Championship Sunday: Darnold's Moment, Pats Bury Stidham, Steelers Hire Mike McCarthy, and Blue Man Group

Summary

The Ringer Fantasy Football Show: "Championship Sunday"

January 26, 2026 | Host: Danny Heifetz | Guests: Danny Kelly and Craig Horlbeck

---

Overview

This episode of The Ringer Fantasy Football Show covers a dramatic and memorable NFL Championship Sunday, featuring the Seattle Seahawks’ victory over the Rams and the New England Patriots’ gritty, snowy win over Denver. The hosts dissect two nail-biting games, analyze Sam Darnold's redemption arc, debate the fairness of weather in NFL playoffs, address the Steelers' surprising hiring of Mike McCarthy, and cap things off with lively banter about everything from the Blue Man Group to Girl Scout cookies.

Through their signature blend of sharp insight and playful banter, Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, and Craig Horlbeck deliver a detailed recap for fantasy players and NFL diehards alike.

---

Key Discussion Points and Insights

---

1. Opening on Current Events & the Mood of the Day

• [01:05] Danny Heifetz briefly addresses recent troubling news involving federal agents, acknowledging the emotional and historical gravity before switching gears to football.

---

2. Seahawks Outlast the Rams: Darnold's Defining Moment

Game: Seahawks 31, Rams 27

• [03:13] The crew marvels at Sam Darnold leading Seattle to the Super Bowl, highlighting the wild fourth quarter and anxiety-inducing clock management by Rams coach Sean McVay.
• Key Point: McVay’s repeated clock management blunders (e.g., burning critical timeouts to debate a challenge) possibly cost the Rams the game.
  • “Calling a timeout to debate a challenge when there's one minute left... I don't know how you can be so smart…” – Danny Heifetz [04:13]
  • “It was brutal... and then he ended up not even throwing the flag.” – Danny Kelly [05:19]
• [06:34] Special teams’ errors and narrow margins dominated the matchup; each team had “8 plays that are gonna be so hard to think about for the rest of your life.” – Danny Kelly [09:05]

Darnold’s Coming-of-Age

• [08:30] Darnold drew praise for how clean and decisive he played, especially down the stretch:
  • “Even in the crucial moment, it wasn't like, ‘let's take the ball out of his hands.’ They leaned in… and that's the confidence you need to go into the Super Bowl.” – Craig Horlbeck
• [09:46] The game played out as predicted—a shootout, decided by a handful of critical mistakes and miracle plays.

Seattle’s Young Stars Step Up

• [12:02] Jackson Smith-Njigba’s performance—highlighted by a one-handed catch and a key TD—gets attention for his toughness and reliability.
• [15:00] Ken Walker III’s explosive runs and pass-catching made the difference; “This is why explosiveness is something you cannot have enough of on offense.” – Danny Kelly [16:49]

Notable Quotes

• “Sam Darnold is gonna be the quarterback of the Super Bowl and it doesn’t feel wrong. Feels right.” – Craig Horlbeck [18:55]
• “It’s a forever feather in the cap for nature vs. nurture.” – Danny Heifetz [19:52]

---

3. Patriots Survive in the Snow: Situational Masterclass

Game: Patriots 10, Broncos 7 (Snow Bowl)

• [25:16] The crew laments the ugly, blizzard conditions that stifled Denver's offense and neutralized playmaking, but credits Mike Vrabel’s old-school coaching in the elements.
• [27:08] Weather Debate: Craig and Heifetz defend the tradition and drama of snow games:
  • “The gladiators didn’t fight in a dome!” – Craig Horlbeck [28:28]
  • “Football is just cosplay for war... you can’t just be like ‘I don’t feel like fighting, it’s cold.’” – Danny Heifetz [29:27]
• [31:06] Vrabel’s defensive game plan and approach are heralded as potentially one of the best coaching performances in recent memory.

Key Factor: Backup QBs and Coaching Decisions

• [32:00] Jared Stidham’s devastating miscue—a chest pass fumble under pressure—effectively cost the Broncos their Super Bowl shot.
• [32:54] Sean Payton criticized for passing on field goals early, possibly altering Denver’s outcome.

Notable Stats & Facts

• Patriots allowed Denver just 32 total yards in the second half [31:17].
• The game featured 14 punts and 3 missed field goals [36:46].
• “This is the worst the Patriots are ever going to be in the entire Drake May era.” – Danny Heifetz [39:12]

---

4. AFC/NFC Championship Fallout

Was the Right Team Represented?

• The trio debates if New England truly deserved to advance given their offensive struggles—but their defense, resilience and coaching made the difference.

Path to the Super Bowl

• The Pats’ path is “one of the easiest ever,” but the hosts credit their situational excellence and note this is merely year one for rookie QB Drake May.

Patriots as Villains

• [26:13, 40:19] The hosts needle Patriots fans for returning to glory so quickly:
  • "Just be happy your fraud team made the Super Bowl. That’s the dream.” – Craig Horlbeck [25:47]
  • “All these Pats fans, if they’re mad at us right now, okay—beat the Seahawks. I’ll shut up.” – Craig Horlbeck [40:25]

---

5. Steelers Hire Mike McCarthy: Pittsburgh’s Most Pittsburgh Move

[53:35–62:34]

• The Pittsburgh Steelers choose Mike McCarthy as their new head coach, continuing their tradition of picking local connections.
  • “The Steelers hired the Pittsburgh Steelers of coaches.” – Craig Horlbeck [53:39]
• Hosts mock the hiring process, roasting the emphasis on McCarthy’s hometown roots.
  • “I think there is zero chance Mike McCarthy gets this job if he's not from Pittsburgh.” – Danny Heifetz [54:52]
  • “We put way too much emphasis on where the hell people are from.” – Craig Horlbeck [54:53]
• Skepticism abounds about his ability to innovate, citing his “mediocrity, brutal playoff losses, and questionable play calling.” The consensus: it’s a safe but uninspiring move.

---

6. Tom Brady as a Broadcaster & Announcer Growth

• [41:47] Craig raves about Brady’s improved TV performance: “He feels calmer in the pocket... his anecdotes are relevant and not meandering.”
• [43:39] The crew values his inside-the-huddle perspective and technical analysis—suggests he’s “a year away from being the best ever” in the booth.

---

7. Miscellany: Blue Man Group, Cirque Du Soleil & Cookie Discourse

Vegas Shtick

• [80:19] Blue Man Group is crowned as the "most Vegas" thing possible, sparking playful musing about showbiz anonymity (“most famous thing in the world nobody would recognize out of costume”).

Girl Scout Cookie Hot Take

• [87:22–89:44] Danny Heifetz delivers a provocative argument that Girl Scout cookies are “the worst kind of cookies” and only sell because of their “guilt-free” angle—sparking heated but good-natured debate.

---

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• “Sam Darnold’s grandfather was named Dick Hammer. And he was the freakin’ Marlboro Man.” – Danny Kelly [73:05]
• “Football is just cosplay for war… you can’t just be like, ‘I don’t feel like fighting, it’s cold and snowy.’” – Danny Heifetz [29:27]
• “The Steelers hired the Pittsburgh Steelers of coaches.” – Craig Horlbeck [53:39]
• “It’s one of those games you’ll remember the rest of your life and it’s only possible because it’s snowing.” – Craig Horlbeck [27:55]
• “The Steelers, they’re like, ‘let’s just take the guy who works in the building.’” – Danny Heifetz [55:18]
• “Blue Man Group—that’s the most Vegas, dude.” – Danny Kelly [80:26]

---

Important Segment Timestamps

• [03:13] – Seahawks-Rams, Darnold's performance
• [08:30] – Darnold gets confidence; closing stretches
• [12:02] – JSN’s breakout, Ken Walker’s contributions
• [23:34] – Seahawks-Patriots Super Bowl rematch preview
• [25:16] – Patriots-Broncos summary, snow game impact
• [31:06] – Mike Vrabel's coaching masterclass
• [32:00] – Stidham’s critical error
• [53:29] – Steelers hire McCarthy, hometown focus criticism
• [41:47] – Tom Brady’s TV improvement
• [73:05] – “Dick Hammer” and Darnold’s family trivia
• [87:22] – Girl Scout cookie debate

---

Tone & Language

The hosts are conversational, irreverent, occasionally self-deprecating, and deeply knowledgeable. They freely mix sharp technical analysis with silly digressions and playful arguments, keeping the tone lively and accessible to both diehard and casual fans.

---

For Listeners Who Missed the Episode

This is a wide-ranging, hilarious, and insightful episode that breaks down Championship Sunday’s key games, heroes, goats, and coaching decisions. The dynamics of the Super Bowl are previewed, coaching carousel drama dissected, and the show ends with cultural commentary (Blue Man Group, movie festivals, cookie hot takes). All the while, the joy and agony of fandom and football shine through.

---

Contact: Email [e-mail] for fantasy advice, feedback, or Vegas recommendations.

---

NOTE: Ad reads and show promotions have been omitted; this summary focuses on primary content for listener value.

Transcript

[Ad Voice]

If you've been diagnosed with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, this is what it sounds like to be a million miles away. Imagine being a million miles away. Trymphya Kucelcomab, taken by injection, is a prescription medicine for adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis who may benefit from taking injections or pills or phototherapy With Tremphya. Clearer skin is possible. In clinical Trials, at least 70% of patients saw at least 90% clearer skin at 16 weeks. Results may vary. Tremphya is also indicated for adults with active psoriatic arthritis. Serious allergic reactions and increased risk of infections and liver problems may occur. Before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu like symptoms or if you need a vaccine. Tap this ad to learn more about Tremphya, including important safety information.

[Danny Heifetz]

This episode is brought to you by TaxAct. TaxAct helps tackle taxes, guiding you step by step so you can get your maximum refund. Get tips along the way, add expert assist to talk to tax experts or let our experts do your taxes for you with expert full service. TaxAct helps you find the deductions and credits you deserve so you can get them over with. Visit taxact.com to learn more. More conditions apply. See taxact.com for details. Hey everyone, before we start, we don't always talk about current affairs on the show. And I know the show is an escape for people, but sometimes these things are inescapable. And federal agents shot and killed Alex Preddy in Minneapolis this weekend, two weeks after an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Goode. And to be totally honest with you guys, I just felt that if we talk for 90 minutes about football and didn't bring this up, it would feel inauthentic. And so we just want to acknowledge mass. Federal agents are killing people in the street with apparent impunity and we need accountability. And so it feels weird to talk about football with what's happening in Minneapolis and other places around the country and it just feels like feels like a watershed moment in American history. So we are going to dig into all the action from Sunday, but we think it's important to acknowledge the impact these events are having on so many people. I have no good segue from that into football, but we're going to play the music and we're going to do our best. Welcome to the Ringer Fantasy Football Show. My name is Danny Heifet. I'm joined by Danny Kelly and Craig Horobeck. Craig, you're coming to us from Utah. You're At Sundance Film Festival and you're recording on a potato.

[Craig Horobeck]

That is correct. Recording the old school way like we used to. Like a year ago. I apologize to everyone on. I'm officially. This is the ugliest image that's ever been on Netflix. So congrats. Yeah, I'm sorry about that, but I will. A lot of Seahawks fans in Utah. Dk.

[Danny Heifetz]

Oh, really nice Seahawks Patriots in the super bowl rematch. DK Sam Darnold has led the Seattle Seahawks to the promised land. How do you feel?

[Danny Kelly]

He has exercised the demons. This house is clear. That is a. Yeah. He's Ventura for those who don't know. Yeah. This is crazy. I honestly, that game, I was telling you guys before the show, I'm like sweating right now. That was the scariest fourth quarter I've ever experienced. Also exhilarating. I thought the Rams were gonna pull it off for a minute there. There was like a horrible recall in sequence that was going to live in my dreams for the rest of my life. Thank God that's not actually gonna happen now.

[Danny Heifetz]

Taunting on the sideline. And then I did the fourth and.

[Danny Kelly]

12, and then it was a touchdown on the next play on Reek Wolin also, he dropped a pick on that play before he taunted and whatever. So that was tough. Just added to the drama. But feel good now, obviously. So. Yeah, yeah. Crazy, crazy game.

[Danny Heifetz]

There's a lot to get to. So the Rams. Seahawks. The Seahawks win 31 to 20.

[Danny Kelly]

87.

[Danny Heifetz]

Right? Oh, yeah. That was the final score. We'll go with that. 31, 27. And I unfortunately think we have to start with Sean VAY using all of his timeouts with three minutes left in the game, including, not to be harsh, but holy crap, this is a week after Sean McVay with the Bears game kind of acknowledged to that Peter Schrager mentioned this on Bill's show on Friday that McVeigh kind of knew. Knew he botched the clock management last week for Chicago. Comes into this week with the Seahawks and calls a timeout to debate whether he needs to challenge the play, which is a mistake. That's when Jeff Fisher would do that 15 years ago when they made the rule that if you lose a challenge, you lose a timeout. The punishment for losing a challenge is losing a timeout. So calling a timeout to debate a challenge when there's one minute left in the game to use any of your challenges, I don't know how you can be so smart.

[Danny Kelly]

There's a Jerry Seinfeld. There's a Jerry Seinfeld. Bit in there. Somehow you know how to, you know how to use the timeout. But it was just like, yeah, that was brutal. And he's like talking and then he ended up not even throwing the flag.

[Craig Horobeck]

No. And then they used another timeout on the next play. They were out of timeouts.

[Danny Heifetz]

I, that was horrific. And I, the play and then the drive before that, which was I think the single best drive of Matt Stafford's entire career outside took like 10 seconds.

[Danny Kelly]

Hot knife through butter.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, that was crazy. I, I, the Stafford. I think the only time I've seen Stafford play better than that. I'm sure maybe there are other ones I'm forgetting he's 38 years old. But at the super bowl going down like the no look passes to Cooper cup to win that game. But outside of that, that drive Stafford had that gotten the goal line where.

[Craig Horobeck]

Oh, sorry, you're talking about the methodical driver. He checked down the whole way and then. Oh, I was talking about that crazy touchdown drive that lasted like 10 seconds. So I'm talking about a different drive. But you're right. Continue. Sorry.

[Danny Heifetz]

No, yeah, I, the whole thing was incredible. But just I, I, the, that drive ended, the one with the, the long one and McVeigh ends and is screaming into his play sheet when they go turn over on downs on that one screaming.

