The Bill Simmons Podcast - Philly’s Disgrace, Buffalo’s Ceiling, and Round 1 Playoff Lines With Cousin Sal

Episode Date: January 4, 2021

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons is joined by Cousin Sal to discuss the Eagles’ puzzling loss to the Washington Football Team, the Dolphins’ loss to the Bills, the Browns finally making the playoffs after beating the Steelers, Packers-Bears, the Titans’ field-goal win over the Texans, and more (2:00) before guessing the NFL lines for the wild-card round of the playoffs (44:00). They close the show with Parent Corner (1:15:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's the 14th year of Guest Aligned Playoff Edition, but it's the first year that we have six round one playoff games to talk about. Somebody hose me down. It's the Bill Simmons Podcast presented by FanDuel. Football is in full action. FanDuel's highest rated sports book is the best place to bet it all.

We've been doing pretty well on Million Dollar Picks this year. I love the first month of the season because you have to go into the season thinking, I think Pittsburgh's going to be good. I think the chargers are going to be good. I think Seattle's going to be good. And then trying to back what you think in those first few weeks and then zag the other way. If you were wrong, you could bet on new and fun markets on FanDuel, like to catch your pass, same game parlays, highest scoring game across the Sunday slate. Offensive TDs in the next drive.

They have so much stuff. It's crazy. The app is safe and secure and easy to use. And when you win, you'll get paid instantly. Plus,

look out for FanDuel Squares this season. Here's what you have to do. Visit FanDuel.com slash BS to download America's number one

sportsbook. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit RG-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available and listen to the end of the episode for additional details. You must be 21 plus and present in select states. Gambling problem called Win 100 Gambler or visit rg-help.com. This episode is brought to you by my old friend,

Miller Lite. I've been a big fan of Miller Lite, man, since college days when I was allowed to have beer. I think nephew Kyle is a fan too. Miller Lite keeps it simple for us. Undebatable quality, great taste. Picture this. It's game day. All the gang's here. You're tailgating outside the stadium.

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

with all the great beer tastes we like. 90 calories per 355 mil can. So why not grab some Miller Lites today? Your game time tastes like Miller time. Must be legal drinking age. We're also brought to you by TheRinger.com and The Ringer Podcast Network. Norm Princiati and Kevin Clark, they did a Sunday reaction pod live. Yeah, live. They did it on the Twitter, as the kids call it. So you can check out

that podcast. Check out The Ringer NFL show all week. Warren Sharp is going to be on there twice, breaking down the games. He's also coming on this podcast on Tuesday as well. And if you love the rewatchables, the 2020 slate is upon us. Putting the first one up Monday night. It's going to be Bridesmaids, a really good movie. 10-year anniversary of it this year. So get ready for that one. Coming up, The Cous and I. Six get ready for that one. Coming up, the Cuz and I.

Six playoff games. Six. Good God almighty. First Pearl Jam. All right, taping this Sunday night. It is 8.30 Pacific time. We just witnessed a true abomination on Sunday Night Football. NBC deserves it. The NFL deserves it.

They gave us a terrible game, and it was even more terrible than we ever could have imagined. We saw a football team tank on national TV, Sal, with, I would say, the poor Giants fans hanging on a thread. But I hate the Giants fans. I'm glad they suffered. It was wonderful. Why am I so irrationally upset right now about that game that I just saw? Like, yeah, who cares? The Giants are out. And let me tell you something.

If I needed the Cowboys, I need the Eagles as a Cowboys fan. If the Cowboys had won earlier, I would not be here doing this podcast. I would tag one of my kids in. None of the walls would be standing in my house. I'd say, Archie, do this podcast, read the parent corner. It's about you. No offense, whatever here, just read these numbers and that'll be that. But God, what? You're right. We never see tanking, but that was as close as it gets. Can't take hurts out there. As you know, I'm an NBA a-hole. I'm an NBA a-hole as you call me. All right. Steph Curry. Let's hear it.

No, I'm used to tanking. I'm used to seeing it. I'm used to all the machinations of it. When teams tank in the NBA, it never really affects anything. You know, it'll maybe affect a four seed or a five seed, something like that. It doesn't actually affect who makes the playoffs or not. In this case, this was so egregious and it was so obvious that it was happening. Yeah. And Al and Chris, I don't know if they were being electro shocked in the booth or what was going on. There was very subtle under their breath stuff. Not at the end. Chris in the middle of it goes, Al, I just hate this.

I hate this. I couldn't do this. I couldn't do this if I was the Eagles. I don't know that they should lose a draft pick or what. And it's one thing if you start Sudfeld, if he starts the game, right? But to go for it on fourth and goal from the four and then hurts is incomplete. And then you put Sudfeld in, like you were trying to win the game there.

Right. You could have kicked the field goal to tie. What do you need? Sudfeld. You don't find out if he's your backup until the preseason next year. Cause they weren't in there. Cause they were taking, I know. Here's the thing though.

Peterson has been so bad this year out of of all the non-fired coaches, Kingsbury, who we'll get to later, is the clear MVP of bad coaching. Peterson was the silver medalist. So when they blew that fourth and four, I wasn't thinking tanking at all. I was thinking like, oh, classic Eagles. That's fine.

Peterson being a jackass again, not realizing that maybe they're tanking. So, you know, it's slightly significant, but not really significant. So they lose that game. Now they're in a two-way tie with Cincy for the five pick for the fifth spot. And if they had won the game,

they would have basically, but they would have been 5-10-1. They would have dropped all the way to the 10th pick. So you got to be pretty confident in your job status. You really do. Good for him if he could do that. But that was a mess. I don't know.

That just left a bad taste. Like I said, we both hate the Giants, but that was really bad. And it was bad for NBC. They should have buried that game. That game shouldn't was bad for NBC. They should have buried that game. That game shouldn't have been Sunday night. They should have known better. Show the Bears Packers. I don't care if the Packers didn't have anything to play for,

which was the case they did, and the Bears would have too. Show Arizona Rams, as bad as that was with backups. Bury this game. Can't take your victory lap now, NFL, about getting through the season when ending on that disaster. It should have been Rams-Cardinals because there was really no way that that game was going to matter in some form.

You know? If the Bears had beat the Packers... Arizona needed to win if the Bears had won. If the Bears had lost, which they did. Right. You're basically banking on the Packers, who've been the best team in the NFC, that they're just going to beat the bears. And then you're going to have an awesome game

in this Washington Philly game. We already knew Philly had nothing to play for. So one of the two teams didn't care. And then you have the Eagles. Anyway, look, it was the perfect ending for one of the all time shit shows of a division ever. The giants fans were miserable at the end. Peterson was on brand and NBC deserved it because I'm guessing they picked the game, right? They have their, they have the choice. Yeah, I think there's a couple that were protected, but not all three that I

mentioned there. They could have definitely run something else there. So your team going backwards, your team has a chance to keep their hopes alive so that Philly would then have your destiny in your hands. You were out on this Cowboys is you're trying to cross them off this whole year. And then we finally get to the moment and you're totally into it. I was hoping for the

Giants come back and, uh, and they sucked you back in. I don't know how they did it. I can't lose to the Giants on the last game of the year. I don't care if it's an exhibition or what it is. I just, it doesn't feel right. So add that, the part where we could be division champs to the mess, you know, and I got all caught up in Andy Dalton stats against Dak Prescott. I'm like, oh my God, they're virtually, they're identical for the five games they each played or whatever. And yeah, I bought into it.

And then I was like, oh yeah, Zeke can't take two snaps in a row. He can't be in two plays in a row. Dalton, I don't know. It's 36 degrees and kind of clear and he can't compete, complete a pass. And they just got off to a late start. And then they gave him some life in the fourth quarter and the Giants barely won. They suck too though. You're right.

The Giants suck. The game was terrible. The NFC East. It was funny. I was watching the pregame show with, uh, and they go to Aikman cause he's at the game and he's like, I'll tell you, there's a lot of teams that wouldn't want to see Dallas if they got in the playoffs. I'm thinking like, what are you talking about? Every team would want to see Dallas. I think the NFC East became like when you have like in your cupboard where you keep like the potato chips and the nachos and pretzels, all that stuff. But then nobody's gone grocery shopping for three weeks and there's like half a bag left of nachos. They're not even the nacho chips. They're not even like totally fresh anymore. They're a little

stale, but you keep opening the cupboard. You're hoping other stuff's in there. And then it's like, ah, chips look pretty good. And you kind of talk to themselves in the chips. That was the NFC East this whole year. Yeah. Completely stale and not for three weeks, but for 17 weeks. Yeah. Oh yeah. And Aikman staring in the cupboard and he said with a straight face, like teams would be afraid of Dallas. It's like, what are you talking about? They can't stop anybody. I get it. They have to prop up the game, especially in pregame. Why would people watch?

But I feel like guys are good. People are betting on these games. They have fantasy players. We're good. People are going to tune in. You don't have to say this is the greatest quarterback. This is the greatest defense. This, you know, Chase Young is going to the

Hall of Fame. All that stuff. It's fine. Just save it. People are watching. And then the Eagles game, I feel like Al and Chris have the kind of job security to have a really honest, what is Philly doing conversation. A half hour as

America is doing it instead of a half hour too late, which is what ended up happening. Like they're not firing Al. If anything, like Al's in an awesome spot because if the NFL got mad at him about talking about it, that's great. He goes down in a blaze of glory. He's like 80 anyway. He wasn't even going to all the games. They're not getting rid of Collinsworth either. I think someone got in there. I think they told them not to say anything? I think they said, listen guys, I know I'm sorry we're putting you in a rough spot here But please, let it go to the

Two minute warning before you tee off At least that, give us that, we can't have a half hour Of how this game sucks Everyone's feeling it, and it's wrong And sorry we had to put you through this But you got two minutes At the end of the day, that's it This could have been Al Michaels,

Peter Finch and network moment. He could have been as I'm mad as hell. And I'm not going to, there's a reference that goes over everybody's head. Who's under, under 40, but this could have been like this legendary Al Michaels going on this five minute rant about the integrity of football and how could they do

this? And the Eagles should get fined. It would have been great. What is Peterson saying now? They're going to ask him about this. What could he possibly say? We're checking to see who our backup is next year. Yeah.

Or do we want to see our 27 year old backup? If anything, like I really, if I'm an Eagles fan, I really would have wanted to see what hurts did in a playoff type situation. Right. Yeah.

