Hey, pardon my take, listeners. You can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime. Members can listen ad free on Amazon music.

Enjoy. Rich and smooth proper number twelve irish whiskey. A fine blend of golden grains and single malt with hints of vanilla, honey and toasted wood.

Triple distilled and aged four years in bourbon barrels. Anything else just wouldn't be proper. For every bottle sold, a donation is.

Made to support our brave first responders this weekend. Shoot your shot and order yourself some proper number twelve irish whiskey. Please drink responsibly.

On today's part of my take, we have our good friend Julian Edelman back on the show in studio. Came to visit us. Just visit us. It's a great time. We're going to do week 16 picks in preview. The race to see who has to do an hour set in Vegas is getting tighter. We got three picks for everyone. Fantasy yeah, and it's the holidays and fire fest of the week. It's all brought to you by our friends at Morgan and Morgan, 35% of all fatal accidents occur between 06:00 p.m. And midnight. Did you know that? Pft I did, yeah.

It's shocking.

People aged 25 to 34 have the highest amount of drivers involved in car crashes. I knew that. And if you're ever injured, you can check out Morgan and Morgan. Morgan and Morgan is America's largest injury law firm. They have over 100 offices nationwide and more than 800 lawyers with over $15 billion recovered for over 300,000 clients, Morgan and Morgan has a proven track record of fighting to get you full and fair compensation. Morgan and Morgan has been fighting for the people for over 35 years. Submitting an injury claim with Morgan and Morgan is so easy. Entertaining clients is hard. Submitting an injury claim with Morgan and Morgan is easy. Winning the lottery machine our lottery machine is hard. But submitting an injury claim with Morgan and Morgan is easy. Moving to Chicago is hard. You got to get all the moving trucks and everything. Submitting an injury claim with Morgan and Morgan is easy. If you're ever injured, you can check out Morgan and Morgan. Their fee is free unless they win. For more information, go to forthepople.com PMT or dial Poundlaw. That's pound five two nine from your cell phone. That's f o rtheple.com PMT or Poundlaw.

Pound five two nine from your cell phone. This is a paid advertisement. Okay, let's go, boy. Now, in the street there is violence and then I love work to be done. No place to hang out or washing. And then I can't name all on the sun oh no we gonna rock down to electric I renew and then we're taking higher oh we gonna rock.

Down to electric it's part of my.

Take presented by Barcelona Sports.

Welcome to part of my take. Today is Friday, December 22 and P-F-T-I do not want to watch Derek Carr play football anymore.

No, I don't. They were fun last week against the Giants. I don't know if that was just the giant factor or if that was just them finding something that they'll never regain again. But yeah, they're bipolar, they're depressing and then they're fun for a little bit and then they're back to being depressing again. Get the Saints off my tv. On the other side though, I think we can say that the Rams are legit. They're a good team. I told you. I believe it was right before they played the Cardinals. They had, I think, three wins at the time. Take the over on the Rams season. Total is seven and a half. Biggest bet of the year for me paid off tonight.

Very happy about they I'm going to say this, the Rams, I think they're officially dangerous. That's what they are. They're dangerous. Matt Stafford playing great ball. I'm getting closer and closer PFT to also just going down all the receipts of the Matt Stafford hall of Fame because remember we discussed it in 2018, I think, and I've been long saying like Matt Stafford is going to have all the stats. He's been in the league for so long. He's been really good for so long. He's got the Super Bowl. Matt Stafford is a hall of famer and watching him play football is his. The throws he makes and it doesn't feel like it's gratuitous. It's like he's making some of these throws because he has to make these throws. And Puka Nakua is awesome. Rams defense playing well. I'm putting it tag them, maybe make a graphic for me. Memes Rams officially dangerous. Outside of maybe the 49 ers, is there any other team in the NFC you'd be shocked if the Rams beat in the playoffs?

No, not really.

Not shocked. It would obviously be an upset for.

Some of the cow if they beat the Cowboys. I might be shocked just because of what happened earlier this season where they were down like 33 to three after it seemed like the first quarter. But besides the Cowboys and the Niners, no, they could definitely beat any team in the playoffs.

Can I say something that I think there's probably a certain sect of our fan base that is listening right now that has played this out in their head. Matt Stafford going to Detroit Lions first home playoff game, man, that would be brutal.

Would not want.

That. Would not be fun. I don't want that.

That's not fun for anybody. But yeah, he is making crazy throws on a weekly basis. Like he threw one out to the numbers from like a standstill. It probably went 30 yards in the air and just whipped it out there. He's got like a whip attached to his shoulder. He's fun to watch. And I don't know, I felt like Matt Stafford, the discussion around him was that he was getting old when he was tailing off his career, his last two seasons with the Lions. And no, I think he's always just had that same arm. That arm never goes away. It's just a matter of putting pieces around him. And the Rams have done, I'd say, you know what? I think both teams won that trade.

Well, the discourse on Matt Safford when he was last two after the Super bowl was fair because a back injury, like, who the fuck? That's. Wasn't that what he had back? No, his arm. His arm got fucked, right?

I forget exactly.

I thought he had a back. He had so many hits.

He did have a back at one point.

Yes, he had a back. I'm pretty sure he had an arm. Maybe even two arms. Yeah, he had a spinal contusion. That's always a scary thing.

The discourse was, will Matt Stafford retire?

Right?

He was going to walk away and.

He looks like he's having fun. He's balling. Rams are dangerous. I would like to hear from Lions fans. You can just tweet us and just maybe say, like, yeah, I've thought about it. That's all you have to say. We don't have to actually address it, but I'm looking at it right now and it's not an unreasonable, like the Rams sneaking into the 6th spot. They're tied right now with the Vikings. They'll technically be in the 6th spot after this game goes final and the Lions are in the three spot.

That's going to be a very weird spot for Matt Stafford, too, going back to Detroit and playing against them in a playoff game. It's going to be weird for everybody. I'm going to feel just uncomfortable watching that.

I think that would be the meanest thing to happen to the like. Of all the things that would be the meanest thing. I don't want that to happen.

We've talked about the Lions and how in the past they've invented new ways to lose, whether that be like making a catch in the end zone that's somehow not a catch, or fumbling a ball through the end zone, or having the NFL record long field goal kicked against you that bounces off the crossbar and goes in and it felt like they've checked all the boxes for the most heartbreaking ways to lose. This would be the final stone in the affinity gauntlet if it was Matt Stafford coming to Detroit and beating them. So that being said, it does feel like something that's probably going to happen.

Yeah. We also need to talk about the fact that Dennis Allen might be the worst coach of all time. And that's not being facetious, that's not being like hyperbolic. If you look at the stats, I think he is somewhere around the 7th to 10th, worst coach record wise, that end of half when he decided to go for it on the 42 with a minute left. And they're down ten or no, they're down three. They were down three. I know that analytics go for it more often. You punt that ball and you stop. Like the Rams doing like a draw play or a screenplay. The Rams most likely just go into halftime. He just gave them seven points. I know it was like fourth and 13, but he punted on the Rams 37 yard line to start the whole game like, this guy stinks. Saints fans deserve better.

He's officially a weird shithead in my book. There are very few coaches that reach that level. He is a weird shithead. I have no idea what he was thinking. He was fourth and five. I think if I were to put myself in his shithead brain, I would say that on the third down play, they should have converted. They had a good play drawn up and I believe it was a drop on that and it should have been an easy conversion. And so in his head he thought, oh, it's going to be easy again. And then Derek Carr ends up throwing the ball like ten yards further to the sideline than his receiver was at.

That's what I think. That wasn't a drop. Derek Carr has a thing that he does where Chris Olavi was. I think he came from out of the backfield and he was running like a slant and he was wide open. And Derek Carr decided, hey, I'm going to throw this 3000 miles an hour at his back shoulder. Like, yes, Olave could have made it, but that was a bad throw. And I actually was wondering this PFT, because I was arguing with people on X.com which is a very fun thing to do during a football game, especially when there's one football game, we're all watching it. How many burner accounts do you think the Car brothers have? Because I was convinced I was talking to a car brother with the way he was blaming Olave for a pass. That was not a good pass. It was an easy pass, and Derek Carr fucked it up. Olave, yes. Could have maybe caught it, but if you watch it a million times, you're like, that's on the quarterback, not on the wide receiver.

The problem with that play is Olava had a couple of other drops tonight, too.

Yeah, when you take that one, wasn't him.

It wasn't all on him. But what I'm saying, though, the point still stands, which is that Dennis Allen saw that. He's like, we had the right play drawn up. I'm confident that we can get five yards if we need it, or seven or ten yards. And he thought he had a play, so he drew it up. And then you give the ball to the Rams and they've got like 20 yards to go until they can kick a field goal or they can just take the ball down the field and score. That was a stupid decision, especially when you put to count, was it from the 37 yard line where they punted in the first quarter? Those on top of each other make zero sense whatsoever. But to the point about the Carr brothers, if you're not blocked by David Carr on Twitter, you're not using x.com correctly.

Correct.

I'm pretty sure he does the name search for his brother, and this is the part I don't understand. With David Carr, it's one thing to be like, yeah, fuck you, I'm going to stand up for my brother. It's another thing to search people with these takes and then proactively block people that are being critical of your brother without even replying to them or addressing them or just, like, getting in his mind. I think he's wiping the Internet clean of any Derek Carr slander.

Yeah, I think I was talking to a Car brother. I really do. And by the way, are you blocked? I am blocked. Derek Carr, a great garbage time drive there to make his numbers look a lot better than they were. So he just took the Saints all the way down the field. He's going to end up with like, over 300 yards passing, and you're going to say, oh, he's not the problem. The whole Saints are the problem. That thing is just tough watch. It's a really tough watch.

You know what I don't like a new feature that they're doing right now, which is in the Amazon advanced stats. I don't know if this is Sam Schwarzeneggin that's pushing this or not. Sam, if you're listening, just so you know, I don't like this. They're showing you playoff percentages based on each played. Well, I don't like it because somewhere there's a Falcons fan that's going to be watching a game and the percentage of them getting to the Playoffs is going to spike and then it's going to crash and they're going to be like, what the fuck? All these percentages feel like they're geared towards us getting bad beats. But when Shahid caught that touchdown to make it, what was that, 710 at the time?

Very european of you.

Yeah, it spiked their playoff possibilities by like 7% just based off that one play. That, to me, feels like we're going too far. Numbers are too far into this beautiful game that we love football.

Yeah, I was watching the prime broadcast as well. It was prime vision. Sam's doing a great job. It's fun to watch. Feels like you're smarter because you just watch it and you're like, oh, that guy's going to blitz because he's like all lit up and I'm not doing anything because they're telling me. But it is cool to just say, oh, yeah, I see that. I'd go, hot route here, no problem.

I like those parts where they make me think that I'm playing a video game when I'm just watching football. It's like I'm doing two things at once. One thing we need to write down and remember for future Sean McVeigh on the opposite of a buy on a short week is great. I think he's six and one. This would make him maybe seven and one all time. So he's like the opposite of Andy Reid in every way possible. But off a short week stat, we got to remember to hammer McMahon's teams.

Yes, I agree. Okay. Other thing we got to briefly talk about is the Pistons lost again, and that's not notable because they've now lost 27. No, 25 in a row. 25.

I think the record is 26.

Yeah, they started the season two and one, but it's notable because they're playing the jazz at home. I think they're only a two and a half point dog. Laurie Markinen was out. It was one of the more winnable games they'll have left. And, yeah, we're on. Like, could the Pistons finish with, like, five wins. Think. I think the record is the Bobcats. That one year. It is. Yeah. And that was a. I think that was a shortened season. So I think they won seven games, which wasn't as bad. I'm going to look for it right now, but, yeah, the Pistons, they might be the worst team of all time.

They're in deep, deep shit right now. So they've got two games against the Nets, and then after that, I think they're going. They're playing against the Raptors, and then at the Celtics, and then at the Rockets New Year's Day. There is a good possibility they might be able to win that game on New Year's Day if the Rockets get drunk enough on New Year's Eve. I'm circling that one.

The record is seven and 59, so not a full season. I think they're going to beat it. Fuck. I kind of want to bet it. I wonder if you can. The Rockets aren't terrible. That was our NBA preview. Yeah.

We'll do our real NBA preview in, like, two months after the Super bowl with Rosilla. We'll get them on. I have a much more pressing question to ask you. Pickett.

Yes.

How many eggs do you think you could eat in a day?

Oh, I saw this. I don't like this because I was raised correctly, and my father made me watch coolhand Luke at a very young age. So I've always, for my entire life, thought I could eat 50 hard boiled eggs, no problem, and then lie there like Jesus. So, yeah, my answer is 50. Yeah.

So if they're deviled eggs, the answer is unlimited. For me. I could eat infinity deviled eggs. I've never gotten full eating deviled eggs. If I'm at a wedding, they bring out the ore d'oeuvres, the deviled eggs come out, and I hawk that person that's going around with the eggs, and I easily put, like, ten of those, which I guess is five full eggs. Ten of those, and I don't break a sweat at all. I think I could eat 100 deviled eggs, which would actually be 50 deviled eggs.

Yeah, it would be no problem. So, yeah, that was a fantasy punishment that this girl was like, this guy is so gross. And I was just. The whole time I watched the video, I was like, dudes rock. That's awesome.

Listen, she said that that was, like, the final straw that made her want to break up with her. Listen, you're. Your body produces eggs, okay?

What's gross? That's facts. Everyone should go see cool hand Luke. If you haven't seen it, it's one of the best movies of all time.

Weapon McBride, boss.

Shaking it off here, boss. Pft. One last thing before we kick it to ourselves in studio. I bought you a Christmas present.

Oh, did you?

Yeah. We don't usually buy presents, you dick.

This is a dick move. Because we usually don't get each other Christmas presents.

We don't.

And then you spring on me.

Okay, can I tell you why, though? I got a targeted ad about a shoe. And then I went and tried to buy the shoe, and I saw there was a couple of other shoes. Look at these. They're Reebok pumps in sick commander's colorway. Oh, I fucking love that. I had to buy it. I wasn't looking for a present for you. I bought myself a different color pair, same shoe. But when I saw them, I was like, well, I have to buy these.

I appreciate that. Thank you for that. That's a very nice gift. When I was a kid in first grade, I asked my parents for a pair of pumps, and they said no. And I asked them again, they said, okay, we'll get you a pair of pumps. And they came home and I had a pair of voight pumps that they got at Kenny shoes for like, $19. And I was like, these aren't pumps. So it's always been my dream to have a real pair of Reebok pumps.

There you go.

I actually did get you a present. Yeah, the Chicago Bears guy fury collaboration.

So, yeah, you're going to have these sick Reebok pumps. Commander's colorway, size eight. Perfect size. What?

What size was that?

That was just me. If you get your boys a present, it's kind of lame, so you have to be like, I didn't really want to get you a present. I'll make fun of your shoe size. No, I got them ten and a half. Don't worry.

Okay, thank you. Yeah, that's very true, though. If you get your friend a present, it has to be like, merry Christmas, but also, fuck you guys.

Yeah, fuck you, bitch. Yeah, I felt really lame just saying. I got you a present, so I had to throw in a diss. That's just how guys talk.

That's what we do.

All right, let's kick it to ourselves. Weekend preview. And, like, an hour with our good friend Jules in studio. Okay, weekend preview time. Brought to you by our friends at Uber Eats. Get delivered with Uber Eats. It's football season. You can now get almost anything you need for game day. Delivered with Uber Eats. What do we mean by almost? Defense? No. Deodorant, yes. Blitzes? No. Beers? Yes. Big tight ends? No. Brisket burnt ends? Yes. Uber Eats can get you that. There you have it. Get almost anything for game day delivered with Uber Eats. Official on demand delivery, partner of the NFL alcohol and select markets in 21 plus to order. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details. Uber Eats get almost anything. Order now with Uber Eats. I use it almost every single day. It is the best. You get a bunch of stuff from the convenience store. You get food. You get everything. Uber Eats get almost anything. Order now and get it delivered with Uber Eats. Okay, week 16 who boy, I don't.

Like hearing week 16 because it just reminds me of the 16 game schedule that we had forever and it feels like the season's over. We just have to remind ourselves there's still January. There's still parts of February.

I have a take. I'm ready for playoffs. I'm ready for the playoffs.

I'm not yet.

I'm ready for the playoffs. There's enough games now that are like, who cares? I'm ready for the playoffs. I'd be ready. That's not like saying I'm going to miss or like I want to speed past the regular season. I'm just ready for playoff football. I'm ready to figure out who's winning the Super bowl this year.

I'd be ready for the playoffs if it was like, in my mind which teams I personally feel are ready for the playoffs right now.

I'm there. I'm ready for the playoffs.

There's one game in particular this weekend. We have a loser leaves town game for sure.

We have a fraud bowl.

We have a fraud bowl and we've got maybe a loser moves to the Suburbs bowl.

Yeah, but I'm ready for the playoffs. I'm ready. I'm ready to get it on. I want to see these fucking teams. I want to see some playoff football. But yeah, week 16, quick note, we obviously won't be streaming on Sunday or the following Sunday because it's Christmas Eve and then New Year's Eve. We will be back, though, streaming the college football playoffs on January 1. And as a reminder, the show schedule this week, there'll be a new show on Tuesday recapping the whole weekend. There'll be a new show Friday getting you ready for the weekend. And also a really very famous guest, big guest, very massive guest, strongest guest we've ever had.

He's very strong.

Very strong. Swatzanega so get excited and then we will have another episode. The next one will be the Tuesday after College Football playoff and week 17.

So two shows a week for the next two weeks.

Yes. Tuesday and Friday for the next two weeks, because this fucking whole Christmas. New Year's on a Monday blows.

They should change that.

It fucking sucks. Next year will be good. Next year will be on a Wednesday. Beautiful. All right, let's get into it. Let's get into the week 16 schedule. Every team obviously playing, it's a powerful slate. So we got two Saturday games. We'll start with the Bengals and Steelers on Saturday afternoon. By the way, we are doing three picks this week, right? Three picks.

Actually, we were going to do four or two picks, depending on how much I beat Hank by in golf today, and I beat him. So the original plan was to reduce it to two games, but then, you know what I said, let's do three. It's the holidays.

That's not true, but it's the holidays.

Three's up. Three's up. 1233 picks. Okay, Bengals.

Wait, does one of them have to be a Christmas pick like we did for Thanksgiving?

I think one should be.

I think one should be a Christmas.

It's the holiday.

Okay. Yeah, right. Okay.

It's a holiday.

Three. All right, Bengals Steelers, Mason Rudolph, time. I don't know if you guys saw, but our colleague jersey Jerry's been on the beat. George Pickens has slowly unfollowed every quarterback this year. So he unfollowed kenny, he unfollowed Mitch. He only follows Mason Rudolph.

Well, again, just to defend George Pickens for a second. He didn't unfollow them because he doesn't like being their teammate. He said he was just cleaning up his timeline. Their content wasn't good enough for him to follow on Twitter or on instagram.

On all social media, I think on all social media. But this feels like to me, and also, no Jamar Chase for the Bengals and DJ reader, which will be very important, in my opinion. This feels like the Mike Tomlin Steelers era is on the line.

Oh, this might be for the culture.

This is for the culture because it's an underdog game at home. No one thinks the Steelers are good. They're very banged up, and I think they're going to win this game.

So if we're looking at this from the eyes of the NFL script writers, Mason Rudolph, starting Christmas weekend, that seems like an easy win for the just. You can picture yourself watching the fastest three minutes with Boomer, and he's just going to go fucking hard on the Rudolph jokes.

Yes.

I feel like this is a Mike Tomlin, do you have any culture game?

Yes.

And if they lose, Big Ben was right. If they win, the culture exists for at least one more week. It is in theory, it should be a matchup of two decent teams because you've got, if you just look at their college careers.

Yeah.

Mason Rudolph, Jake Browning, both awesome right around the same time.

Perfect bowl game.

Great ball game.

This would be great bowl.

If neither one of these teams make the playoffs, I want to see them play each other again, actually.

Yeah. Washington, Oklahoma State. If you put that on on Thursday night, I'd be like, done. Yeah.

