Power Ranking Our Week 1 UNDER Reactions, Fantasy Court, and the Pacific Time War Zone

Summary

The Ringer Fantasy Football Show

Episode: Power Ranking Our Week 1 UNDER Reactions, Fantasy Court, and the Pacific Time War Zone
Release Date: September 10, 2025
Hosts: Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, Craig Horlbeck

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Overview

This episode is all about resisting the urge to overreact to Week 1 of the NFL season—a time famously full of wild, often misleading performances. Instead, the hosts focus on their “UNDER reactions,” dissecting why you shouldn’t panic (or gloat) after just one game. Power-ranked underreactions, fantasy football advice, listener “Fantasy Court” disputes, and a hilarious time zone debate round out the show with the signature laid-back, snarky Ringer tone.

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Main Segments

1. Setting the Tone: “UNDER Reacting” Is the Vibe

[00:00–03:16]

• Danny Heifetz: “Everyone does overreactions and everybody needs to calm down.”
• They set up the episode: rather than fueling “take culture” hot takes, they'll “take a chill pill,” ranking 9 key things not to freak out about after Week 1.
• Craig Calcaterra: “Week one is a siren song. Relax. Don’t listen to it.”

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2. “Power Hour” of UNDER Reactions (Key Topics)

Each topic typically gets two minutes, punctuated by recurring sound drops.

Cincinnati Bengals Offense (Burrow, Chase, Higgins, Chase Brown)

[05:09–07:21]

• Slow start again for Burrow/Bengals (notoriously bad vs. Browns); historical splits cited.
• Danny Kelly: “Bottom line, I think Burrow’s gonna be just fine. We’re still gonna see fireworks. I still think Jamar Chase and T. Higgins are going to have great years… Chase Brown… was dead last in NFL in yards before contact per rush… I think he’s also going to have a good year. So, don’t overreact.”

Jacksonville Jaguars’ Win Over Carolina

[07:23–10:56]

• Jags beat a weak, depleted Panthers defense but didn’t impress.
• Danny Kelly: “I wasn’t very impressed with the Jags, still, despite the win… Trevor Lawrence was pretty underwhelming.”
• Panthers’ historic defensive futility should make the Jags’ performance worrying, not exciting.

Rookie Running Backs Disappointing; Don’t Worry

[10:56–14:00]

• All first-round rookie RBs played poorly, but context matters (bad blocking, nerves, snap count).
• Craig: “None of those guys scored more than 11 points in fantasy this week—it’s going to be fine… Actually, all of these guys passed the eye test straight up.”
• Danny Kelly: “He got impacted behind the line…had to create out of nothing.”

Ravens: The Real Super Bowl Favorite?

[14:00–17:56]

• Overblown laments about the Ravens “choking”; but they still look elite on both sides.
• Danny Heifetz: “The Ravens should be Super Bowl favorites. … Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry is the ultimate thunder and lightning backfield we’ll probably ever see.”
• Danny Kelly: Stat drop: “Derrick Henry…averaged almost 3.5 yards per attempt before he was touched.”

A.J. Brown– No Need to Panic

[17:56–21:39]

• Brown’s slow opener explained by a preseason hamstring and game flow.
• Squeaky Wheel Theory: whenever AJ Brown is quiet, the Eagles make a point of feeding him next week.
• Danny Kelly: “He has a 28% target rate…25 touchdowns, seventh most among all receivers…this was just one of those games.”

Cam Ward’s Ugly Stat Line Hides Promising Play

[23:27–25:52]

• Debut vs. Denver produced dreadful stats, but on film, Ward looked poised and made good throws.
• Craig: “There is no larger discrepancy between box score and what actually happened on the field.”
• The offense around him (Ridley, Pollard, etc.) are all “buy-low” candidates.

Steelers & Aaron Rodgers Will Come Down to Earth

[25:55–28:38]

• Steelers’ Week 1 win misleading; defense shredded by Fields, couldn’t run, likely not sustainable.
• Danny Heifetz: “If Sam Darnold walks in next week and shreds the Steelers...suddenly we’re like, wow, what if this Steelers team isn’t quite what we think?”

Seahawks Will Look Much Better Than Week 1’s Taste

[28:38–31:41]

• Seattle narrowly lost to the 49ers but are better than the “taste” left.
• Danny Kelly: “Defensively I thought they played actually pretty well…couple busted coverages late.”
• Early game in Pittsburgh will be tough, but the underlying team is strong.

Davante Adams Is Still a WR1

[32:22–35:17]

• Disappointing opener (4 catches, 51 yards), but elite usage (27% targets), and Stafford looked sharp; buy-low opportunity.
• Danny Kelly: “Big Davante Adams days are coming…Stafford had the highest rate of hero throws in the NFL in week one.”

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Craig (on rookie RB concerns):
  “He had 33 rushing yards, but he had 44 after contact.” [11:36]

• Danny Kelly (on Derrick Henry):
  “He averaged almost 3.5 yards per attempt before he was touched.” [16:28]

• Craig (on A.J. Brown):
  “He did not have a target until the fourth quarter. One catch for 8 yards, which won the game.” [19:03]

• Danny Heifetz (on Fantasy Court vas controversy):
  “They literally, objectively declined to compete for the championship. So they don’t get to be on the trophy.” [45:50]

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Fantasy Court Segment

[41:08–55:02]

Case 1: The Vase-Tie Cowardice

• Two championship finalists both benched their whole team, intentionally tied, and split the winnings. Should their names go on the new league trophy (a vase)?
• Unanimous Judgment: No, their names do NOT go on the trophy. Option suggested: either leave it blank, mark with an asterisk, or award third place instead.
• Danny Heifetz: “Their names can be left to the dustbin of history. The tie should be commemorated...None of their names go on the thing.”

Case 2: Commissioner’s Draft Malpractice

• Commissioner ignored written instructions and took a player for himself that the Denmark-based autodrafting owner wanted.
• Judgment: Swap the players, and possibly adjust Week 1 scores if necessary. “This is abuse of power by the commission.” – Craig

Case 3: Vetoed Trade Uproar

• Trade vetoed not for collusion, but because the league didn’t want one owner’s team to get better.
• Ruling: Ridiculous to veto trades for this (unless clear collusion). “It’s America, you have the right to be stupid. People get to make bad decisions. It’s part of freedom.” – Heifetz [54:00]

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The Time Zone War Zone

[55:03–73:18]

• Heated, hilarious debate over whether to call the early Sunday games “morning games” versus “early slate,” mainly since the majority of Americans (on Eastern/Central time) don’t feel like it’s morning at 1pm.
• Dozens of emails support Danny Heifetz’s position: “morning” makes you think there’s an early London game, so say “early window.”
• Heifetz: “The Pacific time zone is a way better way to watch sports…I feel erased when you say the games are in the morning. I’ve waited all day.”
• Craig: “It’s just been morning games my entire life.”
• They close the debate with an agreement: hosts will try to say “early slate” for clarity going forward.

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The Ringer Fantasy Football League Update

[38:08–40:34]

• Bill Simmons is in last place, having drafted five QBs but starting the two lowest scorers.
• Sal’s team is “a wagon,” led by Prescott/CD, Jefferson, Herbert, and Bucky Irving.
• Funny observations about league management, roster construction, and Bill’s QB “hoarding.”

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Listener Engagement

• Listeners send in stories, fantasy disputes, and opinions on time zones, all adding to the show’s sense of community and running in-jokes (“power hour,” “the vase,” breakfast reports, etc.).
• Regular call to send in emails for Fantasy Court, trivia, and other shenanigans: [e-mail]

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Key Timestamps

• 05:09 — Bengals slow start, don’t panic
• 07:23 — Jaguars’ underwhelming “big win”
• 10:56 — Rookie RBs are fine
• 14:00 — Ravens are Super Bowl favorites
• 17:56 — A.J. Brown will bounce back
• 23:27 — Cam Ward’s debut: ignore the box score
• 25:55 — Steelers/Rodgers regression looming
• 28:38 — Seahawks’ better days ahead
• 32:22 — Davante Adams remains elite
• 41:08 — Fantasy Court kicks off
• 55:03 — Time Zone War Zone ignites

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Tone & Takeaways

• Signature Ringer blend of non-panicky, stats-based fantasy advice and irreverent banter.
• Strong message: Week 1 is full of noise—don’t jump off (or onto) bandwagons after one game.
• Deep community engagement, responsive to listener questions and disputes.
• Running bits (breakfasts, time zone grievances, SNL monologue references) = distinctly personable flavor.

Bottom line:
Whether you’re hoping to avoid a fantasy overreaction, hash out league drama, or join the time zone banter, this episode delivers both sharp insight and laughs—making it an essential listen for any fantasy football obsessive.

Transcript

[Danny Heifetz]

Foreign. Welcome to Ringer fantasy football show. My name is Danny Hypertens and I'm joined by Danny Kelly, Craig. World Today it is power hour. Every Wednesday, we power rank something. And this week we are underreacting to week one because everyone does overreactions and everybody needs to calm down.

[Danny Kelly]

Right, dk Just relax, take a breath, chill. That's the, that's the thesis of the show is what I'm saying.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Yeah, we got nine. We got nine topics here that we're taking a chill pill on. So it's week one out. It's going to be all right. Week one is a siren song. Relax. Don't, don't listen to.

[Danny Kelly]

Also, part of this is kind of like underreacting and not going overboard on takes based on one week of good stuff.

[Danny Heifetz]

Weird stuff happens every week and sometimes the first week's just the only week. And also it's the first week. So we're going to go through a bunch of under reactions. We're going to do fantasy court emails, time zone stuff. And yeah, it's going to be really fun. Again, we're coming to you Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Power hour is the best. We got a great show. We got a great show for you coming up. So stick around. We'll be right back. Craig commandeered the show. We should start doing that. That's what they do at snl. That's after the opening monologue. They go, we got a great show for tonight. Halsey is here.

[Danny Heifetz]

Oh, my God. We front. Oh, my God. We have to get to the band in the front. Not a bad idea.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Not bad.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah. Okay.

[Danny Heifetz]

Should we keep this or is that getting cut?

[Danny Kelly]

I don't know.

[Danny Heifetz]

I don't know.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Who knows?

[Danny Heifetz]

All right now. Now we'll take a break. This episode of the Ringer fantasy football show is presented by Hyundai. The allnew Hyundai Palisade hybrid proves that an incredible SUV is so much more than the sum of its parts. It's more than a spacious interior. It's. It's more than being able to navigate difficult terrain. And it's way more than driving farther than you ever thought possible. It's the all new Hyundai Palisade hybrid. So much more than just another SUV. Visit HyundaiUSA.com or call 562-314-4603 for more details. This episode is brought to you by Disney, Hulu and espn. Now you can get all of ESPN in the new ESPN app along with Disney and and Hulu with a limited time offer, the biggest sports movies and shows in one bundle. All for just $29.99 a month for 12 months. Visit Disney plush, Hulu ESPN bundle.com for details. Ad supported plan auto renews at Regular price. Currently 35.99amonth. Subject to change unless canceled. Ends January 5, 2026. Terms apply. All right, we're gonna get into our under reactions from week one again. Everyone overreacts like it's a bit and we're gonna tell you what to become.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Take culture.

[Danny Kelly]

It's hard not to overreact.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Take culture's gone too far.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's easy not to overreact, actually.

[Danny Kelly]

No, it's hard not to overreact when it comes down to it, when the chips are down, like when your team loses or when your player gets four points in fantasy. Yeah, I feel pretty horrible. I'm not gonna lie. And I have to, like, talk myself into being, like, calming down.

[Craig Calcaterra]

This topic is very therapeutic because there are many, many players on this list that we're about to get to that I'm worried about, like A.J. brown. I. I have so much vested interest in A.J. brown being good this year, so I'm very excited for DK to calm me down about AJ Brown. This is a very important episode.

