Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - Lamar For MVP, the Cowboys are Legit, and Which Borderline Playoff Teams Still Matter

Episode Date: October 19, 2021

Geoff and Gabe are back to recap Week 6 of the NFL, starting with the Ravens’ dominant win over Gabe’s Chargers. Gabe wants to know why everyone is so surprised Lamar Jackson has started so hot, but Geoff points out that there are plenty of reasons why he’s playing better than anyone could’ve expected. Plus, Geoff doubles down on the Cowboys, and Gabe asks which 3-3 teams are actually a threat to make noise in the playoffs.In Moving the Line, Geoff and Gabe rank potential head coaching vacancies from most desirable to least, and they wonder if the Giants will get booed even more after players on the team told fans to stop. Also, Aaron Rodgers is fired up, Russel Wilson is corny, and Squid Game is absolutely nuts.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

it's tuesday october 19th i'm jeff schwartz alongside gabe go and this is jeff schwartz of smart then you were powered by the varsity podcast network another wonderful weekend of nfl action a weekend where if you bet on the favorites you probably want a lot of money this weekend all the favorites outside of just a couple covered and it was a weekend of some pretenders uh being noticed some contenders stepping out in some big games this weekend. Gabe, we are rested and recovered from our college show last night. And how are you doing, buddy? And we had a lot of NFL that was fun this weekend.

So we're good. And we hit the ground running on Monday morning because, boy, the takemakers came out hot with the Lamar takes. That's all anyone wanted to talk about and they all acted like it was some big surprise that this guy can actually play some ball everyone thinks they got an original take that he's maybe the mvp hello he was a unanos mvp a couple years ago he proved he can do it all now we're acting like it's a surprise he can pass jeff they're five and one he looks great he's everyone's MVP choice including yours can we stop

pretending that this is surprising they're a damn good team after beating my Chargers of course the Ravens look legit yeah so one of the the teams that uh really stood out again this weekend was Baltimore right they played the Chargers they won 34 to 6 in a dominating game uh your Chargers. And Lamar is playing better than he was his MVP season. So he has 2,078 total scrimmage yards this year. 392 of those are rushing yards. I just looked this up, and obviously some teams have only played five games. But how many teams does he have more total yards than, would you guess? I would guess at least five or ten. 17, 17. 17 teams he has more total yards then, would you guess? I would guess at least five or ten.

17, 17. 17 teams he has more total yards. He's having a fabulous season. And look, I don't know how many years do I have to admit I was wrong about Lamar? Like, is there a statute of limitations on that? Or do I just have to keep repeating that? Yeah, so I was wrong about Lamar. I didn't think he'd be this good.

I think what we're really seeing this year, more than anything, is just he's expanded his passing game. And something that we have talked about for a couple years now is the passing game in general, I think, of Baltimore has been expanded. They are doing so much of a better job of hitting kind of those intermediate routes. He's more accurate, I think, as a passer in total. I know people will probably pull up some analytic, Jeff Schwartz, you're wrong. He was this. I don't know, I think, as a passer in total. I know people will probably pull up some analytic,

Jeff Schwartz, you're wrong. He was this, I don't know, guys, I watch a lot of football. I feel like he's just a better passer this year. I don't, maybe the numbers will say otherwise, but he looks better, right, Gabe? He looks like a better passer. He's more accurate. He's hitting guys where they're supposed to be hit,

on time, in rhythm. And that includes some drop passes that, you know by hollywood brown against the lions i mean this number should be more and yes he has been behind and had to come back in some games those numbers are higher than maybe other years because he wasn't behind by 19 points in the fourth quarter against indianapolis right or whatever it was in that game um but he deserves credit for coming back because we give that same credit to all the other quarterbacks right um and it's, it's been very impressive

to watch him play. And guys, he's doing this with the most players in the NFL in injured reserve. 16 players injured reserve right now. And they're getting some of those guys back, but it's a new offensive line with a lot of guys hurt. Again, really, you know,

not a number one wide receiver yet. Bateman's back now. We'll see how that goes. With the offensive coordinator who we've questioned his passing scheme, right, for years now. Greg Roman, we know can do the run game, but can he do the passing game?

And with Lamar, too, it's also, again, they've changed the emphasis of what he has to do for this team for a long time. For the most part, it was, we're going to run the ball, play defense, play action pass, but now they're behind the game going to run the ball, play defense, play action pass. But now they're behind the games. It's the Lamar Jackson show, right?

And he right now, in my opinion, is the MVP. He has to do more for the team than, let's say, Kyler Murray does. I mean, look, MVP in general is so watered down. I just can't stand that we talk about it. It's supposed to be the most valuable player, right? Not like just best player on a team. I mean, he is that valuable. Again, 2,078 all-purpose yards.

That's more than 17 teams in the NFL, right? It's more, believe it or not, than the Bengals, the Seahawks, the Packers. He has more total yards right now than the Packers do on offense. You know, the Patriots, the Lions. And then some teams have played only five games. If you would like it to be known, your Jets are last in total yards, by the way, and only five games for them too.

So it's been really impressive. He deserves the praise. I will say this though. We've got to stop doing this in the way we cover sports. Is we take one outlandish opinion that someone made one time and that's like the talking point for the rest of someone's career.

One person said, Lamar Jackson should be a running back. That was it. And it was just Bill Pullen. And maybe that's what he heard from someone else. I don't know. He doesn't have to answer for that. He was wrong.

But no one else said that. And every time Lamar's a good game, it's like, great job for a running back. Like, yeah. One person said that. Even me, Lamar has a good game, it's like, great job for a running back. Like, yeah. One person said that. Even me, who did not like him out of college. I go off the accuracy that he did not have in college. Saw him play early in his career.