How should we rank the rivalries in the AFC north? Because I think they've shifted in the last year or. Yeah, I still think Ravens, Steelers, number one. That's always going to be number one.

Bengals, Ravens might be just because they're both at the top recently.

Yeah, recently. It's going to take at least another year. The Steelers being depressing to watch for me to, because imagine it's a night game. It's like a Sunday night.

Raven.

Steelers, you know, the home crown. Pittsburgh would just go hard for that game, too.

But if the Steelers have another bad year after this.

Yeah.

They start to lose a little bit of the. These rivalries matter.

Yeah. Browns, Bengals probably up there.

Yeah. Browns have owned the Bengals.

Lamar versus diarrhea.

Yep.

Ravens Browns. I think historically that's an important one.

Well, Joe Flacco has added some allure.

To that, some allure to it. Also, the stealing of the franchise, that whole thing.

Yeah.

But I think we have at least one more season left the end of this year, and then I will reevaluate my AFC north rivalry.

That's fair. I mentioned DJ Reader because the Bengals defense is not good and they have not been great against the run. So I went and looked back. DJ reader obviously is their big tackle, who is very good at against the run, and he's out for the year. In the Bengals six losses this year, they've given up 175 yards rushing. In their eight wins, they've given up 92 yards rushing. So when they can stop the run, they have a lot of team success. And DJ Reeder not being there means it's going to be very hard to stop the run. And on top of all that, the Steelers. What's the key to making Mason Rudolph palatable? Just running the football. Jalen Warren, letting him do as little as possible. Yeah.

Set the play action, use the tight end and Jalen Warren, I'm betting on.

The Mike Tomlin culture. Game.

Heavy dose of Jalen Warren this week, please. Did you see the graphic of what would happen if every team in the NFL lost all the games that were one score game?

Oh, I love one. Yeah, I love these.

Yeah. The flip games. In terms of one score games, do you know which team would be in last place by far?

The Steelers.

It'd be the Steelers. They'd be two and twelve. They'd have the biggest swing in terms of one score games. But again, you look at that stat and you think, okay, are they lucky or do they do a lot of very small things well that enable them to overcome being a miserable football team?

Is Steeler Culture still alive?

That might be Steeler culture, yeah. The difference between being lucky and good.

Right. Because the Steelers were, for the first part of the season, I actually enjoyed watching them because every game went exactly the same where they were within one score and then they had a special teams or a defensive play and all of a sudden they're winning in the fourth. Now they're just sad to watch.

Yeah. Is the NFL impacting Steelers culture by suspending the safety for an entire year.

Or for the rest of the rest of the. I should say and make a Fitzpatrick is also out. Yeah.

Do they get that guy KZ back if they make the playoffs?

Let's just hope that doesn't happen. Yeah.

The best for.

I don't want to see the Steelers play any more football. I'm good with them. I think they're going to win this game, though.

What if Mason's got that spark eligible for playoffs.

Eligible for playoffs.

Rudolph's got that little spark on his nose.

He can't be. No, I don't think he can be worse. Yeah.

So we're saying, like, we're banking on Mason Rudolph not being as bad as we remember Mason Rudolph being.

It's actually, I don't, I don't think there's another team in the NFL where if you went from starter to second string to third string, the line wouldn't move more than like a half a point. Kind of all can't be kind of all. Like every other team has. It would be a significant switch if it went to first to second and then even still a switch if it went from second to third string.

So I would say if Kenny Pickett was starting this game, it might be a pick, maybe Steelers favored by one.

I think it'd be like one point. Yeah. I don't know. Steelers offense isn't really dynamic no matter what. I'd feel a lot more confident the Steelers winning. If Kenny Pickett was playing, maybe the.

Jets might have that same thing where it's like, sam Donald, Tim Boyle, Trevor Simeon.

You mean Zach Wilson.

What'd I say?

Sam Darnold. Yeah. Yeah.

Zach Wilson, Tim Boyle.

No, I think there's a cliff there.

From where? What's the cliff?

I think there's a cliff from Boyle to Simeon.

Oh, I was going to say there might be a cliff between Wilson and Boyle.

Yeah, there's definitely a cliff because, like.

Good Wilson is.

A. It's a really depressing conversation to have. It is. Okay. Nerd Nugget for this game.

First off, Raven Steelers. Remember when they played on the Wednesday. That was sick.

Yeah, that was sick.

The Bengals have won nine consecutive played games played in the month of December, dating back to week 15 of the 2021 season, marking the longest such active streak in the NFL. Joe Burrow, nine times.

Joe Burrow. That's Joe Burrow, stat.

I'm just telling you.

Yeah, that's Joe Burrow, stat. He plays well in December. Yeah, that's what he does. Okay, other Saturday game, Bill's Chargers. So big point spread. I did some research on gift Smith because I wanted to make sure the listeners knew. So gift Smith is the interim head coach for the Chargers. Read an article about Gif Smith. He drinks six cups of coffee a day.

Oh, I heard it was more than that.

Well, it was an embedded journalist. He was counting.

It was with the Chargers.

Yeah. So six was all he got to. I think they stopped around 07:00 p.m. Southern accent. Wish he was a little fatter, but that's okay. He actually said he wishes he had lost some weight if he knew that he was going to be interim head coach. Also coached Roman Reigns at Georgia Tech.

Oh, that's interesting.

Kind of cool.

What I had circled with Gif Smith was that his name was Giff Smith.

Yes.

Which is, if we're just going based off name, it's a ten out of ten interim coach name.

It is.

It feels made up. And I like that part about him. And also, what I've kind of learned to love about Gif this week is there's not a lot of facts out there about Gif because I did the same thing you did.

No, yeah, I went deep.

I read that article. But there's not a lot of lore around Gif Smith. There's not quotes from his former players being like, oh, shit, here's this thing about Giff, which I actually kind of like that there's not a lot of stuff floating around about Gif. So mysterious.

There's a chance that Giff Smith. And just a. This is just a guess, so Gif Smith, I'm sure you're a really nice guy. He could be a rat because he survived three head coaches getting fired in.

The Chargers now, and they did not ask Kellen Moore to be interim coach. Is he a mouthpiece for gift?

Smith was there under Mike McCoy. He was there under Anthony Lin, and now he was there for Brandon Staley getting fired. I feel like three coaches, you got to be like, wait, what's going on here?

Is this like he's the Tom Womsgantz.

Yeah.

Of the Los Angeles Chargers. Yeah, the rat. You know what rats eat?

Peanut butter.

Cheese.

Oh, cheese.

People forget that gift did say that they flushed the Raiders game. I hope that means they actually put the film onto, like, a USB drive and then threw it in the toilet like a goldfish. Ideally, if I was interim coach and I wanted to flush a game, what I would do, I would get a Porta potty brought in. I would throw the tape in there. Then I would have everybody on the team go and take a shit or a piss on it and blow it up and then light it on fire.

Light it on fire. Yeah.

Ideally, that's what flush means in this scenario, but, yeah, I mean, you bring up a good point. If he's been there through three regimes, it feels like he's deeply embedded with the. Yeah, yeah. He's Spanos'guy. They've also got an interim general manager, Jojo.

Okay.

And so it's Gif and Jojo running the show, which is a Disney Channel show.

Yeah, it's a Disney Channel show. Or, like, a duop band from, like, the.

Yeah, they would slap Gif and Jojo standing on the street corn, just snapping their fingers.

Yeah.

But, yeah. I can't think of a better job in the world than an interim general manager because you're not doing shit.

You're just telling the scouts, like, hey, keep scouting.

Yeah, please keep scouting. Just keep sending me your weekly emails. Yeah, and besides that, you're not cutting anybody. You don't have the power to do that. You're not signing. I think if somebody gets hurt, you can be like, okay, we're going to move this guy up from the practice squad.

That would be incredible if interim GM just went rogue. Justin Herbert.

Yeah, Herbert.

Justin Herbert. Right now. Herbert.

Bosa Mack. Hit them all. We got to change the culture.

Yes. As for the Bills, this does feel like a dangerous letdown spot in the fact that the Chargers. I haven't seen a team quit the way they quit against the Raiders in a long time and it's like they scored a ton of points. The Bills are coming off of three big wins. I think the Bills will win, but it does make me nervous if I want to take the Bills minus twelve feels like a lot because it could get, could just have a little bit of a sleepwalk and all of a sudden you look up and you're like, wait, the Bills are only up like five here. What's going on?

Yeah, I have that fear too, but a little bit of that is put aside because I feel like the Bills are in like do or dime.

It's eastern stick, too.

It's eastern stick and the Bills have zero margin for error.

Do you know what's an interesting trade that doesn't get talked about enough? I think it gets talked about in the two cities that the trade and the trader. But Razul Douglas has been incredible and the packers could have really used him in this stretch and the Bills, their defense. So I went back and I looked, Aaron Schatz had the numbers. It was week one through five, they were 6th in DVOA. Week six through ten, they were 32nd in DVOA because they got all those injuries that piled up. Razul Douglas, I think showed up week ten and then week eleven through 15. So the last month they're back to fifth in DVOA. They got him as like a stop gap and he's become very important to everything they're doing on defense. And I don't bring this up just because it probably pains packers fans, because I think packers might be in the playoffs right now if they still had a good cornerback.

But there's another team where Rachel Douglas came from that could also use him.

That would be the because there's so little trades at the trade deadline in the NFL, it doesn't get talked about a lot, but he has been a huge difference maker for the Bills.

I have a confession. Make big cat. I don't know what I know. I know that it's a stat.

They should put all the numbers together.

I know it's a stat that makes sense and that smart people always use. And I know that if you're first in it, that's good. And if you're last in it, I know that in theory it's a good stat to use for any argument. But I have no idea what I.

Think the difference between DVOA and then just dumb stats that we read like points per game and yards per play is DVOA. He puts context into the stats. Do they like garbage time? How are you good at high leverage situations?

Do they factor in just like quarterback winning percentage?

I don't think so.

They should.

And they factor in, I think, also repeatable metrics. So an 80 yard touchdown is not the same as being able to go on like if you're really good at getting eight yards every first down. That's something that can be repeated time and time again.

Yeah, I know it's a good stat. I know that smart people use it. So I look at it and I follow it. But I just realized in this moment I have no idea what goes into, but it's crazy.

The Bills were, for a stretch there, the worst defense in the NFL, and now they have climbed all the way back up to one of the top defenses.

I'm guessing Matt Milano is out for the playoffs, too. If they make the playoffs.

I thought he was maybe going to come back because he makes a big difference. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that was where the dip started. Germany provides injury update why don't you give us your nerd nugget while I.

Look not expect to return.

Okay.

Now keep in mind that this is the first ever Peacock exclusive game and they announced today that's going to piss off commercial free fourth quarter.

Oh, I kind of.

Wait now is it commercial free or is it going to be half the.

Screen picture and a picture.

Half the screen is a commercial.

No, I think they're going to send it to a studio. They're going to keep it up in the booth sometimes.

That's commercials. Yeah. Send it to a studio. That's a commercial. Yeah. I want to stay actually like league.

Pass when they do like the.

This is the perfect time for if anyone's going to streak. Yeah. Fourth quarter of this game, that's the.

Time they can't cut away from it.

Yeah.

There's a game or two that I wish was like extra commercials in the fourth quarter this week. During one of the two breaks, like a golf broadcast.

During one of the two breaks, the announced team will delve into more of the other storylines. The other will go into the football night in America. Studio team.

Yeah, that sounds like commercials because isn't that going to be. We're just going to have to watch Jason Garrett.

Yeah, they're going to be doing.

That's way worse than a commercial.

Bring back the USAA commercials. I would rather watch 60 minutes of flow from progressive on my tv than 1 second of Jason Garrett.

They should just let Florio do like three minutes on why making the Pyzon.

Jokes is problematic or just initiating a congressional investigation into injury reports. Yeah, I'd like to see that.

Look forward to that.

No, I'm not looking forward to it. Heads up, Jason Garrett.

Heads up about.

I'm not looking forward to listening to Jason Garrett and Tony Dungey.

It should be just Carrie Underwood.

Yeah. All right.

Well, when there's no commercials in the fourth quarter, you can thank Gus for less.

They gave us a worse option. Commercials. You can zone out Jason Garrett and Tony Dungey being in my face on Christmas Eve or, no, it's Saturday night. I don't want that. No one wants that. All right.

Anyways, Bill's running back, James Cook is the first Buffalo running back with 1400 scrimmage yards in a season since Lashawn McCoy had 1586 in 2017.

Yeah, just run the ball. Just keep running the ball.

One at center.

The Bills are good when they run the ball and they kind of found that game plan by accident. That wasn't their plan.

Yeah, Joe Brady said that.

Joe Brady was like, it was working, so I wasn't going to stop it, which is.

Love that. Perfect.

Yeah, just go. Keep doing it. If it works.

All right, next game. We've got to Sunday. We're going to Sunday. Browns and Texans, no, CJ Stroud, most likely. Here's a fun fact, so a couple of quick fun facts for you. Since 2000, the Browns actually, this season, their defense is the number one in defensive success rate, which is pretty crazy. That's pretty crazy. They have had 50% of the time. They have forced the opponent to go three and out.

That's pretty good.

That's insane. Here's the other weird fact. The Browns at home have been giving up ten points a game. The Browns on the road, 30 points a game. Pretty insane splits.

Now, in this case, it's going to be Case Keenum.

It is going to be Case Keenum. But that's different.

It's a big difference.

That's a huge, huge difference. It's crazy that they're that good giving 30 points a game on the road up, and they're still number one in success rate in the last 23 years with Case Keenum.

It's interesting because he was a guy that was a backup and then some teams saw him that said maybe he should just be the starting quarterback now. And then they tried to make him a starter and they're like, no, he's just a backup. Then he went underground for a while and now he's still a pretty good backup. I feel like that back and forth swing doesn't happen that much.

If you had told me that he retired, I would have been like, yes, of course.

Yeah, the case keenums of the world and all the mats seem to retire at the exact same time.

Yes. I'm probably going to take the Browns in this game, but that defense thing makes me nervous.

It does. But again, it's Case Keenum.

Yeah. Things would be a big najoku game.

Case Keenum never lost the game when he started for the Texans.

That's true.

Entire career. Three.

And this will be a big swing game for playoffs.

This is the loser moves to the suburbs game.

Yeah.

So you're not out if you lose.

But if Texans lose, they're pretty close to being, they're in trouble.

It's not leave town, but it's download Trulia, download redfin, download zillow and just spend all day looking on those.

I think the Browns, if they lose, they're not going to move to the suburbs. They might just be like, oh, the school districts, maybe we should take a look. Yeah, they're not even doing zillow. They're just like, oh, yeah, our friends. You know what? If the Browns lose this game, they're going to go visit their friends in the suburb and be, oh, this is kind of nice.

Or maybe go on a vacation over the break and it's like a nicer weather climate. And then you're like, we should really move here. And then when you're in the downtown area of your vacation town, you walk past a realtor and you just look at the pictures on the like, our dollar could go pretty far out here.

If the Texans lose, they're going to be in. I, David Najoku, I think is going to be big this game. This is going to be a tough watch for the Texans offense with all their injuries. And will Anderson might be out as well. Tough, tough nerd. Nugget.

Brown's head coach, Kevin Stefanski owns the AFC south. He is nine and o against the division. Cleveland looks to sweep the AFC south for the second time in club history on Sunday, which was last done in 2020. Oh, AFC south killer.

That's interesting. I like that. That's a good stat, jake.

Nine no against the south.

Okay.

I think I'm feeling the Browns this week.

Yeah. This is one of those games. I think that no matter which one.

I bet I'll lose.

Maybe I'll make a decision right before kickoff and it will be the wrong decision. Yeah.

The games that you stay away from where you're like, that's a stay away game for me. You end up betting them anyways at the last second.

Right.

Just based on vibes. Usually the vibe is, oh, yeah, case keenum starting. So I'm not going to bet on him.

Yeah, there's a shitload of stay away games that will all be bet.

I would rather do, like, a last minute pick on Flacco than I would on case.

I agree with you there. I definitely lean the Browns, but again, whatever side I pick, I'm going to lose. All right, next game, Lions, Vikings, very good game. Very fun game. If Kirk Cousins was starting for the Vikings for the whole season, if he didn't get injured, would the Vikings be like, maybe a Super bowl team?

I don't know if they'd be a Super bowl.

They might have saved your pinky.

Yeah, they would be heavy in the playoff race, for sure. It would be them and the Lions, which it kind of still is with the packers sprinkled in there a little bit, but they would be in contention for the top spot in that division.

Yeah, I do think this is a very important game for the Lions because you want to build off the momentum of last week, and now you have to go against a Brian Flores defense. Probably going to blitz a lot. The one thing I was looking at and trying to figure out, the Vikings defense. Remember the Vikings? What did they start owing? Four, I believe one and three. Maybe they were bad.

I know they were owing three, right?

Yeah, they were bad to start the season. So the quarterbacks they've faced in the last two months, where their defense has been very good, Justin Fields, concuss, Brock Purdy, Jordan Love, Taylor Heinecke, Jamis Winston, Russell Wilson, Justin Fields again, Aiden O'Connell, Jake Browning. Not exactly the best quarterbacks, so maybe a little regression. What, they're owing three? I'm just hoping know I want the Lions to continue the success.

I'm going with the Lions in this game based on the fact it's being played indoors. Yes, indoors is going to be big. Jared has struggled, well documented struggles, sometimes in the cold, as we all do, but he really doesn't like playing in the cold. It really fucks Jared goff up when he wakes up and it's like 30 degrees outside. His day is just done. He's like, this whole thing's going to suck. But, yeah, the Vikings, did you see the Vikings are changing their entire playing surface next year?

Oh. Whether on split grass or whatever, they.

Might be getting away from. Split grass. Split turf.

Split turf.

So they're concerned about the injuries because they've had a couple those fair, and so they're blaming that on the turf that they have, so they're moving away from it next year. I think there are like three teams in the NFL that use the same type of surface that the Vikings do. It's the shoot, who is it? It's the Bengals. The Vikings. And then there's one other team, and two of the teams are moving away. The Bengals are going to be the last team in the league to have that playing surface next year.

Okay, just go to grass. We're grass guys. Grass guys. Nerd nugget here.

The Lions can clinch their first division title since winning the NFC Central in 1993 with a win or tie on Sunday. Only four players on the Lions 53 man roster were alive then, and head coach Dan Campbell was a 17 year old high school student.

Whoa. Yeah. Could be. First home playoff game in Detroit since 1993.

That's pretty cool. That's what I'm rooting for. I saw a story that the Lions are increasing their season ticket prices next year by a significant amount. Like 50%.

Got to.

They have to. It stinks, though, for the fans that going to games and watching, just getting shit shoved in their face for the last 30 years, and then they have one good season, they're like, okay, now you're going to have to pay up.

If I were an owner, I would do dynamic pricing, and I would basically say, here's like, you buy your season tickets, we'll put a hold on your credit card. Let's just say season tickets cost $2,000. It would basically be like, if we win the division, it's $3,000. If we don't go to the playoffs, it's $1,000. I like that. That would be sick because who wouldn't sign up for that? Yeah. Where it's like, hey, if we're really good, I have no problem paying more money.

Yeah, games will be fun to go to, right. Or I would do a thing kind of like the military where if you don't want to pay full price, that's fine, but your children have to work for the organization for two years after college, and then the debt is then repaid. If you don't want to pay the increased price, do the dishes.

Yeah.

Do anything around the stadium.

Now that I'm thinking about it, though, the only negative impact would be if you did the dynamic pricing at the end of the season. If you're having a bad season, I feel like your fans would root against your own team. Like, if the stadium was packed and you're like, we get $100 off our season tickets if we lose this game. But actually, that's kind of funny.

It's kind of funny.

Also.

If you were really good at the end of the season with dynamic pricing, you would just make your fan base, like, super. Like as the team did really well, then the income. But again, like, we will pay for.

Happiness be worth it.

We will pay for a winning season.

