The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Mahomes Adjusts the Belt, the Blame Game, and a Look Ahead to the Super Bowl With Daryl Johnston

Episode Date: January 30, 2023

Russillo does a Tales From the Couch-style recap of the Chiefs' win over the Bengals, including the mysterious "extra third down" play, Chris Jones's impact, undue criticism on referees, and more (0:29). Then Ryen is joined by three-time Super Bowl champion Daryl Johnston to discuss how Patrick Mahomes adjusted to losing his top WRs vs. the Bengals, the underrated Cincinnati defense, Joseph Ossai's hit on Mahomes, whether we learned anything from 49ers-Eagles, a look ahead to Super Bowl 57, and more (18:35). Finally Ryen answers some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (42:01). Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Daryl Johnston Producer: Kye Crichton Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

let's break it down a lot on the afc not as much on the nfc we're gonna have daryl johnson help us with both maybe a little lean on the matchup with the eagles and the chiefs and we've got life advice also a psa no basketball i'm coming double barrel loaded though on Wednesday. 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

anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now. Alcohol and select markets. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details. We start with the AFC, and the headline is this. Patrick Mahomes and Chris Jones. Two of my favorite players in the league.

I love that they were the story for this Chiefs team that held off a Cincinnati team that was able to get momentum back here in the second half um but let's kind of go through the start and then all the controversy throughout it so the start wasn't great for Cincinnati Burrell sack three times and I'm sitting at home going like why did I think their o-line was just fixed just because of Buffalo because it feels like it might have been Buffalo. And that was at least the first quarter. Zero yards gained by Cincinnati, right? When they were down 6-3, I was like, how is this happening?

So they did figure some things out, but that O-line part of it was very scary and very reminiscent of Cincinnati in that Tennessee game last year in the playoffs where I thought Burrow wasn't going to, like, I thought he was going to have to retire at halftime. Although I would say this about the great quarterbacks, the great ones, when the protection is a problem, the great ones figure it out. The great ones get together with the play caller and maybe the O-line coach and something like, okay, here are all of our issues.

We need to make the adjustments. A really good NFL coaching staff or a really good quarterback in this league should not get his ass kicked for three straight hours you just call different stuff get the ball out quicker bring in other protection and i thought there were many moments during the broadcast uh that both nance and romo were really good on kind of showing us some of the things that were happening because after that scary scary start uh cincinnati figured some things out there all right but on fourth and one at the Cincy 14, Kelsey touched down and you're like, alright, that was

pretty big. That was massive. And it just looks so easy too. That's the part that felt so frustrating for the Cincinnati side of it. Cincinnati's first half possessions, punt, punt, field goal, interception. The pick was weird. Just kind of a bad looping throw.

But Burrow's going to challenge his receivers to go up and get the ball. And that throw didn't really make it. It was just kind of like so odd and fluttery. You were like, oh, wait. He just kind of read that wrong and threw it too much. So then you go field goal, right? So it's punt, punt, field goal, interception, field goal.

So that's two red zone possessions for Cincinnati against the second-worst red zone defense in the NFL this season in regards to touchdown percentage allowed, right? Kansas City's second worst, and they're coming out of there with six. But that's the weird thing, right? Dumb NFL again. Clearly one team feels way better than the other one, and it's a one-score game, 13-6 at half. So we mentioned that the protection stuff got fixed.

Cincinnati's back in the game. Kansas City on the other side lost Snead. They lost Willie Gay. Another corner had gone down for a stretch there as well. He came back in. Always a nice reminder, too, of how tough these guys can be. Like, hey, is that guy done? Like Bosa in the first game? Like, oh, he might be done. Like, no, he's not done. He's

back. Cincinnati did lose Boyd, their number three receiver, but we know between Chase Higgins and then Hurst a tight end and hey I don't know why I keep thinking of him as Hale Irwin TV actor but that doesn't make any sense whatsoever but Irwin who was a child actor not named Hale makes a couple plays a game they're coming on a little bit later so Cincinnati still despite losing Boyd should have enough depth there to find a way to fight through it Kansas City didn't because at this point they're down Tony who that was a really weird challenge

by Reed early on. You had the one receiver in the history of the NFL who went up for a touchdown and didn't argue he caught it after he didn't catch it. He knew he didn't catch it, and Kansas City still challenged it anyway. They're down Juju, and they're down Nicole Hardman, who had a really weird, he was out later,

but he had a really weird kind of back-to-back plays where there was a throw to the right side and Nicole didn't come back enough on it because Mahomes was clearly telling him. Mahomes isn't like, Romo during his playing days would definitely kind of point to the receiver and do like this little in move. He'd be like, yeah, you got to cut that in after a bad play. He'd do it all the time. I don't think Mahomes does it as much. So when he does do it, I'm more inclined to believe Mahomes. But then I was like, I wonder if he'll go back to him. And then he did. He did on the very next

play. And the reason I always think of Mecole Hardman is at one point, Booger McFarlane was saying that Kansas City, again, this is previously, it was like they need a number two for Kansas City. They need a number two for Mahomes to go number two against Tyreek Hill. And then Mecole tweeted out the notes emoji, like I'm taking notes.

Take all the fucking notes you want, bro. It was a fair point. It was a fair point now. But that means that Mecole's out, Juju's out, Tony's out. So you're left with MVS, who makes big plays. He's better than Hardman is. Kemp, and then Sky Moore, the rookie, who had the huge punt return.

But you could see it happening. And I thought this was really interesting if you wanted to watch the game this way is that you could then watch the way Kelsey was being defended, how tough it was for Kelsey because nobody else is getting open. So Mahomes would be looking for his first or second option. And then it's like, I've got a whole other group of dudes in here. And it was this momentum that you could feel where you're like, is Cincinnati actually going to pull this out and win a fourth game

against these dudes and back-to-back at their place to go to the Super Bowl? So there was this three-drive run for Kansas City where it was fumble, punt, and punt. On the fumble, if this was a Cincinnati win, that fumble would have been like if you wanted to go at Mahomes, which I do not. I have no reason to.

I'm not determined to. I just don't want to. I wouldn't enjoy going, yeah, well, he fumbled. Everybody makes mistakes at some point, but I guess you could argue that Mahomes maybe gets a little looser with the football every now and then the turnovers in last year's cincinnati game so that would have all yeah it would all have been packaged up in some repurposed loan and being sold to you as like this guy gets a little loose with the football and is it as a problem right like there can be some things that happen but then it's like does

it actually mean something and even i on the play where he eventually was ruled down, where he flipped it out to his side, I was like, that was kind of an unnecessary, dangerous play there. I don't know that you needed to do that. So I think those things are true. But the guy's back in the Super Bowl, right? So I'm not going to spend a ton of time on it. But in the moment on that fumble, right, there was a small part of me that was like,

we have close to a billion-dollar arm underneath this pile. That's not great. And then, from a football standpoint, 48-yard touchdown drive. So that means you've got a 20-20 game, and including in that 48-yard touchdown drive by Cincinnati to tie this one up, a fourth and six to Jamar Chase for 35 yards against all sorts of coverage. Now, you could argue fourth and sixth if they pick it off.

It's almost like a punt. It's not that big of a deal. But I just think Burrow makes these throws. Burrow will make that kind of throw, and Chase will go up and get you the football. All right? So I think there's some trust there, and that leads into something happening a little bit later.

So now it's 20 apiece. Again, since he's touchdown drive for that one, only 48 yards. And now we're led with the mysterious extra third down play for Kansas City. Right? So that touchdown drive is

45 yards. Alright, so third and nine at the Kansas City 34. We got 10 minutes left to go in this game. Third and 9. It looks like Kelsey has tackled short of the sticks. Cincinnati's defense doing their job again. A really good group.

By the way, four consecutive games not allowing Mahomes a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Good luck trying to ever do that again. But a ref ran out on the field. Wanted to call the play dead. The overhead view showed that that's exactly what happened. I know it sucks. I know if you're Zach Taylor or anyone on the

field or anyone at home or anyone in the stands, I get it. If you're a Cincinnati fan, you're like, are you fucking kidding me? They're going to get an extra third down against Patrick Mahomes? This sucks. But it's what they were trying to do. And to be even more fair, there was a play in the first half where Cincinnati staff, the football, ran the play. Nobody knew what the hell was going on because it was so loud.

