Will Cain Country - FOX Sports' Geoff Schwartz: Who Will Play In The Super Bowl? Plus, Was Shohei Ohtani's Interpreter Caught Red-Handed?

Episode Date: January 24, 2025

On this Friday edition of the sports edition of The Will Cain Show, Will sits down with the co-Host of Bear Bets: A FOX Sports Gambling Show and former NFL Offensive Guard, Geoff Schwartz to preview this week's upcoming AFC and NFC Championship games. Geoff also makes his arguments for why Patrick Mahomes may be closer to reaching the level of Joe Montana or Tom Brady than some may think.  Plus, Will has a conversation with The Crew on who the next Head Coach of the Dallas Cowboys will be, the audio of Shohei Ohtani's interpreter wiring money by impersonating the baseball star, and the controversy over the new nickname for the NHL team in Utah.  Tell Will what you thought about this podcast by emailing [e-mail] Subscribe to The Will Cain Show on YouTube here: Watch The Will Cain Show! Follow Will on Twitter: @WillCain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Go big, Dionne Sanders, play it safe. Brian Schottenheimer, the search for the new coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Audio of Shohei Otani's interpreter, stealing money and placing big bets now in the hands of the feds. Breaking down the NFC and AFC championship games, what's your best bet? Who will win? Eagles commanders, Bill's Chiefs. It is the Will Kane show streaming live at Fox News.com on the Fox News YouTube channel, the Fox News Facebook page. Every Monday through Thursday, live at 12 o'clock Eastern time on all those same digital channels

and streaming on terrestrial radio across this great United States of America, but always available on demand by subscribing Apple or on Spotify. This is a Kane on Sports. edition of the Will Kane Show. And we have today, Jeff Schwartz, former friend of mine from ESPN, now at Fox Sports. He co-hosts the Bear Betts podcast with Chris Felica, and he's going to give us after a hot run by Jeff Schwartz to end this season, his bet on who's going to win the AFC and NFC championship games. We'll break down the matchups, get into what I think, who I'm going to pick to be there with me, by the way, at the Super Bowl. The Will Cain Show, both 12 p.m. digital show and the 4 o'clock show on the Fox News Channel will both be live from New Orleans, right before the Super Bowl.

Let's bring you the boys in New York. I want to walk through a few things in the world of sports today. I want to start with the coaching search for the Dallas Cowboys. Enthusiasm has never been lower in Dallas. I can tell you, it's not just how I feel. You can hear it in local media. And you're beginning to, I think, run the risk of seeing it on national sports coverage. What I mean by that is anyone who's ever worked in national media knows why you talk about the Dallas Cowboys. I used to get the tweets and I see the comments and I know why the fans go, why are you always doing a Cowboys segment on first take?

And do you want to know the answer? Because you watch. Because you listen. People love to talk about the Dallas Cowboys. That being said, I truly think that Jerry, Jones has led us into the age of malaise people are bored of the cowboys you can't simply be a marketing vehicle not for this long you can for a while but going on three decades ain't going to work you have to deliver winning has never been more important now that being said there is some

expectation the cowboys could announce the coach in the next oh anywhere from the next 12 to i think 72 hours and it looks like it looks like the leading candidate is brian schottenheimer the guy who's been the offensive coordinator for the cowboys didn't call plays under mike mccarthy and of course the son of marty schottenheimer and you guys want some evidence of just people used to say stephen a smith always said cowboys fans could lose in the next morning they wake him say we're going to win the super bowl next year and i honestly think he's right I think I'm one of those fans. You are.

Because I've actually started to convince myself a little bit about Brian Schottenheimer. Now, here's my... Oh, my God. Here's the case. Okay, here's the case. Okay, first of all, let me tell you what I really want. You guys know this. I want Dion Sanders.

And I've made my case to the audience here, the Willis. I've made my case to you guys about the perfect fit of Dion with the Cowboys. I heard local reporters saying today, Dion will not interview. He will not interview with the Cowboys, not formally, unless he already has the job. He's smart enough and media savvy enough, and he's not going to undercut himself at Colorado to go interview for a job that he's not going to get. So if you ever hear Dion's going in to interview, he has the job in Dallas. I think he's marketing genius, and I think he's a good football coach.

And I just think personality-wise, he's the one guy. And I think singularly the one guy that could fit in Dallas. Now, I'm curious really quickly what you boys think about the idea of Dion in Dallas, because there is a train of thought, which I've been a part of in the past, and I can imagine that you guys might sign up for is Dion is more hype than substance. I'm just curious if that still holds. Do you guys buy what I'm selling when it comes to Dion in Dallas? I don't, only because I feel like it's a problem with Jerry Jones.

and it's a problem with making decisions and just personality clashes. I think he's a good coach. I don't think it's all hype. I think he's done a very good job in Colorado. But I don't think it's the savior that you're looking for either. But I think the personality thing is hand in glove. I mean, I just, it's almost like you fight fire with fire.

