The Lions' Bold Call, a Steelers Doubt Debate, and Rodgers's Future With Willie Colon. Plus, Chris Fallica on CFB Conference Championship Weekend.

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Ryen Russillo Podcast – December 6, 2024

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Introduction In this episode of The Ryen Russillo Podcast, host Ryen Russillo delves into some of the most pressing topics in the sports world. The discussions focus primarily on the Detroit Lions' remarkable season, the ongoing debates surrounding the Pittsburgh Steelers and Aaron Rodgers, and insights into the upcoming college football conference championships. Joined by guest Willie Colon, a former NFL veteran, and Chris Felica from Fox Sports, the episode offers a comprehensive analysis of both professional and collegiate sports landscapes.

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Detroit Lions' Historic Season Ryen kicks off the episode by highlighting the Detroit Lions' extraordinary performance this season. With a 12-1 record, the Lions are poised to make history by securing their first playoff spot, provided they finish with a 3-1 record amidst one of the toughest remaining schedules in the NFL.

"The Lions are the super bowl favorites. Sometimes in basketball, 30 points could be worth more than 30 points." – Ryen Russillo [12:54]

Key Points:

• Performance Metrics: The Lions boast a point differential of +183, the best in the NFL, significantly ahead of the second-place Buffalo Bills.
• Defense and Offense: Despite defensive injuries, the Lions' pass rush has been disruptive, causing turnovers and stalling opponents.
• Dan Campbell's Coaching Decisions: Ryen scrutinizes Coach Campbell's aggressive fourth-down strategies, questioning decisions like opting to run instead of kicking game-winning field goals.

"They think they have the best offensive line and the most physical and they're going to convert those all the time." – Ryen Russillo [10:50]

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Pittsburgh Steelers and Aaron Rodgers Debate The conversation shifts to the Pittsburgh Steelers, focusing on the skepticism surrounding quarterback Aaron Rodgers' future with the team. Willie Colon expresses significant frustration with Rodgers' performance and his impact on the Jets (a recurring topic in their discussions).

"I just like this story. I think this is an awesome neutral fan story where most neutral people are like, I imagine the Lions winning a Super Bowl." – Ryen Russillo [12:25]

Key Points:

• Rodgers' Decline: Despite being a four-time MVP, Rodgers is criticized for underperforming, especially post-Injury.
• Team Dynamics: Willie emphasizes the chaotic management decisions in the Jets, including the firing of key personnel and the detrimental impact on team cohesion.
• Future Prospects: Willie is adamant that Rodgers should be removed from the Jets, advocating for younger quarterbacks like Tyrod Taylor as bridge solutions.

"Mike Tomlin is always going to find a way to win, just like Dan Campbell." – Willie Colon [25:23]

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Personal Insights: Willie Colon on Mike Tomlin A heartfelt segment features Willie Colon sharing his personal experiences with Steelers' head coach Mike Tomlin. Colon recounts how Tomlin's support during a challenging period in his career played a pivotal role in his professional and personal recovery.

"Mike Tomlin is like no other I've ever seen. He's a guy who cares about you as an individual and who sees you as a person, right?" – Willie Colon [31:21]

Key Points:

• Mentorship and Support: Colon credits Tomlin for helping him overcome personal struggles, emphasizing the coach's unique ability to connect with players beyond the field.
• Leadership Qualities: Tomlin is lauded for his straightforwardness and his strategic mentorship, fostering resilience and competitiveness within the team.

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College Football Conference Championships Transitioning to college football, Ryen and guest Kyle discuss the intricacies of the upcoming conference championship games. They critique the current playoff seeding system, highlighting perceived biases and scheduling inconsistencies that favor certain conferences over others.

"It doesn't take a brain surgeon to look at SMU's schedule and figure out that they played eight conference games and five of them were against teams that had a losing record in the ACC." – Kyle [45:34]

Key Points:

• Scheduling Biases: Concerns are raised about how teams like SMU and Texas struggle against stronger opponents, yet receive favorable playoff considerations.
• Committee Critique: Both guests express skepticism about the committee's ability to objectively rank teams based on merit, suggesting that traditional power conferences may receive undue preference.
• Playoff Seeding Issues: They argue for a more transparent and merit-based seeding process, questioning the current system's fairness and effectiveness.

"Penn State could end up being the number one seed if they beat Oregon. I don't even know that I'm going to have that much of an issue with it." – Kyle [56:08]

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• "The Lions are the super bowl favorites." – Ryen Russillo [12:54]
• "Mike Tomlin is like no other I've ever seen." – Willie Colon [31:21]
• "It doesn't take a brain surgeon to look at SMU's schedule." – Kyle [45:34]
• "Penn State could end up being the number one seed if they beat Oregon." – Kyle [56:08]

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Conclusion The episode wraps up with light-hearted banter and personal anecdotes from the hosts, providing listeners with a glimpse into the camaraderie and behind-the-scenes moments of the podcast. Ryen teases upcoming live shows and anticipates further discussions on playoff implications and conference championships, promising insightful and engaging content for the audience.

"This is the Ryan Russillo Podcast. We are back to normal schedule next week." – Ryen Russillo [80:36]

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Final Thoughts This episode offers a deep dive into the current state of the NFL and college football, enriched by personal stories and expert analysis. Ryen Russillo and his guests provide a balanced perspective, blending statistical insights with passionate opinions, making it a valuable listen for sports enthusiasts seeking both information and engaging discussions.

Transcript

[Ryan Rosillo]

Detroit football is it the best? We'll discuss after the win on Thursday night against Green Bay. We'll do some of that with Willie Colon as well his thoughts on the Steelers and the future of Aaron Rodgers. We've got Chris Felica the Bear from Fox Sports. We love talking college ball with him. We'll talk about the future committee and the potential rankings and preview all the conference championship games. A little recap from Denver and life advice. This episode of the Ryan Rosilla Podcast is presented by State Farm. Bring home a win with an affordable price when you bundle home and auto with the personal price plan. Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can bundle and save with the personal price plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state. This episode is brought to you by Uber Eats. It's football season and Uber Eats is dropping undefeated deals on all your game day favorites this week. Score a free medium two topping Domino's Pizza with minimum purchase only on Uber Eats. Craving even more. We've got you covered with game day deals on burgers, tacos, wings and more all season long. Order Uber Eats now for game day terms, taxes and fees apply. See app for details. Are you ready for some Thursday Night Football recap? I am, so let's do it. Last night was a special game, big game, bunch of different reasons and man Campbell going forward on fourth down to run out the clock before the game winning field goal. So a lot of different stuff that I want to get to here. But let's start with the Lions and who they are right now. 12 and 1. First time in team history. 11 straight wins. First time in team history they've clinched a playoff spot if they finish 3 and 1 with a tough schedule. Actually the fifth toughest remaining strength of schedule. We've got a Bills game in nine days. They're at the Bears, they are at the Niners. They're home against the Vikings. So we have, you know, who knows, who knows what the Niners are like or the Vikings fighting for a seed or the Niners just trying to fight to get in this entire thing. But again, three one clinches the number one seed for a team that has really looked probably the steadiest all season long, even with Kansas City losing last. So Detroit's also in line to win the toughest division that we've seen perhaps in NFL history since the merger based on how many games over 503 teams are right now since the merger again back in 1970. This is the first division, the NFC north to have three teams with at least eight victories through week 12. And obviously we have 12, 10 and nine. So they're doing this despite this division on top of everything else. If you look at outside the division, Detroit's 8 and 1, Minnesota's 9 and 1, Green Bay's 8 and 1, Chicago's even 4 and 5 despite the 4 and 8 overall record. So last night, Detroit without what you would call a full lineup defensively because they're adding new pieces. I thought the pass rush was really good. It was disruptive to Green Bay. Green Bay looked a little rattled. Their first three possessions, punt, punt, fumble, 10, nothing. Lead Detroit Lions. However, Jordan Love and the reason we all really like him a lot, I think most of us do. He's just really good, man. He's really good and he's still in this game against the Lions defense, they were probably figuring out a little bit because the reason I like him and I think we saw the evidence of it last night, despite the slow start, that five of the next six real possessions you had four touchdowns and a field goal and just one punt, including a go ahead touchdown that made it 28, 24. That was only a four play, 30 yard drive because Detroit once again went for it on fourth down from like their own 30 plus yard line. Those are the ones where I can go through, let me go through the fourth downs here a little bit. I try not to be just results based and like the ones that work and hate the ones that don't work. But they had the fourth and goal at the two where Gibbs runs this incredible route that just loses the linebacker on him, catches it to the right side, right in the end zone, right? And then you've got the other fourth and goal, the Green Bay three, where it's a Tim Patrick touchdown, one of his two, where it's a different, it's a different player, but it felt like the same concept where you get one route to go out to the flat or stress the pylon and then you come in behind that where Gibbs is running a different route because it was just so ridiculous what he did on the cut inside. But actually Detroit's attacking the same part of the field and you wonder was there something that they liked on that matchup or whatever. So they convert both of those fourth downs. So then it leads to the decision last night after the short field, one that didn't work. It's 31, 31. It's 4th and 1 at the Green Bay 21. 43 seconds are left and we're looking at it as a game winning field goal attempt on that fourth down. I was shocked they didn't kick it. Now I shouldn't be shocked with Dan Campbell, all right. And I thought Herb street even was like, oh well, he's got to, he's got to kick this thing, right? My rules are pretty simple. I don't actually love the ones at the end of a first half where if you don't get it, then you're not rewarded with awesome field position. And of course Detroit did that too at the end of the first half and it worked. But those are the ones where if you don't have the benefit of the field position, it depends on the opponent. Kind of depends on who you think you are. And I know who the Lions think they are. They think they have the best offensive line and the most physical and they're going to convert those all the time. They're 15 to 22 on the season, 68%. That's six sixth best in the NFL. Buffalo, Washington actually converting their fourth downs at a league leading 87%. Detroit's 22 attempts are the sixth most. But other than Atlanta, the other four teams just aren't very good. So you'd imagine bad teams more likely to be going for it more often than fourth down because, well, you're just stuck a lot. You've got to go ahead and do it. So none of this should be surprising at all. Even if when you go for it and there's still time left and you're going to get that field position and the team is usually backed up that much going to be kind of conservative. I feel like the expected points added after that possession are still like decent enough where you're probably going to get a field goal. But again, it's Detroit and this is what they're going to do. And Campbell has told us that this is what he's going to do. So we go back to that field goal situation because at the 21, again, it's fourth down, there's 43 seconds left. It's going to be a 38 yard field goal attempt to go up 34, 31. Green Bay doesn't have any timeouts. They're probably going to get the ball back with 37 seconds. Like what's wrong with that scenario? What's wrong with the other team after you've kicked the game winning field goal, kicking it off to them and them having like 30 seconds left with no timeouts just to get in a field goal range. Well, it could be the problem is your lack of confidence in your own defense. Where, again, it got back to that string of possessions where it felt like Green Bay was always going to score. And Green Bay's last field goal. Remember, they were backed up twice as they were moving the ball down the field again. So that's. That's the out. I guess I'm just surprised that many people, and maybe it's only because it worked. How many people are like, yeah, no, that's the way to do it. I'm like, is it. Is it always the way to do it? But apparently Campbell is going to do this, and maybe they deserve the benefit of the doubt. Maybe it is the old line, maybe it is the defense. Maybe it's Jordan Love, maybe it's all these different things. But think about who they are right now. Lions, Lions football. If they're the one seed, playing at home with these offensive weapons and this Tim Patrick development where you're like, this guy actually looks like he's pretty good. A Lions team that had historic expectations on them in the preseason, they had the third best super bowl odds behind Kansas City and behind San Francisco. And you go back to this summer, you add up all these home games in the playoffs and that the super bowl would be in New Orleans, like, it's. It's incredible that even with the expectations, and maybe we should have just thought it was the talent and the coaching and all this stuff. But I just kind of love this story. I think this is an awesome neutral fan story where most neutral people are like, I imagine the Lions winning a Super Bowl. Do they feel like the favorite right now in the NFL because of the Chiefs, despite the record? And you're like, what do I make of them? Philadelphia being red hot. But it's true. Like, the Lions, I think if you were just going, hey, who do you think has the best chance to win this thing other than the Mahomes Fear it's the Lions. And sure, the defense is a concern. They're 16th and opposing yards per play, but last year it was 29th. And the scoring defense is actually at 18 points per game, the third best in the NFL. The injuries may add up, but other teams are hurt, too. But this is a team right now with these massive expectations. And last night's win where I actually feel good about Green Bay still, too. But with this win, they're number one in point differential at plus 183, 52 points better than number two Buffalo. So yeah, say it out loud. The Lions are the super bowl favorites. Sometimes in basketball, 30 points could be worth more than 30 points. And now you can get a 30% profit boost from the ringer with FanDuel's 30 on 30 during Friday's NBA action. That's right, the Ringer is teaming up with America's number one sportsbook to give you a 30% profit boost when you either pick a player to score more than 30% points or bet on our new exclusive 30 on 30 special markets. Like any game to have Both teams scored 30 plus points in the first quarter. We thought this would be a lot of fun. Bill, reach out to FanDuel and hook this up for all of us. You're welcome. Just looking at the Friday slate, there's a lot to like and we always like Giannis in a matchup. So we're two for two on these where one didn't count because Lamello didn't play in that 9am game after Thanksgiving. So I'm going to go with Giannis again because if you look at his history against the Celtics, you'd be like why would you pick him against the Celtics? The Celtics are really good. Ryan, do you even watch ball? Are you a ball knower? Well, here's what I know about this. Giannis has taken 26 and 29 shots in his two games against the Celtics, 43amonth ago and going back to October when they lost. I just think that there's a lot of shots here because I think Boston is going to stay at home defense, play him fairly straight up and if he goes off, whatever, I don't think. But Milwaukee's turning things around here, which I'm actually glad to see because I just didn't want to see Giannis have this disastrous team season because he is. Yeah, I think he's pretty clearly, the number two guy in the league. So whether you want to ride with my picks or make your own, just look for 30 on 30 in the FanDuel sportsbook app or head to FanDuel.com Ryan for your chance to score a bigger payout this Friday. Don't miss your chance to find out how much 30 can be worth with FanDuel's 30 on 30 must be 21 and older in present select states or 18 plus in President D.C. opt in required bonus issued as non withdrawable profit boost tokens. Restrictions apply including any token expiration and max wager amount. See [e-mail] gambling problem call 100 GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com this episode is brought to you by State Farm. State Farm helps you score an affordable price when you choose to bundle home and auto insurance with personal price plan. You can choose the insurance coverage that fits your needs at a price you can afford. Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can bundle and save with the personal price plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state. Good friend Willie Colon, former NFL vet sny Fox Sports 1 Our guy. What is up, my man?

