The Bill Simmons Podcast - Part 1: Bill’s NBA Six-Pack. Plus Peter Schrager on the Jets’ Downfall, Buffalo’s Leap, and DRAKE MAYE.

Episode Date: November 21, 2024

In Part 1 of a two-part podcast, The Ringer's Bill Simmons runs through six NBA topics, including the scrappy Clippers, the fourth place Rockets, and the new NBA All-Star game format (1:26). He is then joined by Peter Schrager of NFL Network and Fox Sports to discuss the NFL season's biggest surprises, like the dysfunctional Jets and the surging Bills (24:38). They also admire the impressive rookie QB class, try to figure out the NFC West, predict future head-coaching vacancies, and more (42:22). Host: Bill Simmons Guest: Peter Schrager Producers: Kyle Crichton and Steve Ceruti The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Coming up at two par pod. This is part one. We're going to talk some basketball, talk some football next. This episode is brought to you by my old friend, Miller Lite. I've been a big fan of Miller Lite, man, since, 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.

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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 lights today? Your game time tastes like Miller time. Must be legal drinking age. We're also brought to you by the Ringer podcast network. If you missed it, we put up a new rewatchables on Monday. We did the replacements.

You can watch that on the Ringer movies YouTube channel as well. You can watch all the videos and clips from this podcast on the Bill Simmons YouTube channel. This is going to be a two-part podcast. We just had too much content for you today. So part one, I'm doing an NBA six pack at the top. And then our old friend, Peter Schrager is coming on to talk about all of the NFL. Things we're super surprised by things things were delighted by where we stand after 11 weeks, even some, some coach stuff. So that's going to be part one. And then part two is going to be a Chris Ryan and Joe house. And I talking about the Sixers and what the hell is

going on there. And then house and I are going to be some million dollar picks. We're going to try to get both of these parts up as soon as we possibly can. So that's the plan. This is part one. First our friends from Pearl Jam. All right, we're going to start with an NBA six pack. I haven't done this in a while. I haven't talked to NBA in over a week, which is my fault. I'm not perfect. I have six things that I wanted to throw at you. None of them have to do with the Philadelphia 76ers because we're gonna be talking about them later today with Chris Ryan and Joe House.

First thing, the Clippers without Paul George. So I took the under as a lock before the season or over under podcast with the Clippers, 37 and a half. I didn't see how they were gonna have enough scoring which is James Harden, Norman Powell. I didn't understand why they didn't give Paul George four years max. Like you're already all in with this Kauai contract.

Why not just go all the way in on your team? Well, what did they know? I remember mentioning this in one of the podcasts. It's like, hmm, bomber guy who just spends money like absolute fucking crazy. And this Paul George thing was too rich for his blood. What did, what did they know? You have an athlete on your team in this case for five full years, half a decade. And your trainers see stuff, your coaching staff sees stuff.

Something about it made them a little wary of committing to a guy in his mid thirties who had had, you know, a major awful broken legs and other knee stuff. Something made them go this time it's too rich for our blood, which is interesting because they did this with Blake Griffin when they signed Blake Griffin to a Big Mac steal and then traded him, like four months later and it was like, oh my God, they traded Blake Griffin, what are they doing?

And then what happened? Blake Griffin's body broke down within two years. You watch Paul George, now he's hyper extended the same knee twice, so you could say, ah, that's a little fluky. When he came back from the injury between those two injuries, he didn't look great. And if you're a Sixers fan staring at that Max Contract,

I think you're in a complete panic. But here's why you can't celebrate too much with the Clippers. They did offer Paul George three years for $150. So it's not like they were like, we're out. We want no part of the Paul George business. They kind of wanted it at their price. What was smart was when they had a chance

to sign and trade them, which is something that teams have done a lot in the past where they was like, well, we have this asset, we got to turn it in. And all of a sudden they're taking these contracts back. They were smart enough not to do that. They didn't do it with gold state, had some possible trades, Denver they supposedly talked to. So they turned the Paul George money into Derek Jones and Chris done 45 million

for three years. So that's about one third of what Paul George would have cost. And then Nick Pattoon one year 4.9, it looks like he might be washed. But they had the ability now to slap contracts for contracts for bigger deals, slap them together, whatever. And the big bet was can Norman Powell shoulder some of this burden? And he actually has. So I've been watching them because I've been rooting against them

because I love being right. And they're nine and seven. They've had a tough schedule. It's been like the opposite of a Laker schedule. You know it's true Laker fans. You know, like this win streak, like you haven't played anybody yet. You know it's true, Laker fans. You know, like this win streak, like you haven't played anybody yet. You know that's true, deep down.

Clippers, nine and seven, they played Houston twice. They played Golden State twice. They played Phoenix twice. They played OKC, Sacramento, Orlando, and Denver. There's not nothing going on here. I'll tell you one other thing. I think the arena is really good. They played the Warriors last Monday, and I really wanted to go and we

had a Spotify thing I couldn't go. And somebody who was there told me something, somebody that's worked for the team for a while, told me something that I thought was a great point. It was the first warriors game. The Quippers have at as a home game where the warriors fans didn't drown out. The Quipper fence where it actually felt like a Quippers home game where the Warriors fans didn't drown out the Clippers fans. Where it actually felt like a Clippers home game and they ended up winning. It was a classic Clippers Warriors game where the Warriors played that crap, the Clippers look great. Then all of a sudden the Warriors are scrapping together trying to win at the end. They didn't.

But whatever Ballmer did with that arena, which is really cool and the wall and the fans close together and trying to monitor some of the ticket stuff. It actually worked in that Warriors game. So I am a little more bullish on the Clippers than I used to be. That's the first one. Speaking of the Warriors, it's a tiny one. Second in the six pack. The D'Anthony Mountain injury was a really, really secretly huge injury.

There's been so many injuries this year. It kind of got lost in the shuffle, but he had really unlocked them. He was really good next to Curry. He was an excellent on-ball defender, a good shooter. They were fourth in defensive rating before he got hurt. And he was a great fit with Curry. And he hurt his knee and it was like,

then they said it was a sprained ACL. And then all of a sudden he's getting ACL surgery and, uh, it just hurts them. They're not the same team. They've been, they've been trying to throw people in that spot and we'll see how it goes with them, but he was the perfect fit and it kind of exposed the secret issue with clay the last couple of years where he kind of couldn't guard anybody. If you have Curry that doesn't need to be totally protected because he's a

really good off ball defender, but you want somebody else taking that burden of going against the John Moran types night after night. Melton was doing it. I'm just watching it because I loved how the Warriors played the last time we did the power pole. I was talking about how I had them as a sleeper, but I really thought maybe they could be a real contender and they still might be, but the Melton thing definitely hurts. So I didn't want to not mention that.

Third thing for the six pack, Houston. They have the look. I know the look, they have the look. Third defensive rating, 11th offense. The terror twins, Amen Thompson and Tarri Eason have been my, they're not the league pack, they're not like best Oscar winner, best actor. I'm not even positive they're best supporting actor, but there's something, I

don't know what Oscar they would win. They come in and they flip these games. They just have so much athleticism and so much defense between those two. They're terrifying. It's a little like what Orlando had last year. It's a little like what OKC has sometimes, but, um, they're terrifying. It's a little like what Orlando had last year. It's a little like what okay. C has sometimes, but, um, they have like, it's something to watch. And especially if you're gambling on games and you like player props and stuff, like watch when Houston goes against teams that have good swings.

Like they played Indiana, math run at eight points. They played Chicago, Levine had 15. They had back to backs against the Quippers. This is what really jumped out to me. Cause I actually watched those games. Hardin was fucking useless against Houston between Brooks and then the terror twins. Like it was Jay. He, you could kind of see him like I'm tapping out. I don't like this.

I'm not having a good time. Hardin and Powell on back to back games were 21 for 58, 12 free throw attempts total, and they only scored 60 points and Houston swept those games. And I just think defensively there's really something here. I said this when we did the Power Pull, I don't even think they know what their team has yet. Like Jabari Smith will have some games where he only plays like 22 minutes, only scores four points.

He's a guy that if you're going to say who is not going to be on this team in a year, maybe that's the guy. Cause I think he's a real asset. They were playing small ball five with them last year. Um, he's only 9.7 million this year. He could be the focal point of a trade if they want to make a trade. They've already said publicly, they don't want to make a trade that they're happy to have the kind of what Orlando had last year with okay. See had two years ago of we're young, we're hungry.

Let's see where this goes, which I think is the right mentality, but they do have a lot of picks. They do have Jabari is the centerpiece of if you're actually getting a player back in the trade. So I'm just watching them and I'm watching them in general. Cause I really liked them. Tuesday night, Houston at Minnesota with the terror twins and Brooks going against Edwards is,

I think the league pass game of the year that is in Celtics Cleveland. Cause I don't think that was a league pass game, but I want to see them go total with that Minnesota team. Houston to me is a top five team in the West. I've been taking them very seriously and I love the terror twins. So that's my third thing.

Fourth thing, just a question. Did Heat Culture die when they didn't get Dane? Because here's what's happened since. Remember they had already drafted Hawkeyes, which is the last really smart Heat moment we've had. Since then, the 2024 Knicks, last year's Knicks team kind of stole their identity as like the defense chemistry Overachieving team they had a terrible year Riley got mad at Butler The Rozier trade turned out to be kind of blah and I'll admit I like the Rozier trade for them He's playing great for Charlotte. He's been kind of blah for them. He's averaging 13 points a game There's times out there. He might be the Tobias Harris award. Weillo's joke about, oh, I didn't realize Terry Roger was out there.

He's had some moments like that. BAM's gone backwards. Now, I assume that's gonna turn around, but I'm just pointing out, he doesn't look like a top 15 player in the league. Nikola Jovich, who they were all excited about. Blah. They're getting 24 points a game in a 49-45-88 shooting season from Tyler Hero.

