Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - Super Bowl Week, Coaching Cycles, and the Devil Wears Prada 2

Episode Date: February 3, 2026

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

It is Monday, February 2nd. I am Jeff Schwartz. That is Gabe. Goodwin is Jeff Schwartz. This is tomorrow. You're presented by drafting. Draftings and the crown is yours. It is officially Super Bowl week.

Gabe and I are here to talk about a little bit of that and some happenings around the National Football League. And then Matt and I will be live at Radio Row on Wednesday on Wednesday. So Matt hooked that up, Gabe, the DK set on radio. We're going to feel like big. We have 30 minutes only. So we got to get it in 30 minutes. But I believe. we worked it out to where we'd be on the DK set Wednesday afternoon for a Super Bowl preview show.

So lots of happenings this week, Gabe. How are you, sir? That's quite a job producing by Mr. Matt there. Yes, have fun on Radio Row. Everything's good here. I got to San Francisco for the weekend. Everything looks fine and ready to go. And then I got out of there.

So you guys should be just fine. Oh, you went to set up? No, I did not go to set up. I went to Alcatraz with my kids. Oh, okay. I don't know if you went to set everything up. I was like, I was just kidding.

I thought you paid people for that. I was like, I didn't do anything to help you at all. All I did was take my kids to Alcatraz. We'll get to the NFL and actual important stuff, but my daughter has not gone to school, Gabe. So January 23rd. January 25th was Sunday.

We had a snowstorm. Excuse me, an ice storm. And they were out Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, half day, Thursday, half day, Friday. Then Saturday, it snowed 11 inches. Like actual fluffy, awesome snow. Saturday was a ton of fun game.

It was so much snow. It was the most snow we had since 2004. Fourth most snow ever in Charlotte. But it was like light fluffy snow. It was awesome. We like drove around to a friend's house that has a giant hill. Funny enough, they're from Sweden.

They moved back to Charlotte in July. I thought they ditched all the snow. And the kids had a great time sledding. But of course, it has ruined school this entire week. And buddy, it is, it's time to go back to school. I'll go back to school. Very much time to go back. We don't deal with that out here, not the snow at least. I know, you sent me a picture and Matt, Matt laughed. He talked about it on last show. He loved your troll of me when you sent a picture of the beach last week. Yes, I sent some other friends

back east, a picture of my kids in a pool at sunset. We are not facing the same problems you are. But hey, I can segue. I live in a place, Gabe, that doesn't have, it shouldn't have this. That's the thing, right? Like, I chose to live in a place that one snow every five years, great. But, like, I chose to live in a place that doesn't have off days because of snow. That's like, my personal choice was to live in a place that doesn't have these type of issues. And we've had them for now nine days.

Well, snow, which is probably how it is that the Patriots got themselves to the Super Bowl will not be an issue in Santa Clara. I can just tell you, having been there for the last few days, about 65 during the day. I don't think they're going to be, weather is going to be an issue. The number, which I believe you told me last week, you jumped on Seahawks at minus three and a half. I now see the four and a half. So I just want to check in with you. You said you'll be on the DK set talking, you know, props and picks and all the things on Wednesday. But give me a feel right now on Monday of Super Bowl week.

Do you still like that you got in at three and a half? Do you see where the number went? What do you think of how it's moving? Oh, I like it a lot. So here's the thing, you know, it feels like when the matchup got set, the collective NFL world was like, oh, Sierra can win this game and they're going to cover, right? That was like the collective world.

Yeah. Now we are on Monday where eight days past the championship weekend, or championship game, I should say. And now it feels like we're getting, well, the Patriots, you know, like watch out for them. And I feel like as time goes by, we find ways to talk ourselves out of the wagers we make, right? When you get two weeks to make a wager,

talk us out of it. If I told you, again, on Sunday, after the games were over, it sounds here by three and a half, I think collectively you'd be like, yeah, sounds good, right? Like, I go back to this a lot. I've not been wrong about New England,

I did call them Fugazi. I feel like I've been right about them. They've won the games they've won, but they're just not as good as I think people maybe want them to be or as good as super old teams typically are game. You know, but they've, on the average 18 points a game in the three playoff games,

and two of them, they scored one touchdown each. Like, that's not a typical Super Bowl team, right? They don't have a good offensive line. Their running backs and skill guys are middle of the road at best, right? Just collectively, middle of the road at best. The defense, the detackles are really good. Christian Gonzalez is really good. The defense plays well as a whole,

but it's not like a super pro bowl, all-pro type. team, you know, people will compare this team to the 2001 New England Patriots, right? And how that team beat, you know, beat, who they beat that year, the Rams, right? They were sort of the robbery. They had Tom Brady, though. Now, maybe Drake May is Tom Brady, maybe, but they had a bunch of dudes that were going to Hall of Fame. And people will also say, hey, look, the 1999 Rams, a fashion show on turf, made a Super Bowl and won the Super Bowl with the schedule easier than this New England Patriots team. look, the Patriots can do it too.

And my pushback on that's the same thing. That Rams team, Hall of Fame quarterback, Hall of Fame running back, Hall of Fame left tackle, Hall of Fame wide receiver, Hall of Fame wide receiver. Are the Patriots, do they have a Hall of Fame left tackle? Is what Can I making the Hall of Fame right now? Is Drake May making the Hall of Fame? Is Stevenson making?

No, no, that Rams team was much, much better as a team. And that's what I settle on right now. New England can still win the game, absolutely. Seattle's just better. They're just better. Now, their advantages, New England has. I think their coaching staff is fantastic. But I think Seattle's a better team, Gabe.

