The Bill Simmons Podcast - A Crazy 49ers Win, Baltimore’s Alive, Week 18 Stakes, and Guess the Lines With Cousin Sal

Episode Date: December 29, 2025

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons is joined by Cousin Sal right after the 49ers take down the Bears on Sunday night to recap Week 17 of the NFL season (2:35). Then, they guess the lines for Week 18 before ending with Parent Corner (01:03:09). Host: Bill Simmons Guest: Cousin Sal Producers: Chia Hao Tat and Eduardo Ocampo Learn more at https://linkedin.com/simmonsbill This episode is sponsored by State Farm®. Don’t settle for just any insurance when there’s State Farm. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit⁠⁠⁠ www.rg-help.com⁠⁠⁠ to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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The Bill Simmons podcast brought to you by the Ringer podcast network where I have a new rewatchable is coming for you on Monday night. It is a special episode. You're probably not going to expect what it is. Parts of it will probably confuse you. Might make you mad. You're not going to know where it's going. That's all I'm going to say, but it's coming on Monday night.

And if you like the podcast, and if you've listened to at least a few episodes over the year, I'm pretty confident you will enjoy this episode. So that is coming on the rewatchables on Monday. And then we're moving into our big 2006 slate, which I was actually one of the things I was planning out over the little mini break there, trying to figure out the schedule for the first few months. So stay tuned on that one. Coming up on this podcast, Cousin Salas, here.

as always, we taped, recorded. I always say taped like it's 1990. We recorded like it was, like we usually do right after the game, except we had to wait a couple of minutes because they were trying to release where the playoff matchups were. So we have that at the top. We have all the playoff seatings, all the implications for week 18,

all of our reactions to a crazy week of football, week 17, which went Thursday, Saturday, Sunday, yeah, and now Monday. So the NFL, they just, they know how to do it with us. We have a big action-packed parent corner here as well. So it's all coming up next. We're going to take break, Pearl Jam. And then Cousin Sal and I, breaking down week 17, looking forward to week 18 next.

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All right, we're live Sunday night. Just watched an absolutely awesome Bears 49ers game. Cousin Sal is here. We were a little late today because there were so many week 18 implications, Sal. Didn't even know where we were going to be on Saturday. They gave us two awesome games for ESPN. Holy shit, like two real high-stakes games. We're surprised we've got Carolina.

Yeah. Tampa for the NFC South, and then Seattle and the Rams for the one seed and the NFC West Crown. That's Saturday and Saturday night. Now we have to tell our families. What are we going to do? I'm not telling mine. I'm just going to have to fake an hour. I'll go to the hospital.

I'll do something. I swear. Yeah, I thought Seattle, I thought that Seattle game would go to Fox and Carolina would be Saturday night, but ESPN gets both. I can launch into a Collinsworth, but football's the effing best. Isn't it the best? Today was great. Come on. Not today was great.

Football is the best. Are you defending it after football got its ass kicked on Christmas? I don't think it did. Got set right down in the chimney. The NBA holes were ecstatic on Sunday night or Thursday night. The Knicks game was close. They were down by 60 most of it. Denver, Minnesota was amazing.

Nobody was awake for that. Got to watch LeBron jog around on defense. It was great. This is a bad start. All right. I'm going to try to stick to my script and we'll incorporate some of this other stuff. if here are the things that are still in play with one week to go in this bizarre NFL season,

we might have an 8-9 division champion. I think that's locked down, right? Carolina or Tampa, or I guess if Tampa wins, they'd be an 8-9 division champion. Yeah, right. Yeah, Caroline's 9 in 8 if they win. Bo Nix and Sam Darnold could be our number one-seat quarterbacks. Incredible.

Drake May and Caleb Williams could be our number two-seat quarterbacks after Jada's last year made the NFC title. game. We could have three new coaches as top three seeds. We could have Josh Allen in the situation of having to win four games in a row in the road to win a Super Bowl. We could have a scenario where Mack Jones beats the Patriots in the Super Bowl if Brock Pretty got hurt in the Niners and Patchway. I just thought about that today. We have Aaron Rogers, who I think was four yards of pass and just looked to help us today against Houston's defense, which just if you don't like Aaron Rogers, this is.

the playoff game for you potentially. Week 18, six wins total right now for New York football, which I think is the lowest ever, and then both of them are going to lose next week. We could have Bryce Young hosting a Shaky's game in round one. And then most important, I think, for this exercise,

we could have San Francisco never leaving the Bay Area and playing in the Super Bowl, which I'm pretty sure has never happened, right? Oh, never leaving? Yeah, a couple of teams have won Super Bowl in there. on stadium, right? The Rams did it a few years ago.

Right, but never... No, no, not all the way through. Like, Toreko said at one point, they don't even have to use their suitcases, and it's like, oh, yeah, they really don't. Right. They can just run it through. Media day is probably like an hour and 20 minutes away.

That might be the furthest day have to travel. The Super Bowl being in Santa Clara, there's actually more traveling for them than maybe people would think. But the Niners, that was an awesome win for them. I don't know how they're doing it with this defense. Collinsworth said the word Pasch rush I think five times

today. They know pass rush it didn't feel like they could ever get a stop and then they finally got to stop at the end and stop Caleb Williams. He was laughing so much Collinsworth I loved it whenever there's points he laughs I'm just laughing anytime as a touchdown I'm slapping my knee like a

maniac and you know Bill even a field goal gets a chuckle but that play with To Hussack I was losing it like a hyaena at a Dave Chappelle one-man show. I really. Do you buy Halloween stuff for the front of your house that activates

when people show up? Because I was thinking... No, yeah. I was thinking the Collinsworth cackling thing where you get near the door and he just starts laughing like he does 10 seconds after a play when Therico sets him up. Right.

Caleb Williams. I would buy that. Anyway, we had Purdy versus Caleb in a Sunday shootout. We had the Bears and yet another down to the wire come back, this time it fell short. But are they the TV MVP's this year, the Bears? Were they the most reliable, entertaining NFL team we had this year?

I feel like they were. I think so. I would have said maybe my stupid team or the Bengals. I talk about them, maybe playing on Super Bowl Sunday in the morning, each other. And the Bears had, what, eight games come down to the wire or seven? They're also good. Yeah, they're also very good. Yeah, they don't really take up.

And they're fun to watch. Caleb is a roller coaster ride, but he's really fun to watch. he can scramble and buy himself 11 seconds and then miss a wide open guy in the same play or he could uncork that 50-yarder like he did today where it's just like it was a wrist flick and it's a boom or that that rifle he threw to Loveland I mean he probably has I think Drake May has a great arm Caleb seems like he even has like two percent like more frozen ropey than than Drake I would say those are sure yeah those are the rockets right now and he could take off right he knows all the angle he's Mahomom

esk with the angles and getting the first down just by a foot and all that stuff and he's cutting down on mistakes not that he had a lot i think that out of anyone's first thousand passes he had the fewest interceptions out of anybody yeah football so that was until drake making get to a thousand passes that's right until he gets a thousand yeah but they and the nineers are just as good man they match him purdy buzzing around the field throws that pick six and he was as cool as if he was up 17 points in the fourth, like really just, and with Trent Williams going out. Like, they kind of seem bulletproof. Like, that might be like the toughest test they have, like something like that coming down

to the wire. Yeah, it feels like whenever they want, they can go 75 yards. Yeah. I had a lot of Niners stuff tonight. I had them tied to a bunch of different things, betting wise. And they threw that pick six to start the game, basically. And normally that is like throwing the black cat onto the TV or walking under a ladder. you're just like, oh, here we go.

And I'm done. Cross this up. But I never felt that way with them because it's so easy for them to get first down. So what's weird is you look up, like I was looking at their stats in the fourth quarter and you just look at their receivers. And it's not like they have awesome receivers, you know?

It's just random dudes and dudes that got patched together and tight ends and back up tight ends and McCaffrey. And yet somehow Purdy's throwing for 300 yards and he's creating stuff with his legs. Today he was 303, 3 TDs, ran the ball twice for touchdowns. It's got like a prolonged Collinsworth cackle on that little playground play that he had. But he was great.

And I don't know who he's throwing to. They gave him all this money to Ayuk. He's gone. Jennings, I forgot, was even on the team and then made the biggest play of the game in the fourth quarter. But it's a very strange team, and it just seems like they moved the ball. Yeah. And it doesn't seem like I don't want to jinx them. But I guess McCaffrey would be worth one just looking through a gambling lens to the spread.

But otherwise, you know, Kittle goes out. They could have scored 50 points today. just like you said. Offense is good. Yeah, forgot to mention him. You get those almost like a bonus for them when he plays. I don't know if the defense is making enough stops. That's the only thing we could talk about.

But, yeah. I mean, I was on multiple Patriot threads today. Wondering whether we should be upset that Kianne Waite, who the Patriots gave away during the season, who plays every snap for the Niners, it seems like. And it's like, well, why do we give that guy away if he's playing all the time for the Niners?

And then it's like, well, they just gave up 38 points. We never saw the Bears punt him. Maybe that's why they gave them up. It's a pretty, you think like Warner's out, boasts out, they lost the first round pick. They had debacks hurt today. They had backups to the backups that were in there. It was pretty crazy that they were even in it.

Don't get us wrong. We're still cursing Robert Sal on various text chains, but it probably isn't his fault. But they both those teams, very, very entertaining. Yeah, I don't really understand how they're hanging around like this. Caleb is now over 3,700 yards. He's got 25 TDs. and six picks this season, which are stats that...

And you're in a first-name basis with them, which is even more important than all that stuff. Well, the other thing I noticed today, about three hours ago, he was number three in the Fandil MVP odds. Oh, really? I don't think it's the case anymore. Yeah, I think it probably dropped now.

He was third. Oh, yeah, yeah. It was basically a two-horse race, and then there was... Because Josh Allen, and we'll talk about him later, but Josh Allen's campaign was torpedoed. But so you have him, and then you have Luther Bird

and as this play of monkey wrench and Collinsworth is like, I've been watching this guy, he was kind of making it seem like like I knew this was going to happen on them and it's like, this guy's available in every fantasy league right now in the finals.

Like, what are you doing? He's 400 yards this year, but he looked awesome today. I roomed with him at Missouri and it was a little weird because I'm 40 years older, but you know, whatever,

we got used to it. Yeah. I'll actually meet eggs, Mike, and it was just great. McCaffrey, I think we talked, Talk about this every year in week 17. Who won everybody's fantasy league?

Who was the guy? And I think it was McCaffrey. They handed out that award in the NFL honors or whatever it's called. It's like guy who won everyone their fantasy league. It's McCaffrey. Like our league, our front coerce, the MOOC,

he's about to win the league. And it was basically McCaffrey, he rode, McCaffrey got hot at the perfect time, crested in the fantasy playoffs, and was not priced as like a $60 guy. What was you like? 45 bucks, I think he went for you.

Yeah, 45. He was like 25% off and he ended up doing it again. This is one of the great fantasy guys we've ever had. Right? When he took him, like, yeah, you could have, you could have McCaffrey. Yeah, he'll get her week three, whatever. Check it out. But, yeah.

We've been playing fantasy since early 90s. What was your first year? 92, I think. Yeah, I was, I think I was 90 or 91. McCaffrey is now a first ballot fantasy Hall of Famer, I think. Oh, yeah. I don't know if he's past Tomlinson. Mm-hmm.

