← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
3 & Out - Chargers take down the Broncos, Herbert Shines, Woody Johnson is at it again
01:41:13
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- [00:00]
Adnan Burke
This is Doug Gottlieb from All Ball with Doug Gottlieb. Listen, I'm gonna get serious for a minute. The hate in our country is getting out of control. In fact, it's sadly at an all time high. But it's gonna take all of us to stop it. I mean, we're all on the same.
- [00:14]
Doug Gottlieb
Team in this country. So let's take a break from our.
- [00:16]
Adnan Burke
Hate so our team can regroup. We need to take a timeout against hate. Visit stand uptoallhate.org to help and join.
- [00:24]
Doug Gottlieb
Me in calling for timeout against hate.
- [00:26]
Adnan Burke
By following at what's up with Hate.
- [00:28]
Doug Gottlieb
Or posting the blue square emoji. Thursday Night Football is on, and it's only on Prime Video. This Thursday, the Seattle Seahawks travel to the Windy City to face the Chicago Bears. Join Al Michaels, Kirk Herbstreet and Kaylee Hartung for this exciting matchup. Coverage begins at 7pm Eastern with football's best party, TNF tonight live from Chicago. Not a Prime member? Not a problem. Simply sign up for a 30 day free trial. You can cancel at any time. And it's the Seahawks and Bears at 7pm Eastern on Thursday Night Football. And it's on Prime Video restrictions apply. See Amazon.com amazonprime for details.
- [01:04]
Jon Stewart
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- [01:34]
Adnan Burke
What's up, everybody? Adnan Burke here to tell you about a new podcast. It's NHL Unscripted with Virgin Demers.
- [01:39]
Jason Demers
Jason Demers here. And after playing 700 NHL games, I got a lot of dirty laundry to air out.
- [01:45]
Adnan Burke
I got a lot to say here, too, okay? Each week we'll get together to chat about the sport that we love.
- [01:49]
Jason Demers
Tons of guests are going to join in, too. But we're not just going to be talking hockey, folks. We're talking movies, we're talking TV, food, and Adnan's favorite wrestling. It's all on Le Table.
- [01:59]
Adnan Burke
Listen to NHL Unscripted with Virk and Demers in the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [02:07]
Justin Penick
Jon Stewart is back at the Daily show and he's bringing his signature wit and insight straight to your ears with the Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. Dive into John's unique take on the biggest topics in politics, entertainment, sports and more. Joined by the sharp voices of the show's correspondence and contributors, and with extended interviews and exclusive weekly headline roundups, this podcast gives you content you won't find anywhere else. Ready to laugh and stay informed, listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [02:46]
Stucky
The Volume.
- [03:00]
Doug Gottlieb
What is going on my people? How are we doing? Hopefully everyone's having a beautiful day. It's, it's a good day to be alive. You're Jim Harbaugh because he just won his ninth game and now he's got the Patriots and the Raiders to finish out the season. Very good chance the chargers will win 11 games. Obviously they're headed to the playoffs. Same I think with the Broncos as well. So tonight was a good little playoff teaser. We will dive into the game. Harbaugh, Justin Herbert, Sean Payton, Bo Nix. Just, just a really, just an old school knockdown drag out lad McConkey making some plays, Herbert making some throws. Bo Nicks made a lot of plays in the first half, quite a little in the second half. But that Denver Bronco defense gave us some big plays for the first time in a while and we obviously got to dive into the Woody Johnson story of picking players based on Madden. I think it sounds a lot crazier. I think we'd all be surprised that this type stuff's happening in some of these teams. I just would imagine it happens more than we realize. And then it's obviously it's Fugazi Friday. The game plan. We're going to have podcasts I think all weekend because of these college football playoff games. So I'll have something tomorrow reacting to Notre Dame as well. We'll have a big mailbag. Stucky will join the show today as well. So subscribe to the podcast three and out if you haven't as well as what else I need you to do. Oh YouTube channel. Go subscribe to that and and yeah but before we dive in, you know what's right around the corner? This little thing called Christmas as well as this little thing called Hanukkah. They've both been around for a little bit and third time when we give out gifts. So if you want to give a gift, use my friends at gametime, the official ticketing app of this podcast. Number one ticketing app in America and the best ticketing app I've ever used. If you want to put here's tickets to a playoff game, here's tickets to you name it. Opening day. If you're a Mets fan or a Yankee fan or a Dodger fan, here's so and so's concert tickets. It will light your significant other, your dad, your brother, whoever you want to take care of this holiday season, just do it with my friends because take the guesswork out of buying tickets with GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, use the code JOHN for $20 off. Your first purchase terms apply again, create an account and redeem the code John Johan for $20 off. Download the Gametime app today. Last minute tickets, lowest prices guaranteed. You know, it's funny, I mean, for a large portion of that game, it felt like Denver was going to win. And I had the television muted right around halftime when it felt like, you know, it was just going to go to half with them being down 21 to nothing. And then I look up and I see that, that kicking play and I text people like, what the hell just happened? It's the first time it's happened. Workman converted since 1976. It's 100-year-old rule. But then even down the stretch of the game, Harbaugh finds a way to win. And Justin Herbert, who, of all the good players in the league feels like he gets like the Kirk Cousins treatment, right? Brock Purdy, Dak Prescott, it's like, guys, he's in the group with Mahomes, Allen Lamar and Joe Burrow, like that's the crew that NFL people talk about him. But there are a couple arguments that like, I just don't waste. I don't have the energy anymore to even argue with other people. Now after Jim Harbaugh won the super bowl, or not the super bowl, but the NCAA championship last year, like he did get the monkey off his back that he could win the big game. But I would say for a long period of time, he was a very polarizing individual. It's like, how good is he? I don't know. Really freaking good. Now in this situation, a lot like the 49er situation, which he took over, a lot like the Michigan situation. Now I would say Brady Hoc, you know, I don't consider the guy a phony or a fraud. I mean, Mike Singletary got run out of awful high school program like five years ago and Brandon Staley is one of the most fraudulent individuals I have ever seen in the history of humanity. He would be up there with a lot of politicians and Scam artists. You know, I was listening to my guy Tim Kawakami's podcast today about the 49ers, and he expects Brandon Staley to not be on the staff next year. Obviously, he's. You talk about toxicity, it's like, get that guy away from us. Bring that guy in, you lose. They won five games last year. This franchise was a joke. I mean, an absolute train wreck. And they had been trending in this weird direction of not knowing what they were doing. And Brandon Staley was at the helm. And you remove him and you bring Jim Harbaugh in. The identity was set from the jump. It's why I'm kicking myself. I told everybody I'm betting on this team to make the playoffs. I'm betting on this team to make the playoffs. Everyone's like, they don't have enough skill. Guys like, have you guys watched Jim Harbaugh coach football? Like, he's one of the rare guys that doesn't really need wide receivers to win a lot of games. I. I don't know how he does it, but he does it. And this year. But it goes back to March and it goes back to April when he had four guys that made a lot of money. And everything in vogue is wide receivers, wide receivers. And listen, a lot of like, tough minded old school coaches invest in wide receivers. Kyle Shanahan drafts them all the time and pays them. It's like, what are you doing? And you got Jim Harbaugh who's like, you know what? Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, see you later. Joey Khalil, I want you to stay with me because I care the most about the trenches. And then he has a first round pick and everyone's like, what's Jim Harbaugh gonna do? He got rid of these wide receivers. Is he going to draft one of these sweet guys to go with Jim Herbert and he. Justin Herbert, and he laughed in their face. And he took an offensive lineman who is dominant, I mean, is awesome, who looks like the next Lane Johnson. And instead of taking the receiver high, what does he do? He gets this little guy in the second round who just is going to end up with like 90 catches and looks like some version of Wes Welker meets Julian Edelman. And now he has a core of young guys, a starting tackle. He already had another tackle. So he's got two tackles and a stud slot receiver to go with his star quarterback. And this team is built with his identity. And the only reason they've been struggling, because it turns out that J.K. dobbins is like Walter Payton and they removed him and they haven't been able to run the ball. I thought Gus Edwards a solid player, but up until that run tonight, he is like, they have really, really been struggling to run the ball before that final drive that solidified the game and put the nail in the coffin. I looked if you remove Justin Herbert, they had two guys that combined for like barely 50 yards. They have no running game. I saw on Twitter up until that final. Or maybe it was like with two drives left, Herbert was like 10 of 10 on play action pass attempts, which is crazy because they had no running game. It just shows you that like, I don't know, you just playing Jim Harbaugh, you just think he's going to run the ball no matter what. But then he finally gets a big run, which if Jim Harbaugh can run the ball with this level of a quarterback, who is by far the best quarterback he's had since, I don't know, a guy named Andrew Luck, he's going to win and he's going to win a lot. Now he has nine wins. His next two games are the Patriots, who fucking suck, and the Raiders, who might be worse. So there's a decent chance in his first year as the head coach, taking over a franchise that had five wins, taking over a franchise that had just complete negative aura all around. And despite drafting, well, having a ton of stud players for most of my adult life, hell, they told a stat tonight which was crazy. The Denver Broncos have both. These two teams started in like the 60s, right? And both of them have been playing for, whatever that is, 75 years. The Denver Broncos have been to eight Super Bowls. Obviously they lost a lot of them, but they've been to eight. The Chargers have been to one, which most people would say was pretty lucky for them even to get there in 1994. Technically it was like January of 95. And in that game they were an 18 point underdog. They've been to one Super bowl, they've never won one. In the one game they attended, they were an 18 point underdog. Now that 94, 99ers team is one of the great teams of all time. But still, can you imagine a Super bowl in like the day and age we're living in? That the spread was 18 points. I, I, I feel like that would be one of the biggest stories in the history of America because it wouldn't just be like, yeah, the quarterback's injured, be like, quarterback's out. You know, the head coach got mono. The, the offensive coordinator's got a kidney stone. He's gone. The defensive coordinator, his wife left him. He had a mental breakdown. He, like, how is that even possible? And it just, that's the franchise he took over. And immediately they're good. And immediately they're in the playoffs. Like, how have we argued about this individual for so long? Same thing with Justin Herbert. Like football, there's a lot of context that goes into the sport, right? It's by far the most confusing of all the major team sports. It's by far the sport that most fans know very little about the actual nuances of the game because it is so complicated. We're so fascinated when you hear like Matt Ryan or Drew Brees or whoever, like, yeah, this was our play call. And they list off like 17 words. You're like, how do you even function on this? And anyone that's played at any level, you know, JV high school, let alone college of the pros, knows the factors that go in the intangible stuff. Mental toughness. Just, you have to have football IQ to understand what's going on. You got to have physical ability, you got to be physically strong, you got to be have cardio. Like, you got to have the total package. And we have been arguing it feels like Justin Herbert for a long time. I mean, tonight they're rolling out a team, and rightfully so, because they kind of had to, they had to flip the script and they had to choose the two guys and they chose the right two guys and they let Keenan. So their wide receiver core is Lad McConkey, a former first round pick. Quentin Johnson, who actually has eight touchdowns and last week was like tied for fourth most in the NFL. He literally can't catch the ball. He has eight touchdowns, he can't catch the ball. He plays wide receiver. If you play DB and you're a good DB and you can't catch like, whatever, if you play linebacker and you can't catch whatever, he literally plays wide receiver and can't catch. He has eight touchdowns. Their running backs right now are Gus Edwards and some dude with the last name Vidal. I mean, I know little to nothing about him. He had five carries for 24 yards. Hayden hurts finally came back. They have this other guy named Stone Smart, who actually is pretty interesting. Number 84, they're throwing to Joshua Palmer, who got six targets tonight. Now, I like McConkey and he is going to be a core player for them when they're competing for Super Bowls in like two years. But the rest of these cats, they ain't going to Be around. So that's what Herbert's dealing with. I mean, I love Joe Burrow. I like everybody else. He's got Jamar Chase. He's one of the most talented players I've ever seen. His second wide receiver is T. Higgins. Right. Obviously Mahomes, for a large portion of his career has had Tyreek and Kelsey. You remove those. I mean, look what he's got going on right now. Lamar obviously has always had talent, running backs around him and skill guys. And obviously he's just a runner. But like, what are we arguing? Like when we're just watching this guy play, there's nothing he can't do. He's like the