The Ringer NFL Show - The Worst Bets for Championship Weekend

Episode Date: January 27, 2022

Betting is more fun when you ignore the stats and go with your gut, right? We discuss the bets that have caught our eyes, offer our takes, and use all the wrong reasons to wager on the championship round. Bengals-Chiefs (2:38) 49ers-Rams (22:50) Emails (51:47) To compete and play DFS against us on FanDuel during the NFL playoffs, click HERE or go to fanduel.com/league/ringerlistenerleague Hosts: Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, and Craig Horlbeck Producer: Craig Horlbeck Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'm Derek Thompson, the host of the podcast, Plain English. We tackle technology, politics, culture, history, everything that's happening in the world and why it matters. New episodes of Plain English drop every Tuesday and Friday on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. For the Ringer Fantasy Football Show, my name is Danny Hydefins, and I am joined by Danny Kelly and Craig Quarlebeck. And these are the worst bets for the conference championships. I once again can't speak. You have yet to get the first sentence. No, I have not.

for three. Well, these are the worst bets. If they were the best bets, I would get the sentence, right. It's the worst pod of the conference championship. It's the worst pod for the conference championship games. Speaking of which, we're recording on Wednesday, so we don't totally know everything with the injury reports, keep that in mind. The worst time to play a bet, you didn't get early on the lines early in the week, you didn't get the information

from the end of the week. It's really no man's land. There's no reason. But that's why they're the worst bets. We're going to get to what we think of the conference championship games. But first, you can play with us on Fandul, we have the Ringer Listener League. Compete with us, it's fandle.com slash league slash ringer listener league, or you can just

Google Fandle, Ring or Listener League, or you can just click link in the episode description. Super easy. It's five bucks. You can play against us and like, we don't know what we're doing. We're making lineups on Wednesday. I've yet to win money in that damn contest. Have you really? I have won money. And then in the playoff one? No big deal.

Oh, no, not that. I won the regular season. Oh, yeah, no. I look more than a few times. But I actually had Gabe Davis and Josh Allen, the wildcard in the divisional roundout I did not win. Well, I did win, but just not... Somehow. That's what it's really hard on daily when you narrow it down. It's basically like, are you the guy who had Kyle Use Check or

not? Like, that's the only way you can win those. Great plug for the contest, Craig. Well, then draft Kyle Use Check. The right guy. The point is you can beat us very easily. Yes. Okay, so check that out. Again, the link for the Fendell Ring or Listernal League is in the episode description. We're going to get to the conference

title games. I'm going to go through each game. I can do a little bets mood at the end. Read some emails. We're starting with Bengals Chiefs. This game is at the this is where they switch the schedule. This is a 3 o'clock Eastern. Is that noon Pacific? I like this. I like the 12 and the 3.30 pairing. I love this.

We said two weeks ago, like the division around conference title stretch is the best part of the entire season. I think it's so great. Chiefs are giving 7. The overrunners 54. DK! Yo! What do you want to bet on for this game? What are you vibing with? Oh, what vibes with you? The first one

that stood out to me, I want to bet on CJUsoma of all things the hell what are you doing possibly have a strong feeling about CJUZO what are you talking about

I got a huge I got a really great feeling about him okay he's just awesome no but I was just looking at some of the props you know how I like props CJ Usoma

Uzoma I think I've been told I've been saying it wrong I thought you were vibing with him the guy who was the guy who was the Bengals game last week but he says

Usama oh God it's Usama I don't know I don't think anyone else. I'm over three. I'm saying the beginning of this podcast every week. D.K. is over three. I'm like,

wowing us on like this opening bet. What did you, what would you want me to say the most obvious thing in the world? That's going to wow you? Yes, that's generally how you do want to start. Well, I don't know, DK. That's the worst bet.

You could probably just pick the most, you just follow the public. That's probably the worst bet. All right. So you guys can just stop asking me if you want, or I can just give you which one I want. C.J. Yzoma, I think.

Who knows? over 34.5 yards. So his targets over the last four games, 8, 6, 6, 7. He's actually been really involved in the past game. And by the way,

that coincides with the Bengals essentially abandoning their run-heavy ways from the beginning of the year and just going all out, pass-heavy. Like, the most pass-heavy games of the season

are like the last four, three or four that they've had. So I want to bet on somebody in this passing game. The obvious ones, obviously, are a bit high, I think, like with you got Jamar Chase, T. Higgins.

Those numbers feel pretty high. I don't know if you're getting a lot of value with those. So that's why I was looking at Uzoma. And so like I said, is target rate has been really good lately. Burroughs past attempts over the past four games, 37, 34, 39. And by the way, that 39 was versus Kansas City.

And then 46. Chiefs were pretty middling against Ted ends this year. It's unclear right now if Tyrone Matthews is going to be playing in this game. He did not practice as a Wednesday. so that could be an additional advantage. Yeah, that was the first one that stood out to me. I mean, you know how I feel about like overs and player props,

but like honestly, if this is really what you're going to lead with, then sure, I'm in. Okay, cool. I'll do you Zoma. Also, like, I mean, there's no denying. Can anybody make the argument why the Bengals would not be passing a fuck ton in this game? Right. No. So it's like...

I mean, that's what I'm wondering. Like, what do you guys, how do you guys think this game goes? I listen to Ben and Sharp talking. about it on The Ringer Gambling show. Ben seems to think that the, the chiefs are going to employ the exact same attack against Jamar Chase and Tehagans as they did the last time when, by the way, if anybody's listening doesn't remember, Jamar Chase had that 26-yard game against Kansas City. And they basically just went one-on-one with them and like played their normal defense and Jamar Chase just went crazy and like pulled off a bunch of crazy catches, maybe a

couple offensive PIs that they didn't call. And they're just going to essentially, Ben, things are going to just try that again and hope that doesn't happen in Spagnol. is going to stick to his defense. So if that is the case... Hope that doesn't happen. And, like, I mean, T. Higgins and Jemar Chase's overs are really sexy to me.

I kind of like Tyler Boyd. Tyler Boyd's is 37 and a half. And I know that he hasn't done a lot lately, but, like, he's done it. He did it, like, seven out of the 16 games he played in the season. So it's like a 50-50 shot. But, like, I don't think any of his lines

were as low as 37 and a half in the regular season. I'm not going to lie. I like that better than the C. I think we're on the same page. I would actually, like to see who's had more yards over the last like, it's probably

use a lot of Greg, yeah, I feel like I agree to about your sense of the game like, what? I think I said, I would like to know

who's had more yards than last four games. You kind of glossed over that. But go ahead, Hyfit, you were, I'm gonna find that out when you guys are talking.

Sorry, I thought D.K. was gonna look that up and I was gonna, like, fill the time while he was looking that up. I didn't really see

had that in front of him. No, go ahead. Continue to extol me. Uh, I, Kstake, I agreeing with him or Craig?

I mean, who knows? Was I saying you were smart? You were, like, agreeing with me about, like, you don't see a way in which this game plays out where the Bengals don't have to pass a time. I agree with, I agree with what you're saying. I agree with what Solek was saying of, I don't think the Chiefs adapt.

