Dolphins Fire McDaniel, Wild-Card Preview, and Craig Watched 'Lord of the Rings'

Summary

The Ringer Fantasy Football Show – Episode Summary

Episode Date: January 9, 2026
Hosts: Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, Craig Horlbeck
Main Themes: Mike McDaniel’s Miami firing, NFL Wild-Card Playoff Preview, ‘Lord of the Rings’ movie talk, listener emails & genre debates

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EPISODE OVERVIEW

The guys kick off Wild Card playoff weekend with major breaking news: the Miami Dolphins have fired Head Coach Mike McDaniel. They break down the stunning move, what it signals for NFL coaching movement (especially the Harbaugh brothers), and how front-office cronyism and owner motivations shape the league. There’s a spirited, detailed preview of the entire Wild Card slate — matchups, key stats, and emotional narratives. The episode closes with a lengthy, hilarious pop-culture tangent as Craig finally shares his first-time impressions of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ movies, plus listener emails about music genres and raw-dogging airplane flights.

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KEY DISCUSSION SECTIONS & INSIGHTS

1. Breaking News: Dolphins Fire Mike McDaniel (04:00–18:00)

Main Points:

• Miami’s Odd Timeline: Two days after a public vote of confidence, McDaniel was fired. Owner Stephen Ross is reportedly “tripping over himself” to land John Harbaugh, leveraging deep Michigan ties.
• Harbaugh Sweepstakes:
  • “They were prepared to go forward with Mike McDaniel and then Harbaugh got fired and they’re probably going to go after him.” — Danny Kelly (04:37)
  • Ross is Michigan’s biggest donor (Ross School of Business), adding layers to the Harbaugh pursuit.
• Coaching Carousel Chaos:
  • The Browns let go of a “two-time Coach of the Year, Kevin Stefanski.” (05:39)
  • Coaches like McDaniel and Stefanski become hot commodities as play-calling OCs, despite just being fired as HCs.
• Cronyism/Insider Network:
  • “Football isn’t any different — that’s how business gets done.” — Danny Heifetz (11:58)
  • “It’s like you couldn’t get with the girl, so you got with her sister.” — Danny Kelly (09:52)
• Where Will Harbaugh Land?
  • Dolphins vs. Giants vs. other teams (Bills, Packers) if their coaches lose in the playoffs.
  • Relationships, institutional control, and owner trust matter to top coaches—sometimes more than roster quality.
• Miami as a Job:
  • “Is Miami the best place to go?... You have a terrible quarterback situation, you’re paying Tua $50 million.” — Craig (08:21)
  • Institutional control and Ross’s desire for a quick Super Bowl drive are motivating the move.

Notable Quotes:

• “It’s like Bridgerton shit… Stephen Ross gave hundreds of millions of dollars to Michigan. Then they gave tens of millions to Jim Harbaugh.” — Danny Heifetz (06:26)
• “My brother says he’s good to work for. It’s kind of that simple.” — Danny Heifetz (10:42)

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2. Fallout: What Happens Next for McDaniel? (13:10–16:40)

Main Points:

• Big-time Redeployment: Mike McDaniel becomes instantly the hottest OC candidate.
• Fantasy/Real NFL Intersection:
  • “I want Mike McDaniel for the Giants. I know that’s kind of crazy.” — Heifetz (13:23)
• Staff Swapping: Teams like Atlanta, Cleveland (both former McDaniel stops), and Washington could be his next fit.
• Older Coaches, New Trends: Player and broadcaster influence on front-office moves (e.g., Troy Aikman recent Dolphins GM advisory role).

Notable Quotes:

• “He’s like cilantro. 20% of people are just going to be repulsed by him no matter what.” — Danny Heifetz (14:09)

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3. Coaching & QB Matching: The Atlanta, Cleveland, and Kirk Cousins Angles (16:17–19:19)

Main Points:

• How former Falcons like Matt Ryan could reshape the Atlanta front office, and the ripple effects on OC hiring.
• Kirk Cousins’ future: Could McDaniel want a proven, “Shanahan system” QB like Cousins for an instant turnaround?
• “Atlanta’s kind of similar to Miami. Great running back, good receiver, but no quarterback. If you can figure it out…” — Craig (16:17)

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4. Wild Card Playoff Previews

a) Los Angeles Rams @ Carolina Panthers (23:16–31:42)

• Rams heavy favorites: The Rams, despite their own special teams issues and late-season losses, come in as one of DVOA’s best teams.
• Panthers are “the most pathetic playoff team of all time” (23:40) but have a knack for upset wins.
• Key stat: Matthew Stafford’s 42 TDs from a clean pocket; Panthers have lowest pressure rate in league. (31:01)
• Notable: “If it takes an act of God for the Rams to lose…it feels like they’re going to kick everyone’s asses.” — DK (30:09)

b) Green Bay Packers @ Chicago Bears (32:00–38:46)

• Dead-even, emotional division matchup. Packers limp in, Bears have an incredible “March Madness three-point team” feel: Risky, wild, high-variance.
• “Why are [the Bears] losing so many games in the final two minutes? That seems unsustainable.”—Heifetz (33:16)
• Caleb Williams’s high-wire act vs. Jordan Love’s steadiness; Bears, despite turnovers, have the worst defense when not getting takeaways.

c) Buffalo Bills @ Jacksonville Jaguars (38:46–45:23)

• “The Jaguars are the better team, but Josh Allen is the best player in the game.” — Heifetz (39:58)
• Jaguars are “analytics darlings”; huge for Josh Allen’s legacy, with no Mahomes or Lamar Jackson on this playoff path.
• “Feels like they took the superhero out of Josh Allen this year… this is the rare occasion where you want him to do everything.” — DK (43:29)
• Turnovers loom large for both teams.

d) New England Patriots vs. Los Angeles Chargers (45:51–51:21)

• Patriots favored at home; Chargers offensive line a disaster, constant patchwork.
• Chargers have “25 different five-man OL combos in 17 games” (46:50), and “Herbert’s been sacked 54 times.”
• The Block of Granite MVP award is a weekly locker-room drama (49:52).

e) San Francisco 49ers @ Philadelphia Eagles (51:21–57:13)

• Injury bug hits Niners hard; conspiracy theory about “electromagnetic substation” near their practice facility causing soft-tissue issues (52:13).
• Eagles get healthier; Niners’ offense remains dangerous, but defense a concern.
• “The Niners could have been the one seed if they just won last week.” (55:54)
• Funniest moment: DK and Craig go deep on “Bluetooth paranoia.”

f) Houston Texans @ Pittsburgh Steelers (Monday Night) (58:03–68:40)

• Steelers on a wild home playoff streak; Texans have “quietly won 9 straight games.”
• Steelers’ playoff success credited to “divine intervention”; the saga of the priest blessing the end zone surfaces.
• “The only reason why the Steelers ever win games is because of divine intervention… the Lord gets us to 10.” — Craig (64:09)
• Analytical side says Houston’s defense is the best unit in the game — but can Aaron Rodgers and DK Metcalf break through?

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5. Rapid-Fire: Ringer 107 Picks & Bet Flipping (69:37–78:10)

• Hosts need to make weekly ATS picks for their Ringer competition.
• In real time, they debate “flipping” all picks (take the opposite of their first instincts) to ride their mediocre luck and perhaps leapfrog rivals: “Yolo. Let’s do the flip.” (77:31)

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6. Pop Culture Zone: Lord of the Rings & Listener Emails (78:10–end)

- Palindrome Content (78:12–80:33)

• DK’s love for palindromes; highlights include “Debone Tulsa nightlife filth gin a slut” and Weird Al’s “Bob”.
• “Stop letting hot people make music”: Music genre beef, “mom rock,” talent-show songs, and why certain male vocalists drive Craig nuts.
• “Raw-dogging” airplane flights: Inspired by a new Keanu Reeves movie where the entertainment system is down and passengers are forced to talk to each other.
• Craig’s First ‘Lord of the Rings’ Watch (87:40–104:49)
  • Marathon with his wife’s family over the holidays.
  • “Two, Three, One" is his movie ranking; Two Towers (“the two buildings”) is the favorite.
  • Fascination with Samwise, confusion about Legolas hype, love for the sheer world-building and New Zealand settings.
  • Fallout: He’s now bombarded with memes, backstory questions, and appreciation for the movie’s technical and story depth.
  • Discussion around what was left out of the movies (e.g. Saruman’s death in theatrical cut, Tom Bombadil, raising of the Shire).
  • “I think movies should be shorter, but I don’t think these should be shorter…by the end you’re like ‘we did it!’” (90:03)
• BONUS: The hosts nerd out on specific behind-the-scenes stories, practical effects, Peter Jackson’s major sound stunts, and soundtrack tips for productivity.

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MEMORABLE QUOTES & MOMENTS

• On Harbaugh & Miami:

  • “It’s super weird, like you couldn’t get the girl, so you got with her sister.” — Danny Kelly (09:52)
  • “Football isn’t any different — that’s how business gets done.” — Danny Heifetz (11:58)

• On “Dance Card” and Sports Language:

  • “The only time anyone uses ‘full dance card’ is this time of year for coaches — what the hell is a dance card, anyway?” — Danny Kelly (06:03)
  • (Fun aside as Craig googles ‘dance card’ origins)

• On why the Dolphins went for Harbaugh:

  • “Stephen Ross is 85, he wants to win a Super Bowl now.” — Heifetz (06:26)

• On the Steelers’ luck/God’s role:

  • “The only reason why the Steelers ever win games is because of divine intervention.” — Craig (64:09)
  • “Don’t bet against God.” — Bill Simmons’ Manifesto, invoked by the trio (63:27)

• On raw-dogging flights and Keanu Reeves' new movie:

  • “Raw-dogging the flight — stared straight ahead, couldn’t sleep, couldn’t listen to music, reorganized my life. Would I do it again? Absolutely not.” — Danny Kelly (86:12)

• On Legolas’ appeal and Lord of the Rings pop culture:

  • “I don’t understand why Legolas got so popular. I mean, Viggo Mortensen is way more attractive.” — Craig (90:23)
  • “He’s just…by far the least interesting character.” — Craig, re: Legolas (91:44)

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TIMESTAMPS FOR IMPORTANT SEGMENTS

| Segment | Timestamp | |----------------------------------------|--------------| | Dolphins Fire Mike McDaniel | 04:00–18:00 | | Harbaugh/Michigan/Owner Analysis | 06:56–11:03 | | McDaniel’s Future/Hot OC Trends | 13:10–16:40 | | Falcons, Cousins, Front Office Trends | 16:17–19:19 | | Rams vs. Panthers Deep Dive | 23:16–31:42 | | Packers vs. Bears Preview | 32:00–38:46 | | Bills vs. Jaguars Insights | 38:46–45:23 | | Chargers’ OL Woes, Patriots Matchup | 45:51–51:21 | | Niners-Eagles, Bluetooth Conspiracy | 51:21–57:13 | | Texans-Steelers, Priest Metaphysics | 58:03–68:40 | | ATS Picks, “Flip” Debates | 69:37–78:10 | | Palindrome/Music Genre Emails | 78:12–87:40 | | Craig Watches Lord of the Rings | 87:40–104:49 | | Final Wrap, Dune Chatter | 104:50–end |

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TONE & STYLE

• Wry, self-aware, and extremely conversational — the trio’s banter hops from deep NFL X’s & O’s nerdery to pop-culture, with running jokes, self-deprecation, and openness to tangents.
• Jokes about nepotism and NFL cronyism run alongside earnest movie/personal taste talk; memorable analogies abound (“cilantro coaches,” “march madness three-point team,” and “raw-dogged flights”).

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EPISODE USEFULNESS

Perfect for:

• Catching up on the major NFL playoff storylines with context and editorial perspective.
• Understanding the impact of off-field owner/coach relationships in the league.
• Getting amused by pop-culture tangents you won’t find on other fantasy football shows.
• Settling arguments about Lord of the Rings rewatch orders (and the importance of Samwise Gamgee!).

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Feel free to use this summary as a reference for the entire episode, including timestamps for any segment you want to revisit or skip.

Transcript

[Danny Hyfris]

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[Danny Hyfris]

Welcome to the Ringer Fantasy Football Show. My name is Danny Hyfris and I'm joined by Danny Kaley and Craig Korolbeck. We are going over the NFL podcast. Playoff games, baby.

[Danny Kelly]

Whoa.

[Danny Hyfris]

Playoff games are here. The playoffs are here. It's one of the more fun playoffs I can remember. And even though the Giants aren't there, obviously I am fucking amped for these playoffs. It's going to be awesome. We're going to go over all these games. We're going to go over the Dolphins firing Mike McDaniel. We have some emails that I am excited to run by you guys. But first, a reminder. Our next episode is going to be on Netflix. Isn't that right, Danny Kelly?

[Danny Kelly]

Netflix? Really? Tell me about it.

[Danny Hyfris]

I'm glad you asked. So Monday morning, our playoff recap is going to be on Netflix. You can watch it there. And all of our episodes going forward, you can watch on Netflix going forward, or you can watch them on Spotify going forward. Or you could just listen to them like a normal podcast on the podcast platforms. You already listen to going forward. I want to just take one second to linger on this, just to be really clear. So going forward, if you listen to this show as an audio experience, like, you just. You don't know what the hell we look like. You don't have to do anything. Nothing's gonna change. You could just listen to our show. No action items required. Unless if you want to pop on Netflix and put our show on on Monday and just, like, let it run and you're not there. Like, that would be trying.

[Danny Kelly]

Trying to guess which one of us is which.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Which I'm already getting. I'm already, like, making all my friends and family throw on Netflix and then go to sleep at night and just have our show running.

[Danny Hyfris]

Exactly. So we're gonna be. It's gonna be like, sleep noises, and then our show are gonna be, like, in the middle of the night. So if you listen to the show on Spotify or you watch the show on Spotify also, nothing is going to change, and nothing. Whether you're on the Spotify app, they have video on Spotify now, if you don't know. So in the app, the web player, the desktop app, whatever, Nothing you have to change. If you're watching the show on YouTube, then, yes, our show is not going to be on YouTube going forward. The video of our episodes will not be on YouTube going forward for future episodes. And unfortunately, the audio of our show going forward will not be on YouTube either. However, all of our episodes of the Ringer fantasy football show going forward, you can watch on Netflix. And if you don't have Netflix or you do have Netflix and you just don't want to watch us there, you can watch the Ringer fantasy football show on Spotify for free going forward or listen to it everywhere. All right, we're going to get into the playoffs. I didn't think there would be any news that would happen that we would have to talk about before, but. So Mike McDaniel. The dolphins fired Mike McDaniel today. So we're recording Thursday afternoon. So on Tuesday, the Dolphins announced that Mike McDaniel would be helping hire the new Dolphins general manager. That was two days ago. And then today, Thursday, the Dolphins owner, Steven Ross. Sorry, let me read here. It says on ESPN he caught a whiff of John Harbaugh's pheromones and told Mike McDaniel to kick rocks.

[Danny Kelly]

Pheromones.

[Danny Hyfris]

DK, what do you think of the. Of the Dolphins just deciding to keep Mike McDaniel with a statement of confidence and saying he can help pick the GM and then like 36 hours later being like, nah, that's fine. That guy sucks.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was, we've made a huge mistake. You know, job waking up in the hospital bed, I've made a huge mistake. I think it's like truthfully just a bunch of good coaches got fired and they'd rather have one of those guys like, that's the Occam's razor. This whole thing is they were, they were prepared to go forward with Mike McDaniel and then Harbaugh got fired and they're probably going to go after him. I don't know. That was kind of my read on the situation. Unless like McDaniel said something super crazy in these like post season interviews. I kind of doubt that was the case. But yeah, it's kind of, kind of a strange timeline. They definitely did this belatedly.

[Craig Korolbeck]

This is a weird coaching off season cycle because it feels like, like John Harbaugh is the best coach available, the best landing spot, the best team that doesn't have a head coach right now is the Ravens.

[Danny Kelly]

You needed logs, right? You needed logs.

[Craig Korolbeck]

And it's like Mike McDaniel gets let go from Miami and now immediately kind of becomes like the hotshot play caller.

[Danny Kelly]

That everyone, everyone wants him and they're going to fire their OCS to get him.

[Craig Korolbeck]

And it's like the Browns fired two time coach of the year Kevin Stefanski, who's like another like young, really capable play calling coach that a lot of teams would want. And it's almost like, man, you guys, it was pretty, you already had good options and now everyone's just going to be swapping. It feels like everybody is selling out a little bit for John Harbaugh. Like, like, oh, John Harbach can only go to one team and it feels like there's 14 we got him. Yeah, you know what?

[Danny Kelly]

I the expression that always gets used at this time of year and the only time and only context in which it gets used is he's got a full dance card. His dance card is full right now. What does that even mean? What's a dance card? Is that from the 1920s? What, what are we talking about here?

[Danny Hyfris]

I think, I think his dance card is full. Yeah. You needed written, written form of I danced with your daughter or something.

[Craig Korolbeck]

I don't know.

[Danny Hyfris]

But it's like that's like Bridgerton shit. I, I, I don't know. It's funny that the overall though, I do think what happened here, I do think it's kind of simple. Stephen Ross, who owns the dolphins, is 85 years old and wants to win a Super Bowl. Same with the Falcons firing Raheem Morris. The owner's 83. Like, they want something, they want what they want. Now, Steven Ross is the biggest donor to the University of Michigan. And when I say biggest donor, I mean they have a good business school. It's called the Ross School of Business because he gave them $200 million.