[Danny Heifetz]

Craig, can you take us on a tour of literally, like, week one last year?

[Craig Calcaterra]

Yes. So just as a. An example that you shouldn't freak out after week one, Joel Smythe @ Yahoo put out a tweet yesterday about all of the overreactions that we made last year around week one. All of the fantasy performances, good and bad, that we saw in week one that didn't hold true. So I'm going to read these are some. Some fantasy point performances coming out of week one of 2024 last year. Chuba Hubbard, one point. Drake London, three points. Terry McLaurin, three points. Who went on to have a fantastic season. A Monroe St. Brown had four points. Chase Brown had five points. Chase Brown ended the season as a top five. Running back Derek Henry had 10. Jamar Chase had 12. And then you get into the other side. Alan Lazard had 26 points in week one. Cooper cup had 32 points in week one. Ramandre Stevenson had 21 points in week one. Brian Robinson, 18 points in week one. Jalen Waddle, our beloved 16 points in week one. We thought he was back. He was not. So this just goes to show week one doesn't mean anything. It's a mirage. Stay away from.

[Danny Heifetz]

Oh, that's our. Is that. That's an unofficial start to the timer.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Wow.

[Danny Heifetz]

There we go. Look at that.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Your. Your ringtone should be Tom Tom.

[Danny Heifetz]

I. Yeah, I'll change it. But yeah. So there you go. What a perfect segue. We're gonna go through the under reactions we have after week one and after every two minutes, you're gonna hear not that sound, but this sound.

[Craig Calcaterra]

It's such a great song.

[Danny Kelly]

What a good song.

[Danny Heifetz]

Couldn't do it without that song. Okay, no further ado, dk. Just zen us out.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Two minutes on the clock. All right.

[Danny Kelly]

If you are freaking out about Jamar Chase having, what was it, two points, something like that. Four points in fantasy or T. Higgins not really doing much. Joe Burrow having eight points. You drafted him really early. He's going to be the backbone of your team. Can't wait for him to throw for 5,000 yards and 50 touchdowns. Don't worry too much because there's a lot of reasons to believe this was just like a one off blip for the early part of the year. Number one, Joe Burrow is a notoriously slow starter in the season. And more importantly, I think he's been pretty bad against the Browns in particular. The Browns just seem to have his number defensively. In the four games over the last two seasons against the Browns, he averages 12 points per game, 157 yards per game, 39 success rate, 6.8 yards per attempt, 8 in every other game he's played over the last two years, which was 24 other games, 20 points per game, 50% success rate, 280 yards per game, 7.6 yards per attempt. So he is quite significantly, a lot better. Quite significantly, a lot. He's a lot better against other teams.

[Danny Heifetz]

Quite significantly, he just.

[Danny Kelly]

Against the Browns, for some reason, when.

[Craig Calcaterra]

He'S not facing Jim Schwartz, I almost said Jim thwarts because I was like, jim, Jim Schwartz thwarts Joe Burrow. But when he's not facing Jim Schwartz, he seems to be all right. And the Bengals are notoriously a slow starting steam team. We thought this year was not going to be the year because there was an excuse. Every other year it was. He was coming off an injury. He was injured in the preseason. He was sick. He had an appendectomy. That happened once, right?

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

Covid. Yeah. Never had the normal off season where.

[Danny Kelly]

Like you had the water bottle incident. Yeah, right.

[Craig Calcaterra]

The wrist. This was the year we thought it would be all right. It was not.

[Danny Kelly]

They still won.

[Craig Calcaterra]

They won by one point. They scored 17 points against the Browns and they should have lost. The Browns kicker missed a field goal and an extra point and they won.

[Danny Heifetz]

By One, they couldn't buy a vowel or a pick.

[Danny Kelly]

Bottom line, I think Burrow's gonna be just fine. I think we're still gonna see fireworks. I still. I still think Jamar Chase and T. Higgins are going to have great years. Chase Brown, who I think was dead last in the NFL in yards before contact per rush. He was getting hit in the backfield more than any other running back this. This week. I think he's also going to have a good year. So don't, don't overreact.

[Danny Heifetz]

Dk. You know another reason the Bengals might be better next week?

[Danny Kelly]

What's that?

[Danny Heifetz]

They play the Jaguars.

[Danny Kelly]

There we go. Get right game. The Jack the Jags came out and won. This is my second one, by the way.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, just put two minutes on the clock. Like I think the Jaguars are another team that it's worth the Jaguars to. After crushing the Panthers.

[Danny Kelly]

The Jaguars, there's a lot of expectations around the Jags and they did come out and dominate a really bad Carolina Panthers team. Made Bryce Young. Go back to the Bryce Young we saw at the early part of last year.

[Danny Heifetz]

26 to 10 jags and it really should have been like 33 to 3.

[Danny Kelly]

However, I can't. I just wasn't very impressed with the Jags. Still, despite the win, despite everything, especially relative to expectations like Justin or. Sorry. Trevor Lawrence was still pretty underwhelming. 1931 for 178 yards, a touchdown, a pick, 5.7 yards per attempt, under four, under five yards in terms of attended intended air yards per time. So he's checking everything down. 12.7 off target rate, which was near the bottom of the league. Coach Liam Cohen. What's that?

[Danny Heifetz]

Who was at the bottom of the off target rate?

[Danny Kelly]

Caleb Williams, I think probably. Yeah. He had. He had some pretty horrific misses. We don't have to get into that again. Trevor Lawrence, his coach put 30 minutes on the clock. Yeah. Seriously.

[Danny Heifetz]

Half hour pause. Oh, we've been. We've been texting Michaela Williams for the 16 hours since.

[Danny Kelly]

We don't derail my train of thought. How dare you. Maybe Caleb Williams is a little bit like Trevor Lawrence. He's gonna have a really long leash. People are gonna think he's really good for about five years. And guess what? Maybe he's not actually that good.

[Craig Calcaterra]

So you don't think that. You don't. You're not buying anything with the Jags this year.

[Danny Kelly]

I am simply saying I don't think they turn a big corner in this game.

[Danny Heifetz]

I love this.

[Danny Kelly]

The weather delay certainly was A factor. But the Jags look pretty terrible.

[Craig Calcaterra]

They didn't even kill in a blowout. They didn't even really kill the Panthers. If you look at like a lot of the underlying team, it was like third down efficiency, like the Panthers were better. The Panthers just had three turnovers and the Jags had one. If you look at like rushing yards, passing yards, it wasn't that big of a difference.

[Danny Kelly]

Brian Thomas, one catch.

[Danny Heifetz]

I love this take dk. In part because the Panthers again we've said it a lot, but it's worth repeating. Gave up the most points in the history of the NFL last year. We give 30 second reprieve since I derailed it with Caleb Williams. But basically like they gave the most points in history. The NFL 17 games, but still. And one of the reasons was the Panthers lost their best defender, Derek Brown at defensive tackle. Derrick Brown got hurt in the middle of this game. And so the Jaguars were kind of playing this more or less the same defense as last year. I know they added some free agents but I'm like still one of the worst defenses we've seen recently. And the Jacks looked like fine. Oh yeah. And Austin reminds us to Sean Wharton who they signed a free agency also got hurt. So like this was a pretty bare bones defense and the Jacks looked okay. It's week one. All I think did under start 110 on Sunday. Like offenses are bad in week one, but if there's one defense you should be able to crush, it's Carolina without Derek Brown. Like, like literally. So yeah, I'm a little concerned. I agree.

[Danny Kelly]

I will say we probably wouldn't have had this discussion if Trevor Lawrence laid the ball out just a little bit farther to Travis Hunter instead of getting picked because that was a pretty incredible pick by. I think it was J.C. horn.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Yeah.

[Danny Kelly]

Who dropped back and like you know, full extension. Basically one handed interception. And if he hadn't done that, Travis Hunter would have scored like an 80 yard touchdown. So we probably wouldn't be having this discussion. However, that that ball did get picked. So I don't know. I just want to, I just want to point out like even though the Jags came out hot and won the game and blew him out or whatever, it's like still kind of mediocre offensively. It's just kind of frustrating.

[Craig Calcaterra]

That's a good segue into mine. My first underreaction which is all the rookies, all the first round rookies that played like shit, it's going to be just fine. Don't worry about any of Them, Omarion Hampton, Ashton Genty, Travis Hunter, Ted McMillan, Treviano Henderson. None of those guys scored more than 11 points in fantasy this week. It's going to be fine. Malik Neighbors had nine points in week one last year. I actually think all of these guys passed the eye test straight up. I think the hardest one to kind of wrap your head around was Ashton Genty. He had. I saw a ridiculous stat. He had 33 rushing yards in Week 1, but he had 44 rushing yards after contact. Yeah.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah.

[Craig Calcaterra]

So he literally ran for more yards after contact than he ended up with.

[Danny Kelly]

He was second worst in the NFL, Craig, in yards before contact, per touch. He. He got impacted behind the line of scrimmage on average, like 0.3 yards. So basically like a foot behind the line of scrimmage on every play on average. And then he just, like, had to basically create out of nothing.

[Danny Heifetz]

Raiders so terrible. A variable defense. So that doesn't concern you, though, Craig, about the Raiders offensive line going forward? You think week one, like, they'll gel after this? I mean, the O line's been a. It's a huge issue for the Raiders.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Yeah, I agree with that. However, he played 86% of snaps, which was third among all running backs last year. I do think this is why I think he still might have a Leonard Fournette type season where he gets, like, a lot of volume, not a lot of efficiency, but ends up being okay. But, like, he scored 10 points this week, I think. And he also ran a ton of routes. He ran around on over half the team's drop backs, which, again, is also super important. I trust the coaching staff to figure things out as they move forward. I'm just not freaking out at week one. Another guy, Omarion Hampton, who was pretty disappointing despite the volume he got. I think he looks great. I think he passes the eye test. He also runs a lot of routes. I think he's going to run for, like, 200 yards against the Raiders. I think he's totally fine. People were.

[Danny Kelly]

Sorry to interrupt you, Craig. People were kind of freaking out a little bit about Hampton. Oh, I thought that was curious.

[Danny Heifetz]

Debut in Brazil and he caught two passes as a rookie and played all the time.

[Danny Kelly]

I thought he looked like he had all juice. Yeah, I agree. Every time he touched the football, he was like shot out of a cannon.

[Craig Calcaterra]

He. He also was, like, very involved in the passing game. I think he is a. If you can somehow buy low on El, Mary and Hampton, I would do it.

[Danny Heifetz]

I agree with this, Craig. People somehow forget that the rookies like are human beings and this is their first NFL game and it's like completely nerve wracking. And then. Yeah, even Justin Jefferson again had two catches his first week and then he had 1400 yards as a rookie.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Yeah. I'll quickly wrap up. Travis Hunter had six catches. He almost had a 70 yard touchdown. They. They threw him three screen passes. They're clearly trying to get him the ball. Ted McMillan, 26% target share. He had a sick catch. They ruled a drop. I think he passed the eye test. He could create separation. That was a big question for him. I thought he did. And then Travion Henderson on New England. He was 15th and expected fantasy points in week one despite only having 11 touches. I think he and Ramondre had it. Averaged two yards of carry.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Trayvon Henderson averaged almost triple that. I think in a month he's going to fully have control of this backfield. He's going to be great. And he's also a by low.

[Danny Kelly]

That's what I was going to say. Just to add on to that, like Ramondre just. He just doesn't have it anymore. I at one point thought he was pretty good. I don't know, man. Not anymore. He's just like very league average.

[Danny Heifetz]

I like this take Craig, my first underreaction here. Two minutes on the clock guy. The Ravens are going to be fine. The Ravens should be super bowl favorites. The Ravens I, I still think are clearly the best team in the NFL and I. It's clear before I go into this, I. You guys agree the choker label seems to have stuck with the Ravens after this week. I think that there are memes, there are all these compilations of all the leads. The Raider Ravens have blown all these ga, you know, and just I feel.

