← The Ryen Russillo Show
The Ryen Russillo Show
Miami Beats Ole Miss, a Trae Young Victory Lap, Plus Ryan Fitzpatrick & Fred Warner Preview NFL Wild Card Weekend
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Hey barstool listeners. You can find every episode of the Ryan Roso show on Apple podcasts, Spotify or YouTube Prime. Members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. The Ryan Rosillo show is presented by DraftKings. They've never done this before. We taped this podcast three different times today. Early, early in the morning, but little midday. Visit Fred Warner and a post fiestable recap. So we're talking about, I don't know, 13, 14 hours spanning this podcast. So maybe there'll be different tones, maybe there'll be a different vibe. Maybe I'm going to sound into it. Maybe I'm going to sound. I'm not out of it. I'll tell you right now. None of these topics. I wasn't out on any of them. So, Fred Warner, a little defensive preview of the NFL playoffs. We've got Ryan Fitzpatrick from Fitz and Wit podcast Ryan Fitzpatrick, of course, Amazon as well. We're going to talk about the wide open AFC field and prepping up and, you know, some of the stuff that he probably wish he got to do in the playoffs. I didn't mean to laugh because that sounded mean. And we had breaking news before we tape this. Trey Young, officially a wizard. I'm going to be a little spicy in that one. And the Miami Hurricanes move on to the national championship, taking out Ole Miss in a classic. And I'm going to tell you something nobody else is going to tell you. NFL playoffs. Let's go. DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NFL makes every moment feel bigger. A running back cuts through the line. A strip sack flips the field. A tight end hauls in the kind of touchdown grab you'll talk about for years. Postseason games shift Fast, and with DraftKings live betting options, you can stay right in the moment. Plus, DraftKings has your back with early exit protection. If the player in your eligible NFL prop bet goes down at any point in the first half, you still get paid in cash. New customers bet just $5, and if that bet wins, you get 300 in bonus bets instantly. DraftKings sportsbook every drive, every play, every moment. Download the DraftKings sportsbook app now and use the code RYAN. That's code RYAN R Y E N to turn five bucks into 300 in bonus bets. If your bet wins in partnership with DraftKings, the Crown is yours. Gambling problem. Call 1-800-Gambler. New York call 877-8-HOPE and WHY or text Hope and why Connecticut. Call 888-789-7-7777 or visit ccpg.org on behalf of Boot Hill Casino in Kansas. Wager tax pass through may apply in Illinois, 21 and over in most states. Void in Ontario. Restrictions apply. Bet must win to receive bonus bets which days minimum odds required. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng CO Audio limited time offer. Well, that was a fun game. So taping this right after the Miami win against Ole Miss and the Fiesta bowl, and I have some thoughts. First and foremost, watching the game kind of play out right, what are you looking for? Like what looks sustainable, looks what looks like a problem. And you're looking at Miami's D line O line matchup, especially from what we saw in the first couple games, and just making Ohio State look like a team that's soft. You know, the A and M game comes down to a couple plays, but at the start of this one, things that are being established, you're like, look, it doesn't seem to matter about all these other things because when they hand it off to Fletcher, it's going to be a huge problem. And even Brown, you know, like every single time, whether they rarely were ever touched to the line of scrimmage on handoffs. And even if you looked at the defense from Ole Miss being able to stop him for like a one or two yard gain, it was always like a five yard gain, right? So you're like, okay, this is a problem. The defensive edge, right? Defensive line, 2, 3. Now from Ole Miss out of the jump, they get lacy on the 75 yard touchdown. So they're in the game because of the score, but it's one of those moments you're like, all right, score. Ole Miss settled down, they hit this huge one. Lacy's one of the best running backs in college football. But it was weird because during the broadcast, like I was like, how come he slowed down? Was he showboating, like what was going on with him? And then he kind of turns around and like cranks it back up the last couple steps and we just didn't really hear anything about it. Now all of a sudden he's out of the game and we're wondering if he's even going to come back. And we know that he did come back and he actually had a couple nice runs, a couple nice plays there as Ole Miss started to put some things together. So as I'm watching, I'm thinking Miami likely is going to be able to push around this Ole Miss front and of all of the playoff teams. And you looked at opponents yards per play, Ole Miss was way behind Everyone, they were in the 50s when you looked at the 12 remaining teams and I think everybody else was at least top 20. And they won that game against Georgia with Chambliss playing like all time stuff again. I'll mention those three plays on that one possession, on that TD drive where I just. I still can't believe how, how great he was. So you're kind of thinking about that in the back of your head. You like stribling, you like Wallace, you like Daquan Wright, and you're like, all right, so there's at least some stuff here. And then you're not hearing about Reuben Bain all that much. And then you're not hearing about Messador who had his arm landed on, and then somehow he got back into the game. But we just weren't really hearing their, their names all that much. So you're starting to think, okay, well even if it's just this one big play and the score is close, is there anything that Ole Miss has been able to do to kind of solve some of the stuff? Because it's really hard to go tempo when you're going three and out and it's third and 10 every time. Miami continues to just be able to run football whenever they want. As the game progresses, Miami's dealing with two things. Injuries. Well, I'd say more, more than two things. I'll just list them. Both their corners go down late, so they're gone. Macedor leaves the game. They even lost Scott, that awesome safety who they can line up and have them do everything. A team that was completely clean penalty wise against Ohio State, I think, was it 1 accepted penalties, 0 accepted penalties, flags all over the place. Right. You know, both teams are getting called for PIs. I thought everything was generally pretty accurate. There's probably some holds that were missed both ways. You can get mad about it if you want to, but a lot of flags and some of the false start issues. Cooper the right guard twice. And so now this Miami offense that, you know, if they're just in first and 10, second and seven, third and four, and then even a fourth and two that they had where Beck had it like third and nine, got it to two yards shy of the line, which is something I saw against Ohio State where I was like, I'm looking at this guy in third down and I just don't think he's necessarily seeing it unless it's a wide receiver screen. It doesn't feel like he really wants to rip the football all that much. But if you're getting it to Fourth and two and then you have Fletcher in the sole line. There's not really any question, like you're just looking at those moments almost like the Eagles going, well, if it's third and sixth, then fourth and two, they're just going to go for it because it's such a mismatch up front. And yet the score is still somehow close. Miami, the flags, you mentioned the injuries, they dropped four interceptions in this game. I'm not saying all of them are super easy, but that's four drops as opposed to the one pick that Beck had that was on a third and forever. And it looked like he actually wanted to run first again because it was one of those things. Once again I'm like, okay, well if this guy wants to run, like it's one thing to get it to fourth and short, but like third and 12, you're gonna get it there. And then he ends up tip ball. That pick wasn't his fault. Ends up being the, the one turnover for the game. Beckone, MVP because he's quarterback and he ran in the game winning touchdown. I thought he was, I think he was very good tonight. And I know most people are going to freak out because the guy who just won the game, who plays quarterback, we have to default say like, oh, he was, he was really good. I don't think he was really good at all. I could go down the list here, but first possession, Tony's wide open and all he has to do is throw a post. He's already beaten his guy and he somehow throws it to his left shoulder towards the only other defensive back that would have been in the play. There was a pass interference on the third possession where it was a miss. He had a deep shot that was a complete miss. There's a third and 16 where he wants to run again. And on the third and 16 he takes the four sack, which is the most sacks that Miami's allowed all season long. Marion was wide open left to right against no one on the right side of the field. And then on the ninth possession where they did get another pass interference, he throws a ball that I still can't figure out what he was doing. He like just threw a popup into the ear and it was the right call, it was the right pass interference. And I like that Miami took these shots. I like that they actually had the flea flicker play in there. Even if it felt like, hey, all the momentum's on the ground. If Miami were to lose this game, you're probably pointing to that going, hey, you can run the Football. Why would you mess it up? I. I like showing the other team some things to worry, even if it doesn't necessarily work. Even with what felt like, hey, if they probably just ran it 60 times right at these guys, it's probably a cleaner game and it doesn't really matter. The Tony touchdown. Tony had the huge play on third down where it looked like he was going to be tackled maybe at the line of scrimmage. Unbelievable balance. I cannot believe Ole Miss guy couldn't hang onto his feet. And then on that wide receiver screen, it was such a bad alignment for Ole Miss defensively against that look. And Ole Miss gets everybody inside. And the offensive line sets up this tunnel where they're running out of people to block. Tony still almost gets caught, regains his balance, goes in for the touchdown. Just an incredible season, an incredible night for the freshman. So I think there were two throws. There was a throw on third down to Lofton, third and seven. That was the third possession for Miami where Beck looked good. He had other options. That was later in the progression. And he absolutely rips it down the seam like a little bit of a. It's not like a straight crosser, I guess it kind of was, but it's a little bit further down. He's. He's kind of on the numbers or on the hash marks, and he's. He's coming across. And Beck saw that, led him perfectly and ripped him. And it was impressive because it reminded me exactly of the same throw that he hit Marion on on a third and 10 during that last drive when they absolutely needed it. So that looked like a throw that he was somewhat comfortable with. The reason I'm saying all this stuff is that this is almost nothing from Beck for the first two games. He has some stats in the third game, and this team's playing for the national championship. That's how good the rest of this stuff is. So, sure, we didn't hear from Bain and Messador a ton tonight, which is usually a big part of the victory package, but it's the O line. It's Fletcher. It's Tony. Tony should have won mvp. Fletcher doesn't have the numbers for it. You can't give it the entire O line, but I would say Tony on the screen and then on that third down, keeping things alive and somehow not being tackled even though his feet were tied up. It was such a massive, massive play. And it just is a credit to how buttoned up the rest of this stuff is. With all the things that Miami's facing to still pull this off and now heading home to play for a national championship. I love the Ole Miss story just because of all the obvious reasons. I mean, who would not appreciate what shored it at Chambliss brought to the Grove? And then those moments when they go up, they go up in this game and you're like, are they going to pull this off? And of course all the lane stuff is running through my head. Like, I'm sure it was for you as well, because you're like, what would be more Lane Kiffin than this team playing for the national championship? Like, imagine if they were to win this whole thing when he leaves to go to lsu. And look, I've even said when we had Max Olson on earlier, I'm like, you know, it's kind of a funny thing to poke Lane at, but anyone that's paying attention to the sport understands why you would go to LSU and leave Ole Miss. It's just the oddity that here they are in the playoffs and is there up late, you know, and who knows if they don't miss one of those field goals and how the score kind of plays out the rest of the way. But Miami still was was going to have to go for a touchdown late. So now I'm kind of doing a bunch of scoring math, which is a pointless exercise because, you know, if the score is one way, then maybe it plays out a little bit differently. But there was that moment in there and the corners are down and some of these guys are open in a way that you're not expecting hits, right? The tight end for the touchdown. And you're like, is this actually going to happen? And it doesn't. And they hold on. And crystal ball, who deserved a ton of criticism, like, hey, you can recruit, but are you really that guy when it comes down to it, in those big moments, I don't really feel like whether it was he or his coordinators, like, I don't have any issues with any of the stuff they did. I honestly thought that they were going into this or the quarterback they didn't really trust to throw the football down the field because he wasn't really able to do that at all. Got a couple pike PI's out of it. You know, he had a couple throws in that last, that last series, but they're not there because of Carson Beck tonight at all. So don't fall for it. What else? I think if I'm Miami, I'm rooting for Oregon because based on what we've seen this year, you expect Indiana play clean. You expect Indiana to be the more physical of the two teams. Although I think Oregon, it's almost like when I hear about the Steelers when they're running the football and it's like, oh, we're back to Steelers football. It's like, dude, they, this has been like a passing franchise other than some of those Le'Veon Bell years for like 20 years. Okay. But you know, the assumption is always kind of like when Golden State was winning a bunch of NBA titles, it's like, oh, they shoot three pointers. It's like, yeah, they're also like a top five defense every single year too. Oregon is very physical. I think anybody that's watched him closely this year and some of the battles that they've had, and there might even be like more high end NFL talent on that defense than there would be Indiana. But just the evidence that we have of these 14 games from Indiana is they're not going to be pushed around by anybody. They're not going to be taking a week off or anything like that. So really excited about that rematch, the rematch in the playoffs and the power four stuff because Ole Miss did beat Tulane this year, but the rest of them have gone the other way. And Saban was talking about at halftime as well. He's like, it's just so hard to beat a team a second time in the. The history, recent history, limited amount of history. It's only, I think like a handful of games. The rematch usually goes to the team that lost the first time around. But if I'm looking at Miami right now, I'm, I'm telling you, I'm. There's not many teams that could have had all the factors that I've run through and found themselves winning and then advancing and now going home to play for a national championship. So it's just cool to have Miami in this, in this world, because it felt like we were, we were teased and look, it was already happening. They didn't have to win tonight, right? They're in the final four of this whole thing. They're back into the playoff even with the expansion of the whole thing. But then playing for a national championship, like maybe it finally is like the flag being replanted after all the teases that we've had for so many years over like the last 25, since that incredible run in the early 2000s.
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Out on the course, they're the PGA Tour's best players, but in the arena, they're prime time. And season two of TGL, presented by SoFi is back with lights, cameras, action. We're talking big moments, big personalities, big names in the stands all on the big screen. Big time matchups with shot clocks, Hammer drops timeouts, overtime and playoffs. It's city versus city, squad versus squad. The squad sport just hits different under the light. It's TGL, presented by SoFi.