[Danny Kelly]

That's a weird coincidence.

[Danny Hyfris]

I know, right? Crazy. So, obviously, Jim Harbaugh has quite the relationship with Stephen Ross because the biggest donor gets to know the coach very well. So to the point where Steven Ross and Jim Harbaugh were so close that when the Dolphins needed a coach a few years ago, they refused to interview Jim Harbaugh because Steven Ross said. And I wrote this down because I wanted to quote it exactly. He said, I'm not going to be the person who takes Jim Harbaugh away from Michigan. So Stephen Ross loves the Harbaughs.

[Craig Korolbeck]

That also tells me that Steven Ross cares more about the success of Michigan than the Miami Dolphins.

[Danny Hyfris]

Yes. And that's also why Jim Harbaugh went to the Michigan instead of the dolphins 13 years ago. So three years, they hired Mike McDaniel instead of interviewing Harbaugh. Three years later, Mike McDaniel's fired because John Harbaugh, Jim's older brother, is available. I think this is very simple. They're gonna. And maybe I'm already wrong by the time people listen to this, but the Dolphins are gonna want to hire John Harbaugh. They're gonna hire Chad Alexander, who's the Chargers GM or assistant GM right now. He was with the Ravens for 20 years, 10 of those with John Harbaugh. He's gonna become the assistant gm. They're gonna go through the whole, like, motions of the hiring process, and then they're gonna hire John Harbaugh. And guess what? The next person. The chopping block is Joe Shane for the Giants, because there's no way John Harbaugh is gonna go to the Giants if he gets the pick, his GM in Miami. So the Giants are gonna now fire Joe Shane after saying they keep him.

[Danny Kelly]

They're gonna bulky him.

[Danny Hyfris]

They're going to. There's no way the Giants will be competitive for John Harbaugh unless they fire Joe Shane. So I actually think if the Giants fire Joe Shane, that's them trying to negotiate for Harbaugh. But I do think it's that simple, as everyone's tripping over themselves to get them.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yeah, I think everybody wants Harbaugh also the Miami thing. I totally. I agree. The Ross connection, the Michigan connection, it's all there. But, like, is Miami the best place to go? If you're John Harbaugh, you have a terrible quarterback situation, you're paying 2 or $50 million a year. Why would you go to Miami? I know old people like Florida, but, like, what. Why would you go to Miami? I feel like there are better options here. I don't. I'm curious.

[Danny Hyfris]

What do you think?

[Danny Kelly]

Money?

[Danny Hyfris]

No, I don't think he's got money. I think you want to harbors want to win. I think it's institutional control of you get.

[Danny Kelly]

Everybody wants more money. If it's. Everybody wants more money, money's the problem.

[Danny Hyfris]

Steve Ross owns Hudson Yards. That's where all the rich people in New York. We built a city inside New York City for rich people.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, you were telling me about that.

[Danny Hyfris]

Don't get me started on that. But I feel like. Do you think Miami, starting from scratch is. It is a better place than the Giants at the other openings?

[Danny Kelly]

DK it just depends. Here's the deal. I think if you're. If you're a coach and your dance card is full, as we always say, at this time of year, I do think, like, the relationships and the. And the belief and confidence in the owner is like a pretty important thing. Like having an owner that is not going to, like, meddle with your stuff, you know, hire somebody, like hire a gm that's going to be like, kind of like get in your way or whatever. It depends on how much power he's being offered, how much money he's being offered, and how he feels about the relationship with Steven Ross and how much, like, leeway he's going to have to do what he wants. I think for a. For a coach like Jim Harbaugh, the most important thing is do I have full control of everything?

[Danny Hyfris]

Yep.

[Danny Kelly]

That's more important probably than a quarterback. I don't know.

[Danny Hyfris]

To them, control freaks. I agree.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah. So, like, that to me would be. The big deal is like, you know, the relationship with Jim. This whole Jim John thing is like, it's like you couldn't get with the girl, so you got with her sister kind of deal. It's like, super kind of weird, but it is. Maybe there's this established relationship there where he trusts Ross and. And knows that he's not going to like, around with, like, what he's trying to do, and he's just going to give him control to, like, run the team. I think that would Be the most important thing to Harbaugh, to John Harbaugh right now.

[Danny Hyfris]

I think you're dead on. And Craig, I think you're right that if you look at it solely in terms of the players on the field, and you're like, the Dolphins have a $50 million hole with two they have to fix and no backup options. Why wouldn't you go to the G and Jackson's art where they have more pieces and, you know, why wouldn't you do that? But I think DK is right, because.

[Danny Kelly]

What'S the relationship with the owners?

[Danny Hyfris]

Well, that's the thing. The Giants have ownership entrenched in the front office, which I won't go on that rant, but they have to. But to your point, that sounds horrible. Let's just call it horrible.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah.

[Danny Hyfris]

John's brother Jim worked for Steven Ross for 10 years. And like, it's not called that, but it's just that with extra steps, Stephen Ross gave hundreds of millions of dollars to Michigan, and then they gave tens of millions of dollars to Jim Harbaugh. And it's like, Jim Harbaugh worked for his brother for 12 years. It's like, it's not that complicated. It's like, oh, yeah, I know my brother. My brother says he's good to work for. It's kind of that simple.

[Danny Kelly]

Right, right, right. It's like every other fucking job in the world.

[Danny Hyfris]

My brother. Oh, my brother. Oh, yeah, my brother.

[Danny Kelly]

Will you hire my brother? Yeah, yeah.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Well, we should also say that, you know, Schefter reported that Harbaugh is not expected to conduct any interviews until next week. Do you think there's a chance that if the packers lose and fire LaFleur, if the Bills lose and fire McDermott, that Harbaugh goes to one of those two teams which are. Are much more kind of organized, professional, high floor organizations right now?

[Danny Hyfris]

I didn't even think about that. I think the. Well, the tr. No, the reason the bill. The Dolphins are waiting is. I mean, let's just do it. Like they have to comply with the ring rule. And the.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, I was going to say, guess who else is a Michigan man?

[Danny Hyfris]

I was going to say Schefter. Shefter. I love Adam Schefter.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah.

[Danny Hyfris]

But Schefter also is like the Michigan connection of Schefter, Brady, Steven Ross, Harbaugh, they all know each other.

[Danny Kelly]

Illuminati. This is the football Illuminati.

[Craig Korolbeck]

It is Michigan men.

[Danny Kelly]

Michigan men.

[Danny Hyfris]

So this is why the Dolphins, again, it's a small world. It's not the Illuminati. It's like. It's just people.

[Danny Kelly]

Skull and Bones.

[Danny Hyfris]

There's a. It is. That's what it is. It's Tom. Why do you think that Tom Brady was going to go to the Dolphins on that? The Dolphins were docked draft picks because the NFL, in their mind, proved that Steven Ross hosted Brady on his yacht, being like, play for us. Come from the Patriots to the Dolphins, and I'll give you part of the team. It's because Steve Ross has known Tom Brady when he was in college at Michigan. They've known each other for fucking 20 years anyway. That. It's just. That's how business gets done. And football isn't any different. So that is how this is all being done. It's like the Chargers GM is going to get that job. Assistant GM is going to get the job because he was with John Arba. The same way the Chargers current gm Joe Ortiz got the job because he worked for the Ravens for 25 years.

[Craig Korolbeck]

You know, just be funny. I get the, like, whole, you know, cronyism, whatever you want to call it, like, everybody's friends are working for one another. But if Matt LaFleur gets fired and you can go be the head coach the Green Bay packers or you can go coach Josh Allen and the Bills, they're like, I wonder how far the Steven Ross Michigan men connection can go. And it's like, so I can do Josh Allen and the Bills or TUA and the Dolphins.

[Danny Kelly]

There's a limit.

[Craig Korolbeck]

There is. I have to imagine, right?

[Danny Kelly]

Also, with the packers, there is no owner.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Correct.

[Danny Hyfris]

That's the best owner of all. I gotta. If Matt. Let's not even get. If Matt LaFleur gets fired, I think that would be the funniest thing ever. I would take him in two seconds.

[Danny Kelly]

I don't. That seems ridiculous.

[Danny Hyfris]

So I want to go. I want to linger on this for a little bit, though. So, John, we can talk more next week about whether John harbor is even worth all this. However, Mike McDaniel, offensive coordinator, that's easy. He could have any job he wants. Eagles, Lions, Ravens.

[Craig Korolbeck]

That's easy.

[Danny Hyfris]

I want my. If John harbor goes to the Dolphins and then the Giants have to pick. I want Mike McDaniel for the Giants. I know that's kind of crazy.

[Danny Kelly]

Mike McDaniel's like, everybody, everybody wants him at this point. Even teams with, like, good OCS want him at this point. He's like, it's what Craig said at the beginning of the show. It's like, it's crazy. That this guy gets fired and then it's the most popular. Obviously, it's a slightly different job. Very different job, just being the OC but he's clearly very Still. Still very highly respected.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yeah, usually the guys getting fired are like. It's like Antonio Pierce, Brian Callahan. It's like, we'll never hear from them again. And now it's like, Jesus, we have John Harbaugh, we have McDaniel. We have Stefanski. These are like, very qualified coaches.

[Danny Kelly]

A lot of guys have to go take, like, a little sabbatical in college or take a year off and rebuild their network, rebuild their reputation. Fl fly under the radar for a while.

[Danny Hyfris]

That's why I want. Actually, I'm okay with if the Giants end up hiring Mike McDaniel. And again, I. I do think he's like cilantro and that 20 of people are just going to be repulsed by him no matter what he does, because.

[Danny Kelly]

What does it taste like vomit or something? What is.

[Craig Korolbeck]

People think it tastes like soap.

[Danny Hyfris]

So it's like a genetic thing. And I just think people will always, especially frankly in New York, I think older people are going to be like, what the fuck is this guy doing? But if Harbaugh's archetype is the CEO and he can build an organization and the pitch at least is we could build a competitive team year over year that builds through the draft, and we've done that for 20 years. The Ravens way, whatever, which is the patriots way. The McDaniel argument is, don't you want a really cool offense and that. Yeah, he's a weird, quirky guy. When you're winning that sick. And when you're up 70 nothing on the Broncos, that's awesome. And when you're losing, it sucks. But also, I would argue the issue is with the Dolphins is how they built the team and the players. Bill Barnwell at ESPN had a great point. How many players went through Miami and were on offense and were way better in Miami than they were before? Like, Tyree killed the best seasons of his career statistically in Miami. Jalen Waddle was better there once Mike McDaniel came. And that's not just like, the 2022 season. Like, Darren Waller came out of retirement and had his best snaps in Miami than he had in, like, five years.

[Danny Kelly]

John Smith.

[Danny Hyfris]

John. Ooh, Smith. Like, Raheem Mostert came in at 20 touchdowns at like, 31 years old.

[Danny Kelly]

30? Yeah, 31.

[Danny Hyfris]

You know, the amount. Like, there's a lot of players that walked into Miami. Aaron Brewer, the center for the Dolphins, I mean he might make an all pro team at center for Miami. So I think Mike McDaniel, that's like eight guys we just named that had the best seasons of their career when they went to Miami. So I look at the Giants and I'm like, yeah, he's weird, he's quirky. Like who. If it works, it's cool. But I'm like, I kind of want him working with Jackson Dart because I think all the limitations of Miami are building around Tua. But I want to see what he could do with Jackson Dart.

[Craig Korolbeck]

I, I don't disagree. I wonder if, if he's going to get head coaching opportunities if like Atlanta or Cleveland, two places he's already coached at. You know, he was on Atlanta with Shanahan in the year they went to the super bowl and blew the 28 three, you know, with Matt Ryan, if Matt Ryan comes in to be the president of Atlanta, is Mike McDaniel going to be an option there?

[Danny Hyfris]

And also Matt Ryan won MVP in a Shannon system. He's going to want to, he's going to want a Shannon system for Atlanta.

[Craig Korolbeck]

That's really funny though because it's like Atlanta for McDaniel. I mean you obviously, I'm sure he wants to be a head coach over coordinator at a good, on a good team. I would imagine he wants to be a head coach still. But like Atlanta's kind of similar to Miami where it's like great running back, a really good receiver, a lot of pieces. Quarterback's not there. Yeah, you know, I can't figure it out.

[Danny Kelly]

You got to make this left handed quarterback work.

[Danny Hyfris]

It's weird. Well, you get a better. It's. It's halfway between having one and having nothing. Like I think Miami, it's tough because if you cut to or you don't want to play them, injury stuff, but at least the Falcons, you have the chance that Penix comes back as healthy. I also think that, I think Mike McDaniel would view Kirk Cousins as perfectly able to operate the way they want. I mean Kirk Cousins, the Shannon, I mean he started in Washington with Kyle Shannon. That's kind of where. You know what I mean, like that system and everything he was.

[Craig Korolbeck]

That's why I like Washington as a commander or as a coordinator also feels like an option.

[Danny Kelly]

He also. We didn't really talk about the Cousins thing. Just as an aside, Cousins had his contract renegotiated. He's basically going to be a free agent after this year.

[Danny Hyfris]

I think I still kind of think it depends because of what Happens with the front office. And it's really up to Matt Ryan, which. This is a, this is a weird situation because you know, when Andrew Luck went to be the GM at Stanford, which is just how college has worked out, you need a front man as gm and then either depending on the power structure, like the head coach is going to make all the decisions and the GM is just going to be some kid telling people or it's like Andrew Lux actually in charge or whatever, pitching people. That makes sense. But now we have this happening in the NFL. Like Matt Ryan with the Falcons, obviously Tom Brady with the Raiders. Troy Aikman went on with the Dolphins. I also think that's kind of why a little reason Mike McDaniel got pushed out the window is that. Do you remember Troy Aikman talking about the Dolphins Steelers game?

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yes. About the end of game play calling by Miami who wasn't pushing to score when they were down like whatever, 21.

[Danny Hyfris]

Even by Troy's standards. Troy, I wrote it down because I didn't want to misquote it, but Troy Aikman, who's seven days joined the Dolphins. This is what Aikman said about, I think it was December 14th or something, the Steelers Monday Night Football game that the Dolphins lost. It was pathetic. Trickman said, I'm flabbergasted by what we've witnessed here in this fourth quarter with the Dolphins and now they want to call timeouts. It is just about as ridiculous a fourth quarter as I've seen in a long time. And then he was hired to help the Dolphins hire a GM and then seven days later, Mike McDaniel was fired.

[Danny Kelly]

Wow.

[Craig Korolbeck]

That was. I remember we talked about that on the, on the Sunday night recap show or I don't know if it was a Monday night game, I forget. But yeah, they were down like two, three scores and they were not pushing the ball down the field. And Aikman was fucking pissed.

[Danny Hyfris]

Yeah. And so I. But these guys, this is the new trend. And like, I think the, the truth is I don't know how much power these guys have. But I think to your point, dk, the Falcons and everything, it's like, it is kind of. I don't know what Matt Ryan thinks of Kirk Cousins, but I do think that's going to shape. I kind of just assumed the Falcons would bring Kirk Cousins back because I can't say enough. Michael Penix is having an ACL reconstruction in the other knee that he tore his ACL twice in college. So it's like you can't Depend on that. And I'm like, well, Kirk Cousins was good enough down the stretch. They won that last four games. They somehow tied for first in the division for Atlanta, even though they were eliminated from the playoffs in early December. I'm like, I don't know, just bring Kirk back. You're going to pay him. But I don't know what better option they're going to find. But you know, Kirk also kind of.

[Danny Kelly]

Like opened up Kyle Pitts. Like, I think he'd be good for Drake London passing game.

[Craig Korolbeck]

I got to say, as a Steelers fan right now I feel like I'm in a 30 year marriage in the 1950s where I'm just kind of locked into this thing and I'm kind of staring at like my assistant and all the secretaries. I'm like, man, there's a lot of options and I am kind of locked into this one person I've been with.

[Danny Kelly]

Societal norms just won't allow me to divorce my. Now I'm.

[Craig Korolbeck]

I am locked into this thing, I guess.

[Danny Hyfris]

Meet with the meeting with the head.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Of Menkins and yeah, I'm like, man, McDaniels opened up. Wow. All right. That sounds kind of interesting, dude.

[Danny Hyfris]

The Departed, when he's like, I'm Irish, I'll do this forever. You know what?

[Craig Korolbeck]

We like that.

[Danny Hyfris]

You know, it's funny, we joked about that with the Steelers and Rudy's forever. Like, we're Irish. We do this forever. I think we forgot this. Rudy's actually are Irish.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yeah, right.

[Danny Hyfris]

Didn't even occur to me.

[Craig Korolbeck]

They have three coaches in 50 years.

[Danny Hyfris]

Yeah.

[Craig Korolbeck]

By the way, DK, I googled what a dance card is and so we're basically right. But it is funny. And there's another phrase that comes off of from a dance card. So. A dance card is a small, often decorative booklet used at formal dances, especially 19th century balls, for women to log partners for each dance. Preventing wallflower status and allowing polite refusals by declaring the card full with terms like pencil me in.

[Danny Kelly]

Pencil me in.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Pencil me in. Comes from dance cards.

[Danny Kelly]

So this is Bridgerton, straight up Bridgetton.

[Danny Hyfris]

Wow.

