A Seahawks-Rams WTF Classic, an NBA Six-Pack, and Week 16 NFL Picks With Peter Schrager

25:57So it was 2020. And they went into New Orleans. He hits Kyle Rudolph in overtime for the touchdown. I remember that. And it was like his first big win. And after like five years of Cousins just sucking and getting piled on and getting beat up like a pinata, we all had to come in that Monday morning and kind of like tail between our legs. Like, all right, Cousins, he won a big one. I don't know if that's tomorrow with Darnold. This isn't a playoff game. And last year, he came back against the Bears in a big game. He came back against the Seahawks, which was kind of the reason they signed him. He did it in Seattle.

26:27He was fantastic. Like he had big drives, but this one with the division on the line, everything and the way it started, that's a huge game, man. It's good. Cause it's polarizing either way. You can zag the other way and be like, I don't, I still don't feel comfortable with him. What about the first 50 minutes guys? No doubt. The good news is you're not going to have to do that much tomorrow and get up. Cause there's probably going to be five other people on. It is. You just get to just pick your spots and drop in. Barely available room. You're doing the hits like this. All right, we're taking a break.

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27:33Seriously, all of them. Spend$250 on your first campaign on LinkedIn ads and get a free$250 credit for the next one. Just go to linkedin.com slash Simmons Bill. Terms and conditions apply. All right. Ringer 107 with a worn out Peter Schrager who has to hop in a car in five hours and drive to Bristol to do more TV. So this is really quite an honor. We gave Joe House the week off. He was like Sam Darnold. He was seeing ghosts. We just, we didn't have the magic this year. Everyone's getting killed in picks this year, Schrager. Oh gosh, it's so hard. It's my picks league that I, my Gus Ramsey, who I think you know, who's run this picks league since the early nineties.

28:12This is the worst. We have like 28, 30 teams in the league. We just pick against the spread. it's the worst across the board records we've ever had in the league. And I don't really know the reasons for it, but it's just every time you think it's going to zig, it zags and vice versa and people are struggling. I have a friend, my friend Jordan. He sends me the standings of his pick leagues all the time. He's like, what do you think? I'm like, you don't want anyone. Just go with your gut. You're winning. Let go. You don't want anyone. It is so hard, especially with the spread. Like this year has been just, just when you want to crown a team, they end up losing.

28:49I mean, you think about that Carolina team and their season. They beat all these world beaters. They beat the Packers and the Rams. They got swept by the Saints. It's like you can't predict. Well, think about, they're also getting way better at how to set the spreads. Like the Rams line today was Seahawks. It ended up Seahawks minus one and a half, which I had. I lost by half point. They won by two. Yeah. Could have just bet the money line. I didn't. Okay, two games I think we're going to throw out. Cowboys, Chargers, Bucks, Panthers, Lions, Steelers, Jets, Saints, Vikings, Giants, Falcons, Cards, and Texans, Raiders.

29:25I thought about Browns home getting 10.5 in Cleveland against the Bills, but it's just not fun to bet against Josh Allen. No, and that could be 41-0. Yeah, that's one of those you feel stupid. Dolphins, Bengals. I don't know what to get with the Dolphins you have a seventh round quarterback who I was told was undraftable in the draft and he's going for his first career start so as bad as the Bengals mojo is I don't know what it's such a variable with Quinn Ewers but here's the thing how is he going to be worse than Tua? I know. Tua's been unplayable for six weeks and you know last week I just thought they were going to run the ball down Pittsburgh's throat As soon as they fell behind by three, they had to start throwing it with him.

30:13We're talking about narratives with Darnold. It's like, until you win those games, the narrative with the weather, it's so obvious and it's so stupid. It's such low hanging fruit. But I'm there in Pittsburgh on Monday night and I'm like, I don't know, he doesn't win in the cold. And everyone's like, yeah, but I'm like, I don't think there's a yeah, but like he's just terrible in the cold. There was a yeah, but on this podcast last week, House and I were like, let's zag. Everyone thinks Tua can't win in cold weather. We're zagging. And guess what? We zagged off the road. we're staying away from Dolphins, Bengals, even though I just want to point out it shouldn't have shifted the line that much that Tua wasn't the quarterback.

30:48How much did it? I think it was plus one and a half to plus four and a half. It felt like that line moved three points. That's fair. You're right. Depressed Joe Burrow? I don't know. Depressed Joe Burrow is the saddest version of any quarterback. I hate to press Joe Burrow. Last week was really sad. Have we ever had a better quarterback seem sadder? So sad. Even Stafford in Detroit didn't seem this sad. No. Couldn't have been more depressed. Burrow is so sad. And we run the sound on these shows. We have to respond to it. And I'm like, guys, it's almost too dark. Everyone becomes a sports therapist on these shows too.

31:24It's like everyone has their own mental health theory. I'm like, guys, let Joe Burrow play football and we'll figure it all out when the season's over just how dark this is. But the way he played last week, his worst game as a pro after those comments. I mean, that's bleak. It's really, it's one of the first times we've seen a star quarterback where the soundtrack for his passes would be 80s music. That's like the Smiths and Joy to Mission. The music that I liked once upon a time. Like he should be wearing an overcoat during the sidelines. The Donnie Darko soundtrack. I like the Dolphins plus four and a half, but there's better games, I think.

32:01Okay, five games and a parlay. I'll throw the parlay at you first. Okay. Bears-Packers. Bears plus one and a half at home against Green Bay who lost Micah Parsons. They're not going to have Watson. Josh Jacobs still banged up. Who else has hurt on the Packers? They might get Watson. Come on. We don't know. It's Saturday. I know. It'll be like we're not sure. Maybe they'll run. And they have one more injury. Probably not going to get Evan Williams who's their great safety. He's out. Van Ness has been in and out of the lineup and probably I wouldn't imagine he's out there and then why it's out for the year so and then crafts out for the year right that was they had what nine elite players and they're down to four i think i read they had like you know 10 guys who are day one starters who are probably not going to be active for this game which is not great not great um i think the bears can run on him i trust caleb enough to do the one wow play a quarter where he just gets out of a sack i don't totally i'm sure he'll throw them the ball once, but I think it's okay.

