Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - Is This The Weakest Playoff Field Ever Plus Caleb Williams Mania Hits Geoffs Show

Episode Date: January 11, 2026

Geoff Schwartz and Gabe Goodwin 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

Hello, welcome to Jeff Schwartz is smarter than you. It is presented by Draft Kings. Draft Kings, the Crown is yours. It is Monday, September 29th. I'm Jeff Schwartz alongside Gabe Good, as usual, on Monday or Tuesday. We talk NFL recap. And this week, we will include some cultural playoffs talk to the end of the show because we will not talk again. Matt and I won't until Friday after the cultural playoff games have concluded.

And then Gabe and I will talk again next week to recap everything. Gabe, the NFL went into last weekend thinking, week 18 was going to be a dud, right? They're going to have to put on Panthers and Bucks to end the season. No one wanted that as much as the Bucks fans and Panthers fans might want to see their teams playing a big, important game. Instead, we had madness as usual because of national football. Like nothing is what it's supposed to be like, I enjoyed the weekend of football.

I don't know if you did or not, but how was your weekend, sir? It was good. I was down in San Diego. And I caught the game of the weekend, and it was where I wanted to start the show because it It brings up some familiar topics among us, both on camera here with you and behind the scenes between me and Hank. I saw Caleb Williams prove to me that he can be that guy, even though he didn't win the game on that final drive.

Yeah. Hank saw proof that Shanahan is the coach of the year. Jeff, you're the one who's smarter than both of us. What did you see in that Sunday night football game? I did make a bet on Shanahan and win coach of the year. So today. I got a bad number, but I'm hedging this other bet I have on Vrable. So what a game, man.

What a game. I think we saw two offensive geniuses try to paint their masterpiece, man, against two defenses that stink. And that's what you're supposed to do? We talk about a lot, a lot. Like, what are you supposed to do as a team? If you're the Niners, you're the Bears, you have those weapons on offense with those coaches. You should take care of bad defenses.

And that's what they did. Both teams on offense played at such a high level. It was so fun to watch. And the Niners, man, look, Hurdy, you might not like his physical gifts. You might not like, I don't know, his style of play or that he plays with an offensive genius like Shanahan. But buddy, he's just good, man. Like, how good is he? I don't know.

You can debate that with someone else. What part of the tiers is he in, the rankings? You know, our friend Nick Wright will put out a mountain in this. week, right? Well, he'll rank all the quarterbacks. I don't know where he's going to be. All I know is that he's good. He's good. And sometimes he makes excellent throws. He doesn't make bad throws. And in the offense, Niners are in, it's rolling right. Now, the problem for the Niners, their defense is horrendous, but that's no one's fault because all the guys got hurt, right? You lose all your passers and Fred Warner, and you don't have a chance

to be any good. They're piecing together the best they can. Caleb Williams, look, when Ben Johnson signed, I said this, I'll repeat myself, because it's important to note. The goal of this season was not playoffs, was not winning the division, which they have done. It wasn't any of those things. It was to end the season knowing Caleb Williams is your guy. Mission accomplished. That's their mission. They accomplished their mission.

Caleb Williams is that guy. Dude, the off sides throw he made, where the Niners went offside, he threw the ball 47 yards, about eight feet off the ground, right to. Colson Loveland. Like those are throws that are reserved for the Josh Allen's, the Patrick Mahomes, the, you know, the, the, Joe Burroughs, like those are throws that only those guys make. And yeah, he failed in the last play of the game.

I think that's a little bit tough. I mean, the armchair quarterbacks really bothered me because they just think everything is easy to just do, right? DJ Moore was open. Cam's on the other side of the field. He's not going to see that guy. He should throw it to Loveland, but the Niners defender sort of.

slunk back off in the way of the past. Like the armchair quarterbacking is, it drives me insane. But the bears know he's their guy. And he's got to get a little bit more accurate on sort of the easy stuff, right? You can't complete 58% of passes and be good in the NFL. But the superstar stuff is there. And every game I've watched him down the stretch reminds me more of the guy I thought he would be coming out of USC.

So my takeaway is the Niners. They play the Seahawks this weekend for the one seed. I'm going to pick the Niners right now. I'll tell you that. Shanahan, incredible job, incredible job. Ben Johnson did his job this year, was to get the Bears knowing that Caleb Williams is the guy of the future, mission accomplished. Okay. Great. I'm happy to hear some of that. A couple things to respond to. One, yeah. I think Madden being as sophisticated as it is has got a lot of, I don't play it, but a lot of guys like me, smarter at understanding the clock, knowing the rules, like understanding defenses and strategy.

There's a lot of things that Madden makes people smarter about football watching, but not when they watch plays like the one you were describing. Because they're saying, just hit why? Just hit why? DJ Moore is open. Like, no, your body can't turn in that direction while you're running for your life to save the game. There's no way to make the throw to DJ Moore, no matter how wide open he is. So I'm happy that you just said that because I feel like people want to criticize Caleb Williams for the stupidest of reasons. And that might be the dumbest one I've seen yet.

Correct. And it just, it's all, it's all of this, right? Like, there was a tweet about like, they ran the hook and ladder, hook and lateral right there. And it's the same guy who's like, it's, it's, it's the certainty which with people tweet about it, right? Like, he just gets out of, just, just go out of bounce. Just run out of balance. Just go out of balance. Like, the, you, you, the thing I stress all the time, Gabe, is the idea that like, there is structure. football, right? And we design plays to go to certain parts of the field. And so that's where the ball's going to go. Like, yes, there are special plays that are made. Absolutely. But when you have a play like that, a hook and lateral, it is practiced to do one exact thing. You run it all, you might have

not, I don't think he ran the, that played all this season. They might have practiced it for eight weeks in a row. It was practiced the exact same way. It gets man coverage and you run up that alley for a touchdown. They got zone coverage. They got the wrong coverage. And the Niners guy had outside leverage. So Swift said, I'm getting up to field. He got to the two yard wide. What more do you want from the dude, man? Like, it's that type of stuff that drives me crazy about, like, the internet film watcher sometimes.

It's like, that's not realistic. It's not realistic for Williams to be in the left sideline and look and hit a guy that was, he was on the other side of the field goal post. Like, he was on the other side of the crossbar. Like, waving his hands in the back. It's not going to happen. You know, the end of the Steelers game, like, yeah, Ron. just do the MVS three times. But two of those, there was like no play to be had.