[Danny Kelly]

All right, well, you know Jim, John Harbaugh, Mr. Darcy.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Sorry, pencil in John Harbaugh from Miami.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, yeah. What is that? What's the main. Dude, I guess there's several seasons of Bridgerton hyphens. Did you watch Bridgerton? Oh, he's the guy who's like the. The popular guy, the older brother, Anthony Bridgerton.

[Danny Hyfris]

I don't see Jonathan. He's. He's really hot. I didn't watch Dude, I gotta tell you, I mean, you didn't watch Bridgerton with Liz because I tell you, Liz.

[Danny Kelly]

I watched it with Skippy.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Liz does not watch Bridgerton.

[Danny Hyfris]

Dk. I think a universal experience for men who watch Bridgerton with their wife or partner is just watching them. Watch them come out of the water in their shirt, soaking wet, and they're just like, jaw dropped.

[Craig Korolbeck]

And you're like, yeah, Jonathan Bailey.

[Danny Hyfris]

Yeah.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Sexiest man alive, Jonathan Bailey.

[Danny Kelly]

Oh, yes, that's who it is. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Craig Korolbeck]

But no, I don't think Liz watched Bridgerton, actually.

[Danny Hyfris]

Well, you're a lucky man.

[Danny Kelly]

What's the, what's the show that you have?

[Craig Korolbeck]

I won't let her, but. Yeah. What?

[Danny Kelly]

You won't let her? Speaking of 50s marriages, I have kind.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Of like a, Like a childluck situation on the television.

[Danny Hyfris]

Parental control. That's why you gotta watch this on Netflix. Parental controls.

[Craig Korolbeck]

You know, she can only watch the Great British Baking show, but she has no idea because she likes it so.

[Danny Hyfris]

Much, so it's fine.

[Danny Kelly]

No, but is that the show that you guys watch together in terms of, like, the atypical. Not that what I would normally watch. Show what you guys watch as a couple, because we're talking hyphens and I watch Bridgerton.

[Danny Hyfris]

Oh, yeah. Bridgerton.

[Danny Kelly]

With, like, partners.

[Craig Korolbeck]

You're asking me what shows I watch with Liz?

[Danny Kelly]

Yes.

[Danny Hyfris]

It's like when you make Liz watch, like, a Fast and Furious movie, and then it's like two for you, one for her. Like, what's the movie that you.

[Danny Kelly]

What show would you not whatever, watch, but then you did with her.

[Craig Korolbeck]

There aren't many. I, I, I, I. There's no show that, like, she's, like, big. Like, she watches the Pit. I don't watch the Pit.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, that's different.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yeah, it's kind of. The answer is none. She doesn't really make me watch anything.

[Danny Kelly]

Wow, Perfect marriage.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Well, a lot of the quote unquote girly shows I like. Like, we're watching Sex in the City. She's seen it a million times.

[Danny Kelly]

That counts.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yeah, but I like it. I'm not being forced to watch it.

[Danny Hyfris]

If men are listening. Dude, if you have to make an olive branch and you want to watch a show with your partner. Dude, Sex in the City is fucking so funny.

[Danny Kelly]

That's funny.

[Danny Hyfris]

Well, speaking of, there's a college football playoff game Thursday night. There's a college football playoff game Friday night, and then there are two NFL playoff games on Saturday, three NFL playoff games on Sunday, and for shits and gigs there's another NFL playoff game Monday night. So either you're single, you have an incredible relationship, or you're going to have to pick and choose your spots. So we why don't we start with Saturday and just get into these wild card games. So dk. Yo Los Angeles Rams are at the Carolina Panthers.

[Danny Kelly]

Shaky's game at the Carolina Panthers is hilarious.

[Danny Hyfris]

It's at the Panthers is funny. I also think it's funny that the Rams beat the. Sorry. The Rams were favored by the Panthers by ten and a half in the regular season. The Panthers won and then they'll spread the point spread in this game is exactly the same as the other one. Even though the Panthers won and the entire betting market's like, nah that that even happened.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, this is a weird game. Obviously we've talked about how the the to me, the Panthers are like the most pathetic playoff team of all time. Even though technically speaking there have been worse playoff teams per dvoa. This is one of this is the way that they eked into the playoffs needing another team to win for them to get them into the playoffs is just so sad.

[Craig Korolbeck]

I like that DK. DK's been harping on this so much as though his beloved Seahawks didn't make the playoffs at 7 and 9 and.

[Danny Hyfris]

Have an incredible win actually.

[Danny Kelly]

And that Seahawks team had a worse dvoa.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Okay. You're like this is so lame.

[Danny Hyfris]

Did I tell you guys? So obviously the whole thing is the Seahawks won that game with the beast quake. Yeah I talked to this is like a annoying flex but I I learned this from Matt Hasselback. They ran the play wrong. Like that play was the reason he had to bounce it and like get break all the tackles is because they totally they didn't want to call the play because it was up and then they totally botched it and the coaches are right and then Marshall lynch just scored. Scored.

[Danny Kelly]

Wow.

[Craig Korolbeck]

You know Matt Hasselback. That's cool.

[Danny Kelly]

Built diff that is cool. The I will say this is a funny stat but according to Aaron shots the DVOA King the the five out of the six worst playoff teams according to DVOA won. They won their wild card matchup. So we'll see what happens in this game. I think the Rams are outside the Seahawks according to like again to dvoa the Seahawks and the Rams are actually two of the greatest teams according to D DVOA ever. The Seahawks are the seventh best team per doa. The Rams are the ninth best team ever. They are the five seed because they lost to the other great team in the DVOA or the, the Seahawks. They also lost to the Panthers. That did not help them. The Rams are one of the lowest variance teams according to dvoa, which means, like, they're just very, very consistent game in and game out. They, they always play well. They're not up and down. Their big fatal flaw is special teams. They're one of the worst special teams teams in the NFL. And that's been kind of like the thing that really ruined them in a lot of these games. It ruined them against the Seahawks. It ruined them against the Eagles when they lost to the Eagles earlier in the season. So I don't know, just looking at this, looking at the Rams, I actually, in our, you know, staff post, I picked the Rams to win the Super Bowl. I think that they're just like, so good.

[Danny Hyfris]

That's such an emotional hedge. You're such a coward.

[Craig Korolbeck]

There's still hell.

[Danny Hyfris]

You're such a coward. I picked the Seahawks to win.

[Danny Kelly]

Okay, that's fine. Agree. I. But I just wanted to pick this the, the Rams because hopefully that will reverse jinx them and my Seahawks.

[Danny Hyfris]

Did you at least have the balls to write that in your blurb of like, I'm a Seahawks fan and I'm picking.

[Craig Korolbeck]

I was gonna say fortheringer.com you're basically just making a selection. That is a personal internal hedge.

[Danny Kelly]

No, my entire career is based on reverse jinxing every other team so the Seahawks can win publicly. You're saying I'm doing it right now? No, I, truly, truthfully though, you guys are calling me a coward. But if I, if the Seahawks end up facing the Rams, which they very well could in, I think the championship round or the divisional round, I'm gonna be very nervous because the Rams, I mean, basically, if you look at the two games the Rams and Seahawks played this this year, there was like a two point difference, like a one yard difference. Like both of these games were extremely, extremely close. Came down to the end. I just think the Rams are really, really good. And Stafford is amazing. They have Puka, Devonte's coming back. Have a good run game. They have a really good defense. They have one of the best coaches in the NFL. I didn't just pick them to reverse jinx them or whatever. I, I really do think they're a very good team.

[Danny Hyfris]

The Rams are the best team left, but there was something that I just felt wrong about picking them to win the super bowl. And I'm like, their biggest issues are covering punts and, and making kicks and I'm like that you scary.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah. They did fire their, their special teams coordinator. Maybe that'll make a difference.

[Danny Hyfris]

That's it doesn't f anything.

[Craig Korolbeck]

My question for you is going to be have these like last three weeks for the Rams have lost two of their last three games. Has that affected your view of like the all powerful Rams, the team that like a month or two ago everybody thought was the best team in the NFL? But I guess I know the answer to that question. The answer is no if you pick them to win this.

[Danny Kelly]

No, not really. If anything it's like a red herring thing. Like now they're, now they're lurking in the background ready to strike.

[Craig Korolbeck]

They also two of those, those losses to Atlanta and Seattle, both of those came without Devonte.

[Danny Hyfris]

I want to at least humor the idea that the Panthers can win because nothing will top Taylor Heinecke. Really, really, really almost beating the Bucks with Tom Brady that ended up winning the Super Bowl. So that was another like 500 team division winner. And I feel like it just has to be a disaster. Like Stafford has to throw picks again. Bryce Young, I think in the first game through two different touchdowns on fourth down. But I will say I do think the Panthers, if they're able to run the ball with like Rico Daddle and Shuba Hubbard and like just not abandon the running game. I, I the it's funny because the Panthers offense is average sized because Bryce Young's really tiny, but all the receivers are really freaking big. It's like the head in the oven and feet in the freezer. It's room temperature. So if they are able to run, I do think there will be opportunities for their giant receivers like McMillan and Jalen Coker and even Leggett who doesn't always play big, but they're big guys. I do think they can kind of body the Rams and Bryce Young doesn't have a ton of margin for error. Like he doesn't really not tall enough to see over the middle field, doesn't have the arm strength to put it to the outside, but he does have good touch. And I do kind of think that the same way he hit those shots in that first Rams game where they ended up winning. I think if the Panthers jump to a lead and the Rams tilt is the only thing is that I'd be interested in because the Rams have had pucker factor ever since the Seahawks won that two point conversion. I think the Rams have kind of like mentally been like, what the fuck? We thought we were the best team in the League. But I mean, obviously, you know, the Rams are probably going to fucking destroy Carolina.

[Danny Kelly]

The Rams season has been so, so weird because yeah, they lost the Seahawks with that two point conversion which was like wildly improbable. Like every, everything about that game was wildly improbable. They lost to the Eagles on a last second where they were going to kick the game winning field goal or.

[Danny Hyfris]

No, they, yeah, Jordan Davis blocked it and returned it for touchdown.

[Danny Kelly]

Was it tied at the time? I think it was tied at the time. And then they returned it for a touchdown to win the game. Was that what it was? Whatever, whatever the case is, they should have won that game. And then it was like a block kick. It was just like crazy circumstances against the Panthers. There was the two fourth down touchdowns, I believe. Didn't Stafford throw a pick six in that game too?

[Danny Hyfris]

Yeah.

[Danny Kelly]

And so there's just like the Rams losing. It has to be like some crazy act of God to happen. It feels like. You know what I mean? So that's, that is truly where like my confidence in them comes is like they are just such a good team. They're very balanced, they're very good coach, they're very well coached. They have one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. They have two of the best receivers. They have a good run game, they have a good defense. They can rush the passer. I don't know it when I look at that. They have like this weird schematic advantage that no one else can do with a 13 personnel. They just feel like a team that's going to, you know, go through the playoffs and kind of kick everyone's asses.

[Craig Korolbeck]

This would be one of the, the more disappointing playoff losses in a while because usually like we look like, like the Patriots, right? The Patriots went 14 and three and we look back at their schedule and be like, God, they had that one weird loss against the Raiders in week one. But this is like as if that the Raiders team made the playoffs and you got to play them again. I feel like it's, it's, it's so, so rare that the blemish on your schedule is the team you play in the playoffs because obviously the blemish should not make the playoffs. So it's just very bizarre that the bad loss of the season is in the playoffs.

[Danny Kelly]

Right.

[Craig Korolbeck]

So they can't lose twice.

[Danny Kelly]

I really don't see it happening.

[Danny Hyfris]

Yeah.

[Danny Kelly]

Unless something really weird happens.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Although. So the Panthers are one of four home dogs out of their six games. Four of the six games there are home underdogs which is pretty incredible.

[Danny Hyfris]

It's, it's a really, it's a really, really fun weekend. I mean these games, you know, maybe something will be uncompetitive. It looks pretty awesome.

[Danny Kelly]

I was just gonna add real quick that the, the other reason I'm like pretty confident in the, in this, in the Rams for this one is I saw this from Matt Okada, NFL. Matt Stafford's had like an all time season from a clean pocket this year. He's throwing 42 touchdowns from a clean pocket and the Panthers have the league's lowest pressure rate on defense. So I will say is it, is.

[Craig Korolbeck]

It considered a clean pocket if it's at the one yard line and he just snaps it on immediately? Probably it is.

[Danny Hyfris]

It is.

[Danny Kelly]

I think technically it is. Yeah.

[Danny Hyfris]

So it's only 30.

[Danny Kelly]

I want to say one of the Rams offensive lineman has already been declared out. So that could be like a wrinkle that, that does matter in this game.

[Danny Hyfris]

But so not quite sure the other Saturday game is going to be packers are at the Bears. I mean this is awesome.

[Craig Korolbeck]

This game is on Amazon Prime.

[Danny Hyfris]

I believe so. I mean this is the second time they played Saturday. Obviously the packers and Bears played twice this season. It was awesome. Both. I mean the first game came down to Caleb Williams throwing a pick in the end zone that would have been a touchdown walk off touchdown. Then 13 days later they played again and then Bears had to recover an onside kick and then Caleb Williams had to throw a fourth down touchdown. And then the best throw, one of the better throws in the history of the Bears in overtime to win the game. And it was, it was insane. I gotta tell you. I know Craig in particular loves the Bears.

[Craig Korolbeck]

I do.

[Danny Hyfris]

I feel a little bit like Debbie Downer at Disneyland asking Mickey Mouse if they're scared of like a terrorist attack.

[Danny Kelly]

But I feel very specific.

[Danny Hyfris]

But I was thinking about, I just kind of feel like the packers are going to win.

[Craig Korolbeck]

I can't believe that. The, it's great motivation for the Bears. They're not favored in this game.

[Danny Hyfris]

I am shocked. So the packers are favorable one and a half. I, I thought it was gonna be controversial that I thought the packers are gonna win. Packers are the fourth team to ever make the playoffs after losing their final five games. And like one of those was the Steelers last year and they got ran off the field and the pack. I mean Jordan Love has not played since the last Bears game. The packers have not won since the first Bears game. Like the amount of injuries. I kind of. Micah Parsons. I kind of thought the Bears would be favored.

[Danny Kelly]

They actually only lost the last four to be.

[Danny Hyfris]

Oh yeah, sorry.

[Danny Kelly]

Last correct you real quick. But yeah, still very bad.

[Danny Hyfris]

Not great.

[Danny Kelly]

So still not good.

[Danny Hyfris]

That changes everything. I just think. Not to be cliche, but Jordan Love's been here before and Caleb Williams hasn't, which matters to me. But the bigger one to me is just the Bears are the first team in NFL history to win six games that they were losing in the final two minutes. Which is cool, but not to be a dick, but I'm like, why are you losing so many games in the final two minutes? That seems unsustainable. But I want to shout out Cody Alexander at match quarters. He's the man. And I was talking about this game this week and he put it perfectly. The Bears are the March Madness team that leads the country in three point shooting. And those teams never win March Madness.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Well, can they win a game? They win a game. They might win a game.

[Danny Hyfris]

They might win a game, but the Bears are going to go cold. But here. But here's the thing, it's the turnovers. The Bears literally have the most turnovers in the NFL on defense and the fewest turnovers in the NFL on offense. That's freaking random. And I know that's not fun to say, but like it's the truest and most predictable thing, season over season and end game to game that like you can't just do that all the time. The Bears don't get stops on defense. They don't like the Jaguars. Also a lot of turnovers, but the Jags do get some stops. The Bears do not get stops on defense. They're a terrible defense when. If they don't get a turnover. And so to me, this whole game comes down to will Jordan Love throw an interception or not? Because like the packers don't throw a ton of picks. He's actually been way more disciplined this season and when he's. When they've lost, it's not been the packers can't move the ball. It's they get to the red zone, they don't score like the Bears get the last Bears game, it's like the packers get to the red zone but they couldn't score. The Panthers game, the packers are moving the ball in Carolina, but Jordan Love throws picks. If he doesn't throw picks, I think the pack. The Bears are not stopping Green Bay in the offense. Even though it's weird to say that about a team that we. Last time we saw Josh Jacobs, he had four carries, three yards, but I don't know. I, I, I really lean Green Bay in this one, which is sad because I would rather the Bears win.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, I was going to say to follow kind of the narrative that Craig is put forth, that the Bears are going to win a Super bowl at some point in the next, like, three or four years. It does kind of just feel to me this is totally gut and nothing else related. That's all there is, that there's, they're going to lose, like, in a very tragic fashion. Like, they're, they're winning late in the game. They lose on, like, a field goal at the last minute. And then next year they'll come back, like, a lot stronger and, like, more ready for the playoffs.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Very possible.

[Danny Kelly]

Just like, it's just how it feels. I don't know if that's gonna happen.

[Craig Korolbeck]

But they've certainly exceeded expectations this year, being as good as they are. I don't know. I kind of am just like, no one excites me on Green Bay. Like, I'm like, Josh Jacobs has not been healthy for eight weeks.

[Danny Kelly]

They're a shell of their former team. Kind of.

