OverDrive - OverDrive - December 12, 2024 - Hour 2

Episode Date: December 12, 2024

Join Bryan Hayes, Jamie McLennan and Jason Strudwick for Hour 2 on OverDrive! TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun joins to discuss the biggest headlines around the Board of Governors views and J.T. Miller's return to the Canucks. TSN NFL Analyst Luke Willson joins to discuss Bill Belichick becoming the head coach of University of North Carolina and the 49ers and Rams' Thursday Night Football matchup.

It's a brand new year. Time to review last year's financial decisions and set new priorities for 2025. Kelvin the Money Guy suggests the three-step approach. One, clearly define your goals for the new year. Two, create a plan tailored to your needs and ambitions. And three, make sure your portfolio is designed to serve that plan. Goal. Plan. Portfolio. Contact Kelvin the Money Guy and set your plans in motion. Call 416-457-PLAN

or visit askkelvin.ca hour two overdrive continues brought to you by fanduel bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score brian hayes jamie noodles mcclennan jason strudwick we got a big hour luke wilson in studio later in the hour. We've got Pierre Lebrun coming up, coming off the Board of Governor meetings. And it sounds like the cap is going up. Everyone's very excited about that. So exciting that everyone's going to start getting paid that much more money. And we've got a Leaf game tonight.

We've got a lot of games in the NHL tonight. So we'll catch up with Pierre momentarily. Strutty, I don't know if you're up to date on your Wikipedia page, but have you seen the latest? Because it is coming through here that I guess someone has taken it upon themselves to update your description on Wikipedia. It says, Jason Strudwick is a Canadian former professional hockey defenseman, small furniture salesman, and current broadcaster.

Do you take pride in being known as a small furniture salesman? Well, it's a side business, obviously. I don't know. Can anybody just update anybody's page? Like, that's dangerous, right? Scary, man. Scary. Yeah.

You know what? I don't know whoever did it i can't correct because that was really funny it was just brought to my attention and it's the funniest thing like small furniture sales i've moved a few pieces here and there but you know you're moving weight out there in edmonton you're a heavy hitter man you got i'm sure all the big box stores are worried about you. Wouldn't that be amazing if, like, you know, Leon's and, you know, Costco. The Brick. The Brick.

We've got to get eyes on this guy, man. What's he doing? He's starting to steal business from us here. It's like the Michael Scott paper company. That's right. Like, we've got to get this guy in the fold. You've got to watch it, man. You've got to watch it.

I think there's probably a canon moment where you said, I scared myself where I met somebody. Where was it? At West End, like underneath the parkade or something like that? South Gate Mall. Yeah. It was a rainy day. I met underneath the parkade to sell a bike.

Now, it was a good deal. We both were happy. But walking in, I'm like, if this guy jumps me, it's going to get serious. I got the bike in one hand. I'm trying to take the guy in the other. Maybe there's two of them. But he came out. He had one of those longer beards.

I knew he wasn't a threat. You're going to be fine. He has a handlebar mustache. I'm like, okay, it's go time. He may have had that plan, and then he saw it was you, and he's like, I can't beat this guy up for this bike. Because you never know what you're going to get when you're meeting someone from online. You have no idea.

It's always a surprise. Yeah, it can be very surprising, and you've got to watch yourself, man. You've got to watch yourself. I come back to it. It's like I thought Wikipedia. Isn't there like a fact checker that somebody has to go through? Yes. Because you can't just start adding stuff to people's pages.

That's ridiculous. That's dangerous. Well, listen, I think they probably have their eyes on major figures. I don't know where the three of us would be on their list of priorities to make sure that there's accuracy there. You can't have something ridiculous. I'm sure. I don't know how it works.

I've never tried to edit a Wikipedia page, so I do not know how it works, but I get the assumption. Or my understanding was back in the day, like when Wikipedia launched, it was basically just the Wild West out there. Free-for-all. Yeah. It's like, hey, this is a program, and if you want in and you want to launch a page detailing the history of whoever it was then you almost had carte blanche and over time they'd figure it out and i guess edit that but i you'd like to believe so noodles because you're right like public figures some guy starts writing something in there and you're like wait a minute what is that supposed to mean that could be dangerous small furniture salesman i

think is an accurate it is description of strud. It's been fact-checked. I mean, you know, you have actually. But the thing is, is if you start writing something that's derogatory and awful towards somebody, then, you know, I don't know, do you have to file a complaint or whatever? Like, I've never had to deal with that. But you're right, it is a little bit scary. And you're right, nobody.

They're not worried about us. Yeah. They're not worried about us. Yeah, they're not worried about us. I don't think Wikipedia is like, we got to make sure that, you know, the Overdrive guys and Strutty are on, you know, their pages are pristine. Exactly. Yeah. Oh, I mean, people wonder where O's at. O's starting to pre-scout for the World Juniors.

I mean, that should be a big part of his Wikipedia. Yes. Is World Junior preparation galore for the O-D i mean that should be a big part of his wikipedia yes is is a world junior preparation galore two weeks away oh dog time yeah he needs time 14 days homer simpson we called him homer the other night come on well the other night on the panel what was the question on the quiz is if if o was apsons character, who would he be? And there was like choices, and I was like, it's Homer because he loves days off. So I'm like, isn't there – we have a sound bite on our show where it's like,

you know, don't come into work today. And he's like, oh, four-day weekend or whatever. Exactly, Mel and Friday. It's Marge saying like – they're saying if you don't come in today, don't come in Monday, indicating you're fired. And Homer's like, saying, they're saying, if you don't come in today, don't come in Monday, indicating you're fired. And Homer's like, oh, awesome. I get both days off, which is how O would interpret that. If you're not going to come in today, you're not coming in next week. You'd be like, oh, beauty, I get 10 days off.

