The Bill Simmons Podcast - The Cowboys, Thanksgiving, 'Survivor Series,' and Week 12 Lines With Cousin Sal | The Bill Simmons Podcast (Ep. 444)

Episode Date: November 19, 2018

HBO and The Ringer's Bill Simmons is joined by Cousin Sal to discuss the surging Cowboys, Steelers-Jaguars, Bengals-Ravens, and the 2018 NFL playoff picture, before guessing the NFL lines for Week 12. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tonight's episode of the Bill Simmons Podcast on the Ringer Podcast Network is brought to you, as always, by ZipRecruiter, our presenting sponsor. You know what's not smart? Counting out the Dallas Cowboys, apparently. Oh my God. This is going to be the giddiest Cousin Sal's ever been on a podcast, I think. You know what else is the smart job sites that overwhelm you with tons of the wrong resumes? There's a smart way. Fortunately, at ZipRecruiter.com slash BS, they find people with the right skills for your job. They actively invite them to apply. Right now, my listeners can try ZipRecruiter for free at ZipRecruiter.com slash BS. ZipRecruiter, the smartest way to hire. Meanwhile, SeatGeek is still the best app for buying and selling tickets to sporting events, concerts, and more.

We have some holiday stuff coming up. Thanksgiving, Christmas, a lot of games. For $20 off your first SeatGeek purchase on any game or sporting event, use promo code BS. Download the SeatGeek app or go right to SeatGeek.com. We're also brought to you by TheRinger.com, the world's best website, as well as The Ringer Podcast Network, which has podcasts for just about everything you can imagine, including two relatively new ones. The Big Picture, Sean Fennessey's movie podcast named after the late William Goldman. We launched that podcast last month. William Goldman, a friend of mine, great writer, passed away last week.

We are not going to talk about him today on the podcast, but I do have something special planned for later in the week for that. So stay tuned for that. The other podcast we have is Villains, hosted by Shea Serrano. We put up the first one last week. People like it. Everyone likes it, but Tate Frazier. Tate Frazier hates it. He wants us to get rid of it. So stay tuned on that. Their feud continues. Kevin O'Connor also hates it. Anyway, villains and the big picture are two newest

podcasts. We have another one that we're going to announce this week. I'm excited about. It involves a sport that's played with a round orange ball called basketball. Details to come this week. Coming up, we're going to call the Cuzz. We're going to talk about Survivor Series. We're going to talk about the NFL and even a little basketball bets and some parent corner and all the usual stuff. But first, our friends from Pro Chat.

All right, on the line, as always on Sunday nights, the Cuz, Cousin Sal, he is one of the hosts of Lock It In on FS1. He is the host of the Against All Odds podcast, the world's greatest gambling podcast on the Ring of Podcast Network. More importantly, he's the number one fan of the red hot, resurgent, charging Dallas Cowboys. Holy shit, Cuz. Two straight weeks, you're happy on the Sunday BS Report. BS Podcast.

What is this? Is this the BS Podcast? This is stupid. Now I'm ready to talk about Jimmy Butler. I feel like this is bad luck talking about the Cowboys to start. Let's do it. No, we're doing it. It's going to be in the lead in the subject when I promote the podcast, everything. The surging Dallas Cowboys.

Oh, yeah. It's happening. It's kind of weird. It really is is and then everything's lined up for Thanksgiving they win there in first place I mean I guess tied technically for first place and um up against Colt McCoy who's beaten us before four years ago I believe it was on a Monday night is that true this team yeah yeah they beat us on Monday night it was a weird weird game that was a good too. That was a good Cowboys team. But, yeah, I don't know what's going on.

Zeke is playing with purpose. This Vanderash seems to be the steel of the draft on defense. Prescott's not killing us, and more importantly, Garrett's not killing us. So, you left out the most important thing that happened in the playoff pursuit.

It was that Alex Smith broke his tibia and his fibula. That sounds like the worst possible broken leg injury you can have. We always have the Gordon Hayward type of injuries, but when you basically break the two major bones in your leg and you're in your mid-30s, I'm not sure he comes back from that. I feel bad for him. I don't, I just think to have that injury at this stage of your career, like Theismann never played again. Yeah, that sucks. And I met them. They said, I hadn't seen it live. And they said he suffered the most gruesome injury, a quarterback. And I was like, well, that's not even the most gruesome injury. The Redskins quarterback has ever endured. And then I saw it. I was like, well, that's not even the most gruesome injury the Redskins quarterback has ever endured.

And then I saw it. I was like, oh, boy. Poor bastard. He leaves the Chiefs. The Chiefs are going to score 700 points this year. And now this happens. Colt McCoy steps in. Colt McCoy, career record as a starter, 7-18.

He has started four games since 2011. All came in the 2014 season. He was 1-3 on the Redskins. For his career, 26 TDs, 23 interceptions. He's not good. And the Redskins aren't good either. It's weird to say this, but at 6-4, I almost want to cross them off.

I know we can't because I think 8-8 could win the NFC East. But man, it's hard not to cross off a team that stuck with Colt McCoy for the last six games of the season, basically. Plus, they really drew the short straw. And they have guys coming in. Hold on. They have E.J. Manuel. They have T.J. Yates coming in. They have Mark Sanchez. All these guys will be working out.

Colin Kaepernick. Poor Colin. He's by the phone just waiting for it. He thought this might be it. By the way, and I know it makes sense now, but what year is it going to be like, all right, enough with the Colin Kaepernick thing. We haven't seen him throw a ball in 11 years. Like 2023, will people still be saying,

why is Colin Kaepernick not in there? Well, I mean, that would be the one way to flip the Thanksgiving storyline, right? Because Thursday is just going to be this Dallas coronation party. Jerry's going to be like a pig in shit. Colt McCoy is going to be terrible. But if they sign Kaepernick, the networks would have like a Thanksgiving heart attack

before all of our Thanksgiving heart attacks. They would just show him. It would be a split screen of the game with Kaepernick on the sidelines with the headset on just the whole time. It probably is worth just doing it just for that. I wonder if Fox would even show the game. I mean, Fox News wouldn't show it. I hate to call this a break because of what happened to Alex Smith.

It's just kind of awful. But you have this combination. Dallas wins and the Redskins lose their quarterback. And now you get to play them basically three and a half days after this happens. It's the absolute perfect time to play them on a Thursday. All the momentum's going your way. I could feel it in the, in the owner's box of Jerry. There was, the fist pumps were a little, there was an extra vigor coming from him.

I felt like. Yeah. I don't think he knows what's going on still. But yeah, and whatever injury Carson Wentz suffered today, that's going to help the Cowboys too. I mean, I know physically he probably didn't, but geez, these guys just seem to be falling apart at the right time for the Cowboys. Carson Wentz, I really wonder if they should have pushed him to come back when he came back. Have people talked about this? I don't know.

He hasn't really looked that, he hasn't looked, in my opinion, right the whole season. Yeah. He's had flashes. I was watching with Hench and he does things, I don't want to compare him to Tom Brady, but he throws low. Even to the open receiver, he guns it in there low. And a lot of times they'll catch it, a lot of times they won't. But I guess that's the way to avoid interceptions. But he did not post good numbers today in a game where it was all garbage time against the Saints today.

He was 19 for 33, a buck 56 in three interceptions in just a game where they were playing prevent defense the whole time. Right. The deep pass to Lattimore in the first half that Lattimore picked off was really bad. He, he just is the season from hell for them in a lot of ways, you know, even they lost Darby last week.

And then this week they lost two D backs. One of them, it seemed serious, but he's, he's, what did he step on the, the end zone line or something. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

But, you know, I love the Saints in that game, and I was just, I couldn't figure out who to tease or parlay with, and then begrudgingly settled on the Steelers and talked myself into that being a revenge game. Lucky, lucky win. Yeah, lucky, but on the other hand, that was the Jaguars team I was betting against.

The team that has a lead late and just needs a first down and just basically tucks their balls between their legs. I mean, it was phenomenal. That game was 16-6 for, I felt like, two and a half hours. Yeah. They got to stop. And they just couldn't put it away.

The Steelers were begging for them to put it away. They turned the ball over on their own end. Jaguars couldn't do anything with it. And you know, it wasn't like, you know, four net carried the load there. They have like 28 carries,

but a good, good, good job. Like Bortles, what do you throw for a buck? Buck? Oh, four.

Can't even do a, the bare minimum to get the job done. It was really awful because on the last play when they scored to cut it to the field goal and then the Jags got the ball back and they basically all they needed was a first down. They ran four net, they ran four net

and it was like third and five. The Steelers had 15 guys on the line. I know that sounds impossible. Any play action, anything, just gets seven yards. If you have a quarterback who is even like competent, like a really good high school quarterback, I feel like, can beat somebody in single coverage where there's no hand checking and any of that stuff anymore.

Yeah. And they just were terrified to just put the game in his hands. So I feel like that's a microcosm of what's wrong with your team. Because we saw the modified version of that last year when they played the Pats when they had the lead in the AFC title game. Once again, they

tucked it between their legs, the jame gum. And they just didn't try to win it. They were trying not to lose. Today was the all-time trying not to lose performance. It was very different from the way they took it to the Patriots. And now all of a sudden that seems like a different team.

Like what was that, seven, eight weeks ago? But they really stayed on them and didn't take their foot off the gas. But shame on them. They had six points through three quarters. They ended up with 26 rushing yards. You have to put that game away. Right. Well, it was even worse than that. It was 16, nothing.

Yeah. And really seemed like it was like, wow, they really just own the Steelers. This is crazy. The Steelers just can't do anything against this team. And then Brown broke a big touchdown. Yeah, that's it. And they missed a two-point.

Which, I actually, it was funny. So you would go for the two-point in that situation, right? Fourth quarter, 16-6? No, it was late third quarter, I think. Because I was thinking like... Yeah, you're right. That's sixth in the third quarter. You basically need three scores, right?

