The Ryen Russillo Podcast - KAT’s Return to Minnesota, Plus Greg Olsen on Best Coaching Jobs, Who Really Trusts Their QB, and Penix Over Cousins

Episode Date: December 20, 2024

Russillo starts the show by recapping KAT’s homecoming to Minnesota (0:56). Then, Greg Olsen joins to explain how people should be judging QBs, why the Falcons went with Penix, and shares some stories from his playing days (11:34). Finally, Kyle and Ceruti join for Life Advice (52:03)! Can you help us pick events for the Man-lympics? Check us out on YouTube for exclusive clips, live streams, 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 Guest: Greg Olsen Producers: Steve Ceruti, Kyle Crichton, and Mike Wargon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Good friend Greg Olson. Stop by. We're not that close, but it sounds nice when we introduce him that way. He's just incredible to talk football with. We're going to go over quarterbacks that he's prepped for that maybe surprise him access to coaches that have been the most impressive. We talked Baltimore Pittsburgh as far like looking ahead to some of the playoff matchups, how he felt about his playoff stuff and a lot of cool stuff on just quarterback numbers that look good as opposed to the play calling that maybe tells the truth about them. He is great. Don't even listen to the rest of the pod.

If you like him, you just like football, but if you like the rest of the pod, we have cats returned to Minnesota. I am conflicted as you know how I feel about cap, but it was a celebration for a guy coming back to his hometown. So we'll go through all that and life advice and a little couch money research for you and then a fell weekend. I want to start doing a few NBA things here, but the headliners cats returned to Minnesota and.

You know, you think about the audience and things they tell you about like, Hey, the audience is growing, so make sure you remind everybody. I don't know that I need to remind anybody that's listening to me talk about the NBA. I don tell you about like, Hey, the audience is growing, so make sure you remind everybody. I don't know that I need to remind anybody that's listening to me talk about the NBA, um, how I feel about Carl Anthony Towns. Like he's an incredibly talented guy. We get the debate about best big man shooter of all time.

I know Van Gundy was throwing it out last night. Uh, the trade made a ton of sense for the Knicks considering they didn't have a center to start the season, they weren't going to resign Randall. And you know, it actually, I think just kind of, if you have title aspirations, you almost have to figure out a way to have a five out option for you at center. And when they get Mitchell Robinson back, then they'll have a whole other slew of options. And so it made a ton of sense for them. But I also always felt like it made a ton of sense for Minnesota. So last night, the storyline is cats

returned to Minnesota, which they blew out, whether it was the coverage, the lead up the pieces, how much they talked about it throughout the entire broadcast. And when you think about sports and the presentation of the games in any sport, like if you can find a storyline angle, it's usually a win. And they made sure they found that storyline. And look, it makes a lot of sense.

We talked about the game last night, really impressive from what we saw from the Knicks. I think you could look at Minnesota almost 30 games into the season and argue they're probably one of the biggest disappointments in the league based on expectations. I don't know that this is really who they are. I don't think they're going to be a 500 basketball team, but they have their own issues and it just blew up in the second quarter. Like I lost track of keeping, like I was writing down the numbers of how big this run was, I was like, when's this run going to stop?

It got to 37, eight. I think that was the peak run that we saw from the Knicks after actually losing the first quarter. They had a lot of early Randall possessions for Minnesota. And I realized the overall numbers for Randall, like Randall will always be someone when he's on a basketball team, the numbers are going to look pretty good because he's again, another talented guy. What I don't like when it's so Randall heavy, even though he was really

productive in the first quarter, I think it kind of sets a bad tone for the rest of the game, like Anthony Edwards should be taking more shots in that game. I've granted it turned into a pretty ugly score early. So you probably weren't going to get enough minutes from him to get to the 20 shots, but Randall hitting shots and then feeling like the offense is him and then he's bringing the ball up and everything else. You're like, okay, cool. It's going in here in the first quarter.

But I think Timberwolves fans would agree that even with those numbers where he's getting 20 every single night, it can just kind of stop everything else that's happening around them. And you know, that's its own issue that needs to be figured out. I don't even know if it gets figured out. But again, we've talked about Randall, talented guy, put up the numbers, but he's not for everybody. So if we look at where the Knicks are defensively and offensively compared to where they were last year, I want to do the same thing with Minnesota. The Knicks have the number two offense in the NBA.

Right. So the cat part of this offensively is a success. They were seventh last year in offense. So it wasn't like they were abysmal defensively. We know that it's been a decline, but it's really a decline in the rankings. They're 15th in the NBA in defense. They were ninth last year. But if you look at the overall points per 100

possessions, it's basically the same number. Even if it doesn't feel like an uncertain nights and maybe a little bit more earlier in the year. The biggest win for them is that the shooting is incredible. As a team last year, the Knicks actually didn't shoot that well. This year, they're the second best shooting team in the league. Again, with the cat option, it gets you back to that five out possibility that I think you need in the playoffs, especially to open up things for Brunson. Bridges was terrific last night. Bridges is another example where there'd be a player who I think you need in the playoffs, especially to open up things for Brunson. Bridges was terrific last night. You know, Bridges is another example where there'd be a player who I think we all would agree is pretty good.

They go through this stretch and then you think like, is this guy not good anymore? And I just, you know, like, I don't think Larry Markkinen is no longer good, even though it hasn't been nearly the same season as it was last year. Bridges to start, you're like, oh, so he's just not going to be good anymore. Granted, limited opportunities as opposed to being the number one option for such a long time in his brief Nets tenure, but you get the point. If I've seen multiple years of a guy being pretty good, especially if he's not even 30 yet, I have a hard time being convinced that the bad version in a shorter sample is the guy that now he becomes.

convinced that the bad version in a shorter sample is the guy that now he becomes. And back to the five out thing, like watching Milwaukee the other night in the cup final against OKC, even though I think we'd all agree that Brooke Lopez is, is limited at this age, the fact that they have him as a five out center that opens up things for Giannis, like I love Jared Allen, you couldn't have Jared Allen and Milwaukee Bucks in place of Brooke Lopez. I mean, I guess you could, but it would change dramatically your spacing because Lopez at least makes you guard him and he's going to set up so far away from the basket. So it opens things up for Yannis. It opens things up for Dame. So even with the Mitchell Robinson cat combination, we could see, I don't know that we'd ever see like a closing group with

Mitchell Robinson because Tibbs was so in favor of the cat trade based on reports. Cat at four, Mitchell at five. Yeah, certain matchups, I think you have to have it based on the opponent, but as long as you have this five out center that stretches the floor and you're not going to find one that's going to stretch the floor from an efficiency standpoint, the way cat is, it's a trade that makes a ton of sense. Even if you don't like cat's contract that kicks in 220 million due the next four years, which is another reason why Minnesota moved off of them. Or some of the things I've talked about in the past with cat where he's just, he's just not my favorite guy, even though the numbers tell you he's terrific. But last night was like a massive celebration of his tenure in Minnesota.

And I think this could be one of those examples where if you're somebody like me, who hasn't loved the entire cat experience, it could be that I don't get it. Right. This is not the same thing, but like when Kobe went crazy in his last game, it staples, and then I think he even had like a few people on TV being like, yeah, he took a million shots. Like, and I know some of you expect me to be that guy. Not after that game. That was a Kobe celebration. That was for Lakers fans. That was for them to, nobody

wants to hear about efficiency on that night. Jesus, you know, like let the Lakers fan base celebrate this all time icon. All right. Now look, cat is not Kobe. I don't even think he's KG. And it kind of felt a bit like that. I guess there were two different tribute videos. One with his highlights from his career and the other for all the stuff that he had done off the court, which is again, a great thing. But if we're all being honest here, I don't know that we ever look at the face of a franchise and see disappointing playoff exits and be like, yeah, he was awesome in the community. It'd be nice if we did that, but that's just not what we keep track of and how we talk about athletes, fair or unfair.

It's just what we do. So there were moments last night throughout the broadcast and the celebration of all of it in the lead up where I'm like, all right, like I get he made some threes, but like what, what is going on here? Um, you know, it's funny when I was thinking about the Kevin Garnett part of it. I mean, Garnett was 0 for 7 in his first seven playoff runs. He lost in the first round, seven straight times and then got to one Western conference final. And it was funny too, because like if we were doing podcasts back then and there were more of the debate shows that we have today. And look, it was even happening back then in sort of the NBA community of conversation

of like, is this KG guy a winner? And it just seems unfathomable to ever question whether or not KG was wired to be a winner. And again, those Minnesota teams weren't very good, but the one Western Conference Finals appearance. I'm not trying to compare the resumes here with Kat because he has the three first round exits than the Western Conference Finals appearance last year. So, you know, if I really wanted to pretend

that they were similar, I guess I could force that on you. But I'm not going to because I just don't think they're the same guy. But what could be lost in this, at least from a national perspective, a distance perspective is that Minnesota fans love this dude. They do. And it was pretty clear last night.

