The Ringer NFL Show - Wild-Weather-Card Weekend, Belichick’s Next Home, and Underdog Playoff Narratives

Episode Date: January 12, 2024

The guys are here to talk about Pete Carroll stories, the Patriots’ split with Bill Belichick, Stafford vs. Goff, giving Matt LaFleur his fleurs (flowers), the coldest game in years, and much more (1:10). “You guys want to do some emails?” (53:16) Email us! [e-mail] The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please check out theringer.com/RG to find out more or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Hosts: Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, and Craig Horlbeck Social: Kiera Givens and Jack Sanders Producer: Kai Grady Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Did Don Draper really buy the world of Coke? Did Tony Soprano really die? Or just order more onion rings? The finales of our favorite shows can make us argue, make us cry, and make us crazy. From Spotify and the Ringer, I'm Andy Greenwald, and this is Stick the Landing, a new podcast where we'll be telling the story of modern TV backwards, one fade out at a time. Find Stick the Landing on Wednesdays on the prestige TV feed, on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. A fantasy football show. My name is Danny Hypertz.

joined by Dating Kelly, Craig Quarvick. Oh, the cat just left. He was on the lap. It's okay. All right, we have previewing the Wild Card Round weekend. I'll never call it Super Wild Card Round. I would die. Do it.

Previewing Wild Card Weekend. We have emails at the end following up on a couple of, emails. We're going to get to Wild Cards. We're going to just rank the games here, like 1 to 6, you know, just like which games are good, which are not. First, Deakin I did an emergency Pete Carroll podcast because B. Carroll's fired. Nick Sabin retired during that show.

And then after that show, we posted it. then Bill Belichick actually left the Patriots. So we just had like a nice, neat, okay, like end of that whole era of football, just like nice neat. They wrapped it all up at once. So we'll get to Belichick, but Craig, you missed the Pete Carroll show that we did. We don't have to rehash all of it. I listened to it.

You did? Yeah, of course. Thanks, man. Check out the piece at the Ringer that D.K. wrote. But Craig, you actually produced the Flying Coach podcast we did here at the Ringer with Steve Kerr and Pete Carroll. Yeah, Steve Kerr, another coach that might be on the chopping block based on the way the season's going for the Warriors. But yeah, season one was with Steve Kerr and Pete Carroll.

Season two is with Sean McBey and Peter Schrager. First of all, I listened because I always listen if I'm not on the show. But also, I just, I love hearing D.K. talk about the Seahawks. I genuinely do. There was a work project I was doing a little bit ago, and I had to learn more about the Seahawks and research about the Seahawks. And it was lovely to talk to D.K., because he just knew so much. And he sent me out of these cool articles. And he also recommended I read Pete Carroll's book.

so I read it. Yeah. The one he wrote in 2010. It's called Win Forever, I believe. I listened to it on the, I listened to the audiobook, full disclosure. So you digested the book. I digested the book.

The words are in your brain. Yeah. But you know what's funny about Pete Carroll is like, he's like, you know how your parents tell you the same thing over and over and you're like, shut up, mom, shut up dad? Yes. This is so old-timey. I'm never going to use this.

And then you're like 15 years. go by and then something happens in your life and you go, wow, my mom was right or wow, my dad was right. Oh, that point, that lesson that they were trying to instill in me actually make sense. That's kind of like who Pete Carroll is where he sounds like a like an old school cartoon. But then when you actually like, it's like you need you need the rungs on the tree trunk of life to actually understand more. And I'm not, it's not like I'm 50 years old, but like I'm already starting to understand what he was talking about based on the book. And my one example is, and this is so hokey.

I play in a rec basketball league with some former ringer guys and other dudes. And it's like an organized basketball league, whatever. And our team is fine. We actually won the title last year. Nobody do. But flex. Shouts out, Colin Orcutt, Jackson Safon.

But sometimes, you know, it's like if you play a team that's really, really good, sometimes you lose by a lot. And there was one game where we were getting, it was a tight game. And I was thinking to myself, I was like, man, for once can we ever just win by like 20? Like, wouldn't that be nice?

And then I thought back to this line from Pete Carroll's book where he was like, you should be happy if it's a close game. You know why? You should be happy if you're losing because that means the other team is giving you the opportunity to compete at the highest level. And I was just like, holy shit. Like, this is kind of cool. Like the game is tight.

And that means that we have to try our absolute hardest and perform at our absolute peak and be the best we can be. And if you're up 20, like, what's the fun in that? And I was like, wow, Pete Carroll, he's rubbing off on me. Wow. I bet you Pete would love if you told him that, by the way. You should reach out to him. And I like literally now I'm like, it's fun to be down 10.

It's fun when the game is tight. And that's actually better than being up 20. That's so funny. Because so I wrote this article last night. I kind of, I stayed up to like 3.30 in the morning just like pouring over my old articles and rereading stuff and re-like listening to old interviews with Pete Carroll. I have like all these interviews. I think I love Pete Carroll.

How was it when you had to do all his email attachments for the audio for the show. Yeah, as well, Pete is not the most technology savvy guy. He never competed with the whole technology thing. No. He was competing. He just lost. He was competing.

He was trying his damnedest to figure out. By the way, the final score, it's not about the final score. It's about competing and striving to be the best. If you are in this pursuit, then you're already winning. An email was up 20. Pete Carroll. And email was always up 20. You know, but that's like a metaphor because you always have like 30 emails in

your box, you know? You're never just going to catch up with the emails. No, man, we used to spend just as long after the recording as we would during the recording, kind of figuring out how to like send the emails, like send the audio. Look, he doesn't need to know that. He's not an audio guy. He's not a tech guy, nor does he need to be. But the files are in the computer. Pete was always super professional, super nice as with Steve Kerr. But it was, I spent so much more time with Pete Carroll because we'd be on, we'd be on FaceTime just the two of us for like an hour every single, like twice a week. Like talking, figuring it out, like his wife was there. She was annoyed that this was taking so long.

This is him competing. He's competing his ass off to do this podcast. You guys said that I have the random stories. Craig FaceTime with Pete Carroll for an hour for like 10 weeks in a row, like talking to his wife. Craig going to Sean McVeigh's house to help set up podcast stuff. I love those guys. I mean, you guys went through it.

You formed a bond. I know. But yes, I was going back through all like the old interviews and like watching interviews of him after the Seahawks won the Super Bowl, getting kind of nostalgic. And the more I was thinking about it, like, the more mad I was at the Seahawks for firing him, just because it was like it feels like they're firing your dad or something. You know what I mean? It's like, he has been truly like a formative influence in my life.

Like, Craig, I was telling you this off air. You know, like I try to incorporate some of like the Win Forever philosophies. And by the way, it's like, Win Forever is an amalgamation of a lot of different philosophies over the years. Like he was heavily influenced by John Wooden, Bill Warren. Walsh, Bud Grant, like all the people that taught him. You know, and so it's, it's not like he's necessarily like thinking up everything brand new, but like the way that he kind of encapsulates it, I thought, was, you know, really, like, impactful. And so like you, you watch that press conference again, Hyvinson and I said this yesterday,

go watch his press conference because it's just really, it was kind of a powerful thing. And it was like, I feel like I've never seen a press conference from a guy who got fired like that. You know what I mean? Like, that was like really bizarre. You know, you know the end of Remember the Titans. and how by the end you're like, I could literally run through three feet of brick. I don't think he doesn't.

I've never seen it, but yes, I know what you're saying. Pete Carroll is if like that feeling was a person. Yeah. 100%. You saw so many of this former Seahawks tweeting yesterday and today, like all this stuff about how he really changed them as like men.

You know what I mean? Like he was a great coach, of course, and they won a lot of games. But like the way that he influenced him as men, this is just like, do you guys think Belichick had that same influence on, on the human aspect of the game?

Yes and no. I think that people... Very differently. Differently. I think a lot of players are trying to go out of the way to say that Belichick was a lot more human than P. K.kare...

Then he gets portrayed as in the media and that Belichick was basically like they could have cut me because I was overweight, but Belichick put me on a weight regimen plan without me knowing, sent me to North Carolina, checked in on me every single week and like no one talks about that. So that was interesting.

