The Bill Simmons Podcast - A Dallas Letdown, Taylor Swift’s KC Date, Cleveland’s Crazy D, Chicago’s Agony, and Week 4 Lines With Cousin Sal

Episode Date: September 25, 2023

The Ringer's Bill Simmons is joined by Cousin Sal to discuss the Cowboys' shocking loss to the Cardinals, Ravens-Colts, Titans-Browns, the Dolphins putting up 70 points on the Broncos, Jaguars-Texans, Jets-Patriots, and more (1:07), before Nathan Hubbard joins to discuss the Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce relationship (44:20). Next, Bill and Sal guess the lines for NFL Week 4 (58:07), before closing the show with Parent Corner (1:25:57). Host: Bill Simmons Guest: Cousin Sal Producer: Kyle Crichton The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming, please checkout theringer.com/RG to find out more or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Coming up in action-packed week three, Cousin Sal is here next. This episode is brought to you by Prime Video. You know me, I can't go a day without sports. I really can't. And now Monday nights are all about hockey. That's right. There's a new exclusive home

for streaming Monday night NHL hockey. And it's on Prime. All season long, watch Prime Monday Night Hockey deliver unreal plays, the biggest goals, can't miss moments. Matthews, McDavid, Crosby, the NHL's best. They're all on Prime. Prime Monday Night Hockey.

It's on Monday. It's on Prime. This episode is brought to you by my old friend, Miller Lite. I've been a big fan of Miller Lite, man, since college days when I was allowed to have beer. I think nephew Kyle is a fan too. Miller Lite keeps it simple for us. Undebatable quality, great taste. Picture this, it's game day, all the gangs here, you're tailgating outside the stadium. It's a great time for beer. Or how about when you're

standing at the grill and the smell of sizzling burgers is in the air? Moments like that. Or when you want a light beer that tastes like beer, that's delicious. You don't want to load up on those heavier beers and then you only have two of them. Then you feel tired. Your stomach feels full. Miller Lite, it's your friend. It just accompanies whatever else you're doing. You're super happy with it.

Opening an ice cold Miller Lite can signal the beginning of Miller time. Miller Lite is the light beer with all the great beer tastes we like. 90 calories per 355 mil can. So why not grab some Miller Lites today? Your game time tastes like Miller time. Must be legal drinking age. We're also brought to you by the Ringer Podcast Network. I have a really, really good Rewatchables coming on Monday night.

Can't wait. It is my birthday tomorrow. So sometimes if my birthday coincides with Rewatchables, which I think has only happened one other time, but we like to do a big movie. So that's what we're doing. One of my favorite movies the last 40 years. Stay tuned.

Coming up next, we had an action-packed, loaded week three. We're going to talk Taylor Swift, Travis Kelsey. We're going to talk about Miami putting up 70, Sal's team losing. We're going to introduce a new character, parent corner, Sal sent his kid to college. Oh man, this is almost two hours. Let's get to it. First, Pearl Jam. All right, taping this a little after 8.30, Sunday night Pacific time. The hardest working man in show business is here, Cousin Sal. We just watched Pittsburgh, Vegas, a bizarre game. But we're not starting there.

We're starting with your team. You're stupid cowboys. You compliment me and I didn't see what you did here. Okay. All right. Your stupid team. Dad, I thought I could throw into a little 11 and a half Arizona, like throw them in. All they do is one by two and a half.

I had a fan dual boost. I had real life money. I had a million dollar pick. And it's like, of course, they'll beat the Cardinals by two and a half. Raheem thought the Cardinals were tanking. No, no, that's not what happened. And now you're containing Cowboys. They couldn't even make it to my birthday before they fell apart.

They couldn't even make it to the end of September. Was that the goal? I guess had they known your birthday was Monday, yeah, they might have stuck around. I know. I know. I don't know what to tell you. It sucked. I had it tied to everything, too. I had an Oregon this and the Chiefs this and the 49ers and the Cowboys and everything. And I didn't even care that they had essentially three offensive linemen out or that Trayvon Diggs got hurt.

Not that I didn't care, but I didn't think it would affect this game. And then they just went out there and got their asses kicked. 13 penalties and didn't force any turnovers and couldn't do shit in the red zone. And of course, it's a double-digit loss. Jerks. I kept... I had in the back of my head Raheem's theory that the Cardinals were tanking and that they were only playing one... a good first

half and then they would throw away the second half because their real goal is Caleb Williams. So at halftime, I'm like, I'm not going to panic yet. Maybe the Raheem theory is... No. The Raheem theory was not true. The Cardinals actually played really well. And your team, I will say, look, this happens sometimes. Usually it doesn't happen in week three.

It happens later in the year. But the team that is getting smoke blowing up their butts, they have this easy game and say, oh yeah, we're going to Arizona. It's going to be half Dallas fans. This will be a layup for us. So we've seen this scenario, just not this early in the season. What worried me though, from a Dallas standpoint, forget about the offensive line and the blocking stuff, because you'll get those guys back. But you do seem to have like third and seven, third and eight. If Lamb is covered, where do you go? Issued. Not everyone has the Kelsey type, but

you don't have the Devontae Adams. You don't have really any of those guys. You don't have that big physical tight end in the middle. You don't have the awesome James White type third down running back who's going to get open. And you could really feel it in the red zone. They were one for five in the red zone today.

Yeah. I mean, what's his name? The tight end who today. Yeah. I mean, you know, what's his name? The quarter, the tight end who went to Houston already forgot his name from Dallas last year was our second lead. Schultz was our second leading receiver last year. So yeah, there is something to be said about that. And I do want to put it in proper perspective. If the Eagles lose to Tampa Bay, which is a possibility tomorrow, the week is

a wash in the NFC East, right? That means everyone will have lost. So I don't want to get too crazy, but it did expose, you're right, everything I always worry about. Can Dak come up with a big play down the stretch? You know, are these injuries too much to overcome? And Mike McCarthy in that play calling, it really seemed like we were up 12 points trying to bleed the clock, not down 12 points. And it's like, oh, maybe he's just afraid to throw it. And then when we saw

he threw into three defenders and you cleverly quipped how did they know which of the three were to intercept it? Yeah, that was gut-wrenching. That was an angry text to you. It was your fault that I was losing all my teases.

He just threw into three guys on one of the biggest plays of the game. Complete panic throw. I just don't know where to land on Dak. We watch football for 12 hours a day. When he has awesome protection and weapons, he looks solid. He's certainly better than Zach Wilson and Mac Jones and all those dudes, but I don't really see much of a difference between him and what I watched in that Minnesota Chargers game with Cousins.

They're still decision-making at the worst possible times. Cousins, you were texting me right after the game about Cousins. They get a first down and goal from the six, down four points. What was it, 41 seconds left? And they could have spiked it? Not in the Kirk Cousins world. They're not spiking that. He's just going to... Yeah, it looks like a rookie

quarterback because he doesn't have to spike it. Even if he gets the playoff at 25 seconds, that's plenty of time. You shouldn't take more than 16 seconds. He's grabbing his helmet furiously. He's like, you might as well just submit it right there and not even played the rest of the downs.

But yeah, that sucked. I don't know. I just feel, and that's the other thing I think about. I like that you think Dak is greater than Zach and Mac, but I feel like all these quarterbacks, we look late in the third quarter, they're all 13 for 26 with 109 yards and an interception. Isn't that like 20 quarterbacks, especially in the early game? So I don't know what happened. I don't know how long we could keep blaming the preseason, but it looks pretty dismal, doesn't it, just overall? I can't say the quarterback play has been spectacular, with the exception of Miami, who is the 99 Rams reincarnated.

I was thinking, you know, we love to come up with gambling theories and takes on things that then we don't actually follow with common sense and our actual money in a smart way. But is there some sort of formula where a team that has a ton of smoke blown up their asses and played really well the week before heading into the next week, favored by seven points or more. Because this happened to Baltimore too. Lamar's back. MVP. Oh my God.

Here come the Ravens. And then they blow that ridiculous Indianapolis game where Minshew pulls the Orlovsky. The game seems like it's over. Then Baltimore can't get a first down. All of a sudden, Matt Gay's having the game of his life and then they lose an OT but do you think there's something there with the smoke up the ass

let down game the following week seven points or more I gotta get somebody to research this I think there is something teams who have won by 20 plus and then are double digit favorites the next week aren't necessarily go out there like gangbusters. But yeah, you're right.

That Baltimore game, well, I thought that was weird anyway because it's sort of a sandwich game. It was, you know, they played Cincinnati last week. They go to Cleveland next week. Why do they care about beating up on Indianapolis? But you're right. When Minshew stepped out of the end zone,

the game should automatically be over. It was done. Yeah, Lamar is going to get... Lamar is... Well, you think the game should have been a four-time? Yeah, the policy, I think it automatically be over. Yeah, Lamar is going to get... You think the game should have been a four-time? Yeah, the policy, I think it should be over. The backup walks out of his own end zone with less than five minutes left.

The rest of the game, he's like, that's it. The game is over. Please go home. We're going to cut down on injuries here. That's it. That was an odd ending. I don't know. I know we get weird results all the time in the NFL, but I really feel like nowadays nowadays it's like, okay, which bad quarterback is going to screw us in a bet, right?

Or which one's going to carry us. Or which mediocre quarterback. Or in the case of Steelers Raiders, where they just kept doing calls for Vegas to keep them in the game. There was a helmet-to-helmet call on Mika Fitzpatrick that, how many replays did NBC show? And Collins was like, I think right there you can kind of see maybe the face mask raised there a little bit.

But it's like, no, that didn't happen. And then the field goal leverage play, which I feel like happens on every single field goal, and they can just conditionally call that on every play or no plays or whatever. And they're showing replays of that one too. And then they're like, yeah,

you can see that they can throw it. They throw it to Terry, the referee booth guy. Who's just going to agree with whatever the referee call is. Right. It's like, yeah, that was definitely a leverage play.

No question. It's like, I don't see it. First of all, you got these old men watching 12 hands or 24 hands as it is. And like, yeah, no, that was on his back.

Secondly, I don't know why that's not a rule anyway. Keep the guy from jumping off your back, right? I'm not sure. So the refs are catching that play. This obscure play in the middle of the line, right? Out of nowhere. Then in your stupid game, there's just an

obvious, unbelievable pass interference that is called in the same drive that Dak eventually threw the pick in the triple coverage. And we needed that ball at the one there. Yeah, we needed it at the one. We watch football. I mean, you watch football all day Saturday and Sunday. I watch

football all day Sunday. The only thing I fully understand about pass interference is if the D-back is turned away from the ball and he's basically face guarding the receiver and he hits the receiver but doesn't turn his head. That's PI. That's the only thing I've learned in 30 years. It's never rewarded.

And this was the play. Yeah. This is the only time ever I've ever seen where it was like, no, he's just facing the guy crashing into him. I'm with you. Underthrows are rewarded all the time. Eli Manning, God bless you. But the face guarding thing where the guy does make contact first, I know you could face guard, but when he makes contact first

and doesn't ever intend on turning around, that should have been called. I also don't know if that extra point went in either, the one before. But whatever. Oh, I didn't think that went in either. We screwed ourselves. That was just a terrible outing. Well, Dallas drops to 10-1 on FanDuel for Super Bowl odds. And the Super Bowl odds are really interesting. So KC and San Francisco are the co-favorites now, six to one. And we've been

there. This is like our 17th year doing this. September, there's always like the rabbit team that jumps out. And maybe it's Miami this year, but there's always, if you go back and you look at these odds in January, like, oh my God, so-and-so was six to one. That's crazy. KC, San Francisco, six to one, Philly, seven to one, Buffalo's plus 950, Dallas and Miami, both 10 to one, Baltimore 13 to one. And then it drops all the way to 23 to one in Detroit. So basically they're saying we have seven contenders and a drop-off. And I was looking at all of those and I was like, the only one I felt good about for the odds, even a little bit, was Miami 10-1. But then you have the two-a concussion thing hanging over that. But Miami's looked like the best team through three weeks.

