I held this podcast an extra six hours because I thought maybe something special would happen on the Patriots game tonight. I thought that maybe they would preserve their playoff chances that the old Belichick magic would be back, that he would prove that he owned Sean McVay, that Damien Harris would for 200 yards as fired up for this game. Well, the Patriots got killed and they have a quarterback. They can't throw the ball 10 yards. So there you go. And the season great run.

I love being in the playoffs every year. It's not going to happen anymore. Oh, well, coming up, Jon Hamm talking movies and sports. Peter Schrager is going to talk football with me. It is all next. We're also brought to you by the Ringer podcast network, where I popped on a bunch of Ringer podcasts this week, not just this one, I did the watchbox. We did the program. Mean Russell and Brant. I did a new book, a basketball podcast about Rick Barry.

Malcolm Gladwell and Tony Kornheiser were on that one. I went on 60 songs that explained the 90s. Rob Harvill, his music podcast that he does for The Ringer exclusively on Spotify. We talked about the Smashing Pumpkins song Mannis. So that happened. I went to the mismatch with Kevin O'Connor and Chris Vernon. We talked about James Harden and where he might be going and what this means for the NBA, all that stuff. And then Dave Jacoby and I, we premiered our challenge recaps on the Ringer Dish, a podcast which I hope you're subscribing to every Wednesday night.

Right after MTV's Challenge ends, we put up a recap. We taped it in advance. They sent us to screeners. We keep it hush hush, do the pod. The challenge ends. I think it ends at nine thirty Eastern Time and then we throw that podcast up on ringroad dish that will be happening for the next, I don't know, four plus months. Oh, I did another podcast too. Malik Ruben talked about a teacher. The series we did that for the TV concierge's podcast was like twenty five minutes so yeah a lot of stuff this week.

A little too much, probably a little bit overload. So something for everybody. TV, music, movies, sports, NBA had it all tried to spread myself out. Coming up, Jon Hamm, Peter Schrager, first our friends from Project.

All right, Jon Hamm is here celebrating the 10 year anniversary of when he let Affleck get away in the town. God knows what that dude's doing in Florida. What kind of robberies is planning? What if he just, like, chilling?

What if he's like he became like an old dude? He's like, I don't know. He's wearing some Bermuda shorts. He's got a fun hat. He's got like a tiny grapefruit orchard in it.

I think feeling it, I think that's what they wanted us to think at the end, that the the cop shootings and the bank robbers are behind him. Now, he just wanted to coach the Little League team in Florida.

He got it out of his system. He's got a he's got a strong, you know, a lot of luck, a lot of Cuban-American immigrants that are of questionable age. And he's he's got a strong Little League team there.

I'll catch you during a zom junket and Zoome junket in the old days.

Do you have a new you have new movie out called Wild Mountain Time? In the old days, you had been flying around Utah. Then the thing you did in the New York thing, we're doing a walk and talk.

We're doing like you do a Walkie-Talkie, but you get to you get to promote the movie from your own house. Just stand out there and do a bunch of interviews.

I'm in sweatpants. I mean, I get to drink coffee. I'm like, this is my dog is fully asleep on his little dog bed. You know, it's it's it's all of the getting up early in the morning. And none of us like having to put on a suit and wear hair and makeup and do all the nonsense in some weird room, in some weird hotel that you just want to not be in.

Since the last time we talked, a lot of stuff has happened in sports, including me getting voted out of our fantasy league. So I didn't even get to see you this year for the draft. I know you were delighted to see me vote it out. You got voted out, I think, like five, six years ago. It wasn't that long ago, something like that. You showed up late. We were waiting for you. You arrived, you ordered a beer, you sat down and within three minutes it was over.

This one was weird because we had the pandemic.

I just kind of got voted out on an email and that was it. I didn't even feel like I got the money out of it.

But now you say like you say, I was late. Like, I was like being irresponsible. I was late because I was coming from shooting Mad Men, so I was rushing down Sunset Boulevard. I took right downtown. I'm like, got to be like I'm perennially on time. I'm like a crazy, punctual person. And like I so I'm rushing to make the thing. And we're in some weird place on sunset upstairs and some private room wasn't even a private room.

It was like an upstairs like non used to space and yeah, it's like a Budweiser and they're like, you're out there we go, put it all the way. And it was unbelievable.

I was so bad. I was you put it out here, but the hell yeah. So I'm out so that we don't get the whole fantasy thing. But I, I started my I started a keeper league. Now I'm coming back next year. I claimed I was quitting, but I'm not.

I'm coming. I know you you're you're you're Al Pacino. Every time you see you're out that pulls you back in. I, I'm in way too many leagues this year like my friend from us. It's cause a pandemic everyone wanted to be and wanted to do something. Yeah. The NFL actually had a version of a season was like, OK, I guess we're doing this. Although, you know, it's, it's funny when when they they're like, oh, the Broncos don't have any quarterbacks.

Tough shit you're playing anyway. And they're like, oh, Lamar Jackson, let's move that game. We're going to need to move that game a couple of times. Yeah.

They can't decide whether to be punitive or helpful. It really depends on the situation, how people got.

I think it depends on your record, honestly. Like, if you're if you're ten, no. Then you get a little leeway. And if you have the former MVP, then you get a little leeway. And if you're the Broncos side.

Ah, yeah. The Broncos thing that felt like a movie.

You imagine can you imagine being whoever the guy was like starting at the at quarterback at the NFL, having taken exactly zero snaps ever. It's like it's the worst version of Rooney, right, where you're just or paper lion like. Right. It's like they might as well put George Plimpton in there. Like it was just there's just no version of that where that's successful. No, there is a version.

It would have been a sports movie where everything could be successful in a sports movie. He comes in. He's probably some baggage in the back for sure. I think he's got some skeletons in the closet. He's hoping never comes out, but he has a successful game. Then the backlash and then he has to get through it.

And there's the woman who believed the whole time. Yes, somebody read it.

But in reality, the guy goes one four twenty six and gets head torn off like, yeah, that's what the real version of that is.

So you eat. Last time you were on, we talked about this, but we can go over. Quickly, because things have changed, you were in St. Louis, Guy. Yes, that has changed. The Rams come back and then the Rams leave and they come to L.A. and then you're kind of nomad. And then the chiefs, when you kind of glommed on to the Chiefs thing a little bit, I saw what you were doing.

It's it's still a Missouri team. I have every right to jump onto that bandwagon. I that's not like me all of a sudden becoming a Lions fan. Right. So, yeah. I mean, I remember I said this exact phrase to Roger Goodell at some Super Bowl a couple of years ago. I was like, you know, you've successfully taken two franchises from my hometown. What are we going to do about this?

And he kind of laughed and patted me on the back and got in the limo was exactly the right response is like, I love Mad Man.

Great job, great job on the show. Yeah. I think the Missouri thing, I don't know, I, I know you have some Kansas City friends. They were OK with it.

They were OK with welcome you to the bandwagon like, you know, I mean there's there's there's very few options. I'm not going to be a Bears fan. Yeah. Then the other I guess closest team would be like Tennessee. So you do want to go? You don't want to go to L.A., you didn't want to follow them to L.A. where where you live. The thing about the thing about the Rams is I grew up in the 70s, were about the same age.

I'm assuming like they were always the L.A. Rams to me, even when they were St. Louis Rams. Like, I don't know. I still think of the of the Colts as the Baltimore Colts. I don't know. Like, I'm just that's my era. You know, I was a Cardinal fan way longer than they stayed in St. Louis. I wanted it for them in Arizona. And that was that franchise has had it rough. But when they went to the Super Bowl, I was super happy.

You know, they almost won. And that was such a good Super Bowl when they almost came back. I think we were excited chemicals, didn't we?

Yeah. The state swing back against against Pittsburgh. Right. It was a great one.

The St. Louis cards had a nice little run there in the 70s. Yeah, it is weird how people think the Rams left St. Louis, but then you had another team that has to be at least tied.

For the record, it's good to see who else out of that New York maybe. I don't know.

Yeah, that's so. So they welcomed you and were you with were you in the Paul Rudd suite when the chips went and everybody was crying at Saddat?

Emotional.

He was well, he was there with his fifteen year old son. And, you know, it's like the first time you win any championship. I was eleven twelve when the Cardinals won the eighty two World Series, which was my first time seeing any team I care about win a championship. And yeah, just like you don't know what to do, you know when you're, when you're that young, you're crazy. And he was so emotional. Both Paul and his son.

Yeah. It was, it was just so sweet. Like it was such a pure kind of like moment of fan and family and father son and and what I loved about Paul said Jack, was he was wearing a. I can't remember the guy's name, but he's the doctor that was the chief lineman who opted out this year, DuVernay Tardif, that was the Jersey Shore Mahomes. You didn't go DUVERNAY Tardif. I was like right on the move.

That was such a cool way to win the Super Bowl to where that where it looked grim. It was like third and 19 or whatever. And Mahomes made like one of the great plays that Super Bowl history.

I mean, the kid could make it as magic man. He is magic. Like, it's it's it was it was it was definitely the tonic we needed after the snooze fest of the Super Bowl the previous year.

