The Bill Simmons Podcast - Part 2: NFL Sleepers and Grenades With Warren Sharp and Joe House

Episode Date: August 30, 2021

It's Part 2 of a two-part Sunday-night podcast. The Ringer’s Bill Simmons is joined by Joe House and Warren Sharp for their annual Sleepers and Grenades segment; they run through the teams they thin...k could make an unexpected leap as well as teams that could stumble. They also give out some of their favorite over/under bets for the NFL season. Host: Bill Simmons Guests: Joe House and Warren Sharp Producer: Kyle Crichton Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Fantasy football is back, and you don't want your team to suck. My favorite fantasy football punishment I've ever heard is the last place guy had to spend 24 hours in a waffle house, and every waffle he ate was one hour off of his count. I want numbers. How many did he end up eating? 12 waffles in 12 hours. I'm Danny Heifetz. I'm Danny Kelly. And I'm Craig Horlbeck.
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Starting point is 00:02:51 This is part two of our big Sunday night podcast. If you missed part one, Joe House and I talked a lot of golf and some NBA over-unders as well because the first wave we're at, we even have our first locks that we like for the season, although we're not going to really
Starting point is 00:03:05 dive into that in October, but that was really fun. This podcast, Warren Sharp is going to join us and we're going to talk NFL for the next almost 100 minutes. So that is all coming up. Let's bring back Pearl Jam.
Starting point is 00:03:18 I'm so excited. Let's bring him back a second time. Here we go. All right. Our guy Warren Sharpe is here. You're going to be hearing him on the podcast. He's going to be hearing him on the Ringer podcast weeks. It's going to be three times a week this year, Monday, Wednesday, Friday. House, hold the book up. Where's the book? I got it open. I won't tell you what team I have it open to right now. There's still time. 2021 football preview. I bought it to Hawaii. People thought I was a freaking weirdo reading this book. Sharpe, you need to make an old guy version of the book
Starting point is 00:04:07 with like giant print for old people like House and I. I actually worked on that. People were complaining that the print was too small. I actually increased the font size by one for this edition, but I guess it's still not good enough. No, it's not. And I guess it's just me. House and I are just fucking old.
Starting point is 00:04:24 I can't see anymore. It's 450 pages in the version that we have, but we need it to be 550 pages. Yeah, we need the 900 page with the letters that are twice the size. Two volumes. It's going to be the size of a Merriam-Webster, if that's the case. Before you came on, we were talking about how House was saying his hand smelled like crab because he was just eating crab for six hours.
Starting point is 00:04:48 And then I unleashed my take that crab is the single most overrated food because it's just more work. It's too much work for not enough for a result. And House hates this take. We've been arguing about it since college. It's like exactly what I would expect out of a mass hole. Sharpie, show your hat. Show your hat to the good people. This is Jimmy's Seafood right out of the Baltimore area.
Starting point is 00:05:14 They're going to send him a million crab. Here's the backstory on that real quick. I got, I went on a Lamar is good rant after the 2018 season. And then he goes and wins MVP and they loved it. And they sent me this huge bushel of crabs before the 2019 season. And then before the 2020 season, instead of shipping me the container, they actually drove to my house with like plates full of stuff in the back of a van and delivered it for like 20 people. And this is in the middle of the pandemic. So obviously I just had to give it to some neighbors and stuff and eat a lot of it. But I disagree, Bill. I eat it
Starting point is 00:05:50 slowly. I take my time. I'm definitely consuming ample amounts of alcohol and it's really like a once a year thing for me. So I really enjoy it every chance I get. House, I think crab is the Daniel Jones of seafood. It has to be explained by the people who like it and they have to cut corners and try to go glass half full over just admitting what a fucking pain in the ass it is.
Starting point is 00:06:17 It depends on what kind of person you are in life. Are you a patient person? Are you willing to work for things that are wonderful in your life? That says a lot about you. Speaking of the Baltimore area, the Washington area, the DMV, let's start with the Ravens because J.K. Dobbins is out for the year. We're bringing Sharp on.
Starting point is 00:06:37 We want to do a little sleepers and grenades. This is something I used to do in my column back in the day, trying to figure out a true sleeper is a team that jumps at least four wins from the previous year. And a true grenade team is the team that drops at least four wins from the year before. Baltimore, as weird as it sounds, was one of the teams I was looking at as a possible grenade team.
Starting point is 00:06:58 They went 11-5 last year. I'm not a giant fan of everything they did in the offseason. Dobbins, to me, was their only above average skill guy, unless you want to count Mark Andrews, which she's a tight end, so I guess you can. Some people would say, no, no, Hollywood Brown is. I just haven't seen it. And now to me, it looks like a team that has a really tough schedule that they're in a conference that I think is better than the NFC. They have a six, a seven game stretch near the end here. Week 12 Brown Sunday night football at Steelers at Browns home Packers. Easy one against the Bengals home Rams home Steelers.
Starting point is 00:07:40 And at that end, the two games before that are at Dolphins on a Thursday night at Bears. And I guess my first question for you, Sharp, could the Ravens be a grenade? Well, so did we relax officially the grenade standing so that it can be three wins or less given there's an extra game? Right. So let's say three wins or less just for this year. So it would be eight and nine. Eight and nine would make them a grenade. missed two different spurts with COVID. One last year, one this past offseason. So it's not out of
Starting point is 00:08:27 the realm of possibility that he couldn't miss it again. But clearly, I guess he's not vaccinated. Well, it could be like, wait, just a contact thing, right? Like he could be near somebody and then all of a sudden he's out for another five days. He has to take a longer stretch than a vaccinated person would take. Look, about a month or two ago, I was potentially, I didn't want to play the Ravens win total over. I didn't want to play them to get to the postseason. What I was thinking of playing them is their maximum upside, potentially them to get to the Super Bowl. It was 14 to 1. I wanted to at least 15 to 1.
Starting point is 00:09:06 And I've since, you know, cooled on that take. And it's not that I want to necessarily bet against them, but with the Lamar stuff coming out and we knew that they needed some wide receiver help, they obviously made that a priority to go out and get Rashad Bateman. They acquire Sammy Watkins. And it's like these guys that they've got at wide receiver are all banged up in camp. And then of course they lose the running back JK Dobbins. As you mentioned, Dobbins was great one running out of the spread sets. Uh, actually if you, to get a back running out of like the heavier sets, the 22, the 21 personnel, Gus Edwards is actually better than Dobbins there. And so they may be more, but wasn't some of this stuff coming out of the camp in july and august like dobbins dobbins dobbins breakout year like there's a lot of like we're gonna ride this guy and it just seems like he
Starting point is 00:09:54 was going to be way more important for them this year than last year he he was i mean he obviously was growing last year was a young year for him. This year, they were really going to try to carve out a role for him. But every single year, Baltimore has had to get a new running back to stand up. I went back and looked since I think it was 2014. They're rushing yards leader. Every single season has been somebody different. They've never had the same guy repeat. So they just churn through these guys. Let me try to pull up the list here because i just uh tweeted it out a little bit ago but every single season they're just going through other guys so i don't know that jk dobbins is necessarily the worst thing justin for set back in 2015 if you remember him these are people that were on house's fantasy teams i'm sure terrence west in
Starting point is 00:10:40 2016 2017 was alex collins gus edwards Mark Ingram, 2019. And 2020, obviously, was J.K. Dobbins. I think the defense is going to be better. I think the offense needs to improve if they're going to try to bang with a team like the Kansas City Chiefs. And that offense, to me, has not gotten much better. I think it's laughable to talk about this is the year that everybody's going to figure out Lamar Jackson. I thought that take was pretty terrible that I heard earlier this offseason. But I agree with you that I am cooled on the Ravens. And if Lamar misses time, this absolutely could be a grenade team. But that's what would have to happen in my mind. Let's ask the guy who lost more money gambling on Lamar Jackson the last two years than
Starting point is 00:11:26 anyone else in America. Here he is, Mr. Joe House. Have you finally cooled off on the Ravens? So look, it's very ironic that Sharpie was talking about looking at the Ravens at 14 to 1 and wanting to wait for them to get to 15 and 1 for the super bowl. I saw them at 13 to one, six weeks ago. And of course I jumped on it immediately. Oh my God. Here's my question. And I, it was not a big amount of money, but here's my question for sharp for an organization that is so widely regarded as progressive and forward thinking as Baltimore is. And this is a theme I think we'll talk about throughout the conversation with all of these teams as we try and prognosticate a little bit here.
Starting point is 00:12:09 Quarterback redundancy is one of the phrases that you've introduced this year that I absolutely believe in. I think it's a very, especially in a season with 17 games and especially in a season with COVID. And the point with quarterback redundancy is having backups that can
Starting point is 00:12:25 seamlessly enough come in, step in and not completely derail your team. So like, like Mitch Trubisky in Buffalo, you're saying Josh Allen comes out, Mitch Trubisky comes in as a poor man's Josh Allen. Let's keep it with, with Baltimore sharp wrote in his book.
Starting point is 00:12:42 They have the worst quarterback backup situation in the NFL. According to the way that Sharpie thinks about it, trace McSorley and Tyler Huntley for an organization like Baltimore. And by the way, we just saw that Gardner Minshew was available. I know he available. Oh my God. Now,
Starting point is 00:13:01 could he have flourished in this Baltimore offense? Would he have been a nice backup to Lamar? So I'm with you on the souring. But my question is, have an offense that's totally tailored towards Lamar Jackson, there's two ways to look at it. Number one, if he goes down and he's out for most of the season, you're screwed anyways, right? But if he only needs to be replaced for a game or two, you want a guy that's going to do some of the things similar to Lamar Jackson. You don't really want a guy like a Gardner Minshew because he can't do,
Starting point is 00:13:45 you know, your offense is geared towards the mobile quarterback. That's going to hand the ball off a lot and not really throw as many passes. So I don't think Gardner Minshew fits in really well there. And there aren't a whole lot of quarterbacks that actually do. And so I think that, you know, that's what their issue is. They aren't funneling a lot of money into the quarterback position. They've got Lamar Jackson. They're about to have to pay him, make a decision. For the time being, what they are spending all their cap space on is all the other players around him. They want to make a big run this season, and they aren't willing to funnel it into the
Starting point is 00:14:20 backup quarterback position. So it's Lamar or bust. That's what this major is. That's an old fantasy strategy, right? Like in the old days in our basketball league, if you took Shaq at center, like what do you even want to draft a backup center in the first eight rounds? Because if Shaq goes down, you're losing anyway. It's a very different proposition in this current era with the NFL and the particular circumstances of this NFL season and unprecedented season. I don't think
Starting point is 00:14:45 Minshew is the right guy. I think I'm just making a joke. I mean, ironically watching, uh, Pat's giants today. I can't believe the giants didn't get Minshew. I can't believe it. I mean, people who listen to this podcast know how I feel about Minshew. I would have been totally fine rolling with him and Mack Jones has been quarterbacks this year. I don't get the Minshew thing. And the fact that Jacksonville gave him away, I thought was really weird too. What do you, why are you giving away somebody who had 37 touchdowns at 11 picks the last
Starting point is 00:15:12 two years on some pretty shit teams? I think he's going to go to Philly. I think he's going to win that job at some point. It'll be in the first eight weeks or so sharp. Why, why give Minshew away? I didn't get that. I thought the whole thing was totally stupid,
Starting point is 00:15:27 utterly stupid by the Jacksonville Jaguars. You are taking away reps from Trevor Lawrence. I know that Urban Meyer is going to come in here. And, you know, I talked to people on various different teams. I know that Urban Meyer was all about we're not going to hand anything to anybody, even the number one overall pick. You have to earn it. There's competition. So that's what this whole thing was.