But yeah, so Belichick also had a press conference today. Did he send him to North Carolina by foot? Because that would do the trick. It's true. Made him walk there. Where am I going, coach? Yeah, I go. Remember the Titans.

Just run. 5,280 feet. You go run every one of them. Belichick also is done with the Patriots. They did another press conference that was like, he did open with the joke. Pelichick did open with the joke. And he was like, I haven't seen this many cameras since Tintiba was here. Yeah, it was pretty funny.

He laughed. Yeah, he had some like good timing with it. It was like one of the more like down-to-earth moments I've really seen. Is he going to be, is he going to take the Brady track and all of a sudden be very funny after leaving the Patriots? Like, was this just about being in the Patriots building? Did you have to be like a complete like stoic a hole to everybody? I don't know why, but in my mind, I feel like Belichick has like, has had four things on his desk

for like 20 years and packing up his office will take like eight minutes. Like I feel like there's just like nothing in there. There's like one mug in the cupboard. Do you think he uses a computer? No. No. I literally think he's going to put a stapler and scissors in a, and a, box and then walk out.

Dude, Nick Saban did not use email until 2019. Like that is, like, confirmed. Yeah, Belichick's bringing like, yeah, weird tech. He probably has like an actual calculator he likes to use. With like the little roll of paper in it, you know, that like scrolls out. Yes. I love that when I was kid. It's like an antique.

Like a toy. Justin Sales wrote an incredible story in Belichick for the ringer that if you want to read, you can check out. Did he write that yesterday? Because Jesus. What an amazing beat. It's really good. he wrote it so quickly it was incredible no he wrote he got to he had a little bit pre-written sure yeah the belichick thing just for 24 years i'm 28 years old like the belichick era

big get out of here the belichick era is more or less the entire time that i have memories as a person like it's kind of like how many things in life last a quarter century not many what year did he take the job in 2000 2000 yeah so i mean it's insane but just a couple just to try to summarize Literally, like Kai's entire life has been the Belichick. Kyi knows no other Patriots. Yeah. I mean, I don't either. But yeah.

I don't remember the Pete Carroll. Wasn't Pete Carroll the coach before Belichick? I think two removed, but... Close. Carol was a coach of the Patriots, but I don't think they were concurred. It's like 97 or 98 maybe? Yeah. It's too long ago.

No one knows. Lost to time. Ancient history. Belichick's boat is called eight rings, which I think is incredible. It's with the Roman numerals, too, because he has eight Super Bowls. People also forget that he just coached Lawrence Taylor, who's casually like the greatest defensive player ever. Belichick Brady, the Belichick Brady Patriots at one point

117 out of 18 AFC East titles, which is 94%, which is what better than Steph Curry shoots from the free throw line. So that's pretty incredible. Way better than LeBron shoots at the line. A lot better. Belichick coached in more Super Bowers and Vince Lombardi coached for seasons. Belichick coached a more final fours than Bill Walsh coached in seasons. Belch. And then sales had this great one.

Belich had earned more first round buys then 12 different NFL teams have total postseason wins, which I think is pretty incredible. I always liked Bill's idea that a buy should count as a win towards your record. Bill Simmons, sorry. Yeah, yeah. That's 100% should be a thing because it functionally is the same thing. So, look, Bill Belichick, he's a good coach.

You guys know that. I think the question is he's 70, what, he's 71, right? And obviously, he's old. Pete Carroll's the oldest coach in the NFL and, like, perhaps is out of touch as much as we love the culture stuff. Nick Sabin just retired 71. or whatever age he is because he just basically can't keep this up anymore

at the level he wanted to. That's what he said. And so Belichick seems like, Bobcraft said Belichick's going to keep coaching. Is there like any, like as much as the Patriots have not been great in the last five years, D.K., is there any reason that like,

you shouldn't just hire this guy? Like, why would you take the chance that somebody else could do a better job than this guy who is basically the best coach either ever or since Paul Brown like 80 years ago? Like just hire Bill Belichick. And if it doesn't work, whatever. But like, how could you possibly

find someone will qualify for this? Right. No, yes, I agree. Like, there's like some disagreement. It feels like that he's a good coach, which Because he's 71 and like, yeah, Howard. I get the argument, but yeah. Yeah, go hire him. This is like a no-brainer to me.

I feel like I've been saying it a while. You know, I still think even past the coaching thing. Like the edges that he brings in coaching, like strategically, you know, the rules. like, hi, Vince, we, Craig and I can play about this all the time. There's too many rules in football. No one knows the rulebook better than Bill Belichick.

He's the best, he's a lawyer, basically. He's made more, he's exploited the rules and the loopholes in the rulebook more than any other coach by like threefold. Like no one else even thinks to do it essentially. And Bill Belichick is like in the lab reading his printout, physical copy of the NFL rule book, you know?

And so, I don't know, like, yes, obviously they have, done well lately, like this Patriots team this season was an absolute disaster. I think there is question marks about how he hires his staff. And I think that might be something that scares teams away a little bit or at least gives them pause because of the way that he's like kind of only done like cronyism and things like that over the last few years. But yeah, at the end of the day, I mean, I think his track record speaks for itself, you know, even with the Brady thing.

If he wanted to, Craig, if he wanted to bring in like Josh McDaniels and Bat Patricious as two coordinators on offensive defense, would you be like, yeah, let's do this. See, that's where I start to be like... Honestly, probably not. Yeah. Yeah, that would be a problem, would it? Yeah, I think you'd have to kind of get him to hopefully progress a little bit and, like, open up, open up his worldview in terms of like who he can hire and whatnot. I also think that, like, I think it makes sense for him to go to a team that's already halfway there and then he can use his skills and, you know, all that to like get you to make the leap.

Like, to me, him going to like a Carolina makes no sense. Like, he should not go to a shitty team. he should be going to a team like Atlanta or a team that's already at 500 that he just takes to get over the level. What about the charges? The charges is a great one. Like a talented team with a good quarterback that like he can get in and like change the culture behind it because the talent's there.

And it's hard for any coach no matter how good you are to step in and make a terrible team good. I mean, that that's something that would take a really long time. And it's like he's almost, it's like he needs to go. When old people, you know, old people like move to Florida in their latter years, like he needs like the football version of that where it's like he needs to go somewhere where it's like it's it's kind of always sunny you know the weather's warm it's a little easier he lives in a one story house now he doesn't have to go up and down the stairs like he needs the team version of that oh my yeah i think jason herbert would do a lot for that just the quarterback who does whatever you want yeah i think that's a

good idea it's a little similar i think the way that we talk about rookie quarterbacks coming into the league it's like for a guy like belich who is so old and um probably not wanting to stick around for like 10 plus years or whatever however long it takes to build a team three, four years. You know, getting in where he can, like, winning in the margins has been like a big motto of theirs for a long time. I think like he's the type of guy who can win in the margins

and really elevate an already middling to decently good team, but rebuilding from the ground up, like. You know, it's like Pete Carroll said win forever. At this age of your life, it's like, maybe it's like win now. Win for a little while. So what else said that for Nick Savin,

like Nick Sabin should basically just do a TV show where it's like bar rescue, but he just goes to like Rutgers for a week. It just like like it would be an incredible like Nick Saban, Belichick just like pop in. Dude, that's a great TV show. They're on the road just going to different front offices. Eating at Zaxby's and checking in on the falchings. Why do you have the dining room set up this way? You got to fit so many more people in here if you like change up the seat.

That's such a good idea. A road trip, a road trip series with the two of them. Coaches and cars getting coffee. you do that's exactly oh just saving Belichick in a dash cam and they're trying to use phones they have an actual map that they use to drive can you imagine the conversations

so like so completely different than the Jerry Seinfeld vibes hold on real quick hyphen yesterday you were talking about like the death pact or whatever that Bill Belichick and Nick Savin made you know what I was thinking of you know how Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died on the same day

I did not know that Like these guys like obviously, you know, founding fathers, everything they did in their life, like crazy amounts of like. Goats. Diplomacy. Yeah. Like obviously. So it's the country. And then they stayed good friends throughout their life.

