The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Hour 2: QB WINS! (feat. Mina Kimes)

Episode Date: January 21, 2026

"How say you?" Mina Kimes is here to break down all the latest around the NFL ahead of this weekend's playoff matchups. We also needed her expert insight on soda, cereal in the car, conditioner, and The Traitors, but National Champion Dave Dameshek gets hung up on a debate over how to assess QB value, and Jeremy and Lucy insist the show must properly celebrate 20 years of High School Musical. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Visit medcan.com slash moments to get started. This is the Dan Levitar show with the Stucats podcast. Mina Kime's going to join us here in a little bit. Mike Ryan has been doing this bit of real podcast or fake podcast. And I have seen that on Netflix, there is a new podcast with Michael Irvin, and he is called it White House, which is, to me, a stunning name for his podcast, given that the White House famously was a... a house that the champion Dallas Cowboys had where they would have parties and, you know, affairs with people who weren't their wives.

They called the secret house that was conducted and run by Michael Irvin, the White House. I reported that many years ago in the 23rd paragraph of a Super Bowl column. I didn't report that the Tampa Bay Bucks also had one called the Batcave. I am surprised, though, that Michael Irvin is, for all the names that he could have chosen for his podcast, he's chosen White House as the name for his podcast. You know who I thought of immediately? Jeff Perlman, because Netflix is just stealing his IP. That happens a good amount to Jeff Perlman.

And sure enough, I went right to his IG, and there was just, with no caption, a screen cap of the press release. Speaking of the White House, we've got. the talk of Mosvidal and Connor McGregor fighting on the White House lawn. How did you guys feel about, as Panther fans, how do you guys feel about the lovable Kachuk as he makes his trip to the White House cozying up to Trump, the orange grifting felonious turd? How do you feel about that? Like, as Panther fans, is it disappointing to you to see or are you now numb to it? I don't have a problem separating the two. to me it was Matthew Kachukh, enjoying the honor of being at the White House.

You can do that without overpraising. Yeah, he did. He did. He did overpraise him this year, which is what I kind of told myself last year to pacify myself during that, which is like, he didn't say much. But Mattie is genuinely very proud to be an American and embraces the role of USA hockey. But yeah, I'm bummed. And, you know, it's kind of funny that the story arc of stick to sports, keep politics out of sports, everything that I love, this guy's unavoidable.

I'm a Chelsea fan. He's on the stage celebrating with my team during the Club World Cup. I think whatever side of the aisle you're on, you don't want this guy showing up to your games because it makes going into the game a huge pain in the ass. I was like, in the national title game, you've got to ruin this for me, too. And so, yeah, I hate it. And this guy, he is very good at sticking himself in sporting events. He had a genius move at the Daytona 500 for his branding. That all works out.

But all the sports that I like, he is always injecting himself into it. And it's funny how that doesn't matter when it's your guy injecting himself. I thought it was funny that the day after appearing with Trump at the White House, the Panthers lost 9 to 1. That was funny to you? I just got a smile out of that. But I will say that I don't think most fans care. I think 55, 50, 55% of Panthers fans sort of cringed at that.

And then the next day they're cheering for their team. Nobody cares. Yeah, I think you also have to acknowledge, too, the Florida Panthers as an organization, ownership. That's right. Very, very into, I mean, they're very, I don't know, I would necessarily say pro-Trump, but this country, the United States is a very big deal. Right. Wasn't Vinnie Viola under?