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Keep up. It's golf.
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B
Tune in to every match only on espn.
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We're gonna start with a little Trey Young news. It's official. He's been traded to The Wizards for C.J. mcCollum and Corey Kispert. I'm not even going to need any notes for this segment. CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert. Couple different ways I could do this. Couple different opens probably bubbling in my head. I'll be professional for a little while. All right. I don't know. We'll see. We'll see how I feel at the end of this. So if we look at some of the reporting part of this, it was like, well, Washington was his preferred destination. Washington's never been anyone's preferred destination, so we can cut that out of the way immediately. What made sense for him was he had a place that he could go where you could put up a ton of shots, get all of his counting stats and still feel good about himself. And also the news that he's going to get an extension there, which I can't believe. Washington's doing this, so maybe he opts out of the $49 million player option. This has all been figured out ahead of time. This is where when you have one of the handful of super powerful agents in the NBA, like, you're going to find a way to get something done. And Aaron Mintz is definitely one of those guys. So Trey had been available for a while. Atlanta didn't really like what they were hearing. You were just hearing the market for him wasn't very good. There's plenty of basketball people that were just like, I'm not interested in that. I think Winger and his group with Washington is really, really smart. So I guess I'm a little surprised by this. I am wondering, you know, his ownership signs off on a rebuild and brings in a new front office, and they start to say, well, hey, you know, like, what's going on? And the crazy thing about a rebuild timeline for most teams is like, you rebuild and bring in the draft picks and then you're young. And then at year three, you're like, we hope we have one slash, two things that we feel good and we're still probably not going to win a ton of games. So they're still one of the worst teams in the league, even though there's multiple guys that they've drafted that I either like or hold out hope for. So I think this was either something where the agents talking with Atlanta going, hey, you don't want to extend our guy? We want to go somewhere where he can get an extension. What works? Mince talks to Washington, the relationship there, and says, you know, is there some way we, you know, landing spot here? Maybe ownership is. Is also like, hey, we want you to spend the cap money. The old age thing of, I'd rather make a trade than wait around for hypotheticals. So Trey's not perfect. Also, the obsession with almost every general manager I've ever talked to in my entire life in their obsession of just like, hey, if I'm getting distressed asset lower than what the value should be, then I'm just addicted to asset management. And, yeah, Trey's not perfect, but there's no way that I should be able to get him for C.J. mcCollum and Corey Kispert. So I'm just going to go ahead and do that deal. Even if I think Trey gets in the way of developing all these young guys around him, I think he'd be one of the worst players you could have as a teammate to be like, hey, now, Trey Johnson, Keyshawn Sar Koulibali, Bub Carrington, you know, a bunch of guys, I would say, collectively, like, there's nights where I watch them enough. I'm like, oh, you know, maybe there's something there. If it turns into high pick and roll for 90% of the possessions. And Trey Young, like, it's going to be cool for Sar because he's going to catch lobs, even though Sar wants to shoot three pointers. So from a basketball standpoint, I don't really understand why you would want to do this unless ownership was saying, hey, you know what? Guys, like, nice little rebuild here. They're going to get a big pick and a great draft this year as well. There's some protections on it they have to worry about, but ultimately, like, you know, we'd like to start winning in 26, 27. And again, I don't even know necessarily that that means you're going to be winning if you're bringing a trade, but there's also a lot of cap space, so there's a lot of different levers that the Wizards can pull at. Again, I'm a little surprised. I wonder if ownership got involved in all of this. So there's also. I don't know if you. It was C.J. mcCollum and Corey Kisper for the face of a franchise, somebody for a franchise. And look, I'm just going to tell you, like, this one's personal, not because I like or dislike Trey. I'm now going to do something that I criticize the rest of us in media for doing, is that you can end up talking to a very, very small sliver of your audience as opposed to the overall audience. But the amount of that I've taken for six years of being the first person that was critical about Trey Young's approach to basketball was overwhelming. And it wasn't just fans. It was media members in Atlanta that told me year after year that I was wrong about Trey and that I didn't get it and I was just being a national guy. As if I would ever do that. I would never watch a basketball player or team and go, hey, I'm just going to decide to be a dick about this. I wouldn't do that. It's just not the way I do the job. I can sound like a dick once I decide I don't like a team or I don't like a player, and that's fine. Maybe it's just a masshole in me. So I remember going back to, I think it was 2019. I did a podcast with Woj. Woj came by. The first installment of the Manhattan Beach Living Situation. Came over, was like, I want to tape a pod with you. And we're just going around and we're talking about the league the way we talk about the league, you know, whether it's with your friends or on a podcast. And somehow Atlanta came up, and I was like, you know, the good thing about the Trey part of it is, you know, that summer league was so bad, people were just like, oh, my God, this guy can't even play. And then he comes in, he puts up numbers, he takes a bunch of deep threes, but they were going in enough that you could at least still justify him. So there was a lot of points. You're like, trey Young's gonna play, like, a long time. He's gonna make a ton of money. And, you know, there's that. But I've also noticed there's something else that happens with him where if he takes one of these ridiculous shots and they miss it, and then Atlanta gets a stop, they get a defensive rebound, and somebody other than Trey grabs the defensive board. I was like, and I'm saying this to Woj in the pod, I go, I noticed that sometimes the Guys won't get the ball back to him immediately. Like, he'll be clapping, going, like, all right, you know, get it to your point guard about to run the offense. And they made me a little frustrated with the shot selection, where I was like, maybe I'm not going to give you the ball right away, and maybe I'm going to bring the ball up and maybe I'm going to try to do something a little bit, because I'm sick of watching this right now. And I brought that up on the pod, and people were like, what the fuck? Like, what? What are you doing? I can't believe this. And then you had all the timeline of, like, you know, I was Lloyd Pierce, wrong offense, and, oh, Nate McMillan, he stinks, too. And then you bring in, like, all right, fine, well, Quinn Snyder, nobody thinks he stinks. And it's not any different. It's not any different. The fact that Jalen Johnson has developed into this kind of player, playing alongside him and somehow still getting as many touches as he does is incredible. And that's kind of the frustrating thing about this entire Atlanta stretch, is that there's so many guys that I've liked. There's so many draft picks that I thought, I don't know if Reese Shea is going to be any good. But the Jalen Johnson pick alone, considering where his draft stock was coming out of that one year at Duke, that wasn't really even that good. And now you're looking at him being like, hey, the sky's the limit. Like, I'm not going to put a ceiling on who Jalen Johnson is, but can you get the fully formed version of this if you're playing extra Trey Young? And then this year, it was. It wasn't even debatable anymore. They were a better basketball team when Trey wasn't playing. And I was watching that Knicks game that they lost, and it wasn't because Trey came back in, but I was like, I wonder if Quinn even brings Trey Young back in with five minutes left. And he did, and they lost. Like, it wasn't because of Trey at that moment, but I can only imagine the internal debate or what he was asking with his staffs, like, do we do this? Do we do this? Like, do we keep him on the bench here as he's just come back? Because it's probably gives us a better chance to win this game. I also did a podcast just over three years ago, December 22, where there was talk about, like, what do you do with Trey, and how do you do this extension? I was like, just get it over with. Trade them now. Trade them now while there's probably another team that talks themselves into it. And people freaked out about that, that I was wrong, that I didn't get it, that I didn't get it right. You know, here's the thing is anytime this stuff comes up, it's your position is you want this to happen, so you're going to tell me it's going to happen. My position is I don't care. I'm just watching basketball. I don't care if it works or doesn't work. Saj McCollum and Corey Kisper. So when I did that pod three years ago, again, tons of people lost a shit about it. Again, all Atlanta fans, you know, like, you can say I'm wrong about stuff, but when it comes to counting stat players that I think are not winning, basketball players, my track record's impeccable. You can hate everything else I say, but when I'm like, hey, this guy who puts up some big, big numbers. I don't think this works, though. Like, cool numbers, bro, but I don't think this works. I'm going to be right almost all the time on that. So, yeah, there's a little. There's a little twinge in my voice on this one because I'm like this dude who you told me for six years that I was wrong about and cranked it up even more three years ago. This guy that you've told me I was wrong about the entire time. Fucking CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert and no draft picks. All right? So I was unprofessional at the end there. So we'll see what happens. He's gonna, look, here's the other thing that's guaranteed to happen. He's gonna like 45 in a game within two weeks, and people are gonna think that, that somehow, like, I'm not telling you he's not going to have a million points and a million assists. I'm just telling you, if I were building a team, I can't bring in somebody where I am hostage to his style of playing ball. And maybe different players, you'd say, hey, this might humble them. Like, man, you were like, you're the keys to the city. You're the face of the franchise. Ownership didn't want to trade you. You know, all this stuff. Like, maybe there needs to be a little bit of, like, self assessment and go, do I need to change the approach here a little bit? And who knows, maybe in those first couple games, too, I'll be like, super eager to get other people involved. And I know you're going to tell me he's great at getting other people involved because the assist numbers and look, I do think he's absolutely fantastic on the reading, the defense against the drives and the lob and all that stuff. He's. He's awesome at it.
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But.
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All they could get for him was CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert and no draft picks. And that fan base told me I was wrong about this guy for six years.
- [25:24]
B
Out on the course, they're the PGA Tour's best players, but in the arena, they're prime time. In season two of Team TGL, presented by SoFi, is back with lights, cameras, action. We're talking big moments, big personalities, big names in the stands all on the big screen. Big time matchups with shot clocks, Hammer drops, timeouts, overtime, and playoffs. It's city versus city, squad versus squad. This sport just hits different under the lights. It's TGL, presented by SoFi.
- [25:50]
A
Keep up. It's golf.
- [25:51]
B
Tune in to every match only on espn.
- [25:54]
A
Let's get ready for the NFL playoffs. A lot to get to. Ryan Fitzpatrick, Thursday Night Football on Amazon. A couple thoughts on that, but what's up, man? It's good to see you.
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Yeah, good to see you, too. How you doing?
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I'm good, man. I'm excited about all this. You know, those last couple weeks, you're like, all right, let's get to this. And here we are. So if we started with kind of just generally looking at the field, I always kind of look at it this way or, like, looking at it this way. If we went through, like, okay, if this team won the super bowl, it would not be a surprise. Like, how many teams do you think we'd need to get to to then be the surprise line of like, okay, well, that would be a surprise if that team won because it feels like a pretty open field, especially in the afc.
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It does. The AFC is wide open. But I still, I mean, who, who the hell do you think is coming out of the afc? Like, I think the, the Patriots would be a shock to be in that game and to make it through the AFC into the Super Bowl. But they're the two seats, so that's how wild the AFC is right now. I think Houston is a team if they can generate a little bit on offense, you could certainly see them in the super bowl too, which is wild since they started off on three.
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Yeah, absolutely. If we, if we start with them, we know that the defense is Their, their calling card. And I was looking through some of the numbers today that I think is really interesting. And like, their, their personnel groupings, like, they're a fairly predictable group. Like, they're not going to try to surprise you if you're going up against a defense, that's awesome. But you're like, you know, it's not like they're trying to disguise all this stuff. And, and, and I mean, does it really get down to just, hey, our personnel is that good. Our 11 guys are that good. That we don't need to be confusing. We don't need to get cute about this. We can just play you straight up.
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D
Yeah, their personnel is really good. They play fast, they rally to the ball, they're physical, but it always starts with, can we get to the quarterback rushing for? And they're really special with those outside edge rushers and being able to do that. And then when you're simple on defense, all of a sudden everything you do each week is studying that offense, studying concepts, figuring out ways to pass things off. And so they're also exceptional at that on defense, reading route concepts, you know, eyes always in the right spot with the secondary. So they can really, instead of focusing on what the heck they're doing every week, they can really hone in on, okay, what is the opponent this week, what do they like to do, and how can we pass that off, read these concepts and make our defense even more successful?
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Does it trick you during the week in a game prep of thinking like, okay, well, we know what they want to do. Does it trick you into maybe being more confident than you should be, considering how successful they've been on that side of the ball?
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I. Yeah, I don't think, I don't think when you watch the film of the Texans defense, you go into that game real confident. And a lot of it is just when you watch teams and you can see on the all 22 on that film how fast they play. Houston is one of those defenses, and I thought we saw it with Seattle last week, too. I mean, from the first snap in that game against the Niners, they were flying to the football. I was texting with Sherm and Witt, and that was, that was the one thing right away that jumped out in the first series. You can see these guys and the passion they have and they're taught to be so aggressive.
- [29:23]
A
When I look at Pittsburgh this year, like, I can't believe they're in the playoffs. Right. You know, if you look at, over the course of the season, we know what happened in the last game. You know that X missed extra point. Like who knows how Steelers fans would have remembered that if Loop makes the field goal. But you know, there are a lot of third down numbers I didn't like from Rogers. And then sometimes you need to look at like how quick a guy gets the ball out. It can be like a really good number and Rogers gets it out quicker than everybody else. But when I watch it with Rogers, I feel like it's like is he trying to keep himself upright all season long? Is it the personnel or lack of personnel on. On some of the deep balls, obviously DK was out towards the end. He likes to throw it to some of the backs so he gets the ball out quickly. So the headline of that feels like this advantage, but I wonder if you see it like more layered, as if. Sure he gets the ball out quick and that might neutralize some things, but it also tells you that there's other things that are just not going to develop because they seem to be determined to get the ball out so quickly.
