A Quick NBA Power Poll, Minny’s QB Mess, Josh vs. Pat, and Week 9 Picks With Joe House and Peter Schrager

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Speaker 1 The Bill Simmons podcast is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. We are also brought to you by the Ringer Podcast Network, where I put up a new rewatchables on Monday.
That was super fun.

Speaker 1 We did Halloween 2 because it's Halloween. This is my favorite week of the year.

Speaker 1 Me, Van Lanthan, Chris Ryan. A lot of jokes.
Halloween 2, once scary, now more of a horror comedy. And we had a lot of laughs.

Speaker 1 So you can go check that out next week monday we're gonna have a celebrity guest and we are also i'll tell you the movie we're doing truman show

Speaker 1 which is uh

Speaker 1 which is just an awesome awesome awesome movie um and had a lot of fun talking about it so you have the whole weekend to watch the truman show i call it truman show but it is the truman show anyway uh that's all coming up No prestige TV anymore for me because task is done.

Speaker 1 I guess I'm just waiting for the next show. It's not not going to be the morning show.
I'll tell you that much.

Speaker 2 Wow.

Speaker 1 I can't believe the morning show. The morning show, not a horror, not a comedy.
I don't know what it is. I don't know what's going on with that show, but I've watched every episode.

Speaker 1 I do like the Murdoch show on Hulu.

Speaker 1 I've been watching that one. That one's pretty solid.
Although I do feel like everybody's worried about AI taking over Hollywood, and yet all of these true crime shows start with.

Speaker 1 There's some sort of murder that happened and the person's either covered in blood or you see a body and then it goes backwards three years.

Speaker 1 Like, don't complain about AI, but then start every true crime series the exact same way.

Speaker 1 I do like that show though. And I like Jason Clark.
He's in some other show on Apple that seemed pretty interesting too. But we are back into everything.
Is it B plus or worse? World Series.

Speaker 1 Still recovering from game three. I know I talked about that on Tuesday.
And apparently the Dodgers are recovering too because they lost game four and game five.

Speaker 1 And now Toronto has it all in their hands. Could this happen to the Dodgers again? Where they win the 18-inning game and then it derails them for the rest of a World Series?

Speaker 1 Riveting, riveting sports weekend ahead. We got football, got the World Series.
The NBA is in full swing. I've already ran a gamut of emotions with the Celtics season.
We were 0-3.

Speaker 1 I was convinced we win 18 games. Now we're 2-3.
Josh Minot is stepping up and starting to wonder if we could be a playing team again.

Speaker 1 Austin Reeves is an MVP favorite. A lot going on.
Very fun.

Speaker 1 We're going to talk basketball at the very top of the podcast with Joe House because I'm going to talk about the one team I'm concerned about. And then we're going to do a nine-day power poll.

Speaker 1 And then old friend Peter Schrager joined us. We did ringer 107 picks, but we used Schrag's to just talk about all the teams as we did the picks.
Then we settled on our favorite ones.

Speaker 1 That's all coming up. First,

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Speaker 1 All right, Thursday afternoon, Joe House is here. We'll talk some basketball at the top, and then we're going to do football with our old friend, Peter Schrager.

Speaker 1 We're going to do some picks with them too. House, we're 500 now in our picks.
We clawed back to respectability. I'm super excited about that.
Super excited about this NBA season.

Speaker 1 I sent you a power poll, but before we go through it, because we did it last week, I had to get time.

Speaker 2 Me too.

Speaker 1 There's an uh-oh team

Speaker 1 through nine days and i and we haven't discussed this i wanted to see if you had the same uh-oh team

Speaker 2 there's no question about it we are in lockstep bill simmons i'm afraid we both took the over for this team i'm pretty sure we did it's a thousand percent the new orleans pelicans What the fuck is going on with the New Orleans Peter?

Speaker 2 Oh, you had a West Coast uh-oh.

Speaker 1 I had an East Coast uh-oh. Yeah, there's a West Coast uh-oh, too.

Speaker 2 Oh, I can't believe we're not in lockstep.

Speaker 1 No, New Orleans is an uh-oh, too, but I mean, you know,

Speaker 1 they're already having injury stuff and all kinds of things.

Speaker 2 They competed in their first two games and then just got completely blown out, rolled. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Well, the good news is they have their first-round pick.

Speaker 2 Um,

Speaker 1 too soon.

Speaker 1 Listen, we knew with the West,

Speaker 1 one of those

Speaker 1 there was going to be one team that was probably going to be worse than we thought, but we just knew they're, they're just by law, there has to be four bad to mediocre teams.

Speaker 1 You can't have everybody be good.

Speaker 1 Their over-under, I think, was 30 and a half. We went over with that.
I wasn't thinking of that team. I was thinking of the Orlando Magic.

Speaker 2 Okay, well, sure. I mean, every that's everybody's uh-oh.
That's the uh-oh du jour is the Orlando Magic.

Speaker 1 Watching them give up the 136 to Philly. Talked about it with legs a little bit the other day, but uh, then doing the deep dive, reading some stuff, and

Speaker 1 there's already some stuff with the coach

Speaker 1 that's going on here. Uh, the The defense piece with them, where like basically everything goes on Suggs.

Speaker 1 It's like, oh, you have two scores. Well, we're out of options.
We only have one guy to guard everybody. I guess Jonathan Isaac's just not a guy anymore.

Speaker 1 I finally remember the two years ago when he looked like he was like 1965 Bill Russell.

Speaker 2 He's only, his whole career will come down to like he was just 15% of a guy. Never got to 20% of a guy even.
Just 15% of a guy.

Speaker 1 But the nerds started turning on Palo this week,

Speaker 1 including our own Kurt Goldsberry

Speaker 1 on Zaxpod when he was talking about how he was just concerned with some of the advanced stats. And then all week, there's been stuff.
And there's been stuff.

Speaker 2 Did everybody give you permission to call him a nerd?

Speaker 1 Well, I mean, he's an OG at the Sloan Conference. That gives him nerd status.
I'd like to consider myself a nerd.

Speaker 2 Great.

Speaker 1 If you can go to Sloan Conference and hang with the nerds, you're a nerd.

Speaker 1 But yeah,

Speaker 1 there's some concerning palo stuff

Speaker 2 there is some weird defense stuff and then there's that trade where they gave up all their first round picks and went all in a trade that i fully supported but have you watched them yet oh yes in fact i was live tweeting during not tweeting i'm sorry live texting yes during that sixers game um because it was so eye-opening to me on both sides of the ball.

Speaker 2 On the one hand, I wasn't prepared for the speed that Philadelphia's backcourt plays at and

Speaker 2 the poise

Speaker 2 of those two guys. But on the other side of it, you know, I just kept smacking my head.
It's like, this can't be

Speaker 2 just

Speaker 2 Suggs out on the perimeter. It can't be that.
And it can't be the case. And

Speaker 2 our boy Verno, you put in the thread this morning. validated texting with him about the

Speaker 1 Memphis and a whole bunch of things and then Orlando.

Speaker 2 Validated that

Speaker 2 it can't be the case that Cantavius Caldwell Pope was the glue for that defense. Like he was the guy for that Orlando defense.

Speaker 2 It doesn't make sense because he wasn't there the year before. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Well, it's early. They're trying to incorporate Bain.

Speaker 1 The bench looks,

Speaker 1 you know. I mean, yesterday the bench had better stats just because they were getting blown out by Detroit, but Detroit kind of worked them.
The shooting is still,

Speaker 1 is still,

Speaker 1 you know, like yesterday they were 12 for 31 from three. That's like a great day for Orlando.

Speaker 1 There's also every year in the NBA, there's a team that's a younger team on the rise that gets a lot of smoke and just gets pushed up to the next level without having done anything yet.

Speaker 1 And I think that might have happened here. I'm not counting them out just because I think the East is just super duper weird.
But we're going to go over the basketball,

Speaker 1 the little power poll i did and one of the things that jumped out to me was there was like five east teams that are all the same team when you're watching everybody on the tvs it's like these guys would all if they were in a tournament they would all just go four and four against each other uh which i i just wasn't expecting orlando to be in that group right like you watch orlando in chicago orlando in detroit or orlando and philly whoever it just seemed like an even matchup and they were supposed to be like a fringe contender.

Speaker 2 Yeah, because their win total projection was like 51 games and and that had them at the top of the east behind only the knicks and the calves and we expressed skepticism uh properly i think on the preview show with mr zach low um i think we all oh no we didn't all go under one of us i think zach had a one of us zach zach had a lock over i didn't even call that out he did he did you're throwing shots at zach he's then making

Speaker 1 that was unintentional yeah zach went over 50 50 and a half lock

Speaker 1 i i told you i texted you today i have cashed in one of my locks already even nine days in the season i'm cashing in brooklyn under 19 and a half i'm just that is a win i'm not using pencil that's a pen that is one of the worst teams we've had in the league in some time i asked legward the other day whether you know that i think the worst team other than the 16 sixers, which went maybe 10 and 72, 11 and 71, something like that, was the

Speaker 1 Mavericks team from 92 or 93. I think that Brooklyn team has a real chance.
But guess who's having a great time? Michael Porter.

Speaker 1 He's like, this is awesome. Iso.

Speaker 2 Hand up.

Speaker 3 Clear out.

Speaker 2 I think Brooklyn suits him. I think he's going to be able to pursue his interests.

Speaker 1 The best. What was Cam Thomas's game? 40.0 cysts.
That was my favorite.

Speaker 1 All right. Let's rip through the power poll and then we'll bring in Schraigs.
So still have OKC as the favorites. I narrowed it down to three contenders, and I have three possible contenders.

Speaker 1 And I want to talk this out because I'm happy moving any of the possible contenders up if you want to conciliate it. But I have Denver and the Knicks and Cleveland as the three contenders.

Speaker 1 Look, whatever. Cleveland lost to the Celtics last night, but Cleveland doesn't have their team yet.
I'm not concerned at all. No, I'm a little concerned about my 56 and a half over

Speaker 1 the lock if these guys are just not coming back anytime soon. But are you cool? Those three with contenders, obviously, but then the possible contenders: Houston,

Speaker 1 Golden State,

Speaker 1 and I put San Antonio.

Speaker 2 So we have to have San Antonio here until further notice. And I don't have any objections.
I totally agree. Right.

Speaker 2 Like, if we keep getting these games out of Wemby, the impact on the rest of that team, they are very complimentary. They are deep.

Speaker 2 And, you know, it is, of course, like we're going to hyperbolize because we're only four or five games in to the season.

Speaker 2 Like, remember the Washington Wizards with Spencer Dinwiddie and Montrez Harrell five years ago started off the season eight and two. And you were congratulating me on

Speaker 2 that team.

Speaker 2 The first 10 games, things will happen. We'll see some.
They could be directional. They may not be directional.

Speaker 2 But this San Antonio team, at this point in time, with what they're revealing to us about the possibilities, about the potential, they belong right where you have them.

Speaker 1 I've been betting on them every game. I've been betting on Milwaukee and San Antonio every game.
Great. So San Antonio, they have an MVP candidate.

Speaker 1 They're second in defensive rating right now, which isn't nothing. They don't have Fox or Sohan yet.

Speaker 1 So when you think about that, where it's like their only problem is going to be how do they work those guys back and still have minutes for everybody when everybody's playing well.

Speaker 1 And even guys like Kelton Johnson are playing well. So

Speaker 1 I think it's a clear contender. Same for Houston because Houston still has that ass kick gear.

Speaker 1 And you saw it, who'd they play last night? Toronto. They just like, they put up 139 points on Toronto.

Speaker 2 But

Speaker 1 Golden State is the one that I really vacillated on whether they're an actual contender or a possible contender. And here's why I made them a possible contender.

Speaker 1 I think there's a real chance Adam Silver hates Golden State because I can't think of another explanation when I look at the schedule.

Speaker 1 This schedule they have starting tonight, they're playing at Milwaukee, Saturday at Indiana, home, Phoenix on Tuesday, at Sacramento, at Denver on a Wednesday, Friday, home, Indiana, at OKC on a Tuesday, at San Antonio, Wednesday, at San Antonio, Friday, at New Orleans, Sunday.

Speaker 1 These are all games that 17 days they have 10 games and they're basically all in different locations.

Speaker 1 That's a fuck you from from who from the NBA schedulers.

Speaker 2 One of the oldest teams in the league.

Speaker 1 So,

Speaker 1 yes, and that's why let's, I want to see where they are in 11-16 for that New Orleans game. Who's already hurt? Who's been sitting? How fresh are we looking?

Speaker 1 How impactful is Camingo? What else am I leaving out?

Speaker 2 No, that's it. Like, can we continue to get get the continued high performance of Moody and Pods?

Speaker 2 Like, this version of Moody and Pods was supposed to be the thing that was propelling them last year that was going to give them, and Kaminga, it's, he's a revelation. Is he going to be satisfied?

Speaker 2 He's

Speaker 2 satisfied right now. It's a high-level.

Speaker 1 You laughed when I threw the Sean Marion

Speaker 1 at the Sean Marion concept.

Speaker 2 Concept. Still sounds ridiculous.

Speaker 2 Respectfully. Respectfully.
Still sounds ridiculous.

Speaker 1 Guarding the best guys on the other team.

Speaker 2 That's a good idea.

Speaker 2 He's their best guy.

Speaker 1 You got him run the floor. Guard the other team's best guys.

Speaker 2 That's the Sean Marian blueprint.

Speaker 2 Okay. That's fine.
No, we have to wait. You're right, though.

Speaker 2 It's been good. It's a good version of Golden State.
I'm happy to have it.

Speaker 1 So they can come out of it.

Speaker 2 There are more chances of high effective steph. I'm in favor of that.

Speaker 1 So they, I mean,

Speaker 1 at just those 10 games, 10 different locations, but they're also at Milwaukee, at Denver, at OKC, and then back to back at San Antonio.

Speaker 1 Like, those are five of the hardest road games you're going to have all season. So we'll see.
That's why, that's the only reason I have them in there. But I like what I'm seeing.
Like the chemistry.

Speaker 1 The Al Horford thing still hurts my feelings.