[Craig Korolbeck]

They don't have Tucker Kraft, who was their. It's like Christian Watson's banged up and I like, I like Christian Watts, but he's banged up. It's like Jordan Love hasn't played. And I think the Bears have a lot of players that I like on offense. The Bears can also run the ball. I mean, the packers two weeks ago got destroyed by Tyler Huntley and the Ravens because the Ravens ran for 300 yards against Green Bay. And I'm like, I don't know. This game's in Chicago. I trust the running game for Chicago much more than I trust the running game for Green Bay. And I'm like. And then you factor in, like, the skill position group and I don't know. Caleb, with Ben Johnson's play calling versus Jordan Love and Matt LaFleur, it's, it's, it's much closer. To me, I understand why the spread is one and a half because I do think it's a fairly even matchup. But I, I like, I like the, I think I just like the talent on the offensive side of the ball with Chicago a little bit more than I do Green Bay. I understand the Jordan Love experience thing. I think that matters. He's been good in the playoffs, but that's all fair.

[Danny Hyfris]

I mean, that's why I thought the Packers Bears would be favored. I thought the Bears would be favored, especially we talking about the run designs. Like the way the Bears ran on the Eagles, I mean, the packers, the defensive tackles, the center of the packers defense is just, they just keep losing a defensive tackle every week for like a month. And I think that, I mean, you saw it against Baltimore. The pack, the packers closer to Thanksgiving were incredible at stopping the run. Outside runs like those Derek Henry things weren't really happening at Green Bay six weeks ago as a way. And then they just get dominated by the Ravens in Week 17. The vibes on one hand for the Green Bay are bad. Like they, they're the 17 three years in a row and they just kind of laid down and they were like, week 18 that we're so hurt we can't even play. And they benched everyone last year, last week. But I want to just note one thing, which is one of those if Green Bay comes out firing, we're going to be like, we didn't talk about this enough. Jordan Love hasn't played since he got concussed versus the Bears and it was kind of a cheap shot. And Matt Ler said last this week, I know a lot of guys took that hit that Jordan Love took a little personally. So I'm not saying we're going to go out there and play dirty or nothing like that, but we definitely are going to defend our brother. Sorry, wait, that was, that was not Matt La Fleur. That was one of the packers players. But I really, like, I was gonna.

[Danny Kelly]

Say that would be like kind of bulletin board material if he said something like that, but yeah, that's another variable. Yeah, I think you're absolutely right. They're going to have some motivation there.

[Craig Korolbeck]

I don't know.

[Danny Hyfris]

This one's tough.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, this one's great.

[Craig Korolbeck]

I think Bill said that this is only the third time in the history of football that the Bears and Packers have met in the playoffs.

[Danny Hyfris]

The Bears. And to be clear, I, I, if I could pick, I'd rather the Bears advance and Caleb, like I missed the biggest game of Caleb's life and I'd rather that than injured.

[Danny Kelly]

Big game for him.

[Craig Korolbeck]

It's a more fun story. If the Bears and Caleb magical run continues.

[Danny Hyfris]

Green Bay will get slaughtered if they win this game and then go to Seattle in round two. But the Bears advancing is like way.

[Danny Kelly]

More interesting because there's also no love lost between the two coaches here. Right. Like Ben Johnson and LaFleur don't like each other.

[Danny Hyfris]

Yeah. I didn't mention that, that Ben Johnson's opening press conference with the Bears, he's like, you know, we're here to like. Yeah, I mean, all the stuff. Like, there's been a lot of trash talk. The. The handshake between them the last two games is like just very quick. Fastest handshake I've ever seen. Just like barely touching each other. Yeah, this is a. This is just. This is a great rivalry that now exists. It's like an old rivalry, but now it's like actually rivalry again. Sunday. This. I think this game is sick. The Bills are at the Jacksonville Jaguars. Dude. Seven years ago or eight years ago, the Bills and Jags had the saddest playoff game I've ever seen. It was a wild card game. It was like Blake Bortles Jaguars beat Tyrod Taylor and the bills 10 to 3.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yeah, and boys, Bordle should have won the next game too.

[Danny Hyfris]

Oh, the Jags. I don't even get me started.

[Danny Kelly]

That was against Steelers, right?

[Craig Korolbeck]

No, it was against New England.

[Danny Hyfris]

Well, that was the AFC championship game and the Jaguars absolutely deserve to go. And there was a call on at the end of that game. But don't get me started because I. I had the jobs to make the Super 100 to 1.

[Danny Kelly]

Sorry, I was pick. For some reason, I pictured the. The Steelers losing to the Broncos on that one play. That was.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Oh, the demarius Thomas, Tim Tebow.

[Danny Kelly]

That's where my mind went all time.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yeah, I liked Tebow too. I kind of like. I enjoy. I was like kind of a pseudo Florida fan because I loved watching Tebow and he was so fucking bad in the NFL and him hitting. It was the first play overtime. Demarius Thomas immediately adr.

[Danny Hyfris]

Because you know the deal with the play post, that formation, they ran a motion out of that formation 22 times and they ran the ball 22 times. And the 23rd time they threw it.

[Craig Korolbeck]

It's classic. Steelers. Steelers always give up some giant, massive play at the end of the game.

[Danny Kelly]

Larry Fitz.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Larry Fitz. I mean, literally Tuesday Flowers touchdowns like three days ago in the fourth quarter.

[Danny Kelly]

Right.

[Craig Korolbeck]

It's always what they do.

[Danny Hyfris]

I feel like Bill's Jags is the classic. The Jaguars are the better team, but Josh Allen's the best player in the game, and Josh Allen has to be the best player in the world to win, but he has a foot injury. And I don't know, you guys, I think the Jaguars. I think the Jags are going to win this game more handily than people think. Like, needless to say, Trevor Lawrence is hot right now, but I think this is a Josh Allen sideline game. Like, I think this is one of those, like, you're going to see a hair frazzled on the sideline, and you're going to see one of the. Looking at the scoreboard and you just see one of the graphics pop up. It's like Josh Allen hasn't touched the ball in 28 minutes and counting. You know what I mean?

[Craig Korolbeck]

I think I agree with you. I worry that this is the. Like every analytics sports betting guru who has their model. Everything's going to favor Jacksonville. Jacksonville's like the analytics darling right now. And this is the most important. I think this is now maybe the most important game of Josh Allen's career. Like the fact we talked about this.

[Danny Kelly]

Screw JJ McCarthy. This is a big game for Josh Allen.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Allen's. We're going to learn a lot about Josh Allen on this weekend. But like we talked about this a month ago, no Lamar and no Mahomes in the playoffs. Like, this is the time for Josh Allen to make the Super Bowl. And if he gets bounced and Ralph one against the Jags, I know the Jags are good, but just the. The way that sounds, round one, Josh Allen loses to the Jags when there's no Lamar and no Patrick Mahomes is brutal.

[Danny Hyfris]

Can I. I mean, I would. My small tweak is like, one year ago, Josh Allen, they were in the AFC Championship game against the Chiefs team that lost the Super Bowl. They were down like 40 points.

[Craig Korolbeck]

But like, losing to Patrick Mahomes to me is like, okay, he lost the.

[Danny Kelly]

Patrick, you're a footnote in history. Yeah.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Losing round one in a playoff where there's no Mahomes and Lamar is going to. We're going to look back on this and be like, what a massive miss opportunity for Buffalo.

[Danny Hyfris]

Maybe you're right. I look at it as the Jack. No one wants to believe that the Jaguars are as good as they are.

[Craig Korolbeck]

That's 100% true.

[Danny Hyfris]

But no one wanted to believe the Bills were as good as they are five years ago or four years ago until they went and they. They proved it. And I think the Jaguars are on the precipice of that. Look, the Jaguar, unless it doesn't just need to be Josh Allen being amazing. Trevor Lawrence could be a pumpkin and throw another four picks or something like he did that, that Chargers game. Like Trevor. Even two months ago, Trevor Lawrence was having four turnovers in the game. But part of me just thinks that's over and again. Think about the teams that were punchlines until they're not. The Lions, the Bills. Like it happens. And I kind of think if the Jaguars Were the Packers, like, if the same team and Cohen and everyone, but they were just the packers, no one would be like what you just said, where you're like, you're 100 lose to Jacksonville. It's like the Jaguars are pretty good, man. And I also.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Right. I think, I think they're going to win, but I'm worried for the Jags. I think the Jags are going to win, but I'm, but I, I fear that everybody feels that way. Like as, as, as hard as it is for a team with Josh Allen to be the. Nobody believes in his team. I think nobody believes in the Bills, and no one's going to take the bill.

[Danny Kelly]

The thing that, like, the thing that keeps thinking about with this game is kind of funny because it feels a little bit like this year, and I don't know how to put it without like sounding insulting, but it feels like they took the superhero a little bit out of Josh Allen and they're like, we're a really good run team. You know, James Cook is the leading rusher in the NFL. We're just going to run the, out of the ball. We don't have a lot of receivers. So, like, it feels like it's been a minute since Josh Allen has gone Superman and done something crazy. Maybe I'm forgetting like a recent thing that he did. But like, this game schematically is set up for Josh. Put us on, Put the team on your shoulders and fucking carry us. And I'm like, just like kind of waiting for that to happen because the Jags are really good run defense team. That, that is like what they do on defense. And, and theoretically they could shut down James Cook and basically make the, make the Bills one dimensional on offense. And now the question is, do you want to make them one dimensional on offense?

[Danny Hyfris]

Probably.

[Danny Kelly]

But now you're ask. Now you're saying, hey, Josh, you go do it.

[Danny Hyfris]

Dk, I could not agree more with what you just said. I could not agree.

[Danny Kelly]

I'm like, that makes me nervous. If I'm a Jags fan, I'm like, I'd rather have them. I'd rather lose to James Cook than fucking Josh Allen kind of deal.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Also height. It's what you were saying about Chicago. Like, Chicago's really dependent on turnover. The turnover margin. Jacksonville a little bit the same way. The Bears have the most turnovers in the league with 33. Jacksonville is second with 31. They have the third biggest turnover margin in the NFL. So there is a little bit of like, Jesus Christ, if Trevor Lawrence like gets a Little bit tight throws. One pick. Josh Allen doesn't turn the ball over. Now all of a sudden, we're in a negative turnover margin and it's. You're facing Josh Allen.

[Danny Hyfris]

I totally agree. And I think the thing DK said, like, we were joke. It's a joke, but it's not a joke of like, do you have the luxury of watching all these football games between Thursday and Monday night? And this is one I would not miss because of what DK said. The chances that it's either a passing torch game of like, Trevor Lawrence is actually incredible, or what DK said about this could be a Josh Allen, like, superstar game. I agree.

[Danny Kelly]

You're waking up the Hulk. Come on out, Hulk.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Come on.

[Danny Kelly]

Come on. That's. That's what I feel like by stopping the run, you're like, yeah, Jelly.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Jelly. Come on out, Jelly.

[Danny Hyfris]

We always say. I feel like. We're always like, don't abandon the run. It's like the Bills should absolutely abandon the run in this game.

[Danny Kelly]

Like, this is the rare occasion where you're like, okay, Josh, you need to go do everything in this game. We don't care if you get hit.

[Danny Hyfris]

They're gonna go for it on a fourth down. I don't know what the kicking rate they have, Matt. Their two options, a kicker are gonna be. Matt Prater is 41 and pulled the squad last week. So it's a 41 year old coming off quad injury. So what is the kicking range of that? Or Matthew Wright, who they just signed at the practice squad. Either way, the go for it range is going to be huge. So I. I mean, while the Jags.

[Danny Kelly]

Have the guy who can kick a field goal from 70 yards.

[Danny Hyfris]

Yeah. There's like a 30 yard difference in field goal range in this game. Maybe depending on what's going. I mean, their kicker has a quad injury. It's like you're going to. He's a full participant. I don't care. It's like, what if he aggravates it? He's 41. Yeah, I agree. Okay.

[Danny Kelly]

I mean, I want to be clear. Josh Allen has been very, very good this year. He has a lot of touchdowns, but I just feel like he's gonna have to go like, super duper crazy for them to win this game. And they're going to be asking him to do that.

[Danny Hyfris]

Yeah. And I. I think the Bills should play like the Rams. Like, they should put a sixth offensive line in the field. They should put three tight ends and then like, don't even bother. Establish it. Just Throw the whole game off. Play action. Speaking of which. Well, not, not the Ram. Sorry. The charge. The next game on Sunday is the Chargers are at the Patriots, which.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yes. This is the Sunday night game.

[Danny Kelly]

Right.

[Danny Hyfris]

Oh, did I get this backwards?

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yeah.

[Danny Hyfris]

Oh, actually I should get this backwards. Sorry. Yeah.

[Danny Kelly]

You want to do it? Yeah.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Let's see.

[Danny Hyfris]

I don't care. And people can hear. I'm stupid. This game's. No, no. Yeah. This game's at 8pm on Sunday night Football.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yeah. Sunday night it's in New England. Their Patriots are favored by three and a half over the Chargers. I, I said, oh, I think you know, Josh Allen and the Bills are like slightly a nobody believes in us. The actual nobody believes in us team people like, oh, the Panthers could never win. No one thinks the Chargers can do anything in the playoffs. Like, like they're not even in the conversation. That's how nobody believes in us. They are.

[Danny Kelly]

I'm not sure I believe they even made the playoffs.

[Craig Korolbeck]

I think it's. I look, I'm like, wow, The Chargers were 11 and 6. How did they do that? Dude, there's no way. The offensive line numbers for, for the Chargers after Joe went down are absolutely astonishing. I'm going to read you some right now. The 25 different five man offensive line combinations over 17 games. 25. 25 different offensive line combinations.

[Danny Hyfris]

I think it might be 29.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Oh, I, I just saw 25. Justin Herbert's been sacked 54 times, which is the second most in the league behind Cam Ward. Herbert was hit on a league high 129 drop backs, which is the second highest of the last 25 years since they started. The stat of QB hits, second highest.

[Danny Hyfris]

That's fucking crazy.

[Craig Korolbeck]

It's remarkable that this team won 11 games. Like it really is. And it basically their defense has held a lot of it together. Her Herbert's been good, but since Joalt went down, they basically just been like a bottom 10 offense. Like every stat they're like 27th, 29th, 27th points per drive, yards per play, all that stuff. They just like have not been good and their defense has been really, really rock solid. They have some really good gritty wins this year. But you know, this is a very interesting test of like, I trust Herbert, I believe in Herbert. I think Herbert's really good. I don't think they have the horses and I think New England is really, really rock solid. And this is the one game where I actually do think I'm not sure I believe in the Chargers.

[Danny Hyfris]

Dude, the Chargers are going to Be on their seventh or eighth left tackle in this game. Like, they have four left. All their. All their offensive linemen were good or hurt, and all the ones who are bad are healthy. Like, I, obviously, Rashawn Slater got hurt at left tackle, and they were like, maybe Joe Alt, left tackle. But then it's like they were like, trey Pipkins can play left tackle, and he got hurt. And then like, Jamari Salier, I can't pronounce this. I got hurt. But like that. They're down four left tackles, so they're trying to find. And then they keep playing guys that are unplayable, and they bench him. It's like they traded for Trevor Penning and they immediately benched him. They tried playing Bobby Hart, who hadn't played there in years, and they benched him. And then, like Austin Deculas, Chargers fans are, like, going to treat Austin Deculas like Ravens fans are going to treat Tyler Loop like. Like he. They blame the entire season on him. But it's like, I am open to the Chargers winning this game, but part of me is just. Bill Simmons has his gambling manifesto. I don't know if a rule there is don't bet on teams who've had seven left tackles in 17 games, but I think there's nothing I could hear.

[Craig Korolbeck]

There are literally the worst offensive line in football, and they're in the playoffs, which is just completely bizarre.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, there was, like, moments during the year where they just had to abandon any hope of making a pass play, and they just, like, we're having Herbert run it immediately. They're just like, just get out of there. Just go.

[Danny Hyfris]

It looks like you dropped Justin Herbert on Steelers offenses with Roethlisberger, except he can move, but they're. Yeah, like, it's. It's crazy how limited they are, but.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yeah, No, I was reading. There was a piece in the Athletic by Daniel Popper on. On Harbaugh. Did you guys know that he hangs three signs up in the locker room?

[Danny Hyfris]

Oh, it's more than that. It's. There's so many signs there. It's crazy.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Well, I don't know. Daniel Popper says he's got three.

[Danny Hyfris]

Sorry. In the locker room. Yeah, sorry. The weight room had 12. I took a picture of it.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Take that up with Popper. Sorry. Harbaugh. The three signs in the locker room. One of them says in all caps, bringing it home arrow together. Another one says, Ted there every day. And then the third one. Did you know this? That he has a rankings. Harbaugh has a rankings in the locker room on the wall, and it's called the Block of Granite Award. And it's. And he and his staff have developed a mathematical formula to determine the team's mvp. And the first place finisher gets a trophy with a literal rock on it, and the next five players get smaller trophies with smaller rocks.

[Danny Hyfris]

That's how the real MVP should work.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yeah, I don't know. It was just like the whole article is just every single player.

[Danny Kelly]

Who is the rock of granite right now?

[Craig Korolbeck]

I don't. I don't know if they've given it out.

[Danny Kelly]

Oh, they give it out at the end.

[Craig Korolbeck]

I'm not sure. Every player was just like, harbaugh's the best. I would run through a wall for this guy. He's out of his mind. He loves us so much. He motivates us so much.

[Danny Hyfris]

It's. They also use the high school recruiting stars on the guy's lockers. And then the other one, what I confused with the weight room I was walking by because they've like outdoor. Because it's like, you know, it's your lax. And I could. I've never seen so many signs in a weight room. There's like. Like a lot of reading material. It looks like a college.

[Danny Kelly]

Like the color of your urine.

