Green Light with Chris Long - Chiefs vs Ravens Reactions! WK1 NFL Best Bets, SB Picks, Playoff Team Forecasts, Season Award Predictions & CFB Round Up with Stanford Steve!

Episode Date: September 6, 2024

THE NFL IS HERE! We've got it folks, the 2024 NFL Season has commenced and it started with a great Chiefs vs Ravens matchup that went down to the wire. Chris dishes out his reaction, his thoughts on both Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes, where each team will go from here and Carson Steele's wild animal story. We then welcome Stanford Steve on to talk college football, give out our season award predictions, select our playoff teams for the 2024 NFL season and most importantly - deliver you the most accurate gambling picks on earth. Enjoy! (00:00) - Intro (4:17) - Ravens vs Chiefs 2024 NFL Season Opener Reaction (33:51) - Stanford Steve! (38:27) -Thursday Night Time Machine! (46:03) - College Football Roundup: CFB GameDay with Nick Saban, Dabo Swinney & The Coughlin Award (59:11) - NFL Week One BETTING SLATE presented by BetMGM (1:12:06) - NFL Playoff Team Forecasts & Super Bowl Picks with Chris, Macon, Stanford Steve and Nate 'Dr. Fax' Collins (1:48:23) - Season Award Predictions: MVP, Coach of the Year & More! Want your Green Light Merch so you can look exactly like Chris and the fellas? Hit the website below and get kitted! https://stores.kotisdesign.com/yotehouse/products Have some interesting takes, some codebreaks or just want to talk to the Green Light Crew? We want to hear from you. Call into the Green Light Hotline and give us your hottest takes, your biggest gripes and general thoughts. Day and night, this hotline is open. Green Light Hotline: ‪[phone]‬ Send any Talent Search submissions to: [e-mail] Include any video of your talents, takes and bits as well as a little bit about yourself. Love hearing from the Green Light fans. Also, check out our paddling partners at Appomattox River Company to get your canoes, kayaks and paddleboards so you're set to hit the river this summer. https://paddleva.com/ Green Light Spotify Music: https://open.spotify.com/user/951jyryv2nu6l4iqz9p81him9?si=17c560d10ff04a9b Spotify Layup Line: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1olmCMKGMEyWwOKaT1Aah3?si=675d445ddb824c42 Green Light Tube YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgxWFAA-wuB7osdiAJyLOcw Green Light with Chris Long: Subscribe and enjoy weekly content including podcasts, documentaries, live chats, celebrity interviews and more including hot news items, trending discussions from the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, NCAA are just a small part of what we will be sharing with you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is it? Super Bowl? Yeah. Match up and winner. Super Bowl. Last game of the season. Chiefs 31, Falcons 23. Whoa. What the fuck?

Also the worst uniform game ever. I thought of you, Chris. Golly. Wow. Wow, he said. Wow. I have Packers 30, Browns 27. Nice.

That would be awesome. Like it a lot. I like it a lot. Lions 30, Jets 10. Okay, I've got the Lions as well, and I've got them beating the Houston Texans. Okay. 31, 28. Okay.

And for the 20th year in a row, all I want is to see the Bills and the Browns in the AFC title game. Oh, that would be insanity. That's all I want it before I die. As you've heard, we've teamed up with BetMGM this season. We'll be using BetMGM lines to make all our. picks and we'll have special offers for you listeners each week. If you all haven't signed up for BetMGM yet, use bonus code Greenlight and you will get up to $1,500 first bet offer on your

first wager with BetMGM. Here's how it works. One, download the BetMGM app and sign up using bonus code Greenlight. Two, deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game. Three, you will receive up to $1,500 in bonus bets if your bet loses. Just make sure you use bonus code green light when you sign up. Disclaimers, see betmdmdm.com for terms 21 and older only. U.S. promotional offers not available in New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler. Available in the U.S.

call 8778 H-O-P-E-N-Y or text H-O-P-E-N-Y-46-739-69, New York. Call 1-800 Next Step, Arizona, 1-800-3-2-7-50-50-Masachusetts, 1-800-Bets off, Iowa, 1-800-98-1-00-2-3, Puerto Rico, first bet offer for new customers only, subject to eligibility requirements, rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in seven days, in partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Don't forget, if you haven't signed up for BetMGM yet, use bonus code Greenlight and get your $1,500 first bet offer today. Welcome to the Greenlight podcast. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. What you heard last night just a few hours ago, it was the start of the 2024 NFL football season. Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson showed us a great time on Thursday night football. while they had Mike Dorico and Chris Collinsworth enthralled for an entire football game. We even had to wait a few more minutes because that pesky rain. But we got through it. First game in the books, the Chiefs took down the Ravens.

That's what you're going to hear first. Chris gives a little recap. His immediate thoughts following the game. Both teams didn't play their best, but obviously a lot more football to be played. Today we've got Chris Macon, Stanford Steve, and Dr. Fax. Chris Macon Steve are going to start things off with a little catch-up, hanging out, and talk little college ball. they're going to give out their bets for this weekend.

Five picks apiece. We'll see how they do. And then we welcome on Nate to give our season predictions. All for the guys give out their 14 playoff teams, including the Super Bowl winners and scores. And then we go into award predictions. MVP, coach of the year, comeback player of the year, all of them we go through it and have a blast.

Thank you for jumping on. Plenty more football to come. We'll be back on Monday morning, 1 p.m. Eastern for our reaction show. Big old party here at Greenlight. Enjoy it. We're back, boys. We are so back. Yeah, sunglasses. I was wearing them in the fridge trying to do this fucking fridge talk. And when I got on, I was like, guys, I can't do fridge talks. It's not that I can't do them. You know, the fridge just starts beeping at me. The light's dim, like when you're about, you know, when you're supposed to leave the bar and it messes up the whole vibe. Same thing in the fridge. So I propose you guys. You guys. get me like a sponsorship with some sort of refrigeration company and we get an old refrigerator

like you know a unit that I can climb into it only has to appear cold little little inside scoop for you listeners um and I can sit down and have a comfortable space to fucking do what is essentially like a monologue for three minutes every time game as soon it looms over me man the whole game like fuck fridge talk what do i what do i got talk about on the fucking fridge talk and then it ruins the end of the game because you're scribbling notes we need to get one of those industrial fridges you know the walk in at restaurants where like you get the meat slabs that's exactly what i'm saying dude we need to put yeah we put the fucking meat slabs in there whatever you got to do but i need a place to walk into as soon as the prime time game ends

and we can actually kill two birds of one stone here. We can do the podcast, which is what you're listening to right now, and we can do the fridge talk, and then the fridge talk becomes on YouTube thing. You hear this shit? Consumers. One-stop shop, you could say. Yeah, you could say that.

Man, that was a one-stop shop for anything you wanted to see tonight, except for, like, the Ravens Passing. attacking attack just looking in sync i mean i suppose like people lining up on sides i'm not this isn't this isn't um like a hit job i'm about due i don't know where to start let's start with the the worthy reverse i mean i don't want to get out over my skis here fellows no peekaboo street is that accurate read yeah you know my life flash before my eyes there that man's fast They had the Kansas City Chiefs have an individual on their offense that appeared to be like a small car on the on the football field. And I know there's people that are like, oh, it's just a reverse, but no, it's not just a reverse.

And I'm going to tell you why. It's not just about, oh, they can run a reverse with a fucking fast guy. It's not just about, oh, they executed a play. it's about like I will always remember where I was when I saw Xavier Worthy run across the screen whether his career turns out well or not I don't like when he got the ball I was like here we go and I'm expecting to be disappointed I'm expecting Baltimore to knock that play down for a three-yard game and holy shit dudes look drunk hey his speed was palpable dude it was like the whole stadium was like My dad tells a story about when Bo Jackson ran, like, for a long touchdown at one of the games,

and he heard the stadium gasp. Yeah, the one man reverse. The one man reverse. And I'm like, that was me tonight. I remember where I was when Tyson bit Holyfield's ear. I remember where I was when Luis Gonzalez hit the ball up the middle. I remember where I was when, fuck, I remember the helmet catch. And I remember tonight.

I was sitting on my couch. and you say it's just a reverse or I'm just like overreacting I'm just going to tell you my reaction was probably reciprocated everywhere in the NFL that's what y'all don't understand is it's not just about being of a

oh they can run a reverse now it's holy shit that guy's just as fast as we thought he was and that changes things they haven't had a guy that fast since tyreek and this guy's probably, I don't know if he's faster. I don't want to get in the middle of the whole Noah Liles, Tyreek, and now Xavier Worthy thing.

But I'll just say this. It just affects the way you prepare for this team. That to me is like, you show, all you had to do is show me what's in the arsenal, like a little hint of it. And yet the other one was either blown coverage, miscommunication. And, you know, Kansas City kind of got some breaks with the calls,

I suppose. but that team's better than the team in white. The team in white has a lot more to prove. The team in white came in with more to prove, and I'm a huge fan of Lamar. He's a fucking MVP. Some of the commentary on him is outrageous, the negative stuff.

He didn't play his best game, but ironically, he was the fucking only reason they were in it. Right. And that's the, That's the thing that's so frustrating about this team because, listen, I knew Kansas City got better offensively. You know, I did not think Baltimore got better almost anywhere. And yeah, they lost two key guys on defense. But I look at Baltimore and it was confirmed tonight.

Now, hey, listen, they might just not have been ready to play. that's a team that's made playoff runs short runs but like they've made playoff runs they got a super bowl winning head coach MVP quarterback tremendous amount of respect for that organization all i'm saying is tonight they weren't ready to play and they also have real things that they have to fix and it doesn't make it any easier when you go on the road to play a fucking arrowhead you get juices flowing it's the first game you're on the bus to the stadium and you're on the bus to the stadium and you want to explode. Like, you're on the bus. I'm in the hotel. The schedule's fucked up. We are creatures of habit. It's fucking Thursday. And we're zero and zero. What's

we're weirder than taking a flight on a Wednesday to a football game sitting in your hotel all day long, just the tension building up. You get to the stadium. It's a fucking rain delay. That's not, that's not insignificant. You know, and it's not insignificant. because I can't understate this. And I love that stadium. It is a work of art. I hope they never tear it down. And if they ever put a roof over it or move the stadium,

I'll fucking protest the franchise. I'll never bet the chiefs again. But that locker room that the visitors are forced to use there, it should be illegal. I mean, there are better appointed high school locker rooms. And they know that. And that's okay.

I'm not being a diva. I love the place. I would rather play there 10 out of 10 times than the new Levi's stadium. You know, and I'm just comparing that because that's what replaced candlestick. That locker room is cramp, man. And I actually played in a preseason game where we were delayed three hours, something like that for a preseason game.

Even if it's 20 minutes, it throws guys off. And you could tell they weren't ready to play. And on top of that, you got Zach War who, I don't want to take anything off the guy. I think it's a fucking amazing feat to get a coordinator job at that age in the NFL. And I love that former players are getting him. But he is walking into Arrowhead. And on the other sideline, the guy he's playing chess with is Andy Reid.

And I thought at a lot of turns tonight, although he didn't do a bad job, there were some tough matchups. You can see on the field that their linebacker court is way different. you know like no what's the guy 40's name i text you as soon as i was like malice harrison yeah malik harrison and he might be a good player but the way they exploited him in space even roquan smith who roquan smith is like is like modern day dick buckus to me dude right like but i just mean in a sense of badassering just being an awesome football player but i wouldn't want him on rishi rice right you know what i mean And so there were certain instances where I just thought.

And that was over and over. Yeah. Like they just kept getting that matchup. And it's just over the whole course of the game, you're just scratching your head. Well, one thing you said was like, you know, the safeties, they're back there. And so, and you want to also, you want to know what I'm saying about this reverse. It's not just the reverse. The reverse is a symptom of something.

