The Ryen Russillo Podcast - The Hunt for Caleb Williams and Questioning the Draft Process. Plus, Underrated QBs With Willie Colon.

Episode Date: October 6, 2023

Russillo starts by discussing Justin Fields’s resurgence the past two weeks and how that could affect Caleb Williams (1:00). Next, he’s joined by Super Bowl champion and Fox Sports host Willie Colon to break down QB play throughout the league and discuss the challenges of the New York media (14:00). Finally, Ceruti and Kyle join to make this week’s Alliance Parlay (49:00) before closing the show with some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (53:00). The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please check out theringer.com/RG to find out more or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Willie Colon Producers: Steve Ceruti, Kyle Crichton, and Mike Wargon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

on today's podcast we break down a little bit of the thursday night football thing but a conversation about justin fields but that pivots more into caleb williams what's fair about his future and just a bigger thing on sympathy for athletes willie c Colon on a bunch of different stuff, including playing in New York. Also, apologies. Max Homa had to cancel. Totally understandable. We'll get him back on again soon. And the Alliance picks are ready for you this weekend.

Life advice as well. Enjoy. So the Bears get a win last night. What's that mean? It means it was fun for Chicago fans. Finally, right? Get a win. It was a fun three hours. Justin Fields lighting it up. DJ Moore going crazy. Like, this is good. Talking yourself into it a little bit, maybe. Felt like the NFL world had turned the page collectively on Justin Fields. Be like, I don't see it. Not going to happen. I was kind of there.

I don't know that all of a sudden I'm back in, but maybe you are. Maybe you're talking to your Bears buddies Friday before a great weekend in that city. You're like, you know, if you could just cut down on the mistakes, pretty athletic. Might have something here. See Josh Allen's first two years? I saw a tweet about Justin Fields and his run the last week. Games with four or more passing touchdowns. Zero of those games, his first 30 games of his career. Two of those games in the last week. Games with four or more passing touchdowns, zero of those games, his first 30

games of his career, two of those games in the last five days. The only quarterback in the NFL to do it so far, twice. Be honest. You're flirting with the idea a little bit. So it's nice to get a win because it sucks losing every week. It was nice for your franchise quarterback or the idea of your franchise quarterback to look like something or at least better than the first couple weeks but i'd ask bears fans a really simple question is this what you really want i don't know if it's an easy answer because we're talking about caleb williams you're talking about being in the hunt for caleb williams and he's that special. And you would turn the page.

It doesn't matter who was a quarterback. You'd be like, okay, we're doing this. And that may seem kind of far away. It's the beginning of October. And just because you're bad, it doesn't guarantee you a chance. And Fields working out long-term, maybe not being a top-ten quarterback, but working out for some version of whatever working it out is,

is a safer plan than hoping you outmaneuver every other team that's going to try to lose games at the end of the year, because I think it's going to get weird. Now, losing games, tanking in the NFL is completely different than the NBA. The NBA, we accept it, but I just don't believe that NFL guys are wired or the sport is wired to have a Sam Hinckley approach for an entire year, half a season, maybe last month. Yeah. It's probably going to get weird. Now the bears, at least we're in and still continue to be in, in, I don't know if it's a race, but you get the point. Like whatever those teams, whoever those teams are,

like we kind of know, we think we know right now, but things are going to change. Some teams are going to stay healthy. Other teams are going to be be healthy but if we're looking at the bad teams the Giants have the worst point differential in the NFL and I know they pay Daniel Jones but I don't think that would be much of a debate Carolina's 0-4 just took Bryce Young I still think you do over Caleb Williams Washington's competitive every week except for that Bills game. Arizona's one and three, but they're better. They're definitely way better. At some point, it was like, ah, no, he's definitely going to go to Arizona, but it's just hard to predict. Are you really going to be that bad that long? Denver, Vegas? Losing in the NFL is

different because even when you're watching at home, and it happens to me every single weekend, we know bad team versus good team, at least in our heads. And then all of a sudden, bad team's down seven with the ball and two and a half minutes to go. And you're like, how'd that happen? Like, oh, two fumbles went the other way and they jumped on it. And there you go. There's your parity in this league.

So trying to position yourself every week to lose games, to outflank everyone else or Caleb Williams is a really hard thing to pull off. So like I said, the safer thing would be, what if our guy develops? What if our guy develops instead of trying to get caught up in that race with everyone else? Like, guess what? Veteran, you have we'd have some former front office guys in. And you would just ask about, like, well, you know, could you do this? Or, you know, some of the Andrew Luck stuff. And they would just recoil and be like, no, you can't do that. There's also a health risk involved. Like, you can't be a player playing in an NFL game going like, I'm going to go half speed so we can get that quarterback next year when I'm not even going to be here.

This sport is just wired entirely different. even going to be here. This sport is just wired entirely different. But the reason I kind of connect this to the Bears a little bit is that there was a bit of a freak out before the season started about what Caleb Williams might do, depending on who was projected to have the number one pick. His father, Carl Williams, did a couple quotes in this bigger feature on Caleb and GQ. And there's an awesome mesh tank in there, by the way. I'm trying to figure out a link to that. But it's this Caleb Williams love fest in the piece, which he deserves. It talks about the NIL, talks about his future. And the NIL part of it is convince some people that maybe if he doesn't like who has the number one pick that

he can make enough money at SC with the rookie scale contracts. Yeah, maybe. But, you know, do you really want to run around college for another year and risk injury? And even if he blew out both ACLs, he'd probably still go number one. He's that good. But Carl got some eyebrows raised when it came to Arizona because he said, quote, I've talked to Lincoln, Lincoln Riley. And Kyler, meaning Kyler Murray, struggled of where he was drafted. He also said Baker struggled because he went to Cleveland. There's this rumor that Caleb Williams only has a few teams that he wants to go to. I'm not sure how real that even is. Carl Williams also suggested,

and the reason I even bring this up in context of the Bears part of it, is that it's weird. Like, wait, would the Bears be a place you'd want to go? From the outside, I think, well, of course. Great history, amazing city. Why not? I mean, some guys don't want to play. They'd rather play indoors if they can. But it seems weird to think the Bears actually have a little bit more questions

as an organization, whether it's ownership, whether it's some of the more recent history. But like what? Because they didn't develop Trubisky and Fields. That means that Caleb Williams shouldn't want to go there. There feels like there's a lot more places that would be worse off than Chicago. But if they're going to be really weird about this, and maybe weird is the wrong word, but if Carl and Caleb Williams are like, no, we're actually only into going to a few places. I don't know if that means that it's a trade.

I don't know if we have an Eli Manning thing all over again. But then it led to a bigger conversation in this piece and something that I've heard talked about in the past. And I think I've kind of rejected. But Carl Williams said this, quote, the funky thing about the NFL draft process is he'd almost be better off not being drafted first. The system is completely backwards. Now, whenever I've heard that in the past, I've just gone like, what are you going to do? Just have everybody be free agents? And the counter is, yes, do exactly that. It's like, well, wait a minute. The best teams are going to get the best players. It's like, well, don't you think you should be rewarded if you're that special that you

would be the number one pick? Don't you think your skills, your standing should be rewarded that you get some kind of benefit out of it instead of going someplace that you don't want to go to. I thought, well, that actually feels like it might make sense. Now, there's plenty of stuff that I can't predict that would happen. I mean, if you were going to do a basketball version of this conversation, okay, the number one pick, well, there's no draft anymore. It's all free agency. Well, does that mean the Lakers would just get everybody? Well, I guess they would get everybody until they didn't have enough cap space to get everybody moving forward. So teams would make mistakes just like they do in free agency, just like they do in the draft. But it still feels like it would remove the whole part of what exists for the franchises

that aren't doing well, whether that's the NBA or the NFL. So I still feel like I like the draft, but I wonder sometimes if I'm being selfish about it. There's another point to be made here. And it's about athletes in general and trades and the transactional part of this, where Drew Holiday, who was traded technically to Portland and then Boston in the Lillard deal, his wife, Lauren Holiday, shared what she called a vulnerable post on Instagram because she wanted to be vulnerable. And she talked about basically how much it sucked. And I think all of us could totally understand it. She said the family was really upset.

We're talking about kids that were growing up with other kids of Bucs players, removing themselves from the community. He took a nap, drew, took a nap, woke up, found out he was he was traded there was no heads up i don't know how to solve the no heads up thing i just don't think it's super realistic for a front office to be telling every player like every single move like think about the deals that get close and then don't get done like would you want that as a player hey i think we might trade you in 30 minutes just want to be sure we're being professional about this and then it's like ah we didn't trade you but have fun tonight enjoy tonight's. So I don't know if that's really realistic, even though that idea sucks. Imagine if you woke up from a nap, your wife

comes in and was like, hey, we're moving across the country. She said we were crushed. She also said, quote, imagine if we don't put or if we didn't put dollar signs on athletes. Imagine if we invested in them as humans, as incredible forces of good. Look, it does suck. Imagine if you were being, well, let's put it this way. Let's go back to the draft thought. Imagine if you were graduating college, you're sitting around a senior week, you're with your buddies, and one of you guys is a lawyer, or I guess you have to go to law school for that. You understand the point.