And I don't know if it's something that's a little different than KG where the Kevin Love thing ended abruptly, which was probably more in Minnesota than it was Kevin Love. The Jimmy Butler thing didn't even last long enough for I think any one to even compare the two, he was there for 69 games and then he MF'd the entire roster and was out of there. There was also the Wiggins element where I remember talking about the draft and going, you know, what you hope to do with these top picks is have a one, two punch to build your organization around like a Wiggins and like a cat.

And it was pretty clear early on. It's like, it looks like you hit on both these dudes, but there just seems to be something that's kind of missing from both of them. So as I sit here last night, like wondering, and look, cat went off 30 and 20 and he didn't get off to a hot start. Like he wasn't super, I wouldn't say super engaged early, but he took his time. He hits the trail three. It wasn't like he came out being like, I'm just going to put up a million shots. It looked like Rando was looking for revenge

more than Cap was last night. And then Cap puts up this awesome stat line like he continues to do all season long. So I'll, I'll admit like I'll have moments where I go, could I be totally wrong about this? Could I be too hard on Cap? Could I not get it? Could I, no, could I be wrong about all these thoughts that I've had about Karl Anthony Towns? And again, it's not about talent. It's not about making threes. It's just kind of how you're wired. Like to compare KG and Kat and the wiring, like, good luck with that exercise, because I don't think you're going to

come to the conclusion you want to. If you want to tie these all together. But I guess the thing I would close with is that when a team like Minnesota, who just made the Western conference finals, who has this young group, right. Who has a front office that I think is terrific. When they trade this player that I have doubts about, that's kind of all I need to confirm that I think that I'm right. Now, maybe they made a mistake. Maybe I just don't get it with Kat, even though I've talked about the balance

that he brings to you offensively and the talent and how he spreads it out and all that kind of stuff. Like he's not the number one in New York, so it shouldn't really matter. And there's enough talent around him that he doesn't have to be the number one, that he doesn't have to carry the burden that he had to carry before Anthony Edwards showed up in Minnesota. But at least I think for a night, it wasn't about the turnovers and the dumb fouls

and the drives, you're like, what were you thinking on that one? It was about a fan base that hasn't had a ton of success, that has had guys show up and not get it done. And even without the playoffs success, it was celebrating somebody that was the face of their franchise and somebody they clearly like and appreciate more than I'll ever understand.

We have Greg Olson again, which we're always thrilled to be able to catch up with and talk some NFL and not only is it Fox Sports, Youth Inc. We also have extra Greg Olson on Christmas for you and the family because Netflix is in the NFL game. They've got a double header, it's Chiefs against Pittsburgh at one Eastern and then at 430 Eastern. Greg will be on the call of the Ravens going up against the Houston Texans.

Good to catch up with you, man, how are you? Hey man, it's always good to be on, it's good to see you. All right, let's talk a little bit about last night's win by the Chargers where down 21-10, they put together a bunch of great drives, especially that last touchdown drive. It was just incredible to see him open it up, especially on the ground, Herbert converting the third and 10. But I think there's a bigger thing because, you know,

Bownix for a rookie quarterback, like this is a win, right? And I don't know that it means the quarterback question is now solved in Denver for the next decade. But I was thinking about quarterbacks in comparison to the NBA players and their NBA players get 20 plus points a night and because their stats are good, they'll be argued that they're good players and I'll wonder, okay, is that really who they are or they just have better opportunity? And this isn't about Bo Nicks because for a rookie, this is a win.

But I wonder when you watch the quarterback position in general, if you can tell the difference between, okay, that guy threw for 280 yards, but he's limited in comparison to somebody else who may not even have the stats, you just think he's a better player. I'm just wondering if there's like a quarterback equivalent, this NBA theory I have in my head. No, I think you're spot on. And I think the way people need to evaluate quarterbacks or just offenses, defenses, just football in general. When I first came in the league, it was the best offense in the league, total offense. How many yards do you put up a game? The best defense was who gives up the

least amount of yards. And then of course, points allowed and points and points scored. But it was very basic. The best run games were the ones that averaged the most. The best passing games averaged the most vice versa on defense. Like I think those days are over. I think you look at the passing leaders, the rushing leaders, and I could make a case team by team. There are some really bad teams that are at the top of the list in average yards passing per game. And I wouldn't sit there and say, oh, that's the best quarterback in the league, or that's the best passing game. It's your point. You're always losing. You're always playing from behind. And you're going to put up gaudy stats just because the game situation is going to dictate,

chase, chase, chase. And you're going to throw for a lot of yards. And a lot of it's going to be meaningless at the end of games while teams are just trying to play against the clock. And then, you know, vice versa, I could show you a team that's really, really good running the ball. They average 140 a game. But my first question to you would be, when do you run for those? Are you running in the second half with the lead or are you just compiling points and

you can't win a game and you average 16 points a game? Again, stats that mean nothing in the grand scheme of things because it's not impacting the game. So the same thing with quarterbacks. The way I look at quarterbacks is on quarterback downs, right? Third and pass, two minute playing from behind and then how you handle pressure, right? Like those to me are the main benchmarks that separate the really, really good quarterbacks and everybody else. And when you see this mapped out and they have some really cool ways to display this now and some really smart people that compile this data and lay it out over these sheets,

it's not a mystery that clumped at the top is the Lamar Jacksons and the Josh Allens and the Mahomes of the world and the names that were borrowed, the names we're accustomed to. And it's really looking beneath the numbers. It's looking at those situations and say, hey, when it's third and pass, show me the best quarterbacks in the league at converting and I'll show you the best quarterbacks in the league. Show me who handles pressure the best. And when they extend plays, they don't turn the ball over, they don't take sacks. And then the third thing is they generate explosive plays, secondary action. And I'll show you the best quarterbacks in the league.

So like when you break it out to what metrics matter, what metrics move the needle, that's how people are now starting to evaluate quarterbacks or just offenses in general. And I think that's a very different way than how people, when I first came into the league 15 years ago, evaluated where it was just raw statistics. You put up the most yards, you were the best. Like it's not the case anymore. Same thing with completion percentage. And we could go on and on and on about these metrics we're accustomed to

hearing that don't carry the same value that they used to. Yeah. Cause if I look at Herbert, you go like, okay, he's 13th and passing yards. I don't think there's five quarterbacks that I would take over them. And I think whether you think, you know, with the coverage and the stunt that they ran, he gets outside on that third and 10, which is a huge spot and they close it out. I just have a little bit more trust.

And what I always look for too is red zone, where does the play caller trust you on some of these red zone throws? And you know, whether it was two in the beginning of the floor, as you could tell immediately, it was like, they don't trust him at all to make these throws. Anthony Richardson may be a little different, limited experience still, and he's such a dynamic runner, but there's definitely games where I tune in and I'm like,

I don't think they want him making a decision. I would say like a positive for Bo Nix was that they let him throw in the end zone, but it really felt like a one look read where it was like, this is, we're only going to let you see like one part of it. Knicks was that they let him throw in the end zone, but it really felt like a one look read where it was like, this is, we're only going to let you see like one part of it. We don't want you back there dancing around the whole time and trying to get out of this. Um, so it's just something that it's hard, you know, it's, it's hard sometimes for those of us, even that watch it all day on Sunday to decipher the difference between a nice stat Sunday and a quarterback that you absolutely trust. And I always look at like those third and passing downs

that you were talking about, especially for a younger QB or somebody we're all kind of collectively uncertain about is like, what did they call? Because the play caller will usually tell you whether or not you as a fan should trust the quarterback or not. Because if they don't trust him when they're calling the play,

that's kind of how you need to know. You're spot on. And I think it, if you want, you said it perfectly. There was nothing else. You want to know how a team feels about a quarterback. What do they call on third and seven? That's it. Show me what they call on third and seven.

And I'll tell you everything you need to know about the inside the building views of the quarterback. And then the last thing I would add specifically about the quarterback position and you could probably, it's probably a good example with Bo Nix and obviously the style that Sean Payton wants to run. There's two ways of playing quarterback and I would argue blending them together are what the elite guys do. So there's the guys that play within the confines. They operate really quickly. They play from the pocket.

