The Bill Simmons Podcast - Part 2: Josh Vs. Lamar, Mahomes’s F-You Game, and the Round 2 NFL Mega-Preview With Sheil Kapadia and Joe House

Episode Date: January 17, 2025

In Part 2 of a two-part podcast, The Ringer's Bill Simmons is joined by Joe House and Sheil Kapadia to discuss each of the Round 2 NFL playoff games (3:22) before making the Million-Dollar Picks for the NFL divisional round (55:33). Host: Bill Simmons Guests: Joe House and Sheil Kapadia Producer: Kyle Crichton 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

Hey, Wemby and the Spurs are going to be in Austin next month. And I decided I wanted to see Wemby in Texas and I have to go. I'm going to see him live. But while I'm in town, let's get together. Let's do a live show. Paramount Theater in Austin on Wednesday, February 19th. Tickets go on sale tomorrow at 10 a.m. Central Time. Again, live Austin, Wednesday, February 19th.

Paramount Theater, some special guests. Basically the BS podcast just doing its thing. Tickets go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. Central Time. Details will be available at theringer.com slash events very soon, hope to see you there. This episode is brought to you by Uber Eats. You can now get almost anything you need for the season delivered with Uber Eats.

What do I mean by almost? Well, you can't get a snowmobile delivered, but you can get a cheese wheel, a warm fire, that's a no, but cozy attire, definitely a yes. A wild moose, sorry, no. A chocolate moose, happily yes. Sled dogs, unfortunately not, but a pair of clogs, well, that's a yes.

Uber Eats can definitely get you that, so whatever you're looking for this season, know that you can get almost, almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Download the Uber Eats app today to order now. Alcohol in select markets, product availability may vary by region. See app for details. This episode is brought to you by Amazon Prime. You know, Amazon Prime is not just a shipping subscription, right?

Amazon Prime isn't just one thing, but a collection of excellent services. Amazon Prime offers a range of services, including Prime video, Amazon music, and Prime fast free shipping. They also have great shows, great movies. Here's my favorite Amazon Prime thing. Ready? So we do the rewatchables, right? And I always like to know who the actor is. They have this really cool thing

when you watch a movie called X-Ray. You can click on it as you're watching the movie and the cast will pop up. And you can see who all the actors are. And it sounds dumb, but when you host a movie podcast, it's like the greatest thing ever. Anytime I rent or buy a movie, I buy it on Amazon Prime. That's true. I swear.

On Prime, whatever you're into, or just getting into Prime service can help you get closer to it. Or discover something else to get into. Whatever you're into, it's on Prime. Visit amazon.ca slash prime to get more out of whatever you're into. We're also brought to you by the wringer podcast network. If you missed part one of this podcast, we put it up earlier today and it was a mid-season power pole that I got a lot of takes off on and really had a good time.

And then Joel Anderson and van lathe and join me to talk about college football and a whole bunch of other stuff. The Ohio state Notre Dame game, Joel's five favorite things. Really fun pod, but we had to keep going because football is happening this weekend. Round two, NFL playoffs. I have Shiel Capati and Joe House joining us.

We're gonna break down every game. Our favorite parts of each matchup, and then we're gonna do some million dollar picks. I mentioned I wanted to talk about the wildfire recovery efforts out here in Southern California. I wanted to pass, the wildfire recovery efforts out here in Southern California. I wanted to pass, look, there's a lot of great things happening.

I wanted to pass along five charities that I really like. The Wildfire Recovery Fund, which is CalFund.org. It's set up by the California Community Fund. That's just trying to get money to all the places we need as the Southern California is obviously in a major, major crisis right now. The SoCal Fire Fund, which you can find at eifoundation.org, eifoundation.org. It provides immediate long-term support for community-centered recovery initiatives that aid students, school employees, and families impacted

by the January 20, 2025 fires. The third one is the LAFD Foundation Emergency Fire Fund, which you can find at supportlafd.org. They provide vital equipment and fund critical programs to help the LAFD save lives, protect communities. Then there's World Central Kitchen, wck.org. Their relief team is in Southern California right now supporting first responders and families impacted by wildfires in the LA area.

They have a link at the top when you go right to WCK to help Los Angeles specifically. And then last but not least, Habitat for Humanity, which has really gotten involved in the last week. They have a disaster response fund set up on their website at habitat.org for the wildfires. So I'm committing $250,000 total, 50K apiece to the five that I just mentioned. And if you're listening, do whatever you want. Do whatever you can. There's no right answer for any of this,

but that's what I'm doing at least. All right, we are gonna talk football right now with Shiel and House. Stay safe out there in Southern California. Hope everybody is good. We're gonna talk football right now with Shiel and House. Stay safe out there in Southern California. Hope everybody is good. We're gonna talk some football right now. First, our friends from Pro Jam. ["Protect Yourself"] All right. We're taping this. It is Thursday afternoon, Pacific time. Joe House is here because we do million dollar picks. We did not get to do them last week.

We're going to try to bounce back strong this week. And we brought in the real star of the Ringer Sunday pregame show, Shil Kapadia, who comes in every couple of weeks like Deion Waiters and just crushes it. And we're going to be doing a lot of things with him. And we're going to be doing a lot of things with him. And we're going to be doing a lot of things with him. And we're going to be doing a lot of things with him. And we're going to be doing a lot of things with him.

And we're going to be doing a lot of things with him. And we're going to be doing a lot of things with him. And we're going to be doing a lot of things with him. And we're going to be doing a lot of things with him. And we're going to be doing a lot of things with him. And we're going to be doing a lot of things with him. And we're going to be doing a lot of things with him. And we're going to be doing a lot of things with him.

And we're going to be doing a lot of things with him. And we're going to be doing a lot of things with him. And we're going to be doing a lot of things with him. And we're going to be doing a lot of things with him. And we're going to be doing a lot of things with him. And we're going to be doing a lot of things with him. And we're going to be doing a lot of things with him. And we're going to be doing a lot of things with him. week and we brought in the real star of the Ringer Sunday pregame show, Shil Kapadia, who comes in every couple of weeks like Deion Waiters and just crushes it. Big key checks from you. Congrats on that. Yeah. I said, you know, on the show, Indian Timothy Shalima, you know, he goes on game day and just goes in, crushes it, disappears. I feel like that was my role on, on the Ringer wise guys.

I mean, respectfully. Everybody loves winners. We love having Sheil on. Sheil comes on, all he does is give out winners. But respectfully, if you're picking one thing a week, like some of these winners were Deshaun Watson Unders. Like, uh, okay. AJ Brown on, you know, catches the week after he complained. He bitched, like, oh, is AJ Brown gonna get, yes.

Again, we love winners. Sheil, this love what success looks like success comes with the backlash You're feeling the best. I said minus 110 or better. Listen, that's all I look at and then I go with the bank I'm retiring on top. Thank you. Can we go right to the Eagles Rams game? We're gonna break down all four games She'll is a is a Philly student. You can see him on the ringer Philly specials sometimes. So I did the playoff manifesto and I'm going to read all the rules in a second. The playoff manifesto goes back to the late nineties. I've been honing it, cultivating it, working it, adding rules, taking out rules.

Eagles Rams has more manifesto rules attached to it than any playoff game I can ever remember. Wow. It has red flags. It has come hither. This is good. It is all over the map, which is what I could imagine. You're probably feeling with these Eagles game, right? I actually feel like they're going to win pretty handily in this game. Yeah, I'm and I'm not usually like that I've been on the on the fence. I wasn't sure about that Packers game I feel pretty confident that the Eagles are gonna win this game So I need to hear that the violations they have going in so we got to go through the manifesto before we do house You're leaning Eagles your Eagles ish to for this game, correct? I'm, I'm beyond Eagles ish. I'm, I'm full on Eagle hump.