I still feel like Tomlinson, that six-year run Tomlinson had is just unapproachable. But McCaffrey, I think, is right, with Marshall Falk and a couple others, like just generational, great fantasy running backs, not to mention somebody who could potentially be on the one seed. And somebody who I could identify with because it looked like he was dying from a bad back as the game was going on. I thought he was going to be using like the Norma Tech or something to like the giant back brace vibrator thing to help him out. The four-yard screen over the middle where he just gets pounded instantly or before, in most cases, I could see him saying, I'm pretty like, hey, can you cut me some slack? Can you notice the who's checked there? I don't need every one of these, yeah.

Yeah, can you not throw me the four-yarder when you can see the linebacker running full speed about to hit me? Like, can we take that out of the thing? Linebacker's like waving his hands. He's like, okay, I'm ready. Go ahead. There was also a hook and ladder in this game, which was the second one we saw today in a pivotal time on a drive that worked. And you and I have both been on hook and ladder island for a long time. Like always wondering why teams don't do this more.

It always either, oh, it works or at least it gets them first down. I worked today. But did you think the Bears were going to win when they got that? When it was there on the four-yard line, basically, and they had one play. Yeah, I think I did. If you could a live bet it right there, who did you think was going to win? I think I did. I mean, I didn't bet it, but I would have thought bears there.

Just because I thought, but I thought, like, Caleb was going to find an opening and run in, But on that last play, he was just too scattered and run back too much. He missed a couple, what did he miss four? I mean, I thought he was really good in that game, but he also missed four wide open guys, including they pointed out that all 22 camera. He had, who was the guy, Duvernay, that he grounded it to him.

And it actually seemed like it could have been a touchdown. So he'll, he should go up a level at some point. But I was thinking if they won that game, it was the first time I was ready to take them seriously as like could they actually make the Super Bowl right like all these stupid wins they have

maybe this is just Team of Destiny shit and maybe this is just where we're heading yeah well we went from you know a few weeks ago so it's looking like we'll go over all this but it looks like they'll play the Packers right if they get the two seed it looks like two it looks like Bears

Packers 2 7 unless the Lions have some sort of crazy out of nowhere win in week 18 So a month ago or five weeks ago when the Packers played him at home and beat them. We're like, yeah, that's what should happen. Get lost, Bears. Get out of the way. And then like when they came back,

the Bears on that Saturday night and they just like that crazy touchdown at the end, the outside kick and everything, like, oh man, well that's stupid too, but at least they're closer. Now if they play, I'd be surprised that the Packers stay within nine or ten points, honestly. Oh, especially with all the injuries,

the Packers have had. I mean, they're like an ambulance unit at this point. Yeah, you know, the Eagles, at halftime of that Eagles Bill's game, you're thinking like, this is it. Finally, somebody has arrived in the NFC to challenge one of these NFC West teams. Like, thank you. Well, you're late to the party, but thank you. And then the second half, Hertz doesn't have a completion, and they should have lost the game. And we're basically back to where we were, where we had this great Eagles win and their fans feel terrible.

Yeah. It's just the classic Eagles gamut of emotions where they win, they pulled it out, nobody feels good about it, not one person. They won for a month like that, basically. Now they have two games where he didn't complete a pass in the second half, then they won the game. Like, just outrageous to me. I know the weather was bad, but, you know, they went up against Raiders, giants. And if you were to just change the uniforms and said, okay, which one of these games,

which one of these teams is tanking? You're like, oh, it's probably the team of the quarterback who can't complete a pass. That's it. They're getting the first pick no matter what. So I don't know, I don't know how they're doing it. That defense is excellent, much better with Jaywin Carter, obviously. But man, oh, man, put together something, something in the second half. It's just like a lack of desperation and creativity when they have leads.

I felt like I've watched that Eagles game eight times this year, where they look good for about an hour. And then they kind of hold on. And then you wonder what, what's happening? Why are their play? Why am I predicting every play they're right? running from the couch, you know, and then they barely hold on and you feel awful, but...

Do you think Aseriani is, like, buying into the crap, or do you think he just has to be like... Like, he's mil and burling it? Like, he's just pulling out just enough to win every week? After the game, he's talking trash, he's going through the tunnels. Like, I told you no one's saying anything yet, and he actually walks right by the locker, like everyone's rolling their eyes

at him. But does he think, like, this is the way to do it? Like, he's going to be able to knuckle balls away to to the finals? Maybe he will if he's been there. did five straight punts in the second half. They blocked a PAT, which is the only reason the bills wouldn't have just won on that second TD.

Alan kind of gacked the throw. You got to call it for what it is. If that's any other quarterback, we're talking about how the quarterback choked. Alan's been great. I know he's banged up. There's a lot of quarterbacks banged up, but it was just a gag.

The guy was wide open. They didn't really give us the all 22 of, they gave us a side view and then another thing. So I know when the All-22 comes out tomorrow, it just feels like he just completely missed him. And I don't know whether he was going to his left. They were trying to make

excuses for him. They were like, well, he was off-balance. He was drifting. It's like, I don't know, man. Like, this guy's supposed to be the best quarterback in the league. He kind of have to make that throw. Toriko just unleashed the All-22. We could watch now. NBC has the rights to everything.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was a little bit off-balance. It's a throw he makes probably 90 out of 100 times. It was bad. It was in the rain. But yeah, definitely his fault. But getting him down there is just, it was all Josh Allen, like running sideways for nine yards, just lunging on the fourth down and scoring. I can't believe how many people thought it was the wrong move to go for two.

Like, I thought, I was like, yeah, that's a no brain. Which way were you thinking on that? Oh, 100% go for two. The game didn't, if it was week eight or if it was, they actually could win the AFC used if they win this game. Right. Maybe you're thinking different, but they didn't want to, Allen's already hurt.

It's pouring rain. The field's terrible. Your playoff seat is what it is to begin with. Like, why not go for it? The Eagles defense had been on the field for like, it felt like an hour straight. And you should be able to get it. And by the way, the guy was wide open and they have the best

quarterback in the league and he's got to hit the throw. Drake May hits that throw. I'm sorry. Eagles, oh, that's what this is. That's what you wanted to get. Jake Mae hits the throw. He does. Why?

I think Purdy hits the throw. I could name 10 quarterbacks who hit that throw. I couldn't believe he missed it. Josh Allen hits the throw. He doesn't typically miss that. What are you going to do? He's the best QB in the league. It was terrible.

Right. But I don't think people should say they couldn't, shouldn't have gone for two because he missed that. Like they just like you said, like small chance they were going to win the AFC East anyway. Allen's, he is injured. Like that foot's a real injury. They want to probably sit them next week.

They definitely don't want him to play in overtime. And by the way, your kicker, just shanked, your kicker, your bill's kicker wearing number 32 in honor of OJ, weird enough, slices it, blocked. I love that. And that's it. What that is going on? I love this. Payne homage to O'Shea. That's a costume party.

If that's a playoff game, you kick the PAT, you take it to overtime. Fine. And you trust that your defense has stopped them for an hour and a half and your offense has been moving the ball and you're at home and you're going to win the game. But week 18, when you're going to be, what are they, the six or the, they're going to be in the six seed, I think is how it's going to shake out. How do they get the six, though? They're seven now. How would they get that? Because the chargers would have to beat Denver to keep the six seed. Oh, they do. Yeah. So if they both lose chargers and bills, the bills. The bills win next week and the chargers lose.

The bills are the six and the chargers are the seventh seed. But if the bills sit everyone, I know it's against. But why would they do that, though? I don't know. Because their quarterback's injured and everything. Do you think they're playing the Jets. They're going to be like two touchdown favorites. You got to at least try to win that game for a half. We'll talk about that. But you think they want to definitely go to Jacksonville

versus go to New England. Well, let me ask you. The Pats are getting Milton Williams back and they're getting Will Campbell back. They're 13 and 3. They have May who's playing the best of anyone in the league right now. Why would they want to play the Patriots over the Jaguars? Well, because I think Josh Allen...

I've got to play the Jaguars 100 times out of 100. Alan probably just heard you say Drake May makes that throw and now he's angry now he wants to go to Foxborough I mean he was hurt it's pouring rain I get it but if you're the best quarterback in the league you got to make the throw but if that was Mahomes two years ago and he missed

that throw it would be like I can't believe Mahomes missed that throw I know more times than not though when these teams have a choice between a seven or a six seat they don't they'll air on the side of rest but they're playing the Jets don't want to I watched the Jets for three hours today yeah I know yeah they want no part of

even being with it, they've lost, I think they're the first team since 1967, since they've kept track of this where there have been four December games. They're the first team who's lost all four December games by 23 points or more. They're going to beat the bills next week. There's no way. All right. So you're thinking bills win, charges, lose to everybody and that's the six. Well, here's. These are the Pat's threads I'm on where we talk about why we don't still have Keon-Wight and also how either way it's great for us because if Denver beats the Chargers, fine, Denver's

the one seed. Pats are the two seed. Pats then play the Chargers who don't have either of their tackles, who have Herbert, who has this giant cast on his arm. Yeah. And who really did not look good on Saturday. Or if the Chargers beat Denver, the Pats are the one seed if they beat Miami. So either way, that's great for the Pats. The thing that would suck is if they, Miami somehow beat them with Quinn U. Oh boy. Oh, you're looking too far ahead with these charges. Well, that's the thing. I already don't like that. It's going to be a late afternoon

game. I don't like the late afternoon Sunday East Coast games. I think weird shit happens. It's like getting dark. It's freezing cold. The fans are dead. I don't like those games. Makes me nervous. I was looking because they have, Fandle has stage of elimination. I saw that. And the Chargers, you and I, when we did the Futures in August,

I took Chargers' first round. They lose. You could bet it in August. And right now it's minus 155. I think that's a good bet. Yeah, so that's either them going to Jacksonville who housed them five weeks ago or the Pats. I mean, Herbert, I thought Herbert was awesome in that Houston game. They certainly didn't lose because of him. No.

But they just don't have enough. You know, I mean, the Shaky's game can't believe they might not get the Chargers. They're like, what are we doing? If you check all of our boxes, you can't block. The CEO of Shakey's, is meeting with Goodell to see if they get... He's like, how can we get the chargers? We just want to get them in there. Stafford, minus 250 for MVP.

Is that changed? It's 250. Yeah. Drake is plus 200. Everybody else is gone. Right. That's it. That's it.

So the Rams, the Rams are probably going to be a five or a six seed. I'm not even sure they're going to care about tomorrow night now. which if you have the Rams and parley's, tomorrow, it's like, uh-oh, now what happens? Yeah, we both do. Son of a bitch. I don't know why Stafford's favorite. I don't really understand that.

So you're saying, because I know Patriots fans are all cut up in this, how could a five-seed, quarterback on a five-seat? Yeah, I thought we established, like it's the one or the two-seat usually presents the MVP, plus Drake has gotten better the whole season. I mean, I don't really care. I don't have money on it, but I want to congratulate Josh Allen and the bill,

for five straight AFC's titles, which the streak ended today, but five straight's a good number. Good job by you. That was one less than Tom Brady's second longest streak of six. There you go. He had 11 and he had six.

And then the bills who were supposed to own the division like Tom Brady and the Pats did for the next 20 years. I think they are the only team to win a division five years in a row and not make or not win the Super Bowl. I thought it was not make the Super Bowl. Does it not make? Okay. You're all over it.

With all of that said, that's the team I don't want to see in any part of the playoffs. I don't want to see Josh Allen. I was talking to my dad about it today, and we were just going through all the teams. And we were like, yeah, eh, and then it gets to the bills. I don't want to see them. I don't want to go against Josh Allen for three hours, even though, you know, whatever happened and they happened. That's still the guy.

