The Bill Simmons Podcast - Jonathan Taylor Day, Minnesota Un-chokes, KC’s Back, and More Week 11 Weirdness With Cousin Sal

Episode Date: November 22, 2021

The Ringer's Bill Simmons is joined by Cousin Sal to discuss the Chargers' win in a shootout with the Steelers, Cowboys-Chiefs, Bills-Colts and RB Jonathan Taylor's historic day, the Packers' loss to the Vikings, realistic Super Bowl teams, Lions-Browns, Ravens-Bears, and more (1:40). Then they Guess the Lines for NFL Week 12 (38:15) before closing the show with Parent Corner (1:12:10). Host: Bill Simmons Guest: Cousin Sal Producer: Kyle Crichton Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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like Miller time. Must be legal drinking age. We're also brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook as well as the Ringer Podcast Network. Here's the schedule for this podcast coming up for the next couple days. Obviously tonight. Then I'm going to have something on Tuesday morning slash afternoon-ish Pacific time.

And then finally Wednesday, little mega pod heading into the Thanksgiving holiday, including some million dollar picks for the Thursday game. So that's what we got going on. I'm also on the Prestige TV podcast tomorrow. So you can check that out. Final episode of the morning show. Honestly, one of the worst shows

I've ever watched in my entire life. Can't wait to talk about it with Amanda Dobbins. And coming up, we're going to talk to the cuz, Cousin Salas here. Tipping us a little later than usual, 845 Pacific Time Sunday. Just watched a bizarre Steelers-Chargers game. Chargers up by 17. They went full Chargers on us. Blocked punt.

Deflected pick in the air. Fourth and inches on their own 30 for no reason at all. 35. That gets stuffed. All of a sudden, the Steelers are up three. And then they get the late

Mike Williams touchdown and the Chargers win. And all 330 Chargers fans at the game were going crazy at this game in LA. What are they going to do about this Chargers thing? This can't continue for the rest of our lives. It can't. I don't think it's good. I get it. Obviously, you're a Steelers fan, you're traveling. It's hard to not let these people in. But when they're checking the VACs card, they should also check to see who you're rooting for.

It's just not, it's not pretty. It's not pretty to look at if you're a Chargers fan, yet they keep winning. And I don't know, even when the Steelers were down two touchdowns, I'm like, yeah, this team and the Chargers both could be amongst the best in the AFC. There's no clear cut winner, right? At this point. I know. I, I wrote down a question. How many realistic Superbow Bowl teams do we have right now heading into Thanksgiving week? AFC. I think New England, Kansas City, Tennessee, and Baltimore are all realistic. Tennessee is a little unrealistic, but they also might be a number one seed. So I think those four have to be in there. In the NFC, Arizona, Tampa, Green Bay, Dallas, Rams. Now I'm up to nine. And then you have Philly, Buffalo, Tampa, Green Bay, Dallas, Rams. Now I'm up to nine.

And then you have Philly, Buffalo, Minnesota, Indy, and I think even the Chargers as maybes. So we have 14 possible Super Bowl teams. I swear to God, even if you told me Philly was going to be in the Super Bowl, I wouldn't poo-poo it. There's no good teams. What do we do? It just, and like, this is week 11, right? So when we're done with tomorrow's game, it'll be week 11 and 11 weeks. And so that's really the halfway point of the season because there's 21 total weeks. However you want to look at it. I don't think we've learned a damn thing.

Like we know which teams aren't making it. There's four or five or six or seven teams that are just junk and not going to make it, but we'll still screw your money line parlays as the case with the the texans um but like i said those afc and maybe i crapped on it too early because then the chiefs beat up on my cowboys they did a number on it but um i yeah you say maybe i think all those teams can win the super bowl because no one's a cut above the other in either conference. Yeah, this was the case that I kept making for the Pats a couple weeks ago. So it was like, who am I scared of in the AFC? And then it seems like everybody has come toward them at the same time they're going up. NFC, it's like nobody wants it. You have Arizona, who's shown the most heart of anybody, and they're winning games with Colt McCoy instead of Kyler Murray.

But if anything, they've probably shown the most, most resolve resilience kind of well-rounded game. They can win in a whole bunch of different ways. Your team. I can't tell if this was just a peaked first seven weeks of the season. The schedule was a little easy situation, or now you're having bad luck and you lost CD during the game. And of all weeks to lose and now you have this thanksgiving thursday concussion i'm assuming

he's not going to play cooper's hurt your offensive line's a mess the defense which only gave up 19 of the chiefs has been fine but the mccarthy situation you could really feel it today how many of these did you have 200 it was really bad and you know yeah when the today. How many of these did you have, 200? It was really bad. And, you know, yeah, when the offensive line is at its worst and Mike McCarthy is at his worst and, you know, not taking any of the two timeouts he has, which he's clearly playing for the field goal before half anyway, which would have made it 16-6. Okay, whatever.

We didn't even get those points because with 36 seconds left, he lets the clock run with two timeouts and then pumping the ball away on fourth and nine with, what, minutes left as if you're going to get the ball twice without the chief scoring at the end. So that's Mike McCarthy in a nutshell. But yeah, that offense line was as bad as I've seen it. It played without Tyron Smith, but that was really, I mean, five sacks. How many pressures?

I know Dak didn't help himself. God forbid they have a design run in there. Carson Wentz is sprinting for like 15 yards at a clip, but Dak Prescott, they can't help himself out with a design run to break things up a little bit. And Zeke got hurt early. Everything that could have happened bad was going to happen. Cedric Wilson and Michael Gallup aren't the same as CeeDee Lamb and Amari Cooper. And that's just that. And all that said, they were still in it because the Chiefs continue to suck offensively. Dak didn't have it from the first series. You could kind of feel

it. It wasn't because he's been pretty elite for a few weeks there where you could have made a case he was playing better than anyone at that position. But he missed the throw in the first series. All of a sudden, the Chiefs had the ball and then in the game, and it just had the makings of one of those games i lost i think i did a better a million dollar picks than in real life i think i lost a lot because saints right well i had the

saints i had uh i had the vikings but i had them tied in with the bills the bill had the bills attached to a lot of stuff and then then heading into Sunday, I was like, I'm going to take the Colts plus seven and a half and I'm just going to try to middle everything. And then, of course, the line dropped to seven. I'm like, ah, screw it. I'll just ride the Bills. And they just look terrible. The Colts killed them

in that game. That was one of those where I think if they play ten times, I think the Colts win like eight of the times. It really seemed like a bad matchup for the bills. And I've been saying this for a couple of weeks in the pod and people think I'm being a Homer, but I just don't see it with the bills. They haven't played well since week five. I don't see it. I don't understand why just because they did well last year, that means it translates to this year. You can run right on their D you can run right up their gut and they

have one above average skill guides digs. That's it. Knox is D. You can run right up their gut. And they have one above average skill guide, Stiggs. That's it. Knox is okay. They have no running game. And Allen hasn't looked anything close to what he looked like last year. And at this point, we have a pretty big sample size that that team's not very good. I just think the Colts had their number, not just today, but I think it would be pretty much every time they played. So the Pats, similar to the Colts in that they're going to be able to run the ball. They're going to be able to pressure Allen. I think they can take out digs. I think it's a great matchup for the Pats. I'm not scared of the bills. Yeah, I'm with you. Or I guess I was against you because I had the Colts.

I actually thought they'd pull the upset because if you give them the win against the Ravens, I know you could do this for any team, but if you give the Colts a win against the Ravens, which they should have had against the Titans, which had a you could do this for any team, but if you give the Colts a win against the Ravens, which they should have had against the Titans, which had a 14 point lead and then blew it, but then had the ball driving and fourth quarter to, you know, what are they like a six and two team, something crazy like that.

What would they have been? What would that line have been like three and a half or four? Like that's, that's really what the difference between that. And then Jonathan Taylor went nuts. As far as your division goes, did you see, have you seen odds on the AFC East? What do you think they are?

You now have one more win. Give them to me in 20 seconds. I did feel like when I saw the weather was going to be bad and you think, all right, I'm betting against Carson Wentz and I'm betting against Frank Reich, this game's going to be close. The thing is, the game was never close. The Colts are one of those teams, and I think there's six or seven teams like this, that if they're up 10, the game's basically over

because they could just control the clock. Patriots plus 120. Oh, you didn't mean a literal 20 seconds. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Patriots plus 120.

I knew that would get you. Bills minus 165. Patriots, even with the half-game lead, plus 120. Oh, that's ludicrous. Honestly. The Pats were, I think, 10-1 on FanDuel three weeks ago. Oh, yeah.

And then it was 4-1 last week. It didn't make any sense. And yet, I don't know. I do feel like you're going to do the same thing. Just run against them and show how soft they are. At least how soft they've been. They beat up on the Jets. They played the Jaguars and lost.

The bad teams, they could look good or not look good against. I don't know. All of a sudden, Josh Allen is in favor to win the MVP and the Bills are... Oh my God. He can't even be in the top three anymore. He's actually... Isn't he second? Yeah, he's second. He's 5-1. But that's just because they don't know how

to... Once there's money on a certain guy, they don't know how to ship the odds. I guess. The last time they looked like a contender, I went through their schedules, week five, the at Kansas City game. Chiefs, yeah. Yeah.