They were like pen pals, all that shit. And then they died on the same day. Wild. Anyways, that's, that was my. That's like the end of the notebook. Yeah. They're not dead. You know.

Oh, God. Spoiler. I haven't seen that. Well. Shit. All right. They die together. Spoiler. That movie came out 20 years ago.

The playbook. That movie came out when Bill Belichick first got hired. Let's get to Wild Card Weekend. Dude. Super Wildcard weekend. Literally, I'll never say it. You know what I hate about it the most to call it at that? It's so corporate to be like, what should we need, want to rebrand it.

We want to make it bigger. And they settle on the only other adjective they ever used ever. They're like, I guess super's worth. pretty good for us with the whole bowl thing. Why don't we just try that again? It's like SpongeBob. It's like super weeny Hut Wednesdays. Just like there's so many other words.

I like how Craig said hyphets. It's like obviously, I'm not going to get it. Anyway, we rank the games and we're the ranks we want to want in the order we're like we care about them. So, D.K. start. We have the Rams Lions. Wow, you really sold it there. I was in the middle of it. It is the best game of.

Wild Card weekend. This is a super matchup. Yeah. It is, this one's good. Rams lines. So Matt Stafford's like the best quarterback in lines history. And then you have the trade. I mean,

I, is he also the best quarterback in Rams history? Norm Van Brocklin is the, you know, the 50s legend. Well, Kurt Warner. I was going to say Kurt Warner probably.

Peak versus, he hasn't been there long enough, but even Kurt Warner wasn't there for that long, frankly. It's funny that we're even having this discussion because there's so many Matt Stafford haters out there. They're probably like,

what the fuck are you talking about? I feel like that's not, real life, frankly. I've talked to people. Who hates Matthew Stafford? D.K's out there. Wait, this is interesting. Who hates Matthew Stafford? I mean... Name names.

No. I'm not going to do it. He's like Jeremy Johnson. You don't know. He goes to a different school. I love that he just started naming people. He's like, my friend. Dude, Stephen A. Smith with Jason Whitlock. He's like, I'm going to name names. We should start a pot. Did you watch that?

To be honest, I don't care about Jason. That's fine. But he started... It's just the entertainment. He started the... the video with... He started the video with an apology to like, I would like to apologize to my family for what about to do. Before this episode began, I called my pastor

and I apologized to him and the Lord for what was, what is about to transpire. And I was like, we should open a show like that once. And then he was like, Jason Whitlock, you're a fat bitch. And you're like, okay. That's unbelievable. Anyway.

This is ESPN now, I guess. Yeah, I know. But he tweeted out, I'm about to talk about this fat. mastered my friends text and they were like, oh my God, he's talking about Zion. And like, they were 100% serious. People were like, who is he going to be? Anyway, Rams Lions.

So, I mean, obviously, how many games in NFL, playoff games in NFL history of the two quarterbacks been traded for one another. I think it's one of the best win-win trades ever. Matt Stafford, I mean, immediately won the Super Bowl at the Rams. Jared Goff is now on like the best Lions team of the last 30 years. So obviously, you know, both sides pretty happy with the deal. But Craig, what did you say? Sunday. It's like, it's like a stepdad versus your real dad. You know, your mom got,

your mom left your husband, whatever, and Matt Stafer comes in. He's like cooler, has more money, gets you better Christmas gifts. You get a nicer house. But then like golf is like, you to get court side tickets to stuff. Yeah, but like you're never going to forget your real dad. Like he was the one who like, you know, and that's golf. You're real dad. Stafford's not the stepfather. He's the father. He's the father stepped up. This is the greatest analogy of all time. I got to say the vibes are so good for Detroit. They're also good for the Rams, I would say.

But I'm much more nervous for Detroit if they lose this game because I think the Rams won a Super Bowl, what, two, two, three years ago. And they're still in kind of gravy range where it's like, look, we just won. And we didn't even think we were going to make the playoffs. No, they're like rebuilding. I mean, Cousin Sal bet them to have the worst record in the league this year. I thought they would be out of the playoffs as well. Hyphins, when we were talking about them before the season, they're starting, they had like 30 undrafted free agents on their roster to start the year.

So it's like, it's truly a great, great accomplishment from McVeigh and his staff to have sort of transformed this team and turned them into a playoff contender. I think honestly, truly going back to the Pete Carroll thing, the fact that the Rams are so competitive. And so like, like, you know, not bad on defense was like a reason Carol got fired because the CX have made all these, you know, investments and draft picks and trades and big money contracts on all these defensive players and they can't they have the worst defense in the NFL or one of them. It's not X's and O's, DK., it's Jim's and Joe's.

The Rams success is the Seahawks failure. McVeigh should probably be in the running for Coach of the Year if you really get down to it. I mean, Cooper Cup was basically hobbled half this year and the offense has been really good with Puka, Nukua, Kyron Williams, 2-2 Atwell, and Matt Stafford who had no what neck surgery in the off-season? People were talking about him retiring this off-season. Like out of necessity.

Like out of necessity. talking about. All right. So you know how my thing with the MVP is the reason MVP debates are annoying is there aren't enough awards. So we're trying to include all these non-MVP factors in the award inevitably. Coach of the year is similar where it's like coach of the year. It's going to go to Kevin Stavansky. It's hard to argue against. But it's like it's just the team that you improved. Yeah, at least expected it. This year, I guess without Watson, but it's usually like the team that you're most surprised by. We need like comeback coach of the year or something. Yeah, it's just, I don't know what to do it. But the most consistent coach. I mean, the first,

fact that Bill Belichick didn't really win coach of the year is kind of like proof that I think it's the coach of the year's Lobanu trophy. They should literally just give an award to like whoever at the lowest win, whoever exceeded their win total the most just gets an award. Or money, yeah. It feels like we're going in that direction, Craig. For this game, I think those are called incentives. For this game, Rams Lions, I think that Bill Barnwell had a great comedy span and something he pointed out that was kind of on the nose about the key to this game, I think is Stafford versus the Blitz. If you don't blitz Matt Stafford this season in total quarterback rating, Stafford's the number of number one quarterback in the NFL,

highest quarterback rating in the league against the Blitz. So he's basically like better than Mahomes, right? Better than, better than Lamar. When they do Blitz or? Sorry. When they don't blitz, number one.

Okay. Yeah. He's Mahomes, basically. When they do blitz, Stafford, he's 27th. He's like,

Kenny Pickett. 27th in the league. So it seems like a no brain. Yeah. So it's like, yeah. Pretty huge disparity. So I think that basically the lot,

like whether Stafford can get the ball up quickly. Like basically if two, if like three seconds, you get the three Mississippi consistently, the Rams might lose. And if the Stafford's getting it out before three Mississippi,

the Rams probably have the edge because Barlow made a great point that basically the Lions defense is much worse if you attack them quickly, but the later into the down it gets, the more it falls into the defense's hands. So I think that's a pretty good framework to how to look at this game.

I just feel like the Lions have so much goodwill, and I think the fans are so desperate for this team to go somewhere. and this is like a really tough draw for them, to be honest. Sam Leporta, their tight end being hurt. He didn't practice today. Thursday, it was reported. And he's got like a hyper-extended knee. If he doesn't play, I mean, he's kind of their X factor offensively.

I mean, if he's not out there, it's pretty much just a Monroast St. Brown in the passing game. And then I would expect them to just try to run the shit out of the ball on L.A. But Rams are getting three points right now and are a bit healthier. And this game's going to be in a dome. And I don't know. you know, I think this game is going to be genuinely very close. I think this will be the best game of the week.

The other thing I want to just watch ahead of time, I'm very curious how the Lions do emotionally, because Dan Campbell's an emotional leader, and it's all downstream, and they're an emotional team, and they're a young team. And I think that as you get into the playoffs, your emotions can power you, but the reality is emotions can cut both ways

when you're playing like that. And one of the coolest interviews I've ever done was I got to, interviewed Tim Grover, who was Michael Jordan's trainer for like a decade. And then the only recommendation Michael Jordan ever made in his career was he gave, essentially, when he retired Tim Grover to Kobe Bryant. And so this guy coached over like 15 years like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. And one of the most interesting things he told me that stuck with me is he hates when teams come out of the tunnel. Ra, rah, like, uh.

