The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Lamar Finally Beats Mahomes, Plus the Good, the Bad, and the Maybe From NFL Week 2 With Jonathan Vilma

Episode Date: September 20, 2021

Russillo shares his thoughts on what he likes, what he doesn’t like, and what he’s just not sure about from NFL Week 2 (0:28) before talking to Super Bowl champion and Fox NFL analyst Jonathan Vilma about the Ravens’ narrow victory over the Chiefs, Colts-Rams, Seahawks-Titans, the rookie QBs through two weeks, and more (16:35). Then Ryen shares some thoughts from the weekend in college football, including Florida-Alabama, Clemson–Georgia Tech, Auburn–Penn State, Nebraska-Oklahoma, and more (51:00). Finally, Ryen answers some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (1:00:35). Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Jonathan Vilma Producers: Kyle Crichton and Steve Ceruti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

this week on the podcast jonathan vilma we're going to talk about rookie qb is what he's seen from the colts because he had both games for fox also some rams and then his thoughts on the headliner of it all ravens and chiefs that's where i'll start with the good, the bad, and the maybes. College football headlines and, of course, life advice. This episode is brought to you by Uber Eats. Winter is here, so be prepared and get almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. What do I mean by almost anything? Well, you can't get a ski slope, but dish soap, definitely doable. Sunshine, that's no. A bottle of wine, yeah. And a snow day, again, no. But blueberry muffins with the delicious crumb topping, total yes. Get almost, almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now. Alcohol and select markets. Product availability may vary by region. See app for

details. Something we're going to do throughout the NFL season, the good, the bad, and the maybe. Some things I think are good and long-term good. Some things I think are bad and the maybe some things I think are good and long-term good some things I think are bad and probably long-term bad and then a good chunk of what we see on NFL Sundays is a bunch of maybes let's start with the good I went into that Baltimore game just assuming you're going to lose because it's Kansas City Mahomes hadn't lost Lamar

Mahomes I don't think it lost in September he hadn't thrown a pick in September. So like clockwork, you knew a pick was coming once they put that graphic up there. His September numbers are nuts. It was kind of like the Herbert red zone numbers where his career touchdowns versus zero interceptions in the red zone. As soon as they put that graphic up in the Dallas game, you're like, here comes the red zone pick.

Nice win for Dallas, although the controversy towards the end. But this was, as I was taking my notes and I was crafting my thoughts on the outcome here, I kind of was crafting it. I was like, you know what? I respect the hell out of Baltimore's organization. They've got all these guys on IR. They've got this shuffling on offensive line. They've lost a couple bodies on the edge,

and they still find a way to stay competitive. And look, Kansas City's just scoring at will, and it doesn't matter. Because if you think about Harbaugh, who I think is obviously a really great coach, he's been there since 2008. They've had one losing season. And there was even a stretch a couple years ago where it felt like because it was getting stale that maybe there was a change to be made. And I kept thinking, look, if you're in the building and you still feel like he's the right guy and he's a really good coach,

there's nothing egregious enough to want to move on from him other than just wanting to be new. So whenever that was, and I don't think it was dire, but that happening and them not making a change, again, you're seeing the consistency and the foundation that he's put in place with his staff. And just they'll rotate guys in, they'll lose guys, and they still find a way to be competitive.

And then on top of it all, they win this game. And after losing the first week against the Raiders in a really strange game where you're like, wait, is this good or is this just bad and it's entertaining to sell? I think it was the latter. This is perhaps a regular season win that you build something on here, and at least for Lamar to be able to say, hey, I finally got my homes. A couple other things from this

game. The D-line from Kansas City got worked throughout. We'll get to them. There's a bad section remember. The fourth down video that I kind of jokingly tweeted out after everybody else did. I was thinking about doing a different caption but I couldn't really think of anything. No, it's not that succession's getting

slower. It's that you don't understand it. Anyway, it's that the fourth down deal, is anybody watching any football? Everybody's going for it on fourth down because it's cool now. And my point with it wasn't that it wasn't uncool to go for it on fourth down. It's that if you're not built to get it on fourth down,

stop doing it. Stop doing it in your own territory. Tennessee had a moment where it feels like they go for it all the time. They didn't, then they missed the kick, then they went for it, and then they didn't get it feels like they go for it all the time. They didn't. Then they missed the kick. Then they went for it. Then they didn't get it.

Then they tied it because they didn't go for two. When Tennessee's always like, no, they're just going to go for it. They're just going to go for it all the time. There's a lot of teams going for it and forth down, and we're not sure yet. Hey, you can go for two. Are you good at it, though? You can go for it and forth down, but have you been winning in the trenches all day long, or are you just going for it now because of what the book says? And Baltimore has

been talked about as one of these franchises that's like, no, no, no, they have it all mapped out ahead of time and all these different things. Dude, they were going for it on fourth down no matter what. Harbaugh even told Burt Breer in the Monday morning quarterback last night and then into this morning, he goes, look, when we went into third down, we knew we had two plays here because at that point, Kansas City was going to

get the ball back if you punt it and to get the ball back and only need to get a field goal to win that game, you like Mahomes and the Chiefs' chances in that spot. So the video was fun. I still think in the aftermath of all the access that we're getting in some of these other sports, the NFL needs to find a way. They want to step it up, which feels like a stale hard knocks. If you want to step that up, what you need to do is get everybody's audio on a file throughout the course of a game and then edit it all together to tell us the story of a three and a half hour nfl game and i want all of the audio and everybody to be mic'd up now if you can't change that you

can't give us that because if you did it during the season then you'd be giving away too much stuff just do it now and then give it to us in three years have it be this epic nfl production where we get everybody all the way they're all talking to each other because when we get a taste of it, it's really fun and it's entertaining. We all like it. However, it wasn't like Lamar was going to say no and Harbaugh had already decided that he was going to do it. Hell, we've got Nathan Peterman looking at the sidelines on fourth and sixth saying, let's go for it. Everybody wants to go for it all the time in the history of forever. If you're actually playing and you're a quarterback, you always

think you can get it. Lamar got it. They ran it down their throats. Lamar, huge win for him after a tough start on a couple of those picks. He settled in and they took advantage of a Chiefs defense. Another good is just watching Kyler Murray. The numbers are terrific. I know he had a couple of picks against Minnesota. Minnesota missed the kick game, could have gone either way. Arizona's 2-0 against what we feel like are two sort of playoff neighborhood-y teams in Tennessee and Minnesota. We could be wrong about that later on, but I'm just telling you, if you want to have fun, watch a Kyler Murray game. Armed talent, I think Mahomes is the only guy that's ahead of him. And even Kingsbury had said, look, talent-wise, we're talking about a guy that was a top 10 pick in baseball and football. Mahomes, who Kingsbury had in college, is maybe the only

guy that I think he's in the same class with. I agree. I'm not going to say it's always as pretty. The decision part of Mahomes' game is still beyond where Murray's is. Remember, Murray was two different quarterbacks last season. This offense was two different offenses last season. Once the midway point, he had that shoulder injury. It was very clear watching it. So to see him healthy in another year of experience, the entertainment value out of Murray, if he's healthy all season long, it's one of the best watches you can have in the entire NFL schedule.

Let's get to the bat. Zach Wilson, four picks, five on the season, tied with Trevor Lawrence, most picks in the NFL. And guess what? They're rookie quarterbacks. We have told you all summer and leading up, if you looked at Shil Kapati's incredible work on the EPA numbers for rookie quarterbacks going back the last decade plus, if you were a first-rounder and you played,

your average score as any of those guys was Andy Dalton. You were Andy Dalton. And look, Andy Dalton was better at being Andy Dalton years ago than he is at being Andy Dalton right now. The Zach Wilson picks, the first two I thought were tipped. The third one is like, what the hell are you looking at? What are you looking at? And I think once you get that flustered and you're freaked out and you can't really read anything and Belichick owns rookie QBs, it's going to end up being a long day. The Zach Wilson thing is always going to be one of these deals where when Drew Brees says this guy could be the best of the class, you're like, wow, that's Drew Brees

saying it. And as I've told you, I've had so many people that do this for a living. I'm talking to like get paychecks from college and NFL teams. They're like, he's not any good. Zach Wilson isn't any good. It's two weeks into his career. I'm not saying that that's true. I did see a meme though, guys, on social media. It was like, how come Zach Wilson, he throws picks but nobody says anything about Trevor Lawrence and Joe Burrow? Probably

because those guys won national championships at major programs. Burrow looked pretty good and won a Heisman and Zach Wilson played at a weak schedule in a weird year with BYU. That's probably, I don't know, I don't want to jump to conclusions, but that might be why. And by the way, when you're with the Jets or you're with those New York teams,

you're just going to get trashed to a different level. And there was still a little bit more uncertainty about you from a non-name-brand place, at least name-brand the level of the other two guys that the meme was complaining about. Staying on the bad topic, Kansas City's defense, as we came off of how good Baltimore's win was, Kansas City's defense last season was 22nd in weighted DVOA, so bottom third in the NFL.

All right, just trust me, it's a bad number. Their red zone defense, and I'm talking strictly touchdowns allowed, so what percentage of red zone defensive possessions, what percentage of those do you allow touchdowns? They allowed touchdowns touchdowns and eight red zone defensive possessions, 73% would be a huge improvement over where they are right now. The defense is bad. The defense wasn't good last year. But like I said, they went 14-1 in Mahomes starts.

He can fix a fatal flaw. So when you hear people talk about the Chiefs D, which I don't know if it's going to get better anytime soon. It wasn't good last year. Fatal flaw. They don't have fatal flaws because basically to get better anytime soon. It wasn't good last year. Fatal flaw. They don't have fatal flaws because basically nothing is fatal when Mahomes is there. One other part of yesterday, about an hour in, you're like, all right, two is out ribs. Would that start up the Deshaun Watson rumors to Miami? He's probably going to end up getting traded, guys, even with everything hanging out on that story.