And so I like the three and a half, I'll take it. Okay, well, so others are getting in at four and a half. So Bill Simmons chimed in. We know who he's rooting for. But he sort of said what I think all people out there are thinking, if they're not just jumping all over the Seahawks, which is that, you know, Sam Darnold, we're sure we're ready to trust him.

He had one good game, and now we trust a guy who, I believe, led the league in turnovers at the quarterback position. who I have been saying for years is just not good at protecting the ball. He's a bit of a Brett Farrv without all the plus side. We are also sort of wiping our brains

of what we've seen of Sam Darnold in just anointing the Seahawks the better team. He's not great with the ball in his hands. He makes silly decisions. It comes out a lot. Can't this Patriots team take advantage? So we're going to talk about the Vikings find the general manager

and I'll get back to Darnold there in a second, like the bigger picture Darnold thing, what's I want to talk about that. But look, my handicap for Seattle this year has sort of been like in the bigger games, I don't trust him because Darnold has shown over his career to not play as one of those big games. And well, last Sunday game,

before that, like he's not showing that now. Can he play terribly in this game? Absolutely can. Look, but their O.C. Kincubiak has done such a good job of giving Darnold an offense that really works for him. Now, for opponents of the Patriots will say, hey, look, Christian Gonzalez, their stud corner,

put him on J.S.N. What happens to the offense? Certainly fair, right? What happens to the offense if J.S.N. isn't the guy. But I think it's going to be hard to do that because what they're going to do is move J.S.N. all over the place, right? He scored a touch against the Rams as a running back out of the backfield. Like, they're going to move him everywhere. They're going to move him. They're going to motion them.

They're going to stack him, and you can't either double him or single or man-coverage him. like they're going to find ways to make sure JSN took it up. So can Darnold turn into the pumpkin again? Absolutely. And I will absolutely lose my wager if he does that. But if he just plays like himself, then I think I win my wager and maybe win the wager by a decent amount. I got to imagine that that was a pretty confident building game for him against the Rams.

It wasn't the Niners game when Niners couldn't score in office. The Rams were matching, right? Like this was a very good game by Darnold. I have to imagine he feels good. Look, we've seen, you've seen, I've seen him. I don't know if you were a USC fan back then, but Rose Bowl played well. He's shown in bigger games he can play really well.

But he just had it. Now, all the pieces are in place. The offensive line is playing well. The run game's better now. JSN and Barner and Shaheed had a big catch early on. So it feels to be rounding into form right now. Yeah. All right.

Well, then if it's rounding into form, I want to point out something with a lot of personal bias here. I have my personal bias about Sam Darnold because I'm a former Jets fan and a USC fan. I'm also biased in the right direction for Cooper Cup. You know, he was the star of the most exciting postseason run I've witnessed since having kids. Cooper Cup is my son's favorite player. Cooper Cup, to me, feels like one of those guys who shows up in the big game, the way that you're hoping Sam Darnold will.

Do you see him being a big factor? Are there some prop bets you like with Cooper Cup? I just feel like he was a Super Bowl MVP only a few years ago. He's been underutilized all season. He started to come alive late. What do you think of Cooper Cup in this game? So Cooper Cup won the Super Bowl MVP when the Rams beat the Bengals. I thought for a second, it was going to be Odell, right?

Then Odell got hurt. Odell was incredible the first half, right? In that game? Yeah, but Cup had the game winning touchdown. He had two touchdowns in the game. He just helped them in every time you needed a first down, it was him. So one of the most popular wagers in this heading this weekend is all the Cooper Cup overs, receptions and yards.

And I just, I don't think he's that guy anymore. I think he can be. But the idea people have is that, oh, JSN gets shut down Cooper Cups next up. Maybe, maybe, Gabe. But I don't think he's been that player this year. Now, can he still get him of catches and make plays? Absolutely. But I don't view him as a Super Bowl MVP type guy in this game.

It's really hard to win the Super Bowl MVP as a wide receiver. As you mentioned, you got two touchdowns. Like, it's a different type of game you have to have. And I mean, look, this year, you look at the last five games, three catches, one catch, two catch, five, catch, four catch. He's just not that guy anymore. He's still reliable. when the ball's known his direction.

It's that, what, three touchdowns all season, including the playoffs. So to me, if you're looking for a long-shot MVP at Shaheed, and it's Shaheed because of a special team's touchdown. Yeah. That's what he wins. If you're looking for a long shot, that's who I'd be.

I think earlier this week, last week, he was 50 to 1 at one point for Super Bowl MVP. I think I'm pretty sure he's gone down a little bit. Let me pull up just to make sure here. I think he's gone down a little bit for Super Bowl MVP, but that is, I think that is more likely than Cooper Cup winning Super Bowl MVP. So Shaheed right here on Draft Kings is now 30 to 1. It's a pretty wide margins.

Darnal May, JSN, Kenneth Walker, and then a huge gap to Stevenson. Shaheed digs, Jones Cooper Cup is 90 to 1. Well, I'm not sure I'm going to give him an MVP. I just, I'm thinking of him more like, you know, like the Gronk box Super Bowl, where you just like, yeah, this guy's been here, he's done it, he's the safety blanket. Like everyone is watching every second of tape. Everyone's getting as prepared as possible. Just seems like one of those times when the Wiley veteran is the one who makes the plays.