And he just, it's also so flippantly, he was like adrenaline. He's like adrenaline in last 20 minutes. And he just said it's so catchy. but it reminded me if how Tom Brady would be super calm during coming out in the Super Bowl and Supercom at halftime because it's so long. And I really am interested. I feel like Dan Campbell's going to have the line so hyped up,

voice crack, that I'm curious how such an emotional game if they can carry it throughout. Because frankly, Sean McVeigh, as much as he's a good play caller, isn't always the best in-game manager of timeouts and things. And that, if anything, should be an edge for Detroit. But we just saw them go for an extra point,

even though when it got the five-yard penalty, they'll, screw it, we're going for two points anyway. And I think keeping their head and thinking strategically, because McVeigh is so focused on the offense, should be an edge for Detroit. And if they don't take advantage of that, I think it's a huge problem. Before we move on, if you guys had to bet, let's bet the spread here.

The Rams are getting three points. The lines are laying three. Where would you go? Everything I just said, I kind of think the Rams have been there before, and I think you can't overrate that with Stafford and McVeigh is that they just have been in so many of these moments, so many more. I agree. I think I would take Rams with the points.

Man, this one's so close. I actually, like, really like the Rams. I think that they are, I don't know, the way that they kind of like lean on their superstar players and they have like some guys that have been there and done this so many times. I think we'll give them edge, but at the end of the day, I'm going lions. All right. So the next game we have here, we have Packers Cowboys. This is an incredible game. There's also such a crazy history for the Cowboys and Packers in this rival. We actually recorded this on Thursday, January 11th.

I believe today is nine years to the date. Of the Despera tweet of the Desk caught it. Oh, yeah. Controversy. So is that the last time they played in the playoffs? So they played the Cowboys were limited by the Packers in the division around of the 2014. You know how like this is 2024, but it's the 2020 season. So I'll say the name of the season just as simply.

The 2014 season, the Packers beat the division around the Cowboys 26 to 21. And the Packers had six points in the fourth quarter. And so they also eliminated the Cowboys in the 2016 season, also in the divisional round, that time by a field goal. And the Cowboys actually, I think they came back in the fourth quarter, but it wasn't enough. And it's like, in Mike McCarthy, frankly, in part got the coach job for the Cowboys because he beat the Cowboys in the playoffs as the Packers had coached twice. Yeah. And I think that was a large reason he was able to get the job. but there's so much history here, but I,

I don't want to overplay the Mike McCarthy rivalry reverse Green Bay like at those five years ago at this point, but I do think it's just incredible that really, I think there's so much pressure on, frankly, on Dallas to win this game. There's such a pressure disparity here because the Lions are a young team, but they have expectations. The Packers are the youngest team to make the playoffs in 50 years. Like the 74 bills with the last team this young.

The Packers are 25 years young on average on offense. And then so it's like, this is all great. this is supposed to be a transition year. Then you got the Cowboys where it's like they haven't made a championship game, the final four since, almost since Craig and I were like in preschool. It's just such a massive disparity in expectations that I don't know. I wonder about it.

Especially with this year with how good Dallas has been, Dak being an MVP guy. This game feels very March Madnessy to me where it's like the juggernaut historic team going up against like the plucky 12 seat. It's like if Duke was in the elite eight against like loyal or Chicago or something. And it's like Duke has everything to lose in this. game and Loyola Chicago has nothing. And even though the spread is what the spread is,

there's that moment. There's that inflection point in the game where it's like, if this game gets within six points, I'm talking in basketball terms or something where it's just like a second half, if Lehi could just hang on, like, things start to tense up, you know, when it's too close for too long, the puck or factor of the favorite,

the heavy favorite, it always starts to get a little dice. You want to get up early because if you don't get up and get a lead early, things start to change. The vibe and the building starts to change. and I think there's a chance of that in this game. I think that's a great point because the Cowboys, you know,

they get the two seed that win the division, but like all those fans, the Cowboys fans do think it's different this year. But we're coming off two seasons where they both just lost to the Niners two years in a row with essentially Mike McCarthy brain farting, DAC brain farting, like being unprepared. And you're right that if the Packers take a lead, the mood of the crowd is, I don't know how much resiliency is no offense to Cowboys fans, but I think they know we're talking about where it's like,

I think beneath the surface, there is a lot of same old cowboys if they were down 10 at half time I think the Cowboys will win because their pass rush is really good and I think the defense will overwhelm but Jordan loves played really well

Packers defense is kind of an issue in this game, right? That's why I think they'll lose. Joe Barrett, we don't talk about them enough but it's kind of like how Dan Snyder sold the commanders and now it's like

is it David Tepper or for the Panthers and Michael Binwellas Cardinals is the worst down in the week. Like now that Matt Canada has been fired for the Steelers. Joe Barry is the defense of the Packers.

Joe Barry is the Matt candidate of defense. Like, this is the guy who put a defensive end one-on-one with Justin Jefferson last year. Yeah, I see so many Packers fans just complaining about him all the time. It's hilarious. It's like the Seth Myers joke. He's like, if the opposing, if like the average fan knows the name of your coordinator for the, for a, because he's bad. Like, that's how you know we're at like a next, a new level.

Catastrophe. Yeah. So I think that, I think that's why Green Bay will lose. I actually think Jordan Love, look, he can implode for Dallas. They're good. But I kind of think Jordan Love will hold his, his own. but the Packers defense is going to be shredded in the middle of the field. I think the middle of the Packers defense has no chance for C.D. Lamb.

So I also do C.D. Lam overs and everything. Real quick. I wanted to give Matt Lafleur his flurs, if you will, his flowers. Lefleur. I think last year, sometime in the offseason, I said this on our pot. I was basically like, look, it was hard to, it was hard to separate Matt Leflur from Aaron Rogers of the last couple of years. Obviously, they've won a ton of games in Green Bay with Aaron Rogers,

won a couple of MVP's Aaron Rogers did. And I think there was like this big question mark and restraint from people of like naming Matt Lafleur like this great wonderkind coach, you know? And I said at the time, I'm like, if he turns Jordan Love into like a top tier quarterback, like we got to tell,

we gotta say he's like one of the best coaches in the NFL period. Like he needs to be he needs to be talked about in the same breath as Sean McBay and not necessarily Kyle Shaniken because Shanahan's done it longer. But like he needs to be talked about in that top tier of like wonderkind offensive play callers, like the guru guys, the geniuses.

Yo, on that note, DK, all-win percentage, this is just regular season, all-time win percentage, NFL history. Matt Fleur is 68%, that's 11th. He's behind Don Shula, who has the all-time wins record. And he's the head of Paul Brown, who's the only guy who might be better, who Bill Belichick would say is the best coach ever as Paul Brown.

He's sandwiched between two of the best four coaches in NFL history. He has the highest winning percentage of any active coach. Jim Harbaugh is technically higher, and he might be coming back, so that could be over in a minute here. But, yeah, I mean, like, it's pretty incredible what he's done. And I feel like it's really strange how we don't really talk about him in that same manner yet.

Because I think there was just always this impression that it was like Rogers was the one driving that ship. When you say any active coach, that includes Bill Belichick. Matt Lefler's career winning percentage in the Redmond season is higher than Bill Belichick. He's 56 and 27 as a head coach. That's so hard to do. So yeah, I mean, I just wanted to give him some recognition here. Obviously, what he's done with such a young team is really exciting. if their defense was better, I think I'd be more excited about this team.

On offense, they kind of remind me a little bit of like the 2012 Seahawks who were like a really plucky team that got really hot in the late part of the season, like blew a bunch of teams out and then like made some noise in the playoffs. Like probably should have gone to the NFC championship game, but they they lost to the Falcons who eventually went to the Super Bowl. They kind of have that vibe of like this young up and coming team in the NFC that's like ready to make some noise but might just be like a year away kind of deal. but their defense just, they got to get it fixed.