- [30:21]
D
Yeah, I think part of it. The Texans are going to have eyes on the football and so when he gets it out quick, how is it getting out quick? It's flat routes to tight ends, but it's also gain well and Warren are going to be really involved in the pass game and so can we bring those guys down? That's going to be a huge part of this game is just the tacky tackling, the rallying to the football. And then the interesting thing with them they haven't had the last two weeks is DK Metcalf. So he comes back in the lineup. When it's a one on one matchup, we know where the ball's going. So how many times he'll be one on one with Derek Steenlee Jr. Is yet to be determined. But it's going to be a really fascinating matchup to watch because Aaron knows in order to get those chunk plays, they're either doing it through the screen game with Jalen Warren with him breaking tackles, or it's him through the air being able to take advantage of those few opportunities they're going to have in the game to throw it to DK Metcalf. So Stingley Jr does a great job of playing the ball in the air. I think he's one of the best corners in the league. So those are the things you look at going into this game. But he will neutralize the rush a little bit. You know that's not going to be a huge factor in this Game. That being said, it's the dink and dunk, dink and dunk. You know, will they be able to break some tackles and get some first down? I think Houston's going to have control of this game.
- [31:38]
A
All right, so you're picking Houston again? I just. Sure. I mean, we can play the turnover game here. You know, Pittsburgh is, I don't think, great defensively, but they've been able to force turnovers. They get a couple of turnovers, you know, But I'm with you on that one, Houston. All right, I have a couple Caleb numbers for you. Let me. Let me just start with this, like, Caleb's first year with Ben Johnson. Just your thoughts to summarize what you saw this year.
- [32:03]
D
I think the first number that jumps out to you is the sack number. It's. It's been. Obviously, it was awful last year. It's been great this year. Caleb hasn't turned the ball over. So as a quarterback, if you start with we're not going to take sacks and we're not going to turn the ball over, then that's going to allow you to have a little bit of success as a football team. They run the ball really well, and that's helpful for a young quarterback, too. I think they're a top three rushing team in the NFL. And the thing I like about Ben Johnson is he's patient and he doesn't panic. If the run game's not going well, he's not going to abandon it, and that helps out Caleb as well. You know, Caleb is still scrambling on a fifth of his drop backs, so there's some stuff where he's just not seeing the game as well as he needs to see it still. But he does have a knack for making these big plays, so I think he's made a lot of progress this year. I'm excited to see where it goes because their dynamic, Ben Johnson is going to demand a lot out of Caleb. He's not going to put up with his bullshit. And I think that's really important for Caleb to have a coach. And I think Caleb respects and appreciates that.
- [33:12]
A
I think we completely agree on this, you know, because, like, as I've watched it this year, okay, there's a chance, like, there's a chance that this can work out. This is a chance. The guy gets the second contract and he's with Chicago a long time. But, like, I'm. It sounds crazy to turn the page on a really fun Bear season. I mean, it's. It's probably as much fun the way they've closed some of these games. But like, I really am, like, we're all going to know what his future is based on, like what next year looks like. Because there's just drops where you can see that he doesn't, he doesn't see it the way Ben Johnson wants to see it from the sideline. Like, you can just tell when a guy drops back and you're like, all right. Like it was probably there by design and he didn't want to let it rip. And I'm enthused, intrigued, whatever word you want to attach to Caleb about year three, but if you look at on target throws, he's at 70%, which is 34th out of 36 QBs, just ahead of J.J. mcCarthy and Chador Sanders. If you go bad throw rate, the highest bad throw rate, he has the third highest bad throw rate. Pennix is above him. I think Shador is above him too. It's like a 21%. And so they've turned the ball over, like, excuse me, they forced the turnovers, they've run the football to your point and they've closed so well that you're like, well, whatever you want to say about Caleb, like, he finds a way to step up there towards the end of, granted he had the interception in the end zone and one of the packers matchups there. But then you have the other game where they score 13 points in the fourth quarter. So, like, I think it's awesome and there's great. But at least for this year, this feels like a lot of smoke and mirrors for this team to try to go on some kind of playoff run because collectively I just don't know that they're that much more above average. And the turnover game is kind of helped them survive.
- [34:57]
D
It has, but. And you have to give credit to them for being able to force all those turnovers. And it's no surprise that Al Harris is there and they did such a great job in Dallas with him and now he's there doing great things. But I think you have to be careful. Like when we look at Caleb, what do you see? Rocket arm. Like he can make every throw. And I don't think there's a guy in the league that can generate more power on a football on the run than Caleb Williams. It's crazy. Every time I watch it. Does he need to hone in his accuracy? Yes. But does he have a knack for big moments in games and making big plays? I think he does. And the other thing with him and why, you know, this year there's been some more success and, you know, hopefully he just, as he goes on those scramble, numbers go down. He continues to play better from the pocket, see it better from the pocket. There's two numbers that jump out to me when I look at Caleb. One is he's fast. And we can quantify that by he has gone over 20 miles per hour five times as a ball carrier this year, which matches every other quarterback in the league on every team. I think he's deceptively fast and you don't realize it until you play in a game with him. And then two, he struggled more with zone coverage this year than man. And as a quarterback, when it's man coverage, it's easy to see. You can rely on your arm talent, you can rely on your receivers to get the separation to make the throws. When it's zoned, you have to trust it, you have to feel it. You've got to listen to your feet. That's when you're playing within a scheme and a rhythm and getting the ball out. I think those zone numbers, as he progresses as a quarterback, we have to see those get better and better.
- [36:37]
A
Want to remind everybody that fits in the whole crew are going to be on because that's their game. Packers, Bears, Amazon Prime Saturday night at 8pm Eastern time. I'm picking the packers in this one, even though I feel like they've gone from everyone's favorite team at the start of the year to just being completely dismissive of them. And the thing that I can't shake is zero trips into the red zone in that overtime loss and they had zero touchdowns in that game.
- [37:04]
D
Dude, I, I keep going back and forth and I, I think that I landed on the packers as well. And they've lost four games in a row, right? They lost Chicago, Baltimore, Minnesota. They rested everybody in that last game. The thing that concerns me about the packers, their defense, the way the Ravens just ran right through them, that has me really concerned because that's what the Bears do best. But what I love about Jordan love and this offense is they don't discriminate like in who they're throwing the ball to. I think Jaden Reed hasn't had that huge game yet. He got hurt week two in our game, you know, and has come back now with the last few games. But I think he's going to be a huge factor in this game. And then the other thing with Green Bay, Josh Jacobs, he's healthier probably than he's been all season or at least since that New York game. Didn't have a ton of carries in the Baltimore game and then got to sit out last week. So I think a more fresh Josh Jacobs is really going to help them, too. But Green Bay has been in control of both the games they played this year and obviously the crazy comeback by Chicago. But how lucky are we to get this game to be able to be at Chicago like this? It's going to be an electric atmosphere. We could get some weather. I mean, a little bit of snowfall would be wonderful for the visual, but it's going to be incredible energy in Chicago. I can't wait.
- [38:28]
A
Yeah, I can't wait for that game again Saturday night, 8 Eastern. That's probably the game I'm most excited about. And I'm just. There's certain games, matchups that'll happen in the regular season where I'll watch the game and be like, hey, if they match up again, don't forget what this game felt like. But then you factor in, like, the positive parts of the Caleb thing, because I still am excited about him, still excited about his career, but, like, nobody cares about year three when we have the playoffs at our doorstep here. I wanted to pick Jacksonville to go to the Super Bowl. I don't know if this Trevor Lawrence resurgence of five weeks is the same. He had a hot little run before the playoffs a few years ago and then actually was like a disaster, even though they came back against the Chargers, which led to all sorts of different timelines with those teams. And then once the bracket, you know, we start seeing how the seating's playing out. I'm like, man, they get Buffalo, right? And I think Buffalo is going to be a trendy pick for a lot of people because they're going to look at the quarterback field and go like, hey, just give me Allen. I just don't like that Bill's defense enough. I think Allen's turned the ball over a little bit more after a career best of, like, interception numbers, at least percentages. And this Jacksonville defense feels like it's not getting talked about nearly enough because of what Houston's doing and then what we've seen out of Seattle, as you've mentioned. So I'm. I guess I just didn't want to be wrong, Ryan. I didn't want to be wrong week one with my AFC super bowl participant.
- [39:47]
D
Yeah, well, I, I'm. I mean, I'm shocked that the Bills are favored in this game, or at least as of yesterday, they were.
- [39:53]
A
Still are this morning. Still are.
- [39:56]
D
So, you know, I admittedly, like, I didn't Watch a ton of Jacksonville. You know, we're watching all the games. They're not the one I have on the big screen all the time. And you just thought over the last half of the season, they're going to fall off at some point. They're going to fall off at some point. Well, they won eight in a row. They've won nine of their last 10. And so I started to dig and look at some of the film and stuff, and you know, that interesting point, that bye week came at the right time. They played Seattle and they played The Rams offensively. 12 points and 7 points. They didn't play well. But since then, almost 33 points a game. So it's like, okay, let's look at Trevor Lawrence. Sometimes when I watch him, he seems a little bit unsure of himself, but since the bye week, the dude has played great. I. I think the things I love about him, he's not afraid to let it rip. And so you're seeing all these great throws down the middle with him. You're seeing the throws on the outside and then the emergence of all these receivers. But Jacoby Myers is obviously a big pickup for them, but Parker Washington has been awesome. He's a lot of fun to watch, and he's using his legs a little bit more this year than he has in the past, but he's seen the field really well, and you can tell guys are coming after him and pressuring him, but he's throwing to the right spot, he's throwing on time. He's accurate. So I think kudos to Liam Cohen for the season that Trevor's had so far. And you've seen the drastic improvements from the first few weeks in the system to what he's done the second half of the year.
- [41:24]
A
I know you had a lot of stops. I mean, everybody loves your career, you know, because it's like, hey, is this going to work out? You're like, hey, you know, who's pretty good? And then it's like, oh, maybe that wasn't real. It's like, hey, did you see his numbers? Like, it's all over the place. And I, I have to imagine that, like, maybe in the beginning with the unheralded resume coming out, maybe you had coaches that were like, hey, don't. Don't try to do anything, you know, just let the defense win, get handed off, like, third down. If you don't like it, get rid of it, and all that kind of stuff. And, you know, maybe it's the. The evolution of coaching, because I feel like it's just generally more positive. And it's not even just in football where it's like, you know, back in the day, you come back and make a mistake. It's like, oh, this guy gets to yell at me the entire time. And I think all of us just sort of accepted that that was normal. But what did it mean to you to have coaches where it was like, hey, we believe in you. We want you to do some of these other things? Because I feel like you're just seeing that generally throughout the league, is that even if you may not love your quarterback, you're tasked with making them feel great about their abilities as opposed to prepping them to diminish their abilities.
- [42:28]
D
Yeah, I think it goes both ways. I think, you know, early on with Mike McDaniel and Tua Tua had it one way for a while, and then Mike comes in and showers him with praise and it goes the other way. Right. And that infusion of confidence really helped him initially in that relationship. But I do think there's still that fine line of, yeah, you can be buddies, but the coach has to be really demanding of the player as well. I think it's been interesting what we've seen in New England this year, because I know that system. That system is a difficult one to pick up. And Drake May's done a great job with it, but they'll continue to demand excellence out of him, not just for every game, but every single day in practice. There's going to be a demand there. So you can shower a guy with praise. You know, you can talk great about them in the media, in front of the team, but there also have to be those tough conversations where you need to get the best out of guys and find the way that they tick. And so with some of these quarterbacks, you have to have thick skin. You have to allow yourself to be coached. And I don't know Trevor really well. I know him a little bit. But with some of these guys, like, they want hard coaching, they want you to be able to get after them. And look, there's enough as a quarterback, you the. When you don't play well, there's going to be plenty of critics out there, and it's a tough thing. You need a tight room, you need a good support system. And it starts with your head coach. But behind closed doors, he has to be very demanding of you as well. And you had to be receptive that.
- [44:04]
A
Did you respond to tough coaching? Did you like being yelled at?
- [44:09]
D
You know, as you get older in your career? I never like to be shown up. Right. So, like, you can. You can coach me hard all you want, you know, in a team meeting, behind closed doors, like, whatever it was. But if it's one of those things where we're on the sideline and you're doing the theatrics and you're over the top because you want to make sure that everybody knows that it's this guy's fault, not mine. As you get older, you know, you don't think you really need a lot of that stuff, outward stuff on the sideline, but certainly in front of a team or behind closed doors, I was always open to that hard coaching.
- [44:48]
A
Can you explain? Like, I mean, I know I'm not going to be educated enough on it because I didn't play the position, but when you just said, hey, I know that system in New England, that's a tough system. Like, what makes it a tough system? Like, what are the things that you're like, hey, if you're prepping in this and installing it, like, this is going to be. This is going to be kind of tough, I'd love to get a further understanding of that from you.