No one was open. What do you want the guy to do? So it just this, it just frustrates me, man. I mean, just in the film, by the way, and how much the NFL approached was with $10? Like, you can pay for the film. Everyone gets the film now. You can go find it, easy to find. And it frustrates me.

But Williams, man, he was good. Brock Purdy is legit. And the Niners might have the one seat, which is incredible, dude. Like, coach the year should go to Vrable because of what he did for New England. However, they've been in one team. with a winning record. Yeah. One team.

According to DVOA, they're like, you know, Aaron Chats put out like, they're like the third, the easiest schedule of all time for a 12 game winner. And the other two teams, by the way, went to the Super Bowl,

the 91 Bills and the 99 Rams. So, you know, they had obviously won seeds and buys. This is not the case for New England. New England might have a two seed of no buy, which makes it much more difficult. But Raible probably should get it. Shanahan does have Purdy and Christian McCaffrey.

and for the, you know, half a season had Bosa and had Kittle for most of the season. Like, they have better players than the Patriots. But Shanahan, he's moving up in the odds, man. Like, if they win this weekend, he might get it from Rable. Yeah. I think there'd be a real case to be made, especially because of what you just hinted at, and then we can keep moving to some other teams, but I want to stick with the Niners. Kittle expected back, but Warner's going to be out.

You mentioned the defensive line. Like, how do these guys always have another guy? I mean, I guess some of that's coaching, but also, like, they built a really great roster. And I should mention, I'm not sure we have the tweet, but I liked this tweet the other day talking about, you know, the Niners had what could have been the all-time fumble when they drafted Trey Lance. And then they turn into, like, borderline dynasty with Mr. Irrelevant. Like, who do we want to give credit for to here? The front office, the coaching staff, the players themselves. It's Shannon.

It's Shannon. Okay. Yeah. I don't think Purdy works anywhere else. I think you might work in other in other Shanahan offenses but not like this and look

But the defense too I mean they play ball even without all their best guys out there Well they've been terrible for weeks They just the offense scores enough points I mean you have 38 points are losing most games right Like the offense is just outscored everyone Which is why when it comes to the playoffs

To me they're not a trustworthy team Because what if the offense has a weird fumble Or a tit pass And they lose two possessions in a game and your defense gets no stops, right? Like, that's the words about Seattle this weekend. Like, Seattle can get stops on defense. If they stop you three times or four times on defense, and you can't stop them at all,

you're in a world or hurt. So that is an issue with honors. Look, Kostin has lost basically three Super Bowls, two as a head coach, and one's the OC. Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes twice. They're not in the playoffs this season. There's no, there's no Brady, no Mahomes. And so this would be a year where you, you. in theory, get to the Super Bowl,

don't have to face a boogeyman, right? Someone that you just can't beat for whatever. And they were up 283 and then 2010. And I think they were up, what, 24, 14? Like, they're up double digits in all three of those games and lost. So Shanahan's knocking on that door, man. He's close. Yeah.

All right. Well, one of the other teams that could get in his way this year plays in about an hour. Well, less than that now. Yeah. So the Rams are playing Monday night football against the Falcons. Let's not bother talking about the Falcons or even that game. I'm going to just look past it and say the Rams won. Okay.

Is Stafford MVP winner lose in week 18? Is he competing with Drake May? Is he competing with someone else like Sam Darnold? Talk to me about Stafford in the MVP race. So you know what's funny. The thing that actually would be most funny for the NFL this weekend is the Falcons win tonight and win next week. They're eight and nine. okay.

The Panthers lose the bucks. They're eight and nine. The bucks win. They're eight and nine. Three teams eight at nine. The Panthers actually go to the playoffs having lost the bucks in week 18 because it's highbreakers, which is very funny.

But the Falcons have to win all those games to make that happen. Feels unlikely for that to happen. For the record, I didn't even want to talk about the Falcons and you just figured out a way to make it about the Falcons, the bucks and the Panthers. It's a really, it's really funny.

Okay. So look, I think, look, Drake May right now has moved up because he had an incredible game against the Jets yesterday. But Stafford's playing tonight on national television, right? You get a chance to win this game and play well. You go back up in MVP else. I do think at this point, if you can you, I think you set the text, right, with a comparison about the MVP numbers. Drake May is probably better with numbers, but also played a much easier schedule.

We talked to earlier. And at some point, it does feel like a career appreciation award for Matt Stafford, where he gets this award. Now, to be fair, in 2018, I thought Drew Brees won MVP over Mahomes for the same reason, like an appreciation award. It didn't happen, Mahomes won MVP. So maybe Drake May can steal it from Stafford at the end.

But also, look, they get the dolphins next week. Like, they're padding their stats with this at times as well because they play bad teams. So I think Stafford still the MVP. Yeah, and I don't think that respect, I guess, to Drake May. but, you know, that's not Patrick Mahomes and, you know, on the ascendancy. I mean, he's a nice player, but I don't think most people believe that we're going to be talking about Drake May and Goat one day.

At least I don't think we are. No, I don't think so, which would just, I know as a Jets fan, that would, uh, that would crush you. I mean, truly, it would be one of the most painful things in my life if he had 20, you know, 20 years of Super Bowl of years in New England, yeah. The Jets are going to, they have to fire Eric. by the way. Like, they've lost four straight games by like 25 points in a row, which is absolutely insane. Like, just completely have completely given up. Do I have to remind you about the band list, Jeff? Are they on the band list? Yes, they have been for many weeks. We're going to have to

remove some of them off the band list to talk playoffs, though, like some of these teams. Not the jets. And things. No, the jets are right there for a reason. Oh, dude, I'll tell you what. That Colts, no playoffs hit my, hit my count right after that game this weekend. Oh, it was, it was very nice. Very nice. You know who definitely has Kirk Herb Street's dog Pete on his band list, Bo Nix? Yeah, that, that, I, I'm okay with the deflection of the dog, but knowing he doesn't like dogs, does ding him a little bit in my book.

I mean, how do you not like dog? I mean, you have your own problem. I get it. You're, you have the same issue that Bo Nix does. But it's a little upsetting. What issue is that, the, that Bo Nex is. Not liking dogs. Not liking dogs.