So next game here, we have number three of the Chiefs Dolphins. Chiefs, well, Miami Dolphins are at Kansas City. Two things for this game. One, the Dolphins are just banged up, right? Like they're missing half their defense, basically. Their top three edge rushers, Jerome Baker said, you know, one of their top two linebackers, they're down Zavion Howard, a top two quarterback.

Like half your defense, not your thing. Never mind, Rahimost or Jalen Waddle. However, worse. The projected temperature, so this game is, so on Saturday night, it's at 830 Eastern, I believe on Saturday. It is projected last I saw it to be negative six degrees in Kansas City. And when I say that, I do not mean with windshield.

I will double check this right now. But that's not negative six. Like zero feels like negative six. It is negative six degrees is the temperature. Then there's also a wind chill. Like to be that. They're playing Miami. Last year in 2022.

Miami has to go to town. a year span, the dolphins have played a game that was 130 degrees warmer than this. That is so insane. What the hell? Oh, my gosh. I don't, I don't, like, honestly, this is, this goes back to what I said a couple shows ago about how, like, the dolphins are the F-35, like, like, this high-fly supersonic, you know, stealth fighter that can fucking beat anybody, but they just can't fly

in the rain? Like, can they, can they operate? Can they do what they want to do in this temperature is the big question? I don't think anything. can operate at negative six degrees. Like what? You're not supposed to drive at negative six degrees. I do think that they can run the ball though.

Like I think I've still given them a shot in this game because I think they'll be able to run it. I don't think the chiefs are particularly strong in the run game. And so that could be the way that they win this. But like it does worry me just the fact that their literal team is from Miami. But also like Tua is talking about not wearing gloves in this game. Like I don't know. It feels a little bit ominous.

Oh, I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. Sorry. It's not negative six. It's worse. It's negative eight. Oh.

Dude, that's... It's all numb by then. You know, there's no difference. Negative six and negative eight. Dude, the Giants Packers game, the Ice Bowl where Coughlin was like red as a... Yeah. Yeah, where he was just so red.

And the Giants' offensive line came out without sleeves. And that was sick, but also probably a terrible idea. What was the temperature in that game? It fits, do you know? Windchill negative 23. I don't know what the real one was. What's the coldest you guys have ever been in? I went to the Steelers Raiders game last year that was negative 2 with the windchill negative 7,

negative 11. But even that was a coldest, like zero with it felt like negative seven negative eight actual negative eight is insane yeah i've never been in sub-zero temperatures i've probably been in like feels like wind chill around zero but that's probably the most um you know i i think so like it's it's very hard watching the game on tv if you haven't really experienced that level of cold i feel like i i grew up in omaha or sorry i was born in omaha i lived there for four years so i went back there a couple times and i've experienced like the Midwest cold.

Like there was like negative 20 at the time. I don't really remember exactly what it felt like. There's been a few years, Hyphitz, where you and I have gone to the combine in Indianapolis. And there was one in particular, one year, a couple years ago where they had this massive winter storm rolled in.

And it was like, I don't even know what it was. It was below zero. And you go outside, it hurts. I don't think you realize like it hurts your skin. It's like a weird, why does this hurt me so much?

It's hurting me. There's a guy on. Have you seen the guy in TikTok? And he's living in Antarctica or he studies down there, he works down there, and he will walk outside for like 15 minutes at a time and film himself. It's like negative 75 degrees.

That's fucked up. And he'll like... His skin gets all fucked up, I'm sure. I mean, he's literally like, I can go out there for about 15 seconds before I have to like run back in. But he'll just like run out and he'll like bring a beach towel and the second he like opens it,

it becomes stiff as like... Dude, I love those videos that people in like Minnesota to do of when it gets really cold where they take a bucket of water and walk out and throw it and it becomes ice in the middle. The Antarctica though, that's good content. But I don't know, my point is like

when you look at these guys, like, I don't think people realize like how much it's just literally, it's not like, oh, this is really cold. This is so cold. It like, no, you're right. It hurts and hurts and also your body stops working. And like it's actually worse for the players you don't play. Like, at least if you're moving, like you're moving your body.

But like your fingers, like it really is harder like you're hard to move your fingers when you're Your finger stopped working. The blood leaves your extremities. Yeah. So on that note, I think it's, I'm very interesting how Mike McDaniel does. I think Mike McDaniel's in this bubble of he's just beloved right now. And it's, you know, it's like everything else in life, you know, you get famous.

And then people kind of tear you down. And like anyone who gets popular, eventually people kind of start to criticize you. And Mike McDaniel is not there yet. I still think, too, it would get criticized before him. But I think if Mike McDaniel and the dolphins were to win this game, I feel like it would be such an incredible feather in his cap. But I think you're right, D.K., like the dolphins. Mike if Mike McDaniel gets credit for stuff, it's he's marrying all these insane passing concepts with like,

he really believes in running the ball and being physical. And like, this is the game where I do, they're going to have to win with, because we don't even know what the wind is going to be like that. Mostard, I think is still kind of questionable for this game. But, you know,

obviously I think it's going to have to be a big Mostor and A. A. Chan game for them to win. Tough game for Tua. Let's be real here. Yeah, it's tough circumstances. Tua. So, I mean, Tua is from Hawaii, went to college in Alabama and played for.

football in Florida. So, I mean, I'm sure he's played in the cold before, but yeah, this is something totally different. It is weird that this game, like, you're like, wow, it's going to be like negative six degrees. Like, this is a, this is best case scenario for like the Chiefs offense and Patrick Mahomes, but that weirdly is the case because I think these offense are going to really struggle with this weather. And then the chiefs are just like better to me at the defensive and offensive line,

especially with all the injuries Miami has. Right, right. Speaking of weird weather, fourth here. Sure. We have Steelers bills, which Weatherman Craig. So the weather in this game, so this game's in Buffalo,

and there's a winter storm watch it's been issued for Sunday. Wind gusts as high as 65 miles per hour. 65? Is that like technically like a hurricane? I think that's hurricane level. How do you get to a technical hurricane? I'm going to look this up.

There's going to be heavy lake effects snow, which I had to look that up. It's essentially like cold weather, cold air comes down from Canada over the Great Lakes and turns into snow. I don't like what I hear of Lake effect. Yeah, Lake effects terrible. Like effect is scary. That's a scary term.

Hurricane wins. Category 1, which is the lowest, begins at 74. So we're talking just sub-hurricane level wins. So the total for this game was started at 43. It's now 35 and a half. And that's like the biggest drop I've ever heard for total. And the bills are 10 point favorite.

and the total is only 35 and a half. So if that holds, the Steelers will have the lowest implied team total of any playoff team since the NFL expanded to 32 teams in 2002. Fuck. I mean, that seems pretty right, though, right? Yes.

It's going to be up to seven inches of snow. I was reading weather reports. I 100% agree, though. The reports are that travel could be very difficult to impossible over the weekend. but this is like kind of weirdly best case scenario for the Steelers because it's like Josh Allen If this game were in a dome they would lose 38 to 13

But now that you can like slog it down The Steelers have actually been able to run the ball With Najee and Warren like over the last half of the season So to me best this is like the game's 10 to 6 in the fourth quarter And like the Steelers have a shot And Josh Allen has a couple dumb turnovers And like they're in this game So out of all of like the major upsets that could happen this week

I think Steelers plus 10 is actually is a decent bet I love this. It's just like the this, this is like the microcosm of the Steelers fucking season. What the fuck is going on? The Steelers are just like living the blessed life. Well, I guess.

This is the team of destiny. They're the cockroach of the NFL. The Steelers are, we were joking how much, how much during the season we were joking with Bill about like the Steelers or the 2007 giants and that Kenny Pickett was like Eli Manning where it's like,

Eli Manning has, like Kenny Pickett has nine good drives in his career and their eight of them are to win a game. Yeah. And it's like, Like, they're just incomprehensibly bad for 55 minutes and then just effortless. And I feel like the Steelers, like, dude, starting with this weird win against the Bills and just getting stealing like a snow game. Stealers moving on, they play the Ravens.

