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The Dan Lebitard Show with Stugatz is presented by DiGiorno. It's not delivery. It's DiGiorno.

This is the Dan Levatore Show with the Stugatz podcast. We're presented by DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NFL. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app today and use code Dan for a special offer when you sign up. That's code Dan only at DraftKings Sportsbook.

I feel pretty important right now because Stugatz put me in the driver's seat for this interview.

I did, yes.

We're talking to a former colleague of mine, Kaylen Kayler, currently at the Athletic. But we're also talking a lot about the bears. I feel like we never talk about the bears.

Well, why would we?

Exactly. That's why we brought on someone who is an expert in all things Chicago. He's a current Chicago resident.

I have lived in Chicago now for five years.Proud.

Of it.And your thoughts on the bears, where they are now versus five years ago. Same exact place?

Yeah, basically. It's been just the cycle of fire the coach, get a quarterback, fire the GM, get another quarterback, get another coach, get another GM. Nothing's ever on the same page. Actually, this year, it does appear that they kept the GM, they kept the coaching staff, much to-Some of them, though. Some of them, yeah. They got rid of some, yeah. They got rid of the offensive staff, which was good. I think that was needed. Although, I would have just... Personally, I would have gotten rid of the entire staff and then just clean start over, keep Ryan Poles, but start over with the coach, being the coach and the quarterback at the same time. I think now the biggest thing that is really interesting is Caleb Williams. The rumors are swirling. The rumor mill. It's going.

Tell us where we are at this point, because we're on Radio Row, guys. There's a whole world outside that's happening. Really? That I feel like we're just not even really-I'm not addressing it at all, to be honest.

We're not even addressing it.

But Cliff Kingsbury was hired to join the commander. Yes.

Over Eric Biennemi, he got fired. Cliff interviewed in Chicago, which we know for that offensive coordinator job. I thought it was really interesting that they didn't hire him. I thought for sure, if they're going Caleb, they got to hire Cliff because the two of them had a good relationship going back to USC. I was asking around at the Senior Bowl, what does this mean? There was just some chatting about, well, maybe we saw Cliff pulled himself out of the Raiders' offensive coordinator position. We all thought he was getting that. It was reported that he was going to get it. He didn't have the contract, he didn't sign the contract, and then he removed himself, and now he is the Commander offensive coordinator. Before that happened at the Senior Bowl, people were chatting, and they were like, What if he did the same thing in Chicago? We just don't know because maybe he knows something that we don't know about Caleb in Chicago. Now he's with the commanders who are the next team that needs a quarterback.

It just dawned on me. Sorry, Billy, that Kingsbury is all about relationships with quarterbacks. He's like a salesman. He's a nice of a coach.

Kyler Murray, Kyler Williams. He befrends quarterbacks.

Anyway, sorry, Billy. I see. I have an idea I want to pitch to you guys that I was thinking as you were walking us through all of the drama. It's not that crazy. It's just presented in a different way. Sports Gossip. It's just a podcast where we're just gossiping about sports, which is It's really just sports radio anyways, but we're presenting it as sports gossip.

You're packaging it differently. Exactly right.

Especially this week because there's been a lot of sports gossip regarding the commanders and Ben Johnson.

Oh my gosh, that was a mess.That whole saga. An absolute mess. Should we present that?

I'm already thinking of blind items that we can do on sports gossip. I'm already like, I'm all in on this.

But the key to gossip is making shit up. Ben Johnson.

Even though it's been reported, but a lot of it is-The blind The blind item on Ben Johnson is that-Well, you can't say his name.

It's a blind item.

Okay, sorry. One- You're good at this.NFL.

Office Coordinator.

There you go. One mad scientist, NFL Coordinator, removed himself from consideration when his future employer was on the plane to come give him the job.

Juicy. Juicy gossip.

