Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - NFL Week 14 Reactions

Episode Date: December 11, 2023

Pat Mahomes and the Chiefs lost to the Bills, the Eagles got blown out by the Chiefs, and the Ravens now sit atop the AFC. Gabe joins Geoff to talk about all the above and much more in this week's episode. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It's Monday, December 11th. I'm Jeff Schwartz. It's Jeff Schwartz of Smart. We're live on Twitter, YouTube, and we're on your podcast platform of choice. Thank you for joining us to a reaction Monday for the National Football League that we just saw this past weekend. Two games tonight that we'll preview at the end of the show with our friends. PrizePix is a skill-based, real-money, daily fantasy sports game. Go to PrizePix and use code GSSY for a first deposit matchup to $100. You pick two to six players if they will go more or less

than the PricePix projections. Move to 25 times your money on any entry. We're making the selections for the two Monday Night Football games, Gabe. They're not staggered. They're not staggered. They're at the same freaking time on two Disney channels, ABC and ESPN. It's Packers-Giants. It is Titans

and it is Dolphins dolphins one of those games i think will be a blood the other one might be pretty close um and we had some national football league to go over from yesterday how was your weekend my weekend was great jeff thank you for asking we had the little league uh awards on friday uh some birthday party action and then the usc basketball game it was me and lebron couple dads watching the guys play we will get to your experience at the galen center for that yeah it was a fun a fun uh a fun day for you as a father and and an opportunity for uh usc to get started with uh with brawny jr but we have more pressing matters and that is the football team i

root for yes uh might be dumpster fire right now more more of a family affair i would say than anything i got going on with lebron at usc you and your brother mitch who of course won a ring being probably the smartest and most reliable guy on this chief's dynasty uh you two had to tweet your way through another loss uh and the story obviously was how the game ended so you know there's some nuance here i'm sure some of the people listening saw the cadarious tony play very differently than i saw it so i'll just leave it to you jeff what the hell went wrong and who do we blame because everyone is pissed well how did you see it first like not non non trolley game how did you see the play very obviously he lined up in the neutral zone there's no real contention about like the

facts there the only seemingly debatable point here is whose responsibility it is to know that you are lined up off so i'd like you to make me a little smarter there and then also probably tell a bunch of people to chill okay first and foremost guys cadarious tony it's his responsibility to not line up a full ball past the actual line of scrimmage that's on him full stop he is a grown adult playing national football. Go to line of scrimmage and make sure that you are legally lined up. First job. This is why, Gabe, I never blame the officials because guess what? You choose your path. Just line up correctly. It's one step back. And the best part about it too is when you watch the play, he is staring directly at the ball from 10 yards

away. He could have just been like yeah it kind of looks like i might be off sides i'm gonna move back like half a step it was half a step wasn't even a lot and when you juxtapose that with with the right tackle juwan taylor being like two yards off the ball the other direction the right tackle is this way the the slot receiver is up this way and the the stinky part is that it ruined a truly incredible football play i mean travis kelsey catches the football and look they would have the ball at the 20 minute 20 left like plenty of time to score a game-winning touchdown doing a touchdown that's not good enough for travis kelsey he's gonna throw the ball

like 30 yards across the field to darius t Tony not by the way I don't think at all plan play I think Romo says I'm like oh my god that was planned watch it no chance you think Travis Kelsey has that much freedom to make that play unplanned yeah I don't wait you think that was planned I don't well this is the second thing I really wanted to get into with you which was I don't think it was planned at all. Oh, well, hold on. Let's spend a minute here. We'll come back to the Pat freaking out and the refs and all that. I think that he is given the freedom to do things like that if he sees it there.

But I don't think Hedera's tone, he was like, I'm going to stand over here and wait. And hopefully he throws me the football. So you think it's a coincidence. I assumed, first of all, that no matter how great Travis Kelsey is, no matter how much freedom he and Pat have to improvise in this offense, which is clear, that even he cannot just take that chance in that spot where you're in field goal range to tie the game and probably can still win the game. You don't risk that turnover unless it's part of a play.

2.2, maybe the reason Kadarius Toney's lined up overly eagerly is because they're running a trick play and he knows it. All right, so I'm watching the play again. Okay. They have Rasheed Rice is blocking almost immediately once Kelsey catches the ball. Tony just runs his route and stops. I mean, the thing about it is why I think it would, if it was going to be like an actual specifically called for the situation,

I think Tony would have run closer to Kelsey and not just stand by himself. Even though, I don't know, man. I don't, I'll put it like this. I don't think they called like Kelsey catch the ball, pitch to Tony play, put it like that. I think that if it was there, he could do it. But I don't think specifically they called like, because they don't, first of all, they don't need that in this spot.

No. They don't need it in this exact play. That's why I don't think it was like, well, let's just, it's the, you know, Travis Kelsey throw to – I don't know, man. I'm watching it again. Well, it was beautifully executed. Too bad none of it counted. The thing that would give me a reason why it would be planned

is that Kelsey seems to know pretty quickly he's doing this. He's looking for it, and he timed the release. That's why I think the looking for it part is why he can just do it if he wants but it wasn't actual called play because if it was called play i mean he's looking at tony for a while before he throws the ball it's a good throw though i'll tell you that holy heck it's a great throw okay everything about it was perfect not the point about this is not that it was an incredible play. So, Kelsey's offside. Kateri's on his offsides. So, the complaint from the Chiefs and from other former players is that the procedure for how this typically works at the line of scrimmage is a wide receiver walked up to the line of scrimmage.