consideration for a cabinet position that he had to withdraw from? He's a West Point guy. Yeah, he's a West Point guy. And in terms of like that honor, that comes from the very top, and it trickles on down to the rest of the team. I'm not kidding about the myopic millionaire thing. These are 25-year-olds who have the world by the tail. They're not engaged with deep dive and in politics. They're getting something out of that. That's the end of the story. The larger concern is that top five NHL forward all time. Wayne Gretzky has turned his back on his homeland to support what goes on down here in Florida and puck and otherwise. If you're a 25-year-old myopic millionaire, you're on the internet. You know what's happening. Like, you could see why right now going out of your way

to be extra proud to be an American is a thing. Quote, the two cups was pretty good, but that walk with you might have trumped it all. Nothing beats this. I'm so proud to be an American and so proud to be here with you. I don't know that you're right about that. Matthew Kachuk doesn't have the internet. The guy who's like floating out stuff about going to the national championship and being fun and putting in the year. I think we're underestimating the things that some of these guys pay attention to and the

bubble that they live in. Look, I get it. But right now it's pretty tough to avoid what's been happening over the last couple of weeks. What they're reacting to though, Taché, is the taxes. I mean, really. These are super-duper-rich people who are looking at their selfishly at their bottom line and not much beyond anything else. Super-duper-rich white people in particular. She's an NFL analyst on ESPN, the host of the Mina Kimes show featuring Lenny, which I strongly recommend to all of you.

I can tell from simply the look on her face. She does not want to in on this conversation. So let's talk about the Bills press conference that just got done and the television show The Traders. Have you guys watched The Traders at all? Do you guys know what that show is because she occasionally just gets obsessed with some reality competitions and she's obsessed with this one?

So I know her and David Dennis Jr. are like all over this show. I don't know about it, but like I'm interested because I know they've been talking about it. I thought it was a show about Jimmy Butler leaving the heat last year. I guess that was wrong. You will like this detail, Dan. So David and I do a podcast as a TV podcast called Viewer Discretion. literally why I'm here is to promote my own work and to hang out with you guys.

But the premise of the show The Traders is kind of like mafia, right, where they're trying to suss out who the bad guys are, their secrets, killers amongst them. And so the cast, which is mostly comprised of a group called The Faithfuls, gets the opportunity pretty much every week to vote out someone they think is a traitor. This is not a spoiler. Enough time has passed. But if you're watching it, whatever.

Dan, Michael Rappaport was, so despised by everybody on this show that they voted him out even though nobody actually thought he was a traitor purely because they didn't want to hang out with him anymore. They're just, they burned a vote completely because he was so unlikable. He's awful. Like rapaport is the worst. And that is wildly unsurprising. Mino, what was your reaction to the way he was eating? Like with the plate in his mouth? My reaction to that, and maybe this is from being on television. television for too long now is the producers must hate him as much as everybody on the show to include like 10 scenes of him eating like I have a two year old who eats with more decorum than that the lip of the plate is in his mouth disgusting so funny you're an adult in our group of people here who do you think would do best here on the traders oh um definitely not Mike Ryan that's easy no I can explain my thinking there.

Dan, no. I think Greg would do the best. So who are the traders and who are the faithful among our group here? Well, I feel like if Chris Cody was a traitor, I would know within two seconds. Zaz has strong, loud faithful, accusing a lot of traders vibes. Loyalty is a big trade of mine, all right? Dan, faithful who does too much and gets. eliminated early. Lucy,

absolute traitor. Yes. I'm a phenomenal liar. Is that a good thing being a traitor? I got to watch this show. You've piqued my interest. Well, you don't get to, they choose who's the traitor. Alan Cummings goes around and taps people, who, by the way, is unbelievable on this show, probably the best hosting

performance I've ever seen by anyone. I don't really know the rules or really anything about this game, but I'm offended you don't think I'm good at it. You're not a good liar. We saw how Miami did earlier this week. What did you think, Mina, of this Bill's press conference where they're saying McDermott's fired because of the Denver laws. The owner is saying is ripping Keon Coleman, which I understand, but probably unnecessary.

What are your thoughts? I thought it was an absolute disaster. I did this video where I was ranking head coaching jobs before the Bill's job open. And I had Baltimore number one for obvious reasons. And people said, well, now that the bill's jobs open. Would you put it number one? Because Josh Allen. No, this is Exhibit A.

