Eli Manning In Studio, Howie Long, Eagles Win Opening Night After A Spit Off, NFL Week 1 Picks And Preview + Fyre fest

Summary

Pardon My Take — September 5, 2025

Episode: "Eli Manning In Studio, Howie Long, Eagles Win Opening Night After A Spit Off, NFL Week 1 Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest"

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Overview of the Episode

Football season is finally back, and Big Cat, PFT Commenter, and the PMT crew celebrate with a jam-packed episode that covers the Eagles’ wild opening night win (featuring a “spit off” between Jalen Carter and Dak Prescott), a furious breakdown of every NFL week 1 matchup, deep dives into dumb stats/trends, and a mix of interviews and recurring PMT fun like Firefest and weight-loss bets. Special guests include Eli Manning (in studio for Kings Hawaiian) and Howie Long, offering both essential football insight and plenty of classic PMT banter.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. #### Thursday Night Football Recap: Eagles 1-0 After “Spit Off”

• Wild Opener: The crew recaps the excitement of football returning, comparing it to “Christmas morning for guys like us” (Big Cat, 04:11). The Eagles beat the Cowboys in a dramatic game that featured an unprecedented “spit off.”

• The Spit Incident (03:41 – 08:34):

  • Jalen Carter is ejected without playing a snap after spitting on Dak Prescott, in response to Dak initially spitting near Carter.
  • Debate over whether Carter’s act was “self-defense”:
    • “I think that a second spit is self-defense.” — Zach (04:59)
    • Discussion ensues over NFL media bias towards the Cowboys, delayed broadcast of Dak’s initiating spit, and “Mississippi State alumni code.”
  • Analysis of team reactions and implications for team toughness and unity.

• Game Analysis (08:34 – 11:34):

  • First half a “perfect football” showcase; Eagles offense shined, but both defenses struggled.
  • Lightning delay disrupts rhythm; Eagles OL injuries become a factor.
  • Jalen Hurts’ control praised; questions about chemistry with A.J. Brown resurface (“Are they okay?” running joke, 09:39).
  • CeeDee Lamb’s crucial drops dissected.
  • Discussion on Cowboys’ prospects without Micah Parsons, Eagles’ defensive secondary struggles.

Memorable Moment:

• “The one thing worse than getting ejected for spitting on an opponent before you even take a snap is … the spit not really being good.” — Big Cat (06:37)

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2. #### NFL Storylines: Kawhi, Ballmer & Cap Circumvention

• Kawhi Leonard & Tree Company Scandal (14:51 – 18:29):

  • Pablo Torre’s reporting that a tree-planting company with ties to the Clippers may have been a vehicle for funneling money to Kawhi.
  • Gags about no-show jobs and Sopranos memes: “I thought his no-show job was playing basketball in the playoffs.” — Big Cat (15:49)
  • Ballmer’s aggressive denial, NBA culture of player-company marketing deals.

• Broader Implications (18:29 – 20:17):

  • Wishes their team owners were as creative: “Goddamn, I wish my owners did that.” — Big Cat (17:46)
  • Speculation that such shady deals happen everywhere except MLB (“There’s no salary cap!” — Max, 18:39).
  • Joke about crypto: “Doesn’t bitcoin exist for this exact purpose?” — Big Cat (19:16)

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3. #### Mount Rushmore Results, Office Poker, Streaming Virality

• Mount Rushmore Segment:
  • Side note on losing to Max, West Coast audience missing a poll, chaos of content recording week.
  • Debrief on chaotic office poker tourney: PFT gets first win, described as a “shark” reading people not the cards (“There’s too much math in poker.” — PFT, 23:34).
• Streaming Discussion:
  • “Fake podcasts” and the ecosystem of “clipper” accounts to manufacture viral moments (25:30 – 26:42).
  • The crew’s bemusement at online video trends bleeding into fake virality.

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4. #### NFL Week 1 Picks & Preview – Game-by-Game Breakdown

Overarching Themes

• Caution: “Week 1 is always tough” — anything can (and will) happen, and “we don’t know anything.”
• Dumb Trends & Stats:
  • Divisional home underdogs are 23–7 ATS in week 1 since 2010.
  • Underdogs of 6½+ are 49–27 ATS since 2006.

Highlighted Games & Takes

• Chiefs vs Chargers (in Brazil)
  • Complaints about Friday night scheduling.
  • Chiefs “hangover” potential & the Mahomes/Kelce time zone jokes.
  • Panel splits: Big Cat picks Chiefs for the AFC West, others like Broncos as contenders.
• Bucks/Falcons — Kyle Pitts Hope Springs Eternal (48:58):
  • “I’m officially back in on Kyle Pitts.” — Zach (49:05), citing the new QB.
  • Big Cat: If Kyle Pitts can keep his 1-2-3-4 TD sequence, “the back half of his career will be MVP, Hall of Fame-worthy.”
• Giants vs Commanders (71:31):
  • Metacommentary on being the “muck it up” team.
  • PFT vacillates between excitement and dread for his team’s season (“The last time I had expectations was 2006. Didn’t end well.” — Zach, 73:56).
  • Giants’ QB situation fascination, draftee autograph drama (“His signature is just the ‘@’ sign”—Zach, 71:49).
• Packers with Micah Parsons:
  • Howie Long details impact of a transcendent pass rusher and draws analogies to Reggie White (170:49).
  • “That might be the move that puts them over the top.” — Big Cat (170:49)

General PMT Game Analysis Style:

• Deep dives include jokes, “dumb stats,” wild overreactions (e.g. declaring the Packers the best team ever, only to be “first in line saying I was wrong” if/when it fails—Big Cat, 91:59).
• Panel bans RedZone commercials, advocates a “boycott” and exaggerated righteous indignation about commercial-free football.

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5. #### NFL Guests: Eli Manning (In Studio) & Howie Long

Eli Manning (108:16 – 157:29)

• Discusses new gig with Kings Hawaiian ("Slider Sunday"), adjusting to NFL Sundays as a retiree, and being happy simply watching games.
• Talks Hall of Fame candidacy (“I don’t think that’s my personality” [to complain] — Eli, 114:20, but Big Cat eggs him on to do a heel turn at some point).
• Preparing for ManningCast, Peyton’s rambling voice memos (“I’ve had 35 minute voice memos” — Eli, 117:04), and how Eli preps by brainstorming ways to bust Peyton’s balls.
• Quarterbacking and life: handling injury, taking blame for others’ mistakes, and finding his leadership voice in a Super Bowl-winning locker room.
• Advice to nephew Arch (Texas QB): never take a picture with a beer.
• Why he didn’t chase the “one more year” with another team.
• On the art of the “self sack,” how to master dummy/hard counts, and how to fall and avoid hits as a QB.

Memorable Eli Manning Quotes:

• “I told Peyton, I need the Cliff Notes of your voicemail…” (118:01)
• “Take the heat, let (your teammate) get through the media. You owe me now — you gotta make a play for me.” (127:45)

Howie Long (158:53+)

• Breaks down impact of Micah Parsons’ trade to Packers, calls him “generational” and “positionless.”
• Talks Ben Johnson’s arrival in Chicago—what he brings to Caleb Williams, and the patience needed for young QBs.
• On the PMT/Fox NFL Sunday chemistry: “We call lightning in a bottle…You don’t know until you know. And we knew right away.”
• On pass rush vs coverage: “It’s not the sacks, it’s the pressure … It answers the question for Green Bay.” (175:08)
• Makes the case for teams: Buffalo as AFC favorite (“the gods, maybe, are kind to those fans up in Buffalo”), Philly as NFC dark horse, Tampa Bay as a “quiet” threat.
• On TV’s “walk around coach”: not a play caller, but the guy who sets the agenda and “can step in and say, run it three times and let’s get out of here.”

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6. #### PMT Fun & Recurring Segments

• Mount Rushmore, Poker, and Streaming Talk: Recaps of internal show competitions, office poker hijinks, and satirical tips for going viral.
• Firefest: The crew’s weekly segment sharing personal mishaps—ranging from overdue bets, golf beefs (the infamous $9,000 debt Hank owes PFT), to “lying to kids about the office rabbit.”
• Weight Loss Challenge: Team bet to lose 60–80 pounds combined; Max’s “air fryer for health” plan ridiculed, but Big Cat offers “financial support for healthy snacks,” predicting inevitable PMT-style backsliding.

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Notable Quotes (with Timestamps)

• On Thursday Night Nerves:
  “I’ve never driven home from the hospital with a baby, but my drive into work before the opening game of the NFL — that was my own personal drive home from the hospital with a baby. I was terrified.” — Zach (03:41)

• On Spitgate:
  “I think that a second spit is self-defense.” — Zach (04:59)

• On RedZone Adding Commercials:
  “Scott Hansen not saying ‘commercial free football’ is bullshit. Scott Hansen did nothing wrong here. I hate it. I stand with the people.” — Big Cat (32:03)

• On Owner Shadiness:
  “God damn it, I wish my owners did that.” — Big Cat, on Ballmer allegedly funneling money through a tree company (17:46)

• On Packers with Micah Parsons:
  “That might be the move that puts them over the top.” — Big Cat to Howie Long (170:49)

• On Taking Blame as QB:
  “Let me take the heat, let him get through the media, be fine. And now, hey — we have a little trust here. You owe me now.” — Eli Manning (127:45)

• On Peyton Manning’s Voice Memos:
  “I’ve had 35 minute voice memos… I don’t have time to listen — I need the Cliff Notes.” — Eli (117:04)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• 00:52: Episode topic overview
• 03:41 – 11:34: Eagles/Cowboys recap + Spitgate
• 14:51 – 18:29: Kawhi/Ballmer/"tree company" NBA scandal
• 31:09 – 46:49: NFL Week 1 Preview, panel bets & dumb stats
• 48:58: Return of “Kyle Pitts Hope”
• 71:31: Commanders/Giants deep dive
• 91:59 – 93:06: Packers with Micah Parsons debate
• 108:16 – 157:29: Eli Manning interview
• 158:53+: Howie Long interview
• 196:41: Firefest of the Week

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Episode Tone and Vibe

PMT maintains its hallmark blend of irreverence and authentic football nerdery. Big Cat and PFT are excitable, playful, and unafraid to go down weird rabbit holes, but also drop insightful analysis. The interviews with Eli and Howie are warm and respect their guests’ expertise while still peppering them with signature PMT jokes. The show’s running gags — weight loss bets, fantasy football heartbreaks, “hand up, I was wrong!” — keep things both relatable and hilarious for longtime listeners.

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Final Takeaway

It’s football Christmas and PMT is back in full stride — covering on-field drama, off-field scandals, fan rituals, and the entire week 1 NFL slate with celebrated guests and trademark chaos. Whether you’re an obsessive NFL fan or a casual observer, this episode sets the tone for the 2025 season and delivers everything you’d want from “the loudest and most correct sports takes” in podcasting.

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Transcript

[Big Cat]

Hey, pardon my take listeners. You can find every episode on Apple podcasts, Spotify or YouTube Prime. Members can listen ad free on Amazon Music.

[Howie Long]

Folks, it's the foreplay guys.

[Eli Manning]

Let's talk Truly Unruly. When you spend every day following the countless laws of golf like us, it's.

[Big Cat]

Refreshing to get a little unruly.

[Howie Long]

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[Eli Manning]

Truly Unruly is the first high alk seltzer that actually tastes good. It's hard hitting, but still light and.

[Howie Long]

Refreshing, making it perfect for everything from the front nine to the clubhouse. Find it near you at trulyhardselter.com Locations. That's trulyhardselter.com Locations Hard Seltzer Beverage Co. Boston, MA Please drink responsibly.

[Big Cat]

On today's part of my take Football is back. We had Thursday Night Football. We're going to talk Eagles, Cowboys. We also have our first weekend preview of the year, which was great. We get into every single game. We got stupid stats, dumb thoughts, even dumber bets. And then we're going to have some experts on. We have Eli Manning in studio, Howie Long, and then we have Fire Fest. And we might have a new challenge going with Fire Fest. So before we get to all of that, DraftKings game on week one starts now and every touchdown can bring you closer to a payout with DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NFL. Every touchdown could hit big. Don't just watch the game when you can win with it. DraftKings sportsbook brings the unmatched intensity of the NFL straight to your fingertips. Whether you're backing the first touchdown score, hitting anytime TD props, or riding the thrills of live in game betting, every play is packed with possibility new customers. This one's for you. Bet just $5. Get $300 in bonus bets instantly. Plus grab over $200 of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Your season starts now. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app. Use code TAKE. That's code TAKE to get $300 in bonus bets instantly. When you bet 5 bucks plus over $200 off NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube tv in partnership with DraftKings. The crown is yours. Gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER in New York, call 877-8-HOPE and WHY or text Hopeny 46736. Kid help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org Please play responsibly on behalf of Boot Hill Casino and Resort in Kansas. Fees may apply in Illinois 21 and over. Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Boyd In Ontario, bonus bets expire seven days after issuance. See [e-mail] promos NFL Sunday Ticket offer for new subscribers only and auto renews until canceled. Digital games and commercial use excluded restrictions. Apply additional NFL Sunday ticket [e-mail] go NFLSundayTicket. Okay, let's go. Yeah. Bar welcome to part of my take presented by DraftKings. Your season season starts now. Download the DraftKings sportsbook app. Use code TAKE. That's code TAKE to get $300 in bonus bets instantly when you bet 5 bucks plus over $200 off NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV in partnership with DraftKings. The crown is yours. Today is Friday, September 5th, and football is back.

[Zach]

Made it. We made it. I. I'll tell you what I told the guys when I drove in this afternoon after we left, came back to watch the games. I've never driven home from the hospital with a baby, but my drive into work before we were watching the first opening game of the NFL, I felt like that was my own personal drive home for the hospital with a baby. I was terrified. I was driving so carefully. I was like, what if I get into a crash and die before football season starts? I'm just so glad that it's here.

[Big Cat]

It's beautiful.

[Zach]

It is.

[Big Cat]

I had a pep in my step all day. This is Christmas morning for. For guys like us, this is a holiday. And The Eagles are 1 and O after a wild start to the football season. We had opening kickoff, injury cart comes out for an Eagles player on special teams, and Jalen Carter gets ejected from the game without taking a snap after spitting on Dak Prescott, which was in return to Dak Prescott spitting on the ground in front of Jalen Carter, which I know someone here. Well, two people here, both in the booth thought Jalen Carter acted in self defense. Zach said that you have to. What was your exact take, Zach?

[Zach]

I think that a second spit is self defense.

[Big Cat]

Self defense. Max, how are you feeling about the spit?

[Max]

I was very mad about the spit at first because, you know, it's convenient that the NFL took, you know, three hours to show the. The initial spit from Dak Prescott because of the beloved Cowboys of the NFL media.

[Big Cat]

I like this.

[Max]

So, yeah, no, it was a. It was three hours of everyone saying, Jalen Carter. Oh, Jalen Carter, Georgia bad guy. We were waiting for this to come out. What a piece of shit Jalen Carter is. And then we found out it was. It was a retaliation spin.

[Big Cat]

It was self defense.

[Zach]

I got a question. Who said Jalen Carter, Georgia bad guy?

[Max]

Well, you know, people say that about Georgia.

[Zach]

Well, I have one example.

[Max]

What?

[Zach]

Brandon Walker said that.

[Max]

Oh, did he?

[Zach]

And that's. It's very interesting too. Where Brent go to college?

[Max]

Mississippi State.

[Zach]

Where did Dak go to college?

[Max]

Mississippi State.

[Zach]

That's interesting to me. I thought that was. Yeah, that was a fun part of the night.

[Max]

Did he say anything about Dax spitting towards him first?

[Zach]

No, I asked him for comment. Otherwise, I have to assume that Mississippi State is a pro. Spitting on people university. And I still haven't heard from Ren Walker, who is the most famous alumni of Mississippi State. I thought when I first saw it. First of all, credit to Jalen Carter. That was a nice loogie he hocked up.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, we thought it. I thought it was gum.

[Zach]

Yeah. Yeah, it looked like gum. It was. It looked like it was globule. It looked like it was like a different color.

[Big Cat]

It looked like maybe it had like, maybe a salt packet in his water right before.

[Zach]

Yeah, like he had that one loaded.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, little skittles.

[Zach]

Like instead of going out into the field and watching the banner being unfurled, maybe he was just in the tunnel just hawking it up so he's ready.

[Big Cat]

Because the one thing worse than getting ejected for spitting on an opponent before you even take a snap in the NFL season would be getting ejected for spitting on an opponent before you take a snap in the NFL season and having the spit not really be good.

[Zach]

Yeah, it was a great.

[Big Cat]

We all can agree that was a.

[Zach]

Manly spit is a manly spit. Well, men don't spit on people. Men, they spit to the side or they spit into Mountain Dew bottles and then they leave them on desks.

[Big Cat]

I did. That's true. I did. Like, it became a tough guy contest online where it was like, go up to someone, spit on the ground in front of them. See? See? See how. How quickly you wake up, It'll be in the hospital.

[Zach]

Try that in a small town.

[Big Cat]

It's like, okay, so someone wants to spit on the ground in front of me. I'll probably be like, sorry, I don't want any, any, any trouble here, sir.

[Zach]

All right, so. So my initial reaction, we just saw the Jalen Carter number one, great loogie, number two reaction was Dax should have punched him or alignment. Maybe a lineman.

[Max]

No, but that makes sense.

[Zach]

I would like to see a Lineman have his back and step in. But even if you know that Dax spit at them, if Jalen Carter spits and it hits your quarterback, to me, that shows a fraction of the Dallas Cowboys team. That line, it's like when you get sacked and no one helps you up.

[Big Cat]

If Jerry Jones was still alive, he would not let this happen. Jerry Jones seeing in the box, he was. He was melting in his seat.

[Zach]

Jerry Jones, all his teeth come out.

[Big Cat]

Jerry Jones looked like when you. When. When you. When you leave a candle unattended for a while and you come back, you're like, oh, oh. I got like. Like a quarter of the candle left, and he's sitting in the. The owner's suite with a Pepsi with his eyes closed. That's Jerry Jones right now.

[Zach]

He's scouting.

[Big Cat]

So a candle in a suit.

[Zach]

When. When I saw that Dak spat first, then my reaction shifted to Dak. Dak can't cry for getting spat on if he's the one that started it.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, he started it.

[Zach]

So Jalen Carter should not have spat onto Dak. He should have directed his spit on the ground in front of Dak.

[Big Cat]

Well, and more than anything, like. Like, take out the spit. The fact what happened is the Eagles defense in the first half was just getting gashed, and so was the Cowboys. The Cowboys defense looked so bad in the first half. I don't think they touched Jalen Hurts. He was scrambling all over the place, hitting everyone. That first half was, like, pretty much perfect football from both sides. I think there was maybe one or two incompletions. Then the second half started. Eber Flutes, I hate to say it made some good adjustments on defense. They got after Jalen Hurts a little more, and the lightning delay happened in the game basically ended.

[Zach]

Yeah, after they came back. I think it was after the delay that. That Hertz hit Dotson. Or was that before?

[Big Cat]

That was. That was before. They didn't score a point after the delay.

[Zach]

That was. That was a great, great pass by Jalen Hurts. He was also awesome with his feet. He was perfect in terms of, like, figuring out when to run, where to run, when to get down.

[Big Cat]

He.

[Zach]

He wasn't getting hit even when he was running. Yeah, he was. He was sliding perfectly. It was a great game by Jalen Hurts. But I do have a question for you, Max. You know, I care about the relationship deeply between Jalen Hurts and AJ Brown. Are they okay?

[Max]

We've asked this question many a time on this show.

[Zach]

I don't think it took.

[Big Cat]

It took about 3, 4 hours with the Lightning day delay for him to get his first target.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Max]

We've asked this question many a time.

[Zach]

Are they okay with each other?

[Max]

You asked him that question directly.

[Zach]

I just want to make sure.

[Big Cat]

What do you say? I forget.

[Max]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Oh, that was really good.

[Max]

That was restraint.

[Howie Long]

That was.

[Max]

Max, if we lost that game, if we lost that game, it would not have been the same story after.

[Zach]

After three years of asking Max the same question after every Eagles game, he's finally learned a little bit.

[Big Cat]

But that was an incredible breakthrough. I know. That was. That was like, we're your therapist. We're like, hey, we really did something today. We really found something.

[Zach]

If we asked him at five more times, he would get mad.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

But this is good that you recognize what's going on.

[Big Cat]

Yes. CD Lamb, by the way, that was the game. That drop, not the last drop, because that was a hard catch to make. And that's like a 50, 50. He could have made the. He has made those catches. The one before, though, Dak made a perfect pass to what it was like the 25 yard line. CD Lamb just right in his hands.

[Zach]

I actually thought Dak played pretty good tonight.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, Dak looked good. Like, we kind of forgot what Dak looked like because it had been a while and he wasn't really good last year and they got hurt. He looked pretty good. The Cowboys, I feel like, are going to be in some games with their offense, but, man, CD Lamb, that. You got to catch that. You have to catch that.

[Zach]

Yeah, I thought I. As a whole, the Cowboys didn't look as bad as a lot of people were expecting him to. No, the entire story for the last two months has just been Micah Parsons, and he's really, really good player. And his absence, I think you could say, was probably felt tonight.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, they found something in the second half, and obviously the Eagles had some offensive line injuries. I think Lanny Dickerson left and that. That definitely you could. You could feel that. But before that, even the Cowboys defense bowed up a little and they. And they played a lot better. Max, are you worried at all about the secondary? Yes.

[Max]

Secondary looked really bad. Dory Jackson, I was. He's going to be. He's going to be a guy that. I say his name a lot this year, and I can tell that already. And even the rest of the secondary didn't look great. Like, Ceedee was winning every single battle, no matter who we put at him. And it wasn't really close that I. I'm going to chalk up a little bit to. Nobody played in preseason you can always. You can play that card for. I think you get, like, two weeks, three weeks. Two weeks of like. All right. We.

[Big Cat]

We.

[Max]

We had a late, late run in the playoffs last year. Nobody played in preseason. You got to get back into the flow of things. Yeah, but Adore Jackson. I mean, he looked like he didn't.

[Zach]

Know how to play football.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Also, shout out Big Dom. Great job escorting Jalen Carter off the premises. It's a nice, calming presence. He was. He was talking him down. I wish that Big. They should mic Big Dom up.

[Big Cat]

They should for those moments.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Also shout out Max. He was a real team player. He turned his back for the unveiling of the banner because the team didn't watch it, so he didn't want to watch it. That's how you do it.

[Max]

Yeah. I stand in solidarity with my squad.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Max]

I'm basically part of the team.

[Big Cat]

Max, I have a question for you that popped in my head today because we had Fred Smoot in the office. We're doing pro football Football show, and he said the Eagles have the best roster in the NFL. Do you take. Do you take offense to that? I was thinking about it. I think I'd take offense to that.

[Max]

Well, he probably says it was. He was.

[Zach]

He's.

[Big Cat]

No, he just said the Eagles have the best roster in the NFL, but whenever someone says that, they're basically saying they're. The guys on the paper look awesome. They have to still be awesome. You know what I mean?

[Max]

But, yeah, they just. They just won the super bowl, so.

[Big Cat]

Like, saying you're the best team is different than saying you're the best roster.

[Max]

But they just won the Super Bowl.

[Big Cat]

I agree. I'm saying. So you take offense to it.

[Max]

No, I don't take offense. The only reason I would take offense to that is if. If he was bringing down Jalen Hurts.

[Big Cat]

Got it.

[Zach]

I would.

[Max]

That's when I take offense, is when people.

[Big Cat]

I see. I see.

[Zach]

I. I would maybe take offense to it after a few months of the season, but before kickoff. It's like, if you say that, that's really all you talk. You can just talk about the roster.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, but they are the best team in the NFL. They won the super bowl, but they're also the only team. It's one. And.

[Max]

Oh, if you were to. If you were to say that after a year that they disappointed in the playoffs, then you could take offense to it.

[Big Cat]

Got it.

[Max]

But after a year that you just won the super bowl and you say you're the best roster, it's like, okay, that. Yeah, that makes sense.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Max]

You, I think you, if so fact.

[Big Cat]

Though, you have so fact.

[Zach]

You have definitely one of the best rosters. But tonight you didn't have the most electric player on the field. And that was once again, George Pickens.

[Big Cat]

Yes.

[Zach]

I can't get enough of George Pickens.

[Big Cat]

The clothesline.

[Zach]

George Pickens clothesline was incredible. There were a couple of plays where he just decided he was going to walk because he knew he wasn't getting the ball. A couple great catches that he had. And then right afterwards, you do the thing, you scream at the TV like, somebody get up with George and bring him back to the huddle immediately because he's going to get another penalty.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

He is the. He is the most entertaining player in the NFL to watch.

[Big Cat]

Yes, I'd agree. It's you. You said it during the game. The all 22 just on George.

[Zach]

Yeah, just.

[Big Cat]

Just George cam locked in. All right, Other things real quick because we have our weekend preview. We have a lot of show coming up. Do we think anything? What do we think about Kawhi Kawhi and Ballmer? Pablo Torre found out that Kawhi Leonard was maybe working for a fake company.

[Zach]

Tree company was a real company that then went bankrupt. That then went bankrupt under premise of a fraud investigation. And Steve Ballmer allegedly invested a bunch of money in this company, which then allegedly was funneled directly to Kawhi Leonard. The company is a tree planting company. Basically. I. I listen to the podcast. It sounds like the company was invented so that Hollywood celebrities who feel guilty about their private jets can cut a check to a company that says it's actually genius. We're going to take this money and go plant a billion trees with it. So don't worry, Ms. Swift, you can fly anywhere you want. And then it turns out they just never checked in on the trees that were being planted. So we don't know if trees ever. It was just a check that you could write to feel better.

[Big Cat]

And Kawhi. Kawhi never did anything for him. A no show job. Did you hear this one? Did you hear this one? Kawhi Leonard had no show job for a tree company. I thought his no show job was playing basketball in the playoffs.

[Zach]

That's good. I like. That's James Harden's.

[Big Cat]

Oh, man.

[Zach]

I took exception with a lot of the Sopranos memes that were going around.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Because it was all the picture of the guys at the construction site. Those weren't the no show jobs. You have to show up to sit down. Those were the no work jobs.

[Big Cat]

It had to be an empty chair.

[Zach]

Yes. The no show jobs. You got to. You got to stay at home.

[Big Cat]

The one with the Pine Barrens was good, though.

[Zach]

Yeah, that was great.

[Big Cat]

It's Kawhi and Steve Ballmer showing Pablo Torre.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

The trees. By the way, I will say that Steve Ballmer is handling it correctly in the fact that he's completely on the offensive. He went on SportsCenter tonight. I did read someone basically spelled it out. Some NBA writer was like, we don't really know what happened here, but the idea that a. A company that markets with the team would also have a marketing deal with their biggest star is very common in the NBA.

[Zach]

Yes.

[Big Cat]

So, like, that part is common. The fact that these. This, this company basically looked like a fake company. That part is what's like, huh? What's going on here?

[Zach]

And the part that Kawhi did zero work. I think maybe he. He might have signed, like, five pictures.

[Big Cat]

There was a. I saw.

[Zach]

There was a happy birthday million dollars.

[Big Cat]

It was a happy birthday, Kawhi Tweet from, like, 2023, and it was, like, from the Clippers account, and it was, like, sponsored by aspiration. What is it?

[Zach]

Aspire.

[Big Cat]

I Aspire.

[Zach]

Yeah, we got it. We got to start one of those companies.

[Big Cat]

I know this actually is a genius idea to just, like, just prey on. On. On a bunch of celebrities who feel guilty. Yeah, let's do it.

[Hank]

I know I was a little critical of Pablo Torre with the. With the Bill Belichick reporting, and I know Bill Simmons was too, but I kind of love. And I'm sure he. This was his plan the whole time, but it feels like after Bill Simmons came after him, he's like, been like, super spite reporting.

[Big Cat]

Well, he's like. He's on top of what he does.

[Hank]

He's on top of everything.

[Zach]

Yeah. Pablo has. He's become the number one. Do not pick up this guy's phone call. If he's calling you or if he invites you on his podcast, you should pack up, you should have go bag ready, and you should flee to Bahrain.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. By the way, I don't know how you guys feel, but when I saw this report and let's say it went down exactly what Pablo Torre is saying, that, like, this was a shell, you know, fake company and this was a way to circumvent the cap, I was like, God damn it, I wish my owners did that. Yeah. Like, Jerry Reinsurf would never do that. And if you're a Clippers fan, you should be like, yeah, that rocks.

[Zach]

Yeah. This is what you want. Would you rather have Donald Sterling.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Or a guy that, that will break the law to help you win?

[Big Cat]

A guy who's like, I pay you hundreds of millions of dollars, but guess what? I want to pay you even more.

[Zach]

Yeah, sorry.

[Big Cat]

That's awesome.

[Zach]

Is that a crime? Maybe, I don't know. Don't answer that. Do you think this happens in other sports, Big Cat?

[Big Cat]

Yes, I think it happens in all sports. Everywhere.

[Zach]

Yes, I agree.