[Willie Colon]

What's going on? Happy holidays, man. I haven't talked to you in a while.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah. You think that's a little early, though?

[Willie Colon]

What? December 6th, we just passed. What do you mean? Thanksgiving's already in the bag. Christmas is ahead of us. New Year's this tis the season. We are in this season. So you got to say happy holidays.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Okay. All right. I just. Now I'm aware and I'll start. I'll start throwing it out there.

[Willie Colon]

You don't seem like a holiday guy. Do you not celebrate the holidays? Do you not get work?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Well, that's. That's. I mean, that's sort of mean. I love Christmas. This guy loves Christmas. Okay. It's just, you know, I mean, what am I supposed to do? Like.

[Chris Felica]

I don't see Christmas tree.

[Willie Colon]

I don't see any lights. I don't see. You don't look very festive.

[Ryan Rosillo]

It's December 6th, man. I think you're holding me to a standard here. It's a little tough now. Have I done like single guy Christmas tree? Never. I've. What's the point? I gotta put it up. I don't even have that much storage here right now, so.

[Willie Colon]

Some people do it for nostalgia.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, I'm kind of. I totally. I don't want to make my position here public. Unlike that. I'm sitting it out. It's just. I mean, last year I went to New Zealand. All right. So did you. I don't know. Yeah, yeah, I was there. I got two Christmases because there's was early. And then I had the American Christmas or I was checking in with family. So think of it that way. Yeah, it's pretty good. Pretty good stuff. All right, let's get to this. Let's start with last night. I already talked about it in the open here on the fourth down decisions. We know what Detroit is going to do. We know what Dan Campbell is Talking about, he even referenced, you know, this game from a couple years ago where he regretted not going for it and was like this epiphany where it's like, I'm never going to allow that to happen again. I guess I just ask you what's wrong with kicking a game, leaning field goal from that distance and once the clock runs, the other team having 37 seconds left, no timeouts, like, what's. Is that really still that bad? Because it feels like everyone. Maybe it's the result based part of it. It felt like everybody loved that he did this. Even though Herb street was on the broadcast going like, he's not going to kick this. And he didn't kick it and he runs it. Fourth down convert, game winner.

[Willie Colon]

Yeah, I think 31 other teams kick it. To your point, I think solely Dan Campbell and his belief that, hey, you know, I believe in my big right tackle, Suny Powell, I believe in David Montgomery, I believe in this off and I think he just was able to execute it. And I also think if you think about it from the defensive side, they were riddled with injuries, man, they were extremely thin on the defensive line. I just felt like in his head, I'm not giving the ball back to the Green Bay Packers. I'm going to win this game. And after watching how this team performed and how he continues to be this kind of, you know, this guy with the big gonads, man, I think right now they're the best team in the nfc, hands down. I know there's a lot of talk about the Philadelphia Eagles and what Saquon's doing in that office line, yada, yada, yada. But when you're able to play big time football with your third and second string guys and you make it, when you find a way to get it done, I think that's. That screams a Super bowl contender. That's how I got to the Super Bowl. Both times I went to the super bowl, we didn't walk on the field with our best. We had second string guys and third string guys in the lineup that was able to play at a high level and get us over the threshold.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I like that point, but I want to stay on Detroit for a second here because like I left the game feeling good about Green bay too. Oh, 100%, to be honest with you.

[Willie Colon]

They just got to start faster. You know, they started slow against Detroit last night, they started slow against my, excuse me, Minnesota. And right now, if you're Jordan Love, you have to be. You have to be. You have to have I guess some type of solace and some type of confidence. We can go on the road and we can go knuckle, knuckle with the bully, right? And we can rally in the second half. So I'm. If I'm Green Bay, yeah, we lost but it wasn't like they whooped us, right? Like you ever had that conversation with your dad, like yeah, you lost but you ain't take a whooping, right? You stood up and you knuckled up. You didn't get the best of it, but it's something to take off the field. I feel like Green Bay has to feel confident. Like man, if we see him again it's going to be a different. We may get them.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, I didn't feel bad. Like it was one of those games where I enjoyed it so much, right. I enjoyed just level of football that was being played. I don't know if you agree, but when I watch Detroit and the design of what they do and how they stress you, they stress every inch of the field. You have to be thinking and they give you different looks. Obviously they have certain things tendency wise that they favor because of, hey, who's more comfortable doing this or. And all that kind of stuff. But like I, I really think there's a difference with, with the special offenses and everybody being on the same page and that same group being there where you know, there's moments with love and the receivers and Jacobs getting going where I'm like, hey, I still feel good about Green Bay, I'm going to feel good about either team. I'll come off of this with a loss. But I really think there's something special about the way Detroit forces you to think about so many different things when you're defending them.

[Willie Colon]

Well, think about this Ryan, like from the Detroit standpoint up front, they weren't their greatest, right? I think they were only averaging 3.3 yards of pop in the run game. What killed them, what killed Green Bay was the fact that Detroit was able to absolute dice them up in the screen game, right? Those end breaking routes was killing them. They had that big reception on Armand St. Brown late in the game. I mean and the fact that Jared Goff was also, I mean he threw a pick last night and he was still able to rally, you know. So I think this offense for the Detroit Lions has layers and I think when you just kind of think about them in one, in kind of one way, they show you they could do a multitude, a multitude of things, but doing it in a simplistic way and they Kill you. And they're really. And they're relentless, and they're resilient at it because there was times when last night where, you know, Green Bay wouldn't let them get to the edge, right? And even when they tried, they was there to stop them. This was just a matter of. This was just a matter of Detroit screening the hell out of them and also realizing, like, hey, man, we got. We're more resilient and tougher and grittier than you, and we're going to get it done.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I thought it was interesting during the broadcast when Herb street talked about St. Brown, and he's like, hey, he's one of the best receivers in the league. And I. None of us are putting him necessarily, like, in that elite line with. With Jefferson and. And Chase and, you know, whoever else you want to throw in that group. But he's really, really good. He's been really productive here for a long time. And he made a point during the broadcast to be like, all right, he hasn't gotten the looks, but he's going to be part of this game. He did have that huge catch. So, like, storyline, storytelling way, it definitely worked out. But I don't know if that was a message to all the other receivers because, like, as much as I like Jameson Williams, I watch him in games be like, what the fuck are you doing? And, like, I imagine he and Pickens are on a text thread being like, can you understand why? Like, like, yeah, what's. What's the big deal, man? Like, everybody else is wrong with this. Uh, what is it like? And I don't know if you have a story for us or whatever. I mean, I don't want to turn it back in Antonio Brown stuff, but when you're in a team where it feels like every team has a receiver right now, where you're like, what. What's your goal? What are you. What are you here for each week? Because the thing of. That Jamison has to worry about here a little bit is Tim Patrick looks like a dude. Two touchdowns he hadn't played in a while. If you've been watching last couple weeks, you're like, this guy feels like he's emerging here a little bit and clearly was a matchup they liked last night. So wherever you want to go with that.

[Willie Colon]

So I guess the question has I. Have I ever played with a receiver that's kind of shot out or kind of just, you know, meaning, like, they just kind of on their own boat. Why are they trying to. I have. And those are the guys who you need, you know, those are the guys when all else, all else fails, they somehow just because who they are and mentally where they at, they don't get caught up, right? Like, they feel like everybody's solely there to watch them. AB Was obviously like that, even with the great Santonio Holmes. Tone was like that a lot like Santonio would. He was tough. He was a damn good blocker at the receiver position. But sometimes you would see him like, do things and you're just like, okay, I guess that's where we at. I guess this where we at today. You know what I mean? Like, mentally. And so I don't know. I think those type of guys you need because those type of guys pop up in the most opportunist situations. I go back to the AFC Championship game where Steelers versus Baltimore, you know, we're playing to go to our Super Bowl. This is, you know, we beat Baltimore and we go on to the Cardinals. But anyway, go back to the AFC Championship game. If you watch that game, San Antonio took over that game, right? That wasn't Hines, that wasn't anybody else but Ben to Santonio. And Santonio making play after play because he didn't get caught up, right? He felt like, I'm the show, it's AFC Championship, I'm going to ball out and I'm going to do whatever I want. And he was able to expose that secondary that had Ed Reed and company. So certain receivers just. You just got to leave them be, man. Like, you just got to leave them be. And hopefully they don't hurt you along the way with some of their antics.

[Ryan Rosillo]

It's a really good point, and it's a way of answering the question that maybe I wasn't expecting, but when I think about there was a run throughout baseball where the leading home run guy, you know, leader in home runs, that team didn't win a World Series for like all these different years. You're like, okay, does that actually mean that it's bad to have somebody hit all these home runs, or is this just something that's happened and then it. Then guess what, It. It wasn't a thing. So you'd have this trend. I think there was also a time, like, if you had a receiver making over a certain amount of money, you know, if you were paying like one of the prime guys, there was a run of teams winning Super Bowls without these, like, say, top five number one options. I'm not just talking about number one options across the board, like the dudes, the best. The best receivers in the game, but the way this game is played and we know the importance of the quarterback and all these other things. I am. I think I am kind of on your side that it feels like if you don't have one of those dudes that finds a way to get separation, that catches the ball in traffic, that get. That finds a way to make a play on a ball on third and 10 when you absolutely need it. And part of it's to throw and everything else too.