Baker looked like he lost his left shoulder at some point but he came back in in a really weird game for cleveland against houston where they were in it tyrod's out i think he's out in their next game carson wentz went down and then dalton went down with a knee injury and you're like all right what is going to happen here uh i don't know i don't know but that was a really rough stretch it felt like an hour to two hours in because whence's injury there was the end but after the early slate slate of week two Sunday games are done, you had a good chunk of teams going, do we have somebody healthy to play the position?

We'll finish with the maybes. After Jameis Winston has the game, he had a week one against Green Bay, and I even had Trent Dilfer on, I don't believe if you're a turnover machine, all of a sudden you're not a turnover machine. I just don't. I don't. Jason Kidd is one of the rare guys who couldn't shoot that figured out how to kind of shoot later on in his career.

Not to say that non-shooters can't become better at shooting, but usually don't go from non-shooter to like, hey, this guy's actually a threat from the three-point line. That is rare. It doesn't happen. I think it's the same thing with quarterbacks, but when Jameis has the opening week, you know, like, hey, Peyton's going to figure this out, all these different things. That was not the case week two against Carolina. Now, is it the Joe Brady factor who was with New Orleans LSU and then knew the stuff that Peyton wanted to do? Darnold's looked better. I mean, is that part of this where this just this game where everybody was looking forward to

and that they were more prepared against New Orleans because the Brady part of this? I don't know. Coordinator. Like, I mean, there's plenty. There's film of what stuff does people do, too. So, you know, I don't know if that's as big of a factor. But the Jameis reclamation storyline, that one's on hold right now. And there's a maybe on there. Ben Roethlisberger, this feels more like a bad than a maybe, but I'll

share with you. The eyes tell me it's bad. And it's looked bad for two weeks. I went to some of the next gen stats, some of my favorites where it's like yards plus or minus the sticks. How often are you throwing short of the sticks or beyond the sticks of the first down marker? I thought, well, Roethlisberger's got to be one of the worst in that category, right? When I saw, especially yesterday

in that Raiders home loss, I'm going, I don't know, man. Everything seems to be a four-yard forward of forward handoff, and you do the rest of the stuff. And Pittsburgh can't run the football, by the way, either. I think they're 30-eth in yards per carry right now. Roethlisberger's QBR is 26.

But back to these other next-gen stats, because as I sifted through it, I was like, man, Roethlisberger isn't as bad in these as I thought, whether it's yards to stick or the intended air yards, which is just straight up like how long was the ball vertical from the line of scrimmage in the air? Because all my favorites are at the top, meaning the bottom of these categories.

Throwing to the sticks, who's throwing short of it? It's all my guys, Dalton, Cousins, Jimmy G. Roethlisberger's numbers supposedly weren't that bad. But I'd imagine my eyes or the numbers will catch up to my eyes in this one because it's a continuation of what we saw last year.

That great defense. Again, they lost Watt in this game. They lost Hayden. Nice win by the Raiders, but they don't have the defensive depth. They can't run the football in some of the Roethlisberger stuff, even though the numbers

ended up not being as bad as I thought they'd be when I sorted them this morning. I think they're going to get worse. We finish this segment with numbers and then film room. A quick number for you. This is from Hembo at ESPN. He tweeted this out.

The highest drive score percentage in the last two seasons, NFL average, is 40%. Number one is Patrick Mahomes. Number three is Josh Allen. number four is Aaron Rodgers number five is Tom Brady you left someone out that's right Derek Carr is second and the percentage of time drives lead to a score Derek Carr at 48 he leads the league with 817 yards right now nobody else has 700 Kyler Murray's second at 689. Max Crosby, their defensive end, is number one in defensive

pressures two weeks in. I don't know if the Raiders are going to be awesome. Remember the Raider-Gruden ride? Hey, we're all the Gruden jokes. Oh, don't worry. The Gruden jokes are coming at the end of the season. I don't know if that cycle's going to happen again. We kind of pick and choose. Rudy, we've talked about this.

If you don't like Kingsbury, you're just waiting for that kick to go through yesterday, and there's going to be some bad Arizona loss where something happens. It's like, ah, this Kingsbury isn't good. Gruden's that times a million because of all the money that he signed for. So, like, you've already made your mind up on Gruden.

You'll never change your mind. But so far with Derek Carr, like there's some numbers in there where I don't know that I've, I've never thought he was a top five guy. I don't think I've ever had him in my top 10. There's a lot of numbers happening right now. You're like, do you guys realize how special these Derek Carr things are? But nobody's going to give Gruden credit because then they would have to change their mind. As we've established, the rule on this podcast, no one changes their

mind. Yeah. I don't think there's a coach though. You could talk about Gruden. I don't think there's a coach that people actively root against more than Cliff Kingsbury. I just don't. I don't think there's a coach though. You could talk about Gruden. I don't think there's a coach that people actively root against more than Cliff Kingsbury. I just don't. I don't think people like how he got there. I think people think it's a Kyler thing. Gruden's contract situation is a problem but I think people are waiting. When this thing inevitably probably turns south because they're not going to go

undefeated and it's a tough division, people will turn on Kingsbury again. Just wait. Yeah, Kingsbury's the Texas Tech record, but Zach Taylor's in a better position because he doesn't have the Texas Tech part on his resume. So wait a minute. If Kingsbury coached Mahomes,

that's bad? That's bad? The Texas Tech thing, look, they couldn't stop anybody forever. They just couldn't. I mean, it was gross. And that's why Mahomes threw the ball a million times. Alright, last thing. Film room observation. I know everybody's upset about the taunting calls, but this is a little bit like the single digit thing. If you're not a Pro Bowl alternate, I just don't think you should be, at the very least, all Pro Bowl alternate, which is half the quarterbacks in the NFL each season. You shouldn't be allowed to have a single digit number. I could be wrong on that one. I need to know who you

are. I need to be like, oh yeah, that's a single digit guy. That makes sense. But now the single digits are so cool. I love when the NFL's like, hey, you want to be cool this year? Let's let these guys finally have single digits. Everybody will realize how down we are. The streets will recognize that. Let's have single digits. The taunting part, though,

has gone the other way where people are upset about the taunting. I don't know. My other deal with it, like Reed for Seattle on that deep ball, the A.J. Brown where it was just overthrown and Brown couldn't catch it and then Reed stood over him like he did something and taunted

the shit out of him. I was okay with that taunting. I was. Like that kind of taunting where it's like you didn't even do anything. And he might have been a single digit guy. Let's see if we can get IT on that. And it's a Seattle corner, which that's not exactly their strong suit at this point. I was okay with that taunting.

And the final thing is the shovel passes. My weekend of 23 hours of watching football was littered with everybody thinking they can now do a shovel pass because Kansas City did it. Most of you can't do it. Most of you can't do it. Now that everybody's maybe keying

on it a little bit more or looking for it or not making a movement until the ball is out, these shovel passes need to be banned. Unless you're Kansas City. That's week two. One of my favorites from ESPN, Jonathan Villman out with Fox Sports on the national broadcast.

Had the Colts the first two weeks, so we'll be able to get to some Rams, Seahawks, also some Colts stuff. But the headliner of the week and what I started with, Baltimore's win against Kansas City. Lamar hadn't beat Mahomes yet. It looked like it was going to be

another Kansas City rollout, but we have questions about their defense. And then also just credit to how Baltimore found a way to stay in that game, stay resilient, get a fumble, come back, convert that first down. What did you see? What's the biggest takeaway from what was probably the biggest game so far this season? I saw a quarterback in Lamar Jackson who upstaged Patrick Mahomes by doing more with less. That's what I saw. You look at Patrick Mahomes revamped offensive line, supposed to be better. You have two of the

best receivers, Tyreek Hill and tight ends and Travis Kelsey. And yeah, they put up points but couldn't get it done when they needed to. And it's a unique situation because usually being a defensive guy, I never say a team is offense first,

but that's what the Chiefs are and that's what they molded to become offense first. And I saw the Ravens offense really outperform the Chiefs offense. And you say, well, it was 36-35 game. Yeah, it was 36-35, but look what Lamar Jackson has. He's down to his 10th running back right now. All his guys from training camp are down,

and somehow he finds a way with his greatness, his speed, his ability to win that game. And I look and say, all right, if you're going to be, I'm talking Kansas City now, if you're going to be an offensive-led driven team, then you have to complement the defense accordingly. What I mean by that is be a bend-don't-break defense. You've got to do something to find a way to get the ball back to your offense

or get yourselves out of these ugly situations defensively where it's really their fault that they lost the game. Kudos to the Ravens. situations defensively where it's really, you know, it's their fault that they lost the game, right? Kudos to the Ravens. Now, I guess I didn't mean to start here, but I guess I will, though. Like, we knew the Chiefs defense wasn't good last year. It is a disaster. I would say defensive line, like, you're always kind of watching, you know, as you get better

at watching football, you're watching the line of scrimmage, who's winning, who's winning. There was, and this is an offensive line, line like i'd rather be missing all of my running backs in my entire offensive line and having to shuffle it all again and then the ravens even lost one of their d linemen how can you consistently get beat like that like what is going wrong with kansas city i feel like they're never really disrupting especially as the game went on and guys get tired but it didn't feel like they were disrupting and even the time they sacked Lamar, it called back anyway. So what were you seeing,

at least in the trenches where Kansas city just didn't seem to win enough? You know, I see a combination of the scheme and the players. So I'll start with the scheme. If you're going to, and I go back to, if you're going to be an offensive led team, then have a very simple scheme defensively.

Hey, look, we are a cover two, four, three defense. Boom. That's it. And I'll revert back to Peyton Manning days with the Colts. The Colts knew it was Peyton Manning and that offense. And it was one of the most beautiful things we've all witnessed as football fans. Defensively, they were so simple. They were cover two, and that's what they're going to do. They had Dwight Freeney. He's going to get up the field, and you knew exactly where they were going to run, right? And they kept it simple because they were like, look, we just know we have to hold our own just long enough and get the ball back to the offense. So if you're Kansas City, schematically, throw out all that extra

nonsense. They got too much nonsense in there. Throw it all out and go basic. Be a very basic team and understand your role in this whole shift to offense, Mahomes, wide receivers, etc. Then when we go to the players, you have good players. You got the honey badger. He's a legitimate player, all pro guy. You have talent. So utilize them in their strengths all the time. Stop confusing them with different play calls and different checks and all that. The players need to now step up.