[Max]

Not baseball.

[Big Cat]

Not baseball. There's no salary cap.

[Zach]

That's a good point.

[Max]

Sorry for the.

[Zach]

Well, actually, I don't know, Max, that.

[Big Cat]

Was a great point.

[Zach]

Well, actually. Max, that was a great.

[Big Cat]

Well, actually great point.

[Zach]

It does not happen in baseball. By not having a cap, they took away all the incentive to do that. I was thinking like NFL, like if there's ever been a star quarterback that took a series of team friendly deals, hometown discounts, and maybe they had some sort of side arrangement in their location.

[Hank]

The side arrangement. A multi hundred millionaire wife?

[Zach]

No, but that would be a very, very convenient reason for him to not take those big deals.

[Big Cat]

It's good, good, good cover.

[Zach]

Great cover.

[Big Cat]

I got a question and this is why. So I believe Pablo Torre's reporting because he's very good at it. The only reason that I'm like, huh, this doesn't fully add up is maybe this doesn't make sense. But doesn't bitcoin exist so that you can send people money without anyone tracing it? Mm, isn't that just what's happening?

[Hank]

It's all on the chain.

[Big Cat]

But isn't it? Wouldn't that be how everyone's doing this right now? Like, I think that every team probably is doing this and aren't they just doing it with bitcoin?

[Zach]

All you would have to do, he would have to start Kawai coin. And then Steve Ballmer would be like, I'm going to buy a shitload of kawai coin anonymously.

[Big Cat]

But wouldn't you, like, that would be the least shocking news ever if a bunch of owners got somehow exposed for sending bitcoin to their star players. Right? Yeah.

[Zach]

Or if a player was going to star in a movie, like if it was a liveaction slash animated movie about basketball and cartoon characters, and then move to LA where it was being funded, and then all the money gets intertwined and then that guy becomes a producer.

[Big Cat]

On that movie and he also gets a piece of the ownership of the Lakers.

[Zach]

That would be. Yeah, I would keep my eyes on something like that.

[Big Cat]

I would keep my Eyes on some of that. All right. Last thing I had before we get to our preview, boys, you want to say anything about the bloodbath that occurred on Wednesday?

[Zach]

Yeah, MySpaceTime was a great pick.

[Big Cat]

It was one of the worst picks.

[Zach]

No, it's a great ever. Listen. It's a great pick. Sometimes they, you know, great shots don't always go in. You get unlucky. Bad bounce.

[Hank]

I'd rather go oh and three than two and one.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. So Maximims one Mount Rushmore season or finished second going three and. Oh, full sweep. Pft. And Hank will do the spray tan with the.

[Howie Long]

The.

[Big Cat]

The frosted tips and the puka shell and the pop collar and the cargo shorts or pants. After Thanksgiving, we're going to look good. Justice was served. I guess.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Duel is just.

[Zach]

Yeah, I'm okay with the result. I will abide by. Is kind of weird that it happened so early. Like, west coast listeners didn't even get a chance to vote in the poll. I'm not going to dispute it. I'm just pointing. I'm just.

[Big Cat]

Hank.

[Max]

So the reason we did that.

[Zach]

I'm just. I'm stating a fact.

[Max]

But we recorded that on last year.

[Big Cat]

We.

[Max]

We posted the poll as it was going on so that there was no bias for the listeners.

[Big Cat]

Right.

[Max]

We couldn't do that this year because we had the.

[Big Cat]

You guys.

[Max]

You guys had a poker tournament. So we recorded that on Monday. So it makes no sense for us to post the duel before we even announced that we were doing a duel. So we had to do it.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, it was. By the way, that. That is a very funny wrinkle to all this. We had a very chaotic week with travel. We came in on Monday at like 4:30 and recorded basically everything from 4:30 till midnight. So we did our entire argument and then we took a break and then we did the tool. Yeah, it was like back to back all in the same moment. Yeah.

[Zach]

And then we went home, slept for a little bit and got on a plane together and had a great time.

[Eli Manning]

And then.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, I, like, woke up and I saw a bunch of people like, tweeting like, this is so dumb. Why are you arguing about this? I'm like, wait, didn't we do the. Oh, yeah, that's tomorrow that the Mountain Rush wars come out.

[Zach]

I'd forgotten. I'd forgotten to. Again, I'm not disputing the. The poll is final. We all agreed to it. It's just, I. I feel bad for the listeners on the West Coast.

[Big Cat]

I might get a spray tan. Didn't get a chance to vote.

[Max]

I mean, it wasn't close, so.

[Big Cat]

No, yeah, it was. It was ball, don't lie. Yeah, it was bald, don't lie.

[Max]

Also, congrats for winning money for in poker.

[Zach]

Yeah, thank you. Yeah, I found out what a straight was.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, you were a shark.

[Zach]

I, I think I am a shark at poker. I, I nailed every read that I had of everybody at the table. I was able to, like, look through them and I knew what they were doing. I just didn't know that an ace could be high or low.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Which is something that they teach you day one.

[Big Cat]

No, I was saying to someone as the poker tournament was going on, because they're like, how do you think PFT is doing? I was like, he's in the perfect spot right now because he doesn't really know what he's doing, but he's smart enough to be able to, like, figure out everyone else. So the cards don't really matter for him.

[Zach]

Well, they did a little bit because it did.

[Big Cat]

But like, you, you were more reading body language than the cards.

[Zach]

Like, if I got. I think I got a pair of twos or a pair of threes at one point and I had no idea if that was a good hand.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, you weren't playing percentages. You weren't like, oh, the pot is this. And I have this. I have a percentage on this.

[Zach]

There's too much math and poker.

[Big Cat]

Way too much.

[Zach]

I would like to play again, though.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, we should, we should do it again. By the way, last thing. Hank, no huge night of tennis for you. You were locked into the tennis well, yeah, we.

[Hank]

We got the gambling cave. Football is back. Honestly, hand up. I just assumed there was going to be college football on because usually there.

[Big Cat]

Thursday. Yeah, they give. They give it up on the opening night.

[Hank]

So there wasn't. There was. There was tennis on, two TVs. And I bet the Eagles alternate spread because I thought they were going to blow them out. Jaylen Carter went out, this cowboy scored right away. And I was like, all right, this, that's a loser, right? So let's jump in on some tennis. Did a, did a two. Two person parlay. So I won the first one with Sablinka. And then I'm in Osaka. I've been watching for six hours just to lose. I'm. I'm done with women's.

[Big Cat]

I got a question for you. So it's the US Open. It's our major. There were two Americans in the quarter or the semifinals. Surely you bet on both Americans.

[Hank]

I Bet on the two people I know. Sabalano's electric. And I like Osaka.

[Big Cat]

She's.

[Hank]

She's got a good personality, good story.

[Zach]

And you thought might have been American?

[Hank]

Well, she moved when she was three. She speaks. I've watched a lot of her interviews.

[Big Cat]

Like.

[Hank]

I know.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, but the flag.

[Hank]

Yeah, I just. Well, there's the flag. It's on me. But I like Osaka. She choked. She absolutely choked.

[Max]

Does not date someone famous.

[Hank]

She has a kid with. What's his name? Y.D. corday. Y.M. cordae.

[Big Cat]

Zach tap you in, Zach, give us a grunt first. A grunt? Yeah. Tennis grunt? Yeah, women's tennis grunt. Wait, Go again. Wait, Zach, go ahead. Who is this? Oh, it's a. YBN Corda.

[Hank]

YBN Cord.

[Big Cat]

Who is that? R B singer slash rapper. Okay, finish us off with a grunt.

[Zach]

Hank, I have a question for you. Yeah. I've been noticing a lot of clips going Viral on. On x.com, the Everything app, and they're taken from the point of view of a streamer, like the somebody with one of those backpacks like Donnie has that walks around. Have we gotten to a point where now people are pretending to be streamers just so that they can put out videos that look like they're streamers and try to go viral with those? You know how, like, people make fake podcasts and then they post those to their Instagram so it looks like they're being interviewed on a podcast.

[Big Cat]

Yes.

[Hank]

And Zach can attest to this. They also hire, like, clippers. They're called to just clip their streams and spam them on social media. So it looks like they have fan accounts. Yeah, it's not really fan accounts.

[Zach]

Okay.

[Big Cat]

It's just like, we get some clippers.

[Zach]

I was. I was thinking.

[Big Cat]

Or is that just FSU Brando memes? Oh, we have, like, two and shout out FSU Brando.

[Zach]

But anything that's filmed in whatever resolution that is. I don't know how many frames per second or whatever, we should start doing those videos that we just set up ourselves and be like, oh, big cat crashed out hard.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Oh.

[Zach]

In the gambling cave.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

They just always, like, lie in the original captions to pull the, like, viewer in. Like, you'll see one clip and then.

[Big Cat]

Just 10 different descriptions for it. Oh, I get caught by those all the time.

[Zach]

Big cat press, Nikki smokes. But then Nikki crashed out.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Zach]

Okay, put that in the somewhat good ideas file.

[Max]

Zach didn't used to be one of those people.

[Zach]

Yes.

[Big Cat]

Wait, what? I used to run clip accounts all the time. For who you guys. Oh, so I only met before?

[Max]

No, before. I could have swore that you told.

[Big Cat]

Me before I got there. What? Different. Different genres, but these were the big ones.

[Zach]

What genres would play just all the.

[Big Cat]

Street, like all the streamers, because they.

[Zach]

Used to like what kinds. Is that what they.

[Hank]

Discord got you in the first interview with Gruden?

[Eli Manning]

The.

[Big Cat]

The barstool club accounts is how I got to the in person interviews. But like they do a lot.

[Zach]

The original meta is like they put.

[Big Cat]

Together these Discord communities. So like a stream be like, hey, I'll pay you out this much money.

[Zach]

For this amount of views. You just join the Discord and like.

[Big Cat]

Once a month they pay out if you like got good views on the clips. Okay.

[Hank]

They pay a lot.

[Zach]

What, what, what types of streamers though?

[Big Cat]

Whoever's pop. Usually irl because IRL is like the new meta last couple years, but yeah.

[Hank]

That'S what you're talking about.

[Zach]

That's what I'm talking about.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Because if I see something that has that resolution and I'm like, oh, something's about to happen on this live stream and then I watch, it always sucks. And then I think to myself, somebody is just like putting this out there and miscaptioning to get more views.

[Hank]

Yeah, 100.

[Zach]

Like this. This person cannot be that popular.

[Big Cat]

Right.

[Hank]

I do also love seeing those clips on Instagram, the. The podcast clips and then like kind of going. Clicking through a couple times and finding the podcast and it's like seven views.

[Zach]

Yeah, it's not even. I. Sometimes I don't think the mics are plugged in. I think it's just all about having your face in front of a microphone.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

You can then take a picture of and put on. It's like the fake jet that people sit in.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Oh, I like that one.

[Zach]

Yeah, that's actually. We should get one of those.

[Big Cat]

Okay. We have a lot of show. We got picks and preview all. All games. For week one, we have Eli Manning, we have a Howie Long, and then we got Fire Festival. Okay. Before we get to the weekend preview, football is back and the only place fans can watch every game every Sunday is NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV. NFL Sunday Ticket provides fans with the ultimate viewing experience with features like Multiview where you can watch up to four games at the exact same time, including NFL Red Zone key plays to catch up or replay the biggest moments in each game. And Jerry OConnell's favorite feature, fantasy View to track your players scores right alongside each game. PFT. Yep. Power rank your four box multi view for week one 1pm slate okay I've.

[Zach]

Got it all planned out.

[Big Cat]

I'm ready.

[Zach]

I've thought about this a lot. So I'm going to go obviously. Commanders, Giants.

[Big Cat]

Yep.

[Zach]

Got to see what happens in the NFC East. Then I have to have the double revenge game. Jets, Steelers want to see that. Then the Falcons, Bucks, those two teams. I think those are going to be the ones that are fighting for that division when it's all said and done.

[Big Cat]

Yep.

[Zach]

And then I am interested to see if the if the Dolphins might be as bad as we think that they might be. So I'm going to go Dolphins, Colts.

[Big Cat]

Okay that's a great four. That's great for in the multi view right now you can get NFL Sunday ticket month to month and cancel anytime. Sign up today at YouTube to get started. Tell them the football guys, pardon my take sent you local national games on YouTube TV. NFL Sunday Ticket for out of market games excludes digital only games. Base plan required. Renews every month during the 2025 regular season. Only your membership for the following month can be canceled anytime before your renewal date. Terms, restrictions and embargoes apply. Commercial use excluded and no refunds. Okay, boys, weekend preview time and is brought to you by our friends at Uber Eats. So this episode is brought to you by Uber Eats and reminding fans that if football coincidentally makes you hungry, you can get game day deals on wings, burgers, beers, chips and more all season long. All on UberEats. What are we thinking for week one? What are we going to eat in the cave? Wings, wings, wings and pizza. Wings, wings and pizza. Sounds perfect. And we're going to use Uber Eats. You'll love being able to get all your personal favorite game day foods delivered on UberEats so that you never miss a play. When football makes you hungry, get game day deals all season long only on Uber Eats. Okay boys, week one. We're here.

[Zach]

I'm so excited.

[Big Cat]

It's the weekend preview for any new awls. We're going to go game by game, give some thoughts and then at the end we are going to each have two picks. One a spread pick one an over under pick. We'll also give you a TD parlay and then our records at the end of the season we'll have to figure out a punishment. Didn't we have an idea for a punishment? What was it?

[Zach]

Nipple ring.

[Big Cat]

Nipple ring.

[Eli Manning]

I really don't.

[Max]

Yeah, let's workshop that one.

[Big Cat]

All right. I want to get a nipple ring. All right, couple things before we get in dive into all the games. It's bullshit what they did to Red Zone. We knew it was going to happen.

[Zach]

Yep.

[Big Cat]

We have to stand for the people here. We're obviously lucky enough to be able to watch every game with all the TVs we have in the cave. But I. So it's like, I'm not mad, I'm disappointed. Or actually, no, it's not even. I'm not mad.

[Zach]

I'm disappointed. I was right.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Yeah, right. It's like I expected it. So I can't be like, how could they do this? I knew this was going to happen. It's still bullshit that it's happening. Scott Hansen not saying commercial free football is bullshit. Scott Hansen did nothing wrong here. I hate it. I stand with the people. They, they, they, they. Look what they did to our boy. Red Zone. It's sad.

[Zach]

Yeah. As long as there are no conflicting sponsorships with part of my take sponsorships on the Red Zone channel. I'm down to boycott any company that actually puts a commercial during Red Zone.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Don't do it now. If they are also sponsors a part of my take, I retract this completely because I can be bought and sold. Stay tuned for part of my take in Saudi Arabia next fall.

[Big Cat]

Yep.

[Zach]

But if. As long as it's. There's no conflict there, as long as we don't also endorse those companies, I. You gotta stand for something or you'll fall for anything.

[Howie Long]

Why?

[Zach]

And I, I have no problem boycotting those companies. I'm also very disappointed that Scott Hansen, he hasn't pissed for what, 15 years? Yeah. He says he's not gonna piss still. He says he's not taking bathroom breaks. He's gonna piss. Are you telling me that if there's a, a two minute commercial break and you got to go, he's gonna get up and he's gonna piss. It's a sad day. It's a sad day in America where now we have Scott Hansen using the bathroom on Sundays.

[Big Cat]

Why not just make a custom suit for Scott Hansen and make him like a NASCAR driver. Just stick logos all over him so he can say commercial free. Because you're looking at the commercials, folks. Come on. It's crazy. Really, really sad.

[Zach]

It is sad. But we did expect it to happen. I wish that it didn't. And we don't watch a lot of Red Zone anymore. But you know what? You were like this the stage of life that you were in when you were watching the Red Zone.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

You couldn't afford the Sunday ticket. It was the only way that you could catch out of market games, you could see every touchdown. It was great. And to have that taken away, the commercial free football. I'm. You know what I'm not going to do this year?

[Big Cat]

What?

[Zach]

My own personal boycott. I'm not going to post a picture of the red zone countdown clock saying, let's go, boys, it's here. I'm not going to do that this year. Yeah, I do that like every year because I get excited about that, especially week one. It's the, it's really the sign that you finally made it. Never again.

[Big Cat]

I'm going to match and double. And by double, I mean when on Sunday when we're sitting in the cave and it's one minute left before kickoff. I'm gonna close my eyes for that minute.

[Zach]

That's big.

[Big Cat]

I'm gonna close my eyes for that entire minute.

[Zach]

I might delete an old picture I had of the red zone clock.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Zach]

How about that?

[Big Cat]

I like that as well. Hank, what are you gonna do? Stand for the people?

[Hank]

Yeah, I'll stand with the people. I won't even watch Red Zone. I'll just, I'll just focus on the game.

[Big Cat]

Here we go.

[Hank]

I was surprised McAfee was on his show basically carrying water. But he was saying, like, people aren't going to be upset about this. It hasn't happened yet.

[Big Cat]

Well, and also, yeah, I mean, he, he. Red Zone got bought by espn. He works for espn. I understand. He's. He's not going to sit there and be like, how could you do this? He's got a. It's politics.

[Zach]

I, I do feel a little bit.

[Hank]

But he was like, kind of like talking down where it's like people, people are going to pretend to be mad, but this is not going to. They're not. It's not going to bother people. He doesn't know that.

[Big Cat]

And not only that, we know how this are going to be really mad. We also know how this works.

[Hank]

There's also people on the Internet that, that there's a lot of people, especially NFL, that aren't on the Internet that probably don't even know there's commercial still.

[Big Cat]

Correct. And they're going to be really mad. Really mad. And we also know how this works because we said that they were going to add commercials when, when all this was announced a few months ago. They're going to add some commercials, like commercials this year. They're going to be. Keep adding commercials and keep adding commercial.

[Zach]

You never take away commercials.

[Big Cat]

You never take away commercials. It's not going to stop. So it's. We got it. We got to let our. Our displeasure known. And I think we've done a good job of boycotting anyone else going to do anything to do their part.

[Zach]

I also want to say for the record that if any of the sponsors that are sponsoring Red Zone want to do business with part of my take.

[Big Cat]

Yes.

[Zach]

I will immediately retract my boycott of their product.

[Big Cat]

And I will actually do an entire segment saying, you know what I actually want to watch more of on Sunday commercials. And we'll actually. The weekend preview will be just us previewing our favorite commercials. We're happy to do that.

[Zach]

And you know what? I think I wouldn't have such a problem with the commercials if I didn't know that they were just going to run the same ads over and over and over and over and over again. Like the same commercials. We saw it. I think the NBA playoffs, it's probably the worst example of that, where things just get drilled into your head. It's going to be the same five commercials. There's only five companies that advertise anymore Right. During sports. And it's going to be those. Those five companies. And I'm going to get sick of it. I going to be upset, and I'm probably not going to really do anything else besides be upset. But it was bullshit that they made Scott Hansen go out there and say, you know, I. I never really thought that commercials were that big of a deal. Not having him like that was the entire brand for a long time.

[Big Cat]

Do you know what I'm actually excited about? That just. Just popped back in my head because I haven't seen it in a while on YouTube TV. The moment is end. Yeah, those are awesome. On Sunday. And we get to, like, see like, a little manatee just, like, floating along, just take a little break.

[Hank]

They're also doing the. They're doing the playthrough, like the golf thing, which is like the worst viewing experience you could have.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

Because you can't see anything.

[Big Cat]

Right.

[Zach]

Especially for an octobox.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Yeah. Then we're screwed.

[Hank]

I think it's. I think it's gonna be a duel. A dually.

[Big Cat]

All right, so week one, we're gonna show.

[Hank]

Just embrace it and just go seven ads, one game. Octobox.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah, that'd be great.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. No, the seven ads in seven ads in all of the. In the octobox. And then the one that's the game is all eight games. So. Yeah. Many, many, many. Like what you're still getting to see all the games. All right, quick thing before we get to week one, because this is. I try to give myself this pump up speech before week one every year. We don't know anything and there's always going to be a game that surprises us. Gambling. Week one is always tough. You got to admit to yourself that it's probably more than a. More, More of a coin flip than any other weeks. I know. Obviously I'm not the best gambler. I don't think any of us are. But especially this week where you're like, hey, we're just jumping in. We're going to see what happens. Here's a couple things I'll just throw out there for people. Divisional home underdogs are 23 and seven against the spread since 2010 in week one. So that would be the Browns plus five and a half. The Seahawks plus two and a half. The Falcons plus one and a half. So throw those in there. Obviously the Cowboys, which already happen. Or no, that's. They're. They're on the road. And then underdogs of six and a half points or more are 49 and 27 against the spread in week one since 2006. That's the Saints plus six and a half and the Titans plus eight and a half. Okay, so we don't know anything, but if you wanted to just. I'm not like saying you should just play trends, because trends always. There's a lot more to it. Those are some trends that maybe you can, you can jump on. Especially because it's like an intuitive thing where you look at Bengals and Browns. You're like, the Bengals are so much.

[Zach]

Better than the Browns with the Chargers also fall under that. I know it's played in Brazil.

[Big Cat]

I don't, I don't think so because it's, it is the Brazilian game.

[Zach]

But they are the home team.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, technically. All right, let's start with that game.

[Zach]

No, listen, I agree with you because we don't know anything. We've just spent the entire summer doing nothing but using our imaginations, thinking about football. What would happen if football was on right now? Man, I wish football was on. Oh, man, if the Chargers playing right now, I'd bet on them in my mind. We don't know right now. But that's kind of the beauty of it, too. Like no team is, Is written off. I guess maybe the Saints.

[Big Cat]

It's. It's the beat. Well, underdogs six and a half or more, 49, 27 against the spread. I'm going to bet on the Saints.

[Zach]

They also started off 2. And, oh, last year, like the best team in football.

[Big Cat]

They. They broke all the records. Yeah, no, I think it works both ways because you, you, Your imagination runs wild for, like, oh, this team could be good. And then you also, your memory escapes you. Like, Russell Wilson still stinks, but the moon ball. But then I'm like, week one, I'm like, what if Russell Wilson is good? You know what I mean? Like, you, you, you forget. You forget some of the things that you shouldn't forget, and you try to tell yourself, oh, no, no, this is different.

[Zach]

I mean, Kurt Warner, he sucked for a little bit when he was on the Giants. Right. And then he got to the Cardinals. Yeah, he was good again.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Things happen.

[Big Cat]

I'm going to probably. Okay. Yeah. All right, well, let's get into the games. All right. Chiefs of chargers. Chargers plus three.

[Eli Manning]

Over.

[Big Cat]

Under is 46 and a half. Brazil. This is Hank's game of the week because it's not being played in America. I hate that it's being played in Brazil. I kind of also. I'm not really a big fan of the Friday night football. I think that's a, That's a, that's a good spot for your JMU to play. Louisville. I think that's a. You know, it's obviously high school in America. Like, I don't really like the NFL taking the Friday night spot.

[Zach]

I don't like it either. But if you're a fan of the team that loses on Friday night, that's the best spot to be in for a loss. If you lose on Thursday night, your whole weekend is pretty much ruined. You have to sit through everybody else having, you know, watching them root for their teams, thinking about what you did wrong on Thursday. If you lose on Friday, the microscope is so much smaller on you that you almost forget what happened and not. No one's really talking about it on Sunday. They talk about Thursday probably, but they just forget about Friday. So you can kind of enjoy the Sunday games.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. And the, like, it's like a dog pile afterwards of college football. And then NFL Sunday, it's like, oh, those teams played. What are you going to say, Hank?

[Hank]

That makes sense.

[Big Cat]

Oh, I thought you, I thought you raised your hand for something. Do you like this game, Hank?

[Hank]

I like the Chargers a lot.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Jim Harbaugh is 5, 0 against the spread and straight up in week ones. As an NFL head coach, he's. He's not lost week one and Super bowl losers are 6 and 9 against 6 and 19. Sorry. Against the spread. Since 2000. Is there a hangover? I don't know. Also is there a jet lag? Probably. Also are there big butts in Brazil? Yes.

[Zach]

Do you think that. Because I heard Travis Kelsey care. Yes. So that's the thing is there was a reporter that said that Taylor is going to go to the game. I think she's going to the game because she knows about the BBLs down there and she's trying to make sure that Travis doesn't revert back to kill a traveler. Trav could come out in Brazil.

[Big Cat]

Kill a trap.

[Zach]

Could come taking a look around.

[Big Cat]

Kill a trap.

[Zach]

I, I think I kind of like the Chargers too. And that's just against the spread. I think, I think the Chiefs, I would still lean towards them. They were, they were 15 and 2 last year.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

They were only 8, 9 against the.

[Big Cat]

Spread and they were, they, they had a. Remember that stretch of, of one score games? They were king of the one score games. I am, because I think everyone has to make a declaration on the Chiefs before the season, not whether they win the super bowl or not. But I think we all here right now have to make a declaration. Will the Chiefs, Kansas City Chiefs win the AFC West? I say yes.

[Zach]

Congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs on winning the AFC West.

[Big Cat]

No. Okay. Because this is an important thing because I think this is the point of right before week one starts, if you're doing a show, if you're doing, if you're trying to get a takeoff at the bar with your friends, probably the most common one is I don't think the Chiefs are going to win the AFC West. Now I do think they're going to win the AFC West. Hank you say no. Who do you have winning the AFC West?

[Hank]

The Denver Broncos.

[Big Cat]

Okay, Max, you agree I said the.

[Max]

Broncos won the Super Bowl.

[Big Cat]

Wow.

[Max]

Okay, that was my, that was my super bowl pick. When we did that the other day.

[Zach]

Are you concerned at all that by saying that you're actually helping the Chiefs? This is, this is exactly what they want you to do.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, fuck it. Fuck it. Yeah. Yeah. Fuck it.

[Max]

It doesn't matter.

[Zach]

Yeah. If I was Max, I'd say the same thing too.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, fuck it. I think the Chiefs will win the AFC West. I think they might be a little bit of a, maybe starting with this game, a little bit of a slow start just because it's hard to get back up on that mountain time and time again. But I think they'll be just fine. And I think actually, can Mahomes win comeback player of the year? If his numbers are like out of the, out of control.

[Zach]

If Patrick Mahomes wins, come back at player of the year for coming back from not winning the Super Bowl.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

To win the super. That. That would really piss me off.

[Big Cat]

But it could it happen.

[Zach]

I don't think so. I don't think. I don't think he'd accept it.

[Big Cat]

What if he. But if he wins the super bowl, he would have to accept it.

[Zach]

Well, the awards given out before the Super Bowl.

[Big Cat]

Okay. So he would not up.

[Zach]

I think if he's nominated for comeback player of the year, that's just more fire to him in the playoffs.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, that's probably true.

[Zach]

Right now I'm in just don't say anything bad about the Chiefs mode.

[Big Cat]

I'm not going to say anything bad about the Chiefs. I agree with you there. But Patrick Mahomes, just to remind you, last year was his first year as a full time starter. He didn't get 4,000 yards and he had 26 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. But 26 touchdowns ties for the least amount. And so I. He wasn't, he wasn't the Patrick Mahomes that lit the world on fire for that, you know, five year stretch to start his career. I think he's going to be back to that guy.

[Zach]

We should also keep our eyes on the turf for this game. Oh, foreign countries don't know how to do football.

[Big Cat]

Turf. Hank wants the turf to be.

[Zach]

You want it, you want it to be disgusting. You want the quarterback to get hurt again like last year?

[Big Cat]

As long as it's green, Hank will be like looks the same.

[Hank]

Yeah, it will look the same.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Zach]

It will be the color green.

[Big Cat]

What about the big butts?

[Hank]

Yeah, they look the same.

[Big Cat]

What if.

[Zach]

No, they don't let.

[Big Cat]

They don't.

[Zach]

That's a bad take.

[Big Cat]

They do not look the same.

[Zach]

You think Kansas City's got got back like Brasilia?

[Hank]

No, that's true.

[Big Cat]

Everyone's sitting a little higher in their seats in the stadium. Yeah. That's just a fact. Okay. I mean I'm. When I said the whole thing about Friday night football, I'm still going to watch and love this game. But I just. As a principal, I think Fridays should be left to a couple college games in high school.

[Zach]

High school football maybe. Yeah, maybe a Sunbelt game where they're playing out of conference and if they win that game against the ACC opponent, maybe they have a fast track to the playoff later on the season. Looking down the line. Maybe there. Maybe it's. It was. It was scenario season last week the Second. You know this. The second Boise State lost, I was like, I've got my scenario now.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Scenarios work.

[Big Cat]

What about Tulane?

[Zach]

Tulane is an issue. Yes, but that's a dip. But if we know if we beat Louisville. By the way, I love saying Louisville.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

It's one of those cities where the drunker you sound when you say it, the more correct you are.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. You got.

[Max]

I like week one, Friday night football. NFL is awesome.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, I know.

[Hank]

I haven't shut up about how you want football back.

[Big Cat]

No, no, hold on.

[Max]

I'm so excited for this game.

[Big Cat]

I said I'm fine with this game. I said, as a principal, Friday night should be like. Like I always just assume the NFL, if they take a day, they're going to just keep taking it over and over.