They point to the official. The official gives them a thumbs up or tells them to move depending on what they're supposed to be whether it's the honor off the ball right okay um and you see in the clip and brian baldinger put out a video of this and it showed in the all 22 right the video you see on tv too that rashid rice on the other side checks and tony't check. Now, Josh Cohen, who's a producer for CBS, said after the game on Twitter, and Tracy Wolfson also confirmed this, that they have video of Rashi Rice,

of Kedaris Tony checking if he is aligned correctly. The second part of this, Gabe, is that the official has to acknowledge your check. You can't just point and the official doesn't see you. And look, even a tackle. When I play tackle, and there were games, you know, like we've seen Jawan Taylor get flack for being too early. I would turn to the referee, do the same thing.

I pointed at him, and he'd give me a thumbs up. You're good, buddy. I'd do it three or four times, and then he'd forget about me and never get called for being too far in the backfield, right? So not just wide receivers do it, but a lot of people end up doing it on the field. And the Chiefs are upset because they claim that, they claim that there should be a warning

before this is called. And that's totally true. A lot of times they will warn tackles and wide receivers for misaligning. They'll give you a one warning. The thing about this one though, is he was so blatantly off sides that you have to call it.

And I've seen referees talk about that. He was so off sides that you had to call this. He was so off sides that you had to call this, and I don't blame them for doing this. The anger that we saw from Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid,ed to me is not about the officiating it's about the team and they use the officials and that moment to let all the anger out of this season i know chiefs fans have said well four or five games have been cost by

by you know by drop passes and whatnot yeah, there's been those moments this year. That doesn't mean they're going to win every game. Look, there's still a minute 20 left for Buffalo to go down the field. But it's been simmering, right? It's been simmering. Tony dropped a pass earlier in the game. Rasheed Rice fumbled. Like, this has been simmering.

And Mahomes and Andy Meade are not guys that are going to cuss out players, like their own teammates. So, to me me this is all about this just anger being released on the officials it's a bad look i would imagine today as we record this early uh early afternoon on uh on monday that mahomes will come to the podium today and andy will apologize for the way that they think they said yesterday they're probably gonna find anyways but um it's a bad look we complaining about the officials like the way they have especially because he was off sides but to me gave the anger is a release of energy about everything else and the officials just become

easy targets um in this moment to yell at yeah okay well so then they're pissed at themselves for playing bad football the last few weeks uh simple as that we uh we got to the we got to the place uh you know about the halfway mark where we were like well the chiefs are going to be the in the super bowl again we don't have to spend as much time thinking and talking about them and they've mostly lost since that point you know and i think we all agree they're definitely still one of the better teams but they're absolutely not the favorite in the afc anymore and you know we'll get a look at miami tonight we've seen the ravens continue to win even after losing mark andrews what is the fix

like maybe they should start yelling at each other maybe andy should mf his team like what do they do i mean look the accountability thing i'd like to see publicly um and maybe we'll see that today gabe we'll see them say you know what yeah i gotta take you on more accountability for the but the thing about it is they're just not good at wide receiver this season and they got away with it last season and i just don't think that there's a solution this year i don't think there's going to they're going to snap out of of this funk on offense with wide receivers just all something now the question to me is about the future right like rishi rice looks like he's the real deal of course the fumble hurt but he looks like he's a good football player you just got to find this is a huge draft for uh you know for wide receiver yourself a wide

receiver and then um you know and then you you find a a couple guys in for agency i don't think they're going to pay for like a mike evans or you know davante adams but get yourself some quality depth and and go about next year i don't think there's this year doesn't feel like there's going to be this reckoning of good play all of a sudden, right? Oh my God, we're good again. Their schedule is pretty easy down the stretch. It's a bunch of Mac Jones and Easton

Stick and a bunch of bums. It's an easy schedule to finish out. But that doesn't change the problems you're going to have in the playoffs against good teams. I've gotten to the point where I keep saying it's going to change, it's going to change. It's not going to change.

This is who they are. And a sign of a bad offense is a different player is responsible for the bad plays. So, for example, this game, right? Ray Sheeran had a fumble. There was a play where Travis Kelsey stopped running on on a route mahomes skips a pass the right guard allows a sack cadarez tony lines up off sides and the reason why this matters is when you have one player you have a tackle out or a bad wide receiver or a bad something you can scheme your way around that

you can find ways to make it work you You can find ways to make it work. You can't find ways to make it work where you don't know where the problem's going to be each play. And that's where Kansas City's at right now. And to me, there's just no fix this year. The fix is getting through the season, learning from it, and getting prepared to play next year. Now, who wins the AFC, man?

