that's the one where everyone's like that's enough why the hell are we giving this guy so much money to fire him you know so soon after and just the intricacies of his contract like do you think that this came from a league source right that people are getting frustrated about this while everyone's complaining about how they split up their money someone's saying well why don't you be more careful of how you spend your money in the first place why do you think that's a narrative why do you think this story got out probably because

um they want the media maybe pressure teams not to spend so much money, I guess. I don't really know why, because it's not our money, right? It's the ownership's money. So I don't know why it got out. I thought it had more to do with the fact that whoever leaked this story, this source, would like coaches to be vetted more, not necessarily paid less, but a better process for deciding who the right coaches are so that you're more pot committed when you make that choice um yeah that's that's

one way to look at it yeah all right uh well one guy who's not in any jeopardy of losing his job despite leading the team that just had literally the stupidest thing I've ever seen on a football field happen. That's Bill Belichick. It was just absolutely joyous to see the Patriots F that game up in the most hilarious way possible. I'll let you describe it. But do you think this is a perfect example of karma? That the Patriots finally things just start going wrong for them because everything went right for 20 years well yeah I think this is this is kind of like the

quote-unquote dumbest Patriots team we've seen like they make mistakes they've never made before the season so the game is tied there's three seconds left in the fourth quarter they're playing the Raiders and they're 60 yards away from the end zone. And afterwards, Bill Belichick said, Mac Jones can't throw the ball that far. Yeah. Instead of taking a knee and going to overtime, they run a draw with Ramondre Stevenson.

Stevenson cuts up through the middle of the Raiders defense. Again, the Raiders defense is playing for a Hail Mary. He runs the ball kind of to the right. And Jacoby Myers, one of the New England running wide receivers, who was blocking for Stevenson, is now behind the play. Stevenson about to get tackled, and he flips the ball back to Jacoby Myers, the wide receiver, who then throws the ball 15 yards backwards in the vicinity of Mac Jones.

However, Raiders defensive end Chandler Jones stands in the way, picks the ball off, runs over Mac Jones, and scores a touchdown. The game was over. It is one of the most bizarre, dumb, wild, crazy, stupid endings in NFL history. So a couple of things here. The play was not designed for laterals. It was designed to run the ball and just fall down at some point. So when Stevenson lateraled the ball to Jacoby Myers,

I would imagine Jacoby Myers said, oh, oh crap, it's a lateral play. And he just instinctively found someone to lateral the ball to. Unfortunately, they were not losing. So the lateral play did not need to be had. And secondly, it was certainly not Mac Jones he threw the ball to. It was Chandler Jones.

And people have criticized Mac Jones for his tackle attempt, quote-unquote tackle attempt, because it was very – I don't think he even realized what was happening. Chandler Jones caught the ball. He's like, oh, crap. And then Chandler Jones just trucked him, ran into the end zone, dude. God, that is just a perplexingly dumb play by the Patriots. And the Raiders just kind of caught a break right there.

Okay, but let's have a little bit more fun with this. So, Mac Jones is not an easy guy to root for. I would bet that even Patriots fans would admit that. He's constantly chirping back at his own bench and is, for some reason, Matt Patricia's his offensive play caller. I will get to that. He's constantly barking at his teammates

as if he were Tom Brady. It bothered me when Brady did it, but he's Tom Brady, I'll admit. He's got enough credibility. Mac is doing it. It was so nice to see him just get smushed smushed en route to the most humiliating loss ever like yeah a smush is a good way to describe it was a smush it was a smush he could have just like swatted him he like really planted him in the ground and stepped over him. And tell me, like, how is it that Matt Patricia has the responsibility that he has for this offense? Because I hear your explanation. That's a very generous one that maybe Jacoby Myers just had a brain fart.

But like, how do they even allow that to happen? That never used to happen in New England. OK, well, a couple of things. One is is you know the coaching staff is just so different now right like it's just far less of a um you know just it's just not as bunned up right i mean again you have matt patricio calling plays an offense and joe judge is your offensive line coach right um and it's it's that's part of it right and you know your son's coaching defense.