I think the Chief's issue against the Bengals was they were kind of stubborn. I love Steve Spagnolo. Like, Steve Spagnolo is the Giants defensive coordinator when they beat Tom Brady in Super Bowl 42. Like Spagnolo has a piece in a place in my heart for the rest of my life. But I do think he was kind of stubborn

in that Bengals game of, like just being like, we can guard Jamar Chase one-on-one, even though apparently, no, you cannot. I mean, and that's how you get like a third and 27 converted. I think he was stubborn about Blitzingboro, even though the blitzing didn't really work. And so I just don't, I think the fact that this is a seven-point line kind of implies that the Bengals offense cannot keep up with the Chiefs. And if you're saying that, you're kind of implying the Chief's pass rush is going to get

to Joe Burrow. I don't know. I don't know. like if it's good like Chris Jones is incredible for the chiefs on the defensive line but like part of me does think that the Bengals will be able to pass a lot what do you think de jay yeah so by the way while you were talking i did look it up over the last four games Tyler boy at 164 yards CJ Usoma the tight end who you you laughed at me about 203 yards so just saying i think Craig and i were sneakily on the same page here i think with like overs the other one that i was

going to throw out here was the Joe makes an under because my line of thinking is exactly what you guys were just talking about. I think it's going to be a shootout type game. I think we've looked at what the Bengals have done over the last month or so. And when our starters are in, they're definitely, they've been much more pass heavy. It's actually worked a lot better. Like, their run game just hasn't been going as smoothly as it did early in the year. And I think that's just the way that's their personality right now.

It's like Burrow wants to be able to be the guy. He wants to direct everything, drop back and set his own protection. and do what he does best. And I think they're honestly going to have to because I think, you know, Patrick Mahomes is playing out of his mind right now. Like, do you see the Bengals offense slowing him down? Okay, so...

No, I know. Where I do agree with you, so I think we're all on the same page in which, like, you know what, this game, it's always scary to bet these, like, really inflated overs. It's like, what is the over right now? What did it land on?

54 and a half. 54 and a half. Okay, so Haif has awakened to me last, this bet to me, I don't know if you did it in the wildcar round. It's a divisional round. but I'm bringing it back and I loved it where you alter the game total

and embed it in the way you want. So here's what I like in this Bengals' Chiefs game. Chief's Money Line paired with the alternative total of over 47 and a half and that'll get you minus 126. Because I think the Chiefs are going to win this game. I feel the most confident straight up

just on a team beating the other team that the Chiefs are going to beat the Bengals more so than the Rams and the Niners. So Chief's Money Line straight up, no bells and whistles with that and then over 47 and a half it's almost a one-to-one payout. That one feels pretty good.

I like that. I also like, correct, I also like the over in this game, which, again, generally feels dumb because everyone knows that everyone in their mom knows they're going to pass a lot in this game. And yet, I still think it's going to be an over. Like, I just really do. Like, I don't see a lot of defense. Like, maybe there will be.

I think there's a world where the Bengals, like, sorry, the Chief Defense gets to the Bengals, but I just don't think it's going to happen. Like, I want to go with the over because I feel like I'm not betting against Mahomes in the Grim Reaper thing. Did you see what the Andy Reid? Grim Reaper thing where he told, like when the 13 seconds were left in the game, Andy Reed. Things are looking grim. Yeah.

Andy, yeah, he was like, when things are looking grim, be the Grim Reaper. And then Moms did that. And then did you see what happened today with the heart rate? I did, yeah. There was, Mom's heart rate was going around. And it dipped. And I don't know if this is true not, but I'm going to choose to believe the huge drop was right around when he had to go on the field for the 13 seconds. So like, he's really serious data measuring how calm he was.

And then it spikes, which is like when they. do it and they get in field go range and he's like pumpy his fist, he's excited, and then drops back down again and that's the overtime drive of like on the field. What tracks that? Well, I think it was actually whoop, which is like one of those things. He's wearing a whoop?

Yeah, well, I think that the NFL's tracking data. I don't know if it's like official NFL tracking data or like his personal thing. I know they all track stuff for the players all the time. But where is it on the body? I can't answer that. I don't know. I don't know. I'm not a doctor. I'm not a scientist. And I'm not sure that those are the timestamps, but I'm going to choose to believe it. It's crazy that we have data of a player in like a specific... I'm all for that. I want to go deeper on that. I want to find out... The point being

I'm not betting against the freaking Grim Reaper under any circumstance. But the flip side is I'm not bet against Borough or Chase either, so I kind of just want to take the over. Right. And hyphids, I was actually going to add to that. So it does feel like the obvious thing, but it's also what I feel like is the right thing. The Chiefs defense, I saw this from Greg Rosenthal.

The Chiefs defense in the last four games against non-Big Ben teams, which I think is a very good way to break. Unnecessary dig. Sorry, Craig. They've given up 30.5 points in 407 yards per game. Chiefs defense.

So the Chiefs defense has certainly fallen off because they've done like a roller coaster this whole year. Like early on, they were terrible. They started getting things together, really started tightening up and everything and look good. And then down the stretch, it did kind of fall apart again. Luckily, their offense has been so good. It hasn't really mattered. So I really do.

I agree with you. I like the over. Craig, if you want to do the, what is it called, the alternative line? Alternative total. Yeah, that one's fun. I like that one. I would also throw out what I did what I did last week. And I will say, I think this one worked out really well.

It was easily the best bet I gave last weekend, which was you do a three team teaser on the same game if you think it's going to be close, which was Chiefs, Bills, and the over, and you move everything by 10 points. Yeah. The only reason I don't like that one, the only reason why I don't like that one this time is because. What if the Chiefs win by 14? I think that's very possible. I did not see a scenario in which the Bill's Chiefs game wasn't close. This, like, the last time these two teams played, like the Chiefs got up 14-0 and the Bengals clawed back.

Like, it was like 28, 17 at half. Yes. And the Bengals clad back. I'm not positive. Like, to be honest about the Bengals, I do this every fucking week. And they'll probably fucking win and beat the Chief. But like, they put up 26 against the Raiders.

They won by seven. There was like a lot of weird officiating in that game. They put up, what, 19 against Tennessee. And now it's like they're going up against this high-octane chiefs offense. And I'm like, even though they just beat them, I don't know, a month ago, I'm still like, there's no way. I think, you know what's interesting about this Bengals' Chiefs game is if the Bengals lose, like, somewhat definitively, we're going to be like, well, obviously they would

have been the first team whose quarterback's ever been sacked 50 times in his season to make a Super Bowl. And we just saw them get sacked nine times, like, like two weeks ago. Yeah. So we were, or not even though, one week ago, like nine sacks. How did we think the team gave up nine sacks would, like, win a game? The flip side is, like, if Burrow and Chase and them beat the Chiefs or keep it close, we're going to be like, oh, or they cover, it's like, well, they literally beat them a month ago. And just how could you not bet against Joe Burrow in a playoff game?

And, like, those are these two poles of, like, we literally just saw they can't protect Joe Burrow, although the Chiefs don't have that talent versus am I really going to get against Ben against Joe Burrow? But, like, is he there yet? Is he in the, are we really going to bet against Joe Burrow territory yet? already there in your mind? He will be, kind of, he will be if they

keep this game close. I think in terms of being terrified of him, yes, in the fourth quarter, absolutely he is there. I don't know, I desperately want him to win,

but for some reason, I don't, he's not in that category for me yet. Mahomes is. I, they're not in this. This is crazy.

He's no shit. At 19 points against a tightness. World. What do you think, D.K.? Do you, do you feel like it's

either close or the Bengals lose by 14? I think it's going to be close. I think it'll be a close game. I think it'll be a back-and-forth game. I don't think it's going to be, it's probably not going to match the incredible, like,

back-and-forth that we saw with the bills. But I do think this offense can move the ball. I think they can pull some incredible plays out of their ass. And so I have a couple actually specials at long shots. Nice. Like, these are conference title or conference weekend. What is it called? Conference championships.