light version. You know, if he's Coors Original or Budweiser. Is Josh Allen, he's like Bud Light or Coors Light. Like, that's Herbert. He runs really fast. He is massive. He like his ability to throw the ball at every level with ease. Obviously his arm, I mean, he has some, in his short career, some of the great passes down the field we've ever seen him. And Josh Allen, his accuracy on out routes, on just like basic intermediate routes is fantastic. And then he also has touch. Like he's not just only throwing 100 miles an hour. He literally is the total package. Super high character guy. Everyone likes him. It's not just a franchise quarterback. Like, that's a high level max franchise quarterback. We talk about differentiating. He's with the crop of the elites. The other guys we argue, and the only reason we argue with him is because one guy went to Andy Reid, another guy went to John Harbaugh and the Ravens. Josh Allen, just perfect timing, went to two guys that really know what they're doing. And Joe Burrow is just a rare talent that can overcome dysfunction. But this guy went to the fucking Chargers. The Chargers, one Super bowl in 75 years and they were an 18 point underdog. And if it wasn't for Dean Spanos finally going, yeah, I'll spend some of this unlimited money we have, his career might have been completely wasted. And he's leading a team. I mean, I think they're going to end up with 11 wins and their leading receiver is a slot little white guy from Georgia who's a rookie. They have no outside threat for the majority of the season. Their starting running back is at home injured. So it's just like the argument. These arguments are done, they're over. Now if you want to argue, like, can he ever win a Super Bowl? Can he beat these heads? Okay, but this argument is he A good player or this guy's really overrated. It's just like you don't know fucking anything. You know nothing. You might as well just stop talking about football. The, the Harbaugh argument ended a couple years ago, but the Herbert has. And the Harbaugh argument, even while it was going on, was mind numbing. It's like, how are there this many dumb people in society then? All you have to do is just look on the Internet and you realize there are a lot of those around here. But the Herbert arguments has been going strong. It's like, what are we talking about at this point now? Can this team make a legit run? You know, their defense is got to play a little better. They were getting gashed in the first half, now they were better in the second half and they definitely, you know, if Bosa's healthy to go along with Khalil Mack, who's playing his ass off, Derwin James is playing his ass off. They got some other young defensive backs. They got Dupree rotating in as a backup outside pass rusher. So like, yeah, I think both these two teams have a formula that in the first round as potentially the 6 and 7 seed now, we'll see what happens to the Ravens over the next four or five days. But I think if you were a betting man right now, you'd say probably the Ravens or the Steelers end up as the, the five seed in these teams in some order end up as the 6 and 7. They're going to be a problem because they can play defense. They have, you know, obviously Sean Payton and Bo Nix, who we'll dive into in a second, you know, have functional quarterback play. They're not explosive offenses, but they're mentally tough teams. They're physically tough teams. They're one knock. I mean, Denver's a better running team than the Chargers, but it's not that much better. I mean, looking tonight, their leading rusher was this. The rookie from Notre dame had basically 50 yards. Javante Williams, who I thought was going to be a star after he hurt his knee, has never quite been the same. Obviously Bo and Herbert can run. I mean, they combine today for over 50 yards on Herbert ran it more than Knicks, but I mean, both of them are threats to move. But this, both these two teams are missing star running backs and maybe the rookie from Notre Dame can become that. Obviously the Chargers, I mean, big picture, they are like, they're not going to draft a wide receiver high. So like in the first round, like, who are they going to take? Well, if they get bounced in the first round of the playoffs. Wouldn't shock me if they drafted the kid from Penn State, number 44, Warren, like they had or just another defensive player like they will draft skill guys later. And luckily this draft is loaded with running backs. I mean there are probably 10 guys that are going to go in the first three rounds. So I would imagine that Jim Harbaugh, Joe Ortiz and the Chargers are going to invest into one of those guys. Because if you put one of Those guys with McConkey and either a stud tight end or a wide receiver, this offense going to be real. Because they already got two bookend tackles who are big time. So it's like. And we know that Harbaugh is good at finding guards and centers. So this offense is going to be fine. And no matter where he's gone, their defense is always good. So the Chargers, what a freaking season again. Five wins last year. Five wins with one of the biggest scam artists in the history of football leading them, Brandon Staley into Denver. I was impressed, I really was. And I know you're up 21 to 10 late in the first half and then that situation happens at the end of the half that gives them some free points on the free kick to make it. It was just, yeah, 2113. Then obviously they came storming back. But listen, beside that big run by Edwards, I think this defense, I mean that I've been talking about Denver all year long about their secondary. I'm like, who are these guys? The one rookie that picked off Herbert, obviously they have arguably the best corner in the NFL. To me it's between him or Stingley. I mean they're just all around stud players. But they mentioned it on the broadcast. They are one of the most dominant pass rushing teams in the NFL. All their defensive linemen can play. There's a physicality and a speed in which their defense plays with like that shit translates. Honestly, the one downfall of both these two teams is not having a better running attack to win a road playoff game. Because I do think their defenses, when they play well, especially Denver's, they can really cover you and they can really get after the passer and they play well against the run like that. That's going to work. Denver's defense is real. And one thing, and listen, this happens during the draft and I'm guilty of this, is there's a hype machine and once it starts, there's no slowing it down. There's also like a negative narrative machine. And this used to exist a lot. I think when like Legacy media had a lot more pull now that it's dying. You know, we're so splintered on the way we think about things, but when it comes to the draft, like, it's. We're talking. Every single human's talking about the main guys at the top of the draft. So you hear a million different opinions on like one or two things on an individual guy. And I would say out of all the top guys, Bo Nix had the least amount of supporters. And as someone that loves west coast football and watched him a lot at Oregon, it's hard. And I remember being in the NFL, like, hearing people talk like, you got to learn to kind of put your blinders on to not listen that stuff because it can impact you. Even if you know more, you're more convicted in your belief. Like, you just start listening to stuff and seeing stuff on television, it can start swaying your belief. It's like, how good is this guy? This guy's over. But then once Sean Payton just loves him and everyone's like, well, Sean Payton's just this arrogant guy. He's going to tell you that he thinks he invented football. And then we're in the middle of December and you're watching him going, well, he's six two, he's 220 pounds. His ability on the move is fantastic. He has a long way to go in the pocket, but he still makes a lot of good pocket throws. His arm strength is much better than the way he was discussed of just being this like, spread offense, quick screen guy. Now, there was a deep ball tonight that, thank God they didn't call pass interference with, which was a bad throw. He kind of did what the Derek Carr throw. I used to call it like this long lollipop. It's like the guy's open. You don't need to throw like a Brett Favre laser, but just put a little air under it and just get it out there. Do not throw it, you know, basically at the roof. But their ability to make, you know, obviously get the ball out of his hands fast. He's really, really good at that. Anything behind the line of scrimmage and they got, you know, Sutton's a big play guy and Mims, you just get the ball in his hands. He's fantastic player in space. I think Bo Nix is really impressive. I've been blown away this year and I think both these two guys, I've said it forever. The thing we don't talk about at that position, it's always like, how tall is he? How strong is his Arm. How many touchdowns does he throws? How about the intangible stuff? And I don't mean the intangible leadership stuff, which clearly both these guys are team captain. I'm talking about toughness. Feels like the entire season Herbert's been limping around out there. No one disputes Bo Nick's mental toughness. I mean, the dude went through it at Auburn after going to becoming royalty there and failing and then going to Oregon, resurrecting his career, and then going to play for this guy who clearly is not easy to play for as an offensive player, let alone a rookie quarterback. And I think he's been fantastic. I thought tonight, for the most part, he was awesome. I mean, there was one late drive when they were down 27, 24. I wrote down like, what can Bo Nix do on this drive? And they got the ball relatively close to midfield on the first play of the drive. It's not his fault. The offensive line fucks up and he gets sacked with ease because a guy comes right up the middle, or maybe that was Bud Dupree sack. They don't block it correctly. You know, it was like a delayed tight end. He was going to the route. He blocks him originally, and it looked like Bowles was supposed to get over. He doesn't. And he just goes right to Bo Nixon. All of a sudden you're second and 20, you got no shot. And that's the. Honestly, that was kind of the game. Then they ended up punting. And then the next drive is when Charger busted off that big run and basically put the nail in the coffin. But if I was a Bronco fan, I would be thrilled because the physical skills of this guy. I was texting Colin and I honestly kind of. He has a lot of purdy qualities, but he's a little bigger and stronger. And I mean, there's a reason he went 12th in the draft. It's just weird because in his draft, he was the last quarterback taken right of any of the guys that matter. And he wasn't only the last quarterback of the group. He was the guy with the least amount of positive, optimistic support behind him. There weren't many believers. You know, most people did not think the Chargers were going to be a playoff team. I would say all people didn't think the Denver Broncos were going to be a playoff team. And I probably fall into that category. I underestimated their defense. I mean, I had no clue their defense was going to be this good. But offensively, like, Mims is probably a little better than I thought. And I'VE watched them since Oklahoma. They are a little bit like, like this off season, they're going to need to find kind of their running back to lean on if they can. And yeah, I mean, I. What a year for these two guys. And we've been talking about it kind of, you know, beating a dead horse here. But this is why you pay coaches 15, $20 million when they deserve it. This is why you get big time guys in to run your franchise. You can take swings on coordinators all you want, like a, like a first round draft pick. It's probably a flip of a coin. Maybe he'll be your next coach for 10 years. Stats would show he probably won't get a second contract for you. When Jim Harbaugh is available, when Sean Payton's available, you pay him a premium. And it basically guarantees you not just relevancy, but the playoffs. And think how many shitty teams right now are in the NFL that would die to be in the playoffs. And that's not going to be an issue for the Broncos or the Chargers. And listen, this is where Sean Payton won because Russell Wilson did not fit what he did. And when everything happened last year and they benched him and then obviously they cut him and they ate the money, I mean, it was pretty bold. It was pretty bold. But now you got nine wins. You win one more, you're 10, you're in the playoffs. It's like it was all worth it. And you got your rookie quarterback that you can build around that fits your skill set of what you're looking for. Because he always looked for this guy. He wanted Taysom Hill to be this guy, but Taysom Hill didn't pass like this. But he clearly wanted to transition from Drew Brees to more of that mobile guy. I remember early in this game, I was taking notes. I'm like, anytime they get Bo Nix moving, stuff happens. Just get him moving immediately. Quick rollout, get him to scramble to his left, any sort of play action. Obviously he's a really good athlete, but he's very confident thrower on the run. To me, where I'm less confident on him is when he's just sitting in the pocket and kind of having to pick you apart. That's not really his game right now where Herbert is much more confident. It's also, you know, Knicks is 6:2. Herbert's like 6:6. Way easier for him to see his crappy receivers attempt to get open. Really enjoyed that game tonight. Really did. It's the most wonderful time of year for getting in on all the hoops, football and hockey action at the DraftKings sportsbook. It's the season of giving and we're being gifted. College football and basketball, pro football and basketball and pro hockey too. Almost 247 so many games every day. So many opportunities to place your first bet. Try betting on something simple like picking a team to win. Go to DraftKingsportsbook app and place your bet. And here's a gift for all new customers. Bet 5 bucks to get 150 in bonus bets. If your bet wins, download the DraftKings sportsbook app and use the Code John. That's Code Johan for new customers to get 150 in bonus bets if your first bet wins when you bet just five bucks. Happy holidays from DraftKings. 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. 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- [29:24]
Jon Stewart
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Doug Gottlieb
Cards issued by JPMorgan Chase Bank NA member FDIC how do you feel when you switch to Geico and save on your car insurance? It's like getting right out of bed, late for work, yet your hair looks immaculate. No blow dryer, no comb, no sculpting gel. Just a flawless look, as if you.
