The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Cincy’s Big Win, the Bills' Annoying Next Year, Dak's Struggles, and Hurts’s Reminder With Damien Woody

Episode Date: January 23, 2023

Russillo shares his thoughts on how surprising it was for the Bills to be so dominated in their home stadium, and the doubt that will creep into next season. He also hits on Dak Prescott's concerning performance in the Cowboys' loss to the 49ers, and takeaways from every QB in the divisional round (0:28). Then Ryen is joined by two-time Super Bowl champion Damien Woody to discuss the Bills' deficiencies that the Bengals exposed on Sunday, the Bengals offensive line holding up after so many concerns, the 49ers defense emerging as the clear no. 1 left in the playoffs, and how they will match up with the Eagles, who are emerging as the best offensive line in football. Plus Burrow vs. Mahomes, and more (16:43). Finally Ryen answers some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (43:14). Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Damien Woody Producer: Kyle Crichton Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We'll go over all the divisional games from the NFL playoff weekend. How did Cincinnati pull off a dominant performance against Buffalo? A lot of time on Dak's struggles against San Francisco. We'll cover the other two games as well with Damian Woody who visits us on Monday and a lengthy loaded feedback slash life advice segment.

This episode is brought to you by Uber Eats. Winter is here, so be prepared and get almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. What do I mean by almost anything? Well, you can't get a ski slope, but dish soap, definitely doable. Sunshine, that's no. A bottle of wine, yeah.

And a snow day, again, no. But blueberry muffins with the delicious crumb topping, total yes get almost almost anything delivered with uber eats order now alcohol and select markets product availability may vary by region see app for details let's start with a game i had zero read on cincinnati's win at buffalo now to say this part of it, Cincinnati beating Buffalo is not some shocking thing. This isn't like Miami beating Buffalo in Buffalo last week. But

let's run through the Buffalo profile here again. And this might be my fault for thinking Buffalo was going to win this game by looking at this stuff. They're 13-3. The three losses were by a total of nine points. Arguably fluky losses. Their turnover margin,

although they had lost the turnover margin in four of eight games, number three they had won it, one there was a push, we covered that last week, it was still an eight-game winning streak. Their point differential was plus 169. That was number one in the AFC,

42 points better than Kansas City, who was number two, obviously, in that conference. And again, being number two to San Francisco overall in the NFL, well, they're in the AFC. So I agree, that point differential is the most impressive thing. They were down 14-0 in this game, and then a stat comes up that it's only the second time they'd faced a double-digit deficit all season long, going all the way back to the Baltimore win.

Their offensive yards per play were number two, opponents' yards per play were number seven. Their offense was number one on third down conversion. Their defense was number six against third down. The one thing that felt like it was kind of an issue was the red zone touchdown percentage. That was still ninth in the NFL. So how do they lose? Well, they kept turning the football over. No, they didn't. They turned it over once and it was late. It wasn't even a factor. They got their asses kicked. In a game at home where they don't lose playoff games, right? They've only lost at this place one time before.

They looked like the team that wasn't comfortable, right? In the snow. You can even factor in the DeMar Hamlin story a little bit for motivation. They looked like a team that already had won a few times. All right, we already have a Super Bowl in our back pocket. We're not as up for this. Just to watch them be so soft for three and a half hours, flat. This is supposed to be kind of like those NBA playoff storylines.

It's like you lose early. And, you know, sometimes that works and it's part of the story. It's like we were tested. We had to get through this team. Then we had to get through this team. And then that team had to get through us. And it felt like it was lining up for the Bills.

Yes, there were concerns. You brought up the Von Miller pass rush numbers where they're a completely different team than the pass rush. The old line, though, for Cincinnati was supposed to be a big part of this and it wasn't. And I don't think it's wrong to go,

wait, your left tackle's never played left tackle before. Three total starters are missing in this. That was the left tackle's first start at that position in an NFL game. Baltimore, who got after Burrow

a little bit, Buffalo got them one time. That was the game. When you watch the start of it, you kind of felt like, is Cincinnati using their weapons in a way where Buffalo can't? Looked like Cincinnati wanted to get out there and start moving the football. Buffalo had two three and outs to start where it looked like they couldn't do anything. Stephon Diggs, Buffalo had two three and outs to start where it looked like they couldn't do anything. Stephon Diggs, four catches, 36 yards up against a secondary Cincinnati that definitely doesn't get enough credit when you start talking about the better positional groups out there.

I know Diggs had the sideline outburst a little bit later in the game and I kind of get it, so I don't want to be too harsh about it. But at the same time, you're like, fuck now, dude, now you're going to start getting in our case. It wasn't because they didn't get it to Diggs. It wasn't really one thing. It was everything. Like nothing worked now, dude. Now you're going to start getting in our case? It wasn't because they didn't get it to Diggs. It wasn't really one thing. It was everything. Like, nothing worked out for him.

You know, there was a couple plays. Like, this score could have been worse. I'm glad it was 27-10 because I didn't want it to get a late touchdown where years removed somebody would have argued that it was a 27-17 game or some 27-20 game that happens in the NFL, and it'll be lost to history as some kind of close competitive game because it wasn't. The score should have been worse. Of course, we had two TV breaks during two of the biggest moments in the entire game,

the chase touchdown, which was overturned, which I actually thought was correct because it didn't look like he had possession through the end of the catch. I know there's a lot of debate on that one. I actually thought Allen did fumble it, even though they overturned that fumble into an incomplete pass. I thought that was actually the wrong call. But now with this new thing that we have going on, although replays in general have been expedited and it's been a little bit better, we've entered this new phase of where these massive moments are happening and they can't wait to get us to a commercial. then you come back and be like, hey, this is what's been settled and we're good to go. Not saying

I'm dying to wait around and watch five to six minutes of replay, although again, it is going a little bit quicker. There was also the review of the mix and touchdown. I know there's a bunch of people out there that are hot on the chip in the football. I asked the chip in the football this, does it know when it's down before you think that

solves all of our problems? Does the chip in the football know when it's down before we think that solves all of our problems? Does the chip in the football know when it's down? That would be an impressive chip. I just can't believe a team that's this good would get dominated at home like this. It's not impossible, certainly for Cincinnati to go in

and win this game. They're a really good football team and maybe the favor of the four remaining to win this whole thing. I'm kind of feeling that way a little bit, certainly with the Mahomes injury down in Kansas City. So it wasn't as I said earlier, like Miami going in and winning their first game and they're like Skyler Thompson

went to Buffalo and beat Josh Allen. No, that's not what this is. Bengals are really good. But to be housed like this at home, it's going to linger. It's going to be annoying like this at home, it's going to linger. It's going to be annoying. I mentioned the doubt portal for Herbert, which can be fair or unfair.

I don't know that's going to happen to Allen. I think the Allen throw to Gabe Davis on the sidelines, the best throw I saw all weekend from any quarterback, and that's why even with Buffalo's lack of ability to run the football, which has always been an issue, and maybe not having the playmakers. Well, they don't have the playmakers that Cincinnati has. You're going, well, this guy can still figure out a way to pull it out.

You could even see him starting to force the issue a little bit, meaning like, I'm going to have to do this on my own here. And you're still wondering if you can pull it off because he's that good. That throw to Gabe Davis was insane. But it didn't matter because it just wasn't enough for anything else. And now Burrell's put together a resume here where he had a win at Tennessee last year against the one seed. Granted, I don't think the Titans were the greatest one seed of all time,

but it looked like he was going to get killed in that game. Wins. Comes back from down 21-10 at Kansas City and complete domination of Buffalo. So Burrow continues to add to the resume. Couldn't get back to another Super Bowl in back-to-back years, and who knows what they're capable of because at this point, Cincinnati cannot be doubted.

Let's talk San Francisco and Dallas. Okay, two great defenses, one unknown quarterback in Purdy versus another quarterback in Dak. Do we now know who he is? Seems like it's unfair, perhaps, in one playoff game against a terrific defense in the Niners. But as I've said throughout the years of watching Dak, it's kind of become a running joke, at least with myself,

because I don't know that it's that funny. I just, every week with him or the course of long stretches or he puts up good numbers, I'm like, I don't know. I don't know if, is he really this awesome? Is he going to be one of the all-time guys?

I mean, look at last year's numbers. 37s 10 picks the splits were incredible 69 completion rate for his career he's 166 touchdowns and 65 interceptions qbr maybe that tells a little bit more of the story 11th 11th the last two years missed a year prior to that go back four years uh in 19 he was 14th but the throws and decisions in this game were awful. Awful. I know it's a great defense, but it really was all on him. And there's too many times where we look at the player and we want to make it about something else. We want to blame the coach.