And it's hard for me to believe they're not 6-1. Do you feel like that's completely two-a related? Well, it's funny. I'm looking at it. If you had to pick one of the 10-1s, let's say the Bills are 10-1. I you feel like that's completely tour-related? Well, it's funny. I'm looking at it. If you had to pick one of the 10-1s, let's say the Bills are 10-1. I know it says plus 950. Bills, Cowboys, and Dolphins essentially 10-1.

Yeah, Miami's much better. Unquestionably, you're taking Miami. Yeah. I think so. But to go back to week one, remember when we were saying, oh, the narrative is wrong about the AFC being best. The NFC might have the three best teams. I think it's back. I think it's back the other way. It's current back the other way. It's back. Well, the Chiefs, the narrative is wrong about the AFC being best. The NFC might have the three best teams. I think it's back.

I think it's back the other way. It's back the other way. It's back. Well, the Chiefs, the Bills, the Chiefs, Bills, and Dolphins are going to be a great game next week. But those three are just as good as anybody, I think. I'll tell you what's still alive is my Pittsburgh, all of our Pittsburgh predictions. Were you in on those?

No, I hated them. You weren't. I still hate them. I still don't know how they score points and win. Yeah. So Pittsburgh's 45 to one for the Super Bowl, but they survived. They played, it looks like now the two best defenses in the league, San Francisco and Cleveland in week one and week two.

They finally played a normal team today. They got 23 points, but I thought, I liked the way they looked offensively for the most part, but just in general, that division where Cleveland's offense, God only knows,

you know, their defense is so incredible, but their offense is, I can't say I was like knocked out by their offense today. Baltimore, they just lost the freaking Gardner Minshew in Indianapolis.

And then Cincinnati is 0-2 and we have no idea what to make of them either. So to me, that division is wide open. I'm still a Cleveland guy. Do you agree with that, or do you like Cleveland the most? No, I'm still a Cleveland guy. I think they should be 3-0. I think they survived that pick six first play of the game against Pittsburgh. Chubb goes out, and then just craziness at the end.

Watson was up. Watson's bumping refs and face-masking everybody. The things that quarterbacks don't do. Whatever. That's their quarterback. You've done research on their defense, too. They gave up 94 yards. All right. It's against Tennessee, but 94 total yards? 94.

If Henry has 94, it's a bad game, but 94 total yards. They've allowed a league-low 3.2 yards per play this season for 61% three and outs. It's insane what they're doing defensively. And they hold everybody to under 10 first downs a game. So that might be enough to carry them. But it is a good division.

Cleveland's 24-1 to win the Super Bowl, which is low only because it's Cleveland and the Browns have never played in a Superbowl. But the D is ridiculous. As you said, six first downs today for Tennessee, 94 yards total Pittsburgh, nine first downs. Yeah. They scored 12 points. Their offense Cleveland. Uh, I'm sorry. Cincinnati in, in week one, six first downs, they scored three points. Their defense has given up 18 points. Their defense has given up 18 points. Their offense has given up 14 points. 21 first downs total.

And I'll tell you this, the eye test not only backs it up. I've watched every one of their games. Not only does the eye test back it up, this is one of those teams that every time they make a play, there's a guy doing some sort of personalized celebration. There's a swagger to this team, and it feels like they got 15 guys in the field. I can't wait to see them play a really good offense,

but Tannehill had no chance. Once that game was 10-0 or whatever it was, that game was over. We'll know better this week. They play the Ravens, and they're home for that. But they do have, and I'm way jumping the gun here, if they made it to the playoffs,

they wouldn't be favored in maybe any of the games. But isn't that the kind of defense if it carries a couple months that the Chiefs have 13 points through three quarters, you're like, oh, what the hell happens? Like, well, they're playing the Browns.

This is what's going on. And if they stay healthy, I know that they're not fun. The masses don't want to root for them, but they are, they're exciting to watch on defense. Well, they're built to protect leads and the defense is good enough to continuously give them with Lombardi was on this, on his podcast and some of his appearances about how important Jim Schwartz was going to be when they hired him. And you could really feel it. And they made some really smart picks. They've made some smart signings.

Garrett's one of what the four or five most impactful defensive guys in the league. There's speed everywhere. And, uh, it is one of those defenses when you're watching it, you're like, man,

what, what's like the answer against this team? Cause brute force isn't going to work. Speed's not going to work. So if Tannehill's not going to work, yeah, it's definitely not going to work. But likehill's not going to work. Tannehill's definitely not going to work. But Miami

doesn't play them this year. I'm going to look that up really quickly. Yo, they do. Is it late? Oh, the Jets play them. No. No, Miami doesn't play them. God damn it. It's the Jets that play them. That'd be a nice matchup.

The Jets might have to forfeit. When a youth team forfeits because they know they're going to get their ass kicked. I'm with you. That defense is so good that maybe there's ways... If they can trade for some sort of running back or maybe Kareem Hunt can

blossom into something and maybe they can get one more piece. Watson had some moments today where I was like, ah, that looked a little Watson-y, right? He was okay. Yeah, he had decent stats, I think, today. Yeah, I think he was close to 300 yards, right? And that might be the secondary where you play to get right.

yeah, I don't know. Compared to Monday where he just seemed like I forget about his extracurriculars, he seemed like there was no remote Morse, and he's just, I'm throwing it where I'm throwing it. He did have that lateral play, which was crazy, that went viral, where he threw it to 10 yards. That was one of the worst plays of the year.

Yeah. But he had 289, 27 for 33. You're not going to do better than that with two touchdowns. Pretty good. Their defense was so good in that game today that I put more money on Pittsburgh because my theory was Interesting.

Yeah. The Pittsburgh line stayed basically they were getting two and a half or three in Vegas. I don't believe in the Vegas team but

people are like this Pittsburgh their offense it's a mess not Canada and I was thinking like well this Cleveland defense is like the fucking

85 Bears so there's one of the two games they played. Then they played the Niners, who's the best defense of the NFC other than Dallas, who's now banged up. But I was just like, can we see Pittsburgh play a normal team? So I don't know. They're in the mix. From an AFC standpoint, it seems like there's a little more depth from like the maybe four to nine or ten spots than there is in the NFC.

If you're going to talk about who's going to have the worst seven seed, my money would probably be on the NFC, right? Yeah, geez. Who would that even be at this point? Is it Green Bay? Well, Green Bay is not bad. I was thinking it was going to be like Atlanta or Seattle. I guess. I don't know what to make.

I know you like Green Bay and good job by you taking them to win more games than the Bears. I was thinking it was going to be like Atlanta or Seattle. I guess. I don't know what to make. I know you like Green Bay, and good job by you taking them to win more games than the Bears. You could probably just cash that right now. I'm cashing that in. Yeah, I'm locking that in. Just go cash that. But they beat the Bears, who were obviously hideous. They lost a terrible game to Atlanta. And I don't know.

If Carr doesn't go out, I still don't know. The Saints didn't score in the second half, right? So I'm not sure how good Green Bay is. Just to stick around that game I guess makes them formidable. Can I counter? Can I counter your Green Bay? Please. I just don't like any team.

So yeah, this is me. I feel like real hurt in your face from the Dallas game. I don't think it's been four hours. It's been a tough week, Simmons. It really has. I know. We're going to talk about it later at Parent Corner.

So Green Bay's down 17-0 in that game against a Saints defense that's pretty good. They don't have Aaron Jones. They don't have Watson. And Bakhtiari didn't play. When I saw those three scratches, I was like, Packers were one of my million dollar picks. I ended up still losing because I took them minus one and a half.

But the comeback was impressive and they did the thing where they scored to make it 17-9 and they went for two. Right. And they made it. So 17-11. And it's one of those things

where all the analytics people say, this is what you have to do. I don't really understand the math. But when they got that, it gave them like this weird momentum. Then they got the ball back. It's like, holy shit. They can win this game 18-17.

And then they actually did. We got to stay in the NFC North and we're going to take a break because we got to talk about the Bears because we hit rock bottom today with them. Snap into action this NFL season with FanDuel America's number one sportsbook. Right now, new customers get $200 in bonus bets guaranteed

when you place a $5 bet. That is $200 in bonus bets. Win or lose. So Monday Night Football. I like Philly. Sal was thinking maybe Tampa. Plus 7.5 alternate spread with Jalen Hurts 40 plus

rushing yards and Baker Mayfield 200 plus passing yards that is plus 256 on Fando if you want a same game parlay that or you can just say screw it Philly's winning I'm going to do the Philly money line

I'm going to do Jalen Hurts anytime touchdown I'm going to do A.J. Brown 75 yards receiving and I'll just throw all that together you You do what you want to do. But if you've been thinking about joining FanDuel, there's no better time to get in the action than right now. Easy to use app, wide range betting options, spreads, player props, overrunners, futures, you name it. Visit FanDuel.com slash BS and kick off the NFL season. FanDuel, official partner of the NFL. You must be 21 plus and president in select states.

First online real money wager only. $10 first deposit required. Bonus issue does not withdraw. Bonus bets that expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. This episode is brought to you by Movember. The mustache is back with a vengeance.

Look at Travis Kelsey. Before he rocked that Super Bowl ring, he rocked that super soup strainer. Grow a mustache for Movember. You'll do great things too. You won't win the Super Bowl, but your fundraising will support mental health, suicide prevention, and prostate and testicular cancer research. And if you don't want to grow a mustache, you can still walk or run 60 kilometers, host an event, or set your own goal and mow your own way. Do great things this November. Sign up now.

Just search Movember. The Chicago Bears just got annihilated in what will always be known as the Taylor Swift game. We're going to talk about Taylor Swift in the next segment. They have lost 13 straight games. Matt Eberflus is only the eighth NFL coach in the Super Bowl era to lose 13 straight games. Eight ever. We've had some bad coaches. So you got that. He's 3-17 overall. They haven't scored 21 points in a game since November 20th of last year. They had their defensive coordinator resign during the week, and it was one of those Twitter

searches that got real dark, but nobody really knows what actually happened. I don't want to speculate, but it wasn't great. Oh, let's speculate. What do you think? What do you think? Oh, the FBI, he quit because of his well-being. The FBI a lot of times gets involved in

people's mental health. There might have been some mistakes made. I was researching them because we always, when we talk about the torture teams, we always talk about like the Lions

and the Vikings and the Browns and the Bills. In the last 25 years, the Bears have won three playoff games. Like, how long can you ride the 85 Bears thing?

There's people who are 40 who don't remember the 85 super bowl at this point right um their last seven coaches were ibra floos matt naggy john fox mark tressman lovey smith is the best of the bunch by far dick geron and uh dave wants that this is our last seven coaches like doesn't that make you feel better about the Cowboys? Yeah, it does. The best quarterback was Jay Cutler for a year. Their biggest rival is the Packers and they never ever beat them.

That's the other thing. And got mocked by the Packers quarterback year after year. And the Justin Fields, he's not the answer. I don't know. They were going to get smoked anyway. But when you lose 41 to 10, you expect the losing quarterback to have 400 yards passing. He had 99 yards passing.

He had 11 completions. No one else played quarterback. Yeah, he can't even do garbage time yards. Yeah, right. Yeah, I don't understand what goes on there. Yeah, and they're the cursed franchise. I thought it was the Colts. I was like, oh, they have the new A-hole owner.

