Tom Brady Shenanigans, Mike Ryan Ruiz and the Problem with the Raiders' Logo, and the Five Most Interesting Games of Week 3 with Nick Kostos

You know, the most fascinating detail of the iconic Raiders logo, you know, the ruggedly handsome fell in the eye patch and the helmet without a face mask, is that his one good eye is closed.

On one hand, weird, but also what the Raiders in the NFL's upper crust are now asking of us, the unwashed masses, which is, turn a blind eye to the most famous football player in the history of people, and now a part owner of the Raiders, sitting there in a headset in the booth like he's some rando OC.

In a related matter, it's also funny the Raiders logo is clean-shaven.

Yeah, before he heads out for another day of violent felonies and pillaging, he shaves.

He's a pirate, sure, but a gentleman first.

And maybe that's what the NFL is hoping for with Brady, which is the same bet Fox has made.

He's charming and handsome, so come on, what he does is no big deal, right, everybody?

He's like Lolita's Humbert Humbert with cheek implants and a better arm, with a little Steven Seagal above the law mixed in.

Is he in fact giving the Raiders an unfair advantage?

I don't know.

But combined with his access to players on other teams and his weekly sit-downs as a broadcaster, the potential sure exists.

Either way, his number of scandals is running neck and neck with his Lombardy count, and as his loose relationship with rules has lasted longer than New England's dynasty, shady as it now is.

We can debate each incident, but add it all up, it's tough to give Tom the benefit of the doubt here.

It suggests foul play.

I get why Goodell and his fellow rich guys want to brush this off.

Brady's still arguably the face of the league.

But considering we're now a society that seems to believe less in fact than how things make us feel, we're supposed to shrug off what's sitting there in plain sight.

And by the way, if sitting in the booth has no value, why is he doing it?

Oh, because he can.

Well, in our world of an ever-shrinking elite class versus all the rest of us, on behalf of everybody with eyes, this stinks.

Well, that's more of a thing with the nose and smell.

Yeah, you know what I'm getting at.

Let's start the show.

Yes, hi and hello, my fellow Football Americans.

This episode of Football America is presented by DraftKings.

DraftKings, the crown is yours.

We've got Mike Ryan and from You Better, You Bet, our old pal Nick Costos coming up.

The Fuentes boys have the con in Miami.

Bradley's in NYC.

Your old pal Dave here in LA.

Welcome to NFL Week three.

Welcome to our ninth episode, the best number nine in NFL history.

With all due respect to to Nick Foles, Steve McNair, Sonny Jugensen, it is, of course, Drew Brees.

And at this rate, I'm not sure Toe Burrow is ever going to get there to challenge him fully.

Let's say hello to our guests, the aforementioned Mike Ryan.

Let's start it off there.

We have much to get to here.

So jump right in, fella.

Best number nine in NFL history.

Well, you mentioned a couple.

I did some research.

Only two number nines in NFL.

history have been retired.

You mentioned two of them, Steve McNair, who I'd venture as a guest here, but I also agree it's Drew Brees and Sonny Juergen.

However, there is a Super Bowl champion, multiple-time Pro Bowler that you are forgotten that is playing presently, and it's Matthew Stafford.

Now, you and I can disagree as to whether or not he holds a candle to Drew Brees.

I think he's pretty close, and we'll see when we get a treetop view at the end of his career.

He's tied in Super Bowls, but right now, I agree it's Drew Brees.

But if Stafford and the Rams built Ram Tough, win another Super Bowl, it's Matthew Stafford.

Yeah, and if Joe Burrow had beaten Stafford in that Super Bowl a few years ago, he would be a lot closer to the top spot.

But in the here and now, to start your appearance off on Football America by attacking me and telling me, oh, you left somebody out, that all adds up to, get ready, Mike Fuentes.

Mike Ryan is a jerk.

I'm the first jerk that agreed with you?

We agreed on Drew Brees, sir.

If anything, I was.

I just didn't need to.

I didn't need the Stafford mention

because that embarrassed me for

getting him from the list.

I can't have Football America be divisive, too.

No,

you're right.

This is a safe space.

I do want to throw out there that the greatest number nine in sports history, I know people probably thinking Gordy Howe or someone like that.

No, no, it's Roy Hobbs, New York Knights, right fielder, slugger, the best there ever was.

Right?

Bob Redford.

Right way up there.

Olympic Duquesne Wade up there.

Olympic Dwayne Wade is a good one, Gino.

But Bobby Boucher wore number nine.

Yeah.

And where were you when he showed up at the Bourbon Bowl and beat the Muddocks?

The Muddocks won the Bourbon Bowl.

You were there?

Strong.

1960.

Okay, Sandler

is

probably not on the shortlist of greatest Hollywood leading men ever.

All due respect to him.

I think Redford maybe is.

Ico

Cruz, I think the guy who we sleep on a little bit is Tom Cruise.

Oh, yeah.

He might be an odd bird, but who has had a greater career?

You're right up Mike Ryan's alley right now.

No, he's the greatest movie star ever made.

I can understand how there's a deity that revolves around him, and he saved movies.

He's the greatest action star ever.

That's right.

Can have the serious dramatic chops if you need it.

Go watch him in Jerry Maguire if you doubt that.

Go watch him in Rain Man.

He's dynamite.

Well, I have, religiously.

Although I should probably pick a different word.

But he's the man.

He's the absolute man.

He's an American icon, and there should be a huge monument built in his honor,

hopefully before he passes, which may never happen, actually.

He may outlive us all.

He keeps doing his own stunts, though.

It could be sure.

That's a good point.

I'll never catch up to him.

I would add global icon, too, because when I lived in Taipei, every night on television, there was a Tom Cruise movie being played.

I feel like you just tell us he's a bad person.

They live in Taipei.

Yeah, I might have to look at me, Louie, you for that.