And I think that just the players aren't as good. The discipline is just not there, right? You have a younger quarterback. And I think that the Brady teams were older and wiser and were better coached. And those things just aren't happening with this group of guys he has right now. But hold up. So I don't want to get into politics here but we've seen in certain administrations uh when you're kind of a polarizing person you bring in all the people who are most loyal to you sometimes they're not the most qualified yeah they don't have the best intentions like are we at a point in bill belichick's sort of story arc where

he's just got the guys around him that are still willing to tell him yes all the time? Yes and no. I think that the people around him are guys that will not leave. He's had so many coaches leave that I think he's tired of every year having someone else to replace. And so he has put together people that are not going to leave him anymore. Okay. Now he beat the guy, the most famous of those departures, the guy who was supposed to be, you know,

the big replacement for him one day, Josh McDaniels. He sucks. He shouldn't have won this game, but luckily for him, the Patriots are even dumber than he is. Like they don't end up being anything. So you're saying he's just stuck with the guys who don't have better

options. Is that really what you're saying? Yes, I think so. That's remarkable. What about this? this this this nightmare occurred to me uh as brady lost brady's obviously looking for his next home is there does this make it a tiny bit more likely that they push mac aside and brady goes back to new eng. Dude, Brady needs to be done. It's time. It's over.

It's over. It's done, Gabe. I mean, I'd say it over, preach it, man. I'm happy to hear it. The Patriots are done this season, right? We don't have to talk about them anymore? Correct. Okay, that's great.

Obviously, the Raiders have been done. We never needed to talk about them. There are some other teams that are sort of lurking out there, though, that I think are worthy of our attention, including the first team to clinch, I believe, on Saturday night, the Bills, who, great game, a lot of fun. Again, NFL Network, it's snow, man. It happens a lot. You don't need to have this kind of a freak out about snow.

I mean, every analyst was dressed like they were heading to Mount Everest. They couldn't stop talking about it. But the postgame show was like legit in the snow. Yes, but the whole pregame show was all about the possibility of snow. They kept showing video of how it was snowing, how it might snow. Everything they spoke about, every report was about snow. And then finally the snow came. And I mean, they were in heaven. But the game lived up to all of that.

Josh Allen looked like everything we know in Josh Allen. Any hater and lover could find something they liked. Was that the end of Tua? Do I have to admit I was wrong? He's not as magical as a guy like Tim Tebow. Jeez. I went on with your buddy colin coward on friday and he tried to bring up tim tebow in comparison with two and i told him that's flat out wrong oh did you say oh i know a guy who feels the same way he did i don't think he liked my pushback on that one um they're not the same two's so much better than, than Tebow. Well, okay.

Except he lost. So is he done? Are we, what, where are we with Tua now after he finally played good teams and he can't win any of the games? I have to admit that's damning. Yeah. So, um, Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders posted this, um, his passing DVOA was a very good weeks one through 12 and it's been negative for three straight weeks.

He's played better teams. Look, Gabe, a couple things here. One is the Dolphins were better on offense than they were the previous two games. So there was some improvement as far as trying to find ways for Tua to push the ball down the field. They also ran the ball much better. They committed back to the run,

which they didn't do against Los Angeles, which I thought they would do more of. But I think it's okay to admit that Tua is a limited quarterback, but in a really good offense. And that's fine to admit. It's okay to be a good player in an offense, but not an elite player. He's not elite.

And maybe next year he improves and he becomes elite again. But I made this point all year long, Gabe. He's like the eighth best quarterback in his own conference. Yeah. Mahomes, Allen, Herbert, Burrow, Lamar when he's healthy. I'm sure I'm missing four guys.

Would you take Derek Carr or Tua? I'd take Tua, but I get where your point is. It's a close call. It's close. And so, I just... Trevor Lawrence, by the way, he's playing fantastic. He's ahead of Tua now. He's playing fantastic. So, I just – oh, Trevor Lawrence, by the way, he's playing – he's ahead of Tua and he's playing fantastic.

Yeah. So I just think that Tua's – and look, the word system quarterback to me is derogatory, right? Because everyone plays in a system. And the system designed for Tua helps him achieve the maximum that he can be as a quarterback. That's fine. Yes yes he is beholden to this system because this system is designed to help him and get the most from him and mike

mcdaniel has done a good job of that i think it showed you last couple of weeks that when you're playing against a justin herbert and a josh allen there's clear limitations into a competitor those two guys it's not a bad thing but just the truth that's just the truth game um and there were times to win that game and obviously buffalo was able to make enough plays and get it done so um you know the dolphins would be a wild card team i'm sure if they go to kansas city or go to cincinnati people will be terrified of playing them and they'll make things tough and they'll make things difficult the chiefs can't stop a nosebleed right now um so i'm not sure the Chiefs would comfortably win that game.

