20. Yapping about Pick Sixes, NFL Karma, Bad Ref Calls & Good Teams on Both Sides of the Ball

31:29My second one is Traylon Burks and the overtime with the Rilla Commanders game versus the Broncos. Traylon Burks has an insane one-handed catch. It was just like Odell Beckham Jr.'s catch a couple years ago, literally one-handed behind his back and like, it was just beautiful. Like all the pictures I'm seeing, I'm like, this is what makes the NFL so cool because these men, these men are so, these men are so athletic and it blows my mind. I'm like, I just can't get my body like you're defying gravity. And that's on Wicked. That's on Wicked. We want to thank our fabulous sponsor, Kusos. You guys hear about them every single week, but we love them.

32:10And we're super grateful that they are a part of our journey here at the game. They have bold flavor pack seasonings. I just started meal prepping again, and I am not a meal prep queen. Okay. I meal prep as often as I can, but honestly, never enough. And Kusos makes it just so much easier than it would be otherwise because I'm pretty lazy about it. So I'm just so grateful that they have seasonings that like make my food taste better. It's perfect for game days because it is so flavorful. You can add some of the seasonings to the rims of your drinks and it's super clean ingredients. And as I told you, I had acid reflux recently.

32:50And so having Kusos with my salmon and my Brussels sprouts and my rice last night was so ideal because I knew that it wasn't going to upset my stomach. I knew that I was in the clear and I knew that I was going to wake up today feeling super hot, snatched, healthy, great as you always want to. So thank you, Kusos. If you want 10 % off your order, type in code the game at checkout. You can also go to kusocuts.com slash the game and it will automatically apply your discount and supports us. So we really appreciate you guys checking them out. They're lovely. So thanks Kusos for sponsoring. Okay. So Puka's one-hander is in there for me.

33:32If you haven't watched it, he's just laid out. And I feel like snatching is like the perfect way to put the catch because he really did just like grab it out of thin air. Like it was incredible. So that catch was definitely on there. One of my other ones though is cornerback for the Panthers, Mike Jackson intercepts Puka, Nakua, and Matt Stafford for a pick six. And I think that just shows how elite both of these players are because Puka outplayed Mike Jackson. I believe he's the one defending him in the, in the first one. But then Mike Jackson intercepts a gorgeous pass for a pick six. And I, I mean, who doesn't love a pick six?

34:24Come on. Because you know that it's every, we always say it. It's an ick if you get an interception and you don't score. So just to take it right to the house. That's hot. Quick, easy, done. Points on the board. Done. Points on the board. Let's go. Let's get a win. So Mike Jackson, shout out to you. Honestly, I didn't know that much about you prior to this pick six, but I love a pick six and yeah, he's 28 years old, went to Miami for college round five in the 2019 draft, went to Dallas. He's six, one, 210 pounds. So I actually have to tell you about another guy who's kind of tiny is Marks Mariota.

35:105 '10". Yeah. He's a little Hawaiian boy. Yeah. He played some insane football. But, okay, we didn't play the league. I fear that my game of the league is this Rams-Panthers game. Really close second of the Commanders-Broncos game. But the Panthers were – I was counting them out. And then they have an insane comeback and win the game against the Rams. Okay, but the comeback wasn't, it was a comeback, but it wasn't that much of a comeback because they were back and forth on winner, on who was leading the entire game. Yeah, I'm saying comeback in general because like the way - Oh, comeback on the franchise comeback.

36:00Yeah, and like also the way like from the get-go, the matchup was. Like, no, I don't think anybody... And not a discredit to the Panthers. It's honestly a credit to the Rams, because, like, the Rams have just been playing really good football in the night and three. So I think just hearing all that and then seeing the game play out, it's like, oh, okay. Yeah. My bad, Bryce Young. But honestly, I'm happy for Bryce Young. This is a great season for Bryce Young. I know. He's really having a moment. Yeah. And I think the Panthers are... on a high. I think the Panthers are like believing in their own potential now, which is why we're now seeing interceptions, why we're seeing some more sacks going on.