Well, I'll find it later.

The little things we find out about the most interesting man on the planet Earth right now, Bradley Campbell's existence, is fascinating.

One day we have to devote, we may have to devote a full week of episodes to just digging in on what he's been up to until he arrived here in Football America.

All right, let's move on to week three.

It's Sam Bennett.

I heard you.

It's not Sam Bennett.

Rainy Con Smythe.

It's Sam Bennett.

I'm not here to indulge any Florida Panthers jive.

All right.

Let's start here.

MVP race.

I heard you, Mike Ryan, with Dan and company on the big show earlier this week updating your MVP standings.

Do you want to give an update here right now?

Yeah,

we don't care about third place over here in my Football America.

And there's just two that deserve to be in this conversation right now.

It's Josh Allen, who I have is first place, and second place is Baker Mayfield.

Okay, I just want to tell you, first of all, because I heard that, and you left Indiana Jones off that list.

Indiana Dimes?

Is that his nickname?

Listen now, I don't know what it is.

There's no third place.

There's no third place.

If there was a third place, maybe we talk about Indiana Jones, but there's no third place here.

How about this instead?

This was all a trick question, me bringing it up to you, because you don't talk about the MVP race just two weeks in.

Don't we have enough of this jive going on with the college football polls?

Who gives a crap where you're ranked?

Well, I care because Notre Dame lost two games, is 0-2, and is still ranked invalidating

the entire experiment of ranking teams while the season is going.

Now you're doubling down on this jive and ranking MVP candidates.

This has no value whatsoever.

Briefly, sidebar,

hit him with the blaster again.

Brief sidebar, College Football America, if you're ranking the top 25 teams in America, Notre Dame's one of them.

They just lost to two top 10 teams by a combined four points.

If we're actually honoring what the top 25 should be, which is essentially essentially a power ranking, they deserve to be on there.

And also, who mentions people that are number one in the AP poll or number two in the MVP standings?

People who benefit from that argument.

And me as a known Baker Mayfield homer, he is my favorite team in the NFL.

I will celebrate the fact that you can't get more valuable than winning two games you probably should have lost.

We picked against them.

Those were great betting spots.

for both Houston and Atlanta.

He's without his tackles and he's winning games in the final moments.

Baker Mayfield is the exact personification of value at the position.

We're not even 20% into the season, fella.

It's great.

Yes, but he's on the medal stand right now.

That's why I mentioned it right now.

All he got is his first two weeks.

Yeah, you got to, you know, take what you got.

Okay, I want to talk about Bake, and we'll get back to him in just a second.

But this thing about Notre Dame, well, they played two good teams.

Yeah, but they lost to him.

If I have an experience with a skunk that results in me getting sprayed,

what does that mean for me?

Does that make me a skunk?

No, it just makes me a victim of the skunk.

That's what Notre Dame is at this point.

There's no value in having played two teams, but lost to both of those good teams.

All right, regarding Baker Mayfield, here's what strikes me

is that Bake's rise in the last couple of years, and there's a deep dive to be done, and I have done it, and you can look it up on the Lebatard YouTube page.

What if the Cleveland Browns hadn't browns it up by chasing Deshaun Watson and trading away Baker Mayfield?

But here we are, and Bake has now strung together a couple really good years, but so too has Sam Darnold as he showed on the banks of the Three Rivers last week.

Another nice win for him, 14 wins last year with Minnesota.

I think the bus tag can officially be removed there.

Add him in with Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson.

Here we go.

Win play show, Mike Ryan.

Let's rank.

The conversation has always been that the greatest QB class of all time, certainly in South Beach, people will advocate for 1983 with Dan Marino plus John Elway, plus Jim Kelly, and Ken O'Brien deserves a shout out too.

But then there's the Ought Four trio.

Forget about J.P.

Lausman.

You have Phil Rivers, obviously, Eli, and Big Ben Rothesberger, four Lombardies between those three guys.

So the Lombardi cat is in their count is in their favor.

Give me your ranking in the here and now time capsule at win-play show.

What's the best QB class ever?

2018 is certainly in that conversation, provided that Sam Darnold can keep it up.

I think it's a bit of fool's gold with Sam Darnold.

We'll see.

That is a great defensive coach.

They got the fluke special teams touchdown.

It depends on what happens with Seattle.

So I'm going to go 2018.

I'm going to go

the Lossman year.

And

let's go with the Merino class of 84.

The most decorated in terms of team achievement is the Ott 4 group.

I'll stand by this for now, but look out for that 2018 class, especially if they can ever get to a Super Bowl and play in one.

That's all.

Yeah, watch out for Josh Robinson.

Sorry.

My Baker Mayfield home race

literally plugged my ears there.

I just wanted to take any opportunity to defend Baker at all costs.

Man, you love Bake.

I do because I was dialed into that what-if, because it's literally their pursuit of Deshaun Watson and the shoeing of Baker Mayfield is what made me stop being a Cleveland Browns fan.

And that was my identity.

There was no more passionate sports fandom in my life than being a Browns fan.

I loved being a Browns fan, and it all went away when they made a terrible decision that I was against from the jump.

I mean, the guy won a playoff game at Pittsburgh, unheard of for a team side of the game.

I heard about that.

Yeah, I heard about that.

That sucked.

But

yeah, I mean, the thing is, people, the pushback you get is, oh, well, just because they trade him away doesn't turn Baker Mayfield into Joe Montana.

No, but he would have been a lot closer to Joe Montana if Cleveland hadn't also given away all those high draft picks to get Deshaun Watson.

That should be a loaded roster right now with Baker Mayfield at the helm for the Browns.

It's not what's going on here.

A little more cleanup, and this is from our last time capsule that we did with Jeff Schwartz and Zaz earlier in the week.

Great episode, by the way, with Jonathan Zazzlow and Jeff Schwartz.

Go back and dig that one up.