[Danny Kelly]

Devin Witherspoon broke up a pass that was intended for the rookie Ferguson, I believe he kind of. Witherspoon ran his route underneath. Great play. That was the fourth down. And then you see McVay just screaming into his. Was he screaming because he was mad at himself for the play caller because they had an open guy?

[Danny Heifetz]

I think, I think he was screaming fuck. Because he knew they were going to lose the game. I think he was screaming at a rage. And also the drive before when they had the touchdown, which again, I mean, the Rams. Look, this is all the things we talked about. McVeigh's Clock Management. It's the special teams. The Rams fumbled upon, recovered it in the first half, fumbled another punt in the second half, didn't recover it. Seahawks immediately get the touchdown. The reek woolen 4th and 12 kind of undid that, but overall, like, there were so many mistakes that the Rams ended up making the clock management. I don't want to put this on McVay, but you combine the timeouts at the end and how the game just petered out and the Rams even almost got to the 50 for El Mary. If they had any timeouts, they would have had a serious shot at the end combined with the fact that when they went, they scored a touchdown to cut it to five. They kick an extra point to go up four instead of even trying for a two point conversion to cut it to three, which they would have been able to do on fourth down. I don't want to put this in McVeigh because McVeigh's like maybe the best coach in the whole league, but I don't know how he's going to sleep tonight.

[Craig Horobeck]

He's got too many jobs. It's hard when you're calling all those plays. You got to manage the clock. It was brutal. I honestly think both these teams played well. The Rams just made a couple bad mistakes and they lost the game. And like, the Seahawks were clean. Man, Darnold was so clean. The Seahawks were just outside of the woolen unsportsman like conduct, which was very questionable that we can get into. The Seahawks just played a really clean game, like Jared Verse jumping off sides. The Xavier Smith fumble on the punt was absolutely brutal. The Parkinson drop on that final drive, that could have maybe even been a touchdown. The Rams just made some big mistakes and Stafford played well and the team generally played well. They just had like three to four big mistakes in Seattle didn't. And Donald was rock solid and McDonald stuck with Darnold the entire fourth quarter. Even at the end of the game, they were closing the game, dropping Darnold back and trusting him to make throws. And every throw he made was. Was right on the money. It was solid. It was saf. I thought that was super impressive and just like an awesome moment for Darnold that like, even in the crucial moment, it wasn't like, all right, let's take the ball out of his hands because we're afraid of him. And they leaned in and that's the confidence you need to go into the Super Bowl.

[Danny Kelly]

This is what I've been saying all year. I have just unlimited confidence in Darnold to come through in the clutch.

[Craig Horobeck]

Well, it's funny because the first quarter like. Like the second throw he made was like a pick should have been a pick, if you remember that. And then, since then, he was perfect.

[Danny Heifetz]

That's how both games kind of started because Drake May's first throw the of the Patriots Broncos game was a pick six that Ufanga for the Broncos just dropped. And then it changed the whole game. And Darnold kind of. It was kind of like that. Similarly, but dk, you were texting in the middle that this was like a heavyweight fight with Darnold just going Toe to toe with Matt Stafford and he won.

[Danny Kelly]

I know. It's. This game is crazy. I think just what you guys were talking about during that whole set, like so many times in an NFC championship game, AFC championship, these. These do or die go to the super bowl or go home games. You're gonna look back all off season probably, and some guys, like all the rest of your life, about one or two little plays that made the difference in the game. I felt like there was eight plays in this game that kind of were just like, oh, my God, that is gonna be so hard to think about for the rest of your life.

[Craig Horobeck]

The.

[Danny Kelly]

The. Was it. Parkinson dropped. There's so many of these.

[Danny Heifetz]

Oh, my. That was also in Stafford's long drive. Was the. Like the third down. Colby Parkinson drop. That was a walking touchdown.

[Danny Kelly]

Yes. But, you know, not to pat ourselves on the back, but I feel like this game went exactly how we thought it would go and how everybody thought it would go. It was just like back and forth. The Seahawks, for whatever reason, cannot stop the Rams. The Rams offense is the only offense that in the NFL that did this to the Seahawks all year. Literally the only offense that could move the ball like this on the Seahawks this year was the Rams. And Stafford was making incredible throws. It came down to the final drive. Puka Dakua barely had his shin down on that out route at the. At the end of the game. If. If he would have been out of bounds, they could have tossed it up from midfield.

[Danny Heifetz]

That bothered me. Like, that was. That was. I just let him throw a hail Mary. That was silly to me.

[Danny Kelly]

I'm like, yeah, sure. That sounds great. What are you talking about? His knee was just because of vibes.

[Danny Heifetz]

Oh, In a quarter of a second. It's one of them. Like, oh, dude.

[Danny Kelly]

He was clearly. He was clearly in bounds.

[Craig Horobeck]

We on the refs all the time. And I feel like the refs nailing that in the moment was extremely impressive. And then if you even to the Cooper cup first down, that was debatable. Where McVeigh screwed up the timeouts, they also got that right in the moment where Cup, I think, did get the.

[Danny Heifetz]

First out of bounds.

[Danny Kelly]

100%.

[Danny Heifetz]

They don't treat it that scientifically all the time.

[Danny Kelly]

Go away.

[Danny Heifetz]

They wanted a lot.

[Craig Horobeck]

He was in bounds. That was the right call. They nailed it. What? What do you want?

[Danny Heifetz]

Sure, it's fine. Let me.

[Craig Horobeck]

Sure.

[Danny Heifetz]

Whatever. I'm not dying on this. I don't care this much.

[Craig Horobeck]

And they nailed it in the moment.

[Danny Heifetz]

I don't care that much. It's not that.

[Craig Horobeck]

What are you going on about? Are you saying you wish that they were just like now he was out and then we watched the replay and we're like no, he was in but they just let the rams get.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's one of those that when you. I don't know. I watch when you. I rewound it. I watched it live and I'm like he's going a hundred miles an hour and he just like 90 of his body lands out of bounds and during the flow of a game that's just not ref that way. I don't care. It's not that big of a deal.

[Danny Kelly]

Guess what?

[Craig Horobeck]

They would have throw a Hail mar from the 50s.

[Danny Heifetz]

I'm not trying to get stuck on this.

[Danny Kelly]

Let's just move on.

[Danny Heifetz]

He would have lost the game. We're moving on.

[Danny Kelly]

Insane take. Let's move on.

[Danny Heifetz]

I'm not even arguing.

[Craig Horobeck]

That's a horrible take.

[Danny Kelly]

Horrible.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's not a take.

[Craig Horobeck]

I just.

[Danny Heifetz]

Oh my God. I and I I literally am not even.

[Danny Kelly]

Thank you. Thank you for saying all this.

[Danny Heifetz]

They would have had a oh my God. I'm not even fighting.

[Craig Horobeck]

It would have been a 50 yard Hail Mary. Like that could happen. I don't know what we're doing here.

[Danny Heifetz]

Whatever. I so I just.

[Craig Horobeck]

I would pick over any wide receipt. Probably him and Devonte Adams would be my first two picks for Hail Mary.

[Danny Kelly]

Wide receivers and Matt Stafford other than Aaron Rodgers.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, I was gonna say so but speaking of Puka though, the other guy in this Jackson. Not just Darnold and Stafford but Pukinakua. I I think Jackson, Smith and Jake but kind of outplayed Puka Niku in this game and Jigba was was I the the trio of Sam Darnold and Jigba and Ken Walker were unbelievable for the Seahawks in this game. I jsn I don't want to say single handedly but almost literally single handedly got the Seahawks down in the first half. The one he had the crazy one hand catch in the first half where he just caught it. It was like spider man. It was instantly in his hands. Possession and then the final drive before halftime. Another shot. Another one where I hate to say it but like Mike Vrabel would never have given the Seahawks two possessions inside the two minute warning at the end of the first half. Like this is a Tom Brady old school Patriots Belichick thing which is the first priority is not giving the other team the ball. Then the second priority scoring. The Rams gave the Seahawks two possessions and JSN had that one over the middle. Then the touchdown out of the backfield. JSN was unbelievable.

[Danny Kelly]

I was going to say that drive, that. So that was the drive right before half. The Seahawks were winning at the time, or, sorry, the rams are winning 13 to 10 with like a minute left or whatever.

[Craig Horobeck]

And the momentum had fully shifted to 100%.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah. And it was like the Seahawks kind of crumbled a little bit. There was like a weird play where Sam Darnold blew up a drive because he missed the snap.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah.

[Danny Kelly]

JSN on that drive, made three incredible plays. The first one was he caught the ball in traffic where basically the. The DB was raking across his hands and he just hung onto it. It was such a strong, incredible catch. He got that. The next play, they hit him on a over or it was like a post route down the middle. He gets absolutely blown up at the catch point, hangs onto it. The next play, or maybe it was a couple plays in between, and then another play later on the drive, he lines up in the backfield, which is something that they've been doing with him a little bit this year. It's really fun. And he runs a route out of the backfield into the corner of the end zone. The Rams don't pick it up. They get confused, and he hits and he has a touchdown. To me, that's like such a distillation of JSN's season. He's just. And then he made a couple, like, really clutch plays late in the game, too. But, man, he is just so good, so reliable, so clutch. Cooper cup, by the way, deserves a lot of credit in this game, too. Cooper cup had some huge plays. He scored a touchdown.

[Danny Heifetz]

The exciting whites.

[Craig Horobeck]

Bobo. Yeah, Cup.

[Danny Heifetz]

Cup against the Rams, obviously. Colby Parkinson on the Rams again, former Seahawk, but obviously cup is the cooler, former Ram who got very, very upset when he was cut by the Rams and went to Seattle. But the jsn. I can't say enough about JSN and the toughness they showed him on the sideline after that drive where he had the touchdown and he got the shit kicked out of him. His. His arm looked like Mendoza in the championship game. He was bleeding. It was like. Honestly, it was so black and blue already and like an open wound, just like bleeding underneath his shoulder pads. And he was. It was so impressive. But yeah, Cooper cup, this was everyone. And Ken Walker. Cannot say enough about Ken Walker. The amount of times 10 damn years you have been saying it for 10 damage.

[Danny Kelly]

Ken Walker is so good.

[Danny Heifetz]

You. No one has been more consistent. Like, why doesn't Ken Walker play more than you, Danny Kelly? And I got to give you your props because this was a game where sometimes he strikes out when he should get on base, and sometimes there he should strike out and he hits a home run. And this game was all dingers from Ken Walker. I think his longest run of the game was only 11 yards.

[Danny Kelly]

But the receiving dumper, he's Cal Raleigh. Who cares about the freaking strikeouts? I want the home runs.

[Craig Horobeck]

And they were all crucial. He was like full Saquon today. Like straight up. He just wants Saquon. Like him making guys miss in the backfield. Him in the receiving game.

[Danny Kelly]

The receiving game was a big thing. And that's something that people kind of overlook this season, is him on screenplays and little dump offs. He's actually really good at creating after the catch, getting them explosive plays when it doesn't look like it's going to happen. There was one play on duo, I just, I don't remember exactly when it was. It was just like. And he showed his little. He kind of showed a little bit of patience right before the line and then he just hits the gas and picks up like 10 yards before you even see him. So he was, he was incredible. He's been incredible for the Seahawks down the stretch.

[Danny Heifetz]

I believe he's the most missed tackles per touch in the entire league among all running backs this season. I, I'm sorry, I forget where I think Dan Pizzuta maybe had that, that stat this year, but I, I, Ken Walker, it's the kind of. It's the exact kind of stuff that doesn't show up in a box score. Cause if you look at the box score just said Ken Walker, eight yard catch, but the cat should have lost two yards. The amount of times that he just makes a cut. And then. Yeah, I mean, the cut you said in the hole where he made it was Omar Spates just whiffed in the hole. Which is like the most underrated characteristic a running back can have is making guys miss in the hole. But also, Ken Walker just does stuff and he just kind of runs. He gets to the corner so quickly. He's just so shifty. And he created so many. It's about first downs. It's not always big plays and explosives. He's just keeping them turning a loss on 1st and 10 to like 8 yards or trading 2nd and 4. You're going to lose 2 yards into getting the first down in between him, JSN and everyone.

[Danny Kelly]

But honestly, man, the first drive, it's the first drive with the Seahawks march down the field, third and two or three or whatever it is, and Kenneth Walker takes the handoff. There's I think three rams right in his way and he bounces it to the outside, beats the guy to the corner, gets in. This, to me, is why explosiveness is something you cannot have enough of on offense. I believe I've been a huge believer in Kenneth Walker because of this. You cannot capture his explosiveness and success rate because, because a 50 yard run on first down is the same as whatever it is, a seven yard run on first down. That's success rate. So to me, it's the explosives. It's the way he beats tackles and defeats tackles. It's just that value, it's just so huge for the Seahawks offense that especially in a game where you want to get things going and not ask Sam Darnold to do too much at first, obviously they asked a lot of him in this game and he, and he came through big time. But he's been massive down the stretch for the season.

[Danny Heifetz]

Seahawks to that point, about Ken Walker and Cal Raleigh. The Seahawks, they're sorry. The Mariners catcher hit 60 home runs. Big dumper. And Ken Walker is, it's kind of like measuring Cal Raleigh by on base percentage.

[Danny Kelly]

Right?

[Danny Heifetz]

You don't do that. You do slugging percentage because it's about how many fricking, it's about how many dingers he has.

[Danny Kelly]

And it's like Cal, I mean, Raleigh had some clutch hits in the playoffs too. He had a bunch of, he had at least like three or four home runs in the playoffs as well, so. Exactly. Yeah. It's like to me, the success rate stuff is so overplayed. It's like, give me those explosives. Give me the, give me the broken tackles, give me the plays. Plays that gets your offensive lineman fucking jacked up and wanting to block for you. Oh.

[Danny Heifetz]

Overall, the reality is the Seahawks and Rams were probably the best and most consistent NFL teams the entire season. And these were in the, not just the nfc, but the entire league. And all three games lived up to it. And these teams live on the cutting edge, schematically on offense and defense. And when the first time they played this season, like it changes around the league, how these teams are defended and have to play it. They are ahead of everyone. And the Seahawks, they, they edged them out, man, I, I, this is it. It was pretty awesome. But yeah, credit to Mike McDonald. Oh yeah. I said it's out.

[Danny Kelly]

You said it. You get mad at me for saying edging.

