The Bill Simmons Podcast - The Cruising Lakers, Heat Culture, Lamar’s Kryptonite, and Tampa’s Gambling Hook With Jon “Stugotz” Weiner, Mallory Rubin, Nora Princiotti, and Joe House

Episode Date: October 2, 2020

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons is joined by ESPN’s Stugotz of 'The Dan Le Batard Show' to discuss the Miami Heat’s rough start to the NBA Finals, the Heat’s depleted roster, Finals MVP speculation, the city of Miami’s relationship with LeBron James, another sad NY Jets season, and more. Then Bill brings in Joe House to make some NFL Million Dollar Picks. Finally, Bill talks with The Ringer’s Mallory Rubin and Nora Princiotti about the NFL season, including the Ravens' struggles against the Chiefs last week, the chip on Aaron Rodgers's shoulder, playoff sleeper teams, the NFL's COVID-19 protocol, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tonight on the Bill Simmons podcast, we're going to be talking to Stu Gotts from the Dan Levitard show about Miami's predicament in the 2020 finals, along with what is it like to be a Jets fan in 2020? We're also going to talk to Mallory Rubin and Nora Princiati about the football season. And I'm going to do million dollar picks and try to rebound from a disastrous week three. That is all coming up. This episode is brought to you by Prime Video. You know me. I can't go a day without sports. I really can't. And now Monday nights are all about hockey.

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I should have called this guy last round. I didn't have the balls. Miami was playing Boston. I was nervous about it. I thought Miami was really good. Miami ended up winning. I went into hiding. Now I've come out of hiding.

Right. I bet on your team, Stu Gatz. I had them in six, 10-1 odds, and I was feeling really good when they're up 23 to 10 in game one. And then all hell broke loose. And now Goran Dragic is basically limping around and has a torn, whatever the hell that thing's called. Bam is doubtful for game two. Bam was like a superhero in the Celtics series.

Dragic destroyed us. Now, now I'm just in a spiral. I, I, I'm so bummed out. What's it like in Miami today? How are the, how's the attic doing? I was just up there.

You grew up in Hondo? Who are you hearing from? Butch Hobson? Why do I always go Butch Hobson with you? I don't know. I don't know. Yeah,

I was up the ref from the too many men in the ice game. Yeah, I was, I was up there in the attic just moving stuff around, thinking about that Miami series. But did you, before last night, did you talk yourself into the heat actually winning this finals? Because I did.

I didn't talk myself. Here's the interesting thing I think about the bubble, Bill, is when you remove, it doesn't feel like the normal NBA playoffs for obvious reasons. I think much of the NBA playoffs is about going on the road at big spots and having those big games with 30,000 fans screaming at you while you're doing it. Tyler Hero hasn't done that yet.

He's had big games in the bubble at a neutral court. These guys play games, walk back to their hotel, walk back to the complex and they play on the same court. These guys play games, walk back to their hotel, walk back to the complex, and they play on the same court with different logos. And so you're not really getting the true NBA playoff experience.

And therefore, I thought headed into the series that he'd had a chance because of the neutral court. You're taking travel and fans out of it. I still feel like they have a chance, but those injuries are definitely concerning.

I will tell you at 23 to 10, I was thinking a four game sweep. We're going to have a parade down here in Miami. I got to be honest with you. And so are you, Simi. It's like you were counting your money already, I bet. Well, I liked the way the ball was moving. They were getting open shots.

The Lakers looked a little discombobulated and then it all fell apart. If I had picked two guys going into this series that were the indispensable Heat players, I actually would have picked Dragic and Bam over Butler and anyone else on the roster because Dragic, so many mismatch possibilities with him and that Lakers team.

They're susceptible to those crafty point guards who can break their defense, all that stuff. And then Bam, he's really the only line of defense against AD, even when he got those two fouls before he got hurt. That's when it all fell apart. As soon as he left the game, it was all of a sudden Solomon Hill's out there, and it's like, what's happening? Yeah, because, right, the Solly Hill.

I mean, Solomon Hill, they're so depleted right now. How Solomon Hill am I going to start? I mean, he might. We've been making fun of those minutes. It's kind of like when Spoh, back when the big three were down here, just decided it'd be a good idea to start Dexter Pittman one game. If you remember that. Yeah, I do remember that.

Yeah. Against the Pacers. Bam's been great. What you're seeing, I think, with this series and early on, it's only a game, and Bam says he's going to play, even though he's listed as doubtful. Gorin probably not going to play. Jimmy Butler going to be fine.

I think what you're seeing with Anthony Davis is what Bam's going to look like five or six years from now. I think they have similar skill sets, similar body types, but Anthony Davis is just more mature. Bill, I'm not certain Anthony Davis, when you team him up with LeBron, I mean, we've not, have you Bill, is there a comparison point for him in terms of being six 11,

being able to hit the three, take guys off the dribble. Maybe it's Giannis. I don't know, but I'm not certain Anthony Davis right now is not the best player in the game. Well, it's, I was saying last night on our sales podcast, it's, we really haven't seen this since 2001 when, when Shaq was still at his peak and Kobe was really turning into

the young superstar Kobe in a lot of different ways. Where it was just like, night to night, quarter to quarter, one of the two guys is just eviscerating the other team. And you're right. When he's hitting threes and stuff,

it just seems unfair. It's like, no, you can't have that. Come on, you have so many other things. Defensively, I thought he was dominant yesterday. And, you know, I asked Rossello this question. I'm going to ask you, what does his final stat line have to look like in the finals for him to win the MVP?

When you think about all the LeBron, the media cronies, the LeBron narrative, how badly his generation wants LeBron to be the goat, all that stuff. Do you think Davis has to go 40 and 15 in the finals? Does he have to average 40 points a game? What would be the tipping point for him? Shoot 70% from the field? It seems really silly.

What was the stat line from last night? Let's just start there for a second because I love this conversation. I am glad that we were at 30, 34 and 15, something like that. Hold on. I'm going to check it right now. 34 minutes, 34 and 15 is not going to get him the MVP. No, he's got to step it up. I mean, what a lousy game. He had 34 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Uh, that's not five assists. Yeah. Not good enough. Yeah. Not good enough. Sure.

Bill, I'm with you. No, I think you have to be north of 40 points per game. Right. Somewhere around 15 rebounds a game, somewhere in the neighborhood of four or five assists the game with a couple of steals and a couple of blocks. And again, and even then he may not win it. I mean, and a game winner and even then he may not win it I mean and a game winner yeah it was so funny

last night with Mark Jackson who you know he loves LeBron he's a huge fan and at some point he started talking about

you know LeBron doesn't get enough credit for how much better he's made Anthony Davis or whatever he said there was this pause and Van Gundy's like

he didn't make Anthony Davis better Anthony Davis was already really good. His situation has changed, which is how I feel. I think it makes you better to play with somebody else who's awesome, but it's not like Davis is tapping into this new form of

his talents. The guy was always one of the most prodigiously talented players of this decade. He was a top 10 guy before he got to the Lakers and now all you've done is simply combine them with a top three guy in the NBA. Maybe the, you know,

top three guy we've ever seen in the NBA. So it's, but Jeff Van Gundy is right. Like, that's funny. Like, yeah, I would say if anything,

Anthony Davis, because you look at the Lakers last year, they weren't very good without Anthony Davis. And LeBron was still playing at a pretty high level. I would say, if anything, Anthony Davis has helped LeBron more than LeBron has kind of helped Anthony. He's prolonged LeBron's career and chances of winning titles. That's it. And he's taken a ton of pressure off him.

He's allowed him to be more of a playmaker. Correct. He said last night he thought LeBron's passing was the best part of his game, which is a good argument. I'm not positive, I agree, but that's how good his passing is, that somebody would say that. Well, what do you think is the best part of his game? How smart he is.

And it's funny because he's also one of the five greatest athletes that's probably ever played basketball, but I think it's his brain. And even like, I remember writing this when he left Miami in 2014 and tried to spin it as this whole, I'm coming home, Cleveland.

It was like, no way. He knows that Miami roster is done and that he can't win titles where they are. He knows Wade's at a different point. It's just him and Bosh, and they don't have the salary to add other people, and they have no chance. So he knew that.

Yeah, I've always said he's very calculated, and him and his, I guess his team, the guys that he put around him, Maverick and all those guys, Rich Paul, I think they've had his entire career kind of laid out for him. Like every step of the way, he knew Miami four years, bring it full circle, go back to Cleveland, win them a title, and then I'm going out to LA. I'm convinced he knew all of this before he even came down to Miami.

Wow. See, I think if Miami was awesome and was the best basketball situation, I think he would have stayed for as long as that was the case. You do? Yeah, if you rip through the Spurs in 2014, let's say that comeback in 2013,

you ruin them. They're never the same. And then you run over whoever in 2013. I just think he does one-year contracts until it ends. How much bitterness is there in Miami at this point for LeBron six years later? Here's where the bitterness comes from. Because of what you and I are discussing,

and you know how calculated he is, and you know how well thought out he is, and how smart he is. The bitterness comes from this. First off, there is appreciation. Because we got four years of one of the greatest teams in sports history. And we got four years of one of the greatest athletes that we've ever seen in any sport.

And Miami's super grateful for that. But you do have a guy, and it's why he was criticized for doing it, who got on the stage before he played a single game and promised him eight years and only gave him four. And so Heat fans do not forget that. He said he was going to deliver eight titles. He delivered two. Delivered an embarrassing loss to the Mavericks the first year

where he couldn't post up J.J. Perea. And then here's where it really gets problematic in terms of how Heat fans feel about LeBron James. If you think it was calculated, if you think it was planned out that after four years in Miami, he'd go back to Cleveland and try to win that city a title, which he did, which really felt like winning two titles,

right? For LeBron James. If you believe that's the case, you know, if they beat the Spurs bill in that fourth season, LeBron can't leave Miami after winning a third consecutive title. And I think what fans start doing, and this is the problem with LeBron, because I know Celtic fans went through the Eastern Conference Finals game,

LeBron could give you a great stat line where it appears like he's giving max effort, but you're left scratching your head. Is he really giving max effort? Because if they win that series, LeBron has to come back and they try to win a fourth title. The fact that he had a cramp issue, he had quad issues. The guy's a machine. He's a robot. He's never injured. And then all of a sudden, he's injured and complaining about the air conditioning in the San Antonio arena. And then he doesn't come back and goes back to Cleveland. That's where people are a little skeptical.

They scratch their head and they don't believe LeBron James, quite frankly, you know, maybe that series, you know, you're not saying that's rational though, because I do not think he, I think he went all out in that series.

I think the Spurs were just way better than them. But so you're saying, so I'm saying he can't, I'm saying he can't leave. If they win that series, he cannot go can't leave if they win that series. He cannot go back to Cleveland if he wins that series. So yes, Miami fans are wondering,

I think LeBron has this magic ability where he can put up stat lines that look like historically when we look back, Oh, people were claiming that guy wasn't trying. He put up 39 and nine, right? But I think LeBron is so good where he could do that and still take a series.

And you feel like his heart's not totally in it. Yeah, I can see it. If it was your favorite team and you lost and then he leaves and you're just going to the angriest places. I think the one thing that- Bill, I hate myself for thinking like this, by the way. That's why you're you though.

I mean, come on. No, but what I'm doing is these are my thoughts and I'm potting them off on the city of Miami. I'm couching it under their umbrella. Other people in Miami are like, he doesn't speak for us. In 2011, it's funny because that was nine years ago. And I actually think it's been understated how bad he was in that series. And I was looking back at stuff I wrote from that year.

And in game four, the famous game when he completely is an all-time MIA. Right. And there were real stats to back it up that his usage rate in that game was by far the lowest of any playoff game he ever played. And of his, of his career of like the, you know, the previous eight years or something,

there was actual advanced metrics to support how little involved he was in that game, which backed up being there in person where you're just going, Oh my God, he's, he's running from this. And, you know,

you think like the next year he flipped it. And since that moment, 2012, all the way through, I think he's brought it every year. I really think 14, I can't hang that on him because I just think your team wasn't good enough, you know, in the Spurs game three, game four, game five. I remember going on TV before game five and be like, this series is over. Like they they've been up 20 points the last two games. They, they weren't even close. I don't, I don't think Miami has enough to beat him. And I think he saw the writing on the wall and I think he saw it in Cleveland too. I think he's so smart as a basketball mind that he just assesses it. Like he's fucking Schwarzenegger

in the Terminator and he's just looking at it with his x-ray vision and he just sees like the weakness. And then he's like, I'm out. He did it last year with the Lakers. He played with those young dudes for 20 games. He's like, I'm out. Lonzo Ball, not happening. Not only am I out, but get them all the fuck out of here. Yeah.

I'm injured. Trade them. And go get me Anthony Davis. But let's be honest, right? Because the year before, they should have lost to the Spurs. So that Spurs team. It evened out. Yes, it evened out before, they should have lost to the Spurs. So that Spurs team. It evened out. Yes, it evened out.