We want to blame the play calling. That's not what this was. This was all on Dak. And I know why fans always want to blame the coach or play calling because it's way easier to fix that than the quarterback that you've paid well over $100 million in guaranteed money. So the first pick, you could argue the route was part of the problem. So you want that one? You want that one that's not on deck? Fine. I'll give it to you. I don't need it because as much as there will be times where

I'm reluctant because again, I didn't play the position. I'm not a coach. I don't watch the all 22. When coaches in the post game are like, well, I got to look at the position. I'm not a coach. I don't watch the All-22. You know, when coaches in the postgame are like, well, I got to look at the film. They're not doing that to be evasive. They really mean it because you end up learning all these different things. I actually think Dak provided us a game where it was the rare occasion where you could just watch the game on the TV broadcast and go, he sucks today.

And this is a major problem. So let's go back to some of the bad decisions. I just wrote these down after the game. If I went through it, I'd probably find more bad ones. he sucks today and this is a major problem so let's go back to some of the bad decisions i just wrote these down after the game if i went through it i'd probably find more bad ones first pick man all right fine we'll call that a push the second pick was awful he just didn't see the coverage that thing where you think you have it open to the side because you're just not even looking at the defender that stays down in zone um the deep shot against fred warner i know exactly what he's trying to do on this it's third and eighth eighth, though. It's a huge spot.

They run the four verts, but Ezekiel Elliott was wide open underneath, and he wanted to attack a linebacker on that route with C.D. Lamb, who was his biggest playmaker in the passing game, which I understand. But it's also Fred Warner. So I get quarterbacks who are going to always be like, wait, I got a linebacker running with my number one option? But it's Fred Warner. He's like one of the few guys where that's not an automatic win,

and there was the free cheese, as Daniel Jeremiah likes to say, underneath. It was right there in a huge spot on third and eight. He didn't want to take it. He had a third and eight behind Seedy where it was way behind him, and Lamp turns back like, what was that throw? Again, it could happen. The third pick that, again, wasn't a pick because he only had two in the game he throws one to green law late where they're still in this game because both defenses are so great uh he doesn't

see green law at all that was going to be a pick six end the game that was going to be it it was over and green law again it was so close he's like you know it happens with defensive guys especially on the edge and then with 45 seconds seconds left at their own six-yard line. So it's not ideal. You've got to go the full length of the field to get the touchdown. It's likely not happening at all. First down, he almost gets sacked for a safety. And you're watching, you're going like, there's only one thing you can't do.

You have all these other things. You can throw a completion. You can throw it out of bounds. You can throw it down in the dirt, get outside of the pocket. You could run it out of the front of the end zone and lose yards. He almost takes it. He should have been sacked for a safety. I have no idea what was going on with him yesterday,

but I know it wasn't Mike McCarthy's fault, and it wasn't Kellen Moore on the play call. I'm not telling you it was all great, but this was an alarming DAC game. So now you look at San Francisco's defense. Look at this number. Since Purdy's taken over in week 13, the Niners have started 22 drives in opponent territory. 22.

Jacksonville's next over that span with 13. Dallas D was so fast that I thought there really wasn't much there to the edges. The stuff that San Francisco likes to do, they just couldn't do it for a good chunk of the game. Credit to Dallas' defense for being that fast and that active. They were terrific.

They're a huge part of the success of this team. But second half, they got the downhill running game going. I thought there were some really cool route things that they did on two specific plays. One was the IU play where they got them matched up on somebody else where it was kind of Shanahan by design, which just makes Purdy's life way easier.

And the game was totally changed on the Kittle 31-yard reception. It seemed impossible. It looked like Diggs was going to be able to get him. I don't know if he pulled up because he was afraid of a penalty or if he just timed it wrong because if he hits him, I don't think Kittle actually comes down with that football and Diggs completely missed it. But again, I don't think Kittle actually comes down with that football and Diggs completely missed it. But again,

I don't really blame the guys in the secondary for pulling up a little bit more with the way flags fly around. And then he gets the penalty late. Kittle starts celebrating. They go in for the score and that's kind of the game. Dallas. How about this number? Since they last played in the NFC championship game back in 1995,

26 teams have played in the conference championship game. Since then, Dallas has not. I want to close with this because there's the QB perception game. I could turn this into an entire open. We could do much more on this, but I'm going to make it quick here. Looking at the eight quarterbacks from this past weekend and what this means. Burrow, the arrow is going up. We've covered the resume. There's a chance to go to Hill. I don't think he's Mahomes. Burrow, the arrow is going up. We've covered the resume. There's a chance to go to like, you know, he'll, and I don't think he's Mahomes. I guess you'd have to say at this point,

maybe physically Allen is still more impressive. But I don't know. There's going to be many people going like, hey, Allen definitely over Burrow at this point. And again, you could talk head-to-head matchup, but we know there's a lot more going on than just two quarterbacks going up against each other. I'm very protective of anyone challenging Mahomes for that top spot.

But if Burrow were to pull this thing off, it kind of depends on how these next couple games go. Well, it's available. It's available to even have that conversation. I'm just not saying we're there yet. Hurts, it was just a great reminder. I love what we saw from the Eagles. 268 rushing

yards, the fifth highest total in a playoff game in the last 20 years. They didn't even need Hurts to necessarily go off. I think they're going to need him against San Francisco, but just a little reminder of who this Eagles team is more so than just the quarterback. Mahomes, we wait. I do feel like it was turning into a bit of

the only guy that's ever played with a sprained ankle in a football game. But then that sounds like I'm actually being negative about Mahomes, and I'm not. I mean, the guy's incredible. So I don't really have nothing to say. There's nothing else to say here other than him just trying to add to a resume that's going to be the only thing that holds him back from going after some

of the other top guys. I don't know how anybody ever catches Brady, but the physical gifts and the automatic wins and carrying bad defenses and all that stuff, there's really not much more to say there. Purdy, TBD, there's probably going to be some dumb shit said if he ends up in a Super Bowl. He handles pressure really well, though.

I did mean to say that earlier. He's tough. He doesn't seem to get rattled. All that stuff's terrific. I'm just real stubborn when it comes to quarterbacks that are young and maybe with the background of like, wait, this is going to be a guy? He's going to be really good? And we know what Shanahan does with pretty much anyone

that plays behind center. But yeah, when I mean dumb stuff is I think there's a chance you could hear some really lofty praise on what he could be and where his standing is and start floating around with some rankings that to me we'd have to see another season for Purdy to even go there, but you're going to hear it. Lawrence, I don't know. It's a bad pick. They actually ran the ball well in that game against Kansas City, but nobody thought they were going to win that game. It's not a big deal. I think it really comes down to, well, I don't even think I'm going to put Allen in this next group. He's going to deal with stuff next

year. It's going to be annoying. He's still terrific. I'm not worried about him. I think you worry about the rest of the Bills roster and how it compares to Kansas City and Cincinnati, who they're going to be having to deal with for many years to come. That also leaves out Baltimore with a healthy Lamar Jackson and whatever happens there if he's even there next year. It really comes down to the QB perception

game applies to two different quarterbacks here. Daniel Jones, I'd ask you this, Giants fans, is it worse that it kind of worked out this year? Even though you declined the option, you could franchise tag him. But if he ends up being the guy and getting paid because it feels like there's a slight improvement, actually, it was dramatic improvement. He stopped turning the football over. Dable and the staff did a much better job with him than the previous regime. And Part of that's on him and everything else. But if you pay him

and he's a little bit more like the Eagles guy than he is the Vikings guy, and the Vikings guy is an outlier game. It really is. It would feel maybe a bit like my buddy who got married because he was going bald. I was like, huh?

He's like, I don't think I'll do any better than her. I'm starting to lose my hair. I was like, I don't think that's the best reason to get married. I got to be honest with you. And he just sort of shrugged. I don't know that he's happy. Dak,

he's going to take the biggest hit and he deserves to. And maybe that's the point. Stop wondering where he ranks and stop pretending that he's one of the top 10 guys. It was just such a bad game that I think it's going to hurt him. The carryover going into next year and all the topics and all the Monday stuff and all the shows, and he's going to put up numbers. I think his perception took the biggest hit this weekend.

All right, Mondays with Damian Woody. A great round of playoff games for the most part. And the biggest story out of all this is Cincinnati going into Buffalo and putting a beat down on the Bills. I started the podcast going like, look, we all know Cincinnati's good. And you really liked them towards the end of the regular season. I think you were kind of saying, hey, I think this is the best team in the Bills. I started the podcast going like, look, we all know Cincinnati's good, and you really liked them towards the end of the regular season. I think you were kind of saying, hey, I think this is the best team in the AFC. I just still

expected the Buffalo profile to be at home, everything going into that, that they'd pull this game out. So it's not like I'm shocked that Cincinnati went in there and won, because they're a really good football team. I'm shocked that it was this one-sided. What did you think of the game? I'm not surprised. I'm not surprised that it played out this way, to be honest with you,

because anyone who has watched Buffalo closely could see, like, they weren't even the same team as last year. Like, you could see clear deficiencies with the Buffalo Bills. Like, outside of Stephon Diggs, what do they have on offense? They don't have anyone. Like, Dawson Knox, he's a nice player. Gabe Davis. Gabe Davis shows up, like, once a month.