I guess. You know, that's how you fight a wildfire. You start a, you know, a fire line. and you take out the fuel not just i almost think dion is an irrepressible marketing and media personality that would not shrink under jerry jones and would actually box him out like do you think first take is going to lead on a monday next year with what jerry jones had to say or what dion had to say and you know what one thing about jerry is you know what he's been accused of being is a little bit of a jock sniffer what i mean by that is like he loves thinking of himself as one of the guys he

wants to be in the locker. And the truth is, look, we've all talked about this. You know the dude personality? Jerry's a dude. Like, that's the truth. Like, he's a lot of things, but you know what he is? He's a dude. And he wants to be around other dudes, and Dion's a dude. And I think that he would, I think if there's any one person in the world, also with his history with the Cowboys, Hall of Famer, Super Bowl winner, it's the one person in the world where you might get some deference from Jerry. And I think it's fighting fire with fire. Where's your skepticism level tinfoil. I just think that you guys have had coaches that have had big personalities before and

have, you know, been media darlings. I mean, Bill Parcells, you know, did not do well in Dallas. And I just, I just am very skeptical. I mean, Bill Parcells had a track record of success in the NFL. Dion, he did a nice job in Colorado, but he still had two Heisman candidates, like top eight candidates the guy who won and still only one nine games

so I mean like there was a lot to do there I don't know I just they've tried the end but I think I think the bar I think you're messing up the bar when Bill Parcells came in

to the Cowboys they were not good like they were not good they were at a real low point since the late 80s and he brought them to the playoffs with Quincy Carter at quarterback I mean 9 and 7

from where he took over is actually a victory. He didn't see it through the finish line, and you could bring up the personality conflicts or the control conflicts then with Jerry Jones. And as for Dion, I would say, same thing. You have to readjust your bar. He took over Colorado, and it was really bad, you know, and he took them to nine wins.

I think that's a victory. You can't just compare them against, you know, Alabama, Clemson, or Ohio State. You have to compare them against who they were. at Colorado. Okay, but now I've told you, I've started to convince myself on Brian Schottenheimer and here's why. Okay, I guess my thought process goes like this. I don't know if I'm just giving too much to his last name, but I do want a young coach. What I, like, the ideal coach for me is somebody in the Mike McDaniel, Kyle Shanahan mode. Like, offensively creative, maximizing

limited talent. What I mean by that is you don't have to have Patrick Mahomes because Dak Prescott's not Patrick Mahomes. You only have to have Brock Purdy or Tuatunga Viloa. And I think Dak Prescott is better than both Brock Purdy and Tuatung Vaila. But those coaches create systems and put them into situations where they are incredibly, incredibly successful. I don't know if Schottenheimer is that. Maybe I'm just thinking that because he has an NFL legacy name and he has been an offense coordinator. But I do combine that with like football people do seem to respect Schottenheimer whatever that means you know the Rex Ryan's the Troy

Aitman's of the world they do seem to respect Schottenheimer in a way that the fan base isn't going to because he has a 500 record in the NFL I'm just starting to like well maybe Schottenheimer is the young next over you know hidden gym overlooked possibility of being the next Mike McDaniel or Kyle Shanahan go ahead Tinfoil. I can already see your face. All right. I know this may seem, you're saying he's young. He is 51. So it's not like he's, you know, McVeigh or something where he's coming in and is that not. I know that seems. Is that not? Like it. Are we not young? It's not 71. So that's not 71. So that's something. It's good for you. I mean, as a Fox News host, that's pretty young. But like, wow. I'm not 51. I'm in my 40s. hope is a hell of a drug man so good luck with that it is a hell of a drug two a days it is it's all i've survived on for three decades the NFL draft and coaching changes are my my source of

source of hope but anyway i'm convincing what's someone what's someone that didn't excite you like kellen more in names that were thrown around for cowboys head coach if if we're being 100% honest i probably would have got there with kellen more too that's my point probably would have like anybody yeah i know based upon Eagle's success, and it was actually pretty good with the Cowboys as an offensive coordinator. I mean, if I'm, again, being honest two weeks ago, the name that would have excited me the least is Brian Schottenheimer, if I'm being honest. But we'll see. We'll know soon.

This is fascinating. So I've been skeptical of Shohei Otani from the beginning that his interpreter was, you know, single-handly stealing from him. Do we know the numbers I read it this morning? I think it ended up being like, was it $40 million? I think it's $40 million in gambling debts lost. And that took thousands and thousands and thousands of bets. Like this didn't happen over a few big licks, although there was some big bets. It was like a thousand different, not like multiple thousands of wire transfers.

Do you have it there two days? Yeah, it was over $40 million in gambling. He was accused of stealing $16 to $17 million from Otani's account. he placed 19,000 bets over two years with an average bet of $12,800. 19,000 times. So the skepticism is always like, how does Otani have that little oversight or control

or even an accountant to look over his books? Wow. But now the feds have released new audio of his last name is Matsuhara. He's, Otani's interpreter was, and his best buddy, by all accounts, It's like his best buddy, and he has, like, access to these accounts, and we have audio of him impersonating Shohay Otani

and making one of these wire transfers. Let's listen. Who am I speaking with? Shohai O'Kani. Thank you. How many help you? So I tried to log into online banking, and it told me that it's not available to me at this time, and I can call.