They can go through, check through their progressions, high completion percentage, right? It's Drew Brees in this Sean Payton style system, really high completion percentage. Ball comes out on time. Hard to sack him, not because he's going to run around. It's hard to sack him because he's processing things so quick, right? He's going from no, no, no check down versus other guys. It might

take them a half click longer. They feel the pressure and things break down. So there's guys that operate really, really fast and really, really in tune within the concept of the system. I think that's what Sean Payton is used to. He's had a lot of success with it, obviously back with, with Drew. so that makes sense, right? Maybe not going to push the ball downfield, not going to take a lot of second reaction chances. Then there's the guys that only can play out of saves, right?

They only can scramble and run around and make second reaction plays, and they're a thrill a minute. They're a blast to watch. But again, that's not very sustainable either. The guys at the top of the list can operate within the system, in phase, on time, in rhythm, play with anticipation. And then when things break down, which they're going to do with how good teams are getting on the defensive fronts, how good defensive coordinators are getting at generating free blitzers, and frankly, how bad offensive

linemen are. There's just not a lot of great offensive linemen being developed at the young levels. When you put all that in a basket, if you're going to play quarterback nowadays, you better be a really quick processor and you have to be able to move. I'm not saying you have to be Lamar Jackson, but if you're just going to stand on one spot and say, okay, offensive line, protect me. You better be in first and 10, second and two, third and two for the entire game. Because the second you get to third and seven, God forbid, if you have to play from behind and it turns into a drop back game, you better have the best offensive line in football because

you're going to have to move. You're going to have to buy time. And that's the magic of Mahomes and Allen and Lamar and the guys that we're used to. So play within play only without those two guys are going to have a heart. They'll have success here and there. It's going to be hard to operate on the extremes. The guys that can do either or based on the situation, those are the special guys.

Like those are the guys you're building for $60 million a year. You're building your team. Is there somebody that you've called this year that you had a preconceived notion about maybe that you didn't like as much and it may not have shown her the stats. They may not even have won, but you had a greater appreciation for the quarterback after you called the game and you spent the week prepping them. You know, I think it's a good question. I, you know, I, it's somebody that I'm going to answer your question, but it's

probably not the perfect answer because I probably had some inherent biases just because I know him as a dude like as it Just a guy is is dark, right? So like I know Donald. He's a great dude spent a year two years here in Carolina But then I'd just gotten to know him through I got a bunch of buddies on San Francisco where he was so I just I just got to know and I always thought he was wildly talented. He's big, he's strong, he's athletic. He's got a big R. His journey's just been a little inconsistent. I would argue it's a lot of the environments that he's been in starting in New

York. And then the situation that he came to here in Carolina serves a year as a backup to, you know, spends that time out with Purdy and kind of resets a little bit. When you watch what he's doing with Kevin O'Connell in Minnesota, they are playing, in my opinion, the way 99% of quarterbacks at all levels need to play football. It is, we're only going to get drop back when we have to, but when we do, he's been very good at it. We're under center play action. We're throwing the ball downfield. We're attacking you with layers.

Now, granted, he's got great skill players, but he's using that arm. He's using the athleticism. He can scramble to buy time. He can pick up first downs with his legs. And now at this stage, what's taken that offense to another level from where it was early on is when it, when Kevin O'Connell says we have to turn into a drop back team and we're going to sit there, we're going to throw it on every single down because we're not going to wait till third down and let you blitz me. That was the game we called against the Cardinals. Cardinals were killing them on third down. They couldn't pass protect. The blitz scheme Gannon had was really good. Hey, Kevin O'Connell said, screw it. I'm not gonna wait till third down.

I'm gonna treat every single down as third down and I'm gonna pass against your base coverages. And Sam Darnold was incredible. Then last week we had him again against Arizona, I'm sorry, against Atlanta. He threw for five touchdowns. He was incredible. He throws the ball downfield.

It's under center play action on early downs. And now he's at the point with the trust of him and O'Connell where when it is third down pass and it is play from behind pass and it is a drop back style game, O'Connell has all the trust in the world to let him go out and rip it. And they have brought out the very best in Darnold. And obviously it didn't work out in the other places, but the Darnold we're seeing right now is a flat out dude. I'm glad you brought up that game because Penex is going to be the starter in Atlanta.

Do you think that's the resource put into the draft pick or more about where Cousins is at now? I think they had no intentions in a million years of ever playing Penex this year. I don't think they, I don't think it was part of the plan. I think when they signed Kirk to that contract in free agency before the draft, Kirk Cousins was going to be their quarterback for the next, call it two years. And he was going to be our bridge. We felt that we were a quarterback away from having a really competitive roster, which

I don't think they were necessarily far off. I think the defense has been good at times, been very good. That's kind of bounced back and forth in that middle range, but they've been more than competent. Offensive skill is very good and the offensive line has played well beyond expectations and has done a nice job in the pass probe. I think it's a combination of Kirk. He was never a great athlete, but he was a good, big, strong guy, under center, play action, was the best play action quarterback in the league, playing in that Kevin O'Connell

system the last couple of years and was excellent. And I think what we've seen is he's a little limited now with his mobility. He's playing more in that pistol stand in the middle, which puts a ton of pressure on a quarterback. And he's just not seeing it. He's throwing a lot of picks, he's throwing in the tight coverage, middle, which puts a ton of pressure on a quarterback. And he's just not seeing it. He's throwing a lot of picks. He's thrown in the tight coverage. He's getting good protection, but the ball's coming out too early.

He's not letting things develop. And I just think it got to the point where Raheem said, we don't want to waste this season. We went from having a two game lead in the division to now trailing Tampa. And if we wait much longer, the season's going to be over and we're going to find ourselves out of the playoffs. And I don't think it's anything they wanted to do or they're happy. But at the same time, I think Penex is wildly talented. I think him being able to be a little bit more elusive, him being able to get out on the perimeter, move the pocket a little bit more, activate him as not like a runner, but in the sense of like a movement passer, I think unlocks a really good

skill unit that they have in Atlanta. And it's Zach Robinson, the offensive coordinator, pieces it together, right? I think there's a lot they can do with Penex that maybe they were a little limited schematically on what they could do with Kirk. Pete Slauson Kirk is an interesting one for me, because I would say I wasn't the biggest fan for a bunch of years. Then I think the last year that he was in Minnesota, I really started to appreciate him. And it's funny because like, I love looking at the next gen stats. And what I realized was all the different quarterback ones, like Donald's a perfect example. If you look at it, intended air yards, you know, where Anthony Richardson is like off the charts

compared to everybody else. Cause you just chuck in these rifles, um, behind center. Donald for the other quarterbacks is basically it's Richardson and a couple of guys haven't played enough and then it's Darnold. And what it's always funny, whether it's the aggressiveness number or some of that intended to area stuff or throw to the sticks.

Like if I don't like a QB, I'll find a stat there that'll back up me not liking him. And then I'll think to the quarterbacks that we all agree on like being terrific. And I'll be like, this quarterback who I love is worse statistically in this category than the guy that I'm trying to build an argument against. Like if you look at the least aggressive quarterbacks

in the NFL, it's Mahomes and it's Lamar. And it was Mahomes last year too, and aggressiveness based on one yard of separation or less. Um, and usually I think quarterback, you have to find, like, I'm sure you played with guys, you probably came back to the huddle and be like, you've got to give me a chance at a ball. Like it looks like I'm covered, but let me try to make a play and win a 50 50 ball.

And for the guys that I don't like that don't do it enough, I'll point to that. And yet probably two of the three best in the league have figured out how to dominate without having to be super aggressive. I don't know if it's an aberration, but for my homes, it's kind of a continuation of what we saw last year. Yeah, and I think that's what's so fun about, you started off the conversation talking about

how we evaluate through the world of metrics and statistics and analytics has really, really changed. But at the same time, there's so many, there's so much information out there and there are so many ways to evaluate guys that you can make an argument that Patrick Mahomes is not the best quarterback and you can make an argument that he's the best quarterback of all time. It just, you just got to pick which page of the report you want to refer to. But to your point, then it doesn't always hold up for someone else. And you get into like circular logic.

The reality is every single quarterback is operating in a very unique situation. The personnel around them, their play caller. We haven't even talked about how all of this affects the defense. Like the defense's impact on an offense, I don't think gets enough conversation. For example, you tell me we're really struggling running the ball, right? Our run game's not really good or on defense. We can't stop the run. If my defense can't stop the run, can't stop the run.