But they'll be a feisty playoff team, and you've got to keep trying to get the team better in the offseason. You've got to add more pieces around them. Yeah, they're a very fringy playoff team at this point. I mean, it's not a lock anymore. I guess I have a couple questions about Tua, and then I want to ask a McDaniel question about Tua's future. When I watch, just sort of the layperson here,

and there's some dorky stats to say this smarter than I can, but when I watch, I see them run these little plays where they basically run the pick plays on slants for Tyreek. Tyreek catches it running full speed horizontal and then he turns them up field and sometimes that gains you 50 and sometimes it gains you five why don't they just do that first second and third down well team was taken away when you know they were they were you know all the press coverage and whatnot which were the nyers we're doing like it it takes it away like that like you can take that away. You can kind of crowd the middle of the field and then you need something else

too. Like you just, the thing about the multiplicity of offense is the NFL and why they're so multiple is because on defense, they study, like they pay attention. They know what you're doing. If you don't have multiple ways to win, they'll shut you down. And so you can't, that's why you have to have different things you do on offense.

And so that's why it's just in the simplest form game is like if you do the same thing over and over again, they're going to figure it out. So were the Bills just letting Raheem Mostert turn into Adrian Peterson for a whole game? They just haven't defended the run terribly well at times this season. Like sometimes you just get physically whipped.

It doesn't matter if you know what's coming, you just get physically beat. So if Andy Reid was watching watching that game we've just got to work off the assumption that the chiefs still know the bills are the team they have to worry about most in the afc i could argue with the chargers but it's the bills so and maybe the bengals but let's say the bills are their number one rival raheem mostert who's fine i guess I mean fantasy players like him but he's fine he will unstoppable every time first down automatic six yards like just smashing people does Andy watch that and go like all right wait a second maybe uh maybe one of these two guys I got in the backfield actually will have to play a role when we play these guys

does he learn how to have a run game against the bills given how easy it is i i think that the bills the thing about running the ball that's hard in the nfl when you play like a team like buffalo is that you have to end your drives in seven and i made this case about kansas city for a while right like like everyone says well says, well, run the ball against Kansas City. Great. But if you land in seven, it doesn't matter. Like, so if you play Buffalo, and I think the Dolphins kick three field goals in that game.

If you turn one of those to seven, great. But if you don't score a touchdown and run the ball, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter, Gabe. Yeah. Okay. Well, it just certainly seemed like ball control was important. And they lost the game.

So I don't have any argument back to you. Here's the last question on them. So Mike McDaniels seems like the coolest dude in the world to hang with. Like, that's the guy who shows up at your buddy's bachelor party and didn't know him before. And like, first you're like, well,

that's loud mouth. He's got to chill. But by the end, you're like, he's invited to my wedding. He's the best. Does that guy have the killer in him to say, sorry,

we can't do it with Tua. It's been fun. This is, this is going to be a tough conversation, right? Why? Well, the question becomes who,

who do they get? I'm talking about a couple years from now. I don't think that's this offseason. Does it have to be now? So you think Mike McDaniels in the front office, McDaniel, have to sit down and go, are we going forward to this offseason? I think that's the conversation. I think they have to start discussing it at some point.

Yeah, you better talk. I'm not saying they need to change it or it needs to happen now, but I think in the offseason they're going to discuss all options. And do you think his personality, which is basically to make everyone around him happy and like him, can withstand knowing he kind

of knifed his quarterback? Can his reputation hold up if he does that? Yes, if you win, yes. If you lose, no. So if he goes and gets Jimmy G and makes it just the Niners South and they go 9-8 next year, that's the end of him

too. Possibly, but if they make this change and it doesn't work, then yeah, he's done. Then he's like, it'd be hard to trust but if they make this change and it doesn't work, then yeah, he's done. Then he's like, yeah, he's like, it'd be hard to trust him ever again to make those decisions. Okay.