[Willie Colon]

Right.

[Ryan Rosillo]

That it may just be hard. It just may. It feels like it's more of a priority or maybe there's more value. And then because of that value and how hard that position is, you're running all day, you get three targets, you're super mad. You know, like, I. I understand those guys being upset. I just don't like when it crosses into the selfishness part of it. But it does seem like that special group of pass catchers just adds an element that's just. It makes it harder to defend you. I know that sounds fairly obvious, but I'm kind of back on that where I used to think the overpaid receipt. Not overpaid, but spending all your cap space on these guys when they weren't winning Super Bowls, maybe was. Was a thing, but I don't know.

[Willie Colon]

Yeah, I mean, every offense needs that superhero. Right? Like the Eagles need. As great as Saquon Barkley is playing, you still need A.J. brown to be him.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Right?

[Willie Colon]

As well as Russell Wilson and Nazee Harris are playing, you still need George Picken to be him. Like, on and on, you need those guys. And because at the end of the day, sometimes the defense just has your number. But you need that one special player to make that one special play to get you out the building with the W. That's very necessary. Like, for Christ's sakes. And I agree with your point. As much as I love ST Brown and as much as I love Sonic and Knuckles did the whole thing they got going. I really like Tim Patrick. I think he was kind of on the outs these last, you know, seven games, but yesterday, I think he emerged. I think he had his coming out party last night. And him catching that touchdown, I was like, yep, better watch out. The Lions are getting stronger, believe it or not.

[Ryan Rosillo]

All right, let's go around then and let's talk a little Steelers here, because here we go.

[Willie Colon]

I said, that's even after. Sorry, you didn't get the joke.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I apologize.

[Willie Colon]

Just looked at me like, what? Like, what the. Did you just say?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Sorry about that. Now I understand what you were doing. So that's. That's my fault.

[Willie Colon]

You gave me the same look my wife gives me when I. I kind of have, like, a bit of Tourette's. I'll just yell out something. She'd be like, what, did you trip? What the hell was that? That just fumbled out of your mouth, So I apologize.

[Ryan Rosillo]

It was actually perfectly timed, and I did a bad job as your partner on that one. Maybe it was Orlovsky, and it was after the Baltimore win, I think it. I think it was. And he was just like, look, there's still not super bowl contenders. And everybody get pissed at them. It's like, you can't win games like that just kicking field goals. They're like, they just did. They just beat a division rival, and they just. But I agreed with his point because it's going to be hard for me with Russell Wilson to pick him against those other guys. The audience already knows this part of it. So I do want to ask you in that maybe, you know, you look at the shootout with Cincinnati going, hey, they have this in them now. Maybe it's also maybe Cincinnati's defense here, but how many teams, like, are you picking them in an AFC Championship game against any of the other teams at the top of the AFC if they were there?

[Willie Colon]

I don't know why people won't believe.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, okay.

[Willie Colon]

I really don't. I think it's, like, because it's not the traditional way. It's not a. It's not a way that you would say, oh, yeah, that's. I'm gonna put my finger on that. That's why they're. That's why I can see them. Super bowl being a Super bowl champ or contenders for that much. Listen, the bottom line is it's about winning, right? It doesn't matter how you get there. So if you start with Russell Wilson, I was a little bit on board with that because I was like, hey, man, these moon balls running a game, they're running game, short throws. I get that. But we're going to have to attack the middle of the field. Russell's going to have to find a way to attack the middle of the field by throwing the football. And he did that against Cincinnati. So I was like, boom, we got better. And then I'm looking at our defense. I'm like, okay, you know, we don't have Highsmith. You know, I'm a little worried about that. I always knew. I knew Herb Big was going to be a dog, answered the bell, okay, we can stop the run. I get that. And I'm not going to. I'm not going to BS you, Ryan. Cincinnati is really bad on defense, right? So that helps. But overall, I'm a believer that Mike Tomlin is always going to find a way to win, just like Dan Campbell. It's not traditional. A lot of teams will not go for it on that, you know, that possession, but that's what they do. This is what Mike Tomlin does. He's going to find a way to get. Get out the building with W. If it comes down to kicking a field goal or it comes down to Russell Wilson to have to put the team on his back, he's going to find a way. And the defense is going to do.

[Ryan Rosillo]

What the defense do her big, by the way, his second year. Okay. You're like, oh, okay, so we got another one. What do they do at that franchise to figure out where it feels like an endless string, even if the injury report is scary, an endless string of just dudes on the edge making plays.

[Willie Colon]

They just know their guy. I don't know how to say it. I've had this conversations. Conversation with multiple people. Great organizations know what they're looking at. They have a mold, and there's a model in which they had adhered by. Even, like, I look at her big, and everybody's like, man, you know this. There's a mold, right? Like, he looks like a shorter version of tj. He's relentless. Like, tj. His get off, how he moves. Like, there's a mold and a motto in which they look for and what they want and they go get it. They don't kind of jump all over the place and say, let's just get the next big shiny thing. There's a guy that walks like how they want their Steelers to walk, and they have an eye for it. Most organizations don't have that. I think that's why most organizations struggle. They try to just get guys who are bigger, faster, stronger, and instead of saying, you know, no, no, no, that's our guy right there. We're going to get that guy. And I think they just have an eye for it.

[Ryan Rosillo]

The Steelers just continue to do it with these edge guys. And you look at Herbig's a fourth, Highsmith's a third, Wilson's a third. They just, you know. And again, maybe it's a Tomlin question, like, what's. What's unique about Tomlin? I mean, we didn't know he's been around forever. We know he doesn't have losing seasons, but. But you were there. Give me A better understanding of what it is like to have that guy in charge.

[Willie Colon]

You know, I just had a conversation with the Athletic about what makes Mike Tomlin special off the field. And I think a lot of my own personal experience with him is him being able to have a pulse on each and every guy in the locker room and who he coaches. And there was times, like, you know, I was injured a bunch in my career, and there was a time where I was in a dark placement. Like, I was just. I was bad. I had gone through back to back irs, played one game in two seasons, and I'm thinking I'm done as a Pittsburgh Steeler. And this dude. The second time I got placed on an IR because I tore my tricep. Week one against Baltimore, I thought I was done, man. I mean, I was drinking, I was doing everything you shouldn't do when it comes to recovery. I was in a bad place and I was hanging around with the wrong people, doing a lot of stuff, man. And I remember him. I went one time, I walked into practice and I came into practice wet, Brian. Meaning, like, you could tell, like, I had been drinking all night. I had this big gray sweatsuit on, and I looked like I had packed on about 30 pounds. And he was like, whoa, you know, you don't look like you're getting ready. Like, this is what's going on with you. And I was. I was, you know, I was depressed. I was pissed off. Like, how am I here? You know, I'm giving up my best years in ball. And I was all over the place. We had just drafted Marquise Pouncy and all these guys. Castro is here and Marcus Gilbert, like, the new. The new line, the new wave of the Steelers are behind me, and I'm going backwards right, while these guys are moving forward. And I was in a very dark place. And it was Mike Tomlin said, hey, man, this is what we're going to do. We going to get you. We going to get you right? But you're going to travel with the team. Everywhere we go, you're going to go. And it was also my office, line coach Sean Coogler, who was like, every Wednesday you're going to bring your ass in here and you're going to prep alongside him. You're going to get a scouting report and you're going to stand in front of these guys and you're going to go, you know, case by case on a guy's worst and best moves. And what do we have to look out for as an offensive line? And Ryan Bro, that saved my life, dog. I can't. I can't tell you that saved my life because I was drinking. I was, I was, I was in a bad place, man. And that year that I did that in 2010, that was our super bowl year. Excuse me, I got hair in my mouth. We. Flozell Adams steps in and they go on to the super bowl. And they take me to the super bowl in Dallas against Green Bay. And if it wasn't for Mike Tomlin, if it wasn't for Sean Coogler, just keeping me, keeping me active, man, just keeping my mind on solely that I'm going to get out of this. I don't know if I make it through that season without me ending up on ESPN doing something stupid or getting in a back alley fight or just doing, just doing something that would have been out of character solely because I felt like I had been kicked out of, or I've been, you know, placed to the side or ostracized in any way. And it was Mike Tomlin, man, that just, that just that saved me. Because I remember those days, sitting in the damn shower for an hour, you know, with a half a cup of patron in the shower. You know, I remember, I remember staying in my room with my down, you know. Cause I lived in a townhouse. I would stay in my room, in my kitchen, everybody. It sounded like a goddamn rave was going on. And I lived in Moon Township, Pennsylvania. And so when I think about what he means to me and a lot of other guys who have either played for him or played with him, it's not just a coach who's coaching ball. He's a guy who cares about you as an individual and who sees you as a person, right? Not just another guy with a helmet and that speaks valence, right? And that's why he continues to build equity with his players. Because when he talks, you listen. And it's not bullshit. And he'll tell you it's very black and white women, right? And he'll tell you firsthand, you know, if you tend to dwell in the gray, it gets very cloudy and guys kind of get lost. It's not like that. He'll tell you what it is and he'll tell you what it isn't. And he'll tell you where you need to go and how you should pursue it. And it's on you to move forward with it. And that's how he operates. And I think that's why he gets the responses and kind of the feedback he gets from his players and I think that's why people continue to follow him 18 seasons in and he, that's, that's just what he meant to me.

[Ryan Rosillo]

That's a heavy story, man. And it gives me the perspective that I've heard from other players that have played for him. Like, I remember when I was, I had this stretch where I was starting to go, like, is he really as good of a coach as everybody says he is? You know, there's a couple playoff losses. It's like, oh, you can't seem to get through these guys. So I was, I was questioning his, his status in the league just as a guy with a fucking talk show, right? And Ryan Clark was around. Like he was in studio that day and he heard me talking about it. And for those that don't remember going back to 2012 because of Ryan Clark, like a sickle cell trait. Yeah, that Tomlin wouldn't let him play in the game at Denver. And I was there. Clark like was behind the glass kind of motherfucking me a little. And I was on the air still. So I was like, what's going on back there? And then he, I went to commercial and he came running in and was like, can't believe you would say that. Like that guys, you know, cared about my life and all this kind of stuff. I was like, well, I, I wasn't getting into his, his care for your well being. I was looking at the playoff record, man. Like, this is, this is the only thing I was doing. But your story, first of all, obviously intense and personal, so thanks again for that. But it's, I think when you have that kind of buy in, in a relationship with, with a guy like that, who doesn't. He doesn't, I think, allow the public to see that. It's very straightforward. It's kind of hard edge, you know, what he shares. And then to know that he can do that and have that kind of relationship with all of you that have played for him, that's, that's probably part of the buy in and the response of why this team is always good or at least always competitive every year, that even in the down years, there are years we've gone through that quarterback situation in Pittsburgh as they've shuffled through this now, and you're like, they're right. They're still competitive.

[Willie Colon]

Right, Exactly. No, I agree. I think if, and I, and I, and I'll say this, I think if you was to ask him about certain stories that players have, kind of give this open testimony about how he treated them, he would probably most Likely not talk about it, right? Because I think most of the time he's like, that's not for everybody. And I think it's us, the players, president and the former who say, no, it's not just about preparation. It's not just about strategy with this dude. This son of a bitch is tapped in. He's tapped into everybody that's wearing a Pittsburgh Steeler helmet and that. I've been around. Listen, I had Bill Cower, I've had Mike Tomlin, I've had Rex Ryan, I've had Todd Bolts, all great in their own individual right. But nobody's like MIT solely because his person to person ability, his player to person ability is like no other I've ever seen. And I think this generation responds more than that, than just some stoic, you know, guy like, oh, let's go get him type guy. I think most guys don't respond to that anymore.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Okay, good transition then. Because Mike Tomlin leader, Aaron Rodgers leader. You cover the Jets.