My first thought is you've got to play better offense. Don't let the team run the ball at you. If you're a team built to stop the run, you better have an unbelievable offense because if you have an average offense and I don't need to chase you because you're only scoring 20 a game, I can run the ball for four quarters against you. You're Dallas. You're Dallas of the last couple of years. You score 30 a game. I don't need to play run defense. Last year, they go up to Buffalo and bad weather and their offense struggles. They have some turnovers and they don't score 30. And all of a sudden Buffalo runs for 200 plus yards and people go, Oh my God, Dallas has a huge issue on their hands. They can't stop the run. And I said, well,

it only matters if the offense doesn't score 30. If Dak in that offense is the best offense in the league at the time, if they score 30, you can't run the ball for 220 against me. You just don't have enough snaps. It doesn't matter. So I'm defending the pass. So the complimentary style, you bring up Lamar and it's like, does Lamar, now he's having the best season that he's had throwing the ball downfield. He's not been the most accurate downfield passer in his career this year, by far his best season. But when you look at what they do really well on offense, you don't have to be elite in

every single thing because you're elite in explosive plays generated. He's got some good run after catch guys. Obviously the run game game we could go on and on and on about what a threat that is. It's such a unique component to their offense. But when you look at Lamar, like attacking coverages, his development as a passer, everything in Baltimore has blossomed because of the development of a path as a passer of Lamar Jackson. The run game is better because there's more depth in the defense.

The run game is better because it's always been good. Now they have Derek Henry, Mumpkin who runs a little bit more of like a traditional style passing game to compliment compared to Greg Roman. And Lamar is just a better passer. He's not just a novelty who's going to run around and then every once in a while throw it, you know, throw it. Every guy is operating in such a unique situation. How good's my defense?

How many points am I trying to score? Do I need to score 30 and I need to be reckless with the ball because if I score 20, I'm going to lose? Or is my defense pretty solid? But everybody is dealing with these different situations and then they formulate a game plan and their personnel. And they say, okay, this is at our best interest to win this game. And then we repackage it all up again the next week.

So like, I know it's a long answer, but individual metrics don't tell the whole story without taking into context the environment in which the player is operating. Okay. I have a couple other matchup things that I think would build off of that, but I want to get this in because I just know with the production meetings, over the years of just watching it and then being at ESPN when I was doing college game day, like sometimes TV would be nice enough to let us tag along with some of that stuff, which they, Fowler and those guys never had to do

that and every now and then they would let us and it was just incredible access, right? Like there's got to be trust there too. I think when you're with Fox long enough, there's like, look, I'm not going to burn you on the broadcast, but let us in. Like let us in and look, every organization is going to be different with how much they want to tell you. Uh, who was impressed you?

Maybe you don't have to pick just one, but with that kind of access leading up to game planning Vision for the week and it may not even show it in the score But which organization kind of stands out to you throughout your prep in your production access where you're like man These guys haven't figured out. Yeah, I think it's a great question. And I've said this to a few people I've probably enjoyed learning football and realized how much football was left to be learned since transitioning into this TV world than even when I was a player. As a player, I always felt like I had a really good understanding and that was a big part of my game. I wasn't just going to be the freak athlete running around. I needed to

know my shit. I needed to know offense, defense, coverages, pass protections. It was part position, obviously, that I played, but also it was like part of my survival. It was the only way I could make up for these guys that were bigger, faster, stronger. So, but little did I know, like entering into the TV work and the access and the conversations that we have with some of the best offensive and defensive minds, best leaders, and the amount of topics that we're able to cover. And you know, when you have an opportunity to talk offensive, you know, game philosophy as far as putting a game plan together with Sean McNeil and Kyle Shanahan, it's pretty eye opening.

You know, when they, when they say something that's like universal, it's not necessarily just about this week's game, but it's a pretty, you know, that's something I have like a little like banked document where I write like big high level things. Like one day if I'm ever a coach, this, this, this, like whether it's making a game plan or how they see their run actions complimenting their play action game and what formation stress certain defenses

and like just the way their brains formulate plays and have the opportunity where once you earn that trust You can ask them honest questions and you'll get honest answers I mean you have Kyle Shanahan literally telling us hey now This is how we see it the way they set their fronts We want to attack and like you sit there and you're like, I've never heard anyone presented that way. That's super interesting And then the part I probably enjoyed the most is the defensive side, right? So you get Brian Flores You know, we've had now a bunch with Minnesota and he runs a very unique style of defense And then the part I've probably enjoyed the most is the defensive side. Right? So you get Brian Flores. You know, we've had now a bunch with Minnesota and he runs a very unique style of defense where you don't really see a lot of it, right?

You see a lot of the Vic Fangio where it's not a lot of glitz. It's a lot of high shells play everything top down. And we're going to let the front, whether it's four or five guys, our fronts going to dominate the game. Right? You see that now with Philadelphia and that's kind of in Fangio's deal everywhere he's been. But then you got a guy like Flores where he wants to attack. He wants to blitz. He wants to stand six or seven guys up on the line of scrimmage and then run back to cover two and only blitz four. And then sometimes it looks like

he's blitzing nine. And to be able to ask him, like, talk me through formulating the plan. How does it tie together on first and second down? What does it stress in the run game? What runs do you not see? What runs do you see? Like asking them how all these layers tie in in their thought process to then saying, okay, this is our best chance of having success this weekend. Let's lay out the plan and go do it. Like, I just find that all fascinating. Right? So, and then you tie it together with like a Dan Campbell, who I know comes under some heat. But like to have the opportunity to talk through Dan Campbell, where everyone's acting like he's just making shit. And that he's just like, by the seat of his pants,

just saying, screw it. I'm going to play. It is so far from the truth. Everything he does is so thoughtful, is so thought out, is so pre, it's all predetermined. And to watch him stick to his guns, no matter good, bad or in between, I would argue most, mostly good. I mean, look at the success, like, but to hear his thought process of how he weighs these situations. And I'll ask some of these guys about, all right, think back to the end of that game with whoever. What would you have done? And they'll tell you, say, hey, here's my approach. We're down three. We don't want to kick a field

goal, make it six, lead the clock. We're going to go for it on fourth down. I feel better, but whatever the situation is, like it's awesome. Like what a unique insight into the brains of some of them, smartest football people in the world. And as a guy who just loves football and wants to learn and wants to implement some of this shit with my middle school team to a watered down version, like I love it. Like what an opportunity to learn the game. And I always think like the best people steal the best ideas.

That's just the world. And I am the first to admit a lot of, a lot of things that I've come to learn. I've learned from other people. I'm so glad you said that about floors, cause you know, the few guys and I'm friends with the play defense in the league, like you just be on the text thread and you might just get like a floor as well. Text. Cause like those guys are going, why, you know, he's asking these guys to do a

lot of stuff, but damn, like this is fun. Um, all right. Two more things before we finish up here. So if you think back to your Superbowl run with Carolina and prepping, cause I'm thinking of this and it'll relate to the final question that I have is I try to sift through like how I feel about matchups. Cause I don't want to just go when it comes to the playoffs, like this team's better than that team because we know that there are certain matchups that

benefit or, you know, or put another team at a disadvantage. And maybe I'm thinking about Baltimore and Pittsburgh here. So that might be the lead. Uh, did you know you beat Seattle, right? You blew out Arizona in the NFC championship game and granted Carson just had a bad day. Did you feel differently going into that? Like, was there a matchup and maybe even throw Denver, the

Superbowl matchup in here where the week leading up, you're going, okay, we're going to eat. Like this is, this is perfect for us. You know, it's kind of funny. You know, the year that we had, you know, it was Christmas day and we hadn't lost. We're 14 and 0. We hadn't lost yet. We're celebrating Christmas undefeated in the NFL. It's not unheard of, but it's virtually unheard of. And we end up losing week 15, like the weekend after Christmas, we go down to Atlanta, who we had just beat 30 something to nothing.

I think it was Dan Quinn's, it might've been his first, either his first or second year since he took over the Atlanta job. I want to say it was his first year and 15 and we beat their doors off at home, 30 point blowout, non-competitive. Two weeks later, we go back down to Atlanta and we're like, we're going to be 15 and 0 with Tampa coming to our place to go undefeated. How crazy is this? Not two crazy hard games. Atlanta beats us. We have a reset. We come back at home. We win. So we're 15-1. We get the buy. And I'll never forget it. Seattle was like the thorn in our side. They were

so good. They were so physical on defense. And Russ was playing obviously at a high level offensively with Marshawn and then defense. It was like the who's who of defensive players at this time. So I remember watching that, that playoff game and like, you're not saying you don't want to play anyone, but you're kind of like, oh, wouldn't mind if Minnesota won. Well, it's that frigid ass game game outside of Minneapolis and they lose, they miss that field goal and we end up getting Seattle. I think we in our heart knew Seattle was going to be that...