You need two touchdowns and you need a field goal. And I guess if you don't get that, yeah, I guess it makes sense. But I was just thinking like 17 points, the Steelers probably win because I didn't feel like Jacksonville was going to score again because I thought they were going to do exactly what they did, which was do the James Gump. But that was a fascinating one because at the end of Jacksonville season, concurrently, Cincinnati James Gump. But that was a fascinating one because it ended Jacksonville season. Concurrently, Cincinnati's playing Baltimore.

Baltimore is Lamar Jackson, who's just not going to throw the ball. I think he finished with a buck 50, zero touchdowns, one pick, but ran the ball. He ran for over 100 yards. Yep. But the Bengals had chances to win that game. They really missed A.J. Green I thought there were some

3rd and 8's, 3rd and 7's when they just couldn't get the play they needed but they were still in it hanging around, hanging around, hanging around and then could not get it done at the end and that was a pretty big swing because now the Steelers have a game and a half lead on them

yeah well it was 5-5 the Ravens and Bengals and yeah what are the Steelers have, I think, what is it, a game and a half lead on them? Yeah, well, it was 5-5, the Ravens and Bengals. And yeah, what are the Steelers? I thought the Steelers were like 6-3-1. 7-2-1. 7-2-1, yeah. 7-2-1. So that... 2 and a half games. Yeah, so that's basically done, right, Sal?

Yeah, I think so. Cross that division? I think that's it. Let's go through the divisions. We can cross off. The thing is, either of these teams could get a six seed in the AFC, which is going to be interesting. I don't think they will. I think the Colts are the six if they don't win that division. Pats have a two-game lead. Yeah.

It's a borderline cross-off. I wish the Pats were playing better. Well, they're playing the Jets this week. That'll be that. They still have to play Miami again, though. I feel like I can't cross that one off yet. Miami is minus 57 for the season and somehow still

striking distance. Steelers have a two and a half game lead over everybody. That's good enough. I think that's done. Houston, seven and three. They pulled one out of their butthole in that Washington game. I have no idea. Washington, I don't know 7-3. They pulled one out of their butthole in that Washington game. I have no idea. Washington I don't know how much you saw that,

but there was a 14-point swing in that game before Alex Smith broke his leg. Throws a pick in the red zone where Jordan Reed, some miscommunication, 101-yard pick six. Took it all the way back. Yep. And they still almost won. And he broke his leg after that. And they still almost won and he broke his leg after that and

they still almost won. Houston once again. And Watson's not lighting the world on fire either. He had a touchdown, two interceptions, a little over 200. So they I felt like Houston was going to lose that and then all of a sudden it seemed like they were going to pull this out of their ass. I was like,

oh, they might lose that again. And then there was just this classic moment where it was fourth and 10 and Washington's like, fuck it, there's eight seconds left. They go for the field goal with their kicker. Yeah. What was it, like a 60-yarder? Something like that? Yeah, it was up there.

A 61-yarder? It was 14 yards short. Really bad. He was aiming for the guy in the first row, 40 feet to the right. It. Really bad. I mean, it was like... He was aiming for the guy in the first row 40 feet to the right. It was so bad. And it was like,

it's dead on! Oh, it's going to land at the 11-yard line. They should have had somebody returning it. They could have gotten a touchdown out of it. So now Houston is

two games up on the Colts and two games up on the Titans. You and I both love the Colts. We love how they're playing. Luck is out of his mind right now. Yep. Their offensive line, Luck doesn't get touched anymore.

Never. I think they're a playoff team. And he hits 80%. You can't not touch him. He's going to put Breeze numbers up there. I think he had 80%. But yeah, we have them to win the division, don't we? We have them at 20-1.

We have six teams in that division. We have all six teams in every possible combination. I think we have the Bengals to win the AFC South. But they go last six games, they're 5-5. They play the Dolphins.

They play the Jaguars at Houston. That's week 14. Home for your the Dolphins. They play the Jaguars at Houston. That's week 14. Home for your Cowboys. Home for the Giants at Tennessee, who they just demolished.

Yeah, look at that. I think they'll be favored in three of those games and then the other three will be, you know, three-point spreads. That feels like 10-6 to me, Sal. Wow.

Can you imagine? I traded T.Y. Here's what I'm worried about. Here's what I'm worried about. Usually at this point in the year, we know who our team is. We get excited about betting against the team. I believe it was the Jaguars last year

and that didn't work out for us too well. But I'm not excited about betting against any of these teams that are going to make it. Yeah, I was thinking about the four seed, the team that in round one gets the first home game. And in the NFC, it's probably going to be your Dallas Cowboys. Yeah.

And unfortunately for you, you're going to be playing somebody good. You're going to be playing Carolina. It might be Minnesota. Yeah, that team will be better than the Cowboys or whoever wins the East. It could be Minnesota. There's a Green Bay. It's amazing. I thought we could have crossed off Green Bay right now.

They're 4-5-1. Easiest schedule, right? Yeah, they've looked like dog shit really the whole season. They don't look like the coach and the QB are on the same page. For the first time ever, there's been some Aaron Rodgers. Are we sure he's the greatest? There's been like that kind of a little bit of Aaron Rodgers backlash. And yet they're 4-5-1,

and they're probably going to finish the season winning five of the last six. I know who's not the greatest, that Mike McCarthy. And it's been beaten to death, but what a miserable turn of that Thursday game and not going for it on fourth and two with one timeout against a team who's averaging five and a half yards a carry. He ought to

be ashamed of himself. That's really played them out of the playoffs. Except they're not out of the playoffs. So the best they could do is 10-5-1 if they run the slate. They're at Minnesota and at Chicago still. They can't win a road game. Well, I'm looking.

So the AFC, I think we have four teams that are heading to the playoffs. The Chiefs, the Steelers, the Patriots, and the Chargers. I am not convinced, even though the Texans are 7-3, I'm still not convinced that's a playoff team. And I think there's a roadmap where they go like 2-4 in the last six, something like that. They have not been that impressive. They've played a pretty easy schedule,

and they've caught some breaks with when they've caught teams, what weeks, things like that. I'm not convinced they're a playoff team. That said, gun to your head, does the AFC North get two playoff teams or does the AFC South get two playoff teams? I don't know. So right now we have five teams that have seven wins or more. And then we have five teams that are five and five.

Baltimore, Cincy, Miami, Indianapolis, Tennessee. The only one I would cross off there is Miami just because I don't think they're good. Denver, 4-6. I swear I almost texted you like 15 different times this weekend asking what you thought of the Denver money line

because I wanted to parlay the Saints with more teams. And I kept looking at the Chargers and going, no, that's a stay away. They could lose that one. And then I'm like, why wouldn't I just bet the money line if I feel like they could lose that one? Of course I didn't.

But Denver's a pretty good four and six team. You know, when you look at some of these other teams that are five and five. Yeah. They played the Chiefs tough twice. I think they covered once, but that Monday night game they probably could have won. They're good. They're a pesky, pain-in-the-ass team and they didn't go away today against the Chargers. And the Chargers being the Chargers just blew that one. They really did. That was a team effort. That was

mostly Phil Rivers, but Lynn was great. And of course the kicker missed an extra point, right? It was vintage Char Rivers, but Lynn was great. And of course, the kicker missed an extra point, right? I mean, it was vintage Chargers, really was. Yeah, recap that one for me, because I was at Survivor Series with my son and missed basically the last half hour of that game. So I know it was an Anthony Lynn special, but I couldn't tell how the Chargers blew it.

It seemed like they had a first down. I was trying to follow it. They had a first down with like three plus minutes left. One more first down, the game's over, and they didn't get it. And then Keenum went, what, 75 yards for the winning field goal? Yeah. Well, Keenum wasn't sacked, which is a big thing. You think, oh, Bosa's coming back, and they're going to get to him.

I don't think he was sacked today. But the big play was two minutes left. They have no timeouts. Third and seven and Rivers coming out of the two-minute warning really looked like a glitch in a video game. He

comes out of the snap and just chucks it into the ground as a screen. Didn't wait for it to develop at all. First of all, that should have been a run play. Anyway, take that down to a minute 15, minute 20, and punt that away, and you're in good shape. But as it is, the clock stops with like a minute 56, and then you have to punt.

And yeah, Keenum went down the field. Nice long slant route to Sanders, and that was that. Really got in good range. So Denver's 4-6. They got the Steelers next week, but then the last five are all pretty winnable. At Cincy, at San Francisco, home for Cleveland,

at Oakland, home for the Chargers. I feel like they're not a cross-off. No, I wouldn't cross them off yet. Because 9-7 could... 9-7 could absolutely make the playoffs. And 10-6, I think, in the AFC, 100% makes the playoffs. We felt like the Chargers, we were waiting for this game.

I think even last week when we did the Guest of Lines, we were saying they were due for this game, right? We were saying there was going to be a game when they just, something bad happened. And now we just had it. This was it. Let's take a quick break. Let's talk about Roman.

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Erectile dysfunction, a problem that guys don't usually tackle, but it's really important. And now with Roman, it's really easy to take care of it. For a free online visit, go to getroman.com slash bill. All right, coming back. Last thing on the NFC playoff picture. You know, Carolina, who really should be 7-3, and somehow they're 6-4. You have the Saints 9-1 and the Rams 9-1. You have the Bears 7-3, and somehow they're 6-4. You have the Saints 9-1 and the Rams 9-1.

You have the Bears 7-3. All three of those are going to the playoffs. Then you have either the Redskins at 6-4 or Dallas at 5-5. One of those two is going. And then you have Carolina 6-4, Minnesota 5-4-1, Green Bay 4-5-1. And then... So Atlanta's a cross-off, huh? Yeah.

That was where I was getting. I think Atlanta 4-6, Detroit 4-6, Philly 4-6, Giants 3-7, Tampa 3-7, Cards 2-8. All those teams are cross-offs. Yeah. The only one maybe that we can't cross off is the Giants. It's weird, but they play the Eagles this week. I think they're better.