You're an engineering student. All right, let's do that. Let's do something without mandatory graduate school. You're pretty good at it, and you're from Chicago, and you're like, I love the Midwest. I love the city. I never want to leave. I want to marry a girl from Chicago. easy easy going or you're from southern california like i can't i can't imagine

ever not having this lifestyle you're from the northeast and you never want to leave and yet you're waiting out to kind of figure out where your 20s and your 30s are going to play and be like oh it looks like i have to work in atl Oh, this is interesting. I have to go to Seattle. And then five years after that, you're like, I don't really like Texas, but I live in Fort Worth. So, because that's where I work. Well, right. We all understand that. We all understand like, yeah, this isn't, this is, oh my gosh, you really explained it in a way I've never thought about before.

But it would suck. Right? It would. And I know it's it's it's different but what if we allow ourselves to think that maybe it isn't different you're trying to map out the rest of your life and it's in the hands of the profession of of a league you know granted there's partners and all these different things but it's it's in the hands of something like it's in a it's you know, granted there's partners and there's all these different things, but it's, it's in the hands of some, like it's, you know, it's, you know, there's nothing you're going to be able to do about it. It's only the city that takes you and then what they do with you moving forward. That's where you're going to live. That's where your kids are going to go to school. That's

where you're going to make your friends. And look, it's a good deal. All right. As soon as you start talking about the money, nobody's going to have any sympathy for it. And I understand that. And it's always made me wonder, like, if there actually is another way to do it. Dominic Foxworth and I have talked about this in the past where he's very anti the draft. Shouldn't Caleb Williams be special enough that he can say, I don't want to live in this city. I don't want to work for this company, essentially a team. You've shown that you can't get it done you're a bad company so why do i have to go there none of us would ever have to do that the trade part of it like i think yeah it can seem really insensitive but i mean you want to do this you want to have no trades in the nba and then you

can have no trade demands would that solve the stars the player empowerment era that we're in right now be like okay cool no trades but you can't demand one then because there are no trades that wouldn't be a lot of fun for us probably kind of boring um the top of the the top of the the food chain for nba players would probably be like yeah we don't want that because we want to push things around let's face it the stars kind of control a lot of the cba stuff that happens maybe the rest of the CBA stuff that happens. Maybe the rest of the players would be like, that's cool.

I'm down, but we're not good enough to ever demand trade. So maybe it wouldn't really work. So whenever I'm like presented with, I don't know that it's a moral dilemma, but you try to put yourself in the place of the person that's like, yeah, but this part of my job is great as it is the money, the accolades that I'm this special,

this part absolutely sucks. You're like, yeah, I think you can have sympathy for something as I do in these cases. And the sympathies kind of met with, okay, yeah, you're right. It sucks, but it's not going to change like how bad do you really want me to feel oh that's a that's a shitty situation yeah and i think most of you are probably in the same group i feel like that's kind of like i'm i'm in the group that would agree that these things suck shrug and say keep it moving there's also some of you listening like hey you want to pay me 30 million you could trade me to russia because whenever it comes to the money that these guys are going to make there's there's only going to be like there's going to be a maximum level of sympathy and it's not going to go all that high but the problem with all of that is that essentially what you're saying is what you want for everyone else

you would never want for yourself willie cologne back in the mix he'll be hanging out with us this football season of course he's part of fox sports one carton show monday through friday 7 9 a.m., and then also Jets pre and post. It's good to see you, man. I was worried this wasn't going to happen, but here we are. No, it was going to happen. When I got the nod, I was extremely excited. I don't see you much, nor hear from you.

I do follow your podcast, so I don't want that to be a dig at you. But nevertheless, man, I miss you. Yeah, man, you're one of my – we're not that close, but we feel like we are. That's kind of how I feel. See, I feel like we are close. See, okay, maybe I'll pull it back a little bit. If it's too early, too much, too soon, I'll pull back, right?

I get it. No, I mean, you are part of my journey. You know, when I got the nod to, you know, when you was with the other mothership in ESPN and you had your show and you were the big dog on the block, I felt extremely privileged to be on your show because I followed you. I loved your stuff. I thought you was one of the only guys who kept it real

and had a set of cojones on ESPN. And I just admired your work, man. And so when I was able to get to work with you for that shorter time, um, and I actually thought we had something right. And, uh, nevertheless, it didn't work out, but I always admired your work. And I always loved how you carried yourself. And now I realized it was off. It was for nothing. Like I obviously had to pull back now because maybe I'm too head, maybe I'm too headstrong in love with you.

And you're like, listen, kid, hold on. No, no. You're going to be Joe Green in a tunnel thing. Like, I'm working here, kid. Have a Coke. I just felt like we could not text for a long time, and then we text, and then it's on. Yeah. So that's what I guess I meant.

That's two men who have a lot of respect for each other and love for each other. I'm fired up, man. All right, let's start today. A bunch of stuff that I want to get to. We start with last night's game. I guess if you're a Chicago fan, you're at least like, oh, okay, this is a little bit better after what felt like they were already planning moving on from field.

So what did you see last night? You know, it's interesting, man, because this is a team that was 3-18 going into last night game right and you talk about the Chicago Bears being an absolute dumpster fire you you're up 21 points on the Broncos who by all by all accounts is they have their own issues going on and you lose that game and I'm gonna be honest with you I know Ryan Poles the GM you know I I really felt like Justin Fields, and maybe he still is, but I thought he was playing for his future last night because Ryan Poles didn't draft Justin Fields.

And I feel like with all the talk about Caleb Williams coming out, there was this – I at least anticipated this feeling like, hey, man, if this kid doesn't do anything, if he doesn't show up, it's a sure lock, considering that the Bears have the first and second pick, that Caleb Williams is going to be a Bear next year. But I thought Justin Fields and Matt Ibeflus did a hell of a job of saying, you know what, let's just swing. Let's just swing for defenses.

Right out the gate, two deep balls. Obviously, they connect with one with DJ Moore. I just like the aggressive play calling by it. I just like the way those guys said, you know what? We're riddled with injuries. Nobody's giving us a shot. We're playing in Washington. And we haven't put enough good things on tape for anybody to respect us.

And I thought they came out swinging, and it worked out for them. and it worked out for him. I guess it's one of those deals where it's so hard for a team every single week to kind of not know who you are. I mean, granted, hanging in there and being competitive, but what is it about this point of the season when you're uncertain? Is there any time where you're like a month in, five games in, and everybody in camp is spinning the most positive view of themselves? There's probably some situations where you thought you a month in, five games in, and everybody in camp's like spinning the most positive view of themselves. There's probably some situations where you thought you were going to stink.

Certainly not with Pittsburgh because, you know, it's just every year you felt like you were kind of in it. But this kind of unknown of like, well, wait a minute, we're – we are this – like this is what our record is, but we might not be this bad. Like this glimmer of hope on what is still looked at as a bad team. Well, the thing about it is and i think you're right there's a there's a lot of teams collectively throughout the nfl who are kind of

in the middle of that identity crisis thing where like we know we have players we know we have a defense maybe we look apart in practice but somehow when we show up on sunday we look like the worst thing i ever put you know the worst thing on the put, you know, the worst thing on a football field. And I think the Bears are a team that they're young. You know, the Claypool situation hasn't worked out. DJ Moore was a blessing for Justin Fields. Justin Fields, and I know you've probably heard it throughout of, you know, throughout Sports Talk Radio, you know, what he, his office of, his offensive defense to sees were masked by his athleticism.

And when we didn't see it early in the year, it was like, well, what can this kid really do if he can't run it? And then the whole spectacle of him kind of blaming his coaches, whether he did it or not, is irrelevant to me. I just like the way he responded because it's easy to throw rocks at a guy who is literally that young trying to carry a franchise that really doesn't have a lot of pieces on both sides of the ball. And you can see the frustration came from Ohio State. He was a winner in high school.

He's a winner in college. Lands on the Bears. He's like, this is the life I dreamt of myself as an NFL player. And so he spoke from his heart. And then he responded in a Denver game, completing his first 16 passes. And I felt like, okay, the kid got some nuts. He's finally kind of just let it go. And he started slinging it.