I mean, it's go birds go. I think that this is a terrible spot for the Rams. I think that, um, the Eagles have advantages on both sides of the, the, the line, both defensive line and offensive line is like, we're playing in the, in the freezing effing cold and I know the team that has the better lines. Let's, let's, let's go. Let's, let's go get a W 35 degrees, maybe worse rain and snow, potentially Matthew Stafford coming from LA.

I'll go through some of the manifesto rules because it really is eye opening rule number one, but where have the looked a little too good the previous playoff round team. That couldn't be more Ramsey. Rule number three, beware of the nobody believes in us team. Don't try to talk yourself into one either. I think the Rams are trying to there's a nobody believes in us case. Rule number four, a sad one, but beware of any team that might use a major offfield distraction

as a galvanizing force, leading up to a game. We saw that last week, the Rams, all that, all the terrible stuff in LA, it really seemed like it affected them in the game, positively. Rule number six, never pick an underdog unless you genuinely believe that it has a chance to win. I'm going to stop there before I keep going with the rules. Do the Rams genuinely have a chance to win, Shiel? I don't think they have a great chance. The Eagles have not lost a game that Jalen Hurts has started and finished since September 29th, week four. We've gone through this whole season where you're watching them,

you're going, this passing game kind of sucks sometimes. Every drop back is resulting in a sack or a throw away. And then their talent usually just overwhelms the opponent. There's one play by AJ Brown or Saquon Barkley or last week it's Dallas Goddard or Devontae Smith. It's like they don't have to be efficient down to down. And then what House said, they've got probably the best offensive line in football. So I add all those things up and with as conservatively as Jalen Hurts is playing right now, for better or worse, they're not a team who's going to like give the game away. So every team always has a chance. We know that. But when you read that one out loud, that really rang true to me.

How's Sam Donald? Is it true he's living in your attic right now? I mean, he's welcome. And by the way, he's still going to get a great contract. It's not going to be the massive contract, but still, I mean, a couple of years, 25 million bucks, you could do worse. I mean, congratulations to him. What was his best hope for outcome when he took the ball on first down the first play of this season? I mean, I think if you told him, how about another couple of years and 25 million bucks?

Are you good with that? I think he might've said yes. Unfortunately, it was the sports movie for him where the final scene was him, his teammates lifting him up after the Packers game and going nuts. And the movie should have just ended, but there was 20 minutes to go in the movie

and he got his ass kicked by the Lions in last week against the Rams. Sheel, we didn't talk about this on the pod, at least with you. Were you surprised that Darnold cratered like that? Cause he wrote me in, he wrote me in, he wrote Sal and then he wrote you in. He kind of half roped you in right house. Darnold.

Sure. A little bit. I mean, the thing that we couldn't, um, divine on our own, it just revealed itself is that that offensive line for the Vikings suffered, um, injuries on the left side that created, um, some, some mismatches for both Detroit and for the Rams. And that's what he held the ball too long. He froze. He went back to his old DNA, but like, I think that happening. It's green Bay show. What his old DNA. But why didn't that happen against Green Bay? She, she, what happened?

Yeah. I mean, I wrote on the Ringer in like week 14, I had this piece that said the Vikings can't make the Daniel Jones mistake with Sam Darnold and then the next three weeks he was awesome. And I'm like, shoot, I might've screwed that one up. And I think if you zoom out, I think part of it's what house said. I think part of it is we probably overrated that Vikings passing game. I mean, in the regular season, they were 14th in passing DVOA. They were like statistically in the mediocre range. And then they have these two games where

you have some protection issues and a lot of what they did was based on the explosive passing game. And if he's holding onto the football and that's taken away, their run game was never really that efficient. They weren't that methodical.. Their run game was never really that efficient. They weren't that methodical. So yeah, I got roped back in. I thought they were going to win that game. I thought that lions game was kind of a blip on the radar and they were trending in the right direction, but it was kind of two games in a row where, you know, the, the ghost of Sam Darnold came back a little bit.

I stayed at the craps table too long with Sam Darnold and with the, uh, with, uh, the Steelers heading into December. Just should have taken my chips, gone with house to get some food, some 2 AM pizza, and just would have been super happy with it. Hey, house, when he said the, the Daniel Jones mistake, which I think is a great way to frame it. That's basically been the philosophy of the Washington wizards for the last 40 years, right?

The Dana Jones mistake. This guy showed some hope. Here's a lot of money. Oh shit. We shouldn't have done that. Are we, why is there wizard's violence on this football podcast? What are we talking about? That resonated with you.

He cares about the wizards. I thought maybe it was, I didn't know if Daniel Jones was the guy starting for the Sixers tomorrow night. Cause none of their guys play. So I was a little confused there. I'm glad you took the shot at the wizards, not the Sixers tomorrow night because none of their guys play. I was a little confused there I'm glad you took the shot at the Wizards not the Sixers. Thank you Well, you know and beat he'll be back eventually when there's that four really tough games in five When do you play Charlotte and beats gonna be back for that one?

Circle it he's a beat scouts Charlotte circle. Is there a Toronto game? Oh, I'll play good Toronto. That's great All right more manifesto worlds. We're not even done with this game. Beware of all dome teams playing outdoors, especially in cold weather. Yikes. Rule number eight, but where have any and all aging QBs in cold weather, unless they drink half their body weight and water and like 40 things, Tom Brady did. Rule number 15, this is working against the Eagles shield.

Okay. Make sure the team of the home field advantage actually has a home field advantage. Philly's in that weird zone. The fans, they get fickle really fast. They get upset really fast. There's an ornery vibe in that stadium. Does that, do you feel that changes this week with the snow and the rain or does it get worse? Yeah, I was in the stands those early 2000s when they had the McNabb teams and they were favorites against the Bucs and the Panthers.

And the fan base was so confident going into those games. And then you saw what happened. So really it comes down to early in the game. If you have a few three and outs, no, it doesn't change. This is in our DNA. This is what it's going to be like. But I think there's also a possibility that Saquon Barkley has a 35 yard run in the first quarter. And all of a sudden the place is going bonkers and they don't actually have to worry about that. But yes, to answer your question, it could go either way if they get off to a slow start.

It's the only out of the four home games house. It's the only crowd that I feel like you might be able to take out in the first quarter. I don't feel like you're taking out Buffalo. Casey's been there too many times. Detroit's going to be a madhouse. I don't feel like that crowd is going to get nervous, but I feel like you can get to the Philly crowd because there's that model of the Eagles, that first quarter, 39 seconds of play.

It just feels clumsy and discombobulated. It's zero, zero after the first quarter. Don't you think house? Like there's, well, that's the world all season. They're among the bottom teams in the NFL in terms of scoring in the first quarter. So they're not coming out and instilling confidence. They're not coming out and kicking ass. Now they did score a touchdown within the first three minutes of the first quarter of this most recent game, but that's because of, you know, the, the, the bogus fumble that happened. And that was the only touchdown of the first half. Um, and so like, if you want to be frustrated with the Eagles getting going,

I think, I hope, I don't know the good people of Philadelphia, having seen Hertz get his, the rust off a little bit with that green Bay game, they'll be patient and understand the best way for the Eagles to win this football game is to just run the football down the Rams throat and do it, do it and do it. And it may take a little while to get the battering in place that that is their, their pathway, but, uh, Philly doesn't really strike me as a place as that has a lot of patience.

The only thing I didn't believe about everything you just said is when you said the good people of Philadelphia, you don't like Philadelphia. Wow. You don't. Buddy. You don't like Philadelphia, you don't. Philadelphia, here's the thing.