Conference championship. God damn it. Here's a couple. Here's one that I thought was pretty good. If you're getting, if you're feeling really spicy, both teams score. two plus touchdowns in each half. So each team needs to score two

touchdowns in the first half, or the first half and the second half. That is 13 to 1. What? Yeah. Oh, that is right. That is number one in my heart. Absolutely. So I like that one a lot. It just feels more

spicy and more fun. And I could honestly see this happening. And the nice part is it's like it's any kind of touchdown. Like they can have a run touchdown. Like a rushing touchdown. Yeah, whatever it is. Like, both teams score two plus touchdowns in each half. That's 13 to 1. If you're feeling a little more conservative and maybe you want to, like, involve this McPherson guy, the kicker for the Bengals, who's got just ice in his veins.

The only guy perhaps cooler than Joe Burrow on the Bengals is having McPherson. Yeah. This one's a little less crazy. Each team to score one touchdown and one field goal in each half. Exactly. Or more. That or more. One plus.

One plus. So it's one plus touchdown and one plus field goal. So that would mean four field goals need to be kicked in the game, two per team. And that's... Yes. What are the odds of that? Maybe that's less obvious. Maybe that is actually...

And they have to be made, obviously. They're not just to have to be attempted. I actually don't like that one as much. I like the touch. What are the odds on that? Is that also 13 to 1? It's slightly less. So let's just maybe we like the 2 plus TD.

Let's bet both. Am I crazy? Do I not necessarily about math? One of those things probably going to happen? It's just a lot of scoring. Like, I mean, the Bengals, yeah. Yeah, yeah, I mean, you're right. I guess my thought would be is like the Bengals might not score.

I think I'd be thinking about if that was seven or eight to one and it's 13 or 12, which probably proves that I don't know anything and it's not going to happen because it must be a lot more unlikely than I thought. But that sounds incredible and it's exactly what you want to root for in this game. I like both of those even better than anything I said or you said, Craig. D.K., I think those are absolute jokes. Thank you. Also, to round it out, I mentioned this before, but I just wanted to throw it out there again. so we can, you know, linger on it,

think about it, and then we can move on. Joe Mixon under 57.5 rushing yards. So Mixon has gone under this number of the last three games, and obviously that coincides a little bit with the Bengals deciding to go pass heavy in their game script. Like they just been much more aggressive in the past and sort of the run game has been more ancillary now.

I think in this game, the game script is probably going to dictate more passing. And also, the Chiefs, as bad as their passing, defense has been. They haven't been giving up a ton of rushing yards, especially the last a couple of weeks. Against the bills, Singletary had 10 rushes for 26 yards. Obviously, that's not, single Terry's not mixing, but like, you know, they came out and tried to run the ball a little bit, didn't really work for him. Josh Allen did all the, all the heavy lifting

there. And then the Steelers, they gave, they rushed 20 times for 56 yards against Kansas City. Well, the Steelers, you know, you can't even. It's the Steelers. But again, like, they've been pretty stout. The Chiefs have been pretty sad against the run, relative. So I think like if we're thinking this is going to be a high scoring game

it's going to be a past heavy game, I think that makes someone like might make some sense here. I'm fine betting that. Hyvitz is ready to go. You're ready to empty

the bank account today. Should we, should we briefly discuss just to just to cross our teas and down our eyes? Should we briefly discuss the possibility of the Bengals winning by multiple touchdowns

and putting like a 20 to one bet on the Bengals winning by double digits? Well, I was going to say like the real worst bet bet of the week is just parlay the Bengals and the and the Niners and just put them together money lines just run with it. That's the real worst bet

of the week but it's like 90s 9. The Bengals 9 what is? You know my issue with that is? I looked at it. It doesn't even pay enough. It's like 8 to 1. It is 8. It's 8.5 to 1. And like that's my issue with the Bengals money line is it's like oh the Bengals are huge underdogs. They're only plus 275 is the money lines. He put down 10 bucks. You'd win 27. That's not enough for me to just bet outright on the Bengals to be honest with you. I know. If you had to bet the spread in this game and let's say it lands at seven, who would you take?

I hate it because I feel like the two outcomes are the Chiefs win moderately decisively, but I also think the Bengals coming back, like even if the game feels out of reach, they will make it a game by the end. Like I think gun to my head, I actually think I would take the Bengals to cover, but I also would not at all be surprised if the Chiefs won by 14. I know.

I think this is going to be like the Chiefs win by like 10 to 14. That's my guess. But the flip side is no one is actually taking the Bengals to win. And so like if I'm leaving out the possibility, that the Bengals win by double digits, what if they do that? This happens every week. Every week we talked about

how we like the Raiders, we like the Titans, now we like the Chiefs. I don't know how to feel about that. Are we once again wrong? Speaking of which, we also have Chris Jones to record a sack

is like minus 1.30. If you parlay Frank Clark and Chris Jones to both record sacks, oh, I can't do that. Is there a sack lined on the day? Let me look because like that's definitely one

we should look at. I forgot to mention this one, but this one was on my notes, and I want to throw it out here before we move on to. I thought this one's actually pretty good. Trey Hendrickson, so this is another one of those specials.

Trey Hendrickson to record one plus sacks, Joe Burrow, two plus passing touchdowns, and Jemar Chase, one plus receiving touchdowns. So essentially Trey Hendrickson has to get sack, Burrow has to get two passing touchdowns, and Chase has to catch one of those touchdowns.

That is paying out seven to one. And I feel like that's like pretty likely to happen. I don't know. I mean, obviously, like, the biggest one is Joe Burrow going to have two passing touchdowns?

I think everything we've just said. Probably. Like, we think he's gonna. Okay. So what do we actually like here? We got, we got,

I like what DECA said. I like the 13 to one. Each team has two touchdowns in each half. I like 12 to one. Each team has one touchdown and Ophiel goal in each half or more than that.

I like both of those and I feel like one of those will hit. I really feel like one of it. Each team will have 10 points in each half. I'm happy to be confident about that. Like at the very least, you bet both and you're basically winning six to one unless something really different happens. And like I will live with it. I like that one a lot.

I also like what Craig said about the alternate line, which was basically moving over what, over 46 or something? I'm shaving a touchdown off the game, 47 and a half over. I like that. What the Chief's money line? I like that one as well. I think those are three fantastic bets. I like that DK has because. become like our spicy specials guy.

You know? Like, it's almost like he's our... I wouldn't lead with that instead of his own. I would have blew my mind if you had led with that one. I know if you would have been like, guys, I got one for you.

Two touchdowns per team, per half, 13 to 1. DK's like our waiter. Our minds would have exploded. And we like sit down and we read the menu and it's kind of boring. We go,

excuse me, what are your specials today? But wait. DKs are, what are your specials today guy from the restaurant? He's like, well, we have a 13 to 1. Yeah.

I mean, the CJ is almost just a moose. You got to get the palate going before you bring in the main course. That's what these specials are for me. We have a seared salmon. I'm like, ooh. But whenever it's fish on the specials, isn't that just because, like, they need to get rid of it? Well, remember the big short?

They do the Anthony Bourdain cutaway. That's exactly what I was thinking of. They talk to all the leftover fish. They keep it and they make a stew out of it. Yeah. Yeah. But anyway, but high fit. So, okay, we like my alternate line.