Hot gossip. The thing about Ben Johnson that I do want to talk about is why can't we all just admit that not everyone wants to be a head coach, and maybe not everyone is ready to be a head coach. I think what he's doing, it's interesting that it's turned into this whole he said, she said with the commanders in his camp. He wants too much money. I guess as his agent, you don't want him to say, I don't want to be a head coach right now because you don't want to eliminate people being interested in him later. But it's like, why is it bad to just admit, I'm not ready right now. I would like to just stay here and keep doing what I'm doing.

Or it's just not for me.

Or I just don't want to coach Washington for the commanders because do they have their shit together?

Unclear. But I thought part of that story was Ben knew he wasn't getting the job, therefore removed his name from consideration.

I don't know. At the Athletic, our reporter and Commander's reporter, Ben Standing, and Diana Rossini, collabed on a story that came out yesterday. It seemed like from their reporting that they did want Ben or Mike McDonald. They were between the two. Dan Quinn was essentially the third choice who ended up with the job. They were on their way. I think they had said in the story that they were basically flying there. It was like a formality. They were going to give him the job.

I love it, too.

It's so cute.

It's a he said, she said. Have you ever been on your way?

Billy's so excited. I love it.

Or has someone I've never been on their way to interview you and you were like, Hey, buddy, actually, I'm sticking around.

Yeah, all the time. Forget about job interviews, regular interviews.

We reschedule them constantly.

I'm on my way to radio, you're like, Actually, you It's going to be tomorrow.

Sorry. I almost did it to you today.

Why did Kyle Shanahan decide to start spying on his coaches? He's crazy.

I have a story coming out tomorrow about... I forget our exact headline, but it's something about the Shanahan surveillance state. Because his dad, Mike, started this in Denver as an assistant coach or as the head coach in Denver. He had cameras put in all of his position coaches meeting rooms, capturing the meetings live and streaming them back to his office. It was like He was in a CCTV security camera office.

It was like in a production room.

Yes, basically. He could listen in on any of the meetings he wanted to listen to because he can't be in all these places at once. He thought it was really valuable to make sure his coaches had consistent messaging across the board. By spying on them. Yeah. So it started there.

I'm not going to lie. I wouldn't like that.

It's creepy. Yeah.

Were there any objections to it?

So there were some on- Background objections to Nothing that I could include as the on the record source. That's perfect.

This is good for a show. You don't have to say it. It's the blind item. Exactly right.

When you start having sources, this podcast is ruined.

But that's the interesting part about it, is Everyone who wanted to talk for the story or who was comfortable talking for the story was like, This is great. It's made me a better coach or it's made me a better player. Or they describe how weird it is, but they think it's just a good thing. They think it's making the team better, the communication better across the board, and they have a lot of respect for Kyle Shanahan. But the people who disagreed were not willing to... Because they're afraid. Because he's very powerful. The Shanahan tree is like...

Big Brother is watching.

Unstoppable.

How about you trust your ability to hire the right people and then just let them do their jobs?

Because also, if you're working for someone and you're also a leader of a group of people farther down on the staff, you want to be able to sometimes talk shit about your boss. That's an important part of being in a company. I would never. Same stuff that you need to hear. Not that you're on different pages. I've never done it at this job. But when I worked at Sports Illustrating, I was like, Oh my God, Kaylyn.

So necessary.

Why would we not talk shit about your boss?

Do you think Lepetard spying on us? Yeah, I do.

I mean, there's not a room in the studio that doesn't have a camera. Kitchen has a camera where the couch has a camera. The bikes are always on.

There you go. I mean, you guys are living in the Shana and surveillance.

Are Were there coaching sessions, game tape sessions where he's like, Guys, I don't like the way you're doing this. Really? I was joking.

