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Greg Olsen joins us from Fox Sports, he's working with Amazon Web Services and the NFL's next-gen stats team on the launch of a new NFL fan-facing product that will give fans a new way to analyze playstyle patterns around the league at the team and league level through raw player tracking data. Greg, what's been your favorite tracking data stuff so far this season? Yeah, so it's actually really cool, I'm anxious for people genuinely to see it because this has been something we've used since I've been broadcasting. I know teams now have built out their own analytics departments and staffs that a lot of them are powered by a lot of the AWS, next-gen, raw data and then every team is taking it and making it what they will. But in the broadcast booth every week, we meet with the next-gen guys and they provide us with all of our advanced data and all of our trends. So what they've done now is they've just made it like a forward consumer-facing portal. You go on and you take the Seattle Seahawks defense and then there's like a picture like a pie chart. And in that, it'll give you like the top six trends of that team. It's all right. There are zone coverage, light box, nickel personnel and it's very like, you wouldn't even need to really be like an advanced football junkie to really process it. It's very self-explanatory. And then as you click, you can dive into the weeds of, all right, let's compare their nickel usage to league-wide standards. Okay, then I can go down below and I can track the trends, hence the name. And I can say, okay, what is their nickel and zone usage from 23, 24, 25 under McDonald? Okay, what's the difference this year in 26 and chart it? I mean, it is a really fascinating tool and the fact that we've been able to use it on the broadcasts both before and real time during the game to build our storylines. And now just the average fan, it's free, it's accessible. You don't need a profile, you don't need to pay for it. Just to continue to educate fans, let them just dive deeper into their favorite teams, their favorite players. I think fans are smarter than they ever have. I think they crave this information. It's the way the game's being played at the team level and I think to give a tool like this for fans to follow along and learn alongside the evolution of the league is pretty special. All right. I love this stuff. All right. Let's take a look at two traits. We already saw Jeffrey Simmons pay immediate dividends for the Spare's defense, which I really felt like like a lot of people, like there was some good weeks before you go. I don't know. I don't know how it's going to stack up. And now it feels like, especially in a Tampa game where I'm going, I've never had this feeling in a Bears game all season where I'm like, well, they might be okay despite these turnovers because the defense is going to find a way. And that was kind of the theme of this game a little bit. Does the Kirk Cousins acquisition do enough to put Minnesota back into the picture of like they can still win the NFC North? You know, I think the. Well, started with I agree with both those both those sentiments are obviously incredibly interesting. I'll dive into both. I think first and foremost, the Simmons trade in Chicago. What's so unique there is I think the initial reaction is all right. You gave up a ton. We're used to seeing guys give up a ton for like edge rushers. You know, you think of the Khalil mat trade of the you know, however many years ago that was like premier edge players defensive pass rushers. You know, playing on the outside. What I think is so unique and so special about a guy like Simmons. It's very similar to like the Aaron Donalds of the world. Those very, very elite interior players. They can impact the game regardless of circumstance. So right, I have Micah Parsons. Okay, so the last year in Dallas they have Micah Parsons pass rusher that goes out and that defense is built to stop the pass. It's built to defend the run a 30 point offense. Well, the son now they're at 18 point offense and I'm running the ball at you. Okay, Micah Parsons is at his best as a pass rusher with the lead impacting the passing game. Jeffrey Simmons can play. All right, this turns into a shootout where the other teams got to drop back and throw the ball to catch up to Caleb Williams in this offense. He can rush the pass or an impact the passing game. All right, this game. It's a sluggish game. There's turnovers. It's a smaller possession game. Similar to what you watch the other night. And it turns into a run fest. It turns into a downhill game. Okay, he's going to impact the run game too. So like what's so unique about him is he doesn't need the perfect formula for his strengths to impact the game because he's going to impact every play. If he is on the field, whether it's first intent in the first quarter or a third down, fourth down game on the line in the fourth quarter over time where they need a sack. He's equally as valuable in all those situations. So I think that's what's so unique and smart for Chicago. Dennis Allen's done an incredible job. That defense last year was a rider died take away defense on a per play basis. They were not very good. He has completely flipped them. He's done an outstanding job. And then you talk about, okay, now on the other side in that division with cousins. We've seen cousins play high level ball under Kevin O'Connell. We've seen him operate with Jefferson. We've seen him operate in this Vikings organization. It only took him blowing his Achilles out to really harbor. He was arguably the best quarterback in football. He at least was the best under center play action. All the things O'Connell wants to be quarterback and football before he blew his Achilles out. What was that now three seasons ago, whoever what two or three seasons ago. So we've seen him do it before. He's played very good ball. It's not like they found a guy off the street that's got to get in. He's been the starter. He's been playing at a really good level with the Raiders come over now. So yeah, I think it changes the entire picture. I give a lot of credit to the Vikings. Don't waste what is a historically good defense under Brian Flores. And if they could just be serviceable on offense, especially at the quarterback position, they're definitely a threat. Bears, Niners neutral field, who would you take today? Well, it depends what Niners team I roll out there with. So I had the Niners, you know, with Niners with Mike Evans and all their horses. I still think the Niners offense, defense, Shanahan and those weapons. Again, the caveat always being, especially it seems with the Niners, who do they have? Is it, do they have all their tools on both sides of the ball, like any team? I'm probably taking the Niners. But I think Chicago is as good as balanced elite play caller. Caleb, I know how to rough night with the turnovers. I still think he's playing at an extremely high level. And I already said, I think Dennis salad, the job he's done on defense. I think if you put a gun to my head, square neutral field, they have their dudes. I think I'd still take San Francisco. But I think Chicago's closing that gap right now and pretty much the entire league. Yeah, and I think the feeling, and this is kind of the thing with it. It's like, okay, it's already happening to the Niners, you know, with the receivers and everything. You're like, what is that going to look like week 17? Okay, even if they're the ones he'd like, what does it look like? And I don't think it's like the wrong thing to say it feels like the Bears are better positioned, especially with the youth in that receiving game. And the thing that I love about the Bears too is it feels like Rome is playing the best these played. Luther might even be the favorite option with them. I mean, the commit injury sucks, but you still have Lovelin, who's like basically this, this really, really tough matchup. Like, he gets.
lost just based on a lack of opportunities in a different situation. Like if he was on a bad basketball team for the analogy, you'd be going, this guy's unbelievable, but there's just not enough balls to go around. I think like that Seattle games are perfect examples. Like we actually don't have to go and throw it a million times right now, especially with that defense. The Rams have been interesting because it's kind of like a write off and then easy schedule, the Arizona thing kind of screwed up the easy schedule part of it. And even looking at that Washington game, Greg, I'm like, this just doesn't look right. And now you have the Nikua injury. Is there anything that jumps out to you, Stafford specific that feels like why, even with all of their pieces, that it just wasn't clicking offensively? Yes. I called that game in L.A. that they lost to Arizona. And I think everyone was surprised certainly to lose that game at home against an Arizona team that really was still searching. And early in the Michael floor era of kind of turning that thing around, you know, hadn't really been able to do anything on offense and then obviously the defense has had some ups and downs. That game, really the tale of that game was Arizona turning up the heat with some of their blitz packages and some of their pressure stuff and bringing, you know, six, you know, five, six, seven man pressures and the Rams really had a hard time handling some of that. That's the last time I had the Rams. So I watched them kind of struggle that day. I think Get Miles Garrett backs certainly is a game changer. He had what three sacks on Sunday. I think, you know, I saw when, you know, falling up on some of the games. So obviously getting him back is a game changer. I still think and maybe this is just like your biases. Like I've always been a believer if you never give up on proven coaches, you never give up on proven quarterbacks, you never give up on proven talent. Like they might struggle, struggle, struggle, but you always just sit there and you're like eventually it's going to pop. It's going to click and go. I still kind of have that feeling, right? As long as you got McVeigh and you've got, you know, now a healthy deep, you know, Get Miles Garrett back there on defense, obviously, it's a game changer. If you got staffer behind center, certainly losing Puka playing without Devonte Adams. He got hurt in the game that that we called that day. So I think they have a little similar going on to like what's going on in San Francisco. It's like, well, what are they on offense? Well, it depends what the lineup is. It feels like any given week guys that were accustomed to seeing in those Rams uniforms lined up at extra seaver, lined up in the slot, the plays, all of a sudden the ball's thrown. It's like, oh, that wasn't Devonte Adams. Who was like, it just looks a little bit different and certainly that's the NFL, right? It's an attrition based business, but I, it would take a lot for me to ever just give up on McVeigh and Stafford and those guys, but you're right, it certainly doesn't look like what everyone thought it was going to look like. This was the all-star team. This was the super bowl favorite. They were going to roll over everybody. I think the division's part of the conversation, right? Is that division plays out with the exception of Arizona? They got three real teams, real coaches, real programs that certainly changes the dynamic of competing, but similar to your point about the NFC North. Yeah, in state of the North, like we all fell in love with Detroit after that win against Minnesota, right? I think it was the way they carried it out. There was like a 10 run stretch, like 10 rushing attempt stretch late in that game where it was 10 rushes for 120 yards. We talked to Nate Tyson about, okay, it was, it was 13 personnel, but it was also an alignment thing, right? Where it was like, now all of a sudden Minnesota, we can't just line up in these blitz packages where you have no idea what's going to happen. Now you've got like tight ends and you're just going to run the football the entire time. And of course that gets kind of labeled a blueprint game and that always kind of like makes me like push back me like, well, first of all, they didn't, it's not like they scored 30 points against the Vikings defense. The Vikings defense once again did their job, but where would Detroit be? I think the credit is the adjustment in the game, find something that works and then work off of that. Do you look at teams where I don't even Detroit is an answer where it's their adaptability week to week versus other teams where it's like, man, they come out in the third quarter and it's like week after week, they really don't want to change from who they are. Yeah, I think so I've just started recently diving in. I got Detroit this weekend, Detroit Patriots over in Munich. So I've watched Detroit on their prime time games, just following the league and whatnot, but really just in the last day or two have dove into like really their story of the season and roster and injuries and, of course, we saw the big injury a couple of weeks ago with Campbell, that was awful and hopefully he's okay. But just diving in and I think to your point, what's really cool about the Lions is they have kind of won games in a variety of different ways, which I've always felt is a good thing. I think everyone says, all right, this is our formula and we're going to double down on it and this is who we are. And certainly that can be effective and we've seen teams carry that. But I always like the teams, especially when you start talking postseason won game series games, you might not have your 30 point offense today. Okay, can your defense keep it close? Can you be opportunistic on the defensive side? All right, your left tackle goes down and it might not turn into a 35 40 drop back game. Do you have a complimentary run style? Can you get under center and play pass it? So are there different pathways to victory? And I think when you look at Detroit on just the macro level early in the year, they're scoring a bazillion points, they're giving up a bazillion points and it felt like if Goff wasn't perfect and if everything wasn't a shootout, they were going to struggle. Well, in the last couple games, I think they've been held 20 or fewer in like the last three games or the working and I think they want them all is Miami's actually like way better now. The last month and they were like, I'm not saying Detroit is supposed to have like a problem Miami, but it's just something that I've noticed a little bit with Miami is I was watching the game play out and it's like, hey, what's wrong with Detroit? I'm like, look at some of the Miami stuff. I'm not telling you they're good. I'm not doing it. I'm not making excuses. But I was like, this isn't maybe a shocking in some of these dolphins games I've seen recently, but I derailed. No. I have an interesting thought on the dolphins and I want to come back to that because I think you're spot on and I think half of these are really good, especially defensive minded and I obviously had coach, but even what, you know, his system, his style, I think it's a very modern day way people are starting to trend to play defense and that's a larger conversation to your point. But you know, that defense, if you would have said, hey, for four game winning streak, they're going to hold teams, you know, they're going to win the game when their offense is scoring 20 or less. I think people would have said, what are you nuts? They're going to have a 40. So I give them a lot of credit. They're getting healthier on defense. They get Brian branch back. They're hoping, you know, continue to get some of these. They're hoping DJ Reed can play. He's their top corner. He was out. So I think there's some, there's some excitement there that they're going to continue to improve on defense. That defensive line is no longer just like the Aiden Hutchinson show. They've got some real dudes now up front that can contribute in the past rush. So I think that's a great example of a team that, are they the foregone favorite? Are they the best team? I don't think anyone's suggesting that, but are there multiple pathways to victory on any given day? And ultimately, when you get to the end of the year, that's the NFL. You got to win one game and then reset and do it again a week later. And you don't know exactly the manner in which that game's going to be played. Since you're doing this Pat's Lions game, I don't know how deep I know there's probably with you the amount of prep that you do, but anything that you're learning and some of the preparation about where New England's at right now. Yeah, I think, I think New England's a little bit of an interesting case study. And again, I dove deep now for a day and a half. And you know, you look at offensively and I know Drake May's coming under some fire and there's been some turnovers. And I know last week's game kind of got at hand against Green Bay. But I think when you just look offensively, of course you make a big splash and you go out and you get AJ Brown, Romeo Dobbs, those are supposed to be your two horses there at wide receiver. And you know, game one, Super Bowl rematch, they lose AJ Brown, high ankle, then he comes back. Now he's dealing with some knee stuff, not exactly sure. They're saying he's going to make the trip. So you build an offense around what is a number one receiver coming off of a Super Bowl. You feel like you're going to, you know, obviously improve. And it hasn't certainly worked out that way. I know Drake May has had some picks and he's had some throws, but when you look at what Drake May does best, it is throw the ball downfield at a high level, super explosive passing game and very accurate downfield. And you know, that goes back to last year and carries over to this year. So I'll always believe in a team that can execute a deep field, deep passing game, like that is ultimately the way to score points in the NFL. Yes, you want to run, yes, you want balance, they've got some running back issues now trying to figure out what the backfield looks like. So they need to continue to say we are a downfield. We're going to throw it down the field. Yes, the game's going to be on Drake May's back. Yes, he might have a pick here and there, but it is our best way to score points. And it also does open up a little range of variance, right? There is going to be a little bit more downside risk to playing that, but it is the most effective way of scoring points in the NFL still comes through pass and still comes to the ability to throw the ball downfield. If you're playing today, you can't have Alan, you can't have my homes. Who would you want throwing you the football? And where's Jordan Love on that list? I guess I'm basically asking how many guys are ahead of Jordan Love right now. I'll tell you what. So we had the Bears Packers game a couple of weeks ago in Lambo. And it turned it just out, right? Yeah. So Caleb was out Tyson Bage and started and they had some, the Bears offense had had a tough day and didn't go. But it felt like it was going to be a good game.