I know they're going to be an underdog, a substantial underdog. I think they're better than the Eagles right now. I'm way more afraid of their offense. Yeah, they're 3-7, but they have the Eagles next. Bears will be tough at the Redskins home for Titans at Indy home for Dallas

like 8-8 isn't I wouldn't bet my life that they can't go 8-8 I guess is my point I don't think they will but you know I'd agree with you

Tampa's gone Atlanta's gone San Francisco Arizona obviously gone you said Seattle's obviously still in it, right? Yeah. And,

and I like that Seattle team. I think they've, they're kind of the opposite of the chargers and some of the other teams we make fun of, even the Panthers to some degree, but you know, they're five and five, but they're kind of overachieved to be five and five,

considering all the guys they've lost. They've been in close games. Wilson, that Seahawks-Packers game was pretty fascinating. I felt like Wilson out-dueled Rodgers a little bit in that game. Granted, it was a throw slow, but

he did. Yeah, in the fourth. Now, granted, Green Bay had played Sunday, and then they fly all the way to Seattle, which is about as far as you can go in North America in the NFL. That kind of sucked. But that's why I took Seattle in the first half, and I kicked myself for not taking them to the game, because I would have at least gotten a push out of it.

But yeah, I was like, all right, they're tired. Seattle will come out strong. They're running the ball. Green Bay can't stop the run. But it ended up being exactly the opposite. One thing I did my picks for on Thursday, and one of the things I flagged was

Mahomes was even and Breeze was plus 175 for MVP. And the thinking was, I really felt like the Saints were going to beat the Eagles badly. And the Rams are favored to beat the Eagles badly.

And the Rams are favored to beat the Chiefs. And the thesis was if New Orleans takes care of business against Philly and the Chiefs lose against the Rams, Breeze becomes the MVP favorite. So why not bet them now plus 175? Did I do that? No, of course not because I'm a moron. They are unbelievable they have tougher games I think they have Pittsburgh and Carolina twice, Pittsburgh once

and Carolina twice I don't see anyone stopping this team that's insane, that's another Doug Peterson thing, you gotta go on some of these fourth and twos, playing a team that put up 96 points in two weeks and then put up another 48 today. What are you doing?

You know, you need offense against this club. Don't fall behind 17. Nothing. Hinch was saying, sending me angry texts about Doug Peterson. Yeah. Almost all of them started with the words.

I can't believe we lost the fucking Superbowl to this guy was, was how all of the texts started, but he has not carried over the success from last year, shall we say. No. I would say he's struggled a little bit. Back to your

Cowboys for a second. Oh, yeah. I feel like your guard's up. You kind of shifted subjects on me. You don't want to talk. There's stuff going on here. That's how I operate. It's been going good for me, doing

it this way. You traded your first round pick for Amari Cooper. That looked like that had a chance to be a flat out catastrophe. And now it's like if you go 8-8 and that becomes the 17th pick or the 18th pick, whatever, actually might be a defensible trade. I still don't like it, but it might be defensible.

Yeah, it's getting more and more defensible. Yeah, and he keeps drives alive, and it's nice, and he doesn't ask Dak to do a ton. But, yeah, I don't know what to say. I like this offense. I go to bed not hating Jason Garrett. It's weird for me. I don't know what to,

but I do feel like I'm going to get kicked in the groin one of these weeks, maybe even Thanksgiving. Well, I'm glad you brought up Jason Garrett because I wanted to make the point. The longer this goes, the worse this is for your dream to have a different head coach next year. I know.

You're kind of... You're just... You're inching toward year... How many years has it been? Is this eight? Year 10 of the Jason Garrett era. Oh, right. Yeah, right.

Yeah. That much, right? So I went to Survivor Series tonight and brought my new giant, I have the, whatever the new iPhone is, what's it called, like the X6. I have like the bigger one. So I brought that one with me.

It started at four o'clock Pacific time. We brought Shoemaker from The Ringer and Nephew Kyle. Yeah. And I had the games on my phone for some reason, the, the reception was really good in there and got to see basically the end of the late games. And then really the first three quarters of bears Packers,

I just kind of had it playing on my lap as, as, as the survivor series is going on. I just wanted to thank technology and Apple and all these people for just ushering us into this amazing new world where I can watch a football game as I'm at a wrestling pay-per-view.

It's really great. It's really a marvelous world we live in. I know, look, I know climate change is going to ruin everything and I know the North Pole is going to fall into the ocean and I know there's just going to be all these horrible natural disasters

as the temperature just keeps going up and nobody gives a shit until it's too late. I get it. I just want to say I enjoy the fact that I can watch football at the Staples Center during the rest of the year. You're lucky though. With the seats you get, you could get like Braun Strowman in your lap while you're watch football at the Staples Center during the rest of the year. You're lucky, though. With the seats you get, and we usually get,

you could get like a Braun Strowman in your lap while you're looking down, checking on Jordan Howard's rushing yards or something. It's really dangerous. Yeah, there was one moment when the Miz got whipped right into the little barrier right in front of us. It really got a little whiplash. Your lady friend was there. She was all over the place.

She had a hat on. Rachel Bonetta. Was she sitting next to you? No, I was on the other side. I was where the entrance was, where they were coming in and out. But I saw her over there going nuts. It seemed like she was a legitimate fan. I had my fake wrestling fan radar.

She'll be a correspondent in 18 months, especially when it goes to Fox. She'll for sure be a legitimate fan. I had my fake wrestling fan radar. She'll be a correspondent in 18 months, especially when it goes to Fox. She'll for sure be a wrestling correspondent. Yeah, she seemed legit. I had my fake wrestling fan radar on. I monitored her a little bit, but she seemed, she was into it. She was doing the chants correctly. Yeah, she liked it. She was next

to that guy, Jacob, the WWE's number one fan who works for Fox, and she's properly vetted there. But yeah, it was, it's weird times for the WWE because they're, they're like three stars short.

You know, like Cena's basically gone. Roman Reigns, tragically, he left because he's fighting leukemia again, which is a bummer. Get well soon,

Roman Reigns. And then last week, Becky Lynch got accidentally punched in the face by Nia Jax. And she had to miss the pay-per-view. Though she didn't miss the picture with my son, Ben, today, who crossed another one off the list. She's lucky she didn't get punched again. I know. But she's lucky she didn't get punched again. She, she, she's really cool. But, but that, she was like the biggest star they have right now. She has the most heat out of anybody. So when Nia Jax came out,

she got booed. Like she was like the iron chic in the early eighties. It was, people were so mad that she knocked Becky Lynch out of this pay-per-view. But I think that's a rock's cousin, right? Yeah. So I think, um, in a weird way it works out because it's all heading toward, I think Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey and probably Nia Jax in a triple threat match. Um, I think that's your WrestleMania main event. I think we have an all female WrestleMania main event this year. So that's your WrestleMania main event. I think we have an all-female WrestleMania main event this year.

Wow. That's one of my predictions. Is Rousey not getting the heat that they thought? I thought she was doing well. It was interesting tonight. Charlotte Flair beat the living crap out of her. Legitimately. It looked like she was bleeding from seven different places.

We were sitting near Ronda Rousey's husband, who seemed pretty traumatized by the end of that. It was bad. But what was weird was the crowd was rooting for Charlotte Flair, and they kind of were not falling for the Rousey thing at all. It was weird. It was like they were all in on Charlotte, and I wonder if that could be a potential turning point with Rousey.

The WWE has done a good job with their baby faces, their top baby faces getting booed by the fans. And Cena, it's been happening for years, and Roman Reigns, and now Rousey. But at some point, they must be like, what the hell? What do we have to do? What goes on?

Right. So much effort into this. I have two predictions. That's my first prediction for WrestleMania. And the other one is recently retired Patriot tight end Rob Gronkowski will be in one of the main matches. Oh, why not? You can lock those two down. Kyle, you're ready to say goodbye to Gronk, right?

I mean, not you don't want to. I want him in my life. You realize this is the only way. You realize this is the last Gronk season. As long as he's not doing stand-up, I think it's fine. This is the last Gronk season. Yeah. Hey, will I get a single fantasy point from him

if he pins the big show or something? Because that's the only way it's going to happen, I think. Big show might go down easier now. What's our worst case scenario for Gronk post-NFL Kyle? Porn's one. I think he tries to do another Showtime stand-up. It was just terrible.

If you haven't seen it, you've got to check it out. What's worse, porn or stand-up? Probably porn. Our friend Jeffrey Ross takes them under his wing and they just travel the country. He just becomes his punchline. That could be bad.

Hey, Crown Royal is doing something pretty cool this football season. They launched a responsible drinking program called The Water Break. It's all about encouraging people to hydrate between drinks for a better experience, whether at the game, watching at home or in a bar. Have a great time. Enjoy some Crown. Just don't be that person that ruins it for everyone.

We've seen that guy all the time who drank too much watching the game. Make the right call. Take a water break. Sal, who made the right call this week or not? Well, it's hard to make a case for River Bowl run and making the right call going for a two-point conversion in Detroit after scoring when they didn't make it and they lost 20 to 19. But I'm sticking with it.

I think he did it. You know, didn't we hear for years that, no, no, no, the road team goes for the win, the home team goes for the tie. I remember hearing that. It never really fleshed out to anything. But, hey, I think that was good. I think that was a good move. I don't know what happened to Cam that play. I feel like if he stepped up, one of the linebackers would have dragged down,

and then he would have been able to hit somebody over the middle. Moore was open. But he just sailed that ball, and that was it. Otherwise, Panthers win that game, and they're a driver's seat for at least the fifth seed. Good job for Bo' Ron. Yeah, I can't agree with you on that call. No?

You go for the tie there? They're the better team. Here's the thing. I didn't feel like their offense had enough momentum that I felt great about it. Like they'd only scored 20 points in the whole game. They'd scored 13 points in the first almost three hours of the game.

And then they got the late touchdown. I just didn't feel like they were running on all cylinders. It didn't seem like Cam was totally on today. And that last play, I slow-moed it. Somebody started to raise their arm one of the defensive tackles. So I think he kind of quick-threw it, and he sailed it. That guy was wide open, that receiver. Oh, my God.