It's, it's like that's also something they took note of in preparation for the game. and once the game started was holy shit this team is a lot faster than they were fucking you know nine months ago and that's why i like the chiefs coming in because they went to m&T and beat those guys and this team might be better than last year's team in a strange way the thing about the chiefs and any great team null and cowboy and we talk about this like with the patriots they change year to year sometimes the defense with certain franchises can be dominant like last year and then sometimes you got to outscore people and you know the whole time last year if it were the offense playing awesome and the defense struggling you'd be like patrick mahomes

can outscore them you wouldn't have panicked you just might have the inverse of that at times this year i don't think baltimore was the right team to exploit it right you know you bring in derrick henry fucking you pay him eight million eight million dollars what'd you say um what could they have gotten Yeah, I mean, I just looked at a few different same cost options. So you're paying Henry 8 mil a year on a per year basis. You could have taken that and brought in Curtis Samuel to have another receiver option. Or you can go take maybe 5 mil of that, signed Devon Singletary, if you really want it back. And then draft instead of Nate Wiggins, any of Pierceaw, Leggett,

Mokan Kean Coleman. Yeah. All of who beat around 3 mil. They just, the, the, the lack of upgrades of receiver was, was so apparent all night. Well, his A dot was like the length of Nick Foles. Seriously. And that's not his fault. And when they push the ball down the field, he missed some throws.

That's where he's culpable for whatever his role is in this thing. Like, you know, like when, when, when, Kansas City's late, bringing pressure. And I forget who he had. He had, likely. And likely he's got to get up and be more competitive, but that ball is thrown with a lot of zip. You know, you could make a better throw there.

I'm not trying to nitpick because he also makes all these fucking spectacular plays. I'm not saying Lamar played great. We're not saying he played perfect. But what Nolan brought up and the thing that we've been talking about and harping on is like, they did nothing at receiver. and so Derek Henry has to be like prime Derek Henry. And also, as Chris Collinsworth, I think pointed out, you know, they like that gun run stuff. And it's hard for Derek Henry to pick up a full head of steam.

Right. And so, you know, it changes the things that they are able to do in the run game. And right now, I don't like the flow of the offense. It felt like the shots were like when they got aggressive, they just tried to get big and then take shots and then, you know, just pepper the flats a little bit and like i i just didn't think there was a lot of creativity but it's also a group that as we pointed out has not gotten better outside their offensive line people gloss over this shit it's three new starters am i wrong three and the right guard who's a massive human being is not going to be great in space and he was also going against like that's a baptism right but

that group's going to struggle at times and to come out there and you can say hey the chief's got some calls they definitely got some calls but also you have to understand it's not like tonight the ravens were shocked that this was an emphasis it's obvious to me that the league is like hey we're going to emphasize this thing if you can remember past examples there were times where people like the game's never going to be the same and then by week six or something you're like wait are they not calling that anymore it's because they're trying to send a message and they would have done it to both teams i believe now they let joan taylor off the hook on one of his early starts but that's been they've been letting people do that since jesus was a baby like that's a thing okay the emphasis this year seems to be the neutral zone thing and there are some

tackle hey listen you didn't like it some people didn't like it some people were screaming at the tv i wait at all off season to see football and i'm looking at flags i get it but what i am saying is is a defensive lineman as j jay wat pointed out on twitter dot com we we enjoyed that shit a little bit i was like yeah you motherfuckers have been cheating so hey listen sloppy up front and i'm not hey i don't want to make light of this their o line coach died okay and he he was a damn good coach and i've been coaching ball a long time and that guy can be the most important guy in the damn building especially when you got three new starters. So all the concerns we had about the Ravens were not hating, but they got some work to do patching up the front, figuring out who they want to be offensively, figuring out what concepts

work for Lamar and this group, figuring out what run concepts work for Derek Henry. Now, the chiefs knew there was no sucker punching them. They were like, everybody knew. They were going to come in the building and two things were going to happen. They were going to try to run the ball down their throat because they didn't do it in the AFC championship game. And additionally, Lamar was going to run the football. Because Lamar, I think this week, I saw a quote where he was like, hey, if I was healthier, if I had my legs in the, in the, in the, in the, in the, uh, AFC championship, I would have run the ball.

And you heard me say that. I said inside the NFL, I wish he would have tucked in ran more, which sounds ridiculous because of all the criticisms that, you know, he's such a great runner that he's had to grow up with. he gets the biggest moment in his career and we're telling him he's got to run the ball now but sometimes you do you get man coverage you got to tuck it and i thought tonight it was apparent to me at least on the bright side that they're going to get lamar involved in the run game they they motioned out to empty ran quarterback power stuff like that that to me is a good sign now let's just fucking

tone it down a bit i sound like i'm giving mixed messages here but lamar's going to age presidentially if if that's the way they have to win. I mean, it's not, it's not college football. And he knows that. I mean, like, and by that, I mean, these hits add up. And that workload would probably be a record amount of carries on the ground that I think he's had in an NFL season. So, and I didn't check that.

It's just a feeling I get. I mean, he ran the ball, like, you bring in Derek Henry for 8 mil, and I know it was just night, but Lamar ran the ball three or four more times. Yeah, and you mentioned, For the for the Derek Henry project to work at its best for him to be prime. Derek Henry, that works best when it's 25 to 30 touches. Yeah. And you get late in the third quarter and nobody wants to tackle him anymore.

Yeah. But tonight, only 13, you know, it was kind of like the AFC title game where they get down one possession. And all of a sudden, we're going to throw the run plan out of the window. By the way, the Justice Hill prop, that hit in three minutes. Easy money. like bro i've been waiting for this hit of dopamine for months and justice hill gave me you know uh a dose of it right off the bat so i got that and i got the lamar carries easy um first half under hit on the nose and then the chiefs obviously with the cover the likely thing was like tariko was electric on the

call my fucking dinner was in my throat because i was like the whole night just came down and uh the whole game you felt like it's the chief's game because it was easy to see like that wasn't sustainable you know that that that pace from baltimore just like kind of they they they were just throwing shit at the wall you know and they were relying on lamar to make magic and and for likely to make magic and that's a guy they got they got to get the damn ball and they got to get him the ball in situations where he can take off running that's got to be one of the center pieces it's almost like it's more important than getting the ball to mark andrews do you see that block he threw oh yeah which is impressive which is damn impressive right because you don't think it likely is like being but he's trying to be physical

and damn is he tough dude because they you know and that's a fair play but he goes into the fucking stadium and he's on the ground and i'm like fuck did he break his ribs and next thing you know he's coming down with that ball and it's this close and like i said i knew it right away way. Like, I knew it on the drive that that Harbaugh was going for two. And that's what you should do in that situation. Yeah. 100%. I mean, 100%. But yeah, otherwise, I don't know what we didn't. And my homes, my homes will be better. You know, I said, I said Lamar didn't play his best game. Neither did Patrick. I guess it was really the Ravens play, but he at least held off on an interception to not, at that tip, not to give him field position, just outjump to do. And he just outjumped to.

Well, that was huge, and so was Pacheco's run. And I'm talking about that last one where he stays alive. He has the wherewithal, no, I'm not down. His teammates have the wherewithal, no, he's not down. They pick up a first down, and that's how much time. I didn't add it up, but, you know, that's the clock ran out on Baltimore. You know, that's what happened. Are you a proponent of spiking that ball after the deep shot debatement?

Do you want Lamar to spike that and stop the clock? I'd like to get in my best play. you know and i also think about like i don't know how long they were going before that without a stop um is it beneficial defense is tired are your receivers gassed you know it's um i'd rather just clock it and fuck spags took that one time out and people that that adds fuel to the fire that everybody's like oh it's fixed for taylor swift or something spags should never have called that time out now he probably knows something I don't in Spags We Trust. But Baltimore might have got a delay in that situation had he not.

So it was like the game was sloppy, period. I mean, the Chiefs, last year they played drunk at times it looked like. Like, you know, guys were just dropping shit and there were penalties. And there were some of that tonight. But you see how different it looks? This is like somebody who's like a good drunk. last year's chief's offense was like the fucking guy that you know around you know jack and coke number three it's going downhill and nobody wants to be around the guy and it's like every time he goes out you're like

he's about to do it and he does it and that's what happened with the chief's offense last year before they got sober at the end and then this year it's obviously if they're a little drunk it's still going to be exciting they're still going to be the life of the party you got the fastest fucking guy in the NFL. You still have Travis Kelsey. They barely had to throw the ball to him. Um, you know, juju, damn near caught a touchdown. Uh, and they made a good point. Kingsley, Sue Mataya, which I, I don't know how Collinsworth did with the fucking pronunciation. I don't think he got it right. I missed it. He was fine. Yeah. And good job. Good job. A job. Jobo. Good for him. I want to shout him out, man. It's been fucking years.

Primetime game made a big play. They didn't give them a replay or anything. Got worked pretty hard to get back, right? Just a shout out to the young corners for the Chiefs, too. Some big spots. Was it Jalen Watson? Watson, that swat away? It was a great play.

And it was one that you could feel like the whole fan base being like, okay. You know, like, because I know it's a question mark. I think Spaggs does a good job with those guys in the back end. He'll figure it out. And they also survived two guys leaving with a concussion. I'm pretty sure they were like, where are you? Kansas City. Get out there.

The one guy I want to shout to Chanel before we go. Yep. He played really well. He showed up in some spots, man. And if it weren't for Chanel, they lose that game. Or at least they're in overtime. Well, no, do the math. The math's fucked up.

But that's six down there in the red zone. Yep. Yeah, he bailed tranquil. out. So shout out to our boy, Leo Chenal. You mentioned just the last thing you mentioned the Chiefs playing drunk earlier in the season. Last year they did the same thing, right? They lost on Thursday night to the Lions. Patrick threw a pick six in that game. They were driving. Their last drive in that game, they lost it on downs. Like, same thing. So if you're in the NFL and you watch them tonight and you're like, oh, well, hey, you know, they're maybe not as good.

If we give them our best shot, you know, they always climb throughout. the season you know you'll see him kind of fuck around and then they'll always be what they need to do they'll always be where they need to be at the end of the season yeah they have they have nine lives because they have the best quarterback maybe like he's gonna make he's i don't want to get into that but but that's why they have so many lives and they got andy read and they got spags they've retained a guy who should have been a head coach a couple times over again right even though the first stop didn't go well we didn't have chris jones or a legurious need okay So take it easy on Spags for the Rams thing.

But I'll just say this. To your point, read, and I think most people would watch that game and think a little bit the opposite, I would hope, and be like, oh, they're like, they can score again. Like, they're not going to have trouble moving the ball quickly down the field. I don't think I saw a single drive last year. at times which is crazy fucked up statement to make but where it was just like bang bang bang they had to earn everything there was a time in the season where it was like golly dude and that's what

that's why they made so many mistakes not just the fact they were mistake prone but the probability of a mistake goes up the longer you're out on the field and if you can it's not just about getting explosives but it's about like getting done with the drive there's less play and sure you take bigger chances but if the chances patrick mahomes hitting the ball down the scene or hitting a corner route against like cover two or something like I'll take those chances so I fucking I feel like this team is going to be tough again I'm sorry uh if you think they're like the death star um in spags we trust one more thing uh Carson steel big reptile guy did not expect his front door to look like that front door was like mahogany you know I'm saying that house is like

700k at least depending on you know the the uh the district but like the appointments on that front door were way overboard compared to what i was expecting to see for a guy holding a fucking giant live alligator who lives in the house like that's trailer to me every time no offense and i would live in a fucking trailer if i could sometimes i feel that way um but that's not where i expected Carson Steels alligator to live at all. A follow-up question to that. So he gets gifted this gator as a young lad. When this guy, assuming he'd like to start a family one day, brings some young children

to the picture, do you keep the 100-pound gator walking around the crib? Or what goes on there? I don't think reptile people think about risk a lot. you know what i mean so the way that's a very insensible question on this zoom call it's not even a thought honestly to people that own like boa constrictors and things like that those people don't care about things like that i don't even know if they go to like get to like get checked up at the doctor you know what i mean i'm getting some blood work done tomorrow guys approaching 40 and on top of that i just got to see mr steel i mean who is the guy

gifting a gator to a young baby boy. Dude, I'm pretty sure he's probably huge. This is exactly what I, this is exactly what, oh my God. He's the new Tyson Bayesian's dad. But pull him up. Zoom, enhance. I think we found Doi, dad of the year.