It'll be fun to just ask this every single week from now until next September. Baker Mayfield, Miami. Okay. So, good example. Two and Baker Mayfield, I think, are very closely similar in the way they play. Yeah.

I think Tua's better than Baker. He's more accurate. Okay. But after 2020, Baker had that great season. And I was like, guys, just watch out, man. In 2021, he came back to earth. Like, I'm not saying it's going to happen with Tua, but those two feel very similar. Okay.

I agree that they're similar. I agree they both have it, whatever it is. I agree that neither of them is a sensational passer of the football. I guess I just wonder if Mike McDaniels thinks he could do more with Baker. I think Baker. No, I don't think that. Okay. I think Baker is going to have more to do with the dominoes of where Tom Brady goes

and where two ends up and all you know where jimmy ends up i think all that's going to be very very interesting this offseason um we we didn't yet discuss the greatest comeback in nfl history um i feel like a lot of people have already had a bite at this apple uh plenty of jokes to make about our our buddy jeff saturday uh his collapse there 33 nothing and then they lose um is it fair to put all that on the inexperienced coach jeff saturday is that on the players is that on matt and ryan who now holds all of the worst uh losses and comebacks in the nfl history like who do we blame for that? Everything. Everyone.

Right? Like, I mean, you just have to be, you get one stop on defense. You get one more. Like, there's no one person, Gabe. I can't. There's just not. But is that like you? You football guys like to talk about culture.

Is that just a culture of losing? Is that Jim Ursa? Yes. What's going on? It's a culture. It's a culture loser. Okay. When I was in Detroit, I was there one training camp. Our first preseason game was on the road, I believe.

Our second one was at home. We had a three and out to start the first drive of the preseason at home. We got booed. Okay? I went to the sidelines. I wasn't in at the time, but I asked, like, someone who'd been there a while.

I said, is this normal? Are they booing us? They're like, yeah, they're booing us. Like, that to me is a losing culture, right? Like, getting booed by your fans

in the first preseason game when you have a three and out. And that, like, losing culture, and obviously, that's not the way it is now. It took Dan Campbell a while to kind of

turn that around, right? Like, there is such a thing, in my opinion, as a losing culture. And right now the culture in that spot. Well, I know there's a losing culture for fans because I have been a lifelong Jets fan. So I know exactly what losing culture is like. I didn't realize that coaches and players would be susceptible to this idea of losing culture.

No, I don't think it's hard to explain. I don't think it, I don't think, it's hard to explain. I don't think it's like, oh man, it's hard to explain. Because like the Browns had this for a while too. Like you just, oh man, it's hard to put into words what that, you don't talk about it. Like you don't play less hard. It's hard to explain, Gabe. I think that from the top down,

I wish I could explain it in real terms. I'm just bumbling like a dummy right now. You kind of just feel it. You feel like when things start going bad, you're like, oh crap, here we go. This is what's supposed to happen to this team because for so many years we've been this way. I hope that makes a little more sense. Yeah'm gonna make a bumbling analogy to the only thing i really know which is as a

parent of young children for those first couple of years even when you put your kids to sleep and they're quiet you're like we did it the first couple years you're like i don't know man i have a feeling this could still go wrong like that baby could start crying any second now and you can't relax and you can't enjoy yourself you can't even go to sleep yourself you're just like that freaking baby's gonna start crying that is that kind of the feeling where you're like i don't we could still blow this thing yes absolutely yes that sounds terrible i would hate to be part of that yeah well let's talk about the lions because you're right i think they have switched it we'll

take a quick break we'll come back on the other end we move the line all right we're back from a break i think i don't even know if there was a break there uh the lions won again they're doing it man they were started one and six they're up to seven and seven they're very much alive this year and they have changed that culture it would seem so similar question to last week when they beat the vikings now i want to know who would scare you more if you faced them in january in the nfc playoffs the lions or the cowboys who gacked away a game this week you really would i'd much rather face the cowboys who gacked away a game this week? You really would. I'd much rather face the Cowboys. I mean, okay, and why

is that? Because the quarterback? Yeah. The just... We're talking about culture, right? Like, they're up 27-10 on the road to Jacksonville, and just like they just ate shit the last 30 minutes of that game, right? McCarthy's team just had this happen to them enough, where the Lions that game, right? Like McCarthy's teams just have this happen to them enough.