Look, the CX might need that, dude. Like, they might absolutely need that. So if he play well, it won't surprise me. I just don't know how overall impactful he was going to be. All right. Well, let me switch to the other side then. there's a lot of talk of Drake May's injuries. He missed Friday practice, the shoulder and an illness,

but he'd had the shoulder reported already, and we don't think it's serious, but then the illness, we don't quite know what that was about. There's a lot of rumors and speculation about all of this. Do you think there's something really going on, or is this like Vrabel doing a Belichick thing and just trying to confuse the injury report? All right, so I think it was Sunday, maybe Monday morning,

Dr. David Chow. Oh, yeah, you love that guy. Yeah. Well, he got on the internet and said Drake May hurt his shoulder. And he showed a video clip of Drake May hurting his shoulder. He thought he hurt his shoulder. The throw right after that was a pretty bad throw. And then they throw the ball the rest of the game because they were winning and ran the football.

Mike Rayble said, everyone's hurt this time of year, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then Drake May hasn't thrown at any part of open practice this week. Mm-hmm. Open practice is 10 minutes. It's during warmups. I'll say this game. It would be odd to change your routine in week like 22 to fool the Seahawks. Like they're going to prepare for Drake Mae to play.

Of course they're like, oh, Drake Mae is not playing now. Let's prepare for someone else. You know what I mean? Like I have to believe it's somewhat real. I mean, I don't think New England did this with Tom Brady. You didn't have him practice, like an open part of practice. I'll tell you, dude, in 2014, I was coming back from injury. I didn't play all season.

And there was debate about where I'd play, right guard, right tackle, left guard, somewhere like that. So I've been out for like three months. And they determined I was going to play right tackle for this game. It was Odell Catch game. It was my first game back that year in 2014. Okay. And I didn't play right tackle in a while, but it's like, you know, riding a bike. Like you can just do it.

However, our offensive line coach decided during the open portion of practice, we don't want the Cowboys to know where you're going to play. So we're going to have you play like left guard during individual drills. And then we're going to switch and go to right tackle during team drills when the media is out of the building. That's fucking stupid. Use my language. Like, I'm back off three months being out.

And my 10 minutes I get to work on individual drills, we're doing a different stance and a different part of the team to the Cowboys don't know I play right tackle even though that's my preferred position right tackle, right guard. I started one game in my career, left guard up at that point.

Why would I be playing left guard? Like, it's just, it was dumb. It was dumb to change the routine for 10 minutes of open media so the Cowboys didn't know was playing right tackle. And I could have used that time to get better at right tackle

instead of wasting my time playing left guard. So it's stupid. My point is it's stupid to change your routine for the media to not get wind of it. And so I just think it's probably a problem, Gabe. Now, well, he'll play. He'll be fine, I would imagine. But my point of all this, I don't think Mike Vrable's doing that dumb thing my offensive line coach did there.

I didn't expect a personal anecdote there. And I just want to say this with respect. Do you think the Cowboys were like, oh, shit, guys, it's old Schwartz there on the right side. What are we going to do now? Or do you, like, how much would they have freaked out? seeing you over there. They didn't care. Right.

Like I feel like anyone they're willing to start at right tackles, got to be pretty good at walking. You know, how much tape do they need to watch to figure out how to get around you? It's just like these coaches, man, like they just, oh, they play all these mind games.

It's so much worse, by the way, in college football. But geez, man. The NFL, like, who cares, man? Who cares? Yeah. I just saw something that I threw. over to Sam, but you're kind of taking us behind the scenes as a player.

And I recognize you did not play in a Super Bowl. You've been to several of them. Yes. If Sam can get this picture up, this is Stefan Diggs arrived in the Bay Area, dressed in, I don't even know how to describe this. He looks like he's wearing sort of like a wookie costume. Do we see this on the screen? Here, I'll send it to you, Jeff.

I got a little switch right here Why do people Like we got a whole week of being in front of cameras and being ridiculous and attracting attention What why do you have to dress up in like a Halloween costume when you arrive off a plane? I can't that just be like Sweats part is like everyone else in the background's all wearing like team issue Patriots gear But who I mean like don't you don't you just wear sweats and comfortable clothes when you go on a plane it's a cross-country flight.

I just I don't want to knock anyone's fashion because I'm wearing sweatpants and a polo that's too big for me right now and I won't ever leave this gear but I mean he's got the purse he's got the snow boots the jacket

the white-washed jeans I but what are we hoping for isn't the whole point to be like not attract attention and be comfortable like a cross-country flight. Do you think he must have taken those boots off during the flight, right?

But then now you get your stinky feet out. I'm just like, if you're his teammate, are you like, yo, buddy, too much, man. I think with wide receivers, you're just like, so he has an extra pair of shoes here. He must have been wearing those shoes on the plane and then switch to the big, the big moon boots, the puffy furry moonboot. Like, legitimately everyone else on the team looks like they're just wearing Patriots-iss-issued gear. Yeah.

And Diggs is out there. And like, my favorite post game is like, no one believed in me. And he got like one catch, the two catches for the whole game. That's awesome. Here's why I wanted to bring this up,

though, Jeff. More to a football point. And you're talking about routines and you're talking about what's the point and trying to confuse someone on like 10 minutes of media availability.

How disruptive is the different routine of Super Bowl week to a veteran player? Like do veteran players just roll with the punches? Who does this favor, I guess? Like quarterback who's been there, done that, or a guy who hasn't done it before? So, obviously, I got to see it with my brother, right?

