NFL Season Preview and Super Bowl Predictions!

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No tightness, no stickiness, no residue, just plump, dewy hydrated skin that still feels like your skin. My new grippy setting mist from Maybelline, New York. We have made it six days away from the kickoff of the 20-26 regular season shield kapati Billy Gill are both here, I have given them a very important assignment because when it comes to prediction world, it's that time of year. It's time to say, put your name on the record of who you got, where you got them and ultimately who is going to win the Super Bowl. Let's start out. You guys feeling good, Billy? What was your methodology real quick here? How did you go about making these predictions? I'm slightly worried that we are having communication issues like you, Sheel, and I where we get an assignment and then I don't exactly deliver on I think what the intention of set assignment was. So you said, let's go down, let's break down the divisions, then let's go through the playoffs, pick a Super Bowl winner, all of that. What I did is I literally just printed out the entire schedule. I went game by game, week by week for every single team, wins, losses, I have justifications for some of the wins and losses that I'm sure you guys make question why it is you picked this upset that up. Did you think we were talking through all 272 games, Billy? I wasn't sure how in depth we would go. I feel like, you know, Sheel will go like more macro with the teams and he'll tell you these are the offseason moves. This is what I like. These are position wins, new head coaches, new OCs, new DCs, et cetera, et cetera. And I said, that's all well and good, but it doesn't really matter until we hit the grid iron. So that's why I went game by game. So I'm not just going to give you like, I think this team will go eight and nine. I'll tell you exactly how they'll go eight and nine, where are the wins will be, where the losses will be. And then we'll see kind of how it all shakes out. This is going to be a nine hour podcast, Sheel. Are you ready just to be really brief because I have a feeling Billy is going to talk a lot here. I mean, I was just thinking the same thing. He's going to go through every single game. I mean, we don't have nine hours here. Tom's got to get on a flight. He's got to go to Australia. Yes, mine is going to be much more basic. I went through. I picked the record for every team as I do every summer. I make sure it adds up to 272 and 272 because there are some frauds in the content game, you know, they're just picking. Oh, every team's going to go nine and eight. It's like every team can't go above 500, someone has to lose those games. So we're not frauds here. I'm ready to go on the record. Old takes exposed all those terrible accounts that try to call people out for getting stuff wrong. Get ready because we're bringing it. You're going to get one of those graphics on Instagram. It's just your face. It says like wrong or loser, and that's really the point of this exercise, which is why I will be running point and gain a jumpstart on telling you guys where I think you went wrong. All right. We're starting out here in the AFC and let's go right to the AFC, a shield. I'm going to give you the first crack at each of these AFC East we got. I got the Buffalo Bills. I have the bills as a 12 win team. If you look at it, they've won 11 plus games in six straight seasons. Their offense is always good. You can change the coordinators. You can change the offensive line. You can change the wide receivers. If Josh Allen's healthy, they're going to figure it out. So this isn't necessarily like a vote of confidence that I think Joe Brady is going to be incredible. A big upgrade over Sean McDermott. I actually don't know if that's going to be the case. And I'm not telling you this is an unbelievable roster, but you know what? Sometimes it comes down to, do you have the elite Hall of Fame quarterback who wins double digit games every year? I think the bills have that. So I've got the bills 12 and 5 winning the AFC East. Billy, what do you got? I actually have the bills going 13 and 4, you know, not to be a Tommy Topper here. Now, I have a question for you guys as we go into this. Do you want me to tell you when I tell you how I have them going also where they'll be in the playoffs or we'll get to the playoffs after we get to the playoffs after? We'll get to the playoffs after. We'll start them in. We'll get into the playoffs after. They'll get into the playoffs after. in the AFC potentially even in the entire NFL. And now at a time that they're still on top and the owner, Terry Pagula makes a decision after seeing Josh Allen crying in his locker after they lost the Denver last year. You go, you know what? It's runs course. We're making the change. They go through the entire process. Josh Allen's on crutches. He's in the interviews. They land on Joe Brady. I'm just I'm really interested to see how the entire thing plays out because it's not just pressure on Joe Brady. There's pressure on ownership there. There's pressure on the front offices. Pressure on everybody because you made a decision to move on collectively, specifically Terry Pagula from a guy who helped turn around your entire program for what the Buffalo Bill has been for a very long time. You know, put it on Joe Brady who does not have that experience. But everything that I've been told out of that building is it's been a really cool environment. It is a little bit different. And I think that sometimes I think there's truth to there is value in change for the sake of change. If you don't have that big ticket item and it's just like, well, we're trying the same thing again. This is a big of a move as you can make, are the training Josh Allen, which is probably never going to happen. This is significant of a sea change as you can make moving on from the head coach. So let's go to the next division here. We got to have time. We're breaking down all the divisions. We're doing all the wild cards and we're getting championship and super bowl predictions. Let's head shield to the AFC North, their division with tons of changes in the off season. What do you got? All right. So this is an annual summer tradition for me. You know, it's like September's about to roll around. The kids are going back to school. I'm like, I should probably quit golf. I'm so terrible at this. Why did I spend my, you know, summer break doing that? And then I start making NFL predictions. And I look at the team in Cincinnati. And I say, why not the Bengals this year? It's just my process. You know, this is what I do. I'm a creature of habit. I like to do this. And I did it again this year and I tried to talk myself out of it. And I said, shield, don't fall for it again. Learn your lesson. And I couldn't do it. I've got the Bengals winning this division at 11 and six. And here's the reason. Billy, I hear you gasping over there. You're going to make fun of me. I'll try to be a maybe you'll pick another team. When Joe Borough was on the field last year, the offense was very good. When Joe Borough was on the field in 2024, the offense was very good. When Joe Borough was on the field in 2022, the offense was very good. I like teams that are hard to defend. And they've got Borough and they've got chase and they've got Higgins and they're trying to implement some schematic changes offensively. And I think chase Brown is a good back. I think the offensive line, by the way, is average. And I know we don't hang banners for average. But if you look at it last year, that was the lowest sac rate of Joe Borough's career. And so I think if you have an average offensive line with everything else, the offense can be really good. Now, obviously the big question is the defense, which was a complete, unmitigated disaster last year. They trade for Dexter Lawrence. They sign a few vets on the defensive line. They sign Brian Cook, the safety. I kind of like their corners a little bit. And so again, we're not hanging banners for the Bengals defense this year. We're not making bold proclamations that they're going to be terrible. They just can't be terrible 24th. Can we get to 23rd Cincinnati? Because if you get to around that range of defense, create some turnovers, offense is very good. Third, easiest schedule in the NFL. I think you can win a lot of games. I've got the Bengals 11 and six winning the AFC North. Billy, I'm now feeling very insecure about my pick with the AFC North because you know, the easy pick would be the Ravens. And I have the Ravens in the AFC North going 13 and four. So it's like, wow, that is, that is a very big record. However, I have the Bengals going 14 and three. So I have the Bengals winning the AFC North also. And it comes down to as I told you, I just started going through the schedule week by week. How do they get this win? How do they get this loss? You pointed it out right there. They have the third easiest schedule. The hardest games that they probably have who are against the Ravens. And you know, in one of the games against the Ravens, are coming off a buy. So they have a seven day rest advantage. Then they have the Ravens again at the end of the year. And that game in week 17 between the Bengals and the Ravens. I would say this may be one of those, you know, Sunday night football games. If it's not already selected, maybe flexed in there because that could be the one that decides division. If I have one team going 14 and three and one team going 13 and four. And if I have them winning that game against the Ravens at home, this is also a condition on Joe Burrow's health, which is what obviously an insanadi is. This can Joe Burrow stay healthy and every quarterback to be fair. I know he's had more injuries than most, but you can say that about every started quarterback. Well, it's, but that seems to be what derails them really is Joe Burrow and how many games he ends up missing each season. If this is a year that he stays on the field and they go down and it comes down to week 17 and the division is on the line game at home in Cincinnati. We're presuming it's going to be bad weather. Baltimore is coming in. This could be the one that finally gets them over the home. If they win that game, they go 14 and three off of an easy schedule and and I'm not going to give too many things here, but it's hard to believe there's going to be a team better than 14 and three in the AFC. So that game might propel them to another level. The Bengals at 14 and three, he led us right into that with the Ravens at 13 and four. I would say this because you're right. Listen. Yes. See, you're correct that every starting quarterback has injuries, but the, the litany of injuries that Joe Burrow has had, going all the way back to his first year when he tore his ACL. It's, it's unlike anybody else. And to his credit, he is battled back. He came back from the turf