And he did so yesterday. So I'm more of the mindset that Justin Fields is a good quarterback. He just needs better weapons and more time around him and give him an office, a line that's riddled with injuries, and he can be something. I don't know if he's going to be granted that time right now, though. That's the issue. Is he – because I was going to ask you this, and I wonder if Fields is the answer,

but is there a quarterback that everybody feels like they're kind of collectively down on right now that you still hold out hope for? Like you're kind of in your group or on the shows going like, no, I actually still think this guy can do it. I don't know if it sounds like Fields, but it seems like you're leaning that way. I think outside of Fields, it's probably Kirk Cousins, man. I think I like Kirk. I think sometimes when you talk about all the turnovers and fumbles

and how much they're plagued in the turnover category as Minnesota Vikings, he always throws one a game. But I still think he's a big-time quarterback. He still puts up numbers. He's still scoring points. Obviously, he had that one bonehead pick against the Chargers game in the Chargers game, but nevertheless,

I think he's good. I think when you mention his name, people are just like, ah. I'm definitely in it. Just for the record, I'm in that group. I'm in that. Are you really? Yeah. You think he's an eh? Yeah, I realize what the numbers are, but look at the numbers. Look at the rating in the Eagles game. It conveniently leaves out the fact that that

fumble ended the game like that fumble was okay because they were hanging they would like they were kind of looked like they were going to hang in there and then that fumble was disastrous and you know when i look back over his full number the turnover stuff for me like this isn't you know like it was a bit like the carson Wentz thing where his turnovers were monumental. They were like, they were like Jordan Poole turnovers in a playoff game for the Warriors recently where you're like, oh my God, like it's one thing to get the ball stolen from me. But like to have it happen right now, like this is the worst. And Wentz had a lot of that. And Cousins has had more of that this season.

My biggest thing with Cousins was, was just, if you need third and eight, he's getting you six. Yeah. But I also think when it comes to leadership and finding the guy, I think he could do so. Like I understand from the standpoint of you need eight, he can give you six, but I also like the fact that he gives you a fighting chance every game. And sometimes when you have enough pieces around you, you have a confident offense. That's all you need. You don't need – you never want it to be a quarterback that's just so deficient that he can't get you anything.

I think he can make things happen. He just needs more pieces around him. I mean, they ripped him up to Alvin Cook and Adam Thielen. Conklin's gone. But all he really has is Justin Jefferson. And they've been able to connect. But overall, I think he's still a gunslinger that you've got to appreciate. At least I appreciate it.

Obviously, you don't like him, but I like him enough. Here's the thing on Cousins, though. I think a lot of times the two groups actually agree more than they realize, and this happens with a lot of different topics, and that it is. If I were a bad franchise that hadn't had an answer and gone through three draft picks and five guys at the position, then I'm psyched to have Kirk Cousins. Okay. And that's kind of what Minnesota was. And, you know, the money is a separate thing, the absurdity of what they had to do to bring him in, but I'm not even factoring any of that stuff in. So I, he solves your quarterback problem, but I think the ceiling on him is lower than what the numbers will tell you. i don't think defensive coordinators are going how are we going to beat this guy all week but do you think with a lot just played a hypothetical game if zach wilson doesn't have a competent game on sunday and aaron rogers obviously is right within achilles

would you be would you think the jets making a move on him come the trade deadline, October 31st, is a good move? Absolutely, because I love their defense. Yeah, yeah, no problem. I would applaud it. I would applaud it. But I think once you went up against one of the main guys, I think there's a big gap there. Look, everybody was waiting for me to send the tweet after the throw against the Giants in the playoffs at the end of the game. And I know he explained it all on the netflix show and i was like well okay cool but like i was i was expecting it to happen and then when it happened because i brought it up so

many times people were like where's the tweet like where and i was like i don't like to do that i don't like to do the i told you the guy sucks when he lost the playoff game because i don't think he sucks i've never thought he sucked i just felt like, look at some of those numbers. My stance is if Kirk Cousins is an NBA player, he's first ballot hall of fame. Okay. They would go, oh my God, look at all of these numbers. And all you have to do is like, look at the yardage trends of quarterbacks historically. And then start going through the top 20. You're like, wait, that guy's in the top 20. Like we're going to have this generation of quarterbacks historically and then start going through the top 20 you're like wait that guy's in the top 20 like we're gonna have this generation of quarterbacks ending with these absurd yardage numbers because how the game has changed and you know i used to always buy in a completion

percentage the offense has made it easier to complete passes i used to always be into the yards after or not yards after the catch but i'd be like yards per attempt i always felt like that was a good indicator and that one becomes a little bit more questionable. Some of the yards after the catch stuff, the yardage stuff, there's guys that suck on a Sunday. And I'm like, he had 289. I'm like, what? You know, so it comes down to like, do I think you are risk enough to press the issue? Like I want a few interceptions for my quarterback. Cause I want to know you're at least looking or willing to make the issue. Like, I want a few interceptions from my quarterback because I want to know you're at least looking or willing to make that throw.

Are you risk-averse enough where I never get any of that stuff? And that's where I just think it becomes harder to figure these guys out. And I think I've watched enough to figure it out. That's a hell of a take because I think that's the one thing.

And I know we're kind of zipping through it all. But, you know, that's the one thing about Brock Purdy for the of um zipping through it all but you know that's the one thing about brock purdy for the niners is that he does take care of football you know as much as he has these explosive weapons he's not a turnover machine he's 12 and 0 and he's a guy who seems like they handed him the keys to the porch and he hasn't crashed it and it's solely because of what you talk about he's not a big risk taker he just knows to do with the football in the right times and when it's not there he plays like a guy. He's not a big risk taker. He just knows what to do with the football in the right times.

And when it's not there, he plays like a guy who's eight years into his career and just gets rid of the football and plays another down. They also have three of the best yard after the catch guys at all three levels. By far. And you can't negate that. But I think for a guy in his second year in a position he was placed in, it's impressive as hell. It absolutely is.

Yeah, right. Yeah. But I think when you talk about some of the young quarterbacks who make the mistake that he isn't making, I think it's a testament to him by some accord realizing, like, man, maybe I just don't need to push the ball down the field. Maybe I just need to just get it to the hands of these guys and get the hell out the way.

Sometimes I wish Kurt takes that approach. But sometimes I think there's this moxie about him that he goes, I just got to fire it. I got to figure it out. You even see it with Josh Allen at that time. Like sometimes you can see Josh Allen. Like he's played a lot better. Like outside of the Jets game, he's been cash money.

But watching him prior, you see him do things, you're like, man. Like even Patty Mahomes, you're like, man, there's no need to do that. Like just slow and steady is going to get it done for you. But with all that said, man, I think just to kind of circle back, I think Kirk is one of those quarterbacks that I think doesn't get enough credit for what he does do with the football. And I think we kind of just hold him on to the fact that he does turn over the football. And I think he's just a better quarterback than people would give him credit for.

Look, even the pick against the Chargers, that wasn't his fault. It wasn't. If I were worse at my job and I had my cousin's position, my flag in the hillside there, I'd be like, oh, turned it over again. And that would have been totally unfair. But that's what people say. They're just another cousin's interception. No, and that would have been totally unfair. But that's what people say. They was like, oh, there's just another Kirk Cousins interception. No, that part of it's being unfair.

It's never really been about the turnovers for me with him. It's the other stuff. But look, we covered. But the Purdy thing is a really good example because if I'm sitting here saying like, hey, I want a couple picks, because I always feel like picks are for the most part kind of easy to figure out. Like I think there are good interceptions. When Brady was at his peak, anytime it was a pick,

you're like, well, something had to have gone wrong. The defense had to have gone wrong. All for receiver's hands. Right. Aaron Rodgers has had some stretches where you're like, this guy's not throwing a pick because he trailed the one route the whole time across the field. Where I'll see younger guys, or maybe just somebody who I don't think is any good,

we get the all-22 view, he watches the guy from his right slot, cut it at 10 yards, come across, and he's just waiting, following him like a video game, and then he never notices that the linebacker underneath the route never moved, because he omitted that from his view. And so I would never expect the really good players to have those interceptions. In Purdy's case, he may notice it

or he may know that he doesn't even have to make that throw. He's been terrific. I'm not knocking any of it Purdy-wise, but I just don't think I would look at Purdy to be nearly as successful outside of what Shanahan's doing. I might be wrong. I don't think I would look at Purdy to be nearly successful outside of what Shanahan's doing. I might be wrong. I don't know. You think he's that good? I think the kid has nuts, man.

And I'm a fan of cocky quarterbacks, maybe because I grew up in the era of Brett Favre and Dan Marino and playing NFL Blitz where you could throw the mile and they come up kind of dancing on your grave after scoring a touchdown on you. That's maybe from the era I'm from. But I think I love the fact that week one against the Steelers, Patrick Peterson is like, hey,

there's tails. We can get after this guy. And then the presser, he turns around and goes, was that two touchdowns on Patrick Peterson? Was that a guy that did that? And I'm like, hell yeah, Purdy. It was like when you get, it's like watching a white guy who gets picked last

in the pickup game, and all of a sudden he gets to the court, he got his handles, he dunks on your ass, and then he has a Supreme t-shirt, and he looks like he's cultured and has flavor. You're like, oh, shit, man. I don't know why I missed that, but the kid got something to him. You know what I mean? And so that's how I got hurt.

Hey, seriously. Thanks, man. But any day, man, I'm saying like, yo, I was like, the white boy got swag. Like he's any, and you know what? He's not afraid of it. Like he's not, he's not moving away from any of it. He's not, he's not sitting here and saying like the stoic, very cliche quarterback lines of, like, you know, it's about the team. You know, we're just got to go out there.