This is Doi. Carson Steals a unit. His dad might be bigger. Telltale sign of a Doi candidate. huge dad. If you'll remember, the guy from Gonzaga had a doy.

Chet. No, not Chet. Chet's dad. No, Chet's dad was in the Chet's dad was the yeah, and he received loads.

But it was Timmy's dad. Timmy's dad was a fucking unit of all units. Yeah, I just wanted to, that's a really good point, Nolan. We need to,

like the world needs to know that Carson Steele has a dad and he does not disappoint, at least from the first kid, can we find anything else about him, read? What is his occupation? Can you ask Quora?

Yeah, I mean, this can just be the follow-up segment for the Chief's next game, you know. Joseph Steele, Joseph Steele, who are Carson Steele's parents? This is from SportsCopedia. Don't disappoint me. What's your guess? What do you think? What do you think he does for a living? I'm going to guess that no information about him is available in this public domain.

Holy shit. The guy's mysterious. This is incredible. We need to find out, we need to find out more. Hey, Carson Steele's dad. Come on the pod. Let's talk about it. Let's hang out.

Talk about owning a reptile and having a huge son. There's an article here. It says Carson Steele's 100-pound pet alligator, Crocky J nearly killed the chief star for trying stunts. Let's see. Man's best friend right there. You know, when he was a kid, he had to learn, like he taught himself how to hold the alligator. correctly. So he said if like he the best way you grab the tail that's cured under his arm, then put on a put a hand under its belly to control its movements.

And it says any mistake like letting your hand get too close to his head can lead to a painful bite and still knows this very well as he has encountered its bite. What a euphemism for getting bit by your fucking pet? He said, but when I was younger, I was trying to show him to my friends and something happened. one of my friends moved or something and I turned and looked the other way and he got me a little bit. That was that was the one time. It's only happened once. If it happens a second time, my career might be over.

But, you know, I mean, I'm sure the fucking thing's awesome. It's just I'm not a big reptile guy. Not a reptile guy. Never been. At all. Anyways, big pod coming. just a ton of football. I'm going to OD on football here on this podcast.

We got Stanford Steve, myself, Dr. Fax. We're going to be giving out some bets for the weekend. And I got Thursday night time machine. I don't know. I don't want to spoil it. I imagine considering I hit most of my bets that maybe I won the fucking contest tonight, but you'll have to wait and see. And we're picking division winners, Super Bowl winners,

giving out awards. Don't hold us to them. Enjoy the pod. White Steve. How are we doing? Gentlemen? What's up, bro? How are we doing?

Are we locked in? Oh, we're locked in. We are locked in. Where are you, Steve? I am in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Christopher, for Week 2 College Game Day, Texas at Michigan. We are here. It's lovely.

About 90 degrees. Last time I was here, it was about five degrees, I think. So a little different, a little better. Like it. Is that a casting couch behind you? I don't know. It's my hotel room. We're going to pick a round.

You're going to do a pot from your house and we can pick up, we can pick apart your furniture. Yo, relax, Steve. You going to do that? Yikes. Zero enthusiasm from you today when I'm texting you. Come on. You're fired up for something. Can I ask you a question?

How would you interpret this text message? For fucking. I'm just kidding. There's a text message I got the other day from making that was just out of control. For the listeners that heard the show two shows ago, you know what I'm talking about. I've gotten a number of texts. I have also gotten a number of texts. Steve, and if you'd like to be the godfather to my youngest child, let me know.

Currently taking up the transfer portal. I'm like Davo with my godfathers and godmothers. you know we're not doing the portal okay yeah yeah staying loyal um south palo brazil hello uh hey you want to know why it's because the the eagles are on the ground the bird has landed the birds have landed and they are uh currently barricated inside their hotel no they're at first corinthian stadium first corinthians yeah it's called corinthians but i just So anyways, two things about Sal Palo. Am I saying that Sao Paulo?

Paulo, yeah, or we're American. Yeah, okay. Well, Sal Pal is in South Paulo. Is he? Yeah. Of course he is. Of course he is. So is Brian Baldinger.

Brian Baldinger texted me from, or message me from the airplane on the way to Rio. And then like 10 hours later, I wake up and I wake up to a video of him like in the surf. I don't know how he got there so fast, but he must have gone straight from the airport to the beach. As you do. So shout out to all our listeners who are in Rio right now or South Paulo, where the games play. If you're in Rio, you should probably go to Sao Paulo. Hey, two things. First off, the field's not good.

That's what I hear. Shocker. What a shocker. Yeah, I don't know how that. Yeah, I got people. Because I guess it's not just me that knows this. I had somebody text me this yesterday and they were like, hey, what do you think that does to the total? Sorry, here comes some gambling talk.

But I really do believe it could go either way with the total. I mean, like a bad field could be a slippery field or it could be a slow field. You could get a lot of explosives because people don't have right cleats on. They're slipping in the secondary or like a running back presses the line of scrimmage, one cut downhill for 60 because two guys are on the ground. Like, just look out for the field conditions Friday night. Trip hazards go both ways. Yeah, they do.

Yeah. And then the second thing is, Sal Palo is actually, as I was looking at the time zone, to the east. Is that a mind-funk or what? A little bit. Yeah. Yeah.

So that game's actually been playing at like nine at night or something there. Guys, it starts tonight. Yeah, it starts tonight. I can't wait. Every fan base is optimistic, except for the Cowboys fans. I saw a graph where like, you know, where they put the logos all over the chart

and the Cowboys were bottom left for optimism, which is great for fan bases. Some of the Cleveland Browns. But otherwise, everybody's got a lot of hope. Even if you're a Panthers fan, you could hit your win total. You could improve. Cardinals.

Yeah, Cardinals. Cardinals are going to be fun. Listen, we got a lot to talk about. it is opening kickoff Eve. Feels like Christmas. All right. As you're listening to this, we have one in the books. What do you mean?

Oh, yeah, as you're listening, a game already happened. So I hope you enjoyed the game last night. We are going to do Thursday night time machine. Should we just start with that now and with Steve as our witness? Oh, sure. Okay. Let's do it. I like this.

Is there a punishment this year? We certainly should go back to having one. Y'all should go, bring out the dog collar in the leash. Yeah. Whoa. Whoa. Almost 40-year-old men. Yeah.

There was a time where making lost enough games of FIFA that we went straight to the bar. And he was like, you know, when they have the preschoolers on a rope, it was like making in the bar door last. And he was on a rope. The joke was on the guy holding the leash of another man. Yeah, it was kind of on me, wasn't it? But wouldn't you rather be the guy pulling the guy on the leash than the guy you getting pulled? I don't know. It's like kind of 50-50.

I think I know. I was getting like a lot of, Are you okay? Yeah. Blink twice. Yeah. You couldn't blink because you were drunk. All right.

So anyways, look, they drugged them and everything. It's sex trafficking right in front of me. Even if I'm 0 and 1. Yeah. As you're listening to this, I will agree to a real deal,

Holyfield punishment. Okay. Can't come up with it. Waffle House. Waffle House just got a little stay. Yeah. You think? Got a little stale.

Yeah, I've been in, I had to do that thing. So fantasy punishments, I started writing up a list and maybe we can draw from this list. But this is just for anybody out there, okay, because I love these. I made some of these up. Greyhound from Charlottesville to Miami. And then the rest of the league meets you in Miami for a party. We all fly down first class. The worst part of that is being in Miami.

Yeah. So maybe it's like a double. a double deal for you, but you're not going to lose the league. Drive a hearse till next season. Hurses are like the only thing in this world that get to me. That would bother me a lot. Really? Yeah.

You want to be in the back of one. Yeah. If I see a hearse, I overt my eyes. Okay. Can't cut the grass till next season. Oh, just put new sod down, Chris and Steve. The front's looking great. You did the hot tub?

You did? tell you. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I didn't. Come on. No, I didn't do it. No. Correct. And honestly, it didn't look that hard. You know, you just, you roll it out. Yeah. I was supervised. We need more side liars, man. All right. Well, so that's one. The billboard thing. We do the billboard thing again a couple of years ago. Our friend Mike Lewis lost the league. Ended up on a billboard that said, what did it say? It said, for fantasy advice, do not. Do not call Mike Lewis. 1-88-lose. The problem with that was a nice headshot loved it.

He loved it. Yeah, it was a nice headshot. We gave him some say-so over like, you know, which picture we were going to put on the billboard. But it got funny because naturally I forgot I was paying for a billboard. That went about three, four months longer than I realized. I guess I hadn't driven through Rutgersville in a while. Donate sperm.

This is a good one. This is from Matt. Donate sperm and consent to be contacted at 18. Oh, wow. A human being. Being born out of a fucking fantasy football loss, an eighth of shrooms on the road at M&T stadium in Joe Burroughs, Jersey. That's just brutal.

You think? That's bad. That would be tough to deal. The eighth thing. Well, and on the road, like, it's not going to be positive. It'd be like Kevin Hart at the U.S. Open. Yeah, what happened there? He was just on drugs watching tennis.

Yeah. Yeah, but plus people trying to beat you up. Right, yeah, it would be a good trip. I suppose we'd send you to like, if, now, candlestick doesn't exist anymore. That's where I would send somebody to candlestick in like a rainbow jersey, but Levi's is like gentrified big time. Watch a full hour of Sports Center with Scott Van Pelt on midnight.

Breakfast, lunch, and dinner for five days straight, you get to pick from the chicken strip. No, that's pretty good. That's doable. That's actually doable. Raising Keynes, Popeyes, do a little rotation. Okay, Carnival Cruise solo. Those suck.

And then lastly, I kind of like this idea. One funeral a day for a week. Nobody that you know. I do like a funeral. I just don't like a hurt. Can you imagine scouting the obituaries? And like acting like you knew the dead guy seven times. Matt had an eye.

idea that would be really funny to dress like you might be the dead guy's boyfriend and cry like weep at the the funeral I like a good I knew him so it might be that one wow maybe that's okay but that's for the fantasy group I mean fantasy offspring like contacting your your biological children saying hey we're half siblings you remember it gets pretty fucking real yeah They call and they're like, you had to draft Romano Dobbs and the third, didn't you? Yeah. You just had to take seven wide receivers. Yikes.

And I am here now. Wow. Okay. So we'll figure out our punishment. Okay. You will. How do we do this? I forget.

We typically text the cowboy. Oh, text the cowboy. I got it. Steve, can you fill for seven seconds? Yes, I can't. Just trying to. I wonder why you're wearing a vest on the beginning of September. It's a little chilly.

That's like literally the time when people wear vests. I got pants on. Well, not early in the September. The unofficial beginning of fall, that's vest weather. Okay, here's my score. But as I... Here's my score. I'm not playing the game.

I'm just trying to nail this score correctly. Are you serious? Yeah. Like, I'll try to... Oh, I'm texting Stanford, Steve. God bless America. That's been a while. Like, if I were trying to play the game,

game, which I'll do as the season goes on, especially if I'm down, I would be picking a different score. Okay, cool. Qualify your pick for another 30 seconds and then. Okay, it's in. The pick is in. All right. Chris, 26, 23 Chiefs. Wow. 221-10 Chiefs. Wow. Well, I'll be happy even if I lose because I did just put in my very first occurring bet of the season. Chiefs, uh, minus two and a half bought to two. So I'm a coward, still a coward, still buying points. I actually feel I feel like the big question is, can the Ravens run the ball up their ass? Because that's the one thing they came out of that game last year and they were like, we didn't do that. We didn't even try. And I feel like you're going to have better luck this year doing it. Now, outside of that, the Ravens have a lot

to answer for on defense. They lost some key pieces. And I feel like Kansas City got better. And that's just me. But I like the Chiefs tonight, and so do you. I do indeed. And there was no maneuvering in that. You really like the Chiefs. Yeah. 22 to 10.

22 to 10. Okay. Sometimes in these week one games, you know, they're not barn burners like last year. Yeah, keep an eye on the under's. Before we give out our locks, which is why you're all here, everybody would like 17 of you. And you announce it every week. Let's talk about college football. Yeah.