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Bobby Skinner
Walked out of your house and straight.
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Doug Gottlieb
Onto the COVID of a men's fashion magazine.
- [30:08]
Stucky
Good morning, Stephen. Oh, have you done something new with your hair? It looks amazing.
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Doug Gottlieb
They don't have the slightest clue you were half asleep drooling on your pillow not ten minutes ago. Yep, switching and saving with Geico feels just like that. Get more with Geico what's up, everybody.
- [30:24]
Adnan Burke
Adnan Burke here to tell you about a new podcast from iHeart podcast in the National Hockey League. It's NHL unscripted with Verk and Demers.
- [30:32]
Jason Demers
Hey, I'm Jason Immers, former 700 game NHL defenseman turned NHL Network analyst, and boy, oh boy, does daddy have a lot to say.
- [30:40]
Adnan Burke
I love you, by the way. On NHL Network, we're looking forward to getting together each week to chat and chirp about the sport and all the other things surrounding it that we love. Right?
- [30:48]
Jason Demers
Yeah, I just met you today, but we're going to have a ton of guests from the colliding worlds of hockey, entertainment and pop culture. And you know what, Tons of back and forth and all things NHL.
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Adnan Burke
Yeah, you're soon going to find out we're not just hockey talk. We get all kinds of random stuff on this podcast. Movies, television, food, wrestling, even the stuff that you wear in NHL.
- [31:09]
Jason Demers
Now you wish you could pull off my short shorts, Ferky.
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Adnan Burke
That's sure to cause a ruckus. Listen to NHL Unscripted with Burke and Demers, the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [31:24]
Justin Penick
Jon Stewart is back at the Daily show, and he's bringing his signature wit and insight straight to your ears with the Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. Dive into John's unique take on the biggest topics in politics, entertainment, sports and more. Joined by the sharp voices of the show's correspondents and contributors, and with extended interviews and exclusive weekly headline roundups, this podcast gives you content you won't find anywhere else. Ready to laugh and stay informed, listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [32:02]
Bobby Skinner
What's going on, everybody? This is Justin Penick from John Boy Media, the host of the Football Today podcast alongside Bobby Skinner and Chris Rose. We're rolling three times a week, on Mondays, on Wednesdays, on Fridays, breaking down everything you need to know about the NFL. We're talking about the MVP races. Is Josh Allen going to pull it out? Lamar Jackson? Can Saquon Barkley even break the rushing record? Can the Steelers keep up their momentum? We talk about everything. We break it down. Stats, analytics. And of course, Chris Rose is bringing his perspective on being a pro in the media world as well. Listen to Football Today on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And you, we'll be glad you did. Hope you could join us for the postseason run.
- [32:58]
Doug Gottlieb
A couple more things on this fugazi Friday. We got to dive into Woody Johnson and you know Bill Simmons used to have this thing back in the day when he wrote for ESPN called the Tyson Zone and it was essentially describing a situation in Mike Tyson for example, who was, you could not tell a story about Mike Tyson. You know, this was like 20 years ago. That could be crazy enough that someone wouldn't believe it. Like you could be like this is in the heyday of Mike Tyson just off the wall behavior. Like Mike Tyson wrestled the cow, killed it and just ate the raw meat and ate 90% of the cow. He'd be like, yeah, that probably happened, right? You could say Mike Tyson jumped off a 10 story building and got right up and walked away and wasn't even faced. There's no story you could tell about Mike Tyson that you wouldn't believe. I think the jets have entered that category. There is no story that can come out about Woody Johnson that people won't believe. And I've said this before, there's a nugget that's continuing in this about Joe Douglas firing the assistant GM Rex Hogan and he was forced by Woody Johnson. I had been told by multiple people that's not true, that Joe Douglas wanted to fire the Joe Douglas and him had a bad, you know, some sort of splintering of a relationship. Now maybe it's true that, that Woody Johnson didn't allow him to replace the position but I think sometimes so I'm always hesitant when these stories come out like this one because you're like how much is this true? But it was so egregious even if some of it, you know, I want to believe it all that this guy's son is telling him to sign guys or not to sign guys or that we shouldn't trade for this guy or we should trade for this guy based on his Madden rating. That is incredible. I can't even tell you how much that made me smile reading that part of the story about Elijah Moore or it was Jerry Judy's, whether it was short era quickness or Joe Simpson the guards awareness based on Madden ratings on Woody son. But I've been saying this for a while, that this sounds absolutely insane and I think there was a quote in there from Joe Douglas or someone close to Joe Douglas saying that I basically answer to a teenager which is somewhat ironic because I think most people, if you asked around the NFL who's feeding this story would be Joe Douglas and Joe Douglas has always been a very anti being a leak media guy. I guess when you get fired or it's about you, it's cool to do all these guys, you know, leaders can be very hypocritical about that. Like who's allowed to talk to the media, who's not. But this, listen, Woody is getting roasted and there's no way to read this article, even if it's not all true and 90% of it's true to go, why would anyone want to subject themselves to this? And I've been saying this like this sounds insane, but like, who do you think a lot of these super, super rich guys that own these teams talk to their kids? Most people in their life cannot be honest with them. Most people in their life are on the payroll and want to stay on the payroll. The kids while are also on the payroll are the one people that can just say whatever the fuck they want to that billionaire and honestly not care what they think. And they're probably the one person or very few people in their lives that like there's a trust factor there of that is not comparable to the other people. Whether it's your team president, whether it's your lawyer, your accountant. I guess my overall point here is this happens way more than people realize. Not we're not trading for that guy because he's got a bad score in Madden. But if you don't think that some of these guys that own teams are going back to their GM or coach and saying no. Now they might not tell you where they heard it, but like their son convinced them that's a bad idea. I think it happens all the time. So everyone's going to say the jets is the worst job in the history of jobs. And there's probably a lot of validity to that, especially as part of this article saying that Woody Johnson and I didn't know this, I just assumed he was going back to Europe. I guess Trump went with someone else and Woody Johnson's not going back. So Woody's not going away. And clearly his personality relative to Christopher is a lot different. He's a lot more aggressive, screaming at players in the locker room, which I also saw a lot of people say, like that's so mean, him screaming at Mike White. Now listen, is it a little weird to see the owner scream at a guy or talk some shit? I do think it happens a lot with coaches and players and players and players. So it sounds a lot more salacious than it is. I just think all these owners, at this point in time, these guys are worth billions of dollars. It's the one profession where winning no longer matters at all. It really doesn't. Your franchise for the next The Raiders have sucked so much ass for the last couple decades, it's hard to even describe. Yet they have never been more flush with cash, moved into a sweet new building, are getting 4 or $500 million a year from the league. The money is flowing with the Las Vegas Raiders like never before. Mike Brown never had that much money, but he does now. Why? Because whether he wins or loses, that NFL check based on the media deal is automatically coming. I was thinking about it today with Dan Snyder, how crappy the Redskins were during, like, the majority of his tenure. And I remember, like, the middle. Maybe it was the middle or maybe a little bit toward the end when he bought that yacht. It's like his team has sucked so bad they aren't winning any games. And this guy's making so much money because he owns this NFL team, He bought a yacht. It's why when anyone ever DMS me like, Listen, we need George McCaskey to sell, or when do you think Mark Davis would sell? And I go, why would anyone. Would you rather have $6 billion cash or would you rather own a $6 billion NFL team? Your life doesn't change either way because your entire life is expensed through the franchise. So actually, it's incredible to have the business because everything you do is a write off. Your entire life is through the business, and all the cash you get from the bank is because of the business where if I give you six or seven billion dollars for the Raiders or for the Bears, well, immediately uncle Sam takes 45, 50% of that. So that $7 billion is now $3.5 billion, which is obviously an astronomical amount of money. But you're just a 3.5 billion guy worth 3.5 billion that no one really cares about, doesn't own anything cool. No one's talking about you on dedicated television shows and podcasts. The only time any one of these people ever sell is when they have complete infighting with a family and someone dies. Why the Denver Broncos end up with the Waltons? Well, because Pat Boland died and his daughters were fighting. Same thing, you know, with some of these other franchises, it's someone dies. And when someone dies and there's no one in the family that wants to own the team. But like Woody Johnson, who, born into wealth is clearly just a nut job. But that's the case with a lot of these franchises and even some of these people that made it themselves, which is an incredible story, right? Like what Robert Kraft accomplished from nothing to what he's got is an incredible business story. But as you get older and you that rich, you kind of become a little cuckoo. And then your kid, as you get 82, like you're not doing the day to day quite like you once did. Well, Jonathan Kraft gets more control. Like, is there that big a difference between like Jonathan Kraft then Brick Johnson? Beside, one guy's 18 years old and the other guy's 50 years old. They all fucking kooky weirdo ideas. That's what you deal with. So I see all these people like, you can't touch the jets like this. What all these teams are, you are constantly hearing crazy things. Now this, if this is true based on Madden ratings, that that would probably take the cake. But it doesn't change the fact of these requests you're getting from these owners. And it just gets to like, do you feel that you can find a quarterback, you can land a coaching staff because you're going to have to deal with one of these nutty owners no matter what. Some are telling you you can't sign a guy based on Madden. The other are saying you can't sign a guy because they just have a bad feeling about it. But it's all under the same umbrella. I really do think that even if the jets and Woody might be at the top of the list, I think the difference between the top of the list and like the middle of the list is the gap is not that wide. It feels wide when you read things like this. But if you just pulled 15 NFL coaches and GMs right now, I think they would have somewhat similar stories that they have to deal with, especially around free agency and the draft and even during the season after bad losses. Very relatable stories with shit like this. Okay, Fugazi Friday, a couple things really quick. The Alabama athletic director put out a tweet last night essentially asking fans for money because unlike, you know, the Oregons and the Ohio states and the Michigan's, they don't have the high, high end donors that can compete at this nil level. And when I saw that Alabama, a program that has won whatever six national championships in the last like 15 years, is literally having to beg for money from. Not like they're not DMing or calling or emailing their rich boost. These are just like your common fan. Dude that makes 50k, dude that makes 75k, maybe a season ticket holder at the, you know, the third level of the stadium, like, hey man, can you give me money? Just made me realize like this thing's over, like this thing's about to break and the NFL do You know how they ask for money from us, the consumer, the fans, to pay their players. Can you guys just watch our games? Just, hey, we play Thursday nights, all day Sunday and Monday nights. Can you guys just watch the games? That pays for a league. Yeah, no problem. I'll be on my couch watching the game. Because I think that's what fans would be like with Alabama. Like, aren't we watching the games? Like, isn't that generating all this television money, which is historic? It's like, yeah, well, we also got to pay, you know, our soccer coach makes 300 grand or volleyball coach, you know, makes 280 and all the scholarships there. And then we got all this and this. It's like, well, yeah, it's like, we got to figure this out. Because if we want to pay for football, which is the reason all this stuff exists. But once you start begging for money and I don't. I think his heart's in the right place. It was optically and I think optics can be a little overrated. It just doesn't get any worse. It's like the story a couple weeks after the election that Kamala's campaign was still asking people for money. It's like, you guys already lost. Like, why are you doing that? And like people that ran the Democratic Party were like, we gotta cut this off. The problem is they were like millions in