Like why not? And it's not like Washington was pulling away. Like they were dying to give away that game. We saw. It's very weird, dude. It's very weird. We saw a couple of the worst quarterback battles ever with actual stakes today. Yeah.

And this was as bad as anything. The Alex Smith thing. It's a great story. Congratulations. He's the comeback player of the year, but he's going to be in a playoff game. That's a disaster. He's terrible. We're going to play against the Lions later

and we have six games to go through, but I don't think they can score 20 points against any playoff team that's in here. Do you think Dominic and Sue is going to take it easy on Alex Smith? Aren't you terrified for that matchup? Like just that one? Yeah.

It could get ugly. I don't know. easy on Alex Smith. Aren't you terrified for that matchup? Like just that one. Yeah. It's, uh, it could get ugly. Uh, I don't know. That was, it was absolutely ugly. Anyway,

watching that NFC East. And in a way I wanted to say they were the most competitive division of all time, but I can't get away with that. So seven and nine, that's as bad as anyone's done, right? Nobody's been six and 10 and one in a division.

I don't think seven and9 is as low as... The Panthers were 7-9? Yeah, and there was that Seahawks year, the Beast Mode year. They were like 8-8, 7-9, something like that. Unbelievably, they're going to host a playoff game, although there will be no fans there, but they are going to play

Tampa Bay. Let's just talk about that one quickly. Before we move on, could the Eagles have done that if fans were in the crowd? We're talking about fans. What the hell would have happened? That's a great point.

They would have thrown all kinds of shit. They couldn't have done that. The players would have been in trouble from a safety standpoint. They would have stopped the game would have been, would have been in trouble from a safety standpoint. It would have stopped the game early. Yeah. So Washington's playing Tampa.

Tampa Bay and my man Tom ended up with 40 TDs somehow. You're a man. I'm going to kill you and Hench on this text chain. But yes, he had 40 touchdowns and 4,000 yards, right? No, what did he have? 4,000 yards? I think so. But there was a lot of stat padding.

Let's be honest. He had a thousand yards in the last two weeks against 1,056 yards against what was it? Detroit? The Lions? Atlanta? Yeah. Against the Lions team that rolled over and an Atlanta team that I don't know what was going on, but Matt Ryan

had to do his classic, one more time, I'm just going to do my Dick T's comeback for you. And then I'll screw up inside the five-yard line like I always do. I'll say this, though. Mahomes had trouble putting points up against Atlanta. I know teams are just doing so much to win or whatever, it doesn't matter.

But we discussed, Tom is going to get some second-place votes, I think, for MVP here or get enough votes to put him in the running for second place here. Assuming a Rogers wins it, right? That's blasphemy. He's not an MVP.

He had like 100 weapons. I'm saying he's going to get votes, though. People will feel bad like people will feel for Tom. I would have Rogers over Mahomes and Henry. Yeah. And I, there are no other votes.

So, so don't you think that's the top three, right? That is good. They could make it like, this is screw it. This is a year of the running back. We're going to give it Derek Henry top 2000 yards.

And we're going to give it to Jonathan Taylor for offensive rookie of the year. Cause he was fricking phenomenal too. Yeah. They won't. It'll, it'll go Rogers. Your favorite team,

Atlanta is in a two-way tie for the fourth spot with Houston. But Houston gives their pick to Miami. Right. So there's some sort of tiebreaker thing.

But Miami gets the fourth pick and we're going to talk about, let's take a break and then we'll talk about the two of disaster. This episode is brought to you by Movember. The mustache is back with a vengeance. Look at Travis Kelsey.

Before he rocked that Super Bowl ring, he rocked that super soup strainer. Grow a mustache for Movember. You'll do great things too. You won't win the Super Bowl, but your fundraising will support mental health, suicide prevention, and prostate and testicular cancer research.

And if you don't want to grow a mustache, you can still walk or run 60 kilometers, host an event, or set your own goal and mow your own way. Do great things this November. Sign up now. Just search Movember. Prime Big Deal Days is coming October 8th and 9th with exclusive savings just for Prime members.

Involuntary deal squeals can happen, like the deal on new running shoes squeal, the deal on a new blender squeal, or the infamous deal on a new massager squeal. Save big on electronics, fashion, and more this Prime Big Deal Days, October 8th and 9th. All right, so the bad news for Miami,

they somehow blew a game to a Buffalo team that only put their starters for a half. They gave up 56 points. And Tua, who we took apart last week on this podcast, was even worse this week. And now if you're Miami of the fourth pick in the draft, it's two spots away from being able to get a quarterback.

Unless you try to trade up for one of those dudes. Oh, Tua and Trevor Lawrence. That would be terrific. Those guys are good. Well, if you're the jets, do you do number two for Tua in the four? Well, here's what's interesting now. Urban Meyer, Ohio State's Urban Meyer, now works for Fox, and was seen in the stadium there when Clemson played Ohio State.

There's rumors about him taking the Jacksonville job. If he takes the Jacksonville job and gets his guy Fields with the first pick, we're not far off from that. And then all the Jets haters, you know, all the Jets fans that hate their team could get a shot at Trevor Lawrence or get Justin Fields, who is looking like a substantial quarterback right now. But can you imagine Urban Meyer and I mean, that's a huge offseason story. If it's Urban Meyer and he's picking, uh, Justin Fields one for Jacksonville. Well, what if Trevor Lawrence doesn't come out? That's another thing. Yeah.

I would say the most Jetsy scenario would be Urban Meyer going to Jacksonville, him saying, I'm going to actually take Justin Fields. We're going to take them at one or trade down. And then Lawrence, I'm like being like, I'm good. That'd be great. Go back one more year in college. That's great. And then the Jets are like, ah, Jets win four games by accident next year and it's not enough to get the one pick. That's good to it. Tua should

be on the Jets the way he's been playing. I think he would be a perfect jet. You know, I feel like you're like, oh, my call my buddies who like college say Tua was one of the greatest players. Like, I'm watching a different player. This guy can't scramble on third and two. They don't want him to scramble.

He's either set it up with Flores or whatever, but he's like, I'm not going to run on third and short. I know I can make it, but I want to be a pocket quarterback. That's not the guy they drafted. Ben Glicksman, beloved ringer editor who is Tua's number one fan. He is on the it's all Chan Gailey's fault corner, which I really respect. Interesting. They're just like, basically they won't let Tua cook. I feel like we've seen Tua make some dishes and they all broke.

Right. Like he's just throwing the ball to the other team. Like not even like, these aren't just interceptions. They're like mega interceptions. So Buffalo, I will, I'll say that before we get off Miami

and people talk about Flores, I think it was one, two for coaching the year along with, um, Stefanski and,

uh, and Bill's coach there. Uh, what's the matter? He can't, Flores can't be coaching.

He can't do it. Right. And they have to be like, listen, nothing personal, but if you have a chance to clinch a

playoff spot and you allow 56 points, it's just policy. We can't give it to right? And they have to be like, listen, nothing personal, but if you have a chance to clinch a playoff spot and you allow 56 points, it's just policy. We can't give it to you. It has nothing to do with what we feel about you as a person or something, but you can't win it. Well, there's a bunch of stuff going on in that game. So through 17 weeks, if I had said to you in August, who do you think is the single biggest COVID scratch

of the season? And I gave you odds. I put 100 players on the list. Fitzpatrick would not have been one of the 100 players. That was the biggest COVID scratch of the whole season. Because I think they would have beaten Buffalo. Or at least they would have been able to match points. Buffalo was clearly

only playing their starters for a half. Two, it was so bad. The game was over with eight minutes left in the second quarter. If Fitz is in there, at least they could have tried to make a comeback second half down 10 against the backups. They did score first possession out of the second half, right? And I think I texted you. I'm like, Dolphins

plus 420 live. Should we do it? And you're like, no way. Fucking four seconds later, interception. Like, never mind. We're out. Yeah. Well, I don't know, man. The Bills might just be, they might just truck everybody.

Doesn't matter if they care to win or they don't care to win. Like, you know, I was thinking 2C. Then I was thinking like, who cares? It doesn't matter to them if they go on the road or what. But I'm going to say something now. I think they're the team to beat and not the chiefs. I really do. I am with you.

And about five days ago, bet on a bucks, uh, bucks bills, super bowl. Pretty good. That was like 25 to one. Cause I felt like that might even been 27 to one.

I can't remember, but I'm with you. I think the bills are the best team in the AFC. Now I wouldn't want to bet against my homes in a playoff game, but, um, we were saying this, I think three,

four weeks ago, if you're a really good team on the rise, like we thought Buffalo might be that you take care of business in these last couple of weeks, you know, and they just like, we're demolishing people. You could argue they were better off letting Miami into the playoffs.

Right. Because it seemed pretty obvious Pittsburgh was going to lose, although they certainly made it pretty hairy against Cleveland. But then Buffalo would have gotten to play Tua in round one or Fitzpatrick coming off COVID. Either way, that's so much easier than the Colts. The Colts are like a frisky seven seed. It's tough because you don't want to let karma buy. It depends what kind of headspace your coach is in, right?

So McDermott's like, I don't believe in that stuff. Let's just take care of business. Let's get in the playoffs on a roll. I like it. Yeah, they're in a good spot. So what do they play now? They play the Colts. Yeah, so I don't know what to think of the Colts.

In one sense, I'm terrified of them. And then on the other hand, I'm like, this is definitely the team we need to bet against. Right. Well, or the quarterback we need to bet against. Right.

Yeah. Buffalo. The irony of them having this magical season. Well, I'm with you. I think they're the team to beat in the AFC. I don't care about the one seat, two seat thing. They're playing.

They've been playing the best for the last six weeks. And we've learned over the years, like that's really what you have to look at coming down the stretch. And yet it's COVID era. They can't have a packed house. They don't get, you know, they're getting at least two playoff games here. They don't, they're going to have what? 5,000 fans, 6,000 fans

for each one. I feel bad for their fans because you could feel it in some of these games today. I miss the crowds today. Today, because there were real stakes today and it's like Pittsburgh, Cleveland.