You could say like, no, no, they killed the Jets. It's like, great. The Jets suck. That was six weeks ago against the Chiefs, which is not playoff caliber at that point. So Buffalo's next three, of course, they're at a tailspin. They're playing Thursday night, but they get to play the Saints.

So it's kind of a double tailspin game. But still, if you're the Bills, you can't be super happy about that. Then they got New England 10 days later. And then they have at Tampa. That's their next three. And the arrow is pointing down for them. They also

got demolished by Jonathan Taylor, who has been the best fantasy guy this year. 50.4 fantasy points today. Eighth time ever, somebody has done 50. It felt like he actually had a chance. I think the record is, what is it, 55? Yeah, somewhere in there. Are you going back?

No, I haven't. Marshall Falk days? No, I think it was Clint Portis No, I haven't. Marshall Falk days? Clint Portis was, I think, second ever. Clint Portis was number one. 55.4 in 2003. Then your guy, Kamara, last year, he had 53.2. Alexander

53.1. Dylan 51.6. Jamal Charles 51.5. Doug Martin 51.2. Jamal Charles, 51.5. Doug Martin, 51.2. And then Taylor is sixth. They could have given him the... I mean, they don't care about any of this fantasy bullshit, but he could have broken that. He could have broken that. How about Jerry Rice

with the 52.5 once? Did he really? Yeah, 1990. The only two receivers ever have been 50. The other one was Jerry Butler with the Bills. I knew it was good. But Taylor, who I think he won the league for everybody on the planet except for your boy Damoshek, who I toppled. Are you beating him?

That's it? Yeah, I put him away even though he had Taylor. Well, at least he'll be in traffic for the next six hours trying to get back from SoFi. So he's got that going for him. People throwing Primatis at each other, Primati sandwiches. in traffic for the next six hours trying to get back from SoFi. So he's got that going for him. People throwing Primatis at each other, Primati sandwiches. But our friend

Louis K, who is a very important PR person here in LA, handles PR for The Ringer and myself sometimes. Our cousin, Jimmy Kimmel, he's got a very powerful guy. We're in a fantasy league with him. He benched Jonathan Taylor this week.

Yeah. And then we talked about how we were texting him how we were going to bench him on the pod. He's like, don't. People are going to think I'm an idiot. That made me want to put in the title. Of course. Lewis K benches Taylor. Should that just be the title of the pod?

We're 11 minutes in. We gave him a break. We were waiting this long. It's unbelievable. How do you bench Jonathan Taylor? I told him. I said, Lewis, when you were on that chain, I was like, Lewis, we have to say something because if this

leaks and we didn't tell anybody, we're going to look bad. We look bad. Then it looks like we're covering up for him. Celebrities have enough trouble these days trying to stay uncanceled. We want to make sure they hitch their wagon to someone who's paying attention. And frankly, he's just

not. I think he needs to get ahead of it with his background in communications. Exactly. The last thing you want to do is try to cover it up and pretend. Then it snowballs. So he started Nick Chubb against the Lions. Defensible.

A.J. Dillon, right? A.J. Dillon. Heb against the Lions. Defensible. AJ Dillon, right? AJ Dillon. He starts against the Vikings over Jonathan Taylor in Buffalo. Jonathan Taylor, the best guy in our league. Benches him. And then he loses. He should have a press conference. He should hire Gloria Allred.

I don't know what he should do. You're right. He should get in front of it. And then he lost to the last place team in our league. Yeah, it's like two and eight. Yeah, so it was a 39-point difference, and he lost by 15. I can't wait to see. We still subscribe to that dumb CBS website,

and they send the synopsis of each matchup. It's not dumb because of that. And they insult the team. I can't wait. I can't wait to see how they insult Lewis. It's going to be unbelievable. He'll get to them.

It'll be a puff piece. You'll see after he's done. Sorry, Lewis. We love you, Lewis. This is why we talk. We talk about you. Yeah, well, at least we gave him a heads up.

So another benefit to Buffalo losing the Patriots third in the AFC now first in the AFC East. First in the AFC East. The league leader in point differential.

And a chance to be the one seed two weeks from now if they can take care of business against Tennessee and Buffalo. Yeah, you know,

I spoke to all of our listeners today and they said they don't really want to hear about the Patriots. They said your win was too far removed. Yeah, your win was like 72 hours ago, so we should move on. But no, I'll give you that. I mean, there's no arguing that they're the most balanced team

in the AFC right now. Right now. But it's very early. It's so early. It's like we have, what did we have? 17 weeks? We have six more weeks left. In a month, we'll have 2 weeks left

this was the first week when it really felt like the season was too long because I was doing I wrote down for all the playoff teams I just wrote down

who they had left just shorthand so I'd have it from this point on and then like the Patriots they have 6 games left some of these teams

have 7 games left like Thanksgiving's in 4ots they have six games left some of these teams have seven games left like Thanksgiving's in four days there's seven games left on the schedule are you saying it seemed too long because we saw

Joe Flacco and we saw Tim Boyle and we saw oh I have the whole list Ty Taylor let's go through it do it

we have one arm these are quarterbacks we had today and we had bi-week teams too. One arm Baker Mayfield, how Case Keenum isn't better than him, I just don't understand what anyone's looking at.

Tyra Taylor, Tua, Flacco, Simeon, Heineke, Colt McCoy, Huntley, Andy Dalton, Boyle, Cam Newton. Those are all people who had important quarterback roles today. And Ben Roethlisberger, who actually, after you watch all these crappy quarterbacks,

Roethlisberger's looking better and better. He might be able to play five more years. Great. Put him in the Hall of Fame right now. Can't move. Carson Wentz is another one. He had 11 completions and looked like one of the top three quarterbacks today. And Cousins is looking like

he's worth another $150 million contract or whatever at this point. And if you talk to Baker's wife, she would say, how bad was that? You saw that whole thing, right? Recap it for us. So she goes on, well, let me find the, the tweet,

but you know, so he has, what kind of game does he have? He basically doesn't have to do much and they scratch by, he has a lot of injuries. I'll give him that, but he was 15 for 29, one 76 and one touchdown.

Yeah. And I'm trying to find. And also like at least what? 15 points in that game. It looked like he wasn't going to get up. It was one of those performances where i don't know how that doesn't affect the team at some point when it looks like their quarterback is on death's door after every play and so at some point after the game his wife i don't know is this an instagram post says no one better say anything bad about at baker mayfield after this game. I don't think I've seen toughness like this.

She doesn't think she's seen toughness like this in a while. Maybe the rest of our team should take the hint and get tougher. Oh my God. I would have to divorce her. I really would. I was like, are you kidding me? Now I have 52 guys hating me in the locker room because of you.

What good does this do? How long does this take to figure out that this does no good? When the spouses and significant others get involved on social media, it's a 0% chance it's a good thing for the team. Right. Even Giselle, remember after the Super Bowl, the Philly game, when she had that thing like, Tom can't catch the passes too, or whatever. It's like, ah. Wife, mother, kid, husband, if you're a female athlete, whatever. They just can't weigh in. It's never going to end up good.

He probably hopes he gets COVID for the next two weeks at this point. This is why I never talk to my wife about this podcast. I never say anything about Kyle. I don't ever want her to go on Instagram. Like, if we have some pod takes too long to go up or something. And she does some Instagram posts. Dude, the podcast doesn't put itself up. Other people are

involved. There's no way Case Keenum isn't better than really, really banged up Baker Bayfield. And they should have lost that game. And you look at these AFC games. Remember back in the day when people would talk

about the Belichick Pats used to pull these games out? These Baltimore wins are at another level. I don't understand how in God's name they won that game today. Cleveland's had a couple. Pittsburgh's had a couple. Even that tie they pulled out of their ass. And then Tennessee is another one. These games that are like these 50-50 games, and there's four AFC teams that have just grabbed the vast majority of them.

It's bizarre. Yeah, and I don't know. I mean, we were looking at that this morning, right? When it was announced that Lamar went out, it went from five to they were still favored. I was like, why are they still favored? This is stupid. They're favored by one and a half. And then it seemed like they were going to win by one. They're like,

oh, yeah, okay. That's what's going to happen. And then you remember that Matt Nagy's on the other side, too. And I know everybody's calling for his head this week, but when they lose to the Bears on Thanksgiving, that will be the Lions. Sorry, the Lions. Because I

think there's just a doctrine out there. Like, Hey, there's nothing we could do about it. If you lose back to back, you know, to, um,

Ty Huntley and Andy Dalton, we just have to let you go. There's just, it's just a policy. There's nothing personal. We just have to get you out of there. No, it'd be Ty.

It would be Ty Huntley and. Goff's backup. Sorry. What am I thinking about? Yes. I screwed that whole thing. You're getting all of your bad quarterbacks. No, it's fine.

There's so many bad quarterbacks, you can't keep track of them. It's the TB12. What's his name? Tim Boyle. If you lose to Huntley and Boyle, you're out. Yeah, Boyle,

I can't say he did enough to keep the job. If you're the Bears, you're obviously meeting tomorrow about the Nagy thing. And I think you're just like, eh, I mean, we could do it right now.