And as we're taping this on a Thursday, they're six and seven. And Boston and Cleveland seems like they're miles ahead of them. But the big thing for me, and a lot of people have talked about this this week, and this is like the Heat fans get mad every time I talk about the Heat. Did the 15th pick in the draft. They drafted Ware, the center, who barely plays, and they passed on back to back picks. Jared McCain goes to Philly and Connect goes to the Lakers. And in the old days, the Heat, if McCain was on the board at 15, like forget about Connect. I like Connect, but I can see it. He's 24. They already have shooters who don't really play defense. Like I get it

McCain was the most Miami pick. I can't believe I couldn't believe it in the moment to go back to my Twitter feed I was going nuts about McCain. I thought like I was like this guy I know this guy's good because he was an LA kid. I watched him play in high school a bunch of times He's my favorite kind of post-latter guy in the draft by far I would bet anything McCain was gonna be be good player and they passed on them and Maybe it's nothing everybody misses on picks. They had hero. They took BAM. They took They took Hawkeyes like they're clearly really good at drafting and they whiffed on this pick with two guys that really really really could have helped them Big picture I'm just not afraid of the heat anymore. I think I finally,

it's like the horror movie where you're not looking under your bed. I'm just not looking under my bed anymore with the heat. Great run, 2020, 23. And, uh, and it's over and we'll see what they do with it. But I, that McCain connecting is like symbolic of something that shifted with those guys. Fifth thing on the six pack. So the NBA all-Star game, Shams Charania, now VSPN, reported that they're going to do a four-team tournament this year and they're going to have three All-Star teams, eight players each, and then they're going to have the winner of the rookie sophomore game. And so it's going to be four teams competing semi-final games up to 40 points first team to 40 I guess wins finals games up to 25 points

as Usual they didn't consult with me even though I would put my track record of of great goofy NBA ideas against anyone in the 21st century. I just would Just go look at the track record. It's there. I Don't know why the rookie sophomore guys are in this and I don't know why each team has eight players. If they had asked me, what do you think? I would have said four all-star teams, six players each, so there's one sub. Has anybody who made this decision ever played pickup basketball? Who has three subs in pickup basketball? It sucks. I remember playing in a league one year in Boston

when we had like nine players on the, and it was like short games and you're just shuttling guys in and out like it was hockey and it sucked. I would have done four All-Star teams. I would have done six players each. Had the signature players of the league be the captain of those teams.

So you have Steph, you have Giannis, you have LeBron, and maybe Jokic. I don't know, however you want to do it. Sorry, MB, dude. Make the cut. And then six players, then each player is a sub. And by the way, if somebody gets hurt, you still have five players. Maybe there's like a 25th All-Star who's like the emergency QB who can come in at any point if two guys are hurt, I just don't get the eight players thing. And I don't understand why anybody wants to watch the rookie sophomore guys playing against these dudes. Not to mention those guys are actually going to be

really trying and maybe that's why they did it. Maybe they wanted the all stars to try against the rookie sophomores, but it's like, like that's a pretty big spot to throw a rookie team in, especially when you have the draft that we had this year. That was pretty uninspired. The sophomores, whatever. But I just, it was an easy tweak. I don't know how they fucked this up. As usual, they didn't ask me. Sixth and last. I think Milwaukee is going to be fine. That's where I landed. I don't think they're going to win the title. I don't even think they're necessarily going to make the Eastern finals, but I didn't think

that before the season. What was in play for the first three weeks was this could be an all time disaster. They're going to have to trade Giannis. It just felt like all the darkest pieces of the season were sitting there. Giannis is averaging a 32, 12 and six. It's like his seventh straight year where he's looked like one of the three best players in the league at worst. Dame has not shot the ball well and they're still six and nine with three horrible losses. One that actually seemed like there should have been a criminal investigation with the officiating. But six and nine easily could be nine and six.

Three of the dumbest losses of the season. Green and Prince, two swing guys for them, both shooting 50% from three. So Doc has just figured out, I'm probably just gonna give up defense with the swings. I just wanna make sure guys can make shots. That's why somebody like AJ Green is playing. And they're not a top 14.

I don't think they're there with Boston, Cleveland, New York, or Orlando. But after that, I don't know who I'd like more than Giannis and the Bucks. I'd probably have them fifth. And all they need to do is get to the playoffs and then you have Giannis and you can try to stay healthy and maybe you can find one shooter. Um, they're minus 700 for the playoffs on FanDuel, which I think is notable. Should also mention FanDuel does not have odds for Philly to make the playoffs.

So you literally can't find them because that's how crazy this Philly season's been. But I'm leaning toward Milwaukee's probably okay. Right? They, maybe they're not, not one of the favorites, but they're okay. They're, they're, this isn't going to be like a catastrophe of the season. Philly is not okay. And we're going to be talking about that later. Um, so that's a six pack for the NBA, but I have to bring in Steve

Cerruti Orlando magic fan producer of the pod because there's some Franz Wagner atoning we have to do. I handed in my ringer a hundred lists. Over a week ago. I think I had Franz like in the low sixties, the list itself didn't do very well and all Franz has done over the last two weeks has said, not only ago, I think I had Franz like in the low sixties, the list itself didn't do very well. And all Franz has done over the last two weeks has said, not only are we not going to miss Paulo, but I'm actually an all NBA player and, and signed me up for this list. Is this a fluke or is this real?

I think it's real. Uh, I will say my biggest gripe with Franz is that like when in the past with Paulo, like when he would go on these quarter stretches where he'd clearly be like the guy and on a streak, he just like wouldn't give him the ball or he wouldn't be like proactive and be like, no, I'm that dude right now. Like Paulo take a step back. And I think this, you know, you never want to say that injury is like a blessing in disguise, but I kind of feel like Franz has found his groove again because he's just the guy now. And I'm kind of hoping like in the long term, this is going to translate to like some, a little bit like taking some of the pressure off Apollo and Franz realizing

like, Hey, there are stretches where I can be that dude, because I mean, he's everything like 37 and six. Play that a six game winning streak. Obviously we're recording this after the loss against the Clippers last night. And he didn't have a great game, but you know, it's okay. It's six straight great games. I, this is everything that we wanted a max player. This is everything that we thought he was going to be.

And I'm looking at the ring of rankings right now. It's, it's doing my guy disservice. It really is. I love you guys. The rankings in the fifties. 40 he's 48. Um, which is he's behind Scotty Barnes. He's behind. I mean, there are just some guys that he's behind Dame is he's behind Scotty Barnes. He's behind.

I mean, there are just some guys that he's behind Dame and he's behind Paul George. You know, I know there's the name recognition, but like you're telling me the Sixers right now, not for like the next two, three, four, five years. Like this year, the Sixers would much rather have fronds than than Paul George. The Bucks would much rather have fronds than Damien Lillard. I don't even think it's close. So like, I know the name thing, like we want to give those guys respect, but that's insane in our defense.

When the first couple of weeks, fronds couldn't hit a three and it's like, what's going on? Where's team Germany fronds is that guy coming back? It's around 35% right now. It's, it's, it's, it's not terrible. It could be better. I still think it could be improved, but he's, he's fine. Team Germany fronds seems like he's back. It's pretty exciting.

He's got his brother. He doesn't need Dennis Schroeder. He proved, who knows, the trade deadline still, maybe the magic will be looking for a point guard. I kind of hope it's not him, but he just looks so much more confident, man. And he's not even, the defense is really good. He's like one of, where I have a couple of stats here. Hold on. He's one of eight players averaging 25 rebounds, four assists and 4.5 steals a game. That's a Luca, Deer and Fox, SGA, Harden, Jokic, Tatum and Jalen Williams. Like it's, he's on very impressive lists. So I just love this. It's like the Franz Renaissance thing,

proving he's a max player and you know, who knows? Like Apollo, you know, he's going to be out probably at least another month or so. So this is the thing is it's probably going to keep rolling. Yeah. The thing you needed was with Palo going out, how can Orlando keep their spot as either the third or the fourth seed? How can you make sure you, you stay in the, you're going to win the division. Although I don't even know if winning the division matters anymore, but nine and seven losing your best guy for God knows how long is not a bad place to be. We're taping this before the Lakers game,

but the pods going up for the Lakers game. The thing with the Lakers, they don't have really anyone on their roster to guard, to guard like good scoring wings like this or good point guards, by the way. And they've had this stretch where they've won some games, but part of the reason they're winning the games is because they can play this lineup with Connect and Reeves and LeBron and D-Low all together because they don't have to worry about guarding anyone.

I want to see if Franz can light up the Lakers tonight. Because I think he can. It's the type of guy that I don't even know, you know, who they'd have to guard him. So we'll see. I'm glad Franz is back. I'm glad for your sanity. You're back in on the max player bandwagon. You're back. We flip-flopped a little this summer,

but you're back now. It's good to have you. Well, and then the other thing is Anthony Black, the last time we talked about this, like continues to be making strides. So they're laying the foundation. They're not in the Cleveland Boston swimming pool, but they're at like the pool right next to it doing laps No, but you know what like I was talking to a buddy about this the East is weird because I think before the season We were like, hey, it's Boston Then it's like kind of the next like two through eight or nine We're like, I don't know could be like between like two to three games could could be the difference at the end of the season

Now it feels totally different to me now It feels like like the Magic should get a home playoff series like that the top four things should be a thing this year Right and you have a playoff series that could be against Miami that could be against Milwaukee like you want the home court You want the you want the game seven and then when did they say palace coming back? Yeah, originally, I think it was six to eight weeks, but I mean that was like a reevaluation period So we still have another at least month ago, which, you know what? It's all right. Like just, you know, Franz is Franz is holding it, holding it down.