Didn't really have that. I don't love the offense in the playoffs still. I kind of look, I'm like fast forward to the playoffs. We know they're going to win football games. They are now. They have the toughest schedule, according to Football Outsiders, the rest of the season. They play in a tough division, right? The B they have the toughest schedule according to football outsiders the rest of the season they put in a tough division right the bills have the easiest and the bills are probably have the one seed and baltimore's gonna have to go there at some point uh so it's kind of i want to fast forward to the postseason for them but like we gotta stop doing that every

time he has a good game like we we get it that one person was wrong he was very wrong but like guys i mean i was wrong about him too i never say he should play running back like that like why are we still doing this thing every time he plays well? Good for running back. One guy said that. Can we let that go, please? Yeah, well, I agree. Obviously, I'd love to let it go.

I think it's good of you to separate yourself from almost every person out there and just saying, and I was wrong. Everyone was wrong. The whole league was wrong about this guy. Maybe Bill Pulling even more than most. But I think what bothers me and others, Mina Kimes, I see all tweeting about this, is this idea that like we're forgetting,

like he was a great passer the year he won MVP. It was just a couple of years ago when he was like 22. Now he's 24. You know, he set a thousand records already this season. I can't even bother to list them all. But why did we fall for the notion that he wasn't a very good passer? Like, he just happened to be an exceptionally good runner. So that was like, you know, missing.

I'll tell you why. I think when we look at that offense again, it was so generated by play-action pass that a lot of us are like, well, we want to see a more traditional you know third and eight how do you do in those situations right um how do you do in those high leverage high score situations and also look the big games matter right he had not been the chiefs till this season he has the offense has not been as good in the playoffs as it has in the regular season those games matter to how we judge players fair or foul than does beating up on the lions right like that's the way we look at this and

remember that's now two years ago i don't know if it sounds weird that it was two years ago but like i mean pat mullins won the mvp in 2018 like we don't we're like he has one bad half and everyone's like i'm out out on him i don't want him anymore. So I'm not sure we forgot about that, but we just said, at least for me, he's grown as a passer since then. I think he's a better thrower of the football now. And I love the kid, man. Like, I've never said anything. I never really talk about anyone.

I never talk about anyone personally. That's silly, and I don't know him. But everything about him and his shirt, right, like the no excuses, just play better shirt. I love all of it. I mean, that's silly, and I don't know him, but everything about him and his shirt, right? Like the no excuses, just play better shirt. I love it, all of it. I love all of it. And he's, right now, through six weeks, he's doing some great things.

And look, again, I feel like for Baltimore, it's like just fast forward to the playoffs, right? Because they're going to win. They've won, and this is why we took their over this year. They win a bunch of regular season games. Great. Good, good. You're supposed to do that. But let's fast forward to like maybe it's late january and you're in ralph

wesson stadium it's negative three degrees and you're playing the bills and you got to win that game right i mean that's how we ultimately judge a lot of quarterbacks uh again fair or foul on that but what do you do in big moments in big big games? And he's getting better this year, right? Beat the Chiefs. Big comeback against the Colts. Dominated the Chargers. Now, the game yesterday wasn't as much about him as it was about his team, just team rolling the Chargers.

I mean, Lamar, I think, had 200-ish total yards. It wasn't like his best game. But I think it's important to point out the injuries, right? I mean, this is, guys, I'm going to pull up the stat right now. They have the most injuries in the NFL, as I said. And I believe the Lions are next in injuries. The Lions, yes, right here. So most players injured reserve.

Ravens, 16 guys. They're 5-1. Lions have 14 guys injured reserve, and they're 0-6. Like, I cannot tell you how impressive it is for the team and for Lamar Jackson to have this team playing so well with all these injuries. And yes, look, should they have lost

the Lions game? Fine, I guess. But after the entire season, that stuff kind of evens out, right? And they won that Lions game. They won the Colts game. Yeah, they had some things go their way, but they made the most of their breaks in winning those games. And so they deserve credit for that. All right.

Well, then last thing, because even in your criticisms, you have said, let me see you do it in January. And you're saying that a little bit today. So was there anything, though, about... Now he can come from behind. They aren't just front runners who get up big and then pound

you they're now finding ways to win and they're beating different types of defenses because Alex Smith at ESPN funny to say that was pointing out that Chargers were playing cover two in their red zone defense and I don't know what the hell to make of that but like defenses are now having to respect him as a passer in a way that I don't think we have seen in the past. And I'm just curious if maybe this let-me-see-you-do-it-in-January, you're more of a frontrunner than a come-from-behind guy. Is that still how you feel?

Well, so the cover two thing is definitely about, you know, you keep two safeties for the passing game, especially in how much they use the seams. And then you obviously try to stop the front with less guys in the box. And the red zone, there are only two coverages most of you play in the red zone.

You play quarters or you just play man or cover zero. That's not that surprising. But I would imagine that against the Ravens, teams have tried to kind of focus on the box in the red zone more than the passing game. And that obviously seems to teams have to focus on the passing game now because he's making them pay and we always judge quarterbacks about how they're performing these big moments there's nothing to do with a lamar jackson thing right i mean we judge quarterbacks um we've judged tom brady for

years how do you play the postseason how do you play in big games um and that's not unusual to how we look at Lamar Jackson. What other quarterback, and we've said this about, we're going to talk about the Browns in a second, we're going to talk about the Bills, Josh Allen, we've always said this, at least I have been very consistent about this. Show them what you do in the big games, right? I want to see what you do in the 5 or 10% of big moments

in a season when you have to be extra. And so far in this season, Lamar has done that in the regular season. And I trust he will. I said this year, I think they're going to win 12 games and finish second in the AFC North. They're probably going to win the AFC North now

and they're going to finish with 13 or 14 wins. There's going to be a great opportunity to do this in January. All right. So Jeff, let's stay with some quarterbacks. You mentioned a few other teams we're going to get to. Let's stay with a quarterback who's very much in the MVP conversation and a team who I think everyone's already fitting for a ring. That's Dak and the Dallas Cowboys. Now, look, it doesn't mean a whole lot to me that Tony Romo is claiming they're built to win a Super Bowl with this, you know, this roster. I think we have to take a little bit of Tony Romo with a grain of salt on the Cowboys. But everyone else in the sports media right now, if they aren't in love with the Ravens, they're in love with the Cowboys.