[Willie Colon]

Why did you smile? Why did you laugh?

[Ryan Rosillo]

It was a bit of a delay the way I didn't sell your Steelers chant. Look, man, I mean, the scary part of all of this is he's just not that great right now. He's okay. But there was the Pats game where I'm like, man, third and long. He's throwing past the sticks, like, here we go. There's a couple other things. And you know, that Seahawks game was. Was a weird game for. For a bunch of different reasons, but we've had a. We've had a bunch of games here. And yeah, I know he's older and he's coming off the injury, but you overhauled all of this stuff for him. The roster, then the coach, and then the gm, which I think most football people felt like. Joe Douglas actually did do a good job roster wise. And me, too. Yeah, I think. I think all of you do. Like, I. I don't know why people would argue. Like, every time I look at that defensive, I'm like, man, they did a really good job of putting this group together and the pieces on offense. And Rogers is just playing probably the worst football of his life, which maybe should have been expected at this age post Achilles, but this is not working out.

[Willie Colon]

Yeah, I think this is not working out is an understatement. It's an absolute. It's an absolute dumpster fire, man. It's brutal. It's absolutely fucking brutal. And I have to live it Sunday after Sunday after Sunday of the same old goddamn jets, and I'm tired of talking about the Jets. There's times where I'm on set, I'm like, I don't want to talk about the Jets. I rather talk about Love is Blind. I don't know. I'd rather talk about, you know, the Penguin, which is on Netflix, which is kicking ass.

[Ryan Rosillo]

The jets are absolutely brutal, Max. Whatever.

[Willie Colon]

Whatever the fuck ever. I know. I'm just, I'm just so frustrated and people get mad at me and like. Well, really, you don't listen. What was frustrating? And I think I've said this before on here, what's frustrating this, man. When you watch Quentin Williams coming out of Alabama, you watch Sauce Gardner coming out of Cincinnati, Garrett Wilson coming out of Ohio State. These guys come from winning programs, right? And these. And there's a core, there was a core that was drafted to the New York jets to believe like, these are going to be the guys that because of their talent, their grit, their character, they're going to change around. They want to change the perception of the New York Jets. That has not happened. And when Zach Wilson, that whole debacle, dealing with Zach Wilson, once that left the building and you brought in Aaron Rodgers, these guys brought in, they're like, all right, we got a Hall of Fame quarterback and all we have to do is let Aaron Rodgers be and let him do what he's been doing for all of his career, all of his career. And I'm sitting there Sunday after Sunday, watch this guy go backwards, man. You talk about how the injuries, you talk about the miscues between him and Garrett Wilson, like he missed a slogo, a wide open slogo Sunday against the Seahawks. And I'm saying to myself that, I mean you, anybody in high school can make that thrill, right? Like how is.

[Ryan Rosillo]

You almost said me, but you.

[Willie Colon]

But my point is like this is a four time mvp. He should be able to make that throw in his sleep and he missed him. And we can go on. We could go down the rabbit hole with Todd Downing and what he's been able to do and not been able to do. We could talk about the firing of Robert Salah. Since they fired, I think they're one in five. You know, we could talk about this defense who valid their scheme is Salah. But personnel wise, they're struggling. They don't have the beef eaters they had last year like Al Woods. Quentin Jefferson and JFM are no longer there. So now you're playing with a bunch of decent rotational guys like Ken Lawrence, Solomon Thomas. Those guys, they're not great, right? Those are guys you throw in for a play to, to give your starters a breather. And so. And with the loss of Jermaine Johnson, who was great at setting the edge, and now you have Hasan Reddick who's like, listen, I'm not, I'm not about to die for this team. I'm about to do what I need to do so I can get the hell up out of here. So. And then now you talk about Woody Johnson. I mean, Woody Johnson came down from his chair and wanted and benched Tony Adams, right? He fire Rex Hogan, you know, Joe Douglas's assistant gm, and now you talk about. Joe Douglas is gone, Salah's gone. Like the whole thing is just. It's a mess. It's a mess. And it starts with Woody Johnson, it starts with Aaron Rodgers, because when you sold your soul to Aaron Rodgers and he brought on his own circus, whether it was Alan Lazard, Randall Cobb, Devonte Adams, Nathaniel Hackett, nothing's worked. Nothing's fucking worked and he hasn't worked. And if anything, he looks like he's getting worse. And so I'm saying to myself, I'm tired of watching it, right? How many, how many times do you watch a shit show to realize this whole thing is just shit and I'm tired of talking about it? Not that I don't want to talk about it with you. I'm just saying, I'm just. It's fucking brutal. It's brutal the whole fucking.

[Ryan Rosillo]

All right. I do have a follow up though. Do you want him back as quarterback next year?

[Willie Colon]

No, no. Get him the fuck out of New York. Go now. Thank you. Don't come back.

[Kyle]

Bye.

[Willie Colon]

I don't care who hates me for saying that. I don't give a shit it like I don't care. I'd rather start. Tyrod Taylor. I know he's a. I know he's fucking made of plastic, but I. I just know what I got with him. I know he's a bridge quarterback. I don't care. Ty to Aaron Rodgers. I don't want to see it no more.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Don't.

[Ceruti]

He's 40.

[Willie Colon]

He's 41 years old and for the neck up, as sharp as can be. I give him that from neck down, bro. He shot. That happens. Every great ballplayer goes that way, right? Like I what I was in my early 20s, Hercules late or early 30s. I was, I was built like I was a matches salesman, right. I wasn't. I did. Was just. Is what it is. But there's too much, there's too much on his Shoulders right now and they're asking him to be, to be a world beater and he just doesn't have it, I don't think. And I don't even care. And I said this, I said this on my post game. I don't care that he's smug and somewhat cocky. I don't care about that because I was okay with that when he was playing like an mvp. I could take that. But when you don't play like an MVP and you're smug and you're calling out Mike Williams and you're saying, you know in your oppressor, like, well, it's not just me out there, there's 11 other guys. Yeah, but not one guy of those 11 guys who say, hey, if you want me, you gotta bring on five other people and we gotta do things my way. Doesn't happen. So you are different. And you have to add heed to that. You are special. You were born special, Aaron Rodgers. And we invested and we brought in for that, for you to be that guy. And it hasn't worked. And so now you're talking about bringing a 42 year old quarterback who can barely recover from a strained hamstring or ankle. Sorry, that was a lot. Doesn't mean to go anywhere. She just pinned in me. Sorry about that.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I don't know where else to go here. So let me just. Let me finish here. Let me finish.

[Willie Colon]

And I don't hate him. I'm just pissed off at the whole situation. I don't hate him.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Doesn't sound like you like them.

[Kyle]

You're right.

[Willie Colon]

I'm just frustrated. I'm just frustrated.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, well, we can hear it. That was. Sounded like you needed to say that. Okay, let me. And I've said it before.

[Willie Colon]

I guess I didn't know it was that much left in me. I'm sorry.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Let's, let's do this quick exercise. So the way the AFC seatings are today, Kansas City 1 seed, so you're looking at Bills, Broncos. Would you pick the Steelers in the rematch at home against the Ravens?

[Willie Colon]

Yeah, why not? I mean, Lamar Jackson's boogie man.

[Ryan Rosillo]

All right, Hands down. So say it goes chalk. Would you pick Pittsburgh at Buffalo?

[Willie Colon]

That one scares me. That scares me because. Yeah, that scares me because of Josh Allen. And offensively, I mean, they beat you up. And with his ability to tuck it and run and his ability to improv. And the Steelers right now, valor was stout against the run. And our secondary scares me. You know, we got to figure it out in the back end. We haven't been in solid, especially I think that proved that Sunday against the Bengals. But Buffalo scared me. So I'm a little. I'm a little timid against Buffalo.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I just wanted to get the timidity ranking off of you. That's all. That's all. Always great catching up, my man. Have a great weekend, Willie Colon.

[Willie Colon]

I appreciate it, brother.

[Ryan Rosillo]

This episode is brought to you by Viori. Viori is performance apparel that's designed for working out but doesn't look or feel like it. And let me tell you, the Ponto performance jogger is a game changer. Part of Viori's dream knit collection, it's super soft and lightweight. The duality of man. I'll wear it on leg day to keep the legs warm, maybe in a muay tie day to keep the shins fresh or running around a yard with flowers, with a loved one or without one. This jogger can do it all. Go to viori.com ryan r y e n to get 20% off your first purchase. Exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions. Okay, conference championship games this weekend and some of the playoff talk. And I got to be honest, I'm sick of some of my own ideas about this, but Chris, Felicia the bear from Fox Sports, you knew him from game day and now you know him going to the other side of the coast for all this kind of stuff. So what's up, man? Good to catch up?

[Kyle]

Yeah, definitely. Good to catch up. Yeah, I enjoy. I enjoyed listening on the way out here to Boise to you and Todd yesterday. So that was some good to get the lay of the land from you guys. And we were in agreement on a lot of things, that's for sure.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, see, that's what I'm afraid of here a little bit. But let's just start with something that I think we. Well, I know we agree with because I think a sane person should agree with it. And I don't know why this isn't a bigger deal, at least when it's being discussed, because we both knew that this would happen with the expansion and how different the schedule experience is for teams within the same conference. And yet it feels like the committee is just kind of into the standings and clearly they like the Big Ten. And that's fine. You know, like, I don't really want to turn this into this constant stuff that I know that I am guilty of. But do you think this has to happen for a year before more people start to kind of realize? Like, do you realize what is happening with the teams within the schedules and how many of these teams that we think are good are avoiding playing really a competitive schedule within the conference itself?

[Kyle]

I think maybe we, I don't want to say care too much. Maybe we're too dialed in. Maybe we're too aware. Maybe we knew it was going to happen. Maybe we're looking for it. Maybe we're giving the committee too much credit for thinking that they're going to go this deep into looking at. But look, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to look at SMU schedule and figure out that they played eight conference games and five of them were against teams that had a losing record in the acc. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to look at Texas schedule and realize that there were six teams other than them that won nine games in the SEC and they only played one of them, Georgia. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to look at Iowa State schedule in the Big 12 and realize that there were seven teams that finished with a losing record and Iowa State played five of them. And I was thinking about this, I'm like, I used to be anti division. I loved what the Big 12 did when they expanded to nine and they had the first place team play the second place team. But I think at this point now we're at a point where after this year they need to reassess. And I know they probably think just having their top two teams automatically means that they're going to get both of those teams in the playoff. We'll see if that happens with the ACC. But with 16 and 18 team leagues, you got to break it up in divisions. At least you know you play everybody on your side and maybe one or two crossover games. @ least there's some type of structure that you know you're getting division winner A versus division winner B. And at least there's some level of like clarity and qualification to get in there. And you're going to eliminate all the ridiculous tie breaks like we had in the Big 12 last week figured out nobody controlled their destiny and the fact that Texas Tech lost or won whatever it was that meant BYU was out. @ least when you're narrowing it down to like a just an eight or a nine division league, at least there's something that fans can kind of get a clearer picture as to what the hell is going on here.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, and by the way, the results may be right. I mean Texas may be the best team in the sec. When I watch smu I'm like, that's a good team. And I think the beginning of the Year there was a bit of a BYU hangover because I think BYU was picked 13th in the conference. And then we realized like even though BYU stumbles here towards the end, BYU is a tough out. I think SMU was like a double digit favorite at home. And then they lose that one and you're like, okay, well what's up with smu? So I don't really have, you know, I'm with you. Like they're going to have to figure something out. I guess I'm just shocked at the void of just the discussion. I don't see it on game day. I don't really even see it on your show. I don't know when they do the playoff releasing show if they're really digging into do you see what is happening? And that makes me wonder if that conversation is even happening because like I'll point and again it's just going to sound like an SEC thing for me. But how does Georgia lose an old miss on the road and drop nine spots and Ohio State loses a home to Michigan and they drop four spots. And that's the kind of stuff where I was like, they look, Penn State is still up there. Penn State could end up being the 1 seed if they beat Oregon. I don't even know that I'm going to have that much of an issue with it. I won't be doing a next day. I can't believe Penn State's number one team in the country, although it still feels a little weird to say it out loud. But hey, you know, look, an Oregon win is going to be a massive win if they can pull that kind of stuff off. So I don't like making arguments where I'm like, now I don't have anything else to offer and I'm just tearing this whole thing apart. It just feels like there is a void of that being part of the where it. When it's 12 teams, I don't mind if someone goes, yeah, I know they have an extra loss, but if we're just going one loss, two loss, three loss, then what's the point of even having a committee? Just tell me what the standings are and I'll watch the playoffs.