Oh, my God. Yeah. It's funny, you know, I obviously think Brady is the goat for variety reasons that he certainly had the best career and he's come through the most times. But Mahomes is just clearly the most talented quarterback ever.

So if he could just stay healthy, it's going to hurt, right? I mean, there it is. It's like, you know, what if what if Barry Sanders played on a team with any kind of offensive line, like he could have had four hundred thousand rushing yards like. Right. You just never know. So hopefully they'll they'll keep they'll keep the talent around him and keep him safe. Look, I mean, it's ostensibly illegal to hit the quarterback now.

So I think that, you know, barring any any barring any fluke, he'll be he'll be fine. He's also like a super good dude. I've met him a couple of times. He's like the nicest kid, like, clearly has great parents, like, raised the right way. Like he's just a good dude. Yeah.

It's funny. He's the only QB who really it seems unfair sometimes where it's like third and twelve, the defense does everything correctly. And then five seconds in the play, is that cool? And he just goes out of bounds. Does it get touched just like. All right, come on.

It's like the opposite of the Jets defense. Like if the defense is everything right and they still get boned, that's like that's facing Mahomes, you know.

See, you haven't been on the pod since this movie came out, but we talked about it. But I thought we could just talk about it again here. The So Bayrou came out and it was really good. And I said to you after I was like, that movie was really good. What happened?

How does what's the process of a movie not finding the audience? It should have found it near like that's happened to me a couple of times.

It sucks, but yeah, I mean, just the way it goes, I'm the king of being a movie is that people are like, hey, man, I saw that movie on the airplane. It was really good. You're really good.

And I'm like, yeah, because million dollar arm is like that for us to where people found it. And it was like, Oh, I love that movie. When did it come out? It's like, yeah, thanks.

Well it came out in case a million dollar arm. It came out on the same weekend as like Godzilla or something. It was literally got revenge on. Yeah, yeah. Somebody killed off.

It's like, it was just, there was no room and they were, was just you know, it's an independent film like it's a small movie like I did a movie like that called The Torture Report, that the report that was with Annette Bening and Adam Driver. And it was another great film like it just we're in a world where you're either in a two hundred million dollar movie or you're not in a movie like that's kind of how it works.

And then the the it has to kind of get sifted through all of the other stuff for people to find it and eventually people do. I you know, I think I'm so proud of Beirut. Like we shot that thing in six weeks in Morocco in one hundred degree heat during Ramadan. It was it was a rough one summer of twenty sixteen. So like Trump was ascending, there was all this madness in the world. There was a coup in Turkey.

Like half of our crew got stuck and it was bonkers like but we made this beautiful film and and it's kind of relevant now, especially given given what's going on. So yeah. I mean you know, not that not to make the world's clumsiest Segway, but it's a little bit like Wilmont and Timelike. We made this movie in Ireland. It seemingly out of time, we were in this beautiful place in Ireland that was just so peaceful and lovely and blustery and Irish and there's rainbows and you're just like, are you kidding me?

This is like beautiful. And then six months later, the world is locked down. Right. Awful. And then the movie comes out and it's and it's this beautiful kind of like love story that it's sort of the perfect balm for the terrible year that 20, 20 has been. So hopefully people will see it. You know, look, we've we've got more ways than ever to consume entertainment now. And it's and it's harder than ever to find something that you want to watch.

I mean, how many times have you gone through Netflix and just been like. You know, I don't want to win, I want to I don't know what I want to watch, I don't want to want to watch. I feel like I've seen every movie now. I've seen as I've been here, as I've been your pandemic.

Like you just really been like I just umpired through everything I'm like in the seventies now. Just plowing through seven days is good. Good. I think the thing you mentioned, though, about when movies get lost, it feels like that that's going to start to flip as people go to streaming now. And, you know, like even what happened with Biomax where they're just like, yeah, we're just going to put off all the war movies on HBO, Max.

And maybe that's where we're heading, where, you know, like places like Manchester by the Sea is a good example, right. Where those are the kind of movies that people don't make anymore. Right. And it feels like that's actually the kind of movie that people should be making. Now, if you're Amazon, Netflix, whoever, because it's like 15, 20 million. And Banknorth, who's making them?

I mean, that's exactly who making them. You know, we're we're going to we're rebooting Fleche, right? So we're we've got the the rights to the novels. There were eleven novels that Greg MacDonald wrote, and we're we're going to do our own take on it. It's we're not trying to imitate Chevy Chase. And it's, you know, it's going to be what it is. And so we're excited to make this movie. But, you know, it's like in normal time that you would take that to Paramount or Warner Brothers or whatever and say like, hey, we got this great idea and they'd go, great, here's forty million dollars, go make it.

And now it's kind of like they're not in that business anymore. They're just. Yeah. So it's he would have to be a superhero or something exactly like comic or some kind of like graphic novel adaptation.

There has to be a you know, IP that that people identify with, which it kind of is.

But like they still it's that's just not the business that they're in anymore. So so it's fallen to the streamers. You know, you either make a movie for five dollars million like Wilmont in time or one million dollars, or you make a movie for two hundred fifty million dollars. That's that's that's how wide the chasm is between those things. And, you know, I think I think it's a bummer. I think that there's a world where those mid-range stories I mean, the town's a perfect example, like the Warner Brothers made the town in 2009 and we made that for thirty something million dollars and it was seen as a huge risk.

You're right. But you also have like two hundred and eighty million dollars, like, wrapped up in, you know, the Lone Ranger or whatever, you know, whatever thing that you're trying to reboot. And and yet here we are like. So I don't know if I like like a lot of things, I, I wish I ran the I wish I ran the world so I can make decisions. I don't get to do that.

We did a very watchable about Fletch. I'm going to say like five, six months ago. And when we do that we do a lot of I do a lot of research for I try to find out history of things, stuff like that.

There were a lot of reboots attempted. Oh, yeah. It's it's like this checkered history of people going taking it to the one yard line and then things falling apart.

Or they had this and Kevin Smith was like really was on it for a long time. There were a lot of people that really wanted to to re do it because it's as you saw, if you watched it recently and I watched recently, again, it's funny.

Yeah. And the character's funny. It's like he's kind of this, you know, why wouldn't you want to see more of that? Like, I remember when the sequel came out and it was like, this is going to be awesome.

And then you're like, oh, they did what they used to do with sequels, which is like make more of the stuff you didn't want to see and less of the stuff that you did. Sequels. Brutal.

Yeah, it's a tough one. It's it it was really fun to watch. And it it's Chevy Chase basically saying. I'm just going to be a wise ass dick, but somehow you're going to like me as the hero of the movie, which nobody really does anymore. It was kind of like he kind of invented it almost. But I think that is maybe who he became over the course of time. I think I think that that, sadly, was the coda to that story.

But but no, he was he was charming and irreverent. There you go. Like, that's that's that's a pretty good combination of things. So, yeah, it's we're trying to find some of that. What we're really trying to do with the reboot is, is get to a much more of a place where the novels were, which is he's he's charming and irreverent, but he's also he's less. That goofy kind of pratfall, the fall down, get your head stuck in a light fixture kind of guy and more, more, more intellectual in his approach, you know, the the book that we're adapting actually originally took place in Boston, but we're moving it to New York for whatever reasons.

And and there's more of a because you hate Boston.

Why don't you just be honest. We've fucking kicked your ass in the World Series. That's why you moved it. Just be honest.

Listen, we can talk about how many championships our respective baseball teams have, and I will still come out on top of you. If you had a good run, you had a nice run.

We had a nice twenty year. It it feels like it's over.

Do you want to talk about, you know, maybe stealing signs or anything, but we don't need it by now.

There's been no no proof. Proof anyways. Yeah. So you know there's, there's a lot of of. There's a lot of stuff like there's nine novels worth of this character, and it's yeah, I remember reading them as a kid and after I saw Fletch remember it was eighty five. So I was like a teenager and I thought and I was I didn't know they made movies out of books. I didn't know that was a thing like I just made movies that were movies and books and I was in a bookstore once and I saw like the thing, you know, the novelization where they had Fleche in that picture from the thing, I was like, oh, that's cool.

And then thumbing through. And they're like, here's all other books with flesh.

And I was like, whoa, there's other books with this guy. And there's one where he goes to Rio and there's one where he goes to wherever. And so I was like, I immediately like acquired all of those books and read them. And I was like, wow, there's so many more stories. I can't wait for Hollywood to make more of these. And then they made that sequel. And I was like, well, I hope they don't make any more of these.

Well, the author did something interesting. He had control over how they did the movies, which, you know, just about any author doesn't think to do that. So he's like vetoing potential stars.

Yeah, he was very protective over the IP, which was pretty cool, which was why it was it was really cool that his estate let us do this. Yeah. We we got we got permission.

And, you know, that's that's a big a big deal and a big part of it to get the kind of blessing where you. Yeah. You can move forward. And and you know, we got Greg Mottola directing who's awesome, and he's rewriting the script. And we've got a bunch of people that we think are going to be pretty excited for now, hopefully. Fingers crossed.

Have you found during the pandemic streaming era when everybody's just binge watching whatever they can, as is Mad Men getting a second life yet? Because it's been I don't know for sure, but 15 years since the first two years for the pilot.

