The Ringer NFL Show - The Players to Bet on in the Divisional Round, Plus Danny’s Grandmother! | The Grantasy Football Podcast

Episode Date: January 10, 2020

We break down the players to bet on and stay away from in each game of this weekend’s divisional round (4:00), before Danny Heifetz’s grandmother joins to talk about over 50 years of Giants fandom, the most attractive QB of all time, and her bone to pick with Pete Carroll (43:40) Hosts: Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, and Craig Horlbeck Guest: Danny’s Grandma Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's episode of the Tennessee Football podcast is brought to you by State Farm. When you need a game plan for protection, State Farm agents are here to help. With personalized service, agents are available to talk in person, over text, or through the State Farm app. So go with the one with coverage and agents you can count on. Find an agent in your neighborhood today. State Farm. Talk to an agent today. The Danesley football podcast on the Ringer NFL show on the Ringer podcast network. My name is Danny Hyfitts, and I'm joined as always by my co-host and my co-danny,

the hero we need and the analyst we deserve the Dark Knight himself. How are you doing, D.K. I am sublime, Danny. Sublime. Wow, that's the best one you've had all season. Damn. Took you've been saving it. Took it to like almost the championship round to get to sublime.

I'm glad we got there, though. Craig, how are you doing? I'm doing great. We had some technical difficulties to start this show. We started 16 minutes late, but we're back. We're rolling now. Dude, I know. A couple plugs are unplugged.

A couple knobs were turned down, but we're good now. We're not going to throw anyone under the bus, are we? No. Who would you throw myself? No, I don't know. I don't know to turn the knobs down. Maybe there's an inside job. I do know that starting a little late was an issue because we have an extraordinarily special guests that will be joining us later.

We do. We do. We do. This is going to be the Granacy Football Podcast. my grandmother, Emma, will be joining us to talk all things football at the end of the show. And I got to be honest, this is the absolute peak of my professional and personal life. You thought Bill Simmons was the oldest person to come on this show. No.

Add 30. 41. She's 91? She's 91. Wow. So a little backstory about why we're going to have Danny Hyfitz's grandmother on, 91-year-old grandmother Emma on the podcast. Danny was tweeting out a picture of a text message chain that's,

they were having Danny's grandma, Emma, had some really, really strong, very good takes that she was sharing with Danny. Dude, electric takes. Her takes were so good that people thought it was fake. People thought I made it up. I'm just going to read, let me just read these texts she sent me that people,

she said, enjoyed Saturdays, so I'm at the wild card round, enjoyed Saturday's games, happy to see Brady and company go home. They've really been grinding it out. Would have liked to see Bill's win, but they really lost to a better team when Texans finally woke up.

feel bad for wence but who cares about the eagles and Pete Carroll is not my favorite lousy game now we come to Dallas laughing stock with the talent on that team I just don't get it and I'm not the least bit sure Mike McCarthy's going to help really glad Giants didn't pick him but God only knows what and who can help us

amazing we're going to get to her at the end of the show and it's going to be fantastic oh my god so another just brief aside I responded to the text because it was a picture of Danny's text message and it just said Emma at the top and I was flabbergasted that he would just have his

91 year old grandmother's first name in there. I think that is people why they thought it was fake. Yeah and so but Danny explained like perfectly Emma's not her name. Her name is Rita

but my brother, my older brother couldn't say grandma so he's like mama, dad, Emma and like I guess he Which is a really cute story. Yeah, it's like he just stuck with it.

I don't think he calls my parents, mom, our dad anymore, but... I was a little bit appalled if you were just calling your grandmother by her first name. Yeah. I could not be more excited. We're going to run through a bunch of players we like in their matchups this week. We're going to break down our Fendul lineup of the week. How did we do

last week? I forgot to submit the... I forgot to hit the button. You did that again? Holy shit. I forgot to hit the button. Jesus. I know. How would we have done? That's a good reminder, everyone. Make sure you hit the confirm. Yeah, make sure you hit the confirm. hit the conference. Because like I had it up and then it was like and then I'm sorry. That's my bad.

So we could have been, we could be millionaires. Yeah. Unlike Jade and Tanner on the bad show. Yeah, no. That wouldn't have been even been a story. I know. All right. I really want to talk. Let's just get through this because I really want to call Emma. All right. But first, we're going to run through some categories. DFS players who like, actually, but first. I keep saying but first.

First, let's just run through the games. Saturday and Sunday. Vikings at 49ers is the first game on Saturday. 49ers are giving seven points. Titans at Ravens is later on Saturday. Ravens are giving eight and a half. Sunday is Texans at Chiefs. Chiefs are giving nine and a half. Damn, it's big lines.

And then Seahawks at Packers. This is the only one, I mean, all the games is going to be cold. This is the only one where it might snow. There's supposed to be 10 inches on Saturday night, and then maybe some of that will move to Sunday. So either it will be surrounded by snow or they will be on snow. We will see. Do you guys like snow games?

Yes. Yeah. Mud and snow. It's with footballs in its absolute best. Yeah, sure, I'm in. Yeah. You sound like a giant. It's supposed to be H-2-0 falling from the sky.

I don't want every game snow, but like one out of four in the playoffs is good. Dude, snow, it's, I want nothing more than Russell Wilson and Rogers just running around like three inches of snow. All right. Enough of that. D.K., who's someone you're going big on this week? I mean, I've been going big on it all year. Lamar Jackson of the Ravens, quarterback for the Ravens. 9,400, he's the most expensive quarterback going up against Titans.

there was a slight bit of concern early on in the week because he had the flu. Sounds like he's past that. He practiced on Tuesday and on, so he should be good to go. Again, Love Jackson for the first reason, his rushing floor just provides like a very good foundation every week. It's the playoffs now. I don't think they're going to hesitate to turn him loose in terms of, you know, taking it easy with him or whatever, trying to call more running back run plays. I think they'll do whatever to do whatever.

is they need to do to win. And I think Jackson could go off on the ground. And, you know, obviously there's concern that Titans have a good defense, but he's killed some really good defense this year along the way. He's only finished with fewer than 20 fan duel points once this whole season. He's a stud. The Titans actually were middling versus the quarterback anyway, 19th against the quarterback per fan duel scoring this season.