Tell the coaches what they want to do. Keep it simple and then get after it. Because if not, it's always going to be, well, the offense scored 50, but we gave them 51. I was talking about how amazing Kyler Murray looked again, and we know Mahomes can run when he wants to. Lamar, it's been kind of a regular season thing where I think against playoff teams, there's always going to be part of me. When you were playing against somebody that was so good at running at the quarterback position,

what was the thing where you felt like, okay, this is the way I need to play? Because let's just say, hey, what do you do against Lamar? He's different than everybody else. I mean, he really is that good at making people miss. I just think he's special even in comparison to other special dual threat quarterbacks. But what is it about that style of play that either scares you or you feel like in the end, maybe you're going to have a chance? So we always felt like we would have a chance in the end because we always wanted to be

the aggressor. So defensively, we said, if you can run, then we're going to make you one dimensional. We're not going to allow you to run and sit back in the pocket and throw 90-yard bombs on us. So we would pressure, pressure, pressure, five-man pressure, six-man pressure, zone pressures. Anything we could do to get him to do exactly what, and you say it's crazy, don't let him do what he's good at.

But yes, let him do that because if he's running around scrambling for his life, yeah, there'll be a couple times he picks up a first down, 15 yards here or there. That's fine. But there will also be a bunch of times where he throws an errant pass, an incompletion. He's scrambling. He stops. And we've seen Kyler Murray do it. He stops, tries to whip one out, throws an errant interception.

So we said we'll live with the two or three times that they break the pocket on a pressure. And then they get a big game. We'll live with that. As long as we continue to, to keep them flustered with the men, with the mentality in the game that, Oh God,

these guys are coming at me again. They're coming at me again. I got to get the ball out because as good as all these quarterbacks are, you're not going to win a Super Bowl with your legs. You're going to win it with your arm. It's been proven year after year after year. Defensively, I don't know if it's a penalty thing. I think we've seen that from the offensive line. Some of these RPO calls, I thought some of the announcers this weekend did a really good job being like, you know, a lot of these old linemen are kind of in no man's land.

There was a really bad downfield offensive lineman call in that Ravens-Chiefs game against Baltimore. Ended up, you know, not hurting them. But there's guys getting behind the secondary. There just feels like there's a lot of sloppy football. And I don't know if it's just because it's new and I'm paying more attention and it's no different than other years. But more people are telling you with the lack of practice, the lack of preseason, that this is actually worse and it's to be

expected. What do you see in the first two weeks? We're in preseason right now, bro. Unfortunately, that's where we are. We are watching ones versus ones, preseason games, preseason one, two, and three. Every year,

and you just hit it on the head, every year it seems like it's it on the head, every year, it seems like it's getting worse. And I wouldn't say it's getting worse. It's just so much more noticeable now, right? So I'd say about three or four years ago, we were just looking, we were like, man, you know, those first few weeks of football, it's just not good football, right? People couldn't really pin down why it wasn't good football. Then, you know, now everyone's looking and saying, oh, they can articulate. Why is it not good football? As you just said, defenders, flat-footed, they're getting receivers running right by

them because they're not used to the speed of the game. The tackling is poor. The angles are poor because they're not used to the speed of the running backs and the receivers. The offense is a little sloppy because they're not used to the speed of the running backs and the receivers. The offense is a little sloppy, because they're not used to the speed of the defensive ends and defensive lines and the communication. So everything is about essentially you're playing catch-up,

because you didn't do it in the preseason. You didn't have enough reps in camp. And so now these first few weeks, you're going to see these teams looking really sloppy. And it's not a good product, man. It's really not a good product, but it makes for high scoring games, fantasy football. Everyone likes it. So they keep with it, right? Yeah. You've had the Colts, as we mentioned, the first two. I want to start with yesterday's game. I picked the Rams to go to the Super Bowl.

It was not the... I mean, Stafford, statistically, his first game was one of the best games he's ever had. It wasn't the case. I mean, this was actually a game. So when you left the stadium, you know, there's just moments you're like, okay, the Rams are in control, the Rams are in control. And Wentz is like watching a baby on a tightrope. And you're like – Come on. Okay, well, go ahead.

Give me your Wentz take. Come on. So, you know, my Wentz take, I feel bad for him. I really do. I feel bad for him. You feel bad for him. Okay. I feel bad for him because he was getting beat up in Philly. Offense line was atrocious. He was getting beat up.

He was turning the ball over. Everyone's killing Carson Wentz because he's a quarterback for obvious reasons. Yeah, but he gets, he puts himself in positions as he did again yesterday. Like he gets his ass kicked because he also lets it happen a lot too. Okay, with Philly, yes. I would agree with you with Philly. With the Colts, not so much. And here's why.

The Colts were supposed to have, and still do, to be quite honest. Again, going back to these guys not playing in the preseason and stuff, they're supposed to have a really good offensive line. So as soon as Wentz gets traded to the Colts, my first thought was okay, this is a fresh start

for him, and he at least gets time to see the offense, see the receivers progressing their routes etc man after watching those two games right it was like seeing him in philly all over again i promise you it was it was not his not every time it was not his fault every time and so that's why i was like you're being a little harsh on him when you know he said it looks like a baby just i guess the shovel pass for a pick and the other shovel pass that was almost picked off where you just,

he, he would be the kind of guy that like, if he were falling in quicksand, he would, he would like still be filling out paperwork. You know what I mean? Like he, which is in a way a compliment,

but he just, he's not going to give up. then at times like look he got rolled up on that play where his ink so that wasn't you know he got hit and he was getting his ass kicked all over the place and i think we've seen times where he hasn't protected himself well i think we both agree there i'll defer to you because you've had film and you've done these two games live so you actually seem a little bit more bullish on wentz long term if he's healthy again i do at some point okay so that's that's good news then you left this with two colts losses So you actually seem a little bit more bullish on Wentz long term if he's healthy again. I do.

At some point. Okay, so that's good news then. You left this with two Colts losses feeling better about the quarterback situation. I do. I feel good about the quarterback situation. I am concerned about the Colts offensive line situation, particularly the right tackle. They had Julian Davenport. He's a backup in for Braden Smith. He hurt his ankle

or his foot. I watched Aaron Donald. The best matchup was, and I was super excited for it, Quentin Nelson versus Aaron Donald. This is best on best. For those that don't know, Quentin Nelson has come in and literally took that offensive guard position

by storm. Three-time All-Pro, regarded as one of the best, if not the best offensive guard right now in the game. And so Aaron Donald, we know about him, three-time Defensive Player of the Year, super awesome, at the D-tackle position. So that was the matchup, right? I was like, yes, I get to see great on great.

Quinton Nelson had a pretty good game against Aaron Donald. Aaron Donald was disruptive. He had a pretty good game against Aaron Donald. Aaron Donald was disruptive. He had a pretty good game. So, smartly, Aaron Donald goes to the other side. And he's like, all right, enough with this Quentin Nelson. I'm going to go pick up. I'm going to go pick on Julian Davenport and Mike Luenze on the other side. And, man, when I say it was like a bully stealing their lunch money every period.

It was like, dude, their lunch money every period, it was like, dude, Carson had no chance, bro. It was like, if you go back and look at it, you'll be like, whoa, Julian had no chance against Donald. And in turn, Wentz had no chance because Donald was in his face all the time. And I was like, I don't know what you're doing, right? I don't know how you handle that. I don't know what you do for the Colts so long.

So that does concern me for that. What did you feel about the Rams long-term then after watching them? I like the Rams. Long-term, you saw a team that they got up early. Defensively, they're facing a Colts team that is not bad. They're a pretty good Colts team. Gave up some plays. They had the errant punt that got hit.

You know, the guy snapped the ball, got hit, gave up a touchdown there. But then they still fought back. And it was a hostile environment. The Colts fans, they did a great job. They were as close to the 12th man in Seattle as they could be in that game. And I saw them figure out how to win. So, you know, your pick for the Rams in the Super Bowl, that's not a stretch at all. Not a stretch. If they stay healthy and they stay hot, they got to get Daryl Henderson back.

I know he got banged up in the game. They stay healthy. That's a good pick for a Super Bowl. Seattle put it on them in week one. And, you know, it's kind of one of those deals where you look at the two final scores and look, the Colts got up against the Rams. You know, Rams end up kicking the field goal to go up 27-24. Wentz gets hurt at the end. He can't come back to the game. Seattle felt like,

okay, they're totally in control of this thing. And then that score doesn't look as bad, you know, removed from it because that's kind of the way it works. Like, we'll go back and look at it and be like, oh, you know, hey, it wasn't that bad when it was 28-10. But Seattle's defense, which we were worried about coming in, especially that secondary, into the season, to see what happened to them against Tennessee, where they felt like they were in control of that game, and then Tennessee could just move the ball at will.

Derrick Henry actually went off, so it wasn't even really the secondary. Give me your Seattle take having them live. The Seattle, what I make of that Tennessee game is the Seattle team. They were reading the press clippings of how dominant they were against the Colts. And I don't want to say just kind of rolled into that game versus Tennessee, but they very much felt like they belonged or they arrived, right? And that is probably the worst thing you can do on any given week in the NFL

is read your press clippings of how awesome you are and then think that you've arrived for that next week that's what it looked like against seattle they're not that bad defensively and frankly they're probably not that good as they played against the colts defensively so there's somewhere in between and they have to recognize that and they have to stay sharp every time third long, who are you most afraid of right now in the league? You're still playing linebacker. Quarterback? As a quarterback?

Third and seven. Who concerns you the most that's still playing? You know what? You can't say Mahomes. I can't say Mahomes. Mahomes would be one. Who else? Mahomes, number one. Who else? Mahomes, number one. Rodgers, number

two. Mac Jones, three. Wait, who? I'm just kidding. I was like, wait. I'm thinking in my head and then it just processed that you said, wait, what? No, no, hell no.