He was open for like two seconds. He was forever. It was Jarius Wright. He threw it behind and over his head. But yeah, it was just a bad throw. Well, how about this? Cam in the press conference was hilarious with the great hat, but being all serious, there's nothing bad in that.

Everybody made mistakes. I made mistakes. Other people did. If you're a Lions fan or if you had bet the Lions money line, what do you want the Panthers to do there? I want them to kick, I think. Well, you know, we're forgetting

Graham Gonneau. He missed something, right? He missed an extra point or he missed a field goal or something. He missed an extra point, right? Yeah. Yeah.

I don't know. I have more confidence in Cam Newton there than I do Graham Gonneau or overtime. Well, guess what?

Your confidence got kicked in the nuts. They're going to be all right. Say, well guess what your confidence got kicked in the nuts they're gonna be alright say they of all the teams if you go through all the teams

and you go wow that should should that be their record or should that not be their record six and four for the Panthers feels low yeah right

I do feel like they're one of the best like eight or nine teams they feel like they should be at least seven and three you know I do wonder if we say one of the best eight or nine teams. They feel like they should be at least seven and three. I do wonder if we say, oh, team on 10 days rest. If you look back, it hasn't really worked that great.

Pittsburgh didn't do great on 10 days rest. They came out sluggish. Panthers, same thing. Who am I missing? Well, Oakland, San Francisco was the week before, but it doesn't seem like the extra three days does anything for these teams. I don't even know if the bye does either anymore. We didn't talk about Oakland.

Oh, yeah. There was some John Gruden, David Carr tension on the sidelines. They ended up actually winning the game. They beat Arizona. Derek Carr, right? Or did his body go in there? No, I screw that up every podcast. What do you think I'm going to change?

Well, Gruden's screwing up the first pick. That's for sure. That's unbelievable. I mean, I bet one of my big bets is that the worst team will have two or fewer wins. Yeah. Now that freaking, that screwed me, that Oakland win. Because now Arizona, San Francisco, and Oakland all up too. Probably get one more the rest of the way.

Did we clinch, we clinched our Oakland bet though. Yeah, that's a win. That's nice. We clinched that one. You don't have to eat testicles. That's not happening. We had... We did pretty well with our preseason everything.

I'm really proud of us. I thought we did a good job. I guess. I feel like we had the. I thought we did a good job. I guess. I feel like we had the Jaguars on a couple too many things. Yeah, but not before the season. After they beat the Pats, we did our annual

overreaction panic bet to try to salvage a bet we already had and it turned into disaster. We're not very good at this, although I've been doing pretty well lately. Here's my pick for

my pick for Crown Royal. I like that the Colts, you know, Andrew Luck's been banged up. He got sacked a million times. He was hurt. We didn't know if he was going to come back. And they really spent some time and energy and

draft capital to try to make their offensive line better. Most famously with this guy, they pick six, Nelson, the guard. And their offensive line, as we mentioned earlier, luck doesn't get touched anymore. And it makes you wonder when teams have these assets, if you have one of the best seven quarterbacks, it seems like you should just spend money on the offensive line first or, or draft picks, like all that stuff, put it in the line and then figure out the rest of the team after,

but just make sure you have your quarterback protected. And that's what they did. And it really transformed their season. It's not like they have, you know, a ton of good players. Cause Ryan Gregson, their old GM,

like he really screwed them with some of the dumbest trades and picks on the planet. And you watch their scope position, guys. It's like Marlon Mack. Where the hell did he come from? Half of the receiver, other than T.Y., it's all a bunch of cast-offs and guys you've never heard of. Eric Ebron was a bust for the Lions. He's going down the line.

It's like, all right, these guys, a bunch of no names. And it doesn't matter because Luck's great and he's getting protection. So that's my call this week. That's a good one. I'll say that's a good one. Kudos to the Colts. I mean, they're loading up with Mack and Wilkins and what is it? Hines.

What's his name? And they're doing it. Those guys are doing just enough. I mean, H's his name? And they're doing it. They're doing just enough. Yeah, we could just start making up names that are on the Colts offense. Like, you put like, hey, you're going to pick up that new Colts receiver, Jack Johnson? Like, yeah,

I don't know, I'm going to try to get him. But yeah, good move. I like that Nelson. Carolla had a great one today. He said, well, you know, Hanch is going off for an hour about the Todd Gurley trade in our league, which has really gone. It's gotten too far now with the emails. It's like 50 emails a week.

Like someone will start it up again and then it'll go on and on for days. And people's mothers are involved now and debts in the family, IMDB credits and it's gotten really bad. But so we're talking about dubious trade and Corolla's dubious trade as a fourth year wide receiver out of Texas Tech. Dubious trade.

Crazy. I want to talk about that email stuff, but I should mention, Crown Royal reminds everyone this football season to take a water break and hydrate responsibly. Alright, before we get to the week 12 picks, this is not a, here's a

story about our fantasy league that you can't identify with because it's not just, oh and then I did this. I don't know, it's getting there. Well, no. So, like every eight or nine years at our fantasy league, there, this long email thread goes about somebody's mad about a trade and then it just goes and it keeps going and it starts to get a little angrier and a little more personal and then lines start getting crossed. And it happened in the league last week. And it's just hilarious because this league we have are all

guys in their 40s, right? Even one guy's in his 50s. And there's just like poison arrows being thrown now. And it's awkward, Sal. I just want to be held. I almost think we should stop. We should quit fantasy and then just pick back up after we retire or something.

I don't know. It's just getting crazy. Maybe we need a new league. Someone throws a mother joke out there. It seemed pretty innocent, but then one of the guy's mothers passed away, and it just got worse and worse and worse from there. Was there any making up? Were there any private emails outside the league?

I don't know. No, and then the worst part is one of these guys has to get kicked out of the league and it's probably going to be because of this. This is all your fault. You tried to create a league that has just chaos and people turning on each other and angry emails.

You love this. Why are you pretending you don't love this? I never advise anyone to trade Todd Gurley for Marion Butts or whoever he got. I traded T.Y. Hilton this week for Tariq Cohen so I could have the Chicago Bears handcuff, which is just going to handcuff me to

fourth place in the league. And Golden Tate, hoping that he might turn it around. I didn't need T.Y. because I had three receivers that were better. I wasn't going to start him this week. And it's like, well, if he has a big week this week, either way he'll be on my bench. I'll be bummed out about that.

I might as well trade him and lock him. And of course he has his greatest game of the year. I bring this up because I just want to remind you yet again that fantasy is the worst. It makes me feel bad about myself. It causes ruptures with my friends.

I have friends making mom jokes and yelling at each other, like, what's fun about this? Why do we do this? I don't get it. I don't know. But, you know, the winner is going to recoup what amounts to about $4 an hour when all is said and done. That's how we do it. Ridiculous. Well, here's something I do when all said and done. That's how we do it. Ridiculous.

Well, here's something I do love and I do support. It's Thanksgiving football. Yeah. Our annual tradition of not helping our wives, trying to avoid our family members, trying to watch as much football as possible, overeating, maybe taking a nap. I think this is one of the top four days of the year that

my wife hates my guts. It's in the Mount Rushmore of my wife hates my guts on these days. Especially on the West Coast, because that game starts at 9.30. So you're not getting a lot of time in the morning to help prepare with anything, right? No. If anything, I try not to do anything in the morning and blame the football game. Right. I don't think my wife has really figured out that it's not like I'm writing a column the next day. It doesn't really matter

if I'm watching the football game. But lately, the last couple of Thanksgivings, Nephi Kyle's been out here and I get to hide behind him like, oh, Kyle wants to watch the game. And I have like a running mate. You know, it's good. It's all great.

I love Thanksgiving football. Unfortunately, I don't love these three games. Our three games are Bears at Detroit, Dallas hosting Colt McCoy, and then the Saints against the Carcass, that's the Atlanta Falcons. So I don't know what- No AFC teams, which is odd.

Yeah. Not one. What do we do to deserve those three games? I don't know. I mean, Detroit has to play at home. Dallas has to play at home. I thought that night game would be a little different. And the other thing is Rams-KC,

because they were allegedly playing in Mexico City tomorrow night, they have the bye week this week. Yep. So we are robbed of our two most fun teams this year other than the Saints. So they're both gone. And now, as it turns out, the game's going to be in LA anyway. But this is, I don't remember going 0 for 3

with Thanksgiving games like this from an entertainment standpoint. Usually there's one good game. How do we go 0 for 3, Sal? Well, I don't know if I'm ready to. I'm not going to make a case for Atlanta, but it was close last time they played. It was 43-37 in overtime.

And I know we crossed them off, which is probably all the reason they'll have the ball ready to score in the fourth quarter to take the lead Thursday night. I was driving back from San Andes this morning with my son because our friend Ava had her bat mitzvah yesterday. I was listening to the Falcons

game and Ido Smith had a run. You know how they have the local announcers on Sirius? It was the Falcons announcers. Ido Smith ran for four yards and he goes four yard carry for the judge and I'm like the judge and then I'm thinking about it like oh

Judge Ido so apparently that's Ido Smith's nickname is the judge that was the best thing I've learned all week the judge I'm all in on Ido now I'm going to pick him up in fantasy I want Judge Ido on my team six carries ten yards?

Yeah, that's your guy. From a comedy standpoint, it would be great. Judge Ito. Oh, man. I love those local Natsers. Nobody on their team has ever committed a penalty in any of those football games. The basketball is the best. If you're driving home, listen to a basketball game.

They're all Bill Walton for your home team. It's insane. It's a really weird dynamic because they're on the plane, especially in basketball. They're on the team plane with their guys. They get a championship ring if the team wins the title. And they're getting paid by the team. And if they're too critical, they're going to get fired. So they just become like all-time homer cheerleaders.

It's really phenomenal. Yeah, they have no choice. Yeah. All right, Thanksgiving games. become like all-time homer cheerleaders. It's really phenomenal. Yeah, they have no choice. Yeah. The Yankees guys are the very definition of that. Yeah. Thursday, 9.30 a.m.