Like, you know, like, who do they have? It's basically the Josh Allen show to basically put, whenever they're in the pickle, okay, Josh, go make a play. Go make some type of Superman play and get us out of the jam. They have no running game. They got Stephon Diggs, and outside of him, they have nobody. And the defense was Swiss cheese.

Like, Cincinnati came in and de-bowled them on their home field. They averaged 5.8 yards on first down. Imagine that. Averaging almost six yards of play on first down. That is what you call dominating someone. Yeah, you know, it looked early too, especially with the conditions where, you know, even if there weren't Cincinnati receivers

all making plays, I mean, it was Jamar early. I mean, he was going off, but it felt like Cincinnati said, okay, let's start with this. Like we have weapons. Let's, let's get them out there and start moving the football

where it felt like Buffalo's lack of weapons, the drop off after digs. You know, I think Davis is all right. I think Knox is okay. He has his moments, but it felt like felt like just the playmaking depth was alarming.

The disparity between the two teams with what they were allowing themselves to do offensively. Buffalo comes out two quick three and outs. With Cincinnati, it felt like an offense that was way more comfortable and way more threatening early in the game.

I just think that that stone coldcold killer that we call Joe Burrow, you know, people can see why he's like ice cold. Nothing fazes him. But I think more importantly, man, is, you know, you talked about the playmaking ability of Cincinnati. They were just a more physical team. Like, I think yesterday's game showed you, like,

what Buffalo really needs to work on. Buffalo needs to go back to the drawing board as far as their offensive line, the physicality offensive line, and their running game, because they have no running game. Outside of Josh Allen design runs, they can't run the football. And as good as your quarterback your quarterback is at some point you got to be able to turn around hand the football off and impose your will they can't do that Cincinnati we saw that yesterday Joe Mixon was just gaining yards and droves every time he touched the ball so when you have that element to go along with an elite quarterback, it makes a big difference. How did the O-line hold up this well this week with even more concern?

The left tackle's first start ever at left tackle. We knew Kappa was going to be out. That was part of the Baltimore storyline. But against Baltimore, it was way more of a challenge against that front. Is it the talent of the fronts between Baltimore and Buffalo? How did it come together where that wasn't even remotely an issue for three-plus hours? Yeah, listen, I'm going to go back again. You saw the deficiencies.

Everyone talked about the Bengals' offensive line, and rightfully so, when you're missing three starters. But no one talked about the deficiencies on Buffalo's front. starters, but no one talked about the deficiencies on Buffalo's front. Like they haven't been able to, ever since Von Miller's injury, surgery and him being out, they haven't been able to get to the quarterback, period. And then on top of that, teams were still able to run on Buffalo. They have never really solved that issue.

And that's been going back to last year when people were able to run the ball on them. So I just thought that Cincinnati Bengals just said, you know what, in weather conditions like this, we're just going to impose our will. Regardless of backup linemen, we're going to still be able to run the ball against Buffalo because even with backup linemen, there's still one thing you can do. You can still run the ball.

The pass protection was the area I was worried about, but they did a hell of a job with that as well. Okay, so if you look at the talent here for Buffalo, we know that Edmonds and Milano are terrific at linebacker, and I think Tredavis have been playing better. I think Elam's good. Porter's good. But then they start going down bodies in the secondary.

But if you look at the front, it was weird because when they had Vaughn, and then I'm like, yeah, you got Ed Oliver. I've always liked Epinesa. Bastian will make some plays for you. Russo's a top pick. Shaq Lawson. I've seen Tem Settle have some nice weeks. And then you take Vaughn out of it.

Is this group actually just not that good? Am I just naming names and confusing that with thinking that they're good up there? I want to tell you this. Believe what your eyes are telling you. Believe what your eyes are telling you. What did your eyes tell you yesterday? They're not that good. Like Matt Milano, I've always said,

Matt Milano was the glue to that defense. He's the best player on their defense. And he showed yesterday. He made plays. Now, he missed a couple plays, but Matt Milano, there's a reason why Matt Milano was first-team all-pro. He's that good of a player. Outside of that, who's the real difference makers?

They don't have any real difference makers in their front seven. Like, Ed Oliver, he's good. He's okay. I don't consider him a difference maker. And Cincinnati just looked at them boys like, okay, yeah, we're just going to run the ball right down your throat and do whatever we want to do. Kate, can you help us understand the burrow factor from like a sideline,

a third down, the huddle like you've played with some dudes where you break the huddle and you're like i'm not remotely worried and you've played with some guys where you break the huddle and you go yeah i don't know because you know you round along it what is that factor like when you break the huddle and it is the ultimate trust with the guy behind center? Burrow reminded me so much of Tom because with Tom, man, you were shocked when you didn't win. Honestly, you were shocked if we didn't make a play. You were shocked if we didn't have the comeback drive.

That's the way the Cincinnati Bengals players have to feel with Joe Burrows. Like, every time we step on the field, we're going to make things happen. And there's nothing more empowering than know that your quarterback is that dog. He's the shit, basically. Like, there's nobody out here that can fuck with us. He's that type of guy. And so that's why I call him, man. He's just a stone cold killer at the quarterback position.

Nothing fazes him. You can throw pressures at him. It doesn't bother him. You can sack him. It still doesn't bother him. He's just going to come back and make plays and get his guys in position to win time and time again. So

why, like as a player, why would I want to play like, I want to play with a guy like that. And guess what? This is the crazy thing about Joe Burrow and Cincinnati Bengals. They are now a destination. Think about how crazy this is. The Cincinnati Bengals. They are now a destination.

Think about how crazy this is. The Cincinnati Bengals are now a destination for players who want to go play with a stone-cold killer like Joe Burrow. On the Buffalo side of this, one of the other things I touched on in the open is now, with this group, the playoff exits, the other ones, losing to Kansas City the way they lost to them last year. There's no shame in that. You know, it's the first year of this group.

They lose a wild card game, but, you know, we didn't know how good they were going to be. And going into next year, they're going to have a really good record. You know, they're going to be a good team again, but there's going to be more doubt with them. It's just the way, it's the natural order of things. It's just how it goes. What's the worst playoff loss or the playoff loss that you had in your career where it hung around and maybe carried into the next season? And maybe that's a positive

because it motivates you, but one where you're like, how the hell did that just happen? You know, it's one thing to lose in last second play or just toe-to-toe, but to get your ass kicked like that at home, I'm just wondering if you have anything that's comparable in your career. Yeah, I don't know if I have anything comparable as far as getting my ass kicked in the playoff game, but I would say like the 0-9 season, man,

we played in the AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts, and we went into that game. We felt like we were the better team. We came out. We established our identity we were running the football they couldn't stop us from running the football our defense was playing great and then what happened was Sean Green our running back at the time we had Thomas Jones as well who rushed over 1400 yards that year but we ran him so much that we basically wore him out

so it was a Sean Green show. He got hurt in that game. And so our ground and pound caught a flat tire. And Peyton Manning broke the code as far as the way our defense was playing. And then they came back and ultimately won the game. But that was a game, man, where I'm just thinking, damn, we were better than them. And we just couldn't finish the deal. Have you ever had – I get receivers are tough, okay? But Stephon Diggs to go off on the sideline –

look, it wasn't the worst blowup we've ever seen on the sideline, to be fair to him, and you can understand the emotions of it. But the timing of it was like, now you're pissed? This thing's over. What did you think of that? Well, first of all, every receiver thinks they're open all the time, which they're not. You've got to look at the whole play in its totality.

I agree with you, man. Dude, that game's been over. Anyone watching that game could see Cincinnati was clearly better than you guys. Y'all weren't beating the Bengals. Like, dude, that game been over. Like, anyone watching that game could see, like, Cincinnati was clearly better than you guys. Like, y'all weren't beating the Bengals. Let's make that thing – let's make that perfectly clear. The Bengals were the better team.

Joe Burrow was the better quarterback. The defense was – the Cincinnati Bengals' defense was better than the Buffalo Bills' offense. You weren't going to win that game. Regardless of how highly you feel of your game, you weren't going to beat the Bengals yesterday, period. Okay, have you ever been yelled at on the sideline by a player? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

I mean, Tom had done that but like that stuff doesn't bother me like i don't even feed into that i don't even put my energy towards that because it's just noise because at the end of the day what difference does it make like you got to go out there and play your game on the field like yelling on the sideline that's not gonna motivate me more to go do my job. I've never understood that. But to each his own. Some players feel like that's what needs to happen. I've never bought into that.