No, I don't think it's Mac Jones, wait, whoa, what? No, no, no. Hell no. Wait, what? No, I don't think it's Mac Jones 3 either. I'm just throwing some names at you. I would say early in the season, Kyler Murray, number three. And then, wow. No Brady? Another tier.

Brady's below these guys? Brady's below these guys? Brady's below the guys because with Brady, if you can lock up his first option, usually it's Grump, but if you lock up his first option and you can roll your coverage over to Evans or Godwin, that's it. He's done, right? And it's easy for me to say, because I'm, you

know, I'm not playing, but we used to do that with guys like him, Matt Ryan, where we're like, all right, your first option, we're going to literally double him and make it very, very obvious that we're doubling him. And now you got to go somewhere else. And we felt like, all right, that's somewhere else. If our corners, if we felt like it was a good matchup with our corners, we were fine. We let it go and then we try to flinch or do what we need to do. Or we just roll the other safety over

and help on that side. So it's like, all right, you have option one, Brady. You know you're getting that double. Option two, we got the safety rolled over there. You're not going to take off and run. So now it's just a matter of how quickly can we get to him before he finds option three or four, right? With the other guys I mentioned,

they start to really scramble, extend the down. Mahomes can pick up a first down as easily. He can throw it. He can run with it. So those guys are the ones that scare me. Was there a quarterback that you played against that wouldn't be the first name from your generation to be like, oh, this guy was the best? But they just found a way, almost like a Ryan Fitzpatrick type.

Somebody who you were like, look, I know he's never going to go down. He's going to be in a couple different teams. But he was so much smarter than you get credit for. He was somebody that found a way to always kind of challenge us a little bit more. I mean, Fitzpatrick's maybe not the best example because his big thing is that he'll just let it fly. Like if you look at some of the Fitzpatrick, like tight window challenge throws, covered receivers, he'll just let it go. And that's why I'll have huge weeks. And then other weeks where you're feeling like, Hey, we got to bench this guy. Is there somebody that you can think of when you go back? Like,

Hey, it's not the headliner names, but this guy was somebody that always had me thinking as I was, cause you're back there making the calls as middle linebacker. I mean, you were the leader of the defenses that you were on. So I imagine there's somebody that comes to mind. You know, it was really, there wasn't one person because back when I was playing, it was Matt Ryan facing twice a year. It was Jake DeLome on his down years, then Cam Newton. And then it was a mishmash of Josh Freeman back then.

Yeah, Freeman had that one really good year too. Yeah, he had one good year and that was it, right? And I couldn't even name the other quarterbacks that the Bucs had during that period. So in my division, no. And then I'm just thinking about, you know, through the NFC at that time, you know, it was Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers.

You had, you know what, Tony Romo. Thanks for reminding me. Now, do you call him a big name? He's a big name now, but was he, would you consider him a big name back then? I thought he was really good. So the non-playoff thing, like he was always putting up some numbers. I think the thing that always kind of made me laugh about Romo is that every time he threw a pick, it was a fucking lock

that the camera would go to him and he'd look at the receiver and go like this and motion his hand like he cut off the route. Never his fault, right? Romo was brilliant. Every time there was a bad throw, Fox would be like, now get it on Romo. And he'd have this annoyed look, and he would always make some hand motion that made you think. He knew. It was always the receiver's fault.

He was built for TV. He was probably doing this and then mouthing, my bad, my bad. You know what Romo was great with? like mouthing my bad. You know what Romo was great with Romo when he would step like there was, you know, the, the chance to watch Brady as close as I did because I was up in Boston for as long as I was.

And that's all we would talk about. And then I just kept watching him because, you know, it's a team that grew up with. I like talking with my family about him and stuff. When you could see Brady step into the pocket, you knew it was a completion before it was even out of his hands. Like you could tell with Brady, at least that's the way I always felt about it.

I watched him so much. I knew, oh, wow. The ball wouldn't even be out of his hands. I could tell by his footwork and the lead-up and his mechanics. I was like, he's got something. Romo was really good, I always thought, at stepping up into the pocket. He was quicker and he was more athletic than some of the more traditional pocket guys. But clearly, he couldn't stay healthy there towards the end. I always And he was quicker and he was more athletic than some of the more traditional pocket guys. But clearly, you know,

he couldn't stay healthy there towards the end. I always thought he was really good with pressure. I just, I did think he was somebody when he was healthy. He was a guy that was, I agree with you. He was a guy that was very good at identifying the pressures, the blitzes. And maybe it's because he just didn't want to get hit, right? So he made it a point to identify where the blitzes, and maybe it's because he just didn't want to get hit, right? So he made it a point to

identify where the blitzes were coming from. He was really good at doing that. So I will give him that. But if the run game was not there for him, you couldn't put it on his shoulders for 50 throws. At least when I played him,

you couldn't put it on his shoulders for 50 throws. Back then, it was Marion Barber. He was a heck of a back. Offensive line was really good at the time. When we were playing him, it was always like, okay, we got to stop the run first, first and foremost. Then we'll figure out Tony Romo and his checks and stuff like that. Okay, so this is a good lead-in then

because as you said, Tony wanted, especially as it kept going, and he wanted to keep playing. From everything I heard, he wanted to keep playing. Certain teams are just like, we're not sure we can protect you anymore. And yet, there's Cam, who I don't think ever cared whether or not he got hit. I just don't

think he cared. Are you surprised Cam doesn't have a job right now? Ooh, good question ryan so at first i was surprised and then i saw that cam interview where he was like i was shocked that i got released but i get it and then it made sense what he said right right? He said that he's going to inadvertently be a distraction or whatever team he goes to, he's going to be a distraction. And he said, because of his aura,

because of his aura, he said, because of his aura, but it's not his aura, but I'll give you a great example. Cause the first team I thought of when he said that are the Chicago bears with Andy Dalton and Justin Fields. I said, huh.

I see what he's talking about because as soon as Andy Dalton, Andy Dalton can't fart wrong right now. And you have not just the Chicago fans, you have literally all of the NFL fans whoever has everybody. You're right. Everybody's saying

start Justin Fields, start Justin Fields, start him. Andy Dalton stinks. I'm like, man, you know what? Cam has a point because if he goes, I think, frankly, right now, a good spot would be the Dolphins, but before Tua got

hurt, let's say he went to the Dolphins. Now you have to deal with Tua wondering, well, why did you bring him in? You have the fans and the media saying, hmm, there must be more to it. Why did you bring Cam Newton in? There must be more to Tua's play. Is it not good enough? Are you not happy with it?

Blah, blah, blah, blah. Then all of a sudden, God forbid, Tua doesn't have a good game. Now it's, well, when are you going to put Cam in? When are you going to put Cam in? When are you going to put Kamen? When are you going to put Kamen? When are you going to put Kamen? I can see why he said his aura, which less his aura, just who

his resume really is what I should say, not his aura, his resume of former NFL MVP, been to the Super Bowl, clearly he has all the athletic ability to do it. You bring him on, that is a message, whether

you want to believe it or not, it's a message to that starting quarterback about what they think of him. Yeah, I think that's well said. And by the way, I couldn't handle him on the Bears for more angst. I don't want that to happen to Bears fans, but we'll see what happens with the Dalton thing. And for Cam, if

he wants to play, I thought he actually did a really good job with New England as far as a locker room guy from everything I've heard guys that were around it all the time if you thought he was going to come in with his ego and be pissed off all the time and all this stuff it actually wasn't the case he clearly could have done a better job on some of the protocol

stuff but it's challenging and then as far as these injuries playing out it depends on what role he wants to accept. As we have more injuries, and it was almost disastrous there about that first hour window, and then as the first window closed up, you're like, wait a minute,

we got five or six guys going down right now. I saw somebody say, hey, be fair to Cam. We don't know that he could have been offered something already. Maybe, all right, maybe, but here's the deal. If I were repping Cam and I know my guy wants a job, then I would be leaking that he has interest. I would say, hey, he was legitimately contacted by this many teams. Even if it wasn't true, I'd be doing that to try to create an urgency for the market there.

All right. Rookie quarterbacks. Because we have a bunch. Mack Jones, as we mentioned, is kind of a running defense, don't screw it up role for him. That's what it's going to be like, I think, all year. Hey, Ryan, let me just stop you real quick. None of them are ready.

None of them. None of them. Trey Lance, maybe. Wait, you think Trey Lance is the most ready out of all of them? They all look like rookie quarterbacks. And some say, well, what does that mean? It means these guys are coming in. They have their eyes like deer in the headlights. They think they know what's going on. They don't really know what's going on. They know the offensive play. Do they know it

to match every defense and every defensive scheme? Hell no. And you can tell because of the way that they move, their body language, and how they're stuck at looking at one side of the field for way too long. Then they try to go back to the other side. They're either getting hit, scrambled, throwing a duck. I mean, it's just none of them are ready, man.

They're not. They're not ready. I'm a big fan of sit these guys, like Aaron Rodgers sat, like Tom Brady said, like Patrick Mahomes said, sit these guys and let them get used to what it what it really is to be an NFL quarterback. is a cyborg. He's a different being. You can never equate anybody else to Peyton Manning and what he did. He took his lumps first, and he started from day one and became the best quarterback ever. Brady fans will argue that. But the point is, that's not the norm.

The norm should be sit these guys because they're not ready. What's your favorite let's eat feast moment against a rookie quarterback where you're like this guy sucks and we're bringing i'll never forget this was i had two actually cam newton his rookie year we're just blitzing and blitzing them and man i'll never forget i go to the sideline and i'm like, Greg Williams is my DC at the time. And I'm like, you know, Greg, I don't think he can tell when we're in cover two or cover three. And he's like, you know, I've been seeing that too. I said, I swear, if you just tell, it was Roman Harper at the time. I was like, you just tell Roman to just stay high and come down late into our cover three.

I promise you he's going to throw a seam route and it's going to get picked up. So he's like, OK, we talked about on the sideline. This is third quarter. I'll never forget. Talked about on the sideline. We're like, all right, Roman, just stay high. And then when the ball snaps, just run down into your zone. And I promise you he's going to throw a pick.