[Danny Kelly]

Like it feels all the 277 and 0 until this game.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Yeah, a lot of like, a lot of like Lamar in the fourth quarter when I have American currency on.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, exactly, exactly. It just feels like this one's contender. And so I think the Ravens have this like label now that they'll have to shed, which I understand and is fair. Having said that, let's say the Bills and Ravens had a rematch this Sunday night. Last week the line was Ravens favored by two and a half. What would the line be if the Ravens played the Bills this week? I think it'd be larger, not smaller.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Or it'd be the same or the.

[Danny Heifetz]

I think the Ravens ran for 250 yards.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Yeah, they look great.

[Danny Heifetz]

I think the line would be larger.

[Danny Kelly]

That was a wild game. I think it Also went under the radar. That didn't Keon Coleman's touchdown was just a deflected.

[Danny Heifetz]

It was a deflected pass. The Ravens have this. You can't run on their defensive line. The secondary is unbelievable. Kyle Hamilton is probably the best safety since Pete Carl Thomas. The Ravens just are. They have the best running also. We don't say this enough. I think the Ravens we officially have to start talking about if this is one of the best running games in the history of the NFL. The backfield of Lamar Jackson. Derek Henry is the ultimate thunder and lightning backfield we'll probably ever see. Derrick Henry is a firmly like unique player in the history of the league. Lamar Jackson is maybe the most unique player that's ever been a quarterback in the NFL. He probably is the most singular talent we've ever seen a quarterback. Derek Henry is the most singular talent of our generation at the running back position. They're together. They are the perfect skill set complement and Lamar can pass. He threw 41 touchdowns to four picks last year. Like they have the running, the offense, the defense, the secondary, the run D. I'm like Tyler Loop the kicker that replaced Justin Tucker is nails already. So they'll be fine. They should be favored to win.

[Danny Kelly]

Hi Fitz. Stat for you. Derrick Henry, how many times he carry the ball? He carried the ball like 19, 18 times.

[Danny Heifetz]

He averaged 10 yards of carry almost.

[Danny Kelly]

He averaged almost three and a half yards per attempt before he was touched.

[Craig Calcaterra]

This is what we were saying when he went from Tennessee to Baltimore. He literally went from like last in terms of how early you're touched to. To first.

[Danny Heifetz]

Have I ever told you guys. Wait, have I told you guys to take out of a football that would explain it better is instead of yards we should defeat. It's like instead of 100 yards we should just talk about 300ft because how many feet before contact is Derek Henry.

[Danny Kelly]

Getting contacted over like almost 10 or probably over 10.

[Danny Heifetz]

He's like 12ft before and suddenly you're like, oh my God, That's a lot.

[Danny Kelly]

3.5.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah. That's crazy. Derek Henry's getting 12ft further downfield than Ash and gently on average before he would touches him. No wonder Derek Henry's doing great.

[Craig Calcaterra]

So Derek Henry is gonna. We're gonna look back on him and have I. I'm not sure what I'm going to tell my children about Derrick Henry because like he's not Saquon. Like when you watch him you're not like he's kind of just like big man run fast, hard to tackle kind of just runs straight and he's huge.

[Danny Kelly]

Runaway beer truck. Yeah.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Yeah. Like, there are some times where he runs into someone's ass and falls down and I'm like, this guy's the best running back in the league. Like, this guy's ran for 2,000 yards twice. And then other times I'm like, he is the hardest person to tackle I've ever seen in the history of the NFL.

[Danny Kelly]

Ice, like all the way down the field.

[Danny Heifetz]

I had take. I was gonna say, but I think if I said I'll jinx him. I'm not gonna say it. But yeah, it's unbelievable. But I really we. This Ravens backfield is underrated. It's actually like an anomaly in the history of the NFL. I think Raven should be favored to win the Super Bowl. Okay, Deacon, what's your next underreaction to week one?

[Danny Kelly]

I think A.J. brown's gonna be. He's still going to be a wide receiver. 1 Top 12 in the standings in gain in points per game.

[Danny Heifetz]

So exactly where you drafted him, basically.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah. And this is. Look, I think it kind of flew under the radar. Maybe that's on us a little bit for not talking about it more, but he had a hamstring injury throughout most of camp.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Yes.

[Danny Kelly]

Just got cleared like a week or two ago. So obviously there's a little bit of a ramp up there. He's probably not in peak physical shape right now. And this is just one of those games where game script the defense and you know, coaches talk about this all the time. It's like just like the flow of the game. It just. Whatever. They didn't get him the ball very much, even though I'm sure they wanted to. They go into every game thinking, let's feed Devonte Smith and A.J. brown and then go from there. Instead, it was a Dallas Goddard game. And that's just sometimes how it goes. Most of the games are not going to be Dallas Goddard games.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Do you think he looked fine? Do you think he looked healthy?

[Danny Kelly]

I think so. I mean, he didn't look really slow to me, if that's what you're asking. I don't know if he looked like peak explosiveness necessarily. What did you think?

[Craig Calcaterra]

I mean, honestly, it was kind of hard to tell because he was. He was so absent the entire game.

[Danny Kelly]

Like on the other side of the field. He didn't have a. He did not have a target until the fourth quarter. One catch for 8 yards, which won the game. And also just squeaky wheel theory. He. This is a story. Sirianni was answering questions about it and pressers. He's getting talked to about it. Like, this is going to be a thing.

[Danny Heifetz]

Also, to. To your point, TK he has. It was a Thursday game, so he have. He has eight days to get ready for the next game, which is the Chiefs and the Eagles are underdogs versus the Chiefs. The Chiefs are favored to win versus.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Is that right?

[Danny Heifetz]

I. Dude, I thought I was having a stroke. I actually thought I was looking at the wrong thing. I know.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Way.

[Danny Heifetz]

Can we take a time out to talk about this? I actually have never felt less confident in my football analysis than going through the lines. And it's on the road in Kansas City. But the Eagles are underdogs against the Chiefs. It's by. By one and a half.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Checking right now to make sure that's still correct.

[Danny Heifetz]

We're recording on Tuesday afternoon plus one and a half. And I was like, I know there's all these memes. I know what Dory does.

[Craig Calcaterra]

The Eagles are favored by a point and a half.

[Danny Heifetz]

Did that change, though, this morning?

[Danny Kelly]

It changed because Heifetz sent a picture of it earlier.

[Danny Heifetz]

I put a lot of money on that.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Well, that's good because it. It did swap.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's now Eagles, but that's the public, though. Like, that's like. Well, I don't know exactly why lines move all the time, but that. That's funny how it swapped. But I, I.

[Danny Kelly]

But bottom line is, I think. I think A.J. brown's gonna have a chance to have a big game here. I saw this stat from Sunny Weaver on Twitter, and I went back and looked, and I didn't check all his stats, but this is. This basically followed AJ Brown in the. In the four times that he's had less than five targets in a game. So there's been like four times he's either gotten one. I think he got hurt in one game, and then there was a couple times he had four targets in those games. The game after, he never had fewer than seven. Basically because it's exactly what's happening here. It's like everyone's asking, why aren't you getting A.J. brown more involved? They go in and make it a big part of the game plan. The next week in the games after these dud games that he says these averages eight and a half targets per game, 16 and a half PBR points.

[Danny Heifetz]

So, DK, what you're saying is in kicking and screaming, when Will Ferrell sees his team doesn't give it to the Italians the next game, what does he tell the team?

[Danny Kelly]

Pass it to the Italian.

[Danny Heifetz]

Pass it to the Italian.

[Danny Kelly]

Just to give you some context of what A.J. brown has done over the last few years because it's easy to get like myopia and just look at this one game and think about this offense myopia he has in three seasons with the Eagles, he has a 28 target rate. He scored 25 touchdowns, which is seventh most among all receivers. He has averaged almost 15 points per game and he averages 2.7 yards per outrun, which is only behind Puka and Tyreek. So he's an elite receiver. I just want people to kind of remember that and be fine. And I like these games happen sometimes.

[Danny Heifetz]

I'll take that one step further. I think it's very hard to make a trade after week one in fantasy just because people kind of don't want to overreact to week one. But if anyone has A.J. brown, some people are just mad he.

[Danny Kelly]

Was the wide receiver 100 yes. This week.

[Danny Heifetz]

So if anyone, if you actually can get A.J. brown. Yeah, I saw someone emailed us and said they were able to flip something for like Bucky if you could, I mean ask kick the tires because worst case he's bad again and then you can get him later. So I would, I would kick the tires in A.J. brown. Okay, we're going to keep rolling here through the power hour, but first, the Ringer Fantasy Football show is brought to you by FanDuel. Football fans, every NFL Thursday is your chance to hit the jackpot on FanDuel. Because with FanDuel's Thursday touchdown jackpot, you can win a share of $2 million in bonus bets each week. To get in on this Thursday's action, all you have to do is place an anytime touchdown score or bet before the game between the Commanders and Packers kicks off. And if your player scores the first or last touchdown of the game, you'll win your bet plus a share of bonus bets. I think the touchdown scores I choose. I think you always get a good value in quarterbacks. So Jen Daniels, even though he outruns a lot, I think is value. I, I, I do think overall though, the Packers Josh Jacobs the easy one but Jaden Reed just all he does is score touchdowns. He had the the he has a Jones fracture in his foot. He's going to play through but man, all Jane Reed does is score. I think of him as not mini Debo, but I just love the way Jane Reed plays. But he doesn't play all the time. I think he defies a lot of the traditional modeling about how playtime routes run everything but like he just has a nose for the end zone. I don't think people want to admit it, but I will always think Jaden Reed is a disproportionately good bet to score a touchdown, especially in this format on a short week. That's FanDuel.com Ringer Fantasy for your chance to win a share of $2 million in bonus bets. Play your game with FanDuel, an official sports betting partner of the NFL. Next under reaction to week one here, Craig underreact my socks off.

[Craig Calcaterra]

I am underreacting to what what appears on the outside as a terrible Cam war debut in Week one. I'm reacting to that.

[Danny Kelly]

What do you finish dead last? Yeah, he had a good day though.

[Danny Heifetz]

Was literally dead last on quarterbacks right.

[Craig Calcaterra]

DK he was dead last. Two points. It was, it was a pretty. It was a terrible box score. But I think there is no larger discrepancy between box score stats versus what actually happened on the field if you watch the game. Him playing against Denver on the road as a rookie in his first game is literally like that's tough. Dropping a toddler into the deep end of the pool and I actually thought he tread water quite impressively and I thought he was calm and poised and he was changing protections and he looked like he belonged and his receivers dropped a ton of passes. His poor father watching the game on the sidelines was. Was in agony.

[Danny Kelly]

Fell to his knees in the Walmart.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Literally had to like get up out of his seat and go into the.

[Danny Heifetz]

Aisle and like God, the Walmart people own the broadcast. That's even better.

[Danny Kelly]

That works well. Yeah, he literally like Craig to what Craig was talking about. He gets up out of his seat, walks into the aisle and like he.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Literally the railing of like the worst attorneys.

[Danny Kelly]

He's like dear God.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Yeah, I thought he made a ton of great throws and I thought he looked like he belonged. And I think Calvin Ridley and Tony Pollard and Chiga Conquo the tight end, Elick Iomano the rookie wide receiver. I think all of them are bylos. They're playing the Rams in week two at home, which is not the easiest matchup. But I just think Cam Ward is going to be good and the Titans are going to be a viable fantasy offense this year.

[Danny Heifetz]

To quote my cousin Vinnie, I think this is dead on balls accurate. What do you think?

[Danny Kelly]

DK I agree with this. I think the context that is important to remember here is first start in the NFL on the road against one of the best Defenses in the NFL.

[Danny Heifetz]

Reigning Defensive Player of the Year Patrick Certain. And then honestly they have the other. They have the best quarterback room in the NFL. I would say in Denver and the Titans offense is Calvin Ridley and then a bunch of like rookies basically. Chico conquo was really young. Like they just weren't ready for that.