That's amazing. Homer was the way to go. I went with Bart. I didn't really think much, but Mayor Quimby's a pretty shady little character. Maybe he could have done something there with the O-Dog and found a way to angle that. But there's a lot of different options. He wasn't necessarily loving being the center of that attention.

But anyway, it's all good. Tough comparison. Tough comparisons. Tough comparisons. All right, so we've got the Leafs in action tonight. We've got a lot of games in the NHL, and we've got, I guess, the Board of Governors officially behind us, joining us here on the Maple Toyota

Hotline. Here's our TSN Hockey Insider, Pierre Lebrun. Pierre, can you give us the one item that stood out the most? The one news item that came out of the Board of Governors that you want our audience to make sure they know about? Oh, boy.

I mean, notwithstanding the Michaelael anlauer i guess the soft tampering that was we found that very interesting we talked about it a lot but i think again that seems pretty exclusive to the ottawa senators i guess other teams in the league you know would he have gotten support for that like what were the owners and governors kind of what was the reaction to the way anlauer responded to that larry brooks report and tying brady kachuk to the rangers yeah because i was in the middle of it there was certainly a lot of interest from other governors asking me how you know how it came up at the interview like people were always curious about the context of receiving those comments and

and honestly it was as standard as it gets you You know, I had planned to sit down with Ann Lauer on Monday morning, which we did before the Board of Governors even started, just to go over the whole season, right? It's been an up and down season for the Senators, and they're trying to salvage it. And so it's a pretty basic interview, the type of column I want to write. But obviously, I was going to ask about Brady Kachuk, because that was a big story last week. And obviously, you saw the answer I got, which is a very, you know, a very passionate defense of his captain from Michael Landlauer. And really, that's where it comes from, is wanting to defend his franchise, defend his captain. They're sick and tired of having their captain's name in trade rumors. And really, Landlauer kind of unleashed from there and the rest they say it's

history but i would also say that um in terms of the reaction i mean you know i think that some owners if they did talk to anlauer would probably say you know that's the kind of thing maybe you should keep within the group because that's usually what happens with those guys you don't get those headlines very often in terms of owners um you know speaking out that way frankly i think we should have more of it but maybe that's self-serving uh but no but i mean i think if you're if you're a senator's fan uh i think you love the fact that that your owner comes out swinging but i would say generally speaking that as time goes on, you'll probably hear less of that from Manlauer as he gets more years under his belt with that group and the way they do things at the Board of Governors level.

Pierre, they also talked a little bit at the Board of Governors about a potential salary cap in playoffs. So if that is indeed fact, which group would have the biggest issue with that? Players, managers, fans, or coaches even? So, you know, I should start by saying, Freddie, that, you know, Bill Daly, you know, this discussion about the playoff salary cap has been going on for a couple of years.

I've written about it ad nauseum. It usually comes up more actually at GM meetings in March than it does here at the Board of Governors because it's of more interest to managers than it is to owners. And for background, Bill Daley went to the GMs last March and said, okay, I'm so tired of

you know, we're talking about this all the time. What is it you guys want? He put it on the 32 GMs through the executive committee to go back and basically ask every single gm in the league do you want to fix this or not is this something that warrants fixing and you know i was under the oppression a few months ago that the majority of gms the answer was yes but i will tell you that we asked bill d you know, for the final tally and all that at the end of the Board of Governors here this week, and he said it was a mixed response.

So I was kind of surprised because given the level of noise this had received, you know, from Tampa and Kutrop to Vegas and so on and so on and so on, and whatever the next team will be in terms of LTIR, I kind of assumed, given the griping I had heard from some GMs, that it was a prevalent notion that they wanted some form of strengthening of the cap in the playoffs. But what Bill Haley told us was that it was not uniform, that it was a mixed response.

So I don't know where this is going now. You know, Drags talked about it in one of her hits, but there's certainly owners that still believe that this will be addressed in one form or another potentially in the next CBA. And as we know, the PA and the league are going to start CBA extension talks in February. So it's one of two things. Either there's not enough support to close this loophole,

or maybe that the league, in talking about it with us, are trying to downplay it because, you know, when you get closer and closer to CBA talks, and I just know this from all the lockouts I've covered, the league doesn't want to negotiate through the media if it thinks it has a chance to really get something done with the PA. It wants to wait until it gets get something done with the PA. It wants to wait until it gets in the room with the PA to address it.

So we'll find out which one it is, but I will tell you, I'm less confident on the playoff cap today than I was six months ago, which is strange. So, Pierre, I just wanted to put a bow on the Brady-Kachuk thing and the soft tampering and all of that. What can you share with us? Obviously, you've talked to people and stuff like that. Larry Brooks is not a guy who just throws spaghetti at the wall either. To me, what came out of it? Was there kind of behind the scenes from Stern talking to both organizations,

saying knock it off? Anything that you could share as far as nuggets? Or is it just kind of put to bed and they're moving on type of thing? Yeah, and so, you hit the first nail right on. Larry Brooks is a hot-fell-fame reporter. So this is not some social media off-the-wall rumor. I mean, this is an accomplished reporter who breaks a lot of Rangers stories who put out that the Rangers are targeting him last week. That's why he's got so much

attention. Let's be real here. We don't know who his sources were. That's none of our business. And neither do the Senators. But you know, a lot of people are assuming that he's pretty connected to the Rangers and hence why the Senators are so upset. What came out of it is that Bill Daley said he did have a brief conversation with Michael Landlauer on Monday. I don't know if it was during or after the first day of the Board of Governors meeting. And what I was told is that

basically that conversation went like this. The league does understand where Anlar is coming from as far as the frustration of continually having their captain out there. But I think the league also was like, you know, you still got to be careful when you're throwing out that, you know, that word. And on top of it, the league also said,

that Ann Lauer, Bill Daly did, that they don't see right now that there's any evidence to go forward and actually have an investigation about it. I think the other, so for now, it just seems like it's a dead issue other than the fact that I don't think the Rangers and Senators are going to break bread anytime soon. The Rangers are pretty upset about it, and the Senators just don't look set to.