Sure, I can take a look into that. I can take a look into that. that for you. Okay, it'll be just one minute, please. Will I access your account? I tried to make a wire transfer a couple days ago. They told me that that's probably the reason, so they transferred me to this number. Okay. It's for $200,000. Wow, $200,000. Man, okay, so let me tell you this, first of all. She sent him a six-digit code, like a double verification. So he must have Otani's phone because he immediately rattles off the six-digit code. When I first saw the story before I heard the audio, my first thought was, I mean, I don't think it's racist, but like, I think I'm just, like, if a dude calls in with an accent, of any accent, right?

All of a sudden, your ability to know, is this really the person or not, I think is scrambled. I think you go haywire, right? Like the three of us call in, we have very three different voices. I can't be you, Dan. I can't be you tinfoil. But let's say that I was in Saudi Arabia, right? And I call in for a wire transfer. I think our voices being different,

all of a sudden get scrambled because they're just like, they're totally trying to work within our accent, like trying to understand what we're saying. Don't you think like if you're impersonating something audibly, having an accent's like a foreign accent, It's a real tool. Well, what are you shaking your head, tinfoil? For America, it would be, right?

But in Saudi Arabia, if you tried that, they'd see through the accent because they have that accent. You know what I mean? But also the fact that... No, I'm saying, no, we're doing it with our American accents in some other country

where that operator who is Saudi is going, I'm trying really hard to understand his accent and what he wants to say. And all of a sudden, that operator is less concerned with, watch this. Two days, I want you to say, two days, I want you to say,

I'd like to wire transfer $200,000. I'd like to wire transfer $200,000. Now watch this. I'd like to wire transfer $200,000. No one thinks we're the same person. No. But I'm just curious if we're in Saudi Arabia and they're trying to like compensate for our accent,

an accent which they're not used to hearing, maybe I'm picking the wrong country. I don't even know. They may be really used to English accents in Saudi Arabia. That was my point, right. All of a sudden, if they're trying to compensate for our accent, maybe your baritone isn't as distinct from my nasally Texas twang as you might think. Isn't it also the fact that Shohayotani, you know, widely known,

doesn't really speak English that well, as well as that? I don't think you would expect that of a bank. I don't think so. And that's another takeaway. actually when I hear this I don't think his English is really good yeah that's what I take I came away with in hearing that his English is really good

I don't think that bank person has any idea Shoha Otani's English true proficiency there's a lot of I don't think so there's a lot of athletes that when dealing with the media pretend that their English is not as good as it is just so they can be like there's a golfer who's very famous for the he'll get asked questions

he speaks fluent English he'll just look at them a Japanese golfer just goes Oh god I can't remember the name Japanese golfer Machama I'm not going to guess because I don't want to get in trouble

but he's the top 100 golfer and any time the press asks him questions he goes no English well a bunch of the DR guys and Puerto Rican guys do that

for sure they speak better English than they're willing but I get some of that like giving an interview man I can't imagine trying to give an interview in another language like the the amount of

comfort and confidence required to answer curveball questions, and then all of a sudden you got to do it in a language where you have to think the entire time about the language? I mean, I speak a little Spanish, but I could not do an interview. Not.

There's no way. We do like a mock interview about you and your new show. Well, how do you think about the new show? You speak Spanish? Good bit. You have establishment? See? Good bit.

Enough to get by. I think that my new show is more or less good. Gigante ratings. Very gigante. But in Texas in Texas it's pretty probably common to speak Spanish, I'd imagine. It's more just taking it in school.

And then, you know, I speak it here and there in Texas. But I want to do duolingo, by the way. I really, I want to be good at it. I'm not going on with I only know enough Spanish to know I'm not very good at it, and I can only get myself in trouble. Like, I can do, like, two sentences of a conversation, and then I'm out. And then I have to say, mas de spasio, porf'or, which is, please slow down.

Because you say something, here's how it goes. I go, hello, how much. And then they say, oh, bien, and they're like, uh, tu ablas Spanish? And I'm like, oh, Solomente a little, right? You speak Spanish, only a little. And then they go, no, that's great. And then they just, brr. This is like friends on my, my kid's soccer team, and I'm like out.

Parachute, pull the rip cord, can't do it. Back to English. Pretty much. So, so, yeah, I mean, that's incredible. I actually see how it could happen now. I didn't know it was that easy to make this number of wire transfers that big of money just with a call and a six-digit code. Finally, Utah Yeties in the NHL, the Utah hockey club.