[Danny Kelly]

But, but overall I thought, you know, this is kind of subjective stuff. It looked like he belonged. It didn't look like it was too big for him. He obviously made a lot of mistakes and he, and he wasn't super sharp, but it didn't feel like he was out of his depth, if that makes any sense. So I think I'm still encouraged. He made some, he ripped some throws down the field and they didn't get completed in most cases. But I don't know. I still think stylistically he's going to be good and, and I was encouraged overall.

[Craig Calcaterra]

I'm willing to eat my words if Kim Ward sucks, but I think he's going to be good.

[Danny Heifetz]

The moment consistently looked too big for Will Levis and Cam Ward in a very tough situation. Made a lot of mistakes, but not in a way that he did not look rattled at all. And he was very, I thought he was right even though with the bad stats and everything, I thought it was an impressive overall performance like just given the circumstances. Dead last though. Okay. My next under reaction, two minutes on the clock, Kai is I think Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers are going to like come back to earth in a pretty major way.

[Danny Kelly]

Do tell.

[Craig Calcaterra]

I think, I think you're right. Unfortunately the worst person you know just made a great point. I think, I think this is correct. Their defense got shredded by Justin Fields in game one. They can't run the ball. They're playing Seattle.

[Danny Kelly]

Seattle's defense looked pretty good last week. I just minus that last drive.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Yeah, like I, I don't, I don't think I'm, I don't think after that game my takeaway was not the Steelers are going to win 14 games. My takeaway was like what an awesome game. Rogers is not washed but I, I, I, I don't have like a completely new perspective on how far the Steelers offense is is going to go.

[Danny Heifetz]

I think the, the jets obviously Aaron Glenn, the head coach of the jets came from the Lions and the Lions under Aaron Glenn and the jets last week played a lot of man coverage cover like one deep safety. A lot of man coverage where it's like we're going to line up and we're going to just out execute you man to man. And I'm like, that's kind of like, kind of asking for Aaron Rodgers to kick your ass to a certain degree. And I just think when you have the Seattle where you're not going to know what Mike McDonald's defense is doing, like, the whole point is you don't really know who's coming to the line of scrimmage on a given play. You don't really know what the coverage is going to be. The defensive line in Seattle, it's. They're so hard to run on. The Seahawks defensive line is so underrated. There are so much. So the Steelers are not going to be able to run the ball. They only ran for like 55 or 60 yards against the Jets. They're not going to be able to run. I don't think that Roger is going to be able to carve him up. I, I think. And also we didn't really acknowledge Justin Fields shredded Mike Thomas defense. Maybe Justin Fields is better. If Justin Fields sucks this week, we're going to be like, holy shit, what if the Steelers offense defense, which Cody Alexander at match quarters. Great substack. I highly recommend Cody Alexander an unbelievable work. Points out the Steelers defense is the most expensive in the NFL. Highest percentage any team has spent on their cap this season. Is the Steelers on their defense and yet Justin Field shredded them. So it's one of those things that if Sam Darnold walks in next week and shreds the Steelers and then Justin Fields doesn't play so hot, suddenly we're like, wow, what if this Steelers team isn't quite what we think? I think this is on the table.

[Craig Calcaterra]

It's funny because the Steelers really only won that game because like only because Rogers was great. It was. I was, I feel like that I was almost like, can we win despite Rogers? And we won because of Rogers. The defense is terrible. The offensive line sucked, the running game sucked. It was all Rogers.

[Danny Heifetz]

He also, frankly, is a madman. And he's like Baker Mayfield where I don't think he plays well unless he's doubted. And like that was a grudge match. I think that Jet, like, he really like he, he prepared so hard for that game. You know what I mean? Like that meant more. We'll see. Again, I, I think Rogers will be better than he was with the jets, but I, I think that it's not going to be as easy as it looked going forward. Speaking of the Steelers playing the Seahawks next week, part of the reason I'm down on the Steelers is my next under reaction is I Think the Seahawks defense, it was Seahawks in general are going to be so much better than the taste left in our mouth after the last game. The Seahawks, I don't want to say blew it, but they kind of really should have beaten the 49ers and they blew it. Yeah, they blew it. And the 49ers ended up winning.

[Danny Kelly]

They definitely blew it. What are we talking about?

[Danny Heifetz]

They blew it fine. The Niners won 17 13. I think the Seahawks are going to have like, if you had to tell me we're going to stop talking about Denver's the best defense this season. I think if I had to pick a team, it'd be Seattle. I think the Seattle defense is going to be incredible also. They honestly all Seattle beat the Niners on that last drive. Just freaking Tariq Woolen just screwed up two plays. He was in position and just stopped running and Ricky Pierce saw that huge thing and then Tariq Woolen is perfectly in position to knock down the pass in the end zone. That went to the tight end who's never caught a pass before that game and he just tried to toe tap it interception like he was San Antonio Holmes in the end zone. I'm like, if he just plays through his hands, the game's over. So with all you look around and you're like, okay, Seahawks, Niners, like Niners are so well suited to stop Seattle on both sides of the ball. We talked about the Niners are more familiar with what Seattle wants to do on offense than like any team. And so overall I just kind of think this week where Tomlin has the more old school defense, I just you look at what the Ravens have been able to do, obviously it's different but like the Ravens run all over Pittsburgh. Jets just ran all over Pittsburgh. I think Seattle wants to run more. I kind of think what we were thinking about the Seattle offense reestablishing the run. I kind of think we see it this week versus Pittsburgh and I also think the Seattle offensive Darnold is going to look more like what we want to do overall, but also the defense is going to look way better against the Steelers. So I, I think the Seahawks are going to look better and the Steelers will look worse overall this week.

[Danny Kelly]

I think I, I agree with the take that the Seahawks are better than they kind of felt and looked in week one. I think offensively they can be a lot better. Defensively I thought they played actually pretty well. Like you said, there was a couple like busted coverages late in this in the game that really just them over for the most part. Otherwise they played really well. I think they gave up a scoring drive on their first defensive possession and then basically put the clamps down until the very end of the game. I can't remember the exact timeline, but yeah. And then offensively, I'm a little worried. I don't love that they're going to Pittsburgh this week to play an early game, a morning game. And that's just like historically not.

[Craig Calcaterra]

What time is that game?

[Danny Kelly]

Seahawks is at 10 o'. Clock.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Morning game.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

Just you wait for this.

[Danny Kelly]

It's at 1 o'. Clock. It's at 1 o' clock where the game is.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Game. And yet you knew what he meant.

[Danny Kelly]

I'm a little worried about that, so. And if the Seahawks start owing to. It's not gonna be great. However, I do think just as a quality of a team. Yeah, they're better than they looked in that week one.

[Danny Heifetz]

Should we take a break and just do the time zone emails now?

[Craig Calcaterra]

No, we have one more.

[Danny Heifetz]

I find one more.

[Craig Calcaterra]

No, we have two more power hours.

[Danny Heifetz]

One more here. TK give us final reaction.

[Danny Kelly]

Did Heifetz curate all the good emails that supported him and then cut out the other ones?

[Danny Heifetz]

You guys go through the email, tell me. I. We'll talk. We'll talk. We'll talk.

[Danny Kelly]

It feels really cocky right now. I don't like where it's going.

[Craig Calcaterra]

All of our listeners live in New York and Boston. That's the problem.

[Danny Heifetz]

Seems so. Based on the emails. Or maybe the West Coasters weren't awake for the. The pod. The emails. Get it?

[Craig Calcaterra]

West Coasters were outside enjoying the weather.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, West Coasters were too busy getting. Getting a matcha and touching grass.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah.

[Danny Kelly]

Going on a walk.

[Danny Heifetz]

Dk get one last interact under reaction here for week one.

[Danny Kelly]

Big Devonte Adams days are coming. This was a tough. This was a very underwhelming game for Devonte Adams. Starting to start the season. Four catches, 51 yards. He was a wide receiver, 46 on the week. But he had a 27% target rate in this game. A 29% first read target rate, which is really strong and quietly.

[Danny Heifetz]

Matthew, how big was the first retarget rate?

[Danny Kelly]

29% of the first read targets went to Devonte Adams. So basically if you look at it, it was like 40% went to Puka, 30% went to. And 30% went to Devonte Adams. This is why we call Matt Stafford the kingmaker.

[Danny Heifetz]

Fucking.

[Danny Kelly]

He's. He's going to throw two guys and two guys only. And Matthew Stafford was quietly really good in this game. Obviously there was a lot of worry about him coming off of this back injury. He made some of the most incredible throws in this game. There was one we mentioned before where he basically got pressured and he just threw it to a spot on the field in the middle of the field and he sort of whipped it sidearm. Was this where we were talking like he can't turn one way because his back is so hurt. But he, he had some incredible throws. He had. Let's see here. According to fantasy points hero ball percentage which is hero balls are they chart these as extraordinary throws that maximize resolve the plays basically like it's similar to big time throws that PFF does. And he had the highest rate of hero throws in the NFL in week one. And I think that's just kind of like what to expect of Stafford. The other thing to keep in mind here, Puka Dakua went to the. He went to the blue tent at least twice. I didn't. Couldn't keep track of how many times he kept going to the blue tent. It's just going to be a miracle. I feel like if he stays healthy this year.

[Craig Calcaterra]

That's correct.

[Danny Heifetz]

This is a great DK and I would like to give Craig his flowers for. I can't believe how many of our tattoos really bear it out immediately. Including Craig's observation last year that he doesn't want to put new Puka in the first round even if the numbers suggest it because Puka's lack of like self restraint on a football field is inevitably going to get just too tough. And it was, it was amazing to see him bleeding before like out of the first game.

[Craig Calcaterra]

He already like hit bingo on the season long Puka bingo card in one game.

[Danny Heifetz]

He really just has no restraint.

[Craig Calcaterra]

He, I mean he had a great game. He had, he had 10 catches I think 130 yards and I like I don't want anything.

[Danny Heifetz]

I think this is a great call in that if you could prorate a triple crown. If you. If I actually think yeah if there's three or four games that Devonte Adams will play without, without Pukua those four games he will lead the NFL and catches yards and touchdowns.

[Danny Kelly]

The one thing I will say that I'm a little worried about is I think two of the, the Rams starting offensive linemen got hurt.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's fine. It's just both guards.

[Danny Kelly]

What do you need those that that's concerning.

[Danny Heifetz]

Well there's four ankles and two of them. Two of the ankles are fine. So you know two of the four. You know we just stitch them together or something.

[Danny Kelly]

I think basically, though, it was just good to see Stafford slinging it. The I think the box score didn't really quite show it, but he was, he was nails in this game.

[Danny Heifetz]

I will say the Rams are like this incredible team where they're so fun to watch in any given game where everyone's healthy. You're like, they could beat anybody. Oh yeah. Super bowl teams just don't look like, yeah, your quarterback had to get an epidural because he's 37 and his, his back's been since 2017. And also like three of your five linemen have like major issues immediately. Like, that's a pretty tough comp. Anyway. I think you're right. D.K. devante. Yeah, I still believe. All right, we're going to get to the afternoon games on Sunday in a second, but first, this episode is brought to you by Hyundai. What makes the all new Hyundai Palisade Hybrid an incredible suv? Is it the spacious interior that's comfy for the whole crew? Or the capability to go off road? Maybe it's the up to 600 miles plus of range. What if it's all of that and more? The all new Hyundai Palisade Hybrid. So much more than just another SUV. Visit Hyundai USA.com or call 562-314-4603 for more details.

[Danny Kelly]

This is a real good story about.

[Danny Heifetz]

Bronx and his dad Ryan, real United Airlines customers. We were returning home and one of the flight attendants asked Bronx if he wanted to see the flight deck and meet Kath and Andrew.

[Danny Kelly]

I got to sit in the driver's seat. I grew up in an aviation family and seeing Bronx kind of reminded me of myself when I was that age.