Thanksgiving's in three days. Yeah. It's a short week. I don't know if that benefits him or not. If he wins on Thanksgiving, then what do we do? Then do we fire him after a win? Has a coach ever been fired after a win?

Should they just leave it up to him? It's like, look, we want to be good guys here and women and gals, but do you want Thanksgiving to yourself? Because it's going to happen soon, right? Yeah, do you want to be with your family on Thursday? Yeah.

And then we'll have a whole controversial thing about whether we get to cash in our Matt Nagy first coach fired bet or not, considering Gruden resigned. Right. We still don't know if that's a technicality or not, but we have a lot of Nagy money. All right. We're going to take a quick break. We got a lot more to come here on this goofy NFL week. 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

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was it week 10 or week 11 this was 11 yeah do you suddenly believe in Kansas City's defense you know I did a lot of research on them because you know you have to throw the Jordan Love game out of there but they've had some very good

as far as points allowed they've had some very good, as far as points allowed, they've had some very good games. But yards per play, they gave up 6.2, which is only not worse than the Jets. I don't even know how to speak anymore. 6.2 is second worst in the league before today. Definitely, if they're getting a rush, I'm going to say I believe, though. Overall, I believe more than I did three weeks ago. That was the call, right?

Their defense is too bad. They're never going to last anything through January. I don't think it's a problem anymore. Do you believe? There's been a month of momentum for them in the Chris Jones-Frank Clark combo, Honey Badger. They have some players,

but it's a team that seems like if anyone gets hurt, they're in trouble. And I know you could say that for a few teams, but they're really relying on the two pass rushers, their safety, Kelsey and Tyreek Hill. And obviously Mahomes, but everybody's relying on their quarterback, but not a lot of depth.

So like the fact that Frank Clark was hurt and their defense just was completely incompetent and then he comes back and it's like, oh, we have a pass rush again. It feels a little flimsy to me, but I was impressed by what they did to Dallas today. Yeah. More stop in the run than anything.

Yeah. And you didn't run the ball down their throats the way I thought you would. Zeke was hurt. Hey, is Zeke stirring soup or chili? We got a 45-minute debate about it today. It's soup, right? What did he say coming out of the gate? I don't know if he said anything. I just always assumed

it was soup. I always thought it was soup. How does chili get in there? I don't know. Carolla was saying chili, but he's stirring it too fast for it to be chili. It doesn't matter. I don't think it's chili. Do you stir chili? I don't think there's chili. You don't really... Do you stir chili? I don't think there's a need to

unless you're putting hot sauce in. You more stir soup, right? Because if it's like chicken noodle soup, the noodles go to the bottom. See, this is what I... These are the conversations we have to distract me from my... Just showing that my team

couldn't put up double digits against the Chiefs. It's tough. Do you believe in Minnesota's non-chokiness? No, no, no. Okay. No. I know. Because it was no... I mean, it was a past... Do you believe in Minnesota's non-chokiness? No, no, no. Okay.

I know. Because it was a roughing the passer call that did that, right? If there's not that kind of helmet-to-helmet roughing the passer on the Packers, they get the ball, and they'll drive down, and they score, and it's just another terrible fourth-quarter loss for the Vikings. No, I don't think I'll ever believe in that. Well, they had two because they had the interception that the guy just kind of fumbled first. That was tough.

It was like cut down to one one-hundredth of a second. Yeah, it just felt like it was an interception. But I get why they overturned it. But that seemed like, oh, classic Cousins. They're up seven. They give up a 75-yard touchdown. Cousins immediately throws a pick. Here we go with The Vikings again.

Then they get the ball back. And then they got kept alive by the ref in the past. Yeah. Can I just say this while we're talking about the Packers? I think this is a nice spot for them because I felt like that was a very even game. It was a good game against the Vikings, but the Vikings definitely needed it more. The Packers really haven't had to play a game that they absolutely needed. Right?

Like they didn't need absolutely need the game against the Chiefs that Jordan Love won. You know, they won last week. They're plus 490 for the NFC and they're 10 to 1 for the Super Bowl. It's the kind of team that I think once they get rolling and if they're home for one or more games, they're going to be the toughest, I think, to stop. Again, we just went over 15 teams that we think can win it. But I think at this point, the end of November, getting the Packers at 10-1 isn't bad.

I felt good about the Vikings today when I saw the Packers were 9-1 against the spread because that seemed high. We've seen this every year. Nine in a row? Yeah. Teams don't finish the season like 14-2 against the spread. There's some comeback. I was trying to think how Rodgers,

it feels like he needs a mojo change a little bit from the drama the last couple weeks. I was thinking crew cut, breaking bad Fu Manchu thing. Combo. He just goes like last season breaking bad. Just looks like a badass who's kind of lost his mind. I think it would be an interesting wrinkle for him. I think the long hair makes it look like he's

doesn't care. He's making a movie with the DePlace brothers or something. I can't buy him as a Super Bowl. He's making like a $500,000 independently financed. Six couples go for a weekend retreat and then craziness happens. I thought the hair was just for a Halloween costume, wasn't it?

Yeah. Why hasn't he cut it yet? I don't know. Is it for next Halloween? Is he just going to keep going Halloween after Halloween with this hair? Yeah. I think you should go break in bed. All right.

Next suddenly believe. Do you suddenly believe that the Indianapolis Colts are built for January? Yeah. Sure. Why not? Good defense. Run the ball better than anybody. And if Wentz could, it comes with a caveat because I feel like we see Wentz

every other week is decent. And again, his numbers weren't spectacular today. What was he? 11 for 20, 106. Wentz did barely anything. The most important play he had in that game was when they had him sacked. Didn't turn it over.

He ducked under the dude and ran for like 20 yards. It was actually a great play, but Buffalo had a couple points in that game where it felt like they were going to flip the momentum and it was like a play like that or it was like a rough in the passer. There was a rough in the passer they had where the guy went right at his legs

like Bernard Pollard style. Yeah. But yeah, like he wasn't bad. He didn't hurt him. He didn't throw like the terrible Carson Wentz pick or the lefty screen pass to the defensive lineman. They won time possession. They went in Buffalo,

one of the toughest places to win. They won time possession 38-22. Yes. Pouring rain. That's a January team if it holds up from there. They went in Buffalo, one of the toughest places to win. They won time of possession 38-22. Pouring rain. That's a January team if it holds up from there. Yeah, I still don't trust the Wentz-Wright combo in a close game, but they remind me a little of the Browns last year. Oh, don't get me wrong.

It's a January 4th team. It's not a January 19th team. No, but I think they could be like the Browns last year if they get in, where they know what they are, they have an identity, and it could be a situation where all of a sudden they're down five in the AFC title game or AFC semifinals or whatever. Relating to the Colts, because we're going to get this all week, do you suddenly believe in Jonathan Taylor as an MVP? No, I don't.

I went back. Damoshek, your best friend Gave it out at 100-1 Last week And I was like Just don't tell people To do that Because it's never It never goes to a running back

And he's going crazy About his stats And I said You're never gonna have A better year Than Derrick Henry Last year And I looked

And how many MVP votes Do you think Derrick Henry Had last year How many Zero He had zero Is that true Yeah he had no votes

So this year I guess it's a little different. So he went from 100 to 25. Is that what you're saying? 25 to 1 now? Yeah, I bet it'll be like 12 to 1 by... It's 25. The thing he has going for him is Brady, Allen, Dak, Rogers, Stafford still ahead of him.

These guys all have bum games in them, right? No one is really just lighting it up. Three touchdowns, no interceptions every game, right? That's what he has going for him, but there's still nine names ahead of him. I guess here's... What do you think? Here's the case for Stafford. Here are just

his performances and their wins. Here's the case for Stafford. I mean, for Taylor. Here's the case. Today, 185 yards, four TDs, win Buffalo. Win Jacksonville, 116, one TD. Win over the Jets, 172 yards, two TDs. Win over the Niners, 107 yards, one TD. Win over the Texans, 145, two TDs.

Win over Miami, 103, one TD. He's gone over 106 times each time they won. And he has three, four, six, seven, 11 touchdowns in those six wins. It's hard to imagine a player having a bigger impact on his team's victories than Taylor. But I'm with you. I do feel like from a narrative standpoint, it will start this week on the Worldwide Leader on all the shows they have for the people who have their hands up. I'm going to tell you right now, Jonathan Taylor has been the MVP of the National Football League through 11 weeks.

This guy has done everything for a team that doesn't have a lot of weapons. And it's just the hands will be going all week. I agree. It's going to happen. They could also not make the playoffs. They're one of all 40 teams or six and four, whatever the hell they are right now. I mean, Derrick Henry, 20, 2,027 yards and 17 touchdowns last year.

It's really, just for the listeners, in case you didn't look at the standings, after you get through Tennessee, Baltimore, New England, KC, you have the Chargers, Buffalo, and Cincy at six and four. Yeah. You have Pittsburgh at five, four, and one. And then you have, oh, the Colts are six and five? Colts are six and four. Yeah. You have Pittsburgh at five, four and one. And then you have,

Oh, is the Colts are six and five. Colts are six and five. Are six and five. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Colts at six and five.

And then Vegas, Denver and Cleveland all at five and five. Well, here's the thing. And I told you last week, the AFC North plays the AFC West. So we saw Cincinnati and the Raiders at one point, that was going to be a good game.