33:04Your guy, Ben Johnson, big win. Take a bow. You were touting him before the year. Big one. But I was thinking, doing a little tweak with the Bears plus four and a half and then taking the under up to 53 and a half because I can't imagine there's a lot of points on a Saturday, cold weather Chicago game. What are the ads? That's a 30 to 27 game. I don't see it. I would have thought Seattle versus the Rams without Devontae Adams and the rain in the whipping wind would have been a most scoring game. Yeah, but think about what that took, though. That took a punt return TD and just weird shit. The backward two-point.

33:41I will say this about Green Bay. Yeah. Halfley's really good as a defensive coordinator. And, like, this is one of those, all right, we've owned this team for two decades. They're at home. It's their biggest game, you know, since they went to the playoffs and had the double doink against the Eagles. This play Saturday night is going to be rocking. We've already beaten them once. Can we get enough out of guys like JJ and a bar a and guys like, you know, Baron Sorrell, whoever they have filling in on defensive line. Can we get enough? Can we galvanize? Can we look at each other and say, everyone's counted us out.

34:18Nobody believes in us. Classic. Nobody believes in us game. And then say, we own this team. I know. So I'm saying the defense, the defense, like, can they just do enough? Because, you know, last time they played two weeks ago, zero runs over nine yards. I think they carried the ball 32 times maybe and they didn't break 100. It was as good as you could have possibly asked from the Packers defense against a runoff offense that ran all over the Philadelphia Eagles the week before. So they've beaten them before. That's what you're going to need. I think the Packers offense, they'll score points. They'll get enough.

34:53It's their defense can stop the run and I think they can. I'm a little worried about their offense and the receivers they have. Because I've had fantasy guys on that team the whole year. And Watson was the first one that seemed like he was getting open in the back twice a game. Kraft was their big third down guy. And now we're, you know, it's like, hey, Matthew Golden, is this the week? And I don't think he's had more than three catches in any week. I like Matthew Golden, but I actually think they're going to need him in the Chicago game. So, I don't know. I like a little ugly Saturday night. I like the four and a half.

35:28I like the Saturday night 820 game. I like this on the East Coast. I like it. Everyone's going to be watching. Brady and Burkhart. It's on Fox. I assumed it was NFL Network. It's on Fox. So we're going to get Brady and Burkhart. I feel like we're going to hear Halfley's name said maybe a hundred times. And there's a lot of teams that might be looking for coaches and fan bases who are just going to be sitting on the East Coast, whether it be Giants fans, whether it be Titans fans, could be Raiders fans, could be Dolphins fans. You go down the list of who might need a head coach. And if they put on one of these great defensive performances, we'll be talking about Halfley.

36:02And like, okay, that's the head coaching guy. And it's because he did it without Micah. There's so many different parts to this game from the Green Bay side of like, we lose, we're probably done in the NFC North. These guys are going to run away with it. And we finally hand the torch back to these guys. Or if we win, we keep our foot on their throats and it's another two decades of dominance. One of those type deals. So if the Bears win this, is there any chance they could be the one seed? There is, right? Yes. Because they're 12-1 to win the NFC right now. I don't have it in front of me. I mean, they have a tough schedule left.

36:41They have the Niners on a Sunday night. Niners. And then they have, I think, Minnesota to end the season. Yes. Yeah. Okay. I like Bears plus 4.5 in the under 53.5. I'm just going to mark that down. It's not official yet. We're going to mark that one down. Titans Chiefs Titans plus three at home against Gardner Minshew and a Chiefs team that hasn't played a meaningless game in 10 years 9 years I don't even know when they made 10 straight playoffs so yeah 11 years so I didn't think the Chiefs were that good to begin with Mahomes was keeping a lot of stuff together and now he's out and one of the things is The Titans running game has really gotten going the last couple weeks.

37:30They have. This line dropped from four to three. I don't know. Titans are like the worst. Titans plus three. I don't know. It's tough for me to think that the Titans are going to hang with the Chiefs. I don't care who's at quarter. Really? Titans? I haven't marked down. I wanted to talk it out. What are the Chiefs playing for right now? What do they care? You're right. You're right. I'm just, I'm curious. You're wired in with that team. Why are they going to give a shit about a game in Tennessee after their... It's just objectively better football players on the field at just about every position.

38:04Even without Mahomes and without whoever. And it's like, if you have any pride, do you lose to the Tennessee Titans? I don't know. I know Mahomes isn't there, but these are professionals. I have games I like more. I just wanted to talk about it. I wanted to get your thoughts on Chris Russo's comments. What did he say? Kelsey didn't talk to the media after the game. Russo went nuts on first take. said he's saving it for his podcast there's no sports fan actually listens to that podcast he's taking on a Travis Kelsey it's a pretty big audience he's sitting there telling their reporters he doesn't want to talk to them so he can save it for new heights that's exactly what he said verbatim how much fun do you get to do TV with him?

38:45I would love that I only do first take on Wednesdays and I'm in studio with Chris Russo it's a dream I thought it was interesting I feel like there's a couple of sacred cows in media and he's saying it on ESPN where Jason Kelsey is employed. And he's just like, no one listens to that podcast. I'm just like, oh, Simmons is going to probably has thoughts on this. Oh, that's good. Well, he's wrong on that, but I appreciate the spirit. Okay. Next game. So we're probably not doing the Titans plus three. I really do it. I wish it was plus four and a half. Colts plus five and a half. I love the Mike McCoy Titans so much.