I don't know. Baltimore, Miami. I think Buffalo is not a bad option right now as a Super Bowl contender. They have a talented quarterback to get it done. They just, you know, they're not playing great. Defensively, they're okay. Last night was better. But, again, I can make the case that, again, it was a lot of the Chiefs' issues,

more than the Bills, you know, giving it to them. the chiefs issues more than the bills uh you know giving it to them so but i i the bills the bills might be one of those teams that uh you know uh you know has a a sneaky chance to be no i don't think i'm gonna buy that i'm sorry we spent like nine weeks talking about how the bills weren't it i don't just because they want a game or two i know that they've started to look a little better they somehow the boat started to sink and they like pulled it out of the water and now it's floating kind of again but the thing's very leaky i'm not i'm not buying the bills sorry can't get me there so you're ravens or dolphins it's dolphins it's dolphins and and once again who haven't beat a good team this season i'm'm not worried about it. Show me, by the way, it's the perfect thing to do is to put them on against another team on Monday Night Football.

To your point, as we started the show, we are only going to have to watch the fourth quarter of one game tonight. OK, the Dolphins will be just fine. Tyreek's going to have 150 before we hit the fourth quarter. We're not worried about it. No, no, not at all no so so let's talk about that for a second uh in a shootout i like the dolphins against the chiefs i don't i don't because i'm an idiot and you're the smart guy on the show i don't know how to believe in the ravens if all i've ever been told is the best player,

not named Lamar on that team is Mark Andrews. And he's out. There's no one else there. Now I guess OB, OBJ had a good game this weekend, but like, come on, are we expecting Odell Beckham to be the guy you played with?

Like that's, that's 10 years ago. Yeah. Like they're not real. The bills aren't real. Well, well, here's the thing.

So the ravens go at jacksonville at san francisco miami the next three weeks that miami game is christmasy is a new year's eve that might be for the number one seed so to me well you know let's catch with the ravens on january 1st when we do a show possibly on the 1st. I need to see what the Ravens are after they play those games because the Rams game was good, but it took overtime to win that game. Lost the Browns a couple weeks ago.

Beat the Chargers. Who cares? The Chargers are terrible. Bengals without Burrow, right? I think Burrow got hurt in that game, right? So give me this jacksonville niners dolphin stretch and we'll know more about about baltimore's viability in the postseason okay well i'm gonna skip out of order here because i think most shows would be eager to jump into

that eagles cowboys game but you just brought something up that's really been bugging me the last uh 24 hours the bangles you're you're sort of marking the bangles without burrow as a win now please explain to me. I'm not doing a bit here. I am being very sincere. From what I've seen of Jake Browning, who was a pretty good college football player. I know you didn't love him as a college player

because he went to Washington. Couldn't stick in the NFL for a couple years. Now all of a sudden he's starting in an offense that we were told Joe Burrow was a singular talent. Joe Burrow, Joe Cool, he was the best player. He was the most capable of rivaling Patrick Mahrow was a singular talent. Joe Burrow, Joe Cool, he was the best player. He was the most capable of rivaling Patrick Mahomes. Generational talent.

He goes down, a guy who could not make an NFL team, is putting up Joe Burrow numbers for two straight weeks, and they're winning. Please explain to me how both these things can be true. This one guy's the best ever, and this other guy sucks, and they both do the same thing in that role yes you know when i was watching them play i'm like oh well is we have a quarterback controversy in in uh in cincinnati um here look um we have seen this season a couple games stretch for backup quarterbacks where they look much better than the starter

and you're like wait wait why isn't this guy starting for for for so many years right we've seen that and this entire season when that has happened you know next couple of games Gabe we get back a quarterback again right I mean look at, look at Josh Dobbs. Josh Dobbs, great story, great early start in Arizona, great early start in Minnesota. And I think I'm correct to say it's three points yesterday, three points after scoring 10 points and 20 points the last three games. Like the quarterback thing is great for a while. Teams figure it out.

Teams figure it out. The Bengals have awesome weapons. They're doing a great job of using those weapons with Jake Browning. But I am not one who believes Jake Browning is going to complete 85% of passes for the rest of the season. So I think we'll have a comeback down to earth moment at some point with him as we've had with a bunch of backup quarterbacks this season that start fast um you know even zach wilson's had some games you're like holy heck he looks like even yesterday like oh my is this a real quarterback now the the guy is a backup for a reason it's not

one of these like situations in my opinion where he becomes you know a stud all of a sudden after two games i just i would caution people in believing that this is who Jake Browning will be the rest of the season. Okay. But I'm not really focused on Jake Browning. Good for him. He's had a couple of good games. I agree with you. Probably plenty of scouts and evaluators have determined that he's one of the 60 best quarterbacks in the world, but he's not one of the 30 best quarterbacks in the world. but he's not one of the 30 best quarterbacks in the world. Let that's about where Jake Browning is. I'm questioning what this says about Joe Burrow and our certainty that he is

otherworldly. If this can be done with a backup, perhaps Zach Taylor needs a raise, but to my point, like let's have this conversation again in a month and see what Jake Brown is still doing. I mean, Jake Browning had three screen passes yesterday that accounted for, I would imagine, 40% of his yardage yesterday.

Let's come back to me in a month with this, Gabe. I don't think this is a situation where it's like, well, Jake Browning, I saw people talking about yesterday what his tender is going to be for next season. Guys, take a deep breath. Take a deep breath. We saw this happen many times here. Backup comes in, plays well, and eventually fizzles out because it's hard.