And, you know, I'm just hoping that like, there was a little bit of like, Hey, you know, creeping into my mind of like, can these two guys peak coexist together? Like they're both good together, but can it, and I'm just hoping like, you know, cause this team is so Franz dependent before he went out or before Paulo went down, like I remember talking to Raheem about this, like this team's going to be awful to watch. Like they might win some games, but awful and they've been significantly better. So the hope is that, you know, Franz sort of realizes that, Hey, I'm that dude too. And I'm, I'm an all-star caliber player, which I've

thought for a while now. So we'll see. Yeah. I was wondering if they're going to be almost like the Steelers where they're winning 18 to 16 and getting six field goals with like whatever the NBA version of that. But yeah, they've been a little more fun than that. All right, Saruti. Who's winning the college football championship by the way? Oh man. You can pick any team you bet on. Don't, don't dip your toe into the Indiana waters. Cause we were talking about

that in Rossella's probably the other day and we like set the internet on fire cause everyone's mad because he doesn't think Indiana is worthy of making the playoff even with a loss against Ohio State. I would say I'm I think Oregon's still kind of vulnerable. I still kind of like Georgia even though some of their weapons are bad I if I had to like make a bet right now, and then this is just like not winning money aside I still think Oregon's probably the pick but it's wide open man It's that's what's kind of cool about this whole year is that there's, you know, three, four, five, six teams that are all kind of in that same, same area.

But I'd go, I'd go Oregon now. Uh, I love Dylan Gabriel. The quarterback is just like a dude that wins games. So Oregon's plus one 45 George is 24 to one on Fandel. Yeah. The problem is George is really good, but their quarterback has just been awful all season long. So if they just get average quarterback play, they're probably better than everybody else.

All right. Well, that's it. I just did college football talk on the Bill Simmons podcast. We have Rosillo, we have McShay now, we have way better places to do it. But Saruti, thank you. We're going to take a break and come back with some football. Sometimes a basketball 30 points could be worth more than 30 points. Right now you get a 30% profit boost from the ringer with FanDuel's 30 on 30 during Friday's NBA Cup action. We're teaming up with America's number one sportsbook to give you a 30% profit boost when you either pick a player to score more than 30 points or bet on our new exclusive

30 on 30 special markets like any game to have both teams to score 30 plus points in the first quarter. I messed around with this last week. I had a great time. I think I hit on Anthony Edwards. I missed on two others, but it was really fun to actually root 30 points is perfect. You can check during the games like, oh my God, my guys got 27 points already. So there's a couple that jumped out to me. It's tough because you're thinking about the matchup who's playing who, but, um, Cam Thomas against Philadelphia. That was one. I liked that idea. I liked the idea of Curry against new Orleans.

The odds won't be great, but I still like it. Um, and then the only other one I have is Sacramento versus the Clippers seems like a great Darren, uh, Darren Fox spot. So let's go with those three, whether you want to route with my picks or make it your own look for 30 on 30 in the Fandel sports book app or head to Fandel.com slash PS for your chance to score a bigger path this Friday. Don't miss your chance to find out how much more 30 can be worth. The Fandel is 30 on 30, USB 21 plus and president select states are 18 plus and

president DC. Opt-in required bonus issued at non-reportable profit boost tokens. Restrictions apply including token expiration and max wager amount. See terms at sportsbook.fandl.com. Game problem call 1-800-GAMBLER. Visit rg-help.com. All right our our old friend, Peter Schrager, is here. You can watch him on Good Morning Football. You can see him on Fox. The last time I saw him, we were in person doing a pod as the Jets were falling apart,

and somehow that's still going. We're not gonna start with them, though. We are heading into week 12. There's a bunch of bye weeks. Thanksgiving's coming up. We're hitting that second stage of the NFL season. We know who's good. We know who's not good.

We know there's gonna be one surprise team coming. We have a sense of who the seven contenders are. Biggest surprise for you after 11 weeks. You can say anything. Thing you're most shocked by. The Jets. Rick, you know the Jets. See, I feel like I picked the Jets to win the AFC East, but I also like was fully aware of this alternate universe where everything went wrong and that's what's happening. All right. So that the just the fact that like I haven't bought into the hype over here. I live in New York. I grew up with all Jets fans like and I've never been one to say, well, this is the year, you know, they drafted Denzel Mims. This is the year, you know, they got Elijah Moore. This is going to be the year.

And then I fell for it. I've said it. You fell for it hard. There's MVP Rogers videos of you on the internets. Shameful. And that whoever runs that freezing takes or that old takes exposed, like he has no problem posting that every single time the Jets lose a game of me saying that Rogers is going to be MVP.

We all have those. We've got them out there. It's fine. I will say this. I felt so hard this year for the Jets because I looked at the AFC and I'm like, there's an opening here. I didn't think Buffalo was going to be what they were. I had a feeling Miami would take it down. And I thought, you know, obviously New England, I was like, this is the year there's a window. The the C's are parting and the talent. And the clip of us talking week one has gone viral again, has been reposted. And I still don't regret what I said. You go top to bottom on that roster.

The names are outstanding. And I guess I got caught up in it and it's not fantasy football. And there is something called chemistry. And when you fire your coach five weeks into the season, that's not always going to be the greatest decision. And at the end of the day, I fell for it hard and I hand up. I fucked up. I was wrong. Jets suck.

And it's a shame because they're going to start. They're going to try to rebuild this thing. But that's what it's about. By the way, everything you just said, we, we could probably just insert Sixers like as a voiceover for every piece of that. I fell for it. I didn't chemistry. I didn't realize it was going to go sideways, but we knew this was the risk with the

jets Rogers is old Rogers coming off major surgery. The son Reddick thing was weird. Sala had never had a winning season. They were trying to shoehorn this Rogers thing into the jets. They're the jets. Bad things happen with the jets. I fell for it too. I picked them over Buffalo and what we both of us missed is what Sal

nailed before the season. Yeah. What if this is the Josh Allen year and now it looks like it's the Josh Allen year. He's your MVP. They're 12 weeks. Josh Allen's your MVP. And you know, fantasy is so funny on these Sundays.

I know it's like he's looking, it's shot and fraud almost, but like his tweet is so pressing it now that he did on the day, the Monday of week one, where he's basically like just having it on record right now. I think this Aaron Rodgers thing is going to be a massive failure and everyone's going to get fired at the end of the year. The only wrong thing about it was it wasn't the end of the year. It was before even Thanksgiving. He was right. So I was wrong on the Jets and I'll take my beating. The thing that's been a pleasant surprise, and I didn't see it coming, was what we got

in Pittsburgh. And I think it's a really cool story. And of course, they're playing as we record this, they're playing tonight and there's always weird things that happen on short weeks, on Thursday nights and maybe division matchups. Yeah. Goofy weather, the whole thing. Overall though, like if you told me that Russell Wilson was going to take a visit with the Giants, was going to fly commercial to Pittsburgh, was going to sell his wares as a potential future hall of famer to these teams and say, who wants me?

And that the Denver Broncos were going to pay 95% of his contract this season, no matter who we went to because of what was already owed. And he would be the one leading the Pittsburgh Steelers into Thanksgiving as the one or two seed in the AFC. I would have told you, you're crazy. So you couldn't tell me I was crazy because I predicted all of those things before the season. It's one of my best ones. Where's freezing cold takes on that? Maybe they should have smoking hot takes,

should be an alternate account of people just crushing pre-season picks. Where's that account? LeBron's right. New social media, too negative. Where's the positive? Where's the positive stuff about the media? Come on, LeBron.

LeBron's out on social media. He does this every year. It's like when my wife gets mad at one of her friends and she says, I'm not talking to her again. And then six weeks later, they're hanging out. 28 years on social media. Now LeBron is out. Yeah, he's done.

He's too toxic. The guy's name was Fred Siegel. That's who does the freezing cold takes. And he reached out to me, came on Good Morning Football, did a book. I'm like, I love this guy. Now he's trying to murder my career. Everything comes out.

Well, I think he's an equal opportunity murderer. Is where he's fashioned himself. I gotta say, the most shocking thing for me is Buffalo. I'm not shocked that they're gonna get to 10 wins because that was, if you were picking the Jets over them, I thought there was only gonna be one AFC East playoff team. And I just thought the Jets had more stacked their way

than Buffalo in this goofy year they're having. So Buffalo winning the AFC is the jet's thinking. Not that surprising to me. But Buffalo being good is surprising. I don't really fully understand it. I don't know enough about the mechanics of how you get a defense going that seems pretty flimsy. And yet when you watch them, hats on the ball, sideline locked in, really well coached, really seems like they're across the board locked in, don't really have any weaknesses, which is crazy because they've had a lot of attrition, they've had injuries.

And I just don't fully understand it. Like weird rookie receivers and young receivers or never did it before receivers, a hodgepodge running game with a bunch of running backs, I just don't fully get it. They're so good. And what they've done is they've like they've they've found ways to win games that they used to lose. So that Chiefs game, of course, they've beaten the Chiefs three different

times in the regular season. But like there was that window where it's like, OK, here comes Kansas City. And after the third and one that they go to, I think they handed it to Ty Johnson for a one yard loss. Bad play. You're like, all right, fourth and two. Now remember last year in the playoffs, they trotted out the punt team and they ran a fake punt

with Damar Hamlin on fourth down. And that one was justifiable in that they couldn't stop Kansas City. Kansas City was going up and down the field. I think Mahomes scored in five of six possessions. Like, all right, we did fine. McDermott took a beating. He became a punching bag.

Everyone made their jokes. They had the courage to say, you know what, screw it. We're going for it again. And if we fail and come up short and we lose, like we'll deal with it on Monday. Do you think that was courage though? Because sometimes I'm like, why are they doing this? But usually I'm saying, why are they doing this when your quarterback's like Jamis Winston, right?

