The sports bastards. The sports bastards. The
sports bastards. The sports bastards. The sports
bastards. The sports bastards. Hi there. This
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Because people are sheep. Alright. And we're
off and running. Okay, this is the Sports Bastards.
I'm Mark. I'm Topher. We are the bastards, of
course. It'd be funny if we weren't the bastards,
wouldn't it? Oh, yeah. One of these weeks we'll
have to be somebody else. Maybe for Halloween.
Oh, that's good. I'll even bring a costume. I'll
bring a regular person costume. That'll throw
them off. Anyhow, yeah, we got a lot of stuff
to get to, don't we? Yes, we do. Yeah. We got
a lot of fun stuff. All right, you want to go
ahead and go to our predictions and see how bad
we probably fucked them up? Yeah, let's come
back to that. Okay. The first game, the Pats
at the Broncos. The Patriots. The Patriots. The
Patriots. We both thought it was going to be
a close game. Yeah, and it was, 10 -7. Yeah,
and we both thought it was going to be a three
-point game. We were right about that. And we
both picked Patriots. Whoa, we did better than
I thought. You guessed 20 -17, and I guessed
24 -21. I don't think if I'd known of the snow
coming that I would have changed my prediction.
No, I would have kept it the same, too. I thought
that each team would be able to at least throw
out that many points. Yeah, yeah. Well, I've
got a whole bunch of stuff on the AFC Championships
themselves, so I can get into that in a moment.
But it was a very interesting game. But it was
kind of unsettling to watch that nobody could
really do much. It was boring as fuck. And I
want to see the ratings of not only this but
the Super Bowl because of all this like, you
know, oh, hey, thank you. Thank you so much.
City Market Coffee, best coffee ever. City Market
Coffee. Yes. We say it every week. Yep. She likes
the shot. Yep, see. They are awesome here, aren't
they? Yes, they are. We've got such a good thing.
Even when the bridge opens up, I think we'll
still come here too. I mean, do both, split it
in half or whatever. Yeah, definitely. Okay.
I was bored here and there. Something that struck
me also was it was way more difficult for...
the officials to influence the game. Oh, and
it was influenced, too. I mean, I didn't say
it wasn't. I'm just saying it was way more difficult.
So they had to be a little more blatant when
they did. Oh, okay. I thought you said it the
other way. Okay. Every time I thought the game
was influenced, it wasn't really blatantly obvious
like lots of them. It was like little things
like they didn't have the ball tracker in there.
Why did they not have the... the AI of the ball
tracker to tell you exactly where, like they
have been doing, exactly where the ball was.
They had no problems doing it during the year.
How come it wasn't implemented here? The snow
shouldn't have made a single bit of difference.
No. Because it's not a visual thing. Yeah. And
the tracker, it doesn't track where the ball
was when the play ended. It tracks where the
officials spotted the ball. Yes. So if the official
wants to influence the call, he's already done
it by the time the tracker comes into play. They
look at where the official spots the ball and
where the first down marker is, and it does its
AI calculation there. But it has nothing to do
with looking where the ball was when the play
ended or where the knee came down or any of that.
That's still left completely as a judgment call.
Exactly, and people don't understand that. They
think like they've got that little microchip
in there, and it's like, it is right here. Let's
say that was the intention, is to make you think
that now they have to be scrupulously honest
when the fact they're just distracting you with
something that doesn't make any difference at
all. The only difference it makes is you don't
see the guys trotting out there with the two
sticks and the chain between them. That is the
only difference. Here's what I think they're
saying is, well, we don't want to hold up the
game. They never had a problem with it before.
They never did. So what do they want? They don't
want these ones where people are questioning
it. They're getting tired of people going...
I don't know. The fix is in. Yeah, because doing
the virtual tracker takes as long as running
somebody out with the chains. Yes. So I'm saying,
to me, it seems like a concerted effort to not
be obvious. Yeah, yeah, they're trying to disguise
it. It's like passing a gun law that makes absolutely
no difference whatsoever. Yeah, that's a great
example. They can point to it and say, look,
see what we did? Love us for this. Look, we did
the right thing. And they know it's not going
to change a single thing. Yeah, they do it for
show, effect. Pandering is the term that's used.
Yeah, pandering. Hillary Clinton pandering. Oh,
yeah. Oh, my gosh. Remember when she'd go down
south to campaign, suddenly she'd have a southern
growl. I don't want all this stuff. Everyone's,
like, cringing, going, you're not even doing
it right. Yeah. There was another politician
who did that recently. She just went south and
started doing all y 'all. And everyone's, like,
looking at each other like fraud. It's pretty
cringey. Yeah, it is. If you really want to get
to people, be yourself. Be yourself and talk
about what you think you need to. Or Pam. So
we were good on the AFC Championship game. I've
got a lot written just for that. The second game,
Rams and Seahawks. I picked the Seahawks, you
picked the Rams. It really could have gone either
way. It really could have. And I picked a blowout,
34 -20. You picked 31 -29, which was pretty close
to the actual score. Really close, yeah. Okay.
Yeah. So we're each – I picked them both right.
You were 1 -1. Yeah. But you had the score pretty
close on both those games. Yeah. Well, okay,
the game could have went either way. Yeah. And
the reason I thought the Rams were going to pull
it off is because Matthew Stafford went, okay,
right now I have my hand spread way across, right?
Yeah. Okay, this is when he was with the Detroit
Lions. Uh -huh. All right, now he is with the
LA Rams, and his whole career is squeezing down
to just like maybe an inch away. Yeah. And I
thought that for sure that they were going to
find a way to get it done because this is another
year off of Matthew Stafford's career. Yeah,
yeah. They may never have this guy again. You
know, someone like him, as good as him. He has
an MVP year, too. It's reminding me of the Bills,
isn't it? Yeah, it is, yeah. Although they did
win one. Yeah. They did win one with him. But,
no, this was very Bills -esque. You dominate
the game in some areas. You come up with key
opponents. You come up with key first downs.
You look great on paper, but somehow you didn't
get it done. Yeah. Yeah. That's the story of
the Bills, too. Looks great on paper. Yeah. Yeah.
And then when it comes down to it, the part where
Josh Allen had the, and this is going to the
Bills game, the ball out there with his hand
extended. Yeah. It doesn't show that, which is
one of the dumbest moves I've ever seen. Yeah.
You know, you're out in the middle in the flat
and you know people are coming at you and you
have the ball out extended in front of you. I
mean, I remember getting fucking yelled at in
like junior high football going, hey, dumbass,
what are you doing? It's like, you want to be
taken out of the game for good? Do that again.
But you see how it seems the NFL has adjusted
its play style to be more flashy and showy at
the expense of actually playing good football.
Yes. They've realized that the highlights you
see on networks and ESPN, etc., that draws in
more viewers. It's great advertising to have
flashy, showy plays. So the league overall is
promoting style over substance. Yeah, I'm sure
the league loved it, but I'm pretty sure the
Buffalo fans, the mafia, did not like it. the
only thing is is that they use the term mafia
right uh -huh i don't think there's that many
whiners in that no no no there's not really supposed
to be whiners in the mafia no no but that seems
to be all they have in the buffalo i'm sorry
but man i i would love to see josh allen get
one yeah specifically josh allen oh it's sean
mcdermott too when he was there yeah i like both
of them um i thought they're decent people good
people I would love to see them get one when
we're not there like this year, but, I mean,
it's not going to happen. And it's not because
of the fans. The fans are the whiniest bunch
of fucking sissies to me. Anyhow, you're getting
ready to read something. We can go on. Something
to mention about Buffalo as long as we're there.
It seems to me that Buffalo, as an organization,
has suddenly become unattractive to head coaching
candidates because they're realizing, There's
no upside. Yeah. If you go there and win, well,
that's what you were expected to do. If you go
there and you don't win, well, they're going
to fire your ass. Yeah. Where's the upside? No,
that's right. And remember when nobody wanted
to go work for the Raiders because they just
knew they'd be fired in two years? I think there
was a college team that was the same way. They
had a reputation of a really quick trigger finger.
Uh -huh. I think the Bills are kind of in that
situation right now. You didn't get a good picture.
Because... Because of their rapid firing. Yeah,
I agree. Yeah, not a preferred job like it was.
Yeah, yeah. So I think that's probably why McDaniels,
the former Dolphins head coach. That's why he
pulled out. He declined the interview. He's going
to go. Where did he go? I forgot. The Chargers
as their OC. He would rather be an offensive
coordinator than run a whole team. That told
me a lot about the ownership. of the Bills and
how badly they've screwed this up. Doesn't it
seem like he was all on board until he talked
to them? Yeah. And then he was like, no, I pull
out. And then the same way with Phillip Rivers.
Yeah. Phillip Rivers is a really good friend
of Josh Allen's. Josh Allen was actually like,
yeah, I'd love to see him be the coach, right?
He had his support. And even Phillip Rivers was
like, I'm not going to. No, forget it. I pull
out too. So all they could really do was promote
the offensive coordinator. He's already there.
He's already under contract, and he gets a shot
at making this team look good. Yeah. And I'm
not so sure he's that good of a coordinator.
I mean, I saw a lot of flaw in what I believed
in their game. I don't know. We'll see. Do you
think there's possibly a shift in ownership that
now, because I remember like 30, 40 years ago,
you never even heard about the owners of the
teams. It was rare that you even knew who did.
Now the owners are media celebrities themselves,
and they're loving it. That's different owners,
and I think each new generation of owner that
comes in wants to be more visible, more splashy,
more in front, more involved. I think that's
really screwing things up for the people who
just want to come in and be the head coach. Oh,
yeah. Well, there's also been a shift in philosophies
in the NFL and how to win. It's, again, on defense.
And I'll tell you how I think that happened is
Mahomes and Allen and other ones, but especially
Mahomes, you know, Goff, Stafford, you have them
all just destroying everybody with these passing
games. So everyone's like kind of looking at
it like Seattle. They're like, okay, we're going
to get a quarterback that's good, but probably
not great. And we're going to put him in a system
where he doesn't make a lot of mistakes, okay?
And we're going to rely on our defense. And what
did they do over there in New England? Same thing.
It's easier to prevent your opponent from scoring
than to try to outscore them yourself. Yes. Although
May is having a great year and everything, I
don't think, to me, he's not going to sustain
that. Yeah, yeah. But the defense will remain,
and they'll always be, as long as they have a
defense like this and all the 30 people that
they replaced on their roster when Frabel first
got there. It's a defensive first game now, for
now. Yeah. So we're going to start getting some,
like Mahomes is going to be on his revenge tour.
Yeah. Josh Allen is going to be on his revenge
tour. Yeah. Matthew Stafford may be looking at
one last swipe. Yeah. So I think you might see
some better numbers off of these offensive was
juggernauts now, you know. It's been found out
a little bit. I think they're going to catch
up with it and then go ahead. And that's the
way it always is. It's a game of constantly catching
up. But it does make for good, compelling viewing
now having it defense -oriented because when
teams do score, which they still do in plenty,
it's that much more exciting. Yeah. That was
one of the things that really killed arena football,
if you've ever watched those. It was just nonstop
scoring, and nothing meant anything. Yeah, you
didn't give a shit. It was like, okay, what's
the score? 52 to 49. Yeah. You might as well
wait until the last 10 minutes of the game to
tune in, because the rest of it just doesn't
matter. 23 to 20, 20 to 17 are probably about
the best football kids. Yeah. And that means
that all these teams had all these chances. Holding
penalties, sacks, and all that has held them
back. They've probably been in the red zone probably
20 times, and they scored three. I think the
NFL really has caught on to that because all
through the postseason, there's only been, what,
one game that was lopsided? All the rest of them
have been really close. They figured it out.
