The Bill Simmons Podcast - Tiger's Comeback, McVay vs. Belichick, Ryder Cup Struggles, and NFL Wagers With Tony Kornheiser and Joe House | The Bill Simmons Podcast (Ep. 421)

Episode Date: September 28, 2018

HBO and The Ringer's Bill Simmons is joined by Tony Kornheiser to talk Tiger's comeback, the Ryder Cup, D.C. sports, and Sean McVay's L.A. Rams (4:25), before calling up Joe House for Friday Rollin'. They hit on some more Ryder Cup story lines and give their Week 4 NFL picks (33:40). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's episode of the Bill Simmons Podcast on the Ringer Podcast Network, brought to you as always by our presenting sponsor, ZipRecruiter. You know it's not smart bringing the mush Joe House back on the podcast to do NFL picks after he mushed his way through the first two weeks, but he's back. He's coming up later. You know what else isn't smart? Job sites that overwhelm you with tons of the wrong resumes. Luckily, there is a smart way at ZipRecruiter.com slash BS. They find people with the right skills for your job. They actively invite them to apply. You get qualified candidates fast.

Right now, my listeners can try ZipRecruiter for free at ZipRecruiter.com slash BSZipRecruiter. The smartest way to hire. Meanwhile, let's talk about Hotel Tonight. By showing you top-rated hotels with unsold rooms, Hotel Tonight makes it easy to book your stay at an amazing rate. And even though their name's Hotel Tonight by showing you top rated hotels with unsold rooms. Hotel Tonight makes it easy to book your stay at an amazing rate.

And even though their name's Hotel Tonight, you can book in advance. Perfect for spontaneous weekend getaways, three-day weekends, staycations, road trips, business trips, booking a place with a pool,

and much more. So to start scoring amazing deals in incredible hotels, go to hoteltonight.com or download their app. Right now, we're also brought to you by theringer.com where you can find a whole bunch of great pieces

about the NBA season that's coming up, about the very depressing Kavanaugh hearings. By the way, we had Lindsay Zolad's wrote a piece about that for TheRinger.com late yesterday. And then we had on the Channel 33 podcast, we did a press box podcast reacting to the hearing. So yesterday was not a great day in American history. So you have all that and all the great Ringer video stuff we're putting up. Kevin Clark, Roger Sherman, they have new things this week.

I did a Ryder Cup thing with Roger Sherman. That's up as well. Check that out on Twitter and on YouTube and a whole bunch of other places. Kyle, when does One Shining Podcast go to two a week? That'll be beginning of October, I believe. Beginning of October? Or is it November? We got things, I believe. Beginning of October. Or is it November? Uh, we got things to talk about.

Well, Titus gets here in like two, two, two weeks. So I can't imagine he won't want to do two a week. Okay. Uh, last but not least, wanted to mention one of the most popular BS podcasts I think I've ever done was with Scott Harrison, who is the guy who founded Charity Water, which is an incredible charity that you should check out if you want to check out charitywater.org. He wrote a book. It's called Thirst,

a story of redemption, compassion, and a mission to bring clean water to the world. And it's about his journey and about everything that he's done the last, I don't know, decade or so, however long he's been doing this. And he does great work. He's a great guy. 100% of the authors net proceeds from the sale of thirst will fund charity water projects around the world. So the money basically goes, doesn't even basically, it goes right to

the charity. I mentioned this because we did a podcast, I think probably two years ago. I don't know. It was, I'm going to say it was in 2016, but it was really great. It was one of the best ones we've done. And if you didn't hear that the first time around, I would encourage you to go and check that out. It was, of all the pods we've done, I think we've done, are we at 420 yet? Yes. Yesterday's was 420. Why didn't you tell me? I'm sorry. I knew it. We should have done a special 420 episode. You knew it. I was celebrating. You were, Nefi Kyle was celebrating. Yeah. So out of the 421, this is 421 that we've done I got a lot of feedback on that one I think it meant a lot to a lot of people the book if you like that podcast

I would definitely check out the book it's fantastic so that's it it's called Thirst it's by Scott Harrison check it out coming up my uncle Tony, Tony Kornheiser as well as Joe Haas we're going to bang out some Ryder Cup depressing talk as well as NFL picksas. We're going to bang out some Ryder Cup depressing talk

as well as NFL picks. But first, our friends from Pearl Jam. Alright, on the line right now, my Uncle Tony, Tony Kornheiser. He loves this. Tiger Woods is back. Football is going. Basketball is coming. This is you and Wilbon have never gotten along better than this. Well, I think we've always sort of gotten along. It's sort of, here's the thing that's remarkable when you find out that people who have been together for X amount of years, hate each other.

I always look at Mike and I say, what are we doing wrong? How come we still like each other? Surely something is going to explode eventually, but it never has. Tiger, Tiger reignites the marriage though. He really, he really gives it a little extra step. We both, we both play golf. I play it more poorly than he does, but it's not like he's going out on tour anytime soon. And we both watched Tiger for so long and thought that he was just so good. And, and then and Bill, you know this, he is completely responsible for what happened to him. This is at his own hand.

This isn't some terrible combination of events. This is him in terms of what happened to his marriage, to his career. It's coupled with injuries, and we all understand that. But he was so far down. That video of him, is that within the last year or certainly within the last 16 months? That video of him made you think, my God, he could be actually addicted to painkillers. You couldn't possibly imagine that in what is a very relatively short amount of time, he would come back and be good, then quite good,

and now to the point where it is realistic to believe that he can win majors. Yeah, he hit a legit rock bottom, it seemed like, in that car with the painkillers. Your friend House was on here last week. We were trying to figure out the most improbable career comebacks we've seen because everybody talks about Bobby Jones when he broke his back,

came back from that. Nobody even expected he was going to walk again. Mary Lemieux came back from cancer. We forgot Ted Williams last week, who was in the Korean War and just came back and was hitting 350 again. Where does this one rank for you? I think it's pretty high up. I mean, I'm not sure it's as

high as Ben Hogan who gets in an automobile crash and, you know, his whole body is shattered. But I mean, it's, you don't, when you see that video, it's one thing to see Tiger missing chips, you know, when he's practicing and you say, okay, you know, there's some, because there's a tremendous amount of mental aspect in golf. But when you see that video, you say, my God, you know, you have to worry about his health and personal safety in ways that you don't have to for other kinds of athletes. So it's pretty high up. Now, you know, he's got to win majors to complete that. He's got to again, be a threat to Jack Nicklaus for the career, the career,

you know, all time amount of majors. Yeah. But it's, it's a pretty, it's a pretty stunning comeback. It really is. The swagger coming back has been the most shocking thing to me,

even when they were introducing the teams and he got the standing ovation the other day, you know, he's just, his chest is out again. You know, he doesn't seem like this beaten down dude who embarrassed himself and embarrassed his family and just wants to get back in our good graces. He actually is carrying himself a little bit like an alpha again.

So that was nice to see. I missed Alpha Tiger. Not as much as he used to. The one thing that I, and I'm not a big believer that people change, but in this particular case, when you see him interviewed, he has a softness that you never saw before. He has an introspection and you would never think of him as introspective. He's got a little bit of that. The thing he told Steve Sands when he just won the FedExCup tournament,

and by the way, Justin Rose, I mean, that's a clown show. You're pumping your fist because you're going to win $10 million. You ought to hand the check to Tiger because he's made it possible for you to make any money at all in the world. But at that point when he told Sands, I was worried. I was worried I was going to start crying on 18. You would never have associated that kind of emotion with Tiger Woods before because his emotion was all, I thought, fed by hostility.

And I'm not sure that that's true now. And I think the other thing is I don't think the players who played with Tiger for the majority of his career particularly liked him. They might have admired him, but I don't think they liked him. I think the younger kids now, in a way, it seems like they're almost rooting for him. Even if it's at their expense, because they know in the long term they're going to surpass him. But I think they were actually happy for him to have won that tournament last week. And that never would have happened before, don't you think?