Or your, or you have like a rookie quarterback and like, why are they doing this? They're not good. They're up to, they're up to. I like it. I thought Romo, Romo sniffed it out. He's like, give the ball to Josh. Let him decide the game. I was like, I actually agree.

Let him decide the game. And of course it works out and Josh is Superman. And that's an amazing, it's one of the all time, like if that rivalry, that's a play that like goes on the game. And of course it works out. And Josh is Superman and that's an amazing, it's one of the all time, like, event rivalry. That's a play that goes on the list. If they kicked the field goal and they'd gone up five, it reminds me a little bit of La Flore against the Buccaneers and then AFC championship, NFC championship game a few years back where it's like, we just got to stop them once and we get the ball back. They didn't want to do that.

And that's with scar tissue from the year before of not wanting to do that and getting burned on it with that fake punt. So Mcdermid. But you know what? That was, it was a risky non-risk because they had like a five game lead in the AFC East. It's like, like you lose that game and it's like, all right, so maybe we're going to be a three seed instead of a two seed. Like, but they, it really wasn't, wasn't a massive risk. Like if the Ravens did something like that this week when they're seven and four, you know, and it's a must win game against the Chargers, a little more, a little higher stakes on that one than I think Buffalo. Yeah.

I also think it was a gift for, for us in our world as a media, because Kansas city wins that, then they have a three game lead over Buffalo plus the tiebreaker. And it's like, all right, we've already got our playoff pictures wide open now. Yeah. And and Buffalo. This day is not going to suck. Christmas Day games is like an AFC semifinals. You've got the Texans and the Ravens and you've got the Steelers and the Chiefs. So I think it was a huge game.

It was a huge win. And as much as Josh Allen downplayed it, and I know a lot of people on Monday morning, our guy Kyle Brant was like, as a Bills guy, he's like, that was nothing. Like, stop. Like, don't make a big deal out of this. It was a week 11 game. 100 years, we'll forget about it. I felt the opposite.

And traditionally, I'm the Chiefs guy. I pick the Chiefs to win every year. And I've made a lot of bones in the playoffs. They're going on the road to Baltimore. They're going to win. They're going on the on the road to Baltimore. They're going to win. They're going on the road to Buffalo. They're going to win. I thought that one.

I felt like Buffalo was the better team. They were more dynamic. They felt like they had more deep threats and gosh, I thought they were better coach too. So I thought that was a big win for Buffalo. You agree with my theory that they kept Kelsey in the garage for that game. The Ferrari. I heard you talking about that with Sal. It felt like let's not show all our cards in this game game by then.

The thing I was most concerned about the Chiefs, and especially like listening to some pods and reading stuff over the next couple days after the game, their tackles might not be good. Right? And they figured out a way to kind of, you know, scotch tape shit together. We've seen them do this a million times. But it seems like both tackles aren't really any good now. And I don't know if they can get something going from there, but from an offensive line standpoint, this feels like the shakiest they've been, right? Yeah.

And look, the last time their tackles gave us those questions was going to the Super Bowl against the Buccaneers and they didn't have, they didn't have Fisher, they didn't have Schwartz. And we're like, all right, but they'll figure it out. And then the Buccaneers, you know, obviously it manhandled them at the line of scrimmage and then we lost the Super Bowl. Where's freezing cold takes for that guy? We have multiple videos of us guaranteeing a buck Super Bowl win. I don't see him digging those up. Jesus. Freddie Siegel. Anyway, the other part of it is like, you know, they throw that, they tried to get Worthy involved early and I was like, a little bit of this being chippy, like, you know, the Bills traded us this guy, we're going to get, we're going to get Worthy involved. Then Worthy steps out of bounds when he has the whole field one foot and you're like, that's not Chiefs football.

Like that doesn't go that way. So- By the way, that was Patriots football is what it was. I've watched that all year. Wide open guys stepping out of bounds, terrible blocking, stupid strategies. That's Pat's football right now. I get worried about the Chiefs with that

because their defense has led the way for them. Their special teams has been awesome. Now, Buckers down and now the Spencer Schrader is going to have to make a couple of big kicks. We'll see. But like, who's scaring you besides Mahomes? And you could say it's because, hey, when you need him, Kelsey's going to go 10 for 120 with two touchdowns.

Maybe he hasn't been that guy. I know he had a couple of big statistical games the last few weeks, but like, I don't think Kelsey's doing like he was doing it a couple of years ago. And then, you know, you're throwing the ball to Noah Gray and Justin Watson and Juju, like, and Xavier Worthy is a nice deep threat, but I just don't know if this Chiefs team has enough firepower.

And it sounds crazy to say that with an Andy Reid offense that has Patrick Mahomes at quarterback. We said it last year in December. It was one of the, I mean, I think their bottom three explosive plays this year, which seems crazy for our Mahomes team. Like if you have Mahomes in fantasy, hasn't gone great, but we watched them reinvent themselves after that Christmas game, Christmas Eve game when everyone that was in the Raiders. They immediately reinvent themselves. They're also, they're built when the weather gets colder, that's going to be good for them too. I don't think it's going to be as good for some of the other teams. So I'm not, I'm not panicking. And by the way, they almost won the game. And I do think of Worthy hadn't stepped out of bounds. They probably win the game.

But on the other hand, you're relying on Worthy in these big spots. It's going to be the same situation in January. But did you, who'd you have Super Bowl? You had Lions winning it all? I had, I ended up with Lions over Texans. Okay. Right before the season, I felt like the Chiefs had become undervalued and I did a Lions Chief Super Bowl bet. That was like 30s. All the Lions stuff was going to hit one seed, NFC North. Like, I think that's been the least surprising thing is the Lions kind of, they were, were who they thought they were. they was the opposite of Danny Green

But the Lions were who we thought they were who they thought they were I did chiefs over Packers and my Packers caveat with that and I'm not done with that And my packers caveat was they're gonna do it as a wild card because the Lions are gonna be the one seed I'm gonna run away with this thing. So that's all still in play Detroit one thing on the Packers, we're going to know this weekend, I think we're going to have a real feeling because they have a nice game against the Niners that they should win. We're going to talk about a million dollar picks later.

That's if if something good is going to happen to them in January, I need them to win the Niners game. And if they don't, I'm going to be probably probably tapping out. Yeah. Yeah. The Lions have been an interesting one because it's been like this locomotive and they really will be one of the only teams in the league in 2024 where everyone's buddy and exchanging jerseys like they'll snap your neck.

They don't care. Like they, I saw a stat. They scored more than 50 points three times from the year 1920 to the year 2023. They've already scored more than 50 points twice this year, and they have embarrassed teams. And they've also won close games, which is obviously the Vikings game with Jake Bates hitting those fields and then the comeback game against the Texans. So they've won in a variety of different ways. The five pick in. Yeah. Where they overcame golf's five interceptions and still had a found a way.

So like, I kind of like it that it's not just been 07 Patriots or 2013 Broncos where they just ripped every team apart. Like they've been in games too and they've won those as well. And some adversity. It's not like everything went great this year. Yeah, Hutchinson going down. Hutchinson saying he was the best defensive front four guy in the league. They lost their defensive captain two weeks ago.

I liked the David Logs signing. I thought that was, I was surprised he got waived. I liked him a couple years ago. James Williams got suspended. Goff had the five pick game. It hasn't been perfect, but they're doing the, they're almost like a college football team some games. They're not just beating teams

They're like absolutely select when you score Seven straight touchdowns to start a game. That's like a you're on a different level at that point seven straight possessions. It's wild It's great Super Bowl ads They're the it's the first time ever in their history And I don't know how far back these gambling sites go But I saw it was the first time ever that they are the Super Bowl favorite. Ever. It has to be.

With Eric Kramer and Barry Sanders, I don't think they're the favorites. Yeah, they're plus 350 right now. The Chiefs are five to one, the Bills are plus 650. And then the Eagles are sitting there at eight to one. Houston's at 17 to one. It does feel a little hodgepodge-y. You look at some of the Superbowl matchups cause they have all the different matchups and it's like, you know, you let's say, let's say, I still feel like the chiefs to win the Superbowl until they have actually

lost the Superbowl is still in my head. I'm always going to be afraid of that one for a lion's thing, but, uh, the chiefs to beat the lions is 14 to one. But you look at some of these other dopey ones, like Chiefs to beat Arizona is 85 to one. It's not insane that Arizona could make the super. I'm not really not ruling out anyone is my point as good as Detroit's look. I'm not really at anyone.

I'm just not. Well, it's just that with Detroit, it's like, all right, let's say they have home field advantage. They won two playoff games there last year. They beat the Rams and they beat the Bucs. They did fine. And then they went on the road of loss. And it's like, how it usually works is you don't put the rare exception of maybe the

Eagles a couple of years ago with Foles or like the 99 Rams, where you just come out of literally nowhere and you're like, we're, we're just going to win a Super Bowl. We're going to, usually you have to go through the progression of you go and you go to the playoffs and you lose a tough one and then you win another round. Yeah. Did it. So like it's all there for them. I just have thoughts of Dan Campbell, high management, game management, close game, late

going up against a McVeigh, going up against maybe a Kyle Shanahan, who everyone has their own issues with at the end of games, but like has been there also time and time again. It's that kind of stuff that it's an intangible and you can't do it until you do it. But just as so many teams have gotten to the precipice and had to lose a couple of times before they got to that over the hump, maybe this is Detroit needing one more year. We'll see. That was my case when I picked them, that there's like actual history. And I think there were four different instances of the team that got really close the year before learn, you know, learn something and then was able to

apply it and either win the super bowl or come really close. And I think it happened like five times in the last 15 years. The Ravens lost to you guys. Lee Evans dropped the pass and then Billy Cundiff misses the football. Yeah. And then the very next year they're like, screw it. They go into Foxboro, they beat you guys and then they go in and win the Super Bowl. That's a recent memory of a team that had to lose and then found a way to win.