And also, yeah, the strength of schedules are
so much different now. I mean, the Chiefs schedule
next year is not doing them any favors again.
You just got to hope a lot of those teams are
different next year. Or we're different. Yeah,
or maybe both. Or both, yeah, probably both.
Anyhow, go ahead. My impressions on the AFC Championship
was, ironically, the Broncos are the ones who
really couldn't overcome the weather. I mean,
their new QB, the timing was off. He threw that
awful interception late. Yeah. Broncos' defense
was good, but I think... By the middle of the
third quarter on, the footing was so terrible
that even on defense, you couldn't change direction.
When the ball was snapped, you just had to pick
a direction and go. And nobody could change direction
or twist around or find it. You'd just fall on
your ass. It was really a slippery snow. So the
defenses really started crumbling. But to balance
it out, the offenses couldn't get anything going
either. The Patriots looked weak. Drake may look
bad. He did enough in the weather to win, but
unless they can completely shake off that game
and say, yeah, it was just the weather, that's
not us, then I really don't see enough to beat
the Seahawks next game. I respect that thought
a lot, but I've got a slightly different take.
You want me to go into it, or you want to...
Yeah, I've just kind of got a recap here. I've
highlighted some things. Okay. Whichever. Go
ahead, and then I'll go into my prediction afterwards.
The Seahawks hanging on in brutal conditions.
It was difficult for offenses to gain any traction.
Mike Rabel's defense really smothered Denver.
Allowed 32 yards on five possessions in the second
half. Isn't that something? Even with Stenham,
they should have done better. They have weapons
on their offense, and they have a good running
game. Yeah. They just, the Broncos allowed, well,
the Pats allowed 3 .3 yards per carry and just
three rushing first downs to Denver. That's not,
yeah. That's not a running game. No, no. So they
shut down the running game. They weren't worried
about Stenham. Yeah. Although Stenham got a really
good one in the first half. Early in the game,
it looked like, wow, it's like this dude's not
missing anything. Yeah. Then after that, they
caught up with him really quick. Yeah, yeah.
He's got a nice pass. He does. He does. The Pats
forced two tee turnovers, and in the Broncos'
final eight possessions, the Pats defense only
allowed four total first downs in the last eight
possessions. Good D -line. Stidham was sacked
three times. He only completed one pass on ten
attempts where he was under pressure. So when
he's under pressure, he was one of ten. Okay.
Yeah, that's the story of the game right there.
And four of 14 on third downs. Now, you'd expect
that from Jarrett Stidham, a backup QB who hasn't
played in forever. Yeah. But that is what pretty
much killed Denver's chances. Mm -hmm. Drake
May was good on scrambling. He was only 10 of
21 for 86 yards and took five sacks. So that's
not so good either. No, no. But he ran 10 times
for 65 yards. That's the difference right there,
and I was going to go into that. I was going
to go into that. But, oh, you know what? I'm
going to wait until. Okay. Just keep going. Drake
May scored the only TD. Gains of 28, 16, and
13 yards were the longest of any player on either
team. And two of his scrambles were on third
and long and got him the first down, which is
monstrous. So the announcers are having all sorts
of fun saying, using his legs. He's beating him
with his legs. Look, he's using his legs. I noticed
that too. They emphasize that. They can't say
he's running. They have to say using his legs.
It's like every announcer on every game uses
that term. And then they go into the physicality
of the person. Yeah, he's a well -built guy.
Oh, sure, he's got some. He's got some leg strength.
You can see there in his quad. It's ridiculous,
isn't it? It is. I mean, I feel kind of, I don't
know, violated if they kept talking about me
like that. I'm like, hey, guys, glad you like
me, but come on. Let's keep going here. Really?
Let's see. Stidham came out wobbly in the game,
missing on his first three passes. He did have
that 152 yarder, which was awesome. Yeah, that
was what I was talking about. I was sitting there
going, maybe I need to reevaluate this. That
was kind of it. The Pats kind of ratcheted up
their pressure, too. I've got a question. Would
Denver have won this if Bo Nix was in? Yeah.
Yeah, they would have won this. Yeah, even in
that weather and everything. Yeah, convincing.
So, anyhow, go ahead. That backwards pass for
a fumble, do you think that was a backwards pass?
He claims it was not. To me, I would call it
a fumble. Just for the premise of throwing a
backwards pass and having it interrupted, to
me, most of the times, that's a fumble. Yeah,
yeah, yeah. From what I can tell, I looked at
where the ball came out of his hands and then
where it hit the ground, and it was about half
a yard behind. That's enough. Yes, that's enough.
Even if it was lateral and a pass. I think that
would just be an incomplete pass. It would have,
but the fact that it was backwards. Let's see.
Stidham finished 17 of 31 for 133 yards with
a TD and an interception. The Pats had that massive
field goal block. Their punter had a shit day.
Oh, jeez. Yeah. But a lot of that was New England,
though. Yeah, that was New England. Oh, shoot.
Yeah, they put so much pressure. The rookie kicker,
Borgalis, missed two field goal attempts. The
63 -yarder, he wasn't even close. No. That looked
like he was trying to kick it to the sideline.
Yeah. It was so bad. And that 46 -yarder, it
looked like somebody got a finger on it. Yeah,
but someone did get a finger on it. They showed
it several times. I mean, it wasn't much, but
it was enough to derail the hole kick. The 63
-yarder, I don't begrudge him on. Yeah. The first
46 -yarder, he did just miss. Then late in the
game, there was a 45 -yarder to tie it, and that's
the one that Leonard Taylor III got a finger
on. He upgraded from the practice squad to come
out there and block that field goal. Yeah, that's
right. That was freaking awesome. Yeah. So, yeah,
he did miss too. 63 and 46, those are pretty
long field goals for that kind of weather. I
don't begrudge you on that. I forgot about the
second one that he missed, and then the third
one was the one that they got the finger on,
and that was late in the game that they could
have tied it. Yeah. And also, Sean Payton not
going for a kick early on, too. Exactly, yeah.
He said he regrets that. He's second -guessing
that. I love that he was honest. I've always
liked Sean Payton, and I loved his honesty. He's
like, yeah. You know, a lot of coaches go, no.
That's what we generally do in those situations.
We trust our offense. He's just like, yeah, I
do regret that. But it was kind of a sign that
the pass that he threw on that fourth and one
had a better chance of being intercepted than
the receiver getting it. He should have caught
that as a sign. He should have, yes. This was
a mistake. I should not have done that, yeah.
But, I mean, he was playing from behind from
that point on. So that was what I had on the
AFC championship. Okay, real quick. All right,
number one, I think that there's a lot. I think
that Sean Payton had a pretty bad game too. Yeah.
I think that he made some decisions that didn't
bode well for them. Yeah, yeah. I got that impression
too that his coaching was just not really where
it should have been. No, and I think that Bo
Nix getting hurt late in the game. The game before
hurt him quite a bit. Yeah, yeah, I guess that's
right. We're looking at what Sean Payton came
up with in a week's notice. And then he had to
change it all, so I kind of see that little bit
of confusion there. Yeah, that's a good point.
Yeah, I mean, when you have to change the whole
game because it hasn't played really that much,
I mean, you know, that's got to be quite a bit
to go through. Yeah. Now, that being said, I'm
going to go ahead and make my prediction here.
You know what? No. No, no, no. Did you say you
made your prediction, didn't you, of Seattle?
No. Okay. I'm just saying that unless Patriots
can shake off the AFC championship game, even
though they won, they've got to shake off their
performance. Otherwise, I don't think they have
much of a chance. Okay. But I haven't made a
point. Official prediction, yeah. Okay, well,
go ahead and go to the NFC game, and then we'll
make our predictions. Because I've got a lot
to say about that, and I've got a theory. All
my theories haven't come through so far, so I
have no idea why I think this one will. Impressions
from the NFC championship game. Sam Darnold had
no turnovers. Yeah, he played a great game. Yeah,
25 of 36, 346 yards and three touchdowns. Not
bad. pretty stellar. What was the rating? Did
you get to see his PBR? I didn't get to see the
rating, no. But all three touchdown passes came
versus pressure, which is a really good thing
for him. Seattle went 7 of 13 on third downs,
which is really damn good. Bone skipped down.
Darnold threw several times during the final
drive instead of just running the ball to run
the clock out. That shows the coach trusts him
and trusts him to make the completions and keep
the clock going. Yeah. Because normally you don't
want to do anything that stops that clock. No,
you're right. They generated four first downs
in that last drive. And it was considered to
be the best performance of the season for Darnold
that last drive. For Stafford, total Rams offense,
479 yards and 26 first downs for the whole offense,
which is pretty damn good. That is very good.
Stafford finished 22 -35 for 375 yards, 374,
with three touchdowns. He finished 7 -11 for
226 yards and a TD. on passes of 20 -plus air
yards. So if the ball goes from more than 20
yards in the air, seven of 11 for 226 yards.
The Chiefs had, what, five? Five, yes. Yeah,
we got nothing. But L .A. couldn't finish enough
drives. That's what really hurt them. Chance
to take a late lead. Stafford was denied the
end zone. They turned it over on downs. And they
just could not stop. Jackson Smith Najigba, he
was just always open. I know. Targeted 12 times,
caught 10 of them for 153 yards and a touchdown.
Yeah. You'd be happy to get that from two receivers
put together. Especially in a championship game
like that, you know. Yeah. And the odd thing
was every time they needed it, they went to him
and the Rams still couldn't stop it. Yeah. They
knew they were going to him. And they couldn't
stop him. Yeah. In the first half, he generated
150 yards on seven catches from nine targets.
So that means in the second half, he caught every
ball thrown his way. Wow. His first two that
he didn't catch were in the first half. And on
the final drive, they hit JSN for a big first
down, take more time off the clock. He generates
separation. You notice that? Yes. The amount
of error between him and the defender is something
I envy. I mean, I want that for the Chiefs. No,
I was getting ready to say, this is what the
Chiefs used to do. Yes. With Hill and Kelsey,
or the filling guys too, like the Scantlings
and the Jujus and all those guys were able to
do it too. Sammy Watson. Watson, yeah. They can
get set for three. They can get set for three.
Look at how they use JSN. There's Clint Kubiak.
The receiver ran 19 routes wide, 16 from the
slot, one from the tight end position, and two
from the backfield where he caught his TD. Yeah.
They put him everywhere and anywhere. What's
their coach's name, Mike McConnell? The Seahawks?
Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Yeah. I'll tell you what,
he's a relatively newcomer, but, man, that guy
seems to know what he's doing. Yeah. Well, I
mean, newcomer is a head coach. Yeah, yeah. And,
you know, for the Rams, it was the thing that
plagued them all season long was their special
teams. I mean, you've got to kind of put it down
to the special teams. Xavier Smith muffed two
punts, lost the second one. He got the first
one back. Tripped over his feet, basically, as
the ball arrived. It seemed like they really
weren't. able to do anything else on special
teams. That's the two big ones that they eat.
Is that Ms. Kofenstein's daughter? I think it
is. It is? Yeah. Oh, good, good, good. Or maybe
her daughter's babysitter. I think it is. I think
it is. That's a babysitter. You're right. The
Seahawks defense showed up when it was needed.
Stafford threw for 350 plus yards. Puka Nakua
had a nine. Catches for 165 yards and a touchdown.
Devontae Adams generated 89 yards and a touchdown.
L .A. Rush for 114 total yards. You see the stats
there would indicate that they won, but they
didn't. Another one of those games is like, you
should have won. It's like the Jags making the
plays when you need them. Exactly. And the stats
aren't telling the whole story. Yeah. Yeah. Now,
late you had the taunting from Tariq Woolen.