No, I have several anecdotes of Mike. I have a bunch of good anecdotes about Mike doing that in Washington and Denver. Actually, Kyle Shanaher tells one all the time where he was installing the revamped offense for Robert Griffin III in Washington. It was 2012. Him and Mike had been arguing about the zone rate offense. They had one point of contention of shotgun or pistol, essentially. He goes into Mike's office after his first install. He thought it went really well. Mike had been watching the whole thing. He thought it went well. He says that Mike told him it was the worst install he'd ever seen. He had that feedback because he'd been watching it live. There are stories of Mike going into rooms while meetings are happening and being like, No, you're not doing this right. I was talking to some of the quarterbacks yesterday.

While they're happening, he'd interrupt, he'd go in.

Yes. Brandon Allen, the Niners third-screen quarterback, said that they refer to... They have a screen in their room because now everything's on Zoom. The camera is still recording, but the coaches, if they want to, they can mute it because it's on Zoom. But he said they refer to the screen in their meeting room as the voice of God, because every once in a while, Kyle's voice will just come in. And not his face, just his voice.

Intentionally, he'll just interject.

Yes. And he'll be like, No, can we do this? Or like, Can you guys go back to that? Because he's listening while he's multitasking in his office. That's insane.

For someone who hasn't won a Super Bowl yet.

.

You can't even just win one.

You have to win multiple Super He seems a bit distracted to me.

Trust your staff.

Maybe do a little bit less. I will say, when Mike started it, back in the day, they didn't have Zoom, obviously.

They had a light switch on the wall where you could turn it off or on, and it would control the audio output inside the room. If you did want to engage in a little gossip, you could do that. Actually, Mike told his coaches, I don't want you to feel like you can't say things that I'm going to hear. If you need to do it-But I do want to hear her heard it all say. But just don't say him about me. Because his thing, he was like, I want to know what you're saying about football. If you want to talk about other stuff, just turn it off. But then the Niners offensive line coach right now, Chris Foster, he was on the Mike Shana staff in Washington. He said if he forgot to turn his thing back on after he turned it off, Mike's assistant would come by and be like, Hey, you got to turn your audio back on.

Oh my gosh. Wait, wasn't that the Dolphins' coach?

I think so.

Yeah, it was.

He was left to outside.

He had Yeah, he had his demons.

He's rebounded. Exactly right. He's in a good place now probably. A comeback story.

But imagine Kyle saw that.

Well, I do wonder what- You've got an interesting point now about the surveillance.

Clearly, they didn't have that in Miami.

No, it seems as though they didn't.

When That occurred. But if I'm a coach and I know that that stuff is happening, I know Kyle's watching me at all times, I start having fun with it, wouldn't you?

Oh, yeah. Like talking to him like, Hey, Kyle, what are you eating for lunch today?

Or just mother bleeping him. Yeah, right. Just to see how far you can play.

It would be crazy if someone got me a glass of water right now. I'd just be passive aggressive, asking people to do shit.

I sure wish someone was listening and watching.

We were talking about this. This is unrelated. In the Beanie Babies movie that I told you to watch on the plane, there's an Apple plus BeanieBeanie Babies movie. When I was watching it- Wait, is it animated?

No, it's a documentary.

About the Beanie Babies.

To bring it back to Chicago.

Chicago suburbs are the crédal of Beanie Babies mania.

Oh, my God. I had so many. This is a good place.

In this movie, spoiler alert.

Chicago land, famously known for Beanie Baby. It is.

It really is. It was like a point in the movie. They created the Beanie Baby craze. It was a bunch of wives.Yes, I didn't really know that.Yeah. Wow.

Anyways, the guy, Ty, whatever his name was, the head of the Beanie Baby. Kind of a weirdo. Well, yes, but you'll find out to different extents. But he had in his executive's office, who he was also dating and in a relationship with, microphones that they found out. Then they found him like, What the F? Then they start talking, and then one of her friends is the thing. She's like, Oh, yeah, you always wanted to play the guitar. She looked at her and she's just like… Then the next day or a couple of days later, there's a brand new guitar there. She's like, Wow, we're just so in sync.Oh.

My God.That's.

What they should be doing with Kyle.