Where the Lions, man, they just, they're full force, man. Like no fear. They're getting after it. It would, I'd much rather play the Cowboys right now than the Lions, which is crazy because the Cowboys are better at quarterback, at like wide receiver, offensive line, defensive line. Like they're better everywhere i actually started counting them as a win in our super contest picks and then i looked up at the score i was like what what are the cowboys doing what is this i never thought for one second that game was going to be a problem and they blew blew the whole thing. Is there a Trevor Lawrence discussion to be had?

I know you and our buddy Nick Wright are hot on him. How much do we have to care about Trevor Lawrence yet? I feel like I need a few more years. What do you mean worry? Do we have to take this guy seriously yet? I'm not. No, I mean the team might win the South, but not seriously as far as playoff contender now,

but I think next year we're going to have to. All right. Speaking of, we didn't, I didn't get to ask this earlier. So Brady is a loser. He lost again. They're six and eight. And yet that's good enough for first in his division. He will probably, it would seem when the division, maybe even as a losing

team and get into the postseason. Maybe it's a losing team. He will be a losing team. They'll lose. Okay. So there'll be a losing team. Let's say they're whatever that would be an eight and nine division champ yeah they're the four seed but you got to go to tampa to play them because tom brady and his crazy chip on shoulder mindset somehow turned being a loser

into you know some mythology to make him a winner again no they stink this year okay good i asked i asked a friend uh a gambling buddy what the line would be for cowboys at tampa bay yeah what do you think it would be cowboys at tampa bay you just told me the cowboys you wouldn't even bet on them against the lions so cowboys at tampa Bay, I would guess your friend said Tampa minus one and a half. No, no. Cowboys minus like four, four and a half. And I would take Tampa Bay. I would take Tampa Bay plus.

I would take any team in this game plus the points. You think a home team in the playoffs led by Tom Brady would be an underdog? No, I'm telling you what it would be. It would be four and four and a half. Four or four and a half. Three and a half, four and a half. Sorry, this is more of a Thursday topic, so help me out here.

If Tom Brady was getting points at home in the postseason against any team, but especially against the Dallas Cowboys, wouldn't every single person on earth bet that? How could that possibly be the line well first of all all the public is going to bet the cowboys in that game you think tom brady versus the cowboys you think public goes a 13 and 3 cowboys team or whatever they're going to be 12 and 4 playing an eight win bucks team i hear he gets every other person in the history of humanity, except Tom Brady is the most public person there is.

I think that it would be, I think the money would be on the Cowboys. I think the public would bet the Cowboys. By the way, speaking about things kind of fishy very quickly on the lines, we're talking about this on, we had another bad weekend. Oh, all the games this week are on Saturday, most of them. Oh, nice. I enjoyed that. That was nice what was it because of christmas yeah oh man i got my wife my wife's not going to be happy when i tell her that saturday is for football this week i think she'll be okay with it jeff there's no

there's no real college stuff you need to any college bowl games you need to watch this weekend no but nfl saturday no i know but so you just no no no no bowl games so just tell her well it's college football and she won't she won't care you just have your saturday and sunday she won't even know i'm not wait wait wait the chiefs playing in college football now yeah it's not i'm not being sexist i just know your wife doesn't give a shit about football doesn't give a shit at all all right let's talk about the chiefs again uh because they won ugly again the chargers won dramatically again dicker the kicker saved the day uh the chargers for the record have at indie dumpster fire rams not looking great maybe baker who knows and then at denver and with or without russ that looks

like a w so over under chiefs hank edited this over under chiefs minus 13 if they play the uh chargers at home in january what would be the line four four yeah i had minus three i don't know why it says minus 13 now it'd be four it'd be four so if the chargers go into arrowhead having won two of their last three there are 10 and 7 wildcard the chargers play the chiefs like it's their super bowl i'd be terrified yes you'd be terrified yeah i i I think you'd have to take the floor. Look, the Chiefs just aren't as good this season. That's fine to admit. They make too many mistakes.

The fumbles and the penalties and the defense is just a – the defense is so bad. I mean, Mahomes is the MVP. This dude's doing everything for this entire team. He was 35 of 41 yesterday and, like, not even – it's just like, whatever. Like, got a great game. Who cares at this point?