Speaker 1 Next category, the sleeper, which I had at San Antonio, but I think they graduated from Sleeperdom. So we put Milwaukee in there.
And it's just Giannis and shooting. It's what we like before the year.

Speaker 1 This is one of our locks. I think this was the only one other than Sacramento's under that the three of us agreed on as an over.
It was 42 and a half.

Speaker 1 Giannis has just been best player in the court every game he's played so far. The shooting is there.
They have these sneaky dudes, man. I've liked Ryan Rollins.
I liked him before the season.

Speaker 1 I like him more now. Did you have him?

Speaker 2 Feels like it.

Speaker 2 I think you did. I think you had Ryan Rollins.
I'm sure we did.

Speaker 2 He passed through the DC vortex. Yeah.
These guys, yep.

Speaker 2 Cole Anthony, Green.

Speaker 2 Cole Anthony.

Speaker 1 Kuzma was actually playing defense the other night on towns.

Speaker 2 He doesn't have a choice. He wants minutes.
Yeah. Like, it took him a whole

Speaker 2 post-trade. He's like, what the? What is this? This is these teams.
These guys are trying. This Milwaukee team.
It took them that long to acclimate, right?

Speaker 2 If we're being, if we want to be Kuzma Truthers, I don't know.

Speaker 1 If you're being being super friendly to Kuzma, you could say it took them a long time to acclimate.

Speaker 2 Took a long time to acclimate.

Speaker 1 I continue to take this team seriously. I think I had them as a five-seed.
I thought they could climb as high as three if they got a healthy ANA season and some other luck.

Speaker 1 They've had some guys out already, but

Speaker 1 I just like the team. I like how it's constructed and it makes sense to me when I watch it.
So I have them eighth. Next group, there's four teams.
Title is Let's see in March.

Speaker 1 Minnesota, Dallas, Clippers, Lakers. And I saw Minnesota in person on Friday moving the Lakers up.

Speaker 1 And I'll explain why in a second. Move Minnesota down from the contenders just because of the defense.

Speaker 1 Now, Edwards hasn't, he's missed the last two, but Minnesota's 25th in defensive rating right now.

Speaker 2 It's just impossible to take Anthony Edwards off the floor and get any kind of a read. I mean, they use Shoulders.
They'll be 25th in defense ever.

Speaker 2 But, like, you know, they play Mike Conley significant minutes, and he's still a good contributor. But he, like, they still,

Speaker 2 he knows how to play. He's got a good basketball IQ.

Speaker 2 They don't trust Dillingham. They won't play him.
They can't get anything out of Terrence Shannon.

Speaker 2 Like, they, this was the concern for the downside case when we were sitting and going through them at 49 and a half wins. Toughest one.
Yeah. Like the bench needs to get a little bit better.

Speaker 2 DiVincenzo's been fine, he's playing.

Speaker 1 I think it's that guard spot. Well, they don't have they can't figure out the guard spot, it was supposed to be Dillingham at this point, like giving them 20 minutes, yeah,

Speaker 2 and also Anthony Edwards isn't playing, so it's like, yeah, but it's fine to like to say, okay, we're gonna let's let Anthony Edwards come back.

Speaker 2 They came all the way back against the Lakers team that was missing seven guys the other night. I mean, they should have won.

Speaker 1 I went to the game Friday, which I talked about the other day, and it looked like Minnesota was going to win by 30.

Speaker 1 And then all of a sudden their defense went sideways. Marcus Smart started diving for balls.

Speaker 1 Luca and Reeves just started doing things. And all of a sudden, Minnesota was down 15.
And it was one of those where you're watching the game going, wait, how are they down? What happened here?

Speaker 1 Why are they this far behind? I've been here the whole time, and it seemed like they're in the game. But the defense,

Speaker 1 I I don't know. It's a red flag.
We'll see. That's why I said we'll see in March.
Dallas, same thing with their weird team. Davis is already now,

Speaker 1 what is it? He hits some weird technologies.

Speaker 2 Who knows?

Speaker 1 They could be way further down next time we do this.

Speaker 2 Clippers might lose some money on Dallas. We might lose some money on them.

Speaker 1 Or there could be the UN Theater Committee. We would have to show up in Dallas.

Speaker 1 Clippers.

Speaker 2 Let me ask you a question.

Speaker 1 Am I concerned? Yes.

Speaker 2 Do you think

Speaker 2 that any of this indictment stuff,

Speaker 2 because it is apparent, it's revealing itself that Ty Lou is a pretty central figure in quite a bit of this?

Speaker 2 That Damon Jones, Chauncey Phillips, and Tylu.

Speaker 1 Just that because he was friends with them, yeah.

Speaker 2 Well, I don't know. He was in some places at some times.

Speaker 1 Well, he was involved in two different things because that happened and then the whole aspiration thing.

Speaker 1 So two different things that just are pulling your attention away from trying to win basketball games.

Speaker 2 It shouldn't matter for the Clippers because that is one of the deepest, smartest teams in the league.

Speaker 1 When you have shit like that, it's never good. There's no upside to be like, oh, we have this really weird ongoing story.

Speaker 1 That's just happening outside the basketball court, much less if you have two of them. There's just no, there's no positive out of that.

Speaker 1 It's just stuff that's pulling your attention away from what's important. So I moved the Lakers up.
And the only reason I moved them up is because Reeves is playing so well.

Speaker 1 And like I saw it in person on Friday. He kind of took over the game for a couple stretches.
And this was a game where Luke had 48.

Speaker 1 And then now that Luca went out, he's been a one-man show.

Speaker 1 That shot that he won the game with. Awesome.
Was just an they knew he was getting the ball. That was like a fucking A-plus lister kind of shot.

Speaker 1 So, I don't know what to make of this team now because I don't really like their four through 12 at all. I'm not sure they're going to be able to play defense,

Speaker 1 but with Luca and with Reeves, and then you're just going to move LeBron back into this and say, Hey, LeBron, just do LeBron stuff and set guys up and get some stats. Like, it's not nothing.

Speaker 1 I don't know what to make of it. What do you make of it?

Speaker 2 Well, you'll get in trouble if you ask this, so I can ask it. I mean,

Speaker 2 oh, say it.

Speaker 2 you see you you send in the buyout contract they're already out there i mean they're they're you already see the trades like you know the trade the trade we didn't we didn't have to wait for the maestro we don't have to wait for you to be coming up with lebron trades the the internet is speaking the internet has spoken what is the internet saying i'm not hearing the voices

Speaker 2 there's already a trade of what was your favorite one lebron and bronnie back to cleveland people can't trade for LeBron.

Speaker 1 I went over this a month ago.

Speaker 2 They're not allowed to make trades. I don't know.
Just, it doesn't have to be right away. DeAndre Hunter was involved.
I can't remember. There was Picks involved.
There was a couple other things.

Speaker 2 So, well, that's interesting.

Speaker 1 I can't figure out a trade destination. I tried.
I'll do it again. I'll die tonight, late at night when I can't sleep.
I'll give it another test ride.

Speaker 2 I actually sent you a task. Yeah.

Speaker 1 If you you spent six hours, could you come up with a conceivable Paul George trade? Forget about Embiid. He's off the table.
Is there a single Paul George trade? Because I have Sixers fans in my life.

Speaker 1 And once we trade Paul George, it's like, where? He's got three years left on his deal. Where are you trading him?

Speaker 2 The teams that make sense are veteran teams that could use a veteran guy that will be able to assimilate him and take where they are in terms of the playoff profile and elevate themselves.

Speaker 2 That's the logic. That's the thesis.
That's why it seems to me like a Golden State, like a Miami. Those are the teams where Paul George.

Speaker 1 Miami is the only one I gave that one to. Rogier and Rogier is expiring.
Wiggins, two years left for Paul George, who says no faster.

Speaker 2 I did that. I did that on my own as well.
I agree with you. That Rogier

Speaker 2 trade,

Speaker 2 that contract is a wonderful asset, magically out of nowhere. Okay,

Speaker 2 Miami gets this incredible

Speaker 2 asset.

Speaker 2 I think Paul George could make sense in Miami. I mean,

Speaker 2 why is Miami saying no? Because of the third year of that contract?

Speaker 1 Yeah, because you're thinking, especially if you have Bam and you're paying Hero,

Speaker 1 could you be in play for the Giannis types two years from now? Do you want to tie up your cap?

Speaker 1 And is Paul George demonstrably better than Andrew Wiggins?

Speaker 1 Like, is he going to be that much of an upside that it's worth tying up your cap for a third?

Speaker 2 It's a fair question. It's a fair question.

Speaker 2 Philly doesn't have picks. We didn't have the answer.

Speaker 2 We didn't reach a conclusion.

Speaker 1 What's the Philly has to do? Philly has to bring back Paul George and hope he plays well for like a month. And then he goes right on the dark web eBay, just like, yo, Paul George, any interest?

Speaker 2 I would say out loud, I don't even know that they need for him to play well for a month. Like,

Speaker 2 is that that's just to validate that he has working for four to limbs that work, 10 digits on his fingers that work?

Speaker 1 Would you take them on the Wizards?

Speaker 2 No.

Speaker 1 If they gave you a pick or any sort of asset to enjoy

Speaker 2 the

Speaker 2 appetizer? It seems like they're going to be like a low 40-win team. So what's that pick?

Speaker 2 They don't strike me as a lottery team right now.

Speaker 1 Well, we're proving our point. They're not going to be able to trade Paul George.

Speaker 2 Probably not.

Speaker 1 Have you seen the ad for RB steak tips?

Speaker 2 It's so funny.

Speaker 2 I am literally having this conversation in a couple text threads right now. Shout out to my homeboy

Speaker 1 for, well, I mean, I'm even in an Arby's thread that I'm not in. That's that guard place.

Speaker 2 I didn't start it. It came to me as you would expect.

Speaker 1 You being in a Papua Genos thread and me not being involved.

Speaker 2 No, as you would expect, I am a magnet for Arby's threads.

Speaker 2 The thread found me.

Speaker 2 I didn't go hunting for the thread. I understand.
But there was a review in the Washington Post from my homie Tim Carmen. I haven't had a chance to read the review.

Speaker 2 Somebody pointed it, put it in front of me.

Speaker 1 Did he review the Arby steak tips?

Speaker 2 He ate them and reviewed them. And I'm not going to spoil it for anybody, but here's the thing.
They're called nuggets. They're not tips.
So this is part of the thing.

Speaker 2 I've had a really hard time with this because my affinity for Arby's is so well established, so well known. I thought the branding of this was a tiny bit off because they call them nuggets.

Speaker 2 Now, nuggets, that's a word that we have an association with. Steak nuggets.

Speaker 2 Are they breaded? What does that mean? If you called them tips or you called them, you try to do something like the burnt ends that Kansas City has made famous. They look like burnt ends.

Speaker 2 And if what you're doing is conveying to people, like,

Speaker 2 here is

Speaker 2 protein in a cup. Here is some

Speaker 2 here's some animal-based protein in a fast food vehicle that you get. But it tastes like

Speaker 1 the worst porn search of 2025.

Speaker 2 This is my problem, though. The cup isn't appetizing.
Like, and it doesn't convey a barbecue vibe. Like, you don't eat it.

Speaker 1 It's not like you get Chick-fil-A nuggets. You get the box.

Speaker 2 You're like, oh, I got Chick-fil-A nuggets.

Speaker 1 Now I want one.

Speaker 2 That little sort of envelope shape kind of thing where it might look like, yeah, they're all sort of nestled together because we were chopping off the ends and we put them all together and we slapped it on this thing and we put a tiny bit of slaw at the end, a little vinegar slaw at the end of it.

Speaker 2 Okay. All right.
Now my mind's working. What they're showing on the commercial and the way they're

Speaker 2 delivering it in this cup and the calling it nuggets, just had a hard time getting my head around it. I have to tell you.

Speaker 1 It's a great point.

Speaker 1 Like if you had veal nuggets

Speaker 1 or I'm trying to think, any meat, Brianzino nuggets, whatever it is, my head immediately goes with nugget to you took a fish, a chicken, steak, whatever it is, you put it, you air fried it, you grilled it, whatever you did, and it's going to have an outside with like a breadcrumb type thing.

Speaker 1 Right.

Speaker 2 And that's how I'm going to eat it.

Speaker 1 And it's going to be soft inside.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 1 I'm getting hungry talking about it.

Speaker 2 Well, I want to try these things now. And I have put set aside, I bookmarked Tim Carmen's review of the, of, of the, of the steak nuggets.

Speaker 2 And I'm, I'm eager to get his because he, when he likes stuff, I tend to like it too. So I'm eager to get this.

Speaker 1 Wow, he's, he's like your

Speaker 1 your uh your palette my muse my my palate muse yes interesting here in the dmb here in the dc i'm glad we took that detour maybe we should do a food detour and everyone and so i was watching football with some people on sunday and that commercial came up and i just started laughing and i was like i just think a house when i see arby's steak steak nuggets on a giant tv did let me did anybody say oh my god that looks appetizing oh my god we have to rush out and try these this this

Speaker 1 more confusion.

Speaker 2 It's more confusion. That's what I'm getting at.
But there's a way to solve this. I mean, I'm going to eat them.
I'll probably, maybe I'll do an Instagram on it.

Speaker 2 I'll get some this weekend.

Speaker 1 How about next Thursday? We should just eat them.

Speaker 2 That's great.

Speaker 1 This is not sponsored content, by the way.

Speaker 2 We're getting zero from Arby's. Better than Instagram.
You can do it right here on the Bill Simmons podcast.

Speaker 1 The funniest was anytime we've driven to Vegas, that one Vegas stop at like the two-hour mark, and they've got like the 20 different fast food places.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 1 you just like, you see the Arby's, and it's like, dude, dude.

Speaker 2 Because you, you train me like a dog. Yeah.
You train me. You train me to understand.
I know where it is. I know when it's coming.

Speaker 2 My

Speaker 2 body starts responding to it.

Speaker 1 Next category. So let's say in March was Minnesota, Dallas, Clippers, Lakers.
We're about to do a little drop off here. And this next category is called Sorry, I Can't Tell You Guys Apart.