There's a reason why guys are backups in the National Football League. If Browning was good enough, it's just like year five in the NFL. Someone would have been like giving him a chance already, right, if he was good enough. He's played well so far. The Bengals are playing well. They have some life. But, you know, I don't think this is the future of the Bengals.

You know what's true of the two MVP frontrunners in the NFC? What? Both were considered backups. Dak wasn't drafted to be the next guy. Brock Purdy sure as hell wasn't. And those two guys look like world beaters right now. Yeah, but Dak started from his rookie season. He had to.

He was like a fourth rounder, mobile quarterback from Mississippi State. Nobody was expecting him to be the Dallas Cowboys franchise quarterback for a decade. Now here he is. But let's give him his roses, right? Like he's playing really well. And I think he, he probably sort of jumped ahead with that win yesterday over the Eagles. He probably sort of jumped ahead of Brock Purdy. Cause I think the narrative on Brock Purdy is it's his weapons. It's not him for some reason. That's not the narrative with Dak Prescott, who has CD lamb and a bunch of other guys running around out there.

But what do you like about Dak right now and that win over the Eagles, which I have to admit I did not see coming? Well, so this is the reason why I don't think Brock Purdy wins the MVP is because whenever you talk about Brock Purdy, right or wrong, the first thing anyone says is system, wide receivers, weapons. With Dak, your point's accurate. There are plenty of weapons. We talk about Dak first, right?

And the Cowboys right now defensively force a bunch of turnovers, which was important in that game. And Dak Prescott's just playing at a really high level. The offense is operating and functioning at a high level. The thing about Philly, though, I'm going to pull this up right now because it's pretty remarkable. I think Philly allowed points on 10 straight possessions at some point in this game. They allowed eight touchdowns and a field goal and kneel down the last 10 possessions straight possessions at some point in this game.

They allowed eight touchdowns and a field goal and kneeled down the last 10 possessions by halftime of this game. So he took advantage of a poor Eagles defense, and he was good, man. He's playing really, really good football. When it's rolling, it's fun to watch in Dallas. Do you think they're winning the NFC? I don't know. I would have said hell no until this weekend. Yeah.

I mean, my boy wanted to watch the game, and I was all excited to do it. And then I was like, bud, it's not a game. You got to go to sleep, man. You're not staying up for a game that's a three-score game. Go to bed. Yeah, I went to bed too not gonna lie um me and your son in the same boat here though dallas this is the game we're waiting for right we're waiting for okay big moment big stage they had not beat a team of the winning record until yesterday and they kicked the shed of the eagles man they played really good football

dac again and mccarthy look give give mccarthy credit we've made fun of him on this show um but the team is going the right direction and um they're they're playing good i mean it's simple they're playing very good football game yeah all right well i'll take the other side then for a moment and uh nick behind the scenes laid this out nicely so we had we had earmarked this stretch for the Eagles as killer, and they got through it okay, you know, three and two during a five-game stretch that included some very good teams. And now their award are Monday night Seahawks,

then they get Giants at home, Eagles at home, at Giants to end the season. So without a whole lot of effort, they could end the season 4-0. Oh yeah, absolutely. Yeah, no, to me the Eagles are not like a team that's dead. I hope people don't look at this and think that they're dead. I think there's legitimate questions, though, about their defense. Well, so yeah, fill me in on that because all I know is that they keep on getting guys who everyone knows were great. For some reason, no one wants. Then they get to the Eagles and they're awesome. How does that keep happening?

Dude, coaches? It's that simple, right? I mean, Eagles have they're really well good organization they've proven year over year to be able to develop players be able to identify players that fit their scheme that's a huge important part of of just talent acquisition is do you have players that fit what you do um and when you load up on offensive line and pass rusher you're typically going to play well game and they've load up on offensive line and pass rusher, you're typically going to play well game, and they load up on offensive line and pass rusher.

Now, the secondary and linebacker are some question marks, right? I mean, this is sort of why – this is why windows of Super Bowl are so small, right? You get to Super Bowl, if you're not Kansas City or New England, you know, the last 25 years, like, it's hard to get back to one. And we're seeing, you know, the defense, and this is what happens year after year for the most part, right? Defense fluctuates year over year, right? One year good, one year bad, one year good, one year bad.

And they're in that spot right now where they're just not playing as well. The pass rush is not getting home like it did last season. Secondary pieces are being left out there by themselves too long because the pass rush is not getting home. And teams are making them pay. And we're seeing that the last couple weeks now with the Niners and Cowboys. Again, these are the best teams you're going to play.

But also, it's worth pointing out that they might go 4-0 down the stretch, but they still have to go through the Cowboys and the Niners in the playoffs, too. So you've shown the last two weeks that you're not able to do that. That's a little cause for concern. Yeah.