There's really, you know, no noise, no fans. It's just weird. No, we talked about this last week. The Bills fans have never seen

Stephon Diggs play. Right. In the stadium. Like this is, have never seen Stefan Diggs play. Right. In the stadium. Like, this is, yeah, it's a strange year. I'm shocked they got through it. What kind of odds would you give that they would get through all, like when we were doing like fantasy drafts, like, all right,

we're just going through the motions here. We know this is going to be miserable. And then all the, like, postponements by two days, three days, he believed they got through every freaking game. Yeah. There was a moment I'm going to say seven, seventh,

eighth week when we just assumed they're going to have to expand the playoffs. Right. It's like, why aren't they? We thought there'd be a playoff teams. Yeah. Yeah. Didn't happen.

So Brown Steelers, that was the other one from the early games. The Browns were like 10-point favorites. Everybody and their brother had them in a parlay. And Mason Rudolph's really not that good. And yet they're hanging around, hanging around, hanging around.

He uncorks some long pass. It's caught. All of a sudden they're going to score and it comes down to a two-point. Didn't get it, but I was like the last person to realize how funny it would be if Mason Rudolph knocked the Browns playoffs. Yeah. It wasn't even on my radar. But, you know, I look at like the Browns, Washington, these teams that they're in the playoffs.

Like, yeah, we made it. But we watch them and it's like you guys barely made it. And it wasn't impressive. And OK, now you're in the playoffs. But I don't think Cleveland's going to beat Pittsburgh. Do you? I don't either. And I think the Chiefs lucked out because those are the two teams I'd want to play the most.

Like, if the Dolphins were in there, I'd want to play the Dolphins more than anyone. But if you have a second-round matchup, winner of the Steelers-Browns is as good as it gets for the Chiefs, barring any opposite in the other games, right? So, no, I don't know what Steelers team is going to show up next week. Is it the Roethlisberger that you pick up where they left off against the Colts? You don't know that you're going to get that. So if you're KC, you're looking at this, and if the Browns can somehow beat the Steelers, not inconceivableivable considering the Steelers weren't exactly lighting it up down the stretch,

then you're pushing Tennessee-Baltimore toward Buffalo, and you could argue Tennessee and Baltimore are either the fourth and third best teams in the conference. So you're rooting for the Browns. You're rooting for the Browns. You're rooting for the Browns. The Browns are not good.

You want the Browns to lose at 3-6. They don't scare you as much as any of those other teams you mentioned. Ravens are flying high. They have revenge on their mind, right? You know, Bills we already talked about, and the Steelers just because Tomlin's got playoff experience, you don't want to match up with them. But yeah, the Browns, that's the ideal second round matchup.

Well, wait a second. Go back to the Ravens flying high for a second. You don't like that they haven't played anyone. So they beat your shitty team. Oh. They beat the Browns 47-42 in the Lamar might have pooped his pants game. It's a good game, though. It's a good win.

Good win. Yeah. They beat the Jags. They beat a good game though. That's a good win. Good win. Yeah. They beat the Jags. They beat the giants to beat the Bengals. I am not, nothing has impressed me with them the whole season. I think they're the good, bad team.

Now, could they get their shit together in the playoffs? Maybe. I just think there's not a lot of evidence. If you go through their schedule, their best win was that 24-10 Colts win, which was what, two months ago?

Yeah, or the Browns win. I still think that Browns won that night. That was a pick-em game. They went in there and they won. But they gave up 42 points to the Browns, though. I'm not bragging about that game, especially when the Browns can't even you know... I get it. None of these teams other than the bills have been impressive in the last

month in terms of like defensively, like the Titans are fun to watch. There's no way they're winning three in a row. Right. With that defense. But the Ravens, I think with a chip on their shoulder, look, you just want your team to be hot, right? Like you could say, Oh, who did Tom Brady beat? He beat Detroit and Atlanta. This is hot as he's been going into the playoffs in years, right? Lamar has back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons. He only threw, what, 18 times?

But I don't know. You want everything clicking. These guys aren't going to be able to practice, right? What do all these quarterbacks do? They're going to have to just go home for the whole week. Do they practice at all? Probably take a couple days, right? I don't know.

I don't know. You saw Aaron Rodgers. He's like, Hey, what do you say to your team? He's like, don't get COVID. That was his only message. That's it. Hide in your room. Play Sega.

Also a message for my team. Yeah. Two more games quickly to talk about Packers bears. There was a lot of Trubisky gambling buzz heading toward this game. I think you might have even dabbled. I'm an idiot. Yeah, I'm an idiot. I had the Bears all over the place.

All over the place. Plus 10 and a half. Plus 11 and a half. Plus five and a half. And Mitch becomes Mitch. The Bears defense who was supposed to be their strong point. No. Rodgers finishes 13-3.

He's going to win another MVP. It's amazing to me that five weeks ago, we had given the MVP to Mahomes. We should just tuck this away next time. I know. We're talking about the NFL MVP because it shifted three times. We went,

first month of the year, it's going to be Russell Wilson. Then it shifted to somebody else. Who was it before Mahomes? Wasn't. I mean, who else could it have been? Was it Mahomes right away? I guess it was. Yeah, I think it was. When that's Rodgers.

And somehow the Bears made the playoffs anyway, which is hilarious. Yeah, they made it. There was scoreboard watching. They saw Arizona was losing. They're like, all right, we don't have to go too crazy here. They're like, who's Strebler? I'm not. Who's that with my card?

Why do we? And also, I'm not that excited to bet against them and against the Saints. Are you? Yeah. No. I can't wait to talk about that one. All right. So we had cards, Rams.

The Rams were the only straight up bet I had today. I was all in on Wolford straight up bet I had today. I was all in on Wolford first, first throw pick six starts it off that way. I was in my car, drive my daughter to a soccer game, listening to that almost like veered into another lane, but then they kind of settled down and we're really helped by Cliff Kingsbury,

who I finally made back a lot of the money I lost a job. Cliff this week where near the lot of the money I lost this week, where near the end of the first half, he somehow ends up getting a pick six with his, with his backup QB that changed the game. And you knew they weren't going to win after that. Kyler was limping around their body language looked terrible. And,

and that's it for the cards, a team that was really bad for about two months there, save for the, the, the hail Mary. So the Rams make it. Well, let's talk about the card. We can't gloss over what Cliff Kingsbury has accomplished here.

Who were his last four losses? Was it Colt McCoy? Was it Hertz? Was it Bethard? And was it Wolford? Are those the four? Did I get that right? And barely beat Tua.

The Tua-Fitz combo. Oh my god. Oh no. Right. Cam Newton. I'm sorry. He lost to Cam. Lost to Cam. Lost to Bethard. Lost to Wolford. And yeah. That's bad enough.

Lost to Tua. Tua's only good moment Lost to Tua. Tua's only good moment of the whole year. Yeah. You had high hopes, Bill. I think you had a little money sprinkled on Kyler Murray to a Super Bowl, didn't you? And now neither of those teams are in the playoffs. I had a little sprinkled on that,

and I had a little sprinkled on Kyler MVP. And as always, I'm an idiot. I don't know what to tell you. Yeah, we're bad at this. Arizona finishes 8-8 somehow. I don't know what the Rams do with Wolford because I actually thought he found his sea legs there and he can run a little bit.

And more importantly, he's not Jared Goff. Let's go to the parlay murderer right now. The parlay murderer. Are you coming back for round one? I said that when I was looking up Wolford in Wikipedia. All it said was, he's not Jared Goff. I'm like, all right, good enough for me. I'll take him plus three.

Would you want to play Jared Goff with a healthy thumb? I'm not sure. So now he's got an injured thumb he's going to play? That sounds terrible. I don't want to play him. So my guess is Wolford might actually start that game. Plus, they'll have Cooper cut back.

David, let's be fair. They scored 11 points other than the pick six. Actually, they had the safety too. They had a safety and a pick six. Their defense gave them nine of the 18 points. That was a bad game. Miles ahead of what we just

saw on NBC. But if you're the Rams, though, you just want somebody who's not going to give the ball to the other team, which Wolford only did once. Scott Fuchsia tries to do it twice. Well, this is another thing. You talked about MVP. Defensive player of the year was TJ Watt.

He led in sacks and everything else. And now he didn't play today. And back comes Aaron Donald. Like, yeah, freaking crazy, crazy ass game. The numbers won't even say as great as he played today. He may have stolen that award. Finally, the best player in football can get an award. It's nice.

Yeah, you and I watch a lot of football. And I watched, for some reason, more Rams than other teams. And Donald, five times a game, they'll show like he's just being double teamed. Yeah. Right. The other team's offensive line and they're running backs and they're tight ends.

Their number one objective is to not let Donald do stuff. Still get to know it. Yeah. He's still somehow going by dudes. He's tossing people. He's by far the best defensive player. He should win that last one to talk about really quick. Texans Titans. I was on a soccer really quick. Texans-Titans.

I was on a soccer field just enjoying this game through your text. It was the game of the day. Henry went over 2,000 yards. He finished with 20, 27, and 17 TDs. And yet they almost blew the game. And then Tannehill pulls this bomb out of his ass. It was like the Texans were tanking. They don't have a first-round pick. Sets up

this winning field goal from some slowman who wasn't even on the team a week ago. And they get it. And I don't know what it means for them for next week. Does that give them momentum? I don't know what to take away. I don't know either. So if they lose that, they're on the road against Buffalo.

So it's probably over then right so as it is now they're home against Ravens who they beat last year right I don't have a lot of confidence in this team maybe they get past the Ravens but this is a defense you cannot count like a secondary that's

not going to win in the playoffs two weeks in a row it's a terrible defense yeah but Henry's great. And it's, you know, they do have game breakers and it's, it's certainly not a team you'd necessarily look forward to seeing. Cause if they go up 10,

nothing and they can do the Derek Henry thing. So he wants, he wins a rushy title. Uh, Dalvin cook was second. Can you name who finished third, third and rushing for the entire season. Wasn't Chubb. I'll give you three guesses.

Okay, hold on. Let me just go through the division. So you say Chubb is a guess or it's not a guess? No, no, no. You're giving me I don't think he played enough for it to be. Alright, so no Chubb. Let's see. Let me just go through the division. The listeners at home can play as well because this is a great answer.

I don't think you're going to get it because I never would have gotten it. Shit. Wait a minute. Why can't I get this? It's not. You're not getting it. Go ahead.

Just tell me. I'm fried right now. Jonathan Taylor. Oh, it is Taylor. All right. Well, I mentioned. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. He snuck in there. They like gave up on him halfway through the year. They were giving all his carries to Naheem Hines. Naheem Hines. Yeah. Can you name who won the passing yards title? I know that because, well, that was part of why I like the Texans today.