[Danny Heifetz]

That's Andrew, a real United pilot.

[Danny Kelly]

These small interactions can shape a kid's future. It felt like I was the captain.

[Danny Heifetz]

Allowing my son to see the flight deck will stick with us forever.

[Craig Calcaterra]

That's how good leads the way.

[Danny Heifetz]

This episode is brought to you by Hyundai. What makes the all new Hyundai Palisade Hybrid an incredible suv? Is it the spacious interior that's comfy for the whole crew? Or the capability to go off road? Maybe it's the up to 600 plus miles of range. What if it's all of that and more? The all new Hyundai Palisade Hybrid so much more than just another SUV. Visit Hyundai USA.com or call 562-314-4603 for more details.

[Craig Calcaterra]

This episode is brought to you by Universal Pictures. Would you sell your soul for greatness?

[Danny Heifetz]

What would you be Willing to sacrifice this September experience the football horror event of the season. M the new Jordan Peele produced horror film.

[Craig Calcaterra]

It stars Marlon Wayans in the role of a lifetime as Isaiah White, the greatest football player of all time, AKA the goat. Tyreek Withers plays Cameron Cade, a rising star quarterback who Isaiah takes on as his protege. As Cam's training accelerates, Isaiah's charisma shifts.

[Danny Heifetz]

Into something darker, sending Cam down a.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Disorienting rabbit hole that may cost him.

[Danny Heifetz]

More than he ever bargained for.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Directed by Justin Tipping and produced by Monkey Paw Productions.

[Danny Heifetz]

Never meet your idols.

[Craig Calcaterra]

M in theater September 19th.

[Danny Heifetz]

The time zone thing at the end for people who don't give a But I will say, do you want to give a quick update in the ringer fantasy football league as well? So we launched on your fantasy football league. We brought it back. We have, yep, Bill Simmons. We have Sean Fantasy with Mallory Rubin. We have the three of us. We have Van Lathan, we have Cousin Sal, we have Joe House, we have everyone here at the Ringer, Chris Ryan. Like we have all these people involved. And Craig. What? How do we give an update on this in a way that people who don't give a shit about other people's fantasy leagues will be interested?

[Craig Calcaterra]

I don't. I don't really know. I guess I could. I guess I can tell you this. Bill Simmons is in last place, which I think people will enjoy here.

[Danny Heifetz]

Who do you lose to?

[Craig Calcaterra]

He lost to Heifetz Handedly.

[Danny Heifetz]

That's me. For the people on the podcast who never know whose voice belongs to who on a podcast, that's that is Bill.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Bill is in last. Sal's in first. Sal's team is kind of a wagon, I gotta say. Like, the man put together a quality roster.

[Danny Kelly]

He kept sniping me in that one.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Bill was the only guy who didn't get to 100 points last last week. And the funny thing is, so Bill famously drafted five quarterbacks. He drafted Trevor Lawrence, Caleb Williams, tua, Michael Penix and Matt Stafford. So every week the poor guy's got to decide to got to pick two out of the five.

[Danny Heifetz]

I still think the funniest thing is Bill was like, it's a two quarterback league. So if I have five quarterbacks, when other quarterbacks get hurt, they'll come to me for a trade or I'll screw them over. And it's funny to me that he chose the three most injury prone quarterbacks, which is two of Matt Stafford and Michael Pennocks, where I'm like, if you just let other People have those guys and taken healthy players you probably would have been better off.

[Craig Calcaterra]

It's tough. It becomes a hat on a hat because it's. It's just becomes a conundrum every week deciding who's going to play well. He. So he chose the two. Two of the five quarterbacks. The two he chose were Tua and Trevor Lawrence who were the two lowest scoring of his and he hates watching.

[Danny Heifetz]

Them which is funny. Bet on the Falcons didn't put Pennix in. Yeah, kind of. Kind of just 0 for 6 there. From Bill Sal's team I will say his Dak Prescott and CD Lamb which in a two quarterback league the stack is pretty fun. Justin Jefferson and he had Herbert and then he reached a lot for Ibuka and Tyler Warren who immediately vindicated it.

[Craig Calcaterra]

So team's a wagon. He's got Bucky Irving. I'm playing him this week. I' 10 high. Fitz is 1 0. Danny Kelly's own one tough one.

[Danny Kelly]

I had a tough one.

[Danny Heifetz]

I wasn't gonna throw him under the bus, but.

[Danny Kelly]

Who did I have? I had. I had a bunch. Like Nico Collins was my number one receiver. He had a huge dud of a week. Let me see. I had Kenneth Walker. We all know how that went. Not great. So I got some problems. I got some problems I need to fix.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Yeah.

[Danny Kelly]

So I'm looking to do that anyway.

[Craig Calcaterra]

We'll check in every power hour. We're going to check in on the league. We're going to put some stuff on Instagram so people can follow along. Yeah, I've done the update right now.

[Danny Heifetz]

By the time you listen to the show, we're going to put on Instagram. We'll put a little carousel of all the matchups and the standings and everything. So go to the ringer fantasy football Instagram if you want to look at that. Okay. Any other football thoughts you want to talk about or email before we get to fantasy court?

[Craig Calcaterra]

No.

[Danny Heifetz]

All right. The only other under reaction I want on record, we have to talk about this. Daniel Jones sucks and the Broncos are going to rock him. But like that's kind of obvious. Well, I don't know if that was worthy. That's.

[Craig Calcaterra]

There's some Real Saints 2024 Week 1 vibes with the Colts.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah.

[Craig Calcaterra]

It's like that was like, oh, wow. I guess they're great.

[Danny Heifetz]

No chance.

[Danny Kelly]

First team in 50 years to score out all their possessions. I'm sure that'll care.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. All right. So fantasy court and reminders, emails, ringer fantasy [e-mail] for fantasy court. I do actually love fantasy Court because I'm a big believer that fantasy football leagues at their core are actually the smallest possible version of a democracy. It's just you and nine friends. And you know what? We need a legal branch sometimes, you know?

[Craig Calcaterra]

Do we have. We don't have the sound job, do we? The fantasy course sound.

[Danny Heifetz]

Oh, no, we forgot. We'll get that.

[Craig Calcaterra]

We'll have to bring that back.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, we'll get it. We'll get it.

[Danny Kelly]

Don't tell anyone about this thing that you're doing.

[Danny Heifetz]

I don't really want to be handcuffed.

[Craig Calcaterra]

The definition of an object is an imperial thing that can be seen and touched.

[Danny Kelly]

The Fantasy Supreme Court, where we define an object. Carlos, we're looking at the definition of object.

[Craig Calcaterra]

I don't remember what that case was.

[Danny Heifetz]

But definition of an object. That was amazing. Also, the irony is we were probably trying to talk about an objection, and then we just looked up object.

[Craig Calcaterra]

All right, what's our first case here?

[Danny Heifetz]

This is. I love this one. This from Harry.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Harry.

[Danny Kelly]

Harry.

[Danny Heifetz]

I have strong thoughts on this one, but I want to hear what you guys think first.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Okay.

[Danny Kelly]

You have a take. Weird.

[Danny Heifetz]

Harry says our high school friend group of 10 people has a long standing fantasy football league. This past year, we decided to make things more official by adding a vase as a trophy engraved with the winner's name.

[Danny Kelly]

A vase.

[Danny Heifetz]

I. I thought it was weird, too. I know. Let's get a trophy. The trophies. You know why? It's my face. I agree. It distracted me as well. Let's get a trophy, guys. Maybe they're like 19. I don't know.

[Craig Calcaterra]

It's kind of Nick.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's whatever I feel like. I don't know. During the championship, the two competitors decided that they were going to troll the group by sitting their entire team to intentionally force a tie. And they agreed before and just split the pot down the middle.

[Craig Calcaterra]

This was last year.

[Danny Heifetz]

This is last year.

[Danny Kelly]

Why?

[Craig Calcaterra]

Okay, that's super lame.

[Danny Heifetz]

So some of this is. Harry's email continued. Some of the guys in the league think that this is the most chicken shit thing in the world. Others think it's a funny piece of lore to add to what will hopefully be a lifelong league. The money has already been sent out, but the two in quotes winners want their names both engraved on the vase. Our commissioner is holding out on engraving the vase and on sending the vase to either of the winners, because by his book, there has been no official winner yet in this league in the vase era. Others want the face.

[Craig Calcaterra]

The vase.

[Danny Heifetz]

The vase. Yeah. Others want the commissioner to engrave the vases with both names.

[Craig Calcaterra]

But are there two vases?

[Danny Heifetz]

No, sorry. There's one. Sorry, you're right. I'm. Now, others want the commissioner to engrave. Engrave the vase with both names, but put a literal asterisk on it as well. A rule has already been added to prevent this happening in the future. But we are in a tense standoff between camps right now, and we have agreed as a group that we will leave it up to us, the people. You guys, us, the people on the show. Whatever we decide, they will abide by. So I'm. I'm going to start dk, The. The eldest of the judges. What do you make of what again? Money's been paid out. How would do you think we should handle who. What goes on the vase? Did the guys get their names on the vase or what do you think?

[Danny Kelly]

There wasn't a winner, right?

[Danny Heifetz]

Well, they tied in the champions.

[Danny Kelly]

They chose to tie.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Wait. And so they.

[Danny Kelly]

They sat all their.

[Danny Heifetz]

Everyone sat all their players.

[Craig Calcaterra]

They split the winning pot.

[Danny Heifetz]

These two. They split the money.

[Danny Kelly]

You know what I say? Neither of them on the. On the vase. Because the simple answer would have been, you decide before the game to split the pot, and then you still see who wins.

[Danny Heifetz]

That's all 1 trillion percent.

[Danny Kelly]

You just. You know what? If you're worried about the money, split the pot. You can agree to that. Sometimes people do that. I think it's probably dumb, but whatever. If it's a huge pot, sometimes people are just like, look, let's just split it. But then you still play to see who wins the league, Craig. That's what. That's what I think.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Agreeing to split is lame. Sitting all your players is lame. This is lame across the board. I think they. I think a vase is a punishment. Honestly, they should have to get a vase. I don't know. I. I don't. Do you have a. What is your lean? Because, like, I'm. I don't like that these guys did this, and I would like to punish them in some way.

[Danny Heifetz]

I agree. I. I feel really strongly about this. You'll be shocked, but I feel really strongly. They got the money. They got what they wanted. They got the money.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

Now they want the glory of being on the first one. No way.

[Danny Kelly]

I like a championship participation trophy.

[Danny Heifetz]

Literally nothing. Except they didn't participate. They benched all the players. They literally didn't participate. It's not even that. I. They literally, objectively declined to compete for the championship.

[Danny Kelly]

Scared to compete.

[Danny Heifetz]

So they don't get to be on the trophy. I think the tie. And so I think you don't delete history. The tie should be commemorated. Their names can be left to the dustbin of history. I think that it should say the 2024, 25 season. And I think it should either say shame or just tie or frankly, Rylene. A giant asterisk, but none of their names go on the thing. Just a giant fucking asterisk or tie in that spot. But their names don't get to be on the trophy.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Yeah, I agree.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

No way. So what they do whatever we say. Do we want.

[Craig Calcaterra]

You make it all the way to the championship and then you bail.

[Danny Heifetz]

So what do we want? Do we want tie, parenthesis, shame, or an. Just a big asterisk or just a small.

[Danny Kelly]

Who you are.

[Danny Heifetz]

If you know, you know.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Wait, what do they want? Do they. Do they want both names on?

[Danny Heifetz]

They want the world to burn?

[Danny Kelly]

Put third place on there as the winner. At least he's trying.

[Danny Heifetz]

I. I actually think that's really funny. You know, these guys are trolls, and I think that's funny. Third place gets the name. I actually love that. I think.

[Danny Kelly]

I think put everyone else's name on.