[Max]

I mean, this is like me just.

[Hank]

Watch football every day.

[Max]

The only. The only thing I'm worried, like, I'm. This is one of those rare days where we get to go watch. Watch a game at a bar, which is awesome. Friday night. I'm planning my entire Friday around watching this.

[Big Cat]

I love that. Yeah.

[Max]

Although it's going to. It's a streaming game, which is always difficult at a bar that I'm nervous about.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

For us, Friday night games are really. That. That's the time.

[Max]

That's what I'm saying.

[Zach]

I'm going to go watch at a bar.

[Max]

I've been literally on Monday, I started texting my friends, planning our Friday. Or like, let's go to.

[Big Cat]

Let's.

[Max]

Let's get an early, early dinner and then let's go. Let's go watch this game at a bar.

[Zach]

It's awesome. I'm gonna say I'm gonna drink a capirinha during this game because it's Brazil. But then when it comes down to nut cutting time, I'm just gonna. I'm just gonna rip some beer.

[Max]

I don't know what that is.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Oh, it's delicious.

[Max]

Capirinha.

[Zach]

Capirinha.

[Max]

What's in that?

[Zach]

It's a Brazilian drink. I think it's rum and sugar cane and maybe water or soda water and a lime. It's very.

[Max]

Sounds like mojito.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

You would love it.

[Big Cat]

It.

[Zach]

You would love it. Also, another example of a podcaster ripping off this show. Travis Kelsey didn't know how time zones worked.

[Big Cat]

Oh.

[Zach]

So Mahomes had to explain to him how the globe works, how travel works. So even though he was down in Brazil, I think in 2023.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

To watch his girlfriend at the time perform.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Yeah. Because it was Brazil. Brazil's like what, the same time zone or one hour?

[Zach]

It's a big country. So there's multiple times.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, but like in terms of versus us right now, what is Max doing? He's just looking for something else.

[Zach]

There should just be one time zone and there should be whatever time zone we're in.

[Max]

I was looking up the clip where he said, where they said it.

[Big Cat]

Brazil, current time. Oh no, they're. Oh yeah. So they're, they have, they have a, they have a time zone right now that's the same as us. And then there's one that's three hours ahead of us.

[Zach]

I'm on Naji Harris watch too. Apparently he's cleared to play. He expects to play. You could say it's the battle of a one eyed monster between Naji Harris and Chris Jones.

[Big Cat]

Nice.

[Zach]

You might say that.

[Big Cat]

Did we ever see. I think we just saw his balls.

[Zach]

I think there was a little bit more than.

[Big Cat]

There was more than his balls.

[Zach]

I think the, the meat had to do some.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, yeah. Okay, next game, Next game. We got Sunday bucks. We have eight games early. Bucks at Falcons. Falcons plus one and a half over under 46 and a half. I, I like the Bucks, but I have a feeling that this might be like the Whoa, the Falcons finally put it all together type of game that gets everyone hyped up and then that's when you can buy low on the. Or you can, you can sell the Falcons. Like this could be a Kyle Pitts game.

[Zach]

Yeah, I was actually going to say my biggest point on this game. I've thought about it for the past two weeks. I'm officially back in on Kyle Pitts.

[Big Cat]

Oh no.

[Zach]

I'm officially back in. Hear me out.

[Big Cat]

I'm hearing you.

[Zach]

Michael Pennix.

[Big Cat]

Yep.

[Zach]

He's a different quarterback than has been throwing the ball to Kyle Pitts over the last two years.

[Big Cat]

That is a factual state.

[Zach]

He might be smart enough to realize that Kyle Pitts is really theoretically good at football.

[Big Cat]

Correct.

[Zach]

And at least try to force feed him a little bit right off the top. So I'm back in on Kyle Pitts. I'm ready to be hurt again.

[Big Cat]

Hey, listen, we all have to make these declarations before we. I have a couple that are coming up that are going to be way worse than what you just said with Kyle Pitts.

[Zach]

Yeah, I'm, I'm fully bought in. Just like looking at his tape in college, looking at his speed, looking at the height, looking at the weight, looking at everything. The wingspan's weight, the wingspan.

[Big Cat]

Are you talking about Kyle Pitts or are we doing like a fish?

[Zach]

No, I'm saying like I. I looked at all his number. Every number that's ever been written about Kyle Pitts in terms of his stature, I have looked at over the last two weeks and I've thought to myself, this guy should be the best tight end in the NFL. So I'm ready to believe it.

[Big Cat]

Okay. So the only thing that I'll say about Kyle Pitts, if you're just looking at numbers, I would say 10. That would be the number that scares me.

[Zach]

Is that the number of total touchdowns he has?

[Big Cat]

Yeah. In four years.

[Zach]

Yep. That's. Oh, that's a terrifying number.

[Big Cat]

Oh, here's. Here's a fun statistical anomaly that you could maybe bet on. I don't know if they have this market on DraftKings Sportsbook. Kyle Pitt's first season scored one touchdown. Kyle Pitt's second season scored two touchdowns. Kyle Pitts third season scored three touchdowns. Kyle Pitts four season scored four touchdowns. He will have five touchdowns this year.

[Zach]

Okay, that. Hey, that's a, that's a fivefold improvement over here.

[Big Cat]

Listen, if Kyle Pitts can play for 20 years, he's going to have one of the greatest seasons of all time. That's just a fact. The back half of his career will be MVP hall of Fame worthy.

[Zach]

I agree.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, that's. That's some good growth. It is a line chart. It's linear going up. Yeah.

[Zach]

Linear.

[Big Cat]

You would invest in that stock.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

If I showed you a graph of Kyle Pitt's touchdowns year over year, can we actually have Shane make that for me? I want to see the graph. Touchdowns. And you see that, you buy that it's going directly up forever. That's very funny that he's got just one. One little tiny step forward.

[Zach]

I just wish he had. If he had zero his rookie year, that would have been even better.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, that would have been great. All right, next game up, we've got the Bengals at Browns. PFT. Joe Burrow has played 10 NFL games in weeks. One or two in his career. How many has he won? Ten.

[Zach]

Two.

[Big Cat]

He has won one. Okay, so to say the Bengals start slow is an understatement. He's one in nine in the first two weeks of the season. Now, the Bengals did play a lot more in the preseason than they have in the years past. I do think the Bengals defense is going to take some time and maybe take so much time you have to wait until next year too, which would be a lot of time.

[Zach]

It's a work in progress.

[Big Cat]

I'm gonna probably take the Browns plus five and a half. I don't know if they can win the game, but I. I just goes to the divisional dogs and Joe Flacco.

[Zach]

Yeah, Joe Flacco there, he still has an army. He can still throw the ball. I also think that his job is safe.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

I don't think that they're going to put in. So we were talking about this earlier, but in terms of like the Giants, they've got a quarterback decision to make at some point this year, probably.

[Big Cat]

Right.

[Zach]

And the. The Browns have a quarterback decision to make. I think that Flacco will be the starter for much longer than Russell Wilson because Kevin Stefanski has two decisions to make. One time to bench Flacco. To which guy do I replace Flacco with? And if I were him, I would be in no hurry to make that decision because half your fan base will probably hate you whichever guy you select to replace Flacco.

[Big Cat]

You're basically. Kevin Stefanski basically has to treat this season like a big chore or thing that he know. Like he has to go to the DMV at some point. He's got to get real id. Let's say, hypothetically speaking, someone in this room does. Still doesn't have real idiots and he's just like, I don't actually want to do this, but he knows he has to. He's going to wait as long as possible.

[Zach]

You're not going to find anybody rooting harder for Flacco to be great than Kevin.

[Big Cat]

Correct.

[Zach]

He is going to be putting him in every. Like how they intentionally sabotaged the Door's career in the preseason. He's going to do the opposite of that with Joe Flacco, make sure that he's great. I loved his quote that he said yesterday. He said, I play football. That's what I do. I'm a football player.

[Big Cat]

That's.

[Zach]

And it's so true. And it's such an understatement that it really. It's like Georgia o' Keefe being like, I like orchids. Steve Ballmer being like, I like trees.

[Big Cat]

Loves trees.

[Zach]

This is. This is Flacco. This is what he does. He's a football player. He's looked pretty good the last couple years.

[Big Cat]

And it's also week one where you. You're not banged up, you're not old. Week one is new for everyone.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

So, yeah, I'm probably going to take the Browns plus five and a half. It's kind of a gross one.

[Zach]

I don't think I'm going to do that, but I am going to root for Flacco.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. All right. This is a gross one because dolphins are colts, colts minus one and a half over under 47 and a half. I am going to take the Colts in this game. And a little trivia for you. Last time the Colts won A Week 1 game was 2013. Both quarterbacks in that game took their last snap in the NFL in 2018. Who are those quarterbacks? So that's how crazy. That's how long it's been. The last time the two quarterbacks in the last time the Colts won a Week one game, I think they threw in a tie somewhere in there. But the last time the Colts won a Week one game, Andrew Both those quarterbacks have been retired for seven years. Andrew Luck is correct.

[Zach]

Andrew Luck and.

[Big Cat]

It was the Raiders. Oh, it was the Raiders. The Raiders. It was Terrell Pryor.

[Zach]

Oh, no shit.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Both took their last step between that's how long it's been. Daniel Jones was a junior in high school. The last time the Colts won a Week one game. Every single player on the Colts roster right now was not on an NFL roster. That's almost like a given. But it's pretty crazy that it that it's been that long. And now the question is, are we going. Are we diving headfirst into the Colts? I am, shane Steichen said. He's he's our starting quarterback for the season in terms of Daniel Jones. Don't want to have a quick leash on that. So that feels good, I guess. And I am, I'm making a bet on the Dolphins maybe being a bad vibes team. Did you see that? Tua said. He and Tyreek are good now.

[Zach]

They're good. Yeah, they're not great.

[Big Cat]

But here's, here's a problem I have. I want to throw out something to you, tua said. I think once people see Tyreek score on Sunday, everyone will forget about that. That meaning Tyreek demanding a trade and two of being like he's got to win back the locker room. So I think once people see Tyreek score on Sunday, everyone will forget about that. So we're in a good spot and we've been in a good spot for some time as well. So I'm really happy with that. What if Tyreek doesn't score on Sunday? Do we still remember that?

[Zach]

I think if he still, if he gets over 100 yards or a touchdown, he said.

[Big Cat]

Though I think once people see Tyreek score on Sunday, everyone will forget about that. If Tyreek Hill does not score, we will not forget.

[Zach]

I don't. Are we talking about the same league, the NFL? You think that just because somebody performs well on the field, we all forget about all the stuff that they do off the field? No, no. Not my NFL. But we should also. It was kind of an insult stat about the Colts not winning since, what, 2013. They did tie.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. I said, yeah.

[Zach]

Yeah, they tied in 2022.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. They threw in a tie.

[Zach]

It's going to be an uphill battle for the Dolphins. It is Jim Ursay day.

[Big Cat]

Yes.

[Howie Long]

At.

[Zach]

At the Cold Stadium Special soccer. They're putting him in the ring of honor. They're doing a moment of silence. I don't think it should be a moment of silence, though. I think. I think it should be like just a moment of rocking out.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Like, everyone, light up the. Light up a Sig in the stands for Ursay.

[Big Cat]

Everyone look under your seats. There's a famous guitar.

[Zach]

There's. Yeah, everyone gets a good. It's guitar day.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

At Lucas Oil Stadium. Maybe play some Jackson Brown, Jimmy Pages.

[Big Cat]

Guitars under your seat.

[Zach]

It would be. I, I don't think he would want a moment of silence. He would want. He would want something a little more hardcore than that.

[Big Cat]

A ruckus. Yeah.

[Hank]

That'd be an awesome game to have tickets to.

[Big Cat]

Are they. Oh, it would be an awesome game.

[Zach]

Tickets.

[Big Cat]

You want to, you want to get tickets to that game? You want to look it up?

[Hank]

Do you guys have any?

[Zach]

Are you asking me about that? Okay, so, Hank, here's where I'm at with that. I don't know if I have tickets to that game or not.

[Big Cat]

What do you mean?

[Zach]

Oh, so I, I looked at this, I looked at this earlier today because we have given out cold season tickets after I, I bought season tickets once, Jim. Or say, led the charge against. Cigarette in hand, against Dan Snyder. I owed him everything. From that point on, I became a cold season ticket holder. It auto renewed on me after that first year. Forgot to cancel. I think it auto renewed again last year, but I can't find any tickets in my account. The last email that I have from the Colts is, hey, heads up. Your season tickets are set to auto renew at midnight, January 31st, my birthday. I don't think I opened up that email and denied the auto renewal. I'd say it's 50. 50. I might have season tickets.

[Hank]

Maybe you're like, did you switch cards?

[Zach]

I emailed the guy and checked up on it. He has not gotten back to me yet. So I did try to figure out if I had tickets to this game or not. If I do have tickets, I'll figure out a way to give it to somebody that will go there and honor Mr. Ursay in the proper form.

[Big Cat]

You know what? Even if you have tickets, why don't.

[Zach]

You buy one ticket?

[Big Cat]

No, I was gonna say leave. Leave the seats open for Mr. Ursay.

[Zach]

You think?

[Big Cat]

That'd be a very nice. Yeah.

[Zach]

Okay.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. You should just say this. The ticket. The seats will be open for the year.

[Zach]

So if you see, like, lots of empty seats at Lucas Oil tomorrow, it's because I bought a ton of tickets.

[Eli Manning]

Yeah.

[Zach]

And I'm leaving them all open for Mr. Ursa.

[Big Cat]

Yes. Yeah, that's a problem that you don't know if you have season tickets.

[Zach]

We're working on that right now.

[Big Cat]

I, I, I somehow lucked into doing that because I remember, I think I couldn't figure it out. And I just bought game by game that one year, which was much better.

[Zach]

Also in this game. Reminder. Darren Waller is on the Dolphins.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

He's playing football again.

[Big Cat]

He is.

[Zach]

So I don't know if he's going to play or not, but he is technically a Dolphin.

[Big Cat]

He is a Dolphin. Okay, next up, we have Cardinals at saints. Saints plus six and a half over under 43 and a half. You said you were going to believe in Kyle Pitts. I'm going to bet on Spencer Rattler. It is great. Gross.

[Zach]

Yeah. This is.

[Big Cat]

Hey, whoa. Hungry dog Boy. Not Spencer. Ah, maybe Spencer Rattler and Fast forward. Make that memes. Make that video. When I just am. Like on. On Monday's podcast. Why did I bet on Spencer Rattler?

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Hank]

Hungry rabid dog walking in the highway.

[Zach]

It's not that I don't believe. I kind of don't believe in Spencer Rattler, but it's more that I'm. I'm officially on Alvin Kamara mystery injury Watch.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

It could happen at any second. So treasure every. Alvin Kamara carried treasure every pass that he catches out of the backfield. I'm sure that Spencer's gonna be looking his way a lot when he's on the field, but if we're being honest with each other, it feels like this is going to be a season where Kamara is just like, why? Why am I doing this to my body?

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

No, he's only 30.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Did you guys have the same moment? I think probably a lot of people who are listening right now had this moment where you're doing your fantasy, Dr. No one cares about your fantasy Team where you just for 30 of the 30 seconds of the 1 minute you had to pick, you just kind of like hovered around Kamara's name and you're.

[Zach]

Like, nah, I can't, I can't do that.

[Big Cat]

I can't do this. I can't do this.

[Zach]

Yeah, it's kind of.

[Big Cat]

Cause the name is there. And it was like, it got to a point where he was technically the highest rated running back left. And I was like, I can't, I can't do this.

[Zach]

I got a little bit of trivia for this matchup for you, big cat.

[Big Cat]

Oh, okay.

[Zach]

What do you think the all time record between these two teams is? I'm gonna make this game mean something. 5 and 5, 16 and 16.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Zach]

So this.

[Big Cat]

I just don't remember any time these two teams play.

[Zach]

Yeah. Even though they're in the same conference, it doesn't feel like they ever play. So this is, this is a tie breaking game for them. It means a lot. Okay. And then the second thing is, do you know when the last time was that the Cardinals were road favorites on opening weekend?

[Big Cat]

Probably after their Super Bowl.

[Hank]

2009.

[Zach]

Hank's close.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. So after they went to their Super Bowl.

[Zach]

Yeah, it was 2010.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Zach]

They were three point favorites. Sam Bradford was the quarterback of the St. Louis Rams that day.

[Big Cat]

Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah. This is a stinky game, but I think this might be the far tv. Yeah, I think so.

[Zach]

Far tv.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Because we have that eight TV that like you can kind of just see every now and then.

[Zach]

Yeah. What's going on down for that? I. There's a couple ones I'm looking at.

[Big Cat]

Steelers, Jets.

[Zach]

That's what I was thinking.

[Big Cat]

What? Bucks, Falcons, Steelers, Jets. What if we're going unbiased because you guys both have your games at one o' clock or noon central.

[Zach]

This is enemy speaking.

[Big Cat]

If you rather watch the command. Okay. But if I'm going unbiased, I think it should be about Bucks, Falcons. That would be my unbiased pick.

[Max]

I think that's the best. That's.

[Big Cat]

That's the best game. Yeah.

[Hank]

Bucks, Falcons, Commanders, Giants, Steelers, Jets. Or I mean Patriots, Raiders, Steelers, Jets.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Zach]

In that order. Yeah, that was a Hennamy move. Not to me.

[Max]

I like Bengals, Browns too. I think like that's.

[Big Cat]

It's a.

[Max]

Looking at those teams on a TV always feels fun.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, it does.

[Zach]

The Saints are wearing some weird uniforms for this game. Oh, that's so even more reason to put it on the far tv.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. And even more reason to bet on The Saints. Yep. All right. Steelers, jets, jets. Plus three over under 38 and a half.

[Hank]

Also. That's the lowest total of the whole.

[Big Cat]

It is early slate. Yeah. Probably not. Steelers, jets, memes, you almost made it to the start of the season till you got receinied on Wednesday morning. She tweeted out that Tucker, right? Yeah. Elijah Vera.

[Zach]

Tucker.

[Big Cat]

Elijah Vera, Tucker. One of your best offensive linemen, possibly out for the season with an arm injury. Yeah. Tricep injury. I feel terrible for him. This is his second tricep injury on the different arm. Now this is. This was a contract year for him. He just got voted captain and now he's just out for the rest of the year.

[Zach]

That's tough. How much blame do you put on her on Rossini?

[Big Cat]

It was her first report about the jets and it was negative. Report.

[Zach]

Well, it's a. Was it. It was a fact, though.

[Big Cat]

It was a fact, but it was also negative.

[Zach]

So you like a fair amount of blame. Do you think that she enjoyed reporting that?

[Big Cat]

Yeah, she knew it. She knew what she was doing.

[Zach]

Her head was spinning.

[Max]

Do you think she thought of you when she made that report?

[Zach]

I can tell. Let me jump in real quick. I know it pretty well. Yeah. 100.

[Big Cat]

Yes. Yeah.

[Zach]

She's like, memes are gonna hate this.

[Big Cat]

She is number one, Florio. Yeah. She knows what she's doing. I got a question for you guys. What is more likely, which streak is more likely to be broken this year? The Steelers, eight seasons without a playoff victory, which is their longest such drought since the 1970 NFL AFL merger? Or the jets, who are tied for the longest drought in all of American professional sports in terms of playoffs drought. 14 years tied with the Sabers.

[Zach]

Would Prisco tell us, like, if Justin Fields can play, what he's. What were his exact words? Memes.

[Big Cat]

Memes. What's. What's up? Sabres are in the lead right now because they already played their first season. So they're. They lead. Got it. Because I saw your face, you're like, no, I don't want that. Okay. It flip flops at the end of the season. End of each season. So if they don't make it this year, jets will be one. Then once the Sabers don't make it. Sounds like you're very in tune with the Sabres. Jets playoff drought discourse. Yeah. Because it's an insult graphic every single year.

[Zach]

How can it flip flop, though, when one team just catch the other team and be tied?

[Big Cat]

Well, no, the jets, it's. The jets are so. Sabres are at 15. Then the jets will take over.

[Hank]

Sabres are in the clubhouse right now.

[Zach]

The jets 15.

[Hank]

Jets can still come in.

[Zach]

The jets are at 14 right now.

[Big Cat]

Yes.

[Zach]

So at the end of the season, the jets will tie the Sabres, but.

[Big Cat]

They'Re in the lead because the NHL season's currently going on. So you don't know.

[Zach]

That part doesn't make a lot of sense to me. But I. I believe you.

[Big Cat]

I see what he's saying. It's in the middle of the season, so they could be. They could. They could bring it.

[Zach]

Okay, gotcha. All right.

[Big Cat]

But which one is more likely? Which streak is more likely to be broken? I actually might say jets if I had that bet.

[Zach]

I. So I think. I think the Steelers are going to win a playoff game this year.

[Big Cat]

You do?

[Zach]

I think they're going to win one U.S. playoff game. Yes.

[Big Cat]

One.

[Zach]

I think they're going to win one playoff game this year.

[Big Cat]

Against who?

[Zach]

I don't know. That's. We have to play the season.

[Big Cat]

That's true.

[Max]

You don't believe that.

[Zach]

I do. I think the Steelers are going to win a playoff season.

[Max]

You believe in Aaron Rodgers right now?

[Zach]

I believe in. Yeah, a little bit. Yeah.

[Big Cat]

See.

[Zach]

See you.

[Max]

That was something that you just said that you don't actually.

[Big Cat]

Sure. The witness is crumbling on the stand right now.

[Zach]

No, I'm. I'm pretty sure I believe. I pretty much believe in Aaron Rodgers, top five quarterback last year.

[Big Cat]

You believe in the. You believe in the idea of him?

[Zach]

I believe that Aaron Rodgers at his best is going to be a massive upgrade for the Steelers over what they've had in the past.

[Max]

Aaron Rodgers at his best was four years ago.

[Zach]

I mean, at his best now, if they get. If they ring the last tiny little droplets out of him that are his best energy this year and you distill those, I think that he is definitely good enough to win one playoff game.

[Hank]

Also, the culture change is huge.

[Zach]

Go on.

[Hank]

Bad culture to good culture.

[Zach]

Oh, you're not. You're not saying, like, gotcha. You're saying the jets have bad culture. Yes. So you said the Jets.

[Hank]

He's going from a bad culture to a good.

[Zach]

The jets wronged Aaron Rodgers last year.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Howie Long]

You.

[Hank]

No one has any chance when you're playing for the Jets.

[Zach]

Well, what about if his. If his Achilles didn't snap week one.

[Hank]

Could have been a different story. But we'll never know that.

[Zach]

He could have changed. If you're a strong enough culture guy, then you should be able to change the culture.

[Big Cat]

Correct? Yeah.

[Hank]

No, you can't change a culture when you're. When you're that.

[Big Cat]

If you're that good.

[Hank]

Well, he got hurt. He never had the real chance.

[Big Cat]

That's true. The. But to PFT's point, because I actually agree with him, even though he wavered a little on the stand there, because I'm flipping it back, I think Steelers maybe win a playoff game. Yeah, it's more what I mean, just taking notes. No, I agree. I agree. Okay, so.

[Zach]

So everyone was. Was yelling at me and you all agree.

[Max]

I don't agree. I don't agree.

[Big Cat]

We were yelling more because it's funny because when you were asked if you believe in him, you're like, yeah, I.

[Zach]

Mean, that's exactly how much I believe.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

I think I portrayed myself accurately. Yeah.

[Big Cat]

The. It's. Is Aaron Rodgers better than late? Ben Roethlisberger, Mason Rudolph, Kenny Pickett and Justin Fields. Those are the Week 1 starters for the Steelers since they have had this playoff draft.

[Zach]

I say absolutely, yes.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Yeah. So if they use him correctly, like the jets made him throw a thousand times a game. If you run the football, rely on your defense, don't turn the ball over. You could, you could win a playoff.

[Zach]

Game and go far by winning one playoff game. But I'm not saying go far. I'm saying one playoff game.

[Big Cat]

But I think the Steelers defense is that good that if, if Aaron Rodgers.

[Hank]

And if Rogers gets in the playoffs, like, that's a guy you want as a QB in the playoffs.

[Zach]

Been there, done that. So going to this game, where's the revenge factor at its highest? You think Aaron Rodgers has more like hatred of the jets or do you think Justin Fields has more to get revenge on for the Steelers double revenge game?

[Big Cat]

So what Aaron Rodgers been saying. Aaron Rodgers said he loved the Jets. I think the revenge is all on Aaron Glenn building. Oh, the hates Aaron Glenn. I think it's Aaron Glenn versus Aaron Rodgers. So couldn't he just like feels just.

[Hank]

Fighting for his life? Yeah, he's not like scorned.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Couldn't Aaron Rodgers just take care of that? Like just call a play towards the Jet sidelines and just miss the receiver and just hit Aaron Glenn like right in the nuts, like, first play of the game, then he doesn't have to worry about it anymore. He could. That would be awesome.

[Zach]

If he still, if he, if he still has it, he would do that.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, he has that accuracy. And then. And then after the game he's just like, yeah, I said I hated the guy. I took care of it. I took care of my business on the field.

[Zach]

If I'm getting inside his brain. Hallucinogenics. They're not really revenge drugs.

[Big Cat]

No.

[Zach]

I think. Yeah. If the only thing he hates about the jets is probably those damn chemtrails. Gotta figure out what's going on.

[Big Cat]

What are the. What is happening. Yeah.

[Zach]

Yeah. I like the Steelers this year. I don't know. I might be dumb.

[Big Cat]

I like the jets in this game. I do. I like some dogs this weekend. Hank, are you gonna give us a hungry dog?

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Speaking of giving us some. Hank. Game time. Before we get to the next game. Game time. We want to see if people are trying to still go to the Giants and Commanders. The NFL is back. Tailgates pack stands that buzz before kickoff. But getting in nightmare cues. Price jumps, getting logged out mid click. All you want is to be there. Beer in hand, losing your voice with the crowd. The Game time app gives the advantage back to fans. It's a hack for unlocking amazing tickets and experiences in a few taps. It's incredibly easy to use. The game time guarantee means you can Trust you'll get 100% authentic tickets on time and at the best price. Plus fees are always included. So what you see is what you pay. Was looking at Tickets for Commander's Giants. $144. $144. The GameTime app Take the guesswork out of buying NFL tickets with game time. Download the GameTime app, create an account use code PMT for $20 off your first purchase terms. Apply again, create an account redeem code PMT for $20 off swipe tap ticket. Go download the game time app today. Okay. PFT. The giants commanders commanders six point favorites over under is 45 and a half giant. I have the Giant circle this my muck it up team that's not going to win a lot of games, but will be in a lot of games.

[Zach]

I think. I think their defensive line is going to be very, very good. I think I'm a little bit worried about Abdul Carter, by the way.

[Big Cat]

Oh, I thought you meant like. Yeah, worried about him rushing the pass.

[Zach]

I'm worried about him just destroying everything that's brought me joy for the last year. Yeah. Have you seen his signature?

[Big Cat]

I have.

[Zach]

So this is. It's a travesty. And if there's one thing we do on this program is we speak on behalf of adult male autograph collectors and they're not happy with that Bill Carter because he's been signing autographs and his signature is just the at sign, which I guess makes an A and a.

[Big Cat]

C. I like this.

[Zach]

And people are mad at him because. People are mad at him because the signature isn't, like, prestigious enough to make their trading cards worth more. They're very upset at another man for how he signs his own name.

[Big Cat]

I think it's.

[Zach]

Which is. Which is the funniest reason to be mad at another man for.

[Big Cat]

But it's okay. It makes sense, too. I know it looks like the at. Yeah, it's an A and a C. I know that's. That's a great signature.

[Zach]

I know it's. It's succinct. It's. It probably. He can fire off like a million signatures a minute.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

It's very, very economic when it comes to how he spends his time signing autographs. I just love that people are pissed off at him and they want him to change his own signature so that their cards could be worth more money.

[Big Cat]

I agree.

[Zach]

That's a very funny thing to get upset about.

[Big Cat]

Do we think.

[Zach]

What if John Hancock had signed the Declaration of Independence with an emoji? Would that be cool?

[Big Cat]

Yeah. It would have been sick. Yeah.

[Zach]

Probably would have rocked.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Do we think. Well, if it was just John Hand and then an eggplant.

[Zach]

Yeah. What if it was a toilet? A hand and eggplant? That'd be a good one.

[Big Cat]

Do we think that Russell Wilson is a little looking over his shoulder now that Jackson Dart is officially QB2? Because that was a discussion of like, hey, If James is QB2, Russell Wilson doesn't have to worry because they're not going to put in Jameis over Russell. They ended up making Jackson dark. QB 2. Giants fans, I think, want to see what they have. Brian Dable's on the hot seat going into this season. It's just something to look at.

[Zach]

He's not in the doghouse, obviously, because he's a starter, but he's got very short leash.

[Big Cat]

He's the opposite of Daniel Jones.

[Zach]

He had a very, very short leash on Russell Wilson this year. I think he knows. I don't think he's happy about it. Russell Wilson, I think he's a guy that thinks that he should start for the next, like, five years.

