The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Conference Title Game Picks With Sheil Kapadia. NFL Coach Hiring Drama With Dianna Russini. Plus What’s Up With the Celtics?

Episode Date: January 24, 2025

Russillo is joined by Sheil Kapadia to preview this weekend’s games and share their picks (0:42). Then, Dianna Russini comes on to break down the Liam Coen drama, Pete Carroll’s return, and the entire NFL coaching carousel (32:00). Next, Ryen attended Thursday’s Celtics-Lakers matchup and shares his thoughts on two teams trending in opposite directions (64:27). Finally, Life Advice with Ceruti and Kyle (79:07)! Should I be mad that my girlfriend refuses to mention me on social media? Check us out on YouTube for exclusive clips, livestreams, and more at https://www.youtube.com/@RyenRussilloPodcast. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Host: Ryen Russillo Guests: Sheil Kapadia and Dianna Russini Producers: Steve Ceruti, Kyle Crichton, and Mike Wargon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A lot of NFL for you today on the podcast. We're going to pick the AFC and NFC title games tendencies, maybe with Shilka Padia and the latest on all the NFL coaching hires. How did all of these people land where they landed the best job and the worst job with NFL insider Diana Rossini? I went to the Lakers Celtics last night. The Lakers looked really good. The Celtics did not. The Celtics are kind of weird right now. What's going on? I dig into some of the numbers, present some theories. I'm probably not convinced of any of it yet, but I'm going to share it with you anyway. And life advice. This episode is brought to you by

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winning with purpose, and showing the world what AI was meant to be. Let's create the agent first future together. Head to salesforce.com slash careers to learn more. Well, let's do it. Our picks and breakdown, Shilkapadia, who joins us, you know him from the Ringer Philly special and the Ringer NFL show. It is my favorite slate of NFL football. I know everybody likes division because you get the four games.

I just think the magnitude, what matters. I think we remember these games a lot better than we remember the, uh, remember the division games. So let's just start in the AFC. Um, on Monday, I said I was picking Buffalo. I hate it because you're picking against my homes, but I'm there. Let's do this. Let's do it for the Bills down in Kansas City. Who are you picking? I've got the Bills too. I hate it too. I hate myself for doing it because I know my feeling, what it's going to be like on Sunday

around nine o'clock Eastern time where I'm going, you idiot. Why did you try to do this again and outsmart yourself? But I just feel like, you know, from a narrative standpoint, I felt coming into the playoffs that Josh Allen, a little more, one of them was gonna finally, finally break through. And so I'm basically just sticking to a previous take. That's my analysis.

Okay. Now, if you look at the thing that was, did you pick Baltimore against Buffalo? No, I had the Bills. Okay, all right. It made a lot of sense on paper because of the mismatch of thinking about the front and Derek Henry and the rushing attack, a lighter D-line.

I mean, I think it was repeated nonstop during the broadcast as well, but that was the Baltimore argument in picking them against Buffalo, oh, which is the way I should say it. And honestly, it made a lot of sense. If you look at this Bill's rushing attack, like they've been really good at,

it's like sometimes I think the best quarterbacks, maybe it's the offensive coordinator and Brady being there for a while, but it's just, sometimes they can't help themselves with the toys. And it's pretty clear that Buffalo a couple of games in and the Denver game wasn't really close, but at times it felt conservative even against Baltimore, but it seems like with this rushing approach, 362 yards combined, 4.8 yards per carry, that that is something that Buffalo feels like in travel. Yeah, this actually started, I feel like for them in last year's divisional round game against the Chiefs.

If you look at that game, it was one of the most efficient offensive games for any team all season. And they still lost because they couldn't produce explosive plays and they missed the field goal and Mahomes is Mahomes and all that. But yeah, I think they really leaned into it this year.

They are running the football on first and second down at a higher rate than league average, where like five years ago, you know, we would say you have Josh Allen at quarterback. What are you doing? Like put the ball in his hands, let him cook. But they've kind of leaned into this. They've got an awesome offensive line, a huge offensive line that can really run block. And that's been sort of the way they've played this year. And the other thing aligned with

that is they're turning the football over at the lowest rate of any offense in 25 years. It's crazy. 4% of their possessions this year have resulted in turnovers. And so they've kind of leaned into it when they need Josh Allen to be Josh Allen. He can be third and fourth down late in the game. But yes, the run game has kind of been at the heart of everything they do this season. That's been the big change with this version of the Bills team. That intercept or excuse me, I should say turnover number, because then you think about Allen with the interceptions, if there was the one flaw with him and it would bother me. Maybe it was the red zone stuff that was happening, but then there was the elbow injury excuse.

But there would be times where I would just think, I think it was the Cincinnati game last. Trying to think, uh, that would have been a 23. I think there was like a deep, they were backed up and he threw a pick and you're just like, you don't, you don't need this throw here right now. And it was like a really, really risky throw. And now it feels like all of that is eliminated. And it reminds me a bit of like the basketball player, he gets drafted, you know, he's going to be an all star.

He scores his 28, 30 points a game, but the team doesn't necessarily win all that much, and then he starts to realize, fine, I could score, I could score 35 if I wanted to every single night, but that doesn't make us better. And it feels like that's a lot like the Josh Allen story as a quarterback. And he still got it if he needs to, like the basketballplayer, if he needs to take over in the last four minutes. I think Josh Allen obviously still has that. And it's been a funny sort of transformation to watch. I mean, he had that play last week where I think they're in the red zone and he's getting stuffed at the line of scrimmage. And there are players, remember the plan where he's thinking about lateraling it? Like you can kind of see it in his eyes and his motion,

but he doesn't do it where you're just thinking, man, a couple of years ago, he might do something crazy like that. So he's got to, I always loved watching him, even when he was doing those things. Cause I said, he plays every play like it's fourth down in the Superbowl and the games on the line. It doesn't matter if it's week four against the Raiders or it's actually a

playoff game, but he has kind of adjusted the way he's played. And yeah, you can't argue with the results. Do you see anything from week 11 that you think translates to this matchup? Yeah. I mean, you look at that, that game and really the last two games I was looking at, and it's actually been on the other side of the ball where the chief's offense has been really efficient against this Bill's defense. And specifically they've been able to run the football where you talk about the chiefs and my homes and

all that stuff. And that's not the first thing that comes up. But I think it's going to tell us about the style of game we're going to get. Like I think it is going to be one of those where we say, Phil's nine play, 74 yard drive. They just took six minutes off the clock and then Chief's 11 play, 80 yard drive. And all of a sudden we're going to get to like the middle of the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter. And you're going to be like, these teams haven't had a lot of possessions. So like every little thing gets magnified, whether it's a special teams miscue, whether it's a random turnover, all those things.

Cause I think that's the way these two teams are playing right now. It's not explosiveness. You know, you look at the Chiefs, they produced explosive plays at the third lowest rate of any team in the NFL this year. The Raiders and the Browns were the only two teams less likely to produce an explosive play this year than the Chiefs. It's been methodical, move the football, let Mahomes create on third down. So yeah, I think when you look at that game earlier this season,

and again, even going back to the divisional round, I think it's going to be that type of game. Long drives, not a lot of possessions, every little mistake is going to be magnified. Do you think that Mahomes decided to play this way or this is the way Mahomes has to play? Because of the offensive line issues, because of the lack of receivers, the fact that Kelsey, who, you know, it's not surprising he lit it up in a playoff game because he's been putting up monstrous numbers when you look at what he's done over the last, I don't know, six years in the playoffs. Like I went through, we were talking about it last week. Um, but I still think that there's, there's something with Kelsey where

this is the diminished version of whatever it is from his prime, but it's still this great safety blanket. He's going to win one-on-one matchups is his understanding of like freelancing in the route is like those two guys are just completely on the same page. They're going to do stuff a defense can't really even prepare for. But when you look at the depth of target, like it was funny that shot to Hollywood Brown in the Houston game, they were just like, Oh, guys are just completely on the same page. They're going to do stuff a defense can't really even prepare for. But when you look at the depth of target, like it was funny that shot to Hollywood Brown in the Houston game, I was like, Oh yeah, that's right.

That's what that used to look like. Like just seeing an incompletion, a deep shot down the sideline. I had a moment of watching and be like, Oh, that's, he used to do that all of the time and that was horrifying. So do you think, cause some people have presented this as if it's him maturing. And I'm like, you know what? I think he'd probably rather play like the way he used to, because it was also a lot more fun.

Yeah, I'm a hundred percent with you. I don't know many quarterbacks who would like if they got to choose their style of play, especially someone like him with the talent he has, and we've seen it. I mean, those Tyree kill Kelsey and his prime type offenses, it was just unbelievable to watch when he would just get back there and launch the ball 45 yards downfield and then drop it in the bucket. It was beautiful. So I think it's been two things. I think one is just kind of the league wide trend where all these defenses right now are saying, hey, play with two safeties deep, eliminate the explosive pass plays at all

costs. And I think that kind of started with having to stop those chiefs offenses and now it's all over the league. So I think that's one. And then two is what you said. I mean, look at the supporting cast. You have two tackles who can't, you know, who have had issues to, to tackle positions. Now they've sort of figured it out with Tooney, but you can't block well. And then just the supporting cast, like it's not great. I mean, I laugh when I saw like the MV, you know, the top five MVP thing where I'm still going like, put some of these guys in that, you know,

in that chief's offense and let's see what it looks like. Like it hasn't been perfect this year. I'm not saying it has, but I still think he's doing more with less as much as any quarterback in the NFL. So I think it's been a combination of those things, but yeah, I think they would love to get back to playing the way they did. Um, you know, a few years ago,

the funny thing is this offensive line shuffle. It looks like Joe Tooney is the best left tackle they're going to have. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he's been out there now. I think it has affected them a little bit, like the guy who's replacing him at think it has affected them a little bit, like the guy who's replacing him at guard and the run game a little bit, but it is an unbelievable job by him to just be playing guard. They drafted a guy, they signed a guy and they're like, nope, yeah, stick Tooney out there. And for the most part, he's held up really well. I mean, that Texans pass rush is better than

anything they're going to face the rest of the postseason. So, you know, if you could survive that, you're going to be in good shape the rest of the way. I feel like there's going to be a lot of man coverage in this. And part of that would be because, you know, Kansas City, Amenahou being back too is another thing. I think they're getting back. There's a corner that wasn't playing in the regular season matchup, is it Watson? Yeah.

Who's back. So there's some health stuff you could look at here with the Chiefs matchup, because I think Amenahou is like an incredibly underrated dude. And maybe it's just because we talk about Jones and there's just so many different Karloftas making plays. There's just a lot of guys,

they've done a really good job of stocking this defense. And it's a big reason why they can play the way they played on offense and still win all of these football games. So it's pretty incredible, like long-term of like reinventing themselves on win all of these football games. So it's, it's pretty incredible, like longterm of like reinventing themselves on one side of the football and just maintaining the standard here of competing for Superbowls every single year. But when I think about some of the matchup stuff here, like Shakir's been great. They're, they're creative with him.

He's kind of the go-to guy for him, but it's still not what you'd expect. Um, for a number one. And if you think about the corners for Kansas city, and this is going to get into some of the NFC stuff too, that we're going to talk about, it would feel like Kansas city likes their matchups on some of the one-on-one stuff. And that way, you know, I guess playing man against Allen scares you because of the scrambling ability playing man man on third down, third and long against Mahomes always feels like, all right, he's just going to run into the sideline and then you're kind of screwed.

And then the other side of this, um, when the Bills played against Mahomes, um, it was one of the worst man EPA rates that Mahomes had had all season long. So you can sit there and be clever and be like, let's not show them the same exact stuff that we showed them in the past. But I think specific to how the secondary matches up with these receivers, Kansas City and Buffalo and the statistical success that Buffalo had at man versus zone when they played each other in week 11, maybe that means that there's more chances for some shots here that we haven't seen from Mahomes.