But I think the context that's important, and TJ may have mentioned this on a sit with you guys that night, but the league put out a memo a couple weeks ago on tampering and said to all 32 teams, we're getting sick

and tired of all this tampering over the last year and we're going to crack down on this, and it could be a significant find and or loss of traffic. So I think that's the one part that maybe I should have been more clear on, too. But I think Anlar was coming at it from that context, that the league itself is telling teams, stop with the tampering, because we're actually going to do something about it. So the league said. Yeah, exactly.

I'll believe that when I see it. Right, exactly. It's never going to happen. That's the full context of that. I think for now it's done, but it certainly got everyone's attention. With Pierre Lebrun. So Jacob Trubin down tonight, how would you describe the likeliness of him playing out the rest of the season and this

year and or next with the anaheim ducks i mean i think the rest of the season at the very least you know he obviously chose anaheim out of the other options for a reason um but you know um you know i think it's been well publicized that his wife's adopted in the new york area so obviously on the personal side of things they got to figure out how that all plays out after this year. You know, and by the way, it's interesting, you know, the Ducks had a ton of cap rooms. So taking on the full contract, while that got a lot of attention, if there's any team in the league that can do it, they have the most room in the league. So it wasn't a big deal for them, except that he's got another year in the deal

at $8 million next year, which leads to this. There are two players that are that the Ducks are very much willing to move here, and one who is mutually just as eager to get moved. One is John Gibson, and we talked about him. Noodles and I have certainly talked about him.

The other one is Cam Fowler. Both those guys have turn left, so not easy to move them. But, you know, I would surmise that Anaheim is even more motivated or incentivized now to move either or, or if not both, now they'll take it on Truba's contract. So let's keep an eye on Fowler and see, you know, I think his agent, Pat Bresson, is, you know, I think also incentivized to try and probably find him a new home.

And with John Gibson, Kurt Overhart, his agent, also, you know, has really been on the same page as the Ducks with Pat Radik saying, yeah, let's find this goalie a new home. There's a new number one in Anaheim and Dostal. So, you know, with Colorado trading for Blackwood this week, that eliminated one team off the potential Gibson marketplace, that's for sure. So we'll see whether or not there's a way to move Gibson.

JT Miller's coming back in the lineup for the Canucks tonight, and this morning he spoke, didn't really say really anything about what happened or why or whatever, but do you get the sense that this may affect his relationship with the team moving forward? And then following that up with Brock Besser and what could be a big contract for him as a UFA this summer? Yeah, there's lots to go on there, Sturdy.

I mean, listen, I think that at the outset, I think my sense with JT Miller's camp were pretty appreciative of the onset of the support, actually, they got from the Canucks and how they handled the JT Miller situation, right? So in terms of supporting him and telling him to take the time he needs, I mean, I think that was well-received and well-appreciated. It should be noted that, you know, it's been reported elsewhere, but it was confirmed to me as well, you know, the New York Rangers, you know, JT Miller's the guy the Rangers checked in on, you know, a couple weeks ago.

The Rangers seem to be calling every single team in the league. But the answer at the time from the Canucks was no. So all those things are interesting. And, you know, the Canucks have almost never had their full lineup the entire year, and yet have found ways to pick up points, which I think is extremely healthy for that franchise. They've not been at their best. I get

it, but there's so many teams in the bottom 30 league that have excuses for why they are where they are. Well, the Canucks have more excuses on them than anyone to not win at all. And, you know, kudos to Rick Dockett. But they found a way on many nights to just grind it out.

And I think that's awfully impressive, honestly, if you sit back and look back and say, gee, you start the first couple months without Demko. You got this happened, that happened, that injury. It would have been easy within that room to say, it's just not our year and that's not how they reacted. So I like to look at the clock top pool there with Vancouver. All right, Pierre, we'll leave it there.

Enjoy the games tonight. Rattle, rattle. We'll be watching some Hawkinson football. You know that. As you should. How about your Cowboys as underdogs against Carolina this week? Thank goodness. Let's keep losing, baby.

Let's go. Yeah, that was disgusting. I knew they were going to lose to Cincinnati. The fact that they gave up that touchdown late and Chase was untouched, no help over the top, to not even cover that game. They did it on purpose. They did it on purpose. It was awful. Horrible, considering I was on the Cowboys.

They're getting points. Anyway, enjoy it tonight, Pierre. We'll do it again soon. Alright, sounds good. Pierre Lebrun joining us here on the Maple Toyota Hotline. Check out Maple Toyota's huge truck and SUV lineup, including Tundra, Forerunner, Highlander, and Grand Highlander in stock and ready to deliver. Visit MapleToyota.com.

The Carolina Panthers have not been a favorite I believe in 33 games. It's something like that. Yeah, they have been an underdog for years, and they're actually a favorite against the Dallas Cowboys this weekend.