Some owner do that. Dynamic pricing. Okay, next game, packers of Panthers. Did you guys see Devondre Campbell this week? Quite something. He went on twitter and he said, not going out of my way anymore. And I'm not playing through injuries anymore because when shit goes wrong, they always use it against you. I'm treating everyone accordingly and giving them the same energy they giving me. Focus on yourself and your mental 59. You owe it to yourself. Whatever. That's fine. He's upset. He's playing through injuries. It sucks. But the weird part was the next day when the media was allowed in the locker room, a reporter asked him about it, and he responded, I'm not answering no questions about nothing happening on the Internet. You all want to talk about the Panthers, we can, but I ain't answering no questions about nothing on no Internet.

The Internet just brought that quote out of nowhere.

He's doing a great job of separating his brain here from the Internet, where he's like, yeah, that quote that was on the Internet that I typed out. I'm not here to talk about that. That's on the Internet.

I like how he's using his own brain as his burner account.

Right?

That wasn't me, all right? That was my brain, my eyes, and my fingers.

You're talking about the Internet.

That's not me.

The football things I say on the Internet, we're not talking about that.

I had some three chi the other weekend, and I started thinking about the Internet. It will blow your mind if you really just think about the Internet for a while. Every day, for hours, we sit down at a computer or on our phones, and then we just go to a different place visually, and we just imagine ourselves being somewhere else. And then we come back to real life and we're like, oh, this isn't as good as the Internet. Let me see what's going on the Internet.

Right? What's popping on the Internet?

Kind of wild.

Vondre Campbell popping on the Internet.

Popping on the Internet. For sure.

Yeah.

I have a prediction for this for this week. I think Bryce Young is going to get offensive player of the week.

Oh.

Because the last two quarterbacks that the packers have played against have offensive player of the week, Baker Mayfield, and then the week before that, Tommy DeVito.

Yeah. So which that one was. Yeah.

Bryce Young. Next up, player of the mean.

The packers defense. This is a pride game for them because they've been so bad. Yeah. So bad.

If you're a coordinator that's under as much fire as Barry's been under, there's no way that you can just pretend that's not going on. Like, being, oh, I don't read the read. I don't listen to the local sports talk radio. At some point, there's people that come into your office and say, like, hey, did you hear what they said about you?

Honestly, Joe Barry should just be like, shouldn't have traded Razul Douglas. Yeah, he was the piece. Everything that Razul Douglas did unlocked my defense. You took him away from me.

Joe Barry should say, I stood on the table to keep Razul Douglas.

Yeah, you traded the wrong cornerback. Jair Alexander has been out basically the entire season with an injury. And, yeah, you fucked me. That's what you got to do.

Good spin zone.

Just blame someone else. If anything goes wrong, blame someone else. Okay. Nerd nugget. For this game.

Third time's the charm. Green Bay has won both of the last two meetings against Carolina by the same score, 20 416 in both 2019 and 2020. Did not commit a turnover in either of those games.

And you can cover in the spread.

Exact score plus 7020 416. Packers.

Okay.

Not bad.

Panthers. They can't win this game. I'll be so mad if they win this game.

Did you see the report? The fake report that was put online by a fake. Adam Schefter?

Yes.

About David Tepper. Listen, we've said a lot of things about David Tepper, but we have not said that he's on Epstein's list.

Correct.

So anyone that's saying that. Stop saying it.

Well, yeah, Panthers fans, we haven't seen it. You got to use any means necessary. Yeah.

If you're the Panthers and you're in the Charlote area, you're probably hoping that there's.

I was thinking about it. How terrible of a Christmas would it be to be someone who knows they're on the list and the list is coming out. I actually think they should just keep teasing the list coming out, because that's way more torturous than being on the list, than having your pr firm like, wow, we just knew him as financier, and it was nothing like that. It went to a charity event. Just having the anvil over your head constantly is a great punishment.

I've noticed that since that report came out, Hank's been more on edge than usual.

Oh, that's true.

I'm excited for it.

The list? Yeah. You're excited to prove your innocence once and for all. Yeah.

And to see who else is on there.

Clear your name. Look forward to my day in court. Yeah.

I mean, you have a lot to bond over. Being like a disgrace on an airplane with somebody.

Yeah, sure. I hope you're not on that list.

Yeah, me too. I think it's redacted, but what if.

You randomly just were?

That'd be good press.

It would not be good.

The next episode would pop off.

It kind of would be funny if just a random name was on.

Well, just a different Henry Lockwood.

Yeah, there might be some of those out there. Same name.

Oh, you know who?

That'd be the best notes app apology of all time. I sincerely regret going on Jeffrey Epstein's plane.

Yeah. What if Ravel was on the list? Let us be the first report that.

We have no information. No, he's not backing up claims that I have heard been made.

No.

Darren Revell's on the list.

No, he's not on it. I'm just saying what if? That would be quite a day on the mean. What?

The thought has definitely crossed Ravella's mind that he should maybe get some sort of memorabilia from Epstein's island. Of course, this is a swing set.

Yeah.

Someone's private plane, like.

Bill Clinton.

The receipt Bill Gates used.

Yeah. Here's Bill Clinton's stamp pass, boarding pass from St. James. Quick break from the weekend preview to talk to you about our friends at game time. Game time is the exclusive ticketing partner in Barstool sports. You shouldn't have to worry when you're buying tickets to your next big event. Game time is the fast and easy way to buy tickets for all sports, music, comedy and theater events near you. I've done it for everything. Baseball, college football. I went and saw Nate Bargazzi at the Chicago theater. Should go see him. It is all there with game time. We bought last minute tickets. We bought tickets in advance. We've always gotten a great deal and they have everything. Last minute tickets, flash deals, zone deals, easy to find and buy tickets for every kind of event in your area. Game time has deals on tickets right up to the start of the event and even an hour after it starts. I know. Specifically, I bought tickets to Wisconsin, Ohio, state in October. I bought those tickets maybe 20 minutes before kickoff. Great deal for all the boys. So find exclusive flash deals and sponsored deals on tickets for football, basketball, baseball, concerts, comedy, theater and more.

With zone deals, you pick the section and game time picks the seats for an average of 18% savings. And the game time guarantee means you'll always get the best price. If you find tickets in the same section, row for less, game time will credit you 110% of the difference. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with game time. Download the game time app. Create an account use code PMT for $20 off your first purchase terms. Apply again. Create an account redeem code PMT for $20 off download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed with the game time app. Okay, next up, Colts at Falcons who boy Falcons. They have to win this game.

This is loser leaves town, I think.

Yeah. Taylor Heineken I mean, the Falcons aren't going to make the playoffs anyway, but this season has become a disaster for the Falcons. Taylor Heineken can hopefully save them. I do think the Colts, as great as they've been this year in terms of exceeding expectations, Shane Steichen's been an incredible coach. I do feel like the Colts are one of those teams that might be riding a little bit on luck and so they can be had.

Yeah, a little bit on luck. There's been some fluky plays for sure.

For they also have had some bad.

And, and I don't think they're a bad team. I think the Falcons right now are a bad team.

Right.

But Taylor Heinecke is a move that's, this is like one or two weeks too late to make that move. It's like your back's been up against the Smith. Why did you wait?

Hurt.

Smith's been weird about saying why. He's going back and forth, switching back and forth between Desmond Ritter and Taylor Heinecke. Even when Ritter initially kind of got hurt and they're like, well, we went with Heineken for this reason. He's been like playing a little bit.

Coy because Heinecke did get hurt. And then it was just, they never updated.

I think. I think he wanted to give Desmond one more shot to be like, okay, let's see if you've actually, he probably went into coach Smith's office and was like, just give me one more shot, coach.

Credit to the Cincinnati Bearcats football account tweeting vote for Desmond Ritter for her Pro bowl.

That's nice.

Just jumping in front of that one.

They can buy their alum yeah.

Support your guys.

Yeah.

This is actually, we talked about earlier this year. It's the second time the Colts have played in a matchup. I think the second time in NFL history where the two Quarterbacks have had names that are also occupations.

Yes.

Got Gardner and Baker first. Now it's Gardner and Taylor.

Yes.

Kind of a fun fact. That's my fun fact of the week.

Oh, very fun fact.

Bird nugget of the week.

Chirp. Chirp to chirp. Yes.

Ducks. When they sleep together in a group on the outside of the perimeter of the sleeping group of ducks, those ducks keep one eye open.

Whoa.

Just all time ride or die stand guard guys.

I like that. Yeah.

Protecting the flock.

Okay. Ducks are cool.

Ducks are awesome.

Fuck with ducks.

Ducks are my. I think they're my favorite bird. They're also the most delicious bird.

Yeah. But that's like Devondre Campbell, Internet, real life. Yeah. Like ducks. Cute. Cool. Do you see the food is totally different? I don't even know where that comes from.

Yeah, exactly. That's not the cute bird.

No.

They're also very problematic ducks.

What?

In terms of how they get together.

Oh, yeah.

How they produce baby ducks.

Yeah. They're aggressive.

Duck. Hodges tweeted, hey, Steelers.

I miss him the other day. I miss him. Yeah. All right. Nerd nugget.

No team in the AFC has more interceptions than the Colts, who have five. Indianapolis also has three pick sixes, which is second in the conference right behind Miami.

Did you see? And we will get to the Eagles game, but I understand why the Colts were okay, letting did not.

I didn't make a point to go back and watch.

I saw some tape, and he's not moving fluidly, I would say. He's moving like he has a back injury. He's moving like he had a really catastrophic back injury.

He was so fucking good.

So good.

He was, like the best in the entire NFL for a little bit, but.

The strategy of getting a guy who was once good, just be like, maybe that would be all I would do as a gm. So that part is not the problem. It's just once you see that. Oh, yeah. This is why he was available. You can't keep doing it. Right.

The only thing they should have changed is how they let him go.

Yeah.

They kind of surprised him with that one.

Yeah, they did. Okay. Next up, Seahawks. Titans. Seahawks off the big win. They have Gino Smith back. And now we get the question. Looks like Will Levis will not play. And will it be Ryan Tannehill or will it be Malik Willis?

Give Tannehill. One more shot.

Let him prove that he can have a job somewhere else.

Ryan Tannehill. The book's still out on Ryan Tannahill. We don't know whether or not he's good enough to be a starting NFL quarterback.

I want to bet on the Titans if Ryan Tannehill plays. I do not want to bet on the Titans if it's Malik Willis. Yeah.

I've got some fun stats here about the Seahawks, because we think about the Seahawks going on the road and them being a different team when they're on the road.

Yeah.

They've actually played a way harder schedule on the road than they have at home. So on the road, they've played against the Ravens, 49 ers, Cowboys, Lions, and Bengals on the road. They've played the Rams on the road and then the Giants on the road. Those are the only two kind of weakish links, and the Rams aren't that bad of a team. So really, it's just the Giants. That's the only break they've had on the road. So this is really, I guess it's their second game against a team that they really should beat.

Right.

Being played away from Seattle. So I was thinking this whole season, like, oh, bet against Seattle on the road every time, no matter what. Not necessarily the case. Also, fun stat. The Seahawks are four and o, and Pete Carroll wears a hat on the sidelines. One of the reporters brought that up.

To him, so he went backwards hat.

He went back.

Coward had no problem with coward.

Flipped the fuck out on Pete Carroll. No, he did that after the game.

After the game. No, I'm saying coward, I think, was fine with it.

He was okay with it.

Yeah. Which is really fucked up.

He's gotten soft.

Yeah, real soft.

Real soft. But I don't know. He said that he would factor that into his decision making on what he wore for the. I still, despite those last two stats, I just told you, I still think if it's Tannehill, I'm going to take the Titans.

This will be an interesting spot because I'm looking at it right now. I think this might be the earliest that a Mike frable Titans team is eliminated.

I think it.

Yeah, like, they've always been in it towards the end. So how are they going to respond? Can he get a classic titans win where it's like no one expects him to win out of these guys, really.

The only move to go for here is to start Tannehill.

Yeah, but I think they might do. Willis. Just because we got to see what we got even though we know it's not good.

Yeah.

Just hoping maybe it'll be different this time. Maybe. Derek Henry I do like I am also in favor of the it's kind of similar to the GM getting the name that was once good just living your life. Just maybe it'll be different this time knowing it won't. But there's always some fun.

We're not going to second guess ourself here.

Yeah. Maybe this will go differently than it's gone every single time.

Yeah, just start Tanhill. Just do that for America.

Did you do the nerd nugget?

He got me.

Oh, what was nice no cap. Oh, nice four and oh. All right, shut off your mic.

Yes.

Got him. Nice. Pft. Yeah, got him.

See you later, Jake.

See you, nerd Commanders jets this is.

A game of football and it's being played this weekend. Is it in the NFL?

Is it?

It's a game of football. I went back, I did an all 22 breakdown on the end of game sequencing by Ron Rivera. It was worse than I had originally remembered.

It was very bad.

He let the play clock go down to 1 second every single time. He didn't get a playoff intentionally before the two minute warning. He is doing his very best to tank and I respect.

Yeah, he doesn't care for it.

So looking at this game on paper, I think the wrong team's favorite. I think the commanders should be favored but that doesn't account for the fact that Ron Rivera is actively trying to lose games.

Yeah. Maybe Aaron Rodgers will play though.

Yeah, he's not going to play.

Hasn't he been cleared?

I think he was. He was going to be medically cleared and he was targeting this day to come back, but for some reason he's not going to play.

That's weird. It's very, this is no, I don't want to do want. I don't want to bet this game. I will.

Sam Howe to not get injured. The commanders should win this game. I think the wrong.

I don't know if that's necessarily true.

If you had Eric Bienemy as the head coach, I think they win this game, but I think Ron is active. And thank you to Ron Rivera for doing this. I think he's actively trying to get us a better draft pick in exchange for getting to say he's the head so there's no gaps on his resume.

I don't know if, I mean, the jets defense is still good and if their defensive line you would think would still be playing hard to get stats and incentives and all that stuff. Memes, this is a must win.

No, this is a must lose.

Yeah.

We would swap picks.

Yeah.

This game will impact, this is maybe the most meaningful game actually of the weekend because it's going to impact both franchises moving forward.

Yeah.

I'm calling it the Joe alt Bowl. He's the top lineman in the.

Okay. Oh, okay.

I like that Notre Dame guy, right?

Yeah.

I thought the Penn State guy was.

I'm seeing Joe Alt higher but slightly higher.

I watch tape. I'm taking the left.

Tankathon has fashionu.

Me and memes are.

I don't know if I debating about.

This, about which Penn State is a beast. Yeah, Penn State.

Joe alt also very good.

Yeah, I know. But what position does Joe Al play?

I think he's offensive tackle.

So this might be the left tackle.

It might be the Joe alt bowl. But in terms of, oh, fuck, I wish we hadn't gotten Joe alt. I wish we got the guy from Penn State instead. Yeah. That's most likely what's going to happen to either team. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, whichever team ends up losing this game and getting the better draft pick, if we're going based on history here, we're going to be the team that you look back on. You say, we really blew that. So you now, now you almost want to win. I think the jets, he is a.

Left tackle, so yeah, you could take both. The position is valuable.

Yeah. Based on jets history, they win this game.

Yeah, I think it was like Tuesday was the anniversary of the Trevor Lawrence fuck up where you got Zach Wilson. Instead you beat the Rams.

In November, the AP wrote an article saying Notre Dame ot Joe alt is a once in a generation talent for the number 20 Irish.

We need to stop using that phrase, though. Once in a generation.

This is a once in a generation podcast.

It wasn't Quint Nelson that point.

Yeah, he was. Yeah. Andrew Luck. Once in a generation. Tony Mandrick, Trevor Lawrence, Brian Bosworth.

What's the nerd nugget for this game?

Jets punter Thomas Morstead ranks first in the NFL this season in punts inside the ten with 15 of them and tied for second in punts inside the 2028 punts.

Okay, huge punting game this weekend. Tress waivers more stead. That's what we're going to keep our eye on. Oh, we did cut the cheeseman. So cheeseman or long snapper got cut. He should have been cut in training camp this year, and for some reason it doesn't get talked about enough. But the commanders used a draft pick on a long snapper. That sucks. That's about as bad as it can get.

That's tough. It's not great. No, it's not great. Okay, next up, Jaguars at Bucks. Maybe no Trevor Lawrence. Concussion. Maybe no zay Jones hamstring. Also, the Bucks are playing good football right now. Did you know Devin White? I think they're going to bench him again. So they're three and o when they have KJ Britt play instead of Devin White. I like the Bucks in this game. I do too.

I think the Bucks are just good now. I think they stunk earlier this season.

I don't think they're good.

I think they're above.

They've played bad teams.

I think they're above average right now the way they're playing.

Because they beat up on the NFC south.

Yeah.

Which is that can we need the NFC south?

They took care of business.

They took care of business. They also like the blitz. Trevor Lawrence not great against the Trevor Lawrence. Like if the Jaguars lose this game, the Jaguars not going to. They could maybe not make the playoffs.

It's a possibility.

Crazy.

It is. We thought that when they beat the Texans a couple weeks ago that sealed the deal. Congratulations to the Jaguars. But what have you read about Trevor Lawrence? Because I haven't heard one way or the other about him.

I just concussion protocol. We got to figure it out. By the way, the Bucks three wins. So that's why I pushed back a little on their good. Now they beat the Panthers by three. They beat the Falcons by four. Then they did beat the packers soundly. But it's not murderers row on the road. Yeah, but the Panthers and the Falcons are not. Not good. Good. Not good teams nerd Nugget for this game. I'm looking up the Jaguars rest of.

Their schedule through week 1512. Year veteran Levante David is the only player in the NFL with 100 plus tackles and 15 plus tackles for loss since 2000. David's ten seasons with 100 plus tackles are the third most, trailing only London Fletcher and Bobby Wagner.

So many very good for a long time.

So many tackles. Imagine tackling somebody 100 times.

All right, so the Jags should be good because they play the Panthers and Titans after this. Okay. Yeah, but that would be very jacksonville to lose to like Malik Willis in week 18. Yeah. What are you looking at, Max?

I think Memes is all over.

Draftboardguru.com no, memes is just wrong about who the top tackle is.

Memes wrong?

He said according to his eyes. Joe alt.

No, we looked something up on.

And then we Sunday looked at ten of them in a row that all said the Penn State guy was ahead of them.

Those are opinion based memes. Are you thinking Alt because he fits Izzy's running style a little bit better? Yeah. And the history of Notre Dame linemans.

And easier name to say. That's the biggest thing. The biggest thing. Okay.

I mean, for guys from Long island, it probably does factor into the.

Yes, yes. Nerd Nugget for Jags. Oh, no, you did that. Levante David. Cardinals. Bears. I hate that this game is in the keep. I kept on thinking it was in Arizona. Yeah.

You like to be able to just kind of lose it in the shuffle.

Right. And it's one of three games in the afternoon. Yeah. So I don't know. I think the Bears might lose this game. Cardinals, they outgame the 49 ers last week.

You're down on the Bears right now, but I don't think the Bears are as bad as you. No. I think you're letting your personal emotions. The gateway game.

I'm not down on the bear. I'm very excited about the Bears future the rest of the season. It's back to like, losing is better than winning. That's a fact. Especially a game like this because the Cardinals, who you're neck and neck with for a pick. So I'm as high as I could be on the Bears going forward the rest of this season. There is no benefit in winning these games anymore.

This might be the Joe alt Bowl.

Let's the, this could be huge swing because if the Bears win this game, they go from the fifth pick to like the 11th pick.

It's funny because this weekend I think big cat's going to be rooting for the commanders and I'm going to be rooting for the Bears.

No, if the jets win, it's fine, too.

Yeah, I guess so. Because you're both five and nine, right?

Yeah. You are going to be rooting for the Bears.

Let's go, Bears.

Also, I like that everyone came out. It's cool that everyone on the Bears came out and was like, it'd be a mistake to trade Justin Fields. Unfortunately, that means nothing.

DJ Moore said very. He didn't equivocate. He was like, it shouldn't be a conversation. He should be a quarterback.

Right. And unfortunately, I like that. I like everyone has his back, but you can't make a decision based on who the players like. Right. Unfortunately, like, it's just a, can't be like, oh, we're going to draft someone else hope they're going to still want to play football.

They're not the GM.