Like, it's – he's MVP and the team around him is just falling apart. All right. And is there anyone on the defense anymore in their more successful playoff runs in this dynasty here? There's been one or two guys who just like came alive down the stretch so there was honey badger of course i feel like frank clark and chris jones are these these are names now we got what's his name gay there's a few guys who can make plays if a couple of those dudes just go lights out in january can their defense be good enough to win another Super Bowl? Well, the year you mentioned the Super Bowl year,

the defense started playing better about halfway through the season. We're past that point now. This is the Chiefs defense, correct? Okay. Yeah, I mean, this might be the scariest AFC I can remember. The playoffs this year, I mean, you named a bunch of them, but we're looking at likely Pat, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, whoever the hell. Could be Trevor Lawrence.

Could be Trevor. Then maybe Lamar's back. Justin Herbert. Who am I missing? Tua. Oh, and Tua. Wow. Yeah. Tua. Wow. Pretty good.

All right, Jeff, you famously do not believe in the value of running backs, especially not using first-round picks on running backs. You don't like to pay running backs. I don't even know if you like sitting around and hanging out with running backs, but I have to ask, running backs have looked pretty good in recent draft picks. So over under pick 15 and a half for Bijan Robinson, he declared. I saw a mock draft that had him at five for the Eagles. It's like a luxury.

Hello. I think this is a guy that probably could go higher than 15. Okay, I put him right in the middle of the first round just to see where you'd go with that. Yeah. What about if he slips all the way to the end of the first round the chiefs just do another no no please god no the chiefs need offensive tackles and pass rushers in the worst way okay is there any team he could go play for right now and look like you know an immediate impact guy like saquon was before the injuries or is again, I guess. Yeah.

Probably like Kyle Shanahan's offense. Kyle Shanahan. That's off. Well, or you could go be the next Raheem Mostert in Miami. Have a hall of fame. One of those two would work. Yeah.

Okay. Cowboys off Cowboys offensive line. I mean, if I run behind them. All right. Your ducks lost two big players to Pac-12 rivals. Justin, go ahead. Go ahead. Don't worry.

You know this is written by Hank because in no world is UCLA and Arizona our rivals in the Pac-12. Justin Flo was our linebacker. Who's our rival in the Pac-12? Washington. Who's our Arizona is? UCLA? I guess loosely defined as a team

that could beat your team. Okay. So every team in the pack in the Pac-12 is USC's rival then. So Justin Flo, he wasn't good. He left with Arizona on the transfer portal.

We've got a linebacker from Iowa to replace him. And then yeah, Dante Moore is a five-star quarterback. Really good. He decommitted and went to UCLA today. I don't know if the money is true about what he's getting from UCLA. If he is, great.

Oregon's offensive coordinator left. That seemed to be a problem after that. He started taking some trips. Goes to UCLA. Good for him. Look, if you're a fan of a college football team, you let an 18-year-old's decision bother you at all, you have a problem. Like, I would love him to go to Oregon.

He didn't. Okay. Good luck, buddy. Good luck at UCLA. One other thing on this, too. I see this popping up that he went to UCLA because they're in the Big Ten Conference. And that, I just, I do not believe. If he wanted to play the Big Ten Conference,

he would have gone to Michigan or Michigan State, two teams in his state he's from. He's from Detroit. Like, he went to UCLA because they paid him more money and he wanted to play for Chip Kelly. It's not that hard, and it's fine. Good for him. So, yeah, Oregon will be fine.

Oregon will get a portal kid. Bo Nix is coming back. Oregon will still have a program next year, and the Bruins are going to win seven or eight games. It's a fine game. USC got a big wide receiver today. It's Dorian Singer from Arizona. Yeah, rival to Oregon.

That should help when you play them. We took one of their key pieces off you. It should certainly help. I mean, did Dorian Singer play defensive line, or does he play a wide receiver? Okay, cool. So USC will be the same team next year. I'll just make sure.