But then the Steelers Ravens next week if they could do it. Look, obviously the bills can blow out the Steelers. But I'm like, damn, 10 point spread in this kind of weather is, I don't know, man. Anything can happen. I mean, they're essentially saying the game is going to be what, 20. 22 to 12. I mean, that is what the implied score is. Or 17 to nothing.

So, Craig, who you pick it? Picking the Steelers? I will take the Steelers with the points. Points, yeah. 10 points. I can't believe it's held at 10. That is wild. Remember the win game with the Bills is a different era,

but like that win game at the Patriots where they didn't throw any passes? They threw twice. Yeah. Or two, whatever. And then they freaking won the game. By the way, do you guys think Mac Jones kind of killed Bill Belichick and Nick Sabin? Yeah. No, Mac was good for saving, I thought.

No, Mac. It's like, this guy, he's too much for them. They're like, all right, man, I got to retire after this. What's the common denominator? Yeah. It's like, I can't deal with these fucking zoomers anymore. It's like when you're old and then like, you accidentally have a kid when you're like 45. The De Niro, Pacino Disgusting Brothers?

Yeah. Ain't no way De Niro's taking care of those kids. That man has a lot of help, I would imagine. Yeah, yeah. Barely took care of himself. he's got to have one of those rockers that tips you out you know oh yeah

takes him up the stairs no I'm talking about the rocking chairs that tip up so you basically spill out of them you're like you essentially end up standing up it lifts you up until you're just standing truck those are the best

can't wait for that era of my life I'd like a bed version of that where the bed is like vertical up against my back and I'm standing and I just slowly fall backwards. You know, Craig, you know the little boat or the boats are barges that have a whole bunch of logs on it? And they are like built so they can rotate and all the logs fall out in the water. I want a bed like that that just dumps me out.

It's just so much easier than getting up, you know? All right. Speaking of 55-year-old men, Joe Flacco is leading to Cleveland Browns. God, the segues of this guy. To the against the Houston Texans. Craig, you mentioned March Madness. This is like, the Texans are like, I feel like the 16th C. who beat the one.

And like, not that the cults were the one seat, but the Texans have this insane emotion of like that, you know, they've been going. Like they made the playoffs. They were the worst team or one of the two worst teams in the league next year. This is an all-time gravy team right now. Yeah, they're like all emotional about winning the division and now they're playing the Browns.

And I kind of place a letdown spot. So obviously, C.J. Whoever wins this game is probably the feel good story the weekend because it's either C.J. Stroud. Demika Ryan's advancing and that's awesome or Joe Flacko and the Browns. So like either one, it's, um, I think heartwarming. Question going into this game.

What do you think is the more likely scenario that the Texans win, and you say to yourself, why the hell did I bet Joe Flacco to win a playoff game over C.J. Stroud, who is one of the brightest quarterbacks in the NFL right now, the brightest young quarterbacks? Or is it more likely that C.J. Stryd plays like crap against the Brown's defense. And you go, why would I bet a rookie quarterback against the best defense in the league? What do you think is the more likely scenario? I will say, Denzel Ward, the Brown's, one of the Brown's best defenders. his cornerback for Cleveland

just got hurt today at Thursday and it's a new injury and I'm like, I don't know if he's gonna play. I think that makes a huge difference for like he, you would have to recover in 48 hours. You're right that Stroud, or sorry,

Flacco has had so many throws that he's kind of gotten away with. We're gonna feel like morons if Joe Flacco throws three picks and C.J. Stroud is great. And we're like, why the fuck did we pick Joe Flacco to beat CJ Stroud to playoff game?

You guys got mad at me when I suggested that Flacco is the, what was the category again? The guy who's just way over playing his role or whatever. Dion Waiters, overacting? Yeah.

Overacting. Wait, on that note, I was talking to Justin Sales earlier, who wrote that great page's piece. Do you feel represented to have such an old person succeeding in the NFL? You're rooting for Joe Flacko.

We're like the same age, I think, essentially. How old is he? 39? 38, I think 39. I'm so old. He's got a little gray in his beard, though, DK, you don't.

Well, he has five kids, and I have one. Does he have five kids? That explains a lot. but he has a great head of hair I don't so he's got me to beat there. But I'm wondering if it heart warms you to hey look at this father who's falling asleep on the sideline

and he's doing it. Oh, 100%. I will say this and I'm being 100% genuine. There's a lot of, there's a lot to relate to, I guess. It's like the most relatable thing I've ever seen with Flacco is because I, early in his career,

I was not a Joe Flacco fan. I always thought he was like sort of morose, expressionless, like always He was a downer. Grumpy. Yeah. Like he was just like, you never looked like he,

he never looked like he was having fun even remotely. And I think it was because partly the weight of his contract expectations just weighed him down for almost his entire career. He was never going to live up to that contract. I mean, obviously he has a Super Bowl. So like it's all gravy after that in a lot of ways. But like I always felt like he was just like a downer. And then he comes back and he's just like reinvented himself.

He's having fun. He's out there smiling. He's talking to the media about how, like this is the most fun he's ever had. Like, it's very relatable. It's like he's accepted who he is. He's so comfortable with who he is that he's going out there and just playing. Like, he's just like playing for fun.

You know what I mean? It's like he's playing a kid's game. It's actually very relatable. I love it. He somehow made me a fan even though like for the longest time I was always just like, God, this guy again. So who do you guys like in this game? And let's, let's factor in the spread.

The Texans are getting two points. The Browns are favored by two. I'm taking the Browns in this. I just think their defense is going to do the job. I'm taking Houston. You know, I've been on Browns all week, and Craig really convinced me there we're taking Flacco over Stroud thing,

and I'm going to really regret this because the Browns are a better team, but I keep thinking about how much better the Texans are at home. The logic thing of... Yeah, this game's in Houston. What's going to make you feel dumber? Betting against Stroud or betting on Flacco? It's like classic Bill playoff manifesto.

Like, I'm going to wake up Monday morning and be like, So I really, I put money on Joe Flacco to beat one of the best young quarterbacks in the NFL. Like that's what we're doing. The guy who we're like, oh, he's like Burrow, but can, with a better arm. We literally were just like, would you rather have Stroud and Burrow? And it's a real conversation. And we're going to take fucking Joe Flacco, who's played four games in the last two years.

And he's 40. All right, fine. You convince me. Since Houston. I'm going to go to the defense to be clear. But yes. I'm sure the Browns will win now. The last game, we ranked it last because not only is at the worst game,

but we're also going to be recording again before this game takes place. Eagles box is Monday night. We can be quick with this. But right now, the Eagles are three-point favorites. This game's in Tampa. The Eagles, so the Eagles started 10-1 and have lost five of their last six. You guys know, and, you know, the Super Bowl hangover was delayed? You know when you guys, like, wake up after a long night out and you don't feel

hungover because you're kind of still drunk? Yes. That was the Eagle season. It was until about week 11, then the hangover started setting, like, around 5 p.m. in the day, and you're like, ugh. I probably should have been driving this morning. man, I drove home. I don't know what a breathalyzer would have said there,

but that is kind of the Eagles right now, and the vibes are all-time bad. We just recorded a really funny rewatchables with Chris, and we were talking about the Eagles, and Eagles fans could not be in a worst place right now. We were with three Eagles in the office last night. They genuinely are like, hey, man, I don't even know why you're talking about

the possibility of us beating the Bucks because we're not going to beat the Bucs. We are going to lose to the Bucks. And I actually don't think they will. The team is super injured. Jalen Hertz has a weird dislocated finger but I guess he's not even throwing a pass. He hasn't thrown yet since Sunday.

A.J. Brown has a knee injury. He might not play. Devonte Smith has an ankle injury. He's probably going to play. The defense has been terrible. But man, Baker Mayfield, who also might not be healthy, just put up nine points against the Carolina Panthers. I still am betting that the Eagles are going to win this game. Where are you guys at? I picked the box, actually. I just feel like the vibes are just so incredibly bad. Wait, hold on, hold on, wait.