Are you insulted, though, that they have the same odds as a Patriots to win the Super Bowl, 10 to 1? I think it's fair because the, Pats haven't done anything and we've been down this road with them and the Bears and these teams like this that once it gets to January, I think it flicks a little bit.

Pats have stayed healthy. Today was a don't get hurt game in this Jets game. Drake had a 99.8 QBR, which was the highest since they started recording QBR. The Jets were awful. I mean, it was a combo of Drake and the Pats

were good, but the Jets were really awful. And then they had, they kind of had a rough in the passer. It was 283. Did you see this? Yeah, I did. And Vrabel got pissed, and the past went in the F-U mood and drove down and scored, and then they called the timeout with 11 seconds left. It felt like the Pats were back.

It was 35-3. Yeah, Vrable calls a timeout. I mean, I guess he figures what are the Jets going to make me pay for this in the year 2052? Like, what's the downside? But actually, the downside is you could be a likable team now that you're good again, but you're choosing not to. So that's fine.

Listen, today might have been the peak of, the peak of the year for us, like the chance to maybe get a one seed, we win the AFCs, Josh Allen doesn't win. This might be as good as it gets, but 13 and 3 is pretty impressive. And then you get the thing that was being forwarded around today about how they beat in one team with a winning record.

Yeah, that's not true. And then I looked at it up as like, ah, that is true. Yeah, we've had one winning. It's a team with a winning record. They just demolished some of these teams. I looked up, it was 22 to 3 in first downs. I was like, oh, chance.

Why even getting out of the bus? This is just sickening. And the fact that they have no interception still through 17 games, like as a quarterback, you're Drake, but you're just foaming at the mouth. You're just, you have a free, as free a game as you want.

Well, I've had the New York football stuff that's in play right now, other than the four December games by 23 plus points, all losses, which Jets made history there. They were down 35 to 3 at halftime

to a coach that they passed up on hiring two straight years. Yeah. They could have fired, Salah two years ago and hired him. Right. Brable. They didn't. Last year, kind of like tepidly went after him and, you know, and he was kind of using them as leverage with the Pats. And then you have the Giants Raiders where we have this last 72 hours. It was hilarious with the injury scratches. Giants Raiders going for the one seed.

And we, you have a bunch of giant fans in your life. Yeah. And it was like, oh, this is how it's going to play out. The Giants are going to be dumb enough to win this game convincingly. I actually ended up putting them in a parlay because I was like, they're definitely stupid enough to witness. The Giants? Yeah. I finally ended up today. I ended up putting them in a parlay. But they love doing this. The Raiders now have an 80% chance of the first pick. Max Crosby's playing basketball and jumping on a trampoline in videos. And what a mess. Just a mess all the way around. Well, you know how I hate this tanking stuff, right? I feel like December tanking should be reserved for the NBA and the NBA only.

but, and I just, I had my fun with it, for sure, on the pregame show, but the NFL really took a chance by isolating this game, right? Like, they really, like, it was that. It could have nudged one more early game to late. They should have sent this to Australia. This should have been played at 3.30 in the morning and nobody should have seen it because, but it's not like anyone's punting on first down or purposely doing whatever. Ashton Genti played the whole game. I know everyone made a big deal out of the Max Crosby thing. He hit an off-balance three.

He didn't look that good making that three-pointer. Like, I think if you film our wives shooting off-balance threes for a half hour, they're going to make one. It's a good point. And I just don't like the, I don't know. I just, I think it's an arrogant stance by the front office of any team that's supposed to be tanking. Like, oh, we're not good at hiring coaches.

We're not good at signing free agents, but get us our draft pick because that's where we're going to turn it around. It's like, no, you're not. Cut it out. Just play the game. Played away. I was texting with McShay today, and it sounds like if the Oregon can, QB comes out, like if you look at Fandole Mendoza, who's like supposed to be the number one pick,

he's only minus 180 to be the first pick. Right. Don't they Morris plus 250, I think because they don't know if he's coming out yet or not, but it might be a two-cube. So it might have worked out for the Giants anyway. The funny thing that is- So the Jets are in trouble. Yeah, the Jets are the ones.

The Jets are the ones that could be in trouble. But Gino threw his 17th pick today. If you thought they were tanking, you didn't see Gino the rest of the year because he was on brand. He didn't do anything differently. I didn't see the box score. Did you mean 17th pick today or 17 picks? Today he threw a 17th pick. I think he had 17 picks and 29 drop picks. She's where it landed. The Bill Simmons podcast is brought to by Fandle, Fandle, changing the way that you bet live. They call it

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wrong audience that's why lincoln ads generates the highest b2b return and ad spend on all online ad networks seriously all of them spend $250 in your first campaign on lincoln ads and get a free $250 credit for the next one just go to lincoln.com slash simmons bill terms and conditions apply Jags Colts two more red zone turnovers for the Jags in this game.

Old Man Phil Rivers going for his first, first ring. All these shots of his family celebrating in the luxury box they take an early lead and it's like, here we go,

same old Jags. I know where this is going and they won. They pulled it off. They staved off old man Phil. They finally got him throw a pick. He was,

having the old guy look. You know, like dropping picks and stuff, and then finally they got a turnover off of them. But did it change how you felt about the Jigs at all? Yeah, it did. I felt the same way about Lawrence as I did with Purdy throwing that early interception. Like, we've seen them not bounce back.

You felt like it wasn't going to sink them. Yeah, exactly. Well, I was surprised when it didn't. I was like, well, we've seen this, just put them behind the eight ball and then, like, they just couldn't back, come back from it. But, like, we have a thing where we text the quarterback's name and then an exclamation point after any,

interception. There's like 70 of those throughout the day. But when that happened, I was like, I'm live betting, I'm live betting Jacksonville here. They're just moving the ball too well otherwise. They're doing good. Rivers, I know he owes us one. And also, you can't ask for a lot more than him,

right? Like, I think over three games, he has four touchdowns, three interceptions, like about 550 yards. That's what you're going to get out of a guy you signed. And it was good last Monday. And he was moving the ball. He wasn't the reason they lost in San Francisco. He didn't really cost them. So Riley Leonard cost them one pass and an interception.

No, then the Hail Mary. But no, that's a game that Jags have lost a hundred times in four years, you know? I felt the same way. It was the first time I've watched the Jags where they had adversity early and a couple dumb things happened. And I didn't feel like, oh, cross them off. You know, I also did not put them in anything today other than a 13 pointee's that I sent you guys in the pregame show.

But I didn't trust them at all. I didn't know what they were capable of. You know, on the one hand, they kind of went for it this year in a bunch of different ones. Like, they have a lot of first round picks. They had a lot of high picks over the last couple years.

They traded for Jacoby Myers during this season. They went all in on that Travis Hunter trade and traded all these future assets. So it was a little like Atlanta where they were really trying to be good in 2025. On the other hand, a lot of it worked.

You know, like when you look, like Myers is over and over again, third to nine, And seven, it just seems like that's become the guy. They got E.T.N. going again. And I think they're a mildly frisky playoff team. Like, they're probably going to be, it's a chance that could be a home underdog if it's Buffalo, if it's a three six, right? I wouldn't be, wouldn't be opposed to taking them as a home dog in a playoff game, would you?

Me too. I think like, and I'm pretty brave about this right now, but maybe in a couple weeks I won't be. But I don't think the bills have four in a row in them. So I don't know if it's the first one, if it's against Jacksonville or not. but yeah they get stops they do all the right things they do all the teams that i just can't believe is this indianapolis year the the strangest of any other like their coach dies they have daniel jones they're seven to one then they're eight and two and then jones goes out and they just free fall to the bottom and they sign phil they haven't once since right sauce gardener oh my god they trade all

these assets for sauce gardener so their future is kind of screwed here and not only it's the a mcc South. Not only don't they make it at 8 and 2, but two other AFC South teams make it in the playoffs. Like, they're not one of them. What a bizarre ass year. That first round pick they gave up for Sauce Gardner, which feels like it was 10 years ago. Oh, yeah. And it's like, oh, yeah, well, they're going to be a one or a two seed, so that pick will be bottom in the first round. Now it's going to be like 16. Right in the middle. So it's a great trade for the Jets. What do they care? I actually wrote down in my notes, is there an MVP case for Daniel Jones, even though only only played half the year.

Interesting. Like, gets hurt. They never win again. Maybe he was the MVP. That should be an NFL honors. The award for, I didn't realize how important you were until something bad happened or whatever that's called. It's so funny because I had in my notes,

that's why I would pick Ben Johnson for a coach of the year because he gets the double, the double FU. We saw with Detroit can't get a first down for some reason and all what he's doing with the Bears, the worst to first deal. Jags Colts unbelievable turn of events for the Colts and the Bucks

and I was trying to think like is this unusual or what and it's just the season's so fucking long we talked about this last week the season is just too long it takes forever guys get injured these big injuries you've a cluster of injuries

you've just your season flips Dolphins Bucks where I don't know if you saw this but the Tampa players they had a press conference about an hour ago they announced they've run out of ways to quit on Ted Bulls. Oh, well.

Yeah, they said we've tried everything. We've lost seven of eight. We've tried to lose games at the end. We've tried to get killed during games. We've tried to seem unprepared. We've tried to have games who have 12 penalties. We don't know what else to do other than not show up for the next game. We've exhausted our options.

Not only are they trying, the other teams are trying too. We're going to give you Quinn Ewers on a platter. We're going to give you the 17-point Lee, everything else. but I don't get it at all. And I have this team to win a division. I stupidly took them. You might still win it. Make it, I guess.

I just, them and the lions, like how I look up and I see that they'll have 10 points in the fourth quarter. I'm like, how does this happen? How did these, who was calling these plays here? This is outrageous.

And I don't want to hear about Tristan Wirves. I get it. But, you know, I watched every single play. He had time to throw the ball, right? He had time to throw the ball downfield. He actually had that one scramble where he really should have been

like he should have been flattened in the pocket and he rolled left and he got a first down and then he followed it with like the worst interception you'll see if you live to be 150 years old. He has eight picks in the last seven games. I was thinking that, well, two things,

two awards for him. I think he took the season lead for hospital balls today. I think his receivers are now terrified when they're over the middle because his balls, he have no idea where they're going. But the Baker Mayfield Award

for the guy who looked like an MVP for five weeks, and then completely died. By the end of the year, you wondered if he was going to be on the team next year, which I think started with Russell Wilson, that one year when, remember Russell Wilson had that awesome September, where like,

he's never won the MVP. How crazy is that? Is this going to be the end? By the end of the year, he might be out of the Seattle, but Baker became that guy this year. It's just a gamut of emotions. When the Browns are like,

yeah, man, we did the right thing. Okay, that's what we might have done the right thing with the Baker. They might have felt that way until Sanders threw that pick. He threw the lobby. Hail Mary. That's true. Interception. Then they're like, maybe we did to the right thing. I think he has a different form of a hospital ball. Like, he throws it to the sideline. Like, he'll throw, overthrow Mike Evans by the

sideline, but Evans has to die for it out of bounds. And he could get hurt. He'll run into like eight guys with jackets on and stuff. Sometimes it's his own guys, but like he gets up. Yeah, what's that? That's not a hospital ball. That's like a, it's like a collision ball. Yeah, right, right. Yeah. It's like, it's very. What's that all state? The guy from Oz, who's always banged. up on Allstate, Ryan O'Reilly. Mayhem, right? Yeah, whatever.

But he was Ryan and Riley and us. Oh, I see what I'm saying. Yeah, he throws the Allstate balls. It's like collision insurance. He gets the Allstate Award. It's like nobody's safe. Camerman, assistant coaches. He should do a commercial for sure.

