The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Did Rodgers Just Retire? Unlikely NFC Playoff QBs and Chicago’s No. 1 Pick With Damien Woody

Episode Date: January 9, 2023

Russillo shares his five biggest takeaways from the NFL regular-season finale, including the Bears receiving the no. 1 draft pick for the first time since 1947, Dak Prescott's continued inconsistency, 2023-24 Detroit Lions optimism, and more (0:40). Then Ryen is joined by two-time Super Bowl champion Damien Woody to discuss the surprising list of NFC playoff QBs, the Lions' feel-good win over the Packers, Aaron Rodgers's strange departure from Lambeau Field after the loss, Daniel Jones's impact on the Giants, why the Bengals are Damien's favorite AFC contender, what to make of the Chargers, and more (11:24). Finally Ryen answers some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (36:48). Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Damein Woody Producer: Kyle Crichton SUGGESTED ART: NFC Playoff QBs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

on today's podcast we recap the final week of the nfl regular season and take a look at the quarterback carousel that could actually be larger than i thought it's gonna be some of the surprising stories the detroit game green bay does that mean rogers is retiring we'll do that with damian woody as well. We're not going to do a preview of the national championship game. I'll ask Woody about it, but we're doing a bonus episode tomorrow. Me and Trent Dilfer will probably do 30 minutes on the title game. So there you go.

You're going to get an extra episode. And then, of course, we end it with life advice. It is behind us. The regular season of the NFL. The playoffs are set. Recapping the top five things from week 18. All right, number one. I know I'm starting with something a little weird here,

but I'm not sure I've ever felt better about a team that didn't make the playoffs than the Detroit Lions last night. Lions football, the win at Lambeau. Maybe it was because the last game. I'll admit even at one point I was like, wait, they're still not. Yeah, like they're eliminated. And it didn't feel that way. It was the weirdest feeling. It was like a team battling for a thing that they weren't eligible for. wait, they're still not... Yeah, they're eliminated. And it didn't feel that way.

It was the weirdest feeling. It was like a team battling for a thing that they weren't eligible for. And they take out Rodgers. They pick them off again towards the end. There's a bunch of different stuff that happened in this game. Let me put it this way. Detroit, everybody's going to like them next year.

So remember this now. Everyone's going to like them. Maybe they'll like So remember this now. Everyone's going to like them. Maybe they'll like them a little too much. We'll see what that over-under is. Maybe some value there on the under because everybody's going to be like, you know, Detroit football. But a couple of things that happened.

Goff, who I thought, and I'll do this a little bit later, was on the list of my five quarterbacks that will probably be replaced or something to just keep track of and use as a segment concept once or twice a season, right? Goff in his second year, this was like the Rams Super Bowl run season. Look at his stats. He's a completely different guy this season and goes from somebody that, again,

I would pencil in of being one of the five quarterbacks that's likely going to get replaced to he's good. And they have these two picks. What they've got, picks number six. They've got picks number 18 and before you know there was a time there you thought it could have been even higher uh from that rams pick in the stafford deal the whole time but uh the rams that i'm winning a couple games there towards the end i would have thought those picks would be packaged or something go ahead and bring

another quarterback i don't think they need to with golf again his numbers his numbers match pretty much what they did the year he took the r to the Super Bowl. So that's a win. The other part that's a win is Dan Campbell, because there's always this kind of like football versus football war going on. And it's simple. Like, I think football guys, right? The football hardo likes the Dan Campbell hardo factor. Campbell-Harto factor. But when he comes in,

I think there's another group of football people, kind of media-based, where you're like, you don't want it to... I felt like there were people that were rooting against it because he was an old-school football-Harto guy. And so this is a win for the football-Hartos is the other point to this.

And also at the end, I don't know what was going on in this game, but Aaron Rodgers' retirement deal after the game was really weird. It was a great catch by Tariqo where James Williams, the receiver for Detroit, a kid from Bama, asked him for his jersey.

Rodgers was like, no, I think I'm going to hang on to this one. And then he kind of was like looking up into the crowd. Everybody was hugging him. And I was like, did I miss something today? Did he announce that he was going to retire? And we don't know. We don't know. Except Rob Domofsky, who covers the Packers for ESPN.com,

he said, before anybody drafts retirement papers or trade agreement, consider the other indicators that came after the Packers season ending loss. He did and said some of the same things after the Packers season ending loss he did and said some of the same things after the packets Packers exit from the playoffs last season and the season before that this time however there are no playoffs here's the quote from Rodgers at some point the carousel comes to a stop and it's time to get off and I think you kind of know when that is and that's

what needs to be contemplated is it time also what's the organization doing oh here we go yeah what's the organization doing all right they had we go. Yeah, what's the organization doing? All right, they had a disappointing season, but that was very walking off into the sunset heavy for a guy that my guess would be he's probably going to play again next year, and we're going to have to do this all over again. And it is becoming a little Favre-ish, where Favre retired four years in a row,

and finally the Packers are like, dude, we can't do this anymore with you. And then he thought like, oh, I'm going to get revenge on you by going to the Jets and then playing for the Vikings, which oddly in that first year of the Vikings, he was incredible.

But you get the point. So it feels a little repetitive, something like that. All right, number two, Chicago has the first pick for the first time since 1947. I talked about the quarterbacks that I thought could change out.

And weirdly, the list got shorter and shorter. Now, I think it's long again. The Jets may already have the quarterback. They switch it out from Wilson and Mike White. Kenny Pickett with Pittsburgh. Looks like he's going to get a real chance at this now for a while, so it's not even a conversation. Tennessee with Tannehill. They have one year left on

the contract. They can get out now. It's not a bad number. I would think they would probably just want to bring him back and not worry about it um even if he looked like a completely different guy at least statistically but that's something we've always talked about with tannahill on this podcast is that statistically i'd be like dude is he's that good because some of the stats were incredible um and i don't know that he was ever that kind of guy, even if the numbers would tell a different story. Indy, you'd have to think something's going to happen there.