That is a backhanded shot at Dallas, really. Basically, Vegas is saying, you shot at Dallas, really. Basically, Vegas is saying you guys are horrible, and I'm going to make sure that Carolina's a favorite here. We'll see what JT Miller's got tonight. Rick Tockett said he's going to ease him into the lineup. I'll believe that when I see it.

They've got Florida in town tonight. If it's a big game, tough game. If Miller's playing, well, he's going to play. He's going to play him 20 minutes tonight if he has to. Lan and start lankan and starting not demko i don't know man you know what it is though this is my opinion i don't know how you guys feel i think they're just trying to ease him back this guy hasn't played hockey and feels like a calendar year but just no use in force feeding him a bunch of starts he gave him a start and lankan the other thing too that we've lost sight of is Lankanen's played really well. He's probably their MVP right now.

Like, they're, you know, how good he's played. Well, Quinn, you've got, obviously, guys you could throw out. But Lankanen was a throw-in. Like, they brought him in at the end of training camp going, yeah, we'll sign this guy with his musical chairs. And he's been brilliant. Like, you know, we focus on sign this guy with musical chairs and he's been brilliant. We focus on Anthony Stolarz and how great he's been. I think

Stolarz of the West is Lankan and he's been that good for Vancouver. He's been outstanding. That's what I feel. You've got a scenario here where in Vancouver, they're just into a playoff spot. It's only December, but still, you've got a scenario here where in Vancouver, they're just into a playoff spot. It's only December, but still, you've got to get points.

You've got to keep up. So at some point, you're going to have Demko go. I understand what their reasoning would be. I think it's probably frustrating if you're a Canuck fan because you want to see him play. But he backed up the first couple of games. Then he plays. Now he's off.

It's not like it's a back-to-back. Again, they're on this long homestand, and they've eased him in. Same thing, I guess, again, with JT Miller. But that wasn't injury-related. That was personal. But they're sitting on 33 points. Calgary has come back to earth. The rest of the West really isn't that deep.

It isn't very good. So I'm still pretty confident that the Canucks will make the playoffs, but it's not like they're running away with a playoff spot. No, but I think they've played, isn't it, one or two games less than the rest? Yeah, they've got games in hand. Yeah, and then like JT Miller, you know, last year in the playoffs and last year, he was so good for them. He's such a competitive guy.

He digs on every puck. He gets them at it. He makes plays. Like he is a huge part of their team. I think when he's at his best, he's the heartbeat of that team. And that includes Quinn Hughes. So he is so important for this group. So getting him back in that lineup. And with Demko, I don't see a need to force feed him a ton of games. Let him get his feet back on him. And then let his, you know, was it his, I forget, a knee or a quad, whatever it was, let that just slowly get back to make sure it's okay.

Because you remember what happened last year? He came back, then he was out again, right? Then he could have came back to the playoffs, but he didn't come back to the playoffs if they would have beat the Oilers. Like, it's just, I would just want to make sure this is, I'm not thinking about the next month. I'm thinking about the next, whatever, seven, eight years with Demko. I want this guy right and make sure he feels it's right,

which is probably as important as anything else. It is. It's an investment for him. It's just, you know, the process to get him there, sometimes you want to hurry him as a fan. You want to hurry him as a media member because you're going, okay, like looks healthy to me. He's got a jersey on, but he's not playing.

But you understand there's a plan in place, but it doesn't make it any less easy for us to speculate going, why isn't this guy playing? You know, it's our job on the dark side here, like going, why isn't this guy available? But Lankanen's been great. So that's the other thing. It's not like their goaltending has suffered and they really need him.

He's been fantastic. Yeah, he's been very good. And again, they got Florida in town tonight, and that'll be a challenge. That is going to be a challenge. But we got Luke Wilson coming in. We'll get to our picks tonight. My Dallas brother, I believe, is still lurking in the background,

and he is putting together some tremendous information because Hazenbro is on the clock. We are plus two going into week 15. It is crunch time now. You get into December. This is where the real team starts separating from the frauds. As of right now, Hazenbro in the

driver's seat. Massive swing game tonight. We'll tee it up. We'll tee up the week. We'll get into a number of things with Luke. We got Carlo coming up. Koliakova will join us in studio at six. More on Leafs-Ducks tonight right here on TSM Radio. A lot of games throughout the NHL. And I've got my list coming up in just over an hour. Our best bet still to come as well.

Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on TSN 4. It's a brand new year. Time to review last year's financial decisions and set new priorities for 2025. Kelvin the Money Guy suggests the three-step approach. One, clearly define your goals for the new year. Two, create a plan tailored to your needs and ambitions.

And three, make sure your portfolio is designed to serve that plan. Goal. Plan. Portfolio. Contact Kelvin the Money Guy and set your plans in motion. Call 416-457-PLAN or visit askkelvin.ca If you smell

what Owen Wilson is cooking Girl, you know it's true I love you Alright, Luke Wilson in studio. Al's brother is hovering with tremendous information. Al's brother will come storming in here momentarily. Luke, good to see you. You got two pro athletes with you.

Jason Strudwick, Jamie Noodles McLennan. Noodles and Strutty, I'm sure they're willing to give you a pro athlete salute. There it is. The pro athlete salute for the boys. Keep the club tight. It's a tough club to get in, man. How about that

cover Monday night? That was the most disgusting cover ever. That's a pro-athlete cover. No, it wasn't. That's a pro-athlete cover. That had me thinking the Cowboys were on the tape. Like something was going on there. Because how you play soft coverage on Chase in a situation like that.

