Green Light with Chris Long - NFL Week 17 & CFB Game Picks Powered by BetAmerica.

Episode Date: December 27, 2019

Week 17 - NFL and College Football Picks. Powered by BetAmerica | Chalk Media. On this week’s Green Light Exclusive, Chris Long and Stanford Steve give their picks for this weekend’s NFL and College football games. Thank you to BetAmerica for sponsoring our weekly sports betting Green Light with Stanford Steve. About Chalk Media: Following the unfiltered voice and vision of Chris Long, Chalk Media is the interactive online community for you, the intelligent and humorous sports fan. Driven by access, Chalk delivers a unique perspective that cuts through the canned talking points and provides a variety of content from your favorite sports and entertainment celebrities. Here at Chalk, we don’t take ourselves too seriously, but we are rooted in challenging the perception of professional athletes. We embrace the “real” with a unique combination of humor and intelligence. Chalk is a community with a voice beyond 240 characters that brings a perspective and vibe to a traditionally brash and boastful sports media space. Subscribe and enjoy weekly content including podcasts, documentaries, live chats, celebrity interviews and more. Nothing is off limits at Chalk - 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. 🌍🏀🏈SUBSCRIBE NOW ⚾🏒⛰️ http://bit.ly/chalknetwork Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The busiest man in college football. That, you mean, like, listen, Stanford, Steve, you're aware now. I'm in Scottsdale, Arizona, getting ready for the Piesta Bowl tomorrow. How do I get your job? Uh, I don't know. Start as a janitor at ESPN radio and trying to play up. Well, it's fucking turned out pretty awesome. Every time I talk to you, you're somewhere awesome.

You're always in a hotel room, and the fire alarm just went off. Had a good view today, but it was too bright. Okay. Too bright. Too bright in Arizona, which most people in the eastern seaboard, actually the weather is really nice here now, but we don't want to hear you complaining about how nice it is. About me. Week 17 in the NFL on the Greenlight Gambling Show, powered by Bet America, who provide us with all of our lines, and make sure you go to BetAmerica.com, download the Bet America app. You can check out my game picks if you are so inclined.

and you can bet on my long shots. Lots going on at Betamerica.com, and I'm thrilled to have them involved every week as me and my buddy, Steve, break it down. So who do you like real quick in the party bowl is what I'm calling it, the Fiesta Bowl? In the Party Bowl? The Orange Bowl?

Well, oh, wait, no, I'm talking about the Fiesta Bowl. Oh, okay. Yeah, which is loosely translated to the Party Bowl. Got it. Which I think you'll be doing out there. I'm not, how many languages you know? More than me. I know a little bit of like four.

Okay. But I'm not like, I don't count them as languages I know. All right. It's a tough one, Chris. I was actually, Felica and I do a podcast together to Bear from Calais Game Day. You know him. And we were saying how many points wins this game?

Yeah. And I think it's 31, but I could also see like 34, 31, which means that would go over. So the over-under number is 62 right now. I feel like that's a perfect number. I just can't stop thinking about, we spent this whole year, all right, talking about Ohio State's the most balanced team, all right, Ohio State's the most complete team.

And they didn't lose. They met every challenge. And now they're an underdog to Clemson. Right. Like, it just doesn't make any sense. Is Clemson, like, is it that easy? Like the ACC, like, I'm not, no offense to you. No, it's all good.

No, it's all good. You know, the road. But, like, I mean, Ohio State's got some guys on there that. that I think can make, you know, Clemson sweat a little bit. And I figure days are good enough offense coordinator. I still say you've got to find a way to run the ball against Clemson when they have all those, you know, hybrid guys off the line of scrimmage. You've got to find a way to run the ball.

So I'm starting to lean Ohio State. I know Clemsons that, you know, this run dabbles on is in a historic moment and run for them in the 150 years of college football. Right. But I just feel like Ohio State. I like Ryan Day as a play caller way better than when things run urban. So I mean, the one thing that does worry me is Fields said he's 85%. That's not good.

Yeah, no, no, 85. You say you're 85, you're probably like 65. Yeah. Just as a player. And you know how that is. If you put a percentage on something, you're already in the shitter there. Yeah. Also, he's like, talk about the run game.