[Danny Hyfris]

No, it's like, it's like elaborate quotes. Yeah, it's like. It's like a lot of reading. And then I asked players about them and they're like, oh, they're kind of high. I can't really see them. And I'm like, what is going.

[Craig Korolbeck]

I want to know who gets the Block of Granted award if it's not fucking Justin Herbert.

[Danny Hyfris]

He is a block of granite. I. I wouldn't vote for him. Herbert for mvp. But I still think if you took all the quarterbacks off their teams in Week 1, that the Chargers would lose the most games that they won.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Chargers offensive line, 31st in pressure rate since week nine.

[Danny Hyfris]

I. Yeah, the Patriots are winning this game, man. I'm sorry.

[Craig Korolbeck]

It's just going to be really hard. Also, the Patriots have Milton Williams back. They're good defensive linemen.

[Danny Hyfris]

The middle game on Sunday is 4:30pm Eastern. 1:30 Pacific is. The Niners are at the Eagles, which is just a giant. Like, wow, these games used to be a lot cooler a couple years ago.

[Danny Kelly]

I still think this game is cool. I'm actually very excited to watch this game because I feel like you say.

[Craig Korolbeck]

That and then you watch the Eagles.

[Danny Hyfris]

When was the last time you were excited to watch an Eagles game? It was months ago.

[Danny Kelly]

That's fair. That's fair. I do kind of like the 49ers in this game. This is a total gut thing. It's like on paper, everything would go against that because number one, I think the injuries are the big thing for the 49ers. Obviously they're missing two of their best defensive players. But Trent Williams still not practicing as of Wednesday. His status is looking up in the air. Ricky Pierce all doesn't look like he's going to play. He re aggravated his injury. Those PCL injuries are horrific.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Like Pierce all man.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah. Been a tough year for him. Also related to the injury situation, I saw this is a. This is a prelude to the actual analysis of the game. But did you guys see this conspiracy going around Twitter these days? I think we've talked about this in the past, but the.

[Danny Hyfris]

They. They have an electrical.

[Danny Kelly]

There's an electrical. I did see this, like interchange whatever electrical substation right next to the practice.

[Danny Hyfris]

So it's. It's the players, like, did you live.

[Danny Kelly]

Under power lines as a kid? Kind of deal. Like they are, according to this guy Pat, Peter Cohen, who kind of like tracks all this stuff. Like the injuries for the 49ers, they're like orders of magnitude worse than every other team over the last. Like, basically since moving to Levi's stadium in 2014, they've had like so many more injuries than everyone. And the theory is the thesis.

[Craig Korolbeck]

It's like bone density issues because of like electromagnetic radiation.

[Danny Kelly]

Electromagnetic fields, apparently, according to Peter Cohen, which I think it. This is not necessarily fact. There's some people that would dispute this, but it can degrade collagen, weaken tendons, cause soft tissue damage. Basically, it's like they're practicing inside a Bluetooth earbud. You know what I mean? Like, people are worried about these earbuds and interfering with your brain. Like the. The 49ers are practicing in a Bluetooth.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Earbud, which is your nightmare.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, yeah. They can't get it to connect.

[Danny Hyfris]

It's one of those things where you're like, if you hear like 50 theories like that, you're like, I know that five of these are true, but I don't know which five and I. But players started this. I don't think fans. The players were joking about it and George Kittle said that they've been joking about it for years. And it's like kind of gone on longer than they thought.

[Danny Kelly]

I like it. I'm in. Of course, I'm 100% in.

[Craig Korolbeck]

It's anti Bluetooth. I'M pretty sure there's no data to suggest Bluetooth is bad for you, but maybe there is also. Look at the Chargers. The Chargers are right next to lax. Honestly, like, worst air quality in the world. Who knows what's going on.

[Danny Kelly]

LAX just being coated in jet fuel.

[Danny Hyfris]

Because before, when they were in San Diego, they were fine.

[Craig Korolbeck]

They were great.

[Danny Hyfris]

They were doing great.

[Danny Kelly]

The.

[Danny Hyfris]

I don't know. I just. The. The Niners. I mean, speaking of the injuries, dude, the Niners front seven so decimated, dude. I mean, they started the year with. Fred Warner is, like, the best linebacker in the NFL, and now they're gonna have freaking Eric Kendrick who's going to play for the Niners in this game, which blows my mind because he was so washed, like, even two years ago for Dallas, like, he was on 2021. He got Mike Zimmer like, like, like he couldn't play in 2021 and then somehow was playing in 2023. The idea that Eric Kendrick will play a playoff game for The Niners in 2026 now is insane. Like, they're down four defensive linemen, five defensive linemen. They're playing guys that the Patriots basically cut starting. I. I don't know if Lane Johnson comes back for at left or at right tackle. I just feel like the Eagles offensive line's not what it was, but I think it's still enough to road grade the freaking Niners front seven. I don't know. I just. I just. Maybe I'm trying to.

[Danny Kelly]

I do think the 49ers defense is really not good right now, but the four, I. I still believe in the 49ers offense. I think Brock Purdy is obviously going to be a huge key in this game. I think if he's sneakier than he's ever been sneaky in this game in terms of just running around making plays. I also just have a ton of faith in Kyle Shanahan. I know there's a bunch of stats going around about how bad he's been against Fangio, but this was, like, with different quarterbacks.

[Danny Hyfris]

So Shannon's never scored 15 versus Vic Fangio's defense. But also the quarterbacks were, like, John Beck and Nick Mullins and Jimmy G. And, like, watched RG3, so it's like.

[Danny Kelly]

I just think it feels like we're forgetting how good the 49ers were, like, a month before the month, pretty prior to losing to the Seahawks. And now everyone's like, oh, they suck. I'm just like, man, I still am pretty afraid of the 49ers in terms of, like, what they can do on offense. They're very good what Shanahan can do in scheming up. I. I don't have a ton of faith in what the Eagles are going to do on offense, even though they're playing a bad defense this week. I don't know. I just like the 49ers. This is a total gut thing. They'll probably get their asses kicked, but I just like the 49ers. We don't have to bet on this, but I like the 49ers.

[Craig Korolbeck]

We. We do it. We do have to battle that, unfortunately.

[Danny Kelly]

Okay, well, we can bet against them.

[Danny Hyfris]

If you want, but I just can't believe the Niners could have been the one seed if they just won the last week of the season. I still can't get over that they.

[Danny Kelly]

Were scoring, like, 40 points a game for, like, the previous four or five games. They were just absolutely on a tear. No one was playing better than them for, like, the month prior to that Seahawks game. And then now we're just like, ah, they suck.

[Craig Korolbeck]

That's fair. I think. I think my trouble with this game is I'm starting to have trouble being objective because I. I want the Niners to win so bad, but I think I. Deep down in my soul, I. I think the Eagles are going to win. And as much as I don't want to watch the Eagles, I do think this team is kind of built to work in the playoffs. And I think from a talent perspective, they're way better. And I'm like, man, I. They can drag this Niners team down into the muck, and this is going to be the ugliest game ever. And they can win 20 to 13.

[Danny Kelly]

They're healthier, which helps a lot. They're getting Lane Johnson back.

[Danny Hyfris]

Yeah, I mean, it. Yeah, I mean, the injury.

[Danny Kelly]

They took a game off to rest up.

[Danny Hyfris]

It's. Are there. Are there two teams where a tackle makes you care more about missing the game than Trent Williams and Lane Johnson for the Eagles and Niners? But I. Yeah, I just kind of come back to. The Eagles are just a. They're both. They're just a python. They're just going to squeeze the life out of the Niners. But I. I mean, I would. Also. The Niners are way more fun to watch play football, and it would be cooler if they advanced.

[Danny Kelly]

Move your. Move your practice facility away from this electrical grid thing.

[Danny Hyfris]

It's so funny because, like, conspiracy theories like that, like, 19 out of 20, I'm like, that's stupid. But every now and then I try to be humble and remember shit like Marie Curie was, like, handling fucking radium with her hands. Yeah. And I'm like, you know, who knows.

[Danny Kelly]

What we were drinking out of lead cups till whatever.

[Danny Hyfris]

Have you seen Spider Man? Meme of like. It's like my grandfather with asbest with asbestos and my parents with lead and me with my microplastics. And it's just.

[Danny Kelly]

Dude, they used to put sandboxes full of asbestos.

[Danny Hyfris]

Come on, dude. New York Times had this thing that they think there's like four to five pounds of plastics in our. That will be in our bodies by the end of our lives. Like that.

[Craig Korolbeck]

My God.

[Danny Hyfris]

Like, there will be like, half seems fine. It's. Anyway, on that note, I have a question for you guys. So wait, Craig. This last game here is Monday Night Football. The Houston Texans at the Pittsburgh Steelers. The division champion Pittsburgh Steelers.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yep. Look, this is. Everyone's on the Steelers right now.

[Danny Kelly]

Are they?

[Craig Korolbeck]

Makes me nervous. Yeah. I think a lot of people are like, name three. I think this is the natural progression of Pittsburgh. Every time they win a good game, they usually lose a bad one right after it. And when. When they blow the game to the Browns, everyone's like, the Steelers suck. And then they go and they beat the Ravens, and now it's like, oh, the Steelers. Oh, they're at home. They haven't lost a Monday Night Football game since the George H.W. bush administration. Which is true. Even though they technically did in the pandemic. There was a game on Monday that they lost in Pittsburgh, but it was a. It was moved to Monday because of COVID and It was at 2pm Pacific.

[Danny Hyfris]

So Monday, technically.

[Craig Korolbeck]

So it wasn't Monday Night Football, but they did lose on Monday In. In.

[Danny Kelly]

How many games are we talking here.

[Danny Hyfris]

Total.

[Danny Kelly]

In terms of the Monday night?

[Danny Hyfris]

It was 23.

[Craig Korolbeck]

23. And, oh, I think last 23.

[Danny Kelly]

Oh, that's actually a pretty.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Pretty good. It is pretty good.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yeah. But pretty good.

[Danny Hyfris]

What do you mean, pretty good? That the best season in NFL history is like 19 straight games. That's the Dolphins 20.

[Danny Kelly]

That's why I said it. It's good. Yeah.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Again. And also they. They.

[Danny Kelly]

It's like five. It's like totally different iterations of the team.

[Craig Korolbeck]

They did lose in 2020. When I saw that, I was like, what are we doing? They lost in 2020 at home on a Monday. That's a loss.

[Danny Hyfris]

I know, but the odds of winning 23 straight games are fucking infant.

[Danny Kelly]

They didn't what's the odds of winning 24 straight?

[Craig Korolbeck]

They didn't win 23 straight.

[Danny Kelly]

They're fucked.

[Danny Hyfris]

Yeah.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Look, analytics aside, I'm kind of just like, I'm terrified of the Houston defense and the Baltimore defense was terrible. And DK Metcalf coming back is great. I love the DK Metcalf memes that he was posting after the Steelers beat the Ravens and made the playoffs. Like, that. He's free and he's, like, getting out of jail. I love that. That's great.

[Danny Kelly]

Did you see that he tried to, like, get dressed and go down to the stadium?

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yes.

[Danny Kelly]

To, like, celebrate with the team after the win. And then everybody by the time he got there, like, walking home, like, sad.

[Craig Korolbeck]

The Michael Sarah meme, him walking home with his head down.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yeah, man. I don't know. I think that the spread in this game, I think, has dropped to three. I think the Texans were favored by three and a half. Now it's three. I don't know. I'm nervous. I think no. 1. The Texans have quietly won nine straight games. And I think there's, like, a lot of fun storylines around the Steelers from myself included. Like, I, I, I'm super happy they made it. I think Rogers is playing really well. All that good stuff. I'm terrified that they're playing Houston. And it's, it's the. Houston's never won a playoff game on the road. In the history of the Texans, they've never won a playoff game on the road. So it's like all that stuff playing in, in Pittsburgh, you know, I don't know. I'm just very nervous for the, for the Houston defense.

[Danny Kelly]

This is totally outsider perspective, and I don't actually really know what's happening in the locker room, but it feels like a very smug point of view from the Steelers players because people were saying Tomlin should get fired earlier. There's like, almost like a little bit like you're putting the cart before the horse. Like, you still got to win some playoff games here. Like, isn't the main thing that people were really upset about with Tomlin was like, you can't win in the playoffs over the last however many years. What. How long has it been since, like, 2016?

[Craig Korolbeck]

Since the 2016 season coming up in 10 years, technically 2017. When they.

[Danny Kelly]

So, like, I, it. This is totally narrative based, but, like, it feels like everyone's like, you forever saying anything about Tomlin. I'm like, tomlin still has to win a playoff game.

[Danny Hyfris]

Like, how about this?

[Danny Kelly]

We're still where we were before.

[Danny Hyfris]

How about this?

[Craig Korolbeck]

This is what he does all the time.

[Danny Hyfris]

The Ravens were so bad this season that John Harbaugh was fired.

[Danny Kelly]

Right.

[Danny Hyfris]

And they still had a 44 yard field goal to win beat the Steelers.

[Danny Kelly]

Did you see guys. You guys see the meme? It was like the Tyler Loop kick. And it was like on the left side. It was in between. Yeah, that's right. Craig sent it in between the uprights. It was fired. And then on the right, it's Harbot fired. It's like just. That kick has so many like potential down the road implications. But anyways, my point is like, it feels like they're being pretty smug. Especially Rogers. Rogers is always like this, you know, after a win.

[Craig Korolbeck]

And I respect it. I like that actually. But.

[Danny Kelly]

But I'm just like, you guys didn't actually prove anything yet, like go win a playoff game.

[Craig Korolbeck]

And I don't necessarily think this is like, I mean, look, I don't trust CJ Stroud. I've been talking about him all year about how I don't trust him. So it's not like the worst matchup in the world in terms of like the offense the Steelers are facing. I probably would have rather played the Chargers, but. So like, do I think the Steelers can win? Yeah, like if Rogers could just outplay Stroud and DK Metcalf back is a big deal and it could work and I think they could win 20 to 16. And Stroud looks like shit and Stroud is terrible under pressure and the Steelers could generate pressure because that Texans offensive line is not good. Like there is a roadmap to the Steelers doing Steelers stuff and winning 20 to 16. I'm just nervous on. On. On what the Steelers are going to be able to do offensively.

[Danny Hyfris]

I mean, look, the Steelers offense, they have to put six linemen on the field. They have to try to be big and get some.

[Craig Korolbeck]

They have no Darnell Washington, which sucks. And.

[Danny Hyfris]

Yeah, exactly. And they like, they need Stroud to turn the ball over and like they just need to get some dumb points. But if we're being honest, I don't. I. I'm not really interested in going into X's and O's. I want to talk to you guys about this priest and God.

[Danny Kelly]

Where's the priest?

[Danny Hyfris]

I don't think we could talk enough about the fact that that kick was made in the end zone where the priest put the holy water and bless.

[Danny Kelly]

The pre. The priest storyline feels so like John Wick coded. Like it's somewhere in the John Wick world.

[Craig Korolbeck]

And.

[Danny Kelly]

And Roger Priest from, like, somewhere deep in the old country and brought him in and he blessed the field.

[Danny Hyfris]

I've done a lot of work on this.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Priest is a big John Wick fan. Went as John Wick for Halloween.

[Danny Kelly]

Right?

[Danny Hyfris]

I did a lot of work on this priest. All I'll say is, Craig, question for you. Do you think that that was the Steelers kind of used up the miraculous energy already and that was used on that game, or do you think. I mean, Bill Simmons has his playoff gambling manifesto, and one of the rules is, don't bet against God. Puppies. And I'm like, we should probably discuss whether we think God is on the Steelers side or if that was kind of like a. That was like, just for that week.

[Craig Korolbeck]

I mean, the Immaculate Reception was. Was what, 50 years ago?

[Danny Hyfris]

53.

[Craig Korolbeck]

We've had God on our side since then, baby. We always got it.

[Danny Kelly]

God hasn't been around much since 2016.

[Craig Korolbeck]

The only reason why the Steelers ever win games is because of divine intervention. Like, let's be honest, every game they've won is because of the Lord stepping in.

[Danny Kelly]

He's like, I can only do so much.

[Craig Korolbeck]

The Lord gets us to 10.

[Danny Kelly]

Too obvious?

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yeah, he's very involved, actually.

[Danny Kelly]

That's funny. So, hyphens, who is this priest? What's the story?

[Danny Hyfris]

Well, well. So the story.

[Danny Kelly]

Is he a Pittsburgh priest, or did they bring him in? Did they. Did they ship him in from Italy?

[Danny Hyfris]

I looked into it. Ruined the magic for me. I don't know. Do you guys want me to ruin it a little for you?

[Craig Korolbeck]

Is he like a. Don't tell me he's like a paid actor or something.

[Danny Hyfris]

No, no, he's a real priest.

[Danny Kelly]

He's like a Vegas priest. He can marry you.

[Craig Korolbeck]

He also does Elvis. Yeah.

[Danny Hyfris]

I'm going to ruin this for everybody listening.

[Craig Korolbeck]

That'd be so funny if he was, like, a paid actor.

[Danny Hyfris]

They do this for every game.

[Danny Kelly]

Oh, do they? Oh, that's funny.

[Danny Hyfris]

50 years.

[Craig Korolbeck]

God. There you go.

[Danny Kelly]

When it works, it works.

[Craig Korolbeck]

God's been there, baby.