Not necessarily a scary matchup. And so anyways, long story short, I'm rolling with Jackson. I just think he is. he and that whole Ravens offense are just so confident right now. They're just playing so well, and I think he has potential to go off. And his rushing floor pairs nicely like a fine cabernet with a rib eye with Mark Ingram's ankle injury, which D.K., you have as your go home. Yeah, so we'll just get right into that.

So I'm kind of avoiding Ingram this week. I think there's just too many question marks around him for a little context. He's been out slash day-to-day with a calf injury. He did not practice Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. He did return where it is Thursday right now. We're recording Thursday afternoon. He returned to practice today, but he did not actually practice officially. He ran off to the side while the team practiced.

And so basically he's still very much questionable for the game. He's been designated a question while the team, quote, hopes he can play. But I think there's just a lot of uncertainty there with him. Calf injuries can be pretty finicky. I think we've seen guys reagorate those type of things, just trying to make a cut or whatever. Assuming he plays, let's just assume he plays, you're still going to be spending $7,500,

and all it takes is that calf tightening up and he's done for the day. So to me, that just kind of makes me nervous. I'm not going to go all in on Ingram this week. And frankly, even when he's healthy, he hasn't broken 76 yards in the last four games. He's only averaged 60 yards per game in that stretch. He has been buoyed by a couple of receiving touchdowns in those games,

but those two touchdowns only came on four targets in the passing game. So I just think he's a little bit touchdown or bust, and I think that Lamar is going to be the one that kind of dominate on the ground this week. So long story short, again, just kind of sticking with Lamar and going away from Ingram in this game. I have three questions. Number one, Craig, have you ever actually paired a Cabernet with a rabbi? Absolutely. Okay. Medium rare. How do you order your state? Medium rare. Okay. Number two, D.K. Let's say Mark Ingram is out for this game. Yeah. Do you want, go?

Gus Edwards, like, at any, like, no matter what, like, you would, anything shy of, like, the health and goodwill of your family, like, you would, you would harm people to get Gus Edwards in your lineup, or what would you do? I think, yeah, I mean, I think if Ingram is out, Edwards is an amazing value. What is he at right now? Let's see, actually look it up as we talk here. He is 5,400, which is very, very cheap on FanDuel this week. So, I think, if you can lock him in and Ingram doesn't play, that's an amazing value.

and, you know, I don't think he's like the most explosive guy or whatever, but they've not shown any sort of, you know, they haven't gone away from him necessarily. I think they trust him and they're willing to give him a lot of carries in the game. So love Gus the Bus if Ingram can't play. Question number three. Did you guys know that the Ravens, I mean, not only rushed for the most yards since 1948,

but they also had the highest yards per carry in the Super Bowl era? Wow. Like, I looked at every, like, the last team that rushed for more than five and a half yards per carry was Jim Browns Browns in 1963. Yeah. I mean, they're taking it back. And then if you want to go past then, it's like 1951, which is basically like before the Korean War. So all pre-Superable era. Yeah, so pre-super Super Bowl era is 67.

The merger's 70s, those terms people use. And then Jim Brown's 1963. And then ironically, Lamar is going to become MVP, and he's going to be the youngest MVP because he was 22. this year since Jim Brown in like 1957. Here she won it back to back at 22 and 23. So 57-58. But like it's really insane. Like there's 780 teams in NFL history

that just ran more than 30 times a game, which is like half of the teams in NFL history. And the Ravens are number two in yards per carry. So the yards, they had the most rushing yards in the history of modern football, not even modern football since 1948. And that's not even

the most impressive. That blew my mind. So I guess my third question, did you guys know that? Did not know that. It hasn't gotten a lot of hype, to be honest. Well, that's kind of why I'm screaming off the rooftops right now, and that's the thing. I started looking up the Titans' run defense, and it was like,

oh, well, they're 10th and DVOA and they're like numbers. I don't care. The Ravens are literally the best rushing offense since, like, John F. Kennedy was president. It's insane. So there were my thoughts on the Ravens rushing

this game. Good, good option. Good context, Danny. Thank you. What about the other side of the ball? Because as funny as that is, so here's the flip side of that stat. Again, just to reiterate, highest yards per carry since 1963. But since Ryan Tannahill took over in week seven, the Ravens don't even lead the league. The Titans have 5.7 yards per carry since Tannahill took over, which also blew my mind.

So the Titans are actually so, Dicke, do you like Derek Henry in this game? And how do you feel about the Titans' offense? There's Derek Henry, A.G. Brown, Ryan Tana, like that whole. Trinity. Well, I do like Henry. The first thought I was just, the first thought I had when you were spouting off all these stats, this game is going to last like an hour because both sides are just going to run every freaking play. That's a good point.

There will be a lot. Well, I'm, I'm dubious about how much running the Titans are going to do because my, I guess, really? I'm not, like, I guess I'm kind of sitting myself up to be wrong here because the Titans identity is like about being physical. But I also think that. there was something to be said about being game playing specific. Being physical running Derek Henry 34 times, I think at 182 yards or whatever, against the Patriots, and 34 carries was like the most anyone's had in like two years.

And that person was Frank Gore, which also blew my mind. But that just doesn't seem like a good strategy against the Ravens. Like the Patriots offense, you're like, oh, yeah, we can hold them. And again, Titans offense only scored 14 points. The pick six, like whatever. That wasn't, like, that doesn't seem like a good strategy to score with the Ravens who have the most points in the league, like, They lead the league in points per drive and every conceivable metric.

I feel like they're going to have to air it out to keep up with them. Yep. But is that just my feeling and what I want to believe, or do you think that's what they'll do? No, I think it's valid because, I mean, the Ravens' offense is just really, really good. And I think the Titans are going to go into this game knowing that they're going to have to keep up with the Ravens and score points with the Ravens. And, you know, they're not... Obviously, that worked last week against Tom Brady.

that offense, which just has been so out of sync, so terrible. But yeah, like you said, I think, you know, I think you nailed it on the head. Like this week, they have to kind of open things up and be more aggressive through the air than maybe that they want to be or that they typically are. I have a question for you both. Yeah. PFF tweeted, $100 million depends on tackling one of these two players.