Pacific time. Detroit hosting the Chicago Bears. I picked the Bears by two and a half in Detroit. What'd you have? I should be better at this. I said Bears by four and a half, and it's

three. So you get it. It feels like, so if this was a Sunday game instead of a Thursday game, what do you think the line is? Oh, so you think the line is? Oh, so you think it's higher than it's like four or five?

Yeah. I think it's like six. I just don't know how though. And I know, but yeah, it's Thursday early. It's weird game, but how will that is carry on Johnson out?

Then he get hurt towards the end of that game. Um, yeah, I think he did actually. Yeah. Yeah. Um, he's going to play, but I don't, I don't know if he's going to play but I don't see how they score a lot alright

left knee injury yeah the only thing I can we're going to go through these three games and then we're going to figure out what our three team parlay is Ortiz second game

Cowboys home resurgent brimming with confidence playing Colt McCoy and the Redskins of Washington who, by the way, well, I'll pick the game first. Then I have a question for you. I have the Cowboys by seven and a half against Washington. Wow. You did this, huh? I said six and a half.

I thought I was going too high. It's eight. Case Keenum, Kirk Cousins, Alex Smith. How would you power rank that merry-go-round last winter? Now, who's happiest with their QB? Case Keenum, Kirk Cousins, Alex Smith. Minnesota spends

what, $90 million on Kirk Cousins? Was it even more than that? I was thinking they spent, I think, $29 million for one year and Trubisky gets $26 for one year and Trubisky gets $29 for three years. I was looking at it in terms of that. That was weird.

So Cousins, Smith got like $90 million or something from Washington and then Keenum got like half that money from Denver. My case was always, I think all those guys are the same. I'd rather have Case Keenum is cheaper. I think I'm winning that one. So I think you are.

I think, I think he kind of knows how to sneakily win games with the teams. He's not bad. You know, Denver traded Demarius Thomas. It looked like they were kind of packing it in. Right. They still compete. They're still pretty good. Demarius Thomas, by the way, did nothing today. I know he may do. You know, Denver traded Damaris Thomas. It looked like they were kind of packing it in. They still compete.

They're still pretty good. Damaris Thomas, by the way, did nothing today. I know. The other thing is Damaris Thomas just might not be good anymore. I don't think Cousins is good. And the pick six today didn't surprise me. I don't know. I just don't think he's good.

I think he's a 7-9 QB. I think that's where you're going. It's hard to do this because we see so many bad quarterbacks. You just kind of want to lock into someone who you know can win. But that said, the Lions aren't winning

a Super Bowl with Stafford. The Vikings are not winning one with Kirk Cousins. I mean, at that point, I'd just rather have Case Keenum. Yeah. If those are my other choices.

Right. Last one, New Orleans home for the Falcons. They had some injuries. They had some bad luck this year. But it feels like that's a team that wouldn't surprise me if they changed their coaching staff after the year. And maybe you just need to get away from that Super Bowl disaster. wouldn't surprise me if they changed their coaching staff after the year. Yeah.

And maybe you just need to get away from that Super Bowl disaster. But I have the Saints by nine and a half against the Falcons. Oh, you're going to have to go higher than that. I said 11 and it's 13. That's too high. I mean, they beat everybody by 40. Yeah, that seems too high though. Because Atlanta can score points at least. 13. So that ruins it. Right now, I. Because Atlanta can score points at least. 13.

So that ruins it. Right now, I think I would take all three underdogs. By the spread. But I wouldn't lock into that at all. I don't know. I'm trying to think what. A lot of points all over the place. Three teams, seven point tees.

You get the Falcons up to 20. You get the Falcons up to 20. You get the Cowboys even. And then what do you do with the Bears? Would you go Bears to four and a half plus four and a half? Well,

guess who's the better quarterback there? I don't mind taking the Lions plus 10. I don't think they're right. Emotional win tonight for the Bears. Not even three days rest. They have to,

you know, Sunday night game. Trubisky. Take the Lions. Yeah, it's tough. Good. I,

for both of us, the Lions are, are kryptonite. I was thinking, by the way, I came up, some people suggested, we talked about the Trubisky,

how he's the new process, the Bears fans are Trubisky. And I was saying how they need it, we need a nickname. The best candidate, in my opinion, is the Trubiskaholics. That's pretty good.

I heard Trubiskits. I saw Trubiskits onlineky Trubisky was on there the true believers might have to just do a twitter poll and let the listeners decide but I realized today as I was watching the game on my iPhone during the Survivor Series

that Trubisky is like you've had three sons sons hit this age I mean they're so stupid little boys are just so dumb but they're like four, four and a half

they start well you have it now how old's Harrison? yeah four it's gonna be five next month and it's like god they're so stupid but then there's

there's signs of light and then it starts getting better. And you go, oh man, he's starting to figure it out. And then he'll shit in his pants in the playground or something. You're like, oh yeah, that's right. He's an idiot. That's how I feel about Trubisky. You're not a Trubisky

writer. No, it's just, you watch Trubisky, you're like, oh man, this guy, he's putting it together. And then he throws the pick six that gets dropped by Minnesota. He throws it right to the guy and the guy just drops it. He would have gone down the sideline for 80 yards. But he's like a four and a half year old boy.

There's signs of greatness and you see the light at the end of the tunnel. But on any play, he might shit in his pants in the playground. I mean, he kind of is exactly like a four and a half year old boy. He likes to run around. You can run,

you can't really stop him from running around. But then if you ask him to complete a path to an adult downfield, that's probably not going to happen. What was he? They have 165 yards passing today. Yeah. He can follow exact instructions. Like if you told Harrison,

go into the kitchen, get a jug of water and pour the water into a glass and bring it to dad, he could probably do that now, right? Yeah. But if there was no water in there and he had to audible and get you a different drink, now you're getting like a glass full of ketchup. Right. You're like, oh, thanks for the Clorox, Harrison. That's Trubisky. He's a four and a half year old boy.

He's a four and a half year old boy. So that's my take on Trubisky. I like that. Yeah, put that to a Twitter poll because we have some good options. What's your favorite? Trubiskaholics? True Believers? Trubiskits? I kind of like Trubiskits. We should ask Tate about this too. I asked

him on Against the Laws. He said he had to think about it. Alright. Our Sunday marquee game this week. I got news for you, Sal. I couldn't find one.

I didn't think there was a great... There's not a great football game this week. There's a bunch in the 3-4 range as far as spreads go. Not a lot of great ones. By the way, I should point out that underdogs went only two favorites covered tonight. I guess the

Bears made three. Yeah. And then eight lost in one push. So I couldn't find a marquee game, so here's what I'm going with. Situate football. They made the Super Bowl, Sal. My buddy Sully, his son Aiden, who's the QB,

and then his other son Keegan, who's the ninth grader. I've known them their whole lives. Yep. They actually, they went the first, Situate has never won the Super Bowl. They haven't even made it since 1979. We're in Massachusetts, right? Massachusetts. They made the Div 5 Super Bowl. They haven't even made it since 1979. Now this is Massachusetts, right? Massachusetts. They made the Div 5

Super Bowl. They killed Swampscott last week. 45-14. Suck on that, Swampscott. And now they're playing in Gillette Stadium next weekend. They're playing the central champ, Nipmunk. Nipmunk, N-I-P-M-U-C.

I covered high school sports for the Herald for three years. I have no idea what Nipmunk is.munk N-I-P-M-U-C I covered high school sports for the Herald for three years I have no idea what Nipmunk is but they beat Longmeadow 24-9 I know you had Longmeadow

in a tease that was a tough one I did yeah you don't tease them you're right their quarterback's not good enough to tease them

so Situate has a chance to win the Super Bowl I don't know what the line is but I'm going to say they're favored by

by six and a half and I he would know right taking line is, but I'm going to say they're favored by six and a half. You're going to ask Sully. He would know, right? Taking the over. He's following us closely. Oh, Sully's out of his mind. I've never had a friend lose their mind with their kid's sports thing ever like this. The whole town is traveling to every game.

It's like Friday Night Lights. That's awesome. Situate. Anyway, so that's our marquee game of the week. It's marquee. I'm excited for it. The Watchables. I somehow only have one game in the Watchables.

Panther Seahawks. Seattle, Carolina? Yeah. It's in Carolina. Not quite good enough to be a marquee game, but a good game. And I have the Panthers by three and a half over Seattle. Yeah, you hit it exactly. I went higher. I said four and a half, but three and a half is the number.5 over Seattle. Yeah, you hit it exactly. I went higher. I said 4.5, but 3.5 is the number. Is that it? Yeah. I think this is

a 5 and 6 seed right here. I was going to say, there's no loser leaves town possibilities? Yeah. Pretty close, but I think Seattle has some easy ones coming up. Seattle loses their 5 and 6? Yeah.

You think, you think you have to win 10 wins to get the six seed in the NFC? No, maybe not. Could be a nine and seven. I think it's Seattle, Minnesota and, um,

green Bay battling for that. Right. Well, here's the thing. Seattle still has the Cardinals and the 49ers twice. Jesus. So I think Chicago is going to be the three seed. They're two games behind the Saints and Rams.

So if you're the six seed, you're going to Chicago in round one. That's a fun one, right? Seattle and Chicago for that. Right. See, I would say that's a worst-case scenario for Seattle. I don't like that game for them. I think they'd have a lot of trouble scoring

in that game. Oh, I see. Yeah. But I think if it's like Rodgers, you know, or Cam, Cam would be fun. That'll be a fun game. The Bears hosting a round-one playoff game against whoever will would be fun. That'll be a fun game. The Bears hosting a round one playoff game

against whoever will be very fun. Cam will probably go. They'll probably get a five. I don't know. It's early yet to say this, but they'll probably get the five and go to the NFC's team. Yeah, unless Minnesota gets...

Minnesota's 5-4-1. I guess they could potentially... Tough schedule. Yeah, tough schedule. Weird. Parody. All Yeah, tough schedule. Weird. Parody. All right, the barely watchables. We have five possibilities here.