He's the part of the guy. He's got to be one of the guys runs the ball. And I like, I do like Clemson. although I will concede that the ACC competition has been poor. By the way, season totals, I am 32 and 32 and 22 overall. Stanford Steve is 24 and 29 and 1. Listen, I don't think that makes me better. I'm just better right now.

Last week, I was 1 and 2 in college, 2 and 1 in pro. Steve was 0 in 3 in college and 3 in the pros. So pretty fucking weird. Wow. Okay. Was that correct? Yeah, I believe so. For you, that's totally off brand.

So this is just crazy. Before I had Washington, though. Oh, no, you've been Washington. You stole them for me because you had a better record. Yeah, I didn't have Washington. But I arrived at that on my own, and they beat the shit out of them. So we'll go back and forth this week. Steve wanted to start us off with your first pro pick.

And all the lines, by all the lines, by the way, are powered by Better America. Absolutely. And I'm going to go, I just, we were talking about things being that easy. I think the Giants cover if that beat the Eagles this week. I understand, you know, the momentum the Eagles have and the wind streak that they're on. But weird shit happens in the NFC East. I mean, what was it? Two weeks ago, Scott and I were on after Monday night football.

And the Eagles needed a perfect fourth quarter and overtime to beat the Giants with Eli. I know. The Giants got good receivers. They got stuff to play with with Daniel Jones. I can't stand the Eagles secondary. I still don't, you know, I still can get out of my mind that game plan from the Cowboys last week. So I'm going to take the Giants there plus the points. Listen, I don't hate that because everybody's been getting well against the Cowboys.

So I think everybody comes out of the Cowboys games. Like, we beat this great team as if we're not watching the season unfold. So for the Eagles, though, that was a huge win at home relative to the depletion of that roster. The Giants, man, they are a tough out at home for the Eagles the past few years. I mean, 18, we beat them up pretty good. But 17, that was a third. 31-29 win that we need a lot to happen versus win that game. And Nick Foles was in, that was a Super Bowl year.

I think with Saquan getting healthy off the high ankle, anybody's had an eye ankle knows it takes a while. And then the offensive explosion, it seems like they like Shermer. It's going to be a tight ball game. And the Eagles should be worried, which is fine. That's not a slight. They should just be worried. I got Chicago, Minnesota.

Not only do I like Chicago here, because Minnesota has nothing to play for, and I don't know what the status of Dalvin Cook is. Do we know if he's in or out? Why would you play him? That's the whole point. So I don't think he plays, and we saw what Kirk is like without Dalvin.

We said that all year long. Kirk needs Dalvin. He needs time. Play action's got to get going. He needs to be protected. None of those things happen Monday night. I like the under, though, especially, because you've got Chicago and Minnesota,

two teams you can't score anyways. You look at the first game they played. That was Kirk Cousins' Rock Bottom. I think you have another rough day. on both sides of it. And I think the under's just under 40 right now, and I like that to hit. Okay.

All right. Hard to lean that way with those quarterbacks. No offense. Yeah. I'm going to ride the Colts. They're playing hard. You mentioned the coach. Who's playing hard?

You know, they played hard for Shermer in New York. I'm going to go with the Colts because Reich has that team ready. I mentioned last week they were my favorite pick of the NFL season against at home last week against. Help me out here. They played the Panthers last week and beat the shit out of them. You were absolutely right. But for you to track this game, you'd actually have to watch it.

And I'm not doing that. My – I think it's – minus the points against Jacksonville. Okay, cool. My second game is – I like the over in the Denver-Oklin game. It's not that high. I don't know what the weather's like in Denver, but you've got Oakland who is still conceivably in it.