He didn't even touch him. I mean, beyond that, the punt is insane. Oh, my God. How do you touch that football? What did he think he was accomplishing? My first year, I mean, really all the way through, but my first year in the NFL, this line has stuck with me. If the ball is blocked behind the line of scrimmage,

goes to the way, we're trying to scoop and score. That's 100 percenter. Right. If the ball crosses the line of scrimmage, the Peter term, it's run, but this is what I was told stuck with me. You treat that ball like it's a live grenade. Everyone

should be screaming Peter, and you run as far and as fast away as you can. Because even if you're lingering around, which, I don't know if you could run that back again, this is what's even crazier, is that guys can shove you into it. It's not a penalty.

Not just the guy who touched the ball here, but everybody. Why are we even near the ball? Why is anyone there? It's sickening. It's a live grenade haze. Run! There's four Bengals around him. I guess what he was trying to do was stop momentum,

thinking this ball's going to keep going. For what? But exactly. Six more yards? For six more yards. It's insanity. Like, if there was a gap where he's like, if I pick this up, I can take it to the house.

Even then, stupid. Yes. But I can reason with it. Totally. If no one's around, you're clear as day. But again, not only the guy who touched it, like, he's obviously the biggest bonehead here. Ever. But the guys around should also be

screaming, and again, I don't know why this is a term, but the term is Peter, like the name. You're crossing your arms, and when I would hear the term Peter, live grenade. Get out. Because the worst thing is if somebody blocks you into it, and your heel hits it, you're jammed, and you're also an idiot.

Those are the most entertaining reviews to watch because you know that guy. A, he's on special teams. We're not talking about some guy with $50 million in the bank, more than likely at that point. Or like security who's going to be around forever. It could literally be the 53rd man on the roster who is just there to make sure he doesn't touch a live grenade when it's going. And when they slow it down, they're like, oh, my God, it touched his heel.

And the ball's going the other way because that guy couldn't get out of the way. It's a sickening, sickening thing to say, but it's so entertaining to watch. Yeah, and to be honest with you, I was on the desk, and my pops follows the overdrive, and he's pulling, obviously, for the good guy. Yeah, of course. He's texting me here, and we're watching, and he's like, man the good guy yeah of course he's texting me here and he and like we're watching he's like man like it looked like we were absolutely jammed dead and i'm sitting up there and i'm like yeah and then all of a sudden i i'm down on jay's desk

and i shot him a text for the show i go what an absolute on our group chat i because right after that punt i immediately i go, expletive Cowboys. And then I go, if they punch in six here, this is the most disgusting cover of all time. And then you said Jamar Chase doesn't get touched. Doesn't get touched. Dude, he was moonwalking into the end zone. Correct.

From the 20-yard line. From the 20. It was gross. But anyway, moving on to – let's get your take. Look at this. It was gross. But anyway, moving on to... Let's get your take. Look at this. Look how slow. He's like, I'm cruising in here.

And the Cowboys quit on the play, too, because they couldn't get him. Just horrendous. Didn't even touch him. The attack angle, I believe that's Duran Bland. Yeah, it is. It is. And he was... I can't even fathom.

It's a horrendous, horrendous turn of events that put us in a position where we're plus two. We're still okay. But if we were plus four going in. That's a huge swing. Massive swing, that one. And to be honest, we're grinding right now. We erased minus six to plus two. Yeah.

And we've been stuck at this thing. But that's why I'm feeling great about tonight because, boy, is it a greasy one. It's a greasy game. It's a greasy one. We've got the pick. Our pick is set. So we'll get to it in greasy one. It's a greasy game. It's a greasy one. We've got the pick. Our pick is set, so we'll get to it in a moment. Al's brother will join us. But do you think both of these teams, like Seattle, I think, has Green Bay at home this

week. That's a tough game. I've got to think Shanahan and McVay are telling their guys, we win a game tonight. We could win this division. We could be leading this division in a week. Totally. Because Seattle has Green Bay, which I don't expect them to win, but then they also

follow that up, and both games are at home, which will help Seattle with Minnesota. You're playing arguably of the top four NFC teams. You've got the Lions and Eagles and you're playing three and four. I would be very shocked if this whole division does

not come down to week 18. And the crazy one to me is the Niners. Now, their schedule is an absolute gauntlet. But they get this one tonight. They play Miami next week. And that's a winnable game. Now, all of a sudden, they're going to have to grind, like I said, because they go to Detroit.

Or actually, they play Detroit. I think Detroit comes to them. Excuse me. I've got to figure out where that game's at. They do have Detroit coming up, though. They got Detroit Week 17, and I believe it's Arizona Week 18. So I sit here and say, hey, you know, at that point of the year, that Week 17 game against Detroit,

is it one of those things where if the Niners can win tonight, beat Miami, which is plausible. They are favored tonight, as you know. Now, all of a sudden, the Seahawks slip up. They're sitting there like, hey, we could probably have a home. For all the garbage that's happened, they could have a home playoff game. The same could be said for the Rams. Rams win tonight, and the Seahawks lose Sunday.

We're tied for the division. Well, you talk about momentum. The Rams beat the Bills in a shootout at home. If you go into your arch nemesis and beat the Niners tonight, that is a significant swing. We'll get to the pick momentarily. We haven't asked you about Bill Belichick going to college. I'm glad you asked.

Where does your head go with this story? I think it's the coolest thing on planet Earth. Really? I really do. I'm confused by it. I can't understand it. Everybody's all jammed up. I look at Bill.