When people that go to Arrowhead regularly are like, yeah, it was really loud yesterday, that's all you need to know. Maybe the most intimidating place to play in the entire NFL. So it's the extra third down, and then on third and nine, Mahomes gets sacked. Like, wait, we're good. We're going to be okay. Except Eli Apple, who just moments ago was talking shit to the sideline,

Kansas City sideline, gets called for a hold, which was a very obvious hold, right? Now, when we see these kinds of holds, we're like, why would you do that? Why would you do that on this play? And by the way, the NBA may have back in the Bennett Salvatore days gone. Well, we gave him an extra third down and they sacked him. And so I'm not going to throw a little makeup call. I like the gray. I like the gray area. I would have liked to like if we just gave an extra third down, even though it was the right thing was kind of screwed up. So let's not call a hold on on eli apple uh but they did because it was pretty egregious and that was the right call right so and eli apple who lives in this kind of world when his mistakes happen they seem to be massive it's very clear other people don't like him i don't know if that's what stefan digs tweet was about while he was at home and buffalo loses and gets their asses kicked at home after being one of the best teams all season i don't know how you can be on that team and then go, I'm going to talk shit to Cincinnati for losing in a game that we didn't get to play in.

Again, that's this world I don't quite get. So Apple's hit with a penalty. Here's the point. They still got Kansas City to punt. They gained one yard, one total yard after that on the next three plays. All right? Then Burrow throws the interception. Double coverage Higgins.

The Higgins touchdown earlier, he was covered. I did think a little bit about Higgins and that throw. Did he fight enough? But it was just a weird pick where it was tipped from one guy to the other guy. Would Chase have gone up and made sure he got it and fought for it? Yeah, I had that thought. I think it's a little unfair, but I wrote it down, so I'm sharing it with you. Okay, Kansas City gets the ball back, right? After the pick, this series, we're under seven

minutes to go. Putting a drive together, back up their own 14, right? A third in 12, which turns into a fourth in eight at the Cincy 37, but there's a hold on Creed Humphrey. Now you're thinking, all right, do I take the penalty because at this point, we're looking at a 55-yard field goal attempt.

If you're Taylor, you've got to think through all these things. I also wonder how much you could see on the sideline as far as which units they were going to send in. Because originally on the broadcast, it looked like he was going to accept the penalty. So I'm at home going, okay, accept the penalty. Field goes completely out of the realm of possibility. But now you're looking at what, like third and 18 and it's still Mahomes. And that means you're going to have to defend what? Against a deep shot. And then all the stuff underneath, you're going to have more room. So it really could be two plays here. And who knows, they might be in a better situation. They could be at fourth and two and then kick an easier field goal, despite the fact that Butker apparently wasn't hitting anything past 53 yards and warmups. So all of these things are happening and I'm trying to figure it out. And then ultimately once it's declined and then it's punted, which on some of the punting stuff that I was seeing on Monday morning, it's considered one of the most cowardly punts of the last 20 years,

which I think is ignoring a lot of real on-the-field factors with all of this, including Bucker's warm-ups on top of everything else. But if you're Taylor, you're going, okay, you lucked out, unless you already could tell that they weren't going to kick the field goal. I don't know how much he knew in that moment from it all. actually, they weren't going to kick the field goal, right? I don't know how much he knew in that moment from it all. But if the end of the discussion on your sideline, if you're Cincinnati, is like,

hey, Mahomes doesn't get another shot at this and we get the ball back, that's end of discussion instead of backing them up and taking the extra 10 yards. But once you knew they weren't going to kick the field goal, then it makes it a lot easier. But clearly, Kansas City didn't love their options. That's why I think some of the models are a little unfair on how aggressively they've labeled that punt there for Kansas City.

Although we would be talking about it a lot if this game had gone the other way. So now Cincinnati has the football back again. They end up converting a third and 16 when it didn't look like there was any chance. I'm like, man, Cincinnati's actually going to pull this game off. This is fucking crazy. That's not the case.

Chris Jones on the last offensive play that this unit ran, sacks with, I don't believe, any extra pressure from Spagnuolo, which I kept waiting on because it's all I've seen throughout his entire career. I think if you looked at the pressure numbers in this one, maybe even later, I don't know what they were, but on that one, Jones was lined up in the left defensive end. And Jones, five QB hits, three tackles for loss, two sacks, two holding calls drawn, and

an intentional grounding, where I did think Piran was in the area, although that one doesn't matter as much. So let's go to the infamous now last series here for Kansas City on the game-winning field goal. Great return by Sky Moore, puts him at midfield. It's third and four. Mahomes runs to

the right side. He needs it. And Osai, who I loved in college, who had been awesome all day long, hits Mahomes out of bounds late. I hate the sideline out of bounds flag. I just hate it. I really hate it when everybody seems to get it when it's their sideline, right? And especially at home. If your guy gets hit on your sideline and everybody freaks out and they're khakis and pegas assumes, then you always get that flag. And it was a little late on this one. I also wondered if there was a little bit of the NBA flagrant foul thing where the way Mahomes went down made it even worse and then the flag was going to come out. Here's the thing. As much as I hate that flag, it was kind of the right flag, man. It was kind of the right flag. Field goal, game, blouses. So, there's more to this that I want to talk about because since that's happened,

there's way too much on the refs. There's way too much on the refs. And why do we do this? Well, I'll run through a bunch of things here because if you go and review, like Sunday Twitter I don't enjoy. And for you that don't have it, good for you. Because it's just, everyone's a fucking ref

expert. Because we like to feel like we can point out the things that are wrong. We like to feel involved. It's like my cocktail party thing where nobody goes, I don't have enough information on that topic. I'll hang out until you guys talk about something I'm aware of, right? And I just don't enjoy it. I don't enjoy everybody bitching about the refs the entire time because to me, it's inevitable, right? Punishment is inconsistent

in life. Things that are going to happen, like there are going to be mistakes that are made. And to lose it that way is heartbreaking, but it wasn't necessarily the wrong call the extra third down he actually worked out and he still punted it you know there's there's a bunch of little plays here and there that we could all nitpick from hell the lakers got a non-call against the celtics for lebron and he got hacked he got hacked the lakers haven't let it go that's gonna this shit's gonna go on for a week lebron was reenacting mcbbeth on the Boston Garden there for like two minutes at the end. Like it's the most egregious thing. Are they the only team that's never had a call go their way?

And I don't give a shit because the Boston LA thing. You've listened to me long enough. You know I don't give a shit. But what I do care about is this quest to solve something that I don't know that's all that solvable. We want robot umps in baseball. Everybody fucking hates everything that happens in soccer. Everybody hates NBA refs until they watch college refs. And then every conference in college football thinks their refs are the worst, except for the SEC, because they don't think anything they do is bad. And then you have the NFL thing where it's like, make them full time.

We need to revisit this entire thing. You know, what's funny is Mark Cuban was like the total outsider when he bought the Dallas Mavericks. And he comes in like a lot of fans going, all the refs suck, right? He's like, we need to overhaul the entire thing. the Dallas Mavericks. And he comes in like a lot of fans going, all the refs suck. He's like, we need to overhaul the entire thing. We need to do this. And he starts pointing out these inefficiencies. When the fact is, when you look at officiating, it's easiest thing to point out inefficiencies because there will forever be inefficiencies. There will always be things that are wrong with it.

And that's just kind of where I'm at over hanging out here going, you guys can bitch about it all day long and pretend that's the outcome because it's easier to blame something else than blaming yourself, which is another tenet that I've had for years is that none of us ever really want to say, hey, you know what? Why that guy's doing better than me? He works harder than me. That guy does better than me because he's better at his job. He's just better than I am. Right? It's hard to do all of those things. Why does that guy have a hotter girlfriend than me? Oh, his dad has money. I don't know. Maybe he's nicer. Maybe he's

not a dick. Maybe he's better at talking to people than I am. Why is that guy jacked? Oh, he's on shit. Do you know that? Maybe he works harder. You know what I mean? Nobody ever wants to go, hey, they beat us. Mahomes is better than Burrow. That's not

necessarily what happened yesterday, right? But there was this weird push this season for like Allen to be thought of as better than Mahomes, right? Or Burrow to be better than Mahomes. And it's another one of the rules of the job, right? Like if you come into the production meeting and you're like, you know, I think Burrow might be better than Mahomes. Like fucking really? Okay, A block, done. And we're going to do a breakout clip of that.

If I wanted more breakout clips, I could have said earlier in the season, hey, Mahomes is third behind Allen. Then everybody's fucking talking about me all day. I never believed it. I never thought. I don't even like picking against him. I hate picking against that guy. That's why I'm probably not going to pick him against him in the Super Bowl.

So if there was a headline from this game, the headline is that I don't want to hear any more of like somebody's at this dude's level stuff anymore. I just don't. Burrow's really good. He's special. Could he surpass him? Probably not to me. Could Allen?