So they should have lost to the Spurs that third season they were together. But that game you're talking about, it was an Eastern Conference final game, right? Which one? Before he left and came to Miami, it was Cavs-Boston. Was that an Eastern Conference final game? The one where he took his jersey off. 2010, yeah. Game five, game six.

Well, game five, he disappeared. Right, but is that the usage rate? Right. No, the usage rate game was game four, Dallas, 2011. Oh, the game four, Dallas. I think he had eight points. Right. You know, game four, Dallas actually made the last two games

of the Cleveland-B Boston series make more sense. Right. Because something it's his brain was trying to process whatever the other team was doing. And just, it kind of like short circuited both years. And that was the last time that happened. After that, like he could figure out anything on a basketball court, but. I mean, he figured out how to beat the Warriors basically by himself. Right.

So. court. But I mean, he figured out how to beat the Warriors basically by himself. Right. So, well, even in 2018, when they lost, when they got swept the J.R. Smith, uh, boner game, J.R. Smith committed a boner, but LeBron, LeBron had figured out how to really attack that worst team. And that worst team was, you know, an iconic team and he was going at him one-on-one. Yeah. I'm excited for the final really. Really, because this finals is probably done if Dragic is out and Bam is hurt. So the finals MVP argument is really the only drama we have left. I know, and it's Anthony.

I'm telling you, it's going to have to be... Now I'm thinking about it, it's going to have to be north of 50 points a game. I mean, there's no scenario in which they're winning a title and LeBron's not getting finals MVP unless Anthony Davis does something that we've never seen before.

I am interested. How do you feel about what I said? Because, Bill, you love basketball. You love the playoff. You love the chase for a title. Does this feel like playoff basketball to you? With no fans, no travel, no having to go on the road and hit big shots. Rookies don't play as well on the road.

Role players don't play as well on the road. Role players don't play as well on the road historically in the NBA playoffs. Does this feel anything close to you in terms of NBA playoff basketball? It does. Really? I'm actually okay with it. I just think every year in the playoffs,

there's different variables, right? In 2012, the first title, LeBron won in Miami. That was the shortened season and everything was condensed. And Derrick Rose blew out his knee in round one. And it was like, could you tie that to the fact that he had played all those games before then? Like, yeah, maybe. Um, and that was kind of a war of attrition in its own way.

Okay. So he ends up making the finals that year, basically because they have young legs, you know, Miami made it because they had the best team. So I think when you go backwards and you start looking at different post seasons sometimes they just have weird like 1999 was the most famous one the 50 game season and the Spurs

ended up winning so the variables even though we lost home court and stuff like that there's other variables right like being in the bubble it ruined the Clippers you know they weren't tight as a team. As soon as when they had the vote about whether to boycott the rest of the playoffs

and all that stuff, they were one of the two teams that voted, we want to get out of here, which I thought was interesting, but they couldn't handle it. Let me try it this way. If we had playoffs the traditional way with fans, travel, all that stuff,

you think the Heat are up 2-0 coming back to Miami? Like they win two games in Milwaukee? Well, evidence would say no. Because who was the last under four seed to even make the finals? Wasn't it like the 99 Knicks? I think we had like a 20-year run of you had to be a top four seed to make the finals. Many of you have been higher than that. Yeah.

I think it was the 99X. Yeah, Sprewell. On the flip side, though, I will say this about Miami. The Iguodala Crowder trade combined with Hero just getting better as the year along really did transform them. There were real reasons they were better than their record heading into the playoffs, which I think were a little unusual, right? Yeah. Well, no doubt. What's really

cool about this particular Heat team is that Riley and... Listen, we have fun. Me, Dan, you, we have fun. We take shots back and forth. But I know you respect the hell out of Riley because you're Bill Simmons. You wrote the book of basketball. Riley's one of my favorites. Yeah, Riley. And he

should be. He's great um i'm not certain that he's not better as a as an executive than he was as a head coach which is which is pretty amazing when you consider how good of a head coach he was but i think the beauty the beauty of this team is we had people bill i remember having this discussion with you and i agreed with you if jim Jimmy Butler is your best player, you're not going anywhere. Jimmy Butler is their best. Now, if Jimmy Butler is your third best player, then you're really on to something. But he did this. See, I think Bam's their best player, and that's the misnomer with this Miami team.

Well, I think that's the cool thing about this team is that Pat rebuilt this this quickly, and he did it primarily through the draft with Bam and with Tyler Hero. With two draft picks. And now you have to think this would be an attractive spot for someone like Giannis or other free agents because you have your Jimmy Butler as a number two, you have a young core in Bam and Tyler Hero, and you have this guy, Pat Riley,

who's overseeing all of it with a great coach in Eric Spolstra. And so I think Riley has really positioned this team, not just for the now. It's amazing they're in the finals. But for the next five or ten years, they might have Riley in the heat, might have another run in them. Which I think is pretty amazing considering how quickly that big three fell apart. And they had some bad luck. The Bosh thing was bad luck. He would still be on the team and would be in probably an 18 and eight kind of guy. I wrote when Durant was a free agent in 2016,

I wrote a whole piece about Riley, basically just what a huge advantage it is to have the combo of no state tax, uh, an iconic NBA city, the top three or four city that any NBA superstar would want to live in right and then the culture of some real titles and and real success on top of the riley thing and that meeting you have with riley when he puts the rings on the table in front of you and all that shit and the moment jimmy butler signed with them i was like of course he's probably they're probably jerking off each other over the rings like how great it was oh. Oh yeah. He culture. It's like all Jimmy Butler ever wanted. He was all about like, I just want to be with dudes who care about winning. I,

you know, he couldn't even stand Joel and beat him. Ben Simmons, that whole dynamic, you know, Riley and Spolster never got to the pitch portion. He never, Riley never got to the dumping of the rings on the table at the restaurant. He never did that with Butler. No, no. I'm in already. You don't even need to waste it. Jimmy said, I'm in. Like after the appetizer, Jimmy said, I'm in. You don't need to do the pitch.

I am good. Well, I think it's really, I always respect, I felt this way about Indiana a few years ago. It's happened a couple of times where a team has become a real contender without a top five lottery pick. It's the hardest thing to do in sports, you know,

and basically at a buy on hair or 13 and 14, Butler's a free agent. They, you know, made an aggressive trade for drag. They gave up two unprotected first. I love the trade. A lot of people didn't,

they thought it was too risky to give up those unprotected picks. And, you know, over and over again, they've, they've made smart moves. The Winslow trade was smart. That guy's always hurt. And he was kind of worth more on paper

than it actually was to have him. But I really respect, you know, I think the heat culture thing, everybody's having a lot of fun making fun of that lately. I always thought of it more like a DNA thing. Like I just, I said that on my pod a few weeks ago because I was picking them every round in the bubble. I picked them to make the finals.

You picked them to beat the Celtics? I picked them before the playoffs started to make the finals. Every round. That was what was missing last night because they're a team that was always winning 50-50 balls. They were just fucking tough. They didn't was missing last night. Because they're a team that was always winning 50-50 balls.

They were just fucking tough. And they didn't look tough last night. They looked weak and they weren't winning the 50-50 balls. I don't know if it was deer in the headlights or what was going on. They looked beat. They looked like, hey. Maybe they were. To me, it looked like Bam saying to himself,

hey, that's me in five or six years. That's a better version of me and Anthony Davis. And Jimmy Butler's like, hey, that's a better version of me and LeBron James. We cannot beat this team, right? But that's why LeBron wanted AD so badly, to set this up. My theory for why I wanted to take them was, I didn't think they were going to respect LeBron.

And I mean that in a positive way. I think LeBron is such an icon at this point. And you watch these playoff teams, they're so deferential to him. Denver was like, they weren't pressuring him. They weren't shit-talking him. They weren't hard-fouling him. It was like an honor to play against him. It's like, this is the

fucking Western Finals. Step it up. And I felt like Miami wasn't going to do that. Even last night, there was a moment Jay Crowder, he had two things. One, he tried to like basically ruin his shoulder, Dwayne Wade style. I say he pulled just a little bit harder. Yeah, just a little bit.

Back to the right, Jay. But then he had that other thing where he hard fouled him and then he just kept staring at him and the camera caught him and he was just like doing like the crazy, who's the guy in Godfather 2 who stares down Frankie Five Fingers? Oh God,

Bill. I'm not going to remember. His brother comes in from Italy and he's just like stink-eyed at him. Yeah, yeah. I don't remember the name. So Jay Crowder did like that the stare and LeBron's kind of like, dude, come on. This series is a wrap already. You already lost Dragic.

What do you stick at me for? People are going to laugh at the Dragic stuff, but he was playing the best basketball of his career before he got injured. And so it's interesting because I thought the Heat would have a good shot in this bubble because I know how prepared they would be and I know how serious they would take this thing

because that's the way Spolster and Riley are. And then I felt like the Lakers were the clear favorites, not just because of the talent, but because of how much LeBron's battling father time right now. So we know this championship is so important to him. And so I knew he would take it, you know, he'd be more serious about this than,

than anyone else would be. And so here we are. You could certainly see that in the Denver Game 5 where he was carrying himself in a way that you could see it. He was like, he could smell it. He said at the end it was winning time. He was guarding Jamal

Murray. He said, yeah, because it was winning time. I wouldn't write off this Miami team as bleak as it sounds. Last night I was like, it's going to be a sweep. I just think they're tough and they're going to ugly it up. They'll play zone. They'll do a couple hard fouls. They're going to beat the shit out of Davis. They'll play Kelly

Olenek and Myers Leonard more. Just try to pound Davis. Hard foul them as much as they can. They'll hard foul. They're going to use all their fouls. They're going to make it really physical and ugly and try to start some shit because they're not rolling over. The frustrating thing for me is like, you mentioned dragage before, like

people have no idea how good that dude is. That dude destroyed Boston. Yeah. Especially in the first two games of the series, he made a couple of contested threes that were like backbreakers, you know, where it's like play perfect defense. And then he's like, all right, I'll just hit this 25 foot fall away over your center. And then he's like, all right, I'll just hit this 25-foot fall away over your center. And you're just like, what the fuck? We couldn't have done any better. And he's obviously so important. But I don't see Miami rolling over.

I don't think they can win the series without him. But I don't think they'll roll over either. Well, there's two funny things here. So, first off, I've been saying, you have to start Udonis Haslam. He's got six fouls. He does not give a shit about LeBron James. Oh, my God. Do his best to deliver those six fouls

and somehow take out Anthony Davis or LeBron. Is he on the roster? Yeah, of course. He's the last guy on the bench. Oh, that's a brilliant idea. Why would they do that? Right. Just let Udonis go in there and muck it up.

Start him one game and just six hard fucking fouls on LeBron James. He just comes out for the jump ball. Just shoves Davis. Yeah. Davis goes up and Haslam just punches him right in the stomach. Right. Gets kicked out. Yeah.

So there's that. But if I tell you that Dragic does not return for this series, because I don't think that he will, Bill, do you still feel like that he'd have a chance? Because I don't. Not without Dragic. No, I there's that. But if I tell you that Dragic does not return for this series, because I don't think that he will, Bill, do you still feel like he'd have a chance? Because I don't. No, I actually don't. I don't. I think the whole case for them was the totality of the team

versus the two guys who are the best guys in the series. And that's a Jenga stack, and you pull out a block, and the stack crumbles. I just felt like Bam, Butler, Dragic, those are your three key guys. And then you're hoping one of here or Robinson every game getting hot, which is what happened against the Celtics series.

Then you get the random Iguodala quarter like he had in game six. The Jay Crowder game. The random Jay Crowder quarter. Yeah. I actually think Olenek can be a guy like that in this series because he has done it in playoff games where he'll have the random 15

point quarter, things like that. So I think they have to play him. He played a lot in game one. I think clearly moving forward they'll have to. You're right. Their best chance is Davis having an awesome game too and then complaining afterwards that he has no chance of winning the finals MVP.

And then there's a skizz in the locker room. Yeah, it just blows up the locker room. This episode is brought to you by Movember. The mustache is back with a vengeance.

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Before we go, where does this jet season rank for you, 1 to 10, for just having your soul ripped out of your body? It's the worst. You think it's the worst? Wow. I'm numb to it. It's the worst, Bill,

because not only are we bad, there's no one on our roster where I could's the worst, Bill, because not only are we bad, there's no one on our roster where I could say like, wow, okay, there's the future. It's not the quarterback. It's not the head coach. The head coach is about to get fired. And by the way, for everyone listening to this, and I know there's millions of people listening

to each episode, I dare you to watch the Broncos and Jets tonight. Go ahead. And by the way, we played a funny game on our show the other day, Bill. Name the best player and Jets tonight. Go ahead. I dare. And by the way, we played a funny game on our show the other day, Bill. Name the best player on the field tonight. Go ahead. Good luck.

Who is it? Is it Bradley Chubb? That's what Mike Ryan said. In the absence of Von Miller, Le'Veon Bell's out. It's probably Bradley Chubb. Bradley Chubb. My question is,

what a sad state of affairs, man. Let's say you had a seven-year-old Jets fan as your son. Yeah. And he's like, I need a jersey. What jersey are you buying this poor, tortured, seven-year-old Jets fan? Because before you,

Lisa said, oh, Jamal Adams. He's cool. He'll be on the team a while. Great all-pro safety. Yes. But now it's like... That is a great question. So it has to be from the current roster?