Sure enough, Cam Newton gets the ball. Set hut. He looks. He saw too high so he just assumed it was cover two and so naturally the seam route which is like right on the hash in between the hash and the numbers down the middle of the field. That's usually what's the soft

spot in the zone. So he literally goes. He saw cover two pre-snap, did not think to even look back at the safety coming down, and sure enough, rifles it right in for an interception. And I was like, oh my God, this is just too easy. I was like, I can't believe it is literally this easy right now. We ended up beating them, blowing them out. But, you know, that was an easy let's eat moment because everyone talks about the physical. They're so physically talented, all these guys.

It's the mental part. If you screw them up mentally and you get them all jacked up, it doesn't matter how fast you can run. You're going to throw picks. And then, you know, Mark Sanchez, we just blissed him so many times when we were working at ESPN, he told me, he said, dude, I thought you guys had like 13 guys out there. He was like, I had never been hit so many times, dude.

That was crazy. And I was like, yeah, man. We just, we were like, blitz him nonstop. Just don't stop. Just keep going after him. He just couldn't pick it up. Sanchez couldn't. It was, it's just too much of a up. Sanchez couldn't. It's just

too much of a process. That's why I think these guys should sit because we're always like, our thing was same ass, same ass. Same blitz, just insert a different player. For us, it was conceptually everything was always the same, but

instead of our safety blitzing this time, it's our weak side linebacker. Instead of our weak side linebacker, it was always the same. But instead of our safety blitzing this time, it's our weak side linebacker. Instead of our weak side linebacker, it's our strong safety. If we had a nickel in there, it would be the nickel. So it would always look different. We're moving around trying to make it look different. It's the same stuff.

But for a rookie, they're like, what the hell is going on? All I see is everyone just walking around and I don't know what the hell's going on. And sure enough, blitz comes and he's getting hit in the back of the head. You know, the way you just described the same ass thing though, and if we can go a little deeper on it, it, because I'm going to ask as somebody who doesn't fully understand, but is that about the communication with the defense

where it's like, okay, strong side, tight end. Okay. I went last time, but now you're going. And then if the safety's coming and you're on the outside, you're like, okay, look, I've got the tight end. And Sanchez has no idea because he could motion him and it looks like man because somebody's following him. But you already know pre-snap who's going and who's staying. And I imagine there has to be a lot of trust. You couldn't be implementing that week one with seven new guys on defense.

There has to be amazing communication where you can just make eye contact and know who's going, who's staying. And so honestly, it doesn't even matter really what the pre-snap read is as long as you guys know, correct? 1,000%, Brian. You explained it very well. I don't even have to really dive in too much more besides saying we also were predicated on the matchup with the tight end or that slot receiver so if we felt like our linebacker and our safety and me and our nickel can all cover that tight end then we could just rotate who's going to blitz it didn't matter um but if there were you know tony gonzalez then we would be more selective on who's coming.

But we would definitely do that, especially with the nickel versus slot receiver. If we felt like our safety was a good cover as well, we would bring everyone down into the box. And then just we'll be like, all right, this time you are going to cover him. This time you're going to cover him. And the next time, that's exactly how we would do it. Exactly. That becomes a personnel thing too. It's like, okay, if you have the flexibility of positions where you could get in turn and run with somebody, but you could also take somebody out too.

And if your corner's quick enough, but then the safety isn't going to get beat coming down. Because some of those safeties, maybe from your era, maybe even going back, I love Rodney Harrison, but there came a time where you weren't going to have him come run down to a slot. You wouldn't want to be doing that all game. That's the point. It also speaks to the versatility

of the talent. Two more things before we let you go. It appears the U is not back again. Oh, God. How are we doing with your Kings? How do you think we're doing with the Kings right now, Ryan?

I'm just allowing you the floor. There's no victory lap. I don't care. My mother taught me, if you have nothing good to say, don't say anything at all. All right. You're still down there, though, right? I'm still down here. I actually just went and worked out there.

Wait, wait, wait. Back up. What happens when Jonathan Vilma, legend, shows up to work out after this kind of weekend? So you know what? It's actually very, very civil. And here's why. As much as I love the Kings and I want to see them do well and I get as pissed off as anybody when they lose, especially the way that they've been losing, I still respect the coaches and the time that they put in and all of that jazz.

So I'll leave it there, Ryan. So I go in, I get my workout, I do my thing. If anybody asks my opinion, I'll tell them. If you're not asking my opinion, I'm just going to keep working out and move on. So it's safe to say nobody asked you how you felt today. I think they smartly realized nothing good was going to come out of asking me

how I feel or what's my opinion on it. All right. Okay. All right. That's a prideful alum right there. I have nothing good to say. Let's just move on, Ryan. Good talking to you, man.

Good talking to you, man. I want to do some college football headlines here because I think the headline, the headline is, as we've asked, this cyclical thing that I always expect to happen where eventually these top teams don't look as good. We had one of those weekends where the top teams didn't look that good. So what does it mean? Let's get to it. Bama survives at Florida 31-29.

Start the game. We're like, here we go again, Bama. No chance. They're up 21-3. Emery Jones, who I'd imagine most of you Gators fans have wanted benched at some point, especially for Anthony Richardson, who apparently with a hamstring, they were going to put him in this game. But then something happened. Florida kept

running the football. They averaged six yards per carry. They went over 200 yards, held Bama to under 100. That's never happened since Saban got there in 2007. The Bama versus running quarterback thing is one of the dumbest observations ever. This team barely loses, and they lost to Heisman winners and Deshaun Watson. And it's like, you know, Bama, they struggle with those running QBs. You know what? They don't really struggle against anybody.

It's just like anybody, they're going to lose a game every now and then. So I don't know that's going to happen. I guess we'll find out against Ole Miss in a couple weeks because Ole Miss has put huge numbers. But Bama, for the first time, by just allowing yards on the ground, you're like, wait, do they have a major problem here? I'd say the problem for everybody else is I think Bama still has the personnel to go ahead and fix this. And sometimes I wonder, you're up 21-3,

did you think they were just going to roll over these guys? But Bryce Young at least stayed composed throughout this, and I was impressed with Florida, even though now Dan Mullen's 0-11 against Saban. Clemson, we knew the D would be awesome. The D has been awesome. Zero offensive touchdowns by FBS schools allowed this season. Remember the 7 they gave against Georgia was a pick six. They beat Georgia Tech 14 to eight.

Now it was a weird game of anybody's watching. There was a weather delay forever in this one. Yes, it was weird. They beat Georgia Tech 73 to seven last season and they had to get a fourth down stop to win this game. I have no idea. That quarterback, I thought with DJ, like, hey, I saw him in those games just like you did last year. He'll be fine. There, I read a bunch of like the Clemson local stuff

and the offensive coordinator, Tony Elliott, was like, look, they dropped a bunch and, you know, they look totally different. We prepared for them differently compared to what they were last year. Like, wait a minute, they made adjustments after they gave up 73 points last year?

So I don't know what to believe. I mean, I was reading something else where they're like, oh, no, they were stuffing the box, and they were daring DJ to throw. And I was like, wait, wait, somebody's saying they dropped eight, and then somebody else is saying they stacked the box. I'll admit, I wasn't watching every single snap of that game. But now you have a Clemson offense where they are 107th nationally in yards per play. There's no way that's true. There's no way that part of this is real.

Georgia's defense, real. Smash South Carolina. They put in the quarterback that got replaced by the graduate assistant because the graduate assistant who was supposed to be on the coaching staff was the starter and then somebody stepped on his hand um georgia looks a little scary here but like we've pointed out the strength of schedule that's remaining statistically it shows it a lot stronger maybe it's florida you know maybe florida is good enough to make that game um yeah i'm not going to sit here and just be like hey there's no way florida can beat them i mean that'd be stupid but i just don't think there's enough depth in the rest of the schedule for us to be scared.

And it actually leads to the thing that nobody wants to hear outside of the SEC. If Ohio State, we're going to get to Clemson or Oklahoma, we're going to get to, if those teams are struggling a little bit, could you have, if the SEC title game or two undefeated teams, it's like, actually, this doesn't matter.

I know, I hope, send that clip directly to Canel. Ohio State, they admitted after their game against Tulsa, which was a game. Don't be scared or tricked by the final score here where they get a couple touchdowns late. This was a game. This was a game for the Buckeyes. And apparently, too, I had read the worst attendance in I don't know how many years, a couple decades at the old shoe.

I don't know. Maybe it was just, hey decades at the old shoe? I don't know. Maybe it was just, hey, whatever. Tulsa will be here for the rest of the Big Ten games. They changed their defensive play caller from Kerry Coombs to another assistant. The defense was not the issue here. But since defense has been the issue the first couple weeks, it's kind of funny that I was watching a halftime show

and the guy was criticizing Ohio State's defense again. I was like, dude, they've given up six points in this game. Now, there were times where I felt like the real problem wasn't defense, I don't think, in this game. Their offensive line isn't what I thought. So we already had the real concerns about the defense. We'll see what happens. But the offensive line losing in the trenches to Tulsa at times,

they would run a play and get blown up. And now for the C.J. Stroud crowd, who were like, look, it's his first start ever. It's a night game. Everybody's watching against Minnesota. And then he throws for, what, four or five touchdowns in the second half against them. Huge plays left and right. It's fine. This is now three games where C.J. Stroud's gotten off

to a slow start. And there's no excuse. Maybe it's the O-line part of it, but as far as the weapons, he's got two first-rounders in Alave and Wilson. And Jigba's really good. His tight end's a pro. And I think Treveon Henderson, the freshman running back who was the number one recruit at that position in his high school class, he might be the best running back in the country. I believe he broke Archie Griffin's record in three quarters this weekend.

record of three quarters this weekend. So CJ has some weapons, but he's getting off to continuous low starts and the defensive thing is still a work in progress. So those are real concerns. Oklahoma, 23-16 against Nebraska, a Nebraska team that was actually missing kicks left and right. Rattler has regressed.