Is Dom going to be back on the sidelines? They got to get in there. What's going on with Big Dom? Hi Fitz, do you know? I think Big Dom was banned for the regular season tomorrow. Nice. Oh my God. I think Big Don will be back on the sidelines.

Okay, maybe I'm changing my mind here. Wow. That's a really good call. Okay, everything you're saying, though, like, definitely resonates. It's like this team, it's like everything that could go wrong has, that could possibly go wrong has gone wrong with this team so far over the last like six, six, seven weeks. But at the end of the day, like, they've gone to, they've been in the playoffs, like they're a battle-tested team.

They're going to figure out a way to win this game. I just think they can run the ball. The buck kind of can't. The weather, again, it might rain in this game. You want to add in weather. There's a 70% chance of rain. It's going to be like 80 degrees in humid, apparently, in Tampa. Might be thunderstorms in the second half.

There's, why is weather such a freaking variable? Do you guys think all playoff games should be in domes? No, I like weather games. I agree. So that's why for the longest time they had the Super Bowl in a dome because they didn't want the Super Bowl to be decided by a fucking freak storm. Why does it not matter with all the other games? Yeah.

I don't think that had anything to do with what they did. I'm 100% had something to do with it. I'm really fed sitting here among both sides. I think. But they mostly put it in cool cities to have the Super Bowl. But like, maybe they just wanted to be in New Orleans. I was going to say,

I think it was because New Orleans and Florida are cool places. But I think I understand the idea that like the best product is probably not in the rain or the snow or whatever. But I also think the Giants building a not dome stadium is insane And they're going to be like the last team for wild Like building a stadium in New York that is not a dome is insane However weird what I love about football after like one of the core appeals to me of football I think a cool badass thing is it's just it's rain or shine

Baseball raining oh my God stop throw a tarp over the field this football is lightning They sprint out with this tarp It's like it's like a slot team die for from lightning. No, we're playing. Be there. It's like a backyard parking lot, nine o'clock, be there. It just don't care what's happening. We're playing the game. And I think that's like so essential to the DNA of the sport, which ultimately football just cosplay for war. It's a bunch of dudes in peacetime being like, let's like, oh, it's messes, you know what I mean? It just all pretend anyway. Valley Forge. Valley Forge. That's going to say, Valley Forge.

if you have to play through the inclement weather of the regular season then you definitely should in the playoffs in my opinion it's either got to be like all dome or no dome but it sounds sexual I was thinking it too otherwise it would be a bust of a season so dome you're saying that domes would be a bust

dome would be a bust dome got it you're okay to bust in the dome apparently you know one thing I learned apparently Canadians call condoms domes Did you know that right? Yeah. I don't know for sure if that's still a common usage, but like in the mid-aughts, I learned those in my traveling days, learned that term.

Speaking of which, speaking of learning things, we have some emails. Never felt older. Yeah. Emails at reinterference and football, g-emil.com. Craig's like, God, does he get his stuff, don't you. It's all about the war. Tells about the war, grandpa. Back in the war.

Yeah. I went to go see the pipe organ in London in 2025. Okay, grandpa. You know the meme where it's like, okay, grandpa, let's sit here for a nap. It's a hundred feet tall, Oregon. Okay. We got emails. Emails for your fantasy football at Gmail.com.

We have one. I was talking less, this is insane. We talked about how you learn from pop culture stuff. Yeah. Oh, like songs and stuff. Yeah. Yeah, like songs to teach it. So we got one from James.

Well, because Hyphen said he learned about the word skeet from the song, get low. I learned about the concept. No, he learned, he learned what, that, that ejaculation is a thing. He found out about ejaculation. All right. Now we have to do the, D.K., you just jumped into it. Now we have to do the other thing where we say, hey, if you're with your kids. Oh, yeah, sorry.

Pause the show because it's about to get really explicit. And we're going to have to have Kyle, like, copied and paste what I just said and drop it earlier. No, no, it's fine. Craig's like, the kids are going to learn today. It's fine. Just lie to your head. It's fine. Let the boy watch.

to tell you. Was it eastbound out? Let the boy watch. I said no. Ashley Schaefer. Let the boy watch. The, all right. Anyway, James.

James, Jim. Sweaty. When I was in seventh grade, this is James, not me. When I was in seventh grade, I watched Billy Madison with my sister.

My sister is eight years older than me. Okay, so that means James, seventh grade, what are you like, 12, 13? Yeah. She's 21, he's 13. She's like a freshman in college or something. in seventh grade.

Or more than that. So he says, we laughed at all the jokes in Billy Madison together and then came to scene where Billy is in class. And the teacher asked everyone to turn to page 69.

Billy blurts out, ha ha, 69. And then Billy looks around for the others who were in on the joke. My sister cackles. Art and what's me?

Yeah, and realizes that I am just one of the kids in the movie who don't know that don't get the joke. And she shakes her head and says, you know what that means?

And I'm like, no. And then she's like, uh-oh. And he's like, I pester her to tell me. She turns red and says, uh, it's not actually funny. And he says, I'm now on a mission and need to find out what the 69 thing means. And as soon as the movie's over, he says, I dial up AOL and find a chat room to ask. Jesus Christ.

This is like a pre-Google. This is very much dating James here. Yeah. And he says, I never forgot that day. And I never told me sister. But he had to fire up an AOL chat room. He got one of those CDs in the mail. And he turned on the internet through the seat.

He plugged the CD in and the internet came out. People were very upset with me for sort of half. Dude, the recognition. I still don't get what you mean. For jokingly, like, not knowing how the internet works. That was the ultimate, they're there, there, grandpa. You're like, the internet was a CD that came in the mail. It came on.

It was they loaded the internet onto the CD. Okay, grandpa. All right. Eat your pudding. So what I could have blamed, emails are putting. God damn it. Email us at Ring Your Fantasy Football at jimba.com. I couldn't believe we got a multi-eat.

I'm going to age with grace, Craig. We also got one from Liam on the same topic. Liam. Yeah. Wait, did you ever find out? Yeah, I think so. Now he knows. Liam says, I remember when I was 11, I started hearing all these jokes, people joking about 69.

And I would laugh along like I understood the joke, which I did not. Liam says, I had deduced it was sexual based on context clues. Sherlock over here. Yeah. But for the life of me, I could not figure out. why a number could be sexual. And eventually in seventh grade, there's a sex ed teacher

introduces a sex box to our classroom. Nah, bad term, bad phrase. I know. Where we could deposit anonymous, I'll see what's deposit. Deposit anonymous questions that she would answer.

Where he could, he could bust it out into there. And, uh, yeah, he's the sex box. Liam writes, I vividly remember writing down my this burning question I'd had for years.

What's $16? and then I stare at the number on the page for like three seconds. And everything falls into place. And I love this email because it's like the end of the usual suspects, the coffee mug. Dude, I was literally thinking that.

The slow-mo Kaiser-Sose moment. He's righting the putting it. He's like, whoa. Life flashed before his eyes. That's hilarious. I love that these are all sex-related. I know. I also got one of the

from James. Another James. Jimmy. Jimmy writes, driving around my dad would pop in a cassette at Jimmy Buffett, RIP. I forgot about that, actually. So, dad would put in this cassette of Jimmy Buffett songs that Jimmy Buffett songs you know by heart. And James writes in parentheses, for Craig and Hyphitz, cassettes were these thick rectangular CDs that you played music off of in case that was before your time, which I really appreciate it. In case. Of course it was. He's like, they called them rectangular CDs. My grandpa had cassettes. Yeah.

The email continues. James writes, my extended family would get together every summer. When I was 10 years old, one afternoon on one of these summer trips with my family, my dad was driving my cousins and I to a restaurant where we were meeting my other family members. And naturally,

this Jimmy Buffett is playing in the car. So as we get to lunch, my cousins and I walk in and we throw our arms, We throw our arms around each other, all the cousins. And we all start singing to the entire restaurant, why don't we get drunk and screw? Oh, my God. And they are singing Jimmy Buffett,

why don't we get drunk and screw? And he says, all our parents just look at us horrified. And they start getting us to shut the hell up and just looking around at all the other people in the restaurant who were staring at them. And they were just confused because they thought it was like a screwdriver. And that's when you get the other parents being like, what are you teaching your children?