Okay, let's talk San Francisco's win. What do you see in Purdy? Playmaker. Going to that game, I felt like the Dallas defense has to somehow put the pressure on Brock Purdy and make him beat you. He did that.

Like, San Francisco didn't really run the ball until, like, the end of the game when they kind of started wearing down the Dallas Cowboys' defense. But for the most part, the Cowboys shut down the 49ers' run game, and they put it on the quarterback. Brock Purdy played better than Dak Prescott in that game. That's impressive.

You know, for this to be to what, his, like, seventh start or whatever it is, like, he showed up. He took care of the football. He made plays. The dude is legit. Like, we can't look at him as a seventh, you know, Mr. Irrelevant, seventh-round pick and all that type of stuff. The dude is a playmaker at the quarterback position.

Do you notice over the course of a game how Shanahan is kind of changing some of the things, whether it's some of the route combinations where he's like, okay, let's line up this way. I don't know. It felt like, you know, anything that they tried to do to the edges with McCaffrey or Debo, this wasn't happening against that Dallas speed. It was really impressive, actually, from Dallas' front,

where it was like, actually, you guys aren't going to be able to do that stuff. What do you notice, the evolution of a game plan from San Francisco as they adjusted and were able to finally move the football there when they needed to in the second half? Yeah, it seemed like the flavor they initially tried to come out with was they tried to get on the edge. You know, tosses, you know, all those type of things, try to

get on the edge of Dallas. Dallas' defense was too fast. Like, they flowed to the ball very quickly. Like, the speed at which Dallas' defense plays is very high. And I think what you saw as the game progressed, as the game went on, was San Francisco saying, you know what? Screw all this.

When you got a team that's as athletic defensively and as fast, the way you combat speed is what? Power. Come downhill on them. That's what you saw. You saw like double teams at the point of attack. Forget all the trying to get outside. Let's just double team come downhill. I think over time, especially when you got into the third, latter part of third and fourth quarter, you saw the San Francisco 49ers

start getting five, six, seven yards of carry because they were just coming downhill on Dallas' defense. Hey, let's talk Dak. I am reluctant at times because I know I don't know it as well as somebody watching the All-22. Hey, what's up with this? Sometimes we'll say, hey, a quarterback played bad

that you could maybe sit with somebody who really knew and be like, oh, okay, but here's the problem. This wasn't all on him. I counted, just in the course of the game, six plays that were not debatable. And I know there's more if I wanted to go through it.

The first pick, you can say maybe the route was cut off, whatever. The second pick, he clearly didn't see what they were doing defensively. The deep shot that I mentioned, I went through all this in the beginning,

but when he went against Fred Warner, which I know he's trying to think he's going to beat a linebacker in that spot, more often than not, you're going to beat the linebacker that not with Fred Warner, which I know he's trying to think he's going to beat a linebacker in that spot. More often than not, you're going to beat the linebacker that not with Fred Warner necessarily. He had Zeke underneath the third and eight behind CD,

the third pick that almost happened. Excuse me. I mean, it wasn't an actual third pick to green law, which would have been a pick six, which would have ended the game. And probably the most like what the fuck play of all of them is granted. It's impossible backed up that much. He almost takes a sack.

He almost takes a sack. He almost takes a sack on first down when it's like the only thing you can't do, excuse me, is not only take a sack, but a safety. He was awful in this game, Damian. He was really bad. And I don't like this isn't one of those gray areas. Oh, on Wednesday, I went back and looked at the tape. I can't imagine somebody is going to try to sell that. And I think it's really concerning for Dallas in the tape. I can't imagine somebody's going to try to sell that. And I think it's really concerning for Dallas in the future.

Yeah, I think Dak was bad. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. As much as we lauded praise on Dak and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, we have to have the same energy as far as how bad he played in the

San Francisco, this game against the 49ers. I think the most sobering thing, to be honest with you, coming out of this, is Jalen Hurston and the Eagles are here. Brock Purdy's not going anywhere. He's probably going to only get better with Kyle Shanahan and Brian Greasy as his position coach. He's only going to get better. So if you're the Dallas Cowboys, you're man we're paying Dak 40 some million dollars and we can't get back we can't get past you know

Jalen Hurts or Brock Purdy like at some point you're going to have to make a decision like okay do we replace the coach and bring in, you know, someone super caliber like a Sean Payton, or do we have to make a decision and say, the quarterback can't take us where we need to go? Like, listen, I think everyone respects Dak Prescott for, you know, his character, his leadership ability, all that. All that is impeccable.

But you got to start asking questions about, is he enough to get us over the hump? And I think those questions are going to start really making a lot of noise probably going into next year. People are going to say,

okay, I thought this was the year, but next year it People want to say, okay, that this is... I thought this was the year, but next year it's going to be like it's going to be red hot going into next year. I love the talent on this Niners defense, man. I mean,

it feels like every time you're looking up, granted, I mean, we're forgetting who's on the defensive side of the football there, but it is, it's a game changing kind of defense. And maybe, I don't know, maybe it felt like it snuck up on me a little bit. You know, I know what the stats are. I've looked at them all year long.

I was looking at some of the starting position stuff that's happened with Purdy and it's been incredible. Some of those numbers, but I think at this point it's the best defense left of the four, right? They're good. They're really good. They're really good at all three levels, man. They got elite athletes at all three levels of their defense, man. It's amazing, man. Like, if you're Brock Purdy, the luxury of having that, you know,

that type of defense where I can go out there and play free knowing that I got this elite defense to back me up, that's got to be a huge relief amongst the fact that I got elite playmakers around me. Philly's defense is no slouch. Philly's defense is no slouch. Philly's defense is no slouch as well. No, you're right. Like Philly has, I mean, 70 sacks.

That's third most in NFL history. Like they got, Philly has dogs on every level as well. So I think that if we're spinning this thing forward, like San Francisco has the best defense remaining. Philly is right there. I think the difference in this game coming up is the fact that

Philly has an elite playmaker at the quarterback position as far as a guy that can both throw it and run it. How will San Francisco handle that? That aspect of Philadelphia? Okay, because I'm glad you transitioned into that. We knew it was going to be a completely different challenge for Daniel Jones going against the

Vikings defense and stepping up to what Philly's defense is. You mentioned the pass rushing numbers. On top of that, they gashed him. I mean, they just absolutely gashed him. I think it's a great reminder for who Philadelphia has been most of the season. I think with Hurts missing some time, maybe other storylines became more dominant. I'm still not sure necessarily how I feel about the NFC championship game. And I feel like maybe because the Niners thing was more impressive against a better opponent.

Am I leaning that way? I'm still not sure necessarily which way I'm going. But I'm just glad for Philadelphia that it was a reminder to everybody to be like, no, this is kind of who we are and who we've been all season long. And yes, it's a lesser conference, but we've got the better quarterback. They do in Hurts. And then with their balance to go,

we're just going to gash you all night against a Giants front that we started to really like, especially against Minnesota, and you start naming all the names there, and they're, hey, they're getting their 11 guys back, and they're healthy, and it wasn't even close. I was just happy to see that result, because I think it plays into the storylines really well, because they were kind of just,

it wasn't like anybody was saying they weren't good, they were just kind of overlooked because, hell, they ended the season with the Hurts part of it. Yeah, I was watching that game, and I'm like, I'm thinking to myself from a Giants perspective. Yeah, that's not Minnesota y'all playing anymore. Like Philadelphia is in a totally different league. And I think that's why like this NFC Championship game is going to be so intriguing to me. It's because, you know, we talk about San Francisco 49ers, their strength, their physicality in the trenches.

Well, guess what? Philly has the same thing. Their strength is their physicality on both sides of the line of scrimmage. So that's what we're going to see in this championship game. We're going to see strength on strength. We're going to see Nick Bosa, Eric Armstead, and those boys on the San Francisco 49ers defense line go up against Lane Johnson, Kelsey,

those boys on the Philadelphia offensive line. I would pay to watch that. I would buy a ticket to go watch that battle between the Eagles offensive line and the 49ers defensive line. And it's going to be the same vice versa as well. That's going to be a treat for

football fans, in my opinion. Is Philly's O-line the best? Yes. They have the best O-line in football, in my opinion. They are elite. Not only do they have the best O-line in football, in my opinion. They are elite. Not only they have elite athletes, these dudes aren't just big.