[Kyle]

Yeah, I think this committee did a pretty bad job all along. I think they were really just doing what you said, a lot of loss ordering, hoping that it was going to play itself out and they weren't going to have to make a difficult decision. And now they probably may be in a position where if SMU were to lose, they may have to put themselves in making A difficult position. Two things getting to what you were talking about. The first one with the Ohio State drop and the Georgia drop. I think with the Georgia drop at the time, remember they did not have a win over Tennessee. So that win over Tennessee I think really was able to rebuild a lot of the respect and status that they lost with the, with the other loss that they had at Ole Miss where they really weren't non competitive for most of the game there. And I was having this kind. And I have taken a lot of incoming from people about this. Like when you, when Ohio State lost at least like you're dropping them and you're comparing them to everyone else. Yeah, that was a brutal office, terrible loss. But you still had a win over Penn State and in State College where they didn't score an offensive touchdown, you still had a win over Indiana. We don't think Indiana is great, but the committee does and the committee still has them as a top 10 team. And their other loss was a one point loss on the road against a team that's number one in the country. So I, I, I think over the body of work and you had 12 games to factor everything in. Who, who would you put ahead of Ohio State? They should, even off of a terrible loss. I had fun this week going through this, just kind of shooting holes and like the playing water cooler fan for all these other teams like hey Tennessee. Well, you lost to a team that lost that, that lost to a team that went winless in the Big 12. Like if you want to get like that dumb like a lot of fans do. So I could get that. And then the other thing you mentioned about Penn State being number one, the number one team and I have a, I don't want to say a hard time with it. It's amazing that it could happen because I don't think like you said, anyone throughout the course of the year thought Penn State would be possibly to be the number one team in the country. But I almost wonder in if there's a scenario where say both underdogs win tomorrow. Say Penn State wins, say Georgia wins. Like why wouldn't Georgia have a chance to be the number one overall seed? You could potentially have four wins over playoff teams. You could have two wins over Texas. You have the win over Tennessee. If Clemson were to beat smu, that's four. Penn State, yeah, you beat number one Oregon, but that's it. Illinois, yeah, you beat Illinois at home in October. Whatever. Great. But like you can, you can make a really good case that based on the computer ratings right the schedule strength, the record quality wins, number of quality. Like Georgia would have an excellent case to being the number, the number one seat. Now, will the committee do it? No, I think they take the easy way out and put. Put Penn State. But I don't think that that is college football fans and reporters and people who love and discuss the sport that that should just be rubber stamped.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, Penn State would be one. I really do think so if you had the Georgia win over Texas and Penn State over Oregon because they've had a chance. Unless they just want to reset the decks. And I do think that there is some value and kind of go, all right, We've got the 12 games. We've got the conference championship weekend behind us. Now let's look at the total picture here. And that's been kind of my Georgia point throughout all of this, like go through that. I mean, how many other teams have had to even come close to that kind of challenge and throwing in what could in theory be another Texas win? But I don't think that's what would happen here because they have really liked Penn State. They've obviously really liked Indiana. They moved SMU up, you know, clearly with the, with the Indiana loss part of it. The other part of this too. And you know, I used to talk about this with the bcs. I'm sure you did as well where the BCS lucked out so many years. There were so many years. You're like, how is this going to happen? What are they going to do? And then there would just be these disastrous losses at the end of the season. And I always felt like the BCS gets so lucky. They get so lucky with how this happens. And yet, and I think we all know, and this is, this is part of it too, is like, oh, hey, here's a system. Okay, well now let me spend years and years and years ripping apart the system as if there's this perfect solution to all of this and there really isn't. But a flawed system is flawed, not just in the years that it shows as flaws, but in the first version of this, with what we have with potential buys for an ACC championship for a Group of 5 team that represents the playoff seeding. It feels like, hey, you needed it to happen to visually see, like, wait, those teams are getting buys in the 5:12 matchup is actually, it's the extra game. But, you know, I might, I'd rather be in that scenario and all this kind of stuff. Do you think that there's already going to be some remorse if some of the seating holds up the way it's been.

[Kyle]

Absolutely. Like, how could you sit there and say come Sunday afternoon, the potential, yeah, you have Iowa State and essay and Boise State is the 4 and the 3 or the 3 and the 4 over. It works out. And both of those teams are getting buys and you've got Tennessee playing Ohio State, Georgia playing whomever, Penn State in a first round game. It's like really like again, I don't know if they completely thought it through. I don't know if this was just a byproduct of the only way of being able to get all of the conferences to a agree with this, that you're putting the four best conference champions as a team that they get a buy and nobody really assuming that the ACC and the Big 12 would kind of be both be as poor as they've been and then Boise would have the type of year that they have. But yeah, Reese Davis has kind of championed this as well. Like, you're going to have to essentially just rank them 1 through 12. You want to put the conference champion, fine. I think we all can agree, like winning a conference championship does not make you better than necessarily a team that wins. It doesn't win a conference champion. Like, it's just a way that they can justify having the, the games and keeping them around. But you're going to have to just essentially give the top four seeds buys or figure out a way to just rank them where you're doing it more based on merit than just saying, oh, you, you, you want a league. I don't care if it was the American or the Mountain west or whomever. Yeah, you're there. You're better than the Big 12 champ or the SEC champ. So we're going to give you a buy. But it's, it's ridiculous that we could have some of these matches where you. And what would like, like look at what say Oregon were to win. Like, and you're the one seed. Like, like your reward in like the 89 game is going to be could be like Tennessee or Ohio State. Like, like how fair is that?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, I, I know what they tried. I think you nailed them at the beginning. They finally did something that everybody could agree on. And I think the fear would have been in an SEC heavy year. And it's really not this year because you can't tell if it's a scheduling thing or if it's a lack of a top heavy. You know, that's some of. Sometimes I think we screw that up a little bit. We're like, oh, that conference is down. And I'm not even talking specifically SEC. Like, I kind of love the Big 12 again this year. I have certain years of the Big 12 with their death, and you're watching those games going, like, I think this is a really good conference, but without the 12 and O team, that's a huge favor in their conference championship game that we think is capable of winning a national championship. If. If a conference doesn't have one or two of those, then we're like, oh, that conference just kind of sucks. Which I think times could be unfair. Maybe that's the thing that we're getting right now. But I think they had to figure out some kind of system where the group of five was like, hey, can we not just make this the Power 5 Invitational? And can we please do buys and seeding with conference championships? Because there would be fear that with other committees that I think like the SEC better than this one certainly does, they'd have three of the four top SEEDs, SEC schools, and everybody's just going to lose their shit. Even if it was justifiable in a strong SEC year.

[Kyle]

Are you not to necessarily segue off of that?

[Ryan Rosillo]

No. Go.

[Kyle]

I love it. I was thinking about how the whole blast team in Alabama, Miami, who I think is at the end of the line, Ole Miss, South Carolina, like, I think they're ultimately going to land on Alabama, but. And I was kind of anti Ole Miss. I'm like, yeah, you lost three games to unranked teams that are unranked, and you lost. Kentucky only won, what, one SEC game and it was that. But I've kind of, like, done a little mental gymnastics in my head. Like, I kind of think they have it wrong. I've kind of come around on Ole Miss. Like, I hate to be like, the. Like, the coach. And I think some people have brought this up, like, when you talk about the NCAA tournament, like, what team would you least want to play if you're draw one of those teams in the first round or in the playoff? Like, what team would you least want to play? Like, of Alabama? South Carolina, Ole Miss? Wouldn't you least rather play Ole Miss?

[Ryan Rosillo]

First of all, I'm totally with you on Alabama. I mean, everybody just thinks that I love him all the time. I argued against him in the TCU thing because TCU had a really good resume. Now, if we do, what do you think? Who's better? Like, there's plenty of years where we would always kind of default to be like, okay, do you really think there's four teams Better than Alabama, than college. You know, football landscape. And the answer felt like no a lot of times. But they had two losses that year and TCU had real ranked wins. And even though there was all sorts of close games and all that stuff and it's like, well, they beat Michigan, but it doesn't devalue it because Georgia housed him. I'm in the same boat again now. Like, I kind of pushed him back up a few weeks. I reassessed it. I don't like the quarterback. I think their front seven gets gashed every third game. The offensive line seems hit or miss. It's one receiver and then kind of like, I hope the other guys step up. I mean, I think they're second se receiver a little bit. So I would have bam. A third of all of these. These SEC teams that we're talking about. And I could also. And I think this is what the committee is supposed to do when it's this close. You go, let's run through all the losses here a little bit. And the South Carolina, LSU loss, they got hosed.

[Kyle]

Yep.

[Ryan Rosillo]

And I'd be okay in the room saying that kind of thing. And I'm with you. I would have, like, I can tear the stuff, but we all know the game. Like, I know what the anti Ole Miss argument would be, but I think the Oklahoma loss is so much worse than the Florida loss. It's terrible. It's terrible. And I know it's a short field against an offense that's struggling, but whatever, like, you got smoked in that place. Figure it out.

[Kyle]

And Miller made two of the worst throws you'd ever see a quarterback make.

[Ryan Rosillo]

So, you know, and even I hate it because of the head to head stuff. I mean, Ole Miss stomping South Carolina is kind of hard to work through. And Bama held on, you know, even though I thought that was another Milro game that I didn't necessarily love. And nobody wants to hear any more of my Milroe takes. I am. I am not aligned. I am not aligned at all with the committee on. On having Bama up there. I think where you lose me is when it is as you alluded to the Miami Bama ranking, where, you know, look, they just have Miami. The committee. The committee bailed on Miami and it seems like everybody else had. Even though they're 12th as of right now. But that doesn't include Arizona State being ranked behind them as the top Big 12 team.

[Kyle]

Look, and I'm. And I'm a Miami guy. And it's funny, like, if you're a little bit of a house of cards, a little bit of fugasi and a little bit of a fault. Your record really doesn't indicate how good you are. If you've got the zero in the lost column or the one in the loss column, you're going to get a benefit out of the doubt. And then when that second loss comes, that's when the more representative ranking is going to happen. And again, that was another inexcusable type loss that Miami had. You're up 21 nothing. I mean make a stop again, like you'll, you'll look up later and they couldn't stop or on a terrible coaching decision and people. And I'm in a big Miami group thread chat there and I hate being the bad guy because these are my friends. I have friends that work with the team and work with programming and cover the team. But I'm like, look like, like what are you hanging your hat on with Miami to say that they deserve to be in the playoff? Their power ratings are the lowest of the worst of any of them. Their strength schedule is the worst of any of them. They don't have a win to hang their hat on that. Yeah, yes. You're basically saying Cam Ward and we went 10 and 2 in the ACC. Okay, but you also have the worst defense of any of the playoff contenders by a lot and just nothing to hang your hat on. Every game that you played over the last two months of the year, with the exception of the FSU game, was either you were trailing going to fourth or you're led by less than a touchdown. It's I, I putting Miami in would have been maybe the path of least resistance because they had the fewest losses. But, but at the same time, it would not have been the right thing to do based on quality wins and how good these teams actually are.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, I know there's some defensive numbers floating around there where Bama is actually behind Miami and some of them. But if you go like yards per play, you know, that might tell the better. There's some metrics that would. So we, we can, we can dance around all that stuff and then you can just start talking about opponents. But I just don't know how anybody could watch Miami all year and not come to kind of the 12 game conclusion of well, you know, this was. It felt dangerous all the time. And are they really worthy of jumping some of these three loss SEC teams? Bama. And again, I, I don't need to repeat myself all over again. If somebody else were to say, hey, Bama's, out. Like, I'm not going to tell them that they're wrong. It doesn't seem like the committee's leaning that way, but it sounds like you would have Bama or, excuse me, Ole Miss Bama in South Carolina ahead of Miami.