Yes. This is the one thing. This is something that happens when you have kids. Like kids will, kids, they're loose cannons. Those things are. They'll say whatever.

They really do say the damnedest things. And like they'll just try anything out. When I was a kid one time, I was at my brother's basketball game and at gym and I was like, I don't know, 10 years old. And I was at a pay phone hanging out with all the other like younger siblings of the people playing in the game.

You're at a pay phone. Yeah, there was a pay phone. in like the, not the lobby, but there was like, you know, the area before you get into the gym. And I was convinced that if you dialed 911 on the pay phone, it wouldn't work unless you put money in. And I was, you know, it's like, specific concern.

Well, I don't know. I think I was trying to be like, I don't know, hot shit. I was like, what? It's not going to work. Of course. I dial it. Cops come. The game stops.

Oh my God. They walk in with me, like two cops with me in the middle. My dad, who was a police, who probably, who was a police officer at the time. is looking at me from the stands like, what the fuck are you doing? That's great. Unfortunately, that story has aged the worst because there's no payphones anymore.

So it's not even a lesson you can teach your children. I was thinking about that, Craig, when you said payphones, I'm like, man, pay phones. It's like such a, it's like a vestigial, like thing of like a bygone era. It's just so weird. It's like a cassette.

Yeah, like you see pay phones now and you're like, oh my God, this takes me back. They're just now they're just like, now you almost have to. keep them because they're so historic. You actually can't get rid of them now. They're like, you know, endangered species.

It would have been like the British, like those red, whatever boxes are things in England. Yeah, but ours are just like gross and covered in. In retrospect, can you imagine just touching like how gross is your phone? You imagine a pay phone. There's nothing more disgusting. It's just the idea of a payphone hand, like a handheld thing. Oh, God.

Have you ever accidentally touched gum under like a countertop at a restaurant? That is worse thing you could experience. Well, it's probably worse, but yes. I still think the old time about DK, like, look, I'm a father. Like, piss. Once you're a parent, piss doesn't space me. Piss everywhere. Dude, actually, I've never understood people who put gum under a table in a public place.

Have you ever done that in your life? Be honest. No. I don't shoot gum, but no, I think the answer is simple, Craig. It's that they don't care about you. I just can't believe that. Like, how hard is it to toss something in the trash can or wrap it? into paper towel and then throwing a trash can

sticking it under a table is like the grossest thing in the world to me. I think it's a quiet rebellion to society. Email so ring your fantasy football at Gmail.com if you want to anonymously out yourself with someone who does this and explain your reasoning. Or maybe you're just the Joker. Yeah, I just, ugh, I've never understood that at all.

Do you know in Singapore, if you get caught like throwing gum on a sidewalk, it's like a $500 fine? I love that. There was like a famous story way back in the day of a guy that I think he was like going to get caned because he had done that or something. along those lines. Well, Singapore is a different place.

Singapore that, yeah, it's the rather strict rules. We should impose that here. $500 for throwing gum on the ground. Clean up the sidewalks. Yeah. Last email here. I want to just shout out. This is from Jaden.

Jaden. So we were talking on the Sunday show. We're laughing about words that have one to use like smithereens. Like imagine using that in the context other than like blow to smithereens or like, I get spangled. What's that mean? Anyway, Jaden writes, I was laughing at Craig talking about the word smithereens. Same day. my sister asks, hey, what's a playoff birth?

And he's like, I start answering it and then in the middle, think of Craig. And he's like, I just found myself speechless. That's really good one. That is a great one. And Jaden just writes a series. He's like, what is a birth? Why is birth spelled with an E? And am I the only one that doesn't know what a birth is or is this one of those words?

No, Jaden. I have no idea what B-E-R-T-H-E. Birth is like where you park your ship. So it's like, well, yeah, the line of pirates of the Caribbean is like, where does she make birth? And he's like, where does it make birth? Yeah, the definition of birth is a ship's allotted place at a war for dock. So it's like, I think they're like using that as like your allotted place in the postseason. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

But that's weird. But that's like no one else uses that term in that way ever. That's so old time. Like if we were just not. If we were renaming that today, I would probably change it to an eye. Like, I think that makes more sense. Yeah. I know you, you were born into the postseason.

I love a bunch of dudes being like, yeah, we, we, we birth this. That's what this is like. Yeah. The playoffs gave birth to the Houston, Texans. Birth. What's the expression? Maybe hyphids, do you know this where you say a word so many times that it starts to like sound. Oh, lose its meaning.

Yeah. Ironically, we can never remember the name of this word. Birth. I get, I have that all the time with the word licorish. All the time. All the time. Liquorish. How often are you saying licorish?

Also, that's very much also like a candy that it's like pay. It's like things that baseball was popular because there were two channels. I 100% associate. Three candies. I associate liquorish with my grandmother. Like 100%. People who like licorish, I like in 2020. Liquorish, that is a weird word.

It's already sounding weird. Liquorish. Liquorish. I used to say skirt. Skirt. Skirt. Skirt. That's a real word.

Are you... I know skirt's a word. Are you using skirt, like, without the eye as in like a... Like a... No, I'm not saying... No, no, no, I'm not doing an amount of Pia or whatever. Skirt. What are you saying?

What... The term skirt. What is that? You're saying that is like licorice where it starts to sound like gibberish to you? Yes. Oh, okay. I thought you were saying like... What was just talking about?

I thought you were saying like... Let's skirt from this conversation. Oh, no. Or I thought you were making like a... Like a... Oh, skeet, skeet, skeet, joke like oh like since you have entered fatherhood

sker has been like brought into the wider like rap lexicon is that like say it in common usage say it in a sentence I can't roll my ars that's like you're telling me to stop

no I just I don't know I was always really bummed that I couldn't roll my ars when everybody was doing the the Cardi B. O'Ker thing I'm bummed No, I can't do it. I can't do it.

I can't. Did you not take Spanish in high school or middle school? I took Spanish in high school and college and yet I could never roll my horse. That's like, yeah. No, I can't do it. That's not something you like develop. You just can't do that or you can't.

Yeah, you got to do it young. All right, wait, we're leaving. Thank you, D.K. Thank you, Craig. Thank you, Kai, for producing this episode. Okay. Thank you, Jack, for help behind the scenes. Thank you for him for listening.

Emails for your fantasy football at e-emel.com about anything you just heard, anything you just heard, anything you want. But, yeah, other weird things that you were like, I learned this in this weird way or embarrassed their parents, whatever it is. But yeah, weird, one phrase words, where does it make birth?

Like, there's no way. Or if you remember your birth, let us know. Don't actually know, keep that to yourself and see a doctor, see a therapist. Is that possible?

Are there anyone who remembers their birth? No way. Zero chance. Well, there's some ghosts screaming right now. Let us know. Email us if you have a memory of your birth. I don't for the record.

I don't either. Yeah. Oh, actually, on that note, speaking of things I learned the wrong way, Janet Jackson's boob. Janet Jackson's boob was like the first boob I ever saw. I was like six. And then my mom was in the garage. My parents were like not in the room.

Yeah. So. Hey, yo. That takes us right back to birth. But I haven't blocked out of my mind. I don't know where that is. But the, the, my parents weren't there. And because it was like 2001, like, you know, they just didn't know what happened because

it, you know, until the next day. You know what's funny? They read it in the newspaper. Yeah, they had no idea I'd seen it. But you also didn't know that it was something that you weren't supposed to see probably. I could tell from the context clues of the awkwardness of the broadcast and the reaction that that wasn't supposed to have happened. Yeah. But I didn't also totally know why.

I remember that. I'm not the crazy one. No, no, I remember that. I have no idea when the first time I saw boo boys. I don't have that memory. You know, they're just like, they feel like bags of sand. Let's get the hell out of here. Goodbye, everyone.

We never did Lauren. Oh, thank you, Lauren. Lord. Thank you, REO Speedwagon. Sure. Sure. Goodbye. Must be 21 plus and present in select states.

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