First and foremost, what has he got to prove in the NFL? I know there was some stupid documentary that claimed he had nothing to do with winning. You're talking to a guy who's lost a game in the Super Bowl to Bill Belichick's Patriots. I can promise you, he is the only coach I have ever played a game against where we were prepping for two totally different defenses with the same guys. We would come out here and it was like, hey, by the way, this team will go from a 4-3 to a 3-4 in the middle

of the second quarter, which is again, I think I played over 100-some-odd games in this league. I've never, ever heard of anyone doing that. And this is prepping for a Super Bowl. This guy, he's done it all. You can make the argument it was Tom.

I think it's a collective. I don't think any Super Bowl has ever won by one person. I look at him now and I'm like, look at the NFL. It's the opposite of what Bill Belichick wants to do. It's a joke. Week in and week out, you have dummies who touch punts after it's

cross-line scrimmage. You have brutal play calling. We come in here every week and it's like, hey, coach calls a timeout. Coach does this. Coach runs a QB sneak from the one-yard line with three timeouts left. Shout out to Buffalo Bills. And I sit here, I'm like, why would Bill want to be in this league anymore? He's going to go to North Carolina. It's the perfect spot for him.

He's going to get all the hard-nosed football guys that he wants. He's got complete control of everything. Look at this guy. He's going back to what he likes doing. Just playing ball at a fundamentally more enjoyable level. Do you think he'll be effective, though, as a college coach? I think they will win the ACC within

two years. It's all about recruiting. The whole thing is recruiting. I agree, but if I'm Bill, this is the angle I'm working. I'm going to's all about recruiting. The whole thing is recruiting. I agree, but here's my... If I'm Bill, this is the angle I'm working. I'm going to the kid, just like he did it. This is the next thing I'll say about playing New England. The year before when we won the Super Bowl, you looked at that

Denver team. Across the board loaded. I'm talking, you had Julius Thomas at tight end, who back then was ripping. Demarius Thomas. Welker was on that team. I mean, those three guys, obviously Peyton Manning. You're humming. It's like we play the Patriots.

I'm like, this team's got three above average players as far as athletic talent goes. But as a team, they were way better. Way better. And I sit here and say to myself, full team, because the Broncos offense that year obviously has a million records. But I'm like, man, he's going to go. He's going to have some numpty from rivals.com give all the five stars out. He's not going to want any of those guys, much like he did in free agency. Outside of Randy Moss, I don't know who they had offensively outside of Tom.

Dante Stalwer? That was kind of their history, yeah. They've had 15 different running backs? Yeah, a couple of running backs, but that's it. Some obscure school in Pennsylvania. I mean, he had Gronk, we should point that out. Gronk was probably pretty good. Okay, some obscure school in Pennsylvania or North Carolina

or down in God knows where. Find some just football kid and be like, hey, buddy, you want to go high end d1 double a or you want to come here and i'll make you the best player in the country and he's gonna get him yeah he probably would he's gonna get him for that exact reason but but but don't you think people would want to play for belichick just like if you're a player like you want to play for the best coaches regardless if he's a pain in the ass or hard on you. I know some of the best coaches and hardest coaches in hockey was Daryl Sutter.

I loved playing for Daryl Sutter. Was he a dream to play for some days? No. But he got the best out of you. Don't you think Belichick will get the best out of some of these players, and they'll go, I need to play for this guy. He will make me a player. He will.

There'll be noodles that will go both ways. The guys who love ball will do exactly what you say. And the guys who don't will fan out and hate Bill Belichick. That's how it's going to go. But I will say this. The other thing is if you're a person that believes that they want to be a pro football player, how do you say no to not going to North Carolina?

And what I mean by that is you don't think Bill still has a million connections in the NFL, whether it's the front office. A million. They're going to go right to Bill and Bill's going to be like, can this guy play? You get the stamp of approval from Bill Belichick, you're good. Well, I think what you're also going to get,

you're going to get a lot of parents, a lot of dads who are like, Belichick, we're going to Carolina, we're going to Carolina. I saw Florio point out, and I think it's a pretty good point, how many college coaches this year was Belichick talking to and getting information on and they had no idea that they were giving

it to him with what's coming, right? Because Bill's so connected and he's been doing so many different things. He could call up any coach in the country. They'd tell him anything he wanted for an hour. Hey, what kind of defense do you want? And now the guy's the head coach in Carolina. He'll be competing against these teams. And again, I sit

here and I say, let's say Bill goes to Chicago, which I don't, obviously he's not going now, but so he wins another Super Bowl. What does that do to his legacy? Does that mean he's the best coach of all time? Is he not already considered that? He would be on a short list

I mean listen, Don Shuler keeps the record 72 Dolphins keep their record which ain't coming down anytime soon It's not coming down in terms of most wins ever but yeah, he's 72 and he's off to Chapel Hill and now he's going to and he's he's off the chapel hill it's pretty incredible enjoy himself yeah he will but but luke just any isn't there some element of relationship building with alumni

with the boosters like yes how's he gonna like is that not a big part of the coach's job i just don't see him glad handing you know jimmy from ford down in north carolina to get his 500 grand like i think that's to be a real challenge. So, Strutty, I would totally agree. And my guess is, knowing Bill, he has a guy that's going to do that. And I also doubt that he's going to be calling or making any home recruit calls. I remember a different situation, but when I got down to Rice, I took an unofficial visit to Stanford.