You're from Washington, why would you like Philadelphia? Over the years I've softened because of two things. There is incredible golf. Cheesesteaks? Super underrated golf in the Philadelphia area. I got to play Marion, um, last year. Marvelous. But yes, the food in Philadelphia, again, crazy underrated, the food in Philadelphia. This we should go do. I did a Philadelphia food tour with Chris Ryan five or six years ago on the house

of carbs because, and the scene just keeps getting better and better. So I have my soft spots for Philadelphia. Yeah. So it's basically just all selfish food and golf. The two things you care about. That's how to win over Joe house. She'll you agree with the food, food scene? Yeah. I want in on all of this house.

Next time you come up, Marion is about 15 minutes that way. I'm pointing here. Uh, and then, you know, obviously, uh, house eating, I mean, whether I'm observing or participating, I'm hearing about this. You're both. You're both. Yeah. Yeah.

Over a decade, I've been hearing about the legend. So I want in on that. It starts out with participating and then it turns into observing. After, at about the 45 minute mark when everyone else is finished and house is still eating somehow. Guilty. Guilty as charged. Um, two more rules. Take one last look at the quarterbacks and remember there's plenty of time to

bet against any QB or coach. This is specifically a Hertz question. So I know is Hertz, what does he command on your tech on your Eagles text read? Sheel, how much of the conversation is what's up with Hertz? Like 40%, 20%. What is it? Yeah, it's probably, it might be over 50% and the conversation has been, is it hurts or is the coaching terrible because you'll be looking at the film

and all that and everyone's pointing out, no one's open and they're running the same play seven times in a game. And it's like, what are they doing? And then you watch some of these other offenses and they're beautiful and guys are getting schemed wide open. So that's the big argument right now. In addition to can this team win the super bowl? You know how, yeah, Philadelphia's. Well, the defense you have. Yeah. The defense is awesome. Everybody's happy with the defense. Everybody's happy with the offensive line.

Saquon Barkley might have the highest approval rating of any Philadelphia athlete right now. And he's only been there for a year. Who's this competition for that? Bryce Harper. How about this? Nobody on the Sixers. No, Maxey. Maxey.

Everybody still loves Maxey. So Maxey is on there. Whatever. Bryce Harper is there. Bryce. Yeah, but I think Saquon Barkley has only been there for a year, but I said it's the best offensive season for a Philadelphia Eagle since I've been alive. And I think that's true. And so I think, yeah, he's kind of taken over

the fan base. Is there any explanation for the weird pace of the Eagles offense and the lack of unpredictability and just how there's a sameness to every drive, there's a methodical nature to it and they never zag, they never keep you on your toes. Why do they do it that way? I just don't understand it as a football fan. I think Sirianni has this like Bobby Knight saying in his office. That's like the team that makes the fewer mistakes wins or whatever, whatever the quote is, that's how they play.

Like if you watch this last game, they are running the ball on every third and long. They're, they're being conservative, uh, on fourth down. If Jalen Hurts has an opportunity to throw the ball to AJ Brown and he's not sure this year, he is just tucking the football, throwing it away and running. And so everything they do is kind of like, hey, our defense is awesome. Saquon's going to break one eventually. Let's not give the game away. And so I think that's why it looks like that. So like just save as few plays as possible. Keep the clock moving.

Do you agree with that, House? I kind of do. It does fit the, you know, the personnel that the Eagles have. We did think that that Kellen Winslow was going to come in as a whiz bang guy and really show, you know, some open up that offense in a way that who was the poor guy that got run out of town last year? Brian Johnson, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, there was a lot of just bad taste left in the mouth from the Ron Johnson experiment. And Brian Johnson. All of them, all the Johnson's. Anyone named Johnson. Bad Johnson in the mouth, that's all I can say. Possible new rule, this is not in the manifesto. I'm just gonna throw it out here as a possibility. Possible new rule. Beware of any home playoff favorite with a frustrated fan base that might kind of hate the team, coach, and or QB.

Yeah, I don't think they're there. I think they like the team a lot because. Okay, good. Yeah, I'm checking. This is all right. Yeah, they like the team a lot. It's probably split on Hertz and it's probably split on Sirianni. I would say so for the lean for a million dollar picks. I think house and I, we were talking about it earlier.

I, if I had to bet it straight up, I would take the Eagles and I think the Rams won their game. I think everyone that the biggest manifesto rule is where the team that looked too good last week, I think they fit. I like them more on a teaser or a parlay though. And I think that's the play with them. And if, you know, if they screw us, they screw us, but I think that's the way to go. You, are you safe with that shield? Yeah.

I mean, this would be, this would go down as one of the darker, uh, upsets at home. And now there have been some of those in fill in recent Philadelphia sports memory. I think they're, um, justifiably six and a half point favorites in this game. I would be, they could lose, but I would, I would be surprised if they lost this game. And how's your onboard with that? Yeah. I mean, I think the Eagles are going to win. I don't mind laying the six and a half, but if you want to tease them from six

and a half down to a half and just have them, you know, win outright, I'm not going to argue with you. Let's do chiefs Texans really quick chiefs minus eight and a half over the Texans. Um, I still feel like if they call the intentional grounding on Stroud or if that fumble shotgun that goes over his head bounces to the left and the chargers are up 13-0, that game's probably over. It was like, it gave Stroud the superpower. I wasn't really impressed with either of those teams.

Meanwhile, you got Casey three wins from a three-peat. Andy Reid could have 29 playoff wins by mid February. Mahomes could be 18 and three in the playoffs by mid February. Um, there's plus three 50 for the super bowl, which seems high because I think, I clearly think they're going to win this game. And now you're just, you basically have plus three 50 for two games. The, uh, the one that jumped out to me though, this was in the bundles column about how Casey has failed to cover every seven plus spread this season.

Yeah. Oh, and seven, even though they want all of those games, she'll. So this looks like the classic just put them in a tease parlay because this is just what they do. They win by seven, they win by four, they win by three. And yet I like how the chiefs look lately. This is the best version of them we've seen this year. Could this be a little bit of a breakout party for them?

Where are you leaning? Yeah, DeBundo scared me with that one too in his column. But I feel the same way. I feel like the Chiefs have a lot of things going for them in this game. The way they want to play is get the ball out quickly, methodical drives downfield. And that's the way you want to play against a team that has a great pass rush with the Houston Texans. So this isn't going to be like a new thing for them where they got to play left-handed or whatever.

That's how they want to play. And to your point, that's how they were playing down the stretch of the season where it was just long methodical drives. The ball's not hitting the ground. Mahomes short completions go down the field. So I like them offensively there. And then defensively, CJ Strroud is 29th against the

Blitz this year. When you look at all the efficiency numbers, I like to look at Chief's Blitz at the fifth highest rate in the NFL. So I'm with you. I didn't watch that Texans game last week. I wasn't like, wow, I feel differently about their offense. This was the worst offense of any team that made the playoffs by DVO way. And so I think they're going to have issues offensively. I think there's a chance they could ugly up the game a little bit with their defense and their pass rush. But I like the Chiefs, but I think you're right. If it is a slow game, maybe it maybe a bump the Chiefs down and do do a teaser. So Chiefs eighth run, eighth against the run, fourth QB hits, six QB hurries, 11th tackles behind the line of scrimmage.

House, there's a, there's a random non-nerd, um, sports hack talk case with Mahomes where it's been Lamar and Josh for three, four weeks here. And Mahomes is kind of shoved to the side. He's like old guy Mahomes, even though he was like 27, 28. It's like, oh yeah, and Patrick Mahomes. But all the hype with this Lamar versus Josh and everyone talking about them the whole year and the Ravens and they're the best team.