It feels like for way too long long and then certainly Buffalo last week. Yeah. It's so funny to look at the two teams and you're like, who is the man coverage like issue on either? There's not a guy who you're like, oh man, you can't play man against this guy. He's just going to cook somebody one-on-one. So it is interesting in that respect that you have two great quarterbacks, but they don't have that, you know, number one pass catcher who's just going to dominate a one-on-one matchup. So yeah, the bills have been mostly his own team this year, but McDermott has shown a willingness to switch things up more, I think than he has in the past. I mean, you look

at that game last week against the Ravens, they played a different style than they had been playing all season. They're, they're aggressive, they're blitzing, they're playing more man. And so does he bring that into this matchup as well? You're right about the scrambling. That always makes me nervous against these two guys that if you're playing man in these situations, how many times have we seen it where it's third and nine and all right, they're taking off and it ends up a 15, 20 yard scramble that kind of breaks the back of the defense. The man coverage then has to be aligned with the rush plan. Are you spying somebody? Do you have somebody in the middle of the field that's that? Take away those crossing routes. There are a lot of elements to it. That's why they're so good. There's not a,

hey, do this one thing over and over again. You mentioned it with Kelsey against Zone. He's just freelancing and, hey, find green grass, find the open space. I don't think and I've never seen anybody do it the way he and my homes have done it where it's like if you're just playing zone, he's going to be able to find an opening and find a completion. So yeah, there is no great answer, but I think you could see them lean into some of that stuff.

Yeah, and look, I'm not educated enough to be like, oh, this is how many snaps are playing this and this is what they're going to do here. And against both of these guys, like you can't just go in and then never adjust throughout the game, because any quarterback, any of the ones that we can list that are really good, like if you're going to stay in the same defense, the entire time, like at some point I'm going to figure you out and it's not going to matter.

It also depends on like, okay, what point of the game do you figure the other team out? And at what point, you know, are we looking at the score here? Okay, what point of the game do you figure the other team out? And at what point, you know, are we looking at the score here? I think the last thing that I want to do on this, um, I love the way that it's been described and kind of how Buffalo is like when you're thinking about preparing for Lamar and Buffalo's had the best two games defensively against Lamar, the runner in his playoff career.

Like they've held them under 40 yards in both, both games. And I thought the broadcast did a really good job of explaining like the Buffalo pass rush will be almost deliberate. They're going to show you like, this is the side that we're coming from because we want to move you over to this side. So that way we at least are containing you on one side of the field. And then it's up to the guy to make a play or for him, his presence. And in this case, it was Milano and some of the clips that they showed to like

deter you from thinking about doing it now against Lamar good luck. And it didn't matter. It didn't matter last week. And my homes isn't Lamar when we're talking about running, but there are some things that Buffalo does, especially with Milano, just being back in the mix where it's going to be, okay, you think you have this lane because we're overloaded on this side with the pass rush. So you're like, okay, this is really cool.

I'm just over here, but I don't know if it's traditional is just a spy. Maybe Milano has a different responsibility based on what he's seeing back there, but it's a really nice way of, you know, I always used to look at like these pass rushes against teams that I didn't think were super disciplined. You go all the way back to the Mike Vicks stuff. It's like, once you get past your tackles, you might as well just run to the sideline because it just, now it's all the lanes are open. You're out of the play.

You're behind him. You're never going to catch him. And he has so much less to avoid. And with Buffalo, it's not necessarily like, let's make sure we don't get too upfield. It just feels like it's, if we have a plan of attack, it doesn't matter if they know which side the pass rush is coming from, because at least that way we're funneling Mahomes into an area that we feel like we can control. Yeah, it's exactly like you described it, I think, where you're saying, hey, if you're going to scramble, if you're going to leave the pocket, we're making you go to this side,

and then we're going to have our off-ball linebacker, whoever it is, Milano, like you said, waiting there. Now, like you say, he still has to make the play, you know, the quarterback. So yeah. I'd rather be in space against Mahomes right now than the Lamar Jackson. That's for sure. Right. Yeah. No, it's a good play.

Mahomes, out of structure this year on those second reaction plays. And I think it's because of the sporting cast. It's not because he's a different guy. But just like you look at it statistically when he's holding on to the football, it hasn't been as prolific as it has been in years past. No, I'm not a dummy.

I know that on Sunday, he could just go out there and hold the ball and make seven plays like that where he reminds everybody, no, no, no, I am the best player in the world right now. But just the guys they've had, you know, they haven't had the same luck there on those scramble drills as they have had in the past. I have them a Mahomes legacy question,

but I don't know that I wanna ask it because I don't want. I'm just not going to ask it because he very likely will win this game at home and the fact that they're healthier and that they've already seen them and it's Buffalo. They can like the matchup and they beat him a few times here, but this is a whole different animal.

All right, let's go. Mahomes overrated if he loses this game. Is that where you were going with it? Not overrated, but maybe I'll save it for Monday. Maybe it'll be one of those things where I do it in a monologue where I ask the question, but I'm definitely saying the question as my definitive answer.

Okay. But I just, I hate picking against that dude. I hate it. And here we go again. All right. NFC. So I think seeing Jaden Daniels a third time here for Philadelphia, the more I've thought about this game, the more I've read about this game. This Washington story is incredible. He's incredible. I haven't liked what

I've seen from Jalen Hurts, but I think for Fangio to see this dude a third time is a massive advantage. It should be, but I don't know. Yeah. That fourth quarter, they played in week 11 and week 16. Week 11 was when Daniels was having the injury stuff and he had that little wall in the middle of the season. I just remember watching that game and rewatching it. There were plays to be made that he didn't make that he's been making the rest of the season. Then you get to week 16 and they get the commanders

for five takeaways. And you're like, all right, five takeaways, you're winning that game. You look at it statistically every time. But the commander scored touchdowns on three of their final four possessions. And it was Daniels with his legs. He had a fourth and 11 where he takes off for a 29-yard scramble. He had another fourth down where Jalen Carter, it's kind of what you were just talking about with the, hey, force a guy to scram. They basically did that and Jalen Carter's waiting for him and he just sidesteps him,

takes off and picks up the first down. So I think in terms of game plan, the Eagles, this isn't a game where you're aggressive in Blitz, Jade and Daniels. He has killed that all year, been one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL against the blitz. And that's not how Fangio wants to play anyway. So I think it's a big game for, Hey, they're four

man pass rush, Jalen Carter, the rest of those guys up front, they've got to control the game. Uh, if they're going to contain Daniels. So. I'm glad you brought that up because Daniels was at like just under 7% design runs in that week 11 matchup, but that was strictly because of the rib injury.

Like you can see it in the play calling from Kingsbury where it's like, okay, this guy's banged up. And I think the only thing that we worry about with Daniels at this point, it's not his, whether or not he's going to be comfortable because he's already answered that numerous times all season long. I don't think he's like some of the other younger quarterbacks who put up numbers. It's like, yeah, but it just seems like there's real limitations of like where he can go with the football. That's not the case for him at all. I mean, he's carrying a team in a way a rookie quarterback has never carried a football team to bring them this far.

And I brought it all up and Sando had the awesome numbers where it's like, look at Mark Sanchez, look at Roth, the Spurder, look at Flacco, look at what those teams are doing on defensive special teams and look at what Washington is not doing on defensive special teams. And here we go. They're a game away from playing in the Superbowl, but the design runs have been cranked up here again. So I think it's a very different element of like getting ready for him where, and by the way too, like what are you waiting for? You're not, you're not going to be protecting him for the rest of the season. You're trying to get to the Superbowl here.

So I think that design run thing really had way more to do with his ribs and Cliff trying to protect him in that first matchup. Um, then it would be. And he, then he, cause they've just let him go. I mean, we're talking about him at like over 15% design runs now in the two playoff games. Yeah. It's, it's tough to prepare for, uh, the whole offense and it's all, it's because

of him, you know, like you can have the quarterback run game, uh, he might be the best downfield passer in the end. I mean, his touch on these downfield passes is incredible. If you look at some of the advanced stats, he's top two, top three in all of those. So you've got that. He's able to attack the middle of the field. That was a big question of him coming out of the draft as well. You know, does this guy throw to the middle of the field or is he, cause Jalen Hurts is

a guy who does not throw to the middle of the field. And Jaden Daniels has done that at a very high rate. So he's been incredible. And the other thing with that offense is the rate at which they go no huddle. I think it's like over 60% of the time and no other offense is above, I want to say 25%. And so now they're getting to the line of scrimmage and now you got to be sound and all right, you're getting lined up and now all right, is he keeping the ball? Is this play action? Are they going downfield? So it is a tough group to prepare for and Jalen Carter for the Eagles plays like over 90% of the snaps.

He's on like that Max Crosby plan of just never come out of the game. I think that's a factor here because if you're going no huddle and you don't have those breaks in between plays, does that limit his effectiveness a little bit? So that's something to keep an eye on. Cause Carter took over that game against the Rams, uh, last week, like he made two plays on that final Rams possession, where if he doesn't make those plays, the Rams are in the NFC championship. And we're talking about an amazing comeback.

So, uh, that is one way where the commanders can say, Hey, we don't have the best offensive line, but this is a way to maybe tire out, uh, you know, the best defensive players on the other team. Yeah. With Cosmeow, who's probably considered their best offensive lineman and going up against Carter. Um, good luck with that. Uh, I have some other numbers that maybe I'll get to here, but I want to focus on Philly here because it hurts. We know that, I mean, look, he's 28 to 41, 259, no picks through two playoff games, he's got the two touchdowns, he's done it with his legs, the huge run against LA early to kind of set the tone there.

Um, but it hasn't been great, but he has real legitimate excuses. Like pick any of the three that I think are totally justifiable of like, okay, sure. He hasn't looked good, but these might be reasons. You've watched him his whole career. What do you see? I think this is the most cautious version of Jalen Hurts we've ever seen as an NFL quarterback.

I think early in the season, he had some games where he turned the football over. And then as a, I don't know if it was as a team, if it was a meeting, if it was just subconscious, but they said, hey, we've got Saquon Barkley, we've got the best offensive line in football and our defense is coming on with Vic Fangio. Now I think it's the best defense in football. Like you don't have to be a superhero. Let's just not turn the football over. And that's at the expense of everything. Like you watch these games, if he's not sure he's talking the ball

and running or taking a sack, he takes seven sacks last week in that game against the Rams. So it's either a scramble, a throwaway or a sack. It's only 25% of his past plays. He's not even targeting a receiver, which is the highest rate in the NFL. So you can really take it both ways. I mean, you could say, Hey, he's doing what's being asked of him and he's doing what it takes to win. They literally have not lost a game he started and finished since September 29th. That's the last time he started and finished a game and they lost. So you say, I understand why he's playing that way. You could also look at it and say, is it going to run out at some point? You know, when and if they do. And now they're in the NFC championship. So maybe it's a stupid conversation, but it's not a pretty passing game.

I mean, they had 65 net passing yards last week. And I know it was snowing. That's the lowest total for any team in a playoff game in the last 10 years. Like everything we know about the modern NFL is you're not gonna win a lot of games with 65 net passing yards. So this is kind of like a bizarro Eagles team.

This is sort of a, you know, stuff the nerds in the locker type team where they'll run the ball, offensive line, defense, take all your passing numbers and who cares? They don't apply here. And so I keep waiting and waiting. I've had this conversation for months now. Can it last? It's going to catch up to them eventually. And now here they are one win away from the Super Bowl. So maybe I'm, you know, maybe I was off this whole season. Yeah, I mean, maybe I was off this whole season.

Yeah, I mean, we definitely seem like we're removed from after the Super Bowl appearance against Kansas City game. They could have won where you went into the next year. And you look at the quarterbacks, we all start ranking them and it was okay. Jaylen hers is the best in the NFC who is second and it was. And it was an accepted thing. And, um, you know, I wasn't like sitting there, pound on the table being like, this is not true. Here are all these other examples and things change, golf got better. Jane Daniel shows up. Baker has a resurgence.

I think Stafford's probably always been better than him, but it's kind of weird how, how like the peak Stafford conversations happen and they seem to get destroyed by like the lows where I just appreciate the hell out of the guy. Like even post-Super Bowl, I start to like just appreciate how great this guy's career has been and what he provides this team. Like he really is on that short list of the difference makers. He's not top five, but he has somebody who's like, okay, what are our problems? Let me try to get us through those.