Speaker 1 Detroit, Philly, Atlanta, Miami, Chicago. I just think if any of these two teams played each other in the play-in tournament,

Speaker 1 any result is possible. Or in like the Emirates NBA Cup, whatever you want.

Speaker 1 The interesting thing to me is that Miami and Chicago played themselves up into

Speaker 1 this group, right? Miami, I think, is better than I thought they were going to be. And

Speaker 1 Chicago just seems really comfortable. And a big part of it is Bezellus, obviously, but they've also been playing the same kind of style now for a couple of years.
They're well coached.

Speaker 1 And I think those five teams are like right near each other.

Speaker 2 Which one of those five do you think is the best? Because I have an answer to this.

Speaker 1 I think Detroit's probably the safest bet for best.

Speaker 2 Okay.

Speaker 1 I think Philly has the highest upside because what's happening with Maxie?

Speaker 2 I must be square because obviously I thought Detroit was the right answer.

Speaker 1 I can't, I mean, but the Maxie piece, I was talking to Chris Ryan because I saw him after the comeback win against your Wizards.

Speaker 1 The Maxi thing is like, if this is just who he is now,

Speaker 1 this is like, we're now in Jalen Brunson, Donovan Mitchell like area territory, you know, which

Speaker 1 just changes their ceiling.

Speaker 2 Absolutely, positively cannot rule out that this is just where he is.

Speaker 1 He might just be a 28 points a game scorer now.

Speaker 2 He's effing dominant. Yeah.
He is unstoppable.

Speaker 1 He seems like the fastest guy in the league now, other than when Ja decides to dial it up you know what i mean yes like from just coast to coast like he's just like a blur got a ton of that um sga movement also yeah his body awesome the way he can move inside the lane

Speaker 2 um

Speaker 1 atlanta is the one that i think could fall down from this group if they don't trade trays already banged up they haven't the defense just hasn't been there even though i like some of their defensive guys

Speaker 1 but i they have too many players i like so i they're we'll see the next one is the I Smell Smoke. That's Orlando.

Speaker 1 We covered them. I really, one of the subplots I didn't want to happen this year is for Paolo to become the Trevor Lawrence of the NBA.
So let's hope that doesn't happen.

Speaker 2 Next category is Water Traders.

Speaker 2 That's very disrespectful.

Speaker 1 Water Treaders is our next one, Boston and Memphis.

Speaker 1 Boston stumbled into something. really interesting with this Josh Minot, who didn't really play the first two games.

Speaker 1 And I think if he had played opening night the way they're using him now, I think they actually would have won because there was this moment where they could have brought him in in crunch time when Katiff fouled out and they didn't.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 I just think he has it. Like he's a real rotation guy and he gives rebounding and defense and a little size.
And

Speaker 1 I don't, when I say this, don't just be careful.

Speaker 2 You be careful.

Speaker 1 He's doing a reasonable Tatum imitation.

Speaker 2 Okay. Okay.

Speaker 1 Of

Speaker 1 the rebounding defense piece. Okay.
Not the scoring, but

Speaker 1 the ability to actually like protect you a little on the boards and guard people. He did a really good job on Evan Mobile last night.
I was like genuinely excited. And then Memphis,

Speaker 1 we were texting this morning. This Cedric Coward is a revelation.

Speaker 2 There was some good sentiment out there coming in that he was going to be a hidden gem. I think our own Tate Frazzler.

Speaker 1 He's unhidden.

Speaker 2 Isn't our own Tate Frazier on record with that?

Speaker 1 No, he's just a gem. I don't even think it's hidden.
All you have to do is watch a Grizzlies game. It's like, who's that guy guarding everyone on the other other team and making open threes?

Speaker 1 So I'll admit defeat on the Bane trade. I'll do it right now.

Speaker 1 They trade Bane for all those picks. It's like, why are you guys doing this? And their attitude was, we feel like we can replace Bain.

Speaker 1 Well, they've already replaced him because Coward's going to get all those Bain minutes and he's a better defender than Bain was. Not as good of a shooter yet, but

Speaker 1 so great trade for them. I love watching Coward.
This draft is a 10 out of 10 so far.

Speaker 2 They still, Memphis, I need to see the defense every night. I just don't.
I mean,

Speaker 1 they're going to defend some 35.

Speaker 2 They've had some absolute stinkers on defense already.

Speaker 1 Water treaders only because if they can, as Verno always points out, when John, Triple J actually play, they're pretty good.

Speaker 2 They've got to get their front court back. They're still

Speaker 2 dramatically undersized.

Speaker 1 Can they tread water until those guys come back? Next category is wait. Where's our coach? That's Portland.
Portland's just legitimately frisky.

Speaker 1 uh professional basketball team drew has been really involved it's been good to see him doing doing uh old school drew stuff every night and even though no you know the the scoop piece they've been able to kind of patch it together he's like running offense for them I was really interested in that game they played last night actually with uh

Speaker 1 with him and just like uh

Speaker 1 I don't know Portland's not bad and if they were in the east they'd be maybe in that conversation with some of those other east teams we mentioned No, they're talented.

Speaker 2 It does remain to be seen. I think they've won every game

Speaker 2 since the indictment was returned, or did they lose one in there?

Speaker 1 I think, well, they are three and two. They've won two in a row.

Speaker 1 Interesting team. I like Klingen, too.
When you think about that draft,

Speaker 1 I think Klingen went after Dillingham.

Speaker 1 I think if we redo that draft, he goes higher. Next category, thank God for the World Series.
That's Toronto. So we taped the last time they were 1-0, and they killed Atlanta.

Speaker 1 And we were like, oh my God, maybe we were wrong about Toronto. Well, they haven't won since.

Speaker 2 Well, no, I mean, I'm going to lose a bet. I gave them out as a lock at like over 38 and a half or 39 and a half.
I can't remember what it was. I thought for sure they were going to be in the low 40s.

Speaker 2 This team makes still makes no sense. It's amazing.
All these years, we've been going on

Speaker 2 preview shows, talking during the course of the season,

Speaker 2 make it make sense. And still, now look, last night they were missing Pearl

Speaker 2 and, you know, Houston is huge. So Sengoon, Sengun got, came within one assist,

Speaker 2 two rebounds of a double double last night. And I only know that because I lost a parlay.

Speaker 2 I had Houston and Sangoon getting a double double without Pearl. That was a good bet.
That was a good bet. Plus 135.
That was a goddamn good bet.

Speaker 2 But I lost because Sengoon couldn't get one more assist or two more rebounds.

Speaker 1 It's not his fault. You did great, Shangoon.
Don't listen to house.

Speaker 2 Maybe I should stop calling him Sengoon.

Speaker 1 Where do you think Toronto is in defensive rating after nine days?

Speaker 2 Near the very bottom. I can tell you with certainty.
They are 29th. Yeah, I watched.
They are way down there.

Speaker 1 You know what's the other issue with them? It's a team that makes sense for 41, 42 minutes. But if we're in a sword fight at the end of the game and it's like, all right, that team has Tyrese Maxie.

Speaker 1 We're going to run a pick and roll quickly.

Speaker 1 Or we're going to try to do the thing where everyone stands around and watch Brandon Ingram. They have all these options that are okay.

Speaker 1 But all these other teams they're playing have like, oh, they have Giannis.

Speaker 2 And the flip side to just that same point is last four minute defense. Yeah.
Hit the stop. It's fine to say we're a team that's going to like get on in transition.
We're going to force turnovers.

Speaker 2 Okay, that's fine for 40, you know, two, 43 minutes. Now it's the last five minutes of the game.
Nobody's running. You're in the half court.
Stop somebody.

Speaker 1 I'm not ruling them out, but it doesn't look good early. Next category, league pass all-star, Charlotte, fourth in scoring, just doing their job.

Speaker 1 The only criticism I have with Charlotte, Brandon Miller's already hurt, but my only criticism is don't get blown out. Let me enjoy you for more than an hour before you're down 25.

Speaker 1 Like, I want to see you guys go up and down.

Speaker 2 We had a fun thing. Like, who's going to play center? It's Kapbrenner.

Speaker 1 Yeah, he's fine.

Speaker 2 He's fine. That's the answer.

Speaker 1 Oh, and Newsflash,

Speaker 1 Conkinipple's good right away. Yeah, immediately.
Only told people that since June.

Speaker 1 Next cataract shopping for tanks, Indiana.

Speaker 1 This is the year from hell already.

Speaker 1 And then last, last ones, why are we here? Phoenix, Sacramento, Utah, Washington.

Speaker 1 Let's just tank, oh, wait, we can't, New Orleans, and then dumping for Darren, the horrendous Brooklyn Nets, who we can talk about with Peter Schrager in one second. He's in the waiting room,

Speaker 1 fresh off arguing with Dan Orlofsky on NFL Live. We're going to take a break.
Peter Schrager, Joe House next. The Bill Simmons podcast is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook.

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Speaker 1 I think there's going to be a couple down-to-the-wire games this weekend.

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Speaker 1 Cannot be combined with any other offers plus tax where applicable prices may vary delivery available from participating locations with online orders only copyright 2025 lce incorporated all right our friend peter schrager is here he's going to do ringer 107 picks with us and talk football and um you know basketball starts shraggs gets he gets a little antsy that he hasn't gotten an invite when we get in october it's like wait i'm right here then it's like you know then i make the joke about well you're mcafee's guy now then he gets it and then he doesn't know if i'm serious or not we have this whole dance we do and then it always ends in the right place with you here on the BS podcast.

Speaker 1 It's good to see you.

Speaker 3 You never want to be in the Bill Simmons blacklist or, you know, on the cold seat. And I just like to throw a couple of sprinkles in here because eight weeks have gone by and not a single invite.

Speaker 3 We text all the time, but no invite. And then you said Joe House was on and I got very excited.

Speaker 2 Let's go.

Speaker 1 You've been on during the season, right?

Speaker 3 I think I did preseason where I told you that the Dolphins were going to win the Super Bowl and the Lions were going to be terrible. So I think we have time to redeem ourselves here.
Oh, Jesus.

Speaker 1 My apologies for not having you on another time during the season, but I'm glad you're here. Plus, you get to be here with House.

Speaker 2 Love it.

Speaker 1 House has a hard hour and eight minutes from now. So we're going to zoom through Ringer 107 possibilities in a second.
But

Speaker 1 what's been the dominant doing these shows on ESPN?

Speaker 1 What's been the number one go-to story in October?

Speaker 3 What's been defense, baby?

Speaker 2 Let's break it down. That's what it is.

Speaker 3 Break it down. What is going wrong? What is Matt Eberflus doing wrong? Should they have traded Parsons? Now that they have made this bad trade, what do they do? Should they go get Hendrickson?

Speaker 3 A lot of Cowboys defense talk.

Speaker 3 And just this week, we shifted a little bit.

Speaker 2 A lot of Drake May, Bills. Lot of Drake May, God damn it.

Speaker 3 It was as if we, you know, these,

Speaker 3 they beat the Bills on that Sunday night. And then Monday morning, we did a lot of Drake May.
And then it went away for a little bit.

Speaker 3 But then this week, it's been a lot of Drake May over at the Worldwide Leader. And I'm, I'm loaded to bear.
Like, I'm ready to go. I got so many notes.
I'm like, good, my wheelhouse.

Speaker 3 I only could say so many things about, you know, Overshones' return for the Dallas Cowboys defense.

Speaker 1 Well, House had last year's

Speaker 1 last year's darling for the shows, Jaden Daniels.

Speaker 1 Just segment after segment about how special he was. And now Drake May just said, hey, Jaden, have a seat over there.
I'll be taking all of these segments now for the time being.

Speaker 1 Tough matchup this week, though, with Atlanta.

Speaker 2 Oh, I mean, nice little test.

Speaker 1 They have good secondary. There's a lot of momentum now at the Pats.
Could they be the one seed? It's just, it's a lot of trap elements. I know House is studying.

Speaker 1 We are not putting the Pats in Ringer 107. I'm just

Speaker 2 really this week. Well, look, stay away.

Speaker 2 I want to ask if I have permission to do this little segment with Shrex because this is the, I think this is the first time we've been on together.

Speaker 2 Second time at most.

Speaker 2 We did watch shared food. Yeah, we've hung.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 This is, this is the second time. We did one like maybe like COVID, like 2020, going through like coach hiring.

Speaker 1 I don't remember any podcast I did for two years during COVID. So I would believe that.

Speaker 2 The segment I want to do is,

Speaker 2 what the fuck is going on with blank? Okay.

Speaker 2 The question, since we're now on this new, this New England Atlanta thing, what the fuck is going on with the communication issues? with the Atlanta offense.

Speaker 3 Isn't it weird?

Speaker 2 I don't understand it. What's going on with them?

Speaker 3 Okay, so I did their Monday night game two weeks ago when they beat the Buffalo Bills and I was the sideline reporter and they opened the roof up and we got a production meeting with the Atlanta Falcons and I sit with Raheem Morris, who

Speaker 3 it can light up a room. And he's like, Shraigs, I coached,

Speaker 3 you know, Cooper Cup, his triple crown season. I coached Julio Jones, our Super Bowl year in Atlanta.
I was the wide receivers coach. I can go back and I coached RG3 when he had that rookie season.

Speaker 3 I was on that staff. He goes, This guy, Bijan, is not only in that conversation, he might be the best of all.
And he's like, Our entire team runs through him. Our entire offense runs through him.

Speaker 3 He is the heart and soul of our team. The defense respects him.
They've scored 10 points since that 250-yard game in two games in a row. And it's so confusing.

Speaker 3 And Zach Robinson's the offensive coordinator, and he looked like he was dialed in. They moved him down to the sidelines.
Everything was right in that Buffalo game.

Speaker 3 Pennix looked good.

Speaker 1 You had guys out for the Bills. The suspended guys weren't back yet.

Speaker 2 You start wondering, like, what, like, what the heck?

Speaker 3 And then they lost, you know, some offensive linemen along the way.

Speaker 3 And I know people tune out when you start talking offensive line as the reason because you're looking for a bigger, you know, thing that Raheem Morris can't get these guys ready to play and that they, you know, to lose to Miami is a fireable sense and all this.