36:45I think that they're believing in themselves a little bit more than they did. I mean, last season was just abysmal for the, for the Panthers. Like, I mean, they still made some great plays, which is why I had faith in them in the beginning, but like, it was rough. They lost a lot of, a lot, a lot, a lot of games last year. And I think that this year having a couple of W's is giving them a lot more confidence to play with more confidence. Yeah. In the first quarter, the Panthers picked off Matt Stafford, which was Matt Stafford's first interception in 10 weeks. 10 weeks, Matt Stafford's first interception.

37:25and it was picked off by former Ram Nick Scott in the end zone. Insane. And then they had his Stafford's second interception in 10 weeks, which was the Mike Jackson pick six, which was just wild. Also, I need to know, are cornerbacks doing catching practice? Honestly, I would say like, yeah. because they should be you have to you have to you have to be able to like because i mean these these balls are getting thrown not only are you trying to like catch it and like secure it but they're they got some zing on them and sometimes they're also like blocked and stuff so yeah i would assume that you would have to like be able to hold it hold it down right like i'm wondering like are they going to wide receiver practice like once a week once a month i need to know somebody somebody tell me okay yeah and then yeah it's back and forth and fourth down conversion for the panthers to tetrioya mcmillan tt do you can you pronounce his name well i always feel really bad but no i always just say tt i actually have one fantasy well to that point though i was going to say the panthers did him and rico dallas with their offense this season i think it's been a very big game changer for this offense too.

38:50Yeah. Cause that was a fourth down conversion for the Panthers, which was, that was like, it was a hail. If it was two minutes later, it would have been a Hail Mary, but this also was a Hail Mary because if they hadn't gotten that, then like, who knows what the Rams would have done. But then even after that, the Panthers were able to hold the Rams intercept Matt Stafford, recover the ball after Stafford dropped it, hits a first down and wins the game. So that game was just insane. Yeah. I don't think anybody saw it. Like you were saying, like, I don't think anybody expected it. I didn't expect the Panthers to get blown out, but I didn't expect the Panthers to win, especially after last week, the Panthers were on my outlist and guess what?

39:32Now they're back in. I'm sorry that I did you like that. Now they're back in. I'm hot on you still. You know, I was being real last week. those rough it was so anyway panthers are now seven and six which is a better record than patty um also fun facts about bryce young he played under mac jones at alabama his freshman year i i yeah he did which rop mac jones mac jones needs the mac jones should be starting on an nfl team i think he proved himself i agree like maybe mac jones on the jets La Boo Boo Man? I mean, keep it in. You're a little scary. He wouldn't fit in. Scary, scary. I don't know. I would be down for Mac Jones on the Jets.

40:18Okay, and then last year, Bryce Young, his total yards last year, 2 ,403. Total yards this year so far, 2 ,337. So he's about 70, 80, over 100 yards away. But wow. snaps snaps yeah so he has had nine interceptions though so let's let's reel that in and we'll uh we'll see how they go one of my good friends eric he's a panthers fan and i posted on my instagram story you guys what did i tell you about the panthers and he dm'd me and said panthers in the super bowl and i was like at first i was like no freaking way but then i was like with how this season is going. I don't know. They just beat the Rams.

41:06They're still in. They're not knocked out yet. So I feel like 6535 that the Panthers could get there. That's generous. That's a generous one. But they beat the Rams. Yeah, I don't know. They beat the Rams and the Cowboys beat the Eagles and the Chiefs and the Jets just won and the Lions are losing and the Lions are currently scared of the Cowboys and the Seattle Seahawks are some the 40 the decimated 49ers have one of the best record like what is going on yeah yes yeah I feel like it's it's unpredictable if he was going to be in there but I don't know it's okay there's just too many good teams and and And the 49ers actually are one game away from having the 1C, but they're also one loss away from missing the playoffs.