I think it can happen. Oh, yeah. It's not far-fetch. All the hard stat had to – happened last week. Yeah. No, I don't see it happening. It could happen. Oakland, I think they win. I think the overhits. I like Drew Locke. I think Derek Carr, who hasn't had a 300-yard passing game all year, I don't think, is playing for his professional life a little bit, and how quickly that happened in this honeymoon stage with Gruden here. It's been a short time, but he's already

playing for his job. So I like him to come out and have a big day. And I, and I, and I, I like not such a low-scoring game. Give me the over. Okay. Alton's a tough team to figure out, but go for it. No, I mean, and that's the thing. They beat Jacksonville, well, they lose to Jacksonville, but they're beating them like 13 to 6.

They lost the Jets. Yeah, they lost the Jets. It's going to keep the Cowboys, Raiders, and Steelers out of the playoffs, the Jets. What you could also do, yeah, the Jets, man, they're going to be good before you know it. I'm telling you. I take for 2020. I don't know if they can overcome.

I'm not going to, I'm not shitting on anybody here. This is a gambling show. Got it. My third pick is I'm going to ride two weeks in a row I've rode with the Titans. And they have been, oh and two the last two weeks against the spread. But I think this is a different game. You get a healthy Derek Henry. You know, he wasn't healthy the first time around.

And listen, that game they lost to Houston. They played terrible in the first half. they played well in the first half against the Saints and then didn't have Derek Henry to ice that lead so this is the game they put it all together they're playing for their playoff lives Houston I think they're in anyways but Tennessee is the more motivated team

I'm gonna go with a pig that makes no sense because they don't have a roster but I'm never going to answer Russell Wilson at home so I'll take the Seahawks at home plus it's more than a field goal now he just figures it out. He's a freaking wizard, man. He is. So Niners' defense has showed some holes.

The problem is the Niners, I think, of all the teams in the playoffs, really need this by week. So they're going to be playing their asses off, obviously. You know the classic game they play on that Monday night a couple weeks ago where Russell pulled one out. It should end in a tie. So I'm going to just take Russell Wilson here and just rely on him figuring out because he always does. Had they played for the tie, they wouldn't be in this position. The worst guys bet against in the sport. No, no, no doubt about it.

And they've won 10 of their last 11, I think, against the Niners. And week 17 with a lot on the line, you're going to see a different team that you saw at that field with Arizona coming in town. It's just going to be a different atmosphere. Clown is going to come back. He's absolutely playing. It's going to be a hell of a ball game. And I think people are counting the Hawks out and they shouldn't. Reminder to head over to Bet America and play the Bet America free play Gridiron Millions game.

If you haven't done it yet, it's easy. You win a million dollars. You just have to pick the spread, the over and under on 12 NFL games. So 24 picks total. You get them all correct. You get a million dollars. And everybody can use that after the holidays. You ain't kidding.

And if you played last week, you know, you probably didn't win because I didn't hear about it. But this week is the week. College picks. Let's get to Steve's first pick because this is where you shine, although last week you weren't so good. I think you're going to have a big rebound week. Yeah, you stole my fix. Anyway.

I did. Well, no, really. I text you. I said Washington. You said, I like Washington, too. And you volunteered that I get Washington. Because I'm a good guy. It's the holiday season.

Oh, well. Could have not mentioned that we had it on three weeks, the first one of the year. Golly. Geez. All right. I'm going to go to the lesser bowl games, Chris. So I'm going to go Louisville, Kansas State, and Kentucky. Ooh, Louisville, Kansas State, and Kentucky.

Okay. I like Oklahoma closing the gap late. I think that we just predicted this. Backdoor is always open. Yeah, we just, we just, we just talked about it in the show. I think it could easily be like a 43, 31 game. You know, and LSU's had trouble, you know, LSU's had trouble kind of managing that tempo kind of comeback situation that they find themselves giving. teams all the time. Teams are always, it seems like, trying to battle back against them, big leads, and they haven't always been great. I think about the old miss game off top of my head. But I think it's one of the situations where it's a three touchdown game at some point, and then they backdoor cover, as you said. So what was your first pick, your most confident? I like Louisville, Mississippi State had to fight and practice yesterday. Somebody punched the

quarterback in the face. It looks like he's not playing. I don't like what's going on there. So it's Louisville, Kentucky, and Kansas State I like because that coaching staff came from North Dakota State, and they've seen option at the FCS level. So I don't think that Navy can catch them off guard. And they got, you know, they got bigger, more talented linemen up front, and they can rotate guys, which I think really hurts teams in the American Conference that play against Navy every year. They just don't have the big dogs up front. So I like Kansas State to win an exciting game.

