The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Tom Brady Shenanigans, Mike Ryan Ruiz and the Problem with the Raiders' Logo, and the Five Most Interesting Games of Week 3 with Nick Kostos

Episode Date: September 19, 2025

Chargers fans are looking good. Raiders fans are looking classic. Lions fans are ready for a battle. And the Rams are preparing for an upset agains the Eagles. Plus, we unveil a new fashion segment called, The Drip Drill! Football America!s Dave Dameshek is about to get into all of it with guests Mike Ryan Ruiz, Nick Kostos and the rest of the gang. Host: Dave Dameshek Guests: Mike Ryan Ruiz, Nick Kostos, Gino Fuentes, Mike Fuentes, Bradley Campbell Producers: Danny Benitez, Mike Fuentes, Gino Fuentes Timestamps: (00:00:00-00:02:00) Monologue - Tom Brady (00:02:00-00:23:27) Drip Drill with Mike Ryan Ruiz (00:23:27-00:27:23) Pick Six Fantasy with The Super Fuentes Brother (00:27:23-00:50:02) Five Most Interesting Games of Week 3 with Nick Kostos Follow us: Dave Dameshek: https://x.com/dameshek/ Mike Ryan Ruiz: https://x.com/MichaelRyanRuiz Nick Kostos: https://x.com/TheKostos Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs, Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Chargers, Los Angeles Rams, Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings, New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, New York Giants, New York Jets, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tennessee Titans, Washington Commanders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You know, the most fascinating detail of the iconic Raiders logo, you know, the ruggedly handsome fell in the eye patch and the helmet without a face mask, is that his one good eye is closed. On one hand, weird, but also what the Raiders in the NFL's upper crust are now asking of us the unwashed masses, which is turn a blind eye to the most famous football player in the history of people, and now a part owner of the Raiders sitting there in a headset in the booth like he's some rando OC. In a related matter, it's also funny the Raiders logo. is clean-shaven. Yeah, before he heads out for another day of violent felonies and pillaging, he shaves. He's a pirate, sure, but a gentleman first. And maybe that's what the NFL is hoping for with Brady, which is the same bet Fox has made. He's charming and handsome, so come on, what he does is no big deal, right, everybody? He's like Lolita's Humbered Humbert with cheek

implants and a better arm, with a little Stephen Seagall above the law mixed in. Is he, in fact, giving the Raiders an unfair advantage? I don't know. But combined with with his access to players on other teams and his weekly sit-downs as a broadcaster, the potential sure exists! Either way, his number of scandals is running neck-in-neck with his Lombardi count and his loose relationship with rules has lasted longer than New England's dynasty, shady as it now is. We can debate each incident, but add it all up, it's tough to give Tom the benefit of the

doubt here. It suggests foul play. I get why Goodell and his fellow rich guys want to brush this off, Brady's still arguably the face of the league. But considering we're now a society that seems to believe less in fact than how things make us feel, we're supposed to shrug off what's sitting there in plain sight? And by the way, if sitting in the booth has no value, why is he doing it? Oh, because he can?

Well, in our world of an ever-shrinking elite class versus all the rest of us, on behalf of everybody with eyes, this stinks. Well, that's more of a thing with the nose and smell. You know what I'm getting at. Let's start the show. Yes, hi and hello, my fellow football Americans. This episode of Football America is presented by Draft Kings. Draft Kings, the crown is yours.

We've got Mike Ryan, and from You Better You Bet, our old pal, Nick Costos coming up, the Fuentes boys have the con in Miami, Bradley's in NYC, your old pal, Dave, here in L.A. Welcome to NFL Week 3. Welcome to our ninth episode, the best number nine in NFL history. with all due respect to Nick Full, Steve McNair, Sonny Juergenson. It is, of course, Drew Brees. And at this rate, I'm not sure Toe Burrow is ever going to get there to challenge him fully. Let's say hello to our guests.

The aforementioned Mike Ryan, let's start it off there. We have much to get to here. So jump right in, fella. Best number nine in NFL history. Well, you mentioned a couple. I did some research. Only two number nines in NFL history have been retired. You mentioned two of them, Steve McNair, who I'd venture.

as a guess here, but I also agree it's true Breeze and Sonny Jurgensen. However, there is a Super Bowl champion multiple time pro bowler that you are forgotten that is playing presently, and it's Matthew Stafford. Now, you and I can disagree as to whether or not he holds a candle to Drew Breeze. I think he's pretty close, and we'll see when we get a treetop view at the end of his career. He's tied in Super Bowls, but right now I agree it's Drew Brees. But if Stafford and the Rams built Ram tough win another Super Bowl, it's Matthew Stafford. Yeah, and if Joe Burrow had beaten Stafford in that Super Bowl a few years ago,

he would be a lot closer to the top spot. But in the here and now, to start your appearance off on Football America by attacking me and telling me, oh, you left somebody out, that all adds up to. Get ready, Mike Fuentes. Mike Ryan is a jerk. I'm the first jerk that agreed with you? We agreed on Drew Brees, sir. If anything, I was being helpful.

I just didn't need the Stafford. mentioned. Because that embarrassed me for forgetting him from the list. I can't have Football America be divisive to. No, you're right. This is a safe space. I do want to throw out there that the greatest number nine in sports history, I know people probably think in Gordy Howe or someone like that. No, no, it's Roy Hobbs, New York Knights, right fielder, slugger, the best there ever was. Right? Bob Redford. I don't know about that. Way up there. Olympic Dwayne Wade. Olympic Dwayne Wade is a good one, Gino.

But Bobby Boucher wore number nine. Yeah. And where were you when he showed up at the Bervin Bowl and beat the mud dogs? The mud dogs won the Berman Bull. You were there? Strong. 19 socks.