42:04That's excruciating. That is so crazy. No, but honestly, honestly, Kittle said this in a press conference after the game. He was like, you know, like our team has overcame so much. Like if you, if you told us that I was going to be out, Brock Purdy was going to be out. We were going to like literally miss half of our team due to injury. And then Matt Jones was going to play in the game season. We all were laughed at you, but now we've kind of are on the back half of that sitting at a pretty good record and could be the one seed. So I don't know. We'll see. I like 49ers. Yeah. I like them too. Okay.

42:45my game of the week is the Broncos commanders game. This blew me away. I'm not going to lie. I fell asleep. I had acid. I had acid reflux for the first time in my life from eating so much Thanksgiving food. And so I was like, actually, I'm sorry. That is crazy. No, I was actually unwell. So after, so we had Thanksgiving, and I had two full Thanksgiving meals. We had Thanksgiving on Saturday because we did the Cowboys game on Thursday. And then we had like my mom like whipped up a lasagna out of nowhere on Thursday for dinner. Friday, we went to the Dallas Stars game with our whole family. So we weren't going to have Thanksgiving then.

43:32So then Saturday was our Thanksgiving. And I just like eat pretty clean. And I also probably eat like smaller portions now than I ever have before. and then Thanksgiving, I was so excited all week for Thanksgiving. So then I just, I don't know what came over me. And I had so many cookies. Oh my God. My cousin Kim's cookies. I'm going to lose my mind over how good these are. Like I literally, there's not that many things that I can't have in the house. Like I don't have like, if it's in the house, I'll eat it situation except with Sour Patch Kids and these cookies and these will make me lose my mind.

44:07Anyway. Yeah. So I got really bad acid reflux to the point where like I ate a turkey sandwich with like gravy on it the next day. And I had to lay down for a long time. So anyway, I napped through the beginning of the commander's game and then I turn it back on fourth quarter and I'm like, let me catch up. So I'm like zooming through and I'm like, oh my God, we're, we're three points away from a tie. And I think that Dan Campbell and Dan Quinn are the same and that they are both like dirty play callers. Like they are animals. They are fearless. Like Dan Quinn is one of my favorite coaches to watch just because he's like just enough on the cusp of reasonable and completely unpredictable.

44:48And so they end up tying the game. But what made this so dramatic is the horrible, horrible calls by the referees. And what also made this game so good was if you want to see like pure athleticism and grit and tenacity, like watch this game because both teams were exhausted, but the ability for the commanders to keep their cool after bad ref call, after bad ref call, after bad ref call going against the highest sacking team in the NFL because the Broncos only got two sacks, two sacks against the commanders. And that means that the commanders were dirty because if the top sacking team only sacks you two times, we've seen games with seven sacks on quarterbacks this season.

45:51So the fact that you only got two sacks in that game is absolutely bonkers. And so I just loved watching Marcus Mariota do his thing. He's 32. He's a Scorpio, if you needed to know. 6 '4", 225. 2015, first round pick to the Titans. One of the best quarterbacks for the Titans in the last 25 years. And then has been kind of a mix of backup and a starter on numerous teams after that. but they were able to keep so cool and so level-headed and play so level-headed in the fourth quarter in the face of pretty much as much adversity as much adversity as you can get because we've said that like the Broncos offense isn't really that good they're not they're not doing anything so spectacular that we're never talking about them we're only talking about the Broncos defense and the fact that the commanders were able to hold off the Broncos defense and even get them into overtime with the commander's record and how the commanders have been playing and the loss of their quarterback and their backup coming in at 32 years old is insane.

47:02So let's talk a little bit about these fouls. I'll get off my soapbox here. Okay. So we had multiple flags that even the announcers for Sunday night football were calling bad calls. And I don't really feel like they will call out a bad call after bad call after bad call. Usually you'll get one and they'll say, I don't know, that one's a little on the fence. Like one of the announcers will say, I don't really think that's it. And the other one will be like, I can see it. This game, the announcers are just absolutely going in on the refs, basically calling the flags just absolute trash. So let's talk about it.