Watson need like 283 to pass Mahomes, who was sitting. And I know he won the passing title. He did. And I know he paid 20 to 1 odds. Really? And what did you say, Henry? Paid 6 to 1. Why does this always make sense when we look at it?

Henry was 6 to 1. You're going to tell me most touchdowns now? I was in two fantasy drafts where Clyde Edwards-Hilaire was treated with more respect than Derrick Henry. Yeah. Two. Not one, two.

Right. Brady finished with 40 TDs. And then can you name who won the receiving title? You probably know this one. I know. It's Diggs, right? Yeah. Diggs second.

15-35. Remember before the year, Thomas was the favorite. And then I think Hopkins was second. And so just something to fire away for next year. Those kind of six to 20 to one odds. Well, Adams said Adams was a 10 to one for receiving touchdowns. He won that.

Right. That's a good one. And Rogers was 20 to one for passing touchdowns. Yeah. Where are these numbers all come from? We're gonna take a break and then we're going to play. I'm really a lot of foreplay before we do guess the lines for the, for the super round from? We're going to take a break, and then we're going to play. I'm really, a lot of foreplay before we do Guest Alliance for the Super Round 1. We're going to play Is This It?

Oh, what the hell is that? But first, we're going to take a break. At Pennzoil, we have one job, pioneering a motor oil so advanced, you don't have to think about your motor oil. Instead, you can think about how your engine sounds, how your stomach feels as the RPMs build, how your wheels hug the curves, and how with the Pennzoil Platinum Up to 15-Year,

800,000-kilometer protection guarantee, your adventures will be many. Pennzoil. Long may we drive. Available at your local Canadian tire. Enrollment required. Keep your receipts. Other conditions apply. See Pennzoil.ca slash warranty for full details. Alright, we're back and we're

going to play a game called Is This It? Matt Stafford and the Lions. Is this it? Should I take my shirt off for this? Yeah, I think there's going to be some weird trade. I do and I think he's part of it. Weird trade, like what do you mean?

I think these guys jump around. Sam Darnold, Stafford, you're going to see a bunch of weird stuff going on. Do you have inside info? Uh,

I can't say. You know, Al and Chris. Do you have info that Howie Long and Michael Strahan took steroids? What the hell was that?

Oh my God, Terry Bradshaw, get him some air. Come on, Terry. Stay with us. We'll get through it. Terry,shaw. Get him some air. Come on, Terry. Stay with us. We'll get through it. Terry, there's only a few more weeks. You can do this.

What do you think? You think it's it? I think Stafford needs a change of scenery. Yeah. Which leads to the next. Well, when your wife is going off on all the locals. Yeah. If that just happened and you weren't on a team,

you would probably move, right? Like if she's arguing with the convenience store owner three times a week, you're like, oh, shit. We got to get out of here or something. I think that's kind of what's going on with the Staffords. How about Matt Ryan and the Falcons? I don't know what the hell goes on there. What did you say?

They have a fifth, like the fifth pick or something? They have the third pick. He's not that old as thing. I don't know. I don't know. Oh yeah. Well, it's 35.

So, I mean, it's, it's a Phil rivers thing. You have Phil rivers coming up next. Would you do a Ryan Stafford who throws in a pick for that? Ooh, probably Detroit, right?

Yeah, I think so. Like a third round pick? Yeah, it can't be too much. This is why the NFL is no fun because it's impossible to have trades. I know, they don't ever do it. Phil Rivers, is this it? Yeah, I think it is.

But he's only 31, right? Am I crazy? No, he's like 30. Here's the thing. I was on this podcast years ago, making the case that Romo is going to be the next guy. I'm on this podcast now. Phil Rivers is our savior for Monday Night Football. Interesting.

Okay. Because look, all due respect, I actually like Levy, but the Brian Greasy-Lewis-Ritter combo, it was just vanilla. It wasn't interesting. It was perfectly serviceable. I don't know if I want perfectly serviceable for my Monday Night Game. I need somebody who brings something. And I think Rivers, he just checks all the boxes. He's always been a great interview.

He's super candid. He just played. He's played against all the boxes. He's always been a great interview. He's super candid. He just played. He's played against all these dudes. And I don't know if he'd be as good as Romo, but I think he'd be really good. And I hope he does it. I think he's pretty good. I think we asked him to do a thing.

He did a thing for us for Kimmel once, and he was a little reluctant to get involved in all the weird stuff we had written for him. But I guess that has nothing to do with being in a, in a, in a booth. You think he could, he could do the play by. I mean, I don't know. We haven't heard. Have we heard him like do this coverage?

Like he's fine in interviews. Well, the other thing I thought was boomers really good. I thought boomer was good today. And I've always thought boomer was good on the radio. And Boomer's in the studio. I get it. He has a show on the fan, all that stuff. But maybe Boomer should be the guy. There were a few times you could have convinced me he was Romo, right?

If you're not listening, they kind of sound alike. They have kind of the same cadence. And he's very thoughtful. And yeah, he did inside the NFL for years. I think he's the second best guy behind, uh, behind Romo. And then I would have Collinsworth third. All right. That's fair.

Actually, I didn't keep to leave. Probably. I was wondering where, how did they not find a slot for a keep to leave? He should have been calling that Sunday night game. That's oh my God. Well, he should have been in the game with Chris Myers. Chris Myers had a team with a winning record for the first time since 2004. That's right.

They should have given him a key. It's in his contract. Anthony Lynn, is this it? Yeah, I think it is. You think it is? Yeah, I think it is. I think it's tough to... So now he's two years removed from 12-4, right?

Yeah. But the problem is, I don't think... Not that it's a problem. It's good for him and I like him. But I don't think he's lost the clubhouse, right? Do you think he has? He hasn't lost the locker room. I would keep him.

Do you think you can keep him? I just don't think there's, unless there's some awesome option, but what do you care? You're in LA. Nobody in LA cares about the team anyway, and the team likes him. Just keep him. It's just a cursed team. It really is. Carson Wentz, obviously, is this it?

I would say it's it. Oh, it was a report today. It's a fractured relationship with Peter. I would hope so. Right? Yeah. But is it as easy as going to the Colts? I mean, if you say that Frank Reich is the reason he was as good as he was anyway.

That's a lot of money to shell out if you're Philly. But if you have Hertz on a rookie contract, maybe it evens out. And if you think Hertz is better, but well, now you got to pay Sudfeld like $35 million. True. I forgot about Sudfeld's contract. Tua in Miami. Is this it? No.

No, it's it for me. I don't know. They got to do something different there, though. Maybe that's it for Chan Gailey. Would you trade the fifth pick and Jalen Hurts for the fourth pick and Tua? Who says no?

Wait, who's who? Oh, Philly. So Philly gets Tua and the fourth pick. I could see that working. For Hurts and the fifth pick, and then Tua and Hurts are in a story together again. They're just linked forever. Yeah, fun one. Darnold and the Jets. together again. They just link forever. Yeah. Fun one.

Um, Darnold and the jets. Darnold was just awful today. I'm sitting there. I have two iPads and the hotel room TV. Did you bet the jets? You bet the jets. Then I didn't bet on the jets.

I had a million dollar. Oh yeah. That's where I saw you had them. Yeah. Right. I got nervous because it seemed like the pats were going to try. They couldn't figure it out. But Hench and I were saying it made sense because Belichick,

he wins on these first-round picks every year. So you might as well. What do you care if you're 10th or 15th? So anyway, they're running trick plays. They're down 14-7. They're running trick plays, throwing it back to Cam, trying to win. It's like, what are you guys doing? It was looking for a minute where Cam was going to have as many touchdown

receptions as he had touchdown passes on the year. That would have been fun. Even then I was close. Darnold was really bad. Yeah. If that was an audition for next year, he failed. Cam Newton. Is this it? Yeah. Right. Is this it for him as an NFL quarterback, as a starter? Cause I would say yes. I think only if he wants it to be,

I don't, I don't, I think it will have to be as cool as, Oh, as a starter, as a starter. I just don't think he's a starter anymore. Go back to Carolina.

I don't know what he could do. Yeah. I'm going through the teams in my head that aren't going to draft the quarterback. And yeah, that might be it for cam. I was on a thread with some Pats fans today trying to figure out if somebody made a

YouTube clip of every throw that Cam either badly underthrew or badly overthrew a receiver this year, how many throws would be on the clip? And it was the decision was somewhere between 120 and 150.

That's not true. Completely uncatchable passes. No. I'm just telling you. It's 10 a game. We said 8 a game. 8 a game. 15 starts was 8 a game.

It was easily 8 a game. Might have been 10. There were some games he only threw 12 passes, but you might be right. Probably 10 of them were bad. Their receiver drills this year, they have to teach the receivers to dive straight down when they're wide open

or jump way up to try to get like a finger on a pass. Our buddy Alec last Monday bet Cam to throw an interception. And he's like, I screwed up. He's just too inaccurate to throw an interception. He's just too bad.

He can't. He's throwing the defense off. His passes aren't anywhere close. Last one. Bill Belichick. Is this it? Nah. You don't see him leaving?

Nah, not like this. Okay. You think he's staying? He's staying, right? I think so, but it's also one of those things that if it was breaking, Bill Belichick retires or Bill Belichick steps back for a year, turns it over to Josh McDaniels. I can't say I'd be shocked.

Right. Do you think he thinks he could win the division next year? I don't know. They have $60 million in cap space. They have some good picks. And the problem is just the last couple drafts. But I don't know. All right.

It's time. We're going to do Guest Alliance. We'll take one more break, and then we're ready to go. The playoffs are my favorite time of year. Can't wait to bet all the action this weekend on FanDuel Sportsbook. If you've never tried FanDuel before, the playoffs are the perfect time to give it a shot. Right now, new users get an exclusive 25 to 1 odds boost

on any team to win during the wildcard round this weekend. That's right. 25 to 1 odds. Any team, the wildcard round this weekend. That's right. 25 to one odds, any team, any playoff game this weekend. Sal and I are about to break down all the playoff games. I would say safest bet is the Bucs against the NFC's Corpse. Just do the blind Bucs. Put them in. 25 to one odds. Great. Sounds awesome. Don't miss out on this exclusive offer. I've been betting football on FanDuel all season long. It's easy to register, easy to deposit, easy to find your bet, fast withdrawals when you win, a range of betting options, player pops, futures. Find whatever bet you're looking for. They have all of them. Easy to place your bet

fast during a game too if you see a trend you like, download the FanDuel Sportsbook app. Use promo code BS so they know I sent you FanDuel Sportsbook promo code. BS must be 21 plus present in Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, West Virginia, Indiana, Colorado, Iowa, Tennessee. New users only.