We like the two TD per team per half thing. we like the other one about the field goal on high fits his side here what jumped out of us. I like those more than what I have I don't even need mine I like those more all right you want to go to Niners Rams? Yeah let's do Niners Rams okay man the flying coach this is crazy finals

yeah so it's all right so it's Niners at LA which is hilarious because there might be more Niners fans there Rams are giving three and half the over is 46 and half Craig you actually sat in for like a whole summer of McVeigh so you take this away I re-listened to that episode today it was really really cool yeah we just put it at the top of the feed with a new intro from Schrager

if anybody wants to listen to it on the flying coach feed and it's on YouTube now we put the whole episode up on check it out too like explain it like literally McVey if you don't know if they did a whole podcast with us Craig produced it and like he had Shanahan it was awesome yeah Peter Schrager and McVeigh had a bunch of guys on they had Rahim Morris and Mike Tomlin they had Trey Ackman they had Zach Taylor who's in the damn

conference championships on Joe Judge Joe Judge Cliff Kingsbury can't miss LaFloor Sala everybody and yeah everybody wanted Shanhan that was like the biggest ask and we finally got him And honestly, it's the best show they've had. I mean, they're truly really good friends and respect the hell out of one another. But there is like a big brother,

little brother dynamic between the two of them. And McVeigh, you just can't get over the hump. And I don't know. He's obviously 0 and 6 against him. So we'll see. So you're, so since McVeigh always called you,

like, you're like a brother to him. Are you like the littler brother? Do you also have the big brother, little brother thing with Kyle Shanan? No, I think I'm like a brother from like a different marriage. Like, you know what I mean? I'm not really related to Shanahan. but you guys don't know each other.

Yeah, this game is, I think, the most interesting, more interesting one. The spread, it's weird. The Rams are minus three and a half. I haven't heard a single person say they pick the Rams to win this game. So I think what's weird, first of all, just to zoom out for a second, these games are stylistically so different. Like, they're like two different worldviews of football. Like, the Chiefs and Bengals are going to be like these like spread air attack kind of styles. And then this game is like, Ben Solac wrote an incredible piece for the ringer that if you care about this game.

I highly recommend you read. It is about the Kyle Shannon and Sean McVeigh, like... The evolution of their play calling and skiing. Yes, and it's about how they kind of had very similar ideas because they worked in Washington together on their Mike Shanahan, and then they split, and it's about how their offenses have become different, but also the little brother, big brother rivalry, Craig mentioned. It's really...

I could not recommend it higher. I learned so much from it, including... I think that one of my takeaways from it, really what I took away from the story among all the little things that those coaches do, is that I think Shanahan is just a better coach than McVeigh at adjusting to games later in the season. Like, every, the only real knock on Sean McVeigh is that his teams really consistently get worse

from September to December. Because defenses start to figure them out and he lacks the ability, at least so far, to like make the proper adjustments and Shanahan can do that on like a game-by-game basis, better than McVeigham. The flip side is the Rams have a better quarterback. That's literally it.

The article basically so like, I mean, the article, you can tell skews Niners, right? And it's like the Niners have everything, everything about the Niners, in his opinion, like he likes more except the fact that the Rams have Matt Stafford. So, D.K., if the Niners kind of has, that matters a lot.

And also Shannon kind of has like real estate in the coaches he used to work from head. Like he's just knocked LaFleurra the playoffs twice. He's six and O against McVeigh in the last six times they played. So if they have a little coaching advantage of San Francisco, Stafford's obviously been the Garoppolo, D.K. Which of those is more important to you? And like, who do you actually think wins this game? God, I want the Rams to win.

I've got back and forth on this a lot. So obviously, the Rams have lost six straight to the 49ers. However, the last few have been pretty close. It's not like they're getting blown out every week. And the last one went to overtime. Yeah, but the one before that, they lost 31 to 10. Yeah. So, I just don't really know.

And I think that it's like the Rams kind of worst nightmare because I think what, like, So-like is pointing out, it's like, they just don't match up. They don't match up gray with them. and obviously the history is there. Shanahan has kind of his number, has McVeigh's number so far. And the problem I see is, obviously,

Stafford is the big advantage for the Rams, but the 49ers have done a pretty good job on Stafford this year. That makes me a little bit worried. So I saw this actually from Niners Nation, Espination blog. The 49ers have pressured Stafford 41% of his dropbacks this year and only blitzed 14% of the time.

So the big thing with Stafford is, been really good against the blitz. I think like the best in the league. Yeah, he's been incredible. For context, 41% would probably be up there. Like, that's what you see like, like Sam Darnold's seeing, but then 14% blitzing is like the bottom of the league. Yeah.

So that's basically being like the Titans four men rush you saw last week. So right. So in like plain English, that is they're getting pressure with four. They're not having to blitz. They're creating a ton of issues with their front line. And that means they're dropping more guys back into coverage. It's like they, you can just do everything better. when you only have to do you think part of that decay is because shanahan so intrinsically understands

what mcvay's trying to do maybe he helps the defensive side of the ball too we think of shannon just offensive but like part of that he has to help yeah yeah um and so per that article i saw from nineers nation they have 38 pressures on stafford at seven sacks in those two games um stafford has thrown four picks to four touchdowns in those games and he hasn't gone over the first game he had 243 yards passing, the second game, 238. So the number that I looked at to round it all out, getting back to betting, Stafford, his over under is 280 passing yards, 280.5. I'm leaning the under on that, and I'm starting to talk myself into the idea that 49ers

are going to win this game. So I just think that the 49ers defense has been really good against Stafford, and they just haven't had a great answer to it. And I think the pressure thing with four and being able to get after him and cause problems and pressure him without blitzing. Because like I said, he's been nails against the blitz. He hasn't been great, hasn't been as good against pressure just straight up. So that was the first thing that kind of stuck out to me.

I don't know. I haven't 100% decided who I think is going to win yet, though. I honestly am on the fence. I think first of all, it's also a divisional game. And I always think divisional games are tough to predict, especially as you get later in the season, especially in the playoffs, because the teams know each other,

and that creates so many more variables that you kind of forget about, like, even just little things. Like, I forgot, like, the random center doesn't like the backup detackle because, like, they were fighting, like, four months ago. And it's like, there's always,

and that's a 15-year pound. And like, there's so many little things you forget. But then this is, like, the next level of it because Shannon and McVeyvay worked together for 10 years and, like, or did work together. And they know each other so intrinsically. I think, though, at my core, I think that I am shifting toward the Niners

and I did think the Rams are going to win and then I'm shifting toward the Niners. What I keep coming back to is like ultimately what we're talking about is it's really just who's going to make mistakes. Like which quarterbacks are going to make mistakes. I know that's literally every game, but specifically these teams.

Like the Rams lost to the Niners on Monday or Sunday football I don't remember because Stafford threw the two picks right near the goal line. And then he did it again against the Titans. And it's like when Stafford is making those mental mistakes, they're losing. And we'll see whether Stafford rebounds from last week where he has that cover zero game

and maybe this is a turning point in his entire career. Maybe he goes right back to kind of making mistakes. But at the end of the day, I do believe mistakes will define the game and I kind of have to believe Jimmy's going to be the one to make a mistake. I really do. Yeah, I think that's a very good way of framing everything.

It's like, honestly, that's going to be the game. Whoever makes the most mistakes, whoever turns it over. I did just quote you that Stafford had two picks in each of the two games. games that he played the 49ers this year. That doesn't mean it's going to happen this week, but like, that is exactly what we're getting at is who's going to make the mistake?

Who's going to make this critical, crucial mistake? The thing that I keep coming back to, though, that makes me waffle so much. Because I think if everything else was equal, I probably would lean 49ers in this situation. However, what I keep coming back to is Trent Williams is hurt. Yeah, he's going to play, but he's not practicing as of Wednesday. He's got a really bum ankle. that could definitely be like a major factor. I agree.

That's a big deal. Devo Samuel, it sounds like he's okay, but he did take a helmet to the knee the other game. And I think he was like, he had a stinger or something early in the game, something with his ribs or whatever. He was hurting. And then Elijah Mitchell didn't practice today.