Well, you were in Washington when MJ came back on The Wizards, which has been kind of unfairly maligned now as like it didn't work. It actually had some fun moments. It wasn't the worst thing in the world. But the way the young guys responded to him during the times when he was on reminded me a little of the Tiger thing. Because there is, you know, they grew up watching him. In Jordan's case, Jordan was hired to be the general manager. And then they made an agreement that he'd play a little bit. And he played fine.

He was not Michael Jordan, but he played fine. He sold out every single game, home and road, that he played. And he enriched the pockets of the people who owned the team and boosted the value of that franchise. And then was cashiered out of town, obviously. Can we go back to you excoriating Justin Rose for celebrating a $10 million check? Nobody loves money more than you. I feel like you would have held the $10 million check over your head and done laps around the green for like 25 minutes. Yeah. I would have done that privately at home at night when it was all over. But the fact that I would have shot three over on a Sunday, I don't mind him getting the check. It was the way he

celebrated it. Like this was an enormous accomplishment. He got his brains beat out on Sunday. He still had enough. You know, he had a par five on the 18th that everybody was birdying everybody. And he got close on a pot and started to celebrate. And I just thought, you know, come on, come on, have, have a little bit more humility than that. Yeah. So we're taping this it's 8 45 Pacific time, Friday morning. And as usual, America is getting crushed in the Ryder Cup on foreign soil. I'm hoping that it doesn't lead to Saturday and Sunday almost becoming insurmountable, but it seems like we're heading that way. Do people actually care about the Ryder Cup or is it just older white guys like us? I think that people like the Ryder Cup

because it's a fun event because it's so much different than what they usually do. And people like to watch it and see how it works. I think if you do well in it, like Ian Poulter and Colin Montgomery, if you do well in it, it burnishes your resume. I think if you stink in it, nobody cares. I don't think anyone really takes it seriously. I just think it's a fun event. It's fun to see if you win. Nobody actually remembers

who individually wins or loses unless it comes all the way down to the last singles match or something like that. But I just think people have fun watching it because it is so different than anything that's played. It's sort of like, to me, and this is not nearly on the same level, but if you, you

know, and I wouldn't say it's Davis Cup, but if you had that world team tennis stuff with the color-coded courts and you put some good players out there and you've developed it over 10 or 12 or 15 years and people thought it was fun, it would be the same sort of event. I feel like my theory with this has always been they should take the worst major in golf and tennis and allow the fans to just cheer and behave like real fans. So the PGA Championship, which is the worst golf championship, and the Australian Open, which I don't feel like has the same pizzazz as the other three. I just think everybody should be allowed to cheer and,

and act like maniacs during the whole time. Cause I love the energy of the fans at the Ryder cup is the most fun part about it. Right. Cause it's like, I don't know that tennis has this, but there is that tournament in Phoenix, which is sadly called the Waste Management Open. Yeah. But that particular tournament, people go crazy. Yeah.

Well, and also all the waste management. I think it's a combination. Those two, you know, waste management and golf. I think that inspires people. It's such an unfortunate name, waste management. It is. Hey, so you've been in Washington for a long, long time. The Caps, first of all, they beat the Penguins,

which nobody ever expected to see. It was hockey's version of Red Sox-Yankees to some degree. And then they won the Stanley Cup. And this kind of secret stealth sports drought, Washington would never get mentioned in the tortured sports cities conversations. But it had been three solid decades. If you were a 33-year-old D.C. sports fan, you had really no memory of anything fun ever happening in Washington, D.C. This is my son who's 32.

Right. This is him. Right. So how have things changed? He would look at me and I would talk about, you know, I would talk about Super Bowls and, you know, and all the successes. And he would say, I never had any of these things. Yes. I didn't have them.

So what's it like? How have people changed? How has the Stanley Cup changed Washington, D.C.? Okay. So I'm not... I'm not... I'm from New York where the Rangers were important, but not nearly as important as the Bruins always were to Boston.

So I don't want to, I don't want to claim hockey knowledge or get on a high horse and talk about hockey and how important it is. It is only marginally important in Washington. With Ovechkin coming, you know, you had somebody as a lightning rod sort of player and his failures united people in thinking about the caps. I didn't think much about the caps other than they were choking dogs for 25 years. But what stunned me, Bill, and it did, it stunned me were those during the Stanley cup. And admittedly, thisly, it's the right time of year. It's June. It's beautiful out at night.

And the light lasts until 9 o'clock at night. But they had these watch parties. They had 20,000, 30,000 people in various parts of the streets of Washington, D.C., watching on giant screens. And that was the first time it ever hit me that the Capitals were a big deal, because I never thought that. I thought they were a distant, distant fourth, that they had their 15,000 people, and that was all they had. So it's a bigger deal than I thought, and they didn't just beat the Penguins. They were down 0-2 in the first series to Columbus. They lost both at home. Then they swept them. They were down to Tampa and they had to win the last two,

I believe, a team that was better than them during the regular season. They beat Pittsburgh, their nemesis, and then when they beat Vegas, they beat the goalie, Marc-Andre Fleury, who had knocked them out for 10 years, and they beat their former general manager, George McPhee,

who had put together that team. So they got rid of all the ghosts. They got rid of all of them. And that was a great celebration. Ovechkin is an older player now. I don't think anybody thinks they're going to win it again. So I think this was the shot, and that's why everybody got drunk and stayed drunk.

Ovechkin got drunk on like five continents, I think. I think he's stayed drunk. Ovechkin got drunk on like five continents, I think. I think he's still drunk. Yeah, I think he's still- It reminded me a lot of when Nowitzki won in Dallas in 2011, where he had kind of, he had been this great star for a lot of years, but people had kind of given up on him as somebody that could lead a title team.

And then it happened at this great point of his career and kind of transformed the way people are going to remember his career with Ovechkin. You could really make the case. He might be the greatest D.C. athlete of all time, right? Professionally? No, because because the football is more important. And, you know, and John Riggins had that run.

And no, I mean, John Riggins up there. John Riggins? John Riggins. He run. No, I mean... John Riggins? John Riggins? John Riggins is... He's there for like five years. The greatest moment in Washington's modern sports history, and I date modern by the time that I got here, because why wouldn't I do that? The greatest moment is that run. That's the number one moment.

The second moment is probably... It's probably this cup. It might be. There's some other little moments, but it might be the cup. Yeah, it might be. What about when the Wizards got swept in 97 by the Bulls, but gave them a really nice three games? Really, really tried hard. That wasn't in the top five? Again, let's use the operative verb here, swept by the Bulls. And then the Wizards were going to be terrific. Yeah. Except that didn't Chris Webber get arrested?

Yeah, he had some issues. It went down the drain. It went down the drain very, very quickly with Howard and Webber and Murasan. Murasan, didn't he go film, wasn't that the Andre the Giant year for filming? Yeah, he did the My Giant movie. Yeah.

Okay, and then, you know, he was never any good anymore. I know. He did that movie with Billy Crystal and was never any good anymore. So that disappeared very quickly. The basketball in Washington is really actually, it's a litany of disaster. It really is. Culminating in Gilbert Arenas. Well, you've had. A franchise killing moment.

Well, you won 40 years ago now. Actually, it was 78. So now we're on the fifth decade. It was a year before I got here. Yeah. And the Wizards beat Seattle, I'm pretty sure. Yeah, so. Well, they were the Bullets.

They weren't the Wizards. So we're talking a fifth decade now. They have never made the finals. I don't even know what the top five greatest Washington Bullets slash Wizards moments were since like 1980. And now you have Dwight Howard on your team, which is like just signing a giant tumor and just having it infect everybody. It's absolutely a disaster.

The great moment was probably, you know, John Wall becoming the king of game six. And then would you like to go over his stats in the fourth quarter in game seven? Oh my God. I'll let you know them. He'll never live that one down. He celebrated like they won the title.