And I sit there and I meet with Jim Harbaugh, and it's like, hey, Harbaugh's calling. But it's like he doesn't call you, his guys do. Like there's a minion where at a school like Rice, I got my recruiting coach, but the head coach is also calling me. So there's kind of that dynamic where it's like Bill ain't calling me, his recruiting guy's calling me. Similar to how Harbaugh was at Stanford,

where it was just like, I think that for that stuff, knowing Bill Belichick, he'll be like, I'm not doing it, but here's a guy that will. Well, here's a guy

that will bring tremendous information. I've got him in a huge blender right now. I don't think you do. He thinks it's a layup, and I've got him in the world's biggest blender. Oh, it's far from a layup. He just told me it's a layup off the set. Well, he's throwing you off, man.

I don't have to do nothing. Alice Brother knows what's up. Take a seat there, Alice Brother. Good seeing you. I think Strutty and Noodles are going to love how this conversation goes. All right, let's clarify where the line is at, all right? Doogie, is it minus two and a half still? Two and a half?

I thought it was three. No, it's Niners minus two and a half. Even better, even better for us. We discussed this, that we're going to get jammed up because you know the Niners are probably going to add a bunch. Like Bosa will be announced that he's playing in half an hour and the line will shoot up. That's 100% going to happen.

You know that this is going to happen too. We woke up this morning, it was sitting at three. All of a sudden, it gets bet down to two and a half. It was probably Doogie throwing in a big old bet. He's now getting paid by NFL people. And we know that Garendo's going to play tonight. Bose is going to play tonight. They activated Dre Greenlaw, who's coming

back off that Achilles injury from the Super Bowl. And he's going to play. I think there's going to be a lot of late money that's going to come in. I guarantee you it's going to get pushed up to three. We're going to get jammed. Okay, so with that in mind, we've got to put that. going to come in. I guarantee you it's going to get pushed up to three. We're going to get jammed. Okay, so with that in mind, we've got to put that. It's loser energy. We don't want anything to do with that. Leave that

to these guys. Tremendous information. Niners laying two and a half at home against the Rams tonight. I came with some TG today. Where are you at? Where are you at? I was sweating this. Week 15, man. It is like we're into December. This is when the pretenders separate.

You ever heard of momentum? We weathered the storm. That was such a disgusting cover the other night. We covered the grossest game of the year. You lose this and we're down one, and it's our pick heading into Sunday. For a layup on Sunday, too. Worst game on the Sunday season. They haven't been announced yet.

They haven't been announced yet. We'll get to that tomorrow. We can get to that. We'll get to it tomorrow. I'm warning you right now. We get another lead this year. You will not see it again, boys. We can get to that. We'll get to it tomorrow. I'm warning you right now. We get another lead this year. You will not see it again, boys. You better pick this right.

You better pick this right. And we're going to because you're not going to see another lead this year. It's going to stay with Hazenborough. I guarantee it. Charles Barkley, guarantee. All right, what do we have? I like the Rams to cover the number tonight. It got that downward, getting half a point less, which sucks,

because three is a key number. And I did have to really think about it. But then I went and I did the information. I went and I looked up some things. And look, it's Thursday night. Sean McVay on Thursday nights is automatic. Nine and two in his career on Thursday night football. That's not automatic.

It's nine and two. And this, it's a very, very strong likely. It's very close to automatic. He's going to win this football game. But what I like really is the way that this Rams offense is rolling. And I'm not sure what information that you've cooked up. You told me that it's not a good offense. That's not what I said.

Look what they've been doing the last four weeks. The last four weeks this offense has been rolling. They're averaging 28 points a game. Averaging 367 yards per game. Stafford's got 10 touchdowns. No picks are protecting the football. Kyron Williams is going off for 4.8 yards per game. He's got four touchdowns. They've averaged 367.

Yes. Which puts them, first and foremost, they're 15th on the year average. But just to let you know, on the whole season, San Francisco averages 376. It's a fourth best offense in the league yards per game. Let's go to the defense. I'm just letting you know this doesn't happen. He didn't come with TG. He came with, oh, I watched the Bills lose last week.

This team must be good. Accurate. They did lose. There is not one stat on planet Earth that says the Niners will lose this game. The Niners are... They may not lose this game. I just need them to not cover this game. I can see this being... You're telling me

right now, yards per game, San Francisco 49ers. All the numbers. Third best in the NFL. I will tell you this. Los Angeles Rams. Six worst in the NFL. Erroneous. Rams, 15th yards per game offense. But you're going to tell. Go ahead. Six worse in the NFL. Erroneous. Rams, 15th yards per game offense. But you're going to tell me. It's December now.

Fourth in the NFL. Pretenders and pretenders. Thank you. We're in December football. Sean McVay. I'm just giving you tremendous information. Who's won more Super Bowls? Let's get some gut instinct.

Sean McVay or Kyle Shanahan? Who's more desperate today? Who's won more? Who's more desperate? I would argue McVay and company. McVay and company lose this game. The Packers are going to beat the Seahawks. And they'll be one back.

And by the way, week 18, the Rams see Seattle. So they control their own destiny. The Niners lose tonight. They're eliminated. Desperation on both sides. I think Bosa's going to play too. I just saw a video of him walking into the building. He looks like a million bucks.

I'm so excited that the pick that's going to bury you guys, the TG was right in front of you. No, it's not. This is TG. Night of June on a Thursday night. Here's the thing, and this is why. What's the moon reading? I need moon reading.

You tell me all the time. There's got to be context within the numbers, right? Noodles, you're a big analytics guy. Context really, really matters. And here's the context. It's how you apply the numbers to your knowledge. Exactly. And here it is, okay? You're bringing up season-long stats.