We did the best running backs of the Super Bowl era, and there was an omission that a lot of people caught on YouTube and social media.

And one guy who was raw about it was Gino Fuentes.

Gino, explain.

How do you leave LT off?

He's the greatest player in fantasy football history, like the definition of a dual threat.

I hear you.

We should have shouted out LaDane and Tomlinson, but Devil's Damasc also says we weren't making a top 10 list of Super Bowl, of running backs in the Super Bowl era.

We were trying to get to a top five.

There's some tough cuts to make before we started flapping our gums.

I do think ultimately, this is a real tough one to honor what you're saying, Gino, and everybody who dropped a line on this.

I do think I have to put Ladanian ahead of Earl Campbell because of his ability to catch the pass.

Earl Campbell wasn't a pass catcher, and he was also a little bit of a fumbler.

All right, the main event now with Mike Ryan, and the reason that we have him in here is that we both love to talk about uniforms all the time.

It's time for a new fashion corner and big news, we're going to start right out of the gate here, Mike.

We have named this segment, or should I say, our fellow football Americans have named it.

Thanks for all the submission.

Submissions all over

social media.

And Bradley, why don't you go ahead and make the big announcement here?

We had a vote online and the results are.

Drip drill.

Drip drill.

I like it.

Is that a tugboat?

Yeah, it's the only sound I had to like something big.

So yeah, drip drill.

There you go.

Drip drill.

So there we go.

Drip drill.

Let's jump right into it.

Our focus on the first,

the our focus here, the first proper drip drill.

Maybe the best uniform division, at least in pro football, the AFC West.

And the big issue in that division right now, Monday night football in Vegas, the Raiders make anybody who they're going up against look good with that black and silver.

It sets up their faux to look nice.

The Chargers ran out there in their powder blue pants.

How say you, Mike Ryan?

So I've softened on the pantaloon pants, or should I say, I've been beaten into submission on the pantaloon pants.

It's something that I can't stop.

I loved the NFL's pro sock rule where there had to be some white showing, but now the way that players are wearing their socks, they're barely adhering to that.

You got uniform violations left and right.

Now, I would probably prefer the sock contrast of maybe a yellow sock with the white pro sock underneath going into the blue pants.

However, this didn't look that bad to me.

And dare I say, Dave, there are some pantaloon looks in the NFL that are iconic.

When I close my eyes and I think of what the Baltimore Ravens look like, it's the white tops and the black pantaloons.

What say you?

The Baltimore Ravens are the example why the pantaloon look is ridiculous.

When they wear their black slacks, their black pantaloons that then connect right into the black socks, it looks like they're playing football in jazzer-sized pants, which I guess makes it extra embarrassing to lose to a team that's wearing jazzer-sized pants.

But it ain't good for my eyeballs.

I'm going to steat the blue pants specifically.

If they had better socks, they're not as bad as I thought.

I thought when they introduced them over the summer, I thought, why are you messing with the closet?

The closet is so strong.

But they did look nice.

I do want to see them against somebody other than the Raiders, because, like I say, that silver and black set you up for success.

You got the wrong bone to pick there, Dave, from that game, because we can always depend on the Raiders looking good.

And then Monday night, they screwed it all up.

I don't know.

This was your note.

You dropped me.

You texted me this, and my eye didn't pick it up.

Explain.

Abhorrent decal placement on the Raiders' helmet.

Who is their equipment manager?

It needs to be higher.

It was practically on the ear hole.

It looks so strange.

Look at this garbage.

That is not how any decal should be placed on an NFL helmet.

This is really bad, and it made the Chargers look even better by comparison.

Isn't it so?

Don't they do it because they have the other air holes up higher now on the modern helmet?

Everybody's guessing that.

There's air holes everywhere, all over the helmet.

Different air holes everywhere.

How come every other NFL team knows where to put their decals except for the Raiders?

This is not where Raiders' decals go.

It looks weird.

Most of their helmet is empty silver space.

This is bad, Dave.

This is real bad.

I like the seriousness you bring.

Do you think crypto is a joke?

It's not.

It's practice.

It's not training camp.

It's live out here.

And

why do we pay so much attention to what teams are wearing?

Because we want it to be aesthetically pleasing.

Contrast helps.

And say what you will about the powder blue pantaloons.

They provide great contrast against about 99% of the league.

I mean, why, again, I mean, the thing that would fix pro football uniforms is, you know, I think it was around 2000, the league kind of broadly decided like in the age of, as the TVs get better and HD quality,

we...

we are going to go away from the specificity of the super ornate striped socks.

Like the Bears will still wear their ornate, heavily striped socks, but most teams have just replaced it with one solid color.

Like the Colts have done that.

The Broncos do that.

I mean, we have HD TVs.

We can see the narrow line.

So let's bring those back.

It'll jazz up the uniforms and forget about this all-white sock that they do, eliminating the color at the bottom of the uniform.

It's disrespectful to the uniform designer, but okay, also disrespectful is as we rank the AFC West uniforms four down to one.

I'm going to start it off with, in my book, the clear-cut number four team here.

It's the Denver Broncos because it's disrespectful to their forefathers that they're not wearing one of their good uniforms, like the John Elway era with the Bronco with his nose

putting snot out on the foes and all that, and the orange crush getups.

What these, I can't even make sense of what these are.

How say you?

It's neon orange.

It's very bright, but I will say the Broncos probably had one of the better redesigns in the 90s.

And while I agree, those, you miss those.

They're nostalgic.

The orange tops with

the snorting Bronco on the helmet.

I only associate that helmet with playoff disappointment and failure.

It was only until the redesign where they brought a Bronco with a flaming mane on its helmet and those weird

pipe, that weird piping on their uniforms that made it look like a bunch of commas were getting in the huddle.

That's the only time that they actually won anything.

And to a child, that was a welcome redesign.