I don't have any problem with dogs in general. Just keep them on their leash. Oh, I thought you did. I thought it was like an anti-dog. Okay. I'm anti-having a dog in my house and I'm anti-other people's dogs off leash. But I'm fine with dogs in other people's houses or on leashes.

Because Bo Necks does not seem to like dogs no matter what. Yeah, I'm not, I'm not that extreme. Okay, okay, good. I was worried we end the podcast right now. No. Because you don't like dogs. I'm neutral on dogs.

Well, speaking of Bo Nix, do we have to talk about them? Or can we just say like, wow, Broncos. Look. Having a great year. Next week, Gabe, we have a chance to chat about the playoffs. Broncos might not be playing in that first weekend. So we have plenty of time to wait to talk about the Broncos who are playing another backup this weekend.

They've played like 18 backup quarterbacks this season. So we can talk about them another time. Okay, great. Saving some time there. The team I thought will. have been the next contender after the chiefs in the AFC this year is the Bills. They lose to the Eagles. The Eagles, I know everyone, it's very cool to talk about how the Eagles are having a down year.

Their offense sucks or they have this problem or that problem. The Eagles are going to end the year 12 and 5. Like, they're a championship level team. And we just have taken them for granted all year because they aren't as good as they could have been. And they've had some stupid drama. you know, like are we sleeping on the Eagles, man? If they win these dirty games, these ugly games, are we kind of like taking them a little too lightly right now this time of year?

I think we're taking their defense too lightly. Yeah. Like it is, it is an elite defense. Carter and Davis and the secondary and the line. It's really, really good. But do you know how many completions, me, you, and Jalen Hertz had on the second half of that game yesterday? Me, you, and Jalen Hertz together, probably. I would guess zero.

Zero, yeah, zero. That's on us. The two of us couldn't do anything to help him out. That's impossible. With Dallas Goddard, Devante Smith, A.J. Brown, Barclay. Like, how do you have zero completions in the second half of a football game that you needed? to like move the ball in. That's the problem.

I tweet this out. The first half of that game was the Eagles letting everyone know, hey guys, we're the reigning champions, right? And the second half was, oh, shit,

we might not be because we were last season. Like, it's just, the offense goes so dead. I don't trust the office to come back alive. So remember we talked, started with Ben Johnson, right?

And how we talked about how, you know, the progression of a season, when you get to the end like this, as a new quarterback, a new coach, you will know at the end of the season, and probably about week 12, if things are working, right? And obviously working Jacksonville, working New England, right?

Working in Chicago, the Eagles' offensive coordinator is not working. Like the opposite's happening, right? Where they seem to be getting worse every week, right, Gabe, with the new office coordinator. And that's what we're seeing is like the first half of the season when no one really knows what's happening and no one has a great idea on what you're going to do and you're healthy, you have things going well. And then as soon as you get injured, teams figure out what you're doing. There's no second pitch.

There's no third pitch. There's no curveball, no off-speed pitch. And the Eagles right now are not playing well in offense. And Buffalo stinks on defense. Like the Eagles should have played better off. But Barclos should have had 125 yards rushing. They should have controlled a line of scrimmage. They should have been able to run how they wanted to.

Everyone else has done it in the last six weeks except Philly. So good win for Philly. I just don't think they're good enough to get back to Super Bowl. the season, unless the offense just plays better than they have the first 18 weeks of the season. Yeah. All right. I think we're doing like a little bit of a media thing here. I think we're just, I think we're just tired of them.

I think we start, they started the year. Remember, there was the spitting incident. It was weird. And I think we just kind of decided we were out on them. And like this weekend, there's an eye poke from the same guy. And it's like the narrative feels like it just. Oh, the eye poke last night. was not, that was on purpose.

There's no way. Explain. So he, uh, he hit the right tackle, I think it was right, in the face. Yeah. And, um, his hand got in the, his hand got in the, I think he was either trying to hit him on the shoulder pad and missed or trying to hit him in the head, which is not allowed, but happens all the time. There's no way that he tried to actually hit him with his thumb in his eye.

You saw after the play too, like he, he like hit him in the helmet. He was like ringing out his, that shit hurt. Imagine you miss that helmet hole. You're going to break your freaking thumb. He didn't do that. He might have tried to smack him in the head, which that used to be legal. We used to be able to hit guys in the head. That's not legal.

I think he's sort of a scummy player at times. He's spit on a player for having's sake. But I don't think he hit it. I don't think he gouged him on purpose. That would be incredible aim, full speed, to an opening that's two inches as an moving target to freaking hit a guy with your thumb in his eyeball. and not break your fingers along the process. Like that's way too much risk for reward.

Well, coming from a lineman, I think that says a lot. If you see that and you're like, come on, that wasn't intentional. Because I think most people immediately jumped on it. I think he intentionally tried to punch him in the face. Like that's certainly fair. Okay. Just not an eye gouge. I don't think so.

Okay. Well, I think we're all just sort of trapped in a little loop of sort of the same media analysis of the Eagles. I think we might look up at the NFC championship game and see them playing Sam Darnold. Like, oh my God, the Eagles are going back to the Super Bowl. They might win it again. And it will all be forgotten that we criticize them for 18 straight weeks. But that's just me guessing. Let's talk about another two teams that have deservedly received a lot of criticism at times this year.

And now are basically in a win you're in when a lose your out situation for the AFC North. So the Ravens and Steelers, great, fun game to have no matter what, but especially meaningful this year. A lot on the line. A lot of the last week has been spent talking about Lamar Jackson and his availability or his interest or his heart or whatever words you want to use. We touched on it last week,

but it was still very fresh. We've since seen everyone else's take on him and what he can play through or not. What are your feelings now on Lamar Jackson with another week's worth of data to back it up? So the Ravens are now playing. playing in a win and getting in game because they beat the Packers and the Steelers lost. We'll talk about the Steelers in a second.

We're heading into a must-win game this weekend. And the conversation is should they play the backup over a healthy enough to play Lamar Jackson? That's a conversation we're having today. It's a conversation we're having the internet. Conversation you're going to have on all the shows this week. Would we have the same conversation with Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Patrick Mahomes, Matt Stafford, nope. Brock Purdy, like, it is wild.