Yeah, the interesting thing was, I guess sometime around March or April, so like early down the deal with Netflix expired.

So there was this whole, like, wave of people like, oh, should it's leaving Netflix. We got to like we got to watch it before it goes. Wherever it goes.

I think it's on Amazon now or something, but so. Yeah, like the funniest the funniest story was I got a I got a text. Again, the pandemic deep down from Andy Samberg, who was like, hey, man, how are you doing? How's it going? Blah, blah, blah. And I was like, Goodman, everything's good, you know, hope you're good. He's got a little baby at home. I was like, everybody's healthy, you know, just kind of ride it out here.

And he's like, I got to tell you, man, I really been I really getting Mad Men. I never could tell you over the years.

I never watched it like that. Hurt your feelings.

I'm like, that's fine. Like, I don't I don't it's not like you lied to me and said, like, yeah, whatever. But you did host the Emmys when I won the Oscar. I was but whatever. But he's like, no, no, you know, I just never got around to it. And, you know, me and Joanna, his wife were really like I've been so into it. Like I was like, wow, that's kind of engender that kind of watching.

Like once you get into it, you really get into it. It's like, no, I just got to tell you, like, I've been so that was a you know, I had a few versions of that where people have just been like, I can't tell you, oh, my God, I never I never finished it or I never like, you know, whatever. And I've just been watching it. And I've definitely had a lot of people.

My version of that has been The Sopranos, like, yeah, I went I went back and started watching The Sopranos from the beginning. And I'm just like, holy moly, man, this show, it's so good and he's so good and everybody's so good in it. And the story is so compelling. And it just it's like a slow motion car crash, you know, you just see where it's going and you think, you know how this ends.

I know how this ends and it's not good.

But I did that before the pandemic and I just threw myself into it and it was so much fun. Did the same thing with The Wire. I've been saving Mad Men. The cool thing about Mad Men is because it's confined to an era, it's never dated. Right. Because you see some of these like The Sopranos. There's a couple of moments. You're like, oh, yeah, that's a little dated, but it's still fun, right?

That's when you when you're rooted in the in the 50s and 60s, it that's it. It just becomes limitless. Yeah, exactly. And especially because the show, the show's attention to detail was so specific and so complete that you're never kind of pulled out of that. It's never like, oh, there's a guy with a weird haircut like why would he be there like that doesn't make sense. Like we had I remember during the show there were a couple of, you know, kind of like hangers on and whatever it was, PanAm or some, you know, version of shows that were trying to kind of piggyback on the success.

And it was like, yeah, good luck to them. It doesn't work unless you go all in, like, you have to, like, really, you know, you can't. But whatever, give Marco Rubio a career something. Oh, is that was she had that one. I forgot. Yeah, we needed this new movie. Did you just want to go to Ireland for four months? Did you like the script?

Was it what was it, 50 50? It wasn't 50 50. Like I Ireland stuff was a complete bonus. Like, yeah, for me it was working with John Patrick Shanley who who did, you know, Moonstruck and Joe versus the Volcano and all this other stuff. He is a hero of mine and I had met him a couple of times. He's like a he's a quintessential New York guy, Irish Catholic, like the whole thing wears his heart on his sleeve.

He's an amazing writer, amazing creative force. And I've loved his work. And I'd seen the play that this movie was based on. And and in the play my character's just spoken about, there's he doesn't have any lines. He doesn't have any words. So essentially, I got to like, originate this character, which is kind of cool. And it was a straight offer. He was like, I really want you to play this part. I want you to be come to this.

And I was like, oh, and it's in Ireland. Like, OK, sure, that sounds amazing. And it was it was amazing. I had never been to Ireland. It definitely made me want to go back. Nine out of 10 people that watch this movie are like, I want to go to Ireland immediately. It's like because it really does. He represents and it's you know, it's getting kind of like a little blowback mostly from the Irish, because they like nothing more than complaining about depictions of themselves, kind of like people from Boston.

I was going to say that memory is it comes from Ireland and there's a lot of there's a lot of shared DNA in there, but then they begrudgingly love it. So it's kind of like it comes full circle. They wouldn't it wouldn't be good unless they complained about it. That's that's my take. But, you know, the Irish were like, oh, you're this is like you're telling this weird fairy tale that all of us are farmers. Some of us work for Google.

And you're like, yeah, fine. We're not telling the story about the Irish tech boom of the 90s. Like, this is not what we're doing. We're telling a fable. It's it's a fable. And it's a beautifully told, like snark free. It's just earnest. It's a love story. And like, again, like I said, like. It that sensibility and that kind of emotion in that tone is like the perfect antidote for all of 20, 20 when it's just everybody's angry and people want to like burn down state houses and you're just like or you could watch a love story like chill.

Right. An hour and a half.

The Irish people like you think it better to be better and make it better. Who are you here?

What was your most fun night in Ireland? Did you have a night? We just wandered into the wrong pub and ended up making seven friends there and there was never was yet that happened everywhere like that.

Yeah, it really. It really is. Again, it sounds like a cliche or it sounds like a stereotype, but it's just people are friendly. Yeah. And especially in pubs and especially when the music's playing and everybody's like that's what they're there for. They're there for the community community experience. They're there for the thing. And again, it feels like it was one hundred years ago because you're looking around or I'm remembering being in a place where there's sixty five people singing, drinking, breathing in each other's faces, like, yeah, I hope we get to do that again soon.

But like it was so lovely. Like Kazinsky came over because Emily is his wife and yeah. The kids and the whole thing and, and the producers would hang out and John would come out and it was just everybody was so nice. There was no like Hollywood nonsense. There was no, you know, crazy. And it was just a first of all, we were in a town of, I don't know, a thousand people. Byliner it's just a little town.

And there was sort of one pub and it was the owner was there and bartending and, you know, his wife would come in and it was just it was so friendly and family and lovely and welcoming and Irish. So you have to go because you're going to do 400 other interviews, you're coming on the reliables, though you promised me. Yeah, I'll do a movie, because now you have a little time.

Plus here in L.A. and it's a pandemic.

I've got nothing but time. You'll have time. What's your next what's your next big project? Is it Flach or is it something else?

Flecha hopefully go in spring time, maybe May 20, 21. Hopefully will be in a different mask situation. But then the next thing I'm doing is, you know, Top Gun comes out in June hopefully. I know, but you film that like 10 years ago.

I know. It's so crazy. The next thing I'm doing though is a small film up in Vancouver that's an independent that, you know, hopefully people will see somehow. But it's a little psychological thriller that's. Oh, and I think it's kind of like got a lot of shared DNA with Being John Malkovich in some ways. So it's not being Jon Hamm. That's not what it is. But it's it's who is your top character? My. My.

Yeah. What was it like when you say it? I just did a cyclone. Yeah. Cyclone.

Did you get to pick that or they told you you're psycho. Do you. Yeah, whatever. How how are you. Like who are you in Top Gun. Like without giving up too much away. Are you, are you on either side. Are you anti maverick.

You know, eventually everyone's on maverick side. OK, but I, you know, I'm kind of the boss. I run, I run the air wing, I'm the Airbus. So it's kind of you know, it's a I'm the authority figure to which Maverick bristles.

I'm outraged that this isn't out yet. Like, why can't Netflix just be like, fuck it and pay five hundred million dollars and just show it on December twenty third like we all would watch TopCoder. What do you do with Netflix, you money than God?

I will tell you, you will absolutely love this movie. Of course I.

Well what are you talking about. It is waiting for this forever.

It is a visual high five like it is exactly what you think it's going to be. They showed it to us. We all went to Paramount and we had to sit, you know, fifteen feet apart and bring in a dark movie theater with masks on. And I was like, I know what happens in the movie. And I was like, jaw to the floor. It's so the plane stuff is so cool I can't even tell you. And again, it's there's it's all real.

Like, these are all planes that are actually being flown around. That's why it took forever to shoot, because you had a clear day and you know, you're still like managing eighty million dollar aircraft that are owned by the taxpayer stoats.

There's a lot of hoops to jump through, but it's awesome. I cannot wait for people to see it.

It's I'm outraged that it's not come on Netflix. Plus, like, I have like a ton of GreenPower stock that I'm just it's like having rookie cards of my homes or something. I'm just kind of waiting, waiting for the words to go up.

Come on, Powles, like blowing up. He's Mr. Netflix is and he's like Mr. Right now.

But that Top Gun, this is going to be it. This is going to be like, hey, I'm not I'm not worried Froglet.

I think he's you're not weird for pal. He's he's. All right.

I'll make you come on the red watch box the next. Let's pick a fun one. Good to see you. Like, let's watch the movie. It's out. It's out already, by the way. Go home. Get out of those streams. All right. By a later. All right, Peter Schrager is here, you can watch him on Good Morning Football on NFL Network. You can see him on Fox. He's somehow working a ton, even though nobody can really go anywhere.

We're going to start with the Jets, the Jets, where the team dejour this week from a talk show talking point. What the F is going on standpoint. They single handedly kept the Raiders in the playoff picture. They single handedly kept their hopes for Trevor Lawrence alive. There's a big debate about whether they did that intentionally or not after it happened. And then the debate was solved when they fired Gregg Williams the next morning. So they were trying to win that game.