These dudes are athletes all across the board. And so, yeah, as much as we talk about the 49ers defensive front, they're going to have their hands full with this Eagles offensive line because they're really good. I can't believe Lane Johnson held up that well over the course of the game. Yeah, it's crazy. Early on, you're like, okay, he's struggling with this groin.

I'm looking at it now. He played 96% of the snaps in that game insane a groin and early i'm talking i don't know it was the first or second series where i saw him grabbing it and and i went oh no i mean well and the thing is like you're growing that's your core like for an athlete that's everything like we talk about. That's your core. Like for an athlete, that's everything. Like we talk about your legs, but your core is everything as far as, you know, being an athlete and that dude played.

And honestly, I don't think I heard his name called one time. Like usually if you don't hear office alignment name called, they're probably kicking ass. Okay. Did you get anything from Kansas city Jacksonville? Oh, Okay, did you get anything from Kansas City-Jacksonville? That Kansas City can beat you in different ways. As much as we talk about Patrick Mahomes and how he's Superman

and just can do so many things off-platform, the fact that he got hurt in that game and they said, you know, how he's Superman and just can do so many things off platform. The fact that he got hurt in that game and they said, you know what? Like, we can run the ball like we like Kansas City has an elite office line as well. They just turned around and handed the ball off to Pacheco and they were just pounding. They were pounding Jacksonville's front like that dread 98 yard drive with uh chad henning they were pounding they were pounding uh the jacksonville jaguars front so obviously we you know everyone knows about you know uh travis kelsey's greatness and all that we don't even need to really talk about that but it's the fact that they can beat you in different ways. Period.

That's impressive. Yeah, obviously the Mahomes part of it is the headline, and we'll have to figure out the injury part of it, but I almost feel like you would be picking Cincinnati straight up at their place, even if Mahomes were 100%.

I am. I've been saying it for weeks now that Cincinnati is the best team in the AFC. I just feel like they're the most complete team. They're not scared to go into Arrowhead and play those boards. Even if Patrick Mahomes was 100%, I don't even know how Kansas City would be favored going into this game right now. Like any serious person who watches football with Patrick Mahomes,

even if Patrick Mah line up 100%. The way the Cincinnati Bengals have been playing, Cincinnati to me should be the favorite going into the AFC championship game. Do you know who you're picking in the NFC? I'm going with Philly. I think

that playing at home, both teams are kind of similar, but I think the x factor is jalen hurts i think jalen hurts might be the x factor in this game that when you have a quarterback that can run the way that jalen hurts runs it's different when you're the way you're able to run the football yeah i know i'm i'm like on the cincinnati or excuse me the cincinnati thing i totally get san francisco i'm like man just pick them pick them i'm like you're gonna pick'm like on the Cincinnati or excuse me the Cincinnati thing I totally get San Francisco I'm like man just pick them pick them I'm like you can pick Purdy on the road

against Hurts like that doesn't make any fucking sense yeah and I love San Francisco but I just think Jalen Hurts he brings a different he brings a different dimension to the running game all right well I'll figure out my picks by Friday and

as always thanks to Damian Woody joining us from the Scarface Mansion on Mondays. Absolutely. Thanks, man. Talk to you soon. All right, man. You want details? Fine.

I drive a Ferrari. 355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you could possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid. So, now you know what's possible.

Let me tell you what's required. Life advice. The email address is lifeadvicerr at gmail.com. Hello, Kyle. So you're going to bring her hoodie on today. Yeah, I just had to let these motherfuckers know, you know. Somebody's coming out hot on a Monday. All right.

A couple of follow-ups. I gave out some bad sex club advice. Apparently. 10 to 30, I don't know, 20, 30 emails on this. A lot of people checking in. A lot of people from overseas. We appreciate the overseas listeners. Always kind of cool when you hear that.

And when I started talking Berlin sex clubs, people needed to reach out. We got a lot of these. So enough that I think it's worthy of a follow-up in case that guy's still listening and thinking about going to a sex club with his wife and his wife's sister. Uh, maybe I let the WhatsApp thing creeping in my head a little bit too much.

Maybe she's just saving on data rates. You know, who knows? He is in New York city. All right. So the constant theme of all the follow-ups on this is that it's just culturally different over there. All right?

And I thought it was best summarized with this email because I read a few and I was like, okay, I kind of get the point. I wouldn't usually write in, but I felt I had to because I feel really wrong advice was given to the person that wrote in about Berlin and the sex club. First, I have to start by saying I moved to Berlin two years ago. Oh, we got a local here. When I first arrived, I had the same mindset as the person that emailed you. Very quickly, I realized Berlin is another universe when it comes to nightlife and how people live their lives in general. I've lived in LA, New York, Hong Kong, Madrid, and a couple other major cities around the globe, and nothing is comparable to Berlin's nightlife culture

uh every major club is this a sex worker no i'm just kidding um no he he just he tells me the job but i'm not going to share that uh he goes every major club is technically a sex club okay um some can be open three to four days without closing fucking a kyle can you even could you handle that kind of bender no i've been i had i was drinking at night this week this last weekend and i've already i can already see it in my face that i'm not gonna do that for a while i'm back to daytime guy just smoke it all uh this is about sex clubs so i think that's really what people want to hear about right but you're saying that switching back to drinking during the day

is improvement over drinking at night yeah because i'm like ready to go home at like you know the shift change is seven o'clock during the day and it's like yeah i should go home uh you know at night it's like well what's the next place we're going it doesn't there's no shift changes you know just that yeah that sort of imaginary line doesn't exist at night it's like, well, what's the next place we're going? It doesn't, there's no shift changes, you know, just that, that sort of imaginary line doesn't exist at night. So that's all I mean. Yeah.

Okay. All right. So some of the clubs stay open three to four days without closing. Drug usage is socially acceptable and some of the best DJs are invited to play there. So far,

I'm not sold on that. I gave out the worst advice ever, by the way. I'm waiting. Yeah. They're usually massive buildings with a variety of areas such as three to four dance floors, dark rooms where it's okay to have sex by the way. Yeah, I'm waiting. They're usually massive buildings with a variety of areas such as three to four dance floors,

dark rooms where it's okay to have sex in random restaurants. Again, they could also have coffee shops or ice cream stands. Like, hey, do you want to get some ice cream after this? Berlin is a very hedonistic, liberal city where they don't allow

flexing or bottle popping. It's not about status, money, age, or gender. It's all about having good vibes and good energy. Play the fitness of clubs. Okay. No, they don't want you flexing. You can expect to be in the same club with millionaires and celebrities, but also struggling artists just trying

to make it by. For example, Elon Musk was rejected from Berghain about half a year ago, but he was able to get into KitKat, which is the club that the emailer was referring to. These two clubs, along with a couple others in Berlin, are world-famous institutions or basically landmarks in the city, literally. Sounds crazy to hear, but to Berliners, these clubs are almost the equivalent of going to visit the Statue of Liberty in New York City or the Eiffel Tower in Paris. This would be my advice to your emailer. First, I would give kudos to the girl suggesting to go to Kit Kat because that means she's been doing her research on the city.

Well, she lives there. Secondly, he needs to bring some grungy black clothing, dress shirt, and dress shoes will not get you into the best of clubs and bars. Lastly, and I hate to say this, but it's very unlikely that we get into a place like Kit Kat, even if he wanted to with his current mindset and his lack of knowledge of this unique nightlife culture. I would recommend that he do his research so he can appreciate some of the

cool things he's about to experience. Be prepared to be shocked, but at the same time amazed. Okay. Dude. but at the same time amazed okay dude the point is that they're gonna go back to their regular lives it's not gonna be like hey we're germans now so this all makes sense they're gonna go into this thing for one night then they're gonna leave and do other stuff i don't know just because it's normal it doesn't mean that it's gonna be normal for his relationship that's the only reason we're weird about this yeah i actually don't feel like we gave out the worst advice i don't even only tells us that it is going to be different and like going

to a club that stays open for three or four straight days we're clearly for people to still be there not not saying a guy shows up and gets in and then leaves four days later i you know i don't even know what kind of fucking chemical cocktail you would need to go on that kind of bender. But yeah, you're telling us that it's normal for Berliners. Right. This guy's going on a trip and he's about to get married. He's not even locked in yet. Yeah.

All right. So you want to check it out. It's normal over there, but he's still to the emailers point. Originally, the guy in New York was like, I still think it's sort of weird. The sister is constantly like reaching out to me about this whole thing. Now, maybe she's going to get them in. Right. Maybe she has a relationship there.