So there's some injury issues with the 49ers that like make me pretty worried. And meanwhile, the Rams are getting Whitworth back, aren't they? I think I heard that he was coming back. So they may be getting slightly. more healthy. And so that kind of, that could be like the thing that tilts like the scales in the Rams direction just a little bit. Obviously, um, they're playing at home too. So that's important,

I guess. I don't really know how much of a home field advantage they have. There was this whole weird thing where I think ticket master was selling was limiting the zip code you could buy from, but then they just got rid of it and like that was weird. And like you've had, um, Andrew Whitworth's wife was like offering to buy tickets, uh, from people who were going to resell them to perhaps Niners fans. The point is, like, there are just a lot of Niners fans in Southern California. Like, yeah, there's a lot. So it might not even be really a home game.

It's like a neutral situation here. Well, yeah. Even if they limit it, there might actually, like, I actually would ask Craig this. Do you, this is a serious question. I'm not trying to be disingenuous. Do you think there are more 49ers fans or Rams fans in L.A. I know more Niners fans who live in L.A. than I know Rams fans who live in L.A. That feels true.

Like, honestly, I bet there's more Raiders fans, too. I mean, it's because all my friends are from the Bay and they move down to L.A., but I have to imagine that happens a lot. Right? I have to think there's also more Raiders fans in L.A. County than there are Rams fans. I actually think the Rams are probably the third most popular team.

Maybe I'm wrong, but maybe things have gotten more popular the last couple of years. But it felt that way when they made the Super Bowl the first time. And they were... You know what I don't really understand is this line.

I feel like people are discussing this game as if it's a pickum. And they're like, which means zero spread. It's just even winner, winner, no spread, winner takes all. And three and a half, I don't, like, I haven't heard anybody even come close

to saying they're, want the Rams minus three and a half. Most people are saying when they discuss this game, the way they speak of it is in the context of I think the Niners are going to win, not the I think the Niners are going to cover. Well, I keep coming back to, and I think that's a little bit of a barrier bubble for you. I do think some people like the Rams. I think to your point, though, I think if any other team like the Niners had been six

and O against the team they're playing in last three years, and had a player like Debo, I think it would be closer. I think the reason it's three and a half is, again, something we've talked about for like a month is it's very hard to explain why the Niners are good. Like it is hard to explain. It's like Kyle Shannon's like a sorcerer. But like it's weird for a team without a dominant defense to also have like the least inspiring quarterback left in the round and be like favor. You know what I mean? It's just genuinely hard to explain. Like you don't have to explain why Joe Burrow, the Bengals are good. It's like Joe Burrow, I see him play. He's good. You watch the Niners and you're like,

I don't think people can see like the wide zone. You know, I mean. Like, Solex article's great, but like the general people, general public is not watching, you're like, wow, look at that play design from Kyle. Because they have Kyle. Because they have Kyle. Yeah. So that's kind of my take.

But also, maybe there is just simple value in that. At the end of the day, like, maybe we don't ever think this. The Niners have beaten this team six straight times. You're getting more than a field goal. Like, holy shit. And not only that, I think there's way more pressure on the ramps. I think so, too. I think 100%.

Certainly. Can we talk about this real quick? Solek alluded to this in the article. Can we like briefly talk? about what an absolute pivot point moment this is for both franchises. Like, this is crazy. If the Niners win this game, Kyle Shannon gets back to the Super Bowl,

Jimmy G gets back to the Super Bowl. He's probably starting next year over Tray Lance. Yeah, the Niners might not even want to trade him, and they might just hold on to him until Tray Lance is ready. Kyle Shanhan, like, just getting, I think, back to the second Super Bowl kind of vindicates him, whereas two months ago, people including us here at the Ringer, we're kind of like, what's the deal with Kyle Shanahan, vindicates him.

And if the Rams lose, seven straight losses from McVeigh to his former boss Shanahan, the Stafford trade, if he doesn't have a good game, people are wondering, the Rams have no draft picks to reload. And then suddenly it's like, are all these free agents like, you know, Von Miller, O'Dell,

who wants to come back, who's going to want to go to the Rams? And then if you flip it, if the Rams go back to the Super Bowl, they're like establishing the Stafford McVeigh Rams as this like L.A. free agent destination. Yeah.

And if the Niners lose, then Garoppel. has probably got like this is a real pivot point in the way never mind the personal stuff involved. The other thing I think it's funny, Justice Muscat always tweets this, but it's like if the Rams win the Super Bowl

and McVeigh is going to be like I think I'll go do Monday night football and like, you know, take my ring. Like maybe this changes the whole direction if they win too. Like, you know what I mean? You're saying McVeigh is going to retire if they win the Super Bowl? He's going to pull like the John Gruden like go 10 million a year for Monday night football

and work a little less and have fun. only will he be the youngest coach hired, he'll be the youngest coach to retire. Just for a while, he'll probably go back at some point. Paul Sean Payton. That's a good bit. I think Cruden went to TV because his team couldn't have a winning record anymore. He inherited the defense with like four Hall of Famers. Sure, sure. Can I, I want to toss the exact same bet I gave you for the Chiefs, now for the Niners. It's an alternate total with a T. So here's what I'm doing. I'm doing Niners plus 10 and a half with the alternative total of under 52 and a half.

So the game's just got to be under 52 and a half And the Niners are getting 10 and a half points And it's minus 118. That's Craig, that's really well done. I like that one a lot. You know what's crazy too? First of all, that's a great bet and I like that And you know what's crazy?

As you were saying it, I was thinking to myself, do I want to do my three team teaser thing Where I'm like, what if I give the Rams 10 points? So it's 9 is plus 13 and a half. And what if I give the Rams 10 points to Where it's like the Rams getting six and a half Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you know what I realized?

And then you can move the over under by 10-2. You know what I realized? You know what part of that bet's the weakest? Rams getting six and a half. That's the one I trust the least. There you go. Because we could totally see the Niners losing a bit of touchdown. I'm like, damn, if you don't trust the Rams to get six and a half points in a three-team,

you're right, honestly, I think I'll just take the Niners by three and a half. But the only issue is like, are we really going to root for Jimmy G? Like, if Jimmy G threw us that pick and you're like, why the hell did I do this? That's the only counter to me. What about Jimmy G over 222 yards passing? I was looking at that one, Craig. Let me just cut to the chase and be like, what are the odds on Jimmy throwing a pick?

I don't know how I haven't looked that up yet. I'm going to look it up right now. I'm going to talk about the Jimmy G yards right now. So he has not done it in the past two games in the playoffs. But before the playoffs, he had blown this number out six games in a row over 22, six straight games up until the playoffs. Can I throw a stat at you though?

This is crazy. Jimmy Garapolo is averaging the second fewest playoff yards of any quarterback with four playoff wins since like 1960. At least since 1960. Steve. Probably goes back further. Like, think about that. He's averaging 128 128, 128 passing yards per game. Literally, the second lowest on

record for the playoffs for someone who's won four. I just think it feels like the stock has weirdly never been lower on JemBG. I feel like everyone just can't stop talking about how shitty he is. How they're winning despite him. He's a pick machine. When really he's like an average quarterback, like he's not fucking, I don't know, Chase Daniel.

Like he's a starting quarterback who can like make throws. and 222 is pretty damn low for a guy who typically goes over that number on a really well done offense. I don't know. I went back and forth that the email address, ringer fantasy football at gmo.com,

I went back and forth of the Niners fan last night who was saying that I was way too hard on Jimmy G. And that like he's gonna be in the championship game. He's always hurt. He's got a thumb thing that he's healing from he's got a banged up shoulder.