Yeah, that, yeah. wiped out a fourth and 12,
and the Rams would have had to punt. It looked
like he was taunting someone on the sideline,
not the receiver. No, that's what I thought,
too. I think he said something to a coach on
the sideline. Yeah, and that will generate a
flag as much as anything. That's not good. But,
you know, after that. Mike McDonald's defense
held L .A. to a measly one of eight on third
downs and one of two on fourth downs. So it's
Mike McDonald. Okay, so they shut down those
guys in key situations is what it is. Situational
football. And I just realized that Seattle's
head coach, Mike McDonald, used to be the lead
singer of the Doobie Brothers. Oh, he did? Yeah.
Minute by minute, what a fool believes. This
is his son. Oh, it must be his son. Yeah, Mike
Jr., yeah. However, he does fill in for his dad
every now and then. Yeah. Is his dad alive still?
I would think so. Okay, I stand corrected. Whenever
they do do a show, he steps in for his dad. Yeah.
It did seem that even after that taunting penalty,
Seattle just stepped it up and said, all right,
this isn't going to hurt us. We're not going
to let it happen this way. And they just did
everything they needed to do to shut the Rams
down. Yeah, and they did too. Yeah. The Rams
do not have an excuse at all, I can tell you
that. They should have. Like I said, this is
another one of those games they're going to look
back and go, why did we not win this? Yeah. They
look great on paper, too. Same thing. We've seen
the Chiefs do that. Oh, yeah. The game against
Jacksonville, you're talking about Jacksonville.
Yeah. They led in every category and lost. Yep.
It's so frustrating. I imagine L .A. is probably
really frustrated right now. Oh, yeah. Even more
than usual just because of the way it happened.
Yeah, yep, I would agree. Is that the right?
Go ahead. No, that was. Okay. All right, you
want to do our predictions then? Let's do five
key questions for the Super Bowl first, and then
we can make our predictions. Okay. Number one,
will Sam Darnold save his best for last? No.
I don't think so either. We may have close to
the same prediction. We'll see. Can Drake May
return to regular Caesar form for the Super Bowl?
No. All right. And here's why. Well, you know
what? Okay, his running ability is going to help
him considerably. Yeah. But I don't think either
quarterback is going to have a good game. I think
it's just simply because these two play too good
in situations defensively. Yeah, I'm going to
change. I was going to say yes, but I'm going
to say no because Seattle has two weeks to prepare
exactly for him and everything he does. With
what they did to Matthew Stafford. Yeah. A seasoned
veteran. Yeah. Okay, question three. Can the
Patriots contain Jackson Smith Najiba? No. No.
I don't think it's possible to. They may contain
him. Now, containing is kind of loose here for
me. They may get him from not going into the
end zone as much. They're going to try to slow
him down. They're going to slow him down, yeah.
They're not going to completely try to stop him.
They're going to try to short him. I wonder,
will they concentrate on coverage or will they
concentrate on denying him yards after catch?
Denying him yards after catch. With the occasional
slap. The ball's slapping out. Yeah, they're
definitely going to try to punch the ball out
as much as possible. I can see that. Okay, question
four. Which head coach will be the most prepared
for the moment? As much as I'd love to say Mike
Vrabel, I think Mike Vrabel has shown nothing
except doing the right thing 100 % of the time.
Yeah, I would agree. He looks... more in control
of his team. Rabel is, you know, nothing against
him as a head coach and what he's done so far,
but he's a very emotional guy. Yes. And that
can really cause some problems when you're...
Trying to figure out a plan for the biggest game
of your life so far. Yes. Yep. And Mike McDonald
seems a little more analytical, a little more
in control. That's a great way to put it. A little
more sure. Yeah. And he's a little more sure
of what he's got, I think. Exactly. I think so,
too. Where I think this is Brable, he's kind
of like, wow, okay, this is working. And he's
still working in progress more than Mike McDonald
is. So we both vote for McDonald. Yeah. All right.
Who's going to be the X Factor? the one who makes
the biggest impact on the game. May. I was going
to Smith. Let's pick Jackson, Smith, and Najick.
Okay, I could see that. But the reason I'm going
May is let me explain it. In a key situation
where they're going to need those four yards,
May is going to provide it for them 90 % of the
time. That's true. And, you know, it's weird.
I don't even think of him as the scrambling or
running quarterback the way I do Lamar Jackson.
I don't think they're emphasizing it. Yeah, it's
just been happening. And he's taken advantage.
I imagine he'd rather go back to being a pocket
passer. I think so. But if he has to, he's going
to do it. Good for him. He's being a team player.
He's doing what he needs to do. That's probably
a good contributor to the success of the Patriots
this year. Oh, I would think so, yeah. They look
at Drake May and see he's doing whatever he needs
to to increase their chances of winning. That's
contagious. Complimentary football. Yeah, that
is. Okay, so you're going Jigba and I'm going...
Drake May. Drake May. Okay. All right. So that
was our five key questions for the Super Bowl.
Okay. All right. I like that a lot. Yeah. All
right. You want to go ahead with your prediction?
I'm thinking it's going to be the Seahawks. I'm
going to have to write this down so I hold myself
accountable. Okay. So it's... Who's... Do we
know who's going to be considered the home team?
I would say the Seahawks because record and also
it's on the West Coast. It's San Francisco where
the Super Bowl is being played. And Seattle was
the one seed and New England was the two seed.
So I'm going to guess that it's Hats at Seahawks.
That's what I would say. And I'm going to vote
for the Seahawks. Excuse me, I think it's going
to be... Well, of course it's going to be close.
It's the Super Bowl. They're going to make sure
it's close. But I think it's going to be a one
-score game. I'm going to think 28 -26. Okay.
Okay, good one. I think that's very possible.
And I'm going to say no overtime. It's not going
to go overtime. No, I don't think it is either.
I'm going to go with the Patriots. And the reason
that I'm going with those guys is I think that
the situational football and their pass rush,
Sam Darnold's been doing great. But he's due
for that one game where he's totally confused
and lost. And I've been waiting and waiting on
it. I think this is going to be it. I mean, he's
going to do well. He had that game with Minnesota
last year where he reverted to being Sam Darnold.
Yes. And squandered such a good record. I think
you get him confused. You do these blitz packages
that are disguised. And you have a couple of
the big guys who slam him to the ground a couple
times, and I think he's back to Sam Darnold from
the Jets. No, Giants. Was it Giants or Jets?
Jets. Well, whoever they were. I think it was
Jets. It was Jets. Yeah, one of those New Jersey
teams. Yeah. Yeah, it's worth remembering that
Mike Grable was a linebacker and a very good
one. For the Patriots, actually. Yeah. Oddly
enough. Yeah. He played under Bill Belichick.
Yeah. Which is even more weird. He was briefly
in Kansas City. Yes, he was for one year. One
year. It was the last of his career. And I think
he was also with the Titans. Yeah, yeah. He was
the head coach of the Titans. And did he play
for them? Yeah. Okay. He was actually really
good, too. I remember Brable being in a Titans
jersey. I think I agree. I don't think it was
Cowboys. I'll have to look it up. Okay. Isn't
it interesting that there's a lot of crossover?
Between players and coaches and even players
and general manager? Yes. But there's no crossover
between player and owner? Brady. True. Okay.
I'll rephrase that. It's been resisted for a
great long time. Yeah, I think Brady's different,
though. He's good for the sport, and they want
it there. Yeah, and that was the point I was
going to make, that players can make the jump
from player to part owner, but I have yet to
see a coach make the jump or a GM to part owner.
It's like they don't want them in their ownership
group, but a player, yes. Okay. Unless the owner
was a player or owner was a coach, which has
happened before, but I think there's more value
having a popular player be a part owner. than
a controversial coach or GM that nobody's ever
going to be fully on board with. Oh, I agree.
So I think they keep them out of ownership intentionally.
I think so, too. Because a player, you can use
that as excitement and interest. Oh, look, one
of our part owners is Tom Brady. It gets you
excited. But if you say, one of our part owners
is Bill Polian, everyone's like, huh? Yeah, no
one cares. Yeah, Tom Brady gets the, yeah, oh,
really factor. Okay. We can go into Belichick
getting snubbed here in a second. I've got an
article on that too. Okay. I'm going to go 28
-27 the Patriots. All right. And it's going to
be a real nut -tugger like all of them. You're
going to be standing there on the edge of your
seat. Well, I won't. I won't give that much of
a shit about it. I'll just be like, okay, let's
see who pulls this off. Yeah. And the formula
so far has been about the middle of the third
quarter, things start happening to bring the
game within one score, and then it stays within
one score from that point on. So I'll be interested
to see if they do the same third quarter maneuver
where, oh, you're behind? Well, here you go.
Here's a couple penalties in your favor. If I
had to bet? And I think that's going to happen
for the Patriots to let them back in. Okay. I'm
thinking that Seattle's going to bust out to
a two, maybe a three -score lead. Uh -huh. But
by the middle of the third quarter, the officiating
is going to let the Patriots back in and bring
it within one score, and they'll stay a one -score
game for the rest. Okay. You see, and I would
love to see Seattle do it. I really would. Because
I'm not a big fan of the Patriots. No, not really.
So, yeah. I just, I don't know. I'm just doing
this. It could go either way, and I'm just going
to go and make a decision like that and just
keep it like that even though I may very well
have lost. I don't care. I don't have money on
it. Okay, you want to go into Belichick really
quick? Yeah. Okay. I'm going to switch over to
my next page. So he's not going to be a first
ballot Hall of Famer because he's not going to
be on the ballot. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. There's
a lot of interesting reaction to this, too. That
I find more interesting. I personally feel he
will get in there, but they're proving a point.
And that's all the bad press that they've given,
you know. With the Spygate, I think Spygate is
the number one reason why you're seeing this
happen. And then his treatment towards the press,
his girlfriend situation down there. There's
been a lot of iffy stuff around him that people
don't like. And I think that this is NFL going,
you were the big shot here, but you're not now.
So go sit down and we'll tell you when you get
in. That's what they're doing. Yeah, yeah. Supposedly
the Belichick is... puzzled and disappointed
by not getting the 40 out of 50 votes, but I
think he knows exactly what's going on. He is.
He's got to act it. He probably knew it was going
to happen. Some of the other candidates, their
senior candidates, are Cincinnati Bengals quarterback
Ken Anderson, 49ers running back Roger Craig,
and Steelers D -end L .C. Greenwood, who is deceased.
L .C. deserves to be in there too. I would think
so. Pretty much everybody else on those Steelers
teams is in the Hall of Fame. You might as well
put him in there. Now, multiple sources have
told ESPN that Spygate and Deflategate were twin
cheating scandals during the Patriots championship
run. Okay. Came up in the deliberations among
voters. I mean, this is multiple sources telling
ESPN, yeah, that came up. Okay, all right, then
I was correct on that. One voter who spoke on
condition of anonymity said that Bill Polian,
an ardent Kraft supporter, the owner of the Patriots.
and former general manager of the Bills and Colts,
who were Chief Patriots rivals during their dynasty,
told some of the voters he believed Belichick
should wait a year before the induction as penance
for Spygate. The 2007 cheating scandal that cost
the team a first -round pick, and Patriots were
fined $500 ,000, and Belichick personally fined
$250 ,000. The only explanation for the outcome
was the cheating stuff, a veteran Hall of Fame
voter told ESPN. It really bothered some of the
guys. Now, Polian himself said, oh, no, I didn't
say that. I heard somebody else mention it and
float the idea around, but I was neither for
it or against it. Yeah, bullshit. And then he
says, yeah, I voted for Bob Kraft to be inducted,
but I can't remember if I voted for Bill Belichick.