39:23I don't love it. No, I don't love them. I don't think they're very good. I just don't know. It's Gardner Minshew. We saw him play one series. He immediately threw the ball to the other team. I mean, he's bad. We've seen him fail on multiple teams. So that's kind of the great equalizer. He was once your white whale. He was once your six. It seemed like he had a chance to have something. You loved him for a while. I did. The Raiders kind of ended it. Colts plus five and a half at home against the 49ers. I watched every play of this game last week. Colts Seahawks? Yeah, me too. Of the Colts Seahawks.

39:57Just a really nice, really well-paced, well-coached, spirited effort by a Colts team that really wanted it. By the way, they really need this game. Yes. In the Niners' defense, some of the stats of it, like the Titans kind of... You just mentioned it. Titans went all over up and down the field. Yeah, so I just think that line too high. Two variables here. So I talked to Aikman today. I said, give me just a thought. At the end of your career, he was 34 years old. You get beat up. You get hit a couple times. What's it like the next couple days? He's like, you don't feel great until Tuesday, maybe Wednesday.

40:43You add 10 years to that, five years removed from the game. We have no idea because it's Thursday. We're doing it like is Rivers okay? The physical toll, and I know he didn't get the crap beat out of him. Like people thought he was going to... He took two good hits. He took two hits, but the 27 passes, the snaps, everything. So I know they have a long week. It's Monday night. That place is going to be rocking. It will be because they know it's the season and it's also a home Monday night game. Indianapolis, great crowd. Is that enough? Or is this like, he gave it all he had in that one thing. that's the Disney movie.

41:20They lose. He wasn't even that good though. I mean, he was fine. But in a Disney movie, that's how he would have played it. Make two big passes, get them into field goal range. They kick the field goal and then they lose on a heartbreaking field goal. And it's like, he goes back to his family and it's like, I gave it all I had. It was great. Now he's got to do it for three more games. 28 year old kid crying in the stands. Buckner, I thought, had a huge impact on Sunday and just their, their front seven just seemed pretty feisty. They're low on cornerbacks, but against this Niners team that, I mean, this Iuk situation is bizarre.

41:53Pearsall's not playing. Yeah. I think it's too many points. I'm going to mark down Colts. I like the Colts in this game. Fun to root for it too. And FYI, kind of a kitchen sink game for them. Yeah, no. And we talked about it over text. And then you said you had a separate text chain with Hench and the boys about whether or not they should have bet against the Colts because their schedule was so difficult after the sauce trade. I mean, they haven't won a game since the injury. And then now it's like, if they don't win this one, it's pretty much done. Home Jacksonville at Houston, last two. I don't think there's a path for the playoffs from them if they lose this.

42:33So I have them marked down. Washington's plus seven at home against the Eagles. And I feel like we have this game every year. And every year, Washington wins it or comes close. And the Eagles are terrible in this game. and Mariota's fine. He's been okay. They've got most of their guys back. They hate the Eagles. These teams don't like each other. And I don't trust the Eagles at all. And it's not like the Eagles are healthy. A bunch of their guys are still out. Lane Johnson's probably not going to play. Yeah. And is Dickerson playing or no? I don't know about Dickerson. Jalen Carter's not going to play.

43:09Yeah. What are we doing? I'd be pretty confident. I mean, I haven't seen the report. It might be already out, but I think Lane Johnson's out. And I don't know. I feel like, did you watch Washington Giants at all? Or did that not make them? I missed that game. It's one of the worst football games you'll ever watch. Yeah, it was bad. Washington was awful too. I mean, they won, but they had won a couple of nice plays to McLaurin deep and Wild Bill had a touchdown. But like, it's that team, they're done too. So I thought last week, Eagles, Raiders, and here's how I saw it happening. I'm like, Eagles fans woke up to snow.

43:46It was kind of surprising Sunday. They had to dig out their cars. Annoying. Get to the stadium. One o 'clock start. First play from scrimmage. Saquon goes one yard. And I swear on the broadcast, you can hear like a smattering of boos. And then they went on to have their best game in like two years and give up 75 yards. But if they had not performed that way, I'd be doing like DEFCON 5, the whole thing with the Eagles. Yeah, but who were they playing? that. I know, but I think just getting that out and like doing that and dominating 31 to nothing and having the defense shut them down, having the offense, everyone get their touches, everyone do everything.

44:23I almost feel like that game was important. They've already been through the record and now, okay, let's go kick the shit out of Washington also. Okay. I thought it was important. I'm not going to mark it down. I can't believe I have to pick against the Pats, but we're under 500 and ringer 107. And you got to do what you got to do. The Ravens are minus two and a half was the line that locked for this game against the Pats. I just think this is a bad spot for the Pats. And the weirdest thing about this game, they don't 100 % need it. They could still win the division just by winning the last two.

45:02And this game, it's Ravens, every game now is like their season's on the line. They're the healthiest they've been in a while. Pat still don't have Milton Williams. They still don't have Will Campbell. The defensive stats for them the last four weeks, especially some of the advanced stuff, is really, really rough. Their ability to move the ball when they really need to. Like Diggs has disappeared the last few weeks. I know where he is. And they've gotten some home run plays from Henderson, and they're still having trouble, you know, putting games away. They only ran the ball three times in the second half.

45:34Yeah. So this line being under three, I just think is wrong. If it was January and I had my team back, I'm in. If I have Will Campbell and Milton Williams for this game, I'm in. But I think this is a game where you're going to feel that a little bit. There's a weird Patriots at Baltimore history, too, that's, I think, clouding my head. I was just going to say this to you. Patriots fan scale, you know, that entire run, Baltimore was the thorn in the side. I mean, everyone would say that it was Indianapolis, but truly. Even the 0-7 game, we shouldn't have won that Monday night game. That was like a fucking miracle.