It wasn't, but there's going to be a playoff game every week with those two divisions going at it. Now, it may be that Denver drops out and the Raiders drop out. And I don't know who would drop out of the AFC North. I guess nobody. Maybe there are some sluggish teams down the stretch. Although I suspect the Raiders will play tough against the Cowboys just to ruin my Thanksgiving. But that is tough. That's tough every week for the next six weeks. Those two divisions battle each other and themselves. So Indy has Tampa home, then at Houston, New England home, at Arizona, Vegas, at Jacksonville.

I think it's going to be tough for them to get to 10-7 with that schedule. But it's doable. But you'd basically have to go... I guess you'd have to win at least one against Tampa, New England, and Zona. And then you'd have to clean out the other three to go 11-6. They proved today that there's

no home game that's impossible to win. No road game that's impossible to win. They went to Buffalo and won that. How many home teams? What, eight road teams won today? I know. I guess that's the case for everybody. Nine if you count the Chargers? Yeah, you should.

Alright, one last do you suddenly believe in? Yeah, you should. All right. One last. Do you suddenly believe in? Do you believe in Arizona's well-roundedness as being the best NFC team? I don't know. I don't know. I'm going to stick to my guns with the Packers there. Yeah. All right.

At 10 to 1, even though. Even though you got LaFleur? Yeah. But the Packers beat Arizona with Kyle Murray. May have knocked him out for the year, for all we know, on that Thursday night game. But I'm kind of with everybody else, where I'm not giving Arizona the credit that they deserve.

I'll probably lose tens of thousands of dollars sticking with that narrative. I'm still in on Tampa. And I know they've looked like crap the last couple weeks, but mid-December, they'll have all the weapons back. They're not going to have to rush people back

because they're going to win that division anyway. And I still like their team if it's just one game, winner takes all when we get to January when they have the receivers all over the place.

All right. Another, another fun thingy for you. Most far-fetched but realistic division champ. I'll give you

three nominees. Philly, India, or Minnesota. Philly. Division champ, you're saying? Oh.

Division champ. Philly, two and a half games behind your Cowboys. Here's what they have left. Two against the Giants, two against Washington, at the Jets,

and your Cowboys. Those are their last six games. They're five and six. To make a case, they're going to get to 10 and seven. Division champ? I don't think so. Division champ.

I think they can make the playoffs. I like this team. I tried to talk you out of the pick against the Saints today. They've been running the ball like crazy, not just against the Lions. They did it without Miles Sanders. And now tonight they did it with Miles Sanders. I mean, Hurts is thrown for 140 yards. Hurts looks great. It did it without Miles Sanders. And now tonight, they did it with Miles Sanders. I mean, Hurts is thrown for 140 yards.

Hurts looks great. It doesn't matter. Yeah. I just... He's just so much smarter than he was a month ago. I think I just hate the Eagles and I've just been betting

against them and I'm getting what I deserve. All right. So you think Dallas wins that division? Yeah. Indy is two back in the AFC South

to Tennessee. Two and a half though, right? Yeah. They lost two. I mean, they lost... Tennessee. Two and a half, though, right? Yeah. I mean, they lost... Yeah, two and a half. Right. They lost twice to them. They played Tampa at Houston, New England at Zona, Vegas at Jacksonville. Here's what Tennessee has.

At New England, Tennessee's eight and three. At New England, bi-week, Jacksonville, at Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Miami, at Houston. San Francisco, Miami at Houston. It's a cream puff schedule. Jesus. They can throw away that Pats game before the bye week and still be 8-4.

This is what I mean. Everyone wants to give Rabel Coach of the Year. It's like your gift is that you're in that division. That's it. We have to give awards to everybody. Last one. Minnesota's 2-1 halfback

2 against Chicago at San Francisco at Detroit home for Pittsburgh home for the Rams at Green Bay I think that's the most realistic out of the

three for me because I think Minnesota could easily be two games higher than they are right they just gave away

two losses they tried to do another one today, but I think they're pretty talented. They have Green Bay once? They have one against Green Bay. They lost. They beat them today. Green Bay has home Rams,

home Chicago, at Baltimore, home Cleveland, home Mini, at Detroit. The only thing is, you just can't... You're trying to find a spot for them. And I know Minnesota covered today, but it was going to be that toe, right? It was Aaron Rogers and that's,

Oh, if that's a problem, then, and then he's, he's another one running for like 25 yards. So no, no friction at all. Just getting right through there.

So he'd have to get hurt for that to happen. I don't know. I don't like any of those three. And then AFC North. I don't know what to make't like any of those three. And then AFC North, I don't know what to make of it. Who would you take at gunpoint? Baltimore? Just because they have a knack for pulling games out? Yeah,

probably, but isn't it weird that Joe Burrow is going to be the healthiest of these quarterbacks? Like, are you going to say he's going to, the guy that was unprotected, like we accuse our agent, James Dixon, of keeping us unprotected whenever something bad happens. And we didn't know about, uh,

he was the most unprotected quarterback in the division. And now he's going to make it to the finish line. Probably it would Lamar missing games. And who knows how long big Ben will last. And, uh, and you know, Baker,

you know, despite what his wife said, it could, it's 50, 50 every Thursday. If he's going to play, I don't like since his schedule, despite what his wife said, it's 50-50 every Thursday if he's going to play. I don't like Cincy's schedule.

They're 6-4. Burrow looks like he's going to be limping to the finish line. He looks like he's had a variety of smolders, but they have home Pittsburgh, home Rams, home Niners at Denver, home Baltimore, home KC at Cleveland. Potentially, four playoff teams, maybe five.

But they all have that. If your case is that the Ravens pull games out of their asses, no matter who's taking snaps, I think that's probably the best way to go because they all have really tough games. All four of those teams in that division. Except Tennessee. No, I'm saying that division.

I like Cleveland the least just because I just don't see it with the quarterback and it doesn't seem like they're willing to go to Case Keenum for whatever reason Chubb came back he looked okay today but it just seems like that's the team I feel

they gotta get a little healthier so for the MVP, Kyler's probably out. He probably missed too many. Rodgers is not definitely out. Stafford, I don't like the way he played the last couple weeks. He's almost out.

Josh Allen has to be almost out at this point because he hasn't... He's second. I know by odds why you don't like him. No, but I'm just saying in my head. Well, Dak, Rodgers, Stafford, Herbert, and Mahomes, and Kyler virtually have the same odds. They're either 9 or 10 to 1.

And none of them helped themselves. Brady didn't help himself the last two weeks, but also could throw five touchdowns tomorrow. Who knows? And if he does, he's probably plus 150, right? Because he's plus 300 now. And then Mahomes, it was kind of sitting there

for him to put up like 37 against Dallas today, but he didn't. So we're in this weird situation where I don't know who the MVP is. So it's going to go down to whoever gets hot the last six weeks. They're not going to vote Rogers in, right?

I think they give it to Brady. I think barring a collapse, if they lose one or two more games, I think he gets it. He's got to get the momentum back this week. I agree with you it to Brady. I think barring a collapse, if they lose one or two more games, I think he gets it. He's got to get the momentum back this week. I agree with you. All right. Let's,

we'll take a break. We'll do guest lines. All right. Week 12. We have three Thursday games as always. Thanksgiving. The first one is an abomination. It's, I mean, we've had some bad Lions games to start the

Thanksgiving. Wait a minute. The whole day is an abomination. It's Andy Dalton against Tim Boyle. It's the reeling Raiders against the Cooper-less and C.D. Lamb-less Cowboys. No Gregory, no Lawrence on defense. And then you got Trevor Simeon against a Bills team that you don't know what to expect ever. It's the worst Thanksgiving. We'll have two home dogs. It's going to be really hard to talk yourself into any kind of a tease.

Because you know I love the Thanksgiving teases. And Bears-Lions to start things off. Look, we've had some bad ones. I can't imagine a worse one if it's going to be Andy Dalton against Boyle with fire Matt Nagy chants and Lions fans wearing paper bags

over their heads again. And then the Lions have a chance to get the number one pick and there's no number one pick. There's no quarterback because they should have taken a quarterback last year and they took a tackle. They could have taken fields or a bat.

Three or four in the first round, I still think. I saw that. Ian Rappaport wrote that. This is right around the time there. No, actually there is. It reminds me of... What were those years when they tried to force feed the first round quarterbacks?

A lot of them. No, where all of a sudden there's a couple but nobody, I'm not talking like the Josh Allen type years but the, I was thinking of the 2016.

Yeah. Where Goff went first and Wentz went second. And we just kind of, over the course of the six months leading up to that draft, everybody just kind of

tried to make Goff and Wentz happen to the point that the Rams traded up for Goff. Right. And I think Philly traded up for Wentz too. And then we had Paxton Lynch. He went 26th to Denver. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that was the year I was thinking of.