Yeah, the look stayed around a little bit too long.

But the further we get away from it, the more we realize that that is perhaps the single most influential uniform redesign in sports history.

Because it's influential doesn't equal it being good.

It means a lot of other people had bad taste and were picking up on what the Broncos and who was the designer?

Nike, I'm guessing, would have designed them.

They kind of made them look like Nike checks a little bit.

They were bad.

And the vertical stripe that bled up from the pants onto the side,

that was a terrible, terrible movement in pro football that we've largely, if not entirely, gotten away from.

I think what's fascinating about the AFC West is even if the Broncos wore their best uniforms, in my book, they still would be in fourth place because at number three,

I have the Kansas City Chiefs and I love those uniforms.

And in fact, the Chiefs, when they wear their red dungarees with the white tops and red hats, that is in the conversation for best road uniform in pro football.

I agree.

Best road uniform in the league.

I get visibly upset when they decide to go all white because I think the red pants pop so much.

I was so happy when that got reintroduced to their uniform set.

I have the Raiders at number three, Dave, and it's a classic.

It's a classic uniform.

It's a classic uniform.

And this isn't me just being hyperbolic because what they did with the helmet decals.

I would like a little bit more optionality.

They do have that throwback set where the numbers are big, blocky, and silver.

I like that.

Look, if there is ever a team that should go black for black's sake, all black head to toe, just maybe once in a blue moon, it should be the Raiders franchise.

I'd like a little bit more optionality, though.

I do tip my hat.

It is a timeless look and they should never change the template.

Well, like the Chiefs, neither team has ever changed their uniform or has made very slim changes over the decades.

So I admire that alone, that the Chiefs have the exact same getups that they had back in the AFL.

Fascinating.

At number two, I can't believe he went with the Raiders at three.

At number two, as much as I love them, and I love them an awful lot, it's the Los Angeles Chargers.

How say you?

I have the Chiefs at number two.

And I guess this will lead into a debate as to why the Chargers are my number one.

optionality.

There's not a bad uniform in the set.

And now they reintroduced Navy and they fixed the old Navy set that they had and brought in that Stan Humphreys, LaDanian Tomlinson era.

I love that.

You don't throw Stan Humphreys in the face of this Steelers fan.

I remember 94.

I was in Three River Stadium when he threw the ball to Tony Martin and broke my heart.

Don't bring that up.

Hit him with the blaster again.

I think it should bother the Dolphin fans too, the missed

kick of Pete Stoyanovich.

But don't forget, Natron Means, he stepped out of bounds.

History is probably forever changed.

Who knows what happens?

You have the great storyline of Dan Marino against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

You may have the Miami Dolphins playing the first host Super Bowl against a great, one of the greatest San Francisco 49er teams of all time.

Natron means stepped out of bounds, Dave.

Okay.

All right.

Listen, here's what I'll say.

Why I'm going to dang the Chargers is exactly what you just mentioned is the virtue of their uniform set.

If you're going to do like all the tips of the hat to all the generations of uniforms, how do you not do the Air Core L years?

How do you not do the Dan Fouts, Wes Chandler, John Jefferson, gold pants, white jersey, royal blue hat?

They haven't done it instead.

Stan Humphreys, that's who you're honoring?

Fat Raiders.

They're like Texas.

Change our uniforms.

Why fix what ain't broke?

We're the Oakland Raiders or the Los Angeles Raiders or the Las Vegas Raiders.

What we are is we're the silver and black and we ain't changing it for nothing.

I admire it.

That's my number one.

And that's it for this first edition of Drip Drill.

Did it go well for you, Mike?

That got heated.

We both argued with conviction, and I think the audience won.

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All right, here we go.

It's time for this week's pick six segment presented by DraftKings.

DraftKings, the crown is yours.

I've made my six selections.

Mike and Geno Fuentes are going to try to help me with the tougher ones that I selected here.

Let me just tell you what they are.

Herbert going over 20 and a half rush yards

in week three.

He's gotten over 30 in the first two weeks.

Patrick Mahomes will throw at least two touchdown passes.

B.

John Robinson over 21.5 receiving yards.

He's had 25 and 100 receiving yards in the first two weeks.

Russ Wilson under

227.5 pass yards.

Drake May over.

0.5 interceptions.

That means he will throw at least one interception.

And Kareem Hunt over eight and a half rush attempts as the Chiefs trying to get their ground attack rolling there.

Let's start off at the top there, Mike and Gino.

Do you like me going over with Justin Herbert here, the 20 and a half rush yards?

Yeah, he's gone for 31 and 32 in his first two games here.

And I think that's just part of the game underneath Harbaugh.

He rushes a lot.

I think he had, what, he had nine and eight rush attempts.

I mean, he's going to make the defense, try to defend the pass, and he's going to take the run underneath.

That's kind of his game right now.

Yeah, I don't think he wants to be doing it, but he's going to take what's given.

I mean, I think Amarion Hampton's been a little bit of a disappointment, people would say, especially people who drafted him really high.

I think they're just trying to get both guys involved.

Yeah, I think they're trying to get both guys involved, but the past game has been surprising.

We know Harbaugh wants to run a lot more than he's passing, but it's working out for them pretty good.

The real crazy thing to me, five reception touchdowns for the Chargers, none of them to Ladwickonki.

That is interesting, but what is not that fascinating to me is 20 and a half rush yards is a meager total.

I mean, you don't have to have design runs to get to that.

You need to have the defense turn their back on him one time and he can get it taking off on one-third down.

Okay, Mahomes, two touchdown passes.

Are you down on this, either one of you?

I like this because eventually they're going to have to really get that going.

And if you look at the rushing yards for the Chiefs, I don't think they want Patrick Mahomes to be their leading rusher.

And they're leading rusher by a lot.

That being said, he is their entire offensive.

Exactly.