They had a lot of off-season stuff, right? Yeah. No, it's the Bears. Now it's their coach. Now it's their 0-3. Didn't they have $100,000 worth of equipment stolen this week? Every week there's a crazy story with them. Well, and then there's the fit.

They got Michael Parsons stolen. That's right. That with them. Well, and then there's the field. They got Michael Parsons stolen. That's right. That's right. They could have taken, wouldn't they take Fields 11? They trade up for him? I can't remember, but that was in the Michael Parsons. And Patrick Holmes will always remind them that they passed on him, right? Trubisky.

This was going to be a 31-point blowout that we should have just jumped on. So, silver linings for the bears. I can't help you. You want to do cross-offs right now? Cause I have Chicago and Denver as our first absolute cross-offs. Do we want to wait? Cause they play each other. Nah, they're both. They're two cross-offs. Denver lost by Denver gave up 70 points today. And then I was watching the overtime show with Terry Bradshaw, the Fox show. And he's like, he does this. They'd been probably on too long.

I don't think Terry should be on live TV for more than maybe 20 minutes at a time. But it's like the 30-minute mark. And he starts going this whole thing about, this is not the quarterback, Sean Payton. Sean Payton doesn't have his quarterback yet. It's like, how is this Russell Wilson's fault? They gave up 70 points. They gave up 10 touchdowns. You mean cornerback?

Did he mean cornerback? Yeah, that's bad. I think there's a collective exhale when Terry gets through the halftime highlights. I love him. God bless him. I don't know what to do about that. Alright, I'll cross both of those him. But yeah, I don't know. I don't know what to do about that. All right. I'll cross both of those off.

Yeah. I mean, Denver's defense has to be the worst in the league. Not to mention the Wilson part. Hey, maybe we've seen this happen sometimes with the coaches that come back and they don't have it anymore. Like, remember when Joe Gibbs came back that time? Right. It's like, oh, Joe Gibbs is back.

It's like, eh, okay. Like you had Landry. he just didn't have his fastball anymore for what four years there right it would be like right now it would be like if brady retired and the patriots went 500 for the next four years like you're getting there yeah oh that was a bad example um hey no i think you're right and is there a chance he retires i mean because we're talking about oh sean Payton first coach fired and like, Oh wait, uh, Stanley, Stanley, you can't forget about him. He just went for it on fourth and whatever.

And his own 25, like we could talk about that. Um, but does he, does he quit? Does he's like, Hey, screw this. I don't need this. Our defense gave up 70. Yeah. I can't come back from this. Well, here's the interesting thing about the, about the, uh, the Denver piece that I don't need this. Our defense gave up 70. Yeah, I can't come back from this.

Well, here's the interesting thing about the Denver piece that I didn't realize. They have their first round pick this year. So to me, they're in tank mode now. Like, why not? If you're Peyton, you have like, what was it? Like an eight-year contract for like $100 million or whatever it is. Your team sucks.

You're going nowhere with everybody you have. You have this Caleb Williams prize that's sitting there. The Bears, the silver lining for the Bears is they have two cracks at it because they have their own pick, but they also have Carolina's pick. Carolina's 0-3. Carolina's going to be in the

Caleb Williams kind of mix. Is it worth it from an ego standpoint for Sean Payton to tank it, even if you could tank? So that means he would go like 2-15 or 3-14 this year. And that means, okay, let's say he gets his guy. And even next year, he would have to still go like 6-11 at best. Now you're like three years in, and you're Sean Payton,

and you're 9-24 or whatever it is. I don't know if they play like that. One of the reasons I couldn't get behind them as a playoff team was because of their schedule. And Chicago, ironically, is their easiest game next week. And we're going to go, when we do guess the lines, we'll go into whether they're a favorite or not. But they still have two Kansas City games left.

They have two Chargers games left. They're at Detroit. They're at Detroit. They're at Houston. Houston's super frisky. They have to play Cleveland. They're at Buffalo. They have a lot of losses left if you look at their schedule. They have the Chiefs twice in the next five weeks, I think.

Yeah, so they might end up, if they lose the Chicago game, there's a real chance they could be 0-8, 0-9, something like that, and then maybe you'd have to think about it. bears they they're gonna get two cracks at it it was interesting carolina they you know they hung with seattle for a while and they had uh andy dalton who's basically after watching mac jones for three hours then andy dalton i couldn't tell the difference um and he's starting to add him feeling i was thinking like somebody one of these nfl teams needs to try it's like almost like an old-timers league for the NFL. You just

get all these guys. You get like Zach Ertz should be on that team and all these dudes that are kind of on their last legs. And you could kind of put an offense around all those guys that would be pretty confident or confident, right? Like Dalton throwing at Thielen. Bring back A.J. Green. Let's get him back in there.

You don't need to put up good big stats, Adam Thielen, but we need you to come in and score at the end of a game and cover on a two-team teaser. Not even cover the regular spread. Can you do that once a year? I have more topics for you.

We didn't talk about the drunk coaching bowl yet. Minnesota versus the Chargers. Jeez. A game that I bet on, which is... Oh, no. Yeah, I did. I actually did the adjusted...

I figured it would be a touchdown or less game. So I did the Vikings plus seven and a half. Oh, good. And I did the over-under down to 52. Oh, okay. And it hit. Because we talked about doing them. Or I did it to 51 and a half, and it hit.

And I went over. I hit it by half points, so I actually hit the tees. We talked about taking both teams plus seven and a half, because we knew it was going to be a one-score game. Yeah, of course it did. And yeah, that was bizarre. And I don't know. People are like, oh, Stanley got lucky.

He got lucky. He gets to keep his job. Should he get to keep his job? Because he keeps getting lucky doing dumb things. If you shot me in the face, if you shot me and missed three days in a row, I'm like, oh, you're lucky. You would have gone to jail if you hit. No, let's get this guy off the street now because he's really doing damage. Eventually, it's going to be bad.

I don't know. He's just so inconsistent, Stanley. Like he had fourth and two from the 40 against Tennessee last week, 21-17, and punted. Yeah. Yeah. And then he goes for it here. The team must be like,

what the F is going on with this guy? I follow... I swear this isn't... This is going to be a diss. I follow this guy, Seth Walder, on Twitter, who's really good. He has like good analytic stuff and he immediately lays down what the percentages are.

So when the Chargers went for it on 4th and 1 he said their analytics were go 88.9% chance to win the game. If you punt it was 82.1%. So he said Brandon Staley made the correct decision. Really? I'll never get those.

No. Hold on. I just disagree. Like, you can give me the math. First of all, that's a 6% difference, which means if you play the situation 100 times, one time it's 88 times it works, the other time 82. Not that huge of a difference.

But it also doesn't take into account the game itself. Minnesota, I just want a punt, and I don't think Minnesota can go 70 yards Um, but it also doesn't take into account the game itself. Minnesota. I just want, I just want to punt. And I don't think Minnesota can go 70 yards from watching that whole game. I didn't think they were going to be able to do it. They were going to fuck it up. They're going to do something dumb. Cousins.

We can do something dumb. If you shorten the field there. Now they have a better chance. That's one thing. The other thing was the play. They ran stunk, which they never factor into the 88 per se. They just ran this stupid, what was it, a fullback dive into nine people? If you're going to run that play,

run with the picket play that they won to win the Pittsburgh game where he rolled out and he had a whole bunch of people and three receivers in front of him or whatever. But they never factor in how bad the plays are with these percentages. So if you told me like,

all right, what are the percentages with the most predictable full, full back dive ever right into the middle? Um, I don't think it's going to be 89%. Here would be my analytics. Um, and so it's a little,

you know, unorthodox, but I would ask all, um, knowledgeable Vikings fans, do you want them to go here or do you want them to punt? And 107% would say we want them to go for it here. That's my analytics.

Yes. If the opposing team's smart fans want you to do one thing, you do the other. Also because the Chargers of their history would be like, please go for it. They'll fuck this up. Please. We're the one.

I know you guys make a mistake. We're going to jump off sides. We're going to do this. So then Cousins comes down and as we described earlier, he fucks up. 41 seconds left, just spike it. No, they don't do it. They end up losing the game. There was more than that. Herbert, I think, was

incredible today. He was 40 for 47, but there was some stat where Brian Flores blitzed him on like 82% of the passes. The Vikes were like, no, this is the one where the blitz is going to work. The blitz is never working. It's

failing every time. Both sides, just the strategy, it was just exactly the monstrosity that you would have guessed. So I guess Minnesota's done now. They're 0-3.

I don't really see a road map. And you were right. 0-3 in close games. In one-score games. And you pointed to that last year. I think they were 11-0 or 11-1 last year. Now, obviously, 0-3. Yeah, and the Thursday night game

pits the two 2-0 teams, and the Vikings and Bears are at 0-3. I don't know if they're a cross-off yet, because you're right. They're not a cross-off yet. That seven seed could be bad. It could be like 9-8. One thing with Minnesota is their receivers can get open, and it always feels like they have plays downfield at all times.

I don't know what Madison's stats were today, and maybe they were better than the eye test, but he just doesn't seem like an everyday every down back to me, which maybe is one of the reasons they traded for Cam Akers, but it feels like they're a running back short. And I know they've had a couple injuries too, but... Alright, so

that game was ridiculous. He actually had 93 yards and 20 carries, but it just wasn't about that. But did you feel, when you watch him, does he feel like a... Nah. He doesn't feel like Dalvin Cook the last couple years or anything like that. I left that game feeling worse

about both teams. I don't know if that's possible. I know the Chargers won, but I don't feel good about them at all. They're the two worst teams in sports. Let's put it that way. They really are. Another thing that happened, Houston not only beats Jacksonville, I didn't put that game on until they took a lead.

They didn't make my initial cut. And that was an ass kicking. They were just better. It really was. That wasn't fluky. That wasn't like Dallas, Arizona. You can be like, all right. Dallas got a little lazy at the start.

They fell behind. A couple dumb penalties. Houston was better than Jacksonville, and I don't know what to make of that one. Yeah, I think what to make of it is both South divisions are kind of up for grabs, and this is what we're going to see every time they play each other. And the other thing

is we talked about it last week on Guest Alliance. Damn, the odds aren't up, but, uh, but Stroud for offensive rookie of the year was 10 to one. And I know everyone's saying B John B John this, and he was like,

Stroud's got to be the favorite. That's got to be way less. Do you see this, that about his passing arts, most career passing arts in first three games, Cam Newton, one, Justin Herbert, two Stroud three, Mahomes four, Luck five, Baker Mayfield six. He has 906 passing arts in three games.

Only three guys have ever done it. And eye test wise, it's fucking unbelievable. Love it. I'm really confident. I like his receivers. You know, Nico Collins and Dell who are like, if you're in fantasy leagues, you know who these guys are

and people are bidding on them. But, big physical, fast guys who make plays. And he's got... Robert Woods is fine there. Yeah.

Yeah. He's got a shitload of confidence. I like that team. I gotta say, AFC South odds, Jacksonville plus 150. I don't like that at all. I just don't think Jacksonville's look good. Tennessee plus 220. We have that from earlier in the year. What do we have that at? Plus 390 or

something like that? Yeah, it was in the threes there. I just wish... I don't know what I wish. I didn't like what I saw today, but I also think they can compete with Jacksonville. I think you throw out Cleveland games because they're big. Indy's plus 280, which actually seems too low. And then Houston plus 750 didn't seem like a crazy long shot to me. They have a lot of talent on both sides. And I liked Nico Ryan's. And I was thinking like Sean Payton murdered the new coach theory. We talked a lot about before the season about Sean Payton, new coach.