Starting point is 00:15:50 But let's be realistic. If the guy that is competing with the number one overall draft pick, one of the best quarterback prospects in years, is then worth trading for only a sixth round pick? What are you even doing here with what you think about this guy? And is he good enough to play with Trevor Lawrence? You're just trading him away for a sixth round pick. That's what everybody else thinks of him. And that's what you clearly think he's worth because you were willing to give him up for that. I totally agree. I think that the way that Minshew was handled last season, if you read the chapter in the book on the Jaguars, it was an atrocity by Jake Rudin in Jacksonville last year. He was terrible, totally a nincompoop move
Starting point is 00:16:28 with what he was doing in terms of how he was handling that. So I agree. I think Gardner Minshew is better than what most people think Gardner Minshew is. I'm fully on board with your take, Bill, in that regard. I think the Eagles got a steal getting him for a sixth round pick. And I just thought it was stupid
Starting point is 00:16:44 for taking away reps from Trevor Lawrence. You need him to get ready. This is a long as hell season. You need him to be primed. You need to say, oh, well, actually I've seen him in games. I've seen him in practices with the ones. This is what he's good at. This is what he struggles with. Let me try to introduce these other concepts. You know, also Gardner Minshew is not the type of running quarterback that Trevor Lawrence is. You need to work on your QB runs down inside the red zone, inside the five yard line, install all these different packages that you aren't going to have in there. If Minshew's there, I just felt like they were wasting time. And then they dealt him for a sixth rounder. It made no sense.
Starting point is 00:17:22 By the way, where was Indianapolis? That's another one. That's another great question. Indianapolis, if they don't figure out, you know, if Wentz doesn't come back when they think he's, when they're hoping he comes back and they have the wrong QB for those first five games,
Starting point is 00:17:38 they could completely blow their season house. Who do you have for your first grenade? Well, I'm glad you started with Indianapolis because I think that they're definitely in the running. I mean, uh, this, the saints are kind of like a, a natural grenade and, um, you know, there's, there's all the factors that point to, uh, the, the, the limitations that they have. There are two, uh, uh two starting ride receivers right now are questionable. Thomas is out for, you know,
Starting point is 00:18:08 a more indefinite time. And Jameis Winston. Now he looked pretty good. This princess kind of sold me on the saints on Thursday. Wait, go back to the Colts for a second. They were 11 and five last year. So for them to be an official grenade,
Starting point is 00:18:25 they would have to go 8-9 this year. They are even odds, basically, not to make the playoffs. And their over-under for wins is 8.5. They're plus 140 for the division. That first five games I mentioned, home Seahawks, home Rams, at Titans, at Dolphins, at Ravens
Starting point is 00:18:41 on a Monday night. And they might have, you know, Jacob Beeson as the QB. I think that is a definite grenade candidate, Sharp. What do you think? So let me go off on the Colts for a little bit. The one thing that I love about the Colts that's making me hesitant here is simply the fact that I think they've got one of the most underrated coaches in the NFL, Frank Reich. If you look at the different quarterbacks that he's worked with in consecutive seasons, what he's had to deal with, the change that he's had to deal with, not the same quarterback at any
Starting point is 00:19:12 one point in time. Even if you go back to 2017, where he flipped from between Carson Wentz and obviously Nick Foles and won the Super Bowl, then takes the job with the Colts. He's been a miracle worker, but he really is going to need to be a miracle worker with Carson Wentz in the current form that he was at. But let me just go through some of the things that we know about the Colts. Number one, just breaking news that happened today, left tackle Sam Tevey is going to be out for the season. Now, Sam Tevey isn't a famous person, doesn't ring anybody's bells, but he was going to be there starting left tackle because Eric Fisher, the left tackle that they got from the Kansas City Chiefs, is dealing with a recovery from an Achilles injury that he suffered late last season. And he wasn't going to be ready for the start of this year. Eric Fisher. So you're saying they're in the third string left tackle right now.
Starting point is 00:20:02 They are now going to be on the third string. And a backup QB. And it was supposed to be Anthony Costanzo. Well, Anthony, yeah. Anthony Costanzo retired. So they went and got Eric Fisher knowing he's not going to be ready. They also go out and acquire Sam Tevey. You know what's going on with Eric Fisher?
Starting point is 00:20:16 He's got COVID right now. That just was reported today. So that's going to delay his timeline even further. In addition, today comes out that T.Y. Hilton is dealing with disc-related issues in his neck that started flaring up just a few days ago, and he's going to miss an indeterminate amount of time. Obviously, their wide receiver won. Not like the best number one wide receiver in the NFL. It's not like it's a colossal loss for them,
Starting point is 00:20:41 but it clearly hurts their depth and it clearly hurts their upside. House, were you glad the T.Y. Hilton injury happened before your fantasy drafts instead of in October? Because I really appreciated it personally. I don't touch the Colts anymore. Jonathan Taylor, I might bid on a little bit. I like Jonathan Taylor. All right, keep going, Sharp. But you guys mentioned the Colts schedule. Okay, let's talk about that. They do play the number one toughest schedule, weeks one to five in the NFL. But then from week six onward,
Starting point is 00:21:10 it shifts to the number one easiest schedule. And if you look back at Frank Reich over his three years as head coach of the Colts, weeks one to five, they are seven wins and eight losses. That's 47% win percentage. Week six onward, they are 21 wins and only 12 losses. That's 47% win percentage. Week six onward, there are 21 wins and only 12 losses. That's 64%. So he's a slow starting coach to begin with. The team has the number one most brutal schedule early. I would not be shocked if they absolutely, with their injury situation,
Starting point is 00:21:38 start out slow. Now, where's Carson Wentz in this whole thing? Because the biggest factor here, if you want to lose- St about he's stinking is where is that? He's emitting a foul odor. Yeah. I mean, seriously, I would feel better if Frank Reich was playing quarterback. If you could get Frank Reich out there and he could coach and play quarterback, then I'm back on the Colts. He's like Daniel Jones.
Starting point is 00:21:58 It's over. It's not happening for either of those guys. I'm sorry. Go ahead, Sean. So I think, I think, look, Carson Wentz, if you look back at last year, before I segue into what I've heard about him in camp this year, is last season, you want to try to evaluate a quarterback when it's easy to pass the football. What are some opportune times to pass the football? First down. How about first down without pressure? He was
Starting point is 00:22:21 terrible in both of those situations. Sharpe loves first down passing. He could not pass the ball at all. A lick with play action. The Eagles had to abandon play action because he was so abysmal at passing with play action. His line was bad. Sounds like a great quality. It was a terrible quality. His line was bad because of all these injuries. Now, to his credit, it's not his fault. Their offensive line, I had as projected one of the top five offensive lines in June of last off season. Not a single one of those players practiced or played in a game together. Those guys were injured. That line did not play any games and they were the number one most injured offensive line. But as a result of injuries to the line, Carson was throwing on the move a lot. How was he when he was passing on the move? Abysmal. He was terrible passing on the move. So this is a bad situation.
Starting point is 00:23:08 I noticed that every time he passed on the move last year, he was abysmal. And he used to be good. He used to be good at passing on the move. He used to be good on third downs, using play action on first downs, like a lot of different situations. Carson Wentz was good. And if you remember the 2019 season, when all of his wide receivers got injured, just like they did last year, but he was making, he was making a chicken salad out of chicken shit, quite frankly, with that receiving core. And he was still being productive. Well, you can't dine on that for five years. Yeah, exactly. And so look, I think that this team, the reports I've heard about Carson in camp before his foot injury and subsequent surgery was he was looking surprisingly good. There was a lot of good feedback inside of Colts camp that he was actually looking much better.
Starting point is 00:23:55 And Frank knew what to do with him and all of that. Here's how I'm playing the Colts. But Sharp, do you believe feedback like that? Like, what are they going to say? It's like, oh, man, are they going to say Carson Wentz looks terrible? It was surprisingly good because it was a surprise that he looked good. Everybody's surprised. Holy shit.
Starting point is 00:24:13 He looks so good, but we didn't have pads and we could just run scripted plays. He was so good. Yeah, I agree. I mean, look, some of the guys that are on different teams, when I'm talking to different people, they are more optimistic than they should be because they're so close to the situation and it's their squad that they're going to be a little bit more exuberant and it's difficult to separate themselves and judge things fairly. But at least we weren't hearing, well, he's struggling a little bit. At least we weren't hearing, well, yeah, I'm not so sure about that trade that we made because he's really not looking good. Like
Starting point is 00:24:48 they were raving, but of course then he got hurt and has missed a while. So the next couple of weeks are going to be interesting. I want really very little to do with the Colts to start the season. They were a team when the win total was 10 back three weeks ago, under was absolutely the play. Now everybody's gotten off that bandwagon. I remember on our group text chain, as soon as we heard Wentz was down and then they lost their left guard, it was like, okay, are we, are, is, are Titans the play? And I said, ah, I mean, the Titans are fine, but I'm down on the Titans too this year. I think this division, the AFC South is going to be kind of a disaster this season. Yes. Um, but that being said, I can't argue.
