Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - The Cowboys Catch COVID, the Patriots’ Ceiling, Plus Geoff Solves the AFC Playoff Race

Episode Date: November 30, 2021

Geoff is joined by Gabe to figure out what to make of the Cowboys recent slide. Gabe is running out of reasons to claim that the Patriots aren’t the best team in the AFC, but hopefully, the Bills can beat them next week and make it a little easier for him. Outside of the Patriots and Bills, the AFC is a muddled mess, so Geoff clears it up for Gabe by telling him which teams will and won’t make the playoffs.On Moving the Line, Geoff ups the volume on his pleas for teams to stop handing running backs big contracts, the internet gets a new thing to make fun of Kirk Cousins about, and Geoff tells the story of what happened to the only guy who ever had to tackle him.If you enjoyed the episode, leave a rating to let us know! And be sure to comment for a chance to be featured in a mailbag segment at the end of the season.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

it's Tuesday November 30th I'm Jeff Schwartz alongside Gabe doing this Jeff Schwartz is smart you're powered by the varsity podcast network this is our NFL show after a craziest 48 hours in college football history so um maybe at some point we'll touch on some more college football news because it is wild but this is our NFL show we have Cowboys Patriots who's a front runner in any of these conferences and plenty more to talk about as we head down the stretch of the NFL season. Already through 12 weeks, guys. We've had a lot of NFL action so far. Gabe, are you still basking in the glory of a Lincoln Riley hire for your Trojans?

I still feel great about it. You know, I don't know how you're going to talk me off of it. You got the whole family, private jets, man. Roman Roy couldn't even get that kind of treatment. is this is a great day to be a trojan and i got that reference you got that reference i know because you're caught up now i don't i don't know i have not caught up but i know who that is um and yeah that that report about what lincoln riley is getting for usc is just not true but there's no way he's getting a private jet 24 7 for his family if i had that access i would just just be, wait, wait, wait.

I'd wake up in the morning and be like, I want some barbecue tonight, hon. Do you want to fly to Austin, Texas? I want to have some lobster tonight. Would you like to fly to Maine? Like that's what I would use a private jet for. I just go. Then on the way back, you just like sleep on the plane

or you watch a TV show. Like you just, that's what I would do. Find a private. Yeah. I mean, I'm probably not that different than you. I don't think food would be my motivation. Maybe like beaches and things like that. But you know, Jimmy Buffett concerts, I'd be flying.

I mean, I would do, I would do the beaches. But I would imagine that if the Cowboys had a private plane, they would try to fly in some healthy football players. Yeah. Or just anyone healthy period. I don't know, want to fly in some healthy football players. Yeah, or just anyone healthy, period. I don't want to make too many jokes about people getting COVID, but what a mess that is in Dallas right now. So when your head coach gets COVID and most of your coaching staff gets COVID, after a bunch of your star players got COVID, I think it's fair to say, what is going on there?

Not in an accusatory way, but just like, are you sure you got the right protocols in place and people are following the rules? This is bizarre. They have a game on Thursday. They've just got off a couple games without Amari Cooper. Now they don't have coach. The Cowboys are, they looked great, and then they just fell apart,

and now they've got this to deal with. I keep asking, do I have to take them seriously? Jeff, how can I take them seriously? Nope, they have fooled us once again, Gabe. They have fooled me once again. They did it. They got everyone to believe in them. They put a tougher schedule, and it's just all gone to crap.

I mean, it is. They cannot win games without their left tackle, which is just baffling to me. Like, teams lose. The Packers might be the best team in the NFL. They were down three starters against the Rams did not matter yeah but the Cowboys lose to Ron Smith they can't block for Dak anymore why why can't they block for Dak anymore who knows Zeke Elliott injured by the way stop paying for

running backs guess what they're all hurt Zeke, Kishan McCaffrey, Derek Henry, Alvin Kamara stop paying for them Saquon Barkley has like 40 carries the last two seasons. Stop paying for these guys. Stop drafting them. It makes no sense. Defensively, right? If they're not forcing turnovers again, beat down the field again. Dude, the Raiders were, entered that game against the Cowboys on Thursday night.

On a short week, having lost three in a row after scoring 16, 14, and 13 in those three games, and came into Dallas and whipped their ass. And Dallas had no answer. And I know it was a weird game, went to overtime. I get it. It was a bazillion penalties. Like, it was a poorly played game. And the referees, refs, please, for the love of everything, just call what you see.