The stats back it up. It may just be the first month of the season. Maybe not a big deal but like Tulane was a weird game for them they smashed Western Carolina 76-0 but this is not the Oklahoma we're used to this is not the Oklahoma we expect like 22-23 point favorites against Nebraska final thought here and that's Penn State great atmosphere I've been to Happy Valley a couple times. It is terrific. Auburn coming in, the SEC part of this,

which is kind of funny because the Alliance news about what the Big Ten, Pac-12, and ACC are going to do, it's like, wait a minute, this is going to happen. I was reading a quote from a writer being like, Jim Delaney, who was the commissioner of the Big Ten, was like, you need to test yourself against the best by not playing SEC schools because they were mad about their expansion. I don't know how many of these games we're going to get.

And again, this is years in advance because there's still so many games that are scheduled out, Ohio State, Alabama. It's like in five years or something like that. I like Penn State as a physical team. I like a couple of their guys on defense. Jahan Dotson's a matchup nightmare for them on offense. How physical they were against Wisconsin carried over into this Auburn game. So that part was real. I'm never going to be a huge Clifford fan.

I'm probably less of a fan of Bo Nix. And as good as this win was against a ranked SEC school in your Penn State, and that's great. And the weird part is, I'll admit, and probably a lot of you are too, I'm hesitant to get off the Ohio State thing. But we could be staring at, on a Saturday night, the best team in the Big Ten. We just don't know it yet with Penn State. Even with the, I think we'd all agree, some limitations there at quarterback. But everybody likes the offensive coordinator. Maybe it gets better and better. Who knows?

Who knows? I know the positivity game you could play with this if you're a Penn State fan. But we could be staring at the best team. And we just can't give up on Ohio State yet, even though the visuals of it like, are they really that much better? I know what the recruiting rankings say, but are they that much better than Penn State? And by the way, Penn State's far from any kind of slouch whatsoever with Franklin there in the recruiting. But if I'm being honest with myself, Auburn's what?

The fifth, sixth, are they the seventh best team in the SEC? Bama, Georgia, Florida, A&M, Calzada was much better in his second game. Ole Miss and I'm telling you, LSU

looked like a completely different team. Completely different team this weekend. You're like, oh, that's where all the NFL guys are making plays. I have nothing to add to UCLA's disappointing loss for the Pac-12's chances of getting

into the playoff. And by the way, Oregon, Stony Brook, feeling yourselves a bit after that win in Columbus. And my final college football thought. Jackson Dart, true freshman, USC. USC's up at the Palouse, down 14-0. You're like, wait, you guys are this flat?

Slovis is hurt. This Jackson Dart guy comes in with a little bit of the brave heart over his, what was it, his right eye. You want to talk about Carson Wentz not knowing how to protect himself? I thought this kid was going to get killed. I thought he was going to be dead by the third quarter. Instead, they go 45 straight points,

all sorts of energy. London, who actually left with what was a tough hit when he got tackled on a touchdown. He had a monster game. There's some juice to this kid, Jacksonson dark if you get a chance to watch him um i'd be running film with him right now if i were on that staff being like okay here you almost get killed this one but he didn't care and i think that's what would happen like if you were a sick high school recruit and everything's worked out and you're playing at the next level you're not going hey i'm not supposed to make that throw you don't know any better you're like i'm throwing this

fucking football all over the place for the next three hours let's go and that's what he did and who knows maybe the spark usc needs to kind of turn some things around and be competitive in this pack 12. 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 before we get to life advice i want to ask you guys a pretty simple question. I ordered wings delivered to the homestead here for the first time in a decade.

You don't strike me as a wing guy at all. College. The first time I ever had wings was in college. And I remember being like, wait a minute, what the hell is this? This is the most amazing. Again, back then, the Buffalo position globally wasn't as large as it is now. I remember just being like, hey, how come this isn't a bigger deal? These things taste amazing.

And then we had a late night place. And I remember one of the hottest girls that we went to college with, sorry to be so shallow, she was absolutely gorgeous. And I remember I was bartending one night. She was a year behind me, I think. Yeah. And I was bartending and she was like, hey, Ryan, can I grab the phone? Again, we didn't have cell phones back then, kids.

And I was like, wait, what are you doing? I'm like, are you calling a cab? I was like, I can get you a cab. It's not a big deal. I probably was like, hey, just wait. Hang? I'm like, are you calling a cab? I was like, I can get you a cab. It's not a big deal. I was like, just, I probably was like, hey, just wait. Hang out with us. We'll get you a cab. And she's like, no, I don't need a cab.

She's like, we have, we're just going to walk back. She's like, I like to order wings. And then by the time I get back to my house, yeah, she would have, I don't think she would have been in. Yeah, she was old enough. She wouldn't be in the dorms. She's like, once I get back to my apartment, the wings, I won't have to wait 45 minutes. And when guys heard that, they were pricing out rings.

Guys were just like, you've got to be kidding me. And we're like, what's your order? And she's like, well, I usually go two dozen because a dozen isn't enough. And the thing is, you just couldn't believe it. We're like, you smashed almost two dozen wings at 2.30 in the morning after a night out out of drinking and you are so efficient you order them from the bar before you go home so you don't have a wait time like i don't know i imagine she

probably ended up running a company but we don't say that's a veteran move what's she up to nowadays you keep in touch don't don't keep in touch don't keep in touch the one that got away uh-huh yeah yeah you could say that so yeah i ordered them up kyle and i kind of i was like i just i don't know it must have been the buffalo wildlings ads and i just like you know what i'm gonna do it like i love the taste of it i just haven't done this and the place i ordered them from there's one place that makes really good ones. Because I was like, I don't want to screw around. I want to go in this blind. And then I guess there's like a backup place too, which I know it doesn't sound like it makes any sense.

But just trust me on this one. And then they rolled in. And they were the frozen ones, which again, most of them are frozen at this point. But if you ever want to really do them right, the home kits, you get a never frozen, never frozen. Home kits, you get it never frozen, never frozen. And they showed up and they were like the bulk grocery store freezer bag ones and just plain, plain with side deal that you had to kind of do on your own. And they were awful. They were so bad. And thank God, god for whatever reason they gave out six which

tells you their entire wing distribution situation is a disaster to begin with so i was like wait i just ordered these and only six showed up and the funny thing was i was like i'm glad it's only six because these sucked but yeah i don't know i mean yeah when we were younger used to do it i still would probably do it in boston every now and then but i think once i moved so that's probably i don't think i've ordered wings to a home since 2008 and then uh yeah we did it we did a decade later major disappointment kyle that's funny that you just said that because i just i was away for a couple days and when i came back from the airport on thursday night when i was about 20 minutes left to go i ordered from my wing spot so they would be there five minutes after I got home.

So funny that you said that. You're like the hot girl from UVM. You guys are the same. Yes, that's exactly how I describe myself. And you get two dozen because they wings for breakfast. All right. What?

Or a late breakfast, early lunch. I save like six to 8 for the next day just snacking big leftover guy yeah I got a toaster oven I won't microwave them I'll throw them in the toaster oven around 400 degrees

just throw them in there until they sizzle, pull them out, good to go 11am, couple wings just to get your day started wings and coffee we had when we were all living in our fraternity together we had catering and somebody was like oh i got this place it was unbelievable and guys like yeah i kind of liked their food and it was like a sub salad pizza wing place and after like a few weeks of it guys are like look this sucks like it's we already eat bad enough he goes but

these guys are showing up like 10 dozen hot wings at 11 a.m on a friday because they want their day to be done and guys are like just waking up because thursday was always the biggest night i mean it was it was pretty much foregone conclusion. Friday wasn't going to be a huge educational day. And even guys in their twenties or like 20, 21, 22 going, Hey, we can't, we can't start a Friday morning with a dozen hot wings and pepperoni slices. Like I already, you know, again, your hangovers when you're that young are pretty much temporary but i always thought that was kind of funny that even guys at 20 when i can't wake up and eat wings every like monday wednesday friday in the 90s huh wow yeah 90s guys were out of

control we used to call october rocktober i don't even know if people do that anymore that's awesome that's really awesome i'm'm confused. Thanks, Kyle. You acted like were wings new on the scene when you were talking about how in college you discovered wings and you're like, oh my God, how aren't more people talking about this? Were wings not on the scene in the early 90s?

Not even close. Not even close. Really? The idea that people can... I guarantee somebody's going to say I'm wrong about this because this is the way I'm telling you as an observer of things, one of the great observers of our times, like nobody also had wings. So the whole thing blew up kind of in the mid nineties where all of a sudden all these pizza places were like, oh, let's throw wings on top of it too. I mean, that's just, that's just what it was.

And then boneless and then Buffalo sauce and all this kind of stuff. And then subs like the buffalo saucing of things, that's a mid-90s on deal. Like guys were eating them, clearly. I'm not saying no one ever had them before, but I had never had them. But again, I don't count because of Martha's Vineyard, but I'm saying the national, whatever your,

if you had stock in wings in the early 90s, you'd be retired by now because it just wasn't a big of a deal. Wow, that's crazy. I know you guys aren't going to believe me, but there's that generation. Do we have anything else we needed to add to anything? Because I just feel like I want to check

in with you guys a little bit more. I mean, I haven't worked all the math out, but Jimmy G seems like a good first quarter position. I know we've still got two weeks, but it doesn't sound so crazy. I saw some pretty offensive memes about me being a dummy, but who knows? I might be able to get out scot-free.

I think you got a good price on him. It was about pricing an opportunity. It wasn't about who the quarterback is, and you figure that out immediately, Kyle, even if you're eating leftover wings the next day just to get your day started. Shut up. I would say that's a conundrum though. If I get leftovers, because I'm with you Kyle,

I always order more than enough food because I want to eat it the next day. If it's Chinese food or wings or whatever. When it's in your fridge the next day, I'm always like, I have to wait until noon until I can eat this. You're probably smart. Just eat it at 11. Who cares? Nobody's watching me. If you want to're probably smart. Just eat it at 11. Who cares? Like nobody's watching me. Like if you want to eat wings at 11, eat wings at 11.