No, not to me. Was it close this year? I guess maybe at times. I guess there's a guy who used to play the position, a few youth that played quarterback to understand it far better than I am, maybe see some different shit. But my headline, my biggest takeaway from Sunday is I don't want to flirt with anybody

messing around with Mahomes anymore. I just don't. Because what that guy did on his ankle, missing the receivers, trying to figure out on the fly, and then making the play that mattered the most. And yeah, the Osai flag sucks. But when you're talking about the competition and the adrenaline and all being combined and trying to make a play on the sideline, it's so freaked out that Mahomes is going to break one.

Like, you get why Osai did it. It wasn't egregious, but it's the rule. But that's not why you lost. You lost because that guy's behind center for Kansas City. He's going to be there a really long time. Let's do the NFC. The game was over at 7.02 of the first quarter. And that's today's Open.

The Super Bowl is set. And joining us from Fox Sports and Cowboys legend, good to catch up with him again, Daryl Johnson. What's up, man? Good to see you. Yeah, good to see you too. Okay, let's start in the AFC because it's much more of a storyline, a lot of different things to play out there. You know, the Mahomes part of it, I'm kind of glad with the result,

although I don't have an emotional rooting interest in all of this stuff because I felt like there was a little bit of a push to try to figure out if we could put somebody ahead of him. And I just, I don't want to see that happen and I don't believe it. And I think he proved it again yesterday. I agree.

Yeah, just seeing that injury last weekend and thinking he was going to be able to go out and play the way he played yesterday. You really only saw one time where he really felt it, you know, kind of rolling out to his left when he had to get onto that right foot and really kind of let that right, that right ankle be the driving force to get that ball down the field. And you can see the amount of pain that he was in there. But, but I think we see his, his skillset,

you know, all the off platform throws, you know, how much fun he has on the field, but then you see that fiery competitor who's got a very, you know, tough threshold of pain, a very high pain tolerance to play through that ankle. You know, he just continues to show us, you know, kind of week after week, season after season, you know, there's still more you have to defend with Patrick Mahomes. Was there anything that you noticed? We saw once the receivers started going down,

and then the younger guys are in, the guys that aren't used to taking those snaps. But can you see when you're watching a game without the coach's film of like, okay, he looks around and knows there's nothing. He's kind of waiting for anything to break. How different did it look for you with how he was seeing the offense Like, okay, he looks around and knows there's nothing. Like, he's kind of waiting for anything to break. Like, how different did it look for you with how he was seeing the offense once he was losing receivers in the comparison to what you're used to seeing with Mahomes? Yeah, that takes time, that chemistry.

A lot of people refer to it just as a scramble drill. But what is really unique is when people do something different as opposed to the scramble drill. And yet that, that is a link between you and that receiver, because you, you've done it so many times, you've got kind of that, that, that ability to transcend, you know, doing what's customary and then doing something that's very unique, but you're both on the same page. So I think the other big thing is, is Travis Kelsey, you know, coming out and really not knowing exactly how he was going to hold up during the course of the game with the back.

So how much was Travis able to start, stop, shift, change direction, kind of extend things when plays broke down? But I definitely think that that was something he saw. But it's also something that Cincinnati has found a way to do when they play Kansas City. I think if you go back and watch all those games, it seems that

Cincinnati has Patrick on the move a lot without quick solutions. So there's something that Lou Anrumo is doing with that Cincinnati defense that has really given Kansas City some issues, regardless of whether they're loaded up in stock at wide receiver or they're in transition. So, you know, credit to the Cincinnati defense for being the one, one of the few teams that can really fluster Patrick Mahomes. Yeah. I mean, was there more to it that you're seeing? You know, is it, is it changing within the game? Is it, is it the secondary skill guys? I mean, look, the front, I think that Cincinnati front is constantly overlooked.

I know we're going to get to a side here in a little bit between the edge guys. I don't know. I feel like there's just a lot of guys on that defense that make a lot of plays and no one ever really talks about. Exactly, because you've got all that star power on the offensive side. It's very similar to our Super Bowl teams back in the 90s. I tell people all the time, okay, of our two units, one was ranked number one in the NFL, one was ranked number six in the NFL when we won our first Super Bowl.

Which group, offense or defense, was ranked number one? And everybody says offense because it's Michael and it's Emmitt and it's Troy and it's Jay and it's a great offensive line. But it was actually our defense. We had the number one defense in the NFL that year. And they were under the radar. You know, nobody really talked a lot about. And it was, you know was kind of that rotational thing. But Trey Hendrickson has brought a real legitimate threat.

Sam Hubbard has really kind of evolved into this unique edge guy that can drop in these zone drops and be effective. There's a lot of guys where they do that, and what impact are you having on that play? It seems that Sam Hubbard is able to do that and be very effective with it. And this is just kind of, you know, Lou Anarubo, again, going through that process of finding these guys unique the way that he wants to run his defense. So, you know, I think you're exactly right when we're not giving a lot of credit, you know, to that Cincinnati defense, the players that are there. But it's all that star power on that offensive side that takes it,

you know, since Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase have kind of hit the ground running, you know, that's where all the eyes are going to be. But it's that complementary component that keeps giving them the opportunity to play in championship games and have a chance to go to the Super Bowl. So when you go back to your football, you know, playoff resume, you lost in 91. So actually, I'm going to start there. Did the 38-6 loss at Detroit do anything positive for that Cowboys group? I'm one of those guys that will always say it's

really hard to find something positive in a loss. I think the one thing that we learned, because Detroit had beat us earlier in the year pretty handily as well on a Monday night. And maybe there was a revenge factor, you know, that we, you were using as your motivation, which is not the greatest motivation, you know, for a team to have, you know, you just want to go out in advance and go to the divisional round. And I think everybody thought that we were going to win. I, we've been heard stories that, that Washington actually prepared for us during the bi-week fully expecting us to go in and beat Detroit. Um, you know, we were the first team to knock off Washington that year, uh, in week 11 when they were 14 and two. So, um, you

know, that, that, that was the thought process, you know, for, for them. So, uh, we got up there and it, it just, it, it went sideways on us quick and, you know, that was a good team. And we always struggled, you know, with that, that style of offense that they were playing at the time. We struggled with the, uh, with the Houston Oilers when they were kind of running that, you know, that, that, uh, style of run and shoot offense back in the day. So, uh, you know, it, it, it was one of those things that if I was to look back on it, the big thing would be

revenge or payback is definitely not a really good motivating factor for your team. I bring it up because then when you look at the rest of it, it's like, okay, back-to-back Super Bowls, three and four years, but you'd beat the Niners and you're going back

and forth. Then I remember the 95 game, the one you lost in the NSC playoffs, but you'd beat the Niners and you're going back and forth. And then I remember the 95 game, the one you lost in the NFC playoffs, but it just was building. It was building this thing where it was just extra. And that's what I felt like we saw at Arrowhead yesterday is that even though it wasn't necessarily the same history between Kansas City and Cincinnati that you would have with the Cowboys and Niners,

it just, I don't know if you saw any of that, if you felt any of that, because that's the stuff I think we actually all like. Like I, I didn't care. I was an AFC fan, but I had to make sure I watched Niners Cowboys just back in the day because I knew there was always a little something extra on the line. Yeah. Let's throw one more wrinkle into that one as well too because you know brett farve and the packers were the were the ascending team you know as we were you know kind of slugging it out

and then all of a sudden they they kind of come into the fold right there 94 95 when they're starting to peak and we're starting to you know kind of come down the back side of the mountain you know does buffalo and josh allen now become that third component into this Kansas City-Cincinnati dynamic in the AFC? And that makes it even more special because, you know, I'll go back to that last Super Bowl we won. You know, there kind of been some, with the previous games, there was a dynamic going on where, you know, we were struggling a little bit with San Francisco. San Francisco was struggling with Green Bay and Green Bay was struggling with us. So it was really kind of how everything settled and sat.