toe last year. The reason that fortifying the defense and investing the resources, signing Brian Cook, trading for Dexter Lawrence and I saw that Burrow didn't interview. I think on Jamar Chase's podcast where he was talking about Dexter and how excited he is for him. They haven't done things like that in the past. And since Nanny, but one of the answering effects, it's not just raising the bar of the defense. It's the fact that think about the plays that Joe Burrow gets heard on the turf toe one last year. And he needs to be better at it in general, but it's him holding the ball in the pocket, trying to extend the play. He gets bent up awkwardly. If you have him in less situations where he's having to score 40 points, guess what? You can run the football more with Chase Brown. You don't have to have him holding the ball all the time and subjecting him to those hits. If they can just find some level of balance, I agree the Bengals have a chance to be really good. I'm also curious, Billy. If you had those two teams combining for 27 wins, did you just have no division wins for the Steelers of Browns? You just have them being swept completely off the map. So I actually have the Steelers of 11 and six. They're going to take advantage of an E2. And then I have the Browns of two and five. I mean, we can go over to the AMC just losing greatly. They're sure your odds up. You're sure your odds up the 272. I would need to see this math too. Yeah, I'm a little curious here. I have in the AMC a three-win team, a two-win team, another three-win team, a four-win team. There's a lot of bad teams in the AMC when you go week by week in the schedule. And by the way, here's the shocking part about the Bengals 14 and three also. I have them losing to Tampa Bay to start the season. So they're starting oh and one. And then they're just going to go on a run. The rest of the year. 14 and two. The rest of the way. Let's try to let's try to find some losses. How about the AMC South Shield? Who do you see out within the AMC South? All right, I think I'm going chalk here. I believe they're the favorites. I've got the Houston Texans. I think if you're looking for a team that can be some version of last year Seahawks or some version of the 2024 Eagles, I think the Texans could fit that category. You know, they'd won between 10 and 12 games, three straight seasons. I think they have the best defense in the NFL. You know, certainly. I think even if you're not as high on them as I am, I think you would say top five somewhere in that range. So I think the defense is going to be terrific and it's just going to keep them in a lot of games. Now I can't get to like, I don't know if Billy is going to have them at 15 and two or 16 and one. I don't know, but I can't get them to a higher ceiling because I don't understand why I'm supposed to feel differently about this offense this year. You know, I think some people are predicting them to make this big leap on offense. And I'm just like, I still have questions about the offensive line. I like the quarterback, but I still have questions about the quarterback. I just don't see the reason it's not like they have a new play collar or something. Why I'm supposed to believe this is the year that they're finally going to have a great offense because that just hasn't been the case over the last three years. So I think they're a very good team. I don't think they're going to make that unbelievable leap to where they're the number one seed, but I do have them in this division. Billy, AFC South, what do you got? I have the Jaguars winning the AFC South. I have the Texans finishing second. I have the Texans only going nine and eight. And you mentioned it, there's strength has been their defense the past couple of years, but we saw kind of a trend with their OC who took over where they stall out in the red zone. And that's kind of been his MO year after years. They can kind of get things going. And as soon as they get to the red zone, that's when things kind of stall out for them. And they don't really get the points that they need. Here's the thing. I'm wondering if this is going to be the year that we finally see kind of like a return of CJ Stroud to his rookie season. And I saw that they were trying to sign them to a long-term deal. He passed up on that. It was going to be $50 million annually. Unless Tom you're hearing differently. I was going to say this is a time for what's Tom hearing. Billy, you don't have to say I saw this. They've had a lot of ongoing discussions. I don't know that anything is over at this point. We'll see. I mean, week one is the cutoff. I mean, that's for the Texans. That's where it would cut off. And we still got another 10 days. We record this till they're kicking off. Well, he wanted somewhere in the neighborhood of $60 million. I was reading, which is 10 more than 50 because 50, what are you going to do? And this economy with $50 million a year, you know, that's insane. We've talked about it, though, the quarterback market next year because of the class of 2023 that's going to be newly extension eligible with Caleb and Jane Daniels, Drake May, Bonix, Lamar being up for another contract, Baker Mayfield being a free agent. Like, what we think of now is 60 could be 70 next year. So if you're CJ Stroud, I mean, think about this way too, CJ Stroud finished on his bad of a note as you possibly could last year. I mean, did the playoff game, the fumbles was abysmal. But from like October through going into the playoffs, he was playing pretty good football. He's been that guy, it ended on a bad note. But in other words, if you're, that's your low note. And this negotiation is happening, not coming off of the worst performance you could possibly have. Imagine if he just sustains normal CJ Stroud through the course of the season. And then is that much closer to gain a deal on the open market. I mean, I certainly could see the argument for it. I understand where the Texans might want more information. But if you're Stroud and you're willing to roll the dice, I mean, you made a lot of money already as the number two overall pick, you may think, I'm going to play better than that. I've never played worse than that in my life. I'm going to put better stuff than that playoff game on tape. Let's see where that takes me. It's sort of like the Dak Prescott lesson, right? I mean, it's just like, you know, obviously, there's always the risk. And it's easy for me to say it's not my money. If someone was offering me $50 million, I might be like, I'm just going to go ahead and take that. But if you're really like zooming out and are like, how can I maximize all my earnings in my NFL career? And you're a quarterback in your mid 20s, who is at least average? And I think we can say CJ Stroud clears that bar. It's like, all right, I'm just going to wait. Like Tom said, the price only goes up. If you wait, you can get franchise tag multiple times cool. And then I'll hit the open market after that. I won't even be 30 years old. It's like, you could actually make more money doing it that way. Now again, I understand there are different variables for every player and everyone's situation is different. But it's really not a bad way to go. I know it sounds crazy for me to say, yeah, it turned down $50 million. That's a smart thing to do, but it's, and there actually is reason to it. To our cousins back when he got a three or $84 million contract, he doesn't get that. If he doesn't play it out through the tag, you know, Dak Prescott's a great example. He gets the 60 million. He tears up his ankle as you remember, suffers a gruesome injury and then still gets the deal. But if you're a good enough player, particularly at that position, you, if you're comfortable with the risk, I mean, that's always the key to me. Listen, if you want to protect your downside, get the most money you possibly can now. I will never fault anyone for that. If you're like, I'm willing to play this thing out. And from everything I've been told consistently, CJ Stroud is absolutely willing to play it out. Good for you. You're taking the risk on yourself. That's why guys get insurance policies and things like that. There's a lot of different factors. It's a cash flow position. If you're able to get enough cash now over time, it can benefit you to take the better deal. But if you're nowhere close and you think next year on the market, I'd be getting 10 or 20 million more per year, then making whatever CJ's making this, you're like $3 million in the fourth year of his rookie contract. It may be worth the risk and it seems like that's the calculation right now. This is a bigger picture question, but is there a bubble? Like is there a point where it's going to be like, it's just too much. Like we can't be paying quarterbacks $80 million a year realistically. And things will kind of shift down. They'll say, you know what, I could get a CJ strad for $60 million, where I could get a baker or find like a reclamation project, a Sam Darnold something like that. I could get them for like $30 million and what's the big difference there? Well, they're in there and they're that already exists too, like there's a there's a clear demarcation. If you look at the top paid quarterbacks, there's 16 guys who have like legit franchise quarterback deals. Number 16 is Baker Mayfield. Is that like 33 million? Then there's just this huge drop off to like the Geno Smiths and Justin Fields, which are around like 20 a year and those are just like clearly bridge contracts. Obviously Fields is already on to a new team, but there is that that gap there. And if you fall down the gap, let's say Baker may feel that the opportunity to turn to deal down. It's first year in Tampa. It went there for one year and five million. He plays well gets a three year $100 million deal. Now Baker's in the same spot. What why in the world am I going to take whatever the number is 50 million a year when I can get to free agency, get that much closer and I'm going to cash in like, yes, there is a bubble. And if you look, I mean, look at the guys that are playing for the minimum this year. To a talk about Lois making $51 million to play for a million bucks for Atlanta, Tyler Murray is making like 36 million from the Cardinals to play for a million dollars in Minnesota. Those teams would go back in time and regret it. If you're convicted, this is your guy, get it done. If you're on the fence, of course, I mean, there's a reason that teams Carolina with Bryce Young, like, yeah, the arrows pointed up. We might want a little bit more information before we commit the type of money that is going to have significant effects across the rest of the organization. Well, that's what I was going to say, like, Toa is the largest cautionary tale out of all of them, right? Because the dolphins were in a position where Mike McDaniel essentially build the offense around Toa and to kind of make up for his