Like, you want to work for ownership who just, not just backed the bus over Sean McDermott, also through one of his own players under the bus in Keon Coleman. I thought it was one of the weirdest press conferences I've ever seen, quite frankly. Like, zero reason for him to jump in there. Do the thing that most owners do and leak it to a reporter as an anonymous source. It's like water. Like, that was so crazy. And also, I'm not sure true, right?

Like, so we're really absolving the GM of your top draft pick that year, of any responsibility, setting aside the numerous other bad draft picks that he's made and bad free agency signing. So I thought it was really in poor taste, honestly. And it shows why they don't let owners talk that much, to be frank. Here is Bill's owner Terry Pagula talking about. failed first round pick wide receiver Keon Coleman. Can I interrupt?

I'll address the Keon situation. The coaching staff pushed to draft Keon. I'm not saying Brandon wouldn't have drafted him, but he wasn't his next choice. That was Brandon being a team player and taking advice of his coaching staff, who felt strongly about the player. And, you know, he's taken, for some reason,

heat over it and not saying a word about it, but I'm here to tell you the true story. Can I interrupt here, Mina? Can I interrupt? He's protecting the GM that he's promoted, right? And at the expense of, by the way, not just Sean McDermott, Kion Coleman, who last.

I checked is still on the team, but also the coaching staff. I mean, there's a possibility they promote Joe Brady or at minimum keep him. Like I literally everybody in the building except for Brandon Bean feels like is being thrown under the bus. I do not understand any logic behind saying that in public. But I didn't understand the firing to begin with, Dan. I thought they should have kept McDermott. And at minimum, they should have, if they were going to get rid of him, I thought, really evaluate the GM, certainly not promote him, because when I was watching the bills this weekend, I thought the biggest issue other than, you know, Alan's performance was the construction of the roster, not the coaching. And he gets a promotion out of this? The guy who, by the way,

last summer, you guys remember this, had one of the all-time sports radio moments when he got visible, like, angry at the idea that the receiver group that he had assembled wasn't enough. Quick break to talk to you about Miller Light, a partner of ours. Basically since our show's inception, Miller Light has been there for so many great memories, especially recently. This wintertime, lots of trips to Texas, one Arizona, surrounded by friends welcoming in a new year and toasting that beautiful white can of Miller Light. My favorite beer and an incredible partner. For almost half of its 50-year existence, Miller Light has been partnered up with the Dan Levitard show and we could not be more grateful. Some of my most legendary moments have started with, let's get some Miller Light.

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Did you get lost on the way to Home Depot today, Dan? Like, what's going on with the plans? Get his ass, Mina. Stugats. You look like you're about. to ask me to like check the oil on my car or like come over and like look around and point things in my house that need to be fixed this is the dan lebatar show with the stu gads how quickly is kion coleman's agent on the phone with the team now uh i mean it's still a good spot for him is the thing

right um i think the question is going to be who they bring in as a coach or who ends up getting that job. But like, I would be pretty upset if I was him. And validly so. Mina, we haven't talked about it on the show. The San Francisco 49ers for seasons now have been riddled with injuries. And there was a social media post about their training facility being next to a power plant and how that is actually affecting these players' bodies.

Now, it was interesting because what's happened to them has been super random. Do you put any stock into this whatsoever? So not my expertise. I will say that I have looked into that theory. I have read the articles about it. I cannot. The thing about the injuries that's so crazy is they're on both, and why I think people are even like doing the conspiracy theories,

both sides of the ball, contact and non-contact, in different locations. Like there's no, it's not like you can point to and say, well, Kyle Shanahan's offense, Exposes, no, it's defense too. Well, it's on these fields. Nope, it's on every field. I don't know, man.

I may be like, this is the revenge on the tech industry or something, carmically, because I cannot, which is not to say that all Niners fans are explicit there. But like, I just cannot understand what's going on in San Francisco. It's inexplicable. Isn't it just football? Football hurts. People get injured. But why does it happen to them more than anybody else?