One is Cincinnati home playing the Browns. I had trouble with this one. I had to put this in the Vegas zone. Bengals by five over Cleveland. I said four and a half, and it's only three. Ooh. If you had to play the game, I can't believe blank has blank wins.

I fill those blanks with Cincinnati and five. And Miami and five is a close second. And Cleveland. I can't remember them winning. Cleveland being three,6-1. Was Hugh Jackson on the Bengals' sideline this weekend? Hugh Jackson was hired just for these purposes, right? I mean, they play him twice.

This is the first of two games. Right, but was he on the sideline? Oh, I didn't see him. I didn't see him. He was. I think he was. Oh, Nephew Kyle says he was. I'm pretty sure I saw him today.

I had a good little chuckle. He was in that one seat, which the other coaches have never been in. But because he's in that seat, he gets to make that decision. Once you're in the special advisor seat, you can tell me what it's like in the special advisor seat. Do you think Marvin Lewis, he gets together with you tomorrow and he's like, hey, let's talk about Cleveland. Yeah, give me the rundown. He's like, man, I's talk about Cleveland. Yeah, give me the rundown.

He's like, man, I don't know. I don't know. Baker, he'll make some plays. Jarvis Landry, he likes to get open. He's like, didn't you coach there for three years? You don't have any insight? Hey, man, when you're in that chair. Yeah, I doubt he's really coming up a little out for that one.

I'm just reading something. I was reading something that says Hugh Jackson is basically coaching the Bengals for free, which I guess that's good. I thought he should have paid like 200 grand or something. He should have to pay to coach at this point. I like him and Marvin back together. I really hope the Bengals get like a six seed just so we can have more Hugh Jackson in our life. It'd be really fun.

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from all the top providers all at once. Go today. Start saving at thezebra.com slash B-S-T-H-E-Z-E-B-R-A.com slash B-S. And since we're here, I wanted to give a shout out to the Ringer NBA show, which has been awesome this season. If you love basketball, I hope you're checking it out. Monday's John Gonzalez.

Tuesday's Verno and KOC. What's that one called? Is that corner three? That's not corner three. No, that's not corner three. Oh, the mismatch. The mismatch. Yeah.

And then we got the group chat with Chris Ryan on Wednesdays. And then we have corner three with KLC,

Charks, and Danny Chow. That's Friday. Sources say he goes in there sometimes. I'm going to probably start popping up there a couple times as well.

Check it out though. The Ringer NBA show. The best basketball podcast with the most going on from week to week. Awesome. All right.

Back to cell. Patriots at the Jets. This always feels like this game happens in November and it's never fun. Yeah. Patriots by eight is my prediction. No, it went too low. I said 10 and it's never fun. Yeah. Patriots by eight is my prediction.

It went too low. I said ten and it's nine and a half. I didn't go too low because the Patriots aren't very good. Really? Yeah. They're not good, Sal. Both teams coming off their bye. Patriots aren't good. They're not bad. They're just not that good.

It's one thing to lose to Matt Patricia. It's one thing to lose to Vrabel It's one thing to lose to, uh, Vrabel. But if you keep this close against the jets, and I know they do play him tough once that, uh, at a two games typically, but this would be a real black mark on Belichick's resume.

I think the Patriots last week got completely annihilated by the Titans who got completely annihilated by the Colts today. Not good. It's not a good sign, so. Yeah. But he got guys back, right, Ron? Theoretically, he'll be back. Great. It's unclear if he can run like a 5-0-40

at this point. I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining about the Pats. I just, I'm amazed if they can go like 11-5 or 12-4 with the amount of talent they have. It would be pretty incredible. They don't have a single receiver who can consistently get open. And they don't really have a dangerous running back either unless Michel can get his shit together.

James White's going to set the record for receptions for a running back. Great. What does that mean? Because Brady has to dump it off to him because he's under siege every time. You have the Jets twice. You have the Dolphins. It's always tough at the Dolphins, I guess.

And then you have the Bills. And then Vikings and Steelers. At Steelers at Steelers that was a discouraging Titans game last week they really got killed that I mean they've

they can't win on the road anymore Sal they that's like one of the hallmarks of Belichick Brady is like they go into enemy territory and they just

take care of business and they've gotten killed now three times on the road this season I feel like they've flipped the switch on the season multiple times the last few years. Right. So you'll see a different Patriots team,

you know, that law that lost to the Jaguars, um, you know, that beat the chiefs. And then you'll see a different one that lost to the Titans. And then a different, they'll go to three rivers or wherever Heinz field and win that game.

I just, you can't get, Heinz Field, and win that game. You can't put your finger on their pulse right now. Do you realize that they've only played two good teams this year? What do you mean? Who? The Pats. I think more than that. They played the Chiefs and the Bears.

Unless you want to say the Colts are a good team. We both like the Colts. Colts can make the playoffs. Texans can make the playoffs. But their schedules to say the Colts are a good team. We both like the Colts. Colts can make the playoffs. Texans can make the playoffs. But their schedule seemed like... Texans aren't a good team. Their schedule seemed a lot harder

before this season than I think it actually turned out to be. And now, the rest of the way, they're at Jets, home Vikings, at Dolphins,

at Steelers, home Bills, home Jets. I mean, they have three cream like, cream puff games left. They're going to get to 10-6 by accident. Yeah, I know. Disgusting. You just got to get that two seed, right?

Because if you get the three seed, you're playing the Chiefs and or the Steelers on the road, right? The only hope for this team is if Gronk can reach, go to the throwback machine. I think they'll figure it out. Hogan, too. I think they'll figure it all out. Everything will be quick.

They need Gronk is the X factor. I have no... Kyle, what are the odds he comes back? At all? To 80% old Gronk. We get 80% from him. I think we get 80% if he's decoying too.

You know, it's hard to tell. Can't they just load him with PEDs? Or, yeah, or other drugs. Load him up.

If our friend Jeffrey Ross would just let him go and focus on football, it would be fine. Maybe he should stop hanging out with Jeff Ross. Steelers,Broncos at Denver. I continue to kind of like this Broncos team.

I have the Steelers. This is a good game. Steelers three and a half. This could have been a watchables. I actually probably should have put this in the watchables. You got it exactly. I said four. Three and a half is good.

Broncos have a good pass rush, too. They definitely can do some things. They are not a typical 4-16. Yeah, Von Noah hasn't gone away. This is a good game. I think it's a stay away from a better standpoint. Fun game to watch. Eagles home for the Giants.

This line's going to be too high, and don't let me bet the Giants don't ever let me bet on Eli Manning ever I have the Eagles by 8 over the Giants oh wow see I went way low I said 3.5 you went high

it's 5.5 you were up 2.5 I just thought people still think the Eagles are good but apparently everyone knows that I don't know I just thought people still think the Eagles are good, but apparently everyone knows that. I don't know. Okay. I mean, you know, this Golden Tate thing should be working by now. Everything should be falling into place.

Maybe the Bucs isn't a good gauge, though, because aside from last week, I don't know why that game was 16-3, but the Bucs played no defense. I mean, when Eli's throwing for 94%, something's wrong. So who did the Giants beat last week? The 49ers, Monday night.

So the Giants beat two of the worst teams in the league, and now people think that they can hold the Eagles to less than a touchdown. I'm just trying to get this story straight here. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, what Eagles game stands out to you in the last three?

No, it's just I just hate that game. I just don't like either of those teams. Eagles already killed them this year, right? 34-13? Yeah. So I was looking at Tampa Bay. Yeah. So I was looking at Tampa Bay. Yeah. Fitzpatrick has 17 TDs and nine picks.

Winston has six TDs and 10 picks. They have 19 picks already, so. Wow. And only, what's their record? They're two and eight? They have three wins, so three and seven. Three and seven, so they have six games left. They're averaging almost two picks a game.

Could they get to like over 30? Yeah. I remember looking at that. Winston's over on, there was like 16 and a half interceptions. I remember thinking like, well, that could go over.

He could have like 29 and 20, 29 touchdown, 20 interceptions. But I don't know if he's going to play. What do you do with every week? Now the third cutter, He'd have like 29 and 20, 29 touchdowns, 20 interceptions. But I don't know if he's going to play enough. What do you do with every week now to start cutting? He's almost definitely going to be fired after the season.

Yeah, this happens in football where you know the guy's going to get fired, but he has to finish out the year. It becomes a staring contest. If I was Dirk, I would just get wacky. I would just alternate them on every series. Like, why not?

You're going to find one. Have the John Jackson run gadget plays in the backfield. Yeah. Put Fitzpatrick and Jameis out there at the same time. They can throw interceptions to each other. Colts. Such a stupid team. Colts home for the Dolphins.

I have the Colts by six. Yeah, you're going to get it get it I said five and it's eight eight lots of Colts love in Vegas Colts are good when the Pats played them that was really lucky they caught them on a Thursday night the Colts were banged up

they played an overtime game I think they would have a lot of trouble if they were playing the Colts were banged up. They played an overtime game. I think they would have a lot of trouble if they were playing the Colts this week. I think they would have a lot of trouble stopping them. I'm not sure it matters at all, but is Tannehill coming back? They had their bye last week.

Tannehill's in a condo with Sam Bradford and all the other quarterbacks who are touch and go. The Poopfecta goes four deep this week. Our first one is a truly terrible football affair. Here's my thing with the red zone. If there's like eight games going on, I don't think you should cut into the poop-fecta games unless

something crazy happens. We don't need to go, let's go to Buffalo where Matt Barkley is trying to pull them within 10. Who cares? Yeah, that's the brown zone, I think. Yeah, have the brown zone and just put the four shitty teams in the brown

zone. Jags are the Jags by three in zone. Jags. I like that. Are the Jags by three in Buffalo? Jags are at Buffalo. Yeah, I had three also. And it's three and a half. Who's Jacksonville's backup quarterback? Is it Chad Henney still?

