The Ringer NFL Show - Wild-Card Weekend Awards

Episode Date: January 17, 2022

We recap Wild-Card Weekend by giving out new awards like the Nathan For You Stadium Award, the Playoff Rondo Award, the Thank You for Letting Me Shop for Furniture Award, and more. Later we induct our first player into the Playoff Fantasy Burn Book. Email us at [e-mail]. Hosts: Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, and Craig Horlbeck Producers: Craig Horlbeck and Mike Wargon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey everybody, this is Warren Sharp, NFL analyst over at Sharp Football Analysis. I want to welcome you to The Ringer Gambling Show. Join me on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays each week during the NFL season with guests Chris Vernon, Ben Solac, and Joe House to guide you through the NFL betting landscape. We'll be talking spreads, game totals, parlays, player props, futures, and much, much more. Be sure to follow the Ringer Gambling Show on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. To the Ringer Fantasy football show. My name is Danny Hyfitz.

I am joined by Danny Kelly and Craig Horlebeck. Sunday of Wildcard weekend is done. It's like super Sunday wildcardi weekend. So like the Monday game hasn't happened yet, which is hard for this pod. But good news for you. We're doing a green room after Monday of football. The Rams Cardinals game is tomorrow night. You can download the green room app or just click on the link.

We'll be tweeting it out. Craig, D. D.K. and I will be live after the Rams Cardinals game. You can join us. We'll be taking questions, comments, all that jazz. Follow us on Twitter. We'll drop a link to all our Twitter's in this episode description. follow us after the game on Monday night.

It'll be a lot of fun. You can talk to us. It'll be great. Okay. With that said, Wildcard weekend, we're giving out awards. Let's just jump right into it, shall we, guys?

Let's do it. Do you want to just give a quick list of the games that, or the teams that won? The Bengals, Bills, Bucks, 49ers, and chiefs are going on. They're moving on. And then, of course, LA and Arizona have not yet played.

I do think that the list of game, like what ended up happening was probably one of the better outcomes, at least in the AFC, it's like the best outcomes for the matchups. I think Titans, Bengals is great. And then Bill's Chiefs is just like phenomenal. Oh, yeah. Like that's an incredible game. They're probably the best two teams in the league in my mind.

Yeah, it really feels that way. And then Packers, Niners, like rematch of the championship game a couple years ago. That's an amazing divisional game. And then obviously, Ram Bucks or Rams Cardinals would be, or sorry, Rams Bucks or Cardinals' Bucks would be really good too. Is everything starting to blend together for you guys? Like, I'm now having trouble, like, remembering, like, I don't have the type of memory skills to be able to, like, think

about what happened in that Niners Packers game. Can you guys just like pick that off the top of your dome and be like, oh yeah, that game, this happened. Yeah, because that was the Raheemostrad game. He ran for like 230 yards and then four touchdowns.

Oh, is that when they threw it like eight times? Yes, that was the one we threw it. Because there was like a real, like a real time, like there was like something like 45 minutes of real life time between Jimmy Gropa pass attempts or something. I remember that.

Oh, yes. But it merged from me because the Packers and Niners and nineers also played in the regular season, either before the year after that game. And the Niners won by like 30 or 40 points. And that was just, The point is they have the backers number the last couple of years.

And they lost and Rogers was like, we need to have a home championship game. And here he is. So they get the chance. That's right. And then also don't underestimate in this year of pettiness for Aaron Rogers. Like they're going to like the Niners passed on him

and he's still not over it. So anyway. Okay. How many years later? We'll get to the Divisional Round later. Let's do Wildcard weekend. I'm starting out with an award. This is the Deja Vu all over again award.

They call it the Yogi Bearer Deja Vu all over again award. Mike McCarthy of the Cowboys. Are we sure that Jason Garrett is not the head coach for Dallas? Are we sure that he's gone? Let's just start where we got to start. Cowboys lost. The quarterback draw with 14 seconds left. Yeah.

What were you guys thinking? I know I just told you guys how poor my memory is, so I can't really recollect many games in the past. But I think this might be one of the worst playoff calls I've ever seen in my life. Genuinely. I genuinely feel that way. D.K.? Yeah, I mean, I don't think that's wrong.

Like, honestly, they would have been so much better off. I think there was 14 seconds on the clock when they snapped it. Why not just take a couple shots into the end zone? Two shots. You could take multiple shots. Maybe even three. Right. Like if you get,

if you just nail it just right, you could potentially have three shots the end zone. Instead, they decided to try, because basically with the set the stage a little bit. The Niners were lining the outside, the outside of the field. So theoretically you couldn't throw the ball

and get out of bounds. So they were like, well, we desperately need these 10 yards, I guess. Well, no, it's a shaky call. It's a cool call if you have enough time. didn't have enough time to run. And then some people are like,

well, the ref was so far behind. That's such bullshit. Run had further. Fuck that. You can't depend on your, your last play of your season being like the reffing position. The ref.

The ref needs to be fast enough. Two, DAC didn't give the ball to the ref. Dak gave the ball to the center. And people were like, why the ref have to move the ball two feet? Because you can't spot your own ball. That's ridiculous.

And then three, and most importantly, it's on the coaches to not leave their final play of the season to the chance of whether you're going to run this in time. And then Joe Banner, who used to run the Eagles, like literally ran the Eagles when they made the three or four straight NFC championship games was like,

these situations, it's actually very well known how much time you need to spot the ball. It's basically 16 seconds. Ideally, you have 18, is what he said. And they ran it with 14. And it's like, it's exactly what happened. They tried to bend time, Hyphitz. It's inexplicable.

But here's the thing, though. I don't want to just reduce this game to like that crazy call. And I think you're right, Craig. That will go down as one of the most memorable plays. off screw ups from a coach ever, because it's outside the bounds of what we usually argue about. It's not a fourth down call. It's not a timeout thing. It's like they just didn't get a playoff with the Cowboys.

It just ran the ball. They didn't get a playoff. The weird thing is, hyphids, they actually did get a playoff. That's a good point, actually. The clock ran out. I didn't know this. Honestly, we were freaking out about it for literally like 90 minutes after the game. Like people were still like up in arms on Twitter about it.

I didn't realize this to literally like an hour and half two hours after the game ended. Apparently, Dak, according to the final play, like, playlist, the official NFL,

like, tracking system, DAC actually got the ball, got the snap off, but the time expired as he was spiking it. One second left in the spike. So if he would have just

thrown the ball instead of trying to spike it, it would have counted. But that hit point, though, is it's like, they weren't, like,

they didn't know that because they didn't have time because, like, they needed three extra seconds. The point, though, and the reason this

resonates is that the, it, it, it, with the larger issue with the Cowboys under McCarthy which is they're not prepared.

This is a team. I will never get over this. 14 pounties for 89 yards. It was hard to watch. If they had won the game and it would have been a crazy,

like the biggest playoff comeback in Cowboys history, they would have been the most penalized team to ever win a playoff game. 14 pounds. It was a franchise that tied their franchise record

for most penalties in a game. Audacity to kind of take shots at the refs at the end of the game. Like, oh, we thought the refs were going to let us play. Get the,

I'm cursing a lot. So many of them were like procedural. It was just like you lined up in the wrong spot, you idiots. Get out of here. Like, it is so insulting to me that a team who was the most penalized team in the entire league in the regular season comes into the playoffs, commits 14 penalties. And it's like, we thought the rest would let us play. One, if you're the most penalized team in league, you get a reputation and like the rest

know that. Two, the first play of the game, Randy Gregory is in the neutral zone on the first play. They came out of halftime and had two false starts. Two false starts, yeah. On the first series after half time, you're at home. How do you have two full starts in a row at home coming at a half time? There were egregious hands to the face by the defenseman. There was egregious holding by the, like, by Randy Gregory at the end.