[Craig Horobeck]

Yeah, My, my, my friend, my friend texted me after the game and said Darnold is going to a Super bowl. And it not feeling fraudulent is an all time turnaround story. And I think that's a really great way to put it. Yeah, like Sam Darnold is going to be the quarterback of the super bowl, might win a Super bowl and it doesn't feel wrong, feels right, feels like he deserves it and he played well enough. Two years ago, Sam Darnold's reputation was in the gutter. Like Sam Darnold was irrelevant.

[Danny Kelly]

Two years ago he was playing for the 49. He was the backup on the 49ers.

[Danny Heifetz]

I, I, I will pat myself on the back. I, I flogged myself a lot for shit I got wrong. But I was viscerated on this podcast when I said, yeah, that was when he was on the Niners, that he would be a good starter.

[Craig Horobeck]

But you lost all that goodwill after that dumb puka Nakua take by the end of the game. That was, that just ruined. All the same.

[Danny Heifetz]

Exactly.

[Danny Kelly]

No, you're totally right.

[Craig Horobeck]

And, and, and him being like in the right system with the right, you know, he had all the physical tools and him basically aligning with the right play caller worked out. So hive, it's credit to you because that was a great call.

[Danny Heifetz]

Nature versus nurture and just, it's another cat. Honestly. This is like a forever cap. Feather in the cap for nature versus nurture. I'm just a big believer. Like when you have got like incredibly talented quarterback prospects that fail when they go to horrible teams, probably aren't bad. Like it's not that complicated. Like second round picks. I don't know. Look at Baker Mayfield as a first pick and like when he goes to a better team, you look at what Sam Darnold says, the top three pick. It's like how many quarterbacks do the jets have to ruin until you're like, well, clearly it's the Jets. It's not, you know what I mean? It's not Sam Darnold and systematic. You have to reevaluate other people. Could Mark Sanchez have won a Super bowl and been way better in other teams?

[Danny Kelly]

Probably.

[Danny Heifetz]

You look at all these other guys, new successes or failures and I, I don't know. It's so clear to me that environment and quarterbacks need a, you know, we're going to hear so much about, I mean these are really the two ways to build a team. The Seahawks went and kind of built something incredible on the roster. Cutting edge schematically. And they found A quarterback good enough to get them there. And the Patriots are just going to fund the entire next five years. And Drake Mays rookie quarterback contract. Cool. It's like, we don't have to get into all that, but overall it. The Darnold thing is just a cool human story. Like we. He was on our flight to Los Angeles this year.

[Craig Horobeck]

Yes.

[Danny Heifetz]

And we were like, doesn't look. That doesn't look like a big guy. We're like, he's an NFL quarterback sitting behind us on the plate. Yeah. We were like, whoa.

[Craig Horobeck]

It's just wild that he's in the Super Bowl. And I don't really think anybody thinks any twice about it. It's like, yeah, two straight seasons he's been one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.

[Danny Kelly]

I mean, it's legitimately. I think him and Tom Brady are two players that have won 14 games on two different teams in back to back years.

[Danny Heifetz]

Him and Tom Brady and dude, I. On that note, we have two weeks to talk about this, but it has to be mentioned is the real loser of the. Of this. Of today, the Minnesota Vikings letting him leave.

[Craig Horobeck]

It's a toss up between him and Xavier Smith, I think.

[Danny Kelly]

Oh, God.

[Danny Heifetz]

Xavier Smith is the new Kyle Williams. The Niners, when the Giants made the super bowl versus the Patriots the second time in the NFC championship game, the poor of Niners punt returner fumbled two or three times and that's why they lost. And unfortunately, that is who you are the rest of your life. And I hate to say that, but Xavier Smith, he fumbled in the first half and McVeigh didn't bench him. You guys again. And they lost.

[Craig Horobeck]

He bobbled. He didn't fumble.

[Danny Kelly]

He bobbled.

[Danny Heifetz]

No, he hit the ground.

[Craig Horobeck]

Yeah, it hit the ground. He might have bubbled in the air. It hit the ground.

[Danny Kelly]

No, no, it hit the ground. No, you're.

[Danny Heifetz]

You're thinking of a catch that someone in the first half bobbled and then they caught the pass.

[Craig Horobeck]

Oh, right. You're right. I know you're talking about. Yep.

[Danny Heifetz]

But there's a punt. No, Xavier Smith dropped.

[Danny Kelly]

The Seahawks guy just wasn't kind of close enough. But you guys, you're. You're. You're burying the lead here big time.

[Craig Horobeck]

Okay.

[Danny Kelly]

First Seahawks offensive play of the game. What happened? I think it was the first rasheed Shahid.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah.

[Danny Kelly]

One explosive one yard.

[Craig Horobeck]

Yeah. We took the over on 22 yards or whatever and we were like. That first play, like, oh, my God, we're geniuses. That was his only catch of the day.

[Danny Kelly]

I was like, Guys, he's. He has zero catches in two out of the last four games.

[Danny Heifetz]

What did we say? We said he'll get it on the first drive. It'll feel great to get it all in one chunk. It's exactly what happened.

[Craig Horobeck]

That's all you need.

[Danny Heifetz]

There you go. Let's look. Man. Better to be dumb and lucky than. And winning than good.

[Craig Horobeck]

Also.

[Danny Heifetz]

We're totally winning this 107 thing.

[Craig Horobeck]

We hit the Drake May one. Like, the key is to.

[Danny Kelly]

We went three and one bets.

[Craig Horobeck]

We did. Key is to not think about your bets.

[Danny Heifetz]

3 and 1.

[Craig Horobeck]

Like the prop that comes to you immediately. Just take that.

[Danny Heifetz]

I think that that is the correct answer. The Too many.

[Danny Kelly]

Too many minds don't do.

[Craig Horobeck]

We spent like eight seconds. Drake B. Rushing. Do that.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah. Yeah. We didn't know the numbers. That's the key. Don't look up.

[Craig Horobeck]

We didn't know the numbers.

[Danny Heifetz]

Numbers are. Yeah. No. So. Okay, so the. Well, we're not gonna stop talking about the six now, but the six playing the Patriots, which dk. Immediate thoughts on a Seahawks Patriots reunion where you get to Not. Sorry. Rematch where you get to exercise the. Of the. Malcolm Butler, Seahawks Patriots, pick six.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah. I mean, pretty exciting. Hopefully Bill will remember this one this time and. No. Yeah, this is gonna be fun. Obviously, I. To me, it's. It's funny that it's a rematch because these are two totally different teams in almost every respect, but, like, yeah, it.

[Danny Heifetz]

Is fun and yet you're gonna see that play. Winner of the week is Malcolm Butler, who's going to have that play shown 100 times.

[Danny Kelly]

Like, royalties from every time they show that replay or whatever. Because he's probably raking it in this week.

[Danny Heifetz]

He's gonna be on radio row at the Super Bowl. Loser is Ricardo Lockett and Russell Wilson, who. You're gonna have to watch that. All the Seahawks. Richard Sherman, all them. Have to relive that now.

[Danny Kelly]

But my goal, truthfully, is to not talk about that game this week. Let's. Let's try to avoid it.

[Craig Horobeck]

Okay. Yeah, like. Kind of like that's. It's a Mike Tomlin. I'm looking in my. My front view is bigger than my rear view.

[Danny Kelly]

Exactly. Yeah. Can't eat soup with a. You can't eat soup with a fork, guys.

[Danny Heifetz]

No, we're not eating stupid forks. We should do that as a punishment one year.

[Danny Kelly]

Oh, yeah. See how long it takes.

[Craig Horobeck]

Yeah. Patriots winning, being in the Super Bowl.

[Danny Heifetz]

God. Dude, this. All the Patriots fans are mad that we're upset about it, and I want to be very clear, you guys had a 20 year run. That's the best run in the history of American sports. You had four year foul period. And now you're back to the Super Bowl. We're allowed to be a little annoyed that you just have done what everyone wishes they could do, which is just draft rags to riches, Draft a quarterback in the top three, hire the best coach available in a decade and immediately go to the Super Bowl. I'm allowed to be frickin salty about that. That's okay.

[Craig Horobeck]

Unfortunately, the correct take is that we couldn't have the Broncos in the Super Bowl. Okay, I know that's.

[Danny Kelly]

I was going to say we can't have Jarrett sit up starting a Super Bowl.

[Craig Horobeck]

That would be a disaster.

[Danny Kelly]

Drake May is fun. He's MVP candidate.

[Craig Horobeck]

Yes. The AFC in general was not that good. So it's like in terms of the other teams that I think should have been there, I don't even really have a great answer. It could have been Denver, I guess it could have been Buffalo. So. But the Patriots were one of the best teams in the AFC all year, so. So I'm not. I'm not pissed that the Patriots are in the Super Bowl. I think, you know, they beat the teams in front of them. A lot of them had terrible offenses, but we couldn't have had Jared Stidham. It would have been a disaster. This was a necessary sacrifice. We had to give up allowing the Patriots to make the super bowl to not have Jared Stidham.

[Danny Heifetz]

They're just the Patriots. Look, it's. Roger Sherman, our former colleague put it very well. Which is Patriots fans are bragging or trying to like defend their team is not being a fraud. And it's like, instead, just be happy your fraud team made the Super Bowl. That's the dream. The Giants had a fraud team make the super bowl and win twice. Like that's the goal. I don't. I know they were fraud. It's fine. They're wild card. That's what matters. Schedule. To ever make a Super Bowl. No one gives a shit if you win. But we got it. The 10 they want.

[Craig Horobeck]

You're already the villains. You're the Patriots. Lean in.

[Danny Heifetz]

Exactly. Yes. You're going to be the villain. Just own it. Like we're not unhating you because we like Drake. I love Mike Vrabel. And again I. Again, speaking of other losers, the Tennessee Titans the most incredible. I cannot believe this is real. The Mike Vrabel has won more games for the Patriots since Dec. 21 than the Titans have won since they fired Mike Vrabel. So that's an all time L for the Tennessee Titans up there with anything.

[Danny Kelly]

They're playing whack a mole with the coaches. It's hilarious.

[Danny Heifetz]

So the.

[Danny Kelly]

Not for them.

[Danny Heifetz]

Sorry before, before we go into this. And again, props to the Patriots because I actually am about to defend them a lot. How do you guys feel about the snow games? And I think that was like a very big criticism, was like Seahawks, Rams, looked like a different sport than Rams, Broncos, dk. How do you feel about just snow games and contesting the semifinals of the NFL?

[Craig Horobeck]

I am, I am fascinated to hear what you're about to say. I have no idea where you're going to go, because I have an opinion.

[Danny Kelly]

I am not against snow games. Generally speaking, there is a reason. For a really long time they had the super bowl in the dome every year. It's. I think it's just a little weird that you have this whole season come down to, oh my God, it's blizzard and we're like just desperately trying not to turn the ball over. I think generally you don't change it. Like the, the idea that you make an only domes rule is stupid. We're not. I don't think we should do that. I think some weather games are fun, but I do think it kind of sucks that a whole season for two teams and two fan bases comes down to this is unplayable. We can't, we can't play in this weather. It's.

[Craig Horobeck]

So what's the fix? Like? Playoffs have to be in domes, but regular season doesn't.

[Danny Kelly]

There's no fix. It's just, it's just a bummer, that's all. I think it's hard. It was an ugly ass game and really boring to watch.

[Danny Heifetz]

Look, it went from a, just for context, it went from a completely green field to completely snow white in like half an hour.

[Craig Horobeck]

You know what?

[Danny Heifetz]

It was an incredible change from the beginning of the mid third quarter to the beginning of the fourth. But Craig, how do you feel about the snow games?

[Craig Horobeck]

I watched that. I watched the Niners, I watched the Seahawks game in my hotel. I watched the Pats game at a bar in Park City. And let me tell you, the first half of that game, everybody in the bar was chatting with themselves, eating food, drinking beer. The second that shit started snowing, everybody locked in. And you know what? It's more fun. It's just more fun.

[Danny Kelly]

It's football.

[Craig Horobeck]

The Gladiators didn't fight in a fucking dome. You know what I mean? This is what we have now. I like it. Keep it.

[Danny Heifetz]

Gladiators didn't fight.

[Craig Horobeck]

This is fun. I think it sucks that the Bills are getting a dome. I don't want that. This is a part of the game. And you know what? If you are a team that plays in the snow, it's. It should be an advantage for you because you know how to do it. And then when the Rams have to go to Chicago, that should be an advantage for a team like the Bears. I mean, the. The Broncos got screwed because the bo. Knicks got hurt, but, like, you know what? If you're a snow team, take it as a badge of honor and win in the snow.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's genuinely like an inflection moment for a friendship. Craig and I, we. We are like. I literally think we will be stronger together going forward because you said that I actually like best friends. I did. We just become best. I. I couldn't agree with you more. I look all fo. Like, I know, because some people are really pissed and they're like, this is stupid. I agree. That you're saying about Buffalo getting a dome. Football is just cosplay for war. It's just men playing dress up and doing little war cosplay with their little helmets, and teams are little. Little armies, and they're just like, ooh, gonna fight.

[Danny Kelly]

And it's like, we're gonna take your land.

[Danny Heifetz]

We're.

[Danny Kelly]

We're going in there.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's called opponent territory. Like, that's what it is. You can't just be like, I don't feel like fighting. It's cold and it's snowy. Like, that's not what works. It's like, it matters. It's like the first. The first chapter of the fucking Art of war is about, like, fighting in the weather, man. Like. Or maybe it's like, later in the book, but, like, it's the whole chapter on it. You can't just.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah. What?

[Craig Horobeck]

I don't know what to say. It's cool. It is what it is.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's so cool. You have to know how to play in the snow. And you know what? This is why, as much as I'm mad about it, the Patriots deserve to be in the super bowl because Mike Vrabel is the last goddamn coach alive who understands what situational football actually means. It's not just the red zone. People are like, oh, man. You're like, Mike Vrabel understood. Yeah, we're going to throw the ball away on third down and punt because there was no chance that Jared Stidham is going to drive 85 yards in this fricking game. And like Mike Vrabel understood that what the game had become and I. They just are again, it's not sexy. But the Patriots are always prepared. And that's why I'm so infuriated because the Belichick was the best game to game preparation Coach. Now it's like not even close that it's Mike Frable. Like it's not even close. And no one else in the league.

[Danny Kelly]

Is good at it too.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah. But I just. Is there any other head coach you think could have taken this Patriots team to the Super Bowl? There's. I don't think it's even close that anyone else could have done it. This is a Mike. It's one of better coaching seasons I have ever seen from anybody is what Mike Frable has done probably since Belichick in 2001 when they. When they beat the Rams.