Okay. Sandler is probably not on the short list of greatest Hollywood leading men ever. All due respect to him. I think Redford maybe is. I go, Cruz, I think the guy who we saw, sleep on a little bit is Tom Cruz. He might be an odd bird, but who has had a greater

career top of the bottom? You're right up Mike Ryan's alley right now. No, he's the greatest movie star ever made. I can understand how there's a deity that revolves around him, and he's saved movies. He's the greatest action star ever. Can have the serious dramatic chops if you need it. Go watch him in Jerry McGuire, if you doubt that. Go watch him in rain, man. He's dynamite. I have, religiously. Although I should probably pick a different word, but he's the man. He's the absolute man. He's an American icon, and there should be a huge monument built in his honor, hopefully before he passes, which may never happen, actually. He may outlive us all. He keeps doing his own stunts, though. It could be short. That's a good point. I'll just act

against him. I'll never catch up to him. I would add global icon, too, because when I lived in Taipei, every night on television, there was a Tom Cruise movie being played. I feel like he just wanted to tell us you. They lived in Taipei. Yeah, I might have to look at me Louis for that. Well, I'll find it later. The little things we find out about the most interesting man on the planet Earth right now, Bradley Campbell's existence is fascinating. One day we have to devote, we may have to devote a full week of episodes to just digging in on what he's been up to until he arrived here in Football America. All right, let's move on to week three. It's Sam Bennett.

It's not Sam Bennett. Raining Con smite. It's Sam Bennett. I'm not here to indulge any Florida Panthers job. All right. Let's start here. MVP race. I heard you, Mike Ryan, with Dan and company on the big show earlier this week, updating your MVP standings. Do you want to give an update here right now? Yeah. We don't care about third place over here in my football America. And there's just two that deserve to be in this conversation right now. It's Josh Allen, who I have his first place. And second place is Baker Mayfield. Okay. I just want to tell you, first of all, because I heard that and you left Indiana Jones off that list. Indiana Dimes? Is that his nickname now? I don't know what it is. There's no third place. There's no third place. If there was a third place, maybe we talk about Indiana Jones, but there's no third place here. How about this instead? This was all a trick question, me bringing it up to you, because you don't talk about the MVP race just two weeks in. Don't we have enough of this jive going on with the college football polls? Who gives a crap? where you're ranked. Well, I care because Notre Dame lost two games is 0 and 2 and is still ranked

in validating the entire experiment of ranking teams while the season is going. Now you're doubling down on this jive and ranking MVP candidates. This has no value whatsoever. Briefly, sidebar. Hit him with the blaster again. Brief sidebar. College football America. If you're ranking the top 25 teams in America. Notre Dame's one of them. They just lost the two top 10 teams by a combined four points. If we're actually honoring what the top 25 should be, which is essentially a power ranking, they deserve to be on there. And also, who mentions people that are number one in the AP poll or number two in the MVP standings, people who benefit from that argument. And me as a known Baker-Mayfield Homer, he is my favorite team in the NFL. I will celebrate the fact that

you can't get more valuable than winning two games. You probably. Probably should have lost. We picked against them. Those were great betting spots for both Houston and Atlanta. He's without his tackles and he's winning games in the final moments. Baker Mayfield is the exact personification of value at the position. We're not even 20% into the season, fella. It's great.

Yes, but he's on the metal stand right now. That's why I mention it right now. All we got is his first two weeks. You got to take what you got. Okay. I want to talk about bake and we'll get back to him in just a second. this thing about Notre Dame, well, they've played two good teams. Yeah, but they lost to them. If I have an experience with a skunk that results in me getting sprayed, what does that mean

for me? Does that make me a skunk? No, it just makes me a victim of the skunk. That's what Notre Dame is at this point. There's no value in having played two teams, but lost to both of those good teams. All right, regarding Baker Mayfield, here's what strikes me, is that Bakes rise in the last couple of years, and there's a deep dive to be done, and I have done it, and you can look it up on the Lebitard YouTube page. What if the Cleveland Browns hadn't brownsed it up by chasing Deshaun Watson and trading away Baker Mayfield? But here we are, and Bake has now strung together a couple really good years, but so too his Sam Darnold, as he showed on the Banks of the Three Rivers last week. Another nice win for him, 14 wins last year with Minnesota.

I think the bus tag can officially be removed there. Add him in with Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. Here we go. Win play show, Mike Ryan. Let's rank. The conversation has always been that the greatest QB class of all time, certainly in South Beach people will advocate for 1983 with Dan Marino plus John Elway plus Jim Kelly.

And Ken O'Brien deserves a shout out too. But then there's the O'C. four trio. Forget about J.P. Lossman. And you have Phil Rivers, obviously, Eli, and Big Ben Rathusberger, four Lombardies between those three guys. So the Lombardi cat is in their count is in their favor. Give me your ranking in the here and now time capsule it. Win play show.

What's the best QB class ever? 2018 is certainly in that conversation provided that Sam Darnold can keep it up. I think it's a bit of fools gold with Sam Darnold. We'll see that as a great defensive coach. they got the fluke special teams touchdown it depends on what happens with seattle so i'm going to go 2018 i'm going to go uh the lossman year uh and uh let's go with the uh the marino class of 84 the most decorated in terms of team achievement is the ot four group um i i'll stand by this for now but look out for that 2018 class especially if they can ever get to a super bowl and play in one

Yeah, watch out for Josh Rosen. Sorry, my Baker-Mayfield Homerism literally plugged my ears there. I just wanted to take any opportunity to defend Baker at all costs. Man, you love bake. I do, because I was dialed into that what-if, because it literally, their pursuit of Deshawn Watson and the shoeing of Baker-Mayfield is what made me stop being a Cleveland Browns fan. And that was my identity. There was no more passionate sports fandom in my life than being a Browns fan.