This usually works, but I was scared. I stayed away from them. I was like, I don't know who the new coach is. Who is it? Maybe it's D'Amico Ryans. Yeah. I had an apology for him. I apologized for him for what's about to happen. I guess I jumped the gun on

Ringer Wise guys today. I was like, D'Amico Ryans, I'm sorry. You deserve a better job than this. You're going to get today i was like the miko ryan's i'm sorry you deserve a better job than this you're gonna get blamed um just like the last two houston coaches were they were all both one and dones but this is bill o'brien's mess still and uh just hang in there but yeah he's doing more than hanging in there they have some they get to play carolina later this year they get to play arizona they still get to play uh they get to play Carolina later this year. They get to play Arizona. They still get to play... They get to play Jacksonville again. They get Tennessee twice.

They have an Indianapolis game. They're at the Jets. They're home for Denver. They got... There's a path for nine wins for them. And before the year, Houston 10 plus wins was plus 550. Houston to win the playoffs was plus 520.

And Houston to win the division was 10 to 1. And Houston to win the division was 10-1. And now it is plus 750. And I got to say, that division looks wide open to me. You got Jacksonville going to London now. They're playing two straight London games. God only knows what's going to happen after they come back from that. But I don't know.

I didn't feel like the Houston game was a fluke. I love going over odds and everything, but I feel like both South divisions we talk about way too much. I really do. I feel like it's like these teams aren't going to make a dent in the playoffs. I'm sorry. This is like us talking like a half hour about Pete Buttigieg's candidacy and the Democrat.

It's a nice guy. He seems smart, but why are we spinning our wheels here? They're not going far. With that said, NFC South division odds. New Orleans. New Orleans plus 145. Atlanta plus 160.

And Tampa plus 290. And Tampa might lose by 30 tomorrow night. I have no idea. At gunpoint, I would say New Orleans just because I thought Atlanta, Detroit, and Detroit was really good today.

I've been very dubious to Detroit, but their defense locked down Atlanta, and they were basically like, you're not running the ball against us. Desmond Ritter, if you could beat us, Godspeed. And he couldn't do anything, and they scored six points. While Tampa was 4-1, you pointed this out, and they didn't even play, and they're plus 290, obviously, because New Orleans and Atlanta lost. You pointed this out. And they didn't even play in their plus 290, obviously,

because New Orleans and Atlanta lost. And Carr got hurt. Yeah, we don't know when he's coming back. Quickly, you want to talk Zach versus Mac? What was it like as an innocent bystander? I got to say, it just seemed boring. It seemed rainy. It seemed like the turf couldn't even handle the rain.

Nothing was working out in that game, but I didn't love it so much. You must have been nervous at the end. I mean, it really seemed like a beatdown until the fourth quarter, and then you got outscored 7-2, and it was almost enough.

I was nervous the whole game. Mack Jones had three points in the second half. Since week 11 last year, the Pats have scored 10, 26, 10, 27, 24, 18, 23, 23, 20, 17, 15. We're going down. We're less than 20 points a game in the last 11. The defense, which it was weird. The announcers didn't mention it.

They had a lot of defensive linemen like going out or, you know, a couple of guys got hurt and the pass rush kind of slowed down and Zach Wilson started to get confident. Right. And there was like a 20 minute stretch there where I think every Pats fan was thinking this could be rock bottom in about an hour. Like if we fucking lose to a Zach Wilson,

come back and Belichick loses to the Jets and we go to 0-3, like this is rock bottom. Like what happens now? Because the schedule gets hard the next couple weeks. But the defense

But this is exactly what we thought, right? We thought this game goes way under and the Patriots win by, if they're given 2.5, take them, they'll win by 3 or 4

or maybe 10. But, you know, it's going to be in the mid-20s or 30s, right? I mean, we called this one, and we called the Minnesota Chargers game, almost exactly. I hate to be the Boston radio guys

because I know what they're going to do tomorrow, and they're going to be like, Max sucks. He's terrible. Get him out of here. He's a bum, all that stuff. He's just not good. He doesn't make big throws

in big moments ever. I said this on Thursday. He has one come from behind win and 36 starts now. They had two third downs in the fourth quarter where all they had to do was complete third and three,

third and five. It's not only that we don't complete the passes. It's these precision lob passes to backpedaling receivers who don't realize that the ball was thrown over the wrong shoulder. And it's like, they're fucking disasters. And these are the biggest plays of the game where it's like, all we need is...

It's like that picket made today on third down. He rolled out, he threw it to his guy, the guy was open, and that was it. The game was over. The Pats can't even do that. It's really rough. Here guy was open, and that was it. The game was over. The Pats can't even do that. All right. Well, here's my devil's advocate. I thought Romo did a decent job pointing out that nobody was open this whole game.

None of the Jets receivers. None of the Patriots. But honestly, who is he embarrassing? Farrell Brown? Kendrick Bourne? Devontae Parker? What have they loaded this guy up with? Juju Smith-Schuster? good for one or two receptions.

I don't know. But this is like, now we're turning into the youth sports parents who's like, the coach won't play my kid enough. It's like, at some point, Mac's got to have a good game and he's got to make good throws and he's got to have some awesome comeback or something. Like, what are we going to, he's going to have like some, have some awesome comeback or something like, what are we going to,

he's going to have a hundred starts where it's like, oh man, if he only didn't have, I don't know. I, I have a lot of trouble watching it and I really don't think I, like I watched Andy Dalton today in that Seattle game. I'm like,

Andy Dalton's better than Mac Jones right now. He's this. And I don't even think Andy Dalton's good. You have the cat. Well, I said, everybody's the same. Everyone's 15 for 29 for two Oh one with the touchdown or an interception or Well, I said, everybody's the same. Everyone's 15 for 29 for 201 with a touchdown

or an interception or something. I just, I'm so down on all the quarterbacks in the league. And you play Dallas next week. There's your comeback.

You'll be thrilled with that win. That is exciting. All right, we're going to take a break and then we're going to bring in a special guest to talk about this

Taylor Swift. Oh. Travis Kelsey combo. At Pennzoil, we have one job, pioneering a motor oil so advanced, you don't have to think about your motor oil. Instead, you can think about how your engine sounds, how your stomach feels as the RPMs build, how your wheels hug the curves,

and how, with the Pennzoil Platinum up to 15-year, 800,000-kilometer protection guarantee, your adventures will be many. Pennzoil. Long may we drive. Available at your local Canadian tire. Enrollment required. Keep your receipts. Other conditions apply. See Pennzoil.ca slash warranty for full details.

Alright, before we talk about Taylor Swift, Buffalo, who lost that weird Aaron Rodgers game week one, looked awesome last week against the Raiders. Looked really good today against Washington. And the Super Bowl odds have reflected the Buffalo. Are they back? I was the Buffalo.

I thought they were overrated the whole thing. That's your biggest bias, right, Buffalo? Because when they lose, it's like, huh. I don't think it's a bias because if I'm wrong, I'm wrong. I don't want to lose money. I'm with you, too. No, but, well, no, I get it. Yeah, we get hit. Their defense. There's accountability because you and I actually lose money

other than other people saying, just saying shit. But, you know, when they beat the Raiders, like, oh, the Raiders suck. And then when they house the Washington Commanders, you're like, house your team sucks. But we will go to all lengths to not give them credit. But I do think they're kind of back,

especially with that defense. Yeah, it feels... So if you're going to make the Jets game... That's the weirdest game of the year. Well, you're just... Rodgers gets hurt four games in. Maybe there's a letdown when that happens in real time. You're on the other team like, oh my God, they bring in Zach Wilson.

This game's over. We got this. And you just, it's Monday night. So maybe it's explainable. Maybe that was, we were talking about what's the weird game from week one. Maybe it's that game. The fact that Zach Wilson beat the Bills. But yeah, I think, I'm not going to admit defeat on the Bills,

but I think I was too down on them. So I'm trying to factor that in toward next week when we have this Buffalo-Miami game. I mean, James Cook was close to 100 yards again. He had 98. I just think it's a different team when stuff like that is happening and Josh Allen is actually running and not fumbling. That's interesting alright our buddy Nathan Hubbard is here not only does he host our golf podcast with House he also hosts every single album Nora Princiati

which has chronicled a lot of Taylor Swift stuff especially this summer which was the summer of Taylor Nathan's worlds collided today as this

Travis Kelsey Taylor Swift relationship which seemed like fun and like oh this is so cute. It'll never happen. Then all of a sudden, she's at the fucking game. What a genius. There's three late games, Nathan. Nothing's happening in any of them. We don't know that Arizona is about to beat Dallas.

It's like, God, give us something exciting. Then all of a sudden, there she is in the box. Super convenient that the Chiefs play the J nets next week on sunday night football in new york city where she lives less than two weeks before the movie uh comes out the only question now is whether her concert film is going to gross 100 or 150 million i think it's like it's one of three things it's either an incredible pr stunt for the movie and for this album that she's re-releasing at the end of october 1989 it. The second thing is it's really hard to be famous and impossible to meet people. And who says no to a handsome tight end guy and the mom's there, so it's safe. Or it's both. I think you got to fall in one of three camps. Well, she has definitely over the years...

I don't want to say every time, but there's been some relationships that seem strategic for lack of a better word. Do you think she'd be dating Travis Kelsey if it was March? cared particularly well for the Xs, like John Mayer, Jake Gyllenhaal, Joe Jonas just this week. Not great for these guys. They're all single and excommunicated. So Travis is really going out on a limb now. And the good news is in the off season, listen, when the Chiefs lose to the Dolphins in the AFC championship game, Super Bowl week, she's playing in Tokyo. So he'll probably retire and be there and can travel through europe and the rest of the thing keeps going but it hasn't gone great for x's so let's see what happens wait could i ask you something uh wouldn't ideally wouldn't it be the greatest though and i know they named usher as the halftime performer but if it had been taylor swift and this

relationship went kaput in november and she's singing the Travis Kelsey breakup song at halftime while Travis Kelsey's in the locker room ready to play the 49ers or whatever the second half. That would be the best. How do we arrange that, Nathan? You can get in on that. I think we're off script. At this point, there's a level of artists who have decided

that the NFL should pay them instead of them showing up. Although, look, it seemed like this was the first time they met in person. I don't know. There's some video of them walking out. She's not holding hands with them. She's a hugger. She hugs everybody. They got in his Camaro and drove off into the Kansas City night. He's wearing a Canadian tuxedo. It's kind of the best American moment since like Hulk Hogan playing the guitar in front of the American flag. I'm super proud of her, him. This is terrific.

We should be behind this. The fan base is psyched about this. Yeah, I was, well, that was my next question, but it felt like a Raya date that we were all just got to be witnesses to. Like the men on Raya, it's like, yeah, I'm going to be an arrowhead on Sunday. You want to come down?

Yeah, I'll come down. You can sit with my mom. Yeah. And then look, she's been dating for the last eight years British people

who look like tuberculosis patients. And so this feels like Independence Day for most fans. Like they're just so psyched that we have a handsome, as far as we know so far,

unproblematic American. The fan base is embracing him in ways I didn't expect. Sal, we talked about whether Mahomes was the most famous face of the league. And then now that Rodgers is out, who are the next couple guys?

And I always thought Kelsey is one of the five or six most famous NFL players we have now. Even dating Taylor, even dating Taylor Swift, like he hosted SNL. That's a good sign that you're pretty famous, but even dating Taylor Swift for two months,

I think makes him the second most famous football star now. Right. Who's more like that makes it more famous than Josh Allen. Yeah. Uh, I'm trying to think Mac Jones. Then there's, you know, I think you. Yeah. I'm trying to think. Mack Jones. Then there's, you know, I think you're right.