Well, he's got to win. Yeah. He's got to win. Win the series. Do you buy that Wall and Beal can't be on the same team? No. But I also don't buy that they're a particularly great backcourt combination because i don't see any i don't see any particular results there yeah i mean i don't i think i think john wall continues to sort of run ahead of his team i mean i don't don't, for all of his talents, I, you know, if you're going to have a ball in

your hand all the time, you've got to be sort of a, you've got to have Magic Johnson's mentality, don't you? You've got to be able to say, how do I make everyone else better? And as opposed to, I'm going to have to win this myself. So you're, you're an to have to win this myself. You're an admittedly crusty older man. You don't like a lot of things. People have to win you over.

Things have to win you over. Other than Tiger, what is winning you over these days? What's making you giddy? Sean McVay? I bet you like Sean McVay. I love Sean McVay. Oh, I'm so sorry. Well, I'll tell you the local athlete in Washington who I love above all others. That's Max Scherzer.

Max Scherzer, total alpha dog. It is amazing to me that in all the years we've done PTI, we don't have a lot of baseball player guests. You know, we put Kirk Chin and Justice on a lot, but we don't have player guests. The two best guests we've ever had among baseball players have been Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, who I consider both to be total alpha dogs, right? Yeah. And they were on the same staff in Detroit. What do you think that was like?

So you're in on Max. That's your guy. Love Max Scherzer. Love him. Yeah, love him. Who else? Sean McVay? Any other football players? Sean McVay was an offensive coordinator here for two years or something like that. And at the impossibly old age of 31, became the head coach of the Rams. And I know that all of Los Angeles who might be listening will appreciate this. Jeff Fisher looked at Jared Goff and said, I can't stand him. I don't want him out there.

He has no talent. Sean McVay got there, and in 20 games, is it 20 games? Yeah. Has a guy that looks like a potential all timer. He had five touchdowns. He completed. I think if you look at his completions, it's something like 22 completions for 465 yards.

And he was, and he was on everybody's fantasy bench. It's I'm starting, I'm starting to wonder, and I felt this way heading into the season because I really thought the Rams were going to be great and I picked them to win the Super Bowl. Not that I'm right all the time, but I really did believe that he was teams, that you had Bill Walsh in the 80s. You had Belichick basically in the 2000s catching the league at this time when physicality and defense and strategy and depth and being able to manipulate the salary cap, all of these things he was really good at,

he showed up at the perfect time and was able to have this sustained period of dominance. And now you have McVay, who's clearly a little Bill Walshian. I hate to say that, but I really think he is. Well, but his grandfather was Bill Walsh's partner. Yeah.

With the GM on those teams. And he's coming into the league right during this new era where it's basically touch football. And you can't hit guys over the middle and you can't touch quarterbacks. And he's the perfect guy during this new era where it's basically touch football and you can't hit guys over the middle and you can't touch quarterbacks and he's the perfect guy for this era so i was concerned about this last night when i went to sleep at halftime because i live in the east and i wasn't staying up for that whole game because i'm old so when i woke up i asked the

people at my podcast this morning were there any particular roughing the passer calls in the second half? And they said, no, they were not. And that was important to me to know, because that means he earned, McVay earned everything. Mike Zimmer has the reputation, and I think it is justified, as a really good defensive coach. And he got shredded. And this year. I guess we're both in total agreement. This is the new NFL. This is 55-48. This is what's going to happen. And it occurs to us both, I'll speak for you too, that McVay is better equipped to do this than anybody else. Yeah, and I always looked at,

I had the coach for any possible era. He was going to figure out whatever. But now for the first time, the way they put together this 2018 Pats roster and the Brandon Cooks trade, which when they did it, I was like, that's a smart trade. That's a classic Belichick trade. It turned out to be not a smart trade because you know what you need in 2018 is really fast guys who can get open because you're not allowed to touch anybody.

So it's, it's the, you know, there, the, there's a revolution going on in basketball. The way that people my age always viewed the game and how the five players work together, that is not what is going on now. It's entirely different now. It's much more spread. Shooting is much more important. There's probably been no rule change ever, not a rule change,

more important than basketball adopting from the no rule change ever. Not a rule change. More important than basketball adopting from the ABA the three point shot. That's changed the whole face of basketball. And without rule changes in the NFL, what you're seeing are these small little penalties and how they're called and how they're not called. That has changed the game.

You know, and McVay, McVay's ahead of the others. He's ahead of the others. And the Cooks trade was, in retrospect, just really smart because now when you look at their team, they have a running back who can run and catch, which is the number one thing you want from a running back. That's right. They have a really good possession receiver in Cup.

They have a great deep threat with real speed, who's only 25 in Cooks. And then Woods, who is like really the perfect third receiver and goff who has been making throws all year i mean shit i we always look at sal and i always look at the mvp odds trying to figure out who the best value bet is we both love the rams this year and we kept looking at girly and girly was like i don't know 50 to 1 we never even considered goff and goff might be the mvp this year Goff might be the MVP this year. Goff might throw for 50 touchdowns and have like

nine picks. Yeah, but if that team goes 15 and one, I mean, there's going to be a Rams MVP. It's going to come from this team. So what you look at, and I'll go back to what you said before about him being a little bit Walshian. Like he

could be, Goff could be for McVeigh what Montana was for Walsh. Yeah. Just sort of the perfect person to carry out whatever the plan was that day. Don't you think? I 100% agree. I have a little tidbit for you.

Well. It's a name drop, which is your favorite. You love name drops. You love name dropping. You love Wilbon's name drops. But. You love Wilbon's name drops. Wilbon's name drops are almost in the Dick Schaap level. Almost. Yeah, it's not even a name drop.

It's more like you could name them the Wilbon. Because he does it so seamlessly. He does it from around the bend. You don't even see it coming. He's like, I was having breakfast yesterday, and I was eating eggs, and then Tiger Woods said to me, it around the bend. You don't even see it coming. He was like, I was having breakfast yesterday and I was eating eggs. And then Tiger Woods said to me, it passed the ketchup.

And you're like, what? Wait, you were with Tiger Woods? Oh, I just hold on a second. It's MJ on the phone. I'll be right back.

Yeah. So anyway, two weeks ago, I was at Matt Damon's house. We're doing a podcast. That's actually running next week. We did this whole podcast. We finish it.

And he's like, we got to watch a Pats game. We had such good luck the last time. And then he said, how's Tony doing? Matt Daniel. Are you kidding? Yeah. He said, how's Tony doing? Isn't that nice?

And then he goes, that was so much fun when we watched that game. Well, that was the exuberance at the interception. The sort of, because everybody figured the game was over. Oh, yeah. It was the other way. We were devastated. And the exuberance at the interception to see these people who you watch on TV and in the movies, including you, be so happy. Yeah.

And literally jump up and down, just jump up and down. That was wonderful. Great. That was great. That was great. I knew that would put a little hop in your step. So he was saying oceans 14, they'll be in touch. Like maybe, maybe you with you and Elliot Gould, they're now partners or something. And I don't know. So here's what you should tell him. If in fact you see him again. Okay. And it is that the province for old men basically goes like this on television.

Yeah. You watch sports. If you're not that interested in sports that particular night, nothing appeals to you. You start watching news channels. In five minutes, you want to kill yourself for watching the news channels. Then you start rolling through the movies. And I've got, you know,

HBO and Showtime and stars. And I mean, I've, and I've, I've got about 20 channel movies and there are certain movies that it doesn't matter where, where, or when I land on them.

I'm in all the way, all the way to the end. And the two, the first two born movies, which are Damon movies. Yeah. I'm in all the way to the end. And the two, the first two Bourne movies, which are Damon movies, I'm in all the way to the end. Good Will Hunting, I'm in all the way to the end. So we started- That's how much I like him on screen. Well, I'm glad you got to hang out. That's why we started the Rewatchables podcast here.

The whole principle was movies you could jump into at any point. So we've already done Rounders. I'll give you my favorite movie for that. My all-time favorite movie for that. Michael Clayton. Wow, really? Michael Clayton? Love it. Love it. Love it. All the way to the end, every single

time. Clooney at his greatest. Hey, last thing. You did a bunch of PTIs with Pablo Torre. And eventually, when we would talk on the phone, you would talk about how smart he is. Initially, you didn't want to do PTI with him because he was too young. You felt like you were his grandfather. Well, I just felt that he was like my grand... It's okay to do it with your nephew.