[Craig Calcaterra]

There except for theirs.

[Danny Heifetz]

I know.

[Craig Calcaterra]

I think you. I think you just start the vase tradition next year. This year, there's no vase. So beyond it.

[Danny Heifetz]

Do you not commemorate that this happened 20, 24. You don't want to leave it blank. You just start it next year and just. Oh, don't even. Don't even. Don't feed the trolls. You're saying just nothing.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Yeah, there's no vase. We're starting the vase tradition this coming year. We'll all remember the tie. We can all talk about it, but it's not on the vase.

[Danny Heifetz]

What do you think, dk?

[Danny Kelly]

I like the idea of putting everyone's name except for the two people.

[Danny Heifetz]

I agree. I think it should be. That's fun. Craig.

[Danny Kelly]

Harder to do that.

[Danny Heifetz]

Should we just. You know, I think third place getting their name there is so funny to me.

[Danny Kelly]

Remember in Ocean's Eleven with the two. The two, like, Utah brother. It's like Scott Khan and Casey Affleck, and they're at the wedding reception or whatever it is. He thinks everyone in the room except for his brother. I just love that part. So that's what I see.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, I think. Yeah. If they're able to pull it off. Option A, I think, is very small, font everyone else's name. And if they can't pull that off.

[Craig Calcaterra]

No Vase.

[Danny Heifetz]

No vase. Or third place.

[Craig Calcaterra]

I don't like third place.

[Danny Heifetz]

No face. All right, no moss. But if you can really small font. Everyone else. Everyone is named except them.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Harry, tell your friends to sack up.

[Danny Heifetz]

They suck. Honestly. You know what I don't like? They said they're like, haha, it's a bit. No, they were afraid.

[Craig Calcaterra]

They were.

[Danny Heifetz]

They were afraid. And also, you know what else I can. I wanna. I don't want to guarantee it, but I think I have a strong hunch.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Okay.

[Danny Heifetz]

They didn't think about splitting the pot no matter what, and then competing. They didn't. It didn't occur to them because they.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Have a coward's mind.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, they just were like, well, we just tie and then we both split it. It never occurred to them that they could just split the money and then play it out. I bet that never occurred to them.

[Craig Calcaterra]

They probably thought they could get a fast one past us. Well, you can't.

[Danny Heifetz]

All right. I'm glad we are on the same page. I'm glad I felt strong. I said they don't get to be on the trip.

[Danny Kelly]

That was a unanimous decision.

[Danny Heifetz]

Okay. Yeah, this one is. This one's kind of egregious. This one's kind of easy. I almost did it. I'll read it. This one's from Jacob Jakey. I. I'm reading because I. I like his breakfast. My breakfast today was a chorizo hash with eggs and beans and a black cold brew.

[Danny Kelly]

Oh, I don't like cold brew.

[Craig Calcaterra]

That's a working man's breakfast right there.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, Van Lathan drank the cold brew. I think he thought it was weaker than regular coffee. And then he was like. He did some episode and he was buzzing. Jacob says we have a pretty big issue in her league that could affect the year in the coming years come due to keeper rules. One team in our league was auto draft because the owner lives in Denmark and they couldn't like figure out a time. So he sent the commissioner instructions on what players he wanted in each round that were brief but pretty deep, pretty easy to work off of. And he attached them to the email so that Jacob writes, round five comes along and the commissioner says the team that's auto drafting wanted the best available receiver. So the league debates a bit and settles on Craig's favorite player, Jalen Waddle. The commissioner failed to mention the team specifically asked for a Mecca Abuka in round five.

[Danny Kelly]

Oh.

[Danny Heifetz]

In a subsequent round, the commissioner took a Mecca Buka for himself, meaning he can then keep a Mecca Buka next year. Long story short, we're all. And he did it again later with Rashid Rice and Matthew Gold, just ignored the guy's written instructions. And so the commissioner, who sniped a book at despite instructions is saying he thinks he did nothing wrong. And I think this is actually black.

[Craig Calcaterra]

People who cheat, usually they should just trade them.

[Danny Heifetz]

They just swap. Everyone in the league's like, you should swap them. The commissioner is like, no, I think this is no brainer, right? Like, they have to swap Waddle for Buka. Like, no question.

[Craig Calcaterra]

This. This is a abuse of power by the commission.

[Danny Heifetz]

And because the commissioner did it, I kind of think a book. His points last week should go to the guy, too. The very rare situation where I would change the matchup if it would have.

[Craig Calcaterra]

If it would have given this guy a win, I'd consider that.

[Danny Heifetz]

Like, I. This. Frankly, you're an idiot. The commissioner, because this guy you're trying to com like big picture is like, this guy's in Denmark and trying to be in your fantasy league. Like, you're basically like, what the. You might as well quit. You're an idiot.

[Danny Kelly]

I wonder how the time he spent sending that draft plan.

[Danny Heifetz]

I.

[Danny Kelly]

It's so we'll need to be betrayed.

[Craig Calcaterra]

I wonder how this came out because it's. It. It.

[Danny Heifetz]

It.

[Craig Calcaterra]

It's a clever crime by the commissioner because, you know, I'm sure the demo. I probably didn't think anything of it. He's like, oh, I sent him my list. These are the players I ended up with. I wonder how this came out.

[Danny Heifetz]

So the commissioner got a book, guys. That's weird.

[Danny Kelly]

Round six, two and two together. Yeah. He's like, why did you pick a book after I picked Waddle?

[Danny Heifetz]

So, yeah, I think that's what's easy. One more. One more fantasy score here from Dakota.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Dakota Debone.

[Danny Heifetz]

This one, I think is important because it's representative of a lot of cases we get. So if you have ever had a collusion or a trade veto story, I want you to listen to this one. So Dakota writes cold brew and maybe a bagel for breakfast.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Maybe a bagel.

[Danny Kelly]

Maybe.

[Danny Heifetz]

I know Dakota writes. Early last week, before games started, a league mate reaches out asking what a mea buka would cost. We settled on Trey McBride for a Mecca. Buka straight up. She like, she's. Or I don't. Dakota is giving up Meca Buuka. They're getting met. Trey. Bright bride. Lee goes in an uproar. League vetoes in a matter of minutes. League mates say they don't want Dakota to win. Because the team's already good enough. Blah, blah, blah.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Wait, so Dakota.

[Danny Heifetz]

Dakota sent away a buko and got Trey McBride got it. And then everyone vetoes it in like five minutes. I. Blah, blah, blah, blah. I actually, nothing bothers me more than people being the fantasy football HOA where they're just like, you can't. Your fence is the wrong color. And I'm like, shut the fuck up. It's not your team. Like, I just literally, when The Eagles traded A.J. they got A.J. brown. No. Jerry Jones and the Giants didn't get together and be like, this is bullshit. We should literally, in real life, where there's billions of dollars at stake, there's been one trade veto in the four major sports out of thousands in our entire life. The idea that fantasy football managers think that you get to fucking predict the future is one, pathetic, two, ridiculous. So I just also, every year we get stories of vetoes of trades that actually ended up being amazing in the wrong direction. But, like, vetoing is so cowardly, it's stupid. Vetoes are for when someone did a trade drunk. Someone doesn't care about the league anymore. Someone checked their team. Zero.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Clear. Collusion.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah. You can prove collusion or apathy. It's like, whatever, bad faith. But it's like some people don't check the league for 10 weeks. Don't know the people in the league trade away their best player. Don't check the league again. You can veto that because, like, this person is going to check the league once and they just made a trade. They've won friendly league. They're going to quit next year. That's a veto. Like someone owes someone money or like, you know, a lot of big one we get now is my wife's in the league and she asked me to do this deal and I said yes. Like, you can veto those. Like, those are a little weird. And so this is like people like, literally, it's your team. Like, get the fuck out of other people's teams. This is my stop fucking managing other people's teams.

[Danny Kelly]

I agree with all that. Yeah, I think that. I don't think there should be votes for vetoing anything. I just think commissioners should act and rule with an iron fist.

[Craig Calcaterra]

I agree.

[Danny Heifetz]

Quite literally. Not a thing to vote on. Other people getting, like, imagine, like even in real life, with more mergers, it's like there is a decide decision on whether it gets to go through or not. The other companies don't get to vote.

[Danny Kelly]

No the commission, because they have a fucking agenda.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah. That's the things people Pretend they're like, oh, my God, they're just jealous.

[Danny Kelly]

Literally, in this email, it says they didn't want to see me win as my team is already good enough. Your team's good enough?

[Craig Calcaterra]

Sorry, I'm winning.

[Danny Kelly]

Your team's already good enough.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, it's like, literally, it's like the Giants are like, actually, we should have gotten Micah Parsons.

[Craig Calcaterra]

We used to have a rule in my long high school league where it was like, if there was there because there was one trade that was super imbalanced, everybody got mad. So then it became like this vote thing where when there was a trade, it would basically go out to everybody in the league and they would vote on if they thought this was a fair trade. And now I'm like, fuck that. I'm the commissioner. I look at the trade, I text both sides, and I say, are you good with this trade? And are you good with this trade for the two people involved? They both say, yes.

[Danny Kelly]

I send it through true consenting adult.

[Danny Heifetz]

Also, frankly, no offense to people listening who veto trades, but if you think you are just smart enough to decide, like, what will happen in the future, like, the entire popularity of football is in part because it's so fucking unpredictable, but also, it's America. You have the right to be stupid. People get to make bad decisions. It's part of freedom. It bothers me so much if.

[Craig Calcaterra]

If I notice as the commissioner that this trade is incredibly imbalanced, I. I will maybe spend a minute with the person I think is getting swindled to say, hey, are you sure?

[Danny Heifetz]

It's like, if someone's never played fantasy before and it's their, like, third day on the job, then, like, yeah, maybe.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Or I'm like, hey, you know, George Kittle is on IR now, right? You see that, like, once you. But once you confirm that and they say, yes, I know, you send it through.

[Danny Heifetz]

Take it. Yeah. Anyway, let people manage their own teams. I hate, literally, we're almost never supportive. Okay, having said that, if you have a fun one, email it in ringer, Fancy fool, gmail.com. okay. Send in the fantasy courts. Also, we'll take more trivia for the trivia waivers next week, but, yeah, let's get a couple emails. Okay. The. The time zone thing. Craig, will you just briefly try to summarize the very long argument we had at the end of the show on Monday or Monday night to Tuesday?

[Craig Calcaterra]

Well, it's kind of a long standing issue, but DK and I referred to the first slate of games sometimes as the morning games, which you don't like because the majority of people in America live on the East Coast. And there are no games that take place in the morning on the East Coast. They take place technically in the afternoon at 1pm but you also, in general just don't like when we plan things at the Pacific time because you're on the east coast and it confuses you. And you in general have an issue with the PT vs ET situation across the board.

[Danny Heifetz]

I don't have an issue with it. That's like for our company. That's just something I have to deal with. And I. The way I described that part. Well, first of all, that was a good sign.

[Craig Calcaterra]

You call the Pacific time zone a fake time zone. Every time we bring it up.

[Danny Heifetz]

That's because it bothers you. It's funny.

[Craig Calcaterra]

I'm just saying you call it a fake time.

[Danny Heifetz]

I would say you don't acknowledge it. I would describe it as diminish.

[Danny Kelly]

Our time zone over here. We like our time. We like living in this time.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's a micro frustration that I have to convert all the time zones but then it comes out when you say the early.

[Craig Calcaterra]

It's a micro frustration. That is a macro aggression.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yes, that's exactly it. It builds up like cholesterol into an aneurysm. I have. But anyway, so I. There the emails came in and I want to focus on one point Craig said during the argument. Argument.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Because we're gonna cherry pick one line on that.

[Danny Heifetz]

If you said. When I say morning games, everyone knows what I mean. Which I think is the crux of what we're actually arguing about.

[Craig Calcaterra]

I guess. Sure. I think DK and I in general are more just like, why are you so upset about.