felt like going into that game there was a lot of questions about Green Bay and they can't get the run game going at the time Josh Jacobs obviously wasn't playing and they can't get the run game going and you know the floor can't figure out the offense and all of this well that game from that game for it feels like they said listen we've got a star quarterback we've got some unique freak shows on the outside that can run mock five down the field we are going to throw it as far as whom we possible and we're just going to run on it run under it and you talk about throwing the ball down field we talked about it with Drake May nobody is better at it than Jordan love he is uniquely and that's really been not unique to this year they're just doing it more but I mean 20 plus area our past is nobody even close to the attempts the completions Christian Watson golden I mean I think they're like three and four and I think it's like Jackson Smith and Jigba CD lamb and then I want to say it's like Christian Watson and golden they're like either three and four in the receiving yards or four and five like which is remarkable to have two guys at the top of the league that are on the same team so to answer your question I think he's three and four are they three and four which is insane and again I don't know historical context like how often that's happened off the top of my head I don't probably like a Carter Moss thing yeah back in what the 90s ish late night I didn't even know when was that late early to look at it I'll look at it anyway keep talking I like the point is it's remarkable so to your original question there's probably not many guys right I mean you talk about some of these young this young crop of quarterbacks coming in the league you know over the last handful of years Jordan love is at the top does he get the same recognition and flare we could probably say he's under appreciated but what he's doing this year with an offensive line that's had some ups and downs a lot of different combinations really got off to a slow start virtually zero run game for the vast majority of the season and he has single-handedly put the put the offense on his back through that downfield passing game with elite wide receivers on the outside and they've become a wagon the last couple weeks I know I'm trying to look this up here because I'm not I'm just not sure where it's going to be like Carter I don't know is anybody listening to still I am I think it's fast trying to figure it out yeah I would need more time on this yeah there's a year where there's Carter but then I'm trying to find where moss is in it and I don't know we'll have to do again also yeah yeah he's he's been remarkable I actually the right answer might be like her cousins if you're a tight end because if you're a tight end and Jordan loves offense right now you might go like actually that would be boring because golden and and Watson are getting everything so when do you think you will be ready to say I think Jackson bills the elite team and they it would be a mistake if they don't win the AFC I think I'm I'm either there or I'm like walking in the room I think they I think Liam Cohen I said this last year and I actually got a little like flack I had a Jacksonville game late in the year I can't remember exactly who they played and I think I made the comment about like coach of the year and was like hey you know we talk about this guy and this guy and this guy and this guy and certainly you know whether it's Mike McDonald and Vrable and you know the Shanahan last year and there was a million guys who did a great job but I don't know if we appreciated the job that Liam Cohen did and now here we are a year later and I'm still sitting here saying are we giving Liam Cohen and Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars in general are we giving them enough credit considering how I mean let's be honest they were irrelevant in the AFC picture for years I mean years and then he comes in and it didn't take a while it wasn't a slow build yes he inherits Trevor Lawrence but the Trevor Lawrence playing now is not necessarily the Trevor Lawrence we've seen consistently since he's come into the league yes he's got a name he was the first pick his college career was incredible but his NFL career now is the best version of his NFL career and it's not even close so I think they all deserve a lot of credit and yes I think in an AFC that still feels listen my homes is always going to have a shot shot challenge right it's the usual names but with Lamar and the Baltimore situation kind of eliminating them from the picture like they'd been the years yeah I think Jacksonville is clearly now in that upper echelon and come the end they might be the last one standing I can't wait for Pittsburgh at Cincinnati this feels like either you know since any could go on this run when you look at their schedule like Jacksonville that game in a few weeks at Chicago that's going to be like a real statement kind of game there and sometimes those mean everything but like they go into Chicago beat that team I think it's going to be like everybody's coming around on them this is a massive opportunity at least for Pittsburgh even though they won the first one but for everyone to kind of come around on this team and I just I don't know what I think in my head I'm going hey burrowing these guys are cooking I guess we could argue the defense has had some better weeks here but the Tennessee game was like alarming for that Cincinnati defense and that wasn't that long ago there's only what two weeks ago and cam ward was legitimately moving the football consistently all day long he was winning on third downs and I'm going how can I back this team and then you see burrow just surgery now for what feels like a couple weeks this is a massive opportunity I think for Pittsburgh to feel like hey nice little story to okay we actually have to include them in this incredibly deep AFC yeah and I think what's cool about the AFC this year is you know I think in years past we don't you know we don't cover as many AFC games like in depth like like some of the other networks and whatnot but I think what's in the years past it always felt like there was like one or two clearly at the top and then there was like a bunched up second tier to your point about Jacksonville it feels this year in the AFC specifically that the entire first tier is kind of a clump of teams then on any given weekend you could make a strong argument that team A would beat team B or vice versa one week you said oh I love the bills I love the bangles I love but that defense scares me I don't love that they get into this matchup or this style does it bode well so I do think there's a lot of like styles make fights where based on who the opponent is it brings out the strengths or magnifies some of the weaknesses of a lot of these teams so I don't know if there's like the perfect team I think that's what I think they NFL this year in general in both conferences like there's a lot of teams that you wouldn't be shocked if they were the last one standing but I don't know if you would just stand on the table right now and say it's a foregone conclusion the AFC runs through team whoever so I think you watched Cincinnati on offense and you can come away and go who's stopping them unless you just have an offense that's built to win a 30 point shootout and unless you just fall into a special teams touchdown a pick six a strip sack like unless you just find something in an even possession game you're gonna have a hard time going up against burrow and Jason those guys so that's one side of the argument and then to your point I go well I watch Tennessee move the ball up and down the field and they're not exactly ripping it on offense so is the Cincinnati defense in a one game series in a playoff game are they good enough to show up weekend and week out and make a run to the Super Bowl you could probably make an argument that that's a concern so I think that's what makes the AFC so fun I think you can make that argument across the entire NFL I don't know if there is just an absolute wagon that you say there's no weakness they play it on both sides of the ball they can play any style game high scoring low scoring slug it out air raid I'm not sure if there's a team right now that checks every single box and I think that's what makes it fun last thing I just want to thank you for pointing out that when a player runs over a camera man or somebody on the side that there's probably enough time to help that person up it's a pet peeve of mine I think it's like one of the best scouting report pieces of information the best data you can get and I'm not like calling out every single guy that never does anything but it is a very telling thing about human nature of different people of like okay I just truck stick this poor woman that was holding up an audio orb I probably could help her up and we're gonna be okay even for running tempo we're probably gonna be okay it may be tempo I give it to you but I I'm with you and I'm so it happened and it just kind of like organically I've been watching it unfold for years and I I've racked my brain like have I ever had contact with someone on the sideline like I'm even going back in my own brain but just watching it you know whether it's a college game or NFL game it happens a good amount there's a million people a lot of the people have their backs turned and a lot of the people frankly even if they are watching it's happening so fast right like you see coaches and players sometimes on the sideline get caught up in the phrase these guys are moving fast it gets on you quick and you don't necessarily have time to get out let alone if you're holding up the audio what you call it or yeah I don't even know what it's fancy TV yeah holding up I love that Atlanta it was a touchdown Kyle pit yeah pits caught it like multiple of the Atlanta guys went over there helped her up make sure she was okay and like then go on and celebrate that took less than five seconds and I think it's a nice it shows nice humanity like you ran over a person a cheerleader a security guard whoever like make sure they're okay that doesn't
That's not rocket science. - If they are running tempo, as I said that, I go, "We need you to get back to the ball." - Certainly. - That's, certainly, there's-- - Yeah, again, and listen. And it doesn't mean it's a bad person if they don't. Like, I'm not saying this is like a personal indication of like who they are. Listen, there's a lot of things that go on on the field, things that are said, actions. There's a lot of things that if we all, like, took a step out of our own bodies and watched. There's things over my career that I'm probably not proud of that I said, did, actions. It's all real, right? Like, there are things that go on on the field that are not reflective of who you are as a person, but that's still, that's still what it is. Like, there's not, you can not be proud of it, and it still be true. - Thank you for that moment. And thanks for stopping by this week. Enjoy Munich and Pats and Lions. - Thanks for that. - Yeah. Appreciate you, man. As always, fun. 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Compared to lower octane fuels, actual effects and benefits may vary according to vehicle type, driving conditions, and driving style. See shell.us/more for more details. Let's talk some hoops. He's from the Athletic. He's one of the best doing it right now. Sam Amick joins us now as we run through a bunch of stuff. So I have a lot of things that I want to get to. But look, Cleveland gets a nice win last night against the NYX. And that's the way it's supposed to look. And it is not looked like that for much of the season. Harden was terrific. I still look. I don't know that I'm ever gonna trust them in the playoffs. I don't know what they'd have to do in the regular season for me to say, "Okay, that's the team to beat." But there's just so many players in this team that I like. And for a night, it looked right. Which I don't know, you know, I don't know how you feel about them. How long it will take you to kind of believe in the calves. Yeah, I mean, I'm with you Ryan about that calves win being what it should look like. I did still find it funny. You get down to those last four or five minutes. And you still just don't know how they're gonna function from a clutch time standpoint. And it's never made a lot of sense to me given their personnel. Because I have a ton of respect for Donovan Mitchell in those moments. You know, James Harden say what you will about his reputation has hit a lot of big shots. And they still had some of that crunchiness. And there was a possession where Donovan kicks it to the left wing for I think it was paid in Watson. And he shoots a three. And I think we were down to like 90 seconds. And I'm just going down. What are you doing? You guys have this thing almost locked up. So just strangeness there, you know, Harden tried to find mobility late. And Evan had some crunchy moments himself. So still, I think some of those elements remain. But they got it done. And it was not only big because they've been scuffling. But, you know, having lost to the next recently, it's just one of those games where you have to show that you actually can get those guys. Yeah, especially after the Charlotte game. Because you're starting to go like, what is this going to look like this year? And I'll admit, like when it's not going right, I'll go, okay, we've talked about the mobility offensive thing. Like it's just not going to happen the way that you would hope. But he's still a player that everybody would want on the team. I'd still wrote down numerous possessions last night where I think to myself, why is he passing up on this shot? Like that's his shot. 100%. He needs, he needs to be aggressive. With Josh, sometimes I think. Yeah, right. Josh Harden is defending him. And there's even like a couple seals. And then sometimes, you know, sometimes I watch these big guys seal a mismatch in the guards are like, we don't