46:08And we probably would have been better off losing that game. Rex Ryan, the defensive coordinator, all that. But I think they can run the ball on the Pats in this game without Middle Williams. Because you've been able to see these teams just go right up the middle. And that's what the Ravens do. Yeah, and then Derrick Henry shows up. And you're like, oh, shit, Derrick Henry. Like, they have Derrick Henry. Look, they flexed this game to Sunday night. Ravens have lost some terrible games recently at home. They have. I mean, that Thanksgiving night game to the Bengals is... I have family, all Baltimore people.

46:42I mean, it was as if, all right, pack it up. Season's done. What are we doing? So now you get another bite at it. I thought last week was huge. Shutting out the Bengals, getting the kind of vibe back. Lamar looked healthy. He looked good. I would pick the Ravens here. And I think your point is wise in that it matters a lot for Baltimore. more obviously. They only get in if Pittsburgh and them figure their stuff out. Patriots, it's not do or die. Of course, it's a nice to have, but you don't need this to make the playoffs. You certainly don't need this for the AFC East title. I've had a pretty good feel for them this year.

47:13Like, even when they were at Buffalo, I thought the line was too high. I really thought they had a chance to be in that game. Last week, I was really nervous about the game with the injuries and didn't want to pick against the Pats, but now we have no choice because we're way under 500. Can we do a Ravens-Patriots all time because we can go through it there was the billy cundiff game where lee evans drops the pass you guys end up going to the super bowl the following year you're up early they come all the way back beat you in foxborough and then there was that same season a sunday night game early on where the ravens beat the patriots like week three in baltimore and then there's the ray rice game in the playoffs obviously 20 whatever that was thanks for bringing all these up but you guys have also gotten their number a bunch of times too.

47:57Well, the 07 game was legendary for just pulling that out of the ass. But my favorite Pats win non-Super Bowl, I think of the entire 2010s, other than the Chiefs game. The double pass? Other than the D4 game, was that Ravens game. Yeah. Because I really do think the Ravens were better that year and the Pats just outwitted them. Ravens were up early in that game, what, 14-0? They were up 14 twice. Yeah. and the Pats just they just kind of figured out how to fuck them over and remember they ran the weird formation on the sidelines and then the next play you get Amendola and Edelman unbelievable crowd for that game they're singing the outfield I was there, were you in the building that day?

48:39I was in the press box it was a great one though, I love that game and I feel like they haven't had a great matchup in years it's kind of cool Ravens, Patriots week 16 on a Sunday night or whatever it is, Sunday night, I'm excited Lamar has been there were signs of life last week maybe this could be a Lamar versus May we'll see and the other problem with them is the the tight ends which have been an issue for the Pats all year and this is one of the best tight end teams yeah I don't like the matchup Broncos minus three in Denver against the Jaguars this to me is another overvalued game I think the Jags have padded the numbers against some bad teams I think we both believe in this Broncos team.

49:23And I just... I'm going to go against Trevor Lawrence until he wins a game like this. And if he wins this one, hats off. This is now a new Trevor Lawrence. I'll admit it. I'll admit defeat, but I don't see it. I just... You said something. I'm waiting for him to come out, the real Trevor Lawrence. Two weeks ago, when they beat the Colts, you had an awesome... You picked up on something that I did not pick up on. And you were, I guess, with Sal. So it was in the moment Sunday night. You're like, did you hear Trevor's press conference afterwards? And he did the whole thing about how the national media wants to talk about other teams.

49:58Oh, that nobody believes in us. They don't talk, even in our division. You know, we're winning all these games. They don't talk about and I'm like, oh, Bill's right. And then I talked to folks in Jacksonville and it's not just Trevor Lawrence. It is their identity of we're not going to get respect until we take respect and the whole thing. And this week, Sean Payton, innocuous comments says, you know, they're doing a lot of good things. Well, you know, and I know no one sees them. They're a small market team. And like, that's all they needed. Are you going Jags plus three here? I'm not. I'm not.

50:29But I think, you know, I think I've said this before on your pod. Liam's, you know, 38 years old. Grant Udinski, the offensive coordinator, is 29 years old. Anthony Campanelli is like this amazing Jersey guy, defensive coordinator, fired up dude, 40 years old. The GM is 34. Like they're just a bunch of young, like super amped up, high energy guys. And this quarterback finally feeling the love, finally feeling confident. And that quote that you provided me, which I didn't even hear because I wasn't listening to Jaguars press conferences, I was like, oh shit, Trevor Lawrence is a little bit of some shit to him.

51:07Like, and it was nice to hear. And then last week against the Jets, I know it's the Jets, 350 yards, five touchdowns, perfect QB rating. And like afterwards, just, I mean, they have been feeling themselves. So I'm curious to see how they show up to a team that hasn't lost the game at home in two years in the Broncos and everyone's already crowning. Like, what are the Jaguars got? This is a good one. And a team that can lock down the one seed, basically. Yes. One thing I want to see with the Jags and one of the reasons I like the Broncos is the Broncos and the Texans are the two AFC teams. that if you're a receiver or a running back coming out of the backfield, your eyes are in the back of your head.

51:47No doubt. Like, think about what the Texans did to the Chiefs in that game. They basically changed the course of the Chiefs season with all the hits they laid on them. And same thing last week with the Chiefs, too, where they just got the shit kicked out of them. I want to see how the Jags respond to that, if the Broncos are like... Because they can do it. They can turn it on. They can pound. and I don't know if the Jags are just a fun, we'll put up points, but if it's going to get really physical, what do you got? And then I don't know if I trust Lawrence. So we'll see. Maybe he'll stick it to me.