There was a terrible hold by him. Like, these were all very obvious calls. And all of them mattered. I went through that. Four of these pounties basically ended Cowboys drives. The false starts pushed a third and four to third and 13. One false start led to DAC dropping back on like a third and 16 getting sacked. One of them led to him getting sacked.

act and then he second in 28 and he got you through the pick because it was second and 28 all the nine even without nick bosa the nineers got this pass rush because they the pounties put him in huge passing situations and like the niners could just weren't worried about the run and that's the point though the lack of preparedness the lack of attention to detail the lack of discipline under mike mccarthy puts lack literally in a bad situation in a bad spot and then the cowboys pay the price i do you guys think wait you wait we're not done how about How about the fake punt followed by whatever the hell happened next? Oh my God.

Keep the punt team on the field to try and like fuck up at Niners' defense. So McCarthy explained that one after the fact. And basically what he said was, I don't know if they were trying to keep the punt team on purposely, but it seemed like what he said was basically someone ran on the field by accident in celebration. And then they'd have pull them back. And then at that point they had a sub issue. I don't know.

But the point is when you sub, you get like 25 seconds. and the other team is the sub. That one I'll give him a credit for because they did get the first down and they should get more credit for that than delay of game. But just this is a team, like what is Mike McCarthy's job

if not to curb penalties? What would you say? You do here. Yes. He's not Andy Reid. He's not calling plays. He's not Sean Payton. He's not a hearing.

He's not calling plays. Like his job isn't to get caught in the weeds of minutia of play calling to not worry about penalties. It's his job to worry about the clock and worry about pounties and to worry about the basic fundamental things. And, like, the Cowboys aren't good at those things.

Also, yeah, like, he says we think, we thought they were going to, like, let us play or whatever talking about the rest. You thought we thought they were going to let us go out there and play. And I've heard multiple coaches talking about this. Like, teams do studies on, like, you know, which refs allow things to, like, slide and all that. But, like, at the same time, like, even if you thought they were going to let you play, like, so many of these were just unforced errors by that. I mean, like, why would you think that was their fault?

Like, I don't know. Like, this is just reiterating me. So it's, like, so frustrating watching the post-game interviews with them. Own up to it. It's cowardly to place blame. Yeah, exactly. So with all this said, do you think the Cowboys should bring back Mike? Well, did you see, did you guys see Mitchell Schwartz's tweet?

I kind of agree with this. It's a good point. He basically brought up. Explain who Mitchell Schwartz is. He's a former offensive lineman for the Chiefs. But he basically, he's young. He's like 32. He just played.

but he basically tweeted how come every time something good happens on the Cowboys we praise Kellyn Moore and talk about him as a potential head coaching candidate but anytime the Cowboys do anything wrong it's on Mike McCarthy and he's like it can't be both like like it needs to be both

it can't be one or the other like this call at the end of the game everyone's like oh McCarthy it's like well Kellyn Moore calls plays well so I think that's true and that it was true under Jason Garrett too for being honest like I think sometimes we underrate that you know our head coach's job is like you have to take responsibility for what goes wrong

and ideally they're deferring credit for things that go right. And that is 100% true that it was like Jason Gary got all the blame. The difference I'll say is that while that is a fair point and that it's true, Kellanmore called that play at the end of 14 seconds left, which is ridiculous. I think the difference is that all like the good parts of the Cowboys offense, I think maybe not all of them should be signing Killmore, but a lot of the fun and creativity,

if you want to sign it to Moore and McCarthy, McCarthy doesn't get enough of a share. I get that. I think the difference is when the basic parts are not, like the lack of attention to detail. Yeah. Is a head coach. The timeout, the game management, the fourth downs. That's, Schwartz went on to talk.

He's like, Blaine McCarthy for the fourth downs of timeouts, game management decisions. But it's, the penalties, that's the head coach. Like, the penalties on both sides of the ball is exactly what falls on a head coach. And that, to me, is like, even bigger than the draw at the end of the game. Like, I get, it's just, as bad as it is, it's still like it is one play.

But to me, like, when you commit so many pounties that only one team's ever won a playoff game ever with that amount of bounties, that's on the head coach. Yeah, like say what you about the last play or whatever, even if they had one more shot to throw, huh, Mary, the right team won. The Niners just played better the whole game. Like, they had one or two, Jimmy had the bad pick.

They had the stupid, like, Cubie sneak thing. But the Niners just played a better game. They lost Werner, they lost Bosa, and they still just played better than the Cowboys. Wait, so, Dicke, a lot of people, I'm thinking about it. A lot of people, Cowboys fans in particular, are going to say they should fire Mike McCarthy to this.

Do you think that is reactionary, or do you think that is like a good call? I would lean towards, I think I would agree with it. And I think it's everything that you just said, but it's also the fact that like all year long, they've been really, really penalty prone. And it's just also the deal that you said when you opened it up.

It's like, what do you do here? Like, what would you say you do here? Like, what is he bringing to the table? I guess is my question. Why not just promote Kellenmore to, to head coach, you know, and then move forward from there. And ideally, if that were the case, then maybe they get more aggressive in certain situations. Maybe, like, there's more continuity or harmony between, like, maybe what Kellynne Moore wants

to do and what the head coach is deciding to do in certain situations. I don't know. Like, obviously, I'm not in their meetings. I'm not in their decision-making process, but I just don't really understand what McCarthy brings to the table, to be totally honest. Yeah, and we're going to have to figure that out. I guess he brings content for Stephen Smith. That's about it.

Okay. Next award. Yeah. So I want to give this to San Francisco for the playoff Rondo award, which... Okay, so you're going to have to explain this to me because I don't really know the NBA that well. What's Rondo like? Rajan Rondo, a really good... And his prime, a really good regular season player, but a phenomenal postseason player.

His P.E.R. And the regular season... Prime time. First of playoffs is massive. And he's even good on prime time as well, even if it's in the regular season. There's like this lore. around Rajan Ronda about how he steps up in the playoffs. And that's the Niners, man. It's like, they go 10 and 7. They're losing bad games. They started two and four. They lost the Seahawks

like three weeks ago. It's like Jimmy G. No one even knows if like he should actually be starting. Is he going to start next year? And they come in and although the second half wasn't pretty, like they pretty much just like beat the shit out of the Cowboys for most of this game. And now, once again, they seem like, I don't know, like they have just a good of chance as anybody on getting to the Super Bowl and the NFC. I know they're playing Green Bay. It's going to be a tough game, but they're kind of like the anti-Falcons. Do you guys remember there? Who's the stretch where the Falcons would go like 12 and 4 every single year and then just losing the playoffs? And the Niners ran their offense. True. But for some reason, the Niners

feel like the opposite, where I don't really care what they do in the regular season. If they're healthy and they get to the playoffs, like Shanahan's play calling and all of their skill guys all getting healthy at the right time, like, I think the Niners are as dangerous as anybody right now. It's so, it's so cliche to say this, but it's so true also. It's like they can run the ball and they can rush the passer. And it's like so hard if you can't stop a team's run game, you know, especially explosive runs like the 49ers are capable of doing with Debo. You know, Elijah Mitchell looked really good in this game.

Like the way that they can get yards after the catch, the way that they can scheme up guys to pick up yards after the catch. Like you're not putting it all on your quarterback's shoulders, which is nice. Obviously, Jimmy G is that he does that Jimmy G thing where it's very good for like 90% of the plays, but then he just has these like glitches in his brain where it's like, why are you throwing that kind of deal? So that holds them back a little bit, but they are built to quote unquote,

and I know this is a cliche, but they're built to win in the playoffs. Rush the passer, run the ball, beat up on your opponent, like control the clock. All that stuff is total cliche, but it's like actually true

when you watch the 49ers, it's like, damn it, these guys are hard to stop. I think the difference though is it's like, oh, run the ball and it's like, who are we, right? It's like, on one hand,

we're like passing's better than running. On the other hand, it's like, run to win the playoffs, and it's like which. And I think it's important to know. the Niners run in a way that like, the outside zone thing,

it's like a borderline like a religious thing. It's like you have to have complete and out of faith, total faith for it to work. Everybody has to buy in. The Niners have, I believe, I don't know about this year. Last year they definitely had the lightest

offensive line in the league, like by weight. Their starters just weight. Like, they're very athletic. Trent Williams is an athletic left tackle. Like, they're fast. You have to have, like, you have to make a commitment

to be able to run the system they run. Like the reason, Eli Mitchell and then like the five, you know, Torell Davis, like all these six, round or undrafted running back so he's working the Shannon system is the only way to play for Kyle Shannon is to exactly what he wants at every single thing. If you freelance, you can't play.