- [45:09]
D
Yeah. So, you know, I was in that system when Bill o' Brien took the job in Houston. I ended up going to the Texans. So that was year 10 for me. And that system, hopefully it has a resurgence here because the systems that are demanding of the quarterback with the mic points with you have your hands on everything, whether it's a run game or the pass game, and have to have a full understanding of not just your guys and where they are, but those offensive linemen in front of you, what they're doing, how you can get into successful plays, how you can get out of bad plays. All those things like that New England philosophy of, you know, not losing a game before you win a game, you got to stop yourself from losing a game. There's an intensity that's put on the quarterback before the snap, and then that gets to, like, processing after the snap, too. But the intensity before the snap of getting everybody in the right place to get yourself a successful play or at least the ability to have a successful play. There's a lot of brain power that goes into that. And so I really enjoyed that year I had with Bill o'. Brien. And it's a cool system to be in as a quarterback.
- [46:21]
A
When you look at May's entire year, like, he might end up winning the mvp, and, you know, I think some of the younger guys, it's like, oh, you know, by. We had Matt Ryan on recently, and I was like, when did it really click for you? And I thought, Matt pretty much out of the jump as a high overall draft pick, like, it was pretty clear immediately, like, Atlanta's got a good one here and they're going to have one for a long time. And then the Matt Ryan gives you the answer. He's like, yeah, year five is when I felt comfortable. You just go, you know, this. This fucking position, man. But then May, it's, you know, there's some younger guys. It's like, oh, he's pretty good and that's a pretty good qbr. But you just know, like, you're not really stretching the defense. You're not challenging him. And then you have May, who's like number one on deep balls. He's number one QBR on deep balls. When you see someone this young compete and perform at this kind of level, like, I imagine. I don't know if awe is the right word, but when you watch the film of this, what are your impressions?
- [47:14]
D
Oh, it's awe. You are the amazing thing to me with Drake May, the deep ball accuracy and the ability for his guys to come down with the catches has been unbelievable. But it's his consistency every week. Like, for me, that was the hardest thing even, you know, through year 17, was every single week having the consistency to go out there and put your team in the best situation possible to win a game on every single play, on every single drive, every quarter, every half and every game. And he has done that. There has been no fallout. There really haven't been any games where you point to it. You're like, oh, yeah, he really lost the game for the team there. So I think that part of it, the consistency and the way that he's played all year long has been the most amazing thing to me. And just, you know, the difference from last year to this year as well, knowing how hard that system is that he's in and knowing how well he's operating it right now has been really fun to watch.
- [48:18]
A
I'm in awe of Herbert being upright by the end of the year. So when I was looking at this game, you know, we know the tackle situation and how different they've been without all. And obviously Slater hasn't been there all season. They've got the running back, health back. There's. There's at least one number that maybe gives you some hope here in the Chargers. It's not like, you know, the Pats are favored by 10 points here. They had one of the easiest schedules in the history of the league. So I'm still a little like unsure of, of what to expect against what I think will be a physical game against the Chargers. But the Chargers red zone offense has been a mess as far as touchdown percentage and New England's the third worst. So if you're the Chargers struggling in the red zone all season long to get in the end zone, at least in the preparation of this one, you're like, okay, well, at least we're going up against the Pats here because. Because that's been probably one of the worst statistical things they've had on what has been an overwhelmingly positive season.
- [49:08]
D
Yeah, I feel, I feel good about New England. You know, we talk about strength of schedule and how they haven't beat anybody. I mean, if you look at the amount of teams that have beat the Bills in Buffalo in the last two years, it's not a list of many. So for New England to go in and do that and then that second game to get up 21, nothing on the Bills and you know, to the chagrin of Patriots fans, but to the thrill of Bills fans to relinquish it was. It told me a lot about who they were and who they are as a football team. So I think that the way that they're coached, the way that they play, limiting mistakes is going to be good for playoff football. And again, the consistent performances of Drake Bay week in and week out, I think that'll continue. I, I do think the biggest X factor in this game, because the Chargers defense is lights out, is going to be a couple plays by Josh McDaniels that are schemed up that he has that they get big shots down the field. And that's going to be the difference in this game because I don't see it being a high scoring one, but I do see some explosive schemed up plays by the Patriots in this one.
- [50:17]
A
So it sounds like you like New England at home then.
- [50:19]
D
I do, yeah. I like New England.
- [50:21]
A
So here we have Philly, who we're only judging them based on who they were in 24. And if you look at the rushing numbers, it's, it's two completely different teams. The scoring stuff is down significantly. There's some other like, stuff I was looking at this morning, like yards per play. It's not dramatically different, you know, but the ranking can be different. Just off of a half a yard, what do you see as the biggest issue of what's happened? Because I still, I love the way that defense is playing right now, you know, and I'm like Reminding myself like, don't be too dismissive of this team, okay? Because they don't. They can be average on offense and win a couple of these games. So I guess I'm kind of, I want to ask, just more open minded, like just where are you at with the Eagles as they get ready for this?
- [51:06]
D
Yeah, to me, this is the, this is the one I'm having the most trouble figuring out who's going to win because it's too completely opposite teams, the way they're set up. Right. I mean, the Eagles defense, Vic Fangio, they're proven they've been playing awesome, especially the back half of the year. The offense has struggled. They've got all the playmakers, they have all the pieces. They're playing a little bit better now than they were. And then you have the Niners who defense is obviously the Achilles heel, the injuries there, but they just, you know, they've got to be able to somehow try to create some turnovers. Jalen Hurts doesn't really turn the ball over that much and the Niners offense has been on fire other than the game against the Seahawks. So this one's really intriguing to me. I think. And this might be just me rooting for that underdog. I mean, look at all the starting quarterbacks that are in the playoffs right now. I think two of them were drafted in the first round. Jalen Hurts, second round pick, and Brock Purdy. I think the Niners win this game, man, I really do. And Vic Fangio has done a great job. Shanahan obviously loves him and the work that he does, but I think the Niners find a way. Both teams are experienced in the playoffs with Brock Purdy to pull this one out.
- [52:24]
A
Okay, is there anything from the Rams Carolina matchup in the regular season that is. Is giving you any chance? Oh, you're just shaking your head.
- [52:32]
D
Pure anomaly. Stafford, couple picks like it just this game, the spread is over 10, I think and it's gonna, it's gonna be one of those games. The Carolina, you know, had a chance to get in by beating Tampa Bay. They didn't do it. Obviously they get the gift from the Saints Atlanta game. But no, I think this one's gonna be pure domination from the very start of the game.
- [52:57]
A
We agree on that one. All right, if you're gearing up and we'll include the one seats here because you know this, we're previewing the weekend here but you know, maybe, maybe a mention in Denver and you already mentioned Seattle, but you can use the entire field. Which defense would you least want to go up against of the entire playoff field.
- [53:15]
D
Houston, I would least like to go against. With Seattle being a close second.
- [53:20]
A
There is Denver third.
- [53:26]
D
I think I would put the Eagles at third and Denver for it.
- [53:31]
A
Was that a Buffalo pick or a Jacksonville pick? I don't know if I actually got you.
- [53:36]
D
I mean, I don't know if I got yours either. You said Jacksonville super bowl, but then you didn't want him to go out.
- [53:41]
A
So, yeah, I'm gonna pick Jacksonville because I just don't like that Bill's defense. I don't like the Bills run defense. And yeah, Allen's certainly capable of carrying a team for an entire day here, but I would go Houston. I'm going to go New England. I'm going to go Jacksonville. I'm going to say Phillies defense is enough for them at home. And on pick Green Bay. Okay, so we're the Rams.
- [54:05]
D
Rams. Rams and Green Bay were the same on. It's like I, I actually have to make a pick on Saturday during the Green Bay Chicago game, though, so I keep going back and forth. I feel pretty good about Green Bay right now. I'm going with the Bills, so we're different there. And I'm going with San Fran. So Bills and San Fran are the two that we're different on. So I can't wait to come back on and rehash why I was right and you were wrong.
- [54:30]
A
I. I'd be happy to do that. I don't really blame you. You know, it's like when Desmond Howard is up there for the Michigan Ohio State pick on game day. Like, what's. And all the years that you didn't think Michigan had a chance of beating Ohio State, he ended up being right because they just kept beating him to close out up until 24. I want to, I want to end on this because I've. I've only watched the Amazon Thursday night football promo 200, 300 times this year with Shaboozi. I had a question about the script at the end. Okay, so when Tony Gonzalez comes in and wits there and wits like, hey, it's Shibuzzi. I'm wondering if the script is like, hey, I told you Shaboozi would be here because there's a, there's a surprise element to it. Or, hey, you didn't believe me that Shibuzi was going to be here. Look at Shibuzi. Or maybe Whit didn't even know that Shabuzzi was going to be there. And Shaboozi's like, wit's like, I can't believe Shabuzzi's actually here. So I've. I've only. Like I said, I've only watched it and thought about it every time. A few hundred times this year. I'm just wondering how if there were different takes. If there was.
- [55:41]
D
Yeah. So, Ryan, I would tell you there were probably 30 takes of that moment. And, you know, I. I think it's the moment you're talking about Whit and Tony, like, embrace, and I'm in the background. Like, I'm not even there.
- [55:54]
A
Almost like you're not surprised.
- [55:57]
D
Like, like. But I.
- [56:00]
E
My.
- [56:00]
D
My question is, you know, every Thursday night we go let them know, like, I love the song. It's super catchy. So do we have to change it to every Thursday night and black Friday and then wild card weekend on Saturday, we gonna let them know? That's my big thing, is what are we gonna do for the intro? Is it still gonna be every Thursday night? Do we change it to Thursday night but wildcard weekend? I think there's a lot of questions we have to get answered before we have this game.
- [56:27]
A
Well, again, I can't wait because now, instead of just processing it without even realizing I'm processing, I'll be. I'll be watching more intently. Say hi to everybody for me, man. I appreciate it.
- [56:38]
D
All right. Thanks, dude. See ya.
- [56:44]
B
Out on the course, they're the PGA Tour's best players, but in the arena, they're prime time. And season two of TGL, presented by SoFi, is back with lights, cameras, action. We're talking big moments, big personalities, big names in the stands, all on the big screen. Big time matches, matchups with shot clocks, Hammer drops, timeouts, overtime, and playoffs. It's city versus city, squad versus squad. The sport just hits different under the lights. It's TGL, presented by SoFi.
- [57:10]
A
Keep up. It's golf.
- [57:11]
B
Tune in to every match only on espn.
- [57:15]
A
Let's get ready for the playoffs. Our friend, the all pro linebacker Fred Warner, joins the show again. What's up, man? It's good to see you, man.
- [57:22]
E
It feels like it's been forever. How's it going, baby?
- [57:25]
A
I'm good. I'm good. I'm. By the way, congratulations. The newest addition to the family. So if there was a time, I know there's no time to be hurt, but if there was a time to be hurt, you know, it's, it's. It's. It's worth crazy.
- [57:37]
E
It was crazy because I'm in the hospital. The day of the game is when my My wife went into labor, and I'm. I'm sitting there, I'm like, can you imagine if I was playing right now? And, like, we're in the same scenario, And I got to figure out, how am I going to operate this? Like, playing it? Like, the question would come up of, honey, are you still going to play in the game, or are you going to be there with me? And I'm like, God, like, why are you. Like, you can't even put me in that position to make that kind of. That kind of decision. Like, this is for the one seed. So, you know, we came to consensus. We won't say what that consensus was.
- [58:07]
A
You probably figure it out.
- [58:08]
E
But, you know, it was just like, everything happens for a reason, though. You know what I'm saying? Like, just being able to be there in that moment. I'm like, okay, now I realize why all this happened.
- [58:18]
A
So, you know, I could probably do, like, an hour on this topic, but we're not going to, because I've. I've had, you know, look, I'm. I'm at a certain age, or I've had this discussion with plenty of my friends, wives and everything, because I do think it's really interesting that you shift. And I don't know that it was recent, but maybe the last 10 years or so of, like, if a guy missed a playoff game, no one was ever going to go on the air and be like, really, dude? Like, you're going to miss a playoff game for this? And then, you know, I understand, you know, the arguments that I've had with maybe wives, with my friends, and they'd be like, look, you know, you never know. You would.
- [58:53]
C
You would.
- [58:54]
A
It would haunt you the rest of your life if something ever was wrong. Like, you have to be there. This is more important than any stuff. And then I think about, like, all of these scenarios, and I would just, like. It's generally applauded because nobody wants to be on the other side of criticizing a man for missing a game to be with his wife in the birth of his child. But I do think there's a line where the public would be like, hey, the quarterback's gonna miss the conference championship game because of this. Oh, there's. There exists a scenario where there'd be people going, really? You're gonna. And I'm not even sure that I'm even comfortable doing this right now. Sure. It's too late now. It's too late.
- [59:28]
E
Yeah, the line. The line is super blurry. Like, you could sit there all day and say, and when you're not in that scenario, you can sit there and be like, oh, yeah, like I would miss the game or vice versa. Oh, I would. You know, I'd miss the birth of my child if it were the super bowl, you know, and it's like, you think there's like these hard lines of when, when to go, when not to go and all these different things, but when you're in it, and it's like, this is your actual, like you mentioned, like, it, what if something were to go wrong and like, you really gonna miss the birth of your child? And I'm not saying that people who do miss it are wrong by any means. Like, everybody got their own way of doing things and, and how you handle that situation, but it's like the line is so blurry. So I'm just happy I wasn't put in that position. It was, it was clear cut. You know, I'm not going to be in the box this game. I'm going to be in the hospital watching the game.