They were just completely incompetent.

Yeah, that's exactly right. And I've spoken to folks within the Jets organization since that game in that play. And I was, you know, the twinkle in my eye like it, but it kind of worked out right. And to a man, they're all like, no, that was fucking heartbreaking and gut wrenching. And like, really, it's like you have to think of it from that. Like, Gasque gets nothing out of this. You go windlass, like there's nothing for him.

And the players think that's what really hurt. Like there are two backup running backs run for two hundred yards total. And they were excited like, all right, we're going to go to Frank Gore for three plays a game. We saw something and they wanted it like the players wanted it, the coaches wanted it. And from everything I hear, it's great Williams went rogue and made this call.

But the the answer to that, a lot of people have said since and other organizations have reached out to me because I was preaching this is like Grace has the final say. And at any point, Gates could have overruled Gregg Williams. It could have been a timeout. There could be a million things done. But the probability of that all out blitz call to make that in that situation. And it was the second time he did it did with the Agholor play also.

Yeah. Is just insane. It's an insane play. And he didn't make it past 8:00 a.m. the next day.

Yeah, it's malpractice. It's the equivalent of if you're up up three in a basketball game with like ten seconds left and you just quadruple team the center next to the basket and leave for three point shooters open, it makes no sense at all. They have a legitimate chance to go in sixteen now, interestingly enough. I have the marked down in the long shot Palek category, they're playing Seattle, they're getting 13 and a half points and we're going to get to that later when we when we do our picks.

But I do feel like the more I read in, the more I looked at the whole Jets thing. There is something to all the guys on that team not wanting to be in an and 16 team. Like, I think there's such a huge difference between one and 15, which a lot of teams that have been in that situation of theirs, including my beloved Patriots at least once on 16 different that now you're you're like the reverse 70 to dolphins in some way.

And so I can't imagine what's in it for them. That's the piece I can't figure out. Why would they want to go on 16? They wouldn't.

They never would. And the coaches don't want it because it's such a black mark you might never, ever coach again. I would also say this, though, on the flip side of it, I was thinking, does it matter? Is only 16 one Abrams tank for treader, like here's the carrot of the open 16. You guarantee yourself that first overall pick and what you might not realize when you're looking at it and saying, oh, well, they get Trevor Lawrence, you also might have a leg up on the coaching higher.

So when you have Trevor Lawrence, it's like that's an attractive piece for a coach to walk into. You say, all right, not only do we have this New York market and we've got all this crazy draft picks and the salary cap, but you're also going to get Trevor Lawrence if you want him, if you want to keep Donald and do some of to pick whatever they're like, that's where the wrinkle is. It's if I'm a coach and I'm picking between Jacksonville, the Jets or Detroit or whatever it is, it's like, well, shit, I can get Trevor Lawrence.

That's a nice to have you want that first overall pick.

This was the mistake that the liar Rick Pitino made. He took the Celtics presidency in the fifty million before he found out what was going to happen in the Duncan lottery. Yeah. And then, of course, because he lies about stuff. Well, afterwards, it's like, you know, the Boston we got off to a bad start. We didn't win the Duncan lottery. And it's like, yeah, you didn't have to go. You could have waited.

Yeah. To see what happened. But I'm with you. Like, if you lock down that first pick that is such a carrot to dangle. Who is that? Give me the top two coaching possibilities out there.

And that's the thing. There's two different ways to go about this. You can go the Eric the enemy route and you can say, all right, this guy's been a great coordinator and he's ready and it's his time and Eric will be a coach this year. Or with that number one overall pick, you now have the ability to go huge swing like. Yeah, I work with Nate Burleson on Good Morning Football. He works with Bill Keller every day.

Bill Keller has a apartment in Manhattan, a wife who loves the football, kids who are long out of college. Like, do you then have an opportunity now open that door and say, all right, let's at least talk to Cower and say, Trevor Lawrence money, the team that's in your market, like you can't do that with maybe the three pick or the four pick because it's I don't know. But there is now suddenly a different conversation starter.

And whether it be Kowa or whether it be a Pat Fitzgerald up in Northwestern or whether it be even a Dabo Swinney and say, hey, come with Trevor, at least you can start that conversation. I don't think you can have that conversation unless you have that first overall pick.

I was thinking Dabo Sweeney or Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh, I don't see happening. How come? Because the gates, you know, gruff around the edges, rough with them, like I'm going to come in here. I'm won't be the disciplinary. And then Harbaugh is that times two and he's coming off this losing run with Michigan. I just I don't see it. I don't think it excites the fan base. I don't think this is the year for it.

And I don't know if it's what works right now, Harbaugh or the Jets, everyone makes that in here in this market. But I think you've got a lot better chance at different names. And like, you know, a couple of years ago, they had a coaching search and came down to a few names. It was called Kingsbury Matt Rule. Mike McCarthy and Adam Gates, and I don't know if it was the wrong choice, not, but like if they had signed McCarthy for five years, I'd be in the same spot I think they are right now.

So they have to get it right this time.

Well, they could they could have had Matt Rule, right. They they wanted input on who is assistants, work and stuff. But that was the guy.

They should have got those days. Well, it was like, OK, you could say it out or you could say, Matt Roll, who at that point was a year earlier than when he left, was a middle in college coach.

Things like, I want to bring my entire staff with me and the Dacula.

And it's the Jets are saying, well, OK, all right, let's think it's over now. Parcells told Rule. Do not go there unless you want to bring your guys with you and they will back out of it. He was like, I'm not doing that. And a year later, David Tepper comes to his house and says, Bring whoever you want. And if you look at their staff right now, it's a 30 year old offensive coordinator and a guy named Phil Snow, who had very little experience at the NFL level as the defensive coordinator.

That was D.C. at Baylor.

So he actually did get his way and got all the money to keep it on the AFC South because it's weirdly the most interesting division right now. You have the Patriots. By the time people hear this, we'll know what happened in the Pats or Rams game. We're taping this before that. But if the Patriots lingering and having a classic patriots, how the hell is this team, even six and six season if the Dolphins who have a pivotal game against the Chiefs this week, who have been all over the map this season, there was a moment when I was like, oh, my God, this is like the sleeper in the AFC.

And then the two of thing, that bandwagon, it did, it hit a guardrail, but it definitely blew a tire and then we fixed the tire. Now it's going again. But I'm not sure if we could drive it to sixty five and then Buffalo, whose stock has never been higher. So let's talk about Miami first. I don't think they can run the ball well enough to be taken seriously against this Chiefs team this week. And in general, like you look at that big Arizona when they had and then it's like, all right, is Arizona even that good?

And you start going backwards over some of their wins and it's clear that we overrated them. I include myself a little bit at the same time. Great coach, young team, young team seem to get better as the season goes along. Is that a playoff team to you?

Miami is interesting because you're right, I don't know the offensive firepower is there to keep up with the Kansas City if it becomes that kind of game, but they're defensively really good. Number two, defense in the league. They're really well coached. They don't mess up and they're special teams. It's lights out. So it feels like one of those Patriots teams where you're like, we're not scoring a lot of points, but if we hang around, we can win.

But you're right to beat the Bengals and the Jets the past two weeks and to have that weird deal with is two, is he not injured? I'm not going into this one with a ton of confidence. The running back situation, they I thought they found their guy in the salvin. Ahmed. He got hurt. Yeah, it's Gascón shows up last week, doesn't light it up or anything, but in a rotating door there, I think they've started five running backs.

So she has that right. They George Harris not even on the team anymore. Matt Preto is in there. Brooders still around.

And then they've got and then there's one other ones. Yeah. Layered number forty one who randomly gets carries here and there. But their deal is defense. And then noise been really good. Byron Jones been really good. And they've got this corner Zalian Howard, who no one taught me this thing. We watch these games where they're on the small window in the seven CBS game with whoever calling it dolphins have not had a lot of prime time or a lot of like Rylance and Romo game.

So now I think we've really seen them saving. Howard might be the best defensive player in football. You can't throw on him. So if you take out Tyreek Hill you can hang around in this game a little bit. I just, I don't see it. I think the chiefs get the job done here.

So the dolphins are eight four, but they have Casey in New England next two weeks at Vegas, at Buffalo, pretty tough schedule. And the Vegas game is a Saturday night game to Buffalo ending it. It'll be interesting. Buffalo might not have anything to play for in that game. Isn't that crazy?

They might be. Yeah.

That might be locked into a three seed with kind of nowhere to go with it, and that's it. So I don't know if this is a must must win, but I do think if they beat the Chiefs this week, then it's like, oh oh, here we go. I, I just don't see it. Buffalo is coming off a fantastic win and we're straight up.

I think he ruined Robert Sallas coaching candidacy for next year. How can he be a leading head coach here after he got decimated like that.

The guy's name is Brian Davel. He was with the Patriots, he's with Alabama. He's the offensive coordinator. That was like Queen's Gambit. Shit. Like he completely just outmaneuvered Salah on like a national stage was like here I'm going to exito everything out of you. And Cole Beasley is going to go absolutely bonkers.