Yeah. But your grandson is stretching it a little bit. Then you rallied back, and then it was like how smart he was, and you loved him. It's okay to do it with your nephew, but your grandson is stretching it a little bit. Then you rallied back, and then it was like how smart he was, and you loved him, pitowed him. It hurt my feelings. I'm just going to be honest. It hurt my feelings. Okay.

I shouldn't have heard you. You should not have put yourself in that particular position. I felt like the older girlfriend. You are not a rival of Pablo Torres. I just felt like the older. You are, as we say in Torres. I just felt like the older... You are, as we say in Latin, sui generis. You are one of your own kind. And anytime you can come back, I will, not just happily,

I will gleefully and eagerly do that show with you if I'm still alive. I just felt like the older girlfriend who was like, you were talking about the new 24 year old that you met, that you met at the bar the day before. I listen, it's, it's up to, uh,

Eric Ryan home and Connor show. I'm ready. I'm ready to come back to DC. I'm ready to do PTI with you. And I'm ready to, um, to eat with Joe house and, and overfeed you and then put you in an Uber and you're just slumped in

there. Cause you ate too much. That will be wonderful. Will you plug my podcast to your millions? Let's do it. Yeah. Plug your podcast. Go.

It's just the Tony Kornheiser show. It's on almost five days a week, every week, except I'm so old. I'll take off a day here and there. It is simply a smart adult talk show that doesn't even emphasize sports, but, but it's,

but it's largely about sports, smart adult but is, but is largely about sports. Smart adult talk shows. All I want to say. And then PTI, the longest running sports franchise we have. Uh, is that right? I guess it has to be right.

As an individual show, not like sports center. Right. Often imitated, never duplicated. PTI. That's very nice of you to say. Um, and, and, and soon when Wilbon and I

are in assisted living we'll just do it by the side of the pool I'm gonna yeah first of all if that ever happens that will absolutely

be a ringer digital show so don't worry you guys will still be getting paychecks it's gonna happen say hi to everybody for me I'll see you soon

be good alright thank you let's talk about SimpliSafe home security SimpliSafe is ready for anything Say hi to everybody for me. I'll see you soon. Be good. All right. Thank you. Let's talk about SimpliSafe home security. SimpliSafe is ready for anything that gets thrown at it. If a storm takes out your power, SimpliSafe is ready. If an intruder cuts your phone line, SimpliSafe is ready. They destroy a keypad or siren, SimpliSafe will still get you the help you need.

Here's what I love about it. Maybe it's overkill. Maybe you don't need to be ready for every worst case scenario, but SimpliSafe is always ready just in case. That's what makes it great. SimpliSafe could cost an arm and a leg at shit, but it doesn't. That's because they're good people. They charge you what's fair, what's right. $14.99 a month, no contracts, no hidden fees.

I recommend SimpliSafe to everyone I know. If Nephi Kyle had anything valuable in his house, I would tell him to get SimpliSafe. One day. One day. One day, Nephi Kyle will have valuable in his house, I would tell him to get Simply Safe. One day. One day. One day, Nephi Kyle will have to get Simply Safe. Go today to simplysafe.com slash BS to check it out. That is Simply Safe with two I's.

Simplysafe.com slash BS. And since we're here, we're about to talk NFL picks with Joe House. People don't ask us for advice that much because they've heard the picks, but watch this week. This week's going to be incredible. If you think you know who's going to win, check out MyBookie. I always tell people to bet with MyBookie. They're your best bet this season.

They've been in business for years. They have great reviews online. Their mobile site is easy to use, not to mention in-game live betting and the most rewarding player perks in the business. For you fantasy guys out there, you can even bet the over-under on how many fantasy points a player will score each game. Lay down some cash. Win big today.

You win, they pay. And remember, they are slammed with new bettors. They want to give everyone the best service possible. If you're willing to deposit after 7 p.m. Eastern time, they'll give you an additional $25 free play on deposits over $100. Join now. They'll match your deposit dollar for dollar. Use the promo code Billsimmons when creating your account.

Claim up to $1,000 in free play. You play. You win. You get paid. That is my bookie promo code, Billsimmons. All right. We're going to talk to Joe House right now. All right.

Joe House is on the line. We're going to make some NFL picks in a little bit. We are recording this. It is now 9.18 Pacific time in the morning on Friday. And to nobody's surprise, the most predictable part of my weekend, other than my dad falling asleep on the couch tonight because he's visiting, America got just killed on foreign soil yet again why does this keep happening house ole ole ole ole ole um it keeps happening

because we keep reinventing the wheel a lot of questionable uh pairings on the American side. It worked out okay in the morning. It did not work out in the afternoon foursomes. We got swept. It was a 4-0 sweep. That hasn't happened in some number of years, 25, 30 years. There's a bunch of stats out there that you can check out to see. Put the fine point on the ass whippingwhipping that the U.S. took.

But stuff like putting Phil Mickelson, a notoriously bad player in alternate shot, and pairing him with Bryson DeChambeau, a rookie with whom he has a decent rapport, but who is being put in the impossible position of having to bail out bad Phil Mickelson tee balls. That's a tough one. Yeah. I tell you what, Bill Simmons, they got boat raced. Maybe they should have put Phil with somebody who loves to gamble and just that person could have gambled with Phil and Phil could have forgotten that he was in an alternate shot matchup thing.

Well, they could have played, you know, uh, he, he could have played in the, in the morning playing his own ball. And I would have had him paired.

You know, if you have to play Phil today, this is the challenge of it. And I, I understand how hard it is for, for captain Furyk. Phil's Phil is an eminence. So he has to play by form. Phil is an eminence, so he has to play.

By form, he should sit. He really should only play one match today and tomorrow and then just play singles because he's been in bad form last couple weeks. But he has to play. If he has to play, then don't put

him in a position to fail. Let him go play his own ball. Put him with Captain America, Patrick Reed, and see if Patrick Reed can spark that fire. We know Phil responds to, you know, kind of getting stirred up. That combination, his very best partner in all of the Ryder Cup history is Keegan Bradley. And they had a real thing going. They were a real rah-rah. Well, Patrick Reed knows how to do the rah-rah.

I would have let them play their own balls this morning. The one thing I'm happy, not happy. We had our own separate conversation. And on the show, it was on Tuesday. I noted that I would be worried about Tommy Fleetwood. And he and Frankie Molinari went out and won both of their matches. And the problem is that Tiger and Patrick Reed, that pairing, now Reed is only going to play possibly three more times. So, I mean, I messed it up. it up three more times right yeah he only played

the morning he's not playing the afternoon he is our best uh match play player by uh rider cup history in and we put him in a position where he's he lost and he's out so no points at all from patrick reed on friday the most total points you can get out of him is three points. They're kind of compromising your best chance at success. That's all terrible. You know what else is terrible?

Having to root for Patrick Reed. But I did it. I'll tell you what though. I'll tell you what we learned this week. The ringer's Megan Schuster. Much beloved ringer employee who loves America but also loves Tommy Fleetwood fleetwood you know what happened

she what did she do she rooted for tommy fleetwood she denies it she she claimed she didn't but i i know what actually happened i think she rooted for tommy i don't i don't think she's capable rooting against tommy fleetwood so well i she turned her back on america she did a great uh you know remembrance piece on the rory patrick reed um combat hand to hand combat from the 2016 rider cup um she and i always enjoy her golf stuff so i'll indulge her rooting for whoever's in her heart you can't really get mad or she's rooting for the golfing jesus i know well maybe she's the sports bigam. Maybe she's able to just juggle two sports spouses. That might be what it is. American Tommy Fleetwood.

Golf, you're just rooting for a guy. Yeah. Wait, how did El Tigre do today? He lost. He was paired with Patrick Reed and they lost three and one to Molinari. I know, but how did it, how was he hitting the ball though? Did he look all right? Great.

