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- [00:01]
Mira Potassan
Hi, my name is Mira Potassan. I'm an author and I'm an activist. And GoFundMe is my go to platform for fundraising. The first GoFundMe I did was to raise money for a chat book or a collection of poetry and essays and short stories. So we started a GoFundMe and our goal was 7,000. What I've learned that is so special about GoFundMe is that it's a whole collection of people offering anything from like, like $4 to $400. And each time you get a ping that someone donated, even if it is just $4, it's so exciting. So if you have a goal and you get there, you can keep making it bigger and bigger and bigger. We did go past our goal. It was amazing.
- [00:47]
Eric Larson
GoFundMe is the world's number one fundraising.
- [00:50]
Ali Jackson
Platform, trusted by over 200 million people. Start your GoFundMe today at gofundme.com that's gofundme.com gofundme.com if you're a podcast host, listen up. This one's for you. My name is Ali Jackson. I'm the host of Finding Mr. Height, a dating and relationship podcast that I've been doing for four years now, sharing my positive and practical approach to dating that's built on my own life experience. And I wanted to share another experience that I've had my secret behind monetizing my show. It's called Red Circle, and I was just telling my colleague about how much I love their platform. With Red Circle, not only am I getting a seamless hosting experience, but I also love the support I receive in ad sales. It's not just typical ad sales either. It's targeted opportunities. Opportunities based on my show and my life. And the platform is super simple. You just set your preferences and Red Circle matches you with sponsors that align with your show. You can vet every opportunity and their platform gives you great analytics. More recently, too, my Red Circle team has brought me opportunities outside of my podcast on social media to really augment the podcast partnerships. Bring them full circle. I just can't recommend them enough. If you want to give it a try, go to redcircle.com to get your free trial. That's redcircle.com for a free trial.
- [01:58]
Jeremy Odom
Foreign welcome back. It's a brand new episode. This is Laugh With Me podcast with Jeremy Odomi. Joined again.
- [02:26]
Eric Larson
You just crack yourself up.
- [02:27]
Jeremy Odom
I did. Sometimes. Sometimes, depending who you ask, it's all the time. But sometimes I. There's just like, I'll do something or I'll say something. And it's just weird enough that it'll make myself laugh. That one got me. And it was me in my head going, give him a chuckle, give him a chuckle. And then I laughed. And then you called me out on it.
- [02:52]
Eric Larson
I, I feel like that should be, you know, part of the show. Laugh with me. And then like underneath it, you know, just like, give them a chuckle.
- [02:59]
Jeremy Odom
Give him a chuckle. Well, we're joined again by a giant in the transportation industry. You know him as a football expert, a former multi time fantasy football champion, the former fifth speaker at Central. Have you, you've won a darts before? What? Give us, give us, give us a new, like, what else is on the resume? I'm just, I'm giving all your accolades.
- [03:29]
Eric Larson
First time guest.
- [03:30]
Jeremy Odom
First time guest on the pod. Ah, this is Eric Larson, everybody.
- [03:36]
Eric Larson
I didn't want to come on until you. You finished your first hundred.
- [03:40]
Jeremy Odom
We did.
- [03:41]
Eric Larson
That's how we knew that the show had staying power.
- [03:43]
Jeremy Odom
That's how we knew. And you're not the first person to say that. I, we have a friend who has. I, I was like, hey, come on the pod. You have funny stories. Like, it would be, it'd be entertaining. And he's like, maybe when you get to episode, blah, blah, blah, like, okay, because you're such a get. Like, I didn't know, like, there was a line to get to you, but, you know, whatever. Johnny only brings us the best guests, the ones who want to be here. Here you are. We're excited to have you. And we're here not just to revel in the successes of 100 episodes, which is very difficult to get to. I don't know if you've heard, but less than 10% of podcasts ever even get there. Pretty. I'm pretty proud that we've got to 100. And you were what, on 25 of them? I mean, you're on a good chunk of them. Maybe 10. Did I overestimate?
- [04:33]
Eric Larson
No, I mean, I think it's probably in that 15 to 20.
- [04:35]
Jeremy Odom
You're in that 15, 20 range. To get to 100 is pretty cool. And then people say, all right, you did it, you did it, Jo. Now what, What's. What's next after you get to 100? Well, obviously you get 101, which we gave you. We gave you episode 101. Okay, so stop yelling. And then this is episode 102. But coming very, very soon to the Laugh With Me Podcast YouTube page, ladies and gentlemen, I'm proud to announce Laugh with me, the Animated Series. Thank you, Johnny. Laugh with me, the Animated Series. The first episode, the pilot, starring myself, Jeremy Odom. Starring Eric Larson, our guest here today as he tells us some of his stories from the. The pub tour when you were on vacation in England. So this is really exciting. It's a different telling of the story. I don't know if. Do you remember those stories? Don't give us the stories now. We. We let the people watch it. But do you remember what you said?
- [05:55]
Eric Larson
Vaguely.
- [05:55]
Jeremy Odom
Okay. All right, so here's the thing. We have an episode called Eric Goes to Europe. You could go listen to that. You could listen to that episode and you'd hear all the stories. Okay, maybe you've already listened to it and you have heard the stories. Now you're gonna hear those stories in beautiful color picture on YouTube. It's gonna be amazing. The artist who. Who did the shoot, I should give him a shout out, shouldn't I? What am I? What a jerk. I didn't even write down. Here I am getting. I remember going, hey, what do you want me to call you on the show? And he was just like, alien. Alien designed. Alien designed. Is the artist incredible animation. We've got some fun jokes within there that you would never have heard on the pod because it's visual. We may have an appearance by Cisco.
- [06:53]
Eric Larson
Wow.
- [06:54]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah. Famous from the Thong Song. I don't know.
- [06:58]
Eric Larson
That's a. That's a first 100 callback.
- [07:00]
Jeremy Odom
That's a. Yeah.
- [07:01]
Eric Larson
Call back to the first 100 episodes of 60 of them. Of 60 of 60 of them featured Cisco.
- [07:08]
Jeremy Odom
I don't want to give too much away, obviously, but keep your eyes peeled. This animated series is coming. The pilot episode and the episode two is actually coming right behind it is almost done. So would you.
- [07:22]
Eric Larson
Really excited, would you say, I mean, I haven't seen any of this animation yet. I mean, is this. Is this gonna help me with the ladies?
- [07:29]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah, it's.
- [07:30]
Eric Larson
Am I tastefully rendered in this?
- [07:33]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah, it looks just like you. It's gonna be. You're tall.
- [07:36]
Eric Larson
Okay.
- [07:38]
Jeremy Odom
Like that salt and pepper hair. You know, you've got that dark and then you got that gray. So it's gonna be like that salt and pepper and then, you know, you've been known here. What are you drinking right now?
- [07:49]
Eric Larson
A beer?
- [07:50]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah, beer. You've got that nice shapely beer belly going that we all do. I do too. This is not a new thing. This is an all us thing. You got that going. But you're really tall. Way taller than me.
- [08:04]
Eric Larson
Great personality. Sounds like this animated version of me. Great personality.
- [08:08]
Jeremy Odom
There may or may not be a scene where you're peeing in a beer. I don't know. I'm not. Who am I to know?
- [08:15]
Eric Larson
Spoiler alert.
- [08:15]
Jeremy Odom
Spoiler alert. But it's exciting. And then I will put out there that episode two is. It's a callback to a very traumatic experience that I had that I do have in a episode that is. I'm not going to tell you what the episode's about, the animated episode two, but I will tell you what the Laugh With Me podcast episode was called that the story came from. Okay. And then you decide if you kind of can see where it's going. The episode that the story has come from. It was called Pepper Spray Attack Survivor. I don't know if you have heard that episode or not, but it should be exciting. So there you go. Should be fun. Got nothing to say. You got nothing to say. You're like, I'm tall. This is.
- [09:05]
Eric Larson
Yeah, I'm still. I'm still dealing with the fact that, yeah, you're. You're listening. Audience is gonna. They're gonna think I have the dad bod going on.
- [09:14]
Jeremy Odom
They're gonna see the full you, dude. They're gonna see the full Monty. So this is. This is pretty exciting. But, yeah, no, we're excited to announce the Laugh With Me animated series is coming to our YouTube page exclusively. And the pilot episode is coming at you, like, very, very soon. So keep your eyes peeled for that. And, you know, I've obviously been working on that, but also I've been working on some fantasy football drafts because it's that fantasy football season and we had our big draft here a week ago. We've got a league. Hot tub in the end zone is the league name at 12 of us.
- [09:53]
Eric Larson
Year 19.
- [09:54]
Jeremy Odom
Year 19 of the league. The core of the league. It's been the same.
- [09:59]
Eric Larson
Yep.
- [10:00]
Jeremy Odom
You know, we've had guys come and go. We've had some guys leave and then come back, but the core of the league is the same, which is always fun when you can have that kind of, like, stability. But no, we get one of those live drafts where the guys get together on a Saturday every single. Every single summer and. And pick them. But it's turned into, like a. It's turned into quite the deal. I mean, year one was like, hey, everybody, come over to my apartment. And we got a keg. And we had it in my apartment in my little two bedroom apartment. And 12 plus of us were in there drinking beers, watching a hustler game, drafting, like that's what it was. Right. It's turned into a day long 8am First Bev golfing by 9, lunch at the. This beautiful lake and then go to the cabin, play beer darts and play beer games until draft time, which is not till evening because apparently some people still have to work on a Saturday. So it's quite the deal. I don't know. Draft day. You survived it.
- [11:08]
Eric Larson
Yeah. Yeah.
- [11:11]
Jeremy Odom
Not by much it looks like, but you survived it.
- [11:14]
Eric Larson
Yeah, that might, might have added a few more gray hairs. So maybe that animated avatar is a little bit more accurate. But yeah, we, we poured our first beverage at 8am I actually stayed at the draft location the night before with some of the, some of the out of towners and we are, our gracious hosts had just served us this first beverage and one of the guys in there was just like, this is, this is great. But you know, where's your boat, Joe?
- [11:44]
Jeremy Odom
Where the boat go? That's why you guys, he's got the.
- [11:48]
Eric Larson
Cabin, he's got, he's got the boat dock down there. And lo and behold, there was no boat, Jojo.
- [11:53]
Jeremy Odom
So the boat is in the middle of the lake.
- [11:55]
Eric Larson
Yeah. So Joe didn't say anything, he just goes booking it. Was he running to the, out to the dock. And it's just, you know, you could see him kind of looking around and so, you know, we're kind of half following him, you know, all of us with our beverage in our hand, like a little confused, like maybe, you know, maybe somebody, maybe somebody borrowed it. Maybe somebody, you know. And then Joe comes running back up to the house. They've got an atv. He gets on this ATV and just buzzes off down the beach. And so you gotta drag it back. Yeah, we're all like just sitting there like, well, this is, you know, this is some drama. Like this could, this could really derail the day. Yeah, this is a really tough, tough look to start. So probably four or five minutes goes by. All of a sudden my phone starts ringing and it's Joe. It's just, hey, go, you know, go upstairs, go here. This is where the keys are. Get the keys and come meet me, you know, at the bridge. So, you know, we down our drink, we get in the car, we drive up to the. The bridge is probably like 4/10 of a mile away from his house. And there's Joe standing on the bank of the lake with, with the boat.
- [13:10]
Jeremy Odom
With the boat.
- [13:10]
Eric Larson
The boat sitting right there. Luckily, it kind of beached itself on the, the sand pontoon. Boat. So yeah, it went through a bridge t. You know, probably 20ft wide, concrete, like on both sides.
- [13:22]
Jeremy Odom
Do you think it like a bumper card through there? Do you think it just.
- [13:25]
Eric Larson
I mean, it didn't look like there was any big like scuffs or any of that kind of stuff on there. But luckily, again, you know, wow. But yeah, apparently the lift was not engaged all the way, so we did not take the boat out the other day. The blame. The blame goes on somebody else.
- [13:43]
Jeremy Odom
But thankfully we'd never be invited.
- [13:46]
Eric Larson
Yeah, we would never be able to go back.
- [13:49]
Jeremy Odom
Well, that's a heck of a way to start the day. And then you guys rushed to go to go golf with us and meet up with me and Kyle. How'd you shoot? We were in different groups. I know. We were playing scran scramble. Right. Is that we were doing? We're doing. Yeah. How'd you shoot?
- [14:04]
Eric Larson
Driver was awful.
- [14:05]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah.
- [14:06]
Eric Larson
But my irons. Irons were looking pretty good.
- [14:08]
Jeremy Odom
That's kind of my, My day too. I learned if I give a. If I give a lean to the left off the drive, I. I could do okay. It was never the drive we would take, but it was, it was better. And then, but then the iron play. Yeah, I was all day. They were taking my shots. That was fun.
- [14:27]
Eric Larson
So one of the guys in my group, he came in from out of town. His dad is an avid golfer. And so Cody's just like, hey, I don't, I don't want to bring my clubs. I don't want to. Yeah, fly him up there. Hey, we're only going to Golf 9. You know that draft warning. Don't want to deal with it. So his dad's like, hey, I put a bag together for you. So luckily, Cody was hitting the driver very well. So we used a lot of his drives on it because his dad gave him a driver and two woods. The remainder of Cody's bags was all ladies clubs, which, I mean, Cody's a tall guy. He's six foot.
- [15:08]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah.
- [15:09]
Eric Larson
So. But yeah, he would go out there and then that worked out great. Yeah.
- [15:15]
Jeremy Odom
How tall is his dad?
- [15:16]
Eric Larson
I think a little bit shorter.
- [15:18]
Jeremy Odom
Okay, that makes sense. But yeah, well, these clubs are a little more forgiving. So.
- [15:22]
Eric Larson
Yeah, so he was, he was really leaned down with these ladies. And then the other thing too is like all these clubs are right handed and Cody is left handed. So I love the fact that left hander using right handed ladies clubs. That was, that was a, you know, one of our members.
- [15:40]
Jeremy Odom
That's awesome. What a go for Cody. Well, it was fun. I, you know, it was. There was a couple of times where our groups kind of, you know, met up there.