Who do you choose? And it's Lamar Jackson and Derek Henry. Oh. Well, what's this situation? Like, on a football field? Let's just say it's like, you're a safety, and he's like, it's just you and him, and he's coming right at you.

Have you guys ever seen that? Oh, I actually, I actually have a definitely answer to this. I think it's 100% Derek Henry because... You'd rather not tackle Derek Henry. I don't think I could touch Lamar Jackson. No, no, no, I'd rather tackle Derek Henry, D.K. Well, who would I, I think I have a better chance of bringing Derek Henry down because I don't,

I think my odds of hitting Lamar Jackson are like... Can't touch him. Cosmic? It's like the odds of like finding life in the universe? I think that like that like just because Derek Henry's so big, yeah, obviously you couldn't tackle him. But Lamar Jackson is also too big for our human bodies to tackle. So that doesn't even matter. If you factor in his agility as well, I couldn't even touch him. Derek Henry, I'm hoping he like trips over my puny body. He's definitely, like, his cleat gets stuck in your face. Yes. And then he falls. My friend did point out maybe you hope for Lamar Jackson to like tear his ACL when he cuts.

Oh, well, let's not hope for that. It's bad you. Isn't there's more of a chance that you will die if you're trying to tackle Derek Kennedy? That is true. Are we taking like mortality into effect here? Yeah, of course you are. Now we're stepping on Robert Mays's territory because Mays has been on the I don't want to tackle

Derek Henry train for like a month. I feel like we don't want to tackle one of these people and you get $100 million. I don't, I mean, there are NFL, like, I'm not kidding. I don't think half of NFL defenders could tackle Lamar Jackson 101 in space. Like I'm not even kidding.

Yeah. Like Derek Henry, least it's like you're hoping that he trips as he knocks you over. He steps on my knee and falls. Yeah, like that's all you got. So anyway. Cool. Do we think anyone on the Ravens can tackle Derek Henry in this game?

Or will the problem be tackling A.J. Brown? What do you think, Greg? I don't think the problem is going to be tackling A.J. Brown. I have him as my go home for this week. He's the fourth most expensive wide receiver. He had one catch on one target last week versus the Patriots. And Stefan Gilmore covered him on 61% of his routes, which included that one target. It's not going to get a ton easier against the Ravens with Marcus Peters.

and Marlon Humphrey and Jimmy Smith and stuff like that. The Ravens are basically the second best pass defense kind besides the Patriots. They've held 11 other past 12 quarterbacks to be the QB 18 or worse. They've given up the NFL's fourth fewest yards per attempt, second lowest pass rating, and only New England has surrendered fewer touchdown passes.

So I don't, I think the Titans are going to lose and I don't like AJ Brown. During the offseason, there was a really interesting debate in the very nerdiest corners of the football internet about whether the very very, very essence of like rushing the passer had more to do with past coverage or past rushers with the idea being that forever was about pass rushing but then offense is adjusted by just

getting the ball out quick. Yeah. And that if you throw the ball in a second half, it doesn't matter if you're a sane bolt. You can't get the Tom Brady in the second half if there's someone in your way. And that the way to get coverage was actually, if you, it's about covering receivers so that no one's open. Yeah, coverage sacks is what they call them. Yeah, coverage sacks.

The Ravens are one of the more analytically inclined front offices in the whole league. And if you kind of look at the construction of their defense, it kind of shouts like they have an answer that they haven't revealed yet because they've just invested in Earl Thomas, they traded for Marcus Peters. They have, I mean, they already had good cornerbacks to begin with Jimmy Smith, as you mentioned.

And they already have Tavon Young, who's been on injured reserve. But they also did that, and then they blitz the most in the league. It's not even close. They blitz like 54% of the time. I don't think anyone else is over like 43. Like, that's a huge amount of time to blitz. What is considered a blitz? How many people is it?

Five, five or more. five or more. So I don't have the numbers on how often they send five or six, I wish I did, but they are sending more than four people on more than half of their play.

Like that is crazy. And they're on that the people left over in their secondary are the best in the league. Yeah. So my issue with the Titans in this game and the reason I'm kind of down

on the Titans like winning is that I think they have to throw to stay in the game. But the issue is that Tannahill when he's been, he hasn't been pressured a ton, but when he's pressured, he takes sacks a third of pressures.

which is a pretty high, like, the only people who have been sacked on a third of their pressures are Dwayne Haskins and Marcus Mariotta, who obviously TAN Hill replaced, which is kind of funny. So, like, other people are like half that. I think Breeze is like 15% of his pressures, like literally half. So Tanyl, when he's pressure, goes down a lot. I actually think the Ravens get a lot of sacks in this game. I think that's why they're the most expensive defense on Fandil is they're playing unbelievable. But, Dick, what do you make, like, I don't know.

I don't know how I feel, I agree with you on going home on Derek Henry and Ra. I just don't, I kind of, I'm careful. I'm curious about Tanhill just rushing, but I don't like the Titans' offense to do anything in this game. Yeah. Well, I just like the Brevin's defense a lot, which I guess is saying the same thing. Yeah, it's very interesting that thought of whether you should sink all your resources into the secondary or into the pass rush. You know, I think there is some like, there's variables at play here. You know, they lost Zadarius Smith who turned out to be one of the best pass rushers in the NFL this year.

However, they chose not to pay him also. Exactly. So that's an interesting, you know, I don't know what that means. I don't know what the answer is. I think that we're still, everyone's still trying to kind of figure that out. Probably some are right in the middle where, you know, you have to balance both of them because if you just have, if you give a guy a ton of time, then he's getting, then no matter how good your secondary is, they're going to get picked apart.

But bottom line, we're kind of getting off the rails here. But it is an interesting discussion. I don't love the Titans offense this week. week because I just think the Baltimore Ravens defense is playing so well right now. And yeah. Craig, is there someone you do love this week? I do. And let's switch games here. To the Packers versus the Seahawks, I do love Devonte Adams this week.