And that last Super Bowl run we had, there was a loss in the final week of the regular season that moved us to the one seed as opposed to San Francisco. So that means Green Bay was going out to San Francisco, and they actually knocked them off and then came to play us in the championship game. So that dynamic that was going on, would we have knocked San Francisco off that year? I don't know. I don't know. They were tough. They had our number a little bit at that time, but we were very confident that we could knock off Green Bay. So that was another part of that odd dynamic as we started to transition out of

just Dallas, San Francisco. And then here comes Brett Favre and the Packers kind of throwing a monkey wrench into that dynamic. And then they ended up being the team that started going to the Super Bowls. Yeah, and if Buffalo could figure it out, maybe you'd have a similarity between

Buffalo, Kansas City, Cincinnati moving forward. Although Cincinnati's going to start getting a little bit more expensive with some of their guys. So we'll see how rounded out the rest of the roster is. So the play with Osai, Joseph Osai hitting Mahomes, what did you think when you saw it? I always tell people this. Football's an emotional game,

but you've got to be able to manage your emotions. And you've got to be smart. It's one of the funniest lines that Jimmy Johnson has. He's out on the boat with Bill Belichick and, you know, he has that line where if I ever dropped a dumb guy again, hit me in the head with a hammer. You know, you got to be smart on the football field and, you know, little mistakes like that. You know,

everything that happened during the course of the game, you can come down to something as simple as that. And, and that, you know, takes that, that 45 yard field goal makes it much more doable. So, um, I, I've, I've felt for him. I loved the response of the Cincinnati team, um, to support him and get around him. Um, it was tremendous that, that shows me that that's, that's a special team. You know, they've got, they've got some strong bonds there. They've got great chemistry and culture within that building because you just missed out on an opportunity to go to the Super Bowl. And right away, your teammates are there with you, supporting you,

helping you through that process as you've got to face the cameras and explain what you were thinking during that. And I'm also that guy that everybody looks at and plays late in the game. You know, the 15- that guy that, you know, everybody looks at plays late in the game. You know, the 15-yard penalty that gives you an easier field goal that wins the game, you know, with eight seconds left. Well, there's a lot of stuff that goes on, you know, those 59 minutes and 52 seconds leading up to that, where you could have done some things where that play is not even an issue. So I think it's unfair, but we always focus on those plays that happen right at the end of the game when there's plenty of opportunities during the course of the game to make sure that that was irrelevant at that time.

But the biggest takeaway I had from it was just the support that I saw from his teammates at that time. I thought that that was one of the more impressive things. Have you been in the locker room where, well, I know the answer to this is yes, so I should ask the question this way. What's it like in the locker room when all they want to do is blame the refs? There's validity on all fronts. People don't

bring stuff up like that if it doesn't in their mind exist. There were things that went on. The biggest one is the play that was whistled there, but we didn't hear the whistle, but you can see the guy coming in from the back that's going to shut it down. Is that his responsibility to be shutting it down? we get into mechanics of officiating, that's where these all-star crews start to maybe not be the greatest idea because you've built that chemistry. It's just like a team during the course of the season where it's second nature for you. Maybe it's just a look, but communication between the back judge and the side judge or the umpire, the referee going all the way to the back. It's hand signals. it's eye contact. Um, you know, when you get into these all-star crews, you know, I, I know there's carryover and they try to, to get guys together that have a history of working together in the past, but the ability to work through 18 games of the regular season and really build that chemistry.

So when you get into situations, everybody knows exactly how to respond and react and what, what their duties are. So, um, you know, I i i think some of the officiating in the playoffs um is is it warrants a second look are we doing what's best for the game in the most critical part of the season by going to these all star crews or are we better served with a group that has great chemistry and that second sense of how the mechanics are going to work and what they're seeing, but maybe not as if we can do anything, if the league can do anything to make sure that we're not having these situations. Did you learn anything from Philly? Is it possible to learn anything in that kind of game where San Francisco is at such a massive disadvantage? disadvantage? Yeah, it's hard. It's hard. The one thing I think you take away from it, Jalen Hurts is still not close to 100%. He's not

where he was prior to that Chicago game. We had them in New York week 14 and that Philadelphia team, we walked away. They were a machine. They could beat you throwing it. They could beat you running it. They just showed that over the weeks previous to that, I think they

went over, you know, 350 passing. They went over 300 brushing, um, you know, in back-to-back games. So they showed everybody, however, you're going to try to defend us. We've got an answer for that. And we walked away from that game, really feeling if Philadelphia was going to get knocked off, they were going to have to contribute. They're going to have to turn the ball over, do something to help the opponent because nobody's going to be able to go in.

And if Philly plays a clean game, knock them off at that time. Now, with the injuries to Jalen, to Avante Maddox, to Lane Johnson, you get to the end of the year and you're not that team you were in early December, but they're starting to make their way back. But when Jalen Hurts is 100% and he's running the football, not just as a threat, you know, you see him slide a little bit more now, but there's times when he does push it. But when he was playing and he was all out in that run game

and that threat of the run, not just the run, but a big run, on third down, in the red zone. I mean, he just makes it so much harder to defend that Philadelphia offense. So I don't think they're back to where they were prior to the injury, but they look better than they did week 18. I think they look better than they did against the Giants. So it was a step. I think that that's the thing you take away from it. You're going to be able to get into your film rooms and break everything down and be able to work on scheme and things like that, you know, from that game.

But I think the big thing you want to take away is, hey, this this guy's got two more weeks to get healthy and he's going to be healthier than he was against San Francisco. So, I mean, if he gets all the way back, I think you see a completely different Philadelphia team. Yeah, I think that's that's part of it where you cannot pay attention or if it was any kind of a shootout, you'd think, okay, well, how would have Hurts held up? But then to assume, you know, that's what he's going to look like

two weeks from now is a mistake. You know, I don't know if the Mahomes thing because he's Mahomes. It's like, man, I mean, that guy's going to be healthier too. I think the most impressive thing with Philadelphia is, you know, I love that front for San Francisco.

And to see that group confused at times, to see Fred Warner, who's probably my favorite linebacker at one point, confused on kind of a read option. That just tells you that the eye candy with Philadelphia, you know, it's at a Baltimore healthy Lamar level as well. But, you know, Baltimore doesn't have the rest of the pieces. They're not relevant to the discussion here that Philadelphia gets a Niners defense that technically is number one in a lot of different categories, maybe the best defense in football this season. Having them look confused at times is a really daunting task for any defense, including one in Kansas City, who statistically is not even close to what the Niners are. No, not at all. And, you know, maybe there's some familiarity there uh but yeah i agree with you i

mean the one play where we had fred warner that was just you know he was still trying to figure out exactly where the ball was i mean if you can get somebody to delay for a fraction of a second but they got fred to delay for you know a pretty strong count you know kind of a full second there so you know that that's all the threats right it? It's Miles Sanders, Kenneth Gainwell, Boston Scott running the football, Devontae Smith, A.J. Brown. I think Wes Watkins and Zach Pastel on the outside are really good, you know, third and fourth wide receivers. Dallas Goddard is a tight end.

And then Jalen Hurts. So there are, there's a ton of things. And you would think San Francisco, you know, seeing the style that their offense plays with, right? You got the same thing over there that you have to defend. And yet Philadelphia really, really impacted them. And the thing that I like about it, that they can get, they can get down and dirty with you too. You know, we talk about the RPO game, the zone read game, and some of the things they do that's explosive down the field. But then if they want to, they can get in there and just

be traditional run and get downhill on you. And Jeff Stoutland's done a great job with that offensive line. So that's the thing that makes this Philadelphia team so unique is how many different ways that they can beat you. And depending on how you choose to defend them, they're going to have that answer for it. They're going to have that solution for it. And again, it's another team that their offensive players overshadow what they're doing on the defensive side of the ball. I mean, Hassan Reddick was the guy that changed that game. He was the guy in the Giants game that got everything going. You know, we, we focus on other people. You know, you've got Nick Bosa in that game, but it was actually Hassan Reddick who had the huge impact with the

hit on Purdy. You know, they hit on, on, on Josh Johnson. So he's just one of the four double-digit sack guys on that defense. So, you know, that defense is remarkable. The combination of rush coverage that Jonathan Gannon has at his disposal is pretty darn impressive. Do you have a lean two weeks to go? I don't. I don't. I think there's so much unknown. It, it's kind of what you had going into championship weekend. How healthy is Jalen hurts? How healthy is Patrick Mahomes? Um, you

know, will their health impact what they can do on the field? I think both of them will get healthier. Uh, I don't think either of them took a step back. You heard Patrick talk about last week. He got on to his recovery Saturday night, so I'm sure he was back at it last night again, and Jalen Hurts as well. Going into it, everybody talked about Kansas City's defense being the one defense in that Final Four that was not on par with the other three,

and they sure were a difference in that final four that was not on par with the other three. And they, they, they, they sure were a difference in that game yesterday. So, you know, sometimes, you know, you saw Cincinnati kind of where that, you know, we feel like we've been snubbed and we're, we're, we're not good enough. And, you know, we were out of the conversation. You can get a little bit of that, you know, with Spags and his defense going into the Superbowl, the way people talked about the final Four. And yet there they are with Chris Jones being the impactful group on that field. So I think it's going to be a great matchup.

Can you contain everything on the perimeter with Philly? We see these touchdown runs from 15 yards out where they're not even touched. And it's been happening all season long. Nobody's been able to kind of crack that code on it. So I think that'll be something to look for early in the game is are the Philadelphia running backs getting down the field 8, 10, 12 yards before there's any contact, especially on that edge run.