We're trying to stay focused. He's like, yeah, I'm kind of him. Thanks. You know, 4-0. Kind of him. Keep watching. Big, you know, thanks, Mom. I'll be, you know, thanks, Mom and Dad.

I keep showing up. But I got the 13 on my chest, and I'm the face of the franchise. You don't even mention the fact that he was Mr. Irrelevant anymore. It's not even a conversation. He's been balling that much that far. So I'm a fan of Brock Purdy. I do. I like that he kind of has that Tyler hero, like, listening.

You know, I'm at Roscoe's pimped out with my concrete Jordans on. You know, he has that type of swag about him. So I mess with the kid, man. Now, Sunday against Dak Prescott, we're going to see if he has the cojones because it's Sunday Night Football. If you want to make people a believer, this is your opportunity. It's a big opportunity because you're playing in front of America.

A lot of people don't get to watch a lot of night on football. You just know about it. You just know they're kicking a lot of tail in the West Coast and you expect to see them in the playoffs and on and forward. So I'm excited to see the kid go. Were you a big Eric Dievendorf guy? I don't even know. Who the hell is that?

The white kid from Syracuse? I'm a McNamara guy. So it's like McNamara was my guy. I like Mac. I'm going to send you some Dievendorf clips. All right. Yeah.

I think you're going to have a new favorite former college basketball player that you don't remember. You made me hit up fanatic fanatics and buy his Jersey. Is that what you're trying to say? I don't know if Ruben will have one of these available, but we'll, we'll see. It wasn't a while ago.

We're talking almost, well, I don't know, like 17, 18 years ago. All right, so let's stay on the Niners. Best defense conversation start with them? Or is it somebody else?

You know, I watched what the Buffalo Bills did to Tua and eliminating his first and second option, forcing Tua to really be reactive instead of proactive. What I mean like that, you know, so the Bills did a great job playing cover two and clamping the backside, which is putting man on the backside of his progression. So while Tua was sitting in the pocket, man, that first round, he's like, oh, I can't get there. The second one, maybe underneath.

And then it was like sack. Or if it was like incomplete. I thought the Bills did a great job as rushing as a unit, meaning sometimes in football, we see a lot with the Cowboys. When the Cowboys get busy defensively, it's the Michael Parsons show. He'll do something rogue or he'll line up over the center and he'll just beat the center or he'll do something where he's just a better guy.

The Bills did a great job of getting all four guys to get to tour. And because Ballantour doesn't he's not he is mobile. He can't he can't scramble. But, you know, so in the back of the head, he's not trying to hit his head off the turf again. Right. So his safety zone is in the pocket. And I thought the Bills did a great job of allowing that four to just really just kind of close the pocket and get after them time after time in the back end of that defense. And the kid Milano, I think he's a dog, by the way. Matt Milano's a dog. And I thought there was going to be a drop considering that Tremaine Emmons went to the Bears, but there

hasn't been. He's been playing like the Terminator out there. So I love his game as well. But I thought overall, I think the Bills, if there's another defense to kind of tip your hat at it's definitely um excuse me yeah in reference to the bills they're the there's they're the defense who i say yeah that's that's the one i love to see and watch now they got vaughn miller back they lost david's white ten achilles we got all that but i think collectively how they're playing as a unit is really impressive i am worried about the secondary thing it felt like white was finally kind of back, and a couple of the other guys are a little bit older. But that was one of my big things with the Bills is that I was like,

there's no way the secondary can play this poorly again. You know, like last year it was a weakness for him. And Leonard Floyd's been balling for him too. He's been getting home a lot. So I think the Bills is decent. And listen, it's easy to, I'm not going to be a homer and talk about the Jets defense because I feel like they dropped

way too many opportunities, especially in the interception category, turnover category. But I think the Bills, the outside of the Monday night game against the Jets, they've been playing

some big time football. I think they kind of answered the bell against the Dolphins last week. When you played in New York, I know we used to talk about this, but what is it? What is it about playing football in New York?

Like, I know it's home for you. So maybe you're a little different. You're a little biased, but yeah, I don't know. It look, it's,

it's both a giants and a jets thing. Like I haven't been the biggest Daniel Jones guy. And then I thought like one of the games, maybe it was a San Francisco game. I was like, I actually kind of see some things here. I think I like, and then I watched the other night where I was like,

Oh my God, is he going to survive this whole thing? And then yet people, I mean, every media outlet, every market wants you to explain what happened, but I feel like in New York, sometimes it just gets to a level where it's like,

what answers do you think exists that we're not giving you? Because there aren't any. And both franchises have certainly taken their turns trying to solve it. You know, it's wild, man. I think you, I don't want to say you touched a nerve, but you definitely pressed a button. You know, being a kid who idolized and worshiped Lawrence Taylor, I was enamored with his level of just being a superhero slash outlaw. And I can remember being a kid who grew up in the South Bronx, who had a Lawrence Taylor poster over his bed, feeling like, man, I know I shouldn't do drugs, but if I could sack the quarterback

and rip lines, that'd be an amazing day, right? And I had a poster boy who was doing it because the Daily News told me so. Every time Lawrence Taylor was on the cover, it was the Daily News in a post that would highlight Lawrence Taylor's off the off the field woes on the same accord. Accord tell him how he's changing the game of football, how he's leading the Giants defense, how he's winning games single-handedly on the defensive side of the ball. And I remember being a kid really learning this sport like, man, if you can

do sex, drugs, rock and roll and make a million dollars doing so, what other profession matters? And so it ignited this kind of boyhood dream to be a football player. And a lot ofited this kind of boyhood dream to be a football player. And a lot of what I was receiving through the papers and the sports talk media, radio, excuse me, was really just trying to, like, dig into the personality and the genesis of every guy I love. And I was a Giants fan before I was a Jets fan.

before I was a Jets fan. And I think now being on the professional side, playing for the New York Jets, I realized talking to the media when I had a helmet on, a lot of what I was reading as a kid is what they're still seeking. We know what the tape says, but who are you really, right? What really, like I want to know, like who are you really? Outside of, you know, a holding call, a sack, or being able to run the ball or running the ball, we get all that. But who are you really? Outside of a holding call, a sack, or being able to run the ball or running

the ball, we get all that. But who are you really? And so the media, there's a constant pursuit to really find out the DNA of each player that plays in that market because that has more of a ripple effect to the headlines and identity of the franchise.

When you talk about the New York Giants in a historic aspect, you always have to mention LT and you have to mention not only what he was able to accomplish on the field, but when you're sitting at bar side with your buddy, you do talk about the off the field issues. And I realized being around the beat writers when I was with the Jets, man, they didn't really care how I was playing. They really just wanted to know who was really the cologne

and what was I like off the field and what was I interested in, yada, yada, yada, yada. Okay, the football stuff was one of the aspects. So I feel like there's always an inside pursuit to kind of dissect each player in that locker room. And there's even – there's a feeling of, like, nastiness to it. And I can remember, like – so one time rex was in the um you know we uh rex was my head coach when i was with the jets and he was bringing up in

meetings man like whoever's ratting whoever's talking to the media we got to stop we got to have a closer locker room we got to be better yada yada yada and i'm saying to myself when i was in pittsburgh man we never talked the media. It wasn't even thought about. Because there was always a sense that the organization itself, the Roonies down, had a hard grasp on what was coming out of the locker room and what was not being said. And it was like it was suppressed. And when I was in New York, it seemed like the media was very much a part of our team, which was stressful because we saw them before walkthroughs. We saw them after practice. We ended up developing this personal relationship with certain beat writers and characters on the staff.

And it was just like, damn, there's no control on these guys. There's a whole entity that this team can't control. They're everywhere. there's a, there's a whole entity that this team can't control. Like they're everywhere. Like there's a storyline. And then, and then Rex himself, man, who I love,

by the way, love Rex would bring them up in nausea. Like we, we got the bills this week. Why are we talking about the media? But because it was, they had such a presence in our locker room because they mattered so much to the overall theme of the New York

Jets that they had a place on our team and I hated that. I hated that. And I'm a media guy now, right? Like I'm on TV talking, I'm talking bullshit, cash bullshit, all this other wild stuff, shooting that comes from the hip. But at the same time, from a player standpoint, I hated

how the media had so much of a control with our organization in our locker room they played a factor and i didn't like it and valley i was supportive of i liked some of the guys who were on the beat and kind of talking about the team but i just didn't like how they played a factor so to circle back around when you get drafted here is one thing, but I know for a fact a lot of guys who land in New York, they're thinking about life after football.