do that anymore. You know, but with Evan mobility, you're like, at least give him a chance at it. There's a play where Jared Allen has an offensive board ripped out of his hands by, by a guard. And I'm going, okay, when, when I don't like Cleveland, I go, even though I love the talent. And this is kind of like the Marcus smart dream on green. The reason Matt Barnes had a longer career is it's like, are they missing? Sure. Are they missing somebody? And it doesn't mean you have to have it, you know, Boston a couple of years ago. That wasn't exactly like a bunch of tough guys. You know, they just were a terrific team and had to run through the playoffs. So when it's not right, I try to focus on some of those things. And sometimes it's James and he'd been terrible for much of the season until last night. But then you add in like, you know, Tyson's a nice player, Proctor's a good player, Porter's a good player, Malik Thomas coming out of nowhere. Like he'd be, he'd be starting on so many other teams. And he's like a real bucket getter. So I know it's been a rough start. I guess I still hold out a little hope that they can ready this. But when it doesn't look good, those thoughts never go away about the personality of the basketball team. No, I'm with you. I mean, they are puzzling to me because when you talk to their people, like last summer and after the disappointment in the playoffs, they still had more seemingly internal confidence than you would expect. You know, it even liked the hard and re-upping on that contract. There was, you know, people around the league, myself included, who kind of wondered like, "Okay, I know this was the unofficial behind the scenes playing the whole time as to get this extension done." But, you know, he is definitely getting up there age-wise. It didn't work. You know, Donovan had his extension situation. I wondered if they would maybe have to pivot. And obviously they didn't. They kind of, they stayed with all the core people. You know, Kenny, who had some chatter about him last season, you know, had that stayed with that job. And then Donovan resigns, James resigns, and they run it back. Mobly out on the rest of the group. You know, it's one of those things where objectively, I had been curious if that confidence was going to bear out or if what everybody else was seeing when it comes to all these doubts was going to be the thing that kind of undoes them. On the other side of this from New York, Sneaky Bridges trend here where he's not closing games. I'll admit, as I was getting caught up in some other games earlier, I watched the full Nick's Cavs game. I didn't watch it real time, and I'll look, I wish this doesn't happen to me, but sometimes I lose track. And it's usually a bad sign for a player when I go, wait, did Bridges play tonight? Right. And he played 17 minutes. The shooting numbers are atrocious. He's averaged six of game. He's down to like 20 minutes of game in the month of November. He did, like I said, he played. So I shouldn't have lost track of him. But I'm sharing that as like kind of a damning example of how empty even the minutes he was out there. So I know what the Nick's are going to say. I know what Mike Brown is going to say. He's going through it, but they like shammett in this group to give them shooting and they like his defense. And I just kind of wonder how that's going to play out for a team that, you know, Bridges had some speaking of big moments. Some huge games to them in the playoffs. He did. And by the way, don't feel bad about your habits. I'm in this office with like five screens that I try to watch two games. And then you realize you're barely watching all of them. So you know, that happens. I'm back to a two screen guy. I have a lot. I hear you. But I can't even, I don't know if you ever try the old multi view four screen thing. That's useless because I can't to rain. Yeah. I'm with football. I can basketball. I can't. I'm two screens with basketball and even then there are times where you go. I'm going to pause in this moment. This game so that I don't miss anything of this one. But there you go. Well, and you have your two tracks where you're trying to do the work and study. And then you're just trying to be a fan and enjoy you. Even two screens, to be honest, like locking in on a game is obviously the way to go. So I am with you on next calves. I watched, you know, along with some other games. And the bridges thing to me is extremely unique. I can't think of a comp when you talk about a guy who, you know, they obviously gave up the world for to get him to town. Then he became the fall guy among next nation. He was the guy who kept them from getting honest because all those assets, you know, went towards bringing him to town. He underperformed incredibly, you know, for most of the early part of last season. So like we've done this days before where, you know, bridges was was the one kind of getting boxed out but by his own failures and struggles. But the unique part, obviously, is that he got his, you know, one together in time to win a championship. So like he's always going to be a hero when it comes to that part of the, you know, their story chapter. But now he's back to what it was before. And Mike Brown is going to be a coach in the moment. He's not going to keep playing you because you were one of the guys that helped him lift a banner. So I'm not surprised to see him go with Shabbat. I actually think like Landry, he talked about the edge with certainly not a Marcus Martin, not a dream on green, none of that. But like Landry's got an edge and defensively, I think that adds a little bit to what they do. And, you know, he's going to go with who's getting the job done. And obviously bridges right now is on the outside. Okay, let's talk Spurs. It was one of the most talked about preseason things. It was Wimbledon Yama surrounded by the four guards. And yes, to remind everybody that would be four guards. I'm not sure what everybody says. But now they're going to be.
- Fair point. - After a little stretch here, 'cause it was like, well, there's not a lot of minutes to go by, it's like, well, we're gonna see a ton of minutes. And they can, you know, unfortunately, because of the OKC situation, and look, Houston's gonna come up here next in the conversation, but I think the lack of like the long-term thunder threat, despite them winning all these games, losing to an Aurora of the Trailblazers. Shout out to Portland for that accomplishment, even with the injuries. There's probably like a sense of, we have more time maybe to figure this out a little bit. And now people should stop. Are we a point of like, hey, it still may not be their closing group in the playoffs, but should we stop worrying about what it looks like based on the net rating results? - Yeah, for sure. I mean, you don't get much better than 10 in a row, which, by the way, I don't know if you locked in on that Chicago game at all, that was crazy. I mean, they're down 22. Bulls are shooting 80% for the first half. I moved to another game, and literally by the time I looked back, this first or up by one. So 10 in a row, best starting five net rating wise in the NBA minimum, I think 60 minutes. I've enjoyed tracking this subplot, because the biggest thing that made me feel better about my own skepticism is that, I had reached out to a rival team scout that is much smarter on the game than I am. And he just expertly detailed all of the warning signs or red flags or concerns that he had about the lineup. And I wrote that, and it made a ton of sense. It talked about the spacing. It talked about, you know, when being able to roll the same way. It talked about Dylan Harper coming off the second unit, like a tornado and having the freedom to just be his best self and how you take a lot of those things away when you put these guys together. But the result or the results, they look fantastic. I think the, some of the inverse of, you know, those concerns are things like, I think Deer Fox continues to be undervalued, you know, nationally, when it comes to what he brings to that team. But to have him need to be a guy on a consistent basis all the time is a lot. And he's gonna, you know, have like a 700 batting average on that front. And to have him in this group means, I think you, you lift up his strengths, you hide some of his weaknesses, you can unleash him defensively in a way that even at this later stage, I think, is advantageous for them. So they look amazing. And obviously when be being the center of it all. - Yeah, they ran Chicago off the floor there in the fourth quarter 'cause I gave up on that game 'cause I'm like, all right, well, maybe it's just one of those random ones. And then it was like, okay, fully formed. They're making the Chicago defense look absolutely helpless. Okay, so that brings us to Houston. There's some moments from the game. Let's maybe just start there. I was really excited about that one. Curry goes down and he leaves about six minutes into the game. He got the shit knocked out of him multiple times. I think it was about three minutes into the game was the first time I saw him grabbing his side. And to understand what he's doing, just for the audience here, he's third and scoring, yet he's playing 26 minutes a game. But he's been living at the free throw line, which is both good and kind of when you're watching the game, it's been like, he seems like he's getting hit more because they're depending on him so much. And the London board thing's been perfect for them as I watch it, and I just love that at this age, he's still having these moments. I'm going, how is this remotely sustainable to have him be relied upon this much offensively? And as much fun as it is, I almost feel guilty going, how is this going to look in April? And last night is an example of those concerns. - Yeah, now it honestly, it is extremely disappointing for folks that like watching his game myself included. To have it happen in Houston with all the history and that's a physical rocket scene. I did spend a little time digging into the video this morning to get my own opinion of was this just through the process of a game injury or did the rockets do any extra stuff? I didn't see much. I mean, Shenguin wraps them up on a screen up high. And it's, I mean, for one, it was comical how Alper and just didn't fight through anything and Dremont cuts to the basket. But he didn't seem like he was trying to hurt stuff, but he kinda gets his arm in between steps and wrenches it back. And that's one of the times when he reaches for the side. But it's never good when, you know, Steph has a good sense of his own body. So he turns to Steve immediately and just heads to the back. And then post game, I didn't know how to read Steve's comments because he qualified it by saying, you know, we're getting the MRI and I don't have any further information. But first Steve to say that they're very concerned that he's not typically hyperbolic when it comes to that type of stuff. So I kinda walked away going, yeah, this will probably be a fair amount of time on the shelf. And to your bigger point about what he's been doing, it's been bonkers. I mean, for one, we all know he doesn't live at the line. That's not his legacy. So that has been an interesting development. And I was there in LA opening night, Lakers Warriors. Now, granted they had no Pajewski. Obviously, no Pershingas, no Moses, Moody, no James Butler. One of the players had mentioned to us, you know, you get $110 million on the shelf. So not a shocker that night that they lost to the Lakers. But they lost so badly that that night, I just was like, my God, this team is gonna win 23 games. You know, I thought it was gonna be atrocious. So to go from that to going three, then to Aden three, heading into Houston, it's been a hell of a turnaround. But this is a big problem. It looks like it's a tear of the old bleak. The latest news that just came out that he's gonna be reevaluated in a couple of weeks. Oh, it literally just came out. It wasn't out before we started taping this thing. All right, so on the Houston side of things though, this is a lot of fun. And, you know, you wanna look at the net rating stuff there. I mean, it's just kind of a comparison there a little bit with San Antonio who's in that lineup plus 29, which is an absurd number. Probably not gonna keep that up. But Houston's group there with their five is plus 12. And it also looks like smart fits in with this guard lineup. Depending on how they wanna use REIT, I was worried about REIT when smart started playing more minutes, but it's very clear like there'll be stretches with REIT. It was like, okay, well, he may still running stuff for him or they're running something for him off of the ball and whole ideas get him the ball back. I think Tariy's in having the contract thing is kind of settled. There's sometimes I like Tari in the combination. Better than I like maybe even a man, even though clearly I think amends the better defensive player. Is this team like, do you look at this and say, if I ask you, hey, is it a threat to San Antonio you say yes, but if Houston were to get through the West, is it no longer a surprise based on what we've seen for a few weeks? - I'd still be surprised. I gotta see more, you know, it's only a few months since I was one of the many media members kind of chronicling the weirdness of their team last season. You know, when it comes to their least favorite word, the vibes and everything that went on with Kevin and the Twitter situation, but the genesis of that and the thing that we are now getting reminded of is that the absence of Fred Mandelead was not only massive basketball-wise, but honestly, it was culture-wise, it was locker room-wise. I think Fred has been just a huge kind of reunion for them after his injury last year. So, I'm not ready to put him on the San Antonio level. They are fun to watch. And the way things have developed are very interesting. I mean, Kevin, taking a bit of a step back, volume-wise, offensively, you know, making enough space for Shangguin