So, you know, Monday night, tonight is going to be media night. I would imagine. I think it's tonight's, right? You go and we did it. It was in Marlins Park. It was incredible. There's chiefs and Niners do media nights on NFL network. And then, you know, the 10 major players on the team each get their own little

booth and you go to booth, you answer questions for an hour and you switch out. It's like, that's different obviously, right? You're not in your, you're not in your bed. You're not, you're at a hotel. And then family shows up on like Thursday and Friday. And all this family sort of obligations to deal with during that time. It's a lot different. And, you know, people that are so stuck in their routine, I would imagine have a little bit,

it's a little more difficult to deal with the change. But you're playing for a Super Bowl, right? So you sort of like put that aside. Biden and you and you sacrifice your routine to win a championship. Yeah. I don't know, man. I wouldn't like having to change my routines. Like whenever I've done anything like kind of difficult, uh, athletically, I, I,

you got to keep me in the routine, man. I'm talking about my routine now. And just show up and it's talking to a microphone. You need your routine, right, Jeff? Yeah. Even now, like I'm seeing videos of people like, there's a media. I think like people at Radio Row in Super Bowl. Like just even especially your routine for a week.

It's going to San Francisco for a week. I did New Orleans last year for a week, buddy, way too long. Yeah, well, I could kill some people. At least you don't drink. No. My other, I have family members that do. But I didn't meet my goal of 10, 10, 10 bowls of gumbo last year in seven days.

Oh, I was going to ask, is that a one day goal or how many days? No, 10 days. 10 days. No, I mean, six, seven days? So you were eating. gumbo more than once a day? Yeah, that sounds about right. Or you'd sit down and be like, I'll have a gumbo and then give me another one and another one.

I forget how I did it, but yeah, maybe one a day sounds about right. One a day, okay. All right. Why don't we take a quick break? There's other news from around the league that I think we should hit and including some kind of complicated stories where I don't know your opinion. I'd love to hear it. So let's do that after a break. All right, back on the podcast, as Gabe mentioned, there are some stories around the National Football League that take us off our, or maybe our usual cheerful self when it comes to the league. So let's let's hit some of these now. Yeah. So there were several vacancies for coaching jobs. We talked about them the last few weeks. And it appears the final decision has been made. All those jobs

are now full. And many people have pointed out, it's pretty obvious, that there are no new black head coaches. People are saying that, you know, this is a failure. There was zero. I mean, there was, not even new black, I thought there was zero hired. Well, right. So we end up without one or two and now no new blackhead coaches in those open vacancies. So now none overall. But more to the point, there was an opportunity for six or eight jobs to go to a guy. The Rooney Rule is put in place to help make that happen. It didn't happen. A lot of people have pretty strong feelings about this. And I, you know, I don't know how you feel about it. But I guess I'd like to know, do you see this as a as a failure in regards to the Rooney Rule or maybe is there something else

going on here? I mean, a failure is probably the wrong way to put it, Gabe. The problem is mostly at the lower coaching levels where there's not enough people of color. minorities that are in the office coordinator role. It's that simple. You know, yes, not every coach hired this cycle was an offense coordinator, but those are most likely to get hired, right? Like, you know, Kubiak, Lafleur,

Stefansky, you know, I came, I'm blanking everyone else being hired. Mike Lafleur, yeah, Monkin. Munkin, like they're all, most of the time, Joe Brady, their offensive, not always play callers, because like, you know, LaFleurton call plays, but they're young offensive minds.

And Peter Schroger put this tweet out earlier is that, like, there's just, even in this cycle, there weren't a lot of black offense coordinator is even hired, right? Mike McDaniel was hired, but he always been a head coach, okay? And Eric Bannon is rehired by the chiefs. I'm sure we can find a couple hours. I'll top of my head, I don't know any offense coordinatorers

that were hired that were minorities. So that's the biggest thing I see is a problem. And I don't know how to fix that. But the NFL has programs in place for minority coaches to get their foot in the door and start their coaching career game. But I don't know why they're not picking offense. I mean, there's a ton of coordinators that fit that role. On TV team on the defense side of the ball,

there's not being hired for head coaches as often as the offensive guys are. Yeah. Okay, so a couple questions. Yeah. It seems like this is a, you know, snapshot. This is not a heavily researched thought. It seems like there are a lot of like backup quarterback, you know, guy who was in an NFL QB room but never really was the guy. That guy gets with the right, you know, head coach and ends up being considered a offensive genius one day, you know, that that's the Cliff Kingsbury type. Yeah, I mean, that same happened with like, even some of the OC hires, like Sean, like Sean Mannion being hired, like third year in the NFL as a coach, Eagles OC. Right. So there's that type. Then there's the like wonky sort of tape watching, you know,

everyone in the building knows this guy's a grinder. He's, he's the secret weapon to coach his big master plan. Like there's that kind of guy. Right. And then and then there's just the guy who's been doing forever like Harbaugh. And, you know, maybe Stafansky's moving into that category. And those guys all do happen to, you know, tend to be white guys. So like what, maybe it's just about hiring a different kind of thinker or a different kind of leader where you end up with people who look a little bit different. It really isn't about, it's kind of what you're saying. It isn't about like, do there need to be this many people who look like this, but rather are we hiring coaches from the right kind of background? Well, that's, that certainly would be a start.

So the thing that the question, so if you talk to NFL people, they will tell you that they try to hire the best person possible. Now, we might disagree on what that means and that they don't see color essentially, right? Like we just hire the best person possible. And people swear the league is racist against African-American coaches or people of color or minorities. As a player, as a player, I didn't feel my coach. ever made a decision based on the race of a player. I can't tell you what happens at the ownership level.