52:20Houston and Denver are cool in that the NFL is so... It's gone so favoring the offense and the way the rules are and the way that it's just built, the way the coaches coach. And then you've got Denver and Houston two teams that are very clearly defense first, offense second. And in this weird topsy-turvy year where every week another team is the number one team on someone's power rankings, can a defensive team in 2025 win a Super Bowl? And I know you could say, well, Bo Nix and Cortland Sutton are good. Sean Payton might be an offensive coach. That is a defensive first team. And Houston is like way defense, little bit of offense.

53:04Those two teams are fascinating as we get to the playoffs and what they can do over the final few weeks. So you don't like Titans plus three and you don't like Washington plus seven. No. And you didn't like Browns plus 10 and a half and we don't want to bet on Quinn Ewers. Quinn Ewers. Does that mean we're left with Bucs minus three Panthers taking Carolina plus three, coming off a loss to Tyler Shook? They're taking the Bucs with all their receivers back? I think Bucs. I think Bucs. The Bucs with the chemistry questions? With Mike Evans. After blowing a terrible game? in the tunnel. Blowing a terrible game and the defenders yelling at each other.

53:40I said it last week. Worst loss all season was that game. The Falcons had 19 penalties against them. Right. And they lost that game at home with an eliminated Falcons team and my favorite, like, Drake London, not even on the field. Kyle Pitts goes for a billion yards. Like, terrible loss. So bounce back. I got to think they got it. They have to. They should. All right. So that's your pick. That's what you're contributing. Yeah, but with not great conviction. Well, that doesn't make me feel good. Tampa minus three. Sure. I don't think the Panthers are good. I'm just going to throw that out there too.

54:17It was shocking to watch the Saints just go up and down the field on them. You were talking to McShay about it. I mean, Tyler Shuck, there's a lot to like about that guy. And he outplayed Bryce Young when it mattered. All right. So we're going excellence for Ringer 107. brought to you with the lines from FanDuel Sportsbook. As always, we're going to do old man Phillip Rivers plus five and a half with the Colts against the Niners at home in a must-win game. Great crowd. I think that's a three-point game one way or the other. Sadly, the Ravens minus two and a half against the Pats. It's fine. Pats can lose this game still in the AFC.

54:58I'm not going to sweat it out. I don't like the matchup. I don't like the injuries on the Pat side, and I don't like the week that this game is happening. Broncos minus three against the Jaguars. We're acknowledging the Jaguars. Nobody believes in us, but I think a lot of people will be on the Jags this week. I do too. And you could argue that line should be a little higher considering the Broncos haven't lost in three months. Bucs minus three against the Panthers. It's more a pick against Carolina. And then last but not least, a little parlay. Saturday night, Bears plus four and a half with the under 53 and a half.

55:29Bill, I love those picks. I think we ended in a good place you talked me out of two possible stinkers I think we're great I don't know if House would have done that I think House would have just walked me into traffic I kind of want House on this I miss House it's great I know what House is asleep House is lying like this snoring right now he missed the whole fourth quarter that was today's Ringer 107 it's brought to you by FanDuel don't forget odds are subject to change that's it hey good luck on GetUp try out the Peter's Pans segment that I gave you they love puns on that show Peter's pans, where you pan three things.

56:02I like that idea. Or Peter's principles. St. Peter's, your four prayers for the week. I like that one. What's bringing in St. Peter? That's good. I'm trying to think what... Sneaky Pete. Sneaky Pete. How about for Pete's sake? For Pete's sake. And the graphic is just you like this? Can't wait. I can't wait to watch you tomorrow in six hours. Like grievances? Like, I can't stand officials. Like, is that what it is? For Pete's sake? Yeah, it's like your version of you've been mossed. Yes! You're like, why are you punting on fourth and one? Yes. For Pete's sake! Yes. Why are you wearing a backwards visor?

56:48Yes. All that stuff. Yes. This guy gets cleaned out by the wide receiver who goes out of bounds and takes out his legs. Why aren't you looking at the field? For Pete's sake! why aren't we talking about Danny Wolf and the Nets? We're doing a lot of visuals here. Pitch it. Pitch it tomorrow. All right, Peter Schrager, thanks for staying up with us. Great to see you as always. You're the best, Bill. Thank you. Hey, it's week 16, and FanDuel wants me to make some NFL predictions as we enter a crucial week of football. Ring 107, just not enough here. Here are three week 16 predictions using FanDuel's odds.

57:24Does Miles Garrett get 1.5 sacks on Sunday and set the single season sack record against Josh Allen. The market's at plus 180 for him to do it. I would vote no on that one. I think he gets it a week later. The AFC number one seed battle, which of these QBs is able to throw for two plus TDs? Bo Nix minus 132 or Trevor Lawrence plus 128? I'm going Bo Nix minus 132. Longest rush in the Sunday night game, Derek Henry over under 19 and a half or Trevion Henderson, 14 and a half Henderson. Will Rivers go over under his passing prop at 150.5 against the Niners? I am going under for old man Phil Rivers.

58:09You can bet all these, our Ringer 107 picks, and so much more on FanDuel. Play your game. All right, we are back with a special part of today's episode. It's brought to you by Minkelobe Ultra. We love Minkelobe Ultra right here. As the official beer partner of the NBA, they know the best moments on or off the court are served cold. So let's crack open a six-pack because we're going to dig into the most buzzworthy NBA stuff that is happening right now. And we'll do our superior play of the day as well. All right, I'm going to start here.

58:42So I don't want to start grim here on the Michelob Ultra six-pack, but OKC killed the Clippers tonight. OKC is the defending champs. They're 25-2. The Clippers are now 6-21. they're tied for third worst. They have to give OKC their first round pick in 26 and they have to do a first round pick swap for them in 27. And as you know, I am the trading machine Picasso. And I talked about this a little bit with Zach on Tuesday. What do you do if you're the Clippers? It's checkmated me. It's like in Goodwill Hunt. I was watching Goodwill Hunt with my son a couple of days ago. And when nobody can do the formula problem that he has, he leaves out in the hallway and then Will Hunting does and he solves it.