The discussion we're really having is, are we playing like an okay backup, right? Maybe a little above average backup in Huntley over a 75% two-time MVP. That's a discussion we're having this week. And even I saw Shannon Sharp tweet out yesterday. Now, of course, I don't know if Shannon's known for his in-depth film analysis of anything. But like he put out a tweet like immediately after the game like, Played Tyler Huntley this weekend. I mean, that's a prominent voice,

former Raven, Super Bowl champion, right? Who immediately came back after the game and immediately just gave the job in his mind to Huntley for this weekend. That's crazy. Like, we're even having this discussion about a two-time MVP that's in his prime that we're having a discussion about whether,

that's why, again, like the story last week that people did not like and I get it. It might not, the things that were said there, you might not like to hear, I think it was accurately reported. I think the Ravens told the reporter all the things that are in their article. And I love it. How do the Ravens know he's playing video games?

He's been to building eight years. They probably know what happens he does at night. Aren't gamer tags active like when you're playing too, Gabe? Can't you see if you're playing online with someone? Like they know what guys are doing when they're outside the building. If they've been there for eight years. How do they know that he's not recovering the way he should? I don't know.

He gets hurt all the time? I was like they and so I think it is wild that we're at the spot now. We're actually debating whether or not Tyler Huntley or 75, 80% Lamar Jackson is going to play. Last thing on this. Look, I don't want to question someone's toughness. I don't want to question their pain tolerance, all those things, right? Guys are back contusioning the back, Bruce. Did you watch the game on Saturday night?

I don't know if you were busy with family. It was like right during bedtime. all those things. You watch it all the Packers. I didn't get to watch it like you did. Like Lamar Jackson's on the sidelines. Like he was moving like a normal person on the sidelines. Like he was in his like normal, you know, his is a issue gear.

He had the head had a headset in underneath like a hood and whatnot. It was cold. And if you would have told me he had a back contusion, I'd be like what, how he's walking on the sideline during the game? Like he's, he looks fine. Again, the different pain tolerances, all those things. but to see that and think like he couldn't play, but he can be on the sideline walking around?

Like, part of the reason players are not on the sidelines when they're hurt game is because if a, if like a wide receiver catches the ball near you on the sidelines and he can shoved out of bounds, can you move fast enough to get off out of the way? Or you're going to get hurt again, right? Like when I broke my leg and had a cast on after surgery, I can't get out of the way.

So I have to go sit upstairs. You see the videos of Fred Warner, right, upstairs, right? Patrick Mahomes upstairs. So the Ravens thought he was well enough to move out of the way if someone was coming at him. Again, I don't want to, I'm not going to go as far as like, you know, when Nick Wright has said or Willie Colon has said and said, he's got to be out there. I'm just saying it's not great that he's not playing and that the discussion immediately was maybe the backup should play. Yeah. And again, I don't know how much Shannon's watching tape.

but I think if Shannon feels free to say that, then that means that there's a vibe around the people couldn't know. That he doesn't think he's going way out on a limb by putting that out there. Like he's talking to people who are in the loop is my guess. Yes. Or he's just, or he just the same thing we're doing. Like here's the article, he reads the articles and he hears what's being said and he's like, yeah man, let's roll the hot guy. So, yeah, I mean, it's, I don't know, man.

I just, I would think that other guys would have been out there in that game. And look, it was great. You played great. They're in the situation now because the Steelers, dude, this, Matt and I talked about this as one of our best, is our favorite bet of the week was Cleveland. Like, this is a Mike Tom. And by the way, it wouldn't surprise me if they won this weekend.

Like, this is a Mike Talman special to just, Here we go, ready? Steers are winless. 04 and won their last five games versus teams entering the game eight games below 500. So they lost the 2 and 10 Bengals, they tied to 0 and 8 Lions,

lost the 2 and 10 Cardinals, lost the 2 and 10 Cardinals, lost the 2nd and lost the 3 and 12 Browns. Like, how? How is that possible, man? And it wouldn't, I wouldn't put it past the winning this weekend. Just an embarrassing, embarrassing loss to the Browns. And a game, you win and you win,

win the division. Like you are in the playoffs. You get to rest this week. Instead, they have to play a must-win game against the Ravens. Yeah, it's bad. And I've been the Tomlin defender every single time his name's come up on this show for years. So I can't give you a great response to that other than to say, he has only coached one game out of 300 some odd games where his team was mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. He is always in it. And I get it. He just made it a little hard on himself and why is he able to beat teams that he shouldn't beat and then falls asleep at the wheel against these crap teams? I don't know. I don't know how to explain that. But is this the standard though for Pittsburgh? The standard is this. The standard is we're just going to win

nine games and losing the playoffs every year. Like that's what the Pittsburgh standard is. I don't think that that would be anyone's standard. But I think that as you've told me, as anyone who know, it's hard to win a Super Bowl. So if you're always in contention, And then it's a little bit of luck to get your, you know, to win the three or four games it takes in January. Like, I'll take the guy who always gets me to January. And that's Mike Tomlin. You just want to playoff game of eight years. Okay.

Well, do you think he can win a playoff game if he gets in with Aaron Rogers as his quarterback? And that roster, which I believe is expecting Watt back. Am I right about that? Do you think that they get their star on defense back? they got a veteran quarterback. He's won more games than like anyone in the AFC field combined in the playoffs. Can they maybe make a little run? No, they're not making a run.

I think they could beat Baltimore, but I don't think they're making any sort of run. Okay, because this is a preview for what's coming next. I don't think I can remember a top three seeds in the AFC that would be more beatable than the ones we're going to see this year. So if a four, five, six, seven seed is going to make a run, this is the year to do it. I think this year is the most open year we've ever had in the playoffs.

I mean, it is absolutely wild. I would not surprise me if there was any one of like 15 teams. It just wouldn't surprise me. Well, great. And that sets up a perfect game for us to play on the other side of this break. YouTube viewers hang out. Audio listeners will be right back because we're going to actually pick the teams that we think have the best or worst chance

of actually winning the Super Bowl from the current field when we get back. All right, we're back and let's get to this draft. We're going to draft contenders. We have essentially, we have, what, 15 teams for 14 slots at the moment? Well, there's 12 teams who are officially locked in. And there's a couple spots open. But we're going to go from the teams we know

are going to be in the playoffs. Okay. We're going to draft. Pick teams that you think you're sure will not win. Will not win. Will not win. So by the end, the team's remaining should be the teams that we both think are probable to win. Okay.