Nice. Okay. Well, I'm taking my notes. for my own personal reasons here, because I think you're going to have a big bounce back week, and I want to get a piece of that pie. So I like Iowa. Listen, if they've seen their defense, it's,

listen, you've got Utah in the Pack 12, but I was well coached. That coach has been there forever. He knows what he's doing. They're going to be focused, locked in. And I think it's strength meets finesse. And that's the way I look at. It's very indicative of the way you think about the two conferences.

I think Iowa plays their strength. I think if they can keep the points, you know, at around 20, they've been damn near unbeatable this year, and I think they will. So I like Iowa. And then finally, I got to ride with UVA. And this is different. I know I rode with him against Clemson, but that was a bit more of a prayer. I actually think we're going to make this a really good ball game.

We might win it. But again, we're in the Orange Bowl, getting about two touchdowns. I like that a lot, especially if it doesn't move. That's a lot of cushion. and I think we'll move the ball offensively. We moved the ball early in the Clemson game. The problem was we couldn't stop them and we couldn't keep pace.

I think the gap, you know, for our beat-up, defensive backfield gets a little smaller against Florida at the skill position. So although a really good football team, I think we can keep that thing close and maybe win it. Makes sense.

I mean, the thing with Florida, is people are used to them not having a good offense. This year, they have a good offense. They got playmakers. They got games. gamebreakers on the outside. So in the last decade where they've struggled with getting guys to football and scoring points, they have those guys this year. Going back to Virginia, I'm going to connect the dots real quick with Virginia. The reason I like Kentucky is because you saw Virginia

Tech in person and you saw Perkins run all over Virginia Tech. Kentucky, all they do is quarterback run. Yes. So I like Kentucky in that game. Okay. Again, taking my note. And no offense. Defense is better than Virginia's. And by the way, and by the way, at this point, Maybe. By the way, my long shot of the week, and I'll let you hear this and you tell me what you think about it, but is I got to set the parameters from any game. I get to pick three. And I'm going to go with the under in the Steelers Ravens game. I'm going to go with RG3 over the rushing total, whatever they set it at. And then lastly, I'm going to go with T.J. Watt with over a sack. I think the Steelers, they're playing for their playoff lives. The Ravens are going to, I think,

let them win. Because if you're going to let somebody slide in the playoffs, even though it's a division rival, it's totally unorthodox, you'd rather see the Steelers in the playoffs, in my opinion, than the Titans or somebody else. So I think, you know, with everybody sitting in Baltimore, the score is going to be down, and I've been in situations where you're not playing for anything. It's a lot easier for a defense with the depth that they have in Baltimore to play well on defense than it is on offense. So I think it's a low-scoring game.

I think they probably win. I'm not positive on that. But what I am sure of is that RG3 is going to get. get some work, running those plays that they've been running with Lamar. I think TJ has a big game. He shows up every week and give me the under. All right. There's my long shot. And then my single long shot, my long shot of the week is the skins at plus 395 to win in Dallas. I'm not saying it's going to happen, but if you're going to get a little weird this weekend, get weird with Washington. Because Dallas, again, we've

seen this movie enough times. They're a team that will internally combust. And after that loss last week, listen, it's going to be one big play, one McLaurin long touchdown in the first half. Anything like that, the Cowboys down at halftime, they haven't won a game this year when they've been down at halftime. So keep an eye on the first half. If they're down at the half, it could get really ugly. I totally agree. You can find my long shots by heading to the super odd section of Better America. Those lines, all of our lines, powered by Better America. sponsor of this great program, head over to bedamerica.com,

download the Better America app, and let's get paid. Thank you, Steve. Thank you to everybody listening. We'll see you next week when hopefully we're Orange Bowl champions and you get out of the desert alive. I got to catch a flight to Florida,

so I got to go. Oh. Okay, let's go. I'll see you on FaceTime. Let's fucking go. Go, Hoos!