Speaker 3 Trust me, Falcons are as frustrated as anyone. This game here, for them to kind of be the upset, underdog trap game, like it's so out of this world.

Speaker 3 If you were there in that building two weeks ago, where it looked like this was a Super Bowl contender. So House, I am with you.
Two head-scrashing efforts, 10 points in back-to-back games.

Speaker 3 I know Cousins looked 100 years old last week.

Speaker 3 Even so, to lose to the Dolphins that way, where the Dolphins run the ball 37 times down their throats, like that does not add up with what I saw and what they did against the Washington Commanders a couple of weeks earlier before that.

Speaker 3 So Atlanta, one of the great frustrations around the league because everyone thought thought they made that turn after that Monday night game.

Speaker 3 And that was a national coming-out party for all those young players. And they've been just the pits ever since.
No pun intended. He's been actually pretty good.

Speaker 1 Well, you know, you know what they did, House? They landed themselves on the DNB list. They sure did.
The do not bet list.

Speaker 2 Do not bet.

Speaker 1 There is the fucking stayaway.

Speaker 2 They killed us last week. They killed us.

Speaker 1 The thing with cousins, it's like if you go to a restaurant, and they accidentally bought some bad,

Speaker 1 I don't know, bad brand Xeno, and the whole table got food poisoning.

Speaker 1 Do you blame the restaurant or the Brand Zeno? I guess is the question. Like Cousins was so bad, you just, they had no chance really from the get-go.
I, they're a stayaway to me. Here's the thing.

Speaker 1 The Pats run D has been ridiculous.

Speaker 3 No running back has had more than 50 yards.

Speaker 2 Yeah. What?

Speaker 2 But

Speaker 1 Bijan and on wheel routes and screen passes against these Pats linebackers is a nightmare. This is what my Pats fan friends and I are talking about.

Speaker 1 Like, if they get Bijan in space, Pitts in space, the one problem with the Pat, the Pats are 28th in defensive DBOA.

Speaker 1 And their big issue is like when their linebackers are in space, they can stop the run, they can push the line, they have a really good secondary.

Speaker 1 But that middle of the field, I think it's one of my favorite.

Speaker 3 One of my favorite things you've had on a podcast in the last several weeks was Monday. You're like, everyone's raving about Spallane.
14 visor, badass.

Speaker 2 Hench is texting you. You can't stand stand him in coverage no yeah

Speaker 1 yeah hench hench has had a lot of spilling texts it's tough because there's just times when you get the you just see the play and you just see in the tv there's two people and a lot of grass you're like oh no oh my god anyway I have uh that game is in the no thank you pile house yes i'll just tell you the four stayaways okay unless we're doing parlays chargers minus nine half titans you didn't have that one house right um why not

Speaker 2 titans in a game

Speaker 2 getting you know less than 10

Speaker 2 what what's the thesis for the titans being competitive it's more about the chargers and the the jekyll and hyde when their offensive line we know that joe walt is playing this week is am i right about that shrieks that's the worst

Speaker 2 playing football this week

Speaker 2 he don't lose when he plays and beckon becton's playing too it seems supposedly yeah quint johnston

Speaker 3 quentin quent had a zero last week didn't he moderate i don't know is he on your fantasy team i got i got guillotined quit with quenton johnson zero and in our guillotine league i picked him up

Speaker 2 i have i have him now

Speaker 3 my zero chopped my head off and now you have by the way did you happen to see the interview with kamari vidal last week after the game like i love this because justin herbert's not going to give you much like let's try kamari vidal not exactly going to be uh working on the ringer anytime either.

Speaker 3 It was just hilarious. I'm like, Kamari Vidal is getting the interview.
Like, usually it's like the Aaron Rodgers or Matthew Stafford. Kamari Vidal had that opportunity, but wasn't one of many words.

Speaker 3 I'll say that.

Speaker 1 I wouldn't say Herbert is Mr. Dynamo either.

Speaker 2 No,

Speaker 3 did you sit near him at that Dodgers game? How close were you?

Speaker 1 Well, so he was at the.

Speaker 1 I was at a Laker game that he was at and a Dodger game that he was at. And neither night was he breaking down the Titans' defense.

Speaker 2 I had to do it this week.

Speaker 1 I want to put the Chargers in a money line far away situation.

Speaker 2 Okay, fine, fine, fine, fine.

Speaker 1 Rams, Saints, it's minus 14 and a half. It's just stupid.
That's a flash sale price.

Speaker 1 That line should be 11 and a half. I don't know, dude.

Speaker 3 Rams coming off a buy where they're feeling really good about themselves. Saints in full sale, fire sale mode.
All the veterans must go. That might be a 20-point, 30-point game, dude.

Speaker 2 I'm kind of fine with selling on its mother shucker's debut.

Speaker 2 You're afraid of the mother shucker

Speaker 2 that that's like how do you get excited for that game if you're the rams that said those games those 14 and a half worry me who do they play every one of those games matters they need to to just go like it matters they i get it the colts just did that to the titans the next two weeks they're at san francisco and then playing seattle okay that's the season

Speaker 1 let's take a 10-point lead and just start handing the ball off and let's go home okay let's get ready for san francisco i don't know that one worries me uh so i had that one in the pile of the stayaway and then the last one was packers panthers packers minus 13 and a half at home against the panthers give us where do you stay with the packers these days right now peter schrager i think that second half that they had against the pittsburgh steelers is as good as any half a team has had all season and their defense is so good and they've had a couple lapses there's like two moments the cowboys second half was bizarre and then they gave up a couple big plays against the Browns in that weird loss.

Speaker 3 But other than that, they have been lights out.

Speaker 3 And that defense coached by Jeff Hafley, who, by the way, is going to be one of these guys that everyone's talking about in head coaching conversations in the next couple of months, is only

Speaker 3 complemented by an offense that is. so dynamic with all of these different receivers and tight ends that you don't really have a way to stop them if they're feeling it.

Speaker 3 Now, he completes 20 straight passes and we do all that. But to who he's throwing to, it could be Matthew Matthew Golden.
It could be Kraft. It could be, you know,

Speaker 2 Heath.

Speaker 3 It could be all these guys. They have so many different players that it's really hard to defend.
And whereas the Eagles, it's so much friction and there's so much like outside noise.

Speaker 3 Like I'm pretty plugged in with these Packers guys and the players and the coaches. It is like kumbaya up there right now.

Speaker 2 They're all on the same path.

Speaker 3 Micah is like the lighting up the room, like a complete joy. Anything you might have heard about his personality, he is like house.
He is just pure, pure happiness.

Speaker 3 And he brings it the best out of everybody. So Packers to me, right now, if you're asking me week nine, like a team I wouldn't want to face, it's those guys.

Speaker 1 It's funny. They're so loaded at receiver.
I waved Golden in the guillotine league, not because I don't like him, but because.

Speaker 1 In guillotine, you just have to have guaranteed points, right? You just got to make sure. I actually ironically waved him for Quentin Johnson.
But the Packers have so many receivers.

Speaker 1 I don't know like anybody, even like Kraft, who's awesome, who looks like baby Gronk sometimes, even he might have a game where he has like one catch for 11 yards.

Speaker 1 Totally of all these different ways they can go.

Speaker 3 It's and they have another tight end, Muskray.

Speaker 2 Like they have a lot of different guys.

Speaker 3 And last week they got Christian Watson back and he's a really good deep threat and Romeo Dobbs. Like, so it goes on and on.
The question is.

Speaker 3 The Lions game is in week 13. Like, I'm already circling that.
Like, can they keep it where they're a game up or they're tied with the Lions? And then can they sweep the Lions?

Speaker 3 Because home field is going to matter. Interestingly enough, everybody's, you know, team that they're picking apart, the Eagles go there next week for a Monday night football game.

Speaker 3 I think we'll learn a lot about both teams. Philly on the road in Green Bay with Green Bay probably getting all the hype train going into that.

Speaker 1 Well, and how, so you know that the tie is going to matter somehow with these seeds.

Speaker 2 It's just

Speaker 1 like right now,

Speaker 1 they're the one seed because they're five, one, and one, and Philly's

Speaker 1 six-2. But I think, you know, if they win this week, but who could figure it out? But you just know it's going to come into play.

Speaker 1 When a good team has a tie, it's always like, well, that could be one, maybe four.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 1 How, so you win on that Philly team? Where do you stand on a betting standpoint these days with them?

Speaker 2 I've come around a little bit.

Speaker 2 Now, the Giants were lively against them, and I really feel like that bad whistle that the Giants caught was undeserved.

Speaker 2 I'd be interested in hearing what the scuttlebutt inside the NFL for, you know, around that because they've all deserved better.

Speaker 2 That was that was a tough whistle the Giants got, but I, this whole thing, everybody keeps talking about it.

Speaker 2 All I think, you know, Peter Schrager, I'm so happy he had time to break away from a full day.

Speaker 2 He hosted first take this morning, for Christ's sakes.

Speaker 1 Did you host first take this morning?

Speaker 2 I did. I did.
Stephen H. God.

Speaker 1 And then you did NFL live?

Speaker 2 I did NFL live.

Speaker 1 So we're getting like a gamey, like kind of behavior.

Speaker 1 This is like a 15-inning. You're like Will Smith catching the 16th inning for the Dodgers.

Speaker 2 It's a tremendous job. But everybody's talking about game out.

Speaker 3 I'm like Michael Jordan. I don't believe in load management.
Just cut up this interview 16 times over the course of this season.

Speaker 2 He's here. He wants the people to see him.
God damn right.

Speaker 2 Everybody loves this idea of the Eagles under center as opposed to out of shotgun, that Jalen Hurts under center. It creates, you know, the

Speaker 2 uncertainty. There's no question that the offense has been better.
And the ironic thing is that it's because the kid can't snap a shotgun comfortably. Isn't that the explanation for it, Shrek?

Speaker 2 Well, they stumbled into it.

Speaker 3 They never were playing anything under the center to start the season and they were struggling. Now, the last two weeks.

Speaker 3 Against the best pass defense in the league, two weeks ago, Jalen Hurts threw for 330 yards. Then last week against the Giants, they ran for 250 yards.

Speaker 3 That's what scares you if you're an opposing team. Like, oh, okay, wait, they actually can do both of these things and they're both working.

Speaker 3 Um, offensive line's been an issue for them, which is such an interesting change from years past with Jeff Stoutland in that unit.

Speaker 3 But let's see if they can get healthy and let's see if they can keep it going. But, yes, the shotgun versus non-shotgun, they were exclusively a shotgun team.

Speaker 3 And now, all of a sudden, it's like, wait, maybe we're better this way. It's, it's finally, uh, it's fair to wonder why it took to week eight or week nine to figure that out.

Speaker 1 Shrieks, do you feel like Hurts has been struggling against the triple umbrella Bernays Robert?

Speaker 2 Hilarious, you're hilarious.

Speaker 1 I'm just, one of my things I'm going to start doing on the pod is I'm just going to make up defenses that are just sound fancy.

Speaker 3 I got caught. I got caught on GetUp last Friday because I tried making an analogy.
And like, you have like, they give you like 15 seconds. And I said with the A.J.
Brown stuff, I'm like, all right.

Speaker 3 So this is the equivalent of that couple that doesn't, you know, that's always fighting. And instead of them getting separated, they decide, screw it, let's get pregnant.
Right. Let's have a kid.

Speaker 3 And that's an analogy. You know, house, you know, that analogy.
People do that all the time.

Speaker 2 It can be supported.

Speaker 1 And let's have a kid.

Speaker 3 It means let's double down. I mean, we get that.
Harry Douglas is next to me. Bart Scott's next to me.
The second I said a man getting pregnant, they're like, What?

Speaker 2 What? And I'm like, Oh, God, oh, God. Like, this is, there's not going to be a, okay, I just put it out there.

Speaker 3 There's no selling going on. We've talked about this, Bill.
You got to sell me, guys. You got to laugh.

Speaker 3 So then I'm like, oh, no, you're right. You're right.
Go back to the triple robber high safety talk that we just broke down.

Speaker 2 Triple robber.

Speaker 3 And that fell, that fell flat too.

Speaker 3 And then I'm like, okay, screw it just just someone break down the sluggo because that's what we do break down the sluggo and greeny to his credits like they actually threw a sluggo this week i'm like i know i know they threw the darn sluggo okay enough but like yes i get i'm trying to fit in my little analogies on these shows and my little jokes and my little quick let's get there we got it but in the meantime we're going to break down the double high robber sam scissor route and we're just going to have to talk that way for for the uh for the crowd of high school coaches that are watching you know we got to go house wants house wants food involved in some of these defenses like he wants somebody to have a Bernays Blitz

Speaker 2 or the

Speaker 2 Arby steak nuggets.

Speaker 2 Savory, creamy, yes. Yeah, the savory.
Savory should be in there. He's the most savory linebacker.

Speaker 2 Things that make all the sounds.

Speaker 2 Yeah, Spillane. Savory Spillane.

Speaker 1 I have

Speaker 1 three

Speaker 1 Pats Falcons in the no thank yous.

Speaker 1 I have three more games that I don't think should be in the let's actually seriously talk about this for ringer 107. And either of you hit the button.

Speaker 3 Wait, bro. Can I interrupt real quick? Yeah.

Speaker 3 How, how about everybody going, oh, the NBA, NBC, and Amazon, they're teaching us basketball. This is what we really want.
And oh, we don't want Inside the NBA being critical.

Speaker 3 It's similar to what I was talking about.

Speaker 3 Let's give this a couple of weeks of everyone being coached like they're a high school basketball. I'll take,

Speaker 3 slow down with how bad Inside the NBA is. Guess what? When they're on ESPN, when they're on TD, they're pretty damn good.

Speaker 3 And I can get the basketball history lesson maybe from text winners later on in my life, too. I'm good.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I still enjoy Inside the NBA.

Speaker 2 This is a good moment. I don't know.
Did I text you, Shregs?

Speaker 2 That three, that three, that bucket, that three when you were,

Speaker 2 why were you taking threes on camera?

Speaker 3 McAfee invited me down to do the show down there in Indianapolis for when I was talking about the Knicks.