You know, a lot of guys, especially in fantasy, when they're hurt and they miss like half the season, a lot of people look at season-long stats and where they finished at the end of the season, and they always overlook these guys who finish in the middle of the pack like Devonte Adams because he had turftoe for seven weeks. but since he has come back from Turf Toe Adams has ranked second amongst wide outs and fantasy points per game and has only received less targets only behind Michael Thomas, that's it

and per PFF in the regular season PFF had this whole thing about where he lines up and how he'll probably see Trey Flowers a lot who hasn't been great which bodes well for Adams this week although before we started recording we talked about the potential of snow in this game and how much that affects everything No, you convince me don't slow down now You're like blown away.

You can't slow the momentum now. The Seahawks have given up a lot of points for the 18th most of FantasyWriders this year. This game's got the second highest over under of the weekend. And the other Packers receivers are not reliable and don't haven't earned the trust of Rogers. So if you're throwing anybody in this game, I could see Devonte Adams getting like 15 targets.

DK, what do you think of the Seahawks defense? Yeah, I was going to say, if Adams lines up across from Flowers a lot, and that could be something that they strategize, I think that's a massive advantage for the Packers because Flowers has just been playing bad this season. Shaquille Griffin, who plays on the opposite side, Seahawks generally don't, or not generally,

I don't think they ever really shadow anyone. They just have their corners play to one side during the game. Yeah, I think Flowers is their vulnerability, and it wouldn't surprise me at all to see Green Bay go after him. That being said, I do kind of like one of the other Packers receivers for a bargain ban, which we'll get to later, unless you want me to just go to it right now. Jump right in.

Yeah, just jump right in. Let the music pull you in. All right, so my bargain bin, and this kind of contradicts what Craig was saying a little bit, but I still kind of like it. Alan, the Zard Dogg, Lazard. Go on against the Seahawks. 5,400.

And Craig, you were kind of alluding to no one has earned Rogers' trust. I would disagree slightly. I think Lazard has earned Rogers' trust, at least especially over the last couple of games. he's had 17 targets in the last two games and I mean I think you're absolutely right though like Rogers very much prefers the guys that he trust Devante Adams is unquestionably that guy

but I think Lazard has emerged lately as kind of his number two, his clear number two option Lazard had four catches 69 yards and a touchdown last game for that five for 45 and you know just again if he's lined up against Shaquille Griffin that's not necessarily a good matcher for him although he does have a lot of size on Griffin. So that could be something that they could exploit.

And then they could also move him around into the slot and things like that. And run them up the seam. The Seahawks do a lot of base personnel. And when they don't do base personnel, they got Udi, Amadi, who is like 5 foot 8. So again, another interesting matchup for a 6'5 Lazard. So I just think schematically and matchups-wise, plus add in the Aaron Rogers trust factor. I think Lazard is a good bargain. kind of guy if you're just trying to fill out your roster.

Here's a dark truth that lurks in the recesses of Packers' fans' minds. The last three weeks, it has not been about Rogers trusting his receivers. It is about whether his receivers can trust Aaron Rogers, because Rogers has been consistently, like, throwing behind or just not accurately, consistently for the last few weeks. He still had good throws. They've still been winning. But he always throws from, like, weird angles.

He doesn't always set his feet. He's drifting backward, off his back foot, like, he's always gotten away with this because he was the most talented passer in the league and it didn't matter. He's still the best in the world. But you also can take shortcuts when you're the most talented person at the thing you do. Now these 36, that gift is becoming like a little bit of a curse because like I'm not even like Packers fans know this to be true because Rogers in the Vikings game of Monday football they're trying to win the division. Aaron Rogers throws on the back shoulder to Aaron Jones and third and three gets his hands on it. It could have caught it, but he didn't.

That's a little on both. Same thing, a couple drives later. He throws to Devante Adams in the end zone, puts it on the back shoulder. It's a touchdown, puts it on the front shoulder. Devante doesn't catch it. Later in the, like the next week against the Lions, he misses Aaron Jones three times,

one of which would have been a touchdown. There's one play where he's, Rogers is standing on the goal line, throws the ball like 40 yards. Like you can count because he's standing on the goal line. There was literally five yards of space in front of him, but he just throws the ball flat-footed and he overthrows Aaron Jones.

It's like, why aren't you stepping into your passes? He's never had to. And anyone who has why, watch the Packers last few weeks. It's like Rogers is just missing like easy. He missed a third and 21 pass where the lines had like everyone just standing on the 21 like the first down marker. So he tried to just get hit MVS like Valdez Scantling 10 yards downfield. And he just missed him.

Missed him. He's missed him. And it's like it that's just never been a thing because Roger's whole thing is this is the most accurate quarterback alive, maybe ever. Like on the least on the Mount Rushmore of accuracy. And the Seahawks had seven sacks last week. And I'm just curious about how that goes. I don't know. Just the whole thing of, like, Cam Rogers

Trust his receiver is, like, he hasn't been playing at his standard. The Seahawks got seven sacks last week against Josh McCown, though. It's a little bit of crap. I actually don't think your defense is that good. I think that's the issue. Yeah, it's not.

But the Lions' defense isn't good either, and he was missing passes. So I don't know. Yeah. All right, there's my rant. I am, this week, I am big on Patrick Mahomes. I don't know if I'm as big on him as Lamar Jackson, but I think Patrick Moves does have a huge week.

If you're trying to save money, you just don't want to be on the Lamar bandwagon. I think Mahomes is going to crush it. He's the second most expensive this week on Fandall. Basically, like, the Chiefs and Texans already played. They played in week six. The Texans were really healthy. They won.