Yeah, they're going to still want to play football. But it is cool to see everyone rally behind them and yeah, I don't really want this game is whatever.

It does mean a lot.

Got to lose.

It does mean a lot.

Lose a loser. Just lose. Okay. The big game. Oh yeah. Nerd Nugget. Oh man. Nerd Nugget of the week for this game.

It's crazy. In the Cardinals 1st, 101 seasons as an NFL franchise from 1920 to 2020, there were six made field goals of 56 plus yards. So six field goals, 56 plus in 100 seasons. Matt Prater's 58 yard field goal versus the 49 ers last week gave him seven field goals of 56 plus yards in just 44 games in Arizona.

Yeah, Matt Prater is very, very strong.

44 games.

He's so strong.

Seven long field goals is more than the first hundred years of the franchise.

Prater salad, it's a lot.

Yeah.

His 58 yarder that he kicked last week, I think that would have been good from like 73. It was crazy.

Yeah. But they didn't kick long field goals back in the day. That's a good stat for like the last 20 years still. Yeah. I wonder what was the long. Can you find that for us in.

Like the 19 hundreds?

Yeah. What was the record for the longest field goal until it was broken sometime in the 90s? That would be interesting.

It was dimpsy. It was dimpsy, the kicker that had the club foot.

Yeah.

And he had the special shoe that he wore that was just like, it was half of a foot. So the front of it was just flat.

How long was it?

He kicked a 63 yarder.

That's longer than I expected.

But they made it a rule that you're not allowed to have a kicker that has a front flat.

Right.

We need kickers with 2ft here.

Find that for us, Jake. I'm interested in that.

It was dimpsy. I think it was 63 and then that was tied and then I think it got broken to 64 because kicker.

Position is definitely one of those positions that you can note, like where it became very different, where it became specialized. Yeah. Where guys are really good at it and they don't miss.

My field dimensions have been the same since 1920.

Well, I don't think that's true because the. Well, no, the valve rights used to be at the front of the insert.

But they would just count it differently. Yeah, they would count it exactly the same as a yardage. What do you got?

I'm still looking.

Okay, add it on to the next nerd nugget. That was Nerd Nugget of the week. Yeah. I'm trying to think. Whichever ones. Oh, the Pete Carroll one should have. Yeah.

The no cap.

Yeah. No cap. Yeah.

It doesn't hit the same one. I said that one.

You should have made it. Nerd Nugget of the week. Go ahead. I'll make it. Go ahead. That was nerd Nugget of the week.

Nerd Nugget of the week. If I defeat you to a nerd nugget, Jake, we should get a locker, and I should get to put you in the locker.

I like that we have lockers. I don't know if they're big enough.

Jake, locker.

Yeah. Okay. Last game on or. No, not last game on Sunday, but last game in the afternoon. Best game. Fraud bowl, cowboys at Dolphins. Who baby?

Who baby?

Let's start with the fact that we know why Tyree kill has been scoring all those touchdowns. He's on his third baby this year with three different. He's that.

Jake was like, what's going on with Tyree kill? I was like, he's just been doing a baby bump all year long.

Yeah. He's been scoring every single week. Yeah.

Literally.

Yes.

On and off.

The.

He also.

I think. Congrats. I think he got married, like, last month.

Good for him.

Yeah.

Good for him. Settling down.

Yeah.

I guess having three kids in the same calendar year will make you reevaluate some stuff.

I don't know if any of them are with his wife.

There's got to be one, right?

I hope.

I don't know.

Good luck to the couple.

He has a type. Yeah, he's got a type. I saw the graphic that they tweeted out, and it was like, all know. I know what you're into, Tyreek.

Yeah.

Good job.

Yeah. Tyreek's having a great season on and off the field.

He's getting a head start on his post NFL career being a porn star. Correct.

Although, yeah, I mean, I guess they probably do pay more for cream pies.

No comment.

I paid more or less, I think, cream pies, because that's, like, not everything is a cream pie. So it's like a specialized.

I don't know if that's an add on for the guy. I think the girl gets paid more for that for the guy. It's just like, I would rather do that. Oh, Hank said maybe not.

Oh, I agree.

You know how the budgets work. That'd be funny if it actually was a line item.

Tier system. Yeah.

All right, we got craft services for the food. This one's going to be a cream pie, so we're going to add an extra thousand.

Yeah, TF. And beforehand.

Yeah. All right, we're watching Tom Dempsey's 63 yarder on 1970.

Yeah. The front of his foot is just flat. That's cool because he was born with half of a foot.

Okay.

That's not a 63 yarder, though. That's like a 62 and seven, eight yarder.

You really shouldn't be counting inches like that.

I should.

All right, so that was a good nerd nugget then. Jake, stand correct.

Are you talking about my penis or my height?

Probably. I was talking about height, but if you were thinking penis.

No, I was thinking height originally, and then I was like, maybe he's talking about my penis again.

I'd never talk about another man's penis. Back to Tyree kill cream pieing. Okay, so I'm excited for this game. I've been thinking about it a lot. It is the fraud bowl. It's the unstoppable force versus the immovable object. The Cowboys on the road verse the Dolphins playing a team over 500. Hank, how are you feeling in cowboy land?

I feel good. I feel like this is the get right game. This is the game we prove to the world we're for real. And it's going to give us all the momentum we need going into the playoffs. Still trying to win the division. Win out, we win the division. Right, Max? Is that correct?

Let's let Max run the numbers real quick.

No, it's not correct.

Not correct, Hank? Is that not correct?

I trust Max, but we want to win the division.

Seemed like you really set Max up to say, yeah, you would win in the division. Then you were wrong.

No, I actually didn't know.

Right now, the Cowboys are listed ahead of the Eagles.

That's because the Eagles haven't played the yet.

Oh, because.

So they have a better divisional record.

Got it.

But that's only because we haven't played the Giants.

Got it.

Yeah.

This is going to wait, but the.

Cowboys only have one loss in the division as well.

I don't think they have as many divisional wins, though.

No, they actually have more. Do they?

Yeah, but we still play the Cardinals as well.

Conference.

You're talking conference now? Yeah. Wait, you said division. Division.

If the Eagles and Cowboys win their final three games, the division would be decided by strength of victory tiebreaker, which can't be determined yet.

Oh, what's strength of Edward?

So what you're saying Max, I think it starts, it goes head to head, then it goes division, then it goes conference. I think conference is what you're talking about. Wait, no, but the Cowboys have three losses, and Cowboys and the Eagles both have three losses. I've seen people say that the narrative.

Right now is that if the Eagles win out, they still get the two.

I think, like the percentage. All right, let's look. I'm going to do the simulator right now.

What's awesome while you're looking at that is like, I'm sure you guys know this, but I'm sure some listeners don't like the final tiebreaker is a coin flip.

Yeah, it should be telling.

I don't think it'll ever happen. It happens for draft picks sometimes, but could you imagine?

Who do you send out? Who do the Cowboys and the Eagles send out for that coin toss?

Head coach, each team or owner?

No, like, pick anybody from your franchise's history.

Where would they do it? Like, in the office right now.

Roderick Dell's office?

Yeah, it's that. I just did it on the playoff simulator. It does have the Eagles winning the.

Division, but I think you have to take into account every other game that you fill out to figure out what the strength of victory is.

All right, so let's do like we have the Chiefs. They didn't play the Chiefs. Saints, Rams. We're going to do all. Victory is the fifth filled out.

Every strength of victory is the fifth. And then it goes down to 1212 is the coin toss.

I needed to get to a coin toss.

There's net touchdowns, net points. Like, this will never happen.

Max, losing a coin toss would be incredible. Yeah.

They should actually have the president do it.

Oh, man.

It'll never have sleepy Joe try to flip a coin. Isn't that one of the tests that you give somebody to?

Are you okay? I kind of like the Cowboys in this game.

I don't.

Here's why I'll make my argument then. You make your argument.

Okay.

So the Cowboys have given up 264 points this season, fifth best in the league. Half of those games they gave up 70 points. So the other half is the majority of the points they gave up. Those seven games where they only gave up 70 points have all been against bottom tier offensive lines. So commanders, Giants, Panthers, Giants twice. Panthers, Patriots, Jets, Rams, even are in the bottom half. They're more like in the middle. The Dolphins have had good offensive line play, but now they have a shitload of injuries. So they lost. I think they got their tackle back, but then they lost. Austin Jackson, who might play with an oblique injury. I think the Cowboys might be able to get home. I think they might be able to pressure Tua in this game.

My counterpoint is that Tyreek Hill is going to be like 110%.

Yeah.

And he's ready to go.

And the baby bump.

And the baby bump, which is just his entire season, has been a baby bump. But I feel like in this case, they held him out last week for no real reason other than to just make sure he didn't get hurt.

Yep.

He was ready to go in pregame warmups. There's no defense for Tyreek Hill. There's no protection that you can put on Tyreek Hill that will stop him.

He'll cream pie no matter what.

We've learned that he is going to feast on the Dallas Cowboys defense. I think. And also part of this might be because I've been watching the in season hard knocks with the Dolphins, so I've got that attachment to them that you get every preseason when you watch it. Mike McDaniel stood up in front of the team after they lost the Titans, and the speech that he gave to the team was just him going through every single mistake that he made as a coach and how he personally cost them the game.

I love it.

And how he needs to do these things differently because he was begging his players to have to make superhuman plays in order to keep them in that game, to win that game. And he put them in bad positions and they almost overcame how shitty his coaching was.

Love that. I love it.

This is my Mike McDaniel game. I think that the team's going to line up and be ready to go. And I love Tyreek Hill in this game.

This game. No matter whoever wins this game, the loser, I'm going to think, is just forget about it.

Biggest fraud ever.

Yeah. No chance I will change my perception on the loser of this game so severely.

Super bowl.

Yeah. No, the winner is a Super bowl contender.

In my mind, this is the most important game of the season in the entire NFL.

Yeah. They might as well just eliminate the loser from the playoffs and put the winner into their conference championship.

The coach should have to wear a patch on his jacket like the Walter Payton man of the year. This is fraud on it.

So now that you've listened all this, if you're smart, you should wait to see who the loser is and then put a future on him, because we're going to be so wrong and we are going to completely eliminate the loser.

And you should fade the fuck out of the winner.

Yes. All right, nerd.

No, we won't be doing that.

I just thought of.

No, we'll stay clear with our overreaction. This game matters more than every other game on the calendar.

I'm going to have it in the back of my head that I'm wrong about it, but I'm still going to follow my heart.

Correct.

Send the Cowboys home.

Yeah. We will lead Tuesday's episode with and the Dolphins or the Cowboys have been eliminated. Promise.

I just thought of an impromptu nerd nugget. You guys think this.

Whoa.

You're going, Jake. You're really stretching.

Well, it's not confirmed, but I want.

Are you going to freestyle a nerd nugget? Yeah. Holy shit.

Do you guys think this is the first ever NFL game where the two head coaches are Mike Mix?

No, I can't. McCarthy. He's probably coached against Josh McDaniels before.

Mike Mix.

Oh, Mike Mix.

Mike McCoy. Wasn't he the head coach of the Chargers?

Yeah, Mike Mc. Mike.

Mike. Yeah, Mike McCoy.

Was he with them? No, he was with the Chargers.

No, he was the Chargers. Yeah. You know who else was there? Fucking Gif.

Mike McShanahan.

It might be Mike McShanahan.

Great name. I would hire.

Anyway, in a second, the confirmed our nugget via the NFL on CBS. The stat does back up the fraud ball allegations. Cowboys versus Dolphins will be the first game in NFL history between teams with 20 combined wins, but one or fewer wins versus teams above 500. Cowboys, one and three against teams above 509 and one against teams 500 or below. Dolphins. Owen, three above 510 and one versus 500 or below.

Not only will I call the losing team fraud, I'll call them Mickey Mouse.

Yeah. Chargers played the packers week six in 2015.

So that was Mike McCoy.

Yes.

All right, so probably second game ever.

Don't make me fucking go. No, I'm going to find some more Mike mix. Serious.

You've given him a purpose now, Jake.

It's cool. It's the Mike McBowl.

Mike McBowl.

Okay.

Like a name.

Mike McBowl. That's actually a pretty good name.

Yeah.

Are you Tod Bowles shows up next year after he's been fired for an interview. He's like, hey, let me, please, coach. My name's Mike McBowl.

Am I loading up on the Cowboys?

Yes. Oh, you are? It's a load up game.

You're going to take them in our weekly picks here, find out. Oh, you said you're loading up on them.

I am.

You've been pretty good at gambling this year too, right?

No, but no. Yeah, it's been bad. There's no butts. I'm due.

That was a big but.

I'm due.

Yeah, but I'll give you. But Hank has actually been probably the best gambler on the show until this year. Yeah, because we were looking at his stats.

No, he had one hungry dog on a bonus day last year.

But it was the holidays.

Facts or facts? We've been looking at Hank's stats and leading into this year, he was actually up money over his entire career gambling on the barstool sportsbook.

Whoa.

And nowhere near that for me. I know it's nowhere near that for big cat. No, but this year Hank's been so bad that not only has he lost all his money this year, but he lost all his gains from his previous seasons.

No, I got like a small island country's gdp. Pick a small island country. Okay. Last game on Sunday, Patriots, Broncos Christmas Eve.

Why is this prime time?

Because we're the Patriots and the Patriots are America's team. We're a fucking dynasty.

I think you guys are going to win this game. You're not going to win this game. I think you're going to cover this game.

Did you see the news this week that NFL now looking at more game ball deflate allegations?

Yeah.

So in the Chiefs Patriots game, they found that a bunch of the kicking balls, like all the kicking balls, had been deflated down to eleven pounds per square inch instead of up to the standard 13 pounds per square inch. And now the NFL is just saying, oh yeah, that's the ideal gas law. It naturally deflated down to that. Can you think of any other important game where the balls were deflated down to eleven pounds per square inch? And the NFL did not accept the argument of it being the ideal gas law? I can think of one. They should personally apologize to Tom Brady.

Yes.

After the findings of last week's game.

Agreed.

You think they're going to cover? Yeah, Patriots stopped the run very well. Maybe run the. I don't know if Ramandre is playing. Is he?

I'm not sure.

Garrett Bowles on the Broncos did say playoffs football from here on out. Okay. I love when that happens. Yeah. Playoffs lose, you go home. They have an 80% chance of making the playoffs. If they win all the remaining games.

They might set a record for the most playoff losses in a single season.

Yeah, that's true.

Possibility.

Okay. Nerd Nugget.

Also, I don't think this game can be flexible because it's technically not Sunday Night Football. It's an NFL Network game, so that might have to do with it. That makes sense because Saturday is the two NBC games.

Got it.

That always fucks with my brain when they're like, Thursday Night Football on Saturday.

Monday night football on Thursday.

Yeah.

Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson needs one passing touchdown to become the second Bronco quarterback, Peyton Manning in 2012 and 13 to pass for at least one touchdown in each of the first 15 games of a single season.

Wow.

That really just shows you how bad Broncos quarterbacks have been. Besides Peyton Manning, John Elway never did it.

That wasn't a passing league.

No.

Also 15 games in a season. How many regular season games was it? Still 16.

It was 14 and then 16, but it was 16 for really as long.

As I can remember watching football, the.

1614 was like, what? Yeah. No, 14 was way longer.

I think it was.

Yeah. Okay, Monday. Monday. We got three games, Chris. So much football. Love it. Raiders. The Chiefs. I don't know. Maybe the Raiders. No, I wrote down.

No, I think it's the Chiefs.

Okay. You know what's a crazy stat?

I think rice is dialed.

You know what's a crazy stat? Because I think we all admit Travis Kelsey, hall of Famer, incredible tight end, has maybe lost a little step this year. You also could make the argument it's maybe not his lost step. It's the fact that the receivers suck and everyone can just focus on him. Travis Kelsey is still leading the league in yards for tight ends. Yeah, it's crazy because I went to look it up and I was shocked.

We're used to seeing Travis Kelsey put up 150 yard games all the time.

It puts into perspective just how good he is. The fact that everyone's like, he's lost step. He's still leading the league in receiving yard.

Is this Travis Kelsey's best season?

Yeah, it's nuts. The way he gets talked about now is, well, it's funny because if you listen to fantasy pockets, like, he might not be te one anymore. Okay. He's still fucking really good.

I think that the Chiefs are. Their switch flipping is inevitable. I think that should start here. It gets started and I think that the Chiefs, I think we're going to end up looking at the season and saying the Chiefs are the number one seed.

The only thing is Patrick Mahomes historically is a big favorite. They don't cover a lot. Right. Because they just don't have to blow teams out. They kind of have the game in hand. Run the ball, second half, second half, unders in. The Chiefs, I think is like 13 and two this year. Yeah.

We talked to Julian Edelman a lot about the Chiefs and the receivers. Turns out drops are contagious.

They are.

So hopefully they've stopped that.

Yeah. Okay. Nerd Nugget.

AFC west titles at the conclusion of the 2015 season. Broncos 15, Chargers 15, Raiders 15, Chiefs eight AFC west titles. As it stands today, 1515. With their win against the Raiders, the Chiefs will have the most AFC west titles. Completely flipping the script in eight seasons. We have Pete Sweeney.

God, I think that's the nerd nugget of the week. It'd be.

So I had it and then I switched it.

Nah, you made a mistake. That's a good nerd nugget.

It'd be so cool to be a chief fan. God damn.

So stuck with my gut.

We're not allowed in Casey.

We are now.

Oh.

I think the poll ended up 52% were allowed.

Fuck, yes.

So, yeah, I might buy a house there.

I went back, you know, like, when someone will, like a tweet from weeks ago, someone did it on that thread. And I went back and I just started laughing again about that guy who's just like, don't even try to come to Casey.

It's on site in Casey, so great.

Okay. Giants Eagles. Max, you're going up against the italian wonder.

Yep. Little house divided.

People were saying we mushed the agent. He's still his agent.

Yeah, he is. He's not off field, right?

Yeah, he hired a marketing agent, which I'm pretty sure happens all the time.

Correct.

And they did the right move. He went out to the pizza place. I think he did the appearance for free.

He's a stand up guy. Yeah. Stand up guy. Max. Max is a hoop guy now. He's big Nova and sixers.

That was a big night of hoops last night for me. Big night of hoops.

I went over to say hi to Max last night at the bar. I sat down next to him at the table. I was just like, hey, Max. And he just looked at me, goes.

How the fuck are we losing this fucking game? That's not what I said.

That's almost exactly verbatim what you said.

Some guy came up to me at the bar and was like, is Max, like, real? Is that on purpose when you guys get him mad, or is that planned? I was like, we were planning that Max would be the greatest actor in the world. He's like, you think if I go up to him right now and get him mad, can I? I was like, just go ask him about Jay Wright in the middle of the Villanova game. What did you say, Max?

I don't know.

Well, he immediately was like, hank told.

Me to ask that.

But you did snap. He got the snap.

Eagles offense is broken.

Max, get right game.

Okay.

The spread is alarmingly high.

Yeah, it is. Eagles scored 20 points or more in the first half. Ten times last year. They've never done it this year.

Until Sunday.

Or Sunday.

Monday.

Monday. Ben Soleick wrote a deep dive article on the Eagles offense being broken. It was good read. It was basically like Shane Steichen had at least some type of offense know flowed. And Jalen hurts injury, which we've been the first to report, is actually a big detriment because they don't run under center except for the push tush push. And they run their offense like he is a scrambler. And he hasn't really been a scrambler this year. Designed runs, yes, but, like scrambling runs, no.

The play calling is just very vanilla.

Yeah.

It's like the same six play calls.

It's essentially smashing the AJ Brown man coverage button. Yeah, over and over.

They said they were at the end of the game against the Seahawks. The goal of that play was to get pass interference.

I hated that quote.

Yeah, I was going to say why I hated, but I want to hear why you hated.

Because you should never go into a.

Play with the result hoping counterpoint. Joe Flacco.

I don't care about the whole middle. Just go to the middle of the field, get the yards. I don't need to get mad about that.

Again, I agree with Max, actually. Joe Flacco can do it because he's really good.

He's the one guy you should do that.