Okay. I'm not taking the bait on that one. By the way, DTR, what happens to him? I like that guy. What's next for a guy like that? I don't know. CFL? Does he the kind of guy? Because i don't think anyone thinks he's a

quarterback to the next level look hey very quickly hey hey hey how old do you think again 23 or something people above like 28 don't use the word cope okay buddy like i like you gotta yeah this is the internet thing that like we some of us don't use that word we don't have we were too mature to use it I don't even know a word you said he said coping hard like it's just not I'm just telling them like when you speak to adults that's we don't use that type of language that's slang language

it's a Twitter thing it's a social media thing DTR is is not that good he's a good college kid that's it yeah but so is he because that's the case, is it going to be less insulting when people say, hey man, we'd love to see what you could do at

tight end or defensive back. I don't know. We watch you on our team. I just see him playing in the CFL or something. Or the USFL. You know what? He should play for a West Coast. I know it's mostly Southern teams southern teams right but is there some team he could play for that would keep him around here that'd be good um all right drake bet a million bucks that argentina

would win the world cup final against france on sunday but he placed this bet in a very specific market, which did not mean the bet counted in overtime. OK, so we know about the Drake curse. The teams he roots for seem to be cursed. But now I'm starting to think he is the curse and he curses himself and causes unhappiness in his own life. He lost what would have been about two.7 million dollars making this silly wager do you believe in the drake curse on drake um so wait he he only um wait he he so he didn't win any money he lost a million dollars in the end even though he picked the right team to win the way that they won did not pay out the bet well no because the drake curse would have meant that

the france won right that's what i'm saying i think that we've had it wrong i think the drake curse is on drake himself he creates his own bad luck well when you yeah you bet a million dollars yeah that's yeah that's insane oh my god that's... I feel bad if I lose $400 on this. Imagine it took a million dollars for you to get excited about something. Like, that was the most exciting sporting event I've seen in months, years. I didn't need to bet a single dime on that thing to enjoy it. Imagine needing a million bucks riding on that game to feel something for it. I know, man.

I enjoyed watching that game without any money on it i know man i i enjoyed watching that game without any money on it it was good it was yeah awesome did you see the video of all the people in buenos aires afterwards yes incredible yeah the the the drone footage of like it was a party yeah but a party nothing like that could ever happen in america all right jeff over under 10 chance i can convince you to blindly accept the next airdrop request you get on an airplane so i was flying today from los angeles to charlotte and i got an airdrop request and i declined it no bad move and i kind of and i kind of regret declining it i i looked around to see like i kind of just like took a peace ski and i

just didn't see it was was, I don't know. It was, it was, it was dark. It was an early morning flight. I regretted it almost immediately. I should have, I should have opened it up. Have you got one before? Yeah, of course. You have?

Yeah. What was it? I think at one time, I think it was a picture of myself and that was a little creepy, but. Wait, someone took a picture of you in an aircraft? I think so i it wasn't it wasn't anything like exciting enough to send other friends i didn't see somebody's stuff you know uh it wasn't if you'd see if you'd seen that would you have sent it been like bro look someone sent me this picture of their manhood take a look anything i got that was more interesting than like a side of my own face i think i would

have been like right in the jeff schwartz is smarter than you x thread like look at this uh yeah i was kind of i was like i was i looked around and i didn't see any good looking girls i was i was worried about what was going to happen you sent my direction uh yeah i'd say you ever seen the the and i think and i think too, my wife wanted me to hit accept as well. I told her what happened. So you didn't accept it. I said, no.

Yeah. Shame me for a little bit. Well, but if you had accepted it and had been some sort of R rated photo from a very beautiful woman, and then you told your wife about it, would she be upset? No,

she would not care. She probably wouldn't care. Um, she probably wouldn't care. She would, you know, she wouldn't care at all. She should be like oh okay

well not my problem anymore you as long as she cooks and cleans it's all right uh by the way i told a uh buddy a recent newlywed i said uh look man don't watch white lotus with your wife he's like what i was like don't just don't do that don't put yourself through the conversation i haven't seen i haven't seen season two yet well let's get back you watch season two He's like, what? I was like, just don't do that. Don't put yourself through the conversation. I haven't seen season two yet. Well, I take it back. You watched season two? Yeah.