59:28And he's asking the people in the class, did you guys figure this out? Did you guys solve this? And people are like, no way. That wasn't me. I think the Clippers thing is like that thing. We don't have Will Hunting to come in and save this. Their only trade asset really is Zubats. And what are you getting for Zubats ultimately? And by the way, if you're trading him, your defense is going to be worse. Zach, I tried to test drive some hardened trades with him the other day, and he was just poo-pooing all of them. I don't think anyone wants Kawhi at 50 million a year and you never know who he's going to play.

1:00:03And, you know, I mentioned this to Max Kellerman the other day, especially when you're throwing the Chris Paul embarrassment. Ramona Shelburne wrote a piece about that. Every time you think this Clippers situation can't get worse, it feels like it's gotten worse. And they're so uninspiring. They're playing the Lakers at home on Saturday night. It's going to be like three forced Laker fans in the Intuit Dome. I think at some point the punishment is going to come down, maybe before I'll start a weekend. I think there's whispers about that. We'll see. We'll see if they actually do it. I just don't know what you do.

1:00:38And it's a pretty rare situation. Brooklyn was in this in the mid-2010s where the Celtics had their picks. And at some point they made a pretty creative D 'Angelo Russell trade to get a pick. And I don't know if the Clippers are wired like that. I think they seem to blindly think this is going to turn around. And yet they won't fire the coach. They gave Lawrence Frank, it seems like they gave him an extension, which feels like it's, you know, a little bit of a, we have this thing happening and here's an extension. I don't know. It's a suspicious extension for considering that the Norm Powell trade was probably the worst trade since the Luka trade.

1:01:19it's just, I don't know how you fix this. I just don't. So that would be my first one in the six pack and it's depressing. I'm out of answers. I don't know how you fix the clippers. Gahal asked me, my producer before, is like, I hope the clippers, I hope you have a fix. I don't. And if somebody has a fix out there, God bless you. But I think it has to be using Zubats and attaching him to Harden and seeing what you can get. Like could Minnesota go in a tailspin and then all of a sudden be thinking about Gobert and Randall for Harden and Zubats? They're not doing that now, but maybe in two weeks if they lost some games, they start thinking about it.

1:01:59I think that's the only hope is that other teams get more desperate and start looking at your assets. But yikes. All right. Second thing on the six-pack, the Christmas games. So the last four, there's five games. I'm going to skip the first one for a second. The last four are really cool. Spurs Thunder which I think is the game I want to see more than any other game at all times Dallas Golden State sure Golden State what's going on with them they're two games under 500 they lost tonight and I don't know what the fix is with them either but they're playing Dallas Flag they're running crunch time plays for him Davis has rejuvenated him I still think Dallas is going to be heard from as a playing team especially if Kyrie comes back so that's that's the third game Houston Lakers That's a great game.

1:02:48And then Minnesota-Denver, we get the Joker as the last one. So that's a fun Christmas. All the NFL games, it looked like they're all going to suck. But then you have the first game, and it's Cleveland, New York. And if you think your family's dysfunctional, let me bring over the Cavs. Have some dysfunction at your Christmas table with the Cleveland Cavaliers, who sit solemnly and solemnly on their bench as they're down 10, wondering what happened. And there's, I went over in them on 56 and a half. That leads me to my third six pack because it's possible the Cavs could ruin Christmas or make a trade before then.

1:03:27Did the Pacers break the Cavs? The Cavs were awesome last year. They won like 64 games, 63 games, something like that. They had a long win streak. They figured out the Garland-Mitchell thing. Mobley took a step up. They seemed happy. Kenny Atkinson is getting coach of the year buzz. It seems like it was a million years ago. And then they play the Pacers. Garland's hurt. Moby misses a game. The Pacers hit a couple of ridiculous shots. And by the end of the series, you're like, yeah, the Pacers are for whatever reason better. And the Cleveland Cavaliers have not recovered since. Here's another team that it's really hard to fix.

1:04:05They're 22 million over the second apron. And I bring this up because now that the season is going on, I was thinking about this last night. I had them on a smaller TV with no sound. I'm watching the bigger TV, but I have the Cavs game going. And they just are losing double figures and they're cutting the bench. Max Drews is sitting there with his new long hair. He's just solemnly sitting next to a couple of teammates. Then it goes to Mitchell. He looks just bummed out. The guys on the court look bummed out. And you're like, whoa, what do we do with this? Because this team can't trade. First of all, you're way over the second apron.

1:04:37You can only do one for one trades. You can only take back less money than you can send out. The second apron. So I did the math. I hope this is right. I found this on the internets. It will cost them$163 million in second apron taxes if they just keep the number of the roster the way it is. So that would mean it would be a$400 million season for them to potentially be like a seven seed and then lose it round one. They have a couple outs. They can waive Wade and Porter before January 7th. It saves them about$3 million. Only 19 million to go. The cap rules are so dumb that Charlotte is 21 million under the cap.

1:05:22Jared Allen makes$20 million. And yet the rules say they couldn't just trade Jared Allen to Charlotte for nothing. That is somehow illegal with the cap. Here's who they could trade him to. The Boston Celtics, who have a$22 million trade exception, who are the only team who could trade for Jared Allen and take off the second apron off Cleveland Sands. But guess what? They're not going to do that because right now they're 7.8 million under the second apron. And if they just did that trade, they'd then have to figure out how to get rid of 11.3 million, which would be Simons. They'd have to take less money back.