They necessarily don't care about what's going on with the current team they're playing on. Yeah, they want to win, they want to drive, but a lot of guys are thinking about life after football. So it's just kind of this – it's just a weird feeling, man. Like New York is never – it's a very unsettling place as a ball player because when guys who aren't drafted a part of a part of that organization they're thinking about life at the football and then the guys who are drafted there they have to bear the scars of the past uh failures from the team that they weren't on and that's always kind

of like this this kind of this wave that goes up and down. And when you see teams that actually succeed in New York, you kind of got to worship them because they seem like they've been able to overcome some of the ugliness that kind of resonates with being a ballplayer in New York. That was an incredible answer. It was kind of a throwaway question. And that was probably that seriously, like some of the best perspective, because I mean, it's very simple to say, oh,

it's biggest markets, all these papers, all this competition, all this different stuff. But like doing the Steelers jets comparison thing makes me understand it better. Now I was watching, you know,

we referenced the Daniel Jones thing kind of in the prelude to the question. Is there like, I used to always think with Brady that no matter what was going wrong with the offensive line, he could change his play to solve that problem. Do you believe that a quarterback can solve whatever the O-line issues are for a 60-minute game? Daniel Jones, it looked like it was near impossible, but go ahead. It sounded like you were going to say that it could. No, Ryan, my Super Bowl year, we gave up 49 sacks as an offensive line.

I remember going to Philadelphia that year. I think we gave up nine sacks in a game. We weren't good until late, and there was a lot of reasons for that. We had lost. I started right guard. We had an undrafted free agent in Darnell Stapleton playing right guard in place of Kendall Simmons.

Marvell Smith was our left tackle. He ended up going out because of a back Max Starks who was a right tackle. He's now playing left tackle. I was at right tackle and our left guard was Chris Kiyomata and we had a new center at justin

harvard we were a patchwork line and i can remember vividly one day in in the lunchroom reading the paper which you shouldn't do especially after a win or loss doesn't matter don't read the paper but i'm a new yorker we we drink coffee we read we read the paper that's what we do um it said if the steelers if the steelers don't make the super bowl That's what we do. It said if the Steelers don't make the Super Bowl, it's going to be because of this one group. It was like a still shot of the line

breaking the huddle. I'm like, what the fuck? Our defense is playing out of this world. We got San Antonio Holmes, Hines Waters kicking butt. Everything's right with the Steelers besides this one little group. fuck? You know what I mean? Like, our defense is playing out of this world. We got Santonio Holmes, Hines Ward is kicking butt. And like, everything, everything's right with the Steelers besides this one little group,

the offensive line. And I took that hella personal. Like, damn, so we gonna be the reasons? We gonna be the reason why we're not gonna win the Super Bowl? And so what that did was it made us a lot closer because we realized we weren't playing great.

We needed time to get better, to get closer. And we did. We would go every Thursday. We meet at Chris Kimuatsu's house. We would have the rookies make us dinner, watch film from film for an hour, start playing cards, drink, invite the girls over and party our ass off and then get ready for practice on Friday. That was a religion for us every Thursday. And it made us like this. And we had to play the Baltimore Ravens three times that year. And because we were so close and because we felt like the outside world hated us and because we felt like everybody else on the team felt like they were in good graces besides us, it made us dig harder. In reference to the quarterback position, what Ben did was he didn't blame us for what

we weren't able to do. He actually started coming to our meetings on Thursday night. He started to actually come to know us on a personal level. It made us not only fight harder and play harder for him because he was able to kind of put this, you know, kind of like, well, this is big Ben. Now meet Ben. Right. And so when he was able to separate the two, he was able to get to learn us. We was able to get to learn him and we kind of, kind of through osmosis, man,

we started realizing, we started realizing like, man, if we run the ball, we get this man time, he's going to kick a lot of ass. And on top of that, he also learned a lot of things. Like I can't sit in a pocket and hold the ball, but there's times I'm going to have a lot of ass. And on top of that, he also learned a lot of things. Like, I can't sit in a pocket and hold the ball, but there's times I'm going to have to hold the ball. I'm going to have to do things on offense that kind of, you know, out of my comfort zone. Like, certain quarterbacks are able to do that.

Ben was able to do that. He was able to step out of his comfort zone, get rid of the ball, be willing to run it more than he probably would have liked, be able to do things within the offense to kind of help us out up front. And that's what scares me to pivot. That's what scares me about Dak, because Dak is not a playmaker like Patrick Mahomes, nor is he like a gritty Wild West quarterback like a Josh Allen

who's going to tuck it and just either jump over a guy. He's very methodical and plays within the office. I think Sunday night against the 49ers, he's going to have to step out of his comfort zone and help that offense align because that front seven for the Niners is legit. And can he do it?

Ben could do it. Ben had it. He had the moxie. He could turn that slide protection. He could get rid of the football on time. He was willing to run the ball a little bit more to kind of you know keep uh keep us on the field so we can give our defense a blow but he was also knew how to turn it up so he had many facets to his game and that all helps the office line that's struggling man a quarterback with range means a lot and if you have a quarterback with a lot of range like ben had you know things good things happen okay i'm glad you brought up dac in front of range like Ben had, good things happen.

Okay, I'm glad you brought up Dak in front of the Sunday matchup that we're all excited about here. We've covered the Niners D somewhat here, but you got the Bills in there. I have constantly struggled with who Dak is because I know on the numbers side, it looks really good. I think last year was an aberration on the turnovers, but then he had the Arizona game, and you're like, okay, whatever. We know he's pretty good, but it seems like you're trying to explain something to us where there's a limitation with him in comparison to the other guys. Because did you say he's not going to run out?

I don't know that many guys run like Josh Allen. And for the record, I don't think any of us want any of our quarterbacks to be running around like Josh Allen. Josh Allen shouldn't be running around like Josh Allen all the time. But I, when you say that, I'm like, well,

they, Dak will get out and he'll, he'll make some plays. Like he'll, he'll get out and use his legs, but go deeper on what you're kind of not hinting at, but essentially saying that maybe I don't understand. Yeah.

So I think because of Mike McCarthy's offense now and how simplistic it is, and even prior, like, yeah, Dak can scramble. We get that. But when you see Josh Allen scramble, he's scrambling to, like, beat the big boss in the final video game, right? It feels that dramatic. Either he's jumping over a guy or he's putting his pads down and he's running through somebody's face. Like, he has that.

Dak, you'll see slide, get back, get back in the pocket. Like, oh, I'm going to get back to the script. Patrick Mahomes, you know, will go whirly bird, scramble left, scramble right, throw no look, do something quirky, right? Like, you know, he has kind of like that NBA jam type wild, you know, wild style about him. Dak won't do that. I don't think Dak has that.

wild style about him. Dak won't do that. I don't think Dak has that. So when I compare the three, I feel like Patrick and Josh have this uncanniness about him, and Dak is very centered. He's very centered and very methodical about how he approaches the game and how he operates it within the offense. And for me, looking at this defense and for the 49ers,

when you have Fred Warner, Greenlaw, when you talk about, you know, Armstead and Bosa, I think he's going to have to pull a little of Josh and Patrick out of himself to get through that. Because I think the Niners' defense is that damn good. They're 4-0 for a reason. And they don't just play. They beat you up.

And I don't think this Cowboys' offensive line has been tested like that. I don't even think they've even been in deep water. And by all accounts, the Cowboys struggle in run defense. And you know the Niners can run the ball. Christian McCaffrey, there's nothing he can't do. And I think it comes down to Dak on the opposite side really putting on a cape this game. And sometimes putting on a cape is playing a little sandlot football,

is doing things out of off-platform throws, is doing things that's a little outside of your comfort zone. And we're going to have to see if he has that in him this Sunday. And that's what makes this Sunday game a big game because I think his comfort level is going to be tested. It hasn't been tested yet. I can't wait to keep doing this

all football season. I'm going to send you some Dievendorf highlights and we'll top it up again in two weeks, all right? You're the best, brother. Thanks for having me, man. The Alliance is back at it.

Not afraid. Not afraid, the Alliance. So, Rudy, just The Alliance. Uh, so Rudy, just a brutal, brutal, um, we know the stretch has been bad,

but like USC over 48 and a half was absolutely the right bet. And you would have had it, not the miss extra point. You got to be pretty bummed out right now. I'm actually not this. I'm the opposite. Zach. He's like the Joker now.

He's just laughing at it all. Because you know what? That bet, it was the right bet. It was the right side. That was our old stuff with SVP and Rosillo. Like every time you're wrong, you just go, it was the right side. And the other two bets I gave out also hit.

So Kentucky ended up beating the crap out of Florida and Utah, Oregon State under. So actually you're hot. I'm fine. Yeah. Like, don't let me. gave out also hit so kentucky ended up beating the crap out of florida and uh utah oregon state under so so actually you're hot i'm fine yeah like don't let me don't like it's just i texted you because like i was in the airport watching the game uh on the way back from the show and they got to 48 as soon as they missed that extra point i was like no freaking way like i know this because it's like obviously it's difference between seven touchdowns you know you kick the extra point it's 49 i get the over but they difference between seven touchdowns. You know, you kick the extra point. It's 49. I get the over.

But they also scored. I mean, it was they had 48 points with two minutes left in the third quarter. And I'm like, I just know this is going to be bad. It's going to be bad. I just know it. I knew that field goal wasn't going in at the end. So, you know, it was the right call. Hit two of my other bets.