to do his thing, the read, market-smart stuff has been interesting, like you kind of highlighted, you know, and Fred, in particular, there was a possession last night where, I mean, read hits those two big threes during a nine-and-a-nothing run. And on one of them, you know, Fred just put an absolute diamond his hands for the three where he keeps it up high, doesn't bring the ball down. And I think it was Pajewski closing. And they were making the point on the broadcast that like, it's just the absolute perfect pass where Fred is getting these guys set up in a kind of way that they just didn't have last year. So, that combined with, you know, and I know you may fare the well. Like, guys like Fred are like a warm blanket for Yime Udoka. Like, coaching-wise, communication-wise, so to have another big-time, tough, edgy adult in the room, a smart guy. Like, Fred is another benefit. So, they're dangerous. And right now, it looks like a lot of the stuff that we got caught up in kind of chronically last year seems to have kind of fallen by the wayside a bit. Memphis, I have a theory. Now, it would have been better when they were, you know, six and a half, and now they're seven and four, tough one last night to Denver. Is them not having a star? And maybe Boozerans are becoming their star. And Tydrom has the stat line of a star. But there's like a standing. Like, we know who the stars are, we know who they're not. So, Memphis, I would say, is currently constructed, doesn't have a star. Can their approach with the substitutions because all this work better, not having a star where Anthony Edwards or on the team he'd be like, hey, you know what? I'm not, I don't want to do any of this stuff. - I don't know, John didn't. - Yeah, all right, so go ahead. - Yeah, I mean, I was going to go the job direction because that was the tension that was front and center last year is that you, you not only had a star in job ran, you had a star with a lot more time invested into that program than Tydrom is had at the time. So, you have the new coach coming in, flipping everything out of Tyd, you know, telling players like, you know, this is what we're going to do. And it's going to be,
almost more soccer style and it's gonna, you know, it's gonna be less kind of favor given, I guess, to status and stature and history. It was just, no, I'm gonna run this thing the way I want to. And it didn't work and it was causing issues back then. But the lack of a star does, it's almost a little more ecology where Tuomas can run this thing as kind of the biggest voice in the room and not get the pushback and so far so good. It's worked, they're dangerous. When he talked to teams about them, it's just their depth and the overall collective talent is what it poses the biggest problem. Like when you're scouting to try to take care of them, it's you've got more names and faces to worry about than you did before and that's by design. That's what he was trying to do when he first took that job over and it's certainly going better now. - I know you've been all over the Yannis story now for a long time. It appears there's a really good relationship there. So whenever you write about him, I mean, it's an automatic like, all right, I gotta get on this now. And so you spend some time talking to him after a recent result, no one expected it to be this bad, even if you weren't a believer because it felt like maybe a year before they were gonna be fully formed. I can't believe the defense is this bad. I know you've touched on that. I mean, of all the things that I thought could go wrong for them, I didn't think it would be that necessarily. It's way too early to ask this, but I'll ask it anyway. Is this even surprising to Yannis? Does he think like, wait a minute? Like, if he were 26, 27, okay. It's just sometimes I'll watch that and this isn't fair the entire process, but I'll think to myself, did he really have a year to wait for the heat to get the roster right around him? Because even in the best version of this, it was probably like a four or five seed with a really good defense that maybe I'm not even picking in the first round. - The answer to the first question is no. But it also tells you kind of just obviously how bad things had become in Milwaukee where getting out became the bigger priority than what you were getting into. But now, I admittedly don't fully know how he feels about it. That night when I saw him in Sacramento was interesting 'cause we did the loading doc discussion. There was a group of, I couldn't figure out who this group was. It was seem family related. It was talking about Greece a bit, but there was a big group that he was being very kind with and spent time with before we shatted and then the bus was pulling him away. So I think that he seems somewhat surprised. The one that jumps out of me more though Ryan is that I talked to Spowe that night and having as much regard as I do for who he is as a coach, how accomplished he is, how smart he is. It's something else that have Spowe really candidly say, oh no, I'm pretty shocked. Like in the preseason, to his credit, he's real candid. He doesn't mind admitting that he was a believer in the preseason. He saw enough that they all thought, okay, this is gonna pop and they looked pretty good. And then the wheels fell off. I mean, they just absolutely did. Now, this is me, not him. I think the biggest development that has been problematic was Andrew Wiggins, just being an absolute shell of himself and obviously already lost his starting job and he kept Spowe kept getting asked about Andrew's offense over the course of the first couple of weeks. And eventually our guy who covers the team every day, Eric Neum, I think kind of went the right direction which is he started to ask him about his defense which is the bigger problem. So they have this roster from Wiggins, okay. Older vet who can't guard or won't guard at times like he used to play Thompson who at one time was an all defense type player, certainly not anymore. And then Dave Young Mitchell, they're out of bio, you're honest out of the pimple, on paper, these are defensive dogs, but it's just not that simple. It is certainly not turned out that way. And then the shooting is the other thing what's crazy about the struggles that they've had is can you imagine where they would be if Clay didn't go lights out? I mean, Clay is absolutely shooting that thing. You know, he's had a couple of bad games here and there, but overall they've gotten a lot more on that front out of Clay than I think a lot of people thought they would. Tim Harderwood Jr., not so much. So it's just been messy. I still think they could become a good team. I don't see signs of a great team. And I think they're comp that is too easy and not really applicable, but certainly comes up a lot as like, Spowe getting asked about the LeBron Dwayne, Chris Bosch, 2010-11 team that went eight and nine and then went to the finals. So I mean, I've been a month, we've seen star studded heat teams figure it out after bad starts before, but this is very different. - The shooting argument, 'cause that's really what it became was hey, where's the shooting? And then it goes, okay, well, look at what Wiggins has done. Look at Clay's history. Look at Davian Mitchell's improvement. You know, there's actual shooting on this team. And you're like, well, Clay is not a starter anymore. And the Wiggins thing was, I think, kind of an outlier and Davian's not a high volume guy. You know, Davian's best move is sticking his entire arm through your chest plate and driving to the hoop and having it never called on him. So he had a couple against Utah where I go, this is insane. But you know, it was like, hey, the hard way part of it, it was like these four things that were being art, four players that were kind of being argued where if you just looked at the stat line, you went, okay, maybe they have found a way. The existing Wiggins contract, the Davian thing's been a win for them, but not having to spend a ton of resources to feel like they've got some options there to provide this kind of spacing, which you desperately need, as you know, if you're gonna let Yannis be like the full version of him, okay? And now it's 23rd in shooting. So again, like the on paper argument was hard to be dismissive of, but I think those of us that were like, okay, but so all of it just kind of works now. You know, like is, is Clay gonna have to move to get into his shot? You know, are people gonna be helping to someone else? And then those shots are open, like he's had the whole idea that he was gonna go to Dallas, was gonna be to play off the Luke of the Wade, played off guys in Golden State. And the rest of it was kind of like hoping, but for them to be 25th and defensive efficiency, I, you know, I don't know if there's a bam prop, I don't know if there's a Yannis prop because some nights I'll watch him defensively going, well, I mean, this isn't, it's unfair to compare him to peak Yannis defensively, but I just wonder if it's all being dragged down by like all of it, you know, where it just doesn't feel like anybody's locked in. Except for Davey on. I mean, to me, Davey on's always getting after it, defensively at least. - He is, and that's honestly though, that's the irony, is that if you have people objectively analyzing what they need to do, the first thing you're gonna hear is that the Davey on should be coming off the bench and they need to find a point card. So, I mean, that, you know, going forward, they get tied to Kyrie, they don't have the assets to go get Kyrie, but, you know, in a perfect world, they could snap their fingers and get somebody like that, I think that would certainly elevate what they're doing. And that's not a disrespect to Davey on. It's, I just think, you know, what he does and what they need are two different things. So, the mood, I just, I guess to share that a little bit since I did see him in person, you know, the mood was pretty good, you know, it seems like they're keeping their heads together. You know, obviously, Yannis said all the right things when I asked him, are you losing sleep? Are you worried about this? And then he kind of puffed his chest and said, you know, hell no, and that he has 100% belief. But even within all that, you can really feel you're getting to know you stage. Like, the last time I talked to Yannis like this, was at Chase Center in San Francisco, which was him saying, I never asked for a trade, and then having a long conversation, but he kept the Milwaukee Bucks bus waiting for probably 15 minutes while we talked. What I thought was fascinating about the other night, now granted very different landscape and not nearly as much to talk about just yet, 'cause we're early in the season, but it did strike me that to some degree, he felt like the new guy in the heat ecosystem because the bus was waiting and you had security, you know, kind of eyeballing me, you had PR having got just on the bus. And there was a sense of like, let's go Yannis, like you're one of the guys. It's not your universe like it used to be. So, I think that does also kind of speak to how they're all trying to get to know each other right now. - Is the loading dock your move? 'Cause I feel like all the settings, like this is, if you were a screenwriter, I'd be like, hey, switch up location every now and then, it can't all happen on a loading dock, but I think you just have to get away from, yeah, you gotta get away from the locker room. I mean, it's not to, you know, still to beans publicly. Yeah, my secret sauce for a long time is that Sacramento is a counterintuitive national home base in terms of size of market, but the X factor is there's not much media out here. So, you know, once guys leave the locker room, if you have a decent enough rapport with them, you can make the move to the loading dock. And that's the last stop, right? 'Cause then they get on the bus and they head to the hotel. But, you know, it typically works out. - All right, that's, I knew I was like, here we are, loading dock again, but it's good stuff. And you can tell, look, you can tell the rapport is really good over the years in reading all this stuff. He obviously wasn't too thrilled with Doc Rivers' comments, though, apparently. - Yeah, and I mean, I don't know this for sure, but certainly appeared that he tried to pretend that he hadn't heard them at first, you know, when he got asked about them, and which was kind of silly, but I just don't think he wanted to breathe life into it. [BLANK_AUDIO]