I'll ask you, you know what it was like? It was like watching a basketball game where the other team as big guys and the offense figures out how to basically play this ISO ball and just put the big guys in space and talk them over and over again. And you could tell the other teams like, fuck, what do we do? We don't have an answer. That's what they were doing for four. I was stunned. I bet on the Niners.

I couldn't believe it. They were they were annihilated.

It was the most lopsided game of the weekend and we had huge blowouts this weekend. I say this because, like a lot of people were just football out. They didn't watch that game because there was yeah. Football all think, oh, they're all Sunday. And there was another Monday game with Steelers and the Washington. And everyone was like, I can't do another game. I said it was the best game Josh Allen has ever played on believable. And I said the next morning, I'm like, the rest of the league better take notes because I don't know if the Steelers can beat the Chiefs.

I really don't. I don't know if that is. I don't see it that don't seem that played Monday night can beat anybody. And I know those Buffalo fans, they go wild and, you know, we don't get respect. We'll get respect like everyone needs to respect what they're doing because their defense is solid. They're always going to sound like Josh Allen is not making mistakes. And he he was awesome on Monday night. He was awesome. I it's funny.

I looked at that game and initially I like the bills. Then I talked myself into the Niners and the whole Shanahan thing and the bills looking ahead to the Pittsburgh game. And I honestly didn't think the bills had that game in them. Allen was perfect. I thought that was one of the best quarterback games I watched all year. And I'm including Mahomes and a couple of the Rangers games, all that stuff. He just destroyed them. And you think about the AFC, I, I just like their team more than Pittsburgh because of the injuries.

Pittsburgh said they lost two of their best four guys on defense and there's no way they had the same defense. I don't think Ben looks great. I think he's. OK, I don't think he's great, I think their receivers drop a lot of balls. I don't think they're very good at running the ball. And I said to Shazier last week and Shazier who obviously bleeds black gold but even he's like Yeah we can't really run the ball that well.

So it might have been a team that picked the first 10 weeks of the season, but we've seen this every year. We see teams like that that as we head into the December January months, they kind of lose steam because of injuries, because of the cold weather, whatever it feels like they might be. That team.

Yeah, we've seen a Titans team with carry on, start off like nine of the chiefs a couple of years back, I think with Trent Green or yeah, maybe some like 10 or not, only kind of fade away. But, you know, they had fourth and one. They don't want to bring out their kicker because he's untested. So they're going to keep him on the sideline. And the play, Cole, was a wheel route to a rookie, Anthony McFarland, who has five catches on the year and incomplete.

And afterwards they're asking Tom Adams. And Thomas is always like, that was our first option. And I'm like, what's it go like? You have all these receivers. And Eric Brown was atrocious not only this week, but in the Ravens game, too. And Fox had this wonderful feature before the game. And I love these like pre game features. And it's five minutes on Juju Smith, Schuster and Chase Claypole. How good they are. Ticktock.

And how these guys have mastered Ticktock and Claypool's really good at the transitions. And in my heart of hearts, I'm like, I know this is a man yelling at a cloud, but like, gosh, this is not football. We're talking about tick tock before. And sure enough, you're doing Claypoole just did not show up in that game. So the injuries are real. But Dupree was awesome this year. And all respect to the rookie high Smith, he's not.

But the Pre and Robert Filene, who had a couple of good plays and has been solid. It's not Devin Booker. It's nothing insulting. It's just that's the wear and tear of the season. And Devin Bush. But the two of the best defensive players in the sport.

Listen, if you lose two of your best four players on defense, your defense is going to be as good if we took off any of the two best giants for the rest of the year, guess what? Defense isn't as good. You need luck with this stuff.

And that they're sensitive to this, though, like they are very tense. Like they don't want to hear that they're not the best team because all season I've been pretty cocksure about it. I'm like, yeah, but they're not going to beat the chiefs. But this is cute. It's fun. But now I really believe, like they were they were worse than the Baltimore game and they were in the Washington game and they go above fourteen. Nothing lead in the Washington game.

And I know the NFL jerked them around a little bit with the schedule and they haven't had a bye week. And all this stuff kind of tough starts, like if you're going to be with those teams and I don't see them being in Kansas City right now. And certainly I'd be scared of Buffalo this weekend based on the way Buffalo played well in the elephant in the room as Roethlisberger just doesn't look good.

Yeah, he's serviceable because he's older. He has to know how he knows what to do, but he's just at a different stage of his career. And I don't think throw to throw when you actually really watch the Steelers, like, you know, the read the Washington game, that was the only game on I watched the whole game throw to throw. He's just not consistent. And throws are a yard behind somebody. They're a little short. They're a split second late.

He could still do some of the great fiscal stuff that he does where he just sheds, you know, gets away from a pass rusher. Somebody bounces off him. But I don't think his arm looks the same. Yeah, if they have that one seed and the buy they could think of, find themselves in the Super Bowl. I don't know if I see them going on the road three times and beating teams like the Chiefs, the Steelers, the Titans.

And and they they watch the Titans earlier in the season. I don't know if I could see it in the playoffs going through that gauntlet with what they're doing right now.

Well, that's where our picks in a second. That's one of the reasons I love the Chiefs. And it's this week because they can smell the one seed now. Yep. And they got at Miami this week at New Orleans. Next week is going to be the really tough one home Atlanta Home Chargers.

So if it's all going to come down that New Orleans game. But right now they're behind Pittsburgh because they lost in conference.

Yeah, and I think that's interesting. The tiebreakers conference games and I believe the chiefs have just two more and the Steelers still have four more to go. And the Steelers schedule is not easy. And it's all like Buffalo and all those type of teams in the AFC North teams. And I don't know if the Steelers right now would end the season. They would be the one seed, but I'd be hard pressed to think they're not going to lose another game for the rest of the way.

That's I don't think it ends that way. I just don't know. And the big thing for me with the Steelers is when you can't run the ball at this point in the season.

It does two things one, you can't protect leads and you just don't have the ball enough, so you're just putting so much pressure either on your quarterback to be perfect or your defense to make plays. I don't like the way they look. And I really I think Buffalo is has to be the number two team, though. I look at it as KC one Buffalo to I think there's a slight drop off then Pittsburgh three. I think that's fair.

I think we're in agreement. Buffalo not only this past week, but like they looked really good against the Chargers and that Chargers game was mishandled by Anthony Lane. And we can talk about that. But the game they lost to the Cardinals in Arizona with the Hail Mary and all that stuff, Josh Allen had an incredible drive to take the lead to end that game where I was like, he is good. Like he is good. He had that pass to be had three passes to Beasley on the drive pass to Diggs, which was an incredible catch.

And I'm like, he's so dialed in. And I talk to all those Buffalo guys, the coaching staff that, you know, like he's amazing, like he's the guy.

And I had my doubts going into the season. We all did, especially after that playoff game where he kind of just like went bonkers in the second half last year. But he's been really good all season long. And I don't know, I wouldn't want to face him in the playoffs, and especially if they're at home in Buffalo, even without fans, just those conditions, his game is built for that.

Well, I said I think one or two weeks ago I was like, he's the quarterback you don't want to bet for or against. Yeah. So you definitely want to bet against them because he does what he does, that Niners game. And I felt I felt the brunt of that on Monday that I was having such a good week. To me, this is the week that he becomes the guy I'm not afraid to bet on because they're going to be one of my Melanda picks and I'm pretty confident them.

Last last note on the running thing, the four worst teams by yards per rush right now are Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Atlanta and Miami. There are three point seven yards per carry. Three point seven is bad.

It is. I mean, that's like that basically means you're not getting any breakaway runs at all and you're somewhere between two and four yards a carry.

And once in a while somebody run for seven years. But that's that's pretty bad. And I got to say, I would have probably guessed those would have been the four teams. The only ones that's a little surprising is the Colts. Yeah.

Because they had all those running backs. They seem to be doing well in fantasy football, but they're doing it right out of the receiving game.

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All right, let's do it. Million Dollar Pick. So last week I was doing awesome and then the Niners really let me down.

I won one hundred and three thousand dollars last week. I'm up three ninety nine for the season. The big one, the most fun bat was hit the Giants 50 K plus three eighty five over Seattle. I had them with Washington nineteen to one as a parlay I was going to do for fifty K and Shazier Oh Shazier yeah I sent Shazier some some texts talk me out of it. It's like we're not going to lose to watch something. All right.

You're right, it's nothing. Yeah I just did the Giants so that would have been our best long shot. Probably the year note to self don't listen to Shazier in the Steelers. Yeah. Might be biased. Maybe that was, it was funny.

We were going back and forth. It's like I'm sorry I didn't know. All right. First game giants this elastica talk to the Giants. The Giants. Vegas does not believe Giants are two and a half point favorites at home against the Cardinals. Now from a dollar standpoint, Arizona's thirteenth giants are twenty fourth. But you just got to look at the last two months. The Giants have been good really for two months now. They've been either close to the game or they've won a game.

They they have won their last four. They almost won that Tampa game. They came damn close. So it was five. Meanwhile, Arizona is on a virtual five game losing streak. They lose to Miami, they win the Hail Mary game against Buffalo, which they never should have won, lose to Seattle, lose to New England, lose to the the Rams. And more importantly, Kyla's not Kylah anymore. And he's just not. And it's a big struggle if you have I have them both fantasy teams, fantasy playoffs coming up, trying to figure out if I'm going to stardom this week when he doesn't run the ball anymore.