debt. It just looks bad, you know. And I think this. There was a ruling on the Vanderbilt quarterback today that got an extra year eligibility. The JC kids now have four years instead of two years, which is a major revelation and a major change. I've never been against anyone getting money. I am as pro capitalism as anyone that talks about sports, I promise you that. But this thing is fucking lost. It really is. And they just got to get to the point. And Jim Harbaugh was banging this drum last year is like, we need to split revenue. We need to split revenue. Well, I think why they've been hesitant to do that because they use that revenue to subsidize all this other shit. Those days have to end. You can either make it on your own or you can't. This is no longer a wnba, NBA situation, no longer subsidizing all the other sports. And I'm not anti these non revenue sports. My children probably aren't going to be playing at Alabama football. If anything, they're more likely to be on one of those other teams if. And probably not even do that. But like, it's all going to, it's all going to end. And we are about to see whether it's next year or in two years. Whenever that does happen because we're clearly at the end of the road, it's going to change college athletics forever. In terms of the non revenue Olympic sports, they would be fucked. And last but not least, one hot topic is the NBA and they're struggling ratings and everyone's. I see constantly all these people talking about like what they need to do, like add a four point shot. No more three pointers. You're only allowed to take 33 pointers. It's like, guys, it's over. I'm a good example. I love the NBA. Growing up I idolized Michael Jordan. I still do. I fucking love Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan, if he, if he did, if he had some TV show for 30 minutes tonight, I would watch every second of it. My generation that loves sports will watch and consume anything. Michael Jordan and then I love the NBA up until the 2000s and even the warriors run. And I still do follow the warriors tonight. They lost somehow by 50. But I don't watch the NBA anymore and I haven't for years. And I have a simple life life philosophy. When the talent does not care, I'm surely not going to care. When they stop and listen. There are a lot of variables and everyone argues like was it the politics is Adam Silver, it was overexposure. LeBron, it was a three point shot. Years ago, Years ago these guys stopped playing in regular season games. And I can't tell you how many people I know that bought tickets to an NBA game to go watch a Steph Curry, a LeBron James, whoever. And when they got there, that person was resting that night. And as a television consumer, when you turn on the TV and you go, well no one's even playing tonight. They stopped caring. And you lost me. And it's hard to lose me. I've dedicated my life to talk about sports. I have been a hardcore sports fan since the moment I could think, talk and definitely consume. You know, at 7, 8 years old and it's like I'm just out. And I think I represent a lot of people that it's like you don't bring us back with like oh, no more three pointers now or they're going to have hand checking. That's none of that matters. We're going to change the All Star game. No, I've been watching the All Star game my whole life. It used to be cool when I was a kid. They used to feel like they played hard. I've watched the last, I mean actually I did in the last couple years. But about six, seven years ago, it was clear, like, this is, this is an embarrassment happened in football and they just canceled it. It's like, yeah, we can't do this anymore. And I understand for the NBA it's difficult. It's a money revenue generator in the middle of the season. Unlike football, it's the end of the season. But like, all these things add up once you treat the consumer like shit, right? If I go to a restaurant and they have awful service, usually my experience, then a week or two weeks later I don't go, hey, let's go back to that restaurant. Go. Never going there again. Part of Amazon success, if you think about it. And I forgot about, you know, when I talk about great bald guys, obviously Bezos would be near the top of the list. Whatever you order off Amazon, 1, the majority of it gets to your house in like 48 hours. And two, any issue you have, something's too small, something doesn't fit, something's broken, you ordered the wrong thing, immediately send it back. It's the easiest, most consumer friendly thing I think I've ever used in my life. Given the volume, how much most people use it yet the NBA for a decade plus with load management, starting with Gregg Popovich, San Antonio spurs just said you, we don't care that you are giving us your time. And never forget, the most valuable thing we have in our life is time, by far. And the older you get, you realize, like, I only got so much time. I got to dedicate to my kids, I got to dedicate to my wife, I got to dedicate to work. So if I am going to give you a couple hours, that's why football is so easy. You only got to give it a couple hours on your off day, on Sunday, they're built in to dominate, let alone, you know, like, hey, Patrick Mahomes got hurt, more likely still going to play. That was an NBA player, he'd be out a month. So eventually, drip, drip, drip, drip. You lose someone maybe in the 60s, the 70s, 80s, when there was less going on, it was easier to get someone to come back. I think it is a lot more difficult. We have more options than ever to fill my palate. So if I want entertainment, whether it's sports, whether it's movies, whether it's music, whether it's podcasts, there's never been more options, right? It's like, I don't think this is that complicated. And I see all these people diving so deep into their ideas. It's like Yeah, I think you guys lost the plot on this one.
- [50:53]
Jon Stewart
As we gather together during this holiday season, let me share a gift that keeps on giving. Chase Freedom With Chase Freedom Unlimited, you'll not only experience the the joy of 1.5% unlimited cash back, but also the freedom to create cherished memories with your loved ones. Discover the magic and learn more@chasefreedom.com and let this season be filled with love, laughter and the delight of extra cash in your pocket.
- [51:18]
Doug Gottlieb
Card issued by JP Morgan Chase Bank.
- [51:20]
Jon Stewart
NA Member FDIC.
- [51:24]
Adnan Burke
What'S up, everybody? Adnan Burke here to tell you about a new podcast from iHeart podcast in the National Hockey League. It's NHL Unscripted with Perkin Demers.
- [51:32]
Jason Demers
Hey, I'm Jason Demers, former 700 game NHL defenseman turned NHL Network analyst, and boy, oh boy, does Daddy have a lot to say.
- [51:41]
Adnan Burke
I love you, by the way. On NHL Network, we're looking forward to getting together each week to chat and chirp about the sport and all the other things surrounding it that we love. Right?
- [51:49]
Jason Demers
Yeah, I just met you today, but we're going to have a ton of guests from the colliding worlds of hockey, entertainment and pop culture. And you know what? Tons of back and forth on all things NHL.
- [51:59]
Adnan Burke
Yeah, you're soon going to find out we're not just hockey talk. We had all kinds of random stuff on this podcast. Movies, television, food, wrestling, even the stuff that you wear on NHL.
- [52:09]
Jason Demers
Now you wish you could pull off my short shorts Virky.
- [52:12]
Adnan Burke
That's sure to cause a ruckus. Listen to NHL Unscripted with Burkin Demers, the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [52:24]
Justin Penick
Jon Stewart is back at the Daily show, and he's bringing his signature wit and insight straight to your ears with the Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. Dive into John's unique take on the biggest topics in politics, entertainment, sports, and more. Joined by the sharp voices of the show's correspondence and contributors, and with extended interviews and exclusive weekly headline roundups, this podcast gives you content you won't find anywhere else. Ready to laugh and stay informed? Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [53:02]
Bobby Skinner
What's going on, everybody? This is Justin Penick from John Boy Media, the host of the Football Today podcast alongside Bobby Skinner and Chris Rose. We're rolling three times a week, on Mondays, on Wednesdays, on Fridays. Breaking down everything you need to know about the NFL. We're talking about the MVP race. Is Josh Allen going to pull it out. Lamar Jackson. Can Saquon Barkley even break the rushing record? Can the Steelers keep up their momentum? We talk about everything. We break it down. Stats, analytics. And of course, Chris Rose is bringing his perspective on being a pro in the media world as well. Listen to football Today on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts and you will be glad you did. Hope you could join us for the postseason run.
- [53:58]
Doug Gottlieb
As we head into Christmas. I got my guy Stucky, who was I, I think, put on the earth for this moment. The college football playoffs. We got four games. It's crazy. I mean, the NFL is on Saturday with marquee teams and I gotta be real, they feel a little bit like an afterthought. Even though, I mean these games are pretty massive in the NFL with, you know, the Chiefs need to, you know, win a couple more to get the one seed. You got the Steelers and Ravens battling out for a division. But starting Saturday or Friday night in through all day Saturday, it's hard to beat this. Ducky, man, I know as a college football, I would consider you an addict. This, this, we've been waiting for these times for a long, long time, man.
- [54:48]
Stucky
Yeah. It all goes back to the NFL's desire to dominate the NBA and every holiday and every day because all four of these teams that play on Saturday are playing on Wednesday because they're like, we need to have Christmas dates games so you can't play them on Sunday. So if it wasn't for that, they probably wouldn't have done this. But the NFL wants to dominate. And the problem, I actually disagree with the NFL doing it. I mean, they know better than me because you have these two marquee games while college football playoffs going on, which is going to be cool. I mean, you have, you know, SMU, Penn State's @ noon. It's, it's. Well, you know, Texans, Chiefs is at 115. Clemson, Texas is at 4. Steelers, Ravens at 4:30. Tennessee, Ohio State's at 8:00. Would have liked it a little better staggered, but that's a great day of football. But the problem is because the NFL wanted to have football on Christmas, the. They ruined the. I mean, next Sunday. Have you seen next Sunday slate week 17?
- [55:55]
Doug Gottlieb
No, I refuse to hear the games.
- [55:58]
Stucky
This is a whole Sunday slate of Week 17. Falcons at Commanders is at night. I guess that's intriguing to watch with. That's. But that's your night game.
- [56:07]
Doug Gottlieb
That's Sunday night football.
- [56:08]
Stucky
Yeah. Then you. In the daytime, you have jets at Bills, Titans at Jags, Raiders at Saints, Colts at Giants, Panthers at Bucks, packers at Vikings, there's your only good game. And then at 4 o'clock you only have two games. Dolphins at Browns and Cowboys, Eagles. That's as bad as. Luckily there's Packers, Vikings, but that's as bad of a Sunday.
- [56:37]
Doug Gottlieb
Niners, Lions is Monday Night Football, huh?
- [56:40]
Stucky
Yep. Yeah, so. And there's only two 4 o'clock games. One of them is Dolphins, Browns, the other one's with Cooper Rush. So yeah, I get why they're doing it. They just want to take over every holiday. But regardless, Saturday will be an epic day for football fans and for betters like myself. I can't wait. I also can't wait for the Friday night game between Indiana and Notre Dame. That's a fun one. And I really just can't. I like every bowl game. People hate it because the portal. But as a better, it's, it's just opportunity. It's out. Like you can dig for info, get ahead of these line moves. There, there's, there's money to be made.
- [57:21]
Doug Gottlieb
Who won the Cal UNLV game?
- [57:23]
Stucky
UNLV 1. Cal was down to its third string quarterback. Mendoza's went to the Portal, the backup got hurt in the finale, they were down to the third quarterback who got hurt. And then they had to go to their fourth string freshman who will look like he never threw a forward pass before. And UNLV rallied to end the trend. A long trend of in this new portal hour of three years running of co teams without a coach hadn't won a single bowl game. I think they were 0 and 11 and until UNLV. But most of the UNLV players played, looked like they cared. Yeah, except for Ricky White, the receiver who will get drafted. And it was competitive. But yeah, the Cal quarterback situation was a disaster.
- [58:06]
Doug Gottlieb
I feel like UNLV is kind of an up and coming program with the NIL era because they sign, they hire Barry Odom, who's a real coach for a Mountain west program. And then they get Dan Mullen. I mean you look at Washington State, who, you know, Leach had had enough leaves and then they just, you know, elevate Rolovich who then quits because he won't get the jab. And then what's his name, Dickert takes the job. He clearly understands like Washington State and Oregon State are probably lower than Boise at this point moving forward. So you look at unlv, could they kind of take, you know, essentially become Boise, Fresno State and forever they sucked and now it's like they're clearly spending some money. So like college football, man, it's obviously the, the top, the big dogs. But even you see Alabama, their ads begging for money, you know, Notre Dame, their alumni, so big, you know, UNLV just has this built in money pit right behind them that people are just going to want to get involved. Yeah, I just think we're in, we're in fascinating times.
- [59:11]
Stucky
Yeah, it's, it's. You look at some of these teams, I mean, you know, they also get to play in a football stadium. You're in Vegas. There's a lot to like there. I mean it's some of the money being thrown around. I don't know how sustainable it is.
- [59:25]
Doug Gottlieb
Well, it can't be, right? Jackson Arnold, $3 million. It just.