[Craig Horobeck]

I mean the second half for New England, it was literally run. Just run the ball until it was third down and then if it was third and long, throw it away, punt. And that's all they did. And it worked. I do Patriots.

[Danny Kelly]

Craig Patriots allowed 32 yards in the second half.

[Craig Horobeck]

I mean that's really, really snowing.

[Danny Kelly]

Well, that was five possessions, 32 yards.

[Danny Heifetz]

They. The Rams. The Broncos ran three plays in the third quarter. The Bron. The Patriots came out the second half, they had a 16 play drive. The Broncos went three and out. The Patriots got the ball back. Capped up the rest of the third quarter. When the Broncos got the ball back for their second drive of the second half, it was all snow. It was all like the ca. The game was completely different from the. I mean the Broncos basically had one drive in the second half that didn't involve snow. But if we're being honest, Jared Stum did a Max Bromer and that's why the Broncos aren't in the Super Bowl. He did the. He did. He. He kept drifting back.

[Danny Kelly]

I know.

[Danny Heifetz]

And. And Roma was pretending like this was normal and. And. And he would just drift backward which is like a practice thing when you don't get hit. And he did. He ran 15 yards backwards and chest passed the ball backward. And that was the only time he did.

[Craig Horobeck]

He did it again. Yeah, in the second half. I know it. I feel really bad for Denver fans because outside of that play, Stidham was not terrible and he. He like down his leg for one play and it kind of ruined everything. And honestly, Sean Payton not kicking the field goal when they were up seven zero fourth and one in the red zone. They go for it. They don't get it. They get that field goal. They're up 10 0. They might win this game.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yes, they probably do. And crazy if they go.

[Danny Kelly]

At the very least they lost by three.

[Craig Horobeck]

I mean they lost 10 seven.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, yeah. They would have gone to overtime.

[Craig Horobeck]

Would have been 10 0. Yeah, it's brutal. I feel, I do feel for Denver fans like there's nothing to say. The bonix thing followed by this game that was in your hands is tough pill to swallow.

[Danny Heifetz]

The fact that he, Stidham had to chest pass it makes it worse because he's running and it's like just take the sack. There is no reason to throw the ball. Just lose the yards. It's fine. And like it's funny this. I mean it when I say Max Brosberg. You're trying to avoid really bad and you create a catastrophe.

[Danny Kelly]

Here's the thing, it's hard to, it's.

[Craig Horobeck]

Hard to avoid in a regular game.

[Danny Kelly]

Two years there's like 285 pound dudes that can run four fives running at you. This is like, it's actually hard to not make mistakes in the NFL. You know, that's like, I think it's asking a lot to say just don't turn it over. It was like kind of what we said with Stroud too. And it's like frustrating. At least Shroud is the starter and had the entire season to practice and all that stuff. Like, you know what I mean? This is, it is a lot to ask for him to play, to play a clean game.

[Craig Horobeck]

This is what backups do.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, yeah.

[Craig Horobeck]

Like this is why you don't, you know, he played okay and then he made a couple stupid mistakes.

[Danny Kelly]

Why He's a backup that's like 29 years old.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, it's almost. And again, Stidham played well otherwise, like if they. He didn't do that one play we're probably talking here about. I mean he had that one screen in the first half where he missed a screen in Marvin Mims that would have got like 20 yards. And he laughed and he kind of clapped and I was like, that's actually a good reaction. You need him to not be down on himself. Next play comes back, hits Marvin Mims for 50 yards. Beautiful throw down quote. And so perfect throw. And I remember thinking, okay, like this could really be a changing moment for like the whole Bronco season. Like they might go and win the super bowl because he. I thought they were going to really.

[Danny Kelly]

Well first half I was Like, Broncos are winning this thing, and it really.

[Danny Heifetz]

I don't want to put it on.

[Craig Horobeck]

One play was shaky. Denver's D was good against May in the first half. They were almost on the first drive. He almost had a pick and did not, he did not look that great.

[Danny Heifetz]

Ofanga baited Drake May into throwing a slant, and fungus just dropped it, man. He would have been walking in the end zone and like, that changed the whole game.

[Danny Kelly]

The difference in this game, ironically, Craig, because you called this the, the big difference in this game was just Drake May running. Yeah. Like everything else was. This is what I wrote down in my, in my, in my notes. Terrible throws, terrible runs, terrible punts, terrible field goal attempts. That's what this game was. The only thing that was good was Drake May when he ran.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, the field goals were kind of good misses because Bor galis attempted a 63 yard field goal and he missed and left. The ball landed in the stands. And I'm like, how, how, how? Isn't there 10 yards between the goal post and the stands? I'm like, so let me get it straight. This miss was 75 yards. I, I couldn't believe it. Like, it landed in the third row. I was like, holy, what a miss. I, I, they didn't replay it. I was like, am I the only one who cares that he missed the game? 75.

[Craig Horobeck]

Like those home runs that just missed the foul pole, but they, like, go.

[Danny Kelly]

Out of like 550ft.

[Craig Horobeck]

Crush.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah. Like, it's in the parking lot. I could, I don't know. No one else cared about that for me. But the, I mean, the kicks were it. It's too bad. I feel like you knew when Will Lutz lined up for one of those kicks. I'm like, man, Vrabel is thrilled that he's lining up for a kick in his swirling win. But overall, it is incredible because if you just look at what the Patriots did, not to just do the box score thing, but I'm like, the only touchdown they had was he did the, was Stidham did the Max Bros. But again, he looked like a guy who was the first quarterback to ever play a conference title game without taking a snap that year. And then guess what? They came in and then immediately scored a touchdown because they got the ball at the, at the 12 yard. Yeah. Drake May running a quarterback draw, which was a good play.

[Danny Kelly]

10 completions in this game take.

[Danny Heifetz]

I don't take that play out.

[Craig Horobeck]

Here's what the, here's what the 86 yards.

[Danny Kelly]

I know this was like One of the worst offensive playoff games ever.

[Danny Heifetz]

But I was gonna say it's. Here's what the Patriots did. If you take out that one time that he got a touchdown, because they got the ball to 12. Three and out punt. Six and out punt, three and out punt. That lost. They got 12 yards in their first 12 plays. Punt, punt. Missed the field goal, which was a 63 yarder in the snow. 16 play, field goal drive. Missed a field goal. Punt, punt, punt. And then they knelt to win the game.

[Danny Kelly]

There. There was. You guys. There was 14 punts and three missed field goals in this game.

[Danny Heifetz]

This is the. I think this is, like, maybe one.

[Danny Kelly]

Of the last games ever watching high school football.

[Craig Horobeck]

It was like two college basketball teams.

[Danny Heifetz]

Who just can't score. It was the combination of Rabel being this kind of old school coach in the Broncos, where Peyton's old school, but you have the backup quarterback, and it's snowing. This feels like one of the last games like this we'll ever see, because teams are building domes. I like. I'm not saying we'll never see this again, but this is like a dying breed of football game.

[Danny Kelly]

Both teams averaged 3.2 and 3.1 yards per play in this game. Just brutal.

[Danny Heifetz]

Nine feet.

[Craig Horobeck]

Ultimately, does it feel like the right AFC team is in the super bowl? And you have to factor in the bonus.

[Danny Kelly]

Because of the injury? Yeah, because of the injury. I think so.

[Craig Horobeck]

I think I. I probably agree. I mean, it's weird. The Patriots averaged this off this postseason. 15 offensive points per game, and they made the Super Bowl.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, but their defense was great, too. I think if you look at what the Patriots defense did down the stretch, plus, the Patriots beat a good Chargers defense, a good Houston defense, and a good Denver defense.

[Craig Horobeck]

Well, I mean, like, 15 points a game against those defenses.

[Danny Kelly]

Well, they won. They won.

[Craig Horobeck]

Yes, because Stroud shit down his leg. And they played Jared Stidham. I mean, they won the games in front of them, and you have to give them credit for that. But, like, what do you want me to say? They scored 50 points against good defenses, which is underwhelming, and they played shitty quarterbacks, but their defense was good enough to stop guys like Stroud, and you have to give them credit for that. But, like, I don't know. It's weird. I still don't know if the Patriots are good.

[Danny Kelly]

If you want to just give the Seahawks the Super bowl, that's fine with me.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's one of the. It's one of the easiest paths to the super bowl ever. It's unambiguous, like. And Patriots fans could get mad about it. Whatever. Like, I'm very much giving you guys credit for being situationally prepared and a very resilient team. And, like, you're incredibly well coached and you have, like, all the offseason signings.

[Craig Horobeck]

Oh, that's true.

[Danny Heifetz]

Everything's good. But also, yeah, it's like CG Stroud melted down. And again, the defense is good, But I guess the way I'd say it is this. They. The patriots have played 12 quarters in the playoffs, and they're the three hardest defenses they faced.

[Craig Horobeck]

Right.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's the Chargers, the Texans, the Broncos. We're three of the better defenses. How many quarters of the 12 quarters did the Patriots play well on offense? Because I would argue it is one to maybe two of the 12 quarters. Do they look good? They look pretty bad for 10 of the 12 quarters.

[Craig Horobeck]

I agree.

[Danny Heifetz]

But that's. Here's the thing, though. This is the worst the Patriots are ever going to freaking be in the entire Drake May era.

[Craig Horobeck]

That's why it's like, I feel like it's. It's okay. Us criticizing the path and talking about it. This team nobody thought was a Super bowl team, like, this was a DK was saying, like, this feels like a team that's like, the year before. They really make the leap. I mean, Matt Collins is their leading receiver. Like, they don't have anything going off.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's insane.

[Craig Horobeck]

Their offensive line is not good. Will Campbell's getting torched out there right now.

[Danny Heifetz]

Super Bowl, I'm in hell. And that is taking grenades out here. So many Patriots fans were mad at me, and I'm like, including my friends, but I'm just like, this is like if Washington last year had made the Super Bowl.

[Craig Horobeck]

Yeah. It's like, you know, you probably shouldn't be in the super bowl, so. Yeah, be happy you're in the Super Bowl.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, exactly. I. And I. I totally agree with everything. Again, we'll. You have a rookie left tackle who was on IR with a knee injury like, a month ago. Like, you have another, like, your offense. Everything about the Patriots was a mess, and I can't. Yeah, the macarons being the receiver, it's. It's. It's actually insane. All making it even worse. If dk, if you guys can't get it done and the Patriots win the super bowl again, start with that. Kill.

[Danny Kelly]

You start with that.

[Danny Heifetz]

To deal with this. If the Patriots win the super bowl again, we're so fucked.

[Craig Horobeck]

DK's. I mean, hyphens is right. And you know what? All these Pats fans, if they're mad at us right now, okay, beat the Seahawks. I'll shut up. If you beat the Seahawks, it'll be real. God. Simple as that.

[Danny Heifetz]

Unbelievable. Good.

[Craig Horobeck]

If you could beat the Seahawks, you deserve to win.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah. And we'll watch Darnold, we'll watch Vrabel figure out a break. Darnold's brain again. I don't know. It's insane. I, I, I mean, this look, it's, it is cool. It's like, it's too bad because if, if it was 30 other teams, I'd be so happy for Drake May and Mike Vrabel. I'd be over the moon. I just kind of hate the Patriots.

[Danny Kelly]

But I am blown away that you hate the Patriots. You beat them twice in the Super Bowl.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah. And you develop a hatred playing a team in the super bowl twice.

[Danny Kelly]

Like, like you have no good reason to hate the Patriots.

[Danny Heifetz]

Dk, let me tell you something. By the end of this two week period, once you spent a combined month of your life rooting against one team in the super bowl, you will also, I think, hate the Patriots more than you did now.

[Danny Kelly]

Okay, we'll see.

[Danny Heifetz]

I'm just saying, I just, I, I played one team in the super bowl my life, and it was them there. That, that makes you, like, mortal enemies. It's like the Cold war. It's like, you know what I mean? Just because you won doesn't mean you're over it. I don't know.

[Craig Horobeck]

All right, should we move on? Speaking of teams, I hate the Steelers.

[Danny Heifetz]

Well, we do Steelers before we do anything else on this. You want to do Steelers? You want to talk about Tom Brady announcing this game?

[Craig Horobeck]

No. We could do Brady. I, I, I thought Brady was once again great and you fixed him.

[Danny Heifetz]

I'm, I kind of want to guarantee this bullying works. Someone showed Brady the video of Craig making fun of him yelling because he was like radio. Because you know why Craig's impression that has been weirdly good doesn't work anymore? Because Craig Brady doesn't do the yelling on speakerphone like a boomer anymore. He talks normally. And he started doing that four days after Craig made fun of him for it. And I actually think it fixed it because now Brady is totally fucking normal.

[Craig Horobeck]

He was really good today, and I thought he, he just feels, he feels calmer in the pocket. I think his anecdotes are relevant and they're not meandering. And he actually gives good insight. And he was talking about why JSN was getting open and. And the way Kubiak was calling plays and how certain coverages were disguised and all this great stuff. And you know what's funny? He only slipped up one time, and it was when. When they asked him about going to San Francisco to watch his Patriots play in the super bowl, he kind of freezed up and reverted back to Robo Brady. And he was like, two great teams, really excited to see. Great.

[Danny Kelly]

I wasn't ready for that.

[Craig Horobeck]

Yeah, I love Mike Vrabel, teammate of mine. And I was like. Because he, like, got nervous, but everybody the rest of the game, he was awesome. I thought he.

[Danny Heifetz]

A hundred percent.

[Craig Horobeck]

Last week he was good, and this was his best performance of the season.

[Danny Heifetz]

Andrew Marchand wrote a story at the Athletic about this. It was a little pr, but it also, I think, was right where basically the point was that Tom Brady prepared as an announcer last year and a lot of this year, and I think toward this season was him realizing that he should just prepare, you know, like a quarterback and pretend he's briefing Josh McDaniels. Not briefing. Not like he was trying to dumb it down for people and do an impression of an announcer and was like, no one is interested in Tom Brady doing an impression of announcer. We want to hear what you would say to Josh McDaniels prepping for a game, which is what he does now. And, like, I actually love that he doesn't strip down the jar. He's like, that's a two throw. And I'm like, yeah, actually reteach the entire United States of America how to talk about throwing footballs rather than bend to how we talk about them. That's exactly what I want, actually.

[Craig Horobeck]

He also had a little bit of, like, early Romo in him where he's starting to call stuff. Like, he'll see a flag and be like, that's a hold on the tackle.