think to his credit, and the thing, and I like Doc, we get along, you know, I think if I was the honest, the part that is fair to be upset about is that there was a lot of stuff last season with the way things ended with Doc and Yannis and the Bucks, like there was a lot there. And there were times when, if I'm being honest, Yannis had opportunities, you know, without his name attached to like pile on. And he, he didn't. And he, you know, and then I think that's honestly the thing that probably bothers him now is that he chose to take the high road and treat Doc like a Hall of Famer in those types of moments. And then even the other night, I mean, I don't mind sharing that, you saw what he said on the record to reporters, but even, you know, when we chatted about it off the record, there was nothing there. He's not trying to, you know, to go down this road. So I think he was trying to move past it. You know, I wrote what I wrote the other day just about the Celtic's centric nature of it all that that was the part for me that not that Doc and Bill are spokesman for that organization by any means, but the reality is that, you know, the Celtic is trying to grow be hard to get Yannis last year. So the narrative that he suddenly is, is this, you know, incredibly flawed player who isn't worth pursuing is falls a little flat for me. But I noticed that too. Yeah. Yes. Well, like, because I lived it, it was so you didn't want him. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you literally, you know, not to get in the weeds, but you, like the whole Jalen Brown divorce was partly driven by the Yannis pursuits. You know, I mean, that there's a reason that they tried to keep it so quiet that they were more interested in the big fellows and they were Jalen. And we saw where that went. So yeah, that was, that was a weird one, but Yannis was just trying to keep move past it. Let's add on a sad note. I don't lift everybody's spirit. Please. That's amazing. In the week here. It's the Utah Jazz. I watched it again last night. I'm feeling it from my guy, Will Hardy. This was supposed to be the year. And Flick Jaren Jackson, Jr. has played four games. Lowers missed a few. He's going to be out. I think you had the report, right? He's going to be out at least a month now. So the other night I was watching the game. Those two guys are sitting with Kianta George. He played last night. And I'm just going, this was not like, we didn't expect sense of awe. Jackson Hayes, Mo Bomba closing minutes, you know, with Isaiah Collier out there and clearly Darren Peterson, you'd hope. And I think the plus is that there's been some nice Ace Bailey moments, especially defensively. The Peterson stuff is to be expected kind of up and down, but the big moments, the good moments are like the things. But the problem is, it's like, this was not supposed to be the developmental year. And I'm very fearful that that's what it's going to look like again, especially with the new tanking loss. Yeah, it's brutal. Just given, I mean, listen, it was, it was self-imposed. They're the ones who decided to go the route they went, but they certainly didn't plan on this injury playing a major part. I feel for Will Hardy, because as the coach who had to play along this entire time, I think he was ready to really coach with a full stack and do his thing. And that is just not the case. I have this moment that's always stuck in my head when it comes to the jazz and them trying to get back to competitive basketball. I think this was after the Jeren Jackson Jr. trade, but David Locke, a longtime voice of the jazz and friend of mine, was on his podcast. And he lost his mind after one of these trades that was intended to win ball games. And in a good way, he was happy. He was telling jazz fans like it's time to play ball. You know, we're really doing this. And after all the pain and all the suffering in the past couple of years, and then, you know, and then it's just kind of wap, wap, wap. Basically, it just hasn't happened. I don't know where it's all going to go. But yeah, I mean, they, they, they're destined, they're not destined, but headed for relegation status, headed for more of the same. And the problem there is that then you get the stickiness of their veterans, their guys who are not young, who were there to win and their big contracts. I mean, the clock is taken on those. And the longer you're not competing, the more problematic contracts like those become when it comes to the initial plan. Let's say I'm Amick, the athletic, you can read just some good stuff on the honest thing, but then he's going to plug in some other news and notes from around the league regularly throughout the NBA season. Thanks, Sam. Thank you, man. Appreciate it, buddy. Most food decisions come with compromise. There are lots of voices telling us that eating better has to be complicated. Subway gave that air voice a face and a name. Your sub conscious they show up when you're questioning your meal and help you pick what you really want. Subway, it's the easiest decision to make. Great price, freshly prepared per order and it fills you up. Feed your subconscious at subway, eat fresh, freshly prepared per order. It's time for another NFL quarterly report. We go to the AFC West Denver. We talked a lot about the Denver Broncos. They're the two seed in the AFC right now, a 97% chance of making the playoffs. The comeback win against Kansas City at their place, I think is one of the single most important victories, especially the comeback, considering everything. Yes, there are other important victories when you talk about division games, but that one just stands out to me for a bunch of different reasons. This is the third most important victory of any team this season. I don't know, but it's huge because if you looked at the division, Kansas City would have been, of course, ahead, they would have been ahead in the seeding the AFC. They would be number one in the division. They would be 4-0 in the division, where Denver would be one and two and they would be 2-0 against them after the week one bludgeoning. So that didn't happen. And Denver is ahead of them right now. So Denver, here's the topic. How many teams in the AFC do you like over them? All right, that's pretty straightforward topic. Can we do better than that? As of right now, I like Buffalo. I like Jacksonville. I like Kansas City. I don't think Cincinnati is quite fair yet, but if Cincinnati gets the rematch against Pittsburgh this week, I think 10 and 2 is entirely possible and just gear up everyone because it's going to be a burrow fest. And we're going to start talking about this team. And if they end up 10 and 2, it probably means that their defense has fixed some of the rushing problems that they've had earlier. So I don't like that topic enough. My point is on Pittsburgh, because Pittsburgh very well could win this game too with the way they run the football, the way they're taking the ball at Roger's hands, the way they're playing defensively. If you like Pittsburgh, if you're sitting here going, hey, it's not like it was the first month, which I'm a little guilty of, right? They've gotten better. Some of you guys stopped watching them. They figured some stuff out there with the Steelers. If you like the Steelers, you have to love Denver because there are some similarities. It's a quarterback where you're like, I don't know, but at least Nix can move around a little bit. You'd probably trust this. I mean, this is stupid, but like on a big down and making the decision, of course, you're still going to trust Rogers over the physical advantage that Nix has at this point. But I like the receivers better. But running back with Jonah Coleman, I think change is the situation there. Even though again, this two ahead of Monster of the Steelers been running out. There's been really good defensive personnel. The defensive numbers favor Pittsburgh. I like the personnel better on Denver, whether it's Benito or Zach Allen, and all the different. There's like a lot of guys on this defense that have done better individually when you look at some of the win rate stuff against the past, past rushing and then of course, winning against the run. The secondary, I think those numbers have more to do with so many of the different guys in the secondary for Denver, kind of cycling out with injuries. So maybe unfair to Pittsburgh, but I'm telling you, I think the topic is, if you are like one of the few national Pittsburgh believers going, Hey, I think this team is in the mix, then you have to do the same thing with Denver. All right, we'll get to Nix. Maybe not quite yet. This is 16 straight one score wins. Denver also has the second easiest strength of schedule remaining in the NFL. If you look at the chiefs, it's way higher than that. So that lines up well. All right, here's Bonix. He is 30th out of 31 quality qualifying quarterbacks, not quality quarterbacks. There aren't 31 of them probably, right? 30 out of 31 qualifying quarterbacks in area yards. Oh, we're still you're doing it again. What do you get averaged up the target next? No, no, I don't need to give you this different stat that's telling the same story. But wait a minute, my home's is 31st. Who's behind Nix? Patrick, my homes. And you guys love him. Well, I think previous work in the resume, maybe, you know, I hate when people do that. They're like, Oh, I bet you like that guy. Yeah. Sorry. I like Patrick, my home's more than Bonix. Sorry. The problem is is that Kansas City on these throws is 9th in yards after the catch and Denver is 28th. Why with this receiving core, you want to tell me how they needed a more dynamic tight end? Do you want to tell me that well, some of the guys aren't getting enough separation? No, it's because Bonix throws death balls to guys. And I'm sorry. If you don't want to admit it, but every time I'm running back, catch us something in the flat, it is never set up for him to run with the football. Never strong. But you already know the throw. He's rolling out. He's rolling out to his right. Running back has to like sit down. There's nothing that's in the flow. And then he throws it to him. And then it's like, is he going to play the rest of the game? All right.
Topic. I'm still on it. I'm still staying on this 28% of the drives are three and outs. That's only better than Minnesota and Philadelphia. Philadelphia's played four quarterbacks technically this year. Three if you don't want to count on what they won. Andy Dalton tempt. And then we know what Minnesota did a quarterback speaking to Philadelphia. Nick Sir Hertz. I'll take Hertz. Kansas City. The defense gets no credit. They have allowed the third fewest points per game. Defensively this season behind Minnesota and Jacksonville. I was surprised when I saw that because there was like a total points number. I go, yeah, but they played one less game. And then I looked at again, like they're third and points allowed per game. I don't think that ever gets talked about because we only talk about my homes and the limited downfield throw opportunities, especially with Thornton now. They are sixth and success rate on defense. When this team moves on from somebody defensively, it's a lot like the Steelers thing over the years, but they're not bringing that guy back, like now they have two other guys that are going to come right in and also just burst off the edge. And that felt like that was automatic with the Steelers for a long time. It feels like when Kansas City decides they're ready to move on from somebody, particularly in the secondary, that it's going to be fine. Even if you probably wish there was a little bit more depth back there, maybe everybody does. Okay, here's the topic. Mahomes Allen. How many of them, how many of those of us are left a couple of years ago started hearing about, Hey, Allen's better than my homes. I was like, this is nuts. I also felt like at times, maybe it was a protective Brady argument where it's like if we all collectively dump on my homes here a little bit and say he's not as good as Allen. Is that help this Mahomes guy from catching Brady? Well, clearly he still has some work to do. But if you go back to Mahomes, last Super Bowl parents against Philadelphia, there were some weird topics where it was like, how is, how is four turning into seven this quickly? However, it's really tough for us. Mahomes guys out there that still would argue for a game. We'd rather have Mahomes all things being equal than Josh Allen because statistically, it's just not even close. And we've touched on this already. Mahomes led the NFL and QBR in 22. He hasn't been in the top five since. If you go through that five-year stretch of elite stats, it's been four years since them. Like that has been over now for a while. And I know it's not just all about stats, but this is fairly alarming. So from a five-year stretch where he was just the most insane thing that we've ever seen during that five-year stretch, right? Both team success, individual success, individual numbers, all that stuff. He threw 192 passing touchdowns. Again, passing touchdowns doesn't mean everything. But that's averaging 38 a year. The last four, if I give him a full season off the 14 touchdowns, this show, let's give him a 28. He's at like 25 per season. Now, I don't think he's worse. I think he's taken for granted. I think he's taken a beating back there. And when you have one of these truly great quarterbacks, the past did the same stuff with Brady. He was like, I will just, we'll just get some slack guy in here. Like, we don't need to spend any money on outside guys. Like, we'll just coach him up. We'll get Tom involved. We'll just coach him up. He's like, why am I taking it just kind of again? I think that's what Kansas City, even though they've put far more, they're far more proactive than the Bill Belichick Patriots where he took pride in not having to spend any money until he had to because his draft picks suck so bad. But if you look at, they've clearly invested a ton on the offensive line. They try to get it right at receiver. They try to get it right or running back, whether it was Walker or Edwards, a layer, spending a first round pick on him years ago, which was like, okay, I kind of like he was pretty good at LSU, but it was all NFL guys all over the place. It just feels like if that, if this is, I don't know that those numbers are ever going to come back. I don't know if he's ever going to do it. It's been four years. And if there's a showdown against Alan and he were to lose it, then none of us are going to be allowed to say it anymore, even if we still believe it deep down. Hurts from my homes. I'll take my homes. Vegas three wins last year, four wins this year. I feel like this year, no matter how it goes the rest of the way, because Mendoza's getting the start. We know cousins is out of there. I'm thrilled about Mendoza getting the start. I'll get on that in a second. No matter what happens, I feel like this is a successful year for the Vegas Raiders because they had a real plan. It looks like the coach decision works. And the plan was to spend the topic on Mendoza, having be around cousins where I imagine at this stage of his career was a much better quarterback teammate to other quarterbacks than he was like, say, when he was back in Washington. Because at this point, it's like, all right, it's not really the threat. I'm sure it was a much different feeling because everybody's on the same page as opposed to him signing with Atlanta going, who did you draft? If that was not surprising that cousins was upset about that. But this