[Big Cat]

Yep.

[Zach]

@ quarterback. Yeah, I. I'm excited about this game. I haven't been. I haven't gone into a season with expectations in a very long time. Like a. Depressingly. I think the last time I had expectations for a season was probably 2006. Didn't end well. So I don't really know. I'm kind of fluctuating back and forth between Being the most excited I've ever been and also just like terrified of what's going to happen. Because as much fun as last year was for me, the Commanders weren't a very good team until the very end of the season. And then in the playoffs they played pretty well, but they had a bunch of close games. They managed a lot of crazy fourth downs. A lot of weird happened in their games. They weren't good defensively. They were very good offensively. But I don't, I, I don't know whether I should be excited or terrified.

[Big Cat]

I think you should be excited.

[Zach]

I am excited. I am. But. But I questioned my oh memes. I second guess Max, my excitement Max has pulled up.

[Big Cat]

This is A list of QBs the Commander's Beat last year. Any thoughts on the list? Is Daniel Jones.

[Zach]

You want to expand that Because I.

[Big Cat]

Don'T think that it's in because Daniel Jones twice.

[Max]

I, I put your tweet in there.

[Big Cat]

Kenny Pickett trailer.

[Max]

You're the reason I saw this.

[Big Cat]

Kyler Murray, Andy Dalton, Caleb Williams, Jake Hayner and Spencer Rattler. Michael Pennix, Joe Burrow. He's good. Sean Watson, Will Levis.

[Zach]

Okay, one, I thought we settled this last time that that Jaden, you're the.

[Max]

One who tweeted about this today.

[Zach]

I thought we settled this last time that Jaden Daniels doesn't play against other quarterbacks. He plays against defenses. I'm looking at that list right now. First round pick, first round pick, first round pick, first round pick. Was Indy Dalton, second round pick.

[Big Cat]

No, Andy Dalton I think was first.

[Zach]

Round pick, first round pick. I don't know where Jake Hayner was drafted. Zesty, 1st round pick, 1st round pick, first round pick, first round pick.

[Big Cat]

It's a lot of 1st round and.

[Zach]

Then Will Levis was 2nd round, 2nd round pick. And then it also conveniently leaves off Baker Mayfield, first round pick, Jared Goff, first round. Actually that's a shitload of first overall quarterbacks he beat. Yeah, that he might have set the record.

[Max]

You just switch it from first round to first overall.

[Zach]

No, but it's both. That might be a world record for most first overall quarterbacks beaten by us.

[Big Cat]

That's a lot of first overall.

[Max]

There are is a lot of first overalls.

[Big Cat]

Andy Dalton, second overall, second round, second round. Yeah, yeah. No, no, no, my bad.

[Zach]

Second overall. So yeah, thank you for that great graphic because all you're telling me is he beat a lot of. Of very talented.

[Max]

The only reason I saw this on the timeline today was because you were commenting on it.

[Zach]

Well, because somebody made a list of the quarterbacks and then they just didn't leave. They didn't include Jared Goff and Baker Mayfield on it. So I had to include those.

[Big Cat]

I think the commanders are going to be just fine this year. And I think the only thing that sucks for Upft is playing the Giants week one. I think they're going to win this game, but it's not going to look great.

[Zach]

So no matter what, if the commander's Redskins football team are not good, they would always play the Giants tough. When the Giants are not good, they would always play against us tough.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, the. Both games last year I think were decided by under a touchdown.

[Zach]

This. Oh yeah, this is running back. The. The famous handoff. Yeah, this is the handoff game.

[Big Cat]

The handoff game. Who could forget? So yeah, I would probably take the Giants against the spread, but I think the commanders are going to win. I think the Giants will keep a lot of games. I think the Giants are the team that you'll look up in the second half of most games and be like, why is that? It's 1310. Oh, that's ugly. And it's just. That's just what they're. They're built to do. Okay, going to. Oh, no. We have one more early game. Panthers at Jaguars. Jaguars minus three and a half over unders. Oh, two more over. I forgot. Yeah, that one as well. Panthers of Jaguars minus three and a half over. Under is 46 and a half. I actually think it's gonna be a fun game to watch.

[Zach]

Go on.

[Big Cat]

I think both defenses kind of stink and I think the offenses might be good.

[Zach]

The defenses do stink.

[Big Cat]

Right.

[Zach]

Big time.

[Big Cat]

So I think I'm going to probably take this over be a fun game to watch.

[Zach]

So in yards per play, The Panthers were 31st last year. The Jaguars were 32nd last year. They'll probably improve a little bit. I'm very excited to see what happens with Travis Hunter. I don't know. I don't think anybody really knows. They've done a good job of.

[Big Cat]

It's provocative.

[Zach]

Just like keeping everyone guessing. I want to see what they do with that young man.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, I kind of want to take Travis on her score. Touchdown.

[Howie Long]

We.

[Zach]

We kind of owe it to him, don't we?

[Big Cat]

Yeah. What's. What's. What's that? I wanna. I kind of want to do that. That's just a fun thing to do.

[Hank]

And what happens if he gets like a pick 6?

[Max]

That would be plus 180 on the DraftKing sports book.

[Big Cat]

Oh, they really think he's gonna score a touchdown, huh?

[Zach]

What if he scores 2? Offense and defense.

[Big Cat]

I'm interested to see what happens with the Panthers and their pass catchers because obviously they got Ted McMillan, Xavier Leggett in year two, but Coker's hurt and Adam Thielen got trade away. Those are two guys that Bryce Young liked a lot down the stretch when he had his resurgence.

[Zach]

Yeah. So they're. They're facing off against each other because it is an anniversary. They both teams got brought into the league in 1995.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

And so they're like, what better way to commemorate that moment than to have them play again in week one of 2025.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

History on the line.

[Big Cat]

I just remember when they unveiled the logos of both teams. Like, whoa, that's crazy.

[Zach]

We're doing cats. Both are cats.

[Big Cat]

Wild. They had some crazy uniforms, too. The Jaguars, I want to say the Jaguars had a wild combo. The Panthers, I don't think the Panthers were pretty straightforward. Jaguars had one wild combo, didn't they.

[Zach]

In their opening season early?

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

I like the almost cartoon jaguar that they had on the side.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

That they had on the. The sleeve. That was a good Jaguar.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Okay. Last early game, Raiders at patriots. Patriots minus two and a half over under 43 and a half. Hank, how are you feeling?

[Hank]

I'm excited. I've been excited. As excited as I have been probably last four years. Spelch left, Belichick and Brady. I think we're going to be really good.

[Big Cat]

What happens if you lose this game?

[Hank]

I think it's, you know, Vrabel's first game as a coach. He's got to retool some things, but we'll be all right.

[Zach]

You know how old Pete Carroll is?

[Big Cat]

80, 72.

[Zach]

He's 73. He turns 74 next week. He. By coaching this weekend, he's going to be the oldest NFL head coach to ever coach in a game.

[Big Cat]

That's crazy.

[Zach]

He's going to set the record on Sunday and he looks like he's 60 years old.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Yeah. The. The AFC west has like all the Super Bowls. They have. They have five Super Bowls in their. Their coaching. They have three out of four of the coach head coaches. The AFC west have a Super Bowl.

[Zach]

I do think that that Carol's doing. Gonna do a great job. I think both these teams are actually going to be much better than they were last year.

[Big Cat]

I do too.

[Zach]

Just by the fact that they got two really, really good head coaches. Yeah.

[Big Cat]

It's like consistency and. Yeah. I mean, it's. They took chances on, like the ex player coach now. Now they're like, hey, let's go back to what. These guys are really good. Oh, Jerry just sent me that.

[Eli Manning]

We'll.

[Big Cat]

We'll wait for this later. I'm not going to watch this right now. It's a max.

[Zach]

I know that you've been locked into the roster. Is Christian Gonzalez playing?

[Hank]

I don't believe so.

[Big Cat]

Okay. All right.

[Zach]

There you go.

[Big Cat]

For your defense.

[Zach]

He's really good.

[Big Cat]

Also, Mari Cooper retired.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

He just was like, you know what? I don't really want to play anymore.

[Zach]

Football's not for me.

[Big Cat]

Not for me. Also, this is a really fun matchup of rookie running backs.

[Zach]

Yes.

[Big Cat]

Travion Henderson, Ashton Genti. I kind of forgot Ashton Genti was on the Raiders. I think I'm going to remember quickly when he starts playing. It's kind of a fun one.

[Zach]

Yeah, not me. I saw him in the preseason. I was like, that dude. Special. Special just made me think back to all the college highlights.

[Hank]

So special doesn't appear close to playing in week one.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Zach]

All right.

[Hank]

Seems very doubtful.

[Big Cat]

Hank, did you see Stefan Diggs playing?

[Zach]

I think so.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Okay, that's good.

[Zach]

Hank, did you see the news today about a former coach that you had with the New England. It's actually Patriots news.

[Hank]

I did see this.

[Zach]

So Bill Belichick and the UNC Tar Heels have banned Patriot scouts from attending practices. Why is that it?

[Big Cat]

Yep.

[Zach]

Why is that?

[Hank]

I don't understand that. Apparently someone else tweeted there's another team as well, which is just. It seems very petty.

[Zach]

So Bill. You think it was Bill's call?

[Hank]

I feel like Bill runs everything, so you'd have to assume so. Yeah.

[Zach]

Does he.

[Hank]

You think it was Jordan's?

[Zach]

I didn't say.

[Big Cat]

Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa.

[Hank]

No, it's not Bills. And who's who?

[Zach]

Are you implying Lombardi?

[Hank]

No, I don't think it was Lombardi.

[Zach]

Okay.

[Big Cat]

I saw something that Lombardi has, like. Like all his sons got a. Got like half a million dollar jobs for unc.

[Zach]

That's awesome.

[Big Cat]

Like, one of them was like, said he was. I'd have to look it up because I don't want to. I don't want to speak out of turn. Maybe look it up. Memes. One of his sons was not even. Not the offensive coordinator. I don't even think the QB coach. I think he was like a quarterback, something at Oregon last year and was like, yeah, my. I, like, helped make Dylan Gabriel. Who. Dylan Gabriel was like 25 and had already played a lot of college Football. Yeah. What is it? Matt Lombardi, son of Michael Lombardi, offensive coach, previously coached at University of Oregon. Oregon. Sorry. Yeah. Quarterback coach.

[Zach]

Okay.

[Big Cat]

And all he did was, I think for a year. Just.

[Zach]

I kind of respect how he just got all the.

[Big Cat]

All the Belichicks, all the Lombard.

[Zach]

I. I respect how they're kind of treating a major level college football program. Like a. Like a crypto coin.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Or like a tree company. Yeah. In south or California.

[Zach]

It's Bill Coin.

[Big Cat]

I had a weird thought. Do you think Drake May and Bill Belichick have ever met? And also, do you think Drake May is kind of mad at Bill Belichick?

[Zach]

Why would he be mad?

[Big Cat]

Because.

[Zach]

Oh, yeah, for.

[Big Cat]

He probably hears from. It's. It's just a weird, funny thing that Drake May was drafted right after Bill Belichick got fired. And then Bill Belichick went and took the head coaching job at UNC where Drake May was quarterback. He probably knows some guys on the team.

[Eli Manning]

Manny Miles.

[Hank]

Shout out Manny Miles.

[Eli Manning]

He was. He was.

[Hank]

He's one of the only guys that stayed. He's been at Carolina.

[Big Cat]

Got it.

[Hank]

So he was there with Drake May.

[Big Cat]

Do you think. Do you think they've talked?

[Zach]

I think they've talked.

[Big Cat]

If UNC has a really bad season, do you think Drake May's going to be like, fuck. What the fuck?

[Zach]

Bill Bell, he's probably pissed off that they won't allow his team scouts to watch now. I think this off season he was probably. He probably talked to Bill at some point and he was probably excited last Monday night.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

And he was like, well, what if we're just really good?

[Big Cat]

It's. It's going to be reminder. Put in a reminder, Zach. In 20 years from now, when we're still doing the show, this is an all time timeline crossing that will have everyone thinking that Drake May played for Bill Belichick with the Patriots or even Drake May played for Bill Belichick with unc, but they just switched. Yeah. Because they're so close in time that in 20 years we'd be like, yeah, of course they. Of course Drake May played for Bill Belichick at some point.

[Zach]

So the reminder should be. Remind the world that they did not actually play with each.

[Big Cat]

No, no. Opposite. Remind the world that they did play together. Just to continue the confusion. Okay. Like 20 years is when we're going to start getting confused about the timeline. I want to really embrace it.

[Zach]

So start intentionally just dropping things in. Like, man, like one of the all time great college coach, college quarterbacks, Belichick Drake May, right?

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Hank]

I have a feeling in 20 years it's going to be a stump trivia question to be like, what college team did Bill Belichick coach for?

[Big Cat]

Oh, I don't.

[Zach]

Oh, I don't think so.

[Big Cat]

I don't. I think that one's gonna be easy. All right, I'll try. Unc.

[Zach]

I think this is going to be a memorable. A memorable season.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, I think it's gonna be very.

[Max]

Damn. You don't believe in your guy, huh? One game, you're already done.

[Big Cat]

Already cooking them? No, not at all.

[Zach]

Would you take him back on the Patriots right now if you picked up the phone?

[Big Cat]

Yes.

[Zach]

Yes.

[Big Cat]

You'd have to get rid of Mike V. No.

[Eli Manning]

Maybe.

[Zach]

Was gonna kill, uh.

[Big Cat]

Oh, I love them both.

[Hank]

This is like mom picking. Picking your mom picking your dad. Or it's like picking your dad or picking your older brother.

[Zach]

Okay.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Hank]

It's a tough choice. You love them both, but, you know.

[Zach]

Vrabel is your older brother in this scenario.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Okay.

[Hank]

But Bill Belichick is, you know, the reason it's.

[Zach]

Papa.

[Hank]

Family is here.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Hank]

He's the reason variable's here. He's the reason I'm here.

[Big Cat]

But what about the fact that your younger half sister is dating your dad?

[Hank]

Families are complicated, man.

[Eli Manning]

Like families. Every family is different. Every family's tough.

[Hank]

Deal with these things in house.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Okay. All right, let's go. The afternoon Titans and Broncos. Wait. Did you give an official prediction you're going to win this game? Yeah. Okay. Titans and Broncos. Broncos -8 and a half over under 42 and a half. I'm going to say something crazy.

[Zach]

Don't. Don't do it.

[Big Cat]

Listen, here's my only argument, okay? And I know this is. This is a shot. They're eight and a half point underdogs every single year. Week one, there's at least one game that we're like, what the fuck?

[Zach]

And you think that you're zeroing in on that?

[Big Cat]

Why not?

[Zach]

I've got a data point to back.

[Big Cat]

Why not?

[Zach]

You want the data point?

[Big Cat]

Yeah, give me the data point.

[Zach]

So Cam Ward has played one time in Colorado since he's been to college.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Zach]

It was at Colorado State.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Zach]

2022.

[Big Cat]

Okay. What team is he might have been?

[Zach]

20, 23 Wazoo.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Zach]

451 yards, three touchdowns. They won. They scored 50 points. Interesting data point.

[Big Cat]

He loves playing in Colorado.

[Zach]

He loves the altitude.

[Big Cat]

Loves the alt.

[Zach]

Mr. Altitude. Now, conversely, you could say no rookie quarterback has won a week one road start since 2018.

[Big Cat]

And they're eight and a half point underdogs.

[Zach]

And there's that, too.

[Big Cat]

And the Broncos have a lot of hype. And I think the Broncos are very good. I'm just more taking my shot of, like, there's got to be one game. And it's very stupid thing to try to do because there will be one game. But just by the. Just doing this exercise of trying to predict that one game proves that it won't be this game. Does that make sense? Because it's got to be a game that no one saw coming.

[Zach]

You can't snipe it.

[Big Cat]

So he's trying to say, you saw it coming. You've already defeated the whole purpose of this game.

[Zach]

But you could also say that real quick about every other game like this.

[Big Cat]

That's true.

[Zach]

And then you can take away the power.

[Big Cat]

Okay, I think that game is going to be the Saints. I think that game's going to be the Panthers. There's not really many. I think it's going to be the.

[Zach]

Giants, maybe the Falcons, maybe.

[Big Cat]

That's a close spread. I'm talking like, someone who's, like, more than a field goal. Field goal plus underdog.

[Zach]

Okay.

[Big Cat]

We had it last year.

[Eli Manning]

Remember the.

[Big Cat]

No. The Patriots beat the Bengals.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

The Raiders beat the Ravens, Week two. There's just weird shit happens in September that we then look back in week 17 and we say, wait, how did the Raiders beat the Ravens?

[Zach]

And Week 3? Was that two years ago? That was when the Broncos got 70 points put on them by the Dolphins.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Remember that, your Monday Night Football game last year?

[Zach]

Yep.

[Big Cat]

The Commanders beating the Bengals.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

And everyone was like, oh, how is this first? And then we look back. That one's a little different because we look back and we're like, oh, that makes sense. But there's always something that will shock us early in the season. Yeah. The Saints beating the Cowboys last year, 44 19. Just look out for it. That's all I'm saying. Yeah. The Bronco's probably going to kill him.

[Zach]

I do like the Broncos, but I'm starting to get to the point where the Broncos have become everyone's, like, sexy, brand new, that alarm bells are going off.

[Big Cat]

We call it the Regis Philbin team.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

When Regis Philbin used to. God rest his soul. When he used to go on Good Morning America and be like, I like this team. You're like, all right, that's it.

[Zach]

When I hear Max say something, I pick up the phone and go, yeah, there's a bubble.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, exactly. Regis has picked The Broncos.

[Zach]

Yep.

[Big Cat]

Sell. What are you gonna say, Max?

[Max]

It's just crazy memes brought this up. The Saints had a point differential of 91 to 29 to start the year.

[Big Cat]

Last year, everyone. Last year was like, they're revolutionizing. Yeah.

[Eli Manning]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Okay. 49ers Seahawks. Don't know. Gonna just take the Seahawks. Because a divisional game and they're the underdog. Yeah.

[Zach]

I mean, do people forget that Sam Darnold also got rehabbed by Kyle Shanahan?

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Because it's all gone to Kevin o'.

[Big Cat]

Connell.

[Zach]

He got the double dose. He got the best double dose he could possibly get.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

He got the hydroxychloroquine and the. What's the other one? Ivermectin. Yeah, you got both of them. And so he's, like, been totally healed. I'm excited to see how his face looks in a Seahawks helmet.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

I think it's going to look really wide.

[Big Cat]

I do, too.

[Zach]

That's my. Very wide about this game.

[Big Cat]

And I also think you got to remember that Brandon Ayuk's not playing. Right.

[Zach]

He's not playing.

[Howie Long]

And they traded Debo.

[Zach]

Neither is DeMarcus Robinson.

[Big Cat]

So they need Ricky Pearsall to step up.

[Zach]

Juwan Jennings, we don't know right now.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

At the time we're taping. So, yeah, Ricky Pearsall. But apparently he's been awesome. He's been, like, incredible in training camp.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. No, I know that he's someone that everyone's looking at, like, breakout year. I just. Again, this is a week one. I do think the Niners are going to be good this year, but I'm just going to take the home underdog in a divisional game.

[Zach]

Yeah. Also look for Jalen Milroe. Maybe they might get him out.

[Big Cat]

Little package. Little package lines and Packers. This is a good game. I'm going to do something right now to guard myself. I'm going to take the packers in this game. The packers are the best team in the NFL. I don't even think it's close.

[Zach]

Not close.

[Big Cat]

They're going to win the super.

[Zach]

What about this Parsons?

[Big Cat]

An emotional.

[Zach]

Michael Parsons put it up. Micah Parsons might be. He might be injured. The back injury might be real.

[Big Cat]

Well, we're going to talk to Howie Long right now in a minute, and he. He did the alleged.

[Zach]

Yeah, but they're. They're talking about, like, injecting him with epidurals and shit.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

The guys are going to be taking back shots.

[Big Cat]

I. Pfd. I don't. I don't think it Matters. I think the packers, even without Mega Parsons, are the best team in the NFL.

[Zach]

Okay. I like this doubling down. I'm just saying, do you know how tough you have to be as a man to take back shots?

[Big Cat]

That's true.

[Zach]

Like, it's not. Women take back shots.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

When you're giving birth. Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. She has multiple children.

[Zach]

No, but the. Yeah. The epidurals, it doesn't. Again, I think I said this on Monday, but backs don't tend to really improve that much. You just kind of got to manage them. But you're probably right. He's, like, the best in the world at what he does. The packers were already a great roster.

[Big Cat]

And I just want to be fully transparent with everyone. If the packers somehow don't win the super bowl, which it's would be pretty crazy if they don't, I will be first in line saying I was wrong.

[Zach]

First.

[Big Cat]

First in line saying I was wrong.

[Zach]

You got to start the line.

[Big Cat]

I will start the line saying I was wrong. Hand up. The packers were not as good as I thought they were.

[Zach]

I think you got to lead a line. I think do a procession.

[Big Cat]

I'll be the number one guy in the line saying, hey, guys, I got it wrong. I thought the packers were the best team by far, and I was wrong.

[Zach]

I am just looking out for Micah's health, though. I think if I was the packers, here's what I do. Because right now, Big Cat, you're right. They've got the best rock. They've got a great chance at winning the Super Bowl. You don't want to push the back. Yeah, you should. You should rest Micah Parsons till he's completely healed. I'd say two weeks into the season, Give him two weeks off. Week three, bring them back in. I think that's against the Browns. Bring them back against the Browns.

[Big Cat]

Got it.

[Zach]

And have them play there. So whoever they play in week two.

[Big Cat]

It could be anyone.

[Zach]

It could be anyone.

[Big Cat]

Literally anyone.

[Zach]

He should. He should rest for that game as well.

[Big Cat]

Who are they playing week two?

[Zach]

I'm not sure I know the answer.

[Big Cat]

Is it Thursday Night Football?

[Zach]

Oh, it's. Yeah. The Commanders. Thursday night.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

A short week.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. No, but you said that without knowing.

[Zach]

Short. Yeah. I had no idea. I just knew it was a short week. It was Thursday night. If he's going to play this week, which it looks like he's probably going to try, don't make him rush back out there on Thursday night.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

That's how he gets hurt.

[Big Cat]

And the lines are going to be good. I just. The packers are the best football. What are you going to do?

[Zach]

And put your hand up.

[Big Cat]

Speaking of bad backs, Texans at rams. Rams minus three over under 40. Three and a half. Thoughts?

[Zach]

I think this is going to be a lot of defense.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, I agree.

[Zach]

I think the Rams defense is awesome. I think the Tech. We know that the Texans defense is very, very good, too. They've got great cornerbacks.

[Big Cat]

We also know the Texans offensive line is not great. We also know that Matthew Stafford has a bad back and hasn't played at all in training camp. I agree with you. I think this is going to be an ugly one.

[Zach]

Do we know that the Texans offensive line is bad?

[Big Cat]

Well, they lost some good ones.

[Zach]

Well, they were bad last year.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. And then they lost their best player.

[Zach]

Then they got rid of a lot of the players that were on the bad offensive line.

[Big Cat]

So maybe they'll be good.

[Zach]

So there's a lot of guys that are playing on this offensive line that weren't on the bad offensive line.

[Big Cat]

But you did also trade your best player.

[Zach]

That's true.

[Big Cat]

On the offensive line.

[Zach]

That is very true.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. And Laramie Tunsil last game, best game, Ravens at bills. Bills minus one and a half over under 50 and a half. I think you. You know this BFT, but I'll just share this with everyone else. Derek Henry has played nine years in the NFL. I think he's eclipsed 2,000 yards twice. He's won a bunch of rushing titles. He still is 500 yards away from his total rushing yards in high school.

[Zach]

That's insane.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. He's played nine years in the NFL and he still had more yards in high school.

[Zach]

I like looking at his box scores because it's just, it's absurd what he was doing to high school.

[Big Cat]

In four years in high school, he had 12,124 yards. In nine years in the NFL, he's had 11,423 yards.

[Zach]

How many kids do you think he made quit playing football?

[Big Cat]

Oh, so many.

[Zach]

I'd say probably like three a game.

[Big Cat]

So many. He had 153 touchdowns in four years.

[Hank]

Made kids on the defense, quit his own team.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Zach]

I don't want to tackle this guy.

[Hank]

Spring?

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

Like in the summer, like early practice.

[Big Cat]

No. 55 touchdowns. In his senior year, 4,261 yards. That's literally when you play like on college football, rookie or freshman level, and you're like, I'm just going to score 90 points, get my guy the Heisman.

[Zach]

Can we all agree that whoever wins this Game. It's. It's going to be impactful on playoff seating.

[Big Cat]

Although, remember, Prescott told us the Bills. Bills should. Should have a good, easy schedule to start. But yeah, I think it also.

[Zach]

I think it's fun to treat this like a playoff game.

[Big Cat]

I could. We also say it's going to be impactful in the mvp. Yes, I think it will.

[Zach]

We can say that Will.

[Big Cat]

Do you think this is a Lamar revenge? I should have won the mvp who should have been the mvp. Should have been.

[Zach]

No, I think it's a. It's a Mark Andrews revenge. I should have caught that ball.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Oh, the Bills are underdogs. That switch, that flip. Bills are plus one and a half. That's my apologies.

[Zach]

Home dogs.

[Big Cat]

Home dogs. Home dogs.

[Zach]

I like the Bills.

[Hank]

Then no wind.

[Zach]

Probably me and everyone else.

[Big Cat]

Bose is on the Bills.

[Zach]

What do you mean?

[Big Cat]

We got to remind people that no Bills.

[Zach]

Oh, that's not.

[Hank]

That's not this year.

[Zach]

Wait, what team is. Since I already forgot.

[Big Cat]

Shit. And what about that Gary Whitfield or.

[Zach]

Whatever, Is that a serial killer? That's a great serial killer name.

[Big Cat]

Gary Whitfield definitely killed some people in Nebraska in like 1970. Yeah, we don't even have it.

[Zach]

Sincere. You don't know sincere.

[Howie Long]

Ohio.

[Big Cat]

Oh. Oh, wrong guy. Wrong state. Nope. Abort, abort, abort, abort.

[Zach]

Oh, we gotta find. We can't move on until we find out worse and serious.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Oh.

[Eli Manning]

Abort, abort, abort.

[Big Cat]

All right, let me do. Cause we're do a TD parlay while you look that up. DraftKings. By the way, we're going to have this listed in the DraftKings sportsbook. Don't let one bad leg haunt your parlay. Parlays turn into payouts. And now even near misses won't haunt your bet. The NFL season is here at DraftKings Sportsbook. An official sports betting partner of the NFL is rewriting the rules with Ghost Leg, a new game changing promotion that turns close calls into cold, hard cash. Best of all, it's available to all DraftKings customers. Here's how it works. Build any three plus leg pregame NFL parlay on Sunday. Apply your Ghost Leg token. And if one leg loses, DraftKings makes it vanish like it never existed and pays you out in cash for the rest. Last season, over 30 million parlays were lost by a single leg. This year, Ghost like gives those busted bets a second life. So go download the DraftKings sportsbook app. Use code Take. That's code Take to unlock Ghost Leg. The promotion that makes one bad leg disappear and pays you out in real cash. Ghost your losses. Get your payout in partnership with DraftKings Sportsbook. The crown is yours. Gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER in New York. Call 877-8-HOPENY or text hopeny467-369 in Connecticut. Help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org Please play responsibly on behalf of Boothill Casino and Resort in Kansas. Fees may apply in Illinois 21 and over. Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. Opt in for single use token minimum 3 plus legs and minus 500 odds per leg. Max bet varies. If only one leg of the bet loses, bet will settle as if only the winning legs were placed and pays out in cash based on odds when the bet was placed. See [e-mail] promos all right. TD Parlay. We will do me, Hank. PFT. One of us loses, Max will get in.

[Zach]

Sounds good.

[Big Cat]

3 Legger. Let's do all afternoon and night.

[Zach]

Okay?

[Big Cat]

All right. So go bet on the DraftKings sportsbook. Give us a pick, Hank.

[Hank]

I didn't know we were doing afternoon. Give me a second.

[Big Cat]

Okay, that's fine. That's no problem. We're gonna do afternoon night. I'm gonna take. I'm gonna take Matthew golden for the Packers. Okay.

[Hank]

I'm going to take J.K. dobbins for the Broncos.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Zach]

I'm going to take Jameer Gibbs from the Lions.

[Big Cat]

Okay. So there it is. That is our DraftKings TD parlay. Now, let's finish off. We got.

[Zach]

We're sincere.

[Big Cat]

We're sincere.

[Zach]

Sincere is still with the San Francisco 49ers since August.

[Big Cat]

Okay. Since August. All right, picks. So we'll figure out the punishment later. We're going to do two picks each. We do an over under. We do a spread. Memes. Would you like to start? I'd love to. All right. Names. You start.

[Zach]

Hank Hasbro.

[Big Cat]

You can't pick the same pick, Zach. That's the only thing Hank. Hank did win last year if he wants to. Oh, Hank. Would you like to start, or would you like to wrap around?