I envy your freedom. Yeah, the circumstances are better. Sometimes Chinese food is better cold at 10 a.m. than it is reheated at 12, 15. I would say leftover Chinese food. You're 100% right. Can be better. I pretty much order another entree just because with all the now with the apps, I don't want to talk to people on the phone and I rarely have cash to pay tip and full price so i just go through the

apps and it's like all right so we've now added 12 to 15 dollars worth of fees i might as well get another meal for tomorrow because i'm already basically paying for another meal to get it here it would be stupid to just get enough to eat right now that's how i think here's what you do. General Tso's chicken, eat that for dinner. And you buy lo mein, like a quart pint of lo mein, whatever you want. Eat that the next day, fry it up in a frying pan, a little bit of sriracha.

Incredible, incredible leftover meal. That's doing Chinese food right. Always get more than you need. That's what I say. I'm not pushing back on any of this other than Saruti just trying to slide in that pizza the next day sometimes is better. That's the dumbest thing. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Buffalo chicken pizza, sometimes it depends

on what your air fryer situation is, can 100% be better the second day. I don't know about that. Take my word for it, dude. Moving on. Disappointed now. Lifeadvicerr at gmail.com Okay. 27 disappointed now life advice rr at gmail.com okay um 27 single 510 170 debating on if i should start

a bulk or stay lean and athletic looking well let us know how that goes anyway i'm currently interviewing for a job that require one to three weeks a month of travel so you could be traveling one two three weeks a month travel monday through thursday well i think it'd be cool to travel around the country and rack up the airline hotel points. I'm concerned about what this will do for my social life. I'm newly single and admittedly a fringe guy. The combination of the pandemic and my last relationship definitely knocked me down a tier in the college friend group hierarchy. Well, that's the decision you made. As a guy who used to travel a ton for work and i understand you realize that

but you know some guys like i never was super into the guy that as soon as you get a girlfriend then somehow he couldn't balance having friends like you have to be so about your girlfriend that you can't be friends with the rest of us and so i would yes i would generally look down on that guy all the time and then he would break up and he'd come back around be like well i have time for you again again not like i'm in a relationship with a guy, but I just always be like, you can't, you didn't want to hang out with us or you wanted to and you didn't allow yourself or she didn't allow you. So you let all of these things happen. I've just never understood a guy being like that. But again, I'll admit when I was in college and if I were dating somebody

and I heard a football in the hallway, I was like a squirrel following light. So I'm also an idiot with some of the decisions I've made. So it was a guy who used to travel for work a ton. He was asking me, what would be a good way to go into this endeavor and still have some semblance of a social life? I'm trying to get back on the dating social scene and don't want trips to Albuquerque and Buffalo to constantly be

plain date ruiners. I do really want this position. It's for a large company. It could further my career. In addition, the firm is known for hiring people around my age, so I'd expect my network to grow substantially just by working at this firm. I currently work in a very small office and essentially just see the same three people all week long. Thanks for the advice. Gut reaction reading this, take the job. You're 27. You want the job. You think this is going to help your career. So all of those things are positives. All of those things are positives. Now, yes, it is going to impact your social life, but that's a decision that you can make because most of us end up kind of doing what we want, even if it's subconsciously what we want. Even if we say out loud, this isn't what I want, we'll end up kind of reverting back

subconsciously to what we want. If you want to make sure your social life isn't at a zero out of 10, then that's up to you. I mean, do I see you at 27 being creepy hotel bar guy? You know, sometimes I'll see those guys and I would feel bad for them now I'm their age, but I 27 is kind of weird to be playing that, you know, like you have, you see that like 40 or 50 year old guy and he sees like a remotely cute younger girl and be like, Oh, a couple of Cape Codders, you know? And it's just like, oh, geez, I just blow my brains out.

You know, like I don't want to watch this happen here. And I don't want that to happen to you, guy. But you're 27. So I don't think that's necessarily going to happen. And I also think I also think that if you really want to put in the effort, you could get on the apps. And when you land somewhere and just be straight up and if it's not just about hooking up for you, just be straight up like, hey, I'm traveling. I want to see some different stuff. Like if you force yourself to be the social version of you,

the Vince Vaughn movie version, which is very hard to pull off, and I'm not saying I can, but like you can, you can. Now, some people just won't have the social skills and just be too shy and they'll have too much anxiety about it. They'll just overthink it a million times.

But if you really want to make a concerted effort to not become a zero on the social meter here, you can do that, especially because it seems like you want this job this badly. And whatever the end game is here for what your career goals are, I mean, I was a little different in that I didn't care about any of that stuff because I was like, as long as my career and all that stuff takes off and I'm, I'm secure to a certain degree, then the rest of it will take care of itself. And then, I don't know, a decade and a half went by and I was like, Oh, I guess I didn't really care about any of that other stuff. Um, again, I'm not the template I would say for anyone. So don't follow that. But I, I always wanted to kind of take care of some of that stuff so that if I did get married and did start a family, that those things would be in place.

Now, one of my close friends, as I think I've shared this once or twice before, was like, hey, why don't you share the journey with somebody? Like, isn't that kind of the point of this whole fucking thing? I was like, ooh, good point. A little late now. Whatever. Not a big deal. I didn't cry in my pillow that night. I just think there's times, again, I could be wrong here, but I think

there are times like it seems like you're very career driven. You kind of have it mapped out here a little bit. I'd rather kind of figure that stuff out. And dude, you're only 27. And then if it's like at 30, you're going, all right, I'm really feeling I want that next element of it. Now, some people, again, like me, that's the plan. And then it just, your life just happens. And then you just, like I could have at some point said, all right, again, like me, that's the plan. And then your life just happens. And then you just... I could have at some point said, all right, stop worrying about work, have more balance. I just didn't care. I just didn't care, right?

If you're 27 and all the career stuff is telling you that you want to go ahead, I would take this. Now, when you asked me about what it was like for me socially traveling, I would not compare your travel situation, go to Buffalo and Albuquerque with some company Monday through Friday, Monday through Thursday. When I was traveling with ESPN and we had full-blown staffs and we had sideline passes and we were doing these shows, people came. My travel experience, even though I was traveling all the time, is not what the majority of other people's traveling experience is. So if you meet somebody home-based, be realistic about it. But it seems

like you like this career option a lot. I would say pursue it. But you dipped a bit on your friends as you admit, relationships are a lot of work. And if you can find some balance to make sure you're just straight up with somebody about what your time availability is. And look, a lot of people say, oh, that's cool. I'm the same way. And then like six weeks later, like you're never around, which has happened to me a few times. But reading between the lines here, I feel like you care about the work thing more. You're worried about the other part, which is fine.

But look, it's just going to be up to you to not become a recluse. That's all. And there's options for you that weren't there you know 15 years ago for everybody else that was traveling and you're still young so you're not going to be creepy guy you know going oh you know don't let me get a third cc and ginger in me um kyle you don't travel a ton for work though right i did actually i did before covet i was going you know wherever bill was going or it was titus and tate those guys were like going on road trips and stuff that was super fun and uh he's 27 right

so that's actually that's like my favorite thing to do is when i finish up work and then i'm just like i'll be like i'll i'm gonna go to this weird bar and uh i'll just sit there for my by myself for like an hour or two see what happens like you don't have to sit there all day like you're glued to the stool, but it's just nice to check out different parts of America and see how that goes. So like A, have fun while you're traveling and B, have fun when you're at home. Like if you're at home Saturday and Sunday, see if your guys want to go golfing once every two weeks. Like just be able to have fun wherever you're at.

Kyle, do you feel that you're hot enough that if you just sit down, the vibes spread and then eventually somebody's going to ask you wherever you're at. Kyle, do you feel that you're hot enough that if you just sit down, the vibes spread and then eventually somebody's going to ask you what you're doing? Even at my heaviness, at my heaviest now, absolutely. Got a great face. I'm a cute kid with a great face. This is... No, I love the confidence and it's not inaccurate.

He's a cute kid. We've said it. Saruti and I have a text thread about it. Yeah, it's true. Do people come up to you at the bar like ever? Or are you just kind of? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And it's not even like I'm not even just looking for girls.

Sometimes I'm looking for like a surly 45 year old guy who's just going to bitch to me about his problems. Not like nothing sexual. I see your face. No, no, no. I just mean like I'm just meeting. Like this guy's a character. He's a fucking character. And he's about to go over to that jukebox

and play some Billy Joel, like some sad Billy Joel right now. Like, I don't know. I just, I appreciate all types of experiences from friendship to I'll never see this guy again, but that was fucking funny

to this girl's hot. Like I, that's, I just appreciate being somewhere new like that. Just getting a lay of the land. Road trip Kyle. I want to hang out with that guy. The only thing is, you're not annoyed

by a random guy spilling his problems to you at a bar. I would be annoyed by that. No, it's happened. I've moved bars. I've moved seats. I've just grit my teeth and bear it. Sometimes I smoke three cigarettes outside and just decide to walk away. I don't know.

It's whatever. I'm, I'm, you know, it's not the worst thing in the world and I'm not talking to anybody like the circumstance has to be right. But if you're in a place for an hour or two, chances are, if it's not like a bar where there's like four guys that are always there, if it's a different kind of bar than that, um, it'll be an interesting, at least it won't be annoying. Okay. kind of bar than that um it'll be an interesting at least and it won't be annoying okay uh last one here reluctant wedding singer six two or excuse me six feet 225 and he says the lower torso could use some more very specific uh as per usual none of this pertains to my issue okay a

little over two years ago broke up with a girl been dating for almost two and a half years admittedly i was probably at least a year late on calling it off at the time. So you didn't want to date her for a year of the two and a half. That's a long time, but COVID, people get it. There were several red flags, both with her future plans and personality that would have negatively impacted the long-term relationship

that I basically just ignored to try to rationalize. She at least seemed to be incredibly torn up about it, which made me feel horrible. So he's saying she was torn up, made him feel bad. I felt less horrible when she met another guy within three months and announced a few months after that that they were moving in together. We continued to talk briefly to be friendly after the breakup. But at this point, that basically devolved into sharing the occasional funny text or meme. People, kids love sharing memes. She's getting married next month.

Despite our less than great friendship at this point, she wants me to sing one of the songs at the wedding. Are we sure this isn't a movie, Kyle? I can look. I'll look. Don't say weddings here because they didn't break up. They weren't even dating.