So this is my favorite stat. I did a lot of research during the late games because there were only two games to watch and one of them was a complete abomination. So during the commercials. Bulls. Todd Bulls. This might be his second division title where the team went eight and nine. That's like Hall of Fame candidacy material.

Nobody is ever doing that again. Like how many losing record division champs have we ever had? He's going to do it twice. Mike Tomlin's like, get off my back. You see what's going on in Tampa? He's like, at least I go nine and eight. I was thinking they could win the title, go eight and nine, but they'd already planned on firing him after week 18.

They might just do it anyway. Right. Just bring in whoever, bringing Bruce Ariens to coach it. One last thing on that game, first of all, I don't feel like that's an easy Pat's Dolphins game next week, even though we haven't guessed the line yet. I don't know what it is. But I think that Dolphins have been reasonably frisky 80% of the time for two months here. I mean, they just came off two weeks off of that Pittsburgh game was an abomination on Monday.

Right. They played last week, Cincinnati, who was left for dead. and then they, I don't know. Yeah, but they know they look pretty well. I mean, Tampa needed the game. I know. They looked fine today. Well, Tampa's still alive because the Panthers couldn't beat the Seahawks.

And I was texting with Danny Kelly and Mina Kimes about this, two Seahawks fans, asking them if the Seahawks have finally beaten out any confidence they had in January. Is there any, is there a small piece left? And I think it's gone. I don't think you can watch this team for three. hours a week and think they're going to win a couple straight playoff games and make the Super Bowl. After today, you thought that?

When they beat Carolina? No, but just when you watch them for three hours, it's like, this is all cute. Right. There's just no way they're actually going to make the Super Bowl with this team. Donald has 20 turnovers, which leads the NFL. Seattle has 28 turnovers, which is the second highest. And here's another staff for you.

They've only gone for it on 13% of the first downs, year, which is the worst in the NFL. So the coach doesn't trust the offense. The offense still turns the ball over all the time. It just feels like it's ready for a January playoff tsunami for themselves. So you trust them least out of the three NFC West teams?

I think out of all the good teams, I trust them the least. I just don't trust their offense. Their offense hasn't been good for two months. I don't see how it's going to change. Just take out JSN as much as you can. What else are they going to do? I guess. Like screen pass to Kenneth Walker?

What else is left? And sometimes that works like all game. all three hours, and sometimes you don't see it at all. But I don't know what to do with this. Like, I feel like I have to step aside. Sam Donald, that's 26 wins in two years. 26 wins. Well, their defense won the game today.

Bryce Young had 54 yards passing total, which is the same number as Times Panthers fans have switched their opinion on him. I think they're now glass half empty on Bryce. But like a week ago, it's like, we might have a guy. It's almost like it needs to end. But what would you do if you're a Panthers fan? Would you wind him back next year? He threw 24 times.

You could have 54 passing yards on like six or seven attempts, but not on 24. Yeah, what was that? You mailed me that. Who was the guy? The last guy who did it? David Woodley. David Woodley in 1980? Yeah, yeah.

Sorry, David Woodley. I'm like, we don't bring you up that much, but that's, uh... Sadly, I'm old enough to remember David Woodley, and he was not good. Yeah. Hey, if I can get Malik Willis, I would do that over Bryce. I think. I mean, he's going to get paid

now. Malik Willis, isn't he? Would you take Mac Jones over, Bryce Young? I don't know. Because I think I would.

I don't know. It's close. I just don't think this team should be anywhere near where they are anyway. We just can't escape the crumbiness of the NFC South. And the funniest thing is

the best QB in the conference now or the division now is Shuck. No doubt. It's not even close. It's just, I mean,

he was 22 for, he gets the Titans, but he was 20. 22 for 27 for 333 and two TDs. Name anyone he played with today. Like, who was that his team? It was unbelievable. If you actually look, Alave has like nine touchdown.

Is that surprised me. I looked at his numbers and everything. Yeah, Alave's been his one guy, but they had, he had Velae, who I had on my fantasy team for a week. He's out for the year, but they've lost Kamara. They've lost all these guys. Shuck is now plus 120 for offensive rookie of the year on Finder. I saw that.

I don't, why is he behind? 10 McMillard. Like, I know you shouldn't get too excited about a win over the Titans, but this guy's solid and he's not going to really lose your games like this. And like you said, he's by, I know I'm being facetious. I think he's better than solid. I honestly think he's better than solid. I think he's legitimately pretty good.

Well, he has more 300-yard passing games than Drake maybe. So maybe. And he's tough. We talked about him last week. I was texting with McShay about it because McShay was all in on him from the senior bowl. What a name dropper you are. McShay and Mina.

Danny Kelly. I have more. I have more coming. David Woodley. But McShay was wondering, like, these older QBs, maybe this is like an inefficiency now in the NFL. These guys who have just lived some life instead of just bringing these. Maybe think of like that Oregon QB who's going to be like 21 next year.

Like maybe that's not a good idea. Yeah. To bring in like the baby. No, I know. I mean, you want. This old guy has bounced around. we've seen both right we saw like bow knicks a million starts and a lot of these guys are going to have like 60 starts

purdy so we've seen it go both ways but i might rather have an older one except that when you sign him that contract then you have a big decision to make when he's like 29 years old the first time right so the seahawks win next week they're playing the ramps i'm sorry they're playing the 49ers which number one seed would you feel worst about Denver or Seattle. Or if I'm the opposing team? Just you in general. From a gambling standpoint, from a football fan standpoint.

Yeah. Just everything. Like which one makes you queasyer out of those two? See, you're going to say Seattle, but I think Denver. I would say Denver. Yeah. Because at least Seattle's defense, we've seen them really turn it up. Whereas Denver's defense, I'm not even sure where we totally are with it at this point.

Denver law, they beat the Jets by two, they beat the Giants by one. They beat Davis Mills by three. They beat the Raiders by three, and then they beat him by seven. That was, you know, that was a weird one. The Casey game was alarming. Like, Casey almost beat them. Chris Olickdochin by seven. The fuck was that.

Kelsey's, like, wide open on these, the only receiver they had. Yeah, yeah. Like, we've seen them open up their offense and play great, but that's half their schedule I just read to you. Well, I was thinking, I was looking back at the 2008 season, because I was trying to think of the last crazy. I've mentioned this before, but the whole, last really, truly crazy season.

And that was the year when Pittsburgh played Arizona in the Super Bowl. But I was looking at the first round where, so things that happened that year, Arizona was a nine and seven champion that then made the Super Bowl and just kept upsetting people. The Chargers were an eight and eight division champ. They, of course, won in round one. But if you look back at round one, I think all of them were upsets. The Chargers beat the Colts.

the Eagles beat the Vikings, the Ravens beat the Dolphins. Each one, it felt like I think the underdog maybe won outright three of the four, and it just kind of kept going. And it was just one of those stupid years and it ended up with a Pittsburgh, Arizona, which I think was the birth of the Gary Russell prop. Oh, beautiful.

But looking at that first round made me wonder that that's what we're headed for this year with even more games, where we're going to have six games round one or we just got like five upsets. I just, and I texted you, like, I texted Bill Simmons. I'll drop the name like an hour ago. I was like, man, this is, we are going to have, it's going to be impossible to make money in the playoffs because who do you trust?

I think your overall point is Denver and Seattle, you're not getting that trust factor because you're not getting that go-to quarterback, the one that's been there for so many years. But I guess we're just going to do with it. Yeah, who couldn't we put as the anchor of a tease or parlay who's like a minus 250, minus 300. Seven point favorite, seven-half-point favorite. I don't have the team.

I don't, like, I don't trust the Niners from what we saw today. Their defense can't stop anybody. They're going to have to outscore somebody, which is what they did today for two hours. But then they finally had to punt and it felt like they were going to lose the game. Not to mention if you have one turnover. So a couple more games quickly. Brown Steelers, which we thought the league, this was the one you rig.

If you're going to rig a game. Not that the league's fixed. But if it was, this would be the game you fix where the Browns win. Now, there was no D.K. McCaff. That was the case for Brown's money line.

Who had that on the pregame show? Who had? Who had? A few of us had plus three and a half or plus three. I thought Browns without Metcalfe. Rogers was helpless. 39 attempts for 168.

It looked like the classic bullshit Steelers game that they're going to somehow win. And they didn't win. they lost. I mean, deep exhale from Roger Goodell as Rogers sailed that fourth down pass out of the end zone. Oh, yeah. He got his Sunday night matchup for 18. But, yeah, man, I don't want to, I'll give Miles Garrett credit. It really, it seemed right. Like, yeah, they were just too worried about stopping me. They weren't worried about, like,

winning the game. Like, they really didn't plan. They were moving him around, and he was a pain, and Rogers didn't throw downfield until, like, late in the game when they played pre-vent, which was driving us crazy. you got like two or three first downs in a row but it is the same old Pittsburgh team like they're either going to go nine and eight or they're going to be a first round casualty so that'll be that

I wonder like in classic Pittsburgh fashion will Metcalf somehow get exonerated because there was a story today about how when he played for Seattle the same fan messed with them will they review it and be like no actually we can't suspend you for week 18 and then all of a sudden

he's back there playing Baltimore Sanders had a couple good throws, had one of the worst picks I've ever seen in my life. They did not score 14 points. There was a stat that they lead the league in the 2020s. They have six wins where they didn't score 14 points. So congrats to the brass fans. You guys did it.

The Steelers looked awful, though. And I've learned not to bet honor against them in these games. They're just a complete stay win. I know. What are we going to do next Sunday, though? Two of these moral teams. Yeah, you know, when Deion is hiding behind his cowboy hat, things are bad.

You can't spend it anymore. That was tough. Saturday football, we had the Derek Henry Fuck You game. 216 and 4 TDs. We had a ridiculous Texans win over the Chargers that I still can't believe I lost. Kicker-Dicker, Mr. P. A.T. and a field goal. Gaston dropped what just sent an interception up in the air. Herbert was amazing.

The Texans had two long passes and then did nothing else the entire game. They've somehow won eight straight. I don't know what to make of them. It was a weird day of football. Which game did you take more out of? I mean, that Ravens Packers game, I would have thought under, I would have thought there wasn't going to be that much offense, at least from Baltimore.

And I don't know. I look at it. I'm like, Harbaugh kind of blew it for this team. If they don't come away with a win Sunday night against the Steelers, like so. many times he had a healthy Derek Henry available to close out a game and just forgot about him. What he had 2.16 and 4 touchdowns.

He has almost 1,500 yards and 16 touchdowns. And what do you have? Like 18 carries against you guys and 10 against Cincinnati. Didn't play against us in the last 7 minutes. Why? Like, give, does he just forget? Like, set an alarm. The game starts at 1.

Set your alarm for 315. And then your iPhone goes, it has all kinds of like audio sounds like radio and canopy and chirp and storytime. Just get the alarm you want and put him in. Like, it's insane to me. Well, hire a Derek Henry advisor. Yeah. That was very weird.

I tell you what, I don't mind Huntley in the playoffs if it comes to this. I don't, somebody will make this a story Tuesday, Wednesday. Would you rather have a healthy Huntley or a banged up Lamar? I'm not saying that, but I don't mind him. I don't think he's not awful. Well, we'll see what we're saying.

Would you rather have a healthy Huntley or a banged up Lamar? Oh, shit. I don't know you're going to ask me that. Like, if Lamar can't really move around like he normally does. Yeah. And he's hampered and he just doesn't seem right. It's at least a discussion. I know they'll go with Lamar because he's been in the big games, but I love the Ravens on Saturday night.