- [60:12]
A
So that's just how it unfolded on today's episode. Ryan Fitzpatrick joins us as well. And, you know, I get a lot of the QB stuff from him. So I want to go to the other side of the ball and kind of look at this playoff field and I'm going to start real simple, which you can't pick. The Niners. Yeah. Who has the, who has the best defense of all the teams in the playoffs?
- [60:30]
E
Oh, boy. You know, I think obviously they're fresh in my mind given what I watched this past Saturday night, but I think Seattle, you know, I think just at all three levels, they got guys that are so disruptive and like what they did against our offense who've scored so many points in the past three weeks that then hold us to just three points to ultimately, you know, win the, the one seed. It's not like their offense dropped 30 on us. They, they scored 13 points in that game. They won 13 to three. And so, you know, I think I, like, I, I, I do respect Seattle. I would say I like their defense. You know, I hate them, but I do respect their, their defense. I respect their team. And there's a reason why they did get the one seed and they played like that all season long. And I think they're only going to get better as the playoffs go.
- [61:13]
A
If you look at the top defenses, like, I was looking at some of the numbers today and you know, depends on kind of like how into the stuff you are, but I mean, there's basic numbers that tell A story that these defenses are dominant, you know, for the season. And it's Texas, it's the Texans, it's Denver, Seattle, if you go points per drive, which is usually a pretty interesting one there, Seattle's number one, Texans are number two, Denver's number three. So, you know, we, we look at these defenses. I, I'd love to get kind of like an idea of. I know there's probably some that you're far more familiar with based on just prep and kind of being around, especially a division opponent like Seattle. But when you look at like what Seattle does, what Houston does, what Denver does, like what are some of the things that are different despite the same results, to be in the top groups this year?
- [61:55]
E
You know, I think it all starts with their ability to stop the run. Uh, you know, every team rather they're, you know, a team that airs it out. You know, they might have a head coach that has that philosophy of, man, we want to air the ball out, we want to, we want to throw the ball and score touchdowns and score points. But at the end of the day, you know, the league is cyclical where we've, we've obviously transitioned to a time where running the football is becoming more prevalent. Now you see the drop in the amount of total yards that quarterbacks are throwing in today's game than they were back, I don't know, 10 years ago when Drew Brees and Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, those guys are airing it out, throwing for over 4000, 5000 yards a season. Now you're seeing guys, 3000, 4000 yards. So like teams are running the football a lot more. So when you have a defense that can stop the run and make a team one sided where that now they're forced to pass the ball, which creates more opportunities to take the ball away in the pass game and play different coverages to that, I think that's where you find the best defenses that are playing. So that's where I see those three defenses that you mentioned. And Houston I think obviously is right there at the top as one of the best with d' Ameco and the things that he's been able to create with that defense personnel wise and philosophy wise, they are all super relentless and violent in the run game to now make a team one sided. And that's why you see all those takeaways happening in the ability to hold teams to such low amount of points.
- [63:18]
A
What would you rather have behind you like a certain, a shutdown one on one corner that, you know, like I was watching some clips this morning. And it's just stupid. Like, he's running the route with the guy. So you can argue. Okay, well, wait a minute. If this is their number one, we can take him out, right? So it feels like that's an obvious answer. But then I look at, like, the way Seattle's built a little bit and how much I love their safeties, and I'm just wondering, like, if you had a preference behind you, would you rather have one of those hybrid safeties that strike some fear into people or that kind of true number one corner that feels like takes away the number one receiver?
- [63:56]
E
Oh, I thought you were going to ask the question. Would I rather have a, you know, lockdown back end or relentless pass rush? And in that case, I'd definitely take the pass rush over the back end, because when you have a pass rush, it makes everything easier, not only for the third level, but the second level as well. All everybody in the backhand can play with their cleats in the ground and ball out break so much quicker when the quarterback knows he doesn't have that time. But when you're talking safeties and corners, I kind of lean more towards corner. But it's so even because it's like safeties are so involved in the run game. They're so like, they have to play the pass and the run effectively. Corners can kind of get away with just having to play the pass and are just kind of whatever. In the run game, it doesn't really matter. It won't show up as much. But if you've got a safety that's lackluster in the run game, that's going to show up a ton. But I mean, with how talented these guys are, they're how talented these guys number one receivers are in this league. You've got a true lockdown corner who can. Who can match up one for one against a guy and kind of lock down that side of the field and then you can. You can really run a true double team to the other side. I think that's what is super effective when you have that.
- [65:06]
A
I love the corner pass rush one as well. Like, I used to probably when I was younger. Like, I was just so enamored with the nasty, nasty corners. Right. I just was like, there's nothing better than having one of these guys. And then you start to realize, like, yeah, but if you can get there with four, it doesn't matter if you're getting there with four.
- [65:22]
E
Exactly.
- [65:23]
A
You don't really need the lockdown guy. It's like, hey, don't get beat in the first 10 yards, because at 10, 15 yards, like, our guys are going to be collapsed in the pocket more often than not. Like, we may not get home, we might not even knock the quarterback down, but if we're moving that guy around there a little bit, we don't need to be step for step with somebody 30 yards down the field.
- [65:41]
E
Yeah. And then when you see you look at Houston, right, And you had. When you got that combination of the pass rush with a Neil Hunter, a Will Anderson off the edge, and then you got a Derek Stingley, as you know, like, these are. These are all pro players at every level. That's where you see true dominance happening. And that's why it's like, it's not a surprise what they're doing, you know? And you match that up with a guy in d' Amico and their defensive coordinator who instilled the right philosophy of how to play the game. It's. That's as good as it. And that's why I think the Texans are such a sleeper pick in the afc where it's like, yeah, nobody's. When people are talking about the afc, that nobody, I guarantee, was talking about Houston as a team to watch, who's going to represent the afc? Because they're like, oh, no, Jacksonville, Jacksonville Jaguars, who are also a great team. Denver Broncos, New England Patriots, like teams that are. Who obviously had great seasons and are hot. But Houston has the formula that you see in my teams that have an opportunity to win the championship.
- [66:36]
A
So I'm really.
- [66:36]
E
I'm interested to see how they do in this first round.
- [66:39]
A
Why do you think Hunter doesn't get more publishers?
- [66:45]
E
I don't know, man. Maybe it's just.
- [66:47]
A
It seems like all you dudes are like, hey, man, Hunter. And then it's like he kind of has the stats to back it up, too. I'm not saying he's. It's not Miles Garrett. Okay, that's. That's fine. Because, like, I think we went through the Garrett, Crosby, Watt Parsons thing of it, so maybe. Maybe I even understand my own question, but I feel like whatever the gap is to those guys, to Hunter, it's like Hunter doesn't even get brought up ever.
- [67:08]
E
Yeah, I think it's because his style is so unique. Like, if you. If you watch his rush and, like, kind of how he likes, and he's been around for so long, like, his dominance has been forever. Back to. In Minnesota, like, he was the guy, right? He's been the guy for forever now with Houston. He's he's still been able to produce at that same level even this late into his career. He has a very unique style in which he rushes, you know, and he's real quiet about what he does. Like, you see him get a sack, he's not the guy jumping up, got the, the signature sack celebration. He not. He. He not talking about his, his game or how he does out in the public. He just, he seems like a guy that just keeps his head down, grinds, works and produces consistently on a play in, play out basis. But then, yeah, of course, when you have the young guy who's the first, first round pick and Will Anderson, he's kind of more of like the splashier guy who shows a little bit more of that fire and he's like the guy that people can get excited about. So you're going to hear more about him rather than Daniil. But just having the combo of the two is like, is unreal. That's. That's what you dream of right there.
- [68:07]
A
I want to go back to some of your playoff games and talk about, like, I don't know if there's stories in there or how we'll do this, but, you know, the preparation. I think your first game was what that Minnesota game against Cousins. Is that your first playoff game?
- [68:19]
E
That's right.
- [68:20]
D
Yeah.
- [68:20]
A
Yep.
- [68:20]
E
So.
- [68:21]
A
And this isn't to like, look, I don't think any of us are saying a Kirk Cousins and Aaron Rodgers level, but like, go through the, like back to that time of like, hey, when we knew we were going up a Cousins, like going up against him, like, we knew this. And then the next week it's, Rogers, you beat Minnesota. I'd love to get like locked into the preparation of how you're like, we kind of knew what to expect here. This really surprised us. So take us back to kind of like your first run through the playoffs as you were getting ready for a defense to, to take on two different styles of quarterbacks here.
- [68:53]
E
Well, it was super unique in 19. Right. You got to remember, we went into that Week 18 game exactly the exact same scenario that our team just had against Seattle was the exact same scenario we were in in 19, except we were on the road, you know, against a super talented and really good Seattle team in that kind of environment we wanted on the last play with the Dre Greenlaw, you know, smack at the one yard line and everybody goes crazy and we, we secure the one seed knowing that the playoffs run through, you know, Levi's Stadium. And so I think when I think about the question you asked. It was so invaluable. I can't even talk about how important it was that we had Richard Sherman on our side of the ball. A guy who not only has been through the playoffs, but who has won a championship, knew what it looked like because we had a perfect combination of young, young players, veteran players. So us relying on a guy like Sherm to be like, hey, Sherm, what. What's the difference between regular season and playoffs? And he said, listen, there is no difference. We've been dominant on defense all year long. I think that season we had the number one defense outrighting. He's like, there is no difference. You do not make the moment bigger than what it needs to be. We need to go in here, we need to prepare exactly how we've been all season. And if we truly are a championship team, we. We practice like a championship team all year long. And so this. This game is no different. So I think we went in so ultra confident in that first game. Even though that was my first playoff game, it truly was like in any other game. And when you have guys like Sherm, like Quan Alexander, Drake Greenlaws, our front four was unreal. Nick Bosa, Eric Armstead, DeForest Buckner, like it was unre. Like it was. There was no way we were going to lose that game because it didn't matter if our offense scored 3, 3, 7, 10 points. We were going to stall their offense to whatever was going to be one point lower than our offense needed. So I remember, you know, their. Their team kind of. Their team battled it. Just what it was. I feel like it just was lost side of the entire. I don't know what the final score was, but we. We got after those guys.
- [70:51]
A
Yeah, they had a late touchdown. Make it a little bit closer, but you're up two scores on them. They scored a touchdown there at the end. It was a 27, 20. Do you remember Garoppolo's numbers the week after against Green Bay?
- [71:03]
E
No, I remember they weren't that great. I remember Raheem Mosta ran for like, four touchdowns. So it was. It was pretty.
- [71:10]
A
You guys ran the hell out of the ball, you know, because it was like, what I'm. What I'm getting at here is you probably felt pretty good going up against Cousins. And then it's like, all right, well, who knows with Rogers, but you were able to pick him off a couple times. Times. Garoppolo finished that game six of eight for 77 yards. And I remember watching it going like, man, I love this defense, but, like, yeah, dude, so are you. You're not expecting six of eight from the quarterback for 77 yards. And again, it. When you get 285 on the ground, you don't really need a ton for the quarterback. But you also, you know, you. You may know that, like, I'm wondering, in the preparation of that game is like, we may need to win this one ourselves. And, you know, there's. There's. There's an argument to be said. Obviously, the running and the defense were the main components in this one.
- [71:59]
E
Yeah, I think that was another game where we came in ultra confident because of playing Green Bay earlier in the year on Sunday Night Football. And we dominated them in that game as well, you know, and so when we came in, I always remember this pregame, we're on the field for warmups, and on the big screen, they're playing the highlights of when we beat them on Sunday night on the. On the big screen. And so not only our team, but their team has to watch these highlights of us whooping them. And it's like, I could only imagine how just demoralizing it was for them to watch that. And we're just sitting there like, man, I can't. We can't wait to go out there and do the same exact thing we did last time. And sometimes maybe that's a motivator for the other team. Like, oh, okay, they got us last time, but they're not going to get us this time. But we truly just had so much confidence. But you got to remember our offense, Our. Our offense's identity that entire season was running the football. I think it just. It just happened where it opened up completely in that game. And I don't know if their. Their defense necessarily was ready for it or if we just were that good that day, but the way that Raheem and that offensive line work together, and for him to run over 200 yards and, like, four touchdowns, which is, I think, the most in, like, playoff history, it was something crazy. But, I mean, yeah, that's. That's the winning formula in the playoffs. You want to be able to run the ball, and you want to be able to play great defense. And so we had those two pieces to ultimately get. Have a chance to. To go to the Super Bowl.
- [73:14]
A
Okay, here's what I love about basketball. You know, I. I'm probably thought of as more of a basketball guy, but I'm going to explain why that is.
- [73:22]
D
All right?
- [73:23]
A
That if you are a truly special basketball player and it's a tight Playoff game. Yep. Then you can probably figure out a way all on your own to take over that basketball game. That's really hard to do in football.
- [73:36]
E
Yeah.
- [73:38]
C
Yeah.