- [15:51]
Eric Larson
Yeah, I think I actually want to talk to you about that.
- [15:54]
Jeremy Odom
You.
- [15:54]
Eric Larson
You flipped me off.
- [15:56]
Jeremy Odom
I flipped you off?
- [15:57]
Eric Larson
Yeah, like two big middle fingers like you were waving around, dancing.
- [16:02]
Jeremy Odom
Do you remember what hole that was? I'm trying to think mentally where I was at. Like maybe did something happen?
- [16:09]
Eric Larson
I think you're just being a dick.
- [16:10]
Jeremy Odom
Did I miss a putt?
- [16:14]
Eric Larson
This seemed like happy. You seemed. Yeah. You were dancing around, flipping people off.
- [16:19]
Jeremy Odom
Was I in the cart or not?
- [16:21]
Eric Larson
You were not in the car.
- [16:22]
Jeremy Odom
I was not in the car. I was dancing. Yeah, that might have been targeted. You. No, yeah, that might have been. Hey, you know.
- [16:28]
Eric Larson
Hey, that would. That's. Your inner voice was saying the opposite of Give them a chuckle.
- [16:33]
Jeremy Odom
Give them a chuckle. That's wonderful. Well, golfing's fun, but when you have a full day planned ahead of you, it's. It's a lot by the end. Yeah. You know, by the time you get through all the beer darts. And beer darts is great. I don't know if anybody played beer darts. Fun game. Never just chuck a dart in the middle of the field of a pile of cans.
- [16:56]
Ali Jackson
Get.
- [16:56]
Jeremy Odom
Cause you will not get that dart back ever again. Who knows where that dart has ended up? It is gone. It was literally two feet in front of us one second and then it's just gone. Yeah.
- [17:07]
Eric Larson
So, yeah, one of our guys, we, you know. Cause as you're playing beer darts, you're throwing your empties in the middle and one of the guys decided just for whatever dumb reason to throw a dart at one of the empty cans.
- [17:19]
Jeremy Odom
Now he's the jerk. You think I'm a jerk? With the middle fingers.
- [17:21]
Eric Larson
He's a jerk. I mean, that completely absolved you.
- [17:25]
Jeremy Odom
Thank you.
- [17:26]
Eric Larson
But yes, it was. I imagine that it would have been very humorous for an outsider to come by at that point because there was just. There are probably seven 40 year old dudes on their hands and knees crawling over this patch of grass looking for a dart. Like the flight flew off of it. So it was just the dart. The ground was soft because it had rained and. And we.
- [17:54]
Jeremy Odom
This is a super old reference. But like, honey, I shrunk the kids when like the parents are hands and knees, you know.
- [18:01]
Eric Larson
Yeah.
- [18:02]
Jeremy Odom
Trying to look for the kids in the grass. Like that was us looking for this dart everywhere.
- [18:06]
Eric Larson
That's. We should have asked Joe if he had a magnifying glass. That probably would have helped.
- [18:12]
Jeremy Odom
Oh, yeah, that Was something. But we never did find that dart. In fact, luckily one of our league mates had not shown up yet. Was able to bring us some darts. But holy cow, that was quite the search. Looking for that dart. But yeah, and then our grand idea was to just play with one dart. And it's like h. This, this game, it just takes all the energy out of the game when you're playing with one dart. But yeah, now fun time. And then you actually draft, which is always fun. I don't know, a lot of, A lot of leagues, they. They switch up how the draft order is sometimes just randomized. Sometimes you have to earn it. Our league is like, you know how a lot of them do where it starts with the loser from last year all the way to the winner at the, at the bottom there to kind of start your draft. But we, we reset after round four, which is always a great excuse then to have what our league enjoys, which is a very long break.
- [19:04]
Eric Larson
Yeah.
- [19:05]
Jeremy Odom
And when we take that break, then we reshuffle the draft order again for rounds five through 15. This year we has the new WWE 2K game. And it was like a randomized custom players with all the league people and then a battle royal. It was. So that was fun to see. You know, oh, here comes Eric, you know, out. And you gotta fight stone cold Steve Austin now.
- [19:31]
Eric Larson
And you know, whoever got thrown out, whoever's named character got thrown out first. That became last pick.
- [19:36]
Jeremy Odom
That became last week.
- [19:37]
Eric Larson
So it's kind of dramatic to see.
- [19:39]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah.
- [19:40]
Eric Larson
When the. The wrestler's announced and your guy runs out.
- [19:42]
Jeremy Odom
And the only thing I, I would have changed to that, it's. It's difficult because a lot of, A lot of people, most people were out of the match already before some people even made it into the match. Like I'd love to see us all in a match start at the same time and then go. But I know that's not possible. But like that's what I would like to see.
- [20:03]
Eric Larson
At least with only one coming in, it allowed you to kind of focus in. Yeah, true that. And the fact that for whatever reason the random character generator on me made me a. Like a purple turtle. Like, not sure how that works. But.
- [20:17]
Jeremy Odom
But we've done some different things. We've had coach Gruden last year selected our draft order. That was fun to watch what he had to say about us.
- [20:25]
Eric Larson
You mentioned beer dart. So we've been doing that for a couple of years. That's kind of become our official sport.
- [20:29]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah.
- [20:30]
Eric Larson
But we did a couple years ago where our Host filled up balloons, and then each balloon had like a slip of paper in there. And so you take turns throwing each member of the league. And you'd throw a dart to hit a balloon. And then it either had a pick. Here's what number you're going to be, or it had a shot.
- [20:48]
Jeremy Odom
Oh, yeah.
- [20:49]
Eric Larson
And.
- [20:49]
Jeremy Odom
Which always gets the night going. Yeah, that's a fun way to do it too. We've done the.
- [20:56]
Eric Larson
The downside to that was everybody was awful. Like, there were a couple people that were just awful at hitting them. And then I think your brother Kyle actually hit like four shots in a row. Like, he's actually hitting the balloons. And each one's just like, nope, you need to do a shot.
- [21:11]
Jeremy Odom
Take a shot. Yeah. He's like, I. Just give me six. Just give me a six.
- [21:15]
Eric Larson
I'll take last pick. Like, at this point, just please.
- [21:19]
Jeremy Odom
It's.
- [21:19]
Eric Larson
It's a long day, but it's fun.
- [21:21]
Jeremy Odom
You take that break, and then we kind of reshuffle the draft order. Gives a little new excitement to. To the live draft itself. But, man, I'll tell you what. So we start early, getting the babs going. And then we're golfing. And then you got lunch. Then you got the beer games. And then, you know, then you got these big reshuffling of the rounds that you may have to take all these shots and you're drinking beers and then we have to actually draft. To keep you fools organized is quite the task.
- [21:52]
Eric Larson
Why are you looking at me?
- [21:54]
Jeremy Odom
I'm looking at you right now. It is quite the task. I just want credit to me, honestly, for this year keeping it together and getting through the entire 15 rounds composed. Because I know in years past I haven't been. That's on me. Hand up. That's on me. But holy cow, it's quite the deal. I don't know. I think one of these years we, you and I are going to switch roles. And you do what I do and I'll do what you do, and then we'll. We'll just. We'll have a draft. Should we do like a bizarro draft?
- [22:26]
Eric Larson
I don't know if this is such a good trade for me.
- [22:30]
Jeremy Odom
About.
- [22:30]
Eric Larson
Because what I. What I like is just when you start getting stressed out. Like, I'm chief mediator.
- [22:35]
Jeremy Odom
Yes.
- [22:36]
Eric Larson
But I'm also chief instigator.
- [22:37]
Jeremy Odom
Yes, you are.
- [22:38]
Eric Larson
So probably the most aggravating and the one that helps, you know.
- [22:42]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah.
- [22:42]
Eric Larson
Jeremy, bring the temperature.
- [22:44]
Jeremy Odom
We gotta. We gotta talk about this.
- [22:46]
Eric Larson
So, like, that's a very Fine line.
- [22:48]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah, well, we got through a draft day's fun, which just means NFL season is back. Johnny, we have solved all of your holidays shopping stress your needs because the holidays will sneak up fast. But it's not too early to get your shopping done and actually have fun with it. Uncommon Goods makes holiday shopping stress free and joyful with thousands of one of a kind gifts you can't find anywhere else. Uncommon Goods looks for products that are high quality, unique, and often handmade or made in the United States. Many are crafted by you independent artists and small businesses. And because they're made in small batches, they are the best fines. But they can sell out fast. Johnny, what I found here, and I'm telling you, Johnny, right now, if you use a promo code, I'm going to tell you that in here in a second. This is what I want for Christmas. Okay? Uncommon Goods has a recycled skateboard display stand. So it looks like a skateboard. It just sit on your desk, sit on the bookshelf. I could put my laptop on it. I can work on the show. Johnny, I could be working. I could do your job frankly, and look like I got a little skateboard. I got a little skateboard to work off of which, you know, I love. I love, even though I'm getting older, I do love a good skate. But this recycled skateboard is so cool. And it's just one of the many unique items that you can find on Uncommon Goods. It has something for everyone from moms and dads to kids and teens, from book lovers, kids, history buffs. Eric, talk about you and die hard football fans to foodies, mixologists and avid gardeners. You'll find thousands of new gift ideas that you won't find anywhere else. When you shop at Uncommon Goods, you're supporting artists and small independent businesses. Many of their handcrafted products are made in small batches, so shop now before they sell out this holiday season. And with every purchase you make at Uncommon Goods, they give back $1 to a nonprofit partner of your choice. They've donated more than $3 million to date. So shop early, have fun and cross some names off your list. Today. Get 15% off your next gift. Go to UncommonGoods.com laugh with me. That's UncommonGoods.com laughwithme for 15% off. Don't miss out on this limited time offer. Uncommon Goods. We are all out of the ordinary. Johnny, if you haven't told everybody this is how you're doing your holiday shopping, you're really missing the boat. I mean, that's what I. That's why I told my family.
- [25:33]
Eric Larson
Meet Dan. Hey, how's it going? Dan has big life goals. I'd love to own a home one day. Numerica Credit Union is the perfect partner to help make Dan's goals come to life.
- [25:42]
Jeremy Odom
They are? Yeah.
- [25:43]
Eric Larson
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- [26:01]
Mira Potassan
Federally insured by NCUA hi, my name is Mira Potassan. I'm an author and I'm an activist. And GoFundMe is my go to platform for fundraising. The first GoFundMe I did was to raise money for a chat book or a collection of poetry and essays and short stories. So we started a GoFundMe and our goal was 7,000. What I've learned is so special about GoFundMe is that it's a whole collection of people offering anything from like, $4 to $400. And each time you get a ping that someone donated, even if it is just $4, it's so exciting. So if you have a goal and you get there, you can keep making it bigger and bigger and bigger. We did go past our goal. It was amazing.
- [26:50]
Eric Larson
GoFundMe is the world's number one fundraising.
- [26:53]
Ali Jackson
Platform, trusted by over 200 million people. Start your GoFundMe today at gofundme.com that's gofundme.com gofundme.com.
- [27:04]
Jeremy Odom
If you heard episode 101, then you heard what we had to say about the afc. Now we're gonna talk about the nfc. So the AFC is my bread and butter with being a Chargers fan. As a Vikings fan, this is home base. You watch a lot of NFC football.
- [27:18]
Eric Larson
I do.
- [27:19]
Jeremy Odom
Which means you love Fox. A lot of NFC on Fox. How do you feel about that? Do you like Fox as your home base? Do you like cbs?
- [27:29]
Eric Larson
I mean, I'm not a huge Joe Buck fan.
- [27:32]
Jeremy Odom
Espn.
- [27:33]
Eric Larson
So now that Joe Buck's no longer part of that Fox broadcast, I'm happier.
- [27:39]
Jeremy Odom
Let's. Let's quickly rank the broadcasters that do NFL games. We didn't. I didn't tell you we were into this ahead of time. In fact, I just thought of it. So we're going to. Let's quickly, very quickly, rank our NFL. Not broadcast teams, but networks that we like to watch NFL games on. Okay? Who would you say is like the worst? And there's streamers in this. There's Peacock, there's Amazon, there's.
- [28:04]
Eric Larson
I mean I put any of those single one off.
- [28:08]
Jeremy Odom
The NFL Network generally isn't even a good broadcast.
- [28:14]
Eric Larson
Did you watch the Netflix games that they had last year at Christmas? Like those were awful.
- [28:18]
Jeremy Odom
Those were bad.
- [28:19]
Eric Larson
Like not only did they have to. They populated the announcer desk, but then they also had to populate like the pre and post game shows and there's just like eight dudes and it's just like it was like a who's who for like had gotten kicked out of the big leagues of just hey, you're not entertaining enough.
- [28:33]
Jeremy Odom
Well then they had comedians. They just had people, you know. But yeah, so, but the visual is incredible. I will say like, just like I don't. Do you watch any of the Apple TV MLB games on Friday nights?
- [28:46]
Eric Larson
No.
- [28:46]
Jeremy Odom
Okay. The visual, like their presentation of an MLB game, amazing. The announcers, awful. It's so bad that after the first year they added the option where you could have the home teams radio broadcast, like be your audio. Wow. So yeah, I'll watch, I'll listen to the Padres home radio broadcast all day long if I don't have to listen to these Apple fools.
- [29:09]
Eric Larson
So that's. And that's, you know the Husker game that was on last Thursday? Yeah, that was like a eye opener too because it was just like, God, I always forget how bad those like 8th string TV announcers are for like college football.
- [29:24]
Jeremy Odom
How's ESPN on a Thursday night, week one not have like give us something. Yeah, it's a, it's a prime game on Arrowhead Stadium. It's a neutral site game. You know, Nebraska is a big brand. I don't know. I complain about.
- [29:40]
Eric Larson
There was two challenges that happened towards the end of the first half. Raiola force or strip sack fumble. And then they had a, the other team got the ball after a kickoff and the guy caught it and fumbled it. And the announced team was 100% wrong on both the calls and it was just kind of one of these like what are you guys watching the same game?
- [30:09]
Jeremy Odom
Like, yeah.