I loved being a Browns fan, and it all went away when they made a terrible. decision than I was against from the jump. I mean, the guy won a playoff game at Pittsburgh, unheard of for a team so desperate. I heard about that. Yeah, I heard about that. That sucked. But yeah, I mean, the thing is, people, the pushback you get is, well, just because they trade him away doesn't turn Baker Mayfield into Joe Montana, no, but he would have been a lot closer to Joe Montana if Cleveland hadn't also given away all those high draft picks to get Deshawn Watson. That should be a loaded roster right now with Baker Mayfield at the helm for the Browns. It's not what's going on here.

A little more cleanup. And this is from our last time capsule that we did with Jeff Schwartz and Zaz earlier in the week. Great episode, by the way, with Jonathan Zaslow and Jeff Schwartz. Go back and dig that one up. We did the best running backs of the Super Bowl era.

And there was an omission that a lot of people caught on YouTube and social media. And one guy who was raw about it was Gino Fuentes. Gino, explain. How do you leave L.T. off? He's the greatest player in fantasy football history, like the definition of a dual threat. I hear you. We should have shouted out Ladani and Tomlinson, but Devils Damashek also

says, we weren't making a top 10 list of Super Bowl, of running backs in the Super Bowl era. We were trying to get to a top five. There's some tough cuts to make before we started flapping our gums. I do think ultimately, this is a real tough one to honor what you're saying, Gino and everybody who dropped the line on this. I do think I have to put Ledainian ahead of Earl Campbell because of his ability to catch the Earl Campbell wasn't a pass catcher and he was also a little bit of a fumbler. All right. The main event now with Mike Ryan and the reason that we have him in here is that we both love to talk about uniforms all the time.

It's time for a new fashion corner and big news. We're going to start right out of the gate here, Mike. We have named this segment, or should I say, our fellow football Americans have named it. Thanks for all the submissions all over. social media and bradley why don't you go ahead and make the big announcement here we had a vote online and the results are drip drill drip drill i like it tugboat yeah it's only sound i had to like something big so yeah drip drill there you go so there we go drip drill let's jump right into it our focus on the first um the our focus here

the first proper drip drill, maybe the best uniform division, at least in pro football, the AFC West, and the big issue in that division right now, Monday night football in Vegas. The Raiders make anybody who they're going up against look good with that black and silver. It sets up their foe to look nice. The Chargers ran out there in their powder blue pants. How say you, Mike Ryan? So I've softened on the pantaloon pants. Or should I say, I've been beaten into submission on the pantaloon pants.

It's something that I can't stop. I loved the NFL's pro sock rule where there had to be some white showing. But now the way that players are wearing their socks, they're barely adhering to that. You've got uniform violations left and right now. I would probably prefer the sock contrast of maybe a yellow sock with the white pro sock underneath going into the blue pants. However, this didn't look that bad to me. And, dare I say, Dave, there are some pantaloon looks in the NFL that are iconic. When I close my eyes and I think of what the Baltimore Ravens look like, it's the white tops and the black pantaloons.

What say you? The Baltimore Ravens are the example why the pantaloon look is ridiculous. When they wear their black slacks, their black pantaloons that then connect right into the black socks, it looks like they're playing football in jazz or size pants, which I guess makes it extra embarrassing to lose to a team. that's wearing Jazzler-sized pants, but it ain't good for my eyeballs. I'm going to steep the blue pants, specifically, if they had better socks, they're not as bad as I thought. I thought when they've introduced them over the summer, I thought, why are you messing with the closet? The closet is so strong. But they did look nice. I do want to see them against somebody

other than the Raiders, because like I say, that Silver and Black set you up for success. You got the wrong bone to pick there, Dave, from that game. because we can always depend on the Raiders looking good, and then Monday night they screwed it all up. I don't know. This was your note. You dropped me, you texted me this, and my eye didn't pick it up. Explain.

Abhorrent decal placement on the Raiders helmet. Who is their equipment manager? It needs to be higher. It was practically on the earhole. It looks so strange. Look at this garbage. That is not how any decal should be placed on an NFL helmet. This is really bad, and it made the...

the chargers look even better by comparison. Don't they do it because they have the other air holes up higher now on the modern helmet? Everybody. There's air holes everywhere all over the helmet. Different air holes everywhere. How come every other NFL team knows where to put their decals except for the Raiders? This is not where Raiders decals go.

It looks weird. Most of their helmet is empty silver space. This is bad, Dave. This is real bad. I like the seriousness you bring. You think drip throws a joke? You think it's practice? It's not.

Training camp. It's live out here. And why do we pay so much attention to what teams are wearing? Because we want it to be aesthetically pleasing. Contrast helps. And say what you will about the powder blue pantaloons. They provide great contrast against about 99% of the league. I mean, again, I mean, the thing that would fix pro football uniforms is, you know, I think it was around 2000.

The league kind of broadly decided, like, in the age of as the TVs get better and HD quality, we are going to go away from the specificity of the super ornate striped socks. Like the bears will still wear their ornate heavily striped socks, but most teams have just replaced it with one solid color. Like the Colts have done that, the Broncos do that. I mean, we have HD TVs. we can see the narrow line. So let's bring those back. It'll jazz up the uniforms and forget about this all-white sock that they do, eliminating the color at the bottom of the uniform. It's disrespectful

to the uniform designer. But okay, also disrespectful is as we rank the AFC West uniforms four down to one, I'm going to start it off with, in my book, the clear cut number four team here. It's the Denver Broncos because it's disrespectful to their forefathers that they're not wearing one of their good uniforms like the John Elway era with the Bronco, with his nose, putting snod out on the foes and all that and the orange crush get-ups. What these, I can't even make sense of what these are. How say you? It's neon orange. It's very bright, but I will say the Broncos probably had one of the better redesigns in the 90s. And while I agree, those, you miss those. They're nostalgic. The orange tops with the snorting Bronco on the helmet.