I absolutely cannot. Now, we have examples of where it's happened before, right? So, like, it's not something that hasn't happened before. But, like, is the Arizona owner, he's never going to come out and say that. But, like, are they just, are they choosing Michael Fleur over Ryan Flores because of race? I tend to doubt it, but here's what I guess might be how. happening. Yeah. You hear a lot of reporting, oh, so-and-so was great in the room. He killed it in the interview. That's a pretty subjective thing, right? So it's possible. Also might not be true,

but yes. Let's go with an idea that when someone says so-and-so was in an interview, they were great in the room. Let's say that that's genuinely true. Great in the room might mean, like, knew how to talk to the owner in a certain kind of way or talked about his skills in a certain way or played the name game in a certain way the same way any other job interview works and so maybe it's not intentional but it favors a certain kind of person that's fair and i also think it's fair to mention that nepotism matters a lot and those tend to be from from white coaches right i don't know why we don't talk about that more every time the runy rule gets to beat it like why don't we just look at the fact that every person, like,

every guy who ever coached in the NFL in the 80s and 90s has a kid who's now a coach. All of them. And a lot of them are considered really good coaches. Correct. But that plays a role. Yeah, you know, again, like, I think, I think it's fair. And people get upset by saying this when I say that there is a problem, right?

People are just hired the best guy, the best candidate? I'm like, well, to your point, Gabe, like, are they opening up themselves up to having different type of candidates, be the people that they want to interview. And they interview all these people, but doesn't mean are they real interviews? They just satisfy the Rudy rule. Like, what's the purpose of those interviews? I do think

number one, though, it's just got, there's got to be more offensive-minded coaches that are minorities to start this process. And until that happens, nothing's going to change. Because next year, look at the same cycle. Again, you're going to have the same names get mentioned to be a head coach. They're most

mostly defensive guys. There's not many offensive coordinators that fit all a young offensive coordinators are going to be the guys we just passed up this year, right? The guy from Jacksonville, the Rams guy. Those are the next batch of coaches

and they're white guys. They're young white guys. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, then let's stay sort of in this general vicinity of like HR, you know, is listening while we talk about this. So the Vikings fire their GM.

Yeah. a pretty young black GM. Then reports come out that he took two weeks off for paternity leave during training camp and preseason a couple of years ago. That gets reported. And then quickly, the reporter who put it out there is like,

no, no, but that's not why they fired him. That had nothing to do with their decision. That was just something other teams took note of. That was just the thing about him was that it was odd that he did that. But that's not why the Vikings fired him.

and all the commentary around this has been very weird. And I just want to know, like, what do you make of this? Why was this even reported? It's not why the Vikings fired him. Right. But it's a shot at his... Commitment? Dedication.

Yeah. Commitment. Look, I'm not saying it's healthy, buddy. But that is abnormally large time to be away from your football team after a child was born. Like, that's just a long time. NFL players and coaches and personnel day or two. I'm not saying it's right or wrong,

but that's the typical half. Like my wife was so worried that I wasn't going to be around for our kid's birth. We like scheduled an induction early so I could see the kid for like four days. And I was like, no, no, no, babe, it's okay.

I'll come home for three days from training camp. But that was about it. Like I could fly home on a Friday, birth Saturday, probably fly home Sunday night. Like that would have had to be like my window of seeing my child being born. And I'm not rendering whether it's right or wrong.

Absolutely not doing that. But that's the culture in the NFL. And so to take two weeks off when you're not established general manager, like if you tell me Brett Veach, the chief's GM, I want to take a week off for paternity. You'd probably be like, all right, all right, cool.

You have your three Super Bowls. Like, you know, whatever, man. You know what you're doing. But especially it sound like it was during training camp when it's like the most time of the year when you're sort of together as a team and you build those bonds as a group for GM to not be there.

I get why it frustrated people. I know that the outside of world looks at that and thinks that's freaking crazy that you guys don't allow two weeks for paternity. But if everyone else is taking three days and one guy takes two weeks, Gabe, that's going to stand out. And it's going to lead to questions about commitment.

Now, of course, I don't think it affected his job at all. It's in training camp. Like, what's he doing during training camp? that's that important that's going to be there every day. So I agree with him for taking the time off. I mean, why not?

But that's the NFL culture, man. Okay, but wait, I do want to ask about that. I understand the culture point. Help me understand the job function, though. My sense, you know, from watching hard knocks every year is like, that's actually exactly when the GM is busy. The GM probably doesn't have a lot to do week four. Rosters built.

Well, well, week four, so week four is about injure. injuries, right? Injuries. You're busy. Practice squad. And you're also starting to do college stuff. But in scouting, like, you know, scouting. During training camp, you're just watching training camp practice.

Like, you're just watching film. Like, it's not like it's in, you're not making a ton of roster just the first couple weeks of training camp, put it like that. What? I thought that was the whole intrigue of Hard Knocks was like, well, we're always introduced to the GM and he's always working nonstop. And oh, man, I got to get it down to 53. Well, yeah, but I think that's a little of hyperbole early in training camp.

Here's why training camp is important for the front office. So during the season, all the area scouts, the college scouts are out of the building, right? They're doing their job. During training camp, everyone comes back typically for the first couple weeks of training camp. So the whole scouting department is in wherever you have training camp. So the general manager has an opportunity to be with, his group for two weeks. And they watch film together.

They learn what you're looking for in a certain player potentially and not looking for a certain player. And that opportunity is to, you know, to bond and grow as a group. If your GM's not there, that defeats the purpose of all that, right? So there's, so that, that's why it would be more important in my book for him to be there for that purpose, less about like day-to-day watching film of training camp practice figuring out who's 53 is going to be. Yeah.