Starting point is 00:25:26 The Colts were a team that were on my grenade list as well. So after that first five, they still have at 49ers week seven night game. They have a Thursday night Jets game, which just sounds like something goofy will happen in that one. They're at Bills, home for the Bucks bucks week 11, week 12 home for the Pats week 15 and at cards on a Saturday night, week 16. So there's some losses in there. I want to, well, there are losses. I want to be betting on this team. Once everybody gets, starts hating them after this first brutal stretch of the schedule.
Starting point is 00:25:58 You're going to lay low. I'm going to lay low in the weeds. Then I'm going to come out and bet them as they're an underdog and undervalued when Frank Reich typically turns things on. But from a win total perspective, I'm on the sidelines for them. House, breaking news. Andrew Luck just retired again. He just looked at what was happening in the Colts. He reannounced his retirement. It's happening. I think he's happy. Sharp, who do you... Oh, actually, we'll take a break. We'll come back with Sharp's first grenade. This episode is brought to you by Movember. The mustache is back with a vengeance.
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Starting point is 00:27:02 What does possible sound like for your business? It's having the spend that powers your scale Just search Movember. lounges worldwide. Redefine possible with Business Platinum. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Terms and conditions apply. Visit amex.ca slash businessplatinum. Alright, Sharp, who do you have? First grenade for you. Well, House already mentioned it. I'm going to go ahead and throw it out. I know Jameis
Starting point is 00:27:39 looked brilliant against the fucking Jacksonville Jaguars defense, one of the worst teams in the NFL. Keep in mind, those passes he threw, they were great passes, no doubt about it. We're talking about some ridiculous catches that Callaway had to make to bring those in. So let's put that off the side. But for me, I'm going to go with the Saints. I don't dislike the Colts. They were on my list as well. But for the Saints, here's my big issue with the Saints. No matter how we end up slicing it, I know Jameis looked pretty good, but I believe that the Saints are going to inevitably end up running the football a little bit more because Drew Brees
Starting point is 00:28:15 isn't there and there's a little bit less trust in the quarterback situation without Drew Brees. And when that happens, what is going to be the result is it's going to be difficult to maintain efficiency on early downs when you're passing left soft. And inevitably, you're going to be facing more third down attempts. And those third down attempts on average are going to be longer yards to go than they were last season. And as a result, your offense overall is going to be worse. It's going to be faced with these more third down attempts with longer yards to go, which are obvious passing situations, which then the defense can pin their ears back.
Starting point is 00:28:55 You're going to get sacked more often and you're going to turn the ball more often, throw interceptions or sack fumbles. And this is a recipe for disaster for a team like the Saints that was just so good with Drew Brees at playing on schedule, eliminating turnover, staying ahead of the sticks and efficiently moving the football down the field. I simply think that you're going to have Jameis and a little sprinkle of Taysom. And I just don't like the involvement of Taysom. I don't think this is anywhere close to the situation you may have in San Francisco where it's the Jimmy Garoppolo show early in the season, but we'll insert a little bit of Trey Lance, which has some really high upside plays,
Starting point is 00:29:35 and he can actually throw the football down the field. This is a totally different version of that. Taysom is bad. He truly is bad. Yeah, but Sharp, Taysom's a young QB like Trey Lance. No, no. Taysom is a grandpa. Oh, wait, he's 30 years old? Yeah. My bad. I just got information.
Starting point is 00:29:52 I didn't realize he was 30. He is old. And look, I mean, God bless him. You know, he's probably a really nice guy. But the reality is he is not a quarterback in the modern era of football. He's fine for like goal line runs, short yardage runs. You kind of are very predictable when you bring him on the
Starting point is 00:30:10 field. A little bit like Cam Newton. Yeah. Much worse as a passer, in my opinion. I know you're big on Mac and down. Have you seen Cam Newton? I have seen Cam. I'm a huge Mac Jones fan. We could talk about Mac. Come on. I'm going to have a cigarette before we do that. I'm going to break out an old pack of cigarettes before we talk Mac Jones. I'm just, I'm so giddy about Mac Jones. I can't even talk about it. So here was the case for Francesa made on Thursday on the Saints for them actually going over.
Starting point is 00:30:37 That Breeze really held them back last year because Breeze was just bad. Like he couldn't throw deep passes. And if you're banking on this Marquez Calloway, who everybody is having a circle jerk about as the sleeper fantasy receiver of all time this year, just becoming Michael Thomas, and then you can somehow write the Michael Thomas ship at some point during the season, and Jameis has the ability to fling the ball around. You got Sean Payton and the whole thing. Like you don't think they could still go 10 and seven. Well, look, I think I think here's the issue with Jameis. OK, let's take it back to your team, the Patriots.
Starting point is 00:31:17 How did I know it's slightly different situation, not a perfect parallel, but Tom Brady without Rob Gronkowski in 2019 and with shit receivers in 2019 looked terrible, right? Like, let's be honest. He did not look good whatsoever. Then he goes down to Bruce Arians offense in Tampa Bay and he's got Mike Evans and he's got Chris Godwin. Of course, Gronkowski comes back, but he's got a lot of good wide receivers that are in Tampa and he looks like a million bucks. Well, guess where Jameis looked like a million of good wide receivers that are in Tampa and he looks like a million bucks. Well, guess where Jameis looked like a million bucks in the offense that all of a sudden Tom Brady looked good. Now, what is Jameis going to in New Orleans? I love Sean Payton. And if the
Starting point is 00:31:57 Saints make the postseason and potentially make a run, he's coach of the year. In my opinion, you've got to maybe get a little bit down on a future for Sean Payton coach of the year. In my opinion, you've got to maybe get a little bit down on a future for Sean Peyton coach of the year as an outside shot. If the saints end up doing something really well, but from a grenade perspective, Jameis now going here, Callaway seems to be a stud, but he's completely unproven. Who the hell knows when Michael Thomas is going to come back. And the rest of that receiving core is one of the worst in the NFL. They just lost their tight end Troutman for a little while. Like I think this receiving core is very bad. Clearly, in my opinion, their number one receiver is going to be the running back Alvin Kamara. He's going to catch
Starting point is 00:32:33 the most passes there. That's far from an ideal situation to game plan and offense around. We're talking about Jameis like pushing the ball down the field and like giving more of an arm strength. But I think the guy who's catching the most passes is close to the line of scrimmage in Alvin Kamara. So I don't disagree that he's going to be able to do some things that Drew Brees couldn't do. But I'm also not convinced that all of a sudden the smart decisions are going to be there. All the negative decisions are going to be gone. He's not going to turn the ball over. He's not going to take bad sacks. He's not going to fumble the ball. So I think there's a lot of potential for the Saints to go under their win total, which is nine and the grenade.
Starting point is 00:33:10 They won 12 last year. Their win total right now is nine. So basically, we're already the odds makers are predicting a grenade out of the Saints. And I took under nine myself. So I think there's a good potential. This team is eight, eight wins, nine losses this season house playoffs to make it their minus one, 10, no playoffs plus one 34. The nine numbers, even, even money, all that through is go nine and eight and you lose nothing. You don't even lose a
Starting point is 00:33:37 vague. Did sharp convince you, or are you going with the, uh, with the old sage Francesa and his whole case about if the tight end doesn't drop the pass in that Bucks game, the Saints are actually in the Super Bowl, and that's a borderline Super Bowl team last year with a quarterback who can actually throw deep now. I think Francesa's right about the potential outcome for
Starting point is 00:33:58 the Saints last season, but that was last fucking season. The quarterback this season is Jameis Winston. It's not, you know, Drew Brees who can game manage them around and game manage them into 12 wins last season. I already bet they're under. You did? Okay.
Starting point is 00:34:14 Alright, so to wrap up the grenades, Sharp has the Saints over under nine. House has the Colts over under eight and a half. I'm leaning toward the Ravens, and they're over under, what was it? 11?
Starting point is 00:34:28 No, no. Do the Steelers. Well, so my, my three, I think it's going to be between the Ravens, the Steelers.
Starting point is 00:34:35 And, uh, I, I think the Colts are getting there, but Raven Steelers, I think one of those two is going to drop. I don't think we're getting three playoff teams. I got to say with the Steelers, I was ready to have them. That was going to be my pick.
Starting point is 00:34:48 And I did some, I did some recon as you know, I'm, I'm not, I'm not opposed to going on the blogs and message boards for every single team to try to see what's going on. They might've nailed their draft. It's not just that I know their offensive line is shake is all fucking hell. And I know what we saw from Roethlisberger last year, although it does seem like they're going to make it easier for them.
Starting point is 00:35:10 But the tight end that they got and then Najee Harris too, it really seems like they have two guys who are going to come in and be like impact dudes. Sharp, what have you heard about the tight end? Oh, Friermuth.
Starting point is 00:35:23 Yeah, Pat Friermuth. He looks great in the preseason, right? Like they need a receiving tight end. Ben always years ago, Ben made a comment that like, I try not to forget things that are of this nature. He said, I like tall receivers in the red zone. And Friar Muth is the type of guy who can be a target for Ben down inside the red zone. So it doesn't surprise me that he's going to lean on him for some touchdown upside. One of the reasons they went after Chase Claypool as well. But I'll just tell you, Bill, I like Najee Harris as a player and maybe a team should have taken him in the first round because he has that upside. Although I personally disagree that you need to
Starting point is 00:36:03 value a running back in the first round. I also disagree with the fact that their offensive line was sufficient enough that they could afford to draft a running back. It's the opportunity cost there. And I also will say that preseason stats are relatively meaningless, although get ready for me to share some stuff on your boy, Mac Jones. However, look at the Steelers leading rushers this preseason behind this line. Again, take, take it with a grain of salt. The leading rusher in terms of attempts was Jalen Samuels. He averaged 2.9 yards per carry on 39, 31 rushes. Anthony McFarlane was their number two leading rusher. He averaged 3.0.