Gee, I just don't remember. He knows. He knows.
Yeah. That's class A diversion right there. Yeah.
I heard somebody say that, and I voted for Kraft,
you know. Yeah. Yeah, heat reversal there, kind
of like a, oh, I'm not really sure what happened.
You know, I'm not really a part of it. I was
just kind of there, you know. Yeah. But that
also indicates that there has always been. a
divide between Kraft as the owner and Belichick
as the coach. I would think so, yeah. They pretend
that they were buddies and pals and they're on
the same page, but here's Polian, an art and
craft supporter. If Kraft wanted Belichick in,
he'd be in. Yes. Because Kraft is very influential.
Yes. So that tells me Kraft is like, yeah, screw
him, make him wait a year. And Bill Polian was
the hatchet man. who told the rest of the voters,
here's what wants to happen. Yeah, I agree with
that. I think that's very true. I think that's
pretty much how it happened right there. This
is Bob Kraft's last dig at Belichick, saying,
see, I can still keep you out of the Hall of
Fame for another year and embarrass you by not
being a first ballot guy. Well, I've got a question
for you now. Let's take this a little bit further
down the road. Tom Brady. Yeah. He was obviously
a part of everything. He was there. Should he
be penalized, too, a year before he gets in?
To be fair, I think so. If they're going to punish
Belichick by making him wait a year, I think
they should make Brady do it. Yeah, you're right.
It's not going to happen. Brady has rehabilitated
himself to the point where everyone loves him
again. Bill Belichick is just a joke. I mean,
he's a punchline. Yeah. You know, he's just some
cranky old man. Yeah, he's down there in Carolina.
Yeah, he's chasing his girlfriend around because
she's controlling their sex life, and he'll do
anything. And so he makes endless fool of himself
because he's thinking with his dad. With Viagra,
it's not his friend. No, no, it's making him
extra stupid. He needs to put it down and think
differently. Yes, he does. Yeah. Yeah, Bill Belichick
is a great example of someone who just destroyed
whatever legacy they had left. I think he's doing
a key punchline forever. I think so, too. Yeah.
And also some of his antics, too. I mean, especially
recently where he went to the college and his
girlfriend is telling him everything to say and
everything to do. That is the capper on a bunch
of questionable things that's happened during
or after his tenure in New England. Here's an
extreme example. Do you remember a Carolina Panthers
wide receiver named Ray Carruth? Yes, yeah, he
killed... His pregnant wife. Yes. And their unborn
child. Yes, threw him in a trunk. Yep. So he's
in jail on two counts of murder. For a long time,
he held a lot of the team records in receiving
yards, etc., but they completely ignored him
and pretended he didn't exist because he was
detrimental to the team. Uh -huh. Belichick is
still being detrimental to the league. Brady
is not. You're right. That's true. Brady is being
an enormous asset to the league. They're going
to reward him. I agree. I agree. It's like the
Johnny Bench thing where he would never apologize
and admit that he was gambling, so they kept
him out of the Hall of Fame. Not Johnny Bench,
Pete Rose. Yeah, Pete Rose. Sorry. No, that's
okay. So I think they're giving Belichick the
Pete Rose treatment. Yeah, I think so, too. I
think so, too. It's just kind of like, no, we'll
get to you. Yeah. Just go sit down. You didn't
come to us on bended knees, so you go to the
back of the line. Exactly. That kind of thing.
That's another thing, too. They think he needs
a grovel and all that, and he's just like a...
And honestly, if you asked him, I don't think
he gives a shit. You know, I think the only time
Bill Belichick grovels is when he's trying to
talk to his 23 -year -old girlfriend. That's
what I was getting ready to go to. That's the
only time he grovels. That's probably for a couple
hours, and then he has to give her $10 ,000 in
jewelry, and then she's like, okay, but don't
touch me too much. Yeah, yes. Yeah, so, okay,
we're on the exact same page on that one. Can
you tell I don't like Bill Belichick too much?
Well, it's not that I don't like him. I don't
respect him. I don't respect him, but he's actually
a pretty humorous guy. Yeah. He's had some little
one -liners that are like, where is that personality
at? He's not stupid. He's not dim. He's actually
pretty clever and sharp and quick -witted. It's
just he chooses to be the large, deflated penis
all the time. Yes. The media thing, I don't blame
them because they take everything he says and
inflate it and make it something he's not. So
finally he said, well, I guess I just don't have
to have a personality now. Yeah. And then he
just gets there because he's... required by the
NFL to get up there and have this press conference.
He's like, all right, I'll have one. But it's
going to go like this. Uh, well, uh, things didn't
go right. He tried to screw up their soundbite
is what he was doing. And he does. He does. He
doesn't have any soundbites. He doesn't want
to be interesting. I mean, he usually was involved
in one of the more interesting games of the weekend.
Yeah. But then his interview was boring and dull
and stupid. because he wanted it that way. Yeah,
it was genius, and they never put him on anything,
and they never had him out there saying anything
because he didn't. Just a bunch of regurgitating.
He pretty much had one line, and it was wishy
-washy, and he put that the whole press conference.
I'm trying to remember if I've ever seen Bill
Belichick endorse anything. I don't think he
does. Maybe something locally in Boston, but
nothing nationally. I can see him endorsing,
like, the club for cars. Yeah. You don't want
to get ripped off. Take this device here, put
it on your stairwell, and the crook can't get
it. I could see him endorsing a hemorrhoid cream.
Yeah, yeah. Does your ass itch and hurt and sting?
Currently, no. He could endorse a Viagra or any
other kind of ED medication. You want to know
how I keep the young lady? Well, I don't keep
her happy, but I get what I need. It's your bank
account, Bill. It's your bank account. It's not
your little blue pill. It's your bank account.
There's no evidence of such. All right, I've
got some bullet points. I'm ready for the bullet
points. Bring on the bullet points. All right.
With the Goofy Flag Football Challenge going
on this weekend, will this finally be the end
of the once -proud Pro Bowl? I mean, it is the
end of it because, as we know it, it's toast.
It's gone. Yeah, and I think you're hard -pressed
to find anybody who remembers what it used to
be. because even people from our generations
really didn't watch it much. You know what? And
that's a good – I didn't watch it a lot of times
either. It's like, well, this isn't for real.
What do I care? But I would at least tune in.
I would at least tune in and go, okay, all right,
Mahomes came in. Oh, okay, two passes to Kelsey,
one to Gronk. Okay, good. Yeah. All right, he's
out. All right, I'd leave, you know. And really
– It's kind of a shame that they're not playing
the actual Pro Bowl now because that would be
another gambling opportunity. Yeah. And lots
of money to be made there. But then again, they
don't want their boys hurt either. Yeah, that's
the thing is it's way more important to protect
the physical health of the players. Actually,
if I remember correctly, it was a running back
for New England way before they were really good.
Last name was like maybe Edwards or something.
He just signed a big contract, and he was a big
deal. And before he even got on the field, he
ruptured his ACL and was never the same again.
Yeah. Yeah. I think there was a basketball player
like that who was playing a pickup game in the
offseason. Yeah, that's right, yeah. And destroyed
his knee. That's why they made Mahomes quit playing
basketball. Yes. Which is, yeah. That's in his
contract, allegedly. Yeah. But I think even now,
I think. Even as ridiculous as the flag football,
they're even not calling it a game. It's the
flag football challenge. Yeah, that's the other
thing, too, is it's not even called a game, a
competition of any. But it still provides lots
of gambling opportunities. This is true. And
whatever gambling app you have on your phone
is going to help you and show you all the ways
you can gamble on whatever's happening. So it's
easy for the gambler to get online and do that.
So they really don't need to play the game. As
long as they've got you listening, got you watching,
they expose you to their advertisers, you're
gambling the way you're supposed to. I don't
see any reason. Eventually they should stop calling
it the Pro Bowl and be like the All -Pro. That's
what I'm saying is don't even call it the Pro
Bowl because obviously it's not. No, they're
not playing a bowl game. I mean, the All -Pro
team. You get voted to that, but you don't get
together and practice and play a game. You're
just voted to the All -Pro team. You just get
the bragging rights, like, yeah, I was voted
All -Pro. And I think the Pro Bowl should be
the same way. It's like, yeah, I was voted to
the Pro Bowl if they had won. Yeah. And that's
the honor of itself. And then have whatever celebration
you want, have them show up. You know, if they
want to show up and just, you know, be there
for a meet and greet. But nobody actually plays
football because that's not what it's really
about. Still do your passing challenges and your
flag football, et cetera, et cetera. I think
that would make a lot more sense. Of course,
the NFL is going to do whatever makes the most
money. Yeah. Sense takes a back seat. Yep. All
right. We're on the same page with that. Yeah.
All right. All right. Will BNME make a difference?
Oh, he's going to make a huge difference. Look
at how punked everyone is. All of a sudden they
have confidence again. I think we're going to
see some surprising releases of players who just
can't get on board with Eric. And enough players
are left from behind saying, no, no, no, this
is what we need. EB is the guy. We need this.
But some people who have signed in the meantime
may not really like his style all that much.
Like maybe a Hollywood Brown or somebody maybe?
I don't know. Let's see, who else? I don't know,
Rasheed maybe? Something maybe with big ego who
doesn't want to change and doesn't want to hear
criticism. Well, we're going to find out about
Rasheed if he is actually... If anybody can get
value out of him, Eric Bien -Ami can. It'll be
interesting to see if he becomes a 1 ,400 -yard
receiver. And last year he could have still had
remnants of being injured too, but he's also
doing dumb fuckery too, which is a problem. Yeah.
It's sad that Xavier Worthy, I'm sorry, Xavier
Worthy, he wants the X pronounced. Oh, okay.
Xavier Worthy was hyped up as so incredibly fast.
Look how fast he is. But you never see him running
down the field on just a street crowd outrunning
anybody. No, you don't. you don't we were sold
a bill of goods on that sure he's fast but he's
not he's not that breakaway fast like they advertised
yeah so some for some reason he can't do the
flyer out on game day because they're not well
his instincts number one like i went before i
and i told you i stole this from sarin when he
brought it up on his show and i was like you
know that's true yeah you see him catch the ball
in the flat he's open no one around him for 10
yards what does he do Runs right to the receiver,
right to the defender. Right to the defender,
yes. Runs straight at him and tries to run over
him. Can you coach that out of somebody? I certainly
hope so. I certainly, yeah, I hope so too. I've
seen defenders do the same thing where they're
rushing the quarterback and if they move to the
left a little bit, they've got a straight shot
at the quarterback. But instead they turn right
and run directly at the blocker. Because the
coach has told them, go occupy your blocker,
that's your job, just do your job. Yeah. That's
how teams lose games is the players say, well,
that's what Coach told me to do. I'm not going
to think for myself. Yeah, that's true. Thanks.
Oh, and real quick, disclaimer. Yes. For anybody
listening, we have a lot of out -of -town listeners.
Soren is a local talk show host that's very good,
has a really good show. And no, I do not know
him personally. I just say Sarang because saying
the whole thing is kind of redundant. Yeah. He's
been around and had a show for a long time. He's
lasted a long time in Kansas City. He was actually
syndicated for a long time, too, out of Las Vegas
for the Sports Fan Radio Network. Before that,
he started at KCTE AM, well, 1510. But now he's
still a part of 1510, only on an FM and AM outlet.
Doing very well. Those letters really worked.
K -C -T -E -A -M spells K -C -Team. Yeah, yeah,
and that's what it was meant for. Yeah, so that
worked pretty awesome. It was tailored after,
I forgot the name of the network out of Washington,
D .C. called The Team. So model it after that?