Yeah. Let's take a break and there's a lot more to discuss. Well, now we hit the portion of the podcast where I make my guests talk about Drake May for 60 seconds. Um, this is unbelievable. This whole week watching football Twitter, people like Orlovsky weighed in a couple of times, all the football experts, like, uh, who's the guy Colin has Cosell, he came in, all Colin has, Coel. He came in. Film guy.

All the film guys are coming in like you guys don't realize what Drake May is doing right now. You don't understand what's happening here. I've been going nuts. I can't. This is the most I've texted about the past since like the Flake Eight. This is the most excited I've been. F minus coaching staff. No receivers. Can't really block, running backs that can't do anything. So I just, this is where I make my guests talk about Drake May. So talk about

Drake May. He's been unbelievable. And I talked to McVeigh Monday morning. McVeigh was another one. Gosh. McVeigh called him a stud in that press conference. And I hit up Sean just to talk about, you know, their game, whatever. And then I also said, like, let's talk about... And he was just like, that guy, I mean, they got their guy. That guy's unbelievable. What a performance.

And the stat I got from my researcher at Good Morning Football, a great guy named Dante, says this was the second time in May's career that he threw the ball 40 times or more, completed 70% of his passes. And only two other rookies in the history of the sport have done that. And it's Justin Herbert and it's Joe Burrow and Drake May has already done it twice. We're talking and he does 95% of the offense, which you've noted. It's just like throw it on my shoulders.

I'll figure it out. And they're not even running in the right place for him. Half the time you're like, what was that? Why did we do that? What are we doing? He's, he's doing it with, with talent that might not be starting on other NFL rosters, which is, I think a kind thing to say the offensive line. There's a lot to be desired. The coaching isn't exactly the offensive line.

Like Cole strange is coming back. And when like Cole strange is coming back, like he's back, baby We have another guard. It's covered It's been really cool to see in fact this whole rookie class and not to get off the the Drake may conversation No, we're good. You gave me a minute. We can all had they've all had their moments and like as Great as Drake may was in the early window on Sunday I know everyone was watching bills bills chief, like Bo Nicks was fucking amazing. He's gotten better every week for like six weeks. And Moose Johnston was doing the game and he dropped his little nugget.

And I'm like, Oh, I don't, I didn't know that. Like Moose is like, we spoke to Sean Payton in the production meeting, which we always talk about the value of the production meeting, whether you're there or you're not, believe it or not. And he's like, and he said he liked Nick's more than all these rookie quarterbacks in the draft. They're like, that's crazy. He was the sixth one taken. Wow. I believe it. It's the perfect match. There was no crazy ramp up period for him. He's 26 years old.

He's played in 61 college games. He's seen it all. He's played at big programs, Auburn and Oregon. He's had failure. He's had success. He's done the senior bowl. Sean Payton does not want to work with a raw product, an unpolished guy that he's got to frustrate himself with. He wants him to run his offense as an avatar of himself. Here's what you're going to do and do it. There was a pass he had to Cortland Sutton where it was a play-action pass, rolled right, pumped it twice, and then dropped it in the bucket to Sutton over AJ Terrell. And I'm like, that's a 10-year vet play that he just did and he's doing it. So I say all this because May's having moments, Nick's is having moments. Of course we did Jayden, Caleb's been good, and we don't know what we're going to get

from Penic and the Cardinals. Caleb's been okay. Caleb's had moments. He's been sacked. Okay. He looked pretty good last week. He's been sacked 44 times. It's the most since David Carr and his rookie year.

Like I, Caleb, I can give Caleb a lot of Mulligans on this season. I feel like he's been given a tough draw this whole way, whether it be the offensive line, It wasn't tougher than Drake May. Fair. Fair. And you saw what Gruden said. Gruden said he'd rather have Drake May than Caleb.

I'm like, it's all over the map. I loved it. Gruden adding, we invited him to superstar Drake May than Caleb. I'm like, it's all over the map. I loved it. Gruden adding. We invited him to superstar Drake May Island. We're handing out condoms right now. Orlowski has one. But I do have to ask you, did we not? Okay. And I'm not trying to go and be viral for, for everyone else here, but did we not go down this road with Mac Jones, you and I before,

but this one feels a little different. It feels it's completely different. Okay. Mac Jones, it was like really good game manager. This guy can keep us going. He can make some throws. And this Drake May thing, he's doing it despite literally everybody else in every fashion. And I also think it seems like he's won the locker room over too.

Oh, and how about he gets to the press conference two weeks ago and he's like, everyone put your phones down. I would just like to say, how about that defense? So it's great. I'm like, there's a 22 year old. Yeah. Now he's, he's figured out all those pieces and you can tell like from the other coaches and the players that are going against them, some of the quotes, whereas like with Mac, it was like, yeah, it's pretty good. You know, it's like, it was never like this, but Mac, I don't know what happened to Mac. I still feel like there's a sliding doors universe. And it really kind of started when Belichick benched him for a lot of that win, that win

Buffalo game. Remember that his rookie year when it was like Monday night, our wins Monday night, it was kind of never the same. But there was a, he played a Colts, I think on a Sunday night. And the Colts just defended him a certain way. And it was like like it immediately broke them. They just like they were like throw over us. I think I remember I think it was a Saturday game. Saturday. It was a Saturday night game on NFL Network and like the Colts just the defense and the special teams won the game for the Colts and it was like oh there's that's him. I would add you know with with with Drake May and you and I have talked about this, I'm not

sure on this podcast or just you and I talking, like the Patriots, they love this guy in the building and it goes from top to bottom, front office. I know the impression he made because I know a lot of the folks in that building. When he signed his rookie contract, he showed up and all his brothers showed up and his high school girlfriend showed up. And it was like this big deal. And like, I, I got a text from someone in the building, like, that's such a Schrager, stupid and tangible thing that if he stinks, like, what was that?

What was the point of him talking about it? Like they loved it. They were like, this is what we want. We want someone who like wants to put his roots down here and we can just build around this guy. And he is as loyal as it comes to family, to his friends, to his faith. It's all the right stuff on paper. And then now you see it on the field and it's like, oh, these guys are going to rally by on this guy for 10 years. He's when Nate Tice was comparing me to L.A. That was like the comp.

Because I couldn't quite get there with the Josh Allen because it was big enough. All right. We talked too much about him. I can't wait 10 years from now when he's bitter because 93 old craft is spending the least amount of money on the team out of the 32 owners. It's like, I don't know. Like right now he's like in that young, loyal puppy stage that is just so great to, uh, I do, I do like, I do like how this team has responded. You know, I, and we go back and forth. I know you're, you're, you're the Patriots voice, but like Belichick and Lombardi

and, and, uhardi and Patricia were feeling themselves a little bit after that soft comment and they were joking and they were making their snide comments and I felt it. I understand. They've won a couple of games and the players who've been playing for Mayo, whether or not he's an X's and O's genius or they have ping pong in the locker room or what, this has been vacillating back and forth there is there's obviously craft and Belichick lines here and it's like I don't know where I am on it but well this was a better argument a week ago the coaching last week was an F minus minus minus it was probably the worst coaching they've had all year so I said it straight up it's not been good but like they're a live dog this week though they're plus seven in Miami and yeah I don't know I just think week to week they're

going to be really hard to predict because they easily could have beaten the Rams last week. You know. They were up on the Rams. Yeah. By the way, let's talk about the Rams for a second because you're pretty wired in with them. Yep.

Pretty lucky to beat the Pats, a team that made a ton of mistakes, that the coaching was abysmal. Then they're playing the Eagles this week. And all my instincts should be like, nah, I'm taking the Eagles. The Rams are kind of fraudulent. And yet I kind of like McVeigh against the Eagles. I don't know why. I don't know what it is. But him against Fangio, like I love the way Stafford played last week. I thought he was awesome. Like

their receivers are back. They can run the ball. Williams is really crafty. There were times when it felt like the Pats had him behind the line and he would just figure out how to get five yards anyway, but uh, and then their defensive line can Can really collapse the pocket and do some stuff. So I look at that I think that's one of the hardest games to figure out I don't know if I'm gonna be putting a million dollar picks, but are the Rams a playoff team to you? mmm That loss to Miami on Monday night football is really a slap in the face to everyone who

got on that bandwagon. That was maybe the worst loss any team's had this season. It's just surprising. You had a couple of wins in a row, you're back in this thing and then here comes this Dolphins team who just kicked their ass on national television in their building. Patriots, they should have won. They did win. It wasn't easy.

You get back to this one. Now, the testament to the Rams is that Aaron Donald retires and the thought is their defense is going to go down. They drafted verse. He's probably your defensive player the year from the rookie side. All over the place. It's either him or Mitchell. Every week, all over the place. He's awesome. The investors are raving about him.

Braden Fiske's the other one, also from Florida State, second rounder. Their third round pick was Cam Kintchens, who's had two huge picks this season, the pick six against Seattle and another interception that game. And then the game winning interception against you guys last week. And they got this guy, Omar Spates, who's undrafted and where's number 48 and is all over the field and had the big fourth downstop against Seattle in overtime. Now, what I'm saying is with all this, it's like you could do the F them picks and you can be super aggressive and you can go and make, you better nail the draft. And they have nailed the draft and they found a way to recover from Aaron Duff, Arnold retiring

and no first round picks for the last seven years. They've been really good with these guys. On that point, McFaith said something interesting about how they didn't really scout May because they knew they had no chance at him. And I was wondering, like, is that an advantage when you either don't have first round picks at all? So there's people like you're not even you might as well just cross off 40 guys you know you're not going to get or you're just concentrating on a certain portion of the draft versus like having to think about every round. I do wonder if that's kind of a weird advantage that you wouldn't want, but you kind of stumble into. Sean had a really fun time this draft period.