But Jalen, hurts to ask him to do that. You're almost saying like, hey, go out there, throw an incomplete pass on.

That's like, that's what they were asking to do. And I don't like that at the end of the game when all you.

Needed to get was it was also.

Yards in the middle of the field.

It was also tough that Christian McCaffrey went on the main and cast and knew the perfectly predicted the play. And that's not good.

Is this a must win?

Yeah.

Has to be 13 and a half point favorite.

But I mean, you lost a must win.

Yeah.

So your must wins mean nothing to me.

They always meant nothing.

That's not true. Also, take that clip and put it on the soundboard.

Okay. Last game. Oh, nerd nuggets. Did you do it?

Jalen hurts.

Ranked second in the NFL with 33 total touchdowns, trailing only Josh Allen, who has 37 hz, needs two total touchdowns to tie his franchise record of 35 set last year, which he shares with Randall Cunningham in 1990. Sounds like he's the guy.

Maybe. Great stat, Jake. Maybe. He did say he was the thermostat this week. I like that quote. I'm thermostat. I set the temperature of every room I'm in. That's just a good mentality to have.

Yeah.

Good mindset.

It is. Okay, best game. Ravens and 49 ers. Ooh, boys is a treat.

I can't wait. It is a good Christmas present for America, isn't it?

Yeah. It's also, I think, the latest two teams with the best record in each conference and played since like 1993.

I love the Niners.

I love the Ravens. Okay. I like that we.

Yeah, I love the think. I don't think that the Niners can be beat when they have their team together. If you're missing Trent Williams, Debo Samuel, then that's. They're obviously much, much weaker.

Well, we're talking spread, too. Yeah, I'm talking spread.

Are you talking spread?

I like Ravens and spread. Okay.

I like the Niners. I've yet to determine whether or not I like them, but I think that I like them against the spread.

Okay, a couple things for the Ravens case. Shout out to guys at sports info solutions. The Ravens are second best in the league. Sorry. They're first in the league in stopping yards after catch, which is what the 49 ers feast on. Think about all the times when it's like Debo over the middle. Ten yard, boom. He takes it to the house. McCaffrey out of the backfield, little screen, boom. He takes to the house. Ravens gang tackle. They do a good job getting to the ball. That's part of why I like this. I like the Ravens for that reason. Also, I like the Ravens because Lamar Jackson and the Ravens are 19 and five against the spread as an underdog since 2015. And Lamar remember PFD 19 and one straight up against the NFC.

I don't look at the Niners being the NFC.

The Niners are different.

They're just the Niners.

Here's another one. Is this truly Monday Night Football?

Yes. Joe Buck will be on the call.

Seven straight upsets outright. Yep. Monday Night Football.

Do we know what the word with Kyle Hamilton is?

I do not. Yeah, I think the Ravens are going to keep. I think they're going to stay in this game.

Kyle Hamilton feels disrespected. I don't like that. Oh, no, he's disrespected going to this game. He's disrespected that they're underdogs to the.

Like.

You should be underdogs to the like. Maybe not five points, but Tomlin gets.

All the credit for being the underdog guy. Harbaugh is just as much an underdog guy. Yeah. They crush as underdogs.

Yeah. I still like the Niners. I just don't think that the Niners with a healthy team, I don't think they can be beat. Brock Purdy is just good, just playing good. And with all the talent that they have. I love the Niners to win every single game that they're in, if they're healthy.

And if the Niners win this game, I think it's pretty much set that they're going to be. It'd be tough for them not to get the one. Yeah. Yeah. Because they've beaten the Cowboys and the Eagles head to head is there, and their last two games are commanders. Oh, I'm sorry.

That's going to be bad.

And the Rams.

So I would say that maybe they're going to take their foot off the gas if they've got the ones he'd locked up.

Well, they can't get it locked up this week.

Kyle Shanahan is going to put his foot to the ground against the commanders. He still fucking hates the commanders. No matter. Even though Snyder's gone, he is going to want to score 50 on us.

I guess they could get it this week if the. No. The Lions, Cowboys and Eagles would all have to lose.

Rams could be playing for a playoff spot in that last week.

That game could be interesting. Oh, you're talking yourself into this.

No, I'm just saying.

Well, no, but if the Niners win this week and against the commanders, the Niners will have the one seed.

Well, they could lose this week, too.

Could lose this week. I guess the Lions could still get it. I wonder what the tiebreaker is.

There, is there a line that you can bet right now on AFC versus NFC in the Super Bowl?

I think so, because I feel so.

Strongly about the Niners that I almost want to bet them because I'm sure they'll be plus money, right?

No, you mean they'll be the Niners.

To win as a future. But I'm also curious about what the AFC NFC Super bowl ods are right now.

I'm sure there is, but then you're obviously injuries. That would suck.

Yeah, that would.

Uh, what's the nerd nugget here in.

Running back Christian McCaffrey? And wide receiver Debo Samuel. The 49 ers are the first team in NFL history to have multiple players with five or more rushing touchdowns and five or more receiving touchdowns in the same season.

Yes.

Those guys can do it all.

They can do it all.

Also, how many people gang tackled? How many people in media? If this is a good game, I'm expecting like ten or 20 journalists being like, sign me up for round two in Las Vegas in February.

When you say that, are you saying you're going to. I agree you are going to tweet.

But it's only thing a lot of others will too.

Yeah.

And give me all the popcorn.

Yeah, give me all the popcorn. Or wouldn't mind another one between these two in February.

Definitely happen. Yeah. Okay. I'm trying to find if there's that line. I'm trying to find it for you. Pft. I'm sure someone has.

I found it.

What is it?

AFC Conference plus 115.

Okay. Yeah. So that would be a good bet.

That'd be what? Like minus one? Yeah, like 5110?

Something like that. Yeah. And you would have to imagine if the Niners roll to the Super bowl, they're going to be more than a field goal favorite.

Yeah, I think I might do that.

Okay.

Just go NFC.

Yeah. Should just take the Niners to win the Super bowl. Even though it's a terrible line.

I was looking at what that is 240. But it's probably better than it would be if they win this game on Monday.

Yeah, if they win this game, they might be like 200, which is crazy. All right, we ready for some picks?

Yeah, I'm ready.

Standings?

I wish that we were doing more picks.

We can.

So we're locked in at three.

Yes. And one of them has to be on Monday.

Okay, so for the 15 minutes opening act, I'm at 19 and a half. Max is at 15 and a half. Memes is at 15. So I'm close to safety but not there yet. Right now they're half a game separating Max and memes. 1 hour big cat 19 and a half. Pft 18, Hank 14 and a half. So three and a half with seven to go, not six. And big cat, you are five up on Hank with seven to go.

Okay, who goes first?

Max.

Max.

I will be taking the Ravens plus five and a half on Monday night.

I like it. Max.

And we have to pick a Christmas game, right?

Yeah. Okay. A Christmas day. Yeah.

Right.

Can we not take the same picks?

No.

Even.

No. Three games on Christmas.

You wanted the holiday pick.

Holiday pick is Max. Hank wanted the Ravens.

I'm still fighting over here, too.

Okay. All right, that's fair. Memes, I'm going to go lions minus three. Okay.

Hank against the Vikings.

Hank, I'm going to go 49 ers minus five.

All right, I'll go the over in the Ravens 49 ers game, 46 and a half.

I'm going to take the over in the Giants Eagles game, 42 and a half.

Okay, Jake got two picks.

I'm going to take Patriots Broncos under 34 and a half.

I'm seeing 34 same.

I see 34 and a half.

I just refreshed.

Yeah, I see 34 and a half.

And I'm going to take Chiefs minus ten against the Raiders. Okay, that is my pft.

I am going to go with the Miami Dolphins minus one against the Cowboys.

Okay. Yep. I'm going to take. Hold your nose. New England Patriots plus seven.

Good pick.

Against the Broncos.

I'll be taking the Cowboys.

Oh, shocker. I was thinking about taking the Cowboys like, nah, I gotta leave that for Hank. Hank for pFt. Huge.

Wow, your boy hot on the line for Hank.

Finn's up.

Pft.

Fins up. That would be huge, Hank.

Miami has a Dolphins, the greatest football team.

They run the ball from goal to go like no one's ever seen.

All right, memes, I'm going to take.

The Jaguars bucks over 41.

I see 41 and a half.

I see 41. 41 it is. I am going to take. Wow, that just changed.

The Cardinals plus four against the Bears.

It's four and a half.

Four and a half.

Love it.

A lot of movement today.

And I am going to take the Packers Panthers over 37 and a half.

Ew. Gross.

Offensive player of the week, Bryce Young.

Gross. Okay, memes, holiday pick.

I'm going to go over 43.

Giants Eagles.

That was already picked. I took it.

Yeah. Good pick, though.

Fuck.

Love that pick.

Over 40 and a half. Raiders chiefs, you're just going to go.

To the next over. Jumping around, hank, big pick. Huge.

I am going to take the Patriots Broncos over 34 and a half. Let's go 34.

Let's see what it is. Right.

Well, I took under 34 and a half.

I'm taking under 34. Over 34.

Over 34.

Different lines.

Does that work?

I think so.

Right now I just refreshed it. It's over 34 and a half.

Okay, so you're taking over 34 and a half.

Do you want to change your pick? You can change your pick.

Can I change it to over 34?

You want to buy a half point?

I'll let you buy half for an extra minute.

I'll let you buy a half point hang.

Definitely going to be 20 to 14.

But if you lose, you have to add ten minutes onto your.

I'll do 34 and a half.

Okay, you know what?

Pft. You talked me into it. I'm going to take the Browns minus two and a half. Okay.

Good pick.

Thank you.

I'm going to take falcons, colts over 44 and a half.

I like that. No Shane Steichen overs. Yeah. It's money. Heineckey.

I get to root for my guy. Jonathan Taylor and Michael Pittman in both playing.

Oh, huge.

Big. I definitely knew those things.

Huge.

Pittman's playing. Yeah.

Full participants in practice. Wow.

Built different.

Just making sure everyone took a Christmas pick. I think we all did.

Jake, finish us off.

I'm going to take bucks minus two and a half against the Jaguars. Bucks are feeling good right now.

A lot of good picks overall. So if Hank went three and o and PFD went o and three, what would it be? Two half. Yeah.

Half with four to play.

If he goes two and one and PFT goes one and two, four and.

A half with four, that would be it.

Wait, he'd be up four and a half.

Well, if PFt beat tank this week, it's over, right?

No, but if I go one and one and two and Hank goes.

So it'd be two and a half with four. Not dead.

Not dead.

Still. You need the sweep. Sweep is everything. Yeah. You got boys.

Dolphins is pretty much everything.

That is.

That's for all the marbles.

Yeah. Okay. Should we do fancy fuck, boys and we get to Jules?

Let's do it.

Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo.

What's up? Yo, it's Fabrizio. Guatemala. Breezy.

I saw them as the holidays.

I love the fucking holidays.

Tis the fucking season. You got food, you got family, you got everything. You got football, the three f's in life, the Father, son and the Holy Spirit. Love the holidays. Shout out to the holidays. Tis the season.

Triple F. Hell yes.

My sith. Coastal Carolina.

Okay.

Yeah.

Since when can a coach go to.

The beach with some of the dancers on the team? What is this fucking.

What is this, North Korea? He just had some gumas. Yeah, he's there for the ball game. They're going to the beach.

It's the holidays.

What the fuck?

Lighten up. My sith redacted or my sleepa is redacted?

Yeah, you definitely want your name redacted.

I think we're going to see a lot of redacted this week. I'm saying 50% plus, redacted Henry.

Henry Lockwood was not on that list.

Facts. Not one of the redacted names on the list, okay?

Hey, what's up, dickheads? It's Anthony Giuliani.

Tony G. Anthony. Anthony Ant. Big aunt. Yo, what up?

My starting is my uncle Rudy.

Rudy. He can't pay.

He's got no more money. He's flat broke right now. So just move on to the next one, all right? You leeches aren't sucking off this teeth anymore, all right?

That all went to a security guard's haircut.

It did great haircut. That guy that's the barber that knows.

The time of day.

I'll tell you what. I'll tell you what. For my sitting is Cameron Diaz saying that you've got to normalize couples having separate bedrooms over. Tell you this much, if Cameron Diaz and me tried to give me the second bedroom, I'd say you got another thing coming, girl. We're sleeping in the same bed.

I'll take a second room called the fuck box.

And then my sleeper this weekend is Tommy D. Tommy D. For the Pyzons out there. He just trademarked. He just trademarked the passing pyzan.

Love that.

I like that.

I like that nickname. Tommy trademarked. Tommy cutlets passing Pyzan. Tommy is going to go into Philly and that crowd's going to be rooting so hard for my guy. And they're going to say, hey, this guy, he's a good guy.

He's a stand up guy.

He's one of us. We can't root against our guy, the passing Pisan.

And that's what I love about the city of Philadelphia. I love that. What's up, fuckers? Tony Bologna.

Hey, Mr. Bologna.

My stardom is cheese and crackers. Holiday season still up, mommy. Oh, boy. I go hard in the paint.

Pepperoni.

Fuck the pursuit.

You got the seven fishes you got to save room for.

Don't even give me a dinner. I'll just sit by those cheese and crackers all fucking day.

Cartrudery?

Yeah, cartrudery. My sit him is Zion Williamson. The rest of his contract is not fully guaranteed because he's too fat.

Yeah, he sat out a bunch of games last year and they said, guess what?

Yoink.

Getting this money, he had to be under 295.

He wasn't under 295. Real fucked up to say this to him right before Christmas.

Wait, they actually weighed him in? And weight clause.

The unusual contract also states that some of his weight and pounds in his body fat percentage must be less than 295.

That's unfortunate.

Unfortunate.

That's discrimination.

It is my sleeper rivalries. Charles Barkley said he'd root for Afghanistan over Alabama. That's fair.

Yeah, that's fair.

That's a real rivalry.

Both have the same literacy.

Fuck, yeah. Okay. Yeah. That was an insult contract. That's tough.

How did the NBA media not get their hands on that contract before? To say he has to stay under 295? There would have been like a 295 watch Twitter account. It's like when Kyler Murray's contract was leaked. It's like you have to watch x number of hours of film a week.

So the way it reads is, I don't think he's 295 pounds. So it's the sum of his weight in pounds and his body fat percentage. So he could be like 275 and he's like 30% body fat.

Yeah, that would rock. Yeah, that's what I would do. I would just lose all my muscle weight, get down to 250, 40%.

Yeah.

That's unfortunate for Zion.

Yeah, that sucks. It sucks.

Remember that girl that was like, hey, Zion, I want to have your baby? That whole thing? Yeah.

Could have lost some weight, a little more sex. Yeah. He had, like, Pepsi and coke in his bathroom. Yeah.

That's why Tyreek Hill's in such good shape.

Yeah.

Have you seen a guy, not an ounce of fat on him?

Yeah. Okay, let's get to our good friend Julian Edelman in studio. Before we do that, pft, you had a quick word from our friends at betterhelp. I did, yeah.

I want to talk to you guys about betterhelp. Part of my take is sponsored by Betterhelp. Whether or not your family gives gifts during the holidays, you get to define how to give to yourself. And the holidays are a great time to do that. So whether it's by starting therapy, going easy on yourself during the tough moments, or treating yourself to a day of complete rest, remember to give yourself some love this holiday season. I've personally benefited from therapy in the past when I was going through some loss. Talk to a therapist. Help me feel better about myself. Help me feel better about my day. Help me just have a better attitude. If you're thinking of starting therapy, give betterhelp a try. It's entirely online, designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist and switch therapists anytime for no additional charge. In the season of giving, give yourself what you need with betterhelp. Visit betterhelp.com pmt today. Get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelpbetterhelp.com pmt. And now here's Julian Edelman.

Okay, we now welcome on one of our favorite guests. Been a long time. He's canceled on us like, five times in the last year.

Busy man.

Busy man.

One time.

But he made the trip to Chicago just for us.

Literally for you.

It's Julian Edelman, three time Super bowl champion, one time Super Bowl MVP, future Hall of Famer. Why haven't we had a Julian Edelman hall of Fame debate recently? I think that died down.

I think we had it right when you retired because your retirement got hijacked by people being like, Adam Schefter was like, possible future hall of Famer.

Yeah.

And then we had to discuss whether or not you were hall of Famer in the moment. That was supposed to be about saying goodbye to the game.

What's the question?

The question is, are you a future?

Are you a hall of Famer? And follow up question, will there be a certain amount of times that you don't get in the hall of Fame that you'll be like, actually, I don't want it. Like, if you get voted in, like nine years after, you'd be like, that was kind of a pity vote.

I don't.

Don't. Okay. We'll say it's a pity vote.

The thing is, I think you've got hall of Fame moments. Like, I can imagine the dvd.

This is so mean that we're just doing.

No, it's good. I'm saying, like, this is good for your case, where I close my eyes and I think about Julian Edelman and after I get past the thirst traps and the shirtless pictures on father's day and the Pe. No, he got his drink spiked. I envision Julian Edelman making that catch in the Super bowl against the Falcons.

Yeah. Can't tell the story of football without Julian Edelman. That's a fact. Yeah.

Who would give your.

This is making you uncomfortable.

I don't know.

Yeah.

I haven't even thought about it.

Is it weird when you see that debate happening and you're like, this is kind of weird that everyone's decided. Yeah.

Because everyone gets mad about it. I'm saying something about it. I'm like, whatever, right. Talking.

People are getting legitimately arguing. You haven't said anything. You're like, I just played ball. Yeah.

I just played ball.

Yeah. All right. So we haven't seen you in a while. Yeah. Want to talk about just current NFL. I don't know if you've seen, but there's been reports that a coach might get fired.

Yeah, I've seen him. I've talked about him.

So do you think Ron Rivera will get fired?

Yeah, I do.

Okay.

I think he probably. Well, I actually disagree with him. I think he's going to be able to go out on his own terms after the end of the season. It's going to be a mutual parting of ways. That is in no way a firing or presented as a firing. But I think what big cat might have been alluding to. Correct me if I'm wrong. I don't want to interpret what you're saying and misinterpret it. Big cat, there's another coach won a few Super Bowls with you in New England, and there's a lot of people talking about the possibility that he goes to the Washington commanders. It's a discussion that's happening across the league. Could you see Bill Belichick coaching for any team but the New England Patriots next year?

I mean, I think it's a reality that's going to come. I won't believe it until it's done. But when the media starts getting on this and starts talking about it, where there's smoke, there's fire. And I just hope it's handled correctly, like professionals, because Bill is a huge part of the success that we had. I mean, he laid the template. Mr. Kraft was a huge part of the success that we had. Tom Brady was like, it's a team sport, and I think he's the best coach that I ever had. I always felt prepared. I always felt like we had nuggets on teams, and we had a competitive advantage because of how we prepared and the time that the coaching staff always put into the game. So could I see him coach for another team? It's going to be, this is national. Everyone gets fired. He used to say that all the time. Bill would always say that everyone gets fired in this know, and I remember him talking about the media once, and he was know, one of the things were how we were supposed to handle the media this, that he, you know, they're just looking for a story.

Like, there's going to be a day where they throw me under the fucking bus. And it looks like it's been.

It's starting to turn that way. So Hank's got to go in a second to do this live stream. What would you tell Hank to give him? Because he's kind of doesn't. Literally all he has left is this lighthouse. That's all he's got.

The lighthouse.

The lighthouse.

How is the lighthouse. I haven't been yet.

Fake as fuck.

Yeah, it seems awesome. Yeah, but he's, like, beaten down. He doesn't know what this is like. He's living the other half.

It's the end of an.

Yeah, yeah, it's. What do I say to Hank? I mean, Celtics look good.

That's what he's been doing. That's a great.

There's. The Bruins are doing pretty good, aren't they? Are they doing good?

Yeah.

He's a huge buckhead, so, yeah, it's going to be tough probably for a little while when the empire falls takes some time to rebuild.

It's kind of a somber transition because it is. He's been such a big part of that entire area and just a part of football for so long.

It's going to be weird.

Oh, wow. Chuck.

Sorry.

What were you thought we were talking about Hank.

I thought PFT was talking about me.