Starting point is 00:36:46 Nadja Harris was the number three. He averaged 3.2. And Kalen Balazs was number four. He averaged 4.1. Kalen Balazs still in the league. On their average, even average, what the NFL average yards per carry are. I do think the Steelers, like I would have liked to bet against them. There's a lot of things that are going to regress for a grenade. I could see it for a win total. However, the problem for me was the win total has already been taken into account. The fact that they're going to
Starting point is 00:37:18 step back, they won games last year. It's down to eight and a half. The odds makers, you know, credit where credit is due. They did a great job of removing all opportunity to bet this team under, because I don't see a whole lot of value in betting them under eight and a half. I really don't see that ridiculously low of a floor that this team's winning four or five games. I think even in a bad year, what is the worst six, Probably more likely seven or eight games for the Pittsburgh Steelers. So I just think there's no value in the win total. But certainly from a grenade perspective, no more than nine wins for the Steelers, I think is certainly a potential. Brutal schedule, Two House.
Starting point is 00:38:00 At Buffalo week one, which is a loss. They're 0-1. I already have them in a five-team parlay. Week four, week five, week six. At Packers, home Denver, home Seahawks on a night game. And then they finish the year, home Ravens, at Vikings on a Thursday. Titans, home for the Titans, at Chiefs, home Browns, at Ravens. Here's why I haven't... I'm going to wait another week before I decide Ravens, home Browns, at Ravens. Here's why I haven't,
Starting point is 00:38:25 I'm going to wait another week before I decide Ravens, Steelers. Here's what scares me about the Steelers. Cause I get the offensive line stuff. Last year they had the worst runs per attempt. I think of any half decent to good team. They have so many weapons now. If Fryermuth is good right away
Starting point is 00:38:43 and we know Najee Harris is going to be a hundred times better than James Conner. I love all the stuff I've read about him. Like he's definitely one of those, if you've read any of the pieces about him, he's one of those, they actually have to tell him to leave the facility at night, guys. It's like, hey, we're turning off the lights. You have to go. Like he's one of those guys. And then their receivers with Claypool and Schuster and Deontay Johnson, they just have a shitload of weapons. I think if Roethlisberger, unless he completely sucks now,
Starting point is 00:39:11 that's a team that should have gotten Minshew by the way, but house, why am I afraid of the Steelers? Why am I afraid of all these weapons? Plus all the guys in the defense, they have your brain is wrapped around a version of Roethlisberger that no longer exists. He is in the bottom.
Starting point is 00:39:27 He's one of the worst quarterbacks in the league at deep passing. 31st in, this is straight out of the Sharpie Bible here. 31st in completion percentage and 28th in passer rating last season on deep passes. Those weapons exist. They're good weapons. Ben Roethlisberger is 39 years old and looks and plays like he's 39 years old and their backup quarterbacks stink.
Starting point is 00:39:52 They have no quarterback redundancy and they have a 39-year-old guy who everybody has a version of Ben Roethlisberger that we know and have seen that doesn't exist any longer. So that's the reason for the fade from my perspective. Sharp, if they traded a fifth for Gardner Minshew today, would you feel better about them?
Starting point is 00:40:13 Look, not really, because I think that Ben may be able to stay healthy because of how quickly he's getting rid of the ball. No quarterback in the league threw it quicker than Ben and no quarterback in the league threw it closer to the line of scrimmage. The upside here is that Matt Canada, the new offensive coordinator who was the quarterback's coach last year, but wasn't able to infuse all of his ideas and strategies because you had another guy calling the plays and actually running the offense last year and Randy Fichter, who I didn't really care for. Canada loves some
Starting point is 00:40:45 of the things that Ben didn't necessarily do. A lot of play action, a lot of pre-snap motion. If they do these things and Ben actually says, fine, I know I'm old in this league, but I'll try it so that we can try to win games. He came back, took less money, et cetera, et cetera. Then there could be some upside. My big concern isn't necessarily the offense. You are right, Bill. They do have some very good skill position players, and I think their running back talent with Najee is certainly acceptable. The issue for me is this strength of schedule in their defense. I think they've got probably the number one or number two best front seven, and they went out and they acquired another player a couple of weeks ago. This is a very good front seven. The problem is they are now playing the
Starting point is 00:41:30 number two most difficult schedule of pass offenses in the league this season. They were playing basically a bottom five schedule of pass offenses last year with the NFC East and the AFC South in the mix last season. I think this secondary is going to be challenged. And what happens is let's pretend the Steelers get a lead and they're playing pretty well. Opposing offenses are going to have to pass the ball. Boom, you're passing against the weakness of the Steelers, which is that secondary. So you can't allow your QB to get sacked in those instances. But if you can stand up to the Steelers pass rush, I think that secondary of the Steelers is going to be much worse this year than it was last season. And Sharp, it's even worse than that because
Starting point is 00:42:09 according to my diligent research, they're very worried about the linebackers until Devin Bush is 100%, just being able to cover people out of the backfield and tight ends and stuff like that. So yeah, there'll be some pressure. It's going to be an interesting one. The Steelers to me are the all-time. I could see them going five and 12 and I could see them going... They have the widest variance to me. The Ravens is more of just like... I hate when seasons haven't even started yet and you've lost one of your best players. I always feel like there's a bad juju team where it's like, Ooh, that's a bad sign to lose somebody who's probably one of our five or six best guys. Just quickly on the skill position guys in the Steelers, Najee Harris, Claypool, Schuster, Deontay Johnson. And let's say Friar Muth turns out to be really good. Not
Starting point is 00:43:02 like Kyle Pitts good, but next level down. I don't think there's five teams that have scope position guys like that. Right? Just for people that will actually get drafted in a fantasy league. All five of those guys are like legitimate top half of the fantasy draft guys. Well, I don't know about fantasy, but real life football, I could hear you that they're top, uh, they're above average and maybe borderline top 10, but I mean, even a team that you wouldn't even consider necessarily to be great this year with like the Dallas Cowboys, their skill position guys are definitely better than the Steelers.
Starting point is 00:43:37 Um, well, especially now that CD lamb is the next Jerry rice. When the fuck did that happen? Yeah. I mean, I would, I would even argue like the Minnesota Vikings potentially have. All right, now settle down, Sharp. Come on. What are you saying? Plus, Irv Smith just got hurt. Yeah, Irv Smith, that is
Starting point is 00:43:54 a late-witter. He was another fantasy sleeper. All right, let's move to sleepers. House, give it to us. You're the worst gambler i know give us your biggest sleeper i can't wait to short it oh well then you're gonna love this one i took a long look don't say the patriots you motherfucker don't do it don't say the patriots don't you do it no it's a no it's a brand new team it's no it's an amazing turnaround for the New England Patriots. I looked at Washington.
Starting point is 00:44:26 I just mentioned Minnesota. I looked at Minnesota. He's such a dick, Sharp. I thought about the Chargers. But look, I sent this to Sharpie. The whole point of this podcast was to give you 20 plus minutes to revel in what these Patriots are going to do this upcoming season. And the numbers bear it out.
Starting point is 00:44:47 And I didn't even need this Mac Jones, Lord and Savior, whatever the situation is going to be here. All I needed was Bill Belichick. The guys were turning from the opt-out last season on defense. And the aggressive acquisitions at the skill positions on offense. That's enough for me. And the front seven guys, front seven guys. All right. I'm a simple guy. I just like, you know, pat a butter up my ass and a lollipop in my mouth. Then we can move on with the New England Patriots. Like Floyd Gondoli. There was seven to nine last year. They're still plus 125
Starting point is 00:45:20 to make the playoffs, which honestly feels like stealing. Plus 360 for the division. I would stay away from that. 17-1 for the conference. The over-under is nine. There's been a lot of action on the over-under. On FanDuel, it's been basically minus 140 for that. I like the way the season starts for them, where it's basically home Dolphins,
Starting point is 00:45:40 AdJets, home Saints. You guys are telling me the Saints might stink, so that could be 3-0 coming out of the gate. But Sharp, the biggest thing here. Now, we should mention with Sharp. Can I be a dick for one second? Sharp and all the other guys with Kyle Shanahan. It's like, oh, Kyle Shanahan.
Starting point is 00:45:57 Oh, look at him rotate these QBs. These defensive coordinators are going to be shitting bricks. Not knowing Jimmy G or Trey Lance. It's like nobody ever does the circle jerk for Belichick, who has six Super Bowls and who pounded Kyle Shanahan in a Super Bowl. Where's my tweet thread about how great Bill Belichick is, Warren Sharpe? Get Kyle Shanahan out of here. Go tweet about the king. Hail the king, Bill Belichick. Where's that? Bill Belichick has gotten his accolades.
Starting point is 00:46:29 I don't think he needs any more. I mean, Bill Belichick. Sure he does. Everybody knows Bill Belichick is arguably the best coach in the history of football. Thank you. I will say that on record. He's still alive. I don't dislike Bill Belichick. He's still alive and his brain still works.
Starting point is 00:46:42 He's got a lot to prove this year, though. He clearly was flustered by what happened with Tampa and Tom Brady last year. And he went out and spent unlike he has ever done before in free agency. Now, the one thing that I want to talk about with the Patriots, because you will have an appreciation, this bill with regard to their history, is where he spent a ton of money and got guys during the legal tampering period that I thought should set off some alarms for the Patriots and their fan base. And that is at the tight end position, because this was a guy that at the height of their dynasty, they go out and they draft a tight end in the first round.
Starting point is 00:47:26 I don't know if people remember this. Everybody's talking about how it's ridiculous that the Falcons drafted a tight end where they did last year. And of course, Belichick wasn't picking at that spot in the draft. But in the first round, they drafted Daniel Graham at the height of their dynasty. OK, later on, when they needed some help with the receiving position, when Daniel Graham just retired, they spent two picks, their first two picks top, I think top of the second and top of the fourth on tight ends in the same draft class, obviously in Rob Gronkowski and Aaron
Starting point is 00:47:55 Hernandez. And we saw this team try to figure out a way to replace Rob Gronkowski in the 2020 season after he, after he retired, they were not able to do that in any capacity. Spent two picks too, a third and a fourth. They spent picks. They had tight end issues. They could not do anything and the quarterback situation looked terrible. And so Belichick was like,
Starting point is 00:48:16 and remember Belichick's tenants, you go back to like the mid 80s when he was writing down what he needs out of a tight end. He wants a guy who's going to catch the football tight end. He wants a guy who's going to catch the football. He doesn't need a guy who's going to get involved in blocking. That could be fine for a secondary tight end. His number one guy has got to be a guy who could catch the football. Johnny Smith, he could catch the football. Hunter Henry, he can catch the football. They go out and
Starting point is 00:48:38 get both of these guys. I think the New England Patriots are obviously going to be back on track this year. I think even if they go with Cam Newton, which I think is a mistake, I want to rattle off a couple of statistics here for what Mac was doing this preseason. But even with Cam, I think when you have healthy tight ends, they're going to be fine enough. You've got running backs that are going to be able to carry the load. I do have a question for you about a long shot, most rushing touchdown prop bill in a second. But with regard to Mac, let me just list off what this young kid did as a rookie in his first preseason ever. Okay. Are you including the game today or no? I'm going to include the game today. I'm going to go drive. Guess what? He was good today.