He was just in like zero degrees in Green Bay. I feel like Jimmy has a game manager skill set but he thinks that he's like a gunslinger. Yeah. Like what do you think? of Jimmy. Like he's just like I just think that he should be game manager, but he just always, he doesn't see the field as well as he should. And he's way too aggressive considering how often this is the latter is what I think is absolutely correct. He's like he, his brain scrambles at least

once or twice a game. And that is like very important. I've said this several times now on the podcast. It's like up the stairs down the elevator, it's like the stock market. Like he will slowly build and your confidence starts to grow and throughout the game, he'll look really solid. Like, oh yeah, he stringing together. Like there got a few drives going here. And then fucking backbreaking turnover. That's the problem. And I get that other quarterbacks turn the ball over too,

but like his turnovers look so terrible. Is he not just a worse Matt Stafford? Oh, I don't think they have anything in common. Matt Stafford could probably throw football 75 years. Yeah, I know they don't have the strength, but like in the same way that like Stafford's a little bit like climb up the stairs fall down the escalator. Matt Stafford has the confidence.

Someone who said the other day that Stafford throws the most picks when he's most confident, but like Stafford has the confidence because he is remarkable. physically more talented than Jimmy is. Jimmy has the confidence because he played next to Tom Brady

for a long time. I also think people think of Jimmy as a game manager because he was Tom Brady's backup. I think he's a game manager because I think in name because Kyle Shanhan doesn't trust him to do stuff on his own.

I think that I think of him as a game manager. Not like in terms of I think that's what his skill set. I don't think he personally is one. No, no, no. I think he's skill set. Jimmy's skill set's a game manager.

But he acts sometimes like he's trying to be the, like, hero ball. You know what I mean? His, his own team, you guys, his own team told us what they think he is. Exactly. Why are we having this conversation? No, I'm not saying what he thinks he is. Like, he thinks he's like a slinger. It's like, it's like what Kevin Clark has a great joke of like, it's like, it's like, it's Carson Wentz time, said Carson Wentz. And it's like, Jimmy, the end again, in a nutshell, throws a pick in the fourth quarter against the Cowboys, when again, he should be managing the goddamn game.

And he throws a pick that was inexplicable. And then the Packers, right before half time, first down, I believe under the two-minute warning, first down in the red zone against the Packers, your offense has been stifled and now you can steal points. First down, he throws like this not even jump ball 50-50 pick that should have just been a throwaway. First down throws away points in the red zone.

Like that's just kind of like, did you play with Tom Brady or not? Tom Brady isn't throw away field goal opportunities in the red zone. that doesn't happen. Maybe he's too attractive. You know, he's got too much confidence. I think he's in the hot person bubble. He's just like he's rolling out and he's like play it safe, play it safe. Coach told you to play it safe.

Nah, I'm going to do it. Exactly. So here's my question for you. I'm going to give you guys a deeply and comically oversimplified decision-making framework that at least is what I'm going to make a decision on. Should we just be like, well, the Niners have beaten the Rams six straight times and yet somehow they're getting three and a half points. So take the three and a half points.

Or the game will probably. come down to whoever throws a pick, and I'm looking at the Fandolads, and they're saying that Stafford's minus 112 and Jimmy's minus 148. So they're saying, I don't know, off the time, was that basically four times more likely? That doesn't really make sense. But they're saying that significantly more likely that Jimmy throws a pick, so just go with the Rams. Yeah, I don't know. The pick stuff, I don't know why. I don't like betting on picks. I just feel like it's so random. It's like tip balls. Like shit happens. I'm kind of leading to just Niners getting three and a half.

I mean, you could just literally, if we want to go to the Bettsmoot now, you could just do Chiefs Rams straight up, plus 240. So that's the thing. I mean, sorry, Chiefs Niner. If we do, wait, can you do Bettsmoot like you do showdown time? I got to come over the jingle. There's just like, Bettsmoot. It doesn't have the same ring.

I don't know, make it sing. Maybe like a question, like Betts. Bettsmoot? I'm Ron's betsmouth. If you just want to do Niners' Chiefs money line together, plus 240? Well, what's the money line? Is mine plus 240? It's plus 240 if you just want to take Niners' Chiefs to win.

I would also just say, you know what the actual bet I think I would do this weekend? Is if you just do, oh my God, did the Niners drop the three? No, whoa, we were having this conversation on Fandle, no! That's literally, no, no way. That can't have happened. No. Sorry, I'm wrong. I clicked on a hypothetical.

No, okay, I'm wrong. It should drop to three. Before we go to the BetSmoot, I want to throw out a few more specials for both games. Wait, can I just explain real quick why I made that mistake? Yeah. I clicked on a hypothetical line of the Chiefs and this Niners, and hypothetically, the Chiefs would be giving the Niners three points. Does that make any sense to you?

Fandle has the Chiefs as smaller favorites against the Niners than the Rams? Well, yeah, I have no idea why that's the thing. What? Should we just take... Should we just take that right now? The Rams. Yeah. What the...

So you just take that bet right now. I'm going to bet that she's right now. All right. Okay, you're going back to Sinci for a prop? No, I said I want to do... These are specials that are just championship round for both games. Oh, okay, cool, cool, cool. So I want to throw these out there, and then you guys can mull on them, and then we'll do the Betsmoot, and I'm going to...

We're going to do the Batsmoot's going to begin now, because I think the Batsmoot's going to be like everything that bridges both games. Yeah. Okay, okay. So, Craig, you got to... I hope you had time. Did you figure out what the Bettsmoot sounds gonna be?

Because people listening are like, just stop talking about this. You know, okay, here's what I just popped in my head. You know those horns that go bram-bra-bra-bra-bra.

That's kind of like, bethsmoot my head. It's like, beth-b-bett-smoot. How's actually really funny? Well, that's actually way better than I thought you were to do.

Oh. It's really impressive. Under fire. Good one. You're like Joe Burrow. Grimm-Git's 13 seconds. Grim-Rie per Craig. Okay.

D.K. Give us some bets. So here are some of the the championship brown specials. They're long shots, so bear with me. But, okay, each team to score one

plus rushing touchdown in the conference final. So all four. All four teams have to score a rushing touchdown in the entire games. That's five to one. Okay. Each team to score three touchdowns total

is six to one. Each team to score three touchdowns total. So, like, Every team has to score at least three touchdowns. Okay. See, that's one of those words. That's a bit much. If every team scores three touchdowns at six to one,

why wouldn't we just do the Chiefs' bengals' touchdown field goal in each half for 12 to one? I think I like where your head's at. I like that a little bit more. I don't think I know how to do math because that seems crazy. Any quarterback to have 400 plus yards passing in the conference finals is 4 to 1. I think that one's pretty good. That's pretty fun. Don't any one quarterback?

I could see Mahomes and Burrow doing that. Is Garoppolo going to have 400 yards, though? That would be funny. That's a good way to like hedge against everything we just said about Garapolo. Let's see here. I've already mentioned the one with Trey Hendricksson. The other one I thought that involved defense. Trey Hendrickson, Nick Bosa, Vaughn Miller, and Aaron Donald, one plus sack.

So all four of those guys have to have a sack. Trey Hendrickson, Nick Bosa, Von Miller, Aaron Donald. And that's 12 to 1 if they all get a sack. That one seems harder to me, but just because I feel like sacks are more unpredictable. The problem is Aaron Donald can crush Jimmy G like three times,

but if he gets rid of the ball, it's not a sack. Can I toss one at you guys? Kind of a special? Highest scoring team of the weekend, Chiefs minus 130. Just take the obvious? Yeah. Oh my God, that is really good.

Jesus. I don't, my only issue with that is, is that... It's not going to be the Niners. No, that doesn't make sense. What's the money line? The money line for what? For the Chiefs.