Well, you left out one team that a few weeks ago, everyone really wanted to keep in that category with those three, the Cowboys, Eagles, Niners, and there was a fourth team. It was the Detroit Lions. It sounded weird to some of us, but everyone wanted that to be the case. So they're not real are they no okay i i wrote this down in our text thread yesterday tell me if you think it's true the lions now are the opposite of the lions all through the stafford years they have everything

they need right now except a quarterback back then all they had was a quarterback and arguably the greatest receiver of all time. They couldn't do anything else. Right. What would they do if they just had a, a top 10 quarterback? Would they be the favorite? The defense is terrible.

So you think so? That's the problem. Okay. Well, no, I think golf, I don't really watch the lion. So golf outside in bad weather is a huge issue.

That's absolutely true. But their defense has just not been good the last six weeks or so like it's a it's a whole team issue in my opinion they're fun but they have a long way to go i mean the quarterback need a new one still have to continue to get better on defense um it's a fun story they're probably in the division gabe but they're not contending the nfc there's just no way yeah well we'll get a look at a competition for them by the way the bears are silently or quietly not a total complete joke uh they've started to win a little bit fields is better i don't really think we have to talk about them much but the packers we might we'll see what happens monday night that'll get us to our our prize pick segment in a moment so why don't

we take a quick break come back we'll do picks. We'll hit a couple other stories from college and around the sports world. Otani, Ronnie, LA. This is the place to be, Jeff. Let's take a quick break. We'll come right back. We'll do some picks. Guys, I want to tell you about my favorite new daily fantasy game I have been playing this season. PrizePix is a skill-based real money daily fantasy sports game. How does it work? You pick two to six players and if they will go more or less than the PrizePix projection. You can win up to 25 times your money in any entry. So go to PrizePix and use code GSSY for a first deposit match up to $100.

It's so easy to use. I can make my picks in less than 60 seconds. The depositing was simple and straightforward. They even just added Apple Pay, so I was able to get up in minutes and start playing. At PrizePix, you're competing against other people. It's just you versus projections available instead of battling thousands of other players, including pros and sharks. So follow along my weekly entry and see if you can do better remember go to prize picks and

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The only way to qualify for my big game pool is to beat me in one of the regular season pools, which won't happen because, as you know, I am smarter than you. I will be using Vaulted to make and store my five favorite predictions of the week. So join Vaulted, and you can like, dislike, comment, interact with my predictions, or if you're bold enough, you can make your own and see how smart you are in football, which won't be as smart as me. Go download Vaulted, spelled V-L-T-E-D, and remember to use the code Jeff. That's G-E-O-F-F.

So you can see my predictions and play along. All right, Gabe, we're back from break. We're going to hit prize picks for Monday Night Football in just a second here. But let's talk about your experience. You were there at Galen Center for USC Long Beach State it was Brawny Jr. his first game back as really his first game in USC's uniform first game back from his cardiac arrest you were there to witness the biggest event in Los Angeles the day after Shohei Otani got paid 700 million dollars by the judge have we by way, have we seen a failure of reporting as erroneous

as the Ohtani was going to Blue Jays stuff we saw for 24 hours? I don't know who that came from, but it seems like the agent fed that because they wanted the Dodgers to up the price for Ohtani. But, I mean, reputable MLB people were like, Ohtani's going to Toronto today on a flight, and he was not even on an airplane the entire day. Bad job. But you were there to witness the next wave of USC basketball,

which there never was a first wave. But nonetheless, Gabe, you were there. How was seeing Bronny Jr. in person? There's nothing but sincerity in everything I'm about to say. It was completely awesome. We got there a few minutes before LeBron showed up. Kids were in warmups. They were about to start the anthem. LeBron walked in. Every single person in there was aware of him and his son. LeBron tried very, very hard not to be the center of attention. He obviously spoke with the people

at the arena. Don't put me up on the jumbotron. By the way, my children probably up there about five times, cute kids doing a lot of dancing. They were up there. LeBron was not. When Bronny got in the game and he only probably played at most 20 minutes, I would guess less actually. He looked like he didn't quite know where he was supposed to go, but was every bit the athlete that we expected. A couple great defensive plays, hit a shot, missed an important free throw. Didn't look perfect, but absolutely looked like he was going to be a real part of this team come March. They've got a couple seven-footers who can play. They've got some wings, Collier and Boogie Ellis, who can play.

You know from following the conference. I think they're going to be really fun come March, and the building is completely electric, and LeBron showing up gives them like 1,000 extra points. That said, it also makes it the NBA Finals for anyone who comes to the Galen Center, and a couple kids on Long Beach State looked like Steph Curry because they were trying to ball out in front of LeBron. The USC Trojans are going to get the same treatment that Colorado Buffalo's football has where everyone is going to try to play their best game against USC. LeBron's in the crowd. Bronny's there. And Bronny's like the seventh best player

on the team right now he's not a guy who is you know right now right obviously was out for a while but even then like even i think as his best he's the third or fourth best team on this this current i agree yeah and so like he's not even the best player there but it's lebron james kid and lebron james is going to be at the gaming every all these games this was on pacto network was on pacto network it might have been i was there in person don't know um but you know the game's going to be at the gaming every all these games this was on pacto network was on pacto network it might have been i was there in person don't know um but you know the game is going to be on television more often and people are going to try to do this sort of reminds me of when the the odell catch game uh the giants lost that game but no one ever no one remembers that because