That's like why probably, I'm assuming, Trace Herman didn't work because like you have to do exactly what he wants. And then if everyone does exactly what Kyle Shannon works on every single thing, it will work, which is kind of weird and controlling, but like that's how it works. I think what's weird about this game is that it kind of went exactly how we said, which is on one hand, will the Niners just completely bully ball the Cowboys and the other, what it Jimmy kind of sucks. And both were true, right? The thing I think that gets lost in the passing game versus the running game narratives,

you know, like the storylines, the discussions, the arguments, everything that goes around, you know, in the modern NFL, you pass the ball, blah, blah, blah, because it's more efficient. I think what gets lost in that conversation a lot of times is that it's not better, if you're running the ball really well, it's not actually better to pass. Like, if you can create explosive plays by running, well, Debo is also unbelievable. Keep doing it.

They came out with Debo in the backfield. I mean, I think this was really the theme of the season. Ironically, Corderell Patterson started this with the Falcons. The Falcons figured out how to use Cordarell. Like, for all the, we've been talking about for like five years about, oh, Christian McCartrellery. The original Debo Samuel, that's what they call them. It's true, though.

Like, we were like, oh, McCaffrey can line up in the slot. And it's like, it doesn't actually matter schematically if a running back lines up as a receiver. A receiver lining up as a running back and basically if you have receivers out there and then the defense has a lighter personnel, like more past defense. And then Debo comes in the

backfield and can take a run. Now the Niners can dictate the matchups they want because no matter what defense you put out there. Okay, Debo's a receiver if you're in a run personnel. He's a running back if you're in past personnel. That changes things. But you know, it's cool to watch, but at the same time

Jimmy to me is like the most game manager, game manager. There's been really since Alex Smith, except the difference is like he's bad at it. I mean, he just missed. Like that interception he threw, he wasn't under pressure. He just overthrew the guy by like eight yards with no pressure in his face,

which doesn't really happen. He also missed Ayuk, that one play that was a big potential. That ended the drive before. Like, Jimmy couldn't put it away. My question for you guys, so Schefter, our boy, Schefter started already started the train today. of like where he tweeted during the second half of the season

Jimmy Grappel simultaneously raised his value to both the Niners and other teams in the offseason trade market 49ers would not be where they are today without him which is like they're going to get traded and Schefter will get the scoop when he gets traded but do you guys think Jimmy should be a starter for someone next seat? Like would he make the Steelers better, Craig?

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely he would. Then right now I would take Jimmy. I mean if it was nothing else, if it was like you could start a rookie next year who you drafted at the end of the first or Jimmy it probably take Jimmy.

Yeah. Okay. Well, I kind of see it like, it's like sort of in the same vein as like a Teddy Bridgewater type player where it's, he's going to be a bridge quarterback. I don't know,

I don't think that he is going to be the type of player that elevates the guys around him and makes you a true championship style team. But it's like you could definitely do way worse than Jimmy G. And like he's definitely when he, his highs are pretty high. Like he'll make some goddamn good throws like where it, you really start buying in like he's a, he's going to be an elite quarterback,

blah, blah, like this has been over the course of years. obviously that we've had these discussions about Jimmy G. But then like, you know, I said this before the other day, you know, up to stairs down the elevator, like he'll keep building, like building, building, building, like, oh, he's actually playing really well. He's doing so great. But then he has like these back-breaking, back-breaking turnovers that just like derailed a whole

thing. You're like, okay, we just can't, you can't win with this or whatever. Like, you know, obviously they did win. But it was like very, he made it really hard on the 49ers in the second half there. So I don't know I do think the plan probably is still for them to like You know pass the torch to Trey Lance next year And move on from Jimmy who who knows how that will sort of play out

But I think he will probably have a job next year in terms of starting And he'll be a bridge quarterback for somebody Last thing on this Cowboys Niners game before we move on Why do the Cowboys build their stadium with the sunlight hitting players in the face? So stupid So this is going to be the Nathan for you Stadium Plan Award So basically it's like the Cowboys Stadium is a Nathan for you skit.

What are you stealing my tweets now? Yeah. Well, I already had this in the dock, and I just changed the name of the award. Basically, here's the deal. But the Cowboys, they built a dome stadium where the sun routinely blinds players on the field.

This happened late in the second quarter. Dak had a perfect pass over the middle. I think it was Cedric Wilson. He wasn't hit like he thought he was going to hit him in the face but he wasn't wearing a helmet. This would have been, I believe it would have been a big third down conversion or something like that.

Couldn't see it. You just straight up couldn't see DAC or the ball. Camera work of the year was them giving that perspective and blinding the camera and being like, this is what it looks like.

And I'm like, yeah, honestly, shouts out to that technical director because that was a phenomenal move. That was very cool to show it because it was like, oh,

that's why I could see it. I actually Google this after, Google this after the game because I was like, wait, like, oh, maybe it's committed advantage. And I was like, no, it's not.

Why did they do this? And I basically, I think the answer is money. Like, the stadium is in this giant complex. and they're trying building out this giant complex. I think the Texas Ranger Stadium is due for from Jerry World. And they're building out this.

And it just, the vague answer seems to be that the way they wanted to construct, not just the stadium, but the entire complex around it, that made the most economic sense to maximize the value of the land. That is what I read. Sure. Don't put fucking windows in it.

Or buy some vats, buy some curtains. You could put it on a fucking, like, track. Blackout curtains. We have, we have stadiums where the, where they literally the whole roof, For the roof.

The field. The Arizona grows the field leaves the stadium. They grow the grass outside and wheel it back in inside. Like they could get curtains. Get some enormous Venetian blinds that go like on the track, you know, or whatever. Like you can have a guy like turn it with like the cowboys. That's like a cool. Cool branding opportunity or like a cool like they can have like the mascot do it.

Everyone cheers them as he closes the blinds. What's that blinds company? What's the blinds company? I think have they advertised in our pod? The blinds company? Probably. They were better ads. I'd remember the next.

number. 1,800 blinds, 1,800. I don't know. Don't know what you're talking about. Anyway. It's a branding opportunity. I think they need to get, they need to do something about these windows. And by the way, this isn't the only stadium that this happens, but this was like a very critical moment

in a playoff game. They ended up losing. It's unbelievable to think about it. They're at home. They play, by the way, they play at this time all the time. This is like the late slate. Yeah, it's true. They always play at sunset. Always. And D.K. It's not that it happens at other stadiums. It's that this was the third most recently built stadium or fourth,

and it's one of the most expensive stadiums built. Also, do you guys remember the Chargers game and SoFi when it was raining and there was lightning outside so they stopped the game? You're like, isn't it in a dome? And they're like, well, there's wind, there's open windows, so. It's $5 billion on a stadium of the roof and that it rains. And they figure out, oh shit. Did it figure out rain?

Okay. That wasn't the only thing that happened in this game. A punt hit the me. Oh my god, I forgot about it. Is that what it's called? No, a Megatron's a transformer. Sorry, what is it called? The, the, the, uh, oh my God, is it called?

The mega, oh my God. We're all over the brain fart. The, the Megatron. No, my God, no, I get it. No, no, we're wrong. Mike, producer, Mike, you must, please hop on. Mike, what are we getting wrong here? Jumbotron.

Jumbotron. Jumbotron. Do you know how many people were listening to this podcast? gas right now and screaming at us and like they must be like ghosts it should have been honestly dk you should trademark megatron that's how many people were listening to this i think calvin johnson already did that but how many people were just listening to that being like i can't believe i take advice for these people i know um also that's not the only thing so so number one the sun blinded a guy in a very key moment number two a punt hit the giant jumbotron yeah on the ceiling they better not drop matt horizon you know what i think hitting that thing all the time.