[Hank]

No, I'll start.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Hank]

I'm going to take. Can I take the Friday game?

[Big Cat]

Yeah, you can take the Friday game.

[Hank]

I'm going to take the Chargers plus three.

[Big Cat]

Okay. Chargers plus three. Memes. Why don't you go. I'm going to go over 48 and a half. Bengals, Browns. Okay. Max.

[Max]

I am going to Go over. Actually, no, I'm going to take jets plus three.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, jets plus three.

[Zach]

I think they're.

[Big Cat]

No, it's back to three. It was two and a half of four. Three. Go ahead, Zach.

[Zach]

I would like to take the commander's minus six.

[Big Cat]

Okay. Okay.

[Zach]

I'm gonna take Panthers Jaguars over 46 and a half.

[Big Cat]

That was gonna be my pick. God damn it. All right. I'm gonna take bucks, Falcons over 46 and a half. And you know what? I'll put my money where my mouth is. Well, actually, I have a couple of those. I'll do the Colts minus one and a half. Daniel Jones believing. Believing.

[Zach]

Does it go back? Is it snake?

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

I'm going to take the Falcons plus one and a half.

[Big Cat]

Okay. I would like to take the titans Broncos under 42 and a half. I like that pick.

[Max]

I'm taking a fun over first. First week Lions packers over 47 and a half.

[Zach]

That's a fun over.

[Big Cat]

That is a fun over. Taking the Rams minus three. Okay. My devonte Adams game of the week. Oh, memes. I just love devonte.

[Hank]

I'll also be taking a fun over. I'm taking the Steelers jets over 38.

[Big Cat]

Oh, yeah. I like that. You're going to have to fight for every inch.

[Zach]

Yep.

[Big Cat]

All right, so last thing before we get to Eli Manning and Howie Long. Talk some more football with them. We are retiring fantasy fuck boys.

[Zach]

Rip. Pour one out.

[Big Cat]

Rip.

[Zach]

Well, kind of retired. We'll bring them back maybe for the European games.

[Big Cat]

Maybe they might just slip in every now and then, but for week to week, they will be retired. We always reserve the right to bring them back. Instead, we are going to do a fantasy minute with Jerry o' Connell. And it is a video he's going to send us. And if he goes over a minute, we cut it off exactly at a minute. So here's our Jerry O'. Connell. He did 58 seconds.

[Max]

Yeah, I know. He's less than a minute.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. So this is Jerry o' Connell's fantasy minute. Before we get to our interviews. What's up? A.W. wells, Gerry O.

[Howie Long]

Here with your week one fantasy recap.

[Big Cat]

We had a great draft. We drafted with our first pick, Saquon. Way to go, Max. We got Brock with our next pick, Jaden, who's gonna break all records.

[Eli Manning]

We got Devonte of the Rams. I did Kelly Stafford's podcast, cheated on.

[Big Cat]

You guys did a great job.

[Zach]

Cleaned things up a little bit.

[Big Cat]

Kept the ums to a minimum. You awls and saw the man himself. And I think devonte is going to have a great season. Season. Our big question tonight, Week one, do we start Javante of the Cowboys over Jordan Mason. I'm going with Javante. He's ranked just a touch higher. I know the Eagles defense is better.

[Eli Manning]

Than the Bears defense.

[Big Cat]

Sorry, Big Cat, but I. I just.

[Howie Long]

Feel like Dallas is going to have.

[Big Cat]

To score a lot of points and it's opening night at football.

[Eli Manning]

Let's get in the end zone.

[Big Cat]

Javante.

[Eli Manning]

Let's go.

[Big Cat]

Part of my take fantasy recap. I'm the manager, me. I. Okay, there it is.

[Zach]

We did draft Saquon, but I. I am also a part of the group chat that. That Jerry was dropped into. Within about five minutes of the draft ending. He started spamming everybody the group chat, trying to trade Saquon away.

[Max]

Okay, have you guys also noticed that we had an email thread from Camp Barstool and Jerry o' Connell is. Is now using that email thread with, like, everybody in Barstool as his personal group chat?

[Big Cat]

I did not see that. Wait, what's the. What has he been emailing?

[Hank]

Someone asked about, like, did. Did anyone make a purchase at the store in Wisconsin? And he replied like, wasn't me, I promise.

[Big Cat]

Also, listen, it's a long season. We got to see what happens. Did anyone else get the vibe that our fantasy manager wasn't exactly ready when every single time his pick came up, he asked for help on Twitter from everyone he wanted?

[Zach]

Everybody except for Adam Schefter.

[Big Cat]

I was a little concerned that every time our pick came up, he just tweeted like, I need help. Pick coming up. Who should I take?

[Hank]

Also, just the most bizarre time for a draft.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. What was time?

[Zach]

It was. It was yesterday at, I think like three.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

That is a 3pm That's a weird time. He also, yeah, he spammed the group chat with a lot of requests for trades and he. He claimed online that he got an A for the draft or a B.

[Big Cat]

Plus, maybe no one gets an A.

[Zach]

But in the group chat, I've got it right here, he said he got a D. Okay. Graded out as getting a D. Yeah.

[Big Cat]

So he didn't get an A.

[Zach]

He did not get an A.

[Max]

He may have tweeted 200 times during this draft.

[Big Cat]

It was crazy.

[Max]

I was just scrolling for like two minutes trying to find when the draft started.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Look at this. Yeah. Awls and even Adam Schefter. Devante. What do you say? Devante. What was the one? Go back. Devonte Garrett or Tet in the fourth. Need answer. You're our Manager.

[Zach]

And this was every round.

[Big Cat]

Then one random person, Cliff said, devonte Adams said, okay, done.

[Zach]

Yeah, I don't have a lot of confidence in the guy right now.

[Big Cat]

That's okay. Listen, he surprised us before. We were in, were in the finals last year. No, we're in the semis a couple years.

[Zach]

The Demar years, we're in the finals.

[Big Cat]

So he's proven that he can do it. It's just this year I was a little, I just was. My, my spidey sense was up when he was asking for help on every pick.

[Zach]

Yeah, I, he, he did prove his worth in the tomorrow year, though. Yeah. When he got, he jumped into the fracas and he was like, hey, we're prayers for tomorrow, but we're playing this out. Yeah, prayers for tomorrow.

[Big Cat]

Prayers for tomorrow. All right, let's get to our interviews. We got Eli Manning in studio and then we have Howie Long and we'll finish up with Fire Fest.

[Zach]

Before we get to Eli Manning, he's brought to you by YouTube. Football's back and the only place fans can watch every game Every Sunday is NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV. NFL Sunday Ticket provides fans with the ultimate viewing experience with features like multi view where you can watch up to four games at the exact same time, including NFL red zone. You got key plays to catch up or replay the biggest moments in each game. And Jerry o' Connell's favorite feature, fantasy view to track your players scores right alongside each game. Big Cat Power rank. What? What? For Sunday 1pm games would you want to watch in the multi view?

[Big Cat]

Okay, in the multi view I'm going to go Gian Giants, commanders. I'm gonna go Dolphins, Colts, Daniel Jones, very interested to see what he's doing. Buccaneers, Falcons and then I'm gonna toss in the Bengals and the Browns. That's my multi view.

[Zach]

I like that. And right now you can get NFL Sunday ticket month to month and cancel anytime. Sign up [e-mail] part of my take to get started telling the football guys that part of my take sent you local and national games on YouTube TV. NFL Sunday Ticket for out of market games excludes digital only games. Base plan required. Renews every month during the 2025 regular season. Only your membership for the following month can be canceled anytime before your renewal dates, terms, restrictions and embargoes apply. Commercial use excluded, no refunds. And now here is Eli Manning.

[Big Cat]

Okay. We now welcome on a very, very, very, very special guest. It is two time super bowl champion Eli Manning in studio. You're doing a really fun thing With Kings Hawaiian this football season. So we got. But I think you're serving us lunch today.

[Eli Manning]

I am serving you lunch.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. So you. You. I saw the whole tailgate out there. What's like, are you traveling around with Kings Wine this year? Because it's gonna be fun. I. It's the best food. I'm so excited for it.

[Eli Manning]

Yeah, no, it's, you know, excited to partner with Kings Wine again and be a part of their Slider Sunday campaign. So I think as you get into the fall, everybody's excited for the football season, obviously, but a big part of football season is tailgating or just, you know, watching games at home, having friends, having family over. And it starts with great food. And it's a staple in our household is Kings of Wine and their roles. So we have, like a big kind of slider kind of, you know, bar set up with, you know, so you got your Kings of Wine rolls and you just got your different proteins because we got so many kids around. So some are like grilled cheese, some are, hey, just a little turkey. You got your burgers, got your chicken. So a bunch of stuff. And so just. It just makes sense to partner with them again because they're such a staple in our household.

[Big Cat]

All right, so what does your NFL Sunday look like now? Because I'm very curious. You know, we take our NFL Sundays very seriously. The amount of food we eat, the amount of games we watch, are you able to lock into every game or you, you know, got an eye on it and then the kids and then.

[Eli Manning]

Yeah, so, yeah, the Sundays, I guess, you know, we usually go to the Giants home games. So the first two weeks this. This year, they're on the road. So I'm kind of looking at my Sundays coming up and. And, you know, we got. I got kids that play a lot of sports, so we got some flag football in the morning, we got some hockey in the morning. So kind of get that stuff in and then, you know, try to, you know, we're kind of usually done by around 1 o', clock where, yeah, you're home, and it's, you know, kind of having friends and family over, watching the Giants game, watching, you know, all the other games and dialed in. So have a big spread of food and just kind of take it in. So I think that's kind of the new tradition that I didn't get to do for a long time, obviously, was playing on Sundays and. But growing up, used to go to Saints games, but the away games, you kind of. It's weird. You kind of look forward to the away games when the Giants are away, because then you get to hang at the house and, like, kind of create your own little party and. And have your slider Sundays.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

You get multiple TVs, or you just locked in on one.

[Eli Manning]

Yeah, just kind of locked in on one. You might have, you know, different rooms, have. Might have a different game on a little bit, but. But, yeah, just kind of, you know, try to. I tend to stay with the nfc, I think, just because having played in the NFC so long, I feel like I know those teams better and more curious. It always, you know, as I. When I was watching games, even when I was playing, I was always watching NFC because it was more relevant to what I was doing unless I was watching one of Peyton's games. But, yeah, so I tend to watch the nfc.

[Zach]

Do you still get the tape, like, the. The All 22? Do you watch that?

[Eli Manning]

I do that for, like, preparation for Monday Night Football. So I do. I do that if we have a game. So, you know, if. As you get into the season, if I know, hey, next week, you know, we're, you know, we have, you know, we're doing whatever. Dallas and Philadelphia, if one of those two teams are playing, I might tend to kind of watch the TV version of that a little bit. You see. You kind of hear some analysis of what's going on and see some different replays. But, yeah, if I'm watching film and preparation, I'm. I'm on the all 22 and doing a little deeper dive.

[Big Cat]

So you've been retired for a while now. Do you still have, like, the itch in the summertime when training camp starts? You're like, this is about to be football season. Are you like, no, I'm so happy. Awesome.

[Eli Manning]

No. Yeah. I'm like, this is amazing. I still, you know, August hits, and everybody's like, you know, I remember, you know, thinking, like, late July, like, oh, summer's almost over. Like, no, no, I still got, like, six weeks of summer late. Yeah, we. Our kids don't go back to last until after Labor Day. And. No, I enjoy the summer and getting to play some golf, run around with the kids, go to the beach a little bit, and just have a little downtime before the fall hits. Because all of a sudden, football season comes, and it is, and kids are back in school and sports, and it kind of becomes a grind again, which is. Which is fun as well.

[Zach]

Yeah. After guys leave the NFL, I'm always curious to know, like, what is their first experience with an NFL Sunday? Like, where they get to actually sit down on a couch and just take it all in, because you don't get to see that. I mean, if you're. Bye week, I guess you got the chance. You get the chance to watch the primetime games. Yeah, but just spending all day on your couch watching television, it's the best. It is so fun. And so I'm always. I'm happy for guys that get to get to experience that for the first time.

[Eli Manning]

Yeah, no, it is fun, and it's awesome to do. And I think. I think it depends on how your retirement win is, whether you enjoy that or don't enjoy. If you kind of got to end it on your own terms and say, hey, I'm ready to be done. I've played enough and I don't want to play football anymore. It's easier to sit on the couch and watch the games. If you kind of get retired where you want to keep playing it. No one wants you to play anymore. You're watching it and you're like, oh, I could. I could be playing better than this guy. I'm better than that guy. Then you're kind of bitter at it. So I was. I was happy. I was like, I'm done. I'm ready to be done. I'm going to watch games. I'm going to root for these guys. I'm going to root for the Giants. I hope they win. I hope the new Daniel Jones does well, you know, when he was there at the time. Still to this day, hey, I hope Russell Wilson does awesome this season. So I'm watching all the games, rooting for the quarterbacks, rooting for players I've gotten to know over the years. And so it's. I enjoy. I enjoy my Sundays.

[Big Cat]

All right, so you were up for the hall of Fame this year. You had a very gracious answer when you didn't make the hall of Fame, which obviously is to be expected because you're good at the media, you're a very good guy, and you're like, I'm happy for all the other guys. At what point can we. I think you need to, like, game plan this. And, like, if it's like year seven or eight, just do a heel turn and be like, no, this. Like, I won two Super Bowls. What the Are we doing?

[Zach]

And put some pressure on.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Will you. Will you. At some point, will you start doing that and being like, you know what? This is absolute. I should be in the hall of Fame.

[Eli Manning]

I. I don't think that's a. That's just not really? My personality. I don't think that's gonna happen.

[Big Cat]

What if it's like. What if it takes, like, 15 years? Could we get that?

[Eli Manning]

No, it's just. It's just like, you know, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, you know, if. If one day I changed my mind and I become, like, the bitter. The bitter ex football player. Hey, back in our day, we were tough, and, like, I become that guy where I always thought it was very easy. Oh, playing this guy sucks. It's easy to play quarterback. No, I know it's hard. Like, that's why. When. Even when I commentating, like, I know it's difficult. I know they got a hard job, and I can relate to what they're going through. I think, unfortunately, after a certain amount of years, you forget how hard it is, I think. And you'd like, oh, it's easy. It looks so. You see other guys playing well, and you forget. It's. It's. It's difficult. And then you become the bitter. The bitter guy. So if I ever come. The bitter guy, I'll come back on the show and I'll start my campaign.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, you could do it here. You could be like, hey, this is absolute bullshit. This guy's in the hall of fame. He shouldn't be in. Are you, like, you obviously want to be in the hall of fame. It'd be an incredible honor to be there. You know, in Canton, there's only so, you know, what, a couple few hundred. Have you, like, thought about that moment? Have you let yourself think about that moment, or are you just like, hey, when it happens, it happens?

[Eli Manning]

Well, I'm scared of public speaking, so it's usually. It's almost like a. Oh, I'm kind of scared. Like, what am I. What would my speech be like? What if I. What if I screw up? That. It's gonna be a lot of preparation. So, no, I think, obviously, it would be an unbelievable, you know, dream to join the, you know, the greatest players to play the game, and to be a part of that group would be a tremendous honor. But. But it's not something that, like, it's gonna change my life forever if. If I get in. Like, I'm. I'm proud of. Of my football career. I'm proud of my teammates. I'm proud of. Of the friendships I've made through football. So that'll always be more important than. Than some, you know, honor or award that that's given to you after you're done.

[Big Cat]

Has. Has Peyton won the gold jacket around you? Yeah.

[Eli Manning]

He wears it all the time. It's like, you know, our. Like just a Sunday dinner, like we're back in New Orleans. What a dick. And he just like, type, you know, pops on the gold jacket. It's. It's really annoying.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

I remember when, when Shannon Sharp got in the hall of Fame, he said something very nice. He said, I'm not even the best football player in my family. That would have been nice if Peyton had said something like that. His speech. Did you talk about.

[Eli Manning]

He would be lying. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Talking about my dad, maybe.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

You just have to be very careful when they make the bust when they may. If you go in the hall of Fame, you have to like, practice the face. Or you could give us. You could give us a Manning face as a bust.

[Eli Manning]

Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. How they choose that? I mean, I'm sure Peyton had a lot of direct and like, tried to wear his hair different, like more down and flat down so he wouldn't show as much forehead, but it didn't work.

[Zach]

I heard you saying that, that Peyton's a big voice memo guy. Oh, my God. Doesn't really text. He just sends like. How long are these voice memos that he sends you when you guys are prepping?

[Eli Manning]

Oh, when we're prepping. He sent like. So like, he sent one the other day. He's. He goes, hey, Eli, you should watch, you know, you should watch Chicago's. He sent me a text saying, you should watch Chicago's first preseason game. I'll send a little voice memo on the plays. And he went through every single play that Caleb Williams ran and gave like a memo on it. I'm like, that's not really the point. You don't have to give me every single play. Like, why would I even watch it now? Like, give me a little recap or something. So it's like that one. I mean, Caleb Williams only played a few series, so it was. It was like, like 10 minutes. I was like, it'd be faster for me to just go watch the game than listen to your voice memos sometimes. But, I mean, he's left me 35 minute voice memos before.

[Big Cat]

What's the completion percentage on your listening to the voice memo?

[Eli Manning]

Well, that's when he started. I think he started realizing, like, I'm not listening to the whole thing.

[Big Cat]

No way would you ever listen?

[Eli Manning]

I would have a response. He's like, wait, didn't you, you know, or I repeat something he said or maybe contradict something he said without knowing it. He's like, wait, didn't you listen to my whole voicemail? Like, yeah, I made it through, like, seven or eight minutes. He's like, no, it was 35 minutes long. I'm like, I need the Cliff notes of your voice memo, which we actually started doing. Someone started, like, typing out the main points and then sending that to me. So I kind of get the idea. I'm like, I just don't have. Like, I don't. I don't have 35 minutes all the time to, like, sit down and listen to you talk.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Eli Manning]

And then he started. He started, like, leaving little, like, halfway through the voice memos, he'd be like, eli, this is a test to see if you're still listening and have, like, some code word. Like, the gravy was good, you know, Text me that if you listen to this thing. Of course I don't. I don't text him. He's like, I know you didn't listen to it. And you're like, I know I didn't listen.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Eli Manning]

Telling you I'm not listening. You gotta cut it down. I need it 15 minutes and under.

[Zach]

I feel like there should be. You know how you can listen to podcasts on one and a half speed, two times speed? That should be an option for voice memo, too. You can just breeze through it.

[Eli Manning]

Yes.

[Zach]

So when it comes to your prep for things, what is your side? If you're doing the banding cat and you're getting ready to watch, obviously you watch the games, but I feel like your strength on the show is kind of busting Peyton's balls.

[Eli Manning]

Right.

[Zach]

When he gets, like, his head too big?

[Eli Manning]

A little bit, yes.

[Zach]

So how do you prep for that?

[Eli Manning]

Well, I. A lot of it is, you know, we kind of get some ideas. Like, you know, Peyton and I will talk, and maybe, you know, our producers and people will do a good job if something we say in our preparation and we say, hey, whatever, Chicago does a great job of running bang eights. And so they'll respond back to, like, hey, what's a bang eight? Maybe y' all can explain that. Or it's something we say that we're using our terminology, that we need to explain it to the fans. And so, you know, Peyton will say, all right, I'll get up, and I'll go through the route tree, and I'll go through everything. So when I know he's going to get up and do something, that's when I'm like, all right, what can I bust him on now? Like, he's up there and he's, you know, he's on the spot and he's explaining something. You know, the vein starts coming out in his head. He starts talking real fast and mumbling all over everything. That's when. That's when I. I have to shine and like, I gotta. I gotta ask him a bunch of questions. I gotta get him more flustered. I gotta get him going here. So that's. That's what. That's when I start, you know, kind of thinking outside the box.

[Zach]

Yeah, it's a great show.

[Big Cat]

It's a great show. Who's your favorite guest you've had on?

[Eli Manning]

I gotta go. Snoop Dogg. I mean. Yeah, you know, I mean, obviously just a legend in Snoop Dogg. You know, he had a fog machine, I think, in his. In his room because. Yeah, yeah, it's definitely a fog machine. He was snacking on stuff and. And. And he gave me a Death Row Records gold chain for. It was my birthday. He offered to me on the show. He sent it to me. I got it the next week. So, you know, I like. I like getting gifts. Yeah, obviously. Seems like y' all get a lot of gifts in here and you'll put it up.

[Big Cat]

So we do keep it.

[Zach]

We keep it.

[Big Cat]

I told you. This is about as clean as we get in here.

[Eli Manning]

It looks good.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. We cleaned it up for you.

[Eli Manning]

Thank you.

[Big Cat]

It's very lived in. Yeah.

[Zach]

I don't know if you know this about us, but we're kind of like the podcast version of you. We're the iron Man. You are of the podcast. I don't think we've ever missed a show.

[Eli Manning]

Never missed a show.

[Big Cat]

Nine years.

[Eli Manning]

Yeah, nine years.

[Zach]

How long did you go without missing a game?

[Eli Manning]

I went. I went 14 years, 15 years. So you got a few more years to catch, Catch up.

[Zach]

I think we can do it. What's the worst thing that you ever played through?

[Eli Manning]

Oh, well, I'd say there is a tie. There was a tie. I separated my right shoulder week one versus Dallas in 07 season. So as a quarterback, throwing with a separated shoulder does not feel good. And then I ruptured my plantar fascia and my foot. Foot one year. So the. The most painful thing was the cortisone shot that I got through my heel. They went in through the heel and then put the, you know, the needle all the way into the middle of my foot where your plantar fascia is. That was. That was the worst pain I've ever been in in my life.

[Big Cat]

So.

[Eli Manning]

Yeah, cortisone shot is. It's a Big needle. They're like, we're gonna put this through your heel and then get into the middle of your foot. I'm like, I, I don't, I don't get it. I don't. You gotta explain that again one more time. So that was, that was, that was tough.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

How did you weigh that? As you're in the middle of the streak where obviously it's important to you to be depend teammates, right? Like you want to be there, you want to be known as a guy that, that if you call my number, I'm going to be ready for you on Sunday. But then you also have to weigh that with, hey, I have a separated shoulder. Maybe I'm not the best quarterback on the team right now.

[Eli Manning]

Right. And I think that's kind of what like that week I didn't practice Wednesday or Thursday. So Friday was my first day of, of of throwing and practicing. And you just kind of feel it out on that day. It's like, hey, can I make these throws and am I going to be able to make, you know, help the team or am I going to be a liability and put us in a bad situation? So I think that's the idea. And I think you always, it's always, you know, like, hey, is the adrenaline of the game that'll get me through this, which I always think it will. And I think so. You always want to be there for your teammates. You always want to play. I think about my offensive lineman. Those guys are like always hurt. They're always banged up. I mean, they're sore going into the first game just from training camp of 2A days back when we had 2A days of hitting each other. So you all, you know, you didn't want to be like, oh, I got this little thing I can't, I can't play with, you know, you want to kind of set the standard. Hey, I'm not, I want to be at practice. It's important to be at practice. It's important to be in the games and, and just never felt that, you know, the injury I had was going to, you know, make us, make us worse. I always thought, hey, with me out there just being able to get in, you know, even just from the middle side, get in and out of good and bad plays just to run the system, knowing what everyone's doing, the checks that, that I can figure out how to manage this game.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, you also, and this is going to be a compliment, but it might seem like it's not. You were good at a self sack where it's like, I'm screwed. Maybe I won't just get killed here. I'll just go down. Do you have a favorite self sack where you're like, man, I'm happy I went down there.

[Eli Manning]

Yeah, there's a couple. It wasn't a self sack, but in that same. I remember we're playing Philadelphia, we're at the one yard line and it's third or fourth down and this is early on, this is maybe 0506 and we're going to go quarterback sneak. And you know, I've done a few quarterbacks and it's not great, but I always just kind of like take one step back and go low. Go low. And the coordinator says, hey, think about going high on this one. Like, jump up. Do the old, like, you know, Drew Brees, like, put the ball over the goal line. I'm like, all right, I'm going to think about that. And all of a sudden, like right before Jeremiah Trotter is a, you know, mass, if you. He goes high. Like, if I would have gone high, we would have connected like head to head and I probably would have died. So that was my greatest decision. Like, nope, I'm going to go under. Got the touchdown and right there. But yeah, I think, you know, I was never, never wanted to take extra hits.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Eli Manning]

As a quarterback, it's just, it's. Hey, it's easy to get hurt in this game. You know, it's something you screw up a little something. It can affect the whole game. And so just there are definitely times to kind of learn how to throw. Shield your body. Don't just take hits right to the face all the time and take these, you know, kind of throw and get down and just avoid those big hits.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. And it is a skill. Like there, you know, see Mahomes, even Lamar Jackson, where like, he's, he's running a lot, but he, it feels like he very rarely gets fully squared up.

[Eli Manning]

Right.

[Big Cat]

And it's like he's got that skill of like, hey, I'm not going to. I'm either going to get out of bounds or go down or, you know, get skinny here to make sure that I can keep playing.

[Eli Manning]

The guys even used to. They used to make fun of me because of the way I slid. Even when I slid, I would slide and I would like turn. And so my back was like, to the players, I would turn the side and they're like, why do you slide? Like, why don't you slide like a normal slide in the second base, like chest up? I'm like, because if someone wants to come and just, you know, hit me head to head and like, that's the worst hit. When you're sliding your chest up and someone just dives at you. Trevor Lawrence hit your head.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Eli Manning]

Head back. I'm like, like, it's not worth me getting knocked out of the game. You know, even though I'm giving myself up, they can, they can still hit me. They get a 15 yard penalty and I'm knocked into next week. Like, so that's why I'm not taking a this. I'm not going to put myself out there just to get, you know, rocks and, and, and because of that, hey, you know, I never, you know, never took that hit to, to miss a game or get knocked out.

[Zach]

Yeah. I, I do think that's, that's when you see not even a hard hit, but just a light hit. If a quarterback is sliding on their back that just, just glances off the forehead, bounces back into the turf.

[Eli Manning]

Yeah. And you back your head and you're, you're concussed and you're out.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

I always, I always thought that there's like an art to falling.

[Eli Manning]

Yes.

[Zach]

Whether you're running back. I mean, I do a podcast with Arian Foster and he always talks about how he would practice falling down and how, like, practice getting tackled.

[Eli Manning]

Yeah.

[Zach]

During the week. And it was something that, that helped him with longevity. Is that something that you tried to do too?

[Eli Manning]

Yeah, I think just, yeah, kind of. I mean, you want to think about it. I mean, the coaches weren't like, hey, you know, you always want to finish your throw and make sure you're stepping in the throw and you're not, you know, ducking too soon. But there is a, you know, an art to. Yeah. Getting tackled. I think flexibility is a huge thing as a quarterback, as you're like, getting tackled. Being flexible is so you can, like, take some of those hits or if you get tangled in weird moments, you kind of pop out of it and don't. And don't get hurt. So I think there is an art to, like, not taking the big hit.

[Zach]

Yeah. I have a, just a straight up compliment for you. I think that you were very good in terms of how you would always handle, handle any mistakes that were made during a game, maybe by a teammate. You would always be like, hey, it's my fault. And I feel like that's something that we tell quarterbacks to do all the time, which is like, if there's an interception, that's your responsibility. You have to say right, like, that's my fault. But the reality is sometimes a lot of times it's not the quarterback's fault, but you have to say it out loud. Did you have. Did you have somebody that you could talk to and be like, hey, that wasn't my fault, Just so you know, like, I didn't that up he that up. I'm gonna have to say that as my fault, but I want you to know that it wasn't.

[Eli Manning]

I think there's a different kind of reality of what you say to the media, how they handle that, and then what's said internally with your. The coaches in team meetings, people know what's going on and what really happened on certain plays. But I think as the quarterback, I just said, hey, I can handle this. I would rather the media be on me than be on this young receiver because if his confidence goes down, it might. It might take a while to get back up this. It might take him three more games before he's, you know, fully confident and he's going to go and have drops and it's going to lead to more stuff. So, hey, let me take the heat, let him get through the media, be fine. And so, you know, and now, hey, we have a little trust here. Hey, I got your back, right? I got your back. I'm not going to throw you under the bus ever, you know, and, you know, but you owe me now. You got to start making, make up a play for me. So I think that's what kind of. Of brings that, that, that, that teamwork. And as a quarterback, hey, you, you probably get too much credit when things go well and too much blame when things goes bad. But that's, that's kind of being a part of the position.

[Big Cat]

I would imagine one of the hardest parts of being a quarterback is especially like the young quarterbacks, rookie quarterbacks. You're now the face of the franchise. You have all the eyes on you. You have all the, you know, the expectations on you. Was there something that you did when you were a young quarterback that you made a mistake? Maybe it was with the media. We were like, all right, can't do that again. Because it's got to be pretty daunting to get drafted and be like, all right, it's yours. This is your franchise, right?