shortcomings. And then they had to decide, is this our guy, is this not our guy? And if this isn't our guy, we essentially have to hit a reset on what we're doing here, which they ultimately did anyways, but they did so after they gave him the long extension. So if you're not sure about CJ Stroud, if he doesn't take the next step, like, yeah, he wants 50 million, he wants 60 million dollars a year, but even Baker, where you're saying, like, he's the line of demarcation at 30 million. Baker's holding out because Baker wants 50 million dollars a year. So at a certain, when does the money dry up, I guess, you know, and this, and this may be that pivot point where you have all these guys who are up for new contract extensions. And there's different ways you can look at the market. I mean, Josh Allen, so it's six years through and a 30 million, but a two year, 200 million dollar extension. So if you want to care, compare a new money versus what's a tear up, there's all kinds of ways that you can spin the numbers. The bottom line is the cap continues to grow. And if you're a pagan percentage of the cap and what that should be, the cap keeps going up. So the quarterback money should continue to go up as well. And that's one of the reasons that some of these negotiations move a little bit slower. That's right. The TV, the TV deals are not getting cheaper. The owners are not making less money. So I just want to point out to the audience is second recent episode of Billy has come out pro owner, you know, let the owners make more money. They shouldn't have to pay these quarterbacks all this money. I just want to go on the record. That does not reflect the entire views of the ringer NFL, so I don't know where Tom comes down on it. But I believe that the players should get their fair value. The collective bargaining agreement is a revenue sharing document. The players get 48% in change of every dollar across three major buckets. And so when the salary cap goes up, people could say the owners are making so much money. Right. But the players are getting 48% of that. That's why you're seeing this enormous cap growth. That's why 12 years ago Aaron Rogers was the highest paid quarterback in the NFL at 22 million a year. The market has crippled, if not more, depending on you slice it in that period of time. All right. So she'll have the Texans in the AFC South, Billy had the Jags first disagreement here. Let's go to maybe the most interesting division in that conference. The AFC West, she'll which way you going. This I think is the hardest division in either conference to predict. Like I have changed my mind roughly 700 times in the last three months. And last week, I sat down and I said, all right, if your life depended on it, which team would you pick? I know it's dark. That's crazy. Listen, in the prediction game, Billy, you go to a dark place sometime. That's a bad situation to be in. The gun is to your head. Is it the chargers? They're the Broncos or the chiefs. Yeah. Are you being sequestered? Like is someone holding you against your will or what's happening here? I tried to strike a little fear. It's my heart there and say, all right, you have to make a decision. And when I got into that framing again, very dark place, I got the chargers out of there pretty quickly. Like there's no chance. My life's on the line. There's no chance. I'm going to be like, oh, yeah, it's going to happen for the chargers this year. So then it came down to the chiefs and the Broncos. And I came down to, do I want to pick the team that I think has the best roster, which would be the Denver Broncos? Or do I want to pick the team that I think has the best quarterback? And I went back and forth because you could say the last two years, you know, Seahawks, Eagles. It was really the best roster is what won them the Super Bowl. But I said, SHIP, that's a sample of two. You got to go back further. You were watching these quarterbacks as a little kid. And I ultimately landed on the Kansas City Chiefs and I did it. I can't tell you I felt great about it, but I've got the chiefs at 11 and 6. Obviously, the case is Patrick Mahomes. Can they have a top 10 offensive line? They can. But they can't have a top 10 offensive line. And then defensively, I'm putting my faith in spags that he's going to develop these young players that he's going to get to them to a level where they're good enough. So if you look at last year, Chiefswin Mahomes was healthy. They go six and eight, but they lost seven one score game. So Patrick Mahomes played 14 games last year and only one team beat them by more than a touchdown. So I think we think of the Chiefs last year and I'm with everybody who says it. They were boring, everything felt hard and six and 11 to watch that six and 11. Yeah, I know, I know, but it was like just some bounces weren't going their way. That went their way. The previous year, they weren't that different of a team. So I don't have them as a juggernaut, but I've got them at 11 and six just ahead of those other teams. Would you have the chargers at? Well, I can't give that away. We got to get to the wild card. You've been kind of slowly. If people are actually charting this like I am, you've given away some of your wild cards. Tell us to your division winner. I mean, I'm pretty sure those 13 and four Ravens are slipping in. Well, you never know what if I have the Chiefs winning 15 games, you never know what could happen here. I'm going to tell you this in the, I do not. Okay. And by the way, Spags, is he ever going to get a shot again at head coaching or do we think that that was kind of like that was it because it seems interested, but it doesn't seem like it ever really goes to a seer. serious place with these interviews for him. If Todd Monking turns around the Browns, it's kind of like when Bruce Ariens, when it's 60 years old to Arizona and all of a sudden, it was like, hey, we should try hiring these older coaches. And that's where he saw the Vick Fangios in the world get a job. Spags is late 60s, I think at this point, he's a fantastic guy. He's a great football coach. You could do a lot worse than Steve's bag Nolo, but yeah, he's had the interviewer two every year. And it's just, it's hard. If you are an older defensive coach in a league that wants to hire young offensive coaches, it's, it's two tough strikes against you. Yeah, he's 66 and if his future lies in the hands of Todd Monking and the Browns this year, I don't think that's looking very good for his prospects, AFC West, Billy come on. AFC West, one game separates three teams in the AFC West and separates potentially a division champion and a team possibly missing the playoffs. I have like, she'll the Kansas City Chiefs winning the West at 10 and seven. And I think that it comes down to one game in week six between the chiefs and the chargers. And the chiefs are coming off of a buy. They have a seven day rest and that might be the difference between it because there may be a top, a tie at the top of the AFC West there. And then you start going down to the tie breakers and that's how it was decided, unfortunately, for the, for the chargers years, I have the chiefs edging out the chargers, winning the AFC West. And we didn't really talk about it or shoot. You didn't mention it is the return of Eric Bienamy. Could Eric Bienamy kind of like light a spark in these guys, go back to the good old days and say, you know what, we're the Kansas City Chiefs. We were the greatest team for this short stretch of time, four or five years here. You could have a Tyree kill, you know, like whatever's left of Tyree kill. Come in like a week 10 when he's finally recovered and he'll walk again. He says he can't maybe spark something. I think the chiefs just edge out the chargers and win the division. I think it was telling the reaction of players all the way up to Travis Kelsey when Eric Bienamy was back and the genuine excitement that guys conveyed you. But you remember when the chief season was getting a little bit weird and at one point Andy Reed, like chest bump Travis Kelsey, like they were getting into it. Not like a happy chest bump like a hey, get your stuff together, type of the thing. That's not Andy and he's not like the enforcer type of coach. Of course, yeah, he wants discipline and all those things, but there's stat on every staff in the league. There's there's one or more coaches who are kind of the guy who like, all right, if you've got the really positive coach, they're going to be the guy who's going to be the enforcer. If you got the head coach to see enforcer, which not many teams do, you got the other coaches who are kind of in that other role. The balance seemed to get a little bit off here and that's what seemed to be recognized and Kelsey referenced this among others was just he brings back that energy and that discipline. Airbnb is a good football coach. It was the right time. I think for everyone, honestly, for him to move on, obviously, Andy had some other people that he wanted to keep and promote, Eric wanted a chance to go call plays somewhere. He took it in Washington, you know, shot is shot. It just, it didn't work out, you know, in the last year there with Ron Rivera. And so then he kind of ends up on this little bit of a weird journey where he's a UCLA. Then he's last year in Chicago. The main reason you could spot him on the sidelines, he's got this gigantic gray beard at the time. And now he's backing Kansas City where he's really, really valued. I tend to be with you guys just in terms of the chiefs being back. I've heard all the arguments of like, well, you're just basing out on the homes. Yeah. He might be the greatest player I've ever seen in my lifetime. Last year, just it seemed like from the moment that Kelsey collides with Xavier Worthy, like four plays into that game in Brazil, the whole season went sideways. The focus that game plan was worthy, they had to scrap it on the opening drive. It never gained that momentum. And that just kind of set that tone, the whole country's watching. It just created this weird environment around a team that had been to three straight super balls. You couple that with them getting wiped off the field by the Eagles and the previous super bowl. Everyone's like, how are they going to bounce back? It looks bad in the opening game. And it just seemed to see this idea that they weren't going to get there. And if you think that locker rooms are immune to those things, like, you're wrong. Everybody hears the questions that they're asked. Everybody reads things on social media. It just felt like the Kansas City season got off the rails within four snaps of the opening game. I don't think that happens twice. I don't think a Padre Mahomes led team goes six and eleven twice in a row. I'd be surprised if they're not back in the playoffs. They aren't a really tough division and one that both you guys just picked the chiefs to win it. All right. We