But Hank was a big part.

Like Bronck told us what a big impact Hank had on winning the Super Bowls. Amongst the guys you played with, there have been a couple names that have been maybe linked to being the next head coach of the Patriots. We don't talk about another man's job. So we're not going to say that Belichick has been fired or anything, but I'm saying, hypothetically, in a scenario where you had a new head coach next year between, let's say, mayo and, let's say, vrabes, who would you want taking over for?

Ooh, that's tough. I'm a fan of both. I think Vrabel's an unbelievable head. Mean, it seems like his team always squeaks away with wins they're not supposed to have. I mean, they've been number one seeds. They've built something in Tennessee that's been pretty competitive for the last eight years. How long has he been there? Six, seven years. Eight years. Gerard, he's one of the smartest football players I played with. He was the guy that was helping me getting lined up when I was playing DB. I'd look at him, he's cover fucking five.

Get over there.

Gerard knows football, but he hasn't coached a head coach. He hasn't had a head coaching role yet. So if I were to go that route of hiring a coach with the pick that they're probably going to, I would want to probably have an offensive minded guy. Yeah, that's kind of what the league's going to.

Matt.

Patricia, bring him back.

Yeah, maybe.

Yeah, maybe. Maddie P, do you think play a hypothetical out. Kraft walks into Belichick's office after the season. He's like, look, I think times come we're going to part ways. Belichick says, what if I bring back Ernie Adams and Dante Scarneckia? And Kraft's like, shit, the boys are back. We got to do this. Does he have that card in his back pocket?

I don't think so. I think they're out. Dante's over in. Where did he used to go? He's somewhere in Rhode Island, Narragansett. And he swims laps right now with the whales. I'm not joking. He's like 85 years old. The guy would swim every morning. He's a badass. I don't think he's come out of retirement. And Ernie, I have no clue where he is.

That's probably for the. Yeah, he's probably just off the grid.

Off the grid?

Yeah, he's like Jason Bourne.

He probably is. Still keeping notes, though. Wouldn't you?

Definitely, yeah.

Like he never stops.

I honestly wonder if Bill ever calls those guys and asks or is he just in the program of I'm with the guys that I'm in. I remember Dante when we didn't have him, we had the offensive line coach. I remember I would see Dante, he would come in and he would know, I think, do some of those kind of roles or work a guy out or go look at a guy for Bill. So I don't think that card is going to be able to be pulled.

Yeah. I like the fact that Dante is.

Just out swimming with whales. He just needs to be around his big dudes all the.

He really.

I just like being around big things.

He does, dude, he's probably yelling at those whales.

Get formation, hit low leverage.

Put your fucking yell. And that's why he was such a good coach, because you would see in know in the film room sometimes a coach will just yell at you like, we got to get better. Dante would break down the fundamental of what you have to do. It'd be really mean how he would say it. Like, you fat fuck, put your right foot over here. Drop your ass, put it on your hand. Like he'd give the actual technique. And that's what a good coach is. You know what I mean?

I love the guys behind the guy, too, in football because it's like the Georgia strength and conditioning coach, Scott Sinclair, he was with Saban at Bama for all those wins. And then he goes to Georgia and they win two national championships. And I'm like, this guy, he's got the secret sauce. Like, he's the guy behind the guy. He's the one who's with the players all through the offseason. The strength and conditioning coach is the most important coach, I believe, in college football, like each program, because he's with them all the time. He's making little skinny kids, 18 year olds, into men. And it's like the guy behind the guy that doesn't get all the shine. Sometimes. Those guys are like, what makes it all tick?

Without a doubt. I mean, it's always funny to see the dynamic of the head coach with the strength coach because the strength coach is kind of like, he's the ears, right? He's the ears, but he's also the head coach. To go up to the strength coach and be like, how are we running today? He's like, checking the cars and he's a mechanic. Yeah. Got a couple of hamstrings, coach, but we'll get him right in the weight room, shit like that. And I think the strength coach is more important in college because you're influencing the younger kids. When you get to the pros.

You.

Would think that you'd have that relationship with the strength coach, but you don't.

Because you guys aren't lifting heavy and stuff, right?

You do in the offseason, but you don't want to get hurt in the weight room. It's more specialized to your position by the time you get to the National Football League, where you may even hire a third party trainer just to work on speed or you work on change of know. There's all these guys with their techniques and stuff. There's always an LA guy or a fucking guy. Yeah, Houston guy, know, the bomaritos of the world, where you go and run with him and he makes know. So it's just different when it becomes a job.

So I want to talk about the whole league right now. Maybe get all your thoughts because you're on tv all the time. Also games with names back. Great podcast. We've both been on it. Awesome. You're going viral. I feel like every other week right now with the MJ story telling. So MJ told you he was going to bet on you before the Super bowl.

He said, I got a lot of money on you guys. Don't fuck it up.

That had to be intimidating thing.

Ever so intimidating. But I loved him even more. He put his alpha on me.

Did you think during that Super bowl, like, at any point, no break of.

The game, like, shit, completely forgot about it. You put the blinders on, but that was pretty cool.

Yeah. So one of the big stories right now is Kansas City wide receiver room. So what do you think is going on in that wide receiver room? Like, if I were in that wide receiver room, I'd just basically just keep telling my homes, like, I'll catch the next one, don't worry. Just keep throwing it to me. But the pressure that those guys have on them. Do you ever have a moment like that where your room is not doing everything? Maybe there's a bunch of drop balls in a game and you're sitting there and you're like, tom was giving us the throws, we just weren't making the plays. Yeah.

I've been in rooms, like.

Where you're.

Not holding your end of the bargain up as the team goes. And that comes down strictly to confidence. And it is hard for young guys, like in Kansas City right now. These guys are young guys. It's a young group. And that beast of, I mean, they're like the new Patriots, like the new pats, you know what I mean? You have the superhero quarterback. You got a great coach. You guys have a system that's in place. You got a tight end that demands all the eyes. So everyone's looking at the receiver and saying, well, it's going to rely on you. So it's tough. I'm sure they're hearing some of the noise about it. It's easy to nowadays with the social and everything, but it ultimately comes down to just practice and preparation. Like whenever I would go into, like I had a couple of drops or something, I would always just, you'd go back to the fundamentals. You have to do extra ball drills. You take practice like the mini games, just because the more pressure you put yourself through in practice, it makes the game easier. When that pressure comes on the, you know, there's going to have to be some leadership that comes out of that.

The Rashid rice kid, he's had some production these last few weeks, and I guarantee Patrick Mahomes, the type of guy that's going up to him and Watson and saying, hey, guys, I know there's been a couple drops, but let's build off of the successes, those little successes that, you know, and that's what they have to do. Just try to stack good days together in practice and it'll translate into games.

Yeah.

Are drops contagious?

They are.

How so?

Because I've heard people say it and.

It always sounds funny when somebody on tv is like, drops are contagious, but is it like a mental thing where one wide receiver, he drops, a couple of easy catches, and then that just adds the pressure on the other guys where they're like, fuck, that guy's dropping it. I really better make sure that I catch mine. And that added pressure makes them more.

Likely to drop a ball.

Yeah, I would say probably. But the good leaders and the great quarterbacks, they don't yell at you for drops. They yell at you for stupid shit like not knowing a formation or a presnap penalty or a technique in a route. That's when they get mad. They understand drops are going to happen. And as a quarterback, you're on that level of where you have to play and figure out each guy in your rooms. What kind of coaching or what kind of love do they need? Do they need tough love? Do they need supportive love? How are you going to make these guys get the best out of themselves? So I still think they're figuring that out in Kansas City. But when you know the defense that they have right now and Patrick Mahomes, you're still going to have a shot. I don't think they're the favorite. I think Baltimore is real tough right now with what they have going over there, but I wouldn't be surprised if they go. I mean, they're probably going to win their last three games. Yeah. And that's just going to get them more confident, and that's what it's really about.

These next three weeks are going to be a pivotal part of the season because you're starting to get your grind going. I remember back in 2018 when we lost to the Steelers, we had two losses in a row in close to December, late November, and we were hitting the panic button. We got to get this shit going right now because you got to get in those runs and that's where your confidence builds and you get excited for work because there's a light at the end of the tunnel. The season is right there. You know what I mean? Those weeks when you're like six to probably twelve, your body doesn't feel good. The lust of the season starting is not there. No more guys are banged up, more weather. Weather is starting to get a little colder. It gets hard and it becomes the grind. This time of the year is when you start getting those cream teams.

Yeah. Have you ever had to react from losing a must win game?

Yeah.

That Steelers game, we felt like that was a must win game because we dropped one and then we lost that one and then we went on our roll. But the sense of urgency in the building after those kind of losses with the teams that I was on, the urgency went up.

So the schedule might actually work out well for the Chiefs, where it's like they get three easier opponents. Maybe they use those weeks to get right, and then in the playoffs they're like, we don't have the drops anymore. Our receivers are fine.

I mean, it could. It comes down to making the plays. I tell you right now, when you get to the playoffs, there's always the saying. The coaches say, we ain't saving nothing. So that's when you get the plays and the scheme comes out even more magnified, something that you've been working on all year. So I have trust that they're going to be able to figure out ways to get those guys the balls the way they need to get it.

Yeah. Can the 49 ers be beat?

Yeah, but it's going to be tough.

How do you beat them? They look so much better than everyone else.

I mean, you got to run the ball against, you have to run the ball against them. The number of carries and you can't lose on first down. You do not want to get on a hole against that defensive line that only has to rush four. And then you can get all that crazy scheme of the defense behind, and they fly, they're physical, they all swarm to the ball. They play hard. It's tough. But whenever we were playing against the best defensive lines, the Vaughn Miller D lines and shit like that, we always had to run the ball because those guys don't like guys coming at them.

Right.

They want the pass set, so they want to go and do all their fucking moves that they practice in the hallways when they're going to the cafeteria. You always see the defensive ends doing a fucking shake. Shake this. Or it's weird, like Nikovich and Chan Jones used to do that. But, yeah, I just got a loss of thought.

Yeah.

With the Niners, I was going to say the way to beat them, just injure the quarterback and then the backup quarterback, too.

Yeah, it's tough. I mean, you got to play tough. You got to keep that offense off the field. Yeah. And that's what the running game does as well. And you have to execute in the red area and on third down, which that's where they're good.

So we had Jeff Saturday on last week, and something that's very interesting to me, looking at the NFL right now, specifically in December. There's teams that have had good seasons, but they have a glaring weakness, like the Eagles defense or the Lions defense. And we asked them, can you correct this? Do you remember a time when it was like, we're not that good, but something scheme wise or how we practiced was able to fix that because it does feel like every year there's a team that we kind of write off and they can make a deep run because they fix something that, whether it be defense or offense, that they look totally different come January.

I honestly think it's not just one thing that you fix. It comes down to guys working together to execute a play. And when you get guys that don't worry about the big holes that you have or whatever and get to what we have to do to win, if you can get everyone to buy into that and you guys can have good weeks of preparation, and when practice looks, there's not a ball on the ground, there's not a fucking split double team. When all those little things start getting corrected in practice, that's when you go on your runs. That's when the confidence is rolling. It sounds stupid, but everything from the success that I had or our teams had, you always saw it in that week of practice, right.

Have you ever had, like, a great week of practice and you're feeling really good and then you go to the game, get your teeth kicked in?

Yeah.

Like, what happened there?

Yeah. One year against Baltimore, it was when we just traded for, like, Dion branch and we traded Randy. So I was sitting there like, man, I'm going to get hella more reps. Hell.

Yeah.

Had a great week of practice, and I ended up having, like, I got knocked out of the game by Ray and I was like, fuck. That was like the only one time. But other than that, anytime I had, like, a really solid week of practice.

Translated.

It. Always translated.

Yeah.

So you think the Ravens out of the AFC, you think they're the best team? I'm going to throw another team at you. Team nobody wants to play right now. You know who that team is?

Let's hear it.

I think it's the Bills.

Yeah.

I think nobody would want to play the Bills right now.

I got to see this week from the Bills.

Yeah.

Because that was something they've never done. They've never relied on the run game, and that's something that I've always said.

That they should incorporate Josh Allen under.

And I got to see this week with the Bills because their defense, when playing from behind doesn't play the same from how, if they're playing from ahead, yeah. That's when they can start using their schemes and McDermott can do all his stuff on. They've, they've kind of struggled on the defensive line position, not including last week. Last week, Oliver. And, you know, Vaughn was effective. I think Vaughn's going to continue to get better with his knee. I mean, he's an older guy and he's still recovering with that injury, which, you know, you get better as the year goes on because you need that load. So I expect him to get better and he's a veteran. He'll probably start kicking it up. Yeah, that's a tough team to play, but I got to see this week how they're going to. Are they just going to try to go back to what they were?

Because.

The sudden jolt of a really good game. They haven't been like that all year. They've been so inconsistent.

Two in a row, too. Yeah. Like the Chiefs and the Cowboys.

I want to see some consistency because it's usually the teams that are consistently doing well in big games are the teams that go on runs.

The one thing I loved, Joe Brady had a press conference. I think it was today where he was like, our plan wasn't to run the ball like that. It just worked. And then we're like, why would we.

Go away from that redo team, do over team? That's what coach you say.

Yeah, but those are the best offensive coordinators. I would assume that, yeah, they might have a plan, but if something's working, why would you. You don't have to win pretty.

No, you got to feel the flow of the game. Right. We were never a scripted team that, like a lot of the west coast teams, they have a 15 play script and they'll go through that 15 play script and then they'll do adjustments off that script. We had kind of a hybrid of that where we had a script of plays that we wanted to get in the first quarter that had plans to see how they were playing it, to be able to counter it.

Like a flowchart. Like, if then yes, play works, then.

They have the category. The play sheet is one of the most incredible things to see from an offensive coordinator, how they design their play sheet. They're got to have it plays. They're fucking third down windows that are broken up in three to two to five short yard. They have it all broken down. When you look at those things, it's pretty cool. So I think, yeah, you got to feel the flow of the game if something's working.

Yeah. Because you spam it. That chiefs championship game that you were in, I feel like you spam that play of you over the middle. It felt like five times in a.

Row and a couple of those run gap plays that we were running. Yeah. We felt we had good matchups on a lot of those plays. And when it's nut cut in time and it's the playoffs, you got to go to the plays that you, you executed the best throughout the year.

Yeah. So when you're spamming a play like that, does the defense ever say, like, we know this is coming? Yeah, but they still couldn't stop it. Sometimes that's got to feel like a superpower.

No, it doesn't feel like a superpower, but it was pretty cool.

Yeah.

I was thinking about it because I used to run a lot of those crossers and I would run over to the thief or robber, which is the other safety that comes down. So they funnel you into him. So it's a form of doubling, you know what I mean? Where this guy will not get beat on the outside and this guy will catch you on the inside. So that it's a way of using someone. And when you get on a great page with the quarterback, there's one thing that can never be covered. The perfect throw.

Yeah.

You could have a guy in the perfect position. You can have everything. But if there's a perfect throw and you make the catch, I mean, it's uncoverable.

That's the damn that. Wasn't that his quote? Was it? There's no defense for the perfect pass, maybe.

Yeah, it was.

What about in the NFC? There's a team I'm concerned about. I've got rising levels of concernment with this organization, the Philadelphia Eagles. Would you be concerned?

I am.

If you're concerned, I would be concerned.

I'm pressing the urgency button. We need to press that. They've been struggling with an identity all year on offense. The defense, they're designed to get after the quarterback because that's where a lot of their money is at and their draft capital, and they really haven't been getting after the quarterback and they haven't been able to stop the run. And we've all seen what the secondary has been doing. So you're getting to the point where you have to be concerned. You're going to start playing the best teams in the league. Like when you go to playoffs, it turns like a switch. Everyone's playing like 15% to 20% harder. There's nothing else that you keep in the gas tank.

Did your Belichick voice there. I liked it. Did I? Yeah. Flipped the switch. Yeah. Everyone's playing a little. 15% to 20% harder. That was good. You slipped it. It was like playoff mode just went in your brain.

Yeah, no, I would definitely be concerned. I mean, they're turning the ball over. You don't want that. You don't want to play bad football in December.

Would you be concerned or would you say season is over?

I wouldn't say season is over.

That's smart.

Yeah. But losing a must win.

We'll see how they could still be, what, 14 and three? Or what are they?

They're four losses.

Four than 13 and 413 and four. They very easily could be 13 and four.

Speaking of turnovers, how much did it suck when you turned the ball over, going back to the side?

Oh, my God.

Would you be, like, putting your head down, hoping that no one says anything, knowing that someone's going to come ream.

You out if you fumbled? When I was on the Patriots.

They.

Had a term, you're in the doghouse.

Yeah, we love dog houses.

My receiver coach, Chad O'Shea, he would always say, yeah, I remember I fumbled on a punt return against the Giants in like, eleven or something. And he goes, yeah, you're in the doghouse with the big guy. I'm sitting there and I'm like, oh, fuck. He's like, yeah, you better stack some good practices.

He had quite a dog house.

So a couple of good practice go, and I'm like, I go check in with O'Shea. I'm like, yo, am I still in the doghouse? He goes, you got a paw coming out, but you're still in.

He used to say that so the receivers coach would be like, almost the good cop. Like, listen, I'm trying everything with the big guy, but nothing I can do. You're in the doghouse.

A good position coach is a guy that he's kind of like a psychologist. Yeah, they have to be able to read the room and get the points that the head coach is drilling into him to a group of eight guys, and every guy's different, so he has to put that psychologist cap on, and you got to play and pull certain strings with certain guys. And I liked tough love, and I was terrified of Bill, and he knew that, and so he would play that game with me, or he would say it to other receivers like, yo, you motherfuckers a big guy. You guys need to start doing some shit. I remember he used to say, or, you're going to get that call. Window or aisle? Give me your playbook.

So that's what you responded to was like, the fear of getting cut?

Yeah, when I was younger. And then once it changes, everyone has a different stress in the locker room. When I was a special team guy and a guy trying to make a role and learn the position, I had to make myself versatile and I had to be good at a lot of little things. I wasn't great at one thing.

Yet.

By the time you get to I establish a role, then you have a different kind of stress where you don't want to let your team down. You see another guy working his ass off right next to you blocking. You see the quarterback making the right read, getting the right play call in. Everyone's doing their job. You didn't want to be the guy that didn't do his job and so you feel disappointed. So like anytime you came off the field, know you fumbled or you had a drop or know it hurts, know you get sad.

Yeah.

You let the boys down.

Who's the AFC team? We can't figure it out. Baltimore.

I like Baltimore because the only reason I like them, their defense is fast sideline to sideline. They always seem to get better and better each year. Doesn't matter what Ravens team in December, their defense is always getting dialed up on offense. Zay Flowers, I think he's a really good little football player, man. He's had some really good production. Isaiah likely. I liked him two years ago in the preseason and I'm a huge Mark Andrews fan. I think that dude's a Manchild and that was a thing that concerned me with Lamar Jackson's playing when he plays in control and decisive and doesn't take the crazy risks, he's unstoppable and he gives the best matchup against any NFC team. If you think about that's what I think. Who could challenge the 49 ers? Because when you have an x factor like Lamar, Jackson is just a game plan killer, right? He can go take a game over, especially if Odell. When the lights are bright, you know Odell is going to come out and he's going to start balling and you already started to see it churn with him. He's getting better and better. I mean, he's coming off a knee.

He's an older guy, so I expect him to get better. I think they're a scary football team and on special teams with John Harbaugh, they take importance in all three phases of their game. And that's scary because you can win a game on special teams just like they did two weeks ago on the punt return. Yeah, that'll win you games. And when you have that, I think it's scary. And they're playing consistent football right now it is crazy.

Special teams, we ignore it and then it always feels like playoffs. That's when it shows up. Like teams that have spotty special teams, even if it's like their net punt yards or just like where they're letting teams start from. Yeah. And then all of a sudden you get to January, like, oh, that's actually really important.