They were the measuring stick. Arizona had an unbelievable year. They either won 12 or 13 games. They had a fantastic year, but we just knew Seattle so much better. We had played them so many times. We played them earlier in the year on the road in their place and it was an unbelievably close game. But they had our number. They beat us in the playoffs already once earlier the year before. So we knew that was going to be a huge challenge and we jumped up on them big. We were up 30

to nothing at halftime. It was one of those games. First play of the game, we bust. Luke has a pick six. We're up 14-0 before the game even starts. We're at 30. It might've been like 31-0 at halftime or something like that. And then in the second half, Russell Wilson turns into Russell Wilson.

And we have to recover an onside kick to advance. So that game, coming out of that game, I think our confidence, we knew we could play with everyone. Like we had blown some teams out, but we'd also played in some close games. So we felt like we were tested. We were relatively healthy. And we knew that that, I think Carson Palmer's,

I think that offense that year for them was, it might've been number one or two in the league, maybe only behind us. I can't remember it exactly, but we felt like Seattle was the game. If we could get over that, we had a really good opportunity. Believe it or not, going into it, the team we probably wanted to play the most matchup wise was Denver. They beat New England, and I don't think anybody wanted to play New England in

a Super Bowl. And we knew that Denver defense was nasty. And we knew offensively they were really struggling. Like there wasn't the offense that they had the prior year or so with Peyton. And obviously, the defense was the difference in the game and they beat us. But that Seattle game to me felt like the hump we had to get over. We played the best game of our difference in the game and they beat us. But like that Seattle game to me felt like the hump we had to get over. We played the best game of our lives in the NFC championship.

We won 45-17. It was a blowout. And we peaked two weeks too early. We played our best game of our lives. Offense, defense, all things, taking the ball away, deep explosive plays, Cam was incredible. He ran for a couple through for a couple. Uh, we played the best game of our time in Carolina and the NFC championship.

And it just came two weeks too early. Okay. So final thought here, because I'm still trying to figure out Baltimore, Pittsburgh. And I've talked about Pittsburgh enough now that Steelers fans know where this is going, is it like as good as this has been, I'm just going to be a QB snob about it and I don't think I'm going to pick Russell Wilson in a playoff game against some of these other teams. But they've got Baltimore again, coming up here very shortly. We know Lamar's record against Pittsburgh. It doesn't even make any sense. You know, like you dig through it, you're like, oh, he was hurt. They sat him. There was a COVID thing.

There's not as many games as you would think with a division matchup. And I thought this year it's like, okay, well, they'll get them. And it's like, all right, well, Tucker misses all the kicks. Boswell kicks six field goals, all the penalties and stuff. Like there's a way to explain away the loss. But like if you're a Pittsburgh fan going, okay, so we get Lamar again, you're going to make more excuses.

Lamar in that first Pittsburgh game, this kind of gets back to some of the aggressiveness stuff. But again, when you're watching on the TV broadcasts, you don't know what's going on, but it, it felt like the coverage had to be incredible because Lamar would get flushed out of the pocket. He would look, you would see him want to pull the trigger on something. And then he wouldn't, um, they contained him running. He had the one run late for like 20 plus yards, but for the most part, he didn't

do anything with his legs in that game. And if you actually look at his game log first half of the season, second half of the season, he's been less effective or they're just asking to do it less as far as running. But maybe it's just a familiarity thing where, because it's a division rival, nothing he does is ever gonna scare them or devastate them mentally, where if you don't see Lamar enough, you just have these moments where like, I cannot believe he just did this. And I still think he has those games against Pittsburgh. But I don't know if it was a coverage thing specific to that game, because that same coverage was not there

in the first half against Jalen Hurts and the Eagles where it felt like those guys were running wide open. And once they made the catch, they were wide open. It just felt like a matchup for an afternoon again, where I guess I feel like I'm planning on being dismissive of Pittsburgh, but there's evidence that tells me that I shouldn't be specific to Lamar. Yeah. So I think you brought up a lot of really good points.

So the first thing I'll say, you're a hundred percent right, that there is an element when you're playing these really unique players and as a by-product, these really unique play styles, it's very hard to prepare for them in practice, right? So you have a guy, all right, this week, he's wearing the purple jersey. He's Lamar Jackson. But on the run plays, it might be like one of your wide receivers if you're trying to simulate the movement skills or it's your third string quarterback who's running the scout team.

And yes, you have your reads and he gives a belly read and they're running quarterback keep and your defensive end tags off on them. Hey, nice job. Everyone's on their assignment. And then all of a sudden it's Derrick Henry and it's Lamar Jackson and you haven't played them in a couple of years. And all of a sudden, their speed, the scheme, you don't see a lot of quarterback bash and quarterback counter and misdirection plays. You just don't see it a lot unless you're playing Lamar, you're playing Jane Daniels, again, different animal. Obviously, with what they do with Josh Allen and we did it a lot with Tam, but there's

pockets of it, but you don't see it all year. There is an element of newness where no matter how much you practice it for two days, half the time it's in walkthrough, it just feels different when Lamar does it himself. Pittsburgh's used to it, right? They've been playing against this guy a lot. They know the scheme, they know the personnel. So to your point, there is an element where it's not as daunting just from the sheer familiarity of the matchup, right?

So there is that component. I think Pittsburgh has an opportunity to learn a big lesson from last week against Philly that they can bring into their approach against Baltimore. I think last week, so much is made about Seguin, and he's incredible. Don't get me wrong. He's incredible. The run game's incredible. They've always been good, and now they add an elite back, a generational back, and they

make a very good run game, an elite run game. There's so much conversation around these teams going in saying, we have to stop Saquon. We have to stop Saquon. And they win and granted he missed some time, he got his knee banged up, but all things, you look at the stat line, he had like 60 yards rushing, 65 yards rushing, give or take. But you let Jalen Hurts in that passing game had the greatest passing game of their season and they scored 27 with two back-to-back turnovers. They should have scored 40.

So like, was it worth spending all that time and attention to limit Saquon Barkley to then give up the downfield one-on-one shots in the perimeter to AJ Brown and let Jalen Hurts stand there and get the ball out of his hand on time and make the passing game a little easier when I would argue what makes Philadelphia such a challenge is their offensive skill, is their offensive line pass protecting?

And I would start stopping that. If you want to run the ball 40 times against me, as long as you're not busting off 50 yard touchdowns, you're gonna have a hard time scoring more than 20, 24 points. It just doesn't happen. Now, all of a sudden you force a couple takeaways. If Pittsburgh plays that game and takes the ball away like they did and spends all their commitment

to the passing game instead of the run game and Saquon goes bananas, they don't have enough possessions to score 30 points to beat. I think they need to say, okay, we wanted to stop Saquon. We can't make the same mistake and say, we're going to do everything in our power to stop Derrick Henry in this run game. Don't let Derrick Henry break 50 yard touchdown runs. That seems pretty obvious. Nobody wants that.

But in the midst of it, if he wants to nickel and dime you and do it here, and at the same time, we're not letting this offense score fast. We're not letting the passing game be unresisted. That's the formula in the NFL that you want to play these days. And I think we get so caught up in, people don't like the idea of giving up a lot of rush yards because it feels like a physical attack. I think there's like a mentality where like, if I'm not a great run defense, I'm not tough. And like I would make the argument like, isn't the idea to not give up a lot of points?

Like, I just think there's a psychology there. And I think Pittsburgh needs to learn their lesson and say, we're not gonna let Lamar throw the ball over the yard. Granted, they don't have the same offensive skill in Baltimore at the receiver position like they do in Philly. But I think you have to be so careful in today's modern game, spending too much time making a team one-dimensional and making them a passing team

if they have a quarterback that's an MVP like Baltimore. That second half drive by Philadelphia, though, that was like an all time football moment. Just taking out the entire toolbox on them. Greg, thanks so much, man. You're always a blast to have on. Obviously open invitation at any time and an invitation to you as well to check out Greg and Netflix presenting the NFL on Christmas day. Again, double header.