The Davis Mills situation in Houston, I don't think people truly understand. He'll make some really nice throws. You're like, hey, that guy's kind of all right. But the expectations are so low that clearly you need to do something different there. Vegas may have their guy in Stidham. Washington, who knows?

Chicago. Is it a possibility? It feels really unfair to even ask Fields, right? I think most of us all agree that Fields, not the easiest time, trying to be the quarterback of that team, and the lack of weapons, and the lack of everything else, and that he has to run around all the time. But man, what if you fall in love with somebody and you've got that number one pick?

So I don't think it's impossible. It just seems incredibly unfair to even ask if he should be on the list. Tampa, who knows? Carolina, who knows? New Orleans, who knows? Rams. Two of them will probably make a change. Arizona is at least going to need somebody who's new to start the year, I would think,

because of Kyler's injury happening so late. So if there's a list here of week one guarantees for new starters, it's Indy, it's Houston, it's Washington, Carolina, New Orleans. I don't think I can even put the Rams there because we don't know yet. All right. Number three, Dak in Dallas, staying with the quarterback theme. He's going to play for 15 years. And, you know, I'll be doing this however long I'm doing it.

And I still won't know what to say about Dak Prescott. Is he good or is he really good? Because honestly, there's games like yesterday. That was the second worst offensive game for the Dallas Cowboys since 2000. He had the Houston game where he had a couple throws, decisions in there. Be like, wait, what are you doing? Like, why are you doing this? This isn't what you're supposed to do. Even if you don't love him,

this was like, this guy's going to lose his job type decisions, which of course he's not going to do. I don't know that the Jacksonville game, people can make that pick out to be on him. I think that kind of tipped towards someone else, even if there was a bad throw in there, I think two possessions prior that didn't make a ton of sense.

So yesterday he was 14-37, 128, one touchdown, one pick, with a 14.8 QBR, easily the worst game of his season. They're going to be at Tampa next weekend for Monday night football in the playoffs. And I don't know, man, maybe it's because Tampa and we look at them as a losing team hosting a playoff game, which I don't think should happen. I think once that happens, it should just flip and be the other way around. You can win the division, you can get to the playoffs, but if you have a losing record, you shouldn't be able to host a playoff game. Whatever. It's not that big of a deal. The world will continue to operate. But with that, man, every season,

I struggle with where he actually is. And I think he's a guy who's good, who's capable of being really good, but he's never going to be consistent enough to stay in that flirtation with that top tier of those five or six guys. And again, nobody was really trying to push him up there this year anyway, I don't think. But man, was that awful. It was just awful. All right.

Number four, the biggest surprises. There are two individually. Geno Smith playoffs, Pro Bowl, all post-Russell Wilson. Geno Smith, playoffs, Pro Bowl, all post-Russell Wilson. That is not quite Brady's revenge on New England winning a Super Bowl immediately. It's going to be tough to top that. Geno would still have some work to do. Him, I can't imagine how happy the smirks, the shit-talking, if we were hanging out in the honesty room here with Geno and Carroll and the other

times that we've heard some slight flirtations with them dogging Russell Wilson. But to have Wilson's season go like that and for this group to do what they're doing and to go to the playoffs with one of the better offenses in the league. Granted, they don't beat a lot of the good teams. It doesn't matter. That's huge. The other one is Daniel Jones, someone whose fifth-year contract was declined. He's going to get another contract now. If you look at the year-to-year change for

EPA, I'm looking at Sandoz's piece here from the Athletic, the overall improvement from last year, Jacksonville, actually pretty amazing here. Touchdown better in offense, touchdown better in defense, 1.3 points better on special teams, 15 points overall. What they improved from last year to this year with the free agent signings,

Peterson not having Urban Meyer. They're over two touchdowns improvement from where they were last year. The number one offense, though, is actually the Giants. where they were last year. The number one offense, though, is actually the Giants. Ten points better. Ten points better than where they were at last season. So the Daniel Jones

storyline of what he may end up becoming here, that might be the bigger surprise than even Geno. Alright, number five, the last one here. The NFC quarterbacks, this kind of puts it on Hertz. I know he just got back. I know he didn't look great.

He missed a couple games. This has to be one of the worst collections of quarterbacks to ever represent an entire conference in NFL playoff history. So now if we're just complimenting Daniel Jones and Geno Smith, still, it's Dak, it's Geno, it's Daniel Jones, it's Brady, which now feels a little disrespectful to have Brady in this group, but eh, all right. Then Kirk Cousins, then Brock Purdy, and then Jalen Hurts.

Philly has to get out of the NFC. okay woody i want to start with um this this nfc qb slate we have here for the playoffs that's how i just finished the open here i mean i don't like to do the i can't remember a time when because there's plenty of times where you know we're forgetting but this is not the deepest group of quarterbacks for your NFC playoff participants. It feels like it's on Jalen Hurts to kind of get through this. I would have said the same thing about Dak, but I just got done talking about Dak, where his career is going to be over,

and I'm still not going to know if I'm right about him. I've watched him for 15 years, and I'm like, I don't know if he's just good or really good. And obviously they closed terribly yesterday. But just give me a sense of what you think about handicapping all these quarterbacks, which is not normally what you would think from a playoff group. Yeah, I think

it makes the NFC even that much more intriguing, considering like, okay, the gold is in the playoffs, but who believes in Tampa? You know what I mean? Like, who believes in Tampa as a team? And so I'm looking around, I'm surveying the NFC, and it's just like, all right, we got a bunch of kind of unknown commodities in the NFC postseason.