I only associate that helmet with playoff disappointment and failure. It was only until the redesign where they brought a Bronco with a flaming mane on its helmet and those weird pipe, that weird piping on their uniforms that made it look like a bunch of commas were getting in the huddle. That's the only time that they actually won anything. And to a child, that was a welcome redesign. Yeah, the look stayed around a little bit too long. But the further we get away from it, the more we realize that that is perhaps the single most influential

uniform redesign in sports history. Because it's influential doesn't equal it being good. It means a lot of other people had bad taste and were picking up on what the Broncos and who was the designer, Nike, I'm guessing, would have designed. They kind of made them look like Nike checks a little bit. They were bad. And the vertical stripe that bled up from the pants onto the side, that was a terrible, terrible movement in pro football that we've largely, if not entirely gotten away from.

I think what's fascinating about the AFC West is, even if the Broncos wore their best uniforms, in my book, they still would be in fourth place because at number three, I have the Kansas City Chiefs, and I love those uniforms. And in fact, the Chiefs, when they wear their red dungarees with the white tops and red hats, that is in the conversation for best road uniform in pro football. I agree. Best road uniform in the league. I get visibly upset when they decide to go all white because I think the red pants pop. so much. I was so happy when that got reintroduced to their uniform set. I have the Raiders at number three, Dave, and it's a classic. It's a classic uniform. It's a classic uniform. And this isn't me just being hyperbolic because what they did with the helmet decals. I would like a little bit more optionality. They do have that throwback set where the numbers are big blocky and silver. I like that. Look, if there is ever a team that should go black for black sake, all black head to toe,

just maybe once in a blue moon, it should be the Raiders franchise. I'd like a little bit more optionality, though I do tip my hat. It is a timeless look, and they should never change the template. Well, like the Chiefs, neither team has ever changed their uniform or has made very slim changes over the decade. So I admire that alone, that the Chiefs have the exact same get-ups that they had back in the AFL. Fascinating. At number two, I can't believe he went with the Raiders at three. number two, as much as I love them and I love them an awful lot, it's the Los Angeles Chargers.

How say you? I have the Chief Set number two. And I guess this will lead into a debate as to why the Chargers are my number one. Optionality. There's not a bad uniform in the set. And now they reintroduced Navy and they fixed the old Navy set that they had and brought in that Stan Humphreys, Ladanian Tomlinson era. I love the optionality. You don't throw Stan Humphreys in the face of this Steelers fan. I remember 94. I was in Three River Stadium when he threw the ball to Tony Martin and broke my heart. Don't bring that up. Hit him with the blaster again. I think it should bother the Dolphin fans too, the missed kick of Pete Stoyanovich, but don't forget, Natra means he stepped out of bounds. History is probably forever changed. Who knows what

happens? You have the great storyline of Damarino against a Pittsburgh Steelers. You may have the Miami Dolphins playing the first host Super Bowl against a great, one of the greatest. San Francisco 49er teams of all time. Natron Means stepped out of bounds, Dave. Okay. All right. Listen, here's what I'll say. Why I'm going to ding the Chargers is exactly what you just mentioned is the virtue of

their uniform set. If you're going to do like all the tips of the hat to all the generations of uniforms, how do you not do the aired Cori-L years? How do you not do the Dan Fouts, West Chandler, John Jefferson, gold pants, white jersey, royal blue hat. They haven't done it. Instead, Stan Humphreys, that's who you're honoring. Fat, Raiders, they're like Texas. Change our uniforms. Why fix what ain't broke? We're the Oakland Raiders or the Los Angeles Raiders or Las Vegas Raiders. What we are is, we're the silver and black and we ain't changing it for nothing. I admire it. That's my number

one. And that's it for this first edition of drip drill. Did it go well for you, Mike? That got heated. We both argued with conviction, and I think the audience won. I know I don't have to tell you this fellow football Americans, but football is back, and so is your shot at big winnings. With Draft Kings pick six, the official daily fantasy partner of the NFL, your game day instincts can score you real money and fast. Here's the play. Just pick more or less on two or more player stats from breakout rookies to elite QBs

and unlock the upside every snap brings. The better your calls, the bigger your payout. And here's the kickoff bonus. New Draft King's customers get $50 in bonus picks with just a $5 entry on your first pick set. This season, play your player instincts, download the Draft King's Pix6 app now, and use Code Damesh. That's Code D-A-M-A-M-E-S-H-E-K, play just $5, get $50 in pick-6 and pick-6 bonus picks, make the call, ride the upside, in partnership with Draft Kings Pick 6, the crown is yours. All right, here we go. It's time for this week's pick six segment presented by Draft Kings. Draft Kings, The Crown is yours. I've made my six selections. Mike and Gino Fuentes are going to try to help me with the tougher ones that I selected here. Let me just tell you what they are. Herbert going over 20 and a half rush yards in week three. He's gotten over 30 in the first two weeks. Patrick Mahomes will throw at least two touchdown passes. Bejan Robinson over 21 and a half receiving.

He's had 25 and 100 receiving yards in the first two weeks. Russ Wilson under 22, 27 and a half pass yards. Drake May over 0.5 interceptions. That means he will throw at least one interception, and Kareem Hunt over eight and a half rush attempts as the Chiefs trying to get their ground attack rolling there. Let's start off at the top there, Mike and Gino. Do you like me going over with Justin Herbert here, the 20 and a half rush yards?