The Chiefs to win. Minus 350? No, minus 350. Because you're basically just saying the Chiefs beat the Bengals, but it scores more than Rams. Niners. Yeah.

Minus 130. It's not bad. Because, like, let's be honest, the Niners are not outscoring the Chiefs. The Rams, usually the way they play the Niners, it's more low scoring. The titles, the totals is 10 points less than the Chiefs total.

And then the Bengals, I think you're going to lose to the Chiefs. Okay, that's interesting It's not bad, right? I'm intrigued How about this one? How about this one? Cooper Cup

Jamar Chase I love D-Kee Kiel Okay Each have 100 plus yards That's a 9 to 1 Wow What kind of world Do you see where

Those guys don't go off this weekend I don't want to live in that world I want all three of these guys go off And I want to bet on that It's 9 to 1 if all three go over 100, 9 to 1. That's not bad, D.K. I kind of got hyphenster.

I hooked you. You did. All right, and then my final one before we were done with all my stupid shit. Each team to score points in all four quarters. So every team in the conference spot, so there's four teams, they all have to score at least three points in each quarter of the game. So no zeros in any quarter. Correct.

That's 70 to 1. Oh! Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, each team. or each game? Every single game, every quarter of every game cannot have a zero. Oh, wait, is that right? Or is every team?

No, each team. Every team has to score in every quarter. I don't think there's a reason this is not great odds. 70 to 1? Can we talk about the other crazy ones? We hit our AFC outscores the NFC by six and a half points last week. This kind of has those vibes.

We also hit the no team will score three straight times. I love that bet. I was right with it. In that game. That was a great. We hit that one. did not hit the offensive linens can score a touchdown, unfortunately. I love that one.

Yeah, that's fine. Craig only likes winners. Yeah. Winners only. I think of you guys a much simpler one. What if you just do a two-team teaser, bump it to seven points? You give up a lot of juices, like minus 150. Chiefs win the game, Niners getting 10 and a half points.

Well, so I think the most, high-fids, that's the most common bet of the weekend. I think teasing Chiefs Niners is the most, will be the most bet tease of the What does that have to go wrong? No, nothing. That's actually a great... We're just doing what everyone else is doing in a thing, the rapidly expanding industry. What could go wrong?

What I would do is I would six and a half point T's at not seven. So then you get Chiefs minus a point and a half. Then I just get 10, though. No, I just get 10. Because you can't tie, so I might as well take the minus point and a half for the Chiefs. And then it's minus 143. I don't know. That's a really...

I'm going to probably about that. I think that's like the most classic bet of the weekend. But... Should we get stanza this and just... do the opposite. Chiefs Bengals under combined with the Bengals Money Line Parlay. Just do the exact opposite of our

of every instinct we have. Chiefs Bengals Under. Chiefs to win. Sorry, Bengals to win and the under. Five to one. Just because stands it. Dude. You think it's high scoring Chiefs win? It's actually low scoring Bengals win.

Five to one. Mahomes really messes up his ankle in the first quarter. Exactly. Games are wrap. No, just Mahomes throws two picks. Two pick sixes. Dude, I'm telling you, if you just go

Bengals, Niners, Moneyline, It's eight to one. It's not bad. If you actually do believe it'll come down to the fourth quarter or final possessions, there's not really any reason not to bet the bagel. What am I talking about? No, I'm not betting against Patrick Holmes. Here's what I'm betting.

I'm betting my weird alternative total thing for the Chiefs, Chief's Money Line and over 47 and a half. And I'm doing Niners plus 10 and a half with the alternative total of under 52 and a half. I think that is classic. I like those. I like all those. Also do the really popular teaser that everyone's going to do and we'll eventually loose. Okay. Should we do emails?

Yeah. Wait, did we do, are we officially decided on everything? Are you taking any of my weird specials? Oh yeah. I liked most of those weird specials. We're definitely doing your two TDs per team per half, $1,300 to $1. I love that. I'm actually we're really doing that. Like, that is incredible. And obviously, I must not know math, because I think

that's a great bet. What about, did you like the cup, Chase and Hill? 100 plus, 100 plus yards? That one, I'm not as, I feel like betting those individually might just be better. I feel like you'd rather just bet them to go over 100 individually and if you hit them all like, I feel like it's better to, imagine you get two of the three. Right.

That would kind of suck. What about Chief's highest scoring team of the weekend? It's pretty sexy. Sure. Yeah. Sure. All right. Are we getting to emails?

Do some emails? All right, let's do some emails. Well, how do we do, betting wise, how do we do this week? I won the Chief Bengals over teaser I did. Correct. We did a bill, Titans, that lost. We did Derek Henry most rushing yards

of the weekend. He actually had the most of any running back, but fucking Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes both beat him, which is insane. And then the O-Line Mintidi did not hit. The AFC minus six and a half over the NFC did hit. So it was a middling day, not as hot as wildcard weekend.

Okay. Email time. We got an email from Robert. Speaking of the Niners. Robert. Robert. Says the 49ers win, which keeps them in the awards conversation for next week. I want to suggest the Ringo Star Award for Jimmy G.

If any of you all have watched the get back recently, Ringo is just kind of there and hanging out while most of the Beatles are doing the heavy lifting and making the Beatles great. And it's like, sure, he contributes a couple ideas and a worst drummer probably makes the Beatles less successful. But overall, it just seems like he's just happy to be there and gets along.

The only, what if he's George Harrison, though? Because George Harrison was the guy trying to come up with ideas and they're like, hey, dude, stop. that's not your lane, which to me is like Jimmy trying to make a throw and like, Jimmy, stop. That's pretty good. It's not your thing. Ringo Harrison. That's funny. He's just not Paul and he's not John Lennon. George Starr. He thinks he's John Lennon, but he's not. Okay. Another one from Levi. This one's incredible. Yeah. So do you guys remember last week we were talking about like surgeons listen to music while they're operating? Yes. And like, we were like, well, wonder if they listen to podcasts? Well, Levi emailed us.

Levi. Levi says, I'm a nurse anesthesiologist from Seattle. Shout out, D.K., I feel your son pump pain. He says, you all are correct that we do often listen to music in the operating room. He actually said, O.R. So, you know, he's legit. But podcasts are pretty much impossible as the constant communication required for podcasts interrupts the plausibility of actually following along to any narrative, which is good. However, it is possible to individually listen to a podcast during the middle of a long case using just a single earbud. Don't like that. While keeping a continuous close eye on the patient's vital signs, this has kept me engaged

for hours during long procedures like spinal bowel surgery. Wow, that's awesome. And he later went on to say that he had listened to us during procedures. Yes. He listened to us during surgery. And us during surgery. However, he's the anesthesiologist, so he's not actively operating on the patient. I don't want my surgeon with an earbud in, listening to us.

Yeah. You know what I mean? That's probably best practice. Can you imagine if someone's listening to this in surgery right now? Well, here's the thing. Turn it off. Craig, here's my question. Turn us off.

Here's my question. They can't touch it. Can they? Let me play devil's advocate for a second here. Okay. Some of these surgeries last, I don't know, long, 10 hours, 12 hours, or whatever it is, whatever it may be. Maybe, just maybe, it helps people focus a little bit because it kind of like,

it keeps you from dozing off or from like your mind wandering or I don't know what. It's like the Mahomes heart rate thing. Like it has you have to be relaxed. Like here's the deal. Like if I'm not a surgeon holding anything too close to tight. If I'm exercising, I don't want to do it to just dead silence. I get bored after like 12 seconds. Yeah, but like jogging I don't think is the same as open heart surgery.