He would have been perfect for alternate shot. He and DeChambeau would have been an awesome team. That's how I would have brought Bryson DeChambeau into the mix. Friday afternoon, alternate shot, Tiger off the tee, DeChambeau. Tiger's scrambling game remains

just impeccable. I mean, his short game, his, the, the flops and the chips and the, the bumps and the runs. God is so good right now. He's at the very tippy top of tiger powers in the short game.

So can we come back? My dad's here all weekend and this is all he's going to care about more than the two soccer games that he gets to go to and the baseball double header with my son. And, uh, just everything that's going on. All he cares about is the Ryder cup. soccer games that he gets to go to and the baseball doubleheader with my son and uh just everything that's going on all he cares about is the rider cup and the pads stay close enough

we were our team is deeper and we have a decided advantage in the singles matches on sunday we just have to stay within arm's reach we can't be down more than four and a half points going into sunday that's what i would say. Which European are you most afraid of? Still Tommy Fleetwood. I mean, I just think he's a rookie, which is kind of weird in the same way that Justin Thomas is a rookie. Those guys have been on a big stage for two years now. It just is a happenstance of timing

that this is their first Ryder Cup experiences. I think he's just a total badass. He was making birdie putts all over the place on Tiger and Patrick Reed. That's my guy. He has a bunch of my money from me betting on him on every major this year and losing each time, but I have no regrets. Speaking of money losing, we banned you from the podcast last week because you're a mush. Your suspension ended and we've allowed you back. I went one and three last week without you.

I am now basically dead even for the year. I will say, though, I should have won the Tampa game. I think if Tampa and Pittsburgh played 10 times on Monday night in Tampa, Tampa wins eight. It was just one of those games. A bunch of dumb turnovers in the first half. And they couldn't kind of pull themselves out of their own ass. They were very Fitzpatrick. Now,

now they were very fit. Speaking of turnovers, how'd you enjoy Kirk cousins? Given a, another game away in the final minute, only he wasn't your quarterback. He was somebody else. That must've felt familiar.

Such a familiar feeling. I think, Oh my God, I've seen this. Yeah. So many times have I seen this. We're coming back. We're going to win. Oh, Kirk fumbled. Damn it.

And he really titillated. He had a great pass earlier in that drive. I can't remember the receiver. But it was like a perfect, perfect, like 12-yard low ball strike where nobody else could get to it. And then, yeah, he kirked. Sal and I were texting today, as usual, commiserating over how stupid we are.

And both of us love the Rams. Both of us thought the Rams were the best team in football. The Rams, every week, have covered, although they barely covered last night. They are killing everybody. And I don't think we've bet them every week. And I really have a lot of regrets.

I've had them in teasers and parlays. If you just bet them straight up, you went four and L. We are now, Uncle Tony was just on before you. We were talking about how it's now touch football and the Rams have the perfect touch football team. And I'm just going to keep betting them

until I see otherwise. That's my expert advice. I mean, it seems like the right touch football team. And I'm just going to keep betting them until I see otherwise. That's my expert advice. I mean, it seems like the right thing to do. They're the best team in the league, according to all power rankings and all the metrics and everything else. They're just loaded. The thing that we've touched on before, this is always for entertainment purposes,

but Sean McVay is not a dummy. No. And not only is he not a dummy, but he has made Jared golf look smart. Yeah. Questions about Jared golf into the, when he came into the league now, it kind of looks in this McVay system where McVay is setting him up to succeed and, and giving him pretty straightforward decisions to make kind of like it. So I thought usually week three

is when things come together for me. But for whatever reason, I think these new rules and injuries and a whole bunch of stuff threw the league off. And now week four, I really feel, I looked at this slate and just some stuff really, really jumped out at me. I've seen enough of everybody at this point

and had some real thoughts. I don't think the Vikings defense is good. I went into last night thinking the Rams really had a chance to put up some points. I think there's some misnomers that we have heading into the season when we just don't realize that teams have changed. Now, part of Minnesota's problem is their best defensive player lost his mind last weekend and did a bunch of crazy shit. And for whatever reason, that wasn't even really a huge story. Everson Griffin. I mean, he, he, he really like lost his mind. You would think like, if that happened to pick any NBA all-star, this would have been the biggest story in the NBA for three weeks straight. And the NFL is just

like, Oh, another guy went crazy. It's kind of depressing. But with that said, we've learned over the first month that Minnesota's defense is not good. It is not the same team as last year. That NFC North is wide open. I don't think the Packers are good either. And you look at the Packers' first three games,

Rodgers playing on one leg, their defense is not good. It seems like it's wide open. My dead skins gouged them. Yeah, it seems like it's wide open for the Bears, who are only favored by three at home against Fitzmagic, and yet I can't pull the trigger because of one Mitchell Trubisky. He just makes me too nervous.

I cannot put money on that dude. I'll do it if I'm getting a lot of points. I can't do it as a favorite. I watched a lot of that Bears Arizona game on Sunday with nephew Kyle, and he just provokes laughter with some of the throws. He is in the rare category of QB where he makes a couple plays a game. The room just is laughing like, oh my God, what the hell just happened? So I can't do it, House. The minus three is so enticing. I love their defense.

I think Tampa, it's totally reasonable they could be 2-2, but I'm staying away from that one. That's the right instinct, right? Oh my god, yes. Okay. Part of the thing in our NFL wins pool is we're sitting there and and selecting the teams over the course of the season we need the most wins one of the things i i will confess that

i thought about is i'm sitting on a sunday afternoon and watching x team and x team is down by one score and i need that quarterback to lead them to either tie the game or take the lead can I live with myself if I if I take this team and have to watch that quarterback attempt to do it and I I will say I I deliberately stayed away from the Bears on just that principle the Bears were available to me where I selected, I think it was the Deadskins. Yeah. And I just chose Alex Smith over Mitch Trubisky. You just had to. You didn't feel good about it. Just that simple line of thinking. All right. So let's go to this week's picks. I have a few. And I had a couple of that. I've got two. I'm excited. I'll do a couple extra for you. I had, there were two lines that I just was confused by. Now, normally that would be a red flag.

Normally you go, oh, that's fishy. I'm staying away. I actually think it's just because it's week four and I don't think Vegas totally realizes who's good and who's not good yet. The first one is Cincinnati's at Atlanta. Atlanta is just not the same on defense, especially with Deion Jones out, I just, I think defensively,

they're below average at this point. A little bit of a pass rush, that it. They get a little something at home from the crowd, but for the most part, not a great defense. Offensively, they've been fine. It's classic Atlanta. They're moving the ball, but then they're in the red zone and sometimes they'd screw up and it's the same thing they were last year.

I do like this Bengals team. Um, they shot themselves in the foot last week. I think they have talent on both sides of the ball. I like that they can come from behind. I like them getting points on the road because even if they're down 10, you know, with two minutes left, I still feel like they can go down and make a play and whatever. They have Mixon back this week. That was my big mistake last week against Carolina. I forgot Mixon wasn't playing when I picked Cincy on this podcast. Mixon is back. I think he makes a difference. And they're

getting three and a half in Atlanta. I think this line should be two and a half. So you're getting a free point. I think they can win. I think they can win the game outright. And how about this house? You know you love dumb gambling stats. Andy Dalton, 30-17-2. Cincinnati with Andy Dalton as an underdog.

So there you go. Against the spread. Not against wins. The big regret with this cincinnati line is not jumping in when the sharps all did yeah when it opened at five and a half they steamed the thing down to to the three and a half i still like the three and a half me too the the falcons have demonstrated they can't stop anybody under any circumstances. And they lost Ricardo Allen this week as well. So no Deion Jones, no Keanu Neal, no Ricardo Allen.

And there was a pretty interesting stat I saw about teams running backs having receptions. This is crazy. The last two weeks, running backs on the opponents of the Falcons have caught 14 and 15 receptions. That's an insane number. That's Deion Jones. That's an insane number.