And it's just fucking fuel for that. Everything we know about Mahomes, this is absolute fuel for this dude. And I wonder if this is, he pulls it out this week, House. And he waves it around and he does the lasso. And he's like, this is the first game of the weekend. Hey, by the way, I'm Patrick Mahomes. And he just does 17 Mahomes things

and reminds us how great he is. Well, part of what is gonna facilitate that is the health, the restored health for Kansas City, really on both sides of the ball, but definitely on offense, all of their weapons will be available. One of my very favorite bets on the Fandel Sportsbook is Patrick Mahomes over one and a half passing touchdowns.

It was like minus 144. I have no issue whatsoever with laying it. And I'll probably parlay that with Kansas City to win outright. That's fine. I love the narrative aspect of this that you're describing BS, which is we're going into a weekend where everybody is absolutely appropriately fantasizing about what's going to come between Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes in the first game of the weekend is like, y'all, I'm still here.

I'm right here. Yeah. I'm right here. I'm going for a three-peat guys. Hey, I'm right here. Yeah. Winner still has to go through me. I just, I think those certain guys are like, Brady was always wired like this

and he's talked about it pretty openly. Like these guys take everything personally. They take every slate. They notice everything. They pretend they don't, but they do. Shil, does this add up to you at all? This could be an FU performance from the homes. Yeah, absolutely. It could be an FU playoff run. I mean, they are well positioned. They are monster favorites at home. And then they're going to get to face whichever team lost

that Ravens-Bills battle. Which would be a battle. Yeah. And then they're potentially in the Superbowl. So absolutely from the narrative stand, not getting mentioned with, uh, you know, all pro MVP, all those conversations that happen this time of year. And all they are, are the one seat in the AFC going for a three P. So one bet, and this is something we saw last week with the quarterbacks that you don't want them to run during the first 18 weeks of the season, but when we had to the playoffs, you start using your legs more. And this has been wheat house. We've cashed in on this with my home so many times.

Like he's basically even odds, 25 plus yards this week against Houston. We know he does this in the playoffs and the playoffs. He starts moving around more, taking more chances using his legs. So, you know, I thought last week I was mad that I didn't think of that with, uh, with Lamar, it was so obvious that of course, of thought last week I was mad that I didn't think of that with, uh, with Lamar. It was so obvious that of course, of course they were going to do that. Of course he was going to use his legs like that. Um, with the Texans, their D lines really good. That's the one like their ends can,

can put some pressure on and I, the chief's tackles make me nervous. And as I play the game out on my head shield, that's the one thing I keep coming back to is like, let's say this is just one of those weird classic, ugly first half chief playoff games, they're putting pressure on my homes. They get the one long Nico Collins pass chief's guy fumbles a punt and all of a sudden it's like 10, seven Texans at halftime. We're like, what the hell is going on? I mean, my T's is in danger.

What's happening? I don't see another scenario other than. We're like, what the hell is going on? I mean, my teez is in danger. What's happening? I don't see another scenario other than that. Is there anything else we're not thinking of? No, that's the biggest thing. Their pressure against those tackles is one. Two is the Chiefs are 30th in explosive plays. The only teams that create explosive plays at a lower rate than them have

been the Raiders and the Browns. So they are going to have to work at it. And if you kind of shrink the game and all of a sudden you have a weird fumble or a weird penalty and ugly it up that way, then maybe the Texans have an opportunity here. The other thing is, if you still believe in CJ Stroud and feel like the season has it, I still like him. I don't like him here in this spot. Like if you ask me if we're doing a pot in August and how do I think he's going to perform? I think he's going to bounce back next year. I don't think he here in this spot. Like if you asked me if we're doing a pot in August and how do I think he's gonna perform? I think he's gonna bounce back next year.

I don't think he has it this year, but if you think he does have it this year and he comes in and has him and Nico Collins combined for like you said, 160 yards, maybe that keeps him in it. I don't see it with their offensive scheme, their offensive line. I think he's gonna have a tough day. He's an unusual quarterback because during the same game,

it can feel like he lost his confidence and then he completely gained it back and is like, has swagger and it's all happening over the course of three hours. And you saw it happen last week. The playoff manifestos for this one. This is a big one. Rule number six, never pick an underdog unless you genuinely believe it has a chance to win. And this has been something that's been really helpful over the years. And if, look,

if you bet, if you pick Casey minus eight and a half and they don't cover the odds of threading that needle between the higher number and then winning, like, you know, we call it, I, I'm just, I just want to pick winners and not worry about the line. So maybe a little bit less on that, but I don't think Houston has a chance to win. I don't think they're good enough. Um, so that's one, but where have all dome teams playing outdoors, especially in cold weather boom Texans. There's a, but where have any team that reminds you of the 2007 giants rule? I just want to, I don't think the Texans remind me of the 2007 giants, but I just wanted to talk it out.

There's a couple of similarities, right? Mix and run in the ball, kind of a younger erratic up and down quarterback, like Eli in 2007, a good pass rush, a really good coach. There's elements, but I'm not willing to go there. Shail, you agree? I don't think so. Yeah. That, that would shock me.

House. The mixing thing, especially is, is, is a stretch. Like he, he only runs well against teams against teams that are, you know, that permit it and the game script. He had 60 of his 100 yards on the last drive of the game, the way Houston really closed out that game. Otherwise, he had a very average day, and that's really been the story of Joe Mixon this entire season. They came out with an offense that looks super formidable when everybody was healthy.

I thought, Oh, this is the version of Houston that's going to win this division and maybe win 12 games or something and really be a threat. And then they had the injuries and their offensive line never was up to the task. And that's the problem with mixing. They're just not, you can't establish the run with, with, with the offensive line that they have and they ain't establishing the run against the chiefs. I'll tell you that much right now. Rule number 16 is take one last look at the quarterbacks.

It's Mahomes first drought. Mahomes has lost three times. He lost the D-Ford game to Brady. His first year as a starter, where if D-Ford doesn't say it's one of the great breaks in the history of Boston sports, D-Ford jumping offsides. You have that. You have him get his ass kicked by the, by Tampa in the super bowl where, you know, there's real reasons for that. Tampa's defense was great. They were able to pressure him the whole game. It was a, it was a little bit of a goofy KC season.

So that was the second one. And the third one was the game, uh, house and I lost incredible amounts of money on when the Bengals beat the Chiefs where Mahomes got concussed at the end of the second quarter and they pretended he wasn't, but something happened and he was never the same the rest of the game. My point is it's very unusual for Patrick Mahomes to lose in the playoffs and I feel pretty safe about putting money on him against the Houston Texans guys. Yeah, agreed. I think we're unanimous. Okay, great. We're going to take a break and hit the other two games. The Bill Simmons podcast is brought to you by FanDuel.

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that have made the conference title game house. The true rookies, Brock Purdy, Mark Sanchez, Joe Flacco, Ben Roethlisberger, Sean King. Daniel's at is the most talented of all of those guys. His team needs him the most out of all of those guys, his team needs him the most out of all of those guys. And I'm just pointing that out because it's so Brady first year as a starter made the super bowl.

Mahomes first year as a starter almost made the super bowl. So if you think he's on that class, maybe that's a better comparison. Does Daniels have it in him to win two playoff games and drag this team to the conference title game. Are you asking me that question? I am. Hell no. And it's not, it doesn't have anything to do with Jayden Daniels.

He doesn't get to play defense. I mean, the problem is in the, that the offense, they will have a great game plan and they will do their best to shrink the game. They will try and have long drives. They'll try and replicate what they did against Tampa. In that game, both teams had exactly seven possessions. That's the best way for Washington to have a chance. Every possession is a four-down possession. There's no such thing as three downs and punt with Washington

unless, you know, they're... Unless like fourth and nine or something yeah and and on the very much on the wrong side of the field that's exactly right but but he jaden daniels can't control the defense and the defense god bless them it's been been don't break all season long they've put that offense in position to go win six consecutive last possession games the last possession of the game for Washington, they've won. Um, that is, it's an absolute miracle. Uh, and Jay Daniels is, has been a tremendous, like the hyperbole for, for his performance, you know, I can't overstate how much, um, he's done to transform this franchise, but he doesn't play defense, So it's not, it's not up to him.