I don't know. There's a lot of there are a lot of emails, though, that were consistently saying it's not that big of a deal. It's not that big of a deal. Okay. Maybe saying it's not that big of a deal it's not that big of a deal okay maybe there it's not that big of a deal i think any of us that are not accustomed to that being the normal nightlife despite the amazing history of these places and the acceptable societal norms that's the whole challenge uh i'm sure this isn't going to be the first guy that ever goes in there that's not from Berlin that's like, whoa. Grab myself a couple scoops of chocolate and hang out in the corner. We had another email that honestly I think was the most predictable email that I could

imagine. The guy that got banned from Equinox followed up. Thanks for responding to the email. Unfortunately, you didn't see my side at all. Didn't see the humor in the email and completely humiliated me. I've enjoyed your show for 10 plus years and you lost a fan. Thanks for the advice. That follow-up's the least surprising fucking thing

you could have ever said. And by the way, you're definitely listening to this right now. I thought I was nice, man. I thought I was nice. Constructive criticism. Yeah, that's what it was. Read the email back to yourself that you sent originally.

You know, I mean, I get maybe the guy was a hard-o manager. I get that it was kind of funny that you were still curling while they were kind of harassing you. I even said there's a really good chance I believe you on, you know, the accusation that you were still curling while they were kind of harassing you i even said there's a

really good chance i believe you on you know the accusation that you insulted her because you were very honest about the rest of the shit you did wrong the point is you did a fucked up a bunch of different things there and yeah i think when you ask to take a picture of somebody's calendar book so you can send it to a manager to prove that you were being lied to when nobody's allowed to use the pilates studio i checked on it by themselves because it's fancy equipment that could be super gentle. I've been looking every time I walk past it. There's never anybody in there that's unsupervised. It doesn't happen. And so I don't know. I actually thought there was another version of me breaking that down where it could have been a bigger dick and I wasn't.

But the fact that you wrote that email to us after the fact, wasn't but the fact that you wrote that email to us after the fact pretending you're not listening this right now which you are um i feel great i feel great about it enjoy the coward show on fs1 okay uh saving money in your 20s i don't know shouldn't be sending this to me i don't know about you, Kyle. I was going to like to hear whatever you said. All right. 24-year-old male. Been told by several friends to remind them of young Ryan Russillo.

Okay. Six foot 175. Is that a basketball comp? What is that? No, I think it just means in general. All right. It's just in general. Okay. As a young, so 24, as a young, somewhat recent college graduate, I would love to get life advice, the life advice members input. I don't know if we're calling it a group here, but on how saving money should be managed early on in your career background.

I graduated from the University of Arizona, Harvard of the West. I like that. In 2020, during the midst of the pandemic, I began working a full-time job in financial services shortly thereafter. I was dating a girl from college. At the time, we decided to get a pandemic puppy without putting much thought to how much time and financial commitment dogs actually are. Fast forward three years to 2023, we are no longer dating, but I have full custody of the dog. And while I now fully understand how much of a time a financial commitment a dog is, I love having her and would never give her up. Cool. Get a dog. As a result, my

company now requiring a hybrid work schedule with a few days in the office each week. I just the number of people that I hear this, this who's going to go to work anymore versus I'm never going to work anymore. Battle is fascinating.

Like I thought that everyone is like are surprised. I guess I'm just a little surprised people are like, yeah, they want me to fucking go to work now. Yeah, I would be bummed out, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's if that makes sense no but we may be at a point in you know i don't know history seems a little grand but we could be at a a point in labor where you know it's never going back to to what it was like if you talk to people that run companies and hire it's like yeah it's kind of's kind of like, um, and maybe, maybe that's great. But I also think that it's, you know, we're going to get followups on this, which I'm not going to read. Um, you're only going to argue what's better for you.

Right. This is going to be the most self selfishly driven opinion that you could have. It's like, I don't have to do that and go in and I totally get it. Right. It's still funny to hear it out loud. I agree. It's still, it's still funny to hear it said. Yeah. Like I forget who I was talking to some young guy. I was pretty successful. And then I was like, well, how do you think it's going to work out? He's like, well, they're kind of want me to move. Like they want you to move and work

at the company that you work for. He was like, yeah, but I'm not doing that. He's like, do you think you're never going to have to go into anywhere ever again? Most of our dads, my guys, my dad's, they, they live where they were because their dad moved for the place and they almost moved to Kentucky or somewhere else, but they moved to the place that their dad had to go to work.

So I don't know. It is different. You're right. Yeah. I don't know who's, I'm not even sure what's right because I think the other part of the argument and we're deviating here from email a little bit is that there are plenty of people that are just as efficient at home and they look at it as like i get everything

i need to get done and i get it done on my time and i can be trusted and i'm a great employee and there are plenty of you that are out there i think there's probably bosses that would say this actually can work and it's it's allows you know maybe we've all been doing it wrong for decades that there should be more balance and there should be a better lifestyle appreciation but then there's also a ton of you that don't get shit done because you're at home the whole time and your bosses can't fucking stand you and i don't know who's right okay i think both points are valid all right so back to this uh i now live in a large and obviously expensive city in california with a dog and a roommate.

I really do like my job and make a relatively good salary, so I see myself staying at my current company for a while and rising the ranks over time. However, as I mentioned, I live in one of the most expensive state cities in America. Not to mention, I have monthly vet bills for my dog and the used car I had to purchase after college since riding a bike everywhere would no longer suffice, unfortunately. I stick to a somewhat strict budget where I save about 20% of each paycheck. Awesome. That's pretty good. Yeah. With 8% going to retirement savings, 401 Roth,

12% to emergency fund and savings account to be used for large purchases, next car down payment on the house eventually. This is the part where I feel like the younger generation on the house down payment thing. I don't know when these things are going to turn around right now uh because even though the rates have gone up people are afraid to get into a new rate so the prices haven't really reflected there's a few areas but you know the prices haven't really uh gone down i think on

on properties the way you would have thought, maybe with some of the rate stuff. But I think a lot of it has to do with people being afraid of like, okay, well, if I were to list my place to avoid losing money on the equity side of the house, because prices are going to go down, it's like, okay, but now I'm just moving the money around because now I'm paying for a way worse mortgage. So again, I have no guesses on it. I read everything like everybody else. I don't know what the fuck's going to happen. I've derived this savings approach in specific percentages from several personal finance books I've read

since college. So this guy's really on it, by the way. I don't know. First of all, he's asking the worst two people here about the 20 saving thing is my guess. I know, at least for me, but we'll get to it. However, from observing my friends who graduated the same year as me, I'm worried I'm not saving enough or at the rate that I should be.

It's important to mention that I come from a family that never struggled financially, but my parents were always very frugal, all caps. The same week I started my first full-time job after graduating in 2020, my dad called me to tell me that he and my mom were taking me off of all the family plans, health, car, and life insurance, phone bill, but luckily spared me the Netflix account. Meanwhile, from casual conversations with all my friends over time, I've picked up that the majority of them are still receiving some sort of financial assistance from their parents, either in the form of their parents still paying for their car payments, insurance payments,

phone bill, or even covering their rent. Yeah, that's actually rare, dude. Yeah, that's rare, I think. I would be shocked to learn that. Yeah. I mean, look, there was always a few people among the group where, you know, he found out about like, oh, his dad bought him an apartment. But that shit's just like, you know, that's not the norm. And if most of your friends are doing that, like, cool for them. But that's, you know, I don't know that you'd be comparing yourself to that. Yeah. Although, again, I'd spent a good chunk.

I think it's inevitable that you're comparing yourself to your friend group in your early 20s and maybe even beyond that uh and i can only assure you it's a massive massive waste of time uh on a late night out with the group one friend specifically mentioned the only bills he pays are his monthly rent groceries while his parents are happy to keep covering his other expenses until he's built a good financial base because of this he's already saved six figures over three years since graduating that's insane dude you're comparing yourself to fucking fictional characters. I mean, I know this is real. Six figures over three years since graduating? That's not normal.

That's not normal. Okay? Yes, I'm sure some of you listening, I did it. Okay, cool, man. Fucking congrats. So it was after this comment that I started to worry I'm not saving as much as I should be on early in my career. All right. Well, let's get this first part. Stop worrying about that. All right. Stop worrying about saving in comparison to the

other people that are getting financial assistance on top of everything else. Okay. I enjoy going out occasionally. So allocate 20% of each paycheck for carefree spending money, which is usually used up by the time I get paid again two weeks later. However, with absolutely no financial assistance from my parents and the occasional expensive vet bill, I find myself dipping into an aforementioned savings account that's supposed to be reserved for big time purchases every other month or so. I know everyone has different circumstances, so I've just got to play the cards you dealt, but I'm having a tough time thinking I'm doing enough. And I know my friends and peers who are the same age as me seem to be getting a headstart financially. So my question for Ryan and Kyle, am I saving enough?