We've got Chiefs, Steelers, one Eastern, then Greg will be on the call of Baltimore against Houston at 430 Eastern. And to make sure, and I'll give you the plug here too to remind everybody the awesome stuff you're doing with Youth, Inc. And just the whole business plan. I mean, do whatever you want here,

because I just want to make sure you get your value out of your time here as well. Awesome. Well, appreciate it. I mean, yeah, so the Youth, Inc. thing is obviously a kind of a passion project of mine for the last couple of years, you know, live, grew up around youth sports. My dad was my high school coach, lived it, breathed it. That was our superheroes. We, you know, we didn't idolize, you know, college and NFL guys.

We idolized the high school kids and my dad's team on Friday nights and life. It's funny how life goes full circle. Now I'm retired. I'm a dad of three kids and I don't have all the answers. And I think anyone who's raising kids in this crazy world, you know, so much talk about like what's going on in college sports. Well, I would argue it's even crazier in like middle school and travel sports and pay to play and just all the craziness. And I think a lot of parents are struggling.

So we set out with you think to create a platform of content, uh, right among myself think a lot of parents are struggling. So we set out with Youth Inc. to create a platform of content, provided by myself, a lot of other content creators to explore the world of youth sports through storytelling, through interviews, through education, best practices, mental health, skill development, training, all things. And we've had a great response, a lot of really cool content being created. We're just kind of getting started with this second iteration of it. And again, it's something that I live, eat and breathe as a dad. It's something I coach a sport a season for all my kids. And I think there's a lot of questions out there that a lot of parents have, and hopefully we can be a resource and a guide

towards answering some of those difficult situations that parents and kids are finding themselves in and make the youth sports experience a little bit better, maybe, than it is right now in a lot of places. And along the way, have a lot of really fun conversations with people who really understand the landscape. Well, I love it. I checked it out and it's just, I don't know, man, it's just really cool how you put it all together.

And I always think the people, especially when you start thinking about youth sports, like the people I trust the most are the people that have nothing to gain from it. You know what I mean? Like now that you don't get the reward of being involved with your kids and all that kind of stuff, but there's just so much stuff that's going on. It's like, well, what's this person's motivation? And like, I'd rather be aligned with the person who's already made it and doesn't actually

need to have this be their identity. You're awesome, man. Thank you so much. Appreciate it, Greg. Appreciate you as always. Before we get to couch money research with our NFL picks, I want to remind you we have a little look at a Saturday college football playoff money line. Harley, just looking at the money lines for some of this. Again, the Friday game, Indiana, Notre Dame, that has moved to minus six and a half. Notre Dame is obviously favored. That was over touchdown. If you look at

this lineup versus all the conference championship games, where they're all like around a field goal, all of these were a touchdown or more when they opened and that's the only one that's under seven points. I picked Indiana on my bracket. I think I was just doing it to screw around a little bit. So we'll see what happens.

Almost sounds like a double emotional hedge there. I just, whenever I get a bracket in front of me, man, it's just a work of art. Who knows? It's like spoken word. I just didn't even know where I'm going. Probably like a lot of people that do it. SMU Penn State. I have Penn State moving on. So if you were looking at this strictly from just the Moneyline part of it, I have

Texas moving on against Clemson, although Canal picked Clemson for the upset. And then I have Tennessee upsetting Ohio State. So if I had to play one plus seven and a half, it would clearly be Tennessee because I picked them out right in the bracket as well. I feel much better about that one than I do the other one. Anyway, that money line parlay for the Saturday games, two favorites and a dog would be plus four 12.

Taking a look at couch money research. All right. So the most popular pick this week, as far as the public percentage of money, the Lions minus six and a half. I was actually going to give out the Bears, but we'll let the Fade the Public pick be the Bears plus six and a half at home. We're also going to give out the Pats plus 14 and a half.

That's my couch pick at Buffalo. So plus 14 and a half at home. We're also gonna give out the Pats plus 14 and a half. That's my couch pick at Buffalo. So plus 14 and a half at Buffalo. And then the research pick here is Dallas plus four at home against Tampa Bay. Once again, check out sportsbook.fandual.com. You want details? Fine. I drive a Ferrari, 355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous

house in the South Fork. I have every toy you 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, the email address, lifeadviceRR at gmail.com. Gearing up for a little holiday week, man. I hope everybody's excited. Kyle's got a big smile on his face. I can see you being a huge Christmas guy. Big Christmas guy, big Christmas guy,

especially when there's no work. And I don't think there's going to be any work on this Christmas, just confirmed. So happy holidays, everyone. I'm not doing that to you. This came early for Kyle, by the way. It's got his Drake majors. He on today.

Yeah, man. I don't think I didn't think I was going to be able to have another opportunity to wear it on a Monday post Sunday football, just considering the next couple of games. So I just I didn't want to let this pass. It showed up. I showed up late last night. Got it this morning from the mail room. And I got to say, I'm loving it. It's the on field one.

I splurged a little bit. That's what I'm talking about. Yeah, even the number, everything's stitched. It's got the little, I don't know, elastic in there to make your arms look bigger, you know? I like it. You don't need that. Arms are huge.

Thanks. Okay, let's read a couple emails here. We did have one follow-up, maybe two. I've been getting Sobe tweets for the last three days. Yeah, there's the Fountain sodas that people went to. I didn't even know that was a thing. Yeah, Sobe Life Water, I knew it was a thing, but I don't think that's what I was drinking.

Maybe it was called Life Water, but I don't know. No, the milky stuff was scary. That was scary. We covered it. The Pina Colada, that's when it sounded like you checked out. We're like, what's going on there? I mean, Gatorade had a couple that looked like what you would spit out of your mouth

after brushing your teeth. Yeah. Like, what are you guys going for? Arctic carry or whatever that was. Yeah. Is this creamy? Yeah. Is this a nog?

What are we doing here? All right. Back to dating an ex. I know it's a week late, but I have a little experience here at college, pole vaulter, exclamation point. Heck yeah. We had pole vault at our high school and I was like, can I try?

And they were like, no, we don't have the insurance to cover it. That's why no one does it. And it's never set up. And I don't think there's any poles around. Okay. I thought pole vaulting got a little jolt this year with that guy at the Olympics. Oh, the dick guy? Yeah. Okay. Pole vaulting got a little jolt this year with that guy at the Olympics.

Oh, the Dick guy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was a win for him. Totally. Quite a jolt. Totally.

Wonder if he gets sick of it. You know, 10 years from now. I don't know. I don't, I don't really see that sheen wearing off ever. It's cool, man. I think that's cool. Yeah. I mean, look, any guy, I mean, you're like,

hey, how's it going? So I don't think the stage like that. Come on. It's not like it's some high school grainy video that resurfaced like that's the Olympics, man. Good for you. World stage. Is that better than winning a gold medal?

I don't even know if he medaled. Did he medaled? I think so. I think so. I hope he did. We'll never know. Especially if you're probably not good enough to get gold. Definitely better than the bronze medal,

I can tell you that. Yeah. It's got to get old. Because that's one of those deals where, you know, there's certain podcast guests where I go like, I know I have to ask this, but I don't really want to ask this person anymore about this because they've already been asked about it.

But then you're kind of stuck being like, but how do you not ask about it? And then you're like, oh, I'm gonna do this guy a favor. Like that was always some of the weird athletes stuff that we would do in the past. You would not ask him the thing that you had to ask him to try to prove how cool you were. And then you'd be like, well, we're not gonna summer house

with this guy, just ask him the fucking question. Like, I know everybody's asked you about this, but I'm not gonna do that. I'm gonna ask you a far less relevant question. So that if we see each other at an SB party, we'll point to each other. Right. Might remember me. Yeah.

Yeah. Um, all right. D3 poll, Valter. All right. Uh, just kidding. But met my wife on the team. No stats anymore. Just an anecdote.

My best friend started dating my girlfriend two years after we broke up. Talked about it before. It was all good. 15 years later, they're married to beautiful kids and her ex-boyfriend stood up in her wedding, just makes sense that friend groups are attracted to the same types of people it's okay, uh, to let people live their lives without affecting yours. That's some mature perspective. It's like in the speak now or forever hold your peace section.

like in the Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace section? No, no, no. I would imagine like the good parts of not the, not an objection. Okay. Has anyone ever done that? Like I know it's in movies. I don't know. I don't even see like a YouTube video of it

from like real life. I don't know, I've never seen it. Yeah, right? You have to just be a huge asshole to do that. Or just insanely drunk, right? I mean. Yes. Typically both. Yeah. He would still have to be be a huge asshole to do that. Or just insanely drunk, right?