Every time I see that Jumbatron, what I think of is when they were testing, because it was like the biggest screen that had like ever been done in North America, maybe like the world when they made it and it was like a huge deal at the time. And I remember that they tested it

and the guy who was testing it hooked up, I think at the time his Xbox 360 and was playing Halo on Xbox Live. Not even like campaign like Halo and Xbox Live to test it because like, I guess, I don't know, graphics, I think it was just a flex. But like, can you imagine you're like in a,

matchmaking and Halo. And one of the guys there is on your team are playing against you and kills you. And like literally is playing on the Jumbotron at Jerry World and that's what he's playing on. Did they test it to see like how high somebody could punt? I'm assuming they did. No, they built a stadium, Craig,

that you can get blinded by the sun. I don't think they give a shit. It's more narrow than you think. So it looks like you're like, oh, every punt will hit this, but it's actually kind of narrow. But apparently he had Jerry Jones. Jerry Jones is out there trying to punt and he couldn't hit it.

And they're like, that's fine. They said he hit it five times. and warm-ups. Oh, my God. All right. Do you want to move? One more thing to add. Before we move on from the Dallas Cowboys, Nathan for you stadium plan, does it bother you guys

at all? As a father, maybe I'm just a worry warrant. But like the opening the gates and like 150 to 300 people storming the apocalypse. It has Black Friday vibes at a best vibe. It's like Black Friday's on the field. So the reason for this is that if people don't know, so there's these virus, videos. It happens every big Cowboys game. When they open the gates to the Cowboys game,

people sprint in, it is like Black Friday. It's standing room only. Yeah. Because you don't buy a ticket for a seat. You just can stand wherever. So people butt rush. 20,000 standing room only tickets. Like tens of thousands of stand. Like that's how they get to 100 or whatever, 110,000 capacities. They sell standing room. And so people run. To your, I don't have

Cardines. But if I did, I think you're right. Like, I wouldn't want to bring a kid to like the standing room stuff if that's what it's like. I mean, it's not even the kid. thing. It's just like, is someone is going to get trampled. Well, if you want to raise your kids soft, then don't take him, D.K. If you want to raise Calvin soft, don't take him. Simple

is that. He's tough. I don't want him to get trample. Everything's bigger in Texas, D.K. Just doesn't seem safe. Or is it natural selection? And Jerry Jones is just trying to weed out the losers. Who knows? I mean, sure, maybe. Anyways. All right. More words.

All right. Let's get to a different game. Buffalo, New England. Great game. This was, again, don't want to get caught in like hyperbole, but on the, at the very least, I think we can all agree. Like, I can count on one hand, the list of games

that have, like, this is as dominant a football game in the NFL I have seen forgetting the playoffs, like just period in my entire life. This is as dominant as any performance I've ever seen in my entire life. What about the second and third quarter of the Steelers game? That was pretty bad. Yeah, that too. That too.

Hyphins, this isn't even hyperbole. This was literally like the bills pitch a perfect game. They had seven meaningful drives. They scored a touchdown on every drive, which I don't think has ever happened in another game ever in any game. Is that right? Playoffs. Yeah, yeah.

So that was, we got to give, this is the Shiva Destroyer World's Award. Like, I am death. This is, so, yeah,

they became the first team ever. There's a crazy stats. They became the first team to ever start with five touchdowns consecutively on their first five drives, I think, was that in the playoffs or just ever? I think it was in the playoffs. I can't remember off the top of my head. And then they scored touchdowns on their next two drives. So they, not only did they become the first ever score in the first five, they scored touchdowns in the first seven drives

and then kneeled to end the game. And playoffs are regular season ever. They are the first team ever, ever in the, on the record to not punt, attempt a field goal or turn the ball over. Wow. Which as D. D.K. said, is a perfect game. Like, you can think of football sometimes as, like, baseball. Like, if you roughly get nine drives, each drive is like an inning. And they did. They scored seven touchdowns and then yield the game. It was the third best game ever by DVOA, according to Aaron Schatz. Wow. Which is another way to say, like the Chiefs over the Steelers side. Like, wait, do you have that list? Because I have only one guess off the top of head of what would

top of that. The Chiefs beat the Browns. I can't remember what the other one was. But the only game, I think, compares to this is do you are, is, do you, is, do you? You guys remember when the Patriots beat the Titans like 59 to zero in the snow? Yeah, yeah. That one's up there for me. And then I wasn't alive for like a lot of those like Cowboys 50 point games. Regardless, like the bottom line is, uh, Josh Allen went completely bonkers. Like it was like a great game.

He was playing in God mode. Um, he went 21 of 25, 308 yards, five touchdowns. He had 66 yards on the ground. Um, he was the first quarterback in the pro football reference database to, to have a playoff game with 300 plus passing yards, five plus passing touchdowns, and 60 plus rushing yards. So basically this was the greatest

playoff game by a quarterback ever. That's crazy. That's crazy. It was flawless. I mean, it was insane. And also it was against the Patriots, which means something, right, Craig? Exactly. My next award here is the Little Brother finally beats up Big Brother Award. And it's not like Sean McDermott's been there forever, so it doesn't

really match up, but I just more mean franchise like Buffalo's destroying New England in a playoff game. I love that it was 40 to 10 in the fourth quarter and the bills get the ball and what do they do? Oh, they're going to start running it out. Nope. First play, launch one to Dawson Knox like down to the two

yard line. It was great. It was Belichick getting kind of forced fed. You mentioned that Titans game, 59 zero. I mean, Belichick is no stranger to running up the score in games. Yeah. And this is what McDermott did to him and I freaking loved it. I saw this stat. The

Bills had three wins against the Patriots with Tom Brady. They have had four wins against the Patriots since Tom Brady has left. That's crazy. Wow. That's crazy. Craig, did you see, so you remember the last time these two teams, well, no, sorry, it was two times ago these teams played.

It was a really windy game, and the Patriots won by running the ball. Yeah, they threw it three times, yeah. Yeah, exactly. So at the end of that game, Sean McDermott was like, now, now, he was like in the presser, and someone asked him about Bill Belichick's genius or something. He was like, let's not give Bill Belichick too much credit in this game. Basically, what he was saying was, we've, We messed up a lot.

Like, we beat ourselves more or less. But what it came off like was like, stop giving Bill Belichick so much credit. Like, I hate that fucker. You know what I mean? Like, that's what it kind of like people turned it into. Yeah. It's like, well, your older brother went to Yale.

Exactly. He's like, well, all right, he got into the scholarship for football. It's not the same thing. It's different. Right. So anyways, it does feel like McDermick got the last laugh on that. Because basically people were clowning on him, like hard for that for that comment. So, yeah.

Are the bills the Super Bowl favorites now? They're not in betting. Like, in your minds, like, do you think the bills are now? Like, that one game, are you like, oh, well, this is the best team in football? I still think I'd take Kansas City. There's something about the bills where they just feel so like in the moment where at any given game, it could be completely different with Josh in the offense. I feel stronger about the consistency of Kansas City, despite their year.

I just still feel better about Mahomes than Josh. The bills have a higher ceiling is highest ceiling, what you're saying, but maybe not like, I think I don't see that no I'd say they have the same ceiling as Kansas City but I would say they have a lower floor they they no longer can be said they have a lower ceiling than Kansas City because when they you you go out and you're like the first team to ever have seven touchdown drives in a row and again there I can't say it's enough they're the only team to pitch a perfect game in NFL history like we can't over say that like they didn't turn the ball over attempt to field go or punt that's

never been done in an NFL I mean this was a good team too like no I know defense is good I would say, yeah, it doesn't it just feel like though with the bills where it's like, Josh, could throw for three picks and kind of look pretty bad next week. Like, that's just how they play. Well, the chiefs are literally favored next week. So I think that is that. Yeah, it probably should be, maybe two and a half or something. So I think if we would have had this conversation before tonight, before the chiefs just

absolutely went bonkers on Steelers, maybe I would have said, yeah, the bills look like a a buzz saw like they're going to win it all. Now I'm saying this is maybe going to be like the best game of. the year. Like, it's not that it's like divisional round because this is like two of the best teams, maybe the two best teams in the NFL. I still think the, the Packers are in a really good position because they have home field because they have Aaron Rogers and just the way that they play.