What was your relationship with Abby be like if she listened to all of your private conversations?

She'd be bored. She'd probably be bored. It's like this again.

God. This guy won't stop talking about rings and heaters.

Yeah, divorce.

Thanks, Kaylyn. Yeah, of course.

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The Dan Lebitard Show with Stugatz is brought to you by Bayer Aspirant, the official sponsor of Fans' Heart.

We are presented by DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NFL. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app today and use code dan for a special offer when you sign up. That's code Dan only at DraftKings Sportsbook.

All right. Tuesday, Radio Row, Super Bowl week. Wow. Billy looks tired. My voice is shot. Matthew Berry is here. This is the time where you need to dig deep, Matthew. Dig deep, ready A Row. You got to give 110 % because people are tired. You're exhausted already, aren't you?

I feel like what you're telling me here, Stugatz, is that you and Billy are going to phone this in, so I've got to carry the interview.

Yes, yes, yes. I mean, listen, you're part of the family now.

Yeah, exactly. That's true.

Welcome to the DraftKings family, my friend.

The Crown is yours. The The Brown is ours. Big time for DraftKings, you and LeBron.Me and LeBron, yeah.Yes. I don't think those press releases went out in that order. But yeah, no, listen, DraftKings came on board with NBC earlier in the year, and so I did all the DraftKings segments on football night in America. Draftkings is also a sponsor of fantasy football Happy Hour and fantasy football pregame on Peacock and NFL on NBC YouTube channel, wherever you get your podcast, etc. But then also I have an individual deal DraftKings. I'm an ambassador for DraftKings, and they also are a sponsor of my fantasy life newsletter, the fantasy life media company, our podcast network, everything like that. I am a big DraftKings guy. Love me the DK. Love me the DK. The Crown is indeed yours, my friends.

As an ambassador, what do you do? Do you speak to foreign nations about DraftKings?

Yeah, exactly. I have a sash. I have a sash and a crown, and I go. They send me When it's a really bad, when it's a big country, they send LeBron or whatever. But it's like the smaller one. Exactly. When they're like, You know what? There's a crappy town in Luxembourg. Can you just go, Barry? Give a thing of flowers to the mayor or whatever? That stuff. I do those things. I do overseas grocery store openings, a lot of ribbon cutting, that thing.

It's a thankless job. But someone's got to do it.

It just dawned on me. I never asked you because I'm always focused on what quarterback should I take in the seventh round whenever I talk to you. Do you gamble?

Yes. Thank you for not watching my DraftKings. What about me being a DraftKings ambassador? Did you miss? You understand that the entirety of what I do on Football Night America is literally betting segments.

I meant more in terms of like... Because we're in Las Vegas, obviously. I meant more like Black Jack, roulette, craps table. Will you sit down at a table and just gamble for three hours? Thank you.

I have in the past. I haven't yet this But yeah, Black Jack for sure. I've occasionally played craps. Those are my two games would be Black Jack and craps. But I tend not to... I just haven't, honestly. I enjoy betting on sports a lot, and Here in Vegas, especially because there's between doing my own show, doing other shows, there's meetings, there's business, and there's some networking and parties. My wife comes in on Thursday. To find a three-hour chunk where you're just sitting at a table.

What percentage of this week do you enjoy? Not to say you don't enjoy the other stuff, but how much can you actually sit back and take it in?

Billy, I have five kids. I enjoy every 15 minute of it. I have five children.

Yet the wife is coming here. She wants to get away, too.

She's like, Oh, you're leaving me with all them? Now, screw you. I'm coming out there, too. Three of our kids are out of the house, 25, 23, and 18. He's a freshman at Alabama, Roll Tide. But we do twin daughters that are 12. Listen, it's work, but it's fun work. What we do for a living is technically work, but it's not laying bricks or whatever. I'll do no disrespect.

You were very careful to choose a profession.

We thank you for your service, for players.