Speaker 2 Nice form, bro. Guess what?

Speaker 3 High school basketball player.

Speaker 2 Good player. Love him.

Speaker 1 Love shooting Shregs. Shregs could have played three and three with us, House.
I already made it. He could have spaced the floor for our pick and roll.

Speaker 2 We already made a joke about protein cup, but I'm going to go for it. I'm going to double down right now.

Speaker 2 The stroke was so, the stroke was velvety.

Speaker 1 Made you want to put

Speaker 1 the protein.

Speaker 2 It was pure, baby. It wasn't watching.

Speaker 3 That was dressed. That was Drazen Petrovich.
That was Mark Price. Those were my guys.
Those are the guys I used to watch. Yes.

Speaker 1 49ers Giants, 49ers favored by two and a half in Jersey.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 1 The San Francisco defense was on the field for 41 minutes and 18 seconds last week against Houston. That can't block.

Speaker 1 The Giants just lose major guys that their fans love every three weeks.

Speaker 1 Giants defense is 30th against the Rush and 26 in yards per play.

Speaker 3 To me, it's a stayaway unless you guys feel you've been following the Dexter Lawrence Carl Banks controversy in New York this week.

Speaker 1 He got a little saucy with them, right?

Speaker 3 Carl Banks is the in-house guy, usually pretty positive. Out of nowhere, just

Speaker 3 takes a very contrarian view on Dexter Lawrence, who has been, no one's been criticizing his play. He's a very highly paid defensive tackle, gets a lot of love reputationally.

Speaker 3 He's saying this guy isn't playing. He should be dominating.
He's playing an eighth string center last week against the Eagles, and he's getting bauled. Dexter Lawrence fights back.

Speaker 3 Giants right now with the Scataboo injury, with the neighbors injury,

Speaker 3 with all the different issues they've had, and then you take in the Broncos loss and the way that thing went down, it has been a very deflating few weeks.

Speaker 3 They've won their last two home games. They did it in heroic fashion.
And we loved the Eagles game.

Speaker 3 You love the victory against the Chargers, but I don't know if this team can get off the mat again after the last two weeks and what's been going on in that building.

Speaker 2 So this is crazy because I think that this is the season, the game of the season for San Francisco. They cannot lose this football game and make the play.

Speaker 1 They're marked for that reason. Yes.
The problem is we don't know who's playing for them, and their defense was on the field for 41 minutes last week.

Speaker 2 I can't name five of their defensive starters.

Speaker 1 I think it's a stayaway, but I feel like on Sunday, I'm going to bet on the Niners.

Speaker 2 Yeah. I'm going to be like, oh, he's playing?

Speaker 2 That's the best way to do it.

Speaker 1 I just want to say

Speaker 1 I'm mildly afraid of Tyrone Tracy if I have a Niners bet. Good player.
And I have him on multiple fantasy teams this week. I picked him up.
Good player. Lions, Vikings.

Speaker 1 This was a flash sale price uh lions minus eight and a half over the vikings feels like it should probably be like six because it's a kitchen sink game for the vikes cashman and van ginkle are back yep they can play the bernays robber with those guys

Speaker 1 robber we love that bernay's robber they might even be able to play the savory steak nuggets uh blitz isaiah rogers can go the peppercorn blitz if we need right do this um and yep mccarthy tell us what do you house is the most in on this story of any story of that jay mccarthy might be terrible?

Speaker 3 I think it's the most fascinating story in football this week.

Speaker 3 Honestly, like I could do, I could do a full hour with you both on this because the way it's stacking up, as much as Giants fans are like, oh man, Daniel Jones and Saquon, they're just better when they leave us.

Speaker 3 Think about what was in the room last year. Sam Darnold's five and two and could be the MVP if the Seahawks keep winning.
Daniel Jones is seven and one, is basically the MVP right now.

Speaker 3 Both those guys were in the quarterback's room. They let them both walk.
They could have franchised Darnold. They didn't.

Speaker 3 And then Aaron Rodgers had made overtures, I'm told, that there was interest in Aaron Rodgers going to Minnesota.

Speaker 1 And they were like, that's a tough one because

Speaker 3 that would have been a nice one-year band-aid. Who knows?

Speaker 3 They bring in your boy, Sam Howell. They get him in a draft.
They trade for him in the draft. And then, like, after a couple of months, they're like, we're actually good.

Speaker 3 We're going to sign Carson Wentz in August. And he's going to be the guy.
All on the thought that

Speaker 1 Hess's faces are great.

Speaker 3 We're all good because we got JJ.

Speaker 2 We're all good and we're all in.

Speaker 3 Now, they traded up in a draft with him for two years ago. And House, I will give you this nugget.

Speaker 3 The Commanders thought they were going to get Sam Darnold last offseason in March, and then Jaden Daniels was going to be the

Speaker 3 rookie with him.

Speaker 3 At the last second, Kevin O'Connell offers Sam Darnold more money, $10 million. They go to the Vikings, and he's going to basically play that role for JJ McCarthy.
McCarthy goes down with the injury.

Speaker 3 Everything happens from there.

Speaker 3 They traded up to get mccarthy and i feel like it was like we drafted this guy we went all in on this guy we're not going to abandon him now but a 14 and two season before those two losses at the end that's a tough one to swallow if you're a vikings fan and now the weight of the world is on mccarthy because you add that on with both of your quarterbacks being in the same draft class with bones being in that draft class and it's like there's two separate things on his shoulders there's oh my gosh i've got to be the savior of this franchise and we let all this quarterback talent out the door.

Speaker 3 And oh, by the way, all my contemporaries, all my peers are fucking awesome on their teams.

Speaker 2 Well, the thing that befuddles me is

Speaker 2 what do you go into that locker room and tell all those badass motherfuckers that were on a team that went 14 and three last year? What do you tell Van Ginkle? What do you tell Cashman?

Speaker 2 What do you tell Justin Jefferson?

Speaker 1 What do you tell Justin Jefferson? What do you buy for the first time?

Speaker 2 What do you tell TJ Hawkinson?

Speaker 2 People are saying TJ Hawkinson's timing it down here. Oh, is he? Because JJ fucking McCarthy and Carson Wentz, the corpse of Carson Wentz, God bless him.
He shouldn't be on an NFL football field.

Speaker 2 He wasn't until he's crying. He's crying on the sideline.
And I mean, I have empathy for the man. I don't wish bad things upon him.
He shouldn't be playing professional football.

Speaker 2 That's on the franchise. The franchise did this.
What do you tell all those guys that tasted the playoffs last year, that had every reasonable expectation to run this back.

Speaker 2 How do you keep that room safe?

Speaker 2 Because I think they're

Speaker 2 going to get waxed this week. I think they're going to get annihilated.
They might. Look,

Speaker 2 we are very,

Speaker 3 we have a great luxury to look back in hindsight and do this now.

Speaker 3 Those eight days, that final Sunday night game against the Lions and then that treacherous Monday night game in Arizona against the Rams, Darnold looked awful.

Speaker 3 It was almost like 14 wins was great and your comeback win in Seattle was huge, your comeback win in Chicago was huge, and all those amazing throws you made all season.

Speaker 3 When we needed you most, you weren't there. And I think that's what they put their head on the pillow with: with like, all right, we drafted this guy.

Speaker 3 When it mattered most, this guy wasn't able to do that.

Speaker 1 We're not going to pay some money ball piece, too, though. Like, it's, it would have been at least 30 million a year to keep.

Speaker 3 Unless you franchise him and you eat that 40 million for one year and then say, okay, JJ waits another season.

Speaker 1 But they use that money to get like a couple defensive linemen. Like, they tried to spread that money around.
It's more a thing of like, if you're the owner of the Vikings

Speaker 1 and you moved up to trade for J.J. McCarthy and just got hurt, and then a year passes, and they're like, hey, here's what we're thinking of doing.
Maybe we'll franchise tag Darnold.

Speaker 1 And if I'm the owner, I'm like, what about J.J. McCarthy? We traded up to draft him.
Are you telling me he can't play? Like, Jaden Daniels played last year. Bo Nicks played last year.

Speaker 1 Like, why wouldn't we play that guy? The part I don't understand is why they let Daniel Jones out of the building, who they obviously liked when they got him. Yeah.

Speaker 3 And he would have been a cheaper version of darnold why didn't they just do that and try to keep him they had to get like 15 yeah and they wanted to bring him back um the colts offered about the same money if not more but basically told him like you have a real shot at winning this job and he went to indianapolis and he left but minnesota was very interested in in you know retaining him they would have loved to had him in the room but he took indianapolis's offer instead so what give him 20.

Speaker 3 i don't know like i to me it's all it's it's it's amazing that they're at this spot where they're like elevating john wolford because they might need him. And this is people like the backup.
Bosmer.

Speaker 3 People love the backup.

Speaker 2 And you've heard all this stuff.

Speaker 1 If he gets announced as a starter, the line might not even move house.

Speaker 1 It sounds like Shraigs has more McCarthy information than he's letting on. You don't sound optimistic about McCarthy.

Speaker 3 Here's the other part of it. He's still 22 years old.
So it's like you don't want to

Speaker 3 bail on it yet. It's just, I love the sliding doors aspect of it of like what could have been.

Speaker 1 Another non-denial denial by Schriggs.

Speaker 1 Like, he's getting a lot of McCarthy stuff as a disaster.

Speaker 3 I'm that Jiffy.

Speaker 1 This isn't a Josh Rosen situation, is it?

Speaker 2 How could it possibly be? He hasn't played any professional football. No, we have no idea.
We have no idea. But he said,

Speaker 2 in the coach's office all season last season. Every third of the days.

Speaker 1 They did a meeting. They ran through the schedule.
Like he wasn't hurt. All right.
So it sounds like we're putting the Lions in some sort of pile.

Speaker 2 The good pile.

Speaker 1 And then

Speaker 1 Cowboys Cardinals is the other one. Cowboys minus two and a half Cardinals.
I just, I don't want any part of this game.

Speaker 2 Why not?

Speaker 1 Huh? Why? Who do you like in this game? I don't know.

Speaker 3 I could see Kyler running for about 150 and throwing for 350.

Speaker 1 How'd I put on Kyler? We don't been on the back of the house.

Speaker 2 We don't have Talbots on the road. We don't been on Kyler at all.
Dominate in Dallas. And you're supposed to take Dallas this week because they're back home.

Speaker 2 The offense, you know, there's nothing wrong with that offense.

Speaker 1 Shotty has not taken them again.

Speaker 3 Shotty was pretty fiery.

Speaker 2 He's sticking up the ass, ass, whatever he said.

Speaker 3 He's like, I don't care about offensive stats.

Speaker 3 I mean, first time I'd seen him ever talk like that in 25 years, I loved it.

Speaker 2 But

Speaker 3 Monday night football, I feel like Spotlight game, maybe

Speaker 3 Kyle. I wouldn't, I either wouldn't, I would bet in Arizona or I wouldn't bet at all on this one.
That defense is so bad. I spoke to Michael Irvin this week, had a very interesting take.

Speaker 3 I want to hear both of your thoughts on this. I love this take.
It's not, it's one I hadn't heard yet. There's a million Micah Parsons takes.

Speaker 2 Irv had a different one.

Speaker 3 He says, even if Parsons goes on and wins Super Bowls and all this stuff, he should have never left the Cowboys. I'm like, go on.
He's like, the money would have eventually been the same.

Speaker 3 Jerry was a million dollars off, whatever. You don't pay taxes in Texas.
You pay taxes in Wisconsin. And

Speaker 3 the podcast that Micah had, if you're a Dallas cowboy, is infinitely more valuable than your Green Bay Packers podcast. Oh, and by the way, Micah lives in Texas.
His mom lives in Texas.

Speaker 3 And the value of being a cowboy for life is so much different than being a cowboy for the first three years of your career and then moving on and doing something else.

Speaker 3 I'm like, I have heard a thousand people talk about Micah Parsons.

Speaker 3 I have not heard this version because to everyone's naked eye, it's like, oh, Parsons got out of Dallas and is riding high, and Green Bay was where it was.

Speaker 3 But like, Irv was like, No, no, I've never paid for a meal in Dallas, and I go everywhere and I'm royalty for the rest of my life. It's the greatest thing in the world.

Speaker 3 He's like, Parsons can't do that anymore. I'm like, fascinating take Irv.
I love it.

Speaker 2 It is, it is fascinating. You're doing a kind of financial modeling because if he wins defensive player of the year, would he have ever won defensive player of the year in Dallas?

Speaker 2 Like, how do you measure those two trajectories? How do you put them next to each other? It's very interesting.

Speaker 3 Bill, your thoughts.

Speaker 1 Mike Gorvin never had to pay for anything in Dallas. That's a long list of a variety of things.

Speaker 1 If I'm Michael Parsons, I'm pretty happy in Green Bay Plan.

Speaker 1 An awesome team versus a deranged franchise owned by a really old guy who just does crazy stuff. We got to take a break and then I got to talk about my five favorite games.

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Bills Chiefs.

Speaker 1 Hello, friends.

Speaker 1 Bills Chiefs, yet again. Bills have been a little better in the regular season.
Chiefs have obviously dominated the playoffs. There's some Buffalo,

Speaker 1 some slight injury stuff. They lost that Oliver.
They just can't keep that defensive line altogether. Casey played Monday.
That has to be factored in.

Speaker 1 Buffalo's run defense, 31st,

Speaker 1 but I don't really like any of the Chiefs' running backs. Rahomes is probably their most dangerous runner.

Speaker 1 Buffalo first

Speaker 1 running attack. KC 11th against that.
And it just feels like a really tight game. Bills getting one and a half at home house

Speaker 1 which bills as a home dog there's some good stats with this can i interest you in moving that bills line up a little bit into the four and a half five and a half range would that would that entice you i don't want to bet on this game

Speaker 2 i i would prefer to just watch it and and and enjoy it because there are to me two very plausible competing game scripts, phenomena.

Speaker 2 And I can't choose which one I think is going to be the one.

Speaker 2 In my mind's eye, I can see this Chiefs offense scoring 41 points, no problem. I can see them firing on all cylinders.