They had a fan competition, by the way, vote to see. what they were going to turn their name into, Utah Hockey Club being a placeholder. And the options were Blizzard, Utah Blizzard, Utah Outlaws, Utah Mammoth, Utah Venom, and Utah Yetis. And the fans selected, which I think was the right choice, pretty awesome, Utah Yeties. But the United States Trademark Office has denied the copyright on Utah Yeties. they um i guess it was challenged by yeti among others yeti coolers which everybody has everybody's got a yetty right yeah raise your hand if you have a yetti of some kind a tumbler a cooler really just me in two a days how do you at this point

there was a time when a yeti was like a luxury item and there was like oh you got a yetty and now then you look up and every company's giving away a uh a yeti tumbler you know they have stanley's probably two a days in j how to how to how do two days in j how to how to Two of a Days in Young Establishment, not... You're telling me two of a day's, I mean, tinfoil, in your house, you do not have any form of a Yeti? No, no, yeties, no. That shocks me more. You never bring one for, like, a beach trip?

We have other things. That's fair. I don't know. Coffee? I think my brother happened. Like in a... In a Tumblr, a coffee, a Yeti, you know, in the morning? I got a stand.

I don't do that? Yeah. Oh, that's even more trendy. Stanley, though, that's a little feminine, right? Like, you're... I got a masculine thing. See? It's blue.

Oh, gosh. You got to do... That's not masculine. Do you hold it? Patrick, hold it up again. Do you hold it by the handle? Or do you hold it with your fingers running through the handle and hold it by the actual cup? Like, hold that up.

No, no, no, no. No, you did it different before. That's super feminine. If you walk around with your Yeti, you're Stanley like that. you are a housewife or a 20-something year old and then you tuck it under your arm so you do that and you tuck it up against your body like this

do it Patrick do it tinfoil grab it by the cup no put your fingers through it put your fingers through it and have the handle on the outside now that's it that's the look holding it against your chest he's getting ready to join a sorority yeah as long as you are 100%

don't start adding things to it like little like key chains on it and stuff like that you are 100% going through Theta Rush right there Too bad for the Utah Yetis I know you're super fired up about that tinfoil because you're Mr. Uniform and mascot guy I nominate Mammoth as the backup plan I kind of like Utah Mammoth

Patrick Patrick muted himself on Zoom just so you know I don't want to cough into the thing. That new show on Netflix. Patrick, you are a broadcasting genius. Genius. I mean, you are a broadcasting gold money. He's like, it's just mouth moving, nothing coming out of it.

Oh, so good. You're upset about the Utah Yeties. This is your chance to shine. Redemption, go. So I heard somebody you mentioned the Latter Day Skates is a potential name, and I thought that was pretty good. It was all the LBS. It's pretty fine.

Latter-day skates. How awesome would that be if they leaned into that? That would be awesome. By the way, I'm hearing great things. Speaking of Mormons, I'm hearing great things about American primeval. Didn't one of you guys start that? Yeah. I was going to say, it's set in Utah, and you got three groups out there.

You got the Shoshanian Indians. You got some other Indian tribes. You got the Mormons. You have the pioneers and the settlers with all the forts out there. I feel like you could have done something with one of those groups. I saw somebody say it's the best show I can't remember what they compared to but they said it's one of the best shows

they've watched in years. Oh, I know what they said. Best shows since peaky blinders and that piqued my interest because I loved me some peaky blinders. You're going to love it, Will. Really? It's so up your alley.

I've immediately thought of you and it started watching it. I'm in then. American Prime Evil plus Utah mammoths as a backup if we can't get the United States government to get on board with the Utah Yeties.

All right, you need to get on board. It's time for the AFC and NFC Championship Games, a big football weekend. Washington commanders, Philadelphia Eagles, fifth time we've had an NFC East showdown in the NFC championship game. And then the Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs, can Josh Allen overcome Patrick Mahomes,

or is he destined to be? I don't know. Peyton Manning even won a Super Bowl at some point. and overcame Tom Brady, who are the greatest quarterbacks of all time that couldn't get over their conference rival? Let's break that all down with, my friend, former colleague at ESPN, part of the Bear Betts podcast, and a Fox Sports analyst, Jeff Schwartz. It is time to take the quiz. It's five questions in less than five minutes. We ask people on the streets of New York City to play along.

Let's see how you do. Take the quiz every day at the quiz.com. then come back here to see how you did. Thank you for taking the quiz. This is Jimmy Fala, inviting you to join me for Fox Across America where we'll discuss every single one of the Democrats' dumb ideas. Just kidding, it's only a three-hour show.

Listen live at noon Eastern or get the podcast at foxacrossamerica.com. It is time to take the quiz. It's five questions in less than five minutes. We ask people on the streets of New York City to play along. Let's see how you do. Take the quiz every day at thequiz.com. Then come back here to see how you did.

Thank you. for taking the quiz. The host of Jeff Schwartz is smarter than you podcast. Former NFL offensive lineman Jueff Schwartz now here on the Will Kane Show. What's up, Jeff? Oh, man, I can't wait for this weekend.

Thanks for having me on a preview these games. A few days away. You like wait all year for this weekend of great football and it's here already. I know, but it's almost like we're, honestly, the best weekend of football was last weekend with a divisional round of the NFL playoffs.