Must wager on designated boost market deposit required. Max bonus $125. See full terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling problem? Call 800-522-4700 in Colorado. 800 bets off in Iowa.

809 with it in Indiana. 800 Gambler in Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois. 800-889-9789 in Tennessee. 1800gambler.net in West Virginia. Oh, man. Well, we pushed for this idea for years. The seventh seed in each conference. Yeah.

Three playoff games in each conference. The big fair was what it would do to you psychologically, physically, and emotionally. Having that fifth and sixth game, the three a day. How are you feeling? You're five days away now. It's tough. That Eagles-Washington game that I didn't even care to watch

took a lot out of me, just the way it went down. So, no, I'm excited for three and three. That's going to be fun. There's a Sunday night playoff game next week. That's tremendous. And I picked the Shakey's game. This is better than hitting any parlay. I nailed the Shakey's game. Well, let's go.

Let's explain for the new listeners. The old listeners know what the Shakey's game is, but explain it. Well, Shakey's game is every year our West Coast football league that you got kicked out of and quit would celebrate. I didn um, would I left? Oh,

you left. Okay. Uh, we would do the banquet at Shakey's and that's where we would settle the finances. Now Shakey's is a, a dive pizza place. And the one in Hollywood is as divy as it gets with all kinds of

characters. And, uh, you, you should see it now. You should see that, that area. What do you mean now?

During the COVID era? Yeah. It was like Beverly Hills five years ago compared to right now. You should see that, that area. What do you mean now? During the COVID era. Yeah. Really? It was like Beverly Hills five years ago compared to right now. Yeah. Yeah. People setting up tents under the table. Like it's,

it's really, it's, it's, it's bad. It's messy. And of course we have enough money. Thank God to go anywhere. But we're like,

no, we're going to Shakey's. That's where we're eating. And we're watching the first playoff game, which is that Saturday. What time? So like 11. Oh no, it was Pacific time. Yeah. Pacific time. It's one. The best one was the Tebow Steelers game, I think was the greatest Shakey's game. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We had to do it a different day. Yes, it was. That was. Well, people tell us that was a night game, though. So I don't know. There were a few were a few of them though. The Ravens Patriots, right? It was one with Flacco Ravens, Broncos, Ravens, Broncos, Ravens, Broncos.

That was the long Flacco. Yes. That was the best, uh, Shakey's game. But anyway, so it's, but it's typically the worst, like, you know, Andy Dalton has appeared in the Shakey's game. Uh, Matt Schaub has appeared in the Shakey's game many times. It typically matches the least interesting game of the playoffs in the first round, right? There's a checklist and it's like, can we get an AFC South team in here?

Right. Is Andy Dalton or Matt Schaub playing? There's a couple things, but you kind of know it when you see it. Yeah. And this year we had a lot of trouble seeing it

because, you know, you would think the default would be the NFC East team would be the obvious Shakey's team. Sure. Cause they're just awful, but you know, they're playing Tampa Bay. Do you bury Tampa Bay on the Shakey's game? No. So what was your prediction? Not burying him.

Probably not putting Russ in there. Probably not putting breeze in there. Um, Brown Steelers, as weird as it is, I didn't think it was, that was in there. Probably not putting breeze in there. Um, Brown Steelers as weird as it is. I didn't think it was, that was going there. Um, and Rams in Seattle is on the West coast. So it wasn't going to be that one. So I settled on, uh, Indy at Buffalo and that's what it was. I thought it was going to be Pittsburgh Cleveland. You did because for a couple of reasons, one, that game's going to be awful. Um,

it'll be entertaining, but it'll just be poorly played. We just saw it this week. So it's like it basically the, the sequel seven days later. And I thought they might want to, uh, give Buffalo a little pusher. If Buffalo is going to be marketed as the real challenger.

Right. You know, to Casey, like I thought maybe they give him a little Sunday action or something. And Buffalo was the shakiest game last year. It was Buffalo-Houston. And Buffalo had like a 14-point lead or something. Houston came back and won that game.

But yeah, they like that game, Bill. That Pittsburgh, they're making a night game Sunday. So, Buffalo's home for the Indianapolis Colts. Guess the lines are 14th year together in the playoffs, but we've never had six games to maneuver and throw everything off. I was torn between going Buffalo minus seven and Buffalo minus six and a half. And I went back and forth and I went back and forth and I went back and forth and I landed at Buffalo minus seven against the Colts.

Are you going to get mad at me? Cause I had six and a half and that's what Fandel has. It has six and a half. Damn it. It's right there. If anything, I think it climbs a little bit. I'm not taking Indy.

That's a damn good first round game it's a good first round game that feels like a tease to me yeah normally we don't love teasing round one but we've never had six games to work with in round one i don't know will you walk keep keeping close like the uh the jags had the ball down six and the number one pick in their hip pocket and we're driving and about to just crush every money line parlay I've ever made in my life. And I was screaming at the top of my lungs and the Dolphins had a chance to get in. So as good as Jonathan Taylor is, as good as Rivers has been and everybody else defense, they almost didn't make it. Maybe that's a nice teaser game to start things off. The one thing I'll say about

Indy, positive I guess, is they are good in the first half. And then it's like they probably have less adjustments over the course of the game than any of these teams that we've watched. But I could see them hanging for the first half. But I could also see Buffalo

winning this game like 45 to 10. Because I think Buffalo might be that good. I think that Buffalo-San Francisco game was the game when I just looked at them differently after that game. They seemed so unstoppable that game and so in control of who they are. And Allen's really good. Yep.

Yeah, I mean, there was a minute where you thought Miami had them stacked up and then they like, you just, you know, Buffalo- Green Bay you can outplay them for one quarter it seems like and that's it right and then they get in their groove I am happy that Indy is in this

game and not Miami because I think if Miami was in this game what do you think the line would have been I would have said like Buffalo 10 and a half 10 yeah 10 10 and a half against Tua yeah I don't like the division games in the first round. If it so happens that they keep winning and they meet, you know, like we'll talk about, you know, Ram Seattle's next.

I don't know. I would rather not see this again. Yeah, it is more fun when it's two teams that would never normally play each other. All right, Ram Seattle, let's do that one. So it really seems like Goff might not play. Yeah. But they have to put a line on it because it's the playoffs. They want people to gamble. I'm

not sure how much of a difference Goff makes with the line, but because it's Wolford, I had to bump it a tiny bit. Seahawks four and a half over the Rams. Oh, you did bump it. All right. You get it. I said four and it is exactly four and a half. So you get that one. Oh.

What? Oh, I already mailed you the lines. It doesn't matter. I'm stuck at four. No, that's fine. Whatever you said. If you said four, it's fine, buddy. If you need to cheat, I feel like you have a lot in life. But four. No, no, it's fine. Whatever you said. If you said four, it's fine, buddy. If you need to cheat,

I feel like you have a lot in life, but if you need to cheat, that's fine. I'll do four. All right. Give me the four. All right, we'll take a tie there. Yeah, it's so funny because I thought they would give it a day

to see if golf was ready, and they put it up right away. They're like, no, it's okay. We're good. We're good. We've seen enough. Four and they put it up right away. And they're like, no, it's okay. We're good. We're good. We've seen enough four and a half. There it is. Vegas zone.

Yeah. So let's talk ourselves into the Rams here. The defense would have to win it. They'd have to get one special team, one weird special teams play. It would have to be what? Like a 17 to 16, 19 to 17, 15 to 10. Yeah. Which isn't too crazy because Seattle hasn't been lighting up the scoreboard except for when they beat the jets and they killed them. That was their last great game.

But the last couple of weeks, Hey, if you want to break it down, Ramsey's very good on Metcalf, right? Seattle doesn't have a running game that will expose the Rams. And Donald and Floyd and all those guys are exactly what we think they are every game. I'm going to have a hard time talking myself into Seahawks minus four. Yeah. Because I just don't love how they played.

But who knows? I remember your manifesto. And Wolford on the road. Against Russell Wilson. This is where it would fail somewhere, right? By Friday, you're looking at this and going, okay, what am I doing? It's Russell Wilson against John Wolford.

Don't get cute. I feel the same way about the Phil rivers game. It's Phil rivers on the road. Now, I don't know. Does the manifesto get thrown out when there's no fans or 10,000 fans? Interesting. How hard is it to go on the road? Seattle's what? Seven and one on the road at home. So are they, are they much better than that normally? Next one is Bucks-Washington. Here we go. Now we talked about this line for months. We said it was going to be 10 when the NFC winner was 2-6.

And now they've fought back to 6-10, whatever the frick the Giants are. Are they 6-10? Yeah. I don't the frick the giants are. Are they six and 10? Yeah. I don't even know where they are. What do you think? It's either nine and a half or 10 by the bucks. And I'm going to say, I think it has to be bucks by 10.

I said eight and a half and it And it's 7.5 Really? Yeah, now let me see Let me take a look I want to embarrass our friends at Fandle Oh my god Fandle, what are you doing? Well, I think it's everybody Who is taking

Washington for anything less than 10 points? Seven and a half. 46 and a half over on the... That's awful. There's our tease. Buffalo Bucks. I know. It seems like we should be able to get out of Saturday unscathed, right?

With that teaser. Did Washington show you anything that made you think they can win a playoff game today? No. We were terrified for Smith and how immobile he was and everything and thrown underneath. And there were some bad dudes in Tampa. Philly was tanking and still almost beat them. Well, their defense is good though, Washington, right? So could they be one of those teams that gives, you know,

the Tampa the happy feet? I don't know. I feel like he's in such a groove now. He got Antonio Brown a bonus. Did you see that? Yeah. The shuffle passes. I'll tell you this.

If Tampa loses to Washington, that's a disgrace. That's the worst playoff loss of his career. Wow. It really is. They're terrible. I guess his career. Wow. It really is. They're terrible. I guess it is. The whole division's terrible. They're terrible. Alex Smith can barely be a quarterback. That would be just horrendous.

We're going to have a lot of money on that game. Buffalo Bucks. Call that tease in now. All right. Sunday's games. This feels right. that early Sunday game. It's usually a banger. It's usually a physical game, Baltimore-Tennessee.