And they won the game. And they didn't just win. They ran the ball for 41 times for 192 yards. Carlos Hyde, your guy, Craig. Ran for 100 yards for the first time in two years. And the Chiefs lost with the worst time of possession disparity at home in the history of the Chief's franchise. I don't think that happens again

like Patrick Holmes had the ball like the Chief's offense had the ball for 78 seconds in the fourth quarter on three drives in the second quarter Oh that's brutal 78 seconds in the fourth quarter and Mahomes tweaked his ankle he sprained his ankle

like he made it worse in the game and it was so night and day They were rolling before he heard it too They were rolling they had 17 points in the first quarter They had 17 17 in the first quarter 7 in the final three quarters It was so visible

Like he went from pinpoint passing like actually the same weird footwork that Rogers does now like now like Mahomes does too because he can get away with it but the second he sprained his ankle he kind of couldn't anymore and he almost threw a bunch of picks anyway the Chiefs also were missing defensive tackle Chris Jones they also didn't have their left guard Andrew Wiley they also didn't have their left tackle Eric Fisher they didn't have linebacker Anthony Hitchens

all of those players are back in this game for the Chiefs Patrick Mahomes weirdly is healthier even though he's dislocated his kneecap and like hurt his throwing hands since then so but he's healthy I don't think he's like fully, fully healthy. No, but he's healthier than he was for three quarters against the Texans. So basically the Texans won this game, but it's such a, and the Texans don't have Will Fuller or the right tackle for this game, which they did in that one. So the Texans won by controlling the ball and keeping the ball out of Mahomes' hands. I think Mahomes will have the ball literally 50%, 75% more time than he did.

He's going to have 50% 75% more plays. It's going to be nothing like that first game. And in that game, I mean, he still ended up having 275 yards and three times. touchdowns. Exactly. So like he did that in 19 minutes, 70 seconds of the fourth quarter. So I really, it's not going to go like that. That's like those games in 2016 when Steph Curry would have like 38 points in 29 minutes. And you're like, God, imagine if you played the fourth. That was better than, yes. That's how I feel about that. Yeah. Chief's defense is a lot better than it was early in the season. It's playing well lately.

So I don't think Carloside is good week. What do you think about Carliside, D.K.? He's my contrarian play of the week because I think, I think. think logically speaking, it doesn't seem like he would have a good week. But when you're thinking, just ask yourself, what's the dumbest thing that Bill O'Brien could do? Oh, my God. Put the game in Carlos Hyde's hands. Like, how surprised are you going to be if that happens? How surprised are you going to be if Carlos Hyde gets 30 carries?

30 would be a lot. 25. Everyone's hard on Bill O'Brien. Should they not be? Well, I guess when you're the GM, I guess you kind of get the arrows for two different jobs. So, Hyde is my contrarian play slash maybe a little bit Galaxy Brain, just because I think that Bill O'Brien still thinks running the ball is like paramount or, you know, the most important thing. Obviously, he's got Sean Watson. And I think if Watson goes off and the Texans go as far as Watson can carry them.

However, I don't know if Bill O'Brien necessarily subscribed to that. the last time these two teams faced each other, like you alluded to it, he had 26 carries, 116 yards on a touchdown. Hyde's average 15 carries a game over the last seven weeks. He's not even their best running back. This is all very contrarian slash galaxy brain. However, I think he's going to get the volume in this game. So that's why he's my contrarian play the week. Why do people come to this podcast, if not for Galaxy Brand?

I mean, that's why we're all here. If the Texans were smart, they would play Duke Johnson a lot and then rely on Deshawn Watson. However, I'm not 100% convinced that's going to happen. Do you think Duke could just leave and just be like, I'm not going to do this anymore? Like the Duke of Sussex? Wow. I'm out.

Wow. Your seg, that was championship week level. It's time to play, baby. That was quite good. Playoffs. Yeah. I'm sitting in the chair where Kevin Garnett was like, grip up, man. Do you want to explain it for people that don't follow bridge?

I think everyone follows the British Royal. Let's go check out Ring or Dish. Yeah, exactly. All right, let's take a quick break. 2020 is finally here, and the new year brings the best events in sports. NFL Conference Championship Sunday is coming up, and the NBA is getting into full swing. And if you're as excited as I am about the best sports month of the year,

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You like it? Yeah. Maybe it'll come down to nine. Who knows? There's a lot of points out there. Do you think all the road dogs are going to cover? There's a lot of points being thrown out. I think I'm going to parlay all four home favorites, money lines.

Whoa. There you go. Well, you know, if you lose, you can get your money back. I can. And when was the last time your bookie gave you a do-over? I didn't think so. I can't remember. I know.

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State Farm. Talk to an agent today. All right, continuing contrarian play of the week. Craig, who's your against the grain guy? I'm going with Emmanuel Sanders playing the Vikings. I feel like he is contrarian just because, one, he's $400 cheaper than Debo Saniel. And he hasn't been great on the Niners. He's had like three big spike weeks, but then the seven out of ten games,

games that he's played with the nineers, she's had 41 yards or less. But, one, in the regular season, I love slot guys, I love young guys. When we get to the playoffs, I love vets. I love the Larry Fitts's. That's why I'm going with Emmanuel Sanders over Debo. This is great. I'm hoping Xavier Rhodes, whoever he guards, is basically who's going to win this game. Because he's allowed 84% of his targets to be caught, which is horrendous.

And, you know, if Debo's the guy who's getting the swing passes, who's getting the reverses, who's getting the weird gimmicky plays... Mani's going to be the guy over the middle, burn and Xavier Rhodes on a post for 28 yards over and over and over. 14 different enemy wideouts have cleared 60 yards versus Minnesota over the last nine weeks. I love that your philosophy is get these young guys out here. I need a veteran.

I need a steely, steely veteran. So the theme of these playoffs is not veterans. The theme of these playoffs is the young devouring the old hole. Lamar Jackson, 22-year-old's MVP, Patrick Mahomes, last year's 23-year-old MVP, the top two seats. Tom Brady, Drew Bree, gone in the wild. Look at the people helping Mahomes. We've got old Andy Reid.

We have Mark Ingram helping Lamar Jackson. You need the vets to be the stilts that hold up the young. Debo Samuel, Evan Silva established the run, made a good point. That Debo Samuel's rushing gives him, like he rushes a lot for a wide receiver. He gets a lot of carry. Not a lot, but for a receiver, gets a lot of carries. But it's really that he's the motion man in that offense. Like the difference the Niners or the Vikings actually weirdly run very similar offenses.

Like Jimmy Garoppolo and Kirk Cousins, they have absolutely nothing in common. Like nothing as people, which I will not elaborate on here. But as quarterbacks, because my grandmother is coming on this podcast, just Google Jimmy Garoppolo, Beverly Hills, date, TMZ. But I'm not going to talk about the specifics because Emma will be upset. But the point is, as quarterbacks, they run play action at basically the same rate. Their yards per attempt are the same rate. Their play action yards per attempt were the same rate.