And there was, like, we should find the entire thread. But the argument was long-term exposure to the forces that emanate from a power plant do wear your body down, make you more brittle and make you more susceptible to getting injured. I'm not, I am not a doctor, but it was interesting to see some outside the box thinking to explain something that has been one of the NFL's great mysteries, which is why are the Niners always having to dig themselves out of these injury holes? The thing that I have speculated on, Mike, is that the Niners play a lot of football because they're so good every year. They're so well coached. They make these deep playoff runs. They're not the only team. It's not like they played more football than like the Kansas City Chiefs, who, by the way, had their own spade of injuries, right?

But I do think like playing more football tends to lead to more injuries. So if I had to come up with an explanation, it doesn't explain all of it because there's, like I said, there's other teams that have played a lot of football that haven't experienced the same degree of it. but I think it's bad luck coupled with the fact that this is a team that has been in the postseason so many times. You say that, but the Eagles are the least injured team in the sport. Well, like I was saying, there's teams that have gotten luckier. I don't know. I was a lot. The Eagles offensive line got really hurt this year, and I think that was a big factor.

I just think it's random, right? And we can go power plants and everything else. But I don't think anybody can prevent injuries, and I'm not sure that there's any reason that there would be more caused, especially given how strict the union is now about how teams practice, right? Yeah, my thing is just that they've played a lot of games. It's not about practices. But like you said, the Eagles have also played a lot of games. There's other teams that have played a lot of games.

They're not the only team that has. But if I had to just isolate one thing that is a little bit different about this team from a lot of other teams, it's that. Can we talk about another NFC West team, the one that Meena Kimes roots for that has been more or less irrelevant in January and February since Mouin? Malcolm Butler a number of years ago. The biggest game in Hawks' lore since that night. How say you, Mina Kimes.

Are you excited over your scheme? What is Howse You? Yeah. Hey, Dave. Mina Kimes. Dave, you're the only person who I've ever heard say, How Say You in casual conversation. National champion, Dave. I didn't see you. I would have known it was you.

I'm very excited. I'm still cautious, still a little bit apprehensive. But I think this defense is so good, and I believe in it so much. And I think it's the single best unit left in the playoffs on any of the four teams. And that is giving me a lot of confidence. Who's better? Seattle or the Rams? I think Seattle's better, to be honest. And it's based on what, given the two games this year?

In the first one, Seattle has a four turnover disadvantage. It's still kicking for the win at the end. And the last one was just a fluke that Seattle won. Well, I don't think that's exactly true that it was a fluke. I think because I was just going back. I just watched it yesterday to preview the game. I think that the Rams offense is really good. And I think it's capable of high highs.

But we're coming off of a bad Matthew Stafford performance to be, you know, I think the past protection is showing some issues. And I think the Seahawks defense, the third time around, I like the idea of them from a scheme perspective, especially again, what we've seen. from some of the vulnerabilities shown by the Rams offense in the last couple of rounds. And then on the other side of the ball, I think the first time these teams played, Sam Darnold, absolute meltdown, no question about that. And then he struggled for a few weeks. But since then, and you saw this the last time these teams played in Week 16, Seattle has become better and better at running the football.

This was a huge weakness of theirs for much of the season. This was a big piece of skepticism in my head. And I think you've seen that it has the ability to settle Darnold. I think you saw that in the last round. right. Donald barely had to do anything, but he played calmly. And the Seahawks were kind of like the West NFC Texans. And I think that was like a real study in contrast because both defenses were awesome. But on one side, the offense completely melted down. On the other, it was like a calm, patient performance. And that gave me, I think, a pretty higher degree of confidence going forward. Mina, is it surprising how much attention Mike McDaniel's gotten? No. Well, you mean getting the Chargers job and such? And I mean, he certainly has head coaching opportunities as well. I think some of it has to do with supply and demand. So right now I feel that there's a lot of really great defensive coaches.