Steve, we don't have all day to talk about college football because there's so much going on in the NFL. But what was your biggest takeaway week one? George is really, really good. Just looking at everything from afar, Ohio State and getting all the love about the NIL deal, the Texas, Oklahoma coming in, being around Coach Saban, I thought he put it perfectly. I believe it was in Ireland. but he said somebody has to prove they could beat Georgia. And Clemson came in as confident as they've been,

knowing what they had, all the stuff with the portals in the rearview, and they come out. They battled for a half, but it just felt like Georgia was, you know, bobbing and weaving in that first half, seeing how they were going to, you know, tiring them out a little bit,

and then Georgia just had the foot on the gas in the second half. So they are still, I believe, the top dog. I do, if they're one, I put Ohio State as 1A just because of what they bring to the table from both sides of the football. Portal guys stay, but more so the guys that stayed on the defensive side. I thought that was cool to see. I mean, it's pretty cool when you're getting a lot of money to stay also. But I give them credit for coming back and doing this. Obviously, a lot had to do with who won the national championship in that motivation.

So those teams and then the plethora of teams that can make the playoff. And what happened to the ACC, Florida State, probably the biggest national story of the offseason and then coming in going on to in the ACC. So from a broad site, I think it's those two conferences and those two teams when you look at it from what it looked like two weeks ago until what it looks like right now. On the other side of things, who is Davo Sweeney really? like is he a great coach or are we finding out that he he needs the best quarterback in the world to compete because you know he kind of did the i'm not going to i'm not going to hit the portal thing and that's caught up to him if he were that good of a coach wouldn't they look better yeah um i i totally get where you're saying there i still think he's a great coach he's a great recruiter

i just really feel like he's really stubborn and in this day and age uh you know if you're not going to you're going to have problems. And I think a lot of guys are tough in doing so. And you see so with Davo because he's had so much success doing it the way he did it and building it up the way he was as an interim head coach. And then, you know, laying that foundation and having success and getting to the mountaintop twice and beating Alabama in those games twice and become a national champion. So I think it's a slower progress.

You know, it's not like he's gone or had a four and eight season, right? It's just he isn't in that upper echelon of teams. And I think he looks at it as he's not that far away. But then when you look at the full 60 minutes last week, Clemson is farther away. And you pointed it out, the quarterback position is immense. When you look at it across the board and you look at who he won national titles with And you see those guys starting for NFL teams. And now you see Kay Klobnik.

He's not in that tier. So it's a combination of things, but him being stubborn, where I think it's kind of not deserved, but I could see why he is in going about his ways. But I still think he's an upper echelon coach for sure in a sport. Speaking of upper echelon coaches, how he's working with Nick Sabin? Unbelievable.

I can't tell you how. smart he is in his approach, what he looks at, what he thinks about bringing up topics, assessing film, you know, it's just, when he speaks on our calls and our meetings, a pin, you know, a pin drops. Like, it is no one's, I don't even, I put my pen down. I don't even want to take notes and I'm really just trying to get the eye contact to make sure I am concentrating so then I can take the notes because I don't want to. miss anything he's talking about. Whether he's talked about how you deal with the portal now,

how he assessed Florida State's play calling in week one, you know, the recruiting and how that goes. And just week one of coming out, you know, as a top team or as a team that's trying to take that next stop, I can't get over how awesome it's been. He's been, I just thought the last minutes of game day last week ending was as genuine as a thing as you'll ever see with him saying, I never knew any of this existed.

This is so much fun. I'm standing there looking at him five feet away and him saying this and just being like he's truly being honest here. Like he had no idea. And Bill Belichick's on Instagram. Sabin's in the media and Bill Belichick's on

Instagram. It's like what's going on right now? It's nuts. It's crazy. Yeah to have those two down. And he's excellent. excellent at what he does. Yeah. Would he invite McAfee to a dinner party or not? Absolutely.

I think that meme was misleading. As far from misleading as you could be. Oh, so it's actually true. It's far from misleading. No, I know what you mean. They like each other. They love each other. That's right here.

But there was that video where McAfee's like, you know, gyrating and Stavent's trying to focus. on his notes. All right, Steve, everybody had the same popular playoff picks. Who has emerged after just one week and who's fading? The guy, the quarterback you've been talking to us for about five years,

Cam Ward, kind of reminded me like Tom Brady a little bit out there. Who's this Cam Ward? Miami. Oh, yeah, yeah. I didn't right. I didn't like it. But I did see the remnants of that ass picking at the end. He's just cool, calm, elected. Does not get sped up. He looked awesome against Florida. Yeah, Miami's

the team. My hot take going to the season was Miami was going to win the ACC, make the playoff, but they were going to lose in the swamp. That obviously didn't happen. I thought Florida would have more of a sense of urgency, but Miami was really, really impressive. And then I even thought more so Florida might have the edge of watching Florida State in Ireland and seeing the transition in real time where the transfer quarterback, transfer receivers, transfer running backs, and trying to figure out how you're going to get everybody involved and keep everybody happy. And then, you know, they're in it.

And then they had a blues at the buzzer on a field goal. So I thought Miami might have some issues with that, with the new faces and a new place. But credit to their coaching staff, they had an agenda offensively. I thought defensively, they were constantly on the Florida side of the line of scrimmage. And that posed problems for the home team in a spot where Florida really, really needed to win and didn't get it. And now it's even hotter in Gainesville that possibly could be. Miami's that team for sure.

I thought A&M had the biggest chance to make a jump known with Elko in a new place, a place that he's been familiar with, but having that name brand in Notre Dame coming in who I think the world of because of their defense. But that defense traveled and they played well. I counted three sophomores and a freshman on the back end that really, really brought some physicality, which I love seeing, you know, whether it's fitting on zone,

on ISO power, whatever it was. Notre Dame brought the wood to college station and really impressed me. So I think Notre Dame's here for the long haul looking at that schedule. Teams that are, I mean, Oregon, plenty of people pick them to win it. They got plenty of chance to bounce back this week against Boise. And I'm really interested in Texas, what they bring to the table here in Michigan. The defendant champs didn't look great. We watch the tape.

You got guards getting, you know, whiff it on pass pro. Their lead blockers getting blown up and put on their butt. Like you didn't see that stuff for four years at Michigan. So now Texas comes in with a lot of new pieces on offense. And a different kind of defense where last year they had two NFL guys in the middle and Murphy and sweat, where they built everything around them. They go to the portal. They get some pass rushers.

And now talking to guys around there, they're really happy with the change because they don't have to bring extra guys to get pressure. They can get pressure with minimal guys. So we'll see how that adds up. I believe Michigan didn't not show everything they have, but I think Michigan, you're going to really see the miss of J.J. McCarthy. He was phenomenal in third down efficiency, keeping the offense on the field. And we're going to find out what Michigan has because they're going to have to score, I believe, if they keep up with Texas.

So it's a, it's not a great matchup for Michigan, but they are a defendant champs. And I'm interested to see what they bring to the table in a game where they're more than a touchdown underdog at home. I feel like we're going to see this more now, and I know Michigan's a special circumstance because of the sanctions and, you know, but defending a title in college football becomes harder now.

Oh, God. Yeah. Like, you're going to see a lot more teams that are middling or even, like, third or fourth in their conference. I'm not saying a lot, but you might have some outliers that, like, don't even make the playoff or sniff the playoff the playoff the next year. No doubt.

I mean, look at the two teams that play in the national championship, of course, Washington and Michigan. are as different a team when you go through the rosters as maybe anybody in the power for. When you go from top to bottom with the roster, the coaching changes, all that stuff. The change is something we have never seen at this rate in the sport. And that's what's his eye opening as anything. So that's definitely a thing to keep an eye on. You know, everybody talks about the AP Bowl comes out with teams.

You know, every year there's a team in the top 10 that doesn't end up in the top 25. state, obviously the early leader for that one. But yeah, the change in rosters and coaches is at a rate that we've never seen in this sport. And it's something that it's hard. It's hard to keep an eye on and keep up with the pace. But it's definitely makes sense when you step back and look at it especially after week one. A lot's changed around college football, but nothing on this show has changed. We still got the most important award in sports, the Cochlin Award. And I think it's time to give out our first winner to add him to the watch list. I'm just going to keep him on there, Cam Ward for Miami.

He's the first time three-year, three-year recipient. But no, what he did, what was at stake, knowing what he was at Incarnate Word and Washington State, and now the bright lights going to an SEC stadium and doing what he did, sky's the limit for this team. I thought a lot of them, because I like that. like what Mario brought in as a staff. Everyone's going to point to the Georgia Tech game last year. I will counter that with when he was at Oregon, he did go to Ohio State with C.J.

Stroud as a quarterback of Ohio State and win as a two-touchdown underdog. So there is plenty of good with Mario Chris the ball, even though anybody wants to talk about the Georgia Tech game last year. They are set up for a monster season. The biggest thing now is managing those expectations. They got, you know, they still have a rivalry game in Florida. They don't play Clemson, I believe. They're supposed to play Notre Dame, but with the coverage expansion, they're out. And then they got, you know, weird ACC trip out to Berkeley, Cal in the middle of the season.

So, again, the sky's the limit. They are the odds on favorite now. I believe he's the Heisman trophy frontrunner now, and he should be for what he did last week. So that's why he is the call for a quarterback. Very quick comment, Steve, on the state of the Commonwealth of Virginia football landscape, JMU looks puty. Virginia Tech is winless. Virginia's unbeaten. Your thoughts?

Virginia Tech, obviously the biggest eye-opener there. I did not buy in to them being a possible ACCC. They still have a chance. Lost out of coverage game. I get it. But I really went back and looked at who they beat, and it wasn't really impressive in who they beat. And who they beat, no offense to anybody in Charlottesville. but then even Tulane coached change that wasn't the same team they were all year and I'm really interested to see if drones could take the next step as a thrower he's going to have to do that if they're going to win these big games they got Miami coming in in a couple weeks I believe it's a Friday night game so Steve they got Marshall coming in oh yeah they got fucking they gotta go to ODU where they lose on the reg you know Rutgers I don't know anything about Rutgers but Greg Shiano's not he's not there they're probably in the SEC this year

Yeah, probably. I haven't kept track. And what? Hey, it's time. It's time for our picks. It's time for you guys at home, you guys and gals at home to make some money. If you don't want to, just scrub ahead. We used to do three picks a week.

We're addicts, man. We're going to go pick five this year. And to introduce this format, I just want to let you guys know what the rules are. It's going to be two sides, two totals, and then a wild. card for your wild card you can play a side you can play a total or you can play a team total you can get a little creative because something we haven't done enough on this show of is give out team totals and there's always one every week that looks juicy now you don't have to use it you can just go back and take a side with your wild card pick sounds like you already have one circle i do i do i like that's

that's why that's why it's the fifth that's yeah exactly okay all right i love this well i mean is This is my show, ultimately. So. Weren't we all about 500 last year? Yeah, you won, Steve. You won, Steve. But everybody, the headline, the headline is everyone was above 500. Everybody was above 500.

Okay. So it's just that. Just bet these blindly. You walk in this room, you better have a band-aid. There's some sharps in here. You know what I mean? Are you bleeding? Yeah.

So here we go. Makin, of course, drew the first pick, which, Oh. One of you motherfuckers are going to take my pick. I know it. I think we're all on the same sides. I don't know about that. Are we doing the lines first, or we can go in?

Whatever you want. We can go anywhere first, and I propose a snake draft. Okay. It's week one. I'm just throwing darts. Give me the Tampa Bay Buccaneers minus three points at home against the Washington commanders. Is it three? I was going to say, is you using this half point there?

Hey, fuckers. Are we using it? I've been handed a piece of paper. It's at three. Should we buy half points this year? I think so. They didn't like it back there because it. Well, it doesn't matter what they think.

It matters what the talent thinks. What do you think, Steve? What do you think, Makin? No offense, guys. I don't mind it. Friday. I want everybody involved. Yeah.

Half point Friday. Good job. You guys are talented. It's just Megan's really talented. The line is three points. Thank you. I'll probably use the half there, but I'll let you know in about 25 minutes when we're done with this segment.

Okay. I've never seen the leading to make money so much. You are next, Steve. I love them. Everyone loves them after watching Hard Knocks. But give me the Titans plus three. Fuck you, Steve. You piece of shit.