- [59:30]
Stucky
John Mattier getting between 3 and 4 million reportedly who the Washington State quarterback. And Washington State is, I mean that program is. I, I don't know where they're gonna go. That bowl game that, that was one they play Syracuse, that's probably going to close like 18. They got all their starters and in the portal material left. Their coach just left. Their coordinators are gone.
- [59:53]
Doug Gottlieb
But it sucks.
- [59:54]
Stucky
3 to 4 million for this guy. Kid, he's, he's good. He's not elite. John Matier, I mean Brock Purdy has made three and a half million, will make three and a half million over the first four years of his deal in the NFL as a starting quarterback. I mean it's pretty wild that you can. These, there's these players making more money than NFL starting quarterbacks and they're not even like the elite of the elite guys.
- [60:21]
Doug Gottlieb
What do you think that the Oklahoma thing before we dive into these games, one thing that used to happen in college basketball a lot because it was like you could be one and done and a guy like if you could get so and so. Anthony Davis, I remember Michael Porter who went to Missouri. Right. Am I thinking the right guy? They hired his brother to be the coach. That was when Quanzo Martin. I don't know. Is he still the coach there? No, but yeah, it's like. Is that like Oklahoma? They hire the Wazoo offensive coordinator and then they get the quarterback? Like is that a package deal to get the coordinator they want? I don't know. I'll be honest. I don't think I've watched a snap of Washington State. So I know nothing about this quarterback. But Jackson Arnold was just a top five recruit and then a couple of years later he's just gone to Auburn Who? Another SEC school. Just, it just seems like, I don't know, people are just throwing shit at the wall. Hopefully they stick it. And the reality is the transfer portal beside like the Caleb Downs and the. No doubt about it, there is a complete randomness. Like if anyone knew that Scatter Boo was going to be this good, he would not have ended up at Arizona State. Right. He'd be the starting running back at like A and M or you know, Michigan or something. But you're going to get some of these programs on a given year. Arizona State's a good example this year. But it could be, you know, Arizona or Texas Tech or you name it, like any kind of mid tier program in their own conference. If they hit on two or three transfer portal guys that then are just NFL players and their schedule breaks right, all of a sudden you're like, God, they're a nine or ten win team that everyone thought was going to win four or five. You've been talking about this over unders in college. How the fuck would you know who Scatter Boo was two years ago? No one would.
- [62:02]
Stucky
Yeah, but then if you don't hit for a couple of years, well, yeah, you're screwed.
- [62:05]
Doug Gottlieb
It's the opposite. You could win one game, four.
- [62:09]
Stucky
And then how are you going to get. And it becomes so much harder to draw kids if you just don't. If you're not one of the schools with an unlimited piggy bank. Yeah, it's, it's a fast. It's fast. It has to be. It eventually has to be regulated, but I don't know how that's going to happen. But this, it's just, it's the wild, wild west right now. In college basketball there's actually a, I think a potential trend. There's a team if you want a team to root for in March. I don't know if they'll make the tournament. But Drake, who usually I think they, yeah, they, they play godly coming up, but they have one of the best coaches in the country. He was so what they did. And you can't do this in college football. But what we've seen it a couple times. We've seen like these teams at FCS level where like Western Kentucky did it with Bailey's appy. You have these programs where their coordinator will come and all their skill position players with them. But what Drake did is they. There was a D2 powerhouse, Northwest Missouri State, I think and their coach was really highly respected in inner circles of basketball. He brought his entire team to Drake. They lost Everybody, he brought his entire team. There are a bunch of D2 guys, and the D2 coach, they have all that continuity, kind of bridge the gap. There's some, like, there's some good coaches at the D2 level, and they're 10 0. They just won at Kansas State. Very unathletic team. Like, you can tell that, that there's a reason why they were D2, but run beautiful offense. And so they'll be a great store. Like, talk about a Cinderella story. Just basically just a D2 team now in D1, if they make the tournament. But, yeah, fascinating times throughout college athletics.
- [63:54]
Doug Gottlieb
Okay, let's go. Let's go. Cinderella story. We'll start Friday night. This game is going to look pretty sweet on television. There's no debating that. You know, this guy. I was actually watching some of JMU's bowl game. That pass rusher they have looks like an NFL guy who got the MVP that game. So clearly that's a good program. Signetti brings them all. Listen, I just feel like I'm not a huge Notre Dame guy, but my gut tells me this is like, got 27 to 10 or 27 to 7 written all over it. And they just smother him with defense and running the ball. Now, the thing, the curveball in this game on Saturday night, the Penn State game, but definitely the two night games is, you know, in college football, it's not like the NFL, like, Kansas City is going to play a home game now they're going to play a home game in the playoff. It's going to be freezing cold. Same thing with Buffalo. Most of college football, you get a cold game, maybe early November, but they don't get the frigid weather in December and January because they never play those games. And then their bowl games, if Notre Dame's in the Orange bowl or whatever, it's fucking beautiful weather. It's like the super bowl for them.
- [64:57]
Stucky
I.
- [64:57]
Doug Gottlieb
This game is supposed to be freezing cold. I. You know, it's just obviously it's, you know, these Midwest games. I mean, it's going to be cold in the middle of December at night, no sun. I think that has to hurt. Indiana, that's a passing offense, right? And they've hung their hat on, like, these outside receivers, Roark, the back shoulder throws. I don't know. I mean, I. This would be the one game where I'd be like, I'd probably hammer, land the points with Notre Dame. What say you?
- [65:26]
Stucky
I'm against you here. This is my favorite underdog of the four. It's the lines coming down. So I have seven and a half. I'd want to get seven and a half. If you like Notre Dame, wait, because there's going to be.
- [65:36]
Doug Gottlieb
It was seven this morning on DraftKings. All lines here are presented on draft by DraftKings. So this was seven, so could that be six by kickoff you think?
- [65:43]
Stucky
I don't think. I think it would get. There'd be buyback at six and a half. It probably settles at seven. I liked Indiana over a touchdown. I think they can keep this close. I don't think the cold will bother Indiana. And their quarterback works Canadian and he played in the Mac. Nothing but cold and weather games before this his whole career. So I think he'll be fine. Where I think Indiana can hang in this game is their run defense is legitimate. You go back to that Ohio State game, you go back to the Michigan game all year, you, even if you adjust for schedule, this is an elite, elite run defense. Their secondary has talent. But these are like Sunbelt all conference players. Like some of them came from jamu, some of them came from other conferences. They're not elite NFL caliber corners. So where they'll, they'll struggle is, you know, if this game was in a dome and they have to go up against NFL caliber receivers like they did in, you know, the Ohio State game. Like Ohio State couldn't run the ball on them. Now Notre Dame, their offense goes as you know, Jeremiah Love in their backfield goes and he's, he's a little banged up. We'll see how healthy he is. But he, he got hurt in the finale. He's had a lot of time to recover but reportedly was wearing a brace. But they're, that's their, their, it's a rushing offense and then Riley Leonard can use his legs too. But the way that you beat this Notre Dame team is you make them, you turn them in to you turn Riley Leonard into a drop back pass are on known passing downs. Their offense has been bad on third down specifically you know, in third and medium to long and they're like 80, I think 83rd in the country on third down percentage. Whereas Indiana's offense I think is top 20 in the country. You have to stop them on early downs. If you look at Notre Dame schedule, no one's really been able to do that. Northern Illinois did it but they haven't really played an elite run defense. I think Indiana's run defense can hold up u turn Leonard into a pocket passer on known passing situations. I think their defense can hang here And I. The notary defense is very, very good. It's not as elite as say in Ohio State that doesn't have the same level of talent up front. You know, they do have a couple of really good interior defensive linemen, but it's not that same caliber. And, and again, the Notre Dame defense, they didn't really play that many good teams. A couple service academies. You know, you played Virginia with a bunch of backups, but you go back to a couple games where I think the Notre Dame defense might be a tad overrated. Louisville went into Notre Dame, moved the ball up and down the field, had fluy turnovers, probably should have won that game.
- [68:16]
Doug Gottlieb
And they're pretty good offense, right?
- [68:17]
Stucky
Yeah, and they're a pretty good offense. And they put up 400 plus yards. USC put up nearly 600 yards in the regular season finale against Notre Dame. That's probably the best offense they faced all year. And it was with a backup quarterback. I mean, Miller Moss went to the transfer portal. My, that hadn't looked good the previous few weeks against like ucla and he looked awful. They also lost their best player. Woody Marks was going to play in the NFL on the first play of the game and they were moving the ball up and down the field at will. So I do think that this Notre Dame defense has some holes. I think this line is a bit too high. Signetti. Bunch of time to prepare here. I think I'll have them ready. I think it'll be a close game. Notre Dame also has shaky special teams. Their kicker, they have. They run out of kicker who's hurt, who misses a bunch of kicks every week. I don't know why they keep doing it, but. So, yeah, I think Indiana hangs here. I think it'll be close. So I took the seven and a half.
- [69:14]
Doug Gottlieb
Okay, let's go to Happy Valley. It's weird. Like when you look at the bracket, you're like, I can see a scenario where Penn State's in the national championship, right? They win this game, then they play Boise, they win that game. You know, in college is not like the NFL, so Kirby doesn't have to say shit, especially off a buy about, about his quarterback. Is it fair to assume that his quarterback got the Brock Purdy injury and is out? Or we just in the dark? Like, what would you view?
- [69:39]
Stucky
He might be back for later, but he's out for that first game.
- [69:44]
Doug Gottlieb
Okay. So yeah, there's a scenario where it's like Penn State's in the national championship yet on an individual game basis. Even that Boise game, like Yeah, I can see this thing being weird. Like, yeah, it's like I like Penn State at home, but would it shock me if it's, you know, 15 to 15 in like middle of the third quarter? No. You know, and that whole place is getting tight and it's cold. Even though they should dominate in the cold run game. Defense, tight end, like, it should translate. That being said, I liked what I saw against Oregon. I know it was, you know, Oregon obviously had some big plays offensively, but Aller's kind of growing on me. The backup quarterback who does play obviously is gone. And it's not, you know, it wasn't like a nefarious situation. Kind of like Mendoza is just like, I'm out after he cries on the field. Like, even James Franklin is like this bullshit. He didn't want to leave. So it's not like, I don't think there's like dissension or whatever in the locker room. But I don't know. I mean, I'm not some huge SMU consumer. So. Watching them against Clemson, obviously they look like shit early on in that game came storming back. In theory I should like Penn State to dominate this game, but I have a hard time betting on Penn State even though I kind of like them to like make a run.
- [71:04]
Stucky
Yeah, I don't have a strong feel in this game, to be honest. I mean, SMU is going to go fast.
- [71:08]
Doug Gottlieb
Don't they have a good run defense?
- [71:10]
Stucky
Smu, yes, very good run D, which, which matters here now. But then you can go back and you can question the level of competition because smu, they avoided, you know, all the top teams in the acc. Then they lost the Clemson. I mean, who else did they play all year? Nobody really. That is such an easy schedule. And then, you know, Clemson was able to score pretty easily on them. So I, I, but they do have.
- [71:36]
Doug Gottlieb
A good run flip flopped. Smu, you put SMU versus Texas and Clemson versus Penn State. Are those lines like, is then SMU a 12 point dog against Texas and is Clemson a 9 point dog against. Like how do you think that would. Like, who do they view as the better team here? Are they basically a coin flip between the two? Well, we just witnessed. Or would you say people think Clemson is going to be better?
- [72:00]
Stucky
I mean I. Between Clemson and smu?
- [72:03]
Doug Gottlieb
Yeah. Like, I don't know, like to me the nine point. Are they just like. Yeah, we don't know if, if this should be 14 or this should be 6. So we'll just throw like 9 or 10 to get people to bite. Like, I feel like they don't quite know with SMU and Clemson where to put them. Like, I feel they got a pretty good idea, Tennessee and Indiana. But I feel like with the ACC teams against, you know, Texas and Penn State, it was. They're kind of in no man's land with these two lines.