There are very few good offensive ones. This is not like last year with Ben Johnson and Liam Cohen, right? And so when looking across the league and you're like, okay, well, everybody wants a great play caller. Ideally, as a head coach, it's not surprising that, Mike McNeaniel, who I think everybody agrees is it's still a great play caller who was hampered by the quarterback. had a lot of options. And I think, like, the Chargers job is a dream for him and for the Chargers. So not surprising to me. It might have been surprising in a different market, but this is one that was very defense-focused.

Mina, speaking of McDaniel, the Dolphins tend to live under the radar nationally, but they've made some news turning themselves into Green Bay South. What do you think of them hiring Jeff Halfley? How's that? Yeah. So I'm always, like, hesitant to give a strong take about a head coach hire. to be honest, because I think it's a lot harder to project versus like a head coach firing I will have strong opinions about. Because you see guys all the time and they end up being great or bad and it comes as a complete surprise.

Other than Urban Meyer. We all knew that was going to be horrible, right? And Halfley, I think like for year one in Green Bay, very impressive improvement. Year two, I thought, I think he's kind of fell apart without Micah Parsons. So it's hard for me to know exactly how good he's going to be. People speak really highly of him, you know, people I trust. But I will say this. I look around the league and I see so many situations where the coach was fired and the GM for some reason, the reason, as they said in the owner's box and they talked to the owners,

kept their jobs. Many cases around the league. If I'm a Dolphins fan, I love the fact that we cleaned house starting anew and we've got the GM and the head coach not only coming from the same place, but on the same timeline. This is a rebuild. No Dolphins fan thinks they're going to compete next year. Fine. You don't have a GM making dumb panic moves to save his job because everybody knows this is a rebuild. And so I think that would be my most optimistic take about Miami is that they rip the Band-Aid off and they're starting over with both at the same time. Where are you on C.J. Stroud?

Oh, buddy. That was rough. Okay. I think the thing I'll say is going back and watching that game, the thing that struck me was, not just Stroud and he was, he was very bad in it, right? Not just the interception, the turnovers, but also he was missing throws. The whole offense was a disaster in that game. The offensive line was a disaster. There was no run game. The receivers were dropping passes.

And I think what you saw from him is something you have seen from him at other points, certainly in the last round as well, which is he is making a bad situation worse. And I think that is something he has to fix. As to whether he can do it, I think the optimistic case would be, The situation can't be worse than what it was in that game. He's very young still. I know we think of him as being, but he's really still pretty young.

He's like 24. Now, that would still make me nervous about giving him a big extension, but I'm not selling it off altogether if I'm Houston. And that's going to be the hard line that they've got to walk, right? Like, how do you give him more time and leeway without crippling yourself financially? And they're going to have to figure that out. I had the opinion watching that game when I heard Swagoo say that, you know, you got to think about benching him for Davis Mills. I'm like, you cannot do that to that quarterback unless you're moving off of him.

Like if you're going to take him out in that spot, you've got to be telling everybody, C.J. Stroud is no longer our quarterback. What are your thoughts halfway through that game? So he's got the four or five fumbles in the first game of the playoffs. No one's ever had this incompetent a playoff run where you have that many turnovers that way. game one and game two. What were your thoughts? That game could have still been won by that defense, given how they were strangling the Patriots. You would have made a quarterback change? Yes or no? I probably would not have done it, to be honest, because I think while it would have been one thing if everything around CJ Stroud was good and he was bad, but everything around him was awful.

And I'm not of the belief that putting in a quarterback who I don't think is, you know, a great quarterback to be blunt is going to be that much better than what we saw. It's tough, though. The good thing I'll say about him, too, is in the previous round, it was a weird one, Dan, because he turned the ball over, but outside of the fumbles in the first round, he actually made a lot of really good throws. So we come out of that game, I'm thinking, okay, yeah, he turned the ball over. He had some boneheaded moments, but he was at least making plays.