Yeah, right. I like this one. It's in Tennessee. And I looked at it, and I looked at it, and I looked at it, and I decided Baltimore should be favored. And I had Baltimore by one and a half. All right, you're going to crush me on this one. I said Tennessee's home. They're going to be favored. And I have Baltimore by one and a half. Are you going to crush me on this one? I said Tennessee's home.

They're going to be favored by two and let the betters figure it out from there. Baltimore is a hefty three and a half point favorite on the road. That's a repudiation of Tennessee's defense. And by the way, they're special teams too. That's the other thing. Now that we're in the playoffs,

like the special teams, if you're shaky with field goal kickers, it gets a hundred times shakier in that playoff footing. Right. All right. Here's my case for Tennessee.

Lamar Jackson. Well, first of all, it'll partly deal with your case. Who has Lamar beaten in the last few weeks? Okay. They're the most overhyped team, maybe. In a way, I get it.

Tennessee's secondary is amongst the worst. But a guy like Lamar might not be able to expose that. Not that he might not be able to, but he might not do it to the tune of 50 points, 42 points. So what you got is now you're playing on the road against the best player on the field. I know it's not like NBA, like you got to beat the best player on the court. So why am I taking them? But Derek Henry's the best player on that field getting three and a half at home. I'm going to think about this for a little bit.

I also like it. And you forgot the Ravens beat them earlier. They're lost to them earlier in the year. Right. And lost to them last year. Well, yeah. So I don't know. Does that serve as a motivating factor?

Yeah, I'm with you. I think this is going to be close. Also, Tennessee home dog. Mm-hmm. I like it when somebody's defensive weakness doesn't match up with the other team's offensive weakness. Right.

You know what I mean? Yeah. Baltimore not great at winging it. Mm-hmm. Tennessee, You know what I mean? Yeah. Baltimore not great at winging it. Tennessee, you beat them by winging it. So I think that favors the defense more than the offense, weirdly. Yeah. You could be right. Listen, I think Tennessee loses one of the next two games.

Their defense will crush them, one of them. It might not be this one. So if we're going dogs to win outright, because the rule in the playoffs is don't pick the team unless you think they can win the game outright. Yeah. Indy, Rams, Washington, Tennessee. Tennessee by far looks like the most logical to win the game outright out of this one.

Yeah, home. Yeah. Well, yeah, I guess Washington's home too. But yeah, Tennessee. Next one, Saints-Bears, which was a stealth possibility for the Shakey's game, if you really think about it. Drew Brees and his 11 broken ribs, Trubisky,

that would have been fine to start the weekend with. I went Saints by 8. Yeah, you get this. I went very light here. I said 6. It's 8.5. So you're going to get that one. Alright, so we have three teasers.

Any finagling here with the league? I mean, they swore. We got to a point where, well, if they play Saturday, Kamara can't play. If they play Sunday, he could probably play. And now, like, under no circumstances are we going to let the schedule dictate where we put these guys, you know? and now here they are on a Sunday.

But I think for some reason they like putting the saints on Sundays though. Like this felt like a Sunday game to me. Right. I guess. I mean, you said it could have been Shakey's, but yeah, I guess. Brady, Brady always plays Saturday night. That's right. They locked that one down. And if Buffalo Indy was the shakiest game, then it could have either been Saints-Bears or Seahawks-Rams for that middle slot. Saturday afternoon.

Right. All right. I'm surprised they didn't make this the night game. Because the night game is Pittsburgh-Cleveland. I'm surprised Pittsburgh-Cleveland is the Sunday night game. I know. You thought it was the worst game. You thought they were going to buryand. I'm surprised Pittsburgh-Cleveland is the Sunday night game. I know. You thought it was the worst game. You thought they were going to bury it.

I did think that was the game I was the least excited about. Every other scenario, Seahawks-Rams. I'm not sold right now on this Sunday night on the Saints definitely winning that game. I think you started to talk about teasers, but we know they're going to screw us one of these games. Well, that's what I was going to ask you. Buffalo minus

seven? What do you mean? Six and a half. Buffalo's minus six and a half? Six and a half, yeah. Bucks are minus seven and a half. Saints are minus eight. One of those three is not covering a tease. Can we just enjoy Saturday and watch the game Sunday?

Say, hey, look at our teaser. Buffalo, Tampa Bay. We did it. I'm not betting on Trubisky. All right. Walk me through your emotions today as you realize you bet on Mitch Trubisky. At what point of the game

did you start hating yourself? No, it was all bad. But right now, it's Steelers holding a six. What if Breeze has those Khalil Max all over him, and he's throwing four-yard outs the whole game? And Alvin Kamara, I know you don't want to talk about him just yet, but he's not going for four or five, six touchdowns. What if it's one of those weird games? Like 24-20. I if it's one of those weird games?

24-20. It's like a tragedy. You don't think I would even bring it up yet. He ruined my fantasy season. I know. I'm sorry. I don't know. I think it's like 24-20 in the fourth quarter. That was one of the shows I was watching. The guy was like, God, I forget who it was.

It was one of the pregame shows. The guy was like, I don't think Sean Payne gets enough credit. I don't know why he's not in the coach of the year conversation. I'm like, well, I have some ideas. They have like a top five payroll. They moved all of their chips into this season, and their record is right around where they thought it should be when they have an old injury-prone quarterback.

Hey, can I ask you something? Speaking of pregame, good things that everybody says. When can we say things like you know, like Haskins is caught at a strip club. When can we say things like now I don't know what's going through that

young man's mind. I'm rooting for that young man. How old do you and I have to be? Can we say it now? I think we're close. When do you turn 50? July. When do you turn 50?

I think we're both 50. Next season. All right, good. That young man has a lot to learn. And believe me, I'm rooting for that young man. And what he did was wrong. But that young man has to learn that you put football over your private life. But that's part of being a young

man. It really is the kid gloves era. Nobody is just like Haskins. What a fucking bozo. Nobody would say that on a show. It's always got to be couched and there's got to be hope. And it's like, well, maybe the guy's just a jackass. Yeah. Well, you know, you say young man,

that makes you feel like paternal, like you're looking out for him. Then you can say all the bad things you want. I like that. Last one. Pittsburgh, Cleveland. I looked at this for a long time too. I was trying to figure out a way to get this to Pittsburgh minus three and a

half. And I just couldn't do it. And I went with Pittsburgh minus three. It is four and I said three't do it and I went with Pittsburgh minus three. It is four and I said three and a half. So I get that. So I went. I'm mounting a tiny bit of a comeback here. What is this?

Nine, seven, two. Congrats. They're 18 weeks. I don't know about that game. That might just be, I'm exhausted. Let's just watch this game and try to look ahead to the following week.

I never feel confident in Mayfield ever. Even though he put up 42 points against the Ravens the other day. How many weeks ago? Three? I thought that team looked super tight in the second half of that Steelers-Br Browns game. Didn't you? Well,

Baker, that young man now, listen, you could do all the commercials you want, but that young man at some point has to focus on football. Who's, who's going to be next year's Baker, the guy who's in six commercials.

Then we're trying to wonder how it happened. I don't know. I saw Justin Herbert. I saw Baker and Dak back to back. I don't know if there's a backup rotation for these commercials or something, but it is weird how it seems to be the Madden curse all of a sudden.

Oh, we didn't... Bucks watched him. We didn't talk about the Evans injury. Oh, right. Yeah. That looked bad when it happened. His knee just went the wrong way. And it looked like a torn ACL.

But now they're saying there was no structural damage. So I don't know if that means he... What was his deal? Did they try to get by? We were talking about this last week. He was in in the fourth quarter when they were just demolishing. He was trying to get 1,000 yards. He did.

Trying to get 1,000. He had, what, 960 going into today? So he's playing more today. He got it. He got it. He's the most injured. Seven straight 1,000 yard seasons. Yeah. So he got it. But it's just unlucky for him. I guess

you want to get those records and economy's bad. You got to hit those milestones and get the bonuses. But no one gets hurt more than him. Those records are weird because they seem to mean a lot to people. And then it's same thing with like the ring where it's like, got to get that ring. It means so much. And then you go on like any sports auction site every week, everybody's selling all their rings. Can I sell my record of

seven straight thousand year season? Well, these bonuses are weird. So we look at Schefter on Sunday morning, and he's like, these guys are out week 17. And it's like a list of 50 fantasy players, right? It makes up most of the first nine rounds if you do a snake draft in fantasy. But then I was looking at it. I was trying to look like Tom Brady, if he's finished in the top five in quarterbacks,

he gets a bonus. I'm like, all right, I'm going to bet some of his props over. But then there are some weird ones like Seattle got the onside kick and they didn't have to throw, right? They won the game. They got the onside kick. The Niners had lost. They threw to David Moore so that he could have 35 catches and get his bonus. Like they had the game in hand and they threw, they just had to kneel down and the owner must be like, Whoa, the hell's going on here. What's in the saints game?

Sanders caught his eighth pass and he was celebrating. Like he was at the end of Jerry Maguire. It's so funny. I would like to see like a, just a string out of all of those. Yeah. There should actually be like at least a Twitter feed where we can, we can see what things are.

All right. Let's rank the games. Least excited to most excited. Which one are you the least excited for out of these six? Oh, man. Chicago, New Orleans? You're going to say Cleveland, Pitt. I think for me, it's Bucs-Washington

because I really think Washington's bad. Okay. And it's either a pad-to-stats game or something horrible would have to happen for the Bucs. I'm just trying to figure out a scenario where the Washington's up 14-3 or something, and I don't see it. I think the Bucs' defense is... I just don't see it. I don't see how why shouldn't be able to score

like how many points they need to score to beat this Tom Brady offense right now. Also, that'll be the third game of the day. We'll be a little worn out already thinking ahead to the Sunday games. Yeah. Gotcha. Um, it feels like a chase game too for people. Is this going to be, you've now had a year of Tom game too for people. Is this going to be, you've now had a year of Tom Brady on another team. Is this another level? Is this going to be another hold your heart? Like, oh no,

I've not seen him play a playoff game without a Patriots jersey. Or are you? No. You're okay. I'm just, my whole focus right now is making sure the Celtics don't trade for James Harden.

That's all I care about. He trade, if we lost Mookie Betts and Jalen Brown in a calendar year, I would be inconsolable. Why? What do you care? I love Jalen Brown. I want to root for Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum for the next 10 years. That's all I want.