Sandra stole it from McNulty who was really cool in that movie. My life since breaking up hasn't been exactly ideal. A manufacturing engineer over the last two years has become really good at my job, which unfortunately just leads to me working more because problems are the only constant in manufacturing. I read Wool. I get it. And I know how to fix a lot of these problems. how to fix a lot of these problems. But being a single guy, no kids, I have a hard time leaving those problems at the end of the day because I don't have the typical family-related excuses to

attend to. In a typical week, I'll work 55 hours or more, which typically includes a couple of 12-hour days. I want to find a new job, preferably one that moves me out to the Southeast. A lot of people like the American Southwest, but he wants to go to the Southeast. So because of that, I've been basically on the outside fringes of the dating world. I've downloaded the occasional swiping app, but even when I match with somebody, I always end up bailing because I'm afraid I'll get stuck in a relationship that gets me more stuck in my current job. Geographical situation, I talk myself out of even going on a date. date. So all that to say this, I'm genuinely happy that she's okay getting on with life, but I obviously don't want to have my face rubbed in it. The wedding's on a Sunday, which is already off-putting because I have to be up early Monday for work. And then there's the singing some song about love at your ex's wedding. She never really asked me if I would do it. She just said that she had a song for me to sing at the wedding soon after telling me she was getting married. So there's no way I'd want my partner's ex singing at my wedding and I wouldn't want my ex singing either unless I was for some reason

trying to be vindictive about it. I figured she'd backtrack on that at some point, but here we are less than a month away and it's still on. If I back out now, it's obviously going to affect her wedding day. But if this entire thing is just to passively show how well she's doing in my face, just to kind of passively show how well she's doing in my face i don't really feel bad about that am i overthinking this yes should i just suck it up knock the song out of the park and try to get laid off um try to get laid off of the performance wait yeah like the wedding is like oh my god did you see that guy singing well i didn't expect him to phrase it that way because I thought we were back to work he wants to get laid off from engineering oh he's acting about oh right

okay here we go I think if you sing at this wedding you're a fucking idiot you don't want to do it there's some stuff going on in this email that doesn't well it makes a little bit of sense again not a licensed therapist, but I would think if a licensed therapist,

somebody who's done this for a living would listen to the way you've described a couple of things here, there might be something going on, man. And what I mean by that is, and it's not like, you know, five,

five alarms here, but you keep saying, you know, obviously I don't want my face rubbed in it. And then if this entire thing is just to passively shove how well she's doing in my face um but then you say i don't really feel bad about that but you you bring it up a couple times when you admit you didn't want to date her you broke up with her she was bummed out about it which again if you care about somebody even if you

don't want to date him it's it's always kind of tough when they're really upset about something, right? So we get that human nature part, which is great. It shows you have a heart. I don't know why you care about any of this at all. And I don't. I mean, I get texting with an ex here or there, checking in, hey, how's it going? All right, fine. But singing at their wedding, no way, zero, 0% chance. And like you saying kind of kiddingly, I imagine at the end, like, hey like hey maybe i smash this and then next thing you know you know we're talking we're talking grown-up moves but why would you want to be at a wedding with somebody that you don't even seem to care about at all or if you even suggested that it's something else more um uh malicious in in that she's trying to do this to like show you up a little bit. Like deep down,

man, deep down, nobody really knows what the hell we're doing, right? Like deep down, I can be really close to Sruti, but I may not know in the deepest darks of his brain how he's wired. We all have kind of these secrets where we can be motivated by things. So if she were actually thinking like, hey, I'm going to do this. I'm going to have my ex thing because he dumped me and I was bummed out, but now I'm going to show him like, why would you even entertain being this? I can't believe you wrote the email is my point.

Like you were smart enough, clearly as you write this thing, why would you even allow yourself to be in this kind of position? So I would just say straight up, look, work Monday. I didn't really you know like obviously like do you even care like you're not ruining her wedding you singing at her wedding

is not the crescendo of the weekend's events so i i'm yes you're overthinking it i can't believe you've even let it go this far and i'm emphphatic, like emphatic, no, don't do it. Because there's no indication you've given throughout any of this of why you want to do it other than impressing some women that are at the wedding. And then you're banking on that working out for you. I can't help you with the job thing. I don't understand the engineering world, but I, I don't know, man, you're clearly a very smart guy and you called it off. And if it's a revenge thing, then don't go. If you wanted to go, I'd say go.

You've never indicated once that you even want to go to this thing. So I don't even know why you're emailing us. But go ahead. So Rudy. It's just there's just a lot there. I would say you should never be singing at your ex's wedding,

let alone I don't even think you should really go. If you're the dude who's marrying him, her too, by the way, like if you're like the guy who is the groom in this situation, why would you be okay with an ex, your ex singing? Your ex is a significant other singing at your own wedding? That would be a disastrous situation. How has nobody on her side stopped this from happening to begin with? It shouldn't even have got to this guy in the first place.

I don't even know what to say, Ryan. I think what you said was right. I don't know why you would sing unless, you know, you want to get back at her or something. But the idea that she would be inviting you to sing at her own wedding to get back at you two is completely fucked as well. So I don't even know what to think right now. Kyle, you ever sing at a wedding? No, only been to one wedding. Hope to go to ever sing at a wedding no only been to one wedding hope to go to another one soon um you've only been to one yeah yeah we've been over this i was like

10 my auntie um so a couple things a this guy's not a career wedding singer right that the name is just he said he's an engineer or something right yeah you know it's a great point kyle it's why you're always so good at this because like i i double checked again to make sure this wasn't from bruno mars because you know you're like so good at this. Because I double checked again to make sure this wasn't from Bruno Mars. Because you're like, oh, okay. Although I doubt he would listen to this show. If this guy's one of the all-time performers, then maybe she's selfishly like, hey, I want this guy singing at my wedding. I don't even care about all the weird dynamics because I know him and I can get him to sing.

I had somebody ask me to get Dierks Bentley for their wedding. And I go, look, we usually talk once a year and I go to a show. There's a really good chance. I'm never going to ask him to play at your wedding because we met each other in college 25 years ago. Like that's, that's probably not going to happen, but keep going,

Kyle. I just, because it's a great observation. Like, unless this guy is just the crooner of all crooners, um, what's the motivation to have like, all right,

Hey, cool. You're pretty good base two classically trained i get that as well as anybody yeah was she was she like saying that and they're weird probably inappropriate text messages to each other that their husband that her husband wouldn't approve of and then he was just like yeah i mean fucking i'll sing at your wedding like lol and now it's like going down and then i guess the other thing omg when he said yes yeah right and then the other thing ig when he said yes yeah right and

then the other thing i would say all three people involved would be done the favor by him not going to this wedding uh was it always like from the jump was he always gonna go and then she was just like you should totally sing a song at my wedding like if you if you are always gonna go to the wedding i don't know maybe just say fucking it do it and see what happens but if like if you're not never really interested in going and uh the husband's probably not uh privy to any of this if not most of it like it might just be better to stay the fuck home dude watch some nfl the only thing he i'm thinking he's going maybe the engineering part hey i'm an engineer working all the time this is the only social thing I'll get to do. But he even says in the email, and it's Sunday and I have to work on Monday.

You don't want to go. You don't really talk to her. Reason number two, you've never indicated at any point you actually are looking forward to do this. The only reason you said it was potentially somebody would think you were so good at singing that you would. And I would say you were a little, little aggressive in that description for this podcast uh i don't i don't even know why you know what i mean like you answered your own question three or four different times here so i don't know that there's a ton to add to this one if he's by the way his one the one thing he said oh i could go there and i can get laid right that's that was the only redeeming quality of

going and singing at this wedding uh if he's a really great singer, chances are he doesn't need to go to this wedding to get laid in the first place, too. So none of this makes sense to me. Karaoke night, dude. Go find one. Yeah, there you go. Test her out. Test out those pipes. Money-gatherers hanging out.

Yeah, but I don't know. I've been to some of those karaoke deals where they're really good, and I think it's a turn-off. I went to that karaoke thing at that Chinese restaurant in West Hartford. And that was, I got dragged to that one night and that was one of the most

intense performances I've ever seen. And I'm talking like concerts that I've been to. And it's in the suburban stretch of West Hartford. It's Butterfly, right? Yeah. And you roll in. And I don't know if it's it's in the suburban stretch of west hartford it's butterfly right yeah and you roll in and i don't know if it's like the hartford uh like the uhi university hartford theater kids are in there and then it was like a bunch of espn people and it's like the espn people that are on tv it's

like you you're on tv and you're still doing this and then it was just no i don't mean like you're free on tv you shouldn't be doing karaoke but it was like it wasn't karaoke that was the ultimate whip it out and i'm going to show you this ultimate performance people were sweating like crazy and i rolled it because it was like a heavy espn night in there one night and you know look sometimes when you're stuck with harford people be like hey we're doing this thing and everybody's like you know what this is good granted i was way too old at that point so it was over but i was like this is the most intense singing i think i've ever seen and i've seen take six live i've seen some people at butterfly that you know they're the kind of people that would complain about their like uh american idol audition not going the right way like that's how seriously they take it and

that's that's when you know it's not actually fun like you know this is supposed to be like you know c minus singers in here trying to have a good time after a couple beers. But let's say you have pipes. Isn't song choice important? Was this like November rain? What was going on in there? No, dude. There was a queen.

I think they did Bohemian Rhapsody, and they had different people in different corners of the restaurant pinging it off of each other while people were in the center of it. And that wasn't anyone from ESPN. That was, that was theater group. Yeah.

Like loosely choreographed, like just way too much time put into it. It was, it was for West Hartford, for a West Hartford Chinese restaurant. You got like one sip of a V soads in you and you're just going, what is this? This is...

People are just dripping sweat. And that was West Hartford Nightlife for you. Okay, that's the podcast. Thank you to Kyle Whitehawk Brighton, Steve Cerruti,

and we've got a key to leave this week. So, make sure you subscribe. Rate and review the Ryan Breslow Podcast. Ring a bell and spotify. Outro Music