That's no Deion Jones in the middle there. Yeah, the only team worth stopping running backs catching the ball in the backfield is my own New England Patriots. Yeah, so I like Cincy plus three and a half and I wish the money line was more enticing because I think they have a chance to win there. There was another game, Lions at Cowboys. The Lions are plus one 30 in that one. I stared at that one for a while because I actually think, I just think Dallas stinks. Robert Mays on the ringer this week did a great job of just annihilating their offense and how primitive it is and how much it makes no sense in 2018.

Nobody's ever in motion. It's just this very missionary position offense. And I do think that Lions team, it was 17-17 week one on Monday night. And then the Jets, some dumb stuff happened. They get killed. The next week, they almost win. They get killed. The next week, they almost win. They don't.

Then they really handily beat the Pats. That line seems off to me. Dallas is minus three, which basically means Vegas feels like they're the same. So,

lines plus three looks enticing. I'm going to stay away. I still don't trust Matt Patricia. That's the only reason. Okay. You stay away. You jump in. This is one of my picks.

I'm diving in. And my mush status has been well established, so apologies in advance to the good people of Detroit, but I can't. The idea of Dallas being favored in this game is preposterous to me. The Cowboys are averaging

13.7 points a game. Sean Lee is out out and the dallas defense there's a there's a nice body of of data available now about what happens to the dallas defense under the stewardship of rod marinelli when sean lee is out the dallas defense is damn near six points worse when the heart and soul of their defense, Sean Lee, is out. And I love this nugget. I ran across this. Apologies in advance to the cuz.

Since Jason Garrett has become the full-time head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, they're the only team in the National Football League to be outscored on average at home. They give out up nearly 24 points to road teams per game, and Dallas, their own selves, average about 21.5 at home under this Jason Garrett era. The Cowboys have no home field advantage, so I'm not giving up any points to the Lions.

I love the Lions plus three. I love the Lions plus three. I love the Lions money line. I love it when Dallas sucks. Fuck, you convinced me. All right, I'm in with you. Woo-hoo! How about them Cowboys? I wish the money line was more enticing.

I wish it was like plus 150. It's probably like plus 130, right? I'm going to grab the three because even if they're down 10 in the fourth quarter, Stafford will get me a garbage time touchdown. I like plus 150. It's probably like plus 130, right? I'm going to grab the three because even if they're down 10 in the fourth quarter, Stafford will get me a garbage time touchdown. I like their receivers. The Pats had a hard time covering their receivers last week. And I thought the rookie running back, Johnson, was pretty shifty.

100 yards. So, yeah. This might be one of those lines. I'm in. I'm joining you on that one. Hey, let's take one quick tiny little break just to remind people. Halloween Unmasked, our

eight episode podcast series about the movie Halloween and how it launched 40 years of various horror movies and genres and eras and everything. Hosted by Amy Nicholson. It premieres October 1st.

Guess why I'm telling you that? Because October 1st is really soon. That's Monday. So yeah, if you haven't subscribed, subscribe now. If you love Michael Myers, if you love horror movies, if you like narrative podcasts, this is the first big one that we've done on The Ringer and we are very excited about it.

It's fantastic. Check it out. Subscribe right now. All right. House. My next one. This line is actually suspicious to me. I'm just confused by it.

The Colts are home. They're favored by one and a half against Houston. Houston has looked like hot garbage for three straight weeks. Doesn't look like they can block. Their secondary has been way worse than I think anybody expected. I'm not sold on their scope position, guys, at all other than Hopkins. Your computer isn't sold on them either as we just heard weird noises. It's talking to us.

And I think the Colts are pretty good. I actually really, I've watched a lot of them these three weeks. I thought they absolutely could have won that Philly game in week three. And they had Philly in a position. It was like third and eight or third and nine. And all they had to do is get a stop.

They would have gotten the ball back. And with it was really a chance to win. I feel like luck could have gone down the field and scored on them. And Wentz just made a great play. And it's anybody who thinks Wentz versus Foles, it doesn't make a difference. Like that was the biggest play of that game. I think the Colts are pretty good.

They're not, they're not going to win the Superbowl. They can move the ball. They're a little frisky. They're really well coached. I think Frank Reich, um, is in the running for best new coach of the year. And I like them at home. And I think they have a chance to potentially win this division.

If Jacksonville, you know, is going to continue to do these, these, do these scoring six points at home, that kind of bullshit. Tennessee, Jacksonville, Indianapolis, all of them are pretty frisky. So I like the Colts. I don't understand why this line is in three. I feel like I'm getting a point and a half for free against a crap Texans team. And here's the other part, Joe House.

This has all the makings of the Bill O'Brien gets fired if they lose this game kind of stink to it and I can see that happening and if there was a way to parlay Bill O'Brien getting fired with Colts minus one and a half I would do it so that's my case this game feels like a stay away

to me there are competing trends at work here Andrew Luck has a wonderful record, both straight up and against the spread in this spot where he's going up against divisional opponents coming off of a loss. He's been really terrific in his career. I won't go through all the stats. On the other side, the 0-3 Texans, there is this basic regression kind of idea. Winless teams coming into week four have a pretty sizable advantage against the spread. And when they're playing a division rival, the number I'm seeing here is 15-6-1 against the spread.

And that's just a generic trend number of what teams do, winless teams do. The thing that I also would be just worried about, hit the pause button as it relates to Indy, is they have their third string right tackles playing right now. Yeah.

That's the dude that's going up against J.J. Watt. So I would just be worried about J.J. coming out and doing a vintage game because Houston knows that 0-3 is bad enough, especially losing

another divisional game. 0-4, their season's over. So this feels like a stay away to me. I hear all the cases for that. All makes sense. I think Houston's season is already over

and I'm picking against them. And I like this Colts team. So let's say the Colts get that stop on 39 last week and luck goes down and wins the game. What's this line. It's at least three and a half. For sure. So I agree with you. I don't know.

I just think the line's too low. I think the Colts are pretty good too, by the way. Yeah. There's a, there. I used to do the power poles when I used to write for East Penegrael, and I used to have the frisky category.

And the Colts are definitely in the frisky category. And I would have them in the somewhere between 12 and 16. I'm not sure where. But, you know, it's nice to see Luck back. There's not flattering stats about him in the long ball and that they're too dink and don't. But I also think they have good coaching, and it's fine. What's your second pick? uh i'm gonna take advantage and we've talked a little bit uh on these picks over the season looking for first year coaches and first year quarterbacks

this is a uh first year quarterback stat this is a pure angle i also love the fact that the raiders are entering uh this i have a winless team at home. The Raiders minus two and a half at home against Cleveland. Now, Cleveland has established its own frisky status. God bless the good people of Cleveland. The Bud Light refrigerators were open. The chains fell and everybody could get dilly dilly to their heart's content last Thursday night. Unfortunately, I think there is going to be a slight return to reality. The odds are the statistics are not very friendly at all to quarterbacks making their

debut on the road, starting quarterbacks making their debut on the road. There have been in the past 30 years, eight instances of the number one overall pick being a quarterback, like our boy BM, Baker Mayfield. BM, I like that. I didn't realize that was the nickname for him. BM. Why not?

Do you think he's going to take a BM on Sunday? Well, he might flip that script. I mean, this is the thing. He could take the BM and turn it positive. I just don't think he's going to take a BM on Sunday? Well, he might flip that script. I mean, this is a thing. He could take the BM and turn it positive. I just don't think he's going to. I don't like this. On the road, these kinds of quarterbacks in this situation, making their first career start on the road, 0-8 over the last 30 years,

straight up and against the spread, losing by an average of 18 points um i just think it's a tough spot it's too much to ask especially oakland has been about one play away yeah each of its games they really haven't gone out and just got their ass handed to them by anybody they had a chance to win all three and i think you could say the Raiders and the Jets are the two teams that could be 3-0 with a couple breaks. So I love, it just feels like value. Raiders by anything less than a field goal against Cleveland. I'm not ready to crown Cleveland's ass yet. Did you read the thing about somebody asked Hugh Jackson if they stole the Philly Special from Philly.