Don't go into a game with a point of emphasis. I absolutely hate that. Like, what are we doing? Why are we throwing so many freaking flags? No one's there to watch you play, even though 38 million people watch that game. I'm off the Cowboys, man. I think they still win the NFC East because of the Giants, Eagles,

Washington are not good. But they're no longer a contender in the NFC, in my opinion. No real contender in the NFC in my opinion no real contender the NFC all right so then let's talk about the coach thing though I mean am I over reacting granted Dan Quinn who has a lot of coaching experience pretty good coach in his day at least for a time he'll take over this week but like what the hell like I mean I know COVID's hard to control but why is this running rampant through the organization right now? They have protocols. Yeah, I mean, it's not great.

But here's the thing. If they're vaccinated, which I think they are, at least most of the team is. I mean, Jerry Jones had a harsh reaction to Amari Cooper not being vaccinated. I would imagine most of the team is. We had Michael Irvin, who was one of the first former players to strongly advocate for getting vaccinated. Then you can be together in a room with someone who has COVID for like a

week. I mean, they test and this is what NFL players have asked for more testing for vaccinated players. They don't test much unvaccinated guys. And so if, if you are in a room with someone without, without distancing who has COVID and they're not testing as often

as someone who's unvaccinated, this is how it happens. I don't think it's a McCarthy problem or a player problem in Dallas. Obviously, if Mario Cooper is unvaccinated, it's not helpful because he'd have to be out a little bit longer. But yeah, I mean, we saw this clustering. Who are the other team that had a bunch of issues

this season? It was one of their team that had a bunch of COVID problems this year. I feel like Tennessee had a little run there. Tennessee had a preseason run of COVID. But we made it like 12 weeks, 11 weeks before we had a major, with Ben Roethlisberger being out for a game.

Well, he actually didn't miss a game, right? He came back for that game the same week. But we made it a long time. Now we're getting into the winter again. I mean, it's going to be still a topic in the NFL. If teams were smart, if players were smart, they'd pay for daily testing

for their players. If playoff teams were smart about this. Yeah, I mean, I know a lot of people took a lot of issue with things Aaron Rodgers raised a few weeks ago, and I'm not going to get in there

and try to defend anything Aaron Rodgers said, but he did ask a couple questions, maybe rhetorically, about, well, we're not testing the guys who are vaccinated. And yet we know there are breakthrough cases and we know that they're walking around without masks. And maybe that's part of how this stuff is spreading. And, you know, people can debate how sincere he was with some of those claims. But I thought I thought that was an interesting point. Right. If you're

not going to test everyone all the time, how sure are you that the facility is safe? Well, I mean, you're sure that the players that are vaccinated shouldn't get very sick, right? That's right. But I'm talking about available to play. Forget about their personal health. No, and that's my point is that that's a valid point to make. It's like, hey, and even the PA president, J.C. Tretter,

mentioned at the beginning of training camp, why aren't we testing players more often that are vaccinated? Aaron Rodgers, man, is so funny, dude. He said he had COVID toe and then blamed the media for saying he had COVID toe. We're like, buddy, you said it. No one made it up. You said COVID toe. So people were like, oh, maybe this guy has COVID toe,

which I didn't know was a thing, but it actually is a thing. But he has a broken toe, I guess. So it's just like, oh, Rogers. He's taken gaslighting to a whole new level. It's really masterclass stuff. And I know it's driving people crazy, but guess what, guys? They're really good. They're really good.

Yeah. Well, we're supposed to be talking Cowboys. By the way, they can't win on Thursday nights. Great note from producer Hank here. 0-5 in their last five Thursday night games. I would say that's one of those quirky stats that doesn't mean anything. But what I think it means is your coaches don't get you ready to play on short notice. Are you counting Thanksgiving last year?

Did they lose on Thanksgiving last year? I think they must have according to this stat. Yeah. I mean, they're not playing five other games on Thursday nights. So this isn't even a short week because they played Thursday and Thursday. It's kind of a weird one. Correct. Correct.

Yeah. But that tells me coaches aren't really preparing the team very well so we'll I mean I don't again I don't want to make a joke about McCarthy getting COVID and not being there but could they be better without head coach I mean people question him all the time uh well we've seen so far this year what Cliff Kingsbury missed a game the Cardinals look great uh against the Browns right he missed He missed that game for COVID. The problem this last 48 hours, dude, is the college coaching thing is like I fried my brain, buddy. I can't even think past it.