Now quarterback was not gonna happen. They were fine with quarterback with Stafford, but like this was his first first round pick ever. So he was super excited. And I said on Good Morning Football, I'm like, there is no chance that in his first time making a first round pick, Sean McVeigh isn't taking an offensive player.

Sure enough, they took Jared verse. They took a defensive guy second round. Egg on my face. The guy that he loved though, and I can say it now, and it's been reported, they loved Brock Bowers. The tight end at Georgia. They loved him. And when he started slipping, McVeigh was getting the snappy fingers and like that, what can we do? What can we do? I believe they've made some phone calls to move up to get Bowers. It's a great what if because Brock Bowers is now having the best rookie tight end season ever on an irrelevant Braves team. Ten to 13 targets a week on an awful team. It's unbelievable.

Yeah. And the fact is, that's what you're saying. They weren't going quarterback, but like McVeigh finally had a chance to look at blue chip talent, first round talent in a real way, not in a, well, there's a chance someone might slip or we might trade up. And he really enjoyed the process. So as much as an advantage that might be to have a second round pick and not have to worry about the first round so you can look at deeper cut, lower.

It was cool for him to get that. And then the Scouts, they were all in on Verse, credit to Les Snead and his guys. If Verse falls that far, we've gotta find a way to get a new cornerstone defensive player, and I think they found him. Well, there was that one year when they didn't have Coles, they were looking at Colestrange, because they were picking in the third round,

and the Pats took him. And McFaith's like, wait, Colestrange just went in the first round, we were looking at him, and I was like, oh my god, we might have fucked that pick up. McFaith's stunned, wait, Colestrange just went in the first round. We were looking at him and I was like, Oh my God, we might've fucked that pickup. This guy went in the top 30. He came out the next day. I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's not what I was saying.

What I was saying was we were actually, I'm like, I don't think they had. Yeah. That nobody's believed you on that one, but the flip side was he came all the way around on Drake bank. So the Rams are plus three 60 to make the playoffs. That seems tough. Seattle is plus two 90 to make the playoffs. Arizona is minus one 40 to make the playoffs.

And then the most shocking one to me, which isn't that shocking is the Niners plus money right now. Plus one 76. I want to talk about them really quick. Yeah. And then the most shocking one to me, which isn't that shocking is the Niners plus money right now, plus 176. I want to talk about them really quick. Yeah. McCaffrey doesn't look like McCaffrey. Nope, didn't look. And it's the Niners are the classic, oh, if I, if I saw the sheet of paper, I'm like, whoa, they have a lot of good guys.

But if you actually watch the games, like Ayuk's gone, Kittle missed last week. So he's hit the George Kittle red flag stage of his season, which happens every year. Debo's been hurt a bunch of times already. Jawan Jennings had to make big plays last week, but McCaffrey just didn't seem special to me last week, and I don't know if it's gonna take some time to come back or is this who he is?

I don't think their offensive lines is good. I don't think their defenses is good. And I feel like they're still getting Basically last year's Value being treated that way versus what I'm watching. I don't think it's just last year I think it's the institutional knowledge and over the last five years They've started off being like three and four two and three four and four and then they they turn it on and they get to The playoffs and they're really hard team to beat in the playoffs. I too am watching them though, last week against Seattle and Nick Bosa clearly hurt. It's a hip.

Another one. It's an oblique, clearly not himself. You don't have Eric Armstead out there anymore. You're now a couple of years removed from not having Buckner out there anymore. All of a sudden you look around and you're like, I don't even recognize this defense. It's Fred Warner doing everything he can as he always does. It's an injured Bosa. And it's a bunch of younger guys on the back end. And it's like, I'm not scared of this defense like I used to be when it was D'Amico Ryan and Robert Sala marching up and down the sidelines, puffing out their chest.

To give up an ADR drive to Geno Smith after you held them most of the game, and then especially that final plays, like head-scratching, not their way. What's killing them is they lost a terrible, terrible loss in Los Angeles where the receiver Bell drops a pass that would put the game away at 21 to 7. That's in a division. They lost to the Cardinals. That's in the division. They've now lost to the Seahawks in the division. You got to really dig yourself out of the hole because I think their best way to the playoffs is going to be winning that division. Huge, massive,

massive game this weekend against the Packers. And to your point, they usually own the Packers and Shanahan's had good numbers against the floor. I think he's four and two all time, but I go to the big games. I go to playoff games and I think where he most just scored another touchdown from the NFC championship game back in 2020. I remember a couple of years ago on a Saturday night, everyone, Rogers was public enemy number one with the COVID stuff and everyone was taking shots at him and he comes in as the one seed and the Niners come in with Trent Williams in a boom box out of the

locker room and they beat them in Lambeau and shock the one seed on a Saturday night. And it's like, the Niners just have their number. I don't know if it's that same Niners team. The faces might be the same. The coach might still be the same. But like, do I have any confidence that that 49ers squad that I've seen the last few weeks limp to victories and just get by in their wins and then lose strange games they never lose,

is gonna come in and just push around the Packers? I don't. One more piece. Packers almost beat them in that playoff game when it was a healthier Niners team. Last year. And probably should have won. Yeah. Bad kicking, huh?

Little revenge game for them in this one. And I'm with you. I think the Packers, I think the ceilingers, I think the ceiling of the team versus what we've seen, I still believe in this ceiling. And I don't think they've played that well. And I think they've had some weird stuff happen really starting with that crazy Brazil game. It was, it's a weird way to start super lucky last week against the bears. They're also playing one thing that worries me about that game

for them is they're, uh, they're playing on Thursday night too. They're also playing, one thing that worries me about that game for them is they're playing on Thursday night too. They're playing the Dolphins, right? So this huge game at home against the Niners, but you also know that other game is kind of lingering afterwards. It's Thanksgiving evening. Thanksgiving night. Yeah.

And I always wonder like the game before the game, the good news is they're playing the Dolphins that game. Pretty mediocre Thanksgiving. The Dolphins have won a couple games in a row now. No, I know. Yeah, but now they got Drake May coming to Miami. There's also some weird weather stuff this week too. Oh, there's snow. Snow and green day. Jordan Love leads the league in interceptions.

Like, you're not wrong. Like, they don't look crisp. And then before the season... And they said they've had something like Dobbs got suspended for a game. Like, they've looked a little gamey at times, right? And like, you know, I don't know if it's a positive or negative. Now, in the early 2000s, the Patriots had this where it was like, you didn't really have a true number one wide receiver. And the floor said that before the season.

Like, I look at all those guys number ones, but every week it's like, Jayden Reed's week, then it's Dobbs' week week and last week Watson went nuts. So I kind of like that. There was a Tucker Kraft week. Oh, Tucker Kraft. He killed the Rams. The next week had two touchdowns. Does nothing anymore. It's okay. It's all right. He'll find us saying Josh Jacobs obviously is a weapon and like,

look at his list names. But to me, it's they haven't even come close to gelling on offense yet and they're still seven and three. And they're perfectly where you want to be. Let the Lions get all the headlines. Let the Vikings be sitting there with a tiebreaker over that. Let that be there. And then stretch run. Here comes the come running team.

And the come running team might very well be the Packers who got their shit together at the right time. Right. Maybe as a five seed, maybe as a six seed. We're aligned on this one. There's a scenario in my head this weekend where I'm trying to think of the narratives on Monday morning as you're staring at Kyle. Yeah. Where it's like, Packers, whoa, do we believe this? Niners, oh no, like they're not going to make the playoffs.

Holy shit. And then there's this sneaky Lions game and I'm going to full disclosure, I'm putting the Lions in a tease, but it does have like, does it, it's a little sneaky, just, it's a little sneaky cause Richardson I thought played pretty well last week. And I thought in general, the Colts played pretty well. And you know, everyone's so high in the Lions right now coming off this giant win and I think they can run the ball over them. I'm not worried about it but I was just wondering like could this be five days from now? Yeah we're like hey Packers only a game back. Totally and like one of these weeks the Lions

are going to have that game but gosh they I thought the Titans might have come because Titans came in with the number one defense they let them out. I thought the Jag might have come because Titans came in with the number one defense. They let them up. I thought the Jaguars may be playing for Doug Peterson's job with all that stuff beforehand. Oh, I'm glad you brought him up. Because that was the thing I was the most wrong about this season. The Jets, I walked in with eyes wide open, fully knowing it was 50-50. I really believed in the Jags as an AFC playoff team. So did I.

So did I. And for me, it came down to them versus Denver for that last spot. And I couldn't get there with Denver because of the defense. Ironically, their defense statistically has been awesome. Great. If you looked at it before the season, it's like, I don't see it. What's in here. And I thought Jacksonville, meanwhile, it's been the opposite.

They're one of the five worst teams in the league. Doug's doing the dead man walking. They didn't even fire him after a 52 to six loss. They still might. Like we're doing this on Thursday. They've got bi-week. Like, I don't know how that's going to go down. I, well, this is going up fast.

So maybe if this happens Thursday night, the pot of hard be up. So you think it's still in play? So I think it's still in play. I think after that loss on Sunday and all the reports that aren't coming from nobody that he was on and he's on the death watch anyway, like I did a biweek. Who knows what the cons have going on this week? There might be wrestling or something else going on that they wanted to deal with in the first part of the week.