[Kyle]

Yeah. Oh, I absolutely would have all three of.

[Ryan Rosillo]

What about Arizona State? What about Arizona State today? Because the AP in the committee are not doing that. Excuse me, the AP is. The committee is not.

[Kyle]

Yeah, I think I'm okay. I don't feel strongly either way about that. I mean, ASU's defense isn't great and now that'll be interesting to see how they do on Saturday without really their only wide receiver in the lineup. And I know Iowa State has struggled stopping the run all year long, but with that, without, without Jordan out there, like, does that make Iowa State's task a little bit easier in terms of stopping Scattaboo, that you don't necessarily have to devote resources to stopping the passing game in Levitt as well. So be curious to see how that play. I don't feel strongly either way about the ASU Miami argument.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Real quick to put a bow on it. I think the Syracuse loss is still better than the Oklahoma loss. Like, who do you think is better right now, Syracuse or Oklahoma?

[Kyle]

Syracuse.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, I kind of like Syracuse.

[Kyle]

The amazing thing is you look at Syracuse, you're like, how the hell did that team lose at home to Stanford?

[Ryan Rosillo]

I know, right? Well, look man, maybe, maybe the ACC little, little tougher than we realized.

[Kyle]

Yeah, exactly.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Throw the records out when it's Q and Stanford.

[Kyle]

It's funny again, I'm trying to, like we talked about the SEC and like how it's not the conference that it's been and how it is not as strong as it's been. You look at how the power four is done against each other in these non conference games. Like they're still the only conference with a winning record against the rest of the power four. And you've got both Georgia and South Carolina beat the ACC potential champion or a team that at least is in the conference idle game in Clemson. Like you look at the ACC like they didn't beat a single team in against the power of five that that's currently ranked. So it's like again we talked about like, does the committee look at like who you're missing in the schedule and who you're playing in the schedule? Probably not. I don't even think they're going that far to look like ranked opponents in non conference games as well. It's just, I like doing these end of the season filters to kind of like just throw stuff out there and have people get mad at me.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Or you can do the Danny Cannell argument in Georgia Tech. Georgia, where you're like, look at what Georgia Tech did against Miami, but look what they did against Georgia. They scored 42 points against Georgia, conveniently leaving out the eight overtimes of scoring.

[Kyle]

Yeah, yeah. I was gonna say you factor in what, like 16 points, I think for overtime.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, they had 15, 17, 15 and eight overtimes. But look, you know, if it looks good, tweet it. All right, let's do some of the conference championship teams out in Georgia Tech.

[Kyle]

Just run Haynes King a couple of times in some of those early over times like if you do that, you probably win.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I, I love that kid, man. I mean, think about, you don't want to talk like Hughes and some of the other like depth teams and this is the, the going through three months of watching it. But you're like when Georgia Tech had him, like that's a good team. They're not, you know, so it, it makes it sound like you're, you're kind of apolog. But I, I totally get him the play calling. Maybe they were afraid he was going to die.

[Kyle]

That's also true.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Right, because he, he looked like he needed medical attention for the last hour of that. That's what that was a Friday night game. Right. Okay, let's go through it. Give me your confidence to least confidence of the conference championship games.

[Kyle]

Most confident. I'm going to say Georgia. I feel pretty good about Georgia's matchup against Texas. I think that their defensive line, the way they handled Texas's offensive line in that first meeting, that they're getting healthier now. And on the flip side, Georgia didn't have, I believe, their starting right guard and right tackle in that meeting down in Austin. It just could be one of those things that it's a bad matchup for Texas. Quinn, yours. Like you think because you hear like number one recruit and how he transferred and where he was that you think he's going to be this all world quarterback. It doesn't add up necessarily with what I've seen. I'm curious if we get some arch Manning because I think if you look at Georgia, they do much better against offenses that do not have a running quarterback. And I think obviously most defenses do, but they stop running backs from running. We're just talking about a game. If you don't have a running threat as a quarterback, maybe this is Maybe we see some Arch Manning, but I think Georgia does win. I think they beat Texas for a second time. So that's my most confident.

[Ryan Rosillo]

You know what's funny, though, the running quarterback thing. I used to always love it when Saban was a Bama. And it's like, you know, that guy is Bam. They're pretty good in Bama, but they struggle against those running quarterbacks. You're like, you mean Cam Newton and Deshaun Watson mean all the Heisman guys? Like, what, in NFL players? Yeah. No way. I can't believe they struggled against him. I look, I think there's a SAR part of this where because of what they experienced in the first half, which was I think, the most dominant weird, like that was so horrifying what Georgia was able to do, especially with those three guys in the front seven. Okay. So I'm thinking could Sarka. All right, boys, now we know what they can do. Now we're a little bit ready. I completely agree with you, Arch. I worry about the tackles injury report because he's still on it now Banks. But. And Beck, by the way, like, Beck is not somebody that I dial in for. Like, I expect a great game out of Carson Beck. I just. The kickoff, I just kind of shrug and be like, we'll see what we got today. But I'm more aligned with you.

[Kyle]

The last few weeks, he hasn't thrown a pick, so. He has. Yeah.

[Ryan Rosillo]

But the Georgia Tech games, something was going on in the first half. He like, he threw a third down pass in the dark. Tate Ratlidge grabbed him on the sideline and was kind of like, you need to fucking wake up. That's what it felt like. Maybe he, maybe I was reading it wrong, but it was clear that Tate was like, you, something needs to change here. And he woke up in the Tennessee game, that was a bit of a slow start or whatever. So, like, I am aligned though, with you. I feel like it might just be a bad matchup. So I know you got to run here. So let's just run through your picks for the rest of the conference games.

[Kyle]

Yeah, I, I, I do like Clemson. Plus, the point is Vegas going to be the Vegas odds maker is just going to be that wrong to open up Clemson as a three point favorite and have this thing flip all the way to the other side. Clem. To have SMU minus two and a half or three. Yeah, there's more pressure on SMU now, but the fact that, the fact that Clemson, I think the front that they have, even though it's Not a typically great Clemson defense. I think they can give Jennings and that offense some problems. Club Nick has had a very low key great year and you know, and you know how Dabo dabo roles like he'll get all wound up, emotional and a little old. Clemson, three losses. Yeah, we're still the kings of the ACC and basically a home games. I do like Clemson and I like Iowa State for the reasons I talked about earlier. Just wondering about ASU and kind of being one dimensional now. Iowa State's got two really good wide receivers and I think the clones have been a little, a little underrated. It's a little slept on that league all year long. The game that I'm worried about and I want to bring it back to kind of how we started with Penn State, Oregon like again, I look at these numbers and I look at the odds and maybe I'm an idiot for reading too much into it, but I haven't heard one person pick Penn State yet and this number is held solid at Oregon -3 and a half all week. I mean that would worry me if I were an Oregon backer and I like Oregon -3 and a half and a lot of people have their power ratings with Oregon being like a five or a five and a half point favorite in this game and the number hasn't budged. That tells me the odds makers are very comfortable booking the Oregon money. They think Penn State potentially is the right side and I know they have not done well in the role of underdog under James Franklin. I know they have not done well against top five and top ten teams against James Franklin, but they'll probably have a pretty good crowd advantage there. Again, does that ultimately they're going to win the game? No, but, but it feels like the odds makers in Las Vegas are telling you that Penn State is probably the right side here.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, I, I don't know if it's a Penn State history thing of feeling like, oh, but it's new history because they haven't had to face Oregon in some of this stuff. And I've pointed out like, you know, it's been a while since there's been a really good Penn State win and I think it's the, the Utah Rose bowl game, but there's some flaws in that one because of the rising injury and as soon as they brought in the backup, I think he threw a pick. So, um, but I do like Penn State. Like I've watched them enough this year. I think I like them better this year. The Ohio State thing is repetitive and It's. It's frustrating and all that stuff, but at least I know, like, talent wise, there's some dudes they can throw out there against an Oregon team that's been number one in the country here for a while. Um, I don't know if it's a lack of travel, because the Ducks normally do travel, but then when you're asking, it's like, okay, you get to travel for this game and you get to travel for your first playoff game. So I know that the ticket part of it for Indianapolis has been pretty underwhelming. Yeah. And you would imagine it's still going to be a heavier Penn State thing because it's just a little bit easier. But, yeah, that line when that came out, I'm like, man, you know, because you're figuring based on both teams, you're like, it's probably minus six and a half. It's minus six. Like, Oregon should feel like they should be an overwhelming favorite in that, and it's not. So it scared the out of me. So, again, we are aligned. Hey, man, great work. It's always great catching up to you, love. Appreciate you checking out the pot and enjoy the run, man. We'll see where this all goes.

[Kyle]

I will. Absolutely.

[Willie Colon]

We'll. We'll.

[Kyle]

We'll do it again soon to come once we actually know these playoff matchup and get closer to that. And. Come on, March Madness.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Perfect. Perfect. Chris Felica, Fox Sports the Bear this episode is brought to you by Iam's Pet Food. Look, we know you're picky about what you feed your dog or cat, right? So when you go the iam's dry dog or cat food, you'll actually notice the changes. We're talking more energy in five days, better digestion in 10, and healthier skin and coat in just 25 days. Satisfaction for you and them guaranteed or your money back. Feed Iams dry dog or cat food and see a visible difference. Visit imes.com difference to learn more. The alliance marches into conference championship week undaunted, just like the Hoosiers.

[Chris Felica]

All right, should we maybe be a little daunted?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yes. Yeah, I am. So we just missed it. We went no special sauce last week, and we missed it on a field goal. Kyle, you have nothing to apologize for. I'm supposed to be the anchor. I'm supposed to be the. Not the anchor, the rudder of this ship. And I. You know, I. I would say it's been off misalign throughout, but 3 and 1. But we missed it on an army field goal.

[Chris Felica]

Yeah. That would have made basically all our money back too, for the season. Would have broke even. But hey, we're on to. We're on to Conference Championship week. Let's go.

[Ryan Rosillo]

We're on to Conference Championship. Absolutely. Okay. Who wants to go first? Oregon. Why don't you go first? You just run the world.

[Chris Felica]

Yeah, I'm going to the Penn State game. I think I like Oregon in the game, but Penn State plus one and a half the third quarter spread.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Oh, this guy's just taking his shirt off.

[Chris Felica]

They're a second half team. Even against Ohio State, they would have covered this. So it's minus 1:56, plus 111 half for the third quarter. What an incredible bet.

[Ceruti]

Okay, so to be clear, the outcome of this game is open, right? It's just the third quarter.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Just the third quarter.

[Kyle]

I got.

[Chris Felica]

They could lose by 50. But if they win the third quarter. Exactly. We're back.

[Ceruti]

Well, then we'll just. We'll just keep the through line here. I found. Or you can Get Oregon at +1/2 and I'll just. I'll do that. It's just close.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I don't know.

[Ceruti]

It's less than a field goal. Right, guys?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Wow. We have a lot of stuff going on here.

[Chris Felica]

We're going to go. This is.

[Willie Colon]

This.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Jesus. Give me Tate Ratlidge two pancakes.

[Chris Felica]

I like that bet. Okay, that's. That seems. Man. Maybe that's allowed, right?

[Willie Colon]

That seems it is.

[Chris Felica]

Maybe this isn't the one you parlay, but. Okay.

[Willie Colon]

All right, we'll do that one.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Rudy's just like. All right.

[Chris Felica]

I'm trying to help people out there. I don't know.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah. What can we do with George?

[Ceruti]

Another one then just give me a different one. Because if we should trust one of us, we should trust Wargs.