Yeah, he's gone for 31 and 32 in his first. first two games here. And I think that's just part of the game underneath Harbaugh. He rushes a lot. I think he had what? He had nine and eight rushed attempts. I mean, he's going to make the defense try to defend the pass, and he's going to take the run underneath. That's kind of his game right now. Yeah, I don't think he wants to be doing it, but he's going to take what's given. I mean, I think Amarian Hampton's been a little bit of a disappointment, people would say, especially people who drafted him really high. I think they're just trying to get both guys involved. Yeah, I think they're trying to get both guys involved. But the past game has been surprising. We know Harbaugh wants

to run a lot more than he's passing, but it's working out for that pretty good. The real crazy thing to me, five reception touchdowns for the Chargers, none of them to Ladd-Maconke. That is interesting, but what is not that fascinating to me is 20 and a half rush yards is a meager total. I mean, you don't have to have design runs to get to that. You need to have the defense turn their back on him one time and he can get it with taking off on one third down. Okay, Mahomes, two touchdown passes. Are you down on this either one of you? I like this because eventually they're going to have to really get that going. And if you look at the Russian yards for the Chiefs, I don't think they want Patrick Mahomes to be their leading rusher.

And they're leading rusher by a lot. That being said, he is their entire office right now. Well, eventually he has to get going. So somebody's got to start catching these touchdowns. So I think finally he'll get it this week. Okay. So you're saying over? Over one and a half.

I'm going to agree with you. Yeah. Oh, you are agreeing with me. I mean, maybe it'll be Kelsey. Maybe it won't. That's the big issue. We can talk about everything else, the lack of running backs and pass catchers and otherwise. The big absence for Patrick Mahomes that he's had.

for the entirety of his career is a dependable Travis Kelsey. That seems to have evaporated. Okay, last one. Also, did you just see what happened in Dallas against the Giants? I mean, the Giants can't stop anybody over there. That's part of my math here is that they're playing the New York Giants. Okay, speaking of those Giants, Russell Wilson, under 227-5 pass yards. I know he had the big game on the big screen and all of that just last week,

but he's only gone over that total once in the last six years. Mike and Gino, how say you? Well, again, I saw that last game, and I can't unsee it because he's got Malik neighbors out there now, and they're not using Wondell Robinson for the short stuff either. So I think he'll get over it. I don't think it'll be impressive, but I think he can get over that amount. I think Dave will accidentally stumbled onto something that might actually work, which is just, hey, neighbors or Robinson will be down there, and Russell Wilson will find them.

Yes. So Tracy's been struggling, Scadaboo's been struggling. The running game altogether has been struggling. so why not just have Russell Wilson air it out? I mean, it might take two or three interceptions to get there, but we'll get there. I'm going to stay under on this total, but I do hear what you're saying there. I do like the idea of Russ's moonballs. Whoever catches them, our team, the other team, whatever.

Success for Russ. Okay, good stuff. Mike and Gino. There's your pick six. Play it or go your own way. Last week we introduced our game pick segment with a guest. picker. I want to do that every week going forward here. And our inaugural game picker was my mother, but she was wrong. She said that the Steelers were going to blow out the Seahawks,

and they didn't. Instead, the Steelers embarrassed themselves in the entire city of Pittsburgh with their performance. So she's out. By the way, she also used her time on the show last week to attack my daughter who drafted Joe Burrow in our fantasy football league. And Joe Burrow now out for basically the rest of the season. Coincidence? Only maybe. Her powers are profound, perhaps even evil.

Anyway, here's to another ringer, the host of You Better You Bet, weekdays, 3 to 7 p.m. and Sunday, 11 to 1 p.m. You can find it on YouTube, serious. It's on Twitch. Wherever you find your podcast,

he's the founding father of WagerTayment, a Shecky Award winner, and one of the authentic characters and good guys in the business, My pal, Nick Costos. What's happening, man? How are you? What's going on, my man? Thank you so much for having me and look, like your mom may have some kind of voodoo going on. But did she lay six and a half with the Arizona Cardinals last week, like I did, of 273 in the third quarter against Bryce Young and only win by five? Because I feel like

for as much voodoo as she may have going on, like I might be the witch doctor here after the first couple weeks of the season. Well, listen, earlier in the show, we talked to Mike Ryan, and he's trying to acknowledge who's the MVP frontrunner right now. It's too soon for that for that sort of thing. Still, though, if we're going to honor ourselves with our picks, I did have the Cardinals as a wild card. I did have the Colts winning the A&A. I have the Cardinals winning the NFC West, man.

I'm Mr. Arizona, although I will say I'm not not extremely impressed with them, even with the 2-0 start. And I do worry. I know we'll talk about this game about their game on Sunday at the 49. are a little concerned. Okay, yeah, I want to dig in on that, but since you're in New York City and as we go coast to coast in Football America, you are a resident, I guess, sort of Giants fan, except that you're one of these curmudgins who likes to announce.

I'm off that. I can't be a fan anymore. The wagering is too serious for me, and so I have no rooting interest anymore. Nevertheless, where do you come down as the boots on the ground about what Brian Daibel is doing here? This is a fascinating subject to me. Do you like them rolling with Russell Wilson with Justin Darts sitting on the sideline there? Well, I love like how you phrased the question.

Do you like what Brian Dable's doing? Well, it's year four and they're 0 and two and look like one of the worst teams in the league again. So I would say like, no, I don't really like what they're doing. And it's not that wagering has killed my Giants fandom. It's that I actually, see, I actually take Umbrage with the question and the way that you and the way that you phrased it there because I'm actually the best kind of fan. Get the blaster ready, Mike Fuentes. Get the blaster ready. Because I'm actually, I'm the best kind of fan. You know how big a fan I am? I'm so big a fan. And I'm such a good sports fan and I'm such a good Giants fan that I know it's actually in the best

interest of my team to lose to make things better moving forward. Like, they need to lose on Sunday night to the Kansas City Chiefs, whether it's Russell Wilson or Jackson Darden. And by the way, Love Jackson Dart making his NFL debut last week I'm like a spot snap against the Cowboys Falling on the ball and losing like five yards. Great decision by Dable. Russell Wilson's having the best game he's had in a decade. Let's put Jackson Dard into fumble the football

and lose five yards. So, no, I'm not happy with anything Brian Dable does. The fact that he survived last year and Joe Shane survived last year, check, you're a massive NFL fan. Your audience are massive NFL fans. I'll ask you. I'll ask them. How many times can you remember?