Very. I mean, if you look at all the Super bowl winners, you could see their top categories. You'll notice that special teams, they're always in the top eight. That's a big part of the game. I know it's getting dwindled out with a lot of the rulemaking right now, but I remember in my career we would win like two games a year on special. Whether when we came here to Chicago and CP fucking took one, we couldn't get anything established. It was a grind game. They had a pretty good defense. We weren't getting anything going on offense, and we busted that. Our defense played well and we won the game because of that. That can win you games.

Yeah.

What about your old nemesis, Joe Flacco and the Browns?

I know.

Do you like watching Joe?

Are you at the. I do.

I mean, we came in the same know. He was an old nemesis, but I'm excited for him and how he's know because it didn't look great when he was in New York. And I talked to Chad. He's over there. Chad O'Shea with the Browns. And he mean, he could still throw it. He gives him an opportunity and it's really interesting. That team reminds you of the Baltimore team that he won a Super bowl on.

Yeah.

All Flacco's got to do is really take care of the ball, hit a couple of those deep balls, which he loves throwing. He's had some mistakes, but you expect that for a guy who just came off the know and he's played some really good football, even with those mistakes.

Well, if he can do what he did when he won a Super bowl and not have any interceptions at all in the playoffs, I could see Cleveland winning a Super bowl. If he doesn't throw a single interception.

I think it's going to be a tough road. It'll be a tough road, but they're going to be a strong team.

Yeah. Has there been. We asked Gronk this. Has Brady texted you at all being like, I'm thinking about coming back?

No.

He would text you, right?

I don't think so.

You don't think so? I'm at the gang.

You're in the media too.

Much too far out.

I think I'm out now.

Damn. Has anyone gotten mad at you for a take you've had in the media that you used to play with?

Mac Jones got mad at me.

Oh, really? What'd he say?

Yeah, I don't know. He texted me.

He was like, what the.

Nah, he texted me, like, how are you, bro?

That's perfect. And you knew you said something.

It was literally, like, right after the thing. I said it, I was like, I'm good, man. I'm taking my daughter to school right now. How are you?

Oh, you use the daughter shield? Yeah. Father of humanize yourself. Yeah.

Put food on the plate for my family right now.

How you doing?

Got to get a takeoff.

Actually, no, I'm great, man. Weather's great in LA right now. Just came off a crazy law. That was a couple of years ago, but Brady will call. He calls me a little media darling now or something.

I like that. Gronk also said that occasionally Brady would text him with just highlights of the two of them playing. Does he ever do that? Like, hey, remember how awesome this was?

He hasn't texted me highlights, but he'll text certain plays that we had if he saw a game. Because now that you're retired, we've never watched the games on tv.

He does the this could be us, but you playing.

Yeah.

Like, remember that?

Yeah.

Remember when we used to do that together?

It was more of remember that?

Yeah.

Not a this could be us.

So how's everything going? You are a media darling. Games with names back. Who's the dream guest on that?

Well, we already had you two check those dreams off.

Good pandering.

I like that.

Wait, is this the first time you've been on since you weren't on the Mount Rushmore? Was he not on the Mount Rushmore? I don't know.

No, we voted for him.

Yes, we voted for.

Yeah, we voted for you.

Hank Didmore.

Hank did not.

That was hurtful.

Fucking Hank.

But who's the dream guest? It's an awesome.

I would love to get Jordan on, or know.

I think Bill, you and Bill in, like, a big game.

I think Bill would be. I would just love to see him because I know the fucking smile he gives when he does. I've never done an impression in front of him, so I would start it like, hey, Bill, how are you doing? I want to see how you're at. So he probably like, all right, shit, I don't think.

Do you think he would want to do, like, the 28 to three game, or do you think that Bill would want to dive way back to some week seven Cleveland Browns game where he remembers the cool shit that he might.

Go back to, like a Baltimore Colt game when he was a special team coordinator, like that dude, if it's the further in the weeds he loves.

Yeah.

Or what was the game where he made time disappear? Was that against the jets? Yeah, he was on the sidelines.

Brable did it back to him.

That was a different one. There were two.

Yeah.

When he did it first and then to us in the playoffs.

Yeah.

But the first time you did it, I think, was against the jets. It was a penalty.

Yeah.

You guys took two consecutive penalties and they showed Bill on the sidelines and he just had this shit eating grin that was just, like, going across his face. And I think Adam Gase was your coach who was just, like, trapped in a vortex. Like, what the fuck is happening to me right now? That was.

No, I don't know if he would do that. He loves the Giants games. He would love talking about a Giants game or an old. I don't know. I would say whatever game he would want.

Where do you think you rank in Bill Belichick's favorites? And is there a clear Lt? Lt. Lt's number one.

Loved Lt. Yeah, he loved defensive guys.

Yeah.

Like, we used to call Devin. Devin Belichick, Mayo. He was like a little like Gerard Belichick. Love defensive guys. I don't know. I don't know. Because he's got a good poker face, bro. A lot of people don't know what he's really thinking.

If you ever got him on games with names, you should ask him, like, give me your top ten, because I feel like you should be on there. Just like your story. Scrappy. You're the perfect Belichick patriot of guy that no one wanted to draft. Like switching positions. Utility then becomes an incredible wide receiver.

I think he respects my game. I think he respects me, which is the ultimate, because he's seen a lot of players. I don't know exactly what he said, but he released a statement when I retired, which. That shit brought tears to me. Coach was like, dad.

Yeah, dad saying I love you. Yeah.

It was like the first time he said I love you.

Yeah. First time.

I've been working so hard my entire career just to hear that.

Yeah. Made it all worthwhile.

I mean, that's how it felt anytime he gave you a compliment.

Yeah. Speaking of, how's Frank doing?

Frank's the man.

Frank is still working the auto body shop.

Automotive repair.

But yeah, he's still just grinding every day.

Grinding. He's all worked up about this bill shit. Yeah, he called. Does he call into Tom Koran?

He does.

Him and Tom talk, and so he's.

Like, what the fuck's going on? Yeah.

And my dad still watches had. So we direct tv at my parents, and so he has all the Boston channels and he still watches the Boston media stuff.

Just to see if they say your name.

No, just to see. He still loves the team. He loves Belichick.

Yeah.

He loves Brady. So he's been all worked up over this whole thing. Like, they can't fucking do this to coach.

Have you tried to get him to take some time off, like, dad?

Yeah, bro. I had my parents down for Thanksgiving, and I was like, pop, can you come Tuesday? I got to come Wednesday. I got to close the shop up. We're getting out of the year, man, and getting into the year, it's tough. So he's got to close all the books. We'll get him on a vacation here soon, hopefully.

Yeah.

Where would he want to go on a vacation?

I think he said he's never been to Europe.

Okay.

All right.

He wants to go to see, like, he wants to see the island stuff, but he also wants to see the old, know, the athens and shit.

Yeah.

Parthenon.

Yeah.

I don't know.

Get him there. I got to. Yeah.

Good family trip.

There was a big story in the news this week. Made some waves. It was Richard Mendenhall.

Yeah.

Doing the hypothetical all black versus all white Pro Bowl. I drafted you onto the all white team as a defensive back because our ranks are so thin right now that I feel.

Who's the receivers?

Receivers?

Cooper.

Cooper cup and Thielen and maybe Braxton.

We got stacked tight ends.

You got over me.

Well.

Our ranks were so thin at DB that I was like, I think we have to call up Julian Edelman.

And see if he had come back, we'd be struggling.

Could you guard Tyreek Hill?

Absolutely not.

How many yards? If you were matched up against him for four quarters, let's say it was a close game. How many yards do you think he put on you?

He put a lot. But I tell you right now, I'd hold him. Every goddamn play I'd hold him at.

Yeah.

I'd use five yards, and I'm holding. That's what I would do to walker when I cover him in practice, he gets so fucking mad. Just hold him. Just hold him. Make it so bad they can't throw it to him.

I actually think the defensive back might be the hardest position to play.

Yeah.

You're doing everything backwards.

Yeah.

You're doing everything in a back.

Yeah.

Every rule change that's been put into place, every advantage is on the offense. They know where they're going. You don't know where they're going.

What's your take on this whole. The kid who got suspended, which one for the hit? Oh, the Colts.

I think it's bullshit indefinitely on that play.

It looked like anything in slow motion looks bad.

Yeah. There's not a lot we see with hockey, I think, more than we talk about with football, where you slow down the replay and you're like, look how malicious this hit was. It was the stroller to the head. And if things are happening at, like, warp speed in real time, you can't adjust your body that quickly. In that case, he was diving forward almost into the path the defensive back was going to. The defensive back knows you're not allowed to hit a guy high, so your target as a defensive player is going to be right around that midsection area, and that's where his head was going towards. I think it's just way easier to say with the benefit of slow mo. Like, that's a dirty play.

And it's also like, for some reason, offense, and there are times when it's clear the defensive player is targeting, but offensive players don't get any criticism in terms of, like, that was a reckless play on his side, too. It was like both sides. It was an unfortunate hit, but I just think indefinite. I think it should have been a penalty in the moment, but suspending is crazy.

Does he have a record?

He must.

He might.

Does he have some priors?

Yeah, the guy from Denver definitely doesn't.

That's such a bang bang play where it's like both guys are in the air going for the same spot.

I mean, if the quarterback makes a better throw, we don't have.

Right. Right.

That goes into what Brady was. If you were like, rewarding offense for lack of execution of right.

Or it's like even, like, you'll see a running back lower their head into a defendant that never gets called. They're used.

They have a helmet at times. They've been doing it more lately. I mean, you can clearly see these point of emphasis is going on right now.

Yeah. The other one, like, lining up.

So did you ever get called for lining up?

Did you line up offside in Pittsburgh?

So I was in the slot a lot, and I like to hug that line so I can get into my route quicker. And so I would always go. And I would look at my guy and I'm telling him, I'm back. And I did it on film. And sometimes you get lazy and you do it without making eye contact with them. Motherfucker called me, and I was clearly. I mean, I was close to the line of scrimmage, but I wasn't on it. And on film, I gave them. I'm off. So I have been called for something like that. But it goes into the most fundamental thing that you practice in every walk through, every fucking practice play, every seven on seven, look over to the imaginary ref, and you make eye contact with them. That's like, what we were taught, you know what I mean? So I think that's sloppy.

Yeah, that was the Mahomes rant about the refs.

I don't get mad at Mahomes, either.

No, it was right after the game, and I also watched it being like, what he's really mad about here is that they're not executing like they're not making the little things that you have to do to win football.

You make when you make hardwood floors. I heard Belichick say this to us once, okay? He goes, it's like making floors. You got to go and you got to hammer down each nail and you check. You double check all those nails, because you may miss one and you may not see it, but three months down the road, when you stub your fucking toe on it, you'll realize you should have checked again. It's like that, just getting sloppy execution. These little things that you're not doing in practice, these little things that are coming up, that's probably because they haven't been practicing it right.

Yeah. No, it's true.

Every house you're sneaking out of, make sure that there's not a ring doorbell, camera might catch you shirtless.

Yeah, he looked good.

I really wish he had ripped a fart, though.

You know what I'm going to rip? I'm going to ask him about it.

Yeah.

I'm going to go up there and I'm going to say, hey, coach, you know that deep breath that you took to gather yourself? That's what I used to do every time I had to step in your office.

I thought he looked good in the video.

Yeah, I thought he looked strong and powerful.

Yeah, Moses got him going, right? That's the strength coach over. He's still on the bar.

Speaking of which, there's some people talking. Haven't seen a lot of shirtless pics of you recently. Are you getting soft?

I'm not soft. I'm still cut.

Prove it.

I'm not doing it right now.

Prove it.

I got something.

Prove it.

Gronk said he didn't have it like that anymore.

You want to do a football drill like that? Father's Day. We'll stand in front of you. Or stand behind you. Classic Father's Day. Shirtless.

I'm sweating still from the goddamn shoot thing.

Yeah, listen, people are saying, like, hey, where's the thirst traps? Barrios is taking over your know, I.

Got a kid now. It's tougher when you're around her. Know, when I was playing, I only have her for a week at a time. So then when you have her in your schedule all the time. I can't just be. Can't be just thirsty.

Yeah.

Can't be working out as much. That's what I heard. I heard that you weren't really going to the gym.

Yeah, I heard you've gotten soft.

No.

You sure?

Yes.

Okay. Because that can happen to any podcast.

They're calling you Julian Fettleman because you were eating so much.

Fettleman.

Yeah.

I do like to eat, though. Yeah, we can tell Al's.

We can tell. Oh, you went to Al's beef.

Yeah.

Hell, yeah. Pretty good. Yeah. I just don't want to see you get soft, because, like I said, podcasting can get you soft. Can it? That little punch. We basically are like the evolution chart. Man walking, upright. Podcasters go in reverse. We just eventually are going to just be on all fours. That's true. Yeah. Chairs all day.

That'd be great.

I did do one. Remember when I threw up my back? That's true. You guys came over and I was laying down for it.

Evolution of man. Upright. Upright, upright. And then the one at the end is just a guy, like, with a podcast microphone.

Yeah. Just being like, women should have more sex with men. Yeah. No, the opposite.

Fellas, stop having sex with women. Make them earn it.

Yeah.

Why are you, as a man, having sex with a woman?

The gayest thing you could do is have sex with a girlfriend.

Would you agree?

I don't think so. Podcast clips that come out every now and then are just like, what is happening? Yeah.

Why are you, as a man, debasing yourself and acting feminine along with a woman in order to get a female's approval? You're disrespecting yourself.

I don't see that content.

Really?

My algorithm is.

You've got a good content. Yeah, it's a good algorithm.

Do you see any deaths? I see deaths every day. On Twitter?

No. I see a lot of fights.

Yeah.

I always get trapped in. Like, I get sad when I see a bad fight.

I know.

It's like, oh, no.

The situation. Watch out, it's coming.

Not even that, though. What if you're that guy and you're fighting someone, he hits you, then it flips a switch where you can't stop, and you have to beat him up.

Yeah. Do you still have that switch?

Do you still have that.

Know when you're born with it. Don't go away, boys.

You sure?

How do you release the dog? You have to have an outlet box.

Rough and rowdy.

Not like that.

No. But would you.

No, absolutely.

You wouldn't be interested.

You versus Welker.

You versus Max.

No.

Rough and rowdy.

I don't need any hits to the know. I like to train it. I go to Churchill out in Santa Monica. It's a pretty dope spot.

Okay. Just rough and rowdy. Max says. The one thing about Max, he says.

That he could beat fuck out of you. Is he a boxer?

No, he's just a big dude. No, he's got big, meaty clankers, too.

No, it would be bad news for me.

It would be very bad.

I would be gassed within the 10 seconds.

Yeah, you'd be fucked. All right, big guys, you got to.

Get in and out.

Yeah. Super bowl pick. Is it Ravens Niners?

I think it's Raven Niners.

Are you going to the Super bowl? Whole week. You got to hang out.

Yeah, we're doing games with names there at the win.

Who you guys got on?

I don't know. Who do we have? I think maybe Mark Wahlberg.

Oh, that'll be good. You doing 911?

If there's one thing you could change about this day, Mark, what would it be? I would have been there.

Games with names. Mark Wahlberg on the plane.

I would have been on that flight.

He had that quote.

What'd he say?

He said things would have been different.

If he was on it.

Yeah.

You're taking care of it.

Things would have been different.

Would you guys ever play that situation? What would you have done?

I don't know. I don't want to say.

Yeah, I think I'd just try to trip someone running down the aisle, and then if that doesn't work. Well, I tried.

I think I'd probably just cry.

Yeah.

Probably a lot of tears. What do you think about the Sean McDermott thing where apparently in the preseason he motivates guys?

Yeah, I heard about.

Because, like, football coaches talk about just crazy shit. All the time in locker room to get guys motivated. What's the craziest thing that a coach has ever tried to use as, like, a motivational tool for you?

Nothing along that line. I don't know. Sometimes nothing like that. We used to get these tip sheets on Saturdays from Chad O'Shea, where it have the call sheet of all our plays. We'd have all our run game block assignments, like printouts of how it looks on film. You know what I mean? Just so you can go over it and study before. And on the last page, you'd have some kind of saying or some old history, knowledge of the team we were playing, know Braveheart quote or something. Nothing crazy. Yeah, but it's like, I don't remember anything. I mean, it's happened where you're like, where's he going here with.

Yeah, the McDermott story was like, that's bad. But also, football guys just. They kind of take it too far sometimes.

Yeah, but usually football guys are pro military, and I make that, like, why wouldn't we talk about the Navy Seals that took out Osama? Yeah, why couldn't we do that?

If he had just done zero dark 300, dark would have been perfect.

Zero dark 30.

That's so true. Those guys are badasses. Yeah, he just got lost. He got lost a little bit.

He tried, I guess.

He tried. Yeah. You've said he tried. Raped.

The last guy would have been pissed, though. Yeah, I would have been like, what the fuck is he talking.

Wait, hold on a second. Those are the bad guys.

And I'm sure that is definitely a story where it's clearly out. One of the players. Someone said it, but that's when you go to the locker room after team meet, and you're like, what the fuck was he talking?

Things are bad. Is coach okay?

You just did Mark Wahlberg for that hype up speech. You were like, if I were there, I would have spoken.

I would.

That would have ended differently.

No, I said I would have. Probably, in the locker room would have been talking to, like, McCordy or Nikovich. Like, what the fuck was he talking about there?

Was it will Compton that told us about a coach that he had that was, like, talked about being in the military. He served in Afghanistan or Iraq, and he was like, you got to shoot whatever's in front of you over there.

Safety's off.

Safety's off. If it's a child, if it's a woman, if it's a man, dog. A dog doesn't matter. You got to kill it. And that was a pump up speech. And will Compton's like, wait, what child?

Yeah, wait, we're killing dogs. Safety is off.

You could definitely go over the line.

Yeah. All right, I got one last question. Rowback question. Rho back promo code. Take 20% off your first purchase. Qzips, polos, hoodies, joggers, shorts. Everythingroback.com. The most important question. How do we talk about Brock Purdy? Is he the MVP?

I mean, right now he probably that. The MVP is always a quarterback, right? Offensive player of the year is always someone else.

But it's very interesting. It's Brock Purdy. It feels like there's a lot of people online who, like, I don't want to say nerds, but maybe nerds who are like, oh, it's just the system and all this stuff. And then you see a lot of guys who played the game who are like, no, he's like, the way he's throwing with isn't. Yes. Of course. If you put Patrick from homes on the Niners, he would look great. But you have to give credit to what Brock Purdy.

This whole game manager thing, people don't realize. It's more like a game operator. Being able to go in and communicate, personnel, group play, call, check out play, give. Like being on the same page with each guy in the huddle, being able to do that and execute at the level he's doing is very impressive. Yeah, I mean, he's got too many situational throws where he's throwing a third and eight, third and 13, an in cut anticipation. There's too many of those throws to say he's not good. We've seen this system with Jimmy. We've seen this system with Trey Lance. It looked nothing like it.

Right.

The same players. So you got to start talking and putting some respect behind his name because he's playing good football. He looks like he's always in control. He doesn't ever look flustered. I'm really impressed of how he's playing, and I hope to see him continue to succeed. It's a great story, and he's continuing making this a bigger and bigger narrative on it. And the more we talk about it, it's. The better he's doing.

Yeah.

It's not unlike the start of Tom Brady's career. That's all I'm going to say. Not saying he is Tom Brady, but if we were to flash back and probably more productive.

Yeah.

If we were to flash back in time, 2001, 2002, and we look at what we were saying about Tom Brady then and how he was playing compared to Brock Purdy right now. Yeah. Late draft pick. Late draft pick comes in, no expectation. Got a great defense. He's relying on that right off the bat. It's the start. I don't know what the finish is going to be, but it's the start.

He's having a phenomenal start to his career and you hope he stays healthy and you hope that he continues to keep the mindset that he has right now because I've met him, we went and did an event at the Super bowl last year and you could just tell he's got a good head on his shoulders and you have to when you're the face of a team I love, Christian McCaffrey is a dog. Everyone on that team is a dog. But the face of that team is a know. We saw what it was when they didn't have the quarterback position going and you see what it is when they have Brock Purdy playing. So, you know, that's the league we play in and he's balling out and I'm excited to see what he does in these playoffs.

Yeah.