I mean, it's typically both. He would still have to be a huge, like to be drunk and go, this is a good idea. And granted when you're drunk and you're like, this is a good idea the next day, you're like, that wasn't the best idea I've ever had. This is a massive commitment. I mean, I think even drunk, you know, you're going,

am I really going to do this? And there's probably some people that would make some jokes or whatever, and we'll get a few emails being like something like this happened, but like a full blown standup, I object to this. They should probably just take that out. Yeah, don't even give that box to check, right?

Yeah, look, that guy's obviously very mature. Everyone in this wedding was very mature, but I don't know that everybody would be cool with that. I don't know that I'd be psyched if my wife's ex-boyfriend was like, I have some things to say. I mean, if he was like a cool athlete, I'd just maybe have you psyched he was there. They're like, this is awesome, we're gonna be buddies.

All right, give cards. You don't want that person to be cooler or better than you though, you know? Yeah, what's new? You know, like, oh wait, she done Priscilla and she's dating a hockey player now like damn That's are you enjoying my wine Nate? He wasn't even on the power play though. So Like what are we really talking about here slot receiver? Yeah, cool. He was you have 60 catches that one year uh

Yeah, I don't know. I don't worry about that stuff anymore. When I was younger, I would. But now I would, I would just, I'm not saying I'd want him at the wedding, but I don't, I wouldn't be like, oh, you dated a pro athlete. Now I feel less of a man. Yeah. You know? I mean, I guess there's some pro athletes

where I'd be like, okay, that's. It's nice to not have to think about that ever though. Got to say. That's actually maybe, yeah, maybe you're right. I mean, I guess I'm not a pro athlete. It's nice to not have to think about that ever though. Gotta say. That's actually, maybe, yeah, maybe you go that route. All right, gift cards, gift cards, tis the season. 32nd question, no stats necessary. What do you guys think when you receive a gift card, Visa, Amazon, whatever, that has no value

when you attempt to redeem it? Do you let it lie or contact the gift giver? Seems kind of awkward to me to ask the giver about a $25 gift card that will not process thanks. Look, off the top, I get where you're coming from. It could be seen as, oh, this guy cared about the 25 bucks. I think if anything, you're letting the person know that bought it for you.

You can do your group. Yeah, hope you didn the person know that bought it for you. And then you go through. Yeah, hope you didn't buy a four pack and distribute these. Yeah. So I think, I wouldn't look at this as a selfish motivation or something that you can be criticized for being cheap on, because I totally understand what you're saying,

but if anything, you might be doing that guy a solid, whoever gave you the gift, and be like, hey, just so you know, and you present it that way. And by the way, if they're the ones that then like talk shit about you behind your backs about being cheap about 25 bucks, that's their fault. So I would, I would not have any hesitation whatsoever, especially if it's like a good

relationship, and it's a normal person. And if they bought you a gift, it probably is a pretty good relationship, a guy buying another guy, a $25 gift card, although maybe it wasn't a guy. Anyway, the point is, is that I would alert them for what Kyle just said, what if they're all faulty? And what if there's like seven relatives going, this cheap motherfucker just grabbed him and then didn't put anything on it.

Although that would be an amazing out for Christmas, but you probably have to leave. Just walk out of CVS with two of those things off the rack and be like, I don't know, man, some sort of weird mix up. I gotta check my extra care. But I don't know that you could stay, you couldn't stay, like if you were staying with people for Christmas,

that would have to be a drive-by gifting where it's like, oh, we're gonna see each other on Christmas Eve or whatever, and then you're just out of the mix. Like, I don't think you could be at the house on Friday and then like your nephew's going, dude, I try to order socks and whatever, it didn't go through.

Anything else? No, that's a totally fine question to ask. Yep. And because he's thinking about it enough, he's gonna ask it in a nice way. We can already tell. Well, it's just like your buddy who you know is like maybe struggling or broke.

I don't, maybe. But again. Great. Yes, no, you know what I mean? Seriously, Saruti, I didn't think there was anything left. That's a great point to add. If the guy's just destitute, let him think he gave you 25 bucks. Right. If the fact that you got the gift was a surprise to begin with.

Just. The best is that somebody gives you a gift card and they tell you the totals. It starts with, I think it's. Oh, yeah. There's a change on there. Yeah, it's like 1374 on there, I think. Is this a gift card or did you return a drill? Here's an Equinox gift card.

It's for $46.17. All right, 62195. This is the Manlympics. I like this. 62195, not much of a gym guy recently tested my bench and felt good about putting up 225. If you're not much of a gym guy recently tested my bench and felt good about putting up 2'25". If you're not much of a gym guy and you bench 2'25", you should feel great. Dance in the streets. Base basketball comp is Chris Mullen, second favorite athlete of all time. In my prime,

I could get hot and people would consider me one of the best players in the court when the shot isn't falling. I don't offer much outside of some occasional hustle. It feels like a little derogatory towards Chris Mullen, but we'll let it slide because it's such a great poll. My friends and I are a collection of 40 year old has been college athletes from soccer to football, the baseball and basketball players. We've argued for years on who's the most

athletic. What else would you do with your time? I love this group. Love that. Yeah. And what it even means, what it even means to be most athletic. So we decided to put on an event called the man Olympics a few times over the

past couple of years to decide who the most athletic friend is. We've done everything from a hundred meter dash mile runs, three point contest, long drive and golf. Love that. You're home for golf. Home run Derby. Usually it's a contest of 10 events held back to back to back with points awarded from first

to last. At the end, whoever has the most points wins and quite literally gets the belt for most athletic. Our problem is we struggle to pick fair events for all to compete so it doesn't favor just a few. With that, can you once and for all help us decide on the best events to participate in and decide who the most athletic is? PS will send pics and results when we're done. All in on this, lots of awesome. The amount of buy-in you guys have found amongst each other is incredible. The buy-in that you have 10 events

and somebody ordered a fucking belt and you guys are arguing about the events. I mean, nine out of 10 times, like some if not most of the dudes are too cool for this type of thing. And you fucking pulled it off or too busy or whatever it is. And I think already just a round of applause for the buy-in from you guys as adults.

I wanna watch this like survivor style. Like I would watch episodes of this competition. Cause it's not a terrible Netflix idea cause there's no cost whatsoever. They just signed waivers, just have guys each, like each eight episodes. And then you just cast out a bunch of like, you would have too many applicants for this, by the way.

Right. It could be like a 50 episode season of just background TV. That's great. Get Nick Cannon and Snoop to host it. Cause apparently there's no television production that can be done without Snoop now. You know, what's the cost?

A couple of handhelds and you run around. So I think we'd all agree what benching, long drive, one-on-one hoops and darts. Darts. 100 meter dash is awesome, just cause two hamstrings are gonna be blown. Right. Cause if you don't sprint for a long time and then sprint,

the body's usually not like, hey, this is awesome. Basketball is tough because it's like, so what are you going to do? Free throw contest? That doesn't really mean athletic. It just means somebody's good at making free throws. So I think you should have a one-on-one tournament. Games to seven, I don't know, ones and twos keep moving. Winter takes, you know, I think, I think basketball has to be part of it because I feel like basketball really exposes the non athletes with the athletes. I love long drive. I think that's terrific. Maybe that's more of the meathead thing. But is putting really it then if you're going to do putting can

you do darts? I think you should have to throw it a target. There's gonna suggest like a dude, do you, do you do like, do you get like a pitching, uh, you know, like a, like the speed test thing that you do and just see who could throw radar. Yeah. That's an easy Amazon purchase. You know what? It sounds ridiculous.

Love it. Love it. Radar. Basic skill. It's a basic athletic skill. Yeah. I was going to say you could find one of those like signs like Michael Scott, like that tells you your speed and just take turns,

but at the radar gun might do the same job. With the amount of buying that these guys have, like could you guys just agree on an obstacle course? You know what I mean? That's kind of cool. You just do a Tough Mudder together. I don't know if I like that. Somebody from Curator Big Tire.

That could be one part of it. Is the obstacle course, that's one part of it. Obstacle course is one part, not the definitive. But like a big part, like a catch all when you're like, listen, we like the throwing thing, we like this, but I think everyone can agree. I think it's just one category. I agree, because like baseball guy, you know, endurance might not be his thing.