He threw some beautiful. And then this game, it was like both the bad decisions and the misses. So it's tough. you know, obviously they'll give him at least the option. I wouldn't be surprised if they extend him and people are very upset about it, though, to be honest. Don Lebertard. It sounds to me like everybody could use a hug

because a hug is always the right size. Stugats. All I have put in my body today is three cups of coffee and an entire cup of honey. Don't let him fool you. He said in the break that he's jittery. This is the Dan Lebatar show with the Stugats. Let's put up that photo of William Shatner here and get Mina's opinion on this in the car.

What are your thoughts, Mina, on William Shatner, 94 years old, driving an automobile while eating cereal? I remember my grandma in her late 80s calling me all excited. She's like, I got my license renewed. I got my license renewed by mail. I didn't even have to go in to the DMV. And I'm like, Grandma, they don't want you driving to the DMV to get your license. They don't want you in a car. Shatner at 94 eating cereal at a stoplight.

Your thoughts? You know what's so crazy about this photo to me? Which I see. Not that he's eating cereal. Not even that he's eating it with a spoon and a bowl, but there appears to be milk in there. That's what's crazy, right? Because who among us has not carried around a little box of dry cereal and reached

in from time to time as a road snack? But to do it with milk is psychotic behavior. Also psychotic is both Lucy and Jeremy and actually Cody as well arguing that Diet Coke and Diet Root Beer are just as good and sometimes better than... You're broochering that. That's not what I said. That's not really not even what I said at all. What you say? What's the take? I said that Diet Coke is not a substitute for Coke, but it is better than Coke. And Dan is trying to say that I'm saying that stuff that has less sugar tastes better than stuff with sugar. And that's just straight up not true. And I said that zero sugar root beer is the closest to a replacement for the original root beer. And that like Coke Zero does not taste as much like Coke as root beer zero sugar tastes like root beer.

How say you? I haven't had Coke or Diet Coke in maybe 20 years. Oh, you're one of those. Since high school musical came out. Too good for Dietical. The best of times. Don't judge us. You're judging us.

I'm not judging you. I'm just not trying to speak on something. that I don't, like, I feel like if I had a single sip of Coke right now, I would spin out. How about the theory uttered by Dave Damashak that conditioner is a grift meant to dupe people who should just have soap, that you don't need anything other than shampoo, you don't need conditioner? Well, on this, I am a subject matter expert. and get at me, companies.

And my hair looks significantly worse when I don't use conditioner. Dave, this might be a skill issue for you. And that, like, you're not getting the most out of it. Although maybe it's different for men, and I don't know. But if you have long hair and a lot of it like I do, you absolutely need conditioner because otherwise your hair just kind of limp and lays there. Oh, if I had the head of hair I had when I was 22, now I would be a U.S. Senator. All right.

Just drop a pick. Let's see it. And that voice, come on. You got pretty good hair. What's wrong with your hair right now? Oh, I'm doing all right, Dan. I'm not complaining, given my age. You know what, though?

Kimes and I disagree on a number of issues, the most significant one, that I know she's now here to say publicly I have been right about all along. QB wins in the postseason matter. Why is Sean McDermott out? Why is Mike Tomlin out? Obviously, our reaction to C.J. Stroud and whether or not the Texan should go forward with him is owed to the last two games we saw in the postseason.

What are you talking about? CJ Stroud is a perfect case study for why QB wins are stupid. He won in the first round. We were literally just talking about how he didn't play well, but he won. But by your metric, it was a great performance. That's a six. a playoff game. Overall, why is Sam Darnold diminished by football Americans broadly?

Because he doesn't take care of business when the games matter most. Now, last week, and even more so this week, he has a chance to wash that stink off with soap, not conditioner. So, Sam Darnold, he's better than Josh Allen, right? Because QB wins. I mean, you can use the dummy guy voice to try to make your point. Obviously, it's not that. extreme. Nobody thinks Trent Dilfer is better than Dan Marino. Here's a good one though. I don't know why I did that with my hands. Here's a good one, Kimes. Here's the question for you that proves the point.