[Eli Manning]

No, it's hard. And especially in New York, I think in every city, but in New York, there's so many different people coming after you. There's so many different outlets and talk radio shows and newspapers and stories coming out that you have a bad game or you have. Have, you know, a second bad game. You're like, oh, my God. I just need. Like, I don't. I'm getting killed here. I want to. I want to defend myself a little bit. And defending yourself. Hey, do you. Do you accidentally or kind of take a shot at the offensive coordinator or a player or the. Hey, the O line didn't block very well, or, you know, all of a sudden you do that one time just to like, hey, get. Get away. And. And your players see that.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Eli Manning]

Like, you're like, oh, shoot, now I've opened up another storm of stuff. And so you learn very quickly if there are problems, if there are, you know, things going on, it's best to bring that up with the group. Like, let's keep this internal instead of going out and solving problems with the media. That. That is not the answer.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Was there a moment when you were a young quarterback where you're like, all right, I think I'm now the leader of this team because it is. It's thrust upon you.

[Eli Manning]

Right.

[Big Cat]

But it probably is a little unnatural where it's like, you're coming in. It's a locker room of NFL players who all have been playing in the NFL and older guys, and it's like, why would they listen to me just because I got drafted high and I'm the quarterback? Was there that, like, not light bulb, but maybe a light bulb where you're like, all right, I think I. I have this now. Like, these guys are responding to me.

[Eli Manning]

Right. I mean, it's. It's honestly probably like that, you know, not. Not until you're, like, your third year and. And as. As the starter, I think just because. And it depends a little bit on the organization, but when I got to New York, like, you have Michael Strahan, you have Tiki Barber. Like, you had some shocky. Like, you had big, big, big personalities. Guys that have been the Pro Bowls, they've been in Super Bowls, you know, they're future hall of Famers. And, you know, it takes a while for you to earn their respect and to, you know, for them to see, hey, this. This kid's working his tail off. He's doing all the right work. He's taking hits, he's taking blame when he doesn't have to. Like, it takes all that time for you to really, you know, earn their. Their. Their respect, where you can be a voice, where you can tell them if they're not doing something wrong or if they're not doing something right or they got to pick up their Game when you can tell your 10 year veteran, Amani Toomer, hey, that wasn't the right route. Hey, you got to be better at this. It just takes time for it to be kind of be your team where you think you know the offense well enough, you know the game well enough, where you're very confident that when what you're saying it's the correct thing.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

And even going into, I think it was your fourth year, it was still kind of a question mark, like, are you the guy, New York? And nobody really knew the answer to that question. Did you feel like that was a make or break year for you?

[Eli Manning]

100%. You know, going into that fourth year, I think, you know, it was. We'd been to the playoffs the two years before, had not won a playoff game. You know, Coach Coughlin, you know, they were kind of after his head a little bit. They're after. We were, we were a tandem. It's like, hey, are these two guys the right people to run this organization? That fourth year? And we lost our first two games of the season. We then went on a little win streak, went to another losing streak, but made the playoffs, obviously made the run and answered the question. But, you know, if, if we play that first, that first playoff game in Tampa and we lose that game, like, who knows what happens? Like, who knows if they say, like, boom, fire, Coughlin, get rid of me and move on. It's like this, this game is. It's. It's hard, it's tough. And, you know, things could have changed very differently and they got a completely different outcome over maybe a few games.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Zach]

Did you ever think about playing somewhere else?

[Eli Manning]

No, never thought of it. Like, my last year, when I, when I knew my time with the Giants was going to be over and, you know, maybe thought about it for 15 minutes in this and I was like, well, where am I going to go? Like, I'm going to end up in Cleveland and it's like I'm moving my whole family there. Like, why am I playing just to get another paycheck? Or am I really thinking I can go somewhere and win a championship? And I just, like, I don't think I can play at the level I need to play, and I don't think I can go to a place that's surrounded with enough talent to get us to a championship or get to the playoffs and maybe make a run. So I said, you know, I love my time in New York after, you know, so many teammates that I had that went to other places and they always Say, hey, it's just different here. I can't explain it exactly, but it's just different on the culture of it. And I just. I never wanted to experience that.

[Zach]

Maybe go to the Chargers for one year.

[Eli Manning]

That would have gone well.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Eli Manning]

Yeah. I don't think they would. They were in the mix to bring me in.

[Big Cat]

When you're making that decision, what. What was the thing that, like, if you're honest about yourself at the end of your career, you're like, is it the arm strength? What. What goes that, like, you're Is frustrating because I'm sure you're like, man, I. I used to be able to do this, and now I can't do it.

[Eli Manning]

I think just being able to, like, escape and move in the pocket, you just move those little. You lose those fast twitch reflexes, and so you just can't, like, extend plays just a little bit longer to let that, you know, that guy open up in the next window. So instead of doing that, you know, you're probably like, all right, I got to get the ball out faster. Like, I can't extend plays. I can't break pockets. So instead of, hey, oh, I can roll out or I can move in the pocket and drift up and then make this throw, I'm just like, I don't have time. I'll take the underneath stuff. So, I mean, if things are wide open down the field, you take it. You can do all those things. It's just the, like, the broken plays, which, you know, probably account for like, 30 or 40% of most passing plays or, you know, are you, you know, moving around, having to dodge someone, adjust, hold the ball a little bit longer, and you just. You kind of lose that ability.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Your nephew, Arch at Texas, I saw a story, I think it was Seth Wickersham, said that Peyton gives him a lot of, like, football advice, X's and O's, and you give him a lot of life advice. And one of your life advices to him was never take a picture with a beer in your hand.

[Eli Manning]

Right.

[Big Cat]

Right. I mean, the picture of you drunk is very. I mean, that's a great picture. It's a great picture. Like, I think that. I think I heard the story that you're like, you never know when you're going to blink, but. Right. You. You were also drunk in that picture.

[Eli Manning]

Right? Drunk and blink.

[Zach]

That's a bad combo.

[Eli Manning]

Bad combo.

[Big Cat]

It's a good advice, though, because if you do have a drink in your hand, people just assume you're bombed.

[Eli Manning]

I. And I even said, don't ever even take a picture if they're. If you're like in a bar and there's just drinks around, right. You don't even have to have it in your hand. Like never take it in your hand. But even. And it's more. And it's like almost like a built in excuse to not take pictures, right? I used to say, team rules. We're not allowed to take pictures where alcohol is served. Team rules. Which is not a team rule. But like, people buy it. I still use it to this day. I'm like, ah, team rules. In a bar, can't take a picture. Like, oh, you're on a team. I'm like, well, you know, it's just a good.

[Big Cat]

So you still do that today?

[Eli Manning]

Sometimes it's just, it's more just a situation that I'm in. Like, you shouldn't always have to take a picture with anyone that asks, hey, if I'm walking down the street and a kid asks her for a picture 1000%, then I take it. But if I'm at a restaurant or I'm at a bar or hanging out with friends and I'm in the moment and almost in a sense, because if anyone sees you taking one picture, it's like, oh, hey, there's Eli.

[Big Cat]

He's taking pictures.

[Eli Manning]

And it just becomes, it just ruins. It makes it awkward for you, it makes it awkward for the people you're hanging with and it just kind of ruins like the mood of what you're doing. And so I think for art, just kind of, you know, it's like awkward for his teammates if he's having to take a bunch of pictures and they're just sitting there or buddies. So I'm like, there is a. This is kind of your excuse or your way to get out of that moment and kind of just kind of shut it down before it gets to be a problem.

[Zach]

Yeah, that's a really good cheat code.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Has he asked for more life advice? Have you given him more like, hey, here's how to navigate the whirlwind of quarterback.

[Eli Manning]

I think it's more just as things come up, like I'm not texting him every day, like, you know, life advice of the day.

[Big Cat]

Right.

[Eli Manning]

Do this. It's more just, you know, when I see him, when I see him around, you know, when he comes to our football camp or, you know, if, you know, see him over the summer or something and we're just chatting and I kind of, you know, just ask how things are going, how's it walking to Class, how's it, you know, the social life, how's everything going on at Texas and just kind of talk about things that I dealt with. And obviously it's very different when I was in college to when he's in college now. There were no cell phones. There were those things you didn't have to worry about and social media and this and that. But I think he's got a good handle on things. He's, you know, he works hard at what he's doing. He's pretty laid back on what people might be saying about him or this or that and doesn't read into it or get into it. So I think I. He's handled it very well.

[Big Cat]

How many more Mannings do we have.

[Eli Manning]

To be prepared for?

[Big Cat]

Because we need to, like. I think we need to, like, have like a update of, like, hey, just so you know, like, Arch and then there's gonna be a couple more.

[Eli Manning]

Well, yeah, you guys never end. You never end. We got Peyton. Peyton's Marshalls. He's in eighth grade.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Eli Manning]

He's playing quarterback.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Eli Manning]

You know, no pressure on him.

[Big Cat]

No pressure.

[Eli Manning]

No pressure at all.

[Big Cat]

But like, we, like. I'm not putting any pressure on him, but like, like, do we have to be prepared for maybe one or two more Mannings?

[Eli Manning]

Yeah. And then I guess then you skip down some girls and goes down to. To. To my. To my son Charlie, who's six and. Yeah, and he's playing, I mean, flag football. You know, we got first grade flag football coming up, boys, so, you know, get ready.

[Zach]

The name Marshall Manning, that's. That's two Heismans guaranteed. That is a Heisman name.

[Eli Manning]

Yeah, 100%.

[Zach]

Do you ever get mad that Arch is so fast?

[Eli Manning]

Yes. I was like, what? Why, why, why?

[Zach]

What happened? Yeah, Mannings aren't supposed, like.

[Eli Manning]

Yeah, it skips the brain, you know, it skips a generation, I guess. I don't know what's going on. Like, where did the speed come from? And he's got, like, big quads and legs. I'm like, I have skinny bird legs. And now he's running, you know, running like a four, three out there. And I, you know, Peyton ran a five three, I think, his senior year, so I'm just a little bit faster than Peyton.

[Big Cat]

How would you rate his Manning face? Is it coming along nicely?

[Eli Manning]

Yeah, I think it is coming around.

[Big Cat]

Like, I assume that's a tip you give him to, like, hey, if there's a bad play or something, like, make sure your mouth is a little open on the sideline.

[Eli Manning]

It's a little open. The eyes are kind of a little squishy and like, little like, kind of like he. You know, it looks hungover a lot. So that was also a big part of the. The, you know, don't take any pictures in a bar. You always look hungover.

[Big Cat]

So you're a man.

[Zach]

One of the things I love is when you have a guest like Belichick, and he. He gets real nerdy about something about football that I've never even thought about right once in my life. From the quarterback position. Is there something that we don't talk about in the media that you care very. Like, whether it's how to hold the ball at. When you're handing it off off, or like, what part of the center's butt you got to put your wrist in. Like, what's. What's something that you guys think about a lot that maybe we don't see at all?

[Eli Manning]

Well, I. I think. I think just as you get up to the line of scrimmage and as you go, like, through your dummy cadence and. And stuff, hey, I want to go through a dummy cadence to see what the defense is doing. I. I think they don't look at it enough. Like, you can tell, like, a lot of times I can tell, like, how fast his cadence is, his. How his hands are, how his feet are, whether they're going to snap it or not. And so I think they're just kind of going through the motions of doing it rather than really trying to get the defense to jump offside. So I think there's an art of kind of making your. Your decoy and. And your real thing look exactly the same. And. And I think you do it with your snap count. I think you do it with your handoffs and your play action. I think you, you know, whether it's a run, whether it's a pass, like all your little, you know, kind of habits or whatnot have to match. I remember we actually did. They did a study, and they said. The guys, they said, anytime you lick just your right hand, it's a run. When you're in the shotgun, if you lift right and left, it's a pass. And I was like, oh, po could be doing that. So then I, like, I started. Yeah, both. And like, doing some. They cannot, you know, it's like, you know, got to make it more random.

[Zach]

Have you done a hard count recently? We had Andrew Luck on the show, and he. He gave us a hard count, and it was actually like a theme of beauty. It was. It was wonderful to Listen to.

[Eli Manning]

Yeah. You want a hard count?

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Would you mind?

[Eli Manning]

All right, we'll do.

[Big Cat]

We'll do.

[Eli Manning]

So this is what. We used to have a thing called Daytona that was. That was like our dummy count. So that means there's no snap count. So our cadence. You get up there and you go through. You go, hey, you know, 54 is the mic set.

[Big Cat]

You know, 580, 580. Hut, hut, hut, hut. All right, easy.

[Eli Manning]

Hey, Remic it. Remake it. 58's a mic. And then whatever color you said, if you said red, it was on one, you said white, it was on two. You say blue with the number, it was on three. So after you do a dummy cadence already, and then you get up there, hey, remight.

[Big Cat]

Get.

[Eli Manning]

54 is the mic. Blue 80.

[Big Cat]

Blue 80. Yeah. I would have jumped. Yeah.

[Eli Manning]

Like, you've already done the dummy. You've already changed everything. Like, everybody usually stinks. The next ones, it's coming on one, and you're going a hard three. That was an easy. An easy jump.

[Big Cat]

Would you practice it in, like, private?

[Eli Manning]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Big Cat]

Just, like, in front of the mirror.

[Eli Manning]

A thousand percent. A thousand percent under the mirror. You know where your hands are, and it's like. Like, you know, you can't do too much with your hands. They'll call you if you move your hands too much. Even in shotgun, they can. You can do it. Even. We did a lot more under center also. You can't head bob too much. If you do too much head bob and down, they'll call you for. For moving too much. So you got to be able to, like, what. Like, what's the limit of having a little bit? And, like, how do you normally say, hut versus What's. What's the dummy one?

[Zach]

Yeah, we're in Chicago. I heard you had your first shot of Malort last night.

[Eli Manning]

I did.

[Zach]

Congratulations.

[Eli Manning]

Thank you.

[Zach]

It's delicious, isn't it?

[Howie Long]

It.

[Eli Manning]

It's not the word that was, you know, first, you know, popped out of.

[Big Cat]

It's. It lingers. It stays with you. That's the thing about Malort. It's like a kidney shot where you take it and then you're like, that's not bad. And then, like, 10 seconds, you're like, oh, wait, that is bad. Yeah, that's. That's staying here.

[Eli Manning]

Not my favorite.

[Zach]

It's like an accomplishment when you get. Or, like, the first time you get hit during a game, you're like, all right, we're playing football. It's like, all right, we're drinking tonight.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Kind of woken up here. But since we're in Chicago, can we talk a little bit about Caleb?

[Big Cat]

Caleb?

[Eli Manning]

Yeah, please.

[Zach]

So I feel like my take on him and Big Cat's a Bears fan, I'm a Bears observer. But what I've seen, I think he. I think he's still obviously got all the physical talent in the world. I think he's going to be very good this year. I think Ben Johnson's going to work with him. But when you're watching him last year, what did you see that he was struggling with as a rookie?

[Eli Manning]

I think. I think as a rookie, the hardest thing is to know, like, when. When. How quickly can I get through my progressions? Like, I know, I know. Like, all week we ran this play. We wanted to throw this deep over route, and, you know, we practiced it twice. I hit this over route, and it was great because we, you know, we in both times at one time, I got it versus man one time I got covered three. You know, this play is perfect for both those. And all of a sudden you get to the game and you get a different coverage, and it's like, all right, how long do I hang on this thing and try to squeeze it in or. Or hold it a little longer to maybe hit that third window and I can still make that throw where. Or, you know, or, hey, let me just get the ball out, take my check down, and we'll come back to it later. Like, I think as the quarterbacks grow, the offensive coordinators will call a more aggressive game and call more shots down the field. If you don't get the look on that play, if you just, hey, get. Go get 4 or 5 yards and find a completion, we can, you know, we'll come back to it after we get a first down and, you know, or the next possession will come back to it and call that play again. If you're not going to take a sack and like, oh, I can't. I can't call these plays down the field. If he can't just make, you know, make these, you know, quick, easy decisions and just keep it going. Like, we can't have the negative plays. And I think that's the young quarterback, and it happens to all of us. It's like, you want to do what you practice, you want to make this play because the coach loved this play. But sometimes you got to just play football and avoid the negative plays, the incompletions, the sacks, those things what stop drives. And I think that'll happen as you mature, as you get more comfortable with Your offensive coordinator, you have more time with them and you kind of understand that system, like, you know of, hey, this is why. This is why we're calling this play for this. Look, if we don't get it, you know, make the best thing possible. Let's not. Let's avoid the negative play.

[Big Cat]

What do you think? So, from everything I've read, like, Ben Johnson talked about it in training camp, like, we're turning the fire hose on him. We're going to throw everything at him so that when we get to where it will look a little easier. Did that. Did. Did Coach Coughlin ever do something similar where it's like, hey, we're going to make this really hard on you. We're going to send free guys, we're going to. We're going to basically tilt it for the defense so that when you do get to the game action, it looks easier?

[Eli Manning]

Yeah, no, I think. I think that's the right play because I think the. The. Especially when you get a new kind of a new court, a new coach, new offense coordinator, they got to know kind of what they're dealing with, what, what he sees, what he handles, you know, how much, obviously he has the athletic ability to escape things and do things, but, you know, what can we throw at him? And what, you know, let's give him the tools to everything he has, the ability to check plays and to, you know, if he sees zero, get to zero beaters. Let's give him all that ability. Let's see what he can handle, what he can't handle. How much can we throw on his plate? Is this slowing him down or is this freeing him up that he can do all these things? So I think you want to see what you have, and then as you. As you start the season, hey, let's start. This is what he. This is what he can handle. This is. This is our system, and let's do those things and then we'll kind of grow and grow. But I think preseason, you. You. You want to throw everything at him humanly possible so he's comfortable with these things, and then. And then maybe dial it back down for the start of the season and.

[Big Cat]

Build back up and you hope it clicks? I mean, your. Your two super bowl runs, were you in the zone? Did it click where you're just like, this is not easy, but I see it. I see it all, and it feels good, and the confidence just grows.

[Eli Manning]

Yeah, I mean, I think. I think for both of them, we're very, you know, very confident also. We're like, you Know, I was very confident in how our defense was playing, and it was like, hey, we're going. You know, defense is getting sacks. They're. They're. They're playing well. So we don't have to be so aggressive.

[Big Cat]

Right.

[Eli Manning]

You know, we can just take completions. Don't make mistakes. Don't turn the ball over. Stay in the games. We're running the ball well all of a sudden. And so it's like, hey, just play to the. To the circumstances of the game and say. Saying, hey, we're going to go out there. We got to score 35 points. If we don't score 35, there's no way we're winning. That's a hard way to play, because then you think, hey, I can't take a sack here or this third down. I got to get a first down. We can't afford the punt. You know, when you're. When you're playing, hey, teams playing well, play within the system. That's. That's when you can play your best situational football. Exactly.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Hank is a Patriots fan, so I'm sure he loves you.

[Big Cat]

You.

[Eli Manning]

Yes, Hank, do you have. Feel the love.

[Zach]

Do you have any questions for Eli?

[Big Cat]

Nope.

[Zach]

As a p. No question.

[Big Cat]

No question.

[Zach]

Not even, why. Why did you do this to me?

[Eli Manning]

They won six Super Bowls during that time. Like, I mean, stop being so greedy over there.

[Big Cat]

Jeez.

[Zach]

Good point, Hank.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, point. Point was a point.

[Eli Manning]

Okay, so just the 071 bothers you. That is that one. Is that the one? That's what. That's what Brady says. Just the.07 when they had the ability to go undefeated and be the greatest team of all time. And they can't say that now. That hurts him.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Is that the one, Hank?

[Hank]

Yeah, that one hurts more than they both hurt.

[Big Cat]

Good question, Hank.

[Zach]

Do you think Tom Brady hates you?

[Eli Manning]

No, I don't think Tom hates me. I mean, I love the Heckle Tom. On social media, I like hiding behind my phone and sending tweets at him. When I see him in person, I just like, oh, hey, Tom, you're the best. I never talk trash to him. And in person, because he, you know, he has. He could crush you. He's got seven Super Bowls and Super Bowl. You know, he's MVP of the leagues and all this, but around, I'm. I'm very brave behind my social media account.

[Zach]

It's pretty cool.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. So you. You and Peyton, you obviously, you know, you guys were great rooting for each other, but if I hit you with true serum in 2015. Obviously you want him to win, Right? But if he doesn't, you have two. He has one.

[Eli Manning]

No, no, not nothing. Not nothing.

[Big Cat]

Nothing to that, but like 1.1.01% not, not that you're rooting against him more like, hey, if he loses, it wouldn't be the worst.

[Eli Manning]

No, no, no, you're a better, you're.

[Big Cat]

A better guy than that.

[Eli Manning]

I'm a better guy than that. But also, also, if you, if you had seen what he went through.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Eli Manning]

After his injury and, and you know, neck injury and changing teams and I, I mean, after that injury, he sat out a whole year. So this is now 2000. You set out the 2011 season. This is 2012. I remember we're back in New Orleans. It was like Mardi Gras. And he's like, hey, come, come out and throw with me. I just want you to see something. And he, he was throwing and I was like, well, there's no, there's zero chance you can play football.

[Big Cat]

Wow.

[Eli Manning]

Like, you, you can't throw it. Like, things coming out soft, it doesn't like it comes out wobbly and like high, like you can't rip down on it. And I was like, that's like so weird. And he's like, I know. I just like he had no idea like where the ball was like in space, like behind him. He's. I can't feel like where it is or what's going on. And I was like, this is scary. And then for him to like grind it out and work and do the treatments and like kind of learn how to play this new game where he couldn't throw it as far and to go to Denver and then set the NFL record for touchdowns thrown, I was like, that's the most amazing thing I've ever, I've ever seen. Like how, how things could change so much. Like in that six month period where he went from, from like there's zero chance you can, like, you're, there's high school, there's like my third. You know, 13 year old. Kids can throw it harder than what you're throwing right now.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Eli Manning]

And he just goes. And you know, gets mvp.

[Big Cat]

But imagine if you had two and he had one. Just imagine. You're right. No, you're a good brother. You're a good brother. I did, I did appreciate that because it is like, you know, you guys are competing in the same league and it's got to be a little awkward at times to be like, especially when you play each other. But I love your brother. But you Want to win. You want to win really tough, definitely to survive.

[Eli Manning]

You definitely want to win when you're playing each other, but when you're not, you know how hard it is to get to a Super Bowl. You know, like what, what it takes and how the breaks got to go your way and everything that, that happens. So when, when you do get there, you, you, you, you want them to, you want them to win. And, and I'd been around him after he lost the super bowl, and it's miserable. It's like the worst thing in the world I had to deal with twice form, so I didn't want to deal with that again.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Zach]

I mean, there is a lot of luck that goes into winning a Super bowl, for sure. You have to get lucky along the way a few different times. Do you have. I mean, there's an obvious luckiest moment for you, but is there which one?

[Eli Manning]

I'm not sure.

[Big Cat]

Well, you're referring to.

[Eli Manning]

So if it's David Tyrese catch, that's just how we, we planned it, right?

[Zach]

That's how you drew it up.

[Eli Manning]

Yeah.

[Zach]

No, I was just saying more like the luck that Tom Coughlin didn't die in Green Bay when it was that cold. I mean, and that, that was a crazy game. That might have been the wildest game of weather football I've ever seen. With his face. I thought he was going to die.

[Eli Manning]

Yes.

[Zach]

And then to be able to kick fuel goals.

[Eli Manning]

Yeah.

[Zach]

In that weather was absolutely insane. Were you concerned for his health during the game?

[Eli Manning]

I was at, at halftime, you know, we, we come in and, and you know, he's going to give our little pregame speech and I cannot listen to one word that he was saying because I was like, looking at the trainers, I'm like, we got a, we got a frostbite situation on Tom's face. Like he needs some medical help immediately. This is, this is not good.

[Big Cat]

And.

[Eli Manning]

Yeah. And then Tynes going in, misses two field goals and regulation overtime and then makes the longest one of all to win the game was. It was, it was a crazy one.

[Big Cat]

All right, got a couple last questions, then we're going to go eat some Kings Hawaiian, which is very exciting.

[Eli Manning]

I'm very hungry.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. You were known as a prankster in the locker room. Is there someone who got you with a prank that you're waiting to get them back? Back?

[Eli Manning]

Well, I made a mistake early on. I, I did. I, I pranked one of our, our special teams guys, our punter, Jeff Feegles, a long time punter. And you know I was just, like, messing around, and I. I don't know, it was like. It was a bad prank. I, like, just tied all his shoelaces together and all his cleats. So when he got to practice, he had to, like, untie all these knots to put his punting shoe on. And you learn quickly, never mess with special teams people at training camp because they don't do anything. They don't go to meetings, they don't have a game plan. He didn't punt every day. It's like, some days they punt at practice, some days they don't. So unlimited free time. And so we were up in Albany, training camp. I did this to him. The next day, we have a night practice. I come out at 8:30 at night to my car. It's dark and all my tires are flat on my car. And he left me a little bike pump. It was like basically a bike pump just to pump it up enough to get it to a gas station. Like, there's no way I could pump it up all the way with this little, like, you know, thing that, you know, pumping a tire. And so I'm out there for like an hour pumping, you know, my tires up just enough to get it to a gas station to do the real deal.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, that's a good lesson.

[Eli Manning]

That's a good lesson.

[Big Cat]

Don't do anything. Yeah.

[Eli Manning]

Special teamers, they're like, yeah, yeah. Be nice to them.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah.

[Big Cat]

All right, I got one last question. Rollback question. Rho, B, A, C, K dot com promo code. Tate. Take 20 off your first purchase. Q, zips, polos, hoodies, joggers, shorts. Roback.com promo code. Take. This has been awesome. We appreciate you coming in. We're excited for some king's wine. So, so good. I think you're gonna cook with our chef too. Do you have a Super bowl pick? Super bowl pick?

[Eli Manning]

Well, I've, I've, you know, always, always.

[Big Cat]

Rooting for the Giants. I'll do it this way, obviously. Do you have a Super bowl pick? You can't pick the Giants.

[Eli Manning]

Okay, there you go. That makes it easier for me. All right, so. So I'm going. I think these, for whatever reason, these are kind of been my two. I think there's a lot of people's favorite teams to watch, but I'm going Detroit and Buffalo.

[Big Cat]

Oh, that would be all time Super Bowl.

[Eli Manning]

That'd be great, right? Both these teams. You like the stories. You like Dan Campbell? I've been, I've been like, Buffalo's kind of been my AFC team. For a while. Love Josh Allen. They're like right there on the crisp so many times and obviously, you know, can't just, you know, Kansas City's been this, you know, strong form and, and everything they're doing. But you know, I just, I enjoy watching them play. Enjoy watching Josh Allen and so I'm staying with them.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Zach]

Yeah, I mean that's, I, I would love to watch that super bowl, but I, it's also kind of mean.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Whoever loses that is.

[Eli Manning]

Oh, it's just like rushing through there.

[Big Cat]

So, so devastating.

[Zach]

Shop on the city. It's like we're not, not, we're not going to get any closer than this.

[Eli Manning]

Yeah, I might think about that.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. I might become like a four year old and be like, hope both teams can win.

[Eli Manning]

Yeah, exactly. A tie.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. They have fun. Yeah. Because that's, that would be all time. All time. Real quick, how, how do you think the Giants are going to do this year? I think their defense is going to be awesome.

[Eli Manning]

Defense is awesome.

[Big Cat]

We're Jamis guys. So we're rooting for James to somehow get in there.

[Eli Manning]

James is, is pure entertainment. But yeah, like you said, I mean their defense is, is set up to be very good, especially kind of in a pass happy league. They can get to quarterbacks. So I think it's one of those deals where if they can get some leads, they can get off to some fast starts, then it's like the lead becomes bigger because they can get sack fumbles. They can get, you know, get to the quarterback and really, you know, cause some problems. So I think Russell can do that. He can get the ball down the field, he can throw it. You got guys who can run down the field with Neighbors and Slayton and make the big plays. Got some tight ends getting open some. So it all looks good to make a run. And that's the great thing about the NFL is that you can go from winning five or six games to making the playoffs run just with a few new additions and free agency and what's going on.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Ferocious pass defense. Ferocious pass rush. Ole Miss quarterback.

[Eli Manning]

There you go.

[Big Cat]

Heard this before.

[Eli Manning]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Have you said, have you said that Jackson like, hey, I did it.

[Eli Manning]

Yeah, exactly. Jackson's done well to got the swagger and, and so it'll be interesting, I think Russ, you know, obviously Russell's a guy and you know, it's. Hopefully Jackson gets, gets a full red shirt year because that means Russell's playing well and the Giants are winning games.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

And maybe some Jameis and maybe, maybe.

[Big Cat]

They'Ll sprinkle in just a little.

[Zach]

I would love to see James be.

[Big Cat]

A primetime James game.

[Eli Manning]

Yeah, just, you know, just to get some sound bites.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, yeah, exactly. All right, Eli, thanks so much, man. We really appreciate you coming and always great having you on.

[Eli Manning]

Thanks so much, guys. Look forward to cooking with y' all a little bit. Get some Kings of Wine, get some slider Sundays going. So it's football season and love some tailgating and this will be great.

[Big Cat]

All right.

[Zach]

Love it.

[Big Cat]

Thanks.