Okay. So my wife was watching it while I'm working. I came downstairs the other night and I saw the last like seven minutes of the boat scene of season two. So I saw the ending. Oh. But I don't even know how it got there. Well, that's sort of silly you shouldn't have watched that i mean that i just was like i mean i can still go back i don't spoilers

don't spoilers don't really bother me um uh yeah it's you know the first the first season was good i liked it second season was also good i would just i'm telling all the fellows out there that is not a show if you're in a new relationship if you're if you've been married for a long time and your wife's like mine or jeff's and they don't really give shit what the hell we're doing they're not worried about us running around out there don't ask don't invite the conversation that's coming if you watch white lotus with a new significant other because she's gonna hit pause and she's gonna say wait a minute you don't want that conversation is it good or bad that like our wives like are like don't care that's probably not good yeah it's probably not good we might be roommates one day jeff uh all right last one

one percent chance over under one percent chance that you are the new ceo of twitter after elon musk quits. Yeah, I mean, Elon, the poll spoke, right? You're quitting there. You're quitting, buddy. I'll tell you what, man. Has anyone ever bought a company and then tanked their other primary company this quickly? It's pretty remarkable.

Tesla stock is like right to the ground. All because he had to just own the libs on twitter i don't i just i i don't know not my money man i'm still here i like i i like twitter i the only thing i don't like about the new the new whatever this new version is a there are the ads are ridiculous there's so many like i don't know if every fourth tweet is an ad but the other thing game is tweets show up in my timeline for people i do not follow why is that happening i don't follow them for a reason but like but someone follows them so they're in my i don't follow these people for a reason

out of my timeline please get them out of here i kind of like it when then i get exposed to something i would not have otherwise seen yeah but the thing that I'm getting is people that I never, ever care about their opinion about anything in the world whatsoever. That's a lot of people in your case. See, I'm open-minded. I want to know what people think. But I'm here on Twitter. I'm not getting rid of it.

But he's not going to get a new CEO. He's not going to replace himself. Get out of here. Know who he should hire. Hank. And then you know what? Hank could stop living rent-free in your brain, Jeff. Yeah, I did.

I've muted rent-free and coping and cope on my... I did rent-free a long time ago. Cause this is such a, it's just like, I'm tired of these little weirdos tweeting me. Every time I talk about something rent free, I'm like, what do you mean rent free?

It's my job to talk about sports. Like, what do you want me to tell you? So those are, I muted, I muted one whole person, two people. I mean,

two people on, on like two phrases and people i never see their tweets thankfully and then two phrases rent free and coping that's what i've done yep i've uh i can't get into who i've muted and blocked oh no i've i've muted a bunch of people i'm talking about like phrases and then i just don't even come up. Like if you mute someone, it says like muted or their tweet is hidden. I just muted entire freight people that like, I can't, their tweets never,

ever show up ever. So you just know, you just muted first round running backs. I don't want to know about that. I don't like those people. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

Good. I muted all my gambling picks from the last three weeks. I don't even know. I don't even know it. I don't know. I don't know. I need a Chandler Jones weird play to even get one win this weekend oh geez man i are getting just like we're getting hammered right now i mean the jets should have covered

come on jets you are like the longest play to a tight end in lions history all right well uh i mean you shouldn't have bet on the jets and and we'll see if this is being recorded before Baker and the Rams have had their chance to win. If they cover, your boy's looking at another four in one week, and we would be in the money in the Super Contest. You would be? Wow. Yeah, serious.

What do you have to finish to be in the money? I don't know, but we're picking at an incredible rate. It's more my buddy than me, but it's been alarming how good we have been. Awesome. Good for you. And there's no science to it. We just do a few techs a week. Wow.

Good for you. Who did you have this week? We had, well, the Cowboys was a loser. We missed our chance. I wanted Niners. We missed our chance. I wanted Niners. We didn't get that. We had a couple easy covers.

Who am I forgetting? Hold on. Let me pull it up since you asked. We had the Dolphins cover. They did. The boys. We had the Broncos. We had the Giants.

And the Rams. Nice. Oh, you said tonight, yeah. Good for you, yeah. Matt and I would not be in the money. No, we're not and the Rams. Nice. Yeah. Oh, you're shooting tonight, yeah. Good for you, yeah. Matt and I would not be in the money. No, we're not in the money. All right, everyone. All right, my friend.

Thank you for tuning in as usual. Powered by the Varsity Podcast Network. Please rate, review, subscribe. Be back, hopefully picking some winners later in the week. Have a great couple of days, everyone. Talk to you later.