offense, which, you know, this is a roster that still needs some time to build and figure itself out. It was an average offense. And I think that's a win when I look at their personnel. And they did the right thing by moving on from cousins. And it's real quarterback development and executing a timeline. I don't remember word for word what they were saying and how they would explain when they wanted to use Mendoza. But this is why I was so adamant about this before the trade deadline. It's like, look, whatever you want to do, the best way to get Mendoza ready for 27 is for him to play real games in 26. Whatever happens as bad as it may look, that's so important to what he is going to be in 27. And he has to play the set out entire year thing, unless like you've just switched from receiver to quarterback two years ago in Juco. It's never really made any sense to me. And Mendoza's had enough college experience that you would think, okay, eventually he's going to be back there. And it may not be pretty, but he is ready for this. So I love everything that they've done there. Now, the topic is, with this average offense, they're doing it with the worst rushing attack in the NFL. And good luck to Mendoza with any play action. Cousin's had good play action numbers, but they just couldn't run a lot of play action. I think it was like one at every four plays because it's like we don't run the football very well. And that leads to the action genty topic, which is it him 3.2 yards per carry. That was after seven yards of carrying his last season of Boise State. He has one touchdown. He has only one run for 20 plus yards. He's great in the passing game, by the way. He's like a leading running backs on all these receiving categories. But I wonder with the Jeremiah love issues, the Mario Hampton issues and genty, who by the way, I was trying to find a 40 time on this. Some of you guys that are doing draft year round, you're going to know the answer. You can't find one. He didn't run at the combine. He didn't run at the protein. He didn't run fucking, he may have taken a wheelchair to the field. He didn't want to move in front of anybody. And then he finally did some drills. So I don't know if that's part of this. He's just like, Hey, you never I can't find a 40 time for him. There's speculation on what his high school 40 time would have been. He did not want to move in a straight line in front of anybody that was making this kind of decision. And I wonder if the topic becomes if this genty thing doesn't work out. The love snaps, even though he's been hurt with Arizona. They have to look good. And I was going to break my own running back rule four, Jeremiah love because I just thought he was like, Hey, he might be the single best player in all of college football last season. I do wonder if there's going to be a shift back to like, Hey, you can't do this. Even though that seems wrong, it'd be the wrong. It's a good topic to ask the question. But I think the answer is still, Hey, we're three years removed from Gibbs and B. John Robinson. So maybe we don't overreact. But if you're Mendoza, O line, um, can't run. Genties, not the guy, not exactly loaded receivers, worst defense, can't run any play action. You know, I just hope that they. It's going to be rough. I think it's going to be it's a pretty tough spot to come into and also speaks to like really how well cousins play this year with his own physical limitations with the beatings that he's taken the last couple of years. I just hope that they let Mendoza throw like they should probably based on the stuff that Kevin Clark was talking about in the Shanahan tree of what they like is they love that cousins actually like, you're going to throw that ball there, even if you don't think it's a great idea. Well, that's what we need out of you. That speaks to exactly like what I would see with Mendoza Indiana is like, okay, back shoulder, one-on-one, sideline shots, like even if he's covered, make the throw and Mendoza excelled with that. And I hope we still see it even if it leaves the mistakes because he doesn't have a ton around him, other than one of the best tight ends we've ever seen. Lastly, and this is the worst team in the NFL, you want to talk about sad rankings, let's talk chargers. They're not the worst roster, but they are the worst hang on a Sunday that you have in the NFL right now. It's the worst experience. At least I can change the channel. I can't imagine being a chargers fan going like, all right, this is going to be fun because it's never fun. It's never fun all season long. All right, so Herbert hit rate. Let's talk about that since the start of the 25 season, he's been hit 12.6 times per game. Only to Sean Watson has hit more times per game since the start of 25, but Watson's played 15 games. Herbert's played 24 games. So that's 302 hits. So Herbert is on pace to be hit 428 fucking times in two years. Let's talk about his QBR, which guess what? Isn't good because he gets hit all the time. It's 29.8. That's last. Congrats, boat and expense. It's so bad that I went back and was like, I've going to try to find how many sub 30 QBRs we've had from a quarterback in a full season. There's still hope. It's hard to find. I had to go back 10 years and I found three of them.
Will Levis, the baker year that was weird with Carolina in the Rams and then Josh Rosen. And people thought Herbert sucked online when his QBR was in the 60s and it touched 70 a second season. It must be tough in those social media streets for Herbert right now. Harbaugh, I'm surprised with his failure this season is any single thing that's happening in the NFL this year because this is not what happens to Jim Marbaugh. He is one everywhere he has gone and he immediately turns things around. 6 and 14 in San Francisco, 13 and 3 the next year, charges 5 and 12, 11 and 6. It's easy to forget. Harbaugh, this is his third year. He went 11 and 6 back-to-back seasons and they still have not yet won a game. You can't fire him. I'm not around it. You can talk about it being just abysmal, but based on that track record, even if they don't win a game. I don't think you can fire him. I wouldn't actually fire him. I go, "Okay, this year's suck. Turn the page. I'm not firing Harbaugh after the one like outlier, holy shit. How bad was this year?" Although, yes, Michigan fans, I know it took a little longer for your standards for you to ultimately win a national championship. We reached out to the investment team. They did not send us a quarter of the report. We're on their website right now, but if there's a.tv on it, so I'm a little worried that we're not going to get an investor letter. And finally, Herbert hurts. Fucking Herbert. When we right back, after a quick word from our sponsors. For most of us cold weather is back, but I'm not dreading it this year because I've got Bombas. Bombas is something for everyone. And if you're looking for gifts this season, Bombas is cozy socks and slippers, cushy footwear, and sports socks for runners and skiers alike. Plus, for every item you purchase, they donate an essential clothing item for someone facing housing insecurity. Get over to bobbas.com/audio and use code audio for 20% off your first purchase. That's b-o-m-b-a-s dot com slash audio code audio at checkout. Think DraftKings isn't available. Where you live, think again, DraftKings, an official partner of the NBA is now available in all 50 states. So wherever you live, follow your favorite NBA stars. Get excited about the biggest matchups and lock in on those buzzer-beating moments. And with DraftKings, it's all in one app. Plus, new customers get three months of NBA league pass on us so you can catch more NBA action anytime, anywhere. All right, before we bring the boys in, we will take a look at some betting insights. So the most played by money, which is handle end bets, Jacksonville and Tennessee. Not surprising here. This number has moved from eight to now Jacksonville minus ten and a half at home against the Titans. The other one that's getting hammered here is the Rams Cardinals total, which would make sense. But it's going so far the other way. I just want to double check something here. Because obviously we know that the Cardinals beat the Rams 1816. That was in LA. This one's in Arizona. That was the six-feel goal game there. And that total has dropped eight points. So that one was at 47 and a half to now 39 and a half. I mean, how do you look at that total and then go? I'm still going to stay on the under at 39 and a half in an NFL game when, throughout the records, this time, it's personal. Also, a couple, a couple of player props here, Drake make 190 or more yards, number one prop I handle and underdog money line. The Panthers are the most bet on underdog going into this week and that is against the Saints. All right. Let's bring the boys in here one and two last week. Yeah. Kyle got off the Schneider. So that's nice. But, you know, unfortunately, at the Pats. What cost? Yeah. Smartplay. Smartplay. I turned the guys on the sideline in LSU. I was like six and a half's of way too many points to be given up against Alabama. That game should never have a six and a half next to it. But they didn't want to do it. They didn't want to be in the, you know, they didn't want to be in the suite with Brooks Nader going, I actually have VAMMA plus six and a half and Brooks Nader was on here. That's shit. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. How do you introduce yourself to Brooks Nader? I'm like, Hey, did you take VAMMA six and a half? That's a fucking crazy line. Right? Nice to meet you. I'm right. Yeah. I'm like, host annoying dudes around sporting events or just watching games with like the live updating bets guys up there, um, definitely the guy who's like just fading the friend group is also up there. I got a couple of guys like that in the group now and then it's not fun. It's not fun. Fantasy guys up there. Should do a top five list list are pretty big. We know this. You nailed them. Pretty much all of them right there. That's good. There's way more. I'm trying to. Yeah. Pushing limits. A free sample guy. We've talked about him. Yeah. Like, dude, it's, it's cheese that number. The fifth one's going to taste just like the second one. All right. Uh, what do you got, Kyle? Boarders yours. Oh, thanks. I will, um, I'll take Kansas City chiefs. They're on the road. I'm going to take the minus three, uh, at the Falcons. Okay. So Rudy, if I don't get to in a row, I'm mad at the Saints, man, I had the Saints last week. I just two and a half, uh, they'll fumble and the, on the one yard line, they had, they were up seven and overtime. Forget that fumble. I'm not. Jordan Tyson. Goddamn, dude. What could have been a lot? He seems pretty good. Uh, they, you know, they're up three late up touchdown and overtime and they still don't cover it, but they still win. So that's, that's lovely. Thanks for that. No, no, thanks for nothing. I'm going to go with the Seahawks minus six and a half. I mean, you were just talking about it in, uh, in the AFC West quarterly report. This just feels like a bad spot for Mendoza to be in. And I know he's at home, but like they can't run the ball. The sea ox, the sea ox, by the way, it's still out of the playoffs. Like they're, they're still in like, hey, we need to figure this out mode. So, and I think Drew Locke's actually pretty good. So a touchdown, I mean, maybe I'm falling for a trap here, but I, I'll take the Seahawks one by at least. Actually pretty good for Drew Locke, huh? All right. What do you mean? I don't know. I just don't know if I, I didn't hurt anyone say that. Dude, in Seahawks circles, people were like, are, is he better than Darnellt? Okay. All right. Darnell hasn't had an awesome year, but he's really good at lip-seeking too. I remember that. I don't know if I've ever seen anything like that is really. I remember me all the time. Yeah. I think that's why you're picking him. Maybe you talk about it once every six weeks. I do. It's awesome. By the way, GZ, the more I get, the older I get, oh, look out. Dude, he was slept on, man. And he was obviously, he was popular back in that time, but like, I keep going back GZ. Yeah. So anyway. I'm going to listen to him today. I'm going to get shots up outside in the sun. Hell yes. Yeah. Well, I might even wear a chain outside. Drew Locke has an 84 QBR. That would be number one in the NFL if you call it five. Take that. We're dead. Let's go. It's not bad. Kirk Signetti would post that and be like, well, 84 QBR, be like, is there a flaw potentially in this information? So we just talked about everybody's hammering the Jags. I'll be on the Titans plus 10 and a half. So you know, I almost made the Jags because they're team total. I'm sorry. The Titans team total is 16 and a half. I almost took the over. But I was like, man, am I really going to, am I really going to back Cam Ward here? But I do like, I do like that as well. Do you mean Cam Ward, who in QBR is ahead of Jacobi Perset, Bo Nix, Aaron Rogers, James Winston, Kyla Murray, DeShawn Watson, Daniel Jones, Baker Mayfield, and Justin Herber. He had a good week last week. No. Do you have any yards? Is the Bengals? I wonder how many people are listening to the Corridor report? We need to look at this episode. We need to send it through the data center and just go, we're like, oh, they had a voice. Yeah. Who stuck around for him to take Herber? Again. I don't know. You'll never know. All right. I guess we'll know if we want to spend. I'll forget that I even asked you that an hour. Yeah. All right. Thanks for the. Download the DraftKings Sports App today. Use the code Ryan on DraftKings. New DraftKings customers can spend five and get 200 and total bonuses plus three months of league pass on us. That's code Ryan, R-Y-E-N, in partnership with DraftKings. The crown is yours. 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[email protected], a lot of emails to sift through. We'll probably get to two/three. That's kind of what we do here on the show, unless we do some mispronunciation.