I think you fried LSU's brain. What are they doing, man? Yeah, LSU hired Brian Kelly. Brian Kelly can coach, by the way. I don't know if the fit culturally makes sense, but dude has a top 10 recruiting class at Notre Dame. He can coach. He can coach. He can coach.

Now, again, and by the way, LSU has won three titles in 18 years with three different coaches. So it's easier to win there than maybe at USC. But nonetheless, so I know Cliff Kingsbury missed a game. I don't know if anyone else missed a game this year for COVID with a head coach. The Raiders won their first two games with Passaccia as their coach. But yeah, it's not good to not have your head coach. But again, McCarthy doesn't call plays. That's Kellen Moore. And so

he's a figurehead. Dan Quinn can handle those things in the game. I mean, Dan Quinn can just as easily call out for a 57-yard field goal at 4th and 2 as McCarthy can, right? Yeah. I mean, let's see what happens. I think if they lose this week, this show is teetering.

I mean, the Cowboys will always have to talk about them, but they're teetering on the edge of being with the team in Indianapolis who we will not talk about because it's just... Oh, God, I'm so glad they lost. I just have to talk about them this week. Yeah, but the Cowboys are right up against that with a loss this week. So we'll see what happens against the Saints, who are trash also right now and are probably going to your boy Taysom Hill.

So, you know, that's going to be a stinker of a game on Thursday night. I want to bring up something that pains me to talk about each and every week with you, and I think it's probably my fault. I keep on trying to make, say they're going to, it's going to collapse or they're not for real. And the Patriots just keep proving me wrong. So now it's a six game win streak. They took out the Titans. I said, they're probably going to go on four of the next four while they beat the best team in the AFC. I don't know what to say, Jeff. I'm not going to be a believer, but I'm running real short on evidence that the Patriots aren't for real.

Oh, man. That's probably the first Patriots game I watched all season, like start to finish. It wasn't a national TV game. I was like, I'm going to watch them play. Tennessee is so beat up. I'm not surprised Patriots won that game. Mack Jones had some throws that weren't great. It could have been picked off, but he just

plays in the rhythm of the game. He's throwing the ball a little bit deeper now. He's kind of trying to do a little bit more. They ran the ball well. They had weird run defense issues against draw plays for the Titans, but for years, we rightfully condemned Belichick for his ability as a general manager. It wasn't very good good the roster was not good I correctly said that he didn't forget how to coach and everyone wanted to say well Tom Brady

won the divorce yeah he won last year sure but Belichick showing this year that he was able to bring in free agents Matthew Judon is having his best season of his career Christian Barrymore their D tackle fromackle from Alabama. Great addition to the defense. All the other guys they brought. Hunter Henry. Aguilar. These guys are playing good football.

Mack Jones, obviously. Stevenson, drafted fourth round, fifth round from Oklahoma. Guys are playing good football, man. And Belichick can still bring it. We know he can coach. I told you guys he can still coach. This idea that he can't coach anymore I thought was crazy to me. He can coach and he's got a team that looks like they like playing with each other and they're very good on defense.

And they do enough offensively. And that's all you – you have to be typically great in one thing to make a playoff run. If you're great in two, you have a chance to win it all. They're not there yet. But defensively, they have enough to win the division. Okay, well, it takes a lot for Rex Ryan to compliment his former nemesis, Bill Belichick.

But I want to layer on to what you're saying about Coach with two points from Rex. One, he said, I mean, he's steaming up the takes these days, Rex. He said that this is the best coaching job he's ever done. I mean, Rex should know of a few coaching jobs that Belichick did better, but fine. He says this is his best coaching season ever. Didn't Rex say something last week where someone was the best ever last week? He says a lot of things are the best ever.

He also said that he would have much rather played against this team than the Brady teams he used to have to go against when he was the Jets coach. And he actually had some competitive Jets teams at the time. He even beat the Patriots in the playoffs. He would much rather play against this team, he said? He'd rather go against the Mac Jones 2021 Patriots than any Brady teams he used to have to go against.

Yeah, of course, because Mac Jones is a rookie. Okay, but yet he's calling it Belichick's finest season. Yeah, that's a shitty take. But they're winning now, yes, but they're not a threat to win the AFC, in my opinion. Oh, really? Yeah, rookie quarterbacks is not going to happen.

So let me ask you this. Is plus minus a fake stat? Because their point differential has been amazing. Remember that season where they were like the record setting point differential and it fell apart but i feel like we fall for this number no it i think it matters um i think it matters it just it kind of tells you like can you put away opponents you know or can you run up the score against crappy teams and you get a handful of them on your schedule every year so they and the bills are both doing that.