They already got rid of Mookie. Mookie was supposed to be in my life until I was in my mid-60s. Now he's in the fucking Dodgers. I want Tatum and Brown to be on the same team. Just keep those guys together and let's compete. I'm so tired of this fucking NBA. You talk about a competitor. That young man is a competitor to that Jason Tatum.

And that young man, Jalen Brown, also a competitor. Just keep those two. We just want to root for those two guys. Just keep them. I think you're right. So those three games, right? So whatever order you have them in, but Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Tampa, Washington, and Chicago, New Orleans are at the bottom three.

So I think most exciting is Baltimore, Tennessee. Yes. That's a great game. Yeah. And I'm more excited for Saints Bears than you are because Trubisky is fun no matter what happens. All right. He's like, I don't knowisky is fun no matter what happens. All right. He's like, uh,

I don't know, pick, pick your craziest family member at Thanksgiving. Right. It could just go in any direction. Yeah. Yeah. He's like when we FaceTime my uncle Ricky at like seven at night after he's had two glasses of wine. It's just, I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm excited. And, uh, same thing for Trubisky. All right. Just be careful. They could be up 17-3. Don't have too much on the Saints. Well, let me give you this gambling scenario that I think we should all be careful of. As you know, the night game is the chase game.

You've been saying this forever. Bucks-Washington. The chase move would be, I got to win some money back. I'm teasing the Bucks with the Saints the next day. Oh, I see. And the Saints will just assume all of the Saturday chase money plus the residual Sunday money. The other thing I worry about is Tennessee,

too many people being on that as the underdog sleeper. I was just going to say the other thing. If I had a Saturday night chase, I would do Tampa and Tennessee plus nine and a half, I think. I wouldn't touch New Orleans. All right, last question. This is the most important one before we do Parent Corner. As we know, as we've established year after year,

Kyle, you might have to get the video going. Tell the social team. Press record for this part. As we know, there's one factor that's more important than the playoffs than any other factor. It's the most dominant force in football. It is the nobody believes in us factor.

Every round, it rears its ugly head with somebody. So who is going to be the nobody believes in us team in round one? Because we're going to have one. Does that mean they win or just that nobody believes?

It means they win. And then they go to the guy right after the game and he's defiant and he's like, nobody believed in us except the guys in that locker room and he does the whole thing.

So it's going to happen. It's going to be one of these teams. And if you go process of elimination, it It's going to be one of these teams. And if you go process of elimination, it's not going to be anybody in Pittsburgh, Cleveland. Bears, maybe. Tennessee, maybe. Washington, definite candidate.

I don't know about the Rams. I was thinking the Colts had some nobody believes in us potential. But they have to win, right? They'd have to win. Listen, we both love Buffalo, but I'm just pointing out. We just said they're the team to beat. We can't kick them out in the first round. Exactly. This is why they have nobody believes in us potential.

Who is picking the Colts? Who's taking them this week? Who's taking them? Buffalo's a cross off already. This is great. No. I'm just saying, who's picking the Colts this week? Even Clay Travis.

You work with Clay Travis, who's a lunatic. He's not taking the Colts. No, he probably just saying who's picking, who's picking the Colts this week. Even Clay Travis, you work with Clay Travis, who's a lunatic. He's not taking the Colts. No, he probably won't take them. Who's saying like, you know, I love the Colts to win outright. Maybe a person who's saying that. I don't think so, but let me just put it this way. And the Bears would be the other one. The spread won't indicate this, but I think the Browns for as long as they don't win a

playoff game is that no one believes in us team. I don't care that the spread is three and a half or four, but if they go to Pittsburgh, they're listening to idiots like us. They're like, ah, the Steelers toyed with them. They let them in. They were two point conversion away from winning that game, knocking them out.

Like you talk about a chip on your shoulder. I think it's the Browns. It'll always be the Browns until they actually win one. You just don't think the Steelers are that good. Baker's been in five commercials. It's hard to say nobody believes in him when he's like America's number one spokesman. I guess the Rams, if Wolford was the QB,

nobody's actually going to pick them if it's Wolford, and then their defense could win the game single-handedly. They've been to the Super Bowl a couple years ago, though. It's the Colts. The Colts are the team. I still like Buffalo. I'm just pointing it out. It's the most dominant force every round in the playoffs and the Colts

Colts have that kind of shine to them. All right. That's it for round ones. I'm going to say Browns, the Browns. Okay. Yeah. The good news is you get to have the same conversation over and over

again on your nine podcasts and on, on a Fox bet live every day. to have the same conversation over and over again on your nine podcasts and on Fox Bet Live every day. And you just get to look at these games over and over. You could have warned me, asshole, that I was spreading myself too thin. You could have warned me. How dare you? I did warn you, motherfucker.

Alright, it's time for Parent Corner brought to you by CarMax, America's number one used car retailer. Whether you're buying or selling, our friends at CarMax are on your side. With the seven-day money brought to you by CarMax, America's number one used car retailer. Whether you're buying or selling, our friends at CarMax are on your side. With the seven-day money-back guarantee at CarMax, you've got a full week to decide if it's the right car for you or simply return it for a full refund, no questions asked. And if it's time to sell,

stop by CarMax today to get a custom offer on your car, leave with payment in hand, or take a week to think it over. Car buying, car selling, the way it should be. CarMax. Check them out today. CarMax.com. All right. Parent Corner, you have the floor, Sal. All right. I have the floor. How do I want to start this? Okay. So my youngest son, Harrison, better known as Harrisel, his Christmas is December 25th his birthday is december 30th right so there's that weird thing now he loves it he loves it gets gifts and then he gets gifts a few days

later and he comes to us like on the 28th and says oh well you know santa didn't bring me my vr and i i just that's the only thing i want for my birthday and my wife and i are looking at each other like what i didn't we didn't see vr his many lists. What the hell is that? What is that? And the VR, you know what the VR is? The virtual reality thing. It's those glasses. You put them on and you're either in some kind of field or you're fighting someone or it's all different life. And it's kind of like the Wii used to be, I think. Right. But it's very physical. And then at the same time, other people could watch what you're seeing on the computer.

So he wants this VR. He's a little young for the VR. So my wife's calling now. Now we can't deny him the VR, right? Little spoiled brat. But there's one VR within an hour's drive. And she has to go to some Target in Hawthorne.

I don't know what it was, almost an hour away, wherever it was. And she gets it it and we have it for his birthday the 30th and then on new year's eve the kids are playing it and they're boxing and uh they're celebrating they're beating a boxer and whatever and i'm like all right let me try it and uh so i put it on and first of all these things they get so sweaty it's ridiculous you know um know? Um, and, uh, we, I, I put it on and now I'm boxing this guy and they're like, Oh, you want to go against the champion? I'm like, yeah, sure. I don't care. That's the guy you guys have been fighting. I'm like, yeah. So I go against him and he knocks me down in two punches and now they're laughing

at me. Right. And it's three, three minute rounds. Yeah. And, uh, and I'm like, I gotta get up here. So I get up and I fight and I'm, you have to throw punches. Like, you know, every second, every second half, you have to throw like combinations to like, to, to deflect freaking die. I was like, I was in really bad shape. Yeah. And the kids are laughing at me and I'm like, it's worse if I quit. Right. If I just put the game down, I quit. And I really had like a real Rocky moment. I got knocked down four times. I got up every time I'm not physically getting knocked down, but I'm exhausted from throwing punches. And, um, and I third round with a minute left, I'm like, I really felt like I was going to have a heart attack. I'm like, what's worse. If I have a heart attack on new year's Eve in front of these kids, but this VR that we've tried so hard to get, or if I just quit now and I toughed it out and, uh, and I,

and I got it and I, and I made it through the round and I ran and I almost threw up. I was like by the toilet. Like, Oh, I was like that out of it, out of shape for nine minutes of boxing where nobody's really throwing any punches back at me. And I didn't get to see any balls drop because I had, I had to go right to bed afterwards. So there you go. That was your New Year's Eve.

That was it. Yeah. The VR and the New Year's Eve and, uh, don't get the VR. Just have kids play kids games. The VR and the New Year's Eve and don't get the VR. Just have kids play kids games and that's that. You dying while playing a VR game that you got for your seven-year-old kid, I think really would have, I wouldn't have had that in the pool. And then the Met and then the Cowboys blow it for me. That would have, in my honor, that would have been terrific. I spent my New Year's Eve thinking about you, thinking you were going to send out the Codys.

Oh, yeah. He did the character of the year every year, but you haven't done it in the last two years because you've been too busy. Yeah. But we can say Corolla would have won. Right? He's doing well.

Yeah. Corolla. He did great this year. Dr. Drew tried to steal it from him in the last week, but strong campaign by Corolla. Nice. Much like Aaron Rogers. Nobody thought he could do it at his age,

but he certainly did. Well, let's put it this way. My friend, Ken married a 22 year old woman this year and he didn't, he didn't sniff first place. Cause of Corolla. No.

And Dixon, who's normally an unbelievable Cody candidate every year, he was just in hibernation hiding from COVID. And I thought had his quietest campaign. He opted out. He basically opted out of the Cody's. Yeah. Daniel had a good year.

Yeah. Daniel's always good. All right. So my parent corner. So I probably get Cody points for this I'm in Arizona because my daughter's playing in the soccer tournament which we were you know it was a big decision

for the Simmons family do we want to be in a soccer tournament during the COVID era and there's a lot of safety precautions the parents have masks on the sidelines when the kids come out of the game, they put masks on anybody who has a child. Who's an athlete has faced this conundrum,

right? I think it's, if it's basketball and it's indoors, maybe it's, it gets a little dicier volleyball. It's a lot more germs, stuff like that. The soccer got to say it.

I'm not saying it's safe, but you know, at some point my daughter just wants to play soccer. That's what she wants to do. She hasn't played in forever. So she's in this tournament. So we go to Arizona. We drive six hours on Thursday.

And tournament's still going, by the way. There's semifinals tomorrow. And the catch was that we just got this puppy. And this puppy is, is basically Marley and me, the real life dog. This dog is a lunatic, eats three full bowls.

Every, his name's Murph talked about him a couple of previous parent corners, eats three full bowls of food. He's chewing everything. Two of the dogs have so much disdain for him. It's unbelievable. Jesse has kind of is the only one that's friendly with him. And so I was a little afraid to leave him with my wife

because he'll wake up at 1.30, then he'll wake up at 3, then he'll wake up at 5. Neither of us have slept for like two weeks. And my wife's starting to lose it. So anyway, Friday night I called. Zoe, her team had won this game. I call.