Speaker 2 I don't like the Pacheco injury, but it kind of feels like they always have another guy coming back. You know, that's like, he's only getting a dozen touches or so a game anyway.

Speaker 1 Can I interrupt you for a second?

Speaker 2 Please, please, please.

Speaker 1 We're putting this game in Ring Ramon 7. This is a playoff game.

Speaker 2 I like that right away.

Speaker 1 Put the fucking chest hair in your chest. Have a drink of

Speaker 1 madmen scotch.

Speaker 2 We're trying to win. Like you tell me what a bit the prevailing outcome is going to be.

Speaker 1 It's a playoff game. Shraigs, Josh Allen at home.

Speaker 3 Yeah, but Josh Allen at home might not be enough because I watched the Ravens put up 40 points on that team in Buffalo. I watched Drake May go into that building and win in Buffalo.

Speaker 3 Look, the Ed Oliver thing is huge.

Speaker 3 He's the best player on their defense. He's been a a game record all season.
Now you're asking, you know, this rookie Walker to step up and play that role, which is asking a lot.

Speaker 3 They need Daquan Jones to step up when he gets back. And like Bosa and Rousseau have to be better than they've even been.

Speaker 3 The Bills are in a real tough spot here. They lost their best defensive player, and they've got a long season ahead of them.
And I'll add, they have zero cap space.

Speaker 3 So whereas your Patriots have the most cap space in the league,

Speaker 1 $48.5 million, House.

Speaker 2 The next four days, they can play around.

Speaker 3 They can do models. They can figure out.
They can make phone calls. The Bills, they can't do crap.
Last year, they brought in Amari Cooper and he helped down the stretch.

Speaker 3 I don't see the Bills can't make a move. They've got like a million dollars of wiggle room.
There's nothing they can do. So the injury bug has hit them way too early.

Speaker 3 But that said, Josh Allen, you've been knocking on the door for all these years.

Speaker 2 You're right there.

Speaker 3 This is the, you're the MVP. This is your moment.

Speaker 3 Go and win your fifth game against Mahomes in the regular season and go control that division, which you should not have to worry about the patriots in 2025 this should have been a 2027 problem that they're dealing with yeah you forgot about one thing you forgot about drake may drake um

Speaker 1 i'm with you for most of that i think buffalo can overpower the chiefs and run the ball down their throats and when they're not running the ball down their throats use josh allen to continue to run the ball down their throats that would be as a chiefs fan that would be my fear that we're just getting pushed backwards and we don't have the ball a lot.

Speaker 1 And it's just one of those weird games.

Speaker 3 What does this game matter more for? I know it's

Speaker 2 Buffalo. I do too.
Oh,

Speaker 2 I think this is a must.

Speaker 2 The Chiefs can't lose any more games.

Speaker 3 The Chiefs are in a bind with the one seed for sure. And the Broncos and Chargers are going to keep winning.
So, like, it's a good question. It's not just a

Speaker 3 to me, Buffalo psychologically, like, if you lose another one, it's at home and the Chiefs again. Like, I just, it's a lot.

Speaker 1 I feel like

Speaker 1 for Buffalo, this threat of the Patriots is a real threat because the schedule that the Patriots have, combined with the fact they've already won in Buffalo, that if you lose this Chiefs game and you fall back, who knows what the Pat Sky, they might finish.

Speaker 1 Like, I don't know what the record's going to be. I don't even know, as you know, I feel like this team has holes.
They might go like 12 and 5 or 13 and 4, right?

Speaker 1 So you have that, plus you have the

Speaker 1 Chiefs, whole, that whole dynamic, whatever that is,

Speaker 1 the cloud of the Chiefs. Whereas the Chiefs are always fine.
They could lose any game. It's like, we're fine.
We'll be back next week. Like, I just don't think,

Speaker 1 I just don't see the Chiefs being like, we got to get this. They treat every game the same.
Every game they have is like a Monday night game or some division rival game.

Speaker 3 Which is the most underrated value thing of this whole run. I mean, whether it's in Brazil or it's on a Black Friday or it's Christmas Day.
It's like the Chiefs have the most unorthodox schedule.

Speaker 3 The NFL just shoves them in these prime time loan windows and they never complain and they just go out there and they play football. And it's like, it never catches up with them.

Speaker 3 It seems like they're always ready to go, which is why to me, it's almost like Buffalo needs this one.

Speaker 1 And I'm going to say that I mentioned one thing, Shriggs.

Speaker 1 The Buffalo schedule is weirdly hard considered.

Speaker 3 It's a lot harder because teams got good that we didn't expect. It was supposed to be a cakewalk.

Speaker 2 Look at that schedule.

Speaker 1 Yeah, they have Bucs week 11, back-to-back back-to-back at Texans on a Thursday,

Speaker 1 and then at the Steelers the next week. They're playing at the Pats in week 15, and then at the Browns week 16, who at least is going to be able to throw defense on them.
Then week 17, the Eagles.

Speaker 2 Not easy.

Speaker 1 They already have two losses.

Speaker 1 To me, like they're, what do you think, House, 12 and 5?

Speaker 2 That sounds right to me. 12 and 5.

Speaker 1 This probably swings it between 13 and 4, 12 and 5. So I don't know.
I feel like they need the game.

Speaker 1 All right. Well, we'll table that one for a second.
House, what's your favorite game in the slate?

Speaker 2 I have two. I absolutely adore Detroit.
I just think the idea of getting J.J. McCarthy

Speaker 2 into Detroit is phenomenal. Anything less than 10 is attractive to me.
And then I also like Houston.

Speaker 2 And I know that people are going to say, I keep trying to fade Denver and all Denver does is jam it right up my rear end, especially Bo Nix. Keep doubting Bo Nicks.

Speaker 2 I got a lot of that in the timeline last week.

Speaker 2 But I do like the idea. You did encourage it.

Speaker 1 You did say if Bo Nix jams it in my butt, then so like you did like kind of,

Speaker 2 he did it against the Eagles. 18 points in the fourth quarter against the Eagles.
Went on the road, won. That's their, that was an impressive.

Speaker 2 Can I empty the notebook on the Broncos a little bit?

Speaker 2 Let's hear it.

Speaker 3 So they beat the Giants in this historic fashion and they're celebrating all this shit. Sean Payton, Monday morning, has it cut up from his assistant.

Speaker 3 The last six biggest comebacks in regular season history, the following week, that team lost.

Speaker 3 So Sean Payton puts together a sizzle reel for Monday morning for these guys of those teams being on the other end of the other team taking a knee in the game afterwards. And he put music behind it.

Speaker 3 And basically, a Monday morning when everyone is riding high over this Giants game, it's like, no time for that.

Speaker 3 History tells us there is a natural letdown letdown in this, and they go out and they kick the shit out of the Dallas Cowboys. And, like, that's kind of the pace they're at.

Speaker 3 Where it's, there is no, this is a sprint for them. There is no Broncos like, ah, well, that was a good win.
Two back-to-back wins at home. So, to me, I know the Texans are favored in this game.

Speaker 3 I don't, I don't quite understand it. I know Sertan is a huge player, defensive player of the year, but to me, like, you're not going to get a complacent Denver Broncos this week.

Speaker 1 My answer might surprise you on this game.

Speaker 1 This is my favorite game on the board.

Speaker 2 Oh,

Speaker 1 I love the Houston, Texans.

Speaker 2 Let's go.

Speaker 2 As do I.

Speaker 1 I heard your whole case, Ranks.

Speaker 2 I love the story of Cinematography.

Speaker 1 It was good. And Peyton's done a good job.
We've been in on Denver this year. They're six and two.
Like, I, you know,

Speaker 1 Houston's defense, I think, really might be the best defense in the league. They're top five, basically rush, pass, yards per play, name it.

Speaker 1 Denver's played five crap defenses, Tennessee, Cincinnati, the Giants, Dallas, and the Jets, plus Indy, which I wouldn't call the 85 Bears.

Speaker 1 And Sertan being out is like massive.

Speaker 2 It's huge. But who is

Speaker 1 the top five most important defensive player to be out?

Speaker 3 Which receiver are you scared of from the Texans? Are you losing sleep over Xavier Hutchinson?

Speaker 3 I know, but like, I don't think, all right, it's fine. Nico, I'll give you.
Nico's a top 10 receiver in this league.

Speaker 1 So here's what I think. I think this game is just ugly both ways ways because the Texans won't really be able to block, but I don't think Denver's going to move the ball against this Houston defense.

Speaker 3 Really, defense is awesome.

Speaker 2 Bonex makes me really nervous.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 3 They lost by two scores to Seattle.

Speaker 3 They also turned Seattle over four times, and their defense was absolutely.

Speaker 2 So you did that game.

Speaker 1 They just kept getting the ball back.

Speaker 3 It was crazy. And no one watched because it was two in the morning Eastern time.

Speaker 3 But Houston's defense dominated the Seahawks that day. You didn't see it in the box score, but they had four turnovers.
They sacked Darnold and Will Anderson and

Speaker 3 Hunter were unblockable. So like, I'm with you on that defense.
It's very good. And in the back end, Stingley and Lasseter are as good a combo in the backfield as anyone.
However, I just don't know.

Speaker 3 I don't know if they've got the offense and the offensive line to keep off that amazing Denver defense. They are good.
Even if it's South Sertan, they are good. They get to the quarterback.

Speaker 3 They lead the NFL in sacks. They're really, they could dominate that offensive line in Houston.

Speaker 1 Well, if Houston pulls this off, they would be four and four.

Speaker 1 And then a little Jaguars-Titans combo that have a treat after that. But then it gets, they go

Speaker 1 Bills at Colts at Chiefs three in a row, which is pretty brutal. So they're kind of in must-win zone.
Whereas I look at Denver, like,

Speaker 1 all right, if they lose this win, this game, they're playing the Raiders on Thursday, four days later. They'll, you know, they'll win by 20 and they'll be fine.

Speaker 1 But House, I, so we saw, I'm, it's so funny. Like, we, we've been aligned on some of these.
We don't talk, House and I don't talk about the ones. This was the one that jumped out to me.

Speaker 3 You both like the Texans.

Speaker 2 We do.

Speaker 1 I felt like this should be a two and a half or a three because of their defense at home. I still have Bo Nick's questions.
I still watch him.

Speaker 1 I know that he heats up and I know that there's games where he's finished with stats. I think he misses a lot of throws.

Speaker 3 He missed a couple last week. He tried throwing a no-look.
He does, and it got intercepted last week.

Speaker 2 Piece that we haven't talked about that I do like,

Speaker 2 is CJ Stroud back? I mean, we get to do it that way.

Speaker 3 He's bad bad if it's you guys if he's back if it's a bad defense i tell you i had him in the production meeting and it was when they were really low and it was before that seattle game he had so much so much swag in this meeting like he hears it all i i think he knows that

Speaker 3 and he's like don't worry like i'm good and i i came away i wasn't stroud i don't know i don't know him that well i came away walking away like okay not a vocal not a huge vocal guy not an in-your-face guy but clearly the leader of this team and has a lot of confidence even though their offensive line is not even close to what it was was two years ago when he had that breakout season.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Well, they added a sixth guy, and it looked like that might have helped the offense, the running game a little bit.

Speaker 2 So if we just get a little variety in that offense, their offensive coordinator is interesting.

Speaker 3 So they had Bobby Sloick, who was tremendous. And then last year down the stretch didn't, didn't gel as well.

Speaker 1 I hired Bobby Sloic's going to be a head coach t-shirt from 2023. I don't know if you want it.

Speaker 2 I'll say that. I did about 30 interviews.

Speaker 3 They hired Nick Kaylee, who I think you like

Speaker 3 this guy, Bill, eight years with the Patriots under Belichick so he comes from that world and then himself is like I need to diversify this goes and works for McVay for two years so you've got the Belichick influence and the McVay influence

Speaker 3 and they bring him in and it was a little rocky at first but super talented young young offensive coordinator where you get the feeling like he's gonna it's gonna start clicking as the season goes on one other thing with the Texans and I mentioned this a couple weeks ago I genuinely like Woody Marks I think he's good

Speaker 1 like and he's good out of the backfield too and they might have hit on Noel at least with those rookie receivers.

Speaker 3 Iowa State rookie wide receivers.

Speaker 1 He's the one that's always open or seems like he can get open.

Speaker 1 And then Collins coming back. That's another one.
He, you know, no Sertan. Maybe he makes a big play.
I like the Texans.

Speaker 1 Three more quickly. Colts, Steelers, Colts minus three in Pittsburgh and Colts outdoors.

Speaker 1 Steelers as a home dog, and there's just a slew of insane Tomlin home dog stats that we don't need to just read through. They're going to have the field goal edge yet again.

Speaker 1 You're always like minus six when you're playing in Pittsburgh with field goals.

Speaker 1 But Pittsburgh's defense, 32nd against the pass,

Speaker 1 and the Colts are just a juggernaut ripping through everything. We haven't talked about the Colts yet, Shreigs.
Do you believe? Are you in?

Speaker 3 How could I not? And the only issue is I haven't seen them play like primetime or a big game or with a lot of pressure on them.

Speaker 3 They always feel like they're like the Scott Hanson, like constant break-in on red zone like team. I haven't watched

Speaker 3 a matchup with them with all the spotlight on them. I feel like even though this isn't that game, there's a lot of attention this week.
Like Steelers on the road and a lot of people now doing this.

Speaker 3 Like, let's poke a hole in it. Let's see.
That said,

Speaker 3 like Daniel Jones, the stats are insane. I think he's like number one rated quarterback regularly, number one rated quarterback under pressure.
And then Jonathan Taylor is doing what he's doing.

Speaker 3 And then Quentin Nelson's probably the best player on the entire team, just absolutely dominating at the offensive offensive guard spot.

Speaker 3 The question is: I don't know how they're doing this on defense, and they are like they're stopping everyone and they're getting turnovers with not a lot of them.

Speaker 1 We know how they're doing it, they're playing shitty teams.

Speaker 2 That's another way to look at it.

Speaker 2 They played Tennessee twice.

Speaker 2 That kind of helps.

Speaker 1 They played Miami week one, they played Las Vegas.