it feels like all the highlights yesterday were like look look at Bronny Jr. chase down block from behind. And that's how the final score was like Long Beach State 86, USC 76. Well, whoopsie. So, look, it's good for whatever few months Pac-12 has left. And USC basketball, look, Pac-12's got good basketball again this year. Not again, but it's been a while. I mean, Arizona uh you know usc oregon's injured but can be good ucla we'll see if they can get it right utah had a big upset this

one colorado beat miami i mean like it's needs to be on the upswing right right the worst time right when everything is is done gabe right when the pac-12 is is finished and kaput is when uh we're good at sports again i'm gonna a little pro tip here shout out for the women's game pack 12 women's hoops was always dominant oh yeah and juju watkins at usc probably the best basketball player on earth right now against the competition obviously i'm not saying she's gonna beat lebron one-on-one but she sensational. A ton of fun to watch. Guaranteed 30 every night, which is a lot in a women's game. Like she's a serious scorer. Yeah.

Look, I mean, you know, Caitlin Clark, that's the only, she puts up like 30 game. It's just not, doesn't happen very often in women's college basketball. Women's college basketball is a lot of fun to watch, by the way, people that don't watch it. Like, I don't understand what, yeah, they don't dunk. Like who cares? Like it's good basketball. They play, you know, it's the same people that complain about NBA. Oh, there's, there's no fundamentals in basketball anymore. And like,

well, they're watching women play. No, I don't know. They don't dunk enough for me. It's like, well, then what do you want from basketball? Cause if you watch the women play, they play exactly quote unquote, like you want them to play. It's so dumb. I, I, I obviously covered for PAC 12. Um, but it's good basketball. Yeah. It's great. And it's, it's a play it's so dumb i i obviously covered for pack 12 um but it's good basketball yeah it's it's great and it's it's a it's a very fun product for kids and i'm i'm in that stage of life so are you i know some people listening probably don't care about that but if you want to take your kids to a game go to a women's game they treat you well in the crowd the women are fun to root for so check them out we're lucky we have usc uh let's talk about these

two monday night football games tonight and you got to try to make me some money you've been doing pretty well with that this year but you got a lot of things to consider tonight so what's the square looking like all right so we have two games tonight as i mentioned at the same time which is just absolutely silly and i i mean like why like why why gabe why at the same time i probably have to choose one or the other the dolphins game i think is going to be uh pretty much it'll be over fast dolphins blow every bad team starting with the dolphins let's go with tyreek hill over excuse me start with tyreek hill more than 112.5 receiving yards you You talked about it at the start, Gabe. Over every time, just done.

Over Tyreek Hill every single time, more over whatever word you want to use, just take it. I think Tyreek Hill, by the way, great MVP chance this season. If for a non-quarterback to win the award, they have to have a record-breaking season. Adrian Peterson in 2012,

nine yards away from Eric Dickerson. You look at 2005, Sean Alexander, I think 2004, LT, record-breaking season. Adrian Peterson in 2012, nine yards away from Eric Dickerson. You look at 2005, Sean Alexander, I think 2004, LT. Record-breaking year. Start 2,000 yards, most touchdowns of all time.

If Tyreek gets 2,000 yards receiving in a year, we have Brock Purdy, Dak Prescott as favorites. Watch out. Put some money on that one. Just go ahead and do it. I'm going with, in the same game,

Will Levis, more than four and a half rushing yards. think in games when you're behind i know it's random game when you're behind you have an athletic quarterback like like them like he is and a pass rush little little tampered down with the phillips injury the quarterbacks like these young catches try to they just tend to like run the ball they're like i'm gonna try to find a way to make plays. It's four and a half yards. One scramble. That's all I need.

One scramble for the more here. And we're going to stay with more. I tend to like lesses, but we're going with more here. Jordan Love, more than 228 and a half pass yards. I just think he's sort of on one right now. He's just feeling himself. He's playing good football. I believe there's no Watson tonight, so maybe that's a little bit tougher without him in the lineup.

But, Gabe, he's playing good football. Legitimately, Jordan Love is playing good football. So here's what we have. Tyreek Hill, more than 112.5 receiving yards. Jordan Love, more than 228.5 passing yards. And Will Levis, more than 4.5 rush yards. There we go levis more than four and a half rush yards there we go three three three players square i like this square uh my job is to try to question some logic here levis uh i mean i get your point he might run scared at some point but doesn't that mean

going the wrong direction like how why do we think he's gaining in the yardage but it doesn't that in college football the sack yardage goes on the rushing stats yeah nfl doesn't i know one rush one rush that's all i need buddy one rush okay so you're really just playing a numbers game okay well the tie L seems inevitable unless he's, are there already up three scores by the fourth quarter? He doesn't play. I like the Jordan scores. Yeah.