- [72:30]
Stucky
Yeah, I think Texas is a couple of points better than Penn State. SMU is a couple better points than Clemson. Okay. But yeah, I mean, you're right on the bracket. This is why the bracket's broken. Like, you just can't give the four teams automatic buys because Oregon and Georgia beat Texas and Penn State in the conference championship games. Oregon goes undefeated and they're going to have tougher paths in the, they're gonna have a tougher game in the quarterfinals. You know, Texas and Penn State get two games as double digit favorites. Oregon's got to play the winner of Ohio State, Tennessee. Georgia's going to have to play either Notre Dame or Indiana because ideally, ideally.
- [73:10]
Doug Gottlieb
In these four games there should be a couple where the lines are like two or three points, not, yes, seven.
- [73:15]
Stucky
And your one seed shouldn't have the hardest game in the second round, which they're going to have. So you should either reseed or you just seed 1 through 12. You get your automatic, but you don't get automatic buys. I don't. I know I don't have a really good strong feel in this game. SMU is going to want to go fast. They don't really run it efficiently. You can't really run it on Penn State.
- [73:34]
Doug Gottlieb
This is going to be cold too. I mean, it's going to be cold.
- [73:37]
Stucky
Which favors Penn State. But it is at noon, which I think helps SMU a bit. You know, it's not at night in Happy Valley. It's going to come down. You know the way to attack this because you mentioned the sm, runy, soft schedule. But I do believe in their run defense because you, their, their defensive line has dudes, the guys that came from, I mean all of them. I think three of the four starters came from Miami. They were at Miami at one point and they transferred them. So they have like real power five guys. They have good safeties too that can come down and defend them on where they're weak is that corner. So you have to attack them on the outside. How does Penn State approach this? Like, because their offense is kind of like gimmicky and you know, it's, it's run first and then you want to get Warren involved at tight end in different ways. But the weakness of Penn State is their wide receiver room. They don't really have great wide receivers and that's really how you attack this SMU defense. So I'm not sure it's going to win on the outside between Penn State and SMU and then can SMU protect. You know, they have a really good back in Burchard Smith, but they don't really run it efficiently and you can't really run it on Penn State. And the reason they don't run it efficiently is their offensive line isn't very good. Really weak left tackle that they lost from last year. He was really good. And then a center. They had a really good offensive line last year, lost their center and left tackle. I haven't been able to replace them. So they don't get a great push. They also struggle to protect at times. So is Penn State just going to get so much pressure and overwhelm Jennings? That would be a bit of my concern as well. So I don't know. I think this line is about right. I got. I have nothing heading into it. If, if anything I would think Penn State finds a way. Coltonick is a great quarter and he's had time to prepare. SMU is going to go fast. I think that they'll find ways to the Penn State defense, it's very good. But I do think that they're vulnerable on the back end. It's just going to go down to Ken SMU protect because you look at the Penn State schedule and you just parse out certain games. USC put up 30 on them and then you saw Oregon when Oregon is a really good office, but they put up 40 plus on them. So there's, there's some opportunities to move the ball. So maybe the over. But as of right now, not a game I'm involved in.
- [75:50]
Doug Gottlieb
Okay. Texas is a 12 point favorite, which I got, to be honest, when I first saw that number felt a little big to me for a team. Now they handled A and M, right. The only way they got back into it was with you or a couple turnovers. But like they're not scoring 40 points a game. So you look at that game now, A and M on the road, good defense. You know, you look at the Arkansas game, they won 20 to 10. The Florida game, they, they. Molly walked them. That was kind of a perfect storm. But the Vanderbilt game was a struggle. Obviously they lost. The Georgia game, even the Oklahoma game, that was a tight game till like the last couple minutes in the first half and there was like back to back Fumbles and then it just kind of unraveled. But to me, 12 points for an offense that I just don't trust the quarterback. Now their defense is good and physically, I mean, they have NFL dudes all over that defensive line. But I don't know, I mean I. Cade Columbia, he's played well down the stretch. Obviously his legs are a big factor, you know, so he can run and pass that. Some of those young wide receivers look like they're coming on, you know, it's a perfect spot. If you just kind of look at dabo underdog everyone, no one thinks they can do shit. He just showed in the conference championship game. Like they jumped out to him. They were bludgeoning that team. Right. And then I obviously kind of let off foot off the gas and they came back. SMU fans will be in your DMs, be like the refs were against us. Like, no, you were getting your ass kicked. I, I don't know, man. My, my first. It's like 12 points. Feels like a lot against this Texas team that's being treated like they're Oregon or something.
- [77:27]
Stucky
It was the first game in like 70 years that Clemson didn't have penalty. Again, there wasn't any penalties called in that game. I think.
- [77:37]
Doug Gottlieb
Was it an ACC crew? Were they trying to get Clemson to win? So they get smu and yeah, I.
- [77:41]
Stucky
Mean it worked out for them. Whatever they were trying to do, they got. And then they got SMU to come back and then he couldn't keep Alabama out. So it worked out for the acc financially. I, you know, my numbers actually lean.
- [77:54]
Doug Gottlieb
Because this big picture, it would be bad if they both get destroyed if they both lose by like 15, 20 points. It's. It's bad.
- [78:02]
Stucky
Yep. Yeah. Like you get. There's going to be that bias. Right? Or not with the committee on a year to year basis based on what happened the year prior. And then you know, the, the SEC talking heads. If smu you want to go on, you want Twitter to get insufferable and I'm in SEC country, but if SMU and Clemson get blown out, you're gonna, you're gonna hear from all the SEC people after the weekend's over about how Alabama should have gotten in. Yeah, I actually like, I, I don't think this Clemson team is that great. And I had them to make the College Football Playoff. Got lucky because Miami lost. If you look, anytime they stepped up in class this year, it didn't go great. I mean this is a team that lost at home to Louisville they got blown out by Georgia. They fought for a half and you know, then they beat smu. You got to give them credit for that. But I don't think SMU is in the elite tier of teams and the reason is they just don't have as much talent as they used to and that's because they don't hit the portal. And so it's just not as talented of a. The talent disparity in this game even just going like the offensive line disparity is massive. Texas, who should get their left tackle back, banks healthy, who's probably the best offensive lineman in college football. He missed that Georgia game. Their offensive line for Texas is unbelievable and I they're going to get protection, they're going to be able to run the ball and I think that's going to like set up all of the RPO easy passes for yours. Because what my fear is when you back Texas is a big favorite because you're right like they're on their offense in these big games this year because they also had a soft schedule for an SEC team. They have the softest schedule of any team of who they avoided. And if you look like what happens is yours will have like a couple head scratching turnovers a game and they can't score in the red zone. They, they're just incapable of doing it and it was a problem last year as well. So that's hard to cover if you're. You turn the ball over a couple times and then you're settling for a couple field goals. Hard to cover a big number. But I just think that the line of scrimmage they're going to dominate. I don't think Clemson's gonna be able to run the ball and they're running back Mafa's banged up. They're gonna really. They need clubnick to have like a perfect game and yeah one of their, you know, a guy like Wesker they're gonna need some of their young receivers to step up. But it's just such a talent disparity in this game and yours. Extra time off. Does he get healthier like he's been dealing with an ankle injury and then do you see more arch which I would or like. So I don't know how Texas is going to handle this. Do they wait and for like the arch packages when you're not as big of a favorite right. And don't show it as much or do you just hey we're gonna show it every game from here on out Because I actually think arch is a better Fit for this offense because he's a better runner for the RPO style. But I just think they're gonna be able to run like Clemson's run the all year has been not been good. And once you once if Texas can establish run, everything else becomes so much easier. Safety doesn't start to come down and then you know, your screen, your quick pass game, everything from there, then it makes it easier for yours. And you don't have to make him, you know, a drop back passer, known passing situations where he might make a mistake or two. So. And then this Texas defense is kind of built to stop this Clemson offense and we've seen it before Texas. When TCU made that run with Garrett Riley, the offense coordinator, Pete Kowski shut him down the defensive coordinator for Texas. So yeah, I actually I lean Texas. I'm having trouble pulling the trigger right now just because I'm worried about the red zone. I'm worried about Ewers making a boneheaded mistake or two. But this is a big, big talent disparity that many not be many, you know, casual betters have been following. Coach football might not be. It's like, hey Clemson, I'm going to take the 12. Dabo can play his cards here and he's great as an underdog, but as of right now, I'm, I'm actually leaning towards a favorite.
- [82:02]
Doug Gottlieb
Well, I think if you told me you could flip quarterbacks like yours was on Clemson and Club Nick was on because I think Club Nick, as you watch after that Georgia game, you're like this guy, I mean David, you need to cut this guy. By the end of the season he had, he felt like one of the more improved players in the country. Yeah, I think I heard Danny Canel or someone say that they, you know, if you look at 21 and 22, yours was the number one quarterback coming out in 21. He was the number one quarterback. Klub Nick in 22. Two Texas guys, they played each other I think in the state championship either in 19 or 20. I mean these are like heralded all time great quarterback prospects coming out the state of Texas, which is like quarterback state for producing these guys. And I just think Club Nick is a much better player, especially the way he's playing right now when you dual threat. But like you said, I mean are they talented enough? That is a major question mark because there's no disputing Texas's roster. It's just the quarterback play. I mean even that A and M game, which A and M obviously, you know, relative to the rest of college football has an elite roster too. And it just felt like, God, Texas is fucking overwhelming them here. And so it's like. And all yours has to be is kind of that, you know, kind of Alex Smith game manager. But sometimes he's like, I'm Patrick Mahomes, you know, and that's where it's. And you feel Sark sometimes who's grown on me a lot. They go shots of him. It's like he fucking wants to wring his neck. It's like, how. What are you doing? But the problem is Arch and you and I have talked about this. If he was their version of like what Trevor Lawrence was or whoever, he would already be in. I think they don't think he's quite as good as the hype. That's why I think they've kind of eased it in. You know, if. If he was as good as the way he's talked about. I think he'd already been their starting quarterback.
- [83:47]
Stucky
Yeah. But his legs and using this package is definitely. I think they're going to use it more curious to see how much in this game in particular because if you look at their path again, Texas has an easy path. Do you wait and to like really show everything that you're going to show with his packages. But yeah, I agree with you. And we'll see if like yours is if that ankle injury that was contributing to things and he looks a little better here.
- [84:13]
Doug Gottlieb
He's had three weeks off, right?
- [84:14]
Stucky
Yeah. So that could be another angle as well. But definitely an interesting club has him playing a lot better. His offensive line is. It's. He's going to be under pressure, he's gonna have to use legs, he's going to have to hit some explosive plays downfield. Because the difference in this offensive line, that's going to be the clearest thing that you'll see, I think in this game. And that might end up being the difference. But Texas for just.
- [84:37]
Doug Gottlieb
They just.
- [84:38]
Stucky
They find ways to make games close at times against like their special teams aren't good, their red zone offense isn't good. And then yours will make a couple boneheaded throws. But they're so much more talented.
- [84:51]
Doug Gottlieb
So I guess one thing looking at these matchups, you know, Indiana, Notre Dame didn't play conference championship weekend. Smu, Penn State did, Clemson and Texas did. Tennessee and Ohio State didn't. So they basically, you know, neutralized any rest advantage of a team that had to play in that spot and then a team that didn't, you know, so Tennessee, Ohio State, like, this feels like auto Hammer Tennessee, you know, when you just factor in their strengths, they can run the ball and they have a fantastic defensive line. And obviously Ohio State, who I saw chips quotes all the days of running together. It might have been last week or might have been earlier this week where he's like, we've gone over that Michigan game with a fine tooth comb. Realize how we screwed up. Part of where I think everyone thought they screw up is like, guys, they're fucking. Will Johnson's in the training room. They've had a bunch of guys drafted the last couple of years. In the secondary, you have elite wide receivers throw the ball, which was true. It was crazy. They didn't. They kept like running the ball up the middle. I think at one point in time, it was like 14 runs just right up, literally between the guards.