[Danny Heifetz]

JSN in the backfield. He's like, he's the number one option. Why is the defense not doing it? And it's funny because it's, like, obvious, but he's just like, I don't get it. So he was great.

[Danny Kelly]

Needed some reps, you guys.

[Craig Horobeck]

It's literally like his football career is happening before our eyes.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah.

[Craig Horobeck]

Yeah.

[Danny Kelly]

He's gonna be the greatest of all time.

[Danny Heifetz]

He actually. He's like, a year away from being the best ever. And also, speaking of which, it's weird because in the middle of the game, people were like, he's literally gonna hire either Chris Shula, the Rams defensive coordinator, or probably Clint Kubak. The seals off Twitter is going to be the Raiders head coach. The way he was just talking about Clint Kubiak, you're like kind of thing Brady's going to hire him.

[Danny Kelly]

Is it going to be like, remember the meme from the the Raven Steelers final game of the year where it was like the. The uprights and it's like he's going to hire or Tomlin fired, Harbaugh fired, Tomlin fired. Is. Is it going to be just because the Seahawks end up pulling that out.

[Craig Horobeck]

That Kubiak is going like, like Xavier Smith fumbling that ball is why Clint Kubiak is going to be the head coach of the Raiders.

[Danny Kelly]

Fucking God damn it. Yeah, this is going to suck for me personally, because I I really want to keep Kubiak now.

[Danny Heifetz]

Not if you win the Super Bowl. You'll get over it.

[Danny Kelly]

Well, it'll be fine ultimately. But yeah, I want to keep Kubiak. He's been great.

[Danny Heifetz]

This episode is brought to you by Velveeta. Game day is all about the tailgate spread. First things first, who's bringing the Velveeta drip? Just like your favorite players on the field, Velveeta fans go all in on what they love. Creamy shells and cheese, melty Velveeta blocks and cheesy jarred quesos. They're taking down one taste bud at a time. Velveeta is the real MVP of the tailgate. You've got to respect the drip. Do yourself a favor and stock up on Velveeta before kickoff. This episode is brought to you by LinkedIn ads. The best B2B marketing gets wasted on the wrong people. So when you want to reach the right professionals, use LinkedIn ads. LinkedIn has grown to a network of over 1 billion professionals, including 130 million decision makers. And that's where it stands apart from other ad buys. You can target your buyers by job title, industry, company role, seniority, skills, company revenue. So you can stop wasting budget on the wrong audience. It's why LinkedIn Ads generates the highest B2B return on ad spend of all online ad networks. Seriously, all of them. Spend $250 in your first campaign on LinkedIn ads and get a free $250 credit for the next one. Just go to LinkedIn.com Ringer Fantasy. That is LinkedIn.com/Ringer Fantasy. Terms and conditions apply. Yeah, Brady was great. Before we do the Steelers, the last thing I want to say is, dk, you had an amazing intrusive thought and you I want to read this text. You texted a group chat. I think this is the funniest thing any of us have said all year. I like as an actual football observation. Dk, you said I don't understand how players hold on to the ball on any play. Literally.

[Danny Kelly]

This is, I've, I've had this thought a lot of times because the, the force at which these guys get hit and punched and squished and picked up and thrown down. How is there not 30 fumbles a game? I actually don't understand the physics of it. Like you, have you ever hold a, held a football? I mean, it's like I feel like there would, there should be at least 30 fumbles.

[Craig Horobeck]

It's really big. It's easy.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah. And it's oblong.

[Danny Heifetz]

Really big.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah. And it's like there's so many plays where a guy's just running and there's three guys ripping and punching and trying to rip the ball out and he still manages to hold onto it. I had this thought like four times during the game where I'm like, oh, he's going to fumble that.

[Danny Heifetz]

You're so right.

[Danny Kelly]

Held onto it. I'm like, how do you do that.

[Craig Horobeck]

With one hand ripping at Ramondra Stevenson every time he touched the ball?

[Danny Heifetz]

I couldn't believe that game. At the end of the snow, I was like, I kind of think he's going to fumble this.

[Danny Kelly]

I'm like carrying a football and somebody comes over and just does a peanut punch on me. I'm be like, ow. And then drop the ball. I'm like, ow. That hurt, man. This is the one thing I, I, this is another kind of like intrusive thought or whatever. The thing we don't really ever talk about is guys suffer injuries in games, but we don't really ever talk about how things just really hurt bad. You know what I mean? Like so many of these hits, these, these guys should be out of commission because it's like getting a body blow in boxing. You're not getting knocked out, but like, ow. That really hurt. And I just need a minute to like, take it. Take a breath.

[Craig Horobeck]

Yeah. Like, like fingers to the face mask in 5 degree weather.

[Danny Heifetz]

Wow. I would go 100%. Imagine if you hit your hand on a follow through on a helmet, dude. JSN is sitting there with the biggest bruise. I like, it looks like he, like he's bleeding, open wound, Nobody's even tending to him. And I'm like, if that happened to.

[Danny Kelly]

Me, he's like doubled over on the sideline in pain. I'm like, he's fine. Get back in there, dude.

[Craig Horobeck]

The peanut punch. I feel like we can. It can evolve. I don't think you should punch the football. I think you should punch the guy's arm over and over and over and give him a dead arm to the point where he, like, physically can't feel his hands. Yeah, he can't flex. Like, it's like. It's like Rocky going at Drago's ribs. Like, eventually it's gonna give.

[Danny Kelly]

Think of it like, it's like the leg kicks. The leg kicks in MMA or whatever.

[Danny Heifetz]

You adjust, engage. Just like, I can't stand on my leg anymore.

[Craig Horobeck]

Like, in high school, you take the knee to the thigh, the dead leg. Imagine if you just Charlie Horse someone's shoulder over and over and over. Eventually, he won't be able to grip ball.

[Danny Heifetz]

Well, that's. That's good. You know, they don't allow tripping, but we should do dead arm. That'd be good. Tripping is over the line, dude.

[Craig Horobeck]

Dk, though, you talking about. I don't know how they hold on to the ball today. This weekend. I've been in cold weather before, but it was on my mind because of the Bears game, which was like 10 felt. You know, it was like. Felt like 10 degrees. Walking around Park City last night, it felt like 5. And I truly. I just can't believe that people play sports in weather like that.

[Danny Kelly]

This is the thing. I've said this in the past, but.

[Craig Horobeck]

Dude, I walked like, 15 minutes home to my coastal.

[Danny Kelly]

Our coastal elites don't know what cold. You don't know what cold feels like until you're in the cold. I've had this in Indianapolis during the combine, and it's not even that cold. I mean, it's very cold there. Like, it'll be. I don't know what. It's like 8 degrees or something like that. I guess in the big schema theme, it's not that cold. You go outside and you're like, my face hurts. This hurts a lot. I don't. How do you put. Play a. A whole game in that? There was. There was Matt Collins in Denver today. Was just wearing short sleeves. He's just, like, running around. He probably walked up to the stadium barefoot. These people are built differently.

[Craig Horobeck]

They're just a whole thing. He did like a. Like a chant from the movie the Warriors. He was walking in today. He had, like, bottle caps on his fingers, and he was doing like, the warriors come out to play. Matt Collins would. Is. Is going to be an Interesting cat. After he graduates or after he retires, I'm interested to see where he goes.

[Danny Heifetz]

What were the glass bottles on his hands? Why did he walk? I know he doesn't.

[Craig Horobeck]

It's from the movie.

[Danny Kelly]

You've seen the movie Warriors, Greg, right?

[Craig Horobeck]

Yeah, yeah, it's from the movie. The guy does. In the movie, he has. He clanks the bottles together.

[Danny Heifetz]

Is that UFC fight with the little brothers who fight each other?

[Danny Kelly]

No, no, no, no. That's Warrior.

[Craig Horobeck]

Nick Nolte, the Warrior. That's a great movie, though.

[Danny Kelly]

Warriors is from, like the 80s, and it's about gangs in New York around or whatever, and they all have different uniforms. There's like the baseball guys that have bats and baseball uniforms. It's a very weird 80s.

[Craig Horobeck]

It's like a dystopian future New York, and it's like. It's like, filled with gangs in Manhattan. It's.

[Danny Heifetz]

Matt Collins is wild. We got to unpack. We're gonna have to unpack his Instagram over the next two weeks because we have to figure out content. But like, Matt Collins's Instagram is crazy because he does Max hacks where he teaches you, like, here's how you should use baking soda. Get stains out of your collared shirt. It's like lemon juice without wrinkling the collar. And then he also does, like, Max history where he's like, did you know about this attack on Harper's ferry in the 1800s by John Brown? But he also is very much like, here's how you change a tire. But he's doing this, like, while preparing for the divisional round, and I don't really know what his deal is.

[Danny Kelly]

I feel like the Renaissance man.

[Craig Horobeck]

If he catches a touchdown in the super bowl and the Patriots win, I do think he will be co hosting a rewatchables in the next two months. He will. He might do. He might do the Re warriors with Matt Collins.

[Danny Heifetz]

The Re Warriors. Oh, my God. Okay, wait, before we move on, is the last thing I just. The Patriots that. I just. The Patriots, we have a lot of this. But again, I. I can't believe that Mike Vrabel has as many wins since Dec. 21 as the Titans do since he was fired. But the other one is that the. This is from David Furonis. The Patriots are about to play in their 10th Super bowl since the Dolphins last playoff win.

[Craig Horobeck]

Brutal. It's actually like the most up thing in the world that Tom Brady left like six years ago and they're already back in the Super Bowl.

[Danny Heifetz]

That's crazy.

[Danny Kelly]

Every Patriot Stat is unbelievable.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's. I mean, dude, the things that just don't even, like, affect me. Roll off. I think this is Josh McDaniels. Like, this is like his seventh Super bowl in this. As a Patriot staff member.

[Danny Kelly]

Do you think that Bill Belichick is kind of pissed right now?

[Danny Heifetz]

Oh, he has to be. For sure.

[Danny Kelly]

He's like this for sure.

[Craig Horobeck]

I'm sure Brady, like, miffed.

[Danny Heifetz]

Brady picked Matt Stafford as the mvp. That's awkward as hell.

[Craig Horobeck]

That's because he knows ball.

[Danny Heifetz]

But yeah, that's true. He's like, yeah, they're fraud. Look at the schedule.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

Anyway, okay. We have a lot to. We have a lot of Patriot stuff in Seahawks going forward. Dk.

[Craig Horobeck]

It's a good super bowl matchup. It's a great matchup. I'm excited for it.

[Danny Heifetz]

And again, it's. You can't quantify the coaching and. Of Rabel versus Darnolds. Just like Rabel versus Stroud. Okay.

[Danny Kelly]

I can't believe the Seahawks are in the super bowl, man.

[Danny Heifetz]

Isn't that weird?

[Danny Kelly]

It's actually very surreal. It has not sunk in yet. Yeah. Pretty crazy.

[Craig Horobeck]

Yeah. You know, your ass. Three Super Bowls in last 15 years. Not bad.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, I'll. I'll take it. Not complaining.

[Danny Heifetz]

We gotta get to something else here. Which is so. Craig, I couldn't believe this. But you said, I believe that if the Steelers hire Mike McCarthy, you will root for the Chargers. Well, Daniel.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah.

[Craig Horobeck]

The Steelers hired Mike McCarthy.

[Danny Kelly]

He's already back in.

[Craig Horobeck]

It sucks. No, I'm not at all. It's.

[Danny Kelly]

Oh, really?

[Craig Horobeck]

I suppose it's fun for content, but I thought about it and I realized that the Pittsburgh Steelers hired the Pittsburgh Steelers of coaches. That's what Mike McCarthy is. He won a Super Bowl a long time ago and since then has been associated with mediocrity, brutal playoff losses and questionable play calling. Who does that sound like? That sounds like Pittsburgh Steelers to me. All these Mike McCarthy stats. The Cowboys became the first team in the super bowl era to win 12 games in three straight seasons. But not able to reach a conference title game. That's a Pittsburgh Steelers ass stat. You know what I mean?

[Danny Heifetz]

He won a couple playoff games. I will say I think what's crazy, my thoughts in order. I mean, there's all these weird things. One, it's just weird that Mike McCarthy is hired to replace Tomlin and he's 10 years older than Mike Tomlin. That's just weird.

[Craig Horobeck]

Is five years younger than Bill Cower.

[Danny Heifetz]

That's what.

[Danny Kelly]

Wow. That's.

[Craig Horobeck]

That's Bill Cower, 68. Mike McCarthy is 63.

[Danny Heifetz]

Dude, that's. You know, that reminds me of. That's like how Al Gore is younger than any of the Democrats who ran for president in 2020. Like Hillary or fucking Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders or whatever. But you know what's crazy? Tell me if you guys disagree. I think there is zero chance Mike McCarthy gets this job if he's not from Pittsburgh.

[Danny Kelly]

Right. Right.

[Craig Horobeck]

My intrusive thought that I was going to bring up the end of the show is I think we put way too much emphasis on where the hell people are from. I don't give a. That he's from Pittsburgh. I don't care that Picket played in Pittsburgh. I don't care that he. Him working with omar Khan and WLE 25 years ago. I don't care about that either. Him being like, he knows the Pittsburgh way. He understands the culture and the people. I'm like, I don't give it. Where's Sean McVeigh from? Dude, I don't. It doesn't matter.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's actually insane. This is.

[Craig Horobeck]

But it's.

[Danny Heifetz]

You say it as a joke, but it's. I, Jude Jack. My fiance is family from Pittsburgh. This is such a Pittsburgh thing to care that he's from Pittsburgh. The people love it. It's like this biggest small town. And McCarthy. It's the joke we made about the Steelers in Tomlin, and we were like, it's the Departed. When Matt Damon's like, look, I'm Irish. I'll do this forever. Like, that is what the Steelers are doing, where they're like, mike Tomlin will do this forever. Kenny Pickett, they're like, we'll take the guy already works in the building. The pit facility is shared with the Steelers facility. They took the guy in the building, Joey Porter Jr. They just took him to, like, we loved your dad. It's like the. It's a. It's not a joke. Like, it does matter to them. It's also all the stuff they put through the media. Adam Schiffer was in ESPN this morning, which obviously is kind of talking to the team, and he's talking about. He said he's from Pittsburgh in three different ways in his first six sentences. And that's a fucking crazy way to hire an NFL head coach. This team, if it was sold, would get like $11 billion in a sale, and they're hiring a guy because he's from the town.