And this, it's like, you start to feel, you might not be at dessert, maybe the Super Bowl is dessert, but you're in that waiting period between your entree and dessert. You know, I mean, you know it's coming to an end. So you like it,

but it's not quite the full on digging into your entree extravaganza of the divisional round of the playoffs. It's certainly not, but I will say I'm a ball watcher, right? I watch all the football I can possibly stand. I watch the ball games that no one wants to watch. I watch all.

It's a preseason. I watch the film of the preseason. I watch it all. By this time of the year, though, I'm okay that we only have two games this weekend. Like last weekend was a lot of football and you put on top of that the championship game that was on Monday night

and it was like a lot of high leverage football to watch. I'm okay if we take a little bit of a break between games before we get these two big games on Sunday and obviously two weeks before the Super Bowl I mean draft stuff is happening already. Players declaring starting to look at take a peek at some of the draft guys.

So there's always ball to watch but I'm okay with it slowing down a tiny bit. Jeff Schwartz. self-proclaimed ball watcher here on the Will Cain show. Schwartz, you heard me as I was bringing you in. And I'm going to start here because I think it's just kind of interesting to think about. So Josh Allen is undoubtedly, in my mind, Jeff, obviously one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL today and probably on a path to at least put himself into a debate about, hey, where does he rank all time?

I don't do that prematurely. I think it is a little premature, but he's on that path. He's that good. But he has this massive hurdle in front of him. And it's Patrick Mahomes, and it's a hurdle that he hasn't been able to get over. And I was just trying to think historically, like, who does that put him in company with? It's kind of Peyton Manning to Tom Brady, although Manning did get over Brady at times, and he did win a Super Bowl. So he won two Super Bowls, right?

One with the Broncos, one with the Colts. But there are great quarterbacks. Just trying to rack my mind, historically, they're great quarterbacks who got relegated. I mean, there are guys like one. Warren Moon and many others that, although they're Hall of Famers, they never fully received their due because they couldn't get over the hurdle of whatever greatness was in front of them. How about this?

The NBA is easy. Carl Malone, Charles Barkley, a ton of great NBA players who just simply were in the same time as Michael Jordan. That's what we're dealing with with Patrick Mahomes. Yeah, I mean, Dan Marino comes to mind too, right, as a quarterback that, you know, emulates a little bit of, I guess, Josh Allen emulates him, right? big strong arm, you can throw the ball a mile, but Marino's never broke through. Alan has a little more playoff success than I think Marino's had in his career.

But yes, I mean, look, he has to break through at some point. You would think he would. They've been close now many, many years in a row. And football sort of works that way. When you knock on the door for many years, you eventually bust it open. You mentioned, I think Paney Manning is the best one to look at, right? Where he just couldn't beat Tom Brady, he finally got one, and he won a Super Bowl. And it feels like Josh John, if he can get through Kansas City this weekend, they'll win the Super Bowl.

The question is, will he win this weekend? And it does feel like a last two-minute type of game, a three-point game either way, seven-point game either way. Both teams play such clean football will. You know, the bills have the lowest turnover rate. I think maybe NFL history and offense this season, Chiefs haven't turned the ball over nine games now. So something weird is going to happen in this game that determines the winner. And it might not matter how well Josh John or Patrick Mahomes plays because there's a fumble. a missed kick as a weird special teams play, a penalty here and there.

So it does feel like something unforeseen might determine the winner of this game. I think I just heard you say if he gets over Patrick Mahomes, he wins the Super Bowl. Do you think the AFC championship game is essentially the Super Bowl? Do you think the winner between Chiefs Bills wins the Super Bowl? I do. I think those teams are just better. Look, Philly will always have an advantage in the trenches over most anyone they play. But a lot of times I turn to the best quarterback in the game.

And if you're telling me I get Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen over Jalen Hurts, who I think is going to win this game, or even Jane and Daniels as a rookie, I'm taking the better quarterback. And those guys are better. And that Super Bowl doesn't always go this way. Certainly not. But a lot of times the better quarterback ends up being the one who wins the game. And if Buffalo gets through Kansas City and Baltimore, same as the Chiefs did last season,

getting through Baltimore and Buffalo, I feel pretty comfortable to win that Super Bowl. All right. I'm going to say this for everyone. listening, and I'm going to say it to his face. I don't know that you're 100% objective when it comes to the Kansas City Chiefs. You're a bit of a fan because your brother played for the Chiefs. I've seen you actively root at times for the Chiefs. Here's the thing. I don't think anybody hates the Chiefs. There might be some Chiefs fatigue, but nobody really hates the Chiefs. And if there is any hatred of the Chiefs, it's really about Taylor Swift and Travis

and then by extension, Travis Kelsey. It is. It's like people going, why are you shoving all of this onto me? That's the only real hatred of the Chiefs. Everybody loves Patrick Mahomes. Everybody likes Andy Reid. Everybody likes the franchise, to be honest. So I'm going to ask you two things about the Chiefs

with your lack of objectivity. Okay. It's weird, Jeff. All season long, I've not seen a Chief's team in several years that I've felt is more vulnerable. less dominant, more beatable than this year's chiefs. And at the same time, 15 and 2, you know, in the regular season. So it's like a little bit hard to reconcile, but it does seem to be if there was ever a year for

Josh Allen the bills, this is the Kansas Chiefs team, and this is the year. Well, I'll tell you why that would be the case. And the reason why the Chiefs continue to win, despite, to your point, looking vulnerable, and I think certain times this season I was questioning them as well is, is they take the mistakes that other teams make, and they take advantage of them. If you give them an extra down, an extra play, extra possession, a short field, they're going to score, and they're going to make it hurt. They're going to do that.