Yeah, that's a %. The idea is just, right, no, but right? We're very blessed to be able to do what we do. While, do I wish my show wasn't live at 9:00 AM Monday through Friday on Peacock? Yes, because getting up at 7:00 after night in Vegas is not the easiest thing in the world. But yeah, no, I enjoy the majority of the week. It's a lot. It is a lot of trying to get here and trying to get here and a lot of demands on your time. You come down to Radio Row and Stugats, and I'm sure this happens to you guys as well. You got a bunch of people, Hey, can you come on this show, this podcast? Can you do this? You always want to say yes and try to be helpful, but also there's only so many hours of the day.

How was it for you? I know you have the twin girls at home still, but with the last boy leaving, going to college, how was that for you, specifically?

It was weird. I'm going to miss him. Especially because that kid, Connor, my son Connor, is an unbelievable athlete. I've written about him before, but basically he was... I live in a town called Chesa, Connecticut, and the football team finished fourth in the state, and the lacrosse team played. The lacrosse team is even better because you start football later. But Connor played lacrosse since he was in third grade, I think. Really? It's the same group of kids. My wife and I, we've seen the same group of kids since they were in third grade all the way to last year. Last year, they ended up winning the state title in Connecticut. That's a big deal there, Matthew. Connecticut is a lacrosse state. No doubt. Chesher was... They had 10 kids that were first-team all-state, including my son. My son made First Team All-State. They were named Team of the Year. They were named Coach of the Year. They were ranked fifth in the nation among public schools. There's a lot of private schools where they recruit kids from all over. But among public high schools, they were fifth in the entire country, according to USA Today.

They had two kids that were high school Americans, including one kid that was rated by Max Preps as the number one lacrosse recruit in the country. It was a really magical ride because it was all these kids that we've seen grown up. Again, in Connecticut, there's all these private schools, and they recruit, and like, Oh, your defenseman's from Rhode Island, that stuff. These were all just city kids in a town of about 30,000. That stayed together all the way through. That stayed together. It's just like they just all got better and played with each other. Of course, my wife and I, we got to know all the parents. The parents are all very close again because we've all been watching games and practices for the last decade or so. That's a long way of answering thing. It was very sad to me because not only is the son out of the house, but that's a part of our life. That was a big part of our life, going to all the games and the practices and all the parents and all of his friends were the kids on the team. It's a sad chapter that's closing.

A wonderful chapter, but you know what I mean?

I feel it because I coached my daughter. I coached her team. She's at Northwestern playing lacrosse. When she left, it went to school, and all the friends went to college, it left a big void in my life. It really did. So I understand. I can relate to that. So your wife's coming to Vegas on Thursday. Yes, sir. Are you guys going to the game?

We are going to the game, yeah. Nice. Look at you. It's been a tradition for us because the football season is so long, and so she doesn't see me. So it's always been a tradition where we get a babysitter. She flies out towards the end of the week. We leave the kids at home. We get to dress up. We'll go to some parties. We go to the game and get to celebrate the end of the year.

You're invited to different parties, I think, than me and Billy are invited to. Most definitely. Is that fair to say? You have access to it. Probably. Although-you want to bring us? Yeah.

Well, are you guys not invited to the DraftKings party Saturday night?

We are invited to the DraftKings party.

I mean, hopefully in a different section than me, but I assume you'll be in the building.

Yeah. But here's the thing for me.

There'll be the LeBron and Kevin Hart section. Yes, right. Then Dan will have a section. And maybe I'm in a corner of Dan's section. And I think then it goes further down.

You have LeBron staying for the Saturday night DraftKings party?

I assume a cardboard stand But like, you know.

Are we invited?

I wasn't. Really?

I know a guy. I know a guy. Honestly, I think if you just walk in Billy with this, it'll be fine. It'll be fine. Just say, This is my invite. There you go.

What's the best Super Bowl party you've ever been to?