Their non-play action yards per attempt with the same rate. Their completion percentage was exactly the same. What? Their yards per game, they ranked like 17th and 18th. Their touchdown percentage, they ranked like 11th and 12th. How is that possible? That's crazy. Well, they're both in the same fucking offense.

If they both, they both, like, they're in the same offense. This is Gary, this is Mike Shanahan. Gary Kubiak is the guy running the Vikings offense, really? And he spent 11 years as the coordinator for the Denver Broncos. That was Terrell Davis's entire career. They won two Super Bowles of John O.A. Gary and Kuban. Mike Shanahan. Yeah. Mike Shannon. Mike's son.

Kyle Shanhan. Also learned football from Mike Shanahan. Kyle's a coach for the 49. Yeah. No, yeah, right? And so it's Mike Shanahan's zone running, play action passing, which to way oversimplify it, is you use the width of the field to run

to stretch the defense horizontally and then use play action to attack the scenes vertically. So you're stretching it wide and then hoping it breaks and then you find holes in it vertically. It's the most simple layman's terms that there could be. So it's like... Yeah, I think that's right. The difference is the Niners dress it up way more.

So Debo Samuel, the Niners use the most pre-snap motion in the league because Kyle Shannon's tweak on all this, and really the reason the 40-9 offense is awesome is that instead of like one-on-one matchups, Kyle Shanahan's goal is to make the defender think, every defender think, for like even if it's one second, where is the ball? Like, literally who has the ball? ball. As D.K., as you've said so many times

this year, the fake is back. Because if you can just make the defender be like, where's the ball? They forget all the shit they've been taught by their coaches for like 15 years. So that's where Debo Sammo's doing all these motions and getting these jet sweeps and I think that he's so essential to what they're doing.

I'd rather have him than Manuel Sanders. Emmanuel Sanders. There's my rant. I just think it's crazy how close all those stats are. I know. Well, the joke I've made and shandless plug, you can read my preview column on the ringer.com for the keys to the divisional round. But it's like their long-lost twins.

There are stories of long-lost twins who are separated but then it turns out they have the same name, their wives have the same name, their children of the same name, they drive the same car, they go to the same vacation spots. It's like insane. And like that's basically Jimmy Garoppolo and Kirk Cousins. I love it. Also, to plug an article that I wrote, I wrote about the very fun

deception heavy 49ers offense with Devo Samuel Kyle Eusecheck and George Kittle. I didn't mention Sanders much other than the fact that he did throw a touchdown pass against the Saints. So Craig, maybe there's something there.

Also, to really note the difference between Kirk and Dropos personalized, you should also Google Kirk Cousins-Beverly-Hales date TMZ and watch the desolate wasteland that comes up. Google can't find it. Wow. No, really Google that stuff with Carapola.

Craig, well, I should stick with the Niners offense, D.K. Is there any middle-range Goldilocks people you like on the Niners? Yeah, so Rahim Mostert. You're the one who's been correcting me for months. We struggled with that name this season. Rahim Mostert, 49ers, going up against the Vikings, 6,700. He has emerged as the starter in that backfield, which is a very, very good backfield to be in because, like he said, they run the ball really, really well.

They run it a lot. It's a foundation of their offense. Um, Moster, he's had double-digit carries in five straight games, uh, touchdowns in five straight games. In fact,

he's had seven touchdowns in those five games, six on the ground, one receiving. He's very, very explosive, you know, former track background guy. He,

he can just, once he hits the hole and gets vertical up the field, he's gone. Um, and Shanahan's been riding the hot hand and he's been it lately. So I like, I like, I like Moster in this,

in this spot. Obviously, Minnesota is a good defense, but I still think they're going to do what they do, you know, run a lot of the wide-zone stuff that they do, and I just like most or a lot in this game. Random thing I wanted to point out here, the top

eight players in yards per attempt among qualifying rushers. Lamar Jackson's at one, Rahim Mostert, Gus Edwards, Derek Henry, Devin Singletary, Matt Breda, also on the 49ers, Nick Chub of the Browns, Mark Ingram, of the Ravens. So the Ravens have three players above five yards per carry, and

seven of those top eight made the playoffs. Everyone except Nick Chub, R-I-P. and then everyone except single-taire. Your boy, Dave Gettleman said her best. All four of the best rushing teams made the playoffs. There you go. There you go. That's all you need to know. Craig, who's your Goldilocks?

My Goldilocks is Adam Thielen. So update on Adam Thielen. I don't know if you guys have heard about it. So he suffered a cut on his ankle in practice, and it was so bad it required stitches to so... Can I just quick... What is with football injuries and like we have to call them things that are laceration?

It's a cut. Like a... What's the fancy word for the bruise? con-tusion. Yeah, contusion. Is it a contusion? If you hear contusion, it's a bruise. If you're like, like, Zach Earhart says,

a laceration and his kidneys is cut. You're right. It's much easier to visualize and also much more concerning. Laceration makes me think it's deep. Yeah, I don't know what, it's just a medical. It's like a paper cut. I guess cut is too wide-ranging. You need to narrow it down how serious it really is.

Do you hear laceration and you hear, it's clearer to you? Yeah, you can visualize it better. All right, maybe I'm wrong. But whatever it is, it required stitches, but I'm sorry. saying this as a positive because he's going to play in the goddamn game. He cut his ankle. I don't care how bad it is. He's going to play. But I'm hoping that people see like, oh, he cut his ankle, he's questionable. He had to get stitches that this lowers his DFS ownership rate and that we can pounce on that. He's $6,900. And against the Saints last week, he saw almost, he saw relatively

shadowed coverage from Marshawn Latimore. And he had a great game. He had seven catches for 129 yards. He had four catches on the four targets. He was guarded by Latimore, and he had 64 yards on those catches. I just think he's too talented to be ignored now. And again, he's another one of those guys, just like Devonte Adams, had a bad year. He was hurt a lot. But last year was the wide receiver 7, and he's still one of the best route runners in the league. And I'm betting on guys like that in the playoffs.