All right. So do you want to go first? No, you can go first. All right. I think it's safe to say, and I don't like saying it, because of course I am a lifelong supporter of this team. But I think it's safe to say that the Chargers, while Justin Herbert is better than people talk about them online, the Chargers are not going to win the Super Bowl.

That was going to be my first pick as well. The Herbert discussion is so interesting because, dude, like all the film watchers, the ball knowers, like, we love Herbert. And like, you see some random person be like, Bo Nix is better because he won the division. You're like, have you seen what Herbert's working with? Much difference is doing. Okay.

The Packers are right next. Packers are out. They're, they're done. They're not winning anything in the postseason. Each time I thought to take them seriously this year, they face planted and they don't have partial. So yeah, I agree they're gone. All right. It actually gets harder, quicker because it's just a sea of kind of, nith teams. Yeah. I'm sorry to say it, and I'm going way, going way up the rankings here. Until they do win one, I'm never going to assume that Jaguars are going to win a Super Bowl. So great season, guys, but no, you're not winning the Super Bowl. I agree with you there.

Chicago Bears. Really good season this year. Not ready to be a playoff champion team. Not ready on defense yet. I think Williams, well, makes fabulous plays. Just complete percentage and just not there yet.

So bears are not winning the Super Bowl. I sent the text after the Chargers, Texans game, and I said they have the exact same ceiling and floor. And you guys rightly pointed out, they may play each other again in a week or two. so let's just say the Texans are also not winning the Super Bowl, even though they might win a game or two in the playoffs.

Okay, so now we have three AFC teams and two NFC teams. I will take the Patriot does not. Oh, I wanted to enjoy that myself. Oh, okay. So you can take Patriots. No, they're dead. No, I will take the Seahawks. I'm not betting on Sam Jones to win the Super Bowl.

Sorry. Same reasoning here. I wouldn't either. And then I will get rid of the Patriots because I not. betting on Drake May or anyone really on that team to win a Super Bowl, but I'm terrified that they actually might. We have five teams left. I want to eliminate, well, no, we'll keep the team. We'll keep the teams as those five teams right now. Those are your five contenders? Rams, Eagles, Niners, Broncos, Bills. And the Bills is mostly because Josh Allen's the best

quarterback on the AFC. Yeah. I thought you would enjoy getting rid of the bills from this list. I can't do it because of the quarterback, even though I don't think they're making the Super Bowl. Then again, we have one team left in the AFC, the Denver Broncos all this left. No, and I don't see them, I see them potentially making the Super Bowl the way that it's gone this year,

but I don't see them beating any of those three teams from the NFC. Because they have, if they're the one seat, which they're going to be, because the charges are resting Herbert this weekend. If they're the one seed, they have to win one game

and then it's a chance of a game. It's just much easier. Yeah. I've never obviously we can go on DK and make some bets here I would bet the NFC to be the conference that wins the Super Bowl I would put all the money on that um it was like man like six weeks ago it was like aFC was ahead I think because we talked about on on bare bets like who'd win the Super Bowl it was like NFC minus uh aFC minus like uh you know uh 120 something like that. Yeah, I just

I don't see it. Okay, well, we'll check back in on this. Oh, here we go. Winning conference, NFC minus 130, aFC plus 110. I would lay the 130. That's fine. It seems totally easy. I mean, you got three, the three biggest

contenders are coming out of that conference, and that's excluding the one seat. Neither of us are totally sold on Darnold, but I mean, the Seahawks are probably, if not the favorite, like what, second or third favorite? right now? Yeah, probably, yeah.

Okay, well, that was a fun little game. Maybe we'll come back and do that again next week. Can I ask you about something that I'm starting to get a little, I don't want to say irritated by, but bemused by? Ask away. You know, holiday season, rich quarterbacks, they got to give out their linemen, give them some holiday gifts, then social media goes crazy. I think we've reached the tipping point on this.

We don't need to know about this every year. But I got to say, man, the gifts are getting more weird and elaborate. Josh Allen gave a quarter of a cow to his lineman. You'd be into that. It's too much ground beef, but the stakes are very much worth it. Okay. Seems like a nice gift. I mean, I guess.

It's fitting, I suppose, for alignment. Aaron Rogers gave some ATVs out. My buddy Kevin Wilde has a take on that. You can check him out talking about that. What's his take? Can you just, can you tell me? Well, I don't know if he said it yet. I don't want to steal his thunder.

It was a good take. I enjoyed it. You know, it's a lot of responsibility owning an ATV. Okay. My thing is like, what am I going to do with an ATV? Right. That's kind of his thing. I live in this.

I live in the city. I'm kind of putting a lot on you when I give you an ATV. I'm like giving you homework assignment. So I got, so I got it. So when I was with the Vikings, I think Adrian Peterson gave us snowmobiles. Okay, great. That's perfect. This is exactly where I wanted this conversation to go.

I was so I had already left I I had a bagging in Minnesota I left immediately I like left town like and you know Adrian Peterson was nine yards short of Eric Dickinson's record that season I didn't start but I played a lot there in that season I was a part of that so I think got everyone snowmobiles but I already left town and I was like what am I going to do the snowmobile in Charlotte North Carolina like when I store in my garage like what am I just never collected it hold on wait a minute Adrian Peterson in one of the greatest seasons of all time gave you a snowmobile and you didn't even accept the gift?

I don't recall like really ever getting like a notice that we could like get them, receive them. I wasn't in town. Like the guys that are in town got them. I didn't, I was not in town anymore. If, if you texted Adrian Peterson today and 10,

50, however many years later. And we're like, you know I do how it was. Hey man, it's me, Schwartz, 76, back up right guard from that year we had a great season. Yeah.

Where's that snowmobile at? I'm looking to get out there this winter. If you send that text, what kind of response you get? Probably looks at me sideways and there's no idea what I'm talking about. Can we try that? I feel like you're owed a snowmobile right now. I live in Charlotte, North Carolina. What am I do with a snowmobile?