I actually have an answer for this. It's amazing how you do this. This is amazing how you do this, Stu God. Because how many times have I been on your show or been interviewed by you, whether it's on Levitard or Stupod or whatever, any of the various shows? I don't know, whatever. Several times. Yes, seven, eight, nine. I don't know what it is. But Billy, this is amazing. One way or the other, somehow, Stugatz, and I don't think he even intend to it, he falls into a Jay-Z story.

Yeah, he always just wants a Jay-Z story.

It's my gift, Matthew. By the way, he was so great on the Grammys the other night. He's such a goat.

It was Flav of Flav, by the way.

It's our guy. I apologize to DraftKings. I'm a DraftKings guy, but a couple of years ago in Miami, was fanatics had a party. It's always a day party during the Saturday during the day. We go in and we go We're happy to be at the party, but there's a super secret crazy celebrity section there. Anyway, I'm there with my wife and my kids, two of my adult kids, and we're there. All of a sudden, Jay walks in, and he walks in with two of the guys that are in the league with him that I know, Mike Kaiser and Juan Perez. I'm like, Hey, guys, and I wave at them, and they all wave at me. Of course, everyone immediately surrounds Jay, like paparazzi and everything like that. But that doesn't happen with Jay and Juan. I'm sorry, with Juan and Mike. I look over and I'm like, Hey. So, guys, No one calls Mike Kaiser, Ky's. Ky's and Juan are like, They give me the nod, like, Come on. I point them like my wife and kids, and they're like, Yeah. We get to walk into the super secret closed off VIP because we're part of Jay-Z's entourage, thing.

No one's questioning us. We just walk in with this group, and it's unbelievable. In this small little section, it's like, Odell Beckham Jr. And Jeffrey Loury and Kevin Hart and Meek Mill and OBJ, and the Chainsmokers, and Mark Cuban and me.

How did I get here?

Obviously, in Jay-Z. They never kicked us out. You know what I mean? At one point, they gave me a look, and I pointed at Jay, and Jay gave me like, It's fine. Let him be here. It Jay gave me the king wave. Anyway, so that was just an unbelievable... Especially for my kids, for them to... My kids were like, I got a picture with Meek Mill. They were so thrilled to and Kevin Hart. They were super psyched. Everyone just assumed we were supposed to be there. You know what I mean? No one questioned like, I'm sorry, this is an A-list celebrity, and you're like...We're the berries.Right. Aren't you a low-rated basic cable personality?

You're friends with Jay-Z. You don't explain yourself to anyone.

Anyway, again, Jay is incredibly gracious as is Kaizen Juan. They're awesome human beings. That's the best Super Bowl party I've ever been to just because... Just being able to experience that, but also see my kids experience that. The last party they were at was a high school kegger. It's a good way to ruin your kid's childhood and be like, Yeah, none of the parties you're going to go to in high school you shouldn't be at is going to be as good as this one.

So just come out with Mom and Dad. We'll take care of you. It'll be fine.

Yeah, there you go. And once again, I was hoping to avoid a Jay-Z story. Sorry, man. I feel like it's so name-dropy, but you know.

You think I knew that when I asked the best Super Bowl party you ever went to? You were hoping for it. I had an idea. I feel like.

You were fishing for it.

I feel like you did.

The Dan Lebitard Show with Stugatz is presented by one800flowers. Com. Draftkings' official flowers for Valentines. We're presented by DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NFL. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app today and use code Dan for a special offer when you sign up. That's code Dan only at DraftKings Sportsbook. Have your kids ever wanted to come along to the Super Bowl and you're like, This is mommy and daddy's time. You will not be coming?

Oh, for sure. And in fact, my 12-year-old daughters, who, of course, are both huge swifties. As soon as the Chiefs one, they're like, Dad, Dad. I'm like, You know we wouldn't be sitting anywhere near her, right? You'll actually see her more on TV than you would actually at the-until Jay-Z sees you and then you're in the street with her.