[Danny Kelly]

Is. Is there another town where this is so Applicable. Applicable. I feel like it's Pittsburgh always This is always what happens with Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh, it's just like Steel City. You know, there's a, there's a yinzer, the Yinzer vibes. I don't know. For whatever reason, it's always Pittsburgh. Exactly.

[Craig Horobeck]

I'm sure there are other cities, but Pittsburgh is at the top of the list.

[Danny Kelly]

It's maybe, maybe Texas. Like some cities in Texas. They might be similar. I don't know.

[Craig Horobeck]

But Art Rooney II was talking and he was like, I don't, I don't want to have bad seasons. Like I want to keep making the playoffs. Why would we stop now?

[Danny Kelly]

Mike.

[Craig Horobeck]

Mike McCarthy is basically going to do what this, what we've all been complaining the Steelers have been doing for the last 10 years, which is squeak out nine, 10 wins and not get anywhere.

[Danny Heifetz]

I'll defend him for a moment. We always joke. I guess I always joke about the HR meme where it's like the hot guy can hit on women at work.

[Craig Horobeck]

Because he's got to do the. But you do like the record versus Harbaugh and the record versus Tomlinson.

[Danny Heifetz]

Exactly. It's like you can't the ugly. Whether you can hit on people. You know, the HR meme is Depends. And the truth is Mike McCarthy's John Harbaugh, but he weighs 80 more pounds. Well, and John Harbaugh's high, Brett.

[Craig Horobeck]

He had Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers.

[Danny Heifetz]

So okay, John Harbaugh and Lamar Jackson. I'm just saying. I'm just saying. Oh, please. It's worth mentioning. Mike McCarthy and John Harb are basically the exact same age. Mike McCarthy's actually year younger at 62. They've coached both 18 seasons. They have almost the exact same number of wins. It's like 180 and 174 the win. Their win percentage is identical. Their playoff record is like almost identical. They have the same number of double digit wins, the same number of Super Bowls that are almost completely far apart. They're both like 13. I'm just saying. It is funny. I.

[Craig Horobeck]

That's all fair. I saw all those stats out there. Here's the difference. You bring in John Harbaugh to the New York Giants because the Giants can't win more than four games in a season season. And you need somebody who can get you to nine or 10. The Steelers don't have that problem. The Steelers need somebody to completely change the culture and start fresh and build something new from the ground up. That is not what Mike McCarthy is here to do. How long is Mike McCarthy going to be the coach of The Steelers.

[Danny Kelly]

What's the over.

[Craig Horobeck]

Under two and a half, three and a half.

[Danny Heifetz]

Seven years would be a lot, right? That's.

[Danny Kelly]

The.

[Danny Heifetz]

Seven years would be a long time. This is like 71.

[Craig Horobeck]

You know, I don't know if this was like, you know, they interviewed Chris Shula. They interviewed Shield Haas, the past coordinator for the Rams. They interviewed Anthony Weaver for Miami, the defensive coordinator. All these guys. And I heard they all did really well in the interview. And I don't know if the Steelers were like, we don't want a young guy, or if maybe Chris Jewell is like, I don't want to go to the Steelers. This sounds terrible, but it's such a boring, uncreative decision to bring in Mike McCarthy and. And pray that he. That we can just, like, find some quarterback. They talk about his quarterback development. I don't know. I don't know where to go with that. I'm like, you had Brett Favre if you had Aaron Rodgers.

[Danny Heifetz]

What. What? What? What quarterback development? Mike McCarthy, I don't think should get credit for Aaron Rodgers, to be honest. And he certainly doesn't get credit for Dak Prescott.

[Craig Horobeck]

They said in the interview that he. He mapped out all the quarterbacks that he developed and that he mentioned Joe Montana on the Chiefs.

[Danny Heifetz]

Did they meant. Did they mention that Mike McCarthy. You know what I mean?

[Craig Horobeck]

Joe Montana on the Chiefs. Mike McCarthy helped develop Joe Montana on the Chiefs.

[Danny Heifetz]

Look, it's one of those things who.

[Craig Horobeck]

Had already won four Super Bowls.

[Danny Heifetz]

This is. Here's where I'm concerned. Mike McCarthy's a politician.

[Craig Horobeck]

McCarthy lied in his. In his. In his interview with the Cowboys. He said he told Jerry Jones to his fucking face that he watched every snap of the 2019 Cowboys.

[Danny Heifetz]

Dude.

[Craig Horobeck]

To prepare. And that was a. That was a lie.

[Danny Heifetz]

We got to post this on Instagram. The first. The first thing Mike McCarthy said, he's doing the opening press conference, Jerry Jones. And the first question of Mike McCarthy is about, did you actually watch every play of every game last year? And Mike McCarthy's like, now you got to say. You got to say, get the job, right? It was like, that's the first thing he said is the Cowboys coach.

[Craig Horobeck]

He's like, fudging his LinkedIn like a college grad. It's ridiculous.

[Danny Kelly]

He said. Craig, he didn't. He didn't say. I was just wondering this because I was like. Did he say that he watched every player of the Cowboys? He said he watched every play of the entire season for every team?

[Craig Horobeck]

Yeah, that is what he said.

[Danny Kelly]

Which is like, come on that would take a while.

[Craig Horobeck]

This just feels weird. I hate it. I don't know what to do. This stinks. I'm so upset that I, I really genuinely thought we were going to hire Chris Shula or Anthony Weaver. Like I would have put a lot of money that. Mike McCarthy wasn't even on my radar. When I heard this man interviewed. I was like, why, why are they doing that? Does it make a wish thing? Because he's from Pittsburgh? There's no way that's going to happen. The Steelers, Bill Cower, Mike Tomlin were these like defensive minded guys in their 30s. These like young guys they wanted to like let build something from the ground up. And now it's like, oh, maybe we'll get Rogers back with McCarthy. Cool. We'll have the 20th pick again for the next five years.

[Danny Heifetz]

I, I will say I see the Steelers being like, well he won 12 games three years in a row. And so, you know, like, we want to be competitive.

[Craig Horobeck]

You should look up how those games ended when their, their seasons look up.

[Danny Heifetz]

How those seasons ended horrifically. I, oh, I remember, I remember they got the shit kicked out of my Green Bay and the Fleur and then the Niners one ended with Zeke Elliott as a center and then the, the one before that was also against the Niners and that was when they couldn't spike the ball in 19 seconds. And then the same day or the same weekend, the Chiefs got the field goal in 13 seconds and then the Cowboys couldn't run a spike in 19. So that's the thing is the lack of detail oriented has been the, the hallmark of McCarthy. Also the Cowboys team, he took over, incredibly talented. They still had a good line at that time and they had Dak Prescott and that's way more than the Steelers have right now.

[Craig Horobeck]

I don't know if the argument is like we don't want to bring in some young mind when we have nothing going on at quarterback and they're going to be screwed and we want to bring in McCarthy to like help identify that quarterback and bridge that gap and so it doesn't turn into like Brian Dabel on the Giants where it's like a good an offensive mind. But it didn't work because they didn't have the quarterback for a while or like Arthur Smith going to Atlanta who was like at the time supposed to be this great offensive mind and it crashed and burned because he had like old Matt Ryan and Desmond Ritter. Maybe they're like, we don't want to do that to a young coordinator and Mike McCarthy is the guy who can help us like develop Will Howard and, and try to draft a guy that he sees and bring him up. Maybe. But to me it's just more of the same in Pittsburgh.

[Danny Kelly]

Do you think that Rodgers is going to play again? I don't know.

[Craig Horobeck]

I have no idea.

[Danny Heifetz]

Don't they hate each.

[Danny Kelly]

I'm confused by this. I can't remember the timeline and if Rodgers got him fired or not.

[Danny Heifetz]

Well, I thought they hated each other, but it was a long time ago. So I'm like maybe right, Rogers comes back.

[Danny Kelly]

But I also hatch it.

[Danny Heifetz]

You know, I, it was a while ago, but they, they certainly had run their course in 2018. It was also like it was one of those. I don't know. I mean Mike, it's important to remember the reason that Mike McCarthy was fired. But that packers season, I believe it was after a Cardinals game, but I could be wrong about that. But like it was the offensive running was so outdated And Rogers won M2 MVPs in a row as soon as Mike McCarthy was fired. And like that's important to remember is like Matt LeFleur came in and Rogers immediately went two MVPs in a row. It is also worth noting that I kind of think the Cowboys were much better this season without Mike McCarthy. I know they didn't make the playoffs, but overall, with what Brian Schottenheimer's handed, I think the Cowboys offense was like completely modernized and they started doing motion and they started doing things. I know they brought Twitch Pickens in, but I think Schottheimer did a lot of good stuff with Dallas this year. I know they didn't, but I mean he took over a seven win team. I, I don't know. I, I, it's just funny, that's all.

[Craig Horobeck]

I'm giving Mike McCarthy absolutely zero breathing room this year. The second he does one thing wrong, I'm going to be on his ass.

[Danny Kelly]

Like Brady.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah.

[Craig Horobeck]

Okay. He has zero margin for air. He better come in and turn Will Howard into Dak Prescott immediately or else I'm gonna be pissed.

[Danny Heifetz]

Will.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

Okay.

[Danny Kelly]

All right.

[Danny Heifetz]

So we are going to be doing. We're still doing three shows a week. We cover also the entire offseason. So after the playoffs we still do free agency. The draft. Danny Kelly is a draft guide coming out this week. Mock draft.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

DK is a draft expert. He studied. You watched every play of the entire college football season, right? 134 FPS teams. Every single snap of every single.

[Danny Kelly]

Just trying to get the job. You know, I watched every single snap.

[Danny Heifetz]

But you actually are. You actually do do our big board here at the ringer and you do like our draft coverage and your crush it and you have the best player comps in the game. So we're going to have mock trust from DK and a draft guy this week. We're going to go through the little bit of draft 101. So stick with us for the entire off season. Trades, free agency, everything. Yeah. So, I mean, we're gonna have more shows. We have. We have fun. A lot of fun stuff coming the next month. In particular, going to the combine later in February. Before we get out of here, I want Craig. You're at Sundance. We haven't talked about this at all, but do you have any cool Sundays? Can you explain what Sundance is?

[Craig Horobeck]

Sundance is a film festival started by Robert redford. It's like 40 something years ago. And sadly, Robert Redford died a few months ago. And so this is the last festival in Park City, Utah. They are moving to Boulder, Colorado next year. It's been in. It's been in Utah for 40 plus years. Redford wanted it to be here. There's rumors that it's. Matt Bellamy, who hosts the Town that I produced, he jokes that, like, the rumors that Robert Redford started it in Utah because he wanted all these, like, Hollywood yuppies to have to like, schlep out to Utah in the freezing cold and like, freeze their asses off watching movies. But it's like, it's one of the most important independent film festivals in the country, and they produce amazing documentaries. All five of the best documentary Academy Award nominations this year all came from Sundance.

[Danny Kelly]

Oh, wow.

[Craig Horobeck]

And so how does it work?

[Danny Heifetz]

So they're trying to get bought by. They're airing it and someone made the film, but they're trying to get it distributed. Like, I don't. I don't understand.

[Craig Horobeck]

It's changed a little bit lately. It used to be like, yeah, you scrounged up money, you made a movie, you submitted it to Sundance. The committee at Sundance watches thousands of films. They pick the ones they think are the best. They get shown at the, at the festival. And then companies like Paramount and Warner Brothers and all that, they come and watch and they're like, that was really good. We want to make a bid on it. They buy it and then they distribute it across thousands of theaters and they make money on it. And that's how it works. Now. It's got a little different where, like, some films are already sold and they just like put it here to. Because it's good PR prestige. Yeah. But there are still, like. I went and saw this film last night that Olivia Wilde directed called the Invite, and it was fantastic. One of the best movies I've seen a long time.

[Danny Heifetz]

And.

[Craig Horobeck]

And it hasn't sold.

[Danny Kelly]

It's.

[Craig Horobeck]

It's about. It's a remake of a Spanish movie from 2020 based on a play, and it's two couples having a dinner party. And that's it. It's four couples in an apartment. The whole movie.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's a living remake of a movie from five years. Oh, it was in Spanish. Like, okay.

[Craig Horobeck]

It's a Spanish film from 2020, but based on a play that came before that. It's just two couples having a dinner party. And it's Seth Rogen and Olivia Wilder a couple. And then Penelope Cruz and average are a couple.

[Danny Heifetz]

Average. Sec.

[Danny Kelly]

Wow.

[Danny Heifetz]

And like, Seth row get an Olivia wild.

[Craig Horobeck]

It's. It's. It was really funny and smart and great. But anyway, that movie did not come in with a. With a. With a distributor or like a studio attached to it. So now it's like, who's gonna bid on it? Netflix, Apple, Warner Brothers? A24. So it's cool to see the buzz. Like, everybody was basically talking about that movie last night after we were going out and stuff. And it's kind of cool to hear, like, that buzz. So that's what Sundance can do. And Olivia Wilde is like a proven star. It's cool to see some of the smaller people who break through here and then turn into something. You know, Ryan Coogler and Chloe Zhao did the Sundance training seminars here, so they still, like, build a lot of stars here.

[Danny Kelly]

That's awesome.

[Craig Horobeck]

Yeah.

[Danny Kelly]

What's the. And then the nightlife is all crazy too, when you go out.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah.

[Craig Horobeck]

It's basically like one street on. It's like one four block area, and it's just packed with bars. You know, it's weird because it's Utah, so it's like, there's like caps on how much you can drink. And usually bars close super early, but, like, all these companies just like, take over and people just party till like, four in the morning. There's like a towel nightclub that opens up here over Sundance, and people, like, party till 6am I'm not doing that, but.

[Danny Heifetz]

Well, surely.

[Craig Horobeck]

Yeah, I know it's only 9:15, so.

[Danny Kelly]

Maybe I got to go.

[Craig Horobeck]

But yeah, the nightlife here is really cool. I mean, and also, people, the skiing is amazing. It's right near Deer Valley.

[Danny Kelly]

It's like, oh, Yeah, I was going.

[Craig Horobeck]

To say best skiing in America. So that's the other reason why, you know, holy people come out here and watch it.

[Danny Kelly]

Is that where. Is that where Robert Redford had his home in Park City or is one of his many.

[Craig Horobeck]

He did live in Park City, but, you know, I'm sure he had quite a. Quite a few homes.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

Cool.