But like, I certainly don't think I would be sleeping great if I'm Doug Peterson. No, he knows. Thursday, Friday, Saturday. He knows what's going on. Yeah. He's got a statue. Are there any other coaching situations we should just be monitoring? Maybe guys not about to get fired, but situations that seem a little rockier than maybe it seems to the outside. Like are we cool with Cleveland these days? What's going on there? It's fine in Cleveland. Two-time coach of the year. And I know the relationship he has with ownership and there's full trust in him. So I think he's fine. There was an erroneous report that Dable was on the hot seat. I don't think that's true.

I think Dable's set in New York Chairs. Do we watch the Bears? The next. Oh, yeah, we watched. Is that already a wrap? We watched the Bears. We see how they respond. Anytime you fire a coordinator and things don't get better, the next person is not the core of the coordinator. Like that's the stuff that we look at there.

Should I start doing that? Should I start firing inner circle people when I don't like what's going on to deflect blame? Does this work in the outside world? Not your fault. I don't know what's going on over there. That's it. This podcast is a weird strategy. I know. I've had to change my offensive coordinator. You're the head coach.

You know the sick part about that was Thomas Brown called a really nice game for the Bears last week and Caleb looked good and energy was hot and it's all for naught. Like they still lost. Well, but think about one of the things like in the stories and the dialogue after, it's like Thomas Brown simplified it for Caleb. Wanted to get rid of the ball fast. He got rid of the ball within three seconds. It's like, why didn't you do that three weeks ago? You could have asked me.

Just called me, cold called me. I would have told you he was holding on the ball too long. Like I needed a new offensive coordinator to figure that out. I'm a McVeigh guy. Obviously Thomas worked for McVeigh for many years over there in LA. And before that was a university at Georgia running back. And before that played high school football against McVeigh. So like McVeigh has been singing about this guy for a decade.

So he goes and gets his job at Carolina, a big promotion, flames out horribly. Everyone gets fired. He goes to Chicago and he finally gets a chance to be an offensive coordinator. He was high energy. He was, let's go. And I'm wondering, Shane Waldron, also respected guy, and Matt Eberfluss, those are not high energy, those are not like high energy, like, those are not big vocal guys.

Meanwhile, you look at the booth and Thomas Brown is like super into it. He's pumping his fist and I'm like, as stupid as that sounds, like, sometimes the young quarterback needs that just a little bit of juice, like, let's go. So I'm curious to see how the rest of the season plays out, plays out for him. That's like what you did for me with million dollar Picks that year when I was in a slump and you came in. You just had a ton of energy. Mid-season addition, baby.

Let's go. Joe Brady seems like he's emerged as a possible head coaching dude. You have the Chargers defensive coordinator. Minter. He's in the mix for stuff. You have Belichick. You have the Chargers defensive coordinator, Minter in the mix for stuff. You have Belichick, you have Raybo, you have Ben Johnson, who I think just wants to sit at the bar in a cocktail dress and have people buy him drinks. I'm not sure he actually not even everyone wants to be head coach.

Not even like two years ago. He was a Carolina guy and Tepper was like in on Ben Johnson, like he didn't even take the interview. He's like, I'm good. Last year I have it on pretty good sources. He was Washington's guy. Yeah, they get on they get on a private jet to Detroit to go meet with him again. And they find out while they're on a private jet that he's withdrawn his name

from the interview process. And he's going to stay in Detroit like, I don't even know if he wants to be a head coach. And I don't think he was like loves the idea that he's looked at as this guy who flirts. He doesn't even flirt. He's like, I'm good. So I would imagine this is the year, but he's he could be he could be picky here. I don't think he needs to take any job This is the year and I doubled down on it with my future picks before the year, but I was just like I just i'm defaulting to good coaching You know like Sean Payton, over. Jim Harbaugh.

I know it doesn't make sense, but I just feel like he's getting to nine wins and maybe making the playoffs. I had them both in the playoffs this year. I'm with you. Next year already, I can just tell you, like Belichick and Bray both taking over whoever. I'm just gonna be like, I'm in on those guys.

Why are you so convinced Belichick's getting a job? Well, that's a good question. I'm not. I'm convinced he be like I'm in on those guys. Why are you so convinced Belichick's getting a job? Well, that's a good question. I'm not I'm convinced He wants a job. If he didn't get one this time around and Atlanta obviously went down the road with him Why after a year will he suddenly be in demand? Great question Because especially coming off a not a great path here. I, I think Kraft was definitely poisoned in the well a little bit. I think he had a reputation as a curmudgeon and as a control freak. And I think the two jobs that made the most sense for Atlanta and Washington.

Atlanta hired Raheem who's, you know, was a really, really, really good defensive coordinator who was going to get another job. Like it wasn't like the hired a schmuck in Washington. Dan Quinn, like it seems like that was the right hire. Great energy, defense, like it's worked out. I don't really know if there's another job. Like Teper wasn't going to hire him in Carolina. This year, Jacksonville and Vegas seem like the two spots that you're bringing in Belichick, you're bringing his whole infrastructure.

He's going to be in charge of everything and you're just handing the thing over to him. Those seem to be the two franchises that just need someone like that. So that's down the Vegas. Let's go down the Vegas line. Brady Brady hires Brady's first big opportunity. Brady's hiring his Belichick, his old head coach, and they're going to bring in Josh McDaniels and Mick Lombardi and the whole gang from like they did that

a couple of years ago. Like that was their coaching staff. They went the New England route. The only thing I would push back on is, are we sure Brady's going to be that involved? Good point. I don't know. You could tell me either. You could tell me he's going to be super involved. You could tell me he just got a deal on a 10% NFL team and he's just kind of... So like who does this benefit more? Brady or the Raiders to have Brady as a Raiders minority owner? I would think the Raiders would say we would love his insights and have him weigh in on decision making when it comes to football stuff.

I would say Brady because he got an unbelievable deal apparently in the team. He's a legitimate owner. He's got some stake at like half price. Like the NFL owners are pissed about it. Jacksonville needs, I mean, I think Vrab, because he's younger than Belichick, should be a better candidate than Belichick. As much as I love Belichick, he's hitting his mid seventies. Yeah. But I do think that's been a lot of this media stuff has been a rehab tour of, see, I do have a personality. So interesting you say that. See, I can play the game. Surrounds himself with Chris Long, who's a super likable guy on television, a Chad Johnson on

television, and he Johnson on television, and he's playing along with those guys. Then he's on with the Mannings, and he's great. And it's... He's doing McAfee. Like, he's just checking all the boxes. Totally. And look, if you're talking about who do you want to sit down with and talk ball with,

or who's going to be the best X's and O's guy in the history of the sport, it might be him. I know these owners. I'm trying to think, I think Shaad Khan is your best bet of like, who's going to hand things over to Belichick. And whether or not he has a whole bunch of other stuff going and doesn't want to manage it day to day. You deal. It's like, I just, you take it, you go.

Which is, I think what he thought he was going to have with Trent Balke, right? And that hasn't worked out. Yeah. And he thought he had that with Urban Meyer. And that didn't work out. I think Belichick, Scooter, or Jacksonville, and I think Vrabel will get a really good job. I can't imagine he's not going to be head coach next year. That's crazy to me. So he's been, he's been talked about obviously a lot and a lot of people thought he got a royal deal in Tennessee, which is fair. He's won a lot without a lot. And a lot of people thought he got a royal deal in Tennessee, which is fair.

He's won a lot without a real true number one quarterback. Tannehill was solid for a couple years. Think about Vrayball. He's in Cleveland right now consulting, but it's that's almost like, hey, just let me stay with the team. Let me help out where I can. You can't pin any of Cleveland's bad season to like, well, look, Vrayball had a bad year. Again though, Vrayball, former former Patriot, all the like is

variable the Jets guy. I don't know if there's a, if that's a great fit in New York. I don't know if he wants to go there. I'm, I'm just trying to do mixing matching about what's going to be available. And I look at some of the places that are going to air openings. I think bears might be available. I think Cowboys is going to be available. I think.

Jet, you want the Cowboys is going to be available. I think Jets is going to be available. Would you want the Cowboys job? It's tough. It's tough because he's going to be involved. You have these three giant contracts. It's basically like you're taking over the 76ers. And the owner, historically, has been very involved. They haven't had a real voice of pushback or resistance since Parcells.

I mean, I don't think Wade Phillips was that guy. It wasn't Garrett and it wasn't McCarthy. Those guys have been great football coaches in their own right. And when they had to be, but like they're not guys who are going to scream at the owner. Yeah. Well, last year, last year, the Chargers was the best job. A hundred percent. You get Herbert, you have a team that underachieved because of the coaching

situation, you have actual talent in place. It was all lined up for somebody to come in. Jacksonville to me is a pretty good job. You still believe in Trevor Lawrence? Yeah. If you, if you're walking into it going, I think Lawrence can be a guy. I think he could be on the, somewhere in the Herbert Mae vicinity. He's just, they did this round, this round, this round.

We can build him back up and you're probably watching every pass and play that he's done over the last four years, trying to decide if this was his fault or if this was the infrastructure. But at least like you go to the giants. Who am I getting? Tommy DeVito. Like you go to Vegas, no chance of any guys draft. Yeah, that's what you're getting.

Or Chicago would be the other one where you get you're walking in with Caleb. You have draft capital. And that's kind of what... You have a city that gives a shit. That's kind of what Canalys stepped into in Carolina. If you get like a Caleb that just had a scarring rookie season, now how do I build him back up? Like Bryce Young was destroyed last year. How do I build him back up? That's a challenge in itself.

Work in progress. challenge in itself. Work in progress. Work in progress. I would I would quickly give you a name. And obviously, I say this and a lot of people roll their eyes because he's been meant he was a head coach before. But like, depending on how the second half of the season goes in Washington, I think Kingsbury is going to be a name to watch because of what he did with Jaden out of the gates.