[Chris Felica]

So I mean that. Yeah, I still like Oregon for the game.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I kind of like. I think.

[Chris Felica]

Yeah, let's trust work.

[Ryan Rosillo]

So crazy. Yes. Just my.

[Ceruti]

We got his blessing. I'm good.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I'm totally fine with it. Give me Georgia. Plus. Whatever. I know it's plus two and a half right now, but to get us into that window, let me know.

[Chris Felica]

Yeah, let's just. You want to just take a plus three and a half, get the full field goal? Let's do that.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Sure.

[Chris Felica]

All right, let me throw that in the mixer. And I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go with Felica. I. I think Clemson win the game. I'll take the two and a half. But, you know, I guess maybe I should stretch out to three and A half too. Get us a little bit of juice just in case something goes down. Let me see what that is. Hold on. Thumbs in. Plus three and a half. All right, so we do Penn State third quarter plus one and a half. Oregon in the game plus one and a half. Ryan's got Georgia plus three and a half. And I'm going to take Clemson plus three and a half. That gets us to almost plus 800. Boys not quite making an all back, but at least not a terrible loss for the season. So feeling good. This might be our last one. I don't know. I don't know if we'll. We're going to do a bowl. You're going to pick bowl games, but until NBA season.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Okay. Couch money research. The couch play as of right now is Cincinnati minus five and a half at Dallas. The money play is you're taking the Rams plus one at home against the Bills. And the sharp play is Jags plus three and a half at Tennessee. So good luck. There you go. Yep, good. Good luck with all that. We've got an NBA pick for you. Those have been going pretty well actually, so don't worry about it. You want details?

[Willie Colon]

Fine.

[Kyle]

I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet.

[Ryan Rosillo]

What's up?

[Chris Felica]

I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork.

[Willie Colon]

I have every toy you can possibly imagine.

[Ryan Rosillo]

And best of all, kids, I am liquid.

[Willie Colon]

So now you know what's possible.

[Kyle]

Let me tell you what's required.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Today's life advice is presented by State Farm. When it comes to football season, some things are just better together like chips and dip or your favorite jersey and your lucky pre game ritual. You know what else is better together? Bundling your home and auto insurance with the personal price plan from State Farm. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there and we are here for you. Life advice. Life advice rrgmail.com before we get into it though, I think we need to do a little friendship recap. Post the live show in Denver never.

[Ceruti]

Felt closer to you guys.

[Chris Felica]

That was a. It was a great time. Genuinely was a great time. Coors lights were had.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Coors lights were had multiple chorus lights and that was kind of the deal is we were at the Fillmore. We were in Denver. We went to the game deal together on Tuesday. Guys get a little annoyed at me for leaving, but I had to look at a farm on Wednesday. I also had to do my top 100 list that I threw away by mistake after the live show. So I do not have my NBA top 100. To the editorsotheringer.com. the new and improved ringer.com, by the way. So check it out. But I have quite the Denver crew, and they were in attendance. And they were like, we're across the street. And I like, all right, I'm out of here. We're not doing pictures. We don't do pictures at bill shows. So I went across the street, and then I sent a text to the guys. I said, we were across the street and everybody hung out. And we saw a near fight between skateboard meth guys, I think.

[Chris Felica]

Yep. Yeah. One of those guys kept coming up to me and just, like, chatting me up. And he smelled so bad.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Give us an idea of what the.

[Ceruti]

Give him a pep talk. I'm like, stop getting trapped. And he's like, I know. It's just my personality. Like, stop getting trapped.

[Ryan Rosillo]

You try to. You try to work it out with him. I don't know.

[Ceruti]

He was just like, I can't.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I don't know.

[Ceruti]

I don't have it in me to say, like, hey, guy, get away from me. So I was like, hey, just give me a look. But he never looked at me. That's how good of a guy is.

[Willie Colon]

Yeah.

[Ryan Rosillo]

He came up to me at the jukebox and was like, I hope you put together a real. Like, you better hit this right? And at first I was like, oh, yeah, no, I'm picking out. So he's like, I'm watching you. I was like, now we're done. Now we're done talking.

[Chris Felica]

Yeah. Too far, too far. I'm not there.

[Ryan Rosillo]

And then there was one. There was one female in the bar the entire time. So Denver, living up to its early 2000s nickname of Menver. And she.

[Chris Felica]

She had, like, a weird outfit on, didn't she?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Well, it wasn't just a weird outfit. She had a pony on a stick. So she was walking around riding this. Like, if you were a little kid dressed up as a witch for Halloween and you would ride a broom around the neighborhood getting candy. She had a pony at the end of hers. And she would go from spot to spot in the bar writing this, then.

[Ceruti]

Asked the bartender to stash it in the storage room. And he was. I was like, what happened? She leave it here. He's like, oh, no. That's like the guy's girlfriend.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I don't know.

[Ceruti]

It's just. I'm just going to put it back here. Like, he does it often.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Like, okay, cool. Our bill hung out with us, too, so we went deep, dude.

[Ceruti]

He went from like, I'm just going to go home To. I'm saying Ryan's. Ryan just said he's literally next door. And he was like, all right. And then he stayed till like 1:30 in the morning and.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Awesome. It was good, Bill.

[Chris Felica]

Yeah, it was good. Yeah, it was good.

[Ryan Rosillo]

It's good to see it. He completely hit it off.

[Chris Felica]

He was a big fan of Ryan's friends.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I have this friend, Tim Walsh, who just. Everybody likes him and he's good at it. And it's not. And it's. It's actually very genuine. He's not a phony about it. Ceruti met him the night before, liked him. And then. Yeah. Bill sent me a text. Is Tim there? I was blown away.

[Ceruti]

Did he really.

[Ryan Rosillo]

My friend. My friend group is, like, freaking out about the whole thing. But then there was a couple ex military there that were talking up the recent news and then taking Bill through the whole thing. And then the next day, Bill was like, I was ready to just hand those guys microphones and podcasting equipment and being like, all right, you're our conspiracy theory podcast. Go, you guys start tonight. So it was good. Everybody hung out. And then the funniest part is, on the plane back to LA the next day, none of us had talked about what our itinerary was. And I walked right in. Front row, Kyle, empty seat, Bill. And then the three of us, front row.

[Ceruti]

How about that?

[Chris Felica]

First class.

[Ryan Rosillo]

First class, Kyle. Let's go. First class.

[Ceruti]

I saw. I saw Bill's, like, face when he. When he, like, turned around and saw that I was already in the same row as him. He was like, did they upgrade you? I was like, nah, I did it myself.

[Chris Felica]

And I think I'm a grown ass man.

[Ceruti]

Yeah, I think I scored a couple points there.

[Ryan Rosillo]

It was also funny because dudes were furiously getting in bets based on their location for the FanDuel app. And then Kyle was. Kyle had an Ocean's 11, 12, 13 decision to make. And then Bill was sending me clips of the headlines saying, bill Simmons ripped for comparing his pickup game to LeBron James, which made the rounds.

[Ceruti]

Which really eviscerates Bill Simmons.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah. And then I started my Henry V book, which is awesome, by the way. Really excited about it. Okay. All right. Anything else to add?

[Chris Felica]

Great time. The vibes are back, boys. Good to see you guys. Denver's a nice city.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yep.

[Chris Felica]

Enjoyed it.

[Willie Colon]

I'll see you.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Cerudi left first time.

[Ceruti]

I'll say that.

[Chris Felica]

I've never been. Wait, what'd you say?

[Ceruti]

I said Rudy left first. That's all I'll say.

[Chris Felica]

I left First? What do you mean? Oh, in the morning.

[Ryan Rosillo]

The bar.

[Ceruti]

Bar.

[Chris Felica]

We all left at the same time.

[Ceruti]

Nah, I don't think so, bub.

[Ryan Rosillo]

It was all pretty.

[Willie Colon]

It was over.

[Ryan Rosillo]

No, we were all leaving.

[Chris Felica]

My Uber came first.

[Willie Colon]

I don't.

[Chris Felica]

I don't like that at all. Kyle, I had a cigarette with you outside. Like, I don't.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I don't need my credential.

[Chris Felica]

I don't need my dudes in bona fide smoke.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Started smoking? Yes.

[Ceruti]

I was starting to get nervous near the end. I was like, I don't know if I brought enough for you guys.

[Chris Felica]

I broke my only bachelor parties and weddings rule for Kyle. It was great, and I was happy.

[Ceruti]

I take it back. Cut that out.

[Willie Colon]

We're going to.

[Chris Felica]

Thank you.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, no, leave it in. But I think what happened was Cerudi announced to the group that he was leaving a little bit earlier, and then maybe we're losing a bit of time on that. He was still there because I remember when he said goodbye to me. And then I looked up 30 minutes later, and he was still talking to one of my friends.

[Ceruti]

I just remember Bill saying, ceruti left. I was like, wow, that's like, a weird thing to hear.

[Ryan Rosillo]

We were all leaving.

[Chris Felica]

We were all outside. What is that?

[Ryan Rosillo]

And then it was over about 20 minutes before we left. And we still.

[Chris Felica]

Yeah, I guess I didn't. Yeah, I thought. I thought it was. It was like, 1:00am all right. Anyway, okay.

[Ceruti]

I. I got back at 2. That's all I'll say.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Anyway. What did you do? Where'd you go? What do you mean?

[Ceruti]

Like, it was like, 1:50. They kept a bar open an extra while.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, because that turned into a nice little Wednesday for that staff because out of nowhere, there was 30 dudes in there. And then my favorite move was I stopped on the ride home and I pounded one of those Pedia lights before I went to bed. I cannot express how amazing. It's one of the smartest things I've done in years. Okay, let's see here. Let's see. Emails. Let's get to them. Is a friend overstaying? Welcome. Okay, player comp is Ohio State. Mark, Club Trill, Titus. No stats, but we give you a lot of great high fives. Nice. Dude, if you ever played in, like, a pickup game with Titus, you would wonder why I wasn't in the NBA. A few months ago, a friend of mine decided to move to the same city as me. Like a friend should do. I offered my guest room for him to crash while he looked for his Own place. He is a good roommate, helps my dog, cleans up after himself and doesn't make a lot of noise. But it has now been two and a half months and he hasn't looked at any places or made any effort to. I understand that it takes time in a new city, but also I want my place back to myself. Know the feeling. How long do I have to give him until I say something? How do I approach it without affecting relationship? I should mention I'm also his boss at work.

[Chris Felica]

I put the question maybe the most important part of this.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, yeah. Sounds like you have the juice, it's your place and he works.

[Chris Felica]

You're fired.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Right, so here's the deal. The clock starts now because if you haven't said anything in two and a half months, his uncomfortability meter hasn't even like started yet. So you have to start the clock. Doesn't mean he's going to be out of there next week. Doesn't mean you have to say you have 30 days you're out of here. Because it sounds like you don't want to be like that stern. Stern, but fair. But a lot of friendships in this dynamic don't want to be that stern. Right. So you need to start the conversation so that the meter of him realizing like I'm not just going to stay here because some people that are totally fine taking advantage of the situation and look, I get it, I can understand his side of it. It kind of sucks. But he might be saying to himself, I'm going to push.

[Ceruti]

What are you talking about?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, he might be thinking like I am going to push this until it gets to the point of like awkwardness because this is awesome, it's free and like I'm doing what I can't even walking his dog. Like he's falling for that kind of stuff. If you have not started, you know, it's almost like a save the date but not good news. You need, you need to have the verbal save the date with him. Be like, hey, just want to know, not super urgent, but I'd like to know like where do you think you'll be at? Let's, let's talk about a timeline for you. Get in your own place, give me.

[Chris Felica]

Your five week plan.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got some maybe.

[Ceruti]

Coming in the spring or you know, like late winter. I just, you know, I just, I was just thinking, have you, have you even seen anything yet? Like do you need help or whatever? I just. Maybe you put something that's like out of your hands on the Books. And it's just like, you know, I kind of need a room, so I just want to. I just want to know what. What the plan is. Like, you. If you really don't want to be like, dude, you seriously not even, like, seen one place yet. If you don't want to do that, which I think most dudes could handle, honestly, if you're close enough. But if. Yeah, if you don't.