Christian Hackenberg went 51st to the Jets. Hackenberg went before Dak. Yeah. Yeah, it was the Dak year. thinking of. Christian Hackenberg went 51st in the Jets. Hackenberg went before Dak. Yeah, it was the Dak year. And then the Raders take the Michigan State kid, Cook, because that's who the Cowboys were going to take instead of Dak. Are we mixing years here? No, we're not. I don't know if Dak

was that year, but Jacoby Brissett was Jacoby Brissett. The Hackenberg year was Dak for sure. Yeah, 51's Hackenberg. Well, top of the third round round Jacoby Brissett and Cody Kessler those guys went yeah and Dak was like the 8th or 9th pick that year anyway

I think we do this sometimes with the drafts but if you're Detroit on top of everything else you don't even get like the prize or whatever so that's going to be a really boring game. Well, here's what they won't do. And we talked about this. We met up during the week and discussed the Mac Jones phenomenon and why he fell to you.

And I think it's because of Tua and how he showed us so little last year. And everyone's like, wait a minute, maybe he's a system quarterback. Maybe we stay clear of these Alabama guys for a minute. And I don't think you're going to see that again. I think you got some good Heisman candidates there. You got Bryce Young and CJ Stroud for Ohio State. And those two, I think, will go early for sure. Matt Corral.

There's some decent ones out there. Kenny Pickett. I have the Bears laying three and a half points to the Lions. Oh, you dick. You got it exactly. I said four. I don't care who's quarterback. The team has zero wins.

You got to lay four to win a bet on the favorite. Might stay away from this one completely. Are you going to... If I give you a guide here, will you not lie about the rest of your picks? I you going to, if I give you like a, a guide here, will you not lie about the rest of your picks? I'm going to say something about this week. These are the lowest spreads I've ever seen in any week. Like if you added up the numbers,

it would be the, it would be the smallest that of any time we ever did. But anyway, remember that as we're going through these. Well, I wrote down all my picks. I only have one pick that's plus seven or more.

That's what I mean. Have you ever seen... And everything else is three or four or two or one, basically. Yeah. But anyway, go ahead. I don't want to... Well, Cowboys Raiders

is, I think, the highest one on the board. I have Cowboys... So, I would have said... Initially, I had like nine and a half, but now with no CD and all this, I think this is an eight and a half for me. Oh.

I said six and a half. It's seven. Yeah, I think somehow the Cowboys are 31 and 21 and one on Thanksgiving. I would have definitely thought it was the other way. I just remember just constant heartache and heartburn. I don't know. I don't know that they'll cover this or what,

but Vegas surprised me, if that's possible. Thought they'd be in that game. A little Mariota this week? Oh, interesting. Interesting. Yeah, I haven't really liked what I saw from Carr the last few weeks. Yeah, he had one good drive.

Mariota healthy? I think they did say he was ready. I think they needed him. What would scare you more as that game's starting? Seeing Carr or being like, if they needed him. What would scare you more as that game starting? Seeing, seeing Carr or being like, there's Marcus Mariota getting the start this week.

I think you'd be more scared of Mariota. I might at this point. I don't, I don't like, Carr's like fourth in the league in passing though before today.

But, yeah, but they put Mariota in in three days rest. I don't know. I'm scared. I'm already scared of this game. I think they really miss Ruggs.

It felt like every game he got open twice, 50 yards downfield, and Kari either hit him or he didn't, but he was always wide open and they have not been able to replace that. And they won't be able to replace it because he'll never play football again. The last one, Bills

at the Saints. Little New Orleans Thanksgiving. Going head to head against DMX. Our music box documentary on HBO, 8 o'clock. I honestly think DMX, that doc is fantastic and will be more entertaining than this game. You think it's better than the Saints?

Yeah. I think it's more better than this game. But you can see it on HBO Max anyway. Bills, I think it's better than this game. But you can see it on HBO Max anyway. Bills, I have favored, but not by three. I think it's going to be Bills by two and a half. I said three and a half. It's four. I get that.

Yeah, both teams not playing well at all. You could run on the Saints now. That's interesting. That's the one thing. They were like a top three run defense, and then they met the Saints now. That's interesting. That's the one thing. They were like a top three run defense. And then they met the mighty Eagles. I wonder if the Eagles are just hard to play when you're in the rhythms of the week

where you basically have a couple days to prepare for a team. Like, I think if the Eagles made the playoffs, you had some real time to think about it, I think maybe you'd have a better chance than just they're randomly on your schedule three days after. Right.

That's possible. You know what I mean? Yeah. Who needs this more, though? The Saints need this more, don't they? I think the Saints need it more because

they're going to have to get to at least 9-8. Right. And if the Bills take care of business against New England, little matters other than that. Right.

For the division. Cause we have five playoff teams in the NFC. And then you have the saints at five and five mini at five and five, San Francisco, five and five Philly, five and six Carolina, five and six. And I think we both feel good about Philly.

Wait, who's the 16th? Oh, Rams, Rams, Cardinals, whoever wins that Cardinals, Green Bay,

Dallas, Tampa Rams. I think those five are in. Gotcha. Yeah. And then I don't see the Carolina thing. Did you see Cam's fourth down pass today? Mm-hmm. Everyone was too up on Cam. And not that he lost that game

for them, but... It's hard for him to complete passes. Yeah. Getting the three and a half was a smart play there. I don't know. I looked at it. I was like, let me take two of these six NFC teams to make the playoffs. Like the Panthers are like plus 340 or something. Then I'm like, why do I want to root for shit?

I might as well just take the Packers against the Chiefs. Let me lose my money on that. Like Super Bowl matchups with good teams that are actually going to be in the playoffs. Sunday marquee game. I'll let you decide Packers, Rams or Pats Titans. Oh, not Tampa Bay Indy. You could say Tampa Indy, too. What do you have?

Well, I think for now it's Rams Packers. OK, I'm a little biased, but. No, I think that now it's Rams-Packers. Okay. I'm a little biased, but... No, I think that's a good one. It's higher upside than the Titans at this point of the Titans-ness. So this game is in Green Bay. I think this is a classic Packers by three. You're going to get it. I said four.

It's one and a half. Now, this would be... Rams have lost two in a row? Yeah. By two in a row. I don't know if I can commit to this. Is it possible to just watch this game and not bet it?

No. I think if that number stays under three, you have to look at the Packers. Stafford doesn't seem healthy to me. I don't like that they can't run the ball. It's hard for them to protect leads. Not positive they can block. I wouldn't call them an above-average blocking team.

Yeah, so this is the first game in a while. Not a must-win for the Packers, but yeah, you should win this game. Go out there and do it, right? I think this is... Well, if you think the Packers are a Super Bowl team... Yeah. Star two.

You have to win this game. All right. Second Sunday marquee game, we'll do two. Pats-Titans. Because this really is a... Oh my God, the Patriots are going to be the number one seed. America finally realizing what's actually happening here. I have this game in the Vegas zone.

And the reason is the Tennessee running back situation is a debacle. A.J. Brown got hurt. Julio Jones is already hurt. I just don't see the skill position stuff from the Titans. And then they lost the other receiver that everybody picked up all week. He was out. What's that guy's name?

How did it work out that they lost Henry and Julio was a bust and they're still in line for the number one seed? I think it's going to be like Pittsburgh last year where it's going to be a crater. It feels like it really has a possibility. They could also get Derrick Henry back in January. So a lot of these teams could look very different in a month. Derrick Henry is a pretty interesting fantasy pickup right now.

Because you basically only have him for the finals of your league, right? Right, right. But you could stash him and you might have him all of a sudden he's in there for the finals. I league, right? Right, right. But you could stash him, and you might have him. All of a sudden, he's in there for the finals. I have this game in the Vegas zone. I have the Patriots by four and a half. All right, you're going to get it. It's five and a half. I said four.

I think somewhere it said that they opened at two, like before the week, before we saw either team play this week. You're getting a lot of buzz. I'd feel way more confident about this game if there wasn't a history of Rebels, Titans teams playing really well against us. They ended your dynasty. They really did.

He knows exactly how to approach a Pats game. I'll say this about the Pats though. Ten days rest after that Atlanta game. Probably the healthiest. I can remember a good Patriots team being in a long time. Like no, no major injuries.

Offensive line's healthy. All the skill position guys are healthy. All the D backs, everybody. Like they don't, they're not really missing anybody that important. Then the other thing that's going on, you know, in the Boston, you know, the radio stations, they love to just, they just love to piss on everything and make everybody feel, but they always go glass half empty. So the last few weeks it was always like, oh, there are no way they're as good as the bills. Give me a break. It's ridiculous. This is not, this is not 2001. Shut up with that. They haven't beaten anybody.

So now Buffalo gets their ass kicked. So now what do you do if you're the glass half empty Boston radio station? Now you have to go, Buffalo was overrated this whole time. The AFC East is terrible. Doesn't even mean anything if they win the division. It's probably the worst division in football.

The Pats still haven't beaten anyone. Would they even be a top five NFC team? I like it. I like all that stuff. Another lucky break in Tennessee. Perfect time. They got no... It's all smoke and mirrors.

Just Belichick being lucky again. That's going to start this week in Boston. This is what I say to get myself to sleep at night. All that stuff. It's good. Well, I'll tell you this. And I am a glass half full Patriots person. No, you're three glasses spilling over. Yeah, I'll tell you this. And I am a glass half full Patriots person. No, you're three glasses spilling over.