Okay. So it's kind of like any other corporate retreat The boss should be there just to pay for the dinners And make everyone feel good It's not about the meetings But again like But again it's all it's It's about the meetings for him

But the fact is again like When no one else takes that minute that long It's going to be It's going to be a sore thrum The reason he got fired by the way Was a couple things right One was the drafts were bad But the Sam Darner don't think

No surprise I think he got fired right for Sam Darder Yeah the revision's history in Sam Donald's going to be, it's pretty bad right now, right? Up until his Vikings one season, right? He was a castaway. It wasn't very good.

He was brought into Minnesota to be a bridge, right? What's that face for? I'm just, yeah, like, I would have fired my GM for signing Sam Darnold, not for letting him go. So he was a bridge quarterback. He played well. McCarthy gets hurt.

And then the two most important games season, he played terribly. Like, of course, like, bye. Right. Yeah. Building of NFL franchise around Sam Darnold in like year seven of failure. Good for the Seahawks, good for Sam.

Like, okay, great, it's working out. Like, this is like the mean of Kimes, like getting roasted for a cold take about how she was disappointed that got rid of Gino. And what's funny is, Seattle's her team. Like, that's such a weird.

But look, I like, I like, I think it's Fred, right, who runs that account. but they've gone like I don't know who that's got it's gone like over the top recently but for sure. Okay, well let's shift gears to some easier topics.

The Pro Bowl, Tuesday, Pro Bowl games, the Pro Bowl of competition, the Pro Bowl of TV event, whatever the hell the Pro Bowl is now. What do you think of it? So it's very stupid. Okay. But the problem is

is the NFL, the Hall of Fame, everyone, right, uses the Pro Bowl and all pro voting as a barometer for how good your career is. Sure. So that's why I think it's important to not have Joe Flackenost or Joe Sanders be pro bowlers because that, like, that's still looked at as a prestigious, you know, career accomplishment even though the game is wacky and it waits time, I won't even take a look at it. I haven't watched it in years since it switched this format.

But the fact is, like, when it's time to debate legacies, they're talking about Pro Bowls and all pros. And it seems to matter still. And so that's why I think it's, that's why I still think it matters. You get it right. And you just can't have, I mean, Flacco and Sanders are just not Proble. I'm still like a Tyler Huntling a couple of years. It's just some of these men are really, really bad.

And players are declining it. Like Trevor Lawrence, I think said no. He was like the first all-draft of a quarterback just said no. It's just, it's, it's, it, I don't know what the answer is. Unless you just do like, all-pro, you just say you pro-bowler, you don't actually do anything to make, like, that's a result, right? You just, it's no more game game. Maybe it's a trip.

Everyone just takes a pro-bowl trip. Go to Hawaii, right, for a week. Or not. And you make the pro- Do an Instagram post. Right. Right. Correct.

Yeah. Here they're the pro. Like all pro. Here are the pro bowlers. And that way you don't end up with the 17th quarterback is a pro bowler, right? And you don't force, you know, Josh Allen to decline with a broken foot or Trevor Lawrence to say no or whatever, you know, whatever position you want to use. And then you just say that, you know, you have a first, second team pro bowl and you call it a day.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I wish they would come up with like another way to another NFL combine. Like get us thinking about the next crop of players rather than forcing a bunch of guys who don't want to be here to do a bunch of stunts. We had the games, the senior bowl

in the East West shrine game, but no one was paying attention to it because college football just ended two seconds ago. Right, and they also don't want to get hurt. And, you know, we need a competition that actually matters. That's doesn't know. All right. We are outsourcing football to France now.

I don't know if you saw the news. We are giving France its first look at NFL football up close, and it will be between the Browns and the Saints. I joked that they are going to make us return Wembe because of this. This is bad. Why are we doing this to them? I get it. The French can be rude to us, but why would we send them this?

Wemby spoke up last week about American politics, so we were paid him with Brown with Brown states. You weigh in on this, and he, Here's what you get in return. I mean, Brown Saints truly. Saints might be interesting next year, but not. Oh, stop.

We're going to end up with an international team, aren't we? The Jets should move to London, I would say. Maybe they thought Chaudieu was a French name, and they're going to try to get him some French friends. How, do you see the, like, how what felt very forced, like Todd Muck and meeting Shedra Sanders? It just was. Oh, he met him?

I thought that Acho said he shouldn't, they shouldn't talk to each other. I thought that was an interesting take by our friend Acho. There was another take on TV about basketball every day. I think it was Anton Jameson said something like, I think it was him, who said something like Cooper Flagg would be like the sixth best rookie, sixth best, sixth best freshman in college basketball.

And after he scored 49 points in NBA, the night after he scored 49 points in NBA, the night after he scored 49. points. I just thought to myself, I'm never going to do TV. I just, I can't bring myself to say that stupid shit. And be fair, Gabe, I don't want to leave the home. So it's fine. Now, if Fox called me was like, you can do first things first, sign me up. I'm in. I'm in with those guys. Anytime they want to do it, sign me up for that. But like, I just like, I'm never going to do TV because I can't say stupid shit like that. I just can't say, I can't say those things, Gabe. I do not, I do not believe.

Okay. So you're saying that you think that Shador Sanders should listen to his new head coach? The guy who's one of a national championship and helped other guys become pro bowlers? You think he should listen to that guy? Then I like, and then I like Acho, but then he put out a video like about how like Oprah endorsed him. We get it. That doesn't mean your take is right. Yeah.

I like Acho personally, but that was one of the weaker tips I've seen. Ocho's cool. I don't mind Ocho. We're friends. It's fine. He can have a dumb take. But I think he's stupid. He's not stupid. He knows what he's doing. He's very bright. He's made a great career for himself. But that was a very, there's a very stupid take. Stupid take. Well, my job around here is to have stupid takes, and I have one or two left.