Starting point is 00:49:23 He was great today. Drive by drive. First drive in his career, 53 yards, field goal, then a punt, then 43 yards, field goal. Week two, 70 yards, touchdown, 75 yards, touchdown, 91 yards, touchdown. Three drives in week two, all three drives, 70 plus yards and touchdown. Today, 45 yards field goal, one punt, 75 yards touchdown, 50 yards touchdown. We're talking about almost 10 drives, only two punts, every single other drive scored. Most of the drives are 50 plus yards and touchdowns were scored at the end of them. I know you can make all whatever excuses you want about backups playing on the defense and
Starting point is 00:50:05 all this other crap. It is absolutely impressive. He was working with backups in some of those games as well. And everything that I have heard out of the beat writers who are at least objective and open-minded and not trying to skew this thing from what I can tell them, people that I actually talked to have been more impressed with the way that Mac is able to get through his progressions, get the ball to who it needs to go with accuracy and on time. And that is big for a quarterback in this offense. I hope that they put him in there as soon as humanly possible, because that will absolutely raise the upside of the Patriots. You've got all these guys coming back on the the upside of the Patriots. You got all these guys
Starting point is 00:50:45 coming back on the defensive side of the football, but here's the long shot I want to throw out there, Bill, for you. If it's Mack and it is not Cam and Mack starts the majority of the season, what do you think about Damian Harris' most rushing touchdowns at over 35 to one? Is that a potential whatsoever? You're asking somebody who already bet on Damian Harris to win the rushing title at 80 to one. So that's how I feel. That sounds like a great bet. I approve.
Starting point is 00:51:13 I think the only thing that can hurt that bet is the, is the rookie running back Ramadre Ramadre Stevenson. Cause he looks really good too. Like good enough that I actually think, you know, the way Belichick, you saw it last year, he shut down Harris once it was clear that that team was heading nowhere.
Starting point is 00:51:30 He didn't want to put the miles on him. Belichick's really good about not putting miles on running backs if he doesn't have to. That would be my only fear. But 35 to one, I think Damon Harris, he was awesome last year. All the advanced stats were like, this guy was actually one of the best running backs in the league.
Starting point is 00:51:46 If you actually look at like yards, yards after the first guy touched him and all these different things, house, the big thing for me with Mac Jones and you, you kind of know when you, when, and it doesn't matter if it's not just football, it's any,
Starting point is 00:52:00 any sport. You kind of know when your team has a good one because you're reading the day-to-day stories and it's like the little stuff. It's the stuff like, he lit up the Giants last week and the other players talking about it where they're just like, that guy's special. And it was the same thing when the Celtics had Tatum when he was a rookie. And at some point, you just read the feedback and the quotes and the other guys were like, that guy's special. So you have that.
Starting point is 00:52:25 But there was this moment where the line got in a fight with somebody else's line last week and the, and the pats, they got mad at the offensive line. There was a fight and they're like, you guys got to run. You got to run around the field. You got to do laps.
Starting point is 00:52:38 And Mac Jones just joined them. He's like, I'm running them with you. These are my guys. That's the kind of shit. That's like, when you read that stuff, I remember Russell Wilson that first year in
Starting point is 00:52:47 Seattle and that stuff was coming out and it was like, oh, this guy has it. There's something here and I feel like we have it with Mac Jones. You know, House can feel it. What a pisser. You guys, all you assholes, you fucking love this guy. He's right up your
Starting point is 00:53:04 here's my question. And I don't want to derail this by too much, but take a look at the Baltimore roster and think about what you want from Baltimore in exchange for Cam Newton. Cause Warren just made a great point. We were talking about Baltimore and their lack of quarterback redundancy and they're all or nothing with Lamar. Cam Newton runs a football. He's got that,
Starting point is 00:53:25 that ability. And I honestly don't think it is in new England's interest to have him sit on the sidelines. He's just the combination of just like the personality and, and who he is. It's not that he'll detract from the season, but he's just, it's not a good match.
Starting point is 00:53:42 So I, I feel like cam moving on could make sense. And maybe there's, there's a team out there. You could do a deal with anyway. Well, it's weird. It was weird. Yeah. It's a good thought.
Starting point is 00:53:52 It was weird that they started him today. Um, it, except for it's respectful. I mean, it's the last season game. You're getting ready for the season. He's the, you know, the, the starter, the rookie's not going to be the starter. Here's the thing with Belichick, who's been in my life since 2000. And even before that, when he was our DC. Sharp, this is the most cutthroat person who has been in my life in any capacity. Sports, non-sports, family member. This dude, the Brady Bledsoe thing, everybody forgets how cutthroat that was. Bledsoe just got hurt. He almost died.
Starting point is 00:54:28 He got this hit. He couldn't play because he was in critical condition, practically. The hospital comes back, and Belichick's like, we're good. You don't get your starting job back. Did he trade Laura Malloy or release him? I can't even remember. Right before that season, when Laura Malloy went to Buffalo. Like he does cutthroat shit. If he feels like I have a good team, I need to do this.
Starting point is 00:54:52 I'm just going to do it now. I don't see this Cam thing dragging into the season. Like if he feels like Mac Jones is a starter, he's going to do it this week. If he thinks he wants to see Cam these first couple weeks and kind of ease Mac into it, that makes sense to me, I guess. But I just think start him now, like start him week one Dolphins. Let's see what we got. I think he's ready. What do you think, Sharp?
Starting point is 00:55:16 I think he's proven that he knows how to protect himself. He did take a couple sacks tonight, which weren't ideal behind a backup offensive line. But I think he's shown he knows how to move the football, protect himself, work his way through the progressions. I think he's ready to start. Now, if you stick Cam out there week one against the Dolphins, that is probably not going to make Cam look very good. And so that's only going to be more of a reason to play Mac. But I always said before I saw Mac play play once they drafted Mac and I knew what Mac's skill set was. I knew what the Patriots like to do with Tom Brady that I saw Mac starting no later than week five of this season because you got the Saints brutal defense and you got the Bucks brutal defense weeks three and four. The Jets, that defense, they lost pass rushers.
Starting point is 00:56:05 I know they just acquired somebody today on Sunday, but- Shaq Lawson. Pass rushers. Yeah, they got Shaq Lawson back. They lost guys in the front seven. Their secondary is terrible. So whoever's the quarterback's gonna probably struggle week one against the Dolphins, look pretty good against the Jets.
Starting point is 00:56:22 And then there's two difficult defenses. So if it's Cam, I mean, that's a short march for him those first four weeks. I can't see how he would survive that. And then it's Max time. But to be honest with you, if the best opportunity to win those games, which you need to start winning games, especially if you're trying to find the sleeper element, but you need to win some games. Mac gives you the best chance to do that, in my opinion. And if he can protect himself and he's not going to develop any habits that are going to hurt his career,
Starting point is 00:56:50 then you got to put him out there week one. I agree. I think they have a genuine chance to go 11 and six, 12 and five. And the longer you don't put the best quarterback in there, you're jeopardizing that. I also love those first seven weeks. You mentioned they have a couple of hard games against Saints Bucks,
Starting point is 00:57:08 but they also play the Jets twice. They play at Houston, who's going to be a dumpster fire. And then Dallas week six, who I don't think is going to be particularly good on defense. All right. The Patriots go from playing
Starting point is 00:57:21 the number eight most difficult schedule of opposing past defenses last year to playing the number 27 most difficult schedule of opposing past defenses this year. It is the third easiest change in schedule from last year to this year. It's definitely going to help whoever's a quarterback for that tenure. And I think it's probably going to be Mac. And we didn't even 20 minute mark. That's enough.
Starting point is 00:57:44 Yeah. That's enough with the fucking Patriots. We hit the 20 minute mark. That's enough. Enough with the fucking Patriots. Let's talk about the football team. The front seven is excellent. The Gilmore thing is the one X factor with this team. If he comes back in time, if he's healthy, they don't have a number one cornerback. And I think
Starting point is 00:57:57 you're going to feel it against let's say that Callaway kid is good. Let's say Mike Evans in week four, C.D. Lamb in week six. You're going to feel the no Gilmore thing. But I think this is a lock. Pat's winning 10 games. I'm in.
Starting point is 00:58:12 That's my lock of the podcast. Who do you have for your biggest non-Patriots sleeper, Sharp? Well, you know, earlier on, we were trying to figure out what qualifies. We said anybody who has a losing record last year could qualify as a sleeper this year. And I threw out, what about the 49ers? Because they are forecast to win 10 and a half games. And you said they would still qualify. Are you still holding that the 49ers would qualify as a sleeper or should I go with somebody else and make a case for them? Well, there's two kinds of sleepers, right? The 49ers were 6-10 last year, and they're in a hard division. And we don't know how much their rookie quarterback is going to play. I think they qualify as a sleeper. I mean, the true sleeper is if you told me, like,
Starting point is 00:58:54 I think the Lions are going to win the NFC North. I don't feel like we have any team that's like the quote-unquote true sleeper unless we're going to look at Denver and Atlanta. I think those are the two that qualify for like realistically teams that could jump and compete in a real way and potentially go 10 and 10 and seven, 11 and six. A couple of quick nuggets on Denver, and then I'll break down the 49ers. But Denver absolutely was my number two. If you said I can't choose the 49ers, but Teddy Bridgewater last year was in Carolina. They played
Starting point is 00:59:26 the number one most difficult schedule of opposing past defenses. This year, he's the starter for the Denver Broncos. They play the number one easiest schedule of opposing past defenses based on my projections from number one most difficult to number one easiest. The only thing that gives me consternation about the Denver Broncos is fucking Pat Shermer, who I think is adult of an offensive coordinator. I think he calls far too many runs on first down. That's why they average 8.2 yards to go on second down. The worst in the NFL. No other team was worse than 7.9. Denver had the number three highest run rate on these second and long situations
Starting point is 01:00:08 behind only the Baltimore Ravens and the New England Patriots, two teams that had running quarterbacks and tried to limit the amount of passing that their quarterbacks were doing. The Broncos did not have a running quarterback. They did not have a good run game. They averaged the longest yards to go on third down
Starting point is 01:00:24 because those second down plays were so terrible. This offensive coordinator is a disaster. I didn't like him in New York. I don't like him in Denver. I also have concerns about their head coach, Vic Fangio, in terms of being too conservative. But if you're telling me, what do I think about the Broncos upside? They've got an incredibly good defense. They've got a very good skill set. The rookie cornerback looks like a very good skill set. The rookie cornerback looks like a stud by all accounts. Everybody's like, this guy is a fucking capital S stud. And the thing is, I know that some people were like, well, if you were going to go and start Teddy Bridgewater, why didn't you just draft Justin Fields? And I hear you on that. But I also know this, that Denver is basically playing right now to keep Vic Fangio's job. And the goal is to get
Starting point is 01:01:08 Aaron Rodgers next season. So what good is having Justin Fields in the draft this year when you can draft the number one corner, get Aaron Rodgers away from Tom Brady over to the AFC? Yeah, I know Patrick Mahomes there, not anything easier, longer difficulty. But I think that that is an upside that Denver's going to look at after this year. But if Denver doesn't win this year, Vic is gone. They also might have just loved Sertan and just felt like, wow, we have a chance to get a Jalen Ramsey type cornerback in this spot. And we'll worry about Aaron Rodgers a year from now. They knew that people like Bridgewater or whoever were going to be available as stopgaps. They obviously don't like Drew Luck.