- [85:53]
Stucky
So, like, with four to four NFL guys on the defensive line.
- [85:57]
Doug Gottlieb
Yeah, it's like their only strength on their team right now. You know, Tennessee, you know, I think a little bit like Michigan like their passing game. I mean, Nico, everyone, like, kind of bet the. Bet the form on him. I know I was one of those guys like this guy, get ready. You know, it's like kind of like Josh Rosen early on, it's like, this guy's going to take the world by storm. And then by the end of the year, you're like, oh, let's pump the brakes on his future. But from a defensive line standpoint, it's got to be tough. I mean, they're missing their center, they're missing their offensive line. The pressure in this game, unlike a lot of teams from the South, Right. You know, like a Miami, that if they would have had to go to Penn State, it's. It's a lot like TUA and that crew, when they got to go to Green Bay, it's a huge, you know, Knoxville's cold now. It might not be Ohio State cold, but it's. They're not sitting in 80 degree weather right now. And their style of play is a little bit like the Rams and the Niners. It's like their shit translates whether they're playing in the cold or whether they're playing in a warm weather, you know, kind of bowl environment. If they win this game, I don't know, I just love Tennessee in this spot. Seven and a half. And Herb street said it the night that they did the bracket, like, if this is seven, nothing going into halftime or something. Ohio State's loud. That place is going to be so full mad, you know, in that environment could get ugly. So I. If Ohio State's going to win this game, like I don't think it's Penn State where they're down 10 nothing. They come storming back like they need an early lead, they need an early touchdown. Everyone get excited and get that crowd behind them because that crowd would turn on not on the team, but on Ryan Day.
- [87:28]
Stucky
Yeah, this game is very fascinating and I agree with that point. I think that's the key to this game which makes it tough to bet where. Where is Ohio State at mentally? And then where do they go if they start slow? Because I was just in Cleveland this past weekend talking to a bunch of Ohio State fans and they're all like Ryan Day's gotta go and they want.
- [87:44]
Doug Gottlieb
Him to lose this game. Right. So they can like go try to offer variable $100 million.
- [87:49]
Stucky
They'll be like if they start so they'll be fire Ryan Day, Chance and in the crowd and then like what. I think part of what happened against Michigan is Ryan Day wanted to win that game so bad. And the play calling was awful too. But just they were so tight. Like they. There was so much that we have to get our revenge. And then Michigan played so loose. Like Ohio was so much more talented. Play Kong is bad. Yes. But I think that they just, they were all like so overwhelmed with trying to win and just weren't playing football. Could that happen again if they're. They're tight here like and, and they start slow. The, the, the start in this game is massive because you also want to make Nico throw it. Not, not let Tennessee get the run game going. Look, the Tennessee offensive line has issues too. I don't think Tennessee's gonna have a ton of success on offense. I mean Nico in his road games this year, like against Vandy he was fine, but that was basically a home game. You know, he went to Georgia. He was bad 20 of 33 for 160 at Arkansas where they lost against a bad day, he was 1729 for 158. And then at Oklahoma who ended up being a bad team 13 to 21 for 190 through it wasn't. It just wasn't great. And all year just wasn't overly impressive. This. And their receivers are pretty banged up too. We'll see how healthy they are. They've had like non contact practice, non contact jerseys on in practice. So this is just going to come down to the start because I don't think Tennessee is going to score a bunch. Now what makes this fascinating to me because initially when I saw this matchup, I said under. Because I think both defensive lines will dominate and I don't see. And will Howard's been dreadful under pressure. His completion percentage drops, I think from 78 to 52% when he's under pressure. And the Ohio State offensive line, they lost the two most important players. They're center and the left tackle. So but I said under. And then Ohio State plays really slow, Tennessee plays fast, but they're just not that explosive this year because Nico, he's just, he's just not there yet. So I said D lines dominate this game. Under. But my, my worry is Ohio State, do they come out here? Because I saw the Chip Kelly comments too. They tried to run it way too much. The one drive they had successful and I'm surprised they didn't do this in the second half. Two minute drill. They had to, they had to do this at the end of the first half they were throwing it and going fast and they went right down the field and scored a touchdown. Those are only then they didn't score the rest of the game. So are they going to say now, okay, we're going up against another elite D, let's go, hurry, let's go with more tempo and let's throw it more. Because the Tennessee weakness of their defense is their secondary. And then you try to tire out their pass rush by going with more tempo. So that's what scares me off the under a bit. And then another thing to keep in mind here is it looks like Ohio State's going to make changes on the offensive line. They've had a couple of weeks to prepare. You might see there's this kid Montgomery, another kid Padilla might see two new young kids in there in the interior. So how does that work out? Does it solve some of the issues? Is it just a mess? There's not that much continuity, but there has been some time that a lot of uncertainty in this game. I wouldn't blame anyone taking the points. My numbers actually, I'm really low on Tennessee. My numbers actually show a little bit of value in Ohio State. But I truly believe this comes down to the start.
- [91:08]
Doug Gottlieb
Who's a better coach? Like if you had a program and all things are equal, would you choose Josh Hyple and his staff or Ryan Day and his staff?
- [91:19]
Stucky
That's a great question.
- [91:22]
Doug Gottlieb
I feel like I know more about Josh Hyple. Like he's done more with less. I mean, when he took over Tennessee, they sucked what he did at ucf. Like, let's Face it, I mean, Ryan Day took over a fucking Ferrari and it's no longer a Ferrari anymore.
- [91:36]
Stucky
Not bad.
- [91:37]
Doug Gottlieb
But I think it's like no one cares that you beat Minnesota and Iowa. Like no one gives a shit. Can't beat Michigan and he just loses all these big games. Honestly, his performance against Oregon was actually kind of impressive. I thought they actually played pretty well.
- [91:55]
Stucky
But they still box the end game.
- [91:57]
Doug Gottlieb
Exactly.
- [91:58]
Stucky
He turtles up too much in big games. But Hypo hasn't gotten to like that next level yet, so. And at least like days gotten close. I'll say it's a push. As of right now, is Ohio State.
- [92:12]
Doug Gottlieb
Favored in this game? If it's in Tennessee.
- [92:17]
Stucky
Yes. But three points would be two. Let me see what I have. Home field, that would be like. I mean this, this line is saying three, three and a half. Small favorite under a field goal probably maybe minus two, minus one and a half. And yeah, I'll say this game is gonna, well decide it for me now. Even if Tennessee just covers. I'll probably say Hypo. So fascinating game. All eyes on that start as you alluded to.
- [92:53]
Doug Gottlieb
To lose a bowl game. I think it's easier to lose a bowl game sometimes than these home playoff games because it's like kind of a way half your fans are there. This is just like a normal game for Ohio State. Right. Like their local radio, the post game show. It just would. He drives to his house, you know.
- [93:09]
Stucky
Yeah.
- [93:09]
Doug Gottlieb
You would rather lose this game at like the Orange bowl, right, against Tennessee than lose it at your fucking home stadium.
- [93:17]
Stucky
Yeah. And I'm sure there's going to be a decent amount of Tennessee fans. I'm curious to see that. But I would, I, in a way, you know, from a numbers perspective, this isn't true. Like it's, you know, six point difference. But in a way, Ohio State might have benefited from going on the road here because you get away from. There's so much noise right now and everyone is. There's just around campus. It's all like, you gotta win. And all the noise on the talk rate, it's like, like you said, sometimes it's good to get away from that and go on the road. Obviously Knoxville is not a fun place to play, but yeah, all eyes on the start there. I wouldn't blame anyone for taking the points.
- [93:54]
Doug Gottlieb
Okay. The Chiefs are either going to have like the craziest 16 in one season you've ever seen or they're going to lose a couple of games here down the stretch. Now it looks like Mahomes is good to go practicing full, at least on Wednesday. I guess that. Would that have been Tuesday? Whatever. I mean, it's. He clearly avoided major injury, which feels like he pulls off sometimes. He's got a little NBA to him, where you just feel like, oh, my God, it's just season over, and then like a week later he's playing in the game. I do think this Texans matchup, though, is kind of tough for them given that. I mean, they got two guys that could end up with 15 sacks coming off the edge where the Chiefs have struggled. And even if Mahomes is playing, he's not 100% and he naturally kind of gimps around even when he's healthy. Right. It kind of looks like obviously the Texans have had a disappointing season. Relative to the hype, though, they won the division pretty easily. I like the Texans a lot here. Plus three and a half. Plus, you just factor in the Chiefs. Every game they play in is close, but just in terms of the exact matchup, that pass rush against, you know, a somewhat hobbled Mahomes against an offensive line that is just really struggled all season long protecting them. So I. I think they're bound to lose one of these two games, whether it's Saturday. You would say they'd be more likely to lose the game on the road, right? Pittsburgh, short week, but I wonder if this game kind of is the one that kind of bites them.
- [95:22]
Stucky
I don't mind the Texans here taking the points now that it's over three. It's funny, this. This a big regret of mine actually, was not taking the Chiefs when this line. This line was Texans -3 early in the week. And like, everyone assumed Mahomes is going to be out. And I said to myself, he's had like six ankle injuries in the past and he's never missed a game. And I immediately switched out. You're gonna lock him away to keep him out of the game. You remember that. That playoff game when he's like, wouldn't refuse to go to the locker room. So I was like, he's definitely gonna play. I should have. I was. I don't know why I didn't. I should have just taken the points with the Chiefs knowing that he was probably going to play and then I can come back. But now I think he would.
- [96:02]
Doug Gottlieb
I think he would have done the same thing in that game against the Browns if it was tied and they had to win it to get the number one seed. But they were up 21 to seven. The team couldn't move the ball and he's like, yeah, cool. Just let Carson go in.
- [96:12]
Stucky
Yes. Now this at three and a half and Mahomes isn't going to be at 100% and I guess there's still an outside shot. He doesn't play. There's also an outside shot. I think he's going to. But there's also an outside shot. He gets hurt. Like there's a bigger, a higher percentage that he, that he hurts that ankle even more. And you know when you're going up against this pass rush, can the, can the Texans score? Is the guy where this offense needs to figure it out. They're not going to run on Kansas City. You got to throw in them. Their secondary is vulnerable. They've had some injuries back there and their past, he's been vulnerable since. But the Texans, every week it's like, where is this passing offense? I mean even last week against Miami they had like 190 total total yards of offense. So can they. And a lot of it is they have the worst early down offense in the NFL. They run it way too much on early downs. You, in this game in particular, you need to find your passing offense if you're going to want to win the super bowl, which should be your goal. And in order to win the super bowl, you're gonna have to beat the likes of Lamar, Josh, Allen, Mahomes. You can't, you're not going to win these games 20 to 17. You need to find your offense. You're already in the playoffs. You need to find your offense before the playoff. This is the perfect game to do it. Throw in early downs, let Strad get, you know, get out of his funk and throw it. And you, this is kind of like a risk free opportunity to do that. If you lose this game, who cares, you're still going to win your division. Not getting a one seed, you can prove to yourself you want it. If not, you can be like, all right, we need to make these adjustments. But yet three and a half points with this Texans defense which has been dominant. And they have their two corners, Lassiter and Stingley. I mean they rank in the top. Both of them are in the top three and can in catch rate allowed. They've been great. And then you have this edge rush that's going to get after Mahomes and a very vulnerable offensive line. Tuni helped kicking him out the left tackle against Cleveland, but he was still under fire the whole game. So yeah, lower scoring game against a team that usually just wins by two or three. I would take the points here, I.