Again, it's like going back to the cliche that we talked about earlier. Like they can run the ball. They can beat up on you. They have Aaron Rogers who is like a cheat code because he has this mind metal connection with Devante Adams. So like they can get through any situation. But I think so like, I don't know, I would still say that. I think the chiefs are going to be favorite.

They are going to be favorite. I still might pick the chiefs in this game next week, and I still think the Packers are maybe like the best position to win at all. But the Bills, man, I just think they looked really good. Plus, I wanted to add one little note. I do think it's worth noting that the Bills kind of changed their offense midway through the year. I think it was like sparked in part by the loss of the Jaguars midway through the year. Basically, they were like, we need a plan B.

If Josh Allen isn't going ballistic on people, we need to have some balance. And they put a lot more emphasis and focus on the run game. They started using their fullback more. They just started being more of a run-oriented team. And then eventually, after like a few weeks of kind of toying with how they wanted to do that, they settled on Devin Singletary as like their lead, like three-down guy. And he's really responded well.

I think he's been really good over the last few weeks. He's basically just completely taken over that. Like remember at the beginning of the year, it was like a three-person rotation. You never knew who was going to be running the ball. And now Singletary is, you know, he's been a very effective. He had a really good touchdown run this last game, like, where you juke the shit out of like three guys. So I think that's also just one factor to remember here going forward. Like their run game is pretty good too. And when you have Josh Allen able to run the ball, it opens up things for Singletarian. It's like a symbiotic relationship. So it all just works in concert. So, man, they're dangerous right now. They just look really good. Yeah, maybe single. Terry could end up having like a Fournet type postseason, you know, Fournets 2020 that kind of like brought him into, yeah, into fame. It's a really good call, correct? That's a really good call. I think I'm going to pick the bills to win.

I don't know if I'm going to talk myself out of that next week. Okay. Next award. So there's a throw of the weekend award, which I think we should talk about because, look, this is a fun weekend. It was a lot of football, I will say, a lot of hours of sitting in front of the TV, but it was great because some of the great young quarterbacks in the league were on the biggest stage, like Joe Burrow.

he threw a seam route against the Raiders that was just like the most perfect beautiful thing you got Josh Allen dropping this tear drop to Stefan Diggs like 9 degree weather he's just going absolutely bonkers Patrick Mahomes a couple great touchdown passes but the best throw of the weekend the guy who threw the dildo on the on the field it was when Kendrick Bourne scored

was it when the Patriots scored where do you pack it on the way into the stadium Craig don't ask that people don't see that the Patriots were in the end zone and there's just a screenshot and like they're pointing and there's a dildo on the field. And like it's one thing to get it on the field. This person threw it into the end zone. It's pretty accurate.

It's like right far from wherever they were. Also my question is following that instance, because I know that this is like a tradition now in Buffalo. Is it like when the opponent scores you throw the dildo in the end zone? I'm not just thinking of the people. I'm not thinking of being like, are those sad tissues or happy tissues? I'm also just now thinking of Anna who was like, I love your podcast, but if you curse less, well, please curse less because my daughter can't listen to it.

This isn't working out for us. This is why. But I have to say, here's the real question. And it's the thing on everyone's mind. And I'm going to be the person who says it, you know, it's, we're all thinking it. Do you think someone bought it for this purpose or do you think it was used? Man, what a question.

If it was a used one, then that's even crazier because that's, that's a waste of a good dildo. there. Maybe it was a bad gildo, that's why they do it. If they just didn't like it anymore. Yeah. You don't have a use for this anymore.

Anyways. Honestly, I would just go to Mina Kimes' Twitter and just scroll back until you find the tweet where she found the photo, the screenshot of them pointing. And it's like the perfect photo because they're literally pointing at it

and their heads looking at it. And it's like, they're thinking the same thing you are. They're like, damn, that's a dildo on the field. And Mina was like, this is how euphoria is going to be next week. Anyway, that was incredible throw. Hell of a throw.

Hell of a throw. Just right off the seam, right into the end. So, dropped out of a bucket. As vulgar as that was, we went through the whole thing without talking about how Bart Scott told Josh Allen to use Viagra for the game. I'm glad you brought this up, Danny. I had never heard, have you guys heard of this before? So no.

So for the people don't know, Bart Scott went on ESPN and was like, it's going to be cold. Josh Allen said he's bad circulation in his feet. So take Viagra. It's good for your circulation. And then shout out Michael Bowman, who was like, they did this on top gear. And when they went to over the Andes, it's so cold, but I think it's more about the pressure,

the air pressure drop because you're going high up. They took Viagra on camera because they were worried about having a, I don't know, remember the blood thing, clot, I don't know. Okay. So,

I heard that Viagra is a controlled substance or whatever. It's like, it's not, you know, you need a prescription. Like, per NFL rules I'm talking about.

Like, you can't take it because it's like a PED. Yeah. Literally. Oh, I didn't know that. No, no, no, no, no. Tight end for the bills, Dawson Knox said he heard that you can test for PEDs if you take Viagra. But, like, we're missing the point here.

Did people do this? Like, Bart Scott, when he was like, hey, you're excited to see them in the playoffs? He was like, can't wait. Like, was he on Viagra for that? I mean, it doesn't feel like he just came up with that out of nowhere. How many players have taken Viagra in the cult? That's just so risky. I mean, you're wearing like spandex pants on national television.

There's like HD. I wish that, I forget who was like the host of that show and there was somebody else on with Bart Scott, but they kind of were like super awkward about it and moved on. They were very uncomfortable. Well, they're owned by Disney. Whatever. I thought they should have kind of talked about it a little bit. I was going to ask you guys, I don't know anything about Viagra.

I obviously know what it does. It gives you an erection, right? Good flex. I sure. Good flex, Craig. All right. I probably will. I probably will.

I probably will. In a cup. Okay. I probably will need it, okay? It's relatively soon. I don't know. Relatively soon. Like in the galactic sense. The way things are going. And now you know why the guys at ESPN didn't know, didn't want to talk about. I have a question. All right? Settle down. Quiet. So I know it like opens your blood vessels and it like allows blood to flow to the penis, right? You can get an erection. But is it all like, will you get an erection no matter what? Or is it only, if you, you're aroused sexually. Like, if you just take it, like, DK, you're like,

well, you're wearing spandex, you better look out. It's not just an auto-erection. It's only if you're aroused, right? Like, you can use it for other purposes. Or is it just auto-blowner? I don't know. I don't know.

That's a good question. Maybe it's one of the things where- We have never needed our medical community listeners more. If you were in- I'm going to cut out the medical students, though. In the past, I've taken medical students. I'll take both. Emails or ringer fantasy football at gmail.

How does it? You're a doctor. If you're a doctor, and if you just have your personal experience, we'll take a med student, because this is probably fairly simple. I just want to know, is it an auto boner or is it, you got to be a movie? I bet if you get one, it's just it doesn't go away. That's probably right. But if you're just like in football mode, maybe you don't, I mean, obviously, if Bart Scott's taking it,

I don't think he's just like, yeah, I'm going to play with a boner for four hours. I never thought about it that way, but maybe one of the reasons that men get that, like, ED is to get older. It's just general circulation issue. and that never really occurred to me. But that would make sense that... The one thing I know about of Viagos, they invented it by accident.

It was like going to be a heart medication. Oh, is that right? And then they just... Like, the men in the trial were like, uh-oh, I don't know about my heart, but like, cool. And then that was worth like 20 times more money than whatever the original idea was.

Yeah. The fucking mother load there. Anyway. So I think what the Dilda proved is the bills don't shrivel up in the cold. Nice. Wow. It shrinks?

You know, that signs... A good segue. Trinkage. It shrankage. Water was cold. I was in the pool. Everything comes back to George Costanza. Do you think that our NFL viewing

of cold football games will just be like BV? It's just before the Viagran after. Like, I'll never think of this ever the same. Somebody should go to Lambo as a fan or just take Viagra and see how their blood circulation feels. Email us at Ringinflufuton.com. If you're a doctor, and only if you're a doctor.