Well, eventually he has to get going.

So somebody's got to start catching these touchdowns.

So I think finally he'll get it.

this week.

Okay, so you're saying over?

Over one and a half.

I'm going to agree with you.

Yeah.

Oh, you are agreeing with me.

I mean, maybe it'll be Kelsey.

Maybe it won't.

That's the big issue.

We can talk about everything else, the lack of running backs and pass catchers and otherwise.

The big absence for Patrick Mahomes that he's had for the entirety of his career is a dependable Travis Kelsey.

That seems to have evaporated.

Okay, last week.

Also, also, did you just see what happened in Dallas against the Giants?

I mean,

the Giants can't stop.

That's part of

my math here is that they're playing the New York Giants.

Okay, speaking of those Giants, Russell Wilson under 227 and a half pass yards.

I know he had the big game on the big screen and all of that just last week, but he's only gone over that total once in the last six years.

Mike and Geno, how say you?

Well, again, I saw that last game, and I can't unsee it because he's got Malik neighbors out there now, and they're not using Wandell Robinson for the short stuff either.

So I think he'll get over it.

I don't think it'll be impressive, but I think he can get over that amount.

I think Dave will accidentally stumbled onto onto something that might actually work, which is just, hey, neighbors or Robinson will be down there and Russell Wilson will find them.

Yes.

So Tracy's been struggling.

Scatterbu's been struggling.

The running game altogether has been struggling.

So why not just have Russell Wilson air it out?

I mean, it might take two or three interceptions to get there, but we'll get there.

Who cares?

Just throw it out there.

They'll go.

I'm going to, I'm going to stay under on this total, but I do hear what you're saying there.

I do like the idea of Russ's moon balls.

Whoever catches them, our team, the other team, whatever.

Success for Russ.

Okay, good stuff, Mike and Gino.

There's your pick six.

Play it or go your own way.

Last week, we introduced our game pick segment with a guest picker.

I want to do that every week going forward here.

And our inaugural game picker was my mother, but she was wrong.

She said that the Steelers were going to blow out the Seahawks, and they didn't.

Instead, the Steelers embarrassed themselves and the entire city of Pittsburgh with their performance.

So she's out.

By the way, she also used her time on the show last week to attack my daughter, who drafted Joe Burrow in our fantasy football league.

And Joe Burrow now out for basically the rest of the season.

Coincidence?

Only maybe.

Her powers are profound.

Perhaps even evil.

Anyway, here's to another ringer, the host of You Better, You Bet, weekdays 3 to 7 p.m.

and Sunday, 11 to 1 p.m.

You can find it on YouTube, Sirius.

It's on Twitch.

Wherever you find your podcast, he's the founding father of Wagertainment, a Shecky award winner, and one of the authentic characters and good guys in the business.

My pal, Nick Costos.

What's happening, man?

How are you?

What's going on, my man?

Thank you so much for having me.

And look, like your mom may have some kind of voodoo going on.

But did she lay six and a half with the Arizona Cardinals last week like I did, up 27-3 in the third quarter against Bryce Young and only win by five?

Because I feel like for as much voodoo as she may have going on, like I might be the witch doctor here after the first couple of weeks of the season.

Well, listen, earlier in the show, we talked to Mike Ryan, and he's trying to acknowledge who's the MVP frontrunner right now.

It's too soon for that sort of thing.

Still, though, if we're going to honor ourselves with our picks, I did have the Cardinals as a wild card.

I did have the Colts winning the AFC West.

I have the Cardinals winning the NFC West, man.

I'm Mr.

Arizona.

Although I will say, I'm not extremely impressed with them, even with the 2-0 start.

And I do worry, I know we'll talk about this game, their game on Sunday at the 49ers.

A little concerned.

Okay.

Yeah, I want to dig in on that.

But since you're in New York City and as we go coast to coast in Football America, you are

a resident, I guess, sort of Giants fan, except that you're one of these curmudgeons who likes to announce, I'm off that.

I can't be a fan anymore.

The wagering is too serious for me.

And so I have no rooting interest anymore.

Nevertheless, where do you come down as the boots on the ground about what Brian Dable is doing here?

This is a fascinating subject to me.

Do you like them rolling with Russell Wilson with Justin Dart sitting on the sideline there?

Well, I love like the, how you phrase the question.

Do you like what Brian Dable's doing?

Well, it's year four and they're 0-2 and look like one of the worst teams in the league again.

So I would say like, no, I don't really like what they're doing.

And it's not that wagering has killed killed my Giants fandom It's that I actually see I actually take umbrage with the question and the way that you and the way that you phrased it there because I'm actually the best get the blaster ready Mike Fuentes get the blaster ready cuz I'm actually I'm the best kind of fan You know how big a fan I am?

I'm so big a fan and I'm such a good sports fan and I'm such a good Giants fan that I know it's actually in the best interest of my team to lose to make things better moving forward.

Like they need to lose on Sunday night to the Kansas City Chiefs, whether it's Russell Wilson or Jackson Dart.

And by the way, love Jackson Dart making his NFL debut last weekend, like a spot snap against the Cowboys, falling on the ball and losing like five yards.

Great decision by Dable.

Russell Wilson's having the best game he's had in a decade.

Let's put Jackson Dart in to fumble the football and lose five yards.

So, no, I'm not happy with anything Brian Dable does.

The fact that he survived last year and Joe Shane survived last year, Check, you're a massive NFL fan.

Your audience are massive NFL fans.

I'll ask you.

I'll ask them.

How many times times can you remember year three of a regime, worse?

I don't care that they didn't pick first overall.

We watch the games.

Worst team in the league.

Come back, no problem, and you get to pick a quarterback.

Awesome.

So what's going to happen next year when Dable and Shane are inevitably fired?

And now we're the Bears.

And now like a new regime has to decide if they like Max and Dart or not.