I can't go back? From the current roster. I can't get him a Gaston in a jersey? I can't do that? I think that's the answer. I think you have to go throwback. I think you have to.

Or Braxton Berrios. Maybe it's a Braxton Berrios because he's little and the kid's little. Maybe that's the move. I don't know. And he's Chris Hogan. Oh, my God.

Well, you know how bad the Pats receivers have been the last couple years. Like, we cut Chris Hogan. Oh my God. Well, you know how bad the Pats receivers have been the last couple of years. Like we cut Chris Hogan. Yeah. Braxton barriers. Couldn't get off the practice squad. And now those guys are starting for the jets.

It's really crazy. By the way, congratulations on losing the greatest quarterback of all time and still having the best quarterback in the division. It's unbelievable. Fuck you. It's been so wonderful. Plus like Brady's doing a lot of the stuff

he did last year. Yes. And he looks good though, Bill. No, but he really he kind of secretly doesn't though. Right. Okay.

Because he'll I mean, you know him better. He's still missing throws. Like he's playing like a 43 year old guy. I think Breeze is playing like an old guy too. Yeah. It happens, man.

You get old. You're right. It's not an easy position. No, you're right. I think Breeze is playing like an old guy too. It happens, man. You get old. You're right. Uh, it's not an easy position. No, you're, you're right. I mean,

listen, some people would argue Josh Allen's the best quarterback in the AFC East. I would, I would tell you, no, I'd rather have, yeah, that's a settled down,

right? For the next five years. Listen, for the jets, I'm numb to it. This is, this is the way it is. I am 45 years old.

I've never seen him play in a super bowl. I've seen him play in a couple of AFC championship games, two with Mark Sanchez, one, I believe, with Keyshawn and Biddy Testaverde. Yeah. Up 10-0 at half against the Broncos. I was going to say, a way closer game than I think people remember. Yeah, they had a 10-point lead at half.

And so I thought we were going to the Super Bowl. This has been a very frustrating season. Couple of things. I liked Adam Gase when they hired him. So I thought that was a good hire and I have waited my entire life to be friends with the head coach of the Jets. I'm legitimate friends with Adam Gase. And so I am upset that Gase is going to get fired here. I am going to go from being good friends with the Jets head coach to being good friends with the Jets head coach to being good friends with the Jags,

the next Jags offensive coordinator. Right. I mean, and so that's a tough one. But I was telling Levitore the other day, and I'll tell you the same thing. This has been the worst season. I am nearing a point, Bill,

where I have grown exhausted. And like, I don't even want to watch the games anymore. And I blame one person. And I don't even want to watch the games anymore. And I blame one person. And that one person is Joe Walton. Do you remember? Joe Walton, one of the original nose pickers. Yes.

He was the coach in the early 80s. Oh, yeah. Richard Todd. Yes. Dan was cracking up when I was talking about this, but the reason I blame Walton is because as a kid, you have a choice in New York. You could be a Jets fan.

You could be a Giants fan. You could be an Islanders fan. You could be a Rangers fan. You could be, unfortunately, we're all saddled with the Knicks. Yeah. Mets, Yankees. You could be a Mets fan. You could be a Yankees fan.

So you have choices. The Jets, under Coach Walton, were just good enough, okay, playing in Shea Stadium. They were just good enough with the sack exchange, with Richard Todd and the long, flowing hair coming out of the helmet, and Wesley Walker, who was our best wide receiver. Yeah. They were just good enough and just entertaining enough

where I chose to be a Jet fan as opposed to being a Giant fan. And so I blame Walton for that because he was just good enough as a head coach to make the Jets relevant enough for me as a kid to be a fan of the New York Jets. Yeah, that's a tough because the Seesaw... I'm blaming the 82 head coach of the New York

Jets for why... Yeah, and you didn't know about LT yet. If it's like one year later, maybe you're like, LT, I'm in on that guy. Parcells. I was just a couple of years away from Parcells, Belichick, LT, Harry Carson,

Phil Sibs. Oh man. Joe. That's tough. It's a tough story. All right. Say hi to a levitard in the crew for me. I will.

And say hi to all the demons in the attic for me. I will say hi to the levitard culture. You guys got to start talking about the Levitard culture. Like the heat culture. How would you define that culture? Just Levitard culture. It's hardworking, lunch pail,

lunch pail people built around a host that doesn't watch sports. It's a lunch pail culture. All right. Thanks for coming out, two guys. Anytime.

Home and home. Yeah. You got it. I don't think I forget these, Bill. I know. I know you don't. All right. You're great, man. Home and home. Yeah, you got it. Don't think I forget these, Bill. I know. I know you don't. All right. You're great, man. And good luck. Good luck with that heat ticket, man. I hope it comes in for you. Thank you.

All right. I'll see you later. All right. See you, buddy. Hey, you've probably heard about FanDuel Sportsbooks. World-class sports betting app by now. Remember, FanDuel makes it easy to find and place your bets. They've got some of the best odds you'll find anywhere. FanDuel Sportsbooks. Throw throwing a little gasoline on the fire with a $10 risk-free same-game parlay for all customers.

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Iowa is 800. Bets off. All right. Time for million dollar picks. Joe house is here. Haven't had a lot of house on the, uh, on the Thursday night NFL podcast. Cause he's been busy. He hosts fairway rolling for us, our excellent golf podcast with Nathan Hubbard. And then on Fridays on ringer NFL, a new show that, uh, we have this year with Warren sharp expert analytics expert knows a lot of stuff and house and him are doing a little gambling preview of the weekend on that if you missed it. So, you know, Hey, it's hard to book you for this stuff, but I needed you. I'm getting my ass kicked this week. Well, I appreciate the invite. I always say yes. And, uh, yeah, I'm having a great time with Brother Warren.

He is literally sharp, and I am literally an average Joe. So I think it's a pretty good matchup. I'm learning a lot each week. One thing that I have learned that doesn't have anything to do with Warren Sharp is the last time I was on this podcast i was not sober and the uh denver the denver basketball team god bless the denver nuggets they're they're good yokich is good jamal murray very good the fans of the denver nuggets they have an interesting sense of humor. That's the way I'll put it.

They felt like you disparaged the Nuggets and they attacked you? I mean, I was drunk and I did say the number of games I thought that they were going to win resembled the shape of my saggy oval-shaped balls. You know, the kind of

zero shape. They didn't like that. They didn't like that, which is understandable. Kudos to Denver. Apologies to all the fans of the Nuggets. I'm a fan of the Nuggets now. I honestly was outraged by the way that Lakers series went.

We love them. So on Sunday, I thought I was going to sweep million-dollar picks, and instead, I lost Falcons minus three disastrous, big Dick, Nick comeback, uh, just pulled out. I won the Bengals against the Eagles Cowboys plus five against the Seahawks. Somehow it didn't cover that. It took two missed extra points. It took Seattle getting a two point and it took Seattle somehow getting a touchdown at

the tail end of the game instead of the game winning field goal, which never happens. And then I had Rams plus two against the bills. That was cruel. That really, that actually hurt my feelings. I was upset with that one as well. And then I had a tease with the cards in Tampa and the cards just let me down. That was the only one I actually was like, I had to look in the mirror on that one. I think I overrated the cards a little bit. So had all that stuff happen, then did bet on Miami 10 to one odds to win in six, which you joined me on.

We like that as a long shot bet. And within 40 minutes, Drakic is throwing something at his foot, Bam's hurt, and that ship sailed. And then to cap it all off, picked the White Sox as my baseball playoff team, put a little on them so I could have a playoff team and they completely choked.

I don't know how they lost to Oakland. So house I'm reeling. I really needed you right now. Well, here we are. We're going to write the ship right now. There are a bunch of opportunities on this week for slate. So I'm interested to hear what you have cooked up, my brother.

Well, I'm going to give you the stay aways first. Go ahead. Dolphins plus six and a half home in steamy Florida against Seattle, who everybody loves. And meanwhile, Seattle, no pass rush. Secondary has been pretty bad. They feel beatable on the right week. I initially was going to tease Seattle.

And the more I thought about it, I became scared of them. And then I realized as I was scared of them, like, oh, maybe the Dolphins as a possible. As your straight up upset of the week. Yeah, or straight or money line. Or maybe put them in a long shot parlay. But then I remembered Russell Wilson's on the Seahawks. So I'm staying away from that one. Browns plus four and a half against the Cowboys.

So you watched the Browns played the Washington almost professional football team last week. And there's a world in which if Haskins doesn't defecate all over himself, his teammates, the field, gamblers, whatever, that they actually might have been in that game because their defense was pretty good. I like Gibson. I like McLaurin.

They have some pieces, but he was so bad that I almost don't know how to judge the Browns from that. There's a world in which the Browns might actually be okay with that running game and, you know, their offensive lines better. They have a, they have a real coach this year.

So I looked at them a little bit with the Cowboys plus four and a half, but backed off because they're the Browns. Well, and the interesting thing to me is that you backed off. The reason to me to back off that game is not the Browns, but instead the Cowboys. The Cowboys are very untrustworthy. All over the map. Yeah, whether you're betting on them or against them.

Yeah, I agree. And they have so much capacity to do so many great things. And we really thought they were going to come out and go gangbusters. 13-3, 12-4. i thought that was possible not now i also looked at the texans minus three and a half for a little bit oh and three season on the line playing the vikings who are also on three season against season on the line the advanced metrics for the vikings are horrific the team isn't very good it just came down to, I think especially during the COVID season, two shit teams playing each other is probably a stay away.

And especially if you're laying points. We saw that last week with Jacksonville, Miami. It's like, oh, cool. I'll lay the points with Jacksonville. And it's like, why did I do that? Both of these teams stink. I don't know what I'm getting. So I think I'm going to stay away from the 0-3 loser leaves town bowl.

You won't have me make any argument to the contrary. Okay. So here's what I'm looking at. I really like the Bucs. I like the Bucs. I think they, as a tease team, first of all, their defense is really good. Number two, DVOA.

I've been impressed with them the last couple weeks. They have some playmakers. They're playing the Chargers. I don't know if they pulled the needle out of Tyrod's punctured lung yet. I don't know. He's probably not playing yet. Herbert, he's okay.

Whatever. They've had some injuries, the Chargers. And it's becoming increasingly clear that the Chiefs rope-a-doped us in week two with that Chargers game where they just basically, they did the Milton Berle, pulled out just enough dick to win. I like the Bucs in that game. I haven't loved how Brady looks. I know Godwin's out.

But to me, that's the team to beat in the NFC South regardless of how shaky Brady's playing. They're favored by seven at home over the Chargers, so I need the second team. I want to tease that. I need the second team. And look, I'm down a million dollar picks right now. I'm down

$757,000. I need wins. The best team to tease them with is the Kansas City Chiefs. Yeah. Who are unfortunately playing my favorite team, the New England Patriots. I have to divest my heart. I'm going to root for the Pats. If the Pats blow this bet for me, great.

Then the Pats won. But I just think the Chiefs are at a different class than anybody. It's going to be a big game because Belichick's on the sidelines. They're not going to let down from the Ravens game. They unleashed the receivers going downfield last week. I think their defense looks pretty good. You know, it was good in the playoffs last year when they needed to be,

and it seems even a little bit friskier this year. And this Pats team is still trying to figure out who they are on offense. There's practice squad dudes running reverses and undrafted five foot six free agents getting four carries on a drive. I think if they play this game in late November, I'd feel better about the Pats.

I still feel like they're figuring out who they are a little bit. And now there's some game tape on cam. I'd be surprised if they beat the Chiefs. So that's going to be my first one. Bucks, Chiefs, Tees, your thoughts. tape on cam i i'd be surprised that they beat the chiefs so that's going to be my first one bucks chiefs tease your thoughts the only thing about it that makes me pause is the short week for the chiefs yeah right and you coming off a huge win and you essentially give belichick an extra day

of preparation i mean i'm sure the chiefs had a, you know, a secondary group of people planning for this Patriots game, but just, it feels like, you know, getting the guys down from, you mentioned the emotional high, you know, when's that adrenaline runoff for the, for the Chiefs? Is it middle of the day, Tuesday, they wake up, they're happy, they're satisfied. When, when does their focus for the Patriots really kick in? Is it Wednesday, the first part of Wednesday? So that's the reason why I would be worried. Cause you know that, that Belichick is going to have his team prepared. I agree with you that, that new England is looking for an identity on offense. Uh, and I was a little worried. I,

they were my favorite play last week against the Raiders. And it looks like Cam is still trying to build some chemistry. We got three touchdowns out of Rex Burkhead last week. Yeah. Didn't expect that. So that, you know, counsels in favor of going ahead and feeling comfortable with the Chiefs. But I just, I don't know.