[Danny Hyfris]

Yeah, they started the mag. No, but apparently it was. The interesting part to me is it was a subpriest. So St. Vincent and Latro, where they do the training camp, I guess it's a private Catholic college, and they, like, have. But they have a relationship spiritually, like, you know, the. The priest and the team. But it was the backup priest. Priest who did it, which is the part that interests me.

[Danny Kelly]

Interesting. Bring him back. But he's. He's getting Wall. The first guy's getting Wally Pitt. This guy's coming. They're bringing this guy back.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Are we sure that first Priest is good? I don't know.

[Danny Kelly]

I don't know.

[Danny Hyfris]

Yeah.

[Danny Kelly]

This is Ewing theory. That guy Priest, Ewing theory.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Did we trade a first for him? He's not worth it. Trey Lance, Brock, Purdy situation.

[Danny Hyfris]

It's the Drew Bledsoe Priests. Oh, my God.

[Danny Kelly]

That's really good. We're gonna go with. We're gonna go with the backup today. Guys want to sit you all down and talk about it.

[Danny Hyfris]

We joke, but if the Steelers beat the Texans, then, like, that first Priest is never coming back. Like, what are they gonna do, swap Priests?

[Craig Korolbeck]

Look, in my soul. My gut says that the Steelers are going to win this game, which terrifies me. And, and I need to know that it's because I'm, I'm getting too swept up in the hoopla of last week. And, and this is what the Steelers do is especially in the playoffs, as we know. But I do think in my, in my heart of hearts, I think they're going to win.

[Danny Hyfris]

The younger me would have said that the Houston Texans defense is going to absolutely dominate the Steelers and the Steelers have no chance. Dk, you're the wisest of all. I'm curious. My current version feels, and I, I, I'm half kidding, but I half actually believe in this stuff. I think if the Priest from last week shows up, the Steelers win, and if the old priest shows up, I think the Steelers lose.

[Danny Kelly]

I think that's how we really should decide it.

[Danny Hyfris]

We should bet a ton of money based on shows up.

[Danny Kelly]

You said the old me, the younger you would have picked the Texans because they have a good defense.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Right?

[Danny Kelly]

So it's the bell curve thing that's hypit. As a young man, I'm on the other end of the bell curve. I'm looking at the Texans and saying they have a good defense and they're going to absolutely strangle, like, anything the Steelers trying to do on offense. And it's going to come down to how. How many turnovers does CJ Stroud make or whatever? I'm picking the Texans in this one. I don't feel strongly about it, but I do feel strongly that the Texans have by far the best unit in this game. That doesn't always matter, obviously. And they're on the road in Pittsburgh. The vibes are high in Pittsburgh. Whatever. I'm betting on the seal. I'm betting on the Texans defense. That's all.

[Danny Hyfris]

You know what it is? I, I think you're in all seriousness though, I think you're right dk because if you just turn that game off after Steelers Raven, you fell asleep after the third quarter and just were like, didn't watch any of the highlights. You would just remember that the Steelers went six quarters without a touchdown for the first time in Aaron Rodgers career. And that two weeks ago versus the Browns the Steelers had six points and it's going to be like that. I kind of think, yes, the Steelers could win because crazy happens, but I kind of don't think the Steelers even score a fucking touchdown. Is it might be.

[Danny Kelly]

It's gonna, it's gonna be. This is such a cliche. I know it is a cliche, but it's gonna be like, can Rogers pull a rabbit out of his hat.

[Craig Korolbeck]

This is, this is what I'm saying. This is why I'm like terrified of this Houston defense. And yet, you know, he's done it before.

[Danny Kelly]

He's done it before.

[Craig Korolbeck]

He could Every Steelers game, every Steelers game is like, man on paper doesn't look good. And then they win.

[Danny Hyfris]

I know, but also sometimes they lose.

[Danny Kelly]

I, I on paper it's like the priest thing. And then also sometimes it just doesn't.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Well, especially in the damn playoffs. So it's like I my, it's why my initial take was like, I'm terrified of the Houston defense and it might be a disaster. And yet deep, deep down somewhere in me, I think the Steelers are going to win. But that might just because I'm getting swept up in all the fun of last week.

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[Craig Korolbeck]

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[Danny Kelly]

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[Danny Hyfris]

Well, with that said, I think we got to get. So we have some emails here. I want to run some stuff by you, but we got to do this Ringer107. So today's Ringer107 is brought to my fanduel. We're in this competition with all the other Ringer podcasts about. We are picking five bets against the spread each week or now. But all the playoff games. So now it's all the playoff games each week.

[Craig Korolbeck]

And after the regular season, our. Our team, our squad, somehow first place.

[Danny Hyfris]

We're in first. We're. We're in first.

[Craig Korolbeck]

We'Re promised that we have spent the least amount of time doing this as any other group in this battle and we are shockingly, somehow barely in first place. So we. Look, you want to just go beginning to end. We got to pick every single one of these games. You want to just start with Rams, Panthers and work our way down?

[Danny Hyfris]

Yeah, sure.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Rams. Panthers. The Rams are favored by 10 and a half. It's in Carolina.

[Danny Kelly]

Tough line. It's a tough line.

[Danny Hyfris]

If my life depended on, like me getting this right, part of me wonders if I'd take the Panthers. But if I. I think we just look dumber taking the Panthers and losing.

[Danny Kelly]

I think this game's gonna be like 24. 3.

[Danny Hyfris]

I. I think as stupid analysis as this is, the fact that it comes down to they. The Rams played the Panthers before and they're mad. I kind of want to just lay the points with the Rams and then be mad@ Sean McVeigh if they can't cover.

[Craig Korolbeck]

I agree. I think it should be Rams ten and a half. It's a. Everyone's going to be on that. But yes, I agree. The packers are playing in Chicago. The packers are favored by a point and a half on the road high. Fitz likes Green Bay. I like Chicago.

[Danny Hyfris]

I wanted Green Bay and I did think they were going to get points. You could argue that. That makes me think that maybe the Bears should be. Are the better bet. Dk, what do you. I kind of think the packers win, but it's. It's. It's gut. But I agree the Bears are going to be able to run.

[Craig Korolbeck]

I'm willing to be overruled. Dk Whichever way you swing, I'm happy to pick.

[Danny Kelly]

Christ, this is so hard.

[Danny Hyfris]

Who do we want to root for? I'm okay just being. Oh, wait. We. Maybe in the future rounds we'll like let my fucking cat pick and just see what he picks.

[Danny Kelly]

This. Yeah, I. I feel like this is really hard because my gut says the Pack the. The Bears are going to be able to run on the packers, and they'll be able to control the game that way. But the packers offense against the Bears defense scares me. I don't know who wins in that. In that little arguments.

[Craig Korolbeck]

So.

[Danny Kelly]

Okay, I think. I think I want to go. I think I want to go with the Bears. Okay. We could just take the Bears covering and then we have a little bit of leeway.

[Craig Korolbeck]

One point. Yeah. Right.

[Danny Hyfris]

Well, the way the Bears game, they.

[Danny Kelly]

Could lose by one, and we could still win.

[Craig Korolbeck]

That's very true. That's very true. All right, we'll pencil. We'll pencil that in.

[Danny Kelly]

Pencil it in. Yeah. On the dance part.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Next game. The Bills are playing the Jags in Jacksonville, and. And the Bills are favored by 1 1/2 points.

[Danny Hyfris]

I want the. The Jags getting points. If you guys want to be like, don't be all fucking fancy. Josh Allen's the best player in the world. But, like, if. I mean, if we can quantify quarterback play with fantasy points, the fact that Trevor Lawrence had the most fantasy points ever in the fantasy football playoffs, it's kind of interesting.

[Danny Kelly]

I'm okay. Taking the Jags if you want to.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yeah.

[Danny Hyfris]

Josh Allen has a foot injury, which he's going to play, but the fact that he has to be a superhero. He has to be a superhero. Sergeant Whatever. In Bandit Brothers running through the village and. I don't know. I just.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Lieutenant Spears. I agree. I. Everyone is going to be on Green Bay. I mean, sorry, Jacksonville.

[Danny Hyfris]

Should I ask my cat?

[Danny Kelly]

Ask your cat.

[Danny Hyfris]

Is everyone going to be on Jacksonville? I don't know.

[Craig Korolbeck]

So I think. I don't. I don't.

[Danny Hyfris]

Josh Allen's doing well.

[Craig Korolbeck]

It matters.

[Danny Hyfris]

We haven't. We haven't asked that question once all year, and we're in first place.

[Craig Korolbeck]

All right, well, that. There were 16 games to choose from. Now there's six.

[Danny Hyfris]

But, yeah, that.

[Craig Korolbeck]

That makes a huge. It makes a huge difference if we're all choosing the same games.

[Danny Hyfris]

But if I want to guess what people would pick, I wouldn't have picked it. Salon to Bundo picked the Saints like, eight times this year. I wouldn't have thought that one time.

[Craig Korolbeck]

If you had. If your life was on the line, would you still take the Jags?

[Danny Hyfris]

Yeah. I think there's such a better team, and I think Josh is a ra. I think the Bills are. I mean, dude, the Bills run game. The run defense sucks, dude.

[Craig Korolbeck]

All right, we'll take the Jags.

[Danny Hyfris]

I guess My life on the line. Josh Allen's Pretty scary.

[Danny Kelly]

I don't feel great about this, but yeah.

[Danny Hyfris]

All right. You want to do the Bills?

[Craig Korolbeck]

No, I mean, look, I also think the Jags are going to win. Or that's like my. If, if nothing's on the line. I would take.

[Danny Hyfris]

Well, well, we could Castanza, and it's like a calculated Castanza because I feel really strongly about it. You want to go Bills?

[Craig Korolbeck]

I don't want to talk about Castanza yet. Let's. Let's do. Let's pencil and Jags now and keep moving.

[Danny Hyfris]

Okay.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Niners, Eagles. This game's in Philly. The Eagles are favored by four and a half. DK likes the Niners. I like the Eagles.

[Danny Hyfris]

My guts. Eagles.

[Danny Kelly]

I would just go Eagles. Just go Eagles.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Okay. Chargers at New England. The Patriots are favored by three and a half. I probably think New England.

[Danny Hyfris]

Yes, I, I. Yeah, definitely.

[Craig Korolbeck]

And then Texans. And then here we go Monday night with discount double check. Texans at Steelers in Pittsburgh. The Steelers are three point underdogs.

[Danny Hyfris]

Texans. Come on, take it. Come on.

[Danny Kelly]

I mean, I, I think the Texans, but.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Well, then I'm. It doesn't matter what I think.

[Danny Hyfris]

So Rams. So we do Rams, Bears, Jags, Eagles, Patriots, Texans.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah.

[Craig Korolbeck]

How many underdogs do we have? We're taking Bears technically.

[Danny Hyfris]

Jags technically.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Just Bears and Jags.

[Danny Hyfris]

Otherwise, it's favorites.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yeah. Part of me thought, should we just take all six dogs?

[Danny Kelly]

Theoretically, we could take the Steelers or the Texans could still win. Obviously, this is a small margin for error, but it's going to be a. It's going to be a low score in close game probably. Right?

[Danny Hyfris]

We've joked all year we would take one of our weeks to just flip all our.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Flip them. So if we do that, we'd be taking the Panthers plus half.

[Danny Hyfris]

Wait, hold on, hold on. Half.

[Craig Korolbeck]

The Panthers plus ten and a half. The packers minus one and a half. The Bills minus one and a half. The Niners plus four and a half. The Chargers plus three and a half. And the Steelers plus three.

[Danny Kelly]

I don't actually hate it.

[Danny Hyfris]

Should we just flip. Just flip it Just.

[Craig Korolbeck]

The reason why I didn't want you to bring up Costanza is because I thought going into this that this might. I was like, I want to earnestly pick who we think is going to win and then potentially just pull out the spatula and flip the whole thing.

[Danny Hyfris]

This is what I wrote down. Those are all the pick. We, we.

[Craig Korolbeck]

We.

[Danny Hyfris]

The initial batch we agreed on is everything I wanted to take, except I wanted packers over Bears. But I want you guys to know I feel really strongly about the picks we agreed on initially. So maybe we that flip it to and you want to flip it. Fuck it, fuck it, fuck it.

[Danny Kelly]

It's fun.

[Craig Korolbeck]

The one. The what? Flipping it.

[Danny Hyfris]

Just, just the opposite of what we think.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Or, or hear me out. What if we just take all dogs?

[Danny Hyfris]

So what would that look like? So that would be Panthers plus ten and a half.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Then we get the Bears at home. That we get the Jags at home, we get the Steelers at home, and then we take the Niners and the Chargers.

[Danny Hyfris]

I, I, I do. Bill's oldest gambling rule is don't take an underdog on the in the playoffs unless you, like, think they can win outright. And I, somehow I'm more comfortable with ten and a half of the Panthers. I, I don't want the Steelers. I'm literally allergic. I'm like getting an allergic reaction. Taking the Steelers versus the Texans. I've watched the Texans so many times this year where I'm like, the idea of taking the Steelers to beat the or cover the Texans gives me an allergic reaction.

[Danny Kelly]

Aaron Rodgers is going to have like a 75 yard touchdown to Derek to DK Metcalf on like the first drive. And then we're going to be like.

[Danny Hyfris]

Fuck, I kind of love the idea.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Stroud's gonna go three and out. Look, like, you know what?

[Danny Hyfris]

You know what? The, the funny part of, like, maybe our original thing would go 4 and 2 and these would go 2 and 4, but it would be so funny if all the other teams put so much effort in their picks. We pick six in like five minutes and they're like, you know what? It's probably gonna be the opposite. Just flip it and then we do the best.

[Craig Korolbeck]

So what do we want? Do we want the dogs or do we want the flip or do we want the original?

[Danny Hyfris]

What do you think, dk?

[Danny Kelly]

Oh, my God. I kind of want the flip. We were talking about doing it all.

[Danny Hyfris]

I want the. We got to do it. We got to just do it. Let's do the flip.

[Craig Korolbeck]

So the flip. We're taking the Steelers. You know that. Oh, oh.

[Danny Kelly]

This is a good compromise.

[Danny Hyfris]

It's a good compromise.

[Craig Korolbeck]

You want to do the flip and keep Houston.

[Danny Hyfris]

That's tempting. That's tempting fate.

[Craig Korolbeck]

It is. You can't do that because that's not the flip.

[Danny Kelly]

You can't do the flipping.

[Craig Korolbeck]

That's not the flip.

[Danny Kelly]

And choose.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Or do we want to save the flip for next week?

[Danny Kelly]

No, there's no tomorrow. Yolo.

[Danny Hyfris]

I agree. I'm with dk. Flip it.

[Craig Korolbeck]

All right, so flipping is Panthers, Packers, Bills, Niners, Chargers, Steelers.

[Danny Hyfris]

I.

[Sponsor Voice]

Boom.

[Danny Hyfris]

It makes me so nervous. But whatever. You know what? The implication of being. Of being like, I don't want to flip implies that we know what the we're talking about. What was our record this year in.

[Craig Korolbeck]

First place, we're one below 500. So whatever we lit, literally, we just flipped a coin the whole year.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah.

[Danny Hyfris]

Yeah. All right. It. Whatever. It's funny because we go three and three.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yeah.

[Danny Hyfris]

All right. Today's Ringer 107 was brought to you by FanDuel. Odd subject to change. Okay, I want to do a couple.

[Danny Kelly]

I've never had more fun.

[Craig Korolbeck]

That was.

[Danny Hyfris]

That was incredible. Wow. Want to do emails with you guys before we get out of here. 1. DK loves palindromes. Didn't know that.

[Danny Kelly]

I'm super into palindromes.

[Danny Hyfris]

Super into palindromes. The favorite one, my favorite one someone sent was from Daniel. This is the same forward and back spelling debone, Tulsa, nightlife, filth, gin, a slut.

[Danny Kelly]

Nice. That's up there. That's up there with incredible. A man, a plan, a canal, Panama.

[Danny Hyfris]

Yeah, I think that one. Tulsa, nightlife, filth, gin, a slut. It's pretty good. Daniel also said that Weird Al has a song called Bob where he does a Bob Dylan impression, and the entire song is about every line is a palindrome.

[Danny Kelly]

Oh, that's really good.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Wow.

[Danny Kelly]

Because that sounds just like the way he sings, too.

[Danny Hyfris]

Yes.

[Danny Kelly]

Bob Dylan.

[Danny Hyfris]

I mean, it's.

[Craig Korolbeck]

My friend going in the wind, dude.

[Danny Hyfris]

Austin Gail, who works with us here at the Ringer, is a huge Bob Dylan fan, and Craig, just casually, when the movie came out, was like, yeah, Bob Dylan, obviously, his voice is terrible. And I. I. Austin freaked out.

[Danny Kelly]

He was.

[Danny Hyfris]

What do you mean?

[Craig Korolbeck]

Bu is amazing.

[Danny Hyfris]

And then he came back the next day and flipped.

[Craig Korolbeck]

He was so conflicted. He's like, I didn't sleep last night. I think, unfortunately, Craig, you're right. Bob Dylan doesn't have a good voice, but that's not what it's about.

[Danny Hyfris]

He's an existential crisis.

[Craig Korolbeck]

It's not what it's about. He's a brilliant songwriter, but he doesn't have a great voice. I actually think it makes him better.

[Danny Kelly]

There's. He's not the only one. He's not the only really famous singer.