Whose career would you rather have had? Dan Marinos or Eli Mannings? We're not talking about whose career you'd rather have. That's not our job as an alist and opinionators. What is this? Is that? It's a puppet. It's the damage check puppet. National champion and ruggedly handsome Muppet Dave. Is that a real puppet? I like the orange one better. We're trying to make one. We're trying to make a Damashette puppet that goes, ah, that, da, da, do. I was hoping you'd do it

for the rest of the segment. Is that it? You're done arguing? There is no argument. There is no argument. It's just people screaming. Kubei wins. Your Twitter bio says QB wins are not a stat. There was no answer, though, to the question whose career would you prefer to ask? I literally gave

you an answer to the question, which is this playoff? is a great illustration of how stupid it is. We've literally just had an entire conversation about a guy who won a playoff game despite playing poorly. The Texans may not ultimately move forward with the franchise, the apparent franchise quarterback, because of his performance in these playoffs. His performance, not because they lost. If he had been awesome in that game and they had still lost,

do you think we'd even be having this conversation? Absolutely. We would be having the Blake Borgles is the detriment of the Jeff. Everybody else. If C.J. Stroud had been awesome in that game and they had lost and they had gone toe to toe with Drake May.

Dan, would you have asked me, what are the Texans going to do about C.J. Stroud? Not in that voice. I don't know why you gave me that Ophrey. How pumped is Dan to ask for more fighting and get it? You know who always showed up in big games, Lucy? Troy Bolton. That's right. Happy anniversary high school musical.

Cool. We've been dying to talk about it all. Yeah, I noticed twice. I'm not going to let you. Stid them. Your thoughts. I just watched both of spring season games. I've been waiting all morning for someone to ask me about Jared Stadden. Got to get your head in the game. First of all, Jared Stid him by Dave's logic. He's 2-0, baby, this year. So he must be the best quarterback in the NFL.

Right. He won those two games against the San Francisco and Arizona Cardinals in the preseason. Kube wins. Okay, my thoughts are he did look good in those games. I thought, preseason caveats all of that. I thought he looked accurate. He threw some balls down. Particularly in the Arizona game, I thought he made some legitimately impressive throws

and flashed some athleticism. So this is not like a nightmare backup quarterback situation by any means. That said, I do think the Patriots defense in particular, based on what we've seen over the last few weeks, is going to throw a lot of really confusing pressures and coverages at him. So it's going to be very challenging for him.

And obviously, I'm picking, New England here. But he is capable of functional quarterback play. He's soaring and he's flying. Yeah, if the Broncos win, this could be the start of something new. Those high school musical references? Because I'm going to have to. Yes, of course. The booty catch, the booty catch. Can you? Bob Greasy completed or attempted four more passes than I did in some playoff games and is in the Hall of Fame because his team won Lombardy's. The impact of winning in the playoffs is everything. It is not. the perception. You're talking about the actual performance, Meantons. I'm talking about the way

we react, not just the media. I'm talking about human beings. Who are the enduring legends of the sport? The people who win it. That's how recorded history works. Keisha Booty, I thought was excellent in the last round. And it's so funny because Dominique and I were trying to cop for him. And every comp I came up for him in the way he's playing right now was a guy who was like six foot four and up and he's five foot eleven which i think is what's really remarkable about the fact that he's making these contested catches you know deep against like man coverage he's really i think proven to be a reliable downfield target for drake may and you go up against defense that loves to play man coverage in denver um i think

his ability to get those one-on-ones like can't you just see it now it's a fourth quarter somehow they get him on riley moss poor riley moss pass interference in a key moment. He reels it in anyways. I've been so impressed by him. Mina, Mike Vrable is in a... Danny White did one of the hardest things a person can do, which is take over for a legend. Only Mr. Furley did it better, perhaps for Mr. Roper. In 1980, he and Drew Pearson hook up to vanquish the Atlanta Falcons and fall to the Philadelphia Eagles who wind up in the Super Bowl. In 81, he only loses because of the