I think he's right there. No, no, no. I think I know. My team's terrible. You know, but I thought about this. They could technically flex that Jets-Chiefs game. I'm almost positive. And I wonder if this, they're probably not taking the Chiefs off Sunday night anyway,

but I know they don't love having to deal with Zach Wilson and all the blowouts we saw today is ugly, but I wonder if they check in with Taylor first. You might be right, Nathan. It could be like, hey, you're going to be there. Can you give us a little bump here? Just make sure just in case it's 43 to six in the third quarter. I wonder if that factors in. She's 100%. Listen, she should could play quarterback next week and it'll go well. Carrie Underwood showed up to the Vegas Steelers next week and it'll go well. Carrie Underwood showed up to the Vegas Steelers game tonight and nobody talked about it. Carrie Underwood was the unfortunate

recipient of the Taylor Swift thing. There's no breaking through the PR thing. The only person who could break through at this point is TB12, Bill. I'm surprised that TB12 didn't shoot his shot. I think he overthought it. Like he was watching

too much game film, like thinking about his way in. Travis Kelsey ran a six-yard dig, just put it out on social media that he wanted to date her and it worked. I just, no one ever thinks

how easy it is to make it happen, I guess. Pretty strong last couple weeks for her because she was at the MTV whatever awards. Yeah. And she was

winning over everybody with her reactions. I thought her luxury suite reactions on a scale one to Giselle I thought was a little better than Giselle. Like some of the Giselle

fist pumps and screams. Oh yeah. I feel like she had studied what to do and not do in the suite and just like realized pure joy and putting the arms up and going nuts was the way to go, right? She had to have studied this.

Well, screaming let's fucking go in the ear of the mom on the first date is a solid move. I would have appreciated a few outfit changes, but I guess that's fine for the first shot. Well, they can only fit so much in that tiny bag they let in the stadiums. But she's always felt like the theater nerd. She's now the prom queen. But don't underestimate what she did.

She's in the box. She was eating chicken tendies with self-made French dressing. She was mixing the ketchup and the ranch dressing, which was solid. She was drinking vodka cranberries. Again, she cleaned up the suite as she left. This is an all-American girl. She belongs in the Midwest doing Midwest things. It was a solid performance.

So she cleans up basically the entire female population first. I'm just talking like last 20 years. Then gets all the country fans too, wins their respect. Then gets the dads because the dads are all going to the concerts with their daughters and some boyfriends, maybe a couple of husbands, but really the dad demo. And they're all going to these concerts and they're going, man, she's really good. I'm impressed. 44 songs. We're cranking it. So when's that? But the last demo that she couldn't get because there was no way for her to get it, is this football demo. Right.

The biggest demo we have. The most important population of people. Yes. But it started, you can trace the origin story here to J.J. Watt. Because she opened in Arizona. That was the first show that she played. J.J. Watt went and posted a video about the physical feat of playing for three hours and 15 minutes and 44 songs. I think he made it okay for football guys to be into this.

And immediately, there's Aaron Rodgers in the box. There's a bunch of alpha dudes. John Cena's showing up at the show. And sure enough, you got Travis Kelsey. Nathan Hubbard's there. Whatever. Travis Kelsey shooting his shot on his podcast, which who knew? All it took was a friendship bracelet and a dream, and here he is.

Really, the lesson, as always, is shoot your shot. What an unbelievable, just great work by Travis Kelsey. Could I say one demographic she hasn't won over, I think? Patrick Mahomes' wife. For sure. I bet that's going to be a bitter, bitter, bitter double date if that happens. Jackson Mahomes, not psyched to be

Jackson, another one. Boxed out of the TikToks. I got to give credit to my friend Tommy Alter. He went to the SNL taping when Kelsey was the host a year ago. I think I might even mention this on the pod. He went to the SNL taping when Kelsey was the host like a year ago. And I think I might even mention this on the pod. And he left the taping because Kelsey kind of killed it when he was the

host. He was really good. And he was like, I think Kelsey is going to be like an A-list celebrity. Like, I think he's going to be like the rock. I think he's going to be a movie star and he's going to be in action films and he's going to have this whole career after football. And I was like, really? And he's like, yeah, that's my prediction. So he texted me today. It was like, remember my Kelsey prediction? And I was thinking like, this is how it goes, right? It would have seemed inconceivable that The Rock was going to be this A-plus list movie star in the late nineties. We would have predicted he was going to make some movies, but then at some point it became realistic. Maybe this will be.

So who knows? They might break up in a week, Nathan. And then shoot. What would her breakup song be? It would be called Incomplete or Not So Tight. Oh, interesting. Hopefully not that. Third down and 30?

Maybe, yeah. I'm going to say no on the second one, but it's not going to end well for Travis Kelsey. Time to punt? I do love the gamble. Yeah. I'm going to say no on the second one, but it's not going to end well for Travis Kelsey. Time to punt? I do love the gamble. Yes. I spiked his ass. I don't know.

Yeah. Something like that. Unsportsmanlike? It probably doesn't end well, but we should root for it only again, because this is the first American she's dated in a very, very long time. Your co-host, Nora Princiati, who hosts the Ringer NFL show and hosts every single album.

I actually thought her brain might break today. I was glad to see she was coherent. No, no, she's not coherent. We have about a four-hour long text thread where she's sort of coming to grips with it. It reads like any sort of stages of grief. And she eventually got there, but she still does not believe this is real. Her move is they had never met until today. There was a text thing back and forth. Her crew was like, just go. Who cares? His mom is there. It's safe. I haven't heard from her since she got in the

Camaro and drove off into the sunsets, which might mean that she had heart failure or it might just mean she's still processing. But this is a big night for Nora. Sal, I wish we had a friend who could have been a strategic date for Taylor at some

point. We're probably too old now because she's in her mid-thirties. But it would have been fun to know somebody who was like, oh, this would actually... It's like Carson Daly in the early 2000s when he was dating everybody. That would have been perfect. Jon Hamm, second. Oh, Jon Hamm. Maybe Jon Hamm

that could still happen. He's married now. I think he's married. I feel like this is going to have dramatic ramifications on the Chiefs season one way or the other. Because Taylor, when she gets involved, shit goes down. I feel like this is going to have dramatic ramifications on the Chiefs season one way or the other. Yeah. Right? Because Taylor, when she gets involved, shit goes down.

And she always wins. She is the one who wins in the end every time. Usher announces he's playing the halftime show. And four hours later, she's sitting in the box drinking vodka crayons with Travis Kelsey's mom. It's just a spectacular, just a spectacular stealing of fun. The all time, the best year any musician has had since Michael Jackson, what, 84? 83. It's not a debate. It is, I think it probably is. She got US senators and football announcers, the two stiffest motherfuckers on the planet to just parrot and do her lyric puns

incessantly on national television. It's really the sneakiest ninja marketing campaign in the history of music. Nate, who are we betting on the Ryder Cup? We're betting the US. Only because House has gone so deep on Europe, you know what that means. Anytime House goes deep on anything...

Just short House? Yeah. You zig when he zags. But I really think Bryson DeChambeau is complaining about not getting a call. Today, the women on the Solheim Cup tied and therefore Europe retained the Cup. So I think the US is ready to kick ass. They were unbelievable two years ago. Don't overthink it. We're going to kick ass this week in Rome. Simmons, do you find it curious that Nathan was the third judge in House Eats 3, the third and deciding judge in a contest that I lost, and now he hosts a podcast with the guy that beat me?

He cast his vote, and now he's... Yeah. I mean, whatever. It was many, many years ago. Yeah. Sal, it's been so long you forgot. Then when you started throwing up on everyone, I changed my vote. Oh, you did? Yeah.

When you started projectile vomiting... Yeah, he was your only vote, Sal. Oh, thanks. You lost three to one. Yeah. Well, I lost consciousness. So I forget really what actually went down. That is controversial that one of the three house seatsats three judges now hosts a pod with House.

Yeah. I mean, it's like a pro-publica investigation of this. How dare you? All right. So you can hear the Fairway Rolling podcast. Nate and House are going to break down all the Ryder Cup stuff. And then I'm sure there'll be an every single album at some point. Good to see you, Nathan.

Thank you. All right. This is an action-packed podcast. We don't even have an emotional parent corner. It hasn't even happened yet. I know. We're already at almost

the hour mark. This is great. I don't know if I'm going to make it. Yep. I also have a surprise for you. I also have a birthday surprise for you towards the end, but go ahead.

Yeah. Oh, well, you were also supposed to work on Bill McAfee. Well, that's the surprise. All right. Yeah, I know. It's a surprise that I you towards the end. Go ahead. You were also supposed to work on Bill McAfee. Well, that's the surprise. I know it's a surprise that I thought you forgot about. No, I didn't forget. Guess the Lions week four. You're winning 2-0-1.

I'm like basically the Bears. Thursday night, really good Thursday night game. I mean, I think this is probably one of the best four games of the week. Packers, Lions, and Green Bay. And hard to guess this one. I wonder, you think this is one of the reasons they rested,

or not rested, but scratched Jones and Watson and Bakhtiari when they knew they had this Lions game coming? Oh, interesting. Yeah, because if they play Sunday, they're not going to play Thursday. Yeah, it's like risky, right? Yeah. I have Packers minus one and a half. I had Packers minus one,

and it's Detroit minus one and a half. So I get that one. But I have a theory on these one and one and a half. They all flip. They always flip this year. And I think Green Bay was involved in two games where they flip. Today, they were one and a half. Against Atlanta, the same thing.

I'm not going to be too upset if I'm off by three points the wrong way. I think the Packers should be favored in this game. I don't 100% trust Goff on a Thursday night in Lambeau Field. I know Detroit's been pretty good this 100% trust Goff on a Thursday night in Lambeau Field. Goff still...

I know Detroit's been pretty good this year, and Goff's had some good stats for a while, but I still don't trust him 100%. He'll have it for every once in a while. I'll be like, oh, there it is. He's back. I'll never be convinced. He has three interceptions in the last two games.

He went forever before doing that. So maybe, you know, good team. Solid run game. Hutchinson's all doing that. So maybe, you know, good team, solid run game. Hutchinson's all and everybody's drilled the whole time. But yeah, you're getting the old golf a little bit here. I thought their defense was legitimately good today. I was impressed. I didn't know how much of it was the fact that Atlanta just with the Ritter piece of it,

they're just not threatening at all on a passing game. Sunday marquee game. This is the best game of the year so far. Bill's the offense. A couple good ones. Yeah, I wish this was in. It's in Buffalo. I wish this was in December,

but I guess we have to take it when we take it. It's in Buffalo, and it's a Red Hot Miami team that has scored 130 points in three games. We didn't even really talk about the 70 they dropped. The speed that they have, this Devon Achain, who didn't even play the first couple of games and comes in and he almost in some ways seemed better than Mostert. He's extending the lead with these long plays. And Mostert might be a top three back now

that Nick Chubb is out, right? It's just the offense. You're right. They do feel like they have a different gear. Do you know he's the only guy I have in all three of my leagues? Mostert. Mostert? Yeah. Wow.

And it was not intentional, but I ended up with him in two. So then I was like, all right, I guess I got to go all in on him. Were you counting the Patriots defense too? Because I know you have like six defenses in our league. Were you mad that I picked up the Pats defense? That wasn't fun. You hate when I have three defenses. Yeah, I don't like that.

It doesn't make sense. Sometimes it's an advantage. I have the Bills favorite in this game against Miami, but not by three. I think it is Bills by two and a half. All right. You got it. It's two and a half.