If he can't move like Huntley, if he can't move like Huntley did yesterday and the other team knows about that, then yeah, it's home. I love the Ravens on Saturday night, had multiple real-life bets on them, and somehow in Ringer 107 lost our Ravens bet because, We moved it to four and a half, did the under of like 55. And of course, what were the odds that game was going to have over 50 points, much less 60. It's 65 point game. Willis and Huntley. Always a bonner burner.

Willis is, that's worth a gamble, I think, in the off season. Like, that could be the reclamation guy this year, right? Yeah. We were talking about on the pregame show, and Matt Flynn got his bag, as you'll say. the worst version of this. But at least they were like

25 good quarterbacks back then. Right. Yeah, it was a stretch but they were good quarterback.

Malik Willis is a no-brainer at this point. Like he could start for probably 16s. Mitchell and Matt Flynn, those were the two famous ones.

Mitchell, right. Scott Mitchell was a classic. And then the Christmas was awful. Do you have fun at least with the Cowboys Washington?

Oh, that's great. That's it, man. I keep, You know, we did our Netflix thing, and then we watched Josh Johnson looked like a playoff quarterback, but yeah, that was fine.

Cowboys win. Rosmer v. Goff was amazing, especially if he had the Vikings. And then Broncos, K.C. was abysmal. I have my parent corner that's going to be about that, actually. I have one last thing for you. I was going to say the Detroit thing, just put another nail on Dan Campbell's golf.

I think since he announced he's calling the plays, that offense has been a complete curiosity. Like, he's, I think that's the worst proclamation of 2025, him saying, hey, look at me, I'm calling the plays. It just all went. Yeah, I've got this. Like, if I had a list. Dad's driving now.

Give me the steering wheel. I've got it. Kids get out of the way. I think I wrote down top four worst proclamations of 2025. It's Dan Campbell announcing that he's calling the plays. It's Pam Bondi saying the files are on my desk. it's me announcing my nickname for the Pat's QB or it's you. Drake maybe? Yeah. It follows me everywhere.

Or you announcing your addiction to hot water with lemon. So I think we should put that to a poll those four. You have it? Look at you. I got a new thing actually. What is it? What's here? Well, I did something you're not going to like. What is this? But we're going to tell you. Is this in the top four? Is this a new entry in the top four? You're not going to be happy at all. Christmas was my last day eating bread and dessert and really any sugar

I'll stop it I'm done I'm done and guess what I feel great I think I've been really good on the podcast so far you can feel the difference Would someone give you a skirt for Christmas

like what? No sugar in the morning on my coffee just coffee and half and half no dessert I'm just done I'm done I realized sugar was just like bad for me as we get older

and I'm just going to try life without sugar for a while All right. Of course you're right, but don't do it. So the only thing I've allowed myself is hot water with a little honey in it, just a little so I can taste it. And that's it. That's what's keeping me alive right now because I can't have dessert. Pizza, no pasta anymore. I'm giving up a lot of stuff. But you saw me do this. In the 2010s, you saw me do this for like four years. I was pretty committed. You're always the same way. Yeah, Bianco's out. Chris Bianco's gone. He's out of my life.

That's terrible. That's terrible. Out of my life. Turns out it didn't really need him. Congratulations, Dan Campbell. You're bouncing. from the top four worst proclamations I figured there's two of them now I made a list to celebrate the end of 2025 of my list of things during the typical NFL weekend

that I've given up figuring out of seven things driving the QB into the ground on a sack being either a penalty or not a penalty depending on how the linesman's feeling on the specific play I've just given up sometimes it's like

If you wrap your arms around, but it's for one, one hundredth of a second too long, or you push, you have to tackle them, but you can't tackle him too hard. You have to kind of pull your arms as he's landing. You have to pull your arms back. Yeah. But even then it might be rough in the past or anyway. You know what I say about that. I think that's fat shaming.

I think anyone who is bigger than the quarterback, if you weigh four more pounds than the quarterback, you can't drive into him and complete a tackle. Right. I don't like that. Yeah. I think that's fair. No pizza, no bread. Taunting penalties, just there's no rammaries in them anymore.

I watched, there was one in the Browns game today that was, it was awful. There was other ones where the guy stands over a receiver and that nothing happens. They just, that's arbitrary. Right. When you can take your helmet off on the field has now we've gotten really flimsy with this. Right. You see this a lot now as the guys are walking off. They just take the helmet.

This used to be like dating back to Dwayne Rudd. This was like, you can't take your helmet off to get to the sideline. Now it feels like maybe you can take your helmet off. I don't know what to think anymore. They don't call it. When was the last time you've seen them call that? Yeah, you're right. They haven't called it.

They're not consistent. Caleb does it a lot. Caleb does it as like he's not even on the sideline yet and it's off. Good, good. They should have flagged him. Yeah, I know if you get it ripped off, you could basically, you get a free, like, you could do a chorus line on the field with your helmet off. You can do whatever you want.

You can do a podcast. Yeah. Four more. This was really important yesterday in the Chargers-Texans game. And it goes both ways. These pass interference bump clutches after five yards, like six, seven yards. Right. And the guys are tangled up.

And then sometimes it's offensive pass interference because the guy pushed off. Other times the guy held too long. And it's just game to game. You have no idea how to interpret it. And for some reason, it decides games left and right. and they've never decided on an explanation. And whoever the rules analyst is, they take the side of the referee in that case. Every time.

You can't do that. It's like you're getting scolded by the principal. Like, don't do it. You can't push off and break away. And then offensive pass interference is the other one where we've seen, especially near the sideline now, they're calling the little shove-offs when the guy's going for it, but they're not calling the opposite. When the guy's getting shoved, then it feels like they bent it.

against the receiver. Second and last one, tackles, the left and right tackles being able to jump backwards for the snap. We just don't call that anymore. I don't know why. I don't know. It's a false start every time.

You're allowed to do false starts. And then last and but not least, obviously, is continuation catches on TDs. Which one was that this week? It wasn't this week, but just it'll happen five times a year and we've never landed on what's fair, not fair. Yeah, you have to do the Lambeau leap and still have it in your possession

for it to count. Yeah, yeah, it's stupid. You can run four steps of that, flip it to the cheerleader. It's like, no, flip it too soon. Didn't count, not a catch. I don't know, anymore. Is there any other ones you can't figure out?

I just like, my thing always is trying to draw the guy offside. This is not a rules thing, but trying to draw the team off sides from the shotgun in a loud venue. Like, you're never going to do it. No one, I appreciate when you try to draw a team off sides, and then punt it, but don't do it from the shotgun. I don't understand.

Don't you want, if I'm screaming at you from six inches away, you're going to be more startled than if I'm seven yards away, right? And everybody else is drowning me out. So that's my big pet peeve. Well, the new one people are trying, the new one people are trying is in the shotgun. They do this really fast, hoping somebody's going to jump. But it's everyone knows that trick now. I can see that.

I just don't, if I hear something, I might jump, right? But if I see that, and we also laugh at the guy's trying to down the punts now. Like, nine times out of ten, everyone should just run off the field if you're trying to down a punt inside the five because you're ultimately going to kick it into the end zone. We always text about that with our friend Hench because it's his favorite play in sports when the punt's about to land at the one and the punt defender guy steps on the goal line or fucks it up or goes to throw it back and ends up throwing it forward. and the one today was epic, though,

because the guy saved it on the Eagles. Was it the Eagles? It was the Eagles. The next guy comes in to make sure the ball doesn't go to the goal line, but steps on the goal line. If I was the poter, I'd be so mad. But this is where we need to Hanch as a special teams coordinator. Just be like,

there's Eagles special teams coordinator, Kevin Hitch. And he's just like, ah! Ah! Why? He's left the building. He's the Zamboni machine. ran him over. He just stabbed the traitor.

Yeah, anytime you, me, or Hange can make a better play on something like that, it's not good. The one I almost added, but I do think the refs have a handle on it, but it always takes them an extra 15 seconds. I have no idea why is intentional grounding when the guy, when the QB throws it away, and it's clearly intentional grounding, but they don't call it, and then 15 seconds pass, and the reps kind of look at each other, and then they huddle up. up. Right. And they're like, yeah, that probably was intentional grounding. And then they throw it. I don't know why we need 15 seconds to wait on that. Hopefully, in the next couple of years, replay assist will be broadened. Then we could just immediately. Let that take care of a lot of

these things. So we don't have to worry about. This episode is brought to you by Sunwing. Imagine a vacation where you get so much more. Sunwing vacations make it easy to save more, do more. Their fly financial advisors do the work so you can enjoy incredible value and perks. Think flights, hotels, meals, drinks, and activities all in one amazing package. Get more fun, more relaxation, and more sunshine without distress. Discover your next all-inclusive vacation at sunwing.ca or with your travel advisor today. Playoff matchups right now would be Denver with the one seed. Pat's Buffalo, but as we discussed, that's not, it's going to end up either Pat's Chargers or Pat's with the One Seed.

Jacksonville Chargers, which we've already seen, which might end up morphing to Jacksonville, Buffalo. Right. Pittsburgh, Houston. So let's say, let's, let's be smart

and we'll say Denver, Chargers, Pats, Buffalo, Jags, Pittsburgh, Houston. And then in the... Pittsburgh or Baltimore. Yeah. Yeah, Pittsburgh or Baltimore gets Houston. Yeah.

Then Seattle in the NFC, Bears, Packers, Eagles, Rams, Panthers, Niners. So I just gave you six matchups. Panthers, Shaky's game to lose right now, like minus 200? What is it?

Yeah, I think so. That's pretty good. So they'd put the Niners in the Shaky's game, early start Saturday? You don't think they'll go away FC South for one of these? Like, could Jags Chargers make it? Could be Jags Chargers. I think that's the other final.

If it's Jags Buffalo, they're not putting Josh in the first, playoff game. Right. Because that's like, he's the most famous QB left at this point. If we're getting Rams, Eagles in that first round,

that's, I mean, if we get Rams Eagles, I know you don't want to think about it, and Pat's Bills, that's a solid. That I go back to my football team. There's no question that would be

who has the ball with two minutes left the game. Just prepared mostly. The Bills could be missing. Bill said fucking Brain and Cooks today. Made four big catches for them. I don't even think he was on an NFL roster. I said to my son, like, did you know he was on the bills?

Because he's their best receiver right now. That's it. Right. He was the only guy who could get open deep. And Brady was like, oh, cookie. Yeah. If you played with him, you like, I was like, you played with them a year. Settled down.

Guess the lines. Week 18. What's our score, 9 to 8? I mean, you're going to win because I don't even think this week should count. These lines move around so much throughout the week. Coaches lie about his playing. Why are you already quitting? Well, because I was.

I was off 40 points over 12 games, whatever, probably. First game, Saturday, NFC South on the line. Tampa home for the Panthers. I mailed you two games because we knew what we were getting two games. So, you know, I actually had these. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's in Tampa. I don't like either of these teams.

I'm going to be hard-pressed to wager on this game. I think it might have to be a 13-point tease, and that's it for me. Really? Which way, are you at? I don't know. I just like, that's that, or maybe put both of them in it. Bucks minus three was my guess. You got it exactly.

I said three and a half. I thought it was a little too much for Carolina to handle, but it is three. Little caveat here doesn't necessarily get Tampa the division with a win. This is the craziest stat of all time. Really nuts. Atlanta, who's been eliminated. Atlanta's been done for a month ago. Yeah.