So I want Thielen this week. Veterans. Also, the Niners are a different defense. From weeks one to eight, they gave up nine points. That's true. Since then, they've given up 26. Yeah, that's true. This game's going to be more of a shootout, I think.

This might be like Saints Niners. it'll be like a runout. That'd be fun. Like a run out. Run and play action pass out. Yeah. Beautiful. All right.

Shall we build our Fanduil lineup? Craig Dekin, take us through. So we'll start out with Patrick Mahomes going up against the very, very poor Houston Texans' offense. He's 8600. He's our quarterback. At running back, we've got Dalvin. I think he's going against the poor Texans defense, to be clear. Oh, my bad.

Yes. Defense. I know you know that. It's okay. No, it's important. The listeners know that too. Dalvin Cook going up against the 49ers defense, which Craig mentioned,

had not been as good in the second half of the year. Guess Edwards were assuming Mark Ingram is either going to be limited or out this week, which makes him a very, very good value. At receiver, Tyreek Hill, going up against the aforementioned poor Houston Texans defense. And then we got Emmanuel Sanders. The vet.

Craig's vet. Grisle. It's been there before. It's not too big for him. And then our third receiver, we got Mikul Hardman of the Chiefs. Craig, did you have, or Danny, did you have a note on this? I trade, I prefer Debo. I traded Sanders to get Mikol in here because, for this simple reason,

I think the Texans defense, their slot corner is Vernon Hargraves, so they claimed off waivers. From the bucks. From the bucks. Vernon Hargraves, bless his heart, is, there are, of, the, there are 120 cornerbacks who played 300 snaps this season and Vernon Hargraves is

113 out of those 120. In what? Oh, sorry, right, that's a good question. Pro football focus grading. So 120 players graded. He's 113. So you think Mikkel's in a play on the slot? Miko Hardman might be the fastest player in the NFL. I think that they find a way to line Mikul Hardman

up on the slot. I'm willing to bet. I'm willing to throw him in the ring. Love it. Speaking of great chiefs, we're going big on tight end. If the go big section was longer, we would have probably mentioned Travis Kelsey and George Kittle, who we are using both of this week. We're using our flex spot on Kittle and our tight end spot on Travis Kelsey. They are the two most expensive tight ends. But how can you not love them when you got mini-gronk, new gronk, gronk, 2.0? I don't know. What is Kittle now? Is he better than

Gronk? What are people saying? No, he's not better than Pete Gronk. He's just Kelsey's not gron because Kelsey isn't like a blocker. Kittle is, but gronk because he's the best rat runner and he's the best receiver and he's the best blocker. Yeah, he's the best blocker and one of the best receivers. That's the gronk title. You can do it all. And our defense is the Vikings. All right. So to read our whole lineup again real quick here,

our quarterback is Patrick Mahomes, our running backs are Dalwood Cook and Gus Edwards, our wide receivers are Tyree Kill, Emmanuel Sanders, and McColl Hardman. Our tight end is Travis Kelsey, and our flex is George Kittle, and our defense is Minnesota. Now it's time.

It's time for Danny Hyfitz's grandmother. Hi, Emma. Hi. So Emma's name is not Emma. Emma's name is Rita. But my brother couldn't say grandma. He just said Emma, there's Mama, and then Emma.

So Emma just kind of stuck. Sure. And then, yeah, it's so Emma. How are you doing, Emma? I'm doing just fine. All right, well, we'll change that by the end. I'll tell you with the job. I'm very flattered that you guys want to speak to me,

but I'm not sure why. Oh, we're thrilled to have you. Emma, the people demanded it. I promise you the people demanded it. So let's just get in this. Emma, what? I feel like the game we wanted to, talk about with you first. Seahawks Packers.

What do you think of Seahawks Packers? It might snow in Lambeau. What do you think? Well, first of all, I have to preface this with saying. I was just talking to my daughter. My mom. Most of these games, I find very, very hard to get a handle on as much as I can get a handle on them. I think that the Packers probably have a more together team. Danny, D.K. here is a Seahawks fan. You don't think the Seahawks have got...

How do you feel about Pete Carroll? I feel like you're not a huge fan. Oh, no, I like Pete Carroll. I think he is very good at building the roster and assembling a good overall team chemistry and culture. And, I mean, you can't argue with his success. They've gone to the playoffs. I agree with you.

I have a bone to pick about C. Carroll's. from many years ago when I feel that he did a bad thing when he was coaching in college for U.S. state. Wait, what was the bad thing? The Reggie Bush thing? Well, he dropped everything. He said goodbye to everything and he left. He took no responsibility, nothing. He surely knew what was going on. He closed his mouth and he left. Okay. You can't blame him for helping. You're laughing at me because I'm going on.

No, you're right. No, we're laughing because you're 100% correct. Somehow that bothers me. It's left the market on me. But fine, you certainly have to acknowledge he's a great coach. I think that it's very common. That's a very common argument against Pete Carroll. And people still bring that up all the time.

In this specific game, I think I agree with you that the Packers in general are a little bit more balanced. The Seahawks defense, I don't think, is very good, and the Seahawks offense is very hit or miss. But I think the weather is going to be a big factor in this game. What do you think of that? Yes. Oh, I think the weather is a huge factor. Yes, that is true. And I don't know what the weather forecast is.

Ten inches of snow on Saturday, but they're playing on Sunday. Well, ten inches of snow, they can clear that all. Yes, they can. But I don't think Aaron Rogers is playing super well. Well, Emma. Have you been able to watch Aaron Rogers? Yes. No, I don't think he's playing super well. That is one of the few teams I have watched this year, and I don't think that he's playing well. Emma, we actually have not discussed this yet. I'm very curious. What do you think of the Giants hiring Joe Judge? I only can say, I hope.

Are you a Giants fan? Am I a Giants fan? I have watched the Giants since the early 1960s, and I've watched them come and I can watch them go. And one thing for sure, I've never been so dejected. Oh, God. That's so horrifying. Wait, that's like 60 years. You know, only because, I mean, they're making the same mistakes.

they do it over and over again. I don't know who's running the ship. This guy, I mean, he sounds fine. Do you think this sounds fine? I think, look, you remember, what's his name? Is it John Harbo? Well, there's two. The Ravens one, yeah, the special teams coach, John Harbaugh.