I'm going to beat you so bad this year. I'm going to embarrass you this year. I'm going to fucking, your family is going to, you're going to come home every Friday and they're going to be like, Steve, you're embarrassing yourself. You got to be fucking kidding me. I told you we were all the same. And I guarantee you we're all.

the same side of the next one. Go ahead. Snake. Um, fuck, dude. It's all, it's all gone now. I'll take Seattle laying six. You got Bo Nix headed back up to the Pack Northwest. It's going to open your career in Seattle. That's a tough place to play. I think people are sleeping on Seattle. Can I tell you why you shouldn't do that? Why? Sean Payton against rookie head coaches in the first weeks, first eight weeks of the NFL season. 13 and 3, 26.75 points per game, a plus 93 point differential. That's fine. How many years was it in New Orleans?

How many years do you have new breeze in that statistic? I'll take the Seahawks minus six. And you're up, player? Oh, I am. Okay. I'm going to do a total. You're going to be more upset if somebody takes your team total. So you might want to jump on that.

Well, if you take my team total, I'll know you copied me and I'll call you a little bitch. and you know because there's no way you picked my team total unless you copied me i'm going to take Cleveland Dallas under no i'm going to take cinci new england under 41 i'm going to take the giants plus one and a half i like that fuck i'm going to take the over in buffalo god damn i'm going to take and i'm going to take the Denver football Broncos plus six in Seattle. Just kidding. Can I tell you why that's a good idea?

You like that total? Did you have a Bonex jersey already? No, I don't like that total. I mean, I might like that total. Who's up? Steve. Maine. Jags Dolphins over 48.

It's going to be raining. All right. Reigning for the defense too. Check the weather. Steve, I got that number at 49 and a half. Oh, he's going to be mad. He's going to be really mad. Those are the current odds.

Just right under a key number. Did you not get this printout, Steve? Nope. Didn't get that one. You know, MGM's... But I got Reed texting me how he bought Bo Nix jerseys for everybody. Can't get any of the content, though. Well, you know, MGM is a...

Reputable? It's growing. There is a website. Proud and presenting sponsor. I get it. You can check them out on their website. It's not on their website. You still want to...

It's going to at 49 and a half? Sure. All right. She's going to see a shootout. Okay. Team total. Using the wild card, you can take this to the bank, fellas. Kyler Murray's Arizona Cardinals over 20 and a half points.

Okay. I mean, the Buffalo defense has got some adjusting to do. They've lost some pieces. They did it last year. They put left hand a little bit. But I think this offense is going to be a lot of fun this year. I don't know about their defense, but Arizona's offense is going to get buckets. I got it at 21 and a half.

Are you kidding me? Oh, gosh. This is off a good start. Oh, I hate you guys. Like, seriously, like, you know, everybody but read. Okay. You're fine. That final's 3530.

You're fine. I'm going to do it anyways. Yeah. That's the move. And I'll win the bet at 20 and a half and be happy if they come up with 21 points. It'll be fine. I'll take the money over trying to prove something to you. dingleberries.

Hey, player, you're up. Am I up again? I will take the Eagles minus two. Did I already take two sides? Nope. I'll take the Eagles minus two. It's three. Are you kidding me?

No. I printed all these four you. Okay. Yeah, I printed them. Can you read? Okay, okay, okay. I'll take another one. It just moved.

It just moved today. It just moved in like the last hour. It's two. Okay, yeah. See? Somebody was listening. in the beginning of the pub. And Steve, right now, it does have Jags Dolphins at 49.

I probably move. What did you have? 49 and a half, 48, what do we got? 49. Whatever he said. Yeah, what do you prefer? Over 49. All right.

Seven touchdowns. All right, Steve. Back to me. I'm going to go under in Carolina, New Orleans. This is a safe bet. I believe the head coach of the Saints is not great, as in more than a feel. go favorite but we'll go under i'll go under

undertakers chargers raiders that's a really good fucking sound bet whatever the number is let's just go on they're gonna throw the ball 17 times 40 point 5 and minchew and whoever's in the back like they just i don't know and and makin again yep making again okay um last pick for making

make it okay I'll go back to Buffalo for my wild card give me the Arizona Cardinals plus six and a half yeah that's a sound bet it's a really sound bet okay

my last one I'm gonna go under commander's 20 and a half except the Cardinals I'm gonna spend most of the week at 20 and a half all right is it me that's a good pick Steve Last pick. Last pick.

We may actually be good at this. We're all thinking the same way. Or we're just going to be really bad. We got 15. You have to do a total. Cleveland under. Cleveland, Dallas under, 41. These two teams are really good on defense.

They have question marks on offense. The game is being played in Cleveland where they don't forget to play defense. And I just think about like the secondary. You know, like Cleveland's secondary? What? What? 42 and a half. 42 and a half?

Yeah, that all. Great. Yeah. great I'll take it 42 and a half and you know you know I'm not so good at buying my half points I think I'm going to buy a half point in Seattle but you all tell me yeah absolutely I think so I'll take them in minus five and a half yep can you use your half point in a team total yeah wouldn't advise I'm doing it I'm gonna go Tampa Bay bucks from minus three to minus two and a half that's just a sound play thank you thanks

where it is jaden daniels is going to be good right away just got a text message about that a little bit ago makes you feel a bit about my overwin total haven't heard that in the dmv at all haven't no but i'm talking about from somebody that knows i'm not talking about these these starved commanders fans i'm going to get back to my 48 and a half with dolphins jaggs over smart another game i like just so you guys know is Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh catching three and a half.

Like everybody's on Atlanta. They're the offseason champions. I know. I know, Steve. We'll get to that. We'll get to that. Yeah. Okay. So anyways, any, any win totals you guys hit? I know you probably didn't. For the season. Yeah. Have you hit any win totals? Bill saw. Have you better anyone? I hate to hear that from you. Um, their circle in the wagon is not jumping off them. I've just, you asked, and I,

okay. Just so you know, I got Seattle over. I can't figure out for the life of me why that number's in the sevens. Uh, I got the commanders over. Wow. I have the Bengals over. And I have the Jaguars over, which I don't feel great about, but I want to throw my boy Douggy Pee some love.

Mm-hmm. Um, okay. I went to bet Cowboys Under this morning, and I thought forever it was 10.5, and then it was 9.5. And I did not pull the trigger. Yeah, but 10 and a half, they juice it up to like minus 200. At least at 9 and a half, it's a little bit more doable. Rams over 8.5. I love that, too.

It's hard to figure how after last year where we thought they were going to tank or reset, that they come close to playing in the NFC divisional round. Those are our best NFL bets. Thank you to bet MGM and all you football fans. I want you to picture something. You bet your favorite player is first touchdown score, but he throws a block to send a teammate into the end zone instead and seemingly losing your bet, right?

Wrong. With bet MGM second chance promotion, you'll get your stake back if your first TD score, scores second. Bet on any pro football player to score the first touchdown of the game. right, you win. If your player scores second, you get your stake back in cash. Keep that in mind the next time you throw in a first touchdown score bet with BetMGM. Happy hunting, everybody.

I mean, a lot of people might look at us after this week and say, I'm never listening to these guys again, but we hope it goes well. I will say the five picks makes us want to hate each other even more because we're going to have more of the same. So the order, I think the order is very important which way we go. yeah i noticed that today no more picking we'll just go i'll be second next time and third the time after that yeah that's cool yeah we'll just can we rotate that's right hey this fucking yeah but that means chris gets snake in both weeks in a row it's all gonna shake out steve you're a math guy i got you yeah i got you math guy i'm not i'm not a math guy i thought i made all the decisions on this thing huh um let's bring in dr fay

Fax, it's time for everybody in the building to get a piece of these division and Super Bowl and award prognostications. Dr. Fax got his crystal ball, and he's joining us now. Now that we got Dr. Fax in, I forgot to mention this when you were giving out your Cochland Award. Did you see Brock Bowers, seated, inexplicably seated in hatless doing a post-practice or game interview? Like when he got in the league, I was like, surely he's going to do something about this, Bick it or like get a hat deal. But he's doing nothing of the sort. He truly, like, his stock is only rising in my eyes because he does not care about what people think.

He's not worried about taking a hit over the middle. He's not worried about failing. The guy's hair looks like he's 63 years old. Our good friend who faced the same crisis for many years, Ryan Rissillo said leave him alone. So we're going to leave Brock Bowers alone. I did see that. He just,

he just tweeted. Yeah, five weeks, week 10. Under over for a bit. This is like going into the season and not addressing like the receiver room at all. You know what I mean? Like just do something.

Do something, brother. Yeah. You know, all right. So we got facts in here. We're going to go through division by division. We're going to talk about the playoffs. We're going to give our Super Bowl picks.

None of this means anything. Unless we're right. Unless we're right. This is a thing. I just want to say this. This is not, there's no art to this. There's no art form to this, especially, and this is me sandbagging, especially in today's era where you don't see the fucking teams play in the preseason at all.

So I have no idea, but here goes nothing. Okay. All right, where are we starting? AFC East. Oh, the AFC Beast. It really is a tough division, man. This is a tough one to call. I'll go first.

and let's go around the room and see who he thinks going to win the east. Drum roll. Buffalo Bills, man. I'm going to take a shot in the dark here. I'm just saying I know the Jets are probably better on paper, but I do think injuries pop up. I haven't seen Aaron throw the ball in a couple of years. Do I think he's going to be great?

I do. You know, I got them in the playoffs. But to think that they're going to pick up right where he left off a few years ago when he was playing a really good ball, a lot of new pieces, a lot of guys who are injury prone. I kind of feel like the bills are going to figure it out. That's just me. New York Jets.

Jets, Jets, Jets, Jets, Jets. Jets. Jets. Jets, Jets. Here's the deal. 7 and 10 last year with Rogers playing for 30 seconds. Leading passers were Zach Wilson, Tim Boyle, Trevor Simeon. The year before that...

Don't say their names again. 7 and 10 with Joe Flacco, Zach Wilson, and Mike White. Healthy Rogers. that excellent defense. I think they can flip three of those games for a floor of 10 and 7. This is probably the right pick, but there's just something about Josh Allen that makes me think he's going to figure it out. I don't know.

The defense worries me. It really does. You got DeMarne Hamlin starting at safety. I remember we went for camp there, you know, and we're standing on the sideline. I'm like, is this like, is this a show team? You know, there's some guys on the field that I was like, this is going to be a problem if these guys play early. but I do give the edge to McDermott.

Like Sala, hey, as good a coach as he is, all the bad luck he's been dealt, I at least know what I'm getting in Sean McDermott. And I thought last year did a great job of putting the pieces together with missing DeQuan up front, you know, Milano, you're missing them again. They were missing secondary pieces. Now they're going to figure it out at safety. But I think they can overcome it because the quarterback's so fucking good. and because Sean's a bona fide great coach.

I mean, like, he's not perfect, and he's been on the hot seat at different times. But I think the bills figured this thing out. All right. AFC North. AFC North, I'm going Bengals. Cincinnati Bengals. I'm going Cleveland Brown. Wow.

Wow. That's my biggest wild card in the whole NFL. I'm going Ravens. Okay. So we're all over the. board on this thing. My thinking... Best division in the sport, I will say. You think so? I give that nod to the NFC West.

I think I give that nod to the NFC West. Yes, way. You're talking about if Seattle... We'll get there. We'll get there. But, you know, we'll talk about it. All right. Here's my thing. Okay, Lamar is eight and two against the Bengals. That's one thing that jumps out, right? But these two have not been on the field a lot together. You know, It's been five games they played each other. Burroughs one and four. I throw last year out.

I really do because he's hurt early in the season. They sucked. They were bad early in the season. Second game, of course, Burrow exits pretty early. This is the week after they played Houston. He dinged his hand. The other three games,

Lamar, you know, he's hitting on about 50% of his passes, 200 yards a game, if you average it out. I'm not diminishing the stranglehold he's had on this guy. But what I am saying is the defense has changed a little bit. The offensive line has retooled a little bit. And I think Cincinnati got better.

And Burroughs says his first year he's healthy. Like, think about it. He comes in, he's got his rookie camp. Then he gets his knee blown out. And ever since, it's been a thing where he's never been able to have a preseason and go into the season in phase. And then this lastly is a big one for me. Because it is close.