Yeah, I'm like my mom on Thanksgiving. This was a really lucky break to catch the Titans at this point of the schedule versus like first four weeks. Like you're catching them. No Derrick Henry. No Julio. A.J. Brown's now hurt. Like this is what a godsend. I have all weeks to play them. Right. And Henry, no Julio. A.J. Brown's now hurt. This is, what a godsend.

I have all weeks to play them, and they need to win this game. Sometimes you need luck with this stuff. I think this Pats team's really good. I continue to say it. All right, the watchables. I got three. First one you mentioned, Bucks-Colts. This is in Indy. We'll see some Manning-Brady

highlights from Colts Pats. Yeah. You're probably in the pregame. I had the Bucks favorite though. I have Bucks by two and a half. I had this. Exactly. It's three.

They're opening at a three. I think that's fair. Although they're coming off a short week and then going to Indy. I don't know. I like Indy on the ride. Like I'm just have we had them today? Like plus seven, plus four, plus six on the road. I don't like when they're getting like a short number

and home and expected to keep it close. And maybe too much Jonathan Taylor talk this week. You watch. You pointed it out. Now it's going to happen. Oh, it's definitely going to happen. Bengals Steelers in Cincy. The Steelers have become like kind of a weirdly

entertaining watch. The Roeth have become kind of a weirdly entertaining watch. The Roethlisberger thing's incredible. He's got no juice left in his arm and he can't move and somehow was making plays all over the field today. As long as they can buy him three seconds, he can find people. That offense is weird. Sometimes the people he finds

are triple-covered receivers, but you're right. They put up points by the end of the day. Deontay Johnson, these guys are all ballers, right? Claypool, they go out there. Friar Muth. Najee Harris. Is Najee Harris in a snake league a top seven pick next year?

I think so. Yeah. I don't mind their offense at all and their defense. If they get healthier, they could be good. But this is a Cincinnati team that beat the shit out of them earlier in the year. Yep. I had the Bengals by two.

It's higher. I said four and a half. It's four. That's too high. I haven't liked what I've seen from the Bengals the last few weeks. I mean, there's no teaser in it. Probably good for us, but there's no... I don't want to tease my team. There's not one number

that I want to add six to or subtract. Last one watchable. Vikings 49ers. I don't know why I feel like this is watchable, but I do. Some good history.

They've had some good games in the past. Playoff game. Yeah, the Niners blew them out. I think the Vikings are like legitimately entertaining. Sure. Justin Jefferson, who this week they finally figured out, just throw it deep to him five times.

He'll catch three. There'll be a pass interference and one will be overthrown, but you might as well just keep doing it. He was incredible. If you're in three fantasy leagues or more, and shame on you if you're not, you have one of these Vikings, right? Or two of these Vikings somewhere. Yeah.

Definitely have. Niners are beefing up on these crap teams. Did you see they had a 13 and a half minute drive to start the game? 13 and a half. It's almost impossible. And they kicked a field goal from the one. I was like, oh. I was like, I can't wait to get on and kill 13 and a half. It's almost impossible. And they kicked a field goal from the one. I was like, oh,

I was like, I can't wait to get on and kill Shanahan with Simmons. And then it didn't matter. They beat him up. But the announcer's like, oh, no, you got to get points. I'm like, no,

you have to get seven here. Otherwise, the whole thing was a waste. They won easily. Is this a loser leaves town match for you? I have it written down. Those exact words.

Two five and five teams. All right. I'm with you. And I like Minnesota and I have Vikings by one in San Francisco. All right. I'm closer. I said three and it's two and a half. Doing good.

I'm up five, three. Well, Thanksgiving win for you. Potentially. Keep it going. So, all right.

Barely watchables. Bengals. I'm sorry. Eagles giants. In New, in New Jersey. I'm sorry. Eagles giants in New, in New Jersey. I kind of like it. It could have been arguably a watchables. I just don't,

I always hesitate to put the giants in the watchable. And that's the East is back, buddy. I'm telling you, these games are actually kind of watchable. You actually could make a case. What division has the best quarterbacks in the nfc east might be yeah in the conversation with heineke and uh jalen hurts and danny dimes and deck yeah well

you look at the west and i don't want to say russ is done but what did they have at one point they had 18 straight drives without a touchdown and you know stafford a little shaky like that that was our best quarterback. Now Colt McCoy is like the second best quarterback in the division. Pretty rough. I have Eagles favored by one and a half against the Giants. You're going to get it. I said one and it's three.

They're a full three. I don't know why I went so low. That was good. Eagles losing people money left and right. Eagles have two more games than the Giants right now. They're five and six to the Giants three and six. Jesus. What do you think happens Monday night?

Well. No Antonio Brown. Gronk. Iffy. Yeah. I mean, should we work backwards? And I tell you that I have a monstrous amount of money tied to Buck's money line. And then you could root or predict the upset. Yeah.

I figured you probably did. Yeah, I had to. Had to do it. Broncos are home coming off a bye. Playing the never say die chargers. Whose coach went for it on fourth and inches from his own 30 yard line in a tight game and ran the ball up

the middle with his five foot nine running back against 10 guys they did not work out and they somehow won the game that's rough and they still lost that game the Steelers wow yeah that should have been it it's weird I'm all for the fourth down aggression but it can't be like the worst play on the

planet. It can't be running the 5-9 guy and the 10 guys. It can't be your fourth and inches play. It just can't. I think the Broncos are going to be favored in this game. I have Broncos by one. No, no. I said charges by two. It's charges by one and a half.

Okay. That might be a stay away. This is as bad as Denver looked last week. Watch them come back. I think these lines are drunk. Yeah. When we used to do this, to have a line that was like one or one and a half, it would happen like once a week.

And now we've had like five of them. They're giving up. Yeah. They just don't know how to quantify home field advantage anymore when the road team is winning eight or nine times a week. Poopfecta. Man, a couple doozies.

Falcons-Jags. This is in Jacksonville. The Falcons. Wow. They went from, hey, we may make the playoffs to just being out in 96 hours. I begged you. I said, if I ever take them again,

please send Ben Simmons over. Either one, the basketball player or your son to kick me square in the balls. Yeah, both of them is fine. And then sure enough, I did it on Thursday night against your team. And they never had a chance. Gross.

I have the Falcons by four against the Jacksonville Jaguars. You went a little high. I said two and a half. It's one. Really? Yeah. Vegas is,

um, what did they do with this Jackson this week? I felt like they favored them a little bit, not made them favored, but they stink. All right. And then, uh,

Texans against jets. This is in, uh, Houston. Am I going to have to sweat out my biggest preseason bet, which was the FanDuel special that the Lions, I'm okay there, and the Texans both have under four and a half wins. Am I going to have to sweat that out?

Texans have two wins and they're home against the Jets. You're freaking kidding me. Really? What the hell happened? The tie rods got a little momentum. Coley's coaching for his job. Oh. They're favored.

Yeah, I have the Texans by one and a half. I said two and a half. It's three. Oh, my God. I heard Texans favored by three. Because Flacco can't move. He's a joke back there. Come on.

This would be a good Zach Wilson game. I have two games left. Is that right? Is that what you have? Well, there's one regular. There's one Sunday night and then the Monday night, right? What's the one regular you have? I think I'm missing one.

Carolina at Miami? Yeah, I don't have that one. Where's that game? At Miami. Carolina at Miami? Yeah, I don't have that one. Where's that game? At Miami. Carolina at Miami. I will say Carolina by two. Did we split this? Yes.

I said a pick them and it's plus one. Jesus. That's a bad one too. Another minus one. You know, they did that thing where they had nine games. Even with teams off this week, they had nine games in the early slot. And so that Cowboys Chiefs game, that was Fox's. So Fox had to decide, did they want Tampa, Dallas week one, or did they want KC, Dallas? And so they gave Tampa, Dallas to NBC and they kept KC, Casey Dallas which means they're not putting any games against it so this is the game when you're going to see all week they're going to report ratings on Casey Dallas

as bad a game as it is they're going to say it's up 22% they don't put anything else against it which means there's 47 early games and that's what happened we were stuck with that horseshit all morning I have a story on this but we're going to take a break

alright you were talking about that horseshit all morning. I have a story on this, but we're going to take a break. All right. You were talking about their front load in the early games. Yeah. So today I'm watching, I'm watching Dallas, your terrible Dallas team, at least terrible today.

I'm watching that game and I'm lying on the couch. And initially I had channel 701 with the three games at once. Two of them sucked. And I just decided, you know what? I'm not even going to,

whatever. I'll go to the red zone on commercials. I'm just going to watch the Dallas game. I'm just going to relax and go through some emails. Fell asleep for an hour. Really? Yeah.

You pulled a Brad. I did. I was lying on the couch. The game was boring. Joe Buck's voice was soothing and I just kind of conked out. So my question, maybe this could be a new game. Wow. Maybe we get a sponsor for this. Old or properly bored? Because I think the house game was really boring. I feel like I was actually properly bored. I was justified in taking a cat nap. All right. But I also might just be bored. I was justified in taking a cat nap.

All right. But I also might just be old. That might have been like a Vito Corleone near the end of Godfather One moment. Well, did you drink six tiki punches

and eat four beef ribs? Because that's what Brad did. That's what made him pass out. I don't know. I'm not a doctor. Well, I missed an hour of the Dallas game and I don't feel like

I missed anything because when I woke up, the score wasn't really any different. Yeah. 16-6. Yeah, the whole time. All right. Sunday night, we got Ravens home for the Browns.