Year three of a regime. worse. I don't care that they didn't pick first overall. We watch the games. Worst team in the league. Come back. No problem. And you get to pick a quarterback. Awesome. So what's going to happen next year when Daible and Shane are inevitably fired. And now we're the Bears. And now like a new regime has to decide if they like Max and Dart or not. Like that's how big a fan I am. I root for them to lose because that's going to be how they win down the road to get these gibronies the hell out of year. That's right. And I'll say that the experience is that if you are in fact to die or

You can be, I know, are you crazy? No, you won't do that. You won't do that. You won't do that. You would not listen to me in the past 18 months clearly. You would root for the Steelers. Oh, and 16, final game of the year. If 0 and 17 men change and a shot at the generational quarterback,

you would die for them to win that game and finish 1 and 16. I mean, first of all, first of all, I'm old enough to remember when the Pittsburgh Penguins tank to get Mario Lemieux. And so I am not going to go against the idea of, I mean, it's embarrassing to go 0 in 17, but I do not mind tanking in certain circumstances. And to connect your fandom with mine, this is exactly my issue with why, if you are now set up in 2026 with the asset you have in the draft and otherwise, and you have aligned your philosophy to go get a quarterback as high as you possibly can in the first round in 2026, then what the hell

are you doing in the meantime with Aaron Rogers, who's probably going to steal you a winner, two more than Mason Rudolph or otherwise would have. It was a massive mistake to bring it in. I disagree. Okay. Let's do the game picks. And if we have time on the other end, we can keep on fighting here. And we're going to count them down all the way down to number one.

And we're going to start it off with a fascinating one because it's a battle of the backups. It's the Cincinnati Bengals. It's the Minnesota Vikings. Nick Costos, choose. Give me your final score to this one. I think it's going to be a high scoring game check. I talked about this on You Better You bet earlier this week when we first

Well really when the bike Because we knew Burrow was going to be out But kind of like the Vikings came out And left field and said You know everyone else is announcing quarterback news Let's now say our quarterback has a high ankle sprain And he's going to be out through the buy Because they have two games in Europe coming up

Obviously and one of them obviously We'll be against Czech Against you were Pittsburgh Steelers So as soon as this news was announced That Wentz would start And obviously we knew Browning would start The total cratered Because Joe Burrough's not playing in the game

and McCarthy's not playing in the game, despite what anyone thinks about J.J. McCarthy. And that kind of forced me to have a conversation with myself as an NFL analyst and as a better. Do I think that it's come down too far? And it was 41.5 at that point. It's 42 and a half now. Not a huge difference between those numbers.

And I think it has. We know that Kevin O'Connell, and it has not been great with J.J. McCarthy to start, but one of the great quarterback whisperers of our time, like took Nick Mullins to multiple 400 yards. passing games. Took Josh Dobbs literally off the street, a couple days in in Minnesota and took him to a winning performance. And while Carson Wentz is obviously not the quarterback he was in 2017 when a torn ACL probably cost him MVP and won the Eagles a Super Bowl, he has natural

ability and talent and he's got some good weapons to throw to even with Jordan Addison still suspended. And the Bengals defense remains hot garbage. And on the flip side, because I remember this because I'm sick. So football season, I work Monday through Friday and Sunday. Saturday's my one day off. And I made this arrangement with my now wife years ago that I would punt college football for the most part on Saturdays in the interest of keeping my relationship goes. Oh, yeah. And now I'm married and I have a kid. So I think it was, I think it worked out. So once we get the Saturday games going at the end of the season, we're generally doing something around the holidays, right? So I remember a couple years ago driving in Manhattan and listening on

Westwood One for whom I am employed, just wanted to shout them out. And I'm listening to Bengals Vikings. three years ago, Brian Flores' first year as the Vikings defensive coordinator. Jake Browning started that game against the Minnesota Vikings through for over 340 yards and the Bengals won 2724 in overtime. Now, this is year three of the Flores defense. The players kind of have like a master's degree in that defense now, but we've literally seen Browning beat the Flores defense. It's happened already.

The Bengals obviously have some good weapons on offense here. Shaq, I'll take a contrarian over with the Bengals and the Vikings. I love it. And that is a, that's the sort of detail you get from Costos here. To me, I'm going 2010 Vikings. I, I don't think that the Vikings defense is in the same place. It was three years ago, your point notwithstanding. The Browning, Wents thing, I mean, the assumption that Wents, that you know what Wence is in 2025 is a little bit of a reach.

I'm riding to your point with KOC, not with the guy at the trigger there. Give me 2320 and I win. I don't need this to be, you know, like Bill's Ravens week one. Get me a nice 23-20 game and we all emerge victorious. I guess I do at least. At number four in our countdown here, we're going with the NFC West Showdown. It's the Niners at the Cardinals. Two and O are both teams here, Cardinals at the time of this recording laying a point

and a half. How say you, Costos? Yeah, I think it's a really, really difficult game to predict at the moments because, you know, we don't have injury reports yet as we do this on 3rd. Day, right, because both these teams are on the West Coast and it's about 2 o'clock in the afternoon. So we don't know if Brock Purdy's playing in the game. He was a surprise at Wednesday's practice for San Francisco. And Kyle Shanahan told reporters that there's a chance that Purdy does start. And we did see the betting market move towards San Francisco on that news.