And I just have to remind people, okay? They barely, barely beat a bad team. All right? They had 115 yards of penalties on Sunday. They couldn't stop Mac Jones, a rookie, and Damian Harris. I barely know who that is. Everyone thinks Diggs is Deion. That's nonsense.

Dak's the MVP. Let's chill. They're five and one. Okay. But they barely beat the Chargers week two and the four teams they've beat since have a combined record of eight and 16 pump breaks. Cowboys. You're not that good. Well, 567 yards against the Patriots. Uh, no matter how much you hate the Patriots game, uh, that defense is not that bad. And the Cowboys did that, racking up a bunch of penalties and playing some sloppy football. This game should not have been close, right? They had two plays at the end zone that ended up being turnovers, right? They threw an interception that hit off someone, picked off, and that sequence with the quarterback scene, it looked like Dak was in on the third down play.

I think he was in. They fumbled little fourth down. I mean, they could have had easily 14 more points in that game. Had another fourth down later, excuse me, early in the game that they did not convert on that led to a Patriots touchdown. They should have won this game going away, but they didn't, right? They didn't

because, as you mentioned, Diggs Deion Sanders had a pick six and then also a lot of, he has allowed the most yards in the NFL as a cornerback, but also has like seven or eight interceptions and three touchdowns. And so everyone's looking at him in a different way because of what he's doing.

But Deion didn't allow that many yards. I promise you that. I've said all along, it's very simple with Dallas. Dak's playing great. He's going to win a comeback probably in a year. And he's going to be the MVP talk. Defensively, it was their defense going to be just a little bit better. And guess what, guys?

It is just a little bit better. It's all it needs to be. And their schedule is pretty easy because they have a last-place schedule. They have the Vikings next weekend in Minnesota. They're off this week. Then the Broncos and Falcons. So they're most likely going to end up being 8-1. Then it's the Chiefs in Kansas City.

Then it's the Raiders. Then it's the Saints. And then it's four out of five winnable games because they play their Washington twice, the Giants, Eagles, and the Cardinals. So they're going to finish probably 13-4. And they're going to finish in the two or three seed. And they're going to have multiple home games in the playoffs. And the one thing holding them back,

and your buddy Nick Wright said this. It's pretty interesting. Actually, it's a bold take, but I think it makes a lot of sense. If they want to win Super Bowl this year, transition Mike McCarthy to senior analyst something, and elevate Kellen Moore to be the head coach. Because their decisions when it comes to fourth down actually the data shows they go for enough on fourth down but the end of games

situations are mike mccarthy is absolutely clueless he has no idea when to go for the end of games he set up for a 51 yard field goal with one of the best offensive football a team again that was racking up seven yards of play they the clock management even in that moment right they wasted 12 30 excuse me they did not waste 12 30 seconds they kicked the ball too soon like McCarthy's management might hold them out of being the team they think Gabe but for once in our lifetimes the last time I don't even know when this hype is absolutely real for the Cowboys I don't quite understand how to square everything you just said because you're saying Diggs is putting up great numbers but also giving up a

ton of yards Dak well yeah he it's hard to the Diggs thing is look I'm not a defensive back I'm not kind of coming here to be an expert he needs to stop allowing so many yards he's if he had three less interceptions we would think differently yeah but so he's I'm just using him as an example of like every good. There's an equal bad to go with it, right? So, you know, they have this great record, but they also play a crap schedule. They are winning these close games, but their coach doesn't actually'm supposed to take these guys seriously when the three or four games they're going to have to play in January include the Bucks, Rams, Packers. I mean, you know, there's a few other teams out there that also look better. But like, do we really think they're going to get on a heater and that McCarthy is going to make all the right calls and the defense is going to hold up against the best offenses in the NSC.

Like, I just think they're obviously a regular season team. They're a Tony Romo-type Dallas team. Okay, but here's the thing, Gabe, is they're just supposed to play the teams on their schedule, right? It's like, what are they supposed to do? They get credit, you know? Like, good for them. So they're like Notre Dame or Clemson.

Like, cool, man. Cool wins against all those teams that you played. Like, you have to win a championship, though. You know? Yeah, I agree with that. And that's why I think we're going to see their schedule with Kansas City coming up. And they're at New Orleans.

And, I mean, they only have a couple games in their schedule that you would consider to be tests. But so far, they've played one playoff, two playoff teams. They lost by two. And they won that other game, which was the Chargers. All they can do is play the teams on schedule, and right now they're kicking those teams' asses. That's what matters.

And when it comes to the postseason game, yes, you might be right. They get to the postseason and say, oh, shit, we're playing Tampa. We're playing the Packers. We're playing the Cardinals, and we're just not as good this year. We have to continue to improve. Fine, but as of right now, the numbers would tell you, my eyeballs would tell me, the way they're playing and where they're good at.

I mean, Randy Gregory has been a revelation in the defense. He's getting a lot of money. Tank Lawrence isn't even playing yet. Their offensive line, Dak Prescott, the guys on, the description of players on offense, they're doing what they're supposed to be doing and again, can they win a Super Bowl game? I don't know.