The keys make sense, but go ahead. But I, I just, I don't know. I, I, this makes sense, but go ahead. Can I give you this one chiefs thing? So they have the upper hand in Baltimore now. Cause you want the one seed this year. Warren laid out the case the last couple of weeks on your Friday pod with him. It's only one by they have a huge advantage.

Now it's the Ravens. They have two important games next three weeks. They have new England this week. They're at Buffalo in week six. If they run the slate with those three, their schedule actually gets easier as we head into the second half. They're in the driver's seat in the AFC.

So that's why I don't feel like they're going to be letting down on this one. Because if they take care of business against the Pats, now you only have to worry about that Buffalo game in two weeks and you have the AFC by the balls. So I'm not going as big as I normally would on these teases.

Okay. Okay. I think that's unless you can give me a better team to tease them with. I looked at the Rams against the Giants to the Rams are minus 13. So you don't get a ton of value with that one. We're using the Fandos sportsbook lines.

You could do a six and a half point tease, get them under a touchdown, but then I'm still in that cheap touchdown range with the Giants, which I hate. The team that's favored by 13 that I love this week, speaking of a couple teams we've mentioned already, that's favored by 13 that I love this week,

speaking of a couple teams we've mentioned already, that's the Baltimore Ravens. The travel for them is getting on a bus for a 15-minute bus ride down I-95. The one thing we know without hesitation or reservation is that the Ravens beat the living crap out of bad teams. I mean, I'm going to get in trouble for saying this, but limited Lamar, limited Lamar loves playing bad teams. You're going to hurt Mallory's feelings. Not just Mallory.

Warren Sharpe is going to send me a, I don't want to... He's also down here in the DMV, and I'm worried about what's going to show up on my doorstep tomorrow if he hears me talking this way. He's obviously a Lamar devotee. We both believe in Lamar. It's just against these great teams, he's had a couple stink bombs. He's 0-3 against the Chiefs.

Oh, that number already moved from 13 up to 14. Yeah, that's the thing. You can't really put in there. So I'm with you. I think they kill the Washington professional team, but there's really no way to profit on that. So I'm locking in Bucks Chiefs. Next one, I have Colts minus two and a half against Chicago.

Colts first in DVOA right now. Kind of back, you know, one of the games was against the Jets, but even that first game of the games was against the Jets, but even that first game of the year that they lost, I really liked how they looked. They didn't punt the whole

game. They're kind of sneaky good. They played their pace. It's slow. It's methodical. It's ugly. One of the things I like about this game is I do think with Big Dick Nick that people have talked themselves and, Oh, here we go. Chicago. My question for you house. Do you see the bears being four? No, no, I don't. That seems like improbable to me. I, I, I,

I don't see it under any circumstances. I like the Colts in this situation. I think they're, they're, uh, it's a silly thing to say kind of they're, they're, uh, it's a silly thing to say kind of they're, they're better than they've looked. Is that,

if that makes any sense? Uh, they have two receivers out now. Pittman's out and Paris Campbell got hurt a week ago. So they're a little

depleted with the receivers. Hilton hasn't had a game yet. Right. He's actually been, I don't think he's looked as good as we've seen in the past, but I guess what I mean. I mean, we haven't really seen him have a game yet. Right. He's actually been, I don't think he's looked as good as we've seen in the past, but I guess what I mean? I mean, we haven't really seen him have a game yet.

Yeah. This is just, I can't believe this line's less than three. And I really do think big Dick Nick has, has some sway with people. People are afraid of going against them. So anyway, Mark that one down Colts minus two and a half. Third one is just a personal thing from watching football the last three weeks. I was really impressed by the lions last week. Okay. So the lions week one, they blow that game to the bears. That was stupid. They're up 17 in the fourth quarter. You never lose that. They're a little depleted in the secondary. I bet against them last week and I thought their offense looked terrific. And then the rookie Akuda in the secondary was good and really helped the Lions.

What I was impressed by with them, they were just moving the chains. They're getting first downs and they had a huge drive in the fourth quarter against the Cards where at some point around midfield, they're like, fuck, they're going to score. Stafford seemed really confident.

It seemed like they can block for him. I think that's a good team. I do not like the Saints team as much. I know Michael Thomas is coming back, but we've been saying it for four weeks. Breeze just doesn't throw the ball downfield anymore. And this feels like a field goal game to me. I love getting the extra point.

I think they could win it outright. It's Lions plus four. And I just like the line. I like the matchup. I think they could win it. Yeah, Lions, I agree with you. You know, they were on that streak of giving up leads in the fourth quarter. All winnable games for them, which shows how competitive they are.

And Galladay's return can't be overstated. I was going to say underestimated. Anyway, the overs and unders are in my head right now. The thing that Stafford is really good at is vertical passing. And with Galladay back there, you know, helping him stretch the field, I think that Detroit team can score on anybody. I mean, and, you know, the Saints definitely have the capacity to let us score at the end of a game, even if they're up 10 at the end.

You like the Lions coming down and scoring, I mean, this touchdown at the end of a game, even if they're up 10 at the end. You like the Lions coming down and scoring a meaningless touchdown at the end. The extra point is very helpful there. That's the other thing, and I'm glad you mentioned that. They could be down 10 or 11 with two minutes left and still go on down there. And we know that there's no home field advantage.

If this was a packed Superdome, it would be different. So mark that one down, Lions plus four. And then last one is Cards minus three over the Panthers. I think there's been an overreaction to the Cards last week. So I like pairing these bets together because I think people cooled off on the Cardinals big time because they looked like crap last week.

And Kyler didn't look good last week. Yeah. But what if the lions are actually either pretty good or just flat out good? And what if the cards just, you know, they were two and oh, feeling good about themselves. It was just, it was just one of those. Yeah. We sucked. I believe in Kyler Murray. I don't think he's going to play two shitty games in a row. I just think he had a bad game last week. I saw him the other two weeks. I thought he was great. And I think he's the kind of guy that coming off a bad game,

I actually like having him. I like him in the comeback. No, no, no. Believe in me. I've got this kind of situation. So the fact that it's only three, you know, against the Panthers, that whatever, they're fine. They had three, you know, against the Panthers that whatever, they're fine. They had, they had a nice win last week against the chargers,

but I liked them in that spot. Yeah. And, and you know, the, uh, outcomes last week were large, were completely dictated by turnovers. Yeah. Cardinals were minus three on the wrong side of, of turnovers. The Panthers were plus four in turnovers last week against the Chargers. And barely won. And barely won. And the Chargers had one of the worst two-minute drills I've ever watched in my life. Yes. Trying to come back in that game.

It was like, I don't know what the hell they were doing, but they were throwing these checkdowns over the middle. It's like, you guys, you have like a minute left. What are you doing? Every time you do this, it's going to be 25 seconds. And even with Arizona, this is the thing that makes me feel comfortable with this play. Even with them

playing as poorly as we expect them to, they're likely to play all season long. And all those turnovers, they still lost on a field goal at the end of the game. Yeah.

So we got those four. Then I actually like the long shot parlays of the week. I haven't liked them in week two and week three, but I like them there. I have two I was looking at. First one is Philly in San Francisco. They're getting seven. And basically around plus two 65,

depending where you look. Oh, and three heading to own for everybody's out on Philly. People have crossed them off. They're done. When she's with it, San Francisco is really banged up. This is not the San Francisco from last year,

even from, you know, earlier, earlier in the playoffs last year. And, uh, the reason I looked at that was I was thinking about putting the Niners in a tease and I just was like, I don't trust them at all. So it was like, well, why not go Moneyline? The other one.

So I like Philly as one anchor that I'm going to give you two choices for the other team. All right. The first one is the Atlanta Falcons. They are plus 280 and plus seven against the Packers on Monday night. Packers, people are feeling great about. Falcons really should have two more wins than they have. They can move the ball. And it could go one of two ways. Either they're going to get killed or they could show a little heart and a little spine. The other one is the Browns. So Browns-Bengals, you feel like, well, those are basically identically bipolar teams. I don't know what I'm getting from them week to week.

What if they just won? Here are the odds. Eagles-Falcons is plus 1160. Eagles Browns is plus 944. Which one makes your nipples harder? I like the Browns. There's a more plausible case for the Browns than there is for the Falcons. As long as Dan Quinn is the coach of the Atlanta Falcons, there is no scenario under which you're going to convince me to put $1, not $1, not 50 cents, not a quarter, not a dime on the Atlanta Falcons. Now I do like them getting seven.

They've lost 12 total points in three games. But the Moneyline play is the dead loser as long as Dan Quinn is the coach of the Atlanta Falcons. If you bet every single game, with the exception, you take out the 2016 season when he had Kyle Shanahan, a coach in waiting, as the offensive coordinator, if you remove that 2016 season, if you'd bet every single game against Dan Quinn as a, as the coach of the Atlanta Falcons,

that's a 60% hit rate. That is collecting dollars from Las Vegas. I can't endorse an Atlanta Falcons money line play. I do like them getting seven though. I won't say that. Okay. All right. Here's what we're doing. A million dollar picks. We're putting 300 K on the following bucks and chiefs tease down

from minus seven to minus one. Both of them have to win Colts minus two and a half over the bears lions plus four over the saints and the Cardinals minus three against the Panthers. So I'm taking three road teams, but the road team betting action has been pretty favorable since there's no home field advantage at all. So I'm not scared about that. And then long shot parlay of the week. 25 K on the Eagles and the Browns.

Both of them have to win. Plus 944. Should I put 30K on them? Put 30K on that house. Put 30 on that one. Put 30 on that one. Come on, let's live a little. Yeah.

So there you go. How are you feeling about that slate? I feel good about it. I love it. There's a lot of things that I it i love it there's a lot of uh things that that that i'm rooting for there's a lot you know if dallas loses again and loses to the browns the the cowboy nation will lose its minds i love i love that i mean there's there's a lot of things to that to look forward to this weekend do you does miami did the miami heat get swept? I haven't heard the report on Goran's foot. What's the story?

He has a plantar tear. Yeah, but can he play or not? He can play, but they have to shoot Novocaine into it. It sounds great. It's a sweep. It's a lock. It feels like a sweep unless they do the thing where they have the one game where every time Davis touches

anyone, it's a foul and they just try to get him out of the game. I don't want it to be a sweep. So I'm going to say it's a sweep because I haven't been good on this podcast with my basketball forecast. Oh, we, we love Miami for three rounds. We've loved Miami. We did. That was, that was wonderful. And yes, it wasn't our fault that the Clippers completely effed us right in the A-hole. Let's just be specific about it. Paul George and all the stuff that came

out after. Doc Rivers had to lose his job and then Philly was like, cool, we'll give you a five-year contract. What could go wrong? That sounds like a great idea. Poor Doc has to go from navigating Kawhi Leonard and Paul George to navigating Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons.

And he's going to go in there and it's going to be like, yeah, last year we had the clogged toilet offense. And Doc's like, well, that's my offense. You're going to get it again. The only thing about it that doesn't make any sense to me is he's trading Malibu for the Jersey Shore. Yeah, that's a downgrade. That's not an upgrade.

So where can he live in Philly? So he would live in New York? Would he be in the suburbs? No, no, he could live in Philly. Philly's great. But would he be in the city? Where would you live in the back of the river? What's it called? There's a whole portion of the city

that's these old classic 100-year-old homes, gigantic homes. So he'll do that and then he'll have like a Jersey Shore on the water house and he's good to go? Yeah, I think so. He's been on the East Coast before. When do you think he has the first

convo with Joe Embiid that he needs to get in better shape? You think that's like the first text or you wait like two months before you drop that on him? Two hours ago. What time,

when did he sign the contract? That's when I think that first conversation happened. All right, House, we can hear you with Warren Sharp talking about trends and plays for the weekend, week four. That's on

the Ringer NFL show. And then Masters, not too far away. Nate and I are getting revved up. In fact, how about this? We're sending Nathan to Las Vegas for two straight weeks. The PGA Tour, they're in Jackson, Mississippi this week, and then it moves to Las Vegas. Back-to-back events in Las Vegas.

We're going to send Nate there. We need the PGA Tour to hook us up with a credential, by the way. But Nate's going to be there. Assuming he survives, we are going to be in good position for the Masters the first week of November. Can't wait. Hal, it's great to see you. Always a pleasure, Bill Simmons.

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How your wheels hug the curves. All right. Welcome to the funeral for Lamar Jackson's career as an MVP quarterback. Norm Princiati is here. We're celebrating it with Mally Rubin, who is in just complete denial after a disaster of a Monday night game. What are you talking about? How are you feeling? Talk us out of this.

Talk us out of Lamar can't win a big game. I feel fine. It's one game. It's week three. Now, is it ideal? No. But is any of your slander and cruel hyperbole justified? Also, no.

I feel okay. I've been processing my emotions for a couple days now. And, you know, one of the things that I've taken heart in is that the team seems to be doing the same thing. You know, Lamar referred to the Chiefs as our kryptonite after the game. And I would just like to observe

that if kryptonite impacts you, it means you're Superman. So I'm still feeling good. Nora, how did that all sound to you? Like somebody in denial? I'm just worried this podcast is going to get extremely personal. That was the most Mallory rebuttal

I could think of if we're bringing it back around to superheroes and mystical, magical things. But I actually kind of agree. I think Lamar's fine. I'm not like, I'm not doing this whole the Ravens have a Chiefs problem.