So this isn't the exercise or the way I'm presenting this isn't to be like, Hey, remember how crazy that was? But he has somebody who's like, okay, what are our problems? Let me try to get us through those. So this isn't the exercise or the way I'm presenting this isn't to be like, Hey, remember how crazy that was? But it, it felt like, I guess I'm of the mindset, like I've got to see it a little bit longer before I'm ready to just go, okay, this guy is like a top five dude, but then I think about the concussion. I think about the snow. He clearly was banged up. I wonder if the tush bush is even part of the arsenal now because they didn't want

to go to it, maybe in game because he was banged up because of all the conditions. But this is an awesome group of skilled guys. It's an awesome offensive line. He's got the rushing game to go with it and watching it just feel like this is not somebody that should be managing. Like not with these weapons. You could say, well, they should manage because of the defense, because all the And watching it just feel like this is not somebody that should be managing. Like not with, not with these weapons. You could say, well, they should manage because of the defense, because all

the things that I just listed. Um, but maybe, you know, maybe he'll just be healthier this week and against the Washington defense, it should provide a few more opportunities. Cause I think this Rams defense has really come along. They've done a great job as well. I talked about turning over one side of the football. Maybe we'll see it. Maybe we'll see it with them, but I'm picking Philadelphia just because

I think they'll be more comfortable. about turning over one side of the football. Maybe we'll see it. Maybe we'll see it with them, but I'm picking Philadelphia just because I think they'll be more comfortable. I don't know if they want to blitz Jayden the way Detroit did. Detroit, I don't think you can really compare any team because of the personnel issues that the Lions were going to have on that side of the football. They didn't blitz them a lot. The first time they played them, they blitzed them a ton. I think the week 16 game is just such a weird game, but I guess you could argue,

Hey, when he needed to move the football down the field to score a touchdown against the number one defense, with all the other things that were weird about it, Jaden was able to do that. I just think for a third time to do it on the road, that's asking a lot. It's funny when you compare the two quarterbacks, like if the commanders win this game, the only thing we're talking about is Jaden Daniels with Superman. Like that is their path to win the game is Jaden. And the Eagles, we could be talking about them getting to the Superbowl and you and I could be having the same conversation in two weeks. Like yeah, they're in the Superbowl, but the passing game doesn't look really good.

It just speaks to kind of what's being asked of each quarterback. You mentioned the offensive talent with the Eagles. I mean, it's the best collection of offensive talent they've had in my lifetime. I mean, it's ridiculous when you really look at it. Best offensive line probably in the NFL, AJ Brown, Devontae Smith, Saquon Barkley, Dallas Goddard. When you look at the position Jalen Hertz is in, I'm sure other quarterbacks are watching this going, man, I wish I had one season in my entire career where I had that group. So I'm with you overall.

I think these Eagles games have followed a similar, you know, blueprint for a lot of the season where you watch it and go, all right, the defense is playing well. You know, the passing game's not that great, but third or fourth quarter, Aja Brown makes the play, Saquon Barkley makes all the guys I just mentioned.

They have such a great collection of talent that at some point, one of those guys just does something and that flips the game. And all of a sudden they're up by 10 points and they win. So I like the commanders with the points, you know, Eagles do have some injuries. You mentioned the hurts one. We don't know how mobile he's going to be in this game. He's playing with a knee injury. Their center cam Juergens, who took over for Kelsey, who's been really good. He's got a back injury. Goddard, you know, has an ankle injury. So there are some kind of not the main guys, but kind of the secondary

guys have some injuries. And, uh, I just, uh, if Jayden Daniels is an underdog in the playoffs right now, I'm just going to go ahead and take the points because he's been that good. My man. Uh, again, she'll go potty. You can check them out. Philly special and the ringinger NFL show every single week. Enjoy the weekend.

We'll talk to you probably again soon here. Thanks. All right, man. Talk soon. The Ryan Russo podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. There's nothing like the NFL playoffs. It's one big game after another. And you know what?

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Let's go figure out some different stuff. So I like the Eagles, obviously the straight line, minus six and a half as of this morning. Philadelphia favored over under 47 and a half. Let's find an alt spread. Done. Eagles minus two and a half, but what's next, right? What else are you doing?

How about a little Zach Ertz? Can I interest you in a 40 plus receiving yards? Let's look at Ertz and the game log. That's usually the world he lives in. That's usually the world he lives in. Um, against Philadelphia who had only the one for 12 later in the season, but in the loss he had six for 47. So my thought here is they're going to like this matchup, um, more than the cornerback matchups, again, Quinian's health, we'll see like

what version of him would get here. Um, he had a really great game against Terry McLaurin, I think in the first matchup. But if you're thinking Washington is going to be behind, they're going to have to figure out a way to get the ball down the field. I think there might be some earth yards there, maybe even late earth yards.

It could take a little while. So let's go earths plus 40 yards, 40 plus yards. And, uh, yeah, I am feeling a little dangerous. Let's go, Jalen hurts 200 plus yards passing. Now that might be the one where you're like, okay, seriously, dude, if you want plus four 69, you go 170 yards. But if you're Jalen hurts 200 plus yards, um, that's going to pay out a plus six. Seven five. So again, Eagles minus two and a half,

Hertz 40 or more yards, Hertz 200 plus passing yards plus 675 is the payout there. And you can see the latest lines on FanDuel. So don't just watch from the sidelines. Visit FanDuel.com slash Ryan RYE N to get in on the action. That's FanDuel.com slash Ryan to get a same game parlay profit boost every game day during the NFL playoffs, make every moment more with FanDuel, an official Sportsbook partner of the NFL. Must be 21 and older in present select states or 18 plus in present DC. Opt-in required, minimum three leg parlay required. Bonus issued is non-withdrawable profit boost tokens.

Restrictions apply including any token expiration and max wager amount. See terms at sportsbook.fando.com. Gambling problem, call 100 Gambler or visit rg-help.com. Diana Racini, locked in to the NFL coaching carousel from the athletic and also her podcast with Chase Daniels, Scoop City. She joins us now. Let's talk about this coaching carousel this off season.

So I think what has to happen, I had a busy day yesterday and I was like, Daniels, Scoop City, she joins us now. Let's talk about this coaching carousel this off season. So I think what has to happen, I had a busy day yesterday and I was like, what did Liam Cohen do? It was like, I couldn't figure out. It was like, is everybody really, really mad? So why don't you help us understand the timeline because there's the Robert Sala piece of this that you were all over too. I mean, this story's kind of crazy and then maybe see where we are collectively with our thoughts.

Yeah. I felt that from the world, actually. There are some stories you break and you feel through Twitter somehow or even through some of my columns. I feel like everyone's looking at it. I didn't feel that yesterday. I think life is just wild for a lot of people and I think on a Thursday all of those factors played into it. So the drama is actually pretty incredible considering not a lot of people were paying attention to it. Let's just go back to when Liam Cohen met with the Jacksonville Jaguars. It was over Zoom. It was the typical initial interview. He made it to the second round. Liam Cohen knew that, and so did the Tampa Bay Bucks. The Bucks have a conversation with

him and they say, look, we want you here. We want you to be our offensive coordinator. And he said, great, cool, pay me more money. So they were able to get that done and make him the highest paid offensive coordinator in football. All is well. He informs the Jags, thanks, but no thanks. I'm going to stay here. And I also think that there's a sentiment in Tampa Bay that Liam would be the coach in weeding if Todd Bowles were to say, retire at some point, or maybe even if they move on from him at some point over the next few years. Tampa feels like they've got this on lock here because they've got a nice plan. They agree to it verbally.

Then they tell him, all right, come on in, come sign this contract and let's get to work on your assistance and re-upping their deals. He said, yeah, I'll be there, I'll be there. So Tampa Bay's waiting for him to come into the office and he doesn't show up. So they reach out to him, they reach out to his agent, and the agent informs Tampa Bay that, hey, look, he's dealing with some stuff, some personal things. He'll get there soon.

Meantime, as this is all happening, the Jacksonville Jaguars made the decision to fire Trent Bulkey, something that we all knew was on the table at some point here. We just thought the timing of it would have been before Ben Johnson went to Chicago. We figured if Jacksonville was going to actually pull the trigger on this and move on from Trent Bulkey, it would be to go get the big dogs. So they waited. Obviously, Ben Johnson is now in Chicago. So Jacksonville makes this big move here.

They decide a part ways with Trent Bulkey and they call Liam Cohen and they say, all right, here's what we got for you. You pick the GM, you can have all the power and we're gonna pay you buka bucks, big time money, Ben Johnson type money. Which is what, 13 million a year? 13 million. Okay, because the Ben Johnson number,

the stuff that's being reported is kind of weird because we're hearing about the first year salary and then we don't know the rest of it, but it's 13, which puts him like in the top seven. Yes. So just for those that don't know, most first time head coaches are making six, seven, uh, I think some of the conversation even before that, uh, second interview, we'll call it with Liam, some conversations that the Jags were having

with his agency was somewhere around eight, nine. So he was still going to make good money if he had signed on before all this went down. But now the stakes are different. Now it's different. Now, yeah, we get you want to coach at Baker, yeah, you want to be the coach in waiting. But right now, you can make some pretty big money here and have all the power and control, a la Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco. So he gets on a plane, doesn't tell anybody. The Bucs don't know what's going on at all. Jacksonville is trying to keep this quiet

because they still need to check off all the boxes for the Rooney Roll. They've already interviewed Robert Sala in person. You have to interview two minority candidates for your head coaching position. Technically, even though it was the first round with Sala, that counts. Sala checks one box of the Rooney Roll as a minority candidate. They need another one. Well, Patrick Graham was in the building on Thursday. So the Jags didn't want any of this to get out

because they didn't want to scare off Graham and have him cancel the interview, right? If he had known before, he probably would have canceled if he knew that they were going hard at Liam Cohen. So, Cohen's in the building, Graham is in the building, and Graham winds up leaving. Cohen stays there, meets with Shad Khan, meets with the rest of the front office, and they decide, okay, this is it.

We're going to do this. He gets back on a plane on Thursday night. He lands back in Tampa. He starts calling his assistants, and he calls the Bucks and says, sorry, I'm going back on my word here. I am going to on my word here. I am going to be the head coach of the Jacksonville Jags. So this thing is pretty much done at this point.

They're working out a couple little minor details and I'm sure by the time this podcast drops, it'll be official. Okay, so I understand why people are upset and I think if Liam is in a spot where Tampa's assuming that he's their OC with this huge raise for 48 hours. That's not ideal.

But at the same time, it's not like he can tell them really, Hey, actually, I guess I just don't really blame the guy from all of a sudden. Like he agreed to be the opposite of coordinator when he didn't think that he was going to be the guy in charge of the Jags. And once Balki's out, and now he's gonna be making 13 million a year, like maybe they thought they were gonna achieve the first time around.

Like I think it's a very easy thing to be critical of and not like the way he handled it or he should have done this and all the seven different things that people are upset about. But given the opportunity, if it were you, you would have, like most everybody would have done it this way.

Even if there's a lot of parts of it that people don't like and criticize and they're gonna forget about all of them by the time September starts. Now remember, Shad Khan had to get him to get on that plane, right? So he had to say to him, you're going to get the power, you're getting Ben Johnson type money and he got him to do it. And they closed it once he was in the building.

They knew if they could just get him in there. And look, so much of this is the PR side to this for the Jags, right? They missed out on Ben Johnson because they decided to stick with Trent Bulkey. They missed out on Mike Vrabel. They weren't fast enough to even get that moving, not that that was actually a real option. So for them, this observing this and also just having conversations with people around the league over the last 24 hours, it just felt desperate. It felt panic. That's fair. Yeah.

Right. And like, how did you, how did you tell him that ball key was still going to be there? And then you're like, wait, you turned us down. So now we're firing our GM and now you're in charge and what he's 39 years old. He was coaching Kentucky's offense two years ago. So, I mean, he's, he's been terrific, but that's, that's a lot to hand to a dude just because you were afraid everybody else was going to say, no, I don't know, I don't know.