And he's clearly hurt and they're saying he's fine and it's turning this thing where it's like, you know, this season's going to end and they're like, oh, he had exploratory surgery on his right shoulder, whatever is wrong with him.

But if he's not going to run the ball, I don't think they can beat anybody with a good defense. And the Giants have a good defense. What do you think?

Did you watch the first half of Cardinals Rams? The Rams controlled the ball for, I think, twenty three minutes. The Cardinals had it for about six minutes. Barring a last minute drive where they put up some yards, Cutler had completed one pass.

He was like one for nine at one point for nine. And Hopkins was steaming like Hopkins is sitting there on the sideline, like, why? Why are we talking about it? Then Arnold and Chase Edmunds, I'm on this team. And they eventually got some yards. And I'm sure he filled the stat box at the end of the day. But there are certainly not the same humming offense that it was. Meanwhile, the Giants and I think this would be a good opportunity.

And you love this. I do. I love this guy.

I love a guy who is a punching bag and then can maybe sit back. I look at Dave Gettleman right now.

I don't know if you're talking about Joe Judge there. You could you could have, like, picked your punching bag. I'm going with Gettleman. Sixty eight years old, trades away. Odell gets crushed in this market every day on sports radio for three years. Gelman's got to go get them. He's got to go sign James Bradberry for a very small contract. He's awesome signs. Leonard Williams. People are like, why would you do that? He's awesome.

And then these draft picks, those guys I'll be honest, I don't know who Nikolaos was flying all over the field. Carter Coquelin, Troy Crowder. They have a really good young defense. And guess what? Jabrill Peppers is awesome. And he plays safety and was part of that Odell Beckham trade. So, yeah, they their GM, their coach, everyone wanted to laugh. These guys out of town, they just went with Colt McCoy into Seattle and won.

And I wouldn't bet against the Giants. They will run through a lot, figuratively and literally, like I spoke with Golden Tate last week because he and judge obviously had their issues. Golden wasn't getting the ball, was upset. And I'm like, where would they be? They benched him. They benched him. They didn't send them on a road trip. They're like, you're not coming to Washington with us. Like, go find what the heck is going on.

And I thought he might get traded. And he's like, it's hard not to want to play for this guy, like he he walks the walk, he talks the talk, and we're a young team and we love playing for him. So that is like that. I hear that stuff. It's intoxicating, especially after four straight wins. I would have bet against the Giants, especially historically what this team, this franchise does once they get on.

He did a couple important culture things, right? He he whatever was going on with him at Golden Tate, he handled it better, bring them on a trip. It's like, well, fuck you don't come on the show then.

Did the thing with the offensive line coach that was incorrectly reported as a fistfight, but whatever, he fired the guy, obviously, he didn't like what he saw. But I think over and over again, when you study the really good football coaches that first year, they have to establish themselves in a few different ways. He clearly did. But you talk about Gettleman. The Beckham trade looks like a high star for the Giants right at the seventeenth pick peppers.

For a guy who just can't stay on the football field for whatever reason, I don't think the Browns would say they regret it because they're nine and three and works out.

But like Dexter, Lawrence is really good up front. Zeigler is an important piece of the offensive line and Jabrill Peppers is great. So you have three players for the price of one and Odell is Odell and like, you know, whatever on that.

But and he wasn't going to be happy with whoever the quarterbacks were in New York anyway. So you hit that one, you hit the not taking Sam Donaldson and taking Barkley who listen, I'm like the only one who still defends that pick. I think Buck is one of the best running backs I've ever seen. He got hurt. Yeah. If he wasn't hurt, there's a scenario where Barkley's rushing for one hundred twenty five yards a game with this defense, and it feels like this 80s kind of Giants theme park.

He's a great dude like you. He's a great kid like he's fantastic and everyone loves him. And when Joe Judge had them running laps this summer, taking barclays' like, all right, let's go relax. That is so big like that. It's so big. And a lot of these running backs, the league aren't running laps, I promise you that. So that's where we hit that one.

And then he hits the judge higher, which we all made fun of, including me on this podcast is a weather hard show judge. That guy heard five words about Judge. So I feel like the Belichick coach tree has made a huge comeback this year.

It has. And I think he made a good point about the first year because remember Brian Flores, his first year, he didn't win a ton of games early to like you set up the building blocks. The next year, you're ready to go. And even Ron Rivera in Washington this year, you bench Haskins, which a lot of young coaches might not have done or other like benching Haskins. He's not good enough to be the quarterback. Alex Smith and Kyle Allen are better.

We're going to go with that. All right. The media criticism team looks around that. The younger guys are like, all right, OK, I can roll with that.

And influence is another great example of like establishing yourself where Fitzpatricks not happy. They got him out of there. You got picks for him. And it's like, all right, you're not happy. Go where to mark this one down. It's Giants plus two and a half. My only fair with it is it looks too easy. And I don't know why the Giants aren't favored. And my only guess is, you know, maybe people aren't watching the Cardinals.

Maybe they don't realize what Kyla's looked like the last couple of weeks, but he's not the same guy. So Mark that one down next one, windy Raiders Colts. And when I sent this to you, I sent it wrong. I had Raiders plus three of the Colts. I actually would would lean toward the Colts in this game, so. There's some good stuff in favor of the Colts right now, it's Colts minus two and a half their seventh diva, Vegas's 18th.

Vegas has thrown us off because they beat the chiefs, browns and Saints this year. So the ceiling of the ceiling just seems high for them. Here's the thing, Vegas, they're five. I looked this up. I did some research there. Five know when Josh Jacobs rushes for at least seventy five yards. So he's done it five times. They've won all five games. He's hurt. He's either not playing or if he's playing, he's going to be playing hurt, he's not practicing as we're taping this on Thursday.

One of the things that sucks about doing picks on Thursdays is you kind of have to guess, but even if he plays, he's not going to be healthy. Meanwhile, the Colts day, their fourth best in the league right now against the run through the tape. It's a good this is a good matchup for them because they kind of swapped the run anyway. If it's not Josh Jacobs, the Raiders won't be able to run the ball at all, then Carr has to do his stuff.

I don't love this Colts team and I've been wrong on the AFC South pretty much every week, which worries me. But I just look at this like Vegas should be six and six. The Jets should beat them. The Colts are clearly on a slightly different level. And I think defensively now that Leonard is back, they just seem better to me. What do you think? I like that I'm getting less than three and a team that I think is three points better.

All right.

So they got the doors blown off from against the Titans. Yeah, absolutely rocked. And I spoke to guys in Indy and they're like, you got to realize how important DeForest Buckner and the Niko Ottery are. And neither one of those guys were on the field that game. So I'm like, all right, I'll go with that. And I thought the Texans should have beaten them last week. Like, I'm not in on the Colts. I think that offense.

But those guys still out there back. They're back. And they were good last week. They were fine. Yeah, that's right. They were fine. But I thought that might have been the reason why. But like, if Deshaun Watson doesn't fumble that snap at the end, we might be looking at the Colts in a tailspin. So they guess they win, they get by the Jets. It was maybe their worst effort of the season other than the week before against the Falcons.

I think this is the right game. I honestly do. I like Vegas here. I like Gruden. Speaking of these guys right now, and I think Derek Carr has a lot more at stake in these final four weeks than any other quarterback. And I don't know, I feel like Vegas might be the pick here over the Colts, who I just don't see them generating the offensively. And I certainly don't trust Philip Rivers in a big AFC West opponent right now.

Listen, I was dying for you to talk me out of this game. I marked it down. I had the Colts. I only thought there is value. But you just talked me out of probably I'm going to mark them down, but you probably talked me out of it. This is a good matchup of quarterbacks. I don't really want to put my money on like Rivers and Carr.

I'm wrong in the AFC South every week. Tennessee Colts. Does it matter if I'm wrong? And I thought Houston was going to beat the Colts last week and some of it's covered because of this Sean fumble. All right. Next one. You're not going to talk about bills minus two and a half of the Steelers. Buffalo is a Hail Mary away from six straight Buffalo's biggest weakness. You can run the ball down their throats, can't run buffaloes. Give it up four point seven yards per attempt.

Does it matter? Pittsburgh can't run the ball. I just like the matchup. I think Allen is going to be able to move around and do the stuff he does. There's a real swagger developing with the Buffalo receivers that I like.

Yeah, I would say if you're going to do the receiver swagger rankings, they're up there. Yeah, they're in like the final four.

I don't know if they win the title, but they're definitely one of the first four. Who else is in that conversation?

Oh, you got to like with the Vikings, with Fiona and Jefferson in there dancing, even though it's all Devonta Adams. You have to like that. It's Devonta Adams and what they've got going on, they're pretty confident. And then, of course, the chiefs have about a thousand or so.

Yeah, I would say that probably chiefs bills in the finals. And I just don't like the way the Steelers are playing. I know it's like, oh, you know, I hate having the pick going against the team. That looked bad last week, but this is their third game in twelve days. I don't like that piece. And I think sometimes teams, whether they know it or not, you can kind of grasp on to the excuse piece of this a little bit to where it's like they got screwed by some discovered stuff.