We have a home playoff game at least against who? Who's going to play in the playoffs? Here, I'm going to look right now. I'm going to take the bottom of the... But while you look, these aren't the Detroit Lions where making the playoffs and winning a game is the goal.

Like, this is the Dallas Cowboys. Right now, they'll be playing the Rams, which is obviously, we'll see how that division shakes out. But I mean, they, Gabe, for where they've been, they're playing some good football, especially after last season. Like, you have to, I know you want to hate on all the good teams and hate the Cowboys,

but they're doing some good things, as I mentioned. Their defense is about 10th in efficiency their offense is one of the best in the NFL Dachshund MVP candidate you know the Chiefs by the way might not even be a test for them because the Chiefs can't stop anyone I will say though they shut out the Bills second half the other day or they gave up some points they played well against better against Washington the Chiefs defense looks a little bit better but they might it might not even be a test for the Cowboys till they play the saints like anyone but they can only play teams their schedule like we were in in 2013 on kansas city we started 90 right we played the team's our schedule wasn't great we got our

assets kicked by the broncos um we finished 11-5 and we lost a playoff game like that could happen to them too it could but that is um you know again you can only you can only judge them based off who they played so far and so far they're playing good football all right fine so let's talk about digs for one more second because every other show out there is he was like front and center in the most critical point in that game right so he has the ball gets batted around he comes up with it he runs it in for a touchdown like you said he's he's setting all kinds of records unbelievable stats for a corner but it occurs to me that mac jones and you know and the patriots very quickly realize something and on the very next play he falls for a little double move is completely completely exposed, Patriots go to the house.

And it seems to me that a smart person who's just watched how he jumps the ball and watched how sort of loose he is in an attempt to always make a play can take advantage of him whenever they want. And so if you ask Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, I'll even put Matt Stafford in this category, to expose that kid who's playing some nice ball, but still a kid, like that's going to happen every time. Tell me I'm wrong. Well, he's going to have to work on that. And when a guy is this kind of type of ball hawk, you're going to get double moved because they're thinking that you're going to, you know, to be susceptible to that. And he's got to work on that. He might have to turn down interceptions just to play better defense at some points. And he's got to work on that. He might have to turn down interceptions just to play better defense at some points. And he's still a young kid, second year in the NFL.

It's 100% an issue moving forward that will get him if he's not as good as eye discipline as he should be, trying to get home runs when he just needs to kind of stay in front of his guy. So it is a problem. And we'll find out, obviously, where that becomes an issue. It's not going to be the next couple of weeks, but it might be against Kansas City or New Orleans, the Cardinals, so the playoffs.

But yes, he needs to work on that 100%. Okay. All right. Let's talk about these three scary three and three teams that are lurking in the AFC. And listen, I'm just here to tell you, Jeff, the Steelers are the scariest because you don't see them coming. All right. I know they barely beat the Seahawks with Geno Smith,

but TJ Watt is unreal. Ben can sort of maybe still make a play when he really needs to. The Chiefs are better. The Browns have a better roster when they're healthy, but the Steelers are scarier because of that insane defense. I would not want to run into them in the postseason. The defense, this is defense allowed 20 points a second half to Geno Smith and the Seahawks, right?

That same defense? Yeah, and then the defense that won the game for them in the final minutes. I'm just curious because I thought that when you play a backup quarterback and it gets an offense that can't really rush the football, like you would, you wouldn't allow 20 points a second half. So you're not a believer in their defense? I am, but look, I might be sold because I ended up having Steelers minus five and they just shut the bet again because why would they not?

That might be the issue that's biasing you here? No, it's definitely not. No, their offense is atrocious. Their defense is really good, but I'm not buying what Ben has thrown out there. It's just bad. So you're 0% scared of the Steelers? No. It looks painful when he throws a football when he has to move.

I'm in physical pain watching him move around the pocket. It just doesn't look like it should. It doesn't look bad. It doesn't pain you, Gabe? I'm like, oh. Yeah, no. Please. It looks bad. It looks tough look bad. It doesn't pain you, Gabe. I'm like, oh. Yeah, no. I mean, it's. Please, like, just.

Just. It looks bad. It looks tough. No, I'm not worried about them. You mentioned the Browns. I'm disappointed in them, Gabe. I might have been too high on the Browns. I don't know.

They played three playoff teams, okay? They were leading the second half against Kansas City, lost. Leading by two touchdowns against your now Chargers and lost. And they got their ass kicked by Arizona. If you closed your eyes, really not closed your eyes, you opened your eyes, but you closed your eyes and watched this game, you would think that the Browns were the team without the head coach, without the best pass rusher, without their starting center,

with all these excuses built in to lose that game. Yes, the Browns were without both tackles. Beckham Hale was a little beat up. Jarvis Energy didn't play. Nick Chubb didn't play. But that's an excuse of no-show. And they got their asses handed to them. We talked about this entire offseason

the depth the Browns had. They scored seven points in this game outside of a Hail Mary. Like, where is this depth at? Where is the depth at? Where is all this at? Show me where I'm supposed to believe in you guys now. Because so far, you've been three non-playoff teams, and you've got your asses kicked in the second half of two of those games

and the entire game against the three playoff teams you played. Shortly against the Broncos on Thursday with a really beat up team you have to use that time to get right after the game got pittsburgh got a kind of a bangles team that i don't quite buy yet but they're at cincinnati sometimes four and two like the browns have the pieces to do it but i don't know if i trust them well no i you've been pretty clear since I've known you that they're not worth trusting. They get credit in their front office, I think, for building a really deep roster that seems great, but now all those guys are hurt and I don't see anyone stepping up. We felt like they had two guys at every position, but-

Sorry, this is when your quarterback has to step up. Lamar Jackson did it in Baltimore. That's right. It's not who Baker is. I'm glad that you found a way to sneak in the shot at Baker. That was an appropriate time. They have a tough decision. They have to pay Baker Mayfield in the offseason or not.