Okay, last thing. How different was Jimmy, or maybe I shouldn't presume any difference, but when I look at coaches and their job to not only figure out game plans and all that kind of stuff, but to emotionally keep you in a certain state and then be surprising or not be surprised. Every coach has a different philosophy.

Some will look back historically what they did to try to motivate a team and be like, I wish I hadn't done that. Was Jimmy any different from the second Super Bowl to the previous one and how he would talk to you, how he would try to build you up or do whatever leading up to the first one and then obviously trying to get back to back? Jimmy had his foundational pieces that he was really, really consistent with, which I think is very important. So everybody knows exactly what to expect, but he would reinvent and he would look for messaging that was unique for that game. He realized that at that time, that message could get stale because guys are hearing it over and over and over again. But sometimes you have to do it because you have new faces coming in. We were unique because we had, you know, the first half of my career was the old style of business where there wasn't any free agency. And the second half, uh, you know, free agency became a part of the NFL. So, you know, for the first half of my career, it's, it's a lot of the same guys and, you know, you've, you've got to be creative and reinvent that

messaging. Um, the second half of the career, when you've got change and new faces with, with free agency, you want to make sure that they're, they're hearing the things that you think are important. So you get a little bit of redundancy there, but, but I thought Jimmy was great. Uh, you know, just kind of running everything and, and just, you know, his, the importance he placed on consistency is basically, you know, that first Superbowl when we got out to California, um, you know, he told us, listen, I'm going to, I'm going to try and keep the schedule as similar as we possibly can. Um, but, but understand that there's going to be media obligations. There's going to be other things that kind of, you know,

get into our schedule and it's not going to be exact, but we're going to try and get you into that environment. And I want you guys to do the same things that you would have done during the week back in Dallas. Don't change. Don't make this game appear to be bigger than it is. It's just a game. When we kick that football off, it's going to be one between the white lines by how you play and how we prepare during the course of the week. So whatever we were doing to get to this point let's make sure we continue to do that for one more week and that that's where i thought he was outstanding uh we got out to california we kind of just drifted right into that routine um and and for me the game never felt like it was it was something unique or something too big you're aware

of all the all the super bowl festivities going on around you. There's a couple of things on game day with extended pregame and extended halftime, but you navigate some of those things and you expect them. And we got better from our first Super Bowl to our second Super Bowl. And one of the big areas was that halftime. I think at the time when we were playing, it was 12 minutes, 14 minutes. And when you're at Super Bowl, it's 35. So we were amped up and ready to go a little bit early.

And that following year, we had a much better pace and probably some of Jimmy's best coaching during his tenure with the Dallas Cowboys with his halftime adjustments and what we did that second time we played Buffalo. Hey, thanks a lot. Let's catch up with you again, Daryl. Appreciate it.

Yeah, always fun talking football with you. Take care. Hey, thanks for letting us catch up with you again, Daryl. Appreciate it. Yeah, always fun talking football with you. Take care. You want details? Fine.

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

Life advice, rr at gmail.com. Check in with Kyle. What's up, bud? How's it? Doing well. Glad to be back. Did a little time in San Diego and it was just the right amount of time.

People want to know about San Diego. How'd that go? Yeah, well, Gaslamp is fun. Everyone's, you know, I asked for some recommendations. Everyone's like, oh, don't go down there. I was like, yeah, well, this is where I'm at. Um, gas lamp is, is what it is. I guess that's like the downtown area. Right. So, um, sorry for everyone who thinks I'm a tourist, but I kind of was, so anyway, it was fun. Great time. Was that the whole point? What was it? You and the old lady?

No, it was my buddy's birthday. And, uh, I don't know i don't know uh who still takes birthday trips uh in their in their late 20s about to touch 30 but he did and uh he wanted to go to la and i was like oh you went to lr to la already the weather isn't so hot i was like yeah maybe maybe you go to san diego or something so i thought i was off the hook he's like well you're gonna come see me and i was like i guess so so drove down there spent a bunch of money and came back when did you get back when uh get back an hour ago i got back uh 30 minutes before the first game yesterday okay all right well then yeah and you had to work last night late the team on my back yeah i went outside the first game went back recovered everything got a little sleep and uh here we are monday okay all right sounds good all right the good transition uh this one's titled

is my college friend scumbag hi ryan kyle. I'm 25 years old, currently living in Fenway, but originally from PA. All my friends I'm talking about in the story are also 25. Felt like that was important to the story. I think it is important. Thank you for that. I just got back from a ski trip with a bunch of my buddies in Vermont. Do you want to just tell everybody their names and social security numbers here too? But I guess he wanted all of... Okay, wait a minute. So they all want this opinion. So they're sharing a lot here.

I hope you mean it. I'm not deleting anything anymore. Right. I hope you mean it. I hope you mean it. We all want to get your opinion on something that was said during the weekend. I am going to change the name here. On our drive home from the mountain, my friend Victor told us that he's been accepting bets from one of his buddies that he's supposed

to be putting down on Syracuse men's basketball. I guess in New York, it is illegal to bet on any in-state team. So the only way to do this is to use a black market bookie website. state team. So the only way to do this is to use a black market bookie website. Okay. Victor's friend only bets on games that he attends. And in most cases, Syracuse is a huge underdog. So he's yet to win on any of these bets. Let's see how Cuse is doing. ATS. All right. We're looking at against the spread. It says as a home dog, they are 1-0-1 against the spread.

As the home team, they're 7-4 against the spread. Some of these facts I'm checking out. Okay. Moving on. Victor's friend only bets on the home games. QC is a huge underdog, so he has yet to win on any of these bets. Victor's buddy here, go orange, losing all the time. This is all fine, and the friend just wants to bet for the fun of it.

Up until this point, Victor's friend's lost at $300 to $400 over the past year or so. All right, so we're going to the past year or so. So look, all right, fine. I just felt like there was some number that I'd saw the other day that I was like, I'm curious about this. So there's a very real chance here that this is totally true and that the guy's lost over the course of a year in games that he's attended, $300 to $400. So what's the problem? All right, here's the issue we were debating. Victor's not actually been submitting these bets.

We knew that was happening. He just accepts the bets and pockets the money knowing that the bets will never hit. Victor claims that he'll pay out if his friends wins, and I do believe him, but Victor's not told his friend that he's doing this. I thought that this was a scumbag move, but a lot of my friends didn't see the issue with it. My take was that it'd be fine if he told his friend, but keeping it a secret felt scummy to me.

Hopefully, I've provided all the necessary details for you guys to make your opinion about that matter. Go birds. I have no issue with what your friend is doing whatsoever. I mean, if he's going to pay him if the other guy wins, fine. But if he's just taking his bets and the guy keeps losing, yeah, sure, I guess he could tell him. But clearly the guy just wants to bet the games.

If he's lost between 300 and 400 over the course of a year and just does it for the entertainment factor of then going to. Yeah. Yeah, like it's not even an issue issue we all have friends that you're like i will fade every fucking decision you make in life never mind syracuse men's basketball so uh yeah it's worked out i mean i had a back and forth with a buddy 20 something years ago where we would just fade each other all the time and then one of us always owed the other guy. It was very minimal money,

but it was always a pain in the ass, depending on which way. When you start asking the other guy to make it to a Western Union and then cover the cost, you're just like, bro, leave me alone. So I don't have an issue with it at all. I think your friend and your friends,

your whole group, you're the one that doesn't like it because the other guy doesn't know. Do you even know the other guy? So I guess he could just straight up say, hey, this is what I'm doing. Or that version of events would make you feel better about it. But I don't think he's scum. I'm ruling on scumbag is no from this corner. Yeah, can't be a scumbag. I mean, unless like, unless he's there's like some sort of crazy underdog bet that this guy's not going to be able to cover, but it sounds like that's not really the sort of,

that's not what we're dealing with here. It doesn't sound like Moneyline or anything like that. It just sounds like the guy's betting Q's games that he goes to and wants to have a little adrenaline, a little juice in the game. That sounds right. It just seems harmless. Guys do it with each other all the time.

It's weird that it's kind of worse than lying by omission. It seems harmless. These are just taking like it's people, guys do it with each other all the time. It's weird that, you know, it's, it's kind of worse than lying by omission. It's basically lying. Right. But, uh,

I don't know. Um, I, I, I'm fine with it. I think I could see why I could see why it bothers you. It wouldn't bother me. So,

uh, I would definitely not go as far as scumbag. And I would definitely say, um, there's probably more important things to be bothered about. So, yeah, I would tell you,

don't let it bother you that much. At all. Right. Yeah. I don't really see what the problem is in this whatsoever. I just don't. Ruling goes to the defendant here. It's a bit like the...