Then you'll tell us that story.

Anyway, but yes, my daughter's definitely one. I have been able to over the years, thanks to the graciousness of various employers, been able to take my kids. All my adult kids have been to Super Bowl, so very blessed and lucky there.

Of that group of boys you talked about, the lacrosse team, how many of those kids are hitting you up fantasy advice all the time?Not.

That many because.Really? Every once in a while, a couple of them will slide into my DMs on Instagram. But for the most part, Connor, my kid is just like, Don't. Don't. He's like... And Connor was not only was... He was one of the captains of the team. He was one of the leaders of the team, in addition to being one of their better players. They all listen to him. They're all scared of Connor. Connor was a defensive midi. He's basically a football player with a lacrosse stick.

But is he playing in college?

He's not. I'm so annoyed about it. He got D1 offers, and he just didn't want to. He's like, I want to go south. I want to be somewhere warm with a big football program. Unfortunately, a Southern school with a big football program doesn't haveopera. Men's lacrosse. It doesn't have men's lacrosse.

I was going to say University of Florida has women's lacrosse, but you're right.

Right. He's at Alabama, but he looked at Bama, Kentucky, Missouri, Louisville, LSU. Like all the-No lax. Yeah. South Carolina Clemson. He looked at all Southern schools with big-time football programs. His first season. His freshman, yeah.

And Saban bounced immediately. Not great.

It might be Connor's fault. He might want to transfer.

He might want to transfer. Yeah. He'd go to Georgia. What are you going to do? Who are you taking in the game? Who do you like? When you place your bets at DraftKings Sportsbook, what are you putting down?

Chiefs Plus 2 and Chief's Money Line. Really? I love that. There's some props I like. I like the over on Pacheco rushing yards. Last I looked, it was 65 and a half. I like over on Pacheco rushing attempts at 16 and a half as well. There's some fun ones as well. I like Elijah Mitchell to get over one and a half carries rushing attempts with some small ones there. But I don't understand why the Niners are favored. I don't get that.

I don't know. I don't get it either. We just saw the Chiefs go into Baltimore and beat the Ravens. We saw the Chiefs go in the Buffalo and beat Josh Allen and the Bills. And yes, why are they not Ravens yet on a neutral field against Brock Birdy? Thank you.

I made that literally that exact point. This defense... And by the way, they also shut down the Dolphins. And yes, it was crazy cold, but the Chiefs were able to move the ball in that weather. So it's like they shut down a top 10 offense in the Dolphins, and then they go on the road to beat Allen and Lamar Jackson. Meanwhile, Brock Purdy barely got by Jordan Love and Jared Goff at home. And all due respect to Goff and Love, we like both those guys. They ain't Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen at this part of their career. And then you're just the basic part of Mahomes versus Brock Purdy, It seems silly. And then the one Achilles heel of the Niners defense, obviously, is the run defense. We saw Aaron Jones have a huge game against them. We saw the Detroit running backs have a huge game against them. I think you're going to see a lot of Pacheco. He gets a massive carry. That's why I like the over on the rushing attempts and the rushing yards. Then the last thing here is, by the way, and I think this is underrated, but in the playoffs with Patrick Holmes as his quarterback off of a buy, Andy Reid is 6-1.

Crazy. When you've given Andy Reid more than one week to prepare for a team in the playoffs with Mahomes, he's got one loss, and that was to Tom braided in the Super Bowl.

The key is with Mahomes because six years ago, Andy Reid was the coach who couldn't win the big game. It's funny how that works, but you're right.

It's a good point. Again, all due respect to Brock Purdy, he ain't Tom braided. It's a football game. Anything can happen. But I honestly feel like it should be Chiefs Lion in this football game.

Yeah. I think a lot of people wish it was Chiefs Lion because the Lions because the Lions America's team. They were so fun. Quickly on the way out, two quick things. The fantasy guy that you thought was going to be great this year that turned out to be a disaster.