They have to make the decision. And I don't know how you decide to make this call after this season that you're about to have. Yeah, I don't think that they will keep him because they make so many other smart moves and have built what seems like such a strong roster with him as the one question mark everyone can identify and i think that they could get more value for him if he was well if they could move him they would but i guess they can't really so i can see him ending up in like houston or someplace

where you know winning nine games and being exciting is good enough for the fans. I mentioned the other scary three and three team there. So this is just your chance to mention the Chiefs do look pretty good. Pat made some crazy, crazy plays. You've never been panicked about them, but we always have to ask about the Chiefs. Where's your head on them and how much better they seem to be after another week with a win. Yeah. So the most important part of this is their defense. It shut out the Washington football team in the second half. Offensively, three just in the first half mistakes, Gabe. I mean, right?

Like, ball goes out of Tyreek Hill's hand into another defender. Again, fourth time this year, a wide receiver dropped the ball. Went right through his hands. McColl Hardman, just an awful fumble. And then Mahomes had the worst play of his career. I do not know what he was doing. Terrible turnover. Came out of the second half,

scored three touchdowns, going away, not a concern. Again, I said this, Gabe, if you are a playoff team, you're a fan of a playoff team,

you're Buffalo. You're Buffalo. You're the number one seed. Okay? Number one seed. Here come the Chiefs. At some point in the playoffs, two Buffalo. You excited about that game?. Okay? Number one seed. Here come the Chiefs. At some point in the playoffs, to Buffalo.

You excited about that game? No, I don't want that. Yeah. Well, that's going to happen, right? They're still alive. It reminds me, and this is not really a fair comparison because they're not the New England Patriots, but it reminds me of all those times that people count out New England, right? Like, oh, this is the year, guys. It's the year. Brady lost that.

Was it 2014 when they lost that game to the Chiefs on Monday Night Football and everyone's like, Brady's done. He's still playing like eight years later. Yeah. This feels a lot like that where people were like, Mahomes is the 14th best quarterback in the NFL now. What? Like, what are we talking about, guys?

I would not want to play kansas city if their defense and the defense went from 32nd to 31st in dvoa so we got a little jump a little jump gabe um they're they're gonna be fine when january rolls around okay so if i was sort of talking about three scary three and three teams your order of scariness still goes chiefs by a lot you're not even a little bit scared of the Steelers. And only if somehow the Browns roster gets healthy, are you kind of scared of them? So it sounds like Chiefs are the only borderline playoff team that still looks scary. Got it. Yes. Yes. All right. Jeff, I got a lot of other stuff I

want to ask you about, including some big college vacancies, coaching vacancies that are going to have a lot of people's attention this week and a few other games that we haven't covered. We'll do that all in moving the line after a quick break. All right. Welcome back to Jeff Schwartz is smarter than you. He still is Jeff time to move the line a little over under game. So'm gonna kind of break format slightly on this one please rank these head coaching jobs three we already know will be open one we expect you wanted to go take a job as a head coach do you want to be the raiders coach next year the jags coach next year usc or now lsu All of them in different states of openness, but let's assume all four of those are open in the offseason. Well, I would prefer to be in the NFL.

I'll go Raiders first. You're in Las Vegas. You're in Las Vegas. All right. And you have Derek Carr. And you have an owner that I think wants to spend money. And you probably can be the GM because you know Gruden was the GM. But the funniest thing, by the way, was when Gruden was fired or resigned

and then Mark Davis came out and said, well, now Mayock has 51% of the roster decisions and the new coach has 49. Like, how does that work? And you basically confirmed that Gruden made all the decisions beforehand, right? Yeah, pretty much. Then I'll go LSU.

They've won, okay, they've won three titles in 18 years. USC has, that've won three titles in 18 years. USC has, that'll be zero titles in 18 years. And then I'll go USC next. And then Jacksonville. I mean, Jacksonville might as well be in London in like two years. I don't want to coach Jacksonville. Okay.

And do you think any of these openings, well, first of all, do you think any of the interim people will end up in charge and do you think any of these openings will be competing for the same people USC and LSU definitely will and the Raiders

and Jaguars I don't think he's gone but I I think the Raiders will be competing with I don't know who they will be competing with... I don't know who they'll be competing with. I know LSU and USC will be competing for the same guys. I mean, there's like the same guys

that we mentioned for every... James Franklin, right? Mario Cristobal, Luke Fickle. Same guys for all these jobs. And LSU's AD in the past has swung and hit a bunch of home runs, whether it's Chris Peterson at Washington or Jimbo at A&M.

So he's going to swing again for the fences. All well yeah we obviously getting ahead of ourselves uh given the Jags job away um Urban who may be very happy for all the other awful news in the NFL the last couple of weeks uh seems to have fallen off the headline stack the whole Urban Meyer situation and they got a win this week so maybe you know maybe the Jags start to get on a little bit of a streak. And we're not talking about him being out of a gig this offseason. But I'm still betting on that being an opening. He looked pained that they made that field goal the other day. Like, at the time of the game.

He, like, with the physical pain. Dude, he just, he looks, I've always admired coaches like Ron Rivera and Bill Belcher, Andy Reid. Like, no emotion, man. They're just like things happen in the game, just flatlined. And Urban, just emotions are just, I mean, I was watching college football, Georgia, Kentucky, like early in the game, Kirby Smart, Georgia's coach, is jumping up and down the sidelines, like holding his headset and like, coach, it's the game is seven minutes old. What are we doing why are we

this emotional during a football game calm the fuck down like calm down it's a lot of game left it drives me nuts right it's just these guys are so emotional what are we doing yeah and i worked in bristol as i've told people on this show before uh we used to have a term you you called someone a gripper when they just like grip everything they grip tapes or whatever it would be too tight and you didn't really want to be around a control room or an edit bay with a gripper um and i don't know about kirby smart but there's a lot of coaches out there who could easily be described as a gripper it's like dude you're making everyone tense just let's try to get through this. We're going to take a break soon. Don't worry.