Honestly, it's a bit like the open, where we find other things to blame than the thing to blame. So it's like, okay, well, it's one thing I've been losing, but I didn't know I was losing to you. What does it matter? It's the exact same mouth. You were going to lose, you lost, and you'd be out the three or 400 bucks.

So now you're mad, not because you keep fucking losing. You're mad that there was some part of the transaction that you didn't quite understand when ultimately the outcome would be no different. And yes, I think there's some arguments against this in different areas, but it's just back to what the open is and how I close the open is it's really hard for us. Like, no, no, I should say it this way in that case. Yes. But if we can find an alternative way to be upset, other than the origin, the real reason we're upset, we're going

to take it every single time. So I don't know if that's part of it. Speaking of money, before we do the next life advice, we did have a financial blogger who reached out. He didn't ask to come on the show. He wasn't asking for any promotion whatsoever, which is the best way to get promotion. I don't know if I want to give out the sub stack that he does because I haven't read it. Probably not going to read it um i'm not going to go ahead and endorse it so basically he was following up on the 25 year old on the savings plan context and as we said in the email the real guy that does it backs us up like our friend that was comparing himself to his other friends have like six figures in their 20s saved up it's just fucking like that was like this weird extra group it's like the rat pack

you know like what do you guys do on the weekends like well four of my buddies have their own residency at this hotel in vegas and we go bananas we do it every weekend for a decade like oh really i got i got a snowplow i love the thing. Okay, so he threw some median and average numbers at us here for retirement savings accounts by age. So we'll just go. They're different numbers. And let's just go average here. So average savings account balances by age. Under 25, six grand.

25 to 34 kyle 37 grand how you feeling i got a while before 34 so that's good news oh okay okay all right that's not that's not how much you've saved in your whole life that we're talking savings account balance it's yeah it's not uh okay i want to make sure it's not cumulative yeah it's more of a batting average for your career not home runs got it okay okay so 25 to 34 37 000 35 to 44 our guy says 97 000 all right 45 to 54 179 000 says $97,000. All right. $45,000 to $54,000, $179,000. $55,000 to $64,000, $256,000. And then $65,000 plus is $280,000.

This is, again, savings account. This is not accounting for the Roth that I've been diligently working at. I believe... It's I believe savings account. Yes. Yes. This was Vanguard's how America saves 2022 report. So there's citing it there.

Uh, it seems high by the way, do not send follow-up emails on that. Anyone is going to be like, actually I have like, cool. That's why it was an average. You know, I was always interested in those, like, all the banking commercials, you know, how they show like some fake number in the checking account. And I always get bummed out

when I see the one that's got like 20 grand in the savings. I always like it when I see the guy who's got like $1,400 and 17 cents in savings. I'm like, okay, because there's a lot more of the fake bank accounts on commercials that are up quite on the high end. So I always feel like the everyman when there's the one Chase commercial that shows, or GoToBank, one of the other banks, where it's like the guy's looking at his phone and it's $1,700 in the savings.

So that makes me feel a little more normal. Okay, I'm going to add, you just hit on something that I find absolutely fascinating and I'm sure I'm in a very small group. Whenever I see any of those financial ads about like opening accounts, I just wonder how many people talk about what's the right number.

What's the number? What's the right number to show the TV audience so either they feel like it's obtainable, but they don't feel like this guy's a shithead, but then it's not so high. Like there was one with Steph Curry that showed like I think 100 grand in the account or maybe 70.

Was that like FTX or crypto or whatever? Yeah, and you were kind of like, all right, I know what you're trying to do. You can't put Steph like, yeah, he has a $12 million position here because then it feels like it's outer space and the consumer at home is going, well, I cannot relate to that number. That product is not for me.

But then you also don't want to go like, and with our tailor-made financial expertise and all these different things, and then you show a guy with like $ bucks and it's checking it's rounding up on his purchases yeah then they're going well wait this thing's for like there's always yeah it's always going to be this soft number that's like seven to forty thousand dollars on the ad that they show the number in the guy's account the wife is on the sofa next to him and they're looking at each other and they're like, we're really doing it. We're really doing it. But like the number, the number can't be so intimidating. Like the people on the couch are way too happy about a number that's probably not that great. But the whole advertising, all the marketing people, like that number has to be this perfectly lane number.

The biggest choice in the commercial, that and the music. all the marketing people like that number has to be this perfectly lane number like the biggest choice in the commercial that and the music yeah and i don't know what the number is i just know when i see it i go oh they went they went a little lower but they can't you can't go to the extremes because you have to have the product appeal to the widest number of audience that's that's all i just i've seen some people like gray hair kicking in fucking kid running around the front yard and they're looking at a thing that says 42,000 and the house looks really nice. I'm like, that number is not going to fly. That number is not going to fly.

And again, it's not access to all of their accounts, but it'll be, I don't know. I like a low number. It makes me feel better. You like a low number. Low number makes you feel better. 15 will get me excited, but 2,000 makes me feel good. 4,000 even. It seems like a normal guy.

Or a woman. Or a woman. This is a very, very specific one. Do you know who Magnus Carlsen is? Is that like a villain in a movie or something? Could be. You want to look him up? Chess guy. The only reason I knew is that like a villain in a movie or something? Could be. You want to look him up? Chess guy.

The only reason I knew is that I just recently saw a video of him destroying some kid. Not a fight. Chess. You want to give us the resume? Handsome dude, I think. I don't know. Maybe.

Is Magnus hot? I think he's more of an angle guy definitely definitely needs the right angle but sure yeah i see him norwegian chess master chess grandmaster i gotta tell you i never i've never heard anybody suggest he's hot yeah i didn't i didn't say hot did i i thought it was a good looking guy i don't know he's got some angles where it's like he looks like he's about to move that that rook somewhere and he looks he's liking what he's gonna i don't know whatever he's he's he looked like an evil jesse pleemans what's how do you sure sure sure and then you know really changes seems like he goes over you know he changes his hair a little bit and and uh i you know what i think you brought a good i think you brought up I think you brought up a good point for chess smoke show

yeah okay great yeah right sure chess this guy's on the road forget it okay here we go speaking of speaking of perfect transition the email

is titled hanging with Magnus Carlsen. Our guy, 6'3", 215, 28, self-employed. Was 185 for years, but ballooned during the pandemic and trying to work back down. Pickup game was a poor man's DeMar DeRozan, now closer to a homeless man's, say, unhoused, Brian Scalabrini.

How did you go from DeRozan to Scosen to scal i'm gonna go ahead and guess that the derosen that was high that was really high derosen fucking has a package of jumpers and drives that most mortals don't have anything that looks close to me derosen is awesome uh and i was totally wrong about his contract extension that guy's been incredible all right living in a former nba city that got fucked worse than seattle couldn't we've gotten i don't know at least a 25 win team before just being declared a failed market and done forever i'm guessing vancouver uh i'll try to keep it as short as possible myself and my girlfriend two and a half years she's 32 four years older write that down k. I think so is Magnus, by the way.

Sheet Magnus is what? I think he's 32 as well. Oh, okay. Perfect. Thank you for that added context. They live together. Usually things are fantastic. We ski travel together. We're also strong business partners. Wow. Long story short, I love this woman deeply. I hope to spend the rest of my life with her. The only recurring problem in our relationship that I have a big extended family and feel obligated to spend a lot of free time, vacation time with them. She's an immigrant, and as such, all of her family is on the other side of the world. She feels that we should spend our free time together, but up until recently, I've been able to strike the right balance and make things work for all parties. Recently, there have been some events that upset the balance. Someone in my family I was quite close with passed recently. That's sad. I'm sorry to hear that. It's naturally taken a lot of my free time. We made a deal that once this was done, the funeral's coming up, that I would work and spend time with her and little else for the immediate future.

Okay, so you made some kind of agreement that after this. Okay. future. Okay, so you made some kind of agreement that after this... Okay. I was in full agreement, but the other day I got a phone call from one of my close friends who invited me on a rather unique two-day trip. We can go to Toronto to party with some of his streamer friends who will

have a rather special guest, Magnus Carlsen. For some context, when I was younger, I was a fairly avid chess player and managed to get a master title. I'd say the rough equivalent is a mid-level D1 player. Master title is mid-level D1. Whatever. It's chess.

Two belts below black or something? Yeah. Purple belt is... Yeah. I don't know. Because Grandmaster would be the black belt, I think. I'm just thinking if you're a mid-level D1 player, I don't't know what does that put you at you'd see it in hall all of this is irrelevant let's keep reading the email uh if lebron had won seven or eight rings and six mvps in a row that would be what magnus is to chess oh wow all

right so lebron seven or eight rings six six MVPs in a row. So even beyond LeBron. I don't have time to compete regularly anymore, but I still try to follow the game as much as I can. The dates don't directly conflict, but when I brought this up to my girlfriend, she was bold font, furious.