So everything house late just laid out. She'll this is why I I'm not betting it because I always lose on over-enders, but the over-enders seem so high to me. It's 55 and a half. The lions I think are 33 and a half, the over-under for their total points on Fandel and I agree with the house. I think Washington's going to try to have these long ass drives and try to keep it to seven possessions on each side. And that's it. Why does everybody think this is going to be a shootout?

Yeah, I'm with you. I'm with house house nailed it like an average NFL game You get 11 possessions in a game And so everything about this commander's game plan has to be lean into the variance like house was saying if it's only seven Possessions and now Jared Goff has a pass deflected at the line of scrimmage that somebody comes down with fumbles. Yeah, it has a bigger impact. Exactly. And that's how the commanders want to play methodical long drives, run the football complete passes at a very high rate. So they've got that in them. And then the same thing about the fourth down stuff, like if they're in the red zone, if they're on the you know, past midfield, they need to be aggressive. A fake punt here and there. Like when you're an

underdog of this magnitude and you're facing an offense in such a mismatch with the Lions offense against your defense, I think that's how you have to play. So I don't, I would not go against Jayden Daniels in a big spot. I mean, I don't know that there's another quarterback in the NFC that you say, hey, if you take the Lions here minus eight and a half and it's whatever a three point game, a five point game in the fourth quarter and the commander said fourth and six, like I want to be on the Jaden Daniels side on that because he's come through over and over and over again. And there's a couple of schematic things here. things here. We know how the Lions play, man coverage, and they want a blitz.

Jayden Daniels, very good against man coverage because he can use his legs, and he has killed the blitz this year. All those rookie quarterbacks you named as you were reeling them off, I'm like, that guy had a great team. That guy had a great team. Jayden Daniels doesn't have a great team,

he's putting the team on his back. And yeah, so I took the commanders with the points team that got like Jane and Daniels doesn't have a great team. He's putting the team on his back. And, uh, yeah. So I took the commanders with the points just when I pick, uh, every game. So I don't like being on the other side of that guy. Also in a dome against a not that good defense. It doesn't seem like the crowds going to bother them. Cause it doesn't seem like anything bothers them. And the amazing thing is how much they fucking trust him house.

Like some of the, some of the things they were asking him to do in the second half, it was like, he's like 32 years old. That, that little lob screen pass. That was one of the key plays of the game that adds up. I mean, nine things can go wrong in that play, but they trusted him. And it just seems like over and over again, he has the wherewithal to know what to do in the right spots. He's really exciting. I think the line's too high.

I'm not going to put like a ton of money on Washington or anything, but I, you know, I was looking at the alt line of Washington plus four and a half is plus 182 on Fandome. I think this could be a close game. It reminds me of some of the games last year when we had, you know, Green Bay as a, as a big underdog. We had Tampa as a big underdog with the Rams or an underdog at one point. Like I think they can score. And I think even if they're down 14 plus, they can make, you know, get a cheap touchdown down the stretch. I just thought the line's too high. So that's the case, right?

Nine and a half is a big number when you have a quarterback on the other side, like Jayden Daniels and Washington Will play this entire game all the way out, right? There's no they're not gonna do an El Fuldo Here and so even if the Detroit's up 17 points with six minutes left and Washington gets the ball and goes down they'll they could score touchdown and get a two-point conversion and you lose your bet because They take it from 17 down to 9 and you've lost the nine and a half point cover. Um, it's a great tease candidate. I mean, the thing with Detroit that I really believe is going to be, um,

the big swing here is they're going to establish the run. If David Montgomery is back and is, uh, you know, in, in full force, they're going to establish the run and just run the football down Washington's throat. And it, they might get explosive with it. Like they might, cause if Jameer gets, gets outside, he gets gone, it just could be a couple of quick scores. That's my fear. Like you just, I always write down all the different stats and see how the teams match

up and the offense versus defense. And you just see that Washington defense 30th against the run, Detroit, six with the run, and that was without Montgomery the last couple of weeks. And there, the fear would be to trade just rushing, you know, 49 carries for 270 yards, one of those games manifesto rules, but where have the nobody believes in us team is Washington or nobody believes in us team house? Cause it seems like there's belief. I think there's belief. I mean, certainly here in Washington and I think, you know,

Jane Daniels, this is part of the joy of being a Washington fan. He's captured the national imagination because of how of his stones he has the biggest balls of any athlete in Washington that I can think of. I mean, Ovi came in with big big balls But then Sidney Crosby kicked his ass for a while Ovi finally sort of got the Stanley Cup of Rhee He's threatening the great ones record and Bradley Beal Bradley Beal was the other one God damn it. Let's just let's let's move on. Well, you're talking about Washington stars with huge balls who came through in big moments. That was the other guy that jumped the mind for me You got a bunch of pick swaps for him. You're a dick.

Two more manifesto rules. Never pick an underdog unless you genuinely believe it has a chance to win. I don't necessarily think Washington's going to win, but I also don't really believe in that Detroit defense either. And part of the calculus, when you think about we're back in on Detroit, partly because their defense looks so good against Minnesota and then the Rams who were 26 DVOA also looked awesome against Minnesota and some, Sheila, where do we stand on the Detroit defense right now for what we know, guys coming back,

all that stuff. Yeah. I mean, you look at the stats and stuff and they're what? Top five in DVOA and they've got some guys back and they hung in there and they had a great game plan against the Vikings. But I'm sort of with you. I want to see a little bit more. When we saw the Rams do that to the Vikings, I had the same thought like, all right, let me rethink what I think about that Lions defense. So I don't know. I think the Lions, I picked them to win the Superbowl before the postseason began. I still think they're going to win this game. But if you told me,

hey, which of these big dogs is going to actually win this weekend, commanders, Rams or Texans, I'm riding with Jaden Daniels out of those three. I think I agree with that, Hess. Yeah. I'm not just saying that because you're here. I love it. No, I love it. And the case that that's the best case, right. Is, is that Jayden Daniels in Washington controlling the ball and offense, they play defense by playing great, uh, efficient offense and that's the best. Opportunity. How's this impossible for you to talk about the resurgence of Washington football over the last 12 months without breaking into tears?

I mean, it tears where we're beyond tears. Like this is the, what it's done to,'s done for my libido, for my love life. It's just been unbelievable. It's like a Viagra. It's better than that. I'll tell you what, it's better than that. It's amazing. So, Washington ultimately is a football town

and this brought it back after Dan Snyder basically injected medicine into everybody's bodies to put them into a medical coma the entire time he was an owner. It was worse than that. And Danny high fits of the ringer. A great story on the ringer.com about the return of Washington as a, as a place where good football can happen.

We have this legacy, this unbelievable, uh, you know, 20 years of success that, that a bad owner came in and ruined. He ruined it for, for three generations almost. Like there are people in my life who are like, this is our first playoff win. You know, there are, there are young folks here who never saw, uh, any of, of the old glory days with Joe Gibbs, uh, and, and, and, you know, the, the high flying Washington attack and it's just, you know, the, the high flying Washington attack. And it's just, you know, this football city, it's back.

It's back. Yes. She'll, when I met house in 1988 and we, we went to college together for you were a year ahead of me, but 88, 90, 88, 89, 90, 91. And the Washington was like, they're probably the team. They were the, there was a bunch of successful teams in the eighties, but. And the Washington was like, they were probably the team. They were the, there was a bunch of successful teams in the eighties, but they were the most consistently successful over like a 12 year span all the way through the Ripon Superbowl.