This is like the scene in Wayne's World. A gun rack? A gun. I don't own a gun, let alone enough guns. What am I going to do with a snowmobile? Now, I got a watch, a brightling watch. That was great because I can, I don't wear watches, but I have it. For me, Danjo Williams and Jonathan Stewart.

How about this one? Alex Smith in 2013 gave us Louis Vuitton roll, like a rolling, like carry-on luggage, okay? And I have very large shoes. I have a size 18 shoe. And I realized that if I use that bag, the shoes would take up a good bit of that bag. And it was kind of pointless to have a bag that was of that size. So I exchanged it for a purse. That was the first Louis Vuitton purse.

I got my wife was the exchange of the Alex Smith gift. Yeah. No, she knew what I was doing. But I re-gifted the, I just made no practical sense to, like, to have, like, to have, like, like that back. I just wasn't going to fit my shoes in it. Like it just was kind of pointless to, to own that bag.

What are we? Did Eli Manning get you anything? So I was, so I was hurt both years with Eli. I was already in, I was already in Charlotte. So one year he got the guys like a bunch of custom cowboy boots that went and played in Tennessee

and played the Titans. And I think when they went on that trip, he had someone come to the hotel or they went out as a, group. I just wasn't in town. Like, I was gone for that. So I didn't feel bad about that. But yeah, I mean, a lot of these gifts are just not practical. And they're a sponsor now too, which I used to never be like, like, Mahomes has the sponsorship though. He just gives everyone like sponsorship stuff that he gets from a sponsor. And that seems pretty clear. This is not

coming out of his pocket because they know it's going to get posted on social media. Correct. Now, I think Josh Allen's half a quarter cow, whatever it is, is probably getting, unless it's like Joe Thomas's meat company, which is possible too. I don't know. they, like, Joe Thomas owns a meat company. One day, Joe Thomas, future governor of Wisconsin. That's my best. Beef, beef company. He would be interesting governor.

I'd be interested to hear his politics. But you got to get into politics first. I'd pass on that. But there's a lot of like, of the gifts. The list here, like, Kayla Williams gift is offensive linemen, Otega, Veneta? That sounds right.

I'm sure that's a hipster thing Hank knows about. What is that? I have no idea. No, that's a very fancy designer of some kind. Jacoby Brissette got some luxury suitcase of Versace robe. That guy has to buy people. He's the backup.

And Cologne. So, yeah. Let me ask you some. If you play, you've said many times like Trent Williams is a freak. He's just different, right? Yeah.

Why? Do you and him get the same gift? you play on the team, that doesn't seem fair. Yeah. Yes. That's, yeah, no offense, Jeff. Why are you getting the same thing as that guy? I don't know.

The watch is nice, though. I like my bright link. I don't wear it. I think I know where it is. If your line is like Burroughs line, like notoriously bad. Like laughably bad. Do you just like get less than a gift? Probably, yeah.

But I do think you do get a gift, though. Like everyone gets a gift, yeah. It's like you go to a restaurant. You can't not tip. You have to tip something. I'll tell you what, though. Look, there are some gifts, like even now, like the finer things in life. Like, my agent tends me a bucket of popcorn every year is a holiday gift.

Yeah. My favorite gift I get. That's a nice one. A giant bucket of popcorn. It hasn't arrived yet. She texts me every day. I'm like, I don't know where it is. Hasn't arrived yet.

I'd be pretty pissed if it doesn't show up. But the bucket of popcorn, man, half caramel, half cheddar. Like, sign me up, bro. Like, I'm very simple now. All I need in life is a bucket of popcorn. Yeah. Well, you know, apparently C.J. Stroud was not as, generous, you might say, as some of these other guys, just got some guys, some cool shoes,

maybe some articles of clothing. He didn't spend as much money. Some guys are cheap, though. That's not fair to call that cheap. He got him something. The best one was the dinosaur fossils with Joe Burrow. That's a unique gift. Yeah. That was weird because that's like for him. Like, why? I guess one day they'll all be on a podcast with some guy and they'll be like, yeah, remember that guy, Burrow? He got me a saber-toothed Tigers. So according to ESPN, Center, Ted Carras chose the tusk of a woolly mammoth.

Yeah. Tackled Orlando Brown and Marysman both picked Bear Skulls. Rookie Dylan Faradil also grabbed a Tyrannosaurus Rex Foxel. So, yeah, you know there's a place in Alaska, a ranch that, like, they just mine these. all year long like there's a rain i i can find it there's a fossil place in alaska that their property is just sort of they think where an extinction event happened and it either the animals all came like in a river and like like settled on their property right but they keep they keep digging up

more and more land and finding like insane amounts of fossils and it's like it's like It's insane. Like, you know, this farm in Alaska. And I know, I know one of the people that, like, is married in that family. And I want to go there one time and go, like, come back with a big woolly man with tusk. With a shovel. Start digging. All right.

Well, you gave us a heck of a story. I can't believe I've known you this long. You never mentioned the fact that you're still owed a snowmobile from Adrian Peterson. I, I'm sort of am. I'm looking for the bone people that, uh, that, uh, that, Alaska. It's, it's, it's, it's pretty awesome, dude. Bone yard in, uh, bone yard. That's, yeah, that's my. So the,

the, the, the, the two daughters, one of them is married to a good buddy of mine. So I, uh, I, I, I, I, I, I, it'd be pretty fun to go, like in, and like, shoot some high-pressured water at the side of a mountain and get some get some, get some wily mammatusks. Yeah. Um, Hank with a nice job here, points out that the sponsored gifts that goes way back, including isotoners from Dan Marino. So either that's true, or Hank just got tricked by the internet, and this is an Ace Ventura joke. I'm not really sure which.

Because one mammothucks are wild, bro. He doesn't care what I just said. Look at those things. Yeah. It's crazy. I'm fascinated by this. I heard what you said about the ice of the gloves or whatever. I heard.

I saw what Hank wrote there. I do read the rundown every now and then. Your ADD is good. My ADHD is not good. You, like, actually see and hear everything and can recall it. I see and hear everything. I can't recall any of it. When I do radio, my kids will come in the office.

I'll be like on my phone, my computer, doing random. They're like, how do you do that? I don't know. Just like, that's just like what I do. I just can do multiple things at once. All right. Let's take a break. Yeah.