I said three. And we're on a text chain where, you know, with the Ringer Wise guys. I'd already picked. Well, they said two and a half. And you're like, I already picked. And Simmons is going to see this now. All right, fine. It's two and a half.

I think that's the right line. I don't think it should be Bills by three. Really? And I think this line is going to go down. Hmm. I don't think it should be Bills by three. Really? And I think this line's going to go down. I think this ends up at maybe Bills minus one or maybe even Bills pick them would be my guess. I mean, they were both blowouts. We won't see a blowout like the Miami-Denver blowout in a while,

but the Bills dominated too. I like the fact that we're getting them at their best right now. Great game. It's a must watch. It's definitely the first kind of must watch afternoon game we've had. I have two watchable games. The first one, just because it's us, Cowboys Patriots. Always fun when our teams play.

Catching you guys at a nice time with a bunch of O-line injuries. Digs out for the year. Sorry about that. Never like to see guysiggs out for the year. Sorry about that. Never liked to see guys go out for the year, but that did feel like a bad omen. I think your favorite... Bad omen. The guy has 18 interceptions

and less than three years worth of starts. It's more than a bad omen. Yeah, it's lousy. All right. Yeah, it was like after 96 straight hours of everybody talking about how great the Cowboys defense is and how great Parsons is, is Parsons the best defensive guy since,

and then Diggs just goes down in practice. Not good. Cowboys, I have minus seven against the Patriots. Ooh, I think you get this. I said five and a half, and it's six and a half. I'm surprised you went that high. You get it. My team sucks. What are you talking about?

Yeah, but don't you think we barely beat Zach Wilson? He was getting booed by these poor fans that were just getting this pouring rain and they were just watching Zach Wilson go three and out, three and out. And I thought they were going to charge the field and we won by five. But you think that Arizona

defense, that coach schemes up better than Belichick will be able to? Defensively against this Cowboys team? I don't know. I will say this. We're catching you the perfect week. Offensive line's banged up.

Coming off a loss. The Cardinals caught us at the perfect week. But yeah. I know what you're saying. The penalties are really bad. Those pre-snap penalties are just, there's nothing worse than watching something like that. Tell you who looked pretty good today.

Zeke Elliott. Yeah. He had a little pop. Maybe he's ready for a little revenge game against his old team. See, that's what I mean. You would never think, no, but you would never think he'd have as many,

did he have more carries than Stevenson? Like they screw that up or they switch it up so much you don't know what to expect. He could do something. Stevenson's been really disappointing this year. He had a play today where they had a screen pass for him and it was going to... And Romo was breaking it down after.

That would have been like a 30-yard play. He just dropped it. But I think as a pass catcher, you know, this is yet another year. It's the curse of James White where every other team has, like,

who's that guy in your team this year? That guy who made like five great plays running back. Yeah. Yeah. Every team has

one guy like that except the Pats. Yeah, Zeke had 16 for 80. Yeah, he was good today. 59. Yeah, that was hard today. They're good.

Hard yards. Next game is for the watchables. It's Cleveland hosting Baltimore. I think this is more than watchable. What's more than watchable? Super watchable? It's super watchable. We're going to know a lot about both teams.

I like this game. I think this is another catching the other team in a good week because the Ravens have had a lot of injuries. And if they don't have their offensive line, the Stanley's still out and the center's still out. And if they don't have their full offensive line, this could be a tough day for Lamar. I have the Browns favored by one and a half.

God damn it. I thought I was going to steal it from you. I had one and a half also, and that's exactly what it is. Browns by one and a half. God damn it. I thought I was going to steal it from you. I had one and a half also, and that's exactly what it is. Browns by one and a half. Very, very good game. I don't know if it's catching them at the right time. I think catching, there's the injury part of it too,

but I think it's like, you know, a team like the Ravens don't really lose two in a row a lot, right? So, had they won, you know, it might have been a different story.

I did something today, betting wise, and I did it in million dollar picks too that I swore I wasn't going to do all year because the Browns line was like either three or three and a half or there was juice on the three. And I was like, I'm going to make it easier.

In real life, I was like, I'll do a money line Browns and I'll put Cowboys Chiefs money lines with it. And then I can knock the juice down. And heading into the year, I was like, this is the one thing I'm not going to do this year is that.

If I like a team, I'm just going to bet them. I did that in week one, New Orleans, Carolina. I think that was week one. I was like, you know what? Three and a half, I'm not scared. I'm just going to do it. And then I talked to Sean and all of a sudden I'm trying to hedge this Browns bet that I

loved the whole week, and I'm losing money on it because you're a stupid team. But I'm just saying, that's the last time I'm doing that. If I like somebody at three and a half, I'm just betting it. I'm not thinking about it. And if they win by three and they don't cover, fine. But it's much better than getting the game right than losing because of some stupid parlay. I'm not doing that anymore. You can buy it.

You can buy it to three, too. I feel like I'm in Gambler's Anonymous parlay. I'm not doing that anymore. You could buy it to three. I feel like I'm in Gambler's Anonymous right now. I'm not doing that anymore. That's all this is, right? My name is Bill. I'm from Los Angeles. I have eight Fairly Watchables and only one Poopfecta game and then one for a new category

that I can't wait to share with you. Fairly Watchables. First one, Jags Falcons in London. They're saying the rating is going to be down for this year because it's going to be going against Ringer Wiseguys on FanDuel TV. Oh, yeah. The best Sunday morning show. The show is great again today.

I like that I texted in a bet and you guys just ridiculed me for like two minutes. Just trying to help the show out. Now the Falcons lost. The Colts won. The Colts' money line hit and so did Pittsburgh. I the Falcons lost. The Colts part, the Colts won, the Colts money line hit and so did Pittsburgh. That was nice. I almost hit the bet.

I texted you that it was Colts, it was Colts, Steelers, and Washington. Weren't the Commanders

in Washington? In Washington. It was like 27 to 1. Right, right, right. And I texted that and then you guys ridiculed me for two minutes. That's right.

Well, that's all we can do. That's what we do best. We don't give out picks. Jags, Falcons, London. I'm going to say Jags minus three. Yeah, you get that. I went a little lower. I thought it would be one and a half,

but both were subpar performances. But I guess you got to give. I guess it kind of is a home game for Jacksonville, right? And they're there next week too. I think there's a chance the Jags might be the, they suck team. They secretly sucked him. Cause you think like week one, they suck for three quarters. Then they played one good quarter and they stole that game. We two Kansas city, the chiefs were dying to give them that game. They couldn't take it. And then they got their asses kicked today by the Texans. There's a chance they might just not be good.

Now, they don't have their left tackle still, and I think he comes back after this game. So maybe that'll be what propels them. I think it also goes 7-10 and win this division. Not that I want to talk about this division. Don't get me wrong. Yeah, we're not talking about it. Don't read into that at all. Well, our next game is Steelers at Houston.

And this was one of the toughest guess the lines. I had Steelers by two in Houston. I think it's more. Yeah, it was four. It went to three and a half. I had three. So I get this one. That's too high.

Yeah, they don't trust Houston yet, and I guess Pittsburgh does have two wins. This will be a nice test for Stroud. If he succeeds against this defense. I can't believe how all-in I am on Stroud. It's not even a question that that guy's good, right?

I don't see a path for him not being good. I just think that guy's good. I don't even think it's a conversation. He's going to have really good stats. Just jump on that. I don't see the line right now because we do this late. The way the running backs are going down, I know B. John's very exciting,

but I don't think that's wise. Yeah, they only have... Right now they have MVP for FanDuel. Two is down to plus 350. That is unbelievable. That's going to get crazy. The draft is so funny, right? We had ringer guys that liked Stroud more than Bryce.

Some people like Bryce more than Stroud. But Stroud did have a lot of questions, right? Then he comes in the league and he's just awesome. It makes you think, what a fucking crapshoot this is like how do people not know this guy's gonna be awesome but all these people who study it like most of them are really unsure like well could this translate how do we get so many

good receivers well I feel like a jerk because I watched the you know I watched the playoffs the college playoffs and he went nuts on the Georgia defense most of which are pros now and I'm like and I'm like well that's not enough. These guys really do study it. No, I can't.

Forget about what I saw. It's dumb. It doesn't make sense. Colts-Rams in Indy. Probably Richardson for this game. Minshew got another W today. We don't know what's going to happen with the Rams against the Bengals tomorrow night.

We don't know if Joe Burrow's going to play. I, in fantasy, in all-time dice roll, where I just, in the flex league we're in, we're two QBs. You killed him. And I just,

I started Burrow. It's like, he might get scratched last minute. And then I just get a zero at that position. But my other option was Mac Jones. I wasn't going to start Mac Jones against the Jets. Your other option is to not carry six defenses and pick up just any quarterback. Who am I going to start Mac Jones against the Jets. Your other option is to not carry six defenses and pick up

just any quarterback. Who am I going to pick up? Gardner Minshew? I probably, probably Dobbs was out there. I think Burrow plays. How does Burrow not play?

They're 0-2. How does he not play in that game? It really is over. If it's 0-3, they should probably sit him, right? Yeah. Colts, Rams.

I have Colts by two and a half over the Rams. Yeah, I had one and a half. The have Colts by two and a half over the Rams. Yeah, I had one and a half. The Rams are favored by one and a half. It's a little wild. But again, these one and a halves flip. By the time we talk Thursday, it's going to be the other way, right?

What has happened to football with these one and a halves? I don't know. We're getting more one and a halves in four weeks than we've gotten the entire 2006 season. We need a name for it because we have the Vegas zone right for four to five and a half. What are the one and a half? We got to come up with something. Yeah. What's one and a half? It's kind of like the it's kind of like it's like you're screwed either way because the

finals going to be 28-27. You're going to bet the team that was one and a half point underdog but became a one and a half point favorite. That's the result, but I don't know. That's too long a name. It's like kind of leftover night when you can't decide what to eat and your wife's like, I think we have some chicken in the fridge. I think there's some broccoli in there. Maybe I could make a salad and you just kind of talk yourself into this C minus dinner.

That's the minus one and a half. The minus one and a half is Vegas being like, eh, here's some chicken. Like they, they, even they don't know. Right. But you end up with diarrhea all night. Right. Because it's a, it's, it's bad chicken. Right.

Cause I'm always on the wrong side. You're constantly thinking about Postmates. Yeah. I don't know. We'll come up with diarrhea all night, right? Because it's bad chicken, right? Because I'm always on the wrong side. You're constantly thinking about Postmates? Yeah. I don't know. We'll come up with a better name next week. Saints-Bucks in New Orleans. NFC South. The bane of Sal's existence.

I can't stand it. I think the Saints team might be okay. Defensively, they're really good. That was a dumb game today. They're up 17-0. All of a sudden, it was 17-11. It was definitely a momentum game. They couldn't get a first down to close it out, but I do think their

defense is good. Basically, all year, dating back to halfway through last year, their defense has been pretty lights out, kind of under the radar. Does Camara come back this week? Because they need a little offense. Camara comes back this week. Yeah.

They barely beat. They almost, you know, not that they almost lost, but they could have lost to Carolina Monday night. I know. I guess it's a short week this week. They need 23 points, not 17 every week. Camara's back. So I have Saints minus three over Tampa.