Okay. Let's move for the love. If we get no emails, that means zero doctors like a dentist or a you know like a professor that has a doctorate. Do they count? I think like Shaquille O'Neal's a doctorate. Can he email us? Do you know doctorate in like,

I don't know, like art history? I don't think I'm not. An honorary doctorate that doesn't count. All right. I want to move on. I don't know how. Bucks Eagles, I'm going to give the Buccaneers the award for the thank you for letting me shop for furniture

award because it's been a long weekend. Like it was, look, look, I'm not complaining, but I'm just stating facts. I'd work all day Sunday. Gotta work all day Sunday. It's too much. It's a holiday weekend.

I'm just saying. It's a lot. It's a lot of hours. Yeah. If the bucks had not blown out the Eagles, I don't know what I would have done this weekend. I literally look, I turned to my girlfriend in the middle of the second quarter and I was like, do you want to start? And we went to Wayfair and we went on the way for website. Shut up.

Wayfare. We went in the way for website and we started looking at it. Oh, it's not West Elm. Get out of here. We went on the way for website. We started looking at Barstles. and like I felt so I did laundry I started online shopping

I watched four plays in the second half of this game yeah I got to say I went and I was like you know there needs to be a time where I'm gonna go work out and it was during the second half of the bucks game yes I'm like I'm like half kidding and I'm not like this was over full disclosure I missed all of Philly's points I was like working out and I saw I was like

31 15 I was like oh Craig would you say you missed it no so anyway thank you and also if you while you're emailing us at Ringar Fantasy Football at Gmail.com, if you have like a recommendation for like good bar stools or just chairs, tall chairs for like a very tall bar, like probably like 30, 30-ish inches and up,

email me at Ringar Fantasy Football at Gmail.com if you have like a good... It feels like somebody at Barstool would take a Viagra and go to like a Lambo game. I feel like they're going to do that. Yeah, that's... That feels right. If we do want to talk about the football whatsoever for the Patriots, sorry, for the Tampa Bay Eagles game,

Yeah. I want to talk about Tom Brady getting the ball out really, really quickly in this game because I think it could have some ramifications going forward. Like they had injuries. So Tristan Wirth's sprained his ankle very early in this game, like on the first couple series. Tried to come back and then didn't go well. Tried to come back. He gave him a sack like he was hurt again.

So he went out for the rest of the game as a high ankle sprain. So that could be bad. The Antonio Brown thing of like, you know, he was told like, you got to go back in the game. Just throwing it out. I think it's weird that they're up by a lot of points. and they're making their like franchise tackle come back in. This one, it did feel like he was really arguing to get back in. I know, I know.

That's what it looked like on the sideline. That's what they want you to think. It seems real. I think the fact that he got hurt again, though, it's like on the trainers to make this. That's all I'm saying. Anyway, we don't have to make this into a conspiracy. But my point was that this could be a problem going forward for the Buccaneers.

Obviously, last year, they were so healthy throughout the playoffs. They were one of the most healthy teams all year long. Tristan Worf's in particular, I think he hadn't missed a snap in like two years. His entire career, he hadn't missed a snap till he went hurt. So that's huge because the way that the Patriots, I keep saying the Patriots,

the way that the Buccaneers adapted to losing both Worf's and Ryan Jensen's center for a little while, and in addition to that, they were missing Chris Godwin, Antonio Brown's gone, playoff Lenny's out, Ronald Jones's hurt. So basically they're down to their backups at so many positions.

The way that they adapted was to just get the ball out really, really quickly. I saw this per next-gen stats. Brady's average time to throw was 2.17 seconds, which was the fastest for any qualifying quarterback in a game this whole season. And that's in a year with 2021 Ben Rafflesberger. That is actually, no, that is actually crazy

ever got the ball faster than Ben. So what do you think that means for the Super Bowl chances? Like, they crush the Eagles. They're obviously better. But, I mean, you can convince me the offensive line injuries are a bigger deal. Like, how do you feel about the Super Bowl chances for Tampa? Well, like, in one way, it's good. It's like Brady's, they're adapting. they're getting rid of the ball,

like they're keeping him clean, blah, blah, or trying not to get sacked. But it also, like, neuters your offense. Like, you can't pass deep if you're kidding rid of the ball before your, like,

receivers are downfield. You know what I mean? It makes their offense, like, flaccid, you could say. Yes. You said neutered. Why could say that?

I ran with it. So, yeah, I mean, I think that's just something to keep in mind going forward. I don't know if it's necessarily going to be like what happens next year or next week,

what they do with whoever they end up drawing. But like, it is, it is a problem. It's, it's problematic. It makes me worried for, for the bucks in terms of like, well, their upside, I guess, going forward. I don't feel like Tampa's in the upper echelon of playoff teams this year in the NFC. I think I would put... They're just too injured.

Here's the thing, you say that. And yet, we're saying this, but we're talking this conversation. Today's, at this point, it's early Monday morning. The Rams and Cardinals play tomorrow night. We'll see, or tonight, whatever, Monday night. We'll see what happens in that game. But I think we'd all agree. Those are two of those.

the less consistent teams the NFC. And I would say that the fact that the Buccaneers are now avoiding the Packers in the divisional round and that they might be able to get past the Rams or the Cardinals and maybe get a little healthier two weeks from now for whoever the championship game is, if they were to win the divisional round,

I do think it's a huge advantage for them. Yeah, I mean, if they can get Fournette back, although Vaughn look kind of good today, but if they can get Fournet back, I mean, that's pretty much it, though. I mean, Fortnet Worfson is a big deal, but there's just, like, him throwing to, like, Tyler Johnson and Scotty Miller. They were just off all day.

They kind of just didn't have that mind meld that D.K. talks about. It's just not there. It feels like the Patriots got Mike Evans. You know what I mean? It's like the short passing rhythm they have where only Gronk works, except they just also have Mike Evans.

I thought that it was actually... Cyril Grasins, a very Pats receiver as is Scotty Miller. It did feel like a cool sort of football X's and O's nerd moment where they were talking... Aikman was basically talking about... He was explaining why they missed on a

few of these plays. It was basically like Tyler Johnson needs to be on the exact same page as Tom Brady in not only like the route he's running, but like the distance, the quickness at which he gets to a certain landmark. And there were several times, and this is why I think a lot of time in the past, like when you have a free agent receiver sign in New England, even though they've had a good career before, it just never worked out because they couldn't get on the same page of Tom Brady. and it's because that so much in so many of these in the Brady like the offense that Brady prefers and like the way that he runs it there's a lot of site adjustments so the receiver has to see the way that a defense is lined up or what they're playing the covers they're playing and he has to make an adjustment to his route and Brady has to see it too so they both have to see this thing without communicating and change it on the fly and do this like without communicating and just basically like know where you're supposed to be and there were several moments moments in this game where Tyler Johnson just wasn't in the right spot. He didn't run the right route. He didn't get to the right depth. He didn't get to the, you know, soft spot in the defense or whatever. But I thought that was like a really cool example of like why this is way more complicated than just like go run a route, you know, and why it's so important to have that chemistry, like unspoken, just natural. You know where you guys are going to be chemistry. That's like what he has with Godwin. That's why it was such a big deal that he got hurt, you know? So anyways, I thought that was like a good nerd moment in terms of football. Like it was a great example. of why it's so important.

All right, what do we got next? Let's spend a little time here on the Eagles. Yeah. So the Jalen Hertz thing. I called this the heavy-handed and formulaic end-of-season cliffhanger award, which Craig gets because Craig is a, he's a big movie nerd, big, like, what would you call yourself? Do you like screenplays?

Do you write screenplays at all or you're not really into that? I have written a screenplay. Okay, so you know how, of course. But it's a stupid one. It's not like some like, you know how the writing process works. Well, no, I mean, I guess. I don't want to... Is it like super bad, but like, for my experience?