The Chiefs do not, now, they do make some dumb penalties, and often in the middle of the third quarter of a week eight game, they fall asleep and allow a team to score two touchdowns and come back on them. But in those defining moments, in the big moments of games, they take advantage of all your mistakes. Buffalo doesn't make mistakes. I just talked about it. They don't turn the ball over.

And so if they don't make mistakes, it's how they won the first game. The Chiefs turned the ball over twice. Buffalo didn't, to my knowledge, they might have had one turnover, but they won the turnover battle. And they played a clean football game. And that's how you have to beat Kansas City.

If you give them an inch, give them a turnover, a bad punt, a miss kick, they're going to take advantage of it. So even though it looks sloppy at times, it's not really what the Chiefs are in the end. I think the regular season is hard, and I get it.

You're a football fan, so am I. I get the feeling that you have all the time, which is it's not supposed to look this way in the regular season and produce results in the postseason. Because we often see for so many years, right? Like the Patriots would peak at the end of Thanksgiving, right? Thanksgiving, the rest of they played great football. The Chiefs don't always do that. And they come in the postseason playing. And this year was a little different than two years ago.

This year they played well against Texas and Steelers and finished up strong. But the previous year, they did. They lost the Raiders on Thanksgiving, as Christmas should say. It shouldn't look this way. And I agree with you. It feels weird to say a team that often doesn't play their best in the regular season can't just turn on. The football is not supposed to be a turn-on sport, but they absolutely do. So Buffalo takes care of the football, which they have done this season.

They have as good a chance of anyone to beat Kansas City. I like Josh Allen to do a lot with his legs in this game. The Chiefs don't defend a quarterback run very well. And if Josh Allen plays special football, he can absolutely win this game. Okay, that takes me to the second part of this. and we'll see where your objectivity lies. Because you laid out all the different ways that people can give the chiefs

that little extra life, a turnover, whatever it may be, an extra down. The thing is, Jeff, it's pretty hard to deny that that comes in the form often when it comes to the chiefs with a yellow flag. It does feel like they get...

The officials, they're on our side. They rigged it for middle America, Kansas City. They did they rigged it for the Cowboys, though, right? They rigged it for the chiefs. That's what they rigged it for. They like stars, the NFL. And I don't know that it's conscious, even if it's subconscious. It's that's Patrick Mahomes.

He's going to get that flag. It's the Michael Jordan rule that he got fouls that other people didn't get. And, I mean, there's the obvious, Jeff. And Patrick knows it. Don't play with me. You know Patrick knows it. He is doing something intentional. He is doing that late slide, which, by the way, isn't a slide.

it's not a slide it is a drop to a knee so there's no angle to it it's like he's vertical and then he's down on a knee and that poor defender has no ability to see it coming because of that also the little sideline run is he going out is he not going out he is a flag hunter and he is hunting successfully he's big game hunting yellow flags he's getting those extra downs it's feels it's not i'm not saying it's illegal it does feel cheap it does feel like it needs to be addressed but that's how it's going to come in the form of that extra down and that's why I'll tell you this

I don't know if they'll be the better team than Buffalo but I think they're going to get that extra down you talk about I think they're I would not bet against the Chiefs because they're going to get laundry on the field I would not advise you to watch a search on social media Josh Allen

flops don't do that that would ruin the narrative Josh Allen has more personal foul penalties and rough in the passive penalties than Patrick Mahomes over the years but that that ruins the narrative though so we can't talk about that every quarterback does it right if you're going to call it and the NFL has said we're going to call these penalties is it fair I thought the personal foul the second one essentially when he was a runner that's not a personal foul right he's a runner not a quarterback and you can't judge him on that that was a running back

that would not be a personal foul the early one on will Anderson for the real ref was getting I get it it's not the best call in the world but I get what the ref was seeing the second one was not a penalty I totally agree with you on that on that but look all the numbers show that home teams tend to get more advantage on penalties than the way team. The chiefs have hosted all these games for all these years, right? They've only been on the road twice in seven years, and that was last season. And the numbers bear out that a lot of teams get personal, excuse me, that personal fouls and and roughing the passers, sure, almost the same rate the chiefs do.

But here's the thing about championship football. You know this. You watch a lot of football. Championship teams tend to not make those mistakes, right? The Patriots never made those mistakes. They didn't get roughing the passers. They didn't get a ton of personal fouls. Other teams are not as disciplined.