Yeah, oh well, doesn't matter. All right. Do
you look for a more productive offense from the
Chiefs and from all of our answers just a second
ago? Yeah. Yes, of course. And I think with less.
Yeah, I think they're going to trim down the
playbook to things that work, things they know
are going to work. And the roster. And the roster,
yeah. And it's going to be a more efficient and
productive offense next year. I don't think we're
going to see the wide variety of plays in a single
game that we did this year. No, no. They did
try to get too fancy. Yeah, yeah. I see other
teams doing it over and over, and it's very successful,
that you find a play that works and you do it
about six or seven times during the course of
the game. I don't see the Chiefs doing that ever.
They'll repeat plays that aren't working, but
other teams will have like Denver used to do
the bootleg, and it worked every time. And they'd
do it like five or six times when they needed
it. I don't see the Chiefs having any play that
pretty much works every time. No, I don't either.
There's not that one thing that they do, like
the tush push was for a while. Now it's starting
to get kind of improvised and people are starting
to do different things because people are starting
to figure it out per se. But I'd like to see
the Chiefs come up with a handful of plays that
you can run from just about any formation, but
the play just kind of always works at least.
He gets you positive yards to some degree. I
spoke about this before, too, quite a few times,
but the loss of P. Ryan, let him leave. He was
that guy. He was the guy. If you really needed
it, you threw it to him. You gave the ball to
him, and he would figure out a way to get that
fourth down or third down. And I don't know why
you let a guy like that go because he didn't
command that much money. And if he did, then
you scrapped somebody that doesn't do that and
keep him. The choice to keep Clyde Edwards -Alaire
last year was a mistake. They got nothing out
of him. They could have taken all that money
and given it to P. Ryan to keep him here, and
he would have benefited the offense way more.
That is such a great point right there. It's
like personnel issues that wasn't caused by Matt
Nagy. I don't think so. Probably not. I couldn't
understand why keep Edwards -Alaire and then
just not use it. Why is he even on the roster?
Why are you paying his contract? I took it as
a favor. I think they were trying to do him a
favor. He's got some situation in his personal
life that he really needed to be on the roster
and make that money, so they felt sorry for him.
Screwed up the season. Sure did. We didn't have
that guy, did we? Ever. And that is going to
be another mark against GM when eventually comes
time to fire Brett Beach. that's going to be
one thing they point to. The next two years,
especially next year, is going to determine that.
Yeah. Very much so. They only have six picks
unless they trade down. Yeah. They only have
six picks. They're going to have to hit on virtually
every one of them. I would like to see them trade
down and get more in the third and fourth round.
I would too. Yeah. They do better with those
picks traditionally anyhow. Yes, they do. And
the players do better because we don't have the
enormous pressure on them. That's another thing,
too, yeah. We've got plenty of big playmakers
on the team already. We're not looking for that
high -round, super -desirable superstar in the
making. Don't need it. Don't need to pay that.
So, yeah, trade down to somebody who does need
that. Like Tennessee needs a lot of people. Jets
need a lot of people. They'd be willing to do
some trading, I think. Yeah. We'll see. All right.
The running game will be a key point in this
new stint with the Chiefs. Will this be achieved
by the draft and scheme? I think they're going
to add a free agent like they always do. They'll
add a free agent and also bring in some draft
picks. Yeah, yeah. Is Pacheco going? I would
say so. I would think so, too. I would say out
of the current crop, we keep Kareem Hunt. and
then maybe one other guy, I don't know who, and
say goodbye to the rest. I want to see Hunt win
a Super Bowl with us. Yeah. That would be nice.
This Mitchell that they got from the Niners.
He's gone already, isn't he? Or do they still
retain him? Did they retain him? He was a mistake,
too. Yeah, a big mistake. He spent the money,
he talked him up, he never used him. Could have
kept P. Ryan. Could have kept P. Ryan. Who else
was running for the Chiefs last year besides
Pacheco and Hunt? There was a couple other guys.
There was, but I can't think of who they were
yet. There was number 24. He was kind of being
a P. Ryan late in the season. You keep him, definitely.
Yeah, Smith. Rashard Smith. Rashard Smith. No,
that's not number 24. Who am I thinking of? Anyway,
you know what I'm talking about. You can email
us and call us idiots for not knowing. Yeah,
that's fine. We like that. We love the abuse.
I remember him catching a lot of swing -out passes
from the backfield that got a lot of potters
in the yard. Thornton? Thornton's a wide receiver.
Oh, that's right. Okay, this is a running back?
Yeah. What the hell was it? Oh, I know who you're
talking about. I can't think of his name. Number
23, right? 24, I think. I thought he was 34.
Then I saw I think it was 24. Okay. Oh, well.
All right. And we'll look at it later. I don't
give a no. Okay. I asked the next question, would
any of the running backs be retained? But we
already went into that. So we already answered
that. Defense seems to be the new sexy in the
NFL. Yeah. Will this last or will teams like
the Chiefs figure it out? It's like anything
to me. Yeah, I think it'll last for a number
of years. It'll run its course. Generally speaking,
if you're going to invest the money in multi
-year contracts with these defensive players,
you want to get your money's worth out of them
before the fad changes to something else. So
I could see it running through the next five,
six years. But it's going to be balanced because
the high scoring, impressive quarterbacks, they
want them still to be at the forefront. And as
players like Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes
and Josh Allen get older and less relevant, the
new crop coming up, they need to make sure that
there's enough offense available that they can
have. splashy games and gather a lot of attention.
Real quick question that spawned from what you
just said. From here on out, who's going to have
better stats? Will it be Allen or Mahomes? Mahomes.
Yeah, by far. I think a big hit on Allen is the
demoralizing effect of losing the head coach
and feeling like he let his coach down and got
his coach fired. I honestly don't see him coming
back too well from this. He is really, really
fucked in the head now. Yeah, I think emotionally
and mentally he's got a long road ahead of him
to get back to the confident, happy, strong guy
he was before. Yeah, and that's too bad because
I like him as a person. Yeah, yeah. The Bills
Mafia, they're a bunch of crybabies to me. I'm
fucking tired of them. They seem to be very fickle.
Very, very fickle. And that's another thing I
don't like either is the fickleness. Stick with
your team. Don't turn on them. They are turning
on them. I mean, turn on ownership, but don't
turn on your players and your franchise. No,
you don't do that. All right. Okay, so they're
going to catch up with it halfway. Is that what
we're saying? Yeah, I think it'll be. The defensive
trend is going to be encouraged and it's going
to continue, but it's going to be tweaked along
the way to make sure we still have exciting games.
Yes. And you'll have enough long, highlight -worthy
passes. It's like you've got to have something
to show at the wrap -up. Yeah, I think a lot
of the stuff like the Caleb Williams stuff is
going to happen where you have one really big,
good play that wins the game. Yeah. And then
you have one really big play that loses the game.
And I think Mahomes is going to moderate that.
And Allen, if he can come back, and maybe Jackson,
if he can have a full run. Yeah. There are some
other ones, maybe May. I mean, some of these
quarterbacks I could see get on runs. Yeah. But
I think a lot of that pass, pass, pass has been
figured out for right now. True, true. Really,
everybody benefits from having games that are
still in doubt late in the fourth quarter. It's
better for the fans and the league and the networks
and the gamblers and the betting houses. Everybody
enjoys it. If the game is already decided by
halftime, that's bad for everybody. That's what
they're really doing now. is detouring the game
to not be like that, in my opinion. You can call
it whatever you want. Influence in is a good
word for it. But if you don't want to call it
that, then they temper the game to be a close
game. We'll just leave it at that. I think the
big wake -up for the NFL as a league was when
the Super Bowls started being consistent blowouts.
Yes. And the viewership started dropping off,
and it was getting embarrassing. And it got to
the point where the AFC and NFC championships
not only were better games, but had higher viewership
than the Super Bowl. Uh -huh. And the NFL is
like, uh -uh, we can't do this. We're charging
out the ass for commercials. We want to keep
raising the prices. We need to make these Super
Bowls be interesting. Yeah, I heard the NFL had
a guy come out with a club. And whatever quarterback
was on a roll, he'd go over there and he'd smack
him in the knee and go, hey, you're going to
start throwing interceptions, aren't you? Yes,
I am. That's right. When I leave here, what are
you going to do? Throw an interception? Yep.
That's right. We will never again see a blowout
in the Super Bowl. I don't think so either. It
will not happen. And all this is allegedly. So
even though, yeah, I'll just leave it at that.
Even though. When there's that much money to
be made, what do you think is going to happen?
Think about what you think is going to happen.
Think of everything that involves money. It makes
people... Yes. So there you go. All right. How
will the ratings be in this unsexy matchup for
a Super Bowl? And it's about as unsexy as you
can get. That's true. I mean, you got East Coast
with the Patriots, but you really don't have
the West Coast involved with Seattle so much.
No, not really. They're kind of up there in the
corner. I mean, they're almost like Canada's
official U .S. team. I don't know. Now, this
is a rematch. They met before, and New England
won. I think the ratings are going to be pretty
good. People are going to tune in. No matter
how you feel about New England, you're going
to tune in to watch them fail or watch them succeed.
Yes. And this is going to be without Thomas Bernard
Braden. Yes. I made up his middle name. I have
no idea what his middle name is. Thomas Geraldo
Brady. That's it right there. You're right. Thank
you. Thomas Geraldo Brady. He's named after Geraldo
Rivera. Yeah, yeah. His mom was a huge fan. And
I'll just leave it at that. Allegedly a groupie.
She was a really, really big fan. We'll just
leave it like that. No, I think it's going to
be a highly rated Super Bowl. I think once the
game is no longer interesting, to talk about.
I think the next big thing people will talk about
will be the halftime show. Yeah, yeah. And also,
it's rival. Yeah, that's right. There is a rival
halftime show. Yeah. This isn't the first time
there's been a rival halftime show. No, they've
had like the Puppy Bowl. Well, they've always
had the Puppy Bowl for a long time. But go ahead
about it. Remember that comedy show In Living
Color? Yes. That's where Jim Carrey and... Fireman
Bill or whatever. He got his start there and
so did Jamie Foxx. Got to start there. That show
was genius. It was. There was, like, several
of the Wayans brothers involved, but that show
was the first one that I remember directly coming
out and saying, we've got a competitive halftime
show. When it's halftime, tune to us, and as
soon as the game comes back on, we'll tell you,
and you can tune right back. And then there's
a bunch of them on the Internet, too, where people
are just clowning. Those are good to watch, too,
sometimes. I have not intentionally watched a
Super Bowl halftime show in probably 15 years.
Me neither. I have no use for it. No, nothing
there entertains me. No. But that's okay. They
aren't trying to entertain a 65 -year -old man.
They're just not. If you want to watch Rihanna
touch her fucking junk five times, then there
you go. While she's pregnant. There we go. Anyhow,
all right. Maybe the head was poking out. I think
so. Trying to push it back in. Come on, little
guy. I'm trying to do something here. We've got
Tilly Savola's peak in here. Look him up. Or
how about this? You were talking about the way
of brothers. Look this up. Homie, don't play
that. Just put that in. Just put that in. That's
all you've got to do. They were so good. They
were. Hey, smack them in the head. Homie, don't
play that. Bam. Genius. All right. If the NFL
wants a higher score in Super Bowl, would you
look for game manipulation? Yes. Yeah, yeah.