And he's got head coaching experience. It's not for everybody. It's and he has faded in the second half of every and he's got head coaching experience. It's not for everybody. And he has faded in the second half of every place he's ever coached, whether it was Texas Tech or Arizona or even USC last year. But I would keep an eye on Kingsbury as a sneaky candidate for a few of these places just because of his ability with these young quarterbacks. And that's what you're drafting.

And I do think, you know... He was bad in Arizona. I don't know how much of it was his fault, but it didn't go well. Yeah. Yeah. With that said, he's been amazing for Daniels. And if you feel like it's a quarterback match, maybe it's the thing is you have a 25% chance of, of hitting it with the coach. We were just watching it.

There's eight or nine guys and then there's everybody else. Totally. That's what happens. Like, would you want the New Orleans job? The shocking thing to me is how many jobs I wouldn't want that are available. It's like, oh cool, I get to take over the Panthers? If that became available, no thank you.

Oh, the Saints. I get the Saints job. You're underestimating the egos, the careers, and what it means to be one of the 32. And a lot of these guys know going in sometimes. I get it. But not if you're Ben Johnson, though. And every year you have your pick. Like, it's like, oh, cool.

I get to coach Derek Carr. Oh, like Aidan O'Connell for a whole year? Yeah. Sean Payton tells this story about about he got interviewed by the Raiders in 03 maybe and he was the offensive coordinator of the Cowboys and Al Davis made the pitch. And then the Cowboys came back and said, we'll pay you as much as they're paying you to stay as offensive coordinator. And he does. And then the next year he visited New Orleans and he was like, there were still tarps on the homes

from Katrina. And like, we were embarrassed to invite free agents in because if they even saw this place, they would never choose to sign. He's like, we had to offer twice as much money to assistant coaches just to even consider this place. It's not like that. But when you go into these teams that are so much behind the eight, like it is a real, real hard sell to like a top top coach, which is one of the reasons why you don't get some of the premier coordinators

or the hot names going to these franchises. And everyone's like, all the fans are like, well, let's just hire that guy. No, no, no. A lot of times it's the coordinator has the choice or the hot name has the choice. And it's like, I'm not going to go step into that. I want to go to the place that's the most desirable. Well, it's funny the way we laid that out. Maybe Vegas is a more desirable job because you come in like hey Vegas no state tax.

Hopping city right now doing great. We have the NBA is coming. We got a baseball team coming NBA is coming like shit's going on. We got the NBA Cup and they do the pool court. Home of the UFC, NBA Cup, like shit's happening. Are you going to go to the NBA Cup again this year or no? I'm on the fence. The semi-final game, there's the two in a row games on a Saturday, seems kind of fun. It does.

I will be at, I'm doing a double dip this weekend, I'll be in LA, I'm going to go to Nuggets Lakers on Saturday I hope you go to this and then I'm gonna I know I'd like to see him then I'm gonna go to Eagles Rams the next night and then I was thinking about extending the trip one more day because you have Ravens Chargers So pretty good LA sports weekend here That really is well, let's leave on that because we're hitting that a million dollar picks Ravens Char, Chargers. Chargers sneak one out last week.

Like it was a sneaker. Slayed some ghosts. Ravens could be seven and five if they lose this game. The Ravens are favored by three. And I've liked the Chargers all year. But something about the Ravens on turf coming off a loss is scary to me. What's your take on this game? I don't know man. Chargers are really good.

And last week it was obviously all written to just Charger it up and they found a way to somehow put their foot down and not let that happen again. Now of course the kicker from the Bengals misses that kick and it's okay. But it was all going the way it always goes for the Chargers after being up 27 to six and they found a way to hold on and Herbert had to leave a drive at the end. Yeah. And he did.

That was good. And at the end, it's like, Lad McConkey has no demons and no ghosts from previous years and J.K. Dobbins doesn't know any of that stuff. And they've got guys on defense who weren't a part of those teams. New coach, new field. I could see them beating up on the Ravens this weekend. The Ravens last week, they finally get a good effort from their defense. They finally get this performance where they keep a team under 20. And on the flip side, they only run the ball with Derrick Henry 13 times. They missed two Justin Tucker field goals.

They look discombobulated after the timeout on the two point conversion. There's penalties all over the place. I don't feel great about this Ravens team. I don't feel great when they won against the Bengals on a Thursday night and they gave up 35 points and 500 yards passing. I don't know. I know the Ravens are favored and this game's on the road for some reason. I could see the Chargers winning in this game.

100%. It's a must watcher. That one's great. Packers, Packers Niners is going to be great. Some good ones. Rams eagles will be fun. We have a couple good ones. I think Dolphins Pats could be really fun too.

I heard you and Sal joking about, you know, did you know that the Buffalo fans jump through tables? Where do you stand on the Harbaugh brothers going up against each other in a game? Are you good on that storyline or is it not enough? Is that what's happening? Yeah, they actually. So one of the teams. They're going against each other. I didn't see that.

Nobody's talked about that all week. It's actually kind of interesting because one of them is last name Harbaugh and the other one's last name is Harbaugh. And their dad actually coached two for Western Kentucky for many, many years. Same guy. How many times did they coach against each other when Harbaugh was on the Niners? Twice. They did a Thanksgiving game and then they did the Super Bowl.

Yeah. Oh yeah, the Super Bowl. And John won both times. I still don't understand how the Niners lost that Super Bowl. I went to that game. One of the weirder sporting events I've ever seen. I'm sure you were there too. Roaring back after the...

Long blackout. The whole thing was just the weirdest. Maybe I'm just the neurotic New Yorker here, but the lights go out and everyone thinks this is hilarious. I was freaking out. I'm like, what's going on? Like where were you when it went down? I was in the press box, which is not easy to get down from the top of the superdome.

I was in a suite with the one and only Nathan Hubbard and, uh, and the lights went out. And the first thought is like, is something horrible happening. Then the second thought is what if the lights don't come back on? What happens to the Superbowl? What we did was super disjointed, but the whole game was disjointed. And then all of a sudden they're on the five yard line first down. And it just, the pace was off and it was really weird to watch in person. I, it was, I haven't been to like was really weird to watch in person. It was. I haven't been to like a million NFL games because I love watching them on TV, but that

was, I think, the weirdest one I've been to in person. Frank Gore runs the ball down to the five yard line. Kaepernick throws, I think, three passes to Michael Crabtree. One of them maybe to Randy Moss, of all people who was on that team, out of the end zone. That's how it ends. It's a crazy, crazy Super Bowl that's forgotten in the lore because of the, the blackout. But it was, it came down to the final minutes and like, that's another one that Niners fans add to like, there's a whole version of the beleaguered Jets Browns fan and no one's crying

for Niners fans. They've got all those Super Bowl rings, but like they have had some devastating playoff losses over the last two decades. Yeah, you're right. You don't think of them as the tortured fan base because they've been in it every year, but what was the last one? 90, 95? Yeah. Well, Steve Young and the monkey off his back with Gary Plummer.

Yeah. That was the last time they won a Superbowl, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Montana won four and Steve Young won one. Drought on par of the New York playoff football drought.

Thirteen years for the Jets. And that was the last Giants playoff one. Was it Super Bowl? No. A couple of years ago, they beat the Vikings. They beat Kirk Cousins. Oh, that's right. It's a Daniel Jones game. I bet on that game. You didn't talk. You wouldn't talk about the Giants decision.

All year. All year. All year. Drew Lock's number two. DeVito gets the call. So they're just trying to save money, right? It's just per game. No, DeVito brings a spark, baby. Let's go. Spark for what? They should want to lose every game. If I were them, I would play Daniel Jones every game. The weird thing is the draft's goofy because the top two guys, it seems like, are cornerbacks, right? If you say Travis Hunter is a cornerback, you can play receiver sometimes.

And then there's not a quarterback in the top eight. Wow. The two left tackles have fallen out. Just get ready for the Shador Sanders hype train, my friend. It's coming. It's coming. It'll be real. It'll be real.

That's where I'll be getting off that train. You're not a fan? No, I like them. It's just, we do this every year with the draft where we're settling with like, these are definitely the five, six, seven best guys. And then as we get closer to April, everybody starts talking them into these quarterbacks. Yeah. It starts rising up.

All right. Say hi to everybody in New York. Great to see you. You're the man. I wanted to talk about Jay Leno being thrown down a hill, but we didn't get to that point. That's just not funny, I guess. Listen, I will say if I was the host of a conspiracy podcast, I would have done a lot of legwork on it.

Cause it just, a lot of stuff doesn't add up. I'll just say that. I bet on some text threads today, wondering what's going on here. It's a crazy online story. And it's disheartening because I like Leto. I mean, I think he's a sweet guy and he loves to craft, but what do you do? What are we, what are we doing?

Hampton Inn on a Tuesday night in Pittsburgh. What are we doing here? Right. Well, and also if you, if you take it, you take like your own parents and just put them in the situation of some of these and it's like, do you know what happened to Bill's dad? He fell 60 feet down a hill and his whole side of his face is black. Like, what?

That's the weirdest thing I've ever heard. And there's something so old school. Celebrities, they somehow seem less weird. And it's something so old school that Inside Edition is doing things like interview with him. It's like, where, what, what am I watching? Yeah, there's people doing tweets. Like, you know, like, someone is trying to kill Jay Leno. How much evidence do we need?

And it's like, at least investing at this. I'll kick the tires on it. Peter Schrager. Great to see you. You're the man, dude. Thank you. All right. That's it for part one of the podcast.

Thanks to Peter Schrager. Thanks to Saruti for hopping on and thanks to Kyle Creighton. Remember you can watch all the clips and videos from this podcast on the Bill Simmons YouTube channel. And remember part two of this podcast is coming as soon as we can get it up. We're going to talk about the Philadelphia 76ers. We're going to talk about million dollar picks and a whole bunch of other stuff. So stay tuned for that.

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