They're going to have to play each other twice in the next three games. So after these three games, do we get to determine who the better team actually is or are we still going to be confused? When they play twice, we should know after

they play each other twice. All right. You think they split? I would lean probably toward Buffalo winning both. But in between that, you know,

this next three game will tell us a lot about New England. At Buffalo, at Indy, home for Bills, and with Jaguars and Dolphins. So they're going to win the last two games. So they're at least going to have 10 wins. 10-7 probably gets them into the playoff. Yeah.

Gets them into the playoff at 10-7. Probably is a 6th or 7th seed. But again, if they can go 1 and 2 over the next 3 games and then win the last 2 yeah and they get the Colts after a bye too which is important

and Indy off a bye they have a bye and then they get Indy well I don't really want to keep talking about the Patriots because it sucks to do that. But, you know, let's just throw another compliment at them. Our buddy Mina Kimes also points out,

Rex Ryan is talking about the coaching job Belichick's doing. Mina's pointing out the front office GM work that Belichick did, all the free agent signings. They actually spent money for once, and it all worked, it seems. I mean, they can't get anything wrong in New england i guess so they have the roster they have the coach apparently the quarterback doesn't suck even though he's a rookie so you're taking them into the playoffs and then they lose a round or two into it that's where you are uh yeah that feels about right like a lower tier playoff team first year quarterback and, and they just end up, you know, they lose their first playoff game.

I mean, their first playoff game, if they drop back, would be at Baltimore, at Cincinnati, at Kansas City, somewhere around there. Yeah, that feels about right for them. I don't think that they're going to make a deep play for them. But next year, watch out, buddy, because year two, a lot of quarterbacks in year two make that jump, right? Wentz, Wilson, Big Ben, Pat Mahomes. And Pat didn't win in year two, but Ben did.

I think Russell Wilson. Did Russell Wilson win in year two? Brady won in year two. Wentz was MVP in year two. I don't like what you're doing here, Jeff. Let me just have one bad year at a time, okay? This year two. I don't like what you're doing here, Jeff. Let me just have one bad year at a time, okay? This year sucks. We don't need to also talk about how sucky next year is going to be. Well, are you a Chargers? Your Jets won, but your Chargers lost. How does that treat you

for a weekend? My Chargers will be there in the end, and you're providing me a very nice segue. Forget about the Jets. We're not talking about the Jets. 12 of the 16 teams in the AFC are within a game of wildcard spot right now. Okay. The Patriots look pretty safe all of a sudden, but like the whole rest of the field is kind of a mishmash. And right when we think we have a team figured out, they drop a game.

They shouldn't lose, right? Like the Steelers are a perfect example. They went on a little streak. Then they started crapping the bed again. The Bengals are up. Then they're down. Then they're up again.

There's a lot of teams kind of right in the middle there.gers my chargers certainly another one raiders broncos so i guess i want you to help me figure this out where we sit right now who do you like for those final couple of wild card spots and what's it based on because it can't be record you can't go by like oh well this team's six and five. The Broncos are six and five. I refuse to let you tell me they're a playoff team. Who's a wildcard team? All right.

So I think if you're looking at this kind of like by divisions, right? Let's start with that, right? So you have – I'm going to pull up my notebooks. I'm going to make sure I write this down properly. Okay. So you have KC for sure out West. They're going to win the West, okay? Yep.

We're good with that. The South is going to be won by, I'll just put Tennessee or Indy, right? Because Tennessee is so beat up, okay? The East is won by Buffalo or New England. And then the North is going to be either baltimore cincinnati those are that's seven teams is that if kansas city tennessee indy buffalo new england baltimore cincinnati are you who is who are we excluded so we're we're we're done talking about an AFC West wildcard team? Okay, so the one would be you throw out Indianapolis at 6-6 right now,

and you put in the Chargers at 6-5. The Chargers have at the Bengals. So that kind of be a playing game, right? It'll be a playoff game this weekend. Bengals, Giants, Chiefs, Texans, Broncos, Raiders. So they should win Giants, Texans, Broncos, Raiders. So they should win Giants, Texans, Broncos, Raiders. They should win four of those six games. That puts them at 10 wins.

They're probably in at 10 wins. Indianapolis is the question, right? Indianapolis has, at the Texans, Patriots, Cardinals, Raiders, Jags. They already have, they've only played 12 games already. I mean, they're looking at, Are they winning four of the last five to get to 10 wins? I don't know. Are you still talking about the Colts?