I mean, unless he's just that brilliant. I always go back to the Sean McVeigh problem we have in the NFL. It's the constant search for him and the belief that this is the one, this is the next Sean, and I'm gonna be the one to find it. I don't necessarily believe that was their approach here. I think their approach was like, let's hope.

I mean, if he could be a diet Sean McVeigh, like that's a win for the Jacks at this point, based on how this all came together. But I think this is the theme. Like when we look back on this coaching cycle, to me it feels messy, desperate, anxious, and scattered. Very few teams had a plan going into this and it shows. Okay, let's talk about some of the other jobs. You once said to me, I think it's one of the nicest compliments I've ever gotten, was that you thought that I was a

lot like Mike Vrabel. What I still can't believe Tennessee let this guy go. I think he's that good of a coach. The quarterback situation was challenging. The roster wasn't all that great and they were in it all the time. Um, I mean, we can go over and make, make some knocks here or there, but like that team was not as good as those other AFC teams. And you go back to the year They were the one seed all kind of stuff. I

I think the Patriots clearly were like let's let's not screw around with this I'd be surprised if I mean granted we'll see what happens with the rest of the roster because it's one of the worst rosters in The NFL but I'd be surprised if it doesn't work because they're gonna have a really they're gonna be obviously patient in a way They weren't with Mayo because of the relationship. Yeah, you should scream to the world. In fact, you should put it on any dating app if you are on one that someone once said that you're like Mike Vrabel, like that's a win. It's like when people, somebody once said,

I look like Sloan from Honorage, like I will take that all. That's a good one. It's a great one. We both know that is not what I look like, but I will allow anyone to believe that. Be nice to my friend Diana. Please, I know. I know all the listeners are gonna now Google me

and be like, oh, she looks like Sloan. She got hit by six trucks. Look, I think this coaching cycle, Mike Frabel was the number one candidate for every single team. And that's what I discovered over the last few weeks. Really? Let's just go back to the start of

when he began interviewing, if you remember, he essentially had his contract terminated with Cleveland so he could get ahead and start interviewing with owners. And the Jets were the first ones to get him in the building and all the credit in the world to New York, by the way, for doing that, knowing that he had tons of options and tons of teams that wanted to meet with him. And New York was like, get here, sit with us, come in the building. I don't care if Jeff Albrecht is out on the field practicing with the team, get in the building. We want you to feel New York. We want you to feel the Jets.

What do the J jets feel like? Madden? Um, I don't know. Um, yeah, right. I just would, I, if I were running the jets, I would frame it differently. What you, what you know, what it's like. Yeah. It's not, it hasn't been great, right.

That's what's so great about some of these teams is they are so on, they lack awareness. these teams is they are so on, they lack awareness. Like they still think of themselves as being the jets of the eighties. You know, it's like, guys, look what you just went through the last few years. Like in my opinion, you should probably go to Mike Rable's house.

So he doesn't have to do anything. So you can just get on your hands and knees and just bang, you know, knees and just beg, you know? But hey, maybe, you know, they have a really cool facility or like a good wait room. Now they do have a nice facility. They do. They do. I'll give them that.

Great cafeteria. They feed the media. We like that. So I think, and this is from talking to people at the Jets, Vrebel just blew them away. They had no idea what to expect. And they had toyed around with it the year before, because remember he was fired from the Tennessee Titans kind of surprisingly,

and they weren't sure about Robert Sala. Remember, that's when it started to get weird. So I think this was an interesting experiment because I wonder now if they're like, man, we could have had this wrapped up. We could have did this last year if we just made a move. So either way, he goes to New York, meets with them. He apparently really liked Woody. Woody loved him.

I heard that Woody had a couple other head coach interviews and he was talking about Vraeble with the candidates. Imagine you're at a job interview and he's like, man, you know who's great? I would just be like, I don't want to be here, man. I would be so intimidated if I was meeting with the athletic boss. Sounds like a lot of my radio meetings where they'd be like, you know who's really good? It's Cowherd and Greenberg. Yes, yes. No, they are good, man.

Gosh. All right, go ahead. Only you were more of a Rutledge. So, yeah, so he winds up leaving New York and I think the Jets were actually on his radar. I think this was a great example of where an in-person interview for both sides is just works.

So, you know, the teams like the bears who, even though they could get Frabel in the building, they just decided to zoom with him, which to me, that's a fail. That's stupid. Why would you not want somebody in the building when you know you want them? Either way, I heard he crushed that too. They were trying to hire him. All right. So, He crushed that too. They were trying to hire him. All right. So then you had the Saints and the Jags and even the Cowboys doing some work behind the scenes. McCarthy wasn't out yet, but they were keeping an eye on it. So Gerard Mayo gets fired on Sunday and Robber Craft just moves the train as fast as he possibly can, knowing that all these teams are closing in and essentially giving Vrabel the power, the money, everything he wants. And that's going to

be tough to walk away from. But the Patriots have Drake May. And I think in the end, that's really what was the deciding factor for Vrabel, just the way Caleb Williams was the deciding factor for Ben Johnson. And by the way, I misspoke a little bit when I talked about the relationship with Vrabel just the way Caleb Williams was the deciding factor for Ben Johnson. And by the way, I misspoke a little bit when I talked about like the relationship with Vrabel because it goes back further, but certainly it wasn't like Mayo came out of nowhere because that whole thing had been kind of planned out for a while. It doesn't work. And I would think now because of the mistake of Gerard Mayo, like I think the crafts would probably try to approach this a little bit differently as you pointed to already with the power and what they would have to do to outbid everybody else. Yeah.

And just my observation of the celebration of this hire, even just on their social media feeds, you can feel it that they know they got this right and they're trying to make up for the fact that they made a mistake. And credit to Kraft for being so open about that. I hired someone who wasn't ready, is what he said. That's tough, obviously, for Geron Maio to hear. But I think making this move, you don't see this a lot with owners. You very rarely see owners go, this is the guy I picked.

This is the guy that we groomed to become the head coach. And oh, wait, we missed. And so in a way he was lucky that he had the best coach that was available that wanted to return really to New England. Okay. Aaron Glenn then with the Jets, we know his history, decorated, same deal, kind of his variable going back to the same franchise. So the thing is like, even if we're going through the variable history here with the Jets, I don't feel like anybody should look at Glenn's hiring as some kind of concession. Maybe it's not the headline or name that Vraeble is,

but this guy's done an awesome job for a while here. So I can imagine like anybody feels like they're let down by this inside that building. No, but I equated to when I got married, the best piece of advice I got when I was dress shopping was do not go to Veroway and try on a $20,000 dress. Because A, you're not buying a $20,000 wedding dress. I wasn't in the market for that expensive of a dress.

My price range was like, I think it was like $3,000. Because if you try on the great thing, it's so hard to go to the store that has the cheaper dresses that aren't as great. So I actually think that Vrivel interview was not good for the Jets because they saw something that they wanted, that they believed and they were all in on. And then it became difficult. And you saw that, right? Because look how many candidates they interviewed.

They just kept going through, kept going through, like comparing, comparing, comparing, comparing. But to give Aaron Glenn all the credit, he kind of had to live up to this. And he did in terms of the excitement in that building of after they met with him The first time they were like, okay Not only do we love the fact that he is about what we've been looking for because that was another thing that Jets had shared with me It wasn't that they were going through all these candidates because they were unsure of what to do They knew exactly what they wanted and nobody was living up to it. Nobody was coming through and Aaron Glenn did.

The fact that Aaron Glenn wanted them, come on. That's always a factor. When you want them, it makes you feel good and it makes Woody feel good and makes Christopher Johnson feel good. I think that really helped with all this. In terms of the kind of coach you're getting, look, they've got tons of decisions to make. They've got Aaron Rodgers. They've got to figure that out.

Then they've got tons of free agents they got to deal got Aaron Rodgers. They've got to figure that out. And then they've got tons of free agents they've got to deal with. But in terms of roster, they have talent. I'd much rather be the head coach of the New York Jets right now than the New York Giants. I agree with you on that talent. I actually think he's done a really good job, but the whole thing's been kind of held hostage by the Aaron Rodgers thing the last two years. So there you go. Do they want him back?

Do they want Rodgers back? I don't think so. I think he's so divisive and he's still talented. Like I still believe Aaron Rogers is gonna play and I want him to. Like I want to see more of Rodgers football. I just think the Jets know that this was something they went all in on, it didn't work.

And trying to bleed this out, I think could just make it more complicated, especially with a new head coach, a whole new regime. They want new vibes. But in the same regard, when you look at the quarterback market right now in this situation, it's not awesome. That's a problem. It's why you're seeing so many coaches run to teams with quarterbacks because it just doesn't look good. No, it's great because I think when you started mapping it out with this draft and everything else, you're like, okay, you know, there actually may be a team that's willing to take on Kirk Cousins.

And I don't know financially how that'll work out for Atlanta because of the guaranteed money on the front end of the two years. Because it really was crafted as kind of a two-year deal and not a four-year deal. But there's going to be a market for some of these guys that like teams are already ready to move on from because there's just not enough people. There's just not enough because of this draft class and because of the free agency stuff. All right. I want to stay on this though, because I think the lesson in this is the Raiders just announced they hired Pete Carroll three year deal fourth year team option on that. So they're committed to a 73 year old here and anybody that's around Pete is like, look, he comes in the building and everything's different, so maybe this is what they wanted. Um, I think there's a bunch of different things, so I'll just kind of let you go wherever it's obvious that like the Patriots having Drake May, as you

mentioned, that helps Ravel. Ben Johnson gets to go to Chicago, not only for all the money, but because Caleb Williams is there and the Raiders have nothing to offer at that position. So even though I've heard about this Tom Brady Zoom thing with Ben Johnson, where I imagine like that is a great recruiting pitch. Like I imagine Brady sitting down, talking football with you and wanting to hire you is a positive. Uh, I don't know how it could be spun as a negative, unless there's stuff

going on in the zoom that none of us like, we would hear about it eventually. If it's like Brady, Brady doesn't have that kind of personality. I don't think he's off putting. I don't think he'd be some, he's so about football that I think any other football person would be so into it. You know, like this is awesome, but I'd rather go coach Caleb. So thanks, Tom. Thanks for the interest. So take me through some of the Raider stuff here. Yeah. Let's just start with making it really clear that Tom Brady is running everything in Vegas. Okay. It is.

It's all Tom Brady. This is not like, you know, I think there's some rumors, some chatter. I'm telling you, this is all Tom Brady there. I mean, even his own like TB 12 programs are being installed there, so to speak. Alex Guerrero is out there. He's going to be working with some of the players, right? So he is trying to do it and change the Raiders and have a tremendous amount of influence on them. And I'm sure you and I could probably debate whether or not that's a good thing or not.

My instinct is, yeah, I mean, the guy knows how to win, obviously. Why not listen to him? I'd rather listen to Tom Brady's call on everything than Mark Davis. No disrespect to Mark, but Tom has a thought, an idea. He understands what it takes. Now that being said, he's not working with a lot there in terms of, we know they don't have a quarterback, their roster's not great. I mean, outside Max Crosby, there's not-

Mark Bowers. Oh, yeah, yeah. There you not. Mark Bowers. Oh, yeah, yeah. There you go. So the pitch to Ben Johnson has to be layered in Bradyisms, right? And Ben Johnson had a feel like, we're going to do this the right way and I'm going to do this with you. We're in lockstep. We're together.

We're a team. Not so much. I'm owner, you're coach. And I think that was really enticing to Ben Johnson, who has been very hesitant to hopping into this head coaching space. We talk about some teams lacking self-awareness. I think he has tremendous awareness, Ben Johnson, which is why he has spent so many years not just learning how to lose, but learning how to win. That was a big part of his growth of how to handle success because it's just as challenging

sometimes as losing with loss. He took a lot from Dan Campbell. I think we saw that in the press conference. He obviously wasn't breaking kneecaps, but I heard a lot of phrases and lingo that was like, well, that's definitely Detroit, which is a good thing. But I get why Brady was after him and Brady was enamored with him. He thought he was a brilliant coach. And it was real. And Sunday, so Saturday Detroit loses, obviously kind of in a surprising way.