- [73:38]
E
You ain't getting in line. That's why I think of the whole Bills scenario of people talking about, oh, this is Josh Allen's time. There's no Mahomes, there's no Lamar, there's no Joe Burke. Like, all these things about is Josh's time. I'm like, that whole thing, that whole thought process is so flawed because it's not one player. It's never been one player. It's never just been Patrick Mahomes. It's never just been Lamar Jackson. Like, Patrick Mahomes has been a part of so many great defenses. Like, it's unbelievable. And it's no surprise why they've won as many Super Bowls that they had. Yeah, Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid, Travis, they're all fantastic. But without that defense, who knows how many of those Super Bowls are winning? Josh Allen right now, unfortunately, is playing with the defense that is not playing all that great. And so you're telling me that, oh, this is his time and he just has to turn into Superman and score 40 points and he'll win his first Super Bowl. It's like, no, he's not. He's not alone out there. And unfortunately, it doesn't matter how well he plays. The team has to play great as a collective. And so, like, you just said that that whole thing about players taking over games, basketball versus football. Of course, like, you've seen it over and over again in basketball. You know, the. The games with Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, LeBron James. You know, it just has. It's way more. It's way easier in basketball because there's less guys on the court and you can affect the game on both. On both ends of the court. Right. So unfortunately, with football, you can't play offense and defense at the same time.
- [75:07]
A
Well, that's a perfect summary. Kind of like how I felt about it and why I'm actually not picking the Bills. I picked Houston to win the afc, and I may have picked Jacksonville. Yeah, I did. I did. I'm going to be totally frank about it. I was thinking about going Jacksonville. I'm not sure that I'm. I'm married to the idea that Trevor's, like, just all of a sudden turned around. He's been on an absolute tear. But I didn't like that the first game was against Buffalo, so I didn't want to have my AFC participant Be eliminated. Wildcard weekend. So I went with Houston because of the matchups.
- [75:34]
E
What about New England and Denver?
- [75:38]
A
I think Houston, Jacksonville are better than both those teams. Why I don't like Bo Nicks week to week, I don't like. Now I still don't understand how Joe Flacco turned into Joe Montana for four weeks, that super bowl run, because I felt like that was about their defense. Used to drive me crazy. We talked about it all the time. There's a lot of, like, Joe Flacco or Matt Ryan, and I'd be like, are you out of your mind? Matt Ryan's better quarterback. And then Joe Flacco turned into, like, you know, QBR. 150. Yeah. I mean, just unbelievable what that guy did for four straight weeks. But if you look at, like, his full body of work, it was actually kind of a statistical outlier of who he had actually been. And, you know, early on, it was. I felt like he was getting a lot of credit for wins when it's like, do you realize, like, this guy's being asked to complete 13 passes a game? Like, look at some of this stuff. That defense is outrageous, and that's why they're doing this. And I think Matt Ryan's been a quarterback, whatever. I think Bo Nicks, like, the Green Bay game kind of like, man, I can't. You know, it was awesome. He was great in that game. It was a huge spot. It's when I still probably believed in Green Bay a little bit more. And he was great. And then I would say there's just. There's, like, the next dud game waiting for you right around the corner. So I like May better than him. I like Stroud better than him. Yeah, obviously, I like Alan better than him. I think I like even Lawrence better than him. And Sean Payton would probably think I'm insane because, you know, we were talking with somebody, we were talking to Burt Breer on Monday, and he was like, yeah, they had. They had Knicks number two on their board behind Jaden Daniels. So they had him ahead of Caleb Williams on their draft board. And sometimes when I hear that stuff after the fact, I'm like, you're just saying that because you drafted him, but, you know, whatever, right?
- [77:09]
E
Yeah, exactly.
- [77:10]
A
It's worked out for him. And look, I think the AFC's wide open, but if you're telling me Houston and Denver's defense are on the same level, there's no way I'm going to tell you I like Bo Nix better than Stroud in a playoff game, okay?
- [77:22]
E
I like that thought process.
- [77:24]
A
Am I crazy? Like what do you see when you see Bonix?
- [77:27]
E
No, I, I, I, it's hard for me to say because I haven't, I haven't studied Bo that much this season. I'm going strictly based off of the games that I've watched just as a fan on the tv. And you know there has been, you know, inconsistencies. Right. I think there was, there was a stretch there where they're questioning like can he, you know, just be a consistent thrower of the football playing and play out when the game is, is being relied on him to, to, to win the game? Can he do that? And he is so young still. Like you got to remember he's only a second year quarterback and I think that's why people probably aren't as quick to want to put their trust in a second year guy. With Bo Nicks or Drake May even Drag May has had an MVP type season. It's like all right, well he hasn't experienced the playoffs yet so I don't know, you can't really say how he's going to perform when the lights are the brightest, right. But you know, again at the end of the day it's not just fully on those two guys to be like you got to go win us a game. They have to have, they have to have the ability to make the plays in the, in the crunch when it's, when it matters most. That's, that's for sure. Like you can't, you can't have a guy that can't make those plays. But you know, with, with the type of play caller that Bo has and Sean Payton, I think that gives a, that gives that team and that offense a lot of confidence especially with the type of defense they have to and, and having the one seed playing at home in that environment. There's a lot of going, well, going right in their favor to come out of the afc. But it is hard to say because do you put your chips all on a guy, Bo Nix versus some of these other guys?
- [78:57]
A
The defense, you know, plays at their best and I love so much of their personnel and they're running the football and I like the receivers like it could happen. I'm not saying like it's crazy but I just, I just like Houston in the full package a little bit better and I think there's going to be spots where you're going to have to quarterback like, you know, put together some of these drives and it's not that Nick hasn't done it I mean there's, there's evidence that he has late in the game and one score games and all that stuff. So like this, I know my position is, is likely not a popular one and I think the New England part of it is I think that schedule, I think if it was an average schedule, they'd have a few less wins and we'd be wondering if they were even a wild card. Even though I think Drake May should be mvp.
- [79:35]
E
So yeah, that discussion in itself is really interesting. I mean I, I, before I even heard anybody else's opinion about the matter, I said that Matthew Stafford was clear cut, the MVP. Like it's, I think when a guy has 15 more touchdowns than the other guy, it's like, why is that even up for discussion, who's the mvp? But it seems like guys value what Drake May has done with less as saying like that's why he's mvp, maybe because of how he played later down the stretch versus how Stafford and the Rams played later down the stretch. They're kind of holding that against Stafford, but I feel like Stafford couldn't, could not have played better this season to ultimately receive the mvp. You know what I'm saying? Like, I don't, I don't see how that's not clear cut in my, in my opinion.
- [80:17]
A
Final thought before we let this go. We know I gotta get your thoughts on Philly and obviously your squad, but is there a chance that you're going to give a big speech and tell everybody, hey, you get this one and I'm back next week even if it's not true?
- [80:34]
E
Yeah, I mean I, I may be done with the speeches for now because I actually gave the defensive speech before this task game and you saw how that went. So my speeches, my speech game needs a little work, I guess, to, to ultimately really, really find the group up. But listen, you know, at the end of the day, we were fighting for a one seed with the hopes to let the playoffs run through Santa Clara. That didn't happen. So now you have to completely flip your mindset now to saying, no, we, that's in the past, that's done. We're not, that's not how we're going to do this thing anymore. We are the road dogs. We got to find, we got to get it the grimy way, we got to get it the dirty way. And you got to do it shorthanded, right? You got to do it with guys that obviously aren't going to be on the field. You got Tatum Mathune, who's out because the tour is growing. Next man up, Eric Kendricks is up to. To be the guy. He's been there, he's done that, you know, and ultimately, just as a group, we gotta. We gotta bounce back and rebound from this loss that we just took against Seattle and. And put. Put together our best performance against Philly, who's obviously a great football team, but hasn't truly met the expectations I'm sure that they put on themselves after, you know, such a dominant super bowl performance last year and being such. Having such a loaded roster. They got some things they're trying to figure out as well, so.
- [81:45]
A
Sounds like a good breakdown, and we're. It's a sign for me to just not push anymore on the injury update on. On your. Your timetable, because I know, yeah, I'm.
- [81:56]
E
I'm ready. I'm ready whenever they're ready. You know what I'm saying? There's. There's some. Some teas that got to be crossed, eyes that got to be dotted. Unfortunately, if I. If they were just up to me, I'd be out there this weekend. But it's unfortunately not that it's not that way. Right. I got to make sure that I'm. I'm checking all the boxes and everybody has to give me the okay before they let me go out there. But I'm pushing, man. I'm. I'm training. I'm training hard. I'm back doing full football drills and everything, so time will tell, man. We got. We got to pull the win off first.
- [82:26]
A
I love it. I love it. Inspired. I'm mad. I already worked out today because I would want to go right now after listening to this. I love these. I love catching up with you, man. We really appreciate the time. I know you're super busy. Congrats again on the addition to the family, and we will talk to you a little bit further on in the playoffs.
- [82:42]
E
Yes, sir. Appreciate it, man.
- [82:44]
A
Make sure you check out Fred Warner's podcast, Real ones, the league again. That latest episode with Alex Smith. Really good and obviously timely as well. Before we get to life advice again, lifeadvice rrmail.com Seruti and Steve hanging out with us. Well, Ceruti and Steve is the same person. Kyle's also here as well.
- [83:03]
C
Yeah.
- [83:04]
A
Nice hat, Kyle. I like that hat.
- [83:06]
F
Like the positioning.
- [83:07]
C
Yeah.
- [83:08]
F
Did that for you, buddy.
- [83:11]
C
Your eyes look great today, Kyle. Skin's glowing.
- [83:15]
A
No, you guys, you're doing anything for us. I don't think about us.
- [83:21]
D
Let's.
- [83:21]
A
Let's have a little action here. A little action. On the wild card weekend from our good friends at DraftKings, the Alliance Wild card version. The board is yours, Rudy.
- [83:32]
C
Yeah. The NBA alliance for the NFL playoffs is going to turn into the NFL alliance and we can. I. I was hoping we can go wherever we want. So we're just going to pick. We're going to avoid the Monday game. So we'll just do weekend games. Nobody likes it under, but I do in this game. Eagles Niners 44 and a half. Eagles offense sucks. I'm not sure the 49ers offense is any good against good defenses. I think this is just like a low scoring. I don't know who wins it. Weird game. I'd probably take the Niners with the points, but I like the under. Under 44 and a half.
- [84:01]
A
You're a Niners fan, aren't you?
- [84:03]
C
You know, I don't like to talk about this because I like. Yeah, I was like a diehard Niners fan growing up and I just don't really care that much anymore.
- [84:12]
A
Like, aren't you a Miami Hurricanes fan though too? So aren't you. Aren't you revved up emotionally these next couple days? Because I feel like you've never talked about it recently.
- [84:19]
C
Because. Because I'm not really a fan anymore. I'm definitely not a Miami Hurricanes fan. I liked, I liked the 2002 team when I was like, you know, in middle school slash high school, you know, shout out to our guy, Greg Olson and that whole crew. But you know, the team was awesome. So it wasn't like, you know, and I have no affiliation with Miami, the University of Miami. I just like, like the uniforms and you know, what up swag. So I kind of feel like a fraud. So I just kind of. I sort of avoid talking about it. Yes. So I honestly, I'll probably take Miami tonight. I think they're minus three right now, which is great. But that won't be because I'm a fan.
- [84:52]
A
But it's not because I like them. Yeah. The only teams I care about.
- [84:56]
C
The only teams I care. I care about the Magic a lot and I care about my soccer teams a lot. And that's about it.
- [85:03]
A
Baseball. Who did you ever root for as a baseball?
- [85:06]
C
Grew up Red Sox. Then was like a weird. I was a weird Nationals fan for a while because I was in D.C. they had just built a new stadium and I would go to. I would go to like every game because they'd be like five dollar tickets. I'd go after my internship and they. I think I've told The story before, I saw a weekend series, I think it was against the Marlins where they had the lead in the ninth inning in every game and lost all three games. So it was a tough run there and that was the end of that.
- [85:27]
A
Pre Harper.
- [85:29]
C
So like, I was on the. I was early on the Nats before the. Before they actually got good, but I didn't really care that much.
- [85:35]
A
We don't Talk about the D.C. year enough on this show. Love, love to holiday special Easter.
- [85:41]
C
Have that plan another time. Yeah.
- [85:44]
A
Okay. Kyle under.
- [85:46]
F
I've been smashing, smashing Patriots props the last couple of weeks and haven't been bragging about it, but I have been. I've been winning a little bit here and there and I've always done a Drake May rushing prop. I'm going to do. I'm going to do Drake may 20 or more. They wanted me to do 26, but they gave me the option to do 20 plus. So I think we're going to get that done.
- [86:06]
A
Okay. I like it. You've been locked in on Drake May and you've been humble about it, which.
- [86:11]
F
Yeah, you guys haven't heard a peep.
- [86:13]
A
From me about Drake May 1st. I've learned about your winnings with Drake May, so let's keep that thing going. All right, I'm gonna go Jacksonville plus the point. Point and a half. Am I getting a point half or is it back to all right, I think I've seen it somewhere at a point, but we'll take the point and a half. I thought it would be a somewhat public play for Buffalo and actually it is not based on some of the stuff that I was seeing. So the most public play so far have been a lot of. A lot of Bears money, it feels like, which I actually was going to switch it to that once I realized the Jacksonville thing wasn't as cool as I maybe thought it would be going into the week. But now I'm in my own head that if I switch it, then it means obviously Jacksonville will cover. So I'm not going to switch it. So there you go. Check out the latest I draftkings and I guess, you know, monitor those. Monitor the situation over the entire weekend. Download the app, as you know, at the top of the show, promo code, hook you up. Whole deal. You want details? Bye.