variations. Speaking of mispronouncing words, ask Saruti to say the word picture. Picture? Yeah. Picture. Yeah, you're a picture guy. You're a picture guy? Yeah. Picture. Yeah. That's fair. Probably. I have some words about yourself. Yeah. I don't. I don't really care. There are some word stumbles though that I have that I'm just like, "Hey, I'm just talking." We are talking. I have a lot for work, so there's that. I don't think I don't think you should feel bad about it all. I don't. I'm not going to say that. Pictures are not an egregious one. I think that's, you know, you could probably even put it in the Webster that way. So, you know, I think enough people say it that that one gets a pass. I also think you know what I'm talking about. Like I'm not talking about like the water here, guys. Like what? Wait till next time. I'm not mad though. I'm not mad. All right. Like was he in the bigs or was he just like a triple egg guy? Was he a four egg guy? How about we all just give each other a little bit more grace when it comes to one of your buddies having a word that he says wrong every now and then, because I just think all of us have a couple words. I don't know how you, you know, if you're sending that email and you have to be 100% correct all the time, I don't think that's possible. If you're just, if you can't pronounce anything, then play, sit down. We need to talk. If you can. Yeah. And some I do like, I'm a February guy and it'll always be February, February, damn it. I just screwed myself up. But I'm always, I'm going to stick with that. Leave it. No, it's not correct. All right. We have a dinosaur problem. That's interesting. Long time listener, six foot one, 190 player of comp, Chris Cayman without the height. I've got a family situation that's so ridiculous. I have no idea how to respond to it. Some background. I'm the youngest brother for adult siblings. My oldest brother is wife of very wealthy, easily seven figures type wealthy. We're talking multi million dollar paid off house paid off Maserati Cadillac Maserati. Meanwhile, my wife and I have a much more normal low middle class budget, not broke, but we are single income household with kids. To complicate matters. My oldest brother is also my boss, and I've always been a little intimidated by him. It's complicate matters. Yeah, because it sucks like if your brother can't go back to brother mode when you're not working for him. I think I already know exactly like what this dynamic is like, and he's never, he's thinking he did you a real big solid, and you're just like, can you not tell me I'm going to, you know, not get a raise because the past won or something. You know what I mean? All right. So there's a strange family work dynamic here as well. I don't want to be clear. I do want to be clear. My brother and my sister-in-law can be very generous in my sister-in-law is one of the kindest people I know. I love her. My wife loves her. And there's absolutely no bad blood between us. But then came the dinosaurs. My sister-in-law recently texted my wife and me out of the blue, hey guys, do you guys still have all those Jurassic World toys? Do your boys still play with them? She explained that her youngest son who's around six is really into dinosaurs right now. We'd love to have more Jurassic World toys. She didn't proceed to ask if we could give some of our dinosaurs back to them, even naming several specific dinosaur models and asking whether we still have them. First of all, our boys absolutely still play with these dinosaurs. Second, these weren't even gifts from my brother or sister-in-law. They're older son, who's now a young adult, purchased these dinosaurs with his own money years ago and decided completely on his own to give them to his younger cousins when he was a teenager. They were gifts from our nephew to our children. To be clear, my wife and I aren't exactly grieved about losing the toys. We have plenty of dinosaurs and we happily agreed to give some to our little nephew. Our kids don't need every single one and we're glad he'll enjoy them. But guys, I cannot get over the absurdity of this request. My brother and sister-in-law have millions of dollars. They take vacations that quite literally cost more than my car. Yet we're being asked to dig through our kids toy collection and return specific plastic dinosaurs that their teenage son gave away years ago. Again, I genuinely love my sister-in-law, noted, "She's a wonderful person. I don't believe there was any malicious intent whatsoever, but the whole thing is so hilariously out of touch that I haven't able to stop thinking about it. I bring this up to my brother. I don't want to shame her. But do I mention to my family the absurd request? Is this just a normal example of family sharing toys that I'm overthinking because of wealth disparity? No, I don't think this is normal, but I don't know. I think it might be. Let me just get through it. Then I'll get out of the way because it's a long one. Or is there something genuinely bizarre about multi-millionaires asking their middle-class relatives to return their children's used dinosaur toys in the words of sorority in my eyes? Is quote-insane behavior, but perhaps I'm wrong. I think that's kind of nice that if you don't lose touch when you have millions of dollars from the stuff that keeps you or a real extended family kind of unit. I think some families, the books exchange and the children, you never have to buy new children's books. You have the Charlotte's web from the 1980s that your parents had that gets passed around. I think that's the thing that you can expect and at least worth an ask. I think it would be worth kind of divorcing the money from what the ask is here. And again, you said that they certainly bought those for the kid, right? They're probably not thinking about it as like, this is insane that we don't think he should have given that away. Like, they remember buying the toys for their kid who grew up and they're like, oh, you know what? Remember how much funny you had with those? They're probably just thinking that it's really not a big deal at all. And I think the silence from you, like, it's, I don't know, I'm getting off track here, but I just, I think I think they're not looking at it as a big deal. And I actually wouldn't look at it as a big deal. The fact that they're playing with it, the playing with the toy still and they're not like, you're not going into the attic and rummaging around for them is a little muddy. I think it's really easy for us as outsiders to just be like, this isn't a big deal. Whereas in this, in this situation, I think I would be like, what the fuck? Kind of thing, like, this is obviously not, like, it's a little weird for sure. I don't think, I mean, maybe they're the type, some rich people just like, don't really think that way. They're just like, hey, there's some dinosaur toys that might be available. Let's grab the dinosaur toys. Like, it doesn't matter how much money they have. They're just always going to be like that. And they remember how much their kid liked it when he was a kid when he was a kid, right? But didn't, didn't they say that the older kid bought the toys with his own money though, right? They may or may not know that. Okay. Like, I don't know if your teenagers, it really your own money, you know? Right. Yeah. Hopefully you picked your clothes up. But you keep talking about the doors. That door is not yours either, you know what I mean? That's going to authorized you, you know? But as a kid, we're landscaping and then bought, I don't know, that would be weird. That would be weird. Yeah. Like, hey, do you want to go out and talk to girls of the food court? Nope. I've got some dinosaurs on layaway. So I don't, KB Toys is calling my name. Yeah. What age did he buy? He says he bought him and now he's an adult and he gave him. I think that parts, the coolest thing is that you had a cousin that was looking out for his little cousins and just like, hey, I don't, I am actually interested in girls. Yes, I have a, you know, e-bike. I don't want to play with Jurassic Park toys anymore. I'm going to give them to them and maybe our email is a little caught up in the wealth disparity of this whole thing. But I'm with him. I'm generally with him that your mother, your brother, your mother, your brother and your sister-in-law know that your kids are still of the age that they'd be into the dinosaurs. So this just means that they had a conversation. They were like, hey, we should get some dinosaurs. I mean, apparently every kid in this family is just super into them, but that's, that's not very right. But they had to have a conversation at some point where they were like, hey, we should hit them up to see if we can get some of them back. And it's just, I'm, I'm with the dealer here. It could be innocent. They could have been like, hey, like, yeah, but the kids are still young. I know. The kids are still young. Like, they have to, they have to know as parents, like, do we really want to go and reduce their dinosaur inventory when we're talking about a six-show? Well, maybe every time they're over the house, the kids are playing Fortnite. They're dropping at Pine Ridge or whatever they're, you know, maybe, maybe they see these kids as like screen time kids and they're like, they're, they're, maybe they're 10 years old. Like, they didn't say the age of the kids, right? I mean, so if, if their information is when they come over and like, yeah, these, these are kids of the digital age anymore. And I think, you know, they've all grown the dinosaurs like that. I think, I think we're attributing way too much to the ass, which is honestly in a normal family wouldn't be a crazy ass. And it wouldn't be crazy to be like, actually, you know, what kids are still, they're still in heavy rotation. I'll, you know, I can give you some of the, I can give you the weird brown one, but we'll, you know, we'll get to the other ones when it's time. Yeah. That's a, to answer the guy's question because we're trying to give advice. I think that's the way to go. You just say, like, hey, we're, like, these are still like prime toys here. Like, we could, you know, we could, we could maybe lose a couple of, I promise you, I'm over the matter of the draft. But yeah, we're protecting about these, you know, these tender protect, that doesn't feel like a draft. That feels like, that feels like an expansion draft. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We got a couple of new franchises. Like, all right. We've protected the T wrecks. We've protected the brontosaurus, like whatever that fish thing is, I didn't even know if that's real. Yeah. We've got one leg, but, you know, he still works. We're spending a lot of time on this, but we do need, we need to bring it full circle. Like, he's the youngest. This is an older brother. He's also his boss. He says he admits to us. He's kind of intimidated, which is totally normal to be intimidated. Like, you've never been the alpha in this dynamic ever. It's fucking impossible. I kind of think, I'd like to see my boy grow up. Yeah. You look forward to hearing him all grow and stuff. I'd like to say, hey, hey, bro, fuck off. My kids are still playing with the dinosaurs. Like, I'll let you know. If your kid's still in the dinosaurs in three years and that window closes over here, I'll probably be over there in a wheelbarrow, because boom. The only thing is they might not be thinking of you.