Was it Henney today? Who was it? Whoever it is, we should see him this week. Because I think it's over for Blake Bortles. What happened to him? He's just not good at football, unfortunately. When he lost the London game, that should have been it. That was like the last thing he had was London.

Bucks, Niners in Tampa. This is a truly terrible game. I have the Bucs by two and a half. I don't want to watch one second of this game. You had Bucs by two and a half. I have Bucs by three, and it's three and a half. Yes. That feels insulting to the Niners. It's more than a field goal?

God, they're really a lot of better teams. They really are. Here's another one. Ravens Raiders. It's Cody Kessler, by the way. Cody Kessler's Bortles backup. Oh, we should see him last week. And then Landry Jones is third.

I'd rather see Landry Jones. Ravens Raiders in Baltimore. I have the Ravens by eight. Yeah, I went low here. I said six and a half. And it's ten and a half. That seems high.

Here's a weird Ravens fact. They were favored by four today against the Bengals. It was announced that Flacco was out, Lamar Jackson was in. The line moved from 4 to 6.5 right so Joe Flacco the starting quarterback of the Ravens is so terrible

that the backup is announced as a starter and the line moves 2.5 points toward the Ravens well there might be more to it because I don't think people thought Flacco was starting, but RG3 took the first team reps at least two days this week. So maybe it was news that RG3 wasn't starting

that moved the lineup. That kind of ruins my theory. I mean, you might be right, but either way. We have the Ringer NFL slap. Mallory Rubin, the mother of dragons. Executive editor of the Ringer NFL slap. Mallory Rubin, the mother of dragons, executive editor of the Ringer,

just hates Joe Flacco at this point, even though he brought her a Super Bowl. She's just so tired of watching him and tired of the Flacco PI offense, all that stuff. Just doesn't want to watch him anymore and has just put all of her cards in the Lamar Jackson table.

And in the slack, they have that first drive and they're running and they score and he has like six rushes. She was reacting like somebody had just figured I had to impeach Trump or something.

Like she was just out of her mind. This is the greatest thing. Oh my God, we've revolutionized football. And during the slack it was the most optimistic I think I've ever seen her she's not a very optimistic person

right and just Lamar Jackson like a drink of water in the desert for Mallory really it's funny

it's weird with people you have Tom Brady he'll always be the best you know you can't turn your back on him because he'll be good until he retires. But then you got the guys like Flacco,

who are just okay. And even worse, guys like Eli Manning. And they've done so much for your franchise, but at least the Ravens fans have someone to turn to. Maybe Lamar Jackson could be good. What is Eli Manning? What are they going to have? Who is this?

The guy that got arrested? Who are they going to have? Who's going? The guy that got arrested? Who are they going to have? Who's going to be the face of the future for that? Yeah, now they're screwing up their draft pick. Yeah. Yeah, I'm trying to think if I turned on an athlete who brought me joy, who brought me a title or anything like that. Hold on.

Let me sift through all the titles I've won this century. Hold on. Let's see. 2001, 04. Terrible. Gronk. How about Gronk?

07. Hold on. He's slow. He can't run. Hold on. I got eight titles left. Hold on. 2008.

The worst. 11. Oh, Curt Schilling. Yeah, I turned on him. You did, right? Yeah, I turned on him You did, right? Yeah, I did

But it wasn't for performance reasons, right? He's now turned into the tax We had to pay for the 04 title Which is fine I will happily pay the tax That's the way it is Hey, you want to go through some I turned on Aaron Hernandez

Stick to your guns By the way who is consuming all this Aaron Hernandez content There's like There's two documentaries There's three books There's this eight episode podcast Who

Who is the audience for this Because it's not Pats fans. No Pats fans are like, hey, do you want to go back and relive our double murderer tight end who killed himself? Can I relive that story? None of us want to ever think about

him again. So who's consuming this? Maybe it's Pats haters. Maybe it's like, yeah, this is how bad they are. Look at this. This is a guy they love. So you think people are hate listening to it because they hate the Pats? Yeah. Maybe it's Pat's haters maybe it's like yeah this is how bad they are look at this this is the guy they love so you think people are like hate listening to it because they hate the Pats yeah maybe it's like Colts fans I don't know who this content's for here's what happened to Aaron Hernandez he's a fucking maniac

and he killed two people and he might have killed more than that there's your eight episode podcast I don't understand it I don't understand who's consuming this yeah but OJ, and it's kind of, you have the same slug line. Yeah, but OJ was like one of the most famous athletes of an entire generation.

Yeah. This is like some fucking gangbanger tight end who's just an awful guy. Like, I just told the story. He's a great team and still is, as far as I'm concerned. That's terrible. Come on. I'm kidding, of course. I think you're up one with three left.

Did we do Chargers cards? We didn't do Chargers cards. Let's do this beautiful one. I have the Chargers laying 11 to the Cardinals. You were good. You were close. I think that wins you the week. I had 13.5 and it was 11.5.

I knew I was going to beat you this week. I need both. I need the last two. I'm not going to get them to tie you. Sunday night. By the way, Chargers are beating Arizona. What was the other one? We like,

we like the Patriots to beat the jets. I'm not letting you talk me out of that. I'm not going to, and I kind of like the Colts to be Miami. That's my thoughts in a second. Let's take a quick break and then we'll come back for the last two. Let's talk about all birds dedicated to making stylish, comfortable footwear using premium natural materials designed for life's everyday adventures.

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The all-new tree toppers are available in a variety of limited edition colors at allbirds.com. Sunday night, Minnesota hosting Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. What does the naked eye tell you about Aaron Rodgers this season? Well, I think he's, I don't know if he's playing for Mike McCarthy's job. Is it possible that he's tanking a little bit? Because that third and two pass was nothing like I've ever seen from him. Like maybe when he was seven, he threw a pass like that.

I don't think he's tanking. I think he's in a really frustrating situation. And I think it's affecting him. You know, it's like when you have a boss and you just know the boss sucks. And you can't get out of it. And you're on the treadmill of my boss sucks. Yeah. And it just starts. sucks and you can't get out of it and you're on the treadmill of my boss sucks. He needs a breath of fresh air is how it

seems from afar. I had the Vikings by six over the Packers. You win this and you win the week. Congratulations. I said three. I thought Vegas would say this is their last shot making three. Wasn't impressed with the Vikings today. It is five.

You get that. These two teams tied. They tied, right? Beginning of the year? They tied. That's why everyone has a tie. They did. Cousins. They shouldn't have. Cousins. Remember, didn't somebody drop an interception or something stupid happen?

Packers should have won. They were winning the game. Monday night, Houston home for Tennessee. And we really need Tennessee to win this one because if Houston goes to 8-3, it's going to become tougher and tougher for them not to win that division.

I cannot believe they're 7-3. I feel like I've seen chunks of their games. I don't get it. But I have the Texans. It doesn't make sense. They haven't lost in like two months. Were the Patriots the last team to beat them or did they lose one more after that? I don't know. Do you watch the Texans and go, yeah, there's a team

that's going to do something? Yeah, no way. So I have the Texans by six in this one. Good job by you. I said four. It's exactly six. Yeah, Bill O'Brien should never ever ever

be able to win seven games in a row right I've said like four in a row would be a miracle mm-hmm they lost to the Titans

okay so they play the Titans again they lost to the Titans and then and then they lost to the Giants they lost to the Patriots Titans and Giants and then they lost to the Giants. They lost to the Patriots, Titans, and Giants.

And then they beat the Colts in overtime, Cowboys, the Bills, Jags, the Dolphins, the Broncos, and the Redskins today. Wow. Do they have a running back on their roster that you'd feel

comfortable even getting two carries on the Cowboys? No, I know. But he actually ends up doing our... Oh, did he not do anything today? Lamar Miller? He's just a... What did he do today?

Seems like a backup. I don't get it. And then they lose Will Furlough. He had 20 for 86 and then that Alfred blew at 46. Yeah, I've seen those guys. They're guys like you don't want to start in a fantasy league

ever. It's weird. Don't get it. I wouldn't trade Todd Gurley for him, I'll tell you that much. Quickly, our basketball bets that we made before the season. Can we just get paid for the Gordon Hayward bet now?

Yeah, that was smart. And the Giannis? The problem is the rest of his team that we bet heavily isn't rising to the occasion. It's killing me. It's a double whammy because we have the Celtics over, which was like 59 wins, combined with the fact that I'm just stupefied

that they can't put together three straight games. Yeah. And they had this awesome win against Toronto. That was like the game of the year. We loved that game. It was so good. And then they just shit the bed the next night against Utah. But I think we're going to hit on the Lakers over 48.

That's happening. And we're going to hit on the Bucs over. And I think we're going to be good with the Hawks over 48. That's happening. We're going to hit on the Bucs over. I think we're going to be good with the Hawks under too, especially when the Hawks start. The Hawks under was like 23. We didn't bet on Charlotte to win the division like morons. They're going to win the division.

Washington fell apart. Do you think they are? Yeah, because nobody's good in that division. They're the only team that's half decent. I'm trying to think what else. We didn't do any title bets, though, which I'm glad we didn't. We did matchups, didn't we? I know I did Milwaukee-Golden State. Did I do that with you?

Yeah, I think you might have. Oh, that's good. I'm glad I have that. The East is really good from a top four standpoint. I think the final four in the East, it's going to be Sixers, Celtics, Bucks, and Raptors. Raptors. Pacers go away? Yeah, I mean, the Pacers maybe could upset the four seed,

but I think they would have to make a trade, I think, to move into that top four. They'd have to turn Miles Turner into something, something a little more reliable. But that final four is really good. And then you go on the other side with the West, and I don't even know who the final four is. Golden State and I think the Lakers just because of the LeBron pedigree

and they'll make one move. I have no idea who the other two teams would be. And everybody – Portland, I think, no? I mean, I don't know. People like Denver. People are waiting for – OKC has been playing well for the last two weeks.