47:41With 2.55 to go, the commanders are on a second and 10 from their own 26. Mariota throws to Terry McLaurin, who was interfered with by Patrick Sertan. No flag was thrown and the recall shows the uncalled penalty. Like it's just very, very clearly like textbook pass interference, no call there. So no 10, 15 yard benefit to the commanders. Then the next play, Mariotta is called for intentional grounding. It was not intentional grounding. And it's interesting because the exact same style play was called Marcus Mariotta threw a lot of balls away in the fourth quarter, like just throw away, throw away, throw away, throw away.

48:26We watched it like multiple plays in a row in the end. None of those are called for intentional grounding. It's the exact same scenario. Receiver is in the exact same spot. So intentional grounding call, Absolutely not intentional grounding. I think whoever the receiver was tripped, couldn't get there, but it went right over his head. That was absolutely crazy. And those two calls went to a second down, a loss of down, and 25 yards back. So then they're on freaking first and 25 or second and I think it was second and 25, which was insane. In the same, we're still in the final minutes of the game.

49:05and there was a false start quote on Terry McLaurin. Literally, if you watch it, there's no false start. And false start, I feel like always to me, like I need to get a little clearer on like how much movement a false start is really and how much - It's in a movement. Yeah. And it's like, I feel like it's a gray area, which is also why we're talking about it with the Eagles so much on the tush push because I feel like some refs call this differently. Like the refs all need a false start meeting. to clarify. But anyway, Terry McLaurin is like, he's not moving. He's just straight up not moving. And so the Sunday Night Football crew, who is NBC's Mike Tirico, Chris Collinsworth, and Terry McAuley could not not talk about it.

49:53They are just saying McLaurin's called for a false start. That is not false start. And then in overtime, so after all of that, The commanders keep it together. And you know when a foul gets called on you and you didn't foul. That is excruciating. It's painful. And after all of that, they make it into overtime. And there was a holding charge on a commander's rookie that also was like really, that one was on the fence. So fine, but on the fence and a game changer. And then. Harvey Harvey. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. And then in overtime, they did get one back where Marcus Mariota is literally just running away from defenders as they do.

50:41And Hufunga pushes down the intended receiver. I think it was Terry McLaurin. And Mariota throws the ball in that direction. So clear pass interference that did help them stay in the game. But holy crap. If I was a commander, I'm already lit up about it because how are we saying that these are going to New York? And then they're not, who in New York is not seeing what we're seeing? I mean, it goes, it goes back to like, it goes back to betting. And like this, it goes back to how the league is an entertainment league first. It goes, this is exactly why these games are scripted the way they're scripted.

51:19I will say that once you get out of regulation, in my opinion, everything that happened in regulation kind of goes out the window. And like you're playing, it's your survivor's sink. and the commanders did survive in regulation, but unfortunately Nick Benito for the Broncos is just an absolute beast. And two-point conversion of the commanders, they got the touchdown. They were trying to go for the win because you get the touchdown, you can field goals and be tied. And as we know, first of all, ties are X. And if they went for the tie, you know, there is no extended overtime in regular season. So they had to go for a two-point conversion.

52:00And then Nick Benito just untouched, off rip, untouched, comes straight through the line and doesn't sack Mariano, but blocks the ball. Not blocks, swats the ball down. Yeah, in very dramatic fashion. In very dramatic. What's funny to me is like everyone's like dabbling up. I forgot his name, but like he was diagnosed with testicular cancer and then like had surgery. and so a bunch of the teammates he's on the broncos but a bunch of like the commanders i think yeah he's on the broncos bunch of the commanders teams were like coming to him and like congratulating him and like you know supporting him and stuff like that but nick benito just like off by himself like celebrating so that was funny to me but yeah there was this girl i saw on on tiktok and she was like a win is a win broncos win a win is a win but to your point of like how many times are we going to say the Bears suck until they don't because they're winning games how many times are we going to realize the Broncos aren't that good like Bo Nix actually played a better game this game than he has um I actually just traded away Cortland Sutton and he probably had one of the best games he's had in the last two weeks so that's trash for me on fantasy but Bo Nix actually played decent the sack thing is very interesting to me on the different side of the but at the end of the day who won the game for the broncos i mean nick bonita yeah and that's been the story every single game and bo nick said it at the press conference the post-game press conference he was like yeah when we give the ball to the defense we know they're going to make a play and we know if we're going to they're going to help us out so yeah i think one thing that i is frustrating as I continue to learn more and like do more like analyzing of what's going on.