Yes. It's a weird trait. Yes. Well, let's use it as a segue. So the Cardinals, who seem like everyone's favorite team in the league right now, actually won a very decisive game this weekend against those Browns without their coach. And I don't think of Cliff Kingsbury as a gripper by any means, but like, man,

they just, they went in there and blew out another supposed playoff team without a head coach. I want to know over 123 and a half teams that could win a game without their head coach. Okay. So the Raiders won their game without Grungruden the first week. Remember the playoff game last year? The Browns beat the Steelers without their coach.

I just say abolish all head coaches. Just get rid of them. It was really... Look, the first players are scripted, but that's it. I mean, and, you know, luckily for... I don't even know who ended up being the actual... Oh, Vance Joseph for the Cardinals. And even last year with Stefanski was out.

This is also an importance of hiring coaches that have also been head coaches before, right? Vance Joseph has been a head coach. But also, I don't recall in this game or that game, there wasn't like a fundamental decision that had to be made that could have cost them the game and the the coach screwed that up which also very helpful now of course that doesn't always mean that Stefanski or another head coach is going to be good at those but it's kind of funny that we got this conversation right it's like all right well

I mean these teams wouldn't win another head coach is Belichick maybe they're better without Belichick on the sidelines I don't't know. I'm beginning to wonder. And I remember last year talking to you about this when Stefanski was out and the Browns, you know, were down to like some like quality control coach or something was technically in charge on the sideline. But they had built such a strong organization. They were so clear in their purpose that actually they were able to just backfill, you and i've talked about this with people who work in production like it shouldn't have to be that like only one person on earth can do the job well you should build a depth chart you should have people at every role who can step in and do a job maybe even bring something new but for the best team in the league to blow out another pretty good team without a head coach makes me wonder the coach really makes a damn difference and you've been critical of that coach on this show that's why

it made me chuckle but i i also think that your point about you know the best people who run organizations have the depth right and this is example arizona that they had an assistant coach advanced joseph who'd been a coach before. He was ready to go. Yeah, he was thought of as one of those guys just a few years ago. Like, hey, maybe this guy's one of the better coaches around. So it was a weird coincidence to see a couple teams win that way, especially in a week where we're talking about one of the biggest names in college football being kind of like a, you know, I don't know.

He's fired, but he's not fired. He's still sitting there. So how are they going to— I don't get why Eddie's fired, but he's not fired. He's still sitting there. So like, how are they going to? I don't get why Eddie O is still on the coach of the team. It makes no sense. It seems very strange. So we'll see. We'll see how the head coaches play it.

Here's one from coaches to fans. I want to know over under one and a half quarters until Giants fans are booing the home team when they play the Panthers at MetLife. This is coming from Leonard Williams basically complaining that Giants fans are booing them. He doesn't like it. This keeps happening in sports and especially in New York. Aren't they just asking for more boos? 100%. Just shut up and play better. It's that simple, right? Like you get booed when you don't play well. I played on bad teams. You get booed. Just play better and you won't get booed it's that simple you lost 38 to 3

in the nfl game it's not it's not it's not georgia vanderbilt it's an nfl game like yeah you get booed these fans are paying a lot of money to see you suck they're gonna boo you and they're gonna boo you in the first three and out against the panthers next weekend yeah play better football man and you won't get booed like i'm tired of players complaining about booing. So, I mean, they're going to get asked about it. So what's the advice? Just say, yeah, I get it. You know, I get it. We didn't play well.

I don't blame them for booing. Yeah, we need to play better. That's it. You just give them athlete speak and hope that the media move on, right? Because he just fed this by answering, I guess, honestly, when he said they do bother me, honestly, when he was asked about the booze. So he should just say like, yeah, it's they can do what they want. It's just our job to play better.

It feels like, again, you're feeding the frenzy by admitting it gets to you. Just be like, yeah, yeah, we heard it. Wasn't great. Or, you know, I didn't like it, but I know why we're doing it. We just have to play better football. Yeah. All right. Well, I mean, good luck to the Giants then,

because I think they're going to hear it as loud as they've heard it in a few years. The other thing that's different about New York is like Jets fans, Jets fans expect the team to be bad. It's almost part of being a Jets fan is like that you kind of hate them. That's why I eventually just gave up. But Giants fans expect their team to be good. I mean, you know this. Like they win it every few years.

You know, in my lifetime, the Giants have been winners. So they really do take it hard when the team sucks, which explains it. Like you got to be used to those boos. Yeah. I mean, we got booed all the time. Been booed plenty of times. Like, you just, again, you just have to play better football, and you won't get booed.

Yeah. Well, this is a chance to bring up, I'm going to throw a curveball at you. So Aaron Rodgers runs the ball in, looks like vintage Aaron, like back in the day when he was moving around more. Basically ices the game against the Bears, and then the the mike catches him saying i own you i still own you basically in the direction of a bunch of bears fans and then turns out you know there's video he said they were giving him the middle finger of course

they were a lot of video of that yeah and so we all laughed about it the media was laughing about it with aaron after the game and i guess i just want to know like is it just because it happened to get picked up on the mic that this is a story or like is there something special about that moment it feels to me it's a story because the mic picked it up that's it all right but do you think the mic did pick it up and he seemed super confident after and they're on a hot streak themselves we barely talked about them earlier doesn't swaggy rogers kind of terrify you like we were worried if this guy still wanted it and now he looks like he's never wanted it more isn't that a little terrifying if you play in the nfc it totally is but the packers you know they haven't really um they haven't they're very quiet five and one um because they haven't they haven't they're very quiet 5-1

because they haven't they haven't won with the same ease we've seen in the past. I mean, you know, this was 24-14, right? They beat the Bengals by 3.