It's why they're not Kansas City. So I will agree. The refs do give Kansas City chiefs at times the benefit of the doubt. But to your point, they're the Michael Jordan rules, right? They're the home team. It's Patrick Mahomes. But if the NFL was rigged, they'd rig it for the Dallas Cowboys. It's so silly to me that people think that the chiefs are the ones that they're rigging the NFL for.

I think that's actually a really good rebuttal. I think it's a good rebuttal. The 31 owners are in on the chiefs. You've been in Kansas City. But imagine the the Dallas Cowboys are the only team the longest running team

the NFC to not be in the NFC championship game because the Commanders are now in. We know that. Stop. Everyone knows.

So it's not rigged. If they don't know, if they don't know, we don't want to tell them if they're listening. It's now the Cowboys of the longest running NFC franchise

not to have appeared in an NFC championship game. Embarrassing in Dallas. And there are people Okay, listen. You made a mistake with me. Yes. Go ahead.

You made a mistake with me. me. You made a legitimate point on if they rigged it, they would rig it for the Dallas Caval. But you pushed me into a maximalist position. My maximumist position is not that the NFL is rigged. I'm not saying the NFL is rigged. What I'm saying is there is a heavy burden of the proof, heavy benefit of the doubt going the way of Mahomes and the chiefs. Yes, but to be fair, isn't that what all sports leagues tend to do to superstars? I don't think it's any different than the NBA or to the Patriots. It's just maybe social media and there are some dishonest actors on social media shocking right that put out stats about

penalties that are not terribly accurate i saw one that didn't include penalties that weren't accepted kind of matters changes the number if they don't accept a penalty that that's still a penalty that was called so i it's not as bad as people think it is i hope this game by the way the chiefs get called for 15 penalties and still win and just end the narrative it just ends it also obviously enough some of the stats didn't include the the the super bowl they lost where they had like 15 penalties instead of record in the first half for most penalties called. It's just convenient stat padding here and there and picking and choosing what stats we want to use.

All right. Let's move over to the NFC. Eagles, commanders. Yeah. I don't want to take anything away from the commanders because they're actually a good team. So I don't want to pretend like it's just Jaden Daniels, right? I mean, Tara McLauran is amazing. They've had good, I think you know more than me.

They've had good line play, good enough at least. but they lost Sam Cosme I know that and that's a starter on the offensive line that's going to hurt but they're not as good of a complete team as Philadelphia and both talk about line play you know that's where Philadelphia is really good

but then taking advantage of that line is Sequin Barclay. Taking advantage of that line is and by the we'll have to see how healthy he is Jalen Hertz but is Jalen Hertz so I don't I looked at ESPN this morning Jeff and I think two out of four of the prediction models or predictors, we're picking commanders over Eagles.

I just see it as Eagles. I don't see that happening in this game. We've seen five rookies playing championship games. They've all lost at quarterback, should say, and they haven't played terribly well. I'm not sure Daniels is going to play terribly, but this is different than playing at Tampa Bay or at Detroit. This is an Eagles team that you're not going to push around. It's Eagles team that's mostly healthy on defense, unlike the Lions.

And you mentioned the offense defense of the line play. This is where the Eagles are great. And now you lose your right guard against Jalen Carter. Like not a spot you want to be in. I think if you're the commanders. And they're not a fluke. They've won 14 games. They're 14 to 5.

It's a really good winning football team. But the Eagles are built differently. And unlike the lions that got cute and when they were behind, he goes to run the football, man. They're going to run the ball. Remember, the game that the commanders beat them recently, they were 14-0. Hertz gets a concussion and it just sort of went downhill from there.

Hurts has the knee injury. I don't know how healthy he is or isn't, but they can just run the ball with Barclay. Control the line of scrimmage, play zone, forced Daniel to slowly beat him down the field, knock him up explosive plays. Daniels running the ball is certainly concerned. It's hard to defend a quarterback run,

but the Eagles are better nearly everywhere on the field. They're better at almost every important position. Again, not taking away for the commanders. Great season. But it wouldn't surprise me if this game was a 10 point, 14 point win for the Eagles, even though the Eagles, concerning, they play a lot of pre-vent defense end of games that they get away from being aggressive, almost cost them last weekend.

They can't do that here. They can't get a big 14 points, 10 points, and then just play pre-event defense. But I think Eagles are better. It doesn't think away from the commander's season. Eagles are just a better football team. Speaking of quarterbacks, by the way, I, of course, will be rooting for either aFC team, honestly, over the NFC East rivals to the Dallas Cowboys. let's do two historical sort of ranking or put these guys into context when it comes to quarterbacks.

Jaden Daniels, right now, you would think is putting the commanders on about a three to four year run here where they're going to be competing Super Bowls. They have to get a little better in shoring up some other parts of their roster, which isn't going to be prohibitive with him on a rookie contract deal. They're going to be able to find ways to plug in a roster that may be 80% of the way there right now, right? Yes. But do you think that's what it is for the commanders? Are they now in that window of their title window is now for the next three to four years?