[Zach]

Let's rip it. Eli Manning was brought to you by YouTube. Football is back and the only place fans can watch every game every Sunday is NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV. NFL Sunday Ticket provides fans with the ultimate viewing experience with features like multi View. You can watch up to four games at the exact same time. They got NFL red zone key plays and Jerry o' Connell's favorite feature, Fantasy view to track your players scores right alongside each game. Hank, you're watching right now, right? What are your, what are your games going to be on Sunday?

[Hank]

Multi view Sunday early slate, Patriots, Raiders, obviously. Then we're going to go Jets, Steelers and then we're going to go. Give me the commanders, Giants. And we'll go with battle Ohio now. Browns, Bengals.

[Zach]

It's going to be awesome. And right now you can get NFL Sunday ticket month to month and cancel anytime. Sign up today. YouTube.com part of my take to get started. Tell them the football guys are part of my take. Sent you local and national games on YouTube TV. NFL Sunday Ticket for out of market games excludes digital only games. Base plan required. Renews every month during 2025 regular season only. Your membership for the following month can be canceled anytime before your renewal date. Terms, restrictions and bargos apply. Commercial use excluded, no refunds. And now here's how we long.

[Big Cat]

Okay. We now welcome on a very, very, very special guest. Recurring guest. He's been on this show also kind of our colleague. Now I we're going to call you our colleague. I don't know if you'll say the same for us. It is Howie Long.

[Howie Long]

We're a teammate.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, we're teammates, Howie Long.

[Howie Long]

I still don't do the colleague thing. That's really. Yeah, you're a teammate.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Zach]

I like it.

[Big Cat]

All right.

[Zach]

Locker room.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, we're teammates with Howie Long. All right. So Howie, great to have you on as always. Football is back. There's nothing better than the first, you know, game of the NFL season. We finally reached it. What are you most excited? Maybe it's a team. Maybe it's a player. What are you most excited for for the 2025 season?

[Howie Long]

I think the Micah Parsons trade shook things up quite a bit. You know, I, I. The two divisions that, you know, intrigued me the most are the NFC north and, and the, the AFC west. And you look at the AFC west with the coaches, you know, Harbaugh, Peyton, you know, you know, Kansas City, you know, it's, it's who's who of, of pro coaches and championships and college championships etc, and the young brilliant minds in, in the NFC north and Detroit, who loses their coordinator, their defense fell apart physically at the end of the year and got mauled by the up and coming, you know, commanders and I think they're going to be back. The same playbook is in place. The same guy that, uh, the guy in the front of the room who sets the agenda, you know, know the culture is created by the, the accountability is, runs through him, both from a player and a coach. You know, they bring in a new coordinator and the playbook didn't leave with, you know, with the coordinator and, and it stays with Detroit and they'll run whatever Dan Campbell wants to run. Hutchinson being back is, you know, you saw the injury and I saw the injury and it was brutal. And you know, to watch him come back and, you know, Caleb Williams and, and Ben Johnson in Chicago, you know, so much conversation about Caleb Williams, you know, is, is he a bust and which is, you know, remarkable to me. You know, if, if you were judging someone's career by their first year, you know, I would have been cut by the Raiders. I mean, you know, it's. Patience is a virtue and particularly a quarterback. And I liked what he had to say. I liked the toughness he showed. I saw flashes and I think we all saw flashes of, you know, why he was picked as high as he was. It was almost like, you know, and I never really understood fraternities of Villanova. I mean, we didn't have, we weren't really a heavy fraternity school, but you know, the idea of pledging something and they're going to mistreat me for a couple of months and then, and we're going to be friends. It was almost like he pledged the wrong fraternity and they just hazed him. Thing that could go wrong or anything they could do to maybe put him in the wrong position. Lack of imagination on offense, offensive line issues, lack of commitment to the run game, time management, you know, how situational football, red zone, you know, clock management, etc. Etc. Etc. No place to go on hot routes. Did he hold the ball a long time. Sure. But you know, if I hit you with a hammer enough, I don't care how tough you are, you're going to blink and that's going to rattle anyone. And I think Ben Johnson is a guy that comes in and you know, my big question with Ben Johnson was what's he like in front of the room? We know he's, we know he's great X's and O's guy, great quarterback guy. Jared Goff had great success with two coordinators, you know, or, or head coach Sean McVeigh and Ben Johnson in Detroit as the coordinator. And that success was predicated on two things. One, the run game and play action pass what he has in Caleb skill set and, and it'll be interesting to see how he adapts because Caleb's a guy who's used to being, you know, off center in, in gun and you know, Ben Johnson's used to being under center and he wants, wants to run that hard physical football and the running game ties into the passing game, etc. And I think he'll do that. But I think the thing that Ben Johnson can, can probably bring to Caleb Williams is one, a plan. Two is the ability to, he's chasing the holy Grail, which is unattainable. It's, it's perfection and Ben Johnson's chasing it all the time. And, and everyone you hear that worked with Ben Johnson says the same thing. He's never happy with what they have. It's, it's got to be better. It's got to be better. It's got to be better. And I think all great quarterbacks take on that Persona and, and that kind of, of day in, day out grind. And it's a, and it's a grind. You know, it's one thing to play defensive end, it's another thing to play cornerback or wide receiver or you know, offensive lineman. You're playing quarterback. It's, there's a reason why they make a whole boatload of money and it's the hardest position to play.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Yeah. I really do like Ben Johnson a lot as a coach. I think he's, he's super creative what he does on offenses. He was steps ahead of people at times over the past couple years.

[Big Cat]

Years.

[Zach]

The one knock I would put on him from what I've seen is that I don't know if he gets bored sometimes when he's calling plays, but he like, he's got a big bag and he likes to go into his bag of tricks and he likes to run some stuff that you, you scratch your head. You're like, well, I'm glad that worked. But you were just, you know, kicking the of him out of him up and down the field. I don't know if we needed to do another, like, right tackle toss pass again. That's the only nitpick that I have for him. But yeah, you're right. Like, will it, will he manage the other stuff?

[Howie Long]

It's kind of like you're asking, you know, and I'm not saying he's Picasso, but, you know, you're asking Picasso to paint a bowl of apples.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Howie Long]

And over again. And every once in a while he throws a pear in there and he throws a strawberry in there and, you know, he has a diner menu of plays and creative plays and trick plays. I think, you know, there's going to be a point of emphasis on running the football. I think there's going to be a point of emphasis to moving the pocket. I'll be interested to see the percentage that he's under centered versus being in gun taking advantage of his athletic ability. I think he's going to take more checkdowns, make the easy throws, stay out of third long. It's, it's the Detroit kind of philosophy, and you want to be physical and that the changes they've made the offensive line, I mean, listen, the GM made some mistakes, and I like the GM a lot, and the GM was responsible for getting them in position to be able to draft the kid. I, I think he really. I think the key to any great organization is you make a mistake, you move on. And, and they moved on. They addressed it with, you know, personnel, they addressed it with coordinator, they addressed it with head coach. I think the defense and, and Dennis Allen is going to be. I, I think he's a great addition.

[Big Cat]

Yep.

[Howie Long]

And I, to be honest, I think the personnel really fit. Fits Dennis Allen's system more than it did Eber flu.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

I'm also curious just before we get into the rest of the NFL, I, I love watching you on tv. You've been great on TV for a long time. I like the chemistry that all you guys have. It feels like you're, you know, you're catching up on the highlights. You're watching the halftime show with, with your best friends as they're breaking down the game. What, what is the dynamic when you get in there? For week one, you were talking about being like teammates. What's it gonna like? Who is there somebody that hazes. You were talking about hazing earlier. Like, like Is that. Is that your job? You seem like you'd be a pledge master.

[Howie Long]

No, no, no, no. As a matter of fact, they make fun of me because I'm, you know, I'm the. The straight, you know, shooting kind of guy. And I, you know, I. I think the group, we. We got lucky. We call lightning in a bottle. And, you know, with your show, you know, you. You don't know until, you know. And we knew right away. And, you know, of course, there were some, you know, there were some things that, from a. From a friendship, personality standpoint. Terry and I have been together 31 years. This is our 32nd year. He's become, you know, as good a friend as I could possibly have. We're extremely different, and it's. It's. It's a yin and yang and, you know, the whole thing, and we're different. And I would say our green room, or they call it the Avocado Room, I guess that's because we're in la. I don't know what that is. But the green room is what you're trying to find when you retire as a player is you're trying to find something that duplicates. You miss the football, you miss Sundays, you miss the competition, you miss all that. The adrenaline, the moment before, the moment of impact. You know, there's nothing like that. You know, you just can't duplicate that. I'm 65, so, you know, I'm not doing that anymore. The closest thing I found to that is our group. If you screw up, we're a live show. We don't over rehearse. We are who we are. And I think in the medium that we're in, it's. It's the small screen, and people kind of know and sense whether you're being authentic and genuine and you are who you are. I am who I am. And I think Terry is who he is. And Michael is dynamic and he's a star and great player, and Gronk is. I can't tell you, it kind of feels like my fourth son is at the end of the desk.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Howie Long]

Because he's just. He's so him. He's not trying to be anything else other than him. He's a lot of fun. He's super smart. And in another way, kind of like you're. You kind of go, did he just say that? And you're not sure if you're supposed to laugh or not, but I think he's a great guy, obviously, you know, if not the best, you know, he's in the Conversation for the best tight end of all time. And, and I can tell you physically in person, he's a freak show and he's a guy and he's a great addition. It's a hard group to get with, but if you screw up on the set in the green room, you know, it's, it's just us in there and those conversations are, are priceless. And that's what you'll remember. You know, I think all the guys will remember we. And Jimmy retired this year. You know, he's in his 80s and you know that it's a drive up to Miami, a flight across the country, and, you know, doing that for a long, long time. And, you know, I think he wants to enjoy some time in the Keys and he certainly earned it and we will, we will miss him greatly.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, I want to talk real quick because obviously you played the position, but Micah Parsons going to the Packers. Can you explain to us, like we're five years old, what a incredible defensive end does for a defense over and what type of impact that can have on the game? Because it feels like that might be the move that put, puts them over the top here because they already had a really good roster. Then they add a guy like Micah.

[Howie Long]

You know, it's really interesting because, you know, you, you run the clock back to Reggie White. Ron Wolf is the general manager. Ron Wolf was our general general manager. John. Ron Wolf was there when I was drafted in the second round. Reggie. The difference is this. Reggie is, was really mostly a defensive end, as dominant a player as you could possibly find. Occasionally he would get out on the nose or over a guard, but that was very rarely. Micah is a generational player. He's 25 years old in a position that is, you know, you go quarterback and you take your pick, whether it's left tackle, pass rusher. It's, you know, T.J. watt, you know, you, you name the five or six guys that you know are, are on, on your radar for this is a guy on Monday that you say one, he's positionless, he can play outside left side, outside right side. He can play off ball. He can be in a two point stance over the guard, he can run stunts with the defensive end, he can drop in coverage. He played halfback in high school, he's a wrestler. All the things that you, you want a player. And you know, Jimmy and I had a conversation just last week about this and he said, you know, I've heard he was tough. You know, there were some challenges there aside from the, the amazing ability But I would think you would try to find a way to get that done.

[Big Cat]

Right. Right.

[Howie Long]

And if you weren't going to get it done, you waited until everyone's cap kind of number is in place and the picks are gone and next year's one and that's really going to be a late round, round pick and the second year that's going to be a late round pick and that's really kind of in Jimmy's mind, a second round pick. So I'm not quite sure how you justify what they did, but we're not in the building. So what happened there? I don't know. You know, Jerry has dealt with difficult players before and, and Jerry, he's a really bright man and one of the, the great minds of, of the NFL. And this one's kind of a head scratcher. And I think when you look at Green Bay, you say, what did they need? They need Jordan love to protect the ball a little bit more. He got hurt right out of the bat in Brazil last year. Week one was hurt most of the year. I'm not sure that he was right physically at any point in the year. There was always something wrong. His inability to protect the football, the throws that go, you go, what are you doing?

[Big Cat]

Right.

[Howie Long]

He has to kind of rein that in. Love the running back, he is, he is one of my favorites. He's a Frank Gore, you know, Marshawn, you know, guy. I just love that kind of running back and he's a throwback and he, he, he's a 12th round guy. You know, you body blow, body blow, body blow and he, you're going to blink and, and their offensive line is very capable. They, they bring in a guy from San Francisco and paid him a lot of money. I'm not sure if, if he's necessarily. We'll see, you know, if he's, he's worth that. The receiving core is very talented. They draft a really talented wide receiver. They, they, they don't have a real number one. I think the kid they drafted has a shot at being number one. Their defense, I happily done. I thought he did a great job. I thought he was really great. He's not a guy that brings a lot of pressure. Their edge, pressure is inconsistent. That was the one thing Gary might benefit a great deal from this. If for example, you're one and they, they, they won one game in the division. Think about that.

[Big Cat]

They made the play. Yeah.

[Howie Long]

And they won game in the division. That being said, you know, to open up in this kind of a game, we're going to find out a lot. And they, they struggled to win big games and they fell behind. If you look at their schedule from last year and the outcome and, you know, know, end of the first quarter, down 14 threes, you know, 12, three, whatever. They're, they were always kind of climbing back, climbing back, climbing back. You know, teams with 11 plus wins, they, you know, I don't, I think they won one game or if, if that, and they won the games they were supposed to win, but they need to win some big games and they need to win division games. And I think this, this, this edition answers the pressure question because the question you're always asked is what came first, the chicken or the egg? Or is it the pressure or is it coverage? I'm going to tell you all day long. It's the pressure, right? It's the pressure. It's not necessarily the sacks. It's the pressure. And if Gary can get off and Micah can get off and this back injury, you know, I'm not buying it. I think Mike is fine and, and I think a fresh start maybe will be good for him.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Howie Long]

And I think Green Bay is, Green Bay is a place where you focus on football. You, you know what I mean?

[Zach]

Yep.

[Howie Long]

Their facility, Their facility is their social hub, you know, and that's why they built the facility the way they built the facility. It's their social hub up and it's a Reggie White kind of addition. I'm not saying he's Reggie White, but he's, you know, he's on the way to, you know, if he continues to play the way he's played early in his career, you know, there's no stopping him.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Yeah. So speaking of pressure, I want to talk about the Bengals real quick because they were a fascinating team to me last year. They had Joe Burrow, maybe he had the best year of any quarterback. Didn't win mvp, but the case was there for him to, to win the mvp. They had the best receiver in football and they had the best statistically defensive end in football in terms of sack numbers. Obviously the defense was a big issue for him last year. What, what do they need to do to just get marginally better to get good enough defensively to make this a playoff just team?

[Howie Long]

Well, they got him in camp. They, they, they finally, you know, made, made the signing and you know, I think he's, he's, he's free at the end of the season without, without any chance of being, you know, franchise and, and they got their, their high pick in and they've got to get production out of that new coordinator. And I think if you could just one. If your red zone, if you can. Here's the thing with. You're playing a team like the Bengals or you play in Baltimore or you're playing Buffalo or you're playing Kansas City. Teams that can, you know, put up. Detroit put up 30 points. Detroit put up what, 32.5 points last year game. You've got to make the other team kick field goals versus touchdown downs. And their red zone defense was bad. Their tackling was bad. You know, they've, they've, they've got kind of a one man pressure situation where, you know, I, I think if they can just be middle of the pack on defense and improve their red zone defense and force some field goals, then that opposing offense, you know, you, Joe Burrow is. I'd say the quarterback position is better right now than at any point in NFL history in terms of depth of quarterbacks. I think we have a lot of great, great quarterbacks you can make the case for. As you mentioned, Joe Burrow for mvp. Josh Allen wins the mvp. You know, Lamar, they're squaring off in week one. You could make the case that he was the mvp. You think about it, there are a number of guys that you could say they're mdp. And then you look at a guy on a, on a team, you know, a guy that's really hard to figure and kind of label on is Jalen Hurts.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Howie Long]

What do we judge quarterbacks by?

[Big Cat]

I judge them by rings.

[Howie Long]

Okay. Rings. And getting to the super bowl and playing in those kind of games. Jalen Hurts. You could make the argument in the two Super Bowls he was in was the best player on the field and came within a really, what I thought was a questionable penalty at the end of the game of being a two time super bowl winner and a two time super bowl mvp.

[Zach]

Yeah, I just. By how much they can squat.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, that too.

[Zach]

That's important.

[Big Cat]

I judge it by how hot their girlfriend is.

[Zach]

That's a good one too. Yeah. Yeah, that's a great one.

[Big Cat]

We're just doing analytics here and the.

[Zach]

League'S never been strong.

[Big Cat]

That's why Justin Herbert, big year coming for him. He's finally, he's finally embraced the role of a Southern California qb. One guy, he got a very attractive girlfriend. I feel like there's swagger.

[Howie Long]

What was that movie with Kevin Costner? Draft Day.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Howie Long]

And, and this, the one scout said, you know, they brought up this quarterback and they said, oh, he's got. He's got an untracked. Or girlfriend.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Howie Long]

Can't draft him. Why they didn't want to draft him, huh?

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Howie Long]

I don't understand.

[Zach]

You gotta be a leader of men.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, you gotta be a leader of men.

[Howie Long]

I got late. I got it early.

[Big Cat]

The. Well, here's a real question off that. Does your quarterback always have to be your leader, or can there be a situation where the quarterback maybe isn't the most vocal guy? Does that work in a team atmosphere, in a locker room atmosphere? Because we know the quarterback is the most important position in all of American sports. That's just a fact. And everything's put on them. Do you think teams can. Can be okay when their quarterback isn't like the vocal guy who's yelling at people and kind of getting in people's faces?

[Howie Long]

I think there's levels of vocal, and I think he probably, you know, at the top of Mount Rushmore, both from super bowl win standpoint and. And holding people accountable. Accountable is probably Tom Brady, you know, and it kind of tears down from. From there on. And I think, you know, let's talk Jalen Hurts. I mean, Jalen Hurts is not, you know, necessarily the most vocal guy. He's quietly assertive. I think when he speaks, people listen. And I think you can also lead by example. And. And hopefully you have. There's a guy in every room that is the guy, and you're in charge of that room. And there are guys on each side of the ball that invariably, you know, are the guys that generally, what I would say, hold people accountable the most. I would say with that group, it's complicated because, you know, you've got a quiet wide receiver. You've got a more of a loud wide receiver. You've got a tight end who's a solid guy in Philadelphia. You've got a running back who everyone loves, respects and admires. I would say when he speaks, people listen, you know, and I think. I think the head coach who reminds me so much of, you know, it seems like every friend I have in Philly, you know, that I went to college with, who are Philadelphia Eagles fans? The head coach reminds me of kind of them. He's. He's mercurical. He's, you know, he's all, you know, he's up, he's down, he's screaming, he's crying. He's. It's. It's a cornucopia of emotion. And I think his ability to communicate, forget about the X's and O's, forget about you know, game plan and all that. Because you know who's a great walk around coach? You know what I mean by a walk around coach?

[Big Cat]

No, what, like walking around before the game and like talking to everyone.

[Howie Long]

Walk around coach is not the coordinator on either side of the ball. He's not the play caller on either.

[Big Cat]

Side of the ball.

[Howie Long]

A walk around coach is the guy that is sets the agenda on Monday. He's the last guy to speak to the team before they walk down the tunnel on Sunday, Thursday, Wednesday, Friday, Monday, whatever day we're playing on now. And he's the guy that, you know, at a point in the game can step in and say, run the ball. Let's get out of here. We win a Super bowl right? At Atlanta, New England. You see what I'm saying?

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Howie Long]

And if you don't do that, if you, your, you don't step in on the headset and say, hey, let's run it three times, let's kick it and let's get out of here and let's win a Super bowl, let's throw the ball, you know, so that's just an isolated example, but I think he's a guy that reaches the players on offense and defense. And I don't forget in Philadelphia, when did the season turn. The season turned right after the box. And I think it was a couple of offensive linemen and maybe, maybe the running back. And they had a meeting and they had a meeting with the coaching staff and said, look, let's, let's, you know, stop doing what we're doing. We're. Have you seen their offensive line in person?

[Big Cat]

Yeah, yeah.

[Zach]

Massive.

[Big Cat]

Massive.

[Howie Long]

Oh my God. I, you know, look, I saw my own kitchen. You know, at times when Kyle would walk in in a pair of boxer shorts, it's like she's, you know, the left tackle. 68360. The Lane Johnson is a freak show and he's so good that it's boring. But when those guys walk into your office and they say, let's run the football, everything's come comes off of that. They run the ball and third down more than anyone. Do you know why? Because once they cross, the 54th down is just another down. Because they're going for it and they go for it a lot. That's their M.O. and I think a team like that is. And what your concern has to be with a team like that, like any team that wins a championship, and we certainly had it with the Raiders, where it's, it's complacency. It's. I Didn't get enough. I didn't get enough money, I didn't get enough attention. I didn't get enough of this. It's not understanding the significance of the moment. You know, it's like Kansas City. You know, I respect and admire them so much for winning two in a row and being in position to win three in a row, row and how devastating that is to them. But it presses the reset button. And, you know, don't think Travis Kelce is not on the redemption tour. I mean, is, I know the kind of player and the kind of guy Travis Kelce is when you're a great player and you don't play well. And he, I'm sure his, his physical well being and his, his commitment to getting ready for the season was 110%. And he's ready to go. And it's burned the ships and let's go. If I'm leaving it, I'm going to die on the 50 in the fourth quarter, game 10. But I'm going out. I'm going out like Travis Kelsey.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

At the, in last year's super bowl, it was big. For those of us that like to say defense wins championship because I feel like we've, we've tried to say it a lot over the last five, 10 years and there have been a lot of examples where people could point and be like, no, it's just really, you need a great offense, a great quarterback and a great play caller. But we saw it last year. So with that in mind, I know the Broncos are a team that everyone's talking about how good their defense is. Can you, can you tell us what you see? Whether it's from the Broncos or if there's another team out there that you're keeping your eye on, you're saying they have a really, really good defense and they could be a pro problem.

[Howie Long]

Let me start with Philly and, and I'll, I'll start there because it's, it's anytime you have success, you know, Detroit lost both coordinators, you know you're going to lose people. You have so much cap space. Quarterbacks generally fill that hole pretty big. If you got a number one receiver, CD Lamb, quarterback, Dak Prescott, you know, you're, you're, you're going to be pressed to deal with things. Vic Fangio is one of my favorite guys. He's a guy love to play for. Love covering him in San Francisco. Love covering him in Chicago. I think he, he is my, the kind of coach Earl Leggett was my coach. He's an old Bear and play with Doug Atkins and that whole group. And Charlie Sumner was a defensive coordinator, and he's an ex Bear. They hold you accountable in a. In a different way. I think they're going to have some question marks. They've got to. They've got to replace five starters, and they also lost two backups that were probably going to be starters. So whoever the corner is versus on the opposite side of the number one is going to get a lot of work. And that work will probably, you know, be CD Lamb or, you know, Pickens or whoever it is right off the bat yesterday, you know, however that turns out. But I think Houston is a team that is going to challenge people.

[Big Cat]

Their.

[Howie Long]

Their speed, their athleticism. They're a reflection of their coach. He's a guy that I liked as a player, I liked as a coach, and I thought he was a great hire for them. They got lucky with the quarterback. He kind of stepped back. I think the protection was bad down there. I think you have to kind of play complimentary football. You can't have your defense on the field all the time. You can't be three and out, three and out, three and out. Turnover in the red zone. You know, it's. You've got to play, protect the football. If you're not going to score, at least control the ball a little bit. Keep us off the field. How deep are you? Philadelphia? What's their edge going to look like right now? Who's going to come off the edge? I'm not sure who that is. Their back end is a little thin. They've got to get on the same page. Maybe it takes them three, four weeks. But there are teams that you say if they get in, like the Rams. The Rams were a great example. This defensive front is young, it's talented, it's physical. There are different kind of edge presence. You know, the kid really verse, really. He's. He's in your chin quick and he's on you. And he's. He's not fancy. He's not, you know, so he's not Micah Parsons. He's. He's a guy that wants to go through you, and he's coming and he's. You know it. And it's Joe Frazier. And they got in and Matthew Stafford was upright and they came within a play. A breakdown in protection, not. Not where you got physically beat, you got mentally beat. It was a breakdown of protection on the final play from maybe upsetting Philadelphia and advanced. So, you know, it depends. I think the defense, you know, There's a lot of good defenses around. I think you have to play complimentary football. You've got to play to the strength of your team, understand what your defense is and, and force people to kick field goals, particularly if you have a Joe Burrow offense or Patrick Mahomes offense or Jackson and Josh Allen. I love watching these quarterbacks. These quarterbacks are great.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

All right, Howie, I got one last question for you. This is awesome. We love talking ball with you. I just can't wait for football to be back. This is, yeah, it's the best because like, right now I'm in that spot where I don't know what's going to happen on Sunday. I want to see the games and then talk about it. It's fun to talk about it, but it's like we've had all, all summer to, to think about what these teams are going to be, and now we get to actually watch them Play. Rollback question. Rho B A C K.com promo code take 20% off your first purchase. Q Zips, polos, hoodies, joggers, shorts. Roback.com promo code take do you have a Super bowl pick? Do you do super bowl picks?

[Howie Long]

You know, if we do them, we'll probably do them on our show.

[Big Cat]

Okay, do them here. Give us a preview.

[Howie Long]

Listen, I think, you know, I'm always of the mindset that the champ is the champ. And you know, I, I, I would always go with, with that. I would say Philadelphia, I would say a dark horse would be Tampa Bay.

[Big Cat]

Yep.

[Howie Long]

They've quietly kind of in, in a, in an easier division. Relatively easier division. And I think over in the afc, you know, those two guys, Josh Allen and Lamar, you have been knocking on the door and knocking on the door and knocking on the door. I, you know, I think Kansas City is going to be a better team, not win as many games. I think it might be Buffalo with the easier schedule, Baltimore with a tougher schedule, with an opportunity to get one game up in conference week one. I would say Buffalo and Buffalo kind of of, you know, the, everything comes together. The gods, you know, are, are kind to those fans up in Buffalo and they finally get it done.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, that'll be great. That would be great.

[Zach]

From your lips to God's ears. That would be an awesome way to end this season. What about a team that, that did make the playoffs last year that you could see in a world they could regress and miss out this year?

[Big Cat]

Oh.

[Howie Long]

It'S might be a team in the, in the AFC west, you know, I'm not quite sure. I'm not sure about the Chargers. You know, I think Pete Carol coming to the Raiders and I mean, trust me, you know, I, I said I was. I made this analogy before. I've been Sisyphus pushing the stone up the hill for, for decades, you know, waiting for the Raiders to be back again. And Pete Carroll coming in the building brings in energy. Genti, I think they're going to run the football. Two tight ends, it's going to be a little old, old style football. Max is, you know, God, he plays the game the way it's supposed to be played. He's, if not the best, one of the best. And I think he's one of the most. I think he's as disruptive a player as we have. Length is. He's like gummy. He's like all over the place. He's. He looks like that thing at the car dealership. It's blowing in the air. He's just so long and rangy and he's tough and he wants to be great. I think they could surprise some people and make that division a lot more interesting. So I think maybe a team from that division might take a step back. Denver, I think, is on its way up.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Zach]

I think also the lack of Puna Ford. Puna Ford is one of those guys that you don't talk about that much, but you need him. You need a guy like that on your defensive line. Plug it right and losing him is going to be tough.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, Big time. Howie, you're the best. Football's back. We'd love to have you back on later in the season where we talk some games and your teammate now anytime.

[Howie Long]

I'm unemployed during the week.

[Big Cat]

Thank you so much, Howie. You're the best man. Appreciate it.

[Zach]

Thank you. This week's fyre fest is brought to you by Morgan and Morgan. We all know that life comes at you fast. One minute you're playing for the Lakers, and the next you're moving your family to Dallas. When you find yourself in the middle of your very own fire fest, you just might need America's largest injury law firm in your corner. Morgan and Morgan has been fighting for the people and helping with your fire fest for over 35 years. With Morgan and Morgan, it's easy to get started and their fee is free unless they win. You can check them [e-mail] that's for the people.compmt okay, boys.

[Big Cat]

Firefest of the week. Henry. Yes. The ball's back. No.

[Eli Manning]

Oh.

[Hank]

Not really.

[Big Cat]

This has been looming.

[Zach]

Golf season's over. At least it's cut in half for you.

[Hank]

It's. It's more than half. It just goes to basically one. One day a week, which is sad. But fall golf is fun. Makes you appreciate it when you. When you can get out there a little more, you know.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

But speaking of golf season, this has been kind of looming over my head since July when we did the long drive contest. I owe PFT $8,000.

[Zach]

That's true.

[Hank]

It's actually 9,000 because he sent me a thousand for something that he didn't need to send it me for. I didn't send it back. So it's like I owe him $9,000 right now. I'm a man. Man of my word. Pay my bets. I'm not just gonna, you know, try and forget about it.

[Big Cat]

It.

[Hank]

So I came up with a plan.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Hank]

I presented to pft. So he kind of accepted. Kind of didn't. He said we'll. We'll talk about on the show.