So I'm going to give no analysis this week. I'm just going to give a pick. So I don't know. I don't want to go first, but I'm just telling you how it's going to go down. Kyle, anything to add? You know what, that's what I get for rooting for unders. I mean, that was probably one of the coolest overs you were at that game, Ole Miss LSU. So I'm not going to do that anymore. I knew I didn't like the feeling of it and whether it was the right side or not, I'm not going to do that again. I'm not going to give analysis. I phoned

a friend this week, one of the, one of the college football heads at the bar, and he told me we should go Washington State plus 3.5 at UCLA. Road dogs. And we're going to go ahead and do that. Okay, plus 3.5. Total 16.5. I like that. I like that pick.

I mean, it's not up to me to like it or not like it. I'm going to go down to College Station. A&M is getting two and a half i think at one point they were getting one and a half against bama uh at least this morning when i looked at it was one and a half it's moved to two and a half um this would normally be a classic like all right bam has figured some things out and whatever and i'm going with a m plus the two and a half at home to get the win so you know granted to go the other way still cover but you're likely picking a and m to win

this game so that's my pick apparently no rose hurt too because i think that's the it's the word around town is that you might not be 100 so might be the right side uh here we go no analysis i'm taking notre dame louisville over 53 and a half minus 110 okay all right there you go and then yeah notre dame defense pretty good pretty good last few weeks against some some of the better All right. There you go. Notre Dame defense. Pretty good. Pretty good last few weeks against some of the better teams in college. Do we have an updated standings? I think we just let's do it for next week because, oh, you do have it? I do.

I don't want to do it zero times and then have it be the end of the season. So nobody, you know. We did it last week. We did? Year four and two. Because we went 0-3 last week collectively. So, not great. But year four and two, you've been good.

Kyle's 2-4 and I'm 1-5. So, good times. Oof. I didn't bring it up. Again, we hit week one. We hit week one. So, you're pretty close to even money. Hey, mustache Steve is going to be 1-0 after this week.

I know. That's right. If I keep hitting my bets, I won't shave the mustache. 3-0, we all go mustaches. Keep it going. Hell yeah, Monday show. Get a jump. Mocktober.

They call it that. Let's get the patent on that. They are now, yeah. Yeah. Motober? I don't know. Mock? I don't know.

I think I had it the first time. All right, there you go. That's the alliance. Okay, to check out all the lines, make sure you see all the action and potential gaming fun, sportsbook.fanduel.com. You want details? Fine.

I drive a Ferrari, 355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you 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. Life advice.

The email address is lifeadvicerr at gmail.com. What's up, Kyle? What's up, Saruti? A couple things. We had probably, I would say, the last few months, the most reaction to the excuse that should be used for uh the guy that got hit in the face by a sign where she basically hit the sign with his face uh you were at a disadvantage audience i had the perspective of seeing the

picture so seeing how bad the left side of his face was made me rule out a lot of different excuses that were being offered up we had a lot of people offering up those. The one that actually makes the most sense, Bird Scooter. If you're in an area with Bird Scooter, you can see we're visiting somebody else, Bird Scooter, take a dive on that. Kyle, we actually talked Bird Scooter with you when we talked about your busing commute. So we probably should have tied that up. I think that is the best of anything that I've seen. But he is a new guy right now people are going to be like oh the new guy's a bird scooter guy and if and if all your co-workers drive cars you might just be your stock might take a pretty big hit yeah but you could say you were visiting

somebody else you all bird scootered it out and you actually sure you're not a bird scooter guy but you didn't want to be left out razzed by the gang yeah got it okay you know so i think that's important i think that was a pretty important one um we need to by the way we Yeah. Got it. Okay. So I think that's important. I think that was a pretty important one. We need to, by the way, we're going to do Friday feedback. I believe we're going to release that one in two weeks. The 20th. Because, yeah, we'll do it before the live show in Manhattan Beach at 900 Club.

So it's Friday feedback, rr at gmail.com. So hit us up there because I haven't given out the address enough and to make sure that that's right. Because I'd say the biggest feedback was he was on a bird scooter or, you know, anytime we're giving out parenting advice, people, some of the parents out there, I almost feel like parents are really judgmental of non-parents, like really judgmental. And certainly a lot of the emails would suggest that. I will say

at least my mission statement on the whole thing i can understand the concept of caring about something as much as you would care about without actually understanding or having that emotional feeling i can understand the concept i can't understand the feeling because i've never had it i'm friends with a parent right so i mean that's cool right right the approval rating yeah yeah right the approval rating of creating something that you were like i am all about this person until they you know steal cigarettes in your car but i get it i get it um the idea that those of us without kids could not understand a bunch of rambunctious kids fucking up somebody's house like you're not fucking splitting the atom here, all right? All of us were kids.

I see plenty of people that have kids. I've met people that are kids, that were kids at one point. You've been a kid. I was a kid. Been there, dude. Been there. Real life experience, yeah. Been around kids after I was a kid.

So there's a real, it's a bit like when the NFL, there's a college coach that's hired. It's like this guy, this guy sucks. Meanwhile, like the, the NFL lifer sucks and gets fired after three years,

but the college guy gets fired because he didn't understand it. I think there's a bit of a, there's, there's a pocket, not all parents, but there's a pocket of parents. They're like, Oh, those guys did what?

They talked about rambunctious kids at a house? How bad was that segment? Fire up the Gmail, Ted. How bad was that segment? We should just do the next one we do. We should, well, now I'm giving it away. Like, you should have yogurt races. All right.

Yell sneezer. i like this one hi female listener who needs help settling a friendly merrill debate no need to change names my husband and i are very happily married he's incredibly easygoing easy to live with well what are you like really intense uh he's also an awesome i'm just kidding an awesome dad to our kids uh yeah the kids are cute thanks for the pic um he's also reserved does not like to be the center of attention as you can see i'm crazy about him but he's a yell sneezer when he sneezes he simultaneously sneezes and yells so loud it makes me jump the other day he sneezed loud enough to make our eight-month-old cry, and he is the happiest baby on earth. It's loud enough to scare the shit out of you.

You get the idea. When I ask him to tone it down, he claims he can't control it. I think he's lying because I've witnessed him mew his sneezes when necessary, like when kids are sleeping. So I'm asking the panel of men to weigh in. Is the sneeze really out of his control? Is this a cry for attention? Or maybe this is one of those things i will never understand and have to accept thanks for your advice uh thanks for your advice love the pot he could

tell anybody this it feels great to let it go man i could tell you i i do it as well like i'll especially if i'm alone or like she's in the other room but every once in a while i forget that we're like watching tv together and she's like what the fuck was that and i'll be like oh i'm sorry i just uh you know i was i was fast and loose today i didn't i didn't think about it so there's nothing like a yell sneeze but um but he could definitely tone it down he might feel like it's an inconvenience and you know sneezing is already scary enough don't they say your heart stops or something so like uh not really i was looking it up last night i actually did research on it okay now there's a thing if you don't close your eyes your eyes can pop out fallacy um there was there was one about

how it your heart stops beating and apparently there is a chest constriction that happens but it wouldn't be enough to actually just straight up cut off blood flow i researched it uh but again you know i was looking at fucking google like everybody else would be so maybe there's another article that says actually um because we do it with everything in sports so i imagine they probably do it with heart heart stuff um kyle you said it it feels great to let it go i'm fucking adele over here when i see it okay because no one's around so i don't care i mean I will let it fly. Totally.

But you're not doing that in public. Yeah, I do that too, but I only do it at home. I'm not going to do that if I'm at a restaurant somewhere. Well, yes. I agree. So I don't know.

I kind of feel like you love the guy. Just let him live a little bit. He's got one thing. He does a lot of other things well, it seems like. He does have one thing. He yells and sneezes. That's great.

This guy sounds like he's pretty great other than the loud sneezing, which I get can kind of be annoying, and men do it, and then women will look at you and be like, what the hell? But I think all of us are like, it just feels good to let it fly. And if this is the biggest problem, I think that's your answer. What would his email be about you? Ever think about that? Consider that.

She's gorgeous. Great mother. Life partner. Finally happened. email be about you everything about that consider that she's gorgeous great mother life partner you know finally judgmental with bodily functions i can't believe this is my life but when she clips her fingernails she always misses the garbage can you know i have a really close friend stay with me recently cleaning up his guest room uh hand calluses all over the fucking place like four or five of them whoa like picking them and just dropping them where they're picking them dropping them all over the place and i was like seriously dude that's fucking picking up another man's hand calluses off the ground my age you want to be

fucking doing that i don't do that. One. Okay. Four, five. Now, this is your thing. That's not a mistake. That wasn't an accident. Yeah. I feel like leaving dead skin anywhere is a pretty big red flag. It's like wiping boogers. It's like, that's basically what it is.