This is everything we've been saying. And it's
a unique situation in that it's probably the
most popular game of the whole season, but it's
the one where the people who are casual to non
-fans pretty much outweigh the real fans watching
and attending. So they can get a lot of stuff
past us. in the Super Bowl that would be called
out in a regular season game. But in the Super
Bowl, no one's going to be watching. No one's
going to care. They're going to get away with
murder. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. Yeah, I agree.
And I've even noticed times where they'll show
a replay and you'll see the defender coming in,
leading with his helmet, making helmet -to -helmet
contact, and the announcer's... That's been a
big... All through the replays, they won't mention
it because they've been told not to mention it.
They've been told to let this one go. And it's
surprising that the network is still showing
those replays and you see the obvious head -to
-head, but the announcers just pretend like they're
not seeing it. How many times do you hear that
series of boos afterwards? That's because they
showed on the big screen something that happened
that wasn't called or vice versa. Yeah, you hear
those boos now, and you're like, well, why is
everybody booing? That's because of what's up
there on the big screen. They're showing something
that people thought was bullshit. And a lot of
those are done to get us used to the fact that
things aren't going to be called correctly or
fair. It's every time you're told another lie.
you get more accustomed to being lied to. Yeah.
And right now, NFL fans. Normalization of it
is what they're doing. NFL fan has been lied
to so much that it just seems normal, and they
just really don't care much if they just keep
getting lied to. And people don't even bother
to question it. It's like, okay, whatever. As
long as I'm entertained, I don't care. Yeah,
whatever. Yeah, it's like, you know, it's a predetermined
outcome. Oh, it's still fun to watch. Yeah. Okay,
then you get what you get. Yeah. All right. Will
the mystery call or non -calls on holding and
pass interference be the tool used? Yes. Yeah.
It seems to be the embo on every game. Yeah,
they've already got it set up in advance where
they've convinced us, well, holding just happens
on every play, and if they called it on every
play, then the game would never. So they've got
us used to the fact that they call it selectively
and we're okay with it. And then the pass interference,
there's nothing even resembling consistency in
that. A few of the announcers are starting to
say, oh, was that really pass interference? How
many times has that happened during the whole
playoffs? Playoffs, playoffs. Quite a few. Quite
a few times. Quite a few times, yeah. It's really
irritating, actually, when they go back over
and you're like, wait a minute, this guy, he
owes him fucking dinner. He was on his back so
much. And all they really have to do is go to
the corner who's covering the guy and say, on
this play. commit defensive pass interference,
and there will be $150 ,000 in your bank account
tomorrow. Of course that happens. It does happen.
Everyone knows it happens. Individuals get paid
off to do certain things at certain times, and
they're not throwing the whole game. They're
just playing their little tiny part. Well, just
like I said on an editorial not too long ago,
I said if you give people enough... interactions
with other people. Even the Dalai Lama would
go on a rampage. Because that's what we do to
each other as humans. And it's very telling that
pretty much every AI eventually turns towards
criminal behavior because it's more efficient.
It's more efficient, yep. That's it. And they
do, regularly. Look it up if you don't believe
us, Google it or whatever. It's about the most
efficient way to make money is to ignore all
the rules and regulations. Yeah, yep. That makes
sense. Well, it's like what they do in big business.
They do it, trample everybody, and they go, oh,
right, lawyers, we've got people after us. Yeah.
Okay, we already got the defense. Yeah, fake
up some paperwork to show we complied. Yeah,
yep, that's it. Yeah. Will there be... Let's
see. Will there be very many roughing the passer
calls? No. I don't think so either. They kind
of swayed away from that now. Yeah, even though
these are two pretty good defenses, I think for
the most part, players have figured out that
roughing the quarterback is always going to bite
you in the ass, especially when you're dealing
with very important quarterbacks. Yeah, I agree.
Yeah. And also, I think both teams are going
to be smart enough. I think they're already being
talked to right now going, don't get near the
quarterback. Don't touch him. Don't get near
him. Don't touch him. Yeah, I would think they
would. And that's if it's questionable. I would
think they would tell their pass rushers to go
after the ball first and go after the quarterback
only if you can't get to the ball. Yes. Because
they'd rather swap the ball out of the quarterback's
hands than tackle him. Yeah. And that, I think,
demoralizes the quarterback more than the sack
does. No, and I agree. And they do that a lot
now. And it actually is pretty successful for
the most part. It really works out well. Now,
supposedly, it is a penalty if you try to punch
the ball and wind up punching the player instead.
Supposedly, that is a penalty. Oh, come on. But
they never enforce it. Oh, okay. So I think some
team is going to have to start taking advantage
of that. When the ball carrier shows up, three
guys just come in throwing fists. And say, oh,
we're just trying to punch the ball out. Good
point. Yeah. All right, if the over -under on
roughing the quarterback is three, would you
go over or under? And that's the final one. I'll
go under. I'll go under, too. I think there's
going to be one. Yeah. And that's it. And I think
that's going to be the example for the rest of
the game. It's like, don't do that. It'll probably
happen in a very crucial moment. Yes. And change
the outcome of the drive, and everyone will go...
Yeah, yeah, they just sacked him. The sack happened
20 yards back to the mouth field goal range,
and then all of a sudden that late flag. Yep.
Oh, he landed on top of him. He hit him in the
head. Oh, yeah, it's head -to -head. Yeah. Yeah.
They'll make it work. And then after that, it's
going to be like, uh -uh, don't. And it's probably
going to lead to a scoring drive, three or seven,
something like that. Now, I have seen some cases
where there's been a really iffy call that gives
the team back the field goal opportunity, and
then they blow it. Oh, I have too. I've seen
that a lot. I've seen that a lot. It's not like
a deadlock fix. It's just they give teams the
opportunity, and then the team's trying to take
it. If the team doesn't make it, then they give
them another opportunity later. And then sometimes
a team just can't get it done, like the Bills
just couldn't get it done. They were given chance
after chance. And finally the officials were
like, screw it, you don't have what it takes.
Oh, I know. And they just let the game go and
the Bills lost. I honestly think that it got
to not only Josh Allen's head, but everybody's
head. I think there's actually more pressure
of the Chiefs not being there than it was with
the Chiefs being there. Absolutely. At least
they're familiar with the Chiefs. You know, I
think it was actually. Turned out to be more
pressure because everybody was whispering, they
have to do it now. If they don't, it's over.
It's no good anymore. They're never going to
do anything. That gets in your head. If you get
accustomed to losing to the Chiefs, it doesn't
sting so much. No, it's like, oh, the same thing
happened. Yeah, this guy's too good. But when
your biggest bullies are out of the postseason
and you're still in it, then you're like, yeah,
we're going to coast. Oops, no, you didn't. This
also goes to... All the usual suspects like Lamar
Jackson and Joe Burrow, all of those guys were
out this year. And I think that people started
talking, and I think that the Bills kind of were
like clinched up. They're like, oh, shit, they're
right. We have to do it now. We have to be in
the Super Bowl, and we have to win. They were
totally in their own heads. Yeah, they were,
and that's unfortunate. That is. That screws
up such wonderful opportunities that don't come
around very often. Well, you could tell just
in their play. Everything that should have worked
did not work. And I blame a lot of that. Some
of it should have worked, but the players were
not playing to the best of their abilities, and
I think it's because it got in their head. All
right, you got something? Yeah, I was going to
go over the latest coaching carousel news. That's
good. And when you get to Tomlin and McCarthy,
I have a comparison of their whole careers. Awesome.
Okay. So you might save that for last, and we'll
go into it after we talk about after McCarthy
being hired. Now, reportedly, the Bills are going
to promote Joe Brady to be their next head coach.
They already did. Okay. So as of this morning,
when I looked, they said it was reported. They
don't really have any other options. After the
owner got involved and did all the stupid shit,
everybody pulled out. That was... Yeah, this
reminded me that that was the point is that they
were reduced to hiring from within because nobody
else wanted the job. And I think word got around
pretty quickly, don't bother calling Buffalo
because we ain't interested. Yeah. And they did
it to themselves. It's pretty sad. It is. The
Titans are expected to hire Brian Dable as their
next offensive coordinator. He was Giants head
coach last season. I think that was a good hire,
too, because I think Dable was very good, and
I think he's eventually going to make a good
head coach. Yeah, and he gets to work with Cam
Ward now. That's good. I think that is a great
pairing right there. Yeah. and the Chargers have
officially hired former Dolphins head coach Mike
McDaniel as their new offensive coordinator.
He put them on pause so he could go think about
Buffalo, but it didn't take him long to say no
to Buffalo. No, he took the requirements and
all that, and he's like, no, I think I'm going
to go with this one, and I can't blame him. Yeah.
All right, then next up we've got Tomlin and
McCarthy. Okay. Because they hired Mike McCarthy
to become their next head coach in Pittsburgh.
Let's see. Before the Steelers made their move,
the Ravens hired Los Angeles Chargers defensive
coordinator Jesse Minter to replace John Harbaugh,
and he ultimately landed in the Giants' job.
Oh, yeah, that's right. Yep, the Harbaugh is
over there now, and he's in a great situation.
He's got some young guys there, and he's got
good draft picks. Okay, so I have a comparison
here of both head coaches and their careers for
Mike Tomlin and Mike McCarthy. McCarthy, of course,
has taken over the duties of head coaching for
the Pittsburgh Steelers while Tomlin stepped
down. Okay, so Mike Tomlin had 19 seasons. He
has 192, 114 losses, and two ties. McCarthy,
18 seasons, 174 wins, 112 losses, and two ties.
That's pretty good. Yeah, yeah. Pretty much,
if you added a couple more games, they'd be right
at each other's record. Yeah, there's not really
much difference to talk about there. Tomlin's
win is 628%. McCarthy's win is 608%. Very close.
So 628 to 608, yeah. Wow. Playoffs. Wow. Yep.
Tomlin is 8 wins, 12 losses. Yeah. McCarthy is
11 and 11. Oh, a little better. McCarthy is quite
a bit better. Yeah. That's been there two more
times, too. 8 and 12 is 20. 11 and 11 is 22.
Yeah. Yeah, so McCarthy right now, to me, appears
to be the better choice, although it would not
seem like it. Yeah. Division wins, 8 for both
of them. So that's a wash. Super Bowls, one for
each one of them. So that's a watch. That's a
watch. Who would you hire based on the stats?
Not thinking about the person, the personality
or nothing. I think I would have went for McCarthy
because of the playoff wins and the times being
there. Yeah. And I'm guessing they're both similar
in age if they've both been head coaches for
almost two decades. Yes. So there's not really
a benefit. I mean, if you hire a younger guy,
chances are you're going to have him longer if
you want him. That would be the only advantage
there. Yeah, that's it. Now, the reason people
say McCarthy was hired there, the main reason
is Aaron Rodgers loves working with him, supposedly,
allegedly. And he's thinking about coming back
for another year because it's Mike McCarthy.
He wants to see what he can do under his regime.
I think the big rift happened not only up in
Green Bay about Jordan Love. But also, I think
it was the getting rid of Mike McCarthy and coming
in and bringing Matt LaFleur. Yeah. So I think
that is a big difference right there, too, of
what happened up there in the severed ties with
Green Bay. And, you know, I can see a situation
developing where the season ends and Aaron Rodgers
goes to GM or owner or whoever and says, You
know, I'm not coming back for another season
under this guy, but I would under Mike McCarthy.
Yes. And that might be why Tomlin resigned is
because he was told it's either you or Aaron.