So everyone's scrambling around the league. Oh my gosh, Ben Johnson's available now. We're like, here we go. The hiring cycle is about to go because obviously Aaron Glenn as well. And Sunday, from what I was told, Ben Johnson basically just spent time trying to figure out what he wanted to do. This was not I'm calling Chicago and going. It wasn't until late Sunday, early Monday that he started to then go, shit, I need a quarterback. Like I need a quarterback. Forget all the Brady stuff, forget Oscar, forget all of it.

All of it, I need a quarterback. And it makes all the sense in the world, right? When you take a step out of it, you're like, why wouldn't you go to Chicago? Of course, you're gonna pick the Raiders over the Bears right now. And you want this to be a successful run for yourself. For the Raiders now, they scramble.

They fire Tom Tolesco, the GM, because they know Ben Johnson wants to have some say in who's going to be the general manager. He doesn't want all the power, but he wants a say. They're like, well, you don't want to let's go. So let's get rid of him. Well now Ben Johnson's in Chicago. They don't have a GM and they don't have a head coach. So Brady calls his old friend, John Spytek in Tampa Bay.

They know each other from Michigan. And obviously they were in Tampa Bay together when he was the quarterback there. So brings him in, hires him as a GM and they're scrambling. Up until two days ago, I had somebody in the building say, we have no idea what we're doing. Like they had no idea what direction that Brady wanted to go in, in terms of a head coach.

And they land on Pete and this September, Pete will be the oldest NFL head coach to ever coach in NFL game. At 73 years old and you know, as you touch on the energy, the everything he brings, it makes sense. Three year deal, I could totally see this being a situation where this is a placeholder. Where Pete comes in, straightens it up,

cleans up some of the mess that was left behind, gets this thing on the right track. And hey, if he has success with it, great, let's run this thing out until he's 80. But if he can at least get this thing up on its feet, then maybe in a year or two, the hot coordinator can come in and Brady can then go get his guy.

Bud Grant was 58 when he was done. And when I was a kid and I watched those NFL films, I was like, man, is anybody older than Bud Grant? Right, my dad's 70. Okay. He is's 17. Okay. He is so annoying and slow and just like, something's off with him all the time. Like something's wrong. He's healthy. He's fine. He's great. But I owe, I can't help. I understand. This is different. My father's a plumber. Okay, I get it. But every time,

even when Belichick was in the mix a little bit and we were hearing chatter, I would look at my dad on my couch and just think, imagine my dad out on the field. There's no chance. The guy complains when he has to shovel. How about at a press conference? Oh, that's the best one. Right. I mean, this is somebody- I think about that sometimes. Right? How he would answer questions. Like when Pat Riley, Pat Riley's like pissed off about Jimmy Butler. And then I'll think about,

I can't believe you just brought this up because I do it too sometimes. I'm like, this guy's like the same age as my dad and he's answering. But I think the difference would be my dad hasn't been doing it for 40, 50 years. So maybe. Of course.

Yeah. But when I call my dad at four o'clock on a Tuesday to ask him something, like to help me out with something and he's like, I'm watching judge Judy, call me later. It's like, yeah, you're not going to ever be a head coach. Okay. I still have a couple of quick things that I want to do. The Dallas timeline, it seems like it's going to be Schottenheimer. So, um, what is there? What's interesting about this? What's interesting is there's no plan.

Okay. It's all about programs. Is that true or do people just like ripping on Jerry Jones? I don't like ripping on Jerry Jones, actually. I have found it all season. I don't know why. I just stick up for them because I love the way they put together rosters. I don't love the way they deal with the business side of it in terms of contracts, but they know players and they built really good teams over the last few seasons. So that's probably why I side with him because

at least the GM knows what he's doing. I know some Mrs. Derek Henry, I know every Cowboys fan is screaming at me like, oh, we need to get a running back. I get it. But all in all, pretty good. at me like, cool, we didn't get a running back. I get it. But all in all, pretty good. I don't think Jerry Jones really thought Mike McCarthy would walk. I don't think he thought that Mike would go, you know what, this ain't working for me. I'm not going to do this because that's what happened. They met, they were talking football. And in these meetings, McCarthy's thinking to himself, he's not invested in me. This isn't a long-term situation. I'm done with this.

And so I think the tone for both of them was like, I never really liked you that much anyway. Well, I didn't really like you that much anyway either. Let's just go our separate ways. But when you do that, just like a relationship, if you don't have a backup plan, you're left out there in the wild trying to figure it out. So he calls Deon Sanders. And I think that was a panic move. I think that was, in the wild trying to figure it out. Right. So he calls Dion Sanders. And I think that was a panic move. I think that was, let me just see, let me just feel it and see maybe there's an

opportunity and obviously that's died down since. Uh, so he goes from the big name college coach and I was for the Dion hire. I love that. I thought that was a great idea. Um, to now hiring the offensive coordinator of the head coach that you fired. Like that, how does that not scream? I have no idea what I'm doing? Pete I'm with you. I'm with you. You've convinced me. I just think that sometimes, no matter what they do, it's like, oh, these guys are idiots and Jerry's an idiot. And like,

some of the stuff, some of the criticism are true, but the McCarthy part of it, you know, you just, they need to plan a little bit better, at least on this transaction. So, by the way- I'm fine with Brian Schoenhammer. I'm fine with, he's fine. Sometimes everybody is right, by the way. You know, it actually does, even though you can sit there

and be like, I'm gonna fade what everybody else is doing, but sometimes everybody's right, and maybe everybody's right about this. I don't look like Sloan. I'd say that, we're not even done. That would have been a great way to wrap it up. We can't leave out. Well you said everybody's right.

So I was saying, I was trying to take that advice. I look. I'm not advice that. I'm not gonna hit on you on the podcast. I know you're married. Let's. Is that a thing? Do you hit on your guests?

No. You have a lot of women. You have like two women a year by the way. We have to talk about that. Ah, we have more than that. That's not fair. That's the way. We have to talk about that. We have more than that. That's not fair. That's not fair. Now truth be told, I shouldn't have vocalized that

because I do kind of like being one of a few. I can be territorial. You're like having the attention. You know I'm jealous. I'm a psycho. I wonder if people are gonna listen to this and be like, what just happened on this podcast? They're gonna be like, what is happening?

All right. New Orleans, we can't leave out my second hometown here. What's going on? So they interviewed defensive coordinator, Anthony Weaver out of Miami. He met with them on Thursday. Mike McCarthy is gonna meet with them next week. They are kind of moving a little slower,

but I also think that they've got their eye on Joe Brady, obviously the Bills offensive coordinator who's gonna be playing in the AFC championship game this weekend. So I think for people wondering about the Saints, this thing is gonna pick up steam after this weekend. I think then this thing will kind of get, will clear up and they'll have some answers, but they're the last ones left. Okay. Before we finish here, in all your talks leading up to the pre coaching carousel moment, what was considered the best job by people in the NFL?

So the New England Patriots job was never, it was always like the asterisk. Like if they move on from Gerard Mayo, that's the job. That was, that was always explained to me from all the different candidates, because that was always a question I asked. Like, and I would have some of these guys put it in order just the way you asked me. Jackson Bill actually got way more love from guys interviewing than I expected. And that was because they have a good defense and Trevor Lawrence.

Cause that was something that I was thinking about a lot during this of why isn't Jacksonville getting a lot of attention from these coaches? And my thought was maybe, yeah, the Trampolky thing, but maybe this is more telling of Trevor Lawrence. You know, is this- That was picking up momentum when Colum didn't go. And then when he, you know what I mean?

You're right. Like I'm glad you picked, cause I don't believe like Trevor Lawrence is just gonna suck. Like I'm still kind of shocked that it was, he's had this other second bad year where you're like, what the hell is going on with him? And then it's the people that hate him and be like, Hey, this is all you need to know.

And it's like, okay, well what happens then when Colum ends up taking the job? Does that mean Trevor Lawrence is better than he was 48 hours ago? And the answer is that all of that is irrelevant because he took the job because of other dynamics that have nothing to do with the quarterback, but it didn't scare him away from the whole thing. But I think that's a really interesting point that you're telling me consensus is that it was a better job than the way it was maybe playing out once a second guy had walked away, an offensive guy. Yes. I do think the worst job in all of this, it was the Raiders. The Raiders were there,

the Jets were close. But that's a talent thing. Is the Brady thing considered a positive? The Brady is a positive, and it certainly carried some weight. Obviously, he was getting Ben Johnson. They were operating in Las Vegas, like he was going to be the coach. That's how far along the conversations were and how connected I guess Brady felt with Ben Johnson. Like that's what I actually want to find out. Like what was Ben Johnson's conversation with Brady when he called him and was like,

ah man, going to Chicago, Caleb baby, go get a quarterback. Because how many people have told Tom Brady no? Right, like probably not a lot. So I think in the end- I know it's bartender, but yeah, go ahead. I think in the end, because Mayo got fired, I can now say comfortably,

I still think that that position is the most enticing because the amount of money that they can spend here in the off season and ownership too. You can say what you want about the crafts around the league. Most people respect what they've done. How could you not? Well, I respect your time. So thank you so much during this busy part of the season for you for doing this.

Again, check out Scoop City, her and Chase Daniel out every week, and you can read all of her stuff, breaking news on the athletic, the great Diana Racine. Thank you. Thanks guys. We'll talk some hoops here in the middle of all the football stuff. Your boy went to the Celtics Lakers last night and did a nice little drive up. Did a little afternoon, a couple errands in LA. Don't do it very often.

So it's just all over the place. Pico, San Vicente, Robertson, shout out Denver. So yeah, there was a lot of, um, big LA day for this guy. It doesn't happen very often. So going into that game, like if you've been watching these two teams, and I'll So yeah, there was a lot of big LA day for this guy. It doesn't happen very often. So going into that game, like if you've been watching these two teams and I'll start kind of on the Boston side until we finish with the Lakers side, because Lakers were terrific last night.

They just smoked them like from kind of the jump first quarter, they're up like 10 points and that was kind of the game. So there wasn't really this momentum thing you're so used to seeing in NBA games. You're like, all right, well that team's down like 18. They'll get back into this thing and it just never happened, which might be the most alarming thing beyond just the score and thinking the Celtics after, even though they had the overtime game the night before against the Clippers, there were people that weren't playing and you figure, okay, they're going to be really

up for this one and this might be the kind of win if Boston gets it in LA. Like, it's just an awesome crowd in there. There's also a ton of Celtics fans inside of crypto, but Lakers fans are awesome. And so there's, there's a feeling like there's a feeling I've been in enough buildings where you can tell the difference and you're like, all right, this is, this is going to be interesting here because Boston's been struggling based on their standards. So if we look at Boston season right now, and I don't really have a massive

answer for you on what's going on. I have a couple of theories that I'll share with you. I also, if you've been listening to me long enough, there's not gonna ever be like a single game. Rarely is there a single game that happens where I'm like, okay, this game means all of these things. And now this is how I think the rest of the season is gonna play out.

But I think there's a lot of positives in here for the Lakers. Anyway, Boston starts 19 and four on the season. They're now 31 or 14. So they've been at 12 and 10 basketball team. If we look at their season numbers, they're the number three offense in the NBA still, they're the number five defense. Those things are really good.

The last 15, you know, at one point it was, I think an eight and seven record in there, now it's nine and six. The offense during that time is fifth. The defense is fourth. The net rating is third behind only OKC and Denver. Denver, by the way, 12 and three in their last 15, which is this, they're tied with Cleveland and Oklahoma city. You've heard about them at 12 and three also.

Denver's just on a really nice push here and it's crazy. They have their guys and they're healthy and Jamal Murray's not playing terribly. And that's a pretty good basketball team, even if we still don't like the depth. And like anybody, I could still go through a list of like five or six things that I'm worried about with them. But Denver has started to make that push because we had talked about the West depth so much before the season started. And as it started playing out, it's like, well, it's, it's not really the depth.