This division is going to be close. The kicker for me is they both have to play the NFC East and the NFC West. Everybody knows how that works, right? Your teams are assigned two different conferences. And then you have three floaters outside of your conference games. And, you know, those two conferences you have to see. The floaters can be the difference. And for Cincinnati, I'll read you the three teams they play.

At Carolina, at Tennessee, and they host New England this Sunday. Baltimore at Houston, at Tampa, and hosting Buffalo. That's a big difference. You know, like, and in a division race that comes down to a game or two, I look at Sinci and I say, I'll give them the nod. Two years ago, Sinci was two and a half games clear of Baltimore and the AFC North Standings. Could have been three games, the DeMar game that didn't get completed, of course.

They hold on to T. Higgins this off season, which is huge. And they add Gino Stone, which means Baltimore. Addition and attraction on the other end. Trimps round two, solid draft. I think bingles are class of this. So no one wants to talk about the Sean Watson, but he's back. And if he comes back and he say he's 80% of what he was, you think about the core of that team. They with Joe Flacco, they make it to the playoffs.

Same argument. And they win all those games. And I just don't see them doing worse if Watson is healthy. And then you got Nick Chubb coming back. If guys, like you said, everywhere in the league right now, guys coming off injuries and it's what ifs and things like that. But they have solid players there. They have a blue chip roster. Yeah. They really do. You look at their roster. I can't believe, like, I'm considering whether they're going to be third or fourth in the division. It says a lot about where the quarterback is. But to your point, if all the sudden he gets a second win or he gets his body on, you know, like, then they can be scary. But you also have to think about how they're going to have to change the offense. Yeah. Because, like, they went from one thing with him to, you know, altering it for Joe and now going back to something that's not really Stefanski's thing. They're going to spread the thing out a little bit.

But my thing is, their defense is going to keep them in every defense, except for the ones on the road. I don't understand why they played like that on the road last year. A couple things. I said Cleveland's the biggest wild card in the whole NFL to me because you touched on Stefanski. Like, I can't imagine what his mind was like going back when they got Deshaun and their piece in this roster. Now he has the whole roster set and the question is Deshaun. And going back to my Ravens pick, I'm, I look at it. borough differently. I worry about the injuries. I still, losing mims, I think is a big deal

in protection of him. And Lamar, without a doubt, is the biggest mainstay at the quarterback position in that division where everybody beats everybody. So that's why I went with the Raven. Yeah, no question. And like, maybe it's, you know, the Ravens win the division and don't play as well in the playoffs. Because that's kind of been their thing. Like, in the playoffs, I'll give Joe the edge. When you look at this number, you say he's one and four against the Ravens, the reason that doesn't affect me as much because I'm such a playoff guy, you know. I took like an eight-year break from the playoffs, my first eight years in the NFL, but I'm a big playoff guy.

And I just, when the going gets tough, that picture of Baltimore last year, I can't get it out of my head. And it's not like they've gotten better, okay? Like they didn't address wide receiver at all, really, lost Beckham. You got two tight ends you like. Derek Henry is going to be a big deal, right? And I think for Cincinnati, it's a big deal because they lost DJ Reader. So, you know, like when you look at Cincinnati and Baltimore in the games that are going to decide this division, the key is Cincinnati's got to be able to stop the run.

I think they got better in the secondary because last year they had some struggles in replacing safety play. And I'm a big fan of Lou. You're also banking on Zach Orr, who's fucking younger than anybody in this room, except for the producers to call this defense. Lamar on MVP season without Mark Andrews, and he's back. So no question. I think it's a monster, monster deal for that offense. And you can't,

don't count me as Lamar Douter. I love Lamar. I think he deserved every bit of the MVP last year. And if it weren't for Patrick Mahomes, maybe they're, they're Super Bowl champions last year, but they had a bad game playing going in that game. And for whatever reason,

you cannot argue this. Lamar has been as good as anybody in the regular season, but he's probably not in the top three, four guys in the AFC as far as like what he's done in the post season. including playing Josh Allen head to head, including playing Patrick Mahomes head to head. So none of these matchups have really gone his way. I think they're going to be a great team, a lot of fun, but I do give the nod to the Bengals. AFC South.

We got Houston as an odds-on favorite minus 105. Houston. The Indianapolis Colt. I love it. Doe bowl. Wow. With the Jaguars. Going Jaguars too.

Yes. So this is where everybody. Okay, everybody's zagging. I'm ziggin. No Titans. Yeah, well, no Titans, but I just, where did, where did Houston get worse? Well, I'm not, I'm not drinking the Kool-Aid. I think the rookie had a wonderful season last year.

Does that mean that he's going to pick up where he left off? I mean, everyone has fans, you want to see that, but do we really believe that? And for me, I think coaches and schemes now with a year under the books, I think those games, those big games that he was having last year, are going to be limited this year. Hunter versus hunted. Yeah, that's true. It's a totally different deal.

It's a totally different deal. Came out of nowhere last year. I will say this, four quarterbacks in the last 20 years, I think, have won the Super Bowl in the second year. So, you know, to say that, you know, guys are going to take a big step back because there's a word, a phrase we love. like you use sophomore slump it just seems a little like to me and i could see a regression for the reasons that Nate talked about like it is a system that was put in last year and now they're

they're in year two but they got better on defense i've said this all offseason they lose grenard they add hunter okay they lose rankins they add aughtry who's suspended you lose uh cashman you had al shire offensively it's digs who was voted a team captain so at least so far they're in the honeymoon stage they pay neko collins right at least so far shaltz you bring in mixing you lose singletary who i really like you bring in mixing i just don't think cj strikes me as the guy who's going to lose it up here because he had a good rookie season and i look at jacksonville while i think they've improved and indy is improved just by probably having anthony richerson there's still a lot i don't know about anthony richards he is a quarterback in his second year and four uh second year quarterback

He's basically a first year quarterback. But let's remember that game. It's Houston at 10 and 7 and then Jacksonville and Indy at 9 and 8 and where that one play away from Indy going to the last. But I don't know if Anthony Richardson's a better quarterback in that system than Minchew yet. I don't know. And I'm a fan of them taking a stab at Richardson because I'm a big upside guy, but I got to see it, you know.

For sure. I just love Shane Steichen. Love him. They set up 19 more. 19 more points in the Texans last season, re-signed Michael Pittman, Kenny Moore, Grover Stewart, Zaire Franklin, LATU in the draft,

A.D. Mitchell in the draft, O'Line depth in the draft, adjoined five O'Line room. I think they're 500 for a lot of the season, and then they finish with Patriots, Broncos, Titans, Giants, Jags. That's a big one. Houston's got to get out to a little bit of a lead.

Yeah. And the thing we didn't talk about in Jacksonville is Nielsen. that's a big addition. I just go back to what the, I mean, we went down there for Monday night countdown and the whole show was a path for the Jags to host the AFC title game. I don't think they ever won again. Trevor gets hurt that game. I think the week before they lost Kirk.

I trusted Doug Peterson. I think that the roster has stability. ETS, they lost also too for a bunch of time. I just look at them as being plenty motivated. I love all that. I don't know much about. But I love all the head coaches in this league. And they bring something different to the table for each squad.

So I look at Jacksonville's taking that step and finally getting there in a division where, again, you got to survive that division and get as many wins because that's only going to help you as far as seating and getting that division crown. And if Trevor gets hurt this year, they got Mack Jones. Nice little homecoming for him because I don't think Mack really got the respect. Or the coaching? Yeah, the fair shot or the coaching that he needed at the Patriots. And I think he's a great player. So whether that pushes Trevor to play better or I just think when you have two quarterbacks in a great system like that, it can bode well.

Well, Doug's had that happen before where he had a guy hurt and they went on a run. And I'm not saying Max Nick Foles. But I'm pretty sure Mack, his rookie year, led them to the playoffs. Exactly. So, you know, like I'm not going to talk down on that guy, even though he seems to want a karate kick every D-Limon and the dick. I got some people like, don't say that about Mac Jones. He's not dirty. I'm like, he's literally Stephen Seagall on people's testicles, at least once every two weeks.

Okay. What's next? AFC West. Chiefs. Chiefs. Kansas City Chiefs. Nobody wants to zag. I don't even think we need to talk about this that long.

I do think like, no speed, no gay. Watch out. No, on defense, you got some things to worry about. But there's just too much ground that needs to be made up. Had L.A. made the right higher a couple years back and had they been ascending rather than descending, I think like they're with the quarterback there. But that's another world, dude. That never happened. And so I think Harbaugh is going to have them relevant in a year. I think Sean Payton's a tough out. Any game you play them. Obviously, the Raiders beat the chiefs last year at Arrowhead. So all these teams are frisky. Like they're going to be tough outs in division.

but there's just too much of a delta between them and the rest of the division. Everybody went chiefs. Does anybody have another AFC West team in the playoffs? I don't currently. No, sir. I don't either. Yeah. And listen, I went and I'll give you my three.

I went Colts. I went Ravens and I went Jets. You know, I think the thing you look at the Colts and the Jags to your point, well, that fuel to your fire here. The Colts in their three floater games at Denver. at New York in Pittsburgh. And then the Jags got Vegas at home at Philly and they've got Cleveland who beat up on them last year

a little bit. So I kind of I give the edge to the Colts. They're the more physical team. There's more continuity. There's more momentum. The end of last year, it's hard to get that taste out of your mouth. They're like, if it weren't for the Eagles, we'd be talking about the Jags kid. Yeah, I got Ravens, Texans, Bills. I think the bills just sneak in.

There's a Chiefs, Niners, Rams, Lions stretch in there, but then week 16 and 18 are against the Pats. Josh Allen, Joe Brady, they get in. Yeah. But barely. Just missed I have right here, the Cleveland Browns. Knocking on that door. My AFC wild cards, I have Houston, Buffalo, and Baltimore.

Yeah. Now, well, I know I left Miami out. I have them in. The only thing I worry about with Miami is more the defense. I mean, like the offense doesn't show up in big spots, okay, but like the defense for me is a worry. Another team that could make a run, we haven't talked about Pittsburgh. I think, you know, Pittsburgh could be better than we think. Like, you know, preseason is tough.

And so if you get Russell Wilson playing, you know, some of the ball he was playing in Denver even once he decided to hit the checkdown and that sort of thing, they could be okay. that defense is going to be very good. So I do want to give them some credit. What three do you got, Steve? I got Texans, Bengals, and Dolphins. I do believe Christian Wilkins is a monster, monster loss for that defense. But if they made it last year with all those injuries, I still have confidence in that roster.

I really do. So that's right. One thing about the Steelers, I forgot, if you have the schedule right there, Their schedule is either really front-loaded or it's really back-loaded. It might be back-loaded. It's back-loaded. You know?

So I don't know what the difference there would be. It kind of depends on where they are at quarterback to me. That's the whole thing. Exactly. And at offensive line, like, you know, I think they've got some work to do up front. Every team in our AFC has multiple votes except for Miami Dolphins and Cleveland Browns. That's right. Each receiving one.

On to the NFC. Starting with the NFC Beast? Beast. The Beast. I got the Eagles. And this isn't just a Homer pick. I've done this before where I'm like, tie goes to my favorite team. But I really,

my brain is telling me the Eagles are going to win the whole thing. I had to make a bet MGM splash bet. Edelman's done his, you know, like for win bet. He had like a $100,000 bet on the Patriots. I'm not rich like, Julian.

You know, I don't work at NFL on Fox. And all the money he saves, not buying clothes to your point earlier this week. Like it, so he's got 100,000 to play with. I went and put a Kia on the Philadelphia Eagles to win the NFCs because I kind of have to do that. I feel very good about them.

And it's more because of what I see in Dallas. The thing that worries me about Dallas is that defense could be very good. Even down a corner, they got the Carson kid from Wake. We talked about that. He's going to have to play big snaps. I think Zimmer might get more out of Parsons. We talked about that the other day, slimmed down, probably going to play off the ball. Any of y'all taking the cowgirls?

No. I was told to watch out with no Kelsey and no Cox. What leader is going to emerge? But I picked the Philadelphia Eagles. Yeah, you know, Kelsey worries me with the protections. But they're the better team. Yep. You know.