So the next question for me is who has the best team, the best coaching, the best rosters? Because I think ultimately that's probably going to decide who's going to come out of the NFC, right? And so for me, when I survey, it's like, okay, Philly and San Francisco. Those are, I think most people will say those are the best teams in the NFC. Who do I trust more? Who do I trust more?

Jalen Hurts or Brock Purdy to lead those teams out of the NFC? Yeah, I mean, I hate to kind of just go chalk with it here, but I don't know why I would pick San Francisco when you break it down to that. It feels like San Francisco is everybody's kind of like hot team going into it. Maybe Philly missing Hurts for a couple of weeks, got the public off of them. But to this point, like, I just feel like you're kind of being different if you're picking somebody other than the Eagles to come out of the NFC. Yeah, I think the case you could make against the San Francisco 49ers is they they've played a very weak schedule.

Like they haven't played a bunch of really top notch team if you look at the schedule. So, you know obviously people are impressed about the roster and all that type of stuff but how often have they been tested this year you know especially with brock purdy a quarterback that's a that's a big question for them but i do think the favorite has to be the philadelphia eagles because even though jalen hurst didn't play all that great yesterday like that's just one game. Look at the total body of work. When that man is out there, the Philadelphia Eagles are a totally different team. I just think that it

was important for them to get that buy. They need to get a couple guys healthy over there, which will make a big difference. Yeah, okay. Watching Detroit last night as a former Lion, and I felt weird kind of starting the show with it but

i don't know it was it was this sense of pride for a team that's not going to the playoffs a team that you know everybody's going to kind of like going into next year what did you make of that game that that had a lot to it and felt like this emotional win and then you're like okay now the season's over which was it just played out differently. It's as if they were spending three hours playing for a playoff spot, and we knew that wasn't going to be the case. You know, the thing about that win yesterday, man, it was even more impressive considering the circumstances, right?

They knew going into the game, we're not going to the postseason. But they're just like, man, screw it. If we're not going in, y'all damn sure not going in with the Green Bay Packers. So just from a psychological point, man, sometimes you can lose guys when they know that they technically don't have anything to play for as far as the postseason is concerned.

But give credit to Dan Campbell, man. Like, Detroit is building something really good over there. And, I mean, think about it. Think about this. I mean, Aaron Rodgers hasn't played MVP-type football all year long, and he didn't do that last night as well. But, man, if we're looking at a 30,000-foot macro perspective of the Lions, people are going to be scared of the Lions moving forward.

With all the draft capital that the Lions have and the cap space, the Lions could be scary. Very scary team. What was Rodgers doing last night? Like, was that, hey, I might retire again, warning, or

I'm going to demand a trade? That was a real emotional. It was kind of Brett Farbish. Yeah, it reminded me like and it kind of felt like this when he like, is it real? All right, if it's real and this is you walking off to the sunset like I totally get it. But if you're

bitching about the offseason again in August and you show up to camp, then, you know, like, what was that? Isn't that Brett Favre? Isn't that the same thing Brett Favre pulled when Aaron Rodgers came aboard? Like, I feel like this whole scenario is playing itself out all over again with Green Bay. Listen, I don't know what Aaron Rodgers is going to do.

I think that there are probably going to be teams calling Green Bay to see if he's available. But I just think even if Aaron Rodgers comes back to Green Bay, they got big-time competition in that division for the first time in quite some time. So does that mean you're feeling Minnesota at all? I've never been on Minnesota. I've never been on Minnesota.

I give them credit. To win 11 one-score games is ridiculous, but you got to have some type of defense in the postseason. I don't care. You got to be able to make stops and stop people in the postseason.

I just don't think going into the playoffs, if you can't do that, I don't think you have a shot to go into the playoffs, if you can't do that, I don't think you have a shot to go into the Super Bowl. Okay. You mentioned Tampa. Is it as simple as they just feel so

one-dimensional and that it's actually kind of great if you're going into this matchup if you're Dallas because you'reup, if you're Dallas, because you're thinking, hey, what's the thing we can always bank on? We can bank on our pass rush. And it's like, this team has no balance.

We're not that worried about their defense. You know, you can be off of Dallas for a couple of these offensive performances they've had in the last month or so. But when I think about the way Tampa's been playing these games out, you're just going to be like, we get to try to rush the quarterback this many times.

Because I don't know if with the gap between regular season and the playoffs, they're going to become some new team and have some new identity. You actually already know exactly what they're going to try to do to you based on what we've seen from them most of the season. Yeah, I mean, listen, Tom Brady broke the pass and attempts record yesterday in that game. So that tells you all you need to know about, you know, what Brandon Football and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are going to bring

to the table. But, you know, one thing about Dallas, man, is this is the scary part. Dallas plays differently at home than on the road, particularly their defense, because playing on that turf at home, those guys seem like they play at a much higher speed than on grass. Like, think about the past performances on grass from the Dallas Cowboys. Jacksonville, lost, Almost lost at Tennessee. Lost at the Commanders. All of these games on grass.

Where are they playing on grass? Tampa. Like, that defense is, I don't know, man. It just doesn't seem like it's playing at that, you know, next level, particularly the pass rush when they're on that surface. What happened to Daniel Jones this year? I know he stopped turning the football over. I know it was new coaching.

But when you look at some of the most improved teams based on the EPA, the Giants' offense is number one, the biggest jump from where they were last year. I mean, you get to see it. It's kind of in your backyard. He and Geno are the two biggest individual surprises this season for me where Geno's got a team in the playoffs and Jones is looking like it's the right call to give him the new contract, which I didn't even know.

I thought like this will be it. This can't possibly be how this ends. And it speaks to not only his improvement, but Daybol and everybody else. Think about how Dave Gettleman feels right now. You don't think Dave Gettleman feels a bit of vindication, the former Giants GM, for picking Daniel Jones at six when everybody was going crazy, like, how in the world are you going to pick Daniel Jones at six?