And that's how I knew you as this confident football fan. And then I gradually watched it get beaten out of you. Well, it coincided with the Patriots getting good and Tom Brady. Think about how bad that was for me. Well, we both, we both sucked in the nineties and then it went back. But is it, Sheila, is it weird for you that Washington has hope again? Cause you'd probably kind of given up on them as an Eagles fan. Yeah. When I was first following the Eagles, it was those teams you're mentioning and

they were better than the Eagles. And there has been this long run. I mean, the Giants have been one of the worst teams in the NFL the last decade. The commanders have been hopeless. Now it's flipping a little bit. I will say, you know, there's a lot of love there for Josh Harris. I mean, if Josh Harris wants to buy the Wizards

and give up the Sixers and just be a full-time DC guy, I think that would be okay with the people of Philly. That's a big thing in Philly. Philly hates Josh Harris. The Sixers, they are so out on him as the Sixers owner. I hear it all the time from my Philly people. It's funny that you could be good at owning one team and then bad at owning the other team. Yes.

But it's basically like, you would think it was something of the same skillset. All right, so we're gonna lean toward, so Lions and a Parlay or Tees, we're all good with that? Yes. And then maybe a little hedge, bed, like a little tiny one house, you can do it. I'm not participating in it.

You do it. You do it. You do it. All right. The big Kahuna Ravens bills, which flipped. It was bills minus one and a half and now it's Ravens minus one half as predicted on this podcast with Sal on Sunday. There's so many ways to go with this and a couple of people have brought up

versions of this, but I feel like I've been alive long enough that I've seen a lot of these, like people throw in like the great QB matchups and they, they just grab two people who are really good. To me, it's different than a great QB matchup. It's a point of the career QB matchup, which I think is completely different and a lot more special, right? So I wrote down like when we were in college, Montana and Elway played in the super bowl and it was really meaningful.

Elway felt like this one man band. Montana had a chance to be like the greatest ever. And it was like, who's winning this. So just that moment felt important. Elway, Favre was really fun. Elway had already won. Favre was kind of the next Elway. Elway was trying to go back to back.

Favre was like the next guy. That was like a QB moment. 06, some people would say 0304, but Brady wasn't Brady really until 06. I don't personally think. 06, he had nobody. The Colts were the team. He goes in there in Indianapolis.

It's Brady versus Manning. Manning's never beaten him in a big game. Manning comes back from 18. That was awesome. Brady versus Russell Wilson, would you put that in there for where we were with Russell Wilson in 2014 in the Super Bowl, already winning a Superbowl

felt like he was heading toward Rogers. Is he not quite good enough? She'll I think not quite good enough. That was still the defense. I feel like with the identity of that team, how do you agree? I totally agree with that. All right, we'll cross out them. 2018 Brady versus my homes in KC AFC title game. And then same thing, 2020, when Brady was on the bucks.

That was the last time that Brady Mahomes was like the old, the old Wison champion versus the new upstart. This Lamar Josh battle is so unusual because neither guy has won. And they're at this awesome point in their career. Even like I mentioned, 06, 98, Montana, L.A., like one side had won. This one, neither guy has won. And it's, they're competing against each other for the right to now have to then beat Patrick Mahomes.

It's a really unusual game. Sheil, can you remember any matchup quite like this in football? We've seen it in basketball, but not in football. No, this is because of the legacies and they're both still young in their career. So I still think like, there's gonna be a lot of narratives that come out of whichever quarterback loses and I'm probably gonna be the nerd being like, relax like that, you know.

It wasn't all on that guy. Yeah, they're gonna get there eventually, but it's been the same conversation around both these guys really to a large degree. They're both among the top two or three MVP candidates pretty much every year. You have them on your team, they get offensive coordinators paid, they get other players paid. It's like they are the star of the show.

And you can move the piece. Well, and they're one of ones too. There's nobody like either guy. Exactly. So you have that as well. And so it's just a matter of time before one of them breaks through. I'm not saying either of them is ever going to be there with Mahomes, but I think each of them is going to have their year. And who's it going to be this year? And who it going to be this year and who has the better supporting cast and who has the better chance. Like it all comes down to this matchup and how they play in this game house. I know how you feel about this game.

This just seems like a terrible matchup for Buffalo. I just don't like the matchup. It's like a basketball team that's just going against an awesome center and doesn't have enough size to defend the center. It's like those three Shakiers and the Lakers where they would just play whoever they play. The Sixers, the Nets. And you just felt like, man, they just don't have the size. I just think Baltimore has too much size for this Buffalo defense. I don't see a world where that Buffalo defense can win the game, which means Alan just has to be perfect and has to have one of the great moments of his

career, I think, to beat them. You, you agree on the, this seems stacked for Baltimore angle, right? That that's definitely my point of view. I mean, the, the aspect of it that is so curious and what we'll see in this upcoming off season, I wonder aloud is it looks like a Baltimore had, has a defense that is well constructed to compete against Kansas city. I don't think that they could have anticipated what impact Derek Henry would have on Baltimore and they don't have a defense that is they just not big enough.

They're there. They're talking about Buffalo. Steve, I say Buffalo, Buffalo's front seven is just too light. They just can't, they can put everybody in the box and that is a terrible, uh, predicament to put yourself into because Lamar really does have a next level of confidence the way that they ran their offense against Pittsburgh last week They just ran this this option play. Yeah, it was like a pick and roll in the end and Pittsburgh had one kind of solution for it but this the just the

confidence that Lamar Demonstrated in his ability to have make the right choice and just do it and he he didn't break a sweat He just now like this is the way and I just think the way that that Baltimore will get off with Derek Henry We're gonna he's gonna they're gonna establish now I don't think he's gonna run have a 90-yard touchdown in the first touch like like he did when these teams played in the regular Season but I do think they're gonna establish him and I do think he's gonna get his yards and it's gonna come early and then That Baltimore offense opens up and it's just a tough, I mean, I'm rooting for a tremendous game, so I want to see the very best out of, out of Josh.

But I just, the field is tilted in my, in my humble estimation. She'll I watch hard knocks because they're doing the AFC North. So I actually watched this week's episode and, uh, and they had a lot of like behind the scenes stuff of before the game and during the game. And Lamar is just so fucking confident in all the stuff they capture. Like confident in a way that I just don't remember seeing in the previous things. I think, I think they all know something. They have something special with this combo with the Lamar and Henry that it's just unusual.

It's different. It stands out. It's hard to stop and they have a swagger to it. You could just kind of see it. And, and what was really interesting about it, they had Cam Hayward miked and near the end of the first half when the, when the Ravens got that last touchdown and the Steelers are on the field and he's like, we got to try to strip the ball. Like I'm, I'm dead.

Like I, like they're wearing us down. We got to like force a turnover because he knows he was like, they were like killing them. Um, I just don't see why that wouldn't also happen to Buffalo's defense. So is there, what, what world does, does Buffalo win this game? All right. Let me make the case for the fine people of Western New York, Josh Allen. Yeah. I mean, narrative, what Josh Allen, this was supposed to be a reset year. They get rid of Stefan Diggs. Oh, what? No one, people are, people like me are picking the jets to win the AFC East.

All the guy does is put this new cast of characters on his back every week. They win that division going away and now he gets to the playoffs and he's an underdog at home. He's healthy. He's one of the best quarterbacks we've seen in the last decade and his team is an underdog and everyone's pointing to that week four matchup and the Bills did not have either starting linebacker in that game. They did not have Taron Johnson, their

nickel corner who might be one of their best players on defense. All those guys are back here and by the way people are forgetting that the Ravens probably are not gonna have their leading wide receiver in this game. Zay Flowers did not practice on Wednesday or Thursday. So you're looking at two evenly matched teams. One that is healthier. The other that is without its starting wide receiver. Yeah, that's not nothing. You don't have to be perfect on defense. Derek Henry is going to get yards. Lamar Jackson is going to get yards. Can the Bills match them possession for possession? And can you get that one key turnover, that one key play on special teams?