Yeah. I'm sorry, I tuned out for a little bit there. So, if we throw Indy out, if we throw Indy out, that puts in the Chargers as the seventh team. Because we're pretty assumed, we're going to assume Buffalo and New England are in, right? Yeah, I think we have to. And we're assuming Kansas City's're pretty assumed we're gonna assume buffalo new england are in right yeah i think we have to and we're assuming kansas city's in there we're

assuming baltimore or cincinnati in yeah so then i that's this is all building to the real question i want to ask are any of these wild card teams actually capable of beating the projected division winners truly like it just seems like it's gonna be be Chiefs, Ravens, AFC East winner. I don't really see any other team with a chance. So Baltimore and Kansas City have been there. So has Buffalo. That's important. If you're going on the road, if you're Joe Burrow in your first playoff game or Justin Herbert in your first playoff game, it's a different atmosphere. I remember when I was a young player, my offensive line coach said

there's basically four speeds to the season. Maybe more. There's preseason, week one, kind of like you settle into the regular season and then the playoff push. And then the fifth speed is the playoffs. And each week, I've only played in a couple wildcard games. Like the intensity is so much higher. The focus is so much higher.

When you're young, it's tough to play in those games. And so to go to Kansas City, go to Baltimore, it's going to be tough. And I don't think that the Bengals are maybe close. Chargers might be close. But they're not, I think, in my opinion, ready to win those playoff games on the road yet. Yeah, I can't debate that.

We skipped past one team as we started handing out the Patriots wins, and the Bills will get this too. Are we sure that the Dolphins aren't scary? They're like a four-game win streak. Jalen Waddell looks for real. Something seems to be clicking there. They were great last year. Maybe they figured it out. Well, they have Giants and Jets now.

Yeah, win-win. So that's seven. I'm not saying they're a playoff team. I'm saying could they be a spoiler? No, probably. I mean, they have Titans, Patriots, and the Seasons, so maybe they spoil one of those teams from winning their their divisions but i don't think so all right well i think what we're talking about again is all the top teams will be basically the the top coaches

and a couple of them will be the better quarterbacks hey one of the people on our text thread about this show shared something so crazy that i think it might have been a joke did steve young say something like patrick mahomes needs to watch tape of mac jones was that a joke no so these these old guys don't like pat mahomes and the way he plays football which is funny because steve young you think would because he was a running type of yes he was a runner he was a running type of guy. He was a runner. He was a pocket guy. But Steve Young was like the most accurate quarterback ever, by the way.

He was completing passes 70% a season way before Drew Brees was doing it, right? And Tom Brady was doing it. But like Kurt Warner does not like Troy Aikman. These guys don't like Pat Mahomes because he does. He's very unorthodox. They go out of their way to crush him. I'm not surprised that he said that. But that's the way these kind of older guys feel about Mahomes. He's very unorthodox. They go out of their way to crush him. I'm not surprised that he said that. But that's the way these kind of older guys feel about Mahomes.

He's so different. He's not what they're used to. He's not what they're used to. I mean, okay. But I don't know what world there is where Patrick Mahomes should style anything he's doing after what Mac Jones does. He shouldn't. I mean, it's an insane, insane idea. All right.

You made me a little bit smarter. In over under our moving the line segment, I have a few more topics, including some stuff you teased earlier, like why the hell are we paying running back so much? Your point has been consistent since I've known you, but it's never been more obvious than right now on the back of the CMC news. So let's take a quick break. We'll come back. We'll move the line.

All right, Jeff, we're back. I think you're going to be fired up about this first one. Over under $15 million total handed out to running backs in 2022. There's some free agents out there. Are people going to be spending on free agent running backs after what we've seen this season? Yeah, because they're stupid. But that would be ridiculous to do that. Why would you spend money agent running backs after what we've seen this season yeah because they're stupid but that but that's that would be ridiculous to do that why would you spend money on on running backs like what what's why i don't know people get scared maybe leonard fernette's gonna make

a bunch of money cordaro patterson had a few good games for fantasy owners maybe they're gonna overspend i don't know i would not pay a running back a single cent after their working contract's up. Why? That's it. Four good years. Four good years. Find someone else in the third round. Okay, that's how you've been very clear about this,

and I think the data is starting to support your claim. And by the way, just anecdotally, McCaffrey out again for the year. Kamara obviously hurt. Zeke obviously hurt. Dalvin Cook obviously hurt. Derrick Henry again for the year. Kamara obviously hurt. Zeke obviously hurt. Dalvin Cook obviously hurt. Derrick Henry out for the year, although there were some reports today he might try to come back if they make a run. All the best, highest paid guys all hurt. So it's hard to even try to argue with you.