They beat the Sears by 10. Niners by 2. Lions by 17 or 18, I should say. But they've been really beat up, right? Offense linemen out and Jairzander out.

When they get guys back, we're going to realize how good they are. But I think also, Gabe, same with the Ravens, right? It's like, okay, you win a lot of regular season games. Like, you know, they were 26-6 in the regular season heading into this, under Matt LaFleur heading into this year. They're 31-7. Like, okay, okay, okay. Do it in January, which they have.

They've been in two NCAA championship games. I think people are just waiting for that moment, waiting for the playoffs again with the Packers. We know what you can do. You can win regular season games. What can you do in January? That's why I think, and that's a good place to be for the Packers, right?

The expectations are, let's see what we do in January. Well, okay. Then I think they should pay a bunch more fans to sit in the front row every stadium they go to to give double birds to Aaron Rodgers in January because whatever it takes whether it's drafting some kid that he doesn't think the team needs or oh my gosh imagine being given the you know the middle finger by an opposing fan as you as you ruin his game like whatever it takes to get aaron rogers to care is what you got to do he's

in this like weird zen place nothing rattles the dude you got to get him a little pissed off if you want to win so i found packers fan uh the ownership or whoever you know the ownership group over there in green bay i'm like paying guys to be trolls in the front rows of all my visiting games that's a great i not thought about that but that's a great it's a great strategy all right let's work on that we can we can popularize that idea interesting so you pay so everywhere you go yeah you just have a bunch of people in the stands flipping them off i don't i don't dislike that like a political rally like now those people aren't all showing up with all those crazy signs.

Like, some of those people are kind of, you know, paid to be there. You do the very same thing. You just put the worst people you can possibly find right in the front row, and you just have them MFing Rodgers the whole game long. What would the cost be for you to attend a political rally for an opponent you do not like just to get paid to be in the crowd? Oh, for me, personally? Yeah. I think I would not do that but i but but my cost if i didn't i care a little too much about

politics if i didn't care very much and i think most people don't care very much i don't know you know 100 bucks after your after your political setback are you gonna are you gonna you're gonna go for it again yeah i think i might run for a neighborhood council position again one day jeff i've got i've got to make a comeback. How can I help you on social media? Is there a push I can make? You got to let me know. When the time comes, I'll tell you what I need your help with.

The problem is, you know, you talk a lot of shit about USC and I'm appealing to a USC voting base. So I think you could be a real turnoff. I might want to distance my campaign from you when time comes. Okay, good to know. Yeah, not, you're not really helpful. I could definitely see the uppities in Manhattan Beach or Marina Del Rey be very, be very upset that I knocked the USC Trojans down a little bit. Yeah. That's, that could cost me an election. So let's not go there. Hey, real quick. I don't know if you saw this video. It's kind of hard to describe, but over under 33% odds,

Russ has a headset and a play sheet on the sidelines next week. This pregame video of him was just the stupidest thing I've seen all week. He did actually have – he had a headphone and a play sheet on his arm. He wore like the play card on his arm during the game, and he was out there for the – Look, man, that's funny. I tweeted out – so Russell Wilson before the game was caught doing a mock, like two minute drive on camera

what a surprise right the camera's watching the whole time I tweeted out like does Russell Wilson ask for the cameras to be there or do they just

catch them doing so people were like well the cameras are always on and they go on 90 minutes before I go I know I know it's a joke

you have a mansplaining me what the cameras do okay I know what the cameras are on the point is that he of course got himself videotaped running a mock two minuteminute drill before the game.

Yeah. For what purpose? What are you doing? What are you? You could have done this yesterday. You could have done this when no cameras were around before the game. But you're like a tool, man. It's so corny.

And he's out there at the second half. He's out there in the overtime coin's out he's out there the the overtime coin toss bro you're an injured reserve you're not playing let someone else do it let someone else do it yeah he i mean corny is the right word and he's obviously a great player and he's not doing anything to harm anyone there's no like he just looks dorky it's it's it's not hurting anyone's feelings it's not hurting anyone's feelings it's not maybe it's an attempt to distract from the guys out on the field but it doesn't seem like it's being done with malice he's just a dork you know he's a lovable enough dork um do you

think he's going to be in seattle next year i sort of asked you about this a couple weeks ago do you really think he'll be there i don't know what if what if pete carroll goes back to usc though i thought about that i wondered about that yeah i don't know which is what if Pete Carroll goes back to USC though I thought about that I wondered about that yeah I don't know which is more likely Pete Carroll leaves to go back to SC or

I think Wilson Russell leaves to go get a ring somewhere I think Wilson's done in Seattle they don't have a first round pick this year like he needs I think he realized

that he has to leave to win a championship now if he wants to win another championship he's got to leave yeah well I mean I'd like to see him compete for one he's fun when russ is at his best he's a lot of fun but is he too is he is he willing

to to kind of do what it takes to get out you mean piss people off yeah and fight for himself um i yeah i don't i don't know what does he call himself mr unbelievable mr all right the hell is this mr who gives a shit i i'm just unlimited or something i don't know something stupid okay uh all right jeff real quick we always like to keep track of the the stuff people are streaming in the last little segment here um number of weeks before jeff realizes he should be watching succession over under two and a half from now. Oh, geez. I know you're very busy. I know, I know, I know. I did the Squid Giants and this and that. I did the Squid Games

though. Don't give anything away. I'm not all that good. I would have been dead. I would never made it through. Would you have made it through? I've only seen a few episodes, Jeff, so I don't want any spoilers here for me or for anyone listening. No, I would not have made it through the first episode of... Oh, I would have made it through the first episode of...