And now look at Daniel Jones playing at a pretty damn good level considering he has no weapons on the outside. Think about that. It's basically him and Saquon Barkley, and that's it, as far as the New York Giants on offense. But listen, I always said coaching matters. Coaching matters more so in football than any other sport. And I think Brian Dayball is basically like, you know,

started in the offseason, like training camp, like really putting that offense under the ringer, putting them in critical situations where force those guys to kind of perform under pressure. You know, I saw some of the practices and talked to Brian Dable about it. It started then, man, and it just seems like throughout the season, Daniel Jones really performed at a high level under pressure. And, again, when you don't have the weapons and stuff like that, they just utilize what Daniel Jones used like one of his greatest skill sets,

which is his athletic ability. Being able to use his legs is so instrumental to his game, and it showed a big reason why the New York Giants are where they are in the postseason, man. I can only imagine what this Giants team is going to be when they add some legitimate weapons on the outside. They have to get Daniel Jones signed. They're going to have to do that.

Yeah, just a remarkable turnaround. Fifth-year option declined going into the season. It's the right call. There's a bunch of teams. Maybe that's kind of the lesson in some of this. It's kind of surprising. I don't know if it's an applicable thing where you go, hey, so many of these teams,

it sounded like the guy they had, they might have wanted to move on from. You heard some of it with the Jalen Hurts stuff. You certainly heard it with Tua and their pursuit of Deshaun Watson going back before he even ended up with Cleveland. And then you look at the coaching jobs of those three cities, including the Giants here with Jones. I don't know if that means, hey, if your quarterback isn't any good,

just hang on and give him a fifth year. I don't know if anybody's going to have that kind of patience. If you were Harbaugh, would you rather coach the Broncos or the Colts? Man, you don't have any picks. You don't have any picks with the Broncos. Man, that's a good question. I think if I'm Jim Harbaugh, well, he's going to have the power, regardless of which organization he goes to, between the Colts and the Broncos. I would probably say, give me the Colts. Give me the Colts.

Easier division. At least they have their first-round pick this year. You have the opportunity to trade. If you want the number one pick, you have the opportunity. I think they're picking fourth. So you have the opportunity to trade up with Chicago to try to get the number one pick if you'll have an opportunity. I think they're picking fourth. So you have an opportunity to trade up with Chicago to try to get the number one pick if that's what you want.

The defense is pretty solid in Indianapolis. And that's an organization that knows you. You're beloved in Indianapolis. I would probably go that direction than going in the AFC West. I know we've talked about it all year, man,

but I just can't fathom that Russell Wilson, like this is just what he is now. I can't, like I know he's annoying. I know people don't, like I finally, people came around to my side of this. I was like, he might be, he's a tough hang. He'd be a tough hang. It's the all timetime like brady going to tampa and getting

a ring is is the pinnacle of the revenge tour right uh below that not quite as high as that is geno smith and the seahawks getting the playoffs without russell wilson who kept thinking they were holding them back combined with it being a disastrous run. Now, you know, whether it was a shoulder injury that kept him back, I just, I get everybody's trepidation for it. But now all of a sudden it's like the Broncos is actually this bad job that's open.

And the way it's talked about, I've just, I don't know. I like, even if I don't love Wilson, the guy, I can't accept that this is it. And it's just over.

And that seems to be kind of what, what people are going with. And I, maybe I'm't love Wilson, the guy, I can't accept that this is it and it's just over. And that seems to be kind of what what people are going with. And maybe I'm saying right now I expect at some point he would get better. But the commitment to him is so absurd that, you know, if it doesn't go right, how much power you could actually have to move on from him because you can't. Yeah, I mean, listen, the one thing about the Russell Wilson situation, he's going to be there at minimum two years, next season and the season after, because it's just so cost prohibitive to try to move him. So you're going to be stuck with him for a minimum two years. That's number one. I will say this, you know, looking at the Denver Broncos,

they do have a championship level defense. That's one. Two, you could be right as far as Russell Wilson is concerned. Like he fell off so hard that it's almost hard to fathom like, this dude can't be this much of a scrub, right? Like he can't be that terrible. So the main culprit with the Broncos on offense outside the quarterback was the offensive line.

Their offensive line was putrid this year. So if you can get – and Jim Harbaugh, what is kind of his specialty, right? The running game, running the football, physicality. Fix the offensive line, I think you can get a better evaluation of if the quarterback truly is the problem, right? So I would say that would be my case towards taking a Denver Broncos job. Yeah, the way it's talked about in circles

is that Harbaugh would not be as freaked out as, say, another candidate. Another candidate may go, well, that's kind of Harbaugh. Harbaugh doesn't think he can't do anything, right? That's his whole mindset for everything. And the numbers, some of the numbers that I've heard thrown around are going to reset what coaches get paid.

Well, I mean, you're talking about the Walmart family, you know, the Walmart family owning that team. So they're not going to be hurting for any money. So they can throw out whatever they want to throw out to get whatever coach they want to have. So I can only imagine whether it's Harbaugh or Sean Payton, it's going to be stupid money. Speaking of stupid, you got any Quay Walker for me?