- [30:11]
Eric Larson
Well, I don't know if he makes a football move. He made four steps like that's, that counts. Like that's running. He has possession of the ball.
- [30:18]
Jeremy Odom
Four steps is borderline running. All right, so how about let's espn. So Monday Night Football, cbs, Fox and NBC. NBC.
- [30:32]
Eric Larson
So now does the ESPN include like so you got, you know, Joe Buck.
- [30:37]
Jeremy Odom
Yep.
- [30:38]
Eric Larson
And Aikman. But does it include the Manning brothers? The Manning past?
- [30:42]
Jeremy Odom
You could include that. They have the Manning cast. Yeah, because I. I'll watch. I'll watch Monday Night Football. I'll watch the Manning cast. I don't watch the other one.
- [30:51]
Eric Larson
So I think I'd probably put it Fox, NBC, ESPN and CBS is my. My low look, my lowest broadcast one. Even though I think that Romo individually is probably my favorite announcer.
- [31:06]
Jeremy Odom
He's. He's fun. So mine would be number one. NBC, I think they do better than anybody presenting football game.
- [31:14]
Eric Larson
Well, but Collinsworth, every single time. Nobody in the NFL does it better than him.
- [31:19]
Jeremy Odom
I think I like that. Like, I don't know. There's just something. I like that. So then. Sorry. So NBC and. Yeah, I'll probably give it Fox, and then I'd probably give it. I'd probably give it CBS and then I'd give it espn and then the streamers grouped.
- [31:36]
Eric Larson
I like. I like the ESPN when they do the weird graphics. Like, I. I like that they just have fun with it. And it's just the dumbest.
- [31:45]
Jeremy Odom
We didn't. Oh, in the cartoons. Yeah.
- [31:47]
Eric Larson
Just have this, like.
- [31:48]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah, Fox started do that too.
- [31:50]
Eric Larson
Yeah.
- [31:51]
Jeremy Odom
We didn't even add Nickelodeon. I don't know if you count that into CVS's crew, but the Nickelodeon's kind of fun. I. I don't. I don't know that I could watch a whole game that way, but it's fun to see highlights.
- [32:02]
Eric Larson
CBS always strikes me as kind of like a throwback. Like their whole entire. Like how they do the scoreboards and all that kind of stuff just feels very throwback.
- [32:10]
Jeremy Odom
So cbs, it's funny you say that because they are so like. Like, their history with the NFL is one of the earliest, you know, as far as, like, broadcast networks showing games. They lost their coverage when Fox outbid them, and then Fox, you know, became what Fox is. That's how they did with getting NFL, and then CBS found their way back in, but they lost the NFL for a while. But, yeah, they're like, they do have that old. That old field. Just like if ABC if it. If instead of ESPN on abc, if it was the old school ABC Sports, it would feel like, yeah, 1990s all over again. You know, that'd be.
- [32:48]
Eric Larson
That's an interesting question, though, too, when you think about it. It's like, all right, well, are we both putting Fox up there? Because, hey, in the 90s, that's when we probably were first getting into it. That's where we have the nostalgia. It'd Be interesting to talk to, like, you know, our dads and be like, hey, which of these style ones do you like better?
- [33:06]
Jeremy Odom
Could be cbs.
- [33:07]
Eric Larson
Yeah, it could be.
- [33:08]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah. Wow, that's interesting. This is actually an interesting topic. We just. Off the dome, this is riffing at its finest at the nfc. We're gonna start with the NFC south, everybody's favorite division. You have some bad blood within this division. Personally, I hope you don't hold that against the Saints when you're talking about them, because I know you don't like them at all.
- [33:31]
Eric Larson
I. I don't hold it against them. I do hold how bad of a team they are.
- [33:35]
Jeremy Odom
You're gonna hold that against them. Okay, that's fair. Okay. So NFC South. Right on.
- [33:41]
Eric Larson
I think you've got to say that the Saints are probably the worst team in football right now.
- [33:45]
Jeremy Odom
The worst team in football. And you're counting the Browns in this?
- [33:48]
Eric Larson
Yes.
- [33:48]
Jeremy Odom
You're counting the jets in this. Holy cow. You're counting the Raiders in this?
- [33:53]
Eric Larson
Yeah.
- [33:54]
Jeremy Odom
So you. Would you say the Saints are front runners to be the number one pick?
- [33:59]
Eric Larson
Yes.
- [34:00]
Jeremy Odom
Wow.
- [34:01]
Eric Larson
Yeah, they. I mean, just. And the funny, the sad part is, like, part of it is due to the quarterback uncertainty that they've got. You know, Carr got hurt. He's not, you know, wouldn't be able to play this year. But honestly, their team's bad enough that even with car in the building, I don't think that they probably move out of the bottom three. Like, you're gonna. You're gonna spend a lot of bottom five podcasts talking about the Saints. Talking about the Saints.
- [34:29]
Jeremy Odom
You know, I love talking about the bottom five, and I love talking about the Saints. This is actually fun.
- [34:34]
Eric Larson
They have, I mean, probably the worst cap situation, and they still got, like, two more years before they dig themselves out of the cap hell that all the spending Drew Brees years put them in.
- [34:45]
Jeremy Odom
They.
- [34:45]
Eric Larson
They had a good run there about eight years where they just kept kicking the bill down or down the road.
- [34:52]
Jeremy Odom
Okay. So as a Vikings fan, as somebody who's never experienced a Super bowl championship. Okay. Would you give it all away to have those breeze years and then be in salary cap hell, to never be competitive again?
- [35:06]
Eric Larson
Yeah. I mean, the. The super bowl made it worthwhile.
- [35:10]
Jeremy Odom
Okay.
- [35:11]
Eric Larson
The super bowl made it worthwhile.
- [35:12]
Jeremy Odom
I'd agree with you there.
- [35:13]
Eric Larson
Yeah.
- [35:13]
Jeremy Odom
Just give me one. One super bowl would make it all worth it then. Whatever.
- [35:17]
Eric Larson
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, once you got that, then you can just kind of live off vibes for. For two decades.
- [35:22]
Jeremy Odom
Are you kidding me? That's all I would live off of. That's. I'd be like, yeah, but remember when we won it, this is why we're good as Husker fans. Because we're like, yeah, but we've got five national titles.
- [35:33]
Eric Larson
It would if, if the Vikings or the Chargers won the Super Bowl, I think we'd both be in the same boat. Where it'd be interesting the morning after the super bowl, waking up and just looking at what we ordered the night before. Cuz that like, it would be posters.
- [35:50]
Jeremy Odom
Frame pictures, everything, shirts, like, just anything you can give me. I need it because that's my whole personality for the next five years.
- [35:58]
Eric Larson
Yeah, I mean, I do think it would almost be one of those championship, like you buy the T shirt, like in a large, an extra large, a double xl, a triple. Like just. Just in case. Just in case in the future I.
- [36:12]
Jeremy Odom
Need this because you will live that exact. The, the quote, the. I'm living fat and happy. You're going to live fat, happy for a long time.
- [36:21]
Eric Larson
Eric. You put on some weight. Nah, I'm just vibing.
- [36:23]
Jeremy Odom
Just vibing. Yeah, we won the super bowl, you know.
- [36:26]
Eric Larson
Oh, I put on that much weight. Just six or seven.
- [36:29]
Jeremy Odom
How many friends would we lose when our teams won the championship? Or were they just. They know what they're getting?
- [36:34]
Eric Larson
Yeah, well, I, I mean, I think I've done a good enough job of. I've converted a lot of people to at least partial.
- [36:41]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah.
- [36:41]
Eric Larson
Viking fandom.
- [36:42]
Jeremy Odom
Oh, yeah.
- [36:43]
Eric Larson
So I think I'd survive it a little bit better than you.
- [36:45]
Jeremy Odom
You did it when? This was 15 years ago when my son was born. You know, he grew up, Vikings were our NFC team. You know, he's. There's pictures of him in his Adrian Peterson jersey and little Viking shirts and. Yeah, he's a Chargers fan, but we root for the Vikings too. And that was something. It's like, all right, Vikings win the Super Bowl. I mean, I'm probably going to go just as hard celebrating as if it was a charger.
- [37:12]
Eric Larson
Hey, there's room. There's room.
- [37:13]
Jeremy Odom
Now will I cry? Probably not, because I didn't have that emotional attachment of what happened.
- [37:18]
Eric Larson
You.
- [37:18]
Jeremy Odom
You better cry like it's gonna be so emotionally, like just this release and just like if the Chargers win. Win. The Chargers win. I. It's gonna hit me emotionally, right. All the. Growing up a Chargers fan, I probably won't cry, but I will be so happy when Vikings win the super bowl, so. Well, there you go. We weren't even talking about the Vikings, but here we are the Saints.
- [37:39]
Eric Larson
Yeah.
- [37:39]
Jeremy Odom
They are trash.
- [37:41]
Eric Larson
That's just good. Let's go ahead and move on to the Panthers.
- [37:43]
Jeremy Odom
Panthers. I like their offense. I'm going to be on the record. I think they have something there.
- [37:50]
Eric Larson
See, do you think that Bryce Young, like he was the later half of last year, he's. That's the quarterback that he's going to be.
- [37:58]
Jeremy Odom
I think he gets it. I think there was a learning curve. They did the right thing by benching him. They did the right thing by having Andy Dalton on this, on the team to. To mentor him. He's really good.
- [38:10]
Eric Larson
It's. It's wild. Like, when is there another, like, redemption story like that of just. I mean, there's.
- [38:19]
Jeremy Odom
There's not. Like, you either. You either flame out quick or you just. You just. Like Trevor Lawrence, just. Just. You start one day and you never look back. And you either get it or you don't. I don't know that he gets it yet, but he's still there.
- [38:34]
Eric Larson
Yeah.
- [38:36]
Jeremy Odom
Jared Goff, either get it or you don't.
- [38:39]
Eric Larson
And the other names that kind of came and it's a totally different scenario. But Brady Roethlisberger, neither one of those guys was like, that great the first year. No, but they were champions.
- [38:55]
Jeremy Odom
In fact, Roethlisberger, they won despite him.
- [38:58]
Eric Larson
Yeah, but they were champions, which gave him a long enough leash that, hey, they. By the end of their careers, they were.
- [39:04]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah.
- [39:05]
Eric Larson
Like the top quarterbacks. Yeah, but I don't think you would have predicted that by seeing their film from the first, like, two or three years.
- [39:12]
Jeremy Odom
There's something to be said about not playing right away. You know, Peyton Manning, but they get one win that first season. No, they just let him go out there and play football. Right.
- [39:21]
Eric Larson
Led the league and interceptions and.
- [39:24]
Jeremy Odom
Exactly. And now he's a Hall of Famer. But, like, there's Carson Palmer with the Bengals, didn't play a snap that first season. They made him sit, you know, sit as QB2 that whole first season, and then he was the start of the next season. He had a great career. I like. I think there's something to a guy being sat down at times and being like, watch the game, watch it unfold, then go out there and do it.
- [39:50]
Eric Larson
That's. And it's interesting just from. I don't think. I don't think you can do that anymore. I don't think that you can consistently do that. I think too much money. Yeah, well. And too much of an advantage, because having a rookie quarterback, having them on that rookie deal is the Most valuable thing in sports.
- [40:12]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah, that's a good point. Because you can spend that money elsewhere in that salary cap.
- [40:16]
Eric Larson
Yep. So you. Obviously, you can do it either way.
- [40:19]
Jeremy Odom
But you lose a year of that window. Yeah, that's a good point.
- [40:23]
Eric Larson
You know what changed on the Chiefs from Patrick Mahomes in those early super bowl teams to where they are now?
- [40:30]
Jeremy Odom
Right.
- [40:31]
Eric Larson
Well, paying him 60 million.
- [40:32]
Jeremy Odom
That's the difference.
- [40:33]
Eric Larson
You don't have that to spread, you know, to get those good defenders.
- [40:37]
Jeremy Odom
That's.
- [40:37]
Eric Larson
To keep that Tyreek Hill contract out there.
- [40:41]
Jeremy Odom
That's scary. What if he had played that first year? Just. What if my home started year one? That's scary to think they could have another Super Bowl. Anyway, back to the South.
- [40:55]
Eric Larson
So now that we've gotten the Saints and the Panthers out of the way by talking about other teams.
- [41:00]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah.
- [41:01]
Eric Larson
So I'm probably going against the grain here. I got. I got the Bucks next in that one.
- [41:07]
Jeremy Odom
The Bucks are definitely the favorites to win the division. Yeah.
- [41:10]
Eric Larson
100%.
- [41:12]
Jeremy Odom
Backed by Baker Mayfield, who I'm. He's my fantasy quarterback this year. I've got big hopes for him this year. That stacked. Stacked with weapons around him. Good culture. This is a good football team.
- [41:25]
Eric Larson
And this might be, you know, because we did our AFC show. I did my AFC rankings first, and, you know, I picked the Jags as a team that I was a little bit higher on, mostly due to. I like Cohen. I like their head coach. Well, he's been the guy that was the offense coordinator for the Bucs. So I guess that's probably the big question. You know, it'll be a big question here, actually, on the NFC when we get to the Lions as well, is just, hey, when you have such an efficient offense that's run by it, does it still run as well?
- [41:58]
Jeremy Odom
Right.
- [41:58]
Eric Larson
When they're gone?
- [42:01]
Jeremy Odom
That's another big question mark. So you think that. No, the answer is no. And that the Atlanta Falcons are going to overstep?
- [42:11]
Eric Larson
I. I think that they're in improvement mode. Yeah.
- [42:15]
Jeremy Odom
And do you think Kirk Cousins ends up being the guy that takes them to the promised land?
- [42:20]
Eric Larson
No.
- [42:23]
Jeremy Odom
So he's just gonna continue to collect checks as.
- [42:26]
Eric Larson
I mean, he's done it better than.
- [42:28]
Jeremy Odom
He'S done pretty much anybody.
- [42:29]
Eric Larson
Yeah.
- [42:30]
Jeremy Odom
It's awful. What do you like about the Falcons, then?