You know what has not been around for the whole year? What? Puka Nakua, Kyron Williams, and Cooper Cupp. Those three have not played together all season long. But in the games in which they have in the last two years since they've been put together in this offense, they have been elite.

They're 11-5 with those guys out there averaging 27 points, 383 yards per game, and that is a far cry from the 19 points that they're averaging. Three-headed monster. Only one of them are out. So with all three of those guys, and keep in mind, they beat them earlier this year 30-20 without two of them. Cooper and Puka

were not in that game, and they still went and played the three-burger. Hard to beat a team twice. What about the Rams' defense, my guy? Are you not worried? I'm not worried about Brock Purdy's defense. You're not worried. Last four games, they've given up. Brock Purdy, it's warm. You said it the day you were right. Cabbage hands.

They got blown out in the cold and green hands. They got blown out in the cold in Green Bay. They got blown out in the snow game. Yeah, that's right. Listen, the Bears defense has been fine all year. Bears have quit. The Bears have quit. They absolutely smacked them. Why has Vegas got this team favored then with all these stats?

Explain to me why this team is favored. Because it's about covering the number up. It is a trap game for dummies to be like, oh, the Rams are going to win. I'm going to take this on money, the Rams are going to win. I'm going to take this on money line. Vegas knows. Absolutely not. Hayes, I try to give you TG. Listen, I love where your head's at.

I love where the financial promotion is. I love where my gut instinct is at. We're locking it in right here. Lock it in. Lock it in, Parsi. The Rams for life. The Rams, lock it in in plus two and a half. And I think this line may move a little bit.

If anything, it's going towards the Rams. You're telling me Bosa's playing tonight? It's not confirmed, but I think he probably will. Green Law's off the bench? Bosa, it doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. He'll be on a snap count. Noodles, you're concerned for who?

For us or for the other guys? So I want, before we go, I want Joe from the Bridge or JP to just clip this one line. Trap game for dummies. I just, that's all that. And if you guys lose, he's going to play that ad nauseum tomorrow, correct? Is that what's going to happen? That can happen. Listen.

That's fine. We're still plus one. Pro athletes have done now. We weathered the fine. We're still plus one. Pro athletes have done now. We weathered the storm. We're here. Great cover Monday night. But now it's time to turn up the heat. Let's see if the frauds can handle the kitchen.

We won 2-0 last week. It's not like we're on fire. I brought this up. I brought this up. Scumbag tweet. Every other time we have a weekend that you guys have done well and you've taken the whole shebang of what the record was, including our losses.

We won last week. We didn't miss a pick. And all of a sudden you're like, oh, 2-0. No, it wasn't. Based on our answer. No, it wasn't. We were 2-0. So it's 2-0 when we hit, but when we missed, it's 2-0.

That's right. Context. That's dumb bag stats. It's terrible teaching. It's plus one tonight. Context, man. That's how you apply the numbers. It's terrible teaching. It's plus one tonight. Context, man. That's how you apply the numbers. That's right.

Undefeated week for Hayes and Bro when we pick our game. That's right. That's what that tweet was all about. That's the code we live by is context. I'm going to tell you, Hayes. I'm going to tell you. Lock it in, Rams. But I want to tell you an honest, and tell me if this is wrong.

I walked in here 10, 15 minutes ago. Al's bro was back there probably trying to schmooze Doogie. There it is. There it is. Right there. There's the photo. Two gentlemen. Tried to tell me the Rams.

And I walked in and I said this. Tell me I'm lying. I said, I know you're taking the Rams, and I'm going to let you know right now. This is fool's gold, buddy. All right. And he sat there, and the look on his face when I was like, and I've got the TG, this man saw the face. I mean, it was a ghost.

It was like he saw a ghost. He saw the devil. Deep down, I know that he said that, trying to get into my mind to make us make the other pick. He's trying to do the reverse stuff. Exactly. Reverse psychology doesn't work on us. Exactly.

It's just not going to happen. The pick's in. It's locked in. We've got more picks tomorrow. We've got a lot of games coming up. We're going to have Saturday games coming up soon. Bang Bang Niner gang. I hate that. I hate that Bang Bang Niner gang. It's the worst. I hate that stadium. It's too far from downtown. Rams roll tonight.

Look at his fingers. You saw something gross happen in that stadium. His fingers are going. He didn't do his homework. He let you down in the moment. No, we're locked in. PG flew out the building. PG for life. Lock it in, Al's brother. There it is. Pro athletes. Good seeing you, boys. Carlo

Koliakovo coming up. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on the TSN app. It's a brand new year. Time to review last year's financial decisions and set new priorities for 2025. Kelvin, the money guy suggests the three-step approach. One, clearly define your goals for the new year to create a plan tailored to your needs and ambitions.

And three, make sure your portfolio is designed to serve that plan. Goal plan portfolio. Contact Kelvin, the money guy, and set your plans in motion call 416-457-PLAN or visit askkelvin.ca all right carlos coming up coley ackerville be in studio at six leaves ducks tonight we'll tee that up a bunch of games in the nhl get coco's take on all of it and i've got my list coming up at 6 30 and, and our best bet's still to come. So Luke and Al's brother are literally out in the hallway still yelling at each other about the game tonight. Rams better win in cover, man.

They better cover, or this is just going to be so, so tough to swallow. I mean, Luke is going to be so obnoxious tomorrow if the Niners win outright tonight. But we'll see. We'll see what comes of it. All right, more into that into the final hour. Our best bets in Carlo Coliacavo coming up in studio. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on the TSN app.