It's not wiping boogers. That's another deal all together. Why do you say that? Because I'll say something. What, if you just flick one on a couch or something you're saying yeah listen i don't want to get any further into this because uh but you think it's wrong for me to have a guy at my house and he starts fucking working the nostril and then flicks it no onto my couch i think it's it's a similar thing if would you find that it's like that used to be like attached to somebody or in somebody i think i think it's i think it's similar it is similar i'd rather step on a

callus than a booger what if it's a dry booger but it's been there for months no harm no foul then i'm probably not even going to notice that it is it just that feels far more off-putting like a callus i get it i have them obviously obviously. And if one comes off, it comes off. It's also if it's my house, it's my house. But yeah, I thought like four or five was a lot. The point is this, I'm not married to him. So I don't, I mean, you know, not that big of a deal. I just think, I think one, he could definitely tone it down,

but I'm kind of rooting for him and it feels like everything else is pretty good i kind of feel like the the scared the kid story uh that's a bit much it's a little sensationalist that's a bit much i mean like she's never gonna listen to the podcast the kid the kid will be no no i mean listen thanks for thanks for the email it's great happy you're listening but that seemed like a little bit you were like trying to make it seem worse than it really was i feel like that's that was you know you don't know you're not you've only had a kid for a week well it's not like it's not like this kid's gonna be petrified of her father because he's a loud sneezer for the rest of her life i don't i don't know i just i don't think that's

a real thing yeah toughen him up builds character i think my wife is doing the opposite with her sneezes i think she's trying to cute him up because she does this thing where it's like at the end and i'm like that's not a normal sneeze and she's like that's how i sneeze and now every time she like lets one fly that that isn't like that i'm like look look so she swears that's her normal sneeze i think that she's doing a little performance art and uh whenever she has like an ugly sneeze i point that out no kidding so you're accusing her of cute sneezes. Yeah, I'm accusing her of actually not like a non-authentic sneeze. Yeah, because I've heard a couple that aren't that don't have the little high pitch thing at the end.

And I'm like, all right, so what's your excuse there? So she hasn't really been able to account for that. You want her to feel more comfortable. I just wanted to know that I'm on to her. Basically, I just wanted to admit it. We're still in the third. This email made me think how loud I am when no one's around. Yeah, pretty great, right?

Like a whole buildup. Just ripping farts. The conductor's like waving the baton, being like, let's go. Big finish here. I also have gotten in a weird habit later of like doing seven in a row and i just know and if i'm next to somebody like just you know like this is back up right and then i i researched it and i thought like do i have brain damage or something and then it was like nope there's just this weird strand and they were like no one has ever really bothered to study it because

no one really cares and i don't think it means anything, but it was something. Cause I got a real sneeze wormhole last night and it was, uh, it was basically like 18 to 35% of people have this weird genetic trait that when they sneeze, like it goes on for seven or eight seasons and then it's over. Yeah.

No, it's like, I fly it out of that. Yeah, I'll do it. I'll tell you, it's not my favorite when it happens. mean it doesn't happen all the time but when it happens sometimes i'm like oh i have to like leave the room just like pretending you're taking a call i had a sneeze once during the show with scott and i just stopped and then we came back and talked about it he's

like what happened there i go i just refused to sneeze i controlled it i think i remember that yeah it's like dune when they have the language where she was like ask for a glass of water and she's like no no do it again it's a cubic glass of water i was like i refused to sneeze and he was like has anybody ever done that but i was like i don't know i might be but i can't i can't get it back where the kid in Dune gets better at it. So that's another difference between Chalamet and I. There's a picture of Chalamet in Dune. There's a still where he looks a bit like hotter Alfred E. Newman.

I knew you guys weren't going to get that reference. Let's just Google that quick. You just got a nod for me. I don't know. Oh, that's, that's a okay that's a tough comparison i don't like that the tone and saruti's voice okay yeah stop being ridiculous all right like that like nerdy kid from the 50s yeah i guess that cart i don't even know i don't i don't know who he is but you don't know the you've never heard of mad magazine i maybe i have

i know i know the face like i know that i goog magazine. I, maybe I have, I know, I know the face. Like I, now that I Googled it, it's like that red. Oh, you're talking about the bad magazine guy. Yeah. Kyle, would you subscribe to cracked? No,

no, I didn't. I didn't get any magazine subscriptions. You never got a mag subscription as a kid. What? My dad was just like, yeah, you're not a reader.

We know it. Let's not fucking get ourself. We're not wasting our time. You're coming back with the highlights form. yeah your dad just goes office or something yeah yeah it's like no across the board no i think my sister had some horse magazines american girls i think my brother had some video game shit i just they were like come on man what let's not kid ourselves here i kind of love that your dad was like, I'm not, let's end this charade right now. Come on.

Are you going to act like you read your summer reading books? Are you? Okay. Okay. All right. Uh, let's, let's get into that.

We got a little bogged down on that one. Six foot one 40 swimmer runner player. Comp is Andre Karolinko when he was only focused on video games. Quick aside on the travel debates from a solo world traveler and expat, please treat yourself to a lonely world traveler and expat please treat yourself to a lonely planet guide and quit trying to rely on help a compromise here at least as trip advisor all right i used to love that show lonely planet loved it and then i would like rank the anchors like who would i most want to hang out with at least then i started thinking like how

would this person even get to be a host this person would like there was one person that was so bad at it and they seemed to never enjoy any part it it was it was crazy like speaking a swimmer it'd be like what do you do i'm a professional swimmer but i hate the water although a lot of swimmers actually hate the water because they're in it all the time all right shut the fuck up read the email i'm looking for some help on whether to initiate a difficult conversation with a little friend and, yes, how to navigate the discussion. The background context is this. A group of friends is now 25 years old going back to middle school, high school days with razzing, a.k.a. fuck withery, being a hallmark from those days over the years. Our group matured and moved to bigger cities, but most importantly, remained in state not far from each other. importantly uh remain in state not far from each other i was the one who left town several times uh the last of which i was in another area i i don't know for nearly a decade where i began my

career met my wife relevant side note the time period overlap with some volatile years politically that left me more opinionated about american politics the dude group is primarily progressive but i'm i'm considered the liberal as a result of these experiences. Big history guy. No. Yeah, that's right. Well played, Kyle. No, no, no.

Were you trying to make the conservative history joke? And then I told you how many professors reached out and said, that's actually not the case. It was helpful. It was actually all helpful. Was it? No, I was reading about, I finished the Tunisian battle book the other day and a guy walked by me and we nodded at each other. And I was like,

I don't know if he's nodding in approval because he thinks I'm conservative or he's like, hey, that guy's really progressive. He fucking gets it. Right? All right. So more recently, my wife and I returned to Texas. Well, there you go.

I guess I named it. Began socializing again locally with this group. Things are pretty chill and mature compared to our high school days. I hope so. Which makes sense for a bunch of 30 something-olds. However, one friend in particular, let's call him Jeremiah, insists on reliving the glory days by dunking on other guys whenever we were in the group setting. This occurs exclusively at his house when he's playing host. Personally, I don't mind being the target, and I even feel relieved when the grief is directed

to me because it rolls off my back and I'm happy to take the brunt of it. What really bothers me is they hold Raz a few of our other more sensitive friends who do not enjoy this experience and didn't enjoy the experience first time around, much less is a grown ass adult. I got to tell you, I think I side with those guys. You're giving like it's one thing to relive the college stuff and some of the bullying and there's the alpha and the non-alpha and the college group or whatever but if we're going back to like 13 years old it's like hey remember that time that's you know uh these guys

i've gravitated towards in adulthood i want to ensure they feel comfortable and enjoy these mini reunions jeremiah's girlfriend confided in me that if i called and engaged him more it would mean the world to him he had a crappy family experience felt close from my parents so I certainly understood where he was coming from the issue is I think the guy's convinced that we've grown apart due to our contrasting politics why he referenced that thank you now I get it when the fact is it's tied more to his high his high school personality and how off-putting I find it he's a thoughtful kind and way better hang one on one but anytime we're in the group setting i know high school is not far away the thing is i don't think he would blow up in an honest conversation about this but how do you tell a guy hey actually

it's not your political beliefs it's just that i don't like your personality right that would be rough you probably wouldn't do it that way i don't know if it would impact the group dynamics then again the good thing is about 20 plus year relationships is that you've endured all kinds of baggage because he's a city way. I don't even know how I could set this conversation up without the rest of our friends wanting to tag along. Part of me thinks I shouldn't tell the host how to behave. Jeez, you're really covering every fucking angle on this one, which feels easy to buy into since I don't actively seek out controversy. But the other part of me thinks he would benefit from hearing, hey, you can leave the jerk persona in the past. Boom. There you go. This seems like a call out in front of everybody thing. In a funny joke, you're embarrassed in that

way. No? I feel like the emailers are so thoughtful that he wouldn't do it that way. This is somebody who's thought about this quite a bit. It's a response to the Raz though, right? like it's your if you just like bill it as like a gut response to whatever annoying shit he just did and then you just come back with something so he's already he's already stepped he's a line stepper right now you step over the line and now now it's all muddy and everyone's and maybe somebody else's is like yeah dude it sucks when you do that and maybe there's some way that you can laugh about it and it's and it's less tense because it all just happened at once. And it wasn't like just premeditated, whatever.