need AFC wild cards as well. We'll get to, we'll get to the championship and how we go in the playoffs from here. But first, she, I need your three AFC wild cards. Yeah. I've got the Ravens as my first wild card. I actually have them finishing with the same record as the Bengals 11 and six. But I've got the Bengals winning the tie break. They just win a lot of games when Lamar Jackson's on the field. And Tom, you were talking about change sometimes being a good thing. The Ravens screamed that out to me. It's just like they needed a new voice and I think Jesse Menter, the early signs are pretty encouraging. I don't love the roster, but I think they're going to have a good defense and I think the offense is going to be good enough. The schedule's not that hard where they go 11 and six. So I've got that as one. My next two are both coming from that AFC West. I've got the Broncos and the Chargers getting in both at ten and seven Broncos. We know what the deal is. They've got a great roster. Do they have a high ceiling? Can they fight off some of the regression from last year when they were nine and two in one score games? We'll see. But I just Sean Peyton, great roster. I think they're going to be fine. And then the Chargers to me are one of the most interesting teams in the NFL where I see a scenario where we're in week nine and we're just like the story of the season is that this offense is just taken the league by storm. Justin Herbert, Mike McDaniel, everybody loves it. Our boss won 11 plus games in five of six seasons. So I have questions about the interior offensive line. I have questions about the past rush. I have questions about losing Jesse Minter. That's why I don't have them winning the division. But I'm with Billy. And then I think those three teams in the AFC West are pretty bunched together. So I've got the chiefs winning the division. But the Chargers and Broncos also getting in. You have the Ravens in. We know. Well, skip that one. Yeah. Well, no. So I have the AFC West. I think we're all kind of agreeing is going to be a three team rock fight, right? Like it's going to be the three of them beating each other up. And it's going to come down to a win here, a win there, health, and then tiebreakers essentially as to how many teams make to the playoffs from the AFC West. So as you pointed out, I have the Ravens making it as a wild card. They're going to be my top wild card team at 13 and four. I then have the Patriots making the playoffs at 12 and five. And then I have the Chargers as my final wild card team at 10 and seven. So she'll, you don't have the Patriots. You don't have the Jaguars making it correct unless I misunderstood. That's correct. It's my boldest take is probably the Patriots are nine and eight and miss out on the playoffs. I feel like I'm on an island there and I could be completely wrong. If Drake, May and A.J. Brown just go scorched earth. I just look at everything from last year from the strength of schedule to the scores. The record in one score games to the Mike Rabel off the field stuff to they had the best injury luck in the NFL. I still think they're a very good team. I believe in May. I believe in A.J. Brown, everything else I'm not so sure of and I just think some of those random things that happened throughout the course of an NFL season, those might go against them this year where they're a good team, but they take a little bit of a step back. Do you guys actually believe that the variable off season stuff is going to play any factor in the season at all? Because I find it hard to believe. I feel like he kind of was embroiled in the scandal. It was a slow off season. It was a juicy story. It made people magazine and us weekly and all of that. So it kind of stayed out there with, you know, my wife who doesn't necessarily care that much about football is asking me like, hey, did you hear this story? Did you read this story? So it became a pop culture story, right? And it kind of got away from everything. But I feel like once kickoff happens, game one next week, even before the Patriots play. We had Wednesday. We have opening night. It's kind of on the back burner and no one's really going to be caring that much about that story, except that one guy on Twitter who's made it like his life's goal to get to the bottom of this situation. I'm so glad I don't even know who you're talking about. See, I'm touching grass. So I don't even know who you're talking about. Yeah. I would just say this. Everything I've heard behind the scenes is that Bravel has been after that initial wave of things, which you would imagine that that's hard on anybody. It has been normal and the environment's been normal. The only way that that really changes is if there's some new revelations, some new development, some new photograph, and then it yields an entirely new round of questions. I'm sure he'll hear it from every fan base and there'll be people who might sneak in a sign or two about various things starting out in week one in Seattle. But beyond that, I don't believe that it has an impact. You just don't know. And we saw it as it played out through the entire spring. Every time there's this drip drop of information or photos or reports, it brought up a new round of questions, new things that everyone in the organization, not just Bravel had to answer for, absent that, I don't anticipate it has a huge impact on this Patriots team. No Steelers, by the way, a playoff team from a year ago, not do you put the Steelers in the playoffs. Nobody put the Colts in the playoffs. The team that was seven and one before all the injuries hit, including Daniel Jones breaking his leg and then suffering the torn Achilles, a lot to take in. Billy, how did science change where Achilles injuries, all of a sudden you just bounced back from in six months over like the last four years? Well, you can, you can bounce back. The question is how quickly will you be effective? But we saw Aaron Rogers played the following year, Kirk Cousins played the following year. Neither guy looked like themselves. No. Sometimes, you know, Daniel Jones is younger than either of those players. When they suffered their Achilles injuries, so you would think that his recover would be a little bit faster. But no, absolutely. I mean, if we think that Daniel Jones is going to come out and be absolutely 100% Daniel Jones in week one, that might be a little bit of wishful thinking. But they say that he's at every single target. Let's hope to run it back from where they were a year ago, get to the NFC projections now. The ringer NFL show is brought to you by Fan Tool. Fan Tool is now available everywhere, seriously, everywhere. So California, Texas, Georgia, and Florida, you can finally get in on the action at home, the game, and whenever the group is together watching, Fan Tool makes sports more exciting because every fan can now celebrate your team winning or when your group chat calls to come back. So wherever you are, you can get in on the sports action with Fan Tool. Download the Fan Tool app today. 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Yeah, I'm going with a little bit of the homer pick, I guess, making sure my neighbors don't yell at me and throw trash at my house and all those things. So I've got the Philadelphia Eagles at 11 and 6. It comes down to I think this is a top five roster in the NFL. I think this is a top five defense in the NFL, just based on talent. And then you add in Vic Fangiel, one of the best defensive coordinators in the league. And to me, the Eagles ceiling really comes down to is their offensive line back. I think last year was a step back, guys were injured. If they can bounce back this year and have a good run game and a good offensive line and you pair that with the new coordinator, Sean Manion with jail and hurts, I think their ceilings pretty high, but I think the floor is pretty high, just based on the talent and the defense. So yeah, I got the Eagles here at 11 and 6. Really? I have one game separating first from second place. And I have the Eagles also winning the NFC East. There's going to be certain games on the schedule there where you look at you, circle down and you say, this is the one that's going to decide it. I'm interested, though, shield and I guess we'll get to it and maybe not, but it came down to two teams for me. And one of them, we talked about this offseason a lot where they were walking around and they were saying, this is going to be the greatest offense there is. And neither of us think that the Cowboys are going to end up with the greatest offense that there is or that that offense is going to be good enough to win the NFC East. Yes. Yeah. I don't know whether to respond now or not, Billy, because Tom gave you the instructions. Stick with the division winner. Yeah. Yeah. Then when we get to the wild cards, maybe we just got now, Billy's the wild card here. I don't know what he's going to do. Maybe they're not a wild card for me. Okay. Well, I also think that I'm not going to give anything away. I think it's going to be a close race in the NFC East. I don't think either of us think that giants or the commanders are going to win this version. There's two teams that this could be between and two teams that are clearly on a different level in the division at the moment. And it probably comes down to do you trust the Cowboys defense more to turn it around from last year, or do you trust the Eagles offense more to turn it around from last year? Because I think on the other side of the ball for both teams, you probably feel pretty good about where the Cowboys offense is going and where the Eagles defense is going. We all know what the issues were for both those teams last year for the Eagles. It was the offense just wasn't consistent enough for the Cowboys. It was the defense. Couldn't stop anybody amidst the ton of personnel changes. They had all season. What did those teams do? The Eagles hired a young first time offensive coordinator. The Cowboys hired a young first time defensive coordinator who, by the way, came from Vick Fangio's staff in Philadelphia. So really, you're talking about two young guys, they both had bright futures in the NFL, Sean Manion and Christian Parker, who are taking on this massive role in two of the biggest hardest markets that you're going to possibly have in the spotlight on you from Go. With the Eagles offense, to me, the season boils down to how does Jalen Hertz and this remodeled receiver group adapt to a completely different play style. The timing mechanisms, everything Manion's going to bring from his experience with Matt LaFlure and Kevin O'Connell and Sean McVey. What does that look like for a player in Jalen Hertz who's been really good operating in a vertical shot type of an offense? Obviously a run thread as well. This is more precision and progression based. I'm just really interested to see how that comes together. UFC North, another