And he gave this long answer about that's bullshit. I've had that in my playbook for years. And then they went to Todd Haley and they asked him. And Todd Haley was like, oh, yeah, I shamelessly took the Philly. I shamelessly stole the Philly Special. So you have that. You just have a disaster of a coaching staff. Wait, wait, wait.

In Hugh's defense, he might have thought they were talking cheese steak. He might have actually been thought they were talking that delicious pork, the roasted pork sandwich. Yeah, that's true. It's unclear if he knew they were talking about football or food.

I feel like Raiders-Browns, I see all your cases. I just think it's a stay away because the Raiders have shown the ability to snatch, defeat out of victory week after week. I also don't...

The Browns might just be good. So I want to see this. I'm going to... This game is on my radar. I'm going to watch it and I think we'll learn a lot about both teams. But I will say this. If the Browns are a playoff team

and if the Browns are a team that could potentially win the AFC North, they have to win this game. If there's a roadmap for them to go 10-6 and make the playoffs, you can't give away a game to the crappy Raiders in Oakland. You're right about that. I have two picks.

I'm debating whether to parlay these together. But I don't think I'm going to. For some reason, something's holding me back on one of the picks. So I might just take one of them. I'll talk it out and you tell me if you like the case. All right. Jets plus seven and a half.

The case against it is Sam Darnold on the road, young guy, prone to make some mistakes, going against a really good defense. The case for it is Jacksonville's offense. When they're going against a defense that has any semblance of life, which discounts the Patriots in week two, when they're going against a good defense that can contain Bortles and can contain his scrambling and make it so that the, the Jags have to move down the field and can't save 39s because Bortles is much faster than any Patriot linebacker, that you can slow them down and turn it into a 12-9, 15-12, 17-14 type game.

I think the Jets could win this game. I also think Darnold could throw four picks and they could get their asses kicked. So my instinct is to bet on them at plus 290 and maybe even tease them with the Chargers who are home against the San Francisco 49ers at minus 475. Tease the minus 475 with the plus 290. Get that to about plus 380 or whatever it is

and put a little half unit on it or a little third of a unit. You're talking about parlay, not tease, right? I'm sorry, parlay, not tease. Yeah. Little money parlay. I just thought, you know how dumb I am. I have to keep it simple. Jets plus 290, Chargers minus 475.

Get that to about plus 380. Put about a one-third of a unit on that. What do you think of that plan? I like it. I do think the Jets defense has been pretty underrated so far this season. Not by advanced metrics. On Football Outsiders, they were second defensively in DVOA through three weeks, which is three weeks is enough of a sample size

to at least know something. So, I don't know. I was impressed by that. Yeah, well, that was the point I was going to make. The same idea. The events metrics are recognizing the quality. They have great cornerbacks. Morris Claiborne, Trumaine Johnson.

Yeah. Equal to, I would say, Jacksonville's own dynamic combo. But it feels like too many points. So I like the added risk. You're getting properly compensated, I think, for the money line play. Yeah, I don't want to just betting the spread. Then it's like I have a 50-50 chance that

Darnold just self-combusts and I'm not getting enough value for it. So at least doing the money line, if he comes through, I think they can win the game. I like doing the three and a half plus 375, whatever it is. I think that's a better play. My only concern, though, is if the other half of that parlay,

you said San Francisco, right? No, no, the Chargers home. Oh, I'm sorry, the Chargers. Yeah, against C.J. Beathard, which we'll be hearing about them again in a second. So the other one, so I'm going to do that. I'm going to put one third of a unit on that, just a little flyer. The other one, God, this hurts house. I don't do that I'm gonna put one third of a unit on that just a little flyer the other one god this hurts house I don't know I don't know and by the way I'm not pouring dirt

on the Patriots season I'm really not because I feel like when Edelman comes back and when Josh Gordon comes back if he comes back counting on Josh Gordon is a pretty good sign for how bleak this Patriots season has become. I heard he might come back this week. Sure. Great. I'll believe it when he's in the uniform warming up an hour before the game. I realized this last night with the Rams.

I talked about this with Cornerizer earlier. You look at the Rams, they have the perfect team for touch football in 2018. They have the perfect running back who can run and catch. They have a deep threat. They have a perfect possession receiver. And Woods is the perfect third receiver.

It's a perfect team. You would create guys like that if you're just creating a Madden team from scratch. The Patriots have the opposite. Sony Michel, I don't know how long it's going to take for him to shake off the rust from not having training camp or he might be bad. Who knows?

But he's certainly not Deion Lewis. And then they don't have the Edelman Amandola guy, at least for this week. They don't have the deep threat anymore. They traded Cooks away. Gronk is not Gronk anymore. Nobody wants to admit it, but I'm just, I'm just telling you, I've, I fucking love Gronk. I ride with Gronk till I die. He's at the tail end of his prime and he might even be past his prime. He's just not physically the same anymore. This is not a

dangerous offense. And the irony of it is, um, you have these touch football rules, which fundamentally Brady should be thriving right now. He should be amazing. They put up 10 points in Detroit last week. So if the Rams, Jared Goff had 45 fantasy points last night. So I'm not counting out this Pats team for November, December. I still think there's room for them offensively to be awesome. I'm just looking at them right now. And I think they're in a lot of trouble on offense. Alright, fine. So you got that. The defense is this is the worst defense they've ever had.

The defense is an absolute fucking abomination. It's really bad. I think I saw a stat that they've given up 16 runs of 10 plus yards already. They said that on last night's broadcast.

That's unbelievable. Not to mention all the dudes who've been wide open, not to mention the zero pass rush, not to mention they have the slowest linebackers, not only in the league, but like the slowest linebackers I think I've ever seen in my life. They can't contain any quarterback who scrambles. They can't,

any running back who's going to catch the ball out of the, out of the backfield at this point, they just have no chance. So now you have Miami coming into Foxborough and this just feels like an awful matchup for us because you have Miami who just deliberately built this team that just has a bunch of fast guys. They have incredible speed this year. That Wilson, who everybody made fun of them when they signed Albert Wilson, it was too much money. The guy's fucking fast.

I'll tell you this, he's faster than anybody in the Patriots. Kenny and Drake's fast. Tannehill can, you know, the classic game manager, but he can, on a third and eight, can scramble around and make plays. And I just think this is a terrible matchup for them

at this point of the Patriots season. Play them eight weeks from now. Everybody's healthy. Edelman's back. Great. But right now, this is bad. And Brady does not have the security blanket. Edelman will come back next week.

It'll be much better. The team will start to fall into place. Sonny Michel will start shaking fall into place. Sonny Michelle will start shaking off the rest. I'm not counting out this Patriots team yet. I just feel like rock bottom hasn't happened yet. And it feels like it's going to happen this week. Dolphins plus seven is an amazing value to me. I think this line should be plus three or minus three. I think the patch should be three point favorites in this game. So there you go. Well, the Sharps agree with you.

This is at the very top of a lot of these publications that I've seen in terms of value opportunities. There is because of the body of evidence that Tom Brady led Patriots teams have amassed over the last 15 years. Most of the trends you look at

when the Patriots lose two in a row counsel in favor of the Patriots not only covering the next game, but winning big. But there is contra evidence with this particular iteration of the Patriots and the point differential that they're experiencing and what you mentioned

about the run. And if you look at the injury list, it's all defensive players. It's terrible. Just a hard time. So I mean, we had Bentley, the middle linebacker who was probably the slowest middle linebacker I've ever seen in my life, but was still like starting. And now he's on the IR. I was listening to GM Street this week and Lombardi was saying how Dante Hightower is so slow that he would just

play him on the defensive line. That's another one of our linebackers. Kyle Van Noy, who got waived by Detroit or given away or whatever the hell happened, who you'll know him because he's always trailing the much faster running back on a screen pass. Who's going for 11 yards. He's there. Uh, I it's just really, they just athletically. And from a talent standpoint, it's really not great. And, and I, again, not counting at this Pat's team, but this will be one of the all time great pullof-the-ass seasons if Brady and Belichick can figure this out because on both sides of the ball, there's just not a lot of talent anymore.