That's how big a fan I am.

I root for them to lose because that's going to be how they win down the road to get these Jabronis the hell out of here.

That's right.

And I'll say that the experience is that if you are in fact,

I won't do that.

You won't do that.

You won't do that.

You have not listened to me in the past 18 months, clearly.

You would root for the Steelers.

0-16, final game of the year.

If 0-17 men change and a shot at the generational quarterback,

you would die for them to win that game and finish 1-16.

You are not going to be able to.

First of all, I'm old enough to remember when the Pittsburgh Penguins tanked to get Mario Lemieux, and so I am not going to

go against the idea of, I mean, it's embarrassing to go 0-17, but I do not mind tanking in

certain circumstances.

And to connect your fandom with mine, this is exactly my issue with why if you are now set up in 2026 with the assets you have in the draft and otherwise, and you have aligned your philosophy to go get a quarterback as high as you possibly can in the first round in 2026, then what the hell are you doing in the meantime with Aaron Rodgers, who's probably going to steal you a win or two more than Mason Rudolph or otherwise would have?

It was a massive mistake to bring it in.

I just skipped a frick.

Okay.

Let's do the game picks.

And if we have time on the other end, we can keep on fighting here.

And we're going to count them down all the way down to number one.

And we're going to start it off with a fascinating one because it's a battle of the backups.

It's the Cincinnati Bengals.

It's the Minnesota Vikings.

Nick Costos, choose.

Give me your final score to this one.

I think it's going to be be a high-scoring game, Check.

I talked about this on You Better, You Bet earlier this week when we first, well, really when the Vikings, because we knew Burrow was going to be out, but kind of like the Vikings came out of left field and said, you know, everyone else is announcing quarterback news.

Let's now say our quarterback has a high ankle sprain and is out, and he's going to be out through the bye because they have two games in Europe coming up, obviously.

And one of them, obviously, will be against Check, against you, or Pittsburgh Steelers.

So as soon as this news was announced that Wentz would start, and obviously we knew Browning would start, the total cratered because Joe Burrow's not playing in the game and McCarthy's not playing in the game despite what anyone thinks about J.J.

McCarthy.

And that kind of forced me to have a conversation with myself as an NFL analyst and as a better.

Do I think that it's come down too far?

And it was 41 and a half at that point.

It's 42 and a half now.

Not a huge difference between those numbers.

And I think it has.

We know that Kevin O'Connell, and it has not been great with J.J.

McCarthy to start, but one of the great quarterback whisperers of our time, like took Nick Mullins to multiple 400-yard passing games, took Josh Dobbs literally off the street a couple days in in Minnesota and took him to

a winning performance.

And while Carson Wentz is obviously not the quarterback he was in 2017 when a torn ACL probably cost him MVP and won the Eagles a Super Bowl, he has natural ability and talent and he's got some good weapons to throw to even with Jordan Addison still suspended and the Bengals defense remains hot garbage.

And on the flip side, because I remembered this because I'm sick.

So football season, I work Monday through Friday and Sunday.

Saturday is my one day off.

And I made this arrangement with my now wife years ago that I would punt college football for the most part on Saturdays in the interest of keeping my relationship going.

Wow.

Oh, yeah.

And now I'm married and I have a kid.

So

I think it worked out.

So once we get the Saturday games going at the end of the season, we're generally doing something around the holidays, right?

So I remember a couple years ago driving in Manhattan and listening on Westwood One, for whom I am employed.

Just wanted to shout them out.

And I'm listening to Bengals Vikings.

This is three years ago, Brian Flores' first year as the Vikings defensive coordinator.

Jake Browning started that game against the Minnesota Vikings, threw for over 340 yards, and the Bengals won 27-24 in overtime.

Now, this is year three of the Flores defense.

The players kind of have like a master's degree in that defense now, but we've literally seen Browning beat the Flores defense.

It's happened already.

And the Bengals obviously have some good weapons on offense here.

Jack, I'll take a contrarian over with the Bengals and the Vikings.

I love it.

And

that's the sort of detail you get from Costos here.

To me, I'm going 2010 Vikings.

I don't think that the Vikings defense is in the same place.

It was three years ago, your point notwithstanding.

The Browning Wentz thing, I mean, the assumption that Wentz, that you know what Wentz is in 2025, is a little bit of a reach.

I'm riding to your point with KOC, not with the guy at the trigger.

Give me 23-20 and I win.

I don't need this to be, you know, like Bills Ravens week one.

Give me a nice 23-20 game and

we all emerge victorious.

I guess I do at least.

At number four in our countdown here, we're going with the NFC West showdown.

It's the Niners at the Cardinals 2-0.

Are both teams here, Cardinals at the time of this recording, laying a point and a half?

How say you, Costos?

Yeah, I think it's a really, really difficult game to predict at the moment because, you know, we don't have injury reports yet as we do this on Thursday, right?

Because both these teams are on the West Coast and it's about two o'clock in the afternoon.

So we don't, we don't know if Brock Purdy's playing in the game.

He was a surprise at Wednesday's practice for San Francisco.

And Kyle Shanahan told reporters that there's a chance that Purdy does start.

And we did see the betting market move towards San Francisco on that news.

I still think it's more likely to be Mac Jones.

Who?

Mac Jones.

But there's an outside chance it's Brock Purdy.

But to me, the bigger concern, check, and I'm on Arizona stuff from before the season.

Arizona to win the NFC West.

Arizona over the win total.

I would love for the Cardinals to win this game.

Their secondary is an absolute mass unit.

You know, they lost a couple members of the secondary during the offseason for the entire season.

And just when things started to look good, right, where Will Johnson, the second-round pick out of Michigan, looks like an absolute stud.

McMaby would be the frontrunner for defensive rookie of the year.

I'm being serious.

That's how good he's been.

If he's able to stay healthy, leaves the game on Sunday against Carolina with the groin injury.