Nobody... Well, they don't make good high school movies anymore. High Vitz, so it is high school focused. Yes. I don't understand. I don't know what formulaic end of season cliffhanger means. So basically, like, any show that you watch, like you want to have people coming back for more

and not knowing what's going to happen. So you have this really dramatic. When, like, you think they killed the thing and then the demigorgon, like, his hand comes out and then it goes to the credits. How does... Maybe I'm just an idiot. How does this apply to the Eagles? because you...

So Jalen Hertz just shitting the bed in his last game of the year is the Demogorgon's hand coming out of the sewer or whatever. Basically now we have to endure or if you're like in our position

it's great for content. Now we're going to have to endure narratives all off season. Number one, is Jalen Hertz good? Even though he had like a really good season. I thought he had a good season.

He improved. He took the Eagles to the playoffs especially important because Carson Wentz and the Colts missed the fucking playoffs. Did Jailen Hurts? his future in Philadelphia?

There we go. That's the tagline. So now we're just going to be inundated with all these narratives. Like, what are the Eagles going to do? Are they going to take a quarterback in the draft? Are they going to try and trade at least one of the first rounders for 2023 first? They have to make a move this year.

Yeah. So there's all these, it's just like a content gold mine. So we're the real winners, as always. Content. Content prevails. But it was just like, it was like a heavy-handed script writing that he would just have such a terrible game in his last, If you could have just played well, I think it would have been much less of a story.

But here we are. Wouldn't have been better storyline if you played like really well and lost a la Heineke and then the Eagles were like, oh, are they going to move on anyway? Yeah, but he's better than Heineke. I don't know. All right.

We'll see. I'm excited to talk to Solac a lot this off season, both the Eagles are going to do. I think it's crazy. The Eagles have three first run picks and then the Giants of two. Jets of two. Okay.

I got an award for you. It's, what's age of the worst? I'm just stealing it from the rewatchables. What's age the worst? I'll tell you. the Pittsburgh Steelers mocking everybody who doubted they could beat the Chiefs all week.

Like if you missed this this week, can we play Ben's quote from the press conference? Like before they played this game against the Chiefs? You know, I would assume as a group you understand that, you know, we probably aren't supposed to be here. We're probably not a very good football team.

We're the out of 14 teams, I think, are in. We're probably number 14. We're double-digit underdog in a playoffs. So let's just go play and have fun and see what happens. He literally was like, well, we don't have a chance. Like, let's just go in and have fun. Like, you know, we're like the worst team in the playoffs.

Like, I hope we don't go in and get blown out by 20 or 30 points. Just go in and hope we get it close. And, like, he didn't say it real deadpan. No. Or he was too deadpan. Like, it sounded like he meant it. Yeah. And then...

Yeah. I thought it was a pretty good bit. He did a good job. I actually enjoyed it. I'm now come fully around because it wasn't dry. It wasn't sarcastic. It was genuine. Which I kind of enjoyed it.

It was like a new form of comedy where he was, he just, he just, he just, he just, just said it. He said it so convincingly. I was like, does he believe this? And I know that it was a joke or like, or making fun of people in the Steelers were in turn like, like, nobody believes in us. But it was both. Because I think he did think that. But he also knew that he couldn't say that and that it would be characterized as sarcastic. It was kind of like the perfect joke. It was a Kastanza. But here's thing, they were like, oh, we're the biggest wildcard underdogs ever. Okay, we'll show you. And then they got blown to pieces anyway. They did not have fun. They didn't even cover. They're starting 7-0, though. 7-0 was really fun. That was a fun four minutes when they were up 7-0. They did not win the first quarter. Sorry, the Chiefs did not win the first quarter. Anyway, it didn't age well, the whole like, oh, yeah, we're going to get blown out.

Or maybe I'm wrong, actually. Maybe it aged really well. Yeah, we just hope we don't get blown up by 2030. All right, so the next award here, we're shifting over to Cincinnati, Vegas. So my award is the Cam Newton King of the Press Conference belt, I think, is officially being passed to Joseph Burrow. Burrough's always doing stuff now in the press conferences he's wearing fun things this week after the game

he was wearing those like red or orange tinted glasses he kind of looked like he was in the 90s He looked like a European DJ Yeah he looked like European DJ Yeah he looked like he was in Swedish House Mafia at Coachella Yeah Evich's younger brother But he's just got the swag

You know like Brady Manning Ben Breeze They didn't have the press conference swag the new guys. Like Herbert really doesn't. Kyler doesn't. Mac Jones doesn't. It's Burroughs belt right now. Burrow has the press conference belt. Is there anybody that even can like compete? I haven't ever thought about that. It's Fitzpatrick,

but he's older. So it's kind of gone. That was when we were to Sean Jackson's clothes to the press conference one time. We were like, oh. Yeah. But wait, did you guys also see I don't know if this was a guy who looked like Ryan Fitzpatrick, but was he at the Bill's game? No, it was Fitzpatrick, yeah. Was it really?

Yeah, the first guy that looked like, KOC that was with him. Right. I saw that. So was that actually Fitzpatrick just in the stands at the bills game? That's unbelievable. If it was, that's really cool. But yeah. But it also might have just been a guy with a beard. No, it was him. It was him.

That's crazy. While we're on the Bengals, I got to give like the, I'm not even mad. I'm just impressed award to the Bengals. I thought the Raiders were going to win this game. And I don't care. Like, the Bengals, Jamar Chase specifically is so incredible.

He's good. The Burrow and Chase connection. Like, I'm not going to lie. good. I think the LSU thing, like, coming into this year, it was like, oh, like Burrow and Jamar Chase played together in college, they'll have that chemistry early. Part of me thought we almost overplayed that and was like, you know, how much will this- High Fitz, thanks for that. No, I know. And I'm like, but at what point is this go, go, like, where is this on the range of like factoid to like really important? And I was like, if we're saying it's a seven or eight, I'm like, what if it's a two or three? You know what I mean?

Yeah. I wasn't sure. It is like a nine and a half. They already have, Burrow and Chase, what feels like a top five connection in the NFL, honestly feels like top three. It's like Rogers and Devante Adams are on this different level, but then it's like Russ and Tyler Lockett, and honestly, Burrow and Chase might already be better than Russ and Tyler Lockett. Like, they are unguardable. He had what nine catches for 116 yards against the Raiders.

And like, it could have been 15 for 200 if the Bengals actually needed to get those yards to win the game. It was unbelievable. They're unbeatable. That connection. This goes right back to what I was talking about with Tom Brady, too. It's like, I think, that, you know, I kind of did make a big deal about like the connection. It was not only him.

It was like Tua and Waddle. There's a couple of different guys coming in like reuniting from their college teams in the NFL. But like this one in particular, like when you see some of the throws that Burroughs making, like he's letting go of that ball before Chase makes his break. You know what I mean? He's just like, I trust you. I know you're going to be where you want to be. Like we've done this a thousand times, but going back to like practice together, all that stuff. And that chemistry and that connection is not something that you can like overlook or just like, I really don't think it's like, you know, sort of just a good narrative or a good story to like, ha ha, like, oh, they're teammates.

Like it really does matter schematically in the way that you like get plays done. So it's, yeah. It's where you're saying earlier too about with Brady offense. It's like T. Higgins had like one catch in this game for like 10 yards. And there was a point there were T. Higgins, I think, almost had a touchdown. But basically the throw was like a step off. The time was a step off.

You forget that's what it's like in the NFL. Like it really comes down. oftentimes, like, can you call it? It's a dance, right? Like, when we say in offenses and rhythm, the quarterback's footwork and the receiver's footwork has to be in step to the actual step. Yeah. And Chase and Burrow have that already, even though Chase is a rookie. It's crazy. Look at this podcast. Look at the three of us. We got the chemistry. That's why it works.