But why couldn't I just say the same about big offensive linemen? Isn't there always some guy from Iowa I can throw on my line? I mean, they're much harder to find, right? I don't know. They are much harder to find, and they don't get as hurt. Okay, you sure there's not like an offensive lineman bias coming through right here? There's none. They have a higher lifespan, and they don't end up being so much your salary cap.

They're more important. Well, the money part is no doubt about it. I mean, just value-wise, the running back is a low value position. All right, so you don't think if you're a running back this year entering free agency, you think tough luck, right?

The league might finally have caught on. I mean, someone's going to pay you because not everyone's smart, but no, you can't do it. Over under.5 times in his career, Jeff had to ask a quarterback to please kindly take your hands out of my ass. So Kirk Cousins lined up on the right guard. Did not happen in my NFL career.

The best part was I think Madison was in the game and tried to move him, physically move him over. It was fantastic. And it was like on fourth down too. Yeah. Well, he was totally flustered. And then of course that meant the internet had a lot of opportunities to make fun of Kirk Cousins,

which is one of the internet's favorite things to do. He brought this one on himself, but it raised a bunch of questions about like, wait, holy crap. Kirk Cousins having a pretty damn good year statistically. What's what's going on there. Are they just asking him to do less? Why is he never throwing picks anymore? I think he – so there's an idea that you actually want your quarterback

to throw interceptions. That means they're pushing the ball down the field. They're being aggressive. And I think Cousins – and he had some regression against the Niners with interceptions. But it's like, okay to throw interceptions if they're in the right place. But Cousins threw some – he had some bad throws yesterday. I mean, I just – the Vikings can be good, but they're just –

it's just – one of those things where each week you're like, what are we getting from this team? All I know is they're a betting hell. I avoid them in any game every week. Whoever they're playing, whatever the number, I don't want to touch it because every time I think I have a beat on the Vikings, they do the opposite every single time. And they always end up somewhere between, you know,

well, now it'll be 7-10 and 10-7, and who the hell knows what the difference is. Yeah, it doesn't matter. All right. Well, they're going to go in the category of teams who might technically still be alive that we're just, we're probably done talking about.

Uh, okay. Over under 15% odds, getting roasted by Devante Adams leads to Jalen Ramsey talking less trash this season. I'm going to say, forget I said 15%. 0.15% chance.

No, it's not going to take any less trash. Cornerbacks, that's what they live for, man. They love talking trash. I mean, how funny is it when the ball's like 17 yards overthrown and they start dancing and celebrating it? It's really funny to me. No, it's not going to take any less. The Rams, though, look, I look i mean stafford wanted this stage and now

stafford has about eight injuries that a 35 year old will have they're like his back hurts and elbow and hand and knee hurt it was like yeah so does my body i'm 35 i'm not i am 35 um yeah yeah that hurts too that's how this is that's how goes. Our bodies hurt when we're that age. Like, congratulations on that. I keep telling you, this hero worship of athletes rehabbing. Now Russell Wilson, his wife is helping him rehab now. Like, what are we doing, guys? Why are we sponsor? Why are media members having sponsored tweets for players and agents?

I don't know. I can't talk about Russ anymore. He's with the Colts. But here's why I asked you about the Ramsey thing. Aaron Rodgers, who is old and recovering from stuff, but seems great anyway. So I don't know if every 35-year-old plus feels the same way you're describing. Aaron Rodgers, seven for seven targets

against jalen ramsey to davante adams completed all seven of them a bunch of first downs like everyone tells me jalen ramsey's lockdown i don't know maybe aaron rogers figured out a way also what was with the fake bubble screen that led to a catch and a run from davante that was cool i haven't seen that before. Yeah, that was unique. I hadn't seen that either. It almost looked like a busted play. It was a good play. Yeah, I mean, everyone's going to hate Rodgers

because of the whole vaccination thing. But, I mean, he's playing some good football. Yeah, the Packers, with all their offensive line issues, I mean, they're playing. They're doing some good things, man. This is the best defense they've had in quite a few years, and it's always held them back in the playoffs. And it looks like they might have the one seed again this year,

maybe Arizona, but no one believes in Kingsbury. Of course, it's back after the season. So we'll see what happens. Yeah, they got to get a draw that doesn't put them against Brady. They had it last year, and then they got Brady, and just the gods were not shining on them. Do you think I noticed a clip bouncing around the Internet? We talk about Pat and how the like no look passes and all the crazy sidearm throws get a lot of like Twitter attention,