Oh, I would have made it through Red Light, Green Light. You really think so? Yeah. You think you can stop? I have great body control. You get that big body moving, you think you can stop on a dime? Yes.

And if the old man can do it... Do you even finish the series yet? No, no. Don't. Just leave it right there. The old man... Have you done Tug of War yet? Have you gone there yet?

Nope. I just got finished with the weird one where they're licking uh oh look at the sugar candy i mean licking sugar candy is right up my alley that'd be great that one i would see you succeeding that that seems like something i would be very good i told you before i came the first episode i ever saw i watched it backwards not backwards my wife was watching red light green light imagine coming downstairs after finishing radio and uh you're watching actually you know what i think it was the night we recorded uh monday night instead of instead of monday so 10 o'clock coming downstairs and red light green lights on and i'm like

uh what uh what's happening and uh i went back and watched it's very good the ending will surprise you all right well don't don't do anything more on that what was your answer to my question weeks until succession i think i watched the first season before um i'm gonna have to go back and watch it i guess but i don't know everyone's tweeting about it today i saw it's time to carve out some time for succession jeff what's it about it's about a family of i you know i have seen the first because the first season doesn't the sun at the very end he makes a coup attempt right basically that's like kind of every episode is some version of that. It's a great show.

It's very well written. It's got some really good. It's like a combination of like serious and funny. It's probably the only thing out there that I could say rivals Barry in terms of like the balance of like you get a great laugh and then like a really intense. I haven't watched Barry yet either. Oh, my God. It's the first season of barry do you do you watch shows like from the perspective of producing stuff i i can't help it in a lot of cases but i don't make anything like those shows so that's

easier for me to just sit back and enjoy our shows not as good as succession how dare you well i like to take your question seriously like like when the Monday night, you know, the Mannings do the Monday night simulcast. That's what you, yeah. That's the kind of thing I've been around that. I've been around those kinds of guys. I've made that kind of stuff at ESPN. That I can't watch just as a fan,

the way most of my friends can. But, you know, Squid Games, I can just, you know, sit down and watch. Does your wife like Squid Game? Yeah, very into it. So my wife does not like violent shows, but she love that show for some reason it was like because it's violent but like not that it's like violent in a weird way you don't feel like people are getting murdered as the rate they are yeah well i think that's sort of the point right right like you're supposed to

forget that these are humans yes and i mean 200 of them get murked in the first, first show. Like it's just, you're like, uh, and then I think also the background of the people you're like, Oh, like whatevs,

like they know what they're signing up for. Right. You're like, okay, cool. Whatever. It's kind of a bad way to feel about humans. I think they're trying the,

the makers of the show want you to sort of come to grips with the feelings you're having as you're like oh whatever as you see a hundred people get mowed down and you're like that's no big deal they want you to process that you just had that feeling and that's wrong but yeah are you are you watching in in korean with subtitles yes yeah that's the way that's the way to go yeah i don't like a lot of us watching the dub it does not it's weird no i think that's not the way it was meant to go yeah I don't like I don't know if I was watching the dub it does not it's weird no I think that's not the way it was meant to be seen

and it makes you pay closer attention if you got to read the subtitles and it's a show you have to pay close attention to so yes yes

so all right guys well we have made it again we ended of course with a show that I've never watched before and I'm always

like three months behind any of these shows so I will catch up on succession I'll give you guys an update on where we stand with that in a couple of months. Thank you guys for joining us. We'll be back. I mean, are we still allowed to do gambling shows, Gabe?

I don't know. I'm not sure if we're allowed. You need to focus. I need two picks out of the Pac-12 every week. And then, you know. I get those. I give out picks on the radio here and there. Let's see.

So I'm 23 and 14 on the radio, Pac-12 picks. What's going on on the podcast, man? I'm 14 and 7 when I give out just picks on Twitter for a pack. I don't give out all the picks on Twitter because I have to give them all for my radio show. NFL, I'm not that on the NFL at all. I don't know, man. It's not been good, but I think I'm still getting paid to do a gambling show. So we'll make someone money because if you fade me, you'll make a lot of money.

You're overthinking it, Jeff. You started the show with this point. I'm going to make it now. Public was a big winner on Sunday. Don't get so complicated. You see a favorite you like, bet them. Fuck you. You keep losing.

The second I take next week. Just bet the Rams. The Rams are favored by like 17 against Houston this weekend. Yes. Or Lions or something this weekend. Give it to me. I'll just take the 17-point. Yeah, because the Rams have never lost a game at home as huge favors.

Don't overthink it, Jeff. Remember last year? Huge favorite at home against the New York Football Jets. Look, just maybe you need a dumb public better like me instead of a sharp like Matt in there really questioning the data. Just say, screw it, man. Let's go Rams. I'm killing it in super contest.

I'm doing a great job. Oh, you are? Oh, yeah. I had a 5-0 week a week ago, and then we're going to be a winner this week too. I'm definitely not. Who do you have tonight? You have a game tonight?

You picked Buffalo tonight? No, no. Actually, I got to double check. I think we pulled a 3-2 on Sunday. Oh, good for you. Okay. Yeah, we didn't touch Buffalo. Not good for me.

So, all right, guys. We'll be back, as usual, powered by the Varsity Podcast Network. Please rate, review, subscribe. Really appreciate getting a lot of feedback. We'll be back on Thursday, and it can't be any worse. So, we'll have some winners for you guys. We'll do that next Thursday. All right. Talk to you a lot of feedback. We'll be back on Thursday and it can't be any worse. So we'll have some winners for you guys. We'll do that next Thursday. All right, talk to you guys then.

Goodbye.