- [87:14]
D
I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet.
- [87:18]
A
What's up?
- [87:20]
D
I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork.
- [87:22]
A
I have every toy you can possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid.
- [87:28]
D
So now you know what's possible.
- [87:30]
F
Let Me tell you what's required.
- [87:32]
A
All right. Life Advice, lifeadvice, rr, gmail.com. we have just endless stream of unwanted dog waste content. Yeah.
- [87:44]
F
People file gets people fired up, man.
- [87:46]
D
Always.
- [87:46]
C
I really get it.
- [87:47]
F
I think it always will.
- [87:48]
C
It seems like it's like cut and dry. We figured it out. I was like, I feel like that's like the best ruling we've ever given. The most definitive thing we've ever said in life advice and gets the most emails. Yeah.
- [88:00]
A
And guess who returned his garbage cans and recycling bins ASAP this morning as soon as we were done taping some.
- [88:07]
F
Top of mind nice.
- [88:08]
A
It's the first thing I did. Put all three of them away because there's guys out there like that one guy who's like, basically, you know, think about the dad who's like, oh, hey, I gotta rush the kids. Practice went late. It's dark out, I've got to run the kids in. Maybe there's a bath, maybe there's some pasta, maybe some chicken nuggets, dinosaur nuggets, who knows? And then it's like, oh, this guy didn't put his cans away. Let me punish him. Well, you don't know what's going on in his life. Maybe his wife doesn't like him anymore. She's talking about living with her sister for a little while. And this guy's supposed to remember to put in the cans because it was trash day that day and his punishment is your dog poop tax. I don't think that's fair. Tough. I don't think anybody wants to be in that kind of society. All right, here we go. A headline. Almost 50 year old DJ lives above me. Hey, crew. Been listening since the SVP days. I've lived in London in my 20s and Ryan was my connect back to the States and sports. I'm chuffed to bits. One in the eye for all of us.
- [89:05]
C
Sure.
- [89:08]
A
That's from Peter Munyan Succession.
- [89:12]
F
Oh, really?
- [89:13]
A
Yeah, It's a rum situation right over when Logan dies. It's a rum situation and a punch in the eye for all of us. It's just so brilliant. Just extra those little extra things so our guy, feel free. If you're in the audience, you want to start throwing this into your everyday vernacular. Chuffed to bits that you were a fan of your trip out here. I want to thank you for keeping me connected to my American roots while I lived out there. All right, no gym stats or player comp. But I did ask Latrell Spreewell for an autograph at a McDonald's drive thru in Milwaukee as a 7 year old. Nice guy. But given his history, it was wild that my mom let me do that. Well, I don't think you were any danger. You're seven at the time.
- [89:50]
F
Probably why he pulled it off too, buddy. I guess he didn't say if it happened.
- [89:53]
A
He just said he asked him. Yeah, yeah. No conclusion.
- [89:57]
F
Got it.
- [89:58]
A
Well, yeah, that's a good point. Keen insight there. I'm 34, living one of Ryan's favorite cities. I don't know what that would be. Denver, West Hartford, West Harford or Denver. Yeah, pretty much New Orleans. Not East.
- [90:13]
F
Bozeman.
- [90:15]
A
Bozeman. I don't think I like Bozeman as much as everybody else does. I didn't dis, I didn't dislike it.
- [90:20]
F
That's what real Montana heads with would say, right?
- [90:22]
A
It's like you're going to Bozeman. Okay, I liked Bozeman. I didn't think it was. I don't know. There's other towns. I like Whitefish a lot better than Bozeman. How about that? Checks out. Rent an apartment with my partner. Yeah, more of a Columbia Falls guy.
- [90:43]
C
Butte.
- [90:45]
A
I haven't hit up Butte yet, so we'll see. I have not done the full Montana.
- [90:50]
F
The full monty, as I say.
- [90:53]
A
Yeah, kind of. I don't know if it works, but I like that you did it. So it does either.
- [90:59]
C
From the hip here.
- [91:02]
A
This has a Friday feel. Taping. Let's see how Friday night goes. We should do a life advice Friday night just to see what happens. Just to remind everybody we're gonna have this will release. Well, you're gonna hear it when it releases. So this isn't some breakthrough.
- [91:13]
E
This will be out.
- [91:15]
A
Yeah, all right, I'll eat that one. But Friday there'll be an extra one after that. College football semifinal, so. Yeah, right. Hey, just to keep you locked in for Thursday, make sure you check out Thursday's bod, the one I'm listening to.
- [91:30]
E
So.
- [91:30]
C
All right.
- [91:30]
A
Our guy rents an apartment with his partner in a mostly 30 years plus 30 year old, plus part of the city. Here's the issue. We're in a two bedroom condo and the guy that lives above us is the definition of. Of Peter pan syndrome. Almost 50 years old nepo kid. I don't know for sure, but did some digging and it looks that way. His real passion is DJing. Every two, three weeks he hosts after parties at his place, which is directly above us from midnight on, often passing out with heavy bass going into the morning. Who amongst us has not passed out with some heavy bass? The other night, I finally went up there, knocked on the door, and asked him to turn it down. My partner works in healthcare and sleep is pretty crucial for his work. My partner, corporate strategy, job less so. The neighbor answered the door off his face and said, quote, I didn't even hear you knock. I just came out here by chance. What's up? I said, quote, no kidding, it's pretty loud in there. And asked him to turn it down. He seemingly agreed. When I returned to my apartment, the volume may have dropped from like 30 to 28. Here's my dilemma. Do I even bother? This is obviously not the kind of person who's going to change his behavior. At the same time, I don't want to come across like a to my partner for not being able to resolve this. Some people don't like the P word a lot anymore. Anyway, any advice would be much appreciated. A few details. Sorry, Kyle, what was that?
- [92:44]
F
I just said it really cuts through, really does wake you up in the middle of a sentence. I said it the other week and you were like, what?
- [92:51]
A
I was like, what? Did I just screw up here? Sorry. No, I don't know what it is with that word. I mean, obviously there's the kids in the car thing. Sorry to the kids and their parents right now. But it's not like we're not. I mean, we. I think we talked about. We must have said dog a record number of times. So, yeah, you know, I mean, I guess we're aware of it, but we're not doing very well if we were ever trying to correct something. But I don't know, it really depends on my mood probably more than anything else.
- [93:16]
F
I'll put it back on the no go list. I'll just go ahead and do that.
- [93:19]
A
I don't know. Because sometimes it just works perfectly. Like when I get done with some sort of training thing today and I'll just say to the coach, he's like, what's the problem? I use it. I. I feel like this today. This is. I feel. If I were to describe how I feel, here's the word I would use, and it's perfect. And then being in London, to our emailer, again, a word that no one's ever really supposed to use. But then I got back, I'm like, should we try to get this movement going here? Because it just kind of fits when a guy with a British accent says it about another guy and just says, oh, that guy's at this. And it's like, well, I don't really need to know anything else. This is really efficient.
- [93:54]
F
You'd almost need like one of those guys with you so you could test it out, like. No, dude, look, Jared knows. Jared, tell him. It's all over the place over there.
- [94:01]
A
It's funny when you say it.
- [94:02]
C
Do British people use the P word? I don't even know.
- [94:05]
A
They don't. They use the other one.
- [94:06]
C
Yeah, well, they're not really the same thing, though.
- [94:10]
E
Well, I don't know.
- [94:11]
C
Actually, they're not even close to the same thing.
- [94:14]
A
I don't know if we're talking about the same thing right now.
- [94:17]
C
Okay, well, the C word and the P word.
- [94:20]
F
Well, I mean, if you were to look it up, I guess that it would be pretty much the same thing.
- [94:25]
A
Well, yes, the etymology, I think would be correct, but yeah, you know, a science thing.
- [94:32]
C
But calling someone the C word and calling some of the people or not or not.
- [94:38]
A
True. Yes, now that's what I'm saying.
- [94:40]
C
Yeah, I understand. Like the. Yeah, the body, whatever is. Is.
- [94:44]
A
Yes. This is starting to feel like Dwight sitting down with Toby. Where is. All right, thank you for getting that. A few other details, one even match, but I'm not going to fight. This is incredible. Neighbors number two, the other neighbors don't border his walls in the same way, so a group approach won't work. Three, we have two bedrooms, but it's a split level and both are upstairs and subject to noise. Yeah, it's a tough one. It's a tough one because, like, is if. If this guy's DJing after hours parties just shy of 50, there's probably not a lot of changing going on. This is kind of who he is, Right?
- [95:28]
D
Sounds like he's wrong.
- [95:30]
A
Yeah, I mean, this guy's wrong. He shouldn't be doing this. I mean, eventually an age kicks in for most of us. You're like, you know, what sort of blows is Kid A at 11 when you have other parts apartments, Ryan, that. That have to listen to this stuff. You know, there was a few times I'd be like, hey, is there any way you could not do that? I'm like, you know what? Fine. I submit, you know, there goes that age of like, what's wrong with this? And it's like, nothing's wrong with him. You're just too stupid and young. Okay. And then you get into kind of the guilt range where you're not going to stop doing it, but you're going to feel worse when you do do it. And then you hopefully Hit that peak where it's like, I don't even know that I even want to do this anymore. And then you're thinking about everybody else first before you're thinking about yourself. And I think that's a very common thing. Depending on where you're living and you know how close proximity everybody else is around you, sometimes you just luck out. You have a deep, deep sleeper living next to you and you're like, I can't believe I'm getting away with this. Or maybe they're just afraid to say something to you. I don't know. I mean, there's a bunch of different ways this goes. I think right as I finish my thought on this is you have to hope if he's on some sort of booze or drug induced bender that goes along with this, that you have to hit him while he's weak immediately after the next day. You have to hit him when he's weak physically and when he's weak mentally. All right, where he is leaving his apartment maybe a little bit later after one of these, because he just doesn't want to interact with anyone else. And maybe he has food delivered and he's hoping nobody notices because he's feeling a tremendous amount of guilt. He knows he's doing it all the time.
- [97:01]
C
Right?
- [97:01]
A
Right. And so what you need to do is not hit him up mid dance party after hours. Whenever this goes, you need to hit him up probably around when you think he wakes up. It sounds like you may be able to hear when he wakes up and attack then. Because that dude who's almost 50, that's staying up that late and throwing these kinds of benders, his weakest attack point is right when he's walking up and he may be agreeing to things because he just doesn't want to interact with anyone. So that would be my plan of attack. Strike him while he is both mentally and physically weak. And he's probably going to agree to anything you say just so that he doesn't have to talk to you anymore. Because he's probably like old person hungover. And that person isn't a super productive member of society and more likely willing to agree. Like, look, if I ran a country, I would have a huge party and that I'd be signing the treaty the next day with guys hoping to strike them while they're weak and want to leave.
- [98:01]
F
I don't think I've ever knocked on the door. The first four years that I lived in la had some furniture movers above me. I mean, like an ungodly Amount of furniture movers. It was like they get home, they're like, you know what, let's try it this way. And it was crazy. I think I had two, like shut the fuck ups out the window. But I don't think I like, you know, but they're upstairs. I don't think they heard me, but I never knocked. Like, hey, it's getting a little crazy up here. I've never done that. So I'm more of a grid Barrett kind of guy. So. Yeah, I don't, I don't really know. You've already done, but that's different.
- [98:32]
A
Yeah, that's different. This is this we're talking about. Like he's saying every two or three weeks, like, you have to know how little this person seems to care. Or maybe they're completely unaware of it. Like, maybe because no one has ever said anything to them. I mean, he may not even remember that night when you came in.
- [98:47]
F
Sounds like the way that I'm just the way I pictured it in my head, just reading that script there. Sounds like he's totally, it's like, hey, Miley, what are you doing?
- [98:55]
A
He woke up the next day 12 thinking that was a dream. Yes, exactly. 12. Yeah. Like the next time you see him, he'd be like, God, I'm having deja vu. Did do this. Yeah.
- [99:06]
C
So Rudy, I, I, you know, this is one of those things where like, can't you just go higher than that and just take it to. Is there like a super. Is there somebody you could talk to? Like, that's, that's what their job is to complain on your behalf or the owner of the building to be like, hey, a bunch of us have this complaint about this guy and go from there. And like, that way you don't have to really deal with it. That's. I, I've had one, I've had one complaint against me and was totally my fault. Throwing a tennis ball on the ground with the dog, second floor, and I owned it. And it was like an elderly woman. I felt really bad. I was like, all right, yeah, my bad. Like, this is like, you know, but like that's the self awareness. But I don't know that I, if somebody was doing that to me, I don't know that I would do it. I would probably just be like, you know, if it happened, if it was regularly happening every couple of weeks and this was that bad.
- [99:50]
A
I don't know.
- [99:51]
C
I feel like you have to take this to a higher. This isn't your job to figure this out. Like, you Know, you complain. Use the group of you in the building to complain about this person and hopefully the owner or somebody else can do it on your behalf and then you can keep your hands clean.
- [100:03]
F
Do you guys know many like mid level, middle aged DJs? That was just like a thing I.
- [100:08]
A
Thought like, you know, only I only know high end.