What advice would you give to those who are trying to establish a strong financial base on their own early in their career? Should I even be worried about this this early on in my career? Should I just focus on saving what I can now and the money will likely come later? Okay, Kyle, did you save any money in your 20s? I am still in my 20s. My savings account, not great, but, uh, I think the biggest part here, uh, maybe that's not the biggest part, but an important part is that you've been doing a 401k for however long, like that. My dad was begging me for years. I was like, yeah,

all right. I, and I, and I do kind of the similar percentage that he does for the 401k, uh, and the savings I've done, what he's done. And every six or eight months, it's like, uh-oh, there it goes. I need it. I need to spend all that money that I saved right now. Because I would save X amount of dollars per paycheck, and it would just do it automatically. And then eight months go by, or six months goes by, and the two grand is gone. So it's never made it past five grand in my savings account. i know maybe that's a lot of to divulge but you know shit just happens and uh it's got to go so i was yeah i was paycheck to paycheck until like 31 years old okay but i chose a profession where i knew that that was going to

happen so when i got bummed out about it and would want to quit multiple times i was like you picked this and this is what you thought you wanted to do. You thought you'd be good enough at it. And I did get a tryout at ESPN at 30. And so even though, you know, look, I wasn't a full-time employee at ESPN until year six, which is fucked up. But, you know, I didn't have like, you know, the benefits of other people and the matching and all that kind of stuff. Even though I, you know, tried to put whatever i could away um but then again when you when you first start being like oh cool i'm actually making a little bit of money and i can save uh you know you start i remember my father i was like you know i can finally start saving money he's like i don't know he's like you're probably gonna spend money now or you finally

have some. I was like, what are you talking about? And then, of course, I got a nicer apartment. Although the place I was living in was a shithole with rats and no closet. And so I built a closet in the living room because I was like, I don't fucking care. It's not like I got people coming over to impress. So anyway, the point is this. You are a very, very financially conscious person. Okay.

And clearly some of it is your upbringing where your parents are kind of like doing you the favor by saying, I know it doesn't feel like they're doing you a favor by taking you off this stuff, but they seem to be very fiscally responsible and you've picked up on that. You've said you've read multiple books. You already have 8% going to retirement at 24 years old and a savings account. Okay.

You already have a budget for your money that you use on stupid shit at 24 years old and a savings account. You already have a budget for your money that you use on stupid shit at 24. I think you are so far ahead of the game with your approach mentally on this that you need to stop worrying about this and you need to stop comparing yourself to other people. The other questions you need to ask yourself, and this is the thing that I did, was like, okay, this isn't going the way I want it to go. And I'm not saving any money, but I can't really save any money. But I would say this too, is when you get a little bit older and you're not saving any fucking money, that money is a real freedom. It's power. It's the ability to go, you know what, I actually don't want to do this, or I don't want to be here, or this isn't, I'm not talking about buying a car or getting clothes. I'm not talking about buying a car or getting clothes. It's the ability to look at a number in a bank account going, you know, if I just decided to do this, can I do it? And when the answer is yes, it will actually make you a freer person.

And even if you don't follow through on the yes, knowing that you can because of a number in a bank account, you know, is as fucked up as the whole process is, it's a way better feeling than the other way where you feel like you are stuck and you are making decisions only because of how low that number is. And I had that for a very, very long time. And it's an awful, awful feeling, man. It is an awful feeling. And it went on for years and years and years. But I kept thinking to myself, I was playing the long game and that eventually if I did a good job and I was doing well, that I'd be able to make up for it later on. But unfortunately, I wasn't having the interest just rack up. I wasn't putting stuff away at a very young age, which you were doing. So when you start factoring how early you got started on this, you're ahead of the game. You're way ahead of the game. You're comparing yourself to a very elite group of people here who are all being subsidized by somebody else who's rich in

their family. That's not going to happen for you. So stop fucking comparing yourself to them. I think you were doing awesome. I think you were way ahead of it. And if you know that you're in a career path where you feel like the money is going to grow down the road, then that's fine. One of my most successful friends, not that I would, I think he was early on the retirement stuff, but he didn't worry about savings. He didn't.

He knew he was going to be rich because he, well, I shouldn't say that. He had a good sense he was going to be rich, not because of family money or anything else, because he was just really brilliant at his job and it did work out for him. I'm not saying that's the best way for all of us to go to be like, oh, everything's going to work out later on. But I'm just telling you, you need to give

yourself way more credit for what you're doing. And especially if you think that your job path down the road is going to lead to bigger money, then yeah, it's not going to have the input. If you're maxing out the 401k and Roth and that kind of stuff, I, I just, I just think you're doing a really good job. You're comparing yourself to something that's not obtainable for you. So it's a waste of time. So that's about it. Yeah. But we're not, I don't have some grand plan of, Hey, this is what I did. I did everything fucking wrong. As soon as I graduated until I was like 31, I did it all wrong. And the biggest reason was because I didn't have any fucking money. I did it all wrong. And the biggest reason was because I didn't have any fucking money.

Yeah, I think, I mean, he's got a formula, right? And the answer to his formula is make more money and you save more money. You have a decent formula and you're a young guy in his twenties, which means you generally are going to eat a little bit of shit, right? And then you, as you grow older, you stop eating shit and you get more money. And I think that's, that's the answer to your formula right there. And I think that's really all there is. You got a great formula. If you want to bump it up a few percentages this way, you know, good, but I think you got a good formula and I've only just started to have a formula that looks sort of like yours. So, you know, if I did this five years ago, I think I probably would have more advice to give you, but I think you got, I think you got it all. Yeah. And that's what everybody's going to do. Most of us are going to do like,

oh, if I just did this, or if I'd done this or like you know when i finally got into the 401k game and and had a company that was matching it and you're watching it grow over and over and over again and you're like oh my god this is fucking awesome you know so for those of you that haven't done that and haven't you know i'll do it next year for taxes or i'll do it the year after that like usually you know i don't want to speak for everyone here because it's generalizing you know but if if you want to start putting something away like i'm on my siblings all the time about it being like hey just find a way to like put a put whatever you can into this you know especially when you kind of take it out of your paycheck ahead of time then it's like psychologically you're not even noticing it yeah like there's

some weird fucking games that's why you know when you look at consumer spending you just have to imagine how much it's increased since debit cards because it doesn't feel real when it's not cash coming out of the wallet uh all right or when you drink it at night yeah i'll be leaving a tip for the boys all right let's see here. Okay. We'll do, uh, we'll do one that I think is pretty cut dry here. Uh, Hey,

Kyle, Ryan and roots, uh, female listener, female listener here. I've been following the show since my boyfriend introduced me to life advice. I noticed the females haven't been providing the stats lately,

but I'll do it. Five, four, one 30. I've been getting more into running lately and just ran eight miles for the first time. No big deal. Stop.

Love that sentence. Uh, now onto my dilemma. I'm a senior college. Hey, how about that? I live with four roommate girls. Last Wednesday,

I got home from class and noticed my roommates were gone, but saw evidence of them drinking and likely going out for the infamous Western Wednesday at the local bar. That sounds pretty good. Western Wednesday. Western Wednesday. I like to open up a dive bar in Manhattan Beach that's based on a dive bar in Nashville. Just put a little Western at the beach.

There's one of those in Hollywood. There's one of those in Hollywood. It's like a rooftop where everybody wears cowboy hats. I've never gone, but I know it's there. All right. That'll be a date. You and I are going to do that. Pre-game where everybody wears cowboy hats. I've never gone, but I know it's there. All right. That'll be a date. You and I are going to do that. Pre-game, Frollo groom.

Well, I'll get you a hat. I'll get you a hat. All right. I just saw my roommate's boyfriend's shoes in the living room and assumed he likely joined them. I then went to bed early knowing I had an early morning. I woke up a few hours later to the sound of my door opening and assumed it was my own boyfriend coming over by surprise. He then started rustling through my bedroom drawers and I realized it was not him, but my roommate's boyfriend. As I realized this, he began peeing in the corner of my room.

I then started to yell expletives at him and yelled at him to get out. I woke up the next morning a few hours later, texted my roommate about what happened and she cleaned it up. It's now been a few days and the boyfriend has been over to the house a few times and still hasn't apologized to me. I'm still very upset about the situation and wondering how you all would go about handling this. Am I being unreasonable and expecting a face-to-face apology? Because since the

incident, I found myself holding a grudge against my roommate. Thanks so much for listening to my problem. Well, which end of that I've been in the house with a guy who was like a serial pisser and would pee everywhere and it was just like I don't know he doesn't know what to say I mean he's apologized to everyone already

I don't know yeah serial pissers are a dangerous breed down the vent in the upstairs and it went down into our buddy downstairs who was like in bed with his girlfriend and so she's just peeing on him through a vent. And it's like, the guy's blacked out. The guy's just blacked out.