I still think it's more likely to be Mac Jones, who? Mac Jones. But, you know, there's an outside chance it's Brock Purdy. But to me, the bigger concern check, and I'm on Arizona stuff from before the season. Arizona to win the West, Arizona over the win total. I would love for the Cardinals to win this game. Their secondary is an absolute mass unit. You know, they lost a couple members of the secondary during the offseason

for the entire season. And just when things started to look good, right, where Will Johnson, the second round pick out of Michigan, looks like an absolute stud. But maybe would be the front runner for defensive rookie of the year. I'm being serious. That's how good he's been. If he's able to stay healthy, leaves the game on Sunday against Carolina

with the groin injury, does not practice on Wednesday feels bad early in the week. Garrett Williams gets placed on IR, one of their cornerbacks. Max Melton doesn't practice on Wednesday. So the Cardinals could be going into this game with a bunch of, you know, with a bunch of scrubs at the corner position going up against Ricky Pearsall and

Joanne Jennings and the Niners. And I think the setup here is not great for Arizona. So we're early in the week. We are not operating with all the information as far as injuries are concerned. If you maybe pick a winner right now, I would take San Francisco because I'm a little pessimistic about the Arizona secondary.

But if this line check, let's say Purdy plays, that the Cardinal secondary guys are out, this is going to close over three. I might consider playing Arizona plus the points at that time. But I do think the Niners are more likely to win the game right now. Yeah, great notes there from Nick and keep your eye on this one, obviously, whether it's Purdy or Mac Jones is going to determine a lot in which way you lean there. What strikes me as we jump from Vikings into the Niners is the guy that's looming out there and there was buzz about him in August to the Rams.

Is Kirk Cousins? Is this just it for him? Are we just not going to see anybody reach out for him? It would be senseless for the Bengals to do that, given the state of their offensive line. But I'm a little surprised we aren't hearing any mentions about Kirk moving somewhere, right? Yeah, because I'm trying to think of, like, what would even make sense for him.

And I do think Cousins is better than Jake Browning. I don't know if he's that much better than Jake Browning where, like, it would justify a trade. I think you're going to need like another quarterback to get hurt. I don't think any of the teams right now with quarterback injuries make sense. Even if you wanted to invent a scenario where, and I think Jaden Daniels might play on Sunday, but even if you wanted to invent a scenario where Daniels has hurt for a significant amount of time, I think they would just roll with Mariotta.

So I think Cousins is probably going to be just Michael Pennix Jr.'s back up the entire season. I think it would require another quarterback getting hurt on a contender where they want to try and win a Super Bowl and the backup's not up to par. I don't think we've seen that happen just yet. And Browning is too good for the Bengals to make a move like that. I hear you. And the spend on Brock Purdy kind of requires you to wait him out and it doesn't feel like it's a long-term thing. The one to me is the Vikings. This is the opportunity to sort of be vague about exactly how long the kid has to sit down for. If you're COC and a little nervous about your decision and how ripe the rest of the roster is before Jordan Addison returns and all of that, this would be the

spot if you believe in Kirk Cousins to go get him. It feels to me like it may be done. I think it's too early. I don't think you can pull the plug on McCarthy after two games. I didn't say pull the plug on him, but this. Well, if you trade for Kirk Cousins, if you trade for putting the plug on him, you're pulling the plug on him. Of course you are. We don't want to waste the season, so we're bringing in the savvy bet. Are you nuts? Of course it's pulling the plug on McCarthy if they trade. Well, I doubt if you say he's out for the next eight weeks. They're just going to lie, a quarterback with a quarter. There's not a running back with a quarterback with a high ankle sprain.

It's going to be out two months. It's unprecedented. No one's going to buy that. The Denver Broncos, the Los Angeles Chargers, Damashek picked the Chargers to win the division before the season kicked off. A lot of people like the Broncos chances. Time of this recording. LAC laying two.

and a half. Nick Costos, how say you? I see a three right now, and there are some threes available. Okay, three. All right. I'll take the three with the Broncos and not think twice about it. Disappointing loss check for Denver last week against Indianapolis, especially for me because I laid one and a

half with Denver and Bet Money Line, and Sean Peyton called for a field goal block on the final play on a 60-yarder that didn't have a prayer of making it. So that was disappointing, and here's a 45-yarder for the win. Coming into the year, I did like the Broncos more than the chargers, and I may have to take the L on that. We'll see. But if I'm going to get a full three

here, and I want to be careful of how I say this, because I am not ready to bury the Kansas City Chiefs, but I think we need to call a spade a spade. The Chief's offense, I think, will get fixed as the season moves along when they get players back from either injury or suspension. I've got big-time concerns about this Chief's defense that Herbert absolutely ripped up on Friday night in Brazil, specifically the past defense. And I think, you know, the fact that the Eagles refused to throw the ball down the field probably made the Chief's past defense look a little better than it actually is. So I think that with what we saw from the Raiders on Monday night and the Raiders defense

is not good, this is going to be by far the best defense that Justin Herbert seen this season. And I'm not saying he can't do it. I just, I want him to prove it to me. I'll pay to see it. I love the Broncos here. This is my favorite bet of the week, Broncos plus three at the Chargers. The thing that people, I don't know what it's going to take.

for people to see with their two working eyes what has now been 18, 19 games worth of the Jim, the Jim Harbaugh experience, which is all the buzz about how he can turn a quarterback around and his second season with anything. The defense is statistically at minimum among the league's best. And so when everybody talks about, oh, now Justin Herbert's going to catch that Broncos defense, well, guess what? Bo Nick's is catching the Chargers defense, and that ain't even. Well, I will say no Khalil Mack, I think may be a big deal.