I have already been told repeatedly in every national broadcast I've seen the last few weeks with the Packers that they've just got their third hall of fame quarterback in a row. It's guaranteed. That's the graphics I keep seeing. That's the commentary I've been hearing. Are we sure we're not a little too high on jordan love and i don't think tonight is a big test for him but are we sure i mean no i think that we're just saying that he's he's improved this season like look is he a hall of famer like calm down packers fans but the idea that a young player he got better this year he has gotten better this

season which is which is important like you want to see him as a first-time starter play better now than when he played to start the season that's what he's doing right now okay right he's he's improving credit to him Jake Browning improving fluke got it I think I've only played two games, buddy. Do you have a comment, by the way, on USC hiring two defensive coordinators? They were so bad on defense, they had to hire two of them. I think probably three or four. Three or four of them? I don't think two is enough. What were your Heisman thoughts?

Any Heisman thoughts? Well, I was going to ask you about Pennix. So with this logic, you know, Jaden Daniels, great. I didn't really see that coming, if I'm being honest. I feel like we, he was just always lurking. It's like the second or third guy.

And then in the last couple of weeks, he just propelled himself ahead of everyone. I probably, having seen Penix a little more, would have gone with him. But I want to know what kind of a pro any of them made i i don't i don't know anymore how to i feel like the scouts and the nfl uh commentary is always so flawed when it comes to star college players you know this is my pet peeve the better you are with the wrong body in college the less people think of you at the next level it doesn't make sense all right so bo nicks to me is

he's like derrick carr but probably more likable like he's he's derrick he's derrick Carr you know he's at best you know he's the he's just a accurate passer that probably doesn't ever become elite right like Derek Carr for years was just okay right like the 12th best quarterback in in football he broke the top 10 that one year when we sort of talked about him being an MVP candidate but otherwise that was the year he broke his ankle like that was like 2016 or something right that's right okay um michael pennix is pretty interesting because um he is arguably going to play with less talent in the nfl than he did at washington i mean he has you know, three NFL wide receivers. And of course you put NFL wide receivers in, you know, in the NFL. But the fact is like comparatively his offensive talent in the NFL is going to be less than it was at college. I think there's legitimate questions about, you know, his basically lack of using his legs when he throws.

And that he never got pressured. And when he did, it just wasn't as good. I think those are legit concerns for Michael Penix. I do not think he's a first-round pick. Washington Husky fans will be angry with that. But you look at – I'm just telling you how people are going to grade him. And I think – I saw Bo Nix as high as like five. Like that's way too high for me. And Jay Daniels is interesting, Gabe, makes as high as like five like yeah that's way too high for me and jay daniels interesting okay

because jay daniels sort of has the physical traits that you see in high level quarterbacks national football league that means it's going to happen um but you have a year with caleb williams and drake may like jay daniels probably goes third in some years he might go one i feel like right um and it's a if you need a quarterback this year to get i'll tell you that um so yeah i uh that's sort of how i kind of grade these uh these players heading into the draft all right so let me go back to penix for a second because i think he is the prototypical example of the thing that bothers me most all this guy has ever done is overcome injury bad offense new system criticism doubt etc and he just keeps on doing it and i hear you

he's got way better than average talent around him right now. But, like, why do we talk ourselves out of winners? Why? Like, why are we looking for a problem with him? Because that tends to not matter in the NFL. Like, okay, so Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Justin Herbert. Lamar, I mean, he won. It was okay at Louisville. He won the Heisman, obviously.

Jalen Hurts is a good example of your point, right? Just won everywhere he went, right? He's an example of that. I'm just blanking on who the other quarterbacks would be in this conversation. I mean, Rodgers wasn't. Tim Tebow. Robert. Yeah, okay.

Aaron Rodgers is not that example in college. You know, like, it's that typically has not been the reason why quarterbacks are good in the NFL because they won a lot in college. In fact, actually, I think it might hinder them a little bit in the NFL because things aren't as great. Bryce Young won a ton in college. Stroud did too, I guess. So Stroud's playing well.

Young isn't. I watched the Panthers yesterday. Holy crap. I'm just saying we go into it looking for a problem instead of look like. Because that is what scouting is. Scouting is trying to find problems. Everyone can identify when a player is good, Gabe. Can you identify what a player might do poorly?

Can you identify what the issues might be? Scouting is trying to find ways to knock guys down because that could be the difference between that player being good and bad it's actually finding their weakness and figuring out how that might affect their play when they get the nfl yeah i don't see that it happens that often like mac jones we we all saw mac jones well okay we were like that what this guy's not winner though he won in college. He's a winner.

He's a winner. See? Yeah. See? Don't do that. There was no effort being made to knock him. If Matt Jones is on the 49ers the last three years, is he in the same place Brock Purdy is? I have no idea.

I think Matt Jones is. I don't even want to say what I think of Matt Jones. I'm completely biased against anyone who puts on that uniform. I can't see them clearly. Are you backing on your Jets after Zach Wilson's performance? Don't do that. Don't do that. Don't do that.

We need to check your – It's a perfect example. No, great. You walked into that. That guy. Why did we – why did people talk themselves into this loser being good at football? So the COVID year in college football is turning out to be a complete, like everything that happened that season did not carry forward at all.