All these games got bunched together. They lose to a Washington team that frankly they should beat no matter what happened. And I don't like this spot for them. I think the bill should be three point favorites. I like the extra half point a couple little wrinkles here.

And last year they played on a Sunday night game. And I think week fifteen and the Steelers come out of commercial. Start of the fourth quarter renegade from Sticks is blasting. It's ice cold. And Josh Allen launches that team right down the field in Pittsburgh and scores a touchdown and wins that game for them and really puts them in the playoffs. And it's like, OK, that was like a big boy win right there. Here we are a year later.

I think he's better. I think they're better. And I think they're not going to be scared at the moment. Like that was to me, a big win for them last year to show that we belong on the stage. Also, that receiver group you're talking about what's really fun about them and you know the names, it's Diggs and Beasley and it's this kid, Gabriel and and of course, you've got Isaiah McKenzie. But like, if you watch the dorsum box touchdown, Diggs sells out to give a block, like throws his body in front.

And you're like, yeah, they they're selfless like they are. They don't care who catches the ball and and who gets it done. So as Gabriel Davis, it's not Gabriel's his last name. First name, but I like them. I like this team. And you said Swagger's important. I think they're coming off a huge victory last week against the Niners. I would go bills, I would go bills, big hair.

Beasley's had a couple of awesome games this year in the Cardinals game on the last drive before the Hail Mary, he was gonna control it. He turned into like Julian Edelman at the end of a Super Bowl, which made me wonder. Has he grabbed the title because Julian Edelman vacated it basically last year? Has he grabbed the scrappy, reliable white receiver title from Edelman? I don't even know.

I got a great stat sheet is going to have me on last week. His touchdown. Thirty third career touchdown is the all time record for men under five foot eight in the NFL. He owns the record. He is the scrappy white guy.

When we do the logo, the Jerry West logo, like I have this great blond flowing mane, he beat up Darren Sproles, who had thirty two, but now he is the current record holder. Thirty three.

He's really hit his stride. His hair, his hair is really flowing. It's just a great job by him all the way around. And he's kind of unstoppable sometimes. Good eye.

An eagle had a funny line in that game when they beat the OR when they played the Cardinals, they lost things like he had it in the man bowl early, that he pulled out the scrunchie. And now it's long, like he has got a personality to like. He's a cool character in this league. And I think he kind of set the tone for them. They're they're wide receivers coach, which is deep in the woods, weeds. Here is a guy named Chad Hall.

He is Matt Stafford's brother in law, but he played in the league for like the Eagles and the Forty Niners. And he, too, was like a five to eight receiver out of Air Force and was a tough as nails guy. If you go there, you might remember, but he kind of set the tone also. He's a barker and all this stuff, like they're a proud bunch. And I think the bills are on the side. I really do.

I know we're pro bills here right now and they can lose like 40, but I really feel good about them.

I feel good about them, too. And you weren't sharp talked about this on our part a couple of weeks ago that he did with house on ringroad AFL-CIO, kind of going backwards when when the bills threw us off. They're sent. And there were a couple of things that were just kind of dumb, like they had a there was like a covid game. There was another like a really bad weather game and it's in the rain. And it was just like and then they had a weird Jets game and and it was just like girls.

And then we were all kind of just out on the bills. And we should know better by now. November, December. That's how you want to target. All right.

So the coach well, like McDermott, Leslie Frazier and Brian Damba, all three of them could be head coaches. They're all just like they're like very well coached and they don't mess up. And that's what I want in the team.

Well, so like that. They had a taste last year. In January. Yeah. And they had they had a lead. They made mistakes. They blew the game. But at least I like having like the experience of. Oh yeah. We were in a playoff game.

That's the NBA stuff. Right. Like all right, we went through it, we were a young team and now we're going to spend the entire offseason trying to beef up so we can beat the Pistons, you know. Yes.

Next one. Brands, Ravens, this, to me, is like that Colts game where I had it marked down, there's stuff I like and I'm not sure I'm ready to pull the trigger. But Browns are favored by one and a half over the Ravens. Week one Baltimore beat them by thirty two points. Yeah, DVOA Baltimore's eighth. Cleveland's twenty third. Baltimore's coming off a nice win this week. People are a little hot on the Browns. They looked awesome last week.

I think when they're up 10 points they're one of the best teams in the league. They look unstoppable. I want to take the Browns more because I don't believe in the Ravens and I think the Ravens are fraudulent. I just there's something about them. It doesn't add up to me this year, and I think it's one of those things where, like Dallas is literally the perfect team for them to play. Dallas is a sieve against the run. You saw it last week.

It's embarrassing.

Like missing field goals, like, oh, my God, Dallas. Yeah. And then Dallas quit in the fourth quarter. So it's like you're coming off that game and it's like, oh, the Ravens. And it's like, no, I'm no do that yet. If they won this game, I'd feel differently. But the Browns are favored by one and a half and. Leaning toward the Browns, what do you think? I'll tell you this, the Ravens got knocked on their ass by this covid bug and it was different than the other teams.

They had four different strains of covid going through their organization. One of them was like the really bad covid whatever I do, I'm not a doctor. I'm not an epidemiologist. But I can tell you this, Campbell, Brandon Williams, two of the biggest guys on team class, is a monster six seven. And I think Brandon Williams is known as Big Baby Number ninety eight. They were on their asses for like five days. I can't get out of bed like that, that they get up, they get activated.

And they weren't themselves. They were probably 70 to 80 percent of themselves against the Cowboys. I'm not sure if they're going to get back to what they are. So if you're expecting just. All right, they get a ten days like we're good. I don't think this Ravens team is good. They take twenty five people throughout the organization, not have contact tracing, have covid-19. I think it shook them to their core. And it was great that they won on Tuesday, Monday and even know the days anywhere is a great win.

It was fine. They beat the Cowboys, but this Browns team is like the last thing they want to face right now. Brown's team that just held Derrick Henry to 60 yards. I just feel like this this could be Stefanski just scheming everything. And I love the Ravens defensive coordinator, Wink Martindale. He's a great coach and he's a good motivator. But this to me is like job hunt baker. A couple of big plays and it's going to be a grind it out game.

And I think it actually favors the Browns.

Well, and then on top, all the covert stuff he said, sorry is your talking. I was looking this up. So they play Wednesday against Pittsburgh, then Tuesday Dallas. And then this is going to be a Monday. Cleveland.

Yeah, weird. It's a hard one.

I guess one thing that's in their favor, if this was a normal Cleveland game with the seventy thousand people losing their minds, that's even tougher for them.

But I do believe in Lamar down three, five minutes left.

What's the where is the empirical data that I can say, yes, I did. There's never been a game where it's all right, Lamar, go and lead us. And it hasn't been this season. It's tough. I like Lamar. I think I think he's a great player. Obviously, he's the MVP. Like, this game is going to be a one score game and they're going to need Lamar to make a play. I don't know. I don't know.

Baker can make it either, but I just trust the Browns offense right now more than the Ravens.

All right. We're in a mark down the Browns last one. There's going to be a team is they're going to do even though it's it looks like almost beware of the tease week because there's three easy ones, but. Chief staff and we talked about it. I don't think you can beat this chief's team unless you can run the ball really well, and the specific Belichick 27, had to beat the 07 Patriots blueprint against Belichick. But, you know, shorten the game long for the quarterback, knock him on his ass.

The Dolphins can do the defensive part of that a little bit with Mahomes, but they're not going to be able to run the ball.

And I don't think they're going to be able to have the ball long enough to beat the chiefs and the chiefs of those teams. If the more they have it, the worse it is for you. And I don't know the fact that they can smell the one seed now. I'm throwing them in a tizzy, so the chiefs are a bunch of sevens. Yeah, I don't see it either. I just think it's a different class of teams. All due respect, I also don't think two is ready to win a game like that where he would have to win the game.

I don't see it. So I want to tease the chiefs with either the Saints who are minus six and a half against the Eagles or the Packers were minus seven 1/2 against the Lions. I'll tell you what scares me about Packers, Lions, Lions, when that crazy game, the big comeback game against the Bears, but their dudes were really into it.

Like if you look at the sideline reaction, stuff like that, there was some fuck you, Patricia, potential. And you think like they've had the DeAndre with concussion thing, which is really scary. I don't plane this week. Golladay has been banged up and that was a game where I bet on the Bears.

And I was like, oh, you're up 10 with two minutes left. Yeah, it's over.

But there was a resilience with the Lions that worried me a little. What are your thoughts on that game? Packers. Lions.

I think this is number 12 on Green Bay and it's number 17 on Green Bay are so dialed in. Yeah, this one is going to be an explosion together. They are so good on offense right now. I mean, everyone knows it's going to him and they go to him every single play and he catches it every single time because they are just perfect together. So I wish I could have been one of those deals where Detroit rallied for Daredevil and were excited.

And I can't see the Lions keeping this one close. The Packers offense is a juggernaut right now. That's how I was feeling. I'm glad you made that case, the other ones. So a question for you is DeVonté Adams the offensive player of the year this year? We know MVP is one thing. Is he that guy? Because last year I think it was Michael Thomas Gurley was like another year. If it's a non quarterback, is he the.