one. There's no weak link. All right. There's no, you guys just talk about the commanders and giants. We can get back to that around wild card time, but there is no weak link here. There's no team you go into this and say, why can't that team be a playoff team shield? Who do you got coming on top in the North? Yeah, you're right. You could pick any of these teams to make it to the playoffs. I've got the Lions, the Detroit Lions bouncing back 11 and six. You look at it last year. It was like the year from hell, like a terrible injury lock. They're firing their coordinator or replacing him with Dan Campbell in the middle of the season after they lost Ben Johnson and they still went nine and eight. It wasn't that bad. There are teams around the NFL on nine and eight. We'll throw a parade. Well, this is fantastic. The Lions for all teams, a team that when we were growing up, you're like nine and eight. They would have just been celebrating in the streets. They've been on this crazy run of four years where they've had good teams over and over and over again, which they've never had in franchise history. And I still believe this roster is a great roster, a top five roster. I look at the skill talent on offense. I think those that offense is going to be really, really good this season. I am concerned about their defensive time. I did want to do a little what's Tom hearing there because you got Brian Branch. You got Kirby, Joseph, those two are two of their best defensive players. It looks like we're going to be out to start the season. We've got Kate Mays, their big center signing in the offseason. He's going to miss time. How concerned should I be about some of these Lions injuries as I pick them to win this division? Isaiah Pacheco, too, who was brought in to be kind of the compliment to Jumir Gibbs when they trade away David Montgomery. He's also on injury reserve. So him and Branch and Kirby, Joseph, all out at least the first four games of the season. Branch, just based on the nature and the timing of his injury, probably not a surprise. He's not back. He anticipated he returns before mid season. Then with Kirby, Joseph, it's just a matter of, that's been ongoing for a while. He's got an injury that is difficult to manage. We'll see exactly how that plays out. I think it's a talented team. We talked so much about the 49ers injuries. The Lions have been gutted, too, on defense in multiple seasons. That's created a really high bar. I still think that if you're talking about the playmaking ability that they have on offense with guys like, not just Amonara St. Brown and Jumir Gibbs, but Jameson Williams has a chance to be a breakout candidate. Sam Laporta, coming back, is a huge deal that the trade offense, and really just from hearing it behind the scenes, too, last year got away from him from just like an offense. It's not even scheme because Dan Campbell's got a lead influence on the scheme, but personality. They just weren't the same. John Morton, coming back there, it just was not a right fit. He brings in a guy named Drew Petsing, who most recently was the Cardinals Offensive Coordinator. People couldn't laugh about what Arizona's offense was so good. Look what they had last year. They had, they were down to like their fifth running back. They had lost every try to end, not name, trade, McBride. Marvin Harrison just didn't have a good year for him. Michael Wilson ends up being a breakout player, but Tyler Murray didn't play. Jacobi Bersett went out there and was like breaking passing records. Drew's a really smart, still young coach. He interviewed for the Bears head coaching job, the same year Ben Johnson got that job. When he comes from a variety of different, he's been exposed to different things. He was in Minnesota for years. He was with Kevin Stofansky in Cleveland. I think that he is going to be able to work along with Mike Kafka, who's also there now as the passing game coordinator. Those two plus Dan Campbell are going to have and hang fairly the offensive line coach. They're going to put a plan together to get back to playing like the Lions are supposed to play. I think that they needed to do that last year. I mean, he's talking about the record, nine and eight. If Taylor Decker doesn't get sick before the Christmas game against the Vikings and probably forced them to change their game plan, definitely a lot of Brian Flores just to attack the guy who hadn't got any reps there all week. Maybe they win that game and maybe they're still in the playoffs. We're not talking about like what happened to the Lions. They had a lot of different circumstances. It's no excuse. I do think they're going to be firmly in the mix here, Billy. I have the Lions shield and I feel like we should have talked about this before. And I have the Lions winning the North. And again, you guys have said it. It's kind of like a, I have it a three team race. I don't have it a four team race. I have three teams really in a one four team that I kind of see a little bit behind the other three teams kind of going back and forth. And I think that, you know, the NFC North is going to, they're going to benefit this season from the AFC team that they're playing it. They're playing the jets. They're playing the Panthers are playing the Titans. They have some easy wins there where you're going to get some high number wins. that might not necessarily indicate how good the teams are 'cause they're kind of getting fat on some of the worst of teams in the other conference. I have the Lions going, this is where you're gonna make fun of me. 13 and 4. I have a big bounce back season for the Lions here. And they also are benefiting from, they have an international game against the Patriots. So that's kind of like a toss up there. Who's gonna win? There's not really a home field advantage. They have a game in division against the Patriots right after their biweek. So they have a seven day rest advantage there. So there's little things here and there at the schedule that I feel like might tip the skill in the Lions favor and give them a fatter record than they might necessarily deserve. - Listen, they went 27 and seven over a two year span. Very recently, they had a 15 win season. And like you said, second easiest schedule in the NFL, if you just go by Super Bowl, so I do think there's an opportunity where if you said, hey, she'll, the Rams, the Seahawks, they're not gonna have the best record in the NFL. Who from that next tier do you think could be a surprise and pile up wins? I think you could have the Eagles in there. I think you could have a couple other teams in there. I think the Lions belong in that conversation. - All right, how about, Sheel, the NFC South, everyone hold the jokes about who's gonna go eight and nine, walk into the playoffs this year. It's been an ongoing thing. I mean, the Bucks have been the team that's been on top in past years, last year was just kind of a mess. Tampa fell apart at the end, Carolina sneaks in. Who do you got in this division? And what is their record for all even more importantly? - Yeah, I started my NFC South like, you know, all right, who am I gonna pick here? Come on, this is the same thing you said. All the jokes, this is disgusting. These teams should be relegated. - Disgusting. - Yeah, and then I kept going, going, Billy, and I said, I like the Tampa Bay Bucks. I'm not like backing into a Tampa Bay Bucks pick. I think they're gonna be 10 and seven. I was tempted to have them be better than 10 and seven, but really, I think they have a top 10 roster in the NFL, the Tampa Bay Bucks. Go position by position. And if you're someone who believes, hey, look at the lines of Scrimmage. O-line is a top five unit. And the past rush really has potential now. They add Ruben Bain in the draft. They get some guys healthy. They hold on to Vita Vega. I like the defensive line as well. And I've never been like the biggest off Baker Mayfields underrated, give him his respect, all that stuff. But we've watched him with different coordinators, with different supporting casts. And the offense has been good. Even last year he's playing through an injury. The offensive line is decimated. Like their offense was mediocre. It wasn't terrible. It didn't fall to like the bottom five in the NFL. So he's playing for that contract which we've discussed previously. I like this team quite a bit more than the other teams in the NFC South. I've got the Bucks at 10 and seven. - Billy. - I actually have the Bucks also winning this division. We should have talked about this before. And you know, you could have told me. And I would have talked myself into other teams, just to make this more. Yeah. Embrace the bait. - Is that our thing? - I like, I like actual intellectually honest arguments. Right now you guys have it to be agreeing. And that's fine. - But the issue is Billy is a natural curveball. So me, I come in thinking I'm gonna give my actual picks. Billy's gonna, but then Billy, you're coming in with similar picks. So I'm not taking any accountability. I'm blaming this on you. - So now I'm wondering, do you respect my opinions? Are you starting to question your own decisions if we're so similar on these things? - I like it. - I'm on your team, Billy. I like being aligned with Billy Gill. - Right now you're aligned on the bills, the bangles, the chiefs, everyone's aligned and the Bucks as division winners, the Ravens and the Chargers as wild cards. So you're eight, whatever that is, eight for 10 so far. - It's not fun, it's not fun so far. I feel like next division I'm gonna give you the cardinals just to kind of switch things up. - Let's go to the NFC West. - All right, NFC West shield, this, this, almost anyone's game. NFC West, do you get it? - So NFC West, every inkling in my body was to be team content and think Zag against the Los Angeles rims. Don't pick the Los Angeles rims. Anytime a team is hyped up that much and they're getting all the headlines, it doesn't work. And the analytical part of my brain said, all right. Do I think their offense is gonna be good? Yeah, you know, Sean McVey, Matthew Stafford, Pucanacua, they're probably gonna have a top five offense. And then I looked at the defense and I was like, Miles Garrett is added to a pass rush. I don't know that people realize this was like a top five pass rush in the NFL last year. Miles Garrett has never had this kind of help on the defensive line. And I said Sean McVey's had a winning record in eight of nine seasons. I have no questions about the coach and I just landed on the boring take that this is gonna work, that they're gonna be 13 and four that they're gonna win the NFC West and they're going to be the number one seed in the NFC. I feel like I just need to apologize to everyone, but I'm sorry, that's where I landed. I also have the West being won at 13 and four by the Seattle Seahawks. All right, good, thank you. I feel like this is just one of those things