Have you ever seen anything like that? You know, I just saw it this morning when I was watching SportsCenter, and I'm like, what the hell are you doing? Why are you shoving a trainer? Like, how stupid can you be? And then you get ejected? Like, is there something personal going on with them? Because I don't understand why a player

would ever shove a trainer. Like, a trainer never interacts, especially the trainer from the opposing team. I don't understand why a player would ever shove a trainer. Like a trainer never interacts, especially the trainer from the opposing team. Like they're not going to say anything to you. They're tending to your players. So I don't know what's wrong with you. Yeah, because when I watched the Bills one,

I could at least justify it a little bit. Because he pushes a Bills coach or staff member in that game. But the sideline can be a little weird. He gets kind of like rolled up, right? And he doesn't really get rolled. He rolls over into him and he just feels hands on him. And I think he's confused because he's like, why is this guy from the Bills touching me? But in reality, he was kind of like just making sure he was okay. You know, it was one of those deals and so then you know you see that and you're like okay this guy's got like

some grace and alan qualities except he goes after staff members and not the opponent so what's going on the best thing was seeing the detroit trainer chest up a little bit being like what the fuck he swolled up on him like yeah i'm here like i don't give i don't give a damn you got pads on like what you want to do like i'm like okay i like that and he kept looking for him he was like looking he threw the guys he didn't want to take his eyes off him i was dying laughing because i'm like what do you do and then i mean look he's a young guy so maybe he just needs to get it figured out i like watching him going to the tunnel i was like geez man and he's crying in the tunnel like like like someone did something to him it's like

this dude might have something else going on that i don't i don't even know about yeah yeah so we'll we'll leave it at that and you know he'll have. He'll have to button that part of his game up going into next year. Who do you like in the AFC? I think Cincinnati's the best team in the AFC. I do. I think their quarterback is stone cold. I think they got the best weapons in the AFC. I think their defense is the most versatile, playing at a really good level.

I think it's Cincinnati. I think they're the team to beat in the AFC. Okay, and you said it last week, so I know I'm being a little repetitive on it, but I just figured we'd do it again. What is it about the Bills, then, that you're not going with them? I think the Bills are a good team.

I just think sometimes you see, man, they put so much on Josh Allen's shoulders, and Josh Allen has a tendency, as far as great as he is, to make some bonehead decisions, some bad turnovers. Their defense isn't as elite as it once was. They're missing a couple, I think, you know, Vaughn not being there. The safety, I think it's Poirier not being there. Like, Tredavis White still coming back off of the ACL. He's not, you know, kind of 100% back to where he was.

I think, you know, when you add it all up, their defense is not, you know, where where he was. I think when you add it all up, their defense is not where it once was. Those are the reasons why I think Buffalo, as good as they are, Cincinnati, to me, is still the best team. Okay, and so I imagine if you feel that way about Buffalo's defense, it's even more exaggerated,

emphasized, I would say, with Kansas City, right? Yeah, like Kansas City, they're playing a lot of young guys in their secondary. They play a lot of man. So they're still kind of – they're getting better, but they're still kind of going through that phase. And, you know, their defense is leaky. They got Chris Jones, who's all pro. He's a monster in the middle.

But they still got a leaky defense. So much is covered up because of Patrick Mahomes' greatness. You know, his ability to do whatever he wants to do out there on the field. But, man, when you get out there, you know, say against Cincinnati, and you going up against greatness in Joe Burrow and then on top of that they got three stud wide receivers stud running back good office line good defense

can you overcome all of that are you allowing yourself to be tricked into this Chargers momentum no I'm not going there I'm not doing that I'm just tricked into this Chargers momentum? No, I'm not going there. I'm not doing that. I'm just not.

I bought into the Chargers before. I'm not like, I'm basically at the point with them. I need to see it before I can start really believing in the Chargers. I love Herbert. Honestly, I don't believe in the coach. I really don't. That's my big deal with the Chargers. I don't believe in the coach. I really don't. That's my big deal with the Chargers. I don't believe in the coach.

Like, what the hell was he doing playing those guys that late in the game yesterday? Yeah, I mean, Herbert threw it 37 times. What are you doing? You have nothing to play for. Like, why are you playing those guys? Then Mike Williams gets hurt in the game.

And it's just like, dude, what are you doing? Especially a team like them where you go, all right, who are your seven pro bowlers and how many games did they miss? Right. They stay hurt. Right. Like, they stay hurt all the time. I know.

Okay. So that sounds that sounds emphatic so it sounds like you got Philly and Cincinnati what? you know my pick before the season you want me to tell you my pick before the season? Bill's 49ers

Bill's 49ers were my pick before the season so should I come off of that? Maybe I should just try with it and see what happens. Yeah, that's always one of those dicey ones because clearly you don't want to do that, but

it feels like you get extra credit for getting it right before. But you know what? They never give you enough love on the shows. It's always the hosts. The hosts are the ones that always tell the producers, like, hey, put up that thing I said in August. And then all the panelists, nobody cares about you guys. Nobody brings it back because you're not in charge.

You're not on the set. Boots on the ground five days a week. We know how it works. Oh, I'm going to get it back up there. Just believe me on that. If I got it posted my damn self, I'm going to get it back out there. Okay. Who you got for posted my damn self, I'm going to get it back out there. Okay. Who you got for Georgia at TCU tonight?

Georgia. Georgia. I just – Michigan really tricked that off, man. Like, it's just hard for me to think that TCU is going to beat Georgia, that Georgia team that's really well coached. And I know Georgia's defense got shredded by Stroud, but Stroud is going to be one of the top picks in the draft. Marvin Harrison Jr. is, to me, the top wide receiver in the country.

Ohio State got five stars just like Georgia has five stars. So I can understand why the game was so tight. I just don't think TCU got the horses to hang with Georgia. And I think it's going to show tonight. Yeah, if he doesn't get hurt in that game against Georgia, I think Ohio State's playing for a national championship tonight. Right. That's just, I think Ohio State's playing for a national championship tonight. Right. You know, that's just, I don't know.

I don't know how you deny that. You know, granted, you could say, well, I would have played out a couple different ways. All right, fine. But he was. I mean, they couldn't. They couldn't do anything. Marvin Harrison.