catch to Dwight Clark and Joe Montana. He could have gone to the Super Bowl where he would have beaten the Cincinnati Bengals. And in 82, he gets hurt in RFK and they lose with Gary Hogueboom under center to Joe Thaisman in Washington. He would have been a Hall of Famer if he gets to one of those Super Bowls and wins it. Instead, he's an afterthought. Don't tell me QB wins. This is just like when Gabriela took over for Sharpay in the spring music hal. Were you going to be something about Mike Brable? I didn't catch the end of that. I was, yes. You finished this question.

Mike Vrable, the job... I had some interference in my year. The job that he's done with so much rookie play is crazy. I saw the stat this weekend. The Titans, the Browns and the Jets, all terrible teams are the only ones who have

had as many rookies make an impact, but those are all bad teams. Yeah, I think what's, I find so impressive and important, too, it's the combination of like the rookies and the young players, but I also think a lot of the veterans, New England, brought in

this off season, have really paid off and made an impact, right? In its last game defensively, Milton Williams, who was their big signing, was the big signing, took over the game at various points. Carlton Davis was excellent as well. And then offensively, Stefan Diggs. I mean, that was a signing that a lot of people questioned 32 years old or 31 or something coming off the ACL, and he's been pivotal. So it's, it feels like. like a roster that's really well. I'm not just saying that McRabell himself has done a great job, but I also think when I watch the Patriots roster to me is really shining. You see how well put together it is. The Brandon Cook's catch, non-catch. Almost no one under the age of 40 could tell

you anything about Hall of Fame or Dan Fouts. Why? Because he never played in a Super Bowl. I bet you everyone under 40 could tell you something about Doug Williams, namely he won the Super Bowl. I actually quibble with the idea that people under 40 know the difference between Doug Will. I guess that's if I was, not that they should. They should. I'm just saying if you surveyed people on the street, I would guess. And there we park our cars in the same garage. End of argument.

There is one difference. I'll say you. The Brandon Cook's catch, non-catch. How say you? I thought it was an interception. I've watched it a million times. In the moment, I was like, damn, very close, hard to tell. felt very, I didn't feel like I saw a good camera angle in the moment that clarified for like

exactly when the ball was being jarred loose, but upon like seeing more angles of it, I agree with the argument that if the DB wasn't there and the ball had started coming out at the same time because of air, right, it would have very clearly been an incompletion. And I think when you think about it through that frame, you can see why it was called in the reception. I can understand that. why isn't the DPI a bigger talking point? I thought that that was brutal. On Trey White? Yeah, I didn't think that that.

Dude, that was textbook DPI. Their whole offense, that entire second half, like, we can't bail out this offense every time their entire offense is give us a DPI. He was just a bailout. He was a bailout. He was a big. That's what I'm talking about. That was a guess. Mina, thank you.

It's accurate. She's the host of the Mina Kime show. featuring Lenny. I strongly suggest that you listen to it. It's got a lot of good nutrients in it. Thank you, Mina. I also think it's fair to say after this Bill's press conference today, and crazy

to say, that if Cooks makes that catch, McDermott's still the coach. Obviously, still the coach in this game, but he's going to continue coaching the bills after that. That's nuts, right? They probably would have stick to the status quo. They tried really hard. You want to end the show with high school

musical. That's how you want to end the show here. It's Lucy's last show for the week. Asshole. Quick break to talk to you about Miller Light, a partner of ours. Basically, since our show's inception, Miller Light has been there for so many great memories, especially recently. This wintertime, lots of trips to Texas, one Arizona, surrounded by friends welcoming in a new year and toasting that beautiful white can of Miller Light. My favorite beer and an incredible partner. For almost half of its

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