Is it him? Is it Kelsey? Who would you say is just throwing your hat in the ring for someone?

It's funny. Kamara was the obvious. Write it down guy. And then once Brees went out, his season kind of fell apart, at least from a fantasy standpoint.

Yeah, I guess Adams would be like slightly in the lead right now. Right.

But it still feels like the last four weeks are going to disagree with you guys.

I like when you and I'll talk about it like every week we talk about the MVP like it's a thing and it just changes week to week. We know what it's good conversation. It's good fodder. And by the way, all that other folks in the media and I texted to those who are like, how can Russell Wilson ever get an MVP vote if we did the vote right now? Russell Wilson, we're not going to be people.

Yeah, it's going to be another goose egg for him this year. Yeah. The more egregious thing is that we kicked Mahomes to the side when he's the best player in the league and we all knew it. And then there was this week where everybody looked each other's mahomes is going to win the MVP. And of course, and I didn't bet on it last last year, possibility saints, eagles, saints or minus six and half the Eagles are playing Jalen Hurts.

I'm going to make a quick case for why I don't think Jalen hurts will be the elixir.

OK, I'm here. He's the type of quarterback that. You have to, like, come up with a different kind of offense, right? If you if you bring him in, it's like, you know, the default case would be what the Baltimore did with Lamar. You know, just in general, he's a different kind of quarterback.

You can do different things. You're going to do more. Play action, roll out quick, Pat. Not the offense they have now. I'm not convinced in a week from what I've seen from this disaster of an Eagles coaching staff that they've been in the bunker figuring out, figuring out how to reconstruct this offense.

And if you're just putting Jalen hurts in the old Philly offense against this Saints defense, I don't see it because he looks good in that first draft. But after that, that was really it for Jalen hurts. So I think it's a tough spot for him.

What you can argue is that he brought some energy to the rest of the team and like regular returns that punt right away, the defense starts playing a little better. And you could say that maybe this is the catalyst, this is the elixir, and that this guy just from an emotional lift standpoint, can help the team. But I'm with you. I don't I don't know what you know. It's Taysom Hill. I feel like it's the nineteen seventies, like in our football game where we're going to a scheme.

You what the wishbone and for running backs and all this stuff like Jalen hurts. I don't he's not your Justin Herbert. Plug them in right now. Was going to throw it forty times out of the gate. Right. I think he needs to be the number one to get the reps and have things kind of adjusted for him to do that. And yet I'm not sold on New Orleans. His offense, I really am not. So I'm not either.

I don't I don't know if they win by a touchdown. There's a chance that just the mere fact that Jalen hurts is under center, that these Eagles players are like, shit, we're still alive. Then we've got a new guy and we're going to play for him. I would stay away. I don't know. I don't like the I don't like either team in this one. What about the Saints just to win? Yeah, that I like I do, and I think that's what we need from it, is I just needed to win by a point.

Yes, I think the Saints win, but I don't think it's you know, I don't think they'll suddenly light it up with forty five points. I'm really curious to see what happens if and when Greece comes back because they're winning games. But I don't come away from the Kindle hitting game. Whatever takes them didn't look right. And then last week, like Atlanta had their opportunity. So I never apologize for a win, but it's certainly not the slam dunk of like, wow, this looks like the Super Bowl champions just as they are right now.

We're going to mark all those games down for Tiss long shot, parlay the week Miami plus two seventy five against Casey crossing them off Vikings. Plus 250. Against Tampa Bay now here's the case against the Vikings. Tape is actually really good stopping in the run, yeah, you'd figure the Vikings are going to beat Tampa because they ran the ball. Well, I just don't think the Bucs are very good, at least this year with I think you can catch them, but I don't think it's this Minnesota team and I don't see Cousins doing it.

I guess the case would be Jefferson just goes nuts.

Yeah, I would say Tampa off a bye week is huge. And just listening to Brady this week, he's got a couple of media things like. I think that biotech was important. I think they got their rest and it's like, all right, buckle up, I'm going to take you guys right now. I feel like Tampa's about to turn things around that I might regret saying this, just that by we could not have come at a greater time and it didn't come off some horrible blowout loss.

Like I like the way they finished against Kansas City. I like the bye week. And I like Brady now, like a little refreshed and focused and saying, all right, I'm Tom Brady. Let's go. I think Tampa might might hit that other gear right now.

Well, our only other long shot is the Jets, plus five hundred against the Seahawks, five about OK, let's call it meme's is out and at times look pretty good.

The last two weeks he's been great. This was what this rookie draft was. It's like meme's is like the ninth best receiver in the draft. Another year he'd be like the second best receiver.

But it looks like he's not playing now. I don't want I don't want to say that's the reason I wouldn't take the Jets plus five hundred. But that bummed me out because I actually thought they were moving the ball and they had a little something, something last week. What do you think.

They ran for two hundred yards with guys that I quite honestly don't know much about. Some Guy Johnson, another guy. And this with Frank Gore, who for whatever reason, Adam, gays and lesbians who are both whatever they've been illegally. Frank Gore carries the ball. It feels like every single play for the Jets, they took a crash and for them to try one of their young guys and of course, they go for two hundred yards. And my other thing with this is the Jamal Adams factor, which back in August we would have been like, whew, and now we forgot about it because Adams isn't having the season and the Jets or whatever, but like there was a lot of stuff thrown on the way out there that there's a lot of pride in that just building.

Like think they might rally around that a little bit and be like, you know, screw this guy, let's go beat him and let's go do this for for ourselves because he thought he was better than us and all this stuff. And granted, the Jets are winless and Jamal Adams is going to go to the playoffs most likely. And maybe he was right for saying all that stuff. But I think there is a rallying cry around. We just fired offensive coordinator.

This guy's on the other side. Like what's prove the world wrong? It's the one game. Let's show everyone that we can do it. It's worth the long shot.

All right. So we got to parlay them with either. Let's say here are our choices. You ready, Bengal's plus one 60 over Dallas. The Dalton goal, all right. What else, Jags plus to eighty five against Tennessee now. This is probably the leader, Washington plus 150 at San Francisco. At Arizona, let's go live to Washington. OK, so that is going to be. Oh, that's 14 to one. I mean, let's play the games, it's my let's go.

That sounds great. Jets Washington 14 one. All right.

What do you make of the what do you make of the Niners deal that they're living in? And it's not you know, it's all one percent problems here, but it's not exactly. They're not staying at the Rosewood Hotel in Arizona. This is this is a day away for the holidays. They just lost that game. They're kind of out of the playoff picture. And Shanahan always gets in the fight like they're living in Arizona for the next three weeks with a one practice field that's outside next to the stadium in Glendale.

I don't know.

So I'm intimately familiar with this because my daughter, some of her club soccer stuff had to happen in Arizona. Once you get about a half hour pass Scottsdale, Phoenix, from a hotel standpoint, it gets grim, like we're talking Motel six level. So I don't know. I can't even imagine where they're staying. Plus, a lot of the hotels are closed. I, Shazier and I, we were talking about it last week about there was this resiliency that the Niners team had with all the all the stuff that they've had this year.

And I wonder if Monday night just broke them off and now they're like, oh man, fuck this, let's just go home.

So I talked to the guys like it's interesting. Like they're not allowed to take Uber, but they can rent a car. I think they're allowed to rent a house if there's like a few of them in there, but not all of them can. And the NFL needs to oversee it. Like, I think it's a bigger hurdle than people. I guess I whatever was taking the Niners to beat Buffalo, I got it. Let's all rally together. We just beat the Rams like this these last few weeks before it kind of snowballs like I don't know where their mental heads are going to be.

The players knowing that they're now pretty much out of the playoff picture.

Million dollar picks for week fourteen. We're up three ninety nine for the season. Here's what we're doing. We're putting three hundred K on the following teams, the New York Giants, plus two and a half over the Arizona Cardinals, the Buffalo Bills minus two and a half over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

And then we are doing a three hundred thousand.

Our team's Chiefs, minus seven, Packers minus seven have both teams, down six points. That's for three hundred K now to two more bets. Two hundred and Browns minus one and a half over the Ravens.

Straight up. Let's go. And then. Two hundred K on a three team TS Chiefs, Chiefs, Saints, Packers, all three Saints down a half, chiefs down to one, Packers down to half point to get plus 150 on that. So 200 plus one, I went 300.

That was the last one. Before we get to the long shot, that last one is the best of the week.

And then long shot jets washed in 14 to one and throw 50 K on that one. Both teams have to win jets. Washington, 14 to one. Peter Schrager, you could see him on Good Morning Football every day. You can see him on Fox this week, right?

Every Sunday morning. Fox NFL kickoff at 11:00 a.m. Eastern, 8:00 a.m. Pacific. Thank you, Bill. Good to see you, my friend.

That's it for the podcast. Don't forget to check out a ring or dish means you could be doing the challenge every Wednesday night. Don't forget about the book of basketball. We did. Rick Berry. One more coming up. This in 20, 20 next week.

And that's it. We watch what's coming next week on Monday. Cousins are coming on Sunday. Enjoy the weekend.