We should be spending our time together and threatened to leave me if I go. I understand why she's upset, but this is a unique once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I don't want to pass this up. I'll probably end up going. If you could spend a weekend partying with LeBron, what would you give up?

Honestly, maybe Durant. You might be asking the wrong guy. Yeah, Durant. You send out a bunch of tweets together all weekend. No matter what, don't want to sacrifice my relationship to do it, hoping to find a way to sell this. Sorry if it went a little long.

Actually, that was a well-written email, and I think the perfect size, perfect length, we should say. Okay, you have a major problem on your hands. You have an irrational person. You've been with her two and a half years. I imagine this has cropped up, popped up at times.

I shouldn't say crop. You want to go. It sounds like you really want to. I mean, look, you're asking the wrong guy. I'm going, okay? But I wouldn't be with anybody for two and a half years that was going to tell me down the road

that I can't go. I provide you autonomy. I expect the same. That's kind of my deal, right? One would say perhaps two autonomies at times. But the reason why is that the normal talking this out thing would be, so are you saying that I now, if a thing comes up, I'm in this imaginary window where I can't do anything for me because you don't have anybody else around. We had this thing happen where somebody close, a close relative dies. It's taken up a lot of my time. We haven't had enough time. I told you, hey, once we get through this, let's really lock in on you and me time, which I think is a really great thing in the relationship. You've identified it. You've

expressed it. You've made it a priority. But then this little curveball shows up that it will provide you with two to three days of joy in something that has been a lifelong passion. All right. And that she wants to now pretend like it's anything other than punishing you. Like, I just have a really hard time with people like this. And again, the rational way of talking about it's like you do understand that in the future there will be something that comes up that I will want to do and I will probably do it by myself.

We're not going to do everything together for the rest of our lives. Although I know there are some relationships like that. So are you saying that like I'm not allowed to do some of those things in the future or I'm allowed to do it six months from now, 12 months from now, fucking three weeks from now, I'm allowed to do it? And there isn't even anything that you guys plan or is on the books. So look, I'm totally on your side, but that doesn't mean that you're going to win this. I just think that you have to map it out and go, look, I know what we talked about. I know what I've just been through. We haven't had a lot of time together we're prioritizing us but this is something that is like since my childhood

if you're this fired up to go hang with magnus carlson or you're actually by the way you might want to double check like are you really going to see him you're going to stand with a fucking mid-tier badge on then you're gonna have to lie until you did hang out yeah right so might want to double check the access uh notes on that one i personally have a very hard time with this kind of dynamic in any kind of relationship even though i know so many people that are listening to this are in these relationships and i think in some ways i think there's some people that like to be told what they can and can't do which is fucking weird but i've seen it uh i think there's some weird buy-in from usually it's the the male well it's like i'm not allowed to do

anything you know the old lady will never let me do that it's like they sort of like it they like that role uh i clearly have resisted that role for many decades now and you're talking to a guy like i'm upset for you because of how irrational this whole thing is she is she wants to make you do something other than something that you would have great joy in and by the way is a very small part of your timeline together where after three days you're gonna be back and you can watch all the fucking bad movies and get takeout on your couch you're gonna do all the fucking time of the rest of your life. You're going to get married anyway. So her being furious,

her being irrational about this, I have a problem with, but I don't have any advice on how to win because I think you're dealing with somebody who's irrational if they can get to this point. So good luck with all that. Yeah. I think, A, this is just unfortunate.

I've sort of been in a situation not not like not like what you're saying exactly and and not having anything to do with chess obviously but it was like i said like here's i'm gonna do this this is gonna be better or like you know i'm gonna make a change right now and then something comes up like two days after i say i'm gonna make this change it's like ah fuck i know i if i just didn't that, this wouldn't even be a big deal. But we just had a whole conversation about it. And I was like, OK, boom. And now it's like, oh, something came up. And yeah, I kind of have to do this. And I know that it looks really bad and whatever. So I think that's sort of what happened to you. You were like you had this whole thing. You're like, look, I know it's been really rough.

I'm like, it's just me and you, babe, for the next month or whatever. Like it's every weekend, whatever we got, we'll go hiking. I got, I booked a dinner to a month from now, uh, for Saturday. It's great. You got this whole thing. And then you kind of break your promise. Um, but you know, shit does come up and, and I would say that, uh, there's, yes, she's an unreasonable person, uh, to, it's not really going to get any easier to travel. You generally pick up responsibility as you roll down the road for most people. So, and if you're staying with her,

I don't know if it'll get much easier. I would ask this, does she have friends? Like you're saying, oh, her family's far away, but does she have like friends? If you're leaving for three days or something, is it not even crossing her mind to like hit up Veronica and Stacey and be like, do you guys want to do something this weekend? Do you want to do a little staycation? Maybe we'll go, I don't know. Because that's a bad sign. If she has

no friends, which there are some people that just are fine just being with their significant other and not really having friends and working and that's okay. But I would say that that's a bad sign for you in the future if you're like, hey, I'm going to do something that I wouldn't consider selfish. But if you have no friends, you might consider it selfish because you have nothing to do. So I'd ask yourself that because that's not going to make any of this easier. If she doesn't have friends and she's not picking up any friends, I don't see how you trying to go out on your own and having a fun time without without feeling guilty or you know getting passive aggressive texts and phone calls uh that's not going to get easier so i would i would take a long hard look at who you're with if she's uh she's friendly or not wanted you one more quick one yeah i got time all right am i weird uh stats early, big guy, work out a ton but fat. Total drag. Happens. He doesn't include this. Also in a great mood recently.

Sorry, man. Let's see. I don't know. I already started to feel sympathetic after that one. Crank up the cardio, man. I hate it too. Fans since Van Pelt, but give love to Danny.

When I got a job that became my career, my dad and I used to talk about your show with Danny. And when I realized there was a video, I would go home at lunch and watch what I could then and call my pop that evening. We would talk about it. Danny's SEC takes are crazy, but we were both still fans. Probably not from the SEC. Oh, I just looked. He's not.

I'm not going to share where it was, but I immediately looked down at the address to see, and I was like, this isn't. I told you I was out to dinner with LSU one night, and I was like, do you guys want show T-shirts? And they were like, does it say Canel on them? I was like, yeah, it's the show. And they were like, no.

He crossed lines. Lines were crossed. Issue in question. I am partnered to a person with whom i live she's super awesome we're both really independent if one of us goes out of town or something we don't really consult the other oh so it's the opposite yeah keep listening guy right uh it's more of quote i'm leaving hope we don't have a thing i bring that up because we're both independent machine leaves i cook for myself i don't just start going out like crazy or make the excuse.

It's just so hard cooking for one. It's not. Just make less or eat leftovers. This really kind of gets back to the original point of some of the working out stuff where people will be like, Oh, I tried this or I tried that or whatever. And it's like, okay, but have you tried anything? Have you tried whatever it is you're doing? Are you eating more? Are you eating less? Are you doing more or less cardio? Are you doing these kinds of things? It's like, you have to kind of figure out what your

formula is. Anyway, that's a different life advice altogether with somebody more qualified than I am. So, um, also I graduated college later than everyone. I get used to going to movies by myself or going out to eat if I want that kind of thing never bothered me, and I'm glad I felt secure enough to just go if I want and not be overly insecure. Yeah, man, I have a massive amount of sympathy for the 21-year-old guy that shows up to college and thinks he's just going to hang. Unless you're a hockey player who's got an accent, who sort of hides how old he is all the time, it's a tough ride.

We had some dude from Scandinavia who tried to join the fraternity, but he was like 22 and he just was going for it. Guys were like, no, he's out. He's older than most of us. He's not going to listen to any of us. I think he was in the military in Scandinavia

and then came over. Again, don't fact check me on that. It's a little loose. He was like 22 and he it's it's he was like 22 and he was from overseas and he was like something military and guys are like fuck that like it's just tough it's very very tough i can't fathom my group in college going yeah that's our 26 year old buddy doug it's a sophomore met him at BizAd he wants to get together like what are you what are you nuts

how old is he 26 that's so old it was in our group our freshman year he was I think he was like he was out of jail

on some work release thing I think he had sold like a bunch of weed to a cop or something and whatever so he was like he was doing his best. He was in our dorm and, uh, just a cool, like, I think he was maybe in his thirties, like early or maybe late twenties, um, smooth guy from Rochester. And just, uh, he just, uh, he was just trying his best, but, uh, you know, we were 17, 18. So,

you know, we'd hang out with him twice a week. I think he was 27 or 30 or something. Cool, just cool black dude. So you guys did hang out with him? He was your guy? Yeah, man. I'll run to the store. What do you need? Yes, but I was 17. By the time I was 22,

the prospect probably wouldn't have looked so doable, but I don't know. I was there, the prospect probably wouldn't have looked so doable. But I don't know. I was there, me and my buddy Doc. Yeah. No, I get it. I get it. The only time it's ever really worked was in the movie Fear.