This trick question. The answer was Trent Williams, actually, monster. Wouldn't that be just cool if they gave the MVP to an offensive lineman one year?

Yeah, I would.

What would you have to do as an offense alignment?

I don't know. Pancakes.

You'd probably have to catch a couple touchdown passes, like maybe three or four.

The tackle eligible.

Yeah.

It's too vain of a world.

The year that JJ Watt.

Vain of a world.

I agree. It's society.

The year that JJ Watt had all those, like, he had touchdowns and a pick, six and 20 sacks. That was like the last time. It was like, oh, someone not named.

A quarterback could probably didn't lt get an MVP.

I think he did.

Yeah, he was pretty.

But wide receivers. Never won MVP.

Never.

Never.

I mean, Tyreek Hills, right? He's having a hell of a year. AJ Brown's having a hell of a year.

Last non quarterback, I think was Adrian Peterson in 2012. I want to say.

Yeah, I think.

But, yeah, it'd be cool to see.

The running backs get it, though. If they gave it to Christian just because of the whole before the season stuff that was going on. That'd be cool.

I'm looking right.

But it also could be one of those things where the league gives it to the running back just to kind of shut them up.

Well, I think we might reach a point where we have Brock and Christian splitting each other's votes. Somebody that wants to vote for the best player on the 49 ers. They're not all going to focus their attention on the same guy. So those guys might get split up and then who knows what happens after that.

Yeah.

Mars having a goddamn good year, too.

Yeah. The 90s had a lot more running backs. Yeah. Lawrence Taylor won 1986 MVP. You're right. Yeah. Terrell Davis, Marshall Falk, Emmett Smith.

Barry Falk was really good.

Yeah.

I love watching him play.

And then. Yeah. It hasn't been since Adrian Peterson. There was Sean Alexander and Ladanian Tomlinson in 2006. That year was.

So Alexander got paid after that and he was on the COVID of Madden.

Tomlinson. I had him on my fantasy team in 2006. That was the last time I was good at fantasy. It was awesome. He would just. He would literally score every 25 touchdowns and he would throw them, too. It was just every week just be like, oh, that's 40 points.

That'll be interesting. San Diego.

Yeah. La Harbaugh. Maybe I want him in Chicago, but I feel like Harbaugh, that might be maybe Belichick. Belichick.

Where would you prefer to see Belichick?

I would love him on the chargers.

Yeah. Because you could go to practice.

I would go to practice.

Would you ever coach?

Hell no.

Really?

Dude, when I was playing, you go in, you put 13 hours in and you're leaving work and it's dark and you're watching the coaches see their family in the parking lot for fucking 45 minutes before they have to go to a fucking night meeting. Hell no.

Yeah.

Those guys love football.

Gunsoft, how many minutes of PMT do you think Tom Brady's heard through you?

The social clips count.

Yeah, maybe. Yeah, sure.

Probably like 15.

Okay, that works. That works. That's fine.

Probably 15.

Yeah. Like you, Blake Griffin, these are the guys that we know. You got some other guys into it, which we appreciate huge for us.

Fun.

We have fun with Paul.

Now, what if Bill said like, Jules, I need you. I need you bad. Jules, I need you bad.

We're taking.

Receivers suck.

They have a dog we need to learn.

I need you to be chief dog. Yeah. I need a dog transplant in the locker room.

He gets Julian Edelman and, I don't know, Caesar Milan to go in there.

Yeah, we need. Sir, I don't know.

He needs you, Julian.

We need you to put dog into every one of these guys.

Coach needed me, maybe I'd go.

Yeah. Especially if it was.

Hell no, I'm not going to.

No. If it was a top secret dog mission.

No. But I told Brady if and when or when he becomes the coach or the owner of the Raiders or whatever, a piece of it. I told him he could pay me a couple million bucks and I'd work out the talent in LA three, four or five times a year.

It's a good. Carve something out for us.

I don't know. Let me get my.

Maybe we just interview, like, potential guys and we'll do the dog testing.

The dog test is just a look in the eye.

Okay? Do we have it?

I can't see your eyes, so maybe don't take them off.

You're afraid.

Do I have some dog?

You got puppy?

Okay, that's fine. Where the puppies grow into dogs. Yeah, I got dog.

Could you teach us how to run routes and have us look like.

No, it's not teachable.

It's fine. I take pride in my blocking. I'm more of a blocking.

It's like speed. Can't teach it.

I got some great slow twitch muscles. I do.

How does that work?

It's just whatever you teach me, I would just do it slower than you ever expected, which is almost as effective.

As being, you know what?

Smooth, though, because I was watching you out there.

Smooth.

And that's what I remember when I was doing. I was young and I had a coach. He goes, I was trying to go through the bags too fast, and I clipped a couple things or something. He goes, slow is smooth and smooth is fast.

Yeah. Is that Mr. Miyagi?

No, that was just what I would say that you look like when you're.

Yeah, I don't have any wiggle. Wiggle is so important. No, you had so much wiggle.

A lot of wig.

I love being able to decipher that. When you see, like, a slot, a white slot receiver, he has no wiggle. And you're like, nah, can't make it. He can't make it. He doesn't have the wiggle.

No, you got to have wiggle.

You got to have the wiggle.

Oh, my favorite route that you used to run would be when you go, you do, like, a half fake to the inside. Actually, I think you'd set up, like, half step fake to the outside, two step fake to the inside, and then go back out to the outside. Along that same line. Did you ever think about doing, like, adding one more fake in there and doing, like, three fakes and then coming back to the inside?

You tried in practice. Yeah, but I know exactly what you're talking about. Welker used to do that a lot. You're playing with people's leverages and you get an outside technique. Sometimes I'd bring it out and go in because they're thinking in cut, if you give a jab release, then you go out in, go up, and then slap them out and get out. You're trying to gain leverage, so you're doing anything you can to gain that leverage. So it's tough because if you don't get them, you're stuck and you're not getting the ball. But once you get the feel of it, that's when you see a really good route runner. And you see, Wes Welker was really good at getting guys to flip their hips in such a short span of time in the slot. So you try to mess with those stems, wiggle.

Last, last question. Who's the best route runner in the game right now?

Yeah, best route runner in the game.

It's a tough question. It is. Cooper cop.

Cooper is very good. When I went and interviewed him, I was watching all know you watch the game, but when you watch all of his know, he can run a lot of know. The guys that run more like the bigger route trees. Not a guy that could just run a go or come back. The guys that can run, go, come back in, know out, slant fast. The bigger your tree is, the better. You mean Jamar Chase has really good routes?

Justin Jefferson has, like, Justin Jefferson.

So Diggs has really good routes.

Yeah. And I feel like those guys are so skilled, they don't get the credit.

No.

For being route runners. Because usually when you're like, oh, he's a great route runner, it's like, oh, well, maybe he doesn't have everything else. No, but those, like, Justin Jefferson, he changes direction without ever breaking speed or stride or you got to look at.

The tops of routes when you see how they cut out of the top of a route. And when they come flat to downhill and stuff, like guys, that they'll break an in cut and they'll drift up field. That's a terrible route. That's why you get undercut picks. You're basically coming flat to downhill. When you see that in a route runner, then you know that he knows.

Yeah.

Route running, it's very good right now, just because there's so much film, guys are learning quicker at a younger age. They're practicing their releases and they're putting these tools on their belt. At such a younger age, I did releases instinctively. They have, like, five different releases and know how to use. And so there's a lot of good stuff right now.

Yeah, well, Jules, you're the best. You're welcome back anytime. I was telling Sam we have open podcast studios. You ever need to do a games with names in Chicago, I need to have you come back.

Maybe I get Jordan.

Yeah, that'd be good. Yeah, I'd say that would be a good.

Yeah. Yeah. That we'd get so cooked.

I would be so mad.

Jordan came into our office and did another podcast.

I'd be furious.

I would be happy for you as a friend.

I wouldn't.

I'd slash your tires. I'd slash your tires while you were.

In the studio or actually go to a satellite.

I think you could do it in the studio, but you would just have to release a podcast on the part of my take feed deal.

Let me get back to you with that.

It'd be good promotion, but, yes, you.

Got to come back because we love having you around. We missed you. It's been too long.

It has. We got to see each other. When I lived in New York.

I know, but now you're not in New York either.

I know, but you're not either.

We got to make a trip to LA. Yeah, we've been talking about it. Have you? Yeah, we've done it a couple of times. We've been talking maybe, like sometime after March madness, do like, a week in LA, bank a bunch of interviews. Yeah. So maybe we'll do that.

Definitely.

Show us around. Take our shirts off, run some routes.

I mean, standard. Yeah, 75 and sunny right now.

Standard is the standard. Yeah, but that earthquake is coming.

It always is.

It always is.

Taxes.

That's all I can say. Yeah.

None of those in Chicago.

Yeah. Is there no Chicago tax?

No state income tax?

Not the same as California.

There's no state income tax?

No.

I'm just fucked.

California is like 8% fuck out of you. I forget five. Yeah. California is what, like 13 eight?

Yeah, 13 eight.

Yeah. You got to wear a mask still. Fuck that.

I mean, it is weird out there.

All right, thank you, Jules. All right, guys.

Jules was brought to you by Chevy. There's a new family with unstoppable grit, and they are the official partners of the part of my take family. And that is the Chevy Silverado Zr two family. The first ever Silverado heavy duty Zr two joins the franchise to make Chevy Zr two the only truck brand with a full lineup of trucks ready for wherever your offroad adventures might take you. I am a Chevy owner. I went to a Chevy dealership. I purchased a brand new Chevy with my own money. I spent my money on Chevy because I know that they're a great brand. They make a great car. I love Chevy. You're going to love them, too. With this first ever Silverado heavy duty Zr two. You get multimatic DSSV dampers, rugged mud terrain tires, and up to 14 available camera views. The Chevy Silverado Zr two and Silverado HDZR two, a family with commanding and unstoppable grit. Head to Chevy.com. Check out Chevy Silverado and the family of Chevy Zr two s. The official truck of. Pardon my take.

Okay, fire fest. Let's do it.

Henry, this is kind of like it's a mystery fire fest. I don't know if it's a fire fest yet or not.

Mystery fire fest.

Oh, we're going to decide.

No, it's to be determined. We had the event last night at River north, the talent show. And then we went out afterwards. Shane, me, Max, Evan, a bunch of the guys. Played some pool, had some cores, lights, had a good time, got a little wasted, and then I went home and packed.

Oh, you don't know what's in your bag.

I should open it live on the show.

You got to keep that briefcase shut.

Yeah.

Did you pack, like, a James Winston type thing?

No.

I mean, it's packed, but.

Where are you going? San Diego.

I'm going to Massachusetts and New Orleans.

So that's a double climate pack. Yeah. Wow.

You should wait until you get home and do, like, an unboxing of your own clothes that you packed.

Yeah.

So I don't know. I really don't know.

Are you doing New Year's in New Orleans?

I'm coming back New Year's Eve night.

Got it.

So we have to work.

That would be New Year's Eve?

Yeah. New Year's Eve.

Yeah.

Well, like, day night. I don't know.

Well, yeah, it's New Year's Eve, so.

I'll be here New Year's Eve. I will be in New Orleans, though. I'm excited. Billy. Strings, concert, friends, golf.

Hell, yeah.

Sounds great. I've been to New Orleans for work. I've never really just been for fun.

We had a lot of fun when.

We went to New Orleans.

True.

Not only that, but the final four. Coach K. That one, yes. The fucking national championship was awful.

No, the national championship interviews party.

That was the best night ever. And one of those interviews, we were blind drunk. Actually, two of them. We were blind drunk in them.

We've had a lot of fun in New Orleans.

Also, when you talk about, like, going to New Orleans for work, when we went there for the final four. Our job was to just go watch basketball games and then come back and be like, yo, that game was awesome.

Any chicken fingers?

Yeah, that was it.

Grinding.

Grinding.

Yeah.

Senior vice president.

Yeah. Are you?

Yeah, I did. I did do. It's part of his bit last performed last night. Pft. Kind of spoiled it. Tweeted out my routine should be illegal.

Oh, you never can do that, comedian. You can never burn their material.

I didn't. I tweeted out just the very first part of it I sent Hank, and then I entirely. The only part I tweeted out was Hank saying, pft commenters, here, give it up for PFT commenter. He donates $3 million to charity. That's the part that I tweeted out.

Oh, that's a good joke.

Yeah, it's a great joke. I loved it.

What's the funny part about that?

I'm not going to get into it because I know I'm trying to save it. I don't have a lot of material.

I didn't tweet out the punchline. And your reason for saying that?

I tweeted, too. I apologize.

No, I think yours was appropriate, Jake.

I cut it off after. My name is Henry Lockwood.

Yeah.

And I'm going to be doing this.

No, I didn't realize I had to pass out those little cases for your.

Yeah, yeah. We got to do that.

But I did six minutes. It was kind of a train wreck, so it's going to be a long January.

I thought it was awesome.

Thank you, Jake.

Well, that's not good unless you beat me.

Jake's saying it's awesome. It's not good.

I am a big procrastinator. I can't even consider. We'll see after this weekend, I guess. But I can't consider beating you because then I just won't work on anything. So I have to just pretend like it's over.

That's smart.

Yeah, it is smart.

That's really smart. Okay. Pft.

My fire fest of the week. I'm shaving my mustache. No, shaving it before because my mom's just going to look at it. My mom's just going to be like, what are you doing? What are you doing? Pft. I raised you better than this.

No, man. No commenters finally coming in.

I agree. I think it looks awesome right now. I've gotten so many compliments on it.

What about. Go ahead, Max. I wasn't going to say anything, but.

I was looking at what?

Sideburns.

At the sideburns. Sideburns.

I don't know what Max is thinking.

I've had side up on your sideburns. I've had sideburns.

I've had sideburns for 15 years.

But you specifically shaved them to look like sideburns.

You know, I'm going to shave them into even finer of a point just for you.

Do you know what? There's nothing worse than a new insecurity unlocked.

I'm impervious to your sideburn slander. That doesn't faze me at all. But the mustache leaving, it's going to be the end of an era, sadly.

Call me feeble knees when we do the golf streams. It's in my head.

Do you guys have those moments where you're like, new insecurity unlocked? I remember in college once, a girl was like, your eyebrows are too big. And I was like, okay, I never thought of it. And now I'll think about it every day for the rest of my life.

I've had a couple of those. There was a person that used to just tease me for having red hair a lot. And I was like, my hair is not red.

New insecurity on.

She was like, you're a ginger. Then for a while, I thought I was a ginger.

Yeah. Shax's meaty clackers.

That's not insecurity.

I see.

That's a security.

Yeah, that's just facts.

It's ball security, baby.

Yeah.

So in the Venera, shaving the mustache off, sideburns will stay boo, as they always maybe. You know what? I'll put up to a poll. Put up to a poll. I'll let the people decide.

Also, my vote counting ten.

Okay, deal. My other fire Fest was that Megan making money ate my lunch yesterday.

Yeah.

And I was very much looking forward to my lunch. I'd been podcasting for, like, four and a half hours, doing a long episode of macro dosing.

Oh, I thought it was when she crossed you up on the court.

No, she could never put the clamps on her. I ordered a greek lunch.

Literally ate your lunch.

I ordered a greek lunch, and I was very much looking forward to it, because, again, it had been sitting there for about hour and a half, and I was hungry. By the time we were done podcasting and I got out and the lunch was gone, Megan came and found me. She said, pft, I'm so sorry, I accidentally ate your lunch. And you know what? I was like, I guess that's okay, because she also ordered a greek lunch.

Yeah.

She was like, I got mixed up. I saw what you ordered. I thought it was my lunch, so I ate that. I'm very sorry. I was like, oh, that's fine. I'll just eat your lunch. Then she goes, well, I also ate my own lunch. She double dipped on lunch.

Wow.

I feel like in that circumstance, you offer your lunch to the person, and then if they don't take that, then you order them.

You should have made her baby bird her lunch.

Well, I heard she was, like, passing around. She was like, oh, the sandwich I got is really good. Everyone take a bite.

Oh, no. So everyone ate your lunch?

I got my lunch eaten by everyone.

Damn.

This is for the team.

Damn, that stinks. So my terms are clear. I just need to hang out with her husband Raul, for a night, and then we're back.

Even. Yeah.

So I get one night with Raul, and then it's water under the bridge. Progressive shout out to Mr. Making money is the best.

Doesn't eat on LSU game days.

I like that.

Notice he said nothing about drinking. I said, doesn't eat. Yep. I've been around him a couple LSU game days, and you can tell he's a guy who was not eating that day.

You know, he was the absolute best at darts. At darts day, he was the dart father.

Oh, yeah.

He's the best.

Yes, Mr. Megan money. All right, my fire fest is I lost my voice again this week. Apologies to everyone. I feel very bad. Fuck you. To the couple people who are like, dude, no one wants to listen. It's like, yeah, I don't want to listen to myself. Sucks.

You sound mature.

I went to sleep very early every single night. The problem is, our job is to talk. So I was actually almost all the way back on Tuesday, and then Wednesday, I had, like, five shows in a row. But, yeah, I do actually care. I'm not trying to lose my voice. Happens once a year. Thought we were going to get through this football season without it, but here we are. So I apologize again. We're going to rest up. The break comes at a perfect time.

You got to start doing throat exercises.

I do. I have these drops. I've been doing everything. I've been chugging like robitussin at night.

Raw milk.

Raw milk. Everyone said honey. Everything. I've been gargling. Salt water. Literally everything. So apologies again, Jake.

I wasted my time going ax throwing last week. I waited in line for 20 minutes. It was three throws for $15, and I missed the thing all three times. I'm not strong enough.

Yeah, ax throwing is one of those. I've done it it's hard. Well, one of those perfect schemes that looks great on Instagram. Yeah. And then you get there, and you're.

Like, okay, three throws.

I want to know.

I want to know. Who decided that ax throwing was going to be everywhere? It seems like it just happened. It's like pickleball.

It is.

The pickleball is taking over the world.

That's what the ax throwing people say about ax throwing. But I feel like it's probably like some big venture capital firm that got together with other rich people, and they're like, you know what America's going to have in every single town? A fucking ax throwing range.

It is.

They're like, that's a great. It sounds like the thoughts of a group of really coked up guys that got together, and they're like, you know, even if I hit a no.

When you look at Instagram, people doing it know ax throwing. It looks fun. It's like, oh, all your friends together. I did it. I literally did it with all my friends once, and it was just like.

Okay, everyone's trying to find the next bowling.

Yeah.

Bowling can just be bowling.

Bowling is the best.

Bowling is the next would like.

By the way, we're running back the bowling challenge for Mount Rushmore next year.

I would love to live inside spring, where you just, like, everything reminds you of a company that you should sponsor.

Yeah. Shout out to awl, by the way, who used our bowling challenge for punishment, so smart. Awesome. Yeah, that looked like a good time. That's one of our best punishments.

I think he did five for beer and ten for hot dogs.

That was definitely a fun one, so we're going to run that back next summer.

Will Levis did not practice today.

Yeah, I think it might be Malik Willis, which would be a bummer. Bummer.

Give us Tannehill if it's Willis.

I don't do game of the years anymore, but nuclear missile numbers.

4018. Should we do two for the holidays?

2071. Three.

It's the holidays.

No, but we'll tape the next two right after this. Okay. Yeah. All right. 71, 28. Pug.

Pugs, a pool shark.

Pugs, a weapon on the pool table.

74, 74. All right, we'll see you guys on Tuesday.

Love you guys.

Talking away.

Today's another day to finally shine away.

I'll be coming for your.

Love you.

Love us. Take me out all day.

Jim Gaffigan here with some more straight talk. Now you can get a Walmart plus.

Membership, plus not pay for it because.

It'S included with straight talk wireless plans. You get free delivery with Walmart plus.

Plus a Paramount plus subscription included. Plus you pay less for gas. That's a lot of pluses. Only straight talk gives you unlimited 5G data and Walmart plus included on select plans for free.

Straight talk wireless available at Walmart.

Require service on gold or platinum Unlimited.

One offer per eligible account.

Paramount plus essential plan only.

Separate registration required.

Additional terms apply.