[Willie Colon]

If you.

[Ceruti]

If you want to keep the awkwardness out of it, maybe you can just be like, hey, there's something coming down the pike. I just want to make sure we're all on the same page here.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah.

[Chris Felica]

Maybe he just thinks you guys are having a great time. He's like, let's just let the good times keep rolling, you know?

[Ceruti]

And Tony and just like, dude, yeah. How great is this?

[Chris Felica]

And he's like, I'm helping this. You know, he's giving me a room. I'm giving him some camaraderie.

[Ryan Rosillo]

This is my mother's house all alone.

[Ceruti]

Why not, right?

[Chris Felica]

Morales being boosted all around. So maybe he just needs to know. Like, maybe it's totally within reason.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Kyle.

[Chris Felica]

It's. You're correct. But I also don't think you need to sugarcoat it. Like, hey, man, you've been here for this long, like, what's.

[Ceruti]

The boys can handle this stuff. I think friends. Friends.

[Chris Felica]

And if he kind of takes that personally, that's a weird move on him.

[Ryan Rosillo]

The boss employee dynamic is a massive advantage because he's already used to you having some role of power over him. I mean, unless he's the most disrespectful shithead of all time where he's like, actually, he doesn't listen to me at work, but I would assume in most scenarios like this, he has to answer to you. So that. That road's already been plowed. Like, why can't. You didn't move out in time. You'd be like, hey, you know, I want to talk about your. Your work here the last six months. I'd like to talk about your living situation here the last two and a half months. So. But it's up to you, man. It's up to you to start that clock. And it sounds like if you're emailing us and you haven't even started it, maybe that's a bit of a challenge for you, is you don't be confrontational and, you know, you've done this guy a solid. But there are people out there that you do them a solid. Like, their entire life is about people Doing them solids. Like I have this one dude is sort of, you know, an outer moon. I would say so. Certainly not like a core guy Titan. But I replayed our history together and all it's been is him asking for stuff like for. For years and years and years and it blows my mind. It's just like, okay, this dude again. Just. Hey, checking in. Cool. You gonna send me the fake. What's up? How are things? And the third text is going to be an ask and he's just okay with it. He's okay living his life that way and having most people like that guy sucks.

[Ceruti]

He gets high off of wins like that, right?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah. Yeah. Haven't had a home game in years. Okay, why Ryan is an. This sounds like the wrong category.

[Ceruti]

It is Friday though.

[Ryan Rosillo]

It'll take me an hour drive an hour to hang out with co workers and colleagues and lifelong friends. I can't possibly do that. Take a day and hang out, man. It means a lot to Kyle and Van and he still won't do it. Lifelong friends, Kyle, how long?

[Ceruti]

I mean. No, that's not true. I'm not even gonna answer. Yeah, I met your lifelong friends. Those guys are awesome.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Van. Lifelong friend. Love Van. Not a lifelong friend. I mean, I may just do it. You know what I might do? I might just go on a two day fucking bender and do a Monday show and go at the Roosevelt. Just go, hey, I didn't watch any football. Start Monday show. That way we're going to read an ad and do three life advices. But I just didn't watch anything. Is a friendship segment.

[Ceruti]

One is all hot takes.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah. Please subscribe.

[Chris Felica]

Yeah, yeah. Just reading box scores.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, we're not. Hey, which rappers are like wide receivers? Just for the record, I cannot believe some of the stuff Meek Mill tweets. It's like he's just. Yeah, he just. He'll be like, I don't care. I'm tweeting again. All right, we do have another email here. It's pretty simple, pretty straightforward. But yeah, in the future we'll just try to put those in. In those. In the Friday feedback, you know. All right. I don't know. This one's pretty straightforward too. I'll keep it short and sweet. 25 five eleven, three quarter. Five eleven and three quarter. Excuse me. Six one in Air Force Ones. Nice. 95 pound dumbbell bench. 225 thick pickup comp. A European. Chris Paul. Less scoring, more passing or San Antonio spur. Chris Paul. I got drunk and downloaded Tinder and to my surprise I match with a good friend of my sister. I went to an event, and all of her friends came up to me last night and said, quote, Mr. Short term open to Long. So I guess that's how he described himself.

[Chris Felica]

Oh, no.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Is that bad?

[Chris Felica]

Feels honest. That feels like they're making fun of you, but I don't know.

[Ryan Rosillo]

It is exactly that. Like, what else would it be? Yeah, right. I think somebody's trying to be nice. They are absolutely making fun of you. Multiple people from the same frame.

[Ceruti]

Tinder's a part of life. It's not like they saw you in fucking Craigslist. You know what I mean? It's like, this is just a part.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Of life now, right, Ken? Live at my house for sex? Like, what? Yeah, dude. Don't worry about it. There's way worse solicitation out there. So this guy was just on Tinder and described himself as Mr. Short Term Open to long. I don't know what's wrong with that. I don't know. It's like an adjustable mortgage. You know what you're signing up for?

[Chris Felica]

Did I ever Tell the story?

[Ryan Rosillo]

My buddy put his credit.

[Chris Felica]

My buddy put his credit score in his. In his Tinder while back in the day, and actually, pretty good. Oh, he's good. It was good. So that was the kind of a selling point.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Give me a number.

[Chris Felica]

It was high sevens, I'd imagine.

[Ryan Rosillo]

There you go. I love it. If a guy was like, 640.

[Chris Felica]

Looking for a boost.

[Ceruti]

Buy low.

[Chris Felica]

Yeah. Fixer upper with upside.

[Ryan Rosillo]

What if a guy was like, high Fico low credit.

[Ceruti]

That was me for so long.

[Ryan Rosillo]

You were Mr. Fico, dude.

[Ceruti]

When I.

[Ryan Rosillo]

We.

[Ceruti]

We went over the Carmax thing with Bill and how, like, I was like, pretty. Feeling pretty good going in there, and I was just like, you know, I'm like, 725. And they're like, we found one that's got you at, like, 6, 6:48. I'm like, well, but here, look.

[Willie Colon]

This one's right here.

[Ceruti]

And they were like, yeah, we got to pick the lowest one, man. I was like, that seems kind of up, actually.

[Ryan Rosillo]

They're not supposed. I thought they were supposed to drop the lowest of the three.

[Chris Felica]

Dude, this whole. This whole car thing keeps getting just like, Kyle got absolutely hosed in this. I've heard this story a hundred times, and every time, like, how did this happen? Like, how did this happen anyway? Why?

[Ryan Rosillo]

What's going on? What's your payment a month?

[Ceruti]

465. 11% interest.

[Ryan Rosillo]

11% interest?

[Chris Felica]

He got $25,000 and somehow lost money. That's what happened.

[Ceruti]

Listen, it's. It's. It's probably more like 40% me being Kyle and 60% CarMax being CarMax. But you know, I'd like.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Sounds like we're not going to be doing any of their reads anytime soon.

[Ceruti]

It's been a while. It's been a while.

[Ryan Rosillo]

We. I think we were doing their reads at some point. So 11% seems a little high. But I mean, are you thinking about 11% when the wind's going through your hair and you're on the highway?

[Ceruti]

Not at all.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Probably not.

[Ceruti]

But I am looking at the gas mileage like, what the fuck, man? We're down to a quarter tank. I feel like I just filled this thing up before I left.

[Ryan Rosillo]

14. Another reason not to drive down V8. I didn't invite you down, but gas alone. Okay. All right. So back to our email here. I rarely do this decent looking guy. He sent a picture. Good looking cat. Nice little smile, intense eyes. Though I rarely do this decent looking guy. I'm now super embarrassed. I didn't even mean to match with her. Another one of my friends is way hotter. Am I done for. I like this. I like. I like rough intros. I like.

[Chris Felica]

So you both swipe right.

[Ryan Rosillo]

They see.

[Chris Felica]

That's interesting. So she swiped right and then told her friends and then they made fun of you. That's a. That sucks.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah. Will you guys take me through this? Because I still don't really understand.

[Chris Felica]

Well, yeah, they both swipe right.

[Ryan Rosillo]

You.

[Chris Felica]

If they match.

[Ryan Rosillo]

If they matched. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So they had to both actively do something to match.

[Willie Colon]

Yeah.

[Ryan Rosillo]

It's not. Here's what they're doing. They're. You're 25. You know, you had a few. You download the app. People have been there to Suri's point. At least you weren't on Craigslist or not having an ad, which is another tier of shame. And then, you know, they just kind of wanted. It's almost like adults throwing rocks at each other at a playground. Like, I actually think it's a little flirty and I think it's a good start for you. Now, you may have burned it with a friend. Were you even in the game to begin with? You know, let's be honest. Let's do some self assessment here. But you have something funny the next time that you see them where you can all kind of laugh about it. I actually think there's a massive. Those, those, those rocky.

[Ceruti]

You know, you handle those type of.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Still land the plane right. You know like, hey, what the hell's going on with this crosswind? But you still, still got to where you needed to go. And I, I think these can actually pay off a little bit because now you have something a little bit different than everybody else. Even if. And by the way, I don't even think you should be that embarrassed. I mean, yeah, you're, who cares?

[Ceruti]

It's not like, you know, you got into like some real deep messaging and then, yeah, you know, she, she showed you like your paragraphs that you sent. But the other thing is, you know, I think, and I've seen like videos of this where I think girls, like maybe get together and watch one of their friends, like just go through Tinder. So, like, I wonder if it's a. Oh my God, fucking Mike matches me. And then she like screenshotted it, sent to everyone or they were all together, like, no, no. Oh my God, is that Mike? Like, I don't know. I don't know which one it was. I don't know if that makes you feel better or worse, but like, it might not have been like, probably worse. Look how hilarious this is. I'm going to send it around. Maybe they were just all, you know, gathered around this phone. I just, I know I've seen that in video. So, I mean, I don't think dudes operate that way, but I think that's just one of those divides, so who knows?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, he probably feels worse after that possibility.

[Chris Felica]

Yeah, it's been a minute, but I, you know, since I was in the app game, it was probably 2014, I don't know, who knows, 13, 10 years ago. And I was only good. But you know, you'd, you'd run into the, you know, so I have two younger sisters you'd run into like, yeah, you get one of their friends that was always like, no, absolutely not. Like, you just some. I just don't think you can cross pollinate there.

[Ceruti]

It's always also, the drunk guy might not even be looking. He's just like, how fast can my finger swipe right? And I'll weed it out later. He's just like, yeah, let me just use up all my, you know, swipes for the day and we'll see, we'll see if there's any bites, then we'll decide what to do.

[Chris Felica]

Ultimate green light guy. Yeah.

[Ceruti]

Guy hits a new, I don't know, boots up.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I think if they give you a.

[Ceruti]

Hard time, it's around 20 mile range.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Just tell them, like, at least I know where my head is at and what My priorities are what do you get? What are your bios, health and wellness? You know, what you see is what you get. Maybe make a shirt, wear it out with all of them. They're like, he's so funny. All right, that's Life Advice. Today's Life Advice was presented by State Farm. The personal price plan lets you call the place so you can choose the right coverage at a price that's right for you. Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can bundle and save with the personal price plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state. All right, thanks to Kyle, thanks to Wargon, thanks to Ceruti. That is the Ryan Russell Podcast. We are back normal schedule next week. Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We'll have live on Monday championships. Oh, that's right. We're breaking it down live with McShay after the conference championship game stuff. And then I guess I'm going to do an NFL open as well. So excited. Yeah, we'll be live on YouTube and check out our YouTube page as well. Subscribe Ron Russell Podcast must be 21 and older, present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 + and present in D.C. gambling problem. Call 1-800- gambler or visit rgh-help.com, call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 800-327-5050, 4247. Support in Massachusetts or call 1-87-7-8, Hope NY or text Hopeny in New York.