So I see the path. And home field advantage. Home, yeah, I see the path for a Ravens blowout. You guys are right, House made the great point that the Bills are small up front, and now you have the one team that you do not wanna be small up front against, and the Ravens could run for over 200.

But I'm not counting up, I was basically gonna take whichever team was the dog here and just say, Oh, I like it. So I was just flipping a coin back and forth changing my mind all week. But Josh Allen is a home dog. Like Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes. When these guys are home dogs, I'm just like take them. If you lose, I'll live with it. Two playoff manifesto rules. Rule number nine. Severely discount anything that happened in the

first five to six weeks of the season. That's a good one. That's a good one. I, when we go back to week four, week five, like guys are out, like it's just stupid. I always discount that. Rule number 16, take one last look at the quarterbacks. Here's the difference.

This isn't just Alan versus Lamar. It's Alan versus Lamar and Henry. Yeah. I like James Cook. He's good. The Henry thing is different. And especially if they have a lead and the way they can keep it. I also feel like Baltimore's defense is just awesome against the run. And we saw it again like for Pittsburgh. It was just the all-time worst-case scenario matchup. So for Alan, I think to beat them, he's going to have to do stuff with his legs. He's going to have to use his different receivers. It's

going to be a lot of like moving the ball 10, 11, 12 play drives. I just think Baltimore is the best team guys. Now we've been in this spot heading into round two and usually it doesn't work out with whoever we think that team is. I think they're really good. I'm, I'm, and I'm always like a little slow. The catch is the playoff Lamar piece. And the, and what's interesting about this matchup is the stakes for both guys. If one of them really fails in this spot, it's, it's, it's, we talk about legacy a lot in sports, but like Lamar kind of needs this game.

Like if he loses this one now with the better team, then I, then I think it opens up a conversation where cool, you're the regular season guy, but every year in January, we see the same thing happen. You know, what are you doing wrong? Um, is it, when you talk about playoffs with quarterback, she was that fair to hang the losses on them? Like we do? Semi-fair, a little bit fair.

Where do you stand? This is where I feel like we've swung too far in like the modern be fair to everyone type of sports analysis. Like when I was a kid, I remember watching like a local Philly sports show and they took a pumpkin and like Michael Jordan hadn't been Michael Jordan yet, and they took a bat and smashed this pumpkin and was like Michael Jordan hasn't done anything. He's selfish. And I'm like, all right, that was crazy. But also now we're like, you can't like this past week call you can't criticize Justin Herbert or Sam Darnold or Jordan Love. It's their

offensive line. It's like, all right, that you can tell me a guy had a great regular season. You can show me the film from week 12. When the stakes are at their highest, how do they perform? And I agree that it always it hasn't been all on Lamar Jackson last year. Zay Flowers fumbles like we should point that stuff out. But also when a quarterback doesn't play well in a big spot, and they're in a certain year and it's not their first or second year in the NFL, I think it is it is is fair to criticize them. So yeah, if these guys go up and down the field and they both play awesome and one of them loses, then no, I'm not going to be like that guy can't win. But if one of them comes out and lays an egg and turns the ball over more than they do in the regular season

and their team loses, then we're allowed to, it's okay. We don't have to be like overly fair to some of these, some of these guys. I agree. I thought Justin Herbert was reprehensible last week and it was I don't like I criticized them enough he sucked and Jordan love sucked and him Dardell sucked they all sucked and looked at the quarterbacks they want CJ Stroud was excellent J J for an hour and a half yeah well enough to win the football game Matthew Stanford was excellent. We're allowed to say that. We're going to take a break

and come back and do Million Dollar Pitch. You're going to stay on. We'll do Million Dollar Pitch for Rantoo. Toronto. There's another great city that starts with a T. Tampa, Florida. Fly to Tampa on Porter Airlines to see why it's so T-rific. Another great city that starts with a T? Tampa, Florida.

Fly to Tampa on Porter Airlines to see why it's so tea-riffic. On your way there, relax with free beer, wine, and snacks, free fast-streaming Wi-Fi, and no middle seats. You've never flown to Florida like this before, so you'll land in Tampa ready to explore. Visit flyporter.com and actually enjoy economy. All right. Million dollar picks round two. I'm going to throw out some possible bets. Ravens minus one and a half we talked about. Sheel sounds like he's, you just like the dog. You don't feel like you're, you're just afraid of the game it seems like. I took the bills in my official picks, but it was a coin flip. So yeah, don't let my opinion there change.

What you guys, I'm sticking with my Malcolm Gladwell blink test on that one. I just, I felt before I even knew what the line was, I was like, I just like the Ravens. I think it's a bad matchup for the bills. The bills were playing the chiefs. I'd feel better about it. I just don't like the Ravens bills. So we're probably going to put something on Ravens minus one. Now there's a couple parlay teaser options with chiefs, Eagles, lions on Fandual. We do a little eight point T's even odds.

Oh, we could take the Eagles all the way to plus one and a half. I know, I know it infuriates Rahim to, but it's actually better odds than the Moneyline parlay to do the eight point T's and to bring everything down. There's a seven point T's that's plus 120 and there's a six point T's that's plus 140. So you would have Baltimore, uh, I'm not, sorry, uh, Casey minus two and a half, the Eagles minus two and a half. Um, Oh no, the Eagles even lions minus two and a half.

So my, my instinct is the eight point T's and you just have to win the chiefs. You just have to win the lions and then you get the free point and a half in the Eagles game and that's even odds and who's going to fuck us is my instinct. Yeah. Any, any alarms for either of you? I feel like if you lose that, you get to watch a Jaden Daniels classic playoff game. I think other than that, you're safe. So it'll be worth it.

I think that Lyons 33 and a half is too high, but I don't want to bet it because I could also see a world where they score like 50 points, but I just think it's too high. I think they're trying to sucker you into. It's a lot of points, especially with how we laid out the game. I like the Mahomes 25 plus rushing yards bet. That's one 15 yard scramble when he does the thing where he sticks the ball at the end and then gets a cheap shot and tries to pretend

he got knocked unconscious for a second to try to get the flag. And two more scrambles. It's like a four for 27 shield. Does that make sense to you? I think so, yeah. And the Texans like to play man covers. They've got good corners.

So there, there could be some plays in there where he has to hold onto the football, uh, make a play and he takes off. So here's my concern and I'm going to make a recommendation. You can't parlay this, but I prefer attempts to yards when it comes to my homes because kneel downs count as attempts and kneel downs behind the line of scrimmage Detract from your your rushing total So if he's in the low 30s and they are running out the football at the end of the game and he knees down Twice you're all of a sudden in the in the you know

Real danger zone of getting down to like 24 yards and you lose your bet. The total for rush attempts is four and a half, three rushes over the course of the game and then two kneel downs. You collect on your bet. Yeah, that's one that I like. That's better right there. I feel like I need to take notes. I'm in awe.

Like that is a man who has been burned by a kneel down at some point in the last 10, 20, 30 years. Shio, which one do you like more, the 4.5 runs or the 25 plus yards? Household me on the kneel. You can do both. Yeah, no, I'm doing one. You can't parlay them, but that's plus 110 on Fandl. I'm going to mark that one down.

So Kelsey and Hopkins to both score touchdowns. Plus 9 31. Just mentioning it Hopkins to score plus three 10. It's been interesting watching them integrate him into their offense. And it seems like they really like them inside the 10 or usually it's Kelsey. And it seems that they like him too. Um, I've always had bad luck with the TD bets, but I mentioned that. Stafford and Stroud to both throw a pick.