They couldn't stop Marvin Harrison. No. No, they put Ringo on him there because he wanted him later. And it was just, that was kind of man against boys there for Ohio State. So you know if you're a buckeye fan like when that game was lined up for that field goal i'll admit when i'm watching it i'm going this feels kind of like the national championship right now um yeah which which feels a little dismissive of tcu but i don't i don't have to apologize for it i've been i've been very uh tweeted out, I thought TCU was the most tested team in the country.

I did that a few weeks ago. I feel like I've given them their due. I thought they had a real chance against Michigan. Yeah, I just... I don't know. I think it's the kind of matchup that's actually a lot tougher for them in this one. But to credit TCU,

line of scrimmage stuff, where if you looked at some of the stuff over the course of the year, you'd think, okay, Michigan would have this big advantage. I thought TCUCU line of scrimmage stuff, where if you looked at some of the stuff over the course of the year, you'd think, okay, Michigan would have this big advantage. I thought TCU's line of scrimmage stuff was really good. And I wouldn't say it was, you know, it's not always, as you know, it's not three hours straight, but it can be possessions over and over and over and be like, hey, they really have it rolling here for possession. What 13, 14 tackles for loss against Michigan's old line. That makes you think, hey, there's more of a chance here because, you know, we've watched enough stuff happen.

I just think this is a tougher matchup, much tougher matchup than what they had. So I think we agree. Better athletes. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. Well, hey, enjoy tonight, man. Thanks for doing this again.

And we'll talk again soon. Yeah, man. I appreciate it. You want details bye 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. Life advice is lifeadvicerr at gmail.com. Kyle, check it in.

What's good, son? Big day, guy. Went to the doctor's on Friday after the podcast just to get a prescription refilled, just some regular routine stuff. And my doctor retired. He was a great old guy. So it was a new person. He was a great old guy. So it was a new person. There was a new nurse in there. And she just started making me feel bad about myself left and right. I was answering the call. You know, you don't lie to doctors. You tell them, you know,

honest questions. I used to lie about how many cigarettes I smoked, but I just was like, you know, and I'll be honest with her. So, and she was like, well, you know, I went in to get this one prescription filled for an insurance thing. I just had to like check in with them because I had been on it for a while. And I left with like a bunch of stuff. Apparently I've been taking the wrong allergy medicine. Um, I've, I've been, I got some like nasal thing to help with, you know, my nose, which is great. And she was like, well, do you want to get, um, nicotine patches? So I said, uh, I guess so. And so she's like, your insurance covers it. Boom. Yesterday was my, yesterday at like 1130 PM after I put up Bill's pod was the last cigarette I'm hopefully going to smoke. So we'll see. There was like five cigarettes left in the pack, crushed it up,

threw it in the garbage, dumped the garbage down the chute. So they're gone. They're not an option. We'll see. I've heard from some of my buddies at Frolic yesterday that they both have tried the patch, one successfully, one unsuccessfully. I've heard you've got some crazy dreams coming your way if you're taking a patch and leaving it on at night, which I'm supposed to be doing. So I don't know. It's all new. It's exciting. Hopefully I'll have good news for you on Wednesday. I just love that you were like, it's exciting because we don't know how it's going to go. We just that it's exciting the hard part is going to be when you drink yep that's the biggest problem so you know but i am i am a little grossed out about um asking people for cigarettes which is i think positive let's put that in the positive column for me because i won't be won't be as easy for me to be like hey let me get one of those dude so you think if you're like eight beers in you're not going to want a cigarette and you're not going to care about it being from somebody else. I can't imagine that's an eight beer concern.

Two beer, maybe. Eight beer. Yeah, I agree. I would agree with you there. But, you know, if I don't stand out in the, you know, in the section where the cigarettes are being smoked, then maybe that'll help as well. You know, you know, I'm outside of Frolic not as often as I'm inside. But, you know, the bar graphs wouldn't be too far apart. So I'm just going to try bar graphs wouldn't be too far apart.

I'm just going to try to stay out of the outside. Okay. Here we go. First one. 6'1", 185, middle school teacher and basketball coach, 22 years old. What the fuck? This guy's 22? How could you...

Well, you got to see. I mean, if this is real, the pictures of this woman are not disappointing. Okay. Recently started hooking up with a player of mine's mom. We're nine years apart. She has one high school age child and another middle school who I coach and have in class and another who's a toddler three total I don't think it quite matters how it all started but we went on one date and the other times we've

hung out been plans to hook up when she comes over to my place in the beginning she showed major hesitancy because of how young I was. But she seemed to get over it pretty quickly. It's very clear she likes me a lot already. I can't lie. I kind of feel into it by keeping text conversations going far too long, which probably leads her on. I compliment her a lot, but it honestly just because she's pretty damn hot, genuinely a nice person. I wouldn't say she's annoying about the whole thing. She doesn't come on too strong and isn't pushy at all. She started to become a little attached though and feels the need to text me all day. In the beginning, she talked about not really being the hookup type and not wanting her time wasted. I told her I wasn't intending to waste her time, just wanted to get to know her more. No one, by the way,

says I plan on wasting her time. And once we hook up a few times, I'm probably going to be a weird, immature dude and just ice the situation. It's one of those sentences that never need to be said. Like I never meant to hurt you either. Oh really? Shock. I never, I never thought it would go in this direction.

Okay. Um, I told her I just want to get her no more. See where things went. Here we are. I have her son every day in class. So it's a bit awkward position, but sort of funny all at the same time. I don't maybe i'm an asshole perhaps i feel i shouldn't have ever started

hooking up with her but fuck i did it but generally just losing interest by the day we don't have much in common and her conversations are starting to become real forced she talks a lot about her kids which kind of freaks me out obviously i know i eventually need to break it off but it's been fun i think he's i think we get what we're talking about here uh i'm not saying i'm totally opposed to ever being a stepdad but definitely not ready for that type of responsibility right now um i can promise you you're not ready to be a stepdad you don't even have enough in common with a 32 year old. You can't be a stepdad. She said nine years older, right?