[Craig Horobeck]

It's cool. And he's moving to Boulder, Colorado. You know, what was there was cities bidding on it. We should have like, we should have talked about this. Like, it was the NFL draft. There were cities bidding on Sundance. It was like Santa Fe, New Mexico, Boulder, Colorado. And the. In Cincinnati. Cincinnati was the final two was between Boulder and Cincinnati.

[Danny Heifetz]

Well, they're building up. They invested major stuff. The tennis tournament in Cincinnati is like trying to like separate itself into just being like a major. I think it's. The Bengals are pouring more money to local infrastructure and they want that tennis tournament to be like the biggest American tennis tournament because it's the one before the US Open. And they're like, this needs to be an event. And they're, they're doing a really good job. Actually, the Cincinnati tournament's like a way bigger deal now.

[Danny Kelly]

Austin lived in Cincinnati.

[Craig Horobeck]

That's right. He's probably, he's probably crushed Skyline chili. He ate that every night.

[Danny Heifetz]

There you go. Email us about more city infrastructure stuff.

[Danny Kelly]

Cool.

[Danny Heifetz]

No, actually, don't do that.

[Craig Horobeck]

It's boring.

[Danny Heifetz]

Unless it's cool.

[Craig Horobeck]

Unless it's cool.

[Ad Voice 2]

This episode is brought to you by AMC+ you do not want to miss Rise of the 49ers. The limited series event premiering February 1st and 2nd exclusively on AMC and AMC+ executive produced by Tom Brady. The docuseries charts the legendary rise of the San Francisco 49ers from underdogs to five time Super bowl champions in the 80s and 90s. It features interviews with Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and Ronnie Lott, as well as never be seen archival footage. Rise of the 49ers premiering February 1st and 2nd. Visit amcplus.com to start your free trial now. This episode is brought to you by Scout Motors. You don't change the game by standing on the sidelines. You do it by building something new. Iconic in the 70s and reimagined for today. The all new Scout Terra and Scout Traveler are engineered from the ground up with advanced capability and bold ingenuity. Build brand new for what's next. Opposing defenses take note. Join the wait [e-mail] Concept vehicles not available for sale. Joining the wait List does not guarantee purchase. Visit scoutmotors.com for details.

[Danny Heifetz]

Okay, do you guys. Well, I guess before we get out of here, can I read like one email?

[Danny Kelly]

Do it.

[Danny Heifetz]

So this is from Anthony. A lot of people emailed us.

[Danny Kelly]

Tony.

[Danny Heifetz]

Tony. So it's about. Craig had a whole thing on Al Pacino dry swallowing pills.

[Craig Horobeck]

Oh, yeah. In the movie Two for the Money.

[Danny Heifetz]

Two for the Money, he dry swallows the pills. And you were saying not just how he can do it laying down, but how quickly it works. So Anthony emails in about that scene. A lot of people said it, but what he's such. What Pacino's taking in that movie is nitroglycerin tablets, which if you're wondering, isn't that the bomb stuff? Yes, that's exactly what nitroglycerin is. And it's sublingual nitroglycerin tablets which dissolve in your spit and absorb into blood vessels in your mouth, which is why they do work almost immediately. Not quickly, as Hollywood says, but it is like within a minute or two. It's not like five seconds. But the nitroglycerin tablets, they do like, I guess expand your blood vessels for blockages, and they do work almost instantly.

[Craig Horobeck]

Okay.

[Danny Kelly]

Oh, so he's not even swallowing the, like. Oh, okay. That's interesting.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, it's.

[Craig Horobeck]

That's fascinating. And I had no idea, however, that trope exists well beyond that movie of like the. The detective who's like, down on his luck and divorce and he's always like shoving pills in his mouth in the car like they do.

[Danny Kelly]

They're not like a dumb and dumber. There's. There's an. In the Professional, Gary Oldman's character is like a whole thing about taking pills.

[Craig Horobeck]

Yeah, I forget what movie I was just watching.

[Danny Heifetz]

I was like the new airplane movie where Liam Neeson's just popping pills and getting coffees. Oh, my God, it's so good.

[Craig Horobeck]

All these cops. All these old cops are sucking down dry pills.

[Danny Kelly]

Did I already say this? They could all flip the cap with just one finger too. Like, you know, like you're working. It takes me push.

[Danny Heifetz]

Like, not easy.

[Danny Kelly]

You gotta do it with two hands and really try to get those caps off. They got the one finger. It's just. Man, they were Bill Diff back.

[Craig Horobeck]

Pop it off. There's like four or five in the palm. Shoot them and go about your day.

[Danny Kelly]

And you're like in the middle of a conversation doing it. Smoking a cigarette.

[Craig Horobeck]

Yeah, they do it while the cigarettes in their mouth. They swallow the pill. Somehow my Favorite thing.

[Danny Kelly]

My favorite thing in movies is. Is, like you said, cigarette dexterity, where people are just doing. With a Sig in their mouth. Like, not.

[Danny Heifetz]

Oh, it's the Dude. Peaky Blinders, Mad Men, dude. People. People doing stuff with a old school.

[Danny Kelly]

Doing the iron cross with the cigarette.

[Danny Heifetz]

Still holding Saving Private Ryan. Oh, my God, I need. Yeah, dude. I wish I could just dangle a cigarette up my mouth. The 1917 sergeant in the trench. Just like, explaining. Yeah, yeah.

[Danny Kelly]

No, just walk.

[Danny Heifetz]

Wait till you can smell the dead horse and he's just got a cigarette.

[Danny Kelly]

Like, this reminds me. This reminds me. We should. I. We buried the plot here way, way, way, way late.

[Craig Horobeck]

The Seahawks made the Super Bowl.

[Danny Kelly]

The Seahawks made the Super Bowl. Relatedly. And Sam Darnold was really good in the. In the NFC Championship game, by the way. Relatedly. This is something that we've talked about on the show, but I feel like we haven't brought it up recently enough. Sam Darnold's grandfather was named Dick Hammer. Yeah, Dick Hammer. And he was the freaking Marlboro Man. He was the first Marlboro Man. How do you say that word?

[Danny Heifetz]

He's the first Marlboro Man.

[Danny Kelly]

The Marlboro Man.

[Danny Heifetz]

That's pretty sick.

[Danny Kelly]

Like the cowboy I know.

[Craig Horobeck]

Dick Hammer, dude. And he was an attractive dude.

[Danny Heifetz]

Dude, his name's Dick.

[Danny Kelly]

Camper's got to be the best.

[Danny Heifetz]

We gotta ask Darnold this at Super Bowl. We gotta. We gotta. We gotta get. Someone asked where we got to get either, maybe we get Mike. Sean Dugard.

[Craig Horobeck]

Yeah, we're like. We're like, sam, what's, like, the craziest name you've ever heard? He's like, can't think of Hammer. What about camera? What about Dick Hammer, who was an athlete, actor and firefighter and the Marlboro Man? I want to see Sam Darnold without a beard. Does he have a sneaky, nice jawline?

[Danny Kelly]

There's a lot of pictures of him without a beard, I think.

[Danny Heifetz]

Well, I mean, he grew the beard because there was a famous thing that an NFL scout said when he came out of the draft that Darnold had a bad face.

[Danny Kelly]

Bad face. Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

That was like. That was. They thought he couldn't be a quarterback. Bad face. That was like, in a team's notes, Sam Darnold, which was probably, you know, Slater.

[Danny Kelly]

There's a lot of pictures of him with that.

[Craig Horobeck]

Oh, yeah.

[Danny Kelly]

I gotta say, the beard helps. The beard plays.

[Craig Horobeck]

He's got quite the chin.

[Danny Kelly]

He has.

[Craig Horobeck]

That's a marble chin.

[Danny Kelly]

He has, like, a red He's a ginger beard.

[Craig Horobeck]

Yeah. I mean, he's. He's a ginger.

[Danny Heifetz]

Well, yeah, I feel like.

[Danny Kelly]

He's not a full ginger.

[Craig Horobeck]

He's a ginger.

[Danny Kelly]

His beard is the most.

[Danny Heifetz]

I mean, he has red hair, doesn't he?

[Danny Kelly]

Well, I don't know. It's kind of like strawberry blonde or something brown.

[Craig Horobeck]

People with red hair's hair is not actually red.

[Danny Kelly]

Some of it is.

[Craig Horobeck]

It's like strawberry blonde. Usually.

[Danny Kelly]

Sometimes. Sometimes people are straight up real red. Anyway, this is a scintillating. Scintillating conversation.

[Craig Horobeck]

I consider him a redhead, but I.

[Danny Heifetz]

Know what he's saying. He doesn't look like Ron and Harry Potter. I get what he's.

[Craig Horobeck]

What he's saying. No, he's not Carrot Top, but.

[Danny Heifetz]

No one's Carrot Top.

[Craig Horobeck]

I know nothing about Carrot Top.

[Danny Heifetz]

What is. What is his deal?

[Craig Horobeck]

I don't know.

[Danny Kelly]

He's a comedian. He's a comedian.

[Craig Horobeck]

He's a prop comic. Right? Isn't that his thing?

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, he's like the second generation of.

[Danny Heifetz]

Gallagher, so he's just. Well, don't even. So Gallagher was like, I'm just the first person to figure out, I'm gonna hit watermelon. Mike McCarthy loves to bring watermelons into the thing and hit him with Sledgehammer. Gamers. But Carrot Top. So he just has a Vegas residency and is rich and jacked and just does that every day. People go see Carrot Top in Vegas.

[Danny Kelly]

Is he still there?

[Craig Horobeck]

He is. He still has a residency in Vegas. I'm going to Cinemacon this year, which is in Vegas. And Matt wants us to go to Carrot.

[Danny Heifetz]

Get the fuck out.

[Craig Horobeck]

He's like, what's the most Vegasy thing we could do? And he's like, because. And he wants to see. Because last year we saw. Oh, why am I blanking? The famous musician. I mean. Sorry, the famous magician. Who's in. Who's been in Vegas forever.

[Danny Heifetz]

Criss Angel.

[Craig Horobeck]

No, no.

[Danny Heifetz]

David Blaine.

[Craig Horobeck]

No, DK Famous.

[Danny Kelly]

I was thinking Siegfried and Roy with, like, the Tigers, but that didn't.

[Craig Horobeck]

Oh, my God.

[Danny Heifetz]

Famous musicians with the famous musician.

[Craig Horobeck]

Yes, the famous Vegas magician. He's very famous.

[Danny Kelly]

David Blaine.

[Danny Heifetz]

David Copperfield's dead.

[Craig Horobeck]

Is David Copperfield. No, he's not dead.

[Danny Heifetz]

He's alive. David Copperfield's alive.

[Danny Kelly]

Life is trying to kill Copperfield.

[Craig Horobeck]

Yeah, he's like, 70. And I saw his show and it was. It was a little.

[Danny Heifetz]

David Copperfield is alive.

[Craig Horobeck]

He's 69.

[Danny Heifetz]

Why have I not. Am I the only one who thought David Copperfield was dead, like, years ago?

[Craig Horobeck]

The greatest trick he ever pulled on you.

[Danny Kelly]

Maybe it's because there's a novel by Charles Dickens named David Copperfield.

[Danny Heifetz]

There is, yeah.

[Craig Horobeck]

That's got to be why I think.

[Danny Heifetz]

I got that back.

[Danny Kelly]

Which was written in 1849.

[Danny Heifetz]

I thought he was so old.

[Craig Horobeck]

But yeah, Matt is like, every time disappear.

[Danny Heifetz]

What the is with it?

[Craig Horobeck]

He's like. He's like, what's the most Vegasy thing we could do? And so we saw David Copperfield last year, and he wants to carrot top this year.

[Danny Kelly]

This is a really good question. What's the most Vegas thing? Because wouldn't it be what's the, like, the spirit?

[Craig Horobeck]

No, it's like French Canadian.

[Danny Kelly]

The French Canadian singer. What's her name?

[Danny Heifetz]

I'm the greatest singer in the world.

[Craig Horobeck]

You talking about Celine Dion?

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, I think you got to go to, like, a Celine Dion show or something.

[Craig Horobeck]

Yeah, that's a great one. It's like. What's like, the most old school?

[Danny Kelly]

I mean, I think, personally, Cirque du Soleil to me is what I think of when I think of Vegas, like, going Cirque du Solicia. I used to make the joke, Craig, that. Because this is. I remember going to Cirque du Soleil back when I was blogging for field goals. I was blogging on the Seahawks back in, like, 2013, 2014, and. And I went to a Cirque du Soleil show, and I was like, I need to be blogging about this. This is better than anything I've ever seen in my life. These people are the best athletes I've ever seen.

[Danny Heifetz]

Dude, should we go to Cirque du Soleil?

[Danny Kelly]

The shit they do is mind boggling. I wasn't even on shrooms.

[Danny Heifetz]

Oh, should we do shrooms and go to Cirque du Soleil?

[Danny Kelly]

I mean, that would be stealing a bit, but yes, we should.

[Danny Heifetz]

Whose bit?

[Danny Kelly]

Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen did it in this is 40 or whatever. They went to Vegas and took shrooms.

[Danny Heifetz]

Craig just recommended his movie. It's fine. They'll get. I. I also, I'm reading David Copperfield's Wikipedia and It says, Since 2016, David Copperfield has campaigned for Congressional Resolution 642, which would, quote, recognize magic as a rare and valuable art form and national treasure.

[Craig Horobeck]

I mean, look, I don't disagree with that.

[Danny Kelly]

He.

[Craig Horobeck]

He was so. He had clearly been doing this exact act for so many years consecutively. I think he does, like, two shows a night. Just mailing it.

[Danny Heifetz]

15 shows a week.

[Craig Horobeck]

15 shows a week, dude. He. He doesn't Finish his sentence before he starts the next one because it is so baked into his brain. Like, I. I can't describe to you how much he was just going through the motions. Like, no one even needed to be there. He was just, like, breathing. It was literally like air to him. And, you know, he doesn't.

[Danny Kelly]

That many shows.

[Craig Horobeck]

Yeah, they're not long. They're like an hour.

[Danny Heifetz]

I. I don't understand. I. I am. I. Maybe I'm crazy, but I don't think I've seen a video of David Copperfield in my entire life. That was from, like, the last 20 years.

[Craig Horobeck]

Yeah, everything.

[Danny Heifetz]

I feel like I've seen Evans from the 80s. I can't believe he's alive and also looks fine. He looks like the mayor in Dark Knight.