He's going to struggle there. That shouldn't be the be all end all. Yeah, see, I had this roommate in college, Sully, Chris Sullivan, who played soccer in high school, ironically enough, didn't play soccer at UVM for two years, and then just decided to try it to be the goalie and then became the starting goalie on a D1 soccer program. He also would do dumb shit where like, if we were in the woods, we were in the woods a lot, but there would just be like a run of things where he'd be like,

let's race to see who can run across this thing. And I thought I was one of the better athletes, but he was just good at like all the dumb shit. So then he would run across this. Pile of logs where if you fell off of it, you were going to fuck yourself up. And he would just fly across it. He was just good at that kind of stuff. You do back flips with skiing.

And again, he just sat around for two years, wondered if he could make, right. Wondered if he could make the soccer team and then became the starting goalie. Some say laid the foundation with Birdo for a national championship. But, um, I think I was better than him at like a million other sports. So he would sit there and say, dude, I'm definitely more athletic than you. I'm a D one athlete. And you're this guy who worked out hard and took it out on the rest of the guys that were D one athletes when we'd all laugh at you.

Um, I think there has to be one strength thing. I think the sprint thing works, but I think there all should be a mile thing so that the non-sprinters, but the distance guys maybe beat the strength and speed guys, but I do think basketball is really important, but then you have a dark type thing for skill part of it. Um, I don't know what else, what else you have a dark type thing for skill part of it. I don't know, what else? What else should be in this? Should there be like a, this is a little intense,

but could you do some sort of like boxing situation? Everyone's wearing headgear and gloves and three rounds. And the problem is you get weight classes. That's the problem. Like a bigger dude is just going to kick smaller dude's ass. So it might not be fair, but. Unless he's not, unless that little guy's built different. Yeah.

But it's like a built in problem, I guess. But I like some sort of combat thing. What if you did weight class thing with the gladiator style? Find a punch machine. Come on. Find a punch machine. Oh yeah. Kyle would be.

There we go. Kyle crushed that. Yeah. With a cigarette in his mouth. It'd be awesome. Stupid video. Cause we had a friend who also was like, I'm the most athletic out of our group.

And we were like, you're definitely not. You're definitely not. If you're saying it, you're not the most athletic guy. Right. So then he was like, well, okay, what's, what are you better? And I was like, I'm better at you than everything except for skiing, cause I don't ski.

And he was like, you're not better than me in basketball. And I was like, I am. And then I reminded him of that for an entire year, whenever we played, took it way too seriously. He also said he was the strongest. I think he said he was like the second strongest. And then four guys proceeded to kick his ass and arm wrestling.

And then like the first guy was just like. I just feel like too many strong guys think they're the best athlete. And it's just not true. Like in my friend group, we got a guy, he's, listen, he's strong, he's big, he lifts and that's great. I wouldn't say he's the best athlete. The best athlete in my friend group would not tell you he's the best athlete. We got a guy who is the best at basketball, but he's probably not the best athlete.

Like it's actually, I'm probably the best at like backyard sports because I'm like kind of twitchy and can move around. Then we got another buddy who just kind of always gets hurt. So we have like a good smorgasbord of guys who just are good at different things. But yeah, I got tallying it up. It's just, it's hard. It's hard because everyone has their own thing. Like I would, I would get crushed in a lifting competition. Obviously.

No, it should, there only should be, I think what you have to do is you have to figure out something that every skill set and body type would excel in. Right. So you can't have more than one strength thing. You can't have more than one speed thing. You can have, but you need to have all of these different things. I do think the basketball thing, it's not because I love basketball, but I think it is really telling where somebody might be good at like all of the skill

kind of stuff and balance and backflips. And then they have to dribble a basketball and you go, Oh my God. But again, if you didn't grow up, like you can't learn how to dribble a basketball in your twenties, it just, no basketball is that sport where like, you could look like a baby giraffe, like you could look so out of place, you know? And it's like, Whoa, this guy that tells you everything you need to know. What about ice skating?

You get bonus points. I feel like. Yeah, but so are darts. I don't, I don't, I don't think we put darts in. I think we put the pitching machine thing in. I think the pitching machine thing can live. And I think the darts covers pool golf. No, some of the stuff where I think, yes, you have to be an athlete to be a

golfer, but I think so many golfers are like, I, I've already done this. And then we heard from a hundred golfers being pissed about like, we're athletes too. And all this kind of stuff. It's like, yeah, I know. But like, I never think of, Oh, Kevin Garnett isn't as athletic as Scotty Scheffler. I mean, can be fucking great. Yeah. My buddies and I used to do a version of this, but a much more nerdy version, we used to call it ultimate tournament.

And we would just pick our art, like whatever video, every guy would get a video game that they would pick and we would just play it and what order you finished in. So it'd be like Mario party, uh, Mario cart was in there mad and we would just do and even board games. Like we play like monopoly and risk and everyone, every single person would get like ranked one through whatever. And then we would tally up on this big board and then the loser, whoever came in last, we would like make it. This is when we were in high school and we were, we were losers.

Last week. I was going to say, it sounds incredible. No, I want to take, by the way, I fucking love this. Um, settlers of Katan. Yeah. Yeah. If we, if we, if age of empires didn't take forever, that would also probably be in risk. Um, settlers of Katan. Yeah. Yeah. We, if we, if we, if age of empires didn't take forever, that would also probably be in there. But, um, yeah, the last person, whoever came in last, like we would make,

like we would just take a bunch of shit in the fridge, put it in a cup and you have to drink it. And, uh, yeah, tough times, but it would, you know, it was fun. Dudes love drinking stuff when they're younger. Yeah. They're like Worcestershire sauce. Be like, I got it was fun. Dudes love drinking stuff when they're younger. Yeah. They're like Worcestershire sauce. Be like, I got it. Yeah. Molasses. Yup. We did this with Canelle a few times and he was really fun to do this with.

Cause when I would beat him, then he would tell me why I didn't beat him. Remember we did the marshmallow challenge on the golf club thing. Canelle's not the best loser. I mean, if we're being honest, he's a surprising, he wasn't a better quarterback because he hates losing to me and stuff. We did a throwing competition that I won and he was like, you didn't do it was best two out of three. And I was like, it wasn't, didn't say that.

Nope. And then I won the best two out of three. And then he was like, yeah, but the first one didn't count. So we tied and I was like, all right, no problem. And then we did the home run Derby at Florida state where they threw his BP and neither of us got it out of the park, but I hit the center field wall on one bounce and he hit the right field like pole on the fly. And he's like, I won. And I was like, it's like 50 feet further where I hit the ball.

And he was like, no, it isn't. It wasn't on the fly. And I just went, okay. I was so mad that I couldn't get one out. I couldn't, I couldn't get everything locked in. Yeah. I had people hit me up, uh, yesterday after the Wednesday pod came out with Danny and we're just like, are they friends?

Like, do they like each other? And I was like, yeah, I think, I think they do. I mean, yeah, I think, you know, I think Danny, you know, Ryan gets pissed off by Danny a lot because he does things, but Danny just, I don't know. He's like, he's that at least for me, like, cause you know, we'll, we'll share like text exchanges and stuff. Like, I just kind of find it funny. Cause I just, he's, it's, it's who it's a bit like he's doing this thing.

He's playing like this. I don't think it's a bit though I think it's under your skin so much because you take it so personally I don't think Danny is meaning it for it to be personal, but that's just who he is He's like kind of just like one of those frat kids that like does shit. That's kind of annoying But like also be sort of nice and it's like a good dude. So you're like, yeah Is he an asshole or it's a little bit confusing? I'm the oldest and he's the youngest and I, so you're like, ah, is he an asshole or? It's a little bit confusing. I'm the oldest and he's the youngest and I think it makes a lot of sense

when you think about the sibling part of it, that he was the youngest and that I was the oldest. I think that's all you have to know about our relationship or that he's full of shit and I'm not. All right, I hope everybody has a great weekend. We're gonna be back next week, so we're not taking the week off. We'll everybody has a great weekend. We're going to be back next week. So we're not taking the week off. We'll be doing Monday, Friday, and then Friday.

Okay, perfect. So Monday, Friday. So recap all the college football playoff stuff and then Friday will be good to go as well. And hope everybody well, whatever we'll talk to you next Monday. So we don't need to say goodbye yet. Thanks to work on Kyle and Saruti and also check out our YouTube page and subscribe as always. Ryan Russo Podcast, Ryan Russo Podcast. Must be 21 and older, present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star

Casino or 18 plus and present in DC gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org forward slash chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here, visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24 seven support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-HOPE-NY or text HOPENY in New York.