So let's take a quick break. And I'll give you a couple stupid takes on Bill Belichick and your favorite movie. Yes. All right, Gabe. We're back here. Last thoughts as we move on to Sur Bowl Wednesday, with Matt. I did call over to a softball commissioner today and ask him if we had some,

we could do game changer. He said, sure. And I found out we have a softball pitching machine, which I didn't know because our coach never used it. So we've had one. Never used it. And I was like, can we, like, I don't want to pitch. Two improvements.

Technological improvements, courtesy of Coach Jeff. Already done. Already done. Let's go. All done. Okay. So last, just a few days ago, the whole world fell apart because

God forbid we not all bow down in reverence Bill Belichick. Some daring souls privately took it upon themselves to not vote for him. It is a vote. They chose not to vote for him. And then everyone in football media freaked the F out. And I'm here to say, good on those people. Okay? Like, that's why they get a vote.

I'm sorry for him it didn't happen but there is a real good argument to be made and a few of them were willing to go public and make it that voting for this guy on the first ballot didn't make sense to them. I don't understand Jeff why we have to group think this thing every single time. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

The problem game is that you could vote for three of five candidates. Uh-huh. The other three candidates are not, Hall of Fame caliber The Bill Belichick is. So to me, you can't do the thing where you say, well, we'll get him next year.

I'll vote for him next year. No, like, Ken Anderson is not a Hall of Famer compared to what Bill Belichick did for the NFL. You vote for Ken Anderson over Bill Belichick. That's a wrong vote in my opinion. I'm not here to cape up for Ken Anderson, but... I think Bill...

I think Which his face should have been in two, Robert Kraft. Okay. Point I'm making is like, We have the voters there because they have a different view on things. They have a different system. It's still wrong. Does it not matter that there is, the man was punished multiple times

were proven to have been cheating. And there are also a number of accounts that were not, you know, reported, presumably, that these exact people, his peers and the people who covered him, probably have heard rumors for many years of all kinds of shenanigans that was going on, and they couldn't ever do anything about it. And now they're like, yeah, you know what? You're going to have to wait. Isn't that possible?

It's possible, except Jimmy Johnson came out and said, yeah, we did SpyGate 2. Jimmy Johnson said we also cheated. So what's the big deal? I don't know that that's a great defense. I feel like everyone was doing it. Bill Bouchick was the one who got eventually caught the most because his, His coordinator went to the Jets. It was like,

can you please stop doing the thing that we know you're doing? Yeah. And that you're, and that everyone else is doing too. And he didn't stop and they got in trouble. I don't know, Gabe.

People that played against him during that time period also said should be a Hall of Famer. I played against them during his heyday. I don't think that made a tread of difference in the games we played in New England. But okay,

except that why does everyone feel they have to say he's that good? Like, you can make an argument that he's a bit overrated. People can say that. It's okay. Okay. This game, game, your hatred for New England in the Patriots is starting to creep

it a little bit too hard of the show. Okay. Well, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, your boy Colin defended, he, he defended the voters. Oh, did he? You also had to look at Riley on today. Can't wait to hear what the hell that was. Okay.

I'm not going to, I'm not going to bore your audience with my hatred for the Patriots. but I do think... You do hate them a lot. Well, look, man. His record... More than I hate like the Dodgers. His record without Tom Brady is not good. His record with Tom Brady is obviously all-time great.

Yeah. But during the time that he was all-time great, it was proven to have been cheating. So you have to put like a little asterisk on that as well. So not great without Brady. Great with Brady, but proven to be cheating. I feel like a few people might be able to say, I'm not voting for you on the first try.

That's it. Well, it obviously happened. And now, I just think it was just a missed opportunity with the Hall of Fame. Like now forever, we're going to have to hear about him not making the first ballot.

And I think that it just was a tactical error. The system has to be changed to where that doesn't happen again. How about we don't know if he'll ever come? He might come back and coach again. He's not. Mike Leach, Mike Leach was not eligible for the Cultural

Hall of Fame, right? He, the, the eligibility standard was 60% win percentage, right? He passed away at 59%. And the Hall of Fame was like, yeah, we got, we got to change this. Michael Leach should be a Hall of Famer. Like that, sometimes you have to make changes,

Gabe, when things don't go like they should. And Mike Leach is going to, I think he's in the Hall of Fame now because, of course, he's a cultural hall of favor. Like, what's not even debatable? Of course. Well, I'm not going to take the side that Mike should not be Hall of Famer, but someone could.

Very, very clearly Belichick is a first ballot hall of famer, and if the process is so bad where people felt like I could vote for three other people instead of him, then the process is bad. Well, I think the process needs some work. I don't think I should... Did any of the contributors get in besides nobody, right?

The gentleman got in, right? You need like 40 votes. I think you needed 40 out of 50. to get in and there were five of them available so nobody's odds were great i assume bellichick got the most of the votes and some people held it held something against him i don't know craft status actually i would say that craft getting in uh when belichick didn't that would feel weird to me i don't i wouldn't so okay so so is tom brady not a first battle hall of favor because he played during that time too does he get punished the same way well no see

the reason I feel like Brady is different, and I clearly, anyone who's listening to this show knows I have no good feelings about Tom Brady. They only ever won while he was there, and he won when he left. So even if he benefited from some shenanigans and we're certain he did, like he only ever won. There's no part of his career where he wasn't a winner. So even I have to admit, like, okay, I hope one day Patrick Mahomes wins more rings and is considered better than him.