I assume Lamar's going to play. I hope Lamar plays. I hope Baker's better. Let's try to see most of what's good about these teams, right? Well, Baker's, I think, is what he is at this point. He's going to look compromised

every week. Lamar, who knows? Lamar's had COVID twice and then had a chest cold so bad this week that he had to basically be scratched last minute. I feel like Lamar, this feels dietary to me a little bit. Oh, interesting.

Maybe he needs to go gluten-free or something. Right. Should he be this sick this much? Maybe cut out bread? Maybe reduce the sugars? Maybe go, who knows? Yeah, it's resembling me trying to get through the season with stomach aches and acid reflux and stuff.

He should be better. I have Ravens by six over the Brats. Oh, you went heavy. I said three, and it's four. Oh, you're thrashing me this week. Six, seven, eight, nine, ten, one, two, three. Oh, yeah, it's over. Ten to five.

One more. Ravens by four. Bad Monday game. Bad Monday game. Yeah, because it's Washington against the dead Seahawks. I know I have a few Seahawks fans in my life.

It's really brutal. It's like a six-year run of some of the worst transactional stuff that any team has had. They don't really get enough credit for it. The DK pick and I think the Lockett pick were the two really good ones. But

a lot of like sliding doors, like taking Penny instead of Chubb, stuff like that. The Adams trade, it was fitting that

their season basically ended because he couldn't cover Zach Ertz on the goal line. It was perfect blitz. All he had to do was cover and for two seconds he couldn't,

gave a flag. That trade's awful. They don't have their pick. The Wilson thing's a debacle. They're not going to make the playoffs. And it feels like the run's over. It reminds me a tiny bit of the KG Celtics, where I think the over-under for the KG Celtics

was one and a half titles. I think they should have won two. They only ended up winning one. I think the Seahawks run that they had really since the early 2010s, we said the over-under, I think, was one and a half, and they only got one, and that was it. Never got back after that Pats game.

It's hard to win the Super Bowl. Yeah, this is it. I love them. I love them today. Must win. I had Russ at 19-1 to be the leading passer on Sunday. Not even close. I knew like a minute and a half into the

game. I didn't stand a chance there. And Arizona pushed them around again with Colt McCoy who was also injured and played that game. And now they have to go to Washington Monday night. It's too bad. Remember the days when we thought this was going to be this killer division?

What did we have? That all? Six out of eight make the division? What was FanDuel's boost for us? It was six out of eight for the West teams. We're not even going to get to four. Oh, man. We get two in the NFC and then maybe two in the AFC. We don't know unless the Chargers can get in.

Yeah, that was bad. It's not going to be the Raiders or Denver. Somehow FanDuel's figured out how to make money. Amazing. I have Washington as a pick-em in this game I don't know I get it I said Seattle by one it's Seattle by two and a half

we had underdog parlay which they boost for us and it was Chargers Washington this week or Steelers Washington and the two we gave it on million dollar picks were were Stewards, Vikings, Stewards, Washington. They were like six to one,

maybe seven to one, two, two. Stewards up, up three, about to knock down both of them. And then Sutton just decides not to cover Mike Williams. Sutton had just been kneed in the head like 10 minutes before. And I feel like it was related.

Remember he got the, he caught the pick. And then that offensive lineman like nailed him in the head. And they were like, was related. Remember, he caught the pick. And then that offensive lineman nailed him in the head. And they were like, wow, that should have been a late hit. Yeah, right. And 10 minutes later,

Mike Williams is just running by him for the game-winning touchdown. It felt related. Yeah, that was bad. That was bad. All right. What do they do? By the way, I need to help you out here

because I like Schrager. And I heard your whole thing, like getting mad at people for making fun of him just nodding or something but he should have to have some kind of I know you discussed the picks ahead of time and the thing you break out for social is just

you know the culmination of the picks he should be able to veto one or something he did he vetoed the saints okay alright yeah he did that we do an hour and then the end is like a four-minute summary of the picks. That's what they run on social. But yeah, he vetoed.

He saved us from the Saints this week. It was heroic. That's good. Sum up the Terrence Crawford fight for us. I didn't get it. I watched the Godfather instead. Yeah, you're watching the Godfather. You're falling asleep during football games.

I don't know what's happening. The old Italian man. You're like a meat coma or something, maybe. But he was solid and he went out there and Porter was winning the first few rounds,

I thought. And Porter's just like an annoying little gnat with power, right? He'll do like something where he'll put himself in the corner and then lunge at you.

And Crawford was off his game because he had to be wary of that and went to the Southpaw style. And going into the 10th round at you. And Crawford was off his game because he had to be wary of that and went to the southpaw style. And going into the 10th round, it was like Crawford, I think it was up by a point on all three cards. And Kevin Clark made the good comparison about when Crawford caught him and Porter went down, he pounded the mat with his fist. I think Kevin said it was like a running back who got stuffed on third and one and got up and got knocked down again. And then his father in the post game interview,

post fight interview, he's like, yeah, I had to stop the fight. He wasn't ready. He didn't come trained. And like the fans are booing the father and they're like, Portia and Porter's like looking around like, yeah, see what I have to deal with. And the father's like, yeah, well, we're going to have breakfast tomorrow and everything will be fine. Well, everything wasn't fine because Porter retired. I think during that breakfast, I'm not sure if the toast had arrived or what, but it was a good fight. And shit, I miss good fights. I miss good fights.

Why does it take four years for them to arrange good fights? Is it because this is the last one? Are we done, King? No, because they could do Crawford Spence. But, you know, I'm saying for 2021. Was that the last? Is that one in December? Is there a heavyweight fight? I don't think you're right. I think that's it. I think that might be done. Yeah, that's it for the good ones. NBA future

stuff quickly. Curry got 2-1 on FanDuel for MVP. I got to stay. I mean, I had it at 10. I love it. I love it. Durant's 5-1. Giannis is 8-1. Jokic 8-1. Nobody else is realistic. I still like Giannis at 8-1. Yeah, you said Giannis last

week at 8-1. He had two good games, I think, right? I honestly think he's the best player in the league. Day after day, week after week, he's the best player in the league. Like day after day, week after week, he's the best player in the league, but Curry's in the best situation. And there's a top four. And if the Warriors end up being a 60 plus win team

and continue on the role they are, he's going to win. And he should win because he means, you know, he's the most valuable to the best team, I think still matters. And Chase Cunningham jumped right to rookie of the year, right to the lead again. That sucks.

Man, that one's weird to me. Do they have odds for that? Yeah, I got money on Scotty Barnes here, but he's second at 3-1. You might be okay with that. And then for conference division winners, Golden State's not the favorite in the West final. I don't know what took so long. They're plus

320. In the division, they're minus 110. I still feel like that is a layup. They're the best team in that division. They have the most flexibility if anybody goes down for a little bit. The Lakers are now 12-1. The Lakers and LeBron is going to... How about that fight today?

Isaiah stood out. I was watching when that happened. Like, LeBron definitely was frustrated and definitely whipped an elbow and followed through with the fist. And he's going to get suspended. I haven't seen... I think LeBron has handed himself the best on the court probably of any of the great players.

Like, he never usually gets caught up in that stuff. But he was like... I think he was so frustrated. Um, that guy was like knocking his back and he really like went, went at him. I didn't, it didn't feel like it was a hundred.

I have another theory. I agree with you. It wasn't accidental, but he just took off so much time and he wants to keep taking time off. Cause he knows, I mean, this is your NBA, you know how it is.

It doesn't matter if he sits 25 games, but he can't sit another seven games for a weird injury. So he wants to get suspended a couple. I think it was all premeditated. Oh, intentional suspension. Yeah, he did it on purpose. He did it on purpose. Well, the Lakers somehow, they're like 500,

but they've pulled three or four of these out of their butts. I know. They're kind of hanging around. And the West is really bad. How did this happen with the West being bad? You could be the ninth best team in the West and then the drop-off between nine and ten is massive.

Kings fired their coach today. All these teams feel like they have a chance to get in the play-in game even though they're not even playing that well. Fans are vomiting. That's how bad the West is right now. They're actually vomiting on the court. That was the best social media clip for basketball in like five years.

People, anyone who didn't see that over the weekend, there's a guy at the Kings Jazz game. The mascot is helping. Booting. Cleaning up. There's towels and he's just, it's still coming out.

And he's laughing. Like Rudy Gobert is like smiling and he's like laughing and like shaking his head. You think it was food or liquor or both? I don't know what it was. It was watching the Kings, I think. Because I wanted to throw up Thursday night when we all had dinner

because I ate too much. Did you eat too much? Yeah. Yeah, I ate too much. He seemed a little drunk was my takeaway. Yeah, that's probably it that's probably what's going on people are excited

they're getting out of the house they don't know how to handle themselves alright let's do parent corner today's parent corner is brought to you by CarMax from leg room to head room our friends at CarMax

know that finding the right car is all about the perfect fit which is why they created the love your car guarantee it starts with a 24 hour take home test drive before you buy so you can be sure it fits to a tee. And after you buy, CarMax has you covered with a 30-day money-back guarantee up to 1,500 miles. Learn more at CarMax.com. CarMax, car buying reimagined. All right, Sal, you're up. All right. So my son, same age as your daughter,

is a junior in high school.'re in the semi-finals and the playoffs varsity football he plays every down on defense defensive end the town is into it it's a small i mean it's as friday night lights as we're going to get in um you know uh in a town and beach town in california right yeah but it's very cool like you run into people and everyone's talking about that oh your son's playing great oh Oh, your son's playing great. Yeah, this is... Oh, we really have a chance. Very exciting. And then the game is Friday night at seven.