Like, everybody has a Chiefs problem. I have a Chiefs problem. Yeah. I'm going to have a Chiefs problem on Sunday night. Yeah, that's right. As they're kicking my team's ass. No, the only thing with Lamar,

and I don't know how old he's going to be when he gets, you know, Lamar carried my fantasy teams last year. I still have a soft spot for him, even though I dumped him for Kyler Murray. The only thing that worries me

is the same thing that worried me last year. It's like when he's down 10 and now I've taken away the strength that you have because now I know you have to throw the ball. I'm not convinced that they can move the ball down the field by throwing it, but I don't know if it's the receivers or him or both, or I don't know.

I just, because I bet on the Ravens on Monday, and once they went down double figures, I was just like, man, I don't think they can come back from this. And how do I get rid of that feeling, Mallory? Well, I think it's important to remember that it was one of those games where just absolutely nothing went right.

So if you think back to the opening drive, move down the field with ease until the puzzling decision to go for the field goal instead of going for it on fourth down. Yeah, that's my my my cat is in the room just making an extraordinary amount of noise right now, by the way. So I assume he's also objecting to your Lamar stance. But if that gets too loud, let me know. You mentioned the receivers. Mark Andrews tight end, obviously, but Lamar's go-to pass catcher. Rough game.

Three catches on eight targets, a couple devastating drops. Holly Brown, two receptions on six targets. They just were not in sync, were not on the same page, and I think the 97 passing yard game for Lamar, while it was certainly not his best outing of his career, the stats are harsher than the complete reality was. Also, the game plan was just not there.

And that was obviously exacerbated by the fact that Andy Reid's game plan for the Chiefs and Biennium's game plan for the Chiefs was just flawless. I mean, the innovation, the invention on display, everything, humming, the wizardry, they could do whatever they wanted. The Ravens moved away from the run way too quickly. That does not mean, to be clear, that passing effectively is not possible.

It just means that the foundation of the offense is the run game. And part of it is that every, if it's always just third down and you're losing the time of possession battle and you don't have the ball often, you don't really get a chance to get into rhythm and get into sync. I just have too much confidence in Harbaugh and the coaching staff and overall the analytically inclined approach of the team, which was, you know, a little bit puzzlingly absent on monday night i don't think any of that will that's not their story to your friends jesus i didn't realize you were this upset it's quite

i'm making the exact opposite point so the events metrics that let you down that was weird that i have confidence lasting confidence that all of those things will click back into place. I mean, at the end of the day, you're talking about Lamar's record against the rest of the league in the regular season is 21-1. He's 0-3 against the Chiefs. That's good. So you start to lump together the Chiefs problem with the playoff problem. Lamar himself said, they played us like the Titans played us. That's a paraphrase, but that was the takeaway. So that becomes the concern is just what is replicable there.

But again, it's not just the offense. All right. All right. You made your case. It's fine. It's going to be fine with one game. They could lose to the Chiefs and have one really off week in every capacity and still be the second best team in football.

I feel like there's a world to there's a world too where Andrews doesn't drop that touchdown pass. It should have been a touchdown pass and they score back-to-back touchdowns at the start of the second half. And all of a sudden, oh, wow, the Ravens actually can come back. And I do think they have a problem when they get down. That's exacerbated. Some of it has to do with how they play football, and it's okay to admit that. It doesn't mean that we're saying Lamar's bad. It's exacerbated, I think, a little bit by the play calling. I do think that when they tense up, it seems like, I don't know why they go pass heavy. And it's not just,

throw some play action passes, fine. That's great. Cool. What's strange is that it seems like they resort to, you know, you're seeing Lamar on like a five-step drop, seven-step drop. That's not their bread and butter. And it's not about what he can do, what he can't do. It's about what are you repping the entire week? What are you practicing? They do so much out of pistol. And it's just strange to me that it seems like when they get behind, it's not just that they're going to the pass. It's that they're going to certain types of passes that's getting away from what they're so good at. So I would like to have a better understanding of why that happens.

But I still think they don't play from behind very much. So I'm not ready to say that this is an unsolvable problem. That's a fair point. You know what really made me mad about that game? I got rope-a-doped by the Chiefs. Because those first two games, which I watched intently, and they were just trying to establish the run. They weren't sending their receivers on deep passes. And then watching them on Monday night,

it was so clear that they were saving all their cool plays, all the streaks down the field, multiple guys just running 50-yard pass patterns. They were just saving it for this Ravens game. A tackle on a leak play? Yeah, they're the exact same Chiefs team as last year, but in the first two games, they really didn't look that way.

The Chargers, they had a lot of trouble with, and I think they were doing the classic thing where they were just trying to get through that game and save it for the next game. But coming out of the game, I was bummed out because I have some fantasies about the Patriots sneaking in there post-Brady. Team of Destiny, underachievers, the underdogs,

Belichick's greatest achievement, all that stuff. And then you watch the Chiefs do that, and you're like, man. I mean, Mahomes was 15 for 19 for 191 yards and three touchdowns against the Blitz. Yeah, that's tough. Like, what do you do against that?

That's the definition of impossible to defend. And I think you're right. Some of it is that, you know, you don't necessarily need to break out everything against the Chargers. And some of it is, as Nora, you and Kevin have talked about this out everything against the Chargers. And some of it is as Nora, you and Kevin have talked about this a lot, like the beginning of this season was always going to be a little bit strange and halted because of the lack of a true preseason, the time

to adjust and the teams that have ultimately struggled with that less are the teams with established offensive schemes and established quarterbacks because they have that continuity in key areas, coaching and quarterback play. But it doesn't mean that everything's going to be perfect right away. So I don't think there's a single football fan alive who is surprised that in week three, Mahomes looked like Mahomes again. Like, of course that was going to happen, right? It's a question of if you can, you're not going to be able to stop him. You just have to contain him and try to keep pace. So again, to go back to the Ravens, that's where that's what fell apart was they could do neither. On the Mahomes thing though, do you, do you two think that at least a piece of it

was the whole week long MVP jerk circle around Russell Wilson and the MVP and then Aaron Rodgers and the MVP. And it was just like, everybody's talking to everybody else. Like I, I do wonder, especially during a pandemic, if those guys even notice stuff like that, because I feel like they do. I'm glad you mentioned this, because I was, as won't surprise you here, I was texting constantly with my dad on Monday night. And at one point he said something, essentially like this was obviously

like a prove-it game for Mahomes too, right? Because so much of the narrative heading into the game was about it being a prove-it game for Lamar. And my response to that was, it felt like the exact opposite to me. It felt like a Mahomes, like, I don't think about this at all game. Just a reminder that he is not really worried about that

and is not concerning himself with who else is his nominal rival because he doesn't ultimately have one right now. Now, the flip side of that is, of course, he's out there on Twitter with, like, you know, the I'll remember this, I'm writing this down emoji when the top 100 players list comes out.

So it's not, it wouldn't be reasonable or accurate to say that this is not something that is a competitive person is on his or anyone else's mind. Of course it is. But I think that he's concerned about having a good season and winning another title. And I think he also probably has a lot of respect

for Russell Wilson. Russell Wilson is the MVP of the season so far. Monday night did not change that. Nora, you're part of the Mahomes generation. You're in the same age. What do we call that generation? What do we call the 20s? Gen Z?

Is it a new term? I think I'm millennial. I think I'm a millennial. I think people don't understand what age range millennials are. I think I'm about the youngest you can be and still be a millennial. Okay, so you're claiming the millennials. I'm claiming the millennials. I think that's fair. Where I get mad is on the older end.

I think when people think they're talking about Gen Z, they're talking about millennials. And I'll always get frustrated about, no, you can be 40 right now and be a millennial just because not all of us grew up with cell phones our entire lives, like what, but I did obviously,

cause I'm on the very bottom end of it. I didn't know if you felt any generational kinship with Mahomes, you know, understanding his emotions and feelings at all times. Cause you're part of the same generation. I just think anybody is like that, right? Everybody is,

I'm always confused when people tell me they're not competitive. I think everybody's competitive, especially when you are online all the time and it's such a comparative thing. So, relatively speaking, I don't get the sense from him that he's a Brady or a Rogers where it's every... 25 years ago, somebody said something

that they took slightly the wrong way and they wrote it down and they're going to remember it forever and exact revenge. I don't think my homes is like that, but they all know, they all know where they rank on the lists. They all know who they're getting compared to. They all know what their draft status was. They all know all of that stuff. So I guess it's maybe somewhere in the middle, but I don't know that, that I looked at that game and thought that they like super had it circled. I just thought, you probably know this from following the Patriots. The funny thing to me was, you know, that thing that happens in New England where they'll have,

you know, the Malcolm Butler interception is the best example, but something will go really right. And then afterwards, they'll kind of subtly pat themselves on the back by dropping lines like, oh, yeah, we worked on that in practice. We repped that in practice. And it's always like, oh, well, aren't you so smart? Yeah. Mahomes kind of did that. And I don't think that it was like a nana nana thing, but he started talking about the tackle league play that that was a touchdown to fisher and went on this whole thing um talking to reporters after the game where he was saying well we we run that and we've run it with all the big guys to see who has the best hands and we'd actually done one rep of it where i threw the ball high on purpose to see if he could go up and get it which ended up being what

they had to do so that it kind of made me laugh because it was like this thing that I'm so used to hearing from Patriots guys and just going like, OK, cool. You work on every possible situation. You're always prepared. Like you're prepared for this thing that would happen one out of six million times. But the Chiefs are kind of getting into that zone, right? Where there are tons of continuity and they have, especially this off season, they were going to be one of those outlier teams that actually had time to be like, which one of our tackles could catch a touchdown and could jump and have the hands to do it. Belichick's like,

yeah, pandemic. We worked on that we worked on what what we do we had a whole three months situational football situational trial about you know mass and all that stuff we were prepared

we were ready at all times for anything um Mallory yeah I theorized on Sunday's podcast with Sal that

Aaron Rodgers when the Packers drafted Jordan Love they really were drafting the chip for Aaron Rodgers' shoulder. And it didn't, because that pick made no sense at the time. Because Rodgers, we still felt like he was a good quarterback for at least the next couple years. And now they have Aaron Rodgers with the chip on his shoulder.

You agree with that theory? That it was a deliberate choice to try to piss off Aaron Rodgers and incite the competitive streak within? I don't think it was a deliberate choice. I think it was an unexpected, delightful benefit. There's no doubt that it's the clear boon and net effect.

I mean, that seemed apparent from the moment it happened, that it was going to trigger this return to form, you know, the dragon fire within. Or trigger just this aging diva who, you know, it turns into like Desperate Housewives season five where everybody's just fighting with each other.

Everyone's threatened. It could have gone that way too. I was prepared for either scenario. Well, that seemed like there was a brief moment after the draft, certainly, where it seemed like a lot of the talk in media circles and among analysts was like, what will the effect of the potential drama be inside of the locker room? And that part doesn't seem to be there at all. So it's kind of the best of both worlds. Aaron Rodgers is determined to remind everybody that he's still one of the best players in football. And that's specifically the version of Aaron Rodgers that we're getting now, which is pissed off, ready to prove something,

not that he needed to prove anything in the first place, is one of the most thrilling things that you can have the pleasure of watching as a sports fan. And LeFleur is out there coaching like hell, and they don't seem to all be mad at each other all the time, at least not in a way that's filtering into the public sphere. So, I mean, they look like one of the four best teams in football right now. Or we always have the Rabbit team in September. Right, Nora?

The team that we always get excited about one or two teams in September that by the time we get to Thanksgiving, we're like, oh man, remember when we thought... I do feel like there's a little of that with Seattle because Seattle has no pass rush at all and not a very good secondary. And I don't know if that's sustainable as a real contender.

And you go back and you actually look at those games they had, they could have easily lost the last two. But with the Rodgers thing, you weren't covering the Pats when Garoppolo and Brady were there at the same time, right? Were you, Nora? Yeah, I was. Oh, you were. So what was that dynamic? Could you sense that that was

a strange dynamic or you're not sure or was it fine? It was weird. You could tell it was weird. They weren't, you know, no one's fighting in public. It's totally fine. But when Brady was suspended, they weren't, you know, no one's fighting in public. It's totally fine. But the, um,

the, uh, when Brady was suspended, you could tell that everyone was a little bit on edge. And the funniest thing, I remember one, it was in training camp. Um, so it was before the suspension started, but it was some practice and, um, Jimmy looked really good on a, on a few scramble drills and this little mini narrative pops up about, well, you know, he can do some things that Brady can't do. He's a little athletic. Look at this guy. And it just, it gets into the water stream and the players know that it's in the water stream. So all of a sudden this is like blinking red light. Do not engage. Don't respond. Don't feed the beast. Don't do anything. And Gronk is in a big scrum of people either after that practice or it might've been the next day. And this was, I laughed so hard. I cried when this happened.