Speaker 2 Which way are you leaning on this, BS? Because

Speaker 2 uh-oh.

Speaker 2 Oh, boy. I'm nervous for

Speaker 2 the Colts. I'm nervous about for that.

Speaker 1 Well, I talked to you into the Packers last week.

Speaker 2 I was happy.

Speaker 2 I loved it. I loved it when you did it.
It was a great zag. I endorsed it.
I was thrilled to do it.

Speaker 1 A couple things on the Steelers defense, Shriggs. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Shriggs is like when he hosted first take, it feels like 38 hours ago now.

Speaker 2 What a hog day for you. What a trooper this guy.

Speaker 3 I got to empty it quick here.

Speaker 1 No, well, House can leave and we can still go. We can just

Speaker 2 have another 25 minutes. I'm good.
I want steak nuggets.

Speaker 3 Let's go.

Speaker 1 So I felt this way when the the Pats played the Steelers

Speaker 1 and really dominated them the last three quarters and turned the ball over five times and just left all this offense on the over and over moved the ball on them.

Speaker 1 Green Bay last week, by the time we get to the second half, it was like whatever they wanted, they were just getting. And Indianapolis has a better offense than both of those teams.

Speaker 1 So why wouldn't they just get everything they want in this game? What is the Steelers defense shown us? Fucking Joe Flacco. Not Joe Flacco.
Joe Flacco.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 3 Joe Flacco.

Speaker 3 I know.

Speaker 1 Joe Flacco was lighting them up.

Speaker 2 And you know the numbers.

Speaker 1 He can't light up the Steelers. They're 32nd.

Speaker 3 Chase was targeted 23 times in that game, which is the ultimate insult to a defensive backfield. Like, we will throw, we will tell you exactly what we're going to do.
And we know you can't stop it.

Speaker 3 He had 16 catches. And then to see what Jordan Love did, 20 in a row.
It's maybe the most disappointing unit in all of football, this Steelers' defense, because you go through the lists and names.

Speaker 3 It's not only TJ Watt, it's Cameron Hayward. And then you go to Patrick Queen, and then you get to to the defensive backfield.
And it's like, it's Jalen Ramsey and Darius Slay.

Speaker 3 This is not a young team. This is not a cheap team.
This is not a big team.

Speaker 1 It's a team you would have wanted in 2019 is the problem.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Or a defense that you would have wanted.

Speaker 3 And it's a Tomlin coach team, which at the very least, you knew they would at least show up every week.

Speaker 3 This is tough to pick them in any game with that defense being such a sieve.

Speaker 1 Well,

Speaker 1 they traded for Kyle Duggar this week from the Patriots, who was just an atrocity in coverage last year. Like he's basically was a linebacker playing safety.

Speaker 1 And this year, Vrabo, even though he had a pretty big contract, was like, I'm out. I'm going to play this Craig Woodson over you and kind of buried him.
The Stawers traded for him this week.

Speaker 1 And I think he's going to play.

Speaker 3 Yeah, because that tells you all about it.

Speaker 3 Another veteran that they brought back that might not have his best football in front of him. So that's where I would say, like,

Speaker 3 it's home. You got the terrible towels.
You got the sticks, renegade. I get all that.

Speaker 3 I don't know if that can cover up what they have on defense, which as much as we cry about the Cowboys' defense, the Steelers' defense is way more disappointing because we actually expected them to be a strength of the team.

Speaker 1 In-house, Packers, what was that? Would that line end out? Two and a half on Sunday night?

Speaker 2 Two and a half.

Speaker 1 So the Colts are favored by three. So that means the market is saying the Colts are better than the Steelers, which, I mean, than the Packers, which I don't think is necessarily true.

Speaker 1 I just think after that Sunday night game,

Speaker 1 it's like the big people are like, oh, the Steelers really are bad on defense.

Speaker 1 and i don't other than that the the mech half plays

Speaker 2 and occasionally warren will get like an eight i don't really know what the steelers are good at you only i just don't think they're that good they don't even try to go deep it's like and roger the more tape you get on them the more you're like oh they do these four things the only thing you can point to is um the colts defense is super susceptible to tight ends they're one of the worst um you know defenses against tight ends how about giant tall big tight ends how are they against those pittsburgh loves to to pittsburgh has five tight ends, it seems like.

Speaker 2 Well, they run that tight end parmesan, robber zip, robber zip. Yeah, super

Speaker 2 parmesan. Robber.
Yeah, Carrie.

Speaker 1 The Colts is going to be one of my picks only because I think getting it at three, I think, sounds great.

Speaker 2 It's your pick. I just want to say.
I can't make a case for the Steelers other than just the voodoo that we watch. That's all.

Speaker 1 It's the fucking typical Pittsburgh at home bullshit where they do this. Pilgo hits it upright.

Speaker 2 That's the case.

Speaker 3 backs running down the field then his knee hits the ball and it bounces up in the air and the steelers recover like but we thought that was going to happen last week and it never happened well you look at the numbers for the colts offense and it's astronomical like the best rushing team the best passing team the best like alec pierce leaves the league in receiving yards you know per catch like it it's you know it's they're a nightmare they can do everything they can they can throw deep they can throw short they got warren rookie who's the best tight end in football so it's like what the hell And an amazing offensive line with a Hall of Famer.

Speaker 1 I honestly think this line's a miracle. I think this line should be minus four.

Speaker 2 I think they might win by 20. Daniel Jones is an RPO savant.
Like, this is the

Speaker 2 best function. No, I know.
I watched it on the SPN today.

Speaker 2 You got to watch a lot of it. You were there.

Speaker 1 All right. Two more.

Speaker 1 Just quickly, Bears Bengals. Bears minus, it's set up at minus two and a half in Cincinnati.
Cincey's defense,

Speaker 1 the thing I look at, I don't know if I've ever seen a defense that's bottom three in all the categories. Like there's not one where they're like 28th.

Speaker 1 It's just there's a three in front of every number. Pass, run,

Speaker 1 first down efficiency, third day. Like it's, it's across the board.

Speaker 1 And then they can't run the ball either. They're 31st and run.

Speaker 2 They don't try

Speaker 2 the ball. They don't even get the best.

Speaker 1 Blacko's like Chinese food in the fridge. It's fun for like two days, but two weeks gets a little gamey.

Speaker 1 And I think the Bears could be the good bad team. They win this game.
They're four and three right now. They win this game.
They play the Giants next week.

Speaker 1 They play Minnesota at Minnesota and then Pittsburgh.

Speaker 2 Like

Speaker 1 as crazy as this sounds, they could be eight and three after, and I don't even think the Bears are that good.

Speaker 1 Please talk me out of this because I want to bet on Caleb Williams.

Speaker 3 Well, it's hard to roll with the, like, Trey Hendrickson limited in practice. You know, obviously he's on the trade block potentially.
Logan Wilson might want out.

Speaker 3 He's not practicing. And then Joe Flacco shows up up on the injury report with a shoulder injury.
So he might be going back to Jake Browning if Flacco can't go. So

Speaker 3 that loss, that loss to the Jets. I mean, I got emotional.

Speaker 3 I knew, obviously, what was going into that game with not only the Jets, what was, you know, their own needs, but with the Mangold stuff was like real.

Speaker 3 Like that was a wild morning to wake up to that news. And the Jets rallied around that.
But that is an inexcusable loss at home.

Speaker 3 of that many points to the Jets with Justin Fields and no Garrett Wilson and no Sauce Gardner. I can't pick you in good faith after that performance.

Speaker 3 And I'll add this, we always kill the coaches for time management. Aaron Glenn, who has been the joke of New York for his time management, Bill, did you see what he did? Down, down eight.
I love it.

Speaker 3 How it's like, like a David Chang,

Speaker 3 perfect.

Speaker 2 Down eight, down eight.

Speaker 3 They go for two.

Speaker 3 to cut it to six everyone's freaking out what are you doing we're doing and then they won in regulation they like did the analytics the the right way, which everyone preaches and no coaches ever actually do.

Speaker 3 He did it when they were down two touchdowns and then one touchdown. They got the two-point conversion on both of them and it actually worked out.

Speaker 3 They won in regulation and it's like, Aaron Glenn, claps to you.

Speaker 1 It's one of those things when you bet on the other team and the team does it and gets it and they're down six, you just automatically think you're going to lose. It's like, oh my God, I was up 14.

Speaker 1 Now I'm going to lose.

Speaker 2 I had stress on the money line in that game. Did you really?

Speaker 3 Before the man gold or after the mangold passing news? Because to me, that totally shifted my entire approach to this game.

Speaker 2 I will confess that I didn't factor in the mangold aspect of it.

Speaker 1 No, I hadn't. House just loves betting on bad QBs.

Speaker 2 It was a tough card last week finding underdogs that I felt like could win outright. But the Bengals Jets was like, okay,

Speaker 2 these teams are not that far apart. That was really it.

Speaker 3 See, Bengals were coming off. An all-time win on the Sealers, a long 10-day break of Jets.
Jets on.

Speaker 2 How did you even think?

Speaker 2 The Jets? That was an incredible bet. All of the guys missing.
Yes.

Speaker 2 Nobody's going to know who the hell any of these Jets are. Let me have it.

Speaker 1 The Bengals are bad.

Speaker 2 Last game. We're in a lot of time.

Speaker 1 Seahawks minus three at Washington.

Speaker 2 So this line, it wasn't going to be on my card.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it was three when we locked the lines. It went from three after three, which was a game changer.

Speaker 2 Why?

Speaker 1 Jaden is.

Speaker 1 I don't know what happened.

Speaker 2 People like, because Jaden Davis might play.

Speaker 3 And McLaurin was out.

Speaker 2 McLaurin's out. I don't.

Speaker 3 Why would anyone even think

Speaker 2 about the other direction? Why wouldn't it be Seattle by four or four and a half? Yes.

Speaker 1 Three and a half. Seattle's first in DVOA, which is notable.

Speaker 1 Third in yards per play offensively. First against the runs, second against yards per play with defense.

Speaker 1 Washton's defense house, I would describe it much like you, old and slow.

Speaker 2 That's not nice. That's mean.

Speaker 2 Well, much like me, too. We're old.
I can guard my,

Speaker 2 man. I can't really guard him.
He goes right by me.

Speaker 1 You're bottom 10 in every category. I'm trying to think what the case for Washington is without McLaurin, and it comes down to it's a kitchen sink game.
It is.

Speaker 1 And Darnold on the road. And that's, is there any other case?

Speaker 3 I have no case. They have a long break here.
The last time they played, I was there. It feels like it was a month ago.
They beat the Texans in Monday night.

Speaker 3 I was at Monday night, Kansas City, Washington. They started off okay, but like Washington is the oldest roster in football.
And last year, they put these pieces in and it worked.

Speaker 3 Like all of those guys were perfect for the position group rooms. This year, all of those guys,

Speaker 3 they look like the oldest team in football. And I got to say, the two best addition, like Tunzil and Debo are actually playing well this year.
Those guys are really good.

Speaker 3 And Wild Bill in the backfield is really good. Incredible.

Speaker 3 They've got guys who are playing well. They don't have that same juice.
They don't have that same mojo.

Speaker 3 And I, just watching them last week, I can't in good faith say that just because Jaden's back, they're suddenly going to get that thing back. It feels like last year they were way ahead of schedule.

Speaker 3 Everything went their way. And this year, we're starting to see a regression.
And it might be, hey, they actually have the oldest roster in football and it's starting to show.

Speaker 1 What are your thoughts, House? It's your favorite team.

Speaker 2 I've been on this show, every show that anybody put me on, saying that I think this Washington team, the ceiling for them is six wins.

Speaker 2 They could not lose the Chicago game.

Speaker 2 That was the season. And we will look back and it's funny, Chicago last year had their season derailed by Washington with that Hail Mary pass.

Speaker 2 Washington went all the way to the NFC championship game. This season, Washington hosts Chicago.

Speaker 2 Chicago comes in and gets the win right at the end off of a turnover by Jaden Daniels with three minutes left. He can't catch the

Speaker 2 revenge. Yep.

Speaker 3 We did the hindsight house. I got a question.
We did that with J.J. McCarthy.
Would you pay Terry McLaurin now after seeing what we've got this season? Would you pay him that huge contract he got?

Speaker 3 We know team leader, all that stuff, that he paid as if he's one of the best wide receivers in the league. Yeah, they had to.

Speaker 2 I never, I never had any issue with it. I mean, it's like we're trying to establish an identity, a new culture.
You have to remember we're fighting 25 years of a devil.

Speaker 2 We're trying to get Satan, be gone, Satan. Be gone, Satan.

Speaker 2 One of the ways you do that is to pay a guy who's a stand-up guy who straddled both of the regimes, right? And he is a team leader for a team that made it to the NC Championship game.

Speaker 2 It is a contract that is a reward, not a prospective that's a great deliver on it. That's what it is.
That's what it is. It's a reward.
So thank you.

Speaker 2 I mean, I personally say thank you to Terry McLaurin.

Speaker 1 Okay. Shriggs, has a holdout ever worked where the guy came back and was awesome?

Speaker 2 No.

Speaker 1 Does that ever happen in the history of football?

Speaker 3 No.

Speaker 2 I don't have any.

Speaker 1 Any basketball or any sport?

Speaker 2 Emmett Smith.

Speaker 1 Michler brought this up on Tuesday. I was like, that's such a good point.
It feels like we're 0 for a million.

Speaker 3 Emmett was, they were 0-2. Emmett took him to the brink, and then he came back and was the best running back in football.
And I guess 93 when he did that. That's the last one I remember.

Speaker 3 But, like, for all the millions of August Good Morning Football shows where we're, you know, detailing Jaded, Jadavian clownies, you know, holdout, what's the latest?

Speaker 3 Like, I don't remember any of these guys ever coming out and being what they were supposed to be before they got the money.

Speaker 2 Le'Veon Bill. All right.

Speaker 1 So we're going to figure out Rigger 107.

Speaker 3 That's crazy.

Speaker 2 Yeah, that was tough.

Speaker 1 We're putting the Bills in a parlay, and I'm going to give you three options:

Speaker 1 Bills plus four and a half with the Chargers money line

Speaker 1 against Tennessee. That's minus 118.