1:05:57Good luck. I can't figure out where to move Jared Allen. They could do some whittle down trades. Like they could trade Struce to Utah for Nyang, send them some picks and save 8 million. Still doesn't get them close to getting rid of 22. They could trade Lonzo into Atlanta's trade exception. They could trade Struis back to Miami. They have a big trade exception. That's stuff that usually doesn't happen during the season. Teams aren't anxious to help out other teams for role players. They could trade Garland, but the one-for-one roles that they're handicapped with, they're really screwed. Here's a trade they could do.

1:06:36They could trade Garland to Washington for Chris Middleton's contract. and picks, which Washington might think about, but that would only save them 6.2 million. They'd still be way under the apron. There's, they could trade, if Boston took Allen, which I don't think they will, even with Tatum coming back, even with them having the expectations that they might actually be pretty good. I don't think they're going back over the second apron. But if they could get under the second apron somehow, they could then do three for threes, two for twos. They could go after anybody. They go after LeBron, for God's sakes.

1:07:10but right now they can't do that and that leads to the other option they have which is the nuclear option which would be to trade Donovan Mitchell and even in that case it's really hard because they would have to get under the second apron before it made sense to get a bunch of players back that teams would have to trade to get Donovan Mitchell so if I were the Cavs I would have a team meeting and say look you guys seem really unhappy I don't know what's happened to us this year but we can't make any trades. So this is our team. So get your shit together. Should we hire a team therapist? Let's do it.

1:07:43Should we all get drunk together? Should we watch the Shawshank Redemption and see if hope is a good thing for us? We're not making trades. This is our team. We're sorry. We're spending a lot of money on it. Can you guys play better? That's probably the answer. Anyway, get ready to spend Christmas morning with them. Fourth thing on the six pack. The Shangoon crunch time stuff is pretty interesting in Houston. And they lost a game tonight in OT against New Orleans that I was watching on a TV with no sound as I watched the Rams game. I was watching a lot of basketball as I was watching the Rams game.

1:08:22I'm a multitasker. I know I'm getting older. Still throwing my fastball. Still watching three games at once. Still got it. They go to Shangoon a lot at the end of these games to the point that I'm starting to watch the Durant body language a little bit where he's like, I'm Kevin Durant. What are we doing? And Shengun's been really good. And in Denver the other night, which was a great game, he won the game for them and made a couple of big plays down the stretch. But it feels like they've tilted a little too far towards Shengun. Not far enough toward the Ahmed Thompson can beat anybody off the dribble.

1:08:58And oh, by the way, we have Kevin Durant who's probably going to score 35 ,000 points in his career, maybe more. So I would like to see them fix the calibration on that versus what I feel like is starting to happen where it's like this is now Shen Goon's situation at the end of the game. So I think it's really hard to run all your stuff through a center. Now, the overtime game tonight came down to Reed Shepard missed a couple wide open threes that would have sent in the second OT. But I mention this because I'm watching these Rockets games going, I can't believe they're not giving it to KD more.

1:09:31and I think what's getting lost in this KD season and just in this season in general, maybe we just take older guys for granted, but KD's having one of the better old guy seasons of all time and so is Steph Curry. I went and looked it up. So what's the definition of an old guy? To me, it's like when I was growing up, John Havlicek was playing when he was like 37, 38. He seemed really, really old. And then Kareem in the 1985 finals when they beat the Celtics, games that I went to, sadly. Kareem was old. He's a huge bald spot in the back of his head. I don't think he had shaved his head yet. Maybe he had at that point.

1:10:08But regardless, he was just like old guy Kareem. And then he just annihilated Robert Parrish in the finals. And it was notable because he had won the finals MVP in 1971 with the Bucs. And then he won it again in 1985 with the Lakers. It's like, oh my God, 14-year span between finals MVPs. This is amazing. He's so old. well Curry's 37 averaging 29.6 a game before tonight and KD is 37 averaging 24.8 and I mention this because only a handful of the guys have ever been 37 years or older and averaged 20 points a game LeBron multiple times Steph Curry, Durant, Kareem Karl Malone Michael Jordan on the Wizards that's the entire list and with Durant I don't think anybody feels like he's old you would never say he's getting up there he's getting old Curry's starting to seem a little creaky not that he's not still great but he's wearing it especially at the end of these games you're like man Steph seems exhausted I don't know if Steph can do this for six months Durant just seems exactly the same and this year 24.8 five rebounds a game.

1:11:27A couple other old guys that still kept it. Nash on the 2012 Suns was still 11 assists a game. Chris Paul on the 23 Suns, he was fine, 14 and 9. And then Stockton did it for a long time, 13 and 8. But I was thinking about my Mount Rushmore for, or my starting five for old guys. LeBron, obviously. Kareem. I think Steph. KD or Carl Malone.

1:12:00I've always tried during my career as a voice and a writer and a podcaster to discount Carl Malone anytime I could, including creating the 42 club. That was the way to get him out of the most. 42 club, points, assists, rebounds in the playoffs, 12 games or more. I made it 42 because it was the way to cut out Carl Malone the most times. So obviously I'm going to cut him out here. And then, let's go...

1:12:28Go John Stockton, just so we have a point guard. So Stockton, LeBron. Now, Curry's my point guard. Do I really have to put Karl Malone in there? He's pretty good in those Utah seasons. I hate it. Fine. Karl Malone. LeBron, Steph Curry, Karl Malone, Kevin Durant, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. We'll go big lineup. But I think that would be my old guy starting five. Kevin Durant, secretly old. 2007 draft. It's a million years ago. Seattle had a team in 2007.

1:13:03Last, oh, fifth one for the six-pack. Still doing this, Michelob Ultra. What's the best location for the NBA Cup semifinals and finals? Because I don't think anybody enjoys Vegas. I didn't want to go. I could have gone on Saturday night, could have gone on Tuesday. I'm kind of over Vegas. When they changed the blackjack to six to five, I took it as a personal affront. On top of it, it's just, I don't know. Maybe I've just gone there too many times, but the thought of just coming in to watch some basketball with some half-assed crowds, I couldn't get behind. But then the games turned out really good, and I was actually mad that I didn't go to the San Antonio OKC game.