where the Rams will get to the wild card situation and you'll see it wasn't a huge difference between the two teams. But I think both of us and all three of us really haven't been a two team race. 49ers are good, but I don't think they're at the same level as the Seattle Seahawks and the LA Rams. Now, here's the thing with the Rams. I feel like we've talked about it a couple times. They have an older roster. They're more building this roster for the playoffs to get over that hump, to get to the Super Bowl. And I kind of wonder if there's a point where they're not always gonna have their foot all the way on the gas, knowing what the end goal is and not saying, you know what? I mean, we could play for the number one seed, but I already told you lines are gonna be 13 and four. So then you wouldn't necessarily go into like a tie breaker situation. So do they go and do they say, you know what? Maybe there's some time that we need to rest our guys. Maybe let's not go 100% every time because we want everyone to be healthy. We don't want to force any injuries here. We want to be at 100% headed into it. I have the Seahawks going 13 and 4, 13 and 4. I have the Rams going 12 and 5. And the Rams also have a sneaky, tricky little things in their schedule here, where the first game is the international game, as you know. We're gonna see which theory works out better, getting there the day before, getting there the week before versus the 49ers. So that one's kind of a toss up. I think the 49ers may end up having an edge there just because they're not gonna have potentially that jet lag. And then they have two tricky games coming off of buys, where they're playing against the chargers off of a buy. They're gonna be playing off the Cowboys off of a buy. They have short rest versus the Seahawks, the first time they play against them. And then they finish the season with the Seahawks where I think that they end up winning that game. But they have little things here and there where they have a lot less rest in some games and their opponents on games that are probably a toss up. Where I think that some of those don't go their way and that ends up being the difference with Seattle getting one more win than the Rams in the West. - Is it saying something about the league that Billy just said the Seahawks win the division and that's like an upset. It's like, oh thank goodness. He picked the upset by predicting the Super Bowl champions would win their division. - Yeah, it's very strange. I don't remember anything quite like this where I would have to go back and look, a defending Super Bowl champ to not even be favored to win their own division. I can't imagine that's happened a lot in NFL history. - But also not just not just Super Bowl champ, but number one seed. Like I don't know if the Giants were favored in '08 or '12 to win the NFC East. But like they were also a wildcard team that kind of ran the table through it. This team last year was the number one seed and roared. I mean, just dominated people, other than obviously supposed games with the Rams, but they dominated a lot of the season. - They are an anonymous team. John Snyder always jokes about it. You know, you guys never, you don't cover us. We're just tucked away up in the Pacific Northwest. You know, you don't even know who the players are. I think it's true. The fact that you don't get as much coverage because they're playing all their home games are at 405 Eastern or 425. You know, it's those, the mid afternoon kickoff and it's not the main game 'cause the Cowboys are playing again. And so they're on the secondary game. Like there is some of that. Sam Darnell, it's one of the most anonymous Super Bowl winners. An anonymous might be the wrong word, but not the guy that you'd go right, name your top five quarterbacks. Who's saying Sam Darnell? He's a really good player who was on a really good team, didn't play as best in the Super Bowl. He's talked about that. But, you know, your quarterback is not like the face you're afraid to. Who is the face of the Seattle Seahawks? I guess JSN probably lended Williams in his own way, but that's literally just 'cause he's got the physically biggest face. Like, I don't know that there's a face of that team. And so, yeah, when the Eagles are rolled to the Super Bowl, you can point to everybody. Like, who's in commercials from the Seahawks? You don't see Seahawks in commercials, have you? No one. Mike McDonald, zero commercials. I don't think Mike would even want to do that. But like, there's nothing you're inundated with. Jalen Hertz says these ads, Nate J. Brown has these ads and say quon. There's nobody on the Seahawks. I think as much as they'll never admit it publicly. I'm glad they did Hard Knocks and kind of just showed what the Seahawks are all about. I just think that they probably relish this. The fact that you want to talk about the Rams and the 49ers. Okay, we're going to go play another anonymous. I mean, not an anonymous, but week one game against the Patriots on a Wednesday night. Everybody's going to be talking about the, you know, what are you expecting the Rams 49ers game? They love it. The place is going to be absolutely rocking. All right, wild cards real quick here. Before we get into the playoffs, we will break down the entire thing. I'll get your CD and all that. But she'll three wild cards. That's not a lot of space with all the teams that are going to be competitive here. My first is the team you just mentioned. The Seattle Seahawks. I think Mike McDonald, you know, when you were mentioned sponsorships, if I'm, if I've got like a tri blend t-shirt company, you know, some of the fits little snug company, I mean, he loves those things. He's rocking those, the little smidiums. I would. Knocks all. all the time. Yeah. So that would be it. I mean, I don't want to give business opportunities to other people. We of course want them here at the ringer. But you know, just in case anyone's looking, I'm trying to do my part. But I think you could take McDonald and give him almost any 11 players on defense. And I'll be like, yeah, they're going to have a top 10 defense. That's kind of what I think about him as a defensive coach. And my favorite stat for the Seahawks, they had a buy in week 10 of McDonald's first season. Okay. Since then, they've played 28 games. They've gone 23 and five. And they've lost one time by more than seven points. I love teams that are just consistently competitive. Yes, you're going to get bad luck in one score games and all that. But she's like, they're in every single game that speaks, I think, to kind of the culture and the makeup of that team. So I've got the Seahawks there as my first wild card. I've got the Cowboys as my second wild card. I think the offense is going to be a top five unit. And I'm just buying the fact that Christian Parker can get that deep is the same conversation with the Bengals. I'm buying the fact that Christian Parker can get them to maybe the 24th best defense. And I think that's going to be good enough. And then my last pick and I think Billy's going to disagree with me here. I'm going to Minnesota. I'm buying that the Vikings are a wild card team. I think the pendulum has swung too far on Kyler Murray. So now I always think she can't win with Kyler Murray. It's like he's a mediocre quarterback who's going to be in a good situation with good wide receivers with a good offensive coach with good offensive tackles. And I think he's going to be able to give you good enough play where if that defense is as good as many think it's going to be because of Brian Flores. Not because of the talent that they can win 10 games and be a wild card team. So I always try to find new teams every year, three in each conference, at least, that are going to make the playoffs. And I've got the Vikings as one of those three teams. I like that call nine and eight last year with all the stuff they had going on in the quarterback room. They knocked the lines out of the playoffs on Christmas. And again, where Max Broesmer threw for like 52 yards. I mean, if they can just get confident quarterback play, they did it with Sam Darnell. They did it the first year with Kirk Cousins when Kevin O'Connell just has a quarterback who's able to stay healthy, which has been an issue for Kyler as well. When he has, they've been a really, really good team. Billy Wildcars. Now I'm second guessing this. You guys are selling me on the Vikings. I feel like maybe you mapped out all 272 for. I did. I did. And I will tell you what. And I showed you this before, here's what happened. I did every single game. And I thought, wow, this is such a stupid exercise that I put myself through what a waste of my time. This took literally hours. And then I have to go back and I have to double check. Okay, I had this team winning this game. Do I have the other team losing this game to make sure that everything lines up? And I spent so much time on this and I thought that it was all for nothing. And I could have just gone down just taking like a bird's eye view of the schedule and kind of picked out, but I didn't want to do it that way. And I'm glad I didn't. And I'm going to tell you why. My first wild card team I have is the LA Rams. We just talked about them. She'll talked about them winning the West. I said it was kind of back and forth between them and the Seahawks. I have the one game worse than the Seahawks at 12 and 5. That's my first wild card team. Now this is why I'm glad I went weak by weak, game by game, and picked every single outcome because I had four teams tied at 11 and six. And I only had two playoff spots. You ran the tiebreakers? Wow. I then had to go through the tiebreakers, which was very, very awesome. I had to go back and I had to look at each game. How do they do in their division? How do they do it? So that was very annoying. But coming out with that thing, I'll tell you the four teams that I had tied. I had the 49ers tied at 11 and six. Maybe it surprised you guys had the 49ers. I had the bears. I had the packers and I had the cowboys all at 11 and six. And this is when you start looking at the schedule. You have to go down to the tiebreakers. Who makes it in? Who doesn't make it in? Because all of them equally matched your 11 and six. My next wild card team I have being the 49ers. I have the 49ers getting in. And then my final final wild card team is the packers. So the first one's out. I have the bears and the cowboys not making the playoffs this year. Okay. So 49ers. So you're not scared away by what feels like it's been a little bit of the summer from hell for the 49ers. You think that's kind of all field stuff that's not going to have an impact and they're going to still win 11 games. I feel like this is one of those things where even though Kyle Shanahan was involved in some of these weird offseason things, we're kind of like, well, Kyle Shanahan. He's a genius. Kyle Shanahan. He'll