So 31 year old. Yeah. That's person's out of your, uh, conversation league. I don't think you're ready to be a stepdad. I mean, she's really pretty, uh,

you know, she just is. So I get, I get the dilemma here, you know, a tale as. So I get, I get the dilemma here, you know, a tale as old as time, but I, I don't look,

I would, I would say, um, I would say whenever this is, this is on the table, like you got to think about the kid first. And like, I don't know.

Does, does the kid know that you're dating his mom? Definitely not. Right. So it doesn't, I'm just telling you everything you just said, it sounds like you're not going to be into this and you're already not into it just because of texting conversation and you're 22 and she's talking about her kids because she has kids and she's a mom. And that's something that, you know, so wait a minute.

What are we talking about here? She has a high school age child. So that would be 14, 15. Yeah. Right. So she's been a, you know, she's been a parent for almost half her life. And that's, you know, that's quite a parent for almost half her life. And that's, you know,

that's quite a commitment. Obviously the first one, she's really young. So I would just say, you know, I don't know. Are you really going to listen to us? She's kind of hot.

So you're probably not going to listen to us. But I, I just try to think about the kids, man. Just try to think about the kids. You already are admitting in this thing that you're not down for this long haul, right? You already know that you're not about it. So, you know, until there's that next level of where it's super awkward and it's like, why isn't Mr. So-and-so coming over to my house anymore? You know? Yeah, right. yeah I think you could go through like the professional courtesy sort of way here and just be like you know middle school is a really tough age um I would hate for any of this thing to to to get out and and you know he's got enough going on in his brain I'm assuming it's the boys

in middle school um I just I think it's yeah yeah I think it would be I think it would be best if we if we just if we just don't for now or something because he says he's losing interest by the day and he's you know he's probably considering ghosting her. And it's like, this is probably an easier way. Just be like, listen, this is my job. I think your son's really important. And it'd be nice if we didn't muddy this up with whatever we got going on.

So I think just like it would be best if we just cooled it or something like that. And that way you don't have to be the guy that ghosts or the guy that makes up some sort of excuse. this is like sort of a half truth anyway so that you could just be like you know i think it'd be better if i just was the boys gym teacher and you know i'll see you at the pta or something i don't know i don't know uh see you at uh at the mid-year discussions that's just a way that I think you can get an easy out without, you know, feeling like you're

disappearing. I just don't think everything that guy just said to us told us he's not going to be up for the challenges of this. Yeah, totally. And so, if you know that already, then you know, wean yourself off of this to get the nicotine patch for this woman.

14. Start at the 14. Leave it on at night too if you're having strange thoughts okay there's been a lot of dualipa conversation which is pretty amazing that there's there's more people that have stories about her and leading the breakups. Remember we had our guy that DM'd her drunk and then the girl went through the phone? Yes. Or she went through the phone, saw the DM to do a, and honestly,

like if that's the worst thing you're going to see, you should be fucking pumped. Thrilled. Just listen to the Monday pod today. It was cracking up after the listener getting mad at her boyfriend for drunk DMing Dua on New Year's. I'm a bit of a fan of D doing myself and when she came to our town for

her tour i somewhat drunkly splurge for uh pit tickets for her show i was newly dating a girl at the time decided to surprise her and take her this was like our seventh or eighth date at this point the pit was standing room general admission and we ended up right in the front row see video below concert gets going my date brought some psychedelics and we took them with impeccable timing to feel it right as duo came out pretty electric combination of never being that close to the concert and it being do a fucking lipa but i was enamored with her and i was absolutely i absolutely was dancing with my date and assuming she was loving it the entire time too long story short we get done i have uh i leave the next day for a bachelor party this guy was just on fire that fucking week

shrooms for dua dancing away in the pit hey bachelor party tomorrow when i get back from the bachelor party and text her to set up another date she informs me she's no longer interested because she was quote upset how much attention i gave the duo and that I didn't give her enough. When I go to a concert with a guy I'm dating, I want all of his attention experience it to be together. All right. That sounds like some weird mushroom thing to say to someone anyway. Yeah. That's like a tapestry on her wall, dude.

Definitely. Your levels were off. Yeah. I don't know that sounds like yeah i mean that sounds awesome that girl sounds terrible yeah yeah i yeah i will say i mean i don't i don't like i don't have any of her songs on spotify but you know scrolling on instagram you see you know she's a beautiful and she does like these dances that will you know keep your eyes on her i think she's a beautiful and she does like these dances that will, you know, keep your eyes on her. I think that's a fair thing to say. So, uh, maybe she just,

maybe she's, you look like a, I don't know what you look like when you're on mushrooms and enjoying it all, but I don't know if you look like one of those old cartoons with the jaw to the floor. Like, I don't know if you were, if you were overtly, uh, oogling her, but, uh, either way, it sounds like this girl is is probably not a good time anyway um yeah so i don't know all right we got one other breakup here this this story sucks kyle the the girlfriends are not not having a great run on today's episode alright here we go girlfriend got me fired although actually the boyfriend in the first

email is probably worse than the girlfriend is no offense dude thanks for listening but yeah just a younger dude man like we all again I don't think that's going to be a big surprise when it goes down there alright hey gang I'm 28 years old 6'2 185 former lacrosse state champion defensive sub.

Oh, that's a pretty honest assessment. I met my girlfriend a year ago at a job at a recreational marijuana grow. Specifically, I was known as the veg guy, meaning I deal with plants in the early stages of life and was responsible for the supply chain to keep more plants coming. My girlfriend worked

compliance and inventory. She originally was friends with benefits with my roommate coworker. She eventually broke things off with him, which left him upset. I always knew she seemed interested in me, which resulted in me drunkenly texting her and meeting up with her at her local casino. This caused a falling out between me and my roommate, as you can imagine. But one year later, the rest is history. So anyway, she recently got disgruntled at her job and found a better opportunity elsewhere. While I do love her, she could be petty and did not handle her two weeks notice well.