Just that's what would be my preference. But I got to admit, like Tom Brady, even with some gates in there, is a Hall of Famer, of course. How much is it opinion that Tom Brady has got a lot better calling football games? I told you the second I saw that demonstration with the ball in the wind.

I was like, yeah, it's tipping point has arrived. He's now going to be somebody people say they like. And it was literally it was that moment, Jeff. I saw it the second it happened. And you knew it was going to happen. Come on, you know it was going to happen. You know people there at Fox. You knew he's going to get better.

Come on. I didn't know he would put the time in to get better, but he did. Why? He's a Hallfamer. Of course he would. So vain. He's got plenty of things to do instead. I didn't know he would put the time in, but he did.

Obviously, he's a competitive guy. He didn't like being called a loser or, you know, lesser than. I just can't let you start producing some of his content one day. It's going to happen. Don't think it will. All right. Last one. Speaking of goats.

your all-time goat movie is getting a sequel. Devil Wears Prada 2 coming soon. What do we need to know, Jeff? Matt and I spent way too much time on this. Did you listen to Bill Simmons 50 rewatchable? No, I don't know what you're getting that. He did his top 50 rewatchable movies of this and century. He put Devil Was Prada 1.

Devil Where's Prada is Bill Sien. Number one. Dude, no way, that's true. Oh, so, yeah. Limitless is like 14, by the way. That's gaslighting, man. There's no way on earth. Bill Simmons would rather rewatch that than another movie.

No, this is it was, it was which movies has he watched the most? Like his top 50 most watch movies. He said with his family, he said his family's favorite movie, he said he watches this movie the most of any movie in this century. I don't believe.

that. I'm sorry. I feel like he's watched the movie Heat more times than anyone else. Yeah, but he was in the 90s. So since 2000, last 25 years. The Departed happened in that time. I don't think the departed was four for him.

The list is pretty funny. Like I said, the can you read off the list to me? I'm getting very angry now. The Belichick thing was supposed to be part where I get angry. This is making me really pissed. Ready? So Devereaux Prada's 1. Social Network.

Anchorman. The town departed. Miami Vice. I've never seen Miami Vice. I have no idea. Hangover 7. Super Bad. Taken Step Brothers.

Top 10. Okay. So I don't believe for one second that Bill Simmons has watched devil wears Prada more times than Anchorman. I'm sorry. I don't. do not believe that or stepbrothers i just don't believe that i'm calling BS on that i don't care maybe it's a better movie than i realized that seems like a movie that you watch you're like wow that

was actually pretty good and then it comes on five years later and you're like yeah i'll watch it again you don't seek that movie out multiple times uh do that's what that's what again he has the movies i've never heard before before sunset no idea i think that might have been Casey Affleck movie. Spotlight being 14 is kind of high. I don't know. Is spotlight rewatchable? Like what? No. Not long and slow. It's a very good movie, but

yeah, it's great. Not rewatchable. Limitless was 16. This is the end to 17. This is the end is a great movie. I could rewatch that. It's it's, this is the end is so funny, dude. When the monster comes out, spoiler, it just

the giant thing that's just swinging back. I'm like a child. I laugh. I laugh so hard. That movie's insanely rewatchable. Sicario being 41 was surprising on. I thought there'd be a lot higher. I don't even believe in the premise of this. There's no way Bill Simmons has watched 50 movies multiple times each.

He doesn't have time for that. I don't know, man. That's what, it's what, Devil Wears Prada. I have never even seen Devil Wears Prada, let alone more than once. But Sicario, I've seen. It was fine. I've never rewatched it.

I don't have time for that. I know what the list is. So do you have to watch the first one for the second one? Yes, you have needed to watch the first. At least according to the trailer, you would have had to watch the first one. Is Anne Hathaway in it? Yeah, they're all in,

Emily Blunt, Ann Hathaway, Merrill Street. Tucci's in there. They're all in it. I didn't know any of those people weren't in the first place. I think it's like Emily Blunt's like first, like, huge feature film, I think. Yeah, she's not bad. I like Emily Blunt.

I think she gets to use her actual real voice, which is good. for her. Yeah, she never gets to do that. All right. I'll tell you what. Yeah, yeah. I think her first,

her first big movie was Devere Wars Prada. All right. Well, here's what I'm going to do, Jeff. I'm going to watch this with my wife. Okay. I'm going to get credit

for being a nice guy and, like, wanting to watch one. The first one? Yeah. Has she seen it? Yeah, she's seen it. She's told me to see it thousands of times. Everyone likes it, but you.

she said the same thing you've said which is like you'd be surprised you would really like it that's a Bill's thing Bill's basically summary of the movie was like there's something there for everyone it's just never going to get old when they filmed it and like just there's something for everyone in the movie

well I'm going to watch it and then I'm ready for two and maybe we can you know in the same weekend we can each go see it and come back and talk about it because soon we're going to have no football so we're gonna have to do that it's the weekend of the draft which is even funnier you're gonna watch it tonight or you're gonna wait till like Saturday night like we made date night type of thing probably probably not tonight or Saturday night but I'll get it in there I'll get

it in before the game we by the way have softball tryouts February 14th like two weeks from now so I didn't get my movies day to you Jeff I need to get my I need to get my movies in now before that consumes my life All right. Nice talking football with you. Yeah. Enjoy your time on Radio Row with Matt. Should be fun, yes.

I get to run off my whole trip. And I get to meet with Matt. Matt. All right, buddy. Good chat. We'll be back on Wednesday, everyone. We'll be on Thursday. I don't know.

We'll do Wednesday. Talk to you guys then.