You're like, so how old are these guys that have a house, but they go to high school? Like, that guy's 30. What the fuck's that guy's deal? All right. I think there's a question in here somewhere. But what we're saying is this guy's used to, he's okay, he's comfortable being by himself. And I would say that anybody that goes

to college later, for whatever reason, you're at a disadvantage socially. It sucks. I feel bad for you. But I wasn't going to be forensic back then. I was fucking 19. Fuck off. Issue at hand. I'm lucky because of that now I get to go out of town for work about once a month for overtime.

Fortunately, I'm one of those folks who are not miserable at work. When I go out of town, I stay in a hotel. When it's just me, I take an Uber out to eat. Normally, I don't want to eat like hot garbage. I don't want the room to smell like pizza, so I just go out. Hey, it makes sense. Plenty of times I've done takeout in the hotel where fucking 30 minutes later, I'm like, this room smells awful and I want to put it in the hallway, hallway begging somebody to move it slide it down to somebody else's room

be like dude look at that guy can't believe he ate two minutes i'm just kidding all right so uh there's a place where i stay that has a nice kind of like a trendy ruth's chris steakhouse i dig i call a ride take a book sit at the bar smash a steak, and read. So the guy brings a book with him to the bar. He sits at the bar, right? Yeah, I've seen that. Yeah. I usually have questions when I see that, but yeah, I've seen that.

He just said it. Sit at a bar, smash a steak, and read. My question is people at work think this is weird and make fun of me. They joke with me about it. It's all in good fun, but my retort is, quote, I think you are all too insecure to do anything by yourself. Like I said, I actually just take a book, try and sit at the bar or a booth to not take up too much space. I have some wine, some bourbon, smash a steak and hit the bricks. I guess I'm looking for a ruling from you folks to see if it's weird.

I'm going to keep doing it because I like going out to eat and I like reading while I do it. Just curious. Don't use my name, but you can use my state if that matters. it's weird. I'm going to keep doing it because I like going out to eat and I like reading while I do it. Just curious. Don't use my name, but you can use my state if that matters. That's fine. He said, P.S. stuff that shouldn't

but may matter. I have a mustache. That matters now. I am not hot. No, I'm not confident. Every attractive person I'm terrified of also i tend to read fiction uh the new brett easton ellis and cormac mccarthy of late if that matters uh i would say reading brett easton ellis by yourself with a mustache is fucking

would be some red flags uh in general just because soil bretzka i've read a few of his weird ones cormac mccarthy anyway here's the i can't eat unless i have something to read i eat by myself every day uh i nothing i was there was nothing that i liked more than having the old boston globe especially the sunday globe i used to play flag football over by harvard and then i would go to the border cafe in Harvard square and I would bring the Sunday globe and a highlighter and I would sit there. I'd get a table. I'd get an app. I'd get the salad. And then I do the black and chicken fajitas and chips and salsa. I would need a wheelbarrow to even get me. I would think about calling a DD just to get me

home because of the food. And that was my my routine and if i didn't have a newspaper i couldn't fucking eat i couldn't eat so now you have the right audience for this one i i don't understand how people can't eat by themselves i i don't i don't but i've had friends that like cannot fathom the idea of going to a nice restaurant sitting at the bar and sitting there by yourself the reading part maybe adds an extra layer to it because you go to the old fiction book, you know, a little paperback. Maybe that sense. I used to not love when we opened the bar up and a guy would try to do the overlap of like over. We had like a weird thing where it was like an older crowd into the younger crowd overlap.

And then we'd have an older guy that would kind of see if he could hang back and then he'd read a book. There's one guy that used a journal. We're like, it's fucking guy out of here. So I think there's levels to the journal level, you know, magic tricks. You know, magic guy at the bar. You're not doing that. I personally

think you're great here. Good for you. Keep doing it. Don't think it's weird at all. I think it's weird when other people think it's weird. You know?'t think it's weird at all. Uh, I think it's weird when other people think it's weird, you know, I mean, I think it's crazy that someone else can't go sit at a bar by themselves and eat a meal that if there's someone else isn't there to eat with them, they're freaked out. But again, I think I'm in the minority on that one. Yeah. That's one of my favorite things. Um, so I mean,

minus the book, I'll sit at a bar and see what happens. But, um, I, I would say, uh, that's one of my favorite things. So, I mean, minus the book, I'll sit at a bar and see what happens. But I would say it's happened at Frolic. And it's the only reason it's strange that Frolic is it's so fucking loud in there. I don't know how you could concentrate on anything. So I did have questions for the one person that I saw reading just straight up reading a book at Frolic. But I wasn't like, what's your problem, dude? I was like, what do you got there? What do you got?

Yeah. Yeah. The bar move is a little i think the bar move is way weirder than the restaurant move right yeah restaurant bar is so normal yeah if you're like if you're going into like i don't know mcduff's irish pub and there's like music going in games and you're just you know in between like four people and you're just reading i mean i could see how they'd have a question for you or like maybe not they might just be there's They might just be like, there's better places to read. Restaurant bar though. That's I have no issue with that. I think that's normal. Uh, eating alone for me is, is fine now, you know, when I travel

for work, which hasn't been so often, but you know, I kind of lost my travel buddies over the last couple of years. So I kind of go solo when I, uh, when I travel now too. And I don't find anything wrong with that. I'm more of a conversator. So maybe I'll see if somebody's interested in talking to me, like the alone guy, but I'm not striking up conversations. But I think eating alone is totally normal, whether you're reading or not.

I'm glad you said you had the mustache. I wonder what your style is. Are you like a trendy bartender mustache or like a burly mustache? Probably not, right? There's no wax in this mustache, right? The guy absolutely called himself out in like the most efficient fashion ever at the end of the email. And I don't know. Like he said, I don't know if this helps.

I think the fundamentals are great. The fundamentals here are terrific. The outside evaluation may be a little off, but I like the fundamentals are great. The fundamentals here are terrific. The outside evaluation may be a little off, but I like the fundamentals, so I would stay with it. Yeah, I'm into it. I would say if you were single, I would actually switch up and maybe do a newspaper because I think you'll look pretty learned at that point.

But you said you're all good. But you said you're all good. But the newspaper seems pretty cool nowadays. I think some girl would ask you at least what's going on if she sees you by yourself at a bar reading the newspaper just learning stuff somebody's stealing my sunday newspaper really every sunday i've gotten one in the last eight have you seen it you looked at the old doorbell camera or maybe uh well the problem is my front yard is a sidewalk and a street you know so but like think about the

selfishness you want to start talking about like the chipotle sauce thing and the whole deal is that in no version of events if this paper were on my porch of like a normal neighborhood like you know let's say white picket fence you know crowded suburbia type of thing and you know walking up the driveway no nobody would walk up the driveway nobody would take it out of the mailbox i mean yes it could happen right but since my as soon as i walk out of my door i'm on a public sidewalk uh there's this kind of like weird gray area now where this motherfucker thinks that it's like well it's just on the sidewalk there's dog shit in your trash cans your newspaper's gone no there's dog shit oh all the place all the time. But this one is like, this fucking asshole is totally okay.

He's done the math in his head where his Sunday stroll, he's timed it up. It's that Wall Street Journal on Sundays there every Sunday, and he just takes it. Have you been waking up earlier or what? I get up pretty early, but I don't run out to go like get it and i think it's getting delivered really early i think this guy's getting it really early so i gotta go back and look at the cameras but i'm thinking about doing a full recon yeah like hang and then running out from behind like a wall yes but i don't know i want to spend two hours waiting waiting for this guy but i really would like to teach him a lesson because it just,

you decided at some point when somebody else's stuff was there because it's like a sidewalk and not a front lawn, it's okay. It's okay to steal this one. It happens. If we're over a fence, if we're over a fence, that's wrong. It's still the same exact thing, but you've, you've figured out a way to feel okay about yourself. You're like, hey, my Sunday stroll again. There was a Wall Street Journal just sitting there on the sidewalk again. It's like, no, it's a guy's.

You're okay with the person who paid for it waking up every Sunday going, cool, it's gone again. Those are the people we should be fucking going to war against. Everybody has to fill out a card. Are you okay with this? Yep, okay. Go to the left. Alright. Thanks, Kyle. That is the Ryan Russo Podcast. Ringer Spotify. Tons of

basketball on Wednesday. Thank you.