Makin was referring to me too, because that's what I said on Scott's bottom. I know. Yeah, okay. All right. he's listening yeah nfc north this is interesting man because you could go chalk but a year ago it wasn't chalk to go the lions right you could go with the hot team in green bay you can take a flyer on the stud rookie or you could just break everybody's brains and go with minnesota i'm gonna go lions man that i'm not going to complicate this thing i think like a big difference for me and

looking at them this year as they know they have a chance to compete in every game last year I think Dan was selling them that coming out of camp, but belief is powerful. And I don't think the season ended on a bad note for them, even though they lost, even though I took chances. I think they're going to be energized. I got the Lions. Belief plus unfinished business. I got the Detroit Lions.

Added DJ Reader. Yeah, that's a big deal. If he can get on the field and be healthy. Go pack. Go. Going with the Packers. I think this is Jordan Love's year. And we'll talk about it later.

but I think this is an MVP season. I think they have a young, they have a very, very young offense, and he just has to tweak a few things, and that kid he looks really good. And I think this might be his season where he's going to get to shine. Everyone's worried about Caleb Williams,

but he, the Green Bay, they're always there. They're always there. And I feel like it's not going to be different. And they're big and physical. You can look back at games last year where they bullied people, including the Chiefs. Yeah. and say, you know, they bullied the lions twice last year.

Or not twice on Thanksgiving. Then I always say, get off their asses. They do that and then wait until it gets cold and other teams have to go in there. And no one likes to be playing hard mouth football all the time when it, when it gets cold. They have a huge. I don't want to play hard nose or hard mouth. Hard nose. Smash mouth.

Hard mouth, smash nose football. It should be smashed nose. That hurts more. Yeah. What you got? This was the toughest division for me. If it makes sense, I pick Green Bay to win the division, but I have Detroit making it farther run in the playoffs.

I just feel like the different matchups in that division are just too tough for me to predict. But I love the addition of Jacobs. I think it's exactly, exactly what Jordan Love needs to take that next step in an offense. I do think there's a lot of eyeballs on LaFleur. this year. I'm really interested to see how he handles this. We're not going to be that good. And then boom, jump up, got San Francisco on the ropes in the division. Like, that's a big step for me looking at coaches and how they handling things. So I got a lot, a lot of focus on the head coach of the Packers, but I got them with division. I'm just really impressed with him. We went down to,

we went to that camp and he popped in at the end of the, at the end of the interview session. And we were like, they had us in the side room. And I was like, yeah, we'll probably won't meet Matt. But the door opened right before we're going to leave. And he had walked down into the guts of the stadium and sought us out and was bullshit with us for like 15 minutes. That guy is just, I know all coaches no ball, but this guy's just all ball and so interested in every sidebar we had about whether it was like the Super Bowl we both, you know, participated in or, you know, his roster currently. Jordan loves development. One of the things I like about him is how real he is.

We came into town and I was like, they were all going to be in a bad move because he just motherfucked the team after a preseason game. I was in the press pool, get ready to ask some questions, and he opened the presser up saying, hey, guys, I was wrong the other night. He said, the guys played hard. We just didn't execute.

I was mad the other night, but I was wrong. I was a little bit reactive. And, you know, hearing him talk about Jordan's, development and some of the things he wants back early in that process. I was, I came away even more impressed with the guy and impressed with the team. When you watch that team up close, they're big and physical. Like you come from the Eagles camp, I've said this a few times and you're like, why aren't all the other teams big?

This team's big. They're physical. They got fucking four young wide receivers that, hey, if Christian Watson gets something out of this medical study he did this offseason to figure out why his hamstring keeps exploding, they're going to be scary offensively. So, yeah, I'll go lines, though. All right, what we got next? NFC South.

I got the Bucks, man. I know Steve's going to like this pick. Everybody's talking about the Falcons. Let's talk about the Bucks. Ilana Falcons. Books. A tough one again. You're coaching the year.

What last, that was early. Didn't I have him like week three? We laughed you off the show. and then we all were idiots because they surged. Yeah. I do have the Falcons. I love the idea of Rahim getting another chance. You don't see it a lot in this day and age.

You don't see it at the NFL level. Guys got to take a step down, go be a college coordinator, whatever. I think the world of this, and I really, really like the idea of Jack Robinson being the O.C. I think he's a great mind, and he's got plenty of toys to play with. So I'll take the Falcons in the South. Here's my problem with the Falcons. The Bucks have been doing this. This is what they do.

The Falcons are like, you know, I laid this out the other day. Over the last 10 years, I think Carolina won three straight division crowns. Then it went New Orleans for four years. And it's been Tampa now for three years running. And the only hiccup in there was the Matt Ryan here. So, you know, the only team that's won it without a Hall of Famer or an MVP has been Tampa. And everything they do is about continuity. I thought they brought some pieces back.

I'm looking forward to Baker being free and clear, Steve. You know, like, I feel like this is the best his headspace has been. No doubt. Yeah, I like the bucks, but, and I hate to say it because we're going to get to the playoffs in a second. I don't think the second team out of that division makes it to the playoffs. And that could be the Falcons or it could be the bucks. I think this is the last time I read a schedule, but the Falcons finish with Raiders, Giants, commanders, panthers.

You don't think they could lose to the Giants? I'm not even fucking around. Well, anybody can lose anybody. Are they all of a sudden like, who are they all of a sudden? Okay, well, the bucks finished with Chargers, Cowboys, Saints, three of their last four. Yeah, no question.

I got you. But what I'm saying is, who made the Falcons like a penciled them in to beat every sub-500 team? Well, for sure. It's the off-season additions that we haven't seen on the field yet. but when it's Justin Simmons with AJ Cherell and Jesse Bates,

you had Judon to Jared and Anyamara. Two of those names, though, I don't know. I don't know what Judon's going to look like at this age coming off an injury. I don't know what Simmons is going to look like back there, and you lost your coordinator. I'm not saying I'm right, but what I am saying is there's a lot of questions that people are glossing over with this team.

And conversely, with the bucks, they're just kind of like, we're not even going to talk about these guys. And that's dangerous. I think it's a good argument. Yeah. And certainly, I've been on the Atlanta hype train. So, like, this is a last minute, hey, let me pump the brakes and be sensible.

Last division, NFC West. Boy, I'm going to fucking, I'm going to, I probably won't have a job next year. I'm taking the Seahawks. Woo! Up there in Seattle. Yeah. Now, all I'm saying is, hey, if the Niners come out and they look like the same team and Trent, Trent looks like Trent and Purdy looks like they probably win the division.

I'm just banking on a little bit of a like, hey, after all these years of being in the NFC title game or the Super Bowl, eventually it catches up to you a little bit. And I'm not saying you miss the playoffs. This is going to be by December. It's going to be a hell of a football team is what they do. But I felt like getting a little frisky here in the NFC West. And it came down to the Rams or the Seahawks for me. obviously the Cardinals not in the conversation as far as upsetting the Niners.

I went with the San Francisco 49ers. Which is simple and probably going to happen. I also went with the 49ers. I got Frisky also and took the Rams. There's an argument to be made that this division, I know you think AFC North, but I think this division. It's way better than what it's been three years ago, say. Man, because the floor is really high. with the Cardinals.

I think that's an NFL offense. And the Rams, like, you know, McVeigh sneezes and wins nine games. And listen, I know a lot of defensive coaches have struggled their rookie year. But you get the sense this guy's a little different. And the guy last year in Houston didn't struggle. And, you know, you also have a franchise quarterback. You've got your guy, Kenneth Walker. You have great receivers outside, bookend tackles, bookend corners.

It's all on Gino. It's all on Gino. All on Gino. But to my point is this, people are sleeping on this team. And if I got to sacrifice myself and incorrectly pick them to win the West to get people's attention, I'll do it. I like it. Hey, I know we really like verse and Fisk, Steve. But the Rams did lose who may be the best defensive player ever. History of the game. Plus 7,000 for DPOIs on the couch. Hey, hey, also a guy against. Scotty Schaeffler was five to one to win the PGA and he was in jail. That's a fact. I don't know what's more impressive. Probably the Donald thing because I knew Schaeffler was getting out of jail.

I need a camera on Aaron Donald every week to see what his weight is. I'll text him right now. Come on. You know that itch comes. You know. I'm going to ask him. Well, especially his team's pretty good. And how much do you want?

How much do you? way. Tell him it's important. He played the Super Bowl at 250. It's crazy. It's, you know, him and Michael Parsons weighed the same. Well, he looks in shape. You see him race, Lashon McCoy? Yeah. Well, Lashon McCoy might be. Yeah, might have drew a pretty good draw in the race there. He looked like he was moving pretty well. Another thing, not for nothing. Aaron Donald, you talk about Seahawks Rams, because this is what it comes down to is like, you know, these matchups in division. I worry more about the Seahawks beating the nineers, honestly, because the way they've looked matching up against him.

But Donald, 10 sacks over the last four games, he has owned this matchup. So, well, I think the Rams have added some pieces. That is something you've got to replace. All right. Wildcard teams. Man, oh, man. I want Packers, Niners. And it's down to the Bears and the Rams for me.

And as much as I hate putting a rookie quarterback in the fucking play. playoffs, I think I'm going to put the bears in there. And I think the Rams, if they don't make it, are going to be a 9-10 win team. I think it could be a thing where a wild card, you've got to win 10 games to get in. Price just went up. So you think that's going to be tougher than the AFC, right? I think the price went up in the NFC more dramatically than dying AAC. I agree.

I agree. You know, it's one of those things where it's one of those things where since 2014, I look back, six first rounders have made it. the playoffs that's almost one every two years right like it's more than one every two years um so this kid's the second coming of christ right i only threw 20 balls in preseason but i do think he's going to be pretty good i think they'll take their lumps i don't think they're going to be 13 and four but they got a shot here because of their defense that's the edge i would give them over the rams the defense and there's a wild card with stafford's health um you know two years ago we thought he was done last year we thought he was top five quarterback i still think he's top five he's healthy um gosh it is

going to be interesting i got the niners and packers as well packers rams bears love the josh jacobs edition as steve said rams we've talked about them bears i like the schedule like jalen johnson a lot like some of those weapons top half offensive line room i think it has all the makings and Falcons. Like it. So no one has Dallas. I think we all left Dallas out of the playoffs. Wow.

I have Niners. I have Niners, Lions, Buccaneers. Wow. So the Cowboys will be making the playoffs. Probably winning the division. I'm going to bet that over now. Yeah. That's like

Monday football. Wow. And Rodney, Tony, Chris Sims. they're all on one side. That's what we are on the Cowboys. Sunday night, whatever it is. I have one day at a time.

It's like college game day. Who's doing Monday at football now? Steve. There's some new guy. If you don't know, that's not good. Is it Tom Brady? I wondered why we had Joe Buck and Troy Akeman.

Is it Buck and Akeman still? Okay. What's Tom doing? Just games? The top box game. I know. Browns Cowboys, week one.

Cleveland. Chris Olson got Wally Pippe. That's crazy. He didn't even get hurt. He's Wally Pipped him. Greg Olson. Greg Olson. Chris Olson. You know, fucking Wally Piff, too. He's his brother, who I used to party with in college.

If you were Olson's brother, Chris. Bro, I'm playing Madden at night. Stone playing Madden. And I'm listening to Greg Olson do play-by-play on Madden. And I'm like, bro, we made it. Us. We made it, dude. We used to be spring break friends, man.

Look at you now. Look at me. You know? Greg from the seventh flow. From the seventh flow. That's my dog, bro. I love Greg, bro. That's a great family.

Wayne, New Jersey. A couple coaches, sons. Shout out to Chris Olson as well. All right. So why don't we do your Super Bowl matchup and your winner together? Let's do it. I want to go the other direction now. So, Steve, you start it.

Tired. What is it? Super Bowl? Yeah. Match up and winner. Super Bowl. Last game of the season. Chiefs 31, Falcons, 23.

Whoa, what the fuck? Also, the worst uniform game ever. That's it. I thought of you, Chris. Golly. Wow. Wow, he says. Wow.