Like he doesn't know. He pees in drawers, he pees in corners. That's normal in Berlin, actually. Yeah, it's actually not a big deal, which is, I'm glad you talked to us about it. So first of all, I mean, you can't possibly be asking us if you think it's, or we think it's okay for you to expect face-to-face apology.

Of course, of course it's okay. Of course it's okay for you to be mad. I mean, look, as two guys answering this, there's another part of this that we have to touch on. And that, you know, your girl in your room and some fucking dude comes in. Yeah, that's supposed to be safe somewhere, right? Right. All right. girl in your room and some fucking dude comes in you know that's supposed to be safe somewhere right all right but luckily you know it's luckily it's it's somebody you know and you're like okay and you know we get a guy like there's one of my buddies i think he was telling me one night he got after a poker night came home pissed all over his wife's shoes in the closet and he's not even

necessarily a pusser it was like a but i was like i think the real downer was it was like a tuesday yeah so it was like a midweek deal. And for whatever it is, if you're the guy in that relationship, you're just going to take some L's for a bunch of days here. Back to the email. Does he know he did it and he hasn't apologized? If that's true, he's an asshole of a guy. He's still coming over.

Yeah, that'd be weird. Yeah, and he's cool coming over. You'd think he'd have a couple home games on the schedule after something like that yeah so um i you know i think i think what you need to do if he if he doesn't apologize right if he doesn't apologize because then there's also the roommate dynamic of like does the roommate have your back or does she have the boyfriend's back it sounds like she has the boyfriend's back like what's your standing with the roommates the rest of that year you like girls for life or is it like it was those four and you're the one you know again you're not wrong feeling all of the things that you're feeling just trying to understand the dynamic because

i actually think it is really weird that he hasn't apologized or at least the roommate despite cleaning it like that's not enough. Do something nice. Bring some fucking cupcakes over. Right. I mean, again, any guy that's had to go on the apology tour, do something so that it proves that you're actually remorseful for doing something. Again, that happens at college. It's not the end of the world, but show some contrition.

knowledge it's not the end of the fucking world but show some contrition and if this guy's just on the couch throwing a dip in looking around for the remote then who is this fucking guy although you'll never know some guys are impervious to any of the things that you're supposed to feel bad about shame or yeah it's just sometimes i envy those guys yeah like You're just untouchable. Nothing gets to you, which is an entirely different topic. So what I would do is if this continues and it's not happening, I think the next time everybody's getting together and they're having drinks, when he goes up to use the bathroom and he's in your house in front of everybody to embarrass the shit out of him, be like,

hey, are you going to piss in my room or are you going to use the toilet? Something like that, which is a little bit of a comeback it puts it all out there for everybody uh if it's you know i'm not suggesting you make it playful so that nobody get nobody should be getting mad at you but it's it's just one of those dynamics you want to be aware of all the different variables but i would yeah i would embarrass him and then see how he responds to that but him not apologizing is completely unacceptable. You have everything you said in the email. You should feel all those things.

You should be pissed. And it's kind of shitty the roommate hasn't stepped up for you a little bit, too. Again, it's not like they have to throw you a party and bring friends in and fly them in, coach. It's just you think there'd have to be some minor discussion about it and some kind of follow up or at the very least an apology from the guy. So I get your frustration. Yeah. I was going to ask, but I think I even know the answer to this. Like what kind of college senior are you? Are you like a person who was like definitely not what I would say overall this, I mean, are you over like the foolishness of,

of being in college or are you like a senior who's like really not looking forward to leaving this world and figuring out what's next? I was the latter. I think you maybe would be too. Like, uh, just the thing that comes with that, like being sort of like in that foolish category in college is like a lot of funny, fun stuff happens, but every once in a while, some stupid, ridiculous shit happens. And I'm not saying you charge it to the game. I'm not saying it comes to the territory, but it is one of those things where I think by the way she asked, she was like, like, am I crazy about this for being mad? Because a normal person would be like, I got to get out of this lease or something like a person who's over this type of shit would be like, I got to figure out how to get out of this lease. But a person who's like, you know,

in that, you know, sort of having fun mode of college instead of like serious buckle down all the time, only working and going to school would have been like, this is unacceptable. How do I get out of the situation? I think because you were like, am I nuts here? I think you're probably, you know, in that cool version of college still. So I think, I think you do know that, you know, some shit happens, you never know what it's going to be. Uh, and I think this would be in that category, but yeah, I think it's, I think it's up to you to get everyone on the same page at least. So, um, yeah, you nailed it. You nailed it because she's actually in the cool group, you know, like it, it's not the greatest,

but the whole tone of the email. It's like, I'm not crazy, right? Like this doesn't just happen to you guys. It's never. No, but she's also not acting as if it's the end of the world and a defining moment. Yeah, that's what I was saying. American culture, right? You know, like she's like, hey, this sucks and it sucks and it got taken care of but this guy hasn't apologized i think she has an awesome

attitude about it she could probably be even a little more mad if she wanted to be totally everybody to understand it but uh yeah i think that's a really good point there that this isn't about you know every one of us who's had a roommate situation in college there's one guy who's in a hurry to be old before everybody else and you know again i didn't live with four female roommates but i imagine it's somewhat similar where somebody just decides they come back spring semester senior year and they decide they're 30 and it's so fucking annoying yeah and you're just like hey this isn't what we signed up for bro like we all you guys with the music could you guys with the music right now it's like i don't know it's 10 o'clock on wednesday i mean we'll we'll be shutting it down soon ish but i don't know i don't know yeah i mean all time

all-time favorite one ever was not was the non-adult though and we were watching seinfeld like we had seinfeld back-to-back reruns that was the five o'clock seinfeld hour where it was like this mental reset of your day and we would just all watch it together okay and we were watching it and we were laughing and our buddy who got stuck with the worst of the six bedrooms but it was a first floor behind the kitchen behind probably real tiny too super tiny the worst one but we then split it up differently on the rent everybody did rent and then one guy who got the balcony one with a living room in his bedroom and then had a hot tub like we were in normal rooms normal rooms then upstairs a guy built a wall so that it would divide this whole open third floor so like one of those rooms

was sick the other one sucked mine was like middle down the road the other guy next to me middle down the road. The other guy next to me, middle down the road. Then another guy had the fucking J-Lo suite. And then the dude downstairs had the closet. And we were like, okay, well, let's all come up with a different rate then because the rooms are clearly all over the place. And then the guy with the luxury suite was actually pissed and then came to us and said, you know, I asked the guys who used to live here. They just split it evenly.

This is bullshit. And I was like, dude, you have a sweet yeah you know guy downstairs is in a fucking closet he doesn't have a closet because he lives in a closet but it's but 350 a guy right because the guy's in 89 didn't didn't have a ratio on this like it's it's not that big of a deal man and seriously we're talking like maybe 40 extra bucks a month i think i may even said something like i'll pay the extra 40 and switch with you right now but then guys are like we don't trust rossillo to have a higher rent so uh because i think my i think what happened oh yeah my parents didn't understand because I was the oldest of five. They didn't understand that when you didn't live in the dorms, you still had to pay to live somewhere.

You're like, well, that's the college money, right? Yeah. They're like, that's what the college money is for. No, I lost an academic scholarship after my freshman year, part of it. And at the end of my summer wages, this was the worst. I was getting ready to leave for school like that day and he was like how much is in your bank account and i was like i don't know i saved like three grand this summer and he was like okay gonna give that to me to cover the academic

scholarship you lost oh my god and here's the thing he was he was right it could have been planned a little bit better yeah you could have had a week heads up i was like you know now i'm going back to school with no money and he like gave me a hundred bucks or something in cat i was like i now have no money i saved all this to have spending money all year and now he's like well you're the one who fucked up i'm like noted correct but damn it now i don't know i don't know if he did that to me because he thought i would siphon off some of it i would start laundering it on my own and be like yeah only save 1500 don't know what to tell you but there could have been a better approach to that where he should have just given me a number that i had to pay which he was right

because i'm the one who fucked up. I lost this nice thing that I qualified for because my grades were really good in high school. But anyway, we got distracted here on this one. Yeah, we were just kind of talking about the adult. Oh, yeah, the Seinfeld thing. Five o'clock laughing, probably a Newman scene.

Who knows? Guy with a shitty closet apartment room or whatever we would call it he walked to us and was like guys seriously i think i've told the story once before and we were like what what are you asking us right now he's like can you keep it down we're like oh my god it's 5 30 you're still asleep from the night before at at this point like when the sun is down in vermont you can't get mad the next day about people being mad so and he didn't piss on anybody

our guy with the closet room got peed on so it was even worse yeah full circle Kyle Crichton thank you for always producing this podcast the Ryan Russell Podcast bring your shine Outro Music you