But if they were to beat the Rams and then. beat the Saints next week wouldn't matter if Carolina won or lost. They'd be the champs. So Carolina gets the South if Atlanta beats the Rams who might not have anything to play for anymore and might just say

fuck it with tomorrow's game and then beats Tyler Shuck and the Saints. He rested his guys last year, McVeigh. Did that line move? No, we didn't. Oh, I wrote down my guess Saturday or we'll get there. Well, it's tomorrow. You're talking about tomorrow's line.

Yeah, did that line move? Still seven and a half? Seven and a half, yeah. The funniest thing about tomorrow, so you have that weird Rams thing, where now it's suddenly the NFC South is tied to it. But then you also have Kyle Pitts potentially swinging fantasy titles tomorrow night, right? This guy who everybody's had,

everybody's spent, gone a couple rounds with and waved or hated it or hated the experience And whoever landed him around week 12 just like hit the lottery, basically. He'll probably have 40 points tomorrow. Yeah. I think this is, I have a bigger thing about fantasy later in Parent Corner, but I feel like this week should not be utilized.

I mean, imagine having Puka in your lineup and McVeigh says, hey, we're sitting everybody. Like, that just sucks. Like week 16 is when I think fantasy should end for now on. Gahaw said the chat voted for Hot Water, and Lemon as the worst proclamation of the year. Oh, really? Yeah.

That's good. Pam Bondi's off the hook. All right. Damn it. I can't believe if she couldn't beat me. Bucks Panthers, I feel like should Fando let us do some special bits for this? I'm going to ask them.

You really want it? Like, should we be like, will this game have a pick six? Oh, I see. What were the odds on that? plus 200? A pick six? Plus 300? What would be the odds

for a pick six in a game that's clearly going to have a pick six? Oh, I see. Yeah. Normal pick six odds are like 50 to one or 10 to one, whatever. This is like almost a lock

somebody's throwing a pick six. Right. Yeah, for sure. Some kind of. Over under combined interceptions, two and a half. That's good. I think so.

Down, attempted down punts where the guy steps in the end zone, seven and a half. half, I would say. There's stuff you wouldn't be able to bet on, like, number of times the fan base quit on their quarterback during this game. Right. I mean, if Tampa, think about this, they're minus three at home against Carolina to make

the playoffs. Like, if they can't win this, what the fuck? If we talked about this in September, like, here's Tampa season. They just have to be Carolina by three. They've had so many bad losses. So many bad. I mean, imagine they lost that Thursday game, though, Atlanta. They're killing them.

Saturday night, NFC West on the line, one seat on the line. These two teams can't believe they're not playing on Sunday night. They don't know what else they needed to do. Niners home against the Seattle Seahawks.

And I have the Niners favorite by two and a half. I feel like that's low. I don't know why I went the other way. I thought it was Tick-Tac. I was right about that, but I had Seattle as the favorite. It's San Francisco,

one and a half, so you get it. I went too high. wow so they've full tick-tacked it yeah that's a that's a good one man it's a good one this I'm gonna apply all playoff manifesto lines to this game and one of the number one rules

of the playoff manifesto is please study the quarterbacks long and hard and think about who you'd feel good about having in this game and not feel good about having Sam Donald just period I just wouldn't how about McDonald on the road like that's good like it's all I

How about the team that doesn't ever want to go for it on fourth down in a big game? No, I get it. That sounds terrible. What they play week one? San Francisco beat them week one, right? 1713. All of these NFC West games have been close across the board. I like the Niners.

I do think it's probably not awesome to have the six-day turnaround for this one. Yeah. Right? And late in a day. Like all of a sudden they're playing five days from now. They just had a pretty grueling Bears game. McCaffrey looked like he's going to have to fly to

Italy or Germany or somewhere to get some stuff. You get the LeBron juice. The marquee game Sunday night, AFC North on the line. Ravens at the Steelers. We assume no Lamar for this? Probably?

I can't say anything. I can't say it. I assume no Lamar. I think the Ravens are favored either way. I think Mike Tomlin is exactly where he wants to be as a home underdog in a must-win playoff game. This he must be delighted. I have Ravens 2 and a half.

All right. You're going to get this. I said Ravens by one. I thought that was fair. And it's Ravens by three. You're going to kill me. I mean, these are the ones I'm closing. I like the Ravens.

That's what they want you to say. Could I lose one more time on the Steelers this year? They said it couldn't be done. They said I couldn't lose nighttime. on them. If Metcalf doesn't play, like you, I don't know how many people listening

are like watching all the games. You really had to watch that game, like how fucking helpless they were. Like they just didn't have anybody open. They were trying to run their normal garbage steeler plays with like back shoulder throws and little lob pass on the end zone.

Like they're running them with like, you know, their number nine receivers. Sometimes their defense gets mad enough for it just doesn't matter. I mean, think of how superpowers. prize we were when they lost in first week in December and in Baltimore.

Could this be a Ravens Altline like Ravens by 20? Like if they win, they're really going to win. Like it's like almost like that Packers game or Altline 17 or something where they just run all over them. Like if Harbaugh gives Henry the ball more than 12 times, like they could actually, yeah, yeah, could be that. Well, think about the Ravens. I'm scared to take the minus three here. I know they're better. I know all this stuff.

It's all what you're saying, but there could be one more screw job in there for us. There's no question. All right. Next one. AFC number one seat on the line. There's two games. Broncos home for the Chargers.

Really tough one to figure out from a Chargers standpoint what their motivations are. The Chargers lose. They fall to a seven seed. Unless Buffalo also loses. Right. The Chargers win, they get the six seed.

Do they care? Hmm. And then the Broncos, do you feel good them getting a lot of points over anybody? I didn't know what to do. I did Broncos minus seven and a half in Denver. You're going to be closer. Now, I said nine and a half. It's six and a half, but I think this will go to nine-half.

I think some, you know, Harbault, like I said, is going to lie. And he's going to say Herbert's not playing, and then he's going to play like one series or something. And I think it'll go up. Everyone, the right people will know about it. But I'm very much looking forward to putting that on a money line parlay and losing. I think the Broncos are a must for a money line tease. Yeah.

Like they, like pencil them in as an anchor. I don't see. If it was like the Chargers going from a seven seed to the five seed, maybe, but you have the Texans playing the Colts who it sounds like Phil River is done. Like, he talked about these three games. I think that's it. I don't think he's playing week 18.

So that's Riley Leonard. So odds are Texans win that. So Texans are going to be the five seat, it looks like. Right. So if you do the Chargers, like, yeah, I'd rather play Jacksonville, but would you rather just get the rest and they don't care. That teams rarely care about that, right? Five, six or seven.

Well, the Patriots are home for the Miami Dolphins. and I think this line is going to be higher than it should be. They lock down the two seed if they win. They could get the one seed if they win and Denver loses.

I have the Patriots by 12.5. Whoa. I said eight and a half. It's nine and a half. Okay. That's good. So that's a second anchor for your money line parlay.

It is Quinn Ewers on the road. I just want to point out. It's got to be. Yeah. Which is, isn't that what we saw today? Yeah, when you were on the road. Yeah. We saw that today against Tampa Bay.

So that could be a, that's two legs. You're not going to blow that. You can't blow that. What did you beat them the first time? 33, 27. That was ages ago, though, right? I think we get Milton Williams back for this game. Yeah.

And then Will Campbell, not until round one, I don't think. Tisha's just throwing all over the place. I think it'll be similar to, what about? It was Borough that threw four touchdowns against them last week, right, against Miami. It's also odds are, cold weather, Miami and cold weather. Right, right, right. There's some good signs for this. I forgot about that, yeah.

The late East Coast start always makes me nervous, but as we discussed. All right, AFC seating on the line. Three games. Texans Colts in Houston. Houston gets the three seed with a win if Jacksonville loses. Houston gets a five seat if they win. and odds are it's Radley Leonard I think the Texans are a classic

be careful when they're favored by more than X amount of points and we're probably here I have Texans by eight and a half you're gonna get it I said seven and a half I don't know why I thought it was Rivers but and I'm not even sure what do you think there's a point difference from them

but anyway it's 10 and a half that's too high is that three that could be our three right there they can't really run the ball they scored on the first two drives yesterday and then for the next two and a half hours did nothing I don't know that's a lot of points see I'm more

I think it's more likely that a team playing for a draft pick screws up this a teaser than a team like the three teams we just mentioned like the Raiders after all this could beat the chiefs and then that'll be hilarious, right? I don't think Pete Carroll would find it hilarious. They probably told him, like,

we'll bring you back next year, just make sure you lose the rest of this. Yeah. And then they'll fire. Jaguars home for the Titans. Jaguars locked down the three-seed with a win. I didn't look, I think the Pats get the two-seat either way,

win or lose. I don't think that Jags flip over them, But I might be wrong, but, you know, there's a lot of moving pieces. But I think the pads are locked in a two seed. Wait, 12 and 4, 13. So they'd both be 13 and 4. You say New England goes over Jacksonville? Yeah, I think they've been over them and all the weird tiebreaker stuff.

But maybe I'm crazy. Regardless, Jags, I have minus 14 over the Titans. I said 13 and a half, and it's only 10 and a half. Ooh. Didn't they screw something up? Was it the Jags or the Colts a few years ago on week 18? It was it was the Colts? No, it was the Jags?

It was Lawrence, wasn't it? It was one of those AFC South teams. I can't remember it was awful. No, it was Indianapolis. It was Carson Wentz. That's what it was. And we all had them on every single. I'm not, I will tell you right now, I'm not put in the Jags in a tease.

I still don't 100% trust them. Do 2% trust Cam Ward? Well, we know there's going to be a walk game. We know it. We know one of these games is going to be fucked up. And the thing that scares me is it could be the Dolphins. And then do we do Bill's Jets? We didn't.

Bill's home for the Jets. Bills stay the seven seed unless the Chargers lose. You could make an argument. They might throw the game away and not give a shit. And rest Josh Allen for a week. But I did not factor that. on my line. They're in Buffalo. I said bills by 14 and a half.

All right. It is bills by 12 and a half, but you're going to get it because I said nine and a half. I'm killing you this week. I think the, so it's Trubisky, if it's not Josh Allen, like even if it's a couple.

The great thing about this is you don't have to worry about throwing interception against the Jets because it's just not going to happen. Any turnover at all. Trubisky's. Bree. We've all got a thousand yards. Yeah.

The Jets need to get a top three pick. They'll probably rest everybody. Did you think if, do you think the bill, the Jets and the Giants are now lumped in for every stat? Like their home record like MetLife is just extraordinarily bad. And they haven't had a winning team in however long. Do you think at this point they should be like, hey, I want you guys to start including Buffalo when you talk about New York teams.

Right. To boost our numbers. Yeah, it'll boost our numbers. It'll take the, take the attention away from. muscle a little bit. I think that's a really good idea. They should make a statement. I like that. I can't imagine the bills. I mean, this is a 10 point teaser. I'd feel good

about the bills in there unless they were starting to arrest people and just throwing it away. But we'll find out as we get closer. All right, NFC seeding on the line. Bears Lions mentioned that earlier. They get the two seed with a win, the bears. And it's in Chicago. I don't know what's going on with Detroit.

What would you put for odds on Dan Campbell on the Fox studio show next year. I asked you like before 2030, but what about next year? No. Next year is what? 26? Nine months from now.

September? No, no, no. They get rid of Bradshaw. There's Dan Campbell. They get rid of Gronk. One bite in kneecaps. No. I would say that's still plus 1500.