figure it out. And we probably give him credit just for the success of the team and saying like, eh, they're not going to let those distractions get in the way. So I'm going to say, you know what? Kyle Shanahan is going to do whatever it is a Kyle Shanahan does. You sure enough he went out there. He had that guy running around pretending to be a 49er, you know, embezzling people out of $1.3 million, faking dates running on the beach. No, that one's not their fault. No, he made sure that guy's not on the roster. He wasn't going to be confused by him because the internet, as we saw, I mean, a guy went out there and she pointed out like, Hey, look, what happens when you go to Google, Google tell you this guy's on the team because it's just going back and it's saying like, Oh, well, the sources are his Instagram page and they confirm that he was on the roster because of enough Instagram posts. They said like, well, there's enough of a paper trail here. He must be on the team. So she pointed out like, Hey, maybe this AI thing is not as great as we think and there's kind of a flaw here. But it didn't trick Kyle. Kyle knew. He said, you know what? I let this AI get me once before because my car may or may not have been on autopilot when I got into my accident. But I'm not going to let this AI get me again. And I'm not going to let's say I tell me this guy's not my team. I've never seen him before my life and he's not going to make this roster. And sure enough, Kyle got things on lock there and he made sure that he did not make the roster. So those are my teams that I have making it. She'll, I don't have the cowboys making what you had the Vikings. You had making it as wild card team. So using the Vikings, obviously, you're going to be better than the bears as well as nobody has the bears. No one has the bears. You had them losing a tie last team out. Really? Well, love for the Packers either, huh? Two 11 and six teams missing the playoffs would be unprecedented. Just for the record, the Seahawks in 2024, missed it at 10 and seven. And they're one of, I think, two teams ever double digit win this in the playoffs. But I could see it because listen, there are teams. There are a lot of teams that we didn't talk about once here because it's hard to fathom any path for them to get into the playoffs. I mean, of your of your list, looking at this, the bear is not making it. That certainly jumps out for either of you. Nobody really talking about the Giants. I think I'm, I think that the projections are all over the place. John Harbor, though, when he came into Baltimore, it immediately went to the Ashley Championship game in his first year. That's where the bar is going to be set. No one put the Panthers in coming off of the NSC South title. Everybody skipped out on them. Let's get into the heart of this. I'm going to get in your full seeds, championship predictions, and Super Bowl next. Meet new groupie setting mist from Mavily New York. Gel to mist technology locks in your look for up to 24 hours with flexible all day comfy grip. No tightness, no stickiness, no residue. Just plump, dewy, hydrated skin that still feels like your skin. Try new groupie setting mist from Mavily New York. Maybe it's Mavily. All right. It is time. We're into the playoff this segment sponsored by Orgain as you guys reveal your prediction. So I will let you. You already unveiled your playoff team before we start to get to the championship game and Super Bowl predictions. Shield, do you have handy or exact seedings on your teams? You had the bills, the Bengals Texans chiefs in the AFC Ravens Broncos Chargers as the wild cards. Did you have those seeded out? Yeah, you know, I felt a little like Billy here because I was like, shoot, I think he did tell us to see them, but I didn't see them. But, you know, we just kind of tossed to a break there. So I was really scrambling there. And I think I figured out this seeding there. So do you want me to give you my seedings? Okay. I've got the bills as the one seed in the AFC. I've got the Bengals as the two seed. I've got the chiefs as the three seed and the Texans as the four seed. So those are my division winners. And then I've got Ravens five seed Broncos six seed and the Chargers as the seven seed. That's my AFC. All right. We don't need to go through every single game. Though in this scenario, it's fun to look at these Texans Ravens Broncos at chiefs, Chargers at Bengals would be your your wild card games. If you're free, she'll to give me a little color, but just give me your AFC championship game participants. Okay. My AFC championship game participants. We've got a great quarterback match up. This is a throwback to the NFL. We know and love. We're all sitting down on that Sunday afternoon and we get to watch Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals. Wow. Travel to Buffalo to take on Josh Allen and the Buffalo bills. This is back to the year of the quarterback. You got to have the grade quarterback in the AFC to compete. It's not like last year. That was a fluke. No, my home. There's no burrow. No, this is back to the best quarterbacks, putting their teams on their back. And Cincinnati goes to Buffalo and bills fans are saying we got the new stadium. This is a new era of Bill's football. No more heartbreak. But you know what? Joe Burrow says that wasn't propaganda you heard from me in the summer about how good this team is. That way, everyone's saying I wanted out a Cincinnati and I'm a little emotional and what's up with Joe Burrow. saying, you know what, it was injury. and it was a horrible defense. Any of you with a brain could have figured that out. Well, guess what? The defense is better this year. And I'm back and I got great wide receivers and those poor bills fans. Now, some of them have the obstructed view and they're kind of happy because they don't want to see what Joe Burrows doing to that bill's defense. The Cincinnati Bengals first go to Buffalo and they get to the Super Bowl in the AFC. Sheel, Bengals over bills in the Super Bowl. All right, Billy, let's reset now. Your AFC playoff field. I know you've got these seeded. So give me the rundown on the seeds. So I have the Bengals with the one seed, the bills with the two seed, the Jaguars with the three seed, the chiefs with the four seed, the Ravens with the five seed, the Patriots with the six seed and the Chargers with the seven seed. So again, don't need to do every single game but that would be in Chargers at bills, Patriots at the Jags, Ravens at chiefs. Yeah, good matchups in there. All right, take me on whatever half you must. We'll go down, we'll go down, I won't go, yeah, I won't go through every single game but I'll let you know to get there. And now here's the thing where once again, I'm kind of like, why didn't I consult with Sheel? I have the bills in the Bengals but I have the getting their very different ways. I have the bills taking on the Jaguars in the second round. And then the Ravens upset the chiefs in the first round. So they're going to be taking on the Bengals. Now here's the thing, this is a big year and I know Sheel's coming out here and he's saying, oh my gosh, there's so much to be proven here by the Bengals in Joe Burrow. It wasn't all this off season high. He's going to prove everyone wrong. He's finally going to be healthy. But there's another quarterback in this equation who also needs to be proving people wrong, particularly in the playoffs. And that is the person that's going to be playing him in Josh Allen. And the only part about these predictions that makes me sad is that the bills, they went out, they fired McDermott. If we go back, they fired Ken Dorsey when he wasn't working out for Josh Allen. And Josh is kind of running out of people to make excuses here. They're kind of clearing house. They gave him Joe Brady a familiar face and we were talking about what is it they need to do to get over the hump? It's Josh Allen that needs to get over the hump and his playoff struggles and his playoff turnovers and kind of trying to force things when he doesn't need to force them. Now, he's done that in the past because he doesn't have the most talented wide receivers. I mean, he had some fond digs. But they went and they got him a wide receiver and more. They went and they drafted him a wide receiver to be a deep threat. He didn't have a lot of deep threats last year. So this year is really even though he doesn't have, necessarily the number one wide receiver that every team would have. He doesn't have an AJ Brown out there. He doesn't have a JSN out there. They've given him pieces and this is going to come down to whether or not Josh Allen can finally make that leap and get past the AFC title game. And the one thing that makes me sad is that the other person he couldn't get over in the AFC was Patrick Mahomes. And unfortunately Patrick Mahomes isn't going to go far enough to face Josh Allen this year. So I have the bills winning on the road in Cincinnati, making it to the Super Bowl, which is going to be great. They're going to be happy. They're going to get that but they're not going to get that postseason win over Patrick Mahomes that Josh simply could not have get in his career. He kills him. He has an incredible record against him in the regular season. Something about the playoffs. He just can't get one over on him. And he's finally going to make it to the Super Bowl, but he's not going to get that extra peg on his belt of beating Patrick Mahomes along the way. - So you two came up with the same AFC Championship game matchup, but reversed because of the seeding. And in both cases, the road team wins. - Sheels got the dangles winning in Buffalo. Billy's got the bills winning in Cincinnati. All right, let's flip it over to the NFC side. We've got sheels picks. You got Eagles, Lions, Bucks, Ravens winning divisions, Seahawks, Cowboys, Vikings. Give me the seed, Sheel, and give me the path here. Who gets into that AFC Championship game. - All right, I've got the Rams as the one seed, the Lions as the two seed, Eagles as the three seed, Bucks as the four seed, and then the Wildcards, five, six, and seven, Seahawks, Cowboys and Vikings in that order. So those are your seven playoffs team. - Ooh, you got some division, you got some division games here. Cowboys at Eagles, Vikings at Lions, along with Seahawks at Bucks in the Wildcar round. Take me as you will, Sheel, to the AFC Championship game. - That's right. And Eagles and Lions win their first round matchups. Seahawks go to Tampa. They beat Tampa and that sets up a great divisional round where the Seahawks go to Los Angeles. But this time the Rams are victorious. The Eagles go to Detroit and the Lions win that football game. So we've got an AFC Championship game at SoFi. Detroit Lions at Los Angeles Rams. Everyone's obsessed with the fact that the Los Angeles Rams get to sleep in their own beds for a whole month. There's all anyone's talking