which might be why some of those old guys kind of don't love him because they feel like he gets credit for the wrong stuff. I see the same thing happen with Aaron Rodgers, but it's not physical stuff. It's like, wow, he's so heady. He's such a Jedi. There was a video that showed him sort of like pointing to Adams to like break from his route, and then he threw him on a touchdown pass, and everyone was like, oh, man,

look at him rewrite the route mid-play, and it seemed like nonsense to me. Was that nonsense, or is there actually something to that a bunch of quarterbacks do that it's not anything like new to mahomes does that brain does that like especially when he has time and he's like and he's like scrambling he points like go over here right that's not like that's just football right like i mean not every quarterback has the confidence to do it not every receiver has the same connection with him. But, like, a good quarterback does that. Yes.

I saw it, and it hit my BS radar, and I wanted to ask you about it because you're usually good at telling me the truth about football. Yeah, that's – there were some other tweets about the offense. It's just – people make the simplest stuff into, like, the craziest things. Yeah. All right, so Rams, you're worried about Stafford, and obviously they're on a little bit of a slide. simplest stuff into like the most, the craziest things. Yeah. Um, all right. So Rams, you're,

you're worried about Stafford and obviously they're on a little bit of a slide. Do we think they got it or no? Uh, defense, defensive regression happened offensively. Matt Stafford. So three straight games with pick sixes.

No, no, no, buddy. I don't know. I, it feels like the, the curb music should be playing over the Rams season a little bit. It does feel that way. I made a bold prediction before the season.

I said there will be a Super Bowl team in LA. You pointed out no matter what, there'll be a Super Bowl team in LA. I said touche. I thought either the Rams or Chargers would make it this year I don't feel so good about that anymore uh no what do we do for Super Bowl I have I have my hotel booked for a couple days in the convention center area so I don't have to drive back and forth I'm looking forward to my wife wants to come out for the parties I just uh let's how about you and I can just order some barbecue and we can sit at my house and our wives

can go out to the parties together and we'll you know i need someone in my life like going to like there's a lot of there's a lot of like seeing chain smokers and stuff yeah that whole that whole side of you uh you and your wife and and all your edm uh lifestyle i think maybe isn't gonna draw my wife out but she likes it's but she likes it. It's not that crazy. I just sit in a lounge. I just sit on a couch and watch music being played. I saw the Chainsmokers at a Super Bowl party, in fact, a few years ago. Yeah, in Miami?

I was there for that one. I think I was in Houston. I saw Chainsmokers and Rick Ross. In Miami, we went to Lizzo. Then Friday night, we went to the barstow rough and rowdy and it was a wreck because it poured rain and like we got stuck in this pouring rain saturday night we saw chain smokers and rick ross and then at the chief super bowl party was pitbull which was i remember you love that show yeah it was it was great so um a show i like by the way are you caught up on curb it's been like just the best one behind i'm savor i you know i've told you before i like to savor it i was busy last night uh i had some football to watch i was still in the

holiday travel mode i did not want to waste those 30 minutes last night when I wasn't in the right headspace. So was that the – have you seen the huge like Jewy episode, the super Jew episode where they just talked about with the Klan member? Yeah, I've seen that. I mean, but that first description was like every episode. So I didn't know what you meant. This season has been like super Jewy. It's been even more than usual. And it's just – Yeah, Larry seems to have unlocked a side of himself that didn't exist in previous seasons. This season's been super chewy. It's been even more than usual. Larry seems to have unlocked a side of himself that didn't exist in previous seasons.

I just love that all these celebrities are doing this show this year. Way more than you. Like, just, it's been great. Let me ask you one last question, Jeff, that was planned for our over-under. This might lead to a story or two from your playing days. Over-under 10% chance, over under um this might lead to a story or two from your playing days over under 10 chance jeff has ever headbutted a tooth out of a defensive lineman's mouth oh no it happened

to vita vea uh his helmet popped off he got hit in the face and he chipped the tooth no um i told you that i think i'm gonna share the story the event should have story but like when the guy got knocked out on my hip so in 2009 I got a kick return 20 it's a 16 yard kick return and after the game uncle called me and said like man that was great like how's your hip feeling I was like oh a little sore but like well he goes yeah um do you know what happened i said no he goes a tampa bay bucks player went to hit you and he and he hit your hip and got knocked down got carted off the field i was like what are you talking about went back and watched and yeah i was celebrating so much on the side i didn't even notice the dude got like carted off the field with the concussion he ran to him he got pushed