Because the other side of that coin is you would have thought the same thing with RG3. Well, yeah. I like the Cowboys fan bringing up an RG3 reference just to the Salt Away commanders fans. Yes, you would have thought. You have to remember RG3. But Dan Snyder was also the owner. a different head coach. Shanhan, obviously, great coach.

But look, I like the, I like Dan Quinn. Dan Quinn, by the way, won in Atlanta, right? Historically not a place that wins as often. He is now won in Washington's first season. And Daniels is that guy. So now you know if you're Washington, but you have the quarterback and coach. Now it's about when Jane Daniels is cheap as he is

for year one, two, and three. Now you might pay him in year four, but you push that money further down the line. So year four is sort of cheap, but maybe you're five. This is the window right here. And you're going to get players that want to come play with Daniels. You're going to get players that want to play for a defense that Dan Quinn wants.

This is the opportunity right now. And you look at the rest of the NFC, let's a quarterback, right? The top four quarterbacks in the NFL that we all believe in the AFC, right? Mahomes, Alan, Burrow, Lamar. Those are one through four. Daniels, if he plays well this weekend, but just looking forward, he's in the discussion for sort of next in line, right, to be five probably. I mean, people will say Herbert, but we've got to see some postings success probably to put Herbert up there.

But look at the rest of the NFC. Right now, quarterback, Daniels is near the top. And that puts you every single season in the position to be a division winner and to be a deep postseason run. Division winners aren't very hard, by the way. Most of your seven of eight division winners are the best quarterback. And the East is different because I think Hertz is good, but he has a great team around him. But Daniels will be in that position the next three or four years to put Washington at the top of the conference every year. All right, now, where's Mahomes right now?

Before we even get to another Super Bowl victory, second best quarterback of all time, third best, Montana, Brady. I have him second. I think he's probably behind Brady, right? Is he behind, I mean, for my, look, and this is the thing about him that I think we just have come to appreciate maybe, maybe not enough yet, is that after Tyreek Hill left, he just decided, I don't really care about the gaudiness of my performance.

I'm just here to win. And so as numbers, the rest of his career, probably aren't going to be what they were to start his career. But to him, all that matters is getting the team to victory and getting himself to the postseason and to host home playoff games. And so we're not going to see the 5,000 yards again, in my opinion. Is this not what it's going to be? Plus, Kelsey is going to retire at some point,

so the offense will change without Kelsey there. But all Mahomes has done is adapt to all these things, right? To new wide receivers, to rookies, to young guys. Kelsey's always been there, which is hugely important. Different offensive linemen have come and gone. And so I think Mahomes is right behind Brady. Look, to me, it's hard to judge generations, right? Like, Joe Montana play a different generation than Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady.

And maybe it's recent C bias for us to choose players that we have just watched. But I think Mahomes is right at the top of that mountain. And he's got 10 years left, at least. If they win this weekend, this year, I mean, that puts them, that's four Super Bowls in seven years starting, I want to say. That's pretty remarkable. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. Okay, really quickly, give me your prediction for both games this weekend on championship weekend.

I have a Chief's Eagles meeting again in the Super Bowl. It wouldn't surprise me if the Bills win. It would surprise me if the commanders won. And you're on a hot run. You ended the season 15 and 9, I think, against the spread. Yeah, we're hot right now. That was college football as well. Yeah, I had a good college football year. I bet on all the favorites in the postseason, which is not always the best route, but these favorites in the college football just kept winning and covering. I'm not surprised, but that's what college football is at times when you have just better teams. You give them 10 days to prepare, the better team is going to win a lot of times by double digits. That's just sort of what college football has come to. Is Arch Manning going to lead Texas to a championship?

I wrote about it this week. Is he the guy? Place your bet right now. Texas Longhorn's national champion under Archbending. Plus 650. The schedule's hard, though. The three toughest games are all in the road. Ohio State, Florida, and Georgia.

I think you've got two years to do it, by the way. He's not coming out next year. I think he's going to give Texas two years. And in those two years, I didn't say next year. But in his career in Texas, he'll win a national championship. Is that good? All right, Jeff Schwartz. Yeah, Jeff Schwartz, by the way, I'm on the same bets as you.

I'm on Chiefs and Eagles for the Super Bowl. All right, Jeff Schwartz is smarter than you podcast. Thanks, man. Appreciate you being on the Wilkins chair. Okay, see you, man. There you goes. Make sure you subscribe to the Jeff Schwartz is Smarter Than You podcast. That's going to do it for us today.

I will see you on Monday. live 12 o'clock at foxnews.com, the Fox News YouTube channel, the Fox News Facebook page. And since you're listening right now on Spotify, Apple, or on radio, hang out with us whenever and however you like. Also see you at 4 o'clock on the Fox News channel. See you next time on The Will Kane Show. Listen ad-free with a Fox News podcast plus subscription on Apple Podcast, and Amazon Prime members. You can listen to this show, ad-free, on the...

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