- [42:34]
Eric Larson
I mean, I. I like their offensive skill players. I mean, I think Bijan is arguably. I mean, the best running back out there right now. I mean, he's right in his prime. And then, I mean, I like the. The Drake London I like, why am I blanking on the QB's name right now? Yeah, you kept saying Cousins. And I'm like, it's not Cousins. It's not Cousins.
- [43:00]
Jeremy Odom
Well, because I, I still have, like, a soft spot for Cousins. Like, I feel like he's a good quarterback.
- [43:04]
Eric Larson
Yeah.
- [43:05]
Jeremy Odom
And I'm like, why is that guy not. I mean, look at how much money he's making. Why is he not starting quarterback? But Pennix is pretty freaking good and adds a level of play that Cousins just isn't going to give you.
- [43:15]
Eric Larson
So the NFC south, they're also going to be playing the NFC west, and they're going to play in the AFC East. So I do think that both these teams, no matter how it shakes out for that number one, see, I think both these teams have a really good shot to make the playoffs.
- [43:31]
Jeremy Odom
Okay.
- [43:31]
Eric Larson
But the Bucks will be the team that are playing the Lions and the Eagles, and neither of those teams are going to be on the Falcons schedule.
- [43:43]
Jeremy Odom
Well, there you go. That could be the difference.
- [43:45]
Eric Larson
So I, Yeah, like, I think when you're kind of looking at this pecking order of the nfc, I mean, the, the Bucks are good, but they're not, I don't think, in the same weight class as.
- [43:56]
Jeremy Odom
Right.
- [43:57]
Eric Larson
You know, the, the Lions and the, the Eagles.
- [44:00]
Jeremy Odom
Do you ever do the exercise where it's like you take every team's individual schedule and you just go down the line, all right, win, loss, win, loss, loss, loss, win, win, win. You know, and you kind of get everybody's final records. And just from looking individually and look at anything else, and then you take those and then it's like, all right, here's the divisions, here's the, here's. Have you ever, like, done that exercise? I, I find that interesting and I don't know if you can find, find any thing from it. So if you were doing it like what you just said, if you were doing that and talking about what you just said, I think you're right. I mean, that's where you find Atlanta gets the advantage.
- [44:34]
Eric Larson
See, and here's kind of my methodology on here, and we're going to get a little nerdy in here, but one of the reasons that we've been kind of talking about what division, what conference these guys are playing in is a way to kind of weigh that out. So if I was looking at the Falcons or the Bucks and they're playing the AFC East. All right, well, there's probably one team that we know is better than those. Buffalo's going to be better.
- [44:56]
Jeremy Odom
Yep.
- [44:57]
Eric Larson
There's two teams in there that we know are going to be worse. So it's probably fair to say, you know, two and two, maybe three and one out of there.
- [45:06]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah.
- [45:07]
Eric Larson
And that's probably a little bit more realistic of saying like, two and two than like going through there and just giving them a win or a loss based on that.
- [45:14]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah.
- [45:15]
Eric Larson
Because you're going to end up with that dumb. Like every year you end up with that one where it's just like, well, they lost to the Dolphins, but then they beat the Patriots and the Jets.
- [45:24]
Jeremy Odom
Right.
- [45:25]
Eric Larson
All right. You know, the jets we expected, but you know. Yeah, okay. We didn't expect them to go to, you know, so I think you can kind of look at those other divisions and you can get an idea, hey, if I'm playing the NFC north this year, that's going to be really, really tough to say that I'm going to go three and one just because there are three really good teams in there.
- [45:45]
Jeremy Odom
Right.
- [45:46]
Eric Larson
And one of teams is probably going to steal one that they shouldn't have.
- [45:50]
Jeremy Odom
Because it just always happens.
- [45:51]
Eric Larson
Yeah.
- [45:51]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah.
- [45:52]
Eric Larson
So that, that's kind of how I weigh it. I. I think that you get kind of locked in, if you're looking at it game by game and like a fallacy of just like you're. You're projecting out two months from now.
- [46:03]
Jeremy Odom
Yep.
- [46:04]
Eric Larson
Hey, how healthy are this team? Like, am I looking at it from day one? I mean, we talked about the Bills as a team last year that was looked at more like a rebuilding and they turned out to be a juggernaut.
- [46:13]
Jeremy Odom
They're going to be better.
- [46:14]
Eric Larson
I mean, the. Or the Vikings, a team that was supposed to be nothing last year that ended up being really good.
- [46:20]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah.
- [46:20]
Eric Larson
A 14 win team.
- [46:21]
Jeremy Odom
And I find myself when I'm looking at, you know, if I just look at. Okay, here's the team on paper, here's the divisions they're matching up against. I, I could feel like this team's a 14 to 12 team, you know, win team. But if I'm going week to week to week for each team and I'm looking at it, I find myself. I get into these modes where I'm like, well, yeah, but they're not going to win like three in a row. So they're going to lose this one, like, and then they're stacking up wins or losses, maybe in places that wouldn't actually happen on the field, but in my head. Yeah, but they're not going to win six straight. You know, like, look at this stretch. Like I don't know. I just create these different storylines within. At that point.
- [47:01]
Eric Larson
The NFL Network had a. They had a analyst last year that did the Vikings schedule like that, and he marked wins and losses, and it was. It went viral in like the Vikings chat groups because he was. He had him going like 4 and 13 as opposed to, you know, and it's just like. Well, you just, you look awful on this. But yeah, it's.
- [47:23]
Jeremy Odom
Well. And last year was the year, like Vegas even had their win loss total super low.
- [47:27]
Eric Larson
Yeah.
- [47:28]
Jeremy Odom
And it's like they were coming off of 12 wins, 14 wins, something like that. Like, there's no way they have that kind of drop. And there you go. They did not. All right, the NFC south, you got the Falcons taking the number one spot. Nfc, you want to do the West?
- [47:43]
Eric Larson
Sure.
- [47:43]
Jeremy Odom
Okay. NFC West.
- [47:45]
Eric Larson
This is. This is a very tough one.
- [47:47]
Jeremy Odom
This division's always tough.
- [47:49]
Eric Larson
Yeah. Because I.
- [47:49]
Jeremy Odom
Very even teams.
- [47:51]
Eric Larson
I feel like the Rams are probably the best team in there, but I think you can make an argument for any of the other teams winning this division. I've got the Cardinals at that number four spot, but it's like, I feel like they're going to be a decent team again. Like, they've got talent. Like, they're a very balanced team. They've got talent on the defense, they've got talent on the offense. Like, they've got exciting players on both sides.
- [48:15]
Jeremy Odom
So fourth place in this division. What do you think they're. What do you think their win total could be? Do you think it could be over seven and a half? Do you think they fall into like six just because of circumstance?
- [48:26]
Eric Larson
This is the division that I have marked down as being like this year's NFC North.
- [48:31]
Jeremy Odom
Okay.
- [48:32]
Eric Larson
I feel like this is a division that could send three teams to the playoffs.
- [48:36]
Jeremy Odom
All right. So it is.
- [48:37]
Eric Larson
Yeah. And the biggest reason is so NFC west. They're playing NFC south, very winnable games, and the AFC South.
- [48:47]
Jeremy Odom
Okay.
- [48:47]
Eric Larson
Extremely winnable games on both sides. And that was. I mean, the Vikings, the Lions and the packers last year all feasted off the AFC South.
- [48:55]
Jeremy Odom
Well, gamblers out there. This is the division to look at the win loss and take the over. There's an opportunity here. I love that.
- [49:03]
Eric Larson
But yeah, I think, I mean, Cardinals are in tough spot, though, because it's like they've had Kyler Murray. They've had success there. I mean, obviously they added Marvin Harrison Jr. Last year. Like, they've got some pieces around them, but like, you kind of. It's bad to have an average quarterback like, that's a bad spot to be in. It's a bad spot to be extending.
- [49:26]
Jeremy Odom
You know, you think Kyler Murray's average and that.
- [49:28]
Eric Larson
That's where he. I don't think he's proved that he's elite. I don't think that he's proven that He's a top 10 quarterback.
- [49:33]
Jeremy Odom
He's certainly not elite. He certainly has the talent to be elite at times.
- [49:40]
Eric Larson
Like, if. If you paired him. I mean, if you paired him with a really good defense, could he be like a Russell Wilson? You know, like, he was classic because. Yeah, I mean, that would probably be the comp for him. I mean, short, like, big playability.
- [49:53]
Jeremy Odom
Right. But if you put him on that Seattle team, the Russ. Oh, man, that'd be a heck of a. Heck of a squad. Yeah, you're right. He kind of has that same playable as Russ. He's. I like Kyler Murray. I picked him this year in fantasy to back up Baker because I'm like.
- [50:08]
Eric Larson
I think two of your big. Put a. Put a flag in it.
- [50:12]
Jeremy Odom
Put a flag.
- [50:13]
Eric Larson
The two quarterbacks. So we know that you got Baker.
- [50:15]
Jeremy Odom
Mayfield, you got Kyler Murray, and, like, they weren't guys. I invested a lot of, like, high draft picks on them. I just. Their guys in key spots that I'm like, I think I need to rely on them. I think I will be able to. I see Kyler having a good, really good season.
- [50:31]
Eric Larson
And I mean, those two, for as far as fantasy, are really complimentary to each. Because you'll be able to play the matchups.
- [50:38]
Jeremy Odom
Sure. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
- [50:41]
Eric Larson
Like, you're not having to take the bad weeks. You're not having to take, you know, when they play. Hey, you. You might sit Kyler when he's playing this at Seattle.
- [50:49]
Jeremy Odom
Right. And I'll be able to do that because Baker's playing at New Orleans or against New Orleans. All right, so the Bucks, which I'm. I'm gonna guess. I don't know who you pick next. I'm gonna guess that you picked the Niners.
- [51:12]
Eric Larson
I. I thought this is one that I went back and forth. Okay, So I picked the Seahawks, okay. As number three. They got an amazing defense. I mean, question is, like, if you. Geno Smith was their quarterback.
- [51:27]
Jeremy Odom
Yes, he was.
- [51:29]
Eric Larson
Is Darnold a net gain or a net loss on that?
- [51:32]
Jeremy Odom
I don't know. He's. He's. If. Here's the thing, it's a loss if he's the same because they made the switch to get better. So even if he's the Same as Geno. They're behind the ball. So they need him to be better.
- [51:48]
Eric Larson
Yep.
- [51:48]
Jeremy Odom
I don't know that he's better. I would probably take the under.
- [51:52]
Eric Larson
And then you're thinking about it too. The other big trade that Seattle made. So they got rid of Metcalf.
- [51:57]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah.
- [51:58]
Eric Larson
I mean they've got Jackson Smith in there.
- [52:03]
Jeremy Odom
But Cooper Cup, Cooper cup beyond the time. Probably Honda's prime. There's a reason he's not in Los Angeles anymore. I mean they loved him there. Just think of all how much production.
- [52:18]
Eric Larson
Yeah.
- [52:19]
Jeremy Odom
He was. He was the guy. He was the reason Matt Stafford could do Matt Stafford things. He was the reason. Like I'm gonna give nobody else credit. I'm giving it all to Cooper cup because he was just always open.
- [52:31]
Eric Larson
When, when o' Connell came to coach the Vikings, that was like the first thing everybody was talking about is he's going to turn Justin Jefferson into Cooper Cup.
- [52:39]
Jeremy Odom
And why not? You know, that was why not?
- [52:40]
Eric Larson
That was a comp that you could make at that also five years ago.
- [52:45]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah. I don't know. You think Cooper cup takes a big step back and it really impacts.
- [52:50]
Eric Larson
I mean, I, I, Cooper cup was just an accessory to the, the Rams last year. He was not 120 catches. Cooper Cup.
- [52:58]
Jeremy Odom
He was hurt. He was hurt too, but.
- [53:00]
Eric Larson
He was hurt. But even when he came back, like.
- [53:02]
Jeremy Odom
He'S not the same guy.
- [53:03]
Eric Larson
Yeah. He was not able to headline the show anymore.
- [53:06]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah. Well, so I, I would agree there. Seattle. I, I think there's question marks with San Francisco as well.
- [53:15]
Eric Larson
Yeah.
- [53:15]
Jeremy Odom
And not so much like because the players on the field are still really, really good.
- [53:21]
Eric Larson
So San Francisco. So I flipped back and forth on this one. The one thing that probably decided me on the. The Niners is that based on their strength of schedule is the easiest in all the NFL.
- [53:35]
Jeremy Odom
That helps. All right. That helps a lot.
- [53:37]
Eric Larson
So, yeah, they've got an easier schedule. They finished, you know, they finished. Did they finish last in the division last year?
- [53:44]
Jeremy Odom
The Niners?
- [53:45]
Eric Larson
Yeah.
- [53:45]
Jeremy Odom
Yes.
- [53:46]
Eric Larson
Yeah. So they've got that easy schedule where they get to like even, you know, we talked about the Thunderdome of the NFC north of having to play those. They don't have to play the Lions, the Packers or the Vikings. Like that's going to be the other three teams in that division that are playing those, you know.
- [54:00]
Jeremy Odom
But they have to stay healthy and they haven't been able to do that. They have to overcome injuries to their best guys. Brock Purdy has done an incredible job of playing quarterback with a cast that's constantly moving in and out. I mean, credit to him. Maybe that's why they love him so much because he can just make things happen in a way that I've only seen Philip Rivers be able to do.
- [54:24]
Eric Larson
Can you rock a bolo?
- [54:25]
Jeremy Odom
He can rock him behind him. We gotta ask him. But yeah, if they stay healthy, I mean, sure, the Niners could probably win this division, but I got no faith in that. I got no faith in their training staff keeping those guys on the field.
- [54:39]
Eric Larson
Yeah.
- [54:39]
Jeremy Odom
It's schedule's an interesting thing because I didn't know that. I didn't realize they had the easiest.
- [54:43]
Eric Larson
Yeah. It's wild too, to think about just like Christian McCaffrey. I mean, that experiment. Obviously the Niners traded for him like two years ago. Like he had a full career. It felt like in Carolina, like he's 29 and you know, normally you don't see speed guys like that lasting.