53:53I'm not an analyst. I'm not calling myself an analyst, but I, as I am paying more attention and just like learning more and looking at numbers more deeply than I ever have the like NFL teams relying on a single point of failure is fucking insane. Like it's insane because I was listening to something this morning and they're saying like, just give it to Patrick Mahomes and you'll know he'll make a play. And it's like, you're an entire organization. And if you're really putting all of your eggs in one basket, that's just bad business. And it's just a boring storyline to me. And if you're losing because you have a single point of failure, you should be losing.

54:36Literally. On any team, in any business, if you have a single point of failure, even if that is like your most important, player like it's still a single point of failure which is why the bills have been losing games and i will i will like you can't play here a ball like the era of like having superstar quarterback and nobody on your offense to help them out is over it needs to die because football is a team sport but the similar thing for the broncos that's like me saying the cowboys are we're still winning games because our offense is really good but our defense is questionable no if our defense is not good well defense does win championships which is why the practice kind of are winning so playing devil's advocate to the point i'm trying to make but you you have to have a complementary football your offense and your defense has to operate yes are there going to be flashes of greatness on one over the other in certain games yeah but you have to have the marriage of the two in order to be really good teams.

55:37I mean, we've seen it before where defense hasn't been so great and the offense is taking over, but we've also seen the flip side. But I don't think, I don't know, the Cowboys could be this team, honestly. That's maybe a little bit of bias of me. But I don't know if there's a true complementary football team on both sides of the ball right now. that's interesting i don't know what team i would say that like what team has been really dominant in offense and what team has also been really dominant in defense i mean like i can maybe say the colts because their defense has been bad i would say the colts's defense has been i would say they've been like decent yeah i would feel like great but like i think that the thing about a, about a complimentary team is like the chances of you having like excellent on both sides of the ball is low.

56:35So I think if you have good and great, that's a complimentary team. Or if you have excellent and good, like if one side of the ball is as long as you're in the green on both, right? Like good on offense and excellent on defense, you'll win great on offense, great on defense. You'll win like good on both. You'll have, you'll, you'll squeak some out, but if either one is like bad essentially like the the bangles are playing with like a what what's it like when you're in in school and it's like your report card is like excellent good needs work needs improvement needs improvement yeah like bangles needs improvement on both sides of the bar of the ball, even with like, even with Joe Burrow, you know, I would say that I would say that that bonus in the Broncos offense is in the green.

57:29I would say too. Yeah, I would say good. So, you know, maybe the Broncos, I mean, maybe the Broncos are one of those teams. I mean, I think that you're, you know, it's crazy, but I think that you're kind of right with the Cowboys. Like, I think that they're good on both sides of the ball. I would like to say that the Lions are good on both sides of the ball. They're making my argument for them a little bit more challenging than I would like it to be right now. But I think that they, I think that they're fairly even on both sides of the ball, even though I think that they're playing around with that good category on, on both sides at the moment.

58:00I saw something that said, if Dan, if Dan Campbell was going to take over the offensive coordinator play calling position, because the OC wasn't good at job in hindsight you should have just got a new oc because now people are unhappy with with how danis colton plays which is interesting i thought jameson williams stepped up immensely this past game with the absence of a monroe yeah so i don't again again i don't watch every single quarter so i can't really speak on this but i don't know i look at all his play calling that bad? I mean, okay, this week we played, the thing about the game this week that I feel like is we played the Packers who the Lions have already lost to this season, so that's a thing and a half.