[Eli Manning]

So this.

[Zach]

This.

[Hank]

This was my plan. 4,000 of the 9,000, split it up into 8, 500 bets. So he. So. So, you know, either one a week or two a week. $500 parlays that are 8 to 1, so to 500 to win. 4,000. It could be more if he wants.

[Zach]

Okay.

[Hank]

I, like, pick them. And then obviously, if one hits, I just give him the 4, 000 right there.

[Zach]

That part's done as an apology for not paying me back on time. I'm not going to charge you interest because this apology is so good.

[Big Cat]

That's huge of you.

[Zach]

We call it the I'm sorry.

[Hank]

I like that. And then I would like to play PFT in a 18 hole match play for five grand.

[Zach]

I love that.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Zach]

I'm gonna. I'm gonna golf my way out of this.

[Big Cat]

Okay. Yeah. With handicaps.

[Hank]

With handicaps.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Hank]

5K.

[Big Cat]

Love it.

[Hank]

Match play.

[Zach]

How many strokes I get?

[Big Cat]

We.

[Hank]

What's your handicap?

[Zach]

I think it's 22, 21.

[Hank]

Technically it'd be 12. I'd be willing to give you like 13 or 14.

[Zach]

I'll take 14.

[Big Cat]

Can I attend?

[Hank]

Yeah, do your time.

[Big Cat]

Whose side should I root for?

[Zach]

That's up to you, big cat. Which one? Let me ask you this.

[Hank]

Between me and Hank, can you attend?

[Big Cat]

We'll attend.

[Zach]

Between me and Hank. Which one of us do you like to annoy more?

[Big Cat]

Well, so here's the problem. I. I don't want to see Hank lose more money, but I do want to see Hank lose on camera. So I'm think I'm gonna have to root for PFT and then maybe loan Hank money. I don't know.

[Zach]

I mean, think about this way. Would you pay $5,000 to see Hank lose on camera again at golf?

[Big Cat]

Yes.

[Zach]

Okay.

[Big Cat]

In tragic fashion, yes.

[Zach]

Easy choice.

[Big Cat]

Yes. Easy choice. Easy choice. Yes.

[Max]

Can we put in something for this? What if PFT beats you straight up?

[Big Cat]

Because that has happened before. There should be 10,000.

[Hank]

Yeah, I'm fine with that.

[Max]

There should be something.

[Zach]

Double it.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, it's. It's not. Not. Match play.

[Hank]

Match play.

[Big Cat]

Oh, match play. Match play. Okay, got it.

[Zach]

18 holes. So it's. That actually fevers. Hank. More.

[Big Cat]

Wait, I. I'm confused. I don't know golf. Not skins.

[Zach]

No, not skins.

[Big Cat]

Did you actually keep your score?

[Hank]

Match play.

[Zach]

Match play. Meaning I don't know what it is. Like, one person wins a hole, so it doesn't matter if I shoot, like, a nine on the first hole. It still counts as a loss.

[Max]

So the hardest hole.

[Hank]

Somehow you do beat me straight up. Like.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

With all strokes considered, yeah, I would. I would maybe just quit golf.

[Big Cat]

Okay. Okay. Oh, retirement match.

[Max]

Retirement match.

[Big Cat]

That's great.

[Zach]

I'm going to train.

[Big Cat]

Retirement match would be awesome.

[Zach]

So much harder for this than I did for the Internet.

[Big Cat]

Retirement match is awesome.

[Zach]

So much harder.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, great.

[Hank]

I'll give you. I'll give you. May maybe do it, like, late September, early October.

[Zach]

A real professional golf instructor here in Chicago. I will find time in my football schedule. Oh, no respect for Will Smith to work out. I. I do love Will Smith. He was a great set that up for you.

[Big Cat]

Oh, you're going to take Will Smith. It's like, what. Like when you get divorced and you fire. Find, like, an attorney, and then the other person can't use the attorney. You're going to take Will Smith from him?

[Zach]

I don't think Will Smith would ever get divorced.

[Big Cat]

Damn.

[Zach]

But yeah. No, Hank, I am. I'm now very excited about beating you at golf and taking the thing that you love the most in this whole world away from you.

[Big Cat]

So am I. Very excited.

[Hank]

Me, too.

[Zach]

May the best man win.

[Hank]

And may you win one of the Sarlays.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Thank you.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. So what happens if you lose all those?

[Hank]

Well, that's just. That's. Those are his bets.

[Big Cat]

Got it.

[Zach]

Yeah. I like this.

[Big Cat]

You. You're being coerced into getting the bets.

[Hank]

Well, he can say no.

[Eli Manning]

No.

[Hank]

He could say no. He could.

[Eli Manning]

He could.

[Hank]

He could say no and take the 4,000, because let's be honest.

[Zach]

I didn't want to just take $9,000 in cash from Hank. That. That would feel weird. I don't know where that money's been, but if he's gonna do it in the form of a bet, that's fun for everybody.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Zach]

So, yeah. I'm Hank. Thank you.

[Big Cat]

Will you post the starlace? Yeah. Okay.

[Zach]

My fire fest of the week is that Hank's a piece of. And I hate him, and he ruined my NFL opening day.

[Hank]

This is crazy easy.

[Howie Long]

Why?

[Big Cat]

Because he didn't pay you back?

[Zach]

No, no, that's.

[Big Cat]

That was just forever. Never gonna get the money.

[Zach]

I think that's why he did the I'm sorry thing right now, because he feels so bad about what he did earlier today.

[Big Cat]

What'd he do? So thanks for rolling his eyes. I like it.

[Zach]

We know. This is magical day for everybody.

[Big Cat]

Oh, it's been looking for adults.

[Zach]

Yes. We've been looking forward to this. It's. It's back to football. That's what today was for me. It's like back to school, but it's NFL season, and I'd been looking forward to this for months. I planned out my outfit, what I'm gonna wear first day of football. I went out, got a special new shirt.

[Big Cat]

What'd you do, Hank?

[Zach]

I walked in feeling real good about myself too. I was like, I look great. This is a very fashionable choice that I've made today. It has every NFL team hand sewn onto this shirt. And Hank saw me, and the first thing that.

[Big Cat]

Nope.

[Zach]

I did. I didn't even. That was a premature.

[Big Cat]

Ah.

[Zach]

I didn't even say what the first thing you said.

[Max]

That was a good aunt.

[Big Cat]

That was a good.

[Zach]

It was a good aunt.

[Big Cat]

Right.

[Zach]

But the first thing they said to me was, six shirt. Is that bootlegged fact or fiction?

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

I said, so your ant gets a buzzer for me, and so one of.

[Eli Manning]

The logos is falling off.

[Zach]

No, it's not falling off. This is hand sewn on.

[Big Cat]

Is it? What.

[Eli Manning]

What logo?

[Hank]

It really screwed Bengals.

[Big Cat]

I can see falling off.

[Hank]

Like, it's, like, a little loose on the bottom.

[Zach]

No, it's called fashion question, bro. You don't know anything about.

[Hank]

All I asked is just I didn't.

[Zach]

Know if it was officially licensed or not, so. The worst thing about it is, after Hank said that, I just started thinking about how much money I paid for this shirt, and he thinks it's bootleg. Can you guess how much the shirt cost me?

[Big Cat]

300.

[Zach]

No, it was 140.

[Big Cat]

Oh, sorry. For the shirt that's how much I respect the shirt. I would pay 300 for it.

[Zach]

And then I. I looked at myself in the mirror, and I was like, I spent 140 on this shirt. And it looks like it looks good.

[Hank]

It does look good. I just. When I got up close, it just looked like some of the logos were. It looked like you might have. It looked like a. It's a sick shirt. It looks great visually.

[Big Cat]

From the NFL shop.

[Zach]

From the official NFL shop. And then Hank has to say, that looks like a bootleg shirt that you're wearing.

[Hank]

I just asked a question. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend.

[Zach]

Well, it. Offended.

[Hank]

I'm offended because you would never get a bootleg anything.

[Zach]

No, I respect the shield enough to spend my hard earned cash at the official NFL team shop. This is one of those shirts that I think only I bought.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, I don't think. Well, I don't know why they have it in so many colors.

[Zach]

Yeah. I didn't know that it came in other colors besides red, because red was the first one that showed up for me. So I was like, yeah, I'll get the red shirt. But now I feel like.

[Max]

I think red might be the worst color.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

By far.

[Max]

Every other option is pretty good.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Not even close.

[Zach]

I'm gonna have to wear this. I. I feel like only on Sundays. Like Tiger Woods.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Yeah. The. The. The. The sky blue is nice. The black is nice.

[Zach]

Because you guys know how much fashion means to me.

[Big Cat]

Oh, it's your life.

[Zach]

When I came in today, I'm feeling really good. It was like seventh grade all over again. My mom bought me Jenkos. I was like, I'm cool. I got Jenkos. He walked in, everybody was like, dude, those aren't Jenkos. Because she got me the skinny Jenkos.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, He. He knew. Shoes blues. You remember you'd go when you come into school with new shoes, and then your friend would go, new shoes blues. And just, like, put, you know, rub their. Their foot on top of yours and make them not look as nice.

[Zach]

They'd ruin your shoes.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. New shoes blues.

[Zach]

That's up.

[Big Cat]

I agree. He did that to you?

[Zach]

He did it. That's what I feel.

[Big Cat]

New shoes blues.

[Hank]

You. I'm sorry. The Bengals logo looks like it's about to peel off.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Zach]

You're not sorry.

[Big Cat]

Is that a sign? Should we go against the Bengals?

[Zach]

Yeah. Which.

[Big Cat]

Which of these.

[Eli Manning]

Campbell.

[Big Cat]

Based on this shirt, which of the.

[Zach]

Logos looks the worst to you, Hank, right now?

[Hank]

Bengals.

[Big Cat]

Titans. Titans. Got.

[Eli Manning]

Not.

[Big Cat]

Got the. The greatest placement it's good fitting shirt.

[Zach]

I have that shirt too. Yeah, that one's a better shirt.

[Big Cat]

We know that shirt. I like the Rams. He doesn't like the Rams.

[Zach]

It's like succession or severance. Like, which logos are making you angry, right?

[Big Cat]

Yeah, yeah. Because why does it say LA Rams? Isn't it just la? Like that's their logo?

[Zach]

No, this is the official team logo.

[Big Cat]

Come on.

[Zach]

It's on the official team shirt shot.

[Big Cat]

Come on, Memes.

[Zach]

This is the most current all logo NFL team shirt that they sell in the world. Yeah, this is a.

[Max]

This is a good one. It's a little bit more understated.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

So, okay.

[Max]

Not good for the listeners. But it just says the. She has the NFL shield on the front and all the logos.

[Big Cat]

If you're listening at home, imagine a black shirt with the logos on it.

[Zach]

Yeah, understated isn't really my thing.

[Max]

It is understated.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

So Bengals. Rams. This could be the Sarlay.

[Hank]

Yeah, Cardinals.

[Zach]

Yeah, Bengals. Rams. Cardinals. Okay. Dolphins. Kind of weird spot.

[Big Cat]

All right. My. My fire fest. Is my ear still clogged? I have a clogged ear for two days now. I just think it's just what I live with now.

[Zach]

There's nothing I can do.

[Big Cat]

There's nothing I can do.

[Zach]

I had an idea late on me. Somebody should suck it out.

[Big Cat]

Zach, we're like that, dude. If we think it'll help. I don't want you to go through.

[Zach]

So many days clogged years.

[Big Cat]

That's no good for anyone. This fucking sucks. I get. I've given up on like, kind of a little bit of giving up on life because I was trying to fix it yesterday. And then I got to a point where I was like, it just is what it is. Like, I think this is how Beethoven went crazy. That's probably what's gonna happen to me.

[Hank]

I have no idea if this would even work, but is there like a. Like a 20 foot pool you could like descend to the bottom of to try and like force it out?

[Big Cat]

I don't know. I have a hot tub. I was thinking about getting into it and just dunking and holding my breath underneath it for a long time, but that could work. I'm taking another flight on Friday, so maybe we'll even out. Maybe that's. I've been waiting because part of me also hit a point on Wednesday night where I was like, you know what? This is actually perfect. This is how sad it's gotten. I was like, it's perfect. It's going to pop right before Week one. It's going to be a miracle because I know that the minute it pops, it's going to be the best feeling ever.

[Zach]

You should get Jerry to scream in your ear here.

[Big Cat]

I should.

[Zach]

That might pop it right out.

[Big Cat]

My other fire fest is. And I shared this video with you guys. But the. So Mr. Parrot got adopted. I was. Took my kids to the zoo on Sunday. We were at the turtle exhibit, figured, you know what, this is a good time to break the news. And I broke The Newsom that Mr. Pair is no longer with us. Adopted. We can go visit it. That was a lie. And then my son was like, but you still have your rabbit, right? Right. We had a rabbit in this office for one day. He has a memory. Most six year olds have that type of memory where they're like, oh, if they see one thing one time, they'll talk about it forever. I panicked under pressure and I said, yes, we still have the rabbit.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

So now we have to get a rabbit.

[Zach]

I could hear your voice when you asked that question, cuz it was.

[Big Cat]

It was very funny. You guys got a. A glimpse of how, how quickly I. I panicked and tried to pivot.

[Zach]

There was a moment where you're like, should I say this?

[Big Cat]

Yeah, yeah, here it is.

[Hank]

It's like, do I want him to cry about the rabbit in the aquarium?

[Big Cat]

Yeah. So we found a. We found a new home for Mr. Pear. So he's not at your work anymore? No, he's not, but we could visit him.

[Howie Long]

You still have your rabbit, right?

[Big Cat]

The rabbit, I think is in. Yeah, we still have a rabbit. Everybody was like, oh, great, you still have the rabbit. So do you think he knew?

[Zach]

Do you think he knew how cute he sounded when he have the rabbit?

[Big Cat]

Yeah, you still have the rabbit. Right? And I just, I. There was like a moment. It was like my life flashed before my eyes. Like, can I explain to him that Brandon Walker brought in a rabbit for one day as a joke? And then the follow up questions be like, who's Brandon Walker? All this stuff just said, hey, yeah, we sell a rabbit. So I think I'm just going to have to like, I'm going to have to do like a d. Like every time I. Because I do bring him in the office a lot in football season, like on Sunday mornings before we're here all day. I think I'm just going to have to like rent a rabbit every Sunday and just be like, hey, here's the rabbit.

[Zach]

He's back again.

[Big Cat]

Or maybe just get a cage and be like, the rabbit's Sleeping or hype. That's. Yeah.

[Hank]

Hibernate. Like, tell them rabbits hibernate.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Hank]

In the fall.

[Big Cat]

So I'll update. I'll probably bring them in this. This weekend before football Sunday.

[Eli Manning]

So I'll.

[Big Cat]

I'll update on Monday, let you know how it goes. Where. Yeah, maybe I should be like, we lost the rabbit. Let's try to find the rabbit. That actually is, like, a good 30 minute that I could burn. Yep.

[Zach]

Just, like, looking under stuff in this office that might actually be a bad idea.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. That's probably really bad.

[Zach]

I understand.

[Big Cat]

What's his giant green dildo? Dad.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

He doesn't know what the dildo is. Actually. Would go worse. It would go. Look at this toy.

[Zach]

Yeah. I really like this toy.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

This is my new favorite toy. Can we have one at home?

[Big Cat]

Yeah, but I. I panicked. I panicked. I, I. The bright lights. It was too much for me. You don't still have a rabbit. Was just a question I was not expecting to. To take, and I couldn't handle it.

[Zach]

You don't want to have to explain to any child what. Who Brandon Walker is.

[Big Cat]

Right. Great.

[Zach]

But I know your son's a big Tom Fornelli fan.

[Big Cat]

Yes.

[Zach]

So you could do that. You could have lied and said it's Tom's rapping. Oh, Tom's the best.

[Big Cat]

I'll say this. Tom Fornelli has gotten all my kids gifts. Brandon Walker has gotten none of my kids gifts.

[Zach]

Interesting.

[Big Cat]

That's just something I'll throw out there.

[Zach]

Interesting.

[Big Cat]

All right, Zach finishes off my firefist of the week.

[Zach]

So me, memes and Max have decided.

[Big Cat]

There is a current Booth weight loss challenge. Oh.

[Zach]

The boys are trying to get healthy.

[Big Cat]

I'm in. Try to put 60 and 60 pounds in a bucket. You in? Yeah. So 80 we could. I'm down for 80. You guys down for 80?

[Zach]

They're not down.

[Max]

We could do 80.

[Big Cat]

Can we, can we. Can we juice the weigh in a little?

[Max]

What is it?

[Big Cat]

Yeah, you.

[Max]

Well, we did our weigh in on Tuesday. We've already started our weigh in.

[Big Cat]

Because I can. I can fluctuate 10 pounds in a matter of, like, 12 hours.

[Zach]

So the beauty behind this weight loss challenge is Max's big thing is he's getting an air fryer.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Max]

And that's up to interpretation.

[Big Cat]

And eagle bites.

[Zach]

And he's putting it right next. So his. His way that he's going to lose weight is by putting the food closer to him.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

And that will make him.

[Big Cat]

That's really smart.

[Hank]

We also have three kitchens in this office.

[Big Cat]

Max, I would like to say that I've done the same thing. I Do you remember, Hank, when I got that mini fridge? Yeah. I was like, I'll put a mini fridge under my desk, and I'll just load it up with cold cuts, and that's what I'll eat. And what PFT just described is exactly what happened. I just ate more because I had a mini fridge, and then I'd put other things in there. Slices of pizza, everything.

[Max]

Well, we do have a fridge over there as well that I'm gonna get operational soon. So that. That's part of the plan. And don't. I think it's good plan. Don't tell me it's bad plan.

[Big Cat]

No, I'm not saying it's bad plan. I would like to not only be in, but I would like to be the financial backer of maybe healthy snacks. Maybe. I. I put up the money, you guys. Zach, you go and get the healthy snacks every week, because we also need. We need a re replenish of healthy snacks.

[Max]

Hank, question per your.

[Hank]

Similar to your question to me is, is there, like, something that happens if you guys gain 60 pounds?

[Max]

Memes has an idea there.

[Big Cat]

We got a couple suggestions. So if we don't do it, it we have to eat, put 65 pounds on till the Super Bowl. That's one option.

[Zach]

You have to intentionally get fat.

[Big Cat]

You have to intentionally get. Wait, what's the time limit that we have?

[Max]

I said that. I said Christmas. One thing that that was talked around is that you just have to get a tattoo on your body that says fat.

[Big Cat]

Oh, I like that.

[Zach]

Okay. Yeah, it's a good idea.

[Big Cat]

Crop top. I already have the tattoo.

[Zach]

This plan that matches, it just says fat.

[Big Cat]

It's called my two tits.

[Max]

Yes.

[Zach]

Well, yeah, the plan that Max has is like, oh, I'm spending two too. Too much money on booze. I'm drinking too much. Tell you what, I'm just gonna get.

[Max]

I'm not cutting out booze.

[Zach]

We're just gonna have a keg instead. That's to make it better.

[Big Cat]

What if it's £60 between the four of us? That's doable. Fifteen each.

[Max]

Well, that would be. Yeah, for sure.

[Big Cat]

I think we need to set a realistic Hank.

[Max]

Hank is always trying to yuck everyone's yum.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, you are. Look at that.

[Max]

That was a yuck face shirt.

[Zach]

Yep. Yeah, he was. He's a hater today.

[Big Cat]

But.

[Zach]

But, Max, you're yucking your own yum by taking away all the things that you like to eat.

[Max]

I know. I'm going to try. I'm going to make healthier versions of the things I like to eat. That's why I keep saying there's ways to do it. I Follow so many TikTok accounts of people that make healthier versions.

[Big Cat]

Oh, wow. Okay. So you're there. So you're basically a nutritionist.

[Eli Manning]

Basically, yes.

[Max]

No, I'm. Oh, the recipes that we're about. That we're about to rip out this fall is going to be crazy.

[Big Cat]

Don't shake your fucking hat head.

[Hank]

You two are both the kings of, like. All right, we're going to. I've seen you both.

[Max]

It's called being fat, Hank.

[Big Cat]

No, I know literally every. Do you know how many times?

[Hank]

But the.

[Big Cat]

You guys eat healthy.

[Hank]

You get healthy food, and then we have, like, pizza and stuff, and you're like, yeah, I'll just have a slice.

[Zach]

Like, yeah.

[Hank]

And then I'll.

[Max]

I did that on Sunday.

[Zach]

It's going to happen the entire season.

[Big Cat]

Listen, do you know how many times in my life. And Max, I know you. I know you feel the exact same way in my life on, like, a Sunday night. I have had the conversation with myself. This is when it all starts. This is when I'm changing it. I will. I. I eat, like, so much food, and then I'm just like, yup, tomorrow's a new day. That conversation is probably the. The most. That's the most conversations I've had in my own head in my entire life.

[Zach]

Can I just fast forward to, like, a month from now? What's going to happen? It's pretty obvious.

[Max]

Don't. All right, Hank, you guys are all.

[Zach]

On board right now. I'm. I'm rooting for you guys. I hope you guys lose all the weight.

[Big Cat]

Weight.

[Zach]

Big Cat's getting involved, and he's like, yeah, I want to lose weight with you. Big Cat is going to try to do something to tempt everybody at some point to make them strong. Maybe put a bunch of, like, Ben and Jerry's ice cream in the. In the freezer and be like, I. I've got a GoPro on this ice.

[Hank]

Cream machine in the office.

[Zach]

Yeah. To see who's going to eat it. And then he's going to try to catch you guys to be like, you're not living up to your end of the bargain. And then everyone's going to get mad at each other, and then you're just going to gain weight.

[Max]

Incorrect. This is actually going to go the opposite of what you just said.

[Zach]

I would love that.

[Max]

And a Month from now and I haven't lost any weight where I'm actually going to go to the needle and duo. So that you're saying Ben and Jerry's. I'm saying I'm just going to up it up. I'm just going to step it up one notch.

[Big Cat]

I was going to say I'm. I'm. If I, If I'm involved in this, I am not going to change anything about my life. And then like two weeks before the deadline, starve myself. That's most likely what's going to happen.

[Zach]

I like Max. Just a good plan. It's not going to work. So then I'm going to get on junk.

[Big Cat]

Junk.

[Zach]

I'm start shooting.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. No.

[Max]

Yes.

[Big Cat]

Also, whenever we need a PMTV during the season, Max and I have verbal agreement. We're going to try to do a 72 hour fast. We're going to see if our brains become superpowers.

[Max]

I actually Jerry was telling me about another one that I love.

[Big Cat]

Watermelon diet. Yes, I heard that.

[Max]

I like that.

[Big Cat]

No way that works.

[Max]

I'm in. You can eat as much watermelon as you want for three days. But it's a fast.

[Big Cat]

Fast.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Hank]

Which Jerry's a dietitian.

[Zach]

Are we talking about Jersey Jerry?

[Max]

Jerry, Watermelon fast nutritionist in the comments.

[Hank]

I would buy it.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

That's wrong. Jerry.

[Big Cat]

72 hour fast is going to rock. Max. I think we're going to have super braids.

[Max]

I think I'm going to die.

[Big Cat]

I think I'm going to die too. But if we do it together, we can do it. I don't know. But we can drink coffee. Black coffee.

[Max]

Black coffee and watermelon.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. No, not watermelon. You can.

[Max]

Come on.

[Eli Manning]

The water.

[Max]

The watermelon melon is so. I. Oh, we.

[Eli Manning]

I. Watermelon.

[Max]

I would never.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, yeah.

[Zach]

But it's. It said healthy sugar.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

The Jersey Jerry died just fast. And you can only suck toes.

[Big Cat]

All right, well, we'll talk. We'll convert. I would like to. I would like to financially help out the. Because I. I eat so many of the bad snacks here. I would like to have an option of good snacks. Maybe I'll get us some jerky every week too.

[Max]

Oh, yeah.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. TJ put us on some quest chips. Yeah. I got the. I got the. The Paulina meat market. Shout out my guys there. The best jerky in Chicago. I'll bring in like a pound every week.

[Max]

Love that.

[Big Cat]

It would be awesome.

[Max]

But. Hey, stop laughing. Pft.

[Zach]

I mean, I see you laughing. It's obvious what's gonna happen. The jerky is going to be a supplemental snack.

[Big Cat]

Oh, yeah, of course.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

It's gonna be like very salty.

[Zach]

Yeah. And it's delicious. I'm sure it's great. I'm gonna eat some strings. Let's, let's not act like we're just going to be doing like keto every day.

[Big Cat]

I don't know if we. We. String cheese.

[Max]

String cheese is good. Is good.

[Big Cat]

Protein. We're falling apart.

[Zach]

Is good.

[Big Cat]

We just need a caloric deficit. Also, official weigh ins are every Tuesday, so nothing.

[Max]

You got one grace day from the weekend.

[Zach]

You guys pull this off. Also, thanks for quick golf.

[Max]

I'm not, I'm continuing. Continuing to drink alcohol. Just putting that out there.

[Big Cat]

All right. Continue not to ice cream.

[Max]

You continue ice cream. I continue correct.

[Big Cat]

You just got to be light on Tuesday mornings. Okay.

[Zach]

I might start drinking more alcohol. My football resolution. I've been off beer for a while. I think I might get back into beer.

[Big Cat]

Guys, to keep things honest, we were, we were not even 48 hours in.

[Zach]

And we thought the healthy guy moved.

[Hank]

Max was drinking ice cream at 10 o' clock this morning.

[Max]

I had one sip. I had one sip. Chaps here does an ice cream coffee every morning. And he was like, you got to try this. So I had a sip out of respect. Come on.

[Big Cat]

Are you not going to eat? I mean, we got to get wings tonight. Wait till, Wait, no, no, no, I'm not.

[Max]

Yeah, I'm not, I'm not eating. Obviously I'm not eating the wings tonight.

[Big Cat]

I've been like looking forward all day to my wings.

[Zach]

If you don't eat wings, like if your team was playing tonight and you didn't eat wings before the game, you're jinxing them.

[Big Cat]

Right, Right.

[Zach]

That's bad luck.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. If you eat a salad before week one of your team banner night. Yeah. That is probably the biggest loser move of all time.

[Eli Manning]

Spitting in the face, healthy wings.

[Zach]

You're spitting in the face, face of football.

[Big Cat]

Homemade healthy wings.

[Max]

I'm gonna have to make my own homemade healthy wings.

[Big Cat]

Bagel bites. Let's do some bagel.

[Zach]

I think Max's healthy recipe thing is just everything that calls for sour cream. Use Greek yogurt.

[Max]

That's true. It's great. Great replacement. I have. I, I already bought Greek yogurt. It's in the fridge back here.

[Big Cat]

Love that. Okay. Good show, boys. Football's back reminder, we're releasing the YouTube early. Er, 5am Eastern, 6am Central. Next time you hear us, it will be Boomers. Numbers three. Gotcha.

[Max]

I just thought about what PFT said. Since I've started this diet, every meal I've had has had Greek yogurt in it. Yeah, every single one.

[Big Cat]

Super good.

[Max]

I made a tzatziki, and then I made. Last night, I made source of protein, a burrito bowl. But I use Greek yogurt.

[Zach]

It is a good diet.

[Big Cat]

Hack memes. You got beat there. We'll go 89, Jericho, cockroach tree.

[Hank]

22.

[Big Cat]

I'll go. What super bowl are we at?

[Max]

I'll go 76.

[Big Cat]

Is this Super Bowl? 60?

[Zach]

Max, what super bowl did you just win?

[Big Cat]

Is it 60? I think it's 6.

[Max]

No.

[Zach]

You don't know what super bowl you just won?

[Max]

No, it's 56.

[Big Cat]

Oh, so 57. What else you guys got 57.

[Zach]

It's looking like this year's maybe.

[Big Cat]

No, 59th.

[Max]

Okay, we won 57.

[Big Cat]

No, you won 58. Eight.

[Zach]

No, he's not locked in. Not a math guy.

[Big Cat]

What super bowl is this? Super Bowl.

[Max]

I'm so.

[Hank]

Oh, yeah, it is. 59.

[Big Cat]

59. All right, I'm gonna go with 59.

[Max]

58.

[Big Cat]

56. I was close. 60. All right.

[Howie Long]

56.

[Big Cat]

8.

[Zach]

99.

[Big Cat]

Pug.

[Zach]

19.

[Big Cat]

What was your number, Hank?

[Hank]

22.

[Big Cat]

What was your number? Memes. 89, Jericho, copper.

[Zach]

I got a good feeling about memes today.

[Big Cat]

57. Damn. Zach was so close to back to back.

[Zach]

Damn.

[Big Cat]

Zach went 56. We should have.

[Max]

We should have just rode with my 56 call.

[Big Cat]

Oh, back to back.

[Zach]

Would have been sick.

[Big Cat]

Oh, man, that was so close.

[Zach]

Love you guys.

[Big Cat]

That happens more than you think.

[Zach]

Love you.

[Big Cat]

Football coincident numbers, max M. 56 and 57. Moldy bore. 88.

[Eli Manning]

That one time.