into my hip trying to tackle me and i knocked him out so you're hold on a second so you are so huge and so jacked up on a 16 yard return on like a squib kick that you literally knock a man out don't feel it and don't realize they're carting him off the field that's what you're telling me yeah yeah and you were like i realized the next day i could use some ice on my hip and that was all no no no no my uncle called me and i was like oh you know what my you know my hip like left hip's a little sore do you think that guy is somewhere telling his family about the time he ran into your hip like was he okay i mean like you can so you can see in the i can send you the video um you know like when when you know when babies kind of get like that like pose sometimes

they kind of get stuck like in that little fencer pose the dude is the dude is look he's i mean you can see right here he dude is knocked out on his back that's the kick return. Wait, wait, wait. Okay. Oh, yeah. Oh, no. He really, he was really out. Yeah. Out cold. Yikes. Yeah, I'm being serious. No, was he okay eventually?

I mean, did he come back and play a week or two later? I think he went on IR because that was his second concussion of the year like that. I don't know if he got carted off. I will be honest. I was told he did. I mean, he might have just been taken off the field without a cart, but yeah, I didn't even notice. I was,

I was celebrating so much. Didn't even notice. Wow. Um, well, Vita Vea, his helmet came up and then he got hit in the face by alignment and his tooth popped out and he's bleeding and spitting blood out.

And he loved it. Arians like, couldn't have cared less. It was just like such a football guy response. It just didn't matter. He's got 30 other ones, he said, of his teeth. But I liked it. It felt kind of old school.

That said, there was a kid at Florida who completed a run into the end zone after his helmet popped off. Nearly got killed because he's running in and people are tackling him with no helmet on. And he was penalized for continuing to play without a helmet on. And thank goodness. I feel like you've got to protect those guys. That's a college football rule.

Yeah. It happened in Alabama. Alabama had an offensive lineman blocking someone. And then his helmet fell off and he engaged with someone else. And they fired him 15 yards. It's a pretty punitive penalty. 15 yards for just playing football? Really? i mean i get but like i don't know we we spend so much time worrying about these guys health like you can't go running around without

a helmet on dude in the middle of a play you're not even gonna you're not gonna realize it you're gonna keep playing is that really true honestly yeah yeah so you your helmet flies off mid-play you keep i keep blocking yeah even in like a scrum like there's other people's helmets smashing into your head probably yeah dude that's scary because i remember when jason went and there's that famous play several years ago and people still love that play but i'm sure they've scrubbed it from the files because it's like the exact opposite message they want to be sending you know you remember the play i'm talking about yes i mean they've scrubbed like jacked up from the files like there's no jacked up anymore because you know it was like that was that

segment where we just celebrated people getting concussed but i so i mean i can't it's hard i'm surprised i know you pretty well i'm surprised to hear that even you would be like oh yeah i'd just keep playing i wouldn't notice i'm not to hear that even you would be like, oh, yeah, I'd just keep playing. I wouldn't notice. I'm not saying you would, like, break down and, like, cower and quiver, but I feel like you'd know, like, I don't want to hurt the team and I don't want to get my head smashed. I think that's what they want us to do, though. It's what they want us to just take a knee and just stop playing.

It's not going to happen. Yeah. Wow. All right. Well, Jeff, listen, like you said, I feel like there's not many weeks when both college and NFL are going on that it's decisively a college week. But this was a college week, man. It really was.

And it's going to continue next week in the championship games. So you're making a lot of picks this Thursday. I'm hoping you're making a lot of good college picks. I will probably have something for you in every championship game. I mean, something. I don't know what that something will be, but we'll get there on Thursday. I'm looking forward to hearing who you like. I'm totally excited for the SEC championship game.

And obviously, I want to see Michigan complete this journey. What a bummer it's going to be if they blow it. Oh, man. Because then the Rose Bowl will be Iowa-Utah. Yeah, at least. Yeah, which I don't think anyone wants. No, nobody. I don't even know if Iowa and Utah want that.

No, probably not. I mean, Utah will be the first Rose Bowl. They want that. But Iowa, I don't know. That just would seem like an ugly game. All right. We're at Powered by the Varsity Podcast Network. Have a great couple of days, everyone.

Football is wild right now. We'll be back to talk about it more on Thursday. Then, of course, we'll recap what happened in the college football championship weekend. I'll come up next Monday. So we'll talk to you guys then. All right, guys. Have a good one.