If you stay, Aaron's not coming back. They could
use Aaron Rodgers more than they could use Mike
Tomlin at this point, which is odd to say. That
is odd to say, yeah. I mean, they're going to
have to look at a total rebuild anyhow. So, I
mean, you know. And, again, that's an indictment
of the Pittsburgh Steelers for not having a quarterback
behind Aaron Rodgers. Yeah. Because if they had
the guy, then they would say, bye, Aaron, see
ya. Yeah, they don't. They don't. They don't
have anybody behind Aaron Rodgers, so they're
desperate to have him back. So, just like the
Jets, next season is going to completely depend
on Aaron Rodgers' help. Yeah. Yep. And what's
he going to be, 43? Yeah, it's a scary thought
for a Pittsburgh Steeler fan. I'm sure they're
not really amped up right now. Okay, that's all
that I've had of that. Well, you know, every
other team is looking at that, looking at the
Steelers. Every team that's going to play the
Steelers next year is looking at their roster
and saying, without Aaron Rodgers, they're nothing.
Yeah. They've got a good defense or a decent
defense. Well, I mean, that's what I would think
when I see this on the surface. Oh, they got
rid of the coach and kept Aaron Rodgers. That
means they have nothing else to offer. Yeah.
But that's pretty much what everybody thought
about Kansas City. You take Mahomes out, the
team's going to lose. Well, they're pretty much
right. I don't think we won a game again, did
we? We won that one playoff game with the backup.
Oh, yeah, yeah. That was at the end of the game
where they thought he had a concussion and took
him out. Yeah. No, he started a game. Oh, he
started a game? Yeah, there was a game where
Mahomes was out, and he played the whole game,
and they won anyway. I can't remember who that
was. Wow. Or I was hallucinating one of the two.
No, hang on. No, no, no. That's cool. I'll look
it up. Go ahead. All right. While you look it
up, the Jets have reportedly reached out to John
Gruden to see if he'd join Aaron Glenn's staff,
but Gruden said no thanks. News broke Tuesday
that head coach Aaron Glenn has parted ways with
offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrom. Hours
later, Zach Rosenblatt of The Athletic reported
that the Jets had reached out to former Bucs
and Raiders head coach John Gruden about the
idea of becoming their next offensive coordinator.
But Gruden said, nah. I think Gruden is holding
out. He wants more out of the NFL before he comes
back. He's pissed at the way he was run out.
You were hallucinating. I was hallucinating?
Yeah, he started for the Miami Dolphins against
the Pittsburgh Steelers. That's what I was thinking.
Yeah, he won 30 -12. Anyhow, go ahead. Sorry.
So, have you ever heard of NFL Rule 17? No. This
is actually a very important rule. It is also
known as the Unfair Acts Rule or the Calamities
Rule. It grants the Commissioner sole authority
to investigate and correct extraordinarily unfair
game situations, like major officiating errors
or disasters, potentially by replaying part or
all of a game. Okay. Or he can order a forfeit.
Or he can resume play from a prior point on another
day, although it's extremely rare. Okay. I have
seen that before where a game was put off because,
I mean, they didn't even start it. They said,
you know, play this game in a couple of days
because there was a snowstorm. I think it was
Buffalo. Yeah, and also the Gamara Hamlin situation
where they just canceled it altogether. Yeah,
yeah. So some key aspects of Rule 17. The commissioner's
power, he can step in for palpably unfair acts
that significantly impact a game's results. Corrective
actions could include reversing a game's result.
forfeit or win. They can do that, huh? Okay.
Replaying the game from the beginning or a specific
point. So the game could be over and the NFL
could say, no, no, no, no. Go back and play the
whole second half again. Yeah, we think you did
this wrong and we're going to have to have you,
yeah. You can also resume the play directly from
the point before the unfair act. Wow. Wherever
it was. If a game is resumed from before the
incident, it generally must happen within 48
hours. Otherwise, a full replay is required.
So they could come back three weeks later and
say, no, no, no, let's go replay this game. And
they could absolutely force the team to do it.
And if the team said no, they'd say, okay, you
forfeit. Wow. Isn't that weird? Yeah, that is.
Now, historical usage. The rule has never been
formally invoked to overturn a game's outcome,
despite fan calls. like the Saints -Rams NFC
Championship. Oh, yeah, yeah, because of the
bounty gate. Yeah. It basically acts as a safety
net for truly egregious situations that fall
outside typical officiating areas. In essence,
it's a way for the commissioner to just void
everything that happened and say, no, this is
the way it's going to happen. It's pretty similar
to the power a judge has. If he thinks the jury
is completely wrong and outside of their instructions,
even if the jury comes back and says guilty,
the judge can say, uh -uh, you did it wrong.
I'm declaring that you're innocent. And that
does happen. And it does happen. These judges
can void the jury's verdict if they think it's
just completely wrong. or obviously unfair or
biased or whatever. So the commissioner has that
ability in games. I think Rule 17 is being used
during games. I think there's somebody within
the NFL League office that is tasked with watching
all these games and stepping in and saying, uh
-uh, no, no, no, that was wrong, do something
to make up for that, or we'll have to start the
game over, replay it, whatever. So it's a way
to keep a leash on whatever's happening in the
games. It kind of makes it seem like there's
somebody else working with the officials and
the players to do these things to influence the
game. And the NFL League office is like, go ahead
and do it. We don't want to know about it. If
it gets too obvious, we're stepping in. And then
when it gets obvious on any given Sunday, they're
like, no, no, no, no, no. That was a bad call,
so make an equally bad call of going the other
way to even it out. That happens a lot, I'm certain.
I don't think it's necessarily the officials
deciding to do that. I think it's someone from
the league office saying, no, make it fair again
or we're stepping in. I agree. So I think Rule
17 is being used in pretty much every game. and
it gives them blanket coverage to do whatever
they want, influence the game in any possible
way because this is a rule that they voted into
place and all the team owners are aware of it.
So there's nothing illegal going on here when
they start changing games around if they think
it's unfair. Again, why are people betting on
this? Why are you betting on games that are completely
under the control of the league office? Fix them
and they can go whatever way they want to. Like
I said, if you bet on the NFL, I consider it
a foolish act. Yeah. Because it is always just
so influenced at least. Yeah. It's kind of like
betting on somebody else who's playing poker.
You're not playing poker, but they are, and you're
betting on them, and they could throw the game
at any time. You have no control over them. Yeah.
You don't know where their loyalty is. You don't
know what they've already decided. It's just,
yeah, it's just so odd. I don't get it. I've
got a little story here, if that's okay. Yeah.
Okay. An ex -NFL player killed in an L .A. homeless
camp had been living on the streets and had CTE,
they believe. Former NFL player Kevin Johnson
was found stabbed and beaten to death in a Los
Angeles homeless encampment this week. Wow. He
had been living on the streets and may have suffered
from CTE, according to friends of his. Officials
ruled the 55 -year -old's death as a homicide.
I would think so. I would think so. He didn't
beat and stab himself to death. Oh, yeah. So
far, we might order something here in a little
bit. Let me know, Mark. Okay, thank you. Let's
see. He had been living on the encampment and
was discovered on the 1300 block of East 120th
Street on Wednesday morning. Former NFL Kevin
Starr Johnson had been living on the streets
and may have suffered from CTE. Why it repeated
itself, I have no doubt. I have no reason. So,
sad. Yeah, the NFL has made a big deal now and
then about doing better by their former players,
and the union itself has also said, yeah, we've
got to do more for the former players. But you're
still going to have people. want help or was
incapable of accepting help, you're still going
to get things like this happening. It's a sport
that damages your brain. There's just no two
ways around that. It's a sad story, but I thought
it deserved a mention. It's too bad. You got
something? We can go over the ESPN's decision
on who are the studs and duds from the championship
games. Sounds good. For the AFC, one of the studs
was Christian Gonzalez. Okay. He pretty much
shut down Cortland Sutton for the majority of
the game. That's no kidding. And did the late
interception. Yeah, he really deserved it. Yeah,
I agree with that 100%. I mean, he got burned
twice on Denver's only touchdown drive, but after
that. He was a shutdown machine. And that was
early in the game, too. Yeah. He really corrected
after that. I think he was like, uh -uh, that's
not happening again, and he made sure it wasn't.
So, yeah. Another stud for the Patriots, Christian
Ellis, who did the strip sack of Jarrett Stidham,
set up New England's offense. Yeah. And ironically,
that should have been allowed to stand as running
in for the touchdown, but the officials had blown
the whistles. So they had to go back to where...
the Patriots recovered. I know. I know. Wasn't
that something? That was interesting. It was
very interesting. Leonard Taylor III, another
stud who was elevated off the practice squad.
and came in to block the 45 -yard field goal.
Wasn't that amazing? Yeah, from the practice
squad. That would have tied the game, and oh,
my God, nobody wanted overtime in that game.
No, no. I was glad the damn thing was over. I'm
like, shoo, maybe the next one will be better,
and it was. The NFC game was everything as advertised.
Then the fifth stud would be Drake May himself.
Even though it was his worst passing game of
his entire career. His running ability, the 65
yards and the touchdown, really carried the weight.
And the thing is, he was not trying to run ever.
No, he was running for his life. That pass rush
tried everything he could to get to him, but
his feet kind of really nullified all of that,
which was the biggest difference in the game
right there. And on a snowy day, too. And on
a snowy day, yeah. Okay, for the duds, Andy Borgalis,
the place kicker, he wasn't even close on the
63 -yarder. He missed the 46 -yarder, and then
he had the one blocked. The thing not being mentioned
is that weather. Yeah. I can't really say too
much about it because the weather was not desirable
for anything, let alone kicking. Yeah, yeah.
I guess you're supposed to step up in those circumstances.
I guess that's what's expected. The New England
kicker, I guess, did, and he didn't. So, okay.
Yeah, you're right. Another dud, Travion Henderson.
Yeah. Ramondre Stevenson was effectively the
team's offense in the fourth quarter. Travion
Henderson was basically missing in action. Oh,
he was. Yep. Three carries, five yards. That's
it. Wow. How much was he being paid to go in
there for three plays and carry five yards? Well,
I want to use him more for three plays, but three
carries for five yards. Allegedly, I would think
a lot. Yeah. Keyshawn Boutte. Booty? Yeah, Bill
Booty. Yeah, Bill Booty. Even when he got open,
he and May were not on the same page. And the
rest of the time, Patrick Sertan had him locked
up really tight. And Fred Sertan, you kind of
expect that, honestly. That guy is such a corner,
I mean, just a complete, yeah. Yeah, his father
was really good too. Yes, yeah, and a lot of
people don't realize that, yeah, his father was
a really good NFL player for a number of years.
But Boutte just caught one of his six targets
for a six -yard gain, and that was it for the
whole game. So he's going to have to come back
pretty strong for the Seahawks. Yeah. The problem
with that is the Seahawks have just as good a
defense. That's the problem. Bryce Barringer
is the last dud for the Patriots. Tom Barringer's
cousin. Yes. For Nebraska, right? Nebraska, yeah.
I think he died in a plane crash maybe. Oh, gosh.
Could be. I think so. Anyhow, if I'm wrong, I'm
wrong. Okay. All right, punting battle between
Bryce Barringer and Jeremy Crenshaw was actually
pretty important during this game because there
was a lot of stalled drives and a lot of punts.
But Barringer struggled to consistently put the
Broncos offense in tough spots. Yeah. He had
some really lousy punts that went not very far
at all. Yeah, their kicking game killed them.
Again, a little bit having to do with the weather
conditions, but on the same time. The Patriots
seem to do theirs good enough. Yeah. So that's
what I got for sportsage. Oh, yeah, but full
disclosure here, if Bo Nix would have been in,
it wouldn't have been that close at all. No,
no. Denver would have ran away with it in the
mid -third quarter. Yeah, and then I'd probably
be picking the Broncos in the Super Bowl. I would
have too, but now they're at home. You want to
hear the top 10 offenses from the last 10 years?