And do college trouble. How about that? Yeah, and I also want to ask you about Joe Thunee, but yes, let's do that. All right, we're back. College football, but we want to hit on one more NFL thing first. What is it, Joe Tuni nine years now? Yeah. Division champion.

Yeah, and as I mispronounced the man's last name, even though I know who he is, I mispronounced his last name, which is sort of have the perfect point. He's kind of this, like, wildly underrated dude who's been a part of an unbelievable amount of success on multiple teams. You're looking at it if you're watching on YouTube and remember go do that, Jeff's channel. He's got what, four rings between the Pats and the Chiefs?

Four rings, five Super Bowls, appearances, yeah. And now he's on the Bears and they look awesome up front. I just wanted you to be able to comment on him because he comes up every now and then. I know you like his game, but how the hell is a guy that's that successful and I'm still mispronouncing his name. Well, he's a very good football player. I think obviously playing with Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes goes a long way in that as well.

But it's got that captain's right. He's got the C on his chest man. He came to the Bears to stabilize them. He's just a really good football player. And again, part of it is just sort of luck into where you get drafted and who wants to sign you. But also, you know, you end up, you're having the ability to just win and play to high level because he's a really good football player. Well, I saw that graphic and I thought our show couldn't skip over. that. I just had no idea he'd

been on that many championship teams. First ballot hall of famer? How does it work for a guy like that? That's a guard is going to rarely be a first ball of a family. Well, I know. That's why I'm curious. I think he'll, I think he will be a Hall of Famer, but just

I mean, not a first ballot guy. Yeah. All right. He went to NC State, by the way. Not exactly a powerhouse of college football, but it gets us to college football. before we talked about the big games coming up here. I just want to address the note that apparently Marcus Freeman has said he's not interested in NFL jobs. There's been some, you know, rumors that certain teams might want to talk to him.

What do you think of that? Is that BS? Is that just agents spinning stuff through the media? Or do you think he really did turn down the opportunity to meet with some teams? I think he turned down an opportunity. I don't know. He might have already met with teams, but he definitely turned down the chance to do so. he, I think he had the opportunity to interview and he might have done it quietly.

I think he certainly decided to stay in college football. That, I think, has happened, yes. And do you think that it's a wise choice? The NFL will always be there. And he can try to win a championship of Notre Dame, but his team's going to be really good next season. I think that makes a lot of sense. Well, he's got a slightly easier path now that he's ducking the Trojans. So, you know, that should help him out a little bit.

Oh, God. Riley today too. Just USC enough please enough enough of this nonsense. Okay. All right. Let's channel your bias in more positive ways. The ducks are the only like close game according to the lines here. Are you nervous about Texas Tech? What's the what's the scouting report? What do you think can going into this one? And then you can

hit all the games. Can I give you one bowl take really quick? Yeah, give me all the takes. I think all bowl games should be played in good weather. Okay. I don't think bowl games should be played in snow in cold weather cities. And I said this on the internet, people were like, that's not real football. I'm like, I don't know, 65 degrees in Tampa feels fine instead of playing at 32 degrees Yankee Stadium. Like, who wants to playing Yankee Stadium or Fenway Park?

Like, I don't, the bowl, your bowl game should be a reward for a season. And it shouldn't be a reward to go play in snow, in my opinion. Is that a bad take? It's a great take on the internet. I don't like that. Jeff, I think you've proven your bona fides. You're a tough guy who likes to play in the elements,

your alignment. I don't think it's wrong to say that these few games at the end of the year, which are clearly just a TV product anyway. Oh, yeah. It should be played in nice weather. I agree. All right. Oregon and the Texas Tech.

So a very interesting, interesting matchup here. I don't know where to begin. Texas Tech's defense is really good. Their edge guys, height, Bailey, the linebackers, Rodriguez, Roberts are studs. Best and the best in the best in college football. And the same sort of thing I said about Oregon James Madison,

I think applies here where like Texas Tech just hasn't seen this Oregon team this season, right? They haven't played a team like them. I know people will point to Utah and maybe BYU, but it's not the combination of the offensive line, the running backs, and then Dante Moore, right? It's just not, it's not that, okay? And Oregon has played more defenses that are closer to what they might see,

Indiana, Iowa, even a Washington, then Texas Tech will have seen on offense if that makes sense, right? Like, Texas has not played a top 35 passing offense all season. Their guys are really good, though, game. They can still ruin the game. But I think we have a little bit of advantage there. On the other side of the ball, I just don't trust the tech office to put no points on the board. They are one of the worst red zone teams in the country.

Their quarterback's playing with a fractured leg, even though he said it's better. It's still a problem. He can't move. I think we have an advantage with our defense and style of play than what Tech Tech wants to do offensively. And so I feel good. I feel good about our chances. A couple of things just like intangible stuff that, I think matter this time of year.

So Oregon's talked a lot, Gabe, about how they learned from last season that if you're a playoff team, you want to peak now rather than peak in week six. And that's a lesson that's new to college football because there hasn't been a 14 playoff, right? I mean, a 12 team playoff. I think Oregon last year, when they played Ohio State, Ohio State was better than them. Don't get me wrong. The result is not going to change of that game.

but I think there's a mindset the first time doing something that you're happy to be there and you're overconfident. That feels very natural, right, to be that way. We're number one in the country, beat Ohio State, and they weren't playing their best football to end the season. This year was the opposite, right, where they sort of had adversity at times, where they had guys hurt at times, and they've been getting ready to play this game on January 1st all season long. And they talked about like this year the process has been different in the post.

Now, they've played GMU, of course, but the coaches have talked about the process being different this year to get them ready to peak now, right? This is the time to peak the next three weeks. And Texas Act just hasn't done this before. They haven't been here before, right, Gabe? It's brand new for them. And we saw last year sort of the brand new didn't go very well for a lot of teams, right? Didn't go well for Indiana. It didn't go well for Oregon. You know, it didn't go well for Arizona State wasn't as good as Texas, but it's just, so that that intangible, I think, plays a role in this matchup. Yeah.