- [98:13]
Doug Gottlieb
Don'T really have a feel for this other game. I mean, I guess you just naturally take Tomlin and the points. Steelers have kind of dominated this matchup. I think. What have they won? Eight of the last nine. I think that Eagles game rattled me. I was like so close. It's like I think I'm taking. I'm. I was about right before the game kicked off to hammer Pittsburgh Moneyline and I kind of got cold feet. And then like 10 minutes into the game you knew like, thank God I didn't do that. I mean they couldn't cover anybody. So you know, now T.J. watts a little banged up. It's a huge game for the Ravens. I don't know. I mean, I don't really have a great feel. It's like to me the Eagle game was a pretty enlightening experience on Pittsburgh. Kind of got exposed now. I'm not putting too much thought into the Ravens against the Giants. I mean you put them when they're a little motivated against a bad team, they will fucking bludgeon you. You know, Lamar has had his issues against the Steelers, obviously. What are your thoughts? I mean Ravens, you win this game, you're right back in the mix to win this division.
- [99:17]
Stucky
Yeah, my gut says that the Ravens are going to win and cover this game, but I know better. I know that these games are always close no matter what. I mean since 2008 when Harbaugh got to Baltimore, favorites of three or more in this matchup of Harbaugh Tomlin are 2, 19 and 3 against the spread, that's less than 10%. Two hundred and nineteen and three. Harbaugh is a favorite of a field goal or more against the Steelers. 012 against the spread, 27 of these of 33 matchups have been decided by one possession. The average score in these games is 19.5 to 19.4. Over half the games have been decided by a field goal or less. They're just always close. There's so much familiarity. Tom usually does a good job against mobile quarterbacks. Now the reason I can't bet this yet, like I think this line should be seven if Watt and Pickens are out. So I, I can't really bet this game without knowing their status. Wad is so important. I mean if you look historically their defense falls off a cliff without him. He not only is he important for he'll make a game changing play almost once a game but he draws so much attention so it frees up other guys. It's also solid against the run, I think their defense, it gives up like a touchdown more historically when he's been out of the lineup. And then Pickens, they need him. This offense is not very efficient with Russ. He just. They need to hit explosive plays downfield. Right? It's like run, run, run, punt, rely on your D. Run, run, run, punt, hit an explosive play, score a touchdown. Like that's just how the Steelers want to play. And Pickens is the key piece to that. So does he play? I don't know. So it's like your most important offensive player and your most important defensive player. I think that's the difference in whether this game is close or not. Because the Ravens, yeah, they're 1 and 8 against the Steelers. By the way, this is the first time Lamar will play in Baltimore against the Steelers with fans in the stands. First time ever. The only other time he did it was in 2020 in Covid. The other four matchups since he's been in the league hurt her. Week 18, rested. Week 18 rested. Pretty crazy. But his numbers against the Steelers are not good. But I will say this Ravens defense is trending up and they're passy the run. He's been good all year and they're getting healthy again on the defensive line. But they moved Kyle Hamilton back to safety and he's allowed over the last five games. You know, he was playing linebacker, edge, you know, corner. He's playing all over the place and doing it in all pro level. But they said our back end of our defense is broken and that's how good this kid is. And they just put him. He's just playing deep safety a lot more. He's left one catch in five games over three yards. So they put him back there. They benched their veteran safeties who were playing really poorly. Guys like Williams and. And they put our Darius Washington back there. He's been great. And then Wiggins, their rookie, is starting to play really well. He's he along with Lassiter and Stingley. I mentioned he's top three in in catch rate allowed. So, you know, and then they have Humphrey just manning the slot. So their past is really coming together and this is like a defense that's trending in the right direction for the playoffs. Kind of going a little under the radar because, you know, it was the Giants and. But their past is actually better than people might think because it was a mess early on in the year. They couldn't anything deeper and over the middle was a disaster. There's still some weak areas in the middle of the Field because of the linebackers, but trending up. But man, I also, it's worth mentioning because this decided the first meeting, the kickers, he's my guy, Tucker, but again, tough stadium to kick in. Steelers have the edge here in kicker and if it's going to be a close game, maybe that's the difference. But I, I can't do any. This is a week, a weird week in the NFL. There are so many injuries, so many key injuries, you know, from Mahomes to Pickens, Watt, Gino Smith and then you have all these backup quarterbacks playing. It's a crazy week. I just need to know the status of Watt and Pickens, if they're both out. I like the Ravens, but I might not bet it just because I've been watching this rivalry for 15 years and no matter what, no matter what these teams look like, who's out, it's just close somehow. So I'm.
- [103:43]
Doug Gottlieb
Yeah, I got a couple more games for you. Speaking of injuries, the Niners, I guess Kyle just, you know, Garendo who played last week, probably out now with a different injury. So they're on like their 17th running back. I think Miami fucking stinks. And the Niners, you know, for a bad team, are still going to try to finish hard. Like if you're Kyle, you desperately even going to miss the playoffs, want to finish nine and eight because now you have the second pick in the draft. They're drafting 15 right now, so they're going to try really hard down the stretch. But Trent Williams is out now for good. You got Bosa banged up. I mean, it's just, it's really difficult, you know, and they're favored on the road. I don't know. That's a game that I love, the Niners, you know, getting a point against Miami, but you just have to wonder like, does it eventually catch up to him? Maybe they're a little motivated after what happened with Campbell. And the other game that stands out to me is like, you know, this happened in reverse to the Rams two weeks ago when the Bills came out. They get a massive win and they just kind of lay an egg. Those cross country flights I used to make them from Philly to, to the Bay or Sacramento, it's just, it's a long time in the air. Even if you're flying like these guys are flying and whether you're gaining hours or losing hours, I do wonder a little bit. You know, the Rams, they control their own destiny with those last two games. Now Seattle's kind of in shambles. Hell, Seattle could easily lose this weekend in Minnesota. I don't want to say lay an egg, but just come out flat a little against this jets team who's just shown a little more life. I got that thing circled as just a potential to get be a weird result and definitely a weird early game like ah, the Rams look flat.
- [105:18]
Stucky
You well, you nailed two game, two bets that I made. I bet the. I bet the 49ers reluctantly because who knows who's showing up in that game. But I trust the 49ers more to show up and they have extra rest here. Hopefully they get a couple guys back like Mustafa Bosa because of the extra rest.
- [105:36]
Doug Gottlieb
And Purdy and Kyle are like a combo deal. They need to justify with the owner like we're going to pay you, right? Yeah, because Kyle wants to pay him, Purdy wants his money. They got to play well.
- [105:45]
Stucky
Dolphins play a ton of zone. Purdy usually rips that up. And the Miami's beat up their offensive line. They have no tackles. Waddle I think is going to be out. That means they only have three healthy receivers. You got Tyreek Hill, Washington and River Craycraft on the, on the entire roster. I mean they're going to bring some guys up, but that's it. Just bracket Hill who's not the same player right now and they stop the Dolphins. You can't run the ball right now because they're offensive line injuries. So it's tough. But I like the 49ers on the road in a matchup of two teams that basically got eliminated last week and then yeah, I bet the jets plus three and a half. It's too many points. I can't get to this number like the jets have. They're not great but they've lost seven one possession games. Like most of the time they're in games. They just, they were unlucky early in the year. Their offense is finally showing some life. Like Rogers looks a bit better. I think he was dealing with an injury earlier on the season. The last four games he's eight touchdowns, one pick, 68 completion percentage. They're averaging 27 points per game. And you know when I. Devonte was.
- [106:44]
Doug Gottlieb
Awesome obviously last week.
- [106:46]
Stucky
Yeah. And this Ram secondary you can get. I think some of their younger guys are hitting the wall a little bit on defense and yeah, this is just a sleepy spot for the Rams who on the road all year. What have they done? This is an indoor team when they go on the road outdoors. Not the same offense on the road all year. This team I Think they covered one time. I mean this team, they lost at the Bears, at the Patriots was a close game. Too late. At the Saints was a close game until very late. And you know, at the Seahawks, they won. They should have lost that game. They won in overtime. They come out flat on the road almost every week. So I think this is another spot where that happens.
- [107:28]
Doug Gottlieb
Stafford was horrendous in the first half against the Niners.
- [107:31]
Stucky
Yep. And if you go back to last year, this same exact spot happened. The Rams went on their late season surge and the week before playing the 49ers, which was like a huge game for the playoffs. I think the Rams needed to win. They went to New York. Now they didn't play the jets, they played the Giants. And I think Tyrod Taylor was starting and they won. But they won. They were like minus five. They won 26, 25. And the. Tyrod Taylor almost picked them off. And yeah, I mean that game was super close right till the end. So I think this game is close. This line is just too high because people see how bad like the jets record, the Rams have been surging. But I don't think the Rams are, you know, five, six points better than the jets who are showing life of late. And you know, you get a playoff team in at home, I think they'll carry here and you got some corners who can match up with the Rams receivers. So yeah, I think too many points here.
- [108:37]
Doug Gottlieb
Like we're heads at Stucky. Well, let's, let's enjoy a historic first year of the playoffs. Saturday and Friday night football at Notre Dame at Ohio State. That's. Listen, that's, that's pretty cool. If you would have told someone that five years ago would have put a lot of smiles on people's faces. And now gambling, we get to bet on it legally all across the country. So have a great weekend, Stucky. And go Jets.
- [109:03]
Stucky
Yeah. By the way, fun nugget. It'll be the first Friday home game for Notre Dame since 1900 when they beat the Chicago Physicians and Surgeons. Five nothing. And I think someone, someone sent me that. I don't even know if that's true. That could be a. But I know that it's. Let's see, it's the first time it's on a network. First time a Notre Dame home games not on the NBC since 1990.
- [109:34]
Doug Gottlieb
My guess is the Chicago Physicians and Surgeons lack some team speed. We're always in the right spot. Very smart group, but probably not too dynamic in space. If I had to give a scouting report without watching the film, would you guess that would probably didn't have much speed on the outside be my guess. And not much bulk in the middle.
- [109:56]
Stucky
I think my friend might have been sending me a fake tweet.
- [109:59]
Doug Gottlieb
If that's true, that's fucking incredible. It's very believable. I'm going to believe it. I mean it's 120 years ago, so.
- [110:05]
Stucky
I know it's the first one on a Friday in forever.
- [110:08]
Doug Gottlieb
I think my friend Shanahan liking one of the quarterbacks on the Physicians and Service team.
- [110:14]
Stucky
All right, enjoy the weekend, brother. I'll see you next time.
- [110:16]
Doug Gottlieb
I'll see you, brother. Later.
- [110:17]
Stucky
Cheers. The Volume.
- [110:25]
Adnan Burke
What's up, everybody? Adnan Burke here to tell you about a new podcast. It's NHL Unscripted with Verkin Demers, Jason Imers here.
- [110:31]
Jason Demers
And after playing 700 NHL games, I got a lot of dirty laundry to air out.
- [110:35]
Adnan Burke
Hey, I got a lot to say here too, okay? Each week we'll get together to chat about the sport that we love.
- [110:40]
Jason Demers
Tons of guests are going to join in too. But we're not just gonna be talking hockey, folks. We're talking movies, we're talking talking tv, food, and Adnan's favorite wrestling. It's all on le table.
- [110:49]
Adnan Burke
Listen to NHL Unscripted with Virgin Demers, the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [110:57]
Justin Penick
Catch Jon Stewart back in action on the Daily show and in your ears with the Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. From his hilarious satirical takes on today's politics and entertainment to the unique voices of correspondence and contribute contributors, it's your perfect companion to stay on top of what's happening now. Plus, you'll get special content just for podcast listeners, like in depth interviews and a roundup of the week's top headlines. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [111:31]
Bobby Skinner
What's up, everyone? It's Justin Panick from John Boy Media, the host of the Football Today podcast with Bobby Skinner and Chris Rose. We roll three times a week. On Mondays, on Wednesdays, on Fridays. Breaking down everything you need to know about the NFL. We're gearing up for the NFL playoffs. I hope you can join us. Join in with us three times a week. Listen to Football Today on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts and you will be glad you did.