[Danny Hyfris]

Well, Austin, when then while you guys were arguing because, like, you guys are yelling. Austin was like, his voice. What you think, like, Bruce Springsteen voice as a good voice. His voice sucks. And then Quietly. You guys didn't notice. I was like, oh, my God, does Bruce Springsteen have a bad voice? And then I went back that night. I listened to Springs, like, fuck. His songs all kind of sound the same shit.

[Craig Korolbeck]

I mean, look, that's not what it's about. Maybe. Maybe bad singers are better songwriters. Taylor Swift, I would say, is not the most impressive vocalist. She's a really good writer.

[Danny Hyfris]

Or the best take you've probably ever had on the show, which is Stop letting hot people make music.

[Danny Kelly]

You ever heard sing a song?

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yeah.

[Danny Kelly]

Tom Waits sing being doing a lot of heavy lifting there.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yeah. So, you know, it is what it is. The fact that, like, Chalamet could just waltz in and just immediately do a perfect Bob Dylan impression lets you know something. It's not that hard.

[Danny Kelly]

Do you guys think that Johnny Cash is a good singer, voice wise?

[Danny Hyfris]

Yeah, I think his voice is just incredible. I don't know if he's a good singer, but I listened to.

[Danny Kelly]

I was. I was.

[Craig Korolbeck]

I think he's a better singer than Dylan.

[Danny Kelly]

I was driving home this morning and, you know the song It Ain't Me, Babe.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yeah.

[Danny Kelly]

I was just like, it's a Harmoni harmonizing with June Carter, I think. And it's like. I was just like, man, he is just really mailing this in.

[Craig Korolbeck]

It sounds like different time. He's probably just drunk off his ass.

[Danny Hyfris]

Johnny Cash, I think, is like, me.

[Danny Kelly]

You're looking.

[Craig Korolbeck]

I almost feel like he just wasn't trying. But he did have a good voice.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, I. I don't. To be clear, I don't think he has a bad voice. I just think in that song, I was just like, man, he's really just. This is not his best work.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yeah. I don't know. Maybe he doesn't have that good of a voice.

[Danny Hyfris]

Well, speaking of. Speaking of singing voices, the other thing we talked in our last episode was we were talking about that song Losing Control, where it's like, any. Craig, can you do an impression? Losing Control by Teddy Swims.

[Danny Kelly]

I lose control or whatever.

[Craig Korolbeck]

I'm not doing that.

[Danny Hyfris]

Do it so people know what we're talking about.

[Danny Kelly]

The one time Craig is like, I'm.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Not doing it because I can't do it. I don't want to do it. It's actually. It's impossible to sing. It's really hard.

[Danny Hyfris]

Well, so we. Craig was saying, I hate that song. I hate, like, no, I'm not doing it either.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yeah.

[Danny Hyfris]

And then Craig's like, I hate that song. So we got two answers about this that I think Are good. One is from our friend Jackson Bevins.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yes.

[Danny Hyfris]

Who Cigar Chocolates, who texted us and said, my theory is that Craig hates Lose Control by Teddy Swims because it reminds him, as he said, of beautiful, Beautiful Things by Benson Boone. And Craig hates Benson Boone, and that reminds him of Steph Curry, Craig's hero fangirling in the front row of the Benson Boone concert, which is the only time in Craig's life that his hero made him cringe.

[Craig Korolbeck]

And I. And I texted back, that's probably right.

[Danny Kelly]

It's like, what, the transitive property?

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yeah. I do think I thought about it more. We texted more. And I think it all kind of like trickles down to Bruno Mars. And I think. I think the genre that I'm calling it is it's mom rock. And I think that's. It's more Benson Boone and Bruno Mars than it is Teddy Swims. But it's something about. It's like songs that you can. You can enjoy the song enough. You can sing along to it. It's kind of like wedding music a little bit. It's like, you can't say that's your favorite. You know what I mean? It's mom rock, so it's okay.

[Danny Kelly]

It's like one of those songs everyone knows, but it's no one's favorite.

[Danny Hyfris]

Well, there's Mom Rock and then there's the voice thing. Someone emailed in Jason J. Jesse Emilon said it was talent show songs, which I also thought is something.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Oh, well. Another song that I don't like is James Blunt, you're Beautiful. Hate that song.

[Danny Kelly]

You're Beautiful.

[Craig Korolbeck]

And I think it's kind of in that same range. It's like flexing the vocals.

[Danny Kelly]

I told Craig that after we got off the show yesterday, I was just like, I think the songs that you don't like are the ones where the singer tries to put their finger to their ear when they're getting all the different.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yeah, like octaves in one V. And it's often mental.

[Danny Hyfris]

When we were in high school, I tried. I tried singing. It was. There's that. What's the. Is it one direction? Where it's like, that's what makes you beautiful or whatever. I. They were, like, trying to sing that, and I thought they were talking about the other song that you just mentioned, James Blunt. So I went, you're beautiful. And I can't sing anyway. And they literally don't. They still bring it up. That's really funny constantly. Because I. They're like, they. They. And then I was like, No, I was thinking of the other one, and they just were like, you're a.

[Craig Korolbeck]

That's a way. You chose the way harder song to sing.

[Danny Hyfris]

Yeah, well, it didn't work, but. So here's my question for you. What about, like, Shaboozi, where it's party down on 6th Street.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yeah.

[Danny Hyfris]

Is that Mom Rock? Because that's not a voice.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yeah, that's the litmus test.

[Danny Hyfris]

That's pop.

[Craig Korolbeck]

It's a shudder. It's a sub genre of, like, Mom Pop rap.

[Danny Hyfris]

Mom Pop because it's not country.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Country pop. Rap.

[Danny Hyfris]

Country pop rap because it's not highlighting his voice. You know what a funny thing I've learned is.

[Craig Korolbeck]

You're right.

[Danny Hyfris]

My dad like. Like anyone gets. You know, his musical taste was locked in whenever he's how old, and then you, like, stop learning new music.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah.

[Danny Hyfris]

And he's. He's older. And what's funny is. So he's a dentist. But they. I never realized this, but he is radio in the office. So they have Bluetooth, whatever. And so they actually listen to a lot of music. So I never realized this, but my dad's musical taste now includes. He loves that fucking song. And he can sing every word.

[Danny Kelly]

Shaboozi.

[Danny Hyfris]

It came on and we were there, and he knew every word to say. I love this one. Is a party down on 6th Street. Like, what the is going on?

[Craig Korolbeck]

A bar song.

[Danny Hyfris]

A bar dude. My dad was like, have you heard of this Avicii guy play that H.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Have I heard of Avicii Father? He raised me more than you did. Okay.

[Danny Hyfris]

He was just like, you know that. What's that one? It goes like, hey, brother.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Oh, great song. I know. And I was like, dad, there's a world out there to rediscover.

[Danny Hyfris]

Great.

[Danny Kelly]

I don't actually know that one. I mean, I recognize it, but I. I'm not.

[Craig Korolbeck]

You probably recognize the drop.

[Danny Hyfris]

You're not raised in the lore.

[Craig Korolbeck]

No. That's really interesting. But yeah, there is a. I don't know what the genre is exactly, but I'm. I'm. Mom Rock is my loose name for it.

[Danny Kelly]

Modern yacht rock.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Shaboozi's a little different.

[Danny Hyfris]

Mom Rock is I. There's something to it. Keep emailing us if we figure out a genre name for this. Mom Rock's pretty good, though. One last email for you guys. Jesse. This is from Jesse. Jesse on dogging flights. So obviously we made DK last year losing the Picks contest. We made him raw dog the flight and hit us at middle seat between us from New Orleans to Los Angeles. Middle seat, no entertainment. Had to just stare straight ahead. Couldn't sleep, couldn't use his phone, could listen to music. Nothing. You got off the plane and you were like, I reorganized my entire life. I reprioritized. What kind of man, what kind of husband, kind of father I want to be?

[Danny Kelly]

I did, and I'm a better lot there. Yeah.

[Danny Hyfris]

And I was like, would you ever do it again? He was like, absolutely.

[Danny Kelly]

Not once a decade.

[Danny Hyfris]

So anyway, Jesse emailed us and said, I need you. The podcast complete thoughts on I can't pronounce this game Ruben Austin's upcoming movie. The Entertainment System is Down is the name of the movie. The entertainment system is down. The log line of the movie is set on a long haul flight where the entertainment systems fail. An eclectic group of international passengers are forced to face the horror of being bored. This movie has Keanu Reeves.

[Craig Korolbeck]

I mean, this.

[Danny Kelly]

How did they not name it? Raw Dogging. Raw Dog.

[Danny Hyfris]

Marketing lost that one.

[Craig Korolbeck]

What is Keanu Reeves is Raw Dog.

[Danny Kelly]

They. They really up, dude.

[Danny Hyfris]

Kirsten Dunst and Keanu Reeves and cousin Greg from Succession are in this movie.

[Danny Kelly]

My God.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Cousin Greg? Yeah. This guy's made, like, really weird movies. Like, did you ever see Triangle of Sadness? No.

[Danny Hyfris]

I think I heard the title. It was like, not for me.

[Craig Korolbeck]

It's like a bunch of rich people are on a boat. In the boat, like, crashes, and it's basically like a Lord of the Flies vibe. He made that movie, the Square. That's interesting. I did not know about this movie. I love that the title is the Entertainment System is Down is the name of the movie. That sounds great. I'm all in on that.

[Danny Kelly]

Wait, who's Nicholas Braun?

[Danny Hyfris]

He's cousin Greg.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Cousin Greg.

[Danny Hyfris]

Oh, it's like, six, eight.

[Danny Kelly]

Got it.

[Danny Hyfris]

Okay. I think that's all we got.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Oh, wait, I have. I. You guys probably saw this in the group text weeks ago.

[Danny Kelly]

I've been waiting.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Been waiting for this. I watched Lord of the Rings.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Over the break. And I like a. I logged it on letterboxd, forgetting that Austin Gale is on letterboxd and follows me. And of course, he, like, flies into the group chat. He's like, all caps. Craig, you watch Lord of the Rings. I was like, you. That's supposed to be a surprise. He saw it on letterboxd. But I watched them with. With Liz, her two brothers, her dad and her sister. They're all. And. And her mom.

[Danny Kelly]

They're all super into Lord of the Rings.

[Craig Korolbeck]

They all. Look, her brothers have seen Lord of the Rings. More than any movie ever. They've probably seen them upwards of. They actually asked and they took 10 minutes to think about it. They think they've seen them about 75 times each.

[Danny Hyfris]

Bill didn't have them on the Lord of the Rings. And his most rewatchable. I'm like, they're certainly the most rewatched movies of our lifetime. Is.

[Craig Korolbeck]

He's never seen.

[Danny Kelly]

That's up there.

[Danny Hyfris]

It's not even close that they're the most rewatched movies.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Bill's never seen them, so he can't make his list.

[Danny Hyfris]

True. Watchable.

[Craig Korolbeck]

But I watched them back to back to back. One right in a row. Not. Not one day. One each night.

[Danny Hyfris]

Did you take notes each day?

[Craig Korolbeck]

I didn't take notes.

[Danny Hyfris]

Oh.

[Danny Kelly]

He's like, I'm trying to enjoy my life.

[Craig Korolbeck]

I honestly. Yes. I was like, I want. No, I want to enjoy the movie. I'm not taking notes. Yeah. I wanted to kind of just sit in it. I really enjoyed them. I really liked them. I thought they were great. I totally get the hype. I think they've very much delivered. Of course, I can see why they are so beloved. I think my biggest takeaway was how influential you can tell the story is to so many things that came after it. I know these books were written 100 years ago. And you can see Lord of the Rings in Star Wars, Avengers, Indiana Jones, obviously, Game of Thrones. There's a lot there with George R.R. martin. It's just crazy. I mean, it's basically like the modern western story of, like, the hero's journey. It was great. I have, like, smaller takes if you want to. If you want me to give you those or if you have any questions.

[Danny Kelly]

I have a.

[Danny Hyfris]

This poke. This pod can go as long as I want.

[Danny Kelly]

I don't give a. Yeah, Clear your schedule.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Hold on.

[Danny Kelly]

What? First question. I really just am genuinely curious. Which one did you like the most?

[Craig Korolbeck]

The second one.

[Danny Kelly]

Okay.

[Danny Hyfris]

Yeah.

[Craig Korolbeck]

The two buildings.

[Danny Kelly]

The two buildings. That makes a lot of sense. How deep? My favorite battle.

[Craig Korolbeck]

If I had to rank them, I would go 2, 3, 1.

[Danny Kelly]

Oh, you like the one the least? I like one the most.

[Danny Hyfris]

I agree. This beginning of one is slow. And if you didn't read the books, I think it's kind of like, I love it.

[Danny Kelly]

I want to live in the Shire. I. I loved every moment of the Shire. I don't know. I just love number one. But I mean, obviously they're all good.

[Danny Hyfris]

No, I'm with Craig. Two, three one is my order as well.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Two, three one is my is my order. Yeah, I'm.

[Danny Kelly]

One, two, three.

[Craig Korolbeck]

I. I'm usually, like. The bit about me is like, I think movies should be shorter. I don't think these should be shorter. Like, honestly, it's. It's a tremendous buildup and, like, you almost need to feel exhausted, like with Frodo on the journey. And then by the time you're done, you're like, jesus Christ, we fucking did it. We did it. We did it together.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah. You climbed Mount Doom.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yes. I didn't realize how big of a character Samwise Gange is. Like, Kamji, I thought. I don't know why I thought Sean Astin was a smaller part of those movies. Loved him. I don't understand the Legolas hype. I don't understand why Orlando Bloom, like, that was a big deal. I felt like that character was the least explored. And he's not like, that cool or funny. I mean, he's like a great, you know, Archer or whatever. But, like, Boromir and Aragorn, like, all those guys are way cooler and more interesting to me. And I was talking about this with Liz, and we're like, why did Orlando Bloom and Legolas become so popular? And we were like, because, I think. I mean, Viggo Mortensen in those movies, more perfect, way more attractive than.

[Danny Hyfris]

Yeah.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Than Orlando Bloom. But the only difference is, like, Viggo Mortensen is, I don't know, pushing 40, maybe in the movie. And I wonder if it's like, you know, young girls and young people are like, oh, Orlando Bloom's like, 22. You gotta remember a young guy.

[Danny Hyfris]

Pirates of the Caribbean came out, which.

[Craig Korolbeck]

After that. But there were a lot.

[Danny Hyfris]

But I feel like Orlando Blue made seven movies and made, like, a hundred million dollars or something. But, like, they were like, every year it was coming out. But it was cooler, though. Like, I remember I was telling someone or Jackie the other day, and I was like, oh, it's so cool about Legolas. And, like, him and Gimli are Tucker. Like, they're doing the count of how many people they're killing during. And then they were doing it. And it was one of those, like, you're like, oh, you like this? And then she was just staring. I'm like, oh, this isn't as fun.

[Danny Kelly]

It's in the books.

[Craig Korolbeck]

He's just, to me, like, by far the least interesting character.

[Danny Kelly]

I think in the movies, they didn't. Like, he doesn't have, like, a ton of dialogue. Like, he doesn't talk all that much. There's all, you know, like the. There's like these funny things on Instagram and stuff that it's like here's every moment that two women talk to each other in the movie and it's like where's mother? And it's like that's it.

[Danny Hyfris]

Yeah.

[Danny Kelly]

In the entire three movies. It's like a little kid. But it's. But there's kind of that kind of too with Legolas. Like he just doesn't talk to like half the characters. I think he talks to Aragorn a few times and that's about it. He barely talks to Frodo the entire Hobbits Eisenh God. Yeah. I will say though, I think and maybe this is wrong but I think people are just fascinated with the elves. I think the elves are super cool. You know, like they live forever. He's an elf king he or a prince and he like lives in the wood. He's like all that stuff I think is cool. And like he's very cool character in the books.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well that's funny because you know, there were times when I would pause and then ask a couple of questions and what Jake, one of my brother in law said, he was like, you know, it's been so long since I've ever watched this with somebody who hasn't seen them before and they've read all the books, they know them so well. He was like, they actually really don't hold your hand too much in these movies. Like there is a lot in there. And like there's this. I forget if it's in the first or second movie where Frodo and Sam throw the cloak over themselves. I think it's on Mount Doom and the cloak like looks like a rock and disguises them. They don't tell you why that happens or why that's there, why he has that. And Jake's like, oh yeah. There's like a whole thing in the book about that.

[Danny Kelly]

Or like elf magic.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yes. Or like the eagles that. That Gandalf jumps on that saves him. He's like they. That's just not explained in the movies at all. And I was like what's up with this, you know, magical eagle? He's like, oh yeah, right. That, that's like more in the books. And he was like, I guess I didn't realize that. Which I kind of respect that they don't h. Like walk you through and describe expositionally what every single thing is in the movie.

[Danny Hyfris]

And that's why Game of Thrones is popular. Like I, I mean Game of Thrones you could watch it as a just show watcher was cool. But if you were the book, like, if you had read the books, then you knew, like, so much more about the show and you almost like the depth.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah.

[Danny Hyfris]

I mean, Jason Conceptions would have these, like, columns at Grantland about, like, breaking down Thrones. And I, like, I was like, I didn't know any of this shit, but Lord of the Rings was like that too. I. Yeah, I haven't actually read the books for Lord of the Rings, but I would watch the movies and honestly, it was just like, oh, look at these wolf bears killing them in the middle of the field.