Starting point is 01:01:48 And then that gives something to come with me at house. I also don't like Drew Luck. So I think that was the right decision. I wondered, Sharpie, as you were going through some of those numbers, how much you would attribute their inefficiency and their disinclination to throw the ball on first down to drew lock.
Starting point is 01:02:05 Like they, they know they made a mistake with lock. They were disinclined to compound that mistake by putting the ball in his hands and entrusting him. That's just, you know, me. I get that. I get that perspective, but the reality is lock is going to look worse when he's on third and long than he would be on first and 10 from a passing perspective. Defenses are pinning their ears back on third down. That is why I don't care who the quarterback is. Pass the ball on first down,
Starting point is 01:02:31 not third and long. And if you run the ball and your run offense sucks, which theirs did last year, you're only setting yourself up and delaying the inevitable. We've seen teams really improve their offensive efficiency
Starting point is 01:02:43 with the same exact quarterback by shifting to a heavier pass rate on early downs. That's exactly what Denver needed to do. This is a flaw with Shermer. It's a feature, not a bug. This is what this guy does. And I just hope that Teddy's going to be able to maybe showcase himself a little bit better and they will ease away from that a little bit.
Starting point is 01:03:04 Perhaps the inefficiency it brought last year will make them change their mind. Uh, but I like, uh, I like Judy, Judy, I have asterisk all over the place as like making a, making a leap guy, KJ Hamler, who I thought was good near the end of the season. Um, he's, he's kind of one of those like borderline electric, those receivers, those guys, those little shifty guys that I always wish the Patriots would have. I'm not positive. I love their running backs, but here's what
Starting point is 01:03:34 I do love, guys. Their first three games, and when you talk about sleepers, the schedule always has to play a big part of it, right? This is something when I used to write my columns in ESPN, I always used to look for the teams, try to figure out who can start 3-0, who can start 4-0,
Starting point is 01:03:49 because sometimes when you start well during a season, you get so much momentum and confidence from that. And the NFL is so flimsy as it is, right? The rosters change so much that you just get a little momentum and a little confidence that can flip. First of all, they play the NFC East this year, which is great for them. But their first three weeks at the Giants, Daniel Jones,
Starting point is 01:04:10 at the Jaguars, who, you know, went from, ooh, maybe they could steal the AFC South to, wow, that team sucks, they can't block. And then they're home for the Jets week three. And then week four, Ravens, if the Ravens, you know, are potentially not nearly as good as we thought, but I think they could go three and O coming out of the gate and sharp, but all your research and all your instincts with this stuff, how important I sound like a sideline
Starting point is 01:04:35 reporter, how important is a good early start? But I really do feel like it is important if we're trying to figure out these, uh, these sleepers, if they start 3-0, would that change your thinking here? Well, yeah, I already like them, and so I've already bet their win total over. Me too. I think this is a team, I did not bet them to make the playoffs, however, because the AFC is loaded,
Starting point is 01:04:58 and I think there's a chance 9-10 wins, they don't make the playoffs. So that's plus 155. If I told you they're going to start 3-0, would you bet them't make the playoffs. So that's plus 155. If I told you they're going to start three and oh, would you bet them to make the playoffs? Well, they're going to be favored in these games. So I don't necessarily think that that changes my mindset at that point in time that they'll make the playoffs. We need them to win at least two of these games. Three of them is what I'm hoping for, but that's not going to make me think that they automatically are going to make it to the playoffs. Here's two things that you, uh, to points to tag
Starting point is 01:05:29 onto what you said, you don't necessarily love their running backs. You know, what's really weird about what they did this preseason, the last two games, they did not play Javante Williams at all. The draft pick that the running back, they got picked number 35 overall. They apparently absolutely love Javante Williams and might be carving out a pretty nice role for him. I think him exceeding his rushing yards is a nice prop bet that I think holds some water. The other thing that is-
Starting point is 01:05:55 House is right there, Dad. The other thing that is- Javante's with a J, House. Javante's with a J. And the other thing that's interesting is I mentioned, you know, how Teddy is now going to face the number one easiest schedule of past defenses, but you know, last year, this team, and you just mentioned it, Bill, which is what I brought to my mind. They played the number one, most difficult schedule of past offenses last year. This year, Vic Fangio's defense plays the
Starting point is 01:06:21 number 25, most difficult schedule of pass offenses. You mentioned the NFC East. They also get the AFC North. If we think Ben is not what he has been, you've also got Baker. We don't know yet about Joe Burrow and Lamar there. And then the non-division games that they've got, they've got the Jets, the Jags, and the Lions. We're talking about a ton of teams that drafted inside the top 10 that this Broncos team is going to be going up against the season. A lot of these teams have new quarterbacks this year, some inexperienced quarterbacks this year. When you talk about the Jets, Jags and the Lions with Jared Goff there now, I just think there will be opportunities for this defense to really make Teddy not have to do
Starting point is 01:07:01 too much. And Teddy, you mentioned Hamler down the field. I don't know how much of that we're going to see. I think Teddy is more of a ball control, efficient quarterback. Hopefully, you don't turn the ball over too much. Don't get your offense off schedule. We don't necessarily need these huge, big plays. We just need you to get this team. Well, Hamler's good for that.
Starting point is 01:07:21 He's good for the short stuff. Yes, I agree. I agree. Tell us what happens in week 18 for Denver, too, if we're thinking about the last game of the season. They're going to go into the postseason. They might want to rest their guys for a couple of weeks if they've already earned that buy. So you're talking about a couple team.
Starting point is 01:07:53 You're talking about that game where you might just be able to get a cakewalk as long as you don't fuck it up a little bit. And then look at weeks 14, 15, and I don't know, even 16 potentially. You've got the Lions, the Bengals, and the Raiders. Those three teams might be vying for the number one overall pick or draft position by the time we're talking about week 14 and week 15, et cetera. So I definitely think that there's
Starting point is 01:08:20 upside in playing those teams so late in the season where their focus might be elsewhere. House, what would you, what odds would I have to give you to bet on John Gruden when we get to that week 16 Raiders Broncos game being in serious trouble at the Raiders? Ooh. Uh, let's say, does John Gruden make it to week 16? I'll give you 12 to 1. Would you take it? Oh, yeah. I would definitely take that. Are you kidding me? Would you take 8 to 1? Yes. I would definitely take that. Yes. Really?
Starting point is 01:08:53 Would you take 6 to 1? Now we're starting... So you'd go long shot but not too long shot. Yes, exactly right. Yeah. 10 years. I'm with Sharp. I think the Raiders are going to be bad. They, I think... Because I... 10 years. I'm with Sharp. I think the Raiders are going to be bad. They just haven't...
Starting point is 01:09:08 He's just not good at being a GM, unfortunately. Or the player picker. Can you make a two-minute case for Atlanta Sharp? Just like... So... I'll start it. So the Saints would have to be worse. Kyle Pitts would have to be awesome.
Starting point is 01:09:28 There's some Ewing theory with Julio. The Arthur Smith coming in might be worth two wins. What else? And then the luck from last year, which we've covered on this podcast, but they had the worst luck in the league last year in close games and stuff like that. Anything else I'm missing for the Falcons case?
Starting point is 01:09:46 Well, the other Falcons case, and I know you're trying to derail me from not being able to talk about Kyle Shanahan a little bit. No, we're going to do it now. You're going to get your Kyle Shanahan. What I will say is- We're closing with Kyle Shanahan. The defense for the Falcons, they played the number one most difficult schedule of offenses last year.
Starting point is 01:10:02 That's down to number 22. And now you've got Dean Pease in there who might bring a lot more upside than what the Falcons saw last year with that defensive coaching staff, which was just all over the map and really terrible. A lot of pressure and pressure tends to create turnovers or big plays. So if variance goes their way and they're able to get some of this pressure and get some takeaways here that will help this defense a lot. Obviously, you mentioned Arthur Smith. I think the interesting note with Arthur Smith is how efficient his offenses were down inside of the red zone in Tennessee.
Starting point is 01:10:36 The best offense in the NFL. If you look at this is a crazy stat, I just have it memorized. But points per minute, a really interesting metric that nobody talks about. Maybe that's a basketball metric. The hoops one. That's right. But in football, looking at points per minute of possession, since they acquired Ryan Tannehill, since they started Ryan Tannehill, the first six weeks of 2019, where Marcus Mariota then
Starting point is 01:11:01 comes in Ryan Tannehill. OK, the number one team in the NFL with the best offense was Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs at 0.7 points per minute. And the NFL average is like 0.55 points per minute. When Ryan Tannehill was the quarterback from week seven of 2019 onward, the Titans were not just above average. They weren't just number one in the NFL at 0.7. They were 0.99 points per minute of possession of the football. This offense was extremely efficient inside the red zone. Last year, the Falcons were number 20. What was the biggest gripe? I don't know if any of you guys rostered Julio. I don't play fantasy. I've focused everything
Starting point is 01:11:42 I do on betting now. You roster Julio the last several years. You're not getting touchdowns down inside the red zone. This team has no clue what to do inside the red zone. Now you got Arthur Smith and maybe he's going to walk away with more sevens than threes inside the red zone. That's pretty compelling. Matt Ryan liked to throw interceptions in the red zone. That's what I remember. Matt Ryan has heard all of our feelings from a gambling standpoint, so we don't need to talk about that, but they play the NFC Interceptions in the red zone. That's what I remember. Matt Ryan has heard all of our feelings from a gambling standpoint. So we don't need to talk about that.