It's the same thing. If we toss Kevin Clark in here in one of us please for an episode, it's not going to be the same. It's just we're going to be a step off. While we're here in this game. I'm not mad, just disappointed. Just disappointed. The referees in this Bengals Raiders game, I think that they're lucky that this game was like the first game of the weekend, but them just giving the Tyler Boyd touchdown,

even though they blew the whistle. Oh, yeah. Was ridiculous. And like, that's going to be forgotten now. But that was just a bizarre situation. Can I just say, though, that it wouldn't have mattered. Everybody's, like, losing their shit. I know that they should have replayed the down and nullified the touchdown.

Like, that was the correct call. But the whistle was blowing. like 0.4 seconds before Tyler Boyd caught the ball. Like it didn't matter. Right. Everyone's like, well, the whistle was blown so the whole Raiders defense stopped. That's not true.

The ball was like a foot away from Tyler Boyd's hands when the whistle was blown. This is like, so this is why you can't trust like I win his testimony because I sort of God when I watched the game, when I was watching the game live, it felt like the whistle blew like right when Burroughs stepped out of bounce. It did. And then he caught a pass and I was like,

what? Like, oh my God. And then when they played the replay, and maybe they doctored it. Maybe I'm just a conspiracy theorist now. Maybe they did this to like help the NFL or something. But like it literally was Craig, like you said, like right before he caught it. They blew the whistle right before he caught it was not like it happened during the play though. And you can tell because Joe Burrow is immediately being like, I didn't step at a bounce. Like the ball comes out of his hand and then Burroughs like, I didn't step out. Tyler Boyd catches the touchdown and immediately it was like, God damn it, what happened? Like he's not celebrating. And you can tell by the body language, but I'll say this.

I actually agree with Craig because as much as people were like, I can't believe the refs didn't follow the letter of the law and like didn't erase the touchdown because the refs screwed up, which is the letter of the law, is that we blew a whistle while the ball's in the air

so the play never happened because we were wrong and it's not reviewable so the play didn't happen. Like it's not good precedent for the refs to completely circumvent the rulebook and just like a sign what feels right. However, that was probably better in that case. And then honestly, I don't know, I feel like the refs just pretended that they were like,

the whistle was after the play, which is kind of what they said after the game. They literally did that. But it was better. It was better as an outcome. How much more mad would people be? How much angrier would people would be if they had been like, actually, sorry, we blew the play dead. And the Bengals don't get that touchdown. And then the Bengals lost.

Like, people would be apoplectic. Exactly. I was going to say, imagine if that was the Super Bowl and the Bengals were down. seven and they nullified that touchdown. We'd be like, this is ridiculous. People would be, people would be, people, they were like, it was a foot outside of his hands. And they're like, well, that's the rule. A letter the law.

And instead, it's been like 30 hours and people already forgot about it. So I think it's actually not the biggest thing. I couldn't remember where you were going with it at first. I was like, oh shit, I forgot about that. That was a full 24 hours to go. So yeah, okay. All right. I think that's most of wild card weekend. Again, we're doing

a green room on Monday night. Check out. We're doing after the Rams Cardinals, follow us in Twitter. If download the Green Room app, you can follow us there, or you can just log in for web browser or whatever. Just follow us in Green Room. Web browser. What year is it?

I don't know. I just click on the link. Go to the Google. To the worldwide web. Google Green Room. You'll find it. Okay. It's going to be live after the game, but we still have something to do it.

We have Burn Book. We're going to bring Burn Book back for the playoffs. My question for you is after a flawless, almost flawless. Like we went like 15 and 1, I guess 16 and 1 now in the regular season with the Burr Book. I would like to nominate Mike McCarthy for the Burn Book for Wildcard Round.

And then if you're in Dallas, you want to nominate that ref who I guess didn't run a 4-440, so that's why they lost. Is there any other nominations for Burn Book this week? I'm throwing out McCarthy. We could do the Cowboys doing it. We could just do Jerry World. Well, I had like this small inclination.

I'm not actually going to follow through with this, but like C.D. Lamb has kind of disappeared over the second half of the year. I'm not burning him because I believe in his talent and I think he's going to come back with the with the fury next year. But it's somebody on Dallas. I think we're circling it on it. I like Jerry World.

That's pretty funny. Fucking put some lines up. Burning Jerry. We're burn booking the stadium. It's inanimate object. That's our first inanimate burn. That's good. Do you guys want to recap our bets?

Well, it depends how you feel like Urban Meyer if you're saying inanimate. All right. Yeah. Let's burn burning Jerry World. Okay, yeah, our bets this week. DK, DK did good. You went three for four on your props.

Yeah, you missed the Josh Allen under. I kind of feel like I've really talked myself out of the Josh Allen thing. I'm an idiot. Like I came in thinking like he's going to be Achilles and then I said under. Why did I do that? I don't know. You literally were like,

Josh is the greatest player ever and you're like, I'm going to go under. I got to look at the show. What is this guy? I don't know. Like galaxy brained it. Anyway, Josh Allen.

Well, I also didn't really expect him to have like the greatest game. of all time. So, like, give me a break. Call yourself an expert. I did get Singletario, hit the over, Elijah Mitchell hit the over,

Joe Burrow hit the under. And then my two long shots did not hit, unfortunately. So I thought the Raiders would win. So all my money line bets for the Raiders lost. I also teased the Raiders a lot, and that did win.

So the Chiefs' Chiefs' first half thing won. Everything with the Raiders, tease one, obviously and everything, if you paired that with the bills, that did really well on Saturday. If you pair, I think I actually did both of them, being honest as you,

I tried to meddle it. So I paired the Raiders with the Bills and the Patriots. Obviously, the Patriots did not work at all. And then my Raiders, Eagles tease, I canceled because I did not end up watching the game with the Eagles fans. So that one, thank God saves me. I was to talk myself into it and was stupid. And I'm glad I didn't have to watch with the Eagles fans because that would have been terrible. I had a hot week, hot start.

I went four and O. Chiefs first half. Raders. My bills. I tried to talk you guys into my Bills, Niners. You guys didn't want any of that. That was the bed of the weekend, honestly. You're a Bill's Niners'

money line was the better weekend and I did not follow it with you. And then Chiefs minus 13, baby, never a fucking doubt. To be honest. Craig. We're doing the green room on Monday. Check us out.

It's fun. You can be in the comments. We'll bring people on stage. It's going to be a lot of fun. Follow us in the green room for Rams Cardinals. I'm excited to see how Craig handles watching his brother, Sean McVeigh, going to battle.

I certainly picked him. Yeah, you better. Okay. Thank you, everyone for listening. Thank you, Craig. Thank you, D.K. Thank you, Mike Wargon, for producing this episode. Thank you to,

I don't know, whoever built Jerry World for making East West. I don't know. It's good content. Nathan for you. Yeah, Nathan. Thank you, Nathan. Feilder. Felder. For building Jerry World.

Yeah. Thank you, Lorne. Lauren. Thank you, Bon Jovi. Oh. I thought of the first person that I could picture in Jerry World. He's on TikTok. His son, Bon Jovi's son started a winery.

Oh, wow. And he makes TikToks all the time. And I think he, like, lives with his dad or lives near his dad. So Bon Jovi's, he's like always in this kid's TikToks and he's like trying to sell his pedal his wine. Isn't, does he a part owner in an NFL team? No, he owned the a, the arena football team. You own the Philadelphia.

Oh. Wait, are you saying that John Bovie, John Bon Jovi's a Cowboys fan? No, I'm saying I could picture him doing a, like a concert in Jerry World. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's the first person you thought of selling out 100,000 seat stadium? Yeah. They played a million shows and they've rocked a ball.

Hi, Fitts, come on. Considering how old his fan base would be, how do you think it would be the Bon Jovi fans trying to run for the standing ring? Like all these old people trying to like sprint.

Living on a prayer. Great example of the Cowboys game today. Oh, my God. Oh, man. More like shot through the heart. Sleep and I'm dead. Who wants to read my script? Wait, have you seen that meme with the mask

and it's like, you know, like two people talk at each other with no masks? And it's like bad. You're like the CDC thing? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's like the best thing is like two people distance with mask. And then the absolute best thing you can say is being a mask, it's having a mask on and saying, do you want to read my screenplay?

That's like the best distancing you can get. Oh, that's funny. Goodbye, everyone.