So, I mean, you just bait him by being there. He's going to bite. He's going to do something annoying. And then you, you come back with your thing that you've thought about, but you've crafted it to make it seem like it's just a response to whatever he says. And then now maybe the shit is all out in the open. Like guys will just, this, this will work itself out. I think I wouldn't call and be like, yeah, yeah it's not it's not because we're politically different

it's because uh i don't like the way you choose to conduct yourself around me like yeah i think the one-on-one conversation is kind of hard because that's that's really tough i think you know there's the tough love from the group of buddies that's you know well it might sting for a little bit at the start like yeah it's just an easy way to be all right we're nipping this in the butt but if you like kind of take him by the side and have a longer conversation then he's gonna like beat his head about it for a while and who knows like the dynamic is it just you yeah yeah and then yeah then he asked the buddies and they're like all silent and it seems like it's just you i think yeah i think kyle i think he

nailed it the rock tumbler of the dudes will just smooth this all over just the rough edges of all the tough love and and mean shit that's going to be insinuated will just smooth this all over just the rough edges of all the tough love and and mean shit that's going to be insinuated will just smooth this whole thing out i think it's like uh rod's dad when he was like hey pay your fucking bills like somebody's gonna be hey dude cut it out you're like fucking stop this is lame stop being 13 and then everybody laughs you move on and he stops doing it i'm not sure how much i even care about the answer now after thinking about the idea the concept of the rock tumbler of dudes that was brilliant did you like that thanks it's just great uh the junior high thing slash high school thing i granted there's plenty of people listening

the high school deal like my college thing certainly trumps my high school thing when i think about you know letting things fly and you we were very, very mean to each other in college. And then we kind of kept it going and it really became about survival, right? It became like everybody was waiting to figure out how to like blow the old Russian poison dart at the other guy's throat. You know, just, oh, there's an opening taking you out.

And then if you didn't learn how to fight back, then you were toast. You might be full of darts might have transferred you could be in the portal we didn't even realize it so um i also think it speaks to like a great deal of insecurity though is really what we're talking about here because i'd like to think you if you're that guy you get to a point in your life where you're like, you know what I don't need to do is rip somebody else somehow to like give myself some temporary feeling of superiority. Cause really that, that means you're fucked up. The guy that doesn't make fun of anybody is the cool guy. The guy that doesn't look to give people shit all the time. That's

actually the cool guy in the group because he's the one that is so content with like who he is and generally wants you to feel better about yourself. Now, granted, there's like an Instagram version of that person that's excessive that feels like, hey, everybody love everybody. Like I'm not talking about that fucking guy. I'm talking about just the dude that's in your group that could be a dick to other people, has had a good run of it, or maybe things haven't worked out for him and then he could take it out on other people because he's deflecting from his own bullshit. But you tend to notice that the person in the group that's just like happy to be there and isn't looking at fighting doesn't mean you're never going to argue at some point or go over history of this, some of the stuff, but if this is your role, your friend's role in this group, uh, and as you already know,

and you've mentioned kind of the family thing, it means that it just kind of makes him feel temporarily better, even though there's no way he actually believes it. And maybe it isn't that deep. Maybe it's the dynamic, but it sounds like you don't like it. You're writing us. It sounds like the other guys are even more sensitive to the whole thing. So it might be the public call out. I don't know if that group is that way. Clearly, Kyle, your friends are that way. I think so. Rudy's are. I think it's also can be a Northeast thing sometimes where, you know, we would eventually somebody would just be like, shut the fuck up to the guy. But you could even do it in a way where because it sounds like you still want to be friends with him.

You could do it in a way where you're just like, look, the other day you were given so and so a hard time. He didn't say anything, but I just noticed it. And I don't think he likes that stuff. So if you're going to make fun of guys, just make fun of me. Just make fun of me the next time. Like direct it towards me, as you said, because you handle it better. But the thing is, you'd hope he'd be smart enough to go.

He has two choices. One, it doesn't feel like a direct attack and it's not really a direct attack on him you're offering him some solution but is he really going to say oh cool all right well yeah next time we all hang out i'm going to give you the real resin so i can stay with my you know my material doesn't have to change you'd like to think he'd go oh i got kind of called out on this but it wasn't confrontational. It wasn't direct. It wasn't in the group dynamic. Now, granted, most of us are never going to pull another dude aside and do any of this shit. But if it's that important to you, that might be the play where you feel like you're presenting yourself as still

being kind of on his side and this way, the awareness on him that like, stop giving everybody all this shit all the time. And you'd think, you know, a reasonable person would go, oh, wow. Like, I mean, that would be horrifying. Like if you were blind to it and somebody's like, Hey, you're kind of giving everybody shit and kind of getting sick of it a little bit. And so like in the future, just do it to me. Cause there's no way he's going to be like, all right, cool. So next Thursday we're hanging out i'm gonna get right on you we're gonna be right in the door i'm just gonna let you have ready you know yeah hey your food order sucks who bought your shirt you know what's your sister up to just let you know the material ahead of time i can't imagine anybody would actually do

that it would be something would go off in your head we'd like to think of like oh maybe it's like finding out you stink for the last three years and nobody told you or something. Oh, whoa. Yeah. Right. Like, hey, I don't care that you smell bad, but the other guys do. And then he'll be like, all right, cool. I'll just start standing next to you more.

No, wash yourself. What? I guess the thing i'm kyle what were you even do you have anything planned to say are you just trying to stop dying no i did have something planned but that was funny so i just needed to regroup for a second is like when he's saying like dunking all over me like we're not talking about like teenage like ball taps and flat tires like we're talking about saying mean shit or is he like doing stories and like because if it's stories so what your stories are the right ones from uh late high school and college and the middle school ones aren't so i guess like is it is it just he's just being mean and picking on guys or is it just like they're tired of reverting this far back and i'm sure we're not gonna have an answer to this but i

just think it's food for thought i think he says what really bothers me he'll raz a few of our more sensitive friends so i i don't think it's flat tires imagine if this guy were like flat tires titty twisters just going like hey what's up 30 yeah i think you know but i kind of know who this guy is too it'd be funny if he sent an email was like hey heard the email i'm the guy these guys are nerds yeah it's just trying to shape yeah i need to let the nerds know what's up oh shit uh you know look the emailer's heart is in the right place here and he's trying to come up with a solution but i i think there's a little little bait and switch on this that i would suggest where you just go hey you know take look, the email or his heart is in the right place here. And he's trying to come up with a solution. But I think there's a little, little bait and switch on this that I would suggest where you just go,

Hey, you know, take it easy on those guys. I don't mind it. And that way it doesn't feel like a direct attack on him. You just, you know, you'd hope he'd go,

Oh wait, like this is even a thing. It would be really funny if he's like super nice the next time around. Like, Hey guys, his whole shit changes yeah right he's so in his own head about it that he's like sucks to hang out with even more it is kind of important though i think like if he thinks it's a politics thing like let him know it's not because that's

such an easy excuse oh these guys don't like me because they don't like my pot like no like you're just you're an asshole dude like let him he should know that because then he's going to go around thinking is he has like an excuse built in for why these guys are you know don't like my policy. Like, no, you're an asshole. You're being a dick. He should know that because then he's going to go around thinking he has an excuse built in for why these guys don't like him or whatever. It's like, no, because you're a dick. You're being a dick. I do feel like the public, and I don't know that I buy into

that we've never been more divided. I think we're more aware of our division than we've ever been before. There's a lot of times where I'm thinking, are things really this bad? Are the inner is really this bad. Like I can read something that's super convincing. I can read something that convinces me that it's not that bad. But I do know that if you want to spend a few minutes scrolling through videos, you're watching stuff as fast as we've ever, you're processing in a way we've never ever processed before. But I would tell you,

there is a long list of dudes walking around right now that are wondering where their friends went. And they had the, right, that they're going, they're saying the exact same thing. Like, well, you know, that guy supports this. And then there's the other list of guys that are like, yeah, that guy sucked for 10 years and it was the best excuse ever. Yep. Yep. There's been friend breakups that are being labeled under a different category. I don't know if that's getting funding or not, but it's actually this category over here that would have been a lot harder to deal with.

It's easy to be like, oh, man, here's thoughts on immigration. Like, no, you're just you suck. You suck since like junior year and you just lived in the same town. I think we covered it to a rock tumbler. Yeah. Rock tumbler, rock tumbler of dudes. That is,

I want a 5,000 word piece on that in the ringer next week, Kyle. All right. All right. Thank you. Okay. Thanks to everybody. Thanks to work on.

Thanks to Sruti and kyle the ryan rossolo podcast the life advice emails life advice rr gmail.com and also friday feedback coming up in like two weeks friday feedback rr at gmail.com apologies again about no max homa we will effort to get him soon back on the pod thank you for listening ryan rossolo pod ringer spotify the pod. Thank you for listening. Ryan Russel, the pod, regular Spotify. We'll be right back. LLC gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit fanduel.com forward slash RG in Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Tennessee, and Virginia. Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 in Arizona, 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org forward slash chat in Connecticut, 1-800-9-WITH-IT in Indiana, 1-800-522-4700, or visit ksgamblinghelp.com in Kansas, 1-877-770-STOP in Louisiana. Visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland, visit

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