So, D.K., what you're saying is that anything that relaxes the doctors and keeps them in a good mood is is huge for them. I think, yeah, like, I just, yeah, obviously, I don't have any experience cutting people open and doing that kind of thing, but like, if I'm trying to do something for a long period of time, and I just try and do it in dead silence, it's like excruciatingly boring. So you're saying this podcast saves lives? 100%. A hundred percent. Craig has a, Craig is not buying it. The podcast saves lives? I don't know.

If anybody out there knows of how we have saved someone's life, please reach out. with me wrong. Make me feel as good as a surgeon. I like to think that if we did save someone's life, they already would have reached out, but who knows? Yeah. Yeah, who knows? Not all heroes wear capes.

They're waiting for the right moment to tell us. I don't know how to go from that. So it was going to something, someone else who are... Nile! Nice. Nile. Nile says, I feel like Highfitz should get credit

for arguably the greatest call of the season. I agree, Nile. Did you put this in? You did. I read this email. You just wanted to toss him that you had a good bed. like eight weeks ago. I did. Cool. He said before the Chiefs played the Giants Week 8, Danny noted,

the Chiefs were currently the highest odds you will get all season for them to win the Super Bowl, and their odds would go down right after they smack the Giants on Monday football. Kansas City was 17 to 1 to win the Super Bowl. Hyphus could not have nailed that more. I just want to shout out. I feel like I self-punished myself enough for Mike Davis. I just want to shout at that. I did say that. I do have that. I had it at 50 to one. He got it even better than I did. What's next?

Wow, you guys want to talk about that. Shocking. Someone, okay, we can immediately follow that up with being very. wrong about something. Craig's like, well. High if it's the broken clock, his right. Scotty. Yeah. Oh, yeah. When you put it all like that. Scotty. Scottie. Scotty.

Scottie has sent us a lot of emails being mad that we put Patrick Mahams in the burn book, like a few. And they're really long and there's like no way I'm going to read the whole thing. But I will give you the gist. Basically saying we're crazy. He says the Mahomes burning was clearly a case of recency bias combined with high bar syndrome. Mahomes finished the record of season with

4,800 yards and 37 touchdowns. and you put him in the burn book. Last year he had 100 fewer yards and one more touchdown. So essentially it's the same season. And in his career, Mahomes has four touchdowns in 13 different games. He has four touchdowns in 15 different games if you include the playoffs. So again, I ask you, are you sure none of you want to party with Pat ever again? Here's the difference between this year and last year.

It's the consistency, right? Like Mike Williams, if you look at his numbers, had a really great year this year. He had 1,000 yards, you know, whatever, 8, 10 touchdowns. but he did not have that season's worth of stats every single week. He was 30 points or zero points, and that was kind of Patrick Mahomes for a lot of the season. There was that middle five-game stretch where people who had him on their team were legitimately considering benching him and sometimes did. That's why he's in the burn book. Also, the burn book doesn't translate into next year.

We're going to play. We'll do a seance. We're going to draft Patrick Malmish. Let me read the touchdown totals of Mahomes this year during the stretch. Starting from week seven, he had zero, one. 1-1-5-0-0. Yeah. That ain't it.

It's... It's burnable. It's very burnable. You don't draft a guy that high and spend that kind of capital on him for him to do that. It's the exact opposite, actually. That was the problem.

It's when you needed to make the playoffs and you drafted Moims first. Weeks like 7 to 12 is like crunch time and fantasy, and he was killing people. Yes. Scotty, we love Patrick Mahomes in real life. It's just he burned a lot of people. We're just being honest.

Okay. Email from Brad and Seattle. listening to your podcast the yeah a lot of see him the latest podcast it dawned to me

that Craig is the forced gump of your show okay he's the half court shot he's friends with Sean McVe

he's friends with the Pickles mascot he's probably a fast runner does he know anyone named Jenny Craig is like

the accidental epicenter of everything that's happened in our culture for the last like 10 15 years

like Craig's been there Craig's like in the background like asking somebody a question. Craig just like was vacation in Ukraine just moments ago. Craig's patient zero. Craig's patient zero.

It started out. I was insulted and then after the email I was like, oh, this is pretty funny. I like it. My life is like a box of chocolates, I guess. That was so good. Like the email account, you never know what you're going to go. I love in the email. The whole pickles, I goes from, he knows Sean McVeigh. Also, he knows the Pickles mascot. That's crazy. Like, in the whole six degrees of separation thing,

that pickle mascot has the two degrees of separation with McVeigh, and, like, that's you. Michael Leinbach, baby, great guy. He didn't even mention the fact that you were in a commercial. Yeah, it was in a commercial. I worked on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt for season three. Well, it's in the middle of everything. Well, we don't want to tell that story.

Okay. Last one, we got Christian, who's just sent an email title, said puckering up and then he said it's just squeaky bum time which I opened and he said squeaky bum time is what we use in my league to describe the pucker factor as in and they call sp t squeaky bum time and they're like for example I'm up 30 points but my opponent has jimar chase so it's squeaky bum time I don't understand squeaky bum time is like the pupper pucker factor remember how we talked about pucker factor last episode and how like you get the sphincter

going on, your butt, your butt. Like when the Rams are facing Tom Brady, and even though they're up two touchdowns, but the bucks are coming back, so the Rams are kind of like tightening up, and they're like, oh my God, is Brady going to beat us? It's like fantasy has the same thing

where you're like, you know, Jimor Chase is going to get you more than 30 points, probably. That's like me, like heavily betting on the Chiefs, and then I see Joe Burrow walk under the field, I'm like, oh, crap. It's squeaky bum time. Yeah. All right.

Well, I think it's squeaky bum time for this podcast. I think that's all we got. That's right. Thank you, D. Thank you, Craig. Thank you. Everyone who emailed us, actually. Ringer Fantasy Football at gmail.com.

The emails be staying good. So thank you guys. I'm never going to forget about the Forrest Gump thing. Craig is Forest Gump. You want to... Thank you, Forrest Gump. Sure. Yeah.

Thank you, Lorne. Lauren. Thank you, Kenny Loggins. Nice. Dangerous. Footloose. I thought you were going to do some kind of Forest Gump reference. The birds.

Frank Ocean. The Birds. Frank Ocean, it's a good one. Are the birds in Forest Gump? The movie? I think so. I can't immediately recall any of the soundtrack in Forest Gump, like actual songs. I cannot either.

What? It's like the most classic one. Do you know the song that Turn, Turn, Turn, with All the Seasons. I actually haven't seen Forrest Gump in a long time. It's a good movie. There's actually a lot of like controversy, but like there's a lot of differing opinions about Forrest Gump is like a movie, and if people think it's good, a lot of people really don't like it. And it's had like this like late surge of critical.

Criticism. Tell us right now. Yeah, I do. I like Forrest Gump. I don't know if I'd like put it on. Wait, that's literally thinking this is the end. And this is the end when they're like, I bet you don't like Forrest Gump. Don't they say that to like McLevin?

Like, Emma Watson and Craig Robinson said that to McLevin. Like it only has a 71% on Rotten Tomatoes. Really? Yeah. There's like this weird thing with Forrest Gump. Hmm. I think there's also a movie that like everyone's like you have to watch it. It's like the best movie ever.

And like those movies, it's just like, you know, there's a lot of high expectations. Can we do a Forrest Gump? You know how we did all the movie in the off season? Yeah, let's do that for Forrest Gump. Yeah, we'll start to put out emails for submissions for the movies we should do. We'll just do whatever Craig does.

We'll just see what our own first, Forrest Gump. We'll see what TV show I work on next year and then we'll go off of it. Goodbye, everyone.