I'm all excited and my wife's full meltdown oh no where remember the last kid you had was 7 years ago but when they hit that when the wife hits that point with the baby where it's just like their whole world's

crashing down they haven't got enough sleep they have nowhere to turn somehow it's your fault because you decided you wanted to have the baby with her whole world's crashing down. They haven't gotten enough sleep. They have nowhere to turn. Somehow it's your fault because you decided you wanted to have the baby with her. It's like, you're getting blamed. It's like, what did I do? We decided to have the baby together. Yeah, but you were the one who wanted it. And they start having that stuff. And she's just berating me about this puppy and you wanted this and this is it. Now I'm not sleeping. And you know, I, I'm too old to do this. I have huge bags under my eyes and I'm losing my mind. And she just starts like bawling on the FaceTime.

I'm like, I just wanted to tell you about, uh, that's always game. And, uh, the dog was just breaking her down emotionally. And she's like, we might have to get rid of them. I just, I can't do this. And I'm like, you can't, this dog's like the best thing that happened in 2020 for me. You're not getting rid of the dog. So we're fighting, um, call an hour and a half later. She's fine.

Really? Murph's asleep. He's great. Here's a picture of him. It was like, it's honestly, it's like having a kid again. It's all the same beats of having the baby in your house when there's no sleep and not

enough help. And it's just completely unraveling. So anyway, it's weird because you're calling with good news, but you're with the other kid, right? It's not like you're at a J-Bug's bachelor party or anything, right? So you're like, Hey, what? I mean, where there been scenario where you stayed home with the dog and she went to arizona or this is just yeah that could have happened i would have i would have been fine with it i i think i enjoyed the soccer probably right more right but for me

it's been so much fun just to watch yeah games and feel normal but at the same time let me tell you something that young lady has a lot of heart okay well i, the parents all have masks on the sidelines. Like it's not, not weird. Right. You know? And it's like, Hey, we barely, she's on a new team. So we barely know like anybody on the team. And it's just like, Hey, what's happening. And it's just all of it's weird. And then they come out and they put a mask on when they're out and, you know, it's all safe and there's hand sanitizer and she gets in the car and she's hand sanitizing. But at the same time, at least she's playing something,

but man, what a fucking weird, it is strange. I was looking like we're getting less and less, but the numbers are worse. But remember like in late March, the first time you got in your car since the, and you're like terrified to touch your steering

wheel. Like, and now we're kind of going back to that a little bit. I don't know. And then there's Mar-a-Lago all around us too, when you look. So it's really two different worlds. I don't even, I feel like inadequate as a parent. I don't even know how to give advice anymore to the kids on any of it. The biggest thing we did in Arizona was we went to Raising Cane's, which I hadn't done before. Raising Cane's is considered, it's kind of like the sleeper. It's the camp of people are like, oh, you think Chick-fil-A is good. You've never had Raising Cane's.

Oh, Cane's. Right. I saw that thing for that. Yeah. Is it good? So half hour line, no matter where it is, you can only order four things.

They, it's like a sandwich and then three different box things. So it's one of those places that it's like the old Mike Lombardi joke about the offensive coordinator that has the diner menu and there's too many plays versus like the, the offensive coordinator is just like, we do these five things. Well,

right. And that's where you want to eat. So raising canes is like, do these five things well, and that's where you want to eat. So raising canes is like, we do these things well, and that's it. You're going to get chicken fingers. I like that. There's going to be Texas toast. The fries were bad, but the Texas toast is really good. You could take the toast and put it with the chicken fingers. So that was really good.

So that was the food highlight. Other than that, it's like you can do anything when you're on a trip because you can't go anywhere. A graphic went around this week that had state by state everyone's favorite chicken joint. And Raising Cane's won like 35 states. And I then made a mock-up one because it became apparent to me that Raising Cane's was behind this whole thing,

putting their name on 35 of the states. Oh, interesting. I made one for favorite sports sites and I put extra points there and the ringer one, like Arizona and Montana. I'm like, nice job ringer where to compete. But, uh, but yeah, and one California raising canes and I've been all over California. I technically live here and I've not seen one. Have you seen one out here? It's at least an hour from us. But there are. Once you get toward the Palm Springs area,

there's some. Really? So I thought the chicken was actually better than Chick-fil-A. Wow. Yeah, like by a hair. It's like by a last-minute field goal. The sauce was better.

And I like the Texas toast. But the Chick-fil-A, way better. The fries, no contest. And then they have milkshakes and stuff like that. Yeah, right. So Chick-fil-A has almost all the side stuff and the chicken, it's not really a difference. So I still

have Chick-fil-A ahead of them. I love Chick-fil-A. The family's turned on us and they go Popeye's now. Really? When did that happen? Popeye, I don't know. Just like in the last month or so. Popeye's over Chick-fil-A. That's just bored. That's like when people were bored of picking MJ to win the MVP

or something. That could be it. Chick-fil-A is still... I think Chick-fil-A across the board is probably... It's rock solid. I still don't like that they're not open on Sundays. Every Sunday, I'm like, I still go to DoorDash. I'm like, oh, shit. I forget that I can't order it. It's a bummer.

Slap in the face. Chick-fil-A is not open on Sundays and have offended large swaths of our population for various things. And yet we still go. I know. It's really good. I know. But yeah, Raising Cane's was good.

It was worth going. So anyway, yeah. Four-day father-daughter trip. And you might be there another two days? No, driving back tomorrow. Both semifinals and finals tomorrow? I'm minus... Yeah, it could be semifinals and finals tomorrow.

I'm minus 150 for a speeding ticket on the way home. Oh, yeah. And if they make the finals and then it's like a drive after that, I could be minus 300. You're crazy. You're a crazy driver. You have these two-hour stretches where it's just straight.

Right. And there's no cars. But then the cops can hide in their little areas. She had a game at 9 o'clock on one of the days. And we had to get there at like 8.15. And we're driving down this long road. And it's not really action packed on a Saturday at nine o'clock, whatever it was. And there are these two people on one of the corners with huge Trump signs and they're just waving the Trump signs. Like, you know how you would do it

when you're trying to pull somebody into your store or something. Right. And they're just waving the signs that all the cars that are going by, It was like 7.48 in the morning or something. I'm like, oh man, Arizona. Live it up. Live it up to its reputation as just being wacky. Does she get mad when you speed? Or does she even,

is her head like down on the phone watching? I don't speed. I'm not as crazy if she's in the car. If it was me by myself, I don't know what would happen. I'd be like Marty McFly. Yeah. Well, that young lady. That young lady's got a lot of character.

That's right. All right. That was Parent Corner brought to you by CarMax, America's number one used car retailer, car buying, car selling, the way it should be. Check them out today at CarMax.com. All right, Sal. What do you have to plug?

You're going to be on like 45 shows this week? Yeah, you'll hear exactly the same thing I said tonight on Extra Points tomorrow with Dave Damoshek and Charlotte Wilder. We got the Lemon Pepper Parley guys. Wait, can I give you advice? Please. Just to mix it up because it's the next day.

Yeah. Just be the heel with the Steelers. Yeah, okay, yeah. But then it ends up being like a whole show doing that. What the hell? You know what I'm dealing with. Don't you think that's what we end up doing? Like 40 minutes on Big Ben.

But yeah, we'll talk about the Steelers for 40 minutes. And then you got the waiver wire with Jerry and Jen and Against All Odds crew on Tuesday. Lots of football, lots of gambling. We hit it. We hit the fun time of year, right? Well, speaking of gambling, we have noticed that seemingly every day in the NBA,

I think it has been every day this week, one big underdog has won outright. Oh, who was it today? And we're trying to figure out. Today was... Wizards Nets? What was it? Wizards Nets.

Yeah, the Wizards were like plus nine. They were like plus 350. We're trying to figure out the reasons for this and I think I think Rusillo thinks it's empty arenas, which is a theory I've heard and I don't think he's wrong on that. There's a really weird energy in

these arenas with the no fans and it was different in the bubble because they made the bubble this confined like AAU type of thing right but now they're playing in real nba arenas and there's nobody there and they can try to dress it up however they want but it's a fucking empty 18 000 seat stadium and i think it's really screwing up these lines and so we look today and there was a bunch of big underdogs and i texted you in house and hench and i was like yeah one of these are going to hit, and one of them hit.

But it's just something to watch every day, day after day. We should watch for it. It bummed me out that the New Year's Day game, eight out of nine went under. Everyone was hungover and shooting bricks. Oh, my God. What the hell? We have to remember that for next year.

Hungover doing what? You can't go anywhere. I don't know. You stay in your room and open kvass. I don't know. You stay in your room and open kvass. Yeah. I don't know what everyone drinks anymore. Listen, I don't want to judge these young men. I don't know what's going through that young man's head. I can't wait till July. We got to say it unironically. It's going to be fun. I should mention nobody offered to adopt Kyle's bunnies this past week. Oh, really?

Yeah. So that didn't work. I heard some extra stories about Kyle's bunnies that he may have purposely left out. I won't mention them today, but that was... What were the stories? Well, I don't know. Did Jim Cunningham tell you one? Yes, he did. He did.

What was it? I mean, Kyle, you could obviously cut this, but I think one of the bunnies ate the other. There was a bunny cannibalism? No, he's wrong. Kyle. Well, that's a weird specific thing to make up. He texted me about this. Yeah, it was weird. Kyle. He must have misunderstood

me. Are you sure? I promise you. I promise. Kyle, do bunnies eat each other? I think if they're dead, they do. I think that's what I might have been telling him. If you leave a dead one in there, maybe. But it didn't happen. It didn't happen.

I feel better now. Well, now he made the Bill Simmons podcast. Good for him. Do you and Jim Cunningham talk about bunny cannibalism once a week? Or what's the schedule out there? That's because he thinks it's funny. But he talks. He reminds me about my rabbit all the time.

I think they complain about us. And once in a while, they'll veer into bunny talk. I think that's because he thinks it's funny but he talks he reminds me about my rabbit all the time I think they complain about us and once in a while they'll veer into bunny talk I think that's what happens Kyle how dare you complain about me yeah don't complain about us Kyle Jesus alright

Sal pleasure as always can't wait to text you 10,000 times next weekend good job on you good job on you belly Good job out of you. Good job out of you, Billy.