After four days, she got mad and walked out on the job. Being a marijuana facility, there's extensive security to get in the building. She convinced me that evening to help her gather her things but they had turned her key card off i let her into the building thinking she would just grab personal belongings but she also did petty things that made it obvious that she was there what the fuck this resulted in my termination i now work at a similar job place i like but with significant pay reduction she's now found a better paying job and I'm left with a smaller paying one in the process well I do take responsibility

for my actions I need help navigating this mental pretzel well she is the mastermind of this plan she never truly apologized saying quote well that place sucked anyway thanks for reading the email this is a very this is a

lot of stuff about one person in four sentences or four paragraphs. Just to review, she was sleeping with your roommate, dumped him, and then you dated her.

Then you admit she doesn't handle things great and instead of the normal two weeks notice, which isn't, you know, doesn't handle things great. And instead of the normal two weeks notice, which doesn't happen for everybody, not in every situation, she just stormed out. But then her stuff was there. So she said, hey, I need you to help me get in there

and get my things. What you should have done is gone back during business hours, okay, while there would be other people around. Or you should have just gone to your bosses and say hey look i know it sucks she left um but i need to grab some of her stuff like you're not going to throw it away let can i come and grab it all so the fact that you let her convince you to do this at another time and then she did shit that was going to get you fired she sucks yeah okay she sucks and so if you want to stay

in a relationship with somebody like this who doesn't seem to have any concern for you can't even process it in a way where she takes any um any responsibility for getting you fired um then just prepare to be let down occasionally like every few months because you've let her get her way um she's used to operating through life this way and you know like if you love her and this is who you're going to be with cool but there's going to be stuff that happens that you don't like because you're okay with it up until this point. And again, when she's sleeping with your roommate and dumps him and then dates you, no offense, dude, but that's usually not a great start. Nobody at the wedding holds up the glass of champagne.

She was banging Dave for about a year and a half, but we always kind of looked at each other. They'd be on the blanket with each other, but I'd always notice her checking me out when we watched X-Files. Dave and X-Files get a lot of recirculation. I love it. I don't even know why I said X-Files. I just, look, you're asking us what you should do.

I'm telling you to prepare for occasional disappointment. Yeah. There you go. I think, yeah, you got to look, you got to look out for the circumstances under which you met somebody, you know, if you like, if you met her and she was like on her way out of a, you know, the back door of a building with a bunch of shit she's holding, it's like, oh, you know, maybe that's a bad sign. If she, if you met her under bad circumstances, and that's just the happenstance, then you should be prepared for stuff like that. I used to date somebody who was a bad employee. You know, it didn't bother me at first. And then, you know, then it sort of did. I think it's, you know, not to say you have to be a good employee

at any job to be worthy of being in a relationship with, but I think it does, does say a little bit about you. So I think you've got a bunch of bad signs here. And I don't know if you're happy, if you're like, if that's the only thing about this one instance that made you unhappy, then I guess you could probably get over this. But I would just take a little inventory of the last year

and see how many times this has happened because there's probably some sort of a pattern if there is one at all. So yeah, I don't think that those are what we call red flags, guy. And I'll leave it at that. probably some sort of a pattern if if there is one at all so um yeah i don't think that those are what we call red flags guy and i'll leave it at that yeah like think about this um like i want to know more about like what did she do when she went into the plant that made it obvious that other people would know that it was her he said she did some petty stuff

we're talking she just started stealing stuff well if she started stealing stuff how would they know it was her that was stealing it now would they just look at access of when he used his card and then he says you know whatever like that part there had to have been a better way that was safer where people would have been more understanding despite them not liking her on her exit there had to have been a better way for you to be like hey how can i get my girlfriend's stuff? He should have totally been able to get it. He should have totally been able to just cut her out

and be like, here, here's a bag of your stuff that I got on the way out today. Like, that should have been easier than whatever this was. Yeah, the roommate thing, like, it happens, right? That stuff happens in life. But then to compound that with, like, hey, I'm just going to leave this job and walk

out in the middle of the day. Okay. Not great. Maybe you could get me to a point where I don't understand. You could explain that away perhaps, but I don't know. Okay. Right. Sure, sure. Still trying to have an open mind about it. But then, hey, now my card is off. You have to bring me in, but you have to bring me in where if it's known that you bring me in, you get fired. Oh, and then when you do get fired because I do extra shit

that I'm not supposed to do and then you end up with a worse job and I end up with a better one and then you're like, hey, that kind of blows. Then you say, well, whatever, please suck anyway. What is the petty shit?

Did you take a shit in the manager's office? What happened? Yeah, right. What was this anyway. What is the petty shit? Yeah. Did you take a shit in the manager's office? What happened? Right. What was this? You know what wasn't worse? My paycheck. Yeah, that's right. She probably just seems like she wouldn't.

He feels he can't even say that because she probably wouldn't get it. Like, what's your problem? I did you a favor, dude. Yeah. Yeah. She seems like she might be a challenge to to talk to get get her to see so like do you want to know about my side do you want you want to know how i feel about how everything went down nah bro that place was sketched

like okay okay cool i'm gonna pick up dinner now all right that's life advice uh if you want to email us check in with kyle see how this nicotine journey goes uh thanks to him as always the ron russell podcast ringer spotify and a bonus episode tomorrow uh we'll recap the national title game georgia tcu with trent dilfer so we're not going to do anything on it today. And that's why we did the pod the way we did. And we'll do an extra one tomorrow. Outro Music