You get it. I said two. I don't know why I went a little lower. I thought Baker Mania was running wild. You're right. Baker Mania. Eagles, Washington. I guess

Washington is not going to go 17-0. This game is in Philly and I have Eagles minus seven and a half. What do we do here oh you got it damn I said eight it's seven this is a revenge game

right no that that means we split it no I said seven and a half yeah you had seven alright you're right I mean I'll split it I don't care

uh no yeah the uh they won this game Washington last year right they went to Philly it was a night game

was it a Monday night game they won this yeah I'm with you Ph. Right? They went to Philly. It was a night game. Was it a Monday night game? They won this. Yeah, I'm with you. Philly will... That's a tease. I might actually... That might be my first tease of the year. Man, Sam Howell looked very plantable today against any good defense.

He's good when it's like third and 13 and the pressure makes him scramble out of the pocket and then he has to run and he looks good. Yeah. Other than that, I don't know if I see it. Right. Like I don't know. Sam Howell versus Mac Jones.

I might even take Mac. Bengals at the Titans. And I think the Bengals are going to be favored. We could skip it. There's not, I mean, I didn't see anything on it. This team has a... This rivalry

has like a good... It's like a weird rivalry that makes no sense, but I feel like these teams have had some good games. I think the Bengals are favored. I'm making this left overnight. I'm going to say Bengals minus one and a half. I had the same thing, but I didn't really see a substantial line

because of the borough. All right, so let's skip that one. Yeah. Chargers home for the Raiders. And I use the word home loosely because there's going to be about 48,000 Raiders fans there. What's funny is the Raiders are going to have more fans at this game than they had at their own game tonight against Pittsburgh.

Yeah. This screams Vegas zone to me. This is the most Vegas zone game I've seen all year. And I'm going to say Chargers minus five and a half. Yeah, you're beating me up. I went high. I went six and a half. It's four and a half.

I don't know why I went so high. I'm still in the Vegas zone. Yeah, you're still in the zone. Yeah, it's weird. The Jags are going to have more fans in London than the Chargers have in the city of Los Angeles. I would urge people to show a lot of restraint and apprehension with the Chargers, who J.C. Jackson was a healthy scratch today. They're an expensive cornerback. Mike Williams looked like he got seriously hurt today. Eckler made it one game. He's missed the last two. It just feels like it was a top-heavy team to begin with,

and they're losing big guys every week, and I would just be careful. This is always a good game, isn't it? Isn't it always kind of close? Yeah. These two? 49ers are home for the Cardinals. I put this in the fairly watchables because...

I don't know why, but I really enjoy watching the 49ers. I don't know why, but I really enjoy watching the 49ers. I don't even care who they play. I like watching their offense. When all those guys are healthy at it, you can put them against anybody. I have a good time. I like watching that Giants game the other night.

Do you think Brock Purdy would do better than Mac Jones on the Patriots? You know, it's funny. I did a tweet about him in the first half. In the second half, he was really good. In the first half, what did he throw? Almost five near interceptions. Once again, he has that dad luck where he's hitting

the shots into the trees and they're bouncing right in the fairway. He had receivers breaking up his passes from being interceptions. You'll watch him for 10 minutes. You're like, oh man, it's falling apart. Brock Purdy, it's over. And then he'll put together like an awesome hour.

They'll help himself out. Yeah. Yeah, he's solid. And he's, I'll tell you this, he never loses his cool. Right. It's the best thing. Like even if he's having like a bad half hour, you don't feel like he's rattled, you know?

You like him? I do. I definitely do. And you know, he was out Ayuk, right? And I guess Debo Samuel thrives when Ayuk is out of the lineup. Yeah, and he makes all the easy plays, I thought for the most part. Yeah, there are some that drop in that could be picked, but he moves the ball. I like watching that offense too. I thought that was a frustrating Giants game

because it basically came down in the second quarter. They had like the third and 13 and third and 15. And they let the Niners do those garbage screens that they're great at. And it was like, obviously, Purdue's not playing well. Obviously, they're going to do a bubble screen or they're going to like whip it out to the side

to McCaffrey. Yeah, McCaffrey helps. It helps a lot. Yeah. No Mostert, but pretty good. or they're going to whip it out to the side to McCaffrey. Yeah, McCaffrey helps. It helps a lot. There's no Mostert, but pretty good. I have 49ers 12 and a half over the Cardinals. All right, I get this one. I said 13 and a half.

It's 14. Full 14. That's a little too high. They're not pulling that upset. They're drinking. Arizona's drunk until Thursday. Yeah, that's true. They've won their game. Yeah.

All right, next category, Poopfecta It's Carolina hosting the Minnesota Vikings 2-0 and 3's I think this is in the leftover zone I got Vikings minus 1.5 I went a little higher I said 2 and it's 3

They don't trust. Is Bryce Young supposed to sit another game or be back? It feels like this is a sitting slash let's give Bryce a couple weeks because he definitely had deer in the headlights in that Monday night game. I thought. So this is like, oh, your ankle's hurt.

I'm sure it's hurt, but I bet he could play, but I think they're being super careful. I don't think they want him to lose his confidence in two weeks. All right, new category. I can't remember us ever having to do this before. It's worse than the Poopfecta. It's the nuclear reactor spill.

Bronco's at Chicago. There's alarms going off. There's people wearing hazmat suits. There's alarms going off. There's people wearing hazmat suits. There's a cleanup crew. People are evacuating the town. This is the worst game of all time. We have the Broncos, who have just lost by 50, against the Bears, who have a fan base

that I think is the maddest at their team. Oh, yeah. I think any fan base has been in a while, like years. I'm trying to remember the last time a fan base has been this out on every aspect of their team, like all of it. They've had enough. What are they supposed to put in the stadium? There's a million things to point to here.

It's ridiculous. How are they? They had two Monday games the last couple weeks. Why not? Could there be two Thursday games? This feels like it should be a Thursday game too. I'd watch this if this was Thursday, an hour before Detroit Green Bay. I, if this was the Thursday night game, I think that would be it for Al.

I think he doesn't need Brentwood. I think Al says, I'll call this from my house, but I'm not actually going to Chicago. I'll do it from here if you get a good Wi-Fi connection. Al was almost flatlining during the second half of that Giants game. I mean, Herb Street's just, it's just really tough partnership.

I just feel bad. I love Al. I just want Al and Chris back. Well, it's the over-under. Not for life. Al, come back to me, Al. I love Al. I just want Al and Chris back. What's he over under? Not for life. Al, I just miss you, Al. Just come back. Just the

golf. I have the Broncos somehow favored in this game, even though they just lost by 50 points. You got to get it exact because I got it exact. You got it exact. I have Broncos minus one and a half over the base. Oh, you didn't get it. I put it in the left over zones. Three.

Three. God, that's insane. How bad do you have to be to be three point underdogs to a team that just lost 70 to 20? Well, I guess if you lose 41, yeah, no,

yeah, it's, it's Sean Payton doesn't have his quarterback. That's the problem. We've not, we've had a loser leaves town. We ever had a coach leaves, leaves, leaves his job and turns in his playbook?

I mean, if Iberflues loses this one, that has to be it, right? He gets Nate Hackett in. This is very early for a coach to be fired, but I can see it. Do you put that game on a TV or do you pretend it doesn't happen? I just told you. I'd watch it if it was Thursday So that cracks

Yeah I think so What's the over under of that Although Denver's defense is so bad You couldn't go under 45 and a half I don't want to watch one second of that game Sunday night Chiefs Jets At the Jets

A game that Looked incredible six weeks ago Sunday night, Chiefs-Jets at the Jets. A game that looked incredible six weeks ago. Yeah. This seemed like just an awesome game. Can't wait for this one. Chiefs-Jets. Let's do it, baby. Now, not as much. I have the Chiefs favored by 7.5 at the Jets.

Ah, crap. You get that. I said 10.5. Why isn't it 10.5? It's 8.5, so you get that I said ten and a half why isn't it ten and a half it's eight and a half so you get it come on how many points Chiefs have a good defense

this is not a break for Zach Wilson I have a Jets point that nobody else has because everyone's just like Zach Wilson he sucks the Jets to bring another thing. The Jets wide receivers, if you remove Garrett Wilson, are fucking terrible

across the board. Like, none of those guys are open in any game. Like, none of them were open in this Pats game today. It's like the fucking old-timers team. It's Lazard and Reggie Cobb. It's just guys you've never heard of

or guys who peaked seven years ago. Guys who Aaron Rodgers saddled you with and then said, I got to sit here. But I know it's easy and fashionable to blame Zach Wilson because he is terrible and he does eight things

that are noticeably awful and things you don't normally see during a football game. Like when he just fell down today when he wasn't sacked and just kind of self-sacked. It was like an own goal. All you have to do is double-team Garrett Wilson. Who's he going to throw it to?

No, I know. Tell me. It's like, oh, let me... Lazard has single coverage. None of those guys can get open. I kind of feel that way about a lot of guys. It's not all Zach Wilson. Why isn't Devontae Adams double and triple teamed

all the time? Jimmy G, what would Jimmy G do if that were the case? Like, I don't know. I have a jet take too. Maybe not as popular.

Zach Wilson leaves with Taylor Swift Sunday night. She goes for the younger man. I asked our fantasy football guys to investigate what happened to Hunter Renfro. Because I was watching him in the game today.

It was a complete afterthought. Two years ago, he had 103 catches. He had over 1,000 yards. He had nine TDs. And he looked like he was Wes Welker 3.0. Probably went for $23 in our draft. Now he's Braxton Berrios. What happened?

He's 27. I know he was hurt last year. They're going to investigate it this week. You might not come back with something for years. All right, you're up one, and I was off by a half a point here. Up one? I've been killing you this whole thing.

What kind of scoring is that? Eight to seven. That's what it is. Come on. Monday night, Seahawks at the Giants. I'm going to say Seahawks by two and a half. You lost that one, my friend. I said two.

It's one and a half. I swear. God damn it. Got it all here. You're talking about the leftovers left and right, and you could have gone left over and won this. 2-0-2. Oh, let me have something today.

This is the best you've ever done. Miserable week. I don't remember you doing this well through four weeks. Jesus. You know I will. Alright, let's see. Parent Corner. You want to have the floor? You had an emotional week. I did. I'll give you the bullet points because there's so much and you've been through this before so i'll start with

the saddest part which um was archie saying goodbye to his brothers his little brothers and uh it really was sad it was like a little hug in the in the living room and and i didn't know what to do and they wouldn't wouldn't stop hugging and And the Uber is waiting. The Uber is a whole other story. But Uber is waiting. And I finally announced they're sobbing. And I say, hey, guys, there's going to be things in our life to cry about. And this isn't one of them. Like your grandparents are going to die.

That's what you should cry about. And they look at me like, what's wrong with you, idiot? You don't even follow that with a joke. Like your friend Harry is going to break his hip. Oh, that would have been funny. But, but, but I had to get him to stop and I didn't know what to do. So even Harrison was emotional. Yeah. He was very emotional. Wow. He's an emotional kid anyway. But, um, but so that was, I didn't know at the time, but I'm like, oh man, if that's that bad, when the wife and I say goodbye to him, it's going to be worse. But anyway, so then the Uber driver pulls up and he's a 65 year old man listening to

new wave music. And the Cure's Pictures of You is playing. And it's like, you're remembering you. And I'm on the front seat with the Uber driver. And I hear my wife sniffling in the back. I'm like, oh my God, the guy hasn't even made a U-turn out of our street. And this is bad. But anyway, we get there. The Target, the shopping at Target is ridiculous. We spent two and a half hours in there. And basically, a lot of it deciding between, do you want two-in-one shampoo conditioner or do you want

separate? And it's like, we've been here two and a half. I just, just pick one. Like, do you remember your parents bringing you to target and buying stuff for forever? I don't remember being loaded up. I don't remember any part of that.