It's the unknown after Oklahoma city. I mean, Dallas is going to be really good when everybody's healthy. They're a mess right now physically, and they're still competing in some of these games. Minnesota on the other hand, it's probably the team I'm the most worried about because they've been way healthier than almost all these other teams. And yet it doesn't look very good. So I'll probably do another Minnesota deep dive.

I have stuff that I've written down, but it's not going to fit here. Anyway, so back to Boston. So what's going on if you're top five in offense and defense, the net rating is third, like what's happening? Well, some of the clutch offensive stuff that I look, I even complained about it last year and they won an NBA title. So it didn't end up being some fatal flaw for them, but they're 13th in shooting over that stretch. Uh, there's another thing here.

If you look at that stretch, they're 29th in pace. That makes them the second slowest team. As far as, you know, the, the rate that they're playing at, uh, which is ahead of only Orlando, you want a little magic minute Orlando is now last in offense in their last 15 games through a four and 11 stretch. Yes, they're just getting Palo back. They are missing other people. Franz is coming back.

But that offensive number for Orlando in the last 15 is 100.8 points per possession. To put that in perspective, that's two and a half points worse than Brooklyn. So Orlando's offense is the worst and they's two and a half points worse than Brooklyn. So Orlando's offense is the worst and they're two and a half points worse per 100 than the Brooklyn Nets who don't want to win and get rid of anybody that can help them win. So, or plan on it with the rest of them. And also look at that number. Like if you look at the overall, not last 15 games for the magic,

they're the second worst offense in the NBA ahead of only Washington, another team not trying to win a ton of games. But over the season, Orlando was like at 108 points per 100 possessions, which is 29. They're like eight points off of that. Eight, seven or eight points off of that over these last 15 games. It's been abysmal for them. All right. So what does this mean on the pace thing for Boston?

Well, what were they last year? Well, they were 19. So, okay, they're playing slower. Does that mean anything? Again, I'm going to throw a bunch of things and then hit it with some observations. But it wasn't like there were the seven seconds or less suns last year. What else? Well, they're 14 on the season now, three point shooting.

Okay. Last year? Well, they're 14th on the season now, three point shooting. Okay. Last year, where were they? Well, they were second behind OKC at 38.8%. OKC was 38.9%. So we're talking about the team is right there being one of the best three point shooting teams in the entire league last year. If you look at the individual shooting, Tatum is down. Jalen Brown is down. Prozingos are 20 games is the same. Derek White is down, Drew Holliday is way down, three points shooting. Horford significantly down, Sam Houser is down a few spots. So you're talking about six regulars and Przingus being the same that are collectively down, which is kind of weird that everybody would just be

below what they were shooting before. Only Pritchard is up out of the guys that really play. But I think specific to last night and something that I've noticed is that what I do like about Boston is that, you know, they're going to figure out the mismatch and they're going to put their finger on the hurt part and just keep attacking and offering up some pain. But they were so determined to get for Zingas going last night that I think it threw them off where for Zing

is on that deep catch where he ends up with a perimeter player on him. It's just so small. Like seeing it in person, it's just like this dude is below his armpits and he's reaching up and for Zing is kind of shows you the basketball to remind you how much taller he is than you that he's going to get the shot off. But as everybody's waiting for for Zingis to finish the execution of what the plan was, nobody's doing anything. No one's doing anything.

They're just kind of waiting to see if Prezingis is going to score. And Prezingis had a really nice first quarter, but whenever it becomes an offense that's so determined to be like, okay, here's the thing that we're identifying and then we're going to do this. And now because that's the plan, everybody else may just be kind of like waiting around to see if it works. I think all of that stuff becomes connected.

And I'm not saying like this is their downfall because they worked the Przingus mismatches early in the game. And this is what's been going on here for a month, but that I thought was very specific last night for that game where you're like, I get what you're doing and it, it may be working here, but it feels a lot like there's something identified Boston goes to attack it and because everybody knows that that's what the plan is. Then nobody else is really doing anything.

And there's they're too good. The spacing really doing anything. And they're too good. The spacing is too good. The shooters are too good. They're too good of a basketball team where this is just what they're going to be now. They're going to lose to somebody in the second round of the playoffs. Like I'm not even close to that yet. So the shooting thing I can't imagine is going to stay this bad. I don't know if the pace thing necessarily matters. I'm not against the idea of hunting

mismatches, but can you hunt mismatches so much that you disrupt any kind of flow? Again, that's a working theory and I'm sure somebody on the staff would tell me, actually we meant to do this and all these different things and here's what, you know, whatever. I'm just a guy sitting there watching basketball. The third quarter, Boston came out with all sorts of energy. They got a great stop, throw it out of bounds the next play. And then they have a stretch where it looks like Tatum and Brown are going to get more aggressive, start attacking. You could see their aggression and their intensity pick up.

Then they miss four straight free throws. There's a play in the third quarter where Tatum is like, Isoad with Anthony Davis, which I think happened way too much. And he had to hit a step back three on Davis as the shot clock was going down. He made it. And my thought beyond like, what an incredible shot. It was a constant theme of last night of that's so hard. Like that's so hard if that's what you have to go to. And even though it went in and Tatum is ridiculous, like that.

That's what it was. And I think it's a massive credit to how prepared the Lakers were last night. They played their asses off. They played their asses off. went in and Tatum is ridiculous. Like that, that's what it was. And I think it's a massive credit to how prepared the Lakers were last night. They played their asses off. Whether they got into bad switches, somebody who was physically at a disadvantage, the way they fought to just keep their, their ground.

Um, the grappling was a really physical game too. Like whatever was happening, say off a miss and that kind of like not fast break, but that transition push where you're trying to figure out a cross match that's off or somebody's getting ahead of somebody else. Um, the Lakers notoriously, like over the years just didn't get back on defense. So you'd think, okay, let's look for that. If you're the Celtics, but whenever that was happening and somebody was hoping to get like a deep catch or deep position, whoever it was, good defender, bad defender for the

Lakers, they fought like crazy, um, to keep their position. And it was really physical. I thought the Lakers were incredibly prepped and when they got a bad mismatches guys fought and sometimes it's that simple. And then you could talk about the Lakers offense, cause everybody seemed to be able to fill it up last night. I thought that was a really impressive Lakers game. And I think the Lakers are a weird team in the sense that like, I'm guilty of it too.

If they're not a title team, we're just like, they stink because the standard is so high because it's the Lakers, it's the history, it's LeBron, right? It's all the things that were like, well, could they win a title? So when they can't, then I know I'm kind of like dismissive. Like, well, they're not okay, see, they're not Denver. I don't think they're Minnesota when they're right. I don't think they're Dallas. I'm not even sure if they're Phoenix and the Clippers keep winning more

games than I think most of us ever expected. So what happens in the Lakers analysis that we don't appreciate like the good things about them because we're just like convinced they can't win a title. So what's the point of talking about LeBron James and this team. And that's fine. Cause like for some teams it's incredibly unfair and you'd rather have it be that fair because that is your standard. Those are the expectations.

None of us had those expectations for this team. I don't think they're winning a title with this group. I don't know what's going to happen at the trade deadline. I don't know if there's a piece there that fixes them and brings them to that next level, but I think for a night and watching this Lakers team, I was really, really impressed with this group. Offensively, they're 13th this year, 21st on defense, which is another thing to see him play defense and fight like that. In some of those, those mismatch, but look, there were just a lot of times we're like,

oh, this might not go good. And then all of a sudden you see somebody Lakers just fighting his ass off. Oh, so Celtics missed a lot of layups. Um, but they're not a defensive team. Last year they were 17th on defense, 15th on offense. A lot of those numbers are the same 24 and 18. Now they are the five seed this morning. They were 21 and 21 last year. I just liked this team a little bit better.

Uh, I love a lot of the stuff that they're doing when they are setting up their offense, setting up their offenses is a lot to ask of Austin Reeves at this point. I still think some of the LeBron point guard stuff is probably the best that they look on offense and not having D'Angelo Russell just muck up all of their stuff, him just being gone. Even if Finney Smith is the diminished version of the best years of him in Dallas, I think that's just a win in general. And I know that Shams had the story yesterday that people around the league were saying that Anthony Davis, LeBron get a little frustrated about wanting

some help and wanting to have the Lakers front office go all in on this team. Which, you know, again, makes sense when you look at their timeline with LeBron. And I think what happens is like, if you hate LeBron, you're like, here we go again. If you don't like Anthony Davis, you'd be like, well, I learned it by watching you you look at their timeline with LeBron. And I think what happens is like, if you hate LeBron, you're like, here we go again. If you don't like Anthony Davis, you'd be like, well, I learned it by watching you because 80 learn from LeBron, like this is what you're supposed to do. Supposed to put pressure on ownership and the front office and all that stuff. But you just wonder the power of pressure as we get towards the deadline with LeBron

because if they don't do anything, we're going to get this cryptic stuff, which I think is just really unfortunate for a guy that's going to be going down as probably one of the two best players to ever play this game, but whatever. It's the way he operates his entire career. It's not the whole picture, but it's a small slice of the whole thing. Blame Pi here. But when you think about the way LeBron and the relationship is talked about with the Lakers, you could say, well, they brought JJ in, they brought him in, they brought him in, But when you think about the way LeBron and the relationship is talked about with Lakers, you

know, you could say, well, they brought JJ in, they drafted his son, you know, they kind of do whatever he wants. They did the Westbrook trade when it looked like they had the other trade with Buddy Heald that probably made more basketball sense than the Westbrook deal. And then they get Westbrook out of there.

But I'd say after Westbrook, I think there's an argument to be made that the Lakers have actually been really patient and patient in a way that makes more sense because once they had more control of their own draft picks, going back to last year's draft, they're like, oh, they'll probably do something and they didn't do anything. And if you look at the trade marketplace right now, there's a lot of names of guys that I've never been able, well, not able to stand as harsh, but there's just a lot of guys that are not Rossello guys.

How about that? Like, oh yeah, he's available. No way. Um, and I don't even know financially how much the Lakers could put together that makes sense for them. And so you start talking about like, would they actually move like a couple of their, their good players, you know, outside of LeBron and AD to try to add that third piece. So financially there's some restraints there, but it'll be interesting to see

how this thing plays out because there's two dueling thoughts on what the Lakers will do with LeBron. Draft his kid, bring in JJ gave him a hundred and two million dollar contract for two years. That should show some kind of commitment to him, but it's been a little while now. And we'll see what happens that first week of February, but it's been a little while now where they haven't been as aggressive as he certainly wants them to be.

Um, and the idea that like, Hey, let's just make a trade to make him happy. You don't have to. You gave him the 102 million and he's 40 years old. He's not 35. Uh, but I liked, I liked what I saw from the Lakers last night, even if I know that the end of the conversation is, well, how good do you think they are? And it's like, wow, I don't think they're that good. But it was good for a night. You want details? Buy. I drive a Ferrari. 355 Cabriolet.

What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you can possibly imagine. And best of all kids, I am liquid. So, now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required. What's up? We missed you guys. We've gone for a couple days with the different schedule. We've got Saruti, we've got Kyle. Life advice, the email address, life advice, rr at gmail.com. What's up, everyone? Not much. Nice Friday.

Nice little Friday. Feels like it. It's early. It's early for us right now. Pizza Friday? Huh? That'd be pretty good. Do you ever think about going into the studio, Kyle, and bringing pizza for everybody? No. I mean, I'm, a lot of people actually chimed in to be like, that guy 100% was scamming dudes. Yeah.

I've yet to see an email from anyone suggesting otherwise. Cause yeah, I think there's that 1% guilt of like, what if this is true? But a lot of people have chimed in with different stories. So I don't know, do we want to hear one of those? Let's do it. All right. Six, four, two 40, 36 years old, NBA comp, Floddy DeVos with a slightly,

with slightly worse court mission. Situation arose a couple of weeks ago that made me think of your airport military guy story. I'm born and raised in Buffalo, but I lived in New Jersey for the better part of 20 years, post-Seaton hall, Big East. I've had bill season tickets for the last 10, 12 years and drive home for around half the games each season after the wildcard game versus the Broncos. This guy's dedicated Jersey to Buffalo.