Okay. He needs another year. I love Gronk. He's the best titan I've ever seen in my life. One of my four favorite Patriots. It's upsetting to me how Fox uses him, and it really makes me mad. Why? What do you mean?

He's like the village idiot. Like they came at halftime of the game today, which is the only game at you're watching, they go and he's standing on the second level and there's a table. And Kurt Meneffey's like awkwardly standing next to this table. And Gronk's like, at halftime, am I going to jump through that table? And it's like, what is he? Our drunk uncle at Christmas is like, oh, Uncle Gronks going to knock over the Christmas tree. watch this.

Like, this is a football studio show. He's the best tight end of all time. Why are you making him like a self-parody? I love Gronk. Because, what are the producers doing with this? His predecessor is Terry Bradshaw. He's got a peabre. So that's it.

They're grooming him to be like the next person everyone makes fun of. Well, you can't. I think I think Gronk's podcast is good at the one with him in Edelman. Like there's a lot more there. And then on that show, they make him seem like the, it's like, oh, he's like, he's like the, fucking wacky neighbor in an 80s sitcom that comes over.

It's like, oh, Gronks here. Oh, he knocked over, he knocked over a plant. It's like, is he? Like, how did he end up with this role on the show? I honestly think there's precedent and that he is groomed. Bradshaw's grooming him. That's the best tight end of all time. You're like getting upset that Sammy Hagar screams during his songs.

Like, yeah, this is what family he went. That's what they did. That's what they really wrote this. It's fine. It's upset. He means a lot to me, Gron. Just like show Gronk's some respect. Am I going to jump through this table?

That's coming up next. It's like, what are we doing? It's a network television show. Rams. Oh, that'll, by the way, that'll be on a sports blog with like a really angry headline. Oh, no doubt. Bill Simmons eviscerates Fox's use of Gromcaste. You want to apologize now?

You shouldn't be. No, I'm not going to apologize at all. You're not going to do it? I'm glad. Give the sports blogs their meat. Okay. Just treat Gronk like he has an IQ over 80 because I'm pretty sure you does. His podcast is good.

Are you sure he does? Because I think it rang in at 77. Am I going to jump through this table? Rams cards. No, we didn't do bears. Oh, we still didn't do bears. Well, Grank jumped through a table. I got distracted.

I have the bears by eight and a half. All right, so we're going to have to talk about this. Because I said six, and I'm staring at this line, and the bears are favored by one and a half. So did they lock down number two? We must have misread something. So we fucked up. We must have, right? Well, wait a second.

What's their record? Oh, I know what it is. They did lock down two. No. Well, because they beat Philadelphia. I don't think. So the lose, so. But Philadelphia and Chicago, the same record.

So if they win and Philadelphia wins, it doesn't matter. They get the two seed. Yeah. But why wouldn't they want to win this game? They'd want to be the three seed? No, if they lose and Philly wins, they have the same record. And Philly's the two seed. We're going to go through this one, say.

We used to be able to press pause. Right now, Philly's 11 and 5. Yeah. And Chicago's 11 and 5. And Chicago beat Philly. So they have the tiebreaker over them. But if they lose and Philly wins, Philly is in the two seed. I guess they don't care about the two seed.

I mean, they are still playing a game. that doesn't make sense. We've got to be missing. Can Gahal, can people in the chat, if we're missing something with that Bears game, please put that in the YouTube chat?

No. You've read it right. They're both 11 and 5. So if they lose a game to Philly, they're going to be a three-seat. Yeah, but why wouldn't they want to win

and be the two-seed? And Detroit's season is over. These teams just like to rest. It's just better to have a rest unless you have a shot at a one seed. That's just how it is now. So they'd rather be the three-seed? So I mean they would play the Rams.

I'd rather play banged up Green Bay than the Rams. Like 100 times out of 100. Tough to beat a team three times, but you're probably right. Let's ask Rob Gruncowski, who's currently drinking Drano. Drano is our sponsor of the halftime show. Grock,

how's the Drano taste? It's the best head end of all time. Protect Grunk. Hire them away. Put them on, the ringer should deal. Put them on with Kellerman and Rich Paul. Let's do something.

Anything's better. Yeah. All right. That's crazy, though. I would have thought it was like six. I mean, that is what I guess. Rams Cardinals. It's in Los Angeles.

The Rams are basically locked into the six seed. I still think they're going to be favored by seven and a half in this game. All right. I get this. I said eight and a half. It is nine. half. Am I coming back here? Not really. Six for you. Six for you.

You're not coming back. You're coming nowhere. I mean, if they're going to maybe sit guys tomorrow, wouldn't they also maybe definitely sit guys week 18? That's high. I know Arizona sucks. So if you were the Rams, would you sit Puka and Stafford for the last two games and just get them ready? And anybody else

you have who's banged up and just get them ready for round one? Because as you mentioned earlier, they've done this. they have done it they didn't do it two weeks before they did it on week 18 last year we saw jimmy g out there but i wouldn't do it because i would feel bad for everyone who put a teaser in on them uh like tuesday or wednesday and wasn't thinking this through like me i have the rams in one one rams tomorrow and a thing that all the other pieces hit thinking that they were a lock and now they may not care it's not good

home for for Washington Eagles locked into a three seed could get the two seed with the Chicago loss and as I said earlier I still feel like that two seed matters because you get to play Green Bay who's missing everybody. I have Eagles by 10 and a half. I get this. I said six

at seven and a half. See, we're all over the place here. Why is it seven and a half? Are they think they're going to arrest people? This is Josh Johnson. That's such a stupid guessing game. This is the hardest week. So we have five games left.

What's the score? You come back. I'm so fucking mad. You're up six five. You said I was going to win. Well, I think you got all out of sorts with this gronk thing. Gronk sent me in a tailspin. This game means absolutely nothing.

Packers, Vikings, and yet Green Bay is the seventh seed either way. I'm off by three points. So you could steal. this one easily. I went low. It's in Minnesota. And I did Packers minus two and a half in Minnesota. Packers minus two and a half. Yeah. I said

Vikings minus two and a half. It's Vikings minus five and a half. Oh, you're going to lose your shit. What in the hell? I mean, they're definitely sitting people, right? I mean, that's not, we're going to see guys who we're going to see some like milk farmers or something from Wisconsin.

Well, what do the Vikings have to play for? You know, Brasmer. I mean, think about what Brosmer and Jalen Hertz did. Like they, they had almost negative yards passing combined. They just, and they both won.

Wow. Okay. Next category. Four games left. Top three draft pick on the line. First one, Chiefs at Raiders. Chiefs at Raiders. We just saw what the Raiders are capable of this week. Yep.

It's in Las Vegas. I wanted to put this in the Vegas zone in honor of the Raiders, but I had to bump it up a point. I did Chiefs minus six and a half. Well done. I had five and a half. It is six and a half, exactly. And yet, you can't cheese the, tease the Chiefs.

No way. Because their quarterback is Michael Ola Candy, whatever his name is. Can't put it in there. The first round pick is number one pick. I, yeah, I get that the Raiders know the assignment, but is Chris Ola Doken going to play ball? Next one's a little harder. Cowboys at the Giants.

Giants won today. Screwed up their chance at the number one pick, and now we'll be somewhere in the top five. Cowboys, you don't have your pick, right? You don't have your pick. We're doing all right. But you don't have your pick, but you have the Packers pick. Right.

Yeah. You get the worst one of those, too. That is what happened. I have Cowboys minus seven and a half is my guess for this. All right. I get this. I said six and a half. It is currently five and a half.

Yeah, Vegas. So. Okay. Last one. Bengals, who are just peeking at the right time here, home for the Browns.

Mm-hmm. I had the Bengals by seven and a half. We split it? I said six and a half. It is seven. All right. So one game left? What's the score?

Hold on. Hold on. Five, six, seven, eight, one, two, three, four, five. Fucking rope-a-opening. They get's tied. Six, seven, eight. God damn it.

Seven, I swear, it's tied. But is there one game left? Yeah, there's one. Falcon Saints. I'm off by two points. Falcon Saints in Atlanta. You're going to steal it. Falcon Saints in Atlanta.

Saints showing signs of life lately. I have the Falcons by three. Yeah. Congratulations. It's two and a half. I said, it's two and a half. I said four and a half. Oh, that sucks.

That's all that came back for nothing. By the way, we have a lot of money. Me, you house, hench, bet the Saints two come in last place. We have to really give it like 20 minutes thoughts of how we're going to hedge out of this. I mean, certainly they are. So if the Falcons win one of the next two, we're good. Right? That is, let's see, wait, where are they there?

Falcons are one ahead of the Saints. No, so they're six and nine. So if they win, they're seven and nine. tomorrow. Saints are 6 and 10. If they both end up 7 and 10. They have the same record. They both have six wins. Six wins, yeah. Oh, so we're going to have to hedge this.

How is this even, we should have won this 40 times over? They're going to have the number one pick. Could he win coach in the year? Cleveland, Tennessee, and the Saints, right? Just those three. Yeah, just those three. And the Jets, maybe? The only thing that could stop us was Tyler Shuck.

Oh, yeah. In probably getting the job and then playing so well that he's now one of the favorites to win the offensive rookie of the year. And that's exactly what happened. He beat everyone in that division. Sickening. I lost some crazy future. I thought I was like going to win 75% of my futures that I made before the year.

Today I lost the Browns. I had, I had three and a half wins under, which was plus 200, lost that one. I had the Miami Dolphins under six and a half wins. That was like plus 185. And what were they? One in eight? It seemed like that was a lot. They just played a bunch of cupcakes like six in a row.

Yeah. What are you going to do? We're excited when it's August. You got to fire away. Parent Corner presented by Greenland 2 migration. Saw an ad for this during football. If you loved the disaster hit film in 2020, the end of the world was only the beginning apparently.

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Greenland 2 migration. We're going to do Parent Corner though. What do you got? All right. So, I mean, Christmas great. Everyone's home together. Got the Trigo and the gifts. It's beautiful. It's fun. My son Jack, my middle son, gave me the best gift the father

could never receive. We were scheduled he had a wrestling tournament Friday December 26th Wayans were at 7 a.m. in Upland California which is a good hour and a half drive at 5.30 in the morning you could get there probably an hour and 20 minutes so I was going to have to be up on December 26 at 530 to take him to a tournament

and then he was going to the rest of the tournament didn't even start until 11 so I was going to have to sit my car and bet like English Premier soccer Christmas Eve wrestling practice he throws up in front of the coach and three other kids throw up. This is like the fourth throw-up story

with Jack we've had on Parac Corner. Oh, he's so good at vomiting. And the coach is like, see you Monday. It's like, you did it, buddy. You did it. What do you want? Do you want a pony? Whatever you want for Christmas,

I'll get it for you. God bless you. So the poison cheesits you gave him that had like the stuff, the X-LAC stuff to make him throw up? Whatever it was. That was it. Yeah. And now I was not eating bread or pizza. No, that's you.

But so that was, thank you, Jack. Really great. Really was a Christmas miracle. I can't thank them enough. Honestly, I was, I was so relieved to not have to get up at 5.30 in the morning. I have another one. Yeah. So fantasy football is just awful, right? I'm in a high stakes league. And I'm in the finals. So second place is nice prize, but first place is a ridiculous haul. We did some texting about this. Yes. And I have a.

decision to make and going into Saturday and it's basically Christian Watson or Alec Pierce, right? So have you checked the history of this whenever somebody has a 50-50 decision like this, they lose 100% of the time with who they picked?