I like this idea because it's an offensive league
right now. It is. Shifting to defense. Now, the
Chiefs have quite a few more games played for
obvious reasons. Okay, the game's played. The
Chiefs are the number one offense. You know what?
I'll go from 10 down. Okay. Number 10 is the
Eagles. Interesting. The game's played. It's
been 58 ,511. Wait a minute. That can't be right.
Oh, shit. This shifted over. Oh, the columns
shifted over? Yes. Oh, that's a pain in the ass.
Yeah, mine cut off the beginning of my next music
story. Okay, I think this might be yards. Yeah,
that sounds like yards. Okay, 58 ,511 yards.
They have losses, 165 wins and 101 losses. One
tie. I know. Touchdowns are 477. Opponent points,
4 ,106. Yeah. The points per game, 24 .9. That's
decent. It is. First downs, 3 ,531. Let's see.
Points given would be 21 .4. First down, let's
see. Anyhow, all right. We're going to go ahead
and go to the Bills is next. They're number nine.
58 ,634 yards. Pretty close. Loss is 164. Wins
105. Isn't that weird? You know what? I don't
know if this thing is... It's shifted over, and
I'm not sure if this is the correct ones. Here,
I'll just go through the top ten. Yeah. And I'll
hit some of the high notes, okay? Okay. And the
touchdowns. And the points per game. Yeah, it's
irritating when things don't print out correctly.
Yeah, I should have checked this fucking thing,
because my... Oh, anyhow, long story. Okay, number
ten's Eagles. 58 ,511 and 24 .9 points per game.
The Bills are number nine, 58 ,634. They have
25 .5 points per game. And first downs are 3
,364, and the points given up is 20 .5, which
is pretty damn good. They're more of a defensive
team than people thought. Number eight is the
Atlanta Falcons. Funny. Probably Matt Ryan. Oh,
yeah, Matt Ryan. Yeah, I mean, they didn't do
much in the playoffs, but they really, yeah,
playoffs. So they had, let's see, 23 .2 points
per game and gave up 24 .2. So that will tell
you the problem right there. The Detroit Lions
are number seven. Oh, no. And this is because
they haven't been around that long. Otherwise,
they've been higher up. So 59 ,175 yards, and
they have 24 .7 games per game, and 24 .7 games
given up. Wow. Isn't that interesting? That takes
some effort to do that. Yeah, I know. I thought
that was interesting. I had to look at it twice.
I go, okay. Yeah. Number six is the Chargers.
Oh, yeah. And I didn't think they were going
to register this high, but they did. Well, they
had Eric Coriel for a while with Dan Fouts and
all those receivers. This is the last 10 years.
Oh, the last 10 years. Okay. I thought, yeah,
okay. Okay. The last 10 years, who they had?
Oh, they had Antonio Gates for part of that.
True. Who was the other one? Keenan Allen. Keenan
Allen. Antone or something like that. No. Oh,
well, it doesn't matter. All right. They scored
23 .6 points per game and gave up 22 .3. Number
five is the 49ers. They have 60 ,052 yards altogether.
They scored 24 .4 and gave up 22 .7, which is
really good. Then number four would be the Baltimore
Ravens, 60 ,146 yards. I wouldn't have thought
them as such an offensive team, but I guess so.
Yeah. They scored. Now listen to this. Yeah.
They scored, and this is why John Harbaugh was
fired, I do believe. A big reason. Points per
game, 26. Points given up, 19 .6. That differential
should equal to more success. That's a touchdown
difference. Yes. Wow. They blew people out unless
it came to the playoffs. Playoffs. So they could
probably have a number of blowout games but then
lose close ones and still maintain that kind
of average. Yeah, but they didn't. Whenever their
close game, it looks like they folded. Yeah,
that's pretty bad if you can only really succeed
against weak opponents. Yeah, that is. That's
how it looks anyway. And that's why hardball
was fired. One of the big reasons I think right
there is the paperwork on it. When you read the
paperwork and you're like, oh. It didn't bode
very well for Harbaugh. You know all these coaches
are being evaluated by AI. Yeah, yeah, of course.
They're spitting out all sorts of information
that wouldn't have occurred to us, but it's like,
oh, look at this. Seven -point differential,
and he still can't win it. Yeah, still can't.
Yikes. Yeah, so that's bad. And you know what?
After I read that, I think I agree with the fireman.
That's not very good at all. Number three is
the Buccaneers. Wow. Isn't that a surprise? In
the last 10 years. Well, they had Tom Brady.
Yeah, true. For what, three years? For three
years. So that helped. That helped. So, all right.
Games played, 60 ,873. Or not games played, but
yards per game. Okay. And they had 85 wins and
165 losses. I had to mention that. Isn't that
crazy? But they were bad for them. a lot of that
yeah okay the points per game was 24 .8 and the
points given up 23 .3 which is actually a pretty
good ratio yeah it's ironic The teams that have
the highest number of passing yards are usually
fighting to come back from behind. Yeah, it would
seem like that, yeah. So the higher the pass
numbers, the more the team was struggling to
come back. Yeah, Mahomes' best game ever against
the Rams. Well, that was a little bit different,
such a shootout, that Monday night shootout.
Yeah. Yeah, he had like close to 600 or at 600
yards. That was nuts. And still lost. Yeah. So
that was the – The equivalent to the Baker Mayfield,
Oklahoma, Patrick Mahomes, Texas Tech, fucking
70 to 68 blowout or whatever, or extravaganza,
fucking no one punting, that good stuff. I remember
back in the 80s on an NFL analysis show, they
were pointing out of all the 300 -yard passing
games that season, 75 % had been losing games.
So they're saying if you pass for 300 yards or
more, you're probably losing. Yeah. And that
was a real shock to the fans at the time. Oh,
this is weird. Well, I've since learned after
reading the stats and figuring out games that
that is not how you win a game. Yeah. All right.
And ask the Chiefs. I mean, they're a great example
of how you win games in situational football.
Yeah. So, all right, number two is the Cowboys.
Okay. A deck he can throw. Yeah. But he can also.
Not throw. Yeah. And it depends on what day you're
getting and whether you're in the playoffs or
not. Yeah, that's unfortunate. Yeah, it is. And
so, now remember this. 61 ,192 yards, the second
place team in yards. Okay. They had 165 wins
against 96 losses. And... No, hang on, hang on.
You know what? I can't go by that. I see the
shift right here. I'm sorry. 96 wins, 68 losses.
Okay, so opponent's points are 25 .9. And they
gave up 22 .7. Look at that. Look at that ratio.
25 .9, almost 26. And almost 23 is what they've
given up. So just a little more in a field goals
difference. Yeah. They should have won a lot
more games probably, I would think. Yeah. Then
number one. Now, remember, I said last one was
61 ,192 yards. Yeah. The Chiefs. And this is
regular season, not playoffs. So, my house. So,
all right. They're number one. 61 ,796 yards,
so it's like 600 and some yards more. Their wins
is 118 against 47 losses. Ooh. Yeah. Their total
points, 4 ,387. The points per game is 26 .6.
Wow. And the points given up, 20 .7. So about
a six -point difference. Six -point difference,
almost a touchdown. Wow. The only one that did
better was the Ravens, and they don't have the
success behind them. So third downs, they have
45. Fourth down, 65 .2. It's not bad. Yeah. So,
yeah, that was the top 10. That's surprising.
Some of those I didn't think were such high -powered
offensive. Well, yeah, I think like a couple
of years, like, okay, on Atlanta, And Kirk Cousins
was there too. So Kirk Cousins was throwing a
lot of yards too and losing, but so was Matt
Ryan. So after I thought about Atlanta, I'm like,
okay, that's probably true, even though it wouldn't
seem like it. So, I mean, it's not like Pennix
or whoever they got down there now is throwing
lights out. I mean, even Cousins is doing okay,
but not like completely. So, all right, that's
all I got on that one. You got something? I'm
clean. Okay. Well, how long do we have? Coming
up on an hour and 50 minutes. Okay. You want
to end that and I'll do the Travis Kelsey dominance
over the league next time or do you want to do
it this time? You already told him let's do it
then. Okay. All right. Travis Kelsey became the
fastest tight end to reach 13 ,000 receiving
yards. Players like Ozzie Newsome and Charlie
Sanders are remembered for combining elite receiving
with high -level blocking in their eras. Gil
Brandt's 14 greatest NFL tight ends of all time.
Okay, he is Ozzie Newsome, Cleveland Browns,
78 through 90. He hit the Pro Bowl three times,
first team all -pro once, NFL all -decade team.
Wow. Let's see, where the hell did it go? Damn
it. You know what? This is gerbil. Also, okay,
here. Okay, took it to the very last. I got to
check my printer out or my, okay. All right,
this is tight ends only. Okay, all right. Most
receiving yards by a tight end in NFL history
is Tony Gonzalez all time with 15 ,127 receiving
yards, 1 ,325 receptions. So he's followed closely
in modern dominance by Travis Kelsey, Jason Witten,
and Antonio Gaines, who holds the record for
tight end touchdowns at 116. Wow. So Gronkowski
is holding the highest yards per game among top
tier tight ends. And it doesn't say, okay, we'll
go on to it here in a little bit. Okay, so Tony
Gonzalez has 15 ,127. Jason Witten, 13 ,046.
Travis Kelsey, 12 ,151 yards. So Travis Kelsey
is going to be third by the time it's all said
and done because he's not going to make – I don't
think he's – No, he's not going to make 2 ,000
or 3 ,000 yards. No. He might come in second
if he has a really incredible year this year,
but I don't think he's going to have over 1 ,000
yards. Yeah. So you're looking at 12 ,151 to
13 ,046. So he's going to need at least 900 yards
to – Capture that second. Yeah. Then Antonio
Gates is right behind that with 11 ,841. Shannon
Sharp. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Peele
guy. The OnlyFans guy. Yeah, the OnlyFans guy.
Yep. And then Ozzie Greg Olson, 8 ,680. Now,
these guys from here on out are the old school
football. Yeah. Greg Olson was a while ago. Yeah,
yeah. And they did not. throw to the tight end
that much it wasn't that type of a game yeah
and you know what i'm not even going to go into
it so it doesn't matter um antonio gates leads
all tight ends with 116 careers receiving touchdowns
rob uh rob grant gronkowski recorded 20 games
with 100 plus receiving yards and he was widely
considered as one of the best blockers um so
Let's see, touchdowns, Gonzalez has 111. To Jason
Witten, 74. Cool. To Travis Kelsey, 76. D 'Antonio
Gates won 16, which leads everybody. Yeah. Shannon
Sharp was 62. Gronkowski was 92. Oh, wow. One
of the things that I can say about Travis Kelsey
and why he didn't have higher is because of the
way Mahomes spreads the ball around. Yeah, that's
true. He had a lot of competition for the ball.
Yeah, the number of those teams you mentioned,
the tight end was pretty much their primary receiver.
Yeah, Witten. I mean, I know they had Irvin and
all that, but he wasn't really your touchdown
specialist. That was Witten. The guy got open
in that zone, you do it to him. Yeah, and Antonio
Gates got the ball more than all the receivers
combined usually. Yes. He was the only one getting
open, especially in the end zone, and that's
why he's with 116 and all -time leader. Yeah.
Anyhow, the rest of it doesn't matter. The rest
of it has shifted, and I don't even know what
the fuck it means right now. Sabotaged by our
printer. Yeah, so much for my prep. I should
have looked at it, but I didn't. All right, well,
everybody, thank you for listening. We really,
really appreciate it. Our numbers are really
showing it. You guys are telling people, and
this is... This is why we love you and also go
fuck yourself.