Everyone's going at him, just trying to get him to say something about, you know, Jimmy's really good at that. And Tom's not as good at it. What do you think about that? Do you think that in the first four weeks, that's going to give you a little extra wrinkle, whatever, whatever, whatever. And he's not taking the bait. He's not taking the bait. He's not taking the bait. People keep going at it. it finally he does that gronk laugh and just goes i make the best scrambled eggs out of everybody and like runs away and it was this totally nonsensical just weird like perfect gronk moment and so in that sense it was just heartwarming and perfect. But it was it wasn't like we would see the two of them interacting and there being tension there. But there were just a lot of answers to questions where Tom would kind of hint at, well, it's not my job to coach him. Jimmy would kind of hint at, well, I get my coaching from other people.

And you could you could put things together where it was like, OK, well, these aren't two best friends we're dealing with. And I think that's probably, I mean, with both of those guys, think of how they got their jobs. With Rogers and with Brady, think of how they got their jobs. I don't know why it would be any way different. Yeah. The media would always be like, Jimmy, what kind of a mentor has Tom been to you? And then he'd have to have some stupid answer that you knew he was completely full of shit. I always enjoy when this happens, but I do remember the Malcolm Butler, the big interception that won us the Super Bowl and NFL films had that sideline shot of Brady freaking out on the sidelines when they won. And he's like jumping up and down.

And Garoppolo's jumping up and down behind them. And there's this split second where it seems like they're going to hug. And he kind of sees Jimmy and then turns and goes to hug whoever, whatever live body was on his left. He just didn't even want to be in the jump up

and down hug with Garoppolo. And that was when I was like, oh man. He's like hugging the guy with the Microsoft service tablet. He was like, hey, there's somebody who's close to my height. There's that guy. Did you feel this, Mal, in Baltimore when Lamar was trying to unseat Flacco? You know, another Hall of Famer. Was it the same kind of vibe?

Wouldn't be a BS pod without a Flacco mention, so thank you for continuing our proud tradition. Hey, I defended Flacco more than you. Oh, my God, easily. 4-0 for you in the playoffs, and you turned on him in like six months. Turning on him requires a change in my stance. I don't think that ever happened.

I was pretty consistent throughout. Well, he won you a Super Bowl. Well, he was on a Super Bowl winning team. That is a more accurate framing, I think. Yeah. Thanks, Joe. Thanks, Joe. Thanks for the ring.

Do either of you have an NFC team you have become enchanted by? Is it Green Bay? I'm still more enchanted by Seattle just because I think even if their defense is bad, it makes me confident that they will continue to let Russ cook. Yeah.

The Russ thing is just so fun. And it's not just Russ. It's who he's throwing to. I mean, watching Lockett and Metcalf, you know, the necessary requisite asterisk now for when Metcalf is not fucking up a 63-yard touchdown, like that point aside, it's so electrifying.

And the fact that their defense is quite civ-like at the moment has, of course, contributed to this bizarre circumstance where for so many years, anybody watching the Seahawks was just like, why won't they construct a team that is built around the idea of Russell Wilson being one of the best quarterbacks in football? The guy that everyone else is terrified of.

Yeah, and the fact that the defense is letting up so many points has helped to finally trigger this consistent onslaught of gorgeous Russ Rainbow touchdowns. It's so much fun. But Nora, I thought you were going to say another team. I thought you were going to say the Rams because you're all in on the Rams right now.

No, so you love an offensive line. That's what they say. I have a very complicated position on the Rams, which is that they're very good, but it kind of stops there. But I think it's, they're so interesting to me right now because like, think of this roller coaster that we've been on with the Rams the last two

years, right? Like 2018, they're the next big thing, best offense in football, you know, maybe not the Chiefs, but everything is going right.

We're obsessed with Sean McVay. We think Jared Goff is, you know, deserving of tons and tons of money, and it's great. I was with you until that last point, but continue. Carry on. It's all right. It was a stumble.

Keep going. I think that was consensus. That was consensus in 2018. Consensus with the millennials? Is that a Gen Z take after all? Yes. Patrick Mahomes and I got together and we talked about it. We thought Jared Goff is a great quarterback and they should

pay him a lot of money. Among football fans who love five yards per attempt, that was the consensus. And occasional deer in the headlights. Keep going. It was going well. 2019. It all going well. 2019. Yeah. It all falls apart, right?

And I think it was so, it felt so precipitous. Sometimes I, first of all, sometimes I forget that they went nine and seven. I was going to say, that's why I picked them to win the NFC this year. Because last year, people act like they were three and 13. They were nine and seven. It really, it really, yeah. So that's what's fascinating to me is that like they were so high13. They were 9-7. It really, yeah. That's what's fascinating to me is that they were so high and then so low

and they really weren't that bad. It was for a pretty simple reason which was just that everybody on their offensive line got hurt. If that team can't run block in that offense, which is built on the run and the pass all looking the same until Defender X is just confused

and running the wrong way. They can't do anything that they want to do. So it's like there was this very clear football answer for why they were struggling. Plus Wade Phillips. That was the other one. He kind of died last year. Yeah, that. Yeah, I didn't think it happens. He was like 70. You can't be a defensive coordinator until you're 100 like at some point you're not gonna have it anymore I wanna be very clear

Wade Phillips is a lie well I mean died as like a like the football coordinator you know asset I know but people get confused but yes

they did it's fair somebody's listening Wade Phillips is dead what happened it's like no he's now retired he He's doing great. He's having a nice, calm

Texas somewhere, probably. But some of those linemen that got, you know, trial by fire reps that didn't go so well last year, they're playing a lot better this year. And it's like the switch is back on. And it's not a bad year

to be in the NFC, right? Because I still really like the Seahawks. And I like the Packers too, obviously. And I would take probably either one of those over the Rams because I just trust their quarterback so much more. But all of a sudden, it's like, here come the Rams. And I just can't think of an example of something that we've gone so high than so low. And it's the reasons have been kind of clear if you just drill down to like level two,

but we're all on level one where it's like, is Sean McVay a genius or is he not? And it's just a very funny, it's been like a very funny sort of few years of that's kind of internet culture, right? Sean McV of internet culture right Sean McVay genius Sean McVay overrated and it just kind of moves from narrative to narrative I like

I like Tampa's team despite my reservations about Brady being able to play four or five months just because they have some really really high end

skill guys and I think their defense is pretty frisky you know totally I do think they can do some stuff and, you know, even like as a fantasy football defense, they're going to have games

where they're going to have like 20-point days against the right team. And, you know, I don't think that division is particularly hard. I don't think the NFC East is an abomination. And there's just not a lot of good teams. So you almost have to look at it. Like who, who has talent?

It's not even like football teams. It's like, who has like nine really talented guys, Tampa. So Mal, you agree with me on that one? Well, I think that the division point is key because we can like,

we can lump the bucks and the Rams together for a second there. You know, when you're talking about the offensive line improvements for the Rams and how much of their offense is predicated on like pace and rhythm and how much a healthy line facilitates in that respect. And you look at something like, okay, they lost the Bills game, but there was a stretch in the second half of that game where Aaron Donald just so quickly, efficiently, and flawlessly reminded everyone watching that whenever he wants, he can just completely take over and control the game and is the best football player alive, right?

But then you look at their division, and every team in that division, even the Niners, who have been riddled, riddled by injuries and really had a rough start to the year, all of those teams are still good. I mean, the Cardinals, you know, you both have talked about a lot on your pods this year, are obviously electric and so fun to watch.

We've already talked about the Seahawks. So then you swing, and the Bucs, I don't think are as confidence-inspiring as the Rams, certainly the Seahawks. But Drew Brees looks 100 years old so far. I don't know if that will continue to be the case, and obviously getting a healthy Michael Thomas back and other things like that could help,

but Panthers do not look like a good football team this year. And the Falcons are one of the disasters of the season so far. There's a handful of 0-3 teams or 0-2-1 teams that you would lump in with the 0-3 teams because in some ways they've been even worse. Talking about the Eagles, of course. That division is just so thin that the Bucs would have to completely implode to not make the playoffs.

That's how I feel. Plus, we didn't even mention the Bears yet. The Bears are going to be like 15 and 0 and we're going to be like, I don't know if they can make the playoffs. Well, they're the team that I thought of. They're 3 and 0. I don't understand it. They're the team I thought of earlier when you mentioned when we were talking about the

Packers and you mentioned these like September mirages. I don't think of the Packers at all, but I'd look at another team in their own division and say, you could make the case for, for the bears if you want it. Can it be a mirage though? If nobody can even see it in the first place? I don't know how that works. People can't see it. People are guarding their eyes against looking at it. So funny. Is that how you guys feel? There are a few things I enjoy watching more than a biscuit folds storyline unfolding in real time. That's the good shit right there. Well, my son, who's playing fantasy football for the first time ever this year and took

Allen Robinson and didn't realize Trubisky was bad and has been through the same rollercoaster ride that I think all real Bears fans go on and is now all excited because as he says, big dick Nick is going to fix Robinson and do all this. And it's like having a bear spin in the house just for, through the Allen Robinson fantasy lens. But you know, every year we have a team that goes 12 and four or 11 and five, but usually it's 12 and four and you just go, how the fuck did that happen? And it's going to happen in the NFC with somebody, because I think the NFC, I went from thinking the NFC had more good teams to actually thinking, you know,

you might have this really stacked NFC West and then basically one decent team per division and that's it. So we're going to see a weird record and you know, all they have to do the rest of the way is go nine and four. They get to play the Vikings again. I think they're, they're playing like a third or fourth place schedule. It's not completely unrealistic. Plus

like, is it crazy to think Nick Foles would actually be decent? Like he was really good in that second half and everybody's like, oh, that's just what he does. And it's like, no, he was good. Like let's hand it to him. He almost had four touchdowns. Robinson had that one that turned to be interception. What were you going to say, Nora?

He almost had like three interceptions. But that's the power of Big Dick Nick, though. He flirts with disaster and success at all times. And he's just one of those guys. I didn't know this information. I didn't include that in my calculus there. You make a very solid point. Mal had that with Flacco where it was like when he was just three years of PIs,

he was racking up a third and 18. Just the heave downfield with the PI. I was like, wow, he did it again. Some guys just have it, man. Some guys just have the horseshoe. I've cooled off Arizona a little bit after last week and partly because they cost me money, but I just wasn't impressed by their defense

and they couldn't really survive a, a, a poor Kyler game. And I don't, I think that division other than the Rams, I don't know what to make of the other three teams. You could tell me San Francisco is going to finish like six and 10, 79.

I wouldn't be like shocked because they've had so many injuries already. And usually that gets worse. And then the Seattle thing, they just don't have a good defense. I know it's Russell. He's always going to go 10 and 6, but I think that division has the highest kind of variance. You look around at the other ones,

even the NFC East, I think if they had had a decent quarterback, Washington would have been pretty good. Haskins was so bad last week, it's almost like it's completely impossible for them to even go 6-10, although I think they're going to get rid of him. Any other sleepers we're missing in the NFC or no?

Washington is the one I have circled as when they change quarterbacks, I'm watching their next game to see at least what it looks like. But that division is not going to generate more than one playoff team. I'm saying as the one that replaces Dallas. If Dallas, who knows?

Really? Nah. It could be 9-7 in that division. Oh, I mean, I don't even know if you'll need to go 9-7 to win that division, but I still think it's going to be the Cowboys. I mean, obviously, the Giants are a complete non-factor. Yeah, cross them out.

The Eagles have been, you know, we have a lot of winless teams so far, but the Eagles have certainly been one of the great disappointments of the season. They're barring an extraordinary return to form for Carson Wentz or a Jalen Hurts-led resurgence, perhaps? I don't know. I still think that's Dallas' division to win.

I don't see Washington coming through with that. But part of that is probably that I'm, you know, counting on a big Ravens bounce back this week against, uh, against Washington. I think they would have beaten the Browns last week. If Haskins hadn't been such a disaster that was sitting there. I don't believe in the Browns at all. And I've been thinking about throwing them betting against him in million dollar picks this week. Once they got the lead, they were just able to run the ball every down. They're so afraid to unleash Baker at this point.

I think Stefanski must have looked at two years of Baker highlights and been like, oh, Jesus. I didn't realize it was this bad because they're not asking him to do anything. Do you like any AFC sleepers, Nora, at this point? It seems like the Chargers have had too many injuries. Anybody? It's funny. They're not asking him to do anything. Do you like any AFC sleepers, Nora, at this point? It seems like the Chargers have had too many injuries. Anybody?