That's no joke. You would do that though. My brother lives in Buffalo and I've never, he bought a house like two years ago. I've never seen it. I don't know. Some bigs going to have to happen for me to get over there. I think Buffalo is one of those places where you don't just like go to, but like, but it's a, you know, you don's gonna have to happen for me to get over there, I think. Buffalo's one of those places where you just, you don't just like go to, like it's a, you know, you just happen to be in Buffalo.

You need a purpose to be in Buffalo. Yeah, I don't know. I feel like I have to get out there at some point, but it's just, it's just not at the top of my list. What's the distance from Poughkeepsie? Still pretty far. It's like seven hours. Yeah.

I mean, it's like New York's still like, I thought it was bad driving to Potsdam, New York, from like, you know, I'm like an hour and a piece above the city and there's still like six hours you go up. I was like, that's insane. And then Buffalo is like, Canada. It's way longer.

It's just so weird. It's like, it's like, it keeps going. You just take a left turn off the I-87 and then you just go forever. So I don't know. It doesn't sound, it's not at the top of my list, but I do think I should get there at some point. So your brother lives there, has a house family.

Yeah. And people are mad at me, I won't go to the frolic room. All right, well, it's that trip times eight, I guess. I don't know. On its worst day, but. Also not related to you, dude. It's probably considered a good frolic room for you. That's a good point.

Hey, I'm not mad anymore. It is what it is. All right, so after the wild card game, I woke up bright and early Monday morning around 4.30 AM and hit the road back to New Jersey to get to the office. Yeah, this guy's into it. I stopped at the first rest stop on I-90 outside of Buffalo to fill up the gas tank about halfway through my fill.

I see a beat up black SUV, I think an old Chevy Blazer with the front fill up the gas tank about halfway through my fill. I see a beat up black SUV. I think an old Chevy blazer with the front passenger window smashed out, replaced with a plastic bag immediately red flags are up. Uh, so I'm paying close attention. Remember it's around 5 a.m. solo out there, freezing dark, et cetera. I just shoveled 55 year old woman, maybe five feet tall emerges and makes

an immediate brisk turn and walks in my direction, oh boy. She just starts talking, no niceties or greetings, and tells me her car was broken into in Buffalo and they stole her wallet. She then asked me to fill up her tank for her. Remembering your story, I kind of froze and just spit out. I can't afford that, I'm sorry. She shook her head in frustration

and walked off without another word. Did I do the right thing? I felt kind of guilty afterwards, but something just seemed off about the whole situation. If you have no money, are you really going to get on the highway at the crack of dawn with no guarantee of getting gas? Seemed fishy to me. Either way, let me know.

Love the show. An old beat up Chevy Blazer is like, it's like the black Air Force one of cars. It's like, it could be just a guy who works in a restaurant or it could be a guy who's about to take all your stuff. So I don't know. Tell you what, those Chevy Blazers when they first are on the scene. Totally. You had one of those.

Big deal. I mean, it's some kid. Yeah. I mean, like dude, that guy could do anything. He's a Chevy Blazer. Um, I mean, this podcast, I don't know that we want to pivot to this, Rossello podcasts, helping people not help people since 2024. I, I like your instincts on this one because whenever it happens to you, then you'll spend the next however many minutes.

And for you, you had a long drive. So you probably spent more than a few minutes on the subject in your own. You're having a the subject in your own You're having a little podcast in your head And you're thinking okay, but this doesn't make any sense and this doesn't make any sense and you're right Like I'm on e let me just get on the highway See what happens at 5 a.m. If if that's if it's that bad for me. I'm probably sleeping in wherever I am Right. Yeah and consider the If it's that bad for me, I'm probably sleeping in wherever I am. Right?

Yeah. And consider the location. Gas stations kind of invite fuckery. I would say maybe... Also a great point. Maybe public access points to airports too when you would consider baggage claim or something. Back alleys. Yeah.

Just a lot of... There's just should be your shit detector should be at least turned on with anybody who's approaching you. And I think gas stations are 1000% one of those places. So you're saying higher people flow areas, higher percentage of fuckery. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, makes sense. bus stations. Totally. What's the last time you've been on a bus, Kyle? Probably 20. I took one of the Dodgers game and I had a bunch of little flashbacks. But real bus guy.

You were a bus guy. 2019. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty Mustang, right? Yeah. So proud of you. From bus to a Mustang.

Come on, dude. The glove is real. Who says America's headed in the wrong direction? Right. Okay. Slided on social media. I like this one. All right, let's go early forties, five nine, one 65.

Comp is Chris, Chris Corciani without a handle or a jump shot. Uh, I have a Chris Corciani practice Jersey. That was actually his sort of weird how I ended up with it. So shout out to him. I still will wear, I might wear it to work out today. I love it. I look great in it. I'll get right to it.

I've been dating my girlfriend 40. So our guy's early 40s girlfriend 40 for a year and a half, picks included. He did send pics. They didn't load up. So sorry, dude. Can't add any more perspective. We'll just have to trust you. The relationship has largely been great.

We spend time with each other's kids, spend a lot of time together, get along really well. I'm an okay looking guy, but my dating streaks are my job stability and being a nice guy. My girlfriend on the other hand is a 10. She's also smart with a great job. I'm not sure if her good looks will be a factor in your response. Well, they can't be buddy because we can't see them. But it could

be irrelevant or but it could be relevant. Yeah it's definitely relevant. I'm not on social media at all beyond LinkedIn but she's very very active on Instagram. When she goes out with friends she generally is taking tons of pictures and posting them. I don't even look at her social media but I've gathered that based on comments she has made and things that she's shown me. She mentioned posting a picture of herself and a former male coworker, men's tennis. She went to dinner with, and I asked her if she'd ever posted a picture of me. She said she has not.

I asked if she had ever mentioned even having a boyfriend generically and she has not. I know she posts pics of meals drinks from our date nights pretty much every time, but doesn't mention that she is with me by name or title. This really wasn't on my radar until she mentioned posting pictures after going to dinner with a former male coworker. But now it's really bothering me. Even though I know she or even though I know he is just a friend, it's hard not to take this personal since I'm the one thing person in her life she doesn't post about. And it's hard not to speculate why after being together for as long as we have, I should mention, I did ask about it.

The problem was I asked while we were arguing about another topic. Good training, man. And you know, another thing you never post pictures of me, that'll go over well. Right. It's like in that argument tug of war where you're like, I'm losing it, I'm losing it. What can I come up with? I'm like, I'm going to go with this. I'm going to go with this. And you know another thing, you never post pictures of me. That'll go overwhelming.

Right. It's like in that argument tug of war where you're like, I'm losing it, I'm losing it. What can I come up with? You've never, you've never said hello to my dad. Yeah. Oh man, there used to be a term for that. Maybe there is, but just bottom of the barrel shit

that you just get out in an argument when you're just out of ideas. Yeah. We had a roommate that did it all the time. Like, he'd be going sideways, and then he would bring up utilities to me or something. I'd be like, okay, you're right. I'm late on the electric.

Yeah. Do whatever you want. What about us? I feel like dudes that would be like, can you offer me the worst fantasy football traits? And it's like, what are we doing? Like, where is this? All right, so.

You never give me gas money. You always got somewhere to go, yeah. But here's the thing. I love that this guy knew. He's like, the problem was, you know, he knew. He knew exactly, he's in his 40s. He already knows the game. So he knew.

And it was an argument I was losing. Of course that's when you brought it up. That's exactly, all right. So we didn't get any depth on it and she was clearly annoyed. I mentioned it in that moment. I felt like I had to drop it due to the other issue we were talking about, the fact that we were on our way

to a holiday dinner gathering. Your timing is incredible. And scene, all right, let's go be nice. I mean, this is just using that card so like, well, you already know you used it at the wrong time. You know, you should have waited patiently. When can I best use this to win? Uh, the only explanation I got at the time was she likes to keep

relationship stuff personal, but nothing else. Am I being over sensitive by being bothered by this? I don't want to be in the pictures, but should she mention she has a boyfriend at this point, I have no sense of norms to this type of thing. Since I stay away from social media, should I bring it up again during a neutral time since it continues to bother me or do I let this go? We're going to New York for Valentine's Day and she'll be posting stuff left and right,

but never mention she is with me and I know I'll be silently pissed the whole time. Sounds like a great trip, buddy. All right. Should we just bring back Facebook statuses for all like Instagram and everything. I mean, it was kind of annoying when everyone was like, oh, now it's complicated now. But I mean, this would just kind of solve this problem. That'd be it's complicated is one of the most genius things in the history of

it's complicated. Like if you got the it's be it be it's complicated is worse than like I don't like the guy I'm I'd rather that keeping my options open, but you know, this isn't going anywhere DMS are open Okay, uh, I Totally get your point And I think there's gonna be a lot of people that are like a hundred percent on your side on this one Especially as you gear for Valentine's and there's gonna be a lot of people that are like 100% on your side on this one, especially as you gear up for Valentine's and it's gonna be some espresso martini,

it's gonna be in the picture, the restaurant's gonna be tagged. Just your collar will be invisible. Right, right. Cut off at the neck. Yeah, right. She starts air brushing out like a finger that made its way into the dinner table.

Like we're really worried. I would say this, to the dinner table, like we're really worried. I would say this, um, as somebody that knows women that are in the content game, nothing derails their content momentum more than I have a boyfriend or husband. So, and you know, who knows to what level she's at right now? Chances are she probably aspires to a greater level. Like I see it all the time. I'm like, dude, this girl's married.

Like I know her boyfriend. I'll be friends with the girl that's on TV who the boyfriend may as well be a make-believe friend when you're seven. He doesn't go to this school. Right, right. I think it has a lot to do with how dudes are too, because the illusion of attainability is a really

good marketing strategy. And you may be sitting here being like, dude, what are you talking about? She's got 1200 followers. Like it doesn't matter. She does real estate on the side. Like she's not aspiring. Okay.

Maybe she isn't, but it sure seems like she likes posting stuff. And I think that's the other thing. And this is both male and female. Like I see it all the time. It's like, what are you doing now, man? You're like posting all this stuff or you're doing these videos where you're walking and like, you don't, you don't really work in this, but then they look at somebody else with a million followers who found a way to build a brand and

make money off the whole thing. And because it's actually so unimpressive. Okay. Not to say that there aren't people that are great at doing it, but you understand the point, like there's so many people that are doing it where you're like, that's all that person does. You know, girls a little overweight, but where's a crop top and dudes are losing their minds, you know, I wish there was a male equivalent of that.

Imagine, like I don't really like him, but God damn, his shoulder's terrific, you know? Just so, anyway, I don't know where that was going, but the point is. Same. Same. Same, he's like, don't really understand. I think the point is that there's a reason she's doing this

that is more likely, I shouldn't say a lie, but like the motivation behind it isn't because she doesn't like you. It isn't because she doesn't like, isn't proud of you. She just kind of needs to keep it as not part of her deal to continue her pursuit of whatever it is on Instagram. Yeah, I'd say it's probably good that you're not an Instagram guy because you'll have to Google her Instagram or whatever and probably don't even have the app. It's like you're doing

the web version of Instagram. It'll be less often than when you're just scrolling and you're like, oh, there's another one that I'm not in I'd say to your point like there's I'm ten years younger than this guy But there's a lot of people my age. I went to school with like you said the 1200 followers 800 followers I'm not really sure what their endgame is, but it's like, you know, I know what they think Here's how I raise my kids or like here's you know, here's a DIY project I'm doing like I don't know who this is for, but like I can see it's definitely, they definitely have some goal. Like you have the same amount of followers you did in high school.