And now we'll see, because that was the thing that we talked about, right, when Joey Bosa left to sign with the Buffalo Bills. And the Chargers didn't really get any reinforcements. They drafted a fourth round pass rusher who was a healthy scratch for the first two games of the year, can Tui tool to a polo to. And these edge rushers that no one's ever heard of, I'm not saying it can happen, but we've never seen it without Khalil Mac and without Joey Bosa. Let's see how this goes against an absolute stud Broncos' offensive.

of line. I think the Broncos are going to win the game outright. Okay. That leads me neatly into our number two game of the week, and my looming concern remains for the Baltimore Ravens, is their pass rush or lack of a traditional pass rush. They get a lot of it, that inside push and all of that. They don't have the name brand guy outside of Kyle Van Nuoy, I guess. Baltimore, hosting the Lions, Baltimore laying four and a half house, say you, Nick Costos on Monday night football. I agree, Shaq, with the betting move here. This was six and has come down to four and a half, five, five and a half. And I could see what the number is right now in my screen. Yeah, four and a half, you're absolutely right. And the Ravens will need to get interior pressure here because I think,

you know, what happened in week one with Micah Parsons abusing Penae Sewell is like unlikely to happen in basically every single game moving forward this season with how good Sewell is and how good Taylor Decker is. The one point of attack, I think, for this lion's offensive line and the bears have just completely inept and unable to take advantage of it last week is the interior, right? With Glasgow and Tate Routich and Christian Mahogany, they held up well last week. I'm curious to see how that goes this week against the Baltimore Ravens and the interior of the Ravens defensive line. And when it comes down to me handicapping this game, and this is the Monday night game, so we have a couple extra days to think about it, obviously.

I think the lions are still really good. Maybe just the Packers are that good. I may end up with just the Lions money line back. in this game where you don't often get a team of Detroit's caliber and this type of big price to win a football game. And I think that's where I'm leaning right now. I have not placed that bet. I reserve the right to change my mind as injury reports come out. But that's currently where I'm leaning right now would just be the Lions to win the game. And like you, Sheck, I do have some concerns about this Ravens team, the psychological impact of blowing the game, another blown lead with Harbaugh

and Lamar to Buffalo in week one. And last week's final score against Cleveland, is wildly misleading. The Ravens won that game 4117. If you looked at the box score of the game, and I understand games are not played in a box score, right? They're played on the field. You would think that this was like a three-point game. Like this was an unlucky game for the I'm not saying the Browns deserve to win. It's an unlucky final score and an unflattering final score. I actually have not been that impressed with the Baltimore Ravens this year. I wouldn't be shocked if the Lions went into Baltimore and won the game. If you go back a week, people were concerned about the Lions, but then they got the Chicago Bears and

now they're right as rain in a lot of people's book. I think the specific matchup at the line of scrimmage you mentioned when the Lions have the ball favors the Ravens. I think in general, we're about to see the Ravens take it to another gear. They are putting a lot of points on the board. I think they'll do that against the Lions once again. This team, the Lions are built on their physicality and 40% of their offensive line from last year is gone now. That's not a small matter. I like the Ravens and I like them big here. And that brings us to our number one game. Divisional round showdown, the Rams. Everybody loves to talk about the fact that they almost beat the Eagles. And in fact, they did in the snow in January last year.

How say you on this one at the time of this recording, Eagles laying three and a half to the visitors from Los Angeles? Yeah, I opened, I did about 30 minutes to open my show on this game yesterday on Wednesday. And I'll summarize what I said there. I can understand why someone would, And look, I can be wrong. So the Rams can win the game. I understand why someone would want to take four with the Rams. I can understand the thought process of wanting to take three and a half with the Rams. If at any point in between now and kickoff on Sunday, Shaq, if this comes down to the Eagles

just as a three-point favorite, I'm going to bet Philadelphia in the game. I think that would be the point where I would say, like, this, we have gone way too far. And I think this number is actually incorrect. and the reason why I think it's incorrect when we talk about the on-field handicap is the same handicap you basically have with every Eagles game. They're going to dominate both lines of scrimmage. Like, it's just going to happen. Now, maybe Saquan won't run for 460 yards like you did in the two games.

They played against literally 460 yards. Four touchdown runs of over 60 yards in the two games against the Rams last year, one on Sunday night football in the regular season, one in the snow in the postseason. Maybe that doesn't happen, but man, I... The Rams have allowed over four yards per carry in each of their first two games this season and the Texans run game and the Titans run game will not confuse anyone with like the 93 Cowboys.

So now here's Philly's offensive line and here's Saquan Barclay. And I would understand like maybe someone wants to say well, the Rams are going to sell out to stop the run and they're going to make Jalen Hurts beat them and maybe Kevin Petullo is just Italian Brian Johnson and this is going to be a disaster on offense. I'm willing to bet against that happening.

This is a self-aware team, a smart team, they know what happened two years ago and the offense completely went off the rails. I doubt we see that happen again. Also, Akello Weather Spoons on IR. What does that mean? It means Emmanuel Forbes is probably going to be on A.J. Brown. Does anyone remember what happens when the Eagles play the commanders in the past? And Emmanuel Forbes guards A.J. Brown, he gets annihilated. So I think Jalen Hertz and the Eagles passing offense will have success in this game. And on the flip side, the Rams interior offensive line, I think strikes fear in the heart of nobody. Here's Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis.

Matthew Stafford's 37 years old, and to me, his back, he's been great to start the year. That back feels like a ticking time bomb, and I love me some Devante Adams, and I love me some Pooka and Akua, but man. If the Rams win this game, I will gladly say I was wrong, and this is a legit, real deal Super Bowl threat. I don't see it that way. I think the Eagles are the best team at minus three. It's a bet for me on Philadelphia. The Eagles win this one by a touchdown. Nick Costos, I hope you win all your bets.

Make sure you're listening to You Better You Better You Bees. Monday through Friday plus over the weekend. You're as good as it gets, man, and a munch to boot. Best to you in all regards. We appreciate the time. And that's it for all of us here. Thanks for joining us, Football Americans. We'll be back on the other side of week three to try and make sense of it for you.

Until then, thanks so much, Football Americans. It's been a thin slice of heaven. Thank you.