- [55:02]
Jeremy Odom
You get to 30, it's over.
- [55:03]
Eric Larson
Yeah. So, you know, I think that's probably the biggest piece of me, especially with Debo gone. UK's not going to be ready to go at the beginning of the year. Like they're banking on Kittle and.
- [55:14]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah, it's gonna be a big Christian.
- [55:15]
Eric Larson
McCaffrey, like carrying that offense.
- [55:18]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah. And I'm. And I know I don't want to give you my entire lineup, but Kittle is on my team as well. For all the reasons you just named. I think Kittle gets the volume.
- [55:27]
Eric Larson
Well, he's good. He's good for like two games a season where he gets like three touchdowns.
- [55:32]
Jeremy Odom
But I. Well, I'll take those. But I also think he's gonna be a volume guy all season because I think he's just gonna have to be. So I'm, I'm. I put a lot. I did this year with Kittle. What I was hoping last year was going to be with Kelsey. As far as my strategy. Yeah.
- [55:49]
Eric Larson
Meanwhile, in the beer hazy rounds, I think I just picked the tight end that was at the top of my sheet.
- [55:54]
Jeremy Odom
Who's available.
- [55:55]
Eric Larson
Yeah. And then I, I think I was pretty mad about it the later on.
- [55:58]
Jeremy Odom
Did you fall asleep at the draft or.
- [56:01]
Eric Larson
That's. That's unsubstantiated.
- [56:04]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah. All right, well, let's see what's happened there. All right, well, that only leaves the Rams.
- [56:08]
Eric Larson
That leaves the Rams winning the division. And this is also assuming injury luck because you're hoping that Stafford plays the whole season.
- [56:18]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah. Was he debating retiring? I feel like he was.
- [56:23]
Eric Larson
So he wasn't debating retiring. But he was looking for a last payday.
- [56:29]
Jeremy Odom
Okay.
- [56:30]
Eric Larson
Because remember, he was threatening to hold out.
- [56:32]
Jeremy Odom
That's what it was.
- [56:33]
Eric Larson
Because he wanted additional time put at the end of that contract. So they gave him permission to go seek a trade. And then.
- [56:39]
Jeremy Odom
Not never.
- [56:40]
Eric Larson
Yeah. Then they, they came to terms pretty quickly after that.
- [56:43]
Jeremy Odom
Who's going to take Matt Stafford at this point? He's done it all. It's over. You know, it's either you give it one last run with the Rams because you're comfortable, which. That's the best spot for him.
- [56:55]
Eric Larson
It is.
- [56:56]
Jeremy Odom
It just is the best spot for him.
- [56:57]
Eric Larson
It's. It's so tough because, you know, you, you kind of mentioned earlier, the AFC's your bread and butter. You, you, you're used to those teams where I'm used to the NFC as somebody that Vikings playing the Lions with Stafford. Like, I always dissed and poo pooed on Stafford.
- [57:17]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah.
- [57:17]
Eric Larson
Like, I felt like Stafford Cousins was like that. They're on that same tier.
- [57:22]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah.
- [57:23]
Eric Larson
So it irks me to no end that he went to this Ram situation, which is perfect for him, Coach. Perfect for him. Like the Cooper Cups, the Puka Nakuas, like, perfect for him. And then he won that championship and now it's just like, God, he still annoys me.
- [57:39]
Jeremy Odom
He's annoying, but I can't.
- [57:40]
Eric Larson
I can't make an argument. I can't tell you what's a straight face, that he's in the same category as a Kirk Cousins anymore.
- [57:46]
Jeremy Odom
I enjoyed watching him on Thanksgiving Day with the Lions. I thought he was a big enough star quarterback to be like, all right, the Lions could win today, even on those bad teams, you know, or especially.
- [57:57]
Eric Larson
Those bad teams when it was just him and Calvin Johnson and it was.
- [58:00]
Jeremy Odom
Just like, just airing it out.
- [58:01]
Eric Larson
Yeah, Calvin's gonna go for 180 and two touchdowns.
- [58:04]
Jeremy Odom
100%, because they're going to put on a show for the biggest audience they're going to have all season on Thanksgiving Day. I really enjoyed that. Now he's with the Rams. I don't enjoy watching him because it's a perfect fit for him and he's just annoying as hell. So.
- [58:19]
Eric Larson
God, you're just probably. You're probably reminded of the Rams so much when you see the Charger Stadium and just thinking about the fact that, you know, you guys are just kind of roommates.
- [58:27]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah, it's.
- [58:29]
Eric Larson
They're roommates. But the Rams got the master bedroom with the. The attached bathroom.
- [58:34]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah. We're, like, cohabitating right now, and it's Annoying. So, like Forbes, you know, he does like the evaluations at the beginning of NFL season, like most. And it's like the Chargers completely ditched their fan base and went to LA to continue to be one of the bottom valued teams in the NFL. Like, what are you doing? You're in L. A. They. They just. They completely botched that whole thing. What a mess. What a mess. So now the only thing they can do is win a Super bowl to change that. I mean, that's just there. They did everything else they could do. Now you go win a Super bowl, that changes everything, but you don't, and you just continue to be the Chargers. It just sucks.
- [59:15]
Eric Larson
I was enjoyed.
- [59:16]
Jeremy Odom
Why'd you bring that up?
- [59:17]
Eric Larson
I always enjoyed the Bill Simmons when he'd write about when he moved to LA from the Northeast, and he was just like, they'll never support a football team because there's just. You can still go to the beach in December. Like, they don't need to go to live and die off of a football team. Like, but San Diego would live and die for that team.
- [59:37]
Jeremy Odom
They love that team la.
- [59:40]
Eric Larson
I mean, if anybody's making headway there, it's the Rams, who already had the history in the LA Metro.
- [59:45]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah, the. You had that. They have the Lakers. The history with the Lakers. I mean, they're just. There's just teams that they're. You just. Look, if you really looked at all of the big brands, the big teams that LA is supposedly supposed to root for, there's a lot already before you added the Rams and the Chargers, because you've got ucla, usc, the Clippers, the Lakers, the Dodgers, like the Angels, the. The Kings. You just go on and on. I haven't even gotten to the women's teams. Like, there's just so many teams. And then you added the Rams and the Chargers and the lot, and most of them still root for the Raiders. So then what do you do with that? What a mess. Anyways, I digress. You want to talk about the north or you want to save them for last?
- [60:35]
Eric Larson
I think we should probably save them for last. I have a feeling that we might go long.
- [60:38]
Jeremy Odom
We might go long. All right, let's talk about the East.
- [60:41]
Eric Larson
So East. No surprise number four, I've got the Giants.
- [60:46]
Jeremy Odom
Mm. Probably no different than last year. Right? They're just gonna be the Giants.
- [60:51]
Eric Larson
Yeah. Russell Wilson.
- [60:54]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah. I mean, do you. He's. I still think he's fun. Do you still find him fun to watch?
- [61:00]
Eric Larson
No, but I never really enjoyed him.
- [61:02]
Jeremy Odom
Okay. Because I really enjoyed him.
- [61:03]
Eric Larson
In Seattle, I he from the time that he played with Wisconsin. And one of the most embarrassing Husker losses, that is true, came in his hands. And then it seemed like the Vikings would always draw that and those defenses, this would be like the Jared Allen, Kevin Williams, you know, defenses. And they would contain him except for like three plays. There'd be like three plays where he'd just be like running figure eights in the backfield. And all of a sudden he would throw the perfect, you know, spiral to somebody 30 yards down the field. And it's just like this play doesn't work unless he's able to extend it to a 15 second play against one of the best pass rushes that we've like. It just seemed like he was always good for just those pulling it out of his butt type of plays. So it was so frustrating. The year the Vikings stadium fell, the old Metrodome got too much snow on it and the ceiling collapsed. That was when we played the coldest playoff game and that was against Russell Wilson. And that was another one where it was just. There was only one touchdown scored by Seattle and it came out of nowhere. Third quarter, the only play that we weren't in position to stop.
- [62:22]
Jeremy Odom
Do you have fond memories of that season? I know the end was brutal, that that game was on its own, just heartbreaking because of all the circumstances. But do you have fun memories of that season? Because it's like Brett Favre and you get the, the. It was just interesting how the. The dome collapsed from all the snow and then there was still the excitement from being the NFC championship game the year before. And then, you know, the last run with Farve. Then you've got those. That, that Monday Night Football game on a Tuesday. I don't know. There was just so many moments from that year. Randy Moss. Was that the year Randy Moss came back to the Vikings? Like yo. There was so many moments from that season. How do you now we're way past it. How do you like remember it and I do.
- [63:07]
Eric Larson
I remember the. Just the circus.
- [63:10]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah.
- [63:10]
Eric Larson
Like it was exciting to have your team be the most exciting because I topic on every single show.
- [63:17]
Jeremy Odom
I vividly remember week. The week to week of that season. Just like what's next?
- [63:20]
Eric Larson
This is awesome.
- [63:25]
Jeremy Odom
No, you don't remember it. No, I know. Okay. All right. The Giants at the bottom. We can both agree on that. The next one's probably. If it's me, it's the Cowboys. I'd pick the Cowboys. I think you're gonna say Cowboys.
- [63:43]
Eric Larson
I. I got the commanders at this next spot.
- [63:46]
Jeremy Odom
Oh, that's a big drop back.
- [63:47]
Eric Larson
Yeah.
- [63:48]
Jeremy Odom
Oh boy.
- [63:49]
Eric Larson
I just don't. We kind of talked about this at the, the AFC episode of just if you're looking at the team and what's improved and what's declined. Like I think the example that we gave was Denver and everybody's just like, well their defense is going to be even better. All right. Their defense was already great. Like, it was already great. So how do you project like that it's going to be better? And so that's the tough part for me with the commanders is Jane Daniels electric highest, like the fourth down conversion rate that they did last year, highest it's ever been in the NFL. Do we think that that's going to continue? Do we think that they're still going to be able to pull those wins up? Like, think of the, the Bears, the, the fail Mary where the, the guys like yelling at the crowd and out of position and ends up like batting the ball into like into the winner. The Commanders needed that like to win that game.
- [64:41]
Jeremy Odom
That changed their entire momentum.
- [64:43]
Eric Larson
Like, you know, do we expect them to or the Chiefs, we said like, do we expect them to win those close games again?
- [64:48]
Jeremy Odom
Right.
- [64:49]
Eric Larson
And that's a good point. This is another team that I think kind of fits into that mold of last year. Coming into the season, nobody was talking about the Commanders. Like, they didn't have depth of talent anywhere.
- [65:00]
Jeremy Odom
They caught everybody by surprise and they, they showed out to be pretty exciting at times. But like to your point, look what it took to beat the Bears. And yeah, you got to expect them to really, to take a next step, really pound Bears and I don't know that they could.
- [65:17]
Eric Larson
And so that's where it's just like, all right, are we fooling ourselves into thinking like, hey, this will be a top 12 offense again this year? I mean their big addition was bringing in Debo. What's, I mean, what's he got left? You know, they're, they re signed Terry McLaurin, which I think was the right move. He's not, he's not a spring chicken. He's not, you know, a fourth or fifth year wide receiver. He's been in the league for eight years now.
- [65:48]
Jeremy Odom
But he's a guy they were probably counting on going into the year. Hey, we need that production. So yeah, resigning him and not have being forced into a trade situation. That was big.
- [65:56]
Eric Larson
So that a lot of these reasons are why I have the commanders a little bit lower.
- [66:00]
Jeremy Odom
So I've got to think now the Cowboys.
- [66:03]
Eric Larson
Yes.
- [66:03]
Jeremy Odom
Because there's no chance. You've got the Eagles at the Cowboys. Okay.
- [66:07]
Eric Larson
Yeah, yeah, no, I put the Cowboys in here and I'm probably, I think Dax a good quarterback. I think CD Lamb is a good wide receiver.
- [66:15]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah.
- [66:16]
Eric Larson
You know, I think Pickens could be an improvement there. But I think, I mean, Dak being healthy is going to be the big variable now. Obviously, losing Parsons is going to hurt that defense.
- [66:26]
Jeremy Odom
That hurts.
- [66:26]
Eric Larson
But they've still got a really, really good secondary. They still match up, you know, pretty well with a lot of teams, and I think with that offense, you can bank on it. So I'm probably going a little bit more with, I'll take the veteran Dak over. You know, Jaden Daniels get doing even better than he did last year.
- [66:46]
Jeremy Odom
Right. Last run with Dak.
- [66:49]
Eric Larson
If, I mean, if the Cowboys missed the playoffs, I think you could make that argument.
- [66:53]
Jeremy Odom
They could blow it up.
- [66:54]
Eric Larson
Yeah. I, I, you can't tell me that Jerry Jones didn't make that trade of Parsons to get those two number ones without thinking, hey, I've got four number one picks now in the next two years.
- [67:06]
Jeremy Odom
That's kind of how I read it, too.
- [67:07]
Eric Larson
Is that enough to get, you know, if, well, assuming Arch Manning looks better than he did on Saturday, is that enough?
- [67:16]
Jeremy Odom
You know, Arch is going to be okay.
- [67:19]
Eric Larson
What, what other team do we have? Also, it's like this where it's just like you're looking at Jerry Jones and you're like, how many years does he have left? I know, like, he needs to win, like now. Like, there aren't very many other NFL teams that you're just like, oh, this owners get like, you know.
- [67:33]
Jeremy Odom
Did you watch that Cowboys doc on Netflix?
- [67:36]
Eric Larson
I haven't, I haven't yet.
- [67:37]
Jeremy Odom
You really need to. It's so good. It's very, it just reminds me of that bull stock that, that got us through Covid in, in 2020. So good. But Jerry, you can just see that energy of the 90s he had in his eyes. And then now, you know, he wants it. You can see in the interviews now he wants it. But I mean, he's old, he's tired, he's been through it. You know, it's, well, it happens to all of us. It's gonna happen to all of us.
- [68:05]
Eric Larson
It's, it's got a big parallel too, to like the Yankees, like when Steinbrenner passed.