Starting point is 01:12:08 But they play the NFC East. They only have seven home games because the league did the thing where they counted the London game as the home game, which is just... So somehow we have a 17-game schedule and they only have seven home games. I can't figure that out.
Starting point is 01:12:23 But if we're going by the start off strong because you have an easy schedule thing, they do play at Tampa in week two, but they go Eagles home at Tampa, at Giants, home Washington, and then the Jets in London. And then a bye week. It's conceivable they could be four and one
Starting point is 01:12:41 coming out of that, I think. Houses make it a face. It's tough. I'll tell you, because Washington's in there. Week two and three. Okay. They are at a rest disadvantage in both of those games. They were at a three day rest disadvantage in terms of rest and prep rest, not as big of a deal early in the season prep, absolutely still a factor. So week two, they're at a rest disadvantage against the bucks week three. They're at a rest disadvantage against the Bucs. Week three, they're at a rest disadvantage against the Giants. Then you've got the London game. The Giants defense isn't half bad.
Starting point is 01:13:09 The Washington defense is obviously good. The Bucs defense is good. You got three difficult defenses there in a three-game stretch, weeks two through four. Plus this London game, I hate having an early bye. I would have rather done what the Dolphins did and just play after you travel and then take your bye later in the season. So I don't necessarily love that from the Falcons standpoint. But so I would bet, obviously, you know, it's not saying much.
Starting point is 01:13:33 I would bet against four and one. I think they will emerge with a losing record after those first five games entry. Wow. I'm going at least three and two. They're over under a seven and a half. There's been a lot of action on that. Playoffs, they're two to one. I already bet on the over for the Falcons was the first bet I made.
Starting point is 01:13:50 All right, before we go, I'm going to let House talk about the Washington professional football team for three minutes. And then Sharp is going to close by having a Kyle Shanagasm. It's going to end with the Shanagasm. Turn the cameras off for that.
Starting point is 01:14:07 Washington, over under 8.5 house. Division, plus 260. Wait, it's up. Oh no, I have that wrong. What's the division? It was in the ones. It's like 150 or something. It was like Dallas 130. Yeah, exactly.
Starting point is 01:14:23 260, I would have already, you know, the mortgage payment would Right. I have that two 60. I would have already, you know, the mortgage payment would have been a full 60 days late. Cause I would have put the whole thing on that. Um, I, I love this Washington football team. I think they are,
Starting point is 01:14:35 uh, exactly like a nine and 18 and that will be enough for them to compete with Dallas. The single best thing about the Washington football team, this, uh, off season is that they haven't been on hard knocks and I've been able to watch the Dallas Cowboys. What an absolute Maranathon. It is my single favorite thing as a Washington football fan to watch the Dallas Cowboys on hard knocks by the alleged rivals of the NFC East and watch them dump all over each other. And, and you know,
Starting point is 01:15:05 we'll talk about a team culture that makes me feel good as a Washington fan. So that's it. I just used it by three minutes. Fitz magic rules. I like very much the depth that quarterback, I do believe in, in Heineke. I do believe in Kyle Allen.
Starting point is 01:15:21 They're competent, right? They're not going to throw up all over each other. Fitzmagic is going to be Fitzmagic, but it's still a market improvement over what Washington has had at the quarterback position the last three seasons. So that's it.
Starting point is 01:15:38 Sharp, I don't remember if this was in your book or not, but Washington's quarterbacks last year were not good. Yeah. Dwayne Haskins, Alex Smith with 40 pins in his leg, terrified. They had to get rid of the ball in one second.
Starting point is 01:15:56 I mean, you can't do worse at the court. The Haskins thing was unbelievable how bad he was. And then he's like partying in the strip club without his mask and doing all this. Look, Haskins starts the first four games. Then they go to Kyle Allen and Alex Smith week five, week six, seven and nine is Kyle Allen. Then you mix Alex Smith in weeks 10 through 14. Then you go back to Haskins after Smith gets hurt. Haskins is there for three weeks.
Starting point is 01:16:22 Smith is back for week 17. Week 18 is Heineke. This offensive coordinator, in terms of Scott Turner, just had to try to figure out how to optimize the offense, whatever he could, to all these different guys that were getting thrown at him. I think he did an admirable job given what he was dealing with. I think we're going to see a team that has a lot more upside from a play- play calling perspective. It can do a lot more with Ryan Fitzpatrick at quarterback. I think this offense absolutely improves. I think Diami Brown, who may not get on the field quite as often, is going to be an absolute stud there when he does get a chance to get on the field. But my concern is actually on the defensive side of the football. It's not a concern. It's just like, where could problems arise from? Defensively, this team got its seven wins against some pretty crappy quarterbacks. I
Starting point is 01:17:10 think you probably know this house, but they only beat one team that had a winning record last year, and that was Ben Roethlisberger on that weekday night. Other than that, the only teams they beat were bad teams with terrible offenses and backup quarterbacks like Nate Sudfeld and Nick Mullins and Andy Dalton twice and Carson Wentz, who then got benched and Joe Burrow, who got injured during that game. So this defense is probably not as good as what we saw last year. I like their talent. They're just it's unlikely they produce the same type of defensive results. But I do think the offense can carry them. I got a little bit of the Washington football team. No, I totally agree with this. I got Washington football team early in this off season.
Starting point is 01:17:52 A little bit. I took some on Washington plus 400 to win the division. So I think that there's certainly upside in them winning the division. I don't like it at their current number, not whatsoever. But I think that there was definitely value there. And I think that there is a good chance they can emerge. Daniel Jones. I mean, did you want to talk about Daniel Jones at all? We do not need to talk about Daniel.
Starting point is 01:18:13 Can we talk about House? House told me last week and he was completely 100 percent serious that he thought Antonio Gibson was better than the Danny and Tomlinson in his prime. It was an actual thing. He said, true. Don't discredit me any further. I was drunk house. It wasn't sober.
Starting point is 01:18:31 I was drunk. All on my own. I will just say that you do love Antonio Gibson though. I do love him. I also, um, this is the, the,
Starting point is 01:18:39 the kind of psychological gymnastics you have to perform as a Washington fan. Dwayne Haskins ultimately is the price we had to pay to get Dan Snyder the fuck away from the football team. He is the Dan Snyder. We paid a premium. Like after 20 fucking years of this jerk off meddling and putting in yes men and all that,
Starting point is 01:19:00 it finally took a guy who was absolutely unfit for the NFL to be put into a starting position and then go to the strip club after abysmal failure, after abysmal failure to get Dan Snyder the fuck away from the, because Ron Rivera saved the team. He saved the franchise. And that's the only way that we have a chance to get to nine wins. So I'm okay with Haskins because that's the price that we had to pay to get to this point right now. The Snyder tax. The Snyder tax. That's exactly right. That's fair. I don't know if you knew this house. House doesn't really like Daniel Snyder that much.
Starting point is 01:19:41 I would wager to say that that is a strong favorite among most people who are fans of the Washington football team in this area. Hasn't done a great job, maybe, as the owner. Not an ideal thing. All right, we're going to end it with the Shanagasm. Let me set the table. So San Francisco last year, 6-10. This year, their over-under is 10.5. That's pretty dramatic. I can't remember the over-under for a team being that much higher than their record last year. Second largest in the NFL
Starting point is 01:20:14 this year, only to the Jacksonville Jaguars who only won one game last year. It's usually a shitty team. Division there, plus 190. Conference, plus 650. Super Bowl, 14-1. Not to make the playoffs, minus 205 14-1. Not to make the playoffs. Minus 205. I'm sorry. To make the playoffs.
Starting point is 01:20:28 Minus 205. Not to make the playoffs. Plus 165. They also play the AFC South. Sharp, go. Look, Kyle Shanahan, you can say what you want about him. When he's had bad quarterbacks, he's done poorly. And 69% of his career games as a play caller have been with
Starting point is 01:20:48 these quarterbacks. C.J. Beathard, Nick Mullins, Brian Hoyer, Johnny Manziel, Connor Shaw, RG3, Rex Grossman, old Donovan McNabb, very young, inexperienced Kirk Cousins, John Beck, Matt Schaub, and Sage Rosenfels. Absolutely ridiculous. 31% of his games have come with Matt Ryan or Jimmy G. And he took both of those teams to winning records into the postseason and into the Super Bowl with leads late in those games. With Jimmy G, Kyle is 24 and nine in San Francisco. They average 28 points per game.
Starting point is 01:21:21 Without Jimmy G, they're only seven and 27, averaging only 20 points per game. Without Jimmy G, they're only seven and 27, averaging only 20 points per game. He now has what I think is quite important. And Joe mentioned this earlier, redundancy at the quarterback position. I do not think that you need Trey Lance in there early this season. I think this is the Jimmy Garoppolo show we saw in his game plan today. It's mixing in a little bit of Trey Lance for some run plays. Trey Lance is not ready yet. If you've actually watched him throw the football this year, he's not ready to be a four-quarter quarterback yet. He does not have enough reps.
Starting point is 01:21:56 No, but he will be needed when you need a high upside that it takes to win in the postseason. What you need right now to start the year is a high floor. You need to rack and stack these wins. And I think Jimmy G gives you the best chance to do that. Kyle Shanahan's scheme has had a quarterback rank top three in expected completion percentage the last three years, despite all these multiple quarterbacks that he's gotten in there. And I think when Trey Lance is time, it's his turn. Kyle's going to make his life easy. There's going to be easy throws and schemes that he's going to be able to dial up to get high completion rate for Trey Lance. But again,
Starting point is 01:22:35 I agree with you. His time is not now. Do you think Kyle Shanahan could cure COVID or no? No, no. If he really tried for like a week. Do you think he could figure it out? I feel like he's going to stay in his lane. He knows how to stay in his lane. That's true. That's why he's so good. Yes. And so two main things that I like about this team, besides what I've just mentioned, number one, Kyle Shanahan's quarterbacks have gone up against almost top 10 defenses against the pass every single year he's been there. The number one most difficult in 2017, the number five most difficult last year, and about top 10 most difficult the other two years.