Utah has really underachieved this year for what people wanted waiting for. OKC's been playing well for the last two weeks. Utah's really underachieved this year for what people wanted from them. More importantly, are there five tank teams right now or more? We don't have five yet. We will in about three weeks. We have the Suns, we have the Cavs, we have the Hawks. Are the Knicks there? Are the Bulls there?

Cavs are there. Knicks are there. Suns aren't there yet. They don't want to admit it. And then nobody else. I really like the Clippers. I think the Clippers have a chance to be like a Cinderella feel-good story. Where they just play well together. I'm shocked by how enjoyable they are.

They take care of business. They can score at the end of games. And I think they're they're a fun wild card so they had a nice spot there didn't they beat the Warriors they beat the Warriors right

yeah they've had good wins they've had comeback wins they played them after the Warriors oh yeah yeah they did yeah yeah there was something weird happening

yeah any other gambling stuff we care about what about the Deontay Wilder fight is that this weekend oh Tiger Phil we should are you doing that on Against All Odds

yeah we'll probably talk about it there what do you think Tigers minus 200 I stand by my theory that it's really hard to get excited about two rich guys trying to win money against each other. Mm-hmm.

You know? Yeah, I'm in a tough spot because a mutual friend of ours is promoting this. And, you know, I am sort of interested, but I also agree with you. No, I'm just trying to figure out what the hook is. And I guess the test will be when it's Friday, will you be like, all right, I'm going to get this. I want to know who wins. I think I will.

I think I will. Well, you have a gambling problem. That's not fair. 21 bucks? I think that's fine. You'll bet on anything, though. I'll be in a coma. You could bet hole by hole. Yeah, it's fine. But I think Tiger wraps fine. You'll bet on anything though. I'll be in a coma. You could bet hole,

hole by hole. Yeah, it's fun. But I think tiger wraps it up by, uh, our, our, our agent,

James baby doll. Dixon says tiger 16th hole wins it. Really? That was his prediction. No, it was his prediction. 16. I get the title fight.

Maybe he thinks it is. Do you have a, you have a parent corner? I do. So at my four-year-old Harrison school, they have what's called dad appreciation day, which by the way, spells out dad if you do the first initial, but anyway, because they're not in school during father's day. So they feel bad and they want to do something for the dad so they make this thing it's basically a mad libs thing what my father is how how many years old and my father likes to do this so my son harrison comes up with that i'm 55 years old um i'm really good at basketball not true not 55 not good at basketball. Not true. Not 55. Not good at basketball. The best times he has with me is when we go to Florida together.

I've never freaking been with a kid once in Florida. I'm not even close to anywhere in Florida. And that my pockets are full of money, which is kind of a leading question. Like, his pockets are full of what? Like, what are we going to put? Like, I don't know. Egg rolls? What's it going to be? So, kid puts money

and that's not true too. I had a little talk with the teacher. I was like, hey, how do they fill these out? They're like, well, we lead them in the right direction. I was like, well, you led mine in a completely wrong direction to a point where I don't even think this is my son. He's not leaving this preschool until he gets

these right. He might be seven, eight years old as a preschooler here in Manhattan Beach. Why does he think you're 55? I don't know. It's weird when they ask. The kids are all over the place with the age. I feel like it for sure, but I'm not 55 yet. This is a story about my son going with the Survivor Series.

He just turned 11. I feel like this is the last year. I saw it like when Archie, your son Archie came over last week. Archie all of a sudden has become like this kind of, for lack of a better word,

adult. He's like this just adult, like kind of adult in training, 13. Well, to be fair, he was sitting next to Brad the whole day. Well, true. True. But, you know, he passed some line where he just doesn't seem like a kid anymore.

I know he's still a kid, but he doesn't seem like a kid. So my son's 11. This is, it feels like the last year where he's still a kid. So we had this Survivor Series and like the whole week he's like, Dad, six days till Survivor Series. And just every time I saw him, he'd walk over. He had this big look on his face. Like, Dad, five days. And I was just thinking, this is probably the last year.

I get sad. This is it. Next year, he'll be late. Well, next year, it'll be just... Did he like it when he was there? Did it wane a little bit? No, he had the greatest time, but his excitement for it the whole week,

he was honestly like a kid on Christmas. And I was thinking like, so next year, he probably won't be like this, right? Age 12. You kind of lose that little wide-eyed innocence of... Next year, he'll probably be

the third match on the card. What do you mean, next year? Yeah. Well, that's the thing. If he's still like this when he's like 21, I'm probably in trouble. Yeah, he's got to just do it.

He's just got to go for it. But we had... The NXT champ. We had this guy who was two rows behind us who Nephew Kyle can vouch. He's just one of those guys.

He's definitely there alone. He was there by himself. He had very long hair. He was wearing a wrestling shirt. He was super loud. On the phone most of the time. Running commentary. Calling his friends to see if they could

see him on TV, trying to start chants. I knew we were in bad, what was the first match, Kyle? Whatever the first match was, he started calling the guy. It was a girls' match, wasn't it?

Yeah. It was a girls' match. He started telling somebody that they sucked and my son was just giggling like Beavis the whole time and I was like can I dad can I he was like can I join in on the sucks

shit I'm like no and then the next match it was a guy and he starts he's like starts yelling that the guy excuse my language is a pussy and my son is just laughing and just this guy's crossing every line.

And at some point, Kyle and I are looking at each other like, all right, security's going to kick this guy out, right? No. He's just free reign. He's yelling. He's inappropriate. And everyone in my section hates him except my son, who's giggling hysterically at every terrible joke, every bad word.

It was just like his wheelhouse. And I'm going to miss those moments, I guess is my point. Nah, we'll get it back. I guess we'll just have that more kids. That's all. Well, my consolation is someday my son will be that guy

two rows behind us going by himself. The people behind him. He's going to be six rows in front of you in the ring. There's no question about it. He did. I met with, I had a meeting with Triple H this week

and we were talking about when my son's working for him in 10 years. Like we were openly joking about it. Like talking about what kind of match do you think, will my son be the kind of guy who can call the match in the ring in audible or would have to be scripted out ahead of time. And,

and, uh, triple H was saying you should get him so that he knows how to do both kinds of matches where he can audible in the ring, but you also want to have them be able to hammer out the beats beforehand as well. I'm like, all right,

right. I got it. So yeah, there's no stopping it. We, the last time we saw this was with the Ms on, uh, on the real world when he so desperately wanted to be a wrestler that he actually became a wrestler.

That was it, yeah. So, yeah. Yeah, that's the way to do it. Mark Henry got him to cut down his entrance time, right, to a minute. Oh, yeah, Mark Henry told him that. He was talking to Mark Henry today backstage about some tips. Mark Henry. I told him,

he, my son does a two minute entrance. He's like, you got to cut that down to a minute. That's funny. One other thing about the crazy guy behind us, there were two people behind him who got mad that he kept standing up and this guy's was giving them reaction back.

And one of his comebacks was, I'm sorry. I paid more money for my seats than you did. No, that's great. This is great. You really get all kinds of wrestling matches. You really do. Is that even true for two rows? It was one row.

It was like you're bragging about being an asshole. Oh, boy. It's really something. What do you got to plug? I got a lot. I have Lock It In Monday through Friday 1.30 to 2.30 West Coast 4.30 to 5.30 East Coast

Jimmy Kimmel Live is on all week and Against All Odds, we're going to go over all three Thanksgiving games Super Bowl stuff. Lots of fun coming up. What's that? When are you taping that? Tuesday night. When Lock It In is not? Lots of fun coming up. What's that? When are you taping that? Tuesday night. When Lock It In's not Thursday and Friday this week, is it?

No, we do have a break, but we all work on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. Is that true? Good times. Jesus. All right, cuz. You know, you did it. You worked every Christmas, right, at ESPN? Yeah, it was worse than that.

Yeah, you had real games to cover. No, it was even worse than that. We were out of the house at like 6.30 in the morning and home at 10.15. I had little kids that I didn't get to spend Christmas with for two years. No, that's fine. That's the job, though.

We're going to be that guy in the wrestling audience with nothing else. Last thing, do you have a birthday wish for nephew Kyle? It's tomorrow. Oh, is it Kyle? How old are you?

25, quarter century club. Oh, this is a big one, Bill. It's a big one. What are you going to do? You know what? Don't hold back. Go out and get a tattoo

of, you know, third, sixth favorite podcast on the network, whatever you want to do. Maybe a House of Car a tattoo of third, sixth favorite podcast on the network. Whatever you want to do. Maybe a House of Carbs tattoo. Sort of like his left butt cheek. The Big 2 Five.

He's a quarter century old. I love it. Happy birthday, Kyle. Thanks, buddy. The big question will be whether his on-again, off-again girlfriend crashes wherever his birthday celebration is. It's an undisclosed location right now. It's an undisclosed location.

He'll work it out. He's a smart dude. Nephew Kyle. All right, Sal. Good job by you. Good job by you, Billy. All right. Thanks to ZipRecruiter.

Don't forget to go to ZipRecruiter.com slash BS. Thanks to MyBookie. Before you go, check this out. MyBookie doing a Turkey Day free play. Bet the spread on either the bears or the lions. If it wins, you win. If it loses, my bookie will give you your money back up to 250. You literally can't lose. No risk. All gravy sign up this week. My bookie will give you a 50% deposit bonus to jumpstart your bankroll. A great way to bank even more money when you win. Use the

promo code Bill Simmons. Thanks to all birds. Remember the tree toppers, a refreshing take on the classic high top made from trees. The revolutionary sweet form soul adds a spring to your step. Sustainably sourced to meet all birds. Rigorous standards. I have multiple pairs of the all birds. I got to send something to Joe House. I feel like he would call them the all birds, right? Not all birds. The all birds.

He's like, I got the all birds in the mail. The holidays are right around the corner. It's time to consider all birds as a gift for someone on your list. Maybe Joe House. The all new tree topper is available in a variety of limited edition colors at allbirds.com. We're going to have two more podcasts this week. We're taping with Michael B. Jordan, actually, on Tuesday,

and I have a couple other people coming. So, yeah, I'll have some Thanksgiving content for you. Until then.