Damian pierce. Oh, yeah. He was getting a massive workload in the beginning. I drafted him. I was right about the fact that the Texans would be better than people thought. I didn't think they'd do what they did. But I was like, this is going to be a competitive team. What does D'Amico Ryan's want to do? He wants to run the ball, play good defense. Who knew C. J. Stroud was going to be C. J. Stroud. But I'm like, he wants to be a one running back guy, and I was right about that. The problem is the running back was Devon Singletary. So pierce was just a bad fit for what Sloic wanted to do on offense. That was a guy that I liked a lot in the preseason and didn't work out.

Can you arm Billy with anything about... Chris Sims and Billy have this wonderful, blossoming relationship. It's a love-hate relationship. Is there anything we can use against Chris Sims? Can you hand Billy some material he can use against Chris Sims? Is he a diva? Is he hard to work with? Anything?

He's awesome to work with. I really like the guy. He lives on a farm. If you want to give him crap about that.

He doesn't have a gate.

He told us about it. Chris Sims tells us about his house, and he tells us how he's neighbors with Adam Silver. He talks about how great this neighborhood is and basically how well off everyone is, but then paints it as like, I'm really struggling. I'm the smallest house on this. I only have eight acres. It's like, Chris, come on, man. What are you doing?

Yeah, exactly. There's a little bit of that. Listen, does he pull up to NBC Sports in Stanford, Connecticut, and at Tesla? Yes, he does. Of course. Simons is doing just fine.

He's got a weird sweating habit, we noticed the other day. He sweats through his shirt in a strange fashion.

What is going on there? What's interesting is, so his podcast is called Chris Sims on Button. I remember asking him, because if you ever notice, other than on Football Night in America, where he was over tie, but he's always got the top button. That's his look. I said, Oh, that's so clever because you're always… I said it's the unbutton because you finally get to unbutton the top button. He didn't get it. He goes, No, I just thought it was a good name. I'm like, It has nothing to do. It's not based on your look. He goes, No, it's just… I'm like, But shouldn't it be? Shouldn't you lean into that?

All adds up. Curses like a sailor, too. He curses a lot, right?

That much he does. I will say that if you want to give him crap. Listen, he's been a great teammate to me. Moment one, he welcomed me in. We used to do our segments together in year one on Football Night. He's been awesome to me. I love Sims, but I will tell you, he did ruin cursing because first week I'm there, I'm on Unbuttoned, his podcast, and he's cursing like a sailor. I'm like, Awesome. Things are fun on Peacock. Do we even need to call it Peacock? Can we shorten it?

Oh, he would.

He could. Then my first second show on Peacock, I dropped an F-bomb, and they were like, Hey, can we not? And I like, But Sims? I'm like, Yeah, because Sims does it so much, we don't want it. Wow. He has his own rules.

The Sims rules.

It's the Jordan's rules and the Sims rules.

Incredible. A thousand %.

Amazing. What are you doing with NBC? Promote it. Promote all of it, Matthew.

Go ahead. Fantasy Football Happy Hour. We're here live all week at the Zoom Bowl on Radio Row. We're live at noon Eastern on Peacock, and then available on demand on Peacock and the NFL and NBC YouTube channel, and of course, wherever you get your podcast. Then, of course, my 2024, way, way, way too early top 50 rankings are available right now on rotaroll. Com, of course, for free. Sign up for my newsletter at fantasylife. Com. We're sending out bets all the time, and it's good stuff. It's free, 100% free.

Never too early for me, my friend. You're always great to us. We appreciate it. You always have great stories. You carried the segment. You did my job for me. Thank you.

I knew I had to. You warned me at the beginning, Billy, you can go to sleep now.

Thank you, Matthew. We won't see you at the DraftKings party. We're not invited yet. All right.

I'm going to call somebody. Thank you. And make sure that happens. You're an ambassador. Don't let them in. These two. Not allowed. Yeah.

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