- [100:10]
F
That's what I'm. Well, I mean, you know, guys who made like a. I mean it's all careers. I'm not trying to belittle anyone who is, but it's just like, it's sort of a young man's game. It's like sort of like, you know, when there was like a 50 something year old drug dealer, like selling small level and we'd come around, it's like, what is your life like, man? I like if you were, if you were 25, you were 30, it would make sense. But I just, it's just what. It just sounds like he's got a different kind of lifestyle. I feel like I'm pissing people off and I shouldn't even have said anything, but it's just one of those like job things where it's like you're pissing.
- [100:37]
A
Off our older DJ. Our mid tier older DJs.
- [100:40]
F
Yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah, there's got to be wedding. Weddings need DJs and stuff like that. So I'm not, I don't know, I'm digging myself.
- [100:45]
A
Yeah, but a wedding meeting a DJ versus like, hey, after he's at my.
- [100:50]
F
Place, there's a guy like, there's a guy who's, who works at the Dirt. I don't know what else he does. I know that like Wednesdays he's at the derby and then I don't know how he feels his days other than that. I had a bunch of guys in like fresh out of high school, they were like, I'll just DJ on the weekends and I'll figure it out. But you know, if you speed up 25 years, I just wonder.
- [101:09]
C
Does seem like a young man's game. I'd give that to you. Is Outsider Mike a dj? He was a dj.
- [101:13]
A
He was big time. Big in the New Haven club scene.
- [101:17]
C
Yeah, he was a, he was a club kid for a while. Don't know if he does anymore.
- [101:22]
F
Probably determine the size city you're into.
- [101:24]
C
And I think he's one of those. Maybe we gotta have him on 50.
- [101:28]
A
I don't think he's.
- [101:29]
F
Yeah, dude, he said 50s.
- [101:32]
C
I. I think I'm right.
- [101:37]
F
That was the guy. I get a tweet about him every.
- [101:39]
D
Once in a while.
- [101:40]
F
Is that the Docker story guy?
- [101:41]
C
Yeah.
- [101:41]
A
Honestly, as soon as this episode comes out on Saturday asking to come on. You know what? I'm more open to it now than maybe I was.
- [101:48]
F
I'd love to hear it live. I mean, could he do it again? Or would that be like two on the nose?
- [101:53]
A
He was a really nice guy, man. He's a really nice guy.
- [101:56]
D
Yeah.
- [101:56]
C
He smoked cigarettes outside by the dumpster.
- [101:58]
A
Like, you know, I love that he smoked.
- [102:00]
C
Yeah. He actually one time told not me, but in general, he said he was allergic to water. I believe this is a true story because he would.
- [102:09]
D
Yeah.
- [102:10]
C
He only drank Red Bull.
- [102:11]
A
Yeah.
- [102:11]
C
You remember this?
- [102:12]
A
Yeah, I could.
- [102:13]
C
I listen. This could be like an urban legend thing, but I'm pretty sure he was like, I'm. I only drink Red Bull. Red Bull because he doesn't like the way the water makes him feel.
- [102:25]
A
To be.
- [102:26]
F
To be paired with that is Big Jug. Ryan is funny because.
- [102:32]
A
Of all the stats you could have. This is my friend Mike Outsider. He's allergic to water.
- [102:39]
F
Though. That'd be the third stat you say in the the rule of three.
- [102:43]
A
Imagine going to dinner with him and everybody's like, you know, somebody doesn't drink, they put their hand over the wine glass, and then he's like, none for me, thanks. Over hourglass.
- [102:50]
C
Yeah. Just trying to stay healthy.
- [102:52]
A
Yeah. Yeah. Like you just pouring that stuff. You didn't even ask what I like, Mike. I. I shouldn't say.
- [103:01]
C
Same past tense.
- [103:02]
A
I just don't interact with him a ton. Is he still working there?
- [103:06]
C
I think so. Yeah.
- [103:09]
A
He confused the hell out of people. People didn't really know what to make of him. And then we started. We started just having him talk a little bit more on the show. And his hit rate was. No. I don't know anyone's ever approached his.
- [103:21]
C
Hit rate since it was Barry Bonds, 2001. Yeah.
- [103:25]
A
Yeah. And then of course, somebody in management was like, how come he's talking? Are you serious? You're not listening to this kid. He's a waterfall of content. I can't turn it off. It's nature. Except he can't use waterfalls, apparently. He'd be like, ah. You got anybody else getting a rash? It.
- [103:50]
E
Yeah.
- [103:50]
A
So good luck.
- [103:53]
F
Either tattle or don't.
- [103:54]
A
I. I don't know. That's.
- [103:55]
F
It seems like that's your. One of your two options.
- [103:58]
A
Just be careful. If you start saying that there's other people supporting your position and they don't know what's going on because they're just not hearing it. If the HOA manager, building manager or whatever, super, maybe here's your complaint. And then you start saying other people, like, hey, I've got some people that back me up on this. And then if that person goes and checks with the other people and they're like, I've never heard anything. I don't know what's going on. Well, just, you're going to be totally right. Oh man. Or you could just battle them like 8:00am Car readers, TJ batter just like, okay, this guy was up till 4, so it's 8:00am yeah, just keep knocking.
- [104:33]
C
On his door, ask him to do like, you know, community service with you like every morning. Just, hey man, bunch of us are getting out there, just you know, move some couches around for, for some people in need.
- [104:41]
A
But we agree soundtrack.
- [104:43]
F
We would agree no note, right? Don't leave a note. We've been, we've been over this, right?
- [104:47]
A
We're not.
- [104:47]
F
Not leavers.
- [104:48]
A
Notes are easy. You're doing, you're doing.
- [104:51]
C
This guy raised the mail that comes through his door.
- [104:53]
A
If you're, if you're, if you're afraid to see me in person and you're doing no, I'm like, okay, this person's weak, right? But honestly, there should be an age at some point that any of this is supposed to bother you and you'd hope this would happen. But then the other side of it is if it's a 50 year old DJ who's still throwing late nights, I mean, maybe that's working out for him lifestyle wise, but he may have just gone, hey, this is exactly who I am and there's no apologies for us. My life, everyone out of my way. All right, next one. Should I let a ten year friendship fizzle out? Hey fellas. 2858 with shoes, 140. No impressive gym stats or basketball comp. I recently ran a six and a half minute mile. Considering a half marathon later this year, apologies for the long email. Check with Wargon, see what we should expect his pace to be for a half. All names have been changed. I need some advice on this situation. I have a friend, let's call him Stephen. I still can't believe that he may have been allergic to water. We've been buddies since college.
- [105:45]
F
There's water in his body. What the hell, you can't be allergic.
- [105:48]
A
That's different.
- [105:49]
F
Different kind of water, different ph.
- [105:51]
C
Not exposed water.
- [105:52]
A
Yeah, yeah, it's like, dude, you just drink water that they give you nuts. I got a YouTube video.
- [105:59]
F
It's like something you'd say at your friend's house and they're like, can I please have some juice?
- [106:03]
A
He would forever be known and be like, is that the guy that doesn't drink. Drink water who's allergic to it? All right? While we never roomed together, we've always been close and we're in each other's weddings. We both got married after college and lived in different cities, but ended up in the Same City in 22. Once we were local, my wife who called Jeanette and I started doing every other week dinners with Steven and his wife. Let's call her Amelia. These dinners went on for quite a while, became something all four of us really look forward to. They were often the first people we'd call. We wanted to go out. They later announced they were expecting their first child. We were generally excited for them. We visited them in the hospital after the baby was born. After that though, things shifted. They're pretty anxious first time parents. Our every other week dinners came to a halt as they lived on the other side of town, 25 minutes away, did not want to mess up their child's feeding and sleep schedule. We tried to accommodate by going to them or meeting earlier in the day, but we were also juggling busy schedules ourselves. Over time, communication slowed and felt like something was off. About a month after an incredibly awkward dinner with them, my wife asked them directly what was going on. When we met them for coffee one morning, they told us that they felt we weren't being accommodating or supportive enough of them as new parents. And they pointed to other friends who would babysit for them as examples. This really caught us off guard as we generally thought we'd been making an effort. I feel like they left that conversation feeling like the air had been cleared. But we left that conversation without feeling like anything was resolved. Around this time, my wife and I are also going to through a lot. 25 was really difficult year for us. My father had been struggling with cancer for a while, died, digressed pretty quickly at the start of the year, and passed away in the fall. I'm sorry to hear that. Damn, damn. It's quick. Yeah, man, it's terrible. I'm sorry. On top of that, I was struggling with some job insecurities and my wife and I were and still navigating infertility. These friends knew about my dad and my job, not infertility. But it felt like they were not being very supportive of us during that time. Over the last few months, things have felt Strange, we've not had had dinner together in quite a while. We have seen them each individually a few times, but it's not felt the same. My wife is fine with letting the relationship fizzle out, but I'm having a hard time with it. I don't know if it's people pleasing nostalgia for what the friendship used to be or something else, but it's been weighing on me. Stephen reached out over the holidays and asked to catch up over coffee, just the two of us. My question is, how do I proceed? I don't realistically things think things can go back to how they were, but I see few options. I see a few options. Let the friendship slowly fade, clear the air and see if there's a way to maintain a relationship just between the two of us. Or possibly something else. I'm not seeing. Would appreciate any advice. Congrats on the new venture. Oh, thank you. Appreciate it.
- [108:29]
F
You could clear the air without like having an UN who supported who left off, you know, it sounds like that's what he's thinking about.
- [108:35]
A
It's like, yeah, well, you didn't say.
- [108:36]
F
Shit about my dad and you didn't babysit my kids.
- [108:38]
A
Like, you don't have to do that.
- [108:39]
F
Like, you could just. It sounds like your wife is fine being out, so maybe you're just like, all right, obviously things are a little bit. Things have been different than we're, you know, than they used to be. A lot of life changes, you know.
- [108:49]
A
Do you. Should we.
- [108:50]
F
Should we just be a you and me buddies thing? Should we figure something out and maybe that's once a month instead of once a week and whatever. Or, you know what? Like, just level with them. That way you don't have to be like, this shit is broken and it's your fault.
- [109:02]
A
Like, that's. That's my point.
- [109:05]
C
Yeah. Yeah. I'm trying to think of any instance in which I would ask any of my friends to watch my kids, and I can't think of one. So that's insane.
- [109:12]
A
I've offered. Never taken.
- [109:16]
C
Gotta give you a little bit of notice, but yeah, I wouldn't worry about you. I think you'd be all right. You know, I think Marlo would enjoy some rhyme time. She's a good hang. Not around.
- [109:24]
A
I got a lot of hours. I got a lot of hours. Yeah. I'm just telling you right now.
- [109:27]
F
Also, it's not crazy for a dude to disappear for like two months when.
- [109:30]
D
He has a kid.
- [109:31]
C
Right?
- [109:31]
F
Isn't like you.
- [109:31]
A
Can I kind of expect that too much for Years.
- [109:35]
F
You off for like six months, didn't you, sir? He broke it up.
- [109:40]
A
It was three and three. Here we go, here we go, here we go. I am very, as I'm older now, I am very much on the side of fighting through all the. To maintain the friendships with the guys that were your core guys through almost anything. All right. And the chances are their world is now turned upside down because they have a kid. And if you're even saying they were kind of like nervous first time parents, everything else, like they can become, I don't think narcissism is the right word, but it just becomes like their day to day is so important to them, which is what it should be, that there are probably some things that you could read as like, man, this feels a little selfish, but I don't think selfish is necessarily the right thing. But they're just not seeing the thing in the same way of like, they're not going to be as accommodating because their entire world has been disrupted. So honestly, this seems fixable. And if you mentioned something with this guy that you were this close with about the infertility, then maybe he'd understand. Maybe he tells the wife like this. To me, you're hitting a really, really rough patch because the dynamic has totally changed. This is kind of the way it's gone. But I'm just telling you, like, going through life, if it's somebody you like, you like spending time with, you know, let the rough time play itself out and, and find a way to fix it at some point because you know you're going to have a moment where you're a little bit older. You're like, man, I really like that guy. He was in my wedding. We go all the way back to college. Like, the cool thing about my college friends is like, we put up with each other for so many years that like, there's almost nothing anyone can do to the other person anymore. No, that's going to make them go like, hey, I'm out on you. That's what's tough about making friends when you're older. Because it's like the threshold for you screwing up is so much smaller. It's just like, hey, you know, I'm like 40 and I met you and you did something I don't like. It's like this guy. When you were.
- [111:19]
C
Find a new friend.
- [111:20]
A
Yeah. Right. When you're 18, it's like, I would never be friends with you today. But it's like, you know, it's been 30 years and we're doing this whole thing. So I. It's. It's obviously challenged now for a bunch of different reasons, but I'd go with him. I'd go get coffee. I'd explain everything. I wouldn't be critical of anything that they've done. Even if you'd be justified in being like, wait, so we're supposed to babysit? We're like, we're already changing the schedule around. We're supposed to babysit for you people. Like, what? What is wrong with you? I would just eat all that, don't even address it.
- [111:47]
F
Get back to basics and then start from there.
- [111:49]
A
Yeah, maybe a little fantasy football update. I got four for three. All right, that'll do it for Ceruti. That'll do it for Kyle. Tom and Kevin, thanks as always. Please subscribe. The Ryan Rosilla Show, Arsenal Sports. Sam.