Starting point is 01:23:13 This year, I'm projecting him to play the number 26 most difficult. If they do end up playing that, it's the first time he's playing a bottom 10 schedule of past defenses. I think the passing attack here is going to look a lot better. And then we know this to be true. This has been the most injured team in the NFL last season, the number one most injured 2019 sixth most 2018 fourth most will luck eventually go their way and they not be as injured or do they just have players that are extremely injury prone? I guess we'll find out this season, but I'm betting on the fact that they are going to be healthier this
Starting point is 01:23:51 season. They're going to play defenses that are easier to move the ball against through the air. They've got the quarterback redundancy that I like. And so when Jimmy G, if he unfortunately does go down, boom, now you've got a quarterback that I think Kyle has trust and faith in that he's handpicked. And we're going to see records and results in those games from a win loss perspective that are akin to what Jimmy G was producing. I think this team, everybody wants to talk in the NFC West about the LA Rams and Matthew Stafford and the upside that those guys have. I think the 49ers, although I didn't bet this, have a great shot to win this division. I absolutely think they have a chance to go to the playoffs. I think that they are going to exceed their win total.
Starting point is 01:24:31 This is a team that I think should be feared in terms of going through the playoffs, winning some games, and potentially going up against the Packers or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. So at Lions, at Eagles, first two games house. That's a little tasty. 2-0.
Starting point is 01:24:49 Let's give them 2-0. Week three, home for the Packers on a Sunday night. That's, I mean, it will mean more to the Niners than it will to the Packers. Remember Aaron Rodgers out in California a couple of years ago and all those ridiculous games? Now, I think he cured that. At Chicago, home Arizona. Conceivable, that could be seven and one. Week 10, Rams Monday night, but that's home.
Starting point is 01:25:38 At Jaguars, home Vikings. Then the stretch down, they got at Seahawks on a Sunday night at Bengals home Falcons at Titans on a Thursday home Texans at Rams week 18 I actually think
Starting point is 01:25:57 Sharpie and House there's a best record in the end there's a one seed don't they have one seed bets? they do right? I'm pretty sure FanDuel has that actually. But I think they're an intriguing one seed bet. And I want to say that that was like maybe 10 to 1. I'm going to look it up right now. Sharp, if we're getting super crazy here, what is the one seed potential for them?
Starting point is 01:26:23 Just as a throwaway, fuck it. We're rolling the dice. Oh, here it is. So best season record, they're 12 to one odds. To be the one seed, they're plus 550. Third best odds in the NFC,
Starting point is 01:26:40 according to FanDuel. What do you think of that, Sharpie? I kind of like it. I hate the fact that the game that could decide it would be this Thursday night game in Tennessee that you have to go on the road for on a short week. That's absolutely brutal just from a travel perspective. But most of their difficult games, if you look at the most difficult games that they play, non-division, which obviously you have to play the Rams in LA at one point.
Starting point is 01:27:06 And that happens to be week 18. The most difficult opponents based on projected preseason record are the Packers, the Seahawks, obviously they're in your division. So you split with them, the Colts and the Vikings. And every single one of those games is at home with the exception of, right, you have to play the Rams in LA and you have to play the Seahawks in Seattle at some point. So a very loaded schedule favorable to their home field. Not that they have a great home field advantage, but I think it's the problem with that bet. Like as throwaway money, I definitely won't argue with you on that. That's what house is all about.
Starting point is 01:27:41 Yeah, but my issue is- House is a throwaway money guy. you on that. That's what house is all about. Yeah. But, but my issue is the NFC, those aren't big enough odds for me in, in a year like this with COVID and with injury potential over such a long season, coupled with the fact that the NFC is fucking loaded. There are so many really top upper echelon teams in that conference that thinking that they are going to just make this run. And you know, that those just aren't juicy enough odds for me personally. The best odds for the one seed, I think is Buffalo plus four 70. Cause Casey is two to one and Buffalo's plus four 70. I think Buffalo is a better bet to be a one seed than Casey is. I just
Starting point is 01:28:20 think that if at gunpoint, if I had to pick between those two teams' house, I would pick Buffalo. Anyone see a bench you like, House? The trouble I have with Buffalo is the tiny bit of cognitive dissonance, which is New England greatly improved. They have an in-conference. Miami,
Starting point is 01:28:39 I think, is improved. We haven't talked about Miami, but I know Sharpie loves Tua. Sharpie loves Tua. He thinks there's a real bounce back. I don't know what they're going to do with Deshaun Watson, but let me just tell you this. Everybody hated Lamar Jackson after his 2018 season. They saw a guy who didn't get first team reps in training camp because Joe Flacco took them all. Didn't get inserted until midway through the season. Looked terrible late.
Starting point is 01:29:10 Lost the playoff game and didn't look that great. I jumped on the Lamar bandwagon there. I do see parallels with what his first year in the NFL was like and what Tua's first year in the NFL was like. Tua came off rehabilitating from this catastrophic hip injury, did not get a normal offseason. You have the COVID offseason coupled with that. They have Ryan Fitzpatrick as their quarterback, who's working in an offense that was designed by Chan Gailey, who was handpicked to come out of retirement for multiple years.
Starting point is 01:29:39 This dude's a grandfather to dial up an offense that is going to work for Ryan Fitzpatrick because they work together with the Jets. After the season, Gailey admitted they changed nothing to work for Tua. Tua, when he got inserted into that system, was in an offense that was crafted for everything that he wasn't good at doing, and they never changed any of it. I just think with an offense this season, who knows what is going to happen with Deshaun Watson. But if Tua is there with an offense that's catered to him, and the other thing with the Dolphins real quick is they were the worst team in the NFL at wide receiver separation last year. They had nobody who could gain separation. This year, they go out, they
Starting point is 01:30:20 draft Waddle. They go ahead and acquire Will Fuller. Two guys who are great at getting separation is definitely going to help Tua at quarterback there. I think we're going to see a much different quarterback this year than what everybody thinks of him from last year. When you say Will Fuller is good at separation, you mean like his shoulders separating or his ligaments separating? What are you talking about? He plays six games a year.
Starting point is 01:30:42 He needs to stay healthy. I'm not scared of the Dolphins. I would like to go on the record as saying I'm not scared of the Miami Dolphins, although I do think Waddle's going to be good. House, you're the tiebreaker. I'm shorting the Dolphins. Sharpie seems optimistic. Slightly optimistic. I know. I like
Starting point is 01:30:55 them. I'm going to bet on Brian Flores to win Coach of the Year. I love the case that Sharpie made. I like the odds for Sean Payton better than I like the odds messing with New Orleans over-under. I'm just going to bet Sean Payton better than I like the odds messing with New Orleans over-under. I'm just going to bet Sean Payton to win Coach of the Year a tiny amount to protect against that.
Starting point is 01:31:12 But I really like Brian Flores to win Coach of the Year. If I had to bet on a prop, it would be House and I being mad that we bet on Denver's over and House calling Vic Fangio Fanny Pack Fangio. I feel like that's going to happen. I feel like we're going to regret the Broncos bet, but I stand by it.
Starting point is 01:31:29 All right, sharp. So we're going to be three times a week during the season. People should also follow just sharp football. Do all your plugs. Yeah. On Twitter at sharp football and sharp football analysis dot com. That's where I give out all my betting recommendations each week and actually gave you a couple that we already took. You know, we already took the 49ers over. We already took the Broncos over. I took the saints under,
Starting point is 01:31:53 uh, there's a number of futures that I, that I really do love. Actually, if you want to, you can search out and find there are sports books out there that are dealing lines week two, you can get Denver minus two and a half against the Jaguars week two. It's in Jacksonville, obviously, but I think that line is bound to go up. I just think that there's a lot of upside with some props this year that aren't necessarily win totals, because I do think the books did a pretty good job with the pure win totals, but some of the stuff we were discussing, there's some value there. I think the books are getting better and it's really bothers me. They, there was such a,
Starting point is 01:32:28 such a nice run in the two thousands when we could stick in. Well, this was really fun. I look forward to, uh, continuing to listen to you on the ringer and to listen to you guys together. How's do you think, can you get your shit together and actually win some bets this year or no? I have about a dozen win total bets out there right now. My favorite so far is that I bet the Patriots under back in May, and then I bet they're over. That's both sides. You can't lose. You're going to win both of those.
Starting point is 01:33:00 That's it. I think the juice is going to play out that I'm going to win 20 bucks if they go over. I think that's the way. that's so i'm right in in mid-season form i have a five-way parlay for week one all money line that i'm ready to drop on sharpie in week one for us and and you know he talked us out of trying to to come up with like bad teams that can serve as anchors for our parlays yeah And last year I asked him, why can't I just bet against the Jacksonville Moneyline every week? And then in the very first week,
Starting point is 01:33:30 we bet against the Jacksonville Jaguars against the Indianapolis Colts, and they beat the Colts and fucked me for several hundred dollars right out of the box. So that was why. And we got some good lessons out of Sharpie. We're going to have all of our sharp angles. We got the whole thing coming up again. 2021 season.
Starting point is 01:33:46 We're back, baby. I am jacked for that pod with you, House. I think the lineup Bill's put together for the rest of this week schedule is going to be awesome. I'm really looking forward to this year. Before we go, and we're going to go, Kyle, come on for a split second.
Starting point is 01:34:01 Nephew Kyle. One of the biggest Pats fans I know. Did your Mac Jones boner was more blood able to go into it after this podcast or were you already at full mass? It was full mass and I'm worried I may have missed an edit with
Starting point is 01:34:18 House because I was watching some Mac Jones. So we'll see what happens. Roll over the dice, baby. Oh man, I hope House 3 got canceled. All right. Sharp, pleasure to see you. House, pleasure to see you. Thanks for all the time.
Starting point is 01:34:31 This was produced by Nephew Kyle, a.k.a. Kyle Creighton, and we'll see you on Tuesday. I don't have A few years With him On the wayside On the wayside
Starting point is 01:34:54 Never on the side I don't have A few years

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