And I watch a team like the Rams, and I'm like, holy fuck, they have like four times as much talent as we do. It's not even close. It does feel like the arrogance. This is the moment where the Belichick arrogance. Like, why was Brandon Cooks expendable? You know, it was one of those things when they made the trade,

it's like really smart. We don't have to pay him. We'll get a first round pick. And then you watch him just running around on the Rams and they're like, yeah, he's only 25 years old and it's touch football now.

And it's like, we gave away this 25 year old deep threat. So I've done a 180 on that trade. But look, everything ends badly. And I think we've seen with football especially, there's a team every year that nobody wants to admit that they just suck and they just don't have it anymore.

We saw it with Seattle. It was like, oh no, Seattle will be fine. They're going to rally. And then they just never rally because it's football. And when you get old, you get old. And I am very worried that the Pats are that team this week. But I'll just tell you this week, bad matchup. I don't like it.

I think that this is a perfect matchup for the Dolphins. Miami's historically had New England's number anyway, so it's not even a stretch. The six and a half just feels like too much. I'm right there with you. Well, it's seven on some sites, so I'm taking the seven. But worst case scenario, if you have the Dolphins

and they're down 14 late, nobody loves giving me up garbage time touchdowns like Belichick. I just can't get over how confused the Pats seemed on offense last week. And the only way they're going to be able to beat these teams is to score 35, 40, whatever. My last pick, this is a Moneyline pick. It's minus 108. Saints minus 170 against the Giants.

Chargers minus 475. Home against the Niners. I actually like that Chargers team. I think they've had, they unfortunately for them, went against the Chiefs in week one and the Rams in week three. And it's the perfect time. It threw them off the scent, threw people off the scent a little bit. I think this line should be 13.

I thought the Niners were terrible anyway, and then they lose Jimmy G. But you could argue their scope position guys and their QB, the combo of all those guys. It's probably the number 32 out of 32 teams. Defensively, they're not good either. And this is starting to look like a throwaway year for them. Saints, Giants, here's the rationale. The Saints just score a lot of points. They're another team that's just perfect for where we've come to football in 2018. It's like an accident if they don't score 30 points. The only thing that scares me is they're outdoors and that's been an issue over the years for

Breeze. But this Giants team, I think I saw they haven't scored 30 points or 30 plus points in like three or four years. Did you see that stat? No, I didn't see it, but I'm not that surprised. It's just like. It feels right, doesn't it? It, yeah, it just.

All right. So if the Saints get to 30 points are the giants getting to 30 points they might if barkley rips off two 78 yard runs like there is a road or beckham has his two big plays or whatever but i just feel like if you play this game 10 times i just think the saints can get to 30 points every time and i think the giants could get there two out of 10 times. So let me, don't let me just remind you, don't you dare underestimate how shitty that saints defense is. I mean,

I'm fine with it. They, they love to, to, to come out and let team score 40 P 40 points in, in a quick minute in a, in a, in an Atlanta heartbeat.

And then the good people of New Orleans, I don't know how they put up with it season after season. Every season at the beginning of the season, it's the same thing. It feels like this has been going on for 20 years that these

Peyton-led teams with defenses that are just absolutely atrocious to begin the season. I understand the rationale. I like the Saints at the Giants as well, but I wouldn't bank on the idea that the Giants can't score 30. If they're ever going to do it, it's against this garbage Saints defense.

All right, so I've heard this case. They gave up 48 to Tampa in week one. And I think some of that was just bad scheming and just underestimating how explosive Tampa was, especially with the new rules. Week two only gave up 18 to Cleveland. Week three gave up 37 to Atlanta. Now you could argue Atlanta and Tampa are two of the top five offenses in the league right those two the Rams who else would you have Chargers so their defense might not be

quite as bad maybe it's bad against elite teams but when it's Eli Manning and a shitty offensive line not as bad is that possible alright alright I don't like I'll indulge it I don't like the offensive line, not as bad. Is that possible? All right. All right. I don't like, I'll indulge it. I don't like the, uh, I don't like the extra half point.

That's why, that's why I bought the money line and did that. The money line feels right to me. So there you go. That's what we have. So house, you're coming to, um, LA in two weeks. You're going to be part of, uh, the ringer NBA preview palooza. We're hoopy, bro. Yeah. So that's happening. We have some fun stuff in store for that.

We have a lot of NBA takes. There's been a lot of texting between us and the cuz on some thoughts that we have on things. Yeah. Early season futures. We always love the futures in the NBA. Did you see the division? There's a... What terrible division is

the Wizards in? I think it's called Southeast. The Southeast. Alright, I'm going to give you the odds. Let's just give people a little taste. The Southeast division. Hold on, I'm queuing it up. And by the way,

once you get these out and we talk about what I think we're going to talk about, I can't encourage people to go do something about it as quickly as possible because everything could change with one Jimmy Butler. Right. So you got Washington favored to win the Southeast minus 160. Miami's plus 220.

Charlotte's 9-1. Orlando 20-1. You can still get Miami plus 220. Charlotte's 9-1. Orlando 20-1. You can still get Miami plus 220 right now? I mean, if they trade for Butler, that's a pretty nice pick, right? Yeah, I mean, I gotta go. I got something to do. I gotta text them. I gotta send off. Oh, yeah, you have to go anyway.

So we're doing NBA over-unders. We're doing NBA over-unders. When do you want to do it? A week from Wednesday? Sure. For this podcast? A week from Wednesday? Sure. For this podcast? I'll do it. I'm going to be with you. I'm on your dime, brother.

Once I'm on the West Coast, I'm just there to serve the people. I think we have to do it a week before. Yeah, we need like a week little so people can jump in. So maybe we'll do that

a week early. So that would be next Wednesday, I think. Yeah. Is that next Wednesday? Yeah. Because we're only two weeks away from me being, I think. Yeah. Is that next Wednesday? Yeah. Because we're only two weeks away from me being out in LA. Fuck.

All right. We'll figure it out. All right. Here's what I have for picks. Cincy plus three and a half. Colts minus one and a half. Saints Chargers parlay. Moneyline minus 108.

Dolphins plus seven. And then a little flyer on the Jets plus 290 parlayed with the Saints. I'm sorry, with the Chargers minus 475, which is about plus 380. House, your two picks were the Lions plus three. Oh, I joined you on that. Yeah. And then what was the other one? Raiders minus two and a half.

Great. And then go Ryder Cup, go Team USA. Listen to House on House of Carbs. Listen to House. Are you doing a special Shack House Sunday night? Sunday night after the... I hope I'm not singing Olay anymore. I hope I'm come on singing the Star Spangled Banner Sunday evening.

I just doesn't feel like it's going to happen. Yeah. All right. Thanks, House. All right. Good times. Thanks, buddy. All right. Thanks, House. All right. Good times. Thanks, buddy. All right.

Thanks to Uncle Tony. Thanks to Joe House. Thanks to ZipRecruiter. Don't forget to check them out at ziprecruiter.com slash BS. Thanks to Scott Harrison. His new book is called Thirst. All the proceeds go to the Charity Water Foundation, charitywater.org. And if you love the podcast that we did, you will definitely like the book. And if you didn't

listen to the podcast, you should, and then you should get the book. Check that out. Thanks to SimpliSafe. It goes on beyond what home security should be. It's intuitive design influences every step of securing your home, like installation. SimpliSafe ships right to your door, ready to go. It never stops. SimpliSafe's built-in backups protect you through power failures, Wi-Fi outages, even baseball bats. All for just $14.99 a month. Order today.

You'll get free shipping and free returns. Your risk-free 60-day trial. SimpliSafe.com slash BS. That is SimpliSafe with two S. SimpliSafe.com slash BS. That is SimpliSafe with two S. SimpliSafe.com slash BS. Next week, me and Cousin Sal, late Sunday night. I might even drag my dad into this because he'll still be there and he'll probably be in a coma after the Pats game.

That's Sunday night. Matt Damon coming late Tuesday and then we'll be back Friday with God knows what. So until then, take care.