or obviously analyzing this to like the end's degree. They might have just been like, "Oh yeah, they've got some dinosaurs." - What is it, weird? - And you may be thinking about it way more than they are. Like this might just be like, I'm asking, they've got some dinosaurs. - That's what I mean, like they might have just grown up. They got their cousins toys or they're just, that's the kind of family they grew up in. They're just keeping the tradition alive. - If you come as like big hard-o guy, they're gonna be like, "What the hell, dude?" We're just trying to like, okay, like we'll buy our own dot, like it's not that big of a deal. We're in your head, it's the biggest deal. - Yeah. - I love that rule. It is an unbelievable thing. Like it's like higher consciousness. Once you start to understand, hey, nobody's thinking about any of these things. Nobody cares. Nobody's even thought about you in weeks. Like it's fine, 'cause you're with you all the time. You can't get right from yourself. Understand other people aren't with you as much as you're with yourself, so you're fine. Having said all of that, I think this was a statement text. I think it was a statement text. I think it was a feeler. Let's see how this goes. And I'd like to see our guy stand up for himself here a little bit. - Yeah, you can be like, "Whoa, dude, they're just dinosaurs." If he comes back hard and doesn't let go. - Now you have the upper, the higher ground. - That's good. - He loses his job, like a type in the belt. He comes back home, he's screaming at his wife. - We should have just given him a dinosaur. - Fucking dinosaurs, I told you. - Fucking rassolo. Does he even have any, no one in his family even likes him? - That's not true, but I don't know, I said that. Well, 'cause people were gonna believe it. Be like, "Oh, hey, another peel of the onion." My sisters and brothers love me. All right, moving on. - We're gonna get out. - I didn't know. (laughing) - Yeah, just to clarify. (laughing) 25 years old, 510, 160, no gym stats. 100% dumbbells and bands. I like that. Three sport company, athlete, hockey golf and basketball. I was thinking about our basketball guy last night who I called a dickhead in the first time ever, I think ever on the podcast, but I was just so mad because then I told him I loved him. So I always a full circle relationship with me and that emailer. But I just, when you're 35 and you're a rush to be older and I understood, like he's got this real ankle problem and then it clearly you guys are pointing out the wife part of it and the kids, like that's just some of the stuff that, yeah, if you're hurt, maybe it's an inconvenience on the rest of the family if you're in and out of surgery because of pick up basketball. Maybe there is an end point in the discussion but I just get really frustrated with 30. You know what I would do to be able to feel and move around like a 35 year old, specifically in a basketball game. And this guy's thinking about hanging them up. So I was thinking about that response and that email a little bit more last night and I just thought to myself, I'm like, that got weird with you. It got personal because you were just so mad that a 35 year old who's good at hoops was deciding I think I'm done. Yeah, you got to show a few of that stuff. Specifically, yeah, this is actually not the first time we've gone down this road. This is actually very funny though 'cause it's like dudes with the time machines. Like, hey, I'm gonna go back, I'm gonna invest in Apple or Amazon, blah, blah, blah. So it's like, I'm gonna go back and kick some dudes ass and pick up hoops. Like, that's what we're gonna do. I do think about this a lot. Like three time travel draft things of like, okay, which three time periods, like moments would you go back to? And I would say watertown mass, pick up hoops. Like, hey, is one of them. It's not crazy. I think I've told the story, but my like, the senior day when you go and do like the day trip or whatever, somewhere, like in everyone, you go down water slides or everybody's food and whatever you do all these games. My, my boys and I literally played basketball, pick up basketball for like six straight hours. It was one of the best days for our lives. I might not even pick the watertown or run. I mean, there's from from mop runs that are pretty good. Are you mentally game? Would you go back for like two points? Is it a day or you're like, I'm gonna live in this area for a minute? Like is that in your, does that factor into your time travel thing? Like I could do a cool walk here. Or like start over from here. Like what do we think? A month would get weird, I think. 'Cause I'm like, I might just try harder in high school and see what a real college is like, you know. There's one, if you go back in time, you don't have to try hard in high school. Again, you could just invest in whatever you want. And then follow through the next or so. You can't invest. You can't invest. That's a boring answer. - No. - Like, what is it called? Tisla. (laughing) - The receiver? - Yeah. There's a kid in, there's a kid in pop water with that same name, one of them related. All right, give me, we could do this as a full segment. I don't know why anyone would ever listen 'cause they don't know us from previous years. Although, maybe. I mean, you're not gonna get like, oh, I think, you know, year three with a fan cult. And we've really gotten to a good rhythm. That's probably not gonna be one of the years I picked. Kyle, I think you treasure of Latino fraternity. I would, I mean, I would use one of my three. I'm just, if I can't change anything, I'll just go back there for a bit. I'd hang out there for a while. Rome is an obvious one, but you don't wanna stay too long. Place like Rome, I think. That's the top of my list. And then I don't know, I think like maybe like, maybe the 1800s would be, be interested in poking around. More you like in the 1800s. Yeah, I don't know. It just has to be in your own life. I like where your head's at, though, 'cause this is actually pretty good. Yeah, but that doesn't, yeah, that doesn't work. It has to be in your, let's just understand the other side. I mean, you were, you got to pick one of your own chapters. You'd be like, well, the declaration has meant a lot to the country, 'cause I'm thinking of like 13. That was a six summer hoops again as a major factor, probably not as exciting as like some of the possibilities as when I was 23, if you know what I'm talking about, but I'm just saying, yeah, 13 would be on the board for me. I create your, when I was 13. Wait, is that first year high school, middle school? Eighth grade. Eighth grade, yeah. Yeah. I would definitely pick some high school year, just because, you know, for college. Old college. Yeah, I think I, could I do, I mean, if we're doing three, I could probably get both in here in some way, but like high school was like, dude, we used to have like video game drafts and like sleep over dudes houses and like, you know. Tell you how we wrote it. I was, I was, I was, I was on the statute of limitations of probably living on this. We used to, we used to steal beer from the, from the local IGA and like, we, I had no problems with that. Like we just had, we had a good set up. We just had a good set up. We were playing pickup hoops for like probably four, five hours a day on weekends. I played sports, I golfed a lot. Like, I, you know, like that's just a good run. We had a good run. No mortgage. Yeah. All this more, more, you know, like it's pretty good. It's pretty good life. I was listening to Drake the other day and he's like, I have two mortgage, just 30 million. You're like, brother, you're fucking Drake. You're not paying these off yet. Yeah, I guess mine would be pretty closer together. I'd say probably 17, 19 and 22 would be my 30. 'Cause I had that fun year off, you know, like with fake real world experience. So I'd get another crack at that. Totally would do that again. There was a run though in West, in like the West Hartford run, young ESPN, where it's like, you know, the career is kind of like making moves or a little bit, but you don't really have that much responsibility and the bills kind of don't matter at that point where you're in the sweet spot of excitement. Like mine, fake real. It's, and you feel like it's really important and you're still going out, like Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, like my wife always says that she's never felt more financially secure making 35,000 dollars a year. Living in West Hartford is all gonna be okay. Like the bills don't matter. Like they just don't. Like you're not really like worried about investing. You're not worried about saving for something or, you know, future, like you're just kind of living. But you're, but you're still kind of a kid. You have a career, but you're also an adult and you think you're more important than you are. That's a pretty, that's probably 24, 25-ish in that range. That's, that's a lot of fun. Damn, 86 was a good year. Clemens. That was a lot of fun. Clemens got off to an insane start. First half of the season, I kept score. The all-star game, wrote it down. Wow, it's tough. It's good stuff. It's good stuff. I think the window for me is like 19 to some 20s ones, but it's funny, and it's like as much fun as I had in some of those early 20s, it was also as the biggest loser. I was on a very, like, I was in the express lane to the hate none of this is gonna, you know what'd be fun is to do a board and say you can't draft like 2002, like for me or whatever, like, like it's undraftable, too many flags. That's fair. All right, maybe we get back to the email. - Yeah, I don't know where to go. - I don't know where to go. - Yeah, so this guy said something about his cousin try to make it now. All right, so 25, 5, 10, no gym stature to go through that hockey golf basketball, pick up cop, comp, Jordan Walsh. I love that you did that. It says a ton, no one is impressed. My brother lives in Nashville, and I went and visited him earlier in the fall. Last night I was there. I really hit it off with a girl to bar. It was a night went on. I asked her where she lived in the city. And she ended up living on the same floors. My brother in department complex had an incredible night with her. Now I'm going back in three weeks. I was wondering how I should go about seeing her again. Seems like my three options would be DM her on Instagram before I go, as I don't have a number. Knock on her door, randomly. - Or, out of town, out of town, knock on her. What are your other options? - Yeah, out of town, knock, I don't know, man. Hey there, surprise. I brought take-out. - Hope you like Curry. We are to cover that or try to spontaneously see her at the apartment complex of Barb. Brother, you're going to be doing more laundry. - Hey, I'll track the mail, you're rug outside. It's just not aligned, right? - I still don't like him. I'm going to get a level. - No.
when I walked past her door to get my brother and saw I pass it 15 times minimum and I will go back again in March. All right, so I'm not gonna read any of the other stuff 'cause he asked me not to read the rest of the stuff, but he said they stayed up rather late outside, which doesn't allude in, 'cause it sounds like it's just kind of a late night chat hang or whatever. 'Cause I think that changes it a little bit for like, when everybody's younger and you're leaving the bar, if you're going to your separate corners and there was never like a moment of, hey, how's it going? Or like, what are you doing after this? Kind of shit, have you ever seen Bocahontas on VHS? So I don't know where you're at in her conscious of things. Now if she's ridiculous, you're not the only guy that has interest in her, okay? Get a factor of that in here a little bit. I don't think that DM thing is bad because it's going to be way more efficient than you just trying to spontaneously be there with the amount of energy that you're going to spend trying to randomly run in here like, your brother's gonna be so pissed that you're just walking always. I'm gonna get my steps in. Or what if she's like notices you and didn't and that she's like, he just walked by again, or if there's a ring camera. You know, who goes with that? But she's available here. That's what they call it. So are we good on eliminating, showing up, unless it just went so well and you're in that guy? - Creeping, yes, we'll eliminate Creeping. - See that for the last day. - Feel safe that we can cross that off. - Cool, anything else? See that for the last day. - Yeah. I think looking at the toolbox here, that's one that should say in the box. But we don't have jumpstart. - We don't have any other tools. - Other than DM, I think. I mean, he didn't really say, but just she know that you're staying in her building or did your brother tell you that information? Like to she even know like, I think he knows. Who knows? I think they all kind of like, it wasn't, it's a super important part of the information, which I don't have full, 'cause it's an email, right? But I'm just saying like, I don't think they saw each other at Turks Bentley's bar, and then it was like 145, and they got ubers here. I think there was still a conversation. - Conversations, yeah. - Right. - Well, the DM thing is the best way, unless you already have an in, you already talk to her. You already talk to her all night long. So I would think if she has any interest, that's a problem with being a guy's, the guy next to you is like, hey, that worked for him. Well, oh, it's not gonna work for you, 'cause it's just not gonna work for you, man. It's just gonna work for him. It's not gonna work for you. You may already be him. You already may be in there in a way where the DM is not a turn off, where the DM is like, oh, that's awesome. I didn't have your number. And you just will know. You'll know immediately with her response to that, how the rest of the weekend is gonna go. And in a way, it'll probably do you a favor to salvage the rest of the weekend if it's not going to go well with her in the first place. Does that make sense to you guys? - Yeah, and I think the timing of the DM matters. Don't be like, I'm gonna be there in May. You gotta do it like next weekend, I'm already here or whatever. I'm here for five days. Like I wouldn't, I wouldn't make the long term plan. If you're not even sure where to begin, I wouldn't be like, hey, can you block some time off in May? I think, I think they'd be like, oh, you know what? Play it cold, be like, oh my God. I just remembered I'm going, you know, I'm gonna be in your city next weekend or next week, whatever. Or I just should. - Just shut up. - Yeah, the good news is, it's not just like, you're not just farmed from the hip DM here. You're gonna know pretty quickly whether or not this is like a thing or not. So it's not creepy, that's not creepy, hanging around is creepy. And you hate DMs. - And I don't like, hate some. - No, I just, it wasn't my go-to move. I don't even know that I had to go to move. - You were offended by them. - No, no, no, I was, well, it just wasn't for me. I'm just not, I'm just not. - I'm just telling you, if you're a lady out there, don't DM sorrouty, it's when he's married, he hates him. - Well, that's also true, yeah, fair enough. But yeah, like it's not, you're not gonna come off as weird and you gotta close in, but they also know that like, she's gonna likely see it, and it's gonna be a pretty hard yes or no, and you move on. And remember, you're going to visit your brother. So, thinking about, no, he isn't. - Well, I mean, this guy, I like that he's going, "Hey, guess who's back in town, you know?" (all laughing) So, I mean, if she's the total package, and if she's insane, like, you guys are using those miles judiciously. All right, if you have freedom to go ahead and do it. Yeah, good luck, let us know. I'm sorry to, I don't know. All right, that'll do it for the show today. Thanks to Tom, Kevin Srouty and Sam Elliott towards the end there. - Nice. - I think I went over my head. Yes, it did. That'll do it for the show today. Ryan Rousseau show, "Parsal Sports." (upbeat music) - See you. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)
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