Does not practice on Wednesday.

Feels bad early in the week.

Garrett Williams gets placed on IR, one of their cornerbacks.

Max Melton doesn't practice on Wednesday.

So the Cardinals could be going into this game with a bunch of, you know, with a bunch of scrubs at the corner position going up against Ricky Pearsall and Jawan Jennings and the Niners.

And I think the setup here is not great for Arizona.

So we're early in the week.

We are not operating with all the information as far as injuries are concerned.

If you maybe pick a winner right now, I would take San Francisco because I'm a little pessimistic about the Arizona secondary.

But if this line check, and let's say Purdy plays, that it's the Cardinal secondary guys are out, this is going to close over three.

I might consider playing Arizona plus the points at that time.

But I do think the Niners are more likely to win the game right now.

Yeah, great notes there from Nick.

And keep your eye on this one.

Obviously, whether it's Purdy or

Mac Jones is going to determine a lot in which way you lean there.

What strikes me as we jump from Vikings into the Niners is the guy that's looming out there, and there was buzz about him in August to the Rams is kirk cousins is is this just it for him are we just not going to see anybody reach out for him it would be it would be senseless for the bengals to do that given the state of their offensive line but i'm a little surprised we aren't hearing any mentions about kirk moving somewhere right i'm i'm because i'm i'm trying to think of like what would even make sense for him and i i do think cousins is better than jake browning i don't know if he's that much better than jake browning where like it would justify a trade

i i think you're gonna need like another quarterback to get hurt.

I don't think any of the teams right now with quarterback injuries make sense.

Even if you wanted to invent a scenario where, and I think Jaden Daniels might play on Sunday, but even if you wanted to invent a scenario where Daniels is hurt for a significant amount of time, I think they would just roll with Mariota.

So I think Cousins is probably going to be just Michael Pennix Jr.'s backup the entire season.

I think it would require another quarterback getting hurt on a contender where they want to try and win a Super Bowl and the backup's not up to par.

I don't think we've seen that happen just yet.

And Browning is too good for the Bengals to make a move like that.

I hear you,

and the spend on Brock Purdy kind of requires you to wait him out, and it doesn't feel like it's a long-term thing.

The one to me is the Vikings.

This is the opportunity to sort of be vague about exactly how long the kid has to sit down for.

If you're KOC and a little nervous about your decision and how ripe the rest of the roster is before Jordan Addison returns and all of that, This would be the spot if you believe in Kirk Cousins to go get him.

It feels to me like.

It's too early.

I think it's too early.

I don't think you can pull the plug on McCarthy after two games.

I didn't say pull the plug on him, but this game was.

Well, if you trade for Kirk Cousins, if you trade for Kirk Cousins, pulling the plug on him, you're saying, well, we don't want to waste the season, so we're bringing in the savvy back.

Are you nuts?

Of course it's pulling the plug on McCarthy if they trade.

Well, not if you say he's out for the next eight weeks.

You know, they're just going to lie.

A quarterback with a quarterback, there's not a running back, but the quarterback with a high ankle sprain is going to be out two months.

It's unprecedented.

No one's going to buy that.

The Denver Broncos, the Los Angeles Chargers.

Damashek picked the Chargers to win the division before the season kicked off.

A lot of people like the Broncos' chances.

Time of this recording.

LAC laying two and a half.

Nick Costos, how say you?

I see a three right now, and there are some threes there.

I'll take the three with the Broncos and not think twice about it.

Disappointing loss check for Denver last week against Indianapolis, especially for me, because I laid one and a half with Denver in Bette Moneyline, and Sean Payton called for a field goal block on the final play on a 60-yarder that didn't have a prayer of making it.

So that was disappointing.

And here's a 45-yarder for the win.

Coming into the year, I did like the Broncos more than the Chargers, and I may have to.

take the L on that.

We'll see.

But if I'm going to get a full three here, and I want to be careful with how I say this because I am not ready to bury the Kansas City Chiefs, but I think we need to call a spade a spade.

The Chiefs' offense, I think, will get fixed as the season moves along when they get players back from either injury or suspension.

I've got big-time concerns about this Chiefs' defense that Herbert absolutely ripped up on Friday night in Brazil, specifically the past defense.

And I think, you know, the fact that the Eagles refused to throw the ball down the field probably made the Chiefs' past offense look a little better than it actually is.

So I think that with what we saw from the Raiders on Monday night and the Raiders' defense is not good, this is going to be by far the best defense that Justin Herbert's seen this season.

And I'm not saying he can't do it.

I just, I want him to prove it to me.

I'll pay to see it.

I love the Broncos here.

This is my favorite bet of the week.

Broncos plus three at the Chargers.

The thing that people, I don't know what it's going to take for people to see with their two working eyes

what has now been 18, 19 games worth of the Jim Harbaugh experience, which is all the buzz about how he can turn a quarterback around and his second season with anything.

The defense is statistically at minimum among the league's best.

And so when everybody talks about, oh, now Justin Herbert's going to catch that Broncos defense.

Well, guess what?

Bo Nix is catching the Chargers defense, and that ain't easy.

Well,

I will say, no Khalil Mack.

I think maybe a big deal.

And now we'll see, because that was the thing that we talked about, right?

When Joey Bosa left to sign with the Buffalo Bills and the Chargers didn't really get any reinforcements.

They drafted a fourth-round pass rusher who was a healthy scratch for the first two games of the year.

Catui Tool to a Pelotu.

And these edge rushers that no one's ever heard of, I'm not saying it can happen, but we've never seen it without Khalil Mack and without Joey Bosa.

Let's see how this goes against an absolute stud Broncos offensive line.

I think the Broncos are going to win the game outright.

Okay, that leads me neatly into our number two game of the week.

And my looming concern remains for the Baltimore Ravens is their pass rush or lack of a traditional pass rush.