Speaker 1 Chargers, Pack, money line both have to win with the Bills plus six and a half.

Speaker 1 That's minus 119. Packers would have to beat Carolina at home.
Chargers would have to beat Tennessee. That's option two.
Option number three, Chargers money line,

Speaker 1 Lions money line,

Speaker 1 Bills plus seven and a half against, I knew House would like that.

Speaker 2 Finally, finally, we got

Speaker 1 some RB steak tips on top of it.

Speaker 2 Big nuggets. If they call them tips, I think they'd be flying off the shelf.

Speaker 1 Here's one of the many things I like. So we get to bet against JJ McCarthy

Speaker 1 or whoever's playing for Minnesota.

Speaker 1 We get that chart. We get to bet against Tennessee again.
And then Bills plus seven and a half Shraigs

Speaker 1 gives us like cheap touchdown potential. Gives us the Chiefs can't run the clock out because their running backs are Kareem Hunt and that other guy and Mahomes trying to run on.

Speaker 1 So it just kind of keeps the Bills hanging around, which I think would be fun to refer. House is so happy.
You're going to do this, bad. I can feel it.

Speaker 2 Well, you're getting a heart attack. I need you.
You finally got to a number with the Bills where I'm comfortable because to me, it's a seven-point swing on either side.

Speaker 2 I can countenance seven either way. But so give me the seven and a half.
Four and a half doesn't do anything for me. Six and a half doesn't get you there.
Seven and a half. Now we're there.

Speaker 2 You like that?

Speaker 1 You like like that? Chargers, Lions, Money Lions, Bills, plus seven and a half. Good to go.
Great. Texans, minus one and a half against Denver.

Speaker 1 Shraig's didn't love this one, but House and I, this is our favorite bet.

Speaker 2 I don't know. Shreg's a Payton guy.
I am. It's fine.
Yeah, he is.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I don't totally trust.

Speaker 1 Broncos

Speaker 2 too many meals with Sean Payton.

Speaker 3 Yeah, they might be undefeated this year, both of them. Broncos and Rams.
Just I have my love for my Sean's.

Speaker 1 Yep. Colts minus three against the Steelers in Pittsburgh.

Speaker 2 We're grabbing this. I like that.

Speaker 1 This is going to be my pick.

Speaker 2 I've urged my cautions. That's all.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Yeah.
That's all right. I'll take it for mine.

Speaker 2 Seahawks,

Speaker 1 they are minus three against Washington.

Speaker 1 And we're going to grab that. And then last but not least,

Speaker 1 Bears, minus two and a half against the Bengals.

Speaker 2 We got two.

Speaker 2 So we have a great number. That's a great number.

Speaker 1 Three road favorites, unfortunately.

Speaker 2 Okay.

Speaker 1 But there's nine home underdogs on the slate. So what are we going to do?

Speaker 2 It's a funky week.

Speaker 1 This episode is brought to you by the terrifying new horror film. I love horror films.
Keeper. From Osgoode Perkins, the director of Long Legs and the Monkey, comes a new breed of nightmare.

Speaker 1 Master of our James Wand, creator of The Conjuring. I've seen it many times.
Praises Keeper as a terrifying ghostly descent into madness. Don't miss the horror event of the season.

Speaker 1 Keeper is now playing in theaters. This episode is brought to you by Prime Video.
It's Bill Simmons here. The NBA and Prime is back this Friday with another great Emirates NBA Cup doubleheader.

Speaker 1 The night starts with Pascal Siakam and the Indiana Pacers meeting Donovan Mitchell and the very good Cleveland Cavaliers. And then

Speaker 1 let's go down to Texas. Nicole Jokic, my guy, and the Denver Nuggets get their first look at Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets.
And if you're not a Prime member, that's not a problem.

Speaker 1 Sign up for a 30-day free trial to get started today. The Pacers and the Cavs and then the Nuggets and the Rockets.
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Speaker 1 That honestly could be the Western finals. Coverage starts Friday at 6.30 p.m.
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See amazon.com slash Amazon Prime for details.

Speaker 1 So Ringer 107, brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Final picks.
Chargers, money line, Lions, money line with Bills plus seven and a half.

Speaker 1 Texans, minus one and a half. At home against the Broncos.
Shraigs is nervous, but you did get to see that defense in person. Awesome.
Cats on the ball.

Speaker 3 A great line from D'Amico Ryan, what he said. He goes, you know, we're, we're going to hit you.
We're going to play this way. We're very aggressive.

Speaker 3 And he goes, he goes, and I tell the guys, if they don't like playing this way, that's cool with me. You just won't be a Houston Texan.

Speaker 2 And I was like, oh my God, I almost got out of the room. Like, let's go.
Nice.

Speaker 1 So we got Texans. House is excited that we're get to bet against the Titans and J.J.
McCarthy with the Bills. That's two.
Colts minus three against the Steelers.

Speaker 1 Just, this might be our last chance to ride the best offense in the league before people realize.

Speaker 2 Texas.

Speaker 3 Holy shit.

Speaker 2 Do you colt

Speaker 3 99 with the Rams, like where they came out of nowhere?

Speaker 2 I remember betting on it. It was great.

Speaker 3 And it was like, I had, I remember that was, I was, you know, in college, and we had fantasy football, and I had all those guys, Warner, Holt, Bruce.

Speaker 3 And I remember it being like, not until they beat the Niners in week like three or four, and then they kept doing it week after week after week. Is that what we're dealing with here?

Speaker 3 Is this the 99 greatest show?

Speaker 1 I remember it's such a good analogy because

Speaker 1 Warner,

Speaker 1 I remember all of us didn't trust it until like

Speaker 1 week seven, and you're like, all right, every pass the guy throws is dead on to a guy in stride.

Speaker 2 At some point, this is an accident.

Speaker 3 Yeah, that's what this feels like. It came from literally out of nowhere, this Colts offense.

Speaker 2 No one in a million years in superfast.

Speaker 1 And there's some good parallels with that because Falk and Jonathan Taylor are just being like these all-world running backs, but the Rams are slightly better receivers. They run turf.

Speaker 1 Seahawks minus three over Washton is our fourth pick.

Speaker 1 And then, so we're riding Texans, Seahawks. Those are your two best defenses.
Anybody else you would have in there?

Speaker 3 Defensively, the Colts are really good, turnover and all that stuff, but they're not in that conversation.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it's Denver. Texans, Seahawks, best defenses.
Would have been the Broncos, but Broncos,

Speaker 2 not with Sartan out.

Speaker 3 Denver, Houston, Seattle are my defenses. And gosh, Seattle was good on that Monday night game that I saw them.

Speaker 1 And then the fifth pick, Bears minus two and a half at Cincinnati. House, if Caleb lets us down here,

Speaker 2 um, I'm not going to be

Speaker 2 zone. He's not going to be upset.

Speaker 1 He would be Kyler Murray for us after that.

Speaker 2 No, he's not going to be on his DNB.

Speaker 2 He's the DNB list.

Speaker 1 Shrikes, did you have any thoughts on my crazy prediction that Tyson Bagent will be the bear starter by week 13?

Speaker 2 Is it

Speaker 1 even conceivable?

Speaker 3 Well, you did lay it out that they paid him a lot of money to come back as the backup. Everyone loves him.
His dad isn't a professional arm wrestler.

Speaker 3 There's this great story there, but I don't think they would bench Caleb. That would have to be like Caleb got hurt.
This guy did great. And it's, oh, we had to make a decision.

Speaker 3 That's how I look at it.

Speaker 2 Okay.

Speaker 1 That was the

Speaker 1 Ringer 107. It was brought to you by FanDuel.
Odds subject to change. We have housed for five more minutes.
Shrinks, what any last topic for you? Is there a new

Speaker 2 let's go on the 107? He doesn't give us a one-off, a let's go. We need that.

Speaker 1 No, he gives the let's go to McAfee now.

Speaker 2 I saw it. Have you had Lucali? No, I saw it.

Speaker 1 Have you had Lukali?

Speaker 2 Lucali, yeah, of course. I've had Lukali.
It's not a question for me. No, I bet he hasn't.
I bet he hasn't. Have you had Lucali?

Speaker 2 in Brooklyn?

Speaker 3 Your next trip.

Speaker 3 We got you on this one.

Speaker 3 So, Mark Ayakano is the no relation to Sal, I don't think,

Speaker 3 is the proprietor. It's his little shop in Cobble Hill or Carroll Gardens.
The line is out the door, only about eight tables. Very hard to get a seat.

Speaker 3 My son's eighth birthday or ninth birthday last week took him to Lucali. We got in there.

Speaker 3 Calzone, pizza, no, no alcohol. You bring your own, and it's only cash.
And it's a sit-down and Bill. I love the only cash.

Speaker 3 Only cash. We're not going to have any accounting for any of this stuff.
Bill, I think it's one of the greatest meals I've ever had. And I'm not looking for a table or anything from those guys.

Speaker 3 Trust me, they're not worried about me.

Speaker 3 We got to go next time you come in town.

Speaker 1 House, what's your ideal Calzone? Is there anything special that needs to happen with the Calzone?

Speaker 2 It's got to have spicy meat inside of it because, you know, you're dealing with a mass, right? With the, with the, the dough. I love that.
And the way the cheese is. Like, you know,

Speaker 2 it's a big, like, it's a big carbo boat kind of thing. So give me something that's going to got a little bite to it.
And that's like a nice sausage sauce. I like that.

Speaker 3 The sauce. And, and I, I am such a calzone fan.
I love the rogote. I love it all.
I think it's so good. And I think it's the most underrated food.
Everyone loves their chicken parm.

Speaker 3 Everyone loves their pizza. A good calzone.
I usually put pepperoni in there.

Speaker 2 I don't know. Is that

Speaker 2 exactly right? Right down there. That's exactly.

Speaker 3 And I just drown it in that marinara sauce.

Speaker 3 And I'll tell you, this is not a commercial commercial for that place or any, but even just talking to you two, talking about a good Calzone has me ready to run through a wall. Let's go.

Speaker 1 I feel like in general, especially with

Speaker 1 the Uber Eats orders or whatever you're using. I always feel like they're light on the extra, the side of the tomato sauce.

Speaker 1 Like if I'm getting the chicken parm, I want like a big ass thing of tomato sauce next to it that I can pour all over the chicken parm.

Speaker 3 Sometimes on these DoorDash and the Uber Eats, you've got to go to that extra thing where it's like sides and they'll have like a 50 cent extra sauce.

Speaker 3 I'll i'll put seven of those in there yeah just just give me seven of them it's worth the seven dollars whatever it is i'm in and how so with the chinese food why don't they just put the mustard in yeah i know you have the hot mustard put it in the order just throw it in the bag they never do they actually never do it's the turning commodity it's like it's gold it's liquid gold to them the chinese i was the kid like 12 year old kid with the noodles before the meal i would be dipping it in the hot mustard everyone else going duck sauce i was a hot mustard

Speaker 2 the flavor of the mustard what it does for your palate it sets you up for the rest of the meal let's go all the vinegar and that people don't realize it would get rid of covet

Speaker 1 hot mustard did could have probably made enough hot mustard at certain chinese restaurants your covet just disappeared you just killed it it was better than the vaccine i can't talk about no i love that i the mustard is my favorite and they always skimp on it it's weird because then other things

Speaker 2 Yeah, it's true.

Speaker 3 I had a great dining experience last spring.

Speaker 3 Again, Again, we're naming restaurants. These are not to get hookups or anything.
Trust me. I just, they could be.
Have you been to Charleston house? Have you been to Hall's Chop House in Charleston?

Speaker 2 I don't, I've been to Charleston. I haven't been to Halls.
I don't know.

Speaker 3 I'm going to say this is my favorite dining experience maybe in the last 10 years. I felt like a gentleman.
The service was incredible. The food was incredible.
The steaks were incredible.

Speaker 3 I came away from that meal saying, okay, you know, when you have that truly epic meal, I have nothing to gain from this. I'm not going to Charleston anytime soon.
Not doing a commercial for them.

Speaker 3 Hall's Hall's Chop House, Charleston. Bill, you got to get you down there.

Speaker 1 House, when's the latest you can eat steak where it becomes dangerous for you as an old guy in your 50s?

Speaker 2 You mean like at night? Yeah. Doesn't matter.
I'm fine.

Speaker 1 I can eat it. You're just going regardless.

Speaker 2 I can have a miniature.

Speaker 1 I find that red meat past like 8.30 gets potentially a little.

Speaker 2 I get it.

Speaker 1 I wish we had taken advantage of our 20s more. I know.

Speaker 2 I feel like we kind of did.

Speaker 1 I mean, I guess I did with all the cigarettes and Jack and Cokes.

Speaker 2 I feel like we did.

Speaker 2 Okay.

Speaker 1 All right, House, go drive your kid to basketball practice. Can't wait.
Good luck to him. Shraigs, a true pleasure.

Speaker 1 Give us a let's go just for our time.

Speaker 2 Let's go. Let's go.

Speaker 1 Good to see you.

Speaker 2 God bless you. Keep in touch.

Speaker 1 Thank you, fellas.

Speaker 2 Love you, Shrags.

Speaker 3 Appreciate it. House of the Man.

Speaker 1 All right, that's it for the podcast. Thanks to House and Shraigs.
Thanks to Gahal and Eduardo as well. Rewatchable is coming on Monday.
We're doing the Truman show.

Speaker 1 So don't forget to watch that over the weekend if you haven't seen that already.

Speaker 1 And thanks to the LA Times for an awesome, awesome story today about the negligence and all the bad leadership and all the dumb stuff that happened that led to the Palisades fire.

Speaker 1 And I would encourage people to go online and read the piece.

Speaker 1 This is still a massive story, obviously, in Southern California. And I don't think the ineptitude.

Speaker 1 has has been properly covered. So I urge you to go read that.
And I hope people keep reporting about it and writing about what exactly happened here and how preventable all of this was.

Speaker 1 So I'm going to leave you with that for the weekend. Enjoy the weekend.
I will see you on Sunday.

Speaker 1 I don't have

Speaker 1 a feeling.

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