I can be honest, I'm still catching up on what Texas Tech is. And the only thing I really understand is that one dude basically bought the team. Yeah, he's a former offensive lineman. Yeah. Yeah. Oil guy who used to play there. He bought a softball pitcher that get them all the way the championship game, which is, Hank's Longhorns beat Texas Tech because they're just better.

but they got the girl from Stanford who's in a million dollars a year. Incredible. Look, by the way, I love this dude. I love the dude just came in and was like, I have a bunch of money. I'm going to buy better football players. And Bailey and Romil Haidt, like, Roderick,

they are very, very good on defense. Like, their individual pieces are great. No one has really run at them all season. No one's had the ability to, like, Oregon can run right at them. And look, that is like might dominate. They might come out and everything about them is real. But they just haven't played anyone like Oregon yet.

Like Oregon's played a tougher schedule, a better slew of teams. They've been here before. So I like our chances. It's going to be a close game. And hopefully we'll put it on the end. Okay. So I'm going to save us some time and just guess here that you like Ohio State over Miami. I think it's a close game.

But the people I talk to that are like the film kind of guys, and they think it's going to be a blowout for Ohio State. Okay. And I'm guessing that you like George over Ole Miss. That would be true, yes. Okay. I'm also guessing Lane Kiffin will pop up on some interview dressed oddly and we'll make jokes about that on the internet.

But let's spend the time instead on what I think is kind of a strange number. So Indiana I see as a touchdown favorite against Alabama, which feels like, I don't know if there's a word for this among you gambling dorks, but it just feels like they want to show. Show Indiana some respect and not admit that they think this is going to be a much closer game by making it more like three and a half, four and a half, five and a half, something like that. Seven feels like a lot against Alabama. I get it. I get this year is not the best year in Alabama history, but like, really?

I think Indiana is going to smoke them. Really? Yeah, I think so, yeah. Tell me why. Bama can't run the football and can't rush the passer. And those are really big concerns. 131st of country and pass rush grade according to PFF. They're in the 110s and pressure rate.

They can't get to the quarterback. And that feels like the worst spot to be against Indiana. You have to pressure Mendoza. I'm saying, can't run the ball. If you can't run the ball, you turn it into a very one-dimensional team. And the later you play in the playoffs against better teams, the more the one-dimensional thing makes it more difficult to win games.

And so, I mean, Indiana wins and covers this game. I absolutely do. Wow. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I'm going off brands here. I'm not, that was much better analysis than I can give. I just, I can't see.

I get it. I thought I told you two years ago when Cinelli was hired that that two years later, they'd be a seven point favorite against Alabama in a playoff game. You would have told me I was nuts. And nuts. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, and I get it. Alabama's path here was weird, but sorry.

Like, we're playing on New Year's Day. And it's Alabama, Indiana. Really? That's surprising. to me. How do we feel about USC's bowl game? Are we feeling? Come on, man.

What are we doing here? Are the wide receivers playing? No, they're out, right? No. I don't know about Lane. Mackay's not playing. I'm just curious if you're like, if you're like USCTC, man. Like what a Alamo Bowl?

Like, come on, man. I think you, USCU. Oh, it's tomorrow. Yeah. What was it was tomorrow? TCU'd be a nice, that'd be a nice second round game in a couple years. I think that could happen. TCU finds its way back.

You lost your defense coordinator today, by the way. Okay. I don't care. I mean, granted, that was a hell of a lot more defense played than the last few seasons, but they still don't practice tackling. So find me a guy who can teach my team to tackle, and I'll start to fall in love with him. When is the next USC women's basketball game we're going to?

We beat Nebraska earlier today. Oh, do you go? No, wasn't that. There got a tricky stretch, man. You know what it's like. You know, the big 10 is like loaded with ranked teams in women's college basketball. And it's hard to know, right? Like there's a huge, it's not like men's college basketball.

It's a huge difference between like the fifth best team and the 15th best team in women. Oh, it is, it is wild the difference between the, like, the Yukons and the South Carolina is to like the 20th ranked team in the country. It's totally night and day, but there's a lot of ranked teams ahead of USC now. And so you go to a place like Iowa State and Maryland and Michigan, these are ranked teams. So I don't really know how they come out of it, but I will tell you, as I told you before, Darcy Davidson is a name to know. Their next game is applied pavilion on Saturday. You should make the trip up to Westwood.

Yeah, well, yeah, Coach Close is going to be pissed if enough media don't show up to to that one. That's a little fair, though. I think her- 100% fair. Was righteous. She's right to say that. And her team's awesome.

And there will be media there for USC, UCLA. Yeah. That's still, honestly, the best game I've seen live in person was last year between those two teams with Juju. Best performance I've ever seen anyone have in any game of any kind. Lauren Betts is large. Yeah, she's a, she's a strong woman.

She's a strong woman. They're a large team. They're the biggest team out there. They have no women under, I think, 6-1. Is she 6-8? I don't know if she's 6-8, but she's big. We had a girl. Yeah, we had a woman girl when I was at Oregon who was 6-6.

She looked at me right in the face. Yeah. That was odd feeling. But Betts can move a little bit. She's not just big. Like, she's pretty athletic. She blocks a ton of shots. man, you can't get anything off in the year.

You know, and it's different. It's different the way that women play the game. You know, they're not, they're not doing as much in the air. So if you have somebody that big right in the middle of the paint, like there's really no way to get to the hoop. You got to shoot. I explain the difference in the games because I watch enough women's college basketball by now. Like, women's college basketball is a horizontal game.

Men's college basketball is a vertical game. Like, that's just a big difference in the sports. And if you accept it for what it is, it's not. a bad product to watch. The best. There's some bad basketball, but like the best is still good to watch. If you want to teach young kids how to play basketball, you're better off watching women's basketball than the NBA. You're not learning the right thing in the NBA because those guys can do things that no kid you'll ever be around can ever do. Correct. Well, we did something that someone else can ever do. We finish a podcast episode talking about women's

college basketball. So that's something I think we've done that a few times, but sure. All right. Well, Gabe, enjoy this as usual. Please rate review, subscribe. We'll be back on Friday. We'll recap cultural football playoffs. We'll get to three important games

this weekend. We'll have to find five wagers. So we'll have to make it work. We were what were we? Well, we're two and two. We need the ramps to cover to go three and two. So that's a wrap in this week right now. Gabe, we're talking with you. We'll talk to everyone on Friday. Take care, everybody.