about that. I don't know, some talking head, none of us. Some talking head out there. You won't hear that on the ringer NFL show. But the Rams, the Rams are sleeping in their own bed. They don't have to go anywhere. The Super Bowl's in Los Angeles. Detroit goes to Los Angeles. No one believes in them, you know? Dan Campbell's trying to get his guys ready. And they go there. And Jared Goff says, this is my time, Sean McFae. You threw me out the door. You thought you could do better, you know? You found the, it's like, yeah, it's like a bad breakup, you know? You blocked my number. You didn't tell me why. You brought on somebody else. And that was Matthew Stafford. And yeah, you won the Super Bowl. But you know what? I got something to me. I'm not just that guy on hard knocks. He was back that couldn't identify the divisions. I'm a good quarterback. I got a good team. Dan Campbell hasn't fired up. And the Detroit Lions go to Los Angeles. And end the Rams quest for a Super Bowl. And the Detroit Lions for the first time in franchise history. Get to the final game. Get to the Super Bowl to face the Cincinnati Bengals. I get top that, Billy. All right, so my one seed is the Lions. My two seed is the Seahawks. That was a tiebreaker, because they both had the same record. And that's why it was important to do game by game to determine the tiebreakers. Lions of one seed, two, the Seahawks, three seed is the Eagles, four seed is the Bucks, five seed is the Rams, six seed is the 49ers, seven seed is the Packers. I don't have any massive upsets in the first round. I guess you could say a four or five the Rams over the Bucks would be an upset. So in the second round, I have Shields NFC Championship game, except I have it in reverse. I have the Rams traveling to Detroit to take on the Lions. Championship game. Oh my gosh. Well, no, this is the same championship game. This is the round before. Oh. You have to escape now the round before. And why is that tiebreakers seeding? Is it all came down to these very important games during the season? Had the Rams meet the Seahawks one more time? They would have not been facing the Lions. They would have been the division winners. They would have been a two seed instead of a five, so they would have been hosting the game instead. They're on the road. This is what happens and why every game counts and why this is a very important exercise. So I have the Eagles flying to Seattle to take on the Seahawks and I have the Rams flying to Detroit to take on the Lions. And Shield, you made a very good argument. And unfortunately, I believe that the Lions are going to end the Rams season around earlier than you think they are. But we're going to have the same result, except it's going to be in Detroit. And we're going to have a number two seed in Seattle traveling to a number one seed in Detroit. Not exciting at all. Versus two, but it is what it is, and Lions and their fans, they're going to show the 12th man what a home field advantage is. I know that we hear all the time Seattle, Seahawks fans, they're so loud and I say, you know what? I wonder if that's just stadium design and it's just a bunch of food. You know what I mean? They're not really that loud. So we're going to be in Detroit and we're going to be obviously inside a dome and that place is going to be loud and they're going to bring out Jack White and they're going to bring out M and M and they're going to bring out all these Detroit legends that they bring out every time they have a big game. And the Lions much like Shield predicted as a home team are going to get to that game that they haven't before. They are going to go through and they're going to eliminate along the road the Rams. They're going to eliminate along the defending Super Bowl champion Seahawks and the Detroit Lions under my predictions are going to end up in the Super Bowl against the Buffalo Bills. So we have the Lions winning the NFC for both of you. Shields got Bengals Lions. Billy has Bills Lions game at Sofie where I don't know does does Jared golf get a warm welcome? He knocked the Rams out of the playoffs in both your scenarios, but he's back home in L.A. Is anyone from L.A. Got the game if it's not the Rams. What is the setup who are people cheering for? Who is the country cheering for in these games? Because you're talking about with the Bengals, the Bills and the Lions. These are three relatively tortured franchises. Somebody's got to win. Somebody's got to win the game. I think that it's Sofie, it's pretty much split. So your point, Lions and Bengals, very good fan bases, very hungry fan bases. I don't think they'll let either side kind of take control of that stadium, and I think the nation will at least. I think Joe Burrow is a polarizing figure. You know, I think some people will say, yeah, we love him, we want Joe Burrow to win this game and let's let something good happen to the Bengals. And others will say, the Lions have never even gotten there. We are rooting for them. So the Lions defense at this time, I don't think I told you guys this. They got Brian Branchback, they got Kirby Joseph back, but what really sparked them in the second half of the season was a trade deadline acquisition of Max Crosby. Wow. That defense, which we looked at going into the season, saying this has a lot of holes. Now they've got eight in Hutchinson and Max Crosby flying off the edge and that's just totally transformed their defense. So this is a, their offense is a well oiled machine. The Bengals are still leading on their offense. They've got a great offense. Their defense has had some holes. We get an old fashioned shootout. Golf is carving up the Bengals defense, Burrow's carving up the Lions defense. He's getting rid of the ball so quickly that those defensive ends are just getting frustrated. But ultimately, this is the Detroit Lions here, the Detroit Lions go to sofa after disposing of the Los Angeles Rams in the NSC championship game. They beat the Cincinnati Bengals in an epic, classic Super Bowl, which we are entertained by. And the city of Detroit hoist the Lombardi trophy. There you go. Nearly 70 years after the last championship for the Lions, she'll walk it into sofa and coming out. Billy, you've got the Lions in this game too. Yeah. You got him going up against the bills. I do. How does this play out? Well, so I have a question. In this scenario, do I have to abide by Sheel's fantasy trade deadline acquisition? So as Max cross me on the line, you're in your different reality. All right. If I'm in my different reality, we're in the multiverse right now. Then you can have anybody on these teams that you want. I like that you said that because I was kind of, I'm going to be honest with you. While she was talking, she'll say that he didn't have his team seated ahead into this. I had my two Super Bowl teams, but I was kind of waiting to see how things played out. I didn't necessarily have one winner over another. I had everybody going up until the Super Bowl and I said, you know what? Let's see how this fantasy season plays out here. Let's see what points Tom and Sheel make and maybe I'll be, you know, swayed one way or another based on the information that I'm getting. And then we got into a world where we could just make fantasy acquisitions. And that's what the Lions did where they went and they got Max cross me. Yeah. It's all fake. So I was looking and I said, you know what, they did go and they did try to get Josh Allen some help headed into the season, but he still doesn't have that number one. And that's when, you know, they really stepped up in Buffalo and they went out and shocked the world and they got Josh Allen just and Jefferson. And once they got him just and Jefferson, things really took off for the bills and that's why they were able to go through. I didn't tell you that in the game against the Bengals because I didn't want to spoil the Super Bowl. But man, Justin Jefferson came in at that trade deadline for the bills and he really was that missing piece needed by Josh Allen to take them over to so much so to the point that throughout this entire run, people not I, but people were questioning was Josh Allen really good enough? Was this Josh Allen that got the bills over the hump? Was this a Brady situation where they came in and it was a new coach? So poor Josh Allen finally gets over the bump, but they go out there, they get him the new coach that he wants, they get him that piece and Justin Jefferson that he's been wanting and needing for so long. And the Buffalo bills win the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, putting, you know, the lines in the situation again, where Dan Campbell is at the podium after the Super Bowl and he's crying and he's once again questioning, was that our window? I went in there and I told our guys, you only get so much of these chances. This may have been our last, it's possible that our window closed and it's weird because he had that same conversation three years ago, but sure enough, Justin Jefferson and not Josh Allen lead the Buffalo bills to winning the Super Bowl and getting Josh that rig and what an incredible two years it's been for him. He gets married, he has a kid, he just announced that he's launching a media company, he gets a Super Bowl ring. I mean, the guys got it all except the respect of the country, unfortunately because of that acquisition, Justin Jefferson wins the MVP of the Super Bowl and Josh Allen, people are still questioning, is he the man or not? Bill's win the Super Bowl. I buy, I don't buy of many things in that scenario, but there it is, Billy Gale, Bill's Super Bowl champs, Shilka Potty, Lions, Super Bowl champs, here's the best part. As we wrap up this episode, by the way, is that in six short days, we get to actually see it happening. We get games. This is my favorite time of year. We can speculate and I enjoy every second of it, but now you're actually going to see these teams go on in the field and things change and circumstances evolve and trades do have it. Injuries do happen. We are that close to seeing it. So this you'll be back next week. I'm on a plane to Melbourne, Australia on Sunday getting in Tuesday morning. I hope to be joining you guys Wednesday morning, which is Tuesday night here. I mean, the Pottle Post Wednesday morning here. I think I have that right. We'll work it out after the show for Shilka and Billium Tom Pilsero, see ya. 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas star Casino or 18 plus and present in DC Kentucky or Wyoming gambling problem called 1-800-Gambler or 1-800-My Reset call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24/7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8 hope and why or text hope and why in New York for Louisiana call 1-877-770-7867. Gel to mist technology locks in your look for up to 24 hours, with flexible all-day comfy grip. Try new groupie setting mist from Mavily New York.