It's funny. I don't actually mind the Browns. Okay, make the case. The running game, a couple blue chippers on D. What else? A lot of talent. And I would like to give Stefanski and Baker just a little bit more time to figure it out I think they have started started you see him on the bootlegs you see him getting moving

you see him like doing the sort of Kirk Cousins stuff that has been really effective and okay yeah so maybe he watched the Baker tape and went wow wow, I didn't quite know what the lows looked like here. But this is a guy who just did this with Kirk Cousins, right? So it's not as if he's incapable of making do. And I think that like the Odell stuff is troubling and confusing and I just don't know what's going on. But they have enough pieces that fit together that I think now when we're talking about sleeper, I'm talking about teams that I've watched and thought, OK, if things start to go right and they start to look a little bit better, like that's all of a sudden a fun team, an interesting team to watch. The problem is getting the one seed is such a big deal. And they're not, you know, you got to win your division. They're not going

to win their division. So it's, you hit a dead end, but I don't think that they're as bad as they look. Okay. You'd like the, you'd like the bills, Mallory. I do. I think the bills are legit. Yeah. I think the bills are legit. It's a bizarre time to be alive in numerous respects right now, but watching the Bills play as an undefeated team and watching Josh Allen

do the things that Josh Allen is doing. The Bills can't be a sleeper. No, not a sleeper. I mean, they're undefeated. They're one of the... I think they'd be a Super Bowl sleeper, not a sleeper I mean they're undefeated they're one of the I think they'd be a Super Bowl sleeper not a sleeper at the playoffs this is like the football version of

multiple years and nobody knowing what Apex Mountain means what do we mean when we talk about a sleeper here together exactly that felt like a dig just an observation that was how she got back for the Lamar stuff at the beginning by the way Mallory you mentioned the Falcons briefly I just realized that was how she got back for the Lamar stuff at the beginning

by the way Mallory you mentioned the Falcons briefly I just realized what we have to do to solve this Lamar question we have to get the Ravens down by double digits against the Falcons oh yeah that'll do it that's a great one

can we make sure that Dan Quinn has a job long enough for that to transpire? That would be great. Because if they can't pull that off, then we have a problem. Is Hollywood Brown deserving of the name Hollywood?

Like, should he just be called East Hollywood Brown? Is he good enough to be Hollywood? First of all, there's a lot of great stuff. A lot of great stuff in East Hollywood.

And second of all, Hollywood Brown is a delight. What are you talking about? I don't know. One tough game. He's been great. Didn't even realize he was on the field Monday night. And then he dropped the pass.

I was like, oh, there he is. Oh, my God. This is just unfounded and cruel. Should we talk about Josh Allen? So here's the thing. I thought he was really good in the Rams game. And yet on that final drive, I waited for him to good in the Rams game. And yet on that final drive, I waited for him to blow it the whole time.

And then it was third and 22 goal to go basically. And I thought, uh, I thought the Rams bailed them out. They gave them basically a wide open dude over the middle to throw it to. So that all of a sudden it was like fourth and eight instead of, you know, third and 24th and 27, whatever. And then all of a sudden it was like fourth and eight instead of, you know, third and 24th

and 27, whatever. And then the PI was terrible. And I do feel like if either of those plays goes differently, the conversation this week is Josh Allen, does he have it? Is he good enough? And it was like football is so stupid sometimes because it's those two plays very easily could have gone the other way. And then we're like, ah, is this guy any good? Couldn't hold a lead. What's going on with this dude? I do think he looks more accurate than he did last year. I would say is the one big benefit with them. Right?

Totally. Sure. Particularly downfield. And the, the digs upgrade is, I think one of the most just night and day, add one guy and an offense changes. Yep.

Things that's happened this year. And they've done a lot of work in past off seasons to kind of build to that point. They improved the offensive line. They, you know, gave them guys like Beasley to work the middle of the field. But then that was the issue, right? Is that he has a great arm.

He can throw the ball very far, but he couldn't throw the ball far accurately, and he's gotten better. But then they also gave him the best deep ball receiver in football. And it clicked so automatically. I think it's very cool. I think it was two things.

It was the accuracy question and then the confounding play question, which was sometimes one and the same, but not always. And so that's still the thing, right, that you're looking at this year because, okay, he has, you know, he has 10 touchdowns and only one interception,

but that doesn't mean there haven't been moments where, like, what is Josh Allen doing? For example, he was flagged for a face mask and an uninsured conduct penalty last week, which is, like, just abnormal and straight. That's just bizarre. And those are things that only happen in a Josh Allen football game. Yeah.

He also had like a, he had that failed lateral. Um, he also, sometimes there are quarterbacks and usually it's just when they're in a terrible offense where you'll notice that they spend a lot of time. Like they are 15 yards behind the line of scrimmage, just running in the wrong direction,

and their faces are looking out to the sideline, basically, and you're just going, what is going on here? Josh Allen is in a very good offense, and that still happens sometimes, and we do have to work on that. But there's a lot to love. I'm not a believer. My money's still on Bill Belichick. Can I ask you about covering football in a COVID era? Before we even get to the Pitt-Tennessee game, just all the stuff you miss

from the way life used to be, where you could just kind of wander around, pull people to the side, get little things here and there, go to practices, things like that. And I don't even know how much reporters can do on that front anymore. But how do you get information now? It's funny. It's like you have to rely on

people that you already know really well a lot. But it's also, you kind of have to rely on like the big swings, right? Like there used to be kind of two different, two different ways that you would talk to people. You could talk to people in, you have a scheduled interview or you make sure that someone has a decent chunk of time to talk about a particular topic and like really, you know, get a lot of follow-ups and get in with it. But then sometimes you're doing stories where whatever the topic is, maybe it's a trend, maybe it's a person,

you want to supplement it by just, if you're in a locker room, go around and ask 15 guys the same question and just see how they answer, see what comes up, see sort of, you're basically taking a poll, right? Like sometimes it's, is this a thing or is this, am I sort of off base with where I'm going here? But you just do these, these like little sort of fishing things and try to get a sense for a vibe. And that's what you can't do, which I think is sometimes it's hard to kind of have your bumpers and know, am I going in the right direction here? Like, do the people who are actually involved in this feel the same way that I do? It's not actually that hard to get someone to spend 10 minutes on the phone with you

or spend 45 minutes on the phone with you, if that's what it takes. Those things, people still have a lot of downtime to fill they're they're pretty easy to get in that sense but the little ones those those i miss and i didn't realize that i was going to miss them is a belichick press conference more boring in person or on zoom i think he actually kind of likes zoom he's crushing it on zoom crushing it he's like i think he sort of feels proud that he's learned something and you know he's wearing his ripped up hoodie and having a good time and then it's like he can do the handoff and then cam slides in and he's wearing his hat and everything's i don't think he minds it it would be funny if he got into it and had a Zoom background like Mallory's background right now.

It was like shots of him and his family and all that. How many Belichick family members are we up to on the coaching staff now? It's just two still, right? Two, yeah. No grandkids on there yet or anything? Any cousins? Not yet. I think the grandkids are very small this is a big thing for my dad he loves making fun of the the Belichick kids anytime something goes wrong defensively gets very upset Belichick well this is you know when you have your kids kids running a defense

bring the puppy out there he had him very involved in the draft you know keep it going sweet Nike you love that Belichick human for you for once I loved it involved in the draft. Keep it going. Nike. Sweet Nike. You love that. I made Belichick human for you. I loved it.

So they canceled. They didn't cancel. They moved it. The Titans-Steelers game. We were waiting for this moment to happen. And the league handled it exactly like we expected they would. They just keep the machine going, switch the bye weeks around, do it. I'm sure it'll happen again.

Did we learn anything, Mal, from this whole week? Any new lessons that you didn't expect? I mean, I'd be curious to hear, Nora, you know, you wrote a piece

for The Ringer today about this and you've obviously, you did a lot of reporting in the preseason in particular about COVID protocol and how the league would handle the, you know, the scenarios are in play. There are the bi-week shuffles with the Steelers-Ravens in mid-season. You know, there's the Week 18 possibility. I think that part of it seems like it will be

handled effectively. I think the question starts to become, well, what happens if this balloons, right? It's not, there's no reason to think, and I don't mean to be like a doomsday sayer about it, just practically. Like, there's no reason to think, and I don't mean to be like a doomsday sayer about it, just practically, like there's no reason to think that this will be the only time this happens, right? You know, look at what happened in baseball this season, where more than one team was impacted by a spread and a surge in cases. So, so far,

at least, and we're recording this early afternoon on Thursday. So far, at least, the Vikings have not announced positive tests, right? That's still the latest information. So that will be one thing to monitor. Because the Titans did have their first positive test coach before the team traveled to play the Vikings. And I think that will be one of the things to monitor moving forward. And hopefully this will not happen, obviously. the Vikings. And I think that will be one of the things to monitor moving forward if, and hopefully this will not happen, obviously, but if there is ultimately a positive caseload in the Vikings organization, well, then why did the Titans travel if they had a positive test, etc. So hopefully

that does not come to be. Then you start to look at like a kind of a wider web, You know, a story surfaced on Thursday morning that the driver who had been driving the Titans in Minnesota was also the driver who had been driving the Astros when they were in Minnesota

to play the Twins in the baseball playoffs. You know, everybody seems to be saying that that is, you know, the contact tracing has been effective. There's the story

with the Raiders about the charity event where certain players were not wearing their masks this week, and the league is looking into the protocol in that organization and whether it is being handled effectively. Obviously, numerous coaches and organizations have had fines, hefty, hefty fines levied against them so far this season for failure to wear masks in a high profile situation. Like, again, I don't want to be like super glum and intense here, but I think it's like it's it's very tempting when everybody's watching football together to like make fun of Andy

Reid's face shield for fogging up and have fun online and make memes on Twitter. Like that's part of that's part of watching sports in 2020. Right. You have to find joy where you can. But I'm like, good for Andy Reed for wearing a fucking face shield. Like hopefully everyone starts taking this as seriously as they should. And this can be limited and, and,

and, and capped. I just hope everyone's okay. To be fair, Mallory hasn't left her apartment in seven months. And it's just been eating tuna fish and tomato soup. I have had an extraordinary amount of soup That part's true

She's got her Zoom background on Because behind her is just like canned goods It's just empty cans of tuna fish Nora, what did you learn From this whole week With the COVID stuff So we actually haven't learned it yet Is the thing

Because what's going to really tell us what's going on is tomorrow when they get today, Thursday's round of testing back, both in Tennessee and in Minnesota and then in particular in Minnesota. And then the next couple of days, because if we're talking about Sunday as the time of exposure, the median incubation period is like four or five days. So we're not there yet. And with a group that size, the fact that none of them have tested positive, the Vikings, and I think 48 of them, the NFL's contact tracing devices said,

were in close contact with guys from Tennessee who ended up testing positive. If it's 48 of them, some of those guys are going to, they're going to, they would come back positive before the median incubation period.

But it doesn't mean that they've ruled out having an issue there. So when they originally said that the game wasn't going to be on Sunday, it was out there that it was either going to be Monday or Tuesday. And that was always, that was always a red flag because really what they were saying is this

game's not going to be Sunday. Yeah. We'd like to buy a little bit of time so that we can figure it out, but it's not going to be Sunday. And we need to tell, we need to tell the Steelers in particular, keep practicing, change your schedule, do whatever. The thing that I'm curious about is if they will change a policy that they've had to not test on game days.

Because they're testing every day, but they're not testing on game days. And I don't know if this is a like A to B cause and effect. But what comes to mind is what happened with Matt Stafford, where he had the false positive over the summer during training camp. And it caused a lot of anxiety, both for the Lions and for Stafford and his family, but also in the league about, OK, so what happens if we get a false positive? And so they don't do it on game day because if you get a false positive, then you don't have time to rule it out. Yeah.

So there's a possibility that Cam Newton or whoever gets a false positive has to miss a game and then they realize that nothing's actually wrong. But then now we're seeing the flip side of that, right? So one possibility, and this isn't coming from anybody that I've spoken to, but just thinking it through, why couldn't they just do day of game testing

if either team has had someone test positive in the week prior? Seems like a pretty, you're not using a ton more resources to do that. It's not like you're not going to have tons and tons of false positives. So I don't know if, I wonder if there'll be a change with that policy because it seems like maybe some of this could have been avoided, but I think we also see that it's a tough thing, right? And they'd done such a, you know, they'd had so few cases that I don't know if people got complacent,

but maybe they did. And once you have a few, it's really hard to stop. It's not hard to, it's not hard to stop if you're in a bubble, right? We've learned this, but once it gets in there, it's, it's really tough. So I think we just have to see what happens the next few days. And if it starts steamrolling, then I think probably that week 18 situation is more likely because then you start wondering, okay, maybe there's going to be more than one game that has to be moved. But otherwise, it seems like they have options to shovel the bye weeks. And if they can tamp it down, they can tamp it down.

But I just don't think anybody's sort of out of the woods yet. Week 18 is definitely happening. I wouldn't be surprised if week 19 happened. I'm sure they have two swing weeks built in there if they need them. Because the other thing is, NBA won't be back by then anyway. Football can own as much of the calendar as they want. And if they need to move stuff back one week, two weeks to get everything done, they're going to do it. What do they care? They can get one weekend without...

It's just more money for them. Right. And they can get one weekend without moving the Super Bowl. But even if they needed to get two, they have alternate dates reserved for the Super Bowl if they need them.