[Danny Kelly]

The Wargs.

[Danny Hyfris]

Yeah, I. I think so many.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, that's. That it is very much similar to, like, the Game of Thrones thing where, like, it depends on how deep you want to go into it. Like, you can just watch Game of Thrones and it's very entertain. Or you could go do a deep dive, listen to binge mode, and, like, find out about how all the families are connected. They go back a thousand years. Like, I feel like in the movies you don't really know who Galadriel is, and she's just like some elf woman that you don't really know that much about. But obviously in the books, she's like one of the most powerful elves of all time kind of dealing. So it's like, well, she. She was one of the originals that they gave the rings to, the whatever, the Ring Wraith. So, like, I haven't read the books in like 15 years, so I was.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Like, all right, nerd.

[Danny Hyfris]

I didn't care that much.

[Danny Kelly]

But she's like. She's like one of the older elves and she's very powerful and blah, blah, blah. So. Yeah, but there's like, a lot that they don't specifically go into in. In the movies. There's also extended versions if you want to go a little different, go deeper.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yeah. And they're already starting to, like, come into my timeline. Also. There's so many things that. Like, what was the phrase you just said? They're taking the elves to Eisenhower? Didn't it wasn't that like a song, like, early Internet, like 2008 that became jingle.

[Danny Hyfris]

Oh, yeah. There's a lot. There's a lot of amazing viral video. I don't remember who made it. That was like, why the. Didn't Gandalf just fly Frodo on the eagle? Like, the first time, like, that would have been.

[Danny Kelly]

So there's this whole conspiracy that when he says fly, you fools. When he's falling into the cavern. You know, he's fly, you fools.

[Danny Hyfris]

And he was, like, trying to say, we're crossing this mountain to meet the eagles. And he's like, don't walk the whole way.

[Danny Kelly]

No, there's a. It's a conspiracy. It's not real. There's like, I. I think Tolkien was asked about this.

[Danny Hyfris]

It didn't really happen. It's just like, why didn't they just fly?

[Danny Kelly]

Right? Well, because it would ruin the whole story. That's why. Yeah, but. Yeah, there's. There's all these, you know, deep dives into, like, why. Why he said that? Because that was verbatim from the book. He says that in the book.

[Danny Hyfris]

We're gonna get a 10, 000 word explanation from someone on why they didn't.

[Danny Kelly]

I know. I'm sure I'm up a lot of it.

[Danny Hyfris]

I read the book. People are. The ghosts are screaming right now.

[Danny Kelly]

I haven't read the book since I was, like, 21 1, so just give me a break.

[Danny Hyfris]

The reason also, Craig, I think I wanted. And if anyone hasn't seen, like, someone like Bill who's, like, at the very least watched the last 40 minutes of the. The Two Towers, also the fact that Craig calls it the Two Buildings is the funniest thing in the entire show. But.

[Craig Korolbeck]

That'S the other part I was upset about. You don't see Saruman's death.

[Danny Kelly]

It just goes, crunch.

[Craig Korolbeck]

It's in the. No, no, it's in the extended version. It's not in the movie. Is that truly. Yes. Not in the theatrical cut. You don't see his death at the end of Two Towers. He just, like, walks back into the castle, and that's the last you see of him.

[Danny Hyfris]

Oh, you mean the guy. No, that's. You mean the. Oh, like the wizard guy? Not Sauron. Saruman.

[Danny Kelly]

Sorry. He falls onto the. Like.

[Danny Hyfris]

Yeah, that is in the extended. Yeah.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Don't. Damn. Am I kind of on your corner right now? Hyphens. I'm kind of like. I'm not talking about Sauron. I'm talking about Saruman. Okay.

[Danny Kelly]

Right, right, right. Don't fuck it up.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Don't fuck it up. But yes, the meme of him, like, falling and getting impaled is not in the theatrical cut at all. He just walks back. And then at the start of the third movie, I thought there would be a. Like, a showdown between Gandalf and Sauron that I would see. And that. That. That's not in it.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, interesting.

[Danny Hyfris]

No.

[Craig Korolbeck]

So now I gotta watch the extended which are legitimately four and a half hours each.

[Danny Hyfris]

Wait, so you did it at the perfect time. You can't. There's not really a time that's easy, other than, like the holidays, to be like, do you have 12 hours?

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yeah.

[Danny Kelly]

Did you give us all your notes? I want to hear if you had any other notes.

[Craig Korolbeck]

One thing that was funny watching with a bunch of people who had grown up with these movies and saw them when they were kids, they all hate Gollum and thought it was really gross and scary when they were a kid and they think the scenes are, like, too long. They don't need them. It's like, too much. It's too much. Gollum didn't bother me at all. I thought he was a very interesting character. I liked Gollum. I thought all those scenes with, like, them on the mountain on their trip and like, I thought all that was really good. And I thought they were like, how many times does he have to, like, talk to himself, like, the two sides of him, like, it's just too much. And I, I was into it.

[Danny Hyfris]

I. When you're a kid and watching it, it's on like, TNT and there's commercial breaks. You're like, oh, my God, I need to fast forward through this.

[Danny Kelly]

No, I. I would pause it. You only need to watch those scenes once.

[Danny Hyfris]

Yes. Yeah, A hundred percent.

[Danny Kelly]

When I re. Watch the movies now, I fast forward those scenes.

[Danny Hyfris]

Yeah, you can't. I can't. Like, I get it. I get it.

[Craig Korolbeck]

You want to be with your pals.

[Danny Kelly]

I'm like. I'm like, dude, all right, we get it. Like, it. The ring is heavy. Like, okay, keep going. We just move along here. I want to see some fudgeing fights and stuff. I want to fight the Uruk.

[Danny Hyfris]

Hai, Craig. You know what's fun? Now that you've seen it, is an absolute. One of the biggest Instagram wormholes is all the behind the scenes content of how they made these movies is amazing and, like, it's basically endless. But the Nazgul, the, like, guys who ride the little dragon things or whatever, the sound, you know, the sound they make when they screech.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Okay.

[Danny Hyfris]

Is like, it's. It's a donkey.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Oh, really?

[Danny Hyfris]

It's a donkey right down. So when it's, like, interesting, everyone screams and runs. It's like a, like, random donkey in New Zealand made that.

[Craig Korolbeck]

There's some really cool force perspective stuff that, like when Gandalf is in Bilbo's house.

[Danny Kelly]

Oh, yeah, those are cool.

[Craig Korolbeck]

They do some crazy stuff to make him look Big and make Bilbo look small. Like, there's a whole scene when he sits down at the desk to have, like, tea or whatever. There's like the desk is cut in half and. And Gandalf is moving, like, backwards towards the camera as the camera's also moving backwards. Like Gandalf is dollying away from Bilbo. But you can't see it on screen because the camera's moving at the same speed as Gandalf. So it's like very still. It's kind of like the Jaws shot a little bit. It's like.

[Danny Kelly]

Is that called a smash zoom? What is that called?

[Craig Korolbeck]

I don't think it's a smash zoom.

[Danny Kelly]

But I know what you're talking. But you're. You're right, though, that it came. I think one. One of the original movies that did it was like the Jaws scene. They do that a few times.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Well, the Jaws scene is with. With characters who are standing still and you basically, you are zooming in on the lens as you push back on the dolly. This is a force perspective where literally Gandalf and the camera are moving backwards at the same speed but Bilbo and everybody else are staying in the background. So it makes everybody look bigger. But you still. But the camera doesn't look like it's moving. It's fascinating.

[Danny Kelly]

I also think, just from some of the details, what I love about these movies is they get so many of the details right. And like, as someone that read the books and then watched or whatever, like watch movies at the same time, it was like, oh, damn. They really got. They. They spent a lot of time thinking about this. I know that they did where they made the ring, like, magnetic so when it fell it would just, like, stick to the ground. Like, it was really heavy and, like, really, really weighty. This is not just a regular ring.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Sure.

[Danny Kelly]

I always like that stuff too. It's just cool.

[Danny Hyfris]

The videos that. I feel like there's some videos that now at this point, just like AI Slap ended up, like, just recirculating on my algorithm from different accounts. But the same ones circulate because they do well. And there's two Peter Jackson. The sound of all the Urukai, like, stomping and like, how they get, like an army of 30,000. He went to a soccer game or a rugby game in New Zealand and asked 50,000 people to make a bunch of sounds. And he's walks on the pitch. He has no shoes on. And he's just like, all right, everyone. Like, we're making the movie You've probably heard of it. So it's like, can everyone go like this? It's like. And then, like, everyone just starts and he just has them make these freaking chants. And it was like. It. It actually is. It's so cool. And then the other one is that Boromir. I forget the Ned Stark. What's his name? Sean. Sean.

[Danny Kelly]

Sean Bean.

[Danny Hyfris]

He won't do helicopters, so he had to walk up to the top of the mountain to film everything. The first movie, because everyone copped it up. They didn't bring the makeup team up, so he would have to get in makeup and full, like, metal armor. Like, they had, like, one family make 8,000 chain link army armors or something. Like, like, to real metal. He had to walk up this mountain every day in chain link. And he'd get up there and they were worried he was gonna have a heart attack.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yeah. Makes me want to go to New Zealand also. I. I think, dude, the aerial shots when they are walking on the mountains of New Zealand are some of the most astonishing, breathtaking shots of all time. I love that, like, every 30 minutes, there is just a helicopter shot sweeping through the mountains of New Zealand. It is stunning.

[Danny Kelly]

They're really there. They really get CGI bullshit.

[Danny Hyfris]

When I was. Because, like, when I was nine, I watched the Oscars and they gave 12 Oscars to Lord of the Rings, the third one. And I was like, okay, cool. So cool. Movies win. And I. It wasn't how it would be, but I just thought the Oscars were cool movies. Yeah, I mean, they are, but, you know, the Fast and Furious hasn't been rewarded.

[Craig Korolbeck]

It's cool when, like, the movie that you loved the most and was, like, very successful commercially as well, wins all the Oscars. That's usually kind of fun.

[Danny Hyfris]

Yeah. Like, I'm nine years old. I'm like, that was great. I'm like, they're really nailing this. Yeah. Yeah.

[Craig Korolbeck]

The only other thing is that it ends for, like, 40 minutes.

[Danny Hyfris]

There was, like, 11 endings in the third movie that they could.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Every time I was like, wow, this is the ending. And then it's like. And we're back 100%.

[Danny Kelly]

Are they getting on the boat? Yeah. All right. They're good. Now it's going to end.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Also, I didn't. In the book, Sauron comes back and takes over the Shire.

[Danny Kelly]

Right.

[Craig Korolbeck]

And there's a whole battle there.

[Danny Kelly]

Raising of the Shire.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yes. That Mary and Pippen are, like, very involved in taking down Sauron in the. In the Shire, dude.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah. The. The raising of the Shire, I think it's called. It's like. It's a.

[Danny Hyfris]

And.

[Danny Kelly]

And Mary and Pippen are, like, way bigger because they drank that water with the Ent water.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Do you remember this?

[Danny Kelly]

So they're like. They've, like, grown. They've grown a bunch. And so they are, like. They organize the defense of the Shire.

[Danny Hyfris]

That was a smart cut.

[Danny Kelly]

There's also this whole Tom Bombadil thing that they just completely cut out of the movies that were, like. It's, like, totally pointless.

[Danny Hyfris]

My friend Matt, who's my college roommate, has tried to tell me about Tom Bombadil for 15 years, and I'm like, I'm not gonna listen to you talk about Tom Bomb.

[Danny Kelly]

The other thing, Craig, that. The other. The other, like, wrinkle that, like, makes it interesting is JRR Tolkien wrote the book. He wrote it as a mythology of, like, England. So basically England at the time, he didn't think had, like, a mythology to it. Like, like, you know, the Scandinavian countries all have a mythology. Blah, blah. But he. He also, like, based some of the characters and. And some of the story on, like, his experience in World War I. And so, like, a lot of people think. I think it. I could be getting this wrong, but I think it's, like, a lot of people think that he'd based the character of Sam on his best friend in the war who had died. And, like. Anyway, so there's, like, layers to it.

[Danny Hyfris]

Was it true that it started, it's just a bedtime story he told his kids? And then he just kept explaining, expanding it, that he was like, I'll write.

[Danny Kelly]

This over the course of, like, 50 years? And he was also, like, a brilliant linguist. So he, like, literally wrote languages of all the different beings in the book, and they've got the whole. He has the whole world of Middle Earth and. And Valinor and all the other, like, the Elf stuff. And, like, the whole history of it is in the Silmarillion. Anyway, it's very fascinating stuff, but. But the movies. I'm glad that you could watch just the movies and like it because it's like, obviously there's a whole world of it, too.

[Craig Korolbeck]

I did it.

[Danny Hyfris]

You did it. We did it. We did it. Okay. Email the various people who are angry at us for whatever we got wrong or whatever.

[Craig Korolbeck]

I did my best. Come on. I did my best.

[Danny Hyfris]

You did good.

[Danny Kelly]

Another man will be mad at me, probably.

[Danny Hyfris]

This is like when we talked about Dune, and Dick's like, hold up. I read Dune 20 years ago, and.

[Danny Kelly]

We'Re trying to Remember, I did not read Dune. I don't know anything about it.

[Danny Hyfris]

Email us at ringer fantasy football gmail.com for whatever send us.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, I love Dune.

[Craig Korolbeck]

I love both of them this year. Next one's coming out.

[Danny Kelly]

I have not watched the show yet. Did you watch the show?

[Craig Korolbeck]

No.

[Danny Hyfris]

The show is out.

[Danny Kelly]

There's a show that's like an alter. It's like a different story.

[Danny Hyfris]

Is that a little concerned that.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Comes out the new Dune? Dune 3 comes out the same day as Avengers Doomsday.

[Danny Kelly]

Is it Dune Prophecy?

[Danny Hyfris]

Is the show Doomsday?

[Craig Korolbeck]

That's Avengers Doomsday is Doomsday. Same as dune three.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah.

[Danny Hyfris]

Wink, wink. Okay.

[Danny Kelly]

All right.

[Danny Hyfris]

Thank you, T.K. thank you, Craig. Thank you, Cam. Thank you, Carlos. Thank you, Kai. Thank you, Austin. Thank you, everyone, for listening. Next episode on Netflix. Can watch it for free on Spotify. Can listen to it wherever. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, Peter Jackson. Thank you, Lorne Lauren.

[Danny Kelly]

Thank you, Richard Armitage, who sang the Misty Mountains.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Misty Mountains, which is from the Hobbit.

[Danny Kelly]

Right, Right. It's from the Hobbit movie, which is another whole trilogy aft that's, you know, based on the book the Hobbit.

[Danny Hyfris]

But it's not as good. But it's. It works.

[Danny Kelly]

It's still worth a watch. It's just definitely not as good.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Dude, the lighting of the towers or whatever that's called moment is sick.

[Danny Hyfris]

Dude, the beacons are lit.

[Craig Korolbeck]

The beacons? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, the beacons. Also, the. There is a particular three horn score. I forget, like, how it's actually. I believe it's like one army. It's like they're. They're sound, but there's like, a three horn score that plays through all three movies. That is incredible.

[Danny Kelly]

Is it the elf army?

[Craig Korolbeck]

How's it go?

[Danny Hyfris]

You talk about the score, though, if you. If you're dk, like, you're like me, where it's like. If you want to get, like, work done, it depends what kind of work you're doing. But sometimes it's hard to, like, listen to music with words in it if you're trying to get something done. It depends on what you're doing. The Lord of the Rings soundtrack, especially the first Fellowship. But, like, the soundtracks to listen to as background music are unique, believable.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, 100%, you know, part of the lore or whatever. Like, the mythology that I really like is in. In J.R.R. tolkien's version of everything. It's like he wrote it as a mythology, and so he just. He. He basically insinuates or wrote specifically that hobbits are still around, but you just can't really see them because they're really sneaky. And like just when they don't want to be seen, they. They don't. They can't be seen.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Sneaky little shits.

[Danny Kelly]

Like they're sneaky little pretty. Brock Py is basically a hobbit. And that's why the hobbits were so well equipped to carry the ring. Because they're sneaky little shits who can just pass by without anyone noticing.

[Danny Hyfris]

We're losing Craig's interest.

[Craig Korolbeck]

No, I'm actually locked in. How dare you.

[Danny Kelly]

Okay, can we start talking about the food thing yet? Or how we doing?

[Craig Korolbeck]

Wanted me to do the whole like or no, which one of you wanted me to do.

[Danny Kelly]

I wanted you to do the food pairing.

[Danny Hyfris]

DK was like, do a food. Craig was like, I'm thinking about watching them. Craig has made it 31 years or whatever and not watch Lord of the Rings. I think he's like, what if you cooked like a multi course dinner along with the movies? And then we were offended. We were like, that's not a good idea. He's like, what? What did I say?

[Craig Korolbeck]

We're like, I do like cooking, but the idea of having to prepare like five dishes before watching this movie set felt like a lot here. That's fair.

[Danny Hyfris]

Make some things for this movie you've never seen.

[Danny Kelly]

Make some lambus bread.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Yeah.

[Danny Hyfris]

Bake a bread before you watch a four hour movie.

[Danny Kelly]

That sounds fantastic.

[Craig Korolbeck]

Why don't you send me the bread? Send me the Lambeth bread.

[Danny Hyfris]

All right.

[Danny Kelly]

All right, I'll do that.

[Danny Hyfris]

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