[Danny Heifetz]

I'm just gonna read a bunch of emails.

[Danny Kelly]

He's just being pedantic about like.

[Danny Heifetz]

Well, I'm just saying this was. I, I didn't. This was the. Like, I checked the emails. This. I. Look, look, let's be honest. I've been humbled by the email account far more than I've been defended. Being honest here. The Seattle fish toss incident. Like the amount of times I thought things were going to go one way and they went the other.

[Danny Kelly]

Like, like in Calvin and Hobbs, there's like the spaghetti incident. There's like. He just talks about these.

[Craig Calcaterra]

The great maestro incident from 2022. Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

Helsinki 19. We all know what happened there.

[Danny Kelly]

The salamander incident.

[Danny Heifetz]

I just. Yeah. And so anyway, have I not been humbled a lot? So I open the email and I kind of was like, how am I Gonna get rocked today. And I will say an unexpected through line emergency daily. Yeah, what the fuck?

[Danny Kelly]

How am I gonna get rocked on today?

[Danny Heifetz]

I will say an unexpected thing emerged and I'm just gonna read a bunch of emails. Nick and Bone Nicky. After the discussion regarding time zones, I wanted to write in from Chicago. I'm central time zone. I'm generally with Danny Heifetz on this one. Morning games are the Steelers Vikings game coming up in week four from Dublin with a kickoff of 8.30am Referring to normal early games as morning games makes me think there's an international game coming up that I can wake up to, only then realize there are none, which I get confused. Owen writes in, morning games are played in London, Ireland, Germany. Don't let them bully you, heifers. Case writes in craig is so incredibly wrong about morning games. On today's episode he said morning games. And in my mind I was like, oh my God, is there a London game already? Bobby writes in, every time Craig says morning game, I think there's a game in London or Germany. It drives me nuts. Early windows, totally fine. Morning confuses me. Zach Heifers, you should have said the morning games are when the European games start. Kelly says, the concept of a morning game being mentioned in the pod makes me double take and think there's a London game. I think we should call it early window. Late afternoon window. That's the correct way to refer to it that doesn't confuse me. I think we should call it early window. A late window.

[Craig Calcaterra]

I.

[Danny Kelly]

Let me say this, I disagree, but that's fine. I can see their point if that's the reality that they're living in. Craig, should we decide to say early slate? I say early slate.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Yeah, here's the thing. Like, I don't feel strongly about this at all.

[Danny Kelly]

It's the reaction to hyphas.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Anger is what galvanized DK and it entertained this ridiculous argument. It's not like I have some staunch opinion that you need to say morning and not early. No, I don't know. I just say it casually without even thinking about it. Also, it's like, come on, morning games, there's usually not five international games in the morning. You know, I still think I. You should know what we're talking about when we say morning games.

[Danny Kelly]

But I agree with that. I think, I think maybe that's what they think of and that's a thing. That is a thing. But we would call it like the. The London game or the Dublin game or the Germany game.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Also morning games. It's like there's like one international game for like an eight week stretch during the middle. It's like, come on, you know what we're talking about.

[Danny Kelly]

They're standalone.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

Anyway, well, so, well, eight people said they didn't. However, I will say this is the.

[Craig Calcaterra]

General issue is East Coasters hate West Coasters and West Coasters don't mind East Coast.

[Danny Heifetz]

So I, so no. Well, here's the thing. I also wondered why did I care about this so much?

[Craig Calcaterra]

You know what I mean?

[Danny Kelly]

Well, it's too busy surfing.

[Craig Calcaterra]

You know why people in the west coast didn't email in because they don't.

[Danny Kelly]

Give a well in the woods.

[Danny Heifetz]

We always talk about how the western porn in the woods, they're surfing, searching.

[Danny Kelly]

Maniacally for porn in the woods.

[Danny Heifetz]

So I also was wondering why did this bothers me so much? I spent a lot of time last night, I was like, why did, why does it bother me much? I'm not going to lie. James emailed in and nailed it.

[Craig Calcaterra]

And if J out J bone Jimmy.

[Danny Kelly]

J J Jimmy's gonna have it. He's gonna know.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Jimmy, go ahead. I, I love. This is a full paragraph from James. I don't care at all about this.

[Danny Heifetz]

You can have. I know but he nailed it. I figured it out. This is therapy. I figured it out. Why bothered me. I'm trying to, I'm trying to be like an emotionally vulnerable person. It's like I, I this, this is why I figured it out. Yeah.

[Danny Kelly]

All right.

[Danny Heifetz]

I'm not sure if you're he I'm not sure if your anger is the same reason as mine, but I've long held this anger. Anytime a friend. He phrases weird, but basically just west coast people talk about the game, morning games. Luckily he goes up, blah blah blah. He says I here's this anecdote here about like when he first experienced it. But the point being he visited a friend on the west coast and he says his friend called them morning games and it didn't really bother me. And then I visited him and he says, fuck, it's 10am we just finished breakfast and as soon as we're home there's football on so you don't have to wait two hours like you go to bed at a reasonable time. He's like, this is way better. He's like, the Pacific time zone is a way better way to watch sports. And Craig, you talk about this all the time. And so James writes when you say morning games, you're rubbing it in our noses that you know what the Pacific Time zone's a better play way to watch sports. It's a better experience. A lot of people may disagree with that. Like, a lot of people are like, I love the afternoon. I could never imagine the games waking up. I've done both. I lived on the West Coast. I. It is a way better life experience for me.

[Danny Kelly]

You tasted it.

[Danny Heifetz]

The games are at 10am A taste of it you get. You can watch the Sunday football ends at 8. You can watch Game of Thrones at 9 or whatever. You want to watch prestige TV on Sunday night at 9. Frankly, basketball is completely different. I think one of the reasons the NBA has challenges is like LeBron's Steph Curry and Nicole Jokic are like in mountain.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Their Games start at 10pm I fell asleep the oldest.

[Danny Heifetz]

I felt at that point, I felt people absolutely insane.

[Craig Calcaterra]

I feel like families have to get up the next job.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah. Like, people like, why is the NBA struggling with ratings? So maybe LeBron James is on the Lakers. And he used to be an easy Eastern time that was way better. And like, LeBron literally played a. There was a Lakers warriors playoff game a couple years ago that started at like 10 and I fell asleep at halftime. And I was like, well, I guess I'm a different phase of my life now. Anyway, it's way cooler. When LeBron and Steph Curry played at dinner time. I preferred that. That was cool to sit down to dinner and watch LeBron Steph. So all that to say, James nailed it. It is better to watch sports in the West Coast. And I feel. And you're not doing it on purpose, but I feel like. I get it, man. I know I gotta sit around all day and wait. I'm ends at. I know you're not doing a purpose.

[Craig Calcaterra]

I've spent my entire life here. I just. It's. It's my nature.

[Danny Heifetz]

Can't we just do one thing for the 80 of people in the afternoon? And I'm like, morning. I'm like, I get it. I'd rather the games be in the morning. I. I would. I'm like, yeah, it bothers me. That's all. I figured it out. I'm not even saying it's your problem. It's my.

[Danny Kelly]

There's a. There's a whole bit that. Yeah. Our buddy JJ Zachary has where it's like every Monday night or Sunday night game, he's like. He has a whole east coast dads TM like trademark thing. And like, if they ever go to overtime or if there's ever a weather day delay, he's like, east coast dads are cooked.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, it's true. Yeah. Like, yeah, when Mike Tico comes up.

[Danny Kelly]

Until fucking one in the morning to watch a football game.

[Danny Heifetz]

How annoyed were you when Mike Tirico was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, the game will zoom at 11:30. Or didn't you that bother you?

[Craig Calcaterra]

Yeah, well. And it was 8:30 for me, and I understand that it's 11. It's insane about it.

[Danny Heifetz]

Do you know Monday Night Football? We haven't even talked about this. We do our Monday show now after Monday nights.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

Do you know that next week there's a Cardinals Raiders game at 10:00 clock Eastern at night? That shit's at 10:00pm Eastern. It starts a football game at 10:00 clock at night in the NFL.

[Craig Calcaterra]

I get it. You're a saint. I lived on the east coast for like 18 months, and I know some people might say, no, no, it's nice. You can wake up and you can have a day you can go to. Go to lunch, exercise, do something with your. With your partner. I get all that. It's still not that.

[Danny Heifetz]

I understand that. I think what I'm saying is the experience of the 80, and the number is correct, 80% of Americans, it is an afternoon. And my experience of how late this goes feels erased. When you're like, yeah, games in the morning, I'm like, I waited all day for this to start. I waited all fucking morning.

[Craig Calcaterra]

I. You feel so passionately about this.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah. I didn't know.

[Danny Kelly]

I feel like. I feel like time passes differently on the East Coast. It's like you really do feel like you're in the future.

[Danny Heifetz]

It is culturally faster. Yeah, it is culturally different. It was like when I go to.

[Danny Kelly]

When I go the East Coast, I'm like, the day's already gone. Where the did this day go?

[Danny Heifetz]

That's the thing. Carrie Underwood out here waited all day for Sunday night. No, you two did not wait all day for Sunday night. You have so much time left in your day on Sunday. It's not even Sunday night yet for you. She starts the song like, 4:45. That's right. That's all Figured it out. Yeah. I feel better.

[Danny Kelly]

I mean, that makes sense. To be clear, Craig and I weren't doing that intentionally. It's just how we talked.

[Craig Calcaterra]

They've just been the morning games in my entire life. Years I've been saying morning games.

[Danny Heifetz]

I know. Well, I say. I don't say.

[Craig Calcaterra]

I try my best.

[Danny Heifetz]

You think I walk around with my friends and say, early slate. I say, one o' clock games. I don't say it on this show.

[Craig Calcaterra]

I will try my best to say the early slate, not morning games going forward.

[Danny Heifetz]

Thanks. I appreciate you guys.

[Danny Kelly]

Do you guys think that the Pacific time zone is the perfect time zone?

[Danny Heifetz]

It's better for sports, it's worse for other things also. Like what generally? I mean, hypothetically, if your job is like news oriented, pretty brutal. I guess. Now it's probably nice to just wake up and have all the news done, but I know, I was gonna say.

[Danny Kelly]

It'S like by the time we wake up, there's no waiting around.

[Danny Heifetz]

Hypothetically, someone has to collect rundowns and newsworthy the items. Yeah, it's a little harder on the.

[Danny Kelly]

West coast working on like Wall street and living on the east or on the west coast would be tough.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, it's why they don't. Yeah.

[Danny Kelly]

So I guess that's worse. Unless you're an early riser.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah. Although I actually, on that note, someone actually sent a funny email. Actually very on that note, I'm going to pull it up. Someone emailed in, do it. You won't. And said, pull that email up. Oh, I, I'm skin that I'm not gonna say. Jbone.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Jbone.

[Danny Heifetz]

Breakfast is Adderall and iced coffee.

[Danny Kelly]

Christ.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Stud.

[Danny Heifetz]

Fucking amazing. My life hack is I dream about living on the west coast, but keeping east coast business hours and not telling anyone I moved to the West Coast.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Oh, yeah, yeah, sure.

[Danny Heifetz]

And he's like, I run a small web development firm with a couple buddies. For a few years we were all single. We rented a condo in Pacific Beach, San Diego, for the entire month of January. We didn't tell any of our clients we were traveling. And so we woke up every day at 6am Took meetings till noon or took meetings to like 1 o'. Clock. Didn't tell anyone we were West Coast. And then we just spent all day surfing and golfing and getting drunk and part, he says, partying with college kids at Shore Club. Craig knows what I'm talking about, baby.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Fuck yeah, dude.

[Danny Heifetz]

And it was like a month vacation.

[Craig Calcaterra]

PB Shore Club is like one of the. The most fratty bars in Pacific Beach. And it's, it's, it was a great time. The Red Bulls slushies there. People know people who have been.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, so I thought that was funny. I also, while we're here on the time zone thing, I want to read you a Galaxy Brain take from Errol.