So, yeah, it does happen. Yeah, he was never a head coach when he came to the Ravens, remember? Very true. I guess where I'm super concerned is, like, the Giants were going to interview Josh McDaniels on Wednesday. And they canceled the interview and they hired this guy on Tuesday. It's like, you didn't even want to talk to

Josh McDaniels. This guy was so impressive. Josh McDaniels also worked for Bill Belichick. Like, I don't know. Danny, slow up. All right. Sorry, I'm talking too fast. Sorry.

And also, actually, you're on the podcast now, Emma. You were the one who told me I cursed too much on this podcast. Well, I mean, but I heard another person cursed a lot more. You know, I come from a different place.

in the world. Oh, okay. All right. Well, you know, whoever your audience is, maybe it's okay, but not such a good habit to get into.

But anyway, coming back to who the Giants interviewing now, I mean, Jason Garrett, Freddie Kitchens. Do you have a favorite?

I could not choose between the... That's the right answer. But, you know, there's been a lot of news a lot of stories about how the Panthers got, Mike, what's his name? Matt. Matt Rule. Yeah, that they really just sucked him in. I mean, they didn't, I mean, they offered him so much money. I mean, yeah. Yeah, seven years is a really long time. And I'm like NFL contracts that's like guaranteed money.

And a lot of money. Yeah, they doubled his salary from Baylor, $4.3 million to like $8.6. Wild. Emma, what is your, you've watched a lot of football. What is your favorite memory in New York Giants history? Well, I guess my favorite memory would have to be the first time. I went to a Giants game. You know, I grew up when baseball was the national pastime. And I'm sure you must know, you know, professional football was not a big thing. and business associates of my husband invited us to Yankee Stadium.

It must have been the early 1960s. Yeah, early 1960s. We had a box literally out on the field, and I could not get over how involved the fans were in the game. It was like a revelation to me. They were saying, what plays to call and who should come in and who should go out. and that was the first game that Y.A. Tittle played in for the Giants. Wow.

They sat Charlie Connerly in the middle of the game, probably after the first half, and out came Y.I. Tiddle. That's my best memory. I got so hooked on football. Ridiculous lady, I am. Amazing. And you love fans that are into it because I remember when you went to a Los Angeles Dodgers game for the first time, you were horrified. My brother said they come here to pay beach bowl. Because they got the beach bowls going and they came in the fourth and they left at the seventh. Oh, Emma, you're an absolute gem.

I guess we want to ask one last thing about running and passing? Yeah, I would like to know who you think is going to win the Super Bowl. Who the two teams are going to be in the Super Bowl and who's going to win? Well, I would have to say the Ravens for sure. And, I mean, I have watched them. I haven't seen the Chiefs very much. Paper, to me, those look like the best teams. But, you know, paper doesn't always mean anything.

Wouldn't you agree? I actually also agree. I think the Chiefs are the best team. I think the winner of the AFC championship game will win the Super Bowl. So actually, yes, Emma. As usual, you're correct, and I'm following your lead. Well, but that isn't such a hard decision. It's a worry that.

You know, that's sort of like two and two makes four. but it may not. Emma, I have one more question for you. Since you have watched more football than all three of us, probably combined, Jimmy Garoppolo is the new handsome quarterback on the 49ers. I was curious who you thought

was the most handsome quarterback of all time. Quarterback, well, there's some guys. I like, you're going to laugh at me. I like Steve Young and Joe Montana. Wow. The Niners guys. So Jimmy Garoppel is carrying on the Niners legacy. Well, he's okay, but I'm a little older now, so I look down and him and think, ah.

Love it. Actually, wait, I cannot in good conscience end this before. Emma, do you remember the conversation we had when the Chiefs Rams played last year and it was 54 to 51? And everyone thought it was a cool game and you thought it was the worst game ever because there was no defense? Well, I mean, you know, we talked. We said there was no defense. I mean, what is that? You know, that's like why I can't get myself involved in basketball.

It was just running up and down the field. I love good defense. I mean, that was one of the nice things about the Giants 100 years ago. They had super defensive guys. There was no defense there. Well, maybe Joe Judge will turn everything around or not. I don't know. Emma, thank you so much.

Thank you. My pleasure. Thank you, Emma. This is our pleasure, I promise. Yes. All right. Wait, this is a thing we do every time. I have to, even though we're on air, I have to do this.

Bye-bye, Emma. Bye-bye, Jeremy. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Thank you again. Thank you so much. That fulfilled a lifelong dream of mine. That was awesome because we've been talking about your grandmother's football takes for a while,

just like off, you know, off the show. And that was a real treat. She knows her stuff, man. I mean, she really does. She's the reason I'm here. Like, there's no, like, my family, I wouldn't be a sports fan if it weren't for her. Also, can I say that she kind of just sounds like you doing your New York impression a little bit?

Like, I can hear her in you so much. Well, I guess it's like, I wanted to bring her out because, like, I realized that I'm sharing her. Like, I'm not sharing her. I'm keeping it all in myself. I thought it was normal for my 91-year-old grandmother to text me, like, what are the Yankees doing with their bullpen? What is this going on? But like, I guess that's not normal.

She's welcome back anytime. Honestly, she'll probably end up getting a pot at the ringer. Dude. Seriously, seriously. Grandma and Papa Doc Bill. Yeah, yeah. There we go. Beautiful.

All right. Well, thank you for indulging me. Emma just, just, ah, that was a lovely woman. Also, Y, A Tittle. Y, Tittle. So I looked him up. He just passed away two years ago. Yeah, RIP to YATIL.

Yeah. Also, apologies, because she mentioned someone else on the podcast swears. a lot. That's probably me. No, I was going to say it was me. Who do you think it is? When Bill came on and told the Velvet Edge story. Oh, do you think that's what she was talking about? Yeah, that's what she was talking about.

That makes sense. A name person. All right, on that note, let's wrap this up. All right, thank you to Emma. Thank you, Craig. Thank you, D.K. Good luck to everyone this weekend, especially Joe Judge. See you guys next week.