1:13:44The finals were great. but I was thinking like as a lot of people were what would be a better location because I think we're good with Vegas we go there for summer league we don't need to go there for the NBA cup to get Vegas to fuck out you need it to be a place that you know you can get the arena people are talking about uh college stuff so like you do the semis at Duke and you do the finals in UNC I'm not against that for one year Indiana University gets the semis the Pacers Stadium and gets the finals, that would be fun. The only problem is if the Pacers got into the finals, then home field advantage.

1:14:17You can do Barclays, semis, MSG finals. Fine. Still an advantage for the Knicks. Won't be an advantage for the Nets because it's still never been in the NBA Cup. The two I settled on, I like the idea of a Kentucky-Louisville combo, and not just because it would be great for J. Kyle, man. Kentucky for the semis, and then Louisville for the finals. Or vice versa, Louisville for the semis, Kentucky for the finals. Kentucky, because of the derby, kind of built, you know, for in either venue to accommodate like big crowds. So I thought that was fun. But here's where I've landed. And I think this is a really good idea.

1:14:58And as usually, I'll be the only one who sticks up for the good people of Seattle. Where I have to do a live rewatchables at some point this spring, because I love Seattle, or a live basketball podcast or something, because those guys had their team taken away. it and I'm still pissed about it. And now that team is probably going to be the best team of the 21st century. Fuck. Seattle semifinals, Vancouver finals. We go Pacific Northwest in two cities where they took teams away from. And I think that's the answer. Everybody loves going to Seattle. Everyone loves going to Vancouver. If you talk to anybody who covered the league in the nineties or the early two thousands, they always said like the best part, any road trip they had when they were covering a team was the Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Pacific Northwest was always their favorite.

1:15:47So let's bring it back. Seattle and Vancouver. I vote for that next year. Get up the semis in Vancouver and the finals in Seattle or vice versa. I don't really care. I like paying homage to two cities that lost their teams for no reason in the fan base. Vancouver just got fucked from the get-go with everybody running those teams. And Seattle got run over by the OKC owners, David Stern and Howard Schultz, who owns Starbucks and has a kajillion dollars and was a complete coward and sold the team to people from OKC who were going to move it. And he probably knew it and didn't care. So let's at least give them the NBA Cup.

1:16:25That's my fifth thing. Last but not least, two teams that I think are looking pretty good that I would just watch from a league pass standpoint going forward. The Hornets. Miller's back. LaMelo played tonight. I shouldn't be excited when LaMelo plays, but that's where we're at with LaMelo. But they put up 66 points in 17 minutes against Atlanta. Held on late for a win. Really fun style. They're one big guy away. They need like a rebounder or somebody who can have their hands up. I really wish they could just trade for Jared Allen. I wish the CBA was better, but they have all their own firsts. They have a 2027 Dallas first, top two protected.

1:17:04and they have a Miami first that becomes unprotected at some point during the decade because of the Terry Rozier trade, which the league refuses to acknowledge was shady. So good coach, Charles Lee, good new owners, respected front office all of a sudden. And I just like the spot they're in and I love watching them. The other team, the New Orleans Pelicans, all of a sudden shit's going down. They beat Houston tonight, which is just incredible. Houston's good. Queen, Murphy, Herb Jones, Poole's coming off the bench now. Like all of a sudden they have what looks to be an NBA team. And I mentioned this because if I was Atlanta, they have the New Orleans pick, the pick that we all think.

1:17:48The New Orleans has the worst record in the West, six and 22. And one of the top five worst records. I don't think it's going to stay that way. Now that they have everybody back, whether Zion plays or not, I think, you know, there was a John Ewing always posts like the spreads for different things. I like following him for gambling and he had the NBA records against the spread and New Orleans had like, I think the best record against the spread or one of the best records. So they're constantly covering, they're losing close games and they're about to have a breakthrough. And if I was Atlanta, I would trade that pick right now.

1:18:22Atlanta has the Porzingis expiring. They have a huge trade exception. They have a good team. They have, they got to figure out the Trey Young thing, but they probably need one more wing shooter. that this is their chance to get somebody really good. I think they should go after Giannis. I've been saying that from day one, but I would put that New Orleans pick on the table because two months from now, I really genuinely think New Orleans will not be one of the five worst teams in the league. They have too much talent. Unless they go the other way and they trade Trey Murphy and they start getting rid of guys, but I don't know if they will.

1:18:53And I will say the Pelicans crowd tonight, granted I was watching without sound, but everybody was standing and going nuts the whole game. So keep fighting for your team because I think you're going to have to. Anyway, Elena, listen to me. Trade the pick. That's the last thing on this six-pack. If you want even more, you can grab yourself a pack of Michelob Ultra right here. Ultra getting you closer to the action with the chance to win exclusive prizes, including courtside tickets and more. Michelob Ultra, Superior's worth playing for. Enter now at MichelobUltra.com slash courtside. Michelob Ultra courtside, 25 to 26.

1:19:29no purchase necessary. Open to U.S. residents 21 plus. Begins on October 1st, 2025. Ends on June 30th, 2026. Multiple entry periods. See official rules at makealoveultra.com slash courtside for free entry, entry deadlines, prizes, and details. That's it for the podcast today. Thanks to Gahau and Eduardo as well. Thanks to Peter Schrager for staying up late. Don't forget about the new music box, about the Counting Crows. It's great. Go check it out on HBO Max. Don't forget, we did two rewatchables this week. We did the short thing on Wednesday. And we did High Fidelity on Monday if you want stuff to listen to over the weekend.

1:20:04Enjoy the weekend. I will see you on Sunday night. Obviously going to be live with Sal coming off Ravens Patriots. See you then.

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