[Danny Kelly]

That was Errol.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Errol Big Bone.

[Danny Heifetz]

This was a Galaxy Brain one. And this is like a. This is funny and actually dk, you just asked, is anything better than Pacific time? I. This was unhinged. Errol says, breakfast. Good apple peanut butter cinnamon quesadilla for breakfast. Oh, my.

[Danny Kelly]

Wow. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Apple peanut butter.

[Danny Heifetz]

I like good apple peanut butter cinnamon.

[Danny Kelly]

Is there cheese in there?

[Danny Heifetz]

No, I think not.

[Craig Calcaterra]

He put all that in a quesadilla. Grill it.

[Danny Kelly]

No, I think, is it a quesadilla if it doesn't have cheese?

[Danny Heifetz]

Remember that guy? Oh, the guy at the live show who said I eat eggs and peanut butter in the morning?

[Craig Calcaterra]

Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

His friend emailed in. Him was. He was high as fuck. And you called him out and he was like, freaking out. That was really funny. That's so interesting.

[Craig Calcaterra]

So wait, this guy does apples, peanut butter, cinnamon between two tortillas and. And we don't know if he grills it, though.

[Danny Heifetz]

I don't know.

[Danny Kelly]

He says, slice up the apple, sprinkle them on. Sprinkle them on a peanut butter covered tortilla with cinnamon sandwich, another on top, and brown it both sides and skill with butter.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Interesting.

[Danny Kelly]

Sounds pretty good.

[Craig Calcaterra]

It does sound good.

[Danny Kelly]

So not gonna lie.

[Danny Heifetz]

Errol has a funny email and Errol says, I heard your tangent on time zone conversions. I wanted to bring up my own personal experience as someone who's. Who lives on the West Coast. I have abandoned changing my clocks for daylight savings time every year. I've stopped.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Oh, nice.

[Danny Heifetz]

I live on the West Coast. I change, he says, I change my phone's time zone, Arizona's, which doesn't honor daylight savings. So every day from spring to fall, I'm on the same time as everyone else. But when everyone else flips their clock back, I keep mine the same. I cannot understate this. I can say it again. I cannot understate this. This was the best decision I've ever made in my entire life. I started doing this in 2021, and once everyone else goes back, I feel like I've gained an extra hour in my morning. I still wake up. I still wake up at the same time for me.

[Craig Calcaterra]

But now this guy's playing chess.

[Danny Heifetz]

Dk, this is how you play chess. He's like, but now work just starts an hour later. Happy hour goes later at bars. My bedtime stays reasonable. All I have to do is add one. When people give a time to hang out, I've tried unsuccessfully to convince my friends to do the same. They all complain how complicated it would be to do a conversion, but it's never been an issue for me. And I always say, worst case scenario is you're early, you're not late. So there's not really a danger of getting in trouble or something important happening or you're missing something. I implore you guys in the west coast, give it a try for Deacon Craig. Change your time zone to Arizona's on your phone. It won't change the current time, but when daylight savings time happens, your time will just stay the same. Try it for one week.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Is this. Is that. I feel like this guy is the guy who's like, from 6:00am to 11:00am, boom. That's day one, noon to 4:00pm Boom. Day two, I'm four days. I'm living four days every day.

[Danny Kelly]

How am I supposed to change? I don't understand. Like, I have a child. I have to get that child to school and do things.

[Danny Heifetz]

You do what we do when we, you know, when we schedule a show, we're like, hey, can we record this at 2:00 clock instead of 3? In my. That's five for me. So you just. Mentally. In my calendar, I don't put it at two, I put it at five. And I just. And so he's saying he just does that math all the time, constantly. But then his life is better.

[Danny Kelly]

Isn't this just mostly mental, though? It's just a state of mind.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, yeah. I think he's saying, why put all the effort into changing with daylight savings when you could just actually inertia. Change your life without actually changing anything.

[Danny Kelly]

I do agree very strongly that we should get rid of daylight savings.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Me too.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's.

[Danny Kelly]

It's stupid. Let's get rid of it.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's like for an agrarian.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Made for farmers, you know, it's an agrarian account.

[Danny Heifetz]

You know, the light at Arrested Development with like. Buster could run the economy. Buster can run the company. He got a degree in business. He's like, well, 18th century agrarian business. But I'm sure the principles are the same.

[Danny Kelly]

Got a cartographer degree.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yes.

[Danny Kelly]

He's like, so the land is obviously this blue part.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Did you guys know that India and Pakistan, their time zones are 30 minutes off?

[Danny Kelly]

Oh, interesting.

[Danny Heifetz]

I learned this in Australia. Brad Bolt, who has a opinion Optima Fantasy football, told me that somewhere in Australia, it's like 45 minutes off.

[Danny Kelly]

How does that work?

[Danny Heifetz]

It's what I said.

[Craig Calcaterra]

I think India and Pakistan, there was a dispute between them and they didn't want to be. They couldn't agree on the time zone after the British relinquished their control. And so they basically, like, couldn't agree. So they're like, fine. What is that?

[Danny Heifetz]

Different times and it's the same thing if you think about. Actually, it's crazy. It's actually probably nothing we agree on more as a world. And time. It's actually amazing how uniform it is. But same in Australia. Central western time In Australia is 45 minutes ahead of Perth.

[Craig Calcaterra]

That's crazy.

[Danny Kelly]

45 is the 45 complicated.

[Danny Heifetz]

45 minutes is, like, a lot of mental work.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, that's. There's no reason to do that.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah. But also you mentioned just driving half an hour and then, like, you're at a place that's 45 minutes ahead of you. What the fuck?

[Danny Kelly]

Is it here?

[Craig Calcaterra]

Yeah, dude, right now. India, 4, 16am, Pakistan, 3. 46am what the hell?

[Danny Heifetz]

That's wild. Wow. All right, well, here you go. Times. There you go. A lot of times.

[Craig Calcaterra]

What are the two states that don't acknowledge daylight savings? Is it Arizona and Hawaii?

[Danny Heifetz]

Are there two? If it was just Arizona, I think.

[Danny Kelly]

Hawaii might be right. Yeah. Oh, well, because sometimes it's like three hours and sometimes it's two or four. I can't remember what it is.

[Craig Calcaterra]

No, I don't think they observe daylight saving along with Arizona. Yes.

[Danny Kelly]

Hawaii, no. Because they're on the equator. It's like, why they don't need to do this.

[Danny Heifetz]

Hawaii's on the equator.

[Danny Kelly]

Well, they're closer to the equator. This is because Hawaii's proximity to the equator means there's very little variation in amount of daylight throughout the year. There's no point in doing daylight savings.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Hawaii is much more south than people realize.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

Anytime I think with the equator, I just think about how people think the earth is flat, but I'm like, I don't know. It's like 10,000 flakes all over every day.

[Danny Kelly]

They're all in on it.

[Danny Heifetz]

We kind of figured it out. I don't know. Just me, though. Okay. I think that's all we got. Thank you guys for listening to me about the time zone. I appreciate it. I. I feel heard.

[Craig Calcaterra]

No problem. I'm really excited for the early slate this week.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, those 10:00am games are gonna rip. Thank you, DK. Thank you, Craig. Thank you, Carlos. Thank you, Kai. Thank you, Ronnie. Thank you, Austin. Thank you, everyone, for listening. Emails at ringer fancy football gmail.com. if you have trivia, if you have put a number in it for the trivia, they're really good. Thank you for sending them emails. Your fantasy courts, anything, your argument in group chat, just leave it at us. We'll, you know, we'll litigate. We'll, you know, we'll give you we're arbitrary. We'll give you some decisions. Our Rankings, fantasy football.theringer.com we have our week. We'll have our RE2 rankings up later this week. If you need help with start sit decisions and then. Yeah, follow us on Instagram for Ringer Fantasy football. If you want to hear about the Ringer Fantasy football league or anything, we'll have posts there. And also just a bunch of shenanigans there in tick tock and yeah, thank you everyone for listening.

[Danny Kelly]

Thank you, Lord, Lord, thank you.

[Danny Heifetz]

Pepper.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Pepper.

[Danny Kelly]

Do you remember Pepper Craig? I feel like you would know. Pepper.

[Danny Heifetz]

Pepper.

[Craig Calcaterra]

My parents dog is named Pepper.

[Danny Kelly]

Oh, that's a cute name.

[Danny Heifetz]

Is it a black lab?

[Danny Kelly]

So they're from Hawaii.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Dachshund.

[Danny Heifetz]

Okay, Pepper.

[Danny Kelly]

Trying to remember like the big song.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Are they like. Are they like.

[Danny Kelly]

They're like reggae, punk or reggae? Yeah, rock reggae. Like Scott, remember there's one song that was like very famous.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Stone Love.

[Danny Kelly]

Yes, you would recognize it.

[Danny Heifetz]

Pepper. And a bra company came up first to do Pepper Band.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Oh, yeah. I do know the song.

[Danny Kelly]

Kind of. For some reason it reminds me of San Diego. That's why I thought of it.

[Danny Heifetz]

They're from San Diego.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Oh, they are?

[Danny Kelly]

No, they're from Hawaii.

[Danny Heifetz]

Oh, originally from San Diego. Now based. Sorry, From Hawaii. Based in San Diego.

[Danny Kelly]

Oh, okay. So they are based in San Diego.

[Danny Heifetz]

They're based in San Diego.

[Danny Kelly]

For some reason I was just like, I had that association.

[Danny Heifetz]

Influenced by Sublime.

[Danny Kelly]

There we go.

[Craig Calcaterra]

There you go.

[Danny Heifetz]

A lot of people emailed in saying they couldn't believe that I just kind of did the. To the Sublime. And they were like, yeah, yeah, he knows it.

[Craig Calcaterra]

They were. I believed that you knew it. Dk, are you familiar with the band Slightly Stupid? That was another big San Diego band.

[Danny Kelly]

Oh, really? Oh, yeah. Nice.

[Danny Heifetz]

I have a huge blind spot on where bands are from.

[Craig Calcaterra]

You can tell Slightly Stupid's from San Diego.

[Danny Kelly]

What? Slightly Stupid's big song. Because I definitely remember that.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Closer to the Sun. What else do they have? Collie Man. These are just off the dome. They're good though.

[Danny Kelly]

Slightly Stupid. World on Fire.

[Danny Heifetz]

Way of life.

[Craig Calcaterra]

I would say. I would say do. Yeah. Is that Closer to the Sun?

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, I remember this. I remember it vaguely.

[Craig Calcaterra]

They're great. They're like great driving music. If it's a sunny day, that's a good playlist.

[Danny Heifetz]

Is like if you're ever like a good like sunny day. Top down, convertible playlist.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Yeah. Hi. You on the PCH when you went to my wedding.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was that.

[Danny Kelly]

You know what?

[Danny Heifetz]

Jack and I rented a red Ford Mustang. We drove up the PCH to Craig's wedding and that was.

[Craig Calcaterra]

They were like Richard Gear and American Gigolo.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, if we're doing free association. Craig, you know what song reminds me of the PCH or not? Song Band Incubus for some reason.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Oh, sure. Drive. Good song. We got a great show for you tonight. Incubus is here. Stick around. We'll be right back.

[Danny Heifetz]

Goodbye, everyone.

[Craig Calcaterra]

Hooba Stank is here. Switch Foot is here.

[Danny Heifetz]

We'll be right back. Sabian. All right now. Goodbye everyone. Foreign must be 21/ and present in select states or 18 + in present in DC, Kentucky or Wyoming. Opt in must apply Profit boost token on select market Prize pool to be split equally among all eligible participants who made the correct first or last TD pick Bonus issued as non withdrawable bonus bets which expire 21 days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See [e-mail] Gambling problem. Call 1-800- gambler or visit RG D help.com Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org Chat in Connecticut.