So two road QBs against good defenses, both throw a pick plus one 95. I'm in, I love that one. I think it's, it's, uh I like the, the two to one odds. Stroud is like crazy. It's like minus one 60 for him to throw a pick. It's some crazy number. Um, so you're, this is really a Stafford bet. And I don't, what's the, what's the status of Higley? I mean, is he, is he, I think he's supposed to play, but we don't know. Yeah. That, that, that's a big, she'll see Luke Warm on the on the double pick bet plus

$195. Listen it's fun but my only concern would be if it's snowy are they going with a run heavy game plan and then the Eagles are having one of those drives where it's like the Eagles have possessed the ball for 11 minutes in the set so he doesn't have the opportunities to throw the pick. Great point. But listen it's a little you don't have put, it's a sprinkle. It's that tiny dabble. I'm not going to say no to any bet like that. Henry and Barkley both scored touchdowns plus one 34 on Sunday. The little Sunday running back stud touchdown parlay. Henry with Hertz bumps to plus one 75.

Tush pushy. Something. Five yard scramble. Play both. Kurtz TD plus 175. Play both. Josh Allen touchdown is plus 105. Anything jump out? Well, I do.

The other, when you were talking about the running backs, I like Saquon and Derrick Henry longest rush. Derrick Henry's is like 20.5. Saquon Barkley's is 18 and a half yards. I think both of those guys are going to get the ball a lot and break one of them throughout the course of the game. So that's just if you're worried about getting cheated, like you said on a touchdown where Saquon Barkley runs it to the one and then they give it to Jalen Hurts. That's one I would look at. I like the Barkley one specifically, over 18 and a half yards as his longest rush.

So pairing that with something with Henry could make sense. What are the ads on that longest rush? Do you remember? I can't remember. I think it's around minus 110 probably. House, have you ever experimented with the longest rush? I feel like I'm doing an exotic tequila shot.

That's really exciting. House, have you ever experimented with the longest rush? I feel like I'm doing an exotic tequila shot. That's really exciting. Minus minus one 20 for Berkeley 19 and up. And then for Henry, it's probably, I'm going to guess the same. That will be 20 and a half minus one 20. So you try to hit both of them, probably split one, maybe lose lose a little vague or hit both. What do you think, House? Just put them together. I agree with the idea that both of them are going to get them. Both of those teams are committed

in a way that you know, the future of the franchise is based on those two dudes going out and getting Russians. They're going to get all the touches. They're going to have all the opportunity. And if we believe in those offensive lines, then they're going to get there. Oh, it's a plus two 36. Hey now. So need Henry for 21 yards. Barkley for 19. Let's do that.

That's happening. Come on. Put it on the card. Before they change the odds. Put it on the card. The shield special. Put it on the card. All right. So we're going to add that one. Plus two 36. Put it on the card. The shield special, put it on the card.

All right. So we're going to add that one plus two 36. And then, um, there's some most rushing yards that I thought were interesting. Henry plus three 20 Barkley plus one 55. The Barkley plus one 55 I thought was a little delectable Gibbs plus five 50, but Montgomery is probably going to be back. So I don't know how many carries Gibbs plus five 50, but Montgomery's probably going to be back. So I don't know how many carries is going to get, but the rushing receiving one I really liked was McLaren plus eight 50 for most yard, most receiving yards this

weekend, some garbage time stuff, one long one. Hey, how seems dubious? Well, I kind of like it. One long one. Hey, how seems dubious? Well, I kind of like it. Um, the, I, they, I don't know how deep they're going to try and, and go. Um, it would have to be like a pitch and catch kind of thing, but that's the thing. Right.

Look at the scripts for the other teams. To me, it might be Xavier worthy. I honestly think worthy is going to get a ton of punches. What do you have? Yeah. Yeah. I, I have one of my best bets of the weekend is McLaurin over 68 and a half receiving yards. I mean, they're going to have to, they're

going to have to move the ball. He is by far their go-to target. The lions don't have a number one corner. The lions don't play the type of defense where they're going to put a safety over top of them. They're going to say we can be aggressive and play man coverage. I had McLaurin last week and it was, it was fruitful. He had it very early in that game. And you're right. Two of these games are in bad weather, you know, potentially Buffalo and Philadelphia. So now if you, and maybe even Kansas city, so you get the weather aspect of it being

easier to throw the ball. So yeah, I'm in on the McLaurin over. So plus eight 50 most rushing, most receiving for the weekend. I think it's worth that little dabble. Yeah, I'm on that. I'm on that. Yes. Hail, baby And then the last one Washington plus four and a half plus 182 is it worth a dabble? I'm out. So you have to you get your answer from shield

See, so you have the Lions in the other You get the answer from Sheil. So you have the Lions in the other T's at what? Minus two and a half. It's like a very, very hairy middle, which is why you'd probably don't do it. If you take the Lions, you're just rooting for the Lions. Yeah. It might be, it might conflict you, but if you didn't have the other bet, I would say again, Jaden Daniel's rule.

If it's over a field goal, why not? See, how's this? I've never seen house do this before with gambling where he doesn't want to jinx his own team. It's really interesting. It's a divisional round of the Fing playoff. It's been 25 years. Like, what are you talking about?

It's not surprising at all. I haven't been in this position in forever. Okay. So we, you only have a few weeks left. I mean, why, if, if you're feeling it, go with it, you know, it's not like week three. You play my mom. Just to play my McLaurin overs to be satisfied. You made a great case. We play McLaurin overs. It's fine. All right. Do we like Josh Allen touchdown for plus one of five or no?

Not really. Okay. All right. I think, I think, I mean mean, you know decent chance. I'll do it It's time The million dollar picks Round two here with joe house and shio kapadia. We're up 1.867 million for the season. We took last week off We're coming back strong. First bet an eight point tease on Fandual with the chiefs minus eight and a half. The Eagles minus six and a half in the lions minus eight and a half.

We were teasing all of them down. It is even odds on Fandual. We are breaking the Raheem Palmer rule. We're teasing the Eagles through the zero. I can see him like almost having a convulsion right now, but Eagles to plus one and a half. The other two just to win. That's plus 100. We're going to put 300 K on that. Next bet.

The Ravens minus one and a half. She was nervous about this one. House and I just think it's a no disrespect to the great people. Buffalo bad matchup. The Ravens minus one and a half. She was nervous about this one. House and I just think it's a no disrespect to the great people. Buffalo bad matchup. Wrong team, wrong time. Ravens minus one and a half. We are putting 250 K on that one. And then we're going to dabble on some stuff.

Some, some 10 K my homes four and a half runs over plus one 10. Saquon and Henry Saquon 18 and a half yards over longest run with Henry longest run 20 and a half plus two 36. That's right. Chill. I think so. They bet each bus runs were good. It's a great one.

Stafford Stroud, both to throw one interception as the road quarterback in bad and potentially bad weather games plus one 95. So we're doing McLaurin over 68 and a half receiving yards. One dude's two small McLaurin bets. Yes. The corner over 60 and a half McLaurin tab, the most receiving yards of the weekend plus eight 50 where there's two games have the most receiving yards of the weekend. Plus eight 50 where there's two games outdoors.

He's one of the only ones indoors. And what do you want to put in the parlays? 25 K or 10 K. I mean, not the parlays, the profits. 10 K is a good number. That that's a, that's how people play. 10 K. And those are the million dollar picks for round two.

She'll happy gambling. Good luck with the Eaglesale, happy gambling. Good luck with the Eagles. House, happy gambling. Good luck with the Washington. Whatever your name is now. Hell yes. Hell yes. Hail. All right. Thanks guys. I never once said I don't have a few lips with him On the wayside, on the front side I never once said I don't have a few lips with him States for Kansas and affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and President DC gambling problem call 100 gambler visit RG dash help.com call 1 8 8 7 8 9 7 7 7 7 7 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit MD

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