[Craig Horobeck]

Yeah, he's got a nice head of hair. When I think of Vegas, I think of, like, Wayne Newton.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, that's a great one.

[Craig Horobeck]

Oh, is Wayne Newton alive?

[Danny Heifetz]

I think he. He might have not. I'm thinking.

[Danny Kelly]

I think he's alive.

[Craig Horobeck]

He's 83.

[Danny Heifetz]

Tony. Tony Bennett is the one who passed.

[Craig Horobeck]

Tony Bennett?

[Danny Kelly]

No, Wayne Newton's a great call, Craig.

[Danny Heifetz]

Tony Bennett was old classic in his 90s, right? Yeah, Wayne Newton. I also think of, like, Family Guy sketches, you know, Conrad Twitty and Wayne Newton or some.

[Craig Horobeck]

Wayne Newton. What a name.

[Danny Heifetz]

Wayne Newton.

[Danny Kelly]

God.

[Danny Heifetz]

Do you think we could ever get.

[Craig Horobeck]

Like, a Vegas residency for doing our podcast?

[Danny Heifetz]

So that's what these guys do. They just perform in Vegas an hour every day, and they just live in Vegas.

[Danny Kelly]

I thought of another one. This one. This one we might actually have to go to if we go to Vegas. The Blue Man Group.

[Craig Horobeck]

Oh, great.

[Danny Heifetz]

That's number one.

[Craig Horobeck]

That's.

[Danny Kelly]

So that's the most Vegas dude.

[Danny Heifetz]

Also, all time Arrested Development bit is like, he just. Tobias tries to change.

[Danny Kelly]

I blew myself.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, dude. Blue Man Group. So what do they do? They play music.

[Danny Kelly]

They play drums, and there's a whole show. I don't know. There's. There's also, like. There's also a ton of shows. And I'm just looking through now. There's a ton of, like, burlesque shows and nudity shows and whatnot, which of course figured for. For adults only, guys, so be careful.

[Danny Heifetz]

Well, so the blue bag, are they musicians that do the costumes or are they, like, costume performing and they play music?

[Danny Kelly]

No, they're me. They're musicians that do that dress up in all blue paint.

[Danny Heifetz]

Are they the most famous thing in the world that nobody would know what they look like?

[Danny Kelly]

I've never been To a Blue man.

[Craig Horobeck]

Group, to be clear.

[Danny Kelly]

But I think they're like really, really good drummers.

[Danny Heifetz]

But is anyone more visually iconic that you, like, see them? You're like blue man group, but that 0% of people know what they look like. Like you, if you could know.

[Danny Kelly]

So probably, yeah, they're probably nondescript dudes and there's probably eight of them and then three of them play in every show.

[Craig Horobeck]

I mean, there's probably been 80 of them. It'd be a great trivia question to say how many, how many people have been in the Blue man group?

[Danny Kelly]

Do they sing you mellow?

[Danny Heifetz]

That is a trivic question.

[Craig Horobeck]

Do they put paint in the drums and they hit them and the paint flies everywhere? Do they?

[Danny Heifetz]

No, I think those stomp.

[Craig Horobeck]

What do they do?

[Danny Kelly]

So they, they're. They are a non verbal stage show in featuring bald, blue painted characters that blend comedy, music and performance.

[Danny Heifetz]

Their mimes.

[Danny Kelly]

Yes.

[Craig Horobeck]

And they're doing like physical gags kind of thing.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, I guess. Can you imagine putting on that goddamn paint every single day of your life?

[Danny Heifetz]

It's a nightmare. It's like Jim Carrey with the Grinch. It's like, didn't he almost have a nervous breakdown?

[Craig Horobeck]

Yeah. Every time I see that, like Jacob Elordi and Frankenstein, he's like, every day. It took eight hours to put the makeup on. I'm like, jesus, what the. Maybe we should use AI, my God. That's no way to live.

[Danny Heifetz]

See, that's. That's horrible. Oh, my God.

[Craig Horobeck]

Anyway, go watch Frankenstein now on Netflix.

[Danny Kelly]

I desperately want to go watch the Blue Man Group now.

[Danny Heifetz]

Oh, God. All right, email us about the Blue Man Group. Okay. Thank you, dk. Thank you, Craig. Thank you for. Email us at ringer fantasy football gmail.com. thank you to Olivia Newton John, who I slandered earlier. Thank you.

[Craig Horobeck]

You have to give context to that, right?

[Danny Kelly]

That was on our text.

[Danny Heifetz]

All right, fine. Dick is. Shout her out at the end. Thank you to everyone to listening. Yeah, Stick with us on Netflix, Spotify, wherever you're watching this, we're here. All the rest of the playoff super bowl off season, we have. Honestly, I think the show gets more fun. If you enjoyed anything. We just did last 15 minutes. It's probably more fun now than during the season. Thank you, Lauren.

[Danny Kelly]

Lauren. Thank you, Olivia Newton John.

[Craig Horobeck]

So during Legend.

[Danny Heifetz]

So, yeah, Tom Brady.

[Craig Horobeck]

Tom Brady on the broadcast sang let's get physical. Physical. And KB was laughing. They were having a good time. And then Heifers, Texas. Oh, my God. Tom Brady just sang a dua Lipa song?

[Danny Heifetz]

Well, because she has a song called Physical and she kind of. It's. She's ripping off Olivia Newton John. So I got confused.

[Craig Horobeck]

She doesn't sample it. It's. They're different. They could sound different. They're different songs.

[Danny Heifetz]

But like I was this word better or worse than my Puka. Nakua was actually out of bounds and this should have got to play at the end of the game.

[Craig Horobeck]

Nothing is worse than that, which I still.

[Danny Kelly]

Okay. Tough to top. He. He's just so arbitrary. Hyphens. You know what?

[Danny Heifetz]

Both actually. You know what bothered me about it?

[Craig Horobeck]

What?

[Danny Heifetz]

The cornerback was just winding the clock and the ref looked at him and was like, you're right. And he made the decision off that.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, that happens a lot.

[Danny Heifetz]

I know, but he looked at the lobby. You're right.

[Danny Kelly]

I mean, when freaking Reek Wolin got the penalty from talking to the line to the Rams sideline, Devonte Adams went up to the ref and was like lobbying for it and the ref pulls out his flag and throws. It happens all the time. I. We're all human beings, including referees.

[Danny Heifetz]

We've been doing the show long enough. Have we found out what Tariq Woolen said?

[Danny Kelly]

No. No.

[Craig Horobeck]

He better have been threatening people's families for him to get that flag.

[Danny Kelly]

Oh, he. Reek Woolen dodged the biggest bullet on this one man. Because he would go down. I mean, if CX had lost that game, he would have gone down as one of the all time.

[Craig Horobeck]

Well, at. At first.

[Danny Kelly]

Goats in a negative sense.

[Craig Horobeck]

At first I thought he really crossed over like the sideline and was like on the Rams bench. Which I was like, you know what? That should be a flag. You can't allow that to happen. But then the replay, the wide shot, he took like one foot on the sideline and was talking and I was.

[Danny Heifetz]

Like, I don't know. Can't have that in the game.

[Danny Kelly]

Craig, Think of the children. Craig.

[Craig Horobeck]

You can't go like, you can't just go into the bench and talk. But like he was right on the sideline.

[Danny Kelly]

How many plays of in a game do they do that? Probably like 25 to 30. There's. It happens like every drive.

[Craig Horobeck]

I think it was because like Sean McVeigh was more on the field than Reek Woolen. Like Woolen was closer to the rams bench than McVeigh. So it was kind of weird. It's felt like he was more in the mix than I was.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yes. It was an optical illusion. It's kind of like Lord of the Rings where They were shooting it and they're like. They're actually really far apart or something. It's like. Yeah. McVeigh's proximity made it closer also, by.

[Danny Kelly]

The way, one of the most badass things ever I seen is him getting that penalty and then the Rams turning around and. And going right at him and scoring a touchdown like that. To me, if I was a Rams fan, God, that's. Can't get better than that right there.

[Danny Heifetz]

That was sick.

[Danny Kelly]

Obviously it pissed me off because I wasn't a Rams fan, but I can respect it.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah. So I'm sorry, Olivia Newton John.

[Craig Horobeck]

It's all right.

[Danny Kelly]

Dame. Olivia Newton John, by the way.

[Danny Heifetz]

Dame.

[Danny Kelly]

One of the. One of the highest selling artists of all time.

[Danny Heifetz]

Huh? What does dame mean again?

[Danny Kelly]

It's the counterpart to sir.

[Danny Heifetz]

Oh, it's sir and Dame. So. But that's not obe, that's just knighted.

[Danny Kelly]

I don't know. I think there's different versions of it.

[Danny Heifetz]

OB is above a knight or below. I just know OBE from Peaky Blinders.

[Danny Kelly]

You expect me to know this? I don't know.

[Danny Heifetz]

I don't know. You're.

[Danny Kelly]

I don't know any of them, like, titles, titles, titles, titles.

[Craig Horobeck]

Yeah, yeah, I saw Meghan Markle last night also.

[Danny Kelly]

She's Australian. Really?

[Danny Heifetz]

Guy, you're like, oh, from Spotify, Remember?

[Craig Horobeck]

She. Yeah, I'm like, yeah, I work for the ringer. She. No, she introduced a movie that she produced about Girl Scout cookies. A documentary.

[Danny Heifetz]

A documentary about Girl Scout cookies?

[Craig Horobeck]

No, and the doc was really good. Cute little girls who are like adorable and you fall in love with all of them. It's like great stories. However, it does kind of make. It does make the Girl Scout organization feel a little soulless, I gotta say. Like, it's like, man, we're really putting these girls to work to sell these. Damn.

[Danny Heifetz]

I know. It's kind of like what's going on here? It's just like a pyramid scheme with all these. I will say. Well, you know, it was like an.

[Craig Horobeck]

11 year old girl who's like, I feel a lot of pressure to sell these cookies and I feel like I.

[Danny Heifetz]

Need to do this.

[Craig Horobeck]

I'm like, God, this is. Oh my God, I don't know about this.

[Danny Kelly]

Teaches them entrepreneurial ship.

[Danny Heifetz]

Craig, you know, my Girl Scout cookies take. Should I do this now or should we do this?

[Danny Kelly]

Girl Scout cookies are good.

[Craig Horobeck]

You think they're bad? You want them year round. What is it?

[Danny Heifetz]

I. I just. I think.

[Danny Kelly]

I don't like where this is going.

[Danny Heifetz]

I know. It's worse than My puka take. I'm going to keep it in the holster.

[Craig Horobeck]

No, come on, people demand it.

[Danny Kelly]

You can't knock.

[Danny Heifetz]

I just think Girl Scout cookies are like the worst kind of cookies. And if they were good enough to be sold year round they would be, but they're not. So they aren't what? They're not good cookies. They're like all in fear. The problem, they're guilt free.

[Danny Kelly]

What are you talking about?

[Danny Heifetz]

I'm buying them from Girl Scout that I have. So basically you're an adult. You're not supposed to eat cookies but like you buy them from a girl scout. So you're like, you're a good person and when you eat. So it's what you're paying for is you're paying for the excuse to eat cookies and not feel bad about yourself. And what an exchange you're giving up is quality because they're lesser like the chocolate. The tag alongs aren't as good. Thin Mints are sick. And Thin Mints agree with that. All the other cookies just aren't as good.

[Danny Kelly]

They're not restaurant quality cookies, but they're really good.

[Craig Horobeck]

Saying like other store bought bags of cookies or any of those, not like.

[Danny Kelly]

Chips Ahoy, they're better than Chips Ahoy. Like a lot.

[Danny Heifetz]

They're not good cookies. Like they're not, they're not good. They're just the guilt free.

[Danny Kelly]

I agree that sacrilegious.

[Craig Horobeck]

I agree that they capitalize on scarcity and they know what they're doing where it's like it's cookie season. You got to get them now. And if they were just available at the store every day, probably wouldn't do.

[Danny Heifetz]

No chance.

[Craig Horobeck]

No chance. And then look, are the margins probably pretty thin and they, they cheap out on the ingredients, those cookies? Perhaps, but I don't think they're bad. I like a Samoa like a thin man.

[Danny Heifetz]

They're not bad, but they're, it's like cook. They're cookies. No cookies are bad. No pizzas bag.

[Craig Horobeck]

We're talking about cookies that come in a bag. What's better than a girl scout? What is 10 times better than a girl scout cookie that comes in a bag?

[Danny Heifetz]

Oreos. Not even close.

[Craig Horobeck]

You're right, you're right, you're right, you're right.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, but Oreos are like the goat.

[Danny Heifetz]

Cookie Oreos give Oreos. Stale Oreos are like age compared to better.

[Craig Horobeck]

Oreos is like mj, that doesn't count.

[Danny Kelly]

But dude, the tag alongs are great. I. That was my jam.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, I like that because Chocolate and peanut butter is incredible. What I'm saying is it's like the worst version of chocolate but peanut butter, which is still good.

[Danny Kelly]

The doy do. Those are great. You have a lot of. I don't really like the. I'm just looking at the. The different ones.

[Craig Horobeck]

I just go Thin Mints out the freezer.

[Danny Kelly]

Rip those.

[Craig Horobeck]

That's kind of the move.

[Danny Heifetz]

Thin Mint. I will not fight you on Thin Mints out the freezer. But that's what I'm saying. It's like the lowest version.

[Danny Kelly]

I think Tagalongs are on the Rushmore for bagged cookies.

[Craig Horobeck]

Well, h, it's. Next time you see a cute little eight year old girl, tell her your take.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

Your cookies suck. You sit on a throne of lies.

[Craig Horobeck]

You don't smell like Santa. You smell like beef and cheese.

[Danny Heifetz]

Oh my God. All right, goodbye everyone.

[Danny Kelly]

Well, the holidays have come and gone once again. But if you've forgotten to get that special someone in your life a gift.

[Craig Horobeck]

Well, Mint Mobile is extending their holiday offer of half off unlimited wireless. So here's the idea. You get it now, you call it an early present for next year. What do you have to lose? Give it a [e-mail] switch.

[Danny Kelly]

Limited time, 50% off regular price for new customers.

[Craig Horobeck]

Upfront payment required. $45 for three months, $90 for six months or $180 for 12 month plan taxes and fees. Extra speeds may slow after 50 gigabytes.

[Danny Kelly]

Per month when network is busy.

[Craig Horobeck]

See terms.