- [68:11]
Jeremy Odom
That's great.
- [68:12]
Eric Larson
And his son took over. Like, his son doesn't spend like the father.
- [68:16]
Jeremy Odom
No.
- [68:17]
Eric Larson
And I know that that's one thing that they Pointed out, too, is that Jones's son has taken over more and more responsibility, and he's very, like, fiscally, like, he's not wanting Michael Irving. He's not wanting to make, like, big splashes.
- [68:31]
Jeremy Odom
What do you think's been worried me about the Padres with Peter Seidler, who's willing to write the check for what it takes, and then he dies, and then his brothers are like, hey, we have to run a business here. And I'm like, oh, no, you, you don't. The business comes when you win. It all will come when you win. I will buy so much merch just to win.
- [68:48]
Eric Larson
I mean, we've already, I think, committed to, you know, like, spending. I'm gonna be dropping a couple G's.
- [68:55]
Jeremy Odom
Oh, easy. Just, just wind. Oh, yeah. But anyway. Yeah, that's so true, Jerry. On a different level than the Suns, because the Suns, they, what do they got, 30 years they hope to have running this thing? So, yeah, they, they're playing the long game for sure. All right, well, that leaves the Eagles, which we're talking about the world champs. You gotta figure they're gonna run a, try to run it back. That's tough to do because the schedule's tough. They're everybody's favorite to win. There's Vegas's favorite to win the Super Bowl. I mean, how you, you agree with that?
- [69:32]
Eric Larson
I, I, I don't think that they're, I wouldn't put them as my favorite to win the Super Bowl. I do think that the AFC teams that we went through yesterday, I mean, I think Buffalo and the Ravens would be a lot tougher outs for Philly than the Chiefs were last year in the Super Bowl.
- [69:51]
Jeremy Odom
Okay.
- [69:53]
Eric Larson
I do think that they're the best team in the nfc.
- [69:57]
Jeremy Odom
Top down, best team.
- [69:58]
Eric Larson
Yep, Yep. I put them above the Lions. Yeah. And obviously, I mean, the Rams and the Falcons, division winners. Yeah. I just don't they. So they're going to have to prove it here in the regular season. Two, because, you know, we kind of talk about those other divisions they're playing. They play the NFC north, so they'll play all three of the NFC North's teams. And they also play the AFC west, so they're also going to be playing the Chargers, the Broncos and the Chiefs. So, like, if there was an argument to be made that, hey, they're, they're going to fall off or that they won't get, you know, number one seed, I think that that's it. Is that all right? You know, those six teams that I just listed off, you know, they go three and three on those. I mean, that might be enough room for, hey, if the commanders are better than they were last year or if the Cowboys like it or, you know, it could lead to, you know, the Lions or another team just having that record and pushing them out of the number one seed. And I mean, that's such an advantage.
- [70:57]
Jeremy Odom
It really is. The Eagles last season, you wouldn't say were world beaters from the get. No, they turned into a really good team that just got hot at the end and then it was just matchup wise. They were the better squad every time.
- [71:14]
Eric Larson
And we're only. I mean, coming into last year, if we, like, I feel like if we went back and listened to this episode last year, we might have put Sirianni hot seat and said that he's probably like a coach that could get fired midseason.
- [71:28]
Jeremy Odom
Like, they were bad two years ago, believe that. And actually, if we were to actually go back, I. I've had this idea. I'll. I'll just. I'll pitch this idea. So now it's out in the world and somebody could take it. But I've had this idea where we do a podcast for a year. We'll do it 52 weeks, we'll do 52 episodes, but not air them. And then the next year we start to air them a year later. And you could go back and listen to last year's news events from that week. You get what I'm saying?
- [71:59]
Eric Larson
Yeah. Just be like, when did that happen?
- [72:01]
Jeremy Odom
Right. And. And I. If. If that was the. If we had actually done this pod and we were listening to it, because I distinctly remember Sirianna having to, like, defend himself. Remember, he had his kids up at the press conference after the game, was crying, and they were like, you're using. The press is like you're using your kids to. As a shield and all this stuff. And. And he was under some pressure. He was under some pressure. And then they made a trade. Was it the AJ Brown trade or was that the year before?
- [72:28]
Eric Larson
No. Yeah. They've had AJ For. But anyway, three years now.
- [72:31]
Jeremy Odom
I know they made a trade and then. And then things started to roll. Yeah, but there he was under some. He was under some pressure there early on, and I remember his kids being a thing that the press was not happy about and whatnot. But if we did that pod, I know we would. This is something we would have talked.
- [72:46]
Eric Larson
About with Serano, but it's one of those things too, where the Eagles have kind of moved into, you know, we both get, I think, excited for the draft, you know, at least watch, like the first night. But it's kind of wild. Just like they've become that new team that everybody gushes over their, like, draft picks. And it is. I mean, it's pretty. I mean, Roseman, like, he's very, very good at, like, what he does, but it does feel like we give everybody that he picks or any players, like, the benefit of the doubt.
- [73:18]
Jeremy Odom
Oh, yeah.
- [73:19]
Eric Larson
But I think so they're bringing back, and I don't have this in front of me, but I believe they're bringing back most of their offense. But they've got like seven contributors, like, on defense that have all left. Like, their secondary is not that great.
- [73:32]
Jeremy Odom
They signed a running back or resigned a running back. That's pretty good.
- [73:35]
Eric Larson
Yeah. Yeah.
- [73:36]
Jeremy Odom
So that's Berkeley.
- [73:37]
Eric Larson
But he's. Yeah. I think you're kind of projecting out that that offense is probably going to have to be a top tier offense again.
- [73:45]
Jeremy Odom
And I don't want to be a hater, but Barkley's not going to have as good a season this year as he did last.
- [73:48]
Eric Larson
No, no, I. I think that's just. Yeah, that's carry count. That's math.
- [73:53]
Jeremy Odom
That's just how it works.
- [73:54]
Eric Larson
Yeah. Yeah. Plus, I don't have them on my fantasy team, so, I mean, if one of us had him on our fantasy team, you know, we might give him the benefit of the doubt. Might give him a benefit.
- [74:03]
Jeremy Odom
I just want to say you mentioned draft night. We spent it at Hooters.
- [74:08]
Eric Larson
That's.
- [74:09]
Jeremy Odom
Watching the first round. That was fun. So shout out Hooters if you. If we want to do some kind of, like, sponsorship dealers, we're down. But no, we. We spent at Hooters. That was fun. And it was fun to see other people in the restaurant with, like, their team. It was interesting.
- [74:28]
Eric Larson
It was a very eclectic, like, group. It was. Yeah.
- [74:31]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah. So that's always fun. You can get around people, other teams and. Because normally you go in to any place like that and it's like, specifically. All right, you're wearing Viking stuff because we're probably watching Vikings game. Yeah, I'm wearing charger stuff. Yeah, the Chargers are playing. But this was like, it was pretty random. It's draft night. There's 32 possibilities. So.
- [74:49]
Eric Larson
So it was.
- [74:50]
Jeremy Odom
It was a lot of fun.
- [74:51]
Eric Larson
My cousin, one of my cousins, lives in Fargo, North Dakota. Big, big Vikings fan, but he went to the draft. And the reason I kind of thought about this, the draft, this last year was at Lambeau Yeah. And so he sent a Snapchat of kind of him doing the, like, 360 to show, like, the big screens. The.
- [75:09]
Jeremy Odom
That's awes.
- [75:10]
Eric Larson
And I just. I laughed so hard when I saw it because there was just this packers fan, like, right in front of him, just nonchalantly, like, doing the, like, flip off, like, while, like, scratching his head, like, the entire time. And that's just amazing. And it was just like, that's hats off to you.
- [75:25]
Jeremy Odom
Like, good sportsmanship. I love that. Every time. You know, we don't need to get physical. I don't need kicked in the shins. All right, Chiefs fans. I don't need kicked in the shins. And when I'm in line at the porta potty, but little finger fingers here and there when you're doing the. The pictures. That's fun. You were talking about. Oh, we're just. You're talking about Fargo. Just one quick thing about your. Your vacation. You were just on. You were playing blackjack. You play blackjack in the bars. We didn't talk about this last episode when we were talking about your vacation. I find that so fascinating. Did. Was it the same type of vibe as in when you were in a casino?
- [76:00]
Eric Larson
Yeah.
- [76:00]
Jeremy Odom
Was it different altogether? Like, talk me through.
- [76:02]
Eric Larson
I mean, these are just, like, regular bar, but they have, like, two, like, blackjack tables, like, just tucked into the back.
- [76:10]
Jeremy Odom
So is there, like, a dealer sitting, waiting, like, at the casino, or do you have to go to the bar and be like, yeah, I'd like to play blackjack?
- [76:16]
Eric Larson
No, there was. There was a. So that's the thing. The bar itself cannot run the game. So it's charity. It's all charitable.
- [76:27]
Jeremy Odom
Oh, okay, so I get it now because you were saying it. Sure. I thought that just the proceeds went to them, but they're running the table.
- [76:33]
Eric Larson
They're running the table. So, yeah, the bar can't run it. The bar can't run its own gambling.
- [76:39]
Jeremy Odom
So it. It's only open from. From this time to this time, then. I mean, it can't be open.
- [76:44]
Eric Larson
So most of the places that I've, you know, I've only been to a handful of them that have it. You know, I haven't been to every bar in North Dakota. Say that this is, like, normal, but most of the ones.
- [76:52]
Jeremy Odom
Something you want to do? Are we hitting every bar?
- [76:54]
Eric Larson
I mean, this. This could be our 52 weeks.
- [76:58]
Jeremy Odom
This could be the podcast.
- [76:59]
Eric Larson
We could. We could. Each week, we could do a different North Dakota bar. We might need to move to North Dakota.
- [77:04]
Jeremy Odom
I Think we're. I think. I think we're moving.
- [77:07]
Eric Larson
But most of them, it felt like, would have kind of like a pit boss type person and, like two people that would rotate.
- [77:13]
Jeremy Odom
Awesome.
- [77:13]
Eric Larson
In and out. So you kind of have the dealer that was going. The pit boss that's kind of paying attention, you know, guarding the chips, watching that stuff. And then you'd have another person and they would rotate, you know, every 30 minutes or so.
- [77:25]
Jeremy Odom
Okay. So when you're. When you're in a casino, I did.
- [77:28]
Eric Larson
A lot of gesturing.
- [77:30]
Jeremy Odom
It's a. I know. This is why we need to get the video going, so people could see the arms moving. This is an episode that maybe needs to be animated so that they. The cartoon is just. Just a flailing, like a little wavy tube man. He's just kind of moving like that, kind of funny. So at a casino, the vibes. You can run a table 100 on vibes. It's not always about the cards. The dealer can change the vibe. Like when a good dealer.
- [77:58]
Eric Larson
Yeah.
- [77:58]
Jeremy Odom
You roll it and then it goes to break. And then the new dealer comes up, the brake dealer. And then it's just flying through guards. And you're like, I gotta.
- [78:04]
Eric Larson
I haven't run into any turbo.
- [78:06]
Jeremy Odom
Okay.
- [78:07]
Eric Larson
Dealers.
- [78:07]
Jeremy Odom
All right.
- [78:09]
Eric Larson
There's limits on the tables. So I want to say that the ones that I went to, they. You couldn't bet more than 25 on a hand.
- [78:18]
Jeremy Odom
Okay. All right. So there's.
- [78:20]
Eric Larson
So it's like. And a lot of them were like, two or three dollar tables.
- [78:24]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah.
- [78:24]
Eric Larson
So I mean it. Which to me is awesome, because that means that I could bring, you know, 200 bucks and I could probably play for a long, long time.
- [78:32]
Jeremy Odom
Oh, 100.
- [78:34]
Eric Larson
Probably. The reason that we didn't talk about it is because I did not win and I did not play for a long time.
- [78:41]
Jeremy Odom
You did not play for a long time. Okay. So, yeah, normally when you come back with a big win story, I mean, it's legendary. All right, we got one division left. It is the most important one. It is the NFC North. We already know your Vikings fans, so we already know they won't be at the bottom. But the talent on the field proves that as well. I got an I. I got a hunch the Bears are going to be the team in the pot. Yeah.
- [79:11]
Eric Larson
Johnny, can we get some applause in here?
- [79:13]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah, Johnny, Come on, give us something. Johnny. Can I just give a shout out to Johnny real quick? This guy again, this guy. He. He's available anytime we need him. He is willing to sit and Listen to everything that we say and just make sure he never speaks up, he never speaks out of turn. He's a great producer. In fact, I would say he's one of the best in the industry. He is somebody that, when it's all said and done with, Laugh With Me, he is somebody that is under valued and underappreciated in this industry, in this business. So I just want to give credit where credit's due to Johnny for his producing.
- [79:56]
Eric Larson
This is because I. I think in episode 100, I don't think you mentioned him at all.
- [80:00]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah.
- [80:01]
Eric Larson
Even though he's been there since episode one, he has.
- [80:04]
Jeremy Odom
And sometimes the. Sometimes it's about me. Can I just put that out there?
- [80:10]
Eric Larson
Well, there was also a good, like, dozen episodes, I feel like, where he was pretty close to losing his job.
- [80:15]
Jeremy Odom
He really was. I did actually have a different producer for a few episodes, and I brought him back because he's core, you know, I need him. I need him.
- [80:23]
Eric Larson
Oh, he had to wait 83 episodes to get his first gratitude in the first 100. Here we are.
- [80:29]
Jeremy Odom
Here we are.
- [80:30]
Eric Larson
Episode 102.
- [80:31]
Jeremy Odom
I do hope to that someday he'll earn the right to be able to speak. That day's not today.
- [80:40]
Eric Larson
No, I mean with this animated series coming out there.
- [80:47]
Jeremy Odom
So I.
- [80:47]
Eric Larson
Will. Will he show up on the Animated series before he speaks on the podcast?
- [80:52]
Jeremy Odom
I have. I have the answer to that. And I will say Johnny does make an appearance in episode one of Laugh With Me, the Animated Series. He is actually in episode one. So the answer to that is yes, Johnny makes an appearance. So there you go.