Like none of it, right? Zach Wilson had a great 2020 playing Sisters of the Poor for 12 weeks. Pac-12 walk-ons. That's who he played. That's who he played? He's playing walk-ons. So Zach Wilson is just not good. Very quickly, all the trade stuff doesn't mean

they're going to be a homer in the NFL. I'm just saying that's how teams draft now. So we need to do a check on your on your rooting allegiances now baseball are you a fan now doyers because i show hey otani yeah it's good to be a free agent jeff keep my options open when they lose the nlds to the padres again are we still going to be a fan of them? I'm only about two hours from the Padres, so we could go be a Padres fan. My best buddy is a diehard Mets fan who I've sweated with the Mets for 20 years. It was like when I texted Sunday, Saturday, Sunday. He's like, not bad, man.

Four down, 28 to go. How many more teams can I root for? I've got Yankees, Mkees mets angels dodgers in my life okay um what are your kids root for whoever they want my son chose the dodgers i was very upset by that now i'm on board okay uh basketball you don't care right not basketball not big lakers fan always have been did you raise the mid-season banner at your house? Were you excited about the mid-season? Of course we celebrated the in-season tournament.

First ever. Okay, so Dodgers, Lakers. Were you a Knicks fan as a kid? Or Nets? No. Knicks. 90s. NFL team.

What are we doing now? I don't. I'm done. I root for my fantasy team i'm the one seat in fantasy playoffs that's all i care about i i think i finished last in both my fantasy leagues can attest that you were not great in our fantasy league no i i uh i i'm never gonna give as much of myself to an nfl team again as i did the jets you know from 98 to whatever 2012 i just you can't it's not healthy you can't do that chargers though with with like harbaugh as their head coach

i think you go i think you can go back to i'll give him a shot yeah no definitely i'll give him a shot yeah you've been consistent man you're a chiefs fan and then that's worked out well for you except you take some l's i mean i grew up with niners fans i kind of have it like good both ways right now if i can go back to the niners at some point like i think when andy reed leaves the kansas city i'll probably you know my love for the chiefs will probably go down a little bit because i think i look for them because i like andy reed and and my brother was there. Lakers are good. Giants baseball, a little tough right now. It's going to be dark for a little bit.

Oregon, geez, we just can't get over that. We can't win anything, man. We're close, close every year. So hopefully Oregon will get a championship at some point. But I was lucky with the Lakers and Giants in baseball. I've seen eight championships, including Kansas City, nine. And the Niners as a kid, ten. I've seen ten sports championships for my favorite teams.

It's pretty good. I cursed myself when I quit the Yankees after winning three out of four years, and I thought this is just not how it should be anymore. You've only won once. Well, I gave up on them at their peak, and then I haven't seen a championship for any team i root for since not one no yeah you haven't i went to a world series game as a mets fan thought we could do it daniel murphy blew that one not that obviously nicks haven't done anything i

wasn't fully a lakers fan yet when the bubble happened i talked myself into it but who am i kidding but last thing on basketball very quickly i know if someone's still listening right now god when the bubble happened. I talked myself into it, but who am I kidding? Last thing on basketball very quickly. I know if someone's still listening right now, God bless you. Why can't Anthony Davis always do that? It's so frustrating. If AD always did that, the Lakers would win the championship. The number one text I think Lakers fans send their friends.

I didn't text you this. This was a buddy of mine. We don't text often, like at all, but I don't even hesitate. If I'm watching a Laker game, I can just fire it off. I just sent Saturday, 8.22 p.m. Could anything convince you this is the real AD? Response. Not even David Copperfield at the height of his Vegas powers. But great game, AD.

Like, just that's the exchange. We'll go another few months. We'll see if AD is in another few months. All right, everyone. You have to produce Nick Wright's podcast, too, this week. It's a sad chief's podcast that guy's gonna be in a he's gonna be in a way although he is like he does celebrating some very good predictions uh he predicted this dac mvp down to the moment it would get called uh he he predicted exactly how people would grade the in-season tournament for lebron he predicted a bit of the chief's nonsense but he'll have to sweat that what do you predict for uh for how they would

celebrate lebron's they would just well he said that everyone's gonna have want it both ways it's either a mickey mouse tournament that nobody should care about you know or he's a choke artist he was like well which is it it either doesn't matter so who cares if he wins or loses right or it does matter to people and they're trying and when he wins that's an accomplishment it can't be like lebron loses either way and sure enough that was the take everyone had yeah i just say like his better not raise a banner for this no banner raising for this mid- tournament, please. That's something that the Mets would do. He looked like an average citizen at the Galen Center on Sunday. He was just a guy watching his kid with his daughter in hand. And I got to say, he does seem very normal.

I mean, there was obviously security and people around him, but he was just a dude watching a game. Nice. All right, guys, we're just dudes watching football tonight. Two games tonight. I gave you my prize picks for the game. Let's hope that cashes. We were two and three this week in National Football League

on our five wedge. We're still, I think, at 57%, so we're doing well. That includes, obviously, a bad Seahawks line. We got that number later in the week. That would have been a win for us. Nonetheless, it doesn't happen all that way. We'll be back on Friday with some more National Football League picks. Maybe we'll throw in some bowl wagers.

Bowl season will be upon us this weekend. Hard to bet bowls right now with all the things that are happening with the opt-outs and Toronto Portal and all those coaches leaving. But we'll try our best to give you some bowl wagers as well. We'll do that on Friday. Have a great couple days, everyone. We'll talk to you guys then. Goodbye.