And about five o'clock, my phone starts blowing up from texts from parents. Do you believe this? What the hell? What kind of shit are they trying to pull? So it turns out the team we beat, and rather handily, last week, informs our coach Friday morning that they had positive COVID tests on their team and kids played with COVID the week before. And he's like, I don't know what you want to do about it, but you have guys that played with kids

that were affected from our team. And our coach is like, our coach didn't know what to do. He's like, all right, well, give us their names and I'll look at the tape and we'll see who was close to them. Did they all play? And the coach is like, we can't tell you anything.

You guys have to deal with it. So now the parents are like, and keep in mind, our whole team tested negative on Wednesday. This is going to get political, but I don't care. So we all tested negative on Wednesday, and that should be good enough, I think. And the parents are all like, let them play. It's outdoors and it's fine.

It was a week ago and everyone tested negative on Wednesday. Let them play. And the superintendent's like, no, no, no. If you weren't vaccinated, which seven players weren't vaccinated, five of them are seniors, you're not playing. And five of them started as five of them seniors. And it's like, this is outrageous. Now people are trying to get rapid tests start is five of them seniors and it's like this is outrageous now

people are trying to get rapid tests for the unvaccinated seniors and players and super intense like it doesn't matter it doesn't matter so our coach is scrambling and now this is like 20 minutes before the game they finally let someone comes to their senses and now everybody gets to play but this is after they switch lineups and everything so we're unfocused and we lose 46 43 and a heartbreaker 46 fucking 43 and you have to think like maybe things would have been different if the last two hours before the game weren't spent trying to watch film to see who was next to who we don't even know who's vaccinated but this is a crazy thing like this team might have there might have been bad blood and they might have just made this up like we could make this up with the team that beat us

next week and call their coach next friday and then they're gonna have to deal with that shit like what the hell is going on in this world like i don't want to why would they wait until friday they found out a week later so that was like do they was there even uh are they is it even serious like maybe they made the whole thing up because they don't have to give out names. So they might've made the whole thing up. Should this be a ringer narrative podcast? It really may have to be, but we're proud of the miracles of Mustangs 46, 43.

Damn it. Damn it, Simmons. It's so, it's so much fun. I can't wait for you to experience it. Football. I cannot wait either. What a tough way to have to lose the season though. Jesus.

It's ridiculous. So stupid. I had, my parent corner was also about high school football, but it's not my kids. Oh, whatever.

So you might remember three years ago, my friend Sully, MVP of my wedding, his son was the quarterback for Citrus High and they ended up winning the state title,

Division IV. So his younger son, Keegan, who was on that team, who was a ninth grader, who was like, you know, ninth graders barely play. But he was playing a little bit, wide receiver, kick returner. So now he's on the Citroën team and he's one of the best players as a captain. So they're playing to go to the state title again. Only he's the guy now. They're playing Grafton in the semis on Saturday. Grafton

comes back, ties it. 14-14, fourth quarter. Keegan Briggs is 66 yarder for the eventual game-winning touchdown. Now they're going for the Div 4 title, and they changed the brackets around. They're playing Duxbury, which is their situate Duxbury. They're right next to each other. That's the big rivals of each other in the brackets around. So they're playing Duxbury, which is their situate Duxbury.

Those are, they're like right next to each other. That's the big rivals of each other in the same league. But now they're actually playing for the state title in Gillette because they all play the state things in Gillette.

Most hated rival. My buddy saw his last dance and his wife enjoyed the game so much. I think she had, I think, five Red Bull shots. What are the things you drink though? Fireball. Oh, the Fireball. Oh, yeah. Multiple Fireball shots. So we called them after the

game and she's screaming in the background. It's like literally coming to an end. But yeah, the Sully family. That's great. Unbelievable. Now. But yeah, the Sully family. That's great. Situate. Unbelievable.

Now Duxbury, the last frontier. They could do two state titles. Anyway. That's insane. That's fun. And no COVID. No dumb mysterious COVID. No dumb stuff. All right.

High school football. Gotta love it. Gotta love having it back. All right. That's it for Parent Corner. Today's Parent Corner is brought to you by CarMax. Finding the right car is all about the perfect fit. Maybe the most important criteria in your list

is making sure your favorite mug fits in the cup holder. Our friends at CarMax aren't here to judge. They don't want you to just buy your next car. They want you to love it. CarMax created the Love Your Car Guarantee, giving you 24 hours with your potential future car before you buy it to make sure it's the one. And after you buy, you're covered

with a third-day money-back guarantee up to 1,500 miles. Learn more at CarMax.com. CarMax. Car buying reimagined. Sal, did we hit everything? I think we did. I think we got everything.

Basketball, football. Anything to plug? Cowboys suck. Yeah. Anything to plug other than food in your stomach on Thursday? No, there's no more room after that. Fox Bet Live Monday. It's me.

I think Clay Travis and Alex Curry. Extra points. Check us out on the Extra Points Podcast Network. We'll go over the Monday night game props, game side total, and first touchdown Simmons. Me, Harry, Darren, Brian. We've given out first touchdown winners plus 69 units if you just take our first touchdown suggestion.

Who do you think scores? Who scores first? Gronk? Is he definitely playing? No, he's not definitely playing. So Godwin and Evans are it's very low. They're like five or six. How about a Cam Brate? Oh, interesting.

Well, Cam Brate for like 20 to one. Is that what he is? Let's see. Be something like that, right? 50 to one. Yeah, but you and I, we love the tight ends for these things yeah because it's always like the long drive and then the two yard play action you know what we haven't seen is uh tompa taking himself and that's 31 to 1 i'm considering that yeah maybe braid is 22 to 1 not bad oh speaking of tompa i watched man in the arena whatever that show is on espn i watched the

first episode oh Oh, yeah. I just wanted to see how they did it. It was really good. I got to say I enjoyed it. It was all about the 2001 Patriots. Really? Thumbs up. Yeah.

Good times. Enjoyed it. Interesting. Fun walk down memory lane. I should look. I should skip Narcos for a minute and put that on. No, you would hate it. You ended up losing thousands of dollars.

Oh, yeah. You're not going to like that at all. Too bad. Yeah, I hate that one. I do have two shows that I like though. One is Yellow Jackets on Showtime. I think it's really good. It's about this high school soccer team that's playing crashes in

the mid-90s. And then it kind of vacillates between now and the mid-90s. I think that show's really good. And I liked Sex Lives of College Girls on HBO Max. I thought that was good. Yeah, it's good. It's about these four freshman girls in college. My wife really loved it.

Who tuned you into that? It's a good one. No, my wife. My wife. I like that. All right, I'll take a look. By the way, congratulations to your daughter, Zoe. I mean, I know you forced her to do it.

The nice singing video. I got a documentary to promote. You're going to learn you forced her to do it. The nice singing video. I got a documentary to promote. You're going to learn this song whether you like it or not. And then she's killing it right from the heart. That was really organic. I got to say. I showed her a cut and then

she liked Ironic and she just started messing around the piano for like six hours trying to figure out how to play it. She had heard the song before, right? For sure. She was familiar with the song. Yeah. Not really.

No, no. I think with our kids, it's, it's, I swear this, this would have been a good parent corner. They're so much smarter than us. They're running an ad for the John Madden documentary. Right. And I'm watching TV with my son and my son goes, dad, John Madden was an announcer. He had no idea. I'm like, oh my son. And my son goes, Dad, John Madden was an announcer? He had no idea. I'm like, oh my God, how old are you?

He just thought Madden was like the guy in the video game. Right. I was like, yeah, he was the most important sports announcer of all time. Before Tony Romo came. I know what you're saying. Before Tony Romo. Yeah. What are you laughing about?

Come on. Madden. So Madden won, Larry Merchant too. Based on answers of all time. No. Tony Romo won, Madden too, and you can put Larry Merchant three if you want. By the way, the new HBO oral history, I'm talking to Jim Miller about it this week.

The new book that's coming out. A lot of good HBO sports stuff. I think you'll like it. Oh, yeah? You forget how important the boxing stuff was, all the drama of when they lose Tyson. There's some good stuff in there. I watch Mayweather yelling at Merchant probably twice a week. I watch that clip.

I love Merchant so much. I really do. Merchant was the best. All right, Sal, good job by you. Good job by you, buddy. That's it for the podcast. Don't forget about the rewatchables coming on Thanksgiving. An all-time classic.

I'm just telling you now. That's happening. Two more pods on this feed this week. Don't forget about the Prestige TV podcast as well. Don't forget about Plain English with Derek Thompson. New podcast we launched last week that I think is fantastic. That's it.

I will see you on this feed on Tuesday.