58:55The Lions also are now going through their second transition of the season, and none of these are excuses, okay, I'm just saying facts here, but they're going through their second transition of the season with who's calling plays, and then Aminrah St. Brown does go out. And I think that with the stakes, where the stakes are, and as much as we want to say that these players can become cool and collected all the time, like the fact is, is that they're humans. And I think also like kind of like emotionally, culturally, when your star receiver who does a lot of the heavy lifting for your team goes out, it emotionally shakes you up.

59:33Yeah. So I think that fact in itself, like, are we, is it so shocking that the Lions lost to the Packers this week when Amon Ra goes out, when they're having some internal coaching struggle and the Packers are good? You know, like, I think that the, I mean, the Packers have a decent both sides of the ball. They do. They do. They do. But I will say, I feel like it's funny because I feel like this week was a storyline of teams that have been okay playing very well. Yeah. It's like the Packers played way better than I thought they were going to play. Jordan Love does a really good job in that game.

1:00:17Yeah. The one thing that I didn't like was that Jordan Love looked so smug on the sidelines. And I'm like, either be happy or be unhappy, but being smug is so annoying to me. He threw four touchdowns. Yeah, but you don't have to be smug about it. Like, why don't you just be outrightly happy? Like, why do you have to be like, I beat you. Like, why can't you just be like smiling like a normal guy? It's like a spidey, a spidey smugness. And that's because I'm a Lions fan. But like also, come on. Like, you can be happy and celebratory. But like, you don't have to be like, I'm winning. Like, nobody likes that.

1:00:51Yeah, I made one off that game, I will say. Yeah. Wow. Well, really interesting week, 13. interested for the Cowboys Lions game. I almost said we should watch it together, but I think that's scary. Victoria, I crash out of watching the game. I can't wait. Should we though? And then do like live updates on Instagram. I have to check my schedule. Yeah, I got to check my schedule too. I don't even know where I look. I think I might be in rehearsal, but if not, I think we should watch it together. That's crazy. Okay. Yeah. We'll get some, we'll get some, uh, margaritas or something going. Maybe we should go somewhere.

1:01:33I should go somewhere. Yeah. I'm like, we should be like, you should be decked out in all lines gear, decked out in all cowboys gear. Yeah. Well, I'm going to be the only Lions fan in the bar probably. Yeah. True. It's okay. I'll take it. I'll wear, I'll wear cowgirl boots to like, you know, even it out. Cause you know, I love a Jersey and a boot. Okay. Also random side note. I am coming out today with a NFL for the girls gift guide. So if you need someone to buy you gifts, it's like only cute stuff that you would actually want and actually wear half of it stuff that I already own and like endorse and half is things that are on my personal wishlist.

1:02:10So if you're looking to send like, I don't know, a mother-in-law or father-in-law who never gets you good presents, but they always want to get you presents. This could be a really good thing to send their way. It will have some cyber Monday deals on there and then it will be edited after Cyber Monday deals are done to be just the items. So look out for that because I'm just compiling like all of the cutest stuff. It'll be generic for teams. You'll be able to like pick your little team, whatever. It's already out. Okay. It's already out. So go to your email. If you haven't gotten the Substack notification, if you're not on our Substack, make sure that you subscribe to it.

1:02:41It's totally free and you can enter in the chat. They're all girls chat on there. I'm also going to be sending out like a chat notification just so everybody knows in case you've been missing out on it. Yeah. So you can follow us on Instagram at the game, the podcast. You can follow me on social. Hey, Victoria Henderson, Giovanna at Giovanna Scroggins, the game, the podcast.substack.com are living in a fantasy, all girls fantasy league leaderboard, the game, the podcast.com. And thanks for being here. Thanks for listening to the game. You know, the game's on every Tuesday and Thursday with the occasional Friday episode.

1:03:14I think we're going to start bringing on some guests for our stats episode on Thursday. I have a couple that I'm in chats with. So that'll be super fun just to get another perspective. More girls, you know. And yeah, thanks for listening. And we love you. And bye. Bye.