They get a lot of it, that inside push and all of that.

They don't have the name brand guy outside of Kyle Vanoy, I guess.

Baltimore hosting the Lions.

Baltimore laying four and a half.

How say you, Nick Costos, on Monday night football?

I agree, Shaq, with the betting move here.

This was six and it's come down to four and a half, five, five and a half.

And I can see what the number is right now on my screen.

Yeah, 4.5.

You're absolutely right.

And the Ravens will need to get interior pressure here because I think, you know, what happened in week one with Micah Parsons abusing Panay Sewell is unlikely to happen in basically every single game moving forward this season with how good Sewell is and how good Taylor Decker is.

The one point of attack, I think, for this Lions offensive line, and the Bears were just completely inept and unable to take advantage of it last week, is the interior, right?

With Glasgow and Tate Rowlich and Christian Mahogany, they held up well last week.

I'm curious to see how that goes this week against the Baltimore Ravens and the interior of the Ravens defensive line.

And when it comes down to me handicapping this game, and this is the Monday night game, so we have a couple extra days to think about it, obviously.

I think the Lions are still really good.

Maybe just the Packers are that good.

I may end up with just the Lions money line bet in this game where you don't often get a team of Detroit's caliber at this type of big price to win a football game.

And I think that's where I'm leaning right now.

I have not placed that bet.

I reserve the right to change my mind as injury reports come out, but that's currently where I'm leaning right now would just be the Lions to win the game.

And like you, Shek, I do have some concerns about this Ravens team, the psychological impact of blowing the game, another blown lead with Harbaugh and Lamar to Buffalo in week one.

And last week's final score against Cleveland is wildly misleading.

The Ravens won that game 41-17.

If you looked at the box score of the game, and I understand games are not played in a box score, right?

They're played on the field.

you would think that this was like a three-point game.

Like this was an unlucky game for the, I'm not saying the Browns deserve to win.

It's an unlucky final score and an unflattering final score.

I actually have not been that impressed with the Baltimore Ravens this year.

I wouldn't be shocked if the Lions went into Baltimore and won the game.

If you go back a week, people were concerned about the Lions, but then they got the Chicago Bears, and now they're right as reign in a lot of people's books.

I think the specific matchup at the line of scrimmage you mentioned when the Lions have the ball favors the Ravens.

I think in general, we're about to see the Ravens take it to another gear.

They are putting a lot of points on the board.

I think they'll do that against the Lions once again.

This team, the Lions are built on their physicality, and 40% of their offensive line from last year is gone now.

That's not a small matter.

I like the Ravens, and I like them big here.

And that brings us to our number one game.

Divisional round showdown, the Rams.

Everybody loves to talk about the fact that they almost beat the Eagles.

And in fact, they did in the snow in January last year.

How say you on this one at the time of this recording?

Eagles laying three and a half to the visitors from Los Angeles.

Yeah, I opened, I did about 30 minutes to open my show on this game yesterday on Wednesday.

And I'll summarize what I said there.

I can understand why someone would, and look, and I can be wrong.

So the Rams can win the game.

I understand why someone would want to take four with the Rams.

I can understand the thought process of wanting to take three and a half with the Rams.

If at any point in between now and kickoff on Sunday, Shek, if this comes down to the Eagles just as a three-point favorite,

I'm going to bet Philadelphia in the game.

I think that would be the point where I would say, like, we have gone way too far.

And I think this number is actually incorrect.

And the reason why I think it's incorrect when we talk about the on-field handicap is the same handicap you basically have with every Eagles game.

They're going to dominate both lines of scrimmage.

Like it's just going to happen.

Now, maybe Saquon won't run for 460 yards like he did in the two games they played against.

Literally, 460 yards, four touchdown runs of over 60 yards in the two games against the Rams last year, one on Sunday night football in the regular season, one in the snow in the postseason.

Maybe that doesn't happen, but man, I...

The Rams have allowed over four yards per carry in each of their first two games this season.

And the Texans run game and the Titans run game.

We'll not confuse anyone with like the 93 Cowboys.

So now here's Philly's offensive line and here's Saquon Barkley.

And I would understand like maybe someone wants to say, well, the Rams are going to sell out to stop the run and they're going to make Jalen Hurts beat them.

And maybe Kevin Batullo is just Italian Brian Johnson and this is going to be a disaster on offense.

I'm willing to bet against that happening.

This is a self-aware team, a smart team.

They know what happened two years ago when the offense completely went off the rails.

I doubt we see that happen again.

Also, Akelo Wetherspoon's on IR.

What does that mean?

It means Emmanuel Forbes is probably going to be on A.J.

Brown.

Does anyone remember what happens when the Eagles play the commanders in the past and Emmanuel Forbes guards A.J.

Brown?

He gets annihilated.

So I think Jalen Hurts and the Eagles passing offense will have success in this game.

And on the flip side, the Rams' interior offensive line, I think, strikes fear in the heart of nobody.

Here's Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis.

Matthew Stafford's 37 years old.

And to me, his back, he's been great to start the year.

That back feels like a ticking time bomb.

And I love me some Devontae Adams, and I love me some Puka Nakua Ba Man.

If the Rams win this game, I will gladly say I was wrong, and this is a legit real deal Super Bowl threat.

I don't see it that way.

I think the Eagles are the best team at minus three.

It's a bet for me on Philadelphia.

The Eagles win this one by a touchdown.

Nick Costos, I hope you win all your bets.

Make sure you're listening to You Better You Bet Monday through Friday, plus over the weekend.

You're as good as it gets, man, and a mensch to boot.

Best to you in all regards.

We appreciate the time.

And that's it for all of us here.

Thanks for joining us, Football Americans.

We'll be back on the other side of week three to try and make sense of it for you.

Until then, thanks so much, Football Americans.

It's been a thin slice of heaven.