So, right. One person who's never getting COVID is Mallory, who is like Desmond and lost and has not seen another human being in seven months other than her husband. A couple of things I will observe that, you know, though it said quarantine on the hatch door,

the hatch door does open and Desmond is exposed to the elements. Now, we'll leave all the other details about the quarantine plotline on Lost for another podcast at another time. But don't jinx me because I'm taking it very seriously and trying to be careful,

but I'm very paranoid, as you know. Bill, I'm an asthmatic. I don't want to get sick. I don't want anyone to get sick. I want everyone to be healthy and happy. Mallory was the first person who carried around Purell that I think I've ever met.

Way back when. You were on this earlier. You were way ahead of your time. Love a hand sanitizer. Are we talking about like January or are we talking about years past? Oh, we're talking like mid-2010s. Oh. For a couple, I don't know exactly when I started doing this.

Something around Purell. For a while at the office, long before any of this, I had taken to trying to avoid touching doorknobs whenever I could. She would wipe out doorknobs, use her t-shirt to open the door, and we would be like, what are you doing? She was way ahead of her time. I don't want to get sick. I just don't want to get sick.

You know, I got a lot of work to do for you, Bill. That's how I feel the same way. I've only seen a couple people. It's so funny to learn these things because I feel like, you know, Mallory, we're on Slack We seem normal on the surface.

Yeah. We're not. Certainly not. Speaking of not normal on the surface. All right. Before we go, Mallory, best thing you've watched

over the last 10 weeks. Oh, wow. Yeah. Best thing I've watched over the last 10 weeks. I intentionally don. Yeah. Best thing I've watched over the last 10 weeks. I intentionally don't prepare her with stuff like this because then she'll obsess over it

and think about it for way too long. With stuff like this, he means anything we're going to talk about on a podcast. Yeah. Stuff like this. Yeah. Any topic, basically.

Best thing that I've watched over the last 10 weeks. Nora has actually heard me talk about this already. Avatar The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra. Two animated fantasy shows that take place in the same universe.

Old Nickelodeon shows now on Netflix. Just phenomenal. Phenomenal. The world building, the character development, the resonance of the themes, the magical creatures. Shouts to Pabu and Momo.

It's just great. Absolutely phenomenal. Aside from that, because I know you're not interested in discussing that with me, Bill, though I would like to. I would like to discuss it with you. I would say I've been quite enjoying

the boys on Amazon. Chase Crawford. Oh, the deep. Member of the Romo family. Yeah, that's been a lot of fun. You know, there's just been a lot of sports on lately. Do I have to watch The Boys? I've circled it a couple times.

Well, first of all, it's very easy to binge. I mean, it's only, what, season one was eight episodes. We're 96 into season two, so you can catch up in no time. It's extraordinarily violent. But it's a very fun and provocative and subversive show about superhero culture and the grip that that has on our pop culture consumption in society. It's really clever and very fun.

There's a lot of exploding heads, right? An extraordinary number of exploding heads. Yes. And as I mentioned on Slow News Day, some adults consuming breast milk, which is,

you know, mileage may vary whether you find that compelling, but I'm enjoying it. Great show. It's happy times in the Simmons house right now because

first of all, South Park came back last night. They did a pandemic episode, which my son was out of his mind about. But he's been binging Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which is something I've wanted for a while.

And it's been finally happening. And the theme song's just on all the time in the house. And every episode I walk into, I end up sticking around for 15 minutes. And it's just nice to have all of those people in my life. I missed a lot of them. So, I just enjoyed that. There was recently a Fresh Prince Air Jordan 5

retro release drop. Ooh. I tried to get it, but I got fucked by the sneakers app, as always. Yeah, the bots took you down. I forgot how many cameos are on that show that are just like so specific to that era.

Like there was one show we were watching. It was just Bo Jackson just showed up. There's no real reason for it. They just like shoehorned him in. And it was like vintage Bo before he heard his hit Bo Jackson. Nora, what are you watching? Do you want to talk about your Instagram show? Yeah, this is great.

This is a perfect setup. Okay. So there's a show on Instagram live called let's fucking date and it's phenomenal and i love it it's a little so it's now it's on wednesdays at 8 30 and it's a little tough this season they're in the second season so this girl named serena kerrigan started it in quarantine and it's just her going on instagram live dates from her apartment. Amazing. Okay. It's incredible. It's like, so she has, you know, a producer or somebody,

and she's done this all herself. Find someone. They've had a couple like Bachelor Universe people be the dates. Like, I don't know if you remember Iggy from Rachel Lindsay's season. He didn't last that long, but he was on there. He was one of her dates once. And so they just, because you can do the IG Live like split screen.

So you just watch the live and they go on a date and they're not in the same place, obviously. So it's totally like socially distant. Where do they go on a date? How do you go on a date if you're not on a date?

Okay. So she's like sitting on her couch. She's got a drink in her hand and this dude is like also sitting on his couch in his setup at home same situation some of them will like send her a cocktail kit or something or one of them they did paint by numbers and they'll try to make it fun but then the thing that's crazy about it is the thing that's crazy about it is that you get all of the like weird pauses and you can see on their faces when they like something or don't like something about the other person you just get all of that like first date weird thing and in the first season she would have second dates with some of the people.

They didn't. They need to figure out how to like make it a clearer competition and have a winner because obviously the guys don't know each other. They just interact with her. So it's missing that component. But she's really funny and really like sort of aggressive in the way that you need to be in that environment. And I just I think it's so good because it literally is like it's like spying on people. And we miss that right now. Right. Like nobody's going out. You don't have opportunities to like eavesdrop and gossip and be like, what are those two doing?

And this is exactly that. I just get to like hit my phone and then see two people being like, so why are you single if your life's going so great? And what's the deal with that? And it's so good. It's a little harder. So I found this season harder because they do it. They post it the next day. But if you don't watch it live,

you can't just like... I can't click into it at 9.30pm on Wednesday. I either have to watch it right when it's on or I have to wait a day. And if I can't do it right at 8.30pm on Wednesday, I'm always bummed. I'm like, I don't want to wait for this. So I really love it. I think it's so great. Wait, I have a question about that aspect of it, the live viewership. Like, is that actually an active part of the fan experience?

Like, if you watch somebody on Insta Live, you can put comments and feedback. Like, are people in there, like, talking about their chemistry and the awkward pauses and the quality of their arts and crafts work? She's, like, always saying to the guys, she's always like, don't read the comments. Stop. I can see you looking at the comments.

Don't do it. Oh my God. And they're mostly pretty good, but there is also so after she goes on the dates, and usually a standard episode is two dates, but then afterwards there's an after show. Two dates with different guys in one episode. Yes. Okay. Got it. So she'll do

one and then the other. So we're not getting like two weeks of like back to back dates with one person. No. Like I have advanced to night two with Jerry and you're seeing it all at once. You're literally they spend half an hour with each other and you see the whole half hour of each of them. And I will say like she's pretty funny. I don't think that like it takes a specific person to keep you engaged for that long if you're literally just hearing everything that they talk about. And I think

she's able to pull it off. But then afterwards, they do an after show and there's a bunch of pretty after show, an after show. Oh, my God. There's like frequent commenters and they'll go live with her and they'll break down the dates and they'll talk about what happened and they'll talk about like if there were, you know, friend zone vibes or if somebody said something really weird or if. This sounds like something my daughter would devour. It's so good. Honestly, I can't think of anything more in her wheelhouse than this. And because here's the thing is that it's a total product of social media. Right. her wheelhouse. And because here's the thing is that it's a total product of social media, right? Because there was one, sometimes somebody will pop up and they can just request her

to be on the after show. And they'll message and be like, I used to work with that guy at Macy's. Like, he's not telling the truth. Like, let me tell you what the deal is. And then they pop on and be like, Steve's full of it. And you learn all the different ways in which Steve's full of it. It's so good. I love this show. That sounds awesome. We watched The Father, The Bride, Part 3-ish, whatever it was on YouTube. Zoom content's not for me. We're all on Zoom too much anyway. I don't need my movies to be in Zoom. I'd rather just watch old movies set in an era where we weren't on Zoom all the time. I just couldn't do it. Instagram Live, you can airplay to your television.

Oh, that's good. It dawned on me if the pandemic never, if it doesn't slow down for the next year, I don't know how they're going to keep putting out movies and TV. I saw Billions got renewed today. It's like, what are they renewing? They can't film it. Some productions have come back.

I think the question is, you know, the ones that require like the Falcon Winter Soldier, Disney Plus, they got to go back to Prague at some point, right? To finish filming for that. Like when's that going to happen? But so, you know But there's a lot of TV that has been made over the last stretch of time, pre-pandemic, that they're still

going to be able to put out. It's like when that well dries before it's regenerated from the full return to production, what's the lull going to be? Let's fucking date is going to be winning all the Emmys. Bachelorette comes back in October. We're just a couple weeks away fromys. That's fucking Dayton's. Amazing. Bachelorette comes back in October.

We're just a couple weeks away from Claire. Wait, which one's Bachelorette's first then Bachelor? Bachelorette is Bachelorette first. is coming back.

It's a different schedule than usual, but they are they're going to be airing it. I think it begins October 13th, I want to say. The Bachelorette. That sounds right.

Yeah. Where the COVID virus isn't the only virus You need to be afraid of 25 25 sleazy bachelors In the house They screen

They screen You know they test I think that show Is going to have It's biggest season ever Because it's going to feel Relative It's going to be like

When sports came back Where it's like Oh this feels kind of normal When we have this It's like a communal show Yeah The dates will be weird Because the dates Are going to be like,

hey, let's go in the backyard. And that's going to be like a group date because where are they going to go? Or let's go to Santa Monica Pier. Nobody's on Santa Monica Pier. There's literally zero people. I don't know what they do, but it'll be nice to have it back. Can't wait. They go kayaking. Kayaking?

Interesting. Nice idea. Nora, what's Boston like right now before we go my dad said it's pretty depressing all the bars and restaurants are pretty much pretty much closed it's funny I don't know I guess I don't find it a lot of places are closed but a lot

of places have outdoor setups I think it's compared to this time last year yeah it's super depressing but a lot of places have rebounded um or at least figured out ways to sort of carry on a little bit normally like um some of the it was a little weird like which bars sold enough food to be able to start having more things yeah um but i think people are okay like people seem pretty responsible the the infection rates are pretty low so i think there's a lot of people just trying to take advantage of the last chunk when it's nice outside but walking on on the Esplanade, you know,

I haven't been out. I don't know what like the restaurant scene is like too much. Cause I kind of steer clear, but it, it seems like people are doing okay. I hope. I can't imagine the Boston bar scene without super crowded bars with drunk guys spitting all over each other as they talked. I know that's been eliminated completely. Well, that was the... So, and this is very regional, but like in near me, one place, Beacon Hill Pub that I love, they've figured out an outdoor situation.

But there's another place... By the way, that's hilarious. Because Beacon Hill Pub... No, Beacon Hill of pub is just like if you're not indoors like you're not yeah you're not the whole point of that is everyone's indoors it's you're just super sweaty and you're covered in other people's spit as they scream over whatever terrible music's playing right and that's like so there's a lot of places that are like that where I guess it's a, I just walk by and go, I'm happy that you're able to do something. I'm a little confused about how this is going to work when there's eight seats like on the sidewalk and that's all that we're doing here. But, and then some other places like just still haven't done anything.

But what I think everybody's just sort of like bracing for winter. Mal, I did an outdoor dinner last week with a friend of mine. We weren't within 10 feet of anyone else. It was actually kind of great. That sounds lovely. I, you know, rules. It felt super normal. I really enjoyed it. It was weird. Every time the waiter walked up with a mask, it was like, here's your veal parmesan.. Oh, you went at a restaurant. I thought you went to a yard. I went to a restaurant. Yeah, it was great. We weren't within 10 feet of anybody.

And it was a big enough kind of outdoor thing that it just kind of worked. It felt normal for an hour. Good. Now we're back on Zoom, which is basically our entire lives. This was really fun. Nora, we can hear you on Sunday nights with Kevin Clark on the Ringer NFL show and on a bunch of other places. When you pop up on the website,

you're writing great pieces for us, all that stuff. Mallory, you know, you're just Mallory. You're the editor-in-chief. And you have some things up your sleeve as well coming up. We'll see. Rumors of a couple more podcasts, things like that. It was good to see you guys. I am sorry about Lamar.

There's nothing to be sorry about. I'm really sorry about Lamar. I believe in Lamar. I believe in the Ravens. Everything is fine. I wish you both well. I hope that you enjoy the Vikings-Texans. Don't trade your best receiver bowl

and all of the rest of the games. Happy week four. Bye, Nora. Bye. All right, that's it for the podcast. Thanks to House. Thanks to Mallory and Nora. Thanks to Stu Gatz.

Thanks to Spotify. We will see you on Sunday night with The Cuz. And if you're a big Rewatchables fan, we have one of my favorite movies ever coming on Monday night. Stay tuned for that. We also moved the majority of the Rewatchables library to Spotify only. So if you love the Rewatchables,

you can still get the last 60 days of podcasts, and then a couple other classics. But then if you want the entire library of 150-plus movies, go to Spotify, and that's where you can get them. See you Sunday night with the Cuz. Until then. I don't have on the wayside