I just remember being happy. I had a towel and a bar of soap. It was like, yeah, yeah, I got, I think my parents gave me from home, a clock radio and like a,

a 17 inchinch Zenith television. And I was probably forced to sell them after Bernie Kosar screwed me in a three-team teaser like week three. I guarantee those things didn't last. The other thing I'll say is we get there, there's people moving in, and it's a combination of a fire drill and three Christmas mornings. You really should be able to take a class about how to get up the steps. Of course he's on the fifth floor of a four, five story building.

And, um, but it's like Christmas morning where you have to assemble a bunch of crap and like extension cords and stuff like that. And I, there's not too much to it except that like, he was so sick of us by the end of the actual, uh, of the, of the end of the, us being there, that the actual goodbye was uneventful. And I miss him a lot. He couldn't wait to get rid of you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I think it was like for the best. And, uh, you know, then we go home and he goes to the Oregon game and we watch it on TV. We watch Oregon whip Colorado and she's weeping every time they cut to the student section. And I'm like, all right, I can, can I enjoy this? I'm finally going to win a bet.

I have Oregon minus 21. And, uh, and that was it. So I don't know. I don't think you were wrong. I think in a way it wasn't as bad. The kid thing was very sad. Him saying goodbye to his brothers. But I think that the key is, and this is grim, but there's no pure joy anymore.

Like this should be a happy thing, right? Like once you have responsibilities, uh, certainly watching the Cowboys is not pure joy, but there's no pure joy anymore. This should be a happy thing. Once you have responsibilities, certainly watching the Cowboys is not pure joy, but that was my takeaway from this. Should be thrilled for the kid, but it really is a bummer. I think Zoe's been gone now six weeks

and the sadness comes with little memory things or like what I was telling you a couple weeks ago about like being in the store and be like oh I should get her some pickles and like oh she doesn't live with us anymore um yeah little moments like that or like tomorrow's my birthday it's the first my first birthday that she's not going to be here since like 2004 yeah you know and you think like oh that's weird she's been I've had every birthday I've had you know for 18 years she was there in some form

and now she's not so I don't know how's Ben saying goodbye to her was that well or was he like well he's a bad example because you know he's all right he's I don't know he he comes he gets like belatedly sad. He's not an in-the-moment sad guy. He's a belatedly sad guy. Yeah. So I feel like this is a recurring theme of Parent Corner. So my son had a football game Friday and was all excited because he's playing both ways. He was also going to return kicks and he was like, I can't wait. There was plays in the offense. He's like, just pump the whole week. So I showed up. I ended up getting there early. Usually I get there like a half hour before the game,

but I thought there'd be traffic and there wasn't. So I sat down, it's like 50 minutes before the game. And I'm just kind of watching them warm up and they're throwing these long passes and they're all taking turns. and he's in the receiver group and he runs down and the pass is up and he kind of turns around, he jumps up and he kind of missed time to jump and he lands and just goes down and he goes down, he rolls over, he's holding his leg. And I'm like, oh my God, I just watched my son tore his ACL. Like that's the, what the fuck? So I run down there, he's rolling around and then they're like, it's his foot, it's his foot. Like that's the, what the fuck? So I run down there, he's rolling around and then they're like,

it's his foot, it's his foot. And when he was seventh grade, eighth grade, he, during the pandemic, he broke his foot

and he broke his ankle, which we talked about on Parent Corner. Two different, one playing football and one, one doing the stupid skateboard, which is when he lost

the skateboard thing. So he's convinced he broke his foot because he heard a pop. He's really upset in the trainer's room. It's like a half hour before the game. The trainer's doing all the stuff and he's moving around. We're sitting there. I'm like, I can't believe this fucking kid broke his foot.

My daughter's been hurt the whole year. It's like, what's going on? Is the ghost in the house now messing with us? Guy does all the exercises. Like, I don't think you broke anything. I think you just sprained it. Tapes them up.

He ends up limping around through the whole game. Now he's got a sprained ankle. And then my daughter comes back Saturday and I'm watching that on the, on the, the stream. And she's finally relatively healthy from this hamstring pull. And then of course, five minutes left in the game,

they're up by like six goals and collides with somebody and all of a sudden she's limping around. And then I don't know what happened for 20 minutes. And I just like, by the end of the two games, I'm just like, I feel like physically ill. Like, what's fun about this? So anyway, I thought

I think there should be a rule. I think parents should be able to give body parts and muscles to their kids. I wish there was a way like, Ben hurts his foot or he sprains his ankle and the doctor's just like, we're going to need your right ankle. Like, great, here it is.

And I could just take it off and give it to him. Or I could give my daughter a hamstring. I just wish parents could give their kids their body parts because I don't need them. What do I need an ankle for? Well, they can. Just walk around LA. You have to wait till you're dead, I think,

right? Like organs and stuff. But you mean actual. Yeah, I just wish there was a way to spiritually transfer them along. So that's one thing. And then the other thing. How long is he out? How long is he out for? No, he's playing. He's just, you know, it's an ankle sprain. Stephen, I'd like that Norma Tech, all that bullshit. Right.

But the big picture though, football. Just a lot of injuries, man. A lot of collisions. So many chances to get hurt. So many. And then I watch, I watch these Sunday football games

totally different now because I'm watching through the prism of thinking about him and you see just all these collisions and hits and guys go down. And when, as football fans, when we watch these guys go down,

we're just thinking like, oh, that guy's hurt. Now they're a D back down. We're not thinking of the humans piece of it just because we're conditioned not to. We're just thinking about it in the context of the game. But now it's like it's really fucked with me with how I watch football. I notice every single injury in a different way.

It's spectacular that whether it's a long-lasting injury or not, that every play isn't stopped for a minute and a half to cart someone off or at least check on somebody or something. It's really something else. Yeah. Sorry to break your time. What was your other one? Yeah, no, I just, I don't know.

I feel like I just ended on a downer, but I just, it's really fun when your kids are little to be a sports parent. Yeah. And then as, as they get older and the stakes climb and everybody's like adults, it's just way more nerve wracking than fun. It's the only way I could describe it is it's like playoff baseball or playoff hockey or something like a playoff overtime or, you know, a one, one 10th inning playoff baseball game where you're just like, you're having a heart attack and you're just relieved. Nothing bad happens.

That's how I feel watching my kids play sports now, which is not how I used to feel. Right. Yeah. Anyway, it's just, just a relief. Yeah. Yeah. That's my, that's my parent corner. Um, oh, and, uh, cousin corner, the writer's strike is over. Seems that nice. That was good. Yeah. Little Sunday night corner, the writer's strike is over. Isn't that nice?

That was good. Yeah. A little Sunday night, end of the writer's strike. What was it, like 150 days? 146 days? Something like that? It was crazy. May 1st or something? Yeah. That's good. TV's back. It's fun. Our cousin Jimmy, Strikeforce 5 is over? Or they'll do

more? I don't know. I hope they keep doing at least some of them, but I think they're going to be busy now. I mean, we could do Cousin Corner really quick. Like, we needed the strike to end. I think he was starting to drive people crazy. It was the word in the street. A lot of people were waiting for him to go back to work.

Word in the street, word on the beach. No, he's going to go. He's back doing what he does best. It's fun. It's fun. This is great. All our friends were out of work. Yeah.

Yeah, we didn't talk about the writer's strike that much, but it was just brutal, the effect it had out in LA. And I know the auto workers, there's a lot of union stuff happening out there, but this one, I thought, you could really start to feel the effect on the city.

And just all the people that work for shows or write for shows, it just felt like if this kept going toward October, November, this was going to be awful. And they got everything they asked for. They got every single thing they asked for, which is good.

I didn't even look at the terms. I don't know. I didn't even look at the terms. I have no idea. I'm just so glad it's over and good for everybody. I'm happy it's over and I'm happy that we'll have people writing shows and things to actually watch because it's pretty grim right now. This late

September to December stretch, which is usually loaded with prestige TV shows and all these different things. A lot of the streamers were pushing stuff to next year. Netflix is renting HBO shows now because they're like, all right, here's Ballers.

Maybe you haven't seen it. So I'm glad we get to make new stuff. Yeah, normally I wouldn't have wasted three and a half hours watching the Cowboys lose a game that I knew they were going to blow to Arizona. I would have watched Deadwood or something. Is that your nemesis team? Your strange, bizarre

nemesis team, Arizona? Do you have a bad history with Arizona? I keep thinking of that Jake Plummer. What was it? Jake Plummer beating them all the time? Everyone's best win. Outside the division kind of thing. Just like the weird kind of wonk team for you guys?

Not like the 49ers, just a team that's... Seahawks are another one. They cause a lot of injuries. That's that playoff game. The Blood Diamond. Yeah, I would say that. Ours was always... I always felt like Denver.

I don't even know what the record was against the Bradys, but as a kid, I just always felt like Denver was going to beat us. No matter what kind of team they had, what kind of team we had. Was that Manning that beat you last, that playoff game, or did you win that? Manning beat us, but even going way back, the Rulon Jones safety against Tony Eason was a traumatic Pats moment. Elway beat us.

Just felt like he would just come in and kick the shit out of us every once in a while. Anyway. All right, Cuz. Well, you know, I do have something. You know, someone's here and he wants to introduce... I know he said it was your birthday, Pat McAfee. I don't even know why he's in my house, but I did. I thought he was doing well for himself, but I have this extra room and he asked to stay here. And he's like, I got to come on. I got this character I do now.

And it's a Bill Simmons character. So it's Pat Mack. Pat, come on. And he has this Bill Simmons character. So- Okay, let's hear it. I'm excited. It's Billy Mack. All right. So here it is. Yes, that's right. Billy Mac is here. I'm standing up. You know why? Because I have too much energy and testosterone to sit down.

Sitting down is for sissies and stooges and clowns. Yes, I have my arms exposed in this tank top because I'm a punter. But I need to show everyone that I also do preacher curls. I'm just kidding. I'm not a punter, but my daughter plays soccer so that automatically qualifies me as a footy expert. How you doing? Keep it moving. I'm wearing my gold chain to intimidate you in case I have to rumble with my nephew Kyle right here in this podcast studio. I'm a thermostat, not a thermometer. I set the temperature. Yes, that's right. I've made millions and millions from Spotify, from HBO, and from unboxing Rocky II trading cards.

Did I say that out loud? Be where your feet are, greedy corporate fat cats. Pick them up and put them down, motherfucker. Billy Mac, over and out. Wow, that's great. See you Pat He just walked away Oh man

It's great to have him on Congrats on all your success Pat Yeah that's great He's gone He took off Billy Mac Billy Mac Billy's got no voice

Unboxing Rocky II cards Yeah I don't know where he gets this stuff from What a maniac. All right. Action Pack podcast. Good job by you. Good job by you. Happy birthday, Billy.

Thank you, buddy. All right. That's it for the podcast. Thanks to Cousin Sal. Thanks to Steve Cerruti and Kyle Creighton for producing, as always. Don't forget, new rewatchables coming Monday night. It's a good one. And I will see you on this feed on Tuesday. I feel the air slipping On the wayside On the first side of the road

Saying I don't have to be Must be 21 plus in present and select states. FanDuel is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with Kansas Star Casino, LLC. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit fanduel.com slash RG. In Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio,

Pennsylvania, Illinois, Tennessee, and Virginia. You can call 1-800-NEXTSTEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 in Arizona. Call 1-888-789-777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat. Connecticut, 1-800-9WITHIT in Indiana. 1-800-522-4700 or visit ksgamblinghelp.com in Kansas. Thank you. 522-4700 in Wyoming. Hope is here. Visit gamblinghopelinema.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8HOPE-NY or text HOPE-NY in New York.