You picked up a hundred in college and I just don't know what, I don't know what they gave, but there's like, you know, I could think of probably 10 or 12 people that I went to high school with. And it's just like, there's a channel here. Uh, but it's also their family holidays, you know what I mean? It's like, they don't know what they wanna do with it, but they're just like, here's some content and maybe we can have this take off

and take the edge off the bills one day. I don't know what it is, but I could see if that's, if she's like soft committed to whatever this is, maybe it's just like, I'm a hot 40 year old who goes out to dinner. I don't know, but I could see why, if there is something like maybe this just keep the Instagram line in the water and maybe we'll get a tug one day. I don't know. It could be that. But

I mean, some people just are she's a 10. She's probably getting a few tucks. Yeah, well, I would want to know what her follower count is like, is it real? Or is it not real? Because to your point, Kyle, it is always kind of isn't always kind of funny. Like when you see like the dominoes fall of someone you know, like, oh, they're going the influencer route like get 800 followers and like you're like you're doing that now It's a little bit I don't know like it's it's a little awkward at the beginning and then but it's actually kind of good content because I'm like I want to see where this goes like is this gonna take off probably not in this it's but can you blame the person because it's not like no you can't nobody goes to a movie like there's a

there's a part of this in podcasting too and I could just spend way too much time on this. But like no one goes to a movie and watches DiCaprio and says like, I could have done that. I mean, sure, there's a few people if we wanna play that game, but majority of people understand. And they're like, what the fuck's the difference between me and him?

Exactly, right. Very good. Great example. I might even have a nicer smile, you know, not me. I'm just talking about the person in general that that looks at the stuff being like, I could just do this like your kid or your kid's crying and you bought him a fucking hat at the mall post and do that. Right. So.

Hey, look, she could be doing it for the bad reason. Yeah. But I do think it's worth trying to understand that because I think it's a very common thing that as soon as it's like, Oh, she's got a boyfriend or, Oh, she's married, like it's completely different. And then all of a sudden it's just, oh, well, all right. You know, well, like the guy liking the photos was in the mix before this news, which he wasn't, but there's something that happens to that guy was like, oh, well, I guess, I'm not going to date her. Seeing somebody fucking loser.

I mean, it sounds stupid, but it's like anything. Are there other red flags in the relationship? If everything is cool and it's good and you guys get along, everything you said, if this makes her feel good, it's probably really harmless. And if she wants to post some pictures and have people like her and start following, and that makes her feel better about her life,

then I think you kinda gotta ignore it. It's good, like Kyle said, it good. You're not on social media. It's kind of like Ryan we used to talk about like there are shows there like podcasts that like do shows based on just like what Twitter says like what the reaction is and those are like the worst things because it's not really real like you shouldn't react or be a boyfriend based on you know what shit you see on your girlfriend's Instagram account because that's just gonna make you miserable. And it's gonna inevitably lead to you breaking up

cause nobody can really probably handle that. So I would just kind of keep on keeping on and just, you know, maybe just keep your head in the sand and hope for the best. If you trust her, then that's the way to go. Yeah, right. If you trust her, I think it's really the only way. Because the DMs are probably open.

That's the thing. It's not like a magazine of her life. And it's like, look at this hot girl. It's like, you can also just hit this button and try talking to her. And you don't know how she behaves with that. So that's the pit in your stomach, I think. Are you saying look through her phone?

No, I'm not. I'm just saying like, you know, if she's like putting her, this version of herself out there, like you're just not in that version of her life. And it's just like, why? That the big question is why is that? And I guess we didn't solve that so okay all right next one my dad is my roommate help longtime listener first-time caller no gym stats today pick up game ish Smith's

best eight game stretch stretch in Detroit to end the 2016-17 season is Smith a lot of jerseys I'm 33 and I live with my dad. My dad had some health issues. I had an extra bedroom, so I moved in in my house. At the time I was single, caught up in my own life. It wasn't a huge inconvenience. That was four years ago. My son is now 13 years old and busier than ever. My son's mom and I are not together, but have a great relationship.

She lives with her parents about 30 minutes away from where my son splits his living time. Over the last year, we have thrown the idea around of moving in together to help each other and would make things so much easier getting our son to and from school, basketball friends, houses, et cetera. That's a big move. Um, during the time living with my dad, he's turned my house into his own house, sleeping on the couch. Shout out to the guy with the soccer workout roommate. Eating the food I buy for my son.

He's one of the messiest people on the planet. I moved my dad into the master bedroom. The room is absolutely disgusting. The living room is turned into his room. Every day living with him is the same routine of my coming home from whatever I have going on that day at any hour of the day and finding my dad sitting on the couch watching TV. I love my dad.

I was happy to help him at the time. I'm 33 and want to live my own life with my family. My question to you, how do I go about addressing this conversation to my dad about moving out? I don't know that he can afford to be out on his own, but at the same time, I don't think that should be my problem that he can't. I don't know what to do.

Any suggestions are welcome. Love, pod. Yeah, that's a tough one. He has so much goodwill banked with you. Like it's like, can you put a number on it? That's tough. It's tough. Yeah.

Well, I mean, what you've done for your dad here is incredible. Yeah. And I think this is one of those things like when you're getting yelled at when you're a little kid and your parents are like, families, all that matters. Families, the only thing that's going to be there for you. And you're like, shut up. I just want to go play basketball. Leave me alone.

And they're right. You know, they're right. You hope to have a family, right? You hope to have a family that throughout? You hope to have a family that, uh, throughout the ups and downs, uh, can always kind of be there for you. You know, you think about so many young people that move home or somebody that goes through something personally or divorce, you know, there's just a list of things where it's an amazing thing to know that if you have to, and not

everybody has this, right. But if you do have it, that you have the option of, well, I can just go home and kind of reset and do everything. But you eventually probably want to leave as most of us would, if you ever have to go back home during some kind of situation like that. Um, I had to go back home for like three or four months and it was great because I was like, I'm never doing this again. Um, but it was there.

It was, it was an option. Um, and look, you know, there's different friends I could have stayed with or, or anything, but at that point it was just like, this would be the easiest thing. And the cheapest in this case, man, it's a struggle for you. Uh, and it should be for anybody that cares about their apparent. And in this case, your dad. But what I'm going to tell you is that it doesn't mean that this is just what the rest of your life

is supposed to be. Like that would be completely unfair. And you would hope that your father would understand that. Now, I don't, you said you don't know what he can do financially. You know, is it worth it to you to sit down with him and say, look, I want to get my kid back in

my life here with maybe the mom. You know, this is about raising my kid. You know, I'm here to do whatever I can to help you, but we need to come up with a plan. So you're not just coming home one day, really, because you're probably going to have a breaking point and it'd be way uglier. So I would try to get in front of that and say, I've done everything I could. And if he's a good dad, he should, he's a good person. He should appreciate this and be like, you know what? You're right. Right.

Cause then you have that, be like, did you think you were going to live here forever? Okay. Now there can be some dynamics too, where there ends up being this massive parent guilt trip thing, where it's like, you know, I've done all of this for you and you have to do this for me. And this is, this is like, never gets you hope never gets to. Right. Stuff you never get to the point where you pull that card out. But you know, sometimes with the, the parents in this case,

let's say father son dynamic, it's up to you to try to break out of that. It doesn't mean to break permanently, but it's up to you to kind of break out of that dynamic with just a straight up Man-to-man conversation where it's like, yeah, we're father and son, but let's talk about what this is right now. Okay? Here's what's on my table. Here's what the deal has been. We knew there was an end date What can we do to put you in the best position so that when you transition out of here to wherever you're moving next? Like this isn't abrupt. It's not after a blow-up, you know, don't even bring up all the messy stuff. You know, just say, Hey, straight up. I'm getting my son back in the mix.

The mom may be back in the mix. I need to figure out a way to get you on your feet. Right. So that it's not accusatory. It's not negative. It's not getting on his ass about all the things that are already making you mad, which should be more than justified or bringing up. So I think you need to figure out that conversation where it doesn't feel like it's

happening next week. So he's all freaked out. Um, and if he says to you like, Hey, I'm sorry, I don't have any other choice. And like, this is kind of what you have to do. That's when you're probably going to have to push a little bit harder than you want to. And it's not going to be fun.

And it's probably going to make you feel bad. And you're going to feel guilt, but what you're signed up for right now is not going to be fun and it's probably going to make you feel bad. And you're going to feel guilt, but what you're signed up for right now is not really, um, it's not fair to you, man. It's not fair to whatever you're trying to do to, to strengthen the, your immediate family. Yeah. I think throwing out ideas or like, Hey, these places highly rated free heat, not water, you know,

boom, like, uh, maybe I think you, you, you sprinkle a lot of reviews. I think you're going to have to do a lot of ideas or like, hey, these places, highly rated, free heat and hot water, you know, boom. Like, I think you sprinkle a lot of helpfulness over a little bit of, hey, we got to talk, I think. Foxwood Sweets, Dad, 3.7. Right. They have a park. Covered parking, right, in unit washer and dryer. just, I think, I think being a little

helpful and just having him say, you'll be able to tell when you're being helpful and having how he responds to you being like, hey, this is probably in your budget, right? This is rent lock, this is whatever. And I, the other thing is, I don't know how old your dad is. If you're saying you have kids and you're an adult, I mean, he might be the point where he's not working or, you know, approaching social security, whatever, like, it might be the point where he's not working or approaching social security, whatever, it might be helpful to know what his deal is. But I think being able to come up with something affordable and

something that's highly in the realm of possibility, how he responds to that would tell you a lot, I think. If this actually is a decent plan that has feasibility and he's just like, he's not receptive to it at all, then I think you have an idea whether you have to put it because you came in the most respectful, helpful way. And if that is kind of pushed aside, then you're like, all right, we've got to turn up the heat a little bit. Did he mention any other relatives? No. Like, does he have a brother? Like, I would, I mean, again, I'd assume you're up, dude. Go stay with him for summer. It's yours for the next five years. I don't know. It's just,

if that's a possibility, I'm sure you've thought about that, but I said he didn't bring up an email. So I think I forgot. What's your shed situation? Got a band cave. Winterize this bad boy. Yeah. Um, the other thing I just feel like I need to bring up, run an extension cord out here, dad. You watch off TV. One space heater, some nice clotheslines.

The one thing I feel like, can I, I do feel like I need to bring this up. Maybe, maybe you guys would think I'm wrong, but are you, are you also trying to move in with the X to get away from your dad? Like, like is that, are those, is that hopefully that those are two very separate things, like you shouldn't be doing that just like, because you think it's going to be another thing out of there. You know, like, I, I, like, I hope it works out for you. I hope like, and maybe you guys, maybe who knows, maybe you live together and everything's kumbaya kind of seems like a little bit

of a, of a disaster waiting to happen. Um, but I just hope it, if she's looking at stay with my parents or go back with this guy, maybe she's like more interested than he is. I don't know. I just hope he wouldn't be like, Hey, I got to get out of my dad's situation, just let me move in with my ex. And I know the kid thing is he didn't see it in ad. Look, honestly that, that move, he added very little depth on what would seem to be major.

Like he doesn't add if they're getting back together or maybe they're just. So it was out of convenience, right? He was like, just to, you know, make the traveling a little easier. All right. With 30 minutes, it's not like, uh, it you know, make the traveling a little easier. All right. With 30 minutes, it's not like, uh, it's not like driving a Buffalo. That's all another email. That's its own segment.

We wouldn't even get to another email without one. Right. It's just like, yeah, we get sick of paying for gas. It's like, so you're living with your ex wife. We live in a minefield. Yeah. It's really about where your dad's head is at with it all. Cause he might be like, this has been awesome.

I don't, I don't want to leave this deal, but then maybe it can help you deal with the guilt part of it, realizing that he's been totally fine, taking advantage of the situation and like just a really point, like we don't know finances of it. It sounds like he's on the other side of the health thing or whatever, but. It's been four years, man. It's been four years, man. It's been four years and I think the best way to handle it is to look at it as, hey, what's next? What's the plan?

Ask him, did you think you were going to live here forever? And if he says yes, good luck, because I don't know what to say to that one. All right. Thank you to Saruti, to Kyle, to Wargon. Normal week next week and fired up to get ready for the Super Bowl and everything else that's going on and the trade deadline. So a lot going on here on the show.

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