I have Packers 30, Browns 27. Nice. That would be awesome. I like it a lot. That would be awesome. a fun game. Lions. New Orleans.

Lions. Lions 30. Jets 10. Dude, that's crazy. Okay, I've got the Lions as well. And I've got them beating the Houston Texans. Okay. 31.28.

Okay. And for the 20th year in a row, all I want is to see the bills and the Browns in the AFC title game. Oh, that would be insanity. That's all I want. I die. I don't even care where the game is either. We would have to go,

whoever it is. God. Okay. All right, we've reached the awards portion. First up, MVP. Patrick Mahomes. Patrick Mahomes. Jordan Love. Sack record goes down.

Max Crosby. Wow. Wow. Wow. It's coming down. The reason I think it's Mahomes is obvious. The defense. isn't going to be as good. They might have to score more, and they have some fast guys,

now. Fast guys who can catch the ball and run routes. We'll see. Yeah, again, we don't know, for sure. Coach of the year, Dan Campbell. Not mine. Shane Steichen. Okay. It's hard to argue with that. Sean Payton. Ooh, like it. After a year removed from everybody trying to execute him for being mean to Russell Wilson. And I think that he cried for a whole year and he got what he wants. and I think he has a quarterback that if he puts out a little bit of production there. They got to win like eight, 10, 10 games. Yeah. And I think, and I think that's possible, like, with his system, if Bowenix gets in and he's ready.

Yeah, they got to do a lot. But Bo Nix is good. You said whom? I said Sean McVeigh. I will say about Sean Payton. It was, I thought it was pretty ballsy how they went about the draft where he just unzipped his drawers and said we're taking bow nicks and i'm coaching them yeah yep which means he's convicted exactly that's that's a usually they wait till three drafts later to be like i love that guy you know

they'll hedge their bets and and Peyton was like no this is the guy i want yeah so very cool the only place i would caution you sir is that the award usually goes to the overachieving average team and not the yeah because basically dan campbell had them you know on the doorstep of the number one seed last year that's a good point that might have to be the okay so then i'll give you macdonald i give you macdonald it was stefansky no stefansky won't defansky dable rabel stefansky those are your last four i'll i'll give you macdonald okay all right you're right offensive player of the year offensive player of the year i'm gonna go brice hall like it uh christian mcalfrey repeats i'm going saquan barclay i love it you know i love it i'm going

Bijon Robinson. Nice. A lot of hardware for him, NFC championship. No, but here's the thing. I look at the Breece Hall odds. They opened up at like, what, plus 2,000 or something,

and then like they're down to like plus 500. It's crazy. So something, there's some... So glad the Jets changed their uniforms. Yes, they look terrific. Yeah. Yeah, the Breece Hall started at 40 to 1.

It's now 12 to 1. Yeah, 41, 12. Wow. Moving markets. Yeah, that's what I mean. So anyways, defensive player of the year. Fuck, I'll give you a wild card here. Daniel Hunter plus 3,500. I've been picking him two years running.

Okay. I'll go somewhere else. Yeah. I'll go Mikea Parsons. You don't have to make the playoffs to win this award. That's the other one. And if they do make the playoffs, it's probably in large part due to him. The only thing I worry about with like taking Micah, and maybe I'm being stupid, but like if i think he's going to play off ball more than he did last year are the sack number is going to be his gaudy and you know pass rush wins this award that's my only concern there

i am going with sauce gardener love it i'm going montez sweat wow all right last three offensive rookie of the year i mean i'm not going to make this complicated it's probably Caleb Williams with the side of Marvin Harrison, Jr. long odds. I think Puka Nakua's longstanding record of 1486 yards goes down. Marvin Harrison. Nice. Plus 750. Piggybacking off my coach of the year award. I'm going Bo Nix.

I just think that you're all in. I think he's just going to have that year. I love how all in you are. Because I feel like Sean Payton's all in. He went in all in to get what he wanted. and he got it. And I think that's going to bode well. And I think for a young quarter of a win total.

Bro, a young quarterback, bro. A young quarterback with a coach like that that's all into you and ready to get you out there. That is the most popular bet on Ben of Gymmit. It's the most popular one. It wasn't a couple weeks ago. I feel like we were early and then. All right. Guys.

Guys. There's something going on with these fishing trips that Reed and Nate are going on, man. This sticky yanky that they're not going. Bronca's fandom conversion therapy. I'm worried about that one. That's funny. I'm going to, I love my rookie of the year bets.

I can't believe Macon already took it. But Marmon Harrison Jr., I love the value there, and I love my defensive rookie of the year too. Byron Murphy. Hey, great minds, bro. I, I, he going to do it.

He's going to do it. I'm in a, need this guy to start. I don't know if he's starting at present. But he's one of the best players in the NFL. His name's Nate Wiggins. Oh, yeah, Wiggy. One of the best players in the NFL. I love him. I love him. Put him up there with Hall of Famer Graham Barden. And since Miami has a terrible defense and he will help out immediately, I'm going with Chop Robertson. Oh, that's interesting. Because he's not too far down the line. He's not. Man, he had a ton of moves. I mean, he's a chance make a huge impact.

Yep. Well, yeah, because Phillips is starting on IRR. You know, Luke's, as you mentioned, and, you know, like, that room's a lot different. Go out there, get some sacks? You never know. All right. Last one. Comeback Player of the Year. What is this award? I want it done. I so want it done.

You don't want this award anymore? There need to be different classifications. Give them like a race. There should be like a, hey, injured, comeback player of the year. Used to suck. Come back play a year. Did drugs or broke a law, you know? And unfortunately now got shot as Tank Dell and Ricky Pearson will be feeding for that one. I know. There should be a separate award for that too.

Brian Robinson passes the torch. The mini men award. The many men award. Unfortunately, it's something. I don't know if we're done with that in the NFL. Recent winners, Joe Flacco, Gino Smith, Joe Burrow, Smith, Ryan Tannahill. Ooh. A lot of quarterbacks. I got Sam Darnold. I also have a quarterback, Anthony Richardson from the injury. The really good one.

Yeah. I am going with a sleeper. I'm going with Zeke Elliott. Ooh. Oh, that's from the, he's back. Yes. Yeah. But he's back with his guy, Dag, his best friend.

I think that's going to put a little bit of more adrenaline, a little pepping the step and maybe it goes back to hand in zeke the ball when they're in the red zone all the time or getting him those easy touchdown so you never know i did hear rico dowdell's going to get a lot of snaps 90 to one mate i like it but yeah but and by the way i don't know what the richerson bet is the darnald is plus a thousand uh chris i bet sam dartle last year he was 50 to one because i wasn't sure about the niners quarterback situation and he was on the niners that didn't get there uh i'm to go Danny Dimes, Giants this year. Oh. I thought,

personally, I thought Sam Darno was 100 to 1. Danny Dynes got a new girlfriend. Oh, no, that's not true. I don't think she was saying that, seriously. It was Kay Adams talking to Germain Illuminaur. Yeah. And she was like, say how to my boyfriend.

No, go protect my boyfriend. Yeah, but if she had a boyfriend, you wouldn't even know it. That's how, you know, that's how these media types move. Kay Adams said hi? No, she basically She was like She was like, hey, Okay.

No, but I will say, I will say the bearded thing. Guys, take a minute to dump any last takes or thoughts you have on the season. I'll give you one. Giants might be better than I thought. Okay. Love it.

Bearded Daniel Jones, dominant defense, maybe dominant at times. Who's the first coach fired? Ooh, what are the odds on that? Yeah, get the odds. Well, if the bears suck, it might be Iberflus. Who else struggled last year?

Cowboys. Dougie. Dougie P's seats warm. What's the Cowboys? McCarthy. Dennis Allen. Dennis Allen's like, I'm still here. Siriani.

Citiiti's seats a little toasty. Sala can't go like 0 and 4. No. Aaron will say. I'm rude for Salah too bad. Dennis Allen is the leader at plus 300. Who's second place? McCarthy's got to be second.

He is. And then we got Sala, Aberflutes, and then like Boles, Siriani, Dable. That's another thing I said the other day. Steve was like, if you're DAC, don't you want to wait till next year anyways because you might have a new coach. Right.

Like, you know, don't sign your deal now. If you're for that. If you're best friends with a head coach, do you joke about, like, if you're a better, like, do you joke with them like, hey, yo, you're plus? you're plus I didn't even know they were odds on that when I played

but I told you when I walked in after Spaggs's like first season and we were like two and 14 I walked up in the exit meeting and I was just I got the feeling we were all fired and I said to my dear friend Ken Flagell who is a linebacker's coach has been a pleasure working with you man

and he was like did coach get fired like I just remember that the other day. I was like, what a moron I was. I guess the dumbest fucking thing ever, dude. I walked into coaches. I basically was like,

see you later. He was like, I'll see you in three months. Who's the first backup quarterback to see action? Non-injury. Non-injury first backup team. James. James.

Yeah. I know who I want. I want. Who do you want to see? I want the drama in Atlanta. I want Michael Penner to get in there to light it up. Black quarterback in Atlanta running. Yeah, running.

Say again. He's running? He doesn't run that one. No, I guess he doesn't. But he's mobile. He's mobile in the pocket. But I just think that would, that's going to be awesome. And hopefully he wears a red duress.

too. You know, he wore the purple one in college, so you got to switch it up. I don't know if he's going to keep the purple, but it should be red. The backup I'd like to see. I'd like to see Mac Jones. I don't want to see anybody get hurt or like, but like maybe, you know, Trevor Lawrence has a hang nail. Yeah.

I would love to see Mac Jones play again. I would love to see Josh Dobbs play again. Oh. Oh, I'd love to see the pastor not. the pastor not out there in San Francisco with them weapons. I do not want to see. Please, don't show me any Rams backup quarterbacks.

Please, football gods. I pray that Matt Stafford is healthy so that the board is not ruined. I'd like to go against your intel and see Marcus Mariotta pretty early on because I don't care for that team. I'd love for it to be 0 and 4. And hey, we got to go with the Drake May approach here.

You think that could happen? Personally, I would. Oh, here's the one guy. Oh, bro, bro, whoa. No, no, no. I got it. Spencer Rattler. No.

That's who I want to see. The one who I don't want to see is to Rod Taylor for the judge. Oh, I can't do that again. Yeah, that'd be. Can't do that yet. That'd be bad. Can't be bad. Oh, Joe Flacco.

Yeah. Joe Flacco, yeah, yeah. Which maybe for a game or two. That might be the closest that happening that there is. Well, because it's, the injury rate of this cat. I mean, such a big explosive dude. And like coming off the injuries, he was like, I'm not really going to change what I do. All right. What about Justin Fields? We might see him. That's what I said. I think we might see him like relatively early. So how about you guys?

The team's having we touched? We should just do the rest. We should hit all the backup quarterbacks. Skyler Thompson. Yeah. Miami. Is he in Miami? Is he in Miami? Because Mike White's, who's in Dallas? Is Cooper Rush still living the dream out there? Trey Lance is QB3. Tray Lance. What about another DeVito run? Arizona.

Clayton, right? It's going to be interesting. There's always one main character that we don't see coming, at least. Who's here, the last one, fantasy football. Who's the biggest pickup after week one? Like waiver wire pickup. Who's the guy that goes off and he's on everybody's waiver wire?

The tight end from New York. Conflin? from New York. No, no, no, from the Giants. What's one? The guy from Penn State. Oh, Theo Johnson. Theo Johnson. I'm going to Mercedes-Louis.

Mercedes-Lewis. The rookie quarterback is going to find this night in a couple of times for a few touchdowns. First game. Is that crazy? So crazy. Good for him. My teammate in Jack. Guys, we're still together, man, after all these years.

We're still, you know, we got Stanford Steve back in the house. He's going to be joining us every. Wednesday. Talks from college football. We're going to be doing America's teams on our show, Steve, on the Stanford Steve show. So get your, get your wheels turning, brother. Okay. Okay. Guys named Stanford loves Notre Dame and Duke. That never gets old. I love Notre Dame. Oh, okay. All right, guys, y'all take care. We will see you on Monday. Peace. I cannot wait. Football tonight. Football tonight. I'm