Is that something? I researched this. Nobody ever has the positive story of they picked the right person. It's always the wrong person. Didn't break the streak this time. So I'm thinking, all right, Malik Willis, Christian Watson. He also had the red flag. He had the red

flag, everything's pointing against it. Alec Pierce had two touchdowns last Monday, crazy figure. Philip Rivers loves him. He's in sync. So I ask you and Hensh. I ask my buddy's Brian and Darren. I ask my buddy Alec. It was named Alec and still didn't say it. So I said

everybody says Watson. And my son Archie, I'm going to let you be the deciding factor. And he's like actually everyone said Pierce. I'm sorry. So I said, I'm going to let you be the deciding factor. He's like, start Pierce, pick up Barner. He's looking through the thing.

He's like, pick up the tight end in Seattle in case something happens to Pierce in the morning. I'm like, all right, that's a good idea. So I take Watson out, freaking goes nuts immediately. Their first touchdown, Malik Willis is like throwing to him like they were college roommates. It was so in tune. Like, it's insane. He puts up 23 points and I'm losing my mind. Yeah.

Like I come downstairs and I'm like pacing and everything. And Archie's like, huh, Watson, huh? I was like, yes, mother from my curse under my back. He's like, and then Watson will catch the pass. And he goes to high five me. I'm like, what the fuck you doing? He's taught to you. He's like, well, this is not, this is not, you know, like you're going to stay in your used

corolla tersel. Like if, if he's going like, he's like, what? You put Watson in the lineup. I'm like, no, I didn't. And a lot of, because of you. I said, Pierce and like, and we picked up Barner, remember all that? He's like, oh, yeah, I didn't. Okay, I didn't hear you're right.

I was like, yeah, you certainly didn't. He's like, oh, calm down. Now you're fighting. Now we're like arguing over there. And so I'm getting mad. I'm like, whatever. I end up losing by 60. So that's good.

I'm not going to lose any sleep over this. But I don't think anyone should ever play fantasy for anything more than pride. I just don't like because now Archie and I'll never be the same. Right. You can't come back from that. That was it. We're never going to be the same because of sister Christian Watson. That's it.

So I don't even know what the moral is, but fantasy can really. Don't play fantasy? Don't play fantasy. I had that last week was. DJ Stroud, just single-handly murdering my season. And then I'm watching the Chargers game yesterday, and he's just immediately two 70-yard bombs to start the game or whatever happened. I'm like, of course, why do we do this?

But you're right, there should be sharp and square picks. Like what everybody would go with is the square pick. So I should have started Watson. Just zag. Yeah, he's got the red flag. Well, in our knockout league, it looks like our friend coerce, the MOOC, is going to win the league with McCaffrey, as who mentioned earlier. He's had, this will be his fourth title since I won my,

last title in 2007. And we still use this dumb CBS site. And it has all the champs. Right. Dating back to whenever you started the league, even before I was in it, before I moved to L.A. Right. And this is how sad it's become for fantasy for me.

And by the way, I won our Gaiotene League. I've won the league. I'm in with my college and high school buddies. Like, I've hit that, but somehow I can't get over the hump. I went back and I looked at my 2017. team. Like, I was looking through an old photo album. Yeah. I went through it. I'm like, oh, man, Tomlinson, Peterson, oh, Carson Palmer was so good. They had Romo was on the team, Wes Walker. I'm just going through, I'm like, ah, that was such a great year.

You should have a reunion. The 18, 19 years coming up. 18 years. 18 years ago, it's there on the fucking side. Anyway, congrats to the MOOC. He's won four times. That's my lad. You should win it once in a while. once in a while. I'm good in all the other leagues. I know. My parent corner. So Christmas

night, my kids are excited. And by the way, my kids are barely kids anymore. Like my daughter's going to be 21 in May and my son's 18. All that Christmas, they just want to race through it because Netflix is releasing

the next three episodes of Stranger Things. It's all they care about. I love that you're on TV Christmas, but they never even came over the TV for that. No, could have cared about. Stranger Things is coming.

So we set the dinner so that we can finish and everybody can get out of the house by, you know, like, I don't know, six o'clock and that they're going to watch Stranger Things. And it's going head to head against the NBA. It's like the end of the second or last game. And then Denver, Minnesota, which I was excited about. But I have the setup where we have the big TV and then I have the two side TVs. So I could watch Denver, Minnesota. I'm like, it's Christmas. I'm going to hang out with my kids.

I'll watch Stranger Things with them. which I think was almost four hours because the episodes were longer than an hour. So it's episode 5, 6, 7, but somehow not the 8th. I've never seen the show other than like the first episode, six years ago. I have no idea what's going on with any of it. I've just completely out.

I don't know anything. And I'm just watching the show, but I'm really watching the basketball, which turns out to be this incredible game. Yokic has like a 55, 15, 16. It goes in overtime. Edwards is a crazy shot. And they're watching Stranger Things.

this just seems like the dumbest show. I can't believe this is a phenomenon, but the reason it seemed dumb to me was because I didn't understand any of it. They're so far advanced, and their kids are explaining it to me. Like, no, no, only 11 and the other person. They're the only two people that can go back and forth

between the worlds and this person can't, but they think they can. There's an upside down, and then there was like the end of the fifth episode. They're going nuts because something, and I'm just watching it. And I didn't know anything that was happening. And I was like, this must be what happened when people watch sports with us.

And they don't know anything that's going on. Like, we're watching football and we're going nuts on every play. And oh, my God. And whoever's sitting there, they don't care about the NFL. And they're kind of annoyed that wear that into it. So it flipped on me on Christmas. I was just kind of annoyed by Stranger Things. I was excited to see Winona Ryder.

You know, she made a lot to us once upon a time. Linda Hamilton came in at some point from Terminator. she was playing a bad person other than that if you quiz me on what happened I don't think I'd be able to answer three questions you can't jump into something like that that's not like man man or something

there's so many twists and turns and stuff like but that specifically yeah it is so far down the rabbit hole for people who watch the show it is completely inaccessible to people like us I had no idea it was happening but I'll tell you this my kids were fired up and excited for four hours

they thought it panned out they played out they were mad at the end of the seventh episode that it was that obviously there's one more coming on New Year's Eve

I see but they were like oh now we have to wait it was like one of those what are you going to do New Year's Eve you're going to have to watch Ohio State play

what was it? It's Ohio State Miami while watching the finale there's a couple and probably some good basketball too need to say I didn't get sucked in and I feel like now

I know what happens for the most part I don't want to spoil if people haven't seen it yet. I had to quit because it was, first of all, it was very long. Like to knock through season four, what three, whatever it was, was very long. But people do love it. The big winner of the show seems to be Kate Bush, because they keep playing that song she has. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And they actually weave it into the plot. So, like, she must be delighted that that happened. But anyway, Parent Corner, I tried to get into it for my kids. It just didn't work. Today's Parent Corner presented by Greenland to Migration. Where were we?

That's right. The sequel. Five years after a comet strike devastated most of Earth. The Garrity family leaving the safety of their bunker in Greenland in search of a new home. We'll see.

We'll see what happens to them. A disaster film and my guy, Gerard Freak and Butler, my guy from Denna Thieves. What else do you need? Greenland to Migration in theaters, January 9th,

rated PG-13. I have a quick NBA thing for you. Go ahead. And just so people know, this is where I just sit and I nod. And I can't contribute more. And I'm furiously. Yeah, but you're on our gambling shows. Of course, I love it.

I'm just, no, I'm not. The Warriors had a really bad, Wires had a bad loss today in Toronto. Like a bad one. They controlled the whole game. I actually had it on because we only had two NFL games. So I was watching it. And they just couldn't close.

And they just kind of like broken. I don't know what the fix is. It's, no matter how good stuff is, they can't fix it. Right. Toronto wins an OT. They've just seemed like they've taken whatever iteration is as far as I can go. Then you see the Lakers. I think they're three and six since LeBron came back.

He's kind of screwed up their team. Nobody wants to admit it, but it kind of has. Now they have these, now Reeves is out for a month. The team just has got, like, Redick is, seems like he's not handling things great. And I was just thinking, like, let's, how do you make the league more fun? of a team that nobody's excited about with the Lakers and a team that feels dead with the Warriors, LeBron for Jimmy Butler.

Oh, okay. That's it. And I looked it up because Bronny probably has to be in it too and the Warriors can throw in Will Richard. I sent this to a couple people, including Zach, who got excited about it, Zach Lowe. But it feels like for the good of the sport trade, just more fun.

The Warriors are not fun. don't see a scenario where they become from, but now you put LeBron on the team with Curry, LeBron re-invigorated, and who knows? And then Butler is probably a better fit with LeBron and Reeves anyway, with Luca and Reeves anyway. Who's more likely to say no to that, Golden State? I don't know.

That's why, oh, I think Golden State would probably do that. You think so? Because LeBron is an expiring contract in the year. Maybe they'd throw him one more year. It's a good who says no, though. Because if you're the Lakers, you can lock in, the Butler contract for an extra year because all they care about is two years from now.

But maybe Butler's a better fit with what they have anyway. Because LeBron doesn't really seem like he wants to be on the Lakers is my take. And then Brani has to come over? Does Jimmy Butler's son have to, they do like Timmy Butler? He also has to be involved in the trade. Jimmy Butler has any sons. They also have to be in the trade. Okay.

I think that works. That's my idea. I like that. That's all I got for you. Why couldn't you tell me not to bounce back with the Spurs? not bounce back because they had beaten the thunder on Christmas. But I stupidly took them on a money line parley against, what was it? That was the most obvious loss possible.

Oh, shut up. That was ridiculous. You know, it was another one, and I would never bet against the Celtics, but this road trip where it's like, they're only playing under 500 teams. And it was like the Portland spot was so dangerous tonight. And of course, they lost in the last two minutes. And now they're playing the quippers who were coming on. and there are like four bad teams

that are playing well now right the clippers the jazz the wizards one the house is wizards one back to back the nets are playing well the nets stupid hornets Porter's playing so well for the nets that they're going to have to like emergency trade them it looks like they're going to have to like move

in the next two weeks before he completely screws up their chance to get a top three pick there's a lot of teams that are not happy about about their team right now including the Warriors and the Wakers which is why I thought of it anything else before we go That's it. We're going to be on I'm on with Tate Tuesday and then

Friday. We've got a lot of college football to talk and it's a good time of year. Lots of fun. All right. Well, we're on our last live show on YouTube is going to be next week. Oh, right. Week 18, after the NFC West One Seed Showdown, we'll be live.

And then starting on the January 11th Sunday coming off three NFL games. We'll be live on Netflix. for that one. And then you'll also be able to get it on Spotify, by the way. It's not exclusively on Netflix. You also better watch on Spotify. They're on Netflix and Spotify. They cut the biggest check. Don't be stupid here. Yeah. No, they, uh, and then in three weeks from then, we're on 2B. I don't know how this works out. This is, too, be that those are the classic episodes with us. This is from, from years past, where we're flipping out about terrible best you made.

You'll get to see Simmons 2007 fantasy team highlight it. Yeah. Video year book. Like one week I'm eating glued and the next week I'm not, I'm drinking water and honey. What the hell? What happened to you? Well, I'm psyched that I beat Pam Bondi because it was a very strange year for a lot of different reasons. But in a lot of ways, I'm glad we're at the end of it. I'm excited for 2026. As always, good job by you.

Good job by you, buddy. Thanks to Gahau. Thanks to Eduardo as well. I'm going to see you on Tuesday on this feed and then a special episode of the rewatchables tomorrow as well. Bye, Sal. See you, bud. I want to see them On the way you start

that I don't say I don't have a few years with him Must be 21 plus in President Select States for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus in President

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