- [81:09]
Eric Larson
Let's be honest.
- [81:10]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah.
- [81:11]
Eric Larson
Who's better looking animated between me and Johnny?
- [81:14]
Jeremy Odom
Oh, all right, here's what I'm gonna do, because I'm pretty sure I took a picture of, like, a screenshot of.
- [81:24]
Eric Larson
It, but why won't you just. Why won't you just say me?
- [81:27]
Jeremy Odom
I'm gonna let you decide.
- [81:29]
Eric Larson
Oh, yeah.
- [81:30]
Jeremy Odom
All right.
- [81:30]
Eric Larson
100% that you're better looking at him.
- [81:33]
Jeremy Odom
Okay. All right.
- [81:34]
Eric Larson
Yeah. Just some questionable style decisions.
- [81:37]
Jeremy Odom
Questionable style.
- [81:38]
Eric Larson
Yeah.
- [81:38]
Jeremy Odom
Okay. All right. Well, there's Johnny. Yeah, so he is so that.
- [81:43]
Eric Larson
Yeah, I forgot that he had the broccoli hair like that for a while.
- [81:46]
Jeremy Odom
He did. Yeah. There you go. That's little Johnny.
- [81:51]
Eric Larson
So.
- [81:53]
Jeremy Odom
So back to football. We're talking about the NFC North. The Bears trash. What? So do you like. Do you like Caleb Williams? Like, do you think he's going to be the quarterback next year as, like. All right, he's our guy. Let's move forward.
- [82:07]
Eric Larson
I mean, I do. I think that he's. He's somebody I feel like is going to be kind of like Trevor Lawrence we talked about.
- [82:15]
Jeremy Odom
Yep.
- [82:15]
Eric Larson
Hey, he's got a really long leash because we knew coming into the league that, hey, he was going to be super, you know, talented.
- [82:24]
Jeremy Odom
Right.
- [82:26]
Eric Larson
Now, the reports coming out of training camp, preseason, all those, like, not real positive. No, it does not sound like, you know, Ben Johnson, the. The new head coach. It does not sound like he's having a great time installing this Detroit offense in.
- [82:42]
Jeremy Odom
Isn't it interesting? Because the reports coming out of it last season was that he was going to be a world beater and look out for the Bears because I bought into it. I'm like, well, the Bears are real. Like, I love Caleb Williams. And then week one, I instantly was like, I was so wrong. Like, on this very podcast I was preaching the Bears, and I was wrong. It's so weird how it flipped from one year to the next.
- [83:06]
Eric Larson
Well, and so we brought up the Commanders game. You know, that was. The Bears were 4 and 2 at that point, and they won one more game for the rest of the season where the Commanders. That was like the first one where it was just like, hold on. They're like, you know, so maybe there is a bizarro world where all of a sudden it all comes to get, like, they win that game like they should have. And it all comes together for Caleb and we're sitting here like, oh, they were 8 and 9.
- [83:36]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah, they could win the division.
- [83:37]
Eric Larson
They could win the division.
- [83:38]
Jeremy Odom
Yep.
- [83:39]
Eric Larson
Like, because they do have. I mean, they've got Odunze, they've got DJ Moore. Like, they've got talent on that offensive side. They've got a talented defense. Their defense is good. Like, they should be a team that plays competitive in that division.
- [83:57]
Jeremy Odom
So over under six and a half wins.
- [84:02]
Eric Larson
So they're playing the AFC north and the NFC East. So I think I'm gonna go under.
- [84:08]
Jeremy Odom
Okay. Okay. I actually. The number actually is six and a half for them, and I'm pretty sure the favorite on the betting right now was under no. So there you go.
- [84:19]
Eric Larson
It just. I mean, they've got six games against the Lions, packers and Vikings, and they did take one from the packers last year.
- [84:27]
Jeremy Odom
Yes, they did.
- [84:28]
Eric Larson
So. But they got swept by the Vikings and the Lions, and it's probably pretty safe to say it's going to be some more losses that are in there.
- [84:37]
Jeremy Odom
Well, it gets interesting once you get past the Bears, because I'm going to just assume you and I are on the same page that Detroit's the favorite to win the division. Yes. I mean, they are a force to be reckoned with right now. Which leaves the packers and the Vikings. A week ago. I know what my answer was.
- [84:59]
Eric Larson
Oh, I had a different answer than I do right now.
- [85:01]
Jeremy Odom
What do you think? Right now with. After the big trade that the packers had sitting.
- [85:09]
Eric Larson
So right now I've got the Vikings sitting at that number three spot. And that's. I think. Yeah, a week ago. A week ago.
- [85:17]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah, I had the Vikings over.
- [85:18]
Eric Larson
I think I had the Vikings over there. And I was. I was upset about basically. I mean, the packers are getting a lot of love. Like, they're getting so much love out there. And that's. No pun intended, with their quarterback also being. But that was. That's. That's a tough one to figure out for me because last year the packers went one in five in the division. They lost to the Eagles like they lost to every playoff team that they faced in the regular season. So to say that, hey, the packers are going to win the division. All right. What's changed on their lineup that's going to cause them to win it? All right, so, you know, they bring in a lot of draft buzz about them. Matthew Golden.
- [86:00]
Jeremy Odom
Yep.
- [86:00]
Eric Larson
All right. Well, I mean, they had their big. The notes that we probably had last year for these guys were that they have like three number two wide receivers.
- [86:10]
Jeremy Odom
And that didn't change.
- [86:11]
Eric Larson
Yeah, that didn't change. And I don't know that golden moves that needle. Maybe. Maybe he is a world beater, but like wide receivers the same as every other position. We don't know going in if they're going to be a great wide receiver, if they're going to be a bad one.
- [86:25]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah.
- [86:26]
Eric Larson
You know, the, the famous one with Jefferson was like the fourth wide receiver taken in his class.
- [86:30]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah. Look at him now.
- [86:32]
Eric Larson
Yeah. MVP can, but you don't know. And I mean, the packers have been living in that same world where they've been picking a lot of these wide receivers in day two. Hey, I love this pick. Well, all right. But he doesn't turn into, like what you want. So it was really tough for me to see them making this big swing where all of a sudden they were beating. Yeah, maybe you beat the, the Vikings with like a rookie quarterback. Maybe you, you know, you steal one from Detroit. But where did they prove that they could do that last year and they didn't.
- [87:01]
Jeremy Odom
They did not.
- [87:03]
Eric Larson
But obviously, I mean, bringing in Parsons.
- [87:07]
Jeremy Odom
Makes a difference.
- [87:08]
Eric Larson
It makes a difference.
- [87:10]
Jeremy Odom
And it like that was my thing a week ago. I was saying, what did they possibly do that would tell me they're different? And I did like their draft as well, and I like their change of direction because they don't always draft offense. You know, I don't know why I said offense like that, but I did say it. I was hoping you.
- [87:28]
Eric Larson
You'd call that out, but I'm too offended.
- [87:30]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah, but I. There was nothing there. Then they make this trade for Micah Parsons. I'm like, ah, all right. That's a move that 31 other teams didn't make. Like, that's a big one. Yeah.
- [87:42]
Eric Larson
And I mean, the ant. Like, the analytics on Parsons show, like, I mean, he has had, like, the best win percentages against, like, those left tackles. Like, he has had an impact. Honestly, looking at some of the. The ESPN science, and I'm using quotations around science, but, like, seeing those win percentages, it kind of reminded me of, like, the talk around, like, Adamakinsu, right, Where it's just like, hey, this guy is so physical that you pretty much have to put two offensive linemen on him every single time. And so it does become kind of a force multiplier when you can put somebody at the top of your rush pecking order, because then that means that, hey, your second best rusher now, it doesn't have to face a double team or your guy that you were counting on going into the season, he's now going to have more free looks. The defensive tackles are going to have more free looks. Like that is going to help on every level. Because I don't think that the Packers. I mean, their. Their defense two years ago was bad. Their defense last year was okay. But they're. I mean, their secondary has. I mean, Shahir Alexander's gone. Like, their secondary is not world beaters.
- [88:53]
Jeremy Odom
You were telling me because to your point, you know, you want to get better in every phase of the game, every season, you want to see improvement. To your point, you were telling me, the Vikings, if we're a top 20, top 25 defense this season, we're a playoff team. Like, we're. That's good enough because the offense is going to be. Yeah, bread and butter right now. The packers just took what was a mediocre to okay defense to what could now be maybe a pretty good one.
- [89:25]
Eric Larson
Yep.
- [89:25]
Jeremy Odom
That. That's the difference. You think that's enough to make the jump where it's like, all right, we have a clear two.
- [89:33]
Eric Larson
Yeah, I. And I. I do. Because, I mean, the argument for the Packers Being a playoff team. And the argument for them making that big jump is just, hey, Love was hobbled at the beginning of last season. He's healthy now. He's got golden, he's improved his wide receiver core. They still got Josh Jacobs, like, you know, great running back, good offensive line. So, you know, you get those pass rushers like in there, and it really plays well to taking some of that stress off of the offense.
- [90:05]
Jeremy Odom
Right.
- [90:05]
Eric Larson
And hey, if that offense can get off to a fast start, I mean, look at what the Vikings did last year with like, Flores defense. Well, how many of those games did the Vikings come out and score? 10, 14 points. They had a lead in the first quarter and then that pass rush could just pin its ears back and just.
- [90:22]
Jeremy Odom
Rush the quarterback, go do the job. Yeah.
- [90:24]
Eric Larson
Like you, so you can make that argument here with Green bay that, hey, 100%, like he's going to help cover up their bad, you know, their okay secondary just with that additional pass rush.
- [90:34]
Jeremy Odom
Now, there was a report that came out today from Adam Schefter that said that Micah Parsons is going to need some kind of like, injection or something for pain management, and he's going to need it possibly eve as early as like week one.
- [90:49]
Eric Larson
I mean, this fits with packers culture. I mean, they got a lot of druggies. They got a lot of problems with drugs at that team.
- [90:56]
Jeremy Odom
Did you watch the Brett Favre?
- [90:59]
Eric Larson
That is what I was referencing.
- [91:00]
Jeremy Odom
I love it.
- [91:01]
Eric Larson
Yeah, a lot of, a lot of that's funny.
- [91:04]
Jeremy Odom
Midwest.
- [91:05]
Eric Larson
Yeah. Moral weakness on that team.
- [91:07]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah.
- [91:07]
Eric Larson
I don't see how anybody could truly be a fan.
- [91:09]
Jeremy Odom
And well, the packers and the Vikings, it truly is a story of the trade. So the Vikings are probably, I mean.
- [91:18]
Eric Larson
So I've got the Vikings as that, that third.
- [91:20]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah.
- [91:21]
Eric Larson
And it's probably, I mean, it makes sense. It's, it's all about that uncertainty at the quarterback position. Do, do I think that, and maybe this kind of goes into our other conversations of just, hey, do you buy the spike?
- [91:34]
Jeremy Odom
Right.
- [91:34]
Eric Larson
You know, the offense is not going to be better than it was last year. Like, I, I, there's, there's no. If I saw a breakdown that was kind of talking about your, your friend of the pod, Justin Herbert.
- [91:47]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah.
- [91:48]
Eric Larson
He has one of the, the best rookie seasons of all time.
- [91:52]
Jeremy Odom
He's dating Madison Beers now. Are you familiar? No, he's doing okay.
- [91:57]
Eric Larson
Like B is B E R like.
- [92:00]
Jeremy Odom
Beers like B E E R S.
- [92:03]
Eric Larson
He's a guy like from the family that invented beer. I mean, that's, that's big Catch.
- [92:07]
Jeremy Odom
That's impressive. Yeah. He's a guy, you know, he's an eligible bachelor. He's living in Southern California. He's got that wavy hair. He's QB1 on America's Favorite Team. I mean, look at this guy. He's living. He's loving life and he loves chess. He's become a huge chess player.
- [92:25]
Eric Larson
Really?
- [92:25]
Jeremy Odom
That was actually how they got outed as a couple. Is there was a picture of them together at a chess tournament in la. Do you.
- [92:34]
Eric Larson
So you've played chess before?
- [92:36]
Jeremy Odom
I have. Against you.
- [92:37]
Eric Larson
Do you think that you could beat Herbert?
- [92:39]
Jeremy Odom
I don't think so.
- [92:41]
Eric Larson
So thank you for the honest.
- [92:42]
Jeremy Odom
A year ago, he was not a chess player. And at training camp, one of his linemen or some, but one of his teammates challenged him and he got beat. And he has dedicated the last year to becoming like an expert at chess and he goes to tournaments and so he's like, really?
- [92:59]
Eric Larson
Okay, yeah. As opposed to us that would play like once a year?
- [93:03]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're a different breed.
- [93:06]
Eric Larson
But it became a spectator sport at the New Year's parties just because, like your wife, Kyle, also, like, they would watch and they'd just be like, you guys are so dumb. Like, this is like. Yeah. They would just criticize both of our playing. I'm just like, are you just trying to make this the longest game?
- [93:22]
Jeremy Odom
We're just sitting there chatting while we're playing. No, he. He wants to become like. Like the chess player. But anyway, I digress.
- [93:30]
Eric Larson
So he had one of the best rookie seasons of all time.
- [93:33]
Jeremy Odom
Okay.
- [93:35]
Eric Larson
He did not have Darnold numbers from last year. You know, Darnold had 38 touchdowns.
- [93:40]
Jeremy Odom
Right.
- [93:41]
Eric Larson
So I think it's. It's a fool's errand to say that McCarthy's going to come in and.
- [93:46]
Jeremy Odom
Sure have and do that.
- [93:49]
Eric Larson
If he's Justin Herbert, I think the Vikings are like, ecstatic.
- [93:52]
Jeremy Odom
If he's Justin Herbert, the Vikings are super bowl contestants.
- [93:55]
Eric Larson
Contenders. Yeah.
- [93:55]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah.
- [93:56]
Eric Larson
You know, because the Vikings have made. They picked up a center and a right guard that were both like top of the list. This year they're getting back Darasa. Their. Their stud left tackle. Like, they should have a much better offensive line. They've got wide receivers. Well after week three, they've got a wide receiver room that's probably best in the division.
- [94:21]
Jeremy Odom
Yep. Arguably best in football. I mean, they're just stacked.
- [94:25]
Eric Larson
Yep. So you have a lot of that stuff going. You have. They brought in Jordan mason from the 49ers to be that secondary back and.
- [94:34]
Jeremy Odom
I think that's an underappreciated move. I like him a lot and he's a good fit for Minnesota too, for what they do. I think he's going to be great.
- [94:42]
Eric Larson
And then on the defensive side, I mean, you've got that same type of defense. You've got Flores coming back. He's still toxic, you know, from sue in the league and all, but he's feisty. Yeah. So, I mean, he's, he's gutsy.
- [94:56]
Jeremy Odom
He's going out there and doing his job. He's not worried about other things, not worried about the next job because he, he only has this one right now.
- [95:03]
Eric Larson
And that's. So when you, you know, you compare the, the Vikings to the Packers, I mean, the uncertainty is McCarthy, like, can he step in and do that? Because it's the same way that I said, like, hey, the packers defense wants to play with the lead. They want that offense give them the lead. They want to send Parsons in there to bull rush them. That's the same thing Flores's defense wants. So if you say like, hey, the wheels are going to come off the Viking season this year, it's because that offense isn't scoring regularly enough and Flores's defense is having to deal with more rushing and they're not able to take on the quarterback. They're not able to be ball hawks and intercept and go for fumbles and do all the fun stuff that made them so watchable last year. Like that's how the season could go bad.
- [95:51]
Jeremy Odom
So normally I like to take the opposite approach of you and like debate you because we just, that's what we do. Right. You and I were just ingrained me, but I'm going to agree with you and back you back up that with something. The JJ McCarthy. We were just talking, I forget who, what quarterback we were talking about, but I think there's value to a quarterback sitting for a while and just watching the NFL happen around him so he can learn and get and the game can slow down for him. Well, he unfortunately had that for him last season because of the injury. So he spent an entire season learning the game from the sideline, knowing he's not going to be on the field. I think there's value to that, so I think that's going to help. But here's why the whole season hinges on him. Last season or last season, the Vikings, 80% of their scoring came through the air. If J.J. mcCarthy isn't the guy, yeah, they're screwed. So I'm backing up what you're Saying it all hinges on J.J. mcCarthy, because that defense needs to be playing with a lead and that offense needs scoring to happen through the air. And. And it did last year. And if this guy isn't the guy. Oh, my.
- [97:01]
Eric Larson
They said J.J. mcCarthy is the first quarterback taken in the last. In the first round, the last 25 years that did not take, like a single snap. Yeah, I believe that in the regular season.
- [97:12]
Jeremy Odom
Yep, I believe it.
- [97:14]
Eric Larson
So every other. Like, even Mahomes. Mahomes sat for a year, but he still took snaps. Like, you know, but, yeah, not being able to practice, not being able to do that. And I. I know. I mean, the puff piece writers, you know, for ESPN and all that, I mean, they've focused on, hey, McCarthy was doing notes for the QB room. Him and. Him and o' Connell still had their weekly meeting where he would get tested on the playbook, that he would do this. You know, Darnold wore VR goggles for, like, certain. Like. Or VR on his helmet. And McCarthy was able to see what he was seeing. But again, none of that is a. A substitution.
- [97:49]
Jeremy Odom
There's not the real pressure being hit slammed in the ground, but not real pressure. If you don't get the. Rid of the ball right now, you know, the drives over. I mean, yeah, nothing substitutes the real thing, but to be able to have the headset on, listen to everything happening, get the familiarity with that, to be in those meetings and learn. Because sometimes there's the pressure of, all right, I have to work and I'm working and I'm the starting quarterback and I'm in the field and I'm worried about eight different things. But when you're just sitting there learning, you know, like you. When you're an engineer, you're in class learning how to be an engineer, you're not out building buildings, you know, and so I think there's something to that. I think. And I hope he. I hope it shows, because I do think it worked for Carson Palmer. That's who it was. We were talking about Carson Palmer with the Bengals back in the day. They wouldn't let him step on the field that first year, and I thought that was awesome. He hated it, but then he had a great career. I don't know. I thought there was something to that. But anyway, the Vikings, I feel like they've got everything in front of them. It just falls on that quarterback position and see what happens. Yeah, the Lions, they're the favorites to win the division, as they should be. They're in that window. Jared Goff's A stud. Do you not like Jared Goff?
- [99:12]
Eric Larson
I'm not a huge Jared Goff fan.
- [99:14]
Jeremy Odom
But yeah, he's good for this system.
- [99:16]
Eric Larson
Yep. I mean, there was a reason that the Rams traded him out for Stafford.
- [99:22]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah. 100. 100. But it has worked out for the Lions. Yeah.
- [99:26]
Eric Larson
So we'll see. I mean, if the Lions can kind of keep that. That offensive magic that they had with the previous.
- [99:32]
Jeremy Odom
Because it ends at some point.
- [99:33]
Eric Larson
Yeah, well, they lost both their coordinators, so they lost their oc, they lost their DC Here this last year.
- [99:37]
Jeremy Odom
So to me, that puts all the pressure on the head coach.
- [99:40]
Eric Larson
Yes.
- [99:41]
Jeremy Odom
At this point, anybody who has a culture, anybody who has a system that's been built strong enough, which every head coach says they have. Right. That's why they get hired.
- [99:49]
Eric Larson
Right.
- [99:50]
Jeremy Odom
Anybody who has it, you're gonna get guys, they're gonna promote it out. Next one comes in. This is our system. If he's right and it works, they're gonna, they're gonna be. They're gonna win the division. They're gonna be super bowl contenders again. If he's wrong, this thing implodes fast.
- [100:06]
Eric Larson
Yeah.
- [100:06]
Jeremy Odom
So this is a big, this is a big do or die season for the line. So.
- [100:12]
Eric Larson
And it's, it's wild to think about the fact that. So the Lions last year had the worst injury luck on defense. They lost more starters, more players last year on defense than any other team in the NFL, but their offense was one of the healthiest in the NFL. So they lost like, I mean, David Montgomery was probably their biggest injury and he was the second string running back.
- [100:39]
Jeremy Odom
Right.
- [100:39]
Eric Larson
So you would think that their defense would be healthier this season, that their defense should be able to hold it together. But, you know, I mean, you would expect that offense is probably going to have more hurdles to go through with a new offense coordinator. And can they keep.
- [100:55]
Jeremy Odom
Keep that going? Yeah, yeah. It's interesting. I am actually, when it's just looking at the town, looking at the teams, and it's like, all right, Lions, yeah, they're going to win that division. They're. They're super, well contenders. This is it. But then when you deep, like deep dive into it, it's like, oh, they lost both coordinators. And that's a big red flag because the head coach is still newish. We haven't seen this from him yet. We haven't seen the big flip of his assistance. So, yeah, this is exciting.
- [101:20]
Eric Larson
And we mentioned earlier in this episode, you know, 49ers easiest schedule.
- [101:25]
Jeremy Odom
Right.
- [101:25]
Eric Larson
They're playing the Last place schedule. So the Lions have the toughest schedule in the NFL.
- [101:30]
Jeremy Odom
Makes sense.
- [101:31]
Eric Larson
So I mean in addition to having two games each against the Packers, Vikings and Bears in their own division, they've got the Eagles, they've got the Rams, they've got the Bucks, they play the AFC north, so they've got the Ravens, the Bengals, the Steelers, they play the east. So they'll also have Commanders and Cowboys in there. Like they've got a, a full dance card.
- [101:56]
Jeremy Odom
So hear me out. Are the Lions a team then makes the playoffs but as a wild card and Vikings or Packers jump ahead?
- [102:04]
Eric Larson
I do think, I mean, so the Vikings became, they made history for having the most wins, 14 win team to be wild card. I would say I don't see any team in the NFC north winning more than 12 games. I think 12 is probably like the top that any of these can go. But yeah. Do I think that it's within the realm of possibility that you could have an 11 win team win this division? 100%.
- [102:29]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah. Especially that schedule.
- [102:30]
Eric Larson
Yeah.
- [102:32]
Jeremy Odom
All right, so we've got Lions winning the North, Falcons winning the South, Rams winning the west and the Eagles winning the East. Not talking wild card. Would you say the winner out of the NFC is probably going to be a division winner? Do you think a wild card could take that right now if you were looking at it?
- [102:52]
Eric Larson
I mean it would be tough like not to take the chalk pick of the Eagles just because they've got, they've got the least amount of unknowns. Like I think, I mean, I think, yeah, the winner of the Lions, packers and Vikings, like if one of those teams comes up head and shoulders above that rest of that division, I think you could make the argument that hey, they'll be NFC champion contenders. But all of those teams I think have bigger question marks than the Eagles.
- [103:22]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah, the, the, all the, the schedule things you just brought up and then remembering the court, the coordinator things, that's enough for me to not say the Lions are favorite. It's the guy. I mean the Eagles obviously right now look like.
- [103:38]
Eric Larson
Yeah, I don't think anybody wants to see the Eagles be the number one seed and have to go to Philadelphia Philly in January. I think that's a. Yeah, that looks tough.
- [103:48]
Jeremy Odom
It's gonna be fun. Remember, not everybody that made it last year makes the playoffs this year. It's just, that's just how it always works. So it, A lot of these teams that we're looking at and it's like, how could they possibly lose? They're not going to make the playoffs. Which is to me that's what makes the NFL fun but and frustrating at the same time.
- [104:05]
Eric Larson
But yeah. And yeah, that's what kind of again those schedule inconsistencies from year to year. Yeah, like I don't think I can't talk about that enough. Just being an NFC fan of the fact that the whole division was buoyed by the NFC west and the AFC south and the fact that both the lions and Vikings went 71 against those eight teams that led to the great records and commander's team. How are they going to look playing a second place schedule versus a last place schedule? Yeah, it's interesting.
- [104:43]
Jeremy Odom
It's football baby. And week one, we've got this week we've got Eagles, Cowboys on Thursday night, Chargers, Chiefs on Friday. Before that full slate on Sunday. I'm excited. Yeah.
- [104:57]
Eric Larson
Gotta wait. Gotta wait till Monday night though to see the Vikings.
- [105:00]
Jeremy Odom
Vikings month. Vikings.
- [105:01]
Eric Larson
That's gonna be a.
- [105:03]
Jeremy Odom
Don't let the Bears. Don't. Don't let the Bear star. Want to know.
- [105:08]
Eric Larson
I.
- [105:09]
Jeremy Odom
That'll ruin it.
- [105:10]
Eric Larson
I've been on the record of saying that nothing, like nothing will destroy my buy in on the season more than if the Vikings look that bad against the Bears.
- [105:19]
Jeremy Odom
Is it. Where is it being played?
- [105:20]
Eric Larson
Chicago.
- [105:21]
Jeremy Odom
Don't lose to the Bears Week one. So.
- [105:24]
Eric Larson
And it's like that. That's the one thing that's going to be very, very strange. So I'm huge Vikings fan. Love the Sundays. I like them playing at that noon slot.
- [105:34]
Jeremy Odom
Yep.
- [105:36]
Eric Larson
So Vikings Week 1, Monday Night Football. Vikings Week 2 Sunday Night Football against the Falcons Week 3, they'll host the Bengals at noon. But then they play their back to back their Ireland and London games. So for weeks four and five they'll be playing at 9:30 in the morning.
- [105:59]
Jeremy Odom
That's a lot of change.
- [106:00]
Eric Larson
And then they have a bye week.
- [106:01]
Jeremy Odom
And then sometimes like people will say like oh, the, the fluctuation in routine will be tough for a rookie ish quarterback. Right. But that might be good. He's constantly having to like, just focus and like that might be actually the best way to start a season. Don't get caught. Routine. And then it changes.
- [106:19]
Eric Larson
Yeah.
- [106:19]
Jeremy Odom
What if it just always changes? That's your routine now. But that's actually not bad. That bad thing. Yeah.
- [106:24]
Eric Larson
This is where I can talk myself out of the Vikings though because I'm like that. That's a.
- [106:28]
Jeremy Odom
That's enough.
- [106:28]
Eric Larson
That's a tough schedule, you know, at the beginning. But that's probably their easiest stretch because when they come back. They have the Eagles and Ravens back to back and then the Lions and the packers. And it's just like there's like a four weeks from hell in there. So it's just like if you guys start two and three or God forbid, one and four, like, it's, it's, it's going to be a long process to get it righted.
- [106:52]
Jeremy Odom
Yeah. Well, it all starts this week. Eric, thanks for your breakdown.
- [107:00]
Eric Larson
Thanks for having me.
- [107:01]
Jeremy Odom
We did it. We talked football for good. Three hours between the two episodes.
- [107:07]
Eric Larson
This was a marathon session.
- [107:09]
Jeremy Odom
This was a good one. You can hear all the analysis, episode 101, the AFC from on laugh With Me. You can Hear all the NFC just this episode 102. And you can also hear each individual division on the bottom five podcast feed. So this was fun.
- [107:32]
Eric Larson
I really hope from the bottom of my heart, like, I hope that you don't invite me on the bottom five to talk Vikings.
- [107:39]
Jeremy Odom
Can I? All right, here's my promise to you. I will only invite you on the bottom five if the Vikings are going to be on it. How about that? Either for you to defend why they're not, shouldn't be, or why they should be.
- [107:56]
Eric Larson
That, that could be a three hour podcast just in itself.
- [107:58]
Jeremy Odom
That'll be fun. Yeah, absolutely. All right, you could find, you could find us on any of the socials, Instagram X, Facebook, YouTube, laugh with me podcast. You can, you can listen to the shows on YouTube, Spotify and Apple. And don't forget, we've got the Animated series, Laugh With Me. The